You didn’t mention Spain in your comparisons, Michael. I think it’s second only to Italy (in a tie with Greece, IMO) in terms of wonderfulness. The people may even be a little friendlier. But I know how leisurely far-between trips over the pond already are, and the future is hazy as hell. Don’t let that languid aura you developed on vacay disappear too quickly. Try to avoid or blow off the one stupid thing that will try to erase it all. We need all the strength we can muster.
Perhaps in the same way that ordinary people took building materials from the coloseum to build new homes, is a hopeful way of imagining the future of America. What new order and institutions might we create from the wreckage the administration is leaving.
"whom I love" Did you know Audrey Hepburn's petite physique was the result of the starvation she endured as a teenager during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands?
Italy might be my favorite country, but it is really several countries stitched together. Sicily and Sardinia have little in common with the Lakes or the Dolomites, (the latter more Austrian than Italian). The same can be said of our own USA. We have little in common from region to region.
The people of Italy are wonderful wherever you go, and the food, the opera, and their open love of place keep drawing me back. Their conservative government seems to be doing better than ours. Welcome home. We need you more than you know.
Welcome home, Michael. As Max Ehrmann, the writer of Desiderata observed: "with all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world."
Lake Como is so great. Magical. The long winding ride up and down the mountain. We had our best meal at Lake Como in a cooking class we took there. Boating on the lake. So lovely. Oscar wants to go to Italy or Ilaty as he calls it.
The US is a toddler compared to how old other countries are. I'm hoping this period is just the US going through the terrible threes (yes, I know it's the "terrible twos", but as a mother of 5, i can tell you that three is much worse). We'll make it out of this time, but it's going to take a while and it will be quite a challenge.
Beautiful series of posts....thank you for sharing. You were so close to Switzerland, did you cross the border?
You didn’t mention Spain in your comparisons, Michael. I think it’s second only to Italy (in a tie with Greece, IMO) in terms of wonderfulness. The people may even be a little friendlier. But I know how leisurely far-between trips over the pond already are, and the future is hazy as hell. Don’t let that languid aura you developed on vacay disappear too quickly. Try to avoid or blow off the one stupid thing that will try to erase it all. We need all the strength we can muster.
A month?
Our time in Italy with you and your family went by awfully fast.
Perhaps in the same way that ordinary people took building materials from the coloseum to build new homes, is a hopeful way of imagining the future of America. What new order and institutions might we create from the wreckage the administration is leaving.
"whom I love" Did you know Audrey Hepburn's petite physique was the result of the starvation she endured as a teenager during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands?
Italy might be my favorite country, but it is really several countries stitched together. Sicily and Sardinia have little in common with the Lakes or the Dolomites, (the latter more Austrian than Italian). The same can be said of our own USA. We have little in common from region to region.
The people of Italy are wonderful wherever you go, and the food, the opera, and their open love of place keep drawing me back. Their conservative government seems to be doing better than ours. Welcome home. We need you more than you know.
"Land of the greed, home of the slave." Nice one!
Sure beats Newark!
Lovely, and true! ❤️💪🏽
Thanks!
Hope the sweetness is easier to find here now, also.
Our shitshow is not special
Thank you for taking us with you on this great vacation
Italy is both old and young, cities thousands of years old and a country more or less unified in 1871.
Welcome home, Michael. As Max Ehrmann, the writer of Desiderata observed: "with all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world."
Lake Como is so great. Magical. The long winding ride up and down the mountain. We had our best meal at Lake Como in a cooking class we took there. Boating on the lake. So lovely. Oscar wants to go to Italy or Ilaty as he calls it.
The US is a toddler compared to how old other countries are. I'm hoping this period is just the US going through the terrible threes (yes, I know it's the "terrible twos", but as a mother of 5, i can tell you that three is much worse). We'll make it out of this time, but it's going to take a while and it will be quite a challenge.
Travel safe and, inexorably, inevitably... welcome back.