Dusk and the Wisteria

It was March and the wind was picking up as the sun sank behind the Tuscan hills. We had meandered to the ruined castle at the top of San Gimignano and caught this glimpse of the last rays hitting the valley below. A fabulous dinner awaited us but we did not know it yet.

Cortona fog

Cortona is one of those towns where time seems not to moved much since the middle ages. We were staying in a convent near here, spotless and silent. When I rose at dawn the shadowy lanes were filled with fog, and people clicked down the cobbles to work.

Stormset over Arezzo

A chilly day where the rain and sun battled it out over the Tuscan foothills.



We had spent the afternoon padding around the stalls that threaded their way amongst the Arezzo lanes, selling everything from furniture, antique farm implements, and military gear to tea-towels, used clothing, coins, and African sculpture. This view is from the top of the hill near the old fort.

Salterrare

In a bit of a turnabout I am moving my Theme Thursday posts to this blog as much as possible.

This week theme is "jump" -- salterrare being the infinitive in Italian. Rather a tough photographic topic, I find, but here's a scene from Umbertide, Umbria, with Nick and Piper leapfrogging over the creek (stormdrain?) that runs through the town. It was a chill winter day and Umbertide was not as spectacular as our recent visits to nearby Assisi or Perugia. On the other hand they didn't have creeks to jump.

Anyway I'm thinking that (although I typically refrain from too much 'shopping) this occasion is a good excuse for a multiple exposure.



There's also some pretty interesting grafitti which you can see better by clicking.

Monochrome Monday

A serendipitous parade of kids against a whitewashed wall in Oakworth, Yorkshire, summer 2005.

Italian Stairs

From our 2007 trip...


TUSCANY




Rummage sale, Arezzo




Etruscan caves, Orvieto




Nick and Piper, Cortona


UMBRIA



Monte Santa Maria Tiberina



Market, Citta di Castello




Citerna




Montone




Assisi



Perugia (just up the hill from Amanda Knox's house)


CAMPANIA


Quay, Praiano




Amalfi

Bicicletti

Sorry for the long absence, I've been concentrating on newer photos, on my EffStopLocal site.

Anyway here's a collection mostly from Tuscany/Umbria 2007. Since I was seeing bicycles parked patiently everywhere, I began documenting them, especially since they were usually in spectacular locations.

Arezzo



San Giustino (Valtiberina)



Sansepolcro



Gubbio



San Giovanni (Valdarno)



Sansepolcro



Lucca



San Giustino (Valtiberina)



Sansepolcro



Florence



San Giovanni (Valdarno)



Umbertide



Sansepolcro



San Giustino (Valtiberina)



Lucca



San Giovanni (Valdarno)



Arezzo



Sansepolcro



San Giustino (Valtiberina)

A Day in Roma

It was a rainy day. Our tour of middle- and high-school students had just missed, for better or worse, the spectacle of hordes of mourners from around the world saying goodbye to the dead Pope.




The Vatican tours were still crowded but the streets seemed quite subdued. An occasional distressed Roman could be seen in out of the way places.





The outpouring grief was perhaps only a slight addition to the standard despair of a few, like this beggar, prostrate on the Spanish Steps.





However, life also goes on: the baglady and dog on their rounds at the Colosseum.

York

More train shots... Last summer I and my daughter visited friends in Yorkshire, England. We arrived in the Viking/Roman city of York at the Victorian train station, with its typical arcing skeletal roof.




We did a lot of sauntering around town, including along the ancient city walls and a twilight "ghost walk." Another attraction is the railway museum. Here is the view from beneath an old steam locomotive.




Another locomotive has been opened up like something from the "Bodies" exhibit to show the workings of a steam engine.

North Yorkshire Railway

Haworth, England, has not changed a lot since the Brontes lived there.



But if you'd rather ignore the Bronte trail, you can just watch the steam trains.