I first caught the travel bug in 1999 when I took a school art trip to Italy after graduating high school. My Art Club at school had been planning this trip for about 2 years. I didn't think I was going to make it due to financial reasons, but as we were moving from my childhood home, my mom surprised me by using the equity from our house to help fund the trip. Happy High School Graduation, Kaycee...now you're diseased!
 |
| A watercolor painting I made of Venice |
Seeing how this trip was 13 years ago, I only recal a few bits and pieces of it. It was raining in Venice and when we took the mandatory gondola ride, there was a crazy speed boat taxi that cussed us out in Itailian for blocking the way under a bridge (we were sheltered from the rain).
In Florence, I experienced my first taste of gellato....something a person will never forget. I also remember admiring Michelangelo's Statue of David's ass. It's a mighty fine ass.
Naples was filthy, and Pompeii was a bit creepy, but pretty freaking cool. Bodies preserved in time of how Pompeiians once lived. The Island of Sorrento was full of well-to-do rich folk with high class jewelery shops everywhere you turned. We took a trip to the Blue Grotto, a gorgeous cave under the island where the water was so crystal clear, you could see all the little fishies swimming about.
In Rome, I threw my three coins in the Trevi Fountain (I've yet to return) and got lost with my group on the search for Michelangelo's Pieta...probaby the most beautiful statue I've ever laid eyes on. When Michelangelo first completed the Pieta, the sash worn by the Virgin Mary was just a sash. At a showing of the Pieta, Michelango overheard someone saying he thought the statue was carved by Solari. Afterwards, ol' Micky signed his sculpture: Michelangelo Buonarroti, Florentine, made this across the sash. Bit of history for ya!
On the day we visited St. Peter's Basillica, I was completely exhausted. To get to the Sistine Chapel, you have to walk through what felt like miles of a museum. But it's worth it. So worth it. The Chapel was packed, but there was this stillness in the air of like-minded tourists viewing one of the greatest pieces of work ever created. I could have sat there for ages just to take in its magnificence. Amazing.
After Italy, it would be another 5 years before I travelled abroad. After graduating college I made my first move to a foreign country and ended up in Scotland for 5 months.
In Josh Gates's book, Memiors of a Monster Hunter, he says that travel is Newtonian. Once in motion, it tends to stay in motion. My lust for travel grows every day. I will never stop wanting to see someplace new, go on a new adventure, head off the beaten track and discover something worth knowing. I'll probably catch a real disease somewhere along the way, but hey, I'd rather catch some travel disease than while away the years getting cancer, at some office desk job. I'm livin' the life ya'll.
Happy Trails,
LG
Oh yeah, I would also like to credit Google Image search for the photographs. Digital cameras were at the forefront of being available and extremely expensive. My teacher I went to Italy with had one of these 'digital' things, where the camera card was about the size of a floppy disc (remember those?). Therefore, my Italian photographs are "old fashioned", printed from a Kodak film roll. They're antiques! :)
ReplyDelete