My cherry blossom serendipity

Star gazing

 (picture owned by Xin)

 (picture owned by Kann)

Paddle to chase the moving sunset.

Drum to cheer the hiding stars.

2012 Eastern Pilgrimage at Northern Italy

What is left in Milan

In the train from Florence to Milan, I sat with an Italian family composed of grandma, dad, mom, and a teenage boy. The grandma was extremely friendly and kind, she kept smiling at me and showing me some nice landscapes we passed by. When I yawned, she said something in Italian. I can only guess that she meant “tired ha?” I smiled back and nodded. 

I had high expectation to Milan as a city of fashion. I thought I will see local people wearing fashionable clothes everywhere around the city. But no, most of them also just wear normal clothes. Perhaps, it is not so visible because the weather is still quite cold and people were covered by standard coats and jackets. Maybe, the people will look more fashionable in summer.

Nevertheless, the cathedral is the main reason why I wanted to come to Milan. Back in Philippines, I was stunned by the beauty and elegance of the cathedral when I saw it in one of our local movie.

This day is like a silent retreat for me. I walked around the city slowly, and stopped my footstep once in a while to think for nothing. Or, I sat… listened… observed… reflected…

This is just the best way to end my pilgrimage for the year.

Best Tuscany experience in Florence

Only when I had my breakfast in the morning, I realized how nice the hostel is. The theme is definitely Tuscany, just like I imagine it from the movie.

With the rain and cold wind all throughout the day, it is a tough day for pilgrimage. This day, I was tested physically, mentally, and spiritually.

First stop, I went to see “Scoppio del Carro” that is celebrated once a year only in Florence. I was there squeezed among the crowds, and with my height limitation I can only see heads, cameras, and smoke. Thanks to you tube, I can watch the actual event clearly from other people’s video recording. According to Francesca (the lady who is supposed to be our walking tour guide), this festival originated way back in the 11th century and they preserved the tradition until this day. Francesca said it will be a pity to miss the event that is why we followed her from the hostel to the Cathedral. But at the end, I missed it anyway. And I also lost sight of our tour guide. There is something interesting though, it was raining but it stopped when they started the fireworks.  This may sounds strange to others but it is definitely some sort of miracle to the believers.

 

After the fireworks, I tried to stay and wait for the crowd to “dissolve”. But it was cold and I needed something hot. So, while the security guards were trying to clear the people and restore the plaza, I went to the nearest coffee shop for a cup of warm drink. Then, I went to a pizza fast food chain to grab a slice of pizza that is relatively huge in my opinion. After warming up my body with food energy, the Cathedral was still not available. So, I decided to leave and head off to another destination, and come back either later in the afternoon or come back the next day.

 

Along the way, I met a family of six members that I can easily spot as Filipino-Chinese, like me. For someone coming from Philippines, they must be really rich to afford such a luxurious trip. It felt good to see familiar faces and hear familiar conversation. They were doing some shopping and it is interesting to hear how they convert the prices from EURO to PESO, like I did on my first year in Germany.  Now, I am doing it the other way around.

 

Walking in the rain and in between cold wind, I visited Cappelle Medicee, Basilica di san Lorenzo, Palazzo Medici Ricciardi, San Marco Church, Santa maria del Fiore Cathedral, Orsanmichele church, Mercato del porcellino, Palazzo Vecchio, Loggia dell' Orcagna, Uffizi Gallary, Bargello, Dante's castle, S. Croce church, National library, Ponte Vecchio, Santa maria Novella church, Boboli garden.

 

To avoid the strong rain, I even went into the “GUCCI” museum which cost me 6 Euro. I regretted it because I am not actually interested in these branded stuffs.

 

The most amazing experience I had for the day was my trek up the hill to visit the church of San Miniato al Monte. Although it is not that difficult to trek up the hill, but the experience was so rewarding. The view from the top is breathtaking and is free. The church is said to symbolize the “gate to heaven”: “May we be strengthened by his presence in the hour of our Death”. The monks make famous liqueurs, honey and tisanes, which they sell from a shop next to the church.

 

On top of the hill, I heard the bell rung from the church and visualized the bell swinging back and forth… I hurried back down the hill. I went back to the Cathedral and I was just in time for the mass. In fairness, the church was packed with people.

 

After the mass, I was so hungry and was looking for a place where I can order decent pasta. But instead, I got distracted by the street market that is around San Lorenzo’s Basilica. They were selling mainly interesting leather products. I was too late because they were packing and preparing to close for the day. (P.S. I came back the next day and bought one of those leather cover for paper notebook. I just realized that I cannot simply write notebook like in the old days because this may also suggest computer notebook nowadays.)

 

I ended extremely hungry in a wine bar. I just thought that for a place like this, they definitely should offer good food that will enhance the taste of the wine, or vice versa. I ordered the most basic pasta, i.e. a plate of spaghetti with tomato and garlic. The pasta was delicious. Specially, I like the kick of spice coming from the garlic (I think). I also ordered a glass of Chanti wine, produce and famous in the Tuscany region. I was surprised by the taste of wine. It tasted like Shiraz but much more smoother and better. (P.S. I want to clarify that this is only my personal taste and opinion, and I am no expert of wine).

 

Thank you for a wonderful day.

Meeting people in Sienna

My impression of Sienna is a city similar to Segovia in Spain. In my opinion, Sienna is a larger version of Segovia, or vice versa if you visited Sienna first then Segovia. Having been in Segovia, Sienna did not surprise me that much.

I had a challenging experience in walking around Sienna. That is to carry my backpack sack with me the whole afternoon, while walking around the uphill and downhill slopes of Sienna without a map on my hand. Let me try not to be negative about this and think of the positive effect of all this challenging experience.

Carrying my luggage around the slopes of Sienna is a good training for hard work, persistence and determination. Walking around without a map forced me to talk and inquire for directions and guidelines from people around. This is a good training for “connecting with people” (Nokia says). Confucius said in his teachings: “三人行必有我师”, i.e. there is always something you can pick-up and learn from other people.

I met a couple from Singapore, they were feeling cold and want to sit somewhere and warm up. The wife suggested sitting in the nearby restaurant, but the husband said no since they were not going to order anything from the restaurant. I knew how cold was the wind and I could see that the wife was feeling very cold, so I approached them and suggested them to go inside the church.

Close to the end of the day, I got confused on the direction back to the train station. Perhaps it was obviously written in my face because a strange guy approached me and asked if I needed help. The safe answer of course is to decline his kindness. Who knows what he is up to? It so happened that I met this guy again in the mall behind the train station, while I was waiting for my train to Florence. His name is Alexandro. He was born in Rome and lived most of his life in Sienna as a chef and a tour guide (he just told them without me even asking). This might explains why he approached me and offered to help me when he saw me in front of the church. Then, the conversation started to get strange again because he started to convince me to stay overnight in Sienna and have dinner at the restaurant where he works. Again, for safety reason, I have to excuse myself. He might mean it with kind intention, but it is better to doubt his intention than to put myself into some kind of trouble that I will regret.

Along my way back to the train station, I asked a Filipina and an Italian lady for direction. Also, I met an interesting lady from Finland who is teaching French in Italy. She asked where I came from and I usually asked back to people who ask where I came from, “have you been to any Asian country”. Then, she started to talk about her interest in the historic background of a place rather than the touristic spots of a place. So, she had been to China and Japan, and is interested to visit Vietnam, not Philippines :(

In the train to Florence, there were four young Filipina chatting and laughing LOUDLY in the cabin. Of course, it is normal in Philippines but I guess not in Europe, at least not that LOUD. Obviously, they did not recognize me as their “kababayan”, otherwise, they might have watched their words. Although they were saying a lot of dirty words, but somehow their conversations appeared to be RAP in my ears. I guess I missed speaking the language and enjoyed hearing (not listening to) their conversations.

Overall, it is an interesting day filled with interesting people.

Hang-on Pisa

I always wanted to see the Leaning Tower in Pisa. I think it is because I find it fascinating on how the tower tries its best to “hang-on”. Just like life itself, hang-on and never give up on things you believe. As the old sayings use to say:  “try and try until you succeed”. I strongly believe on how WILL and DETERMINATION lead the WAY to success. This is just what I needed on my first stop for my pilgrimage. What a good start!