More Fun In Store As We Connect The Dots On Our Next Adventure!

New Dreams About to be Fulfilled

Burn Giorgio! Bonjour! Hello!
Remember me?
I have been away for some time living life at Beverly Cottage and collecting Grandchildren along the way~
Now is the time  to get the maps and books out  and once again start to map out a guide for our next big adventure!
We have in mind Germany, possibly Budapest, France north and south, possibly ITALY and ending with a cruise from Barcelona to Venice with all sights in between! now try to lay that all out with a connections of the dots!
We are quite excited, and actually, I wish we could just go tomorrow, but wait! There are some logistics to take into consideration!
As before, we will be staying in Airbnb places along the way and we have loved this as we sometimes are hosted and make connections with the residents who have wonderful off the beaten path places for us to experience.
Come along on the planning and enjoy the excitement with us as we decide where we will stop along the way, to explore and repose, making Europe our own!

Dreams of Far Away are Being Breathed into Exhistance ~

And so the adventure begins with  dreams being fulfilled ~

If you could choose anywhere in the world to see, where would that be?
There are so many beautiful places that we have visited, but many more that we want to see.
Our dream is to find that one spot and make it our own~ Perhaps to return again and again and live there in our hearts~ Traveler's spirit in our hearts.

I really don't think that we could move ourselves to a European home, but I dream vicariously through many others who have made this their reality~
 What fun to make an abandoned stone building your own and make it into your dream home,
seen in magazines and posted on Blogs?

I believe that I will have to keep returning to my favorite places and rent for a time, then return to be near my loved ones~ I don't think that I can leave my loved ones~
I have five Grandchildren who I enjoy watching discover life daily, and it would be too difficult to dismiss this experience in my life ~It would be to heartbreaking to miss out on their growing up!  The trips away from them have been lonely, and their feelings of wondering where we are and why we aren't home?

One year, my Oldest asked us  to call him from the top of the Eiffel Tower and thus we did. Holding back the tears I spoke with him doing as we had planned~ How many kids get a call from the top of the Eiffel Tower? Our little Grand-daughter asking in that phone conversation innocently, "Have you see Madeline?"  Another time, using 'Skype' our third, just a toddler, unable to talk, positioned herself in front of the computer screen, so that she had the best view of us. The other two  trying to see over her little head. I didn't think that she would understand the situation, but she did as she just grinned her toothless grin back at us as we spoke to her~  Those are subtle hints that there are true love connections and we must keep them alive!

Maps out,  computer on, calendar open, it is truly time to schedule these dreams and plan return trips to our beloved towns~ To sit  in the outdoor café's and sip our coffees and taste our crepes, to become the people watchers, to enjoy the view and look out together upon our lives and discuss where we have been and where we are going in the future!

Travel keeps us together and young at heart~
  

Come Away With Me ~

Bella Italia and Dreams of Far Away was fashioned upon my travels abroad. Not only about our escapades in Italy, but other fabulous countries.
Unfortunately when the travels began, the digital age had not dawned upon the casual camera in hand traveler, and my photographs were catalogued on film.
Receintly I was digging through a trip that featured England.
It is my pleasure to take you there today~

I have always had a heart for the United Kingdom and it's castle ruins, sheep dotting the hillside and the romance of Kingdoms, Jane Eyre, and English Countryside. 
When traveling to the British Isles, I liken it to Alice's 'Through The Looking Glass.' Landing in this green land, it's language twanged with the proper pronunciation of words, driving down small lanes edged with tall hedge rows, one knows they are no longer in Oz!
 It once took us asking for directions four times to get the jist of which way we should set out, and that was for the person raising his hand into the air and pointing in the direction we needed to go!

I have always dreamed of living in the English countryside and feel  the quaint town atmosphere~

To listen to the cow bell jangle as they move slowly around the pasture. The sheep bleating  and the lambs coming to attention as we approach~

To wander on Castle estates where royalty roamed the grounds,

enjoying their leisure~

Where one view through the arch of the ruin, turning around and looking directly behind,

 

       There is another beautiful view~  

A romantic garden where one would love to sit and contemplate the day~

All in all, give me a stone wall around a stone cottage with a gate and arch with a flowering vine climbing upon it, a host of yellow daffodils bowing in the breeze and welcoming me home~

There is a charm in the English countryside~

Wouldn't you love to be invited in for a cup of tea and a visit?

An opened gate ALWAYS invites company  ~

Ces't Si Bon ~

When one thinks of France their thoughts easily drift to the greatest Paris monument, the Eiffel Tower.
Her head stretches above buildings and one's eyes capture her spire up above the Paris skyline easily ~
Your thoughts can easily be disrupted of thought once she is spotted.
In fact, the first time I saw the Eiffel Tower, I was drawn to her as hypnotized. I must go to you, I must go to you......

Just the thought of Paris draws my heart to a longing to board a plane and get there, even if it is only for a week-end! Unfortunately, my travel is not that easy and I must make the most of my time. But it doesn't mean that I don't have that longing!

Someone said today that I am always posting pictures of the Eiffel Tower and perhaps I was living there in Paris. The truth is that I could not get enough of the sight of her!

Every angle of this beauty is captivating ~ the arches, the design the lacing of her edges is exquisite!

I am captivated by her beauty ~

I must say though that she is in all her splendor, lit up in the evening ~ She is brilliantly breath taking!!                                               ~ Ahhh, Oui! Ces't Si Bon ~

Once Upon A Time In Tuscany~

Come for a visit to a fantastic place~

Bella Italia~

Climb stairs and view incredible places~

A visual wonderland~

Stop for a while and enjoy the view~

                                                                                                       

Once upon a time in

Bella Italia~

~ As I Was Saying ~

So, here we were, right where we were supposed to be at that place and time ~
                               Breathing in the " Tuscan air" sitting in the "Tuscan Sun".
The town was ours and I wanted more. I wanted to see who the shop owners were and who the citizens were, and watch their interactions, and as I sat outside the gelatto shop, watching the people going about their shopping and errands, I had a feeling of peace. I was a silent observer of town life, There, yet not an active  part of this life ~

I love the slowed down pace of life in these villages~ Each tourist comes for one reason or another~ However at the end of the day, the tourists fade away, and there you are in the dusty peace sitting having a capucchino in the quiet, alone with the citizens of Cortona. ~

Cortona was ours for the wandering, and wander, we did.

Daily we walked the streets, lanes and climbed her steep streets.

Walking up through the olive groves to the road  that leads to town I knew that  somewhere along this road was the famed Bramesole of Under The Tuscan Sun.

With a little deduction, and a willingness to walk aimlesly, not quite knowing where we were going, we set out to find this famed beauty.

Just as we thought that we had gone about as far as we wished... there... around the curve, peeking through the trees was the  peach colored Villa I longed to find ~

The villa was so beautiful standing in the manse of trees. I found the colors delightful and I was very pleased to be standing there in awe that we were here and this was the place I had dreamt of being~

My true desire was to meet Frances Mayes and tour her gardens.~

I had written to our host of the cottage, and briefly told him of my 

dream  of meeting Francis Mayes, hopeing that they might  possibily  know her~

Unfortunately, Douglas, our host, gave no clue as to if he knew the Mayes or not~

Although I did not meet Frances, nor tour her gardens, when I returned to the cottege for the evening, I picked up a journal left for the visitors about the cottage and around the area. In the journal I discovered that the wife of our host, Jenny, who had passed away, had met Frances Mayes when they were purchasing the farm house, La Faina.

The owner of the farm house and cottage at the time was an American writer, Ann Cornelison, who was hosting the Mayes while they were negotiating the purchase of Bramasole~

They  stayed  in the same cottage we were now in!

Under The Tuscan Sun is dedicated to Ann Cornelison~

I was THAT close!

Under The Tuscan Sun ~ Part 2

When we planned our trip to Italy, my focus was to stay a while in Cortona.
I started my search for accommodations in and around Cortona. I searched VBRO and there were two interesting accommodations that were an apartment with a lovely view of the valley from the hillside of Cortona, and a lovely cottage~ Il Palozone~
Having finally secured the cottage I was quite excited, having had two years to plan and read up through Frances Mayes beautiful books on Tuscany and place myself  as a passenger in her car as she drives through the Tuscan countryside, the olive trees shimmering silver as the sun hits their leaves on her day trips around Lake Trasimeno featured in her book  Bella Tuscany.
The day arrived when we drove up the dirt drive and into the farm.
After settling in, we were up for a hike into town. we climbed up through the hills to the road and followed it through the park. As we walked into town attention was drawn to the shop keepers as we passed the windows and doors opening for business, dress shops, antique vendors,caught my eye as their "artique", shone through their displays.
We walked into the Plazza della Republica once again, feeling as if we knew it just possibly a bit more than the first visit~

A wedding had just ended and the steps to the city building were lined with bridesmaids, flowers and guests congratulating the family. In awe that they were here witnessing the beauty of love, and the beauty of this place ~ We just sat on the wall above it all and drank in the scene .
 We were truly here, our dreams had been realised ~

My Tucsan Sun Story

My story of Cortona, the Under the Tuscan Sun Village, happened at this precise spot, the wall overlooking the Piazza della Repubblica on a spring day.
 We bought geletto and sat on the wall overlooking the square and watched the people going about their day.
In the store front window below, was an advertisement for a newly written book by Francis Mayes, Under The Tuscan Sun~

Unaware that Cortona and the surrounding Tuscany would weave her magic spell upon me,  I licked my dripping cone, enjoying the scenery, then walked back to the car to continue our tour of the hill towns.

Shortly after returning home I read the book and thus began my hunger to become part of this town, by visiting once again and staying longer to make it my own~
The film soon premiered, and as I had the Tuscan fever, I had to view. To my surprise there was Francis sitting on the same wall as I had where she writes the post card for the young man!
Immediately I was called to return one day.

The Desire for a Little Tuscany

Walking along the path  and coming upon a door along a stone wall, one wonders what lies within~

Doors prompt inquisitiveness to what lies behind, and perhaps the opportunity to feel at home~

       The views of the Tuscan landscape from the villages perched a top the hills are incredible.          
           They invite you to stop a while to gaze out to the horizon and watch the day go by~