Traveling Far and Wide: Ten Years' Worth of Observations

Driving down the length of Florida, I stopped at a rest stop in an industrial section that probably does not appear in any travel guide. At the checkout, there was a display of locally made food. Hungry and curious, I decided on a snack that resembled a typical egg roll. What I found when I bit into one surprised me. Inside, instead of lettuce and tiny bits of meat, was chicken, cheese, and beans. Driving further down, I saw parts of Florida that made me understand why people considered the state paradise.

In Traverse City, Michigan, they put cherries on everything.

Everything. And it works.

I am always fascinated by the brightly colored buildings found in beach towns. Whether in Freeport (The Bahamas), Carolina Beach (North Carolina), Tybee Island (Georgia), and Sanibel Island (Florida), the brilliant colors creates this sense of wonderland.

I was awestruck by Freeport's creative church architecture. I want to take pictures and write a book about their history and design. There's also a charm in the way the local Christian crosses are designed. Not over the top, but not plain either.

Both my study abroad trips happened in July.

In 2006, Ireland was in the middle of a heat wave, which made the low hanging sun (as a fellow traveler observed) all the more overbearing. Traveling with my wardrobe of long sleeved shirts, it caught me unprepared. The heat was so overwhelming that I swear I saw a type of hot mist when looking out at one of Ireland's tiny islands (I think) in an ocean far away. When exploring ancient stone mounds, I took refuge when I went inside, enjoying the cool interiors.

When I traveled to Italy, I was better prepared with light, loose clothing. As someone who lived in the American South all my life, I considered myself ready for the Italian heat. I was wrong. Italy in July had a different kind of heat that was dry and stuck to your skin. You took cold showers twice a day and wore loose skirts.

Never wear jeans.

Whether living in Italy, Ireland, or just having a French roommate, I learned that my name can be said in many ways without using the letter H.

I also learned that Irish literature and poetry earned its reputation for being wonderful. Coming home, my luggage was heavy with books. I also loved visiting the tiny port town of Dingle.

Going to Ireland was the first time I was traveling alone. When I traveled outside of Galway to visit Kylemore Abbey, I went to go see a chapel near the Abbey. I stopped walking to look at a mountain across the lake. The shadowy mountain at a distance made me realize, "I'm in Ireland." Then I took a photo of that mountain.

Before I landed in Italy, I had a weekend stopover in London. I explored multiple art museums, but my memories of those are almost all lost due to a haze of walking. That's the trouble with short trips abroad, details end up lost as one hurries around and worries about not wanting to deviate from a tight schedule. I do remember the chicken Kiev I had for lunch felt a little tough. I also remember relaxing with a snack and sitting near a busy street in London. This taught me the enjoyment of people watching. I would use that enjoyment when later sitting on Rome's Spanish Steps.

In Galway, street performers can range from playing music, staying still in a mysterious manner, to mischievously interacting with you. They want your attention. They have this element of mischief similar to creatures found in Irish mythology. Italian performance artists just stand there, only moving when you leave money. As seen in the photo below, the masked performer reminds the city of the Egyptian Influence on Rome. Performance as an act of defiance. The performer is silent but certain, as regal as a statue.

"Not all who wander are lost" but there's nothing wrong in occasionally getting lost.

Probably the most sublime moment in my life I was in Rome. My study abroad program was nearly over and I was walking around tight street alleyways and got lost. But I was not afraid. In fact, I felt at ease with myself and the Eternal City. Before the advent of phones with a Google Maps app, all I had was a bus pass and map with large icons of landmarks that have forever drawn people to Rome. With those tools, I had explored the outskirts of Rome full of museums filled with Etruscan and Modern Art. The National Gallery of Modern Art museum had a bevy of portraits, landscapes, and Alexander Calder. Calder I remember vividly due to his large sculpture amongst those landscapes and group portraits. His imposing and dominant sculpture stood out amongst the museums' walls of warm color schemes. He was the most modern amongst the Modern era. I saw Baroque art in all its beauty and emotion, turmoil, drama, and movement. Such as Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Apollo and Daphne. Daphne captured forever perpetually turning into a tree courtesy of a highly skilled Baroque artist.

As an art history major, Italy was a pilgrimage.

The 3D marvel that is the Sistine Ceiling is almost Baroque in how the characters look as though they are about to fall on you. The layer Michelangelo created between landscape and subject is astounding. He knew exactly how to capture the frozen moment similar to Baroque artists. Looking up at the Sistine ceiling, I wished that the Vatican would allow people to lie down on the floor so they can absorb this masterwork without hurting their necks.

When I saw Michelangelo's David for the first time, it was almost magical. And I almost missed that opportunity. When I walked through the hall leading up to Michelangelo's Biblical hero, I did not use my peripheral vision. I was too focused on Michelangelo's unfinished series of sculptures. Then I heard someone say "There's David" I looked straight ahead and there he was. Being able to circle around David after seeing only pictures of him? It is a revelation.

When I first set foot in Rome, the Square Colosseum was the first landmark I saw. In retrospect, I now realized it acted as a herald to a city forever caught between ancient and modern. I had explored the Forum ruins, and the brickwork peeking through columns left me in awe at the ancient world's modernity.

Florence's architecture made me delight in its geometric designs. While there, I went to this tiny restaurant that served seafood pizza with all sorts of ingredients that my bumpkin self would not think to put on as a topping.

When I visiting a lake outside Rome, I realized as I sat on chaise lounge drinking Peroni out of a plastic cup, eating an ice cream, and getting the nastiest sunburn I ever had in my life, I will never truly escape my Southern roots.

Venice was serene, blissfully quiet, and so romantic. First time I ever encountered architectural designs that created such an emotion. Furthermore, it was not until I was walking through various sections of the buildings I later realized that I was visiting the same locations that I had only seen in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. When I looked at Venetian art and listened to the tour guide, I noted the sense of national pride that emanated from the Venetian body of work.

Whether in Venice or Rome, there was the neverending tasks of restoring buildings. As you can see from the photos above this section, can't keep an Eternal City eternal if everything decays and falls apart.

When visiting Pompeii, I found humor while walking through a brothel and seeing the murals that offered scenarios to clients. Before I made my pilgrimage to Italy, Discovery Place had a Pompeii exhibit, and my father observed how the jewelry was similar to grandmother's collection. When the exhibit ended with the bodies, Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings played on a loop, and the bodies were lit brightly by overhead lights. The final showcase practically demanded that you pay solemn respect to the horror and tragedy wrought by Mount Vesuvius. Indeed, Mount Vesuvius loomed over Pompeii ruins. This monstrous natural phemonema loomed like a shadow. On top and looking inside a crater, I heard rumbling, for Vesuvius is dormant, nature's equivalent of an slumbering deity.

8-15-2018 I fixed a sentence in my paragraph involving Michelangelo.

9-3-2018: I removed a sentence involving my reaction to seeing Michelangelo's David for the first time. I did that mainly because my memory can't decide how I reacted specifically when I saw the sculpture for the first time. I just want to be honest.