Palm Sunday, 2009

Friends, family and the othewise nosey,

The meteorological curse of the Bowens continues, this time in Italy. The weather is very cool. Last night was probably one of the coldest since we arrived. Italians are complaining about the usual weather, both cool and very wet. We have avoided most of the rain, however, the cool temperatures persist and Italians are all bundled up in parkas – stylish parkas, but parkas nonetheless!

Yesterday was Palm Sunday and as I took my early walk, I saw dozens of vendors with a variety of religious accoutrements: Palm fronds, sprayed silver, those that were plain and a good many olive branches. Given the number of olive groves we passed on the way down on the train and abundance olives and olive oils in the markets, this was hardly surprising.

Certainly the visibility of the Italians at the more than 40 churches in this city is greater than what we saw in France. The church activity also seems to go on through the day, as we were out in the early evening and churches were still the central gathering spots for the day.

As for us, we did little yesterday except a good deal of reading. We both had good books that were difficult to put down. I finished up “Sarah’s Key,” which builds its story around the arresting of French Jews in Paris, called the the Vel d’Hiver, and the shipping of whole families to the concentration camp. It was an act carried out not by the Nazis, but by the French police. It was something that was not noted until 1995. Good story and a very sad time in the history of France. Also got a start on “Loving Frank,” the story of an affair between a woman and Frank Lloyd Wright. Polley is reading “Someone Knows My Name,” a novel dealing with the slave trade in the late 18th century. We recommend all of them. It certainly is a luxury to just spend the time reading and with the weather right now, that seems a good choice.

We did get out and stroll about for while in the late morning and early afternoon, stopping for a glass of wine in Piazza St. Oronzo, choosing for the first time to enjoy it inside instead of out, as the temperature and the wind were less than cooperative.

Another lunch that was actually more of our left over dinner from Saturday night, enjoying the salad that we were unable to finish. Sunday evening saw us finish the 3rd offering, two delicious Panini.

After a lovely nap, we ventured out to the opening of a new Wine Shop just around the corner. I think we were the only non-Italians there. We were not sure what it was about, but we were made to feel welcome, especially by a very nice fellow named Mario. He was from Lecce, but had worked in London for 15 years, mostly as a chef. He had not used his English in a while, but between his English and my Italian were had a nice chat. Also had an excellent glass of local wine. After roaming about, cocktail party style, and finding no one else with a shred of English, we finished our glass of wine. The Wine shop and bar sits right next to another wine bar, Santa Cruz, that we enjoy. We felt so bad about being at the one wine bar that we went over and had a glass at Santa Cruz, just to keep in the good graces of all.

Strolled home on a cold, but clear night for some dinner and a little reading. It was a nice Palm Sunday.

Ed and Polley