I find Genova quite the magic city. I suspect I could go walking here, every single day, and find something quietly exquisite.
Sometimes it's an object, other times it's the light.
I had never noticed this part of the fountain before. And I have photographed the fountain, so many times. It was the light I think.
I saw the reflection first, then climbed up onto the edge of the fountain and chased the image created by the buildings in reflection.
There were more ...
The deal is ... if I work hard all day, then I can go wandering in Genova, about when the light gets interesting in the late afternoon.
I was out there today and it was glorious. I started in the full blue of late afternoon and sat on the floating pontoon for a while. Just enjoying the sun.
And I found this image on the way back through the port.
My fascination with reflections started way back when I was a small child in New Zealand. We used to head south, along State Highway 1 ... visiting Nana down in Invercargill. We'd pass by the swamp area in Henley and, oftentimes, the world reflected was a perfect copy of what was above.
It didn't take much for the small child I was, with the massive imagination I still have, to believe it was simply another world. An upside-down world.
We hunt for reflections here ... my camera and I. And Genova is perfect after rain. The puddles here, they contain stunning visions.
And the fountain ... in Piazza De Ferrari has long been a source of inspiration. A place to play.
Mmm, so that's what I did this evening. I went out wandering, in this beautiful city I love so much. Tonight, I have Amos Lee playing, the balcony doors are still open ... it's 21.18 and it's warm.
It's been a good day.
It was one of those deep-blue sky mornings here in London today.
I packed up my camera and headed into the city, out on a mission to explore a little. I'm getting there but so slowly.
It was a quietly exquisite day, one where I was mostly unsure of where I was but one where I learned that you're never really lost for long in London ... there's always another Underground station, and it's relatively simple to find your way home in the end.
I had lunch at a restaurant called Spaghetti House. An older gentlemen smiled as me as I arrived and I decided that all restaurants should have lovely older gentlemen, in that front table, who smile as though you're some old friend returning.
The staff speak in Italian, as did so many of their customers, and the food and wine were just what I needed. And I have finally learned to say no to extras, like water and bread, in London ... to just have my dish and a small glass of wine, not the large glass. And an espresso to finish is fine, grazie.
Italian is spoken all around me out there in the city and so, while I'm so tempted to move to Genova and try a life there, Im not completely cut off from that culture I love.
It was a day of wonderment, amusement, and quiet bemusement. There's a story I would love to tell but, to be honest, it would need so much wine for me to even speak of the incident. No doubt, friends will hear of it over time, perhaps.
It's enough to know that, on hearing it, Lenn laughed and said, 'You have to stop with the drugs, Di'.
My excuse is that I had just taken the series of shots of the fountain, at the start of this post, and was still kind of lost in that world of light and movement.
There's more, there's always more, but this is enough for tonight. It's late and I'm tired. I'll leave you with a photograph of the landmark I use to find my way 'home'. I always do this thing. In Genova, it's Porta Soprana that guides me into my street whenever I'm there. In London, it's the apartment building in the photograph that follows.
I looked up as I walked past it this morning and couldn't resist attempting a shot of it soaring into the blue.
I was racing off to the birthday party of a friend here in the city this afternoon, a little late because my beautiful boots bought only last year, were falling to pieces. Another friend had loaned me her hiking boots made of leather, as they were all she had in my size, but they were a little too small and were destroying my feet.
Traveling on my usual shoestring budget I couldn't replace them however ... it occured to me that if I slipped my sock-covered feet into plastic bags (cut to fit no less) and then put my boots on, they could leak all they wanted but my feet should stay dry.
Yes, I had taken them into a shoe repair shop but he could only attempt to glue the sole back to the leather however he couldn't promise that it would hold and anyway, the stitching was giving way in two other places and there was no fixing that.
They're only one year old. I had marked them as boots meant to last many years and yes, I only packed one pair of shoes. I imagined them sturdy.
So I risked being slightly late to the party but I couldn't go past the fountain in Piazza De Ferrari because it was looking spectacular.
I stood on the edge of it and played with the light a little.
There are days when I achieve ridiculous amounts ... because I must.
There are other days, when I smash into the wall that is too much to do and I am empty.
Yesterday was one of those inspired days. This new website was born, today I was this crumpled heap who achieved things but not at the level I like to achieve. Today was all about that early-morning school-run, the masses of laundry, about breathing ...
The new website is all about working with me in Genova, Italy. Jess built it. My daughter. I was so impressed. Her marketing campaign has begun and is impressing me too.
But finally home, with a computer screen that works, I am looking through photographs of those giddy-beautiful days spent in Genova last week.
The orange water ... the fountain there in the heart of the city is used to mark international days. I was in the city during Multiple sclerosis week.
