Missing Genova

I miss Via Ravecca, the open window I work next to there, and the noise of the street below. 

I love the way life sounds lived there in the old part of the city of Genova.

I miss the smell of the farinata nearby.  And the overflow of people, their talk and their laughter, at Pizzeria Ravecca. 

I miss walking through Porta Soprana on my way to someplace nice everyday.

I miss the beautiful fountain in Piazza De Ferrari.  And I miss Palazzo Ducale.

I miss 15 celsius because I have returned to -1 celsius. 

I miss interviewing the people of Genova about their quietly remarkable lives.

I'm missing Genova.

The photograph here was taken by Dear Miss Fletcher ... who wrote, E poi siamo passate all’Antica Barberia Giacalone.

New Boots ...

I had decided to head back to Belgium, cautiously wearing my broken boots however ... on the way to the supermarket this morning I accidentally looked in the window of the Bata shoe shop.  It's on Via XX Settembre, at 270-272R.  I wandered in, just to browse.

I'm so  glad I did.  The women working there were lovely and so are my new boots.  They had a special deal on ... buy 3 pair and get the second most expensive pair for just 1 euro.    And I loved the idea of that because I loved 3 pair of their shoes however I only bought one pair. 

They were on sale, at 39euro, and I thought them so very beautiful. 

Sadly, my feet are currently hating them.  I floated round the city in them all day, not realising till I reached the other end of town, that some breaking-in would have to take place.  I am home now, wearing my slippers, wondering how tomorrow will go because I may have already thrown out my old broken boots.

Porca miseria ...

But aren't they beautiful.

Long Ago And Far-Away...

Long ago and far-away I fell in love with a reflected world.  I was a child traveling State Highway 1, heading south on the flood-free, passing Henley.  Destination Invercargill and Nana's house.

There were swamp-lands next to the highway and a creek that offered the most stunningly clear reflections I've ever seen.

I used to imagine another world, an upside-down world, there in the creek as we passed by in those days when I was a kid in the back seat, dreaming my kid-dreams.

Genova has made me fall in love with reflections all over again.  I love when there is just enough rain to make puddles here on the cobblestones.

Today there was just enough rain to give me a glimpse of that other world. 

La Vita è Bella - or Meeting Mau.

Back in August, I discovered Maurizio's blog via some beautiful photographs he took of people I simply adore here in Genova.  He had titled that post Il Sogno di Francesca e Norma. 

I added his blog to my blogreader thingy and enjoyed reading his stories.  His work means he travels ... extensively.  There is no other way to describe the way so many different countries appear on his blog.  But the thing that truly fascinated me was the way that people, from all over the world, seemed to trust him to take their photographs.  This isn't an easy thing.  I was curious.

One of his bases is Genova.  Like me, he's pretty much head-over-heels in love with this city and I think it shows in the images he captures, accompanied by stories, whenever he's here.  He's Italian but speaks other languages too.

It turned out that we were going to be in Genova, at the same time, for just a couple of days.  So today was the day that we met for lunch.  But lunch Mau-style. 

This means that we went to that tiny local restaurant, so full of character that I'm surprised the building doesn't break apart from the strain of it all, and ate a most divine lunch ... served by people who truly enjoy seeing him.  Not hesitating to mock or advise him but also showing their deep affection for him.

We ate tagliolini al pesto, ravioli al tocco, cima with insalata russa and arrosto con purea.  There a glass or two of Nebbiolo as well.  A dessert was brought to the table despite us deciding we wouldn't order any.  Did I mention how much these people enjoyed seeing him?

We moved on, heading down to a gelateria he knows.  Again he was greeted so warmly and I was given more than a few small spoons of gelato to taste due to being there with Mau.  I will be returning to that place of divine gelato, again in the months ahead.  I'll post on it once I have all the details.  There was much talking, I didn't make notes ...

I was introduced to the couple who own a vege and fruit stall, and went back to them this evening to buy pumpkin and onions for my pumpkin soup.  But really, where ever this man goes in the city, people smile.  He has this idea, this belief, that life is beautiful ... and he seems gifted in making it true.

Finally he organised a photograph, one he'd taken of me over lunch, onto a usb stick and introduced me to the most superb printing shop I've never found here in Genova.  It's hidden.  So hidden.  I know this because I've been searching for one like it since first arriving here back in 2008.

So I have this large laser print of the photograph you'll find over on Mau's blog.  The one where I'm realising there's a camera pointing at me and there's no escape.  I'm the most difficult photographic subject I know. 

I popped back to see the printers tonight and had 3 prints made for Barbara.  A small series from the family photo session I did last Sunday.  The large laser prints are so veryvery affordable (less than 2 euros) that I suddenly have a way of gifting people the photographs I take of them while here.  I'm rapt.

So Mau has raced off back into the world.  I wandered out for an aperitivo with Barbara.  This city ... I do love being here.

Oh, and the photograph below. As photographers, we confessed to a mutually intense dislike of having our photographs taken however we allowed it today.

Some Sublime ...

Genova is one of those places where something sublime seems to happen most days.

Monday I finally slowed down and organised myself here at Paola's place.  I was expecting/planning a quiet night but suddenly it became one of those extraordinary evenings that involved me following instructions, boarding a bus and arriving at Stadio Luigi Ferraris, home of the Genoa football team.  

Extraordinary  because I started following the Genoa back in those days when I lived in New Zealand.  I was a rugby kind of woman in some ways but sport is religion back home and so I was open to being curious about most sports.

In Istanbul, Genoa kept me safe when my students (always) asked which team I supported ... Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, or Trabzonspor?  I would calmly reply, Genoa.  Shocking them into acceptance.

In Belgium, I attempted to switch my support to Antwerp but found I couldn't.  Genoa had occupied that part of my heart and there was no point in trying to change.

And so I follow their news here and it works well enough.  The games appear as live text.  I was fine with this (because I had to be) but last night ... LAST NIGHT I WAS AT THE GAME. 

Ohmygoodness.  You know when something is so amazing that you can't believe it is real? 

It was like that.

When I first started following the team, I lived more than 16,000kms away.  Last night, there was the team, directly below me.   And they were good. 

I think this is the best team since I began following although, I should note that one has to reserve large amounts of pessimism and display almost no hope, for fear of jinxing a good run but the team this year ... it's good.  Really good.

So, yesterday's sublime was finally attending a game at the superb Stadio Luigi Ferraris.

A huge grazie mille to those who made it happen.