The best part of traveling is getting lost, then, you open up eyes and heart, to find yourself.
In the past couple of weeks, there has been ups and downs with work and my relationship. Learning to deal with uncertainties is not easy, especially for someone like me who likes security and wants to plan everything. At moments when I felt overwhelmed, my solution is to book a trip to get away.
I have been to Florence once before, during the winter of 2016. But I didn’t feel a strong connection with the city - it was cold and rainy. To be honest, I wouldn’t have chosen to go back to Florence if not to attend an open day at Polimoda, a fashion school. This is one of my “random” fantasies about living in Italy for a year.
I didn’t have too much expectations for this trip, but maybe just because of this reason, I was able to approach the trip with an open-mind and harvest many nice surprises. Perhaps this is the attitude I should take for life as well :)
The first surprise came as soon as I board the flight, when captain announced that we were passing Mt. Blanc. It's beautifully sitting there among the clouds.
Then, on the second picture, you see a little "painter's stool". It belongs to a "street artist", who sells those generic watercolour sceneries of Florence for 20 euros. He's name is Dalio, a painter born and trained in Florence. We started talking because of my interest in this little stool, " I only talk to people who feel like having a conversation", perhaps Dalio also saw my boredom towards endless tourist crowds. From our conversations, I became intrigued by his way of living: being a "street artist" over the summer months, and a painter over the winter. As he describes, "doing these watercolours is relaxing and it's just to make a living, so I can devote my time to my work during the winter months".
Then, you have the violinist in a blue dress. She seemed so careless of the world, as if her entire universe is her music. She is like a symbol of Florence to me, a dream, a sense of freedom, and content.
I flew to Pisa from London. In my opinion, Pisa is a very cute city as well - it's not as delicate as Florence, but there is sense of livelihood which I adore. It is the city people actually live in, and this sense of community makes Pisa attractive to me. I walked pass the "notorious" Scuola Normale Superiore, where it's known of the tough entry exams only real "genius" can get in. One of my old professors at Imperial graduated from here. He wasn't a good teacher, but his arrogance and ridiculous sense of humour make him an unforgettable character.
On my last day, I visited a small town called Lucca, about 1hr away by bus from Pisa. It was recommended by the daughter of my hostel's owner. She is a third year university student, one of the two girls in her year studying for a mechanical engineering degree at University of Pisa. Our conversation started because I needed to borrow a charger for my phone - you see, sometimes small "accidents" in life can be turned into "surprises". We became friends, and said we would stay in contact if she comes to London or I go to Pisa again. Lucca is a very cute town itself, and I took the bus from Pisa that goes through some mountains and old villages. There is an old wall surrounding the town, on top you can ride bicycle. I spent my day in Lucca just riding my bike, wandering around some shops to do window-shopping, and trying out Tuscan cuisine - ribollita is my favourite, it's literally translates to "re-boiled", meaning you boil vegetables and beans with leftover bread. It's a typical "cucina povera" dish, meaning cuisine for the poor. To me it's perfect - simple and fresh. My flight was at 10pm, and this photo was taken at 5pm. I was sitting at the old market place of Lucca, a "round piazza", having my espresso and enjoying the Tuscan sun. I love the washed yellow colour of the wall and green window frame. It seems olive green and washed yellow are the Tuscan colours.
