Somewhere In The South
The same thing in white. Kind of same, but different. Though this might be a bit over-simplified. So, let’s start this again…
“We’ve done it again. Southern Italy. After Sardinia (well, that’s not precisely Southern Italy, but it certainly has a particular vibe about it) and Calabria a few years before that, we’ve visited Puglia this time. The short form: Brindisi, Martina Franca, Ostuni, the famous trullis of Alberobello and last but certainly not least, Lecce. Florence of the South, but baroque rather than renaissance.” started Christian Leyk.
You could also say gnocci, crudo di mare, primitivo, calafuria (an insanely excellent rosé wine) and, of course, lots of ice cream. Which brings us back to what’s new…
“First real holidays with the little one and seeing if he inherited our love for discoveries. Our attempts were slightly hampered by the fact that we also travelled with a bit more family, so we had to compromise and added more beach to the equation that we would have done otherwise. Maybe just as well, though generally I think the experience was a positive one for us and Gabriel. Yes, a few adjustments needed to be done; that’s life and in the end we’ll make it up as we go along:
1) He is okay with the car seat, but he absolutely hated to get in.
2) He can’t really be the worst behaving kid in the whole airport, can he?
3) He practically eats what we eat. But it’s not easy to convince him to sit nicely.
4) The key pads at the gate of the house are really fun. So are light switches. And door handles.
5) The beach isn’t bad either. Sand is cool, but who put salt in the water and why?
6) Southern Italy was never intended to be explored by baby buggy. papa’s shoulders are way better.
7) Papa’s shoulders are also perfect for reaching for the camera in papa’s hand….”
On the other hand, there are things that never change… we did catch Christian wondering how life would be living in Puglia. Lecce for example. There’s a nice atmosphere about it. Or somewhere in the countryside (which he marked down for not having the same lovely twisty mountain roads as Calabria), living in a masseria, growing his own wine and welcoming friends from all over the world… this seems to be a re-occurring dream that we’d better monitor closely!
But maybe there’s a table somewhere for sketching and a place near an olive tree for discussing new projects over a glass of primitivo? What do you think?
