Feet, Belur, India

This photo holds a lot of meaning for me personally. This was taken when my husband and I were on our honeymoon in 2007. We had just had our second wedding in Bangalore and were traveling the countryside near by with his cousins.

After a day or two in Bandipur to see the nature preserve, we headed back to Bangalore, stopping in Belur to see the temple. My hands and feet were covered with mehendi, which was a source of amusement to not only me, but most of the Indians as well.

While I was at the temple, walking around barefoot, I stopped to take some pictures of my own feet. I have a penchant for doing this on vacation. While doing so, I noticed one woman trying to catch a glance of what I was doing, a knowing smile on her face. We smiled at each other, and I carried on.

When I came across this image, doused in tumeric and decorated with offerings of flowers, I couldn’t help but think of my own decorated feed, and the role they played in our Indian ceremony (the husband helps the bride take steps with a rock under her foot). A friend purchased this as a wedding present and I couldn’t think of anything more befitting. Every time I look at this, it reminds me of my own wedding, my own vows, my own decorated feet. I hope the lucky newlyweds gathered the gist of that feeling.

Filed under:
365 days of stories, Honeymooning, Memories from the Wedding Celebrations, My Art, Wedding by Courtney

from the Ponte Vecchio, Florence

It had been a jam-packed day in Florence. We had walked the city, been to the Museo Galileo, stood by the River Arno watching the rain fall, debating on whether or not to continue on. The clouds parted, and we started across the Ponte Vecchio, over to Boboli Gardens, where I was enchanted by cats, enamored with landscapes, and in love with every last architectural detail I could find there. We had arrived a little out of sorts, due to the rain, but left happy, smily, go lucky.

We ducked into a small courtyard, and had a bite to eat, and more than a sip to drink. It started to sprinkle, but our bellies were full, so we walked arm in arm back toward the hotel. As we neared the center of the Ponte Vecchio, we stopped, breathtaken by the lights shimmering on the river and the wet night. That’s when I knew I had to get this picture.

No tripod in hand (but really, when do I ever have one of those around), I sat my camera down on the edge of the bridge, straps wrapped tightly around my wrist, for fear of knocking it over the side. Snap once. Snap twice. Third time’s a charm!

Filed under:
365 days of stories, Florence, Honeymooning, Italy, My Art, Stream of Consciousness by Courtney

One of my favorite places in Florence, the Gardens of Boboli had a nice surprise – Cats! They didn’t want much to do with anyone, but I think if I’d had more time I would have enough cats to make a calendar.

As we walked home one night, I also noticed these boxers and immediately thought of Dad – so I snapped a picture.

Filed under:
Florence, Honeymooning, Italy by Courtney

portions originally written Oct. 12th, 2007

It’s truly amazing I can fly for 17 hours and still feel at home. Everyone speaks English, the stores are the same (well, high end, Bvlgari, Gucci, Burberry, Fendi everywhere – it’s like a large Santana Row or Plaza), the food is fairly similar to the Bay Area. The world is indeed becoming flat.

Commercials are the one difference I’ve seen. Here people of every race, countries all over the world advertise. Pretty different from our white-bread world where “diversity” means you throw in a hispanic or two because the buzz in marketing is they are a very large and growing minority with disposable income. Though, I’m not sure if it should be called diversity or capitalization. I guess there’s a fine line…

The Qatar commercial was the one that was playing when this ran through my mind. It would never have run in the US. An Arab man and his son are skipping stones in the water. It goes on to promote business in Qatar… suddenly I find myself wondering where Qatar is and feeling as dumb as the Americans who can’t find South Dakota on a map.

It is clean here. I had this realization while riding the cable car over to Sentosa Island and noticing with the construction they were trying to keep pollution out of the ocean. Once we arrived at Sentosa Island we decided to stick around. We went to see the statue of the merlion and were able to watch a wonderful short film explaining how this symbol of Singapore came to be – the stylized animation was awesome.

Seoul was also a nice airport to visit. Clean, nice design, wonderful lighting. And the airlines are nothing like the US. They’re effificient and still know what customer service is. Take for instance – we boarded 5-10 minutes late. They were apologetic – unlike the US Airlines that tell you to be happy they got you on a plane 4 hours late. Gee – that trip home at Christmas is going to be just wonderful.

Filed under:
Honeymooning, Korea, Seoul, Singapore by Courtney

Portions continued from the October 24, 2007 handwritten (*gasp!!*) diary entry…

After wandering through the Forum and the Coliseum, Raju and I headed up to Palantine Hill. Raju, being the more observant of the two of us, noted how the grass was indeed greener for the rich folk. I, probably being the more sarcastic of the two of us, thought the bullshit spewing forth from these politicians must have made great manure (the smarmy continues…).

No matter how smarmy tonight, at the time, this is where it really hit me as to why art flourished in Italy. The light is just so damn beautiful, as are the colors of almost everything in Rome.

My feet hurt like hell after Rome (though, truly, I didn’t know what tired feet were until Florence). But Palantine Hill was definitely one of those moments where time slowed, where we forgot we had a million and one things to see in Rome, and we enjoyed meandering down the hill, away from the palaces and back to the land of reality. Those few moments are one of the treasured on this trip.

Bracolli Floretta on Palantine Hill

Filed under:
Honeymooning, Italy, Rome by Courtney