Unopened Seed Packets

Back to Jeanette. We had a decidedly in depth conversation with her in Cortona. Discussing why someone has a “must do” list and how to make your own plans instead of someone else’s itinerary. But she also brought up another thought. When Jeanette came to Italy as a student, she was a tour guide in Florence and she had a revelation. As she was talking and describing and regaling her audiences, a visitor could start out totally disinterested and end up thoroughly engaged in her dissertation on a subject. If she detailed Botticelli’s Primavera, she might open the eyes of a guest who didn’t realize that they had an interest in art history. Or discussions of Etruscan art evoked a long stirring study by someone whose Tuscan bronze viewings sparked a new passion for ancient history. We have been definitely influenced by living seasonally in Florence. Learning like we did in a school setting is so different than literally dropping into a culture, a city, and country. The world comes alive when you travel, when you are here. Everything we walk by has a back story. The medieval tower. The Medici palazzo. Michelangelo’s David.

I found that I love stories. Listening to Paul Harvey as a teenager tell us “And the rest of the story” engaged us in the back story of people and events. The origin story. We would be sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for the reveal. I can recite some of his favorite stories to this day.

Like stories we have uncovered in Florence. Carlo Collodi wrote Pinocchio and his grave is right here at San Miniato al Monte overlooking the town. There is a carving on the wall of the Palazzo Vecchia that was etched by Michelangelo, as the story is told. Leonardo da Vinci flew his “Nibbio” from Monte Ceceri in 1506 in Fiesole, just above us in the hills. We hiked up there.

Everything we have discovered help bring the people to life. Brings the city to life. It begs us to unearth the connection we feel to the ancient peoples who lived and breathed in this same location.

On our first trip to Rome, I stood on the massive stones surrounding the Colosseum. I could literally feel the rumbling of the chariots under my feet. A Roman warrior or a Roman resident walked on this stone that I now stood on. Possibly 2,500 years ago. I was mesmerized. I was riveted to this position. Nothing I read or studied from a book as a student prepared me for the connectivity that I experienced.

Living in Granada, we strolled past a bookstore and began to dive into the history of the region. Purchasing the book, A Vanished World by Chris Lowney, we were awakened to the area’s past.

Looming high above the city, the imposing Alhambra was beautiful but we weren’t quite sure of its importance to the people who lived there. Our apartment balcony overlooked this magnificent creation and we sat outside with a glass of wine each night and pondered the lives of the residents.

The Nasrid King, Yusef Ben Nasr, built this exquisite Arabic palace filled with orchards and gardens. Until 1492, Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived side by side in Spain for decades. There is a beautiful story of how all three religions shared ovens throughout the city to bake the bread needed for the town. What a great story! But in 1492, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand moved into the Alhambra, and began purging the Jews and Muslims from this Iberian Peninsula. It would become a Catholic monarchy. Later that year, the two financed Christopher Columbus on his voyage to the New World. The history that one year is interesting, but the story of the shared ovens is more personal. More real.

Spending an afternoon discovering the Alhambra and the burial grounds of Isabella and Ferdinand in the Royal Chapel of Granada, we had a distinctly different view of Granada. Stories of the people of this region were ingrained into our souls.

Rick said that we are seed packets. We need to tear the bag open, plant the seeds, and add water. This is exactly what we are doing. We are indeed the seeds and living seasonally has fueled the passion of learning and experiencing the new and the old. Jeanette was right about a spark. Sparking a passion for something we didn’t know we had a yearning to learn.

So I am jumping down from the river ledge. We are off to embrace something new today.

Impariamo qualcosa di nuovo oggi.