STL DPB ON THE ROAD - VILLA SCACCIAPENSIERI

Our home away from home in the hills on the edge of Siena. The beautiful, musically Italian name means something like scatter your cares and thoughts. It is a 19th Century manor house turned into a boutique hotel. We stayed there perhaps 25 years ago. Fond memories brought us back.

We spent six nights there, going into the city and taking day trips around Tuscany. The staff, all of whom spoke excellent English, could not have been more helpful and friendly. The restaurant is a wow. The value for Americans was very good because of the current favorable exchange rate (1€ = US$1.06). If you find yourself going to Siena you should check it out.                

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - SHAPE AND SPACE

Still in the Bologna cathedral pending getting back out on the street at home. We have been in a lot of big churches but the rhythm of shape and space, the theme and variations, in this one particularly impressed us.               

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - ST. PETRONIUS

St. Petronius, the patron saint of Bologna, was bishop of the city in the mid-5th Century. Details of his life are a bit sketchy. The enormous cathedral seen in recent days is dedicated to him. His statue looms over the central piazza, where a tennis exhibition was taking place. I don't think his blessing helped anybody's shots.          

STL DPB IN CHURCH - BORN TO BE WILD

While we were visiting the Bologna cathedral, we heard a beautiful baritone voice singing a hymn. I thought a service of some kind had started, but when I turned I saw this. A man in a tee shirt, presumably a tourist, stood before the sanctuary and performed a sacred song in a powerful voice. I don't know if he was part of a tour group and I certainly don't know what inspired him. Perhaps it was the space itself.

It's hard to see in this picture but his shirt says Born To Be Wild. Chose your own definition.             

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - SHOELACES

This view makes me think of how the vault of the Bologna cathedral is held together. It seems to be laced up securely.                

ITALY IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR - UFIZZI MADNESS

Profiles in excess tourism in Florence. The subjects of the double portraits are said to be the Duke and Duchess of Urbino circa 1475, but the dates of marriage, death and ascension to to the dukedom make that impossible (interesting history and analysis of the art at https://tinyurl.com/2vvt3tdu). The museum was so crowded it wore down our old bodies. I really wanted to see the Caravaggios but we had to get out of the herd. 

Oh, and the Duomo was closed.              

STL DPB LOOKING BACK - YOU CAN ALMOST SMELL THE INCENSE

Home now, a day late. The flight from London to Chicago was way behind schedule and, until you have flown on an A380, you have no idea how very long it takes to get 460 passengers' luggage onto the carousel.  Spent the night at an airport hotel and arrived home yesterday.

We will have to look at pictures of Italy for a bit, not too much of a hardship. This is a view from the nave of the Siena Duomo looking toward the altar seen in Friday's post. I get a sense of the enormity, solemnity and overstated grandeur of the place.              

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - BAROCOCO

The nave of the Siena Duomo. I know something about Western art history but I'm no expert. Something here is sliding between the baroque and rococo but I couldn't define where the line falls. In any event, the visual effects are overwhelming. The church construction was begun in the 13th and 14th Centuries, and it is mind-boggling to consider the architectural and engineering skill. The decoration developed over the following centuries. It is impossible for even an interested tourist to take it all in.

As mentioned, lots of flying today. May get some photo editing done on the long London - Chicago segment but I don't know when I'll get my next post up.           

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - THE HEAVENS

Last day of leg wearying, joint aching tourism. We do okay walking around on vacation but Tuscany is full of settled mini-mountains, built that way, I suppose, for defensive purposes. 10,500 step day yesterday, which may be a modern personal record. What the health app on my phone does not record without consulting the altimeter is the hill climbing, many days 300 - 400 feet / 90 - 120 meters. We've had enough.

On our final day here we visited the Siena Duomo, which is an architectural and artistic spectacle. The central dome over the nave invites visitors with a supple enough neck to contemplate heaven. I got the shot because my camera has an articulating LED screen.

Drive back to Bologna today and spend the night at an airport hotel. Tomorrow it's BLQ - LHR - ORD - STL, 11 hours of flying and 5 hours of airport transfers, gods of the air willing. We are ready to go home.       

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - REASONS FOR NOT GOING TO THE UFIZZI

Day trip to Florence yesterday. I'll spare you the details of how bad a job Google Maps did on the tiny, twisted streets of the city center and how lost we got just trying to find parking. Anyway, I really wanted to go to the Galleria degli Ufizzi.It was as crowded as the Louvre in mid-summer or the Metropolitan in New York during Christmas week. Arguably not worth the effort.

I remember the other time I saw Botticelli's Birth of Venus here, perhaps 25 years ago. I don't remember the season but the place wasn't crowded. I stood in rapture for a long time in front of this work until a guard jabbered at me in Italian because an Asian tour group couldn't see through/around tall me.  At some point this gets so tiring that I can't absorb any more.    

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - UNDER THE TUSCAN HAZE

Apologies to Frances Mayes' wonderful book, but we have been driving around Tuscany for a couple of days looking for the quintessential view and the light has been just dreadful. Dull, hazy, formless. The landscape shots I took are unusable. After climbing uphill about 125 meters from the parking lot to to the central piazza in Montepulciano, I had to satisfy myself with some strange entertainment. A German video crew had these two young women race around a corner and then collapse. I couldn't make any sense of it. The tourist sitting on a bench wasn't interested at all.               

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - RENAISSANCE iPHONE

Seen in the small Tuscan hill town of Pienza. Must be the original Model 1.  

Didn't make it that far yesterday, with the effect of warm, humid weather and lots of hills on old muscles and joints. Will try for Montalcino and Montepulciano today. Had some fabulous Nobile di Montepulciano with dinner last night. Tuscan cuisine is not for the faint of heart.              

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - THE TALE OF THE POOPED OUT TOURIST

Okay, admit it. We are old. Pretty healthy but not in top physical condition. We did well enough in Bologna, which is flat, but Siena is all hills. 10,000 steps today, up and down, a lot for me, and my legs feel like putty. Not quite like this when we got back to the hotel (he is obviously young and strong, but maybe having a bad day) but it's got us thinking about maybe river cruises for future travel.

This was found in the Museo Civico on Il Campo, the central public space of Siena. We could not find anything to explain it. I'd share some of my naproxen with him. We plan an easier day today, driving toward Montepulciano and Orvieto. Might buy some wine.          

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - TUSCAN LANDSCAPE

Two hour drive today from Bologna to Siena, braving the speed demons of the autostrada. We are staying in a place we were perhaps 20 years ago in an 18th Century mansion, the Villa Sacciapensiere, on the hills north of the city. This is the view just before sunset from one of the terraces. Day trips around Tuscany for the next several days.          

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - BASILICA OF SAN PETRONIO

Like everywhere in Italy, there are a bunch of big, ornate and mostly rococo Catholic churches (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rococo), in Bologna. The most grand is Basilca of San Petronio, (whoever he was), the patron saint of the city, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Petronio,_Bologna . It is far bigger than the official metropolitan cathedral. In terms of interior volume, and it is the sixth largest church in Europe.      

We ended up in Bologna by chance because air fares from London were cheaper than flying into Florence. I'm glad we came. Definitely worth a visit and OMG you eat well here.    

WEDNESDAY NIGHT IN BOLOGNA

We made it, drooping with jet lag. Quick pic for now. Had a marvelous dinner of a regional specialty dish, tortellini al ragu, and then found this around the corner.     

 

STL DPB IN THE AIR - THE SWEET LIFE

The joint British Airways - American Airlines Club Whoopee at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Hard to believe, but there seem to be eight BA and AA flights from here to London this evening. Long layover at Heathrow on Wednesday. We will be touching down there about the time after this post goes up.                

STL DPB IN THE AIR: ITALIAM FATO PROFUGUS

An old photo illustrating tonight's transport. London is not our final destination, just a connection point. The Latin quote is from the opening of Virgil's Aeneid, which some &^$%& Jesuits made me read in high school: driven to Italy by fate. Well, in our case, more driven by British Airways. 

We reach our landing place tomorrow night. Weird Al provides a theme song for the city we're heading to - https://youtu.be/hikh0d0q7HA?si=MdO517fWpjuFlNhM  We expect to eat well.         

 

MADELEINE MONDAY

 

We took the kid to the art fair. Her attention was, um, selective. She did, however, enjoy a ride on an Audi. It is one of the major sponsors of the fair, which may say something of its type of visitor.                     

RAINBOW PLAZA

The Saint Louis Art Fair is taking place this weekend. It's big, taking up several city blocks in the suburb of Clayton. That's become a second downtown, modern, sleek and sanitary. The fair is hard to photograph since it is very crowded on a beautiful weekend like this. What got my eye was a plaza leading to a parking garage. The design is unusual if nothing else.       

FLOTSAM RIVER CIRCUS

There is a delightful band of waterlogged vagabonds calling itself The Flotsam River Circus, http://www.rivercircus.com/about.html . They have spent the summer floating down the Mighty Mississippi, mooring their rickety barge/stage at the river towns from Minneapolis-St. Paul on south, performing a wacky mix of music, comedy and acrobatics. Their last stop of the season is here this weekend. 

This late-summer night was perfect, even if the cobblestone levee was rough. We took granddaughter Ellie who declared it the best circus she had ever seen. For locals, it is repeated tonight and tomorrow at 6. Free, but donations are very appropriate. It's located on the river just north of Eads Bridge, with nearby parking in Laclede's Landing.

WORN OUT

Perhaps how an artist feels after the work of Paint Louis is done. It's photography geek stuff, but I like how the formal elements in this one turned out. Dark, sharp, cool but active against warm, round and passive. Horizontal wall top against the vertical smokestacks. They are across the Mississippi in Illinois so they're pretty big. 

There are a number of things going on around town this weekend so I hope to have something fresh to show. Midweek we blow off on another adventure.              

OFF THEIR MEDS

Hieronymus Bosch on a particularly bad trip, or maybe a contemporary painter off anti-psychotics. I've mentioned that some of the Paint Louis wall art reminds me of particular artists. This one makes me think of Francis Bacon, https://www.francis-bacon.com/paintings . You see his work in all the big museums. I find it deeply disturbing and walk by quickly.

$100

Only a few non-Americans would recognize this face and mayby not many of us. It is the engraved portrait of Benjamin Franklin that appears on the US $100 bill. Maybe you've seen a movie showing a briefcase packed full of Bens. I like the artistic embellishments. They remind me of the style of one of my favorite painters, James Rosenquist.              

STOP

 

I went back to the flood wall yesterday afternoon. Monday was the Labor Day national holiday (nowadays sometimes a bitter irony) and Paint Louis was officially to run through the afternoon. Almost everything had been wrapped up by the time I arrived. Without crowds, I could cruise up and down, looking for what caught my eye.

An awful lot of it to my old eyes was, as usual, elaborate, illegible tagging. A new trend seems to be block capital letters, three to six to them, that might be initials or acronyms but never with an explanation. Lost on me. A few sections had strong imagery, some blunt, some subtle. That's what I stopped to record.

And this one? Well, this is the United States.         

GOAL POSTS

Another section of the flood wall at Paint Louis. I'm not sure what the scarlet pipes are for. Maybe something to do with a natural gas pipeline, but that's a guess. They fit nicely with the new paint job and the cloudless sky.         

HOW IT'S DONE

Preparing a section of wall for this year's work at Paint Louis. The top of the flood wall is several feet / well over a meter from the top of the roller. Since the wall goes on for more than 3 miles / 5 km, it's hard to imagine the volume of paint used on the whole project. Hot work, too, in the harsh sun. Still quite warm here.       

PAINT LOUIS

First image from Paint Louis 2023, the 27th year for the event. Artists come from all over the world on our Labor Day long weekend to redecorate a 3.5 mile / 5.6 km stretch of the Mississippi River flood wall any way they wish. It was just getting started yesterday and continues through the Monday holiday.

There are still more pictures from The Fringe to work in somewhere but we also have the big Japanese Festival at the botanical garden this weekend.            

CITY DAILY PHOTO SEPTEMBER THEME - BOTTLE

The September City Daily Photo theme is bottle, a broad concept. Rather than show a glass or plastic container, I chose one of our town's minor landmarks (with the major one in the picture). Vess is a local soft drink company, whose motto, seen in small print under the name, is Billion Bubble Beverage. The giant bottle rotates and is easily visible from a major highway that runs nearby. It had gotten dingy but was repainted a few years ago. The location is a down-at-the-heels area just north of the city center. Plans promoted to redevelop the area as The Bottle District never went anywhere.    

City Daily Photo members around the world display their vessels at https://citydailyphoto.org/category/theme-days/ .