The Agony and the Ecstacy. Florence Italy

Irving Stone wrote a book by the same name about Michelangelo. Since we're in his hometown, I stole the title. I bought a sketch pad two days ago because I convinced myself that I could draw portraits like the artists that hang out in Piazza Navona in Rome or outside the Ufizzi Gallery here in Florence. They make it look so easy; 15 minutes and they're done. Start with the eyes; they all do it. I guess if you get those wrong, there is no hope. I read somewhere recently that you can't truly see something until you draw it. My problem is that I can't get my hands to draw what my eyes see. Perhaps modern art could be my forte. I have found that I study objects and people much more closely if I intend to try to draw them. Whether I do it or not is much less important. Another life lesson I should have picked up about 35 years ago.

Metaphorically, the title also speaks to the harsh realization that our trip is coming to an end soon. We have 7 more weeks before we head home. I'll head back to work shortly thereafter. The kids want to spend some time at school before the end of May and we'll begin to put the house back together. But life will never be the same for us. Much as we had hoped, the trip has opened our eyes and our minds. We are all confident world travelers now and I don't think there is anyplace that would seem too far away or exotic. Lots more on this later. For now, I'm trying to catch whatever ecstacy remains in our adventure and forget about the agony of being a crummy artist who needs to go back to a real job soon.

Oh, by the way, we posted more pictures from London, Zurich and Milan. I should have the first batch from Southern Italy up in the next couple days. I think Anne Nelson's blog is up to date so you can see that we've been taking it easy for the last week. We're here in Florence for another couple of days and then on to Venice for 5 days. From there, we're headed to Greece and Turkey for the last leg of the trip before flying home.