aesc: (umbrella on a sunny day)
aesc ([personal profile] aesc) wrote2009-04-07 11:18 am

.8 days of happy: Day 2!

EIGHT DAYS OF HAPPY! | prev. days: 01

Happiness: Day Two
I was drinking my espresso this morning, made in the moka pot I acquired when I visited [livejournal.com profile] smilla02 in Sicily oh my god almost three years now. That was probably the best trip and one of the best experiences of my life, and although I miss A. and Sicily (and the [livejournal.com profile] wat_europe girls from London) so much, every time I think about my week there, I'm so happy.


Monreale is the hilltop town that looks out over Palermo. Like Sicily, and Italy and Mediterranean Europe in general, its architecture is a graceful hodgepodge of Norman, Gothic, Arabic, and Byzantine Greek.



Taken on the first of two trips up to Monreale. This is beyond the cathedral walls, looking out over Palermo. The valley beneath Monreale is the Conca d'Oro, for the citrus groves.



A vegetable stand closed up to keep the sun off the veggies. (There were so many vegetable and fruit stands! And everything looked wonderful. Also, don't get me started on the bakeries and cafes.)



The nave of the cathedral, looking into the choir. Angels and the patriarchs and evangelists are on the uprights; in the apse over the altar (you can't see it) is the great Christ Pantokrator; you can see the book he holds in his left hand. Practically all of the cathedral interior is a mosaic, gold and azure and vermilion, the stories from Scripture turned into fire.

.eta!: In moar happy news, the Vermont legislature overrode Gov. Jim Douglas's veto to legalize gay marriage. GO VERMONT. (As MSNBC points out, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa's legalization were by court ruling; Vermont is the first to legislate it.)

[identity profile] aesc.livejournal.com 2009-04-08 01:08 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much! And I totally agree... Monreale is really one of those places you need to see in color. And in person :D