Prisoner of Hopes

Category: Perseverence

  • Between a Rock and a Foggy Place: Travel Goals Italy

    Between a Rock and a Foggy Place: Travel Goals Italy

    It is still raining in Lesa. We head to Varese where there are a few indoor museums. The weather there should be clear and we will be able to visit the Sacred Mountain of Varese. We head out and the rain stops as we get farther down the road. It is looking pretty good, until…

  • Rainy Retail Therapy: Travel Goals Italy

    Rainy Retail Therapy: Travel Goals Italy

    It is set to rain all day and all night…..again. I search the map for anyplace within three hours that might be deluge free. I find nothing. My next search is for indoor places to spend time. Neither of us want to walk all day in heavy rainfall. My shoes are still wet from yesterday.…

  • Rainy Days Are Still Beautiful: Travel Goals Italy

    Rainy Days Are Still Beautiful: Travel Goals Italy

    Sunny, magical days have to be interrupted occasionally. And so the rain sets in for a multi-day period of grey clouds and damp pavement. Since we are in Italy to experience Italy, we set off for a wet drive around the lake to Cannobio on Lake Maggiore (….not to be confused with Cernobbio on Lake…

  • Stranded: Travel Goals Italy

    Stranded: Travel Goals Italy

    Sometimes things are not as you want them to be. You just have to take a deep breath and deal with them as they are. We wanted to take the ferry to Intra and then on to Isola Madre, the last Borromean island we haven’t visited. It was market day in Intra…and I love market…

  • Been There: Travel Goals Italy

    Been There: Travel Goals Italy

    I am a contrary traveler. I don’t mean to be, but I almost never enjoy the “it” places. I read the guidebooks and “just to say we have been there”, we dutifully go to the “must see” places. I am almost always disappointed. I don’t like crowds. I don’t like the so called “ugly” tourists…

  • Convents, Cable Cars, and Clothing: Travel Goals Italy

    Convents, Cable Cars, and Clothing: Travel Goals Italy

    The day is overcast as we drive around the lake to Santa Caterina del Sasso. An ancient monastery along Lake Maggiore, Santa Caterina is carved into the rock. It hangs above the lake as if suspended by magic. After parking and trying to decipher signs that seem to suggest the monastery is in two different…

  • Climbing the Sacred Mountain After Sailing to the Island of Silence: Travel Goals Italy

    Climbing the Sacred Mountain After Sailing to the Island of Silence: Travel Goals Italy

    Saturday in Northern Italy is marked by hordes of men on bicycles taking over the roadways. These biker gangs are problematic because the roads are narrow as they curve up and down the foothills of the Alps. The general rule I’ve determined is the narrower the road and the more blind curves, the more cyclists…

  • Angera Unplanned: Travel Goals Italy

    Angera Unplanned: Travel Goals Italy

    I am up with the dawn no matter where in the world I find myself. My husband is up with the owls and does not like mornings. This makes for some interesting travel logistics. Multi-room lodging is usually best, so I can get up and move about without waking him. But after three hours, if…

  • Skunked

    Skunked

    Friday started out normally. I had laundry running and was packing for an upcoming trip. As I moved from room to room, I caught whiffs of an unusual odor. I kept working. There was a heat wave, with temperatures reaching 100 and I wasn’t too keen on working outside in between my zoom calls and…

  • Stillness, Surgery, and Serenity

    Stillness, Surgery, and Serenity

    If you know me, you know I rarely sit still. Even when I am “watching” television, I am usually doing a word puzzle or craft project. When I am driving, I ponder and grapple with ideas. I like to be on the move mentally and physically. So when my husband finally decides (after 10 years…