Tag Archives: travel
Attraversiamo
First day of Spring and Weekly Joy 7
I love Spring! That ray of sunshine after a dark, rainy, cold winter.
This last weekend I got spring started by spending a sparkling long weekend in Lisbon. What an enchanting city. All the perks of a city, with all the beauty of a pueblo. Obrigada Lisboa, for your hospitality, kindness, and delicious food.
This week is a short week at school, working hard to get caught up before semana santa, a difficult feat as the kids teachers are antsy for vacation.
I am over the moon about my trip to Italy, starting tomorrow! I will be Roaming & Wandering around Florence, Venice, and Rome for 9 beautiful days. With Holy Week, Easter, and a new Pope, it should be a curious time to visit Italy.
Readers, be prepared for many new thoughts and ideas here at Roam&Wander upon my return. But for now I leave you with a little bit of weekly joy…
I’m just finishing On the Road after a great friend of mine commented that my writing reminded her of the Beats. It’s something completely different than I´ve ever read, and it’s been really great to roam across the continental USA with my friend Sal. I found it quite curious to see a book review in the New York Times around the same time I’m finishing. It’s quite controversial to be compared to a beat. But I love the idea of being a raw writer. My time in Spain has definitely taught me to be more spontaneous (hence, Roam&Wander).
“Be free. Be open. Be naked in your responses to the world and its peoples.”
(via cafecomversos)
(via art&psychology)
(via switcheroo)
weekly joy {4}
Why Kids Need Schools to Change:
“people must be willing to try new things, to be more open, curious and experimental”
Be a virtual wanderer.
360cities. A garden in Venice.
Going everywhere is financially and physically impossible. So I love being a virtual wanderer. London is on that list for sure. Explore some Bookstores. Get the feel for big museums as well as the local vibe.
Madrid para Niños
by Javier Zabala. Gorgeous illustrations of the city that I’ve come to know and love.
For travelers and language lovers
this is an everyday must-read. Matador Network
Some fun things this week:
The perfect song for the wandering soul:
atm of happiness:
This article, by travel blogger Nikki, so poignant, yet reachable – about the essence of travel and sharing that love with others.
You can learn a country’s outline with a guidebook, but to know its soul, look to its literature, its language, its dance.
she will come to know her own heart
the need to slip across borders and lose yourself in new places
the indelible mark traveling has left on my hungry heart
to feel her heart expand and contract as she takes in the chaos and calm of a new horizon
I want her to feel uncomfortable, confused, disoriented, and then proud when she rearranges herself and comes out the other side, knowing her own strength, exuding her own brand of joy
to find the difference between living and existing
to get wonderfully and hopelessly lost
Let your heart be overwhelmed with the kindness of strangers and the beauty of something new cracking open the protective casing of your soul. Be vulnerable and unsure and unafraid to grow.
when you return to us and your heart feels too big for the place you’ve returned to, remember you have someone who understands that…
Notes on feeling lost and feeling love
To feel love, you’ve also got to know what it feels like to be lost.
Those raised with mounds of love are lucky souls – they grow to be people who are brought joy for seeing the joy of others, who serve others, who give endlessly. But sometimes they don’t realize the extent of love given to them, until they experience being lost.
No it’s not a preferable choice to feel lost. But it’s a moment of growth. And the outcome of growth is a blossom. Imagine staying a seed your entire life… What good is that? Isn’t life a process, a circle of actions?
I remember my first time in Spain, in 2008, when I roamed the streets of Seville alone, with no map. I definitely recommend doing this. It’s knowledge for the brain and freedom for the soul. But I got utterly and hopelessly lost for about 5 minutes. And those 5 minutes felt more like 5 years. Completely turned around, no map, Spanish lacking (and fear of asking, besides), no working phone, and no one in country to call anyway. It was getting dark. Just after losing hope, and honestly praying for a miracle, I found the river, and the river laid the map of the city in my mind, and making my way back to the center, I was saved. The moment of feeling lost made me understand the city and myself within it in a much more profound way.
Now I’m a wandering addict. I prefer to get lost. Planning adventures is an oxymoron anyway, isn’t it.
life is for sharing
Morning run in huge deserted park, wandering around the endless streets of an artisan market, local brunch spot, used book store, friends.
Weekend mornings in Madrid, sigh.
There is so much to see here. And even more to share. My mom always says I’m a free soul, a wandering soul, blaming my grandfather for my catching of the travel bug at an early age.
But I’ve slowly been learning that, as beautiful or eloquent or striking or incredible as the places are, it is the people from which you learn. This sharing of life, be it one hour, one day, a weekend, or a few years.
Moments together create for conversation that educate and open minds and cultivate ideas and creativity.
So, I thought I’d share with you a few weekend finds.
Bloglovers, try out Brain Pickings, a hot spot to explore literature, culture, education, technology, and more.