The kindness of strangers

I suppose I must confess to being an anxious traveler. Richard used to tease me about getting dreadful travel anxiety and I felt bad about it until I realised, he was the same. Even though he'd survived a month in Delhi in the 70's with no money AT ALL and traveled through Afghanistan and Pakistan, he always slept badly the night before we went anywhere and was short tempered on the way to the airport. So traveling by myself in a fairly fragile state of mind to somewhere I'd never been before was challenging to say the least. The first time I traveled to Rome to meet Lena in early March, I was quietly terrified. I'm not scared of the flying in fact that's the best bit for me when you don't have to appear as if you know what you're doing and where you're going. It's the arriving that scares the hell out of me. Trying to figure out where you need to go to catch the bus or maybe having to (God forbid) ask someone a question in a foreign language. So it was with huge relief that I met Brad as we waited in line for the Ryanair flight at Stansted airport. I asked him if he was going to Rome for a holiday and he answered in perfect English with a slight American accent, "No I live there!". Thus an amazing friendship was born. Brad and his wife Tamara are having an adventure in Rome, living there for a while with their two children and soaking up as much Italian culture as they can. They were incredibly generous toward Lena and I and put us up Royally on my second visit. Here is Brad with their youngest son Nick and Lena after we'd taken Nick unicycling on the island in the centre of Rome. Tamara is the same age as me and we got on like a house on fire. You can see it in this look as she sat making a small animal out of felt and I sat admiring a piece of fabric she'd brought back from Perugia.
They took us out for lunches and dinners and an amazing night at the American Academy. It was the 400th anniversary of Galileo's unveiling of the telescope. Here are some words from the Academy website...
"The American Academy’s Casa Rustica (in the present Bass Garden) occupies the precise site where, on Thursday 14 April 1611, Galileo made his first demonstration to a learned audience in Rome of his new invention, named on this occasion as the “telescope”. That evening represents the baptism of Galileo’s device as a true scientific instrument, as well as its inaugural presentation for scrutiny by members of the Church."
The building was amazing....
There was free sparkling wine..
strange artistic installations...
fascinating people to talk to and the night was not too cold...it's a pity this photo is so blurry as the trees I'm standing under were flowering cherries in perfect bloom.
It was however a little overwhelming the next day for me to be pitched into this many people on the Spanish steps after the sleepy village of East Harling.
Still it was wonderful to stroll along in this kind of sunshine.
happening upon incredible sculpture wherever you looked.
the macro...
and the micro...
Lena and I sat on their balcony on my last day and raised a toast with blood orange juice to the kindness of strangers and their incredible hospitality.