I love the red. The color red is supposed to symbolise power. The Chinese loves red. Red is the color of all celebrations- New Year, weddings and births, the most important times in life is celebrated with the red color. During Chinese New Year, gifts of money are packaged in red envelops, red firecrackers adorn the door ways, jossticks found in temples are red. Monk's robes are red. On a trip to Italy, on a train from Bari to Rome, I learned about 'Pompeiian red'. The ancient Romans love red and a lot of their homes have plenty of red paneling. When they excavated Pompeii, they found a lot of red paneling, a shade so unique that today modern Italians still use it. We were seated next to a German guy whom we chatted with. He was the one who pointed to the red color of buildings and told us about 'Pompeiian red'. How does he know so much? His first wife is Italian and he lived with her in Naples. He has since dumped her for another Italian mama and now lives in Rome.
A few years ago I started on my list of red cities to visit, I've not gone very far on this list. I'm working on it. Roussillon in France is one of them and the trip was October 2007. The hills around it is red because of the ochre in the ground. It was a really delightful town. Lots of painting groups goes there to paint the town.
This is a shop in Lyon, France, while it does fit the category of red cities, a lot of the shops are painted in this gorgeous red color.
Bologna, Italy, definitely fits into the red cities category. It is so pretty. I love pretty things.
The red fruits of summer, they're coming out fast and furious. Cherries, plums, strawberries, raspberries, peaches- it is so hard to pick what to eat first. I found this raspberry bush spilling over the fence in a Venice, California home. It is so pretty, with the red fruits flowing out between a red fence. This reminds me of a trip to my sister's former high school friend who moved to Southampton, England. The neighbor's raspberry bushes were climbing over the fence and there were ripe raspberries on them. It was fun popping them in our mouths, they were so sweet. I'll always remember that morning, waking up and picking fresh raspberries for breakfast.
I have to locate more red cities and make plans to visit them all. Do you know of any?
Last year I brought back a packet of tomato seeds from Sicily, they're famed for their sweet tomatoes. I had so many tomato plants, it kept me busy all summer long. They were not spectacular, in fact very ordinary but they kept me busy. I remember biting into a tomato in Alberobello in Southern Italy, 2 years ago, it was so sweet, it was fantastic. Sicily is also famous for their sweet tomatoes but I guess I got the wrong seeds. Earlier in March, I brought back a packet of rocket seeds from Rome and planted them. They didn't sprout the first time nor the second and not the third. This is the fourth time I seeded the pot and this was all I got. It didn't look like what was pictured on the packet. There is something spiritual about going to the backyard to pick vegetables from one's garden or pots. Anyway I've been snipping off little leaves and buying some more from the market to mix in so I have enough for a salad. After a hard week at work I needed to do that, it's cheaper than shopping at the mall. This is a cheap way of unwinding for me. These plants are bitter and peppery and I love them but the bugs and worms are staying away from them, they got into my other pot of regular salad greens and ate up everything. These are great to plant, you won't get any bugs or worms. The next trip abroad I'm going to buy some more seeds.
Slim pickings!
A pizza from Bologna, Italy, scampi with rocket, it is so good. And wash it down with an Italian beer, mmmmmm, la dolce vita!
