The City Wall of Lucca

Romans established the town in about 180 BC. And the thick walls that encircled Lucca during the Renaissance era stand strong today. I biked on the wall with the group, and later walked the entire circle of the wall with Robin and Dino. Robin and Dino are a couple from Kansas, the only couple in the group who are not retired.We hanged out and walked Lucca extensively. We were the only three in the tour group who climbed two of the many towers in Lucca. The map below shows the thick walls encircle Lucca:

The City Wall was nice and clean and very friendly for bikers and walkers:

The old moat:  The passage walks up to the old gate.

Napoleon conquered Lucca in 1805, and installed his sister Elisa as "Queen of Etruria".  One of her foot print was that she ordered some repair of the City Wall, and established a Port of Elisa:

From the City Wall, one can see many sites of the city.  The picture below shows the "old" Roman city gate with the round column in the background behind Giovanna:

Tuscany and Umbria: Rustic Beauty in the Italian Heartland

My adventure with OAT on this tour of "Tuscany and Umbria: Rustic Beauty" from March 16-30, 2015 far exceeded my expectation.  Like Linda, a fellow traveler, said on her Facebook, "on a scale of 1-10, I rate this trip 15".  I was first disappointed that Gail, my travel companion, bailed out at the last minute due to her sister's accident which required her assistance.  But the beauty, delicious food, much learning and discoveries, and the genuine people to people encounters absolutely delighted and enlightened my heart.  Below is a map of our tour, which covered Lucca, Florence, Snan Galgano, Seina, Montepulciano, Monticchiello, Lake traimeno, Assisi, Trevi, Norcia valley, Bomarzo, and Borgo di Tragliiata.

Our tour director, Giovanna, has been one of the best guide I ever had on GCT/OAT trips.  She is energetic, enthusiastic, professional, and caring:

Some typical scenery we saw when riding in the bus are the charming green rolling hills of Tuscany, the rustic hilltop towns in Umbria, and lots and lots of cypress and olive trees.

 
I will try to capture some of the joy I felt when we visited from towns to towns in later posts.

When I was a child

I remember that I was quite spirited when I was very, very young (perhaps in the very start of my kinder garden years). I remember how excited I went home from my "class" and recited the stories I heard about Mozart and Beethoven.  In Chinese what I said sounded like "no gained head- mei der tau" and " one hundred plus points - bei dau fang".  My enthusiasm  was met with laughs and challenges.  I was quite crushed.......And I remember I was very sad when I was a child and adolescent .  I did not develop a "self" really.  When I realized/felt that I had no one to turn to was the starting point of my confusion and dismay. I "went along" as a daughter and sister of my family.  But the emptiness, aches and anger was eating me alive inside.  Some of the memories should not, but still occasionally haunt me.  Now I say to myself, too bad that I was such a sensitive a kid.  All those things could not have hurt me if I were not so sensitive....Unfortunately I was a lonely and sensitive kid.

I now take comfort that a couple of pictures showed that I was loved.  There was no picture of me held by my Mom, never.  Perhaps she was weak and tired.  Certainly there was no picture of her holding any of my siblings either.  I remember how I yearned for tenderness from her when I was a child.
Er Jie has always been kind and sweet:

 My Dad used to call me "youngest flower bud - Yau Wha Zei"

Christmas Family Reunion

There are a total 17 of us, including 4 Eylers from Michigan, and Ed from WA met up during the Christmas holidays.  What a delight to see everyone, and especially to watch the five kids and one baby.  Of course I am biased to chose the following picture as my favorite:

I made a slide show on you tube to capture some of the fun we had.  It's a joy to see Tom tickling Lawrence.  Dan, the master sword maker, energized all kids - big and small.  The chit chats, game playing, and wine drinking......filled up our time:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCwyzBuNyFk

Christmas Lights at Longwood Garden

Mei-ping invited me to go with her and Vivien's family to see Christmas lights at the Longwood Garden.  I have not been there since probably 2004, but always have a fond memory of the Garden. Certainly I enjoyed the place very much again.

Thanksgiving - Family Fun

We got together at Tom and Janice's place this year again.  Family get together is always relaxed and fun.  Lots to eat.  Margaret and Franco got to do some shopping together.  Kids played together.  We all watched some TV.  I had lower back pain but was able to take a few shots of our time together.

2014 draws to a close

There were too much emotions in the past few months.  I am glad that 2014 is drawing to a close, and now I look forward to a new year.  To catch up on what happened in 2014, I enjoyed meeting up with old friends.  Winnie's visit earlier in the year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_7pcmeM7OE

Meeting up with some classmates in California:
Lunch with Ping at a water front restaurant

 With TingTing, Tsing Ping, Judy, and Peggy at the front door of Tsing Ping's home.

Reconnected with Mei-ping, Yue Sheng, Doreen, and Jun-Lei:

With Mei-ping in a Peruvian restaurant when she came to DC to give a talk:

 A reunion in Philadelphia and Mei-ping took us to a charming little museum of recycled glassware arts.

 A nice walk in the neighborhood of Mei-ping's home.

KC came to visit and Bowtie was so happy to cozy up with her:

A reunion at Sylvia's old house to remember our dear friend.  The cleaning up of Sylvia's stuff and thinking of her made me feel sad and a bit depressed. The ashes of Sylvia (in the double happiness jar)and Claudia (in the cat jar) were behind us above the fireplace.

Some of my memories of Sylvia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWsH_o2yzEU

Mei-ping lost her daughter Sher to a traffic accident.  To me there is simply no answers to many questions in life.  I was very moved by Sher's life  Although short, Sher had achieved self actualization with her life, and left her prints in many, many people 's hearts and lives.

A slide show I made for Meiping:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g0lbjwtQKk

It was only during the trip to Spain and Portugal, I started to regain some merry mood.  It's great that Tom nicely documented our trip:
http://jat.esmartweb.com/nature-photos/spain/spain_and_portugal_in_depth.htm

Unfortunately I hurt my lower back climbing the fortress in Sintra (A UNESCO site):

But we all have to just look forward!  As soon as my back is feeling better, I will start some serious training to get ready for Mont Blanc in 2015.  What a wonderful goal for the new year.

We had a nice Christmas reunion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCwyzBuNyFk