Farewell winter! I’m heading to the sun!

On Friday we finally moved to Cyprus. After almost twelve-hour travel getting out of the plane in Larnaca was really kind of ecstasy. The special smell of the air bringing the thought of the sea with its a bit rotten-like notes mixed with the sweet smell (odoeur??) of flowers fully blooming here already was absolutely great! In that moment the whole stress was gone (we had almost two-hour delay on first flight so we were already sure that we will have to spend the night at the Prag airport, but after half a kilometer run we managed to get the next plane in the absolutely last moment) even if we were both tired as hell.

We have here a really great house. In the heart of the old town of Famagusta which is still an untouched by the large touristic stream historical relict fully closed with the venetian walls and consisted of medieval ruins and small streets remembering crusades times now coloured by oriental Turkish culture. The Courtyard House as it’s called, is place in an old raw of small buildings quite close to the cathedral and organized around an inner court. From the street you enter the big, high kitchen with large wooden table. From there you can go to the comfortable organized living room or through a wide glass door to the court, which is very sunny, nice place with limestone floor and a similar big table with some flowerpots around. From the courtyard there’s an access to two bedrooms, both with the own baths. The flat is nicely designed, the furniture is mostly really fabulous and the only disadvantage of the place is that it’s a bit wet. But after six weeks of rain (as we read in the note of the last users in the guestbook) that is no wonder. Anyway it seems that we are lucky because the first three days here are sunny and warm for us. Especially that we left Germany when it was cold, wet and totally grey, not writing about Poland where is still 50 cm of snow on the ground.

What amazes me most is the beautiful lemon and orange trees already full of the fruits which you can buy on the market in the price of the apples in Poland in autumn which means actually almost for freeJ Also you can buy fresh herbs like mint or coriander which look, smell and taste heavenly! Obviously first thing I’ve done was putting on the pair of leggings, light summer dress and the flip-flops and have a walk around to enjoy the weather and the atmosphere of a new adventure which that travel actually is for me.

Famagusta, 15^th February 2010

Jet lag, Botticelli and Pizza

On Thursday I flew back to Frankfurt after two-week-stay in my home country. Believe me or not – next two days I was suffering of a jet lag after two-hour flight! Sounds ridiculous and generally it was, I was hanging around feeling completely sleepy and unconscious while the productive working time was slowly passing by. Finally today morning the real me is back, the energy is back and I can continue living my life knowingly.

While this after-flight long dream actually one think worth noticing has happened. I managed finally to see the Botticelli exhibition in Frankfurt. The exhibition itself was simply nice – well organized, contended maybe not really big highlights but a few really important paintings, frescoes and drawings of Italian master and his contemporaries, all collected around a coherent idea. And unfortunately a lot of visitors! The exhibition rooms were completely crowded. It was a Saturday afternoon which obviously is the worst time for peaceful admiring temporary exposition but who could have thought that if the exposition has been taking place since several weeks. And here we’re approaching the point which appeared to me as the most interesting of the whole event. The advertising. The posters announcing the exhibition are delightful. The genius of the designer was placing the creation of renaissance artist in today’s sophisticated world. So we have one with the detail from the fresco showing the room of St. Mary while Annunciation with ‘Botticelli: Interiors’, even if it’s the only or almost only interior detail of the exposited works. The other poster I remember (and the main for the event) is showing one of the numerous woman’s presentations (Minerva of Minerva and Centaur, Uffici, Florence) in artist’s oeuvre with richly decorated dress and fabulous hair. The title is ‘Botticelli: Autumn/Winter 2009/2010’, sounds like fashion show, doesn’t it? And that’s why I admire the organizers of the exhibition – because they manage to convince broad publicity that this art exhibition of old master is absolutely must see of the season! Respect!

The evening finished in the so-said only Frankfurt pizzeria with wood oven and obviously the quarto formaggi. The diet always can wait. Salut!