We've been in Ventimiglia now for over a week and so far it seems the right place at this time. We first came across Ventimiglia on a train journey from Torino to Nice in August 2011. The train stopped at Ventimiglia and as I looked around I was sure we would stay here some day and said so to Kate. During our time in Spello through August last year we began to look into how we might move through Italy over the coming months. One thing we were certain about was that we'd end up somewhere along the north west coast during the winter months. We'd spent the last two winters in dark, cold, grey environments like Berlin and although that felt right for that time, for some reason this year we strongly felt to spend the winter months somewhere with a lot of light.
The
Riviera ligure seemed the perfect environment. When we reached Bologna in October 2012 we were eventually left with a choice of two apartments we could spend a few months in. One was this very apartment we are in now in Ventimiglia and the other, which took us by surprise, was an apartment in Bologna. We decided to stay in Bologna for 3 months, which wasn't what either of us had anticipated. Towards the end of our time there we knew again we had to move on but felt it was most likely to be Milano next, although we didn't particularly want to stay there long. It just felt the easiest and most practical place with all our luggage. At one point it looked like Milano or San Remo and then we just didn't have a clue at all where to go or what to do. With a week to go this Ventimiglia apartment came to our attention again and when we enquired were surprised to find it was available for 3 months. With days to go in Bologna it was arranged and booked up and the piano couriered off on a round trip from Bologna to the UK and back to Ventimiglia.
We now have the piano back with us and are in pretty much the same mode or routine as we left off in Bologna, pushing on with the development of this Music. It definitely feels good to be in the light and near the sea so hopefully some of that will rub off over the next 3 months. Animals are all around us. We have a black and white cat from the ground floor apartment who comes up the stairs to visit us (they also have a pet duck but it hasn't managed to get up the stairs yet), there are pictures of a giraffe, an antelope, and a dead pheasant in this apartment. What does it all mean?
