the nomad lab

My awesome friend Brittany Carson spent two weeks in Italy (Yep, I’m green with jealousy). As soon as she showed me a few of her beautiful photos of my favorite place on earth, I knew I had to have her tell you all a little about her trip! Enjoy! 

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Buon Giorno Readers!

A month ago, I went on a two week Christmas family vacation to Florence, Italy. Right now you’re probably feeling a mix of jealousy, excitement or cubicle-induced rage that someone less deserving than you went on an epic tour of Italy, but let me allay these confused feelings by saying that we are a family of six. That means any “vacation” is no small feat, and that the word “vacation” usually, no actually, means hellish travel with my three younger brothers and frazzled parents.

Let’s skip the part where I surgically attached my headphones to my ears for the duration of the travel to Florence and get to the good stuff. One thing that I can say that I admire about my father, is that he’s a good traveler. When I say a good traveler, I mean that he’s not a visitor, but instead travels with the mentality of someone interested in blending in as much as possible, someone who tries to pick up words and phrases of the local language, someone who likes to learn his surroundings. This means that my prudent papa rented an apartment right next to the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, the oldest bridge (it literally means “old bridge”) and the only one to survive the WWII German bombings of Florence in 1944. The Ponte Vecchio is also the only closed-spandrel bridge lined with artisan shops, art dealers, jewelers and souvenir sellers — it’s a bridge constantly bustling with people and a central point of crossing across the Arno River into the city center; so Daddy Carson did good. 

The apartment was beautiful, very modern, like an upscale Ikea catalog, and the view of the Arno River was lovely. Florence in December was brisk, low-50s to low-40s during the day, but we lucked out and had clear and sunny weather overall. One thing I remember in particular about the city was the abundance of Virgin Mary altars and nativity scenes — they were everywhere! In windows, in squares, nestled into walls… there was always a warm feeling of family and community on cold days.

Now for the photos… I hadn’t touched film in about five years, having foolishly given up on photography when it seemed too “trendy” and “accessible,” because I’m a dummy *shrug.* But I decided now was the time to get back into it, so with a bag of film and two cameras in hand, but barely a memory of how to do it, I fearfully hedged all my bets that at least some of the film would turn out? Someone out there was looking out for me, because most of my rolls turned out! I of course lost at least three or four to overexposure and mistakes, but I was ecstatic that I came back from this trip with some of the photos I had shot.

Our first day was spent zombie-like roaming the streets of Florence in a jet lagged stupor trying to familiarize ourselves with the time change and the city center. My oldest younger brother, Justin, was finishing up a quarter abroad in Turin for Architecture, and would be joining us in Florence in two days, so our first day trip to Cinque Terre (or “The Five Lands”) the next day was sans one Carson. Unfortunately, because of some destructive flooding in October, the last three towns were under construction and not open to the public. Cinque Terre is famous for being picturesque, isolated and for its numerous hiking trails between and around the towns. We took a two hour train to the first town, Riomaggiore, and then took a path along the cliffs to Manarolo. Because it was December, it was a little eerie how quiet and empty the streets were most of the time. But our long walk between towns was incredibly solitary, which was a boon.

A pretty looking mélange of first looks at Riomaggiore.

A winding street, my dad.

Blue boat and blue jacket’d brother, Ross.

A well-timed sun spot.

Easily one of my favorite photos: the view from the cliff’s edge path from Riomaggiore to Manarolo, graffiti art, one of the tunneled parts. 

Me again, sitting on an amazing “kissing lovers” bench, surrounded by locks left by amorous and wishful couples. 

A last look before heading back to the train.

This is the end of my first post, because hey, I have to work too! But the next one will be about Venice and Siena, hopefully I’ll have the endurance to round up the rest of the trip, but I might break it up into two more posts. Thanks again to Marissa for reaching out to me and letting me take up some of her blog space with my ramblings. Hopefully you all look forward to my next posts, because I know you want to hear about Venice, Siena and *drool* the food!

Until next time, 

Brittany Carson

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Want to see more of her photos?

Check out her Flickr!