Ver el mundo!

I have always found a kindred spirit in Frances Mayes-- she is of course the author of Under the Tuscan Sun and the book I am currently reading, a Year in the World. She has this particular way of describing places in such a beautiful narrative; she stirs this long-existing desire in me to see the world. I've always had a desire to travel, to not stay in one place for too long or to visit a foreign city where no one knows me, to "become invisible.. When travelling, you have the delectable possibility of not understanding a word of what is said to you." I want.

It's not just one destination I want to see-- I want to go everywhere! I want to walk the streets of Madrid and Seville and spend an entire day at the Prado, visiting my friends Titian, Botticelli, Velazquez, Raphael and Bosch. I want to take in the heavenly lighting at the Haggia Sophia in Istanbul. Greece, Italy, Egypt, Ireland, Scotland, Iceland-- I want to see it all!

Frances Mayes expresses this restlessness to go:

"The need to travel is a mysterious force. A desire to go runs through me equally with an intense desire to stay at home. An equal and opposite thermodynamic principle. When I travel, I think of home and what it means. At home I'm dreaming of catching trains at night in the gray light of Old Europe, or pushing open shutters to see Florence awaken. The balance just slightly tips in the direction of the airport."