Italia: 10 days in the past and present

During a whirlwind trip through Italy that covered almost 1300 miles by bus and over 100,000 steps by foot, I gained a whole new appreciation for this ancient European land’s history and people. 

Highlights of the 10 days my wife, Noreen, and I spent  in Italy earlier this month — a trip that was cancelled in the spring of 2020 and we backed out of the following year because of the coronavirus pandemic — included:

 

Rome: 

• Approaching and stepping inside the ruins of the nearly 2000-year-old Coliseo and imagining it packed with over 50,000 people on a sunny autumn afternoon. 
• Looking out over the city from the top of the Castel Sant’Angelo. 
• Walking past the Palacio de Justica de Roma and over the bridge just across from it.
• Seeing the Templo de Adriano from the outside and being inside the Panteón.
• Walking down the Escaleras de la Plaza de Espana, across the Santa Inés en Agonia, and past the Trinita dei Monti. 
• Tossing a euro coin in the Fontana de Trevi, walking around Los Cuatros Rios and the Fontana del Moro.

Vatican: 

• I will never forget being inside the Sistine Chapel, which is a good thing since no photography of any kind was permitted; it was more like a Michelangelo frescoes art gallery than a place of worship.
• The Museo Vaticano hosted a spectacular collection of art. 
• Being inside the Basilica di San Pietro and outside in Saint Peter’s Square was very moving.

Montecatini: Dinner at a Tuscany vineyard and olive farm on a gorgeous autumn evening.

Florence: 

• Seeing Michelangelo’s huge David sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in this Renaissance city. 
• Botticelli’s Adoración de los Magos and El Nacimiento de Venus, Leonardo da Vinci’s Anunciacion, and other centuries old paintings at the Galeria Uffizi. 
• Admiring the exteriors of the Basilica Santa Maria del Fiore and Basilica di la Santa Croce. 
• The Palazzo Vecchio and Fuente de Neptuno.

Pisa: The Leaning Tower, of course!

Venice Island: 

• Riding slowly between old buildings and under footbridges in a traditional gondola on the canals during the early evening, of course!
• St. Mark’s Square and Basilica in the morning, afternoon, and night.
• Doge’s Palace and the Bridge of Sighs.
• The highly skilled and fast-handed glass blower in the shop off Piazza San Marco. 

Burano: 

• Strolling the colorful streets and alleys of this charming Venetian island.
• Ferry ride past various active and inactive islands on the way to and from on a comfortable afternoon.

Assisi: 

• Saint Francis’ Basilica, with its Giotto frescoes, is a magnificently preserved place of worship despite earthquakes. 
• Saint Clare’s Church and Templo de Minerva.

Pompeii: 

• Walking the streets of this ancient Roman city buried by volcanic ashes from Mount Vesuvius for nearly 19 centuries and realizing, technology and sanitary advances aside, how little has changed in the way people co-exist in a community.
• The small fresco paintings of couples in the ancient brothel that were, well, unlike any we had seen in museums.

Naples: 

• Riding through the streets of the city, where I noticed more than one depiction of soccer legend Diego Maradona. 
• Overlooking the bay. 
• Imagining my wife’s Italian ancestors in this city and the mountains slightly east and south just a century ago. 

Capri:

• Approaching the island (albeit in wet fog) and riding a funicolare and van up the steep hill to our hotel overlooking the southern shore. 
• Villa San Michelle. 
• Scenic cruise on the clear blue sea around the island after the rain. 
• Beautiful views up the mountain from below and down the mountain from above.

Sorrento: 

• Bustling town across the bay from Capri with well-preserved buildings.
• Sitting in an outdoor cafe in a town plaza as dozens of ultras for the local third division soccer club stage a brief protest rally.

Also wonderful was the food we ate while in Italy, particularly various al dente pasta courses, breads, and desserts. This coffee snob was generally satisfied with what he drank, but had higher expectations.

On the downside, meals often felt rushed, perhaps because we were in a tour group. Taking in so much of Italy in a short time involved too fast a pace and was physically exhausting. In addition to waking up to an early alarm every morning, my wife and I were stressed by having caught colds during this trip. 

But I was grateful to have seen so much of this magnificent country in early autumn rather than summer, when crowds are bigger and temperatures higher. Indeed, it was great to have finally learned firsthand just what a wonderful place it is and has been for centuries.

To see the photos I posted on Instagram between October 18-22, after returning home from Italy, click on https://www.instagram.com/charleybruns. 

(above) St. Peter's Square

The warbler and the wasp

Singing its song while flying the skies,
The warbler happily looks at the world below.
Wings flapping morning, afternoon, and evening,
She glides low before landing to find her sustenance.

 

Buzzing a bit erratically above land,

The wasp darts menacingly around the area.

It manages to climb higher only when necessary,

He is seldom welcomed or greeted by anything he sees.

 

But coexist the warbler and the wasp manage to do,

Just like many of God’s creations on this earth of humans.

One can sing happily while the other goes buzzing hazardly,

Because it takes all kinds, sizes, shapes, to make this world spin.

 

And so it goes night after day, all year,

Come sunshine, heat, wind, rain, cold, snow.

As youth gives way to age, business to pleasure,

War to peace, dismay to hope, short stops, and all the way.

 

And then one night the warbler and the wasp meet,

Unplanned and to the detriment of all in that moment.

The warbler was gliding low as the wasp buzzed higher,

And both were startled and unable to avoid each other’s body.

 

There was no song for the warbler,

It was not sustenance to continue onward.

No buzzing for joy from the wounded wasp,

For it had encountered a mass much too large.

 

There was a short fall from the sky,

Straight to the cold and dark waters below.

With sounds on the way down swallowed quickly,

After a splash, some flapping, and sinking of their bodies.

 

As quickly as they met unwillingly,

Their rendezvous was forever all over.

After years of singing and buzzing separately,

It all ended for them in familiar skies and waters.

 

Other warblers and wasps will fly,

Few will ever have such a fateful night.

Their songs and buzzing will fill the skies,

With the grace of God all over this big world.

 

 

Copyright 2025, Charles A. Bruns

Baseball tour

When a friend from California asked me if I would be interested in visiting a bunch of ballparks with him, I hesitated for only a moment. 

“Heck yeah, let’s do it!”

We researched possibilities and agreed that a seven-day trip this month to six Major League Baseball parks and the Hall of Fame organized by Jay Buckley Baseball Tours was the best way to go. Even better, our wives agreed to join us on this adventure.

The trip began with my first official guided tour of my hometown, New York City, before our bus headed to The Bronx for a Sunday night game between the Yankees and arch rival Boston Red Sox at a very loud and packed Yankee Stadium. We followed the game winners to Boston and, after a tour of the historic Massachusetts city, went to ancient but charming Fenway Park to see the home team lose to the Tampa Bay Rays on a foggy night.

We spent the following afternoon in Cooperstown, the upstate New York village that is home to the National  Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. It was my fifth visit to the site, each one of which has been more interesting than the previous. (I look forward to returning for a sixth visit one day.)

During the next three days we visited Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia for a Phillies-Chicago Cubs afternoon game — the only time all week we saw the home team win — Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore for an Orioles-Detroit Tigers night game, and Nationals Park in Washington DC for a Nationals-Miami Marlins night game that was interrupted by rain.

We had time in Baltimore to see Babe Ruth’s birthplace, Edgar Allan Poe’s house and one of his gravesites. A non-baseball highlight of the trip for me was visiting the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington. We also got to eat at the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia.

The tour came full circle in New York with a game between the Mets and Tampa Bay Rays in Flushing, Queens. Rain delayed the start of the afternoon game but did not dampen the enthusiasm of fans at Citi Field, which some people on the tour considered the best ballpark we visited during the week. I agree, but admit I may be biased! 

Six times during the week, I stretched during the seventh inning and sang “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” a song composed in 1908 by a couple of New York songwriters who supposedly weren’t baseball fans and didn’t attend their first game until many, many years later. I’ve been happy to attend over a hundred Major League Baseball games during my lifetime already, and look forward to visiting more ballparks in the future.

To see my pictures from Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Citizens Bank Park, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Nationals Park, Citi Field, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, check out my Instagram posts.

Status

We don't know anybody's status.
Where in the world are they from? 

Did they come through the front door,

With all the necessary paperwork in order?

 

Are they black or yellow or red or 

Just not white like our founding fathers?

How can you question who once made us great

With ambition, courage, sacrifice, and hard work?

 

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,*

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” 

 

We accepted them and we became

The greatest country in all the world.

But the times they have certainly changed 

And now we want to make America great again.

 

So just let them return home

And curse the fate they were born with.

We don’t need them to fulfill their hopes

While making this country better than ever.

 

We don’t want people who will work hard

And reinvigorate old crumbling neighborhoods.

Why do we need more people to pick our crops,

Prepare our foods and serve and clean up after us?

 

What is good about having dreamers study hard

And advance science, technology, and businesses?

Why do we need low unemployment and low inflation

Just like in the good old days we want to bring right back?

 

Our country can solve all its problems

By just closing all our doors to everybody.

Oh, we can do it all alone without any foreigners,

But what is everyone’s status and how did they get here?

 

 

*Quote on the Statue of Liberty, from the Emma Lazarus poem, “The New Colossus”

 

 

Copyright 2025, Charles A. Bruns

Pet Concorde

My building doesn’t allow us to have dogs,

But there’s nothing in the bylaws about Concordes.

Mine was gifted by my youngest son and daughter-in-law,

And began feeling right at home after a month’s construction.

But what do you do with a regal Concorde

That’s so big inside an acrylic display case?

You can’t give it the run of the house day and night,

For it would surely be too easy to just trip over or bump into. 

It wouldn’t make sense to take it out for walks,

Or leash it on the balcony with plants and birds.

But all the same it needs to show off and be admired 

By family and friends who come inside our modest home.

Ah, we’ll mount it to a wall.

It will be perpetually in flight,

Its webbed wings spread wide,

Wheels tucked in, nose pointing ahead.

My pride and joy supersonic jet,

2083 plastic pieces strong and fragile,

Always within view as I work in my office,

Making me smile while keeping me company.

Copyright 2025, Charles A. Bruns

 

St. Augustine, Florida

My take on St. Augustine …  

I was expecting St. Augustine to be a quaint old Florida town. Between last Saturday night and St. Patrick’s Day, though, North America’s oldest city was hopping with revelers. My wife and I learned that St. Augustine is actually a popular party town. It’s more like New Orleans than Cape May. 

 

Whether you like to drink alcohol or seltzer water, however, St. Augustine is a very interesting place. Although it’s a city that can be easily explored by foot in a day, a 90-minute trolley bus tour will point out its many attractions and touch upon the city’s 460-year history. Its Spanish origins remain evident in the names of many streets and architecture of some buildings. 

 

There is no shortage of bars, restaurants, cafes, and shops in the area around St. George St. Just like New Orleans is very different from the rest of Louisiana and Cape May is nothing like the rest of New Jersey, St. Augustine seems unlike the rest of Florida. To my wife and me, it was reminiscent of an old Southern city, like parts of Savannah and Charleston and, yes, the French Quarter in New Orleans. We were reminded it is in Florida, though, because one of its best and most popular restaurants, Columbia’s, features a classic Cuban menu, and good Cuban coffee is easily available around the city.

To see a few more photos from St. Augustine, check out my recent Instagram post.

… and Microsoft Copilot’s take on my St. Augustine blog post: 

 

St. Augustine: A Hidden Gem of Festivity and History

“I anticipated St. Augustine to be a quaint old Florida town, steeped in tranquility and history. However, between the lively celebrations of last Saturday night and the exuberance of St. Patrick’s Day, North America’s oldest city revealed itself as a vibrant party hub. My wife and I were pleasantly surprised to discover that St. Augustine is actually a popular destination for revelers, akin to the spirited streets of New Orleans rather than the serene charm of Cape May.

“Whether your drink of choice is a spirited cocktail or refreshing seltzer water, St. Augustine offers an intriguing blend of celebration and history. Although the city can be comfortably explored on foot within a day, a 90-minute trolley bus tour is highly recommended to fully appreciate its myriad attractions and delve into its rich 460-year history. The city's Spanish origins are beautifully preserved in the names of its streets and the architectural splendor of its buildings.

“St. George St. is a bustling area, brimming with bars, restaurants, cafes, and shops, each exuding its unique charm. Much like how New Orleans stands apart from the rest of Louisiana, and Cape May distinguishes itself from New Jersey, St. Augustine seems to exist in a realm of its own, distinct from the rest of Florida. For my wife and me, it evoked the essence of an old Southern city, reminiscent of Savannah, Charleston, and indeed, the French Quarter in New Orleans.

“Yet, reminders of its Floridian roots are never far away. Columbia's, one of the best and most popular restaurants in the city, offers a delectable classic Cuban menu, and the availability of excellent Cuban coffee throughout the city is a delightful perk.

“St. Augustine is a city that seamlessly blends the festive spirit with profound historical significance, offering visitors an experience that is as enriching as it is entertaining. It's a hidden gem waiting to be explored, promising memories that will linger long after the revelry has ended.”