Early Spring Sunrise....over northern Italy...

I left for school a little later than usual the other morning and I was rewarded with a vivid sunrise.   This is my driveway and the old building that is across the street.

This is the gate going out my driveway to the road.   Isn't that beautiful?  

You can see the neighbor's flowers in this photo.  I have the same ones on the opposite side of my fence.

The entire sky was lit up so beautifully. 

This morning's misty sunrise over the Italian vineyards out my front door....

This morning's sunrise out my front door.

The ground had a mist rising up.  *Click to see the photos clearer.

This is actually part of a huge vineyard.

The view a little further to the left.   It had rained during the night and stopped in the early morning.

Sunrise over the Italian farmland... *The view out my front door.

Can you see the old farm Villas?

This is the view out my front door...  living room and my kitchen.

Now, that the time has changed for the spring/summer months.   The sunrise greets me as I leave my house to drive to work.   The balcony at the back of the house gets a wonderful sunset view over open fields with the Italian Alps in the distance.

Sunrise over Gaeta, Italy

 A few years ago, I lived in Gaeta, Italy.  It is halfway between Rome and Naples and right on the ocean.  I lived up on top of a small mountain without a car.   There were only 3 or 4 houses on the mountain.  To get to work, I'd have to walk down to the bottom where I could catch a city bus that would take me pretty close to my job.   The city bus only departed from this area once every 30 minutes.  As a result, I left really early to make sure that I was there waiting on the bus.   After I walked to the bus stop... it was another 2 1/2 miles to the school.   At a certain point, if the bus was running late... I had to just start walking the entire way to the school to make sure that I'd get to work on time.   Sometimes I had to do that.   Which is why I left as early as I did to allow myself enough time to walk over 3 miles- if I needed to do so.

At this time of the morning it was always dark; so, as I started walking down the hillside on the simple narrow paved one lane road without any street lights... for my 30 minute commute down the hill....



 

 I left my house walking in the darkness, making sure that I kept my flashlight down towards the narrow road so that I could just barely see the paved road under my feet, feeling for the hardness of the road under my shoes, making sure I didn't hear the crunch of the gravel indicating that I was about to walk off of the road into the brambles, trees, and into the forested area.  I continued walking down the narrow road in the darkness...listening to the birds slowly awakening, and within minutes the sun slowly crept over the mountain's edge.  I knew it was time to turn off the flashlight.   I didn't want to miss a moment ... because...  I got to see this amazing view every morning.  Sunrise over the ocean.  It was breathtaking, different each day, calming, serene, and it never failed that I didn't just stop and look for a few moments ...  trying to absorb and remember how each day's opening gift was so different and beautiful.

Simply;  the beauty made the long trek to work much more bearable.  

This was the view that I had when I got to the bus stop:  A close up harbor view...

It was the most beautiful place that I have ever lived, visited, and experienced.