Heading Down the Boot
\nby cricketjeff on July 2, 2019.\u00a0 \u00a9 Jeff Green, All rights reserved
\nWhen you see the roads in Italy you understand their cars;
\nThey snake down snow-peaked mountains from the North.
\nPast views that steal your daydreams, under endless streams of stars,
\nWhile tunnels shuttle sunshine back and forth.
\nPolicemen in Ferraris aren’t concerned about your speed
\nIf your car is sleek and stylish and its looks are matched by deed!<\/p>\n
Then drive past Europe’s history, and art you need to paint
\nThrough vineyards where you know you need to stop
\nEvery bend reveals a vista or a shrine to someone’s saint
\nOr a mountain with a monastery on top.
\nCountless pages from your schoolbooks and from films you think you’ve seen
\nAll the food’s too good to die for and in portions that aren’t mean!<\/p>\n
Take a day or two in Florence for some high Renaissance art
\nThe Florentine Pieta, and much more
\nMichaelangelo kept sculpting, seeing David’s just a start
\nOf visions that make poets’ spirits soar
\nAnd that’s just one ancient city, of the scores in Italy
\nBut you can always change the journey, let’s head westward to the sea.<\/p>\n
There’s a square outside Livorno where the floor is black and white
\nAnd the sea and sky are every shade of blue
\nWhere the waves wear gold tiaras as the sunset welcomes night
\nAnd the old is clearly worshipped by the new
\nAnd the bars are always open and the white wine’s always chilled
\nOur hotel served English Breakfast we were more than slightly thrilled!<\/p>\n
Down the coast road in the morning, between vineyards and the sea
\nThere are villas stuck like limpets to the rocks
\nYet more food to live not die for in the midsts of history
\nPassing ports where motor cruisers crowd the docks
\nWe’ve no time for scuba diving all roads lead, of course, to Rome
\nAnd we need to see its beauty before it’s time for flying home<\/p>\n
We cannot avoid all detours Bagnoregio is the next
\nThat’s a town atop a hill with a footbridge to get in
\nIf you’re wedded to your car you may feel a bit perplexed
\nWhy Etruscans made the access route so thin
\nIts three thousand years lie heavy as you marvel at each sight
\nBut we had to hurry onwards we want modern beds tonight!
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\nThen at last our end’s upon us we’ve hit Rome, and traffic jams,
\nColosseum, Trevi Fountain and the rest
\nYou must dodge two million starlings and at least as many scams
\nBut despite forget those what they’ve got here is the best
\nAnd next time we tour this country we’ll be starting in the South
\nFor still more and greater marvels for the eyes and ears and mouth!
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\n Author notes
\nFrom the French border down to Rome is a fantastic (British) car seeing
\ncountless wonders and eating and drinking still more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Heading Down the Boot by cricketjeff on July 2, 2019.\u00a0 \u00a9 Jeff Green, All rights reserved When you see the roads in Italy you understand their cars; They snake down snow-peaked mountains from the North. Past views that steal your daydreams, under endless streams of stars, While tunnels shuttle sunshine back and forth. Policemen in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":9706,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5686","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5686"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5824,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5686\/revisions\/5824"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}