A Change of Scene

Greetings from Valencia, Spain. One of my biggest challenges this year is keeping up this blog. Taking it on the road is making it a bit more difficult, but there is lots to see and even more to share! Taking long walks each day gives me the chance to explore. Of course the path meanders in and out of interesting stores, but do not despair! The price of the euro is enough to deter me from splurging. Careful consideration and lots of thinking keep me away from buying, buying, buying! Europe is certainly a consumerist’s paradise! Even I felt a bit overwhelmed with the variety! The rose below is one of many in a rose garden that is part of the Science park.



I have been snapping lots of pictures… experimenting with the camera and at this point it is still point and shoot (mik and druk) pictures. Taking pictures is lots of fun, but I only take the camera on every second outing in order just to see and appreciate my surroundings.

Growing up we learnt about this place because of the Valencia oranges. It is indeed a city of orange trees! I have also spotted an number of fig trees and today I saw a big one laden with fruit. In the middle of the city (almost I think!) there is a small park with three huge rubber trees (at least that is what we called it where I come from). Already I’m wishing for a wide angle lens. How can one describe this city?

I have not been to the beach yet, but you can feel that it is close by since the day-time temperature is 27 degrees Celcius but there is this lovely cool breeze blowing. A kind of café society is what I see. The city centre is busy, but it is filled more with people who are running errands in-between working hours or walking between office and appointments outside. The streets are filled with a mixture of tourists and retired people.
It is a city that mixes the old with the new. I became fascinated with the towers and the ornate plaster work. Balconies are festooned with the most interesting iron railings. I counted three churches in a 3km radius --- a triangle with the Cathedral at the Apex and two parish churches at the base. This of course is from my small angle. There is more to explore! Each traffic circle has some kind of sculpture or garden on it. This is one angle of this one.


I turned away from a guided tour in the Cathedral and instead I found the door open to the Parroquia de Santo Tomás Apóstol y San Felipe Neri in the Plaza de St Vicente Ferrer. The short time there rendered these pieces.

Confused
I float here and there
No sense of grace
Deeply embedded care
Hope mingled with moments scared
All the time
Chasing away
Feelings of despair
Murmurs in my soul
Constant prayer

Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, May 16, 2011.

Far off outside
A city moves
Basking in the midday sun
Purpose
Mingled with fun
Familiarity
Briefly
Disrupted
With fascination captured

The church florist
Brings the altar to life
Bathed in white
Sheer visual delight
The silence holds a reverence
Briefly
Treasured might
Godly grace
Never contrite

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, May 16, 2011.

Feint the lingering smell of incense
Sunday high mass
Left no traces
Quiet
The calling voices
All seeking
Godly loveliness
Innocence
Ubiquitously
In our minds
A permanent home
Reserved for
Holy places

By Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, May 16, 2011

The house of the Lord is alive
Pulsating under the mason’s hammer
Accompanied by an irritated cough
A guardian – patron
This lone visitor
Captured
Calmness
Gradually ascended
The bang of the church door symbolic
Those entering and leaving our lives
Remain systolic
Every soul connected
Ideas iconic

Simone Beatrice Naik Noemdoe, May 16, 2011