Back to Italy!

From tomorrow, Tuesday 10th September, CartEssenza will be back in Italy: bit by bit all web channels will open again and, obviously, even the Etsy shop!

See you Northern Ireland...tomorrow back to Italy! ;)

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Back in Italy...but I want to show you one last thing: the beautiful Armagh ♥

Hello dear friends of CartEssenza,
I'm back in Italy from some days and I'm already really busy with projects and big news that I'll show you soon. To end my travel experience (for now) I wanted anyway to show you the last marvellous tour I had during my stay in Northern Ireland:
I had in fact the chance to have as exceptional guides some residents of Armagh, marvellous city of Northern Ireland in which you can taste the mix of different cultures and religions of this beautiful country.
Where you can, indeed, visit in the same day a Protestant Cathedral, a Catholic Cathedral and a Pagan Cult Site?

Welcome to Armagh, Northern Ireland!

St. Patrick's Cathedral  - Church of Ireland

St. Patrick's Cathedral  - Church of Ireland

St. Patrick's Cathedral

St. Patrick's Cathedral

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Navan Fort - Emain Macha

Navan Fort - Emain Macha

Navan Fort - Emain Macha

As many of you already know, it's never easy to leave Ireland, but if you do it by night this is the result: half sleepy at Dublin Airport at 4.00 A.M. ;)

And here I am, back in italian sky: I missed a lot the sun and the weather!

Now that I'm again in Italy, are you ready for next days' news? ;)
So, see you soon!
Hugs!
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A day in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Hello! How some of you already know, at the moment I'm out of Italy, in Northern Ireland to be precise, and so today I show you the photos I took some days ago in Belfast, when I went there to visit the Titanic Museum :)

Belfast's centre

Belfast's centre

A good coffee after lunch at Caffè Nero, where they do it almost like in Italy...but plus they have gingerbread men ;)

To the Titanic Museum, Belfast

Titanic Museum, Belfast

Titanic Museum, Belfast

Titanic Museum, Belfast

Titanic Museum, Belfast

Titanic Museum, Belfast

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Irish Inspirations/4: Flowers - Belfast Botanic Gardens

Everything can be source of inspiration and in this month I learnt that nature infinitely is: shapes, colors, smells, emotions...all this become a part of the images we take with us. A new work can be inspired even by an ambient, by a sensation. So a normal walk can become a sea of cues that only wait to be organized, visualized, transformed in material and art.
A lot of cues and sensations are exactly what I'll take home with me from Belfast Botanic Gardens: the vivid green of the park broken from the thousands colours of flowers, from the infinite shades held in every little bush. And my being continously surprised from perfect colours of nature, from which we have to learn every day more.

Wikipedia: Botanic Gardens Belfast
Botanic Gardens and Palm House Belfast
Virtual visit: Botanical Gardens Belfast

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Irish Inspirations/3: Food!

The cooking of a people is the only exact testimony of its civilization.

Eugène Briffault

1. Cheeseburger and chips
2. Aperitivo "italish" con verdure ripiene, sausage rolls e salame
3. Chicken and bacon cheeseburger
4. Steak with peppered sauce, long stem broccoli, baby sweetcorn and potato wedges
5. Steak with fried onions, long green beans and sweet potatoes with chili sauce
6. Spicy Chicken Pizza with garlic sauce
7. "Italish" pasta with sausage sauce

Useless to say: when I'll be back in Italy...diet!
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Irish Inspirations/2: The sky in the water - Lurgan Park

Imagine to walk in a huge park, green and in its middle a lake...add squirrels, swans, ducks and many other birds and animals...close your eyes and sit on a little pier, open them again and find yourself looking the sky reflected in the water.
Lurgan Park is one of my favourite places on earth: I could stay hours admiring what is around me, in the silence broken only from nature's sounds. Have a look at my photos and then tell me if you not agree with me ;)

Lurgan Park is the biggest park of Northern Ireland and the second largest urban park in Ireland: the classic "walk in the park" often becomes a whole afternoon...especially if you become friend with local squirrels! ;)

www.lurganpark.com/
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Irish Inspirations/1: Water and sky - Lough Neagh

Hi to all,
who knows me personally knows even that this year I had the possibility to pass one month in the beautiful Northern Ireland: I arrived here on the 1st and I'll be back to Italy on the 29th of August, to end this year of pause I decided to take to raise my energies and ideas.
Without a doubt to live for this period in such a marvellous place is giving me really a lot of inspirations: I decided to share some of them with you, followers of CartEssenza's blog, posting some photos of my days here :)

This is the beautiful Lough Neagh, the huge lake in the middle of Northern Ireland:

From Wikipedia:
An old Irish story tells how the Lough was formed when Ireland's legendary giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) scooped up a portion of the land and tossed it at a Scottish rival. He missed, and the chunk of earth landed in the Irish Sea, thus creating the Isle of Man.

www.discoverloughneagh.com

Lough Neagh Discovery Centre, Oxford Island National Nature Reserve

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