While I’m off to another open-door day and a visit to three gardens near Siena, here are four previous occasions when I seized the chance to go through doors which are otherwise closed or limited.
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p
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d
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a
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Since today blogging history at the end of this post is so rich – I simply couldn’t make a selection and am featuring nine posts from the past – here are only five photos from four open-door occasions, when I visited private courtyards in Rome, a garden of a Tuscan villa that almost warmed me to capitalism, and a couple of archaeological sites which are normally open for paying customers but on these days were free. Let me open the doors for you too.
And how about yesterday with the three Slovenians in the NBA and the Eurovision Song Contest, you ask? Denver Nuggets lost big but Čančar didn’t play. The Dragon scored 25 points but Miami Heat lost by two in overtime. And then it gets interesting. Luka Dončić was excellent with 31 points and a triple double for a 10-point Mavericks win against the Clippers. And finally – ITALIA WINS EUROVISION!! Juhuuuu! Now I have to take amore to the live event next year as I promised.
Be well and don’t be Zitti e buoni, as the winning song says. Quiet and well-behaved.
A hidden Roman courtyard. On the same day I visited ten more of them or so. 
The ancient Roman settlement Cosa in Ansedonia near me. 
Rusellae near Grosseto with a Roman amphitheatre and Etruscan connections. 
A private garden in the south of Tuscany that won me over. 
I mean, just look at that.
This day in my blogging history
Manja Mexi Mexcessive (closed) 
The Tuscan garden is gorgeous. I like your photo retrospective.
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Thank you, Lynette! I’m glad you do. This looking back has been an interesting exercise.
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I get it. It’s hard to make a selection when you’re surrounded by such beauty. These are just plain gorgeous, Manja.
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Thank you, Bojana! Spoiled by beauty, definitely. Yesterday again, when I visited three properties and their magnificent gardens. Almost afraid to download my photos. So many.
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Ha. I can’t blame you.
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Open doors days are fab. That was what I missed the most last year as Covid stopped all that. We do it in September, each Scottish region with a weekend so you can travel around.
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Great, Sofia. I hope you can do it again this September. And I remember that you went to that amazing Garden of Cosmic Speculation on its only open-door day in the whole year.
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And for the last time too, Manja. Charles Jencks died soon after and the garden is now permanently closed… 😦
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Nooo! I haven’t heard of this. Thank you for telling me. I hope they realise it would be good for everybody if they open it again.
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Hopefully, they will.
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The hidden Roman courtyard looks great…shame about the people (!!) and the Tuscan private garden….see why you liked it.. looking forward to seeing the images from today
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Hahha, shame about the people! 😀 This made me laugh, Sue. I often try to shoot away from all people but in this photo they don’t bother me. Especially since one of them is amore’s daughter. 😉 Thanks, I’m looking forward to seeing my photos too, there are so many and I haven’t downloaded them yet. It was quite overwhelming.
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😊😊😊
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I love the avenue of trees in front of the Villa. I’m glad somebody enjoyed Eurovision. Italy probably deserved to win but the opposition wasn’t great was it?
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Hihih, Paul, this sounds like you were suffering a little. 😉 Or did you just hear bad reviews? Well, the majority of the songs were really appallingly bad, as every year. I always find some I can enjoy. This year these were Iceland, Latvia and Ukraine. And Italy, but it was more amore’s passion that won me over. Well deserved, that’s for sure. They are young and able. Thank you! (But truth be told, I paid more attention to Mavericks and Clippers who were playing at the same time.)
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Not many of us could say we’ve visited ten “hidden Roman courtyards’ in a day 🙂
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Oh Sandy, they gave out a list with addresses and I hopped from one to the other like a kid. 🙂 There were many close together so it was really a great day. I realise that I never did a post that would show them all. Always so many unposted photos… Thank you!
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Good old Italy! I do love a cheeky bit of Eurovision, even if the UK does always come last with nil points! 😀 Love the photos. Unusual compositions and perspectives. You definitely catch the nuns well. 🙂
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Hihih, I saw that, Sunra, as well as how he was shaking and spilling out his beer in frustration. Bless his heart. Goooood to be called unusual, thanks for that. It makes me look like a nun specialist, while in reality this must be the other photo of a nun ever taken. 😀 Thank you!!!
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😂😂 Those nuns do make for a great subject though, it cannot be denied! It would make a wonderful montage for an exhibition. A whole bunch of photos of nuns out of their usual habitat (no pun intended).
And I’m guessing you know the man in the photos, else he might be surprised to find a woman following him around with a camera and taking shots of him skinny dipping and such-like! 😄☀️😂
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Hihih, I don’t! It was stronger than me! 😀
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😂
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Amazing photos, Manja! Love all of them especially the tree shadows splashed on the grass and your definition of a writer.💜 Congrats on Italy’s winning song at Eurovision!🎉
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Thank youuu, Romana! I fixed that writer quote and put it in quotations marks so that it’s clearer that it’s not me who is that smart. 😉 It’s actually Victor Hugo who said that. It’s sooo funny because some years ago amore didn’t even know what Eurovision Song Contest was, and now he watched it and cheered for his Italy so happily. ❤
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It sounds like something you might say, so kudos anyway! I used to watch Eurovision like a fiend when I lived in Romania eons ago. Same thing with the Oscars, even if it meant waking up in the middle of the night. Somehow, I fell out of the habit…
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Oh yes, same here. 🙂
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The Italian Eurovision win even got its own story in the newspaper here!
“A writer is a world trapped inside a person”–that’s just right. (K)
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Oh, K, really? 😀 I guess that Will Farrell comedy is creating some awareness. Haven’t seen it yet.
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It’s good news for a change I think. We all need itl
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