The long trip home was uneventful.
One resolve - next time I am passing through Dubai and have a wait longer than about an hour, I will try the restaurant that looks nice and quiet and peaceful - even if it does cost a few dollars more than the 'food hall' style outlets with the accompanying noise, both aural and visual.
I got a 'green stamp' and fast exit through customs so avoided a potentially long wait.
My daughter met me at the bus station and brought me home. The shrubs have all grown, as have the weeds.
I am pleased to be home and had a good trip.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Turin Friday
I had no plans for today. I woke up and looked at my list of like to do’s. I had not had coffee under the covered arches so set off. I looked at one of the fancy places, ummed and ahhed for ages then sat down. There werenot many people around. The waitperson did not come and did not come so I upt and left. Normally I have coffee in the morning at local places where you stand at the bar or order and then ask to sit down – and they never charge you more to sit down. An espresso is E1 and a cappuccino is usually E1.2 and a croissant is E1. This fancy place charged E4.5 for a cappuccino. I went round the corner and along the street – still under cover and found another place. I sat down, she came straight away, I ordered a cappuccino and a croissant and after a while of watching the world go past in a far more comfortable setting went in and she said E2.20 – what I normally pay. The place has been around for a while – the first time I have seen squat toilets in Italy since we were travelling in the south in 2003.
I walked to the river and then a brisk ½ walk up a hill took me to a little church on a hill. I walked down again and had lunch at a restaurant over the road from me. For some reason I have not eaten there before, but it was very good. I had a few specialities of the area that I have been looking out for. - Tajarin – an egg pasta in fine strips. They had it with butter, sage, a few anchovies and slices of hard cheese on the top. I had a salad and then bonet – the chocolate and almond traditional dessert. It was a slice of a log. The bottom half was rich , moist, chocolate cake, but lighter than it looked and the top was chocolate mouse. It had crushed amaretti biscuits sprinkled on top.
In the late afternoon I walked into the centre and had a non alcoholic aperativ at the nicest of the 3 places I had been to. She asked if I like lampone – raspberries I thought but I wasn’t sure- so I said I think so but I would like a surprise. At least that is what I wanted to say. She thought it was hilariously funny so I am not sure what I actually said. It was crushed raspberries, lemon,lime and soda. Delicious. Not sweet.
Some odds and ends:
I have kept to my resolve and not eaten in any restaurants for 2weeks which have a menu translated into English. The tricky ones are the ones with no menu at all.
There are lots of thigh length knitted coats, knitted pochos, shawls, wraps, in the shop windows but still I havenot found any good pattern books. Black, grey and more grey mainly.
Many of the buses in the centre are electric.
I think going to places for 1 week each , on my own, in different countries, is too hard. To be fair , I did have a busy few months before I came away and then 3 places in 10 days before the 3 separate weeks. At the end of each week, I have thought – I have just found or mastered the washing machine ( no easy feat when half of the symbols mean nothing to me and there is no book) , light switches, where to eat comfortably , when to eat, where to drink, the bus system, the supermarket, which key goes in which lock, etc etc and it is time to leave. I cannot decide if 5 weeks is too long or if it feels like it is too long because I have been on the go and not been disciplined enough to take a day off here and there or does it feel longer because I have been on my own, except for the people in Ferrara who I had a couple of meals with, for 4 weeks.
Maybe my next trip should be 2 weeks in one place, 5 day walking trip with a group, 2 weeks in another place. Or maybe I should SKI faster and just go to 1 place for 3 weeks and do day trips and then 6 months later go to another place for 3 weeks.
Tomorrow I start for home. Walk to nearby station,wait for train, one stop, walk to bus stop, wait for a while, bus ( 2 hours) to Malpensa (Milan) wait more time, check in, etc etc. Dubi, Sydney, bus to Canberra. I am not good at waiting. I will try very hard to be restful while waiting.
I walked to the river and then a brisk ½ walk up a hill took me to a little church on a hill. I walked down again and had lunch at a restaurant over the road from me. For some reason I have not eaten there before, but it was very good. I had a few specialities of the area that I have been looking out for. - Tajarin – an egg pasta in fine strips. They had it with butter, sage, a few anchovies and slices of hard cheese on the top. I had a salad and then bonet – the chocolate and almond traditional dessert. It was a slice of a log. The bottom half was rich , moist, chocolate cake, but lighter than it looked and the top was chocolate mouse. It had crushed amaretti biscuits sprinkled on top.
In the late afternoon I walked into the centre and had a non alcoholic aperativ at the nicest of the 3 places I had been to. She asked if I like lampone – raspberries I thought but I wasn’t sure- so I said I think so but I would like a surprise. At least that is what I wanted to say. She thought it was hilariously funny so I am not sure what I actually said. It was crushed raspberries, lemon,lime and soda. Delicious. Not sweet.
Some odds and ends:
I have kept to my resolve and not eaten in any restaurants for 2weeks which have a menu translated into English. The tricky ones are the ones with no menu at all.
There are lots of thigh length knitted coats, knitted pochos, shawls, wraps, in the shop windows but still I havenot found any good pattern books. Black, grey and more grey mainly.
Many of the buses in the centre are electric.
I think going to places for 1 week each , on my own, in different countries, is too hard. To be fair , I did have a busy few months before I came away and then 3 places in 10 days before the 3 separate weeks. At the end of each week, I have thought – I have just found or mastered the washing machine ( no easy feat when half of the symbols mean nothing to me and there is no book) , light switches, where to eat comfortably , when to eat, where to drink, the bus system, the supermarket, which key goes in which lock, etc etc and it is time to leave. I cannot decide if 5 weeks is too long or if it feels like it is too long because I have been on the go and not been disciplined enough to take a day off here and there or does it feel longer because I have been on my own, except for the people in Ferrara who I had a couple of meals with, for 4 weeks.
Maybe my next trip should be 2 weeks in one place, 5 day walking trip with a group, 2 weeks in another place. Or maybe I should SKI faster and just go to 1 place for 3 weeks and do day trips and then 6 months later go to another place for 3 weeks.
Tomorrow I start for home. Walk to nearby station,wait for train, one stop, walk to bus stop, wait for a while, bus ( 2 hours) to Malpensa (Milan) wait more time, check in, etc etc. Dubi, Sydney, bus to Canberra. I am not good at waiting. I will try very hard to be restful while waiting.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Turin Thursday
This morning I went by bus (I’ve mastered the route map, where to sit, where the stops are written etc) to a stop NE of the centre. The Basilica di Superga is on top of a hill overlooking the city. There are many Savoy tombs and a memorial to the whole 1949 Torino football team whose plane crashed into the side of the hill. Juventus, the other Turin team, apparently sometimes chant ‘superga, superga’ to stir up the opposition. I would have thought that would spur them on. In 1884 a rack and pinion railway was built from Sassi ( the suburb I stopped at) to the top 460m higher. In 1934 the line was electrified and upgraded. The carriages have been renovated. It took about 20min up, and I had a look at the view, took some photos, and came back. I did not go the extra way up the hill to see the church. I got a different bus back deliberately to see different things and had another nice lunch at the fish place of the day before yesterday. This time I had lampuga which she said was in the tuna family. Wikipedia translates it as dolphinfish. I am none the wiser. It tasted good.
I had another glass of her arneis – a DOCG wine and have jut looked it up. Quite a few Australian wine growers are now growing it but the jury seems to be out on whether it will be the next big thing or just a passing fad in Australia. It has been grown here for centuries but originally just to blend with nebbiola grapes.
In the late afternoon, I went looking for a black bag. The nice ones were more than I wanted to pay. I did spend E1.5 on a book of Sudoku puzzles because I have run out of KenKens. I did have another fruit –based gelato – raspberry and lemon – delicious and bought some ready made salad for dinner. I watch ‘who want’s to be a millionare’ quite often . It is a bit tricky understanding the question sometimes.
I had another glass of her arneis – a DOCG wine and have jut looked it up. Quite a few Australian wine growers are now growing it but the jury seems to be out on whether it will be the next big thing or just a passing fad in Australia. It has been grown here for centuries but originally just to blend with nebbiola grapes.
In the late afternoon, I went looking for a black bag. The nice ones were more than I wanted to pay. I did spend E1.5 on a book of Sudoku puzzles because I have run out of KenKens. I did have another fruit –based gelato – raspberry and lemon – delicious and bought some ready made salad for dinner. I watch ‘who want’s to be a millionare’ quite often . It is a bit tricky understanding the question sometimes.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Turin Wednesday
After a slow start I walked to the Gallery of Modern Art, not far from here. The building has had a few ups and downs and was extensively remodelled in 1993. The gallery has a collection dating from about mid 1800’s. This collection is shown currently in 4 separate themed long thin galleries arranged historically. One is childhood. The paintings start with late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The children depicted in the family scenes of the rich are quite different to the family scenes of the poor. There was one painting of a very young child in a poor family living in a barn been held under a goat to suckle from the goat – I suppose if no mother or wet nurse is available – not something I’ve come across. There were some interesting photos of the children in the poverty in the south of Italy during the 1950’s.
Another gallery was called ‘genre’. By this they meant repeating various forms either in the same painting or a group of paintings. The first painting was a large scenery of a funeral in Venice – with many many people. There was a little side room with 8 of Murandi’s Natura Morta paintings – the guy I saw in Bologna. In case you are wondering, of the 8 paintings of vases 2 had 6 vases , 1 had 1, 1 had 3, 2 had 4 , and 2 had 2 . So most of the compositions had an uneven number of vases. There was a huge pile of many different sized cubes of white or gray marble all stacked up called Sugar, No Sugar. I smiled and thought of the fun my granddaughters would have.
The third gallery was called ‘Veduta’. This term historically refers to the detailed realistic topographic view of landscape but has changed to encompass ’ new aspirations of Enlightenment philosophy and , through the troubled visions of the Romantics, led all the way to the contemporary age’ – quote from pamphlet. There was a painting from early 1900’s I think of a countryside and row of sort of styalised sheep - all different sorts- following one after another across the landscape. It was entitled ‘Lo specchio della vita’ - the mirror of life. Almost at the end there were some paintings that I reckon a kindergarten teacher could have organised – ‘ Here’s the paper and here’s the paints kids, go for it’. At the end of this particular gallery there was a framework, about 1 m tall of a semi sphere with bits of flat glass fairly crudely attached with what looked like blu tak and out of the top of the dome there was a bare tree branch. Srangely appealing.
The fourth gallery was called ‘Specularity’ – the ability of an object to reflect an image. There are 3 approaches – reflecting, reflective and self-reflective. The first paintings were of people sitting quietly in the countryside , there were some paintings from inside looking out, there were some portraits of people who appeared to be staring straight into you, there was a Perspex clothing bin full of a jumble of clothes, there were some modern paintings – 1 a half person half horse. I nearly tripped over an exhibit – it was a 20cm high by 50cm long block of stone with a round spirit level thing set into it. I enjoyed the gallery. It was easy ( apart from some of the modern stuff) to see how the paintings fitted into the 4 themes . Many of them were quite thought provoking. In the hour I was there I only saw 1 other person looking at the art.
My plan next was to go to the Lingotto centre. This was built in 1923 as FIAT’s first assembly-line plant. In 1983 Renzo Piano was commissioned to redesign it. It was finished in 2002 and apparently it has ‘bold and state-of-the-art techno features- window blinds that follow the sun, glass roofs that slide closed over courtyards if rain’ etc . It houses shops, hotels, a museum, conference centres etc etc. I wanted to look at the Eataly shop – the first(?) of the chain that I saw in Bologna. It took me longer than expected to get there ! My first mistake was to sit on the wrong side of the bus so I could not see properly. I got off I thought 1 stop too late, but it was really at least 2 stops. My second major mistake was not to realise there were no cars parked. I did think it odd – and just thought they were out the back. I walked in, it was very quiet, I asked a car rental lady – 2nd floor she said – I am positive. Many of the doors were locked. I went up to the second floor – I knew I was in the wrong place – the escalator was not working. There were some people setting up a café and I asked them – they pointed to the next building along – several 100 m away. I had seen some workmen on the ground floor when I came in. I went downstairs again, no one around, the workmen had gone and locked the doors behind them. Oops. There was a locked door between me and the first people I asked. I walked to the other end of the building and found a door out to the back of the building. Still noone around. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. OK – but then I found I was in a parking area with a big ( yes, locked) fence around it. No one around. I walked around the fence and found a sort of opening and squeezed through and I was then in a parking area that appeared to be open to the road. I walked about 200m in the right direction and came to the next building There was an entrance but it was labelled with corporate people – Accenture one I remember. I kept walking thinking – lunch better be good to make up for this – and found another entrance – no sign, but quite a few cars and an escalator that was working. I found I was in the middle of a fairly ordinary big mall. It was quite bright and airy, but a shopping mall is a shopping mall. I was too relieved to be in a rightish place that I forgot to look at the roof or blinds. I had to walk several more 100m to find the information desk to ask about the place I wanted to go to and then it was further on in it’s own separate building. All the time I was back in the direction the bus had come from.
Eataly is at first look a huge jumble of things but there is a pattern. There is a section selling fish and several areas of tables and chairs nearby, there is a huge deli area with a section of tables and chairs, there is a huge section selling pastas, sauces etc and more tables, there is a large gelato and other desert area. There are utensils, bowls books for sale. My immediate need was for food, water, alcohol and a sitdown ( not necessarily in that order) There philosophy is that it is better to have a little of something grown well, in season, locally than junk from somewhere else. They are closely allied with the Slow Food movement which started in a town not far from here. There is alos space for talks, cooking demos etc. Anyway, I was nearest the fish place so ordered some fish – a collection of sea food in a creamy zuchine broth- and a glass of roero arnais , which I’ve had before, but it seems the only Piedmontese white that appears on menus. Then I wandered. Downstairs is the cellar . There was an area where you bring your own bottle and fill up from a barrel thing with table wine E2.5 a litre. There were 2 reds, 2 whites and 1 rose. I saw red eggplants which I havenot seen before. There were about the same length as a green pepper but not as fat. There was also a place where you fill up your own bottle with milk at E1 / litre. I must look and see what it costs in the supermarket. I have been keeping my eye out for a typical Piedmontese desert called bonet – a chocolate and almond cake but have not seen any , either in pasticcerias or on menus . I had a careful look at all the deserts on other at Eataly . There was no one else there so I told the lady I was looking for bonet. She did not have it but suggested another speciality – a layer of cake, then a layer of gooey chocolate then a layer of zabaglione. I thought I should try it so that I could compare it with the bonet when I fid it. It was delicious. I am not really obsessed with food. I donot know enough about the system but it is not obvious how 2 people would eat - 1 who wanted fish and 1 who wanted a steak.
Bus home was uneventful. After a few hours I thought it was time for a walk. I had had an idea of something simple to get for my granddaughters so went looking. My language is appalling in the late afternoons – I seem too tired to get anything out properly but the shop assistant put up with me and eventually got the hang of what I was looking for. I did not feel like going home to write this so found a nice , smallish place and thought I would try another of the reds from this area – a Nebbiolo. She asked if I wanted nibbles – I said yes and I got a large plate of all sorts of interesting things – much nicer than the 2 previous places in the centre of town. (I gave the communal peanuts on the bar last night a miss). It was also a similar price as the first 2 places. I sat and watched people, nibbled and drank for ¾ hour. I am getting the hang of this life.
Tomorrow I might go looking for a new black handbag that doesnot cost too much. Wish me luck
Another gallery was called ‘genre’. By this they meant repeating various forms either in the same painting or a group of paintings. The first painting was a large scenery of a funeral in Venice – with many many people. There was a little side room with 8 of Murandi’s Natura Morta paintings – the guy I saw in Bologna. In case you are wondering, of the 8 paintings of vases 2 had 6 vases , 1 had 1, 1 had 3, 2 had 4 , and 2 had 2 . So most of the compositions had an uneven number of vases. There was a huge pile of many different sized cubes of white or gray marble all stacked up called Sugar, No Sugar. I smiled and thought of the fun my granddaughters would have.
The third gallery was called ‘Veduta’. This term historically refers to the detailed realistic topographic view of landscape but has changed to encompass ’ new aspirations of Enlightenment philosophy and , through the troubled visions of the Romantics, led all the way to the contemporary age’ – quote from pamphlet. There was a painting from early 1900’s I think of a countryside and row of sort of styalised sheep - all different sorts- following one after another across the landscape. It was entitled ‘Lo specchio della vita’ - the mirror of life. Almost at the end there were some paintings that I reckon a kindergarten teacher could have organised – ‘ Here’s the paper and here’s the paints kids, go for it’. At the end of this particular gallery there was a framework, about 1 m tall of a semi sphere with bits of flat glass fairly crudely attached with what looked like blu tak and out of the top of the dome there was a bare tree branch. Srangely appealing.
The fourth gallery was called ‘Specularity’ – the ability of an object to reflect an image. There are 3 approaches – reflecting, reflective and self-reflective. The first paintings were of people sitting quietly in the countryside , there were some paintings from inside looking out, there were some portraits of people who appeared to be staring straight into you, there was a Perspex clothing bin full of a jumble of clothes, there were some modern paintings – 1 a half person half horse. I nearly tripped over an exhibit – it was a 20cm high by 50cm long block of stone with a round spirit level thing set into it. I enjoyed the gallery. It was easy ( apart from some of the modern stuff) to see how the paintings fitted into the 4 themes . Many of them were quite thought provoking. In the hour I was there I only saw 1 other person looking at the art.
My plan next was to go to the Lingotto centre. This was built in 1923 as FIAT’s first assembly-line plant. In 1983 Renzo Piano was commissioned to redesign it. It was finished in 2002 and apparently it has ‘bold and state-of-the-art techno features- window blinds that follow the sun, glass roofs that slide closed over courtyards if rain’ etc . It houses shops, hotels, a museum, conference centres etc etc. I wanted to look at the Eataly shop – the first(?) of the chain that I saw in Bologna. It took me longer than expected to get there ! My first mistake was to sit on the wrong side of the bus so I could not see properly. I got off I thought 1 stop too late, but it was really at least 2 stops. My second major mistake was not to realise there were no cars parked. I did think it odd – and just thought they were out the back. I walked in, it was very quiet, I asked a car rental lady – 2nd floor she said – I am positive. Many of the doors were locked. I went up to the second floor – I knew I was in the wrong place – the escalator was not working. There were some people setting up a café and I asked them – they pointed to the next building along – several 100 m away. I had seen some workmen on the ground floor when I came in. I went downstairs again, no one around, the workmen had gone and locked the doors behind them. Oops. There was a locked door between me and the first people I asked. I walked to the other end of the building and found a door out to the back of the building. Still noone around. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. OK – but then I found I was in a parking area with a big ( yes, locked) fence around it. No one around. I walked around the fence and found a sort of opening and squeezed through and I was then in a parking area that appeared to be open to the road. I walked about 200m in the right direction and came to the next building There was an entrance but it was labelled with corporate people – Accenture one I remember. I kept walking thinking – lunch better be good to make up for this – and found another entrance – no sign, but quite a few cars and an escalator that was working. I found I was in the middle of a fairly ordinary big mall. It was quite bright and airy, but a shopping mall is a shopping mall. I was too relieved to be in a rightish place that I forgot to look at the roof or blinds. I had to walk several more 100m to find the information desk to ask about the place I wanted to go to and then it was further on in it’s own separate building. All the time I was back in the direction the bus had come from.
Eataly is at first look a huge jumble of things but there is a pattern. There is a section selling fish and several areas of tables and chairs nearby, there is a huge deli area with a section of tables and chairs, there is a huge section selling pastas, sauces etc and more tables, there is a large gelato and other desert area. There are utensils, bowls books for sale. My immediate need was for food, water, alcohol and a sitdown ( not necessarily in that order) There philosophy is that it is better to have a little of something grown well, in season, locally than junk from somewhere else. They are closely allied with the Slow Food movement which started in a town not far from here. There is alos space for talks, cooking demos etc. Anyway, I was nearest the fish place so ordered some fish – a collection of sea food in a creamy zuchine broth- and a glass of roero arnais , which I’ve had before, but it seems the only Piedmontese white that appears on menus. Then I wandered. Downstairs is the cellar . There was an area where you bring your own bottle and fill up from a barrel thing with table wine E2.5 a litre. There were 2 reds, 2 whites and 1 rose. I saw red eggplants which I havenot seen before. There were about the same length as a green pepper but not as fat. There was also a place where you fill up your own bottle with milk at E1 / litre. I must look and see what it costs in the supermarket. I have been keeping my eye out for a typical Piedmontese desert called bonet – a chocolate and almond cake but have not seen any , either in pasticcerias or on menus . I had a careful look at all the deserts on other at Eataly . There was no one else there so I told the lady I was looking for bonet. She did not have it but suggested another speciality – a layer of cake, then a layer of gooey chocolate then a layer of zabaglione. I thought I should try it so that I could compare it with the bonet when I fid it. It was delicious. I am not really obsessed with food. I donot know enough about the system but it is not obvious how 2 people would eat - 1 who wanted fish and 1 who wanted a steak.
Bus home was uneventful. After a few hours I thought it was time for a walk. I had had an idea of something simple to get for my granddaughters so went looking. My language is appalling in the late afternoons – I seem too tired to get anything out properly but the shop assistant put up with me and eventually got the hang of what I was looking for. I did not feel like going home to write this so found a nice , smallish place and thought I would try another of the reds from this area – a Nebbiolo. She asked if I wanted nibbles – I said yes and I got a large plate of all sorts of interesting things – much nicer than the 2 previous places in the centre of town. (I gave the communal peanuts on the bar last night a miss). It was also a similar price as the first 2 places. I sat and watched people, nibbled and drank for ¾ hour. I am getting the hang of this life.
Tomorrow I might go looking for a new black handbag that doesnot cost too much. Wish me luck
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Turin Tuesday
I am very near the main train station in Turin but the bus to the airport leaves from the other train station. This second one is in complete disarray because they are building a metro system. I thought I would catch a train there this morning to make sure I could get from the platform to where the bus goes from. The old above ground station is still there but the train now goes to an underground station. As far as I could gather not all the signs are in place and some point down when they mean right. I went up and down a few times more than I needed. It will be easier on Saturday, unless they change the signs in the meantime! After coffee and croissant in another brand new bar, I went to the Mole and Cinema Museum. In 1862 work started on a large domed building that was to be a synagogue but after 30 years and way too much money the Jewish community said ‘forget it’ and the government took it over. A huge spire was added. The full name of the building is Mole Antonelliana. This translates as Antonelli's ( the architect) heap. You can get a lift up to a lookout platform that is at the top of the dome , base of the spire. The views were great. It made it very obvious how close Turin is to the mountains.
Inside the dome is now a wonderful Cinema Museum. The first floor is all about light, how eyes work, how colour works, optical illusions etc. In the main part, there are several levels of all sorts of small exhibits around the edges of the dome and there are lay back seats that you can watch either of 2 shows on 2 big screens. It wasn’t just Italian films. There were star wars creatures, a room set up like a wild west saloon with an appropriate movie playing, a small room with a big round red bed you could lie on and watch a film ( age restriction?) horror movie sets, all about editing, designing, costumes. I spent ages there.
I looked at my book to see if there were recommended places nearby for lunch. There were several but 1 wasnot open, 1 the person completely ignored me ,and it was too noisy ( busy road nearby) and the other was also near the busy road. So I thought I would go into the first 1 down a little side street that I came to whatever it was, fancy restaurant or sandwich joint. I got lucky. The first one was delightful. Modern, helpful lady who talked slowly to me so I could understand, excellent food , different, modern Italian. I had some aguglia. I gathered from her a type of swordfish or marlin chopped up in a pasta dish with herbs. I also had some of the local white – arneis which was good. Ah - and an apple tart and coffee. The bread also came in a paper bag. Must be the latest fashion. No one took theirs.
My plan was to go next on a boat ride down the Po. I had a bit of a language issue. I thought the boat went further but when I was getting my ticket I found it only goes about 2 km. The guy kept telling me it stops at a castle and I get out and look for an hour and catch the next boat back. I kept saying, but I donot want to look at the castle , can I stay on the boat? He said, No, get off. I gave up. In the end it was vaguely interesting. A medieval village, Borgo Medievale, was created in Turin in the 1880’s to replicate those that lined the Valle d’Aosta. There were shops, a church and a castle. The castle was furnished and decorated as it would have been. The boat ride was nice – peaceful and slow. Took about 25 minutes. Lots of rowers on the river.
Foccacia for dinner bought from a bread shop after a nice small glass of barbera d’Asti for a local bar. Mind you I went round the block a few times in increasing circles till I came to one that was respectable enough i.e. did not have groups of men loitering in the doorway. – they were sitting at tables – and there was a single female inside.
I have seen quite a few young men wearing nice suits and brightly coloured shoes that look only 1 or 2 steps up from sneakers. I have seen some beautiful material shops. All the material is in neat bolts all stacked in beautiful colour combinations. Someone serves you the whole time. There are probably shops like that in Sydney and Melbourne.
Inside the dome is now a wonderful Cinema Museum. The first floor is all about light, how eyes work, how colour works, optical illusions etc. In the main part, there are several levels of all sorts of small exhibits around the edges of the dome and there are lay back seats that you can watch either of 2 shows on 2 big screens. It wasn’t just Italian films. There were star wars creatures, a room set up like a wild west saloon with an appropriate movie playing, a small room with a big round red bed you could lie on and watch a film ( age restriction?) horror movie sets, all about editing, designing, costumes. I spent ages there.
I looked at my book to see if there were recommended places nearby for lunch. There were several but 1 wasnot open, 1 the person completely ignored me ,and it was too noisy ( busy road nearby) and the other was also near the busy road. So I thought I would go into the first 1 down a little side street that I came to whatever it was, fancy restaurant or sandwich joint. I got lucky. The first one was delightful. Modern, helpful lady who talked slowly to me so I could understand, excellent food , different, modern Italian. I had some aguglia. I gathered from her a type of swordfish or marlin chopped up in a pasta dish with herbs. I also had some of the local white – arneis which was good. Ah - and an apple tart and coffee. The bread also came in a paper bag. Must be the latest fashion. No one took theirs.
My plan was to go next on a boat ride down the Po. I had a bit of a language issue. I thought the boat went further but when I was getting my ticket I found it only goes about 2 km. The guy kept telling me it stops at a castle and I get out and look for an hour and catch the next boat back. I kept saying, but I donot want to look at the castle , can I stay on the boat? He said, No, get off. I gave up. In the end it was vaguely interesting. A medieval village, Borgo Medievale, was created in Turin in the 1880’s to replicate those that lined the Valle d’Aosta. There were shops, a church and a castle. The castle was furnished and decorated as it would have been. The boat ride was nice – peaceful and slow. Took about 25 minutes. Lots of rowers on the river.
Foccacia for dinner bought from a bread shop after a nice small glass of barbera d’Asti for a local bar. Mind you I went round the block a few times in increasing circles till I came to one that was respectable enough i.e. did not have groups of men loitering in the doorway. – they were sitting at tables – and there was a single female inside.
I have seen quite a few young men wearing nice suits and brightly coloured shoes that look only 1 or 2 steps up from sneakers. I have seen some beautiful material shops. All the material is in neat bolts all stacked in beautiful colour combinations. Someone serves you the whole time. There are probably shops like that in Sydney and Melbourne.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Turin Monday and muddled churches
There is a bus that goes direct from Turin to Malpensa airport at Milan out of which I am flying on Saturday. I want to sort out how to get to the bus rather than wait till Saturday and potentially get all hot and bothered before I even get on the bus, let alone the plane. To this end I set off today in search of the place to buy a ticket which I got from their website. The first place said ‘not any more’ or many words to that effect. The lady at the second place was quite abrupt, also ‘No’ so I kept walking to the third place, thinking ‘do I want to risk getting to the airport in another city with a company with an outdated website’? It may be just the first places. Anyway I bought a ticket. The bus leaves from there or also another place in Turin that will be easier for me to get to, so I walked there – a big bus depot to find where the bus left from, but I have just realised I do not know what side of the road the bus goes from. Bother!.
From there I walked to a little old café for a bicerin. This place, called Al Bicerin, claims to have invented the drink in the 1700’s . I sat in the little piazza , near where I had luch yesterday, and watched people and read a little. The drink came in a glass. Hot coffee, then hot chocolate and then a 1cm layer of a cross between milk and cream. The coffee and chocolate were hot, the cream was cold . I was told not to stir it. The way it flowed, when you sipped, you got a bit of hot liquid and a bit of cold cream. It was delicious. Not as rich as , say a hot chocolate from Koko Black. For me, the chocolate dominated over the coffee.
I set off in the direction of the main church. After a while I passed a really modern bar – an aside – that’s another thing about Turin – there are lots of modern design shops, both furniture and accessories. Alessi, for 1 is based here.. I went into the bar and had another coffee . It was all steel and glass but somehow friendly – maybe the staff helped. There was a downstairs which you could see through the partly glass floor.
The church I thought yesterday was the church of San Lorenzo and could not work out why is was so important wasn’t . It was really the Duomo of St Giovanni Battista – nothing special. The church that the book said was special was quite different. It was built attached to the Royal Palace and did not really have a nave, just seats under this very impressive dome. The dome had all sorts of curved semicircular bays at different heights. There was a guy talking about how wonderful it was but I sometimes wonder if people extolling the virtues of domes in Christian churches have ever been into any of the huge wonderfully light mosques that are around. I was pleased I didnot get too annoyed with myself for making a mistake and not reading the map carefully enough yesterday. I am wandering around from place to place with less regard to the map than normal. I am not always comfortable but it is a good exercise. Except several times I have thought I would go back and have another look at something and have had only a very rough idea of where it was.
I then went to a bookshop that sells books in English and bought 2. I have a long day on Saturday before I get onto the plane and I have almost finished my book and have not found any English books in any of the 2nd hand books shops I have been into.
I then walked almost back here and had lunch at the same place as on Saturday. I did not have as much as Saturday, but the lady remembered what I had had and kept asking me.
In the late afternoon I wandered back into the town. I wasnot sure if I wanted coffee and cake or a drink and nibbles. It seems that some of the places put their cakes – or most of them – away after a certain time of day . The main street was too noisy again, so I went to a little piazza just off it and had an aperativ della casa. How’s that ? I had no idea what I was getting. Afterwards she said it is always fruit of some sort and prosecco in that bar. The nibbles were not as good as the night before. I had an afterthought about the previous night – as I was leaving I saw several couples with a drink each and 1 plate of nibbles between them, the same size as I got. Today I walked passed and saw, in the window , a whole lot of the plates made up. Yesterday I was the only single person and I ddnot see any when I past today. One plus of being on my own.
There ia a scheme run by the council of hiring bikes. There are places within every 500m or so with racks of about 20 bright yellow bikes. The ones I have seen have all been in very good nick. You have to register before hand and get a smart card which you put credit onto. I think an Italian tourist could register for it. You wave the smart card over a part of the rack that the bike is attached to, the bike is released and presumably the time returned is recorded as well.
From there I walked to a little old café for a bicerin. This place, called Al Bicerin, claims to have invented the drink in the 1700’s . I sat in the little piazza , near where I had luch yesterday, and watched people and read a little. The drink came in a glass. Hot coffee, then hot chocolate and then a 1cm layer of a cross between milk and cream. The coffee and chocolate were hot, the cream was cold . I was told not to stir it. The way it flowed, when you sipped, you got a bit of hot liquid and a bit of cold cream. It was delicious. Not as rich as , say a hot chocolate from Koko Black. For me, the chocolate dominated over the coffee.
I set off in the direction of the main church. After a while I passed a really modern bar – an aside – that’s another thing about Turin – there are lots of modern design shops, both furniture and accessories. Alessi, for 1 is based here.. I went into the bar and had another coffee . It was all steel and glass but somehow friendly – maybe the staff helped. There was a downstairs which you could see through the partly glass floor.
The church I thought yesterday was the church of San Lorenzo and could not work out why is was so important wasn’t . It was really the Duomo of St Giovanni Battista – nothing special. The church that the book said was special was quite different. It was built attached to the Royal Palace and did not really have a nave, just seats under this very impressive dome. The dome had all sorts of curved semicircular bays at different heights. There was a guy talking about how wonderful it was but I sometimes wonder if people extolling the virtues of domes in Christian churches have ever been into any of the huge wonderfully light mosques that are around. I was pleased I didnot get too annoyed with myself for making a mistake and not reading the map carefully enough yesterday. I am wandering around from place to place with less regard to the map than normal. I am not always comfortable but it is a good exercise. Except several times I have thought I would go back and have another look at something and have had only a very rough idea of where it was.
I then went to a bookshop that sells books in English and bought 2. I have a long day on Saturday before I get onto the plane and I have almost finished my book and have not found any English books in any of the 2nd hand books shops I have been into.
I then walked almost back here and had lunch at the same place as on Saturday. I did not have as much as Saturday, but the lady remembered what I had had and kept asking me.
In the late afternoon I wandered back into the town. I wasnot sure if I wanted coffee and cake or a drink and nibbles. It seems that some of the places put their cakes – or most of them – away after a certain time of day . The main street was too noisy again, so I went to a little piazza just off it and had an aperativ della casa. How’s that ? I had no idea what I was getting. Afterwards she said it is always fruit of some sort and prosecco in that bar. The nibbles were not as good as the night before. I had an afterthought about the previous night – as I was leaving I saw several couples with a drink each and 1 plate of nibbles between them, the same size as I got. Today I walked passed and saw, in the window , a whole lot of the plates made up. Yesterday I was the only single person and I ddnot see any when I past today. One plus of being on my own.
There ia a scheme run by the council of hiring bikes. There are places within every 500m or so with racks of about 20 bright yellow bikes. The ones I have seen have all been in very good nick. You have to register before hand and get a smart card which you put credit onto. I think an Italian tourist could register for it. You wave the smart card over a part of the rack that the bike is attached to, the bike is released and presumably the time returned is recorded as well.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Turin Sunday
Over the road from my apartment is place called The Cotton Night Club. Its lights came on as I was turning mine off last night – I had to close the shutters carefully to keep the red lights out, but I heard nothing. Either custom is very slow or the double glazing works. There are some quite ordinary shops – and I suspect more will appear from behind the shutters tomorrow morning- and some less ordinary. I passed a lingerie shop with a difference ( lots of leather) and a cinema advertising films for over 18year olds. Each of the relevant posters had a large sticker thing attached saying ‘Film Hard’. Still, I donot feel uncomfortable and I think this apartment would be at least E150 more in an upmarket area. ( I did try but could not find any available)
The guy who made my morning coffee used long life milk – how dare he. I donot like long life milk, but I drank it. I walked through largely deserted streets stopping to look in windows of still closed shops to the Royal Palace. This was the main palace used by assorted Savoy kings and their entourages. You had to go on a tour – which actually just meant a large group of people with a minder at the front and a rear guard. No information was given . We were led around a set route. There was a small bit of information written on signs. I had bought an audio guide in English ( she gave me the over 65 price and I did not realise it until it was too late to be honest). Just as well – it was interesting, though after a while I gave up listening to some of the details.. Several other people had audio guides and the rear guard was constantly waiting for us because the front of the queue was moving faster than we were. A few Italians had audio guides. There were a couple of Italians near me. There was a little room off one larger room. I heard him say to her ‘I servici’ – as in toilet. I said, without thinking ‘ Forse il capelli, that’s not right the right word, but look at that’ as I pointed to one of those things you kneel on to pray at He thought for a bit and said si, si, una cappela . I had used the word for hair, but he realised what I was trying to say . Capppela is a chapel. Big difference. I went back to trying in Italian, said something, then he asked what we call the thing in English. Without thinking I said ‘prie dieu’ . He said , in Italian, but that is French, so I said, in Italian , that I did not know if it had an English name, I could not think of one. There were room after room of guilded guilt. Many of the rooms were ‘over the top’ for my taste but some interestingly so. Several of them had the ornamentation that was all over the wall repeated in the specially designed carpets and furnishing fabric and even the furniture had matching twiddly bits.
The church of San Lorenzo , next to the a\palazzo, is said, according to my book, to be one of the world’s great churches, but I have no idea why. The nave was quite nice and plain, in contrast to the ornate baroque chapels along the sides. The domed- centre is a bit complex with overlapping semi circles, but I did not think much of it. Next on my route was some remains of an old Roman wall and tower. Built in the 1st century.
I was going to have morning tea at a famous café but decided to have an early lunch instead at a nearby place in a lovely little piazza. It was very pleasant. It is far easier than it was when I was in Italy in 2007 to just have a pasta dish or just a salad for lunch at a nice restaurant. I have been watching and at least half of the people eating when I have been eating have had only had 1 course. This was not the case in 2007. With my gnochi I tried a roero arneis – a white that I have never heard of. It was nice – but then I say that of most dry whites. I watched people in the nearby café that I was going to have morning tea at and I watched the locals come out of mass at the church in the square. People of all ages. After I had eaten, I went into the church., the Santuario della Consolata. I walked in the door and thought , what an old place. It was oval, with the entrance on the long side and it seemed like a whole lot ( at least 6) of semi circular chapels sort of grafted onto each other. There was a main altar but it was not prominent. There was marble of every colour, statues all over the place, candles, but it felt good. I sat for a while trying to work out why. There were a few locals, a few visitors, no groups (like in the previous church). Nearby there is a tower from a Benedictine church that dates to the period between the Romans and Savoys.
I strolled across town to another ‘must do’ . According to Cristina, one of the owners, the best gelato is at Fiorio’s and the best type to eat is gianduia ( chocolate, hazelnut and cream). Fiorio’s is one of the old cafes – places to go if you want to be seen. The gelato was wonderful. I continued to the banks of the Po. There was an adventure race of some sort. I saw people jogging with a map – but no compass or control card – I saw cyclists and I also saw people with the same numberplate things on crossing the river on a harness attached to a cable. Looked like immense fun. I walked along the Po a little wishing I had my hat on and then home for a few hours.
Then it was aperativ time. I set off intending to find where the bus to the airport leaves from . I have an address but do not know how far along the street it is but after a while I thought – this is business / train station sort of area and noone ( it is Sunday evening) is around so I will do this another day. I walked to where all the people go for their passegiata and found a bar away from noise and sat down. I had a bellini – not from here but there are lovely peaches around at the moment. With it I got a plate of nibbles – 2 ½ slices of bread cut into 10 bits with nice toppings. Dinner. The drink was blended fresh peach with prosecco. I spent 1 hour sitting, only about half the time reading. What a pity, I will have to go again and have a vermouth based drink - keeping to the ‘try local’ theme.
My internet connection has been down today – the first time all trip I have had a problem. Not bad.
The guy who made my morning coffee used long life milk – how dare he. I donot like long life milk, but I drank it. I walked through largely deserted streets stopping to look in windows of still closed shops to the Royal Palace. This was the main palace used by assorted Savoy kings and their entourages. You had to go on a tour – which actually just meant a large group of people with a minder at the front and a rear guard. No information was given . We were led around a set route. There was a small bit of information written on signs. I had bought an audio guide in English ( she gave me the over 65 price and I did not realise it until it was too late to be honest). Just as well – it was interesting, though after a while I gave up listening to some of the details.. Several other people had audio guides and the rear guard was constantly waiting for us because the front of the queue was moving faster than we were. A few Italians had audio guides. There were a couple of Italians near me. There was a little room off one larger room. I heard him say to her ‘I servici’ – as in toilet. I said, without thinking ‘ Forse il capelli, that’s not right the right word, but look at that’ as I pointed to one of those things you kneel on to pray at He thought for a bit and said si, si, una cappela . I had used the word for hair, but he realised what I was trying to say . Capppela is a chapel. Big difference. I went back to trying in Italian, said something, then he asked what we call the thing in English. Without thinking I said ‘prie dieu’ . He said , in Italian, but that is French, so I said, in Italian , that I did not know if it had an English name, I could not think of one. There were room after room of guilded guilt. Many of the rooms were ‘over the top’ for my taste but some interestingly so. Several of them had the ornamentation that was all over the wall repeated in the specially designed carpets and furnishing fabric and even the furniture had matching twiddly bits.
The church of San Lorenzo , next to the a\palazzo, is said, according to my book, to be one of the world’s great churches, but I have no idea why. The nave was quite nice and plain, in contrast to the ornate baroque chapels along the sides. The domed- centre is a bit complex with overlapping semi circles, but I did not think much of it. Next on my route was some remains of an old Roman wall and tower. Built in the 1st century.
I was going to have morning tea at a famous café but decided to have an early lunch instead at a nearby place in a lovely little piazza. It was very pleasant. It is far easier than it was when I was in Italy in 2007 to just have a pasta dish or just a salad for lunch at a nice restaurant. I have been watching and at least half of the people eating when I have been eating have had only had 1 course. This was not the case in 2007. With my gnochi I tried a roero arneis – a white that I have never heard of. It was nice – but then I say that of most dry whites. I watched people in the nearby café that I was going to have morning tea at and I watched the locals come out of mass at the church in the square. People of all ages. After I had eaten, I went into the church., the Santuario della Consolata. I walked in the door and thought , what an old place. It was oval, with the entrance on the long side and it seemed like a whole lot ( at least 6) of semi circular chapels sort of grafted onto each other. There was a main altar but it was not prominent. There was marble of every colour, statues all over the place, candles, but it felt good. I sat for a while trying to work out why. There were a few locals, a few visitors, no groups (like in the previous church). Nearby there is a tower from a Benedictine church that dates to the period between the Romans and Savoys.
I strolled across town to another ‘must do’ . According to Cristina, one of the owners, the best gelato is at Fiorio’s and the best type to eat is gianduia ( chocolate, hazelnut and cream). Fiorio’s is one of the old cafes – places to go if you want to be seen. The gelato was wonderful. I continued to the banks of the Po. There was an adventure race of some sort. I saw people jogging with a map – but no compass or control card – I saw cyclists and I also saw people with the same numberplate things on crossing the river on a harness attached to a cable. Looked like immense fun. I walked along the Po a little wishing I had my hat on and then home for a few hours.
Then it was aperativ time. I set off intending to find where the bus to the airport leaves from . I have an address but do not know how far along the street it is but after a while I thought – this is business / train station sort of area and noone ( it is Sunday evening) is around so I will do this another day. I walked to where all the people go for their passegiata and found a bar away from noise and sat down. I had a bellini – not from here but there are lovely peaches around at the moment. With it I got a plate of nibbles – 2 ½ slices of bread cut into 10 bits with nice toppings. Dinner. The drink was blended fresh peach with prosecco. I spent 1 hour sitting, only about half the time reading. What a pity, I will have to go again and have a vermouth based drink - keeping to the ‘try local’ theme.
My internet connection has been down today – the first time all trip I have had a problem. Not bad.
Turin – very potted history of city and food
Dim beginnings – tribe called Taurini formed a village
218 BC Hannibal conquered it
?
Roman settlement known as Augusta Taurinorum
After fall of Rome ruled by whoever came through until
1046 when local countess married Count Odo of Savoy beginning the rule of the Savoy family. Savoy’s , based in France, extended their holdings and became a duchy.
1404 university built in Turin
France and Spain fought over the region, but Savoys held on.
Moved their capital to Turin in 15th century.
Rebuilt city to rival great capitals – broad wides, large piazzas, parks etc.
Risorgimento – revolutionary movement that led to unification of Italy- started early 1800’s in series of battles between different groups. The Savoyard king of the time , Vittorio Emanuelle II, wisely sided with the winning side and became the first king of the united Italy in 1861.
Early 1900’s Olivetti, FIAT and fast growing film industry important.
Modernisations spurred by 2006 winter Olympics continue. Next year 150 years since 1861. Big celebrations.
Now for food:
Savoys were close to the Spanish court who controlled the cocoa trade from the new world. In 1600, Turin was producing 350kg of choc a day for export to Switzerland and Austria. Swiss came to Turin to learn the chocolate making art. During a naval blockade in Napoleonic wars, fresh supplies hard to come by so they added hazelnuts ( plenty in hills) and this became the traditional gianduiotti. Many perfectly preserved 19th century cafes. Chocolate dynasties based in Turin are Ferrero and Perugina. Ferrero took the combination to the mass market and created Nutella.
Another speciality is bicerin. Already popular in 1840’s this is either 1 glass with layer of coffee, then chocolate, then cream or 2 separate glasses - 1 an espresso and the other chocolate and cream. ( Obviously I will need to try both)
Another thing that came from Turin are grissini – the thin bread sticks. About 1860 a young duke of the House of Savoy lay sick and needed encouragement to eat so the court physician made what are now known as grissini. Something a bit different and hopefully appealing. He got better.
Bar culture – see today’s port
Vermouth developed in this area.
218 BC Hannibal conquered it
?
Roman settlement known as Augusta Taurinorum
After fall of Rome ruled by whoever came through until
1046 when local countess married Count Odo of Savoy beginning the rule of the Savoy family. Savoy’s , based in France, extended their holdings and became a duchy.
1404 university built in Turin
France and Spain fought over the region, but Savoys held on.
Moved their capital to Turin in 15th century.
Rebuilt city to rival great capitals – broad wides, large piazzas, parks etc.
Risorgimento – revolutionary movement that led to unification of Italy- started early 1800’s in series of battles between different groups. The Savoyard king of the time , Vittorio Emanuelle II, wisely sided with the winning side and became the first king of the united Italy in 1861.
Early 1900’s Olivetti, FIAT and fast growing film industry important.
Modernisations spurred by 2006 winter Olympics continue. Next year 150 years since 1861. Big celebrations.
Now for food:
Savoys were close to the Spanish court who controlled the cocoa trade from the new world. In 1600, Turin was producing 350kg of choc a day for export to Switzerland and Austria. Swiss came to Turin to learn the chocolate making art. During a naval blockade in Napoleonic wars, fresh supplies hard to come by so they added hazelnuts ( plenty in hills) and this became the traditional gianduiotti. Many perfectly preserved 19th century cafes. Chocolate dynasties based in Turin are Ferrero and Perugina. Ferrero took the combination to the mass market and created Nutella.
Another speciality is bicerin. Already popular in 1840’s this is either 1 glass with layer of coffee, then chocolate, then cream or 2 separate glasses - 1 an espresso and the other chocolate and cream. ( Obviously I will need to try both)
Another thing that came from Turin are grissini – the thin bread sticks. About 1860 a young duke of the House of Savoy lay sick and needed encouragement to eat so the court physician made what are now known as grissini. Something a bit different and hopefully appealing. He got better.
Bar culture – see today’s port
Vermouth developed in this area.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Turin Saturday
This morning was uneventful. Pack up, duck down to local bar for cappuccino and collect some morning tea to eat at Bologna railway station , get lift from owner to station, train to Bologna, wait around, train to Turin ( 2 hours on a Eurostar cost E57 – fair bit and more than I remember from previous trips) . The man next to me slept and the lady across the table from me read, so I went through my stuff on Turin. I found my way very easily ( via a convenient exit from the station which I stumbled upon) to the apartment. It is a little closer to the station than I would have liked. There are a mix of downmarket shops and 4 star hotels so, I will see. Cristina met me here as arranged. I have 4 keys – 1 to get in through the huge door on the street, the second to get into 1 of the 2 stairwells going off the large entrance , the 3rd to get into the apartment and the 4th to get out to the little balcony that is shared with 3 other apartments looking over a central courtyard. There is another door onto a little balcony overlooking the street but that doesnot have a key. It is light and bright, very modern inside, greys and bright orange. Cristina said the door to the street was double glazed. I suppose because it need to be to keep out noise. ONce again, I will see.
After she had given me advice on where to eat gelatos, what the best flavour was, where to drink a bicerin ( typical Turinese drink of coffee, chocolate and cream) , where aperatives were too expensive etc etc ( all the important things) I realised it was 2.20 and I was hungry. I set off towards the markets , passed several places that were all too noisy or too full or not Italian and came to a nice looking half full place. I had a delicious meal and will certainly go back there if I am not somewhere else. In my haste to sit down I did not read the menu properly and so struggled a bit when she rattled off the options. But I was happy with my choice. I had risotto Piedmontese . It tasted as if it had been cooked in white wine and cream . The grains of rice were very large and sort of chewy but still soft. Then I had 2 halves of a large tomato that had been stuffed with breadcrumbs and somehitng else tasty and then covered in a white sauce. They use a lot of cream in their dishes here which I am a bit worried about – see separate problem below. The house red was better than I have had but I did not ask what it was. I had a panna cotta – apparently another speciality of this area ( probably many areas say that) and a coffee. I talked to the single lady sitting next to me for a while – they threw us out at 4.30. Then supermarket and fruit market for a few staples on way back to apartment. I bought some more of the little tomatoes that I had in Edinburgh and Ferrara. They seem less acidic than the ones I remember in Australia. I bought some peaches and did not make the same linguistic mistake as in Ferrara and asked if I could eat them today or tomorrow ( it is bad form to touch fruit at markets in Italy)
After sorting myself out, I went for a walk into the main square along one of the main roads. There are 18km of arcades – wide covered pavements in Turin. I left here about6.30 and the streets were packed with people of all ages out for a stroll. Many of the cafes had tables in part of the pavements so you had to dodge round them. The noise would have been OK except in the middle of several of the piazzas they had noisy things on. I went to the tourist bureau and got a transport map and info on boat trips along the PO. I got back here about 7.30 just as it was getting dark and do not think I would like to be much later.
I have just spent a while compiling a must do / like to do list of places and food and drink. I realised that in 1 whole week in Ferrara I only had 2 gelatos, never desert after a meal, 4 times a little cake or croissant or Danish with my morning coffee, wine or alcoholic drink once a day. Not really a very good effort at all. I had been half thinking of the dress that I wore to the wedding that I intend to wear to my sister-in-law’s special birthday party in early October. As I have told some of you, it was snugger than when I bought it and than I would like it to be. I have decided I am being silly and I should eat and drink what I feel like and worry about what to wear later. Part of being in Turin is experiencing the life and the ‘ café culture is one of the city’s distinctive characteristics’ – a quote from 1 of my books. Trouble is, if I have a main lunch with creamy sauce, I won’t feel like much else that day So I have to be very organised for several days to make sure I try the things I want to once, then I will have a few more days to be quite haphazard. What a paragraph of twaddle.
After she had given me advice on where to eat gelatos, what the best flavour was, where to drink a bicerin ( typical Turinese drink of coffee, chocolate and cream) , where aperatives were too expensive etc etc ( all the important things) I realised it was 2.20 and I was hungry. I set off towards the markets , passed several places that were all too noisy or too full or not Italian and came to a nice looking half full place. I had a delicious meal and will certainly go back there if I am not somewhere else. In my haste to sit down I did not read the menu properly and so struggled a bit when she rattled off the options. But I was happy with my choice. I had risotto Piedmontese . It tasted as if it had been cooked in white wine and cream . The grains of rice were very large and sort of chewy but still soft. Then I had 2 halves of a large tomato that had been stuffed with breadcrumbs and somehitng else tasty and then covered in a white sauce. They use a lot of cream in their dishes here which I am a bit worried about – see separate problem below. The house red was better than I have had but I did not ask what it was. I had a panna cotta – apparently another speciality of this area ( probably many areas say that) and a coffee. I talked to the single lady sitting next to me for a while – they threw us out at 4.30. Then supermarket and fruit market for a few staples on way back to apartment. I bought some more of the little tomatoes that I had in Edinburgh and Ferrara. They seem less acidic than the ones I remember in Australia. I bought some peaches and did not make the same linguistic mistake as in Ferrara and asked if I could eat them today or tomorrow ( it is bad form to touch fruit at markets in Italy)
After sorting myself out, I went for a walk into the main square along one of the main roads. There are 18km of arcades – wide covered pavements in Turin. I left here about6.30 and the streets were packed with people of all ages out for a stroll. Many of the cafes had tables in part of the pavements so you had to dodge round them. The noise would have been OK except in the middle of several of the piazzas they had noisy things on. I went to the tourist bureau and got a transport map and info on boat trips along the PO. I got back here about 7.30 just as it was getting dark and do not think I would like to be much later.
I have just spent a while compiling a must do / like to do list of places and food and drink. I realised that in 1 whole week in Ferrara I only had 2 gelatos, never desert after a meal, 4 times a little cake or croissant or Danish with my morning coffee, wine or alcoholic drink once a day. Not really a very good effort at all. I had been half thinking of the dress that I wore to the wedding that I intend to wear to my sister-in-law’s special birthday party in early October. As I have told some of you, it was snugger than when I bought it and than I would like it to be. I have decided I am being silly and I should eat and drink what I feel like and worry about what to wear later. Part of being in Turin is experiencing the life and the ‘ café culture is one of the city’s distinctive characteristics’ – a quote from 1 of my books. Trouble is, if I have a main lunch with creamy sauce, I won’t feel like much else that day So I have to be very organised for several days to make sure I try the things I want to once, then I will have a few more days to be quite haphazard. What a paragraph of twaddle.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Friday Ferrara
This morning I went to Casa Romei, the house of a rich banker and husband of an Este. The building is one of the best preserved 15th century houses. The rooms are the same shape and position as they would have been. The house is built round a lovely courtyard. Inside the frescoes on some of the walls have been restored. Apart from a few tables and chairs, no attempt has been made to recreate the room with furniture as it would have been and as in the couple of museums in Edinburgh I saw and the recreated Viking village and Tudor street in York . In the different rooms are now different peoples collections of old bits and pieces – mainly stone carvings off houses. One room had in it broken bits and pieces that been excavated from a convent. I read a book about a convent in Ferrara in the 15th ( I think) century. Many wealthy women came into convents for various reasons bringing with them their own linen, crockery and assorted nice things.
Morning tea at the place I have been to a few times – one of the ladies saw me and said ‘ How was Bologna?’ Trouble is she was on the other side of the room and there were quite a few people between her and me so I was unsure whether to speak my response loudly or edge my way towards her first. It did not really matter – everyone seemed interested in my reply or my Italian. I told her it was interesting but too noisy and I preferred Ferrara. Very diplomatic.
I then walked around the western and northern wall. It was very pleasant . Quite a few people out – strolling or jogging, walking dogs, pushing strollers. Nice views of the countryside.
In the evening I went with the owners of this apartment ( who live downstairs) to another sagra in a different town. Many of the dishes had pear or truffles or both in them. I had lasagne with pear – not the traditional sauce and then guinea fowl with mushrooms and truffles. Delicious
Morning tea at the place I have been to a few times – one of the ladies saw me and said ‘ How was Bologna?’ Trouble is she was on the other side of the room and there were quite a few people between her and me so I was unsure whether to speak my response loudly or edge my way towards her first. It did not really matter – everyone seemed interested in my reply or my Italian. I told her it was interesting but too noisy and I preferred Ferrara. Very diplomatic.
I then walked around the western and northern wall. It was very pleasant . Quite a few people out – strolling or jogging, walking dogs, pushing strollers. Nice views of the countryside.
In the evening I went with the owners of this apartment ( who live downstairs) to another sagra in a different town. Many of the dishes had pear or truffles or both in them. I had lasagne with pear – not the traditional sauce and then guinea fowl with mushrooms and truffles. Delicious
People from Ferrara and Bologna
Savaronola – a Domenican priest was born in Ferrara. He was hostile to the Renaissance and preached against the moral corruption of the clergy at the time 1490’s. He caused a lot of trouble in Florence with the Medici family
John Calvin spent about 6 months in Ferrara as the guest of the wife of one of Estes soon after he published the first of his writings on his ideas on the Protestant reformation
Marconi , he of radio fame, was born in Bologna
Ottorino Respighi , the composer was born in Bologna
John Calvin spent about 6 months in Ferrara as the guest of the wife of one of Estes soon after he published the first of his writings on his ideas on the Protestant reformation
Marconi , he of radio fame, was born in Bologna
Ottorino Respighi , the composer was born in Bologna
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Day in Bologna – Thursday
I caught the train to Bologna this morning and the first thing I saw was a whole lot of tents and people milling around and several policepeople to each non policeperson milling around. I think Berlusconi was visiting. This was about 9.40am. As I was walking down one of the main streets towards the central piazzas I was surprised at how noisy it was. Combination of many things – lots of people, fairly narrow streets with tall buildings either side, my tiredness ( amplifies noise which I don’t like) Good excuse to duck down an alleyway for a quiet coffee.
In the main square there is a large statue of Neptune . Beneath him on this statue are 4 cherubs and 4 buxom sirens. Water spouts from their nipples. I observed the demographics of the close-up photo takers.. Needles to say they were not women. I went first to the main cathedral , the Basilica of San Petronio. One of my sources says it is the 5th largest church ( how do they measure the size of the church with all the extra bits sticking out?) The highlight is supposed to be the central doorway. This was covered for restoration work. There is a huge sundial in the floor, designed in 1656. It was instrumental in discovering the anomalies of the Julian calendar and led to the creation of the leap year . It was quite nice inside – light and airy. The side chapels were not too prominent.
Then I went onto the Basilica of Sant Stefano. This is a medieval religious complex. You go into a 11th century church, then into a baptistery ( round smallish building with ( usually) large pulpit ) , 5th century, then into a courtyard and another church and a cloister. Many arches – photo later ( maybe). It was quiet,cool and peaceful.
Next stop was a bookshop that I had been recommended that had several eating places inside it. It was an amazing place. Old building on the outside, insides mostly stripped out, lots of glass and steel supporting the 4 (shallow) floors of books and extras. There was a little café on one floor, a pasta place on another and a fancier restaurant on another. The walls of this were well stocked with wine arranged by region. There were many books on cooking, some interesting cooking gadgets. You could see the inside of the escalator ( up only – you walked down the stairs) I ordered my food and had to pay straight away – unusual. It was nice, but not brilliant. I also had a glass of lambrusco, which comes from this region. One of my books says “ Lambrusco is the light-hearted, lightly bubbled red wine that wine snobs have come to deride.. ..it marries with the rich buttery food of the region well. When you can’t enjoy the sheer unadulterated pleasure of a little bit of (thankfully dry) fizz then surely the fun has gone out of life” Bread came in a folded back paper bag. I’m not sure if you could take what you did not eat home. One couple I saw did, the other people who left before me were business people and did not take their bread. I thought not – bread and tomatoes for 3 days is enough this week.
I then went to an art gallery in a lovely old building that had been recommended to me. I walked around some of the exhibits that were OK. There was a large collection of the work of Bolognese artist Giorgio Morandi. After several rooms of similar collections of vases all entitled ‘Natura morta’ I got it – What we call ‘still life’, Italians call ‘ natura morta’. And I thought that they were the ones that enjoyed life and always put a positive slant on things. 'Still life' sounds much better than ' naturally dead' to me. Maybe I'm missing something and an Italian expert with a large dictionary can enlighten me? Sometimes there was an even number of vases – something I thought was supposed to be aesthetically unpleasing.
I walked back to the train and saw the same group of tents, the same ( well who knows – but there were a lot)) people milling around . I passed a van full of police in riot squad gear. This was at 2.30. What a boring wait.
I sat in the garden for a while and then went to the supermarket for some dinner. I stopped in the local ( 5 doors away ) bar and had a glass of nice white and chatted to the lady. There was noone else there and she was asking all sorts of questions about Australia. I was tired, but still managed OK.
In the main square there is a large statue of Neptune . Beneath him on this statue are 4 cherubs and 4 buxom sirens. Water spouts from their nipples. I observed the demographics of the close-up photo takers.. Needles to say they were not women. I went first to the main cathedral , the Basilica of San Petronio. One of my sources says it is the 5th largest church ( how do they measure the size of the church with all the extra bits sticking out?) The highlight is supposed to be the central doorway. This was covered for restoration work. There is a huge sundial in the floor, designed in 1656. It was instrumental in discovering the anomalies of the Julian calendar and led to the creation of the leap year . It was quite nice inside – light and airy. The side chapels were not too prominent.
Then I went onto the Basilica of Sant Stefano. This is a medieval religious complex. You go into a 11th century church, then into a baptistery ( round smallish building with ( usually) large pulpit ) , 5th century, then into a courtyard and another church and a cloister. Many arches – photo later ( maybe). It was quiet,cool and peaceful.
Next stop was a bookshop that I had been recommended that had several eating places inside it. It was an amazing place. Old building on the outside, insides mostly stripped out, lots of glass and steel supporting the 4 (shallow) floors of books and extras. There was a little café on one floor, a pasta place on another and a fancier restaurant on another. The walls of this were well stocked with wine arranged by region. There were many books on cooking, some interesting cooking gadgets. You could see the inside of the escalator ( up only – you walked down the stairs) I ordered my food and had to pay straight away – unusual. It was nice, but not brilliant. I also had a glass of lambrusco, which comes from this region. One of my books says “ Lambrusco is the light-hearted, lightly bubbled red wine that wine snobs have come to deride.. ..it marries with the rich buttery food of the region well. When you can’t enjoy the sheer unadulterated pleasure of a little bit of (thankfully dry) fizz then surely the fun has gone out of life” Bread came in a folded back paper bag. I’m not sure if you could take what you did not eat home. One couple I saw did, the other people who left before me were business people and did not take their bread. I thought not – bread and tomatoes for 3 days is enough this week.
I then went to an art gallery in a lovely old building that had been recommended to me. I walked around some of the exhibits that were OK. There was a large collection of the work of Bolognese artist Giorgio Morandi. After several rooms of similar collections of vases all entitled ‘Natura morta’ I got it – What we call ‘still life’, Italians call ‘ natura morta’. And I thought that they were the ones that enjoyed life and always put a positive slant on things. 'Still life' sounds much better than ' naturally dead' to me. Maybe I'm missing something and an Italian expert with a large dictionary can enlighten me? Sometimes there was an even number of vases – something I thought was supposed to be aesthetically unpleasing.
I walked back to the train and saw the same group of tents, the same ( well who knows – but there were a lot)) people milling around . I passed a van full of police in riot squad gear. This was at 2.30. What a boring wait.
I sat in the garden for a while and then went to the supermarket for some dinner. I stopped in the local ( 5 doors away ) bar and had a glass of nice white and chatted to the lady. There was noone else there and she was asking all sorts of questions about Australia. I was tired, but still managed OK.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Ferrara Wednesday
Today’s focus has been on postcards and eating.
I had half my breakfast here then walked to the place I found yesterday. I tried a different Ferranese speciality for morning tea – a torta di tagliatelle. It tasted of almonds – not sure where the tagliatelle was but I will ask when I next go there. I think I took about an hour. Bought more postcards then home.
I walked to a different Post office for some stamps and found a nice place for lunch and had the cappellaci ( large tortellini like things stuffed with pumpkin) with ragu ( known to the rest of the world as bolognaise sauce – but nicer) , lots of water and no cake and no alcohol.
More postcard writing and photo sorting then off to the same bar as morning tea. I tried the local sangiovese and had a couple of little pizzas. After a while the mosquitos got the better of me. It has been raining intermittently all day and apparently mosquitos are a big problem in Ferrara. I went in and talked to the 2 ladies and the barman about wine, gelato, Australia – all sorts of things. They knew of the gelato place I had been but recommended a closer on which I went to but I donot think it was a nice. He just put the 2 scoops one on top of the other. I feel I have eaten well today but not overeaten like I have for the last few days.
I had half my breakfast here then walked to the place I found yesterday. I tried a different Ferranese speciality for morning tea – a torta di tagliatelle. It tasted of almonds – not sure where the tagliatelle was but I will ask when I next go there. I think I took about an hour. Bought more postcards then home.
I walked to a different Post office for some stamps and found a nice place for lunch and had the cappellaci ( large tortellini like things stuffed with pumpkin) with ragu ( known to the rest of the world as bolognaise sauce – but nicer) , lots of water and no cake and no alcohol.
More postcard writing and photo sorting then off to the same bar as morning tea. I tried the local sangiovese and had a couple of little pizzas. After a while the mosquitos got the better of me. It has been raining intermittently all day and apparently mosquitos are a big problem in Ferrara. I went in and talked to the 2 ladies and the barman about wine, gelato, Australia – all sorts of things. They knew of the gelato place I had been but recommended a closer on which I went to but I donot think it was a nice. He just put the 2 scoops one on top of the other. I feel I have eaten well today but not overeaten like I have for the last few days.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Ferrara Tuesday
I set off from my little home this morning intent on Post Office first then a museum before coffee. That resolve went out the window after the first bar I passed. I had bought some postcards and stamps the previous day and the guy in the shop told me I did not need airmail stickers on them. Maybe not but I thought I would ask. There was a huge queue in the PO – people sitting on chairs holding their numbers and assorted different windows around this large room - and I was about to abandon that idea when I was accosted by a large lady who was there to direct you to the right place ( I think). I asked in my best Italian if I needed airmail stickers and she said yes, go to window 6. There was nobody at window 6, everyone watched me ( lucky I had my Pink shirt on and the nicer of my black pants) as I appeared to queue jump and I stood at window 6. After a little while I started to more away - how long was I supposed to wait ? – the lady saw me and called out in a loud voice ‘Stay there senora, someone will come soon’ ( I think) So everyone stopped their chattering and stared at me again. Finally someone came and gave me some stickers. I thought I better buy a few more stamps to make the whole thing worthwhile.
First off was the castle. It is a bit odd – sitting in the middle of town. I had been wondering why it was vaguely familiar and I read that it was designed by the same guy who designed Mantua’s castle10 years later. ( Mantua was 1 of the places I went to in 2007 and is also in the Po valley) I wandered through the rooms, some small, some huge, some plain, some with ornate frescoed ceilings. I get a bit annoyed by some museums in the less well frequented by English speakers places which have fairly poor translations. Sometimes it takes a while to work out to. One sign said ‘the river Po flew past..’. I suppose thinking ‘flew’ was the past tense of ‘flow’ is reasonable, but any English speaker would have picked that up. The whole Este family is a bit confusing and different members all seemed to add a bit to the castle, then a lot of it fell down in an earthquake. Still, I enjoyed myself pottering around. Lucrezia Borgia was married to one of the Estes. He was her 3rd husband. She was married to someone when she was 13, then again to someone else, then for the 3rd time to the Este when she was 22. She died in childbirth when she was 39. She had 6 living children from her 3rd marriage, but how many others before that? And how many pregnancies that did not result in a live child? What a life some women had to lead. And she did not have any housework to do.
This was the first museum with frescoed ceilings I have been in that had on the floor large slanted mirrors that you could look at without twisting your neck to see the ceiling, but I found them quite off putting, so now have a sore neck.
After that it was clearly time for another coffee before moving onto the next museum. This was the Cathedral museum. Sometime ago, they took out the valuable things from the cathedrl, put them in a separate place and charge people to look at them. There was not another tourist in the place and , in the main room, there were 3 attendants watching me carefully. Bit off putting. There were 8 large wall hangings depicting the lives of St George ( he who slayed the dragon) and St Maurelio ( both patron saints of Ferrara) . The blurb said the murals were designed to aid quiet contemplation. Pity the people who were trying to quietly contemplate when sitting next to 2 of the 8 – both guys got beheaded.
In another room there were some very intricately embroidered old vestments and in another some very old illuminated hymn books – the ones with only 4 lines.
I then walked to a restaurant near where I am staying . It had a fixed priced menu for lunch and , although good value, it is only good value if you want to eat ( and drink) that much food. I must remember that tomorrow. Apart from me and a father and his daughter, all the rest were local workmen and regulars. At one point there was a discussion between the proprietor and the people sitting at several tables as to whether it was tagliatelle or whether it was tagliatine or tagliatelline or tagliafino( I think a made up word because it was home made , they had the wrong cutter or something like that)
After a whileI set off again. My cathedral museum ticket covered 3 other museums so I thought I should at least look at 1 of them. It was on the far side of town – a Palazzino or small palace. Or large house. It had furniture that reminded me of one of the places I went to in Edinburgh – large, dark wood and uncomfortable looking. Once again, I was the only person looking and there were several attendants. One followed me for a few rooms and passed me onto another who followed me. There were some fragments of mosaics from the floor which she drew my attention to. I made suitable appreciative noises then asked her if she knew of Piazza Armerina in Sicily.( John and I had been there in 2003 – a huge house has been excavated and you walk around it on elevated walkways to avoid the almost complete Roman era mosaic floor) She clearly did – she talked to me about it for a while but another person came along which was good because I was struggling to keep up. Then I went to the Palazzo Schifanoia. Schifanoia means to prevent boredo. The Palazzo was built by 1 of the Estes. About all that remains are some old walls and a big room with many frescoes. But it was dark and oppressively hot. Before you got to that you had to go through many smaller rooms with, as far as I could gather ( there were no English signs) a variety of different people’s collections of odd things. There were some old coins from Ferrara, some ivory carvings from Goa, some wooden carved creatures with Egyptian hieroglyphics, some more illuminated music books,etc Enthusiastic I was not. I should have remembered from my last trip that 2 museums a day is about enough, maybe 3 but not 4.
I sat on the exit steps for a while deciding what to do – you guessed it – a drink. I found a nice place with not too many people and had a drink . The nibbles were a bit upmarket from the chips of the day before. They were 1 cm3 of puff pastry with a bit of anchovy or nut or cheese on the top. I sat there for an hour, went in and paid and realized it was a pasticceria as well so asked about a speciality of Ferrara – pampepato. The book describes this as a gingerbread cake stuffed with nuts and covered in dark chocolate. I bought 1 - quite small done up in a little parcel. That will do nicely for dinner with stale bread and tomatoes, I thought. Plus the apples and nectarines – still plenty of those.
I watched the same Italian quiz show as the day before and am beginning to get the hang of it. Nothing like anything I have seen on Australian TV. I remember watching Who wants to be a Millionaire with John in 2003. Deciphering the answers was the easier bit. We had to use the answers to work out what the question was.
First off was the castle. It is a bit odd – sitting in the middle of town. I had been wondering why it was vaguely familiar and I read that it was designed by the same guy who designed Mantua’s castle10 years later. ( Mantua was 1 of the places I went to in 2007 and is also in the Po valley) I wandered through the rooms, some small, some huge, some plain, some with ornate frescoed ceilings. I get a bit annoyed by some museums in the less well frequented by English speakers places which have fairly poor translations. Sometimes it takes a while to work out to. One sign said ‘the river Po flew past..’. I suppose thinking ‘flew’ was the past tense of ‘flow’ is reasonable, but any English speaker would have picked that up. The whole Este family is a bit confusing and different members all seemed to add a bit to the castle, then a lot of it fell down in an earthquake. Still, I enjoyed myself pottering around. Lucrezia Borgia was married to one of the Estes. He was her 3rd husband. She was married to someone when she was 13, then again to someone else, then for the 3rd time to the Este when she was 22. She died in childbirth when she was 39. She had 6 living children from her 3rd marriage, but how many others before that? And how many pregnancies that did not result in a live child? What a life some women had to lead. And she did not have any housework to do.
This was the first museum with frescoed ceilings I have been in that had on the floor large slanted mirrors that you could look at without twisting your neck to see the ceiling, but I found them quite off putting, so now have a sore neck.
After that it was clearly time for another coffee before moving onto the next museum. This was the Cathedral museum. Sometime ago, they took out the valuable things from the cathedrl, put them in a separate place and charge people to look at them. There was not another tourist in the place and , in the main room, there were 3 attendants watching me carefully. Bit off putting. There were 8 large wall hangings depicting the lives of St George ( he who slayed the dragon) and St Maurelio ( both patron saints of Ferrara) . The blurb said the murals were designed to aid quiet contemplation. Pity the people who were trying to quietly contemplate when sitting next to 2 of the 8 – both guys got beheaded.
In another room there were some very intricately embroidered old vestments and in another some very old illuminated hymn books – the ones with only 4 lines.
I then walked to a restaurant near where I am staying . It had a fixed priced menu for lunch and , although good value, it is only good value if you want to eat ( and drink) that much food. I must remember that tomorrow. Apart from me and a father and his daughter, all the rest were local workmen and regulars. At one point there was a discussion between the proprietor and the people sitting at several tables as to whether it was tagliatelle or whether it was tagliatine or tagliatelline or tagliafino( I think a made up word because it was home made , they had the wrong cutter or something like that)
After a whileI set off again. My cathedral museum ticket covered 3 other museums so I thought I should at least look at 1 of them. It was on the far side of town – a Palazzino or small palace. Or large house. It had furniture that reminded me of one of the places I went to in Edinburgh – large, dark wood and uncomfortable looking. Once again, I was the only person looking and there were several attendants. One followed me for a few rooms and passed me onto another who followed me. There were some fragments of mosaics from the floor which she drew my attention to. I made suitable appreciative noises then asked her if she knew of Piazza Armerina in Sicily.( John and I had been there in 2003 – a huge house has been excavated and you walk around it on elevated walkways to avoid the almost complete Roman era mosaic floor) She clearly did – she talked to me about it for a while but another person came along which was good because I was struggling to keep up. Then I went to the Palazzo Schifanoia. Schifanoia means to prevent boredo. The Palazzo was built by 1 of the Estes. About all that remains are some old walls and a big room with many frescoes. But it was dark and oppressively hot. Before you got to that you had to go through many smaller rooms with, as far as I could gather ( there were no English signs) a variety of different people’s collections of odd things. There were some old coins from Ferrara, some ivory carvings from Goa, some wooden carved creatures with Egyptian hieroglyphics, some more illuminated music books,etc Enthusiastic I was not. I should have remembered from my last trip that 2 museums a day is about enough, maybe 3 but not 4.
I sat on the exit steps for a while deciding what to do – you guessed it – a drink. I found a nice place with not too many people and had a drink . The nibbles were a bit upmarket from the chips of the day before. They were 1 cm3 of puff pastry with a bit of anchovy or nut or cheese on the top. I sat there for an hour, went in and paid and realized it was a pasticceria as well so asked about a speciality of Ferrara – pampepato. The book describes this as a gingerbread cake stuffed with nuts and covered in dark chocolate. I bought 1 - quite small done up in a little parcel. That will do nicely for dinner with stale bread and tomatoes, I thought. Plus the apples and nectarines – still plenty of those.
I watched the same Italian quiz show as the day before and am beginning to get the hang of it. Nothing like anything I have seen on Australian TV. I remember watching Who wants to be a Millionaire with John in 2003. Deciphering the answers was the easier bit. We had to use the answers to work out what the question was.
Ferrara and Bicycles
Many, many people ride bicycles here. The only helmets I have seen have been with a group of tourists sitting in a park eating their packed lunch. Their bikes were also better than anything I have seen. Little old ladies all dressed up wobble along, teenage youths hoon around and everyone inbetween. I cannot work out the rules. Sometimes people on a bike ring a bell which seems to say ‘ get out of my way’ but which way – left or right. Once I went the wrong way, into the path of the bicycle coming from behind. Usually they seem to go around pedestrians. It is bad form, I have discovered, for a pedestrian to decide suddenly to change course to look, e.g. at something in a window. This can cause a screech of brakes and an angry torrent of words. Twice I have smiled sweetly and pretended to be ignorant of everything. I now walk where I want and try and remember to look before changing directions. Crossing roads is a problem. I have to remember not only to concentrate on cars coming from a different direction, but bikes can come from any direction, not just the direction of the traffic. They obey no road rules. Occassionally some people on bikes will wait at pedestrian crossings but they are usually only parents with young children.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Ferrara Monday
My day started off well with a lovely phone call from my younger daughter.. Then off to look at the palace, museum etc except that I forgot many things (and everything in Ferrara it appears) are closed on Mondays. As it turns out I am not unhappy. I took some photos of the outsides of buildings, went into the cathedral - rather unremarkable except I don’t recall ever seeing so many big glittery chandeliers in a church before. I listened to a mass that was going on and was surprised at how much I understood.
I wandered in the direction of the medieval part of town and stopped in a wool shop. There were 2 shop helpers and a customer knitting. They asked me what I wanted and I said I was looking for patterns. They had several books . The 4 of us were talking for ages – why were there not books in Australia , did I like travelling on my own – all sorts of things , knitting for our children. We were talking about the differences between Australia and Italy and I said I had sat in a bar outside for ¾ hour yesterday evening. So, they said, doesn’t everybody do that? At least a few times a week? Not really – I know of noone who does that in Australia. 1 of the ladies could speak some English, but I reckon my Italian was better than her English. I bought a book – whether I make anything or not it doesnot matter, it only cost E4. I walked through 1 of the gates in the walls and walked towards what said on the map was a tourist port and looked like it may be a small marina . But it was only for tourists who had a key. I could not see through or over the fence. The only restaurants on my list that were in the area were closed on Mondays so I went to another that was fairly ordinary. I pottered in the afternoon for a few hours then went out and bought my train ticket to Turin on Saturday. All went well and he was understanding my questions – there were a few options and I wanted the cheaper train- until I tried to ask for a forward facing seat. I do have a window seat, so I hope it doesnot have a great big post in the way like the train to Edinburgh. Then I walked around a bit of the wall and came home to bread roll and tomatoes and apple for dinner. Quite ordinary.
I wandered in the direction of the medieval part of town and stopped in a wool shop. There were 2 shop helpers and a customer knitting. They asked me what I wanted and I said I was looking for patterns. They had several books . The 4 of us were talking for ages – why were there not books in Australia , did I like travelling on my own – all sorts of things , knitting for our children. We were talking about the differences between Australia and Italy and I said I had sat in a bar outside for ¾ hour yesterday evening. So, they said, doesn’t everybody do that? At least a few times a week? Not really – I know of noone who does that in Australia. 1 of the ladies could speak some English, but I reckon my Italian was better than her English. I bought a book – whether I make anything or not it doesnot matter, it only cost E4. I walked through 1 of the gates in the walls and walked towards what said on the map was a tourist port and looked like it may be a small marina . But it was only for tourists who had a key. I could not see through or over the fence. The only restaurants on my list that were in the area were closed on Mondays so I went to another that was fairly ordinary. I pottered in the afternoon for a few hours then went out and bought my train ticket to Turin on Saturday. All went well and he was understanding my questions – there were a few options and I wanted the cheaper train- until I tried to ask for a forward facing seat. I do have a window seat, so I hope it doesnot have a great big post in the way like the train to Edinburgh. Then I walked around a bit of the wall and came home to bread roll and tomatoes and apple for dinner. Quite ordinary.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Ferrara, Sunday
Today was a rest and read- info- and –decide- what-to-do-and eat-and-drink-for-the-week day. Firstly coffee and croissant for breakfast. I was a bit surprised at how confident I sounded. I was understood. I was also pleased at how little thought I put into deciding that I wanted to sit down and so what if it cost a few more euros. In the past I would have worried about spending the extra, converting it into dollars in my head. I will worry about converting the euro to $ later when I work out how much I have spent.
I wandered around the castle and palace and cathedral area. There was a local market in one of the squares and I bought some apples . I asked about the nectarines. I could not remember the word for ripe so asked, in Italian, if I could eat them now. Si, si he said ,as he cut 1 and gave me half. Oops, I wasn’t really asking for a taste, but it was very nice so I bought some – cheap at €1 per kilo. I then stood a bit to 1 side and ate 1 of the apples. Several more people came along, asking about the apples – he pointed to me – la donna staniera ( not strange, foreign) – and said I like them. I wandered off and passed a shop selling fresh pasta, so I bought some cappellacci ( similar look to the cappelletti but filled with pumpkin) for lunch and a stuffed zucchina . I put them in the fridge then went to the supermarket. This was an interesting exercise. Yoghurt was easy , the pictures tell you what fruit is in it– but milk – there were about 6 different types of latte bottles and they did not use words like ‘20% fat’ that I would have recognised. I had no idea. They had a promotion on Blu milk i.e milk in an opaque dark blue plastic bottle. Apparently the uni in Milano has found that blu keeps the milk fresh for longer. It was the cheapest – who knows how much fat it has. A little old lady got confused and started to put her things in my basket – so I talked to her for a bit. Her neighbour’s daughter has been to Australia on exchange ( I think) and she watches shows on TV about Australia. I had another problem. I knew I had enough food for a nice meal for lunch so thought I should buy some wine, ( when in rome – abbreviated in future when I justify all the other things I need to try) but I had not done my homework and could not recognise any local wines ( of which there are some) After a lot of thought I decided to leave it and have a drink in the evening instead, I know that there will be several local aperativs on the list.
I had seen people greet and part from each other with the words that translate as ‘good Sunday’ Mainly older people. Anyway the old lady in the supermarket beamed at me when I wished her a good Sunday on parting.
I pottered in my apartment till 5.ish and went for a stroll. I found a bar that was very near the centre and sat down. It was ¼ full. The bars nearer the centre were more full. I had a spritz – purely to compare it with what I had in Venice 18 months ago – as though I could remember but it sounded like a good reason at the time. I had been wandering around without a map ( you’d be pleased, C) and half way thru the drink I looked at the map and still could not figure out which of the castles 4 walls I was next to. I was there quite happily watching the world go past from 5.40 to 6.25. It was ¾ full when I left. Several people came and went in that time. 2 old codgers who clearly were known to the staff sat next to me and drank tea. Hot water was brought in a tea pot and a basket of assorted teabags for them to choose from.
I looked in a few gelato ( w i rome..) shops and there seemed to be a scale of prices depending on how many flavours you had, starting at E1.5 I had been recommended a place a bit away from the centre on the way home. Would it be open? Did I have the energy and want a gelato badly enough to walk back to the centre if it was closed? Tricky. Luckily it was. It’s price list only said cone E2 – then other things. I had to watch for a while because I did not know how many flavours you could have. People were having everything from 1 to about 6 and I could not tell what they were paying. The staff made the cones look like beautiful flowers. I had 2 flavours for E2. It was delicious, though now I have a problem. Do I try gelati from other shops ( purely for research reasons – they are valid, gluttony is not a valid reason, tho I think w i r may be valid) or do I stick to something that I know is excellent and ‘research’ how many flavours I can get for E2?
At home I had some bread and tomato for dinner ( how frivolous- sweet before savoury)while watching an Italian quiz shop. Do I want to stay up tonight to watch Inspector Montalbano with no subtitles?
I wandered around the castle and palace and cathedral area. There was a local market in one of the squares and I bought some apples . I asked about the nectarines. I could not remember the word for ripe so asked, in Italian, if I could eat them now. Si, si he said ,as he cut 1 and gave me half. Oops, I wasn’t really asking for a taste, but it was very nice so I bought some – cheap at €1 per kilo. I then stood a bit to 1 side and ate 1 of the apples. Several more people came along, asking about the apples – he pointed to me – la donna staniera ( not strange, foreign) – and said I like them. I wandered off and passed a shop selling fresh pasta, so I bought some cappellacci ( similar look to the cappelletti but filled with pumpkin) for lunch and a stuffed zucchina . I put them in the fridge then went to the supermarket. This was an interesting exercise. Yoghurt was easy , the pictures tell you what fruit is in it– but milk – there were about 6 different types of latte bottles and they did not use words like ‘20% fat’ that I would have recognised. I had no idea. They had a promotion on Blu milk i.e milk in an opaque dark blue plastic bottle. Apparently the uni in Milano has found that blu keeps the milk fresh for longer. It was the cheapest – who knows how much fat it has. A little old lady got confused and started to put her things in my basket – so I talked to her for a bit. Her neighbour’s daughter has been to Australia on exchange ( I think) and she watches shows on TV about Australia. I had another problem. I knew I had enough food for a nice meal for lunch so thought I should buy some wine, ( when in rome – abbreviated in future when I justify all the other things I need to try) but I had not done my homework and could not recognise any local wines ( of which there are some) After a lot of thought I decided to leave it and have a drink in the evening instead, I know that there will be several local aperativs on the list.
I had seen people greet and part from each other with the words that translate as ‘good Sunday’ Mainly older people. Anyway the old lady in the supermarket beamed at me when I wished her a good Sunday on parting.
I pottered in my apartment till 5.ish and went for a stroll. I found a bar that was very near the centre and sat down. It was ¼ full. The bars nearer the centre were more full. I had a spritz – purely to compare it with what I had in Venice 18 months ago – as though I could remember but it sounded like a good reason at the time. I had been wandering around without a map ( you’d be pleased, C) and half way thru the drink I looked at the map and still could not figure out which of the castles 4 walls I was next to. I was there quite happily watching the world go past from 5.40 to 6.25. It was ¾ full when I left. Several people came and went in that time. 2 old codgers who clearly were known to the staff sat next to me and drank tea. Hot water was brought in a tea pot and a basket of assorted teabags for them to choose from.
I looked in a few gelato ( w i rome..) shops and there seemed to be a scale of prices depending on how many flavours you had, starting at E1.5 I had been recommended a place a bit away from the centre on the way home. Would it be open? Did I have the energy and want a gelato badly enough to walk back to the centre if it was closed? Tricky. Luckily it was. It’s price list only said cone E2 – then other things. I had to watch for a while because I did not know how many flavours you could have. People were having everything from 1 to about 6 and I could not tell what they were paying. The staff made the cones look like beautiful flowers. I had 2 flavours for E2. It was delicious, though now I have a problem. Do I try gelati from other shops ( purely for research reasons – they are valid, gluttony is not a valid reason, tho I think w i r may be valid) or do I stick to something that I know is excellent and ‘research’ how many flavours I can get for E2?
At home I had some bread and tomato for dinner ( how frivolous- sweet before savoury)while watching an Italian quiz shop. Do I want to stay up tonight to watch Inspector Montalbano with no subtitles?
Ferrara – a very potted history
Sometime early a town on edge of river Po
1152 Po changed course so F now on linked canal
1260 to 1598 F ruled by Este family. Heavy handed. F became one of most powerful city-states in northern Italy
Some of Estes :
1385 Nicolo II commissioned castle
Ercole I ruled 1471 to 1505 did good things
Alfonso I ( ruled 1553 to 1554) married Lucrezia Borgia
Most of Estes big patrons of the arts
Alfonso II last of Estes in F
1598 F given back to Papacy because either a) no heirs or b) family moved to Modena depending which book you read
1700’s travellers found empty streets, clogged up , marshy canals
Now centre for fruit industry, 1995 Unesco world heritage listed – excellent example of Renaissance town
1152 Po changed course so F now on linked canal
1260 to 1598 F ruled by Este family. Heavy handed. F became one of most powerful city-states in northern Italy
Some of Estes :
1385 Nicolo II commissioned castle
Ercole I ruled 1471 to 1505 did good things
Alfonso I ( ruled 1553 to 1554) married Lucrezia Borgia
Most of Estes big patrons of the arts
Alfonso II last of Estes in F
1598 F given back to Papacy because either a) no heirs or b) family moved to Modena depending which book you read
1700’s travellers found empty streets, clogged up , marshy canals
Now centre for fruit industry, 1995 Unesco world heritage listed – excellent example of Renaissance town
Arrival in Ferrara
The trip here went OK – a few almost possible annoyances. Bus to Edinburgh centre, bus from centre to airport, wait in very crowded area for check-in desk to open, showed Australian passport with boarding pass and realised later that I must have used my British passport when checking in because in huge letters boarding pass had Nationality – British written. Checkin guy did not care. Got through security checks ( very long queue) and could not find a postbox for 3 postcards, asked a guy taking a wheelchair somewhere and he said he would post them for me – so who knows if they will reach their intended destination. Plane very full – several classes of Italian teenagers. Bus from airport into centre very overcrowded and I might have had a problem if several people whose luggage was blocking me did not want to get out at train station like me. Queued up for train ticket – had to choose 1 of 2 queues and I could not understand the signs that said the difference. Going on the grumpiness of the man behind the window I guessed wrong, but I still got a ticket. Train to Ferrara. Walked to accommodation.
This is a lovely light airy studio apartment on the second floor of a building that the owners of the apartment live in. There is a little balcony overlooking the garden that belongs to them. They showed me how things worked, where the nearest supermarket was etc . I was tired ( by this time it was 7pm and I had left the apartment in Edinburgh at 8.15 am) and looking forward to organising myself and having an early night., but they asked if I would like to go to a sagra with them that evening. Apparently in spring and summer the local villages organise themselves and they take it in turns to organise a sagra – a sort of festival with local food and sometimes dancing and sometimes parades. Of course I went. After a drive of about 20minutes we got to this place – a large hall next to an oval set up with simple fold up tables but nicely decorated. The menu had quite a few dishes particular to Ferrara and some from the surrounding area. All this was explained to me. I learnt that somarino was donkey – leave that for another day. This whole area is known for its egg pasta rather than the dried sort of further south. In particular both cappelletti and cappellacci come from here. I had cappelletti which are sort of like ravioli but rougher filled with different sorts of meat. I had them in a broth , typical of here. Then some grilled prawns and vegies. Vino rosso, of course, when in Rome and all that. About 30 local women had spent the day making pasta, cooking and there were 10 there on the night. Families, groups of friends, all sorts. After a while quite noisy. I thanked the organiser and was quite pleased at how much Italian my very tired brain could manage. So by the time we got back it was 10pm and I vaguely wondered whether there would be anyone that might wonder if I was lost somewhere between Edinburgh and Ferrara but the thought came and went as I fell into bed.
A small world story. As some of you know, the lady who owns this place comes from Perth. Turns out that she went to school, in the same class, as my elder sister-in-law!
This is a lovely light airy studio apartment on the second floor of a building that the owners of the apartment live in. There is a little balcony overlooking the garden that belongs to them. They showed me how things worked, where the nearest supermarket was etc . I was tired ( by this time it was 7pm and I had left the apartment in Edinburgh at 8.15 am) and looking forward to organising myself and having an early night., but they asked if I would like to go to a sagra with them that evening. Apparently in spring and summer the local villages organise themselves and they take it in turns to organise a sagra – a sort of festival with local food and sometimes dancing and sometimes parades. Of course I went. After a drive of about 20minutes we got to this place – a large hall next to an oval set up with simple fold up tables but nicely decorated. The menu had quite a few dishes particular to Ferrara and some from the surrounding area. All this was explained to me. I learnt that somarino was donkey – leave that for another day. This whole area is known for its egg pasta rather than the dried sort of further south. In particular both cappelletti and cappellacci come from here. I had cappelletti which are sort of like ravioli but rougher filled with different sorts of meat. I had them in a broth , typical of here. Then some grilled prawns and vegies. Vino rosso, of course, when in Rome and all that. About 30 local women had spent the day making pasta, cooking and there were 10 there on the night. Families, groups of friends, all sorts. After a while quite noisy. I thanked the organiser and was quite pleased at how much Italian my very tired brain could manage. So by the time we got back it was 10pm and I vaguely wondered whether there would be anyone that might wonder if I was lost somewhere between Edinburgh and Ferrara but the thought came and went as I fell into bed.
A small world story. As some of you know, the lady who owns this place comes from Perth. Turns out that she went to school, in the same class, as my elder sister-in-law!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Last day in Edinburgh
I pottered catching up on photos this morning and then had lunch at a vegetarian place I had read about. They had a vegetarian version of haggis – could have been yesterday’s left overs put though the mincer. They served it with clapshot which they said was potato and turnip. I looked it up and it is a traditional Orkney recipe so they must have got their own version in Durham.
I walked to Holyrood Park – between Holyrood Palace and the new Parliament building. There were a lot of people. It was the welcoming ceremony for the World Duathlon championships. I dodged through a few barriers and set off up the hill. Someone said it was the biggest urban park in Europe. It has got a variety of landscapes – a bit like Scotland – hills, crags, marches, glens, loch, grasslands. I walked up , then slogged up a long steep path of stairs to the top – Arthur’s Seat. Amazing views. I came down a much easier way – ah well, Bus back and afternoon tea – I thought I had earned a piece of cake.
I walked to Holyrood Park – between Holyrood Palace and the new Parliament building. There were a lot of people. It was the welcoming ceremony for the World Duathlon championships. I dodged through a few barriers and set off up the hill. Someone said it was the biggest urban park in Europe. It has got a variety of landscapes – a bit like Scotland – hills, crags, marches, glens, loch, grasslands. I walked up , then slogged up a long steep path of stairs to the top – Arthur’s Seat. Amazing views. I came down a much easier way – ah well, Bus back and afternoon tea – I thought I had earned a piece of cake.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Unexpected pleasures in Edinburgh, Thursday
Yesterday I felt tired and jaded and a bit sad ( it was the 37th anniversary of John’s and my wedding). I wrote the blog in the evening thinking, I know I should do this, I know I will appreciate it later, but it is a bit of a drag. This morning, I turned the computer on and there were emails from 3 people all saying much the same – hullo and we enjoy reading of your travels. None of these people knew it was my wedding anniversary. So I started the day with a smile. Unexpected pleasure 1
I had decided to visit South Queensferry, a quaint seaside village underneath the Firth of Forth Bridges.
A diversion – the railway bridge – dates from 1890 and is the second longest cantilever (whatever that means but a photo will follow ( many arches to continue the theme) but maybe in a few days – I am way behind with photos)) bridge in the world. It was hugely innovative for its time. The more modern road one was opened in 1964 and is quite graceful in comparison, but not as interesting to look at.
Firstly I visited a place in Edinburgh which said it will give VAT back. The literature about VAT does not seem to have caught onto the fact that some people who are entitled to claim VAT back leave the UK for another EU country before leaving the EU to return home. There are several discrepancies in the fine print. There may be a problem for me. However the lady at the counter did not seem to know much , wanted to take another admin fee – too long a story - there were other problems. Forget it, I thought.
I went to the railway station and had a language problem – well firstly a disagreement with an automatic ticket machine. I punched all the right buttons and fed in a ₤5 note which the machine rejected. It was perfectly smooth but it was Irish. Supposedly legal tender but maybe the machine did not know it was ( there are multi coloured, some garish, notes from different Scottish banks in circulation as well as Irish) . I lined up to talk to a person. I thought I might be entitled to an off peak ticket but did not know what time I had to return by. I asked but could not understand his response, after a few tries I got it – you can come back whenever you want , you just have to leave after a particular time. Communication is more tricky if , when listening to the words, you have a preconceived idea about what you should hear. After all that he accepted the Irish ₤5
I caught the train to Dalmeny, about 12 km west of Edinburgh city, and walked down a pleasant path for a km or 2 till I got to the water and walked west till I got to Queensferry, - more cobbled streets, 18th century terraced houses. Lorna of the lilting name and her friend had recommended a place to eat. I went in, it was modern and full, mainly with the noisy residents of the local retirement village on a day out, or so it seemed, a couple left, and I got the best seat in the house – right in front of a wonderful view of both bridges and small boats in a little harbour. Unexpected pleasure 2.
It was about 11.15 and they did not serve lunch until 12 and I wanted to sit for a while. Hmm. Morning tea and then lunch or what ? After a while a very nice young lady came and apologised for keeping me waiting. I said I wanted to have lunch and would it be all right if I just sat and had a lime and soda ( they do not understand lemon, lime and bitters because bitter is a type of beer) or were they too busy and wanted the table - or along those lines. She ( obviously used to dealing with apparently old ladies( most of the others at least 15 years older than me had dyed hair)) said that was quite all right, indeed it would make her job a bit easier. So I sat there quite happily thinking about nothing and everything and more nothing till 1.15. Unexpected pleasure 3 . The lime and soda had real lime in it, the vegetarian club sandwich plus salad and later coffee were nice. Best value ₤9 in a while. U p 4.
There are 2 galleries which house the National gallery of Modern Art and I thought I would go to 1 on the way back to the flat. I walked from the train and wandered round. There were some interesting paintings by people I had not heard of, a room full of Kandinsky, who I have seen before – all a jumble of shapes, some pleasing and some not pleasing. I tried to think what made the difference but gave up. There were a couple of rooms of a guy called Therrien’s work – larger than life arrangements and paintings of these plus other paintings of ordinary household things. There was a table and 4 chairs. My nose was at the height of the chair seat ( I was standing up) and a large stack , about 2m , of bowls – each about 1 m in diameter. I talked to another lady a few times while looking at the different exhibits.
This gallery was close to the Waters of Leith, about 2 km upstream from Stockbridge, so I had a very pleasant walk back. Previously, on my walk to Leith I had seen a statue of a man in the water. There are others I discovered today – by Gormley. See photo to come.
When I arrived at Stockbridge the lady I had been talking to was standing on the bridge – Hullo , I said, ..few words.. Shall we have a coffee? Two hours later we stopped talking. Definitely unexpected pleasure number 5. She travels a lot on her own, ( had several tips) is of a similar age, has been to Ferrara – what are the odds of that? Etc etc As we parted she gave me a big hug, saying that she missed the human touch when travelling on her own and I realised I had not thought about that, but yes, I missed that too. She took a risk doing something very unBritish. Very definitely unexpected pleasure number 6.
I had decided to visit South Queensferry, a quaint seaside village underneath the Firth of Forth Bridges.
A diversion – the railway bridge – dates from 1890 and is the second longest cantilever (whatever that means but a photo will follow ( many arches to continue the theme) but maybe in a few days – I am way behind with photos)) bridge in the world. It was hugely innovative for its time. The more modern road one was opened in 1964 and is quite graceful in comparison, but not as interesting to look at.
Firstly I visited a place in Edinburgh which said it will give VAT back. The literature about VAT does not seem to have caught onto the fact that some people who are entitled to claim VAT back leave the UK for another EU country before leaving the EU to return home. There are several discrepancies in the fine print. There may be a problem for me. However the lady at the counter did not seem to know much , wanted to take another admin fee – too long a story - there were other problems. Forget it, I thought.
I went to the railway station and had a language problem – well firstly a disagreement with an automatic ticket machine. I punched all the right buttons and fed in a ₤5 note which the machine rejected. It was perfectly smooth but it was Irish. Supposedly legal tender but maybe the machine did not know it was ( there are multi coloured, some garish, notes from different Scottish banks in circulation as well as Irish) . I lined up to talk to a person. I thought I might be entitled to an off peak ticket but did not know what time I had to return by. I asked but could not understand his response, after a few tries I got it – you can come back whenever you want , you just have to leave after a particular time. Communication is more tricky if , when listening to the words, you have a preconceived idea about what you should hear. After all that he accepted the Irish ₤5
I caught the train to Dalmeny, about 12 km west of Edinburgh city, and walked down a pleasant path for a km or 2 till I got to the water and walked west till I got to Queensferry, - more cobbled streets, 18th century terraced houses. Lorna of the lilting name and her friend had recommended a place to eat. I went in, it was modern and full, mainly with the noisy residents of the local retirement village on a day out, or so it seemed, a couple left, and I got the best seat in the house – right in front of a wonderful view of both bridges and small boats in a little harbour. Unexpected pleasure 2.
It was about 11.15 and they did not serve lunch until 12 and I wanted to sit for a while. Hmm. Morning tea and then lunch or what ? After a while a very nice young lady came and apologised for keeping me waiting. I said I wanted to have lunch and would it be all right if I just sat and had a lime and soda ( they do not understand lemon, lime and bitters because bitter is a type of beer) or were they too busy and wanted the table - or along those lines. She ( obviously used to dealing with apparently old ladies( most of the others at least 15 years older than me had dyed hair)) said that was quite all right, indeed it would make her job a bit easier. So I sat there quite happily thinking about nothing and everything and more nothing till 1.15. Unexpected pleasure 3 . The lime and soda had real lime in it, the vegetarian club sandwich plus salad and later coffee were nice. Best value ₤9 in a while. U p 4.
There are 2 galleries which house the National gallery of Modern Art and I thought I would go to 1 on the way back to the flat. I walked from the train and wandered round. There were some interesting paintings by people I had not heard of, a room full of Kandinsky, who I have seen before – all a jumble of shapes, some pleasing and some not pleasing. I tried to think what made the difference but gave up. There were a couple of rooms of a guy called Therrien’s work – larger than life arrangements and paintings of these plus other paintings of ordinary household things. There was a table and 4 chairs. My nose was at the height of the chair seat ( I was standing up) and a large stack , about 2m , of bowls – each about 1 m in diameter. I talked to another lady a few times while looking at the different exhibits.
This gallery was close to the Waters of Leith, about 2 km upstream from Stockbridge, so I had a very pleasant walk back. Previously, on my walk to Leith I had seen a statue of a man in the water. There are others I discovered today – by Gormley. See photo to come.
When I arrived at Stockbridge the lady I had been talking to was standing on the bridge – Hullo , I said, ..few words.. Shall we have a coffee? Two hours later we stopped talking. Definitely unexpected pleasure number 5. She travels a lot on her own, ( had several tips) is of a similar age, has been to Ferrara – what are the odds of that? Etc etc As we parted she gave me a big hug, saying that she missed the human touch when travelling on her own and I realised I had not thought about that, but yes, I missed that too. She took a risk doing something very unBritish. Very definitely unexpected pleasure number 6.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Wednesday in Edinburgh
My external mouse has died and I have difficulty using the funny little mouse on my computer( it is the size of 1/4toothbrush)) so I may not correct the odd typo or 3.
I caught a bus this morning – the excuse was to see where it stopped because I will catch it when I leave on Saturday. It stopped about 200m from one of the stops of the airport bus which will work well.
Then I walked up to the castle and joined the queue. The whole castle, palace, hall were quite impressive– though at ₤14 plus ₤3 for an audio guide, it was the most I have ever paid I think. They were disassembling the stands in the parade ground there for then tattoo. I liked the tiny little St Margaret’s chapel ( supposedly the oldest building in Edinurgh) and it’s lovely altar cloth, the 2 actors pretending to be 2 of Oliver Cromwell’s soldiers in the hall, the fact that the books of Scottish servicepeople killed in war had been kept up-to-date ( well, I hope it was up-todate) . The latest entry was 2009 in Afghanistan. There was a section about women in war in 1 of the museums and quite a large part was devoted to the land army. Needless to say after about an hour I needed my morning coffee. After my experience of the changing weather a few days ago, I have been looking at the forecast each day. Before I left it said 18 degree with a 20% chance of rain.. Hmmm. I decided to play it safe, wore my polartec and carried my daypack with goretex jacket. No handbag. By the time I got to the castle I thought – what a silly idea-, my polartec was off , it was bright sun. When I emerged for the morning tea stop, it was about 10 degrees and rainy. Yeh, I thought. But a few hours later it was about 18 and sunny.
After the museum I walked in a part of the Old Town where I had not been. I walked past a beautiful knitwear shop and tried a few interesting jackets on. There were several that were almost right but I resisted. I walked past Greyfriars church – yet another old church, I admit to thinking with little enthusiasm. Then I saw a school nearby and remembered that a friend went to school at Heriots and it was that school. I went to the gate to take a photo and as I was about to stick my camera through the bars I saw a big sign about CCV TV and no tresspassers and I thought better of it. I know I am not a dirty old man, but someone inside the school might wonder.
I had been recommended a place nearby for lunch ( by a member of the same family) called the Elephant Café (or something similar) . I was lucky to get a table and soon after was joined by 2 other ladies who asked if they could join me . I said ‘ certainly, as long as you talk to me’. One of them thought for a bit ( for the second or 2 t I thought oops – wrong thing to say) and said ‘good – I am going to your side of the world soon, that would be good’. Turns out next week she is flying to Aukland and travelling in NZ for several months then going to Australia. Her name is Lorna, but she said it in a sing-song Scottish way, rolled r, that she had to say it several times before I got it. We talked for quite a while – then I left them. So the experience of the Elephant was good, but I think the cook had an off day and forgot to put the vegies into the vegie quiche.
It is sometimes a bit tricky walking in the Old Town. A couple of times I thought - walk along here , turn R in 100m – only to find that the road I wanted to turn right into was 10m below and the map did, in fact, have a more solid line to indicate this, but you had to look carefully. I then walked to the new Scottish parliament buildings. They are next to Holyrood House and I had seen them last Sunday and wanted to go back. I was lucky and a tour had just started and I was able to join it. The guide talked about the architect , from Barcelona, and his ideas and the symbolism and how this was carried through the whole building, furniture etc. It was interesting. Really modern and many people here do not like it apparently but I did. I now have to make sure I go for a walk in the hills behind it. Apparently you can get good photos that show the tree structure. They have a crèche for visitors and a café which sells fruit salad.
I caught a bus almost to my flat for no reason other than I was tired of walking . My new shirt had arrived from Glasgow so I went and got it and I had remembered where the nice wool shop was so I went there to get a pattern. I spent a while in the shop talking to a lady originally from Zimbabwe who next week was going to Texas to visit her grandnieces and then to Australia to visit her brother in Perth. Over the road from the wool shop was a tiny little shop like many others in the UK that make a few nice things each day and sell them as take aways. In this shop was 2 different casseroles, 4 salads, and mushroom rissoly things. I bought 1 of them and got some broccoli and almond salad and bean and roast tomato salad..
My dinner awaits.
I caught a bus this morning – the excuse was to see where it stopped because I will catch it when I leave on Saturday. It stopped about 200m from one of the stops of the airport bus which will work well.
Then I walked up to the castle and joined the queue. The whole castle, palace, hall were quite impressive– though at ₤14 plus ₤3 for an audio guide, it was the most I have ever paid I think. They were disassembling the stands in the parade ground there for then tattoo. I liked the tiny little St Margaret’s chapel ( supposedly the oldest building in Edinurgh) and it’s lovely altar cloth, the 2 actors pretending to be 2 of Oliver Cromwell’s soldiers in the hall, the fact that the books of Scottish servicepeople killed in war had been kept up-to-date ( well, I hope it was up-todate) . The latest entry was 2009 in Afghanistan. There was a section about women in war in 1 of the museums and quite a large part was devoted to the land army. Needless to say after about an hour I needed my morning coffee. After my experience of the changing weather a few days ago, I have been looking at the forecast each day. Before I left it said 18 degree with a 20% chance of rain.. Hmmm. I decided to play it safe, wore my polartec and carried my daypack with goretex jacket. No handbag. By the time I got to the castle I thought – what a silly idea-, my polartec was off , it was bright sun. When I emerged for the morning tea stop, it was about 10 degrees and rainy. Yeh, I thought. But a few hours later it was about 18 and sunny.
After the museum I walked in a part of the Old Town where I had not been. I walked past a beautiful knitwear shop and tried a few interesting jackets on. There were several that were almost right but I resisted. I walked past Greyfriars church – yet another old church, I admit to thinking with little enthusiasm. Then I saw a school nearby and remembered that a friend went to school at Heriots and it was that school. I went to the gate to take a photo and as I was about to stick my camera through the bars I saw a big sign about CCV TV and no tresspassers and I thought better of it. I know I am not a dirty old man, but someone inside the school might wonder.
I had been recommended a place nearby for lunch ( by a member of the same family) called the Elephant Café (or something similar) . I was lucky to get a table and soon after was joined by 2 other ladies who asked if they could join me . I said ‘ certainly, as long as you talk to me’. One of them thought for a bit ( for the second or 2 t I thought oops – wrong thing to say) and said ‘good – I am going to your side of the world soon, that would be good’. Turns out next week she is flying to Aukland and travelling in NZ for several months then going to Australia. Her name is Lorna, but she said it in a sing-song Scottish way, rolled r, that she had to say it several times before I got it. We talked for quite a while – then I left them. So the experience of the Elephant was good, but I think the cook had an off day and forgot to put the vegies into the vegie quiche.
It is sometimes a bit tricky walking in the Old Town. A couple of times I thought - walk along here , turn R in 100m – only to find that the road I wanted to turn right into was 10m below and the map did, in fact, have a more solid line to indicate this, but you had to look carefully. I then walked to the new Scottish parliament buildings. They are next to Holyrood House and I had seen them last Sunday and wanted to go back. I was lucky and a tour had just started and I was able to join it. The guide talked about the architect , from Barcelona, and his ideas and the symbolism and how this was carried through the whole building, furniture etc. It was interesting. Really modern and many people here do not like it apparently but I did. I now have to make sure I go for a walk in the hills behind it. Apparently you can get good photos that show the tree structure. They have a crèche for visitors and a café which sells fruit salad.
I caught a bus almost to my flat for no reason other than I was tired of walking . My new shirt had arrived from Glasgow so I went and got it and I had remembered where the nice wool shop was so I went there to get a pattern. I spent a while in the shop talking to a lady originally from Zimbabwe who next week was going to Texas to visit her grandnieces and then to Australia to visit her brother in Perth. Over the road from the wool shop was a tiny little shop like many others in the UK that make a few nice things each day and sell them as take aways. In this shop was 2 different casseroles, 4 salads, and mushroom rissoly things. I bought 1 of them and got some broccoli and almond salad and bean and roast tomato salad..
My dinner awaits.
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