Dowd adventures in Bologna: luglio 2011

venerdì 15 luglio 2011

Those were the days

Here we are at Milano Marittma, a local beach for the folk of Bologna, Ravenna, Rimini. It took us about 2 hours on the train, but that is a local train stopping all stations, in a car about one hour. On first appearance it reminds you of Rye, Rosebud, there is a water theme park near by, it is crowded and people everywhere, many 3 star hotels, lots of shops and bars, restaurants. It is known for young people coming here to go wild, but our expierence in the Astra Hotel, three star is quite something.
Imagine if you will, going back in time, a time of tranquility, of few simple pleasures, a place our parents spoke of, or we saw in movies like Monsiuer Hulots Holiday. The taxi from the train station delivers us to the hotel, we ascend the grand stairs coated in red carpet, greeted warmly by a youngish man who smiles and leads us to the front desk, the front lounge is decked in apricot couches, which later l find is the common colour through out, and are infact very comfy. There is a bar in the lounge, and a few people sit in the comfy couches, obviously well versed in their comfyness and chat about good times l imagine in Italian. No need for passports, or visa card, just a smile , a key and the youngish man helps deliver our bags to the room. Fortunately we were well advised about the hotel and came here 3 weeks ago to check out the rooms, we picked room 32, top floor with a balcony, definetly small, and the bathroom is very small, but we are here for the beach, and what a beach, of which l will talk of soon.
We were told dinner was at 7.30 onwards, and a word of warning, don't think your in Italy here, get in early, we arrived after going quickly to the beach to book our lounge chairs and umbrella, number 43 at Adriatico ( the beach is broken into strips, each serviced with lounge chairs and umbrellas in military positions, aptly serviced by a bar, cafe) We arrive at the dining room, which is apricot, with 70's chandeliers of thousands of glass beads, the dining room is alive, much unlike the audience, who are the living dead. I say this in a lovely way, even though their age is extremely large, they have preserved themselves well, with in some cases Botox, salt sacks and wigs, they have the skin of Mallee pigs, but all dressed for dinner, which l must say is a delight to see such effort put towards a meal. We are ushered to our table, one which we will be on till our departure.We are offered a selection of 4 entrees and 4 main meals, which will be followed by a desert, and a buffet sits proudly in the middle of the room, covered like a nannas quilt in all sorts of veggies and dishes that have to be good for you.
We then are given a A4 print out of tomorrow's lunch and dinner menus which we must fill out what we want, this is done every day. The food is terrific, always different, l try to go with the local dishes, nothing has let us down yet. The deserts are brilliant, obviously gelato , but a variety of cakes, fruit. At the end of a meal you have had a well balanced meal of greens, meat, and fruit.
The boys have taken to seeing who has turned up late and may miss out on a particular desert, of course they never miss out on their preordered dinners. The service is remarkable, again very un Italian, it is quick, polite and efficient .We have our waiter who's English is limited, but who's desire to helps rides high. We of course practice our Italian with him, but this is a short lesson, as the waiters are on speed, and invisible roller blades. They scoop from table to table, serving, clearing, replacing water, it's as if their lives depended on them doing their duties in a allocated time, or their first born would be sacrificed.
So far we have had no bambini for a meal. Though the chicken pasta was suspiciously yummy.
The dining room of course is apricot, lots of mirrors, because it is just necessary, Hunter has taken to looking at himself way too often, and adjusting his hair in all sorts of manner, l don't know if he was watching someone do this, or is just doing his thing!
Now the beach, well it must be a few km long, and in the morning is completely covered in people on their preordered lounge chairs, l mean there must be 50,000 people at least , the sea is flat, and rather dirty looking, well worth going out 40 meters to get a cool part, as the first 30 are full of people, mind you beware of the lifeguard who rows a pontoon raft with a chair and life buoy, these lifeguards, are really quite a joke, as there can be no chance anyone could drown in the water, the only problem could be heat exhaustion in the crowded water.These lifeguards paddle like mad at you, if they think you have gone too far from the shore, the fact you could stand in water probably 100 meters out does not seem to matter.
So we sit on our lounges, watching old lizards roll over on the lounges, who cannot move their faces due to the recent Botox injection. Though l must say that most women have taken great care of their bodies, and feel quite happy to wear bikinis that 18 year olds would stagger at.
So the boys build their sand castles, until they are told not to do it, as old people can trip in them?
Hunter then skips shells over the water, which is quite skillful considering how many people he has to miss. We have bought a small net to catch the odd lost fish that we saw swimming in the water, which gives you hope that the water is in some way safe. The sand is extremely hot, l think this is due to the fact that there is no real tide, so it never gets wet, and it is bloody hot, you have to work your way to the boardwalk in the shadows of the umbrellas. Everyone wears sandals or thongs, it is as if sand is the common enemy here, no one would dare sit on the beach, order is the state of the day. And that order continues, for as it chimes close to 12.30 the people march off in file along their boardwalks to their hotels, to enjoy their pre ordered lunch. Some who dare return after lunch and that is only a few, and l think it is mainly foreigners , for the others must sleep, for there is a dinner to come.
The afternoon on the beach is more pleasant as the crowds are down, but around 5pm they return for a quick lie down after the sleep, one last slap of sunshine to rosy the cheeks for dinner.
Dinner is much like lunch, but more formal, afterwards around 10pm, the town comes alive and every soul who was on the beach 12 hours earlier is now marching the streets, shopping, window shopping, drinking, playing in the theme arenas, or playing mini golf, riding 4 wheel bikes, eating more gelato. They return around 12 or so, tuck themselves in , and dream of another ground hog day

domenica 3 luglio 2011

Some thought's on the boys

Thought it important, even if just for me to remember, to mention what Ewan and Hunter have been doing and saying of late
Hunter has of the two found it harder adjusting to the change, and so has found everything hard, even if he was able to do it before. Last week he had trouble understanding how a kid born in Italy could speak English, much as l tried to explain the fact that you speak the language you are brought up with, but you can learn another language as well, which is easier when you are young. He still does not understand and said to Jayne, mum when you LAID me, was l Australian?. Its these comments l have trouble getting around.
Ewan sings continuously, everywhere, in fact the teacher told him to be quite as it was disturbing the students? He loves singing in the shower, and now when things don't go right , throws his arms about saying mamma mia.
The boys did drama after school last term, and will continue next year as they love it, part of the class was to wear a funny hat with their clown noses. Ewan firstly had a mexican hat, but that was a bit large and kept hitting other kids, so l made him a painted crown out of cardboard. Hunter got a black and white checkered hat, in the style that you see guys wearing alot now. But he has taken to wearing it everywhere, with his white sunglasses, and checking with me if he looks good, the worrying thing is all the people who see him in the street, say to him how good he looks, when in Rome!!!
Hunty cannot get the word right for apartment, and keeps saying we live in a department.
We finally found some weet bix, though not as good as at home, breakfast is difficult in Italy. And it reminds you how much, when you get excited about finding an inferior pack of weet bix.
Ewan has found a Smurf chess set in a toy shop, and is determined to buy it. He tried the angle on me, that it would be good for me to teach him chess. In my mind was the image of me playing chess with Smurfs, how childish, of course the fact that l don't know how to play chess and only checkers, did not seem so childish.
We went to the local cheap market yesterday, Hunter bought a wrist band, the ones you flick over your wrist and they wrap around, with the word DREAM on it, Ewan bought a soft used toy for 50 cents, judging by the look of it it belonged to an Indian or Sri Lankan. Saw a small muslim boy in a pram with a large toy machine gun, ratt a tatting away.
Hunter is in the piazza practicing his times tables, as they need to catch up, schooling here is further along than in Avenel, Ewan is doing some painting, drawing, as l try to explain that mistakes are some times the best thing in pictures, he gives me a certain look, that makes me question myself, and l go in to a dark place. I look up with lost eyes to see him rubbing furiously with a rubber, there are so many shavings, its like parmesan .
They finished their first week of summer camp, ( a all Italian centre where kids go during the holidays and do all sorts of activities, football, swimming, painting, wood work, games, drama) they love it, though Hunter gets a bit nervous with no English.
Ewan has just showed me a large project paper, he is doing titled "Saving Up List" which he is putting all the things he wants and how much they cost and where he can get them, this is when Ewan is much like me.
We are looking after a pet hamster at the moment for some friends, Hunter loves it, as he does all animals, and l think we might need to get a pet of some kind, it may well make Hunter a bit more relaxed.
Jayne was out with Hunter a few days ago, they went by a ice-cream shop, and she said do you want an ice cream, he said after some thought , no, can we get some calamari. That is Hunter
If it was Ewan he would say, yes, but can l still have a brioche later?
Last night at dinner, Hunter orders spaghetti with clams and a calamari dish, while Ewan as always orders lasagna or margarita pizza.
We got the boys some new runners, for some reason Hunter has gone from a size 2 to 5, l asked him, were your toes tight in those shoes, he said yes, but he liked them, he is very much like Jayne when it comes to shoes. Mind you the size 5 look like clown shoes, but Hunty tells me they look cool. Ewan checked with me first before getting his pair if they were too expensive, guess who?
Enough of that now, more about other things later.
Have a hankering for some coffee