Dowd adventures in Bologna

domenica 18 settembre 2011

Arezzo Medieval Festival

A step back in time was experienced a few weeks ago in Arezzo. Normally l would have flinched at the idea of going to a medieval festival, the thought of Kryal castle comes to mind, or some nerds dressed in carbs from a fancy dress shop. But this was as close to the real thing as you can get. Jayne had found out about this months ago, and booked a room at the B&B we stayed at last time.
We travelled down by car with Nine Leigh who was staying with us, the usual car trip, l won't repeat it again, but l never take two hands of the wheel now! Woopsie, as Hunter says, l just remembered, it was actually quite an eventful trip, but maybe eventful that one wants to forget? Poor Ewan was sick, car sick on the way down, he blamed me for the peach l gave him for breakfast, which l cunningly told him, that was no peach, it was an nectraine , that did not seem to help as he vomited again, 30 minutes later. The first time we just got a beach towel to him in time, as we had no plastic bags, being so green, but Ewan for reasons we cannot say, decided not to use the towel to vomit in, he may well have been thinking it was his pool towel, and so vomited over his shorts and the seat. Nine was delighted! So we pulled over which is never easy on these autostrads, and changed his shorts and cleaned the seat, we then found a small plastic bag in the boot, just in case. Well luckily we did , as l said earlier he vomited again, perfect this time, right into the plastic bag, but the bag a slight hole in it, and when it comes to vomit in a plastic bag, a small hole or big hole is a hole. We finally arrived a hour late to pick up Elisabeth and Cesare who caught the train, and were staying at the same place. As luck may have it, at least luck for some, the small train we told Elisabeth to catch from the Arezzo station to were we where staying, only stopped at the stop if you asked it to. And it went straight past it, Elisabeth and Cesare, then went to the end of the line to catch the only train that works on that line back, this time being most clear to stop at their stop, so in the end we arrived before them!
Saturday afternoon we travelled into Arezzo and had a look around, catching up with one of Jaynes Italian friends, Gianni the antique dealer, who mentioned that all seat tickets for the festival were gone, but you could get tickets for standing on the day. Unfortunately something was lost in translation or in our crowd of people, but l shall go into that later. Jayne and Nine had a look around the antique market that happens every month, this time it was in the park, as the piazza was closed for the festival on sunday. Elisabeth and the kids and I went back to the B&B to have a swim, that night we had a lovely barbeque and looked forward to the festival.
We woke slowly, or some woke slowly, anyway, we set up a wonderful breakfast, Australian style, only to have the cleaners come in , seemingly surprised to see us still there and in particular having such a banquet at 10 am. So we gobbled a bit too fast, not the medically suggested 20 bites per mouthful, packed and headed off to Arezzo. The town was alive, found a park and walked into the central area. We walked around the streets, where every so often a marching parade of medieval people on horses, playing drums, soldiers, counts and countess's and town criers announcing the days proceedings (l think). The level of detail, and the quality of the leather boots was impressive, some of the wigs let them down, but the weird thing was that every person looked like the characters in any medieval painting. The Italian nose and face has not changed at all over 700 years. We then went of to get some lunch, as the event did not start till around 5pm, something which we wished we had known earlier. Well as usual l got bored sitting around so the boys and l headed off to look around, not a good idea, especially without a mobile, and not telling the others. Anyway we made our way to the piazza where l thought we could get a great pozzy to watch the event, which we found, but got kicked out of the piazza, as they were clearing it to allow all ticket holders only in. So l quickly went of to buy some tickets, found the place very quickly, thanks to my expert Italian, and bought 3 tickets for Hunter, Ewan and myself, thinking the others may have already bought some, hugh mistake.
Only minutes later we found the others, who had no tickets, l quickly pointed to the ticket office, now the expression l got a few minutes later from Jayne was not good. Even l could see she was not happy, so l quickly jumped to the best defence, attack and stupidity, not always in that order . Firstly saying , had you not got your tickets already, you know we needed them, big mistake; then, well l didn't know they would run out, l felt deep down a bit like Charlie and his golden ticket(s). So the expression from Jayne was now burning itself into my brain, so l offered my ticket to her, but the damage was down, so to keep it short, the boys and l went to the festival in the piazza and had the time of our life. An experience you should never miss, luckily l took photos for the others, and it was on television, so they could watch it in a bar.
Well it has taken the last few weeks for that event to slowly retreat from between us, and l feel safe to write it down now.
The festival is in two forms, firstly the street parades and marching up to the duomo to be blessed by the local priests, then the stage event with horses and army, which is about 400 people move down towards the piazza. In the piazza is seating for about 1000 people, and standing for about another 700. The dressed up group move in to the piazza and take corners, as there are four teams, identified by the colour of their clothing. We are treated to some impressive flag throwing, acrobatics and marching. Then the horses and horseman parade along a long dirt track set up diagonally across the piazza, entering and leaving from side streets. These horseman are jousters, two to a team. Now this is when, hey dad a bloke is selling some jousting sticks! whats he want for them? $200! dreamin! comes to mind. Anyway, you would easily get $200 for jousting sticks in Arezzo this weekend.
Now the crowd are like an AFL grand final, but there are four teams. The arch rivalry is incredible, each section of the crowd chanting at each other, people hanging from windows yelling out and waving flags, there was a flare let off near us, it was full on. Hunter and Ewan worked their way to the front rail and l sweated away amongst the screaming crowd, then the announcement that the first rider was about to charge, the crowd go silent. His job is to hit a man made from metal and wood, that spins round when you hit the white square on one of his arms, this square is broken into quarters with a central bulls eye. He chargers a full speed with jousting stick, its about 80 meters and hits the sign, a hugh roar goes up, and then silence a minute later as we wait for the judges to announce the score. When he hits the target it is quickly taken away and covered so know one can see the score, but the judges, just to add to the emotion. ( A seasoned follower near me had his SLR with telo lense, and captured brilliantly each hit, giving us near by an early idea of the score) Each quarter is given a score, 1,2,3,4 and 5 for a bulls eye, the first rider gets a 5!, and there is such a cry of joy and pain, yells of foul and faces of silence. I saw a man dressed in perfect garb of medieval style of 70 years of age, punch the air with excitement and then walk quickly in wild circles in a a dazed sense, as if he was the coach, the siren had gone, and there was a rookie with the ball, 60 meters out on the boundary, they are 5 points behind, and he cant do a thing.
Well each rider came out, scores of 2, 3, 4 but not another 5. The two riders scores are added and the winner is the one obviously with the highest score, there was no draw this year, but l presume they have a joust off.
From the actions of the crowd, l presumed there would be a fight, but no, all seems to calm immediately and they all walk off home, which in some cases is odd, as we saw three blokes in one car near us, all dressed in medieval clothing, with those terrific leather boots.
The only problem we had in the standing crowd was the local police, who are a bit of a joke, who stood around the the perimeter of the jousting area, blocking most of our view, unlike our police at the AFL grand final who sit. Plus next time l will bring a wide hat, as the sun was a killer, or better still get seating tickets, or for some just tickets!
The only good thing about Jayne not wanting to speak to me that day, was the drive home l was not told what l was doing wrong , well not often.
So if you are coming to Italy around the end of August you must go to Arezzo and see the jousting grand final. And never ever be so silly as not to get tickets for everyone. The good news is we are going back next year, l am hoping to get a part in the parade, just to wear those boots, and lets be honest l have the legs to wear stockings.

giovedì 1 settembre 2011

Venice, Padua

The weather this summer has been quite polite, but the week we decided to go to Venice and Padua it got bloody hot, everyday over 100.
So we drove, and the same story as before occurred, Jayne kindly reminded me that a big yellow truck was in-front of me, or that l was too close to a distant wall, or that l didn't have both hands on the wheel, l am sure her seat arms are going to have depressions in where she grips for dear life. Anyway it helps pass the time as the boys and l make light of her fearful manner.
We arrived again safely, Jayne had booked us in to a quaint hotel with garden in a town called Mira, near Dolo, about 30 minutes from Padua and 30 minutes to Venice, so a great location, and a lovely surround. These towns follow the river, and have some amazing mansion, villas, palaces along them where people used to have weekend retreats. One villa, which was more like a palace of ridiculous dimensions is Villa Pisani, just out of Padua, it must be visited. Napoleon once owned it, his Italian retreat, it is full of the most amazing art by Tiepolo, in particular the ceiling of the ballroom. The garden is incredible with the most impressive horse stables you could imagine, water features, a pond that the French would like to have at Versailles and statues galore. Some of you will know by belief on mazes, in particular the Avenel maze, a complete waste of time, but the maze at Villa Pisani is a monument of perfection. Anyway enough of that, just visit the place one day, it is a hidden treasure.
Now the hotel we stayed at in Mira is Villa Alberti, not a villa in the same league, but comfortable and worth staying at, friendly family run it, though the mosquitoes drove us mad. The towns of Mira, and especially Dolo are great, good food, one place we went to had a photo of Russell Crowe, George Clooney, and he told us Nicole Kidman was there as well, though l think they may have been taken elsewhere, a seafood place, but really did not live up to Sydney.
Now the reason to going to Venice is obvious, but the reason l wanted to go to Padua (Padova) is the Scrovegni Chapel , where the greatest pieces of art are. I speak of Giotto. No one should come to Italy and not visit Padua (Giotto) and Arezzo (Pierro Della Francesca), it should be in the visa requirement. Mind you the fact most don't, does allow me to see the works in rather uncrowded fashion.
Padua as a town is very delightful, infact Jayne and l said we could have lived there if not Bologna, it is probably a bit like Melbourne, more open than Bologna which allows some air flow, but no parks, the shopping is great and much cheaper than Bologna and better quality. But as l said earlier it was over 100 and l was happy to get in the car or visit a air conditioned shop.
Now Venice, well the biennale is on, so that is a major reason to go, but this was a family trip, so l could not spend the whole 2 days in the biennale, l only spent 1 and a half. The other half was quality family time, a gondolier trip, which l swore l would never do, but it was actually wonderful and very quiet, we asked to keep to the side streets, didn't want to mix with the rats in the grand canal. Visited a church with some more Tiepolo's and got a beautiful water colour hand made book, one that Martin King would use, l hope to emulate his skill.
Saw a major Schnabel show, of works from the last 30 years, hugh and impressive. The latest craze in Venice is the attempted selling of liquid rubber balls that you throw to the ground and they make a splat shape, absolute crap, the poor blokes who seem to be every 20 meters flogging them, cant make a living, l nearly felt sorry and bought one, but l didn't!
Ohh nearly forgot, we got to Venice by boat, that leaves 20 minutes from Mira at a place called Fusina, crossing the water through the wooden stumped markers, takes about 20 minutes, the trick is to not sit upstairs in the sun at 100 degrees, and downstairs is closer to 120 degrees, we just stood at the gang plank until it was about to go and then just lent over the side with the breeze and shade, port side there, starboard side back in the afternoon. Now this was Jaynes idea, and a very good one, she explained to me after l yelled at her for the fact that we are always running late, that if we were not late we would not have got this position on the boat, somehow l am always wrong, and have to apologise.

The boys and the Nance girls on a snazzy taxi in Venice

martedì 30 agosto 2011

Circolo Tennis Bologna

Well we joined the Bologna Tennis Club "Circolo Tennis Bologna". And l cant help think of Groucho Marx words, "that any club that accepts me as a member, l don't want to join" That said, we have been enjoying the clubs facilities (tennis table, gym, pool, tennis courts) all summer, in particular the swimming pool. Like all these clubs there are rules, and they are clearly stated in the rules book l was given, of course it is in Italian, and so l fear l may have breached many rules, not maybe as many as at Metropolitian Golf club, but give me time. I was informed by Marco the club manager that we are the first Australians as members, the club has about 10 clay courts, which are covered with massive air bags over winter, so you can play all year round. The pool is terrific, but on days can look a little like a pool on a cruise ship, as many members are as old as the club and lounge around the pool like lizards, on the lounge chairs. There is the delightful custom at the pool , like all pools in Italy of wearing a swim cap, l am told to stop hair blocking the filter, l did question why did l have to wear one, but maybe it is better l don't stand out, l may try to get a floral one, or maybe there is a market for ones with moose horns, or big ears on them.
They have a lifeguard at the pool?, but l think he is there mainly to stop people from breaking rules, like not wearing a swim cap, jumping in , banging noodles on the water, playing in the swimming lanes, ( lanes which seem to change with a whim) talking too loud, ohh and not having a shower before and it seems after you get in/out of the pool. That said, they are lovely lifeguards, and we have got to know them well. They did have a problem with the boys, as l don't think Italians are known for their swimming, and when the boys started swimming laps, they were confused to which lane they should be in, the kids lanes or the adult lanes that are for adults and swimmers. most adults don't swim they just walk in water holding a noodle.
We have played a bit of tennis, though it has been hot, in fact so hot that we have been the only people playing in the day.
Jayne loves the "CLUB" and has met as usual some wonderful people, who have been most helpful. We have been invited to events, houses, given advice and help regarding my art and galleries, where to buy good bread or spices as well as lessons in Italian.
Jayne met a lovely pharmacist Frederico, when she first came to Bologna in November last year, and he invited us to the CLUB a couple of months ago, we were taken by its pool and cheap drink and food prices, Jayne asked could we become members, and so he took us straight down to the manager, and saying we were friends of Pat Rafter, which l am led to believe helped, became members. It sounds easy, but l have found out with friends from the school, that they have tried several times to become members, as always its who you know, and l now know, everyone knows Frederico.
The CLUB is open every day except christmas day, and till 1am, serving food for lunch, dinners, it is well attended by many members who don't play tennis, just enjoy the other facilities.
It takes me back to the days l played every week with Andrew Watson, Dick Johns and Simon Bones at the South Yarra Tennis Club, sadly l don't play as well as l did then, and l don't have those guys to practice with, but l do have the wonderful meals and drinks after to look forward too.

giovedì 4 agosto 2011

Summer in Santa Margherita

We just spent a week in Santa Margherita on the west coast, visiting places like Portofino and Cinque Terra.
Our first impression was what are we going to do with the kids for 10 days, so we cut the trip down to 5, then after 4 days we increased it to 7. Getting there was a small episode, we just picked up our second hand Honda CRV, black executive, petrol, 38,000 on the dial, rides like a silken horse. It has heated seats which l look forward to in winter, but most essential a navigator thingy on the dash, which has got us to where we wanted to go. The drive was 3 hours, seemed like 10 as Jayne reminded me constantly that there was a truck in-front of us, that l was going too fast, l was too much over to the left, l didn't have both hands on the wheel. And over this pointing out to the boys to look at the castle or village on the hill, then snapping at me as l tried to get a quick peek.
We arrived safely without a scratch.
We went out to see Cinque Terra by ferry one day, deciding to get the ferry one way, get off at Riomaggiore, and walk to Manarola, the walk was very impressive and l believe the best part of the walk, it cost 15 euros, as they have recently upgraded the track. The track has got thousands of locks , locked to all types of things, a metaphor for love, left by lovers. I can only imagine a locksmith could make a killing, bolt cutting them open, as love fades.
From Manarola we caught another ferry to Vernazza, as Corniglia is closed , due to a landslide on the track there. Vernazza was the best of the towns, and we had lunch there, and it was terrific, not as many tourists, and very beautiful. We then decided we could catch the original ferry back if we got to Monterrosso in half an hour by train, so we ran and caught it, arriving with 10 minutes to spare, on boarding the ferry after a very quick look at Monterosso, we found that it was going to Vernazza for an hour. So another look at our favorite town, and a ice cream that we never got there the first time. Back on the ferry and back to Santa Margherita. A wonderful day, met a couple of lovely blokes from St Kilda who we ended up having dinner with. Leo who works at Audi in Swan St Richmond, is well worth going too if you want an Audi, a friendly happy person.
One of our favorite places in Santa Margherita is Villa Durazzo on the hill overlooking the town. It has a wonderful garden, full of ancient cycads, palm trees, shaded with marble statues lining along the pathways. The villa is used for art shows, musical performances, all free. It has a room dedicated to Vittoria Rossi, a local writer who died in 1978, there are some great portrait paintings on the walls, and some terrible modern art by some terrible artists, part of the villa doing its bit for upcoming artists, needless to say what l think they should do with it!. There is another house near by that is also used for that and has a cafe for your espresso. We saw a wonderful performance of a violinist (Ermir Abeshi) and pianist (Valentina Messa), with about 200 people squeezing in to see.
Later we went up there for a dinner on the tables in the garden, wonderful place to see the setting light fall over the town, as it's lights light up.
There are some very good places to eat, our favorite was a kitchen restaurant (Trattoria da Pezzi), that closes at 9pm, which is weird in Italy, the food was perfect and the size of the deserts was massive, too the point you felt like singing happy birthday.
There are some amazing hotels on the cliff face, (Metropole, Continental) which look great and have all the feelings of Healesville.
We booked ourselves into Bagno Margherita on the beach, about 1 km around the head towards Portofino, above it was a very cool old building that we kept looking at, wondering how can we get into it. This bagno was more expensive than Milano Marittma, the chairs are jammed in, and the beach is pebbles, but the water is clear and cool, and the boys loved the big blow up banana shaped object that kids could swim out to it. Hunter spent the whole day out on it. Ewan spent most of the time on it, and the rest at the ping pong table, he has become quite the Forrest Gump when it comes to table tennis.
Jayne found amazing ways of buying things on sale, she is very talented at buying things, l am told that we only live once, and this is trip is a once ever, l have decided to paint nights as well.
Speaking of painting, we bought 3 little pictures by a Milanese artist Enrico Vairo, the boys did say, that dont you paint these things dad, and they are right, but l am not from Milan and not dead.
One very strange thing we noticed in Santa Margherita was that men walk around with their cashmere jumpers wrapped around their bellies, l mean that the body part is over the belly and tied at the back, it is weird, and l can only imagine is done to cover their large stomachs, much in the same way as you see women running around the botanical gardens in Melbourne with their gym top tied around to hide their apparently large bums.
Ohh the local dish is great it is short pasta, of around 1-2 inch, in a pesto sauce, under the pasta is boiled pieces of potato, with steamed beans. And of course you cover it in parmesan.
Now we are back in bologna, arrived the day of the anniversary of the Bologna bombing of the train station, 31 years ago. The piazza had a full orchestra performing pieces that had been picked from many entrants to be performed live, there was some spoken word with the orchestra which was very inspiring. It is organized by the families of the victims every year, the bombing killed 88 people and wounded 200. They still have not really figured out who did it, but 4 people were jailed.
The piazza, has now been cleared back to normal, so the massive film screen and 600 chairs are gone, something l look forward to next year, the best film festival.