Dowd adventures in Bologna: luglio 2013

martedì 2 luglio 2013

End of school 2013, summer holidays begin. Siracusa, Sicily

So its summer holidays, and everyone you see says 'Buon Estate' , l think they know that it is a long, long time, and when you have kids it is even longer. Thankfully Italy has many camps, and the boys had a soccer camp straight away, 6 days in Sardegna, and then this week they have a tennis camp, and the following week either soccer or tennis, see which they prefer.

Firstly the year ended, and they had a presentation, which included a short speech by all the year 5 kids who will go into middle school next year, and so that is the boys class. Obviously l gave them plenty of advice, and hilarious jokes to work on, somehow they were suspicious of me. in their year Hunters best friend Samuele is leaving to live in Malta, where the taxs are much lower, and Ewans best friend Luca is also leaving to go to an Italian school.

The speeches started with the 6 girls and they all did a good job, then Samuele got up and in the end broke into tears, Hunter was next and sprung into a rehearsed opening line, only to forget it half way through, not daunted he tried again, still forgot the second half, and without fear tried again, thankfully the teacher who noticed Samuele was still crying told Hunter to wait a second, which gave Hunty enough time to collect himself. He then spoke wonderfully with a great deal of enthusiasm and kindness, finally getting to Samuele he also broke down, next was Gianandrea he broke down, Matteo was next and he got through, then Ewan who spoke also with kindness and thanked his art teacher , who said later it was the first time anyone had, shameful!!! he finished with a good anecdote and a humorous line from the Truman show. Then was Michelangelo he broke down, after suffering a severe breathing episode, and finally Luca who l would have thought would have got through, but no he broke down.

So the boys proved that they are an emotional caring group and the girls a heartless lot!

So next year (september) the boys can take their own lunch to school ( l don't have to bring it to them, as we don't really like the Mensa ) And they wear a shocking maroon colour top, which at least won't show the dirt like the white one they have had.

So they went to Sardegna, had a great time, spoke lots of Italian, and got to know the other kids a lot better, which should help on the pitch! Of course there will always be this complete non sportsmanship attitude you get from a lot of the kids, who for some reason think they are Messi. To get there they had to catch a bus for 3 hours then a ferry for 8, l don't know why they did not fly, as it would have been cheaper as well.

So Jayne and l took the opportunity to go to Sicily, in particular Siracusa and more importantly Ortigia which is the old part and lies on a island connected by three bridges. We had a great hotel on the seaside, the bathroom had mould but hell what do you expect for 112 euro a night ( including a full style breakfast and real coffee) and lets not forget the relaxation area, which was an indoor pool, sauna, steam room and gym, all of which l used. A sun deck and a terrific roof top bar over looking the area.

We went down with Leslie our American friend who has lived here for 20 years, and has a good friend who is a realtor there. Siracusa or more like Ortigia is well worth seeing, it has a Caravaggio, and is steeped in ancient history, back to the Greeks. The streets are very baroque looking, though are older in many parts, and it is surrounded in water and history, In Siracusa is the Greek teatro and a Roman teatro, a brilliant archeological museum, and an incredible, in fact two old quarries where they got the limestone to build everything from, and over time have become gardens of beauty, as well as huge cave areas.

The coffee is good, maybe Napoli is better, the food obviously seafood, and very rich in flavours, and the deserts are to die for, which in many cases l am sure is what happens. In particular the Cannoli. I actually had the best baked cheese cake l have ever had there as well. The best restaurants we went to were, Oinos, Per Bacco ( cheesecake)

We visited a couple of beaches, Cassabile was one which was a beautiful beach but full of rather rough people, the best was about an hour south called San Lorenzo, where there are chairs, umbrellas and a a bar, as well as accommodation.

We also went to the town of Noto which is not far from there and very popular now, it has a lovely feeling about it, but did not blow me away, though there are some incredible baroque balconies. Jayne did rather like it though.

On the way back to the airport we went to the inland town of Ragusa, and though it took us 1.5 hours to get there, and another 1.5 hours to the airport, plus the fact we were sent on roads through the countryside that had not been maintained for some time, in one case we had half the road collapsed down the cliff face, and a landslide across the other half, but we made it. Ragusa is made up of two halves, and this came about partly by the earthquake back in 1693 flattened a lot of it, it was then that one half went Baroque and the other half more structured and modern over time. So if you go make sure you get to the old part, as otherwise it aint much. The old part has a lovely garden and obviously church.

As well as just an enjoyable walk around, there seems to be quite a bit of accommodation there. We had lunch at La Piazzetta, which was surprisingly good, as it was in the main square, and the owner was a delightful person who made you feel like family.

So we arrive home and the next day the boys arrived back exhausted and for Hunty a bit sick with a bug.

Now while we were away there was a large fire in the palazzo next door, the top two floors being burnt out, it started apparently from the kitchen of the top apartment where a Romanian family lived, the husband a convicted armed robber, which makes me realize how good the neighborhood is. When l asked if anyone had been killed, my friend said you cant kill them!!

Anyway the street is partially closed which is a bit annoying, as Jayne has to walk another 3 minutes to get to her favorite bar for a cappucino in the morning. And with the insurance company and the fire investigation unit looking into the cause it may take several months to open the street, and years to fix the building. The only good thing is we get this lovely burnt smell, which reminds us of home.

So l have been busy in the studio getting ready for a show in Wangaratta and Hong Kong, and next week l spend the entire time in Venice printing my 60 or so woodcuts, which l am looking forward to doing and spending such a length in Venice, as well the Biennale is on.