Dowd adventures in Bologna: aprile 2014

mercoledì 16 aprile 2014

Montecatini, the worst town so far in Italy

I dont like to say it, but we had the misfortune to staying at the worst town so far in our travels in Italy last weekend. Mickey Stewart is on a band tour from Wesley school with 80 students and one of their stays was at Montecatini, 1/2 hour from Florence, and 20 minutes to Lucca. It all sounded great we booked a 4 star hotel that was well priced and would take Mickey out to dinner and let the boys catch up with her, then see her perform the next day in Lucca.
I should have thought something was wrong when the hotel key broke in the door, and the staff member, who was a bit like Manuel from Faulty Towers tried to get the broken key out with scissors ( and he actually did) And the other hotel staff member told me to back down a near by street to the hotel parking. The room and the hotel were not much like the photos, and 4 star it was not. That night we were kept awake by the noise of people outside on the street, as the windows were not double glazed. And in the morning at 6.30 we heard the loud chatter of Chinese people talking in the hallway before going on a tour.
So we arrived at 4pm and met Mickey at 4.30 and went for a walk around, this town has more hotels than l could imagine, at least 300. The town is famous for its terme's, but all of them were closed, we don't actually know why, as the place was packed with bus loads of people, It is a town that seems to be the base to visit surrounding areas. So we decided to get some tickets and get on an electric powered train car that toured around Montecatini, showing the sites. It had audio in German, English and Italian, and every few minutes would explain that on the corner coming up was a hotel, yes a hotel, not some historic monuement, or ancient building or famous house, but one of the 300 hotels, very odd!!
So we did the 45 minute tour, getting off l did not know if l should thank the driver, or question him on what the hell that was about. So then the kids played in a park for awhile, and one thing for Montecatini, it does have parks. Jayne and l had a drink at a bar across the street, and as we waited we inquired with the waitress if she knew of any good, family run Osteria's, she replied, ohh yes here we have one, just around the corner with live music, not microwaved food, very good!, so Jayne goes and checks it out. She returns soon after saying there is no corner or restaurant , and l suggest that l think she meant the plain room with tables and chairs in it that we were sitting in front of, and she was. Well we gave that a miss, it looked like a step up from a prison. So we walked around looking for a restaurant, the town has very few, mostly people eat in the dining areas of their hotels, that all look the same. I found one l liked but Jayne said she would get food poisoning in there, so we ventured on, we thought about a pizza place, but the sight of 9 microwave machines and a small table oven put us off. Finally 45 minutes later with the kids getting tired and angry we accepted our fate, and entered a hotel that neither Mickey or us were staying in and ate there. We all ordered pasta, except Jayne who ordered a steak, our pastas finally came out 1/2 hour later, and Jayne got her steak after we asked about it when we finished our pastas. It was not cooked, and l asked them to cook it more, the waiter said ohh this is how we cook it in Tuscany, what you don't cook steak in Tuscany!!
So Jayne put alot of mustard, which is never good in Italy on it , in the hope it may help cook it, and we left after explaining our disgust, he did not care, as he knew we would never return, and there was a bus always coming of tourists.
The next day, we left after a surprisingly good breakfast, and got our snow globe, just so we would always remember the place. And then drove onto Lucca, where we have been before, a lovely town, a truly walled town, where you hire bikes and ride around the wall and the streets. We found a great restaurant "Buca Di Sant Antonio, well worth going to and right next to the main piazza Michele, where Mickey was performing in the afternoon. So we finished lunch, went for a small walk around arrived as it began to rain to see the band perform, thankfully under cover. Said good bye to Mickey and headed back to Bologna, about 1.45 minutes away.
One good thing about the area, is there is a place called "The Mall" , which is an outlet shopping centre for Prada, Gucci, Armani, Burberry, etc etc, so we bought some good priced jackets for the boys and l from Armani, and Jayne got some shoes, but was not happy with me as l did not let her buy some dresses she liked.

giovedì 3 aprile 2014

Last weeks of skiing

So without Jayne most weekends, the boys and l have been going to Cortina. The weather has just got better and better, though with no new snow it was becoming a bit icy in the morning and slushy in the afternoon. Hunter and l had a great long weekend together, and his skiing is very very good, and the other weeks Ewan came and also skis very well, very fast, and likes to flick the snow over you. We had some more lessons with Gian Luca, which was well worth it, and he is such a terrific person, and so good with the kids. I learn quickly not to try to do what they did, powder snow and me are not friends, and the moguls can just be too exhausting, but the black runs in general l love, especially when the runs are empty, and the sun is out.
So we finished last weekend after a day of fresh snow earlier in the week, a perfect weekend with Stephane from Paris , who was in Bologna for the book fair, he is a good skier, very natural, we had some lovely meals, beers on the balcony, bombadino's in the rifugio's .
The boys are doing ok at school, Hunter is improving, and tries hard, though he can be slow, but he worries about everything, Ewan does well, hates homework, rush's through it, and does not really care what happens. But he is very good with electronic things, much as that is not me, l would prefer him to do more of his drawings which he is so good at.
The street (Via Cesare Battisti) is still closed since last June from the fire in the palazzo next door. But there are signs as they put scaffolding around it that they may open the road, but we have been fooled in to this thought before, and you wonder why Italy is were it is, imagine a road in the CBD of melb being closed for a year!
It was Jaynes 48th birthday last week, and l was able amazingly to organize a surprise party for her here in the apartment, we had about 40 people. After sending out an email to everyone, saying please reply to me by phone, as Jayne uses the computer, l had 5 people email me back, thankfully Ewan was able to delete them before she saw. Then one person , who will remain nameless, after l especially emailed her saying please , please do not email me, she emails me back with the original email titled JAYNES SURPRISE PARTY, saying ok! ( you have to wonder).Thankfully Jayne had booked a massage that evening and was not home till 7.30, so l was able to get everyone in, the food out and prepared the daiquiris . So l sent the boys out at 7.15 to see when the car arrived home with Jayne, they sped up at 7.30, she is here!!!, so all the guests hide in the living room, with the lights out, and windows closed. I waited at the front entrance , pretending to be getting the camera to take a photo of the boys in the living room. I waited, l waited, 10 minutes passed, and l thought she must have got up the stairs by now, so l creep down, the car is not there. I go into the room which has increased by 10 degrees in temperature, and say it's a false alarm, then Jen who helps with the cooking and cleaning, says she will go down. 15 minutes later she rushes up , she is here, the same procedure occurs and l wait, and wait, finally going down again, no car!!!
So this time l tell everyone, who are starting to get tipsy from the daiquiris, that l will do the lookout, 10 minutes later she arrives, l run up, and we prepare, she gets to the stop of the stairs as l look through the security hole, and then starts talking to the neighbour, for 5 minutes, we still have 3 guests who are running late, and l am sure they will come running up the stairs soon, yapping, and Jayne will here, what to do!!
Luckily she stops talking and walks in, l act as relaxed as l can, and quickly tell her to come in and see the boys. Meanwhile in my mind l am imagining, people collapsing from the heat that is building up in the room, and the daiquiris. She enters to a dark room, surprise!
So the night went on till 2 am, when our Colombian friends and an Australian singer who lives here (Costa ) and his friend leave, a quick clean up, so it ain't too hard in the morning, as the daiquiris were quite yummy.
So now we begin to prepare for the summer break, which is 3 months long, so far we have a week in Alicante with Stephane at his holiday house, which is wonderful, 2 weeks in Puglia near Lecce with mikey and Kate Frayne, then a week in Malta in late may, 2 weeks minding Mikey Frayne's house in London. At the end of June we go to Basel, to the art fair, and Easter we intend to do a few day trips to local towns that we still have not visited, and even trips to Florence and Milan, that we have only been to once. As well as a trip to Maserati, Lamborghini and Ferrari factories, l don't know, it just sounds better than Ford, Holden and Toyota.
On the art side, l have been rather productive, as usual, and have just finished a small three part series , of three wood cuts from Cortina, and a series of large charcoal drawings titled Tower.
Next week l have a small show in my studio to show the drawings and recent sculptures.
So thats that, the boys are playing soccer still, though Ewan has a desire to possibly stop and do aths or basketball. At the moment, along with Jaynes damaged knee, Ewan has a sore ankle from basketball, Hunter a sore hip from skiing, and me a twinge in the hamstring from running, otherwise we are all well, happy and smiling.