Boys 13th Birthday

We celebrated the boys 13th birthday, paintballing. Jayne found a place where you can bring a lunch, they have tables and chairs and undercover provided. It was at Castenaso, San Lazzaro di Savena, outside Bologna. Tricky to find, and a rather wet and cold day. Most of the parents came, and so we ate and drank while the kids shot at each other, it was well set up with bunkers, and old stylt buildings and cars lying in the circuit, there where about 20 kids. The great thing was Ewan and Hunter where able to use the paintball guns l bought them in the USA, and get the air cannisters filled there, they also sold smoke bombs to the kids, which l found odd, but anything for a few euros. And so after the birthday cake and celebrations, the kids ran around lettting off the smoke bombs, some kids bought 6, with a few going home with them, god knows what the patrents thought of us.
The boys had a great time, and it was a change from the bowling, and go karting we had done the previous years.

My first thoughts of Bologna

Bologna is beautiful
It is the rossa cita, the colours on the buildings are shades of earth reds, ochres, the buildings are 3 - 4 stories high, with incredible history and detail . You walk around the city under porticos, there are miles and miles of porticos (covered walkways) some with frescoes on the vaulted ceilings and terrazzo floors. Is is perfect in a city that can rain a bit, and is very hot in summer. These make wonderful views as you look down through the arches, the other thing is often you can walk down streets and see no one, which is a reason Bologna is beautiful, it is not a busy city. the centro attico is a walled city like many Italian cities, Bologna has some of the original walls still standing, and  entrance gates on the main roads in and out of the centre. Bologna has two main towers left standing at the intersection of several roads, one of the towers appears to about to fall over, and infact l cannot understand why it does not. The main transport is buses, which go everywhere and are quick, but l am starting to tire of the excitement of them. Obviously there are scooters everywhere, and though they say watch yourself when crossing the road, l find most drivers very aware of pedestrians, maybe because l have the boys in hand. Everyone loves the boys, they love children, especially blond twins. Everyone in Bologna is very friendly and seems to want to know why we chose Bologna, and very excited to here we are from Australia, as compared to America or England. Jayne always tries to speak Italian in the shops, and they appreciate the effort, often praising her on her accent, and from that we have made many friends who offer to give us free lessons in Italian, as they are bored in an empty shop, or teach us to make pasta, or where to eat or go.
I love the BARs that are everywhere, where l get my caffe, what l am not mad about is the amount of cigarette butts thrown to the ground, and the graffiti on some wonderful old walls.
For me the best way to get around Bologna is by bike, you can ride from one side of the centro to the other in 5-10 minutes
Everyone dress's very well, and the long scarfs are the look, no matter how warm, l have become an addict to these. You have to love the effort everyone puts into their look, and every second person wears aviator style ray bans. No one wears baseball caps, and the town closes down from 1.30-3.30 which makes a great time to walk around in quite streets.
There are no green grass areas in the centro, but wonderful piazzas. They have a large park on the edge of centro called Marguarita, which is packed with people playing sports , sun baking, pic nicking , they have a trampoline area with about 12 tramps, and bouncy castles etc for litle kids
There are many Africans walking the streets trying to sell tissues, crayons etc, they are happy and friendly people, so you don't mind being stopped and chatting with them so much.
One of the best views is looking through hugh wooden open doors leading into a palazzo, with a courtyard and small garden area, it is a perfect picture, and the respite from the bustle of the brick and concrete. This is were we will be living in a month in a palazzo off a wonderful piazza , quite peaceful and visually beautiful. So this is a quick response to my first thoughts, l will try to talk more about my thoughts of Bologna, but l imagine l will always feel it is a beautiful city, with wonderful people.

Lido

Lido, an island of Venice is a long thin strip with beach on both lengths, its at the end of the vaperatto (boat bus) line 1 not far from the gardens of the biennale. Jayne and l were kindly invited to stay a night there with our friends Nicola and Carlotta. They had organized an architectural based forum at the Excelsior Hotel for 350 people, it was quite an event over three days, lots of discussions, one on one meetings and main forums each night. Now we only came for a night and spent sometime around the pool and walking on the beach, but that evening there were drinks in which we met some incredible people, Alex, the dean of architecture at the Royal Academy of Art, Nadir from a very clever company called Transsolar, that used natural heat/cool in commercial and residential use, Riccardo who is the chief designer at Nicola, Carlotta's magazine "The Plan, and a good friend of theirs, Carlo who works in the building industry. We visited the Chinese and Russian pavilions, and the architectural biennale, which opens this week.
Ilse and Swen our Belgium friends were also there, sadly they leave soon to China, but it was great to have sometime with them quietly, and in Venice before they go.
That night we had a lovely dinner in the hotel with some of these people and others from all around the world, all who had come to be part of the forum.
Lido is a brilliant place to stay in Venice, as it is quite and yet close by, and a great place to escape at the end of the day the maddening crown of Venice, the nice thing about the Excelsior is that it has its own boat that shuttles to San Marco, and it is very stylish, l felt rather important in it! On the beach in front of the hotel is a long beach with incredible canvas huts that you rent for the day (200 euro), these huts have deck chairs, lounge beds and changing areas, a home away from home, and they are perfectly positioned along the beach with bougainvillea growing around them. The beach itself faces onto the adriatic, and so is not the best, no surf, the water is clean but not always clear, and the sand is more like silt, but we know that, and the view and the surroundings  compensate for that.
The following day we went to Venice to see the pavilions, and ended up with Riccardo and Carlo, at Harry's having bellini's, and then to Fortuna Museum to see a Dora Marr exhibition and some others. Later in the day we drove back with Carlo, having a great conversation.
Both Carlotta and Carlo have been most helpful in helping us get the boys into a local italian school , called Malpighi.

On the hotel boat, feeling great

Jayne celebrating having time away

Beach infront of hotel, note the beach box's

DAY TO DAY STUFF IN BOLOGNA - BY JAYNE

As the school year draws to a close, at the International School we get an extra two weeks of school, as Italian school finished earlier and all the italian kids are off to the many campi estivi ( summer camps ).
We will be starting a new phase in our sojourn in Italy, not a sojourn for the ragazzi though, they will start at the Italian school ' Malpighi ' in September, so they are busy with their tutor Nicola twice a week, Poverini!!
We will miss some aspects of the Bubble, oh, I mean the International school. We have met some great people there, in the early days of being here and trying to figure things out without many language skills it was easy being surrounded by english speakers.
Now after three years its finally time to fly the coop. We are ready for the next challenge.
Not sure if the boys are though, Ewan has been rather grumpy of late, and the playstation is foremost in his thoughts as an escape I presume.
Although he does now have very straight and perfect teeth after his braces have just been removed by our wonderful italian orthodontist Christina, like all good dentists she likes a chat, the fortunate thing is she chats to me and Im not in the chair, about where we are going and where we should go on our travels.
This school year Ewan was lucky to have a wonderful piano teacher, Nora from Portland, Oregon who came here with her family, Liz, Alex and Sophie on sabbatical. She is now going back to the US, we will miss her a lot, she became a wonderful friend, Ill miss our cups of tea and chats about music and her events of the day writing her book on Medieval music and Boccaccio,  prior to Ewans lesson.
Also Ilse and Sven from Belgium, who we came to know over the year are off to Shanghai. We wish they weren't leaving. We will miss them too and Ilse's laugh.
I suppose that is the life at the International School, people come and people go, we have met another great couple Gina and Stefan, so will enjoy them whilst they too are here.
Luckily for the boys their classmates in the boy dept are all Italian and they will remain in Bologna so they will hopefully catch up with the three boys in their class Michelangelo, Gianandrea e Matteo.
The new school they will have 100 kids in their year so potentially lots of friends to choose from.
Hunter has really got into world Cup soccer fever and has been up most nights to all hours watching, along with us after two 230am nights on the weekend. He went to Michelangelo's for a sleeepover with Ewan to watch Italy and England, Ully, Mickeys mum told me Hunter was the only one who would'nt wear the italian jersey, I think he was still upset after Australia lost the other night to Chile.

The joys of the bureaucracy of Italy we have been waiting nearly two months for our Permesso di Soggiorno, which is our permission card to stay in the country, I normally would'nt stress over these matters, but apparently you can't travel in Europe without it, and we plan on doing a lot of plane travel in the holidays, hence my concern if it interferes with flitting around the place.
There are now local police at the Questura, and I thought it seemed more efficient when we went to do our paperwork and fingerprints, no stupid questions like Residenza Elettiva? , non ho capito!!!I think they seem to think why on earth would you elect to come here voluntarily, siete Matti!!
As they say, all good things take time, not excluding the permesso, we need it to stay in this wonderful country despite its bureaucracy.
Well the skies are a bit grey today with rain and humidity, it has put a dent in my trips to the tennis club now the pool is open its very relaxing by the pool with the cicadas and loving my sessions with my trainer Fiorenza who is helping me to get my knee stronger after my skiing accident in January. Still can't run for a bus though, luckily I don't take the bus.
Art Class has wound up for the year with a morning of 'plein air' drawing at the Lido di Casalecchio now dont get excited the Lido is not what you think, it was lovely in the shade drawing a structure on the riverbank but its basically a park with people bringing along their banana lounges to sunbake along a murky river, bit strange.... I remember when I first started going to art classes with Antonio two years ago as an excuse to improve my italian, as I am no artist.  I bought along some friends from the International School and it started a group of us that has expanded and now English seems to be the flavour down our end of the studio. I do love this morning with cups of tea and cake and Cookies that the die hard Italian Signora's have baked, that have been frequenting for years.
My last picture was of a sculpture at Certosa Cemetery, I think this was a dark period in my life just after my skiing accident, will now move on to brighter things after the holidays with new inspiration after we will have visited Basel, Puglia, Spain, Paris and London.

 

 

The time has come to say goodbye

Hello, its the 18th December 2015, and we have had all our belongings packed and placed in to a container bound for Melbourne. The boys and l are all sleeeping in the one room, out of unity not space. The past week we have had meals and drinks with many of our new friends, as the farewells and thanks continue.
I had a last show at the studio, we had a wonderful and heart felt dinner with Catarina and Katja Lytting  at their apartment, farewells all around, most emotional.
My studio work is packed and sent as well, though l am keeping the studio, and now it has a set of bunks and wardrobes in it, as well as most of my art materials.
We have given and sold items we decided not to return with, l am left with  two kids bikes and a Casio keyboard, and the work desk l am writing this from.
Hunter and Ewan have had mixed and confused thoughts in the past month, as they have made great friends in the past 4.5 years, and though they are excited to go back to Australia, they will miss their friends, and are l guess nervous of the new school (Melb Grammar). Ewan in particular has been rather angry and quite, while Hunter has been more reminiscent .
We will miss many things, the gelato, coffee, food, walks around the town, visits to other cities like Venice, and Rome, as well as other countries. We will miss the culture and churches, the history that lies everywhere.
We left a country property and moved to a small city in Italy, and now have become quite content with the crowds and hustle. We will not miss the difficulties with beaucracy here, or the smoke, as well as the molte importante! people.
But we will return, and return often, as it is important to Jayne and l that the boys continue their Italian, and remember the culture and diversity here. As well as going skiing in the Dolomites.
We will miss our friends like Holly, Steve and their kids, Kate and Mike and their kids in England, Gitte in Denmark, Stefan in Paris, along with all the Italian friends and other expats here in Bologna.
Sadly Jayne had to return to Australia a week ago, as her sister Robyn was very ill with the cancer she has fought over the past 3 years, and so Jayne was not able to have the farewells we have experienced. But she is very clear about returning, and returning soon to say those farewells!
So in this time Jayne has began singing again, the boys speak and read Italian very well, and l have opened my world of art even further.
We have a taste of Europe and we love it, and l feel it will be a big part of all our lives in the future.

Thanks and goodbye

Milan

So last week Jayne and l went to Milan for the night to see Cecilia Bartoli at La Scala , we drove there in the morning arriving at 12 at the hotel, as we arrived Jayne got a text, saying the concert was cancelled due to  (Cecilia) having a bad cold!
So what to do, well we found out that the orchestra where going to still perform, and we could go and listen to them for free, and so get our money back on the tickets, not all lost. As the concert was at La Scala, and as it happened we had great seats in the front of a box, they played the baroque music for an hour or so, and it was great to see La Scala.
On the first day of our arrival we went around to a few furniture stores to see what they had, and l must say Italian furniture is the best. There are some amazing clothing strips amongst the fine restaurants and bars.
Milan has never interested me, l have been there twice before, and l found it always boring and routine and very busy. This time as l was not here for just the day , l found it much like Melbourne, good restaurants of an international flavour, well dressed people, and though most of Italy is, they have a more stylish and self confident feeling, as Bolognese  are  more like sheep. It rained a bit, and the traffic leaving was terrible. Maybe the size is similiar in some respects and of course they have the trams. But you  notice the difference once you return to Bologna which is much more provincial .
That night we saw the concert and had a very late desert and drink on the way home, after a small snack before the show, which cost a fortune. The next day we had tickets booked to see The Last Supper, and it was wonderful to see and not a disappointment. We got the tickets for 8.50 each, and that gets you entry only. Most sites tell you you have to go on a tour for 2 hours and it costs 40 euro, we saw it in a window time of 15 minutes, which everyone is only allowed, and that was plenty. So unless you want a tour of the church and surrounds , pay the 8.50.
The church Santa Maria delle Grazie, which houses the picture is well worth seeing, and in the courtyard area there is some information on the picture and history. At one point the room where the picture is  was used as a fire station and another time,stables, and of course some genius decided to place a door entrance below it, cutting into the picture. But it looks very good, and on the opposite back wall is another picture painted in the fresco manner, unlike Da Vinci painting his with oil based paint. And though the other is a fine picture, in particular for its size, it looks flat and soso compared to Da Vinci's.
After that we had a great meal at Eataly, and travelled around either by foot or subway, which is well organized and easy, much like Melbourne circle line.
We left late afternoon, and it took nearly an hour to get out of Milan by car, something l gather is very similiar to Melbourne now. Maybe we should go back to Milan before we leave to acclimatise ourselves. Apparentaly Melbourne, Milan and also Boston are sister cities, and that makes sense!!
The boys were looked after by Caterina, who they get along with very well, though Hunty is not sure about her cooking, especially making ice-cream!, and apparently putting mayonaisse in lasagna.
Otherwise lately we have been slowly preparing to leave,  Jayne has been talking to the removalist groups, and its hard to get a definate answer on things, we are going to get a 20 foot container, and so now we are getting rid, selling, gifting items that we have accumulated over the past 4-5 years.
I feel l am unconsciencely preparing myself for the move, and am slowly now looking forward to going in some way, and want it to come quicker, being in no mans land is not comfortable. I am not doing a lot of work in the studio, l have a final show planned for the 28th November. And after that l pack everything up, and get it ready to be sent back. The following week we go to London for a week, and so that leaves little time to get things done.
We had a lovely meal at Dino and Christina's house on the weekend, and they gave us a incredible terra cotta staue scene of christmas in the religious sense. Most kind, and somehting we will always remember them by. The following day we had lunch in the hills near a town called Brento, Monzuno with Florence and Antonio and their two children, Lucia, Elisabetta. We first went for an hour walk in the hills along a goat track, that actually many people walk along, and that created a huge hunger , for the restaurant (Trattoria Monte Adone) where as usual we ate well and for little.
And this may be the way it is from now on, as we say good bye to our friends.
Hunter and Ewan are doing fine at school though Ewan is aware that maybe he does not have to worry about his marks. Or it may be the fact that they are turning 13 on the weekend.
I did a talk to two classes in their year last week, and today l talk to the other two classes, Today is Hunters class, and last week was Ewans, and they are supposed to help translate to the class what l talk about regarding my art. Ewan spoke very little, leaving it up to the teachers, but Hunter has been more concerned about it all and infact looked up the Italian words for some of my art language. Apparently the kids get it, though l dont think i'm brilliant at talking to kids about art.

Jayne at La Scala

Back to school

The boys began school in mid September, a long long holiday, and though there were some nerves, all went well. Well until Hunter decided to run from home and dissapear for several hours instead of going to school. He finally turned up at home, as if nothing had happened, and said it was easy to get water you just go into a bar and ask for it. So a talk to, and a follow up talk from the teachers, all rather calm. A week later he does it again, thankfully he is found an hour later by Pietro , a good friend who keeps him at his office, giving him a drink, which like the bar he got for free. So l am partly to blame for this, as the boys know that when l left Camberwell Grammar to go to Melb grammar, l ran from school the first week, with Peter Molloy chasing me down the street, this was the beginning of my successful  long distance running. Hunter has only done it twice, so he may have some up his sleeve to go. But he has settled in well, though his class is maybe not as wonderful as Ewans, to the point that nearly every kid who comes to play is in Ewans class. But Hunter is doing well in school work, and seems to enjoy school again, Ewan as always just moves along, seemingly unrattled, though the idea that Hunter does these things and gets away with it annoys him ,and he often asks the question why dont l just do what Hunter does!!
They are both playing tennis this term, in different groups, Ewan still with his older kids, hitting the ball hard, and Hunter with their friend Luca in an easier group, but Hunter seems to enjoy it.
Jayne is still singing away, though has been busy getting ready for the move, organizing removal people to quote, and l have been making wooden crates to put my paintings and sculptures in to return.
And so the count down begins with just under 2 months to go, the boys are mixed in their attitude to homework, wondering if they need to do it, especially Ewan, and we are having our farewell dinners and drinks with people . Last week we had another large party here, that Jen helped with, the usual crowd of 40 adults and 10-15 kids. Im trying to get rid of the alcohol we have before we leave.
Went to Venice last week for the day to see the Arsenale works of the Bienalle, and today Jayne and l go to Milan to see a concert of someone she likes, and then the Last Supper by Di Vinci. And these are the things l will miss, the opportunity to go to places like Venice and Milan and see such wonders so easily. That and the ease of a small town to travel about, the traffic of Melbourne will definetly annoy me, and l can see myself on a bike, hopefully the bike paths are better, as l am sure the drivers are not kind still to bikes.
We have booked to go to London to see our friends the Fraynes and Holly and Steves family in December, and l would like to see Stefan in Paris before l leave but l fear time will not let me, or visit Madrid which l still have not done,but at least l am returning in May/ June so maybe then.
And one final trip to NY to see the Fenneseys and 8 in late November.
So busy busy, the weather in Bologna lately has been delightful, though it is getting colder, and of course that means snow, so we are aiming at two weekends in the snow before we go back.