Dowd adventures in Bologna

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.

martedì 18 febbraio 2014

Sochi Olympics and other matters

Firstly, l just got back from Cortina with Hunter, we went up on thursday evening into rain and snow, not looking promising, but waking up Friday morning to pure blue sky. So we skied all day at Faloria and Castallo, collapsing early. Saturday was nearly as perfect with the weather, and we went to Cinque Torri in the first half, and Socrepes / Tofana the second, and l must say Hunters and even my skiing has improved dramatically. We don't think twice about black runs and enjoy the challenge, Hunter a bit more than me. Then on Sunday the clouds came over and l thought why bother , lets just go home early, but Hunter had other ideas , so we ended up going up to Faloria. The weather was not too bad, and we had a couple of great hours skiing, then as we went on the chairlift to the top run, the weather changed, so much the wind increased and visibility was down to 5-10 metres. As we got of the lift the wind just blew Hunter along, and l had to hurry after him, as it was hard to see, we then decided to head back to the main rifugio, we met up with some other lost skiers and we all began to feel our way along, finally coming to the run down we thought, but it was one of the black runs back to the base of the lift, so down we went, and back into the storm. This time we kept to the left, and met up with three Russian women who asked if they could follow us, l did not mention what had just happened to us. Thankfully we made it to the right run back, and 20 minutes later where on the gondolier back down, wondering why people where still coming up.
Now the Olympics in Sochi, l have been watching them, and its always great to see sports you never see for another 4 years, such as curling, luge, skeleton, x country ski/shoot. And it occurred to me that the winter may have it on the summer for unusual sports, l know the summer have greco roman wrestling, and synchronised swimming, and we love them, but the cold months must do something to our human minds, and we invent these strange sports.
Lets start with curling, the more you watch it the more you appreciate it, but also wonder why are you watching it, its like lawn bowls, but the Norwegians dress so well, their outfit(s) are the best by far in any sport, and one of their guys looks like a movie star /model. You do wonder how much good the sweeping of the brooms does, or is it just to make the sport look weird, and involve more people. Maybe they should do it with lawn bowls, and have mini mowers to prepare the surface for the ball.
Next is the skeleton, the name is perfect and right out there, and there is a select group of countries that excel in it, its great to see Latvia doing their bit. Now the skeleton like the luge ,look and l am sure are dangerous, but the group skeleton is something that was designed in a very cold place, without much to do. Firstly you have a women go down and as she finishes she sits up and hits a sign, that alerts the guy at the top to start his run, so down he goes, and he also hits the sign. And this is where it gets interesting, next down are two blokes lying on top of each other in tight lycra suits, and down they come. Now l don't know if they ever have two women come down together, or a male and a women, but it does make you wonder, why!
I do know that watching the skiing has improved my skiing, but l have not yet felt the desire to go the the toboggan runs and lye down and slide in lycra. I also would like to know what the Russian leadership thinks of this rather gay looking sport, as l don't think they got a medal in it, unlike ice dancing!
This weekend we all head up to Cortina again, as the boys get the following week off, what they call ski week!. So its 8 days of skiing, Jayne will go back with some friends on Sunday, as she is in the middle of her rehab on her knee. On that story, we have found out from apparently the best knee doctor here that we can have him operate on her, and with our public health card get the whole thing paid for, and you wonder why the country is collapsing. Jayne is not big on operations, but l feel in the end she will as, not having it will mean she wont be able to ski or run with confidence.
So l must go l have to drive Jayne to her Italian lesson, she is on only one crutch now, and next week , none, and l must say is more active and happier, and so are we all!!

mercoledì 5 febbraio 2014

Something to say, while Jayne is out of the house!

Am taking this opportunity to write while Jayne is at her rehab on her knee. Firstly today is our 14th anniversary, thanking mum for ringing me and telling me, and when l wished Jayne happy anniversary this morning, and l realised she had also forgotten, she said who told you. She knows me well!
Jayne has been bed ridden for the past 5 weeks, and though she can move about a bit now on crutches it can be painful and slow. That is not to say it has not been slow for us, but it has been painful. Jayne has mastered the use of the crutch to point, to pick up and to hit with. As l said last time you hear the Mitch, MITCH, MITCHHHH, often now, and also Ewan, EWAN, EWANNNN, but never Hunter as she knows he will never come, Hunter is smarter than we think.
So l have realised, or at least been told that l don't put the correct amount of milk in her tea, that she wants a particular amount of caffe latte, not a full glass, but not a small glass. That my eating habits are caveman like, that the boys bad habits are my fault. I don't realize the pain she is in, l don't seem to care, or do anything for her ( that she wants). I put her daily injections in too painfully, and seem to want to hurt her. I did not heat the greens up enough, and that the rice was too soggy, and did l eat the salad in the fridge! And l don't want to talk to her at 11.30pm, as l try to go to sleep, Jayne sleeps into 9am , just after the boys have gone too school ( fed, clothed and with a packed lunch)
But even with all this we made it happily along today, and she still has a lovely smile and heart, its just rather difficult to find some days.
Of course, you might say l would be worse, but l don't think so.
So last weekend we went to Cortina, to revisit the crime scene. The boys had Friday off, so we went up Thursday afternoon, it took nearly 5 hours, as it rained all the way, then turned to snow as we climbed higher, the traffic went into slow mode, even l had to pass some cars in the blizzard ( l have such faith in the winter tyres) So we arrived at the apartment , only to find it obviously well snowed over on the driveway, which is rather steep. So we park across the road in an undercover park, and Jayne is able to crutch her way across the road. This is after waiting 20 minutes in traffic, as a truck has lost itself on the one way road, and the traffic has decided to go two ways, while the policeman wonders what to do. Our park was 20 metres away, but it might have been 20 km. So anyway, Jayne makes it across the road, and then we realize its just too steep and snowy for her to walk, so somehow l create a superhuman effort in myself and piggy back her up the 80 metres to the door. It took 15 minutes for my breath to catch up. Then several trips back and forth to get the luggage, this is while Jayne points, picks and hits me with the crutch. We got take away from the pizza place below, which l thought ld never do, and it was tempting to just go there with the boys and have some time out!!
So it snowed and snowed and then snowed, the morning brought a metre of snow, which made it rather difficult to get down the road as l took as big a steps as l could with Hunty trying to follow, until we both seemed trapped in it. We made it out to the shops for supplies, then retraced our steps back. An hour later Hunter and l found some snow shovels and dug a 80 metre track through over a metre of snow. A neighbour came along, with a look of why bother, its just going to keep snowing ( he did not have a wife on crutches) but good on him, he returned with a shovel and helped dig. Over the next three days he and l kept that track like the Bridge on the River Quai. And Hunter and Ewan used it as a luge lane on some basic plastic toboggans. They also built a huge fort with tunnels and towers, ready for a fight to the death. And this was terrific, as the snow had caused all the lifts to be closed, due to avalanche.
Sadly our other friends who were coming up, were all turned back, as they closed the road early Friday morning. So we spent the weekend playing board games, making short trips outside to the shops for supplies, and the boys spending hours playing in the snow. The streets were full of lost souls, wondering, wandering what to do, and where was it all going. The roads opened on Saturday, and we left Sunday morning, as the snow became rain, washing all manner of evidence away.
Jayne began her rehab this Monday, three sessions a week ( one in the pool) They supply a bus pick up near by and drop off , which is helpful, as otherwise l would be driving out 20 minutes and then deciding to wait 2 hours or return . It seems to be a very good set up, especially for Italy, though strangely it does not have a coffee area, and the front door is rather heavy to push open, especially for people with injuries, l don't think there is a suggestion box. They are apparently the best in Italy, and have offices in several places, but have just opened one in London, which l imagine would be a bit better designed. As Italians might wave their arms about, but few complain, as the people with white coats are doctors and know best. I have to get myself one of these white coats, it definitely holds power, though l don't think enough to open doors, especially at the clinic!
Hunter and Ewan got their half year reports, which seem very good, most importantly a huge improvement, of course room for improvement. This year has been a big jump for them, and they seem to have handled it well. Ewan is very keen on technological devices, which is not my favourite thing, and seems to feel at 11 he should have an iphone, or ipod or i something, l remind him that ( i ) am the only one who gets those things now. Italian and sport are the two areas they don't enjoy, and knowing the boys that seems strange as they love sport, but the teachers are not their favourites, they both are Spanish, but l don't think its that!
Hunter got a yellow card, which is a new thing they have bought into the school, and his sport teacher gave it to him. Hunter suggested it was like getting a Nerf gun, you want to use it straight away, and he thinks the teachers are doing that with yellow cards, and l think he may be onto something.
When his teacher asked him what his parents thought of him getting a yellow card, his friend nudged him and said , say what your father said, thankfully Hunter said what he was meant to say "they were disappointed with me" not "don't worry, that guy is a dick-head"
So l will go now, as l must make sure the house and kitchen are perfect before Jayne returns, otherwise it's a whack with the crutch.