Venice – Feeling more relaxed

We are now very relaxed in Venice, having recovered from our chaotic arrival and one of the nicest things is lying in our room listened to the noises from the canal. Right below our window we have two canals which meet at a right angle and there are two bridges. As the gondoliers come to the corner they call out ‘Hoy’ to alert anyone coming the other way. The water traffic is very busy with deliveries starting about 8.00am and we have even seen the garbage being collected. They have special machinery for each of these tasks, and watching them deliver a couch to a 3rd floor apartment is very interesting. The only problem is that it is not so restful because we are always jumping up to see what is happening down below.
Yesterday there was a huge splash and we jumped up to see that a man had fallen into the canal. A passing gondolier grabbed him and got him to the steps and some time later the ambulance arrived, by water of course. He was okay, but it was exciting at the time.

We have had 3 days of intense heat and humidity and today we have had thunder, lightning and very heavy rain. We went to the Rialto Market (been going since 1320) for a look and got back just before the downpour, but Sarah, Leo, Ben and Mary came in 20 minutes later all saturated to the skin. Leo thought it was great fun. The level in the canal has risen by about 1 ft. ( that doesn’t mean we have has a foot of rain!) It is lovely outside at present because that fiercesome humidity has dropped.

This trip has also more relaxing because Barry and I are not doing the tourist thing. Last time we visited the Doge’s Palace, St. Mark’s, went up the Campanile, and to some of the galleries, so this time we are enjoying the street, squares, buildings,canal life and the occasional market. It is quite simply too much of a hassle competing with all those thousands of people and there is so much to see away from the main sights. We enjoy going for a walk and discovering a lovely square and then having a drink and just people watching. Another thing we love is the sound of the church bells chiming on the hour. There are so many churches around us, but they all start chiming at different times so it can go on for a while.

Yesterday we went to Murano. We finished up buying a €16.00 ticket for 12 hours because the next cheapest ticket was €6.50 for 1 hour and it would be impossible to do Murano and back again in 1 hour even though it is only a 10 minute ferry ride. The Venetians really do a rort on the tourists and seem to have an attitude of like it or lump it. Anyway we enjoyed Murano and noticed that now, many of the pieces of glass are very creative works of art and the glassblowers have international reputations. People buy pieces purely for display (if you can afford them) more than for their practical use. We went on to Burano to see the pretty coloured houses, and later that day Barry and I travelled to the end of the Grand Canal and back again, to get maximum use from our ticket. The buildings are still as beautiful as ever, in fact some of them are better because they have been restored.

This has been a great city in which to finish our trip. It has been exciting, vibrant and lively, but it has also been possible to get away from the crowd and find our own little peaceful spot to watch the world go by. Sarah has organized a water taxi to take us all the way to the airport, and we don’t care how much it costs!!

Venice - beautiful but not in August

Can someone please remind me why I decided to come to Venice in August? Not a good idea! It is almost standing room only here and the 35 degree heat doesn’t help. Getting from the train station to our hotel was nothing short of harrowing. It was so busy with travellers pulling bags, criss crossing each other in the terminal trying to get from one place to another that we were frightened of losing Benji. We all had our hands full with our luggage so he just had to hang on and stay with us. Even Leo had his own Beetle bag to pull along. Outside was even busier because we were at a vaporetto station as well. Sarah’s case broke on the handle as she was dragging and bumping it down the stairs so that added to her problems, along with her headache.

Sarah inquired about getting a water taxi to our hotel but they wanted €80 for a 10 minute trip, so we decided on the vaporetto with the 5 min walk at the other end. The vaporetto pulled in, absolutely chockablock with passengers. Many got off but we could barely squeeze on with our luggage. We then found out we were going the wrong way and had to get off at the next stop and catch a No 1 or 2 vaporetto back the other way. Rialto was our stop and we scrambled ashore and counted everything and everyone. Yes we still had Benji! Next thing was to find the Santa Maria Formosa Hotel. We didn’t even know if we were on the right side of the canal! Sarah used her I-phone as a GPS and it marked out a route for us the follow. Well we went along streets, down lanes, into squares, around corners and up and down the Venice bridges which have about 8 steps up and then 8 steps down. They might look pretty but are a curse when you are dragging a heavy suitcase and feel like a grease spot because of the heat. What a motly group we must have looked – Sarah leading the way with her suitcase banging into her legs, Benji handing onto a shirt tail and crying to be carried, Leo doing the best of all of us, Mary, the Sri Lankan Nanny with one bad hip struggling with her case and Barry with 2 bad hips trying to help her and manage his case as well, and me bringing up the rear because my knee was killing me when I had to walk up and down the stairs. We got lost a couple of times and after 20 minutes I said ‘This is it Sarah. I am not moving from here until you know where the hotel is. Leave your luggage with me and you go on and find it and come back.’ This worked, and she returned in about 10 minutes to say she had found it. We followed her to the hotel and it was such a relief to walk in the door and know we had arrived. We checked in and then Mt Everest appeared before us – 2 flights of narrow stairs (35 in total) up to our room. I just didn’t think I could make it! Fortunately the man at reception carried my case for me and when he opened the door and I saw the bed I just collapsed on it and asked if we could drink the water from the tap.

We are close to Santa Maria Formosa Square which is about 5 mins walk from St Mark’s Square (San Marco) and it is a lively area with gondolas and water taxies going past all the time. Our rooms look right onto the canal, so it is pretty good.

Next morning we walked to San Marco. It was fairly warm by 10.30 am but most of the streets were narrow and the sun could not reach us. The shops were wonderful, especially the ones with masks and fancy dress costumes for the balls. The gondolas were out in full force and most gondoliers still wear the traditional navy and white striped shirt and the straw boater, but we saw many who didn’t. The cost for a ride is exhorbitant. It has always been expensive but now it is €100 ($130) for 45 minutes and extra if you want a singing gondolier.

One loses direction very quickly once in the narrow streets and laneways and even with the aid of map we didn’t really know where we were. We tended to be guided by which way the majority of people were walking. The noise was another guiding factor and soon we found ourselves in a street about 8 feet wide almost unable to move because of the number of people. We were packed in like sardines and it was not possible to pass someone. We were literally shoulder to shoulder. Not surprisingly this street led right into San Marco, and what a sight that was when we came out into it. I barely recognized it because there was so much scaffolding. It seems that everything is getting an overhaul. The church was shrouded on the left side and the campanile was encircled by scaffolding. You could not even see the centre of the square. Added to that was the milling mob of people. I am not talking about a small crowd either. This was a dense crowd like people waiting to get into a Grand Final. There was a very long line of people waiting to go into the church (150 mts and 4 people wide) a line for the Doge’s Palace (100 mts) and a line for the tower (30 mts.) Added to that were the many, many Tour Groups led by guides holding up flags. The sun was beating down here and there was nowhere to sit, unless you paid to sit at a table. Not surprisingly there were hundreds of vacant chairs because they charge about $12 for a small can of coke!

From this post you will be thinking that I hate Venice, but not so. It really is a wonderful city to visit but just don’t come here in August. I am sure my next post will be much more enthusiastic.

Bologna A Medieval treat

Bologna is a special city but surprisingly it is not a magnet for tourists. It is hard to understand why when you walk around its beautiful streets and visit its piazzas and churches. It had a population of several thousand people in 88 BC when the Romans conquered it and then they set up their city which grew to be one of the biggest and most important cities in the Empire. Due to this Roman heritage, the central streets of Bologna, are largely pedestrianized, and follow the grid pattern of the Roman settlement. We are staying in a small hotel in this very old part of Bologna and this morning when we stepped out of the door it was like stepping back into ancient times with all market stalls opening up around us on these picturesque old streets which still have their original Roman names. Our street name is Via Drapperie which was the Street of the upholsterers.

The elegant and extensive arcades (or porticos), for which the city is famous enrich the city even further. There are almost 40 kms of these arcades which are great for keeping out of the sun, rain or wind. It seems strangely quiet without the noise of cars. There are buses along a couple of larger streets but they are very quiet buses, and it is the motor bikes that disturb the peace. The Piazza Maggiore is the main square and it is surrounded on all sides by buildings from the 1300’s. It is wonderfully atmospheric and sitting in the square ‘people watching’ is a great way to discover what the city is all about. You have to absorb it. Oddly it is a city of personal discovery. You just have to walk and discover things for yourself, and that had been the fun part of visiting this city for us. Every street offers something new.

Bologna is known as the ‘food capital’ of Italy, so we have been making the most of that, visiting some great restaurants but also just browsing in delicatessan shops filled with towering stacks of salamis, parmesans and pastas, and bakeries with about 200 varieties of bread, rolls and biscuits.

Today Sarah climbed up the ancient Anselli Tower with the two children. It was built in 1109, is 98 metres high and these days has a 1.3 metre lean. There are 498 steps and is like going up one of M.C.Escher's staircases as the stairs go around and up in a square. Not for us oldies though! Leo bounded out laughing, and Sarah staggered out 5 minutes later. Oh to have Leo’s young legs!

Monet and Degas

Whilst staying Menaggio, Sarah and I decided to have a painting class with an artist in the Post Imressionist style.We were going to learn the secrets! His classes were in Lenno, so we took the ferry and noticed this rusty red castle at the end of the inlet. It was beautiful and we commented about how posh it would be to have our lesson there. We left the ferry and started walking and eventually passed the castle and turned up a street next to it and found the address. Lo and behold we were at the back entrace of the castle. Oh we must be going to be in a studio up the back somewhere! Our artist friend came down to the gate and let us in and took us into the castle, through his gallery and out on to the terrace facing the lake. Three easels were set up there with oil paints on a palette below. Wow!! This was fantastic and quite literally hard to believe,

He teaching method was to talk about what we were going to do, then he would do it on his canvas and we would try and do the same on our canvas. If we were getting way off track he would come and save us, otherwise we would continue with the next step. It was great fun and both of us took to it easily. Mixing the colours was the hardest part, but he really got us to understand the tones of what we were looking at and how to put it on the canvas. When you look at the tree, don' see a tree, he said, see shades of light and dark (through squinted eyes). When he stressed that how we saw light was more important than being skilful perfect I felt a sense of relief, not that I am sure I can see light properly, but at least it gave me a chance.

He said the steps were line, underpainting, line, and top painting . We sketched roughly in charcoal the scene in front of us which was small promontory with high mountains at the back and the lake in front. We then had to ‘scumble’ which was to fill in areas getting the tone right. This had to be done with a ‘dry’ brush. Mixing the colours was the hardest part. I was constantly making them too dark, and he had to wipe off some of it and take me back to the right tone. It was better to wipe it off than to try to fix it.

Next step was back to line again, but this time with paint. Not in a perfect way but in a broad sense. He kept talking about not making a commitment. Finally came the step of applying the top coat of paint, and this was a real surprise because it was always in dabs leaving the undercoat to show through, using both vertical and horizontal strokes and even a ‘calligraphy finish’. Once again, getting the colour right was the most difficult part. Close up I thought my work looked dreadful, but from 8 feet away it looked quite reasonable. We continued working away and he gave both of us a helping hand to finish it off, and when he suddenly appeared later with our work in gold frames we were both astonished. We looked quite professional, so we scratched our names in the corner with a palette knife and stood back and admired what we had achieved. I couldn’t believe my first attempt at oils (since school days) could have worked out so well.

We arrived back home with our masterpieces to cries of 'Well Monet and Degas, let's see your work!' They too were very impressed or I could even say surprised with our first efforts. This has been one of the best things I have done on the holiday. To have a lesson with someone like him was so fortunate. He can trace his teachers back to both Monet and Degas. The post impressionism style is great for Europe but I am not sure it would work so well in Australia where we have more direct, intense light. I do hope I can build on this lesson after I get back home and produce something that is really mine.

Lake Como – Picture Perfect.

As we skirted Como, and caught our first glimpse of the lake it took us all by surprise. It was so beautiful it appeared to be a scene from a calendar. The mountains were high, craggy and blue and the tiny villages nestling around the edge of the lake were shades of red and ochre. Yachts and ferries were plying back and forth. A narrow road winds around the lake and traffic moves very slowly, and in fact often comes to a standstill when large vehicles have to squeeze past each other. The buildings are right at the edge of the road on both sides, so finding a place where two buses can pass each other requires some backing up and manipulation. We spent 30 minutes waiting but no one was complaining too loudly because the view was superb.

We are staying in Menaggio (Men-aHHHH-jee-o) which is about half way along on the left hand side of the lake. Actually finding the house was a bit of a drama, but it is a great house only 4 minutes walk to the main square. Menaggio appears to be the only lakeside town with a square as most just come to the waters’ edge. The piazza is open, on one side to the lake and connected on the other side by a narrow road to the rest of town. It is surrounded by restaurants and cafes as well as small shops and has a very relaxing feel to it. We just love sitting there and watching the passing parade.

It is a relief to leave the car in the garage and go everywhere by ferry. This is the definitive Lake Como experience. Boats and ferried criss-cross the lake in every direction to every little town, and so far we have visited Bellagio and Varenna. Bellagio is called ‘the pearl of the lake’ because it looks so pretty from the water and has cobbled alleyways filled with boutique shops selling up market bags, shoes, jewellery etc. We thought it was pretty but oh so crowded. Varenna was a different story and we fell in love with it. It is below a sheer rock face and has a long, shaded lakeside promenade, and a calmer, more peaceful atmosphere. Having lunch at a table beside the water will be a nostalgic memory.

Lake Como is home to some extraordinary lakefront villas which have been there since the 1500’s being improved with each new owner, or else turned into exotic hotels or conference centres. George Clooney has a place somewhere we believe. One that we visited was Villa Monasterio which was a former monastery in 1208. It was sold in 1569 and the Mornico family built a villa. The gardens are exquisite. They are terraced and planted with beautiful trees, very large and some sub tropical. There is a waterfront loggia and a Moorish pavilion , and a few Roman columns lying around, which we knew were original. The way these gardens have been designed, and the ingenuity required to blend with the natural surroundings is what taste is all about. They have reached a level of perfection that the whole world envies.

The Gorge du Verdon - Deep into Provence

The Gorge du Verdon is considered to be the Grand Canyon of Europe and gets the full 5 star rating from Barry, Sarah and myself. It is a beautiful canyon that has been carved by the Verdon River, leaving a turquoise river flowing at the base of high limestone cliffs. It is about 21 km long and the cliffs can be as high as 300 mts yet the gorge can be only 6 mts wide in places. It was very spectacular and I felt I had not seen such natural beauty since being in South America.

It was about a one hour drive from our house through some pretty villages. We came across one having a market, so stopped for a better look . Not a bad market for the size of the village either, all set out under the plain trees, with food, produce, flowers, fish, clothing and crafts. There was a large stone church with a steeple and a few narrow roads making up the vieux ville. We wandered for 30 minutes and then sat down in the square for a coffee. Sarah had gone on to buy some strawberries so suggested I order the coffees ‘ trios cafes crème’. It didn’t sound too difficult. Barry said he would like a ‘grande’ so I said 3 café crème, one grande which she understood and 2 ‘moyen’(middle size). So what did we get – 6 cups of coffee – 2 grande, 3 medium and 1 short black. WHAT!!!!! What a misunderstanding. Anyway the waitress was not taking any of the blame, telling me in no uncertain terms that that is what I had ordered. Not an attitude we have encountered before.

We continued the drive around the hairpin bends and into the gorge area and came to the Bridge Artuby which is high above the canyon. I was surprised not to see a few people trying to bungee jump, as it looked like just the place for it. Further on, we came to the most stunning of all views where there appeared to be a wall of limestone with the river snaking around it and then flowing into a huge turquoise lake. We could make out white flecks on the water way down below, which we realised were pedalos or canoes. It was literally breath-taking. Behind us were some very high craggy peaks. This is the spot where Sarah chose for us to have the strawberries and we were wishing we could be washing them down with a bottle of rose as well. Stunning place!