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Surprise!

| Mairead

Yesterday we went to the Modern Art Gallery in Florence. You would thing there was a theme here because we also went to see modern art in Venice. There was a difference between the two… in Venice the artists were still alive, in Florence modern art is art from the 1800’s and 1900’s! There was one room dedicated to a still living artist….

30 06a

(The palace)

It was housed in a former palace of the Medici family making it a lovely setting and there were very few visitors, so that was great. The Medici were big in Florence, they started the banking system and they supported the arts, in particular Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Botticelli. It seems their best only lasted for a hundred years but they filled a lot of good stuff into that time!

30 06c

(The sun shining through a window onto the tiles at the palace)

After the art we wandered towards the Ponte Vecchio and the Duomo, we were going to see a concert at 5pm. It was hot and we thought it might be a good time to indulge in ice cream, so we stopped at the first ice cream shop. I ordered a big scoop in one of those fancy cones and Denis followed suit with a different flavour,  and then he asked “How much?” The guy behind the counter said “Ten euro.” Denis, thinking the language barrier had gone up, asked again, (with a slight incredulous tone) “How much?” It was still ten euro….

30 06b

(Pretty and ordinary in Florence)

Unfortunately, (or possibly fortunately…) I was licking my cone (I didn’t want it dripping, did I? It was yummy) so there was no way out except to pay. It’s a reminder: You are responsible! At no point between the thought “ice creme would be lovely” and the licking of said ice cream, did either of us ask “how much is the ice cream?” We didn’t care enough to ask! We wanted the ice cream! Once the terrible truth is out (we just spent €10 on ice cream!) there’s a tendency to blame everyone else for our lack of responsibility. But there’s no one to blame… well, except us! So eventually we forgave ourselves and ate the ice cream and it was still yummy….

30 06d

(Look, there’s Kieran, singing! In a nice white shirt)

Then we went to the concert. My nephew (and god child) Kieran was doing a short concert tour of Italy with his school and last night they were in Florence. I had got that much information months ago but as we are much slower at planning than my brother’s family (or indeed my brother’s family’s school!) I didn’t know if we would be here on the particular night. Now we were and I thought it might be a nice surprise to turn up and say “Hi!” We found the church where they would be performing yesterday, it was in a little street next to the Duomo and last night we arrived just in time and took our seats. I spotted Kieran in the front and as I didn’t want to put him off his performance I sat quietly in my seat…. until the second last item on the program, the string quintet.

30 06e

(On the way home Denis spotted some flying creatures and an opportunity for photography. I spotted an opportunity for biting creatures and left him to it )

Kieran had given up his seat earlier for extra audience members who, hearing the music, were coming in from the street and he was sitting on the floor right beside our pew. So I leaned forward and caught his eye. At first he had that look that any teenager who is eyeballed in church by an adult gets, “oops I must be doing something wrong” (he wasn’t!) Then his eyes opened wide and he looked very confused and finally he started smiling and waving. They were off to their hotel on a ninety minute bus ride after the concert so only enough time to hug and kiss and tell him how we found him. Then we told his parents, by email, how well-behaved he was and how clean he looked!

30 06f

(The Ponte Vecchio at night)

The little things, Mairead.

Wide awake is a strange place.

| Mairead

It’s five past much too early as I write, on a Saturday morning in a studio flat near the Via Sienese on the edge of Florence. It is hard for me to believe that last statement, the bit about being in Florence. I feel no different than usual. I feel no huge Italian influence. At this early hour I don’t feel the heat. I see familiar things around me. I am drinking water. So why did I travel for days on the back of a motorbike to be here if I feel just the same as being at home?

29 06a

(Ponte Vecchio, the only bridge in Florence not bombed during World War II)

But of course it’s not the same. If I open the door onto the garden I can see the soil is dry and cracking from the constant heat and lack of rain. If I pick up one of our host’s books I can see they are written in Italian, even if the cover is familiar, the contents are completely indecipherable. If I open the fridge there are strange foods in there, in the cupboard also. And especially under the sink, the things in there may contain warning labels but how would I know? Even the tap in the kitchen sink has an extra colour… red for hot, blue for cold and white for…

29 06e

(The huge Duomo)

And even though at this particular moment sitting on an (almost) normal chair, typing on my own laptop and drinking ordinary water (from the white section of the tap…) I don’t feel different…. But for every moment that I am here in a country I did not grow up in, I am awakened by differences all around me. And being awakened is probably a good thing.

29 06c

(Jugs for sale)

Most of my life I spend asleep…. and I’m not talking about the time I’m asleep in bed. For example, I go to the shop, I  walk to the third aisle, I pick up some toilet paper, I scan for the shortest checkout, I pull out some cash from my purse, I hand it over, I smile/don’t smile, I say something pleasant/unpleasant about the weather/government/price of cabbage, I walk out, I notice very little…. unless they moved the toilet rolls.

29 06d

(A braille map of Florence)

Here in Italy I stop every time on the threshold of a shop and wake up. I think “is it still day or is it evening?” and search in my memory for the words “Buongiorno” (good day) or “Buonasera” (good evening), because here in this unfamiliar place everyone greets each other when they walk into a shop. I stop in front of the shelves full of unfamiliar packages and search for clues as to what might be inside. If I’m lucky and know what I want, I search for a match between my want and each package in front of me. I am awake because they have moved and repackaged everything….

29 06f

(Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo)

As I walk along the street I am noticing shop windows, footpath edges, scooter sounds, bicycle sounds, pedestrian sounds, I see crossing stripes. I look right then left and then with a jolt I remember I must look left first. Wake up! The traffic closest to me will come from the left…. unless this is a one way street… I’m awake now.

29 06g

(The reason Piazzale Michelangelo got its name – a copy of Michelangelo’s David)

And while I’m awake I notice what’s going on right here and I can bring a little bit back home with me for when the rain falls and I am asleep again, Mairead.

Day trip to Siena.

| Mairead

We had an early timed visit to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence yesterday so no opportunity to blog about our wonderful day in Siena…. unit now.

2806a

(The Pizza del Campo, the low stone pillars in the background (in front of the buildings) mark the edge of a race track)

We were meeting Bill and Christie (thank you Kate! thank you Bill and Christie!) who have been travelling over to Siena from Vermont every second summer to lecture for the past ten years. So they know Siena… Bill had kindly agreed to meet us at the bus stop, have a coffee and tell us a little about Siena and indeed Florence. Denis had met Bill about ten years ago but his memory is not as good as it used to be (!) so he couldn’t recall Bill’s face. He told me this on the bus as it was pulling into the station. But all was not lost, in spite of his memory issues, his google searching skills are excellent and within thirty seconds we had a picture of Bill on the phone and through the bus window!

28 06g

(Denis and Bill considering one of the most photographed views in Siena…)

28 06h

(… and that view)

We followed Bill around for the next two hours getting a very personal tour of the city (they had only arrived the previous day and Christie was unpacking and would join us for lunch). As luck would have it the Palio would be held on next Monday so we were there in time to see the preparations and we had Bill to explain it all to us.

28 06b

(The clay)

The Palio is a horse race around the square in Siena. In the previous week the track is laid with local clay (clay kept each year for this purpose) we saw and walked on this clay. The race has been continuously in existence since the 1500’s. The jockeys ride bare back, as they always have, around a narrow course, cheered on by their particular city ward. They race three circuits of the square. I got the picture below from Wikipedia to show an action shot of the race.

Palio di Siena 2008 2

(The Palio in progress. No saddle. The white surface on the left beside the horses foot is a mattress! The mattresses are tied to walls of the small chapel at the narrowest part of the course so that the horses and jockeys don’t hit it. Also, you can see the clay being thrown up by the horse’s feet. The jockeys colours correspond to the city ward for which he rides. In this picture the race track looks wider than it is!)

28 06j

(Entrance to one of the horse houses and….)

28 06i

(Denis got a shot of a package being delivered to the horse house – it was hay and it says Hypposan…. for your horse to dream…)

Only ten city  wards get to compete and the lucky ones are picked out of a lottery. The horses and riders are matched with a ward by lottery the day before the race and there is a special horse house (not stable!) in each city ward, where the jockey and horse must stay locked in until the race!

28 06d

(The snail fountain)

Even though the race (the first one, there’s second one in August) would not by held until next week the preparations were well underway. Bill brought us to four different wards to see the details. We went to the snail, the eagle, the panther and the tortoise. I suppose it’s a bit like following GAA in Ireland the city wards would be the counties and your allegiance would be to the county you were born in. What’s extra for the Palio is that babies and sometimes adults are baptised at the water fountain of their ward.

28 06f

(The tortoise fountain… are they the Wicklow colours or the Tipperary colours? You might be able to see a small snail at the feet of the tortoise?)

Bill and Christie showed us and told us so much and made our visit to Siena very memorable and highly enjoyable. And a bonus, as Siena is on a hill (well, more than one hill) the temperature was cooler. Another bonus, Bill and Christie are coming to Ireland in August and as they showed more than a passing interest in the Rock of Cashel (no, they weren’t being polite!) I’ll be giving them a little tour. Better start airing the beds, Mam!

From Florence with love, Mairead.

Today is Wednesday, it must be Florence…..

| Mairead

We had a very pleasant trip down from Venice to Florence yesterday, the temperature was just right and the traffic was light and the scenery was very pretty. Then we got to the city. Fast traffic, hot sun and little scooters nipping in and out of every available space on the narrow roads, while their riders talked on the phone! I need a lie down just thinking about it…. Needless to say no photos, I needed both hands to hang on tight while I prayed fervently.

26 06d

(Look at those great clouds. About 45km from Florence)

But it’s all okay now, we did arrive at our new accommodation, safely. A large-sized bed sit with its own little garden on the edge of Florence. Another Airbnb find and the host has gone off to stay with a friend while we live in her very comfortable home. I on the other hand am not so comfortable. Got great mail from Susanna about mosquitos and Florence but by the time I had opened it the little angels had done their worst 😦 I anticipate more fervent praying….

26 06b

(And great shade)

So lets remember the good times in Venice! Forgot to mention yesterday that we did take a Gondola ride. It was eighty euros for thirty-five minutes but we didn’t pay that! We were standing around at a busy Gondola pick up point, trying to work out how to attract the attention of the guy in charge when Miranda spotted us. She was with her boyfriend, both in their early twenties, both from China. Turned out they wanted the same thing we wanted – a good deal! She was very determined and had the whole deal sorted while we followed her around!

26 06g

(Traffic jam on a side canal)

There was a bit of a traffic jam at the beginning but eventually we arrived at the grand canal and the Gondolier started to point out the Mayor’s house and Venice’s seven star hotel (maybe next time?) It was at this point that Miranda leaned across to take a picture and our gondolier commanded “No moving around, I need balance.” Up to then I had accepted that he knew what he was doing and all the rocking from side to side didn’t mean I was going to end up in the water, now…. I wasn’t so sure. We all kept very still after that. And I took a little look around (just moving my eyes not my body) to spot the life jackets, maybe they were under the seats?

26 06h

(Miranda took our picture. Look at the Gondolier in the background – they all use their legs to push away from the walls)

You see it’s a very precise thing the gondolier is doing, it looks easy enough, because they make it look easy but it’s not so easy. And it made me think about living in balance and how that might take a long time to achieve and may look very easy from the outside but it’s always a work in progress. So what’s that all about?

26 06i

(Perfect balance)

From itchy Florence, Mairead.

Ordinary Venice.

| Mairead

After my observation on the blog yesterday that I was not noticing the beauty all around me I decided to start paying attention. My mission: To pay attention and notice the ordinary. Here in Venice even the ordinary is different so that wasn’t too difficult. As has become our habit, Denis and I set off on our fifteen minute bus ride to the city before breakfast. We arrived around nine o’clock. This was useful because a lot of ordinary things happen around nine in the morning.

25 06b

(Breakfast)

But first we were going to have breakfast. This was a much cooler day and rain was forecast and believe it or not we were looking forward to rain! When we got off the bus Denis (who was also on “ordinary stuff” patrol) noticed a pathway we hadn’t seen before so we took it. There were fewer people walking this route but there seemed to be more boats. We stopped at the first cafe and ordered coffee and pastries (not exactly high fibre but very yummy.) And that’s when ordinary Venice started to happen.

25 06c

(Taxi!)

The delivery boats. I know I’ve mentioned this again and again but… everything, every thing coming into this city comes in on a boat and get to its destination on a handcart. Three delivery boats had passed before I had wrangled the camera out of its bag. But I got DHL. Well of course DHL deliver to Venice!

25 06a

(DHL… Excellence. Simply Delivered… to Venice. On the lookout for UPS)

We took 351 pictures yesterday and they are all of ordinary things. Here’s a taste of ordinary Venice…

25 06d

(The milkman)

25 06e

(The laundry)

25 06f

(The builders)

25 06g

(The ambulance)

25 06h

(The bin men)

By lunchtime I was exhausted! Noticing the ordinary is work. It’s everywhere. It’s constant. It put my senses to work. When my senses are at work… with what’s happening right now in front of me my brain can’t be making up stories about the scary things that might happen in the future or the annoying things that did happen in the past… But it’s a bit of work and maybe I’d much rather be numb or bored or talking to myself about scary stuff…. Nah, here’s some more ordinary Venice….

25 06i

(Someone had a blocked drain…)

25 06j

(Bottle cap art – lots and lots of ordinary plastic bottle caps)

25 06k

(A bus/boat stop dock…. there are lots of these in Venice)

We’re off to Florence today…. might be hot…. might be busy…. might be fun… might be terrible… or it might be amazingly ordinary right in front of my eyes, Mairead.

It’s Saturday in Venice…..

| Mairead

I did wonder if Saturday would be very busy in Venice and it was, but still not uncomfortably so. I don’t like crowds so my tolerance level is set quite low and I didn’t have a problem. That’s Venice for you, it’s so different that every lane, street, canal, piazza is a new experience and us tourists are not trying to fit into one or two hotspots. (Well, except St Mark’s.)

24 06b

(Everything has to be delivered by water, then handcart – above are boxes of souvenirs from Venice about to be unloaded and sold in the shops)

The water bus/boat was full in the morning when we arrived but there was a lovely woman opening and closing the entrance bar and making space. I, of course, understood nothing of what she said but I did understand the body language… Let me translate:  smiling all the time = I’m very friendly and I welcome you to my city, it’s lovely here, have a great time; waving two hands in the direction of the interior of the bus/boat = although I would love to just have you on the bus we must welcome these other people into our space but for you there’s loads of room inside and you might even get a seat if you’re lucky; standing on the dock saying lots of words including one that sounded a bit like the name on the dock = this is… (name on dock) and from here you’ll be able to visit… (list of amazing stuff nearby); I spent most of my time on the boat listening to her.

24 06j

(Sometimes a bit choppy in the Gondola)

Eventually Denis had to drag me away because we had reached our stop. We were going to Gardini, I think it means garden. You remember our Canadian friend yesterday? Well we decided to also go to the modern art exhibition. It’s a biannual event so I took that as a sign we needed to go… So, the exhibition takes place in a group of buildings in the park. Lots of trees, so great shade.

24 06c

(Shady trees at the Gardini)

Very different to the rest of Venice (the island bit, I mean) where space seems to be at a premium and we hadn’t seen any trees. It was another hot day and I was feeling the effects, so we were very glad most of the buildings were air-conditioned.

24 06a

(This is the first exhibit, it’s from Spain. It’s a pile of rubble and represents “making visible what escapes our attention”. Love that!)

My favourite exhibit was of personal notebooks. I spent the last year on my course grappling with how to make a personal notebook. What is it? I’m still not entirely sure myself… but this is what I did to produce mine… Get a blank notebook and stick pictures, drawings, found objects (that’s a great phrase that’s used all the time in modern art, it seems to mean anything you didn’t make yourself) flowers, bugs, anything really. But you should like or love the things you stick in. Then your notebook becomes a representation of you, to yourself. I suppose it’s a conscious representation of all the stuff you like that’s usually unconscious to you. Having your unconscious stuff out there for you to see can be very helpful when you are looking for ideas for producing art or craft. But I think it’s useful for another reason.. and I’m going to start showing people how to use it in that way….. soon.

24 06d

(A page from one of the personal notebooks, full of tickets. I want to do this!)

After the modern art we took a bus/boat ride all the way to the terminus, it was cool in the breeze and we got to see Venice from the water.  I did notice something weird that was different from our first day here…. I’m no longer walking around with my mouth open! I mean, I seem to have stopped noticing how amazing this place is. I have become accustomed to it all. It’s Sunday as I write this and I can still remember the moment we arrived on the island on Friday and I walked across the bus (real bus) park and saw buildings sitting in sea water. It was startling and beautiful and caused my mouth to open wide!

24 06i

(Lots of cruise ships visit Venice, this one is headed straight for our bus/boat)

Every step we took on the first day was in amazement. The bridges, the gondolas, the flowers hanging from the balconies, the water, the narrow lanes, the colours, the sounds – of lapping water of a beautiful language, the smells – food, coffee, perfume, the sun, the shade, the heat, the breezes, the steps, the taste of the coffee, the food, the queues, the lack of queues, the queue jumping, the waiters dressed impeccably, the ice cream dripping faster than you could eat it, the boat docks at every front door, the water lapping up the side of the buildings, the amazing shade of deep green “stuff” growing on each building at the waterline.

24 06k

(This is the fire brigade… and these are the firemen… in uniform… lovely)

Do we eventually stop noticing every beautiful thing in our lives? Mairead.

This is Venice

| Mairead

Well we’ve finally arrived, this is Venice.

22 06c

(Our first sight… so familiar)

We took a local bus to the island (well not exactly an island, it’s joined by a bridge to the mainland) and within two minutes of getting off we were taking pictures of familiar scenes. It’s exactly what you’ve ever seen on TV or in magazines. Exactly and it’s beautiful. And it’s surprising. Yesterday was Friday and there were a lot of people around but there’s plenty of space for them. It’s a pedestrians paradise, no cars, no bikes, no scooters, even no motorbikes! No waiting to cross the road… well, the road is a river so no waiting to cross because there’s a bridge or two for that.

22 06e

(Everything, everything has to travel on water)

We have four days here so we just wandered. Wandered down by the river, picking this lane way or that, coming to a little plaza and thinking it was a dead-end only to find there was a narrow alley hidden on the other side. Oh and the shade, wonderful shade from the tall buildings and the breeze, wonderful breezes from the sea. By the way, I was a little concerned that there might be a bad smell –  there isn’t,  just the smell of sea water – nice.

22 06f

(Nice)

As we were wandering we came to a bus stop (bus that goes on water – very biblical) and decided to check out the busses. There was a lady in front using the machine but having a problem with it. She allowed Denis go ahead of her. She spoke English so I took the opportunity to use my best language. It turned out she lived in Canada! Hello Canada people! She was on a school reunion with some friends and was taking time out to visit the modern art exhibition which her friends thought was a crazy thing to do with all the old art in Venice! Anyway, we chatted until the bus came and then we got on together. We were just starting to enjoy the spin when our new friend realise we had all forgotten to validate our tickets. We thought “oh dear, does that mean we will get to use these tickets again?” Our friend thought, “there’s a huge fine!”

22 06i

(Example of a small alley. What looks like graffiti on the left is actually directions to St. Mark’s square!)

Now, it was a genuine mistake (no, really it was!) and I was remembering my charming (!) way with the waiter the day before… so we weren’t too worried. Until our new friend pointed out the inspector that had just got on – oops. She disappeared – fair-weather friend! We hung tight, Denis considering, me shining up my charm offensive. There was a bit of a kerfuffle at the next stop (throwing someone without a ticket off the bus?) and when we started again our friend had returned and the inspector had disappeared….. (have you heard of the opera Death in Venice?)

22 06j

(We’re saving our Gondola ride for a day without cameras or photos)

It turned out she had got off at that stop, validated her ticket and got back on… what a good idea. We hadn’t so we were left with the burden of having to use our ticket later for another bus journey… mmmm.

All is well here in Venice, Mairead

We’re in Italy but first the Austrian waiter….

| Mairead

We finally arrived yesterday evening in Venice or to be precise 15 minutes by bus from Venice. We got a great welcome from our Airbnb hosts with instructions on how to get into Venice, including a bus ticket because they cost double when you buy them on the bus. Then we took off our bike gear (peeled if off really) had a quick shower and went looking for the bus. Before we found it, we found a little pizzeria. It was too much temptation to resist, we were melting with the heat, tired and hungry….. so we had great pizza, cold water and good wine and went home to fall asleep. The tourist  Venice will begin today.

21 06e

(Beautiful Austria)

But the tourist Austria began yesterday. We left our backpackers (backpackers don’t get breakfast included in with the bed) guest house early (8.30am) yesterday morning with a promise of breakfast on the way. Now, this can be a bit of a mistake, because Denis doesn’t eat breakfast and I can’t function without it. So I was more hopeful than certain that I would be nourished before lunch. And within minutes of our leaving the town of Fussen my hope dissipated. We hit a traffic jam on a narrow road. As we had never been on the road so early we thought they would be clear but no, the camper vans and trucks were already ahead of us. The road was too narrow for any handy bike manoeuvres so we waited. Thirty five minutes later we were still waiting there, but it was cool and picturesque, so no rush…..

21 06f

(The reason for the traffic jam)

It turned out to be road works. We were now in Austria. Having travelled for so long on the motorways of Germany we were woken up by our route in Austria. It was beautiful. Cool and shady with amazing views around every corner, so much so my little camera ran out of battery long before the border with Italy. And around one corner there was a restaurant – breakfast! It had taken an hour but the setting was perfect so I didn’t complain.

21 06b

(Isn’t it pretty? Yes Denis, I mean the bike!)

Just as we arrived a bus full of elderly German tourists also arrived, we spotted them just in time and we dashed towards the outside seats. We were fast….. and younger (by a little…) but they still made it to the seats before us.  By this stage Denis was interested in breakfast and was a little put out by our delay so he used his secret weapon – me. I smiled and waved at the waiter and when that didn’t work I followed him into the kitchen. I only succeeded in annoying him and we still had to wait until he served the whole bus.

21 06d

(The waiter. I’m not as charming as I once was…. but charming enough to get a photo and a smile for you guys!)

Off to Venice with some suggestions (thank you Susanna and Marie) will let you know how it goes, Mairead.

We’re… still in Germany!

| Mairead

Germany is a very big country! We spent less time on the road yesterday – just eight hours. We did have a new high of 38 degrees (Celsius) which only made us all the more excited when it went down to 33! Also, we had a very happy experience at the hottest point in the day.

20 06c

(ooh some shade…)

There we were motoring along when we come to a complete stop – a traffic jam. Traffic jams don’t usually bother motorbikes so we tootled along between the lanes. All the German and Dutch drivers moved out of the way to let us through, which was very nice. But eventually we came to a foreign (!) camper van and it moved into our way instead. Anyway the truck on the other side moved further away and let us through, but we were still no nearer the front of the jam. Now we were sitting in the middle of a three lane motorway, sun beating down and hot air coming from every vehicle around us. Did I mention under appreciating the air-conditioning in our car?

20 06a

(Traffic stopped as far as the eye can see. That’s the camper van in front to our left)

That’s when we noticed the services area. So, a little more tootling around the front of the trucks (one of which was now leaking water onto the road) and we reached the petrol station. Denis had a little (illegal) plan to continue out of the services area and ride on the shoulder of the road. Fortunately, he didn’t have to, there was a man stopping all traffic leaving the service area and he stopped us.

20 06b

(See those great clouds and those mountains are the alps!)

Btw, I forgot to tell you that I had done a year of German classes when I was 18. If you’re a regular reader here you’ll remember that a year isn’t long enough for me to have any level of fluency but plenty of time to say “hello”. As “hello” in German is “Hello!” (or at least that’s what it sounds like…..) I had learned another phrase “Sprecken zie English?”

20 06d

(Nice German town we found on the back road… doesn’t it look like Clonmel?

So as the man is explaining in perfect German why we cannot go back on the motorway I interrupt with my phrase. And he understands me! And he speaks English! And he tells us that a truck had dropped its load so we will have to take this other route, pointing to a back road out of the service area.

20 06e

(Look! We found Amazon!)

Well, you could have knocked us over with a feather! Never before have we seen a back road out of a service area! In fact we have spent many riding miles wondering how the employees at the service areas get to work. Do they live at the service areas? Is there an underground tunnel to the nearest town? No, there’s a back road!

We’ll be crossing the border to Austria today and then late today we’ll arrive in Venice. We may take a day to acclimatise (sleep) but then…. what should we go see in Venice?

Until Italy, Mairead.