Arrived in Beijing. December 17, 2014
Hi All – I think I’m supposed to be saying “Wenhau” —
Anyway, this is just a very brief note as it is 6 am body time, and I haven’t slept yet. We left San Francisco at noon on Monday and now it is about 10 pm on Tuesday night in Beijing.
Mostly wanted to let you know that we arrived safe and sound after a very easy direct, non-stop flight from SFO to Beijing. Typical United.. we left late and arrived early. We were comfortably situated in the upper level of the plane, in Business Class. I must say that we packed until about midnight on Sunday night — expertly folding and eliminating things to be sure we would have just carry on (which is our standard procedure). The bags were like a work of art utilizing every single inch of space without having to expand them. Each of our computer bags weighed a ton, filled with gear and devices (me: computer, SLR camera, small camera, iPod, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry; Mike same except no Blackberry, no iPad, no iPod).
Then at about midnight we checked into the flight and saw that we were seated in the upper level (which I generally really like because it’s quiet.. only business travelers.. and lots of attention). But, you have to go up that very narrow staircase with your carry-on bags. We realized that we’d have to make multiple trips up and down those stairs… and after all that effort decided to bag it.. and check one bag each..
We had a bit of a scare once on the plane when they handed out the forms to fill out. They ask information about your departure from China… and we’ve got a little mess on our hands with that… since we are leaving from Lhasa (Tibet) and it’s unclear how that works. We do have a backup flight from Beijing to Tokyo. It’s a really long story involving the bureaucracies of nations. Anyway, we were relieved when Chinese Customs only wanted to see the arrival forms.
Landed at Beijing Airport, which is gigantic and incredibly new and clean. After Customs you have to take a train about three stops to get your baggage and then find a taxi. Long lines for everything. Relieved that our bags both arrived, we headed to find a taxi. It took a few minutes to get the swing of things and we found the taxi line. When it was our turn, we needed to say where we were going so the person handling the cabs could determine which taxi would take us. Naturally, no English… and the papers with the hotel confirmation were buried in my bag. But the trusty smart phone worked fine and we were able to explain the location of the hotel. The person in charge of taxis waved us to a very large van, not a taxi. Naturally we were suspicious and asked why we weren’t getting a taxi but no one could explain. My NY instinct was correct; we were non-Asian foreigners and they were putting us in more expensive vehicle. I asked the price.. and the driver said 700CNY which is about $100. The hotel information said the taxi would cost about 110 CNY. So we objected and then he offered us 300 and eventually 250, but by then we felt we were being ripped off so we got out of the van and went back to the taxi line and got a very nice driver who played music in English (although we have not a clue what that music was)… and we rode across Beijing to the Hutong area where we are spending the first two nights.
Hutongs are actually the word to define very narrow streets that are formed form having courtyard houses built close to the streets.. so that the buildings line the streets. They are common in northern China but are disappearing fast with new development. I imagine the whole city was once just hutongs.. Indeed apparently these neighborhoods were built in concentric circles around the center of the city with the aristocrats living in fancy hutong areas very close to the center and working people living further out. But now there is a bit of an effort (after demolishing most of the hutong neighborhoods) to preserve some remaining ones and they are becoming somewhat “chic.”.. Anyway, we are staying in a hutong (which we didn’t get to see much of last night since we arrived after dark).. so today (December 18) we will be exploring this neighborhood (and our little hotel).
What we saw as we emerged from the taxi (the driver tried to have us get out at a youth hostel which is down the street since he couldn’t easily find the Orchid Hotel).. great little streets lined with tiny restaurants and shops.. lots of activity.. clearly a working class neighborhood with some newly minted shops that cater beyond essentials… frequented by young people (like me!). The Orchid is actually down a very narrow alley off of the tiny street! It was a little hard to find, but the hotel is very tech savvy and they sent a very very detailed and quite well done graphic map (in English).. so we were actually able to guide the taxi driver from the hostel (which was on the map) to the hotel!
It’s two floors with about 9 rooms..and sort of rambles. We are on the second floor with an outdoor stair (wood and very narrow) to get to our room. It’s quite charming.. very simple.. all white. We meandered outside after getting help carrying the bags up the stairs.. and ate at a Yunan restaurant just a few doors down. Good, inexpensive. We ordered a potato dish that was like a giant latke with some chives on top.. crispy and a great side dish. We had a beef and basil something — spicy and also good.. and then some kind of wontons filled with a local and unidentifiable vegetable.. also good.. and Chinese beer. The restaurant seats about 25 and we were off on a side. Across the room were 24 college/grad school students (Brits or maybe Aussies) who are studying Chinese for a year but who I think go to Oxford.. or at least that’s what I gleaned from eavesdropping. They were celebrating someone’s birthday.
More after we explore the hutongs.
Fern
Fern in Helsinki – päivä numero kaksi
Hei Hei!
Huomenta!
I wasn’t really planning on writing any kind of travelogue for this trip. First, it’s very very short (just 3 1/2 days on the ground.. and 2 days in the air). Second, I’ve been to Helsinki many times and most of you know that I lived here for a year.. many eons ago. Third, the trip was totally focused on seeing a friend who had a stroke and has lost her capacity to speak. So in other words, not much exciting stuff to report.
But here I am — exhausted at 11 pm after two very very long days — and I realized that if I didn’t write it out, I would never remember any of the activities. So here goes.
I arrived Sunday night after a 12 hour trip from SFO to Frankfurt, a 3 hour layover in Frankfurt, and a 3 1/2 hour flight to Helsinki. This after a very hectic and intense week, including 2.5 days at the University. Indeed, I flew back from Seattle Friday night with just enough time to pack at about midnight and then head to SFO in the morning. Given all of this I opted for a taxi (taksi); the airport is in Vantaa which is about 25 miles from downtown. While the taxi ride was comparable to the Oakland to SFO fare, I was beginning to realize just how pricey Helsinki has become.
I’ve been coming back to Helsinki every five years since 1990 and had made two or three trips prior to 1990, plus the year we lived here… so changes shouldn’t necessarily be shocking as I’ve seen the precursor. In some ways things are the same.. in many ways they aren’t. .. just over the past 4 years.
After settling into my hotel (the rather mediocre, but better than expected Radisson Blu Plaza) which is near the railroad station — a place I used to know very well, since it has a bunch of shops (food, newspapers, etc.) that stayed open really late… and I often found myself in great need of something at around 10 pm… I meandered around in the dark (sun sets at about 5:30 pm already) to find one of the few restaurants open on Sunday night: The Kamp — I had the crayfish soup which was great.. and cost about $10 per spoonful.. so I savored every taste.. and then walked back to the hotel. By the time I got back to my hotel it was around 11 pm and I had been up for more than 35 hours.
On Monday I was to connect with my friends..
Woke up fairly early Monday morning and after taking a brisk walk — walked around town — to the market located by the sea and at the foot of the Senate Building, a block or two from the University, and down at the end of the Esplanadi (one of the most chic streets in town) flanked by the famous Marimekko shop and Artek and Aarika and also international shops and the famous Stockmann’s Department Store (and adjacent to the Akademica Book Store, one of the world’s largest book stores — another interesting and unchanging feature of Helsinki and the rest of Finland.. they have lots of bookstores! People actually read here.). The market was fairly empty as most activity occurs pretty early in the morning.. It was also really cold.. It’s been about 30 degrees during the day and colder at night. (The cold weather is good prep for the crazy Christmas trip we’re taking — Beijing — Tibet — Kathmandu — Delhi..)
Took the Metro in the afternoon to see my friends .. they live in what I guess would be considered a suburb, although it’s part of the city of Helsinki (Finland really doesn’t have suburbs.. and there are pretty real urban boundaries). So it’s just a 15 minute metro ride, but Myllypuoro is surrounded forrest. Since Anne’s stroke, they moved from a house with many levels to a flat in the same neighborhood. Like all Finnish homes, the units are well designed, great built-ins, lots of glass to look at the forest, large spaces for living and dining, and fairly high ceilings.
It was really good to reconnect, to have a good lunch and lots of wine, and to remember old times and what good friends they were when we lived in Helsinki. Anne is an art historian and was the editor of the major art journal in Finland.. She also juried and curated many shows. Her expertise had been in contemporary Soviet art. Tapani is a sociologist (demographer), retired professor at the University of Helsinki, and the recipient of Finland’s equivalent to our MacArthur genius award. As a couple, Anne was the social one, the one who organized everything, the one who knew what was going on all over Helsinki, the one with all the friends, the chatty one. Now it is Tapani who must do all the talking as well as coordinating. So it was a very eye opening experience. Still — despite the loss of speech — Anne comprehends everything (and still can read and retain all information in 6 languages) and is really expressive as she follows every detail of every conversation. And the two of them seem to have developed an interesting kind of sign language and expressive notes from Anne that Tapani “gets.
I returned to the hotel in the early evening, did some work, and took another walk — this time ending up at a hip new restaurant about a mile from the hotel called Gaijin — small Asian inspired dishes.. I started with … a beef tartar on a shizo leef with some kind of dressing and Japanese pickles.. It was pretty tiny, but wonderful.. I also had a Chinese Pumpkin and hazelnut Shu Mai — a sort of dim sum bun filled with lamb and sesame seeds. These little bite-size starters were followed by a half order of “inked” whitefish tartar.. with wakame salad and some kind of avocado spread.. and a half order of baby back ribs.. with some kind of soy caramel marinade and another sauce.
So Finland has come a long way in the area of cuisine… When we lived here it was meat and boiled potatoes.. Even the “adventurous” cooks and the good restaurants were stuck on meat and boiled potatoes or fish and boiled potatoes. The city has changed; restaurants are packed; it’s a far more international city than it was a few decades ago. And it’s really expensive (especially given that this is definitely not the tourist season).
I walked home from dinner… about a mile to the hotel. It’s a safe city and though it was dark and on many streets I was all alone, I was never even the slightest bit concerned. This has not changed at all.
Today, Tuesday, Day Two and already next to the last day… I woke up early and after breakfast walked about a mile and a half to the street we had lived on.. Eerikinkatu 25B… (Erik’s Street “katu” means “street”– by the way, all signs in Finland are bilingual — Finnish and Swedish and the country is officially bilingual. The Swedes are only 12% of the population. Imagine if we acknowledged our minority populations that way. All Finns are required to learn Swedish in school and all government employees are required to make Swedish available for citizens who request it..The signage stuff is funny because in every city or town the majority population gets to have the town and street names in their language at the top and the other gets the name at the bottom.. So if Porvoo is predominantly Swedish then the street name is Swedish first.)
OK.. I’m fading.. I did a lot today (Tuesday).. but it’s midnight and I started really early. More tomorrow if I can find time.. I’m back Thursday night.
Take care.
Best… and Nakemiin
Fern
Heading Home . London to SFO . September 12, 2013. (No photos!)
Hi All –
Very short… from Putin’s favorite “little island that doesn’t matter much”…..
Spent most of yesterday on the phone with Alitalia trying to locate my bag… Then running around London to get basic necessities (like underwear and a change of clothes, and a cheap carry bag to put it all in)… While I would have like to shop in Soho and Marleyborne High — I wound up in very practical places for fear I’d lose a lot of time in the chi-chi places and not get those basic things.. I was on hold on the phone with the Alitalia baggage people for a straight 45 minutes and then got cut off; called again and was on hold for 96 minutes until I just gave up (actually my phone battery died). I can’t wait to see the phone bill (which I plan to turn over to Alitalia since they told me I needed to call to keep up with the status).
Started out as a sunny day but began to rain in the afternoon and then through the night, although it is fine now (at 9 am). Lara joined me for a very late lunch (3 pm) at Morito which is fairly close to the hotel — about a 20 minute walk — a very cute little tapas place that is a sister to Moro which is a really good Mediterranean restaurant that I’ve eaten in before. From there we walked and took bus to the Angel area where we thought I could get that silly little duffle bag to put these new odds and ends … Throughout the day I remained hopeful the bag would show up, but hopes began to diminish when it still wasn’t at the hotel at 8 pm and when I never heard anything from the company…
So off we went to dinner — to Nopi — small plates built on a Mediterranean/Asian twist.. very very highly recommended… Finished up at about 11:30 and hopped a cab back to the hotel. And lo and behold –when I arrived at the front desk at midnight — my baggage!
So, although I was beginning to feel pretty free flying over the ocean without any luggage.. and thinking about what I’d replace my stuff with — a new me (?) — I was actually quite relieved to be reunited with my stuff!
It’s morning now and I’m rushing around to gather up the stuff I bought to merge it with the pre-existing stuff in the suitcase… and then I’m off to Paddington to catch the Heathrow Express. More good news. On a phone call to United Airlines, one business class seat opened up at that moment and I was able to get upgraded… See you all soon in the real (?) world. I’ll be at the office tomorrow morning.
Fern
Arriverderci Roma — G’Day London. September 10, 2013
Greetings from London
September 10, 2013 (winding our way to the USA)
Left Rome — by taxi from hotel to airport; was going to take the train but everyone said taxi would be better as we would have needed to take taxi to the train station anyway… Well, maybe not such a good idea. Soon after we got into the taxi, traffic was more than just the usual Rome nightmare… A water main had broken and the streets were flooded. Everyone appeared to be yelling at everyone else — as if anyone could actually do something about it.
Made our way to the airport and on to the Alitalia flight to London where we will meet up with our god-daughter; Mike leaves tomorrow. I will stay until Thursday. A few remarks about Rome — turns out the density is really not that high — probably because buildings are not very tall and also because there’s a lot of “unused land” — what with all those ruins! ! In the U.S. we’d be sure to bulldoze those ruins to get more development going.
So, got to Rome Airport — very complicated check in and boarding.. Decided to check one bag each (generally we never check bags.. But also bringing home some olive oil so decided once we bought that, we’d have to check… And it seemed like a good idea since European airports always require so much going up and down stairs and then stairs to plane after the bus.. Really their boarding system adds about 30 minutes to the flight time. When we checked in (we have no status on Alitalia) we were offered “comfort seats” — at a charge of course. Mike decided we should do this.. so we had “comfort” (what we would call exit row) seats for the three hour flight.
As it turns out Mike is leaving London tomorrow and I am staying on for one additional day. He’s totally upgraded (even though his United status is way below mine)… but apparently no one likes to fly on September 11 — superstitious. so they are all flying on the 12th with me.. No upgrades available on any flights all day on the 12th. Oh well.
Flight to London was uneventful. Landed, went through customs with my newly-added extra 24 pages in my passport (because I didn’t have room for any more stamps and they always complain in England that they like to stamp onto a clean page!) Then the fun began. Landed at 3; sent through customs quickly; and to baggage claim… waited and waited until only three people were left and the carousel stopped turning… Mike got his bag.. but mine was not there. So we spent the next 45 minutes at the Alitalia baggage office filling out claim forms. The guy was super optimistic (and also told me that his baggage hasn’t arrived on Alitalia many times but they always find it! –not so much of a consolation for me).. So I’m traveling very very light now.. Computer, gear, one camera, the pants I’m wearing, a tee shirt I’m wearing and the sweater I carried in case the weather in London would be cold upon arrival (which it was and is)… No clothes. No personal stuff, no jewelry…
Supposedly the bag could miraculously show up at the hotel tonight — if it wound up on the next flight to Rome which landed about two hours ago… Or it could show up tomorrow. After that, I don’t have a clue as to what they do. The guy kept explaining that Alitalia had an office in NY… Anyway, it was a bit of a shock.. and also sort of funny since Mike and I were laughingly saying at the counter after we checked the bags.. “Let’s make a bet as to whether or not the bags arrive in London!” Ha! Ha!
My day for tomorrow is now pretty much set — shopping!
Headed off to dinner now at the Modern Pantry.. where we’ve eaten many times before.. Very close to our hotel in East London.. on Clerkenwell Road.. Maybe more tonight before I go to bed.. and a late report on whether or not the bag arrived.
Fern
Fern e Mike a Roma Sept 9 2013
E Mezzanotte (It’s midnight)
Actually it’s nearly 1 am…
It was a long and complicated day.
Started out after breakfast with taxi to Campo di Fiori market (We have to take taxis everywhere because the Lord Byron Hotel is not in the center and not really close to a Metro station. We are not accustomed to being in hotels out of the center, but Mike’s brother and sister-in-law made the reservations. We could probably walk about a mile to a station, but it’s very very hot and humid… (again, not our usual month to travel.) We all strolled separately through the market arranging to meet up an hour later. I strolled quickly through the market and then on streets throughout the neighborhood… in and out of tiny alleyways.. and checking out some shops (but believe it or not, purchased nothing).
We all met up at the appointed time and then added another hour to our meet-up… and then decided to head to the San Lorenzo neighborhood which I had read about. San Lorenzo is actually adjacent to the Termini train station and is considered to be Rome’s new “Left Bank” — filled with students and artists and is close to La Sapienza University. Calling it the Left Bank is a bit of a stretch.. actually more than “a bit”… It’s pretty seedy and lacks any really “special places” — but you can see that gentrification is happening and the location — so close to the center — is an obvious draw as the center has no way to grow to accommodate new residents. Richard and Mike strolled in one direction and Elizabeth and I went in the opposite direction. As we walked, I was photographing many different things and we stumbled upon a building that had clearly been taken over by squatters — complete with banners, signs, etc. We could translate just enough to get the picture and understand that this was an anti-speculation protest. As I photographed a woman approached us asking if we were journalists. She proceeded to tell us the story of the building and what is happening in San Lorenzo. To make a very long story short (longer story since getting the information in half Italian/half English made it more complicated)… the protest involves the fact that a few years ago the city allowed artists to move into a dilapidated building — with a contractual agreement that they fix up the units and then vacate them in a given number of years following the renovation. Now, as the units have been renovated by the artists, the building has been purchased and the new owner does not want to keep to the contracted agreement and wants the tenants out. Turns out several members of the Rome City Council are developers and friends of developers…
From San Lorenzo we headed to Trastavere and again all walked in our own directions and arranged to meet up a few hours later. Eventually we all met and Richard and Mike decided to head back to the hotel (it was about 5) and Elizabeth and I continued to stroll and chat — eventually winding up at a little café continuing our conversation with white wine. We headed back to the hotel at about 8 pm… just in time to change to go to dinner… We decided to eat at a place about a mile from the hotel. Turned out to be quite good… Mike and I shared a fantastic antipasti of fried baby squid with shredded squash… fantastic.. followed by buccatini all’ amatriciana.. followed by a really wonderful sea bass… Good white wine and then red wine. Skipped dessert and finished eating at about 11 pm. Mike and Richard opted for a taxi back to the hotel and Elizabeth and I decided to walk back — just one mile (I sort of forgot that I was wearing heels and also that it was an uphill walk). But we made it (although we got lost once or twice so I think the mile turned into at least a mile and a half. Needed to use iPhone for directions and also as a flashlight on the dark streets, many without sidewalks and a lot of uneven pavement. Probably not a super idea given my “golfers vasculitis” but I’m fine.. made it here safe and sound — just in time to pack up to leave in the morning.
More from London tomorrow night.
Fern
Fern e Mike a Roma Sept 8
Buonanotte from Roma
E mezzanotte (It’s midnight)
Just got back from dinner at a small neighborhood Umbrian restaurant about 3/4 mile from the hotel… we walked although it was still about 88 degrees and very very humid (but at least no sun bearing down on us). More on that later.
Woke up this morning with a very strange rash on my calves… ugly, dark red splotches.. didn’t itch, but was really ugly. Although Richard had gotten tickets for all of us to go to the Galleria Borghese (something I was somewhat reluctant to do anyway), I decided to hop a taxi to the International Farmacia at Piazza Barberini.. I thought I might have contracted poison ivy from the walk yesterday. (At one point we made a shortcut to get across a few street to the Parco della Musica… and we were in some scrubby green stuff. Anyway, when I got to the Farmacia, they immediately said that it was not poison ivy and not any kind of allergy. They said it was a reaction to the very hot weather and an excessive amount of walking in the heat. Gave me some kind of gel to rub on it several times a day.. and it will disappear. Well it’s not a miracle drug and it’s still pretty ugly. The gel is a yellowish color, so now my legs have a yellow tinge. I looked up the symptoms online and people have written about “golfer’s vasculitis”… so I think that’s it. Of course this is not a medical diagnosis. We’ll see how long it takes to rid myself of this.
I joined up with Richard, Elizabeth, and Mike at the Galleria — which I already knew would not be to my liking. The Villa/Galleria Borghese houses a substantial part of the Borghese collection of paintings, sculpture and antiquities, begun by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V (reign 1605–1621). The Galleria Borghese includes twenty rooms on two floors. The collection includes classical antiquities of the 1st–3rd centuries, and classical and neo-classical sculpture from the 16th and 17th centuries. The decorations of the building include a lot of trompe l’oeil and frescoes. Since I’m not really a big fan of Baroque, this place was certainly not on my bucket list.. Anyway, I strolled around the place.. I would have been fine with one fresco ceiling and one beautifully painted door and one trompe l’oeil tastefully placed in a corner… But the cumulative effect of all of this stuff was just beyond my aesthetic! I’ll take the MAXXI any day over this place. But maybe there are more similarities than meet the eye.. with each being a reflection of its time.
Walked around and through the Park Borghese for a while and then I split off from the other three and headed back to the hotel to do some work.. Following that I took off for the Spanish Steps which I had not seen in many years. As might be expected on a warm (hot – mutto caldo) Sunday, the place was packed.. locals, tourists from everywhere.. young and old.. Hundreds of people — all taking photos on their phones with one hand and eating gelato with the other! It was really a great sight. The monumental stairway of 135 steps was built in the early 1700s.. and linked the Bourbon Spanish Embassy and the Trinità dei Monti church that was under the patronage of the Bourbon kings of France, both located above the steps — to the Holy See in Palazzo Monaldeschi located below. Today, it’s just a great hangout. The 1950s film Roman Holiday, starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, apparently made the Spanish Steps famous to Americans.
I walked through the streets leading to the Steps and to Piazza Spagna.. eventually finding myself back at Piazza Barberini (by chance) right by the Farmacia! There I hopped a taxi back to the hotel, and met up with everyone for dinner at this little place called Ambasciata D’Abruzzo… where we dined al fresco.. starting with a platter of raw fish (all kinds).. next pasta arrabiata followed by veal scallopine and tiramisu for dessert (Mike and I shared)… We also drank quite a bit.. white wine with the fish, red wine with the meal.. and topped off with a strange selection of after dinner drinks.. The waiter was great, and service was Italian-slow.. But that was OK.. We got driven back to the hotel. My golfer’s vasculitis is still pretty obnoxious.. I’m hoping it disappears tomorrow (highly unlikely)
Domani is our last day in Roma and last day in Italy… Onward to London on Tuesday and then off to the US. We’ve been trying to keep up with local, state, and national news.. Our room supposedly has CNN but thus far we have not found any English speaking stations on the TV.. The Italians dub everything… .from the Simpsons to Law and Order. I’ve read snippets of the NY Times.. but that’s it.
Take care..
More tomorrow..
Fern
Fern e Mike en Roma — Giorno 7
Tutto Buono –
Hello from Rome
Began the day with a taxi to the Trastavere neighborhood. (Our hotel is pretty much outside of the center of town, and given the heat a taxi seemed like the logical choice, since we’d need to do a lot of walking once we got started..) The Trastavere area has very narrow cobblestone streets lined with medieval houses… The unique character has attracted artists, expats, and also many famous people to its midst. Today, the neighborhood is also filled with restaurants and cafes and is the home to several foreign academic institutions including the American University of Rome and the American Academy … and our own alma mater (Pratt Institute) also has some kind of study abroad program based in that area.
We started our walk at a little square and wound our way through scores of tiny and narrow streets that one could hardly believe a car could get through.. eventually winding up in the old Jewish Ghetto section — which for many centuries was the site of persecution and also indicative of the pride and solidarity of an unusually tight community. The neighborhood abuts the Tiber River which frequently flooded.. and was the forced home for Jews for more than 300 years. Most of the infrastructure of the old ghetto has been demolished, but still some reminders remain and in recent times the Ghetto has been yuppified a bit with restaurants, cafes and small shops. Still the area respects Jewish law and shops are closed on Saturdays.
We walked all through the area and then meandered our way to the Pantheon — built during the reign of Augustus as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome.. The building is circular and has large Corinthian columns.. but the real draw is the central opening to the sky… Today, about 2,000 years after its construction, it is said that the dome is still the worlds larges unreinforced concrete dome.. Since we’ve been to Rome before, we had seem most of the monuments but the Pantheon is worth seeing multiple times as is Piazza Navona which we also strolled to after the Pantheon. We stopped a little bar for salads.. and to replenish the water and fight off dehydration. It was in the 90s and humid… Somewhere near the Piazza Navona we hopped a taxi to immerse ourselves in contemporary Rome.
We headed to the Maxxi — a museum built in 2010 — which is sort of a building that is just all about itself as a building. Can’t complain since photographing in the building is lots of fun.. almost can’t find any way to shoot something that isn’t interesting.. but I don’t think it’s much of a museum and it was probably very expensive to build. From the looks of things, the people must not feel it’s worth going to as it was really empty — especially when compared to the throngs at the Pantheon (where you also cannot possible get a bad photograph!.. So maybe ordinary people really do have taste in that they opt for the Pantheon over the Maxxi??
From the Maxxi we walked to the 1960 sports dome built for the Olympics and on to the Renzo Piana Parco Della Musica which was a real gem… We meandered all through the first floor of the multi-function public music complex… about 1/2 mile from the Maxxi. The complex houses three really large concert halls. Each is structurally separate but joined together through a very large and very interesting lobby — in which the passageways are all graced with wonderful quotes and sayings in neon — some in English; some in Italian; some in French; some in German. There is actually a fourth concert hall — an open air theater that reminds you of ancient Greek and Roman theaters.. This is all framing a central plaza where today kids were riding tricycles and skating and playing peewee soccer. The music hall structures look a little like blobs of beetles… or some say they look like computer mice. During construction, many archaeological remains were found, and the story says that Piano redesigned the building to accommodate the remains and the ruins and created a small museum to house the artifacts from the site.. this added a year to the construction. The information sheets say that it is the world’s most visited music facility with more than one million people each year.
By now we were exhausted having walked a total of about five miles in awful heat.. so we got a taxi back to the hotel and jumped into the shower to freshen up before meeting up with Mike’s brother for dinner.
Dinner was at Settembrini… a twenty minute walk from the hotel. They serve very modern Italian fare.. like duck breast with carrots and a licorice sauce.. Cannot even remember the amazing dishes.. We ate outside (it was still in the 80s at midnight when we left the restaurant…)
I’m hoping it cools down a bit. Two more days in Rome, one day in London and I’m back.
Take care…
Fern
Fern e Mike a Rome Giorno 6 – Sept 6 2013 Arrivederci Palermo
Saluti a Roma
Giorno 6. September 6, 2013. Greetings from Roma.. Arrivederci Palermo
Somehow we managed to sleep late and miss breakfast at the Excelsior Hotel in Palermo… could have been that we didn’t finish dinner last night until close to midnight; could be that we stayed up working until about 2 am.. Whatever. Anyway, we were up and out by around 10:15 but lax as the Italians are when it comes to packing up the breakfast at the hotel they could be the Swiss! So we meandered down the street to a tiny tiny café called “The Manhattan” where we were able to get pastries.. As usual they were totally confused when Mike ordered milk.. and then when they said “caldo” he thought that meant “cold” (as opposed to “freddo”) so he nodded yes.. so they made him hot (steamed milk) which then they must have thought was totally weird so they added some espresso!! Mike doesn’t drink coffee at all let alone espresso.
OK… we left the little coffee shop.. and strolled a while and then headed back to pack and check out of the hotel.. Managed to do that in record time and were very proud to have made the decision to check our rollie bags and then just carry on the small computer bags (one each) and I would carry my purse and Mike would carry a small bag… with both of our Nikons. We left the bags at the hotel and walked around, eventually stopping for a light lunch.. We found a little deli style place a few blocks from the hotel which seemed very popular as it was totally crowded.. We finally figured out the system as there’s no table service.. and opted for a plate of mixed vegetables… saving room of course for some gelato.. I guess eating like a vegetarian is a little rare in Palermo but the guy was very sweet and all was well.. Really fresh, inexpensive and just what the doctor ordered. No one ever really wrote down what we ordered at the counter.. but somehow at the end they were able to figure out the cost.. no check, waiter shouted out what we ate and the gelato guy shouted similarly.. no records, nothing complicated.. mmmm.. wonder how they figure out the taxes.
We then took our bags and headed to the airport… opting for the express bus which stopped just around the corner from the hotel.. Was an easy and relaxing 30 minutes.. far better than the taxi option, and feeling a hairline better about our carbon footprints. Got to the Palermo Airport (which has been called Punta Raisa for many years but whose name has been changed to Falcone and Borsellino Airport…) It’s now named after two men — judges — who were murdered in 1992 who were leading Anti-Mafia campaigners and symbols of the struggles against organized crime. Falcone was killed first.. and Borsellino was his best friend and fellow magistrate. Borsellino was the MC for Falcone’s funeral. Soon after that, Borsellino and his bodyguards were killed. Both murders were the result of car bombs right in Palermo.
We were flying on EasyJet.. and we lined up to check in and check the two rollies. So, we then found out that because we had already checked in and had not noted on the check-in form that we would be checking any bags we would have to pay 30 EU per bag (as opposed to 11 EU had we noted this when we checked in)… or about $75. No amount of complaining and pleading ignorance would work… But then the next zinger… They only allow one bag per person on the plane as carry on.. so while we were going to check one bag each.. we then each had a computer bag and I had my purse and Mike had the bag with the Nikons (mine and his)… I’ll be damned if I was going to pay the equivalent of $150 to check baggage.. So we stepped aside and repacked… so that we only checked the rollies… I probably could have consolidated a bit more by extending the rollies, but it was already hard to do this all on the floor of the airport with crowds of people all around us.
Checked the two bags and off we went… to the gate, down a flight of stairs, onto the bus, and up a flight of stairs to the plane… Flight was short.. about an hour.. and when we landed in Rome decided to make our way to the Leonardo Express train to the Central Station (Termini) in Rome… about a 30 minute train ride… hoping to further reduce that carbon footprint (I’m a bit self-conscious about this because I recently took one of those carbon footprint tests and learned how bad I am — based heavily on all the flying) and then a taxi to the Hotel Lord Byron (strange name for a hotel in Rome?)… where we will meet up with family tomorrow night.
The Lord Byron Hotel is located near the Villa Borghese and the neighborhood feels a bit like the Presidio in San Francisco — definitely upscale, quiet area, expensive, and seems to have a lot of wealthy seniors living here. In prior trips to Rome we always stayed very central and also in areas with a lot more noise and activity; so this is a big change for us. Obviously, I’m already trying to figure out how I will get to all the hip neighborhoods and it looks like I’ll have to rely on taxis for at least part of the way.. but I’ll manage.
Our room has a framed enlarged picture of Audrey Hepburn a la Breakfast at Tiffany’s. There’s a quote in the lobby area from Noel Coward.. and I guess pictures and quotes from other noted artists are strewn throughout the hotel.. will explore a bit tomorrow.
We quickly unpacked and figured that since it was then 10 pm we should just eat close by… The desk recommended a small “neighborhood” place called Gulivia (sp?)… We assumed pricey, but this still made sense. Turns out that food was very good.. We shared an antipasti (steak tartare with a sort of marmalade that got stirred in) a pasta dish, and a main course of roast pork with Indian spices… all very good and cannot imagine how anyone eats a full dinner menu on their own. Since we were so good at sharing, we finished up with a shared chocolate mousse that was layered with some foamy stuff… looked great and tasted fantastic… Set everything off with a nice Italian wine.
Walked to hotel and here I sit.. reading emails and considering bedtime. Tomorrow we are off to explore Rome… Since we’ve been here several times, no real need for any of the “official touristy stuff”… so it should be fun to just walk and see all the changes… Oh and maybe it’s time for some shopping. Haven’t bought anything except the Erice jams and pestos.
By the way, whatever they are saying about the Euro weakening.. you’d never know it. The dollar is a joke and prices are extremely high. We’ve been coming to Europe (together and separately) nearly every year for the past 30 years… and not only has the dollar plummeted.. prices have also risen. It’s hard to even think about inexpensive ways to travel… Would I really date myself to say that I can remember when the book Europe on $5 a Day was really really popular.. At that time… maybe mid 1960s… I wasn’t yet traveling anywhere (except from Brooklyn to Manhattan). By the time I started to travel $25 a Day per person was probably very possible — especially traveling as a student..
Oh well… Buonanotte..
Tomorrow is another day..
By the way, for those who have asked… I’m back on Thursday.
Fern
PS — Obviously the Lord Byron doesn’t really expect people to be traveling and working; no desk in the room.. so I have to do everything on my lap in a chair.. You should see the two of us trying to balance computers and paperwork..
Fern e Mike Erice a Palermo Giorna 5 Sept 5 2013
Una lunga giornata. A long day (two days)
Hi –
It’s about 6 pm here in Palermo (I’m writing before we head out to dinner in Mondello — to a recommended restaurant that serves meat! We have had so much fish I feel as if I am growing gills).
Woke up in the Not-So-Moderno-Hotel which is full of the family’s kitsch displayed everywhere (except in the rooms which are just stark and filled with mis-matched furniture… Not sure why hotels feel the need to fill rooms with furniture anyway, since people are not staying for any long period and unlikely to be putting lots of things into dresser drawers). Had simple breakfast and headed out to walk some more in the town — made it away from the hordes of tourists (mostly Italian) who seem to descend on the town in the morning and spend the day there… These tourists are in large groups brought to the town in huge buses for which we discovered a different access road was created a few years ago — a very different road than what we used to drive into town yesterday (the one with the 70+ hairpin turns and so narrow as to require pulling over if a car comes in the opposite direction).
Erice is one of those delightful (if the tourists and the shops that they support selling lots of trinkets, disappear — yes, yes, I am aware that we are tourists, too) hilltop walled towns that are distinct from the surrounding countryside where the heat is strong and where olive groves and vineyards abound. Here you end your day in a cool, foggy mist. Erice is a totally stone town… with narrow, winding cobbled streets and alleys edging stone houses, stone churches, and stone courtyards .. with small stone piazzas popping up periodically. The streets are all paved with stones which have been smoothed and polished with centuries of feet walking over them… It’s totally clean — no litter that I could see.
Stopped to photograph inside one old church and I thought I saw an apparition — a strange light showed up in the center of my shot, but when I put the camera down I couldn’t see the light or its source.. I showed Mike and he, too, laughed… Finally we could see a crack of sunlight coming between two pillars onto the floor of the church which was magnified somewhat by the angle of my shot.. OK.. I’m back to being a non-believer! All is explainable.
The Trapani region (of which Erice is a part) has some unique culinary touches — pistachio pesto on pasta (naturally they mix in olive oil and tomatoes and garlic.. but there is a distinct pistachio flavor); they also use a lot of sweet additions to fish.. and pastry reigns supreme (but we worked hard to ignore the dolci as the pastas are already more filling than we are accustomed to.) We purchased some pestos (including the pistachio one) and some Sicilian spreads for bruschetta… En route back we will check baggage (a rarity for us) so we have new freedom to purchase liquids!
Then we headed out of town — initially on the road the buses use so that the number of switchbacks was decreased significantly. We decided to head to San Vito lo Capo — sort of the north-western-most point of Sicily.. It was an interesting drive (a bit white knuckled as motorcycles darted around us and as cars crept up to bumper level.. ) going through many small villages.. eventually winding up on the beachfront of the “cape”… We strolled a bit and ended up having (of all things) pizza at some seaside resort — pizza with fish naturally. Then we headed toward Palermo on a very small road … that hugged the northern coast. Our goal was to get to Monreale by about 3 pm.. but the road we took was extremely winding and meandering.. and took about twice as long as we had planned. In any case we followed the signs to Monreale — no easy task as the signs and our GPS were not always in sync. Then it started to drizzle and also traffic just swelled making finding the streets a bit more challenging. Eventually we climbed and went through many switchbacks again.. the whole drive one lane in each direction… and there was a sign to turn for Monreale (we were already in the town)… that we just missed. By then we decided that we had seen many many cathedrals in many countries in our time, and that even though this appears to be a gem and certainly the star of Sicily.. we just weren’t up for back tracking to get back to the road.. So we were in Monreale — or at least circled the town — but never saw it or the cathedral. I’ll put it on the bucket list for next time!
Arrived — miraculously — at the Europcar office at the Notarbotare Train Station to return our Fiat Panda… (after filling up the tank — just half-tank for the equivalent of $50… ) and reunited with our friend who talks to himself constantly.. which he did the entire time we were filling out the paperwork. Then we hopped a taxi to the hotel.. did some work.. and taxied to the very elegant and very very hip Bye Bye Blues Ristorante in the Mondello section of Palermo. It was definitely pretty special. They initially brought out a little trio of bite-size antipasti (gratis — well not really if you look at the prices).. of tuna tartare; meet with some kind of mint and cheese; and a very yummy bite-size pizza. .. along with a platter of mini “stuffed” breads — with eggplant, with capers, with lemon, with pepper, with tomato, etc. Presentation of each dish was “over the top!”
We ordered a vegetarian appetizer with quinoa followed by (Mike) an incredibly tender pork sitting on a sort of caponata of vegetables and a mint sauce (Fern) an amber jack encrusted in pistachio sitting on a bed of vegetables.. followed by an amuse buche of berry yogurt.. and then an unbelievable dessert — a jasmine panna cotta sitting in a watermelon gel and fresh mint… and then they brought a gratis platter of teeny cookies, biscotti and assorted mini truffles… We rolled out of the restaurant which clearly was filled with yuppies and upscale Palermoites.. and us.
Taxied to the hotel.. and that’s it for the day. It’s a wrap! It’s about half past midnight…
A little time tomorrow to stroll (maybe to see the Anti-Mafia store?) and then it’s off to the airport (probably by public transit) to Rome to meet up with Mike’s brother and sister-in-law.
Ciao for now. Back in Oakland on Thursday.
More from Rome.
Fern
Fern e Mike a Palermo –Giorno 4 Palermo to Enrice.. September 4, 2013
Buonserra — It’s close to 11 pm our time.. I think about 2 pm in California on Wednesday.
I’m writing from Erice — a wonderful town about 2,500 ft above sea level, with the fog rolling in and temperature about 60 degrees. It’s totally eerie at this moment as you cannot see very far beyond yourself. A far cry from the heat and humidity of Palermo and what we will probably find in Rome.. So I am in heaven (I hate hot weather.. thus I did miserably in Phoenix).
Started our day at about 9 am with breakfast at the Excelsior Hotel and then packed an overnight bag to head to Erice in the northwest corner of Sicily. Since it is pretty cheap to stay in Erice, we opted to leave our room in tact at the Excelsior Hotel — which was a brilliant move… no fuss, no muss.. no packing and unpacking.
We took a taxi to the train station to get the rental car (Europcar) which I had reserved on line the night before. As we entered the cab we learned that the Europcar is not at the Centrale (the main station) but at a smaller station, which caused a lot of confusion with the driver.. but we got there and found the rental office. The sole guy at the desk was a total character. Talked the entire time — nonstop — in Italian; read every document out loud in Italian; talked between documents.. and then tried to explain to us that somehow we had multiple reservations and this was confusing… In the middle of it all, another customer who we realized was waiting for a larger car than what was ordered for him was joined by his wife and baby who were waiting outside… and the Europcar guy decided he had to see the cute baby… the little bambini… so he dropped our car rental paperwork to go outside (leave the office totally unstaffed) to goo goo with the baby… Then he returned — talking again nonstop — something about the cute baby, I think.. and then finished up with our car rental.
So, off we went — sort of — in our little Fiat Panda. Then we needed to find our way from the station to the highway; no easy task. But eventually (only one or two wrong turns) we were on our way.. on the AutoStrada initially where our little Fiat was going about 70 mph and being passed by low level Fords going about 85 mph and the occasional fancy car going close to 100. We eventually got off the Auto Strada onto a smaller road to make our way to Erice… which involved about 70 hairpin turns.. on a road that couldn’t accommodate an oncoming car without a lot of maneuvering. Before nausea set in we were in Erice at the top of the hill.. a town with roots dating back to Hellenic times (several hundred years BC)..
We had made a last minute reservation at the Moderno Hotel online (which turns out to be not-so-moderno!)… We drove into town.. rather precipitously maneuvering impossible turns and right angle turns into streets barely wide enough for a little mini.. We kept following the signs for the Moderno… The entire town is stone… and quite fantastic… Finally we came to what we thought was the last street and last turn… only to find ourselves in a total traffic nightmare. The road we were on was about 7 ft wide.. and just a few yards into the street sat a police car “parked” against the stone wall (building). We carefully negotiated around that car since we didn’t want to hit a police car.. and then when we thought we were in the clear… a large 5’wide oil truck was backing out of the street and we needed to back up in order to let him out of the street. By then several female cops arrived, along with half the town.. Everyone was into the action. I got out of the car to help guide Mike, while one cop scolded the truck driver… We had to back out into another street and then once the truck got out we were directed back onto the narrow street.
We reached the hotel; I took our bags and went to the hotel and then they explained that we needed to drive down another street and out an archway to a parking area where we would go into a police office to get a parking permit. Mike did that part while I checked into the “not-so-Moderno-Hotel”… When Mike caught up with me he said the Police were at lunch (everyone takes a lunch break from about 1:30 until 4).. so we would have to return to the police office to get the permit later.
We ate at the hotel and then split up to meander the town…. More on that tomorrow.. but just let me say that the plan of the town is an equilateral triangle; there are more than 60 churches in this hamlet of 25,000 people + several monasteries and convents (which I learned are not the same thing)… and there are streets/roads that are so narrow you can only walk single file (and not be too fat).
Post walk, I did some work needed by my office and then we headed to dinner at a very sweet place (a former convent).. called La Pentolaccia. Great food and very nice atmosphere.. and no Americans; mostly all Italians. A five-minute walk uphill from our hotel on those stone streets. Funny thing, we had a map but it was too dark to read.. so the trusty iPhone maps got us there door to door! Amazing!
By the time we left, the temperature had really dropped and the fog rolled in (a la Berkeley).. dropping all the way to the ground.
All my best
Fern
PS Last night in Palermo, given that it was Rosh Hashanah.. we checked out the Jewish situation and learned that there are less than 50 Jews living in the city — not enough to be considered a community and definitely no synagogue. So, I’ll have a little bread with honey (which they serve easily) by myself. Happy New Year to all.
