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To Trieste, part 1

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July 31, 2014

It was another early morning mad dash to the airport.  We got up at 5 a.m. and walked to Toscolana train station.  Google maps said we could do it, and taxi drivers wanted an arm and a leg to take us on a five minute ride at that hour.  We did what most Romans do, walk.  You can not carry much baggage on a scooter.

The route takes us along one of Rome’s ancient aqueducts.  There are houses tucked in between the arches, or the entry to their yards and gardens, anyway.  We were looking for a path but found a bar instead.  “Buon giorno.  Stazione  Tuscolana e per la?”  I asked.  He understood, I understood I hoped, and we continued along the aqueduct until we came across a ‘destra,’ a right hand turn.  Cars were moving along, a few anyway, and the direction seemed right, but after a bit I chatted with another friendly pedestrian, who said we were to take the right fork just ahead- now you know why I stopped to ask- and go ‘diretto’ –  straight on.  She did not say, “You can’t miss it,” which is always a bad sign.

Maybe 1o minutes on we came upon a large avenue; we were out of the boonies finally.  Traffic increased, another good omen, and in a few minutes we were on Tuscolana the avenue, and in sight of the station.  Now to find a ticket.

Peg went off while I hauled the baggage to the proper quay, returned a few minutes later.  No ticket.  No people.  The machine only takes credit cards that require a pin, and the cash portion was not working.  We’ll buy on the train.  You can do that.  The train arrived as scheduled for which we were thankful, for this is vacation time, and our landlords told us that this train sometimes just does not show up and to allow plenty of time; thus our super early walk.

As I said, this is Italy, although the same could be said for any country over here, so no one showed up to check our tickets, and the ride to Leonardo Da Vinci airport in Fiumicino was totally free, easy, and relaxing as well,  after the somewhat tense 20 minute hike in the dawn.

 

See my art at http://garyartista.wix.com/gary-kirkpatrick-art

An Edgy Zone

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July 31, 2014

We walked around near where we’ll be staying starting in September.  It ain’t beautiful, at least where we were, and I was a bit disappointed, but saved by the charm of our youngish hosts and later by the street life in the up and coming area.

Back in the 90’s, according to the restaurateur we’d meet later in the evening, he could not even come to the neighborhood.  Now subway line C has emerged from two thousand years of antiquities right smack in the middle.  First a poor artist or two moved in, then a few more, then young professionals, and pretty soon the area dominated by street dealing and prostitution finds itself with trendy but sill comparatively inexpensive bars and restaurants.

The house itself was designed by the couple.  She’s an architect.  It was a shop which they divided in two; their friends live next door and smiled as they walked by.  On the ground floor there’s a living room.  There’s large table at the sliding door (designated art studio), which is next to the single door entry.  There’s a full bath and a decent sized bedroom currently occupied by the 5 year old.  A steep but short staircase takes you up a level literally, but figuratively up several.

Here’s a gorgeous kitchen which flows to the dining table and then onto the large, room-for-a-pony outdoor terrace.  It flows seamlessly onto the neighbor’s.  The master bedroom is there with another nicely tiled full bath.

I think this will be a fun place to live while our landlords are in NYC.  He’s an economist doing some work at Columbia University.  Very down to earth with excellent English- hers is more hesitant I think- he was more than willing to talk to me about the economy, the loss of jobs to third world countries and the like, while Peg went to get her computer so we could complete the email fund transfer.

They told us where to find some good places for dinner, and we went looking, and came upon a Japanese restaurant.  This should have been a clue as to what we were about to encounter, as the Italians were not receptive to foreign cuisines last we heard.  An employee or one of the owners arrived on his scooter-  there are at least two per capita here  and ushered us in, whereupon we were given a complimentary glass of wine, a seat in the garden, and a recitation of what’s happening in the zone, which probably has a name, but I do not know what it is yet.  Stay tuned.

He sent us to several restaurants after warning us to stay on the main drag and shortly we were in a trendy pedestrian area lined with restaurants, bars, all of which offer outdoor seating.  Not a tourist in sight- the friendly restaurateur had inquired how in the world we found ourselves here, in fact.  He is Italian- very-, by the way, and you cook your dinner at your table with the built in wood burning cook top.  And not a sushi in sight, he proudly added.

Not only we were the only tourists, there was a dearth of the conventionally dressed and those of our age in general.  The upwardly mobile, I suppose is how you’d class them.  Young people with education, and a bit of an edge.  The ones with less money sat in doorways drinking whatever they brought with them, the others frolicked more comfortably.

 

 

From Rome, With Love

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It was an early morning dash to the airport and then some tense minutes while I tried to find Peggy at the airport.  But smooth flying and a view of il Coloseo as we came in.  There’s a bus from Ciampino to Termini train station that’s quite easy, then an expensive cab ride to our hotel,; it happened to be near the house we are renting for the next several months.  It was lunchtime.

Our clerk sent us to a restaurant which was diretto, diretto down the street.  Not.  But some locals helped us find what we were looking for and we settled on a very local – there are no tourists in this section- and very good restaurant.  We ordered a pasta dish which we shared, and a mixed deep fried mixed plate with zucchini including the flower, stuffed olives, a rice ball and a few other goodies.  We got a very good local 1/2 bottle of red for 5 euros.  It took forever but it was good.

After a bit of a rest we met our future landlords-  we start in early September.  They have a house they renovated, their friends having bought and done the other half of an old shop.  The lady of the house is an architect.  She did a fine design it seemed to us.  I’ll describe the place soon but there’s a huge outdoor terrace.  They dine there 8 months of the year.

More soon.

 

 

My contribution to the exhibit at the Hotel d’ Ville’s exhibit in Paris

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My contribution to the exhibit at the Hotel d’ Ville’s exhibit in Paris, an delightful exhibit about which I posted last week. It is a protest against the astronomical prices in the restaurants. Try $6-7 for coffee, $15 for a hot dog. it’s become impossible for the average worker to afford to take the family out even once in a while unless they have a employer provided ‘ticket reataurant.’ 

Croak is a play on words- croque monsieur is a famous sandwich. If I can find someone to translate this for me I might do it up, just a 10 minute sketch now but I think it is kind of fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tanzania to Solwezi, Zambia- a slideshow set to Zambian music

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These are photos from the moment we landed in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, across 1500 km of Tanzania to Solwezi, Zambia, where we met up with Travis, who is serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in a small village not far from Solwezi.  Coming up,  our days in his village.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKXpMILbwFU&list=UUl7YKIwsWVvA_jQrQVcxYRg

Update from Lusaka

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June 14th

Hello from Lusaka, the capitol of Zambia. 3 fantastic days in our nephew’s village (he is in Peace Corps), what lovely people and what a totally fabulous welcome we received! Rustic conditions, to put it mildly, even the bus rides were arduous and there was a 1 1/2 hour walk in the dark but under a full moon to end the 12 hour day. More to come when I have time on the net.

If you have a Facebook account you can read my hand written journals with illustrations.  I have not uploaded to google+ yet.  I can not post them here without more work than I can probably manage to do right now.

From Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

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Seven hours from Madrid and you are smack dab in the middle of the Islamic world.  It hardly looks it from an air traveler’s point of vierw.  Dubai is flooded with oil money and the large modern steel and glass buildings strut out from the coastal landscape as you descend.  The world’s tallest building seems to zig zag its way into the clouds.

Three hours and a $15 quiche for one lunch later we were on our way.  It’s about 5 hours to Dar Es Salaam.  Fortunately we slept a bit along the way.  In my case, I struggled with much pain in the coccyx.  It seems I need a special pillow as not even the ibuprofen worked.

Once at the airport it took an hour to get the visa and $100 each.  Quite expensive for a three day visit.  Fortunately our ride was still waiting as we emerged and we got into a small van, only slightly beat up.  It took another hour to get to the hotel we’d booked.

Along the way people offered a wide variety of goods for sale to the drivers stuck in the traffic.  Women wearing brightly colored dresses carried a root vegetable on their heads, their skull cushioned by a round cloth.  Men carried sporing goods, traffic warning triangles for when you break down, bright plastic watches, and large bags of cashews.  Local buses lumbered in and out of the lanes.  These buses have been around a while.  It’s hot, about 92f/32c and the bus windows are all open.

Our downtown hotel sits on an unpaved street.  We are warmly welcomed, ushered everywhere from the front door to our hotel room.  A gorgeous huge bed is also very welcoming, as is the fully tiled bathroom.  You have to wait for the hot water tank to warm up, but once that is done, it’s a great shower with room for a pony.

Our traveling companions are in the hotel next door.  They have made the trip from Texas, arriving the day before.  We had a very spicy curry, a decent pizza, some tomato soup.  Nary a fried grasshopper in sight.

 

Travels

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Our time in Valencia is coming to an end, at least for now.

On June 1 we are joining two other RPCV (Returning Peace Corps Volunteers aka ex-PCV’s) who lived near us in Panama for a two day train trip across Tanzania.  There might be some wildlife along the way but mostly small viallages, open expanses and hills.  That journey ends in Zambia, where we meet up with our nephew who is a PCV there.  We spend a week in his village (just six houses there) before traveling across the country to Livingstone.  This is the location of the famous and fabulous Victoria Falls.  Tons of wildlife in the river and nearby.  280px-Victoria_Falls_2012

There are lots of critters in the area including elephants, giraffe, zebra, antelopes.  Lions and leopards are rarely seen.  There are also vervet monkeys and lots of baboons. The river above the falls has lots of hippos and crocodiles, the latter weighing up to a ton!   There are otters and a wide variety of raptors and waterfowl.  Riverine forest is found above the falls,   Mopane woodland savanah dominates the area however.    We are staying in a backpacker hotel just 8 km from the falls and so we can go often, with transport provided by the hotel.

We return to Madrid after an 8 hour visit to Dubai, where we hope to ascend the world’s tallest building.  After an overnight in Madrid (we are leaving our big bags with a friend there), we fly to Paris.  We are renting a friend’s flat in Courbevoie for the month while she is gone.  Courbevoie is famous for the impressionist painting executed along the river.

After Paris we are in Trieste for a month.  Trieste is almost due east from Venice on the Adriatic, on the border with Slovenia, and 90% of rural dwellers speak Slovenian, while Italian dominates in the city.  Trieste was part of the Austria-Hungarian empire from the 14th century until it was ceded to Italy at the conclusion of WW1.  It has a mild climate, with a high of 28C (low 80’s F) in the summer.  We have never been there but it is a city well worth visiting.  Since it borders Slovenia, it and Croatia are readily visited as well.  We have rented a one bedroom flat near the old port.

From September – late December we have rented a flat in Rome from a couple visiting New York during this period.  It is a small house  near Tiburtina station and a tram line.  Trains and trams are generally faster than buses, which must contend with tons of traffic.  We are not near a metro.  Where we go next year has yet to be determined.  We do think Valencia is in our future, however.

 

 

 

 

More about Valencia’s symphonic bands (with link to a video)

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Peg writes:
You may know my penchant for these Valencian symphonic bands.  We can hear groups of this caliber almost every week at the beautiful Palau de la Musica here in Valencia.
In any case, we heard this composition by Bert Appermont, a Belgian composer who was born in 1973, last Sunday.  It tells the story of Lamoral, the Count of Egmont, a descendent of one of Spain’s wealthiest families, who was a general serving under King Philip II of Spain in the Low Countries (Belgium and Holland), in 1560 ruled by Spain.  He was born and raised in Holland, however, and after years of military training in Spain and distinguished service in the army, began to protest strongly against Philip II’s cruel and tyrannical government.  He was eventually imprisoned and beheaded.   To make a long story short, his death sparked the 80 years war that resulted in the independence of the Low Countries from Spain.  You can hear the entire story in this piece.
This is a typical band from our area.  There are more than 600 of them, most with music schools attached.  These people all have day jobs, many of them having nothing to do with music.  They do it out of love, often living in the town where they went to the local music school.  Sometimes their kids play sitting next to them – I’ve seen a few who look like they’re about 12 years old.  Until they are good enough, the kids play in the school band. This performance was taped during a band competition in the area.

St Pat’s Day in Trafalgar Square

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Went to St Pat Day event at Trafalgar Sq. with 100,000 of our closest friends today. We listened to a harp concert, and the Commitments on loan from the musical ongoing here. It was a bright and sunny day. A friend I met in Spain but from here met us there and we walked past Big Ben (leaning 3 degrees), Parliament, and across the river. Lots of activity on this beautiful day- which started out badly when the parking lot machine wasn’t working and the call in number wasn’t either- but ended well as we got no parking ticket either.