Gary Kirkpatrick

Artist and travel blogger.

Rome December 12 2011 (1 of 2) Misadventures on the way to Holy Mary

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It seems I can not remember to both zipper up and do anything else all in the same day.  Today I remembered to zipper up so something had to give.  We were already on the tram heading for Santa Maria in Trastevere when I learned what it was.  My weekly transport pass.  It was not in my back pocket where I put it yesterday.  Of course the time to check this sort of thing is after you leave the house and get on the thing you need the pass for.

I hopped off the tram as Peg said something about Santa Maria, hopped onto the next one going back to the flat to see if perchance I’d left it there.  It took me a few minutes to notice the large group of ticket checkers standing just a few feet away.  Fortunately they were chatting with one another so I hopped off and got on the next one.   All this was for naught as I did not find the pass in the flat.

In the meantime Peg continued on to Termini station to find a bus map.  The ones that purported to be bus maps at the newspaper stands do not have any bus routes on them.  We were then going to continue on towards the Etruscan museum at Villa Giulia.   I waited for her where I got off.  It was over an hour when she showed up, walking from the opposite direction.  She had said that we were to meet at Santa Maria in Trastevere.  I’d checked there once while waiting but she was not there.  At least we only lost 15 minutes which after over an hour in the cold but sunny weather was not too bad.  But by this time it was the lunch hour so it was time for us to fight about where we are to eat.   Peg has decided that if I don’t chose I’ll get mad if it doesn’t work out.  This, of course, made me mad.

Tomorrow I leave with the zipper down.

 

Rome

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We arrived in Rome Tuesday afternoon after a short flight from Valencia.  After meeting our landlord for the week- we rented a small flat in Trastevere near the train station- we had a bit of a rest,  and went to find a friend  at the school on top of the hill.  A colleague got her on the phone for us.  We’ll meet up some time this week.  I’ll tell you about her in a later post.

After some light shopping at a fancy joint – we’d been there before – we had a nice light dinner at a tavola calda called Pizza Boom.  Turns out our landlord recommended it but we picked it out on our own.  It is just a small place with pizza by the slice, veggies by the weight, and 3.50 for a decent bottle of red. Dinner for two including a nice hunk of mozzarella di bufala for 15 euros.

Tuesday morning, after a cup of the most fabulous cappuccino (how do the Italians do it time after time?) in a little place nearby we went to the Tor Argentina. These ruins are in the middle of busy area. Cat’s live there and are fed and cared for (a sign reads ‘do not feed’). This is where Caesar was assassinated. Like most ruins, they are quite below current street level. This is one of my favorite spots but here I have many.

Then we walked to  Bocca de la Verita http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bocca_della_Verit%C3%A0.  No way would a guy like me go anywhere near that Bocca thing. This is Peg’s favorite church. It dates from the 8th century. I recall reading that the RCC distributed food from here (grain and oil were given away by the state in Roman times, if I recall correctly), continuing the practice in the absence of government.  The crypt is now open. You pay just a euro to go in.  Just some columns and a little table with a Byzantine Mary image on it.

Across the street is my favorite Roman temple, that of the Vestal Virgins (not that I am partial to virgins.)    I’ll try to do a pen and ink of it.  It is in fine shape. Across the way is a 4 arched gate. It is being excavated so you can not get near it right now. Too bad. It was a very important entrance to il Foro (the Forum) which is just a short distance away.

We went into the center of the old town for lunch. There are jillions of places but since we were eating at friend’s house, we ended up in a pizza al taglio (by weight) place since you can eat a light meal for relatively little money.  They also have other choices. There was a veal plate for example. I got a plate of veggies. The Italians love veggies and feature them like no one else I know of. I had a plate of breaded eggplant/aubergine and several other veggies. The Italians love olive oil almost as much as the Spanish so there was plenty! I think a bit much for me as afterwards I had to buy a coke to settle my stomach.

In this place and others, if you want say some veggies and some pizza, you have to go to two separate counters. The pizza counter here is run by a woman who reminds me of the nurse character played by Cloris Leachman (opposite Harvey Korman) in Mel Brook’s High Anxiety, a film he did in the 70’s.  She had the world’s pointiest boobs with which to menace her opponents. The woman who serves the pizza here thinks all customers are opponents. Anyway she intimidated me into buy a huge piece of pizza with just fresh tomatoes and a few mozzarella balls on it. It was fabulous.

After we went on our merry way we got on the shopping bus they run during the holidays. You get a nice tour of the old town while pretending to window shop. Actually I check out the Roman women, whom I still find to be stunningly shapely despite the winter apparel, which I think should count as a handicap.  The young Parisian wearing short shorts with leggings in winter still give me whip lash as well.

The bus brought us to Piazza del Popolo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_del_Popolo.  One of my favorite buildings is here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_del_Popolo. Inside is the famous Caravaggio of Paul being hung upside down on a cross. There are some fabulous chiaroscuro- balustrades that have so much dimension you have to touch them to know for certain they are painted.

After a bit of a rest up we went for diner at friends M and P’s place near the Barberini palace.  We met M in 1999 and had maintained contact (this is my department as Peg does not do contact very much) and met up in ’04 and ’05 (when we were here for shorter periods), so it was a real pleasure to see them again.  Their children have grown up.  The son is now 17 and the daughter 16, and a very impressive pair they are.  The son expects to study in the UK and the daughter in the US after they graduate.  Both speak English and Italian with equal ease.

We had great conversation and food for the next several hours, starting with some thinly sliced ham and some mozzarella with some very lovely Italian red.  Then it was the primi piato, pasta with a red sauce and pancetta.  Then she served some involtini – which means stuffed.  In this case it was some sausage with thyme wrapped by a slice of chicken breast.  Lovely.

In the meantime friend J entertained us with his theft story.  He left his wallet on the seat of his car in Iceland.  The crooks immediately went to a cash machine but did not have the password so J got a message on his phone regarding the attempt, telling him the location.  He found a policeman, they went to the bank, got the video of the incident (they knew the time from the phone message) and the cops recognized the crooks.  They even knew where they lived, went there and retrieved the wallet completely intact- having threatened the crooks with jail time if there was even a penny missing. Unfortunately J told this story several times.  I think he had a bit too much to drink.

It was otherwise going well before we ran out in a panic thinking the buses stopped at 1030 (Peg got this one wrong, the fault of a website).  But it was late enough for me anyway, though I hated to end the evening so abruptly.  Out we walked into the cold winter night.

 

Peg writes about the difference between east and west parts of Berlin

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We’ve walked our feet off here in Berlin, making great progress in our long list of museum visits.  We’ve had very nice weather, usually a bit cool, excellent for walking.  The public transportation here, like in Paris, is excellent, and although the city is enormous, it is very easy to get to anywhere, even if it is 15 kilometers from the city center.  To see “German” architecture one must go to the parts of the city that are a bit further away from the center, which were not so badly damaged by the air raids of WWII.  In these areas the buildings still retain their 19th century character and charm.  In the center, everything is new and rather massive, more like La Defense in Paris.  

The contrast between east and west is still visible.  In the eastern zone, most buildings have been renovated and decorative bits of color have been added to remove the severity and plainness of Soviet-style architecture.  But what I have noticed, even 23 years after the collapse of the Berlin wall, is the difference in the number of shops on the ground floors.  In the west, the atmosphere is quite festive – trees, sidewalk cafes, restaurants, boutiques, signs, color, etc.  On the east side, you can go for blocks on the bus without seeing anything except the front doors of 5-storey cement block buildings.  It is still obvious on the east side that there was a real dearth of consumer goods and a strong disincentive to the establishment of small businesses.

We’ve also been eating typical German food and drinking German beer, although so far, Gary has been a bit disappointed by the beer, and I have as well!  I have eaten roasted pig knuckle, which is sold in France as “jarret” and is a Berlin specialty.  Some restaurants boil it, others roast it.  The one I had was roasted in the oven, and was delicious.  The size is a bit intimidating when it arrives in front of you in the restaurant, but after you dig into it, you see that although there is plenty of meat, much of the dish is bone and gristle, which one does not have to eat! I adore German-style red cabbage, and am finding many opportunities to eat that as well. 

Peg

 

 

Per capita consumption of beer in Germany: 3 gallons. Per day!

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I can not be exhaustive of the possibilities but here are some highlights from my viewpoint:

  1. Beer.  It is everywhere.  There are beer stores and wine shops, and a few carry both.  You see people in parks and on benches drinking from glass bottles, no cans.  I was generally not super impressed.  I recall my first trip to Germany watching people take five minutes to pour a beer, which resulted in a huge thick head.  They are nice here but not as impressive as I remember, and I remember the beer being stronger.  Per capita consumption, 3 gallons.  Per day!!!  No just joking.
  2. Pork.  Enormous quantities.  Pig’s knuckle is a big deal.  I do not think they come from the foot.  The one we shared was too big to be a pig’s foot or at any rate did not look like one. We saw them boiled or baked.  The baked one Peg had was very good.  Per capita 4 per day.
  3. Curry weiner.  I had one, it was awful.  It was a hot dog type of sausage with breading and it might have had meal in it.   Served with a catsup with some sort of mild curry spice.  Per capita only 2 a day.
  4. Breads.  Fantastic unless you are looking for a baguette.  Hearty dark grains, seeds on the top, seeds throughout.  Small role to big loaf.  Hard rolls too, with poppy seeds.  Some great desserts, too, many creamy ones that must have 750 calories.  Cherries and other fruits are often included.  Per capita about 10-12 slices!   Up to 3000 calories per slice.
  5. Schnitzels.  Can’t believe I have not had one.  The per capita must be 6-7 per day!!
  6. Cheese.  A pleasant surprise.  There are some very strong flavored ones that compare favorably with similar French cheeses.  Per capita: 1 oz per month
  7.  Coffee.  Not as good as Paris or Italy but certainly respectable and cheaper than Paris.
  8. Wine.  This is beer country.  German wines are mostly just ok.

All in all I’ve enjoyed the food here more than I thought I would.  You come here for the museums not the food but you’ll not be disappointed.

My art in Berlin (1)

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Here are some of the pieces I’ve done while in Berlin.  For more click on the “Art” category.

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Best viewed with PicLens

I am afraid some of the images might not fit on the screen.  I have a very small screen so it might just be a problem on mine.

From Prussia With Love (2): The Stasi

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The Stasi museum is housed in its former headquarters in what was East Berlin.  It’s stark modern construction holds the archives (961 bags of still torn up documents included), offices, spy equipment and stories of repression only its mute walls can probably tell in full.  It houses the remaining controversy about openness and acknowledgement that remain from The Fall in 1989.  (see video link below).

Among the capacities contained here was the ability to open and reseal 90,000 envelopes a day.  Someone had to check those letters and did, more often than not, for they had 90,000 employess and 180,000 IM’s- people spying on their friends, neighbors, co-workers.

The Stasi came early in the morning without warning.  Some were even nabbed while in the western zone.  The Stasi readily obtained the warrants they needed.  It was a mere formality.  They were never refused.  They interrogated and isolated, so isolated that many looked forward to their interrogation.  It was the only human contact they had.

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Best viewed with PicLens- you can see the captions.

 

After they were done with the interrogations, most often ending in a signed confession, you sometimes served prison terms, sometimes were turned into an IM, while some were sold to the West German government for about $50,000, a major revenue source for the cash starved GDR (German ‘Democratic’ Government).  Hundreds of thousands were thus treated.  They did not want ‘hardened hostile negative people’ as they called them, just walking about anywhere they pleased.

A few were executed.  This was done by a shot to the back of a head, without warning.

Today former prisoners complain that high level Stasi employees, and other high level personnel, were never tried, and receive still a government pension.  The people they destroyed, whose careers and family lives were wrecked, whose health was damaged, receive much less and if they never worked, they get nothing.  Stasi employees are often still working as policeman and in other government jobs.  German law says they committed no crime if the action was legal in the East, so they went on as if nothing happened.  And that’s what many say to this day.  Nothing happened.  But those little strips tell us otherwise.

Here are a couple of good documentaries

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha1jM9HAs6c&feature=related

 

 

From Prussia, With Love (part 1)

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We arrived here on September 1.  We rented a flat for the month to explore this city of some 3.4 million people, filled with wonderful museums, and the epicenter of Germany’s turbulent past, where beer is king, not wine.  Foie gras and escargot give way to meaty sausages and pigs’ knuckles.  Still some mighty good food but not as refined as the French cuisine we have so enjoyed for the past 14 months in Paris.

The architecture also does not compare, not surprising given the near total devastation this city experienced just 6 decades ago.  Its turn of the century beauty turned to rubble and up came many ugly boxes in their place.  It would be foolish to have expected other wise.

Nonetheless there is a festiveness here, judging by the busyness of the cafes and bars.  That it is still warm out no doubt helps convey the feeling of togetherness friends must feel sitting in front of one of the many fine brews they serve endlessly.

Sitting in a cafe drinking a beer. It is what you do.

 

 

At one of our tables.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We visited the Reichstag (German Parliament).  It was one fine older building they restored and modernized inside.  On the steps the brass band played for the visitors on a sunny Sunday.

http://youtu.be/gqO_vdrn5AE

And along the way we stumbed upon this smaller brass band on the street:

http://youtu.be/09_sUwRRhPw

 

A typical street in Berlin. There’s a brick church just up the street.

Because Berlin is not generally a pretty town – you come here mostly for the museums and some historical sites- you’d stay here longer only if it were one of those cities where living there is really more interesting than visiting.  This it may be.

There is an extensive music and dance scene here, an attitude of openness and experimentation, so we’ve read, that makes one feel not only welcome and at home but stimulated.  For us, it might be the international folk dance scene that would keep us involved; there are several groups.

More soon I hope!

Vaughntown: spend a week in Spain at a nice resort for free

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Vaughntown: spend a week in Spain at a nice resort for free

 

I spent a week just outside Segovia talking to Spanish people in English.  Aside from transportation and overnight stays in Madrid, the whole week’ room and board were free.  Only native English speakers can apply for these positions.

In our group, there were 14 Anglos and 9 Spaniards, so the Anglos had downtime, the Spaniards didn’t.  On the other hand, they had each paid $2400 for the week, so they were determined to get the most out of it.  The ratio differs with each program, so the amount of free time for the Anglos varies, as you will understand when you see the daily schedule.

 

 

The only rule (other than attending all activities held between 10:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.) had to do with seating at meals.  We always sat at tables of 4, two Anglos and 2 Spaniards.  This was so that the Spaniards would hear Anglos talking among themselves, which is different than when we talk to foreigners.

The schedule for each day was as follows:

9:00-10:00  breakfast (you didn’t have to talk then, just grunting sufficed.  You didn’t have to stay for the full hour, either.)

10:00-14:00  – One on One conversation with a different Spaniard each hour, 10-minute breaks between sessions.  I never had more than 3                         and never 3 in a row.  There was at least one free hour each morning.

14:00-15:00  –  Lunch (15:30 if you had an interesting conversation going)

15:00-17:00 – break/siesta (Spaniards and Anglos)

17:00 – 18:00 – Group activity – everybody in central meeting room, no responsibility unless the MC selected you to participate in a skit or                         sing!!

18:00 – 20:00 – One on Ones (again, never more than 1, w/free time the other hour)

20:00-21:00 – Group activity – everybody together, no responsibility except to laugh at MC’s jokes

21:00 – 22:00 – Dinner

22:30 to whenever – optional pub quiz, bingo, whatever in bar

 

Long day, but hardly intense.  Between 6 and 8 pm on a couple of days, the Spaniards practiced phone calls, conference calls, and One-on-Ones over the telephone.  They find this difficult, as there is no body language to help them understand what’s being discussed.

 

Two paid staff on hand – the program director, who handled schedules, all details and emergencies, and the Master of Ceremonies, who explained everything and handled all the group activities.

 

I found the whole thing very enjoyable.  The facility was luxurious, the food was excellent, the other Anglos very interesting and the Spaniards quite outgoing, very determined to improve their English and so not shy in the One-on-One conversations.  They had 6 hours of One-on-Ones per day, and not once did I ever feel they were tired of doing them!  It was remarkably easy to get conversations going – I never had to resort to the usual questions.  You know, “Where are you from, How long have you been studying English, Why are you studying English”, etc.  Sometimes we had to rush to get the the next One on One because we were in the middle of a conversation and forgot to look at the time.  Youngest participant was 23, oldest about 50.  One of the young men was the son of the ex-Governor of Madrid and ex-head of the Spanish national police.  A 40-year old guy had just finished building a huge solar-powered photo-voltaic plant with 5 partners, one 30-year old woman was a high-school English teacher, another 30-year old was an optician (who lives in Valencia, coincidentally), one account executive for Pernod-Ricard, etc.  Only one recent college graduate who has not yet had a job.  Many of the participants had been sent by their companies, although some paid the full amount themselves.

 

The Anglos included 3 Australians, 1 Swede who spoke excellent English and who teaches Swedish to immigrants as his real job, 1 Czech (many years in England), 1 Trinidadian, 1 Canadian, 1 American (me) and the rest from England, although not all with the same accent!  No Irish or Scots — too bad for me, as I love those accents.  Various ages.

 

Vaughn has a special hotel rate at the hotel where they hold the opening reception on the Saturday evening before, as many Anglos arrive in Madrid on Saturday.  We met with the Spaniards at the bus at 9:00 am on Sunday morning, got to the site in a couple of hours, had lunch and an orientation session and One-on Ones Sunday evening.  On Friday, the last day, we had 2 One on Ones, a closing ceremony (with presentation of certificates, of course), a farewell luncheon, and left the site at 3:00.  Got back to Madrid about 5, so the Spaniards who were going home by train could all get home that evening.  So the program runs an actual full 5 days.

The whole week was very well organized and the participants felt that the week had been worth it.  Some were already trying to figure out how they could spring for another week!

I went to the El Rancho de la Aldeguela resort.  You can see it on Google Maps.  Look up “El Rancho de la Aldegüela, Spain”.  It is near Segovia, which some of the group went to for a few hours in their spare time.  A very beautiful old city.  I didn’t go, as the sun was really bright and burny up there.  At the resort, the weather was perfect.  Hot in the sun, but very comfortable in the shade.  So you could do your One on Ones outdoors in one of the gardens or indoors in the bar or one of many other quiet spots.   They

didn’t care.  You could go to a neighborhood cafe if you wanted to, or walk over to the grocery or pharmacy if you needed something.

I talked with some Anglos who had done the program several times.  Three or four of them were doing back-to-back weeks at two different sites.  They said all the facilities are excellent, and only one is so remote that it has no Internet.  That is Valdelavilla (sp?)  Unfortunately, it is also the one with the best food  ;) winking.  Given what Vaughn charges the Spaniards, the facilities had better be excellent…  I met a very interesting American at the opening reception who was going to Gredos, one of the other sites.  She has emailed me that she had a wonderful time there as well.

Vaughn posts the schedules way ahead of time so folks coming from far away can book flights, arrange the rest of their vacation, etc.  Some of the Brits who have done it before just check for last minute openings and hop over on a discount air carrier if the weather forecast looks bleak in England!  From Valencia, we can do that as well, as we can get to Madrid on the train.  Once you have been accepted, you do not have to reapply – you just go online and pick your week, if there are still slots when/where you want to go.  Very clever!

Everything I said above could be wrong, of course.  You may have a different ratio of Anglos to Spaniards, they may all be very shy or at a lower level, who knows?  The Anglos said that we did have a bit more downtime than normal, but that the English level of the participants was typical.  I thought it was quite advanced, actually, and that they were there for exactly the right reason – they wanted to get their speaking capability more closer to their reading and aural comprehension level.  Apparently they have to “test” in – somebody calls them up and they talk over the phone in English.

It took them about a month to send me the acceptance notice,  although I think the only requirement is that you speak English, can put two sentences together and are willing to invest your time to improving the English of these folks.    We had all different types of people in the Anglo group, from a young Australian guy whose main concern seemed to be when he was going to get his next beer to a couple of English housewives.Here is the link to the VaughnTown program:  http://volunteers.grupovaughan.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=2