La Bella Italia - Bologna 2009

The most amazing birthday weekend!

Last week, per fortuna, Julia arrived in Florence. A few weeks ago, I was planning on visiting Maria Costanza on the 28th the day before my birthday.

MC is a dear friend (Italian Soprano with the most gorgeous voice). We met in New Zealand in 2007 when she played Liu for NBR NZ Opera's production of Turandot and have kept in touch ever since.

Per fortuna, I was talking to another very dear friend - Julia Booth (www.juliabooth.co.nz) (another Soprano...common thread in my life here - Tenors and Sopranos?) who said that she was going to be in Florence on the 28th and suggested we visit the medieval town of Siena!

So. Last thursday, I took the train to Firenze (Florence), and saw Maria Costanza. I arrived and met her GORGEOUS whippet, Ares, who was very pleased and excited to meet me, and we took a walk around the city following a gorgeous dinner of very simple and fresh Italian cuccina.

The following day, I met Julia at the train station (She had just come on the overnight train from Paris) and we set off on another train for Siena. We checked into our shared room at our very modest hotel and I opened the blind expecting to see a brick wall and to our ASTONISHMENT we were greated by this view...

 

Talk about STUNNING! Here are a series of photos of the view with moi...

   

And one without me...

 

That day, we explored the town, saw the magnificent Duomo which dominates the skyline (Julia has photos of that, we are sharing photos when we return so I will post more later).

After a glass of beautiful birthday chianti on our balcony, we asked for a reccomendation for dinner and were guided fuori di zona touristica (Out of the tourist zone) to the most amazing restaurant (and inexpensive!) and had bruschetta, just like Luca makes(!) and the most gorgeous pasta and wine.

After dinner, we grabbed a gelato and headed into the main piazza where we found an open air rock concert in progress by a very famous Italian jazz\rock musician Pino Daniele. Wow! What a treat.
The piazza was packed and we managed to catch the last 20-30 minutes of the concert. The guitarist was SUPREME, a virtuoso rock guitarist. The whole night was exceptional. 

More to come about day two and San Gimignano later... must dash to class.

A doppo miei amici!
Ciao!

Tosca at the Verona Arena

Last week, following an in-class performance for my classmates of a couple of songs, we decided that it would be a great idea to try to see an opera in Verona (about an 1:15 hr drive north of Bologna). We settled on Wednesday night and a performance of Tosca at the very famous Arena. www.arena.it. 

5 of us (including Maria Antonietta, my landlady who is an opera fanatic) drove up to Verona after school to see the performance which started at 9pm. Fortunately for me, because of Maria Antonietta's disability, she finds it difficult to walk, we were upgraded to the premium seating area and I was allowed to accompany her as her aide. We had the most supurb seats that should have cost about £250+! Amazing, 7th row back in the stalls as we would say. 

The accoustic of the arena is less than supurb with it being all'aperto (plain air)(open air), but being so close to the stage, we were able to hear the singers without difficulty. My other 3 friends who were way up in the top seating area could hardly hear and there are no mics to add an accoustical boost which is a shame. 

However the set was the most amazing part of the production (Leave the Tosca and Cavadarossi behind, overacted and contrived in my opinion, but perhaps just the direction for such a large theatre). 

A HUGE bust of Tosca dominated the stage, and at the end of the 1st Act when Scarpia (Who was amazing and had a VERY solid voice) prays to the heavens, the stage was filled with supreme spendour and a chorus of what looked like close to 100 (No idea really how many people were in the chorus, but it looked amazingly impressive). I

The costumes were good, although every time Tosca walked, she made a clatter as the bedazzled robe\dress she was wearing always scraped the floor. She sounded like she was walking with a huge coin purse dangling around. Or a gypsy with a large number of bangles on her wrist, it was most distraction and caused me to laugh on many occasions.  

   

The tenor was asked by the crowd to repeat the famous aria (è lucevan le stelle), but tosca was not asked to repeat her aria...  

The performance finished at 12pm (yes, late) and by the time we got out of the city and got home it was about 2.30am, a great night and enjoyed by all! Verona is a wonderful city, and a little bit of me fell in love with it as we were walking around the city before the performance. Lovely!

Fine settimana con sebastian (Weekend with Sebastian)

Now that I actually have a little time to write a blog post, have finished my homework for the day, I would like to recount the wonderful weekend that I had with Sebastian. 
Sebbel arrived on Thursday and stayed with me for 3 nights at Maria Antoinetta's house, in the incredibly cool basement... I think every house should have one, esp when your summers have an average temperature of about 33 degrees, bravo! 

 Thursday night he was subjected to 'Aperitivo' with my school. Laure, a wonderful new friend of mine, also had a friend with her, Stefano, so there wasnt just one non-student there. But it was great fun, had wonderful food and great conversation (Sempre in Italia - always!) 

The weekends activities included being incredibly touristic in Bologna and sampling local cuccina, vino, e touristic sites. 

Friday afternoon, we scaled one of the due torri (Two towers) which is about 97m high and we got the best views of the city. I hadn't actually realized, until then, that Bologna was quite as big as it is!  (see photos - it just keeps going and going). The funny thing is, that when you are in the city centre, it doesnt feel big at all... in fact, it feels like a village.  Probably because you are encased in the medieval city walls. What a ciy! 

Saturday morning, we walked to San Luca, a church up on the hillside (about an hours walk uphill, good for the calves!) and we were treated to lovely views of the city. 

And in the afternoon, we sampled the city's weekly markets held on Friday and Saturday with all sorts of goods. Great for finding VERY cheap sunglasses(!)

In the photo below you are able to see San Luca perched upon the top of the right hill (Colline). It stands as a symbol to god, as close to the heavens as you can get in the flat plane area of Bologna. 

We had a wonderful Saturday night also sampling Tagliatelle al ragu (THE most famous dish to come from Bologna (Lasagne comes second!)). Bologna used to be filled with over 100 brick towers, most of which have been destroyed over the years. However we had a map of some 27 remaining towers, and we thought it would be very fun, on Saturday night, to try to find every single tower on the map! 

Well, we found about 12 or 13 of them, then we spied a nice restaurant, and had a lovely dinner including a bottle of wine and, of course, Limoncello (I am told it is mandatory at every meal out - ignorance is bliss!). E poi, we tried to find the remaining towers. This proved a little difficult in the dark, but very enjoyable. Pointing the camera and shooting in the dark at unlit towers è molto divertente (great fun!).

All in all, a wonderful weekend, and so great to see Sebastian again after a long year apart. Hopefully he will be studying next year in New Zealand, so I will get to see him again in a short while. 

Dov'è fermata dell'aerobus?

I am currently riding the bus to pick up Sebastian from the airport. For those of you who don't know, Sebastian is a friend from Cologne who did an overseas exchange with otago university and whom I met last year. We have stayed in touch since he left and I am so excited that he was able to come down to Bologna to visit! He arrives today and stays until Sunday. Yesterday was an intense 42 degree day and unfortunately my back didn't stand the heat. It gave way in the middle of class and I had to leave. The only thing I could do was to walk home VERY slowly and then lie down flat until morning. It is still incredibly sore but the painkillers are helping a little. I think it is just the heat causing things to swell up and put pressure on nerves. Will try a few cold compresses tonight. Sadly cold compresses don't last long in this heat. It's like being in Alexandra here, so dry and so hot. Of course, I love that. Better than hot and sticky! Today Paula (with whom I have a private hour of tuition every day) and i went to the museum of medieval Bologna. What a fascinating place! So much of Bologna's history is tied up in the university culture with it being home to the oldest university in the world. So many important theologans, writers and artists emerged here including THE man who invented the Gregorian Calendar- Pope Gregory III who is Considered to be the father of Bologna. For some who don't know, Bologna is home to many towers (torri it. pl.) Which were built between 500-1000 ad. Made of red brick, the two most famous are called the due torri (the two towers) - but if you are wondering if Tolkien ever visited, I'm afraid I can't tell you if he did or not! I am going to take Sebastian exploring this weekend so we will take lots of pictures of bologna and see the famous church on the hill -San luca. If you want to see some of bologna, uou should watch the film 'Tea with Mussolini' with Maggie smith and Judy Dench, filmed at San Luca and in Bologna. I suggest you rent it as it is an amazing film but also shows you a lot of the countryside where I am. More to come including photos of Bologna! Tonight I am subjecting Sebbel to my fellow Italian classmates for aperitivo (it's the Italian happy hour with snacks, more like a casual dinner and drinks on a hot summer evening, a very trendy hour of the day!) As we say, A domani (till tomorrow!)! Michael Di Bologna.

A weekend in Rome

I visited Rome on Friday. Left after class in the afternoon and caught the 5.30pm Eurostar. Got to my hotel by 9pm which was situated one block from the colosseum. A very small and modest room, but very clean which was good. The name is Hotel Albergo, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone traveling to Rome - Very pleasant staff and I felt safe leaving my bags and passport with them at the hotel.

After checking in, went for apperitivo at a cafe about 10 mins walk as I hadn't eaten a thing. And went to a bar a couple of blocks away for a drink. Met a lovely american couple from San Fran (Ken and Mike) who were visiting Rome for their honeymoon! Had a nice chat and talked about everything to do in Rome -as they had been there for 5 days already.

Got up at 7 am the following day and explored the Colosseum, the Palatino (On Palatine hill the legend was born that Romolo and Remo’s twin sons survived thanks to a she-wolf which suckled them in a cave. During the Republic, it was a quiet residential area, covered by gardens. This an important archaeological site with its ancient paths and ruins.), the Victor Emmanuel Monument, Trevi fountain, and the Pantheon. 

The Trevi fountain was by far the most annoying as it was so crowded one could hardly move. 

By 2pm I had finished my sightseeing for the day. My feet ragged from walking non stop, and my camera finger trigger happy, I went back to the hotel to freshen up.

I had heard from the boys the night before that there was to be a beach party on the coast from 12pm onwards. So I decided to go for a cultural visit to see the Roman beaches. This turned out to be a lesson in transportation also! 

Should have taken me 1 hour to get there, but it took me 3! To summize, I got off 2 stops too late on the Metro, backtracked, got on the correct connecting train, but got off that 2 stops too early! Didnt want to wait another 2 hours for a train, so walked and FINALLY found a bus to take me to the next 2 equivalent train stops. 

Found the bus that I should have caught at the end of the train line. Went 9.4 kms on the bus down the beach road to the address I had been given. Found out that actually, the beach I was looking for was another 5 kms down the beach. (The romans give their beaches names, but they don't signpost them well at all). Finally found a rainbow flag after catching another bus. And found the beach party. 

Bumped into Ken and Mike - we were the only english speakers there, the rest were all natives! and had a dance in the water whilst listening to the DJs and a couple of drinks. The beaches were so lovely and the water perfect. 

About 7pm we left and went back into town. Thankfully because I knew the way there, I knew the way back, but the correct way. So it only took us an hour. 

Then we went to the gay village which happens in the summer months. Met lots of interesting people, including an incredibly funny boy who had lived in South Africa for 3 years. Italian South African accent was VERY mixed - hilarious. He reminded me of Carson from Queer eye for the straight guy, looked exactly like him. 

Had dinner at this gay festival. It was kind of like a carnival for the gays of Rome. Very strange. Restaurants, a film showing on a big screen, 2 dance floors with DJs - lots of fun. 

At the end of the night, we found our way home from the suburbs.

Sunday was another incredibly hot day exploring more sights including the Campo de Fiori. But it was too hot and too sticky to go to the Vatican. That will happen on the next  trip. It didn't help that on Saturday, it was one of the biggest religious holidays in the Catholic Italian Calendar. The ascension of the blessed Virgin. So I was warned not to go to the Vatican unless I wanted to be standing in queues double that of the normal holiday season. 

A long train ride home on the Eurostar, I arrived home at 12pm last night weary and ready for bed. 

Thursday, Sebastian arrives from Cologne to stay for 3 nights. Am planning on doing touristic things with him in Bologna seeing as I haven't really had a chance to explore Bologna properly yet. 

Ciao for now. 



Michael

Mercato a domani (Markets this morning)

Wow ' Italy is hot today... 35 degrees in the sun. 

Everything going really well over here. Learning slowly (Well I think I am learning slowly) but in reality I think I am learning quite quickly because you have to speak in order to survive!

This morning, I went with my private teacher (one on one session for a coffee and then to the markets) which was great. Learnt about ordering food and selecting everything etc. And then I went and got a whole bunch of supplies! The greeeeenest olives I have ever seen, va bene! Artichoke, a few gorgeous cheeses, pasta, pane, prosciutto, and oile di olive (olive oil). It was really fun although I was a little flustered when the man at the prosciuterria asked me if I wanted my 200g of prosciutto sliced or whole... Had never heard either set of words before, but managed sign language! =D (The picture is of the prosciuterria on the main street, Via Ugo Bassi) Have just been studying in the sun for about an hour and a half and now I have classe from 2.30-6pm (same as every day, its rather long, but it is great because of the intensity). The extra hour a day with paola is worth the money too, esp because it is catered to me. Tonight there is a leaving party for someone at the school-. it is an amazingly social school. They usually go out each night! Last night we all went for pizza (22 of us) and then about half went to a bar... got in about 1am and was up by 7. Sun soaked days.

Until tomorrow - a domani!

Michael

From Milan to Bologna in one easy step!

Yesterday I made the journey from Milan to Bologna. The lovely staff at 22Marzo (the place I was staying in Milan) were so kind that the owner insisted that I not catch a taxi but that his father drop me to the train station himself! It was very kind of them. Unfortunately they are fully booked when I return to Milan but highly recommended! The train station in Milan is a must see, with a towering ceiling and impressive ornate carvings everywhere. Needless to say it was packed full of people. I considered it a complement when, waiting for my train, I was approached 4 times by tourists that thought I was Italian asking me for directions in Italian far worse than mine. I let them finish their sentences (a che ore il treno departe- was one example). American Italian accents seem to be by far the worst and disliked by the Italians(at least in Milan). People know when I speak that I am foreign however they can't place where I am from... They certainly don't think I am American, which is great! It is a nice feeling to know that your style of dress fits in with the locals and no gypsies have approached me (obviously they think I am from around these parts!). It's a shame because I am armed with an arsenal of 2 crude Romanian phrases my friend Sil taught me in case you are approached by gypsies. Maybe I'll get a chance in Rome! My flat in bologna is lovey with a beautiful courtyard. There are 2 other students at the school staying here, one columbian boy and one French girl. Which is great as they speak English also. They both started not knowing any Italian and after 4weeks they have great conversational skills. So that is great! They have 3 more weeks here. Today is the first day of class) and I will familarise myself with the town and get groceries and insect repellant, yes a few bites. I was fretting they were bed bug bites until I just saw a mosquito flying around in my room. Anyway. I'll let you all know how the school is. The others tell me it is VERY social and that most nights they go out for drinks. So that is nice to know! A presto!

Luggage found

British airways kindly delivered my luggage while I was out. Grazie British airways, grazie! Had v. Funny pigeon conversation with the cab driver on the way home. I think he got the gist, and was patient with me. A presto! Now I sleep!

Day a Milano!

Well after getting in from the airport at 11am I arrived at my hostel ((22 marzo)) and got my room - small but clean- bene! I set out to get my telefonino sim and then continued to my date with the Cenacolo vinciano at Chiesa di Santa Maria delle grazie- Aka da vinci's original fresco, il lultima scene (the last supper). Which was overwhelming. Yes, I shed a tear. The fresco on the wall of the refactory is about 6m in width and 4m tall, so a rather large work, and as I was viewing it for about 20 mins, I became increasingly aware of the physical tension depicted. See the picture in my first post. The characters are not rejoicing, nor pining, but there is discordance between them. The painting brought me great sadness and I felt leonardo's pain while viewing it. The work started in 1495 is incredibly old and very well preserved. I won't forget it soon! This was followed by lunch at an ostoria and then to the Castello Sforza/sforzesco-a medieval fortress in the middle of the metropolitan Milan. Complete with a moat, although it is now not filled with water to preserve the building. Napoleon drained the moat and removed the drawbridges. It now houses 10 museé/museums. Finally 'Il duomo'! The largest gothic church and the third largest church in the world, I'm told, made me cry. This massive cavern of ornate stone was overwhelming, and I'm not even catholic! I am going to try to get up early and go to mass at 930 if I can. I can tour the opera house when I get back at the end of my trip. The duomo is absolutely breathtaking and the sheer monumental force of the building made me weak at the knees- such a tribute to the catholic faith. It can house 40,000 parishoners! Awe inspiring. I hope I can get to the service tomorrow. A domani pomeriggio a bologna! Tomorrow afternoon, Bologna!

Milano senza bagaglio

Well the flight from Sydney to Singapore was fine apart from the horrid decoré on the British airways flight, when will the Brits learn how to furnish without offending l'occhi (the eyes)? Thank goodness for a shower in Singapore and a change of clothes packed into my suitcase (mio madre taugh me well!). Was refreshed and ready for my flight to Heathrow. Terminal 5 of heathrow is HUGE! and a travelling tip, if you don't take cologne with you in your carry on due to liquid restrictions, then just go to every duty free store and get a test squirt- there are at least 3 in each airport and you will smell like a god when you get on your flight! Arrived in Milano only to find that my baggage didn't come with me on the flight. I suspect that it was the quick turnaround from transfer from terminal 4 to 5 ( under 1hour to get to the gate and the baggage would have taken 1.5 hours to transfer, so it missed the flight) I was meant to get it at 4pm today, it's now 8pm and I still haven't gotten it! Italia! But, my travel insurance gives me money for every 24hrs without my luggage. Which is a relief, so I can buy things if I need to on Monday. But thanks to that pearl of wisdom from mum I had 2 spare tops and a sweater in my carry on,and basic toiletries senza (without) a razor or cologne-bugger. I have a new telefonino número - cell number so people can contact me and I can text back. I also have data access, 50mb a day for €15 for the month. So I can email and facebook/msn as much as I like almost! My Italian mobile is +33 45422183. It should only cost 20c if you want to text me, and I can reply. So easy! Hope everyone is well, will keep you posted on the baggage situation! A presto! Michael xx