Type A's.

First an apology for the delay in posting. We have been exceptionally busy and not around the computer much and when we have, Hannah has been busy downloading photos and doing homework.

Thus said, Italy is getting better and more exciting by the day. She is waking up... I feel like I am covered in bruises from pinching myself to make sure all is real. To summarize, Randy's brother Al and his wife Des arrived last Friday, the 8th, Rachael left early on Saturday 9th for Austria for 5 months. We were in the Cinque Terre from Tuesday to Thursday and Maranello, the home of Ferrari on Friday, with Al and Des departing yesterday morning, the 16th. All of these experiences are worth a blog each, therefore this first one will be just about North American, Type A personalities in Italy.

They do not mesh well. Period. Unless Mr. or Ms. Type A is willing to undergo character development or let go. To quote Rachael, "Traveling is not a vacation here!" Expectations need to be either thrown out the train window or anticipated as a dessert. Just because you all order primi piatti (first course), is no guarantee that they will all come at the same time. Tip for future traveler; order your plates and just enjoy them , in the order they come. You have no control. Expect the train to be late or take longer than scheduled and rejoice when it doesn't. 

Also, if the restaurant or car rental store says it will be open or advertises a product, don't hold your breath, it may not... yet... a little later.... they will. 

The plaguing question is why?

My humble opinion is simply that Italians are creative and passionate. In creativity and passion there is little credence for time.  The strength of the Italian culture breeds this mindset and thus, cutting edge fashion, ultimate cars, and world renowned artists flourish.  The weak side is poor service and the lack of value for time management. Type A's feel frustration and a loss of control.  It is not a disrespect although it is perceived as such. 

I must say, Randy, Hannah and I now just laugh and wait for the serendipitous and amusedly watch new tourists working this out. 

Cycling along the Arno

 Cycling can be dangerous, or fun, or both, depending on where in Florence you bike. It started off a little "sketchy" as we biked through the streets of Florence from piazza Santa Croce. Dodging cars, motorcycles, people and other bikes proved stressful, but as we progressed further from the historic centre, it got easier. The best part was Cascine Park, stretching several kilometers along the Arno river. See the attached video.

Funny T-shirt spotted today near San Lorenzo market:

IN HEAVEN

The policemen are English,

The cooks are French,

The bankers are Swiss,

The dancers are Spanish,

The lovers are Italian,

And it is all organized by the Germans.

IN HELL

The policemen are French,

The cooks are English,

The bankers are Spanish,

The dancers are Swiss,

The lovers are German,

And it is all organized by the Italians.

Hockey in Italy

Waiting at a train station the other day, I was perusing a discarded newspaper, La Nazione, and came across the 7 page sports section. I found no news on the Canucks. Thank goodness for the internet. Go Canucks go. Beat the Hawks! Anyway, I'm sure you won't be surprised by the contents. The first five pages had soccer. The next page had cycling and Moto GP. The last page was dedicated to Formula 1. There you go sports fans. Now you know what Italians are into. I miss hockey and am in need of a fix. By the way, hockey is unknown in Italy.

Lucca - circles and ovals

A 2 hour train ride to Lucca was worth the effort. Hannah's friend Christina and her Dad (our friend Brad), are visiting us for a week, and came along. Lucca was full of surprises - a canal bisecting the town (it reminded me of Bruges, Belgium), completely intact fortified walls - 4 km long circling the town, ornate and delicate romanesque church facades, pedestrian friendly - narrow streets, clock and palazzo towers, welcoming parks, handsome piazzas and not too many tourists. Lucca, established by the romans in 89 BC, still shows some of its ancient past in the remnants of its amphitheatre, forum and two main streets.

The two highlights for me were cycling and exploring the piazzas. We rented bikes and rode on the tree-lined ramparts encircling Lucca. It was windy and at times rainy, but we didn't care. Fun can sometimes be enhanced when gusts and deluge are involved. 

My favourite plaza was piazza dell' Anfiteatro. This colourful, oval piazza retains the shape and some of the walls of the ancient amphitheatre on which it is built. Kids were kicking a soccer ball, shops and cafes spilled out from the buildings and people pivoted, doing 360's to take in the ovalesque view. This pivoting is probably not unlike some of the gladiator moves, some 2000 years ago.

Back on the train for Firenze we all felt like Lucca is a place beckoning further exploration. I certainly hope to return someday to this "bella" tuscan town.

The Night of Firenze

No travel log is complete, nor accurate without a reflection on the city's struggles. Every city without fail , because it is inhabited by humanity, has flaws and an undercurrent of darkness. The only difference for us as visitors, is we candidly observe without responsibility except for the issue of dog owners not picking up their dog's poop , and then it becomes personally messy and frustrating.

 But, I would go so far as to say we enjoy watching some of the street games because we don't know all the rules of engagement. Let me explain. It is against the law to sell or purchase Fakes; designer watches, purses, sunglasses and art work posters. Italy is also challenged with a flood of illegal immigration from northern Africa. Combine the two and you have young guys hocking wares on the streets, illegally, trying to make a new life for themselves and most likely for their families in Africa. We have dubbed them The Entrepreneurs.

They play a game with the carbinieri which is brilliant and marvelous to watch.

Working as a team, a spotter will spy the police  approaching.....  and then their illegal wares are completely wrapped up and they are gone in seconds. This is no exaggeration. The sunglasses are attached to card board that lays flat  atop  a V-shaped card board stand. Both pieces of cardboard are folded in half and gone, looking like an art portfolio. The "Gucci" purses are all on a bed sheet that is swooped and gone, looking like Santa's sack. The art posters are laid slightly overlapping so they can be fanned closed with the ease of a deck of cards and magically gone.... Depending on the cops' actions, whether they just park and sit in their car staring , stand at a distance,or take chase, the entrepreneurs either run into dark, narrow streets or just stand behind a column and stare back. It is the  classic cat and mouse, cops and robbers,with a very rare confrontation or take down. But when they do- move over Bond chases!

Another interesting play on the streets, are the gypsy  begging women. Long full skirts, sweaters, scarves and open toed sandals, always with brightly striped socks.  We have witnessed turf wars between the women themselves, passed one scurrying by on her way to work , to where later when we see her, she is crippled. Another instance saw  a kind Italian man buying Cinderella shoes for a little girl pictured, held in the  hand of a beggar woman.He took the gyspy woman into the Disney store , paid for the shoes and left, leaving the woman marvelling at her treasure. You could see in her eye, living the imminent joy that would be on her little girl's face. But also be  careful where you walk ,for sometimes these women are laying prostrate on the sidewalk. I know for I have almost tripped flat over one. They work the tourist filled piazzas hard from early morning to early evening.

These night shades of  Firenze  brighten other dazzling stars that also demand attention. The musicans fill the loggias, piazzas, bridges and cobblestones with their opera and pop, guitar, flute, accordian and  stringed quartets, making the evening walks lyrical and always enchanting. (I want to dance but an unnamed teen would rather die!) 

Chalk artists painstakingly copy masterpieces  on the pavers to do another the next day after the street cleaners washed thru. 

The uplit bridges, towers and cupolas  serve as the planets that are bright and solid beacons of hope and history, which move humanity forward.

Stones Piled Together

Once again, Randy and I, and this time Hannah too, headed out of tourist infested Florence into the Tuscan countryside. We left for the day to visit a few hilltowns, driving a zippy Punto! The day was about the journey, not the destination, though the two hilltowns were spectacular. Randy drove, Hannah learned to navigate and I lounged in the back. My story that I am sticking with is; Hannah needed the front seat so she could take pictures and not get car sick. 

Our first stop was Monteriggioni, “Italy’s Most Perfectly Preserved Fortified Town”. This little town, near Siena was Dante’s inspiration for his description of the “circle of titans guarding the lowest level of Hell.”  It still has all 14 square towers of its fully intact 13th C. circular medieval walls. Monteriggioni is so tiny with it's two streets and one main piazza and seemed more like heaven than hell. Delightfully picturesque. It is along the Francigena Pilgrimage Path from Cantebury to Roma. (Insert Here; idea seeds for next trip!)

 We continued on our merry way to Volterra, another hilltop Tuscan town perched high, between two valleys, with its own unique flavour. Volterra is known for alabaster, one of my favourite stones. It is like the agate, opaque, translucent to light, in varying colours. The church windows were done in alabaster. Shops were filled with all sorts of Alabaster creations. 

Volterra  was an Estruscan settlement from  the 9th C BC., a town bigger than what exists today. All that remains today of that era are one city gate, funery urns and  tombs. The Romans conquered the Etruscans and left their mark. Ruins of an amphitheater were amazing to see, peering down over the edge of town. Randy, our ever present historian pointed out that we, standing there today, are closer in time to the period of the Renaissance (and the Medici fort built at one end of town) than the Romans were to the founding of Volterra, during the Estrucan period of time. 

It is thoughts like these that befuddle my brain and again affirm the tension of embracing fully this thing called life. Our lifespan, that is but a mere hairbreadth in time. Humbling. 

In WW2, the townspeople banded together to protect the Estruscan gate, their town symbol, made of large tufa stones, from being bombed by the Germans. They ripped up the cobbles from the main street and plugged it. Their plan succeeded.

I guess it is these stories of history that enrich and make these stones piled together, called walls and towns, come alive for me. My imagination is wild, and together with Randy, have woven imagined tales of intrigue, deception and heroism! 

 The undulating, weaving drive home did not disappoint any of us. The journey brought more pullout vista points to photograph and drink in. A question posed in the Punto was,” what makes Tuscany so appealing?”

The agreement was the lolling hills, with patched patterns of symmetrical groves and linear vineyards, and scattered seeds of beckoning homesteads, saying “Come.” The springtime countryside is fresh green, the colour of growth, opportunity and hope.The hills are not impenetrable and daunting like the majestic mountains in BC, nor are they dark and mysterious like the ocean. The tuscan geography wants to share, give and do life with any who are like-minded.

  

Camping in Florence

At the mid-point in our "time out in Tuscany," I feel relaxed and content. We are never bored, but the pace is definitely slow. This week we meandered around Florence. Outside the old City walls, we climbed up to the view terrace, piazzale Michelangelo. Everyone always looks north west from the piazzale to the "Classic" view of Florence - the Duomo and historic centre. I decided to go away from the crowds to the other end of the terrace and look eastward, up the Arno. The view of the campground that David Tyrell and I tented at in 1982 came into full view (see photo). I had almost forgot about this place. We never experienced the campground with the spring blossoms. It brought back fond memories of the very first time I visited Florence. Two graduate architects, photographing and sketching many of the buildings we had seen in pictures. One thing I do know is that a comfortable bed with the woman I love is waaaaaay better than a sleeping bag, in a tent, on hardened earth. Sorry, Dave....... Sandy and I are having the time of our lives here and savouring every moment.