A Visit to Cremona

On Saturday, October 6th we went to Cremona for the day. It is a city I had never visited and Dom had only been there once about 25 years ago.

It is located in the Po Valley about an hour southeast of Milan by car. It took us about an hour and a half from Capannori. The day was beautiful and we drove through the mountains on the A-15, always a nicer drive than the A-1. It has a lot less traffic and is wilder terrain.

 The GPS took us right to Cremona and we found ourselves parking within sight of the main church--the Duomo with its Torrazzzo (Big Tower). The tower is the third highest brick tower in Europe according to Wikipedia.

The Duomo itself is HUGE. In the above picture you can see one side of it and at the bottom of the picture some of the awnings of the large street market that was in full swing when we arrived.

 We walked around the Duomo until we found what looked like the front of the church.

This doorway looked a little small for a grand Duomo but not unusually small. We went inside to look around.

The inside is incredibly ornate. Unfortunately it is not well lit so some of the details were lost in the shadows. After wandering around a while we figured out that we had entered through one of the transept doors. The church must be one of the largest in Italy inside.

The ornate ceiling was especially beautiful, all blues and golds.

There were dozens of frescoes on the walls along with smaller decorations on every surface. I have rarely seen a church in Italy that was so thoroughly decorated.

Above another huge fresco is a lovely rose window over the main entrance to the church.

More frescoes! The above has a nice Annunciation on the left hand side.

Still more frescoes!

This lovely Madonna and Child with its ornate surround was located in one of the many side chapels.

We finally left the Duomo and found ourselves in the main piazza in town. Above you can see more of the market. There were a lot of flowers and plants available for sale.

To the right of the Duomo was the baptistry. It is a pretty little octagonal building.

Above is the "real" front of the Duomo with the Torrazzo to the left.

The Torrazzo has an interesting clock on one side.

Here is a little of the detail of the towers on top of the Duomo. There must have been a dozen of these towers topped with copper roofs. They reminded me of minarets.

Cremona's street have something of a French flavor with lots of wrought iron balconies. There were lots of interesting shops and a lot of people out enjoying the market and the sunshine.

One of Cremona's claims to fame is that it was, and still is, a world famous center for luthiers (makers of violins and all related instruments such as guitars and mandolins). As a result there are many pictures of violins and you can even buy chocolate violins!

Here is one of the many buildings that look French to me.

We visited the collection of violins and violas that is located in the main Commune (City Hall) building opposite the Duomo. Many of them dated to the 1500s. After that we walked across town to the Pinacoteca (Painting Museum) that also houses the Stradivari Museum. The collection of paintings was very interesting especially the collection that showed Cremona throughout its history. The Stradivari portion of the museum included a collection of the famous violin maker's tools and an interesting explanation of exactly how violins are made. There were more famous violins and some information about the famous musicians who had played them and others who collected them. Did you know Henry Ford played and collected violins?

From the 16th Century to the present Cremona has been know as a center for musical instrument manufacturing, especially violins. It began with the Amati family and the tradition expanded with the Guarneri and Stradivari shops. We saw many shops similar to the Liuteria above.

After visiting the museum we had a nice lunch near the Duomo. We were seated outside and it was fun to watch the market stalls wrapping up business for the day and driving away. By 2:30 or so the streets were nearly deserted. It was just us tourists as the Italians were all having lunch.

Here is a picture of the main piazza all cleaned up. We headed over to a gelateria at the foot of the Torrazzo for a little dessert.

The gelateria was located on the ground floor of this building. I loved the cupola with the roses growing in all the openings. The pink and green was lovely against the soft yellow of the walls and the bright terracotta of the roof tiles.

We had a nice drive home and were back by about 5:30 in the late afternoon. It is really the only excursion we have taken since we arrived. Between me being in school and our painting project (thankfully finished!) we have stayed close to home the last two weeks.

Today we head to Rome to meet my Dad and go to the Canonization Mass at St. Peter's Square on Sunday. That will be the next post!

P.S. I hope there are not too many typos in this post. No time to proofread!

Catching Up - Oddities of Life in Italy

Yes, it has been a while. We have been really busy since we arrived in Italy on September 30th. Unfortunately, this will be a mostly picture free post as I have taken few pictures except when we went to Cremona (another post).

Pigeons

We arrived on a Sunday evening and Monday morning I got up and immediately began cleaning our  terrace. Anna, our friend who looks after the apartment when we are gone, had told us the pigeons had taken over and made a BIG mess.

One of the first things I did when we arrived was look to see how bad it was and it was BAD! The clean-up project haunted me all night. I donned old clothes and found my rubber boots, gathered equipment and started in.

The first thing I did was put a garbage bag inside a large bucket and start shoving up the pigeon shit. I did not literally "shovel" but I did use a large trowel to much out the spots where it was really thick. There were two buckets full! The smell was horrendous--like a badly maintained outhouse. We had moved the patio furniture into the house but there were still plenty of surfaces to clean. The worst spot was the counter on top of the washing machine. Luckily, the latter was well covered and did not seem to be affected.

I was extremely grateful for the hose Dom hooked up last spring. There is a drain on the patio so once I mucked the place out, I mixed up a bucket of soapy water and started scrubbing and rinsing. The only difficult parts were the planters on the terrace. There were feathers and pigeon shit stuck all over them. There were also four eggs in various places, all of which went into the trash.

Finally, after about three and a half hours, I finished, cleaned myself up, and went to the store. Unfortunately, that evening I kept getting whiffs of the pigeon shit smell from the patio. The funny thing was it did not seem to smell when I was out on the patio. It really bugged me and it was only when I opened the door to the washing machine that I realized the smell was coming from that area.

At one end of the patio, right by the door, is the laundry area--a counter top with a sink on one side and the washing machine under the other. Under the sink is storage and the hose hook-up. There is also a fresh air vent by the washer to the interior of the apartment, required because of the gas stove. I knew I had not cleaned that area very well but did not realize it would be a problem.

The next morning, I pulled the washing machine out and found a large nest in the gap behind it. I also found all the vegetation that had disappeared from the planters. Once that was all cleaned the smell disappeared. Interestingly, the pigeons have not been much of a problem either. They clomp around the glass over the terrace but have not tried to recolonize the terrace itself.

Dom was a really big help to me on this project. I kept hollering at him to bring me different things and he hopped right to it. I suspect he was happy to have me handle the clean-up mostly on my own.

I thought afterwards I should have taken pictures of the pigeon "debris" but it really would have been too disgusting.

The Rest of the First Week

The rest of our first week was full of the usual paraphernalia involved in settling in here--unpacking, cleaning, grocery shopping, jet lag, and catching up with friends. That doesn't sound like a lot but falling asleep every afternoon for a few hours takes up a lot of time.

One afternoon we stopped by to see our friends Mary and Orlando. In the course of "catching up" we told them we planned to paint about half the interior of our condominium and asked about the availability of TSP to wash the walls and ceiling. They said they had never seen any in Italy but had some floating around from when they moved from the U.S. I gratefully accepted it and spent a long day washing the ceiling of our kitchen, living and dining areas. The walls had all been painted recently but the ceiling was just filthy and that is the primary reason we are painting. The other reason is the walls were stark white except where the previous owner had painted areas of bright orange and royal blue. We quite liked the modernity of it when we bought the place but once we moved in we realized it did not suit our more traditional furniture.

After I washed the ceiling and Dom removed some unused doorbell and alarm items from the walls, we spent several days patching and sanding and patching and sanding. At a certain point, we gave up and decided the walls were never going to be perfect. Every time we looked closely we found more flaws, things we never saw until we started patching. Since we are using a darker color the flaws should be less apparent (hopefully!).

The Bus to Lucca

On Friday, Dom and I took the bus from in front of our condominium into the center of Lucca. I planned to take the bus to my Italian language classes the following week (so Dom could have the car) and wanted to do a trial run. We purchased our tickets at the news stand in our building and then went out to the bus stop. Luckily, we were early and decided to walk through the weekly market in the piazza to the stop on the far side. The stop we originally planned to wait at is not used on Fridays because of the market!

We arrived in Lucca as scheduled and walked over to the Questura to pick up our Permessi di Soggiorno (Long Stay Permits). In the spring we had applied for the renewal of these and knew they were ready to pick up. That took us about twenty minutes. After that we walked back to find the school and check out the area around it. Then we meandered around town for a while, bought a few things, had some lunch and caught the bus back to Capannori. It all worked out splendidly.

Cremona

On our first Saturday here we decided to drive to Cremona, about 1 1/2 hours away. It was a gorgeous day and Cremona is a beautiful and interesting city. I will tell all about our visit there (with lots of pictures) in my next post.

Sunday Marcia

Last Sunday morning we woke early and went off to do a marcia podistica. These organized walks (like a volksmarch) are one of our favorite things to do here. We still belong to the Partigliano group and it was fun to see our friends from our old village. As usual the walk began in a picturesque village, this one overlooking the area around Viareggio, and meandered through the nearby lanes and fields. We finished the walk, ate our colazione, collected our premi, and we were home by 9:30. We pretty much vegged the rest of the day.

Italian Language School

On Monday I began two weeks of Italian language school. My goal is to become more comfortable speaking the language and improve my ability to understand it. Even after the first couple of days I felt better able to converse and comprehend.

Dom and I both did a couple weeks of language school in Lucca twelve years ago. Like the last time, the class is composed of people from all over the world. Most come just for fun to learn or improve their Italian. Some come for several weeks or months. Interestingly, almost everyone speaks English so when not in class we usually revert to that language.

The first morning, the new people get tested and they divide everyone into classes of like ability. My test involved a conversation with one of the instructors. I ended up in a class with two Americans on vacation, a Frenchman married to an Italian woman who lives near Lucca, a young Austrian woman working as a nanny, and an Australian woman on vacation. Only three of us will be in class this coming week. Everyone is really nice and we had a great time. Our instructor, Susanna, is good and lots of fun.

The instruction is almost all inductive. We are given exercises and have to figure out the meaning of things or grammatical rules from the context and examples. I enjoy this type of learning because it is like solving puzzles.

Our classes begin at 9:15 but the bus gets me there at about 8:35. There is a nice bar at the end of the street and I usually meet Anne from Australia there. We are in class until 1 pm with a break at 11. At the break almost everyone goes to the bar for coffee and maybe a pastry. They have tasty treats there!  My bus is at 1:15 so I have to head off quickly. One day this week I did stay for lunch with Anne and we plan to do it again this coming week.

While I have been at school Dom has made a few excursions. One day he went to Viareggio to look at the boats and chandleries. Another day he drove over the Altopascio and stopped at the tractor store to kick tires.

New Caldaia (Water Heater)

Last spring we had some problems with our caldaia. Frequently it was necessary to hit the reset button before it would work. When we arrived this fall it quickly became apparent that it would probably need to be replaced. A technician came and looked at it about a week ago and as I type he and an associate are finishing up the replacement. After we agreed to replace it, it really began to act cranky sometimes requiring ten or fifteen presses of the reset button before it would light. One of the problems we had was it was old, none of the technicians we talked to was familiar with the unit, and we had no manual for it. So, really replacing it became the only option, albeit an expensive one.

Painting

After spending quite a few days patching, sanding and then painting over the orange and blue with white paint, last night we painted the final color on the walls and ceiling of the living room portion of the condominium. The color is a dark beige and I really like it. Here are some before and after pictures:

It is a bit difficult to see but there in the far corner the lower part of the wall was painted royal blue, where the wall stair-stepped.

 You can see in this "after" picture that the stair-stepped portion has been painted out and that the walls in general are darker. It is a much warmer color and tones down the black baseboards. It also seems to bring out the terracotta color in the floor.

Dinner with Friends

Last Tuesday we went to Mary and Orlando's house for dinner. They also invited another couple, Richard and Denise, who have a house just outside Partigliano. The food was fabulous and we had a good time catching up with everyone. Mary and Orlando are renovating a house that they plan to live in when it is finished. They made great progress over the summer and hope to be in it in another six months or so. The olive harvest starts soon and they will have to take a break from renovations for six to eight weeks. 

That's all for this time. I hope to get the post on Cremona done sometime this week. Next weekend we head to Rome to meet my dad and attend a canonization (making of saints) mass at the Vatican. More interesting posts to come!

A Short Visit to Provence - Avignon

From Cassis, France we drove to Avignon. The Provence countryside was rocky not unlike the terrain in Northern California north of San Francisco. The vegetation went from lush to scrubby and back to lush as we dropped down into the Rhone river valley. The weather turned quite dark and threatened rain but we managed to arrive and check into our hotel before the skies truly opened up.

We had input the address of the Avignon tourist office into the GPS and it turned out it is located right inside the old city walls. After we found it we started looking for a place to park. As we were circling blocks we passed by the main train station right outside the walls. Next to it was an IBIS hotel with public parking right in front. It looked like as good a place as any for one night so we went in and got a room, took our bags up to the room and got settled. By this time, it was POURING.

Our room was nothing special but it was clean and neat. It had a splendid view of the city from our small window. I actually took this picture the next morning when it had dried out a little. In the distance you can see the large Palais des Papes (The Popes' Palace).

Even though it was raining it was still time for lunch and we were starving. So we braved the raindrops and walked into town. I had dreams of crepes for lunch but after we had walked about 15 minutes without finding a creperie with seating, we finally settled in at a bistro. Dom had a beef stew (daube) and I had a wonderful goat cheese salad. 

It was still pouring when we finished so we made our way back to the hotel and napped until dinner time. By 7 pm the rain had stopped so we went out for a stroll around the town. We walked over to the Palais des Papes which was closed at this hour. This photo shows the palace with the steeple of  church to the left.

Here is a picture of the church with its large, gold statue of the Madonna on top of the bell tower.

Our meanderings took us outside the walls where we could see "Le Pont d'Avignon." I remember singing that song dozens of times in French class in school. Since I started French in First Grade it was probably hundreds of times. The bridge was designed to link the town of Avignon with the Villeneuve across the river where many of the cardinals and other church officials built their palaces during the time the Popes were in residence in Avignon. However, the Rhone is a mighty river and the bridge never lasted for long. It has been half gone for a long time. You can pay to walk out on it but we just looked at it.

The Palais des Papes is built on a huge rock. Just before we walked through the tunnel at left, I noticed a plaque that said the tunnels were built in the 1990s! You can see the old city wall on top of the tunnels. We drove in and out of these the next day when we parked our car in the parking garage underneath the plaza in front of the palace.

The next morning dawned mostly clear. We had breakfast, packed up and drove over to the palace.

The Palais des Papes is a fascinating structure and well worth visiting. It is one of the largest and most important medieval Gothic buildings in Europe and was residence of the Roman Catholic popes from 1309 until 1377. Since 1995 it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This photo is a view of one of the internal courtyards and is often wrongly called the cloister. However, it was the inspiration for many monastic cloisters.

Included in the price of admission is an audioguide. I got carried away listening to the information and did not take many pictures. This was the "Grande Chapelle" or Large Chapel. It would have been the "St. Peter's" of its day.

After we finished touring the palace we wandered over to the church next door. Mass had just finished but we peaked inside and took a look in the many side chapels. It is a lovely structure but not nearly as interesting as the palace.

This was the view from above the plaza in front of the palace. You can see out over the rooftops of Avignon into the Provencal countryside.

I noticed there is a lovely courtyard between some of the buildings on the far side of the piazza.

It is full of statues and greenery and was probably once some noble or merchant's escape from the frenzy of the town and the intrigues of the papal court.

After we finished our tour of the papal palace we began our drive to Capannori. It took us about seven hours which is about an hour longer than it should have. Our biggest problem was staying awake. We made numerous stops to switch drivers, have a bite of lunch, find a cash machine, get gas, and get ice cream bars. Generally, whoever was not driving promptly fell asleep. Jet lag is a real problem when one has to make a long drive. 

Nonetheless, we finally arrived in Capannori where it was once more raining hard. We took our bags up to the apartment where we found everything in order EXCEPT the terrace. The pigeons had made it their own over the summer and that issue deserves a post of its own.

We went out for a quick dinner and then crawled into bed, happy to be in our place once more.

Coming soon: Pigeon Eviction!

A Short Visit to Provence - Cassis

We arrived in Marseille, France last Friday evening after a lengthy trip from Seattle. Because we were using mileage, the trip had three legs and two long layovers. All in all, from the time we left Seattle until we arrived in Marseille, it took us over 26 hours. If one measures the trip length from the time we left our house on Whidbey Island until we arrived at our hotel in Cassis, it took us over 33 hours. Thanks Mom for pick-up at the ferry, dinner, a bed, and a ride to Sea-Tac at o'dark thirty!

Picking up our Renault lease car went quickly and smoothly even though the gentleman who handled the arrangements spoke no English and my school girl French is awfully rusty. Once we were on our way we plugged the Cassis hotel address and let the GPS tell us where to go. We found it interesting that the route took us right through the middle of downtown Marseille. There is a highway somewhat like the Alaskan Way Viaduct through downtown Seattle that gives one a great view of the city. We achieved a more extended tour of the old harbor because we ended up in the wrong lane and exited when we should not have. The route to get back on the highway was circuitous and then we again ended up in the wrong lane and headed back towards the airport. Exiting at the first opportunity gave us an additional "tour" of the harbor past car ferries and cruise ships.

Finally we arrived in Cassis at about 7:30 pm. The GPS did not know about the town's one way system but there were good signs to the hotel. We dropped our bags and the car and then walked into the main part of town to find dinner.

The old town wraps around a protected harbor full of pleasure boats. Restaurants wring the quay and in spite of sprinkling rain there were lots of people meandering about. It was warm enough to sit outside and enjoy the views and people watch. We settled into one of the restaurants and relaxed, happy to finally have arrived at our destination. I was so tired that I cannot remember what we ate. I do recall a lovely Cote de Rhone red and Burnt Cream for dessert.

One of the more interesting sights in night-time Cassis is the old fort that looms over the town. It is brightly lit and dominates the harbor.

After a short stroll around town we returned to our hotel and crashed. Amazingly we slept until almost 9 the next morning. The day was somewhat blustery but partly sunny. After showering and packing up we walked into town and had cafe au lait and croissants at the first spot we came to. It offered a splendid view of the harbor and the hilltop fort, although the latter seemed smaller in daylight.

We strolled around the town again, meandering all the way out to the end of the breakwater. Here are several views of the town from the quay.

At the very end of the breakwater is what appears to  be an automated lighthouse. Looking past it you can see the beach in front of our hotel. One of the drawbacks of finding a hotel online is that the moderate sized hill between it and town does not show up on any of the maps.

One of the reasons we visited Cassis is that several people had recommended it to us as a wonderful spot. Its big attraction is "le calanques" which are narrow fiord-like inlets along the coast to either side of the town. Dom and I decided that although we wanted to see them, we would save that for a future visit. There are two ways to do that--on foot or by boat. The latter sounded the most interesting but we hesitated to take the time. I really wanted to visit Avignon before heading to Italy, something we were both anxious to do.

We checked out of our hotel about 11 am and left for Avignon. The weather worsened as we drove inland. Heavy clouds and spitting rain did not bother us much and we arrived in about an hour and a half.

Our only delay was a spot of trouble on the autoroute. Dom was following a herky-jerky car through a toll plaza and became so intent on not running into it that he forgot to take a ticket. We realized this just on the other side so he pulled over and ran back to get a ticket. I watched him dodge traffic not sure what he intended to do. Finally, he came back with a ticket. His concern had been that if he took a ticket from a machine it might not give the next car one. We had seen this happen in Italy. However, the machine apparently spit out another ticket so all was well. We made sure to got a receipt when we paid just in case we get a ticket in the mail!

Coming soon: Avignon and Le Palais des Papes!

Tick, Tick, Tick...

Time is counting down to the day of our departure. We leave in a week and a half and there are dozens of things to do before we go. Already we are making piles of things to take with us.

These items are not so much clothes (which get thrown in at the last minute) but rather the odds and ends we can get in the U.S. more easily than in Italy. At the moment my pile contains the following:

• A box of small ziploc bags
• A bedskirt
• Solar twinkle lights
• A yoga mat
• Five packets of Mexican seasonsing for fajitas, enchiladas, etc.

Because we are not going straight to Capannori I cannot bring our usual wedge of sharp Cheddar cheese. Too bad but I'll find something comparable to go with the Mexican food.

Homeward Bound

On Wednesday morning everyone but Jack, Marion, Dom and I packed up and headed home. Their flight left Shannon Airport at the very civilized hour of 1 pm. So, the morning was not terribly rushed. Finally the big van was gone leaving the smaller SUV for the rest of us to take to the airport the next day.

After they departed we took for a drive in the countryside and lunch in Kilkee, a seaside village about 15-20 minutes away. We had a nice meal and a drive further south along cliffs similar to but much lower than the Cliffs of Moher.

We ate leftovers for dinner in an effort to use up some of the food remaining at the rental house.  It was a nice quiet day with plenty of time for getting things packed up ready to leave early the next morning.

The drive from Doonbeg to Shannon Airport was fairly easy now that we had figured out the right way to get there. On Tuesday, on our way to Bunratty which is not far from Shannon Airport, we took a much more scenic route. :-) 

We turned in the car and checked in at the airport. At check-in we learned that Shannon Airport is one of the few places outside the U.S. where there is U.S. Immigration and Customs preclearance, meaning we took care of all that before ever getting on the airplane. That made life a great deal simpler when we arrived in Newark on the way home.  However, it also meant Dom and I needed to really hurry. We said a hurried good bye to Mom and Dad (who were off to London later in the morning) and dashed for security.  It all worked out just fine and we were soon onboard.

We had one last look at the Irish countryside before heading east over the Atlantic.

The Sullivan Clan had done Ireland and we all had a lot of fun. It was certainly the trip of a lifetime. It was great to spend time with my parents and my siblings (Michael, we wish you had been there) and the kids. The kids had a chance to bond as young adults and learn more about their Irish heritage. We packed a lot into twelve days but there were no disasters and few real problems. Some of us had some recovering to do when we got home as we all ate and drank too much and quite a few of the wrong things.

Many, many thanks to my parents who made the trip possible. I am so appreciative that we got to do it.

I don't know about everyone else but I would do it again in a heartbeat (after a sufficient recovery period--those five extra pounds are sticking like glue). Next time though I would like it to be some place warmer. Italy anyone?

Limerick and Bunratty Castle

On Tuesday, our last full day before everyone but Jack and Marion and Dom and I left, we split into two groups. Mom still was not feeling well so everyone but the four of us (Jack, Marion, Dom and I) took the big van and went to the town of Limerick for some last minute shopping and lunch. The consensus was that Limerick was not worth a second visit.

About 3:30 in the afternoon we all met at Bunratty Castle and Folk Park outside Limerick. Jack had arranged for all of us to enjoy their Medieval Banquet. Before the banquet at 5:30 we explored the castle  and the Folk Park. The latter recreates rural and urban life in 19th Century Ireland and had furnished cottages, a village street, a church, a manor house, a mill and a lot of other buildings that we could walk through and see how people lived in a different era.

At 5:30 we went to the castle and stood in line. There was a bit of confusion because Jack did not know he was supposed to pick up tickets for the dinner at the entrance to the complex. A few phone calls were made and Jack charmed his way in without having to retrieve the tickets. As recompense for the delay, they asked if he and my mother wanted to be the evening's Earl and Countess. Of course Jack was thrilled and Marion resigned.

 The banquet started out in the great hall with glasses of mead (honey wine) for everyone.

 Marion and Dom waiting for the festivities to begin.

 Jack made friends with another American family.

 Finally the evening began with some welcome songs and...

 ...the crowning of the Earl and his Lady.  A brief video of the crowning is at the end of this post.

The nice thing about being with the Earl was we were led to a special table in the banquet hall before everyone else.

 The Earl got to sit in a big chair with a cushion. The rest of us sat on backless benches.

 At one point the Earl had to test the soup. He proclaimed it marvelous.

 The meal was quite good--soup, spareribs, roast chicken, potatoes, vegetables and dessert. There was also red wine, white wine and water. There were no forks, just knives and spoons. Luckily there were also finger bowls (especially nice after the sticky ribs) and lots of paper napkins.

 More potatoes?

 After dinner the tables were cleared and...

 ...there was entertainment. The musicians and singers were very good.

Here is the crowning of the Earl and his Lady.

On the whole, Bunratty Castle and Folk Park were a little cheesy but we enjoyed the evening. It was interesting and a lot of laughs.