The beauty of Lakes

For the time we remained up in the mountains we went down to two different lakes –and different cities on these lakes. Como & Bellagio in Italy and Lugano in Switzerland. Things at the borders have changed radically, you no longer show a passport, and even though you do not as a South African need a visa for Switzerland .But Switzerland is clinically clean and neat, as beautiful as ever with wide, comfortable, smooth roads. No potholes here. The Swiss’ obsessional behavior. Yes, they do have a gripe with immigrants as you can hear them from when you talk to most Swiss. But this is not for this blog.

The clear blue skies and the mirror-like lake seems to be for picture postcards, pollution has caught up and there is a misty haze in the air over the lakes that makes for bad photos. Unless it had rained properly, which it did not.

We went to Lugano on the Sunday. Many years ago we went to Lugano and the MD bought me a watch which was stolen (no, not in S A but on a secluded beach in the Seychelles) so he wanted to buy me a replacement at the same store. (Faithful Service Reward *g*?) The shops were all closed but it would have made not difference….I would not even dream of having a R40 000 watch even if I was the Oppenheimer’s only child. And the one I am wearing that M gave me last years is pretty cool anyway. Because Switzerland like the rest of Europe is very expensive. VERY! That is for us South Africans.

Up in the Clouds

Cities are cities are cities are cities. The MD wrote Como on his itinerary (in the Italian Lake district) but then I found something high up in the mountains about 25 km from Como and it sounded really different – an inn – ‘Albergo Moderno’ @ a fraction of the price of the hotels in (any) city. So from Florence we headed to Fuipiano Valle via Bergamo.

I did not know it at the time, but this tiny, tiny little village is situated right at the top of some mountains, and there is a very narrow road up (and down) the mountain. If there is a line painted on the road, then it means 2 cars can pass. If there is no line it is wide enough for only one vehicle at a time and therefore one has to watch the mirrors on the bends. If a car comes (or the ‘municipal’ bus as in this case) there is usually some kind of sign to show who has the first right of the way and the other one will have to find somewhere to stop even if it means reversing. Italians may drive like maniacs but they can drive. This system will never, ever work in S A.

These snake-like roads really upset Garminia because she saw many of the bends as a U-turn –‘make a u-turn, make a u-turn’. At one stage I thought maybe we got lost because some of the houses in some of the villages on the way were already boarded up for the winter and there seemed to be hardly any people.

When we arrived at Albergo there was nobody in sight except for a cat that got into the car….the doors were open but it almost seemed deserted. I walked round to the back and there was a woman who made a friendly sign that she will call – I think this must have been the owner or the manager. He showed us to our room with a friendly smile but did not say much, I think he could not speak English. After Florence I was a bit apprehensive about hotels but the room and bathroom was extremely comfortable and modern. Somebody spent quite a lot of money building this Albergo.

We usually did not eat at the hotels but here it was so difficult to get up the mountain that we decided to go for dinner – 7:30 – 8:30. A cozy fire was burning and a younger guy (? owner) presented us with a welcome and a menu. We ordered a liter of house wine (by this time the restaurant was filling up – probably a very popular place for week-end guests and a place for the locals to have their celebrations / meals). The food was superb, absolutely *****! The wine was great. They probably order these great vats…..and then decant them into a carafe. And it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening with the best food we ate in Italy.

Just a note on the food in Italy. Anti-pasta is a hors d’oeuvre and pasta is a first course (not a main course like we have here so the meat content is usually limited) and then you have your main course and the salad comes with the main course … I really do not have the capacity for hors d’oeuvre and pasta and a main course… although I do suffer from a condition which my grandmother called ‘Oë groter as jou maag’! (Meaning you eyes are bigger than you stomach, you dish up more than you can eat).So I had the main course and the desert (but of course) only and thank heavens I did not order the other stuff. I really do not know where I would have put it because there were vegetables with potatoes and salad…

For breakfast the Italians always have (apart from some cereal- not always- and yogurt, great, great yogurt,) some fruit juice, breads, cold meat, cheese and sweet cakes! Cakes like we in South Africa would have in the afternoon! And in the nicer places they ask if you would like a cappuccino or …..I’ll take the cappuccino but skip the cake…gracias mucho! Or is it Mucho gracias? Whatever, you know what I mean!

Tuscany or Toscana?

Florence is the capital of Tuscany. And Tuscany is one of the most (not ‘the’ but I will come to that later) charming and beautiful provinces of Italy. We have so-called Tuscan houses here in S A, but they are not really Tuscan.

Tuscany (or Toscana) have hills and vineyards and olive trees and beauty and quant little medieval towns, so therefore they have wine (a pretty good wine if you like wine as I do) and olive oil and a lively tourist trade.

A day trip from Florence is probably not enough but it does give one a good idea of what Tuscany is like. Or you can take a bicycle trip (12 km) and go to a wine farm if you are very energetic. I believe I could live in Tuscany on a wine farm. And make a serious attempt at learning Italian. A very serious attempt. Not just bonjourno or ciao or prego or vino or basta….(which is basically my whole vocabulary for the time being).

All the medieval little towns have walls around them and are now tourist attractions. Most of them are up on a hill because the Romans probably settled there 1200 years before. And the Romans had to have a good view for strategic purposes.



Romulus and Remus, as the myth goes, & the twin sons of the priestess Rhea Silvia, were supposedly the traditional founders of Rome (circa 717 BC). It was ordered for them to be killed (Wikipadia will give you the whole story) but, like Moses, they were put into a basket and then nursed by a wolf. This famous statue is in the town of Sienna

We had some lunch at Monte Rigiori and a beer each because the MD was driving so no vino and went off to another little (bigger) medieval village called San Gimignano. Here we had some really good Italian Ice cream.

People live probably above their shops in these villages and cater for tourists. Italian tourists know about these villages and they are very popular even to stay at. All these little towns have hotels where one can stay. I would have loved to buy some of their ceramics if transporting the stuff back here wasn’t such a big issue. Can see a large pot with flowers at the entrance and a ceramic light holder at the front door but….

But one often lands up with stuff which you bought as souvenirs just to throw them out eventually. What will a fridge magnet from an Italian village mean to somebody else anyway? I did get a pourer for the salad oil (olive of course) bottle here though.

Home of David

Quite hard to understand why the English had to change the names of Roman cities if they are not that difficult to pronounce. Ferenze because Florence (although to be fancy you would pronounce it Floraanze), Toscana because Tuscany, Roma became Rome… et cetera, et cetera.

So here we were in ‘Floraanze’ and what a beautiful city although not as clean as I remember from many years ago. The hotel was rather lousy; the worst one of the trip although one gets warned time and again of the unpleasant little surprises when it comes to Italian hotels. What you pay for is not always what you get. After we got quite lost even with Garminia (she likes the correct address and postal code) and had a pizza at Pizza Man (thrown in was a glass of champagne) we got back to the hotel to find there was no hot water. Don’t do this to me!!!! So we had to be moved and that was to the room for disabled (which they said was the best in the hotel – hmmm, now we know how good the rooms were) which at least had some hot water.

Although the hotel said it provides parking, that was not true either, you park between blue lines @ €1 an hour, except when they wash the street. And that night they were going to wash the street which means we had to look for parking elsewhere (like everybody else, even residents who may park on the white lines (no, I cannot explain the logic of blue vs. white) and then walk and walk and walk!

Florence is the home of the famous statue of Michelangelo’s David, the marble statue of 5.17 meters housed in the Galleria dell’Accademia since 1873 but some crazy twit attacked it with a hammer in 1991. It is true the proportions are not quite true to human form as the head and upper body are somewhat larger than the lower body and the hands are also larger….. Possibly (though we would never know for sure), because the statue was originally intended to be placed on a church façade.

All over Italy (and Europe), churches are most important and these are of course the most exquisite of all the buildings one can find.

Tower of the Piazza del Miracoli

We picked up a car – a little Peugeot 107 diesel, 3, 3 liters per 100 km (which is very economical because we drove nearly 4000 km with a fuel price of nearly 1.3 Euros a liter)!

From Rome we went to Pisa on a detour. Had to check if all the photographs we have ever seen were for real or taken by somebody like me! My photos usually would look like Pisa, but I promise you this is truly not me! So - Please do not blame moi for the Leaning Tower of Pisa!

The work on the ‘Leaning’ tower was begun by Pisano in about 1174 and had reached a height of approx 11 meters when there was a sudden subsidence of the ground which caused the first inclination of about 15 centimeters!

Rome, one day at a Time

Those open roofed red (or green or greenish) hop-on-hop-off busses are a wonderful way to get an oversight of a city but there is nothing to beat venturing into a city on foot! You can walk as far as you get and take the Metro or (omni) bus back.

Yes! Famous last words!!! That is if you end up close to a Metro station and you know the bus numbers! Yeah, I know!

We, on the first day, headed through (old) Rome, past the Colosseum and the ancient ruins, past the Wedding Cake (Vittorio Emanuel II Monument) towards the shopping district. The only way I could ever get the MD to go to the shopping district is in some devious way. And this time I was not even devious, as it was Hot! Hot! Hot! And we forgot to pack sun block and some antiseptic spray for hands plus a few other toiletries we thought we might as well buy on the ‘other side’. Not a good idea. These things are ridiculously expensive and they have different names. (In Portugal I once bought some what I thought was a body lotion, but it turned out to be shower gel / soap which I only realized after I remained sticky and started to itch long after bed time).

The clothes are to die for! And when we passed Zara, I could not resist. Bought a beautiful jersey. Then my reading glasses disintegrated in my pocket and I had to get another pair because I do need to check a map with minute writing from time to time. The stand said €11.50 but the woman at the counter insisted that her computer says it is €26 and she suddenly lost her ability to understand English completely! So here I have a pair of green rimmed glasses that makes me look like a blond Sarah Palin (ugh!).

The city of Rome is 2750 years old (approx) and what a bustling city it was in its day. Very organized, there were strict rules and regulations which people adhered to because discipline ruled. Give the people sport is exactly what the Romans did to keep the masses occupied, brutal as the sport may be. How they loved the blood thirsty gladiators and death. The women sat upstairs, and on the top there were the seats for the slaves.

And the old Romans were very clever people. Probably much smarter than we are today. For example the Colosseum was designed in such a way that it could be evacuated (50 000 people) within a question of minutes - not like any sport stadiums we have today. And the marble columns of the Pantheon are one solid piece of marble, no joints, and how that was transported and placed into position is quite baffling!


The Via Appia is still in use; let’s face it they built roads to last but
………..if the Romans could see the Italy of today they would freak out completely and utterly!

Italy for Dummies

A friend wants me to write about my trip to Italy for her column but I am not sure… so I will start with my rough notes, blog them for those who want to read and for those too who want to ignore. Then if I still feel like it I will edit or delete the lot and forward to her. Please bear with me if this bores you to tears.

What if your partner/ husband/ companion/ lover/ whatever has an affair?
Will you tolerate her?
Well, I did!

She even went on holiday with us and she went everywhere with us. And let me tell you, she relieved me of all the stress I usually had to put up with on trips, & there were no arguments, we all squeezed in, I did not have to read the map and did not have to worry that left = right , or the other way round. She did it all. Her name is Ms Garminia. She is the brain child of modern technology and what a star she is.

I was, to start off with quite upset and irritated that in order to get a visa, one has to plan your itinerary almost to the last detail and book hotels on the way. But this really worked out extremely well in the long run because most of the hassle of finding a hotel at the last moment and having most unpleasant surprises gets eliminated to a great extent. So the first question of where to go and how to travel is the most important. This the MD did. Italy! Hire a car… and this will be roughly the route and places to see. The next he left up to me, completely! Carte Blanche! And once this had been done, a trip like this becomes a trip of a life time.

Now, with Garminia you buy her a little (gift) card beforehand – a ‘map’ of Europe – and then you know she will take over the navigation and even tell you about places you never knew existed! And does she save time? And marriages and lives…and unhappiness and arguments and misery...

If there was a book on “Touring Italy for Dummies’ I would probably strongly recommend it – because there are stuff we do not know. Like where to pay for your parking if there is no parking meter! Maybe I can now do “Italy for Dummies’. Because I now know you buy the ticket at the green grocer and it looks like a lotto ticket (in fact the MD asked why I bought a stupid lotto ticket) which you scratch with a coin & leave on the dash board.

I eventually found a hotel site called hotels dot com! And this is the best site of the whole lot! I booked car hire through Europcar (because I know them and I know their cars are reliable) and asked for the smallest but one size bigger than a Smart – please! This limits the size of a bag which is also a good thing because one really does not need to take much. Who cares if you wash your blouse / shirt in the shower and wear it often? In any case nobody sees you for more than 3 days at a time. And if you travel with less than 10kg it is regarded as hand luggage, no fear of bags getting lost or waiting for luggage – which can take hours if it is not on the same flight. Would have taken even less if I knew we would have such warm weather. The car we would collect once we leave Rome. You don’t want a car in the city, you really don’t! For the price of parking you can buy a car.

We went via Madrid which has a beautiful new airport, but no time to spend in the gorgeous shops if you have to change planes…After that the Rome airport is really grubby and smelly and not too user friendly. Especially because it seems the Italians do not really speak English and you have to look around for information who also explains (is that the word?) in broken English - so easy to misunderstand.

We took the train from the airport to the big station in the city but because we could not really figure out where the hotel was (Garminia was still acquiring her satellites and it was a fairly new relationship…*g*), we took a taxi @ 25 Euros. Look I am not calculating that back into South African Rands, because as the MD said, do not spoil your whole vacation….because you will be sick for the duration of the trip…! After that I got familiar with the underground and bus system…then it is easy peasy and no sweat. You buy a ticket at a tobacco shop (there are many of them) (!) because nobody told the Italians smoking is ‘bad for your health’.

Of Christmas Cheer and Things Past

My earliest memory of Christmas was of people with candles singing carols under the window. And to this day ‘Silent Night’ must be one of the most beautiful and profound hymns ever written. And though Christmas has lost much of its value (to me) in years to come, the songs and sounds of Christmas never have. I must have been fairly small because I remember being in a wooden cot with the pillow case tied round the end for Father Christmas to put something in. Much as I tried to stay awake to see him, I could never do.

I remember my mother taking me to a shop where you could go into a cave and get a? Lucky Packet (big box) often with soap bubbles and then sit on Father Christmas’ lap. This I did not like too much…sitting on his lap!

I remember Christmas in the little Free State town of Boshof when we visited my grandmother and where my brother fell into a muddy ditch with his Sunday best on Christmas day.

I do not remember much of presents, just all the excitement and wrappings … and the coins in the Christmas pudding and how I ate this sticky fruit pudding just because I was hoping to find a coin or a charm….The coin / charm probably had little, if any, value, the discovery was what it was all about. How true that is of life in general sometimes?

I remember the Sunday school concerts where you were an angel/ Mother Mary/ Joseph/ shepherd/ one of the 3 Wise men/ singing in the choir or something else very important.

Gradually I grew up and things changed. Christmas would never be the same.

Because Christmas is for Little Children (and here I can hear the shrieks of joy) who have not yet been disillusioned by the truth that what there was or what there is supposed to be , has been lost somehow …………….and the spirit of giving and loving and togetherness is seldom present.

I have watched how people mull in a shopping mall looking for gifts in case they miss out somebody that brought them a gift (all worthless junk eventually), I have heard them talk about what they will have to ‘do’ for Christmas lunch with an unhappy sigh, I have read about family fights that turn into violent catastrophes with tragic consequences, I have known what it is to invite some guests to sit a Christmas table just in order not to feel guilty, and I have known how I wished to sleep right through Christmas and wake up on 2 January.

But what I really want for Christmas, money cannot buy. You probably want the same anyway.