THE BICKERSON'S IN EUROPE A
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| I.M. Pei Louvre |
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| Lunch at Galleries Lafayette |
i'M HAVING TRrOUBL WITH THE TEXT. . i'LLL NEVER GET IT RIGHT, SO i'M SENDNG IT S OUT AS-IS.
PARIS
Arrived at Paris Orly Sud from SFO late in day so walked over to Orly Hilton and got a room for the nite. Drank up all the stuff in the minibar plus a bottle of good French champagne for you know who. In the morning caught the Air France bus to Invalides, where we started dragging our bags around for blocks (big blocks) as we were looking for Tourist Office at 127 Champs Elysees. I figured with that address it would be in the first block. Wrong!
We ended up struggling up the entire Champs (Joy bitching all the while) as the numbers are the number of buildings, not shops. Once there, it was just a matter of time before they found us a two star hotel in Montmartre district. Armed with directions we found the outstanding Paris Metro (Underground) and zipped off in the wrong direction. After a couple of transfers we got back on track and to our hotel, a small eighteenth century three story house called L'Ermitage, run by a nice couple who nearly spoke English. This near Sacre Co cathedral on Rue
Lamarck.
The Paris Metro is
a very clean, efficient system, venders and musicians set up in the
interconnecting tunnels which amplify all over the place, classical to rock to
reggae. Lots of rain in Paris. We got soaked the next day running around to
American Express / Travelors Checks( Kind of like a check), and Galleries Lafayette so Joy can buy a
sweater as she is freezing ass. The store has a marvelous stained glass dome,
maybe 100 feet in diameter and the space is five stories high. Also found a
travel agent and bought Cooks Train Schedules which was indispensable
throughout the trip. (Brentanos Bookstore showed us books on cooking). After many false tries we
found Bank of Lyons to cash Joy’s Visa card, this being before ATMs. This place
also has a great three story central space with curlicue cast iron pinned
connections trussed framing and another glass dome . Was this the obscure ‘Bibliotheque Nationale’
building ?
Stopped at Little
Italy Restaurant near hotel for some comforting
lasagne and wine. As the infamous Moulin Rouge was nearby we tried to
find it but failed. French are very much
into good jazz which you hear everywhere.
We are nearly starving here as we can't read the menus and everything
seems to be meat. Did find a good Vietnamese Vege restaurant (Buddha) and
pigged out there on Blvd Montparnasse. Joy finally had to buy a big suitcase
with rollers (Like Shers that I said would be ridiculous on cobblestones) but
seems to work for her as she is dragging around twice the weight that I am. The
French are totally into throwing all their trash on the ground as every morning
the clean-up crews start out with their little green trucks, little green
mechanical sweepers with the workers of course dressed in green jumpsuits
carrying of course nice green brooms to clean up all the crap everyone tossed
the previous day. The Trash cans are like our ugly black ones except they are a
nice chocolate brown with bright orange lids (or bright blue or green) each with
a neat address label on the side.
Walked thru the
Tuileries Gardens to the Louvre and watched the workers putting the finishing
touches on the glass pyramid in the center of the old courtyard. It's a
masterful addition to the whole place. I. M. Pei has done it again. Naturally
some of the world's great pieces are here including the Mona Lisa , which
didn't get me excited at all as I have seen her so many times in print. Of
course, she is surrounded by a 1" thick bulletproof glass partition. There are always several painters in the
galleries copying the old masters, most of them very good.
Next day to Notre
Dame cathedral. Pretty impressive rose window as the thing is huge. They
purportedly have a small fragment of the cross that Christ was hung on as well
as the nails. Riiiight! Found a great crepery, had one with apple brandy
(Calvados) and apples, (Crepe Normand). great! Walked thru a small alley street
that was all Greek restaurants, breaking dishes on the floor and the whole
thing. Went to Le Gare to reserve our seats on the TGV train. (No cell phone
yet).
Our hotel,
L’Ermitage, cost about 300 Francs ($60) per day including a fine breakfast tray
each morning at our door on the third floor. The hotel is owned by a french
woman, Maggie, and her German husband who speaks no English. The building is a
couple of hundred years old and purportedly built by one of Napoleon’s doctors.
Bonny must have had a dozen doctors as we heard this several times all over
FRance. First off we found the nearest Italian restaurant as we ate mostly
pizza and pasta in Europe. This is due to the complexities and cost of French
cuisine. Montmarte is crowned by a strange bulbous domed church, Sacre Cour, a
late 19th century effort. Constructed of white stone, it is visible
from all over Paris. Since we were near the infamous Moulon Rouge of Lautrec
fame we walked all around looking for it but got lost. But we did discover the
new public toilets being installed all over France. They are of prefab concrete
and stainless steel and cost half a Franc. Clean, no grafitti, cool jazz music,
one person at a time. When finished, the whole interior flushes automatically
when you leave. .
Across the street
from the church in Montmartre is a gathering place for youths from all over the
world, playing musical instruments, singing and carrying on. We got totally
soaked in the rain running around to find the American Express office but with
my cape and beret, Joy her umbrella managed OK.
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| Morning Fish Market |
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| Old Port |
MARSIELLE
A few mornings
later, got up early, to metro and caught
the train to Marseille. All the fast
trains are eighteen cars long with a bullet engine on each end. 165 mph and a
very smooth ride. interiors all glass partitions. Had an expensive lunch from
the bar car (Beer, salad, cheese sandwich). Arrived in Marseille but tourist
office closed for two hours so we had a beer and hung out till it opened and sent us to a hotel overlooking the
Old Port. Hotel Residence put
us on the fourth floor with a balcony overlooking the whole scene. This was a
15th century port with great old forts at the entrance but now strictly for
yachts and fishing boats. As we walked from the Gare on the way a young black
man asked if he could help and showed us the way, asked to carry Joys bag but
she wouldn’t let go of it as she was suspicious, but he seemed genuinely
helpful, invited us for dinner at his place but we didn’t go, liked what we
were doing. Finally nice and warm here. We spend hours on our balcony watching
the crazy French drivers on the streets below. They'll block all lanes and then
drive on other side forcing oncoming traffic almost on the sidewalk. All the
trucks and buses here are absolutely beautiful. Everyone has small cars here
and the French all have yellow headlights, nobody seemed to know why.
Walked around the
12th century forts at the entrance to the Old Port, then up about a thousand
stairs to the highest hill with a church called Notre Dame du Garde, a real
climb with Joy of course bitching all the way. The church seemed to be
dedicated to lots of shipwrecks and plane crashes of WW 2. With all these
parishioner dying at sea, makes me wonder if their God has been on the job.
The walk down was a breeze, passing an old American tank in
themiddle of a street as a small
reminder that war was hell. Walked through streets with marvelous vege and
fruit market.
The fish market
begins early each morning on the quay below our hotel. How about a floppy live
sculpin or octopus? We found a great pizza place across the port from us. Each
day we buy a couple of bottles of wine for $3 and bread and cheese, then we spend
hours watching these people drive, park and carry on from our balcony
overlooking the entire scene.
Went down to the
quay and caught a small boat to Chateau d’If, the miserable fort/dungeon that
the count of Monte Christo spent so many years incarcerated in Duma’s story.
However, due to the heavy seas, we couldn’t land at the dock so just continued
on to the nearby larger island that has been developed with some very well
designed condominiums over shops and restaurant (Mixed use!). Right adjacent to
the new buildings was a well preserved very small Greek temple, dating from the
original Greek colonists around 500 BC. The seas were so bad I was challenged
to even stand up and move around. Joy sat paralyze all the time clinging to a
stanchion so hard she left a permanent impression on the steel .She was too
scared to throw up.
Next day we took a
Metro, streetcar, then bus to see Corbusier’s Cite’, built about 1953. Sitting
on high concrete ‘pilotis’, about 15
floors of residential apartments, with a commercial level sandwiched in about
half way up. We had a pleasant lunch on a narrow out door deck overlooking the
town. All exposed concrete structure showing off the form boards. Naturally, a few bright colors here and there
on the rough concrete a la Corbu.
Off to the beach via
bus. Took a swim at the ‘Plage’ , always fun as you really float due to the
high salt content in the Mediterranean. Even better, there were lots of young
things lying about topless. I guess Nice isn’t the only Mecca for voyeurs. I
tried to get Joy to take her top off and show these kids some real tit but she
was too bashful. I changed out of my wet Speedo bikini on the beach a la French
style. Caught the bus back to La Residence and more Pizza and wine. Ah!
Marseille! Viva la France!
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| Le Plage |
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| Old Town |
NICE
Took Metro to La
Gare the next morning, had a good beer for breakfast to assist my hangover.
Trained over to Nice, found a very high-tech locker for our bags, no key,
prints out a tag and you just punch in the number for retrieval. Some youths
were having trouble retrieving their bags and a siren went off every third try.
Good luck, kids, I tried to help but it was beyond me. Had lunch at a buffet
near the Gare which was the first time we were able to see what we were
ordering since we got to France. Grabbed the next train to Monaco, took a bus
to THE CASINO so Joy could drop her ten Francs ($2 was all she was allotted by
us) in the slots. Bus and train right back to Nice stazion, purchased bread,
wine, cheese for our night train to Roma. Found a great little Italian Café to
savor a salad of tomatoes with slices of mozzarella stuck in them plus some
good fettuccine.
Boarded the night
train to Roma, an expensive sleeper compartment , bunk beds, tiny sink, toilet
down the hall. Hang out the window ‘till dark as it is quite hot. After a
couple of bottles of wine with our cheese & bread, turned in around 2400.
(I love military time and metrics!). Up at 0545 the next morning to pack and
tuck into the little packaged breakfast and coffee brought to our compartment.
Not bad for 12,000 Lire . Off at Roma Stazione, hustled by many hotel
pimps, one of which took us in his beat up BMW to his Hotel Italia Pensione,
only 70,000 Lire which will do. However, we had to wait in the lobby for a
couple of hours for a room to clear.
After a short nap,
(C’mon, Joy, get your ass up, this is Rome!). Found the incredibly crowded and
dirty Metro over to St. Peters. There were only two metros at the time, A and B
(E-W, N-S). Rome is dirty, disorganized, and hard to make sense out of busses
and Metros. Hordes of little kids in groups trying to get your wallet, money or bag. Had to get over to
train station to obtain reservations to Brindisi, on the heel of Italy. Ha! Big
two hour line at information where we usually begin. Finally found a
reservation window and woman said we needed to go to the infamous Information
window. Bullshit! We’ll just get on the train and wing it, as we did have our
Eurail Passes. Then we had to take a Metro to buy our Ferry tickets to Greece,
but were given the wrong directions twice but eventually found Adriatic Tours.
Of course, Joy needed the very expensive cabin ones,( I don’t know what I was thinking,
sleep in a life boat?). Finally on to the Spanish Steps with it’s very dumb
‘Boat’ fountain sculpture at the foot of it.
Had a good lunch (Hey, this is Italy, home of Italian food!). Walked
over to the famous Trevi Fountain with it’s silly sentimentality but it was
cleverly integrated into the adjacent building wall.
It’s a great feeling
walking around in these 15th century streets, on to Piazza Navona,
probably the best piazza in Roma. No traffic, it is the site of an ancient
hippodrome with three great fountains. The center one by Bernini featuring four
large naked figures representing the world’s great rivers; The Danube, Nile,
Ganges, Della Plata?. This was created before they discovered the Mississippi
and Amazon? Lunchtime again! A teeny narrow café ‘L’Albanese’ with fabulous
minestrone, more pizza and veges. House vino as good as you’d want, all for
30,000 Lire.
Next morning Joy got
all pissed off when I set the alarm for 0730. Took her awhile to get over that
one. (Her period must be due). Had coffee, rolls and cheese at pensione and
headed for the Colosseum, not too far away. Rome reeks of history! Just imagine,
I’m walking on stones that Roman Legions trod, up steps that the Caesars
climbed. Wow! Some ruins are absolutely awesome. These people built mountains
out of 1" bricks and newly developed mortar. Some gigantic vaults and
domes scattered here and there. The Pantheon, for instance, built in the year
one, was studied by Michelangelo fifteen hundred years later when he was
designing the dome for St. Peters. It is also amazing how the ground level has
raised about fifteen feet since Roman times due to the detritus of
civilization. All ruins are in pits that deep. St. Peters Piazza is large
enough to contain all the people in Sonoma County, about 300,000 folks. Every square seems to have an obelisk in
it. Brought from Egypt by boat, then just erecting them was a major engineering
feat at the time.
Before we had left
the U.S. we solidified our travel plans for five weeks, except for hotel
reservations, with a week in Greece to tie the knot. A couple of months before
leaving we contacted the Greek Embassy in San Francisco to begin a translation
into Greek of our marriage request. After a couple of trips to the city we were
set to go, or so we thought. We were now ready to do the thing.( Married?).
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| Parthenon |
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| Just Married ! |
BRINDISI /ATHENS
We entrained to Italy
down to the heel of the boot to Brindisi, an ancient Roman seaport. There are
still portions of the old roman road visible at various spots here. Checked
into a little modern hotel and went down to the quay and booked a mini-cabin on
the next days ferry to Patras, Greece.
This was an Italian ship and quite large as the trip takes 22 hours. We
survived on panini and beer. Our ship stopped off at Corfu to disgorge hordes
of backpacking youths from all over the globe, through the huge stern
ramp, looked over by sub-machine gun
wielding policia. On to the ancient port (It seems they’re all ancient) of Patras. Debarking on the quay only to
discover there is a problem. If you spend any time at all in France, Italy or
Greece, you will inevitably get caught in at least one strike of some kind. It
seems the farmers decided to strike today and close the only bridge across the
Corinth Canal, which would get us to Athens. There are two bridges, one for
trains & one for vehicular traffic. All the busses & taxis, were all
stacked up for miles on both side of the bridge. No one knows how long these
strikes last, but not more than a day as people wouldn’t put up withmore than
that. Just long enough to make everyone totally frustrated and pissed off.
After having a beer or two at a sidewalk café (after all, isn’t this why we
come here?) We found a taxi driver who said he knew a way. Well, we usually didn’t travel in such
expensive fashion but we were willing to believe any lie at this point, even
though the trip is about 110 miles to Athens. We were able to share the taxi
with a Brit couple.
We got in the taxi (all taxis are really swell
Mercedes) and before long were stuck in the mother of all traffic jams. We were
losing faith in our driver but Greeks don’t do a lot of English so there was no way to know what he was saying as he
stopped now and then to ask other taxi drivers, truck drivers, etc. until he
figured he had enough directions to get through. We ducked in and out of lanes,
alongside the highway slowly gaining headway until about dark he took off on a
dirt road which lo and behold crossed the canal at the Aegean Sea level
entrance. Then up and around small villages all the while thinking that we were
being abducted.. All at once we popped up on a highway bereft of any traffic
except in the opposite direction, which of course was not moving at all. Our
driver, immensely proud of himself, hollering “Autobahn!, Autobahn!.” Another
few miles and we were in the Old Plaka district of Athens, where we found a
hotel room about 1:00 AM.
The next morning we
found a nicer, smaller hotel called the Nefeli and began our quest for this
paper holy grail (getting married). Upon entering Greece it’s a real shock to
find all the signs in Greek! Not that you don’t expect it, it’s just that it’s
in cyrillic and so foreign looking that at first you can’t make out any way to
pronounce the word. However, after a few days it seems we can read and almost
pronounce the words. The first order of
business was to go to the Greek Embassy to continue our connection to their embassy
in San Francisco.
We got in line for
marriages and gave them all our paperwork, fortunately, there was someone there
who spoke some English, which helped a little when she gave us a stack of
papers to fill out. We were then directed to Athens city hall, which entailed
finding the bus system and figuring out how many drachmas and what the hell it
says on the front as a destination. Then trying to figure out when to get off.
Eventually found our way to city hall, submitting papers, paying some ridiculous
low fee of a few drachmas for a postage like stamp on all our documents, only
to be told that we have to advertise once in the Athens newspaper. OK, we
managed to find the newspaper office after more bus trips. Someone was finally
dredged up who spoke enough English to translate the required wording. All we
had to do was pay the fee, and wait
until the paper came out the next day.
We found a small
pizza place called Piccolino’s near our hotel and had dinner out on the street,
I mean on the street, our table was on the other side of a small street with
motorcycles, cars, trucks zooming between us and the café. Hey, isn’t this what
it’s all about? No one said it would be
quiet.
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| Architect's Pad |
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| Our Hotel Firan |
The next morning we
found a kiosk and bought a copy of the newspaper in which we had advertised the
impending joining of Joy and Lamont. We sat down at a nearby sidewalk café and
ordered a café (Greek coffee requires a lot of sugar as it makes espresso look
like Nescafe). It’s an awesome task to be confronted with an entire thick
newspaper printed in Greek , trying to locate a very small add regarding our
nuptials. There were very few photos so there was an awful lot of print to
peruse. We did locate a section of adds and after a long time finally zeroed in
what could be construed as “Langworthy”,
mostly because after a few days here we actually could make out some of the
Greek words.
We hopped on the bus
back to City Hall to show them our coup. After standing in the interminable
lines again we told the clerk we were now ready to get married. Not so fast,
Buster! You have to wait a week and fill lots more paperwork. .
Time to go wait a
week on the fabulous isle of Santorini. In those days hotel reservations were
not usually required so we checked out of Hotel Nefeli, found the Metro that
took us to the port of Piraeus, another 3000 year old city. Found a ticket
office and booked passage on another huge ferry. It’s always fun watching the
huge semi-trucks backing into the really tight space with barely room for their
rear-view mirrors. Most European mirrors do fold up. It was about an eight hour
boat trip through the serene Cyclades, the area containing hundreds of small
islands, We steamed into the incredible caldera of Santorini, the basin left
over when the island blew up in 1500 B.C. leaving a crescent shaped portion
with a thousand foot cliff, on which the city of Fira and Oi were
perched precariously on it’s edge. Our ferry tied up at a quay near the south
end of the island, upon debarking, we fought our way onto a rickety bus jamb-packed
with us pilgrims, our bags on the roof. The Burma Road led up to the edge of
the cliff, at which time we all started breathing again. A few minutes and we
were in Fira, swearing we would never do that again.
Our friend Jack Jones
, who had owned a small house here, told us about the Panorama Hotel, One of
the largest in town so we hiked over and checked in. The biggest hotel in town was only two
stories high and we stayed the night. However, the next day we discovered a
fabulous super hotel spilling down over the edge of the cliff of the
caldera. We moved over there the next day
and hired a donkey taxi to carry our bags down to the new place. This was one
of the most beautiful hotels I’ve ever seen and we loved it. We spent a week on the island, sipping wine
on the terraces of restaurants waiting for the hammer to fall. We had to fill
out more forms and asked one of the taverna owners to help fill out the forms.
There seems to be some restrictions on how many times you’ve been married.
Since this will be my third, I barely scraped by. Also you have to note your
religion, they were kind of appalled when Joy said “Agnostic” and I said
“Yogi”, not quite what they were used to in a Catholic country.
We frequented a bar
at the head of the donkey trail and Papadoculas, the bartender, told us the owner’s (Sakis) wife worked in the
Atheneon government, to call her if we ran into anymore trouble.
After a week we flew
back to Athens on Olympic Air and went to City Hall again to pick up our
license to get married. But, noooo. It turns out that they only do weddings
once a month and it will be couple of weeks before they do it again. Well,
we’re running out of time so we called Sakis’s wife and she hunted down a
little town outside of Athens called Pahlio Psihiko that would do the
deed. We took a taxi out to the City
Hall , situated in an old mansion taken over in some recent revolution of the
people’s army. There were maybe a dozen folks working in the building but
fortunately one of them was a Brit expatriate who really got excited as they
had never performed a wedding before for a foreign couple. We gave them all our
papers, with postage stamps with corners torn off, etc. and were told to come
back in one hour as the mayor would return then.
We walked about a
block away to an old school ground and bought a couple of bottled juice and
found a bench in the shade to sweat out “The last mile”. It is always hot & humid this time of
year so it didn’t help my constitution during the wait. My future wife Joy
seemed to be fairly well collected but I was rather catatonic at the impending
commitment and can you blame me after two failed marriages? I was glad to be
led back to Death Row and face the mayor. Our enthusiastic Brit kept saying
“This is bully!”. We were introduced to Mr. Mayor of Palio Psihiko and led into
his office to consummate the deed. He produced one sheet of paper (In Greek)
delineating all the things my new wife would do for me with a place at the
bottom for me and the mayor to sign. I don’t know why I brought Joy along at
all. The mayor, who may have known two
or three words in English, showed me where to sign, which I did , and Joy asked
where she was to sign. It was indicated that she really didn’t need to do
anything like that. (The hussy!). After formally reading this one page
document, which Joy & I had no idea what it said, the mayor congratulated
us and we were ushered out of his office. (Bully !) We’d pay a few measly
Drachmas for the fee of being married in Palio Psihiko (Sounds like psycho).
The dastardly deed
done, we were pressed to get to the port of Patras to catch the boat back to
Italy. After having Miss Bully take our photograph on the marble walk in front of the city hall, we made a dash to the nearest
taxi stand to find out that most of them couldn’t go into Athens as they were
banning the odd number of license plate that day to try to reduce pollution, a
really major problem there. We waited around a while until the correct license
plate arrived. We jumped in and tore back to our hotel, grabbed our stuff, ran
back to the taxi and told him to drive the 110 miles to Patras and step on it.
Being a hot afternoon our driver nodding off once in a while, so we kept
hollering and punching at him to keep him awake.
We arrive at the port
and ran over to the gate only to find out that the ship lines were on strike! Of course, no one had any
idea how long it would last so we went over to a nearby café and cooled down
with a couple beers and wait for the outcome. Several hours and several trips
over to the quay we were told that the Italians were on strike but we could get
a Greek ship so we bought tickets and finally boarded for the crossing to
Brindisi. After locating our minuscule cabin on the interior of the ship we
went up to the pursers office and told him that we were just married and would
there be a little bigger cabin available? He took pity on us and moved us to a
larger cabin with a porthole and even a tiny toilet/bath. After a few hours the
ship stopped at Corfu to re-load all the backpackers and on the way out of the
harbor we cast Joy’s flower tiara onto the waters of the harbor as a romantic gesture
ensuring our marriage to last forever, or at least until I died, whichever came
first.
Although the Greek
ship seemed very similar to the Italian one we came over on, the food was a
disaster! Rancid butter, warm beer (unforgivable!) And not any cheaper than the
Italians. Upon arriving in Brindisi, all our bags were put in a huge pile on
the dock while a couple of drug sniffing dogs sniffed out the whole thing. We
got the train for Bologna and sped past
the “Trilli” villages with their strange cone shaped slate roofs and 1000 year
old gnarly olive tree groves.
Well, dear, here we are, hooked for
life.
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| JL on a column segment |
At the Bologna
train station, Joy stayed with our bags while I scouted for a hotel.
Unfortunately, I had cut this part of Italy out of Frommer’s guide as we
weren’t going to go here. These guides
are always really heavy so I usually winnow them down a bit. We decided this
would be a good city to stay and take a couple of day trips on the train to
Pisa and Venizia. Finally located a very fine small modern (and expensive)
Hotel Astoria. Returned to the station to retrieve all the bags and back to our
room. It’s always so hot and sticky we shower a couple of times a day when we
can.
Bologna has huge two
story covered sidewalks from the old days and newer buildings repeat the
concept. Came across an incredible 18th century stair leading up to
a fairly large park. We soon found a good trattoria, great vege antipasto and
pizza ovens gas fired. Did some laundry back at the hotel and furtively strung
it up all over our little balcony but it started to rain and had to move it
inside to the bathroom. I called my secretary, Kay, to wire us money but she
said she can’t do it in Italy and we would have to wait until we got back to
France. This means cutting back on all lunches, Camparis, etc.. Wine and cheese
from now on.
Up early again to
entrain to Firenze, as an earlier one arrived while waiting, we took it. And missed our coffee. Unlike our
airports, train stations have great coffee bars. After arriving in Firenze
station, we picked up our coffee and sallied forth to find Michealangelo’s
David. However, there was a huge line around the block at the museum so we
moved on. Stopped by the Medici Tomb by Michelangelo where he has carved
several large and fabulous images. They are awesome, yet some are not even
finished which doesn’t deter from their magnificence. (He has a lot of great
unfinished pieces around here). We returned to the Academy later and were able
to see David right away. He is gigantic, stands 20 feet tall on an 8 foot
pedestal. Just the technological aspect of it is awesome. A large hall in front
of him contains some of M’s great unfinished work. These people are struggling
to get out of the stones! Later we compared the copy of David that stands in
the Piazza de Signolia and it looked pretty good to me except for the centuries
of dirt and bird shit to give it a
genuine weathered look. The piazza is all torn up with a huge tin roof over the
work, as they were repaving the whole thing. Of course, they found an old Roman
ruin under it all, holes down about ten feet all over the place. Then over to
the Ufizi Palace, stood in a pretty long line at the elevator, but saw a sign
that said “Monumental Stair”. Well, monumental meant high. Three tall stories
up, tough going in all the heat. These Medicis were unbelievable. Every major
painting in history was in their collection. Several of M’s where here also, of
course. Huge galleries of Greek and Roman statuary.
During our walk and
it being Sunday, all the church bells began ringing. One by one, each church
would “chime” in, each bell a different tone, until all the bells in the city
were ringing. We came out onto the
Piazza of Ill Duomo just at the height of it all. Wow!
Finally stopped for
a cool beer now and then across from the cathedral, then check out the bronze
doors of the Baptistry. They don’t impress me as much as I’m supposed to be.
Several panels have been removed and are being restored. We couldn’t find a way
into the Baptistry but walked around the entire church. What a feat! Begun in
the 12th century and Brunellesci finally was able to put a dome on
it a few hundred years later. The roofing appears to be huge tiles, but doesn’t
seem possible. The tower is a truly beautiful structure. Michaelangelo also studied this dome when he
was designing St. Peters. The interior of the cathedral is very austere, except
the floor has fine patterns of marble all over.
Purchased some
cheese, wine & bread and located a small auto courtyard to sit on the curb
and have our lunch. Joy finally found some mustard in Bologna and she’s in
heaven now. Then a walk over the Ponte Veccio with all the Ethiopian blacks
selling all kinds of stupid junk laid out on the pavement. Several were selling
the same ‘T’ shirts, sun glasses, watches, belts, leather hats and ‘Gucci’
bags. Kept on going over to the Pitti Palace which sports the greatest stone
masonry of all time (Except the Incas, of course). These are huge blocks of
basalt that project 18" from mortarless joints.
It’s time for us to
catch the train to Pisa, about an hour away. It was almost like a street car
with a lot of people packed in it, standing room only. Once in Pisa we came
onto a large festival and parade of some kind of combatants with old armor and
all. Troops of men with steel helmets carrying strange paddle like boards,
lances and swords. I had the feeling these implements were real and passed down
from generations.
We walked on to the Pisa Cathedral. The tower is leaning
much more than it appears in photos, a real mind boggler. We were allowed to
climb up to the top of it where all the upper levels are devoid of handrails.
This couldn’t happen here in the overprotected USA. It seems that the tower
will come down at any moment. The campinelle itself is well designed, good proportions,
especially at the top. The cathedral has had some major settlement, also, in
the front portion. It is obvious that it occurred during construction as the
upper portions were compensated and built level. The interior is unusual as it
has a great flat timber ceiling, mostly patterned and gilded, makes a good
contrast to the white marble walls. This must be an early basilica type, begun
before any Gothic influence. A very large baptistery completes the building
group with it’s strange conical roof and well detailed. The entire group is set
in a large expanse of lawn, not a shrub or tree in sight to mar the serenity of
the composition. Young Italian lovers cavorted on the grass. (Read foreplay).
Didn’t have time for
dinner yet as we had to train back to Bologna which turned into standing room
only for two hours as everyone had come for the festivities, whatever that was.
Arrived about midnight and walked all over town and finally found a restaurant
still open. We have difficulty ordering food there, were out of cash so we had
to eat at expensive places instead of cheaper self-service places where you can
see the food before ordering. We didn’t like to load up our Visa card but we
had no choice.
Sometimes reading the
unreadable menu we got a vegetarian antipasto with bacon and horses hoofs
(Jello). Finally figured out how to say noodles and had a good noodle/tomato
dish. Waiters wait for us to order the main coarse but we are always full with
the pasta. We are really beat by this time as it’s been a long, hot day,
Obtaining simple things like water is sometimes trying as you are rushed and
stores are closed from I PM to 5 or 6. Restaurants are open from 12 to 3 for
lunch and dinner is about 10 to 12.
Up again early at
0600 to get to station to get our last train reservations. It takes us the
trains to get from Bologna to Paris,
no reservations on first, get them for second one but computer was down so we
would have to pick up reservations for the TGV fast train in Venezia. Had a
great coffee and roll in small stand-up café, caught the train and arrived in
Venizia 10 AM. Changed some francs for
Lira as we were getting cash poor. I told Joy that Harry’s bar was next to
train station (wrong!) So we began hunting for it. Checked our Frommers and it
appeared the bar was near San Marcos. Stopped for lunch (charge it!) At nice
spot on the Grand Canal with lots of geraniums and canvas awnings. Walked all
over Venice to Piazza San Marcos
where we found Harry’s that was closed.
At the Bologna train station, Joy stayed with our bags while I scouted for a hotel. Unfortunately, I had cut this part of Italy out of Frommer’s guide as we weren’t going to go here. These guides are always really heavy so I usually winnow them down a bit. We decided this would be a good city to stay and take a couple of day trips on the train to Pisa and Venizia. Finally located a very fine small modern (and expensive) Hotel Astoria. Returned to the station to retrieve all the bags and back to our room. It’s always so hot and sticky we shower a couple of times a day when we can.
Bologna has huge two story covered sidewalks from the old days and newer buildings repeat the concept. Came across an incredible 18th century stair leading up to a fairly large park. We soon found a good trattoria, great vege antipasto and pizza ovens gas fired. Did some laundry back at the hotel and furtively strung it up all over our little balcony but it started to rain and had to move it inside to the bathroom. I called my secretary, Kay, to wire us money but she said she can’t do it in Italy and we would have to wait until we got back to France. This means cutting back on all lunches, Camparis, etc.. Wine and cheese from now on.
Up early again to entrain to Firenze, as an earlier one arrived while waiting, we took it. And missed our coffee. Unlike our airports, train stations have great coffee bars. After arriving in Firenze station, we picked up our coffee and sallied forth to find Michealangelo’s David. However, there was a huge line around the block at the museum so we moved on. Stopped by the Medici Tomb by Michelangelo where he has carved several large and fabulous images. They are awesome, yet some are not even finished which doesn’t deter from their magnificence. (He has a lot of great unfinished pieces around here). We returned to the Academy later and were able to see David right away. He is gigantic, stands 20 feet tall on an 8 foot pedestal. Just the technological aspect of it is awesome. A large hall in front of him contains some of M’s great unfinished work. These people are struggling to get out of the stones! Later we compared the copy of David that stands in the Piazza de Signolia and it looked pretty good to me except for the centuries of dirt and bird shit to give it a genuine weathered look. The piazza is all torn up with a huge tin roof over the work, as they were repaving the whole thing. Of course, they found an old Roman ruin under it all, holes down about ten feet all over the place. Then over to the Ufizi Palace, stood in a pretty long line at the elevator, but saw a sign that said “Monumental Stair”. Well, monumental meant high. Three tall stories up, tough going in all the heat. These Medicis were unbelievable. Every major painting in history was in their collection. Several of M’s where here also, of course. Huge galleries of Greek and Roman statuary.
During our walk and it being Sunday, all the church bells began ringing. One by one, each church would “chime” in, each bell a different tone, until all the bells in the city were ringing. We came out onto the Piazza of Ill Duomo just at the height of it all. Wow!
Finally stopped for a cool beer now and then across from the cathedral, then check out the bronze doors of the Baptistry. They don’t impress me as much as I’m supposed to be. Several panels have been removed and are being restored. We couldn’t find a way into the Baptistry but walked around the entire church. What a feat! Begun in the 12th century and Brunellesci finally was able to put a dome on it a few hundred years later. The roofing appears to be huge tiles, but doesn’t seem possible. The tower is a truly beautiful structure. Michaelangelo also studied this dome when he was designing St. Peters. The interior of the cathedral is very austere, except the floor has fine patterns of marble all over.
Purchased some cheese, wine & bread and located a small auto courtyard to sit on the curb and have our lunch. Joy finally found some mustard in Bologna and she’s in heaven now. Then a walk over the Ponte Veccio with all the Ethiopian blacks selling all kinds of stupid junk laid out on the pavement. Several were selling the same ‘T’ shirts, sun glasses, watches, belts, leather hats and ‘Gucci’ bags. Kept on going over to the Pitti Palace which sports the greatest stone masonry of all time (Except the Incas, of course). These are huge blocks of basalt that project 18" from mortarless joints.
It’s time for us to catch the train to Pisa, about an hour away. It was almost like a street car with a lot of people packed in it, standing room only. Once in Pisa we came onto a large festival and parade of some kind of combatants with old armor and all. Troops of men with steel helmets carrying strange paddle like boards, lances and swords. I had the feeling these implements were real and passed down from generations.
We walked on to the Pisa Cathedral. The tower is leaning much more than it appears in photos, a real mind boggler. We were allowed to climb up to the top of it where all the upper levels are devoid of handrails. This couldn’t happen here in the overprotected USA. It seems that the tower will come down at any moment. The campinelle itself is well designed, good proportions, especially at the top. The cathedral has had some major settlement, also, in the front portion. It is obvious that it occurred during construction as the upper portions were compensated and built level. The interior is unusual as it has a great flat timber ceiling, mostly patterned and gilded, makes a good contrast to the white marble walls. This must be an early basilica type, begun before any Gothic influence. A very large baptistery completes the building group with it’s strange conical roof and well detailed. The entire group is set in a large expanse of lawn, not a shrub or tree in sight to mar the serenity of the composition. Young Italian lovers cavorted on the grass. (Read foreplay).
Didn’t have time for dinner yet as we had to train back to Bologna which turned into standing room only for two hours as everyone had come for the festivities, whatever that was. Arrived about midnight and walked all over town and finally found a restaurant still open. We have difficulty ordering food there, were out of cash so we had to eat at expensive places instead of cheaper self-service places where you can see the food before ordering. We didn’t like to load up our Visa card but we had no choice.
Sometimes reading the unreadable menu we got a vegetarian antipasto with bacon and horses hoofs (Jello). Finally figured out how to say noodles and had a good noodle/tomato dish. Waiters wait for us to order the main coarse but we are always full with the pasta. We are really beat by this time as it’s been a long, hot day, Obtaining simple things like water is sometimes trying as you are rushed and stores are closed from I PM to 5 or 6. Restaurants are open from 12 to 3 for lunch and dinner is about 10 to 12.
Up again early at 0600 to get to station to get our last train reservations. It takes us the trains to get from Bologna to Paris, no reservations on first, get them for second one but computer was down so we would have to pick up reservations for the TGV fast train in Venezia. Had a great coffee and roll in small stand-up café, caught the train and arrived in Venizia 10 AM. Changed some francs for Lira as we were getting cash poor. I told Joy that Harry’s bar was next to train station (wrong!) So we began hunting for it. Checked our Frommers and it appeared the bar was near San Marcos. Stopped for lunch (charge it!) At nice spot on the Grand Canal with lots of geraniums and canvas awnings. Walked all over Venice to Piazza San Marcos where we found Harry’s that was closed.
 |
| Last Gondola boatworks |
Joy was a burden,
couldn’t walk (blisters), has to pee, was thirsty (on & on). Finally sat
her down on the Piazza sidewalk café for a very expensive Gin & Tonic. They
are always working on the Ducal Palace and cathedral so they cover up that
portion with scaffolding or wooden structures. Zillions of pigeons with vendors
selling corn to propagate them. Piazza & tower are magnificent but packed
with tourists from all over the world and you feel the real purpose is
obsolete, just a real original Disneyland. Couldn’t get on a vaporetto (water
bus) as it was jam packed so we walked
back across town, across the Rialto Bridge thru a circuitous route back to the
station. Stopped at a small café that
took Visa and had a good dinner. I finally got Joy out of the tourist trap as
it was nice and quiet on this side of the Grand Canal. Trained back to Bologna,
stayed in our hotel for the night, then back to Venice the next morning. We had our first big fight over nothing at
the train station while we were having coffee and rolls. Joy pulled my beard so
hard I was in real pain so I grabbed her arm and hollered at her. Well, she was
in a big snit for at least 24 hours so you can imagine how our wonderful day
went in the Floating City.
We visited the naval
museum which gives a good insight into the power that Venice was for several
centuries. Found a quite café on a wide pedestrian street and had a great fettuccine Alfredo (first of our trip!). Also
drank a couple of bottles of wine plus one to go. Trained back to hotel, made
some calls back to the States before retiring.
Arose the next
morning with large hangovers. Must have been the cheap wine. Thank God a coffee
shop was open to pick up espresso & roll. On the train to Luzanne, Switzerland for a three hour
layover. Changed 82,000 Lire into Swiss Francs so we could buy lunch. Somewhere
in the transaction I was shorted $50, which I discovered later but never did
get back. And here I thought the Swiss banks were impeccable. At the station
there is a mini-tram hill-climber that one takes to get below to the lakeside
cafes.
After a respectable
lunch and Joy chasing around a bunch of swans we caught the TGV to Paris. We
arrived late, around midnight. Dragged ourselves and bags onto Metro and back
to our old hotel. Good to be back, almost like home.
The next morning we
were out scouting for money again. Remember, this was before ATM’s so it wasn’t
easy to score cash anytime like today. So we took Metro to the Champs de
E’Lysee to find the Bank Commercial de France where my secretary had wired more
money. They finally found it after an hour or so and we went across the street
to Burger King (One of the first here) where Joy choked down a Whopper in
record time. Beer and fries for Lamont. Felt a little more secure with cash in
hand. Did some errands, stopped at Brentano’s Bookshop to pick up another Henry
Miller’s for Joy (her literary taste is improving) to read on the plane. Raining
like hell again, We found Harry’s bar and had a couple of genuine Martinis.
After resting back
at our hotel we arraigned to meet our friend Andy at the oldest Brassiere in
town (Probably most expensive, too) called Bofingers. We had a drink there then
walked down Blvd Montpanarse to a micro Vietnamese restaurant. Since it was
starting to rain again we hurried down the smallest, windiest stair in town and
had a pretty good meal, although there was nothing on the menus that didn’t
have bits of dead pig in it. Building officials in the US would just go berserk
if they saw all the tiny, windey stairs, monumental stairs without handrails,
people actually eating and drinking alcohol in the streets and sidewalks,
public spaces actually being used for people activities! Oh, the horror of it
all!
Strolled on down to
Le Deau Magots (Two Jars) café and had a drink where all the starving
Impressionists used to hang out. If they were around today, they would still be
starving because of the prices there. Next day off to the Galleria Lafayette
department store to exchange Joy’s wheeled bag that she had previously
purchased there due to a flaw in it. Then over to Le Orangerie Museum, the Impressionist Mecca, only to find it had
moved 300 meters to another building (All in French, of course). Ran thru a
very drenching rain, thunder and lightning (Real art afficionados) getting
thoroughly soaked but at least they were open. Joy used the hand dryer in the
toilet to dry her hair. Most of the work of Picasso, Matisse, Utrillo, etc..mostly
low grade stuff except for two large rooms that held incredible wall papering
by Monet of his pond. Each painting was 6' x 60' long, a curved panorama of
all. Magnificent and not even signed.
 |
| Gondola |
 |
| Small Canal |
Big parade tomorrow
so they have four big army cranes, setting in a row about 60' apart, wrapped
them in plastic, suspended a white steel space frame , covered with canvas from
the hooks, all to protect the dignitaries in the temporary grandstands on the
Place de Concord. We Metroed over to
Harry’s New York bar for a couple of ‘tinis, then across the street to a great
vege restaurant, all you can eat for 45 Franks. We really pigged out here.
Thus fortified, we
forged on to the Tower Eiffel, took
the two elevators to the top for the view of Paris. An exhibit on
the way down displays models and drawings of Eiffel’s work as well as his work
on the gates of the Panama Canal. The highlight was a model of one of his rail
bridges. It seems that he and Edison were buddies. Then for a river cruise on a
high tech bateau (boat), all glass above the waterline and really huge. Mostly
a tour of the bridges of Paris in four languages. Some were stone from
fifteenth century, some cast iron from the 18th. Getting late now so
we headed for our hotel, shower, wine and cheese. (Oh, the cheeses!), then a
dinner at an Italian restaurant a block from our hotel. Pasta again, and bottle
of Chianti. The owner/chef brought out his guitar and played several excellent
Flamenco pieces for a group at the next table who were celebrating something.
Moments like these.........
Up and at it again
next morning to Metro to Air France bus at the Invalides to Orly Sud Airport
and home. Bon Jour , Paris! Flew over
Iceland surrounded with it’s zillion ice floes looking like white tiles on a
blue background (Grout?) By Gaudi. Stop over at Frobisher Bay, Northwest
Territories for fuel. Terminal is bright orange high teck prefab building
sitting up on concrete pilings, dropped in from outer space. 38 degrees F. And
drizzle. Nothing grows any taller that 12" here. On to SFO!
