Stockholm,Copenhagen,Ottawa

We ended our cruise on AZAMARA in Stockholm. What a lovely city, the way in from the sea passes by numerous islands reminding me of The Muskokas in Ontario. The city itself on lake Malaren a little like Toronto on lake Ontario, is very green, clean and well organized with excellent public transport both on the ground and around the waterways. What also impressed us and this is often remarked upon by many Canadians who travel to Europe, in Sweden WI FI is fast, cheap and available free almost everywhere you might be. While Canada where the telephone was invented, we lag behind because of crazy monopoly rules in the hands of just a few select companies.
In Stockholm, a city built on several islands, we easily walked from one to the other. We went to the old town where the Royal Palace and the Council of State or Parliament, the Cathedral and many other beautiful buildings are located. What is nice is that there are very few cars and you can wander around at leisure. But this being the end of our trip it was time to say goodbye. We took the train from Stockholm Central Station to Copenhagen a journey of about 5 hours on a high speed train of the Swedish Train Company SJ in all comfort and yes equipped with free WI FI, the meal served on board was very good, fresh, first class quality. We cross the waters at Malmö over this spectacular bridge to Denmark. In a few minutes we were at Copenhagen airport Kastrup and then into town.

Meal service on Swedish train.

Copenhagen Central Train Station with bicycle parking lot.

We stayed in Copenhagen for a day and chose an hotel right across from Tivoli Garden. We returned to Tivoli to have dinner in the park at one of the many nice restaurants and looked in at the Chinese Peacock Theatre on the Pantomime, always fun. Tivoli has quite a few Peacocks walking around, the white peacock with no long green feathery tails are the females and the male walks amongst people in a slow walk eyeing imperiously every one. On one of the sidewalks I came face to beek with Mr. Peacock, he was not moving so I moved aside and he walked right by me.  It is a big bird and very impressive, even little kids know to step aside.

Tivoli

The next day we flew to Canada, Copenhagen airport Kastrup is modern with dark wood floors, airy modern design. A very nice flight, the food was good. A good vacation all around, we saw many beautiful things and had a pleasant change of scenery.

Sidd and his visiting cousin Jööhann from Stockholm. He is one of those green environmentalist type.

Photo albums

I have been going through boxes of photo albums going back 30 years or even 50 for some photos. So many souvenirs of so many places we travelled to around the world, of our dogs Bundnie and Reesie who are both associated with posting in Egypt and in the USA. They in fact were so well travelled, they also lived with us in Poland and in Canada, Reesie died in Rome at age 16. Our Vet Dr. V. use to joke that our dogs were better travelled than him. Same now with Nicky and Nora who were born in Rome and now live in Canada. What is strange is that I see clothing I still have and still wear from 25 years ago, I suppose if you take care of your clothing it will last a long time. So many souvenirs, we have the same friends we had 35 years ago, we all grew old together, some have lost weight, other have white or gray hair, some regretfully have died.  Memories of so many parties to mark a departure usually to a Post, or a Xmas in Canada, some fancy meal prepared by Will, photos of his famous Plum Pudding recipe from the kitchen's of Windsor Castle, C.1912. We also have lots of pictures of table settings for dinner parties we gave over all these years. I had written notes on each photo so they are easy to identify, others bring back instant memories of events.

Now we have to scan all those photos and put them on disk so that they do not fade, it is also easier to carry and consult. Some I may put up on my Flickr account, though I have learn to restrict access.

All this is part of the clean up and downsizing of our belongings, call it rationalization, in any event to many things to hold on too and not really necessary. I suppose we have to become a little more Zen in our thinking.

Ottawa on the Rideau

Well this past week went by quickly and got a lot of stuff accomplished for our return to Ottawa later this summer. The best thing was the find of this beautiful apartment, totally unexpected. After seeing many substandard apartments advertised in what can only be called as misleading statements and photos, I found a great place for us in an area of town known as the Golden Triangle by the Rideau canal. We had a great agent Eric helping us and he did a very good job answering our questions and getting the information I needed.  It pays to visit properties and not go on info solely provided on paper or on the internet.

Ottawa has changed a lot, the city has matured in the last 7 years and it is much different than when I left.
It is still a very clean city, lots of beautiful parks, very green and quiet. Met with old friends, went out to dinner.  Looked for and compared prices on food etc... this gives me a better idea of what it will be like on our return in 8 weeks.  Dining out in Ottawa is still expensive, more so may I had than in Rome or Vienna, if you look at the 13% tax and then the obligatory 15% service charge added to the final bill, not to mention the price of wines and liquor in restaurants which can easily be 500% of the retail cost at the liquor store. So we will not be doing much dining out. I also found that a lot of foods served in restaurants does not appeal to me. Too many flavors, every chef wants to be trendy, any given menu item has a long description of what the dish is about, to the point of incomprehension. It seems that food has to be trendy, as if that would equate with good taste or savoir-faire in the kitchen in the hope of attracting the monied crowd.  At the moment you have a lot of cranberry sauce with balsamic vinegar and chipotle onions.  Last night per example I had duck breast for dinner it came with what was described as duck confit, it was not, wrapped in rice paper to make it look Vietnamese with wild rice and vegetables and again this sweet and sour combination sauce, this was not an Asian restaurant but a trendy neigborhood one. Not very pleasing at all. The only fish on most restaurant menus is salmon steak, do we not have other fish to serve, it appears not.  The desserts also tend to be very heavy, Ottawa is still stuck in the Cheese cake era and in hot weather a total turn off. So we will eat at home probably replicating what we had in Rome. A good friend of mine described Canadians as people with damaged palates with over stimulated taste buds.

Groceries stores are interesting, you have the superstores and then the local specialty ones, some offer all natural, organic, biological, fair trade, grown in the shade (whatever that means), gluten free, free of dairy products, no eggs, peanut free, products. The variety is impressive, expensive and sometimes a tad funny, you wonder if we need all these choices, but it seems to reflect a certain affluent hypocondriac mentality preoccupied with lifestyle and correctness.

Ottawa also has horrendous rush hour traffic problems now as people try to leave the city centre by the main roads out towards the suburbs, it starts around 3pm until 7pm and on some streets like Bronson it is an all day and late into the night traffic jam.  The Queensway, the only major east west highway in Ottawa is a parking lot in both directions at rush hour. This is why I can happily say that I can actually walk to work in 20 minutes and do not need a car from our new home, I am very happy about that. The walk will also be very pleasant mostly through beautiful park land smack in the city centre. This is one of the very nice features of Ottawa.

Today its back to Rome for the pack up in 16 days the countdown is on. We have movers but we will need to make decisions on what we will take with us and what will be sent with the sea shipment.

Today’s tourism

Tourism has always been about seeing things you heard about or wanting something exotic as a break from everyday routine. There was a time only the privilege and wealthy could travel, modern tourism apparently appeared around 1850 when Britain had firmly established its garrisons abroad allowing people to travel to far away lands and be assured that military protection or Law and Order was at hand from the restless native. I think of places like Egypt and the Holy Land or India or even further away like the Far East. Such trips required months of free time to travel, money and hiring local staff and bringing your own personal attendants just to handle all your luggage and what not. This was not necessarily the best form of tourism since it often conveyed the worst racist attitudes towards people living in those far away countries.

In the 1960’s traveling was still an adventure, today with mass tourism and ease of travel, you can go almost anywhere and meet crowds of people brought there by charter airlines. The magic of certain far off destination is pretty much gone, all the same food, same shops, same souvenirs, same hotel chains and same music playing in restaurants, shopping malls or hotel lobbies. There is not much danger that you will be challenged in what you know or expect at most you will be amused at worst bored and wonder why it can’t be just like it is back home. I was recently reading the book of Durrell on the Greek Islands when he first visited in the 1930's and compared it to what I saw last October, things have changed and not for the better.

One of my pet peeves has to do with the lack of respect people have in general when visiting a different country.

I always wonder why the natural reserve or barrier you would feel at home to behaving outlandishly is suddenly gone. Is it because you think that I will never be back so it does not matter what I do or say or is it a sense of entitlement because this vacation is costing a lot, so they owe me for the money I am spending in their country.

In Catania I witnessed some truly awful behaviour, it seems to occur either in Museums or in Churches, groups come in with a guide and proceed to march around as if they own the place, shoving aside other people not in their group or blocking areas completely or speaking loudly about this and that or simply run around to take pictures of anything that attract their fancy or of themselves, using flash when told not too. In Syracuse we visited one church with a famous painting by Caravaggio, it clearly says NO photography, luckily in this case the guards pounce on anyone who tries to take a picture. One lady of a certain age who should have known better nonetheless pleaded like a 5 year old with the guard who politely but firmly told her NO. In Catania in the Cathedral a group of school kids around 14-15 years of age where visiting with their teachers, the group was about 25 strong. They ran around the church playing tag, spoke loudly, this was an outing for them. Even in the chapel where the sacrament is exposed and reserved for prayers, there they were pushing and showing each other to the dismay of people trying to pray. I realize that visiting old churches nowadays is no different than going to the mall or an amusement park. But is it so difficult to be respectful of others? In another church a Dutch tourist walks in and does not take his hat off as is customary in any Christian church, his wife came in with her dog on a leash. The excuse we are Protestants this is a Roman Catholic Church we don’t believe in this stuff. It is not a matter of what you believe but a matter of respect. I witnessed the same thing in Cairo and in Istanbul in the great mosques when non-Muslims wish to visit, women and men appear to fail to understand that modest dress is required, meaning no shorts and no sleeveless T-shirts or blouse. In Rome the Vatican enforces a dress code, no one objects but elsewhere it seems that lack of sensitivity and lack of respect is the rule.

Unfortunately when you have mass tourism and a general lack of awareness this appears bound to happen.

The worst offenders are not children but mature adults, the older it seems the ruder. I have seen some truly foul mouth rude people in there 70’s and 80’s; you wonder how can this be. Is this an effect of popular culture today or is it that people are fed up with the change they see around them and this is a form of protest. All this to say that the veneer of civilized behaviour is pretty thin.

At 55 in Rome

Well another birthday in another great setting. I am really fortunate, to be able to celebrate major birthday in great cities of the world, Mexico City, Cairo, Istanbul, Warsaw, Beijing, Rome.  It certainly makes up for not having a Betty Crocker Chocolate cake my Mom use to make, the icing was so sweet you felt your teeth growing cavities. Had wonderful parties through the years with good friends. This year is the same, lunch today at the Enoteca on Via Alessandria with Linda, Gail and Jolka. Tonite it will be Spanish Tapas at a nice restaurant on Via Nomentana. Tomorrow night we are going to the Anatra Grassa and chef Giovanni Scomazzon is preparing a special menu. This is what I enjoy the most and of course Will who always comes up with a special surprise. Even Nicky and Nora our little hounds came up with a bouquet of flowers, clever dogs. Apparently I can start getting some senior discounts as of today, amazing.

  1959, in front of our old black and white television at home, 52 yrs separate this photo from the top one. My hair is a little whiter.

food Mykonos

Here are some photos of the many dishes we had for lunch and dinner in Mykonos at Kapari restaurant (Greek for Capers).

Pork fillet rolls stuffed with dried tomatoes and capers and purée of potatoes

Spaghetti with tomato and seafood

Giant Prawns with a sauce of tomatoes, Greek cheese and green onions

Cycladic fritters of tomatoes, zucchini and fennel with a dip of Greek yogurt and capers

fresh grilled sardines with a purée of Fava beans and capers

Mix green salad with Greek cheese made in Mykonos and a dressing of olive oil and Balsamic vinegar

Crisp blue Skies and wind

Today, Saturday the weather was suppose to be variable cloudiness and possibility of rain with strong winds, not exactly the type of weather you want on a small island like Mykonos with limited things to do at the end of the Season. This morning the wind was around 40km per hour at sea, rough really and the fast ferries might not come to the island. At 10am we decided to go into the village of Chora which is the main town of Mykonos where all the cruise ships disgorged the hordes of tourists. Most of Chora is now boarded up and close because it is the end of the season and everyone who has a business here is returning to Athens for the winter.

Do you see Zorba at the windmills in Chora.

Chora is a bit of a lovely tourist trap, coffee is 3.50 euros and tea is around the same price, when you consider that on the mainland it’s 0.80 cents. There are also lots of shops selling 3 things, T-Shirts, expensive watches like Rolex or Cartier and table cloths and cotton clothing. In a 5 minute walk around the village we encountered no less than 25 shops selling expensive watches. We had bright sunshine but the wind was freezing. So after having a coffee we decided to return to our hotel on the other side of the bay. It was lunch time and now the weather had changed to hot bright sunshine and no wind at all.

 

Small street in Chora.

I hope that tomorrow as we sail to Santorini some 3 hours away by boat the weather is the same. I am told that tomorrow will be really hot, which is fine by me.

I prefer Santorini to Mykonos, why difficult to say maybe because it does not have the disco bunny reputation of Mykonos. Santorini is more elegant, less jet-set, more quiet though it is also visited by the cruise ships, it’s a different atmosphere.

Dad is doing better is coughing has almost disappeared, the hot sunshine helps a lot. I think we are the last guests in the hotel, we are leaving tomorrow and then they can close-up.

Apparently this was not a good season, less tourists due to the economic crisis in Greece and in the world.

Reading on vacation

I brought several books to read on this vacation, two by José Saramago, the Portuguese Nobel Prize for Litterature winner 1998 who died about 3 weeks ago. He had a long and fruitful career as a writer and his books are interesting read.

He also took a different look at life and I am currently reading The Gospel according to Jesus Christ, a book written in 1991.

Aegean Sea off Mykonos Island, 08 October. 

There are no Gospel by Jesus and this book at first is a difficult read by the third chapter you see where Saramago is taking the story and it becomes interesting.

In this book Jesus is not the Son of God but that of Joseph, he leaves home at 13. Mary Magdalene is not a convert by his lover, and God is a fallible, power hungry autocrat. Saramago writes a dark parable, a secular gospel, fitting for our time, at least this is my take on it.

The other one is also by Jose Saramago, The year of the death of Ricardo Reis, published in 1984. I just started reading this one, the story is set in 1936 in Portugal, when the clouds of Fascism are gathering. Salazar is about to become the long time dictator of this small nation, while Spain next door is going through its Civil War, Italy has also fallen to Fascism as Germany. Ricardo Reis has returned from Brazil after 16 years and engages into a rambling discourse on art, truth, philosophy and destiny.

In Saramago’s books I find that destiny appears as a constant, what is our destiny or the subject cannot escape his destiny.

The third book is by Jan Morris, titled Venice. Morris has written many books, I’ve read the one on Trieste, after visiting the city last year. His trilogy on British power,

Heaven’Command, Pax Britanica and Farewell the Trumpets are all very interesting. In Heaven’s Command I discovered parts of the history of Canada I had either forgotten or had never heard of. Morris also explains how it was Christian missionaries who pushed and lobbied for the creation of an Empire, not business or military interests. The little people had to be brought to civilization through Christ’s message.  The same thing happened in Canada. Our foreign policy towards China was developed through the advocacy of  Canadians who were missionaries in China. Some had children who were born in China and had become Canadian diplomats. This led our then Prime Minister Trudeau to open up to Mao and company in 1969, years before Kissinger or Nixon had thought about it and years before China could ever be thought of as a potential commercial market, being caught at the time in what can be described as a Civil war aptly called the Cultural Revolution.

So as I sit here on my patio in  Mykonos looking out at the Aegean sea, I read on enjoying the quiet.

  

Mykonos sunny and quiet day

Our hotel is located on St-Stephan’s beach in Mykonos, away from town and above it all. I can see from the hotel terrace the town and the cruise ships, I do not want to get any closer to it. Mykonos does have that reputation for being vapid, easy drugs and superficiality, sort of a Greek St-Tropez, nouveaux riches. Why are people attracted to this scene, I will never understand.

Early morning in Mykonos, a 4 masted schooner sails into port.

We had a lovely dinner at our hotel, very good sword fish and grilled vegetables and a nice dessert for my Dad. George and Poppy are great and friendly hosts.

Laurent at St-Stephan's Beach, Mykonos. (This is what 74kg looks like, sexy!)

I call old age a thief, it robs you of what you were and serves you all manner of indignities. I look at my Dad and I see a anxious, scared old man, who worries about nothing and everything, who depends on me to make this trip safe. He is in a foreign land but he wants to be reassured. He gets lost in his story telling and does not know why, he has become forgetful, confused and tired. I have been reassuring with him, telling him little jokes to make him laugh and feel better. The roles are reversed, he was the parent and me the kid, now I am the one with the authority and he is the dependent, as a child you do not want to see your parents in that position, but old age makes it so in a cruel way, I feel like Aeneas with his father Anchises, this is why I call old age a thief.

**Aeneas was the son of Anchises and Venus. He was a cousin of King Priam of Troy, and was the leader of Troy's Dardanian allies during the Trojan War. After the fall of Troy, he led a band of Trojan refugees to Italy and became the founder of Roman culture 

Athens day one

Well here we are in Athens, Greece, my Dad got here on time without problems. However the crisis started the minute we got in the room. He opened his small case and said, I can’t find my medication, I must have left it all at home on the kitchen counter. He takes about 7 different pills a day, the most important being one drug for his heart and he cannot do without it. This is a 2 week trip and I thought what am I going to do.

I said to him look into your suitcase, it is probably there, No he replies, I did not pack them, what are we going to do. I could not get a straight answer from him on how important those drugs were, he was a little confused and felt bad about leaving home without his medication. I immediately thought of what options we might have, there is one big drugstore just around the corner from our hotel, but could they issue drugs without prescription? In Greece, it is not a problem, it can be done. So we got everything he needed except the most important drug. He told me that he really could not do without it. I was really worried and anxious I had no idea what to do. Phoned colleagues in Athens and they in turn phoned our house doctor, etc… the replacement drug was found around 4pm. Then casually my Dad empties his suitcase and what does he find, all his medication neatly packed. I was so relieved, travelling with an elderly person can be stressful. So the crisis is averted.

I pray to all Orthodox Christian Saints in Greece that this is the only crisis we have on this trip.

We did have a good lunch in the Plaka, he had a vegetable and fish soup, the fish was really a big piece, he ate it all and then had dessert and coffee. He is having a nap now.

Our hotel room has a great view of the Temple of Olympian Zeus across Syngrou street, Dad wanted to know if they were going to rebuilt it. I said, no its ancient history so it cannot be rebuilt.

On our way to the Adriatic coast

The Oreste Ruggieri House in Pesaro, c.1900 Art Nouveau style.

We left Rome around 10 am and it took us about 2 hours to make it to Ancona on the Adriatic coast, most of the highway across (west to east) of the Italian Peninsula (A24) had very light traffic. We turned off unto the Adriatica Highway (A14) just North of Pescara. We stopped for lunch in Ancona at a restaurant we went to last year. Very good food, many awards and friendly owner. See www.osteriastrabacco.it

Ancona is one of those cities, a seaport, where you need a GPS to find your way unless you are very familiar with the city.

Afterwards we were just 66 km south of Pesaro so we took the SS16 towards Fano and then Pesaro. On our way to the coast, I got a phone call from the hotel we had booked our suite. The receptionist tells me that our room is really too small for what we reserved would we mind moving one block away to their other hotel the Vittoria, same price, etc. I knew the Vittoria, it is owned by the same family who owns several hotels in Pesaro and Urbino. The family of Count Alessandro-Ferruccio Marcucci Pinoli are old Papal nobility stock and related to the Duke of Montefeltro and Della Rovere. His web site www.nani-faivivere.it The families ruled the Marche region at the time of the Renaissance. The hotel Vittoria is small about 38 rooms and suite, formely a private noble house on the seashore. It is very much a 1900 style hotel, formal, quiet, elegant. It is I am told amongst the 20 best hotels in all Italy. It has all the services any one would want, pool, sauna, gym, the restaurant has haute cuisine and all dishes served have a calorie count so if you are watching your weight, it’s very useful, no fast food or children menu here, waiters in dark suit, silverware, linen tablecloth and fine porcelain.
The view from our room.

I like the hotel because it is so quiet, you hear nothing even in the lobby or the restaurant. The parking is interesting, they have exactly 4 parking spaces for small cars. The other hotel, a block away, were I am parked has space for 8 cars total. They expect their clients to arrive by train like in 1900. Their site www.viphotels.it
The most common language spoken or heard in Pesaro after Italian is German, the Rossini Festival brings a lot of fans from German speaking countries.

camping for a living

As I come to my 30th year of service I sort of reflect on all the places W and I have lived in. It often feels like one extended camping trip. My idea of camping, as the joke goes, is if I can dial 3 for room service then I am for it.
Living in staff quarters, with the usual government issue furniture, same furniture from town to town, at least this is a constant. But it feels a little unreal, when our furniture now in storage comes out, we often forget what we had before we left.

We are camping in a way, moving from continent to continent, from country to country every 3 to 4 years. Once or twice I moved twice in one year, living in boxes and suitcases, eating in restaurants, living in anonymous hotel rooms. Little creature comforts like making a cup of tea or coffee, just having buttered toast, not possible until you land somewhere and even then it may take months before your personal items arrive on that cargo ship sailing your way. You have to become comfortable, you have to be flexible, make a home where none exist, make the best of every situation. Flexible means learning new languages, appreciating foods of various cultures and not expecting that you will have foods you are familiar with. Having a wardrobe which suits the climate and the mores of the country where you are. If a tourist on a 2 week vacation just brings along what he or she would wear back home, this option is not available to you. I find that what I wear abroad I would not wear back in Canada, often because it would not be suitable.

A bit like going on camping, you have to plan and think what will I need, what I will not need, what is practical. Years ago this meant buying food stuffs for 2 to 3 years supply and other necessities of everyday life, everything had to be planned for your next assignment, a camping trip really which lasted a few years.

This non-permanent state creates excitement and certainly there is little routine, constant change around you is the basic. Not only change in living arrangements but also at work.

So this has been my life, one long camping trip. How many times have I moved, I loose track, but I know it has been more than 35 times so far. All the birthdays, Christmases, New Years and other life events in different cities around the world, never at home with family or seldom. This is why I find it so odd when people wish to spend their holidays with family and go to their parents home every year. It is true that I do not like traditional camping in a tent with a bag pack, bugs and all the uncomfortable bits. But my form of camping around the world, I am so use to it now that I barely notice if there are some inconveniences. But at the same time when the day comes, when I retire and go back to my native land, will I be able to adjust? Will I not be bored silly with the conventional, maybe that is the fear I have of the future, of life being conventional, no surprises, just routine, nothing exotic.

Here I am tonite in Tirana, Albania, former Stalinist dictatorship, a country today transformed, sitting in my hotel room, listening to Angela Hewitt, this great Canadian pianist playing J.S.Bach, the English Suites, camping in a way.

Returning home

So today I flew back from Tirana, Albania to Rome, a short flight 60 minutes across the Adriatic and up the boot of Italy on Alitalia. On their flights they have either an all male crew or a mix crew with a higher ration of male staff. Their staff all look like models on a catwalk. 

When we entered Rome from Fiumicino airport via the E.U.R. and Porta Capena, I noticed a lot of police everywhere around the Teatro del'Opera and Santa Maria Maggiore. It's Rome and we were having our weekly demonstration. If you live in Rome you come to accept that there will be strikes and demonstrations almost weekly or bi-weekly and the police will come out and the demonstrators will block central Rome, meaning Piazza Venezia and Piazza Reppublica by the train station Termini, this means that if you want to drive across the city it becomes difficult. The demonstrations are always peaceful, it is not about violence or anger, but coming out and marching and flying flags, usually of the CGIL the main trade union and the Communist party, balloons and banners.  The police stand by, smoking cigarettes and drinking espresso and talking amongst themselves while the demonstrators walk past. It is a little like a social event, the left has lots of demonstrations. The right and the Fascists have rallies, where speakers go on and on for hours, usually in some stadium built by Il Duce. Denouncing the left and all they stand for. Today the rally of the Left was to mark Anti-Racism day. 

The weather is much colder now, must be around 9c this evening in Rome. The puppies were happy to see me much yapping and jumping and then this evening Nicky did something he has never done before, he jumped on the sofa snuggled up against me and fell asleep next to me while I was reading. 

Will says he was looking for me all week. When I came in, he came really close to my face and just stared at me for the longest while as if he wanted to say something, like where have you been. 

Glad to be home, I find travelling to be such a chore now. Probably will go back to Albania at end February or early March, work again. Sorry no pictures, there is not much to show.