Sister Cristina's first album

The nun who won the "Voice"contest on Italian TV is going to release her first album on November 11th. Here is the video of the single from that album:



I love the way she tries to be confronting. Is it a parody of a parody, or the real thing?

Memling

I went to look at the Memling exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale (ie the art gallery next to the Quirinale palace):

http://english.scuderiequirinale.it/categorie/memling-e-l-italia-exhibition

Memling was a German who moved to Bruges in Flanders, probably because it was a wealthy town. The commentary said that in the 15th century, Bruges was a more important trading centre than London or Paris. Because of that, there were wealthy Italian families living in Bruges, who could commission works of art for portraits, decoration of churches or private religious devotions.

The exhibition had works by Memling, as well as others by contemporary Italian and Flemish painters.

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Lucy

I went to a movie last night, called Lucy. I thought an action movie would be easier to understand if you don't know much of the language.

The whole process is similar to anywhere else, the ticket cost 6.90 Euro, so a bit cheaper than Australia (I forgot to ask for a seniors discount).

The only difference is that they stop the movie for 5 minutes half way through for a refreshment break.

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Sightseeing

I did some last minute sightseeing in Rome:

The view from a hill in the north over the Piazza del Popolo with St Peter's in the distance,

The Spanish steps. As you can see, there are still a lot of tourists in Rome in October.

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Flanders goes to Rome

I noticed a connection between Flanders and Rome. There is an exhibition here in Rome of the paintings of Hans Memling, who they describe as a Flemish renaissance painter.

Of course he is well known in Belgium, and there is a Memling museum in Brugge / Bruges.

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Lifestyle and food

I watched the cooking show of Piet Huysentruyt, who has a popular show on Belgian TV.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Huysentruyt

I think he is a bit like Bill Granger, selling a lifestyle through the cooking.

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Klok en Peel

I

We visited a very interesting museum in Asten in Holland, devoted to bell making. It happened to also have an exhibition of pumpkins in the courtyard outside:

http://www.museumasten.nl/

This is based around a Dutch company which

 is still making bells and has just sold a carillon to China. They

Also made a new bell for Notre Dame de Paris

recently. The science of bell mailing is 

fascinating.

For fans of Andre Rieu, the portable carillon

In the photo was made for Frank Steyns, one

of his violinists who also plays carillons.

A local Sydney note: the exhibition about

Notre Dame showed that the original plan

was for spires on the 2 towers above the

entrance. Unlike St Mary's in Sydney, they

never bothered to build them.

The old country

Glad to be in Belgium. It was sunny weather when I arrived.

Almost a brush with fame

Yesterday an American tourist told me that in the movie "eat, pay, love", the eat part consists of Julia Roberts trying to find the perfect pizza margherita in Naples.
When I googled the movie I found that the pizzeria Julia Roberts chose is a couple of blocks from where I had a pizza margarita a few days ago, though I think hers was more up market than mine.

Another person who claimed to know about pizza told me that the pizza should not have lumps of tomato pieces. Indeed, the one I had in Naples had no lumps, but areas of red and white, being tomato and buffalo cheese, while one I had at a tourist trap cafe had bits of chopped tomato.
But isn't it possible that the Naples pizza used canned tomato? How can I get advice from an expert? Can I ask Julia Roberts?

The photo here is not a pizza, it is the local liquor, limoncello, made from alcohol, lemon juice and peel. Very nice when drunk after a meal.

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Ravello

I've just visited Ravello, a village in the hills above Sorrento. It is spectacular, but I really preferred the bus trip here, along the winding road attached to the hillside.

This place is a natural wonder, but it is also a place shaped by people, those who made it and the assorted group of people who lived here. That is what makes a place special for me, natural beauty and people. Geology and trees are not enough.

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Falling on my feet

This afternoon I took the 1 hour train trip from Naples to Sorrento, then walked to the convent of the Suore Oblate del Bambino Gesu.
I arrived at about 5.30pm and after being shown my room, I was told they had to go to the Mass in the chapel. It turned out this was a celebration for the name day of the head, Mother Daniella, and afterwards I was invited to the dinner with about 40 people from the congregation. A lot of fun.

The order only exists in Italy, Peru and Brazil. Among many other things, the sisters make icons and run classes for people who want to learn how to make them. All the icons in the photo of the chapel were made by the sisters. The convent has a stunning view over the bay and the islands.

A proud Neapolitan woman told me that some things I should do in Naples are see the "Cristo Velato" in St Stephens church. This is a marble sculpture of Christ in the tomb, covered by a veil, which is part of the marble sculpture. I was told it is an unforgettable sight.
Also, see Museo San Martino.

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Demo

I decided to catch a tram to the coast of Naples and maybe do a bus tour of the city.
In the centre of town there was a bit of excitement with a demonstration by students about something. There were several colourful flares and firecrackers, but I'm still not sure what it was about, some looked like university students, others were school children.
I asked several people during the day what it was about, but no one knew.

I then took the bus tour and it was gorgeous. It suited a tour like this, because they took you to the hill on the coast west of the city, so you could see the full curve of the bay of Naples, with houses on the slopes and castles on the hill and in the bay. In the background of every view is the double peak of Mt Vesuvius.

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Real Estate

I had intended to see the ruins at Pompeii and also the top of Vesuvius today, but I stayed so long at Pompeii that I ran out of time for the volcano.

I didn't realize how big Pompeii is, with temples, theatres, shops, an arena for watching animals and people being killed, and many streets of houses, some big, some small and some in between.

I picked out my choice of house, see photo. It has 3 bedrooms, a big kitchen and outdoor entertaining area. The bathroom facilities for these houses were never mentioned in the tour guides, I suspect the truth is ugly.
Also pictured is an unfortunate former resident.

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Neapolitan

I arrived in Naples in the afternoon, after a 2 hour, 19 Euro train trip from Rome.

The hotel I'm staying at is close to the station, which makes it a bit noisy, but it is convenient. The train to Pompeii, Vesuvius or Sorrento is a 2 minute walk away.

I had a short walk around town, found a Mass nearby at 6pm, then had an enormous pizza (tomato and mozzarella). Luckily, I was hungry.

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One coin in the fountain

I put a coin in the Trevi fountain and I came back, so I tried again.
I assume the fact that there is no water in it and it is covered in scaffolding makes no difference.

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On gavarit po russki

I visited the Vatican museum and St Peter's this morning.
It was very crowded, and as you approach the square you run a gauntlet of guides offering tours in different languages. Of course there are guides in English, Spanish, German etc, though not many in Asian languages though there were many Asian people there. I think people from Asia often come in groups with their own guides.

The thing that surprised me was the number of guides offering tours in Russian, it seemed like almost 1 in 20. They were definitely Russian and not Polish. I suppose Rome is very cosmopolitan, so maybe it should not be surprising.

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I had to do it

I didn't visit when I was in Rome before, but I thought I should do it now.

I find this a very ugly and depressing place. The pickpockets can have it to themselves.

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Help on the way

I'm now in the Termini (central station) of Rome doing a bit of planning.
I've now been here for almost 3 weeks, so I think I can make a general observation about the Italians I have met.

Everyone has been very helpful. They have an entertaining habit of feigning irritation with a foreigner and looking impatient. Having made their point they deliver the goods and are very helpful. People have helped with bus timetables, a man drove me to a laundry, many have gone out of their way to show me directions. Maybe I'm tempting fate by saying it, but people here are very helpful to foreigners, maybe more so than Australia.

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25th April

It's Sunday in Monterotondo and I'm waiting to take the train to Rome. (As well as following the Sydney rugby league grand final between Souths and Canterbury).

I notice that in Italy it is common practice to give streets a name with a date. For example, here there are streets called 20 September, 4 October, 24 May, 25 October, 2 June and 25 April.

The last one interested me because of Anzac Day. Of course it has nothing to do with that, I was told it is the date of the liberation of Italy (or more precisely, Milan and Turin) from the fascists. Mussolini was shot a couple of days later.

A related thing, I met a woman from Sicily who knew all about the nearby town of Gallipoli in the south of Italy, which is apparently a very picturesque and historic town, well worth a visit. She had never heard of Gallipoli in Turkey. The world is different when seen through other people's eyes.

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Francesco Fest at Monterotondo

I badly needed a cleanup today, so I'm happy that I've had a chance to wash myself and all my clothes.

The time worked out well, and I was in time for 6pm Mass here in Monterotondo. Although today is the feast of St Francis, it was Sunday's Mass, but he got a lot of mentions on the way by the young Italian priest.
In front of the cathedral are a lot of entertainment/eating places, but most are for drinking or eating gelati.

I've found a place I prefer, a place described as an Irish pub, which has special beers in honour of Oktoberfest, and which also has a good selection of Belgian beers. What could be better than that, and they even have food!

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Rieti underground

This morning I had a very interesting tour of "Rieti sottoterra" by Rita, who also has a B&B there. Rieti is at the junction of 3 rivers, and when the Romans conquered it (from the Sabine tribe), they redirected water to make more land, and also conducted a system of underground caverns which allows the houses above to remain dry. Rieti traded salt from the east coast of Italy to Rome, hence the name of the streets Via Salaria.

Later, Mussolini built walls along the river to prevent the flooding of the streets which occasionally happened. The Roman caves under the city were used as air raid shelters when Rieti was bombed in WWII.

I later visited the Rieti museum, which also explained that a lake once covered the place now occupied by Rieti, but this disappeared because of climate change.

The museum had a lot of information about the empire Vaspatian, because 2009 was the bimillemium of his birth.

I also discovered that there is a Via Benedictine walk you can do around Rieti.

Consider visiting Rieti, it is a 10 Euro train trip from Rome.

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Fontecolombo

Yesterday I visited one of the other Santuarios around Rieti, Fontecolombo, where St Francis wrote the rule of the Franciscan order.
It is a short bus ride out of town, but the next bus back was at 7.10pm, so I had to wait a while and it was starting to rain.

The Friar and a woman who was arranging a visit to the sanctuary for her art class very kindly gave me a lift back to my hotel, just before the storm started.

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Cribs

I visited the Sanctuary near Grecchio. From Rieti, this meant a half hour train trip and a 4km walk up the hill. It was well worth it, you can see the placed St Francis and the monks lived and in honour of his invention of the Christmas crib, there are dozens of modern cribs from all around the world.
On my way back to the train I saw 2 minibuses full of nuns going up to the sanctuary. There must be vespers or some other ceremony. Of course things are planned there for St Francis' feast day on the 4th.
This area us full of places like this, but because they are a little off the beaten track, most of the people you meet are Italians. The rest of us should also try to see them, if it is possible

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Santusrio del Presepe

I'm now at the Santuario del Presepe, near Grecchio. This is where St Francis put together the first crib.
It was a bit of a climb up here, so I'm having a quick beer while I gather my thoughts before visiting the Sanctuary.

I'm staying at Rieti tonight and I think I have the evening's entertainment lined up. The local bar there us showing the Roma v Manchester City match at 8.45. Not sure who I support.

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