Bargello and opera

Friday 16 June 2017 - my last day in Florence. I went to the Bargello, a museum often overlooked by tourists. But it has a magnificent collection of many different things. It's big on sculpture, which I like, so I was in my element. Many works by Michelangelo.

But here's the top hit they're known for, Donatello's David:

There's much to talk about here, but must move on. This stopped me in my tracks.

It's a portrait of Constanza Bonarelli by Bernini. Caused a bit of a scandal because he was having an affair with her at the time. Here's how the book describes the work, "This is probably the most sensual and intimate portrait in the history of sculpture". Not bad, eh?

This is the foreboding facade of the Palazzo Pitti.

Inside (but outdoors) in the Piazza dei Pitti I went to the opera, La Traviata. It was set in early movie-making times (lol). Small seating area so it was an intimate opera experience. Very good indeed. No surtitles, anyone would think it was in their language!

I walked home - it was very pleasant as a bit cooler. This is a view of the Ponte Vecchio at night (0036).

Had a celebratory glass of prosecco in my own neighbourhood when I got back.

Duomo Museum

Thursday 15 June 2017 - By now it will be clear that this recollection isn't chronological, but if you're wondering about some of the gaps, don't forget that I did actually do some blog posts while away! Another gap is food - do not fear, it is my intention to create a special page about all the food. Maybe that will be pages.

This day, I went to the Duomo Museum, but first here is the Baptistery ceiling.

The earliest façade of Santa Maria del Fiore, never completed and finally dismantled in 1587, has been reconstructed here on the basis of a 16th-century drawing, making it possible to place many of the statues carved for it in their original positions opposite the Baptistery doors.

And here's the main Baptistery doors - the real ones.

I had lunch and a nice little street-side place away from the Duomo, but with a good view of it down the street. Then caught the bus to Fiesole (pron Fee-ezz-sol-eh). Here's a view from the bus window.

Uffizi

Tuesday 13 June 2017 - Today I have an appointment at th Uffizi Gallery. This was a stupendous visit - it is so big and contains so much great art. I tend to take photos of the sculpture because the lighting is usually better. For the paintings, I buy a book on exiting through the gift shop. The books are excellent, but necessitate me posting them home because they would weigh too much in my suitcase. I've just tried to weigh the pile of books from this holiday, and got an error message on my kitchen scales!

Exterior of the Uffizi:

One of the interior corridors.

You will have seen these dudes before, it's one work I had to photograph. Piero della Francesca's dyptych of the Duchess and Duke of Urbino.

I haven't noted the details of the sculptures I did photograph, and frustratingly they're not itemised in the book, so here's a couple of examples, but I can tell you no more.

I'm fascinated by the Vasari corridor, but it wasn't open to visitors while there because of health and safety concerns (not enough fire escapes apparently). Good view of it from the Uffizi.

Friday treat

I pause this non-chronological recollection of my holiday to bring you a special page: Friday Pizza.

Buongiorno Firenze

Saturday 10 June I leave my hotel in Vienna and fly to Florence to my Airbnb apartment. This all times out well, and then I go for an orientation walk and come across a very long parade.

My later internet research reveals that this is for the Calcio Storico Fiorentino - an ancient sports match sort-of resembling soccer. There was a bull, and horses.

And lots and lots of grim-faced men wearing funny breeches and walking like they'd wet themselves. Still haven't had my first beer, so I go off to a touristy place with a great outlook.

Last day in Vienna

Friday 09 June 2017, last day in Vienna before departing for Florence. Spent a leisurely morning, watched the British election results on TV (to my amazement).

Then headed for the Beethoven Pasqualatihaus. Beethoven made the 4th floor of this house his home from 1804 to 1814. He reputedly occupied about 80 places in his 35 years in Vienna - apparently he was a difficult tenant!

This landlord must have liked Beethoven though, because he kept the house for him even when he was away. The name of the house comes from this owner. It was a very lo-key museum, and the gift shop was closed for some weeks.

But this was worth reverence, Beethoven's piano:

From there I wandered through the Stadtpark gardens where there are tributes to the many composers who lived in Vienna at one time or another. You will have seen this most famous one, of Johann Strauss junior.

Next was the Vienna Mozart house - the best of the three Mozart houses I visited. It was extremely well laid out, with information I could follow, and touching memorabilia.

Friday pizza followed, but I'm going to put those on another page - all of their own. This evening's booking was for the Wiener Mozart Konzerte performed by the Wiener Mozart Orchester at the Musikverein - a stunning venue (which was the reason for this booking). This is the tourist number - Mozart favourites, and badly behaving tourists who take no notice of the warnings about photographs, etc. Here's the stunning interior:

And after the performance, the exterior:

Salzburg

Thursday 08 June 2017 I was on the train early heading to Salzburg. Bit of a journey, two and a half hours, but pleasant travelling though the countryside in a comfortable train. They bring a food and drink trolley around. Bit of a walk from the station though, 20 min. This, I'm sure you will have seen pictures of:

Mozarts Geburtshaus (Mozart's Birthplace). Mozart was born here in 1756 and spent the first 17 years of his life here (when not travelling). I don't have any inside photos, so it must have been a venue where photos were forbidden - I bought a book at the gift shop on exit (as you do, or at least are expected to do).

And this is the Mozart Wohnhaus (Mozart's Residence). The family moved here in 1773 where Mozart composed Idomeneo, among many other works.

In wandering around I discovered this dude, didn't know he was born here too.

This is the shopping street seen in all the travel brochures. It was very busy with tourists.

And a general view of Salzburg, showing the Salzach River in the foreground, and the fortress, Festung Hohensalzburg, up top (didn't get time to go there).

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Tuesday 06 June 2017

Continuing this non-chronological retrospective blog of my holiday, we'll now talk about Tuesday 06 June 2017 in Vienna. By the way, I've just adjusted the time zone on this thing because last night's entry was actually written at 0200, hence the title.

I set off early for the (be careful how you pronounce this one) Kunsthistorisches Museum. On the way, I came across these fellas from the Spanish Riding School (oops, should read Spanische Hofreitschule) having a bit of grass.

This museum was wondrous indeed, and I spoke about it briefly in an earlier entry. I should feature one of the great masterpieces, but these are difficult to photograph in low light, and I tend to buy books of the collections instead. I was very taken by the design area though (mentioned chairs earlier). This desk had me wow-ing.

The cafe at this museum is a wonder in itself, and my photos don't do it justice, but this is my desperate attempt to include lunch and some of the surrounding decor.

Before going to the opera this evening, I did the opera house tour, which luckily included backstage. It's hard to describe, really. We went down some stairs, and up some stairs, and then emerged on a space the size of several sports stadiums. It took me ages looking around to spot the wee opening that was the stage! This is part of the set for tonight's opera being prepared.

And here we are, tie an' all, at the Wiener Staatsoper for Verdi's Rigoletto. Note the discreet surtitle display. It was all very fine. Sorry about the goofy expression - I'm so not into selfies.

Ding!2

I forgot to mention earlier that at the Schonbrunn, I went to an Apfel Strudel Show. It was at the imperial bakery at Cafe Residenz. They had pre-prepared the dough, so didn't see that part. But they way they thinned it was impressive. And the filling was prepared too, so it was a bit of a show really. Tasted good though.

Schloss Schonbrunn

From Monday 05 June 2017...

Official blurb: "At the end of the 17th century, Emperor Leopold I commissioned the baroque architect Bernhard Fischer von Erlach to build a palatial hunting lodge. Later, during Maria Theresa's reign, Schonbrunn Palace became the imperial summer residence and the glamorous centre of court life. Today, the baroque palace and gardens are a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site and Austria's most visited tourist attraction."

This the 'front' of the palace, the entrance for us plebs was round the back. It's impressive too. But the gardens in this view go for a long way and reach a large fountain, then above that is the gloriette way up on a hill. I took the long uphill walk to get there, only to discover that there is a little train thing I could have taken.

Had lunch and a rewarding beer at the gloriette. It has lakes at the front and back. Caught the train back down, which was good because it weaves through trees where there are sculptures.

I thought the horses pointy hats were a Viennese thing, but later found that the horses in Italy have them too.

I'm not sure if this is Monday evening or not, but had a weiner schnitzel at this rather worn but elegant cafe (pity about the rubbish bin).

Back to the beginning

Don't think for a moment that my reflections are going to be chronological. I'm starting here just because I came across a couple of video clips today. So we're looking at departure day Friday 02 June 2017, arrival in Vienna Saturday 03 June 2017, and the following day, Sunday 04 June 2017.

I had a cold or flu (ran a temperature) the week before leaving. This meant taking days off work and dosing on vitamins in an effort to get well enough to travel. By Friday, I wasn't too bad, but far from 100 per cent. Everything went normally for leaving home, getting to Auckland, and the first leg in an Air New Zealand 787-9 to Shanghai. Had a reasonable sleep.

According to the plan, I had 2 hr 55 min at Shanghai while transiting, so I was considering paying for entry to a lounge. How wrong I was. To transit, I had to go to a counter and queue. I went to the one with the Austrian Airline sign on it, and it took say 20 min to get to the counter to be told I should have been in the other queue, which had American Airlines logo on it. There were a lot of people, two staff working, one on each queue, and one just standing in the background doing nothing (supervising?).

So I join the other queue. Another 30 min at least to get to the counter to be told to wait "over there" where there were another 20 or so people. The rumors were that we had to go for quarantine screening, and that made me uneasy, given my 'condition'. We waited there ages. Some tried to break away from the huddle but were quickly bought back in line by shouting officials.

After an age, someone came to escort us down miles of corridor, and steps, to a counter that indeed, did seem set up for temperature screening. Three uniformed officers lounged behind the counter doing nothing. Eventually, they stamped a piece of paper for each of us. At this point we are on the perimeter of a vast area that I think is the arrivals area - size of a football stadium - no one there.

The logical thing now is for us to do a 180 degree turn back through the channel we came through and up the stairs. Nosiree. Official made us follow them in a loop around the perimeter in a wide circle before we could go back up the same stairs. Then back to our starting point where we had to wait.

My mind's a bit blurry about how many bits of paper there were and at what point we surrendered them, but after some time, something like that happened and we went through a set of doors. Here we entered the departure area after the immigration counters, but before the screening counters, and went through screening. It was the usual pfaff and I had to remove my belt. Pat down was done by a woman so I thought it would be interesting if my jeans fell down again.

After that, we walked some more miles and eventually pop out at a normal departure gate area with shops and everything. No time for a shower, just a quick toilet stop and it's time to board for the next leg.

I will never transit through China again.

Arrival at Vienna was straightforward, as was catching the City Airport Train. I then got a Metro to my hotel, emerging from the underground to see the hotel sign directly ahead of me. Hotel very cool and funky (will share some pics later).

Went for my usual orientation walk, in search of a cool beer, and focused on the Naschmarkt. While enjoying my arrival, there was a torrential downpour (I have no protection with me at this point).

Had weiner schnitzel for dinner.

Up early next morning for the Vienna Boys' Choir. This was actually a full Catholic mass, including a sermon in German. It was in a small chapel in the Hapsburg complex. And a bit like the emperor's new clothes. All we could see down below (I was on one of 3 tiny balconies) was the priests who sing badly, and 11 older choristers who provide the counter-something or other. Allegedly on the 4th balcony, there was an organ, an orchestra, and the VBC.

Well, forgive me for being cynical, but this place was as wide as my lounge! Of course, recording and photos are forbidden. But at the end, when all the priestly dudes have left, they wheel the VBC on to sing a number on ground level. It seems to be a given that you can now photograph and video this - it was a sea of cellphones. I had seen this on Youtube so wasn't surprised. But I only had my small Nikon with me.

It was an amazing experience, recorded or not.  But it raises a number of questions. I paid money to go to a mass and this seems improper. But being good Dolans, they still took a collection round, and because it was so cramped, they'd made little collection bags suspended from the end of poles that they poked around the audience. I was highly amused. But couldn't stop thinking that Jesus supposedly drove the traders out of the house of god.

I bought a couple of recordings and once outside, 3 lucky choristers get to pose for photos with the tourists. That was a bit tacky, I thought, but the Americans loved it.

Spent the rest of the day getting lost, looking around, and picked up my pass for the week.

Ding!

Four hours sleep and now wide awake. Dammit. So here's a report on my last day in Shanghai, departure day, Wednesday 19 July 2017.

Utilised a midday checkout to have a leisurely morning and complete packing. On way to Museum, saw the Shanghai Grand Theatre.

Went to the museum - middle of the day and air-conditioned. It's very good with lots of interesting stuff, well presented. Huge numbers of people going through, including lots of school parties. No charge, but security screening. I was fascinated most by the very early bronze casting. I'm going to try to post another video below to see if it works (I don't think my Bastille Day flypast one is working).

Then a quick trip back to the Bund to see it in daylight.

The view across the river to the financial district.

Back to the hotel to pick up my bags and catch first the Metro to Long Yang Road Station, then onto the Maglev high speed train to the airport.

It was quite a process getting through the formalities (what a surprise), and then we sat in the plane for an hour waiting for air traffic control to give us permission to push back. You could hear the frustration in the Captain's voice as he made the updating announcements.

About 2 hours out of Auckland.

Home

It's 2130 on Thursday 20 July 2017 New Zealand time, and I've been home since about 1830. It's great to come home. It was pouring with rain in Auckland, but fortunately fine and calm in Wellington, and a mild 15 degrees. Contrast that with Shanghai when I left at 35.4 degrees.

I've always said that opening a bottle of Kiritea is like coming home, so I've done that.

But this is not the final post, my friends - there will be retrospectives, I promise. So keep watching, all 3 of you.

I found Shanghai a challenging cultural experience, but I had to laugh on getting into the taxi to come home from the airport. The driver pushed 'play', and Bollywood-style music started blaring out, complete with coloured, flashing led lights where you put your feet. There was an enormous necklace, jewelry dangly thing hanging from the rear vision mirror, that swayed perilously close to me and the driver when going round corners. The dashboard was adorned with various symbols, from Egyptian, Indian, to Pania on the Reef in a glass bubble!

On the way home...

Phew, seems like I just left Paris a while ago, but it was early Sunday morning Paris time. Now it's 0026 Tuesday 18 July 2017 and I'm in Shanghai. Can't go to bed yet because I've just had dinner - have been out sight-seeing.

But first, before I give you some pictures of that, here's a "Where am I?" question:

After recovering from the flight and subsequent formalities, doing some emails, etc, it was time to go for a look-see. It's summer here, very hot and humid, but it starts to get dark around 1800. Quite a contrast with Paris where it was still daylight at 2200.

This is a view from the Bund showing the delights of the Financial District. Here's a view from floor 94 of the building dubbed the bottle opener, actually it's the SWFC Building, whatever the heck that is - the bit of paper in front of me doesn't explain.

And looking back at the bottle opener, but still on the Financial District side of the river.

The building on the right with the spiral message going up (or down, depending on where you are, I guess) is the newest skyscraper and tallest, I believe.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities)

So for some reason, the French celebrate this monumental cock-up of a revolution that resulted in tyranny that has to rate as equal as that it was trying to expunge. Don't get me started.

Anyway, here's a taster:

Fireworks will have to wait (but it was good!).

The laws of nature are working normally

There's been a lot of rain here since I arrived. At times it's been a relief when the temperature dropped, at other times it's been a damn nuisance.

But as I said, the laws of nature are in good form - I resisted buying an umbrella for two days of rain (and also resisted using my poncho, just because it's such a pfaff). But then I succumbed and bought an umbrella (found one for 3 Euro). Rain stopped, sun came out, got hot.

Next day I went out without my new umbrella - it looked fine. Then it rained. This has happened again too. Umbrella will be carried at all times now.

And talking about the laws of nature. Some of you will know that I have a problem with La Poste every time I come to France. Can never find an open one when I want it. See the vans, no see a post office. So I thought I'd take a more scientific approach and looked up locations on the interweb, and find the one closest to me. It turned out to be a bank only, but a piece of paper on the door said where the next nearest one was. It was an older building completed gutted and under reconstruction. On another day, I came across a La Poste sign randomly so headed there - gone, closed, empty.

Today I found one on the Ile de la Cite which was useful for research, but too far to carry my load to. On the directory board at Les Halles there was no post office, but the brochure I picked up says there is one there. Will check it out tomorrow. So all is normal.

Let's talk about Wednesday 12 July 2017.

Good sleep-in (I was tired). Set out to walk over to Notre Dame and Ile de la Cite. Don't expect funny little characters here - I can't be bothered finding them. Good look around, came home through the Jewish quarter, got a roll and had lunch at home.

Had a wee zzz then went shopping. Got a card for my video camera (I know, this is riveting stuff), bought a jacket, looked around Les Halles shopping centre. This is now looking good after a major rebuild (bits are still to be done). It was just a mess in 2015. Also went to the Pompidou Centre shops. Best book shop and top shop for designer things. Very expensive though.

Had dinner close by - a very good cassoulet.

Bed now.

Paris

Last night I enjoyed a French opera in Rome. Now I'm in Paris, it's after 0100 and I just had my first night in Paris for this holiday. Had a fabulous meal at a favourite place and checked out some old haunts. More later... need sleep now. It's hot here too.

Opera

It's 0119 on Saturday and I've just got back from the opera Carmen at the Baths of Caracalla. Only booked it a few days ago. I've already used "gob-smacking" once recently, so I'm a bit stuck for adjectives. Let's just say it was a wonderful experience.
Need sleep now, then pack, and off to Paris. So it's arrivederci Roma.

Yesterday, Wednesday 05 July 2017

Here's what one travel guide says, "Built by Mussolini as a showcase to the world of the ideal Fascist metropolis, the EUR (l'Esposizione Universale di Roma) is disturbing to many visitors." Well, there's also quite a bit of disturbing bullshit written about it too, so here's my version.

This is the main thing you think of when you hear EUR. Nicknamed the Square Colosseum, it's the  Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana. And it is of stunning beauty, absolutely, gob-smacking beauty.

It doesn't matter which way you look at it, or what time of day, the play of light and shadow on the marble and within the colonnades is fascinating (interesting choice of word). Robert Hughes described it as, "the most frightening building in the world". But that's because of its association. I have to admit that when I was inside looking at the art exhibition an alarm went off and I imagined a troop of soldiers goose-stepping to quell the source. It's no different to the discussions that take place about Wagner - just because Hitler liked his music doesn't make the music of any less merit.

Inside is a great showcase for art. This is a tree  hollowed out following the growth rings. Quite remarkable. (But is it art, I here you say, lol.)

The area has become a large centre of commerce and industry with accompanying miles of condominiums to house the workers for all of Rome. The remaining office buildings are dull monoliths, like Bowen State Building, or Aurora House.

There was something niggling away at me as I walked around, and after quite some time it hit me - Canberra! This is just like Canberra - boring as hell.

One final shot to say Aucklanders, eat ya heart out - this is what you call a cloud!

It's a new convention centre, and yes, they are calling it a cloud. And it isn't open to the public yet as I found out when trying to enter for a closer photo.