Auf der Spur der Lecker Kost

Dear Gran,
On the trail of delicious food here means not having to wander too far…

Summer evenings often means a stroll over the river bridge to our favourite gelati shop. The gelati itself is more than enough reason to go, but I also enjoy being part of the street theatre of people continuously arriving, queuing, agonising over choosing flavours, eating and sitting for a while before moving on. The shop itself is just a counter facing a footpath, but the Turkish staff really enjoy setting the scene: the counter is festooned with all the fresh gelati ingredients (coconuts, cantaloupes, vanilla beans, walnuts, strawberries, mangoes, plums, peaches etc) and the footpath is decorated with flowers, potted palms, balloons and candles.

The Saturday morning market is also just a few blocks away at the local square, Boxhagener Platz. This year marks the 100^th year that the weekly market has been continuously running. We enjoy making a circuit of the tree-lined park whilst hunting for fresh food and choosing between German and Multi-Kulti cooked food. The Mauritian-style spiced fish dish made a particularly good lunch today…

Love from
Brendan

Dramatic Events in London

Dear Gran,

I am glad to be home, once again, after spending a week in London! Last Thursday morning was of course chaotic and confusing but, like most of London, I spent most of the morning believing that it was a power surge had stopped the Underground network. I did become worried when all the buses also stopped running but did not know what had happened for sure until I saw a TV image of the bombed bus in a café at midday. It was not until Friday that I heard from Andrew, Teresa and Jake that they were all fine. I was impressed with how London made a determined show of returning to life-and-business-as-usual straight after the terrorist attacks.

I enjoyed meeting up with Andrew on Saturday afternoon and cycling around Greenwich, Canary Wharf and over Tower Bridge at sunset. Cycling in London is apparently a bit more popular after Thursday’s events, but I am surprised that so few Londoners get around town by pushbikes or motorbikes. It is much quicker and pleasanter than sitting on a crowded, overheated double-decker bus stuck in traffic and London is a milder climate that cycle-mad places like Copenhagen.

A highlight of my week was seeing the rather tragic Shakespeare comedy Pericles, Prince of Tyre in the Globe Theatre on the south bank of the Thames. The newly reconstructed theatre stands within a few hundred metres of where the original once stood. The publicity photo shows how the acrobatic performance makes full use of the intimate open-air theatre. I got one of the 700 available five quid standing tickets so I was very happy to give a standing ovation at the end of the 3 hours performance!

Love from

Brendan



the globe

Pane, Cafe e Gelati

Dear Gran,

Before we all went walking in the Alps, we rendezvoused at Pisa and here’s the four of us in front of the baptistery. The ceiling inside the building is shaped like the inside of a giant bell and the uniformed ticket collector (!) sang three loud, long notes that reverberated harmoniously together in the space and ran right through our bodies.

Next stop was a little fishing village near Grossetto, in southern Tuscany, for a couple of nights to visit Teresa’s grandfather and step grandmother. Teresa’s Nonno is 89 years old and, although he has a weather beaten appearance, he has the sprightliness of someone a quarter of his age. Over two delicious meals of freshly cooked seafood at their house, I found myself wondering if I could remain in such good shape as Nonno when I am 89 simply by eating as well as he did every day? Or would I also have to work like him every day until I was 89 for four hours at dawn and another four hours at dusk on a commercial fishing boat?

From Grossetto we went to Siena for a day’s wandering and here Teresa and I tried to blend into the background scenery.

Following Siena and our Alps walk, we went visiting the five towns of Cinque Terre on the coast of Liguria for two nights. Each town is a picturesque fishing village connected by two hours walk along cliff-top tracks, which includes time for some excellent swimming and gelatis.

If we have learnt one thing since last summer in Poland, it is that swimming in the Mediterranean is much better than the Baltic...whoever would’ve thought!

Julie heeded the call of Science and returned home, but the three of us went on to Rome. At St Peter's, Jake and I upheld the long tradition of Australian males in summer (e.g. Neil, Peter etc) and were bounced at the door for wearing shorts (though we had some backup trousers with us). Another tourist told us that people were being refused entry into Greek churches if they were wearing sandals - and to think the Greeks practically invented sandals! It makes me think of how quickly traditions change. I suppose not so very long ago that our culture expected women to wear hats outdoors (or at least to church) and today some of us fuss about islamic women covering their heads in public...

A few days visiting Ancient Rome and Renaissance Rome was great, it's just a shame I had to experience hot, dirty, noisey and overpriced Modern Rome in order to do it! Catching the train back to Pisa, I could overhear a loud Australian couple talking in the next carriage to a quieter Italian. The Italian asked a question that I couldn't hear, but the Aussie's answer was a very emphatic: "No, we don't know why all Australians are like that. Sorry!!" Now, that really left me thinking!

Love from

Brendan