The short life of Doodlez

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Facebook. I absolutely love being able to see into people’s lives (or the little that they share with the world), and personally I am the babbling brook and always have the urge to share my joys with the world. I do get irritated by some people’s posts and am cautious about the plethora of news articles and sponsored posts on Facebook. Facebook keeps feeding you with similar interests, so there is a risk that you never ‘stumble’ across the other side of the story…

In recent months Facebook started the ‘Share your memories’ initiative. And for now, I am loving it. Admittedly, in those earlier Facebook years the posts were a bit fewer and further in between, but still every now and then there is a beauty. And so it comes that I was reminded of another precious Anya story. The story of Doodlez, the goldfish.

In 2011, my friend Annie promised Anya (then 9 years old) a goldfish. I cannot remember if it was meant to be a belated birthday gift or just because she felt like treating Anya, but in September 2011, we started making plans to get together to purchase this goldfish. By the way, Anya is tenacious when it comes to promises, and will remember and remind you constantly. So, a warning…don’t ever promise her something that you don’t intend following through on!

The first post about this little adventure emerged on 19 September. She was trying to decide on a name for her goldfish…as you do, and decided that the best way to choose between all the names that was going through her mind, was to get her class at school to vote!And in the end…the chosen name was Bubbles, as it clearly received the most votes! But in the couple of weeks leading up to the actual purchase of the fish,planning and arranging to meet at the pet shop, she must have had a change of plans, because the next post is on 29 September 2011…

I wish I took pictures of the poster she made to welcome Doodlez in our family, or the fishbowl that we assembled. Special water had to be purchased, the fish had to be floated in a plastic bag inside the fish bowl for hours to acclimatise them to the water. And special oxygen tablets had to be chucked in the water to ensure that the poor fish don’t die of a lack of oxygen.

In the end, they decided to buy two fish and the second one was named Bubbles.

The next post still makes me smile, on 30 September…

I kid you not! I found her sitting by the fish bowl, reading The Soul Bird from Michal Snunit to the fish. I bought the book for Anya when I was going through a divorce 4 years before and it is a beautiful little book about the soul that lives inside all of us and how the soul files all our innermost secrets in little drawers, where we can draw on its strength and sorrow, with the message that we shouldn’t forget to sit still from time to time and make sure we don’t lose touch with our souls. The most educated and enlightened fish in the world!

Sadly, the next post was posted on 13 October…

Rest their souls…

A proper burial was arranged and Anya even roped in some of the kids from the complex to ensure that it was done properly. They were dutifully laid to rest in the back of the garden.

But…that was not the end of the story. By now, Anya was totally fixated by fish and were adamant that she can do this better…the next time around.

So, we went off to the pet shop again, this time buying a proper fish tank, with a blower, a thermostat and all. And she googled how much food goldfish really need, where the tank ought to stand in a room, what type of fish should be kept together, etc. But I’m a bit technologically challenged when it comes to these things, so the next post on 17 October reminded me of my lack of skills…

Towards the end of October, the last post about these fish was posted when Anya went on a school camp for a couple of days…

She was clearly paranoid that I was going to forget to feed the fish, so to ensure that I don’t forget, she posted this poster in my room, at my basin, where I brush my teeth and wash my face, so there was no chance I was going to forget!

And with that, the posts ended. However, it was by far not the end of the journey. Unfortunately not a very successful journey, but subsequent fish burials were a bit less ceremoniously and I think the last fish that died about a year later was flushed down the toilet…

But for a while there, Anya was utterly focused on ensuring some goldfish survive and I am so glad Facebook reminded me of this little episode that made me smile in a time that was clouded by many tough choices and an emotional roller coaster.

And, Bianca just told me that her little half brother just got a fish and that she thinks we should donate the fish tank to him. I wonder of the souls of Doodlez and Bubbles will make another child happy!

 

 

 

Under the Tuscan Sun (Part 2)

Friday, 4 July 2014

I woke up with mixed feelings. We were booked on a tour of Tuscany for the day, and I was very excited, but at the same time I realised that our time in Italy was drawing to an end. We have had such a fantastic time and I really did not want to go home. But we were also feeling quite tired and my ankle, which I sprained quite badly in March, was playing up.

I got the girls out of bed, and after some Moka coffee, yoghurt, fruit and ham and cheese sandwiches, we were on our way to Stazioni di Firenze Santa Maria Novella, where we were to meet up with our tour group, under the ‘black clock on top of the main building’.

Once again, it was the meeting point for quite a few bus tours, but we eventually tracked down our group, managed to sign in and got onto the bus.

The girls are ready for the tour…

Our first stop was Pisa, which was more than an hour drive out of Florence so I settled in, caught up on some emails (work was starting again the next week) and just enjoyed driving through the Tuscan countryside.

We arrived in Pisa and walked to the Piazza dei Miracoli, which is actually a piazza situated almost outside the town, with the Pisa Cathedral, Pisa Baptistry and of course, the town’s main attraction, the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It really is quite a sight. Unfortunately, entrance tickets to the cathedral were sold out, but we took loads of pictures, including the obligatory pictures trying to ‘hold up’ the tower.

With my girls in front of the leaning tower of Pisa

Panoramic view of Piazza dei Miracoli

Holding up the tower!

And just fooling around…

Stunning view with baptistry in front

As we were walking back towards the bus, it started drizzling. We had such fantastic weather all week, that I didn’t mind too much, but as we were dressed for a summer’s day, we were keen to get back on the bus.

The drizzle didn’t last too long, and by the time we arrived at our next stop, Vinci, the skies were clear and blue and we were back in action.

Vinci, close to the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci, is a beautiful little village surrounded by Florentine plains, mountains and stunning views. As you walk past the beautiful turreted castle of the Conti Guidi, there is a wooden representation of the Vitruvian Man, based on the drawing by Leonardo da Vinci. We visited the Leonardo Museum, a small museum filled with many of Leonardo’s drawings and with working models of his equipment and machinery, including building-site machinery, textile weaving equipment, mechanical clocks and flying equipment. Fascinating!

The Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci in the town of Vinci

Anya in the Leonardo da Vinci museum in Vinci

Working models in the museum – Vinci

After the museum, we grabbed something small from one of the little cafe’s as we were told that we were going to have a late lunch, and just admired the views and town. I could easily imagine myself sitting down at one of the little open area tables, soaking up the sun, with a cappuccino or glass of prosecco!

The beautiful town of Vinci

Sitting on the stone walls of the town with the Tuscan countryside as backdrop

But we were off to the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci, just 3kms outside Vinci in the foothills of Montalbano, in the village of Anchiano. The girls were fascinated by the life-size hologram of Da Vinci retelling his life story. I was more interested in getting outside and taking in the sweeping views of the Tuscan countryside. It really is picture pretty, with vineyards as far as the eye can see and olive groves aplenty.

The house where Leonardo da Vinci was born

Leo’s house…

Soon, we were on our way again, this time en route to San Gimignano, where we were going to have lunch and a wine tasting.

We were booked for lunch at the Tenuta Torciano Winery, just about 9kms outside San Gimignano. The tour guide started telling us about the food that was going to be served on the bus, and we were definitely getting hungry!

Lunch at Torciana, San Gimignano

Starters were Tuscan salame, finochionna (a fennel seed flavoured salami), pecorino cheese and bruschetta, of course drizzled with their own olive oil. Starters were served with a delightful Vernaccia di San Gimignano. The winemaker was very entertaining and showed everyone how to taste the wine ‘properly’, right from how to transfer the glass from the left to the right hand and how to hold the stem of the glass between three fingers, swirling the glass and inserting most of your nose into the glass to smell the wine, before tasting.

Antipasti and vino!

The Vernaccia was followed by a Chianti (of course) and even a taste of their Chianti Classico. There were also a Bartolomeo Gold Medal, a Baldassare and a Cavaliere “Super Tuscan” and several other wines for tasting. The main course was a pasta with fresh tomato sauce, drizzled by their own special olio al tartufo. We also got to taste their balsamic vinegar (which was sweet and pungent) and Tuscan biscuit dipped in a sweet dessert wine to finish off with. We were given the opportunity to purchase some produce, and I bought truffle oil and a bottle of the Chianti Classico.

Our next stop was San Gimignano, and of course it was time for our daily gelato! San Gimignano is a small medieval town, also known as the Town of Fine Towers, because of its many medieval towers. You genuinely feel like you have been transported into another century as you enter the town. It is definitely one of the places that I have put on my list of ‘places to see again’. We got our gelato and strolled through the historical centre in awe. The little shops everywhere were very inviting and Pinocchio was to be found everywhere. Apparently the creator of Pinocchio hailed from Tuscany, a little bit of useless information that we found when we googled it, after seeing so many Pinocchio’s!

Views from San Gimignano

Stunning Tuscan countryside

The girls in the streets of San Gimignano

Gelato time!!

Beautiful piazza, San Gimignano

Couldn’t resist another snap… San Gimignano

And…Pinocchio!

Our next, and final stop for the day, was Siena. Our visit was the week after the Palio di Siena (or Il Palio), the famous horse race in the Piazza del Campo, and the town was decorated by flags of the different contrade or wards in the city.  The Piazza del Campo has been cleared but there were pictures depicting the scenes during the horse race and it didn’t take much to imagine the square filled with people, horses and flags, only the weekend before!

Photo’of the weekend race in Siena

And the Piazza as we saw it…Siena

Flags everywhere in Siena

We had a small walking tour with a local guide through the streets of Siena, which ended at the unfinished Siena Cathedral, which was originally intended to be the largest cathedral in the world. But in the mid fourteenth century, the town was hit by the Black Death which claimed almost 50% of its citizens, and the construction of the Cathedral was abandoned. The west facade, which was completed, is breathtaking, with its polychrome marble inlays everywhere, and gives a flavour of what was intended for the construction of the full cathedral.

The facade of the unfinished Cathedral, Siena

We were also fascinated by the many statues of Romulus and Remus, the twin brothers who were raised by a she-wolf. Legend has it that Siena was established by Senius, the son of Remus, after Romulus found Rome. The she-wolf suckling the twins is widely regarded as the symbol of Siena.

Romulus and Remus in Siena

And another one in front of the Cathedral

Some people on the tour were staying in Siena for a light dinner, but we were on our way back to Florence. I also found out from my travel insurance that I would need to go and report the theft of my wallet, if I wanted to put a claim in for the stolen cash.

Anya with her brand new Siena bag…

This proved an experience on its own, as despite the presence of the polizia everywhere in Florence, the Polizia di Stato was a good 3.5kms from the train station in a district definitely NOT regarded as touristy. It was dark as we walked the streets of Florence in search of the police station and once again, I was very grateful for the help of Google maps, else I am not sure if we would have ever found it! After reporting the crime (which meant filling a manual form in duplicate and having it stamped by the attending officer), we tracked down the closest bus and took another circular bus route to the area where our apartment was located.

By now it was quite late already and we decided that we were going to have dinner at the Osteria De’Benci in the street below our apartment. I tried the Pappa al Pomodoro, a bread soup. The girls had Spaghetti Carbonara (of course). The restaurant is famous for its meat, SERVED BLOODY (this is written in capital letters on the menu…), but we were not really feeling like lots of (BLOODY) meat after the long day. A glass of Chianti for me did go off well, though. I am not sure about the bread soup though, I would have preferred more tomatoes and less bread, but it was good trying out something different.

It was time to go to bed again. Our last sleep in Florence, and I was feeling a bit nostalgic and ended up googling the prices of long term rentals in Florence. Maybe one day…

Saturday, 5 July 2014

Our last day in Florence was set aside for some shopping and a last bit of sightseeing in the historical city centre. However, we were having some problems with suitcases and started off our day buying 3 new suitcases and ‘disposing’ of our own. After a hearty breakfast of leftover carbonara, we packed our bags and left it at the entrance of the apartment and hit the streets.

We packed in a good dose of shopping until lunchtime and fell into the nearest and closest Trattoria for lunch. By now, it was time to top up Bianca’s savings account again, so I whipped out my iPad to transfer cash, but alas it wasn’t working. We quickly worked out that without a transfer we would not be able to pay for lunch at this place, so we left as inconspicuous as possible and I started phoning around to try and found out what was wrong. Eventually I was told that FNB online banking was down and that they did not know how long it was going to last. We were a bit stuck, as we worked out that we had about €35 in total left in Bianca’s account and we still had to get a taxi to the station, and last with what we had until the evening as our flight was only at 11:30pm.

The streets of historical Florence

Anya making friends in Florence

And goofing around…or is that Pinocchio’ing around??

In front of the Basilica Santa Croce

Leonardo da Vinci…this is not a statue, it is a street artist!

Last view of Ponte Vecchio, Florence

We managed to withdraw €20 and had some change left over after the taxi. Lunch was sandwiches from a supermarket and we could even squeeze in a couple of key rings as gifts for people we simply could not go home to empty handed. But that, alas, was the end of our shopping.

Thankfully, our transfer from the train station in Rome to the airport was booked and we had no other expenses, so we settled in for the long  trip home, via stations and airports (we flew via Addis Ababa on Ethiopean Airlines).

We were sad to leave Italy, and I am definitely planning on going back at some stage for a longer visit, but I don’t know if I will ever have the opportunity to visit Italy again with my girls, and in my heart I knew that despite the exhaustion that descended on us, that we would be able to look back on this trip and treasure the memories forever.

So, it is definitely goodbye and not farewell.

Who knows, maybe one day I will do my own ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ journey.

Arrivederci, Italy!

 

A Roman holiday (Part 3)

Our last day in Rome… (View part 2 here)

Monday, 28 June 2014

A bit tight, but doable…

“We are going to the Vatican” is the first thought that went through my mind when I woke up.

If I thought I was excited the day before, I ain’t seen nothing yet. We bought some coffee, yoghurt and muesli the day before, because we knew we would need to leave the flat early on Monday morning to be at the Vatican by 8:45am. I booked a tour (one of the few tours I booked in advance) because I was scared that I would get completely lost in the Vatican and miss half of what I was supposed to see. If only I had known…

I investigated the different routes to the Vatican from our location and settled on the route with the least amount of walking. This meant; you guessed it; the famed route 492 bus, which ends up pretty close to the Vatican. And the bus was on time. A bonus.

Unfortunately, Google maps was not as reliable as I thought and by the time we approached the Piazza Venezia, I realised that we were not going to arrive at the destination at 8:44am, which would have given us time to walk the last 270m, and still be at the meeting place close enough to 8:45. Nope, it was more likely to be a sprint, IF we were on time at all.

Franzcesca and the important orange flag..

It was already after 8:55am when bus stopped at the designated stop and we were running. Of course, the streets were bustling and there were people on every corner, asking “Vatican tickets?”. I was tempted to say “If you don’t get out of my way NOW, our Vatican tickets will be worthless”, but that would have been rude (and wasted time). Checking behind me to ensure the girls were still with me, we steamed into the spot where we were supposed to meet our guide, realising immediately that this is the place where ALL guides meet their groups.

Eventually, we tracked down Franzcesca, who was our guide for the morning. We were each issued a two-way radio, which crackled every time Franzcesca spoke, but we were on our way to enter the Vatican Museums (along with thousands of other tourists, of course). A dream come true. With bated breath, we stood in the ‘fast track’ queue and entered the Vatican Museums. The kids had to be vetted as they pay a discounted price, but soon we were on our way.

We spent a bit of time outside while Franzcesca explained the different artworks we would encounter in the Sistene Chapel, where we would not be allowed to linger or talk. I gained a lot of respect for Michelangelo, who seemed to have had a bit of an artist temperament as well.

The girls in front of the entrance to the Vatican Museums

Look what we have 🙂

Outside the museum entrance

The girls waiting to go inside

The stairs leading up to where we started our museum visit

Franszesca was very knowledgeable and as we walked up the impressive staircase and entered the first room upstairs, I silently patted myself on the back for my choice of tour booked.

The second room was filled with the most magnificent carpets on the wall, stretching from the ceiling to the floor and I was trying my utmost to take some proper pictures, when I heard Franzcesca saying, “And we move along”. I quickly snapped my picture, and started walking towards the crowd (which engulfed me). I couldn’t immediately see Franzcesca, who had an orange flag (meant to distinguish her from the proliferation of multicoloured umbrellas and flags of all the different tour groups). I could not see her anywhere. “Maybe they are a bit ahead”, I thought. I heard her speaking about moving through the doors towards the next room, and had a bit of a panic attack.

The tapestries are replicas of the originals. Stunning!

The ceiling of the Gallery of the Tapestries

The next doors were a little way ahead of me, so I rushed forward, pushing people aside with “Scusi“. I walked through the next set of doors into a room filled with these life size maps and a frescoed ceiling, and was tempted to stop and take pictures, but by now I was really worried that I am going to lose my group, so I pushed ahead. The next moment the two-way radio went silent. No crackled Franzcesca, nothing. Dead.

This could only mean one thing (or two things). Either, I have walked past the group and out of their range, or they are too far ahead of me. Which put me in a predicament. If I pushed ahead, and they were behind me, I would lengthen the gap between us. On the other hand, if they were ahead of me, I risked falling even further behind if I went back.

The ceiling of the Gallery of maps

I started walking back towards the entrance of the map room, hoping that the crackle of Franzcesca’s voice would start in my ear again, but after pushing against the crowds for a little while, I decided that there was nothing behind me. Did I not look out for the orange flag as I walked past all these people? So, they must be ahead. I turned around and started pushing ahead, all the while listening for the tell-tale sign of the crackling two-way radio to give away their position. Nothing. Now, I really started to panic. Where are they? Which direction should I search?

My heart was pounding and I kept wondering what the kids would do when they could not find me? I pushed ahead with some more speed. But the two-way radio kept its silence. I looked around for a friendly guard, preferably English speaking, who could assist me, but I knew it was hopeless, so I pushed ahead. I knew that at some stage we would reach the Sistene Chapel, and worst case scenario, I could wait there.

Rushing through rooms filled with priceless treasures, artefacts, paintings and sculptures, I could only think of two things, how my kids would react when they couldn’t find me and wishing the two-way radio to crackle in my ear. At one stage, I stopped and decided I was going to try and SMS Bianca. I knew she did not have wifi, and her roaming was not activated, but in most likelihood, she should be able to receive a SMS. But, it showed as undeliverable. I tried to think logically and tried to phone the number of the tour group on my tour confirmation, but there was no answer.

I stopped a guard and told him I lost my tour group. His solution, go towards the Sistene Chapel, you will catch up with them there. So, there was nothing else to do. I snapped a quick picture of a wooden structure which looked like a sarcophagus to me, and entered the steps leading towards the Sistene Chapel.

A quick snap of something which looked like a sarchophagus

Steps after steps, stairs upon stairs, the crowd pushed along. Finally, we entered the chapel. I looked up at Michelangelo’s wonder, but could not appreciate it. I rushed towards the back of the room, trying to spot the orange flag but to no avail. It finally dawned on me that I must have rushed far ahead of the group. My phone started ringing, but it was noisy and I only realised too late. A South African number, maybe the South African couple who were also included in the group? I tried to return the call, but there was no answer.

The next moment my phone pinged. It was Bianca “Where are you?”. I answered that I was in the Sistene Chapel and she replied “You went too far ahead”. Yeah right. She said I should wait there, they are on their way. She sounded all grown up and mature. While I was panicking.

I decided to move back towards the front of the chapel and try and find a seat to wait. I finally found a seat, and looked up. I know Michelangelo was a sculpture artist first, but man oh man, could he paint. I stared at the ceiling, while watching the crowd. There were policemen patrolling the chapel, directing the crowds towards the right, and when that area filled up too much, they would redirect the crowd towards the left. All the while they were shouting “No pictures” and “Silenzio!“. In spite of my hysteria (or maybe because of it), I chuckled to myself. Imagine having a job like that. But at least now I was sitting down, and waiting.

A quick (and illegal) snap of the ceiling of the Sistene chapel

I didn’t know where my kids were (exactly) but they were behind me and they were on their way. I waited for 40 minutes, I kid you not. I could have walked all the way back to the entrance and back, I reckoned!

But the next moment, a sound sweeter than anything I could imagine came crackling through my two-way radio. Franzcesca!! A few minutes later they emerged. Hugs and kisses, none more relieved as those from Franzcesca, who told me she was going to take my kids home with her if I didn’t show up. Not sure if she thought I was playing a Hansel and Grethel trick on her, but we were reunited and come hell or high water, I was not going to lose them again!!

Some of the pics Bianca took in the Vatican Museums

Another of Bianca’s pics

And another

We followed the crowd through the door and outside where we had to wait to enter St Peter’s Basilica. What a fantastic view! It was a clear, beautiful summers day and the piazza just stretched out towards the horizon.

Reunited – waiting to enter the Basilica

Views over St Peter’s square from the Basilica entrance

Anya resting her feet in front of this impressive door

Upon entering the Basilica, I thought for a moment that I had lost the group AGAIN (and only a donkey bumps his head twice??), but I quickly found them. The basilica is a work of art. And big. Apparently the largest church in the world. There is a display in the middle of the church indicating the relative size of many other churches in the world to the Basilica. Shaped like a large cross, it is 220 metres in length and 150 metres across. The nave is 46 metres high.

Inside St Peter’s Basilica – magnico!

One of the many statues dedicated to one of the popes (Google search says it is Statue of St Peter of Alcantara)

Gilded domes and pillars

The inside view of the fames St Peter’s dome

The girls in front of the altar by Bernini

Statue of St Andrew inside St Peter’s Basilica

Michelangelo’s Pieta (Bianca’s picture)

The girls and I inside St Peter’s Basilica

After finishing off the tour, we descended into the tombs, but couldn’t locate St Peter’s tomb and our feet were literally killing us. And to be killed in a tomb is just scary, so we left the tombs and entered into the sunlight. Onto Piazza S. Pietro, with its giant obelisk representing a huge sundial, we emerged and I was sad to leave. I kept turning back like Lot’s wife, not wanting to miss the last view of St Peter’s Basilica.

The girls outside the Basilica in St Peter’s square

Beautiful view from St Peter’s square

Last snap of St Peter’s square with the obelisk in the front and the Basilica in the background

Ignoring the guidebooks’ advice to avoid any restaurants around the Vatican, we popped into the closest and cheapest (which is all relative) pizzeria outside the Vatican walls. Afterwards, we took the Metro or underground back to Termini station, and tried to find the closest bus to our apartment in vain (it was a 2km walk back after all!!). Eventually we found a bus (about halfway to the apartment), but it was better than nothing.

It was time for a siesta again, before we go out to spend the last night in Rome.

Around 5pm, we ventured onto the streets of Rome again, walked to the station and took the Metro towards the Baths of Caracalla. We were all very keen to see the baths, but unfortunately they were closed, so we stopped at the Circo Massimo stop.

Unfortunately, there was not much to see at the Circus Maximus, but the views over Rome were beautiful. We walked towards the city. and tried to locate the ‘La Bocca della Verita’ or the ‘Mouth of Truth’ which featured in Roman Holiday, which Anya and I dutifully watched before we departed on our own Roman adventure.

The girls in front of the Circus Maximus with the Hipodrome in the background

Bocca della Verita (mouth of truth) – Bianca’s picture

We tracked down the sculpture, but were spared having to test it, as it was closed. We could, however, snap a picture through the gates. Turning our backs upon the famed lion, we faced the Temple of Hercules Victor, which is considered to have been a temple of Vesta.

Fountain of the Tritons in Piazza Bocca della Verita – Bianca’s picture

Temple of Vesta in Piazza Bocca della Verita

Walking uphill towards the Tiber river, we spotted the Isola Tiberna, an island in the Tiber river. We walked towards the Theatre of Marcellus, an ancient Roman open-aired theatre. The kids were now complaining about being hungry, but I wanted to push towards the Campo de Fiori, through the ancient Jewish ghetto.

Finally we found a little Trattoria and I had the most delicious seafood pasta, while Anya devoured a pizza and Bianca a Carbonara. This was, of course, rounded off with some prosecco and Fanta Orange.

Theatre of Marcellus

But first, let me take a selfie (all selfies are Bianca’s photos. She’s an expert!)

Anya lighting a candle inside Chiesa di Santa Maria in Portico

Inside Chiesa di Santa Maria in Portico (Bianca’s picture)

After dinner, we took a leisurely stroll towards the Campo de Fiori (in all honesty, the Campo de Fiori was not quite en route to the bus stop, but if I have the maps, then the kids wouldn’t know???) and then back towards the Tiber river in search of the closest and most convenient route back to the flat (it was route 71, of course!!).

The streets were beautiful, and somehow felt a little bit like we were off the main tourist routes. We enjoyed our daily gelato and savoured the experience. We were sad to be leaving Rome early the next day, but overwhelmed by the experience, and terribly excited about the next stop on our tour, Venice.

Anya digging into her Pizza (with loads of ham!)

Gelato time in Campo de Fiori

And some evening entertainment

Evening descends in Via Giulia on the Jewish district

Fountain of the Mask in Via Giulio

Evening strollers on the Ponte Sisto foot bridge

View of Tiber river from Ponte Sisto (Bianca’s picture)

The dome of St Peter’s Basilica from Ponte Sisto

That evening, we all slept like logs, knowing that we have probably seen as much of Rome as you could see in three days, and with lots of stories to tell, amongst which about being part of the lost and found in the Vatican.

Rome has truly made a lifelong impression on me, and I vowed to be back one day, for more than 3 days…

Next up…Venice in a day!

 

A Roman Holiday (part 2)

I know, finally….but here goes!! (Part 1 can be viewed here)

Sunday, 29 June 2014

I woke up in our darkened room with butterflies in my stomach, so excited I could barely contain myself. But it was still early, and after a VERY long day, I promised the girls the night before that we could all sleep in a bit on Sunday. Except that, clearly, there was going to be no sleeping in for me.

I ended up reading with the bed light on, waiting for a decent time to wake up the girls, who were both sleeping as if they were never ever going to wake up. Eventually at 9am, I decided that they (surely) must have had enough sleep now, and woke them up. I had showered already, and was ready to go in search of some breakfast and coffee.

Bianca and I set out in search for a coffee shop or bakery. But it seemed like most of Rome was still fast asleep. Even our Al Forno spot from the day before was still closed. But, not too far down the road, we found a little bakery and ordered some cappuccino’s and a selection of croissants (or rather cornetti and brioche). No better way to kick start the day!!

Around 10am, we were ready to start our day. We needed to pop around a cellphone network provider to sort out the iPad 3G card, as I was using the iPad as a wifi hotspot so that we all could access the Internet. Which meant walking to the station on a Sunday morning. We also had to buy blister plasters for Bianca, who’s ‘comfortable walking shoes’ were definitely not made for cobblestones…

Our first stop was the Museo Nazionale Romano, more specifically the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, which promised to house one of the biggest collections of Classic art, sculptures, frescoes and mosaics. It was magnificent. The ground and first floor was devoted to sculptures and art of the period between the late Roman Republic and the early imperial period (according to Wikipedia between 2nd century BC to 1st century AD).

An ancient Roman calendar

The resting boxer

Sarcophagus of Portonaccio

Sleeping Hermaphroditus (Bianca’s picture)

Mosaics (Bianca’s picture)

Discobolus

The second floor were filled with frescoes and the most magnificent mosaics I have ever seen, several of which were from the Villa of Livia (the wife of Augustus), at Prima Porta on the Via Flaminia. The mosaics are from the 1st century BC to the 4th centure AD. I was awed by the painted garden of the Villa of Livia, filled with exotic images of birds, trees, flowers all against a blue-grey background that invites you to sit down and rest your weary feet (which, of course we did).

The girls in the painted garden of the villa of Livia

Stunning mosaics

The basement housed the largest numismatics collection in Italy. And since I now work for a Mint, which produces numismatic coins (i.e. collectors items), I was especially interested.

Part of the Numismatic collections

Anya posing in front of some VERY valuable medallions

Leaving the museum, it was already after lunch time and our feet were very tired, so we walked back to the apartment (by now the 2km walk to our apartment felt like 10km…). We shared some delicious pane stuffed with parma ham and cheese and stretched out on the beds of our air conditioned apartment for a siesta.

Late afternoon, we braved the Rome bus system again, this time travelling to the Campius Martius, bordering on the banks of the Tiber river. We walked along the river, turning into Via dei Coronari, across the river from Castle Sant’ Angelo. Our first stop was the Piazza Navona, a long oblong shaped square with no less than 3 fountains. On the northern end is the Fountain of Neptune. The centrepiece is Fontana dei Quattro Fiuimi or Fountain of the Four Rivers, by Bernini, next to the Church of Sant’Agnese in Agone by Bernini’s arch rival Borromini, who was initially commissioned to design the fountain. On the southern end of the square is the Fontana del Moro, with a basin and four tritons.

Along the Via dei Coronari

Fontana del Moro

Piazza Navona with the Church of Sant’Agnese (Bianca’s picture)

Along the Piazza Navona

Typical late afternoon scene on Piazza Navona

Fountain of Neptune (Bianca’s picture)

Fontana dei Quattro Fiuimi

Our next stop was the Pantheon. Stepping onto the Piazza della Rotunda, I felt utterly dwarfed by this two thousand year old Roman building. The interior consist of a rotunda or dome with an oculus in the centre providing natural light to the church, measuring 43.3 metres high.  It is indeed an architectural wonder. Afterwards, we just sat on the steps of the Fontana del Pantheon, with its 20-foot high red marble Egyptian obelisk and savoured the moment whilst eating gelato (and resting our feet)…

Pantheon (Bianca’s picture)

The inside dome of the Pantheon 43m high

Inside the Pantheon (Bianca’s picture)

In front of the Pantheon (pic by some random stranger)

Gelato time…

Our next planned stop was the Column of Marcus Aurelius, but en route we walked past the Church of Saint Ignatius (Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio di Loyola), which I read about somewhere. The girls were a bit sceptical, but curiosity won and a ‘quick’ look inside turned out to be one of the best surprises of the afternoon. What wonder. A baroque style church built between 1626 and 1650, on the foundations of the humble Church of the Annunciation which was part of the Collegio Romano. The most impressive feature (in my book), is the grandiose fresco that stretches across the nave ceiling by Andrea Pozzo, including a fake dome, painted to give the impression that the roof had a cupola. This is rivalled by coloured marbled arches, and richly gilded ornaments and altars.

Church of Ignatius inside

Marbled pillars with the frescoed ceiling

The frescoed ceiling

The Column of Marcus Aurelius was next on the list, even though we did see the column the previous night, in search for bus 71. The spiral column on Piazza Colonna, with the bronze statue of Saint Paul on top of it, flanked by Fontana di Piazza.

Column of Marcus Aurelius

Our next stop was the Fontana di Trevi, which I was really looking forward to, but which ended being the biggest disappointment of the day, as it was closed for construction.

With promises that this would be the last stop of the day, we started uphill towards the Spanish steps, which was also covered by construction screening, but still provided a glorious view of the sunset over ancient Rome.

View from the top of the Spanish steps

Walking down the steps, we tried to find the Caffe Grecco along the Via dei Condotti, but only spotted the entrance upon retracing our steps. It was nestled between a selection of designer shops in this prestigious high end street, which (probably wisely) prompted us to rather find a place along a side street for dinner. We eventually found a little trattoria a couple of streets away which served prosecco by the glass (for me), and Fanta Orange for the girls (they LOVED the Fanta Orange in Italy, which tastes like real oranges) and delicious pasta. By now our feet were achingly sore, and I located the closest bus stop for our route home (ever reliable bus line 71!!).

Dinner time! (and a little rest for the feet…)

We plopped down in bed, exhausted. But we had to get up early the next morning, as we were going to none other than the Vatican on a tour.

To be continued…

PS. I thought I would be able to finish the rest of Rome in one post, but alas that was not to be…

 

A Roman Holiday (part 1)

I am exhausted. And a bit bankrupt. Okay, quite a bit.

But my heart is soaring. Because we have just returned from another trip of a lifetime. It was a bit of a whirlwind trip, but it was fantastic.

I’ve just returned from Italy. From a trip with my girls. A very special trip with my girls. We had pasta and pizza every day, and ended it off with gelato (yes, every day).

I won’t be able to share everything in one post as, for starters, I took too many pictures and experienced so much, that I will break it down into the cities we visited.

So, here we go!!

Friday, 27 June 2014

Knowing that we had a very long trip ahead of us, we all went to bed early on Thursday evening. It has been a stressful week, trying to finish off work and with last minute scares as the South African government changed the regulations for travelling with underage kids at the last minute. (The fact that Anya and I tried to squeeze in as many movies about Italy as possible, didn’t help…) But, our bags were (mostly) packed and I just had to organise a few last minute things and then we were ready for our transfer to the airport at 10:30am.

But, of course, with all the excitement, I didn’t sleep much all night and was wide awake by 5:30am. And, to be honest I was stressing a bit. What if there was a problem with one of our passports? What if they didn’t allow Bianca on the plane with her child passport? She just turned 16, and there was not enough time to get her a proper adult passport. What if??

Arriving at the airport, I was feeling a bit nauseated from the nerves. I just wanted to get through the check in, through passport control, and on the other side where we could have some lunch, relax and wait for our plane to board. And, alas…the lady at the check in counter were unable to find our booking with our surname. Really?? She tried to find it with our e-ticket numbers, but still  struggled to check us in. By now, I was a bundle of nerves, literally!

Eventually, she called a manager, who promptly took over and exclaimed, “You are on the wrong date!”. Unbelievable. 20 Minutes later we were able to collect our forex and from there it was a breeze. The passport man barely gave our passports a second look, and the next moment we were through passport control and having lunch. And I had a big glass of wine!

Finally through passport control, eagerly awaiting boarding time

Our flight was fairly uneventful, and we arrived in Addis Ababa about 5 hours later, where we had a 3.5 hour layover. And let me tell you, Addis is not one of the airports you want to spend too much time at. A bit chaotic and tired, we boarded our plane just after 12am and were on our way to Rome. I managed a little catnap, knowing that we had a hectic day ahead of us.

Saturday, 28 June 2014

We arrived in Rome at just before 7:00am, took over the toilets, getting rid of our winter clothes, brushing our teeth and we were ready for the experience of a lifetime!

Taking over the bathroom at Fiumicino!

A bus ride later, we arrived at Rome Termini station. Of course, I had the address, and directions printed out, and off we were. Except that we didn’t quite know which direction…Eventually, after a few wrong turns, we finally found our apartment at at Via dei Irpini, 36. Patrizia, our friendly host, spent a full hour highlighting all (literally ALL) the most popular sites in Rome. There was no way I was going to take in even half of it, but we were armed with a marked up map, and comfortable shoes, and off we went.

After a quick lunch at Patrizia’s recommendation ‘Al Forno’, we decided to walk to the station and get a Roma Pass. This would enable us to get entry into 2 museums, discounts on more and  free use of the Rome public transport system for 3 days.

Selection at Al Forno (Bianca’s picture)

Hitting the streets of Rome

First stop was the Colosseum. That is right, the Colosseum. When we exited the Metro station, I was like a child with a new toy. I could hardly contain my excitement at seeing this centuries old work of art. And it was truly magnificent. With our Roma Passes, we were able to skip the (very long) queue, and the next moment we were inside.

Magnifico!!

Inside the Colosseum (Bianca’s pic)

View of the Arch of Constantinople from the Colosseum

In front of the Colosseum (courtesy of a friendly stranger)

View of the Colosseum from the Arch of Constantinople

After the Colosseum, we walked past the Arch of Constantinople, and entered the Roman Forum complex. Unfortunately, by now, the walking (don’t underestimate the effects of walking on cobblestones), the heat (it was extremely hot), the lack of proper sleep and probably some dehydration was getting to us, so the kids were less than keen to walk all over the Roman Forum complex. But, we saw the main highlights, including the Palantine hills, the house of Vestals, temple of Saturn the magnificent Basilica of Maxentius, Arch of Titus and the temple of Antoninus and Faustina.

View of the stadium in the Roman Forum complex

The Roman Forum complex from the House of Livia

On the patio of the house of Livia

The only remaining pillars of the Temple of Castor and Pollux

The temple of Antoninus and Faustina

Remains of the temple of Saturn

Stumbling out of the Roman Forum complex, we stopped at the first and best place that sold gelato. Heavinly gelato! The start of a love affair. (The girls also loved the free wifi!).

Our first (but not the last) gelato

I promised the girls an afternoon nap, as we had a concert planned for the evening. By now, the 15min walk to from the station to the flat seemed much further than it did the morning, but the shower and air conditioned apartment was a welcome relief after the heat of the afternoon.

A couple of hours later, we were on our way again, ready (and dressed up) for an evening of opera and ballet. The concert was held at Chiesa Evangelica Valdese, a church built in 1883, close to the Piazza Venezia. The show was called ‘Opera e Balletto: La Grande Opera sulle Punte‘ (Great Opera meets Ballet in Rome) and was spectacular.

 

 

On the bill were three magnificent singers; the tenor, soprano and baritone performed various arias, including Verdi and Puccini and the concert featured two dancers from the Academy of Lyric and Dance in Rome. They even performed a short dance from Swan Lake. For the first time (and not the last), I wished I could understand Italian, as the singers had the audience at their feet, with laughs and expressions that made you smile, even if we could not understand a word.

Swan lake

After a truly memorable evening, it took us a while to get back to the apartment, as it appears that not ALL buses in Rome departs every 15 minutes (as Google maps made us believe). But eventually we found Line 71, which ended being our saving grace a few times late at night. We fell in bed, exhausted, but looking forward to some more adventure the next day (I did promise the girls a bit of a lie in…).

 

 

The Piazza Venezia at night

And with that, it is time for me to get into bed and catch up on some lost sleep!

Ciao for now!!

(View Part 2 here…)

 

 

 

A tourist in Jozi

Earlier this year, Citysightseeing (or the Hop on, hop off group) introduced a new route in Johannesburg.

Ever since I found out about it, I have wanted to do this. And, on Sunday, we finally hopped on the bus. What an enjoyable day! I can highly recommend the tour to anyone, Jozi resident or not. It will take you to areas that you probably won’t see every day, and I have certainly learnt some new things about Jozi.

My only complaint is that a day is definitely too short and several of the tourist attractions are closed on Sunday (such as the SAB World of Beer and Constitution Hill). But what better excuse to do the tour again, this time with an extension into Soweto!

Sunday was also the first Sunday after the passing of our beloved Madiba, and I wanted to stop at the latest statue of our former president at Chancellor House in Fox street.

I will let the snaps tell the story!

(click on thumbnails for bigger picture)

On the bus…

The streets of Jozi

Street vendors

Statue of Ghandi on Ghandi square. If you don’t know, Ghandi spent 21 years in South Africa and was one of the initiators of the passive resistance campaign

Mural art abound in Jozi

Typical street front

Kids in prime seats…:-)

Water fountain at Gold Reef City

At the Apartheid museum

Entering the turnstiles, labelled as in Apartheid years

Apartheid museum

Joburg skyline from Apartheid museum

The whole group

Animatedly speaking…

Teenagers in happy moment

A storm brewing over Jozi

Joburg city skyline

Kids at Oppenheimer park, in front of the restored impala statue

The Shadow Boxer. A young Nelson Mandela depicted in front of the old Magistrate courts

Flowers in honour of Madiba’s memory

Lighting a (wet) candle to honour Madiba

Chancellor House, where a young Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo had law offices

This says it all…

The magnificent Nelson Mandela bridge

Graffiti in Jozi

The bus

At the Origins centre at Wits

Ending the day off with a typical Joburg afternoon storm. Kids finding shelter while we wait for the bus

 

Lights, camera, action…

Too much excitement all around…!

I mentioned in my last post that Bianca and I started a camera course in October. It is a five week course with the College of Digital Photography, with an outing on a Sunday morning to practise our newly acquired skills.

We are not only learning about ISO settings, shutter speeds and aperture (which I (sort of) knew how to operate previously, although I didn’t know when to use what), but we are also learning about White Balance, how to blur pictures, how to create depth of field and how to avoid over or under exposure in extreme light and dark conditions. And that is only up to lesson 3!

The great thing about this course is that you also get the opportunity to try out newly learned techniques in weekly assignments. The first assignment was only to test whether we could balance the light meter, but from week 2, we started taking pictures and submitting them.

Assignment 2 was about taking pictures at low shutter speeds (on a tripod), using artificial light. The shutter speeds started at 1 second and increased to 30 seconds.  The same set of pictures were taken using the Auto White Balance setting (AWB) and the Daylight setting. Three different sets of pictures had to be submitted, using different compositions.

So, below is one of the compositions submitted by myself and one of Bianca’s, which I think came out pretty awesome!

My submission

Bianca’s submission

This week we have to take pictures, playing around with Depth of Field and creating blurring movement with low shutter speeds. It is very exciting and I am waking up in the middle of the night, thinking about possible settings. (I did finally finish the Dexter series as well, so my mind has to be occupied with something at 1am??)

Of course, work pressures have not eased up much, but there is nothing like a bit of pressure to bring out the productivity in me…and hopefully the creativity. I have been struggling a bit in the ability to conjour up my creative self in the last couple of months.

And, the cherry on the top is that I get to share this experience with my daughter. And that is something money cannot buy!

 

The joys of imagination!

When I initially started this blog, almost a year ago, I did not want it to be a Mommy-Blog. You know the type, where moms chronicle the times and lives of their kids growing up. Or complain about the teachers or schools or post endless pictures of their kids. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Mommy-Blogs. It is a fantastic way to record the process of getting to terms with becoming a mother and a wonderful memoire of the joys of motherhood.

But the purpose of my blog was something else. For me this was a creative outlet and I wanted to share my joys, my passions, share funny stories about my life. Of course this would include stories about the stuff my kids do, but I did not want it to overshadow my blog.

I think I have achieved that. In fact, looking back, I think I shared less about my kids and their funny quirks and sayings than I thought I would.

So, when Anya recited a speech to me a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help thinking this is so her. Her beautiful imagination, her love for animals, her spontaneous nature. It was not an award winning speech, but it put a big smile on my face. And I am sure that it would put a smile on most adults’ faces out there as well.

I decided to share her speech. I have not changed anything, because in many years from now, I would like to look back and treasure even the spelling mistakes.

Enjoy!

 

Entrepreneurs day sucks…

I am sorry. I know all the pros about teaching our kids to be entrepreneurs in this society is amazeballs and I have also heard the talk from Nikki Bush about future careers, and that the ones our kids will most likely occupy probably doesn’t exist yet. I get it. We should teach them entrepreneurial skills and how to make money. And I get that this is the ultimate intention of the annual entrepreneurs’ day at school.

But for the love of sanity, can we for once just set up a stall, sell some pancakes or lemonade and let it be!

I hate entrepreneurs’ days. My kids never seem to make much money and it ends up stressing me out endlessly. So, you’ve guessed it, you wickedly clever reader, I just went through another one! This time with my youngest, who is in grade 4 and this was her first entrepreneurs’ day.

They had this idea to sell lemonade, which I thought was pretty clever. The ingredients are easy to get, easy to make and you should be able to recoup your money quickly. But, no-oh-no, that’s not enough. They have to make five different things to sell (apparently it was three to five things, but that little titbit of information was not passed on to me).

The Frazy Girls’ cupcakes

Now, I don’t know about you, but one of the lessons I have learned in business is that you should be careful not to expand your portfolio too much too soon. So, they ended up making the lemonade, cupcakes, sweet kebabs (which is sweets on a stick), mud buddies (little balls with sand in them with weird eyes and pokey noses) AND some homemade jewellery. Now you don’t need to be a maths wizard to know that they will probably make a profit on the lemonade and the cupcakes, but this will be severely diluted with the rest of the stuff, in my humble opinion.

For starters, if you do your market research, you will realise that there are less than 400 kids in this school. Each kid will probably coax about R20 to R50 out of the parent, who are swearing at ANOTHER entrepreneurs’ day (in our school there are entrepreneurs’ days for each of the grades from grade 4 onwards, which makes four of them a year). And then there are about 46 grade 4’s, teamed into groups of two, so 23 groups with 5 items each they are trying to punt. I don’t know about you, but if I have only R30 to spend, I am gonna have a drink, something yummy to eat, do something fun and look for something that I can spend on, to get rid of the change.

I cannot see how getting kids to participate in an market that is filled to the brims with trinkets is teaching our kids to survive in the big bad world out there. I would much rather them focusing on one or two things and make a big effort promoting their goods. Showing them how to calculate how much they need to charge per item to make a profit, and helping them work out when it is okay to start selling the leftover lemonade at half price. Now we are talking business sense.

All that is going to happen is that they will tally the money, deduct the cash outflow (ignoring the effort of all involved AND the anguish of a mom who had to speed to the Pick n Pay for a second time in two hours because the ‘enough’ cups turned out to be enough for about a quarter of the lemonade). And if they make a profit they will be happy and if they make a loss they will be devastated. But they will have no idea why this happened. At all. Especially since the lemonade will sell like cupcakes…

Thank goodness it only happens once a year.

And the end result? I am left with probably 10 litres of lemonade, cupcakes to feed the entire street’s kids and since my daughter thought it ‘fair’ to split the money halfways, forgetting that I spent most of the upfront cash, a fairly substantial loss.

Anybody for lemonade (with a complimentary dash of vodka)??

 

A letter to Santa

Dear Santa

It has been a while since I have written to you. I think the last time was probably when I wrote to you on behalf of my youngest daughter, who is almost 11 years old, and since she has been reading and writing for some time, it must be a long time ago. No offense, but I have not really felt the urge to write a letter on behalf of myself for a while.

This is a bit awkward though as I am not sure what the protocol is for raising an objection against a Christmas wish. I am sure there must be some way that a parent can give their input or raise their dissatisfaction with a Christmas wish submitted by one of their kids.

But maybe I should explain the background to my letter first.

A week or so ago, after a family wedding, I had to drop off the kids’ cousin in Tshwane (formerly known as Pretoria) on the Sunday. They have a few Siberian Huskies. But if that is not enough, they have Husky puppies, of about 2 months old. Very cute. Very fluffy and adorable, I have to admit. They still have that little puppy smell to them, you know?

And my daughter fell in love, head over heals, I promise. She immediately took one and sat with it in her lap, cuddling it. And told me that she now knows what she wants for Christmas. Did I mention that they have these beautiful blue eyes?

Now, for a couple of reasons, the evidence of which are listed below, I believe that she has already submitted a Christmas wish for a Siberian Husky puppy, and this is the reason for me writing to you. I would like to object…

Exhibit A

She has actually changed her profile picture on her BlackBerry Messenger several times this last week. This is one of the examples…

Anya’s BBM profile

Exhibit B

But never one to leave things to chance, she has created a collage of pictures of Siberian Huskies for her bedroom door…

Anya’s bedroom door

Objection

Firstly, we have a fairly small yard, and I have had experience with a large dog in a small yard. IT DOES NOT WORK. I cannot imagine that I will be impressed with the dog catching a large rat, as a colleague explained to me in detail their Husky did.

Or another friend told me how someone pawned a Husky off on them, after it ruined his garden and this dog set out killing a neighbour’s geese. I have been told horror stories about them ripping up entire couches, digging up gardens and eating the flowers (mine are just starting to make a reappearance after a hailstorm a few weeks ago).

Secondly, I am a terrible light sleeper, borderline insomniac. I wake up when the cats enter my room, walking on the laminated wooden floors. I wake up in the mornings at 5:15am when the sprinklers outside starts going off! In fact, I think I often wake myself up when I dream too loud! And these dogs, being descendants from a wolf, howl rather than bark.

Thirdly, I think this will put the poor sausage dogs and cats at a significant disadvantage for attention, don’t you think? How will they be able to compete against this gorgeous dog, with blue eyes, nogal? Somehow, this hardly seems fair.

Alternatives

In the absence of knowing whether she put down any alternative suggestions for Christmas presents, I have to admit that this does place you in a bit of a predicament as to what to get this poor girl, who has been (mostly) good this year? I am actually thanking my lucky stars that I am not in your shoes/boots. Good luck, and maybe just a hint…she really likes her music quite a bit and is always annexing my iPad, so I suggest you keep an eye open for bulk discounts in your electronics department. Someone at work suggested getting her a gold fish named Husky, but unless you can find one with blue eyes, I don’t think that will do the trick!

Finally, I have to apologise again for disrupting the well oiled machine that must be your Christmas wish evaluation department.

Kind regards

Gerda (probably better known as Anya’s mom)

PS. While I am busy corresponding with you, maybe I can ask you, if you come across a handsome, well read, intelligent, honest, well dressed, gentle, loving guy, with a sense of humour, who doesn’t take himself too seriously, who loves kids with their own opinions, a house full of animals, crazy girls….oh, nevermind!

(If you are not Santa and you are reading this post because you follow my blog via email, I discovered a nifty little trick.  If you hit reply to the email, you can comment on this post, without logging in to WordPress.  Try it :-))