The FIC Road Trip – Days 6-8 Roma

Three generations of women on a two-week tour of Italy – the adventure continues in Rome

Day 6

Great night’s sleep surprisingly and a good breakfast after a leisurely sleep in. Took our time getting organised, as we had plenty of time.

Reasonable roads on the way to Rome and a combination of GPS and email instructions saw us make the hotel, a Holiday Inn, about 12.30 p.m. First room we were given stank of cigarettes so a return trip to reception netted a change of room in reasonably quick time.

The hotel is to the west of the city and runs free buses into and out of the historic town centre. The buses go at various times throughout the day. With the next bus into the city not due to leave until 4 p.m. a quick planning session was held. This resulted in a change into swimsuits and lunch at the bar (in the opposite order!) We made the most of the relax time in the cool water and chatted to a couple of Kiwis who were here on a bus tour.

The hotel was busy with international guests for Roma 09 - the FINA world swimming (water-polo, synchronised swimming and diving) champs. The Israeli synchro team and the Korean and Croatian water-polo teams were definitely here, as was a very visible Carabinieri presence.

Caught the bus in to the city at 4 p.m. and were dropped near Largo Argentina. We made our way to the Colosseum, or Flavian Amphitheatre to give it its correct title, and did the audio guide tour. A gentle stroll from there allowed us to explore the Traiano (Trajan) market area, which then led us back past the hotel Patch and I had stayed in when we were here in April. A little shopping and then dinner at ‘Mother India’ – once again an awesome meal.



We strolled our way back to the courtesy bus pick-up point via the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, an incredibly impressive building. A 30 minute wait and we were headed for ‘home’.



The ride went via the Vatican City and the driver gave us time to go and take photos. It is an amazing place and quite magical at night.

Day 7

Slept in!!! Dragged our weary asses down to breakfast about 10.15 and had a huge brunch. Yummy to the tummy. The dining room was presided over by a lovely old guy who was very friendly. So different from almost every place we have eaten to date.
Had a lazy morning/mid-day, planned and followed that plan, almost, to the letter. Mum sat by the pool. Caitlin read and had a bath. I read and then went to the supermarket and electronics store to get Mum an extra XD card for her camera. Once again caught the 4 p.m. hotel bus into the city.

On arrival in the city our first stop was the Pantheon... and once again we got caught out by a service. Dang! Couldn’t get in for at least an hour so moved on to the Trevi fountain - Fabulous. Took photos as we tossed coins in the fountain... right hand over the left shoulder. It means you will come back to Roma one day. Worked last time I did it.



From the Trevi we made our way to the Spanish steps. Took our time and climbed them together. Stopped to admire a wedding party who were trying to take photos, also admired the artists at the top of the stairs.

Finally decided to get Caitlin’s portrait drawn by one of the street artists at her request. Beautiful job.



Counting all the steps on the way down we reached the bottom and the fountain of the flooded boat.

We started back towards the Pantheon via Via Condotti. Name a label, it is here... Gucci, Feregamo, Jimmy Choo!!! Yum Yum Yum!!! Then along Via del Corso. Caitlin tried on a few things but nothing terrific, thankfully.

Arriving back at the Pantheon we found it closed. So with hunger starting to grumble, we found a little cafe and ordered pasta, and beer and water. Great feed. A leisurely stroll again... (story of this trip) ... and with time to spare to catch the bus, we called into the ‘Feltrinelli’ bookshop which has a good English section. Purchases completed, and getting close to bus time, we wandered round Largo Argentina.



Caitlin spotted a cat up on a wall and then another on a ledge further down the wall. Below there seemed to be a cafe set-up in a narrow alley – a cafe with a difference – there was another cat asleep, draped across a table. It was then we noticed the sign ‘Cat Sanctuary –www.catsanctuary.com’ and then we spotted more and more cats – Caitlin happy!

On to the pick-up point - and only five minutes to wait for the bus. Seriously footsore, and glad to get back to the hotel

Day 8

Weird night’s sleep. Caitlin was talking – insisted to her Gran that she had “caught the stick”. Her Gran told her that that was “very good Caitlin” and both returned to sleep, until Mum woke me to tell me to turn over as I was making a noise. This from the woman who snores like a train!!!

Caught the 10.15 a.m. bus into the city and wandered in search of the Fendazione Roma in Via del Corso to see an exhibition of work by Japanese artist Hiroshige. He was a major master in his field in the mid 1800’s He even inspired several works by Van Gogh who copied his prints in oil. Amazingly detailed, especially considering the method of printing.



Wandered towards the Pantheon on the off change it was open – and it was! Spent some time being impressed once again. The workmanship is astounding for something nearly 2000 years old. We’ve learned so little.

Strolled on to Piazza Navona, admiring the three large fountains there, and decided on late lunch before admiring the art work on display around the piazza.



There we are sitting in a little, awesome cafe in Rome on a back street when a Kiwi accent said “Oh my God – Fiona”. It was Natalie and Jess from Milano and a friend from (now) Perth – another ex-Kiwi. We chatted for an age and then they headed off on their adventures.

We then went on to visit the artists in the piazza and head for Piazza de Fiori. With time getting on we set off for the pick-up point arriving with 5 minutes to spare.

Arriving back at the hotel I did some washing and then joined Mum and Caitlin down at the pool for some relax time. The swim left us all wonderfully cool for the first time all week.

A change into real clothes and we walked down the hill to the superette for wine, beer, coke and chocolate and then to McDonald’s for burgers which we brought back to our room. Well fed and watered we tumbled and poured ourselves into bed with books...

The FIC Road Trip – Day 5 St Galgano, Capalbio, Giardino dei Tarocchi

Three generations of women on a two-week tour of Italy – the adventure continues!

We set the GPS for our next night’s destination, Capalbio, and hoped to find signs somewhere along the road to see the sword of the sword of San Galgano Guidotti de Chiusdino. Mum found a reference to a nearby town so we set the GPS for the new target of Monticiano and followed her lead.

After following narrow, tree lined, back roads suddenly through the leaves we glimpsed weird, red rock formations. Stopping as quickly as was safe we leaped out to go and investigate. It looked like someone had taken a giant cake knife and smeared thick, strawberry icing roughly all over the side of the hill.


Nearly 40km south of Siena, and way off the beaten track, we found the Abbey of San Galgano, said to be the best example of gothic architecture in Tuscany, if not all Italy. Amidst preparations for an opera performance to be held the following evening the abbey was once again filled with pews, if only of the plastic folding variety. This huge ancient building, abandoned 400 years ago, now roofless and carpeted in weeds is undergoing a gentle renaissance of its own. The parking lot is perfectly prepared, but the path from the abbey to the hermitage where the sword in the stone resides is a deeply rutted, loose- stoned track, poorly suited to stock let alone pilgrims. We scrambled slowly up the pathway only to find ourselves with a 30 minute wait for a mass to finish.



For interim entertainment we engaged in a one-sided conversation with the crone from the attached ‘gift’ shop. Much flat out Italian exclamation on her part, which we interpreted to be about her cats – one of whom was apparently killed by a car when only a few weeks old – and much sympathetic nodding on our part. So people, – DON’T PLAY WITH THE CATS - otherwise (a) they might follow you and others to the car park and get run over; and (b) the crone will hiss at you and tell you to go away. You’ve been warned!

The sword in the stone is quite interesting tale set in the later part of the 12th century. Galgano, so the story goes, son of a wealthy family was world-weary with his dissolute, ravaging and rampaging lifestyle and with a nudge and a shove off his horse from the arch angel Michael gave up his knightly ways driving his sword into a rock to prove his determination to change. He proceeded to live as a hermit offering healing to those who visited his hermit shack.


Declared a saint, only a few years after his early death, pilgrims built the current hermitage over the spot, approximately 900 years ago. Scientific testing so far has done nothing to dispel the myth surrounding the origin of the sword in the stone. Metallurgic testing shows support or the timing, suggesting an age for the hilt as C12th.

On the road again we set target for Capalbio and after a hurried lunch grabbed on the fly in made the hotel about 2.30 p.m. A short rest and quick sort out and we headed for ‘Il Gardino dei Tarrochi’ the great mosaic Tarot Garden of Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002), a fascinating artist/woman. What I had read and researched had whet my appetite considerably, but nothing had prepared me for seeing the garden for real. Her work is to me a coming together of so much and so many that have inspired me. The ancient Venus figurines, SARK, Gaudi... Explosions in my brain, ideas tumbling and scrambling over each other, rushing, half-formed, into another incarnation of thought and design... words don’t have the ability to describe the experience. This is what inspiration is.

Poor Mum and Caitlin had to give up and went in search of food and water. It took me another hour to tear myself away, having bought two of de Saint Phalle’s autobiographies and a book about the garden.

Returning to the hotel ‘Valle del Buttero’ in Capalbio, Mum and I got straight out to the pool. Refreshed and re-invigorated, we put on some clothes and all walked up the hill to explore the ancient walled part of the town in search of dinner. After eating we decided to go back to the piazza where we had seen lights and chairs being set up earlier for a 9.30 start of ‘Leopardi Sotto le Stelle’. Having no idea who or what was about to perform we stood sardine crowded at the edge of the square. After a long wait, the lights finally dimmed and in came someone who went on and on ... until finally he introduced someone who was very nervous who went on and on...and then, at last, the performer himself appeared and went on and on...UNTIL at last we cottoned on... this was a poetry recital. Caitlin made us leave, and giggling our way back to our room we agreed. Poetry in your own language is one thing; in a foreign language, after bad dinner service, a long day and swollen ankles – it is right out...

The FIC Road Trip – Day 4 Monteriggioni and Siena

Three generations of women on a two-week tour of Italy – the adventure continues!

On the road the next morning for Siena we stopped at Monteriggioni, a medieval hilltop village still surrounded by a fully intact fortified wall. Signs of the village’s age abound and can be seen in architectural features such as the single stone lintels. Over a doorway we found a dedication stone “Upon this sign, Peace and Goodwill, 1216”.

Once a farm-focused community it is now almost totally tourist oriented. A yearly medieval festival early in July is extremely popular with local and foreign visitors.

Following the back roads through typical Tuscan countryside patch-worked in stripes of cropped hay and pencil pines and polka-dotted with olive groves we came to the walls of Siena. After an unexpected detour we eventually discovered our hotel and, once parked and unpacked, took off to explore.

The city sits high above its surroundings and the hotel was just outside the walls,almost directly cross the road from the five flights of escalators that take you effortlessly into the ancient city site. Investigating the piazza we discovered not a church but part of the university in Siena. The old cloister is now a space for students to gather with examples of early building ornamentation adorning the walls.

A quick bite of divine ‘panzanella’ salad for lunch and then we followed signs on the walls of buildings to reach the campo. Through an arch and down a short flight of steps the site of the famous Siena ‘Palio’ was revealed. The campo is huge and horizontally bowl shaped. The thought of horses pounding around the tight corners at a gallop is frightening. The whole scene is dominated by the campanile towering above.

The magnificent Duomo of Siena, with only a short queue in the direct sun was worth the burn and the wait. Exquisite! Just to the left of the church interior was a small shop and further along the Picolomini Library where large original manuscripts lie open in upright glass cases showing off the superbly illuminated pages. The patience, the time, the talent. Then we noticed the walls and the ceilings. This place is beauty.

Afterwards we sat outside on a marble ledge, leaning against the church walls to recover. What a place!

With food and liquid once again a priority we found a nearby cafe ‘Roxy Bar’ and had frappes, water (with mineral salts) and chippies. Caitlin really wanted to see the medieval fortress showing on the map – Fortezza Medicea – a long walk across town past wonderful side streets with awesome views. The fort is now home to an enoteca (wine shop and bar), open air cinema and the Siena Jazz Association.

With desperation setting in we made for the hotel only to realise that Caitlin’s new leather bracelets purchased in Monteriggioni, were left in the bathroom of the Roxy. A rescue mission was mounted – abandoning bags and grandmother for a fast return to the cafe. Mission accomplished and prize reclaimed, we all but crawled back to the hotel.

After a wash and brush up, we could only make it as far as downstairs for dinner. The Menu di Giorno at €20 a head was the obvious choice along with a bottle of Prosseco.

Fell upstairs and into bed with the air con rattling by 10.30.

The FIC Road Trip – Day 3 Firenze/Florence

Three generations of women on a two-week tour of Italy – the adventure continues!

After an excellent sleep and a great breakfast we bought bus tickets at the hotel reception and caught a bus from right outside the hotel going into town. Alighting at the train station our first stop was the Chiesa di Santa Maria Novella with a stunning two-tone marble facade.

With the help of a local street vendor we went in search of the oldest pharmacy in Europe. Officina Profumo-farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella opened in 1221 by the monks of the associated monastery. Eventually confiscated from the church by the government it became a SOE in 1866 and soon after was handed back to the nephew of the last monastic director. The family continue to run it to this day.

Through the back streets we visited the Chiesa di Santa Maria di Fiori, another stunning building. The doors on the baptistery are particularly famous. Next stop the Accademia to see the original ‘David’. Defeated by the huge queues we made for the Chiesa di Santa Croce, burial place of Galileo, Michelangelo and Dante, only to discover even longer queues. A similar story later at the Uffizi. We had baulked at pre-booking tickets on line to avoid queuing, as a cost of €9.50 (only I had to pay as Mum is over 65 and Caitlin under 18, both with E.U. passports) ballooned to about €40 for each site with booking fees etc included.

We crossed the Arno river at the Ponte alle Grazie with a great view of the famous Ponte Vecchio further up river, then returned over the Ponte Vecchio – home of Florentine goldsmiths since the 1500s.

As a visit to the Uffizi was right out we made the most of the outdoor exhibitions and entertainments; street artists and entertainers abound around the Uffizi. Took mum’s photo with a living statue then took refuge from the sun in the Loggia at the Piazza della Signoria, protected by the Roman statues of six ancient heroines. A replica David stands in the Piazza along with other amazing works in marble. It is impossible to express the grandeur of the place.

A shopping urge dragged us to the Mercato del Porcellino – the market of the little pig, presided over by a bronze, drooling boar. Rumour has it that rubbing his nose guarantees your return to this extraordinarily artistic city. Of course I rubbed - my beautiful new Florentine leather handbag may need a mate at some point.

With energy levels flagging, and Caitlin beside herself, a street vendor’s determination to show us his wares nearly finished us. Almost in tears Caitlin leaned in against me and again the vendor appeared, this time realising her condition. He pressed a woven thread bracelet on her saying “No money, no money”. Such a kind gesture! Suddenly Caitlin spotted the best sight we had seen all day – the number 22 bus. We ran as best we could and leapt on board – only to have to wait 10 minutes for the driver to have a smoke! Thirty minutes later we were back at the hotel stripping off 37°C sweat-soaked clothing. A long rest later we settled for a return to the doner kebab shop for dinner where we were warmly greeted – then back to the hotel for blessed sleep.

The FIC Road Trip – Fiona, Iris and Caitlin (Days 1&2)

Three generations of women on a two-week tour of Italy – an awesome experience!

Day One
We left home in a well packed car on Sunday 12 July and drove to Gallarate, less than half an hour, to have lunch with Italian friends. About 3pm we got on the road again and headed for the really little town of Carrodano, up in the hills above the Cinque Terre on the Ligurian coast. This was the first night of our adventure and the fun was just beginning. Did I mention this was a really small town? No restaurants! At the recommendation of the receptionist/night-manager we drove down to the coast to Levanto and dined at a beachside bar. For Caitlin and I this was the first time we had been at the seaside since leaving New Zealand – Caitlin and Iris did a little celebration dance at the water’s edge.

Day Two
Monday morning we began to explore the Cinque Terre region. This extraordinary area of five towns clinging to the very rugged west coast of Italy is a National Park, a Protected Marine Area, and a UNESCO World Heritage site - the first of several we visited on our tour. We took the train from Levanto to Riomaggiore, the southern most of the five ‘terre’, and began the return journey by walking along the Via dell'Amore or ‘lover’s way’ to Manarola. Lovers write their names on padlocks which they affix to the wire stays – ‘locked in love’.

At Manarola we stopped for a gelato and waited for the ferry to arrive.

Many people chose to walk the entire 12km back to Monterosso al Mare but with a 382 step climb up and down between Corniglia and Vernazza we decided to take the ferry and see the villages from the water.

Back at Monterosso al Mare we had lunch and shopped before Caitlin and Iris took the plunge trying out their newly purchased swim suits. Feeling refreshed from the water we trekked back to the train station at the northern most end of Monterosso and trained back to Levanto.

Heading south on the way to Firenze (Florence) we passed Carrera and from the road could clearly see the great, blindingly white scars on the distant hills where the carrera marble is mined. Detouring slightly we made a short stop in Pisa to see the tower – and it really does lean at an incredible angle. One can climb to the top but the view from the ground was more than enough for me. We took the obligatory photos, bought a book and got back on the road.

Arriving in Firenze at the ‘Hotel Alexander’ just off the motorway we checked in, schlepped our bags to the fourth floor and collapsed, only rising to go in search of a nearby eatery. With almost nothing on offer locally we gave in and settled for a doner kebab and a beer – excellent choice as it turned out. Dragged our weary butts back to the hotel and we were out cold for the night by 8.30pm!

Commencement Address by Paul Hawken

The following was shared with me by the head lecturers from my Masters course, my friends Phil Gang and Marsha Morgan. I wanted to share it my other friends.

Paul Hawken
Commencement Address to the Class of 2009

University of Portland, May 3rd, 2009

When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was “direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful.” Boy, no pressure there.

But let’s begin with the startling part. Hey, Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation – but not one peer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement.Basically, the earth needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.

This planet came with a set of operating instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don’t poison the water, soil, or air, and don’t let the earth get overcrowded, and don’t touch the thermostat have been broken. Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so ingeniously designed that no one has a clue that we are on one, flying through the universe at a million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in coach, and really good food – but all that is changing.

There is invisible writing on the back of the diploma you will receive, and in case you didn’t bring lemon juice to decode it, I can tell you what it says: YOU ARE BRILLIANT, AND THE EARTH IS HIRING. The earth couldn’t afford to send any recruiters or limos to your school. It sent you rain, sunsets, ripe cherries, night blooming jasmine, and that unbelievably cute person you are dating. Take the hint. And here’s the deal: Forget that this task of planet-saving is not possible in the time required. Don’t be put off by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and check to see if it was impossible only after you are done.



When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world. The poet Adrienne Rich wrote, "So much has been destroyed I have cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world." There could be no better description. Humanity is coalescing. It is reconstituting the world, and the action is taking place in schoolrooms, farms, jungles, villages, campuses, companies, refuge camps, deserts, fisheries, and slums.



You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen.

Rather than control, it seeks connection. Rather than dominance, it strives to disperse concentrations of power. Like Mercy Corps, it works behind the scenes and gets the job done. Large as it is, no one knows the true size of this movement. It provides hope, support, and meaning to billions of people in the world. Its clout resides in idea, not in force. It is made up of teachers, children, peasants, businesspeople, rappers, organic farmers, nuns, artists, government workers, fisherfolk, engineers, students, incorrigible writers, weeping Muslims, concerned mothers, poets, doctors without borders, grieving Christians, street musicians, the President of the United States of America, and as the writer David James Duncan would say, the Creator, the One who loves us all in such a huge way.

There is a rabbinical teaching that says if the world is ending and the Messiah arrives, first plant a tree, and then see if the story is true. Inspiration is not garnered from the litanies of what may befall us; it resides in humanity’s willingness to restore, redress, reform, rebuild, recover, reimagine, and reconsider. "One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice," is Mary Oliver’s description of moving away from the profane toward a deep sense of connectedness to the living world.

Millions of people are working on behalf of strangers, even if the evening news is usually about the death of strangers. This kindness of strangers has religious, even mythic origins, and very specific eighteenth-century roots. Abolitionists were the first people to create a national and global movement to defend the rights of those they did not know. Until that time, no group had filed a grievance except on behalf of itself. The founders of this movement were largely unknown – Granville Clark, Thomas Clarkson, Josiah Wedgwood – and their goal was ridiculous on the face of it: at that time three out of four people in the world were enslaved. Enslaving each other was what human beings had done for ages. And the abolitionist movement was greeted with incredulity. Conservative spokesmen ridiculed the abolitionists as liberals, progressives, do-gooders, meddlers, and activists. They were told they would ruin the economy and drive England into poverty. But for the first time in history a group of people organized themselves to help people they would never know, from whom they would never receive direct or indirect benefit. And today tens of millions of people do this every day. It is called the world of non-profits, civil society, schools, social entrepreneurship, and non-governmental organizations, of companies who place social and environmental justice at the top of their strategic goals. The scope and scale of this effort is unparalleled in history.

The living world is not "out there" somewhere, but in your heart. What do we know about life? In the words of biologist Janine Benyus, life creates the conditions that are conducive to life. I can think of no better motto for a future economy. We have tens of thousands of abandoned homes without people and tens of thousands of abandoned people without homes. We have failed bankers advising failed regulators on how to save failed assets. Think about this: we are the only species on this planet without full employment. Brilliant. We have an economy that tells us that it is cheaper to destroy earth in real time than to renew, restore, and sustain it. You can print money to bail out a bank but you can’t print life to bail out a planet. At present we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it gross domestic product. We can just as easily have an economy that is based on healing the future instead of stealing it. We can either create assets for the future or take the assets of the future. One is called restoration and the other exploitation. And whenever we exploit the earth we exploit people and cause untold suffering. Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich.

The first living cell came into being nearly 40 million centuries ago, and its direct descendants are in all of our bloodstreams. Literally you are breathing molecules this very second that were inhaled by Moses, Mother Teresa, and Bono. We are vastly interconnected. Our fates are inseparable. We are here because the dream of every cell is to become two cells. In each of you are one quadrillion cells, 90 percent of which are not human cells. Your body is a community, and without those other microorganisms you would perish in hours. Each human cell has 400 billion molecules conducting millions of processes between trillions of atoms. The total cellular activity in one human body is staggering: one septillion actions at any one moment, a one with twenty-four zeros after it. In a millisecond, our body has undergone ten times more processes than there are stars in the universe – exactly what Charles Darwin foretold when he said science would discover that each living creature was a "little universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars of heaven."

So I have two questions for you all: First, can you feel your body? Stop for a moment. Feel your body. One septillion activities going on simultaneously, and your body does this so well you are free to ignore it, and wonder instead when this speech will end. Second question: who is in charge of your body? Who is managing those molecules? Hopefully not a political party. Life is creating the conditions that are conducive to life inside you, just as in all of nature. What I want you to imagine is that collectively humanity is evincing a deep innate wisdom in coming together to heal the wounds and insults of the past.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would become religious overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead the stars come out every night, and we watch television.

This extraordinary time when we are globally aware of each other and the multiple dangers that threaten civilization has never happened, not in a thousand years, not in ten thousand years. Each of us is as complex and beautiful as all the stars in the universe. We have done great things and we have gone way off course in terms of honoring creation. You are graduating to the most amazing, challenging, stupefying challenge ever bequested to any generation. The generations before you failed. They didn’t stay up all night. They got distracted and lost sight of the fact that life is a miracle every moment of your existence. Nature beckons you to be on her side. You couldn’t ask for a better boss. The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hopefulness only makes sense when it doesn’t make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it.





~~~~~





Paul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author. His books include Blessed Unrest.

Easter in Venice – Gondoliers, Masks and Glass

Venice has to be one of the most amazing cities in the world. I fell completely in love with it; its beautiful buildings with their dirty and dilapidated but fascinating frontages. The sneaky, sly alleyways that lead you on magical, mystical walking adventures past cheap, tawdry souvenir shops and chic, sumptuous fashonista boutiques, tatty chapels and hole in the wall hostelries.

Caitlin and I travelled to Venice by train arriving in the early afternoon. Crossing the first of many bridges – Ponte degli Scalzi (Bridge of the Barefoot) we picked up the keys to our accommodation. After purchasing our ‘Venice cards’ (seven days unlimited travel on the vaporetto or water buses) we made our way along the full length of the Grand Canal to our mini-apartment across from St Mark’s Square. Dumping our bags we headed straight back out to ‘get lost’. We began this ‘get lost’ journey with a trip back along the Grand Canal to the famous Rialto Bridge. Refusing to consult a map we wandered... meandered... and mooched along little lanes, ducking into tiny shops, admiring amazing masks, for hours. Finally as hunger took hold we selected a restaurant close to the canal and had our first Venetian meal.

With stomachs satisfied but curiosity still unsated we weren’t yet ready to quit for the day. So not to be beaten by the coming chill of evening we bought scarves at a nearby stall and continued our adventure. Accidently discovering St Mark’s Square we made a quick left turn and buried ourselves in further exploration until wearily we made our way home.

The next day we followed a similar pattern with our only plan involving meeting Barry at the train station at 2pm. This gave us time to visit many mesmerizing mask makers in the search for a suitable addition to Caitlin’s stilt costume. What artistry we were distracted by! With minutes to spare we made to the station and greeted the celebrating sportsman. Barry had remained in Varese for a night to attend his Karate grading. He surprised himself by being achieving 2nd kyu rather than the 3rd kyu he had expected – only two steps to black belt now.

A vaporetto ride along the canal was the first tick in the visitor’s box for Barry and then, after ditching his bags, together we went to explore St Mark’s Square. Galileo tried out his telescope here in this very campanile (all right – not this bell tower exactly – an earlier one – but you know what I mean). The history of the place is overwhelming. What can one say that hasn’t been said before?

Barry and Caitlin in St Mark's Square (bright teal scarf)

A brief stop for a cocktail at the brand newly opened Hard Rock Cafe then off for the quintessential Venice experience – a gondola ride. From our gondola we saw a wedding party, and a fashion shoot. But those canals are REALLY narrow and when one gondola meets another gondola and a water taxi gets in the way – well – the language gets a little expressive!

Above: Barry and Fiona with gondalier

Below: Caitlin in the gondola with Rialto Bridge in sight

It was food time again so we sauntered back to the Grand Canal for dinner before strolling home and falling fast asleep. Next day we spent several hours viewing the Peggy Guggenheim collection. WOW for me but somewhat trying on the patience for Barry and Caitlin. The afternoon was dedicated to all things artistically glass with a ride out to the beautifully kept island of Murano. Lunch in a little courtyard down a very dark alley turned out to be a surprisingly good choice. The glass factories and shops varied in quality from outright tacky to exquisitely superb. We were enthralled with one particular piece but at a (heavily discounted) price of 4,000 euro we left it for someone else to enjoy.

Huge public glass works of art on Murano

Our final full day in Venice was devoted to the Doge’s Palace. We hired audio-guides and spent hours traipsing through room after extraordinary room. The workmanship, the fine detail in the carvings and paintings, the scale of the spaces, the sense of history was just too much and with several rooms still to go we abandoned the campaign in search of somewhere to sit quietly and observe the world in passing. A little more shopping as we strolled added to both Caitlin’s extensive tartan wardrobe and her hat collection. Dinner was taken at a waterside restaurant on the southern side of the Dorsoduro area looking towards La Guidecca.

The last morning was a rush. Barry wakened and crept carefully to the bathroom, checking his watch he discovered it was 9.55am – we had to be packed, kitchen cleaned and out the door by 10.30! Organised panic ensued and right on the button we were ready to go – passing the maid on the stairs. A gentle boat ride the long way round the island took us back to the transit end of Venice to return the apartment key. After a leisurely lunch we were back to the train station and home to Varese, with many happy memories of an amazing holiday.