Saturday, January 09, 2010

Saturday January 9 Snee, snee, snee

It has snowed all night and and there's a thick white carpet right up to the front door. A snowman is planned. I'm not sure how prominent my involvement in that will be: I may just dash out for the photo opportunity when the hard work is done...



...Many hours later... Nothing as easy as a snowman - I did not get off that lightly. Oh no, I worked for my raclette today. Mere's friends took us tobogganing. It was freezing, not "I'm about to die" cold like the time in Offenberg but cold enough to make my toes curl under into a ball which is a sure sign the brain has sent out a message, "OK, disaster is looming: send the blood supply to the vital organs only, heart and lungs, cognitive processes, kidney functions (oh boy, how they function!) forget the extremities, the old girl can survive without feet and hands."





It was only one degree warmer than the North Pole and almost as cold as my office at work but it was worth it for the fabulous meal. Such hospitality! In order to stave of imminent death Caro provided hot chocolate liberally laced with rum. It worked and I am here to tell the tale.

January 8 - Depot 1899 - ho, ho, ho and a bottle of wine

Across the road from Mere and Matt's is a restaurant converted from an old tram depot. We'd been watching people coming and going for the last month and wanted to try it. On the outside it was described as a wirtshaus which suggested a footy franks kind of place to us but it turned out to be much posher. Our arrival with a lively four-year old who was dressed as a pirate complete with eye patch and alfoil sword (but, alas, no parrot) unnnerved the staff.

"You are English", said the waiter, reluctantly placing the Riedel wine glasses down in front of us, "Please be careful".
"Oh no", we assured him, "It's worse than that, we are Australian!"


Matt ordered something from the specials menu. "That menu is not available for another 10 minutes" (We were dining at 4-year-old hours).

The meals arrived in less than 5 minutes - the presence of 5 Australians, one under the age of reason, had obviously spurred the chef on to his personal best. By this time Mads had her sketch book out and the table was strewn with pictures of pirate ships.
"Pay attention", said the waiter and muttered something about the plates being hot. (They weren't so I think he just wanted us to pay attention in a general kind of way).
The food was excellent and the wine the best I've had since I got here. Nobody spilt or broke anything but when the waiter cleared the table he dropped a knife. We smirked in delight as it clattered to the floor.


And it didn't matter about the footy franks. We'd had one at lunch time anyway.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Holiday Reading
When Nancy suggested buying a copy of 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' for the library, I said,"Nah. That'll be corny and cringe-making". I hope Nancy ignored me. Meredith has a copy and I'm almost through it. Last night I woke up screaming and abusing the Germans. I knew nothing about the German occupation of the Channel Islands before and some gruesome stuff happens in the book. (Although it IS a bit twee and self consciously witty). Mere says it gave her a nightmare too.

And all this while I am receiving so much help and hospitality from German people. We have another raclette dinner on Saturday. Raclette is a New Year tradition and a very good one.

I haven't had a Frankfurt yet but my resistance is weakening

We went to the local Art Gallery today where they are showing a Botticelli exhibition with queues around the corner a la the recent Dali exhibition in Melbourne. We'd just seen the major Botticellis in Florence but lined up anyway. It was very interesting: mostly minor works but some of his very late pictures which were new to us and what better way is there to keep out of the cold?

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Florence Day 5 - Michelangelo's David

We were up early and at the Galleria d'Academia when it opened at 8:15. I looked at everything, resisting the urge to fly through the first galleries to get to Big Dave like people do in Melbourne Museum in quest of Pharlap.



In the afternoon we went to the Pitti Palace which was the first disappointing place I'd seen in Florence. The Medici had collected indiscriminantly, favouring quantity over quality and there were hundreds of paintings, good, bad and so-so in every room - overwhelming. The rain meant we couldn't go into the Boboli Gardens which was disappointing.



A few final purchases were made and then it was off to the airport and back 'home' to Frankfurt.

The next day I wanted a quiet domestic day while I processed the wonders of Florence. I made a cake for the first time in decades, a cheesecake as close as possible to the Margaret Fulton recipe which was a family favourite.

Florence day 4 - January 4

The MMMs left early for the airport and Jim and I set off for another day of seeing marvels. After a while you find yourself merely glancing at yet another Donnatello as you stroll past. I try to retain as much as I can, knowing my sister (known in the family as Auntie Buggers)will examine we intensively on my reaction to Florence.

Lighting the candle in Cologne had bought such spectacular success in conjuring up an English speaking playmate for Mads, we decided to give it another go in the duomo. We both lit one and put them side by side on the candle rack. Good things will surely follow.



We spent a long time in the duomo museum where most of its treasures are now housed. Magnificent.





It rained most of the day and the sellers of knock-off designer handbags instantly transformed themselves into 'ombrello' merchants.
Jan 3 - The Uffizi

We arrived bright and early at the Uffizi where we sauntered smugly past the long queue, brandishing our pre-booked tickets.

Four hours and hundreds of masterpieces later we staggered out exhausted. We saw roooms full of Botticellis, Carravagios, several Leonardos and Michelangelos. Famous paintings familiar from art history books materialised in front of us. Included was 'The birth of Venus' which I once heard a tourist describe as 'Venus on the half-shell'. I'm not sure what sauce you'd serve with that.


An afternoon of exploring, getting lost and discovering treasures followed.


We had a last dinner with the Triple Ms: they are going back to Frankfurt in the morning.
Florence for Four-Year Olds - January 2

We spent the morning sucking up some major cultural experiences in churches, museums, on the street, everywhere.
Florence is awash with riches, historic and artistic and I was in a headspin trying to absorb it all.

Florence is not a particularly child-friendly place though and by afternoon Mads was in need of the company of someone born in the same millenium as herself. It wasn't easy but we managed to find a park where Madeleine met an English-speaking 5 year-old girl who she really clicked with. They played happily for hours.

We attribute this miracle to the candle we lit for Mads in the cathedral at Cologne. Stand by for a deathbed conversion.
New Year's Day

We hauled our seedy selves out of bed and trained to the airport. As usual, Jim's Swiss Army knife caused him to be pulled out of the queue. I think I'd better confiscate it myself.

The supposedly 4 star accommodation in Florence was in a great location, the staff were fantastic and the breakfast turned out to be much better than is usual in Italy. But the rooms were dark, drab and depressing. Not to worry, we were out of there pronto and within 10 minutes I was into my first gelati and within half an hour I was in the duomo

The temperature was 12 degrees - 10 warmer than Frankfurt.
We found we could readily rehash the bit of Italian we'd picked up 2 years ago. We were in Italy! - something not anticipated when we left Melbourne 3 weeks ago.



Unlike the Germans the Italians blissfully disregard any rules that don't suit them, such as not taking photos in museums and galleries. The railing around the statue of Cellini at the Pont de Vecchio has dozens of love tokens saying 'Carlo e Rosa' and Guila e Guiseppe' padlocked to it, immediately above a sign saying that this is prohibited.