Canada, Family & Airports

September 2008

Arrived in Vancouver after 21 hours flight time to be interrogated by Customs at Los Angeles Airport.  I think all my flying nightmares came true this trip commencing with a body frisk at Brisbane Airport before even leaving the home country; witnessing some nutter at LA Airport and hoping he wasn't on our flight - but of course he was and where was he seated?  Next to me, of course.  At Dallas Airport Ali Abdullah did not turn up and his luggage had to be removed from the plane.  Next our plane was held up for over an hour caused by a cyclone just off the Louisiana coast.  Getting into the USA, even just in transit, was a nightmare.  We definitely were grateful to see the beautiful giant First Nation sculptures and forest wildlife walk-through as you enter Canada's gateway airport.

It had been 40 years ago that I visited my Canadian family in 1968 so it was a joyful Sunday lunch at cousin Janet's albeit peppered with jet lag.  Everyone of Janet's family was there except for her hubby, Dino, who was in Italy....  So good to see everyone again and to meet the next and the next generations, not to mention savouring Janet's amazing cooking....   Next day, conveniently for us, was a public holiday and we traveled down to White Rock near the US border to have a late lunch at cousin Richard and Ali's.  This time it was all cousin Carol's side of the family.  My darling Aunty Betty was at both Janet's and Richard's so I fear we've tired her out somewhat.

Before arriving at Richard's, Carol took us round to see the old block of units that grandma's parents owned, the house where they all lived and where Grandma, Aunty Ange and Aunty Betty lived when they first left Australia to come to Canada way back in 1934 when Ange was 17 and Betty 11 years old.  Next we visited the church where Ange and Betty were both married, the school that Uncle Peter attended and the cemetery where my great grandmother and grandmother are buried.  There's no headstone for ggm but we found the general area where she's buried.

It's another day and we visited with Aunty Ange today, going out for pizza and as usual, eating too much.  She looks wonderful and certainly much younger than her 91 years.  I should have had a tape recorder with me to capture our conversation as my memory fails me and we talked much about our family history.

 

Gaeta, 16 Sept 2011

After picking up our hire car this morning, a nice little Hyundai i30, we leave Rome for the beautiful coastal town of Gaeta, situated on the Mediterranean Sea, not far from and just below Italy’s capital.  Our luggage fits like a perfect jigsaw puzzle in the boot and off we go.  Immediately we hit a wall of frantic heart pounding Roman traffic.  But my amazing brother, with some little help from Stanley: our GPS, did an excellent job in getting us out of Rome without a scratch, bringing us safely to this piece of paradise, all the while his own pounding heart almost audible as we broached the chaotic, bumper to bumper,  24/7 peak hour traffic.   Leaving Rome was an experience not to be repeated.
 
We’re booked into the ‘Millequattrocento B&B’ and on arrival are met by Luigi, our host.   Our rooms are high enough to overlook the houses, sea and winding roads down into the town..... bellissimo !! Now that we're out of ‘il traffico pazzo di Roma’  - Rome’s crazy traffic - the pace is so more relaxed and pleasant.

Venice, Italy, 13 Sept 2011

 How sad it will be to leave Venice tomorrow after 3 glorious days filled with moments of complete non-belief at the beauty surrounding us.  One needs to pinch oneself over and over.  Paul and I left Brisbane on the 10th September and arrived in Venice with swollen feet, weary and completely at odds with normality after a journey of some 30 odd hours – stopping in Singapore along the way, had an 8 hour stopover without leaving the airport.  Three days of non-stop walking and our feet are still swollen and even more weary but so worth it. 
Some of the amazing highlights: 

* Dinner along the fondamente off the Rialto Bridge, drinking Campari Orange and feasting on our favourite fare of pasta arrabiatta.

Rialto Bridge

* Wandering in and out of the myriad of streets, lanes and canals with their assortment of quirky bars and restaurants.   Shops and galleries selling Murano glassware in all shapes and sizes from beautiful jewellery, amazing table pieces, vases, plates and bowls, to large colourful and sparkling chandeliers.

* The island of Murano, where these beautiful artifacts are produced.  Glass blowing was transferred to Murano in the 13th century off the main island to avoid the dangers of fire.  In those times a Venetian glass blower was under threat of execution for giving away any of the secrets of their technique and was actually banned from leaving Venice.

* The island of Burano with its multi-coloured houses, those quirky shops again and the old ladies and their lace making.  If anyone reading this is planning a trip to Venice, ensure you have enough time to walk through the streets of Burano at a leisurely pace.  Take in the sights slowly.  Maybe have un caffè and take lots of photos.  Generally soak up the ambiance of this magical, isola bella.

A tour of the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello took about 4 hours and only gave us 30 – 40 minutes on each island.  There is not a lot to see on Murano apart from the glass-blowing factories and showrooms where we were given a demonstration of the glass-blowing.  Not a lot to see on Torcello either but there are some ancient ruins there (the island dates back to between the 5th and 6th centuries) plus the oldest building in the lagoon – the Cathedral of Santa Maria dell’Assunta, founded in AD 639.  Adjoining the cathedral is the church of Santa Fosca built between the 11th and 12th centuries.   Unfortunately for us we arrived too late to go inside as it was just on closing.  Before being eclipsed by Venice, Torcello had a population of 20,000. Overall, we preferred Burano but our time there was so limited we just ran from street to street trying to capture in our minds and on our cameras the beauty of this place.  If I ever have the opportunity to revisit Venice I will bypass Murano and go straight to Burano.
 

Beautiful Burano

Wandering in and out of the Venetian streets we found an inviting café for our aperitivo.  It was here I was introduced to the Campari Spritz.  Beware of this drink on an empty stomach!!!  Made on Campari, white wine and soda water, it is very refreshing but packs an unexpected punch.

 



Surfing the net one day prior to leaving home I found a classical, operatic concert playing in Venice at the time we would be there.  Thinking what a treat to experience classical music in Venice I immediately ordered our tickets.  The performance took place in a church bordering a piazza just off a canal …. What a setting.  The acoustics were perfect but the performance turned out to be only three people: two singers - a man and a woman, and the pianist.  Most of the pieces were so high-brow and obscure that I’d never heard them before and Paul promptly fell asleep, also aided by the 35+C heat of the night.  As I looked around the church I saw that he was not alone … there were heads nodding everywhere.

Lastly, public toilets have hugely improved in Italy in cleanliness and modern facilities.  Paying the 1.50 (euro) was well worth it.  An increase of 200% since my last trip but this is Venice and human ablutions, apparently, come at a higher price on this highly touristic island.

Shanghai, 7 June 2010

  Shanghai Old City and The Yuyuan Gardens

 

The sculpted Yuyuan Gardens are so classically beautiful I thought they deserved their own page.  After a tour of the city we walked through the preserved and reconstructed Shanghai Old City on our way to  the Gardens.  Taking us back to a bygone era with its shops and markets it was touristy but well worth exploring with colours blazing and cooking aromas, some good some not so good, wafting from every direction.  The tightly packed shops and market stalls, each offering their own specialty - one shop selling only chopsticks.

 

  Shanghai Old City

To see a KFC sign on this beautiful old building is rather disturbing, don't you think?

 

 Yuyuan Gardens

  

The traditional Chinese Ming style once private gardens were first established in 1559 and finished in 1577 by a government officer of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) named Pan Yunduan. Occupying an area of five acres and filled with pavilions, halls, rockeries, ponds and cloisters.  Yu in Chinese means pleasing and satisfying, and this garden was specially built for Pan's parents as a place for them to enjoy a tranquil and happy time in their old age. Falling in and out of various states of ruin they went under five years of restoration by the Shanghai Government in 1956 and opened to the public in 1961, becoming a national monument in 1982. 

Photo shoot

At one time this side of the walkway was only for men .... The women's walkway was on the other side of the wall.

Men and women could talk with one another through these windows as they walked along their respective paths.

There were several of these windows / openings and no two were the same.

Rock Garden

Shanghai, Monday 7 June, 2010

Our fellow tour members:  Anne and Chris from New Zealand,  Andrea and Arthur, Greek couple, from Melbourne,  Alexander and Caroline, a young Columbian couple, another couple from NZ,  Robyn and Neil from Oz and of course, ourselves.  A good group – just the right size. 

The making of a silk dooner

This morning off to The Silk Factory where I bought a silk dooner for 630rmb = approx $126au.  Andrea and Arthur bought one each for their whole family, about 6 in all.  Interesting watching the ladies extract the silk.   Silkworm cocoons are boiled. The heat kills the silkworms and the water makes the cocoons easier to unravel. Often, the silkworm itself is eaten ..... in China roasting is a popular method....yum.  Nothing is wasted.

My silk dooner bought at the Silk Factory, Shanghai.

Extracting the silk

From this

To this - yummy roasted silkworms

 

A busy day with a great lunch of Chinese dumplings in a famous Shanghai dumpling house, consisting of several floors and private rooms.  We were given one of the private rooms and out came the dumplings. They just kept on coming.

From L: Me, Paul, Andrea & Arthur (Melbourne), NZ couple, Aleander & Caroline (Columbia), Anne & Chris (NZ)