travels – Page 24 – today's worry

March 20, 2016 – More Siena

First up today is a visit to the Pinacoteca Nazionale. This art museum concentrates on Sienese painters and has a large collection of 13th to 17th century art. We are mostly interested in the earlier works.

There is a definite recognizable style to Sienese painting and between the 13th and 15th centuries it rivaled Florence artistically. The Gothic-looking gold backgrounds, often embossed, and the elegant stylized figures with elongated narrow eyes are hallmarks of the style. While Florentine painters were moving towards more solid naturalistic portrayals of people in real surroundings, the Sienese remained rooted in their ethereal, other worldly figures.

We spend almost three hours enjoying the art. Here are some favorites.

Madonna and child - gold embossed background and elongated eyes — Madonna and child – gold embossed background and elongated eyes

The martyrdom of St. Catherine of Alexandria on the wheel - graphic — The martyrdom of St. Catherine of Alexandria on the wheel – graphic

The flaying of St. Batholomew - no punches pulled here — The flaying of St. Batholomew – no punches pulled here

Time for lunch! Trying to avoid being ripped off at the restaurants around the Campo we wander the streets looking for somewhere to eat. We finally settle on a place in the direction of our next sightseeing stop. It turns out to be pretty mediocre. Oh well, you can’t win them all.

After lunch we head to the church of San Domenico which houses the relics of St. Catherine of Siena. She seems a little delusional claiming she has a wedding ring and stigmata given to her by Jesus but that only she can see them. She becomes politically involved and tries to broker peace between the Papal States and Florence. She also implores the pope to return from Avignon to Rome. Ultimately she stops eating and drinking water and dies at 33.

During her short life she garners a following and according to legend they go to Rome to steal her remains. Not being able to manage a whole body they just take the head. On their way back to Siena they are stopped and have to open the sack. Miraculously the sack contains only rose petals but reverts back to being a head when they reach Siena.

So, we head (no pun intended) to the church of San Domenico to see St. Catherine’s head. Unfortunately no pictures allowed. You can, however, find macabre pictures of it on the Internet. I think I will stick with one of the live renditions.

We have one more stop to make on today’s itinerary but it will have to wait until after a little jet lag break. In our hour and a half rest both Sarah and I fall asleep. But we are up again at 4PM ready to take on the Palazzo Pubblico with its amazing frescoes, The Allegory of Good and Bad Government.

The Palazzo Pubblico is the iconic building that you see in all the pictures of Siena. Construction began in 1297 and the building’s purpose was to house the republican government of Siena. The governing body of Siena, the Council of Nine, met in the room where Lorenzetti’s The Allegory of Good and Bad Government was painted in 1338-39.

On one wall Justice and Wisdom pass judgements down to Harmony seen handing them out to the people. Justice and Wisdom are advised by the Virtues. On one adjoining wall is the fresco, The Effects of Good Government. Here merchants are busy, people are happy, and Siena is bustling and prosperous. The fields outside the city are bursting with crops and healthy animals.

On the opposite wall is the fresco, The Effects of Bad Government. In these scenes a tyrant is ruling and his counsellors are greed, pride, and cruelty. The city is crumbling and the populace is downtrodden, sick, and starving. Beyond the city walls the animals are dying and the fields lie fallow.

If you are a member of the Council of Nine you need only look up to realize what your civic duty should be.

Part of the Allegory of Good and Bad Government

It has been a full day. My fit bit registers over 10,000 steps and 27 flights of stairs. It’s time for some drinks and snacks at our favorite table over looking the Campo with the Palazzo Pubblico in the background.

March 19, 2016 – Siena

Today we visit the gorgeous Siena cathedral complex. Instead of checking what time it opens I blithely assume that it will all open by 9 AM. Turns out the ticket office opens at 9:30 and the cathedral and environs opens at 10. While John stands in line for our tickets, Sarah and I spend our time taking pictures of the cathedral and each other.

Statue of wolf nursing Romulus and Remus

One ticket gets you into the church, the Baptistry, the Crypt, the Piccolomini library and the museum. Once inside the gorgeous church we rent the mini iPad guide for all the sites. The fabulously decorated floor is one of the most brilliant artworks of the cathedral. It is uncovered entirely only in the summer so we are sorry that we only get to see a small part of it but glad that we are here when the crowds are not huge. We spend more than an hour looking at and listening to explanations of statues, ceiling, pulpit, altar, windows, and some uncovered pieces of the floor. It is amazing to see the craftsmanship that went into this church which was begun in 1196, in use by 1215, and finished in 1348.

Overview of the interior of the cathedral

Statue of St. Paul, an early work by Michelangelo - note the dynamic tension in the figure accomplished by twisting the body — Statue of St. Paul, an early work by Michelangelo – note the dynamic tension in the figure accomplished by twisting the body

Floor sculpture of the massacre of the innocents

Next we visit the Piccolomini Library, containing illuminated choir books and frescoes painted by Pinturicchio, probably based on designs by Raphael. The frescoes tell the story of the life of Siena’s favorite son, cardinal Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who eventually became Pope Pius II. Painted between 1502 and 1507 the frescoes contain portraits of Pinturicchio and Raphael mingling with the crowds.

Fresco in the Piccolomini Library - figures on the left are Petrucchio and Raphael (in the red tights) — Fresco in the Piccolomini Library – figures on the left are Pinturrichio and Raphael (in the red tights)

Next up is the crypt which is not really a crypt but a meeting room for pilgrims in the old church before the current cathedral was built. It had been filled in with construction rubble and not discovered until 1999! After shoring up the ceiling of these rooms so that the ornate floor of the cathedral would not be disturbed, the crypt was opened to the public in 2003. The 13th century frescoes depict scenes from the Old Testament and from the life of Christ. What a find!

The flight to Egypt where the palm tree bends down to offer Jesus a fig

We are starting to flag and decide to find some lunch and sit down for a bit. Vacationing is hard work! We stop at a little restaurant, Il Ghibellino, across from the Baptistry and a couple of doors down from our B & B. We each have different versions of the local pasta called pici. It is like spaghetti on steroids. We all enjoy our lunches although once again I need to share my leftovers with Sarah and John.

Sarah photographing her pici carbonara with John and his pici with wild boar

The temptation now is to retreat to our rooms for a little lie down since we’ve been on our feet for hours and jet lag is catching up with us. But we can only use our iPad tour guides until 4 PM and we still have two more places to see. So off we go to the Baptistry.

The Baptistry is an integral part of the cathedral and not a separate building. Completed in 1325 it is located underneath the eastern portion of the church and its construction is probably why the so-called Crypt was filled with rubble. The main attraction is the hexagonal baptismal font, containing sculptures by Donatello and bas-relief panels by Ghilberti who also worked on the doors to the Baptistry in Florence.

The Baptistry is located right across the street from our hotel

The frescoed Baptistry with baptismal font in center

Just one. More. Site. To. See. As we walk into the museum of the cathedral we are told to start at the top floor and work our way down. There are so many stairs! My knee is really tired. I stop halfway up ad sit down pretending to look at something on my tour guide. Finally I struggle up the rest of the way.

Look at all this great old stuff! There are medieval altarpieces and sculptures! Just my favorite kinds of artwork! Oh, why did we save this for last?! We do our best but we are exhausted. The very last piece of art we see before crying “uncle” is the most wonderful of the day. It is he Maestà by Duccio di Boninsegna, and was the altarpiece of the cathedral from about 1311 until around 1505.

The massive work shows the Madonna and Child with saints and angels. The back side has forty-three small scenes depicting the life of Mary and Christ. The base of the panel has an inscription that reads “Holy Mother of God, be thou the cause of peace for Siena and life to Duccio because he painted thee thus.” Duccio, not immodestly realized that he had created a masterpiece. Here is one of the founding pieces of the Renaissance! It gives me goosebumps as I view it.

At this point even Sarah is exhausted. We return the tour guides and head back to our rooms for some r and r. Later we meet for drinks and people watching at the campo. We play the amusing game of “Italian or not?” as people pass by. We share a pizza for dinner and make the mistake of going to sleep too early which is why I am writing this in the middle of the night. Thanks, jet lag!

March 18, 2016 – Viterbo and on to Siena Part 2

We head off to Siena around noon. The plan is to drive, find somewhere to have lunch, and end up meeting a guy at a garage just outside the city walls at 4 PM.

We decide to take back roads instead of the autostrada. Soon we encounter the large beautiful Lake Bolsena. We decide that lunch in the town of Bolsena is a good idea. The town is charming. We choose a restaurant at random and settle in for a very tasty lunch. Yay, I order well and my lunch is the best! Lucky for John and Sarah that I cannot eat it all so they get to partake in my ordering brilliance!

Yay! My taliatellini with lake fish is the best!

Sarah’s cavatelli with lake fish and pignoli ragu

We wander around the town for a bit. We find out that Bolsena is on the pilgrimage trail of St. James. We see the San Rocco fountain where the Saint whose attribute is a plague spot on his thigh stopped on his pilgrimage. There is also an imposing castle high on the hill overlooking the town and lake.

Fruits being sold on the main street of Bolsena — Fruit being sold on the main street of Bolsena

Saint Rocco's foutain — Saint Rocco’s fountain

The castle above Bolsena - Sarah's giant finger on the right side of the picture — The castle above Bolsena – Sarah’s giant finger on the right side of the picture

Back in the car for the rest of the trip to Siena. Sarah zonks out but luckily John, the only one of us who can drive a stick shift, does not. We find our meeting point on the first pass and the garage owner whisks us away to our hotel, Il Battisterio, which is across from the baptistry and only minutes from the campo. Our rooms are pretty quirky. Both rooms have bathing facilities that are in the main room. Both are garishly lit. But location, location, location!

...with the bathtub in an alcove! — …with the bathtub in an alcove!

Sarah's room with shower in the room. Note bed splashguard — Sarah’s room with shower in the room. Note bed splashguard

On the way to the hotel we see that there is a chocolate festival going on in the campo where they run the palio. We have to check it out. There is every kind of imaginable chocolate. Chocolate bricks, chocolate chips, chocolate in the form of Disney characters, even chocolate clothespins, teeth, and toothbrushes. None of us really cares much about eating chocolate but it is fun to look and we finally make our way over to a cafe and enjoy the action with some snacks and drinks.

Chocolate clothespins, lipstick, nail polish, teeth, toothbrushes, and handcuffs!

Later we make our way to our favorite restaurant here. As in the way of many favorites, when you go back to revisit it, the results are not the same. I get my payback from my wonderful lunch with a vegetarian dinner disaster. My main course is farro and bread meatballs in a potato sauce. Starch, starch, and more starch. Oh well, we have a great time anyway.

Mary’s porcini and potato torte with pumpkin sauce

Mary’s glop entree- farro “meat”balls with potato sauce 🙁

March 18, 2016 – Viterbo and on to Siena Part I

Often I am accused of over-planning. For me half the excitement of a trip is the anticipation. So I am enthused about what we are doing even before we go! There is always room for some spur of the moment adventures in any case. Today we really enjoy ourselves in two towns off the tourist beaten track.

This morning we go into Viterbo. The reason we are in Viterbo is that we wanted a stopover somewhere about an hour and a half north of Rome. I did not want John to have to drive all the way to Siena after being awake for more than 24 hours. Our chance encounter with Viterbo turns out to be a good one.

After driving into the old part of the city we find a parking lot and head off on foot up and down the narrow, steep streets. We are looking for the cathedral and the papal palace. Sarah is our tour guide.

Sarah, map inhand, guides us through the maze of narrow streets. — Sarah, map in hand, guides us through the maze of narrow streets.

We finally find our way to the cathedral where all sorts of uniformed men and women are streaming into the church. A sign says, “No turisti!” We discover that today, the one morning that we have to see the cathedral, is the day that uniformed people are having a special mass and blessing.

Cathedral of San Lorenzo on armed forces benediction day

Okay, we will look around at the other buildings in the piazza. One is the papal palace. Viterbo acted as an alternative site for the papacy during the 13th century. Here’s a funny story about it.

“One of the best stories about the Viterbo popes is of an election for the papacy in 1268. 18 cardinals dutifully assembled in the bishop’s palace, but after a year and a half they still hadn’t managed to choose between candidates. The Viterbesi, exasperated, locked the cardinals in their conclave (the word comes from the Latin ‘with key’), reduced them to bread and water rations and even removed the roof of the palace. Eventually the cardinals made their decision, but it had taken nearly three years – the longest ever conclave.”

A view of the city walls from the loggia

Finally it is10AM and the little museum that holds artworks and artifacts of the cathedral opens. We, of course, are eager to see and identify the various saints and situations in the artwork.

A reliquary claiming to hold the jaw of John the Baptist

Part of a Roman statue seeming to be rising out of the ground

The goddess of abundance - according to the information card she either has a lot of breasts or bulls' testicles — The goddess of abundance – according to the information card she either has a lot of breasts or bulls’ testicles

Madonna del carbonara - painted in the late 12th or early 13th century — John reading the tag on the Madonna del carbonara painted in the late 12th or early 13th century

St. Lawrence with his grill and St. Stephen holding a rock. St. Lawrence was martyred on a grill over a fire and St. Stephen was martyred by being beat in the head with rocks.

After finishing up the museum we find the car park and hurry back to the hotel to check out and begin our way to Siena.

Part 2 to follow

March 16-17, 2016 – Traveling to Italy

Today is a very, very long day. When you use frequent flyer miles to travel, you get the least optimal routings. We start at SFO and fly to Chicago where there is a 4 hour layover. Then it is on to London. Hours later when we arrive at Heathrow there is another couple of hours layover. Finally we have the 2+ hour flight to Rome where we then end up standing in line for an hour with thousands of other people waiting to get through passport control. By the time we get our rental car and get out on the road it is already late in the afternoon. Boy, are we tired!

Since my whole body is thrumming with exhaustion, I think I’ll just post some pictures from today with captions. My brain isn’t feeling at all clever tonight. Starting tomorrow when we start our adventures, I’ll do better.

John enjoying a California cappuccino before the crack of dawn.

Where we spent 4 layover hours in Chicago

Where we spent a couple of layover hours at Heathrow

I have to say a word about our dinner in Viterbo. We figure we will get a small salad and a personal size pizza each for dinner. We arrive at the restaurant at 7:45PM so of course we are the first people there. So we don’t really know how big the servings are. On the menu the salad is called salatina capriccioso which means a little salad of whatever. It costs 3Euros. So we figure it can’t be very big. The pizzas range from 6Euros to 8 Euros. When the food comes out we realize that we could fed the three of us for 9 Euros! There is no way we can eat all this! And yet, all around us sit slender Italians eating their entire pizzas plus starters and desserts. Yes, they walk more than we do but they would have to walk a hell of a lot to burn off all those calories! It’s a mystery!

John having a St. Benoit's beer at Buongiorno Napoli — John having a St. Benoit’s beer at Buongiorno Napoli

Tomorrow we start out visiting the old section of Viterbo, once the home of popes. We will find some interesting towns with old churches to see on our drive to Siena where we will spend 4 days.

January 13-30, 2016 – Trip to St. George, UT

I catch a bad cold at the beginning of January and everything grinds to a halt. I am hoping to be well enough to take a trip to Utah the last two weeks of January. We have a wedding in Florida in February to go to and March and the beginning of April are consumed by our trip to Italy. So if not now, when?

Luckily the cold subsides and we are on the road. It is so nice to see the hills a bright green. Last year at this time everything was still brown due to the lack of rain.

East of Bakersfield heading towards Tehachapi the hills are green

There’s a different color on the mountains as we approach St. George.

Snow on Pine Mountain as we approach St. George on I-15

A little cooler weather doesn’t stop us, though. We use the warmer afternoons to take walks or play tennis.

John serving on the sunny courts in St. George

There’s plenty of other tennis activities as well since the Australian Open is occurring and we need to cheer on our “old” favorite, Roger Federer.

Watching Roger play at the Australian Open

Another exciting development is that Entrada has opened a new grill room with a bar! We go over a couple of times to enjoy camaraderie with other Entrada folks, have some drinks and bar snacks, and, look who’s on the bar TV!

The not-too-populated bar at Entrada. Federer on TV.

The two weeks zip by and it is time to go home. Hopefully we will be able to come back in April.

September 24, 2012 – The trip to Kona, Hawaii

Today starts a little frantically. Although we are on the road early to get to the airport, there is a massive traffic jam on the freeways due to a fatality earlier in the morning. Our trip to Oakland is much longer than anticipated. I suggest we park in the premier parking because it is closer to the terminal. It’s extra money but after lugging the luggage just a short way (ah, perhaps that is why it is called luggage!), I think it is a good choice.

We are not at the gate long before the flight is called. Once we are settled, we have a celebratory glass of champagne and we are off. Hawaiian Airlines first class is okay but not great. Breakfast of a salmon omelet and, oddly, rice with chicken are for breakfast. The rice reminds me of the chicken bogg we had in South Carolina except way less greasy.

It takes just under 5 hours to get to Maui where we meet Eileen and Jim. Then we all take the same flight to Kona. The Kona airport is mostly outdoors and looks reminiscent of a tiki bar. After collecting our luggage and getting the rental car we are off for our next adventure.

The first thing we do is go to Costco for supplies. Amazingly here we are out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and Costco is just like the one at home. In a bid to waste some time due to a 3 PM check-in at our condo, we have lunch at Costco. John has a hot dog and I have a salad. Eileen has a hot dog and Jim eats a piece of pizza. Real island food.

DSCN8704 — Eileen and Jim having lunch at Costco

We make our way to the condo. It is right on the ocean. On the shore is a massive amount of black lava rock. The waves crash on the lava rocks. When they are big enough, we can feel the spray on the deck. The view is great.

We are so happy to take off our traveling clothes. It is really, really humid here – much more so than I was anticipating. This is a place for shorts and short sleeve shirts. Eileen calls the property owners to find out about using the air conditioning. I guess we are all low humidity wimps.

It’s almost 5 PM (which is actually 8 PM at home) so it must be cocktail hour. We have thoughtfully provisioned ourselves with chips, salsa and wine. Clark and Lewis join us on the deck.

DSCN8712 — John, Jim, Clark, Lewis and chips

Our dinner consists of an expertly cooked piece of opah (by John) in a tomato salsa sauce. We also have green beans, seasoned tomatoes and some yummy bread. We all exclaim over how good it is – probably better than going out. And we have entertainment! Jim has brought his traveling guitar and while he plays we sing Tiki Torches at Twilight and I am an Ape Man. Everyone is pretty silly.

DSCN8710 — Jim with his traveling guitar

We head out on the deck to catch the sunset. We are hoping to see a green flash. No luck tonight but maybe tomorrow. John and I are tired out from getting up early and the time change. We head off to bed after a very full day.

DSCN8718 — John on the deck watching for the green flash

DSCN8716 — No green flash but a beautiful sunset

November 11, 2011 Touring Ragusa – Second attempt

Many thanks to John for writing today’s blog.

The plan for today is to go to Malta and return. Regrettably, the weather forecast is just marginal enough that we decide we don’t want to be on a fast ferry that might have to slow down to fight rain and wind. There is still a lot to see in Ragusa since almost everything was either closed or washed out yesterday.

Our first goal is the Cathedral of St. George. We take this opportunity to photograph Clark and Lewis struggling up the many steps leading to the entrance. They do not take kindly to the mechanics of pilgrimage. We just hope that any video surveillance cameras do not pick up our activities.

025 — Clark and Lewis struggle up the cathedral stairs

The Cathedral aka Duomo is quite impressive, though a bit hard to decipher, there being no brochures. The most notable works of art are a painting of a very young St. Nicholas (Mary can tell this because one of the angels appears to be juggling three gold balls, a painting of the Holy Family resting on the flight to Egypt, a carving of St. George astride his horse that resembles nothing so much as a carousel ride, and a giant organ (Organum Maximum) with over 1800 pipe. All built, of course, in the Baroque style following the earthquake of 1693.

015 — St. Nicholas with angel holding golden balls

As we exit the Duomo, we are treated to what must be the happiest sounding and most up-tempo carillon in the world. We come back down to earth when we find that the diocesan museum is once again closed. Grumble.

Next we head back down the main piazza towards the Public Garden. It’s at one end of Ragusa Ibla, and overlooks the surrounding valleys. It’s really quite pretty. We let Clark and Lewis play on the playground equipment to make up for the ordeal of the stairs. We note that a grounds crew is actually doing preventative maintenance on the many palm trees in the garden. We are impressed.

Just outside the garden is the Portale San Georgio, which is all that remains of a 1450-era church that pretty much bit the dust in 1693. Most of the stones were used to construct the new Duomo, but the doorway and tympanum remain. Although highly weathered, some of the carving still shines.

We stop by a local forno a legno (wood oven bakery) and pick up some stuff for lunch. We are not going to make the same two-giant-meal mistake as yesterday.

In the evening, we head back to La Piazzetta, where the owner greets us again warmly. We order the delicious antipasto tipico again, and again consume it before we remember to take a photo. We also share a pizza Ragusano (essentially a sausage pizza). It’s good, but not as good as the mushroom pizza we had in Siracusa.(and neither was as sublime as the one we had a Zi Caterina in Pompei in 2009).

Needed a hotter oven or a longer cooking time but still pretty good

Nonetheless, a great way to end our stay here in Ragusa.

Tomorrow, on to the temples at Agrigento, to spaghetti vongole in San Leone and finally to La Forestiera at the Planeta Wine Estate in Menfi!

October 25-26, 2011 Pleasanton, CA to Benevento, Italy

Mary: Much like last trip, John will be helping with the blogging. I feel like a juggler with three blog balls up in the air. I am so glad that John is keeping Today’s Worry from dropping. If you are interested, there are also posts up today on The Adventures of Clark and Lewis and Dining Lite.

John: Departure day.. We awake at 4 AM, shower, finish our last-minute packing and run through our checklist many times before our friend George picks us up just before 6 AM. We have left some extra time to allow for traffic. There is no traffic, only darkness. We check in, rather on the early side and head to the Admiral’s Club for a pre-breakfast breakfast bagel.

Mary: Today we seem to have a lot of pictures of Clark and Lewis and not too many of us or sights. This is probably because we look like zombies after the long flights and we really haven’t seen much except the inside of airports, the car and the hotel.

John: The flight to JFK is uneventful and gets in ahead of schedule. Mary even has a sleep. We settle down in the JFK Admiral’s Club and have some wine and munchies. Clark and Lewis enjoy the whole experience.

John: Next, on to Rome! The flight is good; we both get some sleep (a miracle). We land on time, breeze through immigration (no passport stamp, though), baggage claim, customs, and car rental. We’re on our way in record time.

We had landed in a light drizzle. As we drive south on the A1, the rain gets heavier. A few kilometers before we are to get off the autostrada, traffic stops. It appears that a truck has jackknifed across the road and cars can get by only on the right shoulder. This costs us about 20 minutes. Lots of emergency vehicles. We hope the truck driver is OK.

John: We finally arrive at our hotel, the UNA Il Mulino, in Benevento. It’s in a converted mill complex, very new. Our room is large with plenty of closet space space and a fine enclosed shower. The staff are incredibly friendly and helpful.

Mary: I am very impressed with the hotel. Our room is enormous. This is just a one night stop so I wasn’t trying for anything too exciting just clean and not too expensive.

John: We have dinner at the hotel restaurant, Le Macine. We really do not want to have to drive anywhere else today. It’s a very good choice:

– tasty bread and exceptional fennel-flavored bread sticks.

Mary: Just want to say that in the old pre-diet days we would have eaten all the bread and all the breadsticks and probably asked for more. We had a couple of breadsticks and a couple of slices of bread. The end.

John: – an antipasto compliments of the chef: sauteed calamari strips, fried artichoke slices, and garbanzo beans in a garbanzo puree.

Mary: I cannot even tell you how good the fried artichoke chips were.

John: – a small rigatoni-like pasta with white beans and local cheese for Mary’s primo, and artisan tagliatelle with broccoli and mussels for John.

Mary: John made the better choice here. I had a plate of goo. It was okay. I tried to avoid as much goo as possible.

John: – grilled fish filet, (maybe bass), served with fried spinach, sauteed fennel and a wonderful cauliflower puree with black salt grains and local olive oil. Best fish I have ever had in Italy.