Excursions to the Baltic Sea

Our second day in Hamburg was planned as a big excursion day. Kerstin and Heinz drove us to the beautiful old city of Lubeck, which sits almost on the Baltic Sea, near the channel to Denmark. This old red brick town was the home of Kerstin's maternal grandparents, as well as the home of Thomas Mann, Gunther Grass, and many other famous German artists and writers. We wandered around the old streets, went up into an old church sttple to look at the view, then sat in the Ratthaus Square for tea time.











This city is also famous for marzipan, and there is a well-known store in the town center which has everything imaginable made of Marzipan, including many of the twins buildings reproduced in the windows of the store completely made of Marzipan!









We took lunch at a place that was a shipping guild hall since about 1400 a.d., and it was a venerable spot, with hand hewn beam ceilings, painted murals from the middle ages, and long wooden benches with brass fittings. The ancient atmosphere complemented the great food we tried, schnitzel, rutabaga soup, wild mushrooms in butter, and delectable green salad.








We visited Gunther Grass's house, and were amazed that not only was he an extraordinary writer, but also an amazing sculptor and painter. His collection is breathtaking, and made me want to re-read his books after so many decades.







At about 4 pm we took off driving again, about an hour away, to the weekend home of some friends of theirs in a village right on the Baltic, where we were invited to a dinner party. But first, we had time for another walk in the woods! (Daniella and Kerstin went to an art galleries instead). But I went off with the men and the teenage daughter, Anna, along a wooded road deep into a forest, where we were assured we would see some game animals. Sure enough, about 20 minutes along the road we heard some noises. At first I thought it was a wild boar, as they saw one of those the day before. But it became apparent that it was elk, up on the ridge above us. We could see two males with big racks of antlers, and they were snorting loudly and making almost a loud purring sound. The men immediately set out up the hill, into the brush, to get closer. We were trying to move silently, and got into some deeply swampy places, but we were able to get up close enough to see them clearly against the meadow and the setting sun. We watched them for a long time, then circled around up the hill above them, and took another trail back to the house. On the walk back we encountered a herd of female elk, about 20 in all, grazing in another meadow. It was all very exhilarating, and invigorating, and we arrived back in pitch darkness with a good appetite for the dinner ahead.




Our hostess had made a big roaring fire in the fireplace, and she served "raclette", something I've never had before. It is a Swiss dish, a cousin of fondue, with a special brazier on the table. Each person gets a personal little frying pan, which we filled with boiled new potatoes, sliced meat, and slices of raclette cheese. Then we put our little pans under the brazier and waited for the cheese to melt all over everything. We did this over and over, and also garnished our raclette with various pickled veggies, another delicious items, and a great selection of wines and local brewed beers. YUM!!


We did not get back to Hamburg until nearly midnight after that, and once again crashed against our pillows like a couple of sinking ships. But oh it was great fun!


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Location:Hamburg, Germany

A Big Change of Scene

Our train arrived like clockwork in Hamburg, and Kerstin, Heinz and one son, Jonathan, were waiting on the platform to scoop us up and take us away to their lovely home here. They fed us a quick lunch, and then we headed out to the countryside for a long and beautiful walk through a protected area which is a wildlife sanctuary, bird reserve, and all-around gorgeous spot for walking.


There was a long, loop trail, and even a section that was a raised dam built in prehistoric times, with an ancient trail across the top. We saw a sea eagle in the top of a tree, and two red foxes playing at the edge of a meadow. Kerstin's boys are budding naturalists. The oldest boy, Nicola, loves nothing better than fishing and being out in the wild.







We stopped for ice cream on the way home. Did you ever see two more adorable boys than these?


That first evening here we were treated to a typical German dinner, with great bread and many dishes of cheeses, cold cuts, salads, pickles, and an especially yummy dish of black lentils with creamy barrata cheese on top. Between the not-so-much-sleep on the train, and the vigorous hike, we were quite ready to crash when dinner was through, and we slept, amazingly, until nearly 9 the next morning. Our accommodations are the best here, so comfortable, and our hosts are the prince and princess of generosity and hospitality!


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Location:Hamburg, Germany

On the Rails

This post finds us 3/4 of the way along our rail journey from Bari to Hamburg, Germany. This little adventure is 24 hours long and so far has featured an extended (read breakdown) trip from Bari to Rome, where we missed our connection for the next leg of the journey. We were a little freaked, but the clever Italian conductors put us onto a super-speed train to Bologna, where we arrived a half hour earlier than the train we had missed! So we caught up with our reserved sleeper car, had a few hours sleep in our nifty cabin/bathroom. And now we are having tea in Munich, waiting for our last connection up to Hamburg, where we will visit our dear friend Kerstin and her family. Here is a very poor photo of Daniella about to climb the ladder to her bunk in the sleeper car, and another of our train breakfast!









European train travel is so civilized and comfortable. We are traveling first-class on a Eurail pass. We have spacious reserved seats each time, and stewards bring free drinks and snacks ( even champagne or wine if you are so inclined). There are dining cars for more substantial fare. It is so relaxing to sit back and watch the beautiful countryside slide by, even though we are often going 150 mph. Some trains even are equipped with free wifi. I'm a convert. I wish we had good trains in the U.S.

We are especially taking note of what a Green country Germany is. Even the tiniest hamlets have solar panels everywhere. There are wind turbines all along the way. And there are miles of lush green forest throughout the country. Every thing is spic and span, clean as a whistle, not a dot of litter or trash or anything out of place.


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Location:Muenchen hauptbahnhof

Last day in Italy

Somehow this post got completely lost in the crazy stuck-ness of the internet over the last few days, so I'm recreating it now. We left our beautiful Italy behind us on the 12th of October. We felt so sad to leave Marina and Lello, the wonderful couple who cared for us so lovingly and cooked us the most startlingly delicious meals every day. We felt truly connected with them at the heart, and know we will see them again! Thank you both for every sweet and spicy thing!!







We drove to our next location along many winding back roads, where we feasted on the sights of the Puglian countryside, such as this amazing pink villa.



Our last night was spent at this gorgeous Masseria of Santa Teresa, something we found on the Internet for the crazy last-minute price of €68 which included a deluxe room, this infinity pool, and a huge and varied buffet breakfast in the vaulted room below. This place sits on a hillside a few miles inland from the Adriatic, and looks out to the sea and to the small seaside town of Monopoli. It was spectacular, but the atmosphere lacked the warmth and happiness of the Masseria Della Zingara.







The next morning we spent a bit of time walking around in the old seaside town of Polignano al Mare, enjoying the lovely weather and the sights and sounds of ordinary life here. Everyone was a hanging out laundry, shopping, sitting on chairs outside their doors, shouting from balcony to balcony, a regular little real-life operetta. The sign below advertises a horse-meat butcher shop.







Finally at about noon we dropped our rental car in Bari and headed for the train station for the ride north.

Location:Masseria Santa Teresa, Puglia

Finito in Puglia

We are finished with the class here in Puglia. The last couple of days have brought us more indescribably delicious meals, a day of dramatic thunder and lightening, and rain (but fortunately no power outages). The air here is so fresh and pure and beautiful.


We had an all- group excursion yesterday to the famous town of of Alberobello, which has a large old- town center completely of stone trulli houses dating from the 1400s. It is a hilly place, and all the winding lanes are too narrow for cars to get through.



We spent about 4 hours wandering the many picturesque side-streets and absorbing the local flavor of this small town. I was here some 40 years ago, and while the outskirts of town have expanded with modern buildings, the old town remains the same.















This afternoon, after lunch, we will pack up the studio and head to one more night in another Masseria closer to the sea. Tomorrow we board the train for Hamburg! But what a joy to have been back in Puglia for this week!!! I love Italy!

Location:Contrada Selvafina,Polignano a Mare,Italy

Volare, oh oh, Cantare, oh oh oh ho

Oh lucky me! I started yesterday with an early morning stroll down one on the nearby back roads. Although there was a steady sound of shotgun fire on nearby farms, I felt safe walking between the sturdy stone walls that line each side of the roads here. I saw this beautiful old trulli hut, abandoned now, in an olive grove with the twisted and gnarled ancient olive trees still standing and producing after centuries of weather and history have rolled over them.








Back at the Masseria (below) we had another day of encaustic class, punctuated by another stunningly divine lunch.


Lelo made stuffed zucchini flowers, once again spaghetti with lemon (because we begged him to!) and something I've never before had or even heard of. He picked a wide range of fresh herbs - rosemary, basil, mint, chives, etc. and fried them individually in a light batter. To say exquisite doesn't even cover it! Here is what they looked like, and below is Lelo preparing the squash blossoms.






In the evening we went into Polignano al Mare, a charming little seacoast village perched on rocky cliffs above the splashing sea. Here we wandered around town for awhile, engaged in delightful chats with various storekeepers, and finally met as a small group for a lovely dinner. The place was Chichibio, a fish specialty place, very elegant and homey at the same time. Daniella and I split a platter of San Pietro fish (?), a meaty white fillet oven-roasted with potatoes, olives, and tomatoes, very good. We also split a creamy canoli in hot fudge for dessert, then waddled out into the piazza ........ where there is this larger than life-size statue of homeboy, Domenico Medugno who was once upon a time (in my childhood I think) very famous for one song, Volare. Volare, oh oh, Cantare, oh oh oh oh! Nel blu depinto del blu, felice restare la su. The rest is gone, along with much of my memory, but I always remember how much I love to be in Italy.





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Two Days Slid By....

The time is flying by here in Puglia. We learned something of the story of this place, and why it is called Masseria de la Zingara. The family who originally owned it were the people in the photo below. The padrone was a horse trader by profession, with gypsy roots, thus the name He is the man in the center with the curly mustache. This huge building were we are staying is a former barn/home. The family lived upstairs where we stay. The downstairs was full of cows and horses, thus the beautiful niches in the stonework where the cattle and horses were tied up and fed their hay in individual stalls. The place was bought by a British couple, and heavily renovated four years ago. It is now used for art classes, and occasional weddings, and events. It is stunningly beautiful.





Yesterday we went for a walk outside the gates where we saw several farmhouses like this old one just down the road, piles of stone still occupied after probably centuries of use.we picked fresh figs from the trees, and wandered in ancient olive groves with trees so twisted and gnarled that they were surely ancient, but still bursting with olives. It is no wonder that olive oil here is the most common product, and so flavorful and satisfying.





After a spectacular lunch of spaghetti in lemon sauce, prepared here just for us, we drove to a small seacoast town called Monopoli, where we wandered along the cliffs above the Adriatic, and watched families frolicking in the little coves below us.





We walked around in the old town, and drove throughout some of the impossibly narrow little streets, streets not made for cars but for pedestrians and the occasional donkey cart. It was a little hair-raising.





We returned to the Masseria in time for another spectacular meal, a tasty risotto on top of a lentil puree, with a bunch of Italian greens from the garden outside, and some small bread and cheese dumplings fried in oil, fantastic. We spent the evening meeting some of our new students, and putting the finishing touches on the classroom.

Today the class started. We have 5 students, 2 Canadians, one from France, one from England, and one American ex-pat living in Italy. It was a challenging day. With no decent paint, and with palatte heaters that were sporadic at best, Daniella had a rough beginning. But, as always, she showed her immense resourcefulness and pulled it off. Tonight we ate homemade Italian sausages, bruschetta with wild asparagus and cheese, and stuffed peppers from the garden, followed by a homemade gelato made from yellow plums, honey, lemon marmelade, in a mint and agave sauce. We are blown away by this magnificent chef, this gorgeous place, and the happiness of being in Italy, the best place eaver!




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Location:Puglia, Italy

The Colors of the Day

Tonight we are sitting by this poolside, listening to the day end here at the Masseria, a converted farm in Puglia where the class is taking place. The moon is rising over these trulli houses, the typical form of building in this area. These cone-shaped stone dwellings are dotted around the countryside here, and one town, Alberobello, is completely made of these (we will go there later this week).


Everywhere, and I mean everywhere, there are stone walls. Driving along the country roads, there are stone walls on both sides, and the colors often include these rosy pink tufa stones that are local to this area. The landscape is very Mediterranean,with olive trees, vineyards, pines, and low-growing shrubs with pinks, lavenders, scarlets, and golden flowers, and every color of green bush and plant.


Literally all the buildings are also made of stone, and the place we are staying is no exception. The view above shows the courtyard below the little balcony outside our apartment. Everywhere there are niches, and vaulted ceilings, and stone archways. Even our classroom is a beautiful example of this.


Here is a view of the sky just before sundown, looking out across the empty pianurra. The white building on the left is the corner of where we are staying. Today we drove into the nearby village for various supplies. Thankfully my rusty Italian rises to the occasion when needed and we were able to navigate the back roads, find a few stores, explain what we wanted, buy it, and find our way home - phew! The chef here had lunch waiting for us, a lovely homemade brown bread with olive oil, tomatoes, and basil on top, and then a fabulous risotto resting on a bright green puree made of broccoli rabe stems. Yum. He is cooking our dinner as I write this. (See Daniella's blog for delicious details).


The drama of the day was that all the encaustic paints that Daniella mailed here last month did not arrive. This included nearly 100 colors of encaustic paint. It has apparently been seized, for awhile by Italian customs and we are not likely to get it before the class is over. Major disaster for us, but the ever resourceful Miss D. bought a set of oil paints in town. We squeezed them out onto paper towels to let the oil settle out, then spent all afternoon mixing the remaining pigment with encaustic medium. So voila, we made our own paint! The colors leave a lot to be desired, but hey, at least the class will be able to learn how to use them and we won't have to do a five day class without using color! This is our batch of babies. We are so proud!

Location:Masseria Della Zingara, Puglia

Italy, an Ongoing Love

We are in Italy, today traveling on a first-class high-speed train on our way from Rome to Bari, a 4 hour trip. This is deluxe travel, lovely seats, big windows, and a steward who brings free coffee, tea, and snacks, even free champagne! The views are enough to bring tears to my eyes, all the green hills, small hill towns, cedar trees, small farmsteads, olive groves, vineyards. The beauties of the Italian countryside are unchanging and on such a human scale.

Our flights to Rome were predictably exhausting. We went on Iberia Air, and let's just say that we were underwhelmed with their offerings. We flew to Chicago, then Madrid, where we landed in a blazing orange and magenta sunrise, raced through the airport, and made our connection by the skin of our teeth. So much for seeing even the Madrid airport,


which we could tell was stunning! We landed in Rome at about noon, took a train to the termini and then to our little hotel.

Our room was small and comfy and had so many elements of purely Italian decor, like the ceiling to floor silk drapes, the wall to wall headboard that dwarfed the bed, and the cupids flying above the bed, their arrows all pointing down at the pillows suggestively! The shower was a tiny quarter circle cubicle that Daniella dubbed "the water boarding shower" thanks to the drowning shower head that filled every inch of the overhead space with water, so that breathing was an issue. But we are clean!


We spent a lot of our half-day in Rome trying to find butane canisters for the class to use. We telephoned every hardware store and camping goods store we could find on the Internet, to no avail, until D. remembered that we had seen a Korean restaurant in the neighborhood. We went right over there and sure enough, they told us where they buy them (a must-have for Korean cooking). We took a cab right to a small Korean grocery store where we were able to stock up on exactly what we needed! What a relief!

After that we went over to Campo dei Fiori, Piazza Farnese, and Piazza Navonna, favorites from back in the day when I lived in Rome. The Campo has gotten to be so tourist-centered that it seemed very changed and not so nice. But the rest of the area is the same, including the little courtyard at Arco degli Acetari where we had an apartment. We ate dinner outside on a piazza, fresh spinach, tortellini with piselli, bacon, and mushrooms in a cream sauce. Life is good! And so today we travel to Puglia!



Daniella also is keeping a blog, www.encausticopolis.blogspot,com

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Location:On a Train Between Rome and Bari

Off and Running

Today we are off on our next adventure, flying to Rome via a stopover in Madrid (Iberia Airlines). Daniella will teach a class in Puglia, Italy, down in the heel of the boot near Bari. The last week has been a scramble of getting the house ready to leave with friends, thinking of what to pack, and taking care of the blizzard of "to-do's" on my lists. I've been like that old lady on YouTube who wanders from one room to another, getting distracted by everything and then forgetting what she was doing just a minute ago. In the end, we got out the door, but who knows what we forgot!

We tried something new, stayed at one of those park-sleep-fly hotels near the airport where, for the price of a cheap room you can leave your car for the duration of your trip. It was very restful to do that, since we fly out at 7:30 am, and return quite late on the 19th. We didn't have to ask any of our loved ones to give up sleep and drive us over the hill.

Internet may be spotty (at best) in Puglia, but I will post when I can. Arrivederci!


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Location:San Jose Mineta Airport

The Best Little Boy...

Desmond is three years old, and is the best grandchild anyone could be lucky enough to have!  He is sunny, energetic, and curious about everything.  His conversations are priceless and precious.  He speaks in full paragraphs, sings to himself, and asks amazing questions. Lucky me, I get to be with him several times a week for special grandma time.   I always regret not writing down some of the things my children said when they were little, so I will take a minute here to record these few things about him.  Desmond's vocabulary is quite huge, but he still says "potooter" for computer, "fananic" for mechanic, and "hoppatopter" for helicopter!  He recently asked Daniella (whom he calls Zuzu) "Zuzu, is Zuma your daughter?"  Zuma is our rat terrier dog!  And one day after we came back from Australia he was telling me all about something and I said "Wow, Desmond, you don't miss much!"  He instantly reponded "I missed you, Keema, you were gone such a long time."  Heart meltingly sweet, this boy.

A week in Mendocino

We arrived Friday afternoon in Mendocino where Daniella is teaching a 5 day encaustic painting class at the Mendocino Art Center. Drive up was gorgeous, through the rolling wine country of the Anderson Valley, then through the stately redwood alley, the Navarro River State Park, like being in a great, miles-long cathedral all made of tall trees. Finally the last few miles up the foggy and rugged coast, to this quiet little village. Here there is so little traffic that people stroll around in the streets. The pace of life is slow and quiet. Little shops and cafes dot the byways. The Pacific coastline wraps around three sides of this muffin of land, with high bluffs and golden meadows running down to the sea.

The class is small and intimate. There is enough space that even I am getting to paint. We are staying in a tiny apartment on the grounds of the art center, in a blue building nestled in the garden courtyard. This is pretty sweet, I gotta tell ya!







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Location:Mendocino, California North Coast

Home!

After a pretty comfortable and easy flight on Quantas, we got back to California Tuesday morning. It was joyful to have our little Desmond race across the airport and throw himself into our arms. I think he missed us!

Everything fine here. Tomatoes ripening in the garden, little dogs happy, good Mexican food just down the street. Lots of new art exhibits to visit nearby. Weather, as usual, perfect. We are so blessed! Home feels really good.


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Location:Santa Cruz, CA

A Very Grand Finale

Sadly, our travels in Australia are finished. We flew into Sydney on our last morning, dumped our luggage at an airport hotel, and raced into the city. We had places to go and people to see, and didn't want to lose a minute of our precious OZ time.



First we went to the Powerhouse Museum, where we met up with the lovely Anthea for a visit to a new exhibit there called "Love Lace" or "Make Lace, Not War". It was an amazingly varied show with just about everything that could be called "lacy" without being traditional lace. For example, the very first display was an old, vintage pickup truck that someone had cut through so that the doors, hood and roof were all pierced into a lace pattern. Other artists used echidna spikes (similar to porcupine quills), metal, ceramic, paper, cloth, plastic, and so much more. We got a little hungry, so Anthea drove us up to her neighborhood, called Crow's Nest, across the Harbour Bridge, where we had a little nosh and then visited her art studio for awhile.

At about 7 pm she dropped us off back in the city at a pub called the Clock on Crown Street. Here we met up with our little Sydney posse, Derek and Celia, and Sophie with her charming husband, Greg. Those of you who have read this blog before know that these people have become our dear and beloved friends and playmates here. Derek was our host and sponsor in SYD, and Celia and Sophie have attended two of our workshops. They are pure gold as human beings, and pure joy as companions. We had a long and splendid evening together, first at the pub, and the later at a deliriously delicious Japanese place down the block. We laughed until we ached, and then sadly took our leave. It was after midnight when we got back to our room, exhausted but so full of priceless memories of these weeks in Australia. And for certain, we will be back.

We leave with a deep attachment to this amazing continent. To be sure we have seen very little of it, but as much as possible we have been soaking in the stories, the colorful language, the ancient aboriginal history, the deep British roots, the voices, the constant joking and laughter, the sounds of the birds, the different neighborhoods we have visited. Most of all, our journey has been about new friends, new connections, and the pleasure of watching our students get fired up and excited about this new methodology which Daniella has brought them. We feel so bonded with Mark and Daina from Chapman and Bailey who launched us so elegantly, with Bernadette and Sue in Melbourne, with our Waxing Down Undah crew of 10 from Ballarat, with Anthea and Susan and others from Warringah, with the fabulous painters in our Sydney class at Parkers, and those in Brisbane. From the stables to the city centers, what a ride this has been!

We are so grateful for the way that our Australian friends have wrapped their arms around us, both literally and figuratively. We have been invited into many homes, treated to magnificent meals, driven around at all hours of the day and night. We have been given lovely and generous gifts. We have been treated to the most entertaining, informative, and sparkling conversations. We have been loved here in a big way, and in return we love Australia in a big way! Thank you dear, precious Aussies. You know who you are! You are Gorgeous and Brilliant!

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Location:Sydney, AU