Cathedral of St Lucia in Syracuse

The walkway to the Island of Ortygia at Syracuse

Mount Etna                                                    

The next day was our tour from Catania, Sketches of Syracuse. The ship docked at Catania, but it was a good hour’s drive to Syracuse or Taormina. We had to meet in the Nautica lounge at 12 noon, much later than our earlier tours.  It was nice to have a relaxing morning, and I spent a lot of time on our veranda, in the sun, viewing Mount Etna, spewing out steam but its upper sloped covered in snow.

We went to the Terrace cafe to get some food to take with us (biscuits and cheese and some fruit, as we’d been advised we could do), but there were no takeaway food containers; JD eventually found some tiny paper napkins that we used. But there were flies buzzing around the uncovered, unwrapped food! That’s disgusting and I certainly wouldn’t expect it on an Oceania cruise. Nevertheless we gathered up some wee sandwiches, crackers and fruit to take with us, and on our way to the lounge we stopped at our stateroom to get a bottle of lemon tea drink out of the fridge.

There were heaps of people in the lounge, I’ve never seen so many, and it seemed we were one of the last groups to leave.  It was a good hour’s drive to Syracuse, and the country looked pretty flat for the most part and fertile. Along the way we passed Pantelica where there were a lot of smokestacks; it was clearly an industrial area.

Eventually we got to Syracuse and stopped at the Archaeological Park. There was a toilet stop – 50 cents, managed by a man eager to collect the money. But the toilets were clean; you couldn’t put toilet paper in the toilet, but there was plenty of it; and you could wash your hands with soap afterwards and dry them on paper towels, which would be given to you.  There was a break of a few minutes here, but I had left my tote bag containing the food on the bus! It was a crowded bus, there were 35 of us! As in the Michael Fowler Centre, you couldn’t cross your legs.

Then we walked down hill to the archaeological area where we saw remains of a large altar, and some amazing caves dug out of a tall cliff face. There was the ear of Dionysus, or Caravaggio’s cave, with amazing acoustics. There were lots of trees, including orange trees. Our guide had spoken of the blood oranges grown in that area.  

She gave us a salad recipe: spring onions, oranges, avocado, and good olive oil. JD won’t eat onions but he wants to try this when we get home.

We climbed up a great many steps to reach some tombs (Byzantine?) in the cliff, and to see the theatre. I was rather disappointed, seeing many modern seats there, and it is still used. It was very hot although there was a breeze sometimes. I think the theatre at Segesta is better preserved; apparently the one at Taormina is very well preserved. Sadly we won’t see that this time – one could choose an excursion to either Syracuse or Taormina, not both, although I really wanted to visit both.

Then we walked back and climbed back on the coach (my tote bag was still there) and drove into the modern town, to visit the island of Ortygia. We walked some way from the bus, then over the bridge, and saw the remains of a temple to Apollo. There was a man in gold representing Apollo with a laurel wreath and a lyre; JD took a photo of me standing beside him.

Then we walked quickly up a narrow street filled with shops and restaurants to get to the town square – the most beautiful town square, according to our guide. There was a cathedral to St Lucia (who had lost her eyes). I would have like to buy a cheeseboard with Sicilian lemons on the ceramic insert, but alas there was no time to stop for shopping; there were so many people there, and our guide moved pretty quickly.

From the square we moved downhill to a different area with a view of the sea, and the fountain of Arethusa.  There was supposed to be a break here for ice cream, coffee, or cannoli, or to go back inside the cathedral, but we were too nervous to go for refreshments; it was quite a long walk back to the bus. I should have gone back to look inside the cathedral (why did we not do so when we were there?)

Instead we were gutless and waited for the group to walk back to the bus. Even using a short cut, it was quite a long walk to the bridge, and then back to our bus. I hoped I would not need the restroom in the meantime; it was a good hour’s drive back to Catania, and we were due to eat at the Polo Grill at 6:30 pm.

Well we got back; somehow this was really tiring, and our guide, who was very excitable, kept changing the plan. There was very little free time, and crowds and crowds of people. It would have been so easy to get lost. I had been really looking forward to this excursion, but I rather wished we had chosen Taormina instead. 

When we got back there was a short break before we were to dine at the Polo Grill. I put on my French linen dress, now beautifully pressed, and some makeup. We were seated at a table at the very back of the ship, overlooking Catania and the smoking Mount Etna as the ship slipped away on the next part of her journey.  I reflected on the fact that we were saying goodbye to beautiful Sicily: who knows if we will come here again? I should certainly like to visit Palermo again, and go to Agrigento, mentioned by several of our guides, and Taormina, to say nothing of Noto, Cefalu and Erice. I think that when doing half-day trips (we did two, Selinunte and Syracuse) you fail to get the sense of the real Sicily we got when we were here in 2010: the intensity of the food and the emotions, the feeling that life is fleeting, and the passion, not quite Spanish but Sicilian.

Dinner was strange . We had shrimp appetizers (3 very large shrimps) with cocktail sauce as advertised but it was really just tomato ketchup, although the menu said it was flavoured with horeseradish. We were given finger bowls with warm water – much appreciated. Then we both ordered their “Surf and Turf” – fillet steak with lobster tail. We asked about mustard, and we’re brought our requests: a jug of Dijon mustard for me, and Colman’s mustard for JD! You really just want a little bit on the side.

 There was commercial bearnaise sauce to go with the lobster, and we’d ordered potato gratin and asparagus sides.  The fillet steak was like a lump!  Not a slice of steak as we would expect. I had committed the cardinal sin of ordering mine medium – well done, since I don’t really like it too pink in the middle. Waiters kept asking if the food was all right, and we assured them it was, although you would expect real, not commercial bearnaise sauce on a cruise like this.

Dessert was better. They brought us apricot and raspberry fruit jellies before dessert – delicious. We each ordered a quartet of the desserts available: key lime pie (actually really yummy), Bailey’s cheesecake, chocolate brownie with ice cream, and Granny Smith apple crumble pie with pouring cream. They were pretty nice.

Today (the next day) we are at sea. Tomorrow, Olympia. Before we retired last night, we were asked to put our watches forward one hour, but although we’d ordered room service breakfast later, it turned up at 6:30 am (7:30 am?)

My phone hasn’t changed the time. Days and hours merge into each other. Internet service was all right in Sicily but is now virtually unobtainable, so I can’t listen to anything. JD has no trouble sleeping, but I miss my podcasts, although I don’t miss being without the news.  It’s cloudy today and not so hot, not warm enough to go on the balcony.  Billy the cruise director made an announcement but it’s gone from being way too loud to being virtually inaudible. So here we are, cocooned, away from reality. It is very strange indeed.

Nga mihi nui

Tunis Cruise Port

Leaving Tunis

Kasbah Square in Tunis

Remains of the Antonine Baths (Roman) in Tunis

This morning we had to meet in the Nautica lounge early at 7:45 am. That meant an extra early start for us, but already the Nautica lounge was full of people. We had ordered breakfast in our stateroom as usual – a Spanish omelette this time (with peppers, not potatoes as I expected) and with 2 small sausages. It was delicious. I had showered already; unusually, they had forgotten JD’s hot water for his tea. I had had very little sleep the night before, so I was pretty tired and anxious.  We had sailed into Tunis that morning, after putting our watches back one hour. It was already quite hot on our balcony, and I was glad I’d brought my muslin top on this trip. It wasn’t a beautiful port as some are, but we are very excited to be in North Africa, at the site of ancient Carthage. As we left the ship our passports were checked, and a New Zealand passport was given the thumbs up.

Our tour guide was very informative. We used no radio transmitters to hear him, which was nice. Although there were other tourist groups, we stayed together, mostly. Tunis seemed quite a prosperous city, and Tunisia (formerly French) quite a modern and free-thinking society, where it was up to an individual to make decisions about keeping one’s head covered, for example, said our retired professor.  Despite that, we saw many women with their heads covered.

There is actually very little left of ancient Carthage. The Romans destroyed most of it, but there are a few Roman remains, including an aqueduct.

The capital city seemed quite modern with a lot of low-rise apartment buildings with very little, if any, landscaping.  There were lots of trees.

Our guide took us first to a children’s cemetery. It was thought that child sacrifice had been carried out, but it seemed that many of the dead infants had been miscarried.

There weren’t many opportunities to take photographs.

Then after looking at a former Punic navy compound  on an island he took us to a Roman baths site. Although this was in ruins it was really interesting, with several columns with Corinthian decorative tops.  It was very dusty and all the buildings had flat rooves, because it never snows here.

We had a toilet stop here – there was a man mopping the wet floor (now why was it wet?); the 4 cubicles had Western style toilets with seats and very good toilet paper, but I don’t think you were meant to put toilet paper in the toilet. It had a modern flush, and you could wash your hands with squeegee soap.

Then the bus took us to the Kasbah Square and we walked to the Medina or souk. He gave us careful warnings about fake goods, and offered to help us negotiate prices.  There were modern government buildings and then we entered the souk, which had very uneven flooring. There were lots of people there. We were in a part that had many jewellery stores, but of course you couldn’t just browse without being hassled. It reminded me of the jewellery for sale in Dubai – very clunky, and not my style at all.

And then came the carpet demonstration. I remembered that JD ‘s sister and her husband had regretted not buying a carpet on one of their trips abroad. We were in some handcraft collective, where we all went upstairs and sat down while they showed us carpets. These were mostly really large, and I doubt that even cruise passengers would buy large carpets (they probably have them already!). We were served some kind of sticky cake in filo pastry with perhaps a honey and date filling, and then wee glasses of sweet black tea. I felt it would have been very impolite to refuse this hospitality.

Well, silly old me, I had my eye on a much smaller carpet, a blue and white one which I admired. The price was not exorbitant, so after haggling a bit, we purchased the carpet and it was wrapped. Two other couples were considering buying large carpets, but did not go ahead. The person wrapping the carpet expected a large tip!

Then we went through more places so we could see intricate Arabic design. The floors were cool marble and it was dark.  I was worried about getting back to our cruise ship in time, for it was to leave for Catania early in the afternoon, but it did not go without us.

When we returned we all wanted lunch, and it was hard to find a free table. But we did, and shared another Steinlager beer and a lovely mixture of lemonade and sparkling water. I had sliced ham, and made filled rolls with ham, cheese and lettuce with dressing .  The best desserts were already gone – it was a bit of a scrum as many people wanted to eat lunch and lunch was finishing.

Then we went to have a rest. Later JD did some washing; our washing from three days ago was returned, washed and ironed! 

The sea was rougher than it had been. We went to the GDR for dinner and had a watermelon starter, “roast” pork with mashed potatoes, apples and sauce: actually it was pork loin steaks but was quite nice; I also ordered ratatouille, but it didn’t taste so good. JD had a glass of Chardonnay too, which we shared.

For dessert we both had raspberry souffle with raspberry sauce, and coffee ice cream. I was surprised to find that the souffle was a hot one, not a cold one. It was very nice!

Then we went to bed, after putting out our breakfast order. Tomorrow we don’t get in to Catania till 11 am, so our tour of Syracuse starts later than usual. We are also booked to eat dinner at the Polo Grill at 6:30 pm, so I hope we get back in time for that.

Nga mihi nui

Ruins at Selinunte Archaeological Park

The remaining temple at Selinunte

On day 2/3 of our cruise we did our second excursion, to the ruins of Selinunte. It was my second choice after Erice – for some reason I’d wanted to go to Selinunte, but it actually wasn’t nearly as good as Paestum. Still as JD said if we hadn’t been to Paestum we would have thought better of this visit. It was quite a long bus trip to get there: we had a woman guide, who was actually very informative. We have radio receivers and earphones. We passed the turnoff to Segesta, where we’ve been before, and although it’s lovely there, we wanted to go somewhere different. But we did not go to the museum, although we went through it; toilet facilities were extremely basic; and there was only one temple standing; the other one, probably unfinished, was just mounds of rubble and what might have been intended to be pillars. We went inside the standing temple, although it’s always a mission to climb the steep and uneven steps to do so. There were no ruins of a city or town as there had been for Paestum. And there were crowds and crowds of people. I think it was a public holiday in Sicily. None of the people we’d been with to Paestum were on this tour – perhaps wisely!

There was a beautiful acropolis that we could see in the distance, too far away to walk to.

Our guide was very informative about the history of Segesta and Selinunte, who although only a few kilometres apart, went to war with each other, and I think Segesta prevailed!

It was a hot and tiring trip, and we went back to the bus early. But it was the wrong set of buses! Ours was some way away. JD thoughtfully waited to show others the way to the right bus, but the guide was upset with us for not keeping with the group!

Here was the full tourist experience, with shops of souvenirs that we were marched through, not that one wanted to buy anything. It’s much more fun to shop when you can browse and choose something at a reasonable price.

Somehow it was very late when we got back to the ship, and we were told that the Terrace cafe was being kept open just for us. So it was a case of going straight there, and grabbing some food. Before eating I went to a public bathroom to wash my hands. Sadly the yummy cold rice pudding with raspberries was not available today. We figured it was rice rather than sago. I had a bread roll with rare roast beef, Dijon mustard and cheese. It was pretty good. Lemonade and coffee completed the meal.

That evening we were to have dinner with our Australian friends, and meet them at 6:30 pm at the GDR. But the food wasn’t great: a very ho-hum crab cake; “roast” beef and a roast potato and vegetable timbale; with a sauce with an unpleasant aftertaste. The best part of the meal was the dessert: baba au rhum! Some tiny baba, beautifully served. Yum!

Then after the guys had a whisky we went to bed – we had an early start the next day. Tunis!

Ngā mihi nui!

Paestum Archaeological Site

Beautiful Salerno

The first day of our cruise, after embarkation day, we docked at Salerno, and we woke up in the morning to this wonderful view. Salerno was a really pretty town and although there was a container ship nearby, the view of Salerno was very attractive. We also saw a highway in the hills above the city with extraordinary bridges.

I also remembered that the previous day, when we embarked, they had just said goodbye to the passengers on the previous cruise, and it must have been a very fast turnaround for the staff.

Our first excursion was to Paestum, the remains of an old Greek city in Italy with an archaeological museum and three wonderfully preserved temples. This is rather an obscure site but it had been on my list for a long time, and the cruise seemed an ideal way to see it. I had investigated getting from Salerno Port to the railway station, then getting the train to Paestum, and then walking to Paestum itself, or using a Get Your Guide trip, but it all seemed too hard and I added this to our subsidised five excursions, figuring out that there would be no trouble getting back to the cruise ship on time. It turned out to be one of our best excursions, and was a great start to the cruise. There were few other people there, unlike many of our excursions, and not many cruise passengers on this particular excursion.

We were due to meet in the Nautica lounge at 8:15 am for an 8:30 departure.  We had breakfast in our room – what a treat! Although the scrambled eggs wasn’t great and the bacon frizzled, American style, the brewed coffee was good. We were coming into beautiful Salerno, and although our view was slightly obscured by a container ship, it was still beautiful with amazing viaduct-like bridges and lots of hills. Apparently Salerno was one of the places where the Allies landed during WW2. It was too breezy to sit on the balcony, but we appreciated the view. One doesn’t always get a great view as the ship comes into port.

Then it was time to shower and dress and get ready for our excursion to Paestum.  There was an envelope of tickets to the shore excursions we’d booked, and they all appeared to be in JD’s name although I had chosen them and negotiated payment.  But for some reason we later found that my tickets were behind his, in the envelope.

By the way, the shower, although tiny, is just great, and it doesn’t leak.  And you can’t fall far once inside it!  The soap and accoutrements are just fine, and there are plenty of towels. It’s very American – the left hand tap controls the temperature, and the right hand one the flow of water.

The cruise ship supplies vacuum flask drinking bottles and fresh water in our room every day, and the fridge in our stateroom is well stocked too. On each excursion we take sunhats we’ve brought with us, and sunscreen and insect repellent, but we do not have to use these. I am very glad of the lightweight jacket I bought in Taipei: it provides a bit of warmth when required, but it protects against sun burn too.

We gather on the Nautica lounge, and although we’re not the first there, we’re certainly not the last. We’re given tickets for our bus, and eventually we leave the ship. This time the gangplank doesn’t have steps. Before leaving the ship, we’re securitized again and our photos are taken – again.

Then we board our bus, and thankfully there are few of us on it, and many of them seem more infirm than us.

The bus drives through Salerno along the seaside part of the way. It’s about an hour’s drive to Paestum.  Salerno seems to have few private houses; there are blocks of apartments about 6-8 stories high, most with verandas; many have washing hanging out to dry, something we hadn’t seen earlier.  

We pass camping grounds along the way, and some new building as the small city expands.  It looks fertile and prosperous here. It’s known for its production of buffalo mozzarella cheese.

Finally we get to the parking area at Paestum: we have 2 hours here. Along the way we’d passed the first temple (to Athena); the other two are further away. We are to go to the mvseo first – it’s a fascist style building, but rather a good one, with rest rooms down a lot of scary marble stairs with no hand rail! Coming up, we use the ascensore (lift)! With relief.

Of course there really isn’t enough time here, but there are amazing tomb paintings, very like the Etruscan art I used to tutor. In fact although this is (or was) a Greek city there is more than a touch of Etruscan art, in the faces and other aspects. Our guide is pretty knowledgeable but wary of going outside his mandated spiel, as they usually are.

After the museum we make our way into the walking area of ancient relics – the amphitheatre, the forum, as well as the three wonderful temples – the two furthest ones thought to be to Hera and Neptune. We can walk inside the temples, although the steps up to them are really uneven. The ruins are quite wonderful, it really is the remains of a town with amphitheatre and forum as well as the 3 temple remains. It reminds me of our visits to Ostia and Pompeii, and again I’m reminded how quite and peaceful remains of towns are.

At the museum’s beautiful gift shop we buy a guide to Paestum and books about Greek myth for our grandson in Taipei.

Eventually we return to the bus for our hour-long drive back to Salerno port. It’s fun and sunny, not too hot but JD and I are rather desperate for coffee and something to eat. The bus seems to take a different route back.

Once back we check in to our stateroom and see about getting lunch. But in the Grand Dining Room lunch is over (it’s now after 1:30 pm), and we’re directed to the buffet in the terrace café.

We choose small bread rolls, cheese and crackers, fruit, and desserts in individual wee glasses of cold creamy rice pudding with a raspberry sauce on top. We find a sheltered table outside, and JD orders a Heineken low-alcohol beer which he shares with me. A kind waiter from Zimbabwe brings us coffee (two double espressos).

Then we go back to our room to organize our first of three lots of complimentery laundry. Unfortunately it’s a maximum of 20 items, which we did not realise, so we take some out. We have to allow three days for it to be returned, but when it comes back, it is beautifully ironed and folded. Actually the laundrette is on our passage way, and JD enjoys doing the laundry, so he chooses to do it after this, and I’m happy to leave him to it, and browse the shop instead! I need some lip balm, that’s my excuse. Actually the shop on board has many reasonably priced items, unlike the jewellery boutiques.

I also get complimentary pressing of one garment, which I use to have my French linen dress pressed, and it’s beautifully done. I bought this dress for the cruise, not realising that French linen crushes badly, but I did wear it several times once pressed. I did change for dinner every night, although I was surprised that people didn’t dress up more on the cruise, especially after Milan, Florence and Rome, where most people were beautifully dressed.

At 6:30 pm (having avoided the Captain’s cocktail party), we go to have dinner in the GDR, and we’re seated by a window.  Again there is delicious bread, this time with butter although JD of course asks for olive oil and vinegar, and they’re brought to him. He orders lobster for his entree (i.e. main course), and I order salmon (with Jasmine rice and beans). Thankfully a delicious sauce is served in a sauce-boat (without a serving spoon). For starters we each had shrimps – three large shrimps on a bed of lettuce with a tomato dipping sauce. They tasted good, although I would have preferred a cocktail sauce to accompany them, as I reflected on the yummy one I used to make from a recipe by Des Britten!  That was so long ago!

Afterwards we had a drink with an Australian couple that we spent some time with. Sadly he did not appreciate archaeological sites (“old rocks”) the way I do! Then we retired to our room and put out our breakfast order. I decide to order a Spanish omelette. Tomorrow Sicily (Marsala) and, Selinunte!

Ngā mihi nui

Civitavecchia, city north-east of Rome and cruise port

The hotel where we stayed in Civitavecchia

When I last wrote we were waiting in the Rooftop Bar of Hotel Diana in Rome to collect our bags and make our way to Rome’s Termini station to catch a booked train to Civitavecchia. We had done a lot of walking that day, and were very tired. We got to the station in good time, but they hadn’t put the platform up, it was very busy, and there was nowhere to sit down. JD tried lounges without success, and then he found a Cafeteria area up an escalator with a free table. I didn’t want anything to eat and there seemed to be no notice board or toilets. But I went exploring, and found both but you needed €1:20 to use the toilet. By the time I’d found the right coins, (someone showed me where to put them), and got out again there was a few minutes to our train on platform 25. Well silly us, the that’s simply miles away: you walk past platform 24 (the Leonardo Express to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport), and much further still to platform 25. I went as fast as I could, dragging my suitcase and overnight bag, but got there just as our train was pulling out.

We walked way back to the main station area and found a Trenitalia office that thankfully was still open (by now it was almost 7 pm).  We queued up and eventually a nice young lady served us. She rebooked us on a 7:12 pm train, and so we dashed through the entry gates again and made our way as fast as we could to Platform 25, validating our tickets as we went.  But this was a slow Regional train, with an upstairs and a downstairs – sit where you like! And no sign boards to indicate the stations coming up.  I did not know what would happen once we got to Civitavecchia – we wanted to go to the town, not the port, and I hoped our hotel wasn’t far away from the railway station. I couldn’t seem to do a printout of the route. In the event, they’d put a hold on my credit card for the one night we’d booked to stay (colazione extra).

JD had the train route on his phone, but I seriously doubted that we were on the right train. Both our phones needed recharging, but you had to use a proper plug: JD ransacked through his baggage to find the converter plug, and eventually his charger with plug. When we were last in Europe, there were USB ports everywhere to charge our phones: not so now. To our relief, he found the charger and correct plug before we got to Civitavecchia!

The route was very strange and quite remote, going through Etruscan-sounding towns like Cerveteri. I seriously wondered if we were on the right train and hoped and prayed that we were.

It was getting dark now but we were nearing our destination. Unfortunately someone had left a bicycle in the stair well, making it very difficult to manoeuvre our luggage out around it. But we did, and the next station, although confusing, was Civitavecchia. After disembarking we had to get a lift down, walk some way, and then go up again to enter the station building. This is a common feature of Italian railway stations in smaller towns.

But thankfully our hotel was nearby. It calls itself a 4* but has a kind of faded elegance. The bedroom is a good size, with a chair and an armchair. The towel rail is not heated, and the towels are few and thin. There is a bidet of course, and a couple of shower caps – giveaways. There are actually scuffs in the bathroom, but no bathrobes.  There are no USB ports for charging phones. The handbasin in the bathroom leaks. This is hardly 4* standard.

We walked along to a nearby restaurant, which was very busy. Sadly this is obviously a tourist area. We order veal scallopine al Marsala, but I think Portofino in New Zealand does it far better! The veal was tough and the sauce not very nice. We also ordered a plate of vegetables – zucchini, eggplant and tomato . That was tiny.  Afterwards we walked back to our hotel and had gelato at a nearby cafe – beautifully served in wee containers with a spoon and wafer on a saucer with a napkin.

Then we retired and tried to sleep. We had agreed to pay for breakfast at the hotel next morning (€14 each!), but it was a pretty good buffet. I even had some scrambled eggs, it looked so good (and tasted good, too). The orange juice was good and the coffee not too bad. Perhaps I’m getting used to Italian coffee!

By the way, there is a well stocked fridge and tea-making facilities in our room, and even a coffee machine!! So we each make coffee after breakfast.

We’re now waiting for our 11 am checkout, and then we head off to board Oceania ‘s Nautica. I have great trepidation about being thrown into the cruising world!

After checking out by 11 am, we leave our bags to be stored while we go for a walk. We are looking for a pharmacy, but cannot find one that is open. Although we can take some alcohol on our cruise, we cannot buy white wine (or any wine, for that matter), in screw top bottles.

 A nice store we go to even has no prosecco in small bottles. We buy a very expensive bottle of limoncello to sip after our meals; on walking around we find a shop that does stock small bottles of prosecco. So JD buys several, and a lemon tea for me. Then we walk back to our hotel to wait for the shuttle to our cruise ship.

We need to use the restroom – it’s down a very beautiful marble staircase with no handrail! So I’m very careful. But there is warm water, liquid soap and paper towels to wash my hands afterwards.

There is another anxious moment when the transport the hotel has booked does not turn up. I can’t remember exactly what time I said we’d board; after missing the train the previous night I’m rather on edge. We could walk to the cruise port, but it’s a bit far, and it’s very hot.

Eventually we arrive at the cruise port. I am surprised that there is nobody to carry our luggage, so we carry it ourselves. After being photographed (again!), we ascend a gangplank with steps to board our ship! We are tired and hot, but we make our way to the seventh deck, where our stateroom is. We’ve been told it’s ready, when we were given our access cards. I have to say the welcome is a bit underwhelming!

The first challenge is to have something to eat. Lunch at the main dining room was over by 1:30 pm. And I don’t want to go to the buffet (although later on it turns out to be very good). Instead, at the entrance to the Grand Dining Room (the GDR, I will call it), there is a bar where they’ll make specialty coffees on request, or drinks, and there are a few comfortable chairs. There is also some food to help yourself to: wee filled rolls, and biscuits and cakes. These are very welcome.

Then after a bit of exploring we go back to our stateroom, inspect it, and unpack. It is very good, with a private balcony, with two comfy outdoor chairs and a table; in addition to the queen-sized bed there is ample wardrobe space with scuffs and robes. There is plenty of shelving and cupboard space. And there’s a sitting room area with a sofa, a desk, a stool, and a low table which is ideal for the breakfast tray.  There is also a small bathroom with toilet, handbasin and shower and a surprising amount of storage space. There are shelves for both our sponge bags, and room for toiletries in the cupboard with a mirrored door, and another cupboard below the handbasin. There are two beautiful cakes of soap, for hand-washing and showering, and, of course, plenty of thick towels. So I unpack and, as directed, store my little suitcase under the bed.  I try not to think about repacking again!

Tonight we are to dine in Toscana, one of the specialty restaurants. We are seated with a lovely view of the sea, and we start to feel that we are finally on our cruise “holiday”. They bring a bread basket and a variety of olive oils and balsamic vinegars, so JD is really cheered by that. The bread basket also includes a whole clove of roasted garlic, which I smear over everything!

Then we retire to our stateroom, and put out our breakfast order. Tomorrow – Paestum! A city founded in Italy by the Greeks, of which only ruins remain, including three temples. we are to meet in the Nautica Lounge at 8:15 am, I think, so it will be nice not to have to get dressed up to go to breakfast. In our envelope we can only find JD’s ticket. It turns out that his are at the front; mine are all at the back, although I have organised and paid for this! I really want to go to Paestum, it’s long been on my list, and I hope it won’t disappoint.

Ends, nga mihi nui.

Bernini’s Statue of St Teresa

David holding the head of Goliath by Caravaggio, in the Borghese Gallery

The Borghese Gallery in Rome

Michelangelo’s Pieta at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, completed when he was 22 years old

We arrived by train from Florence in late afternoon April 28. The train had come from Venice and was headed for Naples. As usual, the platform wasn’t shown until a few minutes before the train was due. We were in Coach 6, a long way to walk, seats 64 and 65, but it was evident that lots of people were boarding the train.

Again the phone  charging on the train didn’t work, but we were better prepared this time. I’d found the route to our hotel in Rome earlier and shared it with JD. We went through lots of tunnels, but outside of them the countryside looked incredibly clean, green, peaceful and wealthy.

We were nearly there when the train stopped for a few minutes, and I remembered that we had had a really slow arrival from Bologna last time we were here about 18 months ago. Eventually we arrived, and made our way to our hotel.

What luxury! Our room is large with a queen-sized bed and two singles. It’s really like a small apartment with a hallway, bathroom (shower and bidet), wardrobe and a separate luggage area. It has a bathroom with shower with 2 nozzles as in Milan, and two basins! It doesn’t have bathrobes, however! You could really use them seeing there is a bit of distance to get to the bathroom! There are lots of thick, white towels.

We went out to dinner at Trattoria Amadeo further down the same street. I got changed and panicked when I couldn’t find the cream top I was looking for. But it was in my overnight bag. Packing pods are wonderful, but you can’t always find what you’re looking for, especially if you combine skirts and tops!

Anyway, we are very well: beautiful bread, with olive oil and balsamic vinegar; we both had saltimbocca, something I haven’t seen on a menu in years. Veal escalopes came with ham and sage leaves in a beautiful sauce, served with green beans, stewed red peppers and another thinly sliced green vegetable: this tasted good but I couldn’t figure out what it was!  Perhaps another kind of green beans?

For dolci we shared a berry cheesecake. We had drunk a glass of Chardonnay and a glass of champagne with our dinner. The white wines here and prosecco is delicious, as is the sparkling (frizzante) mineral water. Our lovely waitress brings us each a small glass of limoncello on the house.

We walk back to our hotel but don’t sleep terribly well – we’ve drunk too much.

Next morning we go up to breakfast at the top of the hotel soon after 7 am, and already most tables are occupied. The breakfast buffet is very good, although the bacon and scrambled eggs don’t look great.  There is delicious kiwi fruit and pear juice; melon and pineapple cut up; lots of cereals, big prunes (not stewed), and a yoghurt dispenser.

You can make proper toast here (unlike in Florence); I pick a sachet of butter, and you can dispense jam and marmalade into wee dishes – very sanitary. There was coffee too, of course, but to me the Italian coffee doesn’t taste so good.

Afterwards I showered and washed my hair.  We were due to meet for our Skip the Lline entry to St Peter ‘s Basilica by 12:45 pm.

We walked to the Church of Santa Maria delle Vittoria, mainly to see the famous Bernini statue of St Teresa. What a beautiful church it is! So ornate! There were lots of people there, but you didn’t have to pay to get into the church. But as in our 2010 visit, you had to put coins in the slot to get the light to come onto the statue for a few seconds.

On our way there we passed some lovely shops, and I saw a handbag that I rather liked. It cost €79!  I’d seen a similar one when we first arrived in Florence, but sadly did not see one I really liked again. Not that I need another bag, of course; but you can’t go to Florence and not buy a bag, can you? Ah well, there’s always Venezia to come!

After that we visited the baths of Diocletian, but of course that’s all changed now. There was a very nice museum, with some Etruscan exhibits, and I have to say they were much better curated than those in Florence.

Then we went to the part of the baths that’s been turned into a church, but although wonderful, and very ornate, it seemed  different from what we remembered. Someone famous was married here. Who, I wonder?

Then we took a taxi to the Piazza Risorgimento, where our meeting place was for entry to St Peter ‘s Basilica. The place was in the middle of the piazza.

We had about 3/4 hour to have lunch, but most restaurants seemed full, some with queues.  We found a Cafe/bistrot and settled for that; we had panini filled with ham and cheese, but we should have shared. The fruit we shared was good, though, and the bottled water, frizzante, of course.  Then it was time to settle the bill and walk back to join our queue, as requested, but JD had gone to the bathroom, so we had a bit of a rush.

Well I had booked online a “skip the queue” visit, but here you just go in a different queue, several of them.  We stood in a queue for them to email us our entry tickets, tricky because I did not have internet access. Then we walked some way to a white tent to join another queue. People were weeded out here who did not have entry tickets for entry to St Peter’s Basilica, or had tickets to the Vatican Museums. We’ll do that next time.  There seemed to be endless checkpoints; eventually our bags were checked, and then, of course, we were only in the vast St Peter’s Square, we who had bought tickets online separated from the hundreds of people who waited in the Square.

Finally we were in, and we climbed some stairs to the immense basilica.  I kept remembering how well they’d done Pope Francis’ funeral here, and what a long way it was to the Basilica of St Mary Maggiore where he was buried, quite close to our hotel.

We saw the beautiful Pieta that Michelangelo had carved as a young man: it’s very well screened off now since an Australian tourist damaged it not long after we’d first seen it in 1974. I have now seen three Pieta by Michelangelo, but I think the Rondanini one in Milan remains my favourite and the one that moves me the most. It’s strange that that one and the one in Florence we saw almost on our own, but it’s really hard to see this one, and you can’t get very close.

It is a huge, very beautiful church. In one chapel a Mass is being said. We are happy to sit and reflect. Many here are young people, some children even, and many of the young women are beautifully dressed. There is a lot of cream. I feel a bit dowdy although I would not back in New Zealand.

After a time we leave, and go in search of a taxi stand. It has been wearying getting to St Peter’s in the hot sun. We are in the Vatican area, of course, so the taxi costs more, but he agrees to take us back to our hotel for €30 cash.

It’s still quite early in the afternoon; in St Peter’s we had contemplated going to the Pantheon, which now sadly you have to pay for! The earliest time slot was 5 pm, which would have meant a three hour wait. So we rested in our hotel room, feeling slightly guilty, but we had already seen several wonderful things that day.

In the evening we went to Ristorante Amadeo again. Again we had beautiful bead with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. JD ordered a breast of chicken dish while I had a fillet of sea bass with potatoes and julienne of vegetables. As the meal progressed, we spoke with the American couple at the next table.  They were very nice! We did the slightly dangerous dance around establishing that our political views are quite similar, and there are many things that we agree on. He is a Jewish doctor, she was a university teacher of English.  He offered to show us photos of her in protests! And he was pro-Palestinian. He’s in favour of Mamdani and Bernie Sanders!  They apologized for the political situation in the US, and we noted that in New Zealand things are far more nuanced, they’re not back and white as in the US. It was lovely to speak with them. We shared that we were booked to visit the Borghese Museum, which they had visited that day, and she commented how moved she was Caravaggio’s painting of the young David having killed Goliath.

Then it was back to our hotel. That night we both slept much better. In the morning the breakfast was a little different – the toast wasn’t nearly as good but I had two little croissants instead – not overcooked as they so often are here in Italy.

Then we showered and packed up for our 10 am checkout, and paid the city tax – €7.50 per person per night! We stowed our bags at the hotel, and set out to walk to the Borghese Museum.

On the way, we again called at the church with the famous Bernini sculpture of Saint Teresa. There weren’t nearly as many people there today. It was a treat to see it again.

Then we continued our walk. When we got to the Museum we were happy to visit the cafeteria there and have an early lunch. We shared ham and cheese toasted sandwiches (so original!), a beautiful fruit tart and fruit itself I had coffee and JD had tea.

At 11:45 we went to find our guide as requested. She gave us our tickets, and then we could enter the museum . I had downloaded a guide, as requested, but we could just “do our own thing” once in there. JD of course had not downloaded the guide or brought his headphones!

I thought we had bought a guided tour, but no. We had to climb many steps to get to the top floor. It was nice to wander around. There were plenty of others but it wasn’t too crowded there. And what treasures! Sculpture by Bernini and Canova, and six paintings by Caravaggio. Wow!  On leaving through the shop, JD bought books about Bernini and Caravaggio.  

Afterwards we had snacks in the cafeteria again: affogato, a dark chocolate cake with raspberry sauce, and more fruit salad. It was nice to talk about our experience.

We couldn’t go to the Pantheon – it was booked out, but we decided to walk to the Piazza del Populo – another 20 minute walk. Most of the way we could walk through the Borghese gardens, but although they are lovely and serene there are no flowers and there didn’t seem to be any children’s play areas. But we got to the Piazza, and it was just as we remembered it. But how frustrating! We couldn’t go inside the famous churches to see the Caravaggio wall paintings of the calling of St Matthew and Paul’s Damascene moment because they had a concert stating at 6 pm. So although it wasn’t far away, we took a taxi back to our hotel, where we are now, in the rooftop bar, reading our beautiful new art books and spending time on our phones before we catch the train to Civitavecchia at about 6:30 pm. We would love to have stayed three nights in Rome, but we could not. 

Tomorrow: embarkation day for our cruise!

The view of the Florence Duomo Dome, as from our hotel balcony

Michelangelo’s Bandini Pieta in Florence

Basilica of Santa Croce

The Boboli Gardens in Florence

                                                            Firenze!

The first evening in Florence we had an early dinner with our youngest son and his wife and daughter who is now 21 months old.  That was nice – I had veal meatballs with mashed potato and spinach; the meatballs were pink in the middle but they and the sauce they were on were delicious.  We had dolci, of course; a bowl of fruit (raspberries and blueberries with lemon sugar). Then we walked back to our hotel. In some parts of Florence there is no Internet, so it posed some challenges. The streets are mostly narrow and dark, with narrow footpaths. There is lots of traffic, and parking that would not be allowed here!

The breakfast buffet was all right; I’ve had better, but I’ve certainly had worse. The coffee doesn’t taste very good. Now that we are older, these things become really important: the breakfast buffet, the rest rooms, and how comfortable the beds are!!

We had booked with Get Your Guide to go to the Uffizi Gallery the next morning. Although we’d booked for 10:30 am, we needed to be there by 10:15 and meet our guide to get the actual tickets.  We walked there, but there were crowds of people, and when we reached the piazza, we didn’t know where to go. I realised, too late, that you have to meet your guide at the meeting place 15 minutes early, and in the crowds it can be difficult to find the meeting place, and the guide.

We found the guide, a bit late, and got our tickets; we assured her that we’d been before, and didn’t need an audio guide. But there’s no printed plan now, and some things have moved, so we were a bit flummoxed.

We got through the bag check and got the lift to the second floor. This has the Vasari corridor, with rooms of specialty paintings in rooms off this corridor. The crowds were immense: it’s really hard to see the famous Botticelli’s: the Birth of Venus and the Rite of Spring; I still marvel at how beautiful they are, and how happy the women look.  We also see the famous Michelangelo Tondo, and then make our way downstairs to see Caravaggio’s paintings – the Medusa, the Sacrifice of Isaac (which always makes me cry,) and the Fortune Teller. By the time we leave our allocated 2 hours is up.  It’s time for lunch, and we go to Trattoria Alfredo, where we order far too much food: I order Pasta Alfredo, which is fettuccine pasta in a very creamy sauce; JD has an escalope of chicken, and we order insalata – a large beautiful salad. There is a basket of bread, and olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Yum. JD has ordered white beans, but we don’t need them we have room for dolci, of course, and share a delicious strawberry tart with coffee.

Then we walk back to the hotel. Later we join our family for dinner at another Trattoria. What did I eat? I had Osso Buco with Risotto Milanaise. It was quite nice, I had to order it once to try it again. The nice mixture with lemon rind and parsley (gremolata) that you sprinkle on top was missing.

The next day I was trying to work out what to do next when we got a message from our family suggesting we meet them for coffee. We set off again, to a nice place with plenty of room for our granddaughter to run around. We shared a delicious pastry with berries and custard.

Then we set off for the Boboli Gardens, which we hadn’t been to before. We walked to a bus stop which was near their Airbnb apartment and the American Embassy. The building for the latter is strictly isolated, with streets around it barred to cars, and pedestrians avoiding it. This building is beside the Arno River.

Then we catch our bus. Our son has thoughtfully bought 4 bus tickets which he validates on the bus. Entry to the Gardens is free today (Liberation Day?)

The gardens are lovely but there are very few flowers. It reminds me of the vast garden area at the Palace of Versailles.  We walk up a long slope, supposedly to a café, but alas when we get to the top there is a grassed plateau (keep off the grass) and a beautiful view. We walk some more; everyone is looking for the café but it is closed. We keep walking through the exit to the Pitti Palace (I’ve been there before), and eventually came to a café for lunch, a part of the same chain where we’d had coffee earlier. 

What comfort! We were seated outside in the shade, my granddaughter went to sleep in her push chair; JD and I had omelettes with asparagus and toast. They were pretty good. Afterwards we had more coffee, and, of course, dolci which we shared – a delicious cheesecake and others. JD ordered hot chocolate, and it came in a large cup, and seemed to be very rich melted dark chocolate!

Then we set off walking again; we were going to catch a bus but ended up walking to their Airbnb apartment. It’s within a courtyard. They were up lots of stairs; thankfully there were handrails. On the way there JD’s niece had been in touch, and he’d agreed to meet them for dinner. She is coeliac, so that posed a bit of a challenge.

We walked back to our hotel. I was just totally exhausted, and there were just two hours before we needed to set out again, but of course I got changed and even put on some makeup.

It all worked out fine, although the food was disappointing. I’d hoped to have the nice wild boar pasta that I’d avoided earlier, but I ended up with a veal cheek pasta which wasn’t very nice. There was no dish of parmesan to go with it – unusual.

The next day (Sunday) we were trying to go to 11 am Mass at the Basilica of Santa Croce, about a 24 minute walk away according to my phone. But JD was late, and then couldn’t find his glasses. He’d put them in his sponge bag while showering; now they were padlocked in his main backpack, and furthermore, once retrieved, they needed cleaning. Of course.

I wanted to see the Giotto frescoes in the Bardi Chapel – that was my ulterior motive for visiting this beautiful church. But it didn’t open till 12:30. So we had lunch at a very busy restaurant nearby. I had Spaghetti carbonara and JD had crostini with pậté. On the house we were given were glasses of a fortified wine – like communion glasses. It was delicious and tasted like sherry, only much better than sherry usually does.  Then we got tickets to the Church; sadly the Bardi Chapel frescoes were “in restauro”, as is so often the case in Italy. But the visit was very worthwhile, and it’s a beautiful church, and there are many famous tombs there, although I had a bit of an upset tummy after our lunch.  We were so tired that we took a taxi back to the hotel.

That evening we were to meet our youngest son and his family at the Mercato Centrale, a kind of food court. We made our way there, but it was very crowded and a bit of a madhouse, so after looking for the exit we met them instead at Trattoria Zaza. What a find! Like many places, this was rambling with inside and outside areas, and a queue to get in, but it was wonderful. I had veal meatballs (fully cooked this time) in a delicious mushroom sauce with rosemary potatoes.  And some yummy dolci to follow.

The next day was Monday, so opening hours were strange. We went to the Archaeological Museum in the morning, taking a taxi from Santa Maria Novella Stazione. What a find! Of course the taxi dropped us at the wrong museum, but it wasn’t far away. There were several school groups there.  Some of it was In Restauro, of course, but much not and it was a great place to visit.

And what a delightful lunch we had afterwards!  I had risotto with saffron, shrimp and balsamic vinegar; JD chose lasagna, which I thought was very boring of him, but it was a chicken lasagna, without tomato sauce, and was delicious too. Afterwards we shared 3 Petit baba au rhum with our double espressos.

The museum closed at 2 pm. We had hoped to see Michelangelo’s David, but although nearby, the academy gallery closed early too. So we made our way back to the hotel. I must say this gorgeous fine weather with highs of 24° C is pretty tiring!

That evening would be our last with our son and his family. Instead of eating out we walked to their Airbnb apartment where we shared pizza, wine and cannoli.

The following day was our last in Florence, before catching a 16:28 train to Roma Termini.  After breakfast JD did the washing; he had found a laundrette near our hotel, and he’d been there before, so although there was a queue there, he was favoured ahead of others and did not have to wait! While he was gone I bathed, tried to figure out packing, and read my Kindle on the balcony outside. There were alarming coughs coming from the room next door, but I was the only one on the balcony.

After JD returned, we checked out of our hotel. They were happy to stow our bags, but there was no identification to separate our luggage from all the other bags there, except for labels on each bag.  Three of the four were padlocked. 

Then we set out to walk to the Duomo. We queued for ages, eluding beggars after JD had given his cash away. The queue actually moved quite quickly. You didn’t have to pay to enter the cathedral, but of course they did the bag checks. Actually it’s not that beautiful inside! I didn’t see the a Virgil/Dante memorial that I remembered from earlier visits. It was quite disappointing – I guess I remembered climbing the dome (twice) and seeing the famous Pieta.

So we went to the nearby Caffe Opera – another good experience. We each had a ham and cheese croissant – beautiful, and a fruit salad (mine had whipped cream too). Then JD had some chocolate gelato, and I had a double espresso.

Then we walked across the way as instructed to redeem our tickets for the Duomo Museum. The Santa Reparata meeting point was just across way from the café, so we walked and found the Duomo Museum. You used to be able to enter the Duomo and admire this Pieta! I had great trouble even finding it on the internet. I think it’s known as the Bandini Pieta, This museum contained it, and there weren’t crowds of people, so we could sit and look at it.  It’s very affecting, although I found the one in Milan affected me more. This museum was very good, actually.

After that our tickets included a visit to the Baptistry, where we hadn’t actually been before.  The famous ceiling is, of course, in restauro, but it is very well explained with an explanation of all the paintings.  So we were glad that we went.

Then we walked back to the hotel, to be ready to collect our bags and catch our train to Roma.

While in Florence we did some shopping. I had seen a handbag I wanted to buy on our first evening, but after that I couldn’t find one that I wanted to buy. But we did buy two beautiful wraps (for the cruise, of course!).  One is cream and made of lightweight wool, the other is blue and is a representation of Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night.  They are both beautiful, and although it was very hot in Florence, we did use them on the cruise. We missed out on seeing Michelangelo’s David this time, and it’s a shame about the crowds, but Florence is still a wonderful place.

Next stop: Roma!

Michelangelo’s Rondanini Pieta

Caravaggio’s Still Life (in Pinacoteca Ambrosiana)

Raphael, The School of Athens                                                        

Milan 2026

We finally left Wellington on the afternoon of Sunday 19 April. We had paid a deposit on our cruise (1 – 11 May 2026) before 1 November 2025, in order to achieve certain savings; and had paid in full and bought plane tickets and insurance before 1 January 2026.

There were various reasons for the cruise, which I continued to have very mixed feelings about. One of my cousins and her husband recommended Oceania, as a cruise with smaller ships and better food; and one of JD’s sisters was having a birthday party at Easter in Australia. So we planned a trip overseas around those factors.

The world of cruising is vast, but narrowing it down to Oceania and Eastern Europe and archaeological sites helped. In the event the party in Australia did not go ahead, and we didn’t go to Australia, instead sticking to Star Alliance flights around the world, which does not include Australia. Thankfully we’d decided to book (and had paid) with the Star Alliance, not using Emirates or going through Dubai again. And this was before the Iran War started.

The cruise offered a generous allowance towards its daily excursions, or a drinks package. We chose the excursions, and they included many wonderful places with ancient ruins that I wanted to visit, including Italy, Sicily, Tunis, Turkey and Greece. If you choose the excursion package, they want you to choose day trips right away. Of course you pay a bit more for the excursions you want to go on, so that’s one way the cruise line gets more money before you’ve paid for the cruise itself.  This seemed a great way to visit many wonderful places while not having to arrange travel (and accommodation) to those actual places.

Our excursion consultant advised me to use Get Your Guide or Viator for some trips, but I was reluctant to do this, not really knowing how far the ship would dock from railway stations; also the Get Your Guide excursions were pretty expensive too. If we used the cruise ship ones, they would lay on tenders, buses and get us back to the cruise ship in time. I’d probably be more adventurous in the future, should the opportunity arise.

We also wanted to stay in hotels we’d enjoyed on our previous trip in November 2024, and I was amazed at how difficult and expensive it was to book these – before Christmas 2025!  There were hardly any rooms available, and these cost far more than I was expecting.  Where I could I reserved without paying, hoping the accommodation would not be sold to someone else.  But I couldn’t always do this, and I booked a hotel in Rome and was charged straight away. I could cancel these bookings, but in November and December 2025 it seemed very early to be making arrangements.

My initial joy at planning another trip turned to anxiety and fear about the costs involved. Would we be fit enough for the excursions I’d booked?  Was the whole thing too ambitious?  As it turned out, you spend a lot of time travelling, and that factor, and that many sites are closed on Mondays, affected my plan. Although I’d worked with my calendar in hand, I was anxious about all these bookings. Everything had to be really precise, and Copilot, which always rushed to tell me that I could get a train or a bus from this or that airport, was sometimes misleading. I had made a whole series of bookings until I couldn’t book the last train trip I wanted, despite what Copilot had told me.  Also, if you’re toting baggage (less than most people but rather more than we were comfortable lugging on and off crowded trains and along footpaths), it’s often easier to get a taxi (if you can!)

I was also alarmed at how many visits you had to book ahead, meaning there’s little spontaneity about one’s travel; on the other hand, it can be quite reassuring to have one’s day mapped out for one; when we didn’t book sights or excursions ahead of time, we were able to make “last minute” bookings, and at some sites we did not have to queue at all! I did have a plan for each place we visited.

We had arranged to meet our son who lives in England with his family in Florence from 23-28 April.  That would give us two days’ recovery in Milan, and then two days in Rome before boarding our cruise ship in Civitavecchia on 1 May.

So we flew to Auckland on the afternoon of Sunday 19 April and stayed that night at the Pullman Hotel (we’d previously stayed at the Novotel, the other airport hotel).  The path from domestic to international airports in Auckland is always different, and, I think, further than it used to be. We tend to favour walking, if it’s not raining, as if you get the free bus you still have to load and unload your luggage onto it.

The Pullman was different, although we had a bigger room; we couldn’t take the luggage trolley into the room. We did have a meal there, and it had a very limited menu. I think we shared an antipasto board and had dessert. We had a stop of about five hours in Hongkong, so I had an overnight bag containing all I would need, including a change of summer clothes, for a shower and change in Hongkong.

We flew to Hongkong Premium Economy on Monday.  It’s nice to roll across from your hotel to the International Airport, although the Pullman Hotel’s location and various International Airport “improvements” mean that it’s a longer walk than it used to be. We nervously checked our baggage through to Milan! At least we can shop for clothes in Milan, if our luggage doesn’t turn up!

At Auckland Airport I deemed that we were entitled to go to the Lounge, and although it was very busy, we were, and we had breakfast there. And what a good flight to Hongkong!  They took really good care of us, coming around to see if we were all right. They served lunch and dinner, both really nice; and came around with afternoon tea during the flight!  How can you get hungry when you’re sitting there doing nothing? Well amazingly you can, especially if the food is attractive.

Hongkong was a different story. We bought access to a lounge, but had to go through security again. When we reached the lounge, we had to wait to use the shower, and the armchairs allowed you to charge your phone but not put your feet up. We were due to fly Premium Economy with Cathay Pacific, but this was a really different experience. We were seated at the back of the PE section, and so couldn’t recline our seats. That didn’t stop the passengers in front from reclining theirs, of course. The plane finally took off at around 1:30 am (we’d been up for almost 24 hours by then), and then they served dinner! We declined, since we’d been served dinner on our flight from Auckland, but it was a very long time until breakfast on this 13-14 hour flight.  Nobody came near us to offer water, or anything. Fortunately there was an omelette for breakfast, and a very flaky overcooked croissant.

The wheelchair lady at Milan’s Malpensa airport was fantastic. After a bathroom break, she whisked us through passport control (no biometric checks!) and on to baggage carousel 6.  The luggage from several flights, including our own was being unloaded.  A suitcase like mine was going around and around, and we hoped the owner hadn’t taken mine by mistake.

 After an anxious few moments my suitcase and JD’s back pack turned up. Then the wheelchair lady took us to the station where the trains go from, and JD bought 2 tickets.  And then we were on our way to Milano Centrale station.

When we got there we went to our hotel nearby.  There was an altercation over payment; we insisted that they’d been paid, but in spite of that we couldn’t check into our room till 2 pm.  But although we couldn’t shower, they would hold our bags. It was Design Week in Milan, which was part of the reason for the ultra-high prices. However I did feel that not having stayed over in Hong Kong or Singapore, we were prepared to pay a bit extra to stay in a comfortable, convenient hotel.

We went back to the station, feeling very tired and frustrated; after some small purchases there, and use of a costly toilet (over €1, you had to have the exact change) we shared pizza for lunch at a nearby restaurant.

When it was 2 pm we checked in. Then a new challenge – making the electrics work! You had to put your card in a horizontal slot, not at all intuitive. Then JD found the shower extremely slippery. He got the staff to bring more bathmats. But it was a lovely shower, oblong shaped with an overhead nozzle and a handheld one. You could have them both on at the same time. Sadly the towel rail wasn’t heated, but there were windows that opened. That night we didn’t go out for dinner but waited for the breakfast buffet which opened at 7 am. I wasn’t sure if our exorbitant room rate included breakfast, but it seemed that it did.  Breakfast was very good, with the lovely golden queen-like peach halves and stewed prunes that had so charmed me 18 months ago when we were last there.  There were very nice bedroom scuffs, robes, shower caps, a small tube of body lotion and a very nice tote bag. 

That day we set out to do some sightseeing. We were reluctant to use the famed public transport system.

Instead we queued up at Milano Centrale for a taxi. Thankfully the queue moved quickly. We asked our driver to take us to the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, but instead he took us to Pinacoteca di Brera, where many of the design exhibits were being held. The Pinacoteca di Brera was on my list: I had good memories of it, but although housed in a big courtyard, the gallery seemed completely different from what I had remembered.

But there were, among the painting, exhibits of clothing by Armani. These proved to be extremely fascinating. How can you make the colour grey so exciting?  We saw the famous painting by Andrea Mantagna of the dead Christ, but I don’t think there were any others that I recognized.  So that was a bit disappointing.

Andrea Mantegna’s The Dead Christ

JD decided we could walk to Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, and we decided to eat lunch along the way. There were crowds and crowds of people, many of them looking extremely elegant, in the way Italian people do. I realized that despite wearing good-ish clothes, in no way was I competing with any of them!

We shared a pizza and a bottle of sparkling water at a rather down market cafe, a Bistrot. It was one of those where there’s an array of food, and some people choose some and have it heated.  The pizza we shared was very good, although it was a bit big for us. When we went to go, there were several people waiting to pay, and frustrated that the waitress was extremely busy. 

As we walked, the crowds eventually lessened, and we got to Ambrosiana, the oldest art gallery in Milan! It was in an old brick building, and we didn’t have to queue for entry; we were almost the only people there!  What a treat.  We saw Caravaggio’s famous still life with the bowl of fruit and the worm hole in the apple; we saw a Botticelli painting and a Holy Family painting with a very cute baby Jesus looking admiringly at his pretty, young mother.

There was an interesting exhibition of Raphael ‘s famous School of Athens painting (we have a huge jigsaw of that!) and Titian’s Ecce Homo.  Then we made our way to the da Vinci room, and saw that too, although it wasn’t as exciting. We had seen his Cena Colo before, and we’re not minded to see it again.

Then we went to the very nice gift shop and bought a book for our youngest granddaughter.  Truly tired, we got a taxi back to the station, and had a rest before dinner.

I had a glass of very nice prosecco with dinner, but unfortunately I did not sleep well that night. I always have trouble adjusting to the time-change, but this is somewhat outweighed by excitement of having survived the journey, and seeing exciting new things. In the morning we had our delicious breakfast again, and checked out, again having another argument over the fee, which had been charged twice. Unlike many Italians our hosts were not very helpful, but the second payment was later reversed. We paid the local tax (€10 per person per night, but the water bottle was free), having taken their rather nice tote bag and a pair of scuffs. We stored our baggage and asked the hotel to call us a taxi.

Our train to Florence wasn’t till 2:40 later that afternoon, so we set out for the Castello Sforzando, to see Michelangelo’s famous Rondanini Pieta. We watched masses of cruise buses, and crowds of unhappy looking people, but the statue was all I really wanted to see.

The statue was wonderful. It’s now standing in a large room on its own, so you can walk all the way around it. There was a group there when we arrived, but after they left we were virtually the only ones there. It was very special to see it again, and on our own. I was deeply moved, again. And what about that arm? It’s very emotional for me, as his unfinished sculptures are.

Then we set out to walk to the famous Duomo. There were crowds of people, but we bought tickets without queuing and joined the fast-moving queue to get inside.  It’s a massive cathedral! Eventually we found the statue of St Jerome that we both remembered.

After a while we left and walked through the Victor Emanuel gallery (with hundreds of other people). We had decided to walk back to Milano Centrale, and get lunch along the way.

It was a very long walk, and soon we’d left the eating places behind. We eventually had lunch at a hotel – very strange.  The toilets opened right behind our table, and although there were three, you had to push a pedal with your foot to flush.

I had cod with asparagus and mashed potato; it was quite nice, and I was heartened by the fact that the two gentlemen at the next table had it too. JD had rice with cheese! It looked very bland, but the cheese was quite tasty and it was very filling. We decided to have coffee at the station.

We walked on, retrieved our bags, and after coffee waited anxiously for the platform for our train to be put up (ten minutes before it’s due to leave). The train was from Turin to Reggio Calabria, and it was very full. But we got to Florence without incident, although we hadn’t been able to charge our phones on the train, as expected – the power point wasn’t functioning. They both had very low batteries, and although our hotel was near the station, I had not printed out a map of how to get there. So we took a taxi, although it wasn’t far away. The driver was very nice about it.

The hotel is a three star; I’d felt very guilty after the high expenses of our hotels in Milan and Paris, and I hoped this one would be good enough. Well, there was no palaver over payment: JD paid exactly what Expedia had quoted us. And they’d upgraded us: we were on the top floor, with a balcony, and a bath! And we have a balcony – with a view of the Dome of the famous Duomo!

The hotel is quite basic but I at least am really quite comfortable.  Sadly there are no tea-making facilities in our room, or a fridge, but that really doesn’t matter. It is quite noisy here, since they’ve installed light rail outside the hotel since we were last here. I sit on the balcony after breakfast and enjoy the view!

It is lovely to be in Florence again, but the crowds are alarming!

That’s it for now. I am really excited that we were able to see what I wanted to see in Milan, despite our fatigue. Slava Ukraini! Nga mihi nui.

It’s now Sunday 22 February, 2026. Kia ora!

It’s been ages since I blogged.  January wasn’t a great month for me: the cold I’d been fighting off since before Christmas turned into a chest cold. Then I got  gastric enteritis, which unfortunately wasn’t a 24-hour tummy upset. Thankfully no one else in the family got it, but it hit me pretty hard. I determined that I had to see my GP as soon as I felt a bit better, but that was over a weekend and then I didn’t need any medical help.  It was interesting not to eat for a few days, but then I had become very weak, so I did need to start eating again.

The January period was very quiet too, like a lockdown really.  Not great weather; few, if any good movies; and usual activities had shut down. They’ve restarted now, and I’m feeling better, thank goodness.

JD and I both celebrated our birthdays in February. Both times we went out to lunch, and thankfully we did not have to do any more. February is not a great time for me. For JD’s birthday we had lunch at Loretta’s in Cuba Street. What a lovely place!  We have been there before, but not for lunch.  On a memorable occasion we had dinner there one Saturday night after seeing the movie Oppenheimer. That night we heard that although, according to Jake Sullivan, things had been quiet in the Middle East, there was a new attack, masterminded by Hamas. The war that then erupted in Gaza has been truly terrible, as the Israelis sought a kind of Old Testament retribution.  Much of world opinion has been divided on the side of the Israelis or the Palestinians.  This has had political repercussions as well. What a terribly sad situation. The American President takes credit for engineering a cease-fire, but this still seems very shaky, as does the rebuild.

Anyway, back to a much happier situation. For lunch on JD’s birthday we started with chicken liver pậté with pizza bread; then we shared a pizza with golden queen peaches, goat’s cheese and walnuts, amongst other things; we also shared a lamb skewer with skordalia. Then we followed with pudding: Eton Mess for me (deconstructed pavlova with strawberries, lemon curd and Chantilly cream) and a lime parfait with pineapple for JD.  It was all delicious, and the servings were not large.

But before this there was a big storm in the Wellington area, with some houses losing power, and many trees down. It was incredibly windy, and many services were cancelled. We survived that relatively unscathed, and even had some relations come to lunch from Te Horo; we enjoyed quiche, salad, chocolate caramel brownie, Afghan biscuits, and fresh fruit including cherries.  Everything was bought, I’m afraid, and I couldn’t buy what I’d planned, but it was all delicious.

Than last week we drove to Hawkes Bay for our daughter’s Taku Kaupapa.  This meeting was formerly known as an IDP meeting, but thankfully it has changed to include life at home as well as life at Rongo workshop at Hōhepa Clive.  We always try to come to Napier for this meeting, but during Covid it was held via Zoom sometimes. This was a really good meeting,

The weather was lovely and fine, but not too hot, thankfully. It still got cold at night. The first evening we ate at Alessandros in Havelock North; the second night we took our daughter to Portofino for dinner, where she and her father shared a pizza.   It was a lovely visit, and everything went well.

I went to church this morning.  It is now the beginning of Lent: I missed the Ash Wednesday service, but after Transfiguration Sunday last week we are into the season of Lent now. I thought the minister preached very well this morning, drawing a link between the serpent’s temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden if Eden, and Satan’s temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, after he had fasted for 40 days.

It’s now Sunday 22 March.

Many things have happened; the main thing is that there is conflict in Iran and the Middle East, arising from strikes by the US and Israel.  I don’t want to say much about it, other than that the Straits of Hormuz are closed to some vessels, and the price of oil has risen; not only is it far more expensive, but it is also scarce, and countries are coping with shortages. Airlines are coping with increased fuel costs, and cancelling some flights; costs of airline flights are much more expensive, and most people are avoiding the Middle East countries, especially Dubai, which has a large airport and is a hub for one of the best airlines, Emirates.  Chaos has ensued, with countries seeking to reduce their use of oil, and, of course, there are ramifications of this crisis, affecting fertiliser, for example.

Of course many people, some known to me, have already booked flights with Emirates. It costs a great deal to change them. Thankfully we have not booked with Emirates for our upcoming trip, but there are still many aspects of our trip at risk.  My cousin and her husband have flown to Mumbai, with Singapore Airlines, and are now on a cruise around Africa: yesterday they were due to visit the lemur sanctuary in Nosy Be, an island off Madagascar.  Despite the fuel crisis, they are still able to carry out their trip, and my cousin continues to post wonderful photographs.

The first time we went overseas, in 1973/4, it was a time of great disruption – from terrorist events, and the first oil crisis. We flew to London, via Sydney and Hong Kong, with refueling stops along the way; JD’s uncle met us at Heathrow! In the UK there was a 3 -day week, the British Museum was closed, and this was before North Sea oil was discovered.  After a few days in London, we caught the hovercraft from Dover to Calais, and then the train to Paris Nord.  We had a Eurail pass which enabled us to catch any train anywhere within Europe.  What an amazing trip that was; we’ve often wished we could do it again with better clothes and better luggage!  Sadly it was many years before we visited Europe again – 2010, to be precise. Oddly, we still want to visit many of the same places:  Nôtre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the Louvre, St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and anything in Florence or Venice. 

Last week we had an unexpected trip to Palmerston North. A friend and colleague died suddenly from a heart attack.  What a shock!  He was much younger than us, although he had a grown up family.  We stayed at the Coachman Hotel in Fitzherbert Avenue, where we’ve stayed before, on a rushed trip to Napier. On that trip, we’d just flown back from Taipei via Auckland, so it was quite an achievement to drive to Palmerston North, in the dark, stay overnight, and drive early to Napier the next morning for a Hōhepa Family Weekend.

The hotel had a carpark underneath, with an elevator to Reception, on the ground floor, and to our room on level 3.  We were very comfortable there, although we could not prepare breakfast in our room.  It was interesting to stay in Palmy – I had not been there for many years, but it was lovely and warm, and we walked everywhere.  It’s a strange place: on the Sunday when we arrived, most eating places, including the hotel’s restaurant, were closed. There seemed to be no cafés nearby where we could have breakfast. And then most places were closed on Monday! But we found a café called Verdict in the Square, where we ate several times, and they were happy not divide meals for us to share. I also found a shopping mall, the Plaza, which had, of course, a Whitcoulls, a Farmers, a Woolworths and a Food Hall, amongst other shops. So I was able to buy a newspaper and read it and do the puzzles while drinking my first cup of coffee for the day.

With the Transmission Gully highway, it only takes about 1 ½ hours each way, so it seems much closer to home than Hawkes Bay.

There is a lot of Covid about, so I had a booster vaccination a few days ago; I had quite a sore arm afterwards, but that was the only side effect, really.  The flu vaccine doesn’t arrive until April. Although I wore a mask for a while, no one seems too bothered by it.

Last weekend, before we went to Palmerston North, JD and I went to another art film: Turner and Constable. This was based on an exhibition at London’s Tate Gallery. It was a really good film, and interesting to see more paintings by Constable, as well as his famous Hay Wain.

Yesterday I attended a singing workshop, called For Singing’s Sake. It was held at St Oran’s College in Lower Hutt, and run by Lala Simpson, Susie Hardie and Andrea Robinson, who leads our Khandallah singing group.  There were six of us there from our Khandallah group – several people who would have liked to be there had other commitments. We did not sing on our own, although other choirs did in the afternoon concert.  The workshop ran from 10 am till 4 pm: they put on morning tea, but we brought our own lunch and ate it outside. We learnt three new songs, one from each song leader; then in the concert we sang them but also heard the other choirs. We from Khandallah joined one of the other choirs and tried to do as we were told!

We have had some beautiful Sundays recently. And JD and I have been going walking. We often walk along Oriental Bay; you can buy a smallish ice cream in a cone at the dairy there, and then sit down while you eat it, and admire the view, and the boats, before walking back to the car (which is parked beneath a tree to give shade, you hope!).  One Sunday we went for a walk in the Botanical Gardens. It was just lovely, and there were some people around, but not too many, Afterwards, we thought how nice it would be to sit somewhere nice and eat an ice cream while admiring the view. So we drove up to the top of the Cable Car, and paid to park in the carpark there. Well, the Cable Car Museum with its gift shop was open, but there was nowhere to buy an ice cream; it was warm and fine, there were at least half a dozen tour buses, at least one cruise ship docked in Wellington Harbour, and probably hundreds of tourists. But nothing was open – you couldn’t even buy something to drink!  What a crying shame, with all those people around.

I saw Midwinter Break a few days ago – what a charming film!  I can always watch Lesley Manville, and Ciaran Hinds as her husband does a good job too.  The film was well reviewed too, which I was happy to see. I’ve also been reading The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans; I tried a sample on my kindle, and then bought the entire book. Somehow when I do this the item gets queued. I’ve found the solution is to link my kindle to another Wi-Fi and then the item becomes un-queued!  What a relief. What a charming book to read.

That’s it for now.  We are in the season of Lent, and Easter is coming soon.  Slava Ukraini!  Ngā mihi nui.

The weather in Wellington seems to have been mostly cloudy and windy in January

It’s now Tuesday 23 December, and we are inching towards Christmas. Kia ora!

Last Friday my lady from Access did not come; there was no advice, either. I guess there was some confusion between approvals and requests and cancellations over Christmas. But we took the two older grandchildren in New Zealand to the golf driving range in Waiwhetu, where we had a lovely time. It was overcast, but not quite raining, but no matter as we were protected from the weather. Afterwards we had lunch at Caffiend, one of my favourite cafés in Petone, but not always good; this time it was a big success: Eggs Benedict. Scrambled Eggs, Chicken & Kumara Salad and a smoked salmon bagel, with a big bowl of chips.

The weekend was relatively quiet, but we saw the John Clark/Fred Dagg movie on Saturday afternoon. That was certainly a trip down memory lane!  It was very sad that John’s mother lost two fiancés in World War II; she married John’s father, but he, although still alive, was damaged by the war.  John explained that he could never do anything right for his father, but his mother perhaps over-compensated. We both remember him in the Victoria University’s Annual Revues; in those days there were no fees, so you could stay on and change courses.  John moved to Australia after having difficulties in New Zealand.

On Sunday morning I stayed for a special morning tea at the church.  The next day we were taking our older grandchildren to the third Avatar movie, at the Embassy Theatre: JD loves that cinema!  The movie is 3 hours and 20 minutes long!!! We started by parking outside the Welsh Dragon (formerly Taj Mahal, before that a men’s loo), a very convenient spot. But the maximum time there was two hours! So JD agreed to move the car, while I took the children to the theatre. Thankfully there weren’t many people there. Although JD belonged to Cinebuzz, the four tickets (2 seniors, 2 children), two bottles of Coke Zero, a packet of M&Ms, and a peanut slab came to $111!!! That was a surprise. Thankfully I’d taken four pairs of 3D glasses with me, so we didn’t need to buy any more.  We went into the cinema before JD could join us.  We were sitting in the middle of row P, which is very high up! I do wish they’d put a handrail in the middle of the aisles. 

Well, the movie was very long indeed. I had trouble following the story line – I had to read a review afterwards for it to make more sense.  I have to admit that I don’t really enjoy Avatar movies, but taking our grandchildren was fun.  I do wish the characters would speak more clearly! The sound was very loud, but I missed some of what was said.

Afterwards I was desperately hungry, but there aren’t that many places to eat in Courtenay Place, seeing that many kitchens close at 2 pm, and many cafés at 3 pm; it being Monday, Deluxe Café was closed as well! After walking to the car, some way along Kent Terrace, we drove back along Oriental Bay to the Beach Babylon café, an old if rather “rustic” favourite. Thankfully they were open, and would feed us: a bowl of curly fries (now a thing on many menus), and sausage rolls (which took ages to come).

It’s now Tuesday 5 January, 2026. Kia ora!

I’ll start with Christmas, or rather, Christmas Eve. We had the traditional Carols by Candlelight service at my church at 11:15 pm. This time it was hard to stay awake and attend, but I did, and it was lovely, of course.  It struck me that it’s too late for the very old, and much too late for young children.

The next day, Christmas Day, was a Thursday, and the service was at 9:30 am, rather than the usual 10 am. I doubt that there would be any children who haven’t opened their presents by 9:30 am!

I bought some flowers on the way home. The dairy in Khandallah was closed, so I got some from the dairy in Johnsonville. Sadly, they did not last two weeks, which is my usual ambition!

Early in the afternoon we went to one of my son’s homes for a family gathering (vegan) Christmas dinner.  JD and I took a fruit salad, for which we’d bought every kind of fruit, including blackberries. We took Christmas presents for the children, of course.

In the event we weren’t late, although I was really hungry by this time!  One family had brought a tray of pre-dinner nibbles: delicious. The Christmas dinner was very nice, of course: a lentil loaf, with an amazing sauce, roast vegetables, with another amazing sauce, grilled asparagus; and probably more things which I can’t remember. We had a Karakia mo te kai (a Grace, which I’d requested).

For pudding my son and his wife had made a Christmas Pudding! They’d come to me earlier in the week for a bowl and a steamer, and advice about what had worked well for me back in the day: how nice to be asked! Make it well in advance; well, it was too late for that. Wrap the pudding in a cloth: I’ve never done that; top with butter paper; they didn’t do that, of course; and I used breadcrumbs, not suet.  Still, the pudding they made tasted very good. The boys (i.e. my sons, and they’re all men now), tried to ignite brandy over the pudding, and it’s true there was a brief flare as the brandy ignited. This too is very tricky: you need to heat the brandy, but not so much that it evaporates;  t was quite hard to get the pudding out of the pudding bowl, so perhaps it wasn’t hot enough. Still and all, it was lovely to be asked for advice, and lovely to have a real Christmas pudding. (We still haven’t tackled our store-bought pudding that we usually microwave and serve with custard and ice cream).

There was custard, and vegan ice cream, of course, and a pavlova!  Evidently they eat eggs! The pavlova had fallen in in the middle, although it held around the edges; my daughter-in-law whipped lentil fluid, which turned into delicious whipped cream, to decorate it! I guess one could eat it without guilt.

Eventually we went home; we had croissants for our tea.

Since Christmas Day things have been really quiet. Our youngest son and his wife and daughter we due to fly out of Wellington on Christmas Eve. They wer staying at Rydges Hotel at the airport for their 6 am flight to Auckland; we had agreed to meet them and the other parents to have an early dinner at the restaurant there. On the night the weather was terrible, with driving rain and wind making even the crossing from the parking area to the airport really difficult.  And then the airport restaurant was closed until further notice! But we had a meal at Peloton, which has somehow been extended to take in the hotel and the airport.  We actually had a really good meal there, and it wasn’t overpriced.  I was able to hold my granddaughter as we said our last goodbyes.

Then it was home again, and making bookings for the remaining leg of a journey we’re planning for later in 2026.  This caused a great deal of anxiety, but I think it will all work out. I think, too, that I can’t do this again – it’s just too stressful!

After that, the cold I’d been fighting off developed into a chest infection, which was quite unpleasant for a few days. Other than that, it’s been a very quiet time, with not great weather (it seems to be mainly spitting with light rain and overcast), and no great films to see, certainly not any that I’d be prepared to persuade JD to accompany me to.

At some point I ventured out to see the film Sentimental Value in Petone, and there I met three other friends whom I know.

This film was directed by Joachim Trier; I think it was Lars von Trier who made the film Melancholia, with Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg; I recognise some similarities. But when I look him up, apparently Joachim is not related to Lars von Trier, another famous Nordic film maker with a similar name.

It’s said the film is about two sisters with “daddy issues”’; but I watched Trier interviewed by Jordan Klepper on The Daily Show last night, and he spoke about the complexity of family relationships, and the difficulty of escaping from one’s childhood.  It’s also about aging, the complexities of acting on stage, and in a film; the importance of place and belonging; and, of course, the effects of the past on one’s life. Having considered the film afterwards, I feel it’s a misnomer to call it “Daddy Issues”, as one review did:  surely Gustav has unresolved issues of his own, which he may be trying to come to terms with, however inappropriately, and however unfeeling he is of his daughter’s pain.

Having said that, there were many themes in the film: the sister’s childhood house as a living, breathing character; the family history, which gradually unfolds as the film goes on; the father-daughter issues, of course; and the father’s flirtation with other female characters in the film; the older daughter, Nora, is an established actress who is ”fucked up”, to use her terminology; she is having an affair with a married stage hand, and suffers from excruciating stage fright; she claims that therapy will be no use.  Her younger sister, Agnes, is married with a beautiful son and an understanding husband. Their film-director father returns when they are having a wake for their dead mother. Apparently the father left years ago, and the parents divorced, but although the mother and daughters continued to live in the house, technically it belongs to Gustav (the dad).  This time Agnes is very stressed about the catering; the film had screened very early on with an instance of Nora’s extreme stage fright, which threatened to derail her performance in Chekhov’s The Seagull.

The father wants to make a film about his mother’s life (she was arrested by Nazi police, tortured and held in prison for two years; she had taken her own life).  He offers Nora the lead part, but she refuses to even read the script, saying that she can’t work with him. The obvious follow up question would be for the father to ask “why not?”, but he does not. I get the feeling that he thought it was a great gift to give Nora this part.  He respects her acting ability, but detests the stage: he doesn’t even come to her opening night later in the film.  That is really odd, as both media require a form of artifice. But with acting on stage, audience feedback is really important, and almost becomes a character in the play, whether the dramatist is Shakespeare or Beckett.

The film is complex with many flashbacks, as the story is told, so it’s tricky to put it all together. But each scene is carefully chosen. I almost want to see it again!

Failing to get Nora, Gustav appoints an admiring younger American actress, Rachel Kemp (played by Elle Fanning) to play the role of his mother; this is a real stretch for her. Are they having an affair?  That’s not explicit, as I recall, but the possibility is definitely there.

There is very little actual spoken communication in the film. Towards the end, Agnes tells Nora that she was there for her, as they grew up; and when Gustav wants Agnes’ son to act in his film, she says no, but then she reads the script and thinks it would have been all right.

At one point Gustav visits an old friend whom he’d worked with, and is astonished at how frail the friend is now. The latter has issues with his son!  “When did he get to be so old?” asks Gustav. 

So  there is a feeling that the main three characters are trying to be reconciled to/with each other, but they probably cannot; even the sisters are separated at the end, and the future looks bleak. A wonderful, award-winning film? Perhaps so, but I feel a real sadness there.

We had more nice outings with two of our grandchildren, and then I came down with a severe bout of gastro-enteritis. Thankfully no one else has it. How is it that I always feel as though I’m dying when I get something like this? But it’s true, I did feel very weak indeed, and wondered about going to the doctor. Sadly, this wasn’t a 24 hour bug.  But I’m now up and about, and even went out today, although I did not dare go to church.  I tried to zoom in, but that didn’t seem to be working.  I’m still drinking ginger ale and eating white bread toasted with marmite, but I feel a lot more human. Sadly, the weight hasn’t peeled off, although most food still looks disgusting.

There are a whole lot of things happening that I’d love to write about, but that’s it for now. Slava Ukraini! Ngā mihi nui.