THE NETHERLANDS & LONDON CONTINUED

Anne Frank Haus is a very sensitive & carefully constructed museum and as such an incredibly moving and sobering experience .

 The following day we blitzed the art gallerys. The newly renovated Rijksmusem was a remarkably beautiful building full of Dutch art focusing on the halcyon days of great art with an empire to finance it. The really

Rijksmuseum

 annoying thing in all their millions spent & careful planning was to allow photography in the gallery so every man & his dog (and in the "masters galley" there are hundreds of people at a time) all snap happy with flash lights abalze reflecting in the glass that the masterpieces had covering them AND of course whilst they are spending all their time getting the best shot they are not really looking at or appreciating the painting!!!!!
 But oh to see those Vermeers & Rembrandts that have only graced the pages of  books in the past!!!

Then on to the Van Gogh Museum which is right next door & thankfully are rigid in enforcing their policy of no photographs. Astonishing to see sooooooo many by the master at once and to be able to get so close to the art!
Vincent,who never personally sold a painting, would be truly amazed at the size of the gift shop & the myriad of ways his art can be plastered over objects & the money that is to be made in the process!

 The next day to relieve our exhaustion we took the train to Delft..a lovely little town just south of Leiden where Vermeer lived & worked (only slightly fewer ways to sell Vermeer that Van Gogh in the many gift shops)

DELFT

 So Sue has departed and I flew to London...only an hour flight.

It is great to see Ben although he is busy working and as his flat is the size of a shoebox life can be a bit challenging..but I will be off again in 3 days when Belinda arrives.

Today I took myself off to The William Morris Society at Hammersmith ( a few stops on the tube from Ben's)on the River Thames  in Morris's old coachhouse & meeting rooms for his Hammersmith Socialist League. The lecture they had on offer today was about socialists & wallpaper...right up my alley!! No seriously (and it was very serious in that English sort of way) "William Morris furnishings in the homes of George Bernard Shaw & his circle by phd candidate Alice McEwan was it's title & presenter!Simply ripping!

view from Morris's "front yard"

Go William!

Enough for now of my ramblings

Kath

NAPOLI,THE NETHERLANDS & LONDON

I have had a few days with no internet so a fair bit of ground has been covered in the interim.

Our last day in Sorrento was spent visiting Herculaneum (a town submerged in mud from Mt Vesuvius in 79CE). It is a much smaller site and better preserved although again the artifacts are all in the Naples Museum of Archaeology. A rather sobering sight were the 300 bodies recently uncovered left in situ in the storage chambers near what would have been the original shoreline... they would have no chance when you see the volcano towering over the site.
We made it back to Sorrento in time to take a bus ride down the Amalfi Coast .......hats off to the bus driver for getting us back unscathed...it was hair raising to say the least but very beautiful.

Naples by train on the morrow. Obviously Naples is having a hard time ...you can see that from the piles of rubbish in the streets & dilapidated state of the buildings...but really a return to reality after the wealth of Venice & Florence with their streets of Armani & Prada.

Easter in Naples

The Archaeology Museum was fantastic though with thousands of artifacts from Pompeii & Hercaulaneum...including huge wall painting & mosaics.

The Alexander mosaic

Then on to Michael & Masha's(friends of Evan's)in Leiden(just south of Amsterdam) in the Netherlnads. Our timing was impeccable as the place was ablaze with tulips and the Keukenhof Gardens with it's 7 million tulips (and a similar number of tourists) was astonishing!  

 

 

Kath

ROOM WITH A VIEW 2 (BAY OF NAPLES)

A few days have past & we have managed to see a bit more of Florence (well a lot more via the top of Brunelleschi's dome...a rather strenuous climb),

a Lucy Honeychurch moment or two in the church at Sante Croce (Galileo,Dante,Raphael,Michelangelo & Leonardo Da Vinci's tombs all grace the walls) and also a visit to a lovely intimate museum  for Michelangelo's family.
On Monday we still managed to miss Museo San Marco with Fra Angelico's frescoes (it is only open half days) but spent a few hours at the Medici's former Pitti palace(I think they were vying with the Tsars for decadence & conspicuous consumption)and wonderful (if a bit neglected) Boboli gardens

Boboli Gardens

A trip in the late afternoon to placate our disappointment over Angelico's frescoes on the local bus to Friezole in the hills outside Florence was a welcome respite to the hoards of tourists that crowd the streets of Florence and the views were spectacular.

On Wednesday we made (successfully..if a bit fraught)the train trips to Sorrento via Naples.

toasting the people of Pompeii AD79 with Mt Vesuvius as a backdrop

Sorrento is a lovely 'seaside" town hanging on to the cliffs beside the bay of Naples and opposite Mt Vesuvius & the star attraction Pompeii.It is much more relaxed here & people much more friendly.

Today(Thursday)we took the 30 minute train trip to Pompeii & spent an good part of 6 hours trudging the streets............an ambition since I was about 15 and Nicco the man who runs these apartments told us he had never been.....can you believe that! It was FANTASTIC!!!! 

We hope to catch up on all the art that has been removed(which is most of it) in 2 days time.

Wagon ruts & stepping stones on the streets of Pompeii

The ever present Mt Vesuvius

Forum Baths

More archaeology tomorrow at Herculaneum!

Ciao Kath & Sue

PS don't suppose you were all down at Echo Point today waving the Union Jack!!!!!

ROOM WITH A VIEW (BUT NOT OF THE ARNO)

The preserved Renaissance landscape of Florence is breathtaking....if you removed the petrol driven vehicles and showy shop signs (this place is full of very posh shops & the rich who must be purchasing the garish handbags & uncomfortable shoes)...it is as it would have been under the Medici's who called the shots during the 15th to 18th centuries and were great patrons & collectors of art (paid for largely by their banks profits).

Have been to see Michelangelo's David in it's resting place at the Galleria dell'Accademia (the one in the Piazza della Signoria is a copy).

  

the sculpture is very very beautiful (as you would expect)& the skill & artistry of it's execution astonishing! It is unfortunate that some of the souvenirs sold in the streets outside uses David's "finer points" to particularly low levels of tackiness.

  

Yesterday we managed to join the Uffuzi (formerly the opulent Medici place of business)queue by 8am and to then be in the door within an hour(the guide book said it could take up to 4!)

The gallery holds a magnificent collection of Renaissance art ...although Christian art (largely what the collection is)does tend to be very repetitive and often violent.

I think the real treasure of the place is the building itself with the long gallery & it magnificent painted ceilings lined with hundreds of small portraits of the players of the times (including the rulers of Constantinople)and Ancient Roman sculptures(including our Hadrian) and fantastic views of the river Arno....and then there is the room with the enormous dome of a roof lined with mother of pearls shells & walls lined with mosaics made from shell & precious stones......and much more (no photos allowed though).

Then on to the Galileo Science Museum which holds among other things his original telescopes & mathematical instruments.....

Then after fortification at the Pizzeria to the Bargello Sculpture Gallery ...set in a medieval town hall from the 14th century ...a wonderful 3 storey stone building with original painted ceilings and huge long galleries holding thousands of  incredible treasures form the Renaissance & earlier...pooped again....early night ready for another day.....churches(hope to climb Duomo dome) today as museums closed on Mondays .

VIEW OF DUOMO 

ciao Kath & Sue xo

Venezia

VIEW FROM SAN MARCO

We have now been in Venice about 28 hours and the sheer volume of tourists(and I thought Echo Point got crowded) has worn us down and out somewhat. It certainly can't be easy living here.
Still....it is a beautiful place and the Renaissance landscape remains almost untouched..the marble worn smooth by dozens of generations of hands passing over the railings on the many bridges over the canals and the buildings appropriately decayed......and then there is the canals....it is all they say!
We have walked and walked (again) and avoided the expensive tourist traps: gondola rides et al
Our hotel (thanks to Lonely Planet) is very reasonable & so close to San Marco Square that we can see the top of the bell tower & witness the banging of the bell by the man with the stick...

VIEW FROM HOTEL WINDOW

Tonight we have lashed out (although a pretty reasonable price) for a concert of Vivaldi , Bach & Marais by a local ensemble called Interpreti Veneziani in a church a few canals & pontes away with no torch & a map that is continually leading us astray we may never return!

Hope you are all reading this as I have had only 1 comment in 3 posts (thanks Imogen)

YOUR TYPICAL CANAL VISTA

Back onto the vaparetto tomorrow to the station for another fast train ride (the trains are amazing) to Florence...keep you posted...
love Kath & Sue xo
PS Will have to ration postcards as the cost of postage is outrageous...sorry

Tivoli & Back

VILLA ADRIANA

                                                                VILLA D'ESTE

Sorry about the positioning of photos....it's not as easy as it might look...

Had a fantastic day yesterday once we had negotiated trains & buses to get to & from Tivoli so we could visit Hadrian's Villa (what was a very opulent small city and is now a VAST archaeological site) and Villa D'Este (a Renaissance garden filled with the most amazing water features...fountains the size of 3 story buildings). WOW....the Catholic hierarchy sure knew how to spend taxpayers money to impress (their cohorts of course not the plebs)....
The day before we walked miles & miles(6 hours+ with only the odd gelato break) visiting among other things the Trevi Fountain (with millions of teenagers on school excursions from all over Europe..how annoying),Hadrian's Pantheon (he was a genius),the Colosseum, Trajan's markets & column and to TOP IT OFF a fantastic Frida Kahlo exhibition at the gallery Scuderie del Quirinale with over 40 works many in private hands...the chance of a lifetime (we had seen a poster in the street so found the gallery...how lucky is that!)!!!
Today our last in Rome we will get the hop on hop off bus as we need to get further afield ......

Good news about Scott Ludlum...there is hope yet..

Ciao
Kath & Sue

ROMA RULES

Buongiorno from Roma,

We have arrived safely after a very uncomfortable 26 hours....in which the sound was so poor on the audio-visuals I could not even mollify myself with the small screen.....and when the tub of yoghurt was the highlight of the meal you can to imagine what the rest was like!

Well here we are in Roma enconced in our b&b (a hut in the zen garden) run by 2 zen monks who run a zen dance school can you believe.

 We managed to negotiate the train from the station after buying and validating (if you have been to Rome you will know this a very important..thanks Deb ) our ticket and getting ripped off by yet another taxi driver.

Then on little sleep(but after the all important shower which does lull,however, into a false sense of wellbeing) we walked into town(we are in Trastevere over the Tiber) to the where the Ancient Romans did there thing.......it is AMAZING to see it all after reading about it for nigh on 45 years .....the site which includes the Capitoline Hill,Colosseum,MANY MANY temples,byzantine churches,palaces,palaces,markets,et al...it is VAST. So back there today having recouped some energy to explore further.....(after our Zen breakfast)
We will (hopefully) buy our train ticket to Venice, visit the Museo Nationale Romano as well today....

ciao Kath & Sue xo

The Long Haul

Three days work to go and then for the long haul...26 hours in an upright position...not looking foward to that....but it will be worth it to see Italy (finally).
It will be me telling tales of Rome, Florence,Venice & Pompeii for a change...turning 60 meant it was better late than never..so Sue Reynolds (old school buddy & fellow Moratorium marcher) are off to Italy.
After Italy we are spending a few days in & around Amsterdam with Michael (Evan's old school friend) and his Dutch wife Marsha ............and as luck would have it the tulips will be out.
The Sue heads home & I will fly to London to Ben.....Belinda(friend from Work) then arrives & we will head up north for some fell walking in the Lake District,scaling Ben Nevis and exploring the Outer Hebredes...back to London where I will have another 2 weeks with Ben(we have tickets to The Chelsea Flower Show).......am exhausted already!
The best thing is I won't have to hear anything of Tony & Christopher et al and their crimes for a whole 8 weeks...
Chow
Kath xo