Great impressions

Apart from the crowds, what we saw of Italy in 12 days made a marked impression on us. The more we see of Europe, the more we think in terms of history and how it shapes and changes nations. In NZ and Australia, there is space, quietness, and vast swathes of natural beauty, but the history is short and recent. In Europe one can easily feel surrounded by buildings and monuments and art that testify to great nations of the past and present. Many of the structures, both ancient and new, are HUGE. They can't help but make an impression.

In Italy, the emphasis on man made beauty, and the historical links between religion and the state and culture are inescapable. The Pantheon (above) which was built as a temple to all gods almost 2000 years ago, is now a Catholic church with crosses and statues of saints adorning the walls. The marble once lining the colosseum (below) was 'quarried' during the construction of St Peter's Basilica. The gold in the mosaics smothering the walls of St Marks in Venice was booty from the sacking of Constantinople.

It seems that the walls of every catholic church are lined with magnificent works of art, mostly commissioned by the Vatican. The emphasis on beauty was an attempt to bring heaven and earth closer together. On a practical level, the paintings, statues and later stained glass windows were used to tell the christian story to the illiterate masses.

The last note is on water. Cities built around or on water need bridges. We saw a few.

crowded out

This was our Easter vacation in Venice....

Florence....

Rome...

and Milan...

I think half of Italy was there with us, along with a few Americans and Spaniards!

We do have pics without people, and I'll get around to posting a few of those soon.

feasting on Prague

Last weekend Phil had a course to attend in the famed city of Prague, which even Hitler thought worthy of saving from Nazi bombs, so I decided it was the perfect opportunity for me to check it out.

Many people talk about the Charles bridge and the view. But to me, Prague is all about the buildings; it is a lesson in 100o years of architecture as the styles change from Romanesque to Gothic, Renaissaince, Baroque to Roccoco. Grand churches (lots of churches and synagogues), public buildings, housing. Seeing all these styles juxtaposed against each other is like a five course feast of design and masonry. It speaks of grand ideas and the bold people that executed them. And beyond the engineering developments, it reflects beliefs and attitudes about what was appropriate and what was beauty - from the simple Romanesque, to the hard and austere Gothic to the lavishly ornate Baroque.

While it was a delight to savour the city, the almost inescapable throng of tourists who were trying to do the same left a somewhat bitter taste. At times it was almost comical to see the herds of people wandering the streets, following the point of an unopened umbrella, and crowding the pavements to hear a few facts that I read in a guide book. The streets are of course cobbled, and most show signs of a million footsteps, and require very sensible footwear to negotiate the ups and downs. But in other places, new cobbles were being laid, ironically to please the tourists and ensure their sore feet.

Sunday 21 March was the equinox, or the day when the times between sunrise and sunset are equal. So there was a spring market set up in the main square, with trees festooned in silk blossoms and streamers, and hand painted egg shells for sale amongst other things. They do like to find excuses to celebrate things in this part of the world. We had been told that Prague was cheap, but that depends on your point of reference. In comparison with Western Europe it is cheap, but so is NZ.

chocolate in bruges

While half of Europe headed to the slopes last week, we decided to drive to western Belgium for a look see. Driving on the highways in Belgium is fun because up until they joined the EU, Belgians did not sit drivers tests. You can imagine. Especially at high speed.

We went to Gent first, a lovely town replete with 7th century abbeys, a 9th century castle, old markets and canals. The sun shone for a change and it was lovely for wandering. There is a university here, and the large student age population makes the town vibrant even in winter. Visiting the castle and seeing yet another trove of armour, weapons and gruesome instruments of torture made us more keenly aware of the long and bloody history of Europe. I wonder what folk from the 7th century would think of the EU?

After Gent we headed further west to Bruges - the scene of the crime - well at least it was in the movie called 'In Bruges'. Historical Bruges is classified as a UNESCO world heritage site for being the oldest intact medieval town. It also has canals, a huge belfry, but no castle. The canals froze over while we were there so it must have been cold. There is alot of flemish art here, but we decided to save most of it for another visit when we are more in the mood.

Phil's highlight of Bruges was a tiny coffee shop called Brazilia, which sold freshly roasted coffee, brewed almost perfectly, and not much else.

On the way home we decided to visit the fields of Flanders, around Ieper, where so, so many died in the Great War. There are many, many cemeteries in the region, but we found two dedicated to Australian and NZ forces - Butte and Polygon Wood. We both were (suprisingly) very moved, to see the grave stones for NZ soldiers who fought, and died, in a battle on the other side of the world. We also visited the British cemetary Tyne Cot where they had letters written by soldiers, wives, and the telegrams sent to next of kin.

On a more upbeat note, I'll finish with the sweet stuff - the chocolate! In addition to its boutique beer, Belgium is reknown for its chocolate and Bruges has ALOT of chocolate shops. I won't go as far as saying that it is the most I have ever seen, because we also saw alot of chocolate shops in Argentina (eg. Bariloche and St Martin de los Andes). I read somehwere that Belgians have an annual average rate of chocolate consumption of more than 7kg per person. Isn't that close to Australia and NZ?

I've noticed that like many things, food tastes different in different places. Chocolate included.
Like any composite product, the quality of the ingredients count, so the type of cocoa bean and sugar make chocolate taste different.

We grew up liking NZ chocolate of course (ie. Cadburys). We were shocked to discover in PNG that Australian cadburys is not the same as NZ because they add emulsifiers to slow down the speed of melting. In south America, they use sugar made from sugar beets instead of sugar cane so the texture and flavour are distinct (Argentinians loved their chocolate but we did not). If you have tasted north american chocolate (aka Hersheys) you will know the flavour is different again. Belgian chocolatiers tend to use criollo and trinitario cocoa beans (apparently rare) to produce a flavour that is less better and more complex. After sampling the wares of at least 6 different chocolate shops in Bruges, Phil has decided that he prefers swiss chocolate (Lindt), but I am now sold on the belgian variety.

six month mark

Anyone who has moved countries knows that reaching the first six months is a milestone of sorts. It's the period with the most stress in terms of finding out how everything works, where everything is, what you can buy (and what you can't), what you can do, and who you can do it with.

Well, once again we have reached that six month mark, and thinking back, we are certainly alot more relaxed about living in Lux. We can now navigate around alot of town without the need of the GPS; we understand when the checkout assistant is asking if we want to convert our reward points into a cheque; I can communicate simple things in french such as " a quarter kilo of cheese please" or " I would like two holes" (in Phil's new belt!); we have figured out which brand of yoghurt we prefer (amongst a number of other things); we are familiar with snow, ice, slush, winter tyres and the need for anti-freeze in the window-wash; we know that 130km/hr is not fast on the highway; It's much nicer to walk in snow than in wind and rain; and we know one word of Luxembourgish - "Moien" which means 'good-day'.

Now that six months is up, the government department will hopefully finish processing our drivers license applications. We can also start thinking about what to do in the summer (although that is hard to imagine given that it is snowing outside).

One last interesting fact about Luxembourg - did you know that it has the biggest (in terms of turnover) petrol station in western Europe? (Of course you didn't, although a few of you won't be surprised). The taxes on petrol here are lower than in neighbouring countries, so alot of truckies and travellers, and people living just over the border, choose to fill up here. Having said that, the price of 95 octane petrol is still 1.10Euro!