Sunday 30 June 2013

Feeding the birds



We sat eating our roast chicken. Outside we watched a couple of wood-pigeons work out how they could place themselves on the trellis so they could stretch out their necks to reach the bird feeders.

The first attempt got one to the feeder with the nyger seeds. We couldn’t help thinking they would have to eat a lot of those fine seeds to maintain their great body size. Sure enough they moved down a horizontal in the trellis. Now they could reach the sunflower seeds. That’s more like it! At first the one who found success attacked the second bird. I had taken them to be a couple but now I wasn’t so sure. But no, they made their peace & the first offered seedy titbits to the second, feeding her.

After we’d eaten, I filled some cups with the liquid fat from the roasting & added some seeds – that will be a lot easier for the bigger seed-eating birds, the wood-pigeons & doves. Then I cut up any remaining skin to go onto the bird table for the bigger meat eaters – the blackbirds & starlings. Both I put on one side to put out this morning when they were cooled down.

So this morning, all this food went out. The first to the bird table were a pair of black-backed gulls – great big birds. I scared them off so some smaller birds stood a chance. I suspect, however, the moment I left the kitchen, & so could no longer keep an eye on the table, the gulls would be back. By now I expect the table will be bare.

Saturday 29 June 2013

Family news



The family news continues to be bad.

I’ve just been speaking to my cousin Pat. She seems to be recovering well from her mastectomy. However, this week she visited oncology & was shocked to discover that her breast had had two large tumours. Some of the lymph nodes that had also been removed, proved positive for cancer. She is now faced with the option of chemotherapy or a second operation to remove the remaining lymph nodes.

She’d spoken to my cousin Trudy & been told that Alma, Trudy’s sister, had been given 9-12 months’ life expectancy. I suppose at least Alma was prepared. She had been told already it was just a matter of time as her lung cancer was too advanced for anything except palliative care. Alma is going to try chemo next month but the most that can achieve is to prolong her life by a few extra months.

Suddenly I’m feeling amazingly well. I had my cancer alarm over ten years ago & survived. Now, to my astonishment, I no longer have osteoporosis, though I’ve still not worked out how to have 900mg of calcium per day on average. There is nothing immediately life threatening for either of us, beyond life itself. If anything, our health seems to be improving. That I can write that statement also suggests I’m not even as depressed as I so often am.

My mother always reckoned cancer stalks our family. Now I am beginning to believe it. Maybe it is just that it is such a large family. Most of my cousins are older than me. They have to die of some thing, some time, so why not cancer. It just seems such an uncomfortable fearful a fate but then most causes of death seem to be unpleasant, certainly undesirable. At least palliative care for cancer patients has improved, making the pain involved more tolerable.

Friday 28 June 2013

Busy socialising



It turned into a busy morning yesterday.

Even while I was having my breakfast mug of tea I noticed a delivery van outside one of our neighbours. The neighbour was clearly out. I popped out. The deliverer was relieved to have found someone he could deliver to. Needless to say the neighbour came over later to collect his parcel. We caught up on each other’s news, our holiday in Italy, his in the Dordogne, France.

Then I got on with my blog. Just as I was inserting the pictures at the end, the doorbell went. It was Al, our gardener, so I opened the gate to let him in. I hastily returned to my blog & got it published. I then had a hasty look at what cash we had in the house – we never have much. We had no notes, but I managed to scrape up enough coinage to raise his fee. Poor Al ended up with a lot of 20p coins. I then joined Al to hear his news. Apart from mowing the lawn he put some bark down on the bog garden, after gently encouraging a frog to get out of the way. He managed to get all done in time for the rain to start.

About 10 minutes after he had left, Angie arrived to do the cleaning. I caught up on her news & left her as bemused as I am by my dietary instructions & benefit situation.

Before Angie had left, another neighbour turned up, just for a chat. She came in & sat for half an hour or so – a pleasant interlude.

I couldn’t help thinking it was lucky the Fox was in charge of dinner - he had prepared a slow-cooked lamb curry overnight – as I don’t know when I would have had time to prepare food as well.

All afternoon it rained so we didn’t bother going out. After all my socialising, I was quite relieved to have a quiet time with my jigsaw in the Bulbfields of the Netherlands while the Fox got some things sorted out on the computer.

Today we will off to the butcher’s to buy a chicken for the weekend. On the way we will stop off at the golf club to meet our friends. It will be our first time to enter as fully paid up members. We were accepted on Wednesday after our interview. We no longer have to depend upon our friends signing us in all the time. Even on the day of our interview we met other friends at the club, people we hadn’t seen for a while. I can see it’s a place we might end up going quite often.

Thursday 27 June 2013

Absolute chaos



This will probably my last blog inspired by our holiday last month. By now you probably will have read more than enough of our adventures. Again this is a more general one.

One of the things that really struck us was the chaos on the canals, particularly the large ones. There didn’t seem to be any obvious rules of precedence. Although the Grand Canal is essentially the high street of Venice, unlike a road on land there didn’t seem to be any rules of keeping to the left or right. Boats were constantly criss-crossing the canal. The vaporetti stopped on both sides of the Grand Canal, so for example the Rialto stop was on the other side of the canal to the Rialto Mercato stop, so the vaporetti were constantly going from one side to the other side of the canal. The same applied on the Canale della Giudecca, the other main canal.

All life passed along these two main canals – the vaporetti, water taxis, gondolas, the police, ambulances, delivery boats of all sorts. Even hearses came along. Around the corner from our hotel we saw a few flower-covered coffins being taken off boats to be put in more traditional black cars, presumably being taken to their final resting place.

In the midst of this there were a few canoes. A race was due soon after our visit so people were in training.

We witnessed several near misses as boats crossed each other’s paths. As for access onto some of the smaller canals, the problem was that some of the bridges were so low there was only room for one boat at a time. If that boat was a gondola the gondolier had to duck as he went.

Absolute chaos as I said!

Delivering to the market

A near miss. The cream boat on the left is a vaporetto

A quieter stretch & another vaporetto

Wednesday 26 June 2013

Reflection of a time



I’ve just completed a jigsaw that set my mind thinking. The subject matter of the jigsaw was a collection of 1940s toys & toy boxes.

I couldn’t help recalling an episode of “Foyle’s War” in which Sam, Foyle’s driver & general assistant, went to buy some toys for Foyle’s god-daughter’s young son who was staying alone with Foyle. At the shop Sam was struck by the shortage of toys and those that were there, all seemed to be war related. She was trying to turn the little boy’s thoughts away from the war as he was clearly terrified whenever a plane flew overhead.

Looking at the titles of the games in the jigsaw, war definitely dominates as a theme – “Hurricanes & Spitfires”, “Bomber Command”, “Torpedo Attack”, “Air Raiding”, “Raiders & Fighters”, “ARP”, “Aerial Attack, “The Siege”, “Air-sea Rescue”, “Chase the Enemy”, “The Dover Patrol – naval tactics”, “Siegfried Line”, “Air Raid Menace”, “Night Raiders”, “Submarine Hunt”, “Victory”. Some times the games were more aimed at the war on the home front with “Blacking out Moon”, “Black-out” & “Vacuation”. Even the jigsaw illustrated was of Air Marshall Montgomery. The doll was dressed in khaki uniform, the model car painted in camouflage colours. Needless to say the models to make were of military airplanes. It was something of a relief to come across “Hornby Train”, “Housey-Housey”, “Plasticine”, “Subbuteo” & “Monopoly”.

I suppose at the time war was something at the forefront of anyone’s mind, even toy manufacturers. Possibly there was a need to encourage children to take pride in what their, mainly fathers, were doing, & to teach them to be careful of showing a light at night. For that matter it may have increasingly seemed appropriate to train young boys especially in the idea that war was great as they themselves may soon be conscripted if the war continued on. Indeed most would be conscripted for military service long after the end of World War II.

The only positive sounding game, presumably reflecting the post war 1940s, was “Bayko building sets”. I assume this must have reflected the need to build new housing after all the bombing had flattened so many homes.

I couldn’t help thinking all these games give a strange reflection on a period before I was born. By my childhood in the 50-60s, war as a theme had largely disappeared. Sure “Action Men” came on the scene, but that was about it.

I do remember visiting my relatives. My cousin Michael - about 10 years older than me, the younger brother of Pat who recently had a mastectomy – adorned his bedroom with model military airplanes he had made. I thought it very odd at the time, but then I was too young to really appreciate the war or how recently it had been. Now I wonder if it doesn’t reflect his own childhood in the 40-50s.

Tuesday 25 June 2013

Confused



I’m confused.

Yesterday I went to the hospital for the DEXA scan (bone density scan) to check on the state of my osteoporosis before being prescribed a new drug (my old one has been withdrawn). I was told the results there & then. I no longer have osteoporosis. I’ve even grown an inch in height.

My first reaction is amazement. I didn’t realise you could cease to have osteoporosis. All I can say is that the old medication must have stuck an awful lot of calcium on my bones so they are no longer porous.

I equally thought I had stopped growing upwards long ago, in my teens, but somehow it seems not. I’d even shrunk an inch last time I was measured a few years ago. Now nearly 60, I’m going have to learn to think of myself as being taller than I’ve ever been.

The lady who did the scan then gave me a diet sheet. It is important that I continue to have a higher than normal intake of calcium otherwise I’m likely to get osteoporosis again, especially as I do very little weight bearing exercise.

On the way home I glance at the diet sheet. I’ve got to have an average of 900mg a day. I did a calculation of yesterday’s intake. Half a pint of milk (350mg), some green beans (56mg) a bit of cream (24mg), a bit of cream cheese (25mg), some parsley (25mg) & a slice of white bread (33mg). That represents cream cheese on biscuits for breakfast, numerous cups of milky tea, potted shrimps on toast as a starter, then a fish pie with green beans main course for dinner. The total comes to just over 500mg, a long way short of the target of 900mg.

I’ve started the list for today. Again there’s the bit of cream cheese (25mg), the half pint of milk (350mg), some breadcrumbs (8mg), sultanas (8mg) & some parsley (25mg) – same breakfast, milky tea, meatball curry for dinner – 416mg altogether. We’re going food shopping & I usually have a small bar of chocolate to reward myself. That would add another 110mg. That’s still not far over the 500 mark, nowhere near the 900.

My dilemma is that the high calcium items on the list are things such as hard cheeses, fried whitebait, white chocolate, the very things I should be avoiding due to my hypertension & CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease), not to mention my waistline. The only really high item is Ready Brek, a resouding 1200mg, which I really can't stand. 

I’m obviously going have to do a lot more eating. The only other item on the list that is fairly high in calcium is tinned sardines in oil (500mg), in tomato sauce (430mg), but the idea of having a whole tin of sardines every day to make up the calcium I need is alarming, much as I enjoy tinned sardines.

She did say if I can’t manage to eat 900mg, the doctor can prescribe Vitamin D & calcium tablets. I can see he’s going to have to, or my hypertension & CKD worsen as I happily enjoy a large bar of chocolate a day.

I’m due to see him in a couple of weeks. Until then I will continue eat normally, & count my milligrams so I have an idea of the average over a couple of weeks, rather than days. I suspect he’ll have to prescribe me some supplements, or suggest some more healthy ways of achieving the required intake.

I'm equally confused by the letter that was waiting for me at home. The DWP (Department of Work & Pensions). They acknowledge receipt of my renewal form  for DLA (Disabled Living Allowance) & tell me they will let me know the result shortly. Does that mean the decision that arrived on Saturday is likely to change, my celebrations premature? The second letter to arrive is dated before the first letter so hopefully it is just a very quick decision, on the nod as I suggested in my last blog. I fear the worse.

Saturday 22 June 2013

An up & down sort of a day



It’s been an unexpected day so far.

I got up fully intending to go off to the fishmonger on my electric scooter, to find the gloriously sunny days we’ve been having had given way to rain. My scooter doesn’t like being out in the rain so I’ve abandoned that idea.

Along with that decision, I abandoned the idea of fish pie for dinner tonight. Instead we’re having Beef Popovers, sort of minced beef in a Yorkshire pudding batter or Toad in the Hole with minced beef in it instead of the sausage. The change is maybe not such a bad idea as we had sea bass for dinner yesterday so beef will be more different.

I rang my cousin Ann, the one with kidney cancer. Once again she’s been having problems with her chemo. She’s off back to the hospital to see what’s amiss. It’s a great pity. She did so well for several months. But since her break from chemo around Christmas, she’s reacted badly every time they’ve tried her on it again, even a reduced dosage, even having to have blood transfusions as she’s become so anaemic. I hope this isn’t a sign things are making a turn for the worse.

The post arrived. I can’t believe it. It was a letter advising me I have been granted my DLA (Disability Living Allowance) at my current level for an indefinite period. Why I’m amazed is that I only put my application for renewal in the post on Monday. The prepaid postage was second class & yet, within the week I’ve had a decision, no medical or anything. I can only conclude they are just nodding through renewals, unless there is obviously a great change since the last decision, in the knowledge that everyone is going to be reviewed soon as the new replacement benefit, PIP, is introduced. They reckon everyone should be reviewed by, I think it is, 2015 so they can safely say an indefinite period in the knowledge that it won’t be long. Still, at least it means I’ve got peace for a little while, & no immediate medical to endure. My spirits rose after sinking with my cousin’s news.

I got on with preparing dinner, making the batter & par-boiling some potatoes, for later. I had Radio 4 on, “Saturday Live”. I couldn’t help thinking the inheritance track, “Singing in the Rain” a very appropriate song on a rainy day like today.

I somehow don’t see us getting to the church fête this afternoon. If they hold it outside as hoped, the grass is going to be sodden, & if they hold it in the church hall, there will be no room for people & stalls to move around in a wheelchair, either way we will be staying at home.

I had hoped this afternoon to get the bog garden weeded & some bark mulch down to keep the weeds at bay. I don’t see us doing that either. The bog garden is once more becoming a pond!

Whatever else it’s certainly a day of surprises, some good, some bad!

Thursday 20 June 2013

Rialto Mercato



 
The Rialto Bridge
Our second day in Venice was spent in the Rialto part of the city. In particular we visited the Mercato side of the Grand Canal. This is where the markets are to be found.

We wandered along the canal side. Here they are lined with restaurants as you head for the famed Rialto Bridge. The bridge is an impressive pile of highly decorated stone. Needless to say I couldn’t go on it, not with my wheelchair. The Fox went up to see it & the shops on it, though by the sounds of it he was hard pressed to see anything for the crush of tourists on it.


After that we had a stroll along the back streets, finding little squares, dark narrow alleys interlinking them. Finally we found ourselves at the markets.

Throughout our stay in Italy we had missed our veg. Don’t get me wrong there was plenty of veg but only as salads. We like ours hot. We were surprised, too, by the lack of fresh tomato, a highlight of any salad as far as we are concerned. Here in the veg market we were wowed by the ripeness & freshness of the produce, the colours and smells, as good as any French market. When we were last in Italy, a few years ago, we were struck by just how good the Italian veg good be. We had never been struck by the smell of fresh lettuce before, but the vegetable part of the supermarket was heady with it. The veg here was every bit as good.
 
Some of the colour of the vegetable market


 There was also a huge fish market here. By the time we arrived it was clearing up. Obviously it must only be open in the mornings. Even so, what little left on display looked good.

The remnants of the fish market


Whilst in this part of town we decided to buy some Murano glass as a little memento of our stay. We bought it in the form of a beautiful pendant for me. It makes us both smile whenever I wear it.

We then toodled back to the hotel for our nap before returning later to the, restaurant we’d chosen for our dinner. In Italy often the waiters greet you, try to encourage you into their establishment. We’d been stopped by Georgio, (“George, though not Clooney” as he called himself) & been bribed by the promise of a free aperitif if we returned later.
 
Our restaurant. The waiter with the white sleeves & red waistcoat is Georgio, not Clooney


 So we had our meal, sat outside near the canal. Georgio decided what we fancied. It turned out to be the fish of the day, a large sea bream which he served at table for us. We dreaded what the price would be, but it turned out he’d found something quite reasonably priced, not just the most expensive item on the menu...It also was the best meal we had in Venice. The fish was really fresh, clearly from the market nearby.

While we ate we watched life on the Grand Canal. Boats were constantly on the move. Across the canal was a low bridge, crossing another minor canal. Under here the gondoliers ducked as they steered their boats. The evening is clearly a time when the gondolas get very busy, or maybe this is a part of town where there are more on the go. They look so romantic as they slowly pass along, some with musicians on to entertain the passengers.

At one point there was a sudden blaring of sirens. First came a police boat, followed by an ambulance boat, both at full speed. All the other boats scurried away. The wake caused the low lying gondolas bounce so badly they almost overturned. Only skilful work saved the day. Meanwhile on our side of the canal, the wake caused the water to pour over the sides onto the roadside. We gather from Georgio it’s quite a common occurrence. Certainly life on the canal isn’t quiet!


Tuesday 18 June 2013

St Mark's



 
The quiet end of St Mark's Square
Our first main day was spent around St Mark’s Square.

 I suppose if you are going to Venice it is the must see place to visit. Certainly it seems to be the place most tourists seem to go to. We certainly discovered the crowds. Various guided groups followed held up umbrellas, sticks etc. Clearly some of the groups were off the numerous cruise liners that stop at Venice. The square was filled with people from all nations, all colours, all languages.

It was a lively scene, with the myriad of colours of all the people, the live music playing at some of the cafés & bars in the piazza. The piazza itself is huge. One end is dominated by the Basilica of St Mark’s and the next door Doge’s Palace (though strictly speaking the place is not on the piazza but on the piazzetta) and the towering campanile.
 
St Mark's Basilica

The Doge's Palace



We had hoped to see inside both the basilica & the palace but one look at the long queues snaking through the piazza put us off. As far as we could see, the wait would have taken hours & then you would have been herded through to make room for those behind to come in – not our idea of fun, we like to take our time to see things.
 
The Clock Tower on St Mark's Square
Instead we ventured through the clock tower & down some of the side streets inland. In a much smaller square we found a bar with reasonably priced drinks and sat a while, refreshing ourselves. We watched the crowds milling around.
 
The busy chopping streets seen from our bar


Everything is delivered by boat, with the result that men were wheeling great trolleys laden with goods. The shouts of “Permesso” & “Scusi” resounded as they tried to speedily get through the crowds lost in their own world of wonder at all around them.

After that we wandered around some of the streets behind St Mark’s Square. They include all the most prestigious names, interspersed with a few aimed at the more ordinary tourist. We strayed away from our map & found some pretty little squares. However, we soon found the bridges too.
 
A pretty bridge over the canal
The frustration got to us after a while & we made our way back to St Mark’s. This time we made through the piazza and the piazzetta to the canal side & turned towards the Ponte della Paglia. From this bridge you can get a view of the Bridge of Sighs which so many, including Casanova, crossed as they were taken from the court in the palace to the prison on the other side of the canal. The Ponte della Paglia is one of the few bridges where the Venetians have endeavoured to improve access by ramping one side with rubber (so as not to ruin the impressive stone work). However, much had been worn away by the numerous people crossing the bridge. It did mean even I, in my wheelchair, managed to get up to see the Bridge of Sighs properly.
 
The Bridge of Sighs

The canal side  at the end of the Piazetta San Marco

By then we felt we’d had enough. We decided it was time to get the vaporetto back & have an afternoon zizz before we set out to locate dinner.

 St Mark’s Square & its surrounds are impressive, but for us it would have been more impressive with a few less people in it. The details on some of the buildings are interesting. I’ll leave you with a few of them.

The two Egyptian granite columns that mark the entrance to the piazetta from the lagoon.The one on the left is topped by a winged lion with his paw on a book symbolising St Mark; the one of the right topped by St Theodore, the former patron saint of Venice with his crocodile

 
St Mark's Basilica

To the right of the Clock Tower


The campanile seen through the Doges Palce from the Ponte della Paglia

Palazzo Patriarcale on St Mark's Square

To the right of the Clock Tower, adjoining the Palazzo Patriarcale


Monday 17 June 2013

An anxious weekend



It’s been an anxious weekend.

On Friday my cousin Pat went into hospital to have one breast removed as a consequence of the recently discovered breast cancer. It is with some relief all went well & she was safely home on Saturday. One of her daughters lives nearby. She stayed with her mother on the Thursday so she could take her early to the hospital on Friday, and on Saturday to make sure she could cope on her own. After that her daughter was going to return home to her three young children.

Pat is not to lift anything so she is going to her daughter’s to eat. Her other daughter will be coming to stay from Wednesday. So far everything looks as though it’s going well.

Yesterday I rang my cousin Alma. Her radiology is finished now. The tumour has reduced but the cancer has spread to other parts of her body. She’s starting chemotherapy soon.

I’ll leave ringing my other cousin with cancer, Ann, until next weekend.

On Friday we went over to the golf club once again to meet up with our friends. While there, we applied to join the club, just as social members.

I never thought we would be joining a golf club. There’s something very elitist-sounding about it & golf is not a great interest for either of us. However, the golf club does seem to be one of the main social centres of Morecambe. Now we no longer meet at the Pub, our friends have decided to meet up at the golf club instead. Assuming the club accepts us, we will now be able to go there in our own right, rather than expecting others to sign us in.

I did belong to a golf club as a teenager. My father was a keen golfer & wanted my brother & me to learn. Although I did learn I was never very enthusiastic. I just got bored after the first hole. I never bothered to keep up my membership once I left home for university & have never played since.

The weekend also brought us news of my next hospital trip. This time it’s for a Dexascan. The medication I take for osteoporosis is being withdrawn. Before the doctor prescribes me something else he thinks it would be wise to check how my bones are doing now. So next week, it’s the hospital yet again.

We’ve finally finished my Disabled Living Allowance (DLA) form over the weekend. It will be in the post today. Now we just have to wait & see what they say. No doubt there will be yet another medical required. They seem endless.


Friday 14 June 2013

And so to Venice


 
Canalside just off St Mark's Square

Life on the Grand Canal. The cream coloured boat in the foreground is a vaperetto


The time has come to write of Venice. Today I will give you some general impressions.



As a wheelchair user I was decidedly nervous about how easy it would be to get around this essentially 15th century city built on a series of islands divided by canals & bridges. The books suggested it shouldn’t be too bad. We were even sent a website featuring some easily negotiable routes to see all the main sites. But whether everything would work out as easy as we were told was possibly a different matter.



Once we returned the hire car to the airport, the first cause of anxiety was getting into the city itself & locating our hotel – not the easiest with a wheelchair to push & a suitcase to drag along behind us. From my researches I hadn’t discovered a definite wheelchair accessible way to the city except by taxi & they were very expensive. However, I knew there was an overland bus that went to the Piazzale Roma where our hotel was & that it was run by the same company that had made all the vaporetti (water buses) in Venice wheelchair accessible. I hoped they’d done the same with the overland bus. So we first tried the ticket office in the airport terminal. Sure enough the bus was wheelchair accessible. She would just warn the driver so he could get the ramp out & help me on.



After a short drive the bus came to the Piazzale Roma. We were surprised, and relieved, to discover it stopped more or less in front of our hotel, or at least the back of it. The hotel itself fronted onto the Grand Canal. We were soon taken to the nearby annexe where all the rooms are wheelchair adapted. Immediately opposite the annexe there were the vaporetti stands to just about anywhere you may want to go in Venice. Just next door was a supermarket to get a few essential supplies such as bottles of water.



Needless to say once we’d got unpacked we were keen to go out and explore. We decided to try one of the vaporetti & go up to the Biennale gardens, passing St Mark’s Square on the way.



The vaporetto proved as easily negotiable as we were told. Every trip we made on our visit, the boatmen were ready to help anyone needing it, be they wheelchair users, mothers with prams, tourists with their suitcases, the elderly or infirm.



The route maps we’d found on the website supplied by Accessible Travel, the company that had organised our flights & hotel, proved invaluable. As we explored various areas over the following few days I’m sure we would have missed some sights, found others inaccessible, if we hadn’t had those maps.



At our hotel, over breakfast, we met a Canadian couple, one of whom had a mobility scooter. They’d arrived by train & had found the journey from the station to the hotel terrible. The station & hotel are on either side of the Grand Canal, almost within sight of one another. It wasn’t the distance that caused the problem. They had tried to cross the bridge, carrying the electric mobility scooter with them as well as suitcases. We told them they should have used the vaporetto. There would have been no problem. They’d just assumed as everywhere is accessible in Canada & the USA everywhere would be in Europe. We assured them that didn’t follow at all. We told them about the website as they had their laptop with them, however they couldn’t get a print-out of the maps done by the hotel in colour. As we by this time had been to St Mark’s Square, the Biennale gardens area, the student area we let them have our copies of the map with its accessible routes marked out for those areas.



Our biggest problem with Venice was the sheer number of people in Venice. We would have liked to have gone round the Basilica of St Mark’s & the Doge’s Palace, but the length of queues outside put us off. The Fox tried going on some of the bridges – to get a photo of the Bridge of Sighs for example, or to see the Rialto Bridge close up, but found it was just one mass of people.



The other problem was that although much of Venice is accessible, the real joy of exploring it comes from mooching around, following your nose down alleys etc, but whenever we did we quickly found an impassable bridge.



Much as I know it would have been expensive, it would have been nice to go on a gondola, or even a water taxi, as they were the only ways of exploring the smaller canals. The vaporetti are too big to go along these narrow waterways. However the gondolas & most of the water taxis were just inaccessible for me.



At the time we were in Venice, we were a bit disappointed to be honest. After the glowing colours of the frescoes in the Lakes area, the muted tones of the marble façades seemed tame. The fight through the crowds was a bit much for us. We hate to think what it must be like in high season. The food we found was poor though not as expensive as I’d feared.



Now we’re home & had a couple of weeks to recover, we look back at Venice with less jaundiced eyes. We see in our photos how impressive some parts were. We did manage to explore some of the back roads & canals. We did see the outside at least of most of the main buildings.



I suspect we would have got more from the trip if we’d stayed in a hotel more in the city centre. That way you would have been able to get more of the feel of the city outside the main tourist hours. But how you would get to such hotels with a wheelchair & a suitcase is questionable. Still we’re glad we’ve been. Would we go again? I’m not sure, but it certainly won’t be very immediately.

Tuesday 11 June 2013

Rovereto



Rovereto was an unexpected surprise. We had been to Trento a couple of days before & were disappointed by what we found. Maybe it’s just that we went to Trento on the Monday, early closing day in Italy so most of the place was closed and very quiet. Any city without its bustle tends to loose its energy & character. Whilst this had made it very quiet, our only real 
The giant goose
excitement was the giant goose in the Piazza Dante. It is known for its frescoes and yet they seemed dull by comparison with the fresh vibrantly painted ones in Molveno itself. However, in Trento we had managed to find tourist info which had given us a good street map of Rovereto.


So the next day, we set off to Rovereto. By Tuesday all the everyday bustle of shopping was on. We started by visiting the MART (Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea). It’s a huge place, worthy of several hours, if not days, of visiting. We decided to start at the top & work our way down.

This floor held items from the permanent exhibits. So we started with statues which made sounds from within them, musical tones though not exactly something you could call music. We continued on. We discovered something about the Futurist movement - something neither of us knew much about - and its association with the inter-war Fascist movement & Mussolini.

Our biggest difficulty was that you went from room to room in a sort of maze. It was impossible to get out without going through all the rooms. There were no seats except those which were clearly exhibits not to be sat on. By the end we hurried through suffering from sensory overloads &, in the case of the Fox, a distinct limp as he had had to walk so far with nowhere to sit.
 
The Piazza Rosmini, the main square
 

When we managed to find our way we walked the short distance into the town centre and found ourselves a quiet bar for a sit down & some refreshment. It was a pleasant square just round the corner from tourist info where we were intending to make a few enquiries about access & see if we could get some street maps of other nearby towns such as Riva del Garda.

We discovered that unfortunately we would not be able to get into the town’s main museum in the castle. They would let us see the basement free as there was so little we could get to see with the wheelchair. So off we headed to the castle. Even what little we could see struck home. We just wish more had been accessible.

The castle


 
A cannon from the First World War
The museum is dedicated to the First World War. It’s strange I never tend to think of the Italian participation in that war, the second yes, the first no. Equally I think of the Western Front & the terrible battles on the Somme etc, the Gallipoli campaign, even the eastern front with the Russians, abandoned as the Russian Revolution began, but never this front between Austria & Italy. Yet here there was a 40-day siege before the castle finally fell to the Austrians. Thousands were killed. Yet more were killed in the trenches up in the Dolomite Mountains. I suspect just the winter weather up there was sufficient to kill many, certainly to give them problems from frostbite.

On the outskirts of Rovereto, on the Colle di Miravelle, the Campana dei Caduti bell tings out 100 times every day at sundown in memory of all victims of war. The bell, the biggest ringing bell in the world, was made from cannons of the 19 belligerents in the First World War melted down.

All in all we felt it had been a worthwhile visit.