Line C, Metropolitana

Tags

engineering, heritage, Italy, Metro, metropolitana, monuments

Rome remains a city of great interest to me and since we left some years ago I still follow what is going on. It remains really our second home and very dear to us.

The completion at snail pace of the Line C of the Metropolitana di Roma, the infamous line C which connects line A and B in Rome is something I have been following for years. When we left Rome in 2011 I thought it would be completed in a year or two. This is a very long metro line which crosses Rome from one end to the other however given that Rome is a very compact city building a metro line over 24 Km should not be a long tedious affair, well think again. The first tranche of Line C is now complete from the Eastern Suburb at Monte Compatri-Pantano to San Giovanni where is intersect with Line A.  San Giovanni is the site of the ancient Basilica of San Giovanni Laterano, the Pope’s church since he is the Bishop of Rome with a Papal Palace attached. The first section now functionning opened in 2014 and two more stations in 2018. The biggest hurdle is all the archeological sites along the route, as the construction gets nearer to the historical centre of Rome the engineers have to dig ever deeper and at the same time all work must stop the minute they hit any ancient site. Archeologists and historians are brought in and a major study is undertaken, which can take a couple of years, so this causes many long delays.

The result the digging has now reached the Roman Forum area and the Colosseum, continuing down the Via dei Fori Imperiali, as you can see from the photo upper right corner down to the Altar of the Nation, ( the big white monument) the tunnelling is now more than 90 feet under ground to avoid any ancient structure. Some stations because of the complexity of avoiding any archeological structure or monument have been cancelled out right, like the planned station at Lago di Torre Argentina where four ancient temples of the Republican era around 2200 years old are located and also it is the site of the Theatre of Pompey where Julius Cesar was assassinated in 44 BC.  So far the line is 15 years late in completion and billions in Euro over budget.

Centre of Rome, Piazza Venezia in front of the Altar to the Nation. 

In any other city, engineers and politicians would have compromised and agreed to save some monuments and ignore others, based on the importance historically of what should be preserved and what should be discarded. In North America, this is a common compromise, in Canada often everything is bulldozed and only a plaque will recall what was destroyed. However in Italy it is a very different matter and any question of not studying what is found and not taking measures to preserve it is considered barbaric. So I have seen years of discussion between the various Mayors of Rome, Prime Ministers of Italy, Ministers of Culture, archeologists, University deans, members of the public etc. go on and on and on, enough to drive you crazy.  If this was not enough there was also a big discussion around the two boring machines or Talpe (Italian for moles)  underground digging the tunnels, what to do with them, should they be left in a side gallery once the work is over or …

How much this is costing in total is not even considered. it is not important, what does matter is to preserve the past of Rome. Some Metro station will have museums built within to exhibit the artefacts, so that riders can view it all as they come to the Station. The design of each station in the historical centre must be practical but also appropriate to the surrounding area and style matters. The Piazza Venezia station will be unique in the world given the Palaces of noble princely families, like the Colonna and Doria Pamphilij in the neighbourhood and the importance of this square in the heart of Rome.

In the digs discovered so far are barracks of the Pretorian guards with beautiful mosaic floors intact and some wall paintings, then at Piazza Venezia the forgotten Athenaeum of Emperor Hadrian was unearth which prompted great excitement amongst Academia. Not to mention all the other finds and artifacts.

Line C is important for the future of the City and public transport, it needs to be built and the delays only make things worse in terms of traffic congestion in Rome a City with a population of almost 3 million people, you have 2.6 million cars. This week the Mayor of Rome announced that the Colosseo Station will open in 2025 more than 8 years late and Piazza Venezia should open thereafter, but what about all the other stations going across the Tiber and beyond St-Peter’s, no one knows.

Rome for Romans remain the Capital of the World and it seems that from what I have seen this belief is entrenched in how people see themselves and their City.

Line C is in pale green, remains 6 stations to be built from Colosseo to Clodio Mazzini.

Summer music

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Chabrier, Suite Pastorale

On a hot muggy Summer day when a thunderstorm is possible, we need light music. Emmanuel Chabrier composed Suite Pastorale in 1888.

Between 1881 and 1888 Chabrier orchestrated Idylle, Danse villageoise, Sous-bois and Scherzo-valse to form the Suite pastorale. The suite was first performed on 4 November 1888 by the Association artistique d’Angers conducted by Chabrier himself. These four pieces are taken from Chabrier’s composition for piano of 10 pieces called Pièces pittoresques composed in 1881.

Painting by Henri Fantin-Latour entitled Autour du piano. Chabrier is playing and his friends listen, Adolphe Julien, Arthur Boisseau, Camille Benoît, Edmond Maître, Antoine Lascoux, Vincent D’Indy and Amédée Pigeon.

 

Summerside

Tags

coffee, ice cream, PEI, Summerside

Once upon a time the Town of Summerside PEI there was a military airport and training facility from 1940 to 1991. Then Government program cuts came and it all disappeared. It destroyed the economy of Summerside and created serious unemployment and business failures. The town of 15K went into a slumber and decay. The town had also suffered great fires in its core which did damage the fabric of the city in 1879 and 1880. Summerside is often described as a city of little interest.

During our staycation we discovered something quite different. Summerside has beautiful neighbourhoods and great homes far more impressive than what you see in Charlottetown. Leafy avenues and imposing brick buildings. We went to Summerside to buy ice cream at Holman’s, a family run business located in the old Holman Family Mansion across the street from City Hall. All the ice cream is freshly made on the premises, all natural ingredients and made in small batches. This is high quality ice cream and in my opinion beats in terms of taste and quality, the more commercial COWs which dominates the market in Charlottetown.

Holman Family Mansion 1855 in Summerside, PEI and its beautiful garden.

We did buy 2 litres of ice cream, chocolate and strawberry, creamy and very good.

There is also some very good coffee shops in Summerside, which also serve breakfast and lunch. One is Samuel’s where we had a coffee and a sweet, top quality, all made on premises fresh daily. There is a trend in PEI now for this type of coffee shop which offers someting different from the Corporate brand coffee shops. In Charlottetown we have Receiver Coffee and in Montague The Lucky Bean, all offer their own roasted coffee beans on premises and all food and breads are baked by them, it is a more European approach. Menu is also ever changing and has Vegan options.

Samuel’s Coffee House at 4 Queen street corner with Water street.

Summerside is on the sea and here is the famous Indian Head Lighthouse at the entrance to its harbour. I was surprised to see how far out it was in the harbour.

Summerside City Hall across from Holman’s

Also while we were visiting we stumbled upon the Wyatt House who organized an Art Exhibit of large canvas paintings on one of its residential streets.

All in all Summerside is well worth a visit, it’s a nice city.

 

 

 

 

Montreal Baroque

Tags

art., life, Montreal

 

 

Music by J.S.Bach adapted from Hymns.

Brandenburg Concerto No. 7: III. Allegro (After J.S. Bach’s Der Himmel lacht, die Erde jubilieret, BWV 31: Sonata for orchestra) ·

Montréal Baroque:  Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 7-12 ℗ 2012 ATMA Classique Released on: 2012-05-01 Conductor: Eric Milnes Ensemble: Montréal Baroque Composer: Bruce Haynes

Lucy Maud

Tags

author, L.M.Montgomery, life, literary works, novels, Tragedy

While staying at the cottage at French River, we drove a few minutes down the road to the Birthplace of the author Lucy Maud Montgomery in New London. This is NOT the house every tourist will visit in Cavendish connected with the Anne of Green Gables story.  The old house which is quite modest and small and in keeping with the standard of homes in 1860 is set in a field at the intersection of two roads in New London. Her grandparents lived just a short ride away and their barn is now used as a museum to the author and her works, their home where Lucy Maud lived as a child is no longer in existence. It is interesting to visit the Birthplace because it tells you more about the author and her parents and family and how they lived before Lucy Maud ever became an author, you could say it is more personal, more intimate.

Lucy Maud Montgomery was born in November 1874, her father was Hugh John Montgomery and her mother Clara MacNeil. PEI had just joined the Canadian Confederation in 1873 and so the new Province was now part of the Dominion of Canada. Within 20 months of her birth, her mother Clara died of tuberculosis and her father decided to send baby Lucy Maud to his parents down the road to be looked after, he left the Island and moved to the North West Territories, which later in 1905 became the Province of Saskatchewan in Western Canada, truly frontier country back then, vast grassland prairies still mostly populated by Natives and the buffalo herds. Lucy Maud would not see her father until the age of 15 when she then migrated West, her father had remarried by then and Lucy Maud did not get along with her new Step-Mother and so returned to PEI within one year.

Picture below, her parents bedroom and Lucy Maud’s crib

Lucy Maud would later attend Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia and marry a Presbyterian Church Minister and move with him to Ontario to live mostly in Southern Ontario and finally in Toronto. Not a happy married life, in fact the marriage was a mistake, he was a manic depressive, given to hallucinations and hearing voices, ranting and raving. Lucy Maud would famously remarked one day that Women God wanted to destroy he married to Church Ministers. They had 3 sons and to this day the grandchildren live mostly in Ontario with some remnants of the family in PEI. She died in 1942 from what was said at the time to be heart failure but in 1974 on her centennial it was revealed in a CBC radio interview that she had committed suicide. She too suffered from depression, was obsess with her social standing and depressed that in Toronto the literary circles did not take her seriously as a writer despite her enormous success. Her son Chester also gave her many problems and was engaged in a life of petty crimes. Both her and her husband the rev. Ewen Macdonald used barbiturates and sleeping pills heavily.

Few knew the depth of Montgomery’s problems. She alluded to them in letters. “Remember me as I used to be, not as I am now,” she wrote.

“I envy those who die in their sleep,” she wrote in another letter. “I have a horrible fear that I’ll die by inches.”

Her final known journal entry was dated March 23, 1942. “My life has been hell, hell, hell. My mind is gone — everything in the world I lived for has gone — the world has gone mad,” it read. “I shall be driven to end my life. Oh God, forgive me. Nobody dreams what my awful position is.”

Montgomery’s Toronto home at 210 Riverside Dr. was indeed her journey’s end. She was found dead in her bed on April 24, 1942. Her son and her physician believed it was a suicide.

Next to Montgomery was a written page. It was dated and had a page number. It is not clear if it was a suicide note or belonged to a journal.

“My position is too awful to endure and nobody realizes it,” the page read. “What an end to a life in which I tried always to do my best in spite of many mistakes.”

Today, Lucy Maud Montgomery is immortal, her many books, poems, the Anthem to PEI, and the Anne of Green Gables series has guaranteed her place in Canadian literary pantheon. Her family and personal problems are all forgotten and only her skills at presenting Island life as a social comment to the era remains.

I enjoyed the visit to her birthplace because of the peace of the place and on offer are several of her books including 2 biographies. It is certainly not the commercial amusement park Green Gables in Cavendish has sadly become.

In reading about her life you see that much of her inspiration comes from her own personal life, Anne like Lucy Maud is an orphan, living with relatives, deceased or distant parents, going to school and the adventure of living in a rural setting. The small minds and pettiness of isolated surroundings and the hypocrisy of keeping up appearances, religious intolerance. It is in many ways a portrait of society in early days Canada.

Junction of Road 20 and road 6 in PEI about 45 minutes from Charlottetown.

Return from Staycation

Tags

Beach, Fox, French River, Peace, PEI, quiet, sand, sex, surf, Travel

Well we returned yesterday from our week at the Beach House Inn at French River near New London PEI where we rented a cottage. It was delightful and sooooo peaceful compared to the noisy Capital. Surrounded by woods, fields, red sandstone cliffs and the beach. Only the birds and a family of Foxes for company, we were the only guests on the property. The birds are interesting, from eagles to hawks, cormorants to blue jays, swallows, robins, warblers, quite the variety.

The Fox family was a mother and her 4 kits, very tame and unafraid of people though they always keep a respectful distance.  The property was beautiful and very well maintained, the main house had 7 mature Linden trees on the West side, a big marsh full of water reeds on the East side of the property and on the hill the famous Cousin Family pioneer cemetery known as Yankee Hill. The Cousin family were French Huguenots who fled France ended up in the American colonies and at the revolution came to PEI fleeing again the chaos. The were probably wealthy if one looks at their elaborate white marble tombstones. In September 2019 the hurricane Dorian came to PEI and devastated the area around Cavendish where 70% of the trees were damaged. This old burial ground is in a forest and many of the poplars toppled. Luckily none of the 200 year old tombstones were damaged, a miracle of sorts. Across the road to the beach stands another old cemetery called Simms, this one is dedicated to the 200 sailors who died in the historic storm known as the Yankee Gale in October 1851. Our view was the sand dunes and the beach and it’s small lighthouse, the New London Rear Lighthouse nowadays surrounded by a large marsh. It is automated like all light houses. The waterway is treacherous, large ever moving sandbanks at the entrance to the South West and French River, both leading to small fishing harbours. The surrounding countryside is picturesque, lots of farms cultivating wheat, potatoes, mustard and corn. The area was settled after the Acadians where deported and their land confiscated by the British around 1755. The new settlers were stern Protestants, Presbyterians and Anglicans. Some of the Acadians did come back after 1763 and settled further West on the Island.

This year of the Pandemic there are virtually no tourists, the only people who can actually come to PEI are from the other Maritime provinces and they do not need to isolate. Anyone else would be automatically forced into 14 day isolation upon arrival and people are watchful.

Some good seafood restaurants and art galleries in the area. The beaches are very clean and quiet. We could actually walk from our home to Cape Tryon and its Lighthouse an 8 Km treck along the cliffs, very beautiful scenery. It was a good staycation just to get out of the noise of Charlottetown.

The Linden Trees at the Beach House Inn. We could say we were unter den Linden.

Sunset on the cliffs at Cap Tryon, with the lighthouse. In terms of direction looking out into the Gulf of St-Lawrence, towards Anticosti Island and Newfoundland.

Truly peaceful away from it all. You come to appreciate the silence.

Japanese Food

Tags

cuisine, culture, Food, Japan

I was able to travel twice to Japan and visit the country. It was the two most amazing trips I ever made. Japan is a fantastic country with a complex ancient culture. One great thing about Japan is the food culture. Food is everywhere and people love eating. This YouTube video is exactly what I saw and experienced.

I travelled a great deal by train and the train stations are a wonder to behold, why fly when train travel is a dream. The food on offer in Train Stations is incredible, not to mention all the other restaurants and the impeccable service everywhere.

Enjoy!

What to take on vacation

Tags

Beach, Friends, PEI, sand, Summer, surf, vacation

Every time Summer rolls around, reading lists appears, all manner of books are proposed. Thing is, many of those books are for general appeal and some make the best seller list. But I am never interested in them and if I am going to buy a book I want to make sure I will read it. So the topic has to appeal to me in some fashion.

We are going to the cottage at the beach and I am looking for books to read. I got one by Cicero written of course some 2070 yrs ago on how to rule a country, I may get tips on how to do it best, if ever I intend to rule Canada, one of the most difficult country to rule give our 6 time zones and enormous geographic space bordering on 3 oceans, we could be called an Empire based on size alone, but we settled for Dominion (Kingdom).  I also found two other books on Kindle but I just realized they will be available after 28 July, so I will have to wait. One is by Lady C. the Duchess of Argyll, her newly released best seller on Meghan and Harry. The other is a book recommended by Nicholas Hoare who use to own a famous bookstore in Ottawa on Sussex Drive. It was such a beautiful bookstore and guaranteed you would find something to your liking. Hoare recommended a book based on letters written by Sir Alan Frederick ”Tommy” Lascelles who was the private secretary of King George VI and later his daughter Queen Elizabeth II. This book was made possible by special permission from H.M. the Queen, usually such letters never see the light of day. The letters cover the War years and shine a light on historical passages that might otherwise remain obscure. Lascelles being an Oxford graduate writes beautifully, the man had vocabulary, something that is lost nowadays. He was also part of the Courtier network around the Royal Family.

So I am now looking at my home library and what can I find on the shelves, there is a wide choice. But then I wonder how much reading I will do all together.

So off we go on Hwy 2 towards the West and French River, the area has many little settlements, then turning unto Hwy 20 and on the road we will pass, near our destination, the birthplace of Lucy Maud Montgomery, a simple little house in a field. She is of course the famous author, who in PEI is revered.  The last few kilometres is a red dirt road amongst fields and marshes which ends at the Sand dunes, the New London Range Lighthouse and the sea. This is where we will be. I am looking forward to seeing the night sky which in such a remote location reveals itself to be ablaze with unimaginable number of stars and galaxies including our own Milky Way. Also the silence of the place, disturbed only by the surf and songs of birds and maybe one or two coyotes howling.

En passant…

Tags

Borghese, museum, Vatican

Today a friend who lives in Rome sent a little comment about his visit to the Villa Borghese. This famous museum only admits 80 persons per hour instead of the usual 300 person per hour due to Covid 19 concerns.

Given the size of the building it must be a delight to be in such a magnificent building with so few people and so much spectacular art work.

I remember walking in the gardens of the Villa Borghese, something I did many times given that we lived near by, I would go there just to relax and enjoy the greenery. The garden is the third largest in Rome, you can walk for hours all around it. The land was first acquired by the Borghese family in 1605, located on the ancient site of the Gardens of Lucullus, 60 BC, just outside the city walls built by Marcus Aurelius you can enter from the top of the Spanish Steps turning to the left or from Via Flaminia or at Porta Pinciana which was closest to my home. In Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V, bought the land in 1605 it was mostly a vineyard and covered a large area slopping down the Pincian Hill towards the Porta del Popolo and Via Flaminia. Today the vineyard is gone but was replaced with formal gardens in the French Style by Cardinal Borghese and later in the 19th century an English romantic gardens with ancient ruins, lakes and fountains was created giving the place an atmosphere both peaceful and serene.

Such huge estates acquired by noble families were used mostly to escape the city in Summer and many had large villas or palaces built within, such homes all have the one architectural features which is a roof top terrace to catch the evening wind coming off the Mediterranean sea towards Rome. This feature we enjoyed while in Rome dining on our terrace watching the ballet of small bats amongst the Maritime Pines.

Villa Borghese in Italian refers to an Estate and not to a building per se. In fact Cardinal Scipione built the Galleria Borghese which looks like a large palace simply to house his art collection so he could sit in various grand rooms and admire the works of art while having lunch or entertaining friends with music or discussions, it was not meant to be lived in. He would spend a few hours at the Galleria and then return to his home in the City. The family left its mark on Rome, his uncle Pope Paul V Borghese’s name is inscribed in bronze letters above the main entrance of St-Peter’s Basilica, he commissioned Bernini to do many works of art and architecture to enhance St-Peter’s and the semi-circular colonnade of the famous Piazza.

One of the magnificent rooms of the Galleria, your eye is drawn to look everywhere at once, it can be overwhelming.

On the grounds of the Villa Borghese you can see other large buildings, built for the 1911 World Expo, one today is known as the British School of Rome, the other is the Galleria Nazionale D’Arte Moderna with works from the 19th to 20th century. Both are formal and grand buildings in the Beaux Arts style. The Silvano Toti Globe Theatre is a copy of the Globe of London and presents Shakespeare’s Plays in Italian.

I always enjoyed this park, it is formal and relates to the history of Rome from antiquity, the vistas are enchanting so much so that Ottorino Respighi was inspired to composed the music entitled The Pines of Rome and I can see why.  Though Rome surrounds the gardens nowadays, it is very peaceful and quiet once you enter it.

View of the lake and the temple to the God of Medicine, Asclepius

Formal entrance from Via Flaminia, the gates speak of the grandeur of the Borghese Family with their coat of Arms and the Griffon and Eagle. The gates are closed at night. The Villa Borghese since 1903 is a public garden maintained by the City of Rome. The Borghese Family continues to this day, with assets in cosmetics, real estate, and other business lines with properties in Italy and in the USA.

Instagram

Tags

Instagram, Lisbon, Music, PANDEMIC

A month or so ago I thought to leave Facebook and since I have not been much on it except to check up on some people. What I really like now is Instagram, I post lots of photos of food and places and read about other people and look at their pictures. The format I find is cleaner and simpler and focuses on what you are doing at the time and there is none of the other nonsense or worse these exchanges that descend into insults and all manners of crazy people. Instagram has the advantage of letting you select what you want to see easily without all those suggestions about other sites. You can turn it into a Blog if you want and do other things, but I am content with simply posting my photos and letting it be.

Now this weekend and for about 7 days we will be incommunicado, our little Island does not have a complete coverage of the internet and many areas have NO signal. This is a significant problem for many people who happen to live outside of the main towns. About 90,000 people are affected by this daily, meaning that e-learning and school via the internet does not work here. School have been closed since 11 March 2020 and many kids expect to return to school in September and our Provincial Government is still working on a plan. We are off only 30 minutes away by the sea on the North Coast Kensington/ French River area. Even if the weather is not the best I am looking forward to this little escapade.

PEI has been lucky in this Pandemic and we had a long period of 2.5 months with no cases. In the last 10 days we now have 7 more cases from 2 individuals who travelled by plane upon their return infected 5 people. There may be more we will know in the next 48 hours when testing of all contact tracing is done. The Premier did say today that all options are now possible and one can be a mandatory wearing of face masks, the others could be returning to a lockdown. So we are all holding our breath.

Needless to say we are all dealing with depression, anxiety, stress, this situation is so abnormal and has put a strain on our lives. I really don’t know how we will manage the coming months. HOWEVER tonight a friend of ours said, we have all travelled so much in our lives, so true! and lived abroad for 25 years in grand style, not being able to travel now is really not a big deal. So true, yes it would be nice to go back to Europe etc. but we lack for nothing and so we can explore the beaches of PEI which we have to ourselves and imagine that beyond the waves we are looking at Europe.

What I do is listen to music which has the effect of transporting you in time or to a place. I also read just to occupy my mind and there are lots of topics to cover. So in terms of music this piece came to mind when thinking of Portugal. Lisbon the capital of Portugal a beautiful city and so pleasant to visit. I could live in Lisbon it is a very elegant and liveable city and listening to this old tune from decades ago captures the moment. I can relive being in the city. Lisbon Antigua was written in 1937, with music by Raul Portela and Portuguese lyrics by José Galhardo and Amadeu do Vale. Have a listen.