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Final missive from Melbourne

So it’s all over. Did it even happen? Feels all a bit surreal sitting at my computer from downtown Caulfield.

Since last time I wrote I’ve had my final day in Roma, packing and repacking, having my haircut so I go home looking chic! Having my fill of coffees and wine and feeling the cobblestones under my feet.

Chris and I went out for a fabulous final meal at Casa Gleve, a rather more up-market restaurant in Rome with the most delicious food in a fantastic old mansion, family run with the Mama cooking. They love Chris so we got very special treatment and a very discounted bill.

The next day it was coffee and get ready to go really. I’d ordered the Shuttle to get me to the airport. The timing was a bit tight but when the shuttle was late, and then later, I was in a real panic. But long story short, it got there and I got there. Late enough to be able to walk straight up to the Emirates counter with my super heavy case.

It was 30.2kg but they were happy to let it through albeit with a ‘heavy’ sticker. It was a dream flight, the connection in Dubai was perfect and I was in Melbourne 21.5 hrs later.

Of course it was a joy to see Rose, Ang and Kirst waiting for me. Home to bed, good nights sleep and really back to normal. No jetlag whatsoever…very lucky!! There is nothing like your own bed, pillows and a shower that feels massive!! In fact everything feels spacious…a big house, a big garden, wide streets, great big horrible cars everywhere, big distances to places, for simple things like a coffee, the supermarket etc.

The best thing is catching up with family and friends and being reminded (as if you need a reminder) of how precious they really are. Going down to the beach and looking out over Melbourne and being reminded (as if you need a reminder) how much you love this city.

There is so much I will miss not the least of which are Ham and Ariane until they finally get back, and Chris, until she gets her act together to get out here…and the morning coffee, the slow infusion of wine, the food, the joy of life…..and so on.

Now I focus on what I’ve avoided to date…the old ‘what the fuck do I do now’.

Goodbye from this blog/email/missive…I think I’ll even miss this daily reflection…and thanks for reading so loyally.

Signing out until next adventure.

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Arrivederci Bologna

Now back in Roma for what really is now the last hurrah.

The last few days in Bologna were a bit of a blur of dentist chairs and really not doing much except soaking up the city. The sun shone on Sunday and Monday so I did a bit of sitting in the sun. All went to plan tooth-wise and everyone was happy. All clear given on Monday afternoon to finally book the ticket back to Roma. On Tuesday (yesterday( new crown) sparkled, everyone pleased and Fabrizia asked me to go out to dinner to eat Sushi with her and her sons. Giancarlo doesn’t like Sushi so wasnt invited. It was a foul day weather-wise, it was pissing down all day and I’d drowned a couple of times but I went, enjoyed the meal, then said a final goodbye. They have been so good to me Giancarlo and Fabrizia,they really have been a dream team…great accommodation and perfect teeth!!

I’d emailed Giancarlo to say I would leave the apartment at 10am Wed/today. He sent an email back to say bon voyage!! Of course I was secretly hoping he’d say I’ll take you to the station! But no worries, give me enough time and walking with 2 suitcases and a massive parcel of tortellini Chris had ordered is no problem. But then in the middle of the night the rain started to pour down and I lay awake thinking shit, shit, this is going to be a nightmare. But honestly at 7.30am a txt came through from Giancarlo to say he would pick me up. Bless his cotton-picking heart!!

Another train trip with massive cases, it really does test me but it always seems to work out. Most of the time people help me and when they don’t I just heave-hoh. I even got on the bus to get to Chris’. Then, for the final time, lump the cases up the steps to her apartment. Always great to see Chris. She had lunch all laid out for me before she had to leave for work. As I’ve said before I’ll miss her very much.

Note for Angus and Kirst: Chris tried to get me into Augusta and Livia’s house but all booked out. I’m still mad that you saw the one thing I’m still dying to see.

I’ve spent the afternoon going through all the gear I will be trying to get back to Australia. For the first time I’ve pulled together all the stuff I’ve left in Rome and the stuff I’ve collected along the way. At first evaluation I’ll be throwing away one hell of a lot of stuff in order to just get on the plane.

Oh well…nice night at home tonight with Bolognese Tortellini on the menu when Chris gets home from work.

I think one more email if I’m lucky and then silence from me!!

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It’s not all about teeth you know!!

Thursday….to the dentist after seeing Chris off. This time the good new…the report on the full XRays…good, excellent, no other major problems visible…phew. So if they were able to finish this crown it would all be good with nothing to follow up in Australia. But all still very uncertain at this stage. It was a quiet night!

The next day, Friday, it was another 2.5 hours with the specialist dentist (Lorenza) but….breakthrough!! She has been able to create a new canal so everyone was happy, then it was go go go…phone calls, negotiations, trying to get the work done before I leave. They decided to miss the step of the temporary crown. They reshaped the crown they took off to use as the temporary crown and all efforts were directed to the permanent..still not sure but hoping to get it all done to finish up on Wednesday.

Home from the dentist to await the arrival of Ham and Az!! It was Friday night and I was anxious to let the fun begin and to forget the dentist for a while. It was great to see H&A again, they were even a little earlier than I expected which was great. After settling in we hit the town, wandered around allowing me to proudly show off the city I had grown to love. Coming back and showing people around it has really consolidated my love for this lively, youthful, and beautiful city. We ended up in a Piazza for aperativos… H&A really know the meaning of aperativo, ordering martinis and ‘Gibsons’ while I stick with a Spritz. Then on to the restaurant I have always taken my visitors to….Osteria di Poeti. It never fails to please and it did again on Friday night. Yummy food and a lovely ambience. We all drank to much and Hammy and Ariane will swear I was ‘unsteady’ on the way home, this of course is significantly exaggerated.

Saturday was spent just exploring Bologna, sorting out parking issues with H&A’s car, having morning coffee, wandering around the market streets, fitting in the mandatory church with wonderful terracotta sculptures, picking up some lunch, picking up a gelato, having a bit of an afternoon rest and then fitting in another couple church’s. Back to the aperativo place for some more (I stuck with wine this time). At this point we parted company as I went to Fabrizia and Giancarlo’s apartment for dinner and H&A hit the lively streets of Bologna on a Saturday night. My night was OK…the good news was that the technicians had been working on my crown on Saturday and had got it ready so it’s all systems go.

When H&A got back after their night out we had a final drink together and some little cakes they had brought home. It was our final little ceremony.

This morning after everyone had got ready, bags were packed and loaded into the car in the nearby carpark, we went for a coffee and said our goodbyes….

Of course I was / am sad, isn’t it the way I am? And this time I won’t see them until they are back in Melbourne, hopefully in the first half of 2016. I’ve been a bit lost for the rest of the day, feeling a bit empty and wishing now that I could wiggle the nose and be at home. But no, there’s still a tooth to finally fix, Roma to revisit briefly and another goodbye to Chris, who I will also miss. But tomorrow starts my final week in Italy…what I think about that is unknown, even to me.

Lots of love to those of you with the extraordinary loyalty to have read this for the past year.

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A life focussed on teeth!!

More disasters in the dental chair yesterday and some doubt about whether or not they will have time to get the permanent crown installed. But let me go back to the morning when I went up to the station to pick up Chris, have a quick cup of coffee and head to the dentist. Chris had a check, XRays, a clean, while I,on the other hand, went in to my chamber of horrors which actually did turn into a chamber of horrors. Lorenza (the reconstruction specialist) spent 3.5 hours trying to find and clear the root canal because that is the only way to secure a cap on the tooth. But it was calcified and after 3hrs of drilling she hadn’t finished. There is now a strong possibility they won’t be able to finish the work. As for my trip to Vicenza scheduled for today, Fabrizio wants me to come and see her to discuss the rest of my XRays…a terrifying prospect.

I know how completely uninteresting this dental thing is but it is so all- consuming its hard not to indulge it with description. However, after that was all over and Christine was feeling very pleased with herself after a good report. She just has to come back once more for a few minor replacements and to get her guard (we both now are getting guards…insisted upon in this part of the world…and we both agreed implementable only because there are no lovers!!!! Anyway, we then went out and about on the town, wandering the streets, having a Spritz and finally going out for dinner. Nice evening all in all and great to have Chris here for the night.

This morning it was coffee and then up to the station again to see Chris onto the train, then home to await the time to front at the dentist again. More hours of drilling tomorrow…am I obsessed????

I’ll keep you informed!!

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Back where I started.

Well it is time to come home, this is becoming clearer and clearer. Not that I don’t love being back in Bologna, I do. It feels so nice and so like coming home. As I walk the streets I recall times enjoyed here with Rosa and with Annie and Bob, I’m welcomed back to my favourite haunts and know exactly where to go for what. It really is a wonderful town that isn’t inundated by tourists, is full of character and has a wonderful ‘life’ about it. It bubbles over with students and when I arrived so late last night without having eaten, to go out into the streets on a Monday night, and find them full of young people, music spilling out of venues and no shortage of places for a glass of wine and a bite to eat. I remember a year ago when it was my first stop I described it as a bit seedy with people sleeping rough, lots of refugees and people begging on the streets. Now that I’ve spent time in Palermo, Napoli, Genova, it feels positively gentile but the huge energy and youth of the city distinguishes it from Lucca.

BUT…it’s 18 fucking degrees, just like it was a year ago, but this time I’m not equipped for winter and I know the sunshine is waiting for me in Melbourne. Also, 2 hours in the dentist chair today meant finding horrors under the crown Fabrizia is replacing. Thank god she picked it up though…it is major and will cost double what I had budgeted. I had XRays today and she showed me exactly what was there. I’m terrified of what review of all the XRays will reveal. I think I have been neglected and neglected myself for a long time!!. Tomorrow basically all day in the dentist chair while they construct something on which to put a crown…oh fuck!!! But I do think I’m very lucky to be in Fabrizia’s hands. I think I have to find a new dentist when I get home…preferably an Italian!!!! As well as an annual trip to Fabrizia I think!!

Chris is arriving in the morning for a consultation with Fabrizia too, she will stay the night and it will be great to sit over a bottle of wine and catch up again. I had intended to go to Vicenza for the day on Thursday because it was the only day without a dental appointment but I have been told that I may be required every day while they fast-track major works. Some recontructionist (not Fabrizia) is spending 2-3hrs with me tomorrow…can you believe it????

Ham and Ariane arrive on friday for a final farewell for many months, all of which adds to the feeling of heading home. I’m in a different apartment this time and it certainly is rather lovely with everything I could possibly want (confirming the presence of a washing machine my dear H&A), but further to walk for my morning coffee!!.

10 days to go now and I know it will fly. I will continue to keep you up to date with the horrors of sitting in the dentist chair. I have TV with Al Jazeera and BBC News…that, I consider positively spoilt!!

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Last day in Palermo, last day in Sicilia

Sunday morning so I’m taking things very slowly thinking nothing is open too early on a Sunday. Besides there was no hot water for my shower which I took very casually, doing a bit of packing, and only belatedly txting the host, Pietro. I think all he has to do is turn it on so it is fixed immediately. Then I look up the Galleria Regionale della Sicilia that I wanted to go to and see it closes at 1pm. So I leap up and out I choof down the street, past the world’s best coffee shop….whoops, can’t go past that without a quick cappuccino. Then on to make a few mis-turns before I find it. Anyway it was lovely, I thoroughly enjoyed it, with some lovely works.

Then I made my way back to the restaurant of yesterday that I enjoyed so much, Antica Focacceria di San Francesco. It was jam packarooby with a queue waiting for a table. So I waited thinking they wouldn’t give a table as a priority to one person. However they did look after me and it was only 10 mins or so before I was sitting down. I decided I would try the Sicilian specialty (I’d promised myself I ‘d do this before I left Sicily) cow spleen. So I had that followed by swordfish balls (not as in testes, as in football). Eating the spleen was actually something of a non-event. It was yummy and not at all disgusting. So I was proud of myself for having a go!! I finished the meal with a Limoncello just to satisfy my need to have a ‘last’ everything. Delicious and long lunch and then I sat in a piazza and had a read. Then back to the apartment.

Now I’m tying up bits and pieces. Pietro is making sure I have a taxi at the right time tomorrow for the airport. He wants me to have as long as possible in Palermo so has talked me down from my habitual veers early taxi. Henri (Hercule) has spent the last 2 nights skyping but the wifi is crap so we keep getting cut off…he keeps persisting though!!

I’m hoping I’ll make it all the way to Bologna tomorrow but it will depend on the stars aligning, otherwise I’ll stop overnight in Roma.

Another phase over and everything is now pointing down under!!

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Ave Maria

Every time I hear Ave Maria from now on it will bring back memories of Palermo. The local church bells play it every half hour and I think I may go mad!!

2 days now being on my own again and as it is now only 2 weeks and I’ll be home, I’m starting to feel as if I am treading water a bit with my waters already pointing me homewards.

Notwithstanding I keep going. Yesterday was a bit of a wandering type day. I went in search of the Church of the Immaculate Conception that was closed when H, A & I went last time. This time it was open which was good. I wandered through the markets of the town and then came home to have a salad for lunch with the left over food. Then I went out again to do some shopping for a few supplies to last until I leave Palermo. I wandered the back streets where I hadn’t been before and eventually came home for my dinner at home which was a seafood rice I’d bought at Touring Cafe. A very ordinary sort of day.

Today I decided I had to be a bit more organised so out I went. After coffee at the world’s best coffee shop I walked around half of Palermo working out the bus up to Palazzo Reale. It is the most convoluted bus route of all time and I even had to change busses to get myself there. By the time I got there I could have walked 3 times over but I had 2 bus tickets I was determined to use. You may remember that H,A & I went to Palazzo Reale but the Royal Apartments are only open at the weekend…so I was on a mission. It was a worthy mission with some really lovely mosaics and frescoes in the oldest part of the Palace dating back to the Normans (of course). I also went back to the Capella Palatina just because I had the ticket and because it would never fail to be awe-inspiring.

My next mission was to find a place for lunch that we also hadn’t been able to find previously, and this too was well worth the search. Again, for my record, it is Antica Foccacceria di San Franceso. A lovely restaurant, sitting outside in a very pretty little piazza. I had a most delicious Spaghetti with Sea Urchin eggs…so yummy that even Inspector Montalbano eats it !! I followed up with a very yummy cassata that was to die for. Its very bad not having Ariane around because we used to share our deserts…now what else can I do but eat it all myself!! All your fault Ariane!!

I found a park and had a read in the sun and eventually came home, still full from lunch so I won’t have much for dinner.

One more day in Palermo. Still the Pinoteca to see, maybe a nice lunch again then all over red rover for Sicily.

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Of last days with Ham and Ariane

As I write this Ham and Ariane are doing their last minute packing and getting ready to leave this morning.

Yesterday was spent with them doing last minute things like laundromatting and packing. We all went out and had lunch at a new place that really wasn’t much good…OK but expensive and the staff weren’t too friendly. Then Ariane and i branched out to look at some shops for me to do some ‘going home-type’ shopping myself. The shops were closed (3pm…of course!!!) so we went off in search of a place for Ariane to have a haircut. We found a great hairdresser who did a fantastic job on her lovely curly hair. Honestly Italy is great for haircuts and her cut looks terrific. We then went back to the shops and bought a few little things then came home. Ham was out luandromatting and then he had work he had to finish at all costs which is quite stressful for him. We then went out to dinner. We were in search of a new restaurant we wanted to try but after walking the back streets of Palermo to no avail we aborted the mission and went to an old favourite the ‘Ferro di Cavallo’, had a nice meal (and cheap).

Now its leave time for them, it has been a wonderful month in Sicily, it has been fantastic for me to have the company and to do and see things I probably wouldn’t have done alone. I’ll be catching up with them for a couple of nights in Bologna in a week so shouldn’t be sad (but I always am, being a truly hopeless goodbye sayer).

3 more days in Palermo for me then on to Bologna.