A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With ... Too Much Luggage

My week in Bologna in June flew by -- a week sounds like a good chunk of time, but there is a lot to see and do (and eat and drink) in Bologna!

I had a fabulous walking tour a few days after I arrived, which I arranged through the local tourism office. The rate was a mere 13 euro for two hours, and my guide Emilia was so knowledgeable and enthusiastic that we walked for far longer than that. Emilia really helped me appreciate Bologna!

High on my to-do list when I arrived was to climb the Asinelli tower, which fellow blogger Girasoli has raved about -- with good cause. Girasoli has just arrived back in Bologna and I'm confident that before too long, she'll be climbing up the Asinelli tower again herself!

During our tour, Emilia explained Bologna's long history and development, including its famous towers that in medieval times numbered close to 200 and were quite a status symbol as well as offering protection in uncertain times. However, city fathers finally put an end to the tower-building craze and forced the demolition of most.

Today, numerous smaller towers still dot Bologna, but the two main towers in the historic centre remain crucial as symbols of the city. The taller is the Asinelli while the smaller tower (which is leaning at quite an alarming angle and is therefore inaccessible) is called the Garisenda.

The climb wasn't too difficult, 500 steps up a creaking wooden staircase that followed the inside of the tower walls all the way up. But from the top, the views over nearby domes and chapels as well as more distant vistas were fantastic!

Who can resist the beauty of Venice? The Byzantine splendor of San Marco, the sunshine lighting up the Grand Canal, Renaissance-era stone bridges reaching across narrow canals, the seething mass of tourists treading all over one another as they blindly follow their tour guide on that well-worn path between the Santa Lucia train station and Piazza San Marco....

Okay, on my visit to Venice last month, I could have done without the tourist hordes -- and I deliberately chose that word, hordes to describe the mass of humanity that is ever-present on the tired old streets linking the railway station with San Marco. That's why the very best way to see Venice, I would argue, is to stay for several nights, so you can appreciate what this stunning city is like in the early morning or evening, when the day trippers have left.

But since that's not always possible, on this visit I was a day tripper, one of the great unwashed which came swarming off the morning train from Bologna to spend one day in Venice. It was all the time I had on this trip, and one day in Venice is better than one day in countless other places!

And it really was a fabulous, if very short, day despite my fellow tourists and my stuck-up attitude!

Following Annie's excellent and expert advice, I really did make a beeline from the train station to Basilica di San Marco, with the goal of hitting a late-morning Mass -- a time when the mosaics are well-lit. (It's forbidden to take photos inside San Marco, so all of these are of mosaics in the portico, along with the adjacent clock tower.)

My motives are never pure, and this was certainly demonstrated here. Yes, I really am Catholic, I really do enjoy Mass and I enjoy it even more in a language I don't really understand. But I admit that I also figured Mass in any of the chapels of San Marco would provide a fabulous seat for some of the world's greatest mosaic art. Plus, as Annie told me, the mosaics are lit during Mass and they were spectacularly beautiful! Finally, I knew that you can skip the long lineups to enter the basilica if you're going to Mass. (I did say that my motives are rarely pure.)

Naturally, my plans didn't quite come off the way I had hoped and it serves me right. Mass was actually in a back room that I think was generally used as a storage area; however, before Mass I sat in a beautifully-lit side chapel for about 15 minutes marveling at the mosaics. And I had plenty of time after Mass to walk to my heart's content around inside the basilica.

Just a few days earlier, I had a fantastic day in the town of Ravenna, which UNESCO has designated a World Heritage Site for its remarkable collection of mosaics. I believe I visited roughly a half-dozen different sites in Ravenna that day, all decorated with mosaics dating back as much as 1,000 years in some instances. Truly incredible.

While Ravenna has an amazing amount of mosaic art, and a remarkable history, I have to say that I believe the mosaics in San Marco in Venice are more beautiful and -- as a large collection contained in a small area -- absolutely gob-smacking.

But even when gob-smacked, I still get hungry, especially at lunch time. It was more like 1:30 when I staggered out of San Marco into the burning hot piazza. I had had a restaurant picked out that I wanted to try near the Rialto Bridge, but felt defeated by the crowds. Besides, I wanted to sit outside and bask in the June sun, so I made my way through the San Marco neighbourhood, over the delightful Accademia Bridge into the Dorsoduro sestiere and to my favourite hotel, La Calcina, and more specifically, its cool restaurant that floats out into the Guidecca Canal.

The restaurant was packed, but there was a little sidewalk table on the bustling Zattere attached to La Calcina and I grabbed that instead. My lunch, which began with a great breadbasket and complementary prosecco, was perfect and I had just the right amount of shade from a patio umbrella as I watched the people go by on the Zattere and ships going up and down the Guidecca.

In late June, during the final few days of my latest visit to Italy, I caught a glimpse of life in the Middle Ages through an evening at Bevagna's Mercato delle Gaite, a remarkably rich, cultural event that essentially transports Bevagna back to the Middle Ages. It was also a lot of fun.

Bevagna is a small town in central Umbria that I'm getting to know. I stayed in Bevagna for 4 nights last September, and even in that short time, I heard a great deal about this festival. People spoke of it highly and frequently, saying it was such a shame that I was there at the wrong time of year and had missed this marvelous affair.

So when I returned to the area in late June, as the Mercato was just beginning, I was anxious to have a good look. Frankly, I was amazed! (Unfortunately, few of my photos turned out. The first one, above, is from the website Bella Umbria. The second is borrowed from the Mercato's official website.)

The Mercato delle Gaite, which I very crudely translate as meaning the Market of the Neighbourhoods, refers to Bevagna's division during medieval times into four basic gaites or neighbourhoods. After first hearing about the Mercato, I had imagined a small, local fair where a few craftsmen and women set up little booths in the corner of a square in each neighborhood and sold local products over a weekend.

However, I seriously under-estimated the extent of this whole festival, just how seriously the people of Bevagna take the event, and the intensity of the competition between the four gaite. In terms of its community importance, it's a bit comparable to Siena's very well-known Palio, a huge event on that city's calendar. I had the sense in Bevagna that the Mercato was really an event for the local people, celebrating their long history, and any tourism benefits were secondary. The Mercato seems really important to reinforcing the community's sense of itself, its common history and traditions that are essential to holding a community together.

I was truly gobsmacked by just how completely everyone in town throws themselves into this event. For the Mercato, Bevagna's windy medieval streets were lit by flickering torches (very atmospheric!) buildings were turned into the types of workshops that were essential in any community -- candle-makers, weavers, fabric dyers, potters, bakers, goldsmiths (not so many of those) and, of course, taverns with plank tables and benches.

Local people, wearing authentic costumes, get into character quickly and intensely fight for the honour of their gaite. Even cooking becomes a competition, as the four gaites present banquets with dishes that must be authentic to the region and to the period of about 1250 to 1350.

I went down for dinner and a full evening with three new friends that I made while staying nearby at the wonderful Genius Loci Country Inn, operated by Mary Tacconi's family. Mary's daughter Marica, a professor of musicology at Pennsylvania State University, and her good friend and colleague Joanne, along with Joanne's husband Art, invited me to join them. Which was not only great fun, but hugely helpful as the trio are veterans of the event -- especially Mar, who was born and raised in the area and obviously knows the traditions extremely well.

Last Friday, Diana of Creative Structures challenged her fellow bloggers to write about gratitude. This, I thought, is an excellent idea. I focus far too much on things that aren't going well in my life; in fact, I tend to obsess about small slights, or problems, or misunderstandings -- even small annoyances like rainy weather -- to the exclusion of all the good things in my life. This is actually becoming a serious problem, because I'm forming a deeply entrenched habit of negativity.

So, I'm going to focus now on just a few of the many, many things in my life for which I am grateful.

1. I'm so grateful that last month, I was finally able to visit Ravenna, in north-eastern Italy, and see amazingly beautiful mosaics that date back to the 6th century. Mind-boggling. The photo above is from the ceiling at the Basilica of San Vitale. I was truly gobsmacked by the incredible mosaics, exploding with colour even after 1,500 years.

2. I'm very grateful that my ceramic dishes arrived from Italy yesterday in perfect condition. They are stunning, and as soon as I can find my camera, I'm posting brag photos!

3. Coffee and wine. I'm so grateful these exist and are fairly free flowing.

4. I'm really grateful that I made it to the top after climbing 4 kilometers straight up, passing through the 666 porticos leading up, up, up to Bologna's Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca!

5. It was a wonderful experience to visit Ferrara and its medieval Duomo.

6. I'm so grateful for my family -- including my Mom (on the left) and my two aunties. What a trio.

7. Italian food and Italian cooking classes with a great teacher and friend like Letizia, from Alla Madonna del Piatto near Assisi -- what could be better?

8. In fact, friendship is something that I am especially grateful for, and for friends like Mary of Genius Loci near Bevagna (top of the table) who hosted a fantastic Umbria dinner one night last month, with her son Michael (manager of the Genius Loci) and daughter Marica (closest to the camera) and Mar's great friends Art and Joanne.

Such a short list when I have so much to be grateful for!

I haven't said much about Parma, the first stop on my June trip to Italy, and it really was a delightful small city. I was especially struck by how many people there spoke French and Italian, rather than English as a second language. That's a result of Parma's interesting history, and helpful to me (since my French, while faulty, is far better than my Italian language skills!)

It seems that at the tail end of the 18th century, the Duchy of Parma was occupied by French troops under Napoleon Bonaparte. And by 1814, Parma and several other duchies fell under the power of Napoleon's Habsburg wife, Marie Louise, who was to rule them for her lifetime. (She died in 1847)

Marie Louise's presence, and a whiff of the French culture, remain in Parma.

It's a very wealthy city and that struck me, as people seemed slightly reserved, very proud, calm and deliberate -- I didn't feel a lot of hustle and bustle. The centre was also quite small, making it very easy to stroll despite June's heat and humidity.

There are some beautiful buildings, including Parma's lovely Duomo and a stunning Baptistery (pictured above) which both have some interesting frescos. My favourite (which I visited a few times for shock value) is the Assumption of the Virgin by Correggio in the central cupola of the Duomo. Painted in 1534, the fresco features the Virgin Mary ascending through a sea of limbs, faces and swirling drapery. (Shown in the photo below by Bill Tyne for Sacred Destinations)

Heck, I even liked the BACK of the Duomo!

An unexpected pleasure was the delightful Church of San Giovanni, the Renaissance church of St. John's, which is fronted by a lovely square and belfry and lies directly behind the Duomo.

The hulking Palazzo della Pilotta was also interesting, with large grounds boasting several monuments including this one to composer Giuseppe Verdi. The Palazzo complex includes the Galleria Nazionale and the wooden Teatro Farnese (which are both worth visiting) along with the University of Parma's Institute of the History of Art, and the Museo Archaeologic Nazionale.

I also ate really well in Parma -- fantastic cheese (of course!) and I had an especially good dinner at Trattoria Tribunale.

Many of us who are Italophiles speak often of trying to bring a touch of Italy into our homes. I'm thinking of Italian wines, or great cheeses or even jars of honey flavoured with wildflowers (one of my favourites.) But most of all, I'm thinking of how I really enjoy collecting pieces of hand-made, hand-painted ceramics.

I've also become deeply interested in some of the gorgeous, handmade textiles from my favourite city of Perugia and created by a true artist, Marta Brozzetti. I brought one of her beautiful new works home with me, and have my eye on another that I hope to buy later this year!

But first, the ceramics.

My latest purchases -- which I had shipped from Deruta for their own protection -- arrived via FedEx a few days ago, and I'm really enjoying them. I bought 3 coffee mugs (why 3? I don't know, but 4 seemed so conventional) I also bought a cunning little oil lamp, which will serve no practical purpose, and a lovely round box for jewelry. I love boxes and the sunflower pattern makes me happy.

A few years ago, I spent a couple of weeks in Istanbul, which is a fascinating city. I actually prefer the city's original name, Byzantium. To me, that sounds so much more exotic and conjures images of a fascinating period during the final centuries of the Roman Empire. For it was Roman Emperor Constantine I who changed the name of Byzantium to Nova Roma in about 330 and after his death, it was changed again to Constantinople( the city of Constantine).

Just a few hundred years later, artistic attention shifted to Ravenna. Briefly a capital of eastern Rome during its fall, Ravenna became a western outpost of the Byzantine Empire in about 540 under the Byzantine emperor Justinian. I definitely felt that connection between ancient Byzantium and modern Italy when I visited Ravenna in mid-June.

I've written before about my day trip to Ravenna, which is almost on the Adriatic Sea, not too far south of Venice. But today, I thought I would add my own photos from my visit, as well as a bit more history gleaned from a wonderful book simply titled Ravenna and loaned to me by Colleen (a fellow Slow Traveler.)

I took the top two photos in Ravenna's Neonian Baptistry, a small jewel box and the most ancient remaining monument in Ravenna (Colleen's book suggested it might have been built over a Roman bath.) Completed at the end of the 5th century, this was also my favourite site in all of Ravenna.

The very top photo shows the mosaic covering the domed ceiling in the Baptistry (which is one of eight Ravenna structures designed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.) The ceiling mosaic depicts John the Baptist baptizing Jesus as He stands waist-high in the Jordan River, depicted as veils. To one side stands a pagan water god with a reed in one hand and a garment in the other, representing the Jordan. A procession of the twelve apostles is shown in a circle around the center mosaic, ending with Saint Peter meeting Saint Paul.

The second top photo shows one of the eight columns that circle the interior, and covered with an arabesque mosaic of acanthus leaves.

Diana of Creative Structures introduced the idea of blogging each Friday about things we are grateful for. My list is extremely long and it's a shame that I don't think often enough, every day, about all of the things that I am grateful for.

Now this photo, of a kitty I met last month as he basked in the setting sun in Montefalco, has nothing really to do with the rest of this post. Although I am grateful I saw him -- just looking at his pose makes me feel more relaxed.

My topic, instead, is how grateful I am for Canada's single-payer health care system. By this, I mean Canada's medicare system where a single payer, the federal government (channeling all of our tax dollars,) covers the cost of basic health care for all Canadians.

Is the system perfect? Of course not. Does it work well? I think so.

Under our system, no matter who you work for -- or if you're unemployed, retired, a student, a homemaker -- you have full health care benefits. The benefits aren't tied to your employer and the company's health plan; or tied to where you live or what you do. Or how much money you have.

My description is pretty simplistic, I admit. There are hundreds of caveats. Some provinces and cities have longer waiting lists for services than others; some charge premiums (usually based on income and often paid by employers); and some services aren't covered. Prescription drugs, for example. Not generally covered.

There are waiting lists for all sort of procedures. But the system is based on triage -- the more dire your condition, the faster you receive care. I waited 3 months for sinus surgery. I thought that was fair.

The bottom line: if you are sick, you will get good care no matter who you are or how much -- or little -- money you have. For this, I'm extremely grateful.

This is top of mind right now because the provision of heath care -- who gets it, who pays for it -- is yet again becoming a very heated debate in the U.S. as President Obama moves to introduce a more fair and efficient health care system.

His extremely wealthy opponents who like the status quo (presumably, it's contributing to their wealth) have found a Canadian spokeswoman to denounce Canada's universal medicare system and in so doing, is creating a lot of harm and misunderstanding.

Shona Holmes, of Waterdown, Ont., is now being featured in a U.S. TV ad campaign, running in 50 states, claiming that she would have died if she had waited to be treated in Canada for a rare type of cyst at the base of her brain called a Rathke's cleft cyst. So, she re-mortgaged her home and paid about $100,000 for the treatment at the Mayo Clinic, in Arizona, after doctors in Canada told her she would have to wait several months for a referral to a specialist here.
(She's now seeking reimbursment from the Ontario government)

But experts quoted today by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation say that Holmes has greatly exaggerated the severity of her condition, especially the claim she was facing death.