Trettondag

All's Well That Ends Well said William Shakespeare, and today has been a case in point for that.

We had a shooting on our street this morning. 9am seems an odd time to be gunned down as far as I'm concerned. I figured that was an 'under cover of darkness' thing, but apparently not. From what I've figured out, the man who died was a member of a branch of somebody's mafia and he was hunted down and shot at 9:15. About 9:30, I come out onto the street to discover police tape, police cars, and ambulances all over the place. I shrugged and went for my run anyway. Turns out this was the same time that the ambulance folk were trying to revive him before transport to the hospital. By the time I got back to our building, the ambulances were gone. Shortly after that, E went off to the gym. By noon, Andrew and I are ready to go out to get some groceries, but a policeman stops us at the door. If we go, he says, we won't be allowed back throught the tape (which they had moved since I went out this morning.) OK, we went back inside. Meanwhile, E has been trying unsuccessfully to get back into the building after being at the gym. She didn't see us and we didn't see her, but I mentioned she'd be coming back from the gym, and shortly after that when she tried to get across the tape again, they let her. She was understandably very upset by her interactions with the police. By 3pm, they've wrapped up the investigation (this I figured out by keeping an eye on things from our balcony), so Andrew and I tried again for the groceries (hint: if someone is going to be shot on your street requiring the police to close it all day for an investigation, have the foresight to fill the fridge the day before). They've brought in a firetruck to wash the blood stains off the sidewalk. It didn't work. They're still there.

Ah, but there's rarely a dull moment when you live downtown. Today was also Trettondag, or the day Swedes celebrate the arrival of Spring. In Göteborg, it's also the day of the Chalmers Cortege, a parade done by the university students satirizing political figures. Traffic-wise, it's a nightmare of closed streets. We managed to get out of Dodge and get to Hovås to celebrate Trettondag with my choirs. We sang a concert of traditional swedish spring songs tonight at 7 on the beach, overlooking the sea. A good-sized crowd came out to listen to us. By the time we returned to town, the parade was over and so were the street closures. We get to do it again tomorrow, the street closures I mean, because tomorrow is första maj and labour day, so all afternoon there will be demonstrations. I think we'll get the heck outta Dodge nice and early tomorrow morning to go back to spend some quiet time in the sun by the sea. After all, isn't that what enjoying Spring is all about?

Viva Italia - Verona - our last day

It's been a really long day. We were up so early to catch the 7:40 train to Verona that we caught the 7:09am train instead. Once in Verona, we decided to catch the bus from the train station out to our hotel near the airport in order to save some money except that the bus driver did not speak any of my languages (good thing I can point) and when he dropped us at the stop we'd asked (pointed?) for, it was on the other side of the highway from the hotel. So, we played Frogger, running between the cars from one side of the road to the traffic islands to the other side. BUT we got here AND they had a shuttle back to the centre of Verona, so we dumped our stuff in our room and went off to explore.

First stop - breakfast / brunch / lunch / food / COFFEE!! (because there had been no opportunity for breakfast) so we sat in the sun in Piazza Bra across from the Arena. (Verona has a colliseum like Rome, but it's smaller and they call it an arena. They hold concerts there in the summer). Then we set off to explore and wander. After much searching, we found "Juliet's Balcony" which was created a couple of hundred years ago in tribute to Romeo and Juliet. It is well staged, complete with vine covered wall for climbing over or hiding in the shadows of... But soft what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun

The best part of our day was Giardino Giusti (the Giusti gardens). They're smaller than the Boboli Gardens in Florence, but we had just as much fun exploring and imitating the statues. Lemon trees. Orange trees. Fountains with fish and turtles. A lookout over Verona and a secret chapel.

Wandering in warm sunny weather makes Peter thirsty. Fortunately for him, here in Verona a large beer is 1 L. Nice and big (understatement). Good and cold. I discovered the Aperol Spritz. Absolutely divine and a good thing it isn't available anywhere I live on a permanent basis.

I was underwhelmed by Verona. We had 7 hours to prowl around (based on hotel shuttle bus drop off and pick up) and it was a stretch. To be fair, we didn't spend our time doing museums and churches, we spent our time wandering around getting a feel for the place, and we didn't need 7 hours to do that. Verona had a Pisa-esque feel to it, in that there were a fixed number of things to do, and when we'd done what we came to do, we'd had enough. But unlike Pisa where we hopped on an earlier train to go back to do more of Florence, today there was nowhere to hop back to. We head back to Sweden tomorrow (v-e-r-y early 4:45am). It's been a good week. We really lucked out with the weather, but as my grandmother used to say every time she came to visit, it's nice to get away, but nothing tastes quite as good as bread and butter at the kitchen table when you get home.

Viva Italia - Venezia day 2

Indiana Jones came to Venice on a quest for enlightenment, and we came to Venice on a quest to find Indiana Jones. In "The Last Crusade", he finds an old library in Venice, through which he finds a knight that leads him to Petra and the Holy Grail. The old library is in fact San Barnabas church and it took us quite a long while to find it. BUT WE DID!

E's quest today was to find the perfect Venetian mask. It took hours, but we found it. (It's beautiful - she chose well). Sprout decided a few trips ago that he was going to collect 'typical' hats from the places we visit. We found him a gondolier hat to add to the collection, that he happily sported all day. I wanted to go across the lagoon to the other side for no other reason than to say that we did. San Giorgio church, which you can see directly across from Piazzo San Marco, is lovely. They also have a bell tower ready to be climbed for a good view, only their's feels a bit like cheating because instead of climbing 400+ stairs, they have an elevator. (Very civilized). We had an afternoon drink in St Marks Square, serenaded by a quartet (violin, accordian, piano, clarinet), then set off on another quest for postage stamps. With time to kill before dinner (and in keeping with my Disney World analogy about Venice - time for a water ride), we climbed aboard the waterbus again for what turned into an hour-long tour around the canal. Great way to get a feel for more of Venice. Seeing cars was almost a disappointment after 2 days without them. There is an enormous carpark just outside of Venice that we rode past on our boat. We've all enjoyed the lack of wheels over the past couple of days.

I have referred to our week in Italy as the taste of Italy tour (ha), meaning we were only going to each place long enough to get a taste of it, rather than that we were going to eat our way around northern Italy. It could also be called the Tiramisu tour because it has become a requirement that every night at dinner, we taste that restaurant's tiramisu. I am not a fan of the stuff, but I can tell you from taste testing that the best one anywhere is at Restaurant Alla Rampa in Rome near the Spanish Steps. So if you like tiramisu, the next time you're in Rome...

Tomorrow we head off very early to Verona and the last day of our trip before returning to Sweden on Saturday. I am afraid that many places will be closed because it is Good Friday, but if all we get to do in Verona is sit in the sun and soak up the atmosphere, that won't be all bad.

Viva Italia - Venezia day 1

There’s nothing quite like being by the water. We arrived in Venice today, by train. We are staying at the Hotel Caneva, as suggested by Sarah R, and while it is very basic, it is well located. Their directions started with a trip on a waterbus, so we climbed aboard for a short cruise down the Grand Canal to the Rialto Bridge. From there, we had a short wander through the labyrinth of alleyways to the hotel. Some of their rooms overlook a canal – ours does not, but it’s a good size, and who wants to spend that much time in the hotel when you could be out exploring Venice?!

Truthfully, at this point of the night, today is a bit of a blur. We stopped in every mask shop and murano glass shop we saw. We found St Marks Square (unfortunately much of it is covered by scaffolding and is under repair) and toured the Basilica. The gold mosaics are magnificent. (The ceiling structure and marble work is also remarkable in San Stefano). We wandered the alleyways, following the little arrows: this way to the Academia bridge, this way to San Marco, this way to the Rialto. We had a wonderful lunch in the sun overlooking the lagoon. After dinner, we wandered over to the other side of the Rialto bridge and decided we would return tomorrow when more of it would be open.

One of the things we commented on were the bells at St Marks. At 6 o’clock, they chimed 6 times, which is what you would expect except that in Florence, the bells at Santa Maria del Fiora (Il Duomo), the bells chimed 23 times at 7am. We couldn’t figure that one out either. It has something to do with Il Duomo telling time based on 24hrs starting either from sunrise or sunset. Either way, we found it odd.

Tomorrow, we will find the church in the Indiana Jones and Moonraker movies, do the Rialto Bridge by daylight, watch the figurines strike the bells atop the astronomical clock beside San Marco (like in Prague), and take the waterbus across the lagoon to San Giorgio. Venice is like Disney world for adults – what’s a trip to the amusement park without a boat ride?

Viva Italia - Firenze day 2

Today was climbing day or at least that's what my legs think it was, now that I'm here at the end of it. We started today by climbing to the top of Il Duomo. Ever seen a picture of it? See that cupola at the top? We were there. I'm not sure what's more amazing - the great view from the top or the tiny passageways you climb through inside the walls and roof to get there. Honestly, you feel like Quasimodo or some deranged monk working your way up the curve of the roof.

The Baptistery by comparison is magnificent. The dome in the cathedrale is frescoes. The dome in the baptistery is mosaic, mostly gold, depicting bible scenes. I would have liked to lie on the floor to gaze up at it better (but they frown on you doing that). We were all suitably in awe.

Late this afternoon, we got into the Uffizi. We had to go with a tour group because that was the only way to get tickets for any day we were here. (If you're coming to Florence, reserve your tickets online ahead of time). The main purpose to going was for A&E to see Botticelli's Birth of Venus, which we saw. The museum itself has beautiful ceilings in the 2nd floor hallway, not like any style we'd seen anywhere else.

The boys and girls split up for a couple of hours this afternoon so the girls could try to shop and the boys wouldn't have to be dragged along. The boys found a sundial outside the Gallileo museum that measures astrological time. The girls found, well, shoes but not in the right sizes, and E found some jeans. There have been wonderful stores in so many of the places we've visited, it was nice to have time to actually go inside them.

Tomorrow we head off to Venice. So many movies to rewatch because they take place in cities we've seen: Sabrina & The Devil Wears Prada (Paris), Roman Holiday & Only You (Rome), A Room With A View (Florence), Moonraker, Casino Royale & Indiana Jones (Venice).

Viva Italia - Pisa

Andrew had 2 requests for our trip to Italy. He wanted to eat pizza (surprise) and he wanted to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, so today, off to Pisa we went. It's about an hour's train ride from Firenze, and another 20 minute walk across Pisa to the other side of the river where the Tower complex is located. The town (city?) of Pisa itself seemed pretty run-down. There was a lot of construction, but many of the buildings were in disrepair.

To see the that the tower actually does lean is surreal. Construction started in 1172 and the 1st 4 levels were completed before work stopped (maybe because somebody noticed the building wasn't standing up straight?). It took another 200 years before work started again on the next 3 levels. If you look at the tower, it curves. This is because they compensated for the lean when construction began again in the late 1300s.

When you buy your tickets, you are assigned a time. Ours was for mid-afternoon, so we decided to start our tour with the Baptistery and end with the tower. Construction on the Baptistery began in 1152. What is extraordinary about it is the acoustics. Every half hour, the attendant closes the outside doors, and demonstrates the echo. We stayed to hear it twice and each time, she started with one note, added a 3rd, then a 5th above it, to create a one person 3-note chord. Amazing.

The Cathedrale is beautiful too. It also dates from about 1172 (the leaning tower is its bell tower). Elizabeth doesn't like touring churches because of the holy relics. This one just about did her in. One of the side chapels has the skull of a saint in its glass reliquary, and the one in the chapel on the opposite side contains all of St Guido (he had been scattered all over Italy, and they had to find his parts before putting him back together). To add insult to injury, the attendant at the entrance thought E's skirt was too short (we thought she looked pretty chic) and tied a paper skirt around her waist, long enough to cover her knees. We thought it looked pretty chic too, but E was mortified.

The tower itself is still under renovation. Inside the core, there is scaffolding to shore up the structure. It's true that sometimes it feels like you're climbing downhill even when you know you're climbing up, simply because of the slope. The slant is most pronounced at the main entry door. By the time you reach the top, the view is magnificent, and you've stopped noticing that the floor isn't exactly perpendicular to the ground.

Sorry - no picture today either - still having uploading problems. Tomorrow, we tour Firenze properly (il Duomo, the Uffizi) and let there be shoes!

Viva Italia - Firenze day 1

Look up, look w-a-a-a-ay up and you'll find our hotel in Firenze (Florence). It's on the 3rd floor, which doesn't sound high, until I tell you that each floor is about 2, so it feels like we've hiked up 5 floors not 3. We're at Hotel Perseo this time, just a couple of minutes from Il Duomo.

Elizabeth called today our bonus day. The original plan was to stay in Rome until noon, then spend the afternoon travelling to Florence, but we decided yesterday to come here this morning instead. We paid the surcharge to take the faster train (1 1/2 hrs instead of 3) and were here by noon. The italian countryside was so green!

Beautiful sunny and warm (hot?) again today. We had lunch (vegetables!) at a sunny patio in Piazza della Signoria. The guy sitting beside us wanted to talk. Turned out he's from Florence, owns a leather store just down the street, and gave us restaurant suggestions (thanx Raphael). We're going to try one out tomorrow night - stay tuned. Then we wandered past the Uffizi, over Ponte Vecchio, and into the Boboli gardens (thank you culture week for another free entry).

Peter wanted to have dinner somewhere overlooking the Arno. Golden View Open Bar is directly opposite the Uffizi, just off the Ponte Vecchio. We had a really fun waiter named Vilsa and Rick Steeves was there (of Rick Steeves Europe? PBS? ring any bells?) Great food. Wonderful experience.

After dinner, more strolling around, gazing in shop windows under a full moon. Elizabeth is in love, italian style, with a pair of designer shoes from Miu Miu ($900).

Sorry - no photo today. Nothing wants to load.

Viva Italia - Rome day 2

Vini, vidi, vici - we came, we saw a whole lot of stuff, we conquered the tourist map.

Today's highlights:

• Santa Maria Maggiore church, built in 432 A.D. Magnificent mosaic work above the altar. Beautiful marble floors.

• Colliseum. This is culture week in Rome, which means (apparently) that admissions are free. We still had to queue up to get our free ticket, but hey, it was free. From now until September, there is a special exhibit on the top floor of the colliseum. It explains the history of the building, what Rome looked like before the great fire, and Nero, using a combination of displays, artifacts, and text. Did you know that the floor of the colliseum was covered in sand to absorb the blood from the fighting, and that the ancient word for sand was arena?

•Palatine and the Roman Forum. This is the archaeological gardens beside the Colliseum. It is massive (!) and would have been a great place for a picnic if I had thought to pack one. The whole place smelled wonderful because of the wisteria and the orange trees.

• Bocca della Verita. The mouth of truth is a stone mounted on the wall at Santa Maria in Cosmedin church. It is featured in 2 movies, Roman Holiday (Audrey Hepburn) and Only You (Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr) and I really wanted to see it. Legend has it that if you put your hand in the statue's mouth, only the pure of heart will pull their hand back out intact. My hand is still attached.

• Circus Maximus. Nowadays it's a big grassy field, but the track is still visible where chariots used to race in front of 300,000 spectators.

• The cat sanctuary at Torre Argentina. In an among the sunken ruins of 3 very ancient temples, live roman pussycats. We tripped across them because the site is separate from the other ruins, encircled on all sides by busy streets.

We liked Rome. In spite of its size, it doesn't have the bustle that Paris, Berlin, or London have. Everywhere you turn, there's an ancient something - corinthian pillars just standing in the middle of nowhere, a detailed portico on a wall, half a wall in a park which, upon closer inspection, turns out to be a remnant of ancient roman baths. We wondered if the people who lived here get blasé about it, being surrounded by all that history all the time. This will sound dumb, but I got such a kick out of all the nuns everywhere. Think about it, if I was a nun tourist, where else would I want to go?

Tomorrow: Firenze

Viva Italia - Day 1 Rome

The Shep's are on the road again. This time we're doing the kamakazi tour of Northern Italy. This is påsklov in Sweden - the kids' Easter break, so we're taking advantage of the time to get a taste of Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice, and Verona.

We arrived late this afternoon in Rome. The weather forecast had advertised sunny and 27C. False advertising. Drizzly and cool, but it's Rome and that's what umbrellas are for. We are staying at the Hotel Tirreno. I did better than usual this time - our quad room is larger than the one in Paris was, and the hotel is more well-appointed than usual for this price bracket. We're well-situated too - a short walk to the train station, a short walk to the Colliseum, a decent walk to anything else we could care to see.

Today's (tonight's?) tour itinerary was the Spanish Steps. I had stayed near them when I was here in '88, but it took me until about 4 years ago to figure out what that big staircase was. On the walk over, we passed by some very nice looking shops - such dresses - such purses - such shoes! We found the corner of the quattro fontana (Me: what do you think that means Elizabeth? E: 4 cheese? some days she's really blond) 4 fountains. The steps themselves were a tourist zoo, but I didn't care. We found them, and then we found a lovely little restaurant, Restaurant Alla Rampa, for dinner. We sat outside believe it or not, under the heaters, and toasted ourselves with inadequate red wine. Decent food - not haute cuisine - I picked it for the location. Should have worn pants with stretchy waistbands to allow for all that pasta and cream-filled dessert. Peter had the best tiramisu we've ever tasted. House Special? Absolutely!

On the way back to the hotel, we took the wind-y route that led past an Oratorio with a magnificent ceiling, and Trevi Fountain, also a tourist zoo, but beautiful nonetheless as you can see. Even in the drizzle.

per aspera ad astra

Thursday night I saw the rings on Saturn and the craters on the moon. It was extraordinary. It's one thing to see it in pictures and another thing completely to look through the telescope and see those rings for yourself. The moon really does look like swiss cheese.

Slottskrogen is the big park in Göteborg. It's like High Park in Toronto - walking paths, playgrounds, mini zoo, picnic spaces. But Slottskrogen also has an observatory, which is where we met Andrew's teacher, Susan, for an astronomy field trip Thursday night. 9:30-10:30pm might sound like an odd time to have a school trip, but any earlier and it wouldn't have been dark enough to see anything. Susan taught us about variable stars - have you noticed that sometimes a star looks brighter for a few days, then the same star looks dimmer? Maybe there are 2 of them circling around each other, taking turns being seen by Earth. We saw the double star in the Big Dipper. You can see it with the naked eye if you concentrate - 2nd one in from the end of the handle - but there are actually more than 2. I saw 3 through the telescope, but I think I was supposed to see more. We focussed on the Pleiades and the nebula in Orion's belt. So much to see - such powerful telescopes.

In case you were wondering, per aspera ad astra means "through hardships to the stars". A rather fitting summary of our year.

Gunnebo Slott

Thought #1: it would be really nice to see one of these places when it's sunny and the gardens are in bloom.

Thought #2: caption for this photo should be "little brothers are weird".

Today's field trip was to Mölndal and Gunnebo Slott. Built in 1792 as a summer house for the richest man in Sweden, it is Sweden's Versailles. All the interiors are neo-classical. The plaster work is magnificent. It was designed to look like an italian villa, complete with a separate orangerie in its day which housed many exotic plants including lemon trees and pinapple plants.

Every room was designed to be different - each has its own chair design and fabric. No 2 ceramic stoves are the same. The planking in each room is also lain in a different pattern. While opulent, we found the rooms to be smaller than we expected. All perfectly proportioned, but smaller. Perhaps we've been spoiled by touring Versailles and Tjolöholm and palaces, and of course living in our lovely @1880 flat. What a difference to design a hundred years can make.