Dear all,

Have to relate another story about Ryanair from Ms. Georgina Esch of mainly Southern France these days, I think.

One of our female friends, a 5 foot 10 redhead, was pushed by a Ryanair official in the Perpignan airport.  So she decked him.  And was arrested.   Wonderful.  She dined out on it for months.

Good for her, I say. I think that would be a very appropriate use for our $100 fine. Though perhaps, being American, I am jumping to the conclusion that she sued Ryanair. Perhaps she had her meals paid for by people who appreciated a good story and sympathized with her more than they sympathized with Ryanair.


As I mentioned, we have no internet in our apartment, so we are forced to go to this cafe every morning and sometimes during other times of the day and have cappuccini.

Lots of museum hopping. We are definitely up for it. Went to the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (History of the Duomo), which was our main reason for coming to Florence. Don is doing research for a project. Took tons of pictures, which they do allow.


Part of the research, getting a sense of scale. This picture serves a dual purpose: Always make note of the toilet location.


Era at Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, sitting under a Donatello choir balcony - young boys frolicking. Not on a cell phone; listening to the Museo's spiel. We heard how various seriously wealthy people, like the Medici, would have different pieces torn out of the Duomo to update it for their son's wedding, or bar mitzvah, or some such event.

Then went to the Palazzo Medici Riccardi which has a lovely 360 degree fresco by Benozzo Gozzoli (photos not allowed), and a couple of the most incredible ceilings. Fantastic. One of many Medici palaces in Florence and its surrounds.





































Through the Looking Glass at Palazzo Medici Riccardi.





































Room with a Ceiling

 
Another room with a ceiling at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi

Today we went to a new museum, Museo Galileo, or the Instituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (history of Science). Absolutely fantastic. We loved it. So inspiring. Beautiful old instruments and equipment, almost all Italian, so they were exquisitely beautiful. Little movies throughout which explained the different inventions, their basic science and how they worked. Everything was explained visually with very minimal subtitles in Italian and English. Very cleverly done. The exhibits and the inventions and machinery itself were beautifully presented. We spent the whole day there, except for a break for soup (Ribollita), salad, porcini mushrooms, grilled vegetables and shrimp pasta, wine, of course. They wouldn't let us take photos, but they did have beautiful catalogs for sale. We bought half a dozen very heavy ones. Now must find FedEx.

Living around the corner from the Duomo you begin to notice certain things. Do you see how the sky shining through the rosettes is so enamel blue? When I first saw them, even though I knew better, I thought the rosettes were enameled. Also, almost all the elements in the building are not identically matching. The windows are all different, the decorative elements in the archways at the top of the building, under the rosettes are all different. The four petalled rosettes to the right of the picture are pretty similar, but the similarity is an oddity in this building.

While enjoying a glass of wine yesterday at a neighborhood cafe with wireless (same cafe as first photo of this blog), Don spoke to an artist friend on his cell phone (using Skype), as the friend was speeding on a  train to Virginia (sounds like a math problem). So, Don was in Florence, using Skype, and speaking to someone who was traveling to Virginia. Sorry to repeat myself, but I just can't get over these newfangled ways. The down side - a supplier called Don's cell in the middle of the night to inquire about an overlooked/unpaid Magnolia bill ($100) - oops.

More coming up.

Ciao, ciao,

Era and Aldo

Dear friends and family,

We are kicking ourselves that we did not see Enrique Chagoya's etchings at the Met, displayed alongside Goya etchings. A little intimidating, he says. I guess, but still quite an honor. Those of you in NY may still have a chance.

Frankfurt must have been a good 20, 25 degrees cooler than NY. We landed in mist and then light drizzle. At first it felt wonderful, but after a couple hours out walking we started to get cold. What soft, fickle creatures we are. Stayed in a wonderful boutique hotel, Villa Oriental. All done in a Moroccan style with beautiful craftsmanship throughout. A Persian restaurant next door with great food. And what I was probably most excited about, I got to remove the 2 "A Child's Vi[r]gil" by Norbert Prangenberg and John Yau from my luggage and we actually mailed them at a Frankfurt post office to Norbert's agent. It was so easy! Let's hope they get there, but somehow the young efficient postman at the Frankfurt Hautbahnhof (main train station) inspired great confidence. German efficiency. The package took up at least half of my suitcase, so the relief is immense.


Travel is not boring, especially when you take Ryanair. The Frankfurt-Hahn airport is about an hour and 45 minutes from Frankfurt. It is an old military airbase which is now used for mainly budget airlines (Still has a Circa 1960 building/control tower with giant words "Flight Operations"). To get out there, one must drive, or the easiest way is to take one of the airline shuttles. These leave every hour from close to the Hautbahnhof. Ryanair is inexpensive and very reliable, but fraught with all sorts of strict pitfalls and a policy of zero tolerance. (Quite a difference from Singapore Air on our flight over, where you feel that you can do no wrong. At Ryanair you almost feel that everything you do is wrong.) You break the rules, you pay ze money, or maybe you don't even get on the plane. They close their flight desks I believe 30 minutes before the flight, so if you haven't checked in and dropped your luggage, you are out of luck. If you haven't declared your luggage and paid for it beforehand, it will cost you. And if you haven't printed out your boarding passes, within a window which closes 4 hours before your flight, it will really cost you. We forgot to print ours out and it cost us about 100 bucks.


We took a walk along the River Main (pronounced "Mine", sort of).

We got off the bus and straggled into the airport. Some of our fellow travelers were greeted with a notice that their flight had been cancelled. Was this some new Ryanair thing? No, it turned out all flights into anywhere in Spain and Belgium were cancelled on all airlines, because of a big strike in those countries. We spoke to 3 young Germans, who had been on their way to Valencia, now waiting in line to get their refund, and hoping to get tickets to Portugal. Travel is not boring, they said. We later saw them, all smiles. They had managed to group together with 2 other formerly stranded travelers, one of whom had rented a car, and they were all going to drive to Spain.


While standing in line in the waiting room, we couldn't help but notice a disturbance. A  couple had gotten into a screaming match with one of the Ryanair hostesses. The man, who was trying to get some long rolls of something onto the plane (eegads, he was probably an artist), completely lost it and started to make threatening gestures directed towards the hostess. She shouted "That's it! He's staying here. He's not getting on the plane." The female side of the couple started a screaming and shouting episode, which lasted a good 20 minutes. It was impressive. The man planted himself in the passage, doing his best to block the entry of those of us who were allowed to board the plane. I don't think they ever made it onto the plane. I was relieved to discover that they did not appear to be Americans. At least one can take pleasure in the fact that this couple managed to find each other; clearly meant to be together.

An hour and a half later, and we landed in a different world, a world of perfect weather, for one thing. Actually landed in Bologna, made our way to Florence, and to the most fabulous spacious, luxurious apartment, around the corner from the Duomo. Went to a neighborhood restaurant with a proprietor who broke into song on a regular basis, mostly opera arias. Shades of Lady and the Tramp and their spaghetti dinner, if you can remember that far back. The food was delicious. Wonderful pasta, good wine, fresh veggies. Don had a grappa to fight off a cold that was coming on. The only thing not great was the limoncello, but that was on the house.






Maintenance never ends on these older structures. (Auto Pano - 8 photos stitched together with Era editing - orig = 200MB. Don catching up on his sleep and attempting to shake the cold.)

The astounding Florentine Duomo, the result of many competitions over the centuries, with entries from some very big names in art. Michelangelo was one of the losers. The maestro commented that the winning design for the top dome and facade looked like a cricket cage. One can imagine the Maestro making this comment somewhat bitterly, after some good, or bad, Italian wine. Sour grapes. We don't agree, and the newly cleaned and replaced white arches at the top look fabulous.

We will soon venture out to discover the best cappucino/internet cafe in Florence.

And we must apologize if we are not answering your emails quickly or at all. Our apartment is an elegantly restored medieval building with very high ceilings, new kitchen and bathroom, spacious, all of that, but no internet. So we would have to be extremely efficient to answer everything at an internet cafe, and it just isn't going to happen. So if it's important, and we haven't answered in a few days, please re-send. We do love getting your responses, but we may not have the requisite time to respond back, at least not right away.

Love, Ciao,

Era and Aldo (Don)

Hi all,

Went to the Neue Galerie and ate at Cafe Sabarsky; the first recommended by my high school buddy, Deborah Mann, and the second by restauranteur Michael Wild (Baywolf). Fortunate that they are in the same building. The Neue was having an amazing exhibition of Franz Xaver Messerschmidt's character head sculptures. They looked so contemporary, but Messerschmidt was alive and producing in the 18th century. John Yau says Arneson loved Messerschmidt and we can see why. Cafe Sabarsky served a lovely lunch, but nothing to touch the Double Duck dinner at BayWolf we had the night before we left. Those of you living within driving distance of Oakland should not miss going to at least one of these. They are fabulous!! A yearly event, end of September.

Also saw the Matisse show at MOMA; skipped Big Bambu at the Met as our ex-son-in-law, Kevin Rowell, has been building mammoth bamboo sculptures all over this land and in some foreign lands for years. (That is before he started helping on the Haiti reconstruction efforts.) They look just as awesome as the pics we have seen of the Starn twins' structure, but that is good that the Starns are jumping on the bamboo wagon. Also walked to the Asia Society, but we skipped the Yoshitomo Nara exhibit. Not our favorite.





































Era with Guardian

Saturday evening was unwholesomely hot and humid. We walked through Times Square, which was crowded with fevered people who seemed to be barely moving. We did snap this Where's Waldo type picture of a giant billboard of the crowd. (picture taken another cooler evening)


We are standing at a small round table, close to a woman sporting a bright red jacket. Or right above where life.forever appears.





































Unidentified tourist, getting into the spirit of the good ol' USA.

Had dinner at John Yau and Eve Aschheim's house. These generous friends have had us over for dinner almost every trip we have taken to NY. Poor John cooked in that heat while Eve de-loused the head of a neighbor child. As the Japanese say, Thank you for exhausting yourselves.





































John, daughter Cerise, and new dog Charlie. Eve upstairs de-lousing a neighbor kid.

We mentioned our ex-son-in-law, and yesterday morning we got an email from Kevin in response to the travel blog you all received. He was in NY for 1 day, meeting with people from the Rockefeller Foundation and the UN, fundraising for the re-construction efforts in Haiti. He and some other good people are putting together a program which will teach people in the Haitian community to build both sustainably and safely.


We had a great dinner with Kevin and our lovely niece Kate Hamaji, also working for a non-profit. Very fun!


We just about did it all (actually that's impossible to do in NY in less than a week), but did not manage to meet with artist Katarina Wong, fortunately we will see her in Stockholm. Also couldn't meet this trip with my cousin's daughter, Rahna Reiko Rizzuto, who is now a prize-winning author, but we'll probably see her in the Bay Area when she goes on her book tour. She has written a book on Hiroshima. She interviewed my mom for it, and Rahna said Mom figures prominently in it, so I am excited to read it.

Now at JFK, waiting to catch a Singapore Airline flight to Frankfurt. (Now sending from Frankfurt).

Love to all,

Era and Don

Hi friends and family,

Everything going smoothly here, although it is still quite hot and humid. Many NY'ers walking around in short shorts and flip flops.

Arrived very late Tuesday evening. Wednesday had a very good meeting with Chuck Close at his studio. Some promising projects and new ideas. Got a tour of Chuck's apartment and tasted some delicious Sweet 100 baby tomatoes he is growing on his rooftop deck. Lunch at Chuck's studio; delicious sandwiches from The Smile. The executive chef is Melia Marden, Brice Marden's daughter. Keep it in the family.

We met two lovely women at Chuck's Studio, one being the president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund. She's a very attractive and pleasant woman named Cecile Richards, who is also the daughter of Ann Richards, former governor of Texas. They loved the tapestries hanging in Chuck's studio.

Went to the Rubin that afternoon; we were pleasantly surprised to run into Tsherin Sherpa, a Tibetan artist who lives in Oakland and visited Magnolia along with Katie De Tilly, Hung Liu's Hong Kong dealer, and Gonkar Gyatso, an artist who shows at Katie's gallery, 10 Chancery Lane. Tsherin Sherpa and  Gonkar Gyatso  are currently in a very interesting show at the Rubin called Tradition Transformed. All the artists are living Tibetan artists and looking at Tibetan imagery from a contemporary or Western perspective. Two of the artists, Losang Gyatso and Tenzing Rigdol, have works in The Missing Peace. Tsherin Sherpa gave a talk, which Don and I crashed, to a group of students from The New School. He spoke about his struggles and doubts while learning traditional thangka painting and then breaking with tradition. He is a lovely man with an open-hearted demeanor.

Tsherin said that he tries to paint happy paintings, and that is always his original intent, but somehow they all end up being dark. He got a sympathetic chuckle from the audience.


Tsherin Sherpa at the Rubin. We love his deities in gas masks. We were stopped from taking pictures by museum officials.

We're staying in Brooklyn and took a walk Thursday thru Prospect Park. Don't know if you heard about the tornadoes which ripped through Brooklyn and the Bronx about a week ago, but the devastation was shocking. So many stately old trees blown over. Paul Discoe, our daughter, Marisha, or many of our environmentally active friends would know what to do with these trees. I hope they're not wasted.



Broken Tree, Prospect Park, Brooklyn

Finally arrived at the Brooklyn Museum after walking in circles and dodging fallen trees. Loved this stained glass gypsy carriage in their lobby. Reminded me of Romania.


That evening we went to Thierry Despont's opening at Marlborough Gallery on 57th Street. Magnolia had produced 9 mammoth tapestries for Thierry. They looked stunning against Marlborough's gigantic walls. The whole effect was otherworldly. I'm afraid our pics of the opening are not great.


Era, Thierry Despont and unidentified art lover at Marlborough



More later; Love,

Era and Don

Dear All,

We told the Divine Ms. O that we have been guessing what she will do next to which photo. She came up with this. Don sure looks happy. And it's not far from the truth. And no, we didn't guess this one.

Dear All,

Don and I climbed up the church tower to get an overall view of Sibiu. The inside of the tower looked like something from a movie set; it would never be allowed in the States - wonderfully risky. You can see some of the stairs ascending in the bottom left corner.


At the very top was the old bell ringer's quarters, which is now used for an office. The young man in the photo pointed out some of Sibiu's towers (again, built by the different Saxon guilds).


I just realized that this guy looks a little like Mr. Bean.



Bird's Eye Views of Sibiu


On the road to see the painted monasteries of Bucovina. It's a day's drive, and then 2 days more driving to Buchurest, where we fly back to Italy, and we almost decided not to do it, but how often do we get to Romania?


Sheep, shepherd and his dog on the road. And a word about these sheepherding dogs. They are the most competent, self-confident, smart and I would even say proud dogs that we have ever seen. They know they have a job and responsibilities and they take their job very seriously. They are busy, bright and bushy-tailed. None of that goofiness that you see in some American dogs. As you can see, we had pretty wet weather for a lot of our time in Romania. It was supposed to have been hot before we came.

Driving in Romania is quite the challenge. The "freeways" are basically 2 lane roads, some with better surfaces than others. Romanians drive them as if they are on the Autobahn (120 kph = 75 mph), only slowing down for potholes. There are deep trenches along the sides and sometimes more than occasional potholes, train crossings, horse carts, venders and other pedestrians. We went through villages where babushka'ed women came out into the road with trays of food. Would have liked to stop and try, but we would be risking our lives as well as theirs.

This is one of the worst roads we had to navigate in Romania. There was a sign erroneously claiming it was the way to a major city, and there were many trucks on it, but it only circumnavigated a high school soccer field. It took forever to make the circuit. Them potholes are deep.


It was probably inevitable, but we had a flat tire. Don managed to change to our bicycle tire spare on the narrow little road, and we drove to a Vulcanizare, which is Romanian for a tire shop. Not surprising, there are many of these in Romania. The guys at the shop, pounded out the rim - the tire wasn't punctured, but the rim was way dented - changed the tire and got us back moving in less than 10 minutes. Charge, about $3.50. Unbelievable.


Then there is the amazing scenery. It is sooo green and lush. And the people who have gone out of their way, way out of their way to be helpful, kind and giving whenever they possibly could.



Much love,

Era and Don

Dear all,

After the opening, Ron and Darlene took everyone out for drinks and a fairly large group out for dinner.   We had plates of different sausages, cheeses, some great vegetables and salads, and one Romanian delicacy, which only a few of the Romanians seemed to really enjoy: a bowl of refined pig lard. I spread a very thin layer on some bread when urged to try it, and ate it with the traditional accompaniment, raw red onions. The dollar was at its strongest right then. We were delighted to chip in as the bill for dinner for 12 with people eating and drinking copiously was about what you'd pay for a dinner for two in San Francisco.


Don taking pictures from the pulpit with Kirsten Bahrs Janssen's piece to the left.


Working on a Condition Report. This thangka is from the Dalai Lama's personal collection. That's Tenzin, Era, Darlene, Fernando and a guard.

Found out that our suspicions were correct, shortly before his change of heart, the director of the Contemporary Art Museum had been visited by representatives of the Chinese government on at least one occasion, maybe two. Apparently they made him an offer he couldn't refuse. It is amazing how much effort they are putting into trying to suppress this art exhibition which merely considers the Dalai Lama and is not at all anti-Chinese. This is not the only venue where they have tried and sometimes been successful at stopping The Missing Peace from being shown. I guess nobody should even think of or consider the Dalai Lama.





































Laurie Anderson's piece in process of being installed


View from our hotel: Sibiu and the Bridge of Lies. Don't stand on that bridge while telling a fib, or it will fall down - so they say... Note the eyes in the roofs of the houses.

When I thanked Killian Doerr profusely for stepping in and making the exhibition happen (by providing the other venues on such very short notice), he was very modest. He did say that his superior had asked him, Why are you doing this? He responded it was the right thing to do and that he was delighted to have the exhibition in the Church and the Museum. Killian told me something of the history of the Saxons in this part of Romania, and mentioned that his father had suffered a lot of hardship. He said, "We know what it is like to be exiles," referring to the Tibetans as well as the Saxons.


Brukenthal Museum Courtyard

A group of us got a great tour from Killian of the gigantic organ inside of the Church; really fascinating. It's a mammoth, handmade, hand-carved instrument. They have also kept a record of important papers connected with the organ, including what famous musicians and composers had visited through the centuries to play the organ.


The Brukenthal has the original of this very beautiful Jan Van Eyck painting, Man with a Blue Turban. Don was acting out what he thought the fellow might be holding in his hand and perhaps why he donned that blue turban.

Below is a photo of a very interesting tradition in Europe. This is a post which stands outside of a small house belonging to a guild of craftsmen and women who are in trades connected with, I think, building. They do an apprenticeship which lasts 3 years and 1 day during which they travel around and learn their crafts. Those who have come to live and work in Sibiu are invited to drive a nail into this post to commemorate their time here. Killian said a number of them have worked on the church.




Our hangout in Sibiu, Kaffe Vien, where they supposedly serve Viennese coffee, and where they do fly their pastries in from Vienna, which seems a bit absurd. Romanian pastries are quite good. That's Era, Liviana, who is a curator with the Brukenthal, Darlene, Ron, Corinne (sp?), Anna, and Tenzin. Corinne and Anna are curators from the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, who came down to see the exhibition. Maybe we will be going to Stockholm next!

Love from,

Era and Don