http://blogs.news.com.au/cubefarmer/index.php/news/comments/finding_time_to_think/
Looks like i'm still not used to stopping an thinking - I found this article while I was meant to concentrating on one thing...bugger
I watched Food Inc earlier today; another kick in the guts of capitalism
Oh boy....
Merry Christmas
I'm currently on the plane flying to London. It sounds great - flying Zurich to London! But I can assure that the circus continues with delayed planes, stressed people and crying babies everywhere!
As we cross the channel, I look out to snow covered field; the white plains puncuated only by trees and delineated by fences. It's my second time to the UK and again it's going to be freezing. Lucky i'm prepared this time...
If I look back to what has happened in the last 12 months, it was quite an up-rooting from the past few years. Finishing at Palmerston - meant a loss of income, finishing my time at the boatshed meant a loss of connection to a sporting community and preparing for an MBA in a foreign country have all meant a change in mentality and perspective; hopefully for the better! In many respects my ambition and energies have reduced in favour of finding something to focus on. This reads strangely but it has not been easy to try to convert energy to focus! While doing a general business degree might not seem like a focusing mechansim it serves as an interuption to the past when I was 'generally doing stuff' - whatever came up over the past 10 years. The intention being, now, to lock in a career direction. As it stands today that direction could be anything. Not helpful! I do feel confident that by September I will have some more clarity on the situation. With new friends, hopefully still a strong connection with old friends(!), further insight into business, an ability to communicate in German and new perspectives on my place in the world 2010 is going to be a great year. I feel a bit of a leech at the moment relying heavily on family and friends but take the view that in the long run I can give back much more than I take - if I focus!
I am very lucky to be able to spend Christmas with friends. Christmas is always a hectic time finishing a year, rushing to have a break and then catching up with everyone. Other than transit on Christmas eve I get to enjoy being in one spot for a white Christmas. The plans for the coming week is to see a bit of Oxford and the area as well as try to meet up with friends in London. I fly home (Mannheim home) on the 2nd to get ready for an big second term (i'll be under no disillisions about the workload ahead!
With all of the stories from my end I conclude with wishing each of you a marvellous, enjoyable and restful Christmas and look forward to speaking, emailing and or Skyping with you when will be a prosperous New Year! ~ Oest
As we cross the channel, I look out to snow covered field; the white plains puncuated only by trees and delineated by fences. It's my second time to the UK and again it's going to be freezing. Lucky i'm prepared this time...
If I look back to what has happened in the last 12 months, it was quite an up-rooting from the past few years. Finishing at Palmerston - meant a loss of income, finishing my time at the boatshed meant a loss of connection to a sporting community and preparing for an MBA in a foreign country have all meant a change in mentality and perspective; hopefully for the better! In many respects my ambition and energies have reduced in favour of finding something to focus on. This reads strangely but it has not been easy to try to convert energy to focus! While doing a general business degree might not seem like a focusing mechansim it serves as an interuption to the past when I was 'generally doing stuff' - whatever came up over the past 10 years. The intention being, now, to lock in a career direction. As it stands today that direction could be anything. Not helpful! I do feel confident that by September I will have some more clarity on the situation. With new friends, hopefully still a strong connection with old friends(!), further insight into business, an ability to communicate in German and new perspectives on my place in the world 2010 is going to be a great year. I feel a bit of a leech at the moment relying heavily on family and friends but take the view that in the long run I can give back much more than I take - if I focus!
I am very lucky to be able to spend Christmas with friends. Christmas is always a hectic time finishing a year, rushing to have a break and then catching up with everyone. Other than transit on Christmas eve I get to enjoy being in one spot for a white Christmas. The plans for the coming week is to see a bit of Oxford and the area as well as try to meet up with friends in London. I fly home (Mannheim home) on the 2nd to get ready for an big second term (i'll be under no disillisions about the workload ahead!
With all of the stories from my end I conclude with wishing each of you a marvellous, enjoyable and restful Christmas and look forward to speaking, emailing and or Skyping with you when will be a prosperous New Year! ~ Oest
Spiez
The train to Spiez (near Thun / Interlaken in Switzerland) seemed to take for ages. As we got further and further delayed our connections in Zurich and Bern became later and later. While delays are not the end of the world it only made it more unfair on people to pick up at the train station. Patrick's sister and his step mother Lilliane had gone to bed understandably and we agreed to catch a cab upon arrival to Spiez. It was our second experience breaking Swiss stereotypes. The first was their puncuality and the second was the cab driver who had no idea where things were in the her city. Spiez is not very big but still she had no idea where the Maddern's place was. It was painful to see the meter tick over in super expensive Swiss Francs. We finally arrived having had to wake everyone up anyway to ask further directions...money not well spent on the cab.
I was looking forward to waking up in the morning to see where we were. Not only had there been a huge amount of snow fall, I gathered we were positioned overlooking Lake Thun. The wake up was a little more abrupt than I had hoped. Patrick had warned me about the kids in the house. Patrick's sister has a child, Oliver, who is 2 years old. Patrick's step brothers are 5yo and 7yo respectively. As all the kids were sleeping in the same room, as soon as one woke the circus began. Oliver found it necessary to shout 'Mummy' as the top of his voice for at least first few house of the morning while the other two would communicate in Swiss German at all noise levels. Patrick and I took the tactic of pretending to sleep for as long as possible using every energy to ignore the symphony of shouting! Finally it was time to get up. Our job for the day was to help Lilliane move out of her apartment in Fribourg. I had offered to help so it was good to do some physical work and also see other parts of Switzerland. We moved much of her apartment up the road by hand. After a couple of hours we had moved everything, cleaned all the windows, window sils and patch-painted the walls. A job well done! I slept back to Spiez as I was exhausted. It's very confusing in Switzerland with so many languages. I'm never sure whether to speak German or English. We got by fine in the end.
We spent a day in Bern. Again a real annoyance that I didn't have a camera. The price to pay for being an idiot and losing it. Bern is a great little city high on a spur with the River "Something" winding it's way around the city centre. We saw where Einstein did some of his best work as well as the bear park - where they house bears. Bears are the national animal of Switzerland I think so are shown much respect with a huge enclosure overlooking the river. We climbed the Muenster and got a great view of Bern. Patrick did a great job carrying Oliver up the 350 stairs! Upon returning to Spiez, we thought we'd wander down to the little harbour and the Spiez Schloss. I can imagine how amazing it is in Winter. Seeing the boats moored with the boat covers covered in snow was very nice. We were expecting some sort of activity at a bar or something but nothing. The only sign of life was some workers scuba diving! That evening, Patrick's father Guy and his other sister Georgina arrived. That brought the total performers in the circus to 9. That house is amazing but not quite setup for 9 people. With english, swiss german and baby languages flying around it was quite difficult to even hear yourself think! Fondue was the perfect dinner to slow everyone down. There's something about sitting around a pot of cheese!
Patick and I thought we'd check out Zurich before I had to fly out so rather than endure another day at the circus we took off to Zurich. Another offensively expensive train ticket got us to Zurich. Earlier we had had an argument with Lillian saying how expensive switzerland was. She would not agree at all saying it was all relative to what they earn and the things they received (free education etc). Unfortunately we were dealing in money we earnt and relative perception of money from Australia and Germany (not withstanding the student budget) so it really did feel like an incredibly expensive place!
Patrick's other step brother, Remigi, has been working at the Dolder Grande, one of the finest hotels in Zurich and probably the world. He took us on an extensive tour of the hotel showing us the most expensive suites and the inner workings of the hotel. The Dolder was refurbished and completed this year for a total of 580m Francs. Considering the current occupancy this year between 20% and 50% it's hard to see how this money will ever be recouped. People like Pink happily pay 6000Fr per night in one of the suites designed by the Rolling Stones, while Tina Turner celebrated her 80th birthday in the 16,000Fr Maestro suite (their best) and each year celebrates new years on the third floor of the same suite. It is ridiculous. There is nothing normal about spending such incredible amounts of money. Remigi told us of a US tyre salesman spending 6 weeks in the 6,000Fr per night suite. The Price of Dubai came over for a weekend. He brought with him three semi-trailers of luggage for him and his 60 servants. Oh, and he brought with him 32 ferraris because he wasn't sure which one he wanted to drive around Zurich for the weekend. It borders on uncomprehensionable - only you have to comprehend it because you're standing in the room overlooking Zurich where it all happens, weekly!
Patty and continued our visit of Zurich wandering the streets. It is a cool city but it's just hard to get your head around the money. It's just engrained in the culture. Zurich is a huge city with 4m people and spreads out as far as the eye can see meaning there are plenty of people who must live 'normally' and i've read that some of the areas outside the city are very arty and cultural. I guess every city has it's advantages and disadvantages. Maybe coming back in Summer after winning the lotto is the go!
I was looking forward to waking up in the morning to see where we were. Not only had there been a huge amount of snow fall, I gathered we were positioned overlooking Lake Thun. The wake up was a little more abrupt than I had hoped. Patrick had warned me about the kids in the house. Patrick's sister has a child, Oliver, who is 2 years old. Patrick's step brothers are 5yo and 7yo respectively. As all the kids were sleeping in the same room, as soon as one woke the circus began. Oliver found it necessary to shout 'Mummy' as the top of his voice for at least first few house of the morning while the other two would communicate in Swiss German at all noise levels. Patrick and I took the tactic of pretending to sleep for as long as possible using every energy to ignore the symphony of shouting! Finally it was time to get up. Our job for the day was to help Lilliane move out of her apartment in Fribourg. I had offered to help so it was good to do some physical work and also see other parts of Switzerland. We moved much of her apartment up the road by hand. After a couple of hours we had moved everything, cleaned all the windows, window sils and patch-painted the walls. A job well done! I slept back to Spiez as I was exhausted. It's very confusing in Switzerland with so many languages. I'm never sure whether to speak German or English. We got by fine in the end.
We spent a day in Bern. Again a real annoyance that I didn't have a camera. The price to pay for being an idiot and losing it. Bern is a great little city high on a spur with the River "Something" winding it's way around the city centre. We saw where Einstein did some of his best work as well as the bear park - where they house bears. Bears are the national animal of Switzerland I think so are shown much respect with a huge enclosure overlooking the river. We climbed the Muenster and got a great view of Bern. Patrick did a great job carrying Oliver up the 350 stairs! Upon returning to Spiez, we thought we'd wander down to the little harbour and the Spiez Schloss. I can imagine how amazing it is in Winter. Seeing the boats moored with the boat covers covered in snow was very nice. We were expecting some sort of activity at a bar or something but nothing. The only sign of life was some workers scuba diving! That evening, Patrick's father Guy and his other sister Georgina arrived. That brought the total performers in the circus to 9. That house is amazing but not quite setup for 9 people. With english, swiss german and baby languages flying around it was quite difficult to even hear yourself think! Fondue was the perfect dinner to slow everyone down. There's something about sitting around a pot of cheese!
Patick and I thought we'd check out Zurich before I had to fly out so rather than endure another day at the circus we took off to Zurich. Another offensively expensive train ticket got us to Zurich. Earlier we had had an argument with Lillian saying how expensive switzerland was. She would not agree at all saying it was all relative to what they earn and the things they received (free education etc). Unfortunately we were dealing in money we earnt and relative perception of money from Australia and Germany (not withstanding the student budget) so it really did feel like an incredibly expensive place!
Patrick's other step brother, Remigi, has been working at the Dolder Grande, one of the finest hotels in Zurich and probably the world. He took us on an extensive tour of the hotel showing us the most expensive suites and the inner workings of the hotel. The Dolder was refurbished and completed this year for a total of 580m Francs. Considering the current occupancy this year between 20% and 50% it's hard to see how this money will ever be recouped. People like Pink happily pay 6000Fr per night in one of the suites designed by the Rolling Stones, while Tina Turner celebrated her 80th birthday in the 16,000Fr Maestro suite (their best) and each year celebrates new years on the third floor of the same suite. It is ridiculous. There is nothing normal about spending such incredible amounts of money. Remigi told us of a US tyre salesman spending 6 weeks in the 6,000Fr per night suite. The Price of Dubai came over for a weekend. He brought with him three semi-trailers of luggage for him and his 60 servants. Oh, and he brought with him 32 ferraris because he wasn't sure which one he wanted to drive around Zurich for the weekend. It borders on uncomprehensionable - only you have to comprehend it because you're standing in the room overlooking Zurich where it all happens, weekly!
Patty and continued our visit of Zurich wandering the streets. It is a cool city but it's just hard to get your head around the money. It's just engrained in the culture. Zurich is a huge city with 4m people and spreads out as far as the eye can see meaning there are plenty of people who must live 'normally' and i've read that some of the areas outside the city are very arty and cultural. I guess every city has it's advantages and disadvantages. Maybe coming back in Summer after winning the lotto is the go!
Munich
It had been snowing in Mannheim during exam prep and the day we left Mannheim for Munich, it started to snow heavily. For the entire train ride, Patrick and I watched snow fall on the fields and forests. Munich was freezing cold and a foot deep in snow! We went to the Tollwood festival (at the same location as the Oktoberfest is held) and tried Feuerzangenbowle to warm the throats. Like all markets there were a huge number of stalls with felt hats, different hand crafts and of course Wurst and Gluehwein!
Gisa was a very kind host. Her house in Schwaginen was not only a very nice apartment but a great base to see Munich. We visited the German Technology Museum on the Saturday seeing a huge array of intricate models and technological advances in German history. From planes, mining models, bridge-building and even nano-technology the few hours that we spent there didn't cover the majority of what there was to see. The city is also very beautiful under snow. We didn't see all that much simply because visibility was low and so was the temperature of our fingers and toes however it was nice to wander the city. Being a city in Germany that didn't suffer from extensive bombing the old buidings do seem to reflect how live was back in time.
Saturday evening dinner was Fondue! Bavarian style. We were guests along with a few of Gisa's Munich friends. Not only was the Fondue great but so too the company. We headed out to a small bar called Pomp before finishing off the night catching a cab home driving through the snow.
A traditional sunday morning breakfast for German's is Weisswurst und Suesser Senf. So when in Rome: we took much amusement in easting the white sausage. The skin shouldn't be eaten to the eating technique is actually to cut the end off and suck the meat out. So many jokes could have been made but were witheld so as not to offend the cultures of the Bavarians! We walked off the Weisswurst with a wander through the Englischer Garten. It's a beautiful park where people take trips around in horse drawn carriages and predictably drink Gluehwein! Patrick and I had a very romantic walk through the snow...before getting our gear ready and heading off to the train station to Switzerland. The only thing wrong with our visit to Munich was that it was too short.
Gisa was a very kind host. Her house in Schwaginen was not only a very nice apartment but a great base to see Munich. We visited the German Technology Museum on the Saturday seeing a huge array of intricate models and technological advances in German history. From planes, mining models, bridge-building and even nano-technology the few hours that we spent there didn't cover the majority of what there was to see. The city is also very beautiful under snow. We didn't see all that much simply because visibility was low and so was the temperature of our fingers and toes however it was nice to wander the city. Being a city in Germany that didn't suffer from extensive bombing the old buidings do seem to reflect how live was back in time.
Saturday evening dinner was Fondue! Bavarian style. We were guests along with a few of Gisa's Munich friends. Not only was the Fondue great but so too the company. We headed out to a small bar called Pomp before finishing off the night catching a cab home driving through the snow.
A traditional sunday morning breakfast for German's is Weisswurst und Suesser Senf. So when in Rome: we took much amusement in easting the white sausage. The skin shouldn't be eaten to the eating technique is actually to cut the end off and suck the meat out. So many jokes could have been made but were witheld so as not to offend the cultures of the Bavarians! We walked off the Weisswurst with a wander through the Englischer Garten. It's a beautiful park where people take trips around in horse drawn carriages and predictably drink Gluehwein! Patrick and I had a very romantic walk through the snow...before getting our gear ready and heading off to the train station to Switzerland. The only thing wrong with our visit to Munich was that it was too short.
Heidelberg After Party
Patrick arrived in the afternoon after our exams. The evening was spent in Heidelberg starting with the Weihnachtsmarkt and the sweetest Gluehwein money could buy! I thought Patrick might enjoy some German culture but it seems that in the Euro countries he has travelled to he has found a Weihnachtsmarkt! This was a particularly sweet Gluehwein to start the evening. Dinner was a traditional Spaetzle dish which was duely inhaled after not eating a lot during studies and exams. Starting with a small beer, moving to a 0.5L and then to a Mass was all a novelty until later the Australians (Messers Maddern and Oest) were on the bar dancing. I'm glad the Eagle Rock didn't come on as i'm sure the pants would have come down purely due to College instinct. We visited a few cool bars in Heidelberg thanks to the locals pointing us in the right direction. The only downside from my point was misplacing my camera - presumably left in the cab. There is a great collection of photos and of course the camera in possession of someone who wasn't kind enough to report it 'lost'. Bummer...
It's not so easy to show people around Mannheim, for no other reason that once you've shown the Wasserturm and the city there isn't much more to see! The schloss is quite spectacular for visitors also but not for long! We bid our class mates a Merry Christmas with some quiet beers at various pubs in Mannheim. In fact it was cool to find some random bars off the beaten track! Some in Jungbusch were a lot nicer than the area's reputation portrays!
It's not so easy to show people around Mannheim, for no other reason that once you've shown the Wasserturm and the city there isn't much more to see! The schloss is quite spectacular for visitors also but not for long! We bid our class mates a Merry Christmas with some quiet beers at various pubs in Mannheim. In fact it was cool to find some random bars off the beaten track! Some in Jungbusch were a lot nicer than the area's reputation portrays!
New apartment:
Through a friend, Birte, I have found a new apartment. It's in the student area closer to the Schloss. Fully furnished it is a very comfortable apartment shared with a Portuguese neuroscientist! I haven't met her yet but am looking forward to it.
Deutsche Boerse
I had a great day at the German Stock Exchange today. Very interesting as each part of today was not as expected! The stock exchange broking floor was very calm...I was expecting a made frenzy in the pit...rather there were people chatting, watching the news, eating and one broker had even brought in her daughter! We then went to the headquarters of the Deutsche Boerse. They operate the stock exchange, the clearing house and also Eurex and Xstra the trading platforms. Basically it is just a big software company. The headquarters is pretty plush! Very interesting firm.
FOMO
I heard the saying tonight:
FOMO
"Fear Of Missing Out"
I've just recently written a friend a note talking about this issue but until now I have not heard it so well put!
Addie suggested the NO card to try to help my obsession of trying to do everything offered to me. It helped to some degree but I still spread myself too thinly at Uni and back in Adelaide! I now know i'm not alone and other suffer the symptoms of FOMO!
FOMO is probably similar to greediness...we want everything possible. It also comes back to the world we live in where we have access to so much information so we always live in the knowledge that somewhere, someone is doing something that we too would want to do. We have so many opportunities before us. Sadly it can seem as though whatever we have now is not good enough. I can only resolve to be aware of this from now on...and try to take up as many quality (not quantity) opportunities that arise.
FOMO
"Fear Of Missing Out"
I've just recently written a friend a note talking about this issue but until now I have not heard it so well put!
Addie suggested the NO card to try to help my obsession of trying to do everything offered to me. It helped to some degree but I still spread myself too thinly at Uni and back in Adelaide! I now know i'm not alone and other suffer the symptoms of FOMO!
FOMO is probably similar to greediness...we want everything possible. It also comes back to the world we live in where we have access to so much information so we always live in the knowledge that somewhere, someone is doing something that we too would want to do. We have so many opportunities before us. Sadly it can seem as though whatever we have now is not good enough. I can only resolve to be aware of this from now on...and try to take up as many quality (not quantity) opportunities that arise.
Berlin
Berlin:
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/ajoest/Berlin#
After our first set of exams a group of eager adventurers decided it was worth visiting Berlin on our first free weekend. Not only was it a free weekend for us but also the Mauerfall Celebration - the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall.
Brent, Jorsia, Hamsa, Petronela and I hired a car to be our method of transport. I hogged all the driving and enjoyed every second of pushing the hire car to its limits. I soon learnt that a) Hire cars don't like going over 170kph and b) the speed limit is not always unlimited limit (eg I might have got a speeding fine - which if I do I will hang up as a trophy to say I got a speeding fine on the Autobahn...high novelty factor!)
We stopped via Nurnberg on the way. It is a very beautiful city particularly around the Alt-Stadt. We walked up to the castle and also around the Marktplatz. We had lunch before hitting the road again.
It was good thinking time on the open road. Brent kept me company as we chewed up the bitumen while the girls slept three across the backseat for most of the way...
I had heard that U2 were playing at the Brandenburg Gates as part of an MTV event on the Thursday evening we were to arrive in Berlin. Unfortunately we were unable to get tickets. As we rolled into Berlin we heard on the radio that U2 had been delayed and as such we headed as close as we could to the gates to see what we could see. We parked the car just as the first song started and while listening to the following three songs tried to get as close as possible to the stage. The concert ended just as we arrived at a vantage point of the backstage area. Our closest brush with fame was to peer over the fence to Bono and the boys get into their black combi vans and speed off into the night.
I stayed with Chrissi at her apartment while the others stayed at a very cheap and good hostel in Moabit.
What is immediately striking about Berlin is the open space. There is no feeling of being in a big city at all. When standing at the Reichstag (the parliament) you can see buildings in the distance that don't at all look big. In fact the buildings are huge but the open space dissipates any claustrophobic feelings.
We spend most of Friday walking around the city and seeing all the touristy sights. We were lucky to have spectacular weather (allbeit cold when out of the sun). The official figure was that 200,000 extra tourists were in Berlin for the weekend.
Touristy things we saw
- Berlin Dom
- DDR Museum
- Alexanderplatz - outdoor exhibition
- Rotes Rathouse (Town hall)
- Breakfast east side
- Oranienburger Str
- Hackische Markt
- Flea Markt (girls singing, lots of english speakers)
- Checkpoint Charlie
- Standing sections of the wall
We didn't get super touristy but got aimed to get a feel of the city and the people. Most impressionable is Berlin's recent history. It's hard to comprehend what has happened in the city even over my lifetime. When the wall stood, there was huge division in Germany and Europe. This had all sorts of effects on the people. Leading up to the opening of the wall people were restless and in the end it was this people pressure that allowed for the wall to be opened. Some still argue that it should never have happened. It's pretty mind blowing.
Still it is noticeable which sections of the city are east and which west. We spent some time trying to get out of the city centre and experience the suburbs. This was quite rewarding, not in a touristy way, but just to see the rough, grubby, in-you-face side of Berlin; the features that make it such an amazing city. We stumbled across an artist colony who's back yard was full of metal sculptures. It was dark and industrial but yet somehow very creative and inspiring. Only 50m was a modern office building. This contrast is Berlin.
On Friday evening we hit the town and had a night out in the Hackische Markt area. It was a fun night that ended rather late but that is what Berlin is all about!
Saturday included many of the same activities - seeing different areas. Breakfast was deep in the eastern suburbs, while lunch back in the west!
Gabor (Chrissi's boyfriend) was also in Berlin for the weekend and it was great to catch up with them both. Moabit has a really nice feel about it. Nice tree lined streets with small shops and cafe's. Really comfortable.
After a long touristy day on Saturday we planned to head to a restaurant / wine-bar called Weinerei. I had heard about it via the New York Times - 36 hours in Berlin article. What attracted me is the theme of the bar. It operates on an honesty system whereby you pay however much you feel the drinks and food is worth. They have been running since 2003, before you ask if it is a viable business model! In fact they worked out that people on average pay more than their share. There were 6 reds to try and drink as well as 4 white wines from all over Europe. They simply put food out on a side-board with a help yourself type system. The food was wholesome and well made. Not over the top but simple appropriate food. The night was going along really well until Hamsa had her bag stolen. This obviously changed the dynamics of the evening sadly. (Luckily the story ended reasonably well in that she got her bag and most of the belongings back the next day.)
Sunday, after some time with Chrissi and Gabor it was time to head back to Mannheim for class. We dropped into the big flea markets but didn't find anything exciting purchases. Although it was a great visit. One notable part was two girls singing and playing guitar to attract people to their mini-garage-sale and also homemade cake and tea. A great way to spend your Sunday morning!
We dropped into Leipzig for dinner but really spent most of the day in the car trying to get home. It was a long drive but well worth while. I really hope I can get to Berlin for an extended period of time sometime soon!
http://picasaweb.google.com/ajoest/Berlin#
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/ajoest/Berlin#
After our first set of exams a group of eager adventurers decided it was worth visiting Berlin on our first free weekend. Not only was it a free weekend for us but also the Mauerfall Celebration - the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall.
Brent, Jorsia, Hamsa, Petronela and I hired a car to be our method of transport. I hogged all the driving and enjoyed every second of pushing the hire car to its limits. I soon learnt that a) Hire cars don't like going over 170kph and b) the speed limit is not always unlimited limit (eg I might have got a speeding fine - which if I do I will hang up as a trophy to say I got a speeding fine on the Autobahn...high novelty factor!)
We stopped via Nurnberg on the way. It is a very beautiful city particularly around the Alt-Stadt. We walked up to the castle and also around the Marktplatz. We had lunch before hitting the road again.
It was good thinking time on the open road. Brent kept me company as we chewed up the bitumen while the girls slept three across the backseat for most of the way...
I had heard that U2 were playing at the Brandenburg Gates as part of an MTV event on the Thursday evening we were to arrive in Berlin. Unfortunately we were unable to get tickets. As we rolled into Berlin we heard on the radio that U2 had been delayed and as such we headed as close as we could to the gates to see what we could see. We parked the car just as the first song started and while listening to the following three songs tried to get as close as possible to the stage. The concert ended just as we arrived at a vantage point of the backstage area. Our closest brush with fame was to peer over the fence to Bono and the boys get into their black combi vans and speed off into the night.
I stayed with Chrissi at her apartment while the others stayed at a very cheap and good hostel in Moabit.
What is immediately striking about Berlin is the open space. There is no feeling of being in a big city at all. When standing at the Reichstag (the parliament) you can see buildings in the distance that don't at all look big. In fact the buildings are huge but the open space dissipates any claustrophobic feelings.
We spend most of Friday walking around the city and seeing all the touristy sights. We were lucky to have spectacular weather (allbeit cold when out of the sun). The official figure was that 200,000 extra tourists were in Berlin for the weekend.
Touristy things we saw
- Berlin Dom
- DDR Museum
- Alexanderplatz - outdoor exhibition
- Rotes Rathouse (Town hall)
- Breakfast east side
- Oranienburger Str
- Hackische Markt
- Flea Markt (girls singing, lots of english speakers)
- Checkpoint Charlie
- Standing sections of the wall
We didn't get super touristy but got aimed to get a feel of the city and the people. Most impressionable is Berlin's recent history. It's hard to comprehend what has happened in the city even over my lifetime. When the wall stood, there was huge division in Germany and Europe. This had all sorts of effects on the people. Leading up to the opening of the wall people were restless and in the end it was this people pressure that allowed for the wall to be opened. Some still argue that it should never have happened. It's pretty mind blowing.
Still it is noticeable which sections of the city are east and which west. We spent some time trying to get out of the city centre and experience the suburbs. This was quite rewarding, not in a touristy way, but just to see the rough, grubby, in-you-face side of Berlin; the features that make it such an amazing city. We stumbled across an artist colony who's back yard was full of metal sculptures. It was dark and industrial but yet somehow very creative and inspiring. Only 50m was a modern office building. This contrast is Berlin.
On Friday evening we hit the town and had a night out in the Hackische Markt area. It was a fun night that ended rather late but that is what Berlin is all about!
Saturday included many of the same activities - seeing different areas. Breakfast was deep in the eastern suburbs, while lunch back in the west!
Gabor (Chrissi's boyfriend) was also in Berlin for the weekend and it was great to catch up with them both. Moabit has a really nice feel about it. Nice tree lined streets with small shops and cafe's. Really comfortable.
After a long touristy day on Saturday we planned to head to a restaurant / wine-bar called Weinerei. I had heard about it via the New York Times - 36 hours in Berlin article. What attracted me is the theme of the bar. It operates on an honesty system whereby you pay however much you feel the drinks and food is worth. They have been running since 2003, before you ask if it is a viable business model! In fact they worked out that people on average pay more than their share. There were 6 reds to try and drink as well as 4 white wines from all over Europe. They simply put food out on a side-board with a help yourself type system. The food was wholesome and well made. Not over the top but simple appropriate food. The night was going along really well until Hamsa had her bag stolen. This obviously changed the dynamics of the evening sadly. (Luckily the story ended reasonably well in that she got her bag and most of the belongings back the next day.)
Sunday, after some time with Chrissi and Gabor it was time to head back to Mannheim for class. We dropped into the big flea markets but didn't find anything exciting purchases. Although it was a great visit. One notable part was two girls singing and playing guitar to attract people to their mini-garage-sale and also homemade cake and tea. A great way to spend your Sunday morning!
We dropped into Leipzig for dinner but really spent most of the day in the car trying to get home. It was a long drive but well worth while. I really hope I can get to Berlin for an extended period of time sometime soon!
http://picasaweb.google.com/ajoest/Berlin#
LOL
LOL, standing for "Laugh Out Loud" is a terrible blight on the English language used often in sms, twittering and Facebook.
I'm still trying to understand Germans and Germany and in particular why there are not openly loud at celebrating or being proud of their wonderful country. On the whole, Germans are very good as being openly negative but not as good at being openly positive. This is a generalisation and not reflective of perhaps the intense following of sport (eg soccer!) but an observation nonetheless. I've seen it at the supermarkets, i've seen it with MBA related instances and i've seen it on the faces of people walking the streets of Germany.
LOL came into my head the other day because I was somewhat taken aback hearing roaringly loud laughter in the street from a group of German's having a beer at a cafe in town. It was just so unusual to hear open hearty laughter! I have no idea what they were talking about and their level of intoxication not that it mattered anyway.
Germany is a great country and is a role-model to the rest of the world. Although they have had a relatively volatile history over the past century (not that I pretend at all to understand it or neigh-say it) as time heels wounds of past/recent events Germany probably feels more able to express itself and I hope this infiltrates exponentially through the population as soon as possible!
Again, this is a generalisation and an observation. I hope i'm wrong and I keep hearing more laughter in the street!
I'm still trying to understand Germans and Germany and in particular why there are not openly loud at celebrating or being proud of their wonderful country. On the whole, Germans are very good as being openly negative but not as good at being openly positive. This is a generalisation and not reflective of perhaps the intense following of sport (eg soccer!) but an observation nonetheless. I've seen it at the supermarkets, i've seen it with MBA related instances and i've seen it on the faces of people walking the streets of Germany.
LOL came into my head the other day because I was somewhat taken aback hearing roaringly loud laughter in the street from a group of German's having a beer at a cafe in town. It was just so unusual to hear open hearty laughter! I have no idea what they were talking about and their level of intoxication not that it mattered anyway.
Germany is a great country and is a role-model to the rest of the world. Although they have had a relatively volatile history over the past century (not that I pretend at all to understand it or neigh-say it) as time heels wounds of past/recent events Germany probably feels more able to express itself and I hope this infiltrates exponentially through the population as soon as possible!
Again, this is a generalisation and an observation. I hope i'm wrong and I keep hearing more laughter in the street!
Term 1, Part 1 = Tick
So it's been a while since I've written something and I apologise to all those who I have promised to write to and haven't yet. All in good time! I guess it's because i've been a good-boy and put studies before play (or so I keep telling myself!).
Last week was the end of the first part of term one. The week before everyone submitted their Decision Analysis assignments and last week we sat two exams; Financial Accounting and Macro Economics for open economies. It was a huge relief and reminded me of the day when I completed my Engineering only a couple of years ago. The exams went well having prepared well for what we were asked on. I am actually looking forward to the next exams in December for some strange reason! Maybe i'll review that excitement when I get the marks back for these first two exams!
Being eight weeks into the program it was great to get some time to reflect over the weekend on our time so far. After exams a group of five of us hired a car and drove to Berlin for the weekend. Another blog will follow...Upon 1400kms of driving time I had time to contemplate the last couple of weeks. It will be a fast ride to September next year when we hand in our last assignments and graduate!
I have had so many thoughts about:
Subjects
Lecturers
Personal future goals and ambitions
People in the class and the amazing cultures
Social events and Mannheim/Germans
But you'll have to ask me about them directly! Not because I don't want to publish it but more because I need to get on with some other things tonight! The to-do list is always huge after a holiday - but i'm not complaining!!
Last week was the end of the first part of term one. The week before everyone submitted their Decision Analysis assignments and last week we sat two exams; Financial Accounting and Macro Economics for open economies. It was a huge relief and reminded me of the day when I completed my Engineering only a couple of years ago. The exams went well having prepared well for what we were asked on. I am actually looking forward to the next exams in December for some strange reason! Maybe i'll review that excitement when I get the marks back for these first two exams!
Being eight weeks into the program it was great to get some time to reflect over the weekend on our time so far. After exams a group of five of us hired a car and drove to Berlin for the weekend. Another blog will follow...Upon 1400kms of driving time I had time to contemplate the last couple of weeks. It will be a fast ride to September next year when we hand in our last assignments and graduate!
I have had so many thoughts about:
Subjects
Lecturers
Personal future goals and ambitions
People in the class and the amazing cultures
Social events and Mannheim/Germans
But you'll have to ask me about them directly! Not because I don't want to publish it but more because I need to get on with some other things tonight! The to-do list is always huge after a holiday - but i'm not complaining!!
Porsche Factory
Today we visited the dream factory!
What is brilliant about Porsche is they have a design and marketing background but support it with a great product.
My favourite is the 356 by far. So simple, so elegant, so beautiful...
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/ajoest/PorscheMuseumVisit#
What is brilliant about Porsche is they have a design and marketing background but support it with a great product.
My favourite is the 356 by far. So simple, so elegant, so beautiful...
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/ajoest/PorscheMuseumVisit#
Expectations
This last couple of months have been a roller coaster ride. The key aspect has been managing the 'expectations' of each step of the way. Many would argue that it all comes down to ones personality to worry about what the future holds and hence develop expectations upon too little knowledge. After some conversations that I have had over the past weeks, it's good to know i'm not alone.
Clearly it is dangerous to develop an expectation of what the future holds. But this is natural. While you can't predict everything going into each day or each step there are a set of details that one can digest to develop an opinion or expectation into the short term and long term future. In some cases your expectation is that you can't predict what will happen and your expectation is that you won't have a defined level of expectation. But more often than not you have a stab at what that future aspect is. What happens when you develop an expectation that isn't met - positively or negatively?
- Is it better to lower expectations to ensure they are always met and hopefully positively influenced?
- Is it a matter of expecting / guessing better? Developing knowledge to formulate views better?
- Try not to develop expectations. Eg Don't judge?
- Accept that expectations will rarely be met and thus make an expectations but don't get disappointed when it's not met.
- Fight to ensure that your expectations are met.
After all there is nothing greater than having a high expectation of something and it being exceeded. Wouldn't that be nice for everything!
I guess it comes down to different situations. The answer is then perhaps a combination of all options. Either way what has been interesting is having the time to sit back and look at each of these times to evaluate the delta change of these expectations and real situations in the hope that intuition will be optimised and better 'expectations' can be made.
Schoenen Abend.
Clearly it is dangerous to develop an expectation of what the future holds. But this is natural. While you can't predict everything going into each day or each step there are a set of details that one can digest to develop an opinion or expectation into the short term and long term future. In some cases your expectation is that you can't predict what will happen and your expectation is that you won't have a defined level of expectation. But more often than not you have a stab at what that future aspect is. What happens when you develop an expectation that isn't met - positively or negatively?
- Is it better to lower expectations to ensure they are always met and hopefully positively influenced?
- Is it a matter of expecting / guessing better? Developing knowledge to formulate views better?
- Try not to develop expectations. Eg Don't judge?
- Accept that expectations will rarely be met and thus make an expectations but don't get disappointed when it's not met.
- Fight to ensure that your expectations are met.
After all there is nothing greater than having a high expectation of something and it being exceeded. Wouldn't that be nice for everything!
I guess it comes down to different situations. The answer is then perhaps a combination of all options. Either way what has been interesting is having the time to sit back and look at each of these times to evaluate the delta change of these expectations and real situations in the hope that intuition will be optimised and better 'expectations' can be made.
Schoenen Abend.
Singen Weekend
I had Friday (2nd of Oct) free to do some work which was good. It meant I had a little time to head to Singen (am Bodensee - Lake of Konstanz) for the weekend to visit my Oma and aunty. It was great to see them after what's been about two years. My visits always end up being a combination of hearty food, lots of coffee, walks around the area and lots of German listening. My German still isn't good enough to discuss things in two much detail sadly. A highlight of this trip was a walk up the Hohentweil with Gabi, my aunty. It was quite steep but provided a great view over Singen, across to Switzerland and the Bodensee. The big industries of Singen could also be seen easily - Alcan, Maggi and also a car axle manufacturing plant. I mention these because Singen is a very industrial town also.
The train ride from Mannheim to Singen is very spectactular. The line winds its way along the Rhine Valley into the Schwarzwald, the Blackforest. The last time I did the journey was in the middle of Winter so very cold, wet and not so green as the grasses and trees were dormant. This time the views were very green and beautiful. There are large areas of forest but also plenty of agriculture scattered along the train line. The large farm houses with their huge all encompassing roofs are very typical of the area but look great. It's a very clean and tidy part of the country. On the train there were lots of people ready to go hiking for the day. In fact it was a public holiday. Only Germans would put their public holidays on the weekend! Hopefully I get a chance to come down and do some walking also. Riding the train also gave me a good chance to catch up on emails and this blog!
The train ride from Mannheim to Singen is very spectactular. The line winds its way along the Rhine Valley into the Schwarzwald, the Blackforest. The last time I did the journey was in the middle of Winter so very cold, wet and not so green as the grasses and trees were dormant. This time the views were very green and beautiful. There are large areas of forest but also plenty of agriculture scattered along the train line. The large farm houses with their huge all encompassing roofs are very typical of the area but look great. It's a very clean and tidy part of the country. On the train there were lots of people ready to go hiking for the day. In fact it was a public holiday. Only Germans would put their public holidays on the weekend! Hopefully I get a chance to come down and do some walking also. Riding the train also gave me a good chance to catch up on emails and this blog!
Class
From now until Christmas we are studying core business subjects. We started Financial Accounting and Macroeconomics for Open Economies as our subjects for the coming five weeks. Now, after Decision Analysis we have two great Mannheim based lecturers who also share their teaching time at Wharton and Stanford Uni's in the US. This alone was impressive! What became also very apparent was that each of the two subjects are being taught in two very different styles. Financial Accounting is being taken as a very intense somewhat strict learning experience while Macro Economics is being taken in a more relaxed way. Both are advisors to high level European policy making so we get exposure to stories at all levels which adds significantly to our learning. What I am really enjoying is the fact that I am learning formally what I have seen in the past with Palmerston Projects and reading the Financial Review. For me it is fascinating and most enjoyable. As long as I keep staying on top of the work i'm happy!
Goldman Sachs / Deutsche Bank
On Tuesday and Thursday respectively after class this week we had presentations by Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank. Luckily for me the Goldman presentation was taken in English meaning I understood what was going on and got a great insight into how they have structured their investment bank. We were given a little insight into the Financial Crisis but GS faired so relatively well that they weren't too concerned with the situation! I had a good chat to the recruiting officer after giving me confidence in the job market for when I graduate next year.
The Deutsche Bank presentation on the other hand was held in German. I think I understood about a third of what was going on! Rainer Neske, the Global Manager of Private Wealth, spoke about a variety of things but gave a good insight into the market. He fielded some hot questions about banks which I thought he handled well. I can't imagine it would be too much fun fielding questions from pesky finance and business undergrad students! The Deutsche Bank presentation ended with a great 'meet and greet' session in the foyer. There are so many aspects to a bank's structure as I learnt with Goldmans and again with Deutsche. Although speaking with the Investment Bankers was, I had a really interesting chat with the inhouse consulting group. Not only was she a lovely person, but got me very excited about that area of the banking industry. I will look to apply for some summer positions and also for their graduate programs at the respective banks. I look forward to getting as much insight from a variety of organisations (not just Finance) over the coming months. I plan to keep making things hard for myself by leaving most decisions open for as long as possible with regard to industry.
The Deutsche Bank presentation on the other hand was held in German. I think I understood about a third of what was going on! Rainer Neske, the Global Manager of Private Wealth, spoke about a variety of things but gave a good insight into the market. He fielded some hot questions about banks which I thought he handled well. I can't imagine it would be too much fun fielding questions from pesky finance and business undergrad students! The Deutsche Bank presentation ended with a great 'meet and greet' session in the foyer. There are so many aspects to a bank's structure as I learnt with Goldmans and again with Deutsche. Although speaking with the Investment Bankers was, I had a really interesting chat with the inhouse consulting group. Not only was she a lovely person, but got me very excited about that area of the banking industry. I will look to apply for some summer positions and also for their graduate programs at the respective banks. I look forward to getting as much insight from a variety of organisations (not just Finance) over the coming months. I plan to keep making things hard for myself by leaving most decisions open for as long as possible with regard to industry.
Tim and Alina - To visit
I had a lovely weekend visit by Tim and Alina. They are working in the UK and travelling Europe each time they save enough to leave the hospital! When I travel there is nothing I appreciate more than having access to a kitchen, a washing machine and the internet. Only after that is a bed is a priority for me! Unfortately my apartment is just too small for me to have offered them a proper bed but we made do. Friday afternoon / night was the tour of Mannheim - it doesn't take long! The highlight was heading to Heidelberg for the Heidelberg Herbst. For me it is great to have people to visit because I can be a tourist too! Heidelberg is great at the best of times but when 100's of 1000's of people decend on the town it gives it a great atmosphere. The Hauptstrasse was chocker block with food and art/craft stalls as well as music. We found plenty of places to have a beer and Zwiebelkuchen (onion quiche), the Autumn specialty. We watched the traditional street parade which included music and flag twirling! All very German but fun. We climbed up to see the view over the city from the Schloss (castle). We timed it close to perfection as the sun was setting throwing glowing colours over the old stone castle. It was beautiful to look over the bustling city from the relative quietness of the castle. Heidelberg is a understandable tourist attraction due to the combination of the Neckar River, the castle, the old city and the green hills that enclose the whole lot. Tim and Alina couldn't find Mannheim in the Lonely Planet but were able to read a lot about Heidelberg! Just before the sun set totally we quickly headed back to the Steingasse and each bought a litre Vetter (local beer) each to drink on the Altebruecke! We were treated with buskers, a setting sun and great home brew! For me it was extra special to be with mates from home. Throughout the streets there were plenty of small stages playing all sorts of music. We did a bit of a music, flammkuchen and beer crawl before catching the tram back to Mannheim! A cracking day. Sunday was a little quieter! Tim and Alina had been to the Market on Saturday while I was studying so had bought a lovely selection of goods for a picnic which we devoured in the Luisen Park. We were lucky to have such nice weather to sit in the park, eat, drink and read. After the long picnic I got Alina and Tim on bikes meaning we ended the day cruising the streets on Mannheim. At one point we were in the Jungbusch area which, politely said is a very cultural and 'interesting' area. It would be fair to say we passed through there as quickly as possible! That's Mannheim! We finished the day with some beers with MBA kids. Monday was an early start to get Tim and Alina on the train to Bonn and me to school. I was very sad to see them leave - my last organised contact with Australia!
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/ajoest/GransburyRogersWeekend#
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/ajoest/GransburyRogersWeekend#
Schneckenhof
The Uni of Mannheim students have a famous party series held in the Schneckenhof (snail court yard or something!). In winter the party moved to the dungeons under the castle. It was one of the first times I have had (because I had been away for all the weekends so far) to meet my classmates. Furthermore up until this evening I really hadn't had many opportunities to speak German as the common denominator is English for everything to do with the business school. Beers were only a E1.50 so it was an agreeable night indeed. It didn't take long to figure out who the party players are and who wasn't so much. After a huge show at the Schneckenhof we sampled some further Mannheim nightlife afterwards in the city. The rumour mill has not been churning as much as in the first weeks of St Mark's but there was activity!
Decision Analysis
Our first 'proper' subject kicked off with Decision Analysis. The lecturer, although he got off to a slow start (I think we all had very high expectations) was very good. We looked at many techniques for making business decisions including doing lots of modelling. The case studies were our first chance to work as a group which, after the week of team building and cultural awareness went really well. The interesting elements of this subject were the topics that allowed us to look into reasons poor decisions were made and also the criticisms of decision analysis. Looking at both sides allowed me to reflect on many of the decisions I have had to make in my life. With the insight from the class I can see where and why I have made mistakes, how they came about and how to avoid them in the future! Our assessment for the class is a case study preparation where we get to choose a big company decision, modell it and also give a perspective of different decision analysis approaches. Having this subject up front and tkane within one week really jammed with case study team work gave everyone a lasting impression of the issues going into the rest of our studies and our future careers. Hopefully anyway!
Sunday Bike Ride
I saddled up on Sunday morning after a big sleep. It was the first time I had ridden in Germany since Hamburg. Obviously i'd ridden in France and Italy but riding in Germany is always different. I took off out to Weinheim but kept getting lost due to the fact I was always running into Autobahns. Each time i'd run into the Autobahn entrance i'd need to turn away! Finally I got to Weinheim and headed into the hills. What you would imagine as typical German farm houses was all I was surrounded by. The roads were great to ride on. I pottered through the hills in the direction of Heidelberg. My motivation wasn't great due to seeing Emma off and riding alone on unknown roads. However the big downhill in Heidelberg cheered me up! I headed back to Mannheim completing the great loop along the Neckar. I'm in search of some riding buddies and good weather for the remaining time that's for sure!!
Bye Bye Emma
On the Saturday it was time for Em to head back to Frankfurt. We both headed up to Frankfurt to wander the city a little before heading to the airport. Not knowing the city that well we followed our nose around the city centre and also to the big Flohmarkt across the Eigensteig. Frankfurt had a nice energy about it. We found a great cafe for lunch before catching the train back to the airport. I had been to Frankfurt airport a few times but to see the city was cool. I saw Em off (somewhat abruptly no thanks to Lufthansa!) and headed home to Mannheim.
Week 1 Day 5 - Intercultural Competence
This course was one of the highlights of the week. The purpose of the day was to break down the many cultures and people of the group toward one common denominator. Obviously we are all there for similar goals however each of us had a different perspective due to the varied backgrounds. The session was taken by a French Professor who specialised in intercultural companies. He helped bring together the variety of cultures in Airbus for example. It's a fascinating element of business and something that can be a real problem for companies if not handled properly. The day started with a card game. The goal was to learn the game and play the game with the catch being we couldn't talk. In each of our groups, we began playing and it didn't take long before everyone understood the rules and could play together. Where it got interesting was when the top two scorers and the bottom loser was to move tables for a new round. It was upon playing the new round that the problems started. The issue was that the game had changed. A hand that would normally have won me a point didn't. It took quite some time before we realised the rules had changed. There were non-verbal fights and even someone from another group was so annoyed that she gave her team the bird and stormed off! I took a different approach and didn't fight things. This meant I lost a few hands but started to watch and juggle what I thought was a good hand until I could play to win. Each person had their own approach. We rotated again but this time people expected a rule change so each group learnt to first establish the home rules before playing the game. It was absolutely fascinating and when we took time to reflect on how this would effect our coming year it was a really powerful lesson. We spent the rest of the day doing exercises that showed each of our different backgrounds and learning more about the pitfalls of not understanding different cultures in the work place. We have the option later in the year to take an elective that focuses on this same issue in more detail.
I had sent Emma to Heidelberg while I had to go to class that day. We met up afterwards and headed out to the Bad Durkheim Wurstmarkt. It's meant to be the worlds biggest wine festival. Everything in Germany seems to be the 'World's Biggest'! In any case, it was a typical German festival with thousands of people, plenty of show rides and food. The Bad Durkheim version includes an area in the middle of the showgrounds where one can sample local wines. After introducing Emma to the German Currywurst and Pork rolls we found some lovely local wines to sample. While leaning on the bar sucking down a Grauburgunder (Pinot Grigio) we began a lovely conversation with an older couple from Heidelberg. It turned out they did much of the graphic design to the Mannheim Business School! They were absolutely lovely people and told us many stories about the area and the people. Loved it. After a couple more beers and wines we headed back to Mannheim on the hour long tram ride with a million others jammed in. Great fun!!
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/ajoest/MannheimSeptember#
I had sent Emma to Heidelberg while I had to go to class that day. We met up afterwards and headed out to the Bad Durkheim Wurstmarkt. It's meant to be the worlds biggest wine festival. Everything in Germany seems to be the 'World's Biggest'! In any case, it was a typical German festival with thousands of people, plenty of show rides and food. The Bad Durkheim version includes an area in the middle of the showgrounds where one can sample local wines. After introducing Emma to the German Currywurst and Pork rolls we found some lovely local wines to sample. While leaning on the bar sucking down a Grauburgunder (Pinot Grigio) we began a lovely conversation with an older couple from Heidelberg. It turned out they did much of the graphic design to the Mannheim Business School! They were absolutely lovely people and told us many stories about the area and the people. Loved it. After a couple more beers and wines we headed back to Mannheim on the hour long tram ride with a million others jammed in. Great fun!!
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/ajoest/MannheimSeptember#
Week 1 Day 4 - BASF Visit
Visiting the world's biggest integrated chemical factory is like visiting another world. When you don't really know what a business does it's hard to put together the an expectation of what you will see. BASF started making synthetic dies and also gases. As they grew they invented the idea of integrated chemical production. By that they mean that each chemical reaction gives off a series of outputs. Those outputs can be used for other products. By linking it all together they can produce a huge variety of things very efficiently. BASF make syrofoam, rubber, gases, dies, plastic, fertilisers and many other products. The plant at Ludwigshafen is the biggest in the world covering some 10 square kilometres! They have their own power station, own water treatment plant and own harbour. A well worth while visit. We all left a little disappointed that we did see how the management works as that is our MBA interest point but nonetheless a good insight into the company.
Afterwards Emma arrived in Mannheim so I played tour guide around the Wasserturm and we finished the night with a lovely glass of wine at what has become my favourite cafe in Mannheim, Cafe Flo.
Afterwards Emma arrived in Mannheim so I played tour guide around the Wasserturm and we finished the night with a lovely glass of wine at what has become my favourite cafe in Mannheim, Cafe Flo.
The Performance Today
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Now it comes...
Ha. Ha. Ha.
Everyone knows that.
No Question.
Like Hell.
That is well known.
I liked it.
So what else do you want?
He was stupid anyway.
It's Capitalism - It works.
All of them I didn't like.
Nice Guy - Very Bright - You would love him.
Oh, I could tell you a story.
It's interesting - I like it.
Now it comes...
Ha. Ha. Ha.
Everyone knows that.
No Question.
Like Hell.
That is well known.
I liked it.
So what else do you want?
He was stupid anyway.
It's Capitalism - It works.
All of them I didn't like.
Nice Guy - Very Bright - You would love him.
Oh, I could tell you a story.
It's interesting - I like it.
MBA Day 2
After a great start to our Mannheim course on the 14th of September, Day II was where we really started to get to know our class mates. Our class is made up of 58 people from over 20 countries. The diversity is striking and will make for fantastic social and learning opportunities. Like my time at St Mark's the first week is a very intense "people" experience. Perhaps that is more of a reflection on me but meeting so many people is always a big task. My favourite part of today, slightly more enjoyable than taking part, was watching everything today! People watching is a passion!! From all the backgrounds, from all the difference work experiences, from all the different ages and egos and ambitions, it was fascinating to watch us join in groups and attempt to solve difference, somewhat trivial problems. Our first attempt in Team Orange (no coincidence to Fat Club at all!) was pretty ordinary. We had far too many chiefs and even then the chiefs were fighting for group supremecy not just fighting over the problem. It wasn't long before we were able to break some of this personal styles down allowing for later problems to be solved much more efficiently. Even then our last task of the day was to create a group celebration move. With 56 (two have already left to Warwick Uni) people trying to work this out, forgetting how we had spoken about group team dynamics, our leader for the day Will Smail must have been thinking he had really failed. We had been discussing the importance of creating a chair or speaker for each group, defining the tasks, defining group rules and then working out a plan to implement it. Although we used that successfully in earlier tasks, the last task of the day was ironically the biggest failure! Nevermind. It was a great day and I think we learnt a huge amount allbeit having to do this via clique team building things.
This evening we received a great company presentation from AT Kearney. They are a multi discipline global management consulting firm. They were clearly prepared for the bombardment of the general consensus critiscism of management consulting firms. The usual critiscism of 'work-life balance', 'advice is no good without implementation', 'burnout rate' of consultants and financial crisis issues were all covered. I think they would have been expecting it but in any case they answered things very well. My limited experience working in a management consulting firm but more speaking with former McKinsey-ites, BCG and Bain consultants all ring true with what was discussed tonight. It's still on my target list for many of the positives so we'll see. The active recruitment process was very impressive and meeting the five consultants was most enjoyable.
This evening we received a great company presentation from AT Kearney. They are a multi discipline global management consulting firm. They were clearly prepared for the bombardment of the general consensus critiscism of management consulting firms. The usual critiscism of 'work-life balance', 'advice is no good without implementation', 'burnout rate' of consultants and financial crisis issues were all covered. I think they would have been expecting it but in any case they answered things very well. My limited experience working in a management consulting firm but more speaking with former McKinsey-ites, BCG and Bain consultants all ring true with what was discussed tonight. It's still on my target list for many of the positives so we'll see. The active recruitment process was very impressive and meeting the five consultants was most enjoyable.
MBA Day 1
MBA Day 1
Although I arrived very apprehensively, the fact that many of us had met on Facebook already meant much 'ice' had been broken. However the day had finally arrived when we were to start our MBA adventure. As I have talked about the Castle the first striking thing about the school. It is huge and very well equipped. The Professor of the Mannheim Business School, with his marketing background, went on to talk about the school and the history. Being such a new school (only around 10 years old) it did give me and i'm sure the others a feeling that we are part of something a little more special. Many of the aspects that made me choose this school were reiterated which helped me feel comfortable that the decision I had made was a good one. Nonetheless, there were still many aspects of the coming course that left me feeling that we are embarking on a daunting adventure! The day was finished with a lovely dinner at the Novus, a local restaurant. Taking into account all the differences, we are at the end of the day still in it together and still all aiming to have a great time. This was reflected in the dinner and drinks and reassured me that in life - everyone is a good person! I got home late and hit the hay. It's going to be a big year!
Although I arrived very apprehensively, the fact that many of us had met on Facebook already meant much 'ice' had been broken. However the day had finally arrived when we were to start our MBA adventure. As I have talked about the Castle the first striking thing about the school. It is huge and very well equipped. The Professor of the Mannheim Business School, with his marketing background, went on to talk about the school and the history. Being such a new school (only around 10 years old) it did give me and i'm sure the others a feeling that we are part of something a little more special. Many of the aspects that made me choose this school were reiterated which helped me feel comfortable that the decision I had made was a good one. Nonetheless, there were still many aspects of the coming course that left me feeling that we are embarking on a daunting adventure! The day was finished with a lovely dinner at the Novus, a local restaurant. Taking into account all the differences, we are at the end of the day still in it together and still all aiming to have a great time. This was reflected in the dinner and drinks and reassured me that in life - everyone is a good person! I got home late and hit the hay. It's going to be a big year!
Liege, Belgium
I'm a little behind but want to note how great a time I had in Liege. Belgium is a lovely country but the trip was made all the better by gorgeous hospitality of Emma's host family, the Ledant's. Veronique, Guy, Sarah and Martin are some of the most lovely people you will ever meet. Luckily for me, Sarah and Martin spoke very good English and I always appreciated Guy making a huge effort to practice his english also. Without them, (plus Emma's passion for the place) I don't think I would have stayed as long.
Photos are at: http://picasaweb.google.com/ajoest/Belgium#
Liege was one of the first places in the world to develop a coal market way back when. Thus Liege is still an industrial area. In fact Belgium relies heavily on being a European manufacturing hub. While Belgium doesn't strike you as the nicest place to live, it seems to me that Belgians would enjoy a reasonably high standard of living. My perspective may be tainted due to my hosts!
Sarah and Martin gave us some great tours of the city. Finding little knooks and crannies was fun. There is some great architecture among the old buildings. Some of the architecture was designed by the Sarah and Martin's older brother Bruno (there is also Sophie, the second eldest sister). Emma got very excited visiting her old stomping grounds from when she studied in Liege some 10 years ago. On the Monday Emma and I toured together to Antwerp and Oostende. Antwerp is meant to be a global hub for diamond trade, but try as we did, we couldn't find much glamour in Antwerp. Oostende was definitely not what I expected. It was the Gold Coast on the north sea. We were both very tired by then but found a great little surf club in front of Napoleans fortress and enjoyed some beers in the sun before heading home. Martin and Sarah took us to Spa, where their grand parents had a weekend home. The hills behind Liege are really beautiful and well worth a visit. Many of the spring water companies name their filtered tap water the natural springs that are in the area. After another a great picnic of fresh bread, cheese and rillette and some belgian beers, I had a magnificent sleep in the grass under an old oak tree! Magnificent.
On the Wednesday I decided to take Martin's grandfathers 20 year old Peugeot road bike for a little ride! My aim was to see Nick Mitchell's race in a small town between Brussels and Antwerp. The bike rolled along nicely and I got to see the Belgian countryside uninterrupted! After nearly 6 hours of riding I caught the last two laps of Nick's race. The Belgians certainly don't muck around when it comes to local bike racing! All the big Belgian teams were there and it was a grand spectacle. Unfortunately I missed him as he had to rush off. I rode back to Mechelen and caught the train home. I had a little crash on the way to Mechelen so had to get the peddles replaced! Luckily it happened just near a bike shop and the guy loved my accent so much that he refused to charge labour! I enjoyed a lovely meal with Emma and some of her old friends at a little restaurant in the back streets up my return. Le Tour a Tour I think it was called. Needless to say I was stuffed. Riding an old machine with no knicks, no cleats, in a foreign country and on a hot day was bordering on being a little silly! Martin's grandfather was very excited to hear that his bike was still a willing and able adventurer!
Emma and I had been planning to leave on the Thursday and make a road trip down to Mannheim. As it turned out we decided to stay. This meant more time to eat and drink and hang out with the Ledant family. The Belgian is great but pretty repetitive. Fries / Pommes / Chips are will every meal. The waffles are to die for though. They have little sugar balls inside that melt upon heating! Boullet (big meatballs) is also a special dish in Liege. It has a very rich sauce and is served funnily enough with fries! We spent many hours at the restaurant with the long table as well as finding another bakery that served a really rustic and village style breakfast. Not only did we eat food but also made it a priority to drink as many different Belgian beers. There is something pretty cool about going to a pub and never needing to drink the same drink twice. The Pot au Lait was a favourite drinking hole. It was Emma's favourite spot 10 years ago too! Apparently the bar staff hadn't changed at all! Unfortunately Sarah's bag got stolen one night which put a dampener on things...watch your bags!
On the Thursday evening Emma were out exploring the city and found a little pasta place called Gusto. You can really tell when the chef actually wants to be there as the food is just amazing. I ordered a simple looking pasta dish which turned out to be one of the most amazing i've ever eaten. Being a fan of pasta that's a big call. The dish was a fresh pasta doused in truffle oil, cracked pepper and sauteed cherry tomatoes. A bit of parmesan on top with some paprika garnish topped off a magnificent dish. After i'd ordered it I noticed many other people at the restaurant eating. It was clearly a local favourite and I know why!
On Saturday we attended Martin's graduation ceremony at the University of Liege. For what is meant to be a pretty big occaison in ones academic life, this event was pretty disorganised! The dean eveh put up cartoons in his powerpoint to keep everyone interested! Martin also found out his grade that day in the ceremony and did very well. Needless to say he was a happy man and it was fun to experience the day with him.
We celebrated my birthday eating out on the Saturday night before my actualy birthday on the Sunday. We ate Indian. It was a great night hanging with Em and enjoying the back streets of Liege on Saturday night. There is a lot of activity in the old cities when you know where to look. I wish I had such good tour guides in all the cities I have travelled to. On the Sunday morning I cooked for everyone as a thank you! They all wanted pikelets for a Sunday breakfast so I obliged. It was very nice to share it with new friends and Em. They especially like being introduced to squeezed lemon and sugar topping on their pikelets! I normally prefer crepes but that's too normal in Belgium!
It was sad to leave Liege on Sunday afternoon but it was time to head to Mannheim and get this MBA underway! Thanks again to the Ledant's and Em for inviting me!
Photos are at: http://picasaweb.google.com/ajoest/Belgium#
Liege was one of the first places in the world to develop a coal market way back when. Thus Liege is still an industrial area. In fact Belgium relies heavily on being a European manufacturing hub. While Belgium doesn't strike you as the nicest place to live, it seems to me that Belgians would enjoy a reasonably high standard of living. My perspective may be tainted due to my hosts!
Sarah and Martin gave us some great tours of the city. Finding little knooks and crannies was fun. There is some great architecture among the old buildings. Some of the architecture was designed by the Sarah and Martin's older brother Bruno (there is also Sophie, the second eldest sister). Emma got very excited visiting her old stomping grounds from when she studied in Liege some 10 years ago. On the Monday Emma and I toured together to Antwerp and Oostende. Antwerp is meant to be a global hub for diamond trade, but try as we did, we couldn't find much glamour in Antwerp. Oostende was definitely not what I expected. It was the Gold Coast on the north sea. We were both very tired by then but found a great little surf club in front of Napoleans fortress and enjoyed some beers in the sun before heading home. Martin and Sarah took us to Spa, where their grand parents had a weekend home. The hills behind Liege are really beautiful and well worth a visit. Many of the spring water companies name their filtered tap water the natural springs that are in the area. After another a great picnic of fresh bread, cheese and rillette and some belgian beers, I had a magnificent sleep in the grass under an old oak tree! Magnificent.
On the Wednesday I decided to take Martin's grandfathers 20 year old Peugeot road bike for a little ride! My aim was to see Nick Mitchell's race in a small town between Brussels and Antwerp. The bike rolled along nicely and I got to see the Belgian countryside uninterrupted! After nearly 6 hours of riding I caught the last two laps of Nick's race. The Belgians certainly don't muck around when it comes to local bike racing! All the big Belgian teams were there and it was a grand spectacle. Unfortunately I missed him as he had to rush off. I rode back to Mechelen and caught the train home. I had a little crash on the way to Mechelen so had to get the peddles replaced! Luckily it happened just near a bike shop and the guy loved my accent so much that he refused to charge labour! I enjoyed a lovely meal with Emma and some of her old friends at a little restaurant in the back streets up my return. Le Tour a Tour I think it was called. Needless to say I was stuffed. Riding an old machine with no knicks, no cleats, in a foreign country and on a hot day was bordering on being a little silly! Martin's grandfather was very excited to hear that his bike was still a willing and able adventurer!
Emma and I had been planning to leave on the Thursday and make a road trip down to Mannheim. As it turned out we decided to stay. This meant more time to eat and drink and hang out with the Ledant family. The Belgian is great but pretty repetitive. Fries / Pommes / Chips are will every meal. The waffles are to die for though. They have little sugar balls inside that melt upon heating! Boullet (big meatballs) is also a special dish in Liege. It has a very rich sauce and is served funnily enough with fries! We spent many hours at the restaurant with the long table as well as finding another bakery that served a really rustic and village style breakfast. Not only did we eat food but also made it a priority to drink as many different Belgian beers. There is something pretty cool about going to a pub and never needing to drink the same drink twice. The Pot au Lait was a favourite drinking hole. It was Emma's favourite spot 10 years ago too! Apparently the bar staff hadn't changed at all! Unfortunately Sarah's bag got stolen one night which put a dampener on things...watch your bags!
On the Thursday evening Emma were out exploring the city and found a little pasta place called Gusto. You can really tell when the chef actually wants to be there as the food is just amazing. I ordered a simple looking pasta dish which turned out to be one of the most amazing i've ever eaten. Being a fan of pasta that's a big call. The dish was a fresh pasta doused in truffle oil, cracked pepper and sauteed cherry tomatoes. A bit of parmesan on top with some paprika garnish topped off a magnificent dish. After i'd ordered it I noticed many other people at the restaurant eating. It was clearly a local favourite and I know why!
On Saturday we attended Martin's graduation ceremony at the University of Liege. For what is meant to be a pretty big occaison in ones academic life, this event was pretty disorganised! The dean eveh put up cartoons in his powerpoint to keep everyone interested! Martin also found out his grade that day in the ceremony and did very well. Needless to say he was a happy man and it was fun to experience the day with him.
We celebrated my birthday eating out on the Saturday night before my actualy birthday on the Sunday. We ate Indian. It was a great night hanging with Em and enjoying the back streets of Liege on Saturday night. There is a lot of activity in the old cities when you know where to look. I wish I had such good tour guides in all the cities I have travelled to. On the Sunday morning I cooked for everyone as a thank you! They all wanted pikelets for a Sunday breakfast so I obliged. It was very nice to share it with new friends and Em. They especially like being introduced to squeezed lemon and sugar topping on their pikelets! I normally prefer crepes but that's too normal in Belgium!
It was sad to leave Liege on Sunday afternoon but it was time to head to Mannheim and get this MBA underway! Thanks again to the Ledant's and Em for inviting me!
Photos of past month
I'm a little behind still on my travel notes but i've put up plenty of photos tonight. Find them at:
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/home
Will write up more tomorrow.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/home
Will write up more tomorrow.
Paris...
After a couple of days in Mannheim between Torino and Paris, I left on a gloomy rainy morning on the ICE. Emma wasn't expecting me at the airport but I got out to CDG and met her there. She was clearly a little jet-lagged and dazed as she forgot to pick up her bags on the way out of the terminal! We headed into the city via the train. It was a little surreal to be sitting face-to-face finally after nearly three months and plenty of emails and skype time. Once at the hotel (after a having to wait hence some beers around the corner) we completed a picnic I had prepared by complementing it with a ice cold bottle of Bollinger and a few baguette sticks. We found a nice spot along the Seine which overlooked the Notre Dame. Pretty amazing even through the weather was typically European - grey skys and cold. The picnic included italian delights = Lardo, Olives, Cheeses and meats. Washed down with Bollinger, I was a pretty happy man!
Upon the advice of Hay and Ali, we headed towards the Eiffel tower and to the Musee de l’Architecture where we found the Cafe they suggested. It had an amazing view of the tower and for some strange reason wasn't flooded with tourists or hecklers. The Cafe Gourmand was lovely! We stayed well into the evening enjoying the view, laughing at the sheep-tourists and drinking coffee! The tower was lit up with a dark sky background by the time we left.
Friday morning was the start of our first and only full day in Paris. We really could spend months there. It was a wandering style day! We covered the Notre Dame island, Louvre, Gardens, Champs Elysees and made it up to the Sacre Coeur. There were many stops for interesting food and dodging the rain! Emma had booked dinner at the Chez Julien. We had covered some serious ground before dinner so needed a little nap!! Dinner was as good as I could ever hope a dinner to be. The food was delicious but not over done, the service was fun and appropriate, the restaurant was cosy and 'french' making the night forever memorable. Adding to this drinks aferwards, it was a late long day.
On Saturday morning I plucked up the energy to head out for a run. The rationale was that it would be my last time to see Paris for a little while and Hay and Hannam told me how good their run was when they did it earlier this year! It ran pretty much the same loop as we walked on the Friday but went a little further along the Champs Elysees and saw a little more of the city. The run meant i'd covered a few more little streets and sights that I may never see again. The run ended up going a little longer than planned! Oops, but after a quick shower and being told off the by the hotel cleaner for staying too long, Em and I were off for breaky and hunting down the Markets. We achieve all these things before hopping on the Thalys to Brussels and then onto Liege. It was sad to leave Paris but I couldn't have asked for a better way to see it that with Em and our itinerary. Superb...
Upon the advice of Hay and Ali, we headed towards the Eiffel tower and to the Musee de l’Architecture where we found the Cafe they suggested. It had an amazing view of the tower and for some strange reason wasn't flooded with tourists or hecklers. The Cafe Gourmand was lovely! We stayed well into the evening enjoying the view, laughing at the sheep-tourists and drinking coffee! The tower was lit up with a dark sky background by the time we left.
Friday morning was the start of our first and only full day in Paris. We really could spend months there. It was a wandering style day! We covered the Notre Dame island, Louvre, Gardens, Champs Elysees and made it up to the Sacre Coeur. There were many stops for interesting food and dodging the rain! Emma had booked dinner at the Chez Julien. We had covered some serious ground before dinner so needed a little nap!! Dinner was as good as I could ever hope a dinner to be. The food was delicious but not over done, the service was fun and appropriate, the restaurant was cosy and 'french' making the night forever memorable. Adding to this drinks aferwards, it was a late long day.
On Saturday morning I plucked up the energy to head out for a run. The rationale was that it would be my last time to see Paris for a little while and Hay and Hannam told me how good their run was when they did it earlier this year! It ran pretty much the same loop as we walked on the Friday but went a little further along the Champs Elysees and saw a little more of the city. The run meant i'd covered a few more little streets and sights that I may never see again. The run ended up going a little longer than planned! Oops, but after a quick shower and being told off the by the hotel cleaner for staying too long, Em and I were off for breaky and hunting down the Markets. We achieve all these things before hopping on the Thalys to Brussels and then onto Liege. It was sad to leave Paris but I couldn't have asked for a better way to see it that with Em and our itinerary. Superb...
Languages
So as I head into another country, I find myself not being able to communicate fully again but what was so interesting about this train journey was not so much that I was worrying that I won't be able to speak french but that the passengers next to me on the train were speaking another language altogether. They were signing the whole way from Mannheim to Paris. Pretty cool to watch their hands dance around with all three understanding each other perfectly. So while I thought it was hard to communicate but it goes to show i've still got it easier than others still. I was super impressed with them.
Gloomy Train Ride
As I hopped on the train in Mannheim, the sun had not yet risen. I was Paris bound and very excited about this part of the adventure. The only thing that worried me was that it had started drizzling as we crossed the Rhine France-ward. For the first hour it was raining heavily outside. While most others slept on the ICE I was reading the Financial Times (in German!) and the New York Times. I was reading to take my eyes away from the dreary conditions outside. As we crossed into Saarbrucken the rain cleared. This is where all those on the train were treated to a spectacular light display as the rays of sunshine broke through the clouds and decorated the countryside with golden highlighting. The first and only thing I have seen of France to date is the the Cot d' Azur and parts of the provence. Here further north the land is greener and more agricultural. The sun highlighted the beauty of organised agriculture magnificantly. Moreover whenever a small village or farm house came into site the lovely french countryside really came to life contrasted against the grey background. It was very inspiring morning and subsequently wants me to spend more time here when possible.
Torino - Martino Express - Time to leave
I had a couple of gorgeous short rides into the the mountains behind the Gran Madre to Pacetto but other than the weekend was consumed preparing for the return of Travis and Emily and helping with Fausto's surprise party. Luckily the apartment on Via Monferrato wasn't in too much of a mess so I did some shopping to get the fridge stocked again. I wanted to buy more italian wine but realised having to drag my bags back Germany was going to be hard enough as it was!
The surprise party was called the 'The Martino Express' (after Fausto Martino www.faustomartino.com). I did some food deliveries to Lisa with items that had been stored in our fridge. Once Travis and Emily had arrived home it was our job to distract Fausto to give Catherine space to organise the party. She had to bake a pavlova afterall! Fausto is a stubborn person who, when pushed, becomes more stubborn. This didn't help Travis and my task. We had suggested we head out for some 'boys time' and go to Eataly (a gourmet food expo / foodhall www.eataly.it) where they were hosting a beer tasting. Little did we know that Fausto doesn't go out of his way for beer and "loves to hate" Eataly. With all of us pushing, including Catherine, he soon worked out he wasn't allowed at home for the afternoon and had to do as he was told. Travis and I were enjoying a few regional italian beers (some were ok, but we found more often than not the boutique beers were just too much - you could probably only have one or two in a sitting) while poor Fausto simply had to sit it out! He was very coy about the whole thing knowing full well something was up but he wasn't sure what just yet. We dropped him home around 6pm. We were to pick him up at 7:50 for 'dinner'. While Travis, Emily and I had dressed for the occaison, in protest Fausto dressed as casually as possible in a springboks rugby jersey and shorts. Stubborn! He still wasn't sure what was going on but once we said we were going to Piazza Carlina (?) I think the cogs started to tick as he knew that's where the party-tram always starts. As we turned the corner into the piazza he mentioned the tram and as we walked towards it he finally saw Catherine hop out and had worked out what going on. He was surprised and after being so stubborn about his birthday and not being allowed home for the afternoon he got into the swing of things. The tram was great fun. It was always hilarious to see everyone jolt around each time the tram started off again. We did two laps of Turin drinking sangria, champagne and eating aperitivo's. It was at dessert time when things started getting a little silly. Roberto and Lisa were making Mojitos well into the evening. Roberto's trick of covering a balloon in cream and bursting it meant everyone left covered in cream but at least with big smiles! I was very sad to leave Torino.
Thanks to everyone who made it such a great time. Your generosity was amazing and most enjoyable.
The surprise party was called the 'The Martino Express' (after Fausto Martino www.faustomartino.com). I did some food deliveries to Lisa with items that had been stored in our fridge. Once Travis and Emily had arrived home it was our job to distract Fausto to give Catherine space to organise the party. She had to bake a pavlova afterall! Fausto is a stubborn person who, when pushed, becomes more stubborn. This didn't help Travis and my task. We had suggested we head out for some 'boys time' and go to Eataly (a gourmet food expo / foodhall www.eataly.it) where they were hosting a beer tasting. Little did we know that Fausto doesn't go out of his way for beer and "loves to hate" Eataly. With all of us pushing, including Catherine, he soon worked out he wasn't allowed at home for the afternoon and had to do as he was told. Travis and I were enjoying a few regional italian beers (some were ok, but we found more often than not the boutique beers were just too much - you could probably only have one or two in a sitting) while poor Fausto simply had to sit it out! He was very coy about the whole thing knowing full well something was up but he wasn't sure what just yet. We dropped him home around 6pm. We were to pick him up at 7:50 for 'dinner'. While Travis, Emily and I had dressed for the occaison, in protest Fausto dressed as casually as possible in a springboks rugby jersey and shorts. Stubborn! He still wasn't sure what was going on but once we said we were going to Piazza Carlina (?) I think the cogs started to tick as he knew that's where the party-tram always starts. As we turned the corner into the piazza he mentioned the tram and as we walked towards it he finally saw Catherine hop out and had worked out what going on. He was surprised and after being so stubborn about his birthday and not being allowed home for the afternoon he got into the swing of things. The tram was great fun. It was always hilarious to see everyone jolt around each time the tram started off again. We did two laps of Turin drinking sangria, champagne and eating aperitivo's. It was at dessert time when things started getting a little silly. Roberto and Lisa were making Mojitos well into the evening. Roberto's trick of covering a balloon in cream and bursting it meant everyone left covered in cream but at least with big smiles! I was very sad to leave Torino.
Thanks to everyone who made it such a great time. Your generosity was amazing and most enjoyable.
Sorry
I'll get up to date on things in the coming week. I've been distracted by Paris, Belgium and Emma.
Uni starts on Monday...Very excited.
Uni starts on Monday...Very excited.
Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso
I was invited around to lunch on Thursday by Fausto. It was his birthday not that this meant any fanfare only a bowl of fresh pasta mixed with some walnut pesto (yum). They were meant to be heading off to the mountains the night before but didn't quite get there. Both Fausto and Catherine are tired, although both won't admit it!
It was suggested that I might like to see some more of the mountains and because they were leaving later that afternoon, maybe i'd like to join them.
Instead of going with them in the car, I headed off pretty quickly and rode up towards the Parco Nazionale. After 2600m of serious serious climbing I made it. The stars were closer because I was so high, the air thin and the fact that this is a big lie means I can't write much more about it....in fact I put my bike in the car and we took off up into the mountains. I had no idea what to expect really.
http://tinyurl.com/mrqtfk is the route. Photos are here: http://picasaweb.google.com.au/ajoest/TheMountains#
It was relatively late in the afternoon so if I did want to ride back, which was plan A, I only had a hour to look around before needing to head off. After seeing the Refugio (the alpine hut) and the surrounds I thought it crazy not to stay and see a little more notwithstanding the novelty of waking up in the mountains and do some hiking. So I decided to stay the night. It's not cheap but a nights stay includes dinner and breakfast. They work on a strict time regime in the Refugio Chivasso. It got a bit out of control but i'll write about that later. Dinner was at 7:15 so I had an hour to wander off and check out some of the area. I took lots of great little photos of the flowers. Unfortunately I tried taking large landscape panoramas but with a little camera none really represent the expanse of the place at all. I came across another Refugio and also a shephard watching over his cattle. I was inspired by the place that I built a little stone statue in the middle of the valley alongside a creek as my gift to the mountains gods. Before long it was time to head back for dinner. It was also getting cold and considering I only brought a light jumper I was worried that might have been a little foolish.
Dinner was a three course extravaganza. Buonissimo!!! A hearty minestrone soup to start, a plate of polenta, potatoes and chicken and for dessert - wow....a buonet (?) a mousse made with chocolate, coffee, amaretto...seriously amazing!
After playing cards for a little, Fausto asked whether we could have a ......(i'll track down the word for it later)...coffee liquer type thing. This caused a bit of a stir because the Refugio manager didn't want to break tradition and serve this drink out of season. Fausto reasoned with him saying that I was all the way from Australia and that it would be a nice gesture. We got the drink with a lot of grumbling. The ......came in a friendship mug. A large wooden bowl with four drinking points. Needless to say, it was worth the haggling as it was a great end to the evening. Lights out at 10pm.
I woke up this morning to a knocking on the door. We had overslept out 7:30am curfew. Our breakfast had been put on the table already deliberately so it would be cold by the time we got out of bed. I slept pretty badly for some reason but Catherine didn't sleep at all so she was not impressed with their 'tradizione'...I was just going with the flow and didn't mind other than the bread was stale and the coffee was worse than International Roast.
Catherine and Fausto were aiming for the Refugio Rossetti (I think) so I joined them for the first section up to Lago Rossett. I was a gorgeous still blue-sky day and so walking into the mountains was an absolute joy. We saw many marmots, birds and insects. The flowers at that alitude (over 2600m) are very vibrant and fun to photograph. The lakes are crystal clear and each has a different hue. Lago Rossett is of an emerald hue while the others darker again. I turned around at Lago Rossett and headed back to the Refugio. Fausto and Catherine headed onwards and upwards. They had to tackle a mountain pass around 3200m high before heading back down into another valley.
I got back to the Refugio and was greeted by the hut manager. He was trying to be nice but in the end gave me a massive lecture on how I had to respect the tradizione of the mountains and that it was not a place to be commercialised. All I had done was lock my bike up. This inferred to him that I didn't trust the mountain people; it wasn't like the city he pointed out. Unfortunately I really couldn't communicate with him, as I would have really like to point out that he moved my bag earlier that morning because he didn't want it to get stolen! This guy was a real grump. He had commercialised his hut as it was the most expensive of all of them and they served lunches for extra cash. It really put me off. I admit I didn't turn up in full hiking gear and wasn't there to hike specifically however it was annoying to leave feeling somewhat unwelcome.
With all of that behind me, I was back in my knicks and punching downhill, deep into the Ceresole Valley. The switch backs were pretty intense with plenty of traffic coming up hill on very narrow roads. Looking down at Lake Surra is equally as spectacular as looking back up to where I had come from. It was 600m of altitude between the coll and Lago Serru (although the road was switching back on itself for all those people who had already started trying to calculate the angle!). People were climbing it by bike but it would have been seriously hard going grinding away.
I was happy going the other way sitting in the 54:11 (gear ratio front: rear!) smashing out some fast speeds particularly through the 3.5km tunnel. It reminded me of the morning we rode through the Heysen tunnels last Christmas with Amber shouting with joy at the top of her lungs in the tunnel. I did the same! It was exhilarating!
The temperature difference was very noticable when I got back to the low-lands. It was cool up the top. I needed a light jumper even in the sun. At the bottom it was low thirties. Suffice to say, I sweated it for the remaining 70kms home once I had reached the valley floor.
Once home it was time for some refuelling. I hadn't eaten since the stale bread and grumpy hut-manager breakfast and was starving by the time I was back just after 4pm. I sit here writing this blog and posting photos very grateful for Fausto and Catherine to take me with them. It is accessible and yet few people venture up the windy roads.
I hope I will continue to get inspired to head up the windy roads and experience more of the open spaces and beautiful scenery in the very near future.
It was suggested that I might like to see some more of the mountains and because they were leaving later that afternoon, maybe i'd like to join them.
Instead of going with them in the car, I headed off pretty quickly and rode up towards the Parco Nazionale. After 2600m of serious serious climbing I made it. The stars were closer because I was so high, the air thin and the fact that this is a big lie means I can't write much more about it....in fact I put my bike in the car and we took off up into the mountains. I had no idea what to expect really.
http://tinyurl.com/mrqtfk is the route. Photos are here: http://picasaweb.google.com.au/ajoest/TheMountains#
It was relatively late in the afternoon so if I did want to ride back, which was plan A, I only had a hour to look around before needing to head off. After seeing the Refugio (the alpine hut) and the surrounds I thought it crazy not to stay and see a little more notwithstanding the novelty of waking up in the mountains and do some hiking. So I decided to stay the night. It's not cheap but a nights stay includes dinner and breakfast. They work on a strict time regime in the Refugio Chivasso. It got a bit out of control but i'll write about that later. Dinner was at 7:15 so I had an hour to wander off and check out some of the area. I took lots of great little photos of the flowers. Unfortunately I tried taking large landscape panoramas but with a little camera none really represent the expanse of the place at all. I came across another Refugio and also a shephard watching over his cattle. I was inspired by the place that I built a little stone statue in the middle of the valley alongside a creek as my gift to the mountains gods. Before long it was time to head back for dinner. It was also getting cold and considering I only brought a light jumper I was worried that might have been a little foolish.
Dinner was a three course extravaganza. Buonissimo!!! A hearty minestrone soup to start, a plate of polenta, potatoes and chicken and for dessert - wow....a buonet (?) a mousse made with chocolate, coffee, amaretto...seriously amazing!
After playing cards for a little, Fausto asked whether we could have a ......(i'll track down the word for it later)...coffee liquer type thing. This caused a bit of a stir because the Refugio manager didn't want to break tradition and serve this drink out of season. Fausto reasoned with him saying that I was all the way from Australia and that it would be a nice gesture. We got the drink with a lot of grumbling. The ......came in a friendship mug. A large wooden bowl with four drinking points. Needless to say, it was worth the haggling as it was a great end to the evening. Lights out at 10pm.
I woke up this morning to a knocking on the door. We had overslept out 7:30am curfew. Our breakfast had been put on the table already deliberately so it would be cold by the time we got out of bed. I slept pretty badly for some reason but Catherine didn't sleep at all so she was not impressed with their 'tradizione'...I was just going with the flow and didn't mind other than the bread was stale and the coffee was worse than International Roast.
Catherine and Fausto were aiming for the Refugio Rossetti (I think) so I joined them for the first section up to Lago Rossett. I was a gorgeous still blue-sky day and so walking into the mountains was an absolute joy. We saw many marmots, birds and insects. The flowers at that alitude (over 2600m) are very vibrant and fun to photograph. The lakes are crystal clear and each has a different hue. Lago Rossett is of an emerald hue while the others darker again. I turned around at Lago Rossett and headed back to the Refugio. Fausto and Catherine headed onwards and upwards. They had to tackle a mountain pass around 3200m high before heading back down into another valley.
I got back to the Refugio and was greeted by the hut manager. He was trying to be nice but in the end gave me a massive lecture on how I had to respect the tradizione of the mountains and that it was not a place to be commercialised. All I had done was lock my bike up. This inferred to him that I didn't trust the mountain people; it wasn't like the city he pointed out. Unfortunately I really couldn't communicate with him, as I would have really like to point out that he moved my bag earlier that morning because he didn't want it to get stolen! This guy was a real grump. He had commercialised his hut as it was the most expensive of all of them and they served lunches for extra cash. It really put me off. I admit I didn't turn up in full hiking gear and wasn't there to hike specifically however it was annoying to leave feeling somewhat unwelcome.
With all of that behind me, I was back in my knicks and punching downhill, deep into the Ceresole Valley. The switch backs were pretty intense with plenty of traffic coming up hill on very narrow roads. Looking down at Lake Surra is equally as spectacular as looking back up to where I had come from. It was 600m of altitude between the coll and Lago Serru (although the road was switching back on itself for all those people who had already started trying to calculate the angle!). People were climbing it by bike but it would have been seriously hard going grinding away.
I was happy going the other way sitting in the 54:11 (gear ratio front: rear!) smashing out some fast speeds particularly through the 3.5km tunnel. It reminded me of the morning we rode through the Heysen tunnels last Christmas with Amber shouting with joy at the top of her lungs in the tunnel. I did the same! It was exhilarating!
The temperature difference was very noticable when I got back to the low-lands. It was cool up the top. I needed a light jumper even in the sun. At the bottom it was low thirties. Suffice to say, I sweated it for the remaining 70kms home once I had reached the valley floor.
Once home it was time for some refuelling. I hadn't eaten since the stale bread and grumpy hut-manager breakfast and was starving by the time I was back just after 4pm. I sit here writing this blog and posting photos very grateful for Fausto and Catherine to take me with them. It is accessible and yet few people venture up the windy roads.
I hope I will continue to get inspired to head up the windy roads and experience more of the open spaces and beautiful scenery in the very near future.
The BBQ
I mentioned 'BBQ' in conversation at dinner on Sunday night and within an instant it was requested that I put on an authentic BBQ on Tuesday night. In fact they all knew that there was a BBQ where I am staying and more the question was: "Do you know how to use it" as though it was some sort of high tech machine.
Travis and Emily have imported a BBQ from Melbourne, that is they brought it with them. Although Europeans go silly over the idea of BBQ very few have a gas-BBQ. Many use disposable 'grillers' that are fired by coals. On the weekends you will see in Germany and Italy (i'm sure all over Eastern Europe) people sitting in the parks grilling sausages basically on a big tin foil BBQ with some coals glowing in the bottom. So they gas BBQ is a bit of a novelty notwithstanding they have a fantastic balcony / terrace from which to host said cooking events.
The pressure was really on. I mean Italians are famous for their food and considering the places i've eaten with those who were coming I felt under the pump to produce a suitable meal of a suitable quality all under the mandate of a Authentic Australian BBQ.
With the help from Catherine, I bought most of the ingredients at the markets save the meat. Italian butchers make fantastic sausages usually is a big roll. The concept of tasteless, fatty, homogenous, synthetic skinned Coles Beef BBQ sausages are a little foreign to butchers and supermarkets here. So I settled for good quality sausages, mince to make some patties and some chicken breasts to marinate. Similarly, white square bread of any decent quality doesn't exist here. It's either 'toast' tiny pale coloured rock hard almost super sized croutons or very flakey white bread loaves. The later I bought but only to find that wrapping a sausage in one slice would inevitably end in tears as the bread would tear. I mean the Italians make fantastic bread but nothing that resembles Tip Top Wonder White, suitable for a BBQ.
Dodging the finer issues of preparing for a BBQ, I had five guests turn up, James a Sydney-ite who has been living in Torino since the start of the year, Catherine, Fausto and Carla and Roberto (the later four, Em and Trav's friends that I somehow inherited as part of House-sitting duties).
After arrival and drinks were served, I offered around some breads. I offered around some ciabatta that I had bought earlier today as well as some ciabatta I had baked earlier that day. I asked who liked what and they all preferred the second one. No one believed me that I had baked it until I showed photos of the dough. Proud as punch!
Soon after showing off, I fired up the BBQ. Roberto was having a close look at how things were playing out. I offered him the tongs but he insisted I continue. Food from the BBQ was onions, sausages, patties and chicken marinated in an Indian herb and spice mix. From the kitchen we had sliced potatoes with salt and herbs from the provence roasted as well as a big salad (an italian one!).
Conversation varied from topics of Torino to the differences between the way Maoris are treated in NZ compared to the way Aboriginals are treated in Australia. So needless to say, there were many touchy subjects covered and much explaining to poor Carla whose english wasn't at the level required to manage the finer points of the conversation.
Because we had so much bread left over, I whipped up a bread and butter pudding. With a coffee to finish it all off everyone was happy. The moral of that situation is that although it's hard to go past Italian food, when it's new, it's a novelty and hence it can compete!
Travis and Emily have imported a BBQ from Melbourne, that is they brought it with them. Although Europeans go silly over the idea of BBQ very few have a gas-BBQ. Many use disposable 'grillers' that are fired by coals. On the weekends you will see in Germany and Italy (i'm sure all over Eastern Europe) people sitting in the parks grilling sausages basically on a big tin foil BBQ with some coals glowing in the bottom. So they gas BBQ is a bit of a novelty notwithstanding they have a fantastic balcony / terrace from which to host said cooking events.
The pressure was really on. I mean Italians are famous for their food and considering the places i've eaten with those who were coming I felt under the pump to produce a suitable meal of a suitable quality all under the mandate of a Authentic Australian BBQ.
With the help from Catherine, I bought most of the ingredients at the markets save the meat. Italian butchers make fantastic sausages usually is a big roll. The concept of tasteless, fatty, homogenous, synthetic skinned Coles Beef BBQ sausages are a little foreign to butchers and supermarkets here. So I settled for good quality sausages, mince to make some patties and some chicken breasts to marinate. Similarly, white square bread of any decent quality doesn't exist here. It's either 'toast' tiny pale coloured rock hard almost super sized croutons or very flakey white bread loaves. The later I bought but only to find that wrapping a sausage in one slice would inevitably end in tears as the bread would tear. I mean the Italians make fantastic bread but nothing that resembles Tip Top Wonder White, suitable for a BBQ.
Dodging the finer issues of preparing for a BBQ, I had five guests turn up, James a Sydney-ite who has been living in Torino since the start of the year, Catherine, Fausto and Carla and Roberto (the later four, Em and Trav's friends that I somehow inherited as part of House-sitting duties).
After arrival and drinks were served, I offered around some breads. I offered around some ciabatta that I had bought earlier today as well as some ciabatta I had baked earlier that day. I asked who liked what and they all preferred the second one. No one believed me that I had baked it until I showed photos of the dough. Proud as punch!
Soon after showing off, I fired up the BBQ. Roberto was having a close look at how things were playing out. I offered him the tongs but he insisted I continue. Food from the BBQ was onions, sausages, patties and chicken marinated in an Indian herb and spice mix. From the kitchen we had sliced potatoes with salt and herbs from the provence roasted as well as a big salad (an italian one!).
Conversation varied from topics of Torino to the differences between the way Maoris are treated in NZ compared to the way Aboriginals are treated in Australia. So needless to say, there were many touchy subjects covered and much explaining to poor Carla whose english wasn't at the level required to manage the finer points of the conversation.
Because we had so much bread left over, I whipped up a bread and butter pudding. With a coffee to finish it all off everyone was happy. The moral of that situation is that although it's hard to go past Italian food, when it's new, it's a novelty and hence it can compete!
The Aperitivo
One thing the Italians do particularly well is the concept of the Aperitivo. Unlike Australia's eating and drinking culture where you always make a big night of it, here in Italy the Aperitivo is a relatively small, low key approach to meeting up with friends, having a small nibble of a variety of buffet presented foods and a drink or two. Most bars offer the aperitivo such that after buying a drink, the food comes 'free'. The drink usually includes an extra amount to cover the food. Sometimes a lot!
Food includes salads (pasta, rice, cous cous based), meats, small pizzas, roasted vege, fruits (sliced apple with cinnamon was my favourite), small rolls, you know all the stuff you might find at a stand up cocktail party. Some cafes or bars have good aperitivo's others not so. It's a great idea and is probably a bit better than sucking down 400 pints, not eating and having a massive night mid-week after work to catch up with your mates.
Food includes salads (pasta, rice, cous cous based), meats, small pizzas, roasted vege, fruits (sliced apple with cinnamon was my favourite), small rolls, you know all the stuff you might find at a stand up cocktail party. Some cafes or bars have good aperitivo's others not so. It's a great idea and is probably a bit better than sucking down 400 pints, not eating and having a massive night mid-week after work to catch up with your mates.
Photos of Turin
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/ajoest/Turin#
Finally i've got some photos of Turin up. Had to use another internet connection. Thanks McDonalds!
Finally i've got some photos of Turin up. Had to use another internet connection. Thanks McDonalds!
Today I went to Italy...
Isabella, a friend from St Mark's is from Turin and her parents still live here. Isabella put me in touch with Kate and Angelo who have kindly shown me around for the past two days. On Wednesday they had arranged to play golf and being a non-golfer I was asked whether I would like to come along and when they were out on the course, I might like to swim at the pool. I gratefully accepted this offer as Turin has been very hot over the past couple of days. We went out to Cherasco and after a bowl of white spaghetti (plain spaghetti with olive oil and pepper) they set off to hit a white ball around. I followed for the first 6 holes but once my shirt was soaked in sweat I retired to the pool while they carried on. Incidentally, a family friend of theirs Federico was with them. I sat by the pool reading my book and cooling off every now and again with a swim. Five hours later they returned after their 18 holes and Fedo having won the 10Euro bet on who would win playing stableford. The temperature had hit 40degrees so by the time we headed home all four of us we finished. I came home and cooked up a calzone filled with sliced Italian sausage before drinking litres of water!
Kate and Angelo offered on Thursday (today) to show me around the Langhe region. It is a wine and agriculture region south east of Turin. It was of interest to them because they had just bought a house in Calooso and are in the process of moving from Turin to the country. Heading out on the motor way there was no sign we were close to a wine region. Obviously as the city ended there was more industry and as the industry ended there was more agriculture. However it wasn't until we went through a tunnel that suddenly we were in the vineyards of the Lunghe.
It's a tightly knit area with some family enterprise vineyards only a hectare in size. The soil looks very limey and is the terrain is very undulating and in some cases very steep indeed. The vines were all pruned to form a canopy that was green and tall but very narrow on each trellis. The grapes all hung reasonably low on the vine. There were many old (roman) farm houses scattered around and on nearly every high point was an old church tower or castle. We searched Barbaresco for a coffee and the well known wine bar but like the rest of Italy the town was pretty much closed. Touring through one certainly got a sense that things happened pretty slowly and that not a lot had changed in a long time. The houses were all in good condition and so too the land. It must be close to harvest as it has been a hot winter. Harvesting on such steep land must surely mean hand picking. That is the way of life here. I had in my mind that I might be able to get to some cellar doors but not here. Most growers and makers sell to cooperatives who then distribute on. This is because most places are so small. I don't know they survive economically at all making 10 barrels a year. Some less I’m told.
We arrived in Calosso and after having said hello to the restaurant manager a discussion erupted between Angelo and the restaurateur. Angelo has a question about the tunnels that were set into the back of many of the buildings that served as cool places to cure meat and cheese. Before we knew we were sitting face to face with the mayor of Calosso! The restaurateur went upstairs briefly and arranged that we meet the mayor. For Kate and Angelo this was their first meeting and for me...well I had no idea what was going on. The office was very unassuming. The desk was small and on an angle to the room. An old computer sat on a small desk in the corner while an Italian flat and a European flag hung side by side behind the Mayor. As new house owners in the area they discussed many things with this somewhat dry typical politician. Apparently the town wanted to use their new house for a function later in the year because it had more space due to these tunnels than their venue last year. A lot of hand waving and animated Italian went on before matters were presumably settled and we wandered downstairs to lunch.
Lunch was delicious antipasti of cold roast beef with creamy sauce, roast / dried capsicum with anchovy paste, lardo, finely cut beef fillet tartar with parmesan shavings. For a main Angelo and I each had a plate of veal and sage ravioli. To try some wines and considering the heat we had a go at a local Arneis and local light red. The local reds (Barbaresco and Barolo can be very brutal apparently...in line with a Barossa baseball-bat red). Kate and Angelo ordered dessert out of politeness and while I declined, Kate handed me hers anyway. It was a cold formed cream with berries and lots of icing sugar. Totally delicious. The restaurateur happened to used to own the wine library on the street when I am, Via Monferrato, one of Travis's favourite places.
I have a terrible memory of all the villages we drove through but we headed toward Asti and saw more of the country side. The landscape changed to more open less steep land with more cropping. In fact it was very similar to Piccadilly Valley in the Adelaide Hills. All very beautiful with scattered Italian / Tuscan / Roman farm houses with their terracotta roofs breaking up the green fields. We stopped for a revitalising coke and gelato high on a hill in a village with a big square (I forget the name). It must have been around 40 degrees again as the bitumen and all the stone walls were radiating significant heat around us.
It was home then for a two hour break before dinner. Fedo's mother owns a restaurant called Ponte Vecchio (the bridge in Firenze). It's a classical Italian restaurant favoured by locals with a strong loyalty base. Because of Kate and Angelo's friendship we were seated on the family table. That is, the table where friends and family dine on a nightly basis. The atmosphere was very family based with everyone knowing everyone. All the staff knew those at the table. Another family was seated at the end nonetheless everyone knew everyone. Subsequently the service was exceptional and the food was as authentic as I could hope to imagine. I had a minestrone type relatively (purposely) luke warm soup to start (pasta, beans and a thick creamy tomato sauce. Fredo allowed me to taste his octopus dish. It was so simple with only tomato and chopped red onions with some seasoning and oil. Very light appropriating the heat of the day. For mains Angelo and I shared some fish with sides of potato. All dishes were lathered in olive oil to ensure our bodies were well lubricated. Italian words were flying around the table while Kate did an amazing job of translating between everyone. Fedo loved practicing his English along the way.
We retired to the back table so that everyone could smoke. The back table is the normal family table but because of the low trade during August the family table was moved to the front to make the place look fuller. Mirror neuron marketing for you. The chef was playing cards with a regular. We enjoyed a coffee and a very good vodka. While Kate and I rabbitted on for hours, the others got suitable animated in Italian hand waving and card playing. Soon all the staff and owners were involved; playing cards, smoking and drinking. Kate and I covered numerous topics but one of note was the idea of how much better Italians are at communicating. It's a way of life and creates the stereotype images of the hand waving and what look like constant arguments. Part of that is the family meals consolidated in this case by the 'family table' at Ponte Vecchio.
It was a most enjoyable day and I thank Isabella for arranging that I meet Kate and Angelo. Their hospitality and generosity has been huge and very kind. I am sadly starting to feel at home in Torino. Sad because I leave in under a week and a half.
Kate and Angelo offered on Thursday (today) to show me around the Langhe region. It is a wine and agriculture region south east of Turin. It was of interest to them because they had just bought a house in Calooso and are in the process of moving from Turin to the country. Heading out on the motor way there was no sign we were close to a wine region. Obviously as the city ended there was more industry and as the industry ended there was more agriculture. However it wasn't until we went through a tunnel that suddenly we were in the vineyards of the Lunghe.
It's a tightly knit area with some family enterprise vineyards only a hectare in size. The soil looks very limey and is the terrain is very undulating and in some cases very steep indeed. The vines were all pruned to form a canopy that was green and tall but very narrow on each trellis. The grapes all hung reasonably low on the vine. There were many old (roman) farm houses scattered around and on nearly every high point was an old church tower or castle. We searched Barbaresco for a coffee and the well known wine bar but like the rest of Italy the town was pretty much closed. Touring through one certainly got a sense that things happened pretty slowly and that not a lot had changed in a long time. The houses were all in good condition and so too the land. It must be close to harvest as it has been a hot winter. Harvesting on such steep land must surely mean hand picking. That is the way of life here. I had in my mind that I might be able to get to some cellar doors but not here. Most growers and makers sell to cooperatives who then distribute on. This is because most places are so small. I don't know they survive economically at all making 10 barrels a year. Some less I’m told.
We arrived in Calosso and after having said hello to the restaurant manager a discussion erupted between Angelo and the restaurateur. Angelo has a question about the tunnels that were set into the back of many of the buildings that served as cool places to cure meat and cheese. Before we knew we were sitting face to face with the mayor of Calosso! The restaurateur went upstairs briefly and arranged that we meet the mayor. For Kate and Angelo this was their first meeting and for me...well I had no idea what was going on. The office was very unassuming. The desk was small and on an angle to the room. An old computer sat on a small desk in the corner while an Italian flat and a European flag hung side by side behind the Mayor. As new house owners in the area they discussed many things with this somewhat dry typical politician. Apparently the town wanted to use their new house for a function later in the year because it had more space due to these tunnels than their venue last year. A lot of hand waving and animated Italian went on before matters were presumably settled and we wandered downstairs to lunch.
Lunch was delicious antipasti of cold roast beef with creamy sauce, roast / dried capsicum with anchovy paste, lardo, finely cut beef fillet tartar with parmesan shavings. For a main Angelo and I each had a plate of veal and sage ravioli. To try some wines and considering the heat we had a go at a local Arneis and local light red. The local reds (Barbaresco and Barolo can be very brutal apparently...in line with a Barossa baseball-bat red). Kate and Angelo ordered dessert out of politeness and while I declined, Kate handed me hers anyway. It was a cold formed cream with berries and lots of icing sugar. Totally delicious. The restaurateur happened to used to own the wine library on the street when I am, Via Monferrato, one of Travis's favourite places.
I have a terrible memory of all the villages we drove through but we headed toward Asti and saw more of the country side. The landscape changed to more open less steep land with more cropping. In fact it was very similar to Piccadilly Valley in the Adelaide Hills. All very beautiful with scattered Italian / Tuscan / Roman farm houses with their terracotta roofs breaking up the green fields. We stopped for a revitalising coke and gelato high on a hill in a village with a big square (I forget the name). It must have been around 40 degrees again as the bitumen and all the stone walls were radiating significant heat around us.
It was home then for a two hour break before dinner. Fedo's mother owns a restaurant called Ponte Vecchio (the bridge in Firenze). It's a classical Italian restaurant favoured by locals with a strong loyalty base. Because of Kate and Angelo's friendship we were seated on the family table. That is, the table where friends and family dine on a nightly basis. The atmosphere was very family based with everyone knowing everyone. All the staff knew those at the table. Another family was seated at the end nonetheless everyone knew everyone. Subsequently the service was exceptional and the food was as authentic as I could hope to imagine. I had a minestrone type relatively (purposely) luke warm soup to start (pasta, beans and a thick creamy tomato sauce. Fredo allowed me to taste his octopus dish. It was so simple with only tomato and chopped red onions with some seasoning and oil. Very light appropriating the heat of the day. For mains Angelo and I shared some fish with sides of potato. All dishes were lathered in olive oil to ensure our bodies were well lubricated. Italian words were flying around the table while Kate did an amazing job of translating between everyone. Fedo loved practicing his English along the way.
We retired to the back table so that everyone could smoke. The back table is the normal family table but because of the low trade during August the family table was moved to the front to make the place look fuller. Mirror neuron marketing for you. The chef was playing cards with a regular. We enjoyed a coffee and a very good vodka. While Kate and I rabbitted on for hours, the others got suitable animated in Italian hand waving and card playing. Soon all the staff and owners were involved; playing cards, smoking and drinking. Kate and I covered numerous topics but one of note was the idea of how much better Italians are at communicating. It's a way of life and creates the stereotype images of the hand waving and what look like constant arguments. Part of that is the family meals consolidated in this case by the 'family table' at Ponte Vecchio.
It was a most enjoyable day and I thank Isabella for arranging that I meet Kate and Angelo. Their hospitality and generosity has been huge and very kind. I am sadly starting to feel at home in Torino. Sad because I leave in under a week and a half.
A day in the life of...
I was in the Torino zone today!
Tough day at the office....
- Woke up at 6am...dozed til 10am!
- Muesli and a tea
- Emails to the world
- Walked to markets a different way than I normally go to see some other stuff
- Bought fruit and vege
- On the lookout for a thief riding a silver bike they stole at the train station...didn't see one
- Had a beautiful onion and cheese 'white pizza' at a shop near the markets
- Focaccia Milanese, coke and a machiato at another cafe in the city and read the Financial Times.
- Headed home
- Made a coffee and wanted to start baking but didn't have yeast.
- Started reading: My years with General Motors sunbaking on the back verandah in the sun
- Bought some yeast when the supermarket opened. Opening hours are 8am - midday and then 4pm til 8pm. Bless the unions!
- Made the starter dough for baguettes (needs to stay over night ready for making final dough and baking tomorrow)
- Tried making piadina but not the same as the lebanese lady in the markets. Needs to be made with lard not olive oil and almost layered like pastry. This recipe would be great to make burettos at home rather than buy them.
- Made pizza dough.
- Did some sketching while it rose.
- Made proscuitto, mozarella pizza and also a margherita pizza. The dough was amazing - finally think i've cracked the code. The right recipe helps!
- Did some more sketching
- Cleaned everything in the kitchen and organised laundry
- Had a shower (it's very hot here still!)
- More emails and reading papers online
- Contact insurance company and ask what my options are
- Read book
- Sleep
Tough day at the office....
Sunday thoughts and activities
Fat people on Sky
Thanks to Sky channel, when i'm bored I resort to Sky cable TV (it's always the last resort particularly when I watch what i'm about to explain). There are some good things among the 900 channels but my favourites are the cooking shows. I did flick across to a show about the obesity epidemic in the US and ended up watching it for a while. What was presented as a documentary about one 14 year old girls 'struggle' with obesity in my eyes was actually a comedy about how stupid people are.
This 14 year old American girl was 300 pounds (or something like 150kgs). She complained that she was unable to go out socially and that the world was against her. She had been in contact with a surgeon who had promised to perform liposuction on her. Her mother, (single mum) was working two jobs to keep this 14yo in school, fed and looked after.
The surgeon promised to perform surgery if this girls iron levels improved. With low iron levels, too much blood loss during surgery could add other complications.
All this sounds fine....however for a 14yo girl, I think the surgeon should have offered brain surgery.
In further footage, the girl was seen eating deep fried food when her mum wasn't looking - actually the 'mom' was at the casino gambling. When her mum presented good wholesome healthy food the 14yo was looking at a tomato asking what it was. Told to try it, she did but spat it out. Her 'normal' looking meal was wasted. Was it the first time her mother had cooked a healthy meal? I'd say so. Just for the cameras.
If you like food, by looking at this kid you could tell she liked food....then learn about food. Learn about all different types of food. International cuisine, market food, exotic fruit and vegetables....learn why Italians eat so much great food and they are all skinny....
This girl wasn't able to improve her iron levels with good food or even supplements. So no surgery for her. The doctor wisely suggested her do some exercise and eat less. I would have sent her next door for that brain transplant.
Lakes District - Australian Team
Upon chatting with Nick Hudson, a mate from Sydney, I decided to head up to Varese to check out the lakes (again) and see if I couldn't meet up with the Australian Team. Varese is 50odd kms north of Milan and is the poor mans cousin of the bigger Como and Maggiore lakes. Nonetheless it is a beautiful area and a rowers heaven! Because I hadn't looked up the directions I simply jumped off the train and headed toward to the water. I expected Varese to be right on the water, similar to Como but this wasn't the case. So after I found the water, I looked for the first rowing sheds. It turned out the first shed I got to was where the British team were based. Asking them for help, the send me to the other end of the lake to where the Aus team was based. The British team coaches were actually Australians I think! Once I got to the Gravirate sheds, i found the Aus team boat man who said they had finished for the day and had just headed back to their hotel on the other side of the lake!! It was cool to check out the sheds. After watching the Ginn and Tomkins video from 2003 which shot many scenes of them training in Varese it was very cool to see it in person. It is certainly a gorgeous lake. It was a bit smelly and could have done with a clean but mirror flat.
I rode around to Biandronno to the Hotel Continental to where the Aus team was having lunch! It was a little strange walking into the dining room as I knew quite a few of them and it took a little while before people processed that I was there unexpectedly! A bit surreal but I said hi to Osti, Bolty, Bryn, Alice Mc, Dave Crawshay and some of the other SUBC and MUBC people I had met over the years. They were all going really well and pumped for Senior A Worlds in Poznan in a week or so. Bolty had just finished his Under 23 trip before getting a call up to be reserve. He's over doing the work loads for those injured and although looked tired was certainly looking strong. What a great opportunity for him. Huddo is feeling strong in the quad although they are up against the Polish in their home country. The Polish won at Beijing and the last 3 world champs with the crew unchanged.
I left those guys to chill out at the hotel and hopped back on the bike and rode around to Lake Maggiore. Here I just trundled around the beautiful lake. It was dinner time so people were all around eating outdoors or wandering licking gelato! Superlative lifestyle!
I slept most of the way back on the train. The parts that I was awake I looked out the window across the rice fields and at the old roman style farm houses wondering how different life would be now for these guys as it would have been when Caesar was fighting people coming across the mountains. I doubt not much other than they have tractors to do the hard work instead of slaves!
Thanks to Sky channel, when i'm bored I resort to Sky cable TV (it's always the last resort particularly when I watch what i'm about to explain). There are some good things among the 900 channels but my favourites are the cooking shows. I did flick across to a show about the obesity epidemic in the US and ended up watching it for a while. What was presented as a documentary about one 14 year old girls 'struggle' with obesity in my eyes was actually a comedy about how stupid people are.
This 14 year old American girl was 300 pounds (or something like 150kgs). She complained that she was unable to go out socially and that the world was against her. She had been in contact with a surgeon who had promised to perform liposuction on her. Her mother, (single mum) was working two jobs to keep this 14yo in school, fed and looked after.
The surgeon promised to perform surgery if this girls iron levels improved. With low iron levels, too much blood loss during surgery could add other complications.
All this sounds fine....however for a 14yo girl, I think the surgeon should have offered brain surgery.
In further footage, the girl was seen eating deep fried food when her mum wasn't looking - actually the 'mom' was at the casino gambling. When her mum presented good wholesome healthy food the 14yo was looking at a tomato asking what it was. Told to try it, she did but spat it out. Her 'normal' looking meal was wasted. Was it the first time her mother had cooked a healthy meal? I'd say so. Just for the cameras.
If you like food, by looking at this kid you could tell she liked food....then learn about food. Learn about all different types of food. International cuisine, market food, exotic fruit and vegetables....learn why Italians eat so much great food and they are all skinny....
This girl wasn't able to improve her iron levels with good food or even supplements. So no surgery for her. The doctor wisely suggested her do some exercise and eat less. I would have sent her next door for that brain transplant.
Lakes District - Australian Team
Upon chatting with Nick Hudson, a mate from Sydney, I decided to head up to Varese to check out the lakes (again) and see if I couldn't meet up with the Australian Team. Varese is 50odd kms north of Milan and is the poor mans cousin of the bigger Como and Maggiore lakes. Nonetheless it is a beautiful area and a rowers heaven! Because I hadn't looked up the directions I simply jumped off the train and headed toward to the water. I expected Varese to be right on the water, similar to Como but this wasn't the case. So after I found the water, I looked for the first rowing sheds. It turned out the first shed I got to was where the British team were based. Asking them for help, the send me to the other end of the lake to where the Aus team was based. The British team coaches were actually Australians I think! Once I got to the Gravirate sheds, i found the Aus team boat man who said they had finished for the day and had just headed back to their hotel on the other side of the lake!! It was cool to check out the sheds. After watching the Ginn and Tomkins video from 2003 which shot many scenes of them training in Varese it was very cool to see it in person. It is certainly a gorgeous lake. It was a bit smelly and could have done with a clean but mirror flat.
I rode around to Biandronno to the Hotel Continental to where the Aus team was having lunch! It was a little strange walking into the dining room as I knew quite a few of them and it took a little while before people processed that I was there unexpectedly! A bit surreal but I said hi to Osti, Bolty, Bryn, Alice Mc, Dave Crawshay and some of the other SUBC and MUBC people I had met over the years. They were all going really well and pumped for Senior A Worlds in Poznan in a week or so. Bolty had just finished his Under 23 trip before getting a call up to be reserve. He's over doing the work loads for those injured and although looked tired was certainly looking strong. What a great opportunity for him. Huddo is feeling strong in the quad although they are up against the Polish in their home country. The Polish won at Beijing and the last 3 world champs with the crew unchanged.
I left those guys to chill out at the hotel and hopped back on the bike and rode around to Lake Maggiore. Here I just trundled around the beautiful lake. It was dinner time so people were all around eating outdoors or wandering licking gelato! Superlative lifestyle!
I slept most of the way back on the train. The parts that I was awake I looked out the window across the rice fields and at the old roman style farm houses wondering how different life would be now for these guys as it would have been when Caesar was fighting people coming across the mountains. I doubt not much other than they have tractors to do the hard work instead of slaves!
First Full week in Torino
Errors from last email
I think I got a few things wrong in my last blog. Torino is in Piedmont. Milan is in Lombardia. Both areas house the super powers of Italy in terms of industry and this wealth. I'll need to research what the crazy Napolean was up to when he tried his hand at joining Italy to France.
Food
Most days for me here in Torino revolve around food. I have been checking out cook books and watching people at restaurants in the hope I can learn to make the food I cook and love 'more' Italian. Most days I try to make a new bread / focaccia / pizza base. I've been trying a few Indian dishes as well as I find their food has the same simplistic rich taste philosophies. My biggest challenge is finding what each ingredient is in Italian. Once I work that out, i'm all good. It's been great and I think i'm getting better at bread. I clearly will need a wood fired oven in my house (when that all happens!) and a good source of flour, yeast and vegetables!
Chiuso
Chiuos is a word that is seen on most shop fronts at the moment. While you might think that the Italians would want to be doing everything in their power to stimulate the economy actually they are on holidays. I estimate 80% of shops are closed at the moment. In the touristy spots most things are open but everything else is closed. I don't know if it is a rule but the shops all show when they are closed until. Some have said they won't open until September! The little bakery below me here on Via Monferrato has a ?? marked where it should have a re-opening date! It is bloody hot here in Torino so I can see why people are leaving...
Milan with George
On Friday, the 14th I headed across to Milan to meet Georgie Mitchell. She had been hanging in Lausanne and was keen to meet up. We thought Milan would be good as all the main train lines head through there. Feeling somewhat like a local I was able to show her around the main bits of the city and all the fancy shops. Luckily for her credit card most of the big shops were closed for the holidays. Nonetheless we found respite in the air conditioned Ralph Lauren shop among others. We had lunch in front of the Duomo and also checked out the Design Super Market in La Rinascente. Unfortunately our trip was short but we got to do the main things and hang out which was great.
The only bummer was getting back to Torino to find Trav's bike missing where I had locked it up in front of the train station. This meant trying to deal with the train station security and the police. All very hard with no Italian! Not sure what i'm going to do now but presumably owe Trav a bike! Bummer.
Bike rides with Falsto
Falsto has been taking me on short little bike rides around the hills of Torino as well as along the River Po. He rides a mountain bike so it's a little hard to keep up on my roadie on the dirt tracks! In any case it's been fun. On Saturday we followed the River Po south. It was great seeing the back-blocks of Torino. Sections of the track were lined with huge apartment blocks clearly built for the working class who operated the former Fiat plant here in Lingotto. A great side of Torino and Italy to see.
He had to head home but pointed me in the direction of Avigliano which is a small town to the west of Torino with some gorgeous little lakes. Although it was pretty warm by then I decided to head around to the huge old church/cathedral San Michele perched high up on the cliff above Sant Ambrogio. i couldn't find a way up there from where I was so ended up riding along the main roads to Susa. The road to Susa follows a large valley running west of Torino. It is one of the main exits to France and Switzerland. Also in the valley is a mountain stream. I got to Susa, rather exhausted mind you, and found a bakery to refuel. In fact it was a sensational bakery and one of the best i've been to in Italy. Lots of sweets! The Focaccia di Susa (sugar coated sweet Focaccia) was amazing.
I had planned to head back to Torino (as Susa is 50kms from Torino by main road) but on my way saw a sign pointing into the mountain saying Colle delle Finestre. This road also had road signs pointing to France! This excited me...anyway it was some serious climbing. It was about 12kms of switch back after switch climbing to 1500m altitude. Luckily much of the road on the way up was in the shade and there were water stations along the way. I was sweating seriously hard and constantly out of the saddle punching the 39-25 wishing for a 28! I was hoping to get to the top which is at 2200m or something but unfortunately the road turned to very rough dirt road stopping me. This was probably a good thing because I needed to get home as well! So I punched back down the switch-backs on the brakes a lot of time. The front wheel was scorching hot from the friction brakes when I got to the bottom in Susa and stopped for directions. I pointed my front wheel in the direction of Torino and hit it into a stiff headwind all the way home. By the time I crawled onto the couch in Torino and checked google maps i'd done 158kms. Once again, it was great to see different parts of the country side here. It turned out I was only 20kms from the Swiss border! Next time...
I think I got a few things wrong in my last blog. Torino is in Piedmont. Milan is in Lombardia. Both areas house the super powers of Italy in terms of industry and this wealth. I'll need to research what the crazy Napolean was up to when he tried his hand at joining Italy to France.
Food
Most days for me here in Torino revolve around food. I have been checking out cook books and watching people at restaurants in the hope I can learn to make the food I cook and love 'more' Italian. Most days I try to make a new bread / focaccia / pizza base. I've been trying a few Indian dishes as well as I find their food has the same simplistic rich taste philosophies. My biggest challenge is finding what each ingredient is in Italian. Once I work that out, i'm all good. It's been great and I think i'm getting better at bread. I clearly will need a wood fired oven in my house (when that all happens!) and a good source of flour, yeast and vegetables!
Chiuso
Chiuos is a word that is seen on most shop fronts at the moment. While you might think that the Italians would want to be doing everything in their power to stimulate the economy actually they are on holidays. I estimate 80% of shops are closed at the moment. In the touristy spots most things are open but everything else is closed. I don't know if it is a rule but the shops all show when they are closed until. Some have said they won't open until September! The little bakery below me here on Via Monferrato has a ?? marked where it should have a re-opening date! It is bloody hot here in Torino so I can see why people are leaving...
Milan with George
On Friday, the 14th I headed across to Milan to meet Georgie Mitchell. She had been hanging in Lausanne and was keen to meet up. We thought Milan would be good as all the main train lines head through there. Feeling somewhat like a local I was able to show her around the main bits of the city and all the fancy shops. Luckily for her credit card most of the big shops were closed for the holidays. Nonetheless we found respite in the air conditioned Ralph Lauren shop among others. We had lunch in front of the Duomo and also checked out the Design Super Market in La Rinascente. Unfortunately our trip was short but we got to do the main things and hang out which was great.
The only bummer was getting back to Torino to find Trav's bike missing where I had locked it up in front of the train station. This meant trying to deal with the train station security and the police. All very hard with no Italian! Not sure what i'm going to do now but presumably owe Trav a bike! Bummer.
Bike rides with Falsto
Falsto has been taking me on short little bike rides around the hills of Torino as well as along the River Po. He rides a mountain bike so it's a little hard to keep up on my roadie on the dirt tracks! In any case it's been fun. On Saturday we followed the River Po south. It was great seeing the back-blocks of Torino. Sections of the track were lined with huge apartment blocks clearly built for the working class who operated the former Fiat plant here in Lingotto. A great side of Torino and Italy to see.
He had to head home but pointed me in the direction of Avigliano which is a small town to the west of Torino with some gorgeous little lakes. Although it was pretty warm by then I decided to head around to the huge old church/cathedral San Michele perched high up on the cliff above Sant Ambrogio. i couldn't find a way up there from where I was so ended up riding along the main roads to Susa. The road to Susa follows a large valley running west of Torino. It is one of the main exits to France and Switzerland. Also in the valley is a mountain stream. I got to Susa, rather exhausted mind you, and found a bakery to refuel. In fact it was a sensational bakery and one of the best i've been to in Italy. Lots of sweets! The Focaccia di Susa (sugar coated sweet Focaccia) was amazing.
I had planned to head back to Torino (as Susa is 50kms from Torino by main road) but on my way saw a sign pointing into the mountain saying Colle delle Finestre. This road also had road signs pointing to France! This excited me...anyway it was some serious climbing. It was about 12kms of switch back after switch climbing to 1500m altitude. Luckily much of the road on the way up was in the shade and there were water stations along the way. I was sweating seriously hard and constantly out of the saddle punching the 39-25 wishing for a 28! I was hoping to get to the top which is at 2200m or something but unfortunately the road turned to very rough dirt road stopping me. This was probably a good thing because I needed to get home as well! So I punched back down the switch-backs on the brakes a lot of time. The front wheel was scorching hot from the friction brakes when I got to the bottom in Susa and stopped for directions. I pointed my front wheel in the direction of Torino and hit it into a stiff headwind all the way home. By the time I crawled onto the couch in Torino and checked google maps i'd done 158kms. Once again, it was great to see different parts of the country side here. It turned out I was only 20kms from the Swiss border! Next time...
Food in Turin
As you may or may not know, although i'm not a great cook I love food particularly Italian Food. It's simple, it's packed with energy and I reckon it tastes great.
It's just that the tomotoes taste so much better. I mean, I don't think i've ever eaten anything so jam packed with sweetness. Although on the outside the tomatoes look a bit bashed up they are super juicey inside and sweet.
Travis showed me the Torino markets and I have been there everyday since. They are open every morning til 2pm, all day Saturday but not Sunday. You can buy just about anything. There are large stalls for fruit and vege outside while inside you can get as many cuts of meat, cheese and bread as you like! Like all central markets the energy of the people is great. It's a shame there is no where to sit and enjoy - Lucia's style - it's strictly business.
Travis and Em also told me that food doesn't last long. This is annoying but a great sign that it's fresh and chemical free. I shortened my expectations but even then, yesterday I had so smash some food to get in before it went off!
My missions to the markets are usually to get some bread and vegetables. Along the way I have been trying little nibbles particularly the italian sweets. The Cannoli's are yum!
My effort has been put into learning how to bake italian good. Tonight I tried the Focaccia and I must say I think I have had some success. By following a website www.theartisans.net I have been able to get closer. I'd love an italian baker to show me but with limited language and the fact that their food must be pretty 'trade secret' I don't like my chances!
The pizza's here are -as you would expect- amazing but again I want to learn how they get the dough so thin yet so firm. The other specialty of Torino is Risotto. Apparently they grow a huge amount of rice in the area as they have lots of sun and plenty of water from the mountains. Katherine has offered to teach me Risotto better than the Torinese although the one I had on Friday night was pretty good!
After focaccia is another attempt at pizza dough then I might move onto sweets!
It's just that the tomotoes taste so much better. I mean, I don't think i've ever eaten anything so jam packed with sweetness. Although on the outside the tomatoes look a bit bashed up they are super juicey inside and sweet.
Travis showed me the Torino markets and I have been there everyday since. They are open every morning til 2pm, all day Saturday but not Sunday. You can buy just about anything. There are large stalls for fruit and vege outside while inside you can get as many cuts of meat, cheese and bread as you like! Like all central markets the energy of the people is great. It's a shame there is no where to sit and enjoy - Lucia's style - it's strictly business.
Travis and Em also told me that food doesn't last long. This is annoying but a great sign that it's fresh and chemical free. I shortened my expectations but even then, yesterday I had so smash some food to get in before it went off!
My missions to the markets are usually to get some bread and vegetables. Along the way I have been trying little nibbles particularly the italian sweets. The Cannoli's are yum!
My effort has been put into learning how to bake italian good. Tonight I tried the Focaccia and I must say I think I have had some success. By following a website www.theartisans.net I have been able to get closer. I'd love an italian baker to show me but with limited language and the fact that their food must be pretty 'trade secret' I don't like my chances!
The pizza's here are -as you would expect- amazing but again I want to learn how they get the dough so thin yet so firm. The other specialty of Torino is Risotto. Apparently they grow a huge amount of rice in the area as they have lots of sun and plenty of water from the mountains. Katherine has offered to teach me Risotto better than the Torinese although the one I had on Friday night was pretty good!
After focaccia is another attempt at pizza dough then I might move onto sweets!
Turin
I have finally arrived in Turin which I have planned to be my home for three weeks. This has come about because James Hannam's brother lives with his girlfriend Emily in Torino and are travelling to Greece for three weeks ending at the end of September. Emily works for GM as the Director of Communications for Europe! Trav and Em both hail from Adelaide but met in Melbourne.
This has worked out super well for me and I am most grateful for their generosity.
Travis picked me up from the train station which was a luxury and after dropping off my gear he took me on a tour of the town. He showed me his favourite lunch, coffee, gelati and sights. Most of which I forgot the next day but as I slowly learn more about the city I am reminded of where he pointed things out.
Torino is a little more touristy than Milan but is probably as touristy as Adelaide! In fact Torino and Adelaide are very similar in size. It's a beautiful city that has had an interesting past.
On the first evening Travis took me to a bar along the river Po for an evening beer while Emily was at the gym after work. It was lovely to sit literally a metre from the river sucking down a beer and communicating in a language that I can speak! They cooked a little BBQ that night to make me feel at home!
A business idea for someone is to import BBQ's to Europe. They all talk about them but don't use Gas ones only disposable ones from the supermarkets!
They have a great apartment a stones through from the Gran Madre which is just across the River Po from the city. In fact it looks over the Piazza Vittorio which is one of the biggest in the city. Turin likes to claim they have had many big things over the years. Their shopping mall (Via Garibaldi) is apparently the longest in Europe (it is pretty long!) and the Mole was the biggest brick structure in its day. They claim that the porticos all add up to around 30kms meaning you can walk around the city without getting wet and cover 30kms. Torino was the capital of Lombardia before Italy united. Even then I think it was the capital for a while. Milan stole its limelight as the largest in the North although Torino hosted the Winter olympics in 2006 and holds many conferences and expos of worldy note.
My days here revolved around exercise (bike riding into the hills and running, food (the Markets at Piazza Republica are amazing!) and doing stuff. Stuff includes internet time, German reading and sketching.
Emily and Trav introduced me to their english speaking friends. They are from all over the place. Katherine is a New Zealander, her boyfriend Falsto is Italian but speaks very good English. Lisa is a graphic designer from London that has lived for 10 years. Brid is from Ireland and an English teacher. Ester is also an english teacher that seems to be the common link between them all. Anyway, they invited me out on Friday night so I joined them for an apertivo and then a meal. It was my first proper Italian meal. They go well into the night and get pretty serious. This was where I met Paulo, the economist. He was pretty impressive in the sense he could speak 4 languages, has worked in London, Spain, Italy and now in the US. It was good company.
Similarly, Katherine and Falsto dropped by on Sunday to see if I wanted to hang out with them at Cafe Fluido in the park on the River Po. That I did and enjoyed a fun evening with them that included Indian, Gelati and many laughs. I'd worked up a pretty serious appetite by riding up to Magone (via Viu) so had 140kms in the legs with 600m altitude climbing. The curry really hit the spot and have me inspired to learn more about indian cuisine.
I'll keep living the Italian dream!
This has worked out super well for me and I am most grateful for their generosity.
Travis picked me up from the train station which was a luxury and after dropping off my gear he took me on a tour of the town. He showed me his favourite lunch, coffee, gelati and sights. Most of which I forgot the next day but as I slowly learn more about the city I am reminded of where he pointed things out.
Torino is a little more touristy than Milan but is probably as touristy as Adelaide! In fact Torino and Adelaide are very similar in size. It's a beautiful city that has had an interesting past.
On the first evening Travis took me to a bar along the river Po for an evening beer while Emily was at the gym after work. It was lovely to sit literally a metre from the river sucking down a beer and communicating in a language that I can speak! They cooked a little BBQ that night to make me feel at home!
A business idea for someone is to import BBQ's to Europe. They all talk about them but don't use Gas ones only disposable ones from the supermarkets!
They have a great apartment a stones through from the Gran Madre which is just across the River Po from the city. In fact it looks over the Piazza Vittorio which is one of the biggest in the city. Turin likes to claim they have had many big things over the years. Their shopping mall (Via Garibaldi) is apparently the longest in Europe (it is pretty long!) and the Mole was the biggest brick structure in its day. They claim that the porticos all add up to around 30kms meaning you can walk around the city without getting wet and cover 30kms. Torino was the capital of Lombardia before Italy united. Even then I think it was the capital for a while. Milan stole its limelight as the largest in the North although Torino hosted the Winter olympics in 2006 and holds many conferences and expos of worldy note.
My days here revolved around exercise (bike riding into the hills and running, food (the Markets at Piazza Republica are amazing!) and doing stuff. Stuff includes internet time, German reading and sketching.
Emily and Trav introduced me to their english speaking friends. They are from all over the place. Katherine is a New Zealander, her boyfriend Falsto is Italian but speaks very good English. Lisa is a graphic designer from London that has lived for 10 years. Brid is from Ireland and an English teacher. Ester is also an english teacher that seems to be the common link between them all. Anyway, they invited me out on Friday night so I joined them for an apertivo and then a meal. It was my first proper Italian meal. They go well into the night and get pretty serious. This was where I met Paulo, the economist. He was pretty impressive in the sense he could speak 4 languages, has worked in London, Spain, Italy and now in the US. It was good company.
Similarly, Katherine and Falsto dropped by on Sunday to see if I wanted to hang out with them at Cafe Fluido in the park on the River Po. That I did and enjoyed a fun evening with them that included Indian, Gelati and many laughs. I'd worked up a pretty serious appetite by riding up to Magone (via Viu) so had 140kms in the legs with 600m altitude climbing. The curry really hit the spot and have me inspired to learn more about indian cuisine.
I'll keep living the Italian dream!
Milan
What was instantly more noticable about Milan was the pride taken and thus effort in making the city look good. Perhaps this was due to my eyes last seeing Italy in the dirty museum of Florence.
I might seem as though i'm being harsh but what it noticable in Germany and other successful countries is the ethos that although one must continue to acknowledge and learn from the past, the present needs to be lived to continue to create valuable history for the future. This sliding timeline means each day new things need to be created and lived. I guess at some point the world is only so big and you can't keep creating without losing some history. Now i'm getting a little philosophical. However my point is that to keep feeding its people a government must move forward and the different feelings between Florence and Milan helped me appreciate this. Although I haven't crunched the numbers on the Italian economy, I do know they have relied on 'old' industries such as motor car manufacturing and real estate only to be left behind to thus have to rely on their country to be popular as a museum to survive. These are rash generalisations because Italians are at the forefront of design however they perhaps need to use this creativity for other industries.
Milan isn't a tourist focus but has some great sights. The Duomo di Milanl is one of the biggest in Italy and watches over a massive Piazza del Milano and the spectacular Galleria Vittorio Imanuele II. It was seriously hot in Milan but I decided it was appropriate to dress a little more suitably for Milan and wore pants and nice shirt. As a result I didn't feel too bad to drop into all the shops that make Milan famous. I pretended to buy many things from D&G, Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Georgio Armani etc. I thought that RM Williams also had a shop there and searched because my boots desperately need some polish! The book shops were actually my favourite. The old bookshops that line the footpaths were stacked with what seemed to be an endless number of great look books. Pity I can't speak Italian...
I was staying in a great little 1 star hotel near to the Centrale station which worked really well and was cheaper and better than all the Youth Hostel I had been staying at. Hotel Arno I think it was called.
On Wednesday (4th August) I took the train to Como for a day of walking Lake Como. After abolishing the idea of catching a ferry around as it was going to cost 40E I decided to wander up the western bank..and kept walking! It was a gorgeous day walking along what is an absolute wonderful lake. The buildings, the boats, the back drop and the water all combine to create a truly amazing place. All I could think all day was that I will need to get my act together a buy a villa and a beautiful mahogany boat! I walked up to Urio and then caught a ferry back (only 3E - eg not Tourist prices!).
I might seem as though i'm being harsh but what it noticable in Germany and other successful countries is the ethos that although one must continue to acknowledge and learn from the past, the present needs to be lived to continue to create valuable history for the future. This sliding timeline means each day new things need to be created and lived. I guess at some point the world is only so big and you can't keep creating without losing some history. Now i'm getting a little philosophical. However my point is that to keep feeding its people a government must move forward and the different feelings between Florence and Milan helped me appreciate this. Although I haven't crunched the numbers on the Italian economy, I do know they have relied on 'old' industries such as motor car manufacturing and real estate only to be left behind to thus have to rely on their country to be popular as a museum to survive. These are rash generalisations because Italians are at the forefront of design however they perhaps need to use this creativity for other industries.
Milan isn't a tourist focus but has some great sights. The Duomo di Milanl is one of the biggest in Italy and watches over a massive Piazza del Milano and the spectacular Galleria Vittorio Imanuele II. It was seriously hot in Milan but I decided it was appropriate to dress a little more suitably for Milan and wore pants and nice shirt. As a result I didn't feel too bad to drop into all the shops that make Milan famous. I pretended to buy many things from D&G, Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Georgio Armani etc. I thought that RM Williams also had a shop there and searched because my boots desperately need some polish! The book shops were actually my favourite. The old bookshops that line the footpaths were stacked with what seemed to be an endless number of great look books. Pity I can't speak Italian...
I was staying in a great little 1 star hotel near to the Centrale station which worked really well and was cheaper and better than all the Youth Hostel I had been staying at. Hotel Arno I think it was called.
On Wednesday (4th August) I took the train to Como for a day of walking Lake Como. After abolishing the idea of catching a ferry around as it was going to cost 40E I decided to wander up the western bank..and kept walking! It was a gorgeous day walking along what is an absolute wonderful lake. The buildings, the boats, the back drop and the water all combine to create a truly amazing place. All I could think all day was that I will need to get my act together a buy a villa and a beautiful mahogany boat! I walked up to Urio and then caught a ferry back (only 3E - eg not Tourist prices!).
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