A Life, Lived

Hello Fredericton

This will test the knowledge of those not from Canada. :-)

Fredericton is the Capital of New Brunswick, one of Canada's smaller provinces on the East coast. With a population of just under 70,000 (and that is with amalgamating many nearby communities into the municipal area), many would see this as a bit of a backwater. I am here for the National General Secretaries meeting - every year the GSs and Deputy GSs from all of Canada's teacher unions gather to talk about the issues facing their members and staff.

Never having been to New Brunswick I decided to come down a day early so I had some time to wander.

As you might anticipate, the flight options from Toronto were not great. In fact, there are two direct flights a day - one is very early and the other very late. I took the early flight and arrived before noon. The airport is tiny so getting luggage, picking up the rental car, and heading out was quick!

Fredericton is situated on the St. John river and there are trails all along the river. I stopped a few times to take pics. The flooding on the river was extreme this year and the water is still quite high (if one can tell by the trees that still have their trunks submerged). On the way into the downtown area there were piles of furniture and boxes in front of houses where the basements must have flooded.

I parked the car downtown near the Beaverbrook gallery. You'd not expect to find a major art gallery in a small urban centre in new Brunswick but there it is thanks to the generous donations of Lord Beaverbrook which funded the building and provided more than 300 original pieces of art from his permanent collection.

When I arrived I was advised that it was Lord Beaverbrook Day so my entrance was free.

Happy Jerry.

The gallery has an extensive collection of paintings by Cornelius Krieghoff, and expatriate Canadian post-Impressionist James Wilson Morrice. New Brunswick landscape paintings and works on paper by artists such as Anthony Flower, George T. Taylor, and George Neilson Smith are also an important part of the gallery's holdings of 19th century Canadian art.

Other Canadian artists represented in the collection include members of the Group of Seven, Emily Carr and David Milne, as well as other 20th-century Canadian artists such as Paul-Emile Borduas, Jean Paul Riopelle, Jack Bush, Harold Feist, Harold Klunder and John Boyle.

The gallery is internationally known for its outstanding collection of British paintings from the Elizabethan era to the modern period, including paintings by Thomas Gainsborough, Sir Joshua Reynolds, J.M. Turner and John Constable. Modern British art is represented by the work of Augustus John, Sir Stanley Spencer, Walter Richard Sickert and Graham Sutherland, including Sutherland's preparatory sketches for his famous portrait of Winston Churchill.

Outside there was an interesting sculpture garden along the river.

I was pretty hungry by now so when I smelled the smells of good food wafting from a nearby building I headed in. It turns out that I had discovered Issac's Way - one of the restaurants I had hoped to visit while I was in town. Set in a heritage building (an 1840's era courthouse and jail complex), the restaurant also had an interesting collection of art on the walls.

Many of the menu items were farm to table which was a plus for me!

I had a local craft beer, scallop fritters, and a beet salad.

Next it was off to the hotel to check in.

My room overlooks the river which meant there were some impressive shots of sunset later in the day from my window.

Sant'Andrea della Valle

Shelagh J, an old slow travel board member, commented on one of my posts while I was in Rome and suggested that I go and visit this church. She said that it was stunningly beautiful inside. One afternoon, after a snack and some wine at Roscioli followed by some shopping I realized I was quite close to the church. I'd walked past it a few times during the week but today was the day to pop in.

Opera lovers know this church well - Giacomo Puccini set the first act of his opera Tosca in Sant'Andrea della Valle (in the Barberini Chapel). In fact, many call this an 'operatic church'. The open majesty of the great white marble hall , glittering with gold and  bold paintings, seems to call for some kind of grand orchestral accompaniment.

The drama unfolds as soon as one enters the church. Mattia Preti's enormous paintings (1650-51), spreading the story of St. Andrew's martyrdom across the curving apse, have a powerful impact. The three frescoes, St. Andrew Raised on the Cross, St. Andrew's Crucifixion, and St. Andrew's Burial, are both uplifting (particularly as a result of the lofty classical architecture and spacious landscape) and tragic (the saint's fearful expression and mocking crowds).

The dome—long the third largest in town, after the Pantheon and St. Peter's—was, like the facade, was designed by Carlo Maderno. It was frescoed in 1608–27 by two former pupils of Carracci.

Three powerful pontifical families contributed (and even more unusual for their era, cooperated) to produce Rome's most theatrical basilica - Sant'Andrea della Valle (St. Andrew of the Valley).

The famous humanist Piccolomini popes from Siena, Pius II and Pius III, are both buried inside.

When I walked in a young man came up and offered my a audio guide. Thinking I'd rather just sit and take it in, I declined. He misunderstood and kept telling me it was free. I walked away and sat under the dome transfixed by the paintings and sculpture. It wasn't long before I rethought the audio guide. LOL

The audio guide was so good that I felt compelled to make a donation.

I'm glad Shelagh J suggested it or I might never have gone in and had this fabulous experience!

Centrale Montemartini

A must see on my recent trip to Rome (OK, not that recent but still recent enough that I remember it LOL) was the Centrale Montemartini museum. Set in Rome’s first public electrical power plant, the Centrale Montemartini Museum presents marble statues from the Capitoline Collection set against the backdrop of preserve turbines, diesel engines and steam boilers to create one of the most thought-provoking museum spaces Rome has to offer.

The carefully chosen pieces don’t overwhelm the viewer like the more packed Vatican Museums and the spacious ceilings and natural light from the high glass window panes creates a dream-like atmosphere that guides you back through time to the turn of the century and into Rome’s classical past.

It’s truly spectacular to see the hulking machines (now silenced for decades) adorned in twisting pipes and pressure gauges juxtaposed with creamy marble carved into delicate flowers, curls of hair and the faces of heroes and gods worn rough at the edges. This museum has more than works of art and history to display; a meditation on change and time.

The Montemartini power plant was built in 1912 in Ostiense, an industrial neighborhood situated just south of Rome's historic center. The building, the first public electricity plant in Rome, was designed in Art Nouveau style and named after the Italian economist Giovanni Montemartini. The machines inside the plant were regularly renewed and in 1942 a massive 20,000 kW alternator was installed to supply EUR - the site of a planned world exposition - with power. The plant miraculously survived World War II unscathed and it continued to be in use until the mid 1960s when it was abandoned.

During restructuring of the Musei Capitolini in 1997, ancient Greek and Roman sculptures were moved to the Centrale Montemartini for temporary display. The exhibition of gods and machines was so successful it became permanent, and the plant continues to house classical art among the old electrical production machines.

Compressed air canisters line both sides of the ground-floor atrium, which worked the diesel engines in the machine room above. Pillars of reinforced cement and one of the boilers they supported fill other galleries, where statues of Hera, Athena, Artemis, and Aphrodite circle the machines. Two huge diesel engines are joined by a steam turbine, while before their switches and dials Achilles holding a dying Penthesilea.

The museum is divided into four areas. The atrium on the ground floor shows panels that illustrate the history of the Centrale Montemartini and Ostiense. The next room is the Hall of Columns, where you find beautiful mosaics, funerary objects and a row of busts from the Republican era.

The Hall of the Machines on the second floor is the largest and most impressive room. Here classical statues vie for attention with the massive diesel engines, installed in 1933 in the presence of Mussolini himself. The machines provide a backdrop for a collection of faithful replicas of Greek statues. At the other end of the room are statues that were found in the 1930s at the Temple of Apollo Sosiano near the Theater of Marcellus.

The Boiler Room, named for the huge fifteen meter tall boiler, is home to a number of beautiful statues that once adorned luxurious imperial residences and a group of funerary monuments that were excavated in Ostiense. Among the highlights here are a large mosaic with a hunting scene, a sculpture group depicting a satyr fighting with giants and several high quality statues including one of Venus and another one showing the muse Polyhymnia.

Another exhibit, in a massive space at the back of the museum, featured the special train built in 1858 for Pope Pius IX. As you'd expect, the train is ornate and unique, from the papal coat of arms on the exterior of the train to the curtains and furniture within. Each carriage has a unique function and served Pius IX in a particular way.

For example, this car with the open windows was used when he delivered his blessing to the people. The enclosed one was used for meetings with his collaborators during his trips and even included a chapel, which was quite sophisticated and technologically advanced for the time.

Beating the Crowds at the Vatican

When I was booking tours for my recent trip to Rome one that intrigued me was a tour of the Vatican museums prior to their opening. This would be my third visit to the Sistine chapel and the rest of the Vatican museums. When I had visited previously it was often so crowded that there was no room to move, let alone enjoy the art.

This is the fourth most visited museum in the world with 200,000 artworks spanning five millennia, from ancient Egypt to the present day. It is estimated that during peak time periods 25,000 people visit the museums on a given day. The crush of people can be so overwhelming that it can trigger seizures and heart attacks - our guide told us that the museum experiences an average of 7 medical emergencies a day as a result of the crush of people.

Any wonder why the idea of beating those crowds appealed?

You can do a tour which is completely after hours but it books up months in advance and can be upwards of $ 500. The tour I booked was less expensive and offered a complete hour prior to the crush of people.

Our groups met at a subway stop near the Vatican, after checking in we made our way to entrance of the museums were we stood in line until we were allowed in. Yes, even though we were there before the museums opened people were still queuing to get in.

It was a bit odd - some guides walked straight in with their groups. Others (like us) waited a bit. The guards were brusque and could have used a few lessons in how to interact with the public. Mind you, if I had to answer 'is this where I find the Vatican museums' question 1000s of times a day I might get cranky as well. Most people were relegated to the line which soon snaked far away from us in the opposite direction. Those were the people who would be in line for hours prior to being let in.

It wasn't long before we were let in and we went through the security gates to our destination. Our guide moved the group fairly quickly through the museums to the Sistine chapel. I was immediately struck by the lack of people. For example, this is the famous hall of the maps:

and here it is about 90 minutes later when we retraced our steps:

Yes, beating those crowds was so worth it!

Once we got to the Sistine Chapel we were left alone for about 30 minutes to stare in awe at the frescoes. Pictures are not allowed so I don't have any of my own pics but here are a couple that I grabbed off of the internet.

It turns out that there is a bench which runs along the walls of the chapel and you can sit on it as you peer up at the wonderful ceiling - who knew? Whenever I have been in the building before it was so crowded that this feature was never evident.

Once we left the chapel our guide took us through the museums at a more relaxed pace and even though it was still crowded it was not nearly as crowded as it would have been.

One of the things that I was not aware of was the impact Michelangelo's frescoes had on the art of the renaissance. His knowledge of anatomy and understanding of muscle groups changed the way the human form was depicted in art. You can really see this in the work of Raphael in the papal apartments.

Midway through his work, Raphael snuck into the Sistine Chapel where Michelangelo was working and studied the art. You can see the effect here:

and then here:

The difference in the human forms and the use of movement is dramatic.

You can also see the effect in this fresco which depicted God. Prior to Michelangelo no one had depicted God in human form. Michelangelo depicted him as a bearded, older white man. Here is Raphael's version . . .

I have to say that this was one of the best tours I have taken on my many journeys. It was a ton of walking (I reached my daily fit bit step goal about halfway through the tour) but although I had toured these museums two other times I learned a lot.

The tour ended up near another Michelangelo masterpiece - the Pieta - in St Peter's Basilica.

A sculpture that always moves me whenever I see it.

Our guide provided a fascinating take on the composition which made me look at it in a different way . . . and helped clear up that mystery for me of why Mary looks so young in the sculpture.

By this time I was exhausted. I had been up since 5 AM. I had now walked 14,000 steps. My feet hurt. I was hungry. I did not want to walk back to the apartment.

Of course the taxi stand had no cabs lined up - to be expected on a transit strike day.

As I trudged on my way a parked cab driver rolled down his window and asked if I would like a ride. I knew it was a scam. He told me it was a flat rate which was about 15 euro more than I had paid in the morning to get here. At that point I did not care.

I did come to care about his driving however. At one point we were in the lanes of oncoming traffic dodging cars as he raced to his destination. Porca miseria.

Eventually we made it and I was alive.

He did NOT receive a tip.

I rewarded myself with gelato on the way to the apartment.

Peeps Out

It's that time of year when people have access to many different types of multi-coloured peeps. You have a choice - eat them and go into a diabetic coma or . . .

Avert Your Gaze

One of my favourite places to visit in Rome is the Fontana delle Tartarughe or Turtle Fountain. Located in Piazza Mattei on the edge of the ancient Jewish Ghetto this area has an atmosphere of peace and quiet which is increasingly rare in a busy metropolis like Rome. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries this area was totally dominated by the wealthy and powerful Mattei family. The Matteis controlled the traffic on the left bank of the Tiber overlooking the Tiber Island and beyond, using the capable Jewish workforce from the local area, to whom they guaranteed protection.

There is a legend behind the fountain. As there is with so many places in Rome.

This popular Roman legend claims that Duke Muzio Mattei, ruined by gambling, ordered the fountain removed from its original site to the middle of the piazza overnight in order to win the trust of the wealthy father of a woman he wished to marry. The next morning he opened the window of his palazzo and showed his future father in law the fountain. The father was impressed and allowed the marriage to go ahead, and the Duke, to remember the event, had the window overlooking the fountain closed up.

The story is probably only a legend; sceptics note that it would have been very difficult to move such a complex fountain in the dark without making any noise in a single night. According to historians such as Maurizia Tazertes the fountain was built over a long period between 1581 and 1588, and the Palazzo Mattei di Giove, the main residence of the Mattei, was not completed until 1616.

Defenders of the legend point out that the Palazzo Giacomo Mattei, the earlier residence of the Mattei family, which stands directly in front of the fountain, was built in the early 16th century, before the fountain was built, and thus the legend could be true.

What is the truth?

To this day however, if you look up at the Palazzo overlooking the fountain, you will notice that two of the windows are bricked in . . .

The original fountain design called for four bronze dolphins on the upper Basin, supported by the upraised hands of the four young men. However the fountain with plagued with low water pressure which necessitated the removal of the four dolphins. As a result, the upraised hands of the statues seemed to have no purpose.

Probably to correct this problem and balance the composition, the four turtles around the edge of the basin were added during a restoration of the fountain between 1658 and 1659 ordered by Pope Alexander VII. They are usually attributed either to Gian Lorenzo Bernini or Andrea Sacchi. The date of the restoration is recorded on four scrolls of marble around the fountain.

The turtles are very realistic; If their creator was Bernini, he may have used casts of a real turtle, as he did with sculptures he made of other living creatures.

A Bit of a 'Lazy' Day in Rome

The weather was wet once again yesterday.

I had nothing planned on my agenda. It was a slow start in the morning.

When I got going I had plans to just wander and see where I ended up. I sort of wanted to head towards the Piazza Navona and the neighbourhood where we stayed when we were last in Rome.

When I set out I passed Santa Maria sopra Minerva- Rome's only Gothic church. It is always worth a visit since it is filled to bursting with art treasures.Most would never realize that behind Santa Maria sopra Minerva's massive seventeenth-century facade (currently covered up for restoration work) lies Rome's one and only Gothic church. In fact, once past the basilica's severe classical portal, a visitor encounters a sight completely unique in Rome: soaring  vaults, delicate arches, predominant blues and golds, flickering lights from stained-glass rose windows. Most of the great renaissance artists worked here and are represented in frescoes, sculptures, or paintings.

Because it was so grey outside most of the interior was cloaked in darkness. I will need a return since no amount of euros in those 'put in a euro to see the art for a minute' machines would light the gloom.

I next popped into the Pantheon - crowded as usual.

You can see the puddles of water from the rain falling through the oculus in the ceiling.

I was determined to lose the crowds as I moved on towards the Piazza Navona.

It wasn't long before I was in another church - San Luigi dei Francesi. This is the church dedicated to the french citizens of Rome. Here in the Contarelli Chapel are three amazing paintings of scenes from the life of St Matthew, which have hung here for more than 400 years. Painted by Caravaggio these painting shocked the citizens of the day and the still impress with their power.

Again - poor lighting.

SIGH

Soon I was in the Piazza Navona itself. The last time we were in Rome it was full of crowds for the Christmas Market. This time there were a few pockets of tourists but it wasn't outrageous.

You can see that the sun was trying to break through the crowds (although never successfully).

 

I got a kick out of this group of workers. They were doing something with a drain next to a smaller fountain./p>

The entire time I watched I never saw any actual work being done.

The large church overlooking the piazza, Sant’Agnese in Agone, is always a good spot to sit and contemplate the world. Pink and white marble dominate the walls, keeping everything light. No dark Carvaggio-esque paintings here! White marble wall engravings are the only artwork, helping to reflect the light. Only when you look up, up, up do you find any paintings, and these still maintain the brightness of the lower half of the church, primarily utilizing soft blues and pinks.

Windows around the base of the dome let in the majority of the light, and the dome itself made me do a double take! The painting inside the dome works as an optical illusion, making your eyes think it goes higher up than it does, extending towards heaven. The very very top of the dome ends in a window, as well, giving more light to this bright, comforting church.

Just what you'd expect for a church dedicated to a young girl who was martyred.

St. Anges was around, as far as we can tell, 12 or 13 years old when she was martyred right on this very spot somewhere around 303-304AD. How do they know that, you ask? Simple: scientists have analyzed her skull, which just happens to be displayed in a chapel next to the main part of the church.

The story of St Agnes is an interesting one.

It all started, of course, with a boy.  The son of a Prefect of Rome, to be exact, who became infatuated with young Agnes. Living up to her name (in Greek Agnes meas “pure, chaste”), Agnes rejected his advances proclaiming her chastity represented her devotion to God.  The spoiled son didn’t take this very well.  To punish Agnes for rejecting him, he had her put on “display”, naked, in the Circus Agonale (present day Piazza Navona), where the prostitutes paraded to sell their services.

This is when her miracles began.  To cover her nakedness and save her modesty, her hair grew in long locks, protecting her from public eyes.  This didn’t keep a man from wanting to buy her, though, and when he died before he had the chance Agnes was accused of being a witch.  To prove her innocence – you already know how well that worked out for her – she said that an angel in white was protecting her.  To convince everyone of this she brought the man back to life with a prayer to said angel.  Probably not the best way to prove you’re not a witch…

…the Romans didn’t think so, either.  They threw her onto a fire to burn her alive, but the flames miraculously went out, saving her.  They finally decided to take a more direct approach and pierced her neck with a sword as they would a lamb being slaughtered.  This is why St. Agnes always appears in artwork with a lamb in her arms or at her feet.

As I kept on my journey I was in more familiar territory - this is the neighbourhood where we stayed for a couple of weeks in 2014. I did some shopping and found my favourite gelato shop.

It had moved locations a bit but the gelato was every bit as good as I remembered - this was half  sage and raspberry and half rosemary, lemon and honey. MMMMM

The restaurant where I wanted lunch was close to the Pantheon so I headed back. I discovered that i had half an hour to kill because it did not open until 12:30.

Where to kill 45 minutes?

Sant'Eustachio il Caffè, one of my favourite coffee shops in Rome.

Lunch was at Armando Al Pantheon. I was one of the few without reservations that they sat. While the food was amazing I confess that I did not care for the attitude of the servers. Not one bit. It was one of the few times where I have not left a gratuity.

The fact that I worked as a server for many years means that is serious stuff. :-)

Based upon the service alone I wouldn't go back. I am sure that there are plenty of other restaurants in Rome where I can enjoy good food but not be treated like crap.

I was uncomfortably full at this point which meant one thing - siesta.

When I finally woke up it was getting late but not late enough that there wasn't time for one more adventure. I set out in the wind and rain to the wedding cake (AKA the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II) where there was an exhibit of Monet's paintings. Frankly, after all of the religious art I have see so far I was due for something a bit more modern.

This exhibit is made up of more than 60 of Monet’s most beloved pieces from his Giverny household - these were the pictures that he kept for himself (well, except for one painting that was sold but returned after the purchaser determined it to be 'unfinished').

The exhibition presents a the many shades of Monet’s work. Dimmed lights that take you from one picture to the other – interwined with animated projections of Monet’s most famous artworks – guide the way.

The entire artistic journey of the Impressionist master is taken into account. From his very first caricatures with which he earned his first money, to the rural and urban landscapes of his many dwellings, the whole exhibition is impressive.

What a great way to spend some time on a wet evening!

By the time I had walked back to the apartment I was soaked. Yes the rain had stopped but the darkness made it rather difficult to avoid puddles or being splashed by speeding cars.

I finally cooked a proper meal - plin ravioli with a brown butter and herb sauce followed by fried beef cutlets and salad.

Paul asked when I had for dinner, I sent him the pics, he then asked what restaurant I had gone to. I think that was a compliment. :-)

Speaking of Paul - we chatted on facetime for a bit and then I crashed.

It hadn't seemed like a busy day but the mere act of writing it out suggests that perhaps it might have been.

Post no Bills . . .

How is this for a clever bit of street art . . .?

Wandering the Distillery District

Paul was off of work last Saturday - a rare thing. There was an art exhibit in Toronto at the Distillery that I wanted to see so we made plans to head in to the city.

Of course when we got there that exhibit was not open yet. This meant we had time to wander a bit and do some shopping.

The distillery, with it's mix of art, modern architecture, set among a Victorian factory and storage facility is one of my favourite places in TO.

After shopping for a few hours we decided to get some lunch in the Mill Street Brew Pub.

Blueberry wheat beer

Appetizers - carnitas and tater tots.

French Dip with horseradish mayo

After lunch we went to the exhibit. Son of the Shaman, an exhibition of over 50 works, showcases the passing of innate artistic abilities between Norval Morrisseau and his son, Christian Morrisseau, one of Canada's most highly celebrated Indigenous father-son art practitioners. 

The paintings ranged in size - the ones above would fill a giant room and were on sale for as much as $ 135,000! It was a fabulous exhibit spread among three separate galleries.

After a few hours we headed back to Burlington and a much needed nap!

Travel Tuesdays - Russian River

On the weekend I lost my mind and decided to clean out the wine cellar. While I was doing that I found a few bottles of wine which triggered some memories of our last visit to the Russian River Valley wine region.