Thursday, July 15, 2010

Stazione di Santa Maria Novella, Firenze
1110 EET

Last night was an incredibly sound sleep and a very slow morning compared to others. The most adventure was firstly, tracking down my left earring once again, but as Mom says, it happens to be attached to me because I have yet to loose any of the beads on the hoop. The other adventure that leads me to using our room our room key almost as much at is was used in Roma, the difference here however is that two turns are needed to lock and unlock the doors to our rooms and separate bathrooms.

Breakfast was buffet and I selected cereal, bread, juice, and fruit cups again as well as a hard-boiled egg. Afterwards we returned to our room and Mom graciously left me to writing and postcards while she went to select paninis from Antica Sasta deglia Aldrobrandini for our lunches on the train. Why do I know how to spell the name of the deli? Because we passed it again on our way to the station when the route we planned to take ran into more construction.

Antica Sasta deglia Aldrobrandini. Why do I have a picture of it?
Because we walked passed it detouring around construction.

 Moving to the train station, I dropped off the postcards in one of the red self-mailing boxes having figured out the slots last evening. We went to Platform 1 but Mom questioning an employee revealed that we wanted Platform 5 for our train. So we are on the 1127 train to Pisa as we transfer from a train that passes through at Sarzana which takes us to Levanto.

Alanna at Firenze's train station.

Will have to revise that sentence, the ticket checker directed us to transfer in Pisa to a train for La Spenzia, which will take us to Levanto. So before I start tracking stations and admiring the Italian landscape I am going to cover various aspects of the trip so far that I have not mentioned so far.

Graffiti. There is graffiti everywhere and I do mean everywhere that people can reach. It’s on walls and the metal garage style doors that lock up shops. When the metal sliding doors are open or closed, the appearances of the streets change a great deal. Making every trip down the same street different depending on the time and day of week. An of course within the streets are pedestrians and crazy Italian drivers. Very crazy motorists, cars, buses, and motorcycles and cyclists, which in Firenze Elizabetta says tend to be more aggressive than the motorists are. Firenze is the only city where I have seen cyclists on the streets really, but we were in a mostly “no vehicles” zone so that might have something to do with that impression.

Scenery on train.

Bortolotto Cova, Levanto
0015 EET (so really, it’s Friday)

Well, after more adventures with trains, from Firenze we travelled to Pisa where we transferred to La Spenzia, and there we took a train for a town beyond Levanto but of course disembarked in the Levanto station quite some time after our initial expected arrival time of 1421, which is when we reached La Spenzia. We were met by Zia Michela and Zio James who packed us into the car and drove the very short distance to our home away from home for the next few weeks.

Levanto from the train station.

Up the stairs to the apartment and another flight around the corner.

Apartment kitchen and dinning room, bedroom on left. Bathroom off balcony.

Bedroom of apartment.

Bathroom off the balcony. Bathrooms are additions to older Italiano buildings.

We did some unpacking but mainly changed into our bathing suits to visit the beach with the Italian Carswells and some of Michela’s family, her sister Giovanna (Jova) with daughter Anna and niece Eliza. While Mom walked with Zia Michela, Jova, and Anna I walked with Nichola, Zio James, and Eliza with some of the features of the town being pointed out, such as the old railway path and tunnel which was damaged in the war and closed after a tunnel collapse. For the first time in the years since its closing, they reopened it to pedestrians and cyclist and it provides now a twenty-minute walk through the mountain instead of over, to the neighbouring town Bonassola through. The railway line of course was simply moved to the back of the town and was the line we arrived in. The tunnel opens into coves in places, which Zio James says the clarity of the water is much better that the beach with all the swimmers churning up the water.

Tunnel to Bonassola.

The sanded beach is divided into paid and free sections with the permanent umbrellas of blue and green being paid. Our destination was the pebble beach on the left, which Zia Michela says, they primarily use because Zio James and Cladio, Jova’s husband’s preference for it. Being warned of the sea urchins that like the rocked filled area close to shore but are not found on the sandy bottom just beyond the shore, I went for my first ocean swim in the Mar Ligure. While I could not see it because of the summer haze, across the sea is France and in the winter it, and the snow covered peaks of the Alpine Mountains can been seen. We enjoyed quite a bit of time in the water and the sun conversing with Zia Michela and Zio James and Cogino Nichola, with Nichola urging me to go crab hunting with him, which I promised I would do with him later.

Levanto sand beach, pay for section is in the upper right corner.

Levanto pebble beach I first went swimming in.

Returning to our apartment sooner than the others because of our paler skin, thought we haven’t burnt once yet and are starting to brown nicely, we freshened up for dinner with Betta and Giovanni Bertolotto, Zia Michela’s parents just a few moments up and across the road. The apartment we’re staying in [and displacing the aunt, uncle, and cousin] is one of the three smaller apartments (one bedroom, kitchen, bedroom) that was created when they divided the much larger and airier apartment of Zia Michela’s grandparents for the three Bertolotto daughters.

After introductions and having Zia Michela explain the photo album of 24 pictures showing Saskatchewan, the valley, and our family to her mom, Betta, who only speaks Italiano and the region’s dialect. When Marco, the son and youngest child of the Bertolotto family who does have some English arrived, the album was explained again. Shortly afterwards we sat down for the meal with Zia Michela, Zio James, Nichola, Eliza, Marco, Betta and Giovanni who is in poor health having suffered a stroke some years ago and only speaks dialect. The meal began with two types of prosciutto (cured ham, salted and smoked), cantaloupe, and some types of spreads on crackers. The main dish was simply roast ham and desert was fruit salad and gelato. Throughout the meal, wines were served as well and I tried them and in the end, think I basically had in total a glass worth. Much more wine that I usually have in a year.

Most of the dinner conversation centered around language in particular the pronunciation of the Italiano language. The Italiano alphabet only has twenty-one letters so they exclude h, j, k, w, x, and y and while each letter is pronounced, the vowels after c and g change its sound and ch is the k sound. So vowels are a = ah, e = eh, i = ee, o = o, u = oo, and ga, go, gu, ghe, ghi = g and ge, gi = j; ca, co, cu, che, and chi = k and ce, ci = ch. Also the z when alone is ts and s is the only s sound.

Afterwards, we were fetched some time around 1930 by Nichola, and went out for an evening stroll with him, Eliza, Zio James and Zia Michela (after lots more photo sharing of the Bertolotto family). This is when Nichola introduced me to an evening activity—gecko hunting by the lights. I believe the most counted in one place was six. As we walked the bells we heard, and would continue to hear throughout our stay, were marking the quarters and hours, so ding-ding-dong would be 2:25. Zio James purchased a gelato cone for himself as well as Nichola, Eliza, and me. The shop is recommended as the best in Levanto and I selected watermelon and peach, the later flavour of which I am getting again.

Gecko hunting by streetlight.

Nichola also reminded me of something, which is that taxes are included in European displayed prices unlike the GST and PST at home. Which has me look at prices slightly different and wishing that Canada, when it had the option, had taken the same route.

We progressed along the beach and climbed up the lava rocks for a great view of Levanto at night and did some stargazing, located Ursula Major, and I was corrected that Polaris is no a bright star in the sky but is a part of Ursula Minor.

Walking back, more was mentioned about Levanto’s history, such as the harbour use to be much larger as was the river, that the loggia was discovered during renovations to have mooring markings, a fresco, inscribed plaques, and green serpentine columns underneath paint and plaster. On the back of a now bakery, Pasticceria Bianchi, charcoal frescos were discovered revealing that the building had originally been a hotel. Just across the road, they found a bread oven in the building’s wall. So I am quite looking forward to touring the beauty of Zia Michela’s hometown.

Levanto's loggia.

Original green serpentine wall discovered underneath plaster and paint.