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Geneva to the alps

Every year I get to spend a ski week with some old friends of mine from Italy and England. We have skied lots of places including the Dolomites, Vail and St Moritz but we always keep coming back to Zermatt. The link from Geneva airport to Zermatt is always a pleasure. At the airport the train is literally by the arrivals hall. A quick walk and you are on the way. The train wanders around Lake Leman passing the magnificent Montreux, famous for its jazz festival, and Lausanne, home to FIFA, the centre of soccer decision making worldwide.

On the other side of the lake is Evian(water and a famous spa town) while the alps literally wrap around the lake. At Visp you have to change trains to connect with the cog railway that takes you to Zermatt. If you drive you have to park your car at Tasch in a huge underground car park. Either way you board the pretty red cog railway and begin the ascent to Zermatt. On this particular week, the snow was amazing. 3 metres either side of the track. Zermatt is at the end of the valley. At 1800 metres it is already high enough to invite fabulous snow. At the Alex hotel, where we have stayed for years, the total package is always half board. A huge breakfast and a fabulous dinner. Swimming pool and the usual sauna, steam stuff and you are in heaven.

The town has lots of glitzy hotels but the Alex is family run, utterly charming and the rooms are perfect. The price is good too. Once in the town, you buy your ski pass for both Zermatt and Cervinia. Why restrict yourself to just the swiss side? This is a huge mountain range and it boasts the highest elevation skiable in the alps at over 4000 metres and the longest run in europe at 16 kilometres from high on the Klein Matterhorn to the Italian town of Valtournenche. In other words the snow is reliable and the trails are endless. But thats another day.

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Arma Dei Carabinieri

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I confess to not having much to do with the Arma Dei Carabinieri but I have always been slightly curious what role they play versus the polizia in Italy.

Recently, I read an article that helped explain it. As it turns out, the carabinieri are celebrating their 200th birthday this year. In other words, they are older than the Republic of Italy itself which was unified in 1861.

They were founded by Victor Emmanuel I who was the Duke of Savoy and the King of Sardinia. In those days, Italy was a series of regional dynasties each with its own language/dialect and each with its own police force. The name carabinieri actually comes from the rifles they carried — the carabina. When Italy was unified, the royal court became the nationwide military presence and functioned as a duplicate police force in part because of the need to have some unified police presence in a country that was still much divided with towns and regions that saw themselves as more powerful than this entity called Italia.

Not much has changed today. If you are desperate for help, it is not always clear who will show up at your door. In Italy you dial either 112 or 113 whereas in the USA we dial 911. One thing for sure is that two men or women will show up. In Italy, the cops always ride in pairs. This is a change from several years ago when the cops rode in threes and that was in a two-door car!

What is fascinating about the carabinieri is that they are set up a little bit like a military operation. To apply to be a carabinieri, you have to commit to eight years working outside of the province that you live in. Hence the number of southerners that end up working in the north in those carabinieri staziones. Seventy-percent of the entire force comes from four regions in particular – Sicily, Campania, Calabria, and Puglia. These are the same four regions that are the mafia strongholds.

The carabinieri are everywhere. I remember bumping into two of them on a recent ski trip at the top of a station in Cervinia. They were all decked out looking like a couple of Armani models in state-of-the-art ski gear with the words “Carabinieri” plastered all over them. They were keeping an eye on the vigilantes in the mountains no doubt!

They are the butt of many jokes in Italy but the fact is that they represent more than anything the difficulties of integrating all of these diverse regions with different accents, different languages, and different codes of honor under one umbrella. They are not frightening and seem free of corruption. If you ask me who I would rather bump into on the highway, a state cop or a carabinieri, I think that I would choose the carabinieri. Let’s face it – I am less likely to get a speeding ticket that way. It is Italy after all!

That Time My Passports Were Stolen

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So it happened to me at last.

After 40+ uneventful years and fairly casual security on my part, my two passports were stolen. It happened in, you guessed it, Italy. A friend of mine rented out a villa in Umbria for a week. A few days there blew out my history of never having lost a single thing on my travels.

It was a simple break-in; the crowbar type. We were out for the day thinking how peaceful the country side looked, how charming Lake Trasimeno had seemed, and how wonderful the people were. In the meantime, someone had figured out that there was nobody in the villa. They broke through the wooden door, ransacked the place, stole some cash, a wallet, my USA and British passports, and also…a block of parmesan cheese! To tell you the truth, that was the thing that really hurt. But at least they had good taste.

All of those years of telling people how to get a new passport, how to report it as lost or stolen, but never having to really do it, came to roost. The carabinieri came over after a frantic phone call, with a decided lack of urgency, in between an Italian World Cup game. In great disinterested detail, they itemized the stolen goods, reassuring me that it was almost certainly immigrants and that there was absolutely nothing to be done!

The next day I had to go down to get my police report from the carabinieri station in Castiglione del Lago, and low and behold they had no knowledge about the police report that had been filed the day before. Not only that but when I first arrived at the station it was closed. On the door hung an ominous sign that said “Orario per Publico” (Hours for Public) with a very limited time slot of public hours. I thought to myself, “Who else do they serve except the public?” Oh well.

Inside there was a decided lack of enthusiasm. On the shelves were files dating back to 1960. A photocopier machine that was so slow it reminded me of my days working as a clerical assistant in London in 1970. However, the police report was sorted (honestly I could have written anything on there), three copies were filed away for someone somewhere in a department of no use to anyone, and now I had to get my passport.

I called the British Embassy and they informed me that they could issue me a travel document specifically for my travel itinerary but that I would have to reapply for a proper passport which could take up to 12 weeks. The USA Embassy routine was a lot smoother. With the police report in hand, I simply arrived at the embassy in Rome at 8:15 AM without any formal appointment. I grabbed a number, took two photos at the photo machine located inside, and I had a new passport within 45 minutes. The passport is even valid for one year. By the time I had exited the embassy, the queue had already become quite substantial. The deal with an emergency passport is that you cannot make an appointment so you have to show up early and you must pay with a credit card.

This summer we have dealt with tons of lost and stolen passports. Therefore, I am grateful to have had a shared experience with so many other travelers. After all of these years, it was worth the wait! It will always be the summer that I remember as “That Time My Passports Were Stolen”.

Trains in Italy

Venice Italy is a strange and wonderful country. It is at once hopelessly inefficient, exasperating and unfathomable. Its regions are fiercely independent and culturally alien to each other. I had lunch with a Venetian recently who suggested a canal that would dissect Italy from West to East just cutting through the center of Florence. A neutral zone! The Medici maginot line! He would fill it with all sorts of aquatic creatures that were not friendly. Sharks, piranhas, crocodiles, water moccasins, you name it. He simply felt that Italy would be much happier if it were called Italia Nord and Italia Sud!

Nord would have the Armani , Ferrari, Lamborghini, Parmigiano, Prosciutto, Byzantium piece, you get the picture….and the lot south of the canal now known as “SOCA” would get …..strikes, mozzarella(a good concession)unemployment, Roman ruins, mafia and pizza. Fighting words from a Venetian who thrives on his close ties to his Germanic neighbors. But hang on . I thought Italy was unified in 1870. That great big monument “Mussolini’s typewriter” or the “Wedding Cake”, as its called, stuck in the middle of the Piazza Venezia, is the symbol of Italian unification, surely? Well, sort of, but in reality the real symbol of Italian unification is its Train network. Tim parks wrote an amazing book about this called Italian Ways. . Recently on a trip from Rome to Venice, I took the high speed Frecciabianca. The white arrow!

I recall not too long ago that flying between Rome and Venice was a far better way to connect, but the train system has so dramatically changed the landscape of travel in Italy. It took 3 hours and 19 minutes. You can now connect between Milan and Rome in less than three hours aboard the fastest train of all, the Freccciarossa. The red arrow. Hurtling across my Venetian friends imaginary border as if in the blink of an eye! Trains were seen as a means to unify the country. Indeed Garibaldi, the liberator of Italy transported his army on a train. Imagine taking the 11.25 from Turin to Bologna to conduct a revolution! I Only in Italy! Even when it became clear that Italy had no natural resources to fuel its engines, nor steel to build its locomotives, the trains were to be subsidized as a matter of national urgency and pride.

Mussolini saw train efficiency as a demonstration of the power and superiority of the new Italy under his Caesar like rule. And they have been running on time pretty much for a hundred years and they have been losing money for just as long. So, pulling into Santa Lucia station in Venice at exactly 225 pm , on time, was a matter of right, not a surprise. Emerging through the station to be greeted by a city awash with vaporetti, gondolieri and palaces that would make any city in the world envious….well, That’s just Italy!Italy is a strange and wonderful country. It is at once hopelessly inefficient, exasperating and unfathomable. Its regions are fiercely independent and culturally alien to each other. I had lunch with a Venetian recently who suggested a canal that would dissect Italy from West to East just cutting through the center of Florence.

A neutral zone! The Medici maginot line! He would fill it with all sorts of aquatic creatures that were not friendly. Sharks, piranhas, crocodiles, water moccasins, you name it. He simply felt that Italy would be much happier if it were called Italia Nord and Italia Sud! Nord would have the Armani , Ferrari, Lamborghini, Parmigiano, Prosciutto, Byzantium piece, you get the picture….and the lot south of the canal now known as “SOCA” would get …..strikes, mozzerela(a good concession)unemployment, Roman ruins, mafia and pizza. Fighting words from a Venetian who thrives on his close ties to his Germanic neighbors. But hang on . I thought Italy was unified in 1870. That great big monument “Mussolini’s typewriter” or the “Wedding Cake”, as its called, stuck in the middle of the Piazza Venezia, is the symbol of Italian unification, surely? Well, sort of, but in reality the real symbol of Italian unification is its Train network. Tim parks wrote an amazing book about this called Italian Ways. .

Recently on a trip from Rome to Venice, I took the high speed Frecciabianca. The white arrow! I recall not too long ago that flying between Rome and Venice was a far better way to connect, but the train system has so dramatically changed the landscape of travel in Italy. It took 3 hours and 19 minutes. You can now connect between Milan and Rome in less than three hours aboard the fastest train of all, the Freccciarossa. The red arrow. Hurtling across my Venetian friends imaginary border as if in the blink of an eye! Trains were seen as a means to unify the country. Indeed Garibaldi, the liberator of Italy transported his army on a train. Imagine taking the 11.25 from Turin to Bologna to conduct a revolution! I Only in Italy!

Even when it became clear that Italy had no natural resources to fuel its engines, nor steel to build its locomotives, the trains were to be subsidized as a matter of national urgency and pride. Mussolini saw train efficiency as a demonstration of the power and superiority of the new Italy under his Caesar like rule. And they have been running on time pretty much for a hundred years and they have been losing money for just as long. So, pulling into Santa Lucia station in Venice at exactly 225 pm , on time, was a matter of right, not a surprise. Emerging through the station to be greeted by a city awash with vaporetti, gondolieri and palaces that would make any city in the world envious….well, That’s just Italy!

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Lunch at the Shard

Lunch at the Shard

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Of all of the days to get invited to the Shard for lunch, I chose the rainy day. Of course, this is London and chances are that you are going to be looking out at a cloudy sky and a damp landscape with lashing rain most days of the week. But hey – this is the Shard and I had never been and I was not missing this for the world. The Shard is London’s newest skyscraper and looks just like – you guessed it – a shard of glass. It is taller than the Eiffel Tower and has 87 floors. It was designed by the famous Italian architect, Renzo Piano. Most tourists can see it towering above them when they visit the Borough Market, London’s famous food market by London Bridge Station and Southwark Cathedral. You can also visit the observation tower, aptly named “The View from the Shard”, but it is essential to make a reservation. The cost of entrance is about ₤25 but it is worth it. Pick a sunny day to go if you can!

Edited London Walkie Talkie building 071514 It is part of the London craze for funky and unusual architecture in London’s East End. Buildings are named after the things they look like. For example, there’s the Gherkin building, the Walkie-Talkie, the Cheesegrater, the Helter Skelter, and the Glass Onion which is one of several nicknames for London’s City Hall. Mayors Ken Livingston and Boris Johnson have also called this building the Glass Gonad. This actually is not a new fad. Crystal Palace was named to describe the royal exhibition hall in Hyde Park. Now it is a football club in the Premiership. Big Ben, the iconic clock tower attached to the Houses of Parliament, was so called because it was designed by Benjamin Hall, not because Ben was a big guy but because the clock weighed 16 tons! So, here I was climbing out of the Jubilee line at London Bridge, heading to the restaurant, Aqua Shard, on the 31st floor for lunch with an old friend and colleague.

Shard collage 071514 It is fairly staggering. Our table was jammed next to the glass with extraordinary views of new London and a little bit of the old London. I did notice St. Paul’s Cathedral out there someone between the skyscrapers and oddly shaped glass monuments. The food was brilliant and the chef is Anthony Garlando. Beyond the food, one of the great highlights of eating at Aqua was the bathroom. Urinals faced the city landscape and beautiful sinks encouraged you to stay a little bit longer. It was like no other bathroom I had ever been to. Thank goodness I had more than my fair share of water and wine and therefore made a return trip! Anyone visiting should stop in and have lunch at the shard.

London Shard bathroom 071514 As I raced across town to retrieve my bag from Paddington left luggage and grabbed the Paddington Express to Heathrow, I thought to myself how amazing this city is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hotel Pet Peeves

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Traveling as much as I do, I am always frustrated at the little things that drive me mad in hotels, otherwise known as my Hotel Pet Peeves.

Recently, in the Flyertalk.com 2014 Pet Peeves Survey, people ranked the stuff that really bothered them. I have only one word to say, “Hallelujah”.

Wireless internet is always a rip-off and hotels have tricks to get you to sign up for their most expensive package. The least expensive package is so horribly slow that you are almost forced to opt for the other one. Honestly, what excuse is there for charging for wireless in this day and age? The irony is that if you’re staying at a low-budget hotel such as the Red Roof Inn, it’s free, but if you are staying at the five-star Minerva Hotel in the center of Rome, it costs you 30 Euros a day. So, if I pay $30 for my room, I get wireless for free, but if I want to pay $600 a night for a room, I have to pay for wireless. Go figure.

The other complaint that ranked up there was the accessibility of electrical outlets. Hotels simply have not caught on to the fact that we all need to charge our phones at night. Sometimes it can take 10 minutes to find the outlet you need and most of the time I end up unplugging a lamp so that I can put my phone charger in. No problem at the Red Roof Inn incidentally.

A personal pet peeve of mine is the system of lighting which is very specifically a challenge in places like Spain and Italy. You press a switch and a light goes on that you had no idea would turn on but the light that you do want on is on a mystery switch somewhere that is hard to find. One time, a mate of mine staying at a hotel in Spain got so tired of looking for the light switch to turn off the lights that he simply pulled the card out that controlled the main circuit for the room. Incidentally, that is another pet peeve of mine. Why don’t American hotels have an energy saver switch? In other words, your room card controls a main circuit that turns the lights on and off. It should be standard fare.

In addition, what is the story of the hair dryer? They pop up in the most mysterious places but never in the place that you want. Sometimes they are in the closet with the ironing board and sometimes they are in some drawer that you would never guess. Also, what about the coat hangers? Do they really think I am going to steal them? Do they really not trust me? The answer is no which is why we have to deal most of the time with the permanently attached coat hangers. Red Roof Inn does not have those. Why do hotels still have alarm clocks by the bed? I have never figured out how to work them and if you ever try then there is a good chance you will miss your flight because you screwed up or you will be awakened by 4 AM by a music station you have never heard of. Now we have phones for that…after all we do not use them to make phone calls anymore.

Lastly, a piece of advice. The lines at the front desk for checkout are always too long. So I just discreetly leave and wait for my credit card bill to show up. How do I let the cleaning lady know that I am gone? I leave the door open. It always works. If somebody needs to use my room for a while before the drop-dead checkout time…good for them.

2014 FIFA World Cup

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The 2014 FIFA World Cup is over and as the world renowned English soccer player and commentator, Gary Lineker, has famously stated, “Soccer is a game played between 22 players, it lasts 90 minutes with a potential of extra time with penalties, and the Germans always win!” How true indeed.

This was a glorious four weeks and a sort of coming of age in America. It was a great reintroduction of a game that has captivated the rest of the world and at long last has officially captivated the USA. More Americans travelled to Brazil than the citizens of any other country to watch the games. No easy feat as we need a visa to get into Brazil. Twenty-three million people watched the USA vs. Belgium game which was more than the finals of the NBA or the World Series. Over twenty-six million people from the USA watched the World Cup Final.

In a country with four distinct seasons of sports and very little move to maneuver in between, 23 million kids play soccer and there are three million registered playing at soccer club level. Americans have adopted European teams. Every game of the Premiership is shown live here along with the Spanish and Italian leagues. Young fans wear t-shirts with Messi and Ronaldo written on the back and casual conversations in bars are now informed conversations about soccer from people who are passionate and truly love the game.

To see this change in the USA is remarkable and it is only going to get better. The Copa America will be hosted in the USA in 2016. The MLS is expanding its franchises and is now playing to full stadiums. In a country this big with a diverse population with roots in this game, there is no doubt that we will find our Messi’s and Ronaldo’s within the next few years.

How exciting was the World Cup?! It was unbelievable.

It was the first time that we ever had water breaks, first time we ever saw our referees with a can of shaving cream to mark the 10-yard spot for free kicks, first time a player who bit another player claimed that the other player had fallen on his teeth, first time that so many teams were bounced during the preliminary games (notably Spain, England, and Portugal), and it was the first time a host nation had ever been thrashed so badly in a semifinal by the eventual winners. The beautiful game was being played by the Germans and Dutch and not the Brazilians.

One of our Group Leaders, Jamie Dewaele, was lucky enough to go to the World Cup Final in Rio last Sunday. Jamie is a social studies teacher in California. I had bumped into him in Versailles this past spring. He is an avid soccer fan and a Chelsea supporter and he is helping us with our plans to expand our GoPlay program. He shared his experiences and the excitement of being there with us and will be posting a blog on the GoPlay website shortly.

It all seemed to fly by. The crowds, the fun, the heartache, and the incredible coverage on TV. Thank you ESPN for great commentary, great analysis, and extraordinary camera work. You truly brought the beautiful game alive. If hockey gained its growing-up status due to high-definition and the fact that we could actually spot the puck, then soccer gained its mass market in America through the 70 cameras that filmed every moment and replayed in slow motion the dramatic goals, fouls, and interactions that make this game so fascinating to watch. I will miss it but never mind…the season starts again in three weeks!

A tale of two countries

At Zermatt the skier is faced with the enviable dilemma of choosing between two huge mountain ranges that span Switzerland and Italy. At the Gornegrat on the Swiss side, you have the comfortable option of riding the cog railway to the top piste. The journey takes about 20 minutes and with the exception of the uncomfortable ski clothes and boots, you ride in relative luxury. Its a 3 minute walk from the hotel which is an added bonus. Over on this side, the food is good, lots of Rosti options(hash born potatoes with onions,lard and fried eggs), so good idea to go easy on breakfast as it will look awfully similar at 1.30 pm.

The runs are excellent and on a side note , the toilets are clean and super modern. Heated dryers for the hands that use the “dyson” technology and dry your hands in a matter of seconds.Good to know because your day can be spoiled by a bad day at the toilet. And on the other hand you can choose to ascend to Cervinia in Italy using a gondola and a cable car that takes you past the watershed and over a huge glacier that is skiable in the balmy summer months. Its more complicated and the queues for the cable car can be daunting but the journey is worthwhile if just for the incredible views of the Matterhorn and the chance to ski at 4000 metres. The pistes down to the Italian valley are more varied than the Swiss side and you literally have the chance to ski under the shadow of the Matterhorn.Food is good and a lot less expensive on this side. Lots of Polenta and wild mushrooms.And of course great espresso.

The only down side of the Italian side are the toilets. Hideous archaic and dirty. Who still would order new toilets that you cannot sit on? The Italians I am afraid to say. Replacing old “footprint” toilets with the “footprint” toilets is what has happened here. I am not sure if anyone who makes them has ever tried to squat with ski gear on one of these, but without offering too much detail, you can imagine the potential for a messy moment, not to mention the necessity of being an expert Yoga performer to perfect the ideal position. So, food great,coffee perfect and slopes beautiful, but….make sure you can do everything in your preparation to leverage full use of the Swiss side of the mountain before making the first descent into Italian waters. If not you may wonder at a desperate moment why you didn’t!

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Fish and Chips

When I was a kid, I used to walk home from my swimming club and stop every Friday night at the fish and chips shop. I would buy myself six pennyworth of chips with crackling. The crackling referred to the batter that had separated from the fried fish. With lots of salt and vinegar the crackling was as delicious as the fish and chips themselves. It was not a healthy walk home but one of the more delightful culinary events in my childhood. It was always wrapped in newspaper. Think of it this way – deep fried food covered in traces of lead with some salt and vinegar. That is what “Britishness” is all about.

This dish was spared wartime rationing (rationing actually was introduced in 1940 and did not end until 1954) to boost the fishing industry and it helped to keep the British population fed well during the difficult wartime years. The dish of fish and chips owes its roots to the great expanding rail network in the 19th century, which was able to efficiently transport fish to the inland cities of England. From the north seaports to the fish and chips shops on the corners of smoky industrial towns, the British diet was transformed. Even though it is tough to see imagine the benefit of pairing fried potatoes with deep fried fish it sure beat the alternatives. Remember these were the grim days of early British cuisine when garlic was simply something that French people chewed on their way to work. How could they??

Of course, nowadays things have changed. My fish and chips shop has long since gone, and most fish and chips shops have evolved into samosa, kebab, gyro, and fish and chip houses. The quality of the fish is not great, the chips are mainly from frozen bags, precut and tasteless, and the batter is grim.

But don’t despair, there definitely are places where you can still find fabulous fish and chips. I would strongly recommend any traveler to try one of these places. Geales Fish and Chips shop on Farmer Street in Notting Hill, The North Sea Fish Restaurant on Leigh Street in Bloomsbury, and The Fish and Chip Shop on Upper Street in Islington.

Three trendy areas of London with superb fish and chips cooked perfectly in healthy batter with chips that are cut on the premises. The most English popular fish is still cod followed by haddock, although I still have a deep fondness for dogfish, aka rock salmon. It’s the cheapest of cheap fish with a center bone like an eel. It is what I grew up on. And, let nobody ever tell you that you can eat fish and chips without healthy amounts of salt and malt vinegar. Ketchup and mayonnaise, while not forbidden, should be!

There are tons of great restaurants in London – probably the dining in and around London is the best in the world. But at least for one day, one lunch, it is worthwhile to grab some fish and chips and remember how it all started as a nutritional diet for the working classes during the industrial revolution. British at its best.

Photo of Fish and Chips courtesy of the best Fish and Chip place in Boston, Island Creek Oyster Bar.

Thanks to the kitchen for snapping this one, as it were!

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Boston calling

I fly in and out of Boston’s Logan pretty frequently. It’s a comfortable airport to travel from although the facilities have always been challenging. Transportation links between airport and town are actually fantastic and ….free. And if u splurge on a taxi , it takes about 8 minutes to hit Faneuil Hall. Terminal E, which is the International terminal is not great and facilities, while upgraded recently are just about as hopeless as they were before. For some unknown reason , they decided to showcase Boston to the world with the worst restaurant in the USA, Durgin Park. Whoever came up with that idea! And the airport lounges are hidden underground and no comparison to their international counterparts elsewhere. One small call out is from the friendly folks at BA. Always reminding me that there are real people who care, behind the airline logo. But, Logan is becoming a big player in terms of its reach to the rest of the world. Once just a European, Caribbean and domestic hub, it is now reaching beyond its inner walls. Asia, Turkey and Tel Aviv are either in the works or already out there. And the other evening I went to the beautiful Wang Center to celebrate….along with Governor Deval Patrick, the inaugural non stop daily service to Dubai on Emirates. Voted “World Best Airline 2013″. The food was pretty good for wedding food….and the show was highlighted by Enrique Iglesias. Not bad. The first class suites on board the 777 looked out of this world. The price point was too. Not that there is much to do or see in Dubai. Its hot and modern, but it sits as a hub for India and Asia and if you felt like visiting Oman, its a hop skip and a jump away. The Governor made a great point in his speech. He came from a poor background but succeeded in getting into a great high school. His principal told the students,”success will not be achieved here alone, but beyond these walls out into the streets”. In other words, we have to think and act globally. Boston is moving into synch with the world. And in 14 hours you could be skiing in Dubai’s ski pavilion or you might simply jump in the car and drive to Vermont! Exactly

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Spanish daily routine

A very good friend of mine, a Madrileno, always insisted that the siesta was a way for Spaniards to live their life twice over. I Would often find myself out with him over lunch,which invariably would start around 3 pm, and at the end of this heavy dining affair, he would excuse himself and we would arrange to meet later around 9 pm. Where he went? Home of course, to capture back the day. He told me he changed into his pajamas and took a 2 hour siesta every day of the year. And sure enough, he was back at my hotel at 9 pm for a wander through Tapas bars, a few Clara beers washing down some jamon and boquerones before the evening dining arrangements were figured out.

Then it was dinner around 11 or midnight and a club after that. And the restaurants were always full!! In Spain I have often felt awkward about arriving too late and imagined the kitchen has already closed. Truth is. They haven’t even started! So how did the spanish get this habit? It surely isn’t that good for you , siesta or no siesta. Now there are plans underfoot to make some changes that could disrupt the old way of life. First,bring Spain back into time zone with Portugal and the UK. It’s where it belongs. It’s only where it is because of Franco’s allegiance to Hitler. So turn the clocks back. Remove Siesta. Eat earlier. Spaniards go to bed and watch TV later than anyone! Primetime in Spain is much later than its euro counterparts.

Of course.. They are all eating out! So. Question is will this happen? Are spaniards ready to change. Italians go to bed early and they have arguably a no more efficient workday than the spanish! And what would that do to Tapas bars? No room to squeeze in the bits between the big bites. It’s a question of Jamon over Prosciutto. Siestas and fiestas over a more efficient economical model. Not to be too selfish, but I always have a ton more fun in Spain! The sun never really does set on Spanish nights!

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The Language Of Sports

Life seems to be about sports at the moment. I am fascinated by the Language of Sports. In soccer, the English Premier League just completed its season with incredible coverage from NBC. Americans could wake up any Saturday or Sunday and watch the full gamut of games live with incredible coverage and smart informed announcers. The Spanish League (probably the best in the world) is coming to a final crescendo, a cup final of sorts this weekend, between the great Barcelona and the upstart Atlético Madrid. Hockey is on the TV it seems nearly every night thanks again to great coverage by NBC. Basketball, in between scandals, draws down its season as baseball picks up the baton and rolls through the summer in its lazy way as the Yankees and Red Sox slug it out between themselves.

I was thinking the other day about team sports, language, and global awareness. In the Premiership’s top clubs, there are more languages spoken in the dressing rooms than you can imagine. Manchester City has 18 foreign players in their 24-man squad, Manchester United has 17 foreign players in their 26-man squad, Liverpool has 17 foreign players in their 22-man squad, Arsenal has 23 foreign players in their 27-man squad, and Chelsea has 21 foreign players in their 24-man squad. As English as a vindaloo curry!

At the post match interviews, it is always amusing to listen to the one or two English players who are on the team offer their thoughts on the game. More often than not, it is easier to understand the foreign players speaking English than it is to understand the English players speaking English.

Either way, I am always impressed by how fast the foreign players adapt to the English environment and the English language. Let’s face it, you have to be impressed when you come from a sunny country like Brazil, Spain, or Portugal, and you end up living the dream in the rain soaked grayness of a Manchester morning. Yep, we know why they are there. It’s not the language and the culture but the $20,000,000 they are offered every year in the highest paid league in the world. But still, they grasp the language and even take on the regional dialect of the places they are playing in. It is strange to hear a Spanish player speaking in a Liverpudlian scouse accent, a French player speaking in a cockneyesque accent, and a German player speaking with a Geordie accent! But that is exactly what happens. They immerse themselves in our culture.

In hockey, the Bruins captain, Zdeno Chara, speaks five languages and most of his teammates, with the exception of the Americans (who are the minority) speak numerous languages too. Plus, all of the Canadians speak French as well. But the point is that all of them speak English.

This says a lot about sports. The Cuban baseball player who jumped ship, the Dominican Republic guy just recently brought up from the minors in his native country, and countless other players, all speaking English. They easily can converse with their colleagues on the pitch in both English and Spanish.

Sports have become incredibly multilingual. On the American soccer scene, the Hispanic influence is everywhere but the Uruguayan and the Columbian guys speak English. However, more often than not, the English guys speak just English and sometimes really bad English! David Beckham, handsome, rich, footballing icon, spent a year in Spain, a year in Italy, and a year in France. His language advancement never got beyond a “Si” or “Grazie, Si, I don’t understand” and “Grazie for the huge amount of money you are paying me!” Even his English seems a little stilted!

This is where every teacher and every school should focus on.

Yes, English is the language of the world, it is the computer language of the world, and it probably is the default sporting language of the world. But the speed at which people adapt to language speaks more to the openness of their minds, the willingness to take on a different culture, and not just the $25,000,000 a year that they get at the end of the day. Wake up English speakers everywhere! Learn to converse in the reverse!!

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On the Hunt for Truffles

Our wine and truffle day was something that could have stretched into two days. After lunch washed down by Barolo, the last thing I was thinking was more food but I had it on my agenda to visit a truffle producing factory. So, off we went in the hunt for the elusive truffles.

Urging my Italian friend to slow his driving down, we reached Alba, the land of truffles, in one piece. It is always a miracle to me that quite intelligent people (like my friend) drive like maniacs, are fairly abusive to any driver that competes with them on the road, and seems to want to take his and my life in his hands more frequently than is helpful for my well being.

We came upon Tartuf Langhe in Piobesi d’Alba for a tour and explanation of the art of truffle hunting. We had to dress up in ridiculous outfits because of factory hygiene rules but we got to learn about truffle hunting, the differences between white truffles and black truffles, and the various applications for using truffles.

Truffle Collage 1 031414

I love truffles, especially white truffles, and honestly there is nothing as delicious as a white truffle being slowly grated over tagliatelle with some butter. It is one of the moments of life that you look back upon and hold dear like your first born child. It is something that never leaves you and here, walking around this truffle farm, the smells hung in the air and I kept on thinking of that bowl of pasta that I had had in Harry’s Bar in Venice many years before.

Taglietelle 031414

Truffle hunting is a whole mystery really. The truffle hunters are a group of locals with specially trained dogs. Their work starts when everyone else is fast asleep. They work in the dark because it is a highly secretive and competitive business. Truffle spores tend to reappear each year in the same place so when they discover truffles, there’s a good chance they will bounce back in the same location each year. Truffles are found under the ground, sometimes two feet, often by tree roots, which is why you need a trained dog or a trained pig. The Italians use dogs – any kind really, and because of their keen sense of smell, and the pungent smell of truffles, they can sniff out treasures that we can’t get to.

The black summer truffles and the black winter truffles are more common and are found in greater quantities. They look a lot like the chocolate truffles you would buy in a chocolate store. They are not as pungent as the white truffle which is why most truffle oils are based around white truffles. However, black truffles are much less expensive and therefore you can actually afford to buy them. If you are cooking, the trick is to use black truffles and white truffle oil with white truffle pasta. That would be nearly as good as having a fresh white truffle grated on egg pasta. Nearly as good but not really as good!

I bought the oil, the cream, some pasta, and I would have also bought soap if they had made it! Instead, we left with chocolates – a new diversion for them. Now with some fresh knowledge of the midnight truffle hunters and their dogs, my truffle world was nearly complete. Maybe I will train to be a truffle hunter. Yes, it is a competitive business, the stakes are high, and it helps to be a local. But, if I discover a good white truffle with my trusted dog, Alice, I could trade it for a condo in Boston. Back to reality and Turin and another spectacular dinner somewhere. I am getting to like this place.

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Italian Food and Wine

So, what do you do when you need a break from Turin? The good news is that Piedmont is Italy’s new culinary region for cutting edge restaurants, Slow Food, and new age and old age vineyards. None of these hotspots are too far away. It can all be accomplished in a day and you can intersperse your day with stops in the small towns that make up this fabulous foodie region.

We took off on a wintry day, when the countryside looks a lot less glamorous than the posters convey on the outsides of the brochures, with a promise of good food, fabulous wine, and a shopping bag full of culinary souvenirs to take back home. We would dive into truffles, do a wine tasting in Barolo, and visit an organic flour mill that produced some of the finest pasta in Italy.

Flour Mill 031414

We also popped by the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo to have a walk around the capital of the Slow Food movement. Here in the underground vaults is stored a bottle of every wine produced in Italy every year. It is my kind of underground movement in more ways than one. The movement started in 1986 next to the Spanish Steps in Rome as a protest against McDonald’s. Good for them. Slow Food is based around preserving local food traditions, staying in tune with seasonal offerings, and keeping chemicals at bay.

slow food Collage 031414

My Italian friend who loves driving like a maniac, especially through winding roads that make me want to throw up, took us first to Fossano to visit a fabulous hotel called Palazzo Righini. Fossano is a tiny town but it is dotted with cafes, restaurants, and a rather magnificent grand piazza. A great cup of cappuccino began our day.

Palazzo Righini Collage 031414

From there we drove into the vineyards and although it was the deep of winter, the landscape of vines that crisscross the hills was pretty impressive. We drove to a large vineyard called Marchesi di Barolo and sampled a few glasses; not easy in the morning. We then moved on to some smaller vineyards down the road. This area is all about Barolo (Italy’s most famous wine), Barbaresco, Roero, and Langhe wines. Familiar names pop out like Nobilo, Dolcetto, and Barbera. In the neighboring vineyards to the east, Asti provides us with the sparkling Spumanti wine and the sweet Moscato wine. In other words, this is an absolute must for anybody who loves and adores fine wines.

We ate in a restaurant in Bra and I had an insanely delicious papardelle with ragu sauce and my friend had a veal tartar. Vegetarians beware! I also could not resist the bread sticks (grissini) because they had been sourced from the local mill that we had just visited. We drank Gaja Barolo and I wondered how I was going to go out for dinner later this evening. One bird at a time.

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Turin: City of the Month – April

Why Turin?  It is interesting, often overlooked, and is probably one of the more dramatic cities in the world because of its proximity to the Alps.  It is literally enveloped by mountains.  Located in Piedmont, it is close to the towns of Barolo (famous for wine), Alba (famous for truffles), and Bra (the center and university for the Slow Food Movement).  This beautiful city is famous for the Shroud, baroque architecture, French-style piazzas, arcaded promenades, and Fiat (the Lingotto).

Turin City Collage 031014
The Roman gate and a quaint Turin chocolate shop

Cafés are chic in Turin – it actually was one of the first cities in Italy to embrace a café society.  Turin’s cafes are meeting-places for all types of citizens from the aristocracy, to artists, to students, and chocolate connoisseurs alike.  Some of the oldest and most well-known cafés include Caffè Florio, Al Bicerin, and Caffè Mulassano.
It is also a great place to buy a Fiat because the employees turn them over every two years!

The city also has some of the best chocolate in the world.  Chocolatiers were first licensed to sell chocolate in 1678 and continue to make high-quality chocolate that easily rivals those of any other European capital.   One of the oldest chocolate shops is Caffarel which first introduced the world to the gianduiotto bar in 1852.  Turin’s fascination with chocolate is so big that an annual chocolate festival occurs every March.

Markets.  The city has numerous street markets and festivals throughout the year including a two-week street market during the Christmas season and the largest year-round market in all of Europe which is open daily except for Sundays.

The cuisine (Piedmontese) is some of the best in all of Italy.  It’s heavy on the meat but there are plenty of new emerging chefs and exciting restaurants that are shaking up the old establishment.  Some of these chefs include Enrico Crippa, Davide Palluda, Davide Scabin, and Piercarlo Bussetti. Great restaurants that are cool include Agrifoglio and Solferino.

The Piazza San Carlo is a beautiful baroque square with the twin churches of San Carlo and Santa Christina as well as the Galeria Sabauda with its large collection of paintings.  The Egyptian Museum, housed in the same building, is one of the most important Egyptian collections in the world.

There is also a gem of an art gallery inside the old Fiat building called the Lingotto.  The gallery hold works of art collected by the owner of Fiat, Gianni Agnelli.  It is a tiny place with Matisse, Picasso, and Canaletto paintings to name but a few.  It is well worth the visit, plus you can gaze across the city on to the nearby mountains from the open air practice track that Fiat used when the factory was still in operation.  The factory has since moved and the building, built in 1928, is now a historic landmark.  There is also the National Automobile Museum in the city which makes sense because everything about this city has to do with cars.  Every other car on the street seems to be a Fiat or a Fiat derivative.

Turin is easy to get to.  It is a short drive from Nice, France and it is not far from Milan or Venice.  It has its own airport but I found that the flights between other cities and Milan were an easier way to get into the city.  As a jumping-off point, it is a great place to explore the mountains or get down to the coast.  It is a short drive to quaint coastal towns like Bordighera and it is not too far from Genoa.  Good times to travel to Turin are in the spring and early summer months, but even in the height of the summer the cool sea air helps to keep the temperatures down.  I would highly recommend staying at Hotel Principi di Piemonte, the only 5-star hotel in Turin, with a great pool incidentally.

 

Turin Peter Fiat View 031014
Overlooking the city of Turin

 

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