Monday 29 October 2018

Hot Springs, Wild Boar and Teenagers without Wifi....

In the words of our dear girls, we have returned to civilisation......we have WiFi...

High up in Valle di Ledro, above Lake Garda, we have returned to base camp. It is cold and wet, the fires have been lit and the wife has started to tackle the mountain of ironing. My 'offers' of help have been swatted away with the dismissive contempt that they deserve.

So, temporarily unemployed, I can review our epic journey since the trip to the island of Elba.

I believe it is sad that we seem to 'need' to be in contact with others whilst exploring new and interesting places. Not just contact, but to keep uptodate with the news back in England, I think you know what I mean... What we did need technology for was the ability to check the price of the ferry to Elba, when it ran and what the weather was like etc. 

Last week, we therefore rapidly increased our data allowances and collectively breathed a sigh of relief...

We had visited Montalcino, a lovely town with oceans of vineyards that stretch beyond the distant horizons. They also produce the famous Brunello wine, which is highly sought after if you tend to have a large wadge of cash burning a hole in your pocket. I was tempted to part with the equivalent of the sale of my wife's vital internal organs, however I was physically restrained by the newly arrived litter of kittens that she can produce at will..

So we moved on to more villages through an amazing road that wound its way around Monte Amiate, the trees jettisoning their colourful autumnal foliage all around us. We then found some more thermal springs at Saturnia which was apparently very popular. Unarmed as I was with bathing shorts, the decision to enter the springs with social shorts was a good one, in that, a) no-one cared (apart from my appalled daughters) b) the water was beyond lovely and warm c) it was free.

Last Thursday we met some friends in Grosseto for the morning and got an invite to dinner. On arrival, the host Samuele greeted us with the usual Italian generous hospitality. I noticed that he was sporting a shirt that had an emblem of the Brunello Vineyard. After I explained that we had visited the area, he announced that he works for them as a chef-teacher and if we visited again we would get a free tour and some discounted Brunello wine. Immediately my diary came out on to the table to rearrange all our plans. Very sadly the majority of my family, being 3.5 votes to 1 with half an abstention, the motion was not carried....

Friday we went north along the coast to Punta Ala where we could paddle a long way out in the beautiful Etruscan sea before returning to the villa for a farewell BBQ. We were very sad to leave our friends in Grosseto and we are sure to return again.

Our last week was based near Siena/Arezzo. The villa was superbly located with stunning views of the villages below us. (Sounds like an estate agent-but I speak with no sales pitch)
We visited Perugia to meet up with some English and American ex pats. There seem to be an increasing amount of them in this area of Tuscany...who knows...? Then onto Montepulciano where we were encouraged by Sue, Amanda and (I think) Mary, to try together the 'Nobile' local wine. We needed not much encouragement and thank you dear ladies for our chat, a very pleasant time indeed.



After a trip to Assisi we ventured again to Perugia to check out the chocolate festival. Some purchases took place, of course. Getting physically tired now after 150 km of walking over 2 and a
bit weeks, we thought we'd try and find a place to eat out locally. We noticed a recommendation in
the visitors book and went for it. There's an Italian description of eating "alla Buona", which basically  means that you eat very well, but "simple". The price is less, the restaurant is simple, the food made by family and homemade and cooked traditionally. Absolutely lovely. I love it. If you ever visit Lucignano, near Sinalunga, go to "Le Botti, meaning "The Barrels". Myself and the girls chose the "Pici" ( local variation of spaghetti) with Wild Boar Ragu sauce.

On the short drive back to the villa, along a forest road, we first encountered in our headlights, a very healthy looking fox, two minutes later a cat with two kittens that were playing with something like a frog, and to beat them all, we then almost collided with a Wild Boar that clearly wasn't obeying traffic regulations. All in all, a very eventful meal out. On reflection, I believe that our car would have regretted a collision and that would have been justice for our choice of dish at Le Botti....

The last few days were spent collecting photos for artistic scenery such as San Gimignano and Siena, wonderful places, but too touristy for me...

So we are now awaiting our first trip 'home' to England in a few days time. The mountain of ironing has been declassified to a "large pile", I have balanced the budget just in time for Mr Phil Hammond's speech today and Art by Three have already commenced the next set of pieces of work.

To be honest, although I am looking forward to meeting again with friends and family (and the cat) in England, my heart is definitely set on the next stage, Cinque Terre from mid-November.

Have a good day everyone and comments on the above would be welcomed!

Friday 19 October 2018

It's just NOT cricket......

We are shattered, it has to be said.

Those kind of "breaks" where you end up driving, walking, planning, researching places so much more than your usual 9-5 or 24/7 etc, that you feel that you need a further break once home...

I can't believe that Ive not managed a post since last Saturday. Simply put, dear reader, we had an amazing time.....

Last week we discovered that wild boar and deer work hand in hand to forage in the 2,700 hectares of forest that we had apparently rented along with the "cottage". We actually said hello to the deer and nearly ran over several red squirrels, but not one sniff of a wild boar. (Maybe that is a good thing).

A beautiful home, super owners who helped us so much when the wifi broke down. Thank you, Sara, I know you are reading...!

The itinerary was well executed. I'll not bore (boar!) you with the minutiae, but last Sunday was a hot day on the coast at Livorno and coast road southwards. Girls drove most of way there and way back. The issue of my being in shorts since April still abates. The locals are still maintaining that this is the most amazing weather they've ever known, adding that their parents, grandparents and other family members who have passed away many years past, have also ever or even never known.

I have to say, it is glorious here. Monday, we ventured to Lucca. We have been there before, in Aug 2013, but it was just too hot. In October?, wow! My shorts were still welcomed, both by fellow tourists and admiring locals. Lots of photos taken for Art by Three for their next commission, or "stored work" for exhibition.
It was in this town, full of English and Americans, that my wife disturbs my distant thoughts by declaring " hey, in here they've got a marble cricket ball!". This excites me greatly, can such a glorified object that I have been great friends with for most of my life actually be "marbelled" into a form that would be on sale in an Italisn town?
No. Sadly no. I was led into the entrance of Dante's Inferno... I came face to face with a marble replica of, not a cricket ball, but a baseball.
After a sound verbal thrashing of my wife's lack of knowledge, lack of culture, lack of history, gamesmanship ((Australians excluded), the list went on and on; all potential customers had left the shop due to the shame and embarrassment imparted to the "summer game"...

Tuesday was a trip to firstly, San Miniato, an amazing hill-top promontory from the Medici clan period. We met a lovely group of American (one Canadian) ladies who are on a walking trip of, basically, Italy... One of the ladies has a daughter who is giving birth to quads ( I think that means four babies and not square things), so we had a great chat involving encouragement, support, laughter. Followed by anguish, pain and tears once we got onto the teenage years... (Sorry dear daughters, you know what I mean..)!!

Journey same day then went north to Art by Three's chosen locations of Prato and Pistoia. Art by Three requested a "bathroom stop" in Prato, which meant that I had to dutifully man up and go to a bar and order a beer so they could use the facilities. A sacrifice is not a sacrifice unless..it is a sacrifice. However, with the wonderful main square almost empty as the locals have disappeared after  their lunch and settling down for an hour's snooze, I have to say I felt really at peace with the world.





Three flushes later and we were off again..

Florence Wednesday. I have nothing to report here, as there were still so many visitors. A lovely warm day and we enjoyed lunch, (Girls legged it off to Hard Rock Cafe..) but I had to run back to car 1.5 miles each way to move it so we could stay for evening. An amazing city I agree, but too many people for a smallish centre).

Pisa Thursday.  More photos for girls artwork, really.
Volterra Friday. Spent a lot of time trying to decide on best present to take home. The weather again, hot....

Saturday, a new venue. We moved south to Grosseto for this week. We're near the coast but still it is very warm. The shorts have now travelled around 3,000km and I think they should enter into some fund-raising effort.. Met up again with some new friends and invites abound for dinner etc this week.
Sunday (yesterday), we almost rested. I tried to find the same place that I visited in Grosseto in 2002 for a meeting with the Italian Cricket Federation as to how to move forward the coaching of cricket to Italians. But to no joy. A) the Indian restaurant that we met in seems to have disappeared. B) The coaching of cricket to Italians has also gone into the doggy-bag of unfancied onion bahgees...

That “curry night out” consisted of one English (me); one Australian (semi-professional); the three Italians (one who had played international cricket against England A team, so one level above myself...aaaaggghhh), 3 Sri Lankans (one had played a test match game), and 4 Bangladeshis.. it was a hilarious evening and everyone agreed that the food was not a true Indian experience.... similar to Tolworth Broadway, near Surbiton.

An uplift today though! A very early start took us to a ferry across to the island of Elba, home to Napoleon for 9 months in exile in 1814 after he messed up at the Battle of Leipzig. A really superb visit, what an amazing island. Paddles in the sea, pizza and pasta for lunch, drive along the coast and it is still VERY warm..... I packed my jeans just in case, they are still in the case!!




Sorry for the lengthy journal this week. There's a lot going on!!

Stay cool everyone..



Sunday 7 October 2018

Start of phase three. Tuscany.

Short note as it is past my bed time...

Girls have completed some more pieces of artwork and are now looking to phrase three of The Grand Tour.




We have arrived safely in Pontedera, near to Pisa. Easy journey and after meeting up with some friends, we finally unloaded an unbelievable amount of luggage from the Fiat. (I guess my family is 80% ladies)....

One of the young ladies took on the chaos of the Italian autostrade this morning and happily drove 80 miles playing guessing games with the lorries etc at 130 kmh. (Speed limit 130 kmh, well she's not going to drive any slower than that, is she?)..

Beautiful house here located on a private drive within a forest. As we arrived in the dark, we'll investigate the grounds tomorrow, but we were greeted very warmly by a bottle of prosecco and a lovely cake. Dead easy to make that, I said.....well it's a Pisa cake? Not funny, they said. And "don't ever laugh at your own jokes...". Ok. Fair enough....

Urgent meeting has been scheduled over breakfast tomorrow to discuss weather reports for art-photography as to best light, maritime conditions etc. So, we either are heading west to coastal locations, maybe Livorno, or possibly north to Lucca/Pisa. 

Any suggestions or recommendations for favourite Tuscan locations, let the girls know !

Night all.

Saturday 6 October 2018

Wood, electric bills and more kittens

1st day of October and the weather has changed at last. It has finally got colder....

I have been complaining of late to the locals that it has been too warm in London for most of the summer and they, in turn, have been complaining that I have worn the same pair of shorts since we arrived at the beginning of September. That is incorrect, I remind them, as we actually arrived on the 5th....

This last week, the huge event locally was the English family's intention to make a purchase of wood. This causes much debate as to which vendor to engage (and negotiate) with, which type of wood, the strength of calorific value for best burning and heat, the price and whether the wood gets delivered....

2 days later, we had agreed on a plan. My wife's uncle helped us out with the negotiations, and, in exchange for my offer of a small quantity of local wine, he kindly arranged for the dumping of a mountain-sized couple of pallets of "excellent" wood at the front of this property.






Much discussion then ensues as to how best to stack it, where to stack it, a plan for passing the wood to the person who will stack it, how long it will take to stack it, and of course, how much it cost to stack it...

It all got done in a couple of days, the teamwork between two of us worked very well, (Art by Three declined the request for help by burying themselves in the basement to continue their projects), and besides the pain, splinters, bruises etc, (and those were caused just by paying for it), we sat back and admired our work.

So we are safe for the winter, obviously, at this height in the mountains, the locals panic without a good supply of wood for heating and, obviously, for cooking.

Art by Three decided on driving their Fiat down to Riva del Garda for some shopping and buying their Grandad (il Nonno) a present. The drive is not an easy one for many reasons. I'll not explain in detail, but the basic fact that the road has Italians "driving" on it, could give you a clue.. So my wife had another litter of kittens. She also picked her fingers to the extent that she couldn't catch the wood that I was throwing at her and she even had to get me to check their progress on some kind of app on her iPad...

As a dad, you of course are concerned, but must never show it...I did once when I refused to take the (then) young girls up to a particularly dangerous mountain peak and I have been humiliated ever since..(in a sweet way you must understand...errrr.)

But yes, as you probably know them by now, they had no problem. All in their three strides, as it were.

We enjoyed the return visit of our friends that speak many languages. A wonderful 'late lunch' (1:30 which is a criminal offence in Italy) made by the girls and the wonderful visiting mother. Again, all conversation reverted to English, which meant when I volunteered to read something in Italian later, it was absolutely awful. I didn't even understand myself... The word "ispezione" (inspection) was attempted and subsequently failed three times...

Finally, I have decided to sign up to a degree-level course in interpreting Italian electricity bills. We believe it is a three year course and, as yet, no one has ever completed it. Apparently many of those who thought they could do it ended up as jibbering wrecks and changed careers to something much safer, such as parachuting without a parachute..Three days past I stupidly announced that I'd try and calculate (with my English calculator and excel spreadsheets) the actual costs of running this apartment so that our agreed rent would cover many times the cost.. (Don't worry, just an accounting fetish)...
Serious error..Last night, after another two hours comparing the average cost of the three different rates and the "standing charge", which seems to have a non-relative correlation of {¥%} to the power of #/€[~3.14], I was found hiding in a corner and apparently refused to come out. If anyone out there can provide pastoral care for someone who has dared even read one of these bills, then I'll pay for your electric 10 times over. Oh, and yes, free supply of wood...

Have a super day and stay warm everyone.


Monday 24 September 2018

Financial Reports and Go Carting down mountain

Yes, they do have something in common, so please bear with me.

As I have mentioned before somewhere, my background is in Banking, Finance and Accounting.
That, in itself, is nothing to write about. You are correct. But I do have to remind myself that I will have some very complicated financial assessments to complete for a couple of clients soon, partly I can do in Italy but the signing off has to be done in England.

The problem with spending time poring over excel spreadsheets with lovely coloured cells (please don't ask, it helps even when this writer suffers from some kind of colour-blindness), is that Art By Three are convinced that I can somehow come up with a budget for "The Grand Tour" and stick to it!!

So, the first task they set me yesterday was to come up with all expenditure and a Trial Balance for the Switzerland and Austrian mountain campaign. They wouldn't take any of my excuses to avoid this challenge, in fact, they knew that I actually wouldn't be able to resist it...

So, buried under a (yet another) pile of receipts, login passwords and a friendly, trusted calculator that performs its duties faithfully in English and not Italian, whereby it would normally be missing a few "transactions",  shutting down for two hours after lunch etc.... (To all my Italian friends, you know that is A JOKE.......err)... I managed to reconcile.

I will admit we overspent a tad. Switzerland is very expensive indeed. One evening I had to decide whether to buy a small beer in the hotel or instead buy a villa in France.... But if you had the joy of hurling yourselves down a mountainside on three-wheeled go carts (I can't see ever doing that again!), would you have a pop at £xxx?


That day was just amazing, there are photos of such beauty, and I can include my dear daughters in that picture. From Grindelwald to First and then just keep walking up until you meet with a couple of lake-ettes. On the walk up, I always chat with any other fellow walker that fancies the same. 
I met a lovely Korean lady and we discussed the merits of hurting your legs in order to get an even better view...she said, thank goodness for the cable car!, to which I readily agreed. She then said that she had met a really old man at the top of the cable who had walked all the way up from the bottom!! I said, amazing but he was probably only 25 years old when he started...and she started to giggle, then laugh (in Korean, which is great). She said I'm really sorry, that is so funny, I have to tell my friends behind. Then, as I march ahead, all I can hear over the chuckling marmots is the chuckling and laughing of a group of Korean tourists. I was proud for just one moment, in that a most simple, inane,  innocuous comment to us English, translated so well into Korean..


Art by Three are off to the shops today in the local town of Riva del Garda. No doubt I'll be doing some further financial reports later.

I have been given the list of chores on the 'to-do' command, but only 12 days left before we head south as The Grand Tour winds its way to Lucca, Pisa, Grossetto, Siena with the final onslaught of Florence. Because Tuscany can also be expensive, and as I have sneakily already paid for the accommodation, I'll try and amend the budget upwards by £50 or so in order to have an ice-cream with three flavours and not just 2......

Have a lovely day all.





Tuesday 18 September 2018

The Ogre, the Young Maiden and the Monk...

......or to you and me, the Eiger, the Jungfrau and the Munch. Three spectacular mountains in the Swiss Alps.

After a few days of discussions as to one of the girls' new bed and mattress, and the successful purchase thereof, a period of cleaning and polishing the apartment continued in our rented apartment in Italy. New bedside lamps, new mop, new kitchenware and a new cat appeared to investigate the goings on....

I have been trying to cycle a few miles everyday as the challenge to lose 10% of body weight by the end of the year (I never agreed as to which year) continues unabated. On top of that, we had a hot day on Saturday (31 degs) where we out in the sun for 3 hours in the morning, followed by a hefty luncheon with some friends whose young offspring can speak in four languages. After much discussion, we agreed on English as we thought it best we understood what we were saying ourselves....

A trip to Trento followed and we'll be going there regularly to meet up with them and other friends of ours.

Sudden flurry of activity in that we saw a window of opportunity in the Swiss Alps. Ever since I popped there for a wine tasting tour in June, my family have been nagging me to take them too, but without the wine. We decided on Grindelwald as a base, as I had been skiing here in 1987, I think. We are staying at the same hotel and the same waiter is now the owner.
Here I am all those years ago!




So we went for the Schilthorn trip (I will not say how much it was, but my wife has now produced yet another set of kittens). And there was cloud. Lots of cloud indeed. The kittens were thrown out the basket. My 007 brunch had kitten soup on the menu. Kittens everywhere. We had to retreat to a lower stage on the cable car to be able to get out of the cloud.






All, however, is now peaceful. We are staring in awe at the Eiger, the Jungfrau and the Munch. Tomorrow is going to be a hard-walking day as we are going to submerge ourselves into cheese and meat fondues tomorrow evening. Some 31 years ago, I did the same such thing....happy memories.

Good night all. A local owl is telling me to turn my lights out so I'd better retire soon. On Thursday, Art by Three have chosen for us to visit Werfen in Austria to visit the ice caves and castle. Keep you posted.

Wednesday 12 September 2018

Made it back "home".

Strange how one enjoys the company of your outlaws much more when your betrothed is not around.... No intentional disrespect, but I enjoyed the meals and being strangled by my nieces (twins also same birthday as me, not that I care) so incredibly more when I don't get the "stop it, you're over exciting them!!". Well that's what uncles are made for...

I had an extremely easy journey back to Italy, slept 10 minutes in Bolzano at 05:30 Monday.

Made girls drive the mountain roads to Val Daone (pics attached), they are so confident in driving. I say to them that I didn't get to drive abroad until I was 28 and that scared the proverbial out of me, even then. They are still shy of 19 and they say, bring it on. Art by Three are fearless of heights too, which scares me something rotten. At nearly 6 ft 5, I get scared just standing up, but they can climb mountainous routes that make me squirm...





 


This morning, my wife disappeared (no bad thing), so I took the advantage to repair our heavy wooden blinds in our bedroom, go to the recycling centre, go shopping by bike, say goodbye to family here who are off to Mallorca for a week and cook tonight’s Chilli con Carne.

Also booked in is our trip to Switzerland, (Grindelwald for Jungfraujoch and Schiltorn) Austria (Werfen, for ice caves and castle). We're going next week. Art by Three have started painting today and are working on Prague etc.

I am now on our balcony and listening to the fauna that are declaring their territory and courtship rites. Let them have it, I say.

Good night all
R

Friday 7 September 2018

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

I had planned to take the train this morning to Verona from our 'local' station, which is some 30 miles from our new base in Valle di Ledro. However, a "Gentleman" offered to ferry me to Verona, not by a ferry, but his car.

There are two problems with this offer. 1) This gentleman never, ever accepts any compensation for his time, diesel and his annoyance at having to listen to my drivel for 1.46324 hours (as he had reminded me) in his vehicle. 2) Although he is Italian, he can drive well. I do know this as I can take my eyes off the road and talk for 1.46321 hours (the difference being for when I coughed).

This kind gentleman is a friend I have known for many years. We can call each other some terrible things, but as his use of English is better than mine, I usually have to admit defeat. He is also a driving instructor. (Yes, the Italians do have them..) I have taught him well in English sarcasm, self-depracating manners, not least the art of understanding proper Ale from the British Isles. ( & Eire post 29/03/2019.....

I bade farewell to my semi-conscious wife at 07:00 (yesterday Art by Three cleaned the apartment top to bottom and sorted out all their 'stuff' for artwork). I had to return to England as you know for just a couple of days, but still many Italian friends said their goodbyes and offered their advice on how to prepare for the return journey on Sunday. I might not be tempted with going via Portugal, Morocco, Libya, Lampedusa after all.

So, the first Gentleman gets me to Verona airport. One good turn deserves another, so I am happy to help with directing the priority/non-priority queues, giving up my seat for a very noisy mother and child (not sure who was loudest), translating for others and lifting heavy baggage into overhead locker-things. So, I decided I should be the Second Gentleman of Verona... We did well today, sir.

I am now home with the outlaws again, having dined well on a roast with potatoes etc, with gravy that you just can't  do in Italy. Summer (the Cat) was pleased to see me again, but she intimated that her territory was now "up for grabs", back at our place. Apparently, she has accepted all-comers into her new patch, so we'll be expecting squirrels etc for dinner some time soon. A good friend of ours, we'll just call her Eve for now, loves her animals, so we won't complain if the squirrels don't pay their way. The Wife and Art by Three announced that they have just bought a new bed and mattress as "her old one was too lumpy". Fair enough, I suppose.

We are really looking forward to this next stage.  I'll bring the girls' car out to them on Sunday/Monday and they are planning short trips. Maybe they can drive the mad, driving instructor, Gentleman of Verona and show him how it's best done. As I taught them to drive in the first place, maybe we might lose this battle....

Thank you, Mr Shakespeare, for your fine work. If we ever meet again, then I will be happy to hand back my dated copy of Julius Caesar that I was "encouraged" to appreciate at 13 years of age. I did enjoy it, Bill, but all I can say is - Et tu Brute?

Art by Three will be discussing next week as to Switzerland trip via Austria, weather depending. I know they are excited about that as I had a "man trip" up the Schiltorn in June and it was outstanding scenery. I have been told I don't deserve a second trip, so I'll lick my wounds in a coffee-bar at the bottom of the cable car.......

Good night all.....I leave you with Summer

Tuesday 4 September 2018

I set the alarm for 4 am.....( in the morning )....

Don't worry, I'm not going mad. Well not just yet anyway. The words "4am in the morning" have been with me for most of the 460 miles drive today

I blame Mike Oldfield. I blame him for writing those lyrics in that wonderful piece of work entitled "Moonlight Shadow". He enticed the vocalist (the amazing Maggie Reilly) to agree to sing "4am in the morning" as the words errrrr....fitted the music/score/whatever.

How can 4am be anything other than morning, I ask?....if anyone can prove otherwise, please let me know. Yes, I hear you cry - in the Arctic circle for example there are seasons without any sunlight for months, so maybe there could be a 4am in the evening, but Mike Oldfield was definitely not writing about polar bears carrying guns while being on the run..

I digress, sorry. At 4am (in the morning), I hauled my carcass out of bed and successfully negotiated my way downstairs to make tea, coffee and to warm the flask. No sign of the cat, so we'll Skype her tomorrow I guess. Everyone all ready at 5am and we said goodbye to the outlaws.

A 06:50 Eurotunnel was offered, gladly accepted. Art by Three put on their eye masks and settled down to snooze whilst we tore through France, Belgium and Luxembourg. A spot of luncheon washed down with a cheap diesel fill up @ 1.139 euros per litre in Luxembourg. Autobahn driving in Germany allows one to eat up the miles, so we arrived near to the hotel by 3pm (in the afternoon).

We have stayed here before, Sankt Annagut at Burrweiler not far from Karlsruhe. A lovely spot indeed. The girls chatted about our plans for the Tuscany trip. We have a week near Pisa, then another week near to Grossetto on the coast, followed by Siena. Please do feel free to give advice as to your favourite places to visit. One good one so far is the remote village of Volpaia..We keep telling others that this will be "work". You should see their reaction..

Anyway, thanks to Mike Oldfield and Maggie for being in my head since 4am (in the morning).

Good night all and sleep well.


Monday 3 September 2018

It was the best of times and the worst of times....

......good old "Boz", or, to you and me, Charles Dickens..

In his reference to the comparisons between London and Paris, in his "Tale of two Cities", I am now also finding myself on the cliff edge, as it were.

I/we have had to be a part of so many sad sorrows in our departure in the last week. Although many of my "male" friends (I use the term loosely) have been stoical in defeat as their jealousy of my travelling around Italy and Europe, we have still been forced to hug, cuddle and dribble on each other's collars...

So, did Charles Dickens suggest Paris was better than London, or vice versa? No, there are always problems and they remain relative to your current position.

For example. I got to 30 years old and I thought (as you sometimes do), what will become of me? I have no children, should we maybe travel a bit?? So, I received my three daughters whilst still 30....incredible but that definitely halted any plans on travelling...

So, the Ford Galaxy is now packed to the gills. The cat is still confused, a collector popped in today to pick up some artwork, I am fortunate that I can return for a couple of days this weekend to take over the girls car....


....and the girls have said....I am the world's worst blogger. I don't care.. I will write a book of my memoirs and if anyone can tell me what I was doing, please let me know...!!

Monday 27 August 2018

Lago di Garda versus Sutton, Greater London

Well only 7 days more of Sutton.
Time waits for no man, as they say, but the onerous task of cleaning the two cars ( the Fiat 500 L is of course, the girls) definitely can wait. I have done everything I possibly can do to avoid this most unpleasant experience.

I have helped the father-in-law cut back some ferocious trees and shrubs, offered to help my better half with the shopping excursion to Morrisons and have recently been hiding in the bathroom. However, I fear that I will be discovered at some point and my fate will be sealed.

We have heard that snow has fallen on the mountains near where we will be based near Lake Garda. The better half has had more kittens now as she is frantically telling me to swap all the summer clothes "that I should have packed by now" for woolies, cardies and long johns. (Apologies to our foreign readers, I have no idea what she is talking about either...)

Morrisons have furnished us with another 12 bottles of Adnams Ghost Ship Ale that also need to find their homes in the car for onward transmission to the Uncle in Italy who has solved the crises, namely Global Warming and our broadband connection..

As I reflect on how far we've come with the girls since the day that my better half telephoned me at work and announced that we were due to receive three bundles of joy all at once, I find it reassuring to remember the panic setting in on how to cope with all the chaos, feeding, winding, burping, soiled clothes, dribbling etc......and then I thought, why worry about my habits, shouldn't I care more about coping with three little babies instead?

Cleaning the cars doesn't seem too that bad all of a sudden....

Triplets want to take the hats they bought in Prague after hearing about the snow!!!!

Saturday 25 August 2018

Non ha peli sulla lingua....he doesn't have hair on the tongue....

Or a better translation would be....he says it how it is......

Berlin no way as "nice" as Prague...don't get me wrong, I love Germany. I think if you visited Berlin first, it would be incredibly more enjoyable.

It is a very easy city to travel around by public transport, no doubt about that....and the beer, whilst hitting the pocket at 4.50 euros for 0.5l, was very refreshing in the heat.

The weather 'improved' for us for about an hour, in that the temperature dropped to 27 degs and we had a light shower which brought all the Berliners and tourists out to play in the streets to witness this thing called "rain".

We've now moved in with the out-laws for 10 days or so, so I pity them as they see their beautiful home being filled with boxes of stuff pending our departure. However, famous bolognese has been offered along with casserole and dumplings tonight, so life is not too bad after all...

Chaos this morning as family in Italy advised that they couldn't find the socket for our new broadband connection...Panic ensued and the emergency services were put on high alert. This would be a disaster of huge proportions...thankfully all now sorted and we are so grateful that we have offered to take over 24 bottles of English ale as part of the relief mission.

A very kind and lovely customer of the girls artwork (he has commissioned a Maserati Ghibli and a Tornado as a result of seeing Art By Three in a local paper due to their getting distinctions at college), has visited us this morning to collect two pieces from them. Thanks Pete, also for the choccies, wine and beers!!

Anyway, tempus fugit as always and I need to start brushing up on my hazy Italian.....ciao for now....

Sunday 19 August 2018

Melting quicker than an Eskimo in a sauna.........

Ever regret not checking that your Hotel has full air-conditioning?
Ok, can't complain - my fault, I guess. Girls have an app that tells you how many steps you've done. I do often ask why?, because I do miles, like we do years, not seconds for your age etc. So, their app tells me that 22,000 steps equals 13km, which in 34 degs and full sun must be either crazy or mad, or both..
As we have the Berlin pass, which means we can use the underground, I thought that must be cooler. Oh no. How wrong. There must be a whole liquid entity of myself distributed throughout the seats on the U7, U2 and the S whatever..
We crawled through the Charlottenberg gardens, chasing the shade. Headed off to Potsdamer Platz and boiled ourselves in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Humbled by man's inhumanity to man in the museum of the holocaust near the Tiergarten. Girls dived into the Ritter (chocolate) museum. Mum and Dad dived into a small bier garten (to get shade of course).
Went east-side and had dinner near the Alexanderplatz before returning to hotel for cold showers. Hoping to believe the forecast that we could be down to 25 tomorrow.

Art by Three seem to be very at home in visiting new places. I'll have to review our budgets for the Grand Tour.....

Saturday 18 August 2018

Day 3 and 4 !! Ich bin ein Berliner

Wifi  at hotel decided to have a hissy fit last night, so apologies. Another hot day yesterday, but we headed off nonetheless towards the Nove Mesto (new town) as planned. Three very fluffy hats were duly purchased (after some very serious but good natured bargaining), whilst I left them to it by seeking shade in an adjacent bar..... horrified to find that the price reached the dizzy height of £2.05 per 0.5l.
Further purchases occurred as I had taken my eye off the ball, but we agreed to meet for lunch at Giovanni's ristorante for a steady bowl of pasta. Not bad, but will never match my mother-in-laws or even better, her own mother-in-law from years ago....
Fully recharged, we took on the tourists again and, yes, very busy, but everyone seemed happy with it. As it was so hot, 32 degrees and no breeze, we took provisions back to our air-conditioned rooms and made plans for today.
First emergency this morning took place, road into town outside hotel was shut for resurfacing so my contingency planning skills kicked in. I informed hotel reception to advise all guests of best way to take trams into town via alternative methods of public transport, for which the reception team was truly thankful. Only to discover around a dozen Italian guests all piling into taxis instead.... No appreciation, honestly....
A gentle stroll in the heat, Art By Three found a great ice cream place indoors, whilst the missus got stuck into a "Tredlnk", a huge pastry cone absolutely stuffed with ice cream. So, she ended up wearing most of it which caught the local gang of wasps' interest.. Escaped into M&S for meal deals and headed for the train to Berlin....very sad to leave Prague๐Ÿ˜”...
We've decided on purchasing the Berlin Card at £135 between us that lasts 72 hours. That means that we feel obliged on spending even more money on getting in to see more attractions, museums, castles   etc that we can pack in in that time..
I obviously need to check out the local beer to make a fair comparison with the Pragivarians or whoever they are. Goodnight for now..will leave you with the wife and her tredlink!

Thursday 16 August 2018

Day 2 - wow it's warm and we walked 8 miles!!

Lovely day.....we went to western part of Prague today to visit the palace and castle ( as I said yesterday, the ladies dragged me through the beautiful lanes, disappearing into the many little shops when I wasn't looking). It was a hot one though, I was saved by a local hostelry that served up some golden nectar at £1.05 for 0.5 litre.

Have to say, the city is very clean, people friendly and very easy to get around. Great meal out (with a further beer to help the discussion as to whether the ladies should buy 3 ex-Soviet Union military fluffy hats that look like the cat on Specsavers advert.)

After a hearty breakfast tomorrow, we're off to Wencesleceslacesaselas square, yes I know, that beer went down very well!๐Ÿ‘Œ. Having lunch by the river maybe whilst planning the Berlin transfer on Saturday....

Great architecture here, overheard Art By Three chatting as to what to paint first......



Wednesday 15 August 2018

Day 1: Escape To Prague

Evening all, Triplet Dad here. I promised that I would write this blog (with help from the girls, of course...).
Well, we arrived safely in beautiful Prague and have spent the afternoon in the 'old town' of the city. Amazing place, absolutely full of Italians, we understand this is one of their favourite short holiday breaks. Enjoyed a river cruise together.
 As we were up at 04:00, thanks to dear Linda (mother in law) who made us urgent teas and coffees, we are now shattered!!
Lots of plans for tomorrow (well shall we say lots of opinions๐Ÿ™€), but as usual we'll agree on a 'proportional representation' method, which means I don't get a look in....

We visited some great shops which exhibited many fine paintings (prints but box canvass) of the city. We hope to make contact with the artist at some point once we can identify her/him!!

Here is a pic of them on Charles Bridge...they didn’t know I took this one!




Monday 13 August 2018

Countdown....all packed and ready to go....

Hi all.  Just an update.  We have packed the cat and she is being shipped away some 6 doors from home to her/our grandparents. She has had holidays there before, but not for this long.

Mum has had "kittens" (so she says) about packing up stuff that we aren't taking to Italy with us, whilst Dad has been quite happy keeping up to date with the cricket and pretending to cut back the garden and clean the windows.

So, we're off to Prague and Berlin this Wednesday, the first stage. Then we have to return for just a few days to make sure our tenants are well and truly settled in. We really didn't realise just how much stuff a family has when putting it all together.!!

We're trying to complete our many commissions before we head off to Italy on the 4th Sept.....here is a #wip of one!

Thursday 19 July 2018

48 Days to Departure

Yesterday was Mums last day at work for a year! ๐Ÿ˜
She is not sure how she feels at the moment as its all a bit stressful here at the moment with preparations.

It is all starting to seem real now with boxes everywhere ready to be packed or piled up for storage in our art studio...once we vacate!

 Eurotunnel is booked for 4th September but our tenants are moving in towards the end of August so we have to be packed and ready by then. We will be moving in with our grandparents until we leave so we are slowly taking things to their house too.

We also have a trip to Prague and Berlin planned mid August so lots to do!

On top of all that we are trying to finish the art we have on the go and we have one more commission to do aswell.

If anybody would like a pet portrait etc done we will still be taking commissions. We will do them in Italy and as we will be back in the UK for a week in October we can send it on to you then. If you need something done before that though best get in touch now! 













Tuesday 3 July 2018

NEWS!

Sorry its been a while but we didn't want to reveal our news until we knew for sure it was going to happen!

And it is now all confirmed and we're off !  

We decided on the name of the blog to be "Triplet Escape Artists!"  

Our Dad has gone through our plans in fine detail ( so he says.... ) and he has agreed on our name, because a) we are triplets, b) we are artists, and, c) what a chance for an escape to our favourite place, Italy !

Our parents have rented our house out for a year and we are heading off to Italy (and other countries) to travel around and paint all the beautiful places there are to see.

If you like, a sort of a Grand Tour for Artists !  We want to focus on landscapes, seascapes and architecture, but we want to try some different ideas such as "moment in time" pieces, you know, where you capture the feeling and mood of a relaxed market square on a warm day, under the shade of a huge tree.  (Dad calls it an English plane - whatever).

Needless to say this is a big undertaking for us as a family as we are starting to have to pack up our house and move the essentials, a lot of which is our art equipment, over to Italy.

We will use our Grandad's apartment in the mountains above Lake Garda as a base and travel from there, renting places around Italy, building up a big enough portfolio to publicly exhibit on our return.

That's the plan anyway and we would really love it if as many could follow us on our travels as possible. 

We are going to get Dad to help write our daily Blog as we will be busy doing the art. Mum will continue helping with uploading art to all our shops etc so you can see what we are doing.

Its all still in a bit of a planning stage at the moment but we are planning to settle in September and catch up on our Italian, before heading off to Tuscany in October.  We'll be staying in places around Lucca, Grossetto and then Florence/Siena over a three-week journey, so any recommendations of places to visit etc please let us know. 

More updates soon!!






 


Wednesday 16 May 2018

Welcome To Our New Blog!

We are Rachel, Rebekah & Sarah White also known as
 Art By Three





This is a new experience for us but we hope you will follow us as
now we have finished college, we hope to be doing some pretty exciting stuff and this is where you can read all about our travels and experiences.



More on our plans soon. In the mean time please check out our links where you can
 take a look at our art, buy one of our cards and more.


You can even take a look at us painting on Sky Landscape Artist of The Year below!

We look forward to sharing our art and experiences with you.