Quick change in the UK ...

Under the Wave off Kanagawa (pic from Wikipedia)

After our five months in South America, we did a quick return to the UK. We only had a couple of weeks, so it was a bit of a flying visit to family and a quick stay in London, but we managed to get done what we needed to.


That included a bit of shopping for new clothes in smaller sizes, in particular, gym and running gear, that we would be taking to Canada.



Despite the expected slowdown in Argentina, During our time in South America, I had managed to lose 2 stone 13 pounds (which for non-UK people is 41 pounds or 19kg) and Nic had done even better at 4 stone (56 pounds or 25kg).

So while I still have a long way to go to get to my target, I was still pretty pleased, and there was a noticeable difference. Nic had of course got much closer to his goal already, and the effect was probably best described by the fact that when his mum first saw him, her response was an exclamation of "Oh my God!"

We didn't fit in too much during the fortnight, but aside from family, a couple of friends, and shopping, we did get in a visit ton the theatre. We had booked tickets for the last night of Don Juan in Soho, staring David Tennant. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

We also went along to an exhibition at the British Museum. We didn't have time to look around the rest of it, so we'll have to go back again sometime, and this time also take some photos of the impressive inside of the building.

The exhibition we saw was Hokusai: beyond the Great Wave. It was about the work of Japanese artist, Katsushika Hokusai - though he went by various other names during his lifetime - whose best known work is Under the Wave off Kanagawa, and is of a huge, frothy, blue wave, with Mount Fuji in the background. It is one of those pieces that you may never have heard of, but you would probably recognise.

It isn't a painting though. It is actually, in my opinion, more remarkable for being a woodblock print. What this means is that Hokusai did the initial drawing, but then a specialist woodcarver had to use it as an outline to create wooden blocks that would then be inked and printed. It is all a highly skilled process, but very effective.

The exhibition contained many other pieces by this prolific artist, and was well worth going to see. We found his work really interesting and enjoyable, but I'm afraid I still like the classic The Great Wave, the best.

The Bare Bones of Bergen Belsen

This is a piece that I wrote for a little competition run by Wanderlust magazine, which they published in the latest May edition.

A childhood school trip that has stayed with me for 34 years.

They say that the birds don't sing in Bergen Belsen; outside, the birds sing in the heath and woodlands, but inside, they remain quiet. It seems fitting.

My father was in the armed forces, and for many of my school years we were in northern Germany, so it was natural that one of our history lessons saw us visiting the nearby site of the concentration camp, famous for having had Anne Frank as one of its prisoners, claiming her young life just months before the camp was liberated on 15 April 1945.

There is little left of the camp, which was burned down by the British liberators, but the mounds of thirteen mass graves stood as testament to just some of the horrors of the place. These graves were where the soldiers hurriedly buried around ten thousand bodies that had been left to decompose when the German guards fled. Many thousands of others who perished here were not even afforded that small dignity in their death.

Around one hundred and twenty thousand Soviet POWs and Jewish prisoners came through Bergen Belsen, and of those, almost half are believed to have died, mostly of diseases like typhus, or simply of starvation. The grounds of the place were a memorial to those who had their lives taken from them, and it was a very moving place to walk around.

It was quiet too - those birds didn't sing.

But as thought provoking as the grounds and graves were, it was what I saw inside the documentary house that was to become burned into my memory for ever more.

It was here, alongside the plans of the camp, discarded prisoners' belongings, and all of the historical facts and statistics, that they had on display the photographs taken when the camp was liberated.

Those pictures, of men, women and children, little more than living skeletons, were truly haunting. Their eyes stared out, too large for their shrunken faces, and it seemed that you could see every single bone in their emaciated bodies. These were the fortunate ones, the lucky sixty thousand or so survivors of the camp.

Other photographs showed those that had not managed to outlive the horrors of the place. Piles and piles of corpses, already skin and bones when they died, and now with the remaining flesh falling away.

These photos have stayed with me, etched into my brain, for the 34 years that have passed since I visited.

And if they weren't already a lasting memory when we left the camp, then our school dinner that day would seal it permanently. We got back to the school, to a meal of roast chicken portions. A single look at the visible ribcage of the cooked bird took me straight back to that documentary house and those graphic images. I wasn't the only one; you could clearly see who had been to Bergen Belsen that morning - I don't think that a single one of us touched our food.

I can eat it now, of course, but to this day, when I see those ribs on a portion of roast chicken, my mind goes to that visit and those photographs. It truly was a sight that I will never forget.

Assisi

Basilica San Francesco, Assisi

The main purpose of our trip to Italy, was to visit Assisi, and even though we had moved our base, the plan was still to go there, as long as the earthquakes held off. Thankfully, the aftershocks seemed to have mostly settled, so Nic and his mum hopped on a train.

It was only a couple of hours away, so gave them enough time for an unhurried walk around the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, lunch, and a few more hours around town.

Assisi

Let me start with a bit about the saint that has made this town so famous. The man who was to become St Francis of Assisi was born in 1181, and was originally named Giovanni by his French mother, but his wealthy cloth seller father changed it to Francisco when he returned home, supposedly because he wanted his son to be a Francophile businessman, not a man of God. Well that worked out well for him!

His early life is said to have been filled with drunken escapades, and he revelled in the adventure of going off to fight when Assisi went to war with neighbours Perugia. Assisi were soundly beaten, with most from Assisi being killed.

Basilica San Francesco, Assisi

Francisco was spared because of his expensive clothes, with the Perugians holding him for ransom instead. He was held for a year before his father paid to free him, and it is believed that he may have contracted an illness during that time, that could account for the 'visions from God' that he believed that he had experienced.

After he was released, he was going to fight again, but he had a vision that made him turn back to Assisi. His behaviour changed, and he started to devote himself to helping others. When he had a vision from Christ, telling him to rebuild his Church, he took it to mean the one he was in, a little run down chapel called San Damiano. He sold some of his father's cloth to raise money, but his enraged father took him to the bishop to get his money back. It is said that Francisco returned the money, and the clothes he was wearing, and said that from then on the only father he recognised was God, marking the final start of his new life.

Basilica San Francesco, Assisi

He gained a large following, reaching in the area, and sought to move away from the riches of the church towards worshipping God through embracing poverty and good deeds. Many considered him to be mad, possibly as a result of the illness he had during his imprisonment. In 1224, he claimed he had another vision, which resulted in him being the first person to be left with stigmata, though some believe that his wounds could have been caused by having contracted leprosy during his time working with lepers.

As his health declined, he was given bodyguards, to ensure that in the event of his death, his body would not be stolen. This was because it was widely believed that he would be canonised, and there was money to be had in having the 'relics' of a saint. He died on 3 October 1226, at the age of 44, and was made St Francis of Assisi on 16 July 1228, the patron saint of animals and the environment.

View from Basilica San Francesco, Assisi

The day after his canonisation, the first stone was laid for the church to be built on his honour. It was already planned, and the land on Asio Hill had been donated by Simone di Pucciarello.

Basilica San Francesco, Assisi

The hill had previously been used for state executions, and was nicknamed the Hill of Hell, which seems a little incongruous given its new purpose. But then again, the building of such an ostentatious and expensive monument to a man who had denounced all wordly goods, and made a virtue out of living in poverty, seems somewhat inappropriate too.

Assisi

The church - or rather churches, there are two - were consecrated by Pope Innocent IV in 1253. Fifty-five years later, in 1288, the place was given the title of Major Basilica. It is certainly very impressive, with lots of variation in the structure and decoration. I can't include any photos of the interior as you are not allowed take any. Nic said of this that, – aside from it actually being a place of worship! – it is understandable as it would be completely unworkable to get people flowing through otherwise.

After the Basilica, they made their way up a hill, which was long but flanked by shops and other places to stop off. Steeper streets wound off it too; a week in Assisi would certainly be a good workout. Of course, nearby the Basilica it was busy, but not much so elsewhere, and even the shops and restaurants more geared to tourists weren’t especially tacky.

Assisi Cathedral, Assisi

The last major earthquake to hit Assisi was in 1997, and a considerable amount of rebuilding was required afterwards. Although this recent earthquake and aftershocks did touch Assisi, it was only on the periphery, and so it was lucky to survive them with no real damage.

When Nic and his mum stopped for lunch, they figured it was high time that they got around to having a proper Italian pizza, so ordered one each. They turned out to be huge enough to give them something to work off. Nic said that one between them would have been enough, but you have to persevere!

A day trip to Assisi is easy enough, especially as the bus will take you there direct from the train station. Aside from the Basilica, Assisi has various other impressive buildings and smallish squares, some of which they managed to fit in.

Temple of Minerva, Assisi

The Cathedral of Saint Rufino is named after the bishop who first brought Christianity to Assisi, and there has been a church of some form here since the fifth century. The bell tower is part of a church that was built on 1028, but is the only part remaining  after the rest was torn down and replaced with the current building in 1134. It was here that St Francis of Assisi was baptized, and the font is still in the cathedral.


The Corinthan columns on the façade of the Temple of Minerva, are rather impressive, and date back to the first century; sadly, the church inside is not so old, and according to Nic is rather uninspiring.

Chiesa Nuova, Assisi

The Chiesa Nuova, or New Church, is not so new at all anymore. It was built in 1615 by Antonio de Trejo, who was the Spanish Vicar General of the Franciscans. He was dismayed at the dismal state of the house that St Francis was born and grew up in, and so with the help of money from King Philip III Spain, bought the property and built the church on the site, with the high alter over the spot where his bedroom would have been.

Nic felt that Assisi would be a relaxing stay for a number of days, to enjoy discovering it more at leisure (and recovering from the hills with a few ice creams), especially outside summer and after the day trippers have gone. He can certainly see himself going back there for a deeper look, and hopefully me getting a chance to actually see it this time.

Assisi

View from Assisi

Basilica San Francesco, Assisi

Basilica San Francesco, Assisi

Basilica San Francesco, Assisi

Basilica San Francesco, Assisi

Basilica San Francesco, Assisi

Assisi

View from Assisi

Assisi

Assisi

Assisi

Assisi

Assisi

Sansepolcro

Sansepolcro

After a day off to just chill out, with Nic and his mum just popping out to Arezzo for coffee and cake, or ice cream, or something - I didn't really want to hear too much about what nice things I'd missed out on - they got their walking shoes back on and took a day trip out to Sansepolcro, about an hour away on the local bus.

The journey itself passes a few things worth seeing, especially an old hill town with huge surrounding walls; the kind of place you would feel drawn to dip into if driving.

Sansepolcro Cathedral, Sansepolcro

Sansepolcro itself seemed pretty quiet – almost too much so – but was small enough for an easy wander, and yet large enough to see a good number of impressive buildings, including the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist.


The actual building has been repeatedly renovated and rebuilt, but there has been a church here since around 1012, and it is claimed that St Francis of Assisi preached there in 1211 or 1212.

Statue of Adele and Ginni Marcelli, Sansepolcro

The town is the birthplace of painter Pierro della Fransesca, whose work, in particular his portrayal of perspective, gained more fame after his death, as he mostly worked just here and in Arezzo, rather than in the bright lights of Florence.

It is also the home of a type of bobbin lace. A statue in the town commemorates Adele and Ginni Marcelli, who invented the new method, and in 1900, set up a school for around one hundred women, giving them a new skill and ability to earn money.

And it lays claim to having the first pasta factory in Italy, established in 1827, by Giulia Boninsegni and Gio Batta Buitoni. Buitoni is one of the brands that you might still recognise from your supermarket shelves, although it is now owned by Nestle

Sansepolcro

Talking of food, Nic and his mum stopped for lunch in Osteria Il Giardino di Piero, which was great food, wine and service. In season, they do a lot of dishes with courgette flowers, which sounded very interesting even if not available then.

Sansepolcro

After lunch, they went into the nearby Aboca Museum, which is all about medicinal plants. It sounds like it would be intended just for enthusiasts, but is done very well as they are dedicated to passing on knowledge - so the collection is good and is supplemented by an informative booklet.

Sansepolcro

Aside from old workshops and a locked poison room, which is guarded by a ironwork snake, the contents included a large number of mortars of different types, some of them very big and impressively decorated. So this was an interesting hour or so.

Sansepolcro

Sansepolcro

Sansepolcro

Sansepolcro

Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro

Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro

Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro

Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro

Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro

Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro

Poison room (left), Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro

Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro

Poison Room, Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro

Aboca Museum, Sansepolcro