August 29, 2008
August 24, 2008
Royal Ballet of Flanders
Flemish choreographer Marc Bogaerts has created this ballet especially for the Royal Ballet of Flanders, the flagship company of classical dance in Belgium. Based on Charles V, King of Spain and ruler of a huge empire, ‘El Sueño del emperador’ (The Emperor’s Dream) presents the conceptions of a visionary and his unflinching obsessions with the apocalypse and the change of millennium. This spectacle features Ayesem Sunai as the leading dancer and music ranging from Arvo Pärt to the Master Drummers of Korea.
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August 23, 2008
August 16, 2008
Three days in New York
Day 1
Start your tour of NYC in Greenwich Village, a neighborhood that has always been synonymous with the rebellious Bohemian lifestyle. Although rising property values keep out starving artists today, the Village has not lost its edge. Explore its meandering streets: make like an NYU film student, and challenge one of the chess players in Washington Square Park or watch inspiring pick-up basketball at the Cage. For lunch, amble to the Italian section of the Village around Bleecker St. If you tire of the trendy, visit the Village’s cooler sibling in Chelsea. Home to the avant-garde, you can catch a few of its galleries for free before night falls and its clubs and lounges pull you away to follow less intellectual pursuits.
Day 2
Now it’s time to get to business—the skyscrapers beckon you uptown. Walk around Midtown to see the NY you’ve always heard about. Look down on the city from the Empire State Building, and ramble up Fifth Avenue to see the New York Public Library. After gazing at the reading room, exit the library and head east on 42nd St. to Grand Central Terminal. At this point, you may continue east on 42nd St. to the United Nations or you can head back uptown, making sure you pass by Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. But enough of this ambling. Slow down and linger in the nearby Museum of Modern Art, though it may have temporarily relocated to Long Island City if you’re in New York after June 2002). After the long day of sightseeing, grab a bite to eat and head to the bars of the Upper West Side to unwind in their unpretentious company.
Day 3
To make up for last night, wake up early and make the trek to the Cloisters in Washington Heights, lunch in the beautiful gardens. Instead of running right back to charted lands, stroll around neighboring Harlem, one-time home of Langston Hughes and Martin Luther King, Jr. View the neighborhood’s historic brownstones. When that gets boring, walking along 125th Street should give you all the bustle you crave. Stop in at one of the million sports clothing stores or get some collard green at Sylvia’s. At nightfall, take in some music in one of Harlem’s jazz clubs.
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August 11, 2008
Soccer to us, football to them
Italy’s consuming passion is football. I consider the pre-kick-off extravaganza I witnessed at the Stadio Olimpico in Roma as the highlight of my fortnight. Eight giant hexagonal banners were unfurled, several flares were ignited and a corps of drums pounded out the rhythm of songs led by men with megaphones while the home end held aloft the Roma colours, making a sea of red and yellow. The crowd was over 60,000 and the noise was unbelievable – I’ll never forget it. The game was Roma v AC Milan, a big game, but tickets were reasonably easy to come by, even on the night. I got mine simply by turning up at the stadium on the Friday morning before the game. You get to the Stadio Olimpico by catching the No 32 bus from Ottaviano Metro station. The magic of watching football in Italy is not just seeing the game played at its highest level, but being among possibly the most passionate and, it appeared to me, the best organised supporters in the world.
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August 10, 2008
Driving in Italy
We hired a manual Volvo 440. Driving with a right-hand gear shift was quite a challenge, and other compounding driving problems were the indicators, the mirrors, the right-hand driving, the narrow roads – and all the while looking for directions.
Nothing in Australia prepares you for the speed Italians (and Europeans) ordinarily use on their autostradas. Our very good local roads permit a safe speed of around 130 kph, tops. They clock in at between 150-170 kph, and they make no bones about who is holding up the traffic. Therefore, insist on hiring an automatic vehicle, and prepare yourself a checklist regarding the use of mirrors, indicators and road signs. Driving is a good way of seeing the places you want, but you must take the time to prepare.
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