ITALIAN GETAWAY - MAY 1, 2018

ITALIAN GETAWAY - MAY 1 2018 - Spoleto Italy

so...Citizen Of The World (COTW) is back in business.

with a free flat (thanks to leisl benjamin) in Spoleto, i took off from sleepy Stanford to go see the old world. it's been totally classic. now i'm in old world sleepy.

the biggest drag about living in south africa is the air travel time. man, it takes forever to get anywhere. and 36 hours to get to italy via dubai wiped me out. 

it takes 10 hours just to cross the african continent. so that's the only drawback. just saying. okay, no more moaning.

i'm here for 4 weeks and have no plans. take it as it comes. need to catch up on a few things admin-wise like taxes and photo editing to free up gig space on my macbook air. and i just sent a letter of inquiry to Gridiron RSA...the american football league in south africa. i'd love to get involved somehow. hopefully as a studio host/panelist/color guy/or even multi-camera director. i love the NFL and it'd be fun to be involved with this infant league.

http://www.gridironrsa.org.za/

walking across spain last year through some 120 medieval towns has made italy not mundane exactly, but not shocking either. i like the old town vibe but would prefer a villa in the country over a city center flat. or so i think. it's surprisingly touristy here in Spoleto and colder than i expected. my flat is freezing and doesn't get much light. but hey the price is right and the people watching is fun. i don't speak italian so i speak spanish. not ideal. but i'm finding my way around and learning new words. bravo chupo. 

hoping to visit a facebook connection in Roma before may 8 when he flies to LA. he teaches at American University. i'd love to visit Rome with a local as a destination. but either way i'll do a day trip at least. other possible excursions are Assisi and Tuscany, with longer range trips to florence or even venice a possibility. depends on how itchy my feet get. a few days in rome (2 hour train ride away) would be very cool. just need a great air bnb.

speaking of Air BNB, i'm putting my cottage on the market 3 times a year during the long school holidays. i'm dying for a cold christmas (Ireland this year?) and it'd be fantastic to have my cottage fees pay for my travel and my home loan. hard to rent out the place where you live. like my friend Willem says, "you don't want a stranger farting on your chair". but like my jewish neighbor Ray says, "it's okay if they're farting dollars". and so it goes. need to treat the cottage as a commodity and pack my personal things away in my edit bay and no worry about things. they are just things. and Yoda will be fine. i hope. she's not a thing or a person. she's just a pet. others can look after her. a one year old stray cat is not gonna bog down COTW. onward!

listing here for cottage:

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/show?euid=d8bc803f-453a-90ee-0877-adfae15b046e&id=24657768 

(weird there is no hot link on this blog)

being a retiree hasn't been going so well. i'm a project guy and painting shelves for linens isn't entirely captivating. i want to be engaged and not much is going on in Stanford. the production season this year never happened. drought, a strong rand, etc. but it's dang quiet here and that's fine if i have a plan. and the plan is to leave stanford 3 x a year and go for more adventure. that gives me something always to look forward to and there's much i want to see. plus hopefully the listing will pay for my globe trotting. 

so the cottage has worked out well and is serving a greater purpose i never imagined when i bought it. it's kinda cool and pretty exciting. i can still fix it up and make it nice and it only helps the listing and the whole enterprise. i'm keen to see ireland, budapest, croatia, greece, namibia, go back to botswana, do the zambesi river, and maybe cycle across europe on the EuroVelo 6. 

EuroVelo 6 – Atlantic–Black Sea, is one of our most popular routes and it’s little wonder why: coasts, rivers, castles, top-class infrastructure and a nice flat topography make the about 4,400 km long route every cycle tourists’ dream journey. The famous sections along the Loire and the Danube Rivers are known to cycle tourists around the world, and for good reason. Come and see what all the fuss is about!

http://www.eurovelo.com/en/eurovelos/eurovelo-6

so that could be very cool indeed. and they are opening more bicycle trails as well.

https://www.butterfield.com/blog/2017/06/29/the-8-best-biking-routes-in-italy/

so, there is much to do. the plan this year is to walk the Le Puy camino across france. another 500 mile pilgrimage. then perhaps i'm done pilgrimming and will get into cycling. i think i prefer making more progress everyday: 100 kms instead of 25. big diff. and so many bike trails around the world. but can i rent one one-way or must i buy one in ZA and bring it with? i prefer the former. less hassle. or i suppose if i bought this flat in spoleto i could keep my bike here and do more air bnb with this one. 

here is the listing for Spoleto flat:

https://www.coldwellbanker.it/en/i/4615501001203--sale-apartment-spoleto-mls-cbi057-315-spoleto-piazza-fontana.html

she's asking 89,000€. having quite decided if it's my cup of tea. not much light and no view whatsoever. a bit cavelike, but location, location, location! anyway, check it out if you like.

i do love Italy. lots of flavor and upbeat people. cool architecture and smart design. good food. an easy culture. happy to be here. they seem happy to have me.

so that's it from COTW. like when i went to Betty's bay in 2012, it feels like when i left everything behind in LA in 2011, i got everything in return. thanks again to Liesl for sharing her flat. incredible blessing to be here and out of sleepy stanford for a while. definitely a vibe here in spoleto!

let's get to some pictures. again in some random order i can't control. 

i did celebrate another birthday this month. i am indeed living the vida dolce!

p.s. i may not have captions for every pic. 

spoleto night life.

art.

breakfast. coffee in a glass and eggs in a bowl. okay.

wow, it looks so Roman.

i could do a whole book on doors.

ddm as co-host 1982.

not sure if he's a butcher or a baker. what a face.

caffe degli artisti. my local hang.

town square

one of my favorite pics

old town is on top of a hill

bellisimo

happy hour

been drinking more beer than wine

so italian

emoji flowers

driver Leslie and fellow shuttle rider on way to CPT airport

stanford river cruise

with my friend Tim and his family, we parked in the reeds for a stop. really???

tim is middle. great guy.

the other river boat.

i've dubbed it The Zebra Cottage

went to a Messiah concert with the Cape Town Youth Choir. (i prefer my doco!)

my part time office in stanford at Birkenhead Brewery

a Passion Play in Hermanus. seeing it live is something else. 

my new beach walking place in Hermanus.

my producer friend vlokkie.

beach bar at Dutchies. great hang but not Ibiza.

very chill

with anri...one third of the cape town trio. i'm one third. wait for it...

"wow, i thought i'd get more 'likes' than that".

Oskars in Hermanus for coffeee

making new shelves for the cottage

taught a kids class in stanford. always fun!

this kid was a natural.

time to sell the motorbike jacket

new shelving at work. exciting! : /

lunch at Zesty Lemon in stanford. great view.

my fellow pilgrim john gave a camino slideshow.

i teach HAMC once a month in city centre. still the best thing i do. 

the table cloth on Table Mountain

vicar annie kirke. the other third of the cape town trio.

she is a pioneer and now at st. george cathedral. brilliant!

love my students.

maryanne is coming out of her shell

Bronte is new and doing well!

my secret swimming hole, M W F.

it's getting too cold to swim this winter.

my swimmates and low water levels!

I LOve NY slice in CPT!

"yo slice!"

love this place

decent pie for sure! 

birthday party at maison du carnivore

this is a sink for my outdoor kitchen. but it looks like the fake doggie bowl i have in front of the cottage.

birthday bash was a smash.

never gets old

view from Burgundy's in Hermanus

more Burgundy

finally getting some storms

stanford hills wine estate

stunning

with dear friends joanine and willem

And then a huge pig came grazing by.

that should make a good fire!

the hills

added some bric a brac by the front door. "tchotchkes"

Yoda ponders her future with strangers in the cottage whilst i am away.

American traveler off to italy

the scenic way to the airport as protests closed the N2.

And then President Cyril pulled up in a motorcade and got on this plane.

then it started raining right when we got on the shuttle to board the plane

Spar is a grocery chain in ZA. who knew?

turn and shoot

impressive

old roman aquaduct

that's one liter, folks. over 3 pints.

As my friend Joel taught me, it's all about colors and textures.

pork sandwich guy

And his sled

many interior moving sidewalks and escalators to get up and down the hill

this thing is really impressive! all brick. super tall. and ancient.

THANKS FOR READING!  A DOPO! UNTIL NEXT TIME!

xxoo