therenshawjourney

[therenshawjourney]

Berlin 2019

Day by day we were getting better and better though the kids still had bad coughs and I couldn’t walk more than 100 yards without a puff on my puffer.  We flew from London to Berlin (P&P LOVE planes - the longer the flight - the more screen time - the better).  After our 1st trip in 2015 we have a real soft spot for berlin and were excited to be back.  Danielle absolutely NAILED this Airbnb, in Mitte, and was a REAL HOUSE! of a family (who were in Paris.  We used their bikes and hired a smaller one for Parker and hit the German roads.  So much fun - and what’s more nobody died!  We ate gloriously and started to actually enjoy ourselves.  

We visited a private art collection called Sammlung Hoffman, a real treat inside the home of a wealthy german woman who, with her husband (who passed away a few years ago) amassed an incredible collection over the past 40 years.  

Parker contributed enormously to the artistic discussion amongst the largely German group whilst Poppie started returning to her poor sick self and she and Danielle had to abandon ship to the cafe downstairs.  

One day we went out to a festival in Kruzberg on the hottest day in recorded Berlin history (40 degrees C). 

A good German dancer we enjoyed watching.

On another we returned to Temperhofer to ride bikes on the runway and meet up with a lovely work mate of Danielle’s named Vicky.  

Us at Tempelhofer in 2015!

And us in 2019!

On our last day of our week-long visit we went to a monolithic commercial gallery named Konig Gallery and then to Hamburger Bahnhof, an old rail station that has been converted into a contemporary art museum.  

Later that afternoon we arranged a babysitter and Danielle and I had a personal tour of artist Olafur Eliasson’s studio.  Eliasson is an artist who employs hundreds of people in a huge factory-sized building.  A really special and unique experience.  Danielle is working with his team to create a piece for the new Qld Ballet building.  Amazing what money buys you, isn’t it!?

Our week in Berlin had gone fast, and we were now stronger than ever.  We boarded a plane to Milan, a spot we have never been.  Excited.

[therenshawjourney]

London 2019

So let’s fast forward.  It is almost two weeks later and we have just made ourselves comfortable upon a train at Milan central en route to Venito, Italy.  It’s been a gruelling enough period that the idea of facing this blog was just, too much.  We had some holiday catching up to do.  

The story of our flu didn’t end in Abu Dhabi.  Parker and I remained solidly sick for another week and Poppie finally succumbed in an even more spectacular fashion once we had settled in London.  Our original plan, and much of the reason for visiting London, was to see our good friends Jane and Peter.  We were looking forward to a few days in the English countryside, to get to know a little of their lives and get a personal tour (hopefully in one of Peter’s vintage cars).  

But it was touch and go even if we should leave the sanctity of the Abu Dhabi hotel room.  We did.  

Danielle had an idea to get a wheelchair for Parker through the airport - an idea which didn’t turn out to be such a good one, alerting staff to the fact that he may potentially be too sick to fly.  We eventually convinced them.  

En route our Airbnb in London cancelled on us and we were forced (quite happily) into a hotel for a few nights.  Here Parker barely moved from his bed.  Danielle spent a day exploring London alone and Poppie and I ventured out briefly once to wander slowly around the Tower of London.  

There was much room service to be had and we discovered together a sauna and steam room downstairs.  

Still sick and terrified we might pass it on to Jane and Peter (who were about to get on a plane to Canada) we suggested that we probably shouldn’t see one another.  Unbelievably sad!  

We did eventually get out in London, albeit at a very slow pace, and went to an amazing exhibition called The Severs Museum.  Here a chap by the name of Dennis Severs had created a completely authentic living experience - basically a still life drama - of domestic 18th Century London.  Dennis died in 1999 but whilst alive lived in as pure and authentic manner to the period possible within the home.  It was terrific. 

Then we ventured tentatively to The barbican centre, a modernist housing estate built in the 1970’s and housing a terrific gallery that was currently showing the work of Lee Krasner, wife of artist Jackson Pollock.   

The buildings, considered to be an eyesore for decades through the 80’s and 90’s, are actually an architectural masterpiece and have been re-discovered as a highly desirable place to live.  

We needed to move to our second airbnb in London - a charming place backing onto a Sainsbury supermarket that unloaded semi trailers through the night. 

 It was only half cleaned when we arrived and the lock on the door was broken.  We’ve had better.  But this is the moment things took a turn for poor poppie succumbing to an awful hot and cold fever, uncontrollable shaking and pain in her legs.  We got nervous and called an ambulance fearing it was an infection of some kind.  The medical service in london was impeccable.  They were fast and brillignt in every way, speeding through red lights and calmly explaining in the ambulance to danielle that it was possible that poppie’s organs may shut down.  I’m pleased I wasn’t there.  But poppie was fine.  She got a night in hospital and the staff all round were excellent.  She even got to meet a nurse who had been an extra in the harry potter series!

The next morning, a tuesday it didn’t seem likely we were going to get to the 2nd reason we had come to London.  Harry Potter.  Mum broke it to Poppie as she lay in her hospital bed, who promptly lost it.  she hadn’t come half way around the world to let the flu stand between her and Hogwarts.

So we sold one of poppie’s kidneys and hired a car for the day, cruising to The Harry Potter studios where we kept tradition and got our hands on a wheelchair that Poppie occupied for some 4 or 5 hours.  

All in all it was pretty impressive and Poppie convinced us to sell her 2nd kidney so that we could buy one of the Harry Potter chocolate frogs from the gift shop.  

Starting to finally feel a little better myself I ventured out alone on the wednesday seeing as many commercial galleries as I possibly could.

On our final day we scrambled to Buckingham Palace just in time to see one of the royals nick in a carriage for KFC.  

Poppie standing awkwardly with dodgy guy in mouse suit.  He wanted a pound.  We did a runner.

[therenshawjourney]

Europe2019!

2019 was the year of ‘should we or shouldn’t we go back to Europe’ for our 3rd family bi-annual holiday adventure.  It certainly seemed like a luxury, particularly considering the many other spots around the planet we haven’t yet visited, but great memories of the part 2 trips kept pulling us back to the thought that it was actually a good idea.  So one day, while dad here was filming in a flight centre office, I spontaneously sat down at one of the desks with one of the consultants and booked it.

So the beginning hasn’t been a dream run.  After an endless run of colds and feeling rubbish I was seriously happy to be finally on the mend with just a few days remaining before take-off.  Phew!  The Saturday before was Parker’s last Soccer game before the trip and while there a family generously offered to take the kids for the afternoon and have pizza for dinner.  Terrific!  I turned up to pick them up that evening about 8, pleased to be out myself for the first time in a while.  Parker was having a great time, positioned at a computer giggling while a girl over his shoulder barked the most horrific coup into his ear.  

Oh no.

By Tuesday Parker was a mess, as was his dad who he had kindly passed it on to.  And suddenly we had to returned to ‘should we or shouldn’t we go back to Europe’?  Wednesday Danielle got him to the doctor who gave him some pick me up drugs which seemed to help a lot, and we made a snap decision…..why not.

The flight, leaving at 10:30pm was beyond hell.  Absolutely packed.  Almost inedible food.  Danielle got the pleasure to sit next to a gent with sleep apnea.  As for Parker, we hadn’t ever seen him this sick.   Poor guy.  Poppie and Danielle were both still remarkably strong.  Marky Bear was also on board with his own personal passport designed by Parker.

We finally landed in Abu Dhabi and made our way to a hotel for 24 hours to re-couperate before the next leg.  Parker seemed to be improving and we gorged ourselves on burgers and wings in the 40 degree heat.  We bobbed in the pool for an hour or so and then dragged ourselves back up to the room for a rest.  It seemed everything was finally going to be ok.

A couple of hours later mid-afternoon we stirred in the darkened hotel room.  Parker’s cough now seemed worse.  I felt like death.  And now Poppie…a fever is coming on.  She’s nauseous.  There are the hints of that bloody cough.  

[therenshawjourney]

Giglio - 2017

[therenshawjourney]

More Lisbon Pictures from 2017

We forgot to finish our 2007 blog so here are some pics to jog our memory!!

[therenshawjourney]

Lisbon Continues

Breakfast the next day (and the next day and the next day) was at Sede Da, a cafe that only makes Portuguese tarts and coffee. You find a space at the marble bench and hold up your fingers to show how many Portuguese tarts you need. They are warm and crunchy and just perfectly burnt on top. You can see straight into the kitchen from the bench and It’s become our morning tradition, to watch the chefs work like precision to cook tray after tray of tarts. They literally make hundreds every hour trying to keep up with the never ending line of people entering the tiny tiny cafe. (definitely go here).

We spent the day at in incredible private museum, the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, it is based on the private collection of Gulbenkian. He was an oil magnate from the early part of the 20th century. During his lifetime he collected more than 6000 artworks and artefacts, from ancient Egyptian art and rare Greek coins to the a massive collection of modern art and sculpture.

https://gulbenkian.pt/museu/ The museum itself is beautiful built into enormous gardens with lakes and rivers, its a perfect way to while away a whole day.

Lisbon comes alive at night, there are people everywhere, beside our apartment was a tiny salsa bar where the musicians sit at cafe tables and the rest of the furniture is pushed aside to make an area for dancing, just in front of our apartment there's a park that overlooks the water and it too comes alive with music and people everywhere. As the sun set we grabbed a few chairs in the gardens in front of a great bar called Pharmacy and sipped our medication as the sun went down over the water.

On our last day in Lisbon we decided we should do the touristy things and went to see the incredible Jeronimos’s Monestary and the Tower of Belem. Even though we had to fight our way through throngs of people, it’s still incredible to feel the history of the place. The monastery is awe inspiring, a term used often, but in case it rally describes the feeling. The intricately carved stone, the light, the hundreds of years of work that went into the creating such an incredible piece of architecture and the bygone times when people actually used such a building for something more than a photo opportunity.

The kids love it as well, they run around pretending to fire arrows and pour boiling oil on unsuspecting tour groups. They especially loved the tower of Belem with its draw bridge and cannons, ramparts and dungeons.

On our last night in Lisbon we went to see some friends James Steele and Jorge they have an contemporary art gallery called 3+1. They have just moved their gallery into new building and it’s some kind of wonderful, an art deco building in the end of a cull de sac. We had a really special night with James and Jorge and their dog Charlotte, we hung out in the gallery sipping champagne and then walked to a neighbourhood restaurant to try real Portuguese food.

[therenshawjourney]

Lisbon Day 1

There’s a romantic sentiment in your mind’s eye as you book a First Class overnight sleeper train. You see mahogany wood and a dining carriage with table cloths, smiling waiters, crystal glasses. You gaze at a picturesque vision through the carriage windows, settle into your sleeping carriage and the gentle rocking of the train lulls you to a well deserved sleep.

The reality is a little different! We boarded our overnight train from Barcelona to Lisbon with a paunchy smiling conductor, directing us to two separate sleeper compartments at opposite ends of the carriage, I was sure I had booked a family carriage - he was sure I hadn’t……but never mind, I was certain we were still going to have a marvellous evening. We popped our bags in our compartments (briefly noticing a complete absence of mahogany and brass) and headed to the dining carriage where we were looking forward to a lovely dinner. There were four placemats set out on the bar and so we all hopped up, broadly smiling ready to order.

The same paunchy, smiley conductor then shook his head, the lovely area was for the train staff, he gruffly shooed some drunks from the opposite end of the bar and motioned for us to sit there, amongst the empty beer bottles and cigarette butts. We were starving and luckily he had exactly four remaining meals left, he quickly heated them up in the microwave and pushed them in front of us, the smell was incredible. Incredible that anything could smell like that, it was salted cod kind of mushed with something green. We smiled politely, paid a huge sum of money and retreated back to our carriages. Ryan read the kids Tom Sawyer in our bunk beds and then we all tucked in to bed.

We arrived in Lisbon early the next morning, I was bright eyed and bushy tailed as I can sleep anywhere, the rest of the team hadn’t faired so well.

On a brighter side, Lisbon is gorgeous, a perfect port side town, rich with history and yet sleepy under a blistering sun. The town is built into a hilly crevice leading down to the harbour, the streets are steep and cobbled and lined with a tapestry of intricately tiled buildings.

Still starving we headed to the nearest cafe and had our first Portuguese tart and wandered through the old harbour part of town, as it slowly woke up from the night before.

Our apartment in Lisbon is in Barrio Alto up in hills. The streets are so steep there’s an inclinator to take you up with your shopping. It’s a really cute apartment, another top floor walk up to keep us fit and it’s a lovely two story loft. There’s a death defying spiral staircase to the where the kids sleep upstairs in their matching beds, and everything is kind of gorgeous and simple, there’s a great writing desk that has come in handy, with a window that looks out over the rooftops.

Once we’d gathered some energy we went to a hipster indoor market, great clothes and homemade wares and wandered through some arched streets. The street art in Lisbon is off the charts, it’s so so beautiful. Still starving, we realised we were really close to Lisbon’s proportedly best seafood restaurant. It’s so famous that there is always a line up, the usual wait is two hours, and they have a self serve beer machine outside to help you cope with the wait. The restaurant is called Ramiro’s it’s famous for garlic shrimp, grilled tiger prawns and crab that they serve with a hammer. It’s huge and noisy and the service is perfect and super fast. Their traditional dessert is huge steak sandwich! if you’re in Lisbon its a must. (thanks for the tip Stephanie)

It was still early when we rolled out of there with full bellies and food highs, so we decided to head up to the castle we could see on the hill. We rode up on one of the vintage trams. The trams are still from the 30’s all made out of wood and brass, with windows that open all the way, and they rattle along just faster than you could walk. They are divine, everything I had hoped our overnight sleeper would  be! We got off the tram and hiked up the remaining hill to castle through some old ruins, where a man was playing a Faro on his guitar and some crazy artists had painted the walls. They invited us to look around and as we climbed through the ruins we could see all of the city below. The castle was closed as we reached the top, but we were happy with the castle walls anyway.

[therenshawjourney]

Barcelona, 2017

Taking the train out of Barcelona en route to Lisbon it’s easy to reflect that it is one of my favourites cities in the world.  I would be happy to return time and time again as it feels to be a city (a bit like New York) that you can never exhaust.  A week here wasn’t enough, and by the time we arrived we were actually in the mood to be sitting still after so much time on our feet.  We were ready to sit by a square and drink or hang out by the beach, but alas we didn’t - and paid for it!  Every time we travel as a family I think we learn a little more, but we also make the same mistakes.  Danielle just said to me that we probably needed a couple of days in the country before attacking a place as intense and giving as Barcelona - but life is short and we were a long way from home, in as place we wouldn’t be again for some time, so we went for it!  

We arrived in Barcelona late the following day a little weary after a huge trip.  Our AirBNB was situated outside of the tourist heart in Gracia, a more interesting spot frequented more by locals.  

Seeing just how much Barcelona has become overrun by tourists over the past decade it turned out to be a good decision.  The apartment itself is a typical 4 story terrace.  We are on the top floor.  The first night was bloody horrible!  At midnight it was 35 degrees in the bedroom (probably 45 degrees if we kept the windows closed) and the noise of the traffic and voices from the street below was unbearable - though better than the heat.  With earplugs and a fan blowing hot air at us we just made it through night #1.  We had a week ahead of us and I wasn’t sure I was going to cope with a second night.  Well, it took us three days to notice that all of the oil heaters were turned on full boar.  With them finally turned off the apartment cooled to 25 degrees and we closed the windows.  Phew.

On Sunday we had booked a walking tour of Gaudi architecture run by local architecture students.  Our guide was awesome and we were a small group of 6 (Indian newlyweds joined us!).  

Poppie in particular was looking forward to this and it was worth it to see how much she loved the experience, listening and learning from the guide.  Interestingly Parker too became obsessed with architecture over the course of our week in Barcelona and has now changed his career choice.  He and Poppie have decided to go into business together creating an architecture firm where she will specialise in design whilst he will oversee structural considerations.  They have named their company SPARKITECTS.  They have been frantic all week putting their ideas to paper, creating designs for houses, apartments and parks.  

Gaudi always seems like an architectural cliche to me, that is until I actually stand in one of his buildings and realise he is to Architecture what Einstein was to science.  A absolute freak of nature, thinking and working in a mind like no one who has come before him or has since.   His Sagrada Familia cannot be described.  It’s interior is now complete and if there is any building in the world that could surely make you believe in God, it’s this one.  

The last time Danielle and I were here we paid little attention to Gaudi, passing by a few of his buildings, but with Poppie’s insistence we trekked further and explored his park - Guell Park - an architectural wonder!  We wandered until sunset (about 10:30 at night) before taking the bus back home.

Danielle was in urgent need of a swim and halfway through the week we took a train to Graff Beach west of Barcelona.  It was a sleepy little village with a pretty little beach populated by locals and spanish tourists.  

We had a couple of swims and the kids attempted to build sand castles in the course sand.  We had an amazing lunch of paella overlooking the water at La Cuppola to finish off a great and relaxing day.  

On one day we discovered a particularly interesting and undiscovered (by tourists at least) area of Barcelona called Poble Sec.  This is an industrial area filled with warehouses, artist studios and cool cafes.  

In our final couple of days we did get our late dinner on the square drinking Vermuth and watching the kids run and play soccer until midnight.  If only we would have started that ritual earlier!

Mies Van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion built in 1923 for the World Expo had always been on my must-see list.  

I regret not getting a photo of the owner of this little shop (Carlos) with Poppie and Parker - who adored him.  Carlos gave us so many wonderful tips throughout our Barcelona stay.  He even Instagrammed the kids drawings of his shop. @vossfassbarcelona

We finished our trip with a treat for Parker - a trip to Camp Nou Stadium to see Barcelona vs Manchester!!!  Granted it was the ‘Legends’ - i.e. a bunch of old guys huffing and puffing around a paddock for 90 minutes.  But was awesome all the same, and from 400 rows back in the stadium who’d know!?!

[therenshawjourney]

Kassel - Documenta14, 2017

Travelling is always great fun except when you’re actually travelling.

Today we had one of those days, where your train is delayed and you miss your connection and you sit on the train platforms for hours and a two hour journey takes five hours!

Poppie and her random sparrow friend!

Meanwhile, Parker entertains himself in other ways.

But despite the lack lustre day the evening made up for it in spades. We made our way to Restaurant Park Schoenfeld, it’s a lovely restaurant in a Castle above Kassel. We met our wonderful friends Stephanie and Julian Grose, it had been Julian’s birthday the day before and so we decided to celebrate with a lovely dinner. We sat  out in the gardens and the food was amazing, we stayed for hours. Steph and Julian are some of the best humans we know and we had a lot of fun. 

Parker the photographer.  This guy is looking more and more like a man every day!

Not sure where our kids were this evening.  We didn’t hear a peep from them, sitting quietly drawing for four hours!

Julian even let the kids eat the chocolate reading glasses, hearing aide and false teeth we gave him for his birthday.

The reason we were in Kassel was for Documenta 14, which is an international artistic survey held once every 5 years. It draws curators and art lovers from all over the world and everyone has an opinion. This year people’s responses were very divided, we feel into the category that enjoyed it.

—- public service announcement - below I’m going to talk a lot about the art at Documenta if you’re not so interested just look at the pictures and skip through it!

Our first stop was the Neue Neue Galerie to the North of the city where we were staying, It was an interesting pavilion that dealt with the theme of international refugees, it was a poignant look at the world of displaced people. Gordon Hookey, a indigenous artist from Brisbane represented Australia which was great.

I think one of the most interesting works was by Norwegian artist >>>>> it was a necklace of ceramic reindeer reindeer skulls that had been crafted using ground reindeer bones. At the moment in Norway the government is culling reindeer, but as it is the main food source of the Sami tribe they are also displacing a native culture. She also presented a historical photo of hundreds of dead Bison. In America the government decimated the native Bison from 30,000,000 to just a few hundred thousand in just a few years. This was a deliberate tactic to displace the Indian peoples from their land as Bison was their main food source.

From there we went to the Fridericanum Museum. Which for Documenta 14 held all the works from the Athens National Museum of Contemporary Arts. It  was an incredible collection. The best part for the kids was a work by Andreus Angelstakis which was an installation of huge camouflage soft building blocks, about a meter high in different shapes. 

The idea was that you could arrange the room in different shapes and the kids stayed there for hours building forts and huge slides and meeting other kids from all over the world. On the facade of the building Banu Cennetoglu had reworked the name of the museum to Being Safe is Scary. Which is our new motto! Another amazing work was an installation of a bed and a loom and a rem sleep monitor. For weeks the artist … would sleep in the bed, monitor her sleep as it rem pattern and spend her day weaving the sleep pattern into a quilt.

In the main square of Kassel is perhaps the most impressive installation of all. It is the ‘Parthenon of Books’ by Marta Minujin. The result of an open call for 100,000 formerly or currently banned books, it is a huge model of the Athenian Parthenon. It is constructed on the site where the Nazis burnt books in 1933 and is a tribute to free speech. 

It’s incredibly beautiful to look at. Poppie and Parker were amazed at all the kids books that had been banned, Tom Sawyer, Enid Blyton and worst of all Harry Potter!

At the end of the day we retired to the cafe on the square to meet our friends Julian and Stephanie and ran into some other friends Ellie Buttrose and Dirk Yates. We all sat back sipped our spritz and swapped stories.

We had another gorgeous dinner with Steph and Julian and said our farewells till our next adventure, and took the tram home for another midnight finish.

What Poppie tends to order for most meals.

https://frieze.com/article/documenta-14-kassel-overview

On our last day in Kassel we woke up really tired, Ryan and the kids watch the state of Origin on the computer (you can take the boy out of Queensland, but you can’t take the Queensland out of the boy!) and then at lunchtime we headed back into Kassel.

This time we were on the other side of the river at an incredible museum called the Grimwelt. It is a newly built museum for the collection of all things Brothers Grimm. It is probably the most impressively designed museum I’ve ever seen. It’s incredible. One whole floor is dedicated to the work the Grimm brothers did on making the first ever dictionary of the German language, which was a 25 year endeavour - that didn’t come to fruition for 100 years and one floor was dedicated to their collection of folk tales. 

It’s like a magic castle with magic talking mirrors on the walls and grandma’s cottage from Little Red Riding hood where the wolf wakes up and talks to you. It feels like a cross between a Willy Wonder Factory and a dark fairy tale wood. A great cafe for lunch as well - with views across the valley.

We saw a few more museums and then headed home to try and get an early nigh before our 5am start to Barcelona.

PARIS !

You guys aren’t going to Paris! What do you mean Paris?!?

Like I said yesterday, the worst part about travelling is the travelling. On our long haul from Kassel to Barcelona our first train was late, which threw out the whole schedule and meant we had to overnight in Paris.

Getting our report cards en route to Paris.  ‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU EACH GOT A B!!!???’

And you know what ….. in life, there are worse things than having to overnight in Paris. We argued with the ticket office for an hour or so and then found a Novotel at the train station, dumped our bags, grabbed our scooters and headed to the metro.

The kids desperately wanted to see the Eiffel Tower, so that’s what we did! 

It was already late afternoon so we did a quick two hour circuit of Paris, we saw the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, The Seine, we bought some cheap Eiffle tower keyring and then called my wonderful friend Tobi and headed to his apartment to finally meet his wonderful family.

When I first went to Paris in the 1990’s, my friend Julien lived with Tobi in Rue Brochant in Place de Clicy, and I stayed with them. I haven’t seen Tobi, (except for instagram) for 15 years. But as with all good friends, time doesn’t matter you just pick up the conversation where you left off.

We met Sandra, Tobi’s beautiful wife, and Romy his six year old daughter, his son Jules who’s 10 was out at a friends house. They have a beautiful Parisien apartment just around the corner from where we used to live. Sun streams through the floor to ceiling balcony doors, and lights across the parquetry floors, the roof and walls have moulded plaster and there’s a big marble fire place. Exactly as an apartment in Paris should look.

The kids didn’t share a language between them, but it didn’t matter a bit. They played and then they realised they could use our phones and google translators. They would speak in one language and siri would translate it to the other. It’s a brave new world and the kids already are experts in navigating it.

Tobi and Sandra are moving to the South of France, so our next itinerary has been decided.

We stayed with them way too long talking and drinking the night away, and wished we had of stayed three days - next time we will. We made our way back to our hotel again for midnight, Ryan and Parker riding their scooters fast through the empty Gare de Lyon, a huge contrast from the hundreds of people and armed guards, that had been in the station just a few hours before.

With the alarm set for 5:45am we fell into bed.

[therenshawjourney]

Munster - Skulptur Projekte 2017

Getting off the train in Munster was a shock.  We exited the train station into a sea of bikes.  Bikes everywhere heading every direction and we were surrounded by a flock of happy, noisy, glitter-tattooed twenty-somethings. As far as we could see in front and behind us there were kids and they were very happy and very drunk. It was 12 midday on a Saturday and we were in a sea of singing, bottle swigging, happy people.

As it turned out not every day is like that in Munster, there just happened to be a big electro festival in town, and we arrived in the nexus of it.

We found our building which wasn’t much of a looker from the outside, and climbed the four flights of stairs (really should have packed lighter) with a little tingle of ‘airbnb anxiety’……. but when we stepped inside - it was beautiful. Bernard who lived there was a carpenter and had handcrafted a little double story apartment into the roof of the building.  It was cute as a button.  There was an attic bedroom, a little balcony and games for the kids.

Our view down from our AIR BNB.  Our host was making a wedding present.

A ‘Hipster Killer’ we found in our AIRBNB.

The next day we headed into town to rent bicycles…. and after a few false starts we were rewarded with a set of perfectly sized bikes and even the ever-illusive kids’ helmets…. we were away.

We are in Munster for Skulptur Projecte which is an art installation project that occurs once every ten years.  All over Munster there are small and large scale artworks created by a selection of international artists. It’s an exhibition where half the fun is in finding the works.

Using an Old Skool Map when Ryan’s phone was running low.

Luckily we found an art work that could charge Ryan’s phone

With our maps and our apps we set off on our bikes, Ryan leading the way, kids in the middle and me at the back shouting ‘Keep right! Look out! Car coming!”  It was really relaxing (not).

We wandered all over town seeing some interesting art, getting lost, cycling in circles and eating pizza and gelato.

We also managed to see an incredible theatre performance (delivered in french and german with sporadic english explanations!) and we actually enjoyed it thoroughly.  In it the performer drank champagne from an audience member’s shoe and shampooed their hair with it.  Impossible to either describe nor forget!!

The days are long here with sunrise at 4:30am and sunset at 11pm, so even at 8pm it just feels like late afternoon. We finished our day with a spritz at the harbour. Turkish Artist Ayse Erkman  had built a bridge from one side of the river to the other, not above the water, but just below the surface, so when you walk across it’s like your walking on water. 

The kids loved it and it was great watching people walking over with their dogs and at night once the organisers had closed the bridge a rebellious soul climbed the fence with his bike and rode across the water on his bike all alone. Sometimes art is wondrous.

We slowly rolled out of bed the next day with sore muscles and tired bodies.  Poppie and I unlocked our trusty bikes and rode to the markets to fill up baskets with breakfast to bring home to the sleepy-headed boys. It’s a wonderful feeling to feel like a local after just 24 hours. We lazed around till midday eating and writing in our journals and then hit the streets again.

We wandered through the really beautiful Museum for Kunst and Kulture for a couple of hours, before hitting the roads again to see more of the installations. 

Huge artwork in an abandoned Ice Skating Rink

Sign from disgruntled visitor.

Parker hit the road a little hard at one stage and while attending to his bloody knee we realised we were right outside the lovely restaurant we ate in the day before. So we gave in to fate and ate pizza and gelato again to restore our spirits.

Main street of the Old Town of Munster

I really loved riding all over the city.  It gave us all a sense of freedom and adventure.  We spent early evening in the park, riding, picnicing and watching butterflies. At nine o’clock we had to give back our bikes.  We were all really sad.  The kids kissed them good bye and walking felt weird as we headed back towards home.

[therenshawjourney]

Basel - 2017

We had the usual painful overnight flight from Singapore to Zurich taking off at midnight with 2 children who had well and truly turned into a couple of deranged and delirious pumpkins.  Parker had already decided he wasn’t going to bother going to sleep but rather push through with half a dozen more movies.  He didn’t quite make it to dinner being served.  Danielle did the best on the sleeping front, well-prepared with neck brace, eye mask, ear plugs, 2 small bottles of champagne and a sleeping pill under her belt.  She woke up sparkling as the plane touched down on Swiss soil.  I got a good solid hour.  

We jumped on a train and by early morning we were in Basel, a small Swiss city made most famous by its annual art fair ‘Art Basel’ - which we had come to see.  

Parker considering a carpet artwork.

A moment later these two children followed him in and began a strange performance.

Walking on eggs beneath bullets.

Art Basel is possibly the only moment in the year where Planet Earth’s elite club of billionaires all descend in their private jets to purchase some the world most expensive contemporary art.   It is a sight to behold.  But it is also a frightening insight into the facile world of money and power and the fruitless hunt for trophies that might hopefully make you happier - or at least might make you seem more impressive to your equally rich friends.   It is difficult to describe the scale of Art Basel.  A walk through GOMA looking at every art work on display might be the equivalent of completing just 1% of Art Basel.  As someone who values art’s contribution and comment on our society, this journey to Basel (like the last) left me wondering what it was all about and what of any of these thousands of expensive objects will be remembered in 1000 years.  Hmm.  But enough of the melancholic philosophical ramblings.  We also had a heap of fun here and the kids enjoyed it immensely despite weathering three days of endless art in the form of four art fairs (featuring about 500 different galleries) and two museums.  

One highlight was the large-scale interactive fun fair art work located on the forecourt of Art Basel in which we were invited to play games and take challenges (like ten pin bowling, hoop throwing, arm wrestling, dancing and shot-drinking) in the hope of winning one of the artist’s prized marble sculptures.  I tried much too hard at the arm wrestling challenge against some muscle-clad half-wit.  I lost (yes, I agree - I’m shocked too!) and three days later my whole shoulder is still aching.  Parker and Poppie of course won against him and can’t believe I’m so weak.  

As a family we tried to reflect upon the artwork and have a conversation about the fraught nature of gambling and the notion of power structures, but the kids enjoyed drinking shots (parenting fail!) and the arm wrestling so much they were more keen to line up and pay our money so we could do it again and probably definitely win the sculpture next time.  

We also went to The Vitra Haus Museum - a kind of designer furniture shop/museum on steroids.  The architecture of the buildings here are amazing and the kids quickly became addicted to the enormous slippery slide in the gardens outside.  

We caught up with art world friend Olivia Raddonich who was travelling with her daughter Sophia here at Vitra and had a great chat before they left for a train.

Our Basel AirBNB might not go down in history as our best, but it was fine all the same.  Getting any kind of accommodation in Basel during this week is near impossible and I had all but given up until I suddenly snagged this place.  The owner was evidently a young-ish single woman who housed more clothes in this apartment than David Jones.  Poppie and I counted over four hundred hangers of tops/shirts.  She had 92 boxes of shoes, many of them never worn.  She also only seemed to eat m&m’s and peanut butter, both of which could be found in various locations throughout the house.  Parker and Poppie dusted off her vintage 1990’s Nintendo and began perfecting the art of Super Mario.  

Parker with Super Mario

Another highlight of Basel was the Tinguely museum, eponymously named after the mad Swiss inventor-artist who created machines that would spin, whir, pump and flash.  

Some of these machines were the size of a matchbox and others the size of a room.  It was a treat to see his work alongside contemporary artist Wim Delvoye.  Parker delighted in Delvoye’s artwork that consisted of a laboratory/machine that was fed each morning and did a poo in the afternoon.  P&P described it politely as smelling like fertiliser.  

On the last afternoon we were in Basel we noticed there was a Kid’s Art Area designated just for the children of billionaire collectors.  When they weren’t on their private jet or swimming in the Ritz pool the kids could frolic here whilst mum and dad picked up another Warhol downstairs.  This place was kid heaven.  A hectare of toys and games and a jumping castle and then actually a castle, and well, everything.   All for the lucky dozen of so kids that got entry in.  Luckily we knew the right people in Australia who had popped us on the VIP list before we left and we realised (much too late) that this pass afforded us eternal baby-sitting in this paradise.  But it was 3:30pm on the last day we were there!!!  Bugger it.  It was a struggle extracting the kids at closing time.  Parker’s first question was: ‘OK - so, if we come next year, will this place still be here?’  ‘Yes, Parker.’  ‘Ok, we’re coming next year.’

We ate well in Basel.  Great Pizza.  Awesome Asian.  And although I was nervous that this Basel idea was probably fated to be a poor one, we are actually sad to be moving on.  Now that we had discovered the billionaire kid utopian paradise, we could have stayed another week.  Onwards to Munster.  More art!!!

Danielle with her new car.  (Three seconds later the owner screamed at her to “take her hand off it”)

[therenshawjourney]

Renshaw 2017 European Adventure - Singapore

We are on our way again! I can’t believe we’re so lucky to be having another incredible world tour with our Motley crew. The kids are two years older and everything feels even easier, It’s like we have a couple of buddies along for the ride now.

Our first port of call is Singapore and we are super lucky again to be able stay at the apartment of our wonderful friends Matt and Paul. It is easily one of my favourite homes in the world, M&P are super clever humans and their apartment is just gorgeous, it’s a joy to be in their home. They have a beautiful cat called Christina and the kids and the cat spent all their time together.

Matt and Paul live right across the road from The Botanical Gardens so we woke up, the kids grabbed their wheels and we wandered through the gardens for the morning, we looked at the orchids, went scooting up and down the hills and we even had a little run in with a deadly green viper in tree.

From the gardens we decided to start punishing the kids with some art to help them develop a thick skin for the weeks ahead. We headed to Gilman Barracks which is a great collection of buildings that have been repurposed to house commercial art galleries. It’s the perfect way to while away a few hours, wandering from gallery to gallery. The kids began filming for their KidsArtCritic Instagram channel, so I’ll let you all know when that goes live!

Eating is of course the best thing to do in Singapore and for the rest of the day that’s pretty much all we did. We ate lunch at the greatest named ‘Full of Luck Club’, gobbled our fortune cookies and followed it up with ice creams and a full-bellied meander through an old part of Singapore. 

Because one can never eat enough,  we finished the day at ‘No Signboard’ a huge bustling restaurant, full of Singaporian locals famous for its Chilli Crab.

The restaurant was alive, and by alive, I mean tanks and tanks and buckets and buckets of live animals (close your ears vegan friends) there were mud crabs and lobsters, fish of every type and most freaky for the kids - big buckets of bull frogs, ready for the pot. The crab was good.

Monday was kids’ day! As we’re subjecting the kids to weeks and weeks of art, we thought we’d be kind and allocate them one day of fun…… we’re good like that. So the kids chose Universal studios, and as much as I hate the thought of theme parks, I always end up being the biggest kid there! We arrived the moment the gates opened and ran straight to two huge duelling rollercosters….. with no lines at the beginning of the day we ran straight onto the ride and immediately regretted it. (Well I did) It was super scary and super fun. There may have been a moment as I got off the ride that I almost fainted….. but I am not willing to confirm or deny this accusation. Parker dragged Ryan kicking and screaming onto the even crazier upside down G force rollercoaster, Poppie and I decided to catch our breath and just watch them.

The rest of the day was fun – It is like the united nations of theme parks Seiks, Sheiks, and Indian Princesses were great for people watching and gyoza for lunch sure beats nuggets an chips. Our highlights were the Mummy rollercoaster in the pitch black and the movies in 4D, eventually at 6 o’clock we dragged our weary bodies back to Matt and Paul’s place and were treated to an incredible dinner cooked by the wonderful Puji, of her famous Singaporian Chicken rice and collapsed into bed.

Tuesday was our last day in Singapore, and we spent it at the National Gallery of Singapore.  There was a Children’s Biennale on, so every artwork could be touched and climbed, and crawled over.  

The kids spent the day playing hide and seek with some other smaller kids and running and screaming through the museum – all the hours we’ve spent training them not to touch art and to be quiet in a museum GONE!.

We had lunch with our lovely friend Russell Storer who works at the gallery and at the end of the day we went on to the rooftop for a champagne sunset. A perfect farewell to this city.

The day wasn’t quite over we had dinner with Puji, packed our bags and headed to the airport ….

[therenshawjourney]

Giglio Island

And so this is what paradise looks like. Ever since I was a kid reading English stories of people going on holidays in The Mediterranean, and reading books by Hemmingway and Henry Miller I have always wanted to go and live in a little seaside village where you can bask on the rocks, and jump into the clear blue sea and swim back to the pebbled beach.

We’re staying in a a little port, it’s not terribly beautiful, but to me it’s little candy coloured buildings are perfect. And our house isn’t glamorous, but I love it.

This little island has a port, a hilltop castle town and a scattering of beaches. Our house is a tiny two storey stone cottage that nestles against the seaside wall that wraps a tiny bay. It used to be part of an ancient Roman Villa. Every window looks out over the bay, at night it feels as if you’re sleeping in a boat as the water laps against the stones.

Each day we walk along the coast road to the next beach. The road is built up high and the water sparkles sapphire in the tiny bays we pass by.

The beach is a classic Italian beach where ‘Antonio’ rents out beds and umbrellas and women wear skimpy bikinis made with a safari’s work of animal prints and the men wear speedos and a lot of gold chains.

The kids and I had a day to ourselves before Ryan arrived - we went to the beach and ‘Antonio’ rented me some beds at the front on the water (premium property) and next to me there was a family with two 6 year old twins. 

Miraculously the parents spoke English, as no one else here does, and we were fast friends. The kids all played together till the sun went down, then we said our goodbyes. As we all went home we realised that we were neighbours, one door apart! The island is small but not that small - we took it as a good omen and decided to have dinner together, and then they took us fishing off the pier.

I fell asleep that night in a kind of bliss, knowing as well that it was only going to get better tomorrow when Ryan arrived.

Each day has followed the next.  Ryan arrived and was smothered in cuddles by the kids and then we repeated the trip to the beach, the same sunbeams, dinner with our new friends and fishing from the pier.

Everyone here is so friendly, we get Caio’s from everyone as we pass and there’s a soccer fierld in the sand at the end of the port and as we pass by we hear “Parco Parco!” - which is Parkers new name in Italian and he runs off to play. The kids are enjoying a new level of freedom here - it’s so safe they can wander off on their own - they love it.

Wednesday we took a local bus up to the castle, we were expecting the castle to be the usual deal where you pay a few Euros and read a few plaques, but this is a living, breathing village. 

There are tiny arched tunnels, stairs you need to crouch to pass through, tiny houses with even tinier doors and so many flower pots.  Red, pink and crimson flowers everywhere. We wandered around and climbed the castle walls, the kids straight back into their archery and boiling oil imaginary games. The view down to the sea far below is mesmerising.

There’s an old story about the castle.  It was built around 1100 and sometime after that an infamous pirate called Barbarossa with his fleet of 80 ships, came and took the whole island as prisoners. He took every last person who he sold as slaves. The Medici’s of Tuscany had to send more people over to repopulate the island.

Anyhow… we wandered around until we were starving and then we stopped for pizza.  The shop wasn’t open but ‘no problem’ the lady said, and she called the pizza maker who arrived with his dog and cooked us the best pizza we’ve had so far. We ate and played cards (scopa) and when we were refreshed we decided to walk the down the hill home. The path down was an ancient Roman road - now too small for anything but foot traffic, it meanders down the hill through the trees. It is mostly uneven rocks - but they are so worn down you can feel the passage of time and imagine the leather sandals that once walked this way.

On Thursday the sun was shining brightly so we headed back to the beach. We swam and relaxed and took a little paddle boat and explored the nearby coves. The water is crystal clear and bright blue, and there’s nothing that eat you, so you can swim anywhere.

Another day we decided to to just explore our own cove. Its just on our doorstep and it’s an old Roman fish pool. You can snorkel and see the underwater walls built in Roman times, you can snorkel out to the sea as well but I still hear the Jaws music in my ears as I go into the deep blue.

On Weekends the empty sea in front of the beach becomes a traffic jam of boats, the beach beds are full and there are kids everywhere. We made some new friends even a seven year old girl who speaks English.  Perfection! The kids and I with some new friends swam out to the flotilla and spent a lazy hour chatting and jumping off the bow of a boat. It was a special moment for me, a part of my own childhood being replayed with my own kids.

That night we ate up at the castle.  We took the local bus up and saw the sun set over the water and the castle glow in the last golden rays. The little restaurant called Miri Mar had only been open for a month and it was run by 6 young Italians who were all gorgeous and had made a beautiful little place in the arched stone castle rooms and cooked beautiful food to boot.

Sunday was just another repeat, morning coffee at Pierina, the beach and dinner. We are starting to know more and more people so the kids are playing games and having adventures.  We are sun-kissed, relaxed and happy.

Monday we hired a boat and went around the island with another family. Francesca, Phillipo, Corso and Tomaso. The weather was perfect and the sea was flat and the water was turquoise and crystal clear. We put-putted around in Antonio’s flat yellow barca, each child taking it in turns to be the Captain; stopping here and there to dive in and snorkel. 

At one spot we swam in 39m of water, all you could see was a rich blue that descended below you, a little spooky really. Another time we pulled up in a secluded little bay where the water was like a swimming pool it was so clear. We saw caves and light houses and headed home exhausted and happy.

The rest of the week we followed our pattern, a cup of tea with our feet dangling over the sea wall, a coffee at Pierina, buy our lunch at the bakery and walk the 30 minute hike to the beach. Some days we stayed home and swam in our own little bay, diving off the rocks and swimming back to shore and others we’d spend the day lazing in the port.

Parker selling art for 1 euro a pop.  He sold 1.

On our last day, with Ryan’s departure imminent, we hired Antonio’s boat again and just cruised around for the day. It was a perfect languid day.  We are all confident in swimming in the sea now and diving off the side of the boat. We swam and snorkelled all day with the kids chasing fish with their nets. Poppie and Parker loved driving the boat and got pretty good at it too. 

Most of the day we’d anchor in a protected bay to swim and eat and listen to Ryan tell stories. We’re all very much aware that it’s Ryan’s last day but one, and it’s going to be super hard to be apart. Our little family is so tightly knit from all our shared adventures it’s going to hurt like crazy to say goodbye.

The sea gave us one last present as we headed back to the beach a huge tuna said hello by jumping out of the water a few times - something none of us have ever seen before. Back on the beach the kids had one last play and then a final check of the fish traps with Antonio.

Next stop Roma.

[therenshawjourney]

FLORENCE & TUSCANY

We were genuinely looking forward to Florence.  It had been described to me as the pearl of Italy with magnificent churches and more renaissance museums per square metre than anywhere else in the world.  Surely that’s going to be impressive!  In truth, we were pretty disappointed in Florence.  Apart from a museum on every corner, the city also boasted more tourists per square metre than anywhere else I had ever visited.  Lines to see a church encircled entire city blocks.  Selfie sticks were once again mandatory.  Surprisingly Venice felt more laid back than Florence.  We opted to steer clear of the tourist spots, but such was the throng we found it difficult to discover that out-of-the-way set of back streets that might reveal the beauty of the city in a better way.  To make matters worse our airbnb lodgings weren’t the most glamourous and were thrust deep into the heart of tourist mayhem.   But we saw a couple of beautiful sunsets across the many pretty bridges that cross the Arno River, we listened to opera in the streets, we saw a surprisingly good contemporary art exhibition, discovered a mad jeweler who P&P decided looked like Professor Snape from Harry Potter, ate a LOT of seriously good gelato, and hung out at home enduring even more Potter.  

Mad Professor Snape jeweller.

More potter...

Parker scored himself a fresh pair of sunnies and a hat that has a propeller on top.  He was stoked.  At the end of our Florence leg we have now rented a car and are en route to Tuscany.  Bring on the hills!

Time then for the next Adventure - we picked up a hire car and drove south towards Arezzo - we just had one important stop to make on the way ‘Poppi’ a gorgeous, sleepy town in the hills south of Florence. It was as lovely and as sweet as our own Poppie - though Parker fell asleep minutes before our arrival and missed it completely!  After a quick explore while Ryan minded the sleeping Parker, we continued on to our new digs in Arezzo.

When I was at the markets in Brisbane - I met a really lovely guy called Ben Cleary-Corradini he sells the most amazing oils, wines and produce from Tuscany, and we started chatting about our upcoming holiday and he said we had to stay in the lovely home of one of his suppliers just outside Arezzo - and so this is how we ended up at La Torre. Julia and Tulio have four kids Arriana, Matilda, Roquele and Ricardo - they live in the main old house of the area that still holds the chapel that was once used by the whole village, they think the house is about 1000 years old. the stone walls are a meter thick. The whole place is so, so beautiful, we just walked around smiling in awe. To top it off they produce the best organic Chianti in the region and and olive oil.

For the first night we went into the old town of Arezzo for dinner.  Julia sent us to a place called Antica Osteria L’Agania - it’s been there for four generations and is still run by the same family. It was gorgeous and simple and great. As we wandered through the streets after dinner we could hear the sound of drums and trumpets. It was an incredible feeling walking through the empty cobbled streets, with the thumping of drums getting louder and louder.  When we walked towards the sound we found a group of twenty men in ordinary clothes all marching along playing there music - and that’s how we found out about the upcoming Giosta del Saraceno.

After a long sleep, we spent the next day around the pool - the kids were so excited to have a day just full of play and no art galleries, castle tours and walking for miles.

La Torre is a bed and breakfast, so everyday they laid out an amazing spread of all the things they produced at the farm, meats and cheeses and best of all cakes and biscuits (I’ve got some recipes to try out on you all) but for lunch and dinner we’d have to go out - and the closest place was La Nonna Lola, another tiny local restaurant that was being run by the great grandson of the Nonna it was named after.  The food was amazing. They loved the kids and the kids loved the food.   It’s been interesting watching Poppie and Parker hop from restaurant to restaurant.  They’ve developed quite the palate for good food - they are willing to try pretty much everything, and are particularly happy with italian food generally.  Parker is a lasagne expert, whilst Poppie prefers risottos.

From Arezzo we travelled to a house we’d rented in the hills behind Sienna, and once again, it was gorgeous. It really feels like you just can’t go wrong in Italy.  As you drive along it’s just one beautiful hilltop town after another.  Now if we say ‘look kids, a castle’ we can barely get their attention, they’re like ‘yeah whatever we’ve seen like 1000 already’. Still, we’re excited.

Our new house was built on the top of a hill in a forest, its a small group of stone houses, that our new friends Simone, Daniele and their 20 something sons Davide and Allessio have just moved into and rent out on airbnb. The houses all over look the valleys below and are surrounded in huge clumps of Lavender and Rosemary.  Simone and Daniele are gorgeous hosts, they made us feel part of the family. On our first night they fired up the pizza oven and made us all dinner on the terrace that looks over the country side. After dark, their son Davide took the kids out to see the fireflies. We were expecting one or two fireflies - but in this case there were literally thousands lighting up the forest beneath us. The kids were screaming, running after them and catching them.  We managed to put 8 of them in a glass and take them into the kids room. At lights, we kissed the kids goodnight and we released them in the room.  It was like a disco.

Every morning we’d wake up and swim, eat breakfast and then start to explore.  We spent a day in Monticiano, wandering around, visiting wineries and then on the way home we had a swim in the thermal baths in Petriolo - the water was really really hot - you had to ease your way in - it was great, despite the fact the car smelt like rotten eggs on the way home.

Another day we went to San Gimignano - which is a really gorgeous hill top town, fairly overrun by tourists, but there is incredible commercial art gallery tucked away in the centre. Definitely not a small gallery, they have four huge rooms (one of which is an converted old theatre). It was such a great surprise, they were showing a solo exhibition of Anish Kapoor - and I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s the best thing we’ve seen so far on the holiday. One of the works takes over the whole theatre.  Kapoor has cut huge circular whole in the wooden floor and installed a black whirlpool about 2m in diameter.  The noise it makes is just like the sound a bath makes as it goes down the plughole, except it is so deafening the bath would have to be as big as a swimming pool. It was fascinating and terrifying all at once.

To see the other gallerys you have to go on a wander with one of the gallery assistant carrying a huge set of keys to smaller rooms at the top of a nearby hotel - which is worth it for the view out the window alone and then to another room hidden inside a castle wall.

It was a little bit of magic to be looking at contemporary art  hidden away in a medieval town.

From San Gimignano we went into Sienna, which is again another incredible Italian town.  The main square is big and wide and sloped and the kids spent the afternoon trying different ways to go faster and faster traversing the square - while Ryan and I sipped the worlds most expensive Spritz on the edge of the square and I wished I had of brought helmets with me for the kids.

The next day we had to say goodbye to Ryan as he headed north for Art Basel and I decided to stay in Tuscany with the kids - I was a little nervous to be on my own - but it felt nice to still be with the family. The kids and I relaxed and Daniele made fresh cheese and we all ate together a pasta ragu made from wild boar, and a salad and fresh cheese from the garden.

I had decide to head back to La Torre with the kids - I wanted to see the Sarachino and as I was on my own it felt nice to head back to somewhere familiar. Simone made one last big lunch as our farewell and the kids cooked scrambled eggs as they wanted to contribute. It was really sad to say goodbye.  It felt like we’d made friends for life. But we all hugged and swapped emails and I feel sure we’ll see them again.

Arriving back at La Torre was like arriving home again - all the kids were on school holidays and came rushing out to play with the kids.  I got hugs from all the adults and we were all super happy to back. It’s amazing how just returning to a place the once can make you feel like a local!

The kids all played till dark (which is about nine o’clock over here) and then I took my two hungry, feral animals back to La Nonna Lola for dinner - the granddad at once gave them cuddles, served up their favourite pasta (a double adult size for Poppie) brought me something yummy and sat down and we started our usual half Italian half sign language conversations. There was another couple in the restaurant - that were staying in La Torre so we all joined together for dessert. As we left the restaurant - Parker realised that the Audi Convertible he’d been staring at in the hotel beloved to the german couple - he was beside himself with excitement and of course the kids drove home with the Germans - arms in the air screaming like it was a rollercoster.

The Giosta del Saraceno.!!!!

So finally the day had arrived for the Giosta del Saraceno - it’s ‘the biggest event on the Arezzo calendar - It’s a competition a little like the Palio in Sienna, where the four quarters of the town compete against each other in a joust. The whole town is decorated in the flags of the four quarters, it’s an amazing atmosphere.

We had to head in early in the day to buy tickets and the special flags you wear around your shoulders to show which quarter you’re supporting. We accidentally ran into an early parade - there were really no tourists so the kids were able to join in with all the local kids and march behind the bands. Serious fun. After we had everything we needed we headed back to the homestead to swim with the kids.

At six o’clock we and the lovely Germans headed into Arezzo (the kids of course in the back of the convertible) and had dinner again at L’Agania. It was a magical night.  The whole town was alive with excitement, everyone joking with each other as to which quarter would be victorious.  The whole town was in the streets - the big parade started.   Each quarter has it’s own colours and they marched through the streets towards the main square.  There are archers and swordsman and drummers and trumpeters and of course the men on horse back who will be the jousters. After the parade we headed for the main square - but got a little lost and suddenly we were in the main parade - but all alone in the back streets.  We were all giggling and running - it was great.  Finally, after a maze-like journey we found the square.  I was scared the kids wouldn’t be able to see anything in the throng of people but again luck was on our side and an Italian couple lifted the kids up onto a high ledge where they could sit and see everything - perfect!

The next morning was tough.  We had to get up early (which does not happen anymore) and we had only got into bed at midnight.  Then me and the orphans had to drive north to Florence, return the car, get a taxi to the station take a train to Grossetto, then another to Orvietto, then a bus to Porto San Stefano and then ferry to the Island of Giglio. Finally, we made it to our new seaside cottage and by 7pm I was sitting in a beautiful restaurant watching the kids play in the sand.

[therenshawjourney]

Venice - May 30 - June 5, 2015

And so now we’re in Italy.

We took the overnight sleeper train from Vienna to Venice. We had all the romance of four cute beds in one compartment and we whiled away the first late night hour all huddled on the top bunks, munching on snacks and reading Harry Potter. It was like hiding in a tree house, listening to the click clack and swaying of the train.

Once the clock ticked 10:30pm we put the kids in their beds and turned off the lights. The kids were asleep in seconds. If only I could say the same for ourselves. The train driver was obviously Italian because he loved accelerating and hitting the brakes. So Ryan and I spent the night gripping our top bunks and trying hard to stay put.

In the morning the kids awoke happily, to their hand delivered hot chocolates and jam rolls, their parents were less jovial as they asked for a second coffee.

Our apartment in Venice is gorgeous. It’s in a lovely older quarter called Zattare, opposite a square with a church and a workshop where they craft gondolas. We have a view of the canals out each window and the kids have an attic lined with ancient wooden beams. We love it and it feels far from the crowds.

The whole reason for coming to Venice was for the Venice Biennale. There are two main venues for the Biennale, one a beautiful garden setting and another inside the ancient Venetian naval base. But perhaps the best part of the Biennale is all the smaller venues dotted all over the island. Exhibitions are held in private palazzos and you get a chance to see inside the beautiful villas normally hidden from the public view. It’s miraculous to step off the narrow cobbled lanes and suddenly be surrounded by lush gardens and pristine architecture, to climb steep stairways to wood panelled rooms with frescoed ceilings and renaissance art and have been juxtaposed with contemporary sculpture or video art which is quite as often as interesting as it’s surrounds. We were like kids in a candy store.

The first day we just wandered aimlessly from palazzo to palazzo, the kids on their scooters still working on their ‘art for free’ project and making people smile and making fast friends.

Each night we followed the same pattern, we’d find a square, the kids would scooter off to play with the local kids and we would sit and chat until we’d call them back to eat, which they would do in 15 seconds flat so they continue to play and play.

Our first big day at the Biennale was at the Giardini.  There are so many pavilions it takes a whole day to finish seeing everything.  The kids were amazing - holding the map and leading us from country to country. The things we loved the most were the moving trees from France by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot,  the Romanian painter Adrian Ghenie, the crazy Canadian slot machine by artist collective BGL and Fiona hall in the new Australian pavilion.

We caught up with our lovely friend and artist Kate Shaw and again spent the night eating by the square, the kids being kids, the adults being adults - it really is a perfect way to live. Noise, conversation, food, wine, screaming kids and laughing old men……it feels like no one is lonely in Italy.

Completely exhausted from the first days we tried for a quieter day and and went to see a show at the Palazzo Fortuny. Mariano Fortuny was one of Venice’s most prolific creative souls. He was painter, costume designer, fabric designer and theatre designer amongst other talents.He was pretty interesting, you can look at his life here if you’re interest is piqued. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariano_Fortuny_(designer)

His once house is now a private museum and during the biennial presents a particularly special exhibition .This year’s theme was ‘proportion’ and curated around the golden ratios . We had set aside just an hour or two for this small palace - but once we were there we didn’t leave all day. It was like a magical paradise, not a white box, but more like you’d walked into the house of an old artist who’d never thrown anything away. There were old masterpieces, sidled up to small modern miracles, architectural models that showed designs for buildings that were already a millennium old beside a 1960’s sculpture that spoke perfectly to them.

All the walls were draped with layers of fabrics made by Fortuny himself and each corner held a perfect sofa covered in cushions where you could collapse and let your eyes wander the multitude of overhung walls. Every single surface was a tapestry of beauty, and if that we’re enough - there were four whole floors in this magnificent, ancient, heavily leaning building. I could go on and on but I think you get the picture - it was heaven.

The next day we all fought off the fatigue that was creeping into our bodies and headed to the Arsenale for the second day of our Biennale exploration. It was another great day of art, even if every step was slower and we yawned a whole lot more. We saw so many things that were worth the effort, our favourites being ‘Sarkis’ from Turkey and Charles Lim Yi Yong from Singapore.

The kids were back on their ‘art for free’ project, colouring in stickers and handing them to passers by.  They are little troupers and great travel companions.

On the way home we stopped in Castello for an afternoon Spritz while the kids joined in a massive water fight in the square with the local kids. We ran into two friends from Adelaide and ended up sharing a great meal together - I think Poppie and Parker may have stolen two more hearts and have two new adopted grandmothers in South Australia.

And then - the final day - we took a boat ride to an island in the lagoon - Lazzaretto Vecchio - an uninhabited, historically important island south of the City.  Once a hospice to house those with the black plague until they died, it has fallen into disrepair and an organization are now trying to save it.

Then we headed back to our favourite restaurant in our favourite square just to spend a night saying goodbye to people who had been so kind and welcoming to our little brood.The food was really nothing special but the owner was so sweet to the kids.

The kids were almost too tired to play, but by this stage they already knew each busker, silver statue man and illegal Prada copy handbag seller in the square - and so Parker decided that he should try his luck, start a new career and save up for the sunglasses he’d been begging for. So he headed off to the other side of the square, threw his cap on the ground and gave it a whirl. A talented mime artist - he is not, but by gosh it was funny and all of us across the square in the restaurant we in stitches. He received a couple of charity coins from other diners till Poppie (his new agent) got involved and told him to switch to break dancing, then the Euros started rolling in, and we may have all been living off his talents and never coming home - but sadly the Cabineri passed by and shut the poor little ‘no permit’ urchin down. Still a handful of coins in his hat and a huge smile in his eyes, tears of laughter in ours it was a great way to end our final night in Venice.

Next stop Florence

[therenshawjourney]

Vienna Again - May 28 - May 30

We returned to Vienna and booked an airbnb apartment at the last minute; an idea that is never ideal we’ve come to find.  An hour before we arrived we got word our host had moved us a little further away (due to an electrical outage.  hmmm).  It was fine, but certainly now situated in a dodgy part of town.  

We had two days to explore Vienna.  On the first we drove into the centre and went to Kunsthalle Wien, a great contemporary gallery in the museum quarter.  On a high we returned to our car to find not one, but two parking tickets.  Hurrah!  It will be intriguing to see how long it takes for them to track us down in Australia.  Exhausted, hungry and grumpy we returned home for a long afternoon sleep.  

This was one of the last times panda was sighted with Poppie.  She was left beneath the doona at the Hotel Wien and we are awaiting her arrival in Italy.

We awoke a little later to read an intriguing email.  We had just won a competition.  Feeling like we in some kind of scene from National Lampoons Family Vacation we had won the Hotel Wien Eurovision Song Contest Photo Competition with our photo of the 4 of us smiling outside the event.  (You can see the winning entry in the earlier Vienna entry)  We’d seen the opportunity to enter riding up in the elevator and Danielle joked ‘Not many people would be entering that, surely!’  Well, according to their Facebook page over a week there had been a mad rush on entries with a grand total of two.  That’s including us.  With a 50/50 chance we took home the gold winning two nights in their hotel in Vienna.  The other contestant was a German and I’m pretty confident management had the conversation that it was likely these four dodgy Aussies would take another decade to get back to the Hotel Wien.  Little did they know we just happened to be back in town in a crappy Airbnb just down the road from them.  We had packed our crap within minutes and were en route back to the Wien.  

The kids need nana to knit them a couple of these!

We dragged the kids through beautiful Vienna the following day on their scooters (which have now become parts of their anatomy).  We visited the gallery precinct and the kids sat outside making art sticker that they gave free to people.  Super nice!  At one particular  gallery they present the elderly female art dealer (Caroline Koenig) with stickers and she was so excited she said: ‘Well, you MUST receive something in return for your art.  Thinking she was going inside to find a flyer for her latest show she returned with two 5 Euro notes.  

Parker with his ‘bomb’ artwork.

Poppie and Parker were delirious with excitement and seem now confident that this is how giving away art will always work.   

That night we boarded an overnight train to Venice.  I’ve never been and every excited!  It was possibly the worst sleep Danielle and I have ever had.  I may be naive but I don’t imagine driving a train can be that difficult.  Go lever.  Slow lever.  Stop.  They don’t even have to steer. But this train driver was drunk I’m sure, stopping with screeching metal on metal wheels in the middle of the night and then flooring it to start off again.  It was difficult just to stay in bed, let alone stay asleep.  But then, he finally stopped with a jerk for the last time.  Venice!  Hello!

[therenshawjourney]

Austria - May 24  - May27, 2015

We hit the road in our hire car straight out of Vienna into the glorious hills (which according to Julie Andrews are ‘Alive’) of Austria.  Despite thick blankets of cloud and fog that washed low across us, Austia well and truly delivered its reputation for spectacular scenery.  

Danielle drove well.  Better than I navigated -  and we made our way 4 hours west to a small ski town of Abtenau, not far from the famous Salzburg.  Thank God for technology.  There is no more of that whinging and punching that used to go on in the back seats of cars in the 70’s and 80’s.  With Harry Potter playing on an iPad everyone is happy.  The view from the apartment was amazing.  We tried our best to photograph it but no picture seemed to do it justice.  

It must be incredible here in winter and we made a note to come back.  The village was cute and we ate pizza regularly over the 2 days in the local pizzaria.  

I’m amazed that Austria also lives up to its reputation of men in ridiculous lederhosen and bar wenches in plaid skirts with push up bras.  It doesn’t matter if you’re 23 or 93, it seems you’re expected to bring out the boobs if you’re going to deliver a beer of any description.

On the 2nd day the kids experienced another holiday highlight as we took a ski chairlift to the top of a mountain, got out, and rode a toboggan down a rail.  Ok, doesn’t sound that fun?  It was 2.2km long and was so fast you needed to have the brake on through much of it.  It was exhilarating.  As Parker jumped off at the end he was screaming:  ‘Dad, check out my eyes!  They’ve exploded with water.’  Poor guy.  He’d forgotten to blink.

The day after we checked out of our apartment and drove to Salzburg.  The old town here was one of the prettiest places I have ever laid eyes on.  We went up to the castle that overlooks the town (Hohensalzburg Fortress) and toured its centuries old rooms, armour, weapons and torture devices.  

Salzburg from the castle

I loved it.  Parker’s review of the castle was ‘Boring!’.  But the kids obligingly visited in exchange for a trip to the Salzburg Fun Fair.  Turns out it was something like a mini Austrian Ekka.  

But no one was there, so the rides went on so long you were begging the operators to stop them!  Parker went into a maze that had glass walls, smoke and loud noise.  He re-emerged with two giant eggs on his head.  

Poppie went on what she thought was a pretty tame swinging chair ride and was surprised at the end she was still alive.  Poor thing.

We escaped that place with our wallets lighter and headed back to Vienna.  That place had stuck with us, and we were prepared to forego a couple of days in the country to get to know it better.  On the way Danielle found us a breathtaking little village called Halstatt built eons ago in the mountains against a lake.