“I like to be encouraging”.  Our “Route Manager” Stefano trying to explain to Alex why he said it was 500 steps up the from the Fjord rather than the actual 1000, this on a day that according to Alex’s pretty accurate smart watch, we walked 14.5 kms including an equivalent of 141 flights of stairs. Even Stefano’s beautiful Italian accent did not completely excuse his “encouraging” tactics! “Oh and by the way 4 people died on The Path of the Gods last year, 3 from heart-attacks and one from falling.” WHAAAT?

It was our friend Susie Beaver who suggested the walking and cycling tour company ATG, (Alternative Tour Group, based in Oxford).   ATG organises walks in many parts of Italy.  They book lovely authentic accommodation in beautiful places and then provide you with a guide book and Route Manager who is a local and gives advice on excellent resturants and local history and culture. They also take your bags are from hotel to hotel so we could just walk.

Stefano met us at our amazing hotel in Amalfi.  The Hotel Luna Convento.  The hotel, is a former monastery which St Francis of Assisi had a hand in founding in 1222. It has hosted guests including Wagner, Ibsen, Mussolini, Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman and now Rob Thorman and Alex Sloan.

Stefano is Amalfi born and bred, the youngest of 4 brothers who all own and run a local restaurant.  Stefano has a Doctorate in Economics and a Masters in Marketing and Tourism.  He is erudite, charming and of course encouraging.  “You will find the path very characteristic, full of flowers, fruit trees, it is very pretty”

We bought our panini and candied Amalfi Lemon Rind from a lovely girl who when she found out we were walking to Conca Dei Marini said “I think it would be better if you take the bus?”

But Stefano was right, it was full of flowers, fruit and very, very pretty.

There are many many many stairs.  But at the end of your journey an Amalfi Lemon Soda is there to bring you back from the brink.  This one at a bar of another monastery, Monastero Santa Rosa, now a very expensive hotel.

The walk Day 1: Amalfi to Conca Dei Marini, Day 2: Conca Dei Marini to Vettica Maggiore, Day 3 Vettica Maggiore, via Path of the Gods, to Positano.

For the first two days we really had the path to ourselves, walking past people’s front doors, gardens, and on to narrow over-grown paths on the sides of cliffs.  We really were away from the crowds.

The further you followed the steps and pathways away from the roads, the more the beautifully constructed terraces become overgrown and abandoned

Stefano booked in advance for us to have lunch at Serafina Agriturismo and we were met by the lovely Rosa. She  showed us their produce, from olive oil, dried tomatoes, olives, cured meats and salamis, cheeses, walnuts and various fruits.

We had a lovely selection of Bruschetta, cold meats and olives and thought we’d had a lovely lunch, then came a serve of Ravioli, and then a delicious dish of beef in a tomato sauce, all made from ingredients from the farm.

Rosa’s family is rare, they are maintaining the farming tradition and are diversifying, with a number of rooms available for a B&B and the arrangement with ATG which brings in a small number of visitors for the lunch that we enjoyed.

Rosa told us that many of the neighbouring farms were abandoned during the 50’s and 60’s with many people emigrating to Australia, Canada or Germany. With the farms now deserted and the climate changing, with more intense summer heat waves, fires are becoming a more serious threat.  You can see evidence of the intense fires last summer that have also taken out some of the walking tracks.

Looking out at this beautiful cultivated landscape you do wonder how much longer it will last.  How many young people will want to undertake the hard work of tilling the terraces, when they are all connected to the internet, many learn English at school and have options to live and work elsewhere.

Stefano told us that there is a growing awareness among young people about mass produced food and pollution and the value of  healthy nutritious food, and many local young people are returning to the villages.

The Path of the Gods

The booklet does give some indication of what we were in for on the third day – written in upper case NB THIS WALK IS NOT ADVISABLE FOR VERTIGO SUFFERERS NOR IN THE CASE OF BAD WEATHER.  It didn’t mention the 4 people had died in the previous year, three from heart attacks and one falling off. Stefano only told us that after we’d finished the walk.  (It would not have been “encouraging”)

Positano

We arrived in Positano where we treated ourselves to an extra day at the delightful Palazzo Murat.  It’s not peak season yet but Positano is crowded with tourists, including a lot of Italian weekenders.  Tourism is having big impacts on the Amalfi coast.  Stefano told us that 6 larges cruises came to Amalfi last week each with 5,000 passengers who come ashore.  There are also 50 tourist buses that come in from Sorento and stop for an hour or two in a number of the villages.  This is making it difficult for the locals to get around with congestion on the very narrow roads.

Affordability of housing for young people is an issue.  People who own homes can rent then out short periods over summer at high rates.  They will only rent them to local people over the winter.  Then where do they go? back to live with their families for the summer? This is Stefano’s experience.

The second slice of Italy.  Fast train into Florence and on to Rome.  Later the Amalfi coast.

Firenze

Beautiful Florence, full of people.

Trundling our bags (which are now a little heavier) we looked up to see Duomo.  Despite the queues it’s incredible.

(Just on bags, on the train we watched two couples getting on each struggling with cases 3 times the size of our’s.  One of the guys was grumbling a bit and Rob agreed “you’ve got a bit of stuff”  the guy replied “Yeah we’ve been here for a long time” “How long?”  “15 days” came the answer, Rob then replied “We’re travelling for 5 months”.  I think Rob made an instant enemy.)

Our hotel was an odd arrangement, in a really central old building near the Duomo, we had limited hours to check in.  We were then given the keys and told if we had any questions deal with the cleaner.  It was 86 stairs to the top, so lucky for the small bags.  But it did have beautiful giant old doors to escape from the crowds.

After our tight check-in we raced to meet our first tour guide, Veronica from “Florence for Foodies”, Swedish married to an Italian, for our Food and History Tour.   We were meant to be part of a small group, but ended up being the only ones on the tour which gave us a great introduction to the layout of central Florence, it’s history and to food, including coffee.  Not just the “don’t ask for a cappuccino after 11am” if you don’t want to be judged by Italians. But also, eat your pastry separately, savour your coffee after you have finished eating.  Importantly, don’t buy takeaway coffee: Italians think if you haven’t got time to sit or stand at the bar to have your coffee then you have a problem.

Our guide the next morning was also not a Florence native.  Klaus, with “Artviva Tours” is Dutch but has been living in Florence for 20 years.  His tour called “The Renaissance”, was outstanding.  Klaus studied law, lasted one day as a lawyer, he also studied Fine Arts.  He is an extraordinary communicator and philosopher.  “You want to know why I live here? It’s the Renaissance and it happened right here!”  Interspersing history with popular culture, he flashed photos of paintings of  Cosimo de’Medici as well as photos of Dustin Hoffman playing Cosimo (in the pretty terrible Netflix series) we loved our time with him.

In these places crowded with tourists there are also many beggars.  It’s confronting and challenging. You look away, make sure you hang on to your wallet, harden your heart. There was a moment at the start of our tour, standing at the so-called “Belly Button of Florence” – the Roman centre – when our tour was interrupted by a beggar.  Klaus gently greeted her “Ciao Maria”,  he took her hand, then explained quietly to us, “this is Maria she’s from Kosovo, her life is very hard, it’s a tragedy,  she has come to warn us that the pickpockets are very active today on Ponte Vecchio and the Town Hall square“.  He treated her with love and respect.  It was one of those moments.  He also told us the real pickpockets do not look like gypsies, “they look like tourists”.

Klaus was very skilled at bringing contemporary parallels to historic events in Florence.  One of the biggest lessons is to share power.  While those with power and wealth will try to “keep a lid on it”, eventually the lid blows, and often they don’t see it coming.  Like the story of David and Goliath.

One of Michelangelo’s statues of David sits outside the City Hall – Palazzo Vecchio.  This is to symbolise the power of the citizen.

The banners and symbols on the Palazzo Vecchio acknowledge the role of the Guilds of Florence, its citizens, the powerful families, the church, and the state.   Civilised society depends on agreements to share power and wealth.

So much of the art and architecture of the Roman Empire was destroyed by the Christians in the period before the Renaissance.  The Foundations of Temples to Roman gods were used to build churches, but it was the same people that continued to be involved. Klaus maintains that the Roman Empire did not actually end until 1929 when Mussolini confined the Roman Catholic Church to a piece of land at the Vatican.  But more on that when we get to Rome.

One thing we did notice about Florence was that they seemed to manage their waste really well, certainly a contrast to what we found in Rome. Rob couldn’t help taking a few shots just outside our b&b as part of his “waste series”.  Here, large containers sit under the various well ordered bins for the four different waste streams: organics, glass, other plastic and metal packaging and containers and residual waste.  The full containers are lifted out of the ground and emptied into the truck.

Rome

Hotel versus Airbnb

All kinds of arguments for airbnb.  Cost being one of them but there are still many advantage of hotels.

There is a Concierge or two.

Compared to Florence, where we were thrown the keys are almost told “good luck”, here we were welcomed and advised by Alessandra and Tommaso.  Tommaso drew us routes on the maps,  advised of great places to eat, shortcuts etc.  It means you have a conversation with someone from the city you are visiting, also a chance to practise your Italian.   We think it’s a better way to contribute to local employment via tourism.  Airbnb is no doubt the great disruptor, but has it now reached a damaging tipping point?  As we found in Venice, locals can’t afford to live in their own towns/cities as rental housing is converted to short term accomodation for tourists. Local authorities, for example in Paris and Barcelona are already clamping down.

Parking is at a premium and the roads are congested, we were impressed by the small cars of Rome.

The well travelled Julian Abbott from ABC Canberra sent us on a mystery shopping expedition.  Jane O’Dwyer (former resident of Rome) responded with:  “Ah, Via dei Cestari. The 5th Avenue of the Ecclesiastical World.”

Walk with Pete

Thanks to a tip from work colleague Brooke Yates we arranged for a day walking around Rome with Pete.  Rome is overwhelming with the layers of history, and the repeating pattern of leaders wilful destruction of the legacy of those who came before, to create their own mark (sounds familiar?)

The ruins of the Roman Empire

We walked for 8 hours with Pete and only touched the sides.  You would need at least a month to get a feel for Rome.

One little unplanned detour we took was to Capuchin Crypt – comprising seveal tiny chapels beneath the Church of Santa Maria Della Concezione dei Cappuccini.

This contains the bones of 3,700 bodies, of mainly capuchin friars arranged artistically.  The display is not meant to be macabre, but a silent reminder of the swift passage of life on earth and our own mortality.  Death comes to everyone – use your time wisely.

It was was a very powerful experience.  No photography was allowed, you needed to just take it in.  (Imagine the disappointment of not getting a selfie with the skull of a friar?  Maybe in the afterlife?)

It reminded us of why we’re doing this trip now.  As we’re both approaching 60 we’ve been commenting that we’re unlikely be able to travel like this is another 10 or 15 years, lugging our bags from train station to hotel and walking up and down so many flights of stairs.

We’re just so fortunate to be able to travel like this while we’re fit and healthy and for such a length of time.

One of the great joys of Rome was meeting Doris and Gigliola at a beautiful restaurant recommended by Pete – Da Francesco.  We sat right next to these elegant, fantastic women who started to engage us in conversation.  We made an instant connection and later that day Doris wrote this to us in an email:  “it was really a nice encounter…Sometimes one feels closer to somebody you have never met than longtime friendship, is’nt it?  We are to meet Doris for lunch in Ortiga Sicily.  We feel lucky.

Next:  “Walking on the Amalfi Coast” .

But the map called.

First slice of Italy

We are spending 28 days in Italy, so 4 times 7 days.  So Pizza style this is the first of the Quattro Stagioni.

It was a long day from leaving the Hotel Alex in Freiburg.  Four trains, from Germany to Basel in Switzerland and then through the Alps to the lakes in Ticino, Swiss Italia.

The last train was from Monza to Varenna on the eastern side of Lake Como and then a ferry to Bellagio.

We thank Michael from Sfolgia one of Rob’s  lunch and coffee haunts in Dickson for convincing us to change our plans.  We were to stay just one night in transit at Como on the shore of Lake Como.  Michael’s advice was “Forget Como get on a boat to Bellagio” Beautiful Bellagio.  We stayed for two nights at the modest but incredibly beautiful Hotel Bellagio and we scored the best room in house.

The mountains, the lake just take over, its overwhelming in the best of ways.  Then the bells of the churches start to ring and more of your senses jangle (add gelato o’clock and another sense is on its way).

We headed out on the lake to Lenno a village on the other side to take a tour of the Villa del Balbianello.  Right on a point on Lake Como it began in 13^th Century as a small chapel for Franciscan monks, then bought by a Cardinal in 1785, and finally to businessman and explorer Count Guido Monzino (leader of the first Italian expedition to climb Mt Everest).

Due to assassinations and kidnappings in the 70’s and 80s by the Red Brigade. Monzino worried that he may be on their list, so he added a system of hidden passages, linking parts of the property.

We loved this – layers of history, from the humble monks with their vow of poverty to the uber wealthy businessman protecting himself with secret corridors.  (In the end he didn’t protect himself from smoking and died at 60 – his desk in the villa still has his last packet of cigarettes and his pipes).  Italy still sells cigarettes in vending machines.

Hotel Bellagio is in the same family as Hotel Du Lac (Alex had read Anita Brookner’s novel Hotel Du Lac many years ago).  It turns out the real story is much more romantic.  Jane, beautiful 18 year old Welsh girl is travelling with her parents.  Meets charming boy in Bellagio,  25 years later, 3 sons (one travelling in Australia) and Jane is integral part of family who run both Hotel Bellagio and Hotel Du Lac.

Venice or Venezia as the local say

Alex spent time in Venezia 28 year ago and had warned Rob not to go into shock about the number of tourists.  In the end it was Alex who was shocked.  Poor Venice.  Our first sight while on the crowded public ferry to our hotel was looking onto the Grand Canal to see a tourist sitting in the front of a Gondola just starring into her phone on a selfie stick. WARNING ALEX RANT.  Don’t get me started on Selfie Sticks.  Why do we have to insert ourselves into beautiful things?  Why can’t something just be beautiful all by itself?  They have been described in the New York Times as the tools of narcissists and psychopaths.   Angus Trumble was early to  ban them at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.  RANT CONTINUES.  Love Locks.  Again just tell someone you love them, do not litter and damage beautiful bridges in Paris, Freiburg, Venice.  I just wonder how many people return to remove the “love lock” once the relationship breaks down?

Venice is still beautiful.  We had a great tour with Venetian Patrizia.  She was brought up in Venice but can’t afford to live there now.  She lives in Venezia Maestra, the city on the mainland.  That’s the story for so many Venetians.  They are being forced out by crowds, high costs and taxes.  And of course Airbnb: renting out apartments for a fortune.  The resident population of native Venetians has plummeted over the last few decades.

It is a very controversial topic in Venice, and a lot has been written about it.  The large cruise ships that flood the city with tourists each day, that bring little economic benefit and have little cultural sensitivity. The cheap flights from all over Europe mean that a quick trip to Venice is open to millions and the growing number of Chinese who are travelling the world.

But how do you control numbers?  Some cities in Europe are now clamping down on things like Airbnb to protect accomodation for locals.  Do you introduce a permit system, or have to be sponsored – as was suggested by our Hotel concierge?  On the big public holiday on May 1st this year the local government proposed that it would introduce gates to control numbers at two key pressure points, the Rialto Bridge and St Mark’s Square.  This approach was met by protests by locals who viewed this as turning Venice into a theme park – like Disneyland where people have to go through a gate.

The shops don’t serve Venetians they are for the rich.  Coming out of our hotel laneway we were greeted by Armani, Cartier, Max Mara, Gucci and standing in front a guard with a machine gun.

But putting all that aside we had a great tour of the Doge’s Palace and learnt about Venetian history.  Venice was established on marshy islands in a lagoon as a refuge for protection as the Roman empire fell. Its isolation led to an independence from papal and feudal squabbles that were rife across mainland Italy. As an independent Republic it focussed on its own mercantile empire to the east.  It was the most free and liberal state in Europe during the middle ages and was the worlds longest lasting republic.

We found a haven at The Flora Hotel, right near San Marco, old fashioned Venetian elegance.

And if you get up early you can still find beautiful Venice.

The Nun series

The Art

The train from Venice to Ravenna

We travelled through a lot of flat and highly cultivated country and could see why the Italians had made themselves so much at home on the flat plains in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area – spring crops of wheat, rows of grape and kiwi fruit vines, stone fruits, and closer the the villages broad beans, onions and garlic.  Red Poppies line the railway tracks and sometimes solar panels.

While we were in Paris we caught up with Marilyn Chalkley and Hugh Saddler.  Dr Hugh Saddler is one of Australia’s key energy experts told us to look out for Solar in Italy: “They’re way ahead”.

Here are few shots out of the train window (generally poor quality as taken through dirty windows at high speed).  We found solar installations of all types in paddocks, on top of farm sheds, on top of factories, as car parks in sports stadiums and on houses.  It was everywhere.

Ravenna

We had a strange reason for coming to Ravenna.  We are so glad we did.  Ravenna was for a period the capital of the Roman Empire, it has buildings going back as far as 100AD and 8 UNESCO World Heritage sites, with some of the world’s best mosaics.

Ravenna today incorporates the old town, which other than taxis and delivery vehicles is car free.  Everyone gets around on bicycles – people of all ages including lots grandparents with children on small seats in front of them.  People have time to stop and talk as the move around the city.

The network of small plazas, connected by walkways and arches between buildings that was designed over 1000 years ago still encourages huge social interaction.  We saw people stop, lean on their bikes and talk.

So, to the slightly random reason we originally chose to come to Ravenna.  Rob gets a few online newsletters including some architectural ones.  As we (Alex) were planning our trip last year a post came through about a Social Housing project in Romea near Ravenna. It was “the result of an international competition  won in 2005 and completed many years later”.  I flicked it to Alex, along with many other random posts at that time, and said maybe we could go here?  She replied “Great! We can go there after Venice.  Ravenna is on the way to Florence”.

I found it a bit hard to follow up on the project, the architects had moved on and people moved in, but I did locate it with the help of Google maps just on the outskirts of the city, but hadn’t done any more than that.   In the end we had a few spare hours on the morning we were leaving Ravenna so we grabbed a Taxi and went out to the site asking our fantastic driver Liviana if she could wait while we had a quick walk around and took some photos. She ended up giving us an interesting guided tour pointing out the old Venetian Fort and various social housing projects.  Like us, they are trying to reduce the concentration of social housing in single buildings and their recent developments are townhouse style houses with the Government selling most privately and maintaining a number of properties scattered throughout for social housing.

Italians pretend they are quite unmoved by the visits of the rich, famous and infamous.  But the references to George Clooney and Lord Byron were frequent.  Our guide at the Villa on Lake Como made references to him being in residence 20 kms up the lake. Without us asking (and really we’re not that interested) Patrizia got the water taxi in Venice to take us to the place where George married Amal. And Lord Byron lives on in the names of Hotels and in street-art.  We did love that the street art in Ravenna depicted famous people from Dante to Fellini all on bicycles.  Ravenna is all about bikes.

Reggio Emilia

So, we have come to rest in a B & B outside Reggio Emilia. Le Dimore del Borgo is a cluster of 17th century buildings, home to 3 generations of the Crotti family who produce award-winning balsamic vinegar, aged in old wood barrels in a room high above we’re we are sleeping.

The rooms and the gardens are idyllic.  In an ideal world you need to have a car because we’re out of town and to walk to the local village requires you to take your chances on a very narrow, very busy two lane road.  Italian drivers whizz up and down and we found ourselves flattening against the hedge about 2 feet from the road’s edge.  Terrifying.

And it’s lightly raining – so we find ourselves learning about true aged balsamic vinegar, doing our washing, writing this blog and soon pilates!

Firenze next…

Ice Ice Baby. It took an ICE Train just 2 hours to whizz us out of Paris and into Strasbourg on the French/German border. This is a 5 hour trip by car.

Our itinerary read, Strasbourg, Offenburg, Freiburg, with dinner at the Schloßberg. So what is a berg?  Not to be mistaken with Burg which means mountain, a berg is a word for any elevation in northern Germany – that can be as little as a metre!

Back in Canberra our lovely friend Fiacre suggested we go to Strasbourg.  Imagine Fiacre’s beautiful French accent:  “I think you will find it beautiful and interesting, there are lovely old buildings, a canal and really diverse population.” 

Fiacre you are right about so many things (including your choice of partner the beautiful and interesting Anusha).

We decided to splash out and stay at the Cour de Corbeau which dates from the 1525.  It began as an inn and hosted Prussian, French and German royalty as well as Voltaire and Alexandre Dumas.  In 2006 it had fallen into a really bad state only to be renovated and turned into a fancy hotel.  They have done a beautiful job.

Strasbourg has a fascinating history.  It’s been German, it’s been French, German and French again.   It is distinctly Alsace too.  It really is the perfect place to house the European Parliament “the capital of a reconciled Europe”.

It’s a very short trip (on 2 trains) to Freiburg.  There are no border checks.  And within minutes of crossing the Rhine, we stopped at a station and a woman boarded the train sat opposite us and quietly said “Guten tag”, we were in Germany.

Freiburg

Freiburg has a reputation for being a leader in environmental sustainability.  It has a beautiful old town centre, a great tram system and a lot of people getting around on bicycles.

We caught the light rail out to visit the Okostation an environmental centre that plays an important environmental education role.  We got chatting to Fritz the head gardner.

Also in Freiburg Rob went for a visit to Vauban, built as a sustainable model district developed since 1998.  It is on a tram route and most people get around on bicycle, it was developed on a car free concept.

.Cars are permitted in to drop things off and then need to be parked in one of a number of car parks on the periphery.  One is known as the solar garage and is covered in solar panels.  People have to initially buy a car space and in addition have to pay rents.

I spoke with a number of people as I walked around and they all mainly ride and catch the tram. A few did have cars in the car parks but used them rarely.

Many of the individual lots were originally sold to Baugruppen (co-housing groups).  People worked together with architects to build their housing developments.  The district covers some 38 ha with around 6,000 residents.

All the roofs are covered in solar panels

Between the buildings, which are generally 4 stories, are well developed greenspaces and playgrounds and many buildings are covered in vegetation.

One of the challenges now that the development is complete, is that it is highly sought after and no longer affordable.

Tomorrow on the train to Italy

St Germain des Pres

Picked the perfect place to stay for our five days in Paris.  St Germain des Pres located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

Until the 17th century the land where the quarter is located was prone to flooding from the Seine, so open fields;  Prés, which gave the quarter its name.

It was a beautiful warm afternoon when we arrived, so we headed out, crossed a bridge into the Jardin de Tuileries where Parisians and tourists were sunning themselves in the beautiful gardens.  The grandness of Paris is immediate.

Our hotel is in a small narrow street is directly across from Serge Gainsborough’s house.  People come to play homage and each night a homeless man slept there, though he was hosed away in the morning.  The homeless make you think a lot, from Syrian refugees to those with a mental illness.  Memorable for me: the man scattering bread for pigeons near the Seine and an older woman sitting in a pile of blankets with a pet rabbit.  People were giving food to the rabbit rather than money to the woman.

We deliciously woke up each morning to order our French “express” breakfast: coffee orange juice, croissant and baguette.  Then to a big day walking.  That’s what I have loved the most, walking and taking in as much as you can.

We are very glad we have sensible, daggy shoes.  All hail the Hoka.

Just on the small suitcases.  We would never have fitted into Christian’s small Blabla car with big suitcases.  We are getting into a good rhythm of washing. Hail the small bag.

Highlights – Food tour with Lisa.  Bread, explanation of the true straight croissant, olive oils, hot chocolate, macarons and of course cheese! (even better than Ainslie IGA)

We also peeked into one of the most famous restaurants in Paris.

Other highlight’s include climbing the dome of Sacre Coeur.  As we entered the dome we heard a rendition of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison”.  When we finally came down all those stairs the bells started to chime and we were in the most beautiful echo chamber – bells bouncing off one old stone wall to another. Ding dong dell.

And almost best of all, walking finding beautiful French cafes and listening to live music, bringing together two great art forms: American Jazz and French food.

Other moments.

It’s hard to keep the farm girl from Victoria’s central west away from a good hay stack. Painting by Monet, Bernard and Van Gough at Musee d’Orsay.

One of Rob’s interests on this trip is urban design, and a tour on the very touristy hop-on- hop-off-bus, is a great way to get an overview of the city and pick up some snippets of information and history (from now on I’m going to wave at those people on the tourist buses in Canberra who I’d always thought were a bit unfortunate).

From the Louvre, we went around the major public square Place de la Concorde, where people used to lose their heads in public – travelling along the Champs Elysees and on to Arc de Triomphe.

We were told that construction of Arc de Triomphe started in 1810 when Napoleon entered Paris. However only the foundations were laid and the project was halted.  Twenty years later in 1833 King Louis-Philippe recommenced construction and although there had been many different designs he insisted that it be completed according the original plans. This reminded me that cities take a long time to develop.

I couldn’t help thinking about Canberra – and the Griffins’ vision. Driving around the circle of the Arc de Triomphe I thought of the potential for the area around City Hill to be realised.

The completion of Constitution Avenue has been a great step in the right direction.  The proposal to extend Edinburgh Ave and replace one of the LA style clover leaves so rudely inserted into the Griffins plan is another.  I have mixed views about the recent Law Court extension, which while bringing built form to the circle and helping to enclose it, it is further blocking views and access to and from University Avenue.

The construction of the Library into Civic Square has also created a barrier to City Hill.  This has added to the damage inflicted on the City by the Canberra Centre, the abomination that in my living memory has playing a major role in destroying the way Civic works.  The way that traffic, pedestrians and cyclist used to be able to navigate the city, and the loss of a significant Griffin axis with its sight lines and connection for nature between City Hill and Mount Ainslie.  In the Paris spirit of grand city design, it would be great if we could at least have public recognition that this was – and remains a great mistake.  Given that the life of a building is so much less than the life of a grand city plan, we may eventually be able to reinstate the significance of Ainslie Avenue linking City Hill to Mount Ainslie.

Likewise Paul Reid, author of the authoritative book:”Canberra Following Griffin: A Design History of Australia’s National Capital“, told me before he died that Canberra will never function as it was designed without the Causeway, the intended major north south connection between Hume Circle near the Kingston Railway Station to the point of the triangle at Russell at the other end of Constitution Avenue.  Again, if we can retain a wider public recognition of this significant axis, we may be able to celebrate it, even if just initially with a creative installation using LED lights, a boardwalk and pathway through the wetlands like the ones we recently walked over at the London Wetlands, or a bike way connection.  Over time a light rail connection or even a road constructed in a way that would minimise impacts on the wetlands values?

Ah, the strange passions a trip to Paris unleashes.

Another observation of Paris is the constant renovations of old buildings.  They seem to have mastered how to insert modern features, like skylights and new bathrooms, without upsetting the fabric of the building or the view from the street.

Compare this to Canberra where we seem to take great joy in ripping down earlier architecture.  In preparing for our visit to Berlin later in this trip, I have found architectural tours of post modern / post war buildings that are almost identical to the buildings we in Canberra have systematically neglected and are now tearing down like the Allawah, Bega and Currong buildings in the City.  While other cities value and showcase these building we won’t even be leaving a trace of this significant architectural period.

Sure, the buildings individual merit may be questioned but if we don’t maintain a rich diversity of styles we will never have a city that develops character.

Random tourist pics

Above a couple of tragic tourist shots, we’re looking pretty happy.

Shop and Window Photos