JACK BERNARD'S TRAVELS

Posted by jdbernard743

· May 31, 2015

It’s All in Black and White

In Rome (and New York, apparently) it’s either fashion or food. Today it’s fashion, and it’s all in black and white. Karl Lagerfeld once said, “Black and white always looks modern,” and this month in the fashionable neighborhoods around Piazza di Spagna and Via Condotti Karl’s dictum has been optimized. Women, men, thin, tall, short, heavy, young, old, and all the store windows are full of it.

But first, we need a soundtrack. Every fashion show needs musical accompaniment and these guys are a perfect fit. They call themselves Stageless, but they do have a CD and a Facebook page. They’re strictly street musicians. Yesterday they were in front of our apartment on Via del Babuino, where the narrow street with tall buildings creates an echo effect. The muted trumpet echoed in the neighborhood, and when we heard it through our open apartment window we had to go down to find out who was playing. These three guys are the best street buskers I’ve ever heard. They do upbeat, funky, New Orleans and soulful jazz, and they do it all well – especially the trumpet. We stood on the opposite side of the street, listened, and fed their open guitar case Euros. This morning we ran into them again in the big square in front of the Pantheon. Here’s a black and white fashion parade from the last two days in our neighborhood. Imagine, if you will, a soulful rendition of Summertime https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZWuyU-QC4E when you watch the black and white show unfold. – or this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51MB9fboJTE Let’s check out street fashion in Rome:

On the way to work, at the bus stop, on the Metro, or just shopping, black and white is everywhere. Having noticed the trend, I was curious to know what fashionistas were saying about it and found this by Lauren Laverne in The Guardian. “What better way to get dressed chicly, quickly, than by wearing black and white? In the words of Coco Chanel: “Women think of all colours, except the absence of colour. Black has it all. White, too. Their beauty is absolute. It is the perfect harmony.” Theoretically, of course, this is absolutely correct. Unfortunately it can be surprisingly tricky to get black and white right in real life. The problem is, simple and easy are two different things. Monochrome is simple but wearing it requires a bit of forethought. Try too hard and you’ll look like a French mime. Don’t try hard enough and you’ll look like a bored waitress (disclaimer: if you are a bored waitress this is an awesome look, carry on). The key is to choose the right monochrome for you, and style it up (but not too much).” It’s definitely trending (see my blog post #trendinginrome), and it’s trending from teen street wear to the Via Condotti power boutiques.

It’s not limited to the high end. It’s trending across economic strata. At breakfast this morning we sat next to a group of women friends meeting before work. Two of them, in black and white, agreed to let me take their pictures. The other women at the table went to lengths to tell me that the woman on the right was a famous soprano – though we didn’t get her name. At another stop, the shop girl on the left (below) helped M look for a small leather purse. She got upset when I tried to take her picture without asking, but happily agreed to pose for this one, and I thought there was some irony in the fact that the woman washing the windows at Chanel fit right into the black and white fashion blog. Everybody is trending black and white.

Just before lunch we saw these two women. The one on the left, beautifully dressed was pacing up and down Via del Babuino carrying on an animated conversation while the one on the right was loading up at the ATM for lunch.

This might not be earth-shattering news, but Italy is at the forefront of design and fashion and it’s fun to be here and watch a trend developing. Whether it’s gluten-free pasta, racy sports cars, or street fashion, Italy is right there. In Bella Roma it’s all about food, fashion, and fun. And, we always finish with a little gelato.

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Categories : Fashion/Lifestyle, Food/Restaurants, Music, Travel, Uncategorized, Weather, Work and Adventure

Posted by jdbernard743

· May 27, 2015

· 2 Comments

Rome: A Tale of Two Neighborhoods

The Roman spring is legendary. Southern Europe is warming up but the rest of the continent is just beginning to thaw. Schools are in session and the bulk of this summer’s visitors are still in the planning stages for their Roman holidays. It’s the perfect time to visit.

The last time M and I were here was October of 2003. We rode our bikes from the lakes in the north (Como and Maggiore), south to Milan then down through Tuscany and Umbria to Rome. It was a first-rate adventure but by October the locals were exhausted, tired of tourists, and looking forward to their own vacations. By then the weather had changed and our four days in Rome were rain drenched. It was an exciting trip, but this year is totally different; the weather is perfect, the people welcoming, and the city full of energy.

This is Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps) at 8:30 this morning. You rarely see it so empty. Our apartment is just four doors down the street to the left (Via del Babuino).

Italy and Rome are hugely dependent on the tourism. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it contributes approximately one-third to the Italian GDP annually, and UNESCO estimates that more than half of the world’s artistic and historic patrimony can be found at its countless archeological sites and more than 2000 museums. There is hardly an area that is not drenched in history and artifacts, monuments and great art.

Although summer is almost a month away, May is the beginning of high season and it’s the real reason we are splitting our time between two apartments. When we started our search in March, apartments were beginning to fill up and we couldn’t find just one place for the duration of our two months stay. We were disappointed at having to move during our stay, but it turned out to be a surprise advantage. The two apartments we’ve chosen are in two vastly different neighborhoods – Prati and Piazza di Spagna – and we are seeing two of the faces of Rome from the inside out.

Prati, our first neighborhood, is basically middle class and residential. Located just north of the Vatican, it includes the Vatican and St. Peter’s within its boundaries but there is very little tourist spill over. Walk two blocks north of the Vatican wall and you’re in a neighborhood free of restaurant touts, sunglass sellers and selfie-sticks. You rarely hear English spoken except by the waiters and bartenders, and there are no menus in four languages. There’s a real local feel to the neighborhood.

Our apartment in Prati was a bare bones unit with a bedroom just large enough for a double bed, sandwiched between a tiny kitchen and the small modern bathroom on the other side. It was cozy, adequate, and met our needs.

Its real advantage was its location. It was, as I said, a real neighborhood and within two days we were known and recognized by the grocer, the staff at “our” café, and the people at Ristorante Il Colibri on the corner. Within days we were familiar with the bus and Metro routes as well as most of the streets from St. Peter’s Square to Piazza Clodio where the Vodafone girls knew us from our repeated visits to get the Italian Sim cards working.

Prati was our base for a little over three weeks. Last weekend we said goodbye to Georgio and Lilyana at the Café NovecentoTredici, and moved operations to a larger apartment in the heart of the heart of the tourist area – Piazza di Spagna. The new living room is two stories tall with a sleeping loft above and a view of Roman rooftop gardens to the north.

There’s one small, really small, drawback; the elevator is a vertical coffin for two. You should have seen us getting our bags up when we moved in. Size is only one of the “small” drawbacks, it’s so temperamental that if any one of its three doors is left ajar or opened prematurely the bells and whistles go off throughout the building. M was scolded mercilessly by one of the lower floor residents today and we’re both glad we didn’t have a word for word translation.

That’s it for the drawbacks. On the other side of the ledger, the entrance is four doors from Piazza di Spagna and a block from Via Condotti – Rome’s Rodeo Drive. There’s hardly a luxury brand that isn’t represented on its short, four-block length. Our apartment is on the 5^th floor, over a Chanel store, across the street from Tiffany & Co., a stone’s throw from Missoni, and a block away from McDonald’s.

That’s it. You heard it right; Mickey D is right here in the heart of trendyland, just the other side of the Spanish Steps. But, this is not your fat cousin’s McDonalds. The entrance to Mickey’s takes you into a dark, sleekly designed espresso bar with fresh squeezed blood orange juice, and a pastry case (see below) full of tarts, cakes, and breakfast pastries.

This is no Styrofoam and paper cup joint. The cappuccinos are served in big ceramic cups and the pastries come on plates. The tables are located in little alcoves with indirect lighting and a step above a cobblestone walkway that leads you to a stairway up to a mammoth restaurant space – also sleekly Italian in design.

It’s been years since I was in a McDonald’s, but I have to tell you the cappuccinos here were well crafted, the croissants flaky, and the fresh squeezed juice sweet and pulpy. At 9.6 Euros for two of each, I think it might be our go-to spot for the next three weeks. The same breakfast up the street ran us 37 Euros ($40) on Sunday. And, McD also has a stunning gelato bar. A vacation in Rome is not about saving money at Mickey’s, but Rome’s influence on Mickey is duly noted and shouldn’t be lost on the observer. This is a city that is obsessed with food, fashion, design, and history.

Last year in Paris we were focused on seeing art and studying its history. We loved the markets and sidewalk cafés, but our attention was primarily directed to seeing the art and visiting the museums small and large that house the outstanding collections. This year we’re more involved in food and people watching. There is a different vibe here. People are fashionable but casual and the pace is slower. Life slows and the streets clear around lunchtime, and there are so many good places to eat and so many different ways to deliver it – bars, cafés, trattorias, pizzerias, tavola caldas, bistros, wine bars, ristorantes and even tearooms.

With walking as our only exercise it is a challenge to keep the Pillsbury Doughboy from taking over, but even though a true Italian meal includes antipasto, primi piatti, seconda piatti, dolci, and vino the portions are not American-sized and we usually manage to limit ourselves to splitting an antipasto and two primi, only eating one meal out. We have another month here, so we might have to avoid the scale when we get home. Here’s my motivation; I need to fit in this elevator for three more weeks – and get my bags down too.

Categories : Fashion/Lifestyle, Personal/Family, Travel, Uncategorized, Weather, Work and Adventure

Posted by jdbernard743

· May 20, 2015

· No Comments

#trendinginrome

If verb forms can have their moment, the gerund “trending” is definitely having its 15 minutes of fame. I see references to it everywhere. It’s not just Twitter that’s chattering about it. All the social media sites are full of it (no pun intended). There are trending global brands. Ralph Lauren, Gucci, and Versace are trending in Saigon. Banana Republic and Gap in Kuala Lumpur. In America the transgender population, cat videos, and selfies are trending. In food it’s slow cooking. And in Rome? What’s “trending” in Rome (#trendinginrome)? OMG, it’s Gluten-Free Pizza. What? No. Yes, it’s true. It must be a joke. Gluten-free pizza in Rome? Yup, not kidding. Here it is folks. Up close and personal.

After being turned away from a trendy (not trending) restaurant because we didn’t have a reservation, M and I started walking up Via dei Giubbonari toward the market square at Campo di Fiori. On the next corner, a block away, we spotted Voglia di Pizza (translation “craving for pizza”) a little pizza joint. Perfect. We were craving pizza and sat right down.

Only then did we notice the “Gluten Free” decal on the window. We were aghast at the remarkable discord. Gluten-free pizza in Rome? If there was ever a surprise trend this was it. First of a series? One of a kind? We’ll be watching. It will be interesting.

So when did celiac disease (#celiacdisease) reach its tipping point and become the disease of the decade? How in the world did it find its way to Rome the worldwide center of gluten? Could Romans really be worried about celiac disease or is this just a smart marketing ploy for American hypochondriacs? I’m highly suspicious.

I shouldn’t be so jaded. Of course there are people who can’t digest gluten and celiac disease is a reality for them. Novak Djokovic, the world’s number one tennis player, struggled with health issues for several years before switching to a gluten-free diet and then claiming the world number one ranking. It was real. I’ve known one or two others for whom the change to gluten-free was liberating, but I also know several trendsetters who bought into it and wear it like a badge of honor. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) puts the celiac population between .4 and 1%, but a walk down the aisle of your local supermarket would make you think it was taking over the country. I know it’s real but I believe it’s trending way beyond the celiac population.

So how was it – the pizza? Here’s the kicker; it was amazing. Last night’s pie might be the best pizza I’ve ever eaten – thin crackly crust with four cheeses and topped with arugula. Sensational. Complimented with a big, fresh salad of mixed greens, corn, celery, bright red plum tomatoes, and shaved carrots, and washed down with two glasses of white wine and a large bottle of sparkling water it was to die for. I don’t know what went into that crust, but it was memorable. I’m going back. Pronto! Molto bene!

Pizza, gluten free, gourmet, or down-and-dirty is trending everywhere. In Seattle, for instance, Tutta Bella, a local restaurant, is the Pacific Northwest’s first certified purveyor of Neapolitan thin crust pizza. The Associazione Verace Pizza Napolitana (VPN) in Naples sent some consiglieri in double-breasted suits to visit Seattle a couple of years ago and, poof, Tutta Bella’s pies were “certified”. I don’t know if remittances to Naples were part of the deal, but Tutta Bella is guaranteed certified. Capisce?

When I lived in New York I used to buy a slice or two from an Arab guy on York Avenue as I was returning to my apartment from a Pan Am trip. The slice was big and greasy and tasted delicious standing at the take-out window of his tiny shop. Like politics, maybe all pizza is local. I do know that pizza has come a long way since I bought my slice from the Arab on York Avenue.

Pizza’s long history makes good reading. The ancient Greeks had a flatbread that was similar, but the first mention of the word pizza was in 997A.D. according to Wikipedia. Pizza Margharita, the basic modern version, was created to honor the Queen Consort, Margherita of Savoy, in 1889 and incorporated the colors – red (tomatoes), white (mozzarella), and green (basil) – of the Italian flag.

The spread of pizza worldwide is equally interesting. Often, a first wave of Italian immigrants, eager to make a living, but with little capital, opened pizzerias. Since pizza is basically flour and water with a thin layer of sauce on top, it doesn’t require a large investment to get started. I watched it happen first hand in Berlin. I saw Italian immigrant entrepreneurs build their businesses and then watched the second generation open small upscale restaurants serving more complicated food with more expensive ingredients to an appreciative, well-heeled clientele.

Now we’re on to gluten-free. I’ll be curious to see if it catches on. When I was making pasta for a living I had customers who wanted theirs made with egg-whites only. I complied but the market was small. I imagine gluten-free will have a similar small audience – especially in Italy. I’m not so certain about America. Remember it’s trending #foraglutenfreeamerica.

Pizza in Italy is like the hamburger in America. It’s a one of the basic food groups. And, like the hamburger it’s gone viral worldwide. There’s thick crust, thin crust, deep dish (Chicago-style), round, square, oblong, and triangular, and it comes in small, medium and large. It’s way beyond “trending.” It’s an establishment food item. Maybe gluten-free will catch on in Italy, but I can’t imagine Italians driving around town looking for a pizzeria that only serves gluten-free products.

For now, I’m leaving gluten-free behind and checking my Twitter, Facebook, and Tinder for new trends. Are you with me?

Categories : Fashion/Lifestyle, Food/Restaurants, Travel, Uncategorized, Weather, Work and Adventure

Posted by jdbernard743

· May 18, 2015

· 1 Comment

Roman Eats… it’s not all pizza and pasta

There is a popular generalization about Italian cooking that assigns butter to the north, olive oil to the south, and lard to the middle regions of the country, but this doesn’t begin to do justice to its complexity. The generalization, I was told, had to do with an earlier time, before refrigeration, when it was more difficult to keep and work with butter in the southern regions. Differences in Italy’s regional cuisines might also be traced to geography or political differences since its geography includes alpine, maritime, and even desert regions and the country wasn’t unified politically until 1861. Whatever the reasons, this small country has an incredible diversity of culinary styles from German- influenced food in the Tirol to the food of Rome’s Jewish ghetto and the savory African influences of Sicily. A quick visit isn’t likely to raise your awareness of those vast differences in Italian food cultures either. One might be disappointed if that visit is to Tuscany where every menu looks identical and the bread is bland because it’s made without salt. On the other hand, in Emilia-Romagna dishes up the staples of world-famous Italian products – prosciutto from Parma, parmesan cheese from Reggiano and balsamic vinegar from Modena. A culinary journey through Italy is varied and tasty. I thought I knew something about Italian food; after all I once owned and ran a small Italian bistro. But, it turns out I didn’t know anything about Roman cuisine until my current stay in Rome. I wasn’t aware, for instance, that lightly fried vegetables – squash blossoms, cauliflower, broccoli, and zucchini – are a common antipasto offering. In addition, I had no clue as to the influence of Rome’s Jewish ghetto on its cuisine. Since M and I arrived, fried artichokes with their delicate, crunchy texture and carmelized sweetness have become one of our favorite side dishes at dinner.

Before we left Seattle, at the urging of my daughter, we watched Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations episode on eating in Rome. In the video he waxes on about cacio y pepe pasta, something I wasn’t familiar with in spite of the fact that for 8 years I made 10-15lbs of fresh pasta every day. When we arrived in Rome I had to have it. I couldn’t imagine what could be so seductive about a pasta dish whose only ingredients were pecorino cheese and black pepper. Now I understand. Cacio y pepe is deceptively simple, but when we started to look into its preparation we discovered there is an art to making it that includes warming the dish over the pot of pasta water, preserving some of the pasta water for later, adding the cheese to the warm bowl in small increments and stirring the water and cheese to obtain the right creamy texture. When it’s well prepared you would swear there is butter and heavy cream included but there is nothing but water, aged pecorino, and love in the mixture. It’s amazing. I’ve made it my go-to dish in Rome and I’m looking for differences. So far, the only differences are in quality. I’ve had one bad, one incredible, and several very good. At Baccanale 59, a small restaurant in the Prati district, it was served in a bowl made of lacy toasted Reggiano. There are two favorite pasta choices for cacio y pepe; the traditional is spaghetti-like tonnarelli sometimes called alla chitarra (named for the guitar-like tool used to cut its square shape), and rigatoni, the large, ridged, hollow, pasta. Both of them hold the sauce well, but the tonnarelli seems to be the preferred choice. Tonight the search for the perfect cacio y pepe is taking us to a bakery/deli/bar/restaurant called Roscioli’s, near the old Jewish ghetto. It’s where Bourdain found the Holy Grail of Roman pasta. As I’m learning about cacio y pepe I’m also learning that Romans prefer white wine to red and that Aperitivo is like Happy Hour in the US. One evening we ordered two glasses of wine at our local bar/café, and when they brought the wine they also brought a dish of potato chips, a cup of peanuts, some olives, and a platter with six small pastry-like hors d’ouevres. It was a meal. It apparently started in Milan but Rome has perfected it. Since our discovery, we often eat our big meal in the middle of the day and enjoy Aperitivo as a small meal late in the evening when it cools down. It’s the closest thing to a free lunch in Rome. Rome is full of attractions and surprises, feasts for the eyes and the tongue. I love having the time to learn about it and to explore its special tastes and unique flavors. I hope you will too.

Buon Appetito

Categories : Food/Restaurants, Personal/Family, Travel, Uncategorized, Work and Adventure

Posted by jdbernard743

· May 15, 2015

· 1 Comment

Slow Travel In Rome

Travel is enriching but, like chocolate mousse, sometimes it’s too rich to digest. It’s better in small delectable, melt in your mouth bites. Too much of a good thing diminishes the power to amaze. Rome is that way. It’s the chocolate mousse of European travel. So, pace yourself and think about taking small bites.

Italy is a feast for a lover of history. There are archeological digs, landmark buildings, walls, roads, and artifacts from different historical periods, painting, sculpture and architecture spanning millennia, a landscape that seduces, and a cuisine that delights. Rome, in particular, offers a rich diet of Etruscan, Roman, and Renaissance treasures that cry out to be tasted.

There is never enough time to see everything here, so pick some things you’re really interested in, read about them, and then go see them. Think in terms of cost/benefit. If you only have a few days, do you want to stand in line for 3 hours to be herded through the Vatican Museum for a furtive glimpse of the Sistine Chapel ceiling or might you rather be wandering through the Forum or sitting in the Coliseum imagining what it was like to be there 2000 years ago.

There are many good guidebooks to help the short stay visitor find his or her way through the maze of antiquities and explain the layers of civilization under their feet. So much to see, and you know you can’t see it all. What you will do? How will you approach it? If you take it slow and easy, you’ll see things with a fresh mind and rested eyes. You’ll enjoy it more and retain the memories longer. As an advocate, I believe the secret to meaningful international travel is a slow steady pace and small bites. Slow down, pay attention, and enjoy its quieter joys.

If foreign travel is new to you, think about what you want out of it. Do you want a broad-brush overview or do you have a particular interest, say Roman architecture or renaissance painting, you want to follow up on? Does people watching from a sidewalk caffe’ table sound more to your liking than museum hopping? Read up on your destination before you leave home, and it will help you make those decisions.

Almost every major city in the world now has something called the Hop-On Hop-Off bus. These double decker open top busses travel around the city, passing important sites and traversing the various neighborhoods. A ticket is good all day and allows you to get off at any stop and get back on when you’re ready to continue. Get off for lunch; go to a museum, shop, do whatever strikes your fancy. It’s a great way to get the overview. When I first saw the Hop-On Hop-Off I thought it was a hokey way to see a city. I’ve done a lot of traveling and always resisted doing the tourist thing, but Marilynn was new to it and persuaded me to go along. She was right. I highly recommend it on the first morning of Day One in any city you don’t already know well. From the top of the double decker you get a view of all the attractions, an audio tour in your native language, and a sense of the city’s layout. Don’t scoff. Do it! You’ll see what I mean.

That’s the overview. After Day One on the Hop-On Hop-Off you can narrow the focus and follow your specific interests – art, architecture, shopping, food, or just people watching. With time as your ally, you can mitigate a lot of the turmoil. Start early in the day and seek out one site to visit. Starting early has two advantages: most groups are slow to start so you’re beating the crowds, and, second, Rome can be hot so you beat the heat by getting an early start. It’s a twofer. Get up early, savor your cappuccino, and move out.

I have a low tolerance for guided tours and crowded venues, but if you’re time limited I understand that you might have to give in. If an attraction is important to you, the Sistine Chapel for instance, and your time is short a tour might be the easiest solution. I acknowledge that. My problem, and I own it, is that I have an aversion to being led around by a guide with an antenna-like aerial topped with a brightly colored flag.

Instead of Slow Travel In Rome I might have called this post Independent Travel, because slow travel presupposes independence and self-direction. It doesn’t necessarily demand it but it yearns for an extended stay time frame – more than 3 or 4 days – in a city. It’s a luxury but if it can be done it allows the visitor time to savor and absorb what he or she is seeing. If time is an issue, ask yourself again, what is it you want from the experience? I would rather see four sites in four days than 8-10 sites in the same four days. If you go for fewer attractions you’ll go home with a greater appreciation for Rome and its treasures than someone who tries to cram all the sites into the same time frame.

Slow Travel or Independent Travel is just that; if you have time for an extended stay look into renting an apartment, even if it’s just for a few days. VRBO and Airbnb.com offer apartments almost everywhere in the world and there are agents like slowtravel.com, Rome-Accommodation.com, and Perfectly Paris that do it on a smaller local scale.

Remember, you’re not leaving the planet when you leave home. Take at least one of your devices – laptop, iPad or smartphone – along on your adventure. They work anywhere and they’re amazingly useful. Wi-Fi is available in most locales, and it’s usually better abroad than in the US. My last blog post (It Pays To Stay Connected) lays out all the advantages and the how-to’s of staying connected abroad. It a huge advantage in terms of study, navigation, and communication.

Speaking of navigation, public transportation is good and inexpensive throughout Europe, especially in Rome. This is my bus pass. It cost 35 Euros for a calendar month and allows me unlimited rides on all the busses, trams, and the Metro. Rome has new modern busses and an extensive public transportation network. The Metro is not as extensive as its counterparts in Paris, London or New York, but the two lines that cross the city diagonally are fast, efficient, and connect with the bus network. Taxis are relatively inexpensive and Uber is operative. I haven’t tried it, but I did get an estimate at rush hour and it looked reasonable. I used it in Paris last year and was very happy with the result. Remember, though, Uber prices depend on traffic density and demand, so unlike taxis they are higher during peak periods.

The joys of Slow or Independent Travel are many, but the main advantages are having time to smell the flowers, watch the people, taste the incredible food, and still feel relatively rested.