JACK BERNARD'S TRAVELS

Posted by jdbernard743

· July 21, 2015

Emma, Gemma, and Vladimir

In the fall of 1958 my friend, Hoddy Schepman, started his PhD. work in Comparative Literature at Cornell. Before he left for Ithaca he told me he was taking a course in the modern novel taught by Vladimir Nabokov, whose notoriety and fame had rocketed with the US publication of Lolita earlier in the year.

When he came home at Christmas, he told me that there was nothing comparative or maybe even modern about Nabakov’s course. According to Vlad the “modern novel” began and ended with Gustav Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, so it was the only one he planned to teach that fall. Hoddy said it was the best class he’d ever taken.

Nabokov was famous for his eccentricities so the story resonates. He was a famous lepidopterist (butterfly expert), a literary critic (four volume translation with commentary on Alexander Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin), a novelist whose first nine were written in Russian but who became one of the great wordsmiths in English literature as well as a linguist who spoke fluent Russian, French, German, and English.

So, that takes care of Vladimir…

This is really about Emma and Gemma. It’s also about Madame Bovary – its fame, durability, and a current film and graphic novel based on the story, but Emma and Gemma are central to the stories. The original was published in serial form in 1856 and immediately caused a ruckus. The author and his publisher were sued for obscenity and when they were acquitted its notoriety made the book a hugely popular success. The title character, Emma, is a young woman who fantasizes about a life of luxury and romance but finds herself trapped in marriage to Charles Bovary, a boring, older, provincial doctor in a small village in Normandy. They have a daughter but she finds motherhood equally boring and begins to act out with a pair of adulterous affairs and the creation of a luxury lifestyle she can’t afford but hopes will fulfill her fantasies. The men she chooses are happy to oblige her sexually but not ready to sweep her away to Paris and her lust for luxury eventually drives Charles into bankruptcy. Spoiler alert – things do not turn out well.

Madame Bovary is one of the world’s great novels and it has had a serial life in film as well. The earliest modern version, in 1949, starred Jennifer Jones in the title role. More recent adaptations were a 1991 film starring Isabelle Huppert, a 2000 BBC miniseries with Francis O’Conner and Hugh Bonneville, and a 2014 version with Mia Wasikowska. I watched the 2014 film the other night and thought it was beautifully made but the anti-heroine lacked the juice of a restless character like Emma.

Now comes Gemma Bovery a film adaptation of the graphic novel by Posey Simmonds. In this satirical version of the story, Emma is Gemma, an English expatriate played beautifully by English actress Gemma (yes, that’s her name) Arterton, who moves to a small village in France with her older husband (Charles) where they act out a version of Monsieur Flaubert’s trysting characters – with a Madame Bovary/Gemma Bovery besotted baker and some odd plot twists thrown in. I’m a big fan of small movies, and Gemma Bovery definitely hit my sweet spot in that category. Gemma, the actress, plays a ripe, modern depiction of Emma the bored, restless, lusting character. She commands the screen as a contemporary, unfulfilled Emma. She’s not the materialistic country girl seeking romance that Flaubert created. She’s a modern woman displaced from the urban scene she wanted to trade for the bucolic French countryside only to find out there was nothing to do there.

If you know the novel you will discover that arsenic plays a role in the film, as it does in the book, but with a different twist. Gemma is terrified of mice and that’s where the arsenic comes in. I’d be happy to protect her from the mice – wouldn’t you?

When my friend told me in 1959 that Nabakov taught Madame Bovary as the only novel in a graduate course in Comparative Literature I thought it was crazy. Now I’m beginning to see the wisdom. The story is eternal and the variations limitless. I plan to stream other versions of the story or get the DVD’s in the next few days. I might even reread the book – C’est tres moderne, n’est pas?

Stay tuned

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Categories : Books, Film/Television

Posted by jdbernard743

· July 6, 2015

· 1 Comment

Europe’s Best Kept Secret

Seasoned travelers love a secret place, somewhere in plain view that others pass by or fail to notice. I’ve spent time on Crete, Rhodes, Mykonos, Mallorca, Ibiza, Formentera, and even Elba, the tiny Italian island where Napoleon was once exiled, but Elba’s big brother, Sardinia, had never been high on my must visit list. It may be the best-kept secret in Europe.

It came out of nowhere when two friends invited us to their wedding. We had been planning to spend two months in Rome and a wedding in Sardinia at the end of June might just be a special way to finish our stay in Italy.

I knew almost nothing about the island except that the Riviera-like Costa Smeralda was beautiful, that the Aga Khan and friends created a super luxury resort there in the 1960’s, and that it was the site of the $2 million birthday party Dennis Koslowski threw for his then wife on his way to Club Fed, I had no idea the rest of the island was so remarkable.

While it’s obviously surrounded by water, the landscape is harsh – rocky, hilly, dusty, covered with giant granite boulders and jagged mountain ridges. The vegetation is desert-like, at least in the north, with tall cacti and thorny mesquite crowding the boulders. At the same time, the roads are lined with 15’ tall water-thrifty oleander bushes that add color and fragrance as you move around the island. It takes roughly an hour to make the 30-mile trip from Palau in the north to Olbia, site of the island’s main airport. The roads are good but narrow and twisty with no shoulder and car window high steel guardrails crowding the edge. We saw a number of bicycle riders on these roads but concerns about drivers would take the joy out of it for me. Italian drivers are used to cyclists but there are stretches on this 30-mile road where they might not be able to pass for 4-5 miles – a true test of patience for drivers and anxiety producing for cyclists.

The 300’ yacht above is an invasive addition to the nature and beauty of the Sardinian landscape. but following the Aga Khan’s development of Cala di Volpe the jet set moved in and made their outpost and Europe’s best kept vacation secret.

We stayed in a tiny bungalow at a campground called Acapulco Camping. Don’t’ ask me where they came up with the name, but for almost a week M and I lived there on the edge of the luxe life. Our friend’s wedding took place in a small wealthy residential enclave called Porto Rafael, the ceremony in a tiny picture perfect chapel just big enough for the bridal party. The rest of the guests stood in the plaza outside surrounded by riotous magenta and torch-red bougainvillea.

The bride and groom, Marghe and Johnny, live in Paris. He’s American, she’s Italian, and they both work in fashion and design. He was dressed in a light tan suit and she in a gauzy slim-fitting dress designed by a Spanish designer friend. Needless to say it was a fashionable event, with the women in elegant, mostly long dresses, the men in suits, and a shoe wardrobe exceptional under any circumstances – especially considering the rough stone plaza and steep cobblestone path to the reception. As far as I know there were no injuries.

Prosecco was the drink of choice and it started flowing at 4:30 p.m. outside the chapel. They were still pouring it at 11:30 as we were leaving and the dancing just getting started. Dinner at the Porto Rafael Yacht Club was a classic Italian five-course meal served over four hours at tables set just above the water in the marina. These are the secondi piatti courses (fish and meat):

And then there was the cutting of the cake complete with sparklers:

It was a Town and Country Magazine worthy event – beautiful setting, fashionable people, wonderful food, full of high energy fun from the first drop of Prosecco to the bridal couple’s arrival by boat at the reception and on to the DJ’s eclectic disco mix.

Our memorable week in Sardinia was capped off with a dinner the following night on the lawn of a lovely outdoor restaurant overlooking the harbor where we were transfixed by a constantly changing sunset for more than half an hour. It was our last night in Italy and a fitting end to our two-month visit to Rome. I’d go back in a heartbeat – even for just one more dinner and sunset at La Gritta Ristorante. I don’t know where we will spend spring next year, but Rome and Sardinia will be hard to beat.

Arrivederci Italia! Grazie per tutto!

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

Posted by jdbernard743

· June 13, 2015

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Four Attractions You Should Not Miss In Rome – Plus One Bonus Extra

#1 Opera at the Baths of Caracalla

The Baths of Caracalla were constructed in the 3^rd Century. These public baths were constructed in an effort to curry favor with the Roman population. The site is impressive as an historical remnant, but today it is best known as the venue for summer opera productions performed by the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. This summer Puccini is the featured composer with performances of Madama Butterfly, Turandot, and La Boheme. This summer’s series isn’t restricted to opera (Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, and Elton John will also perform), but opera delivers its most dramatic experience.

Once, on a Pan Am layover, the hotel concierge told me about an outdoor opera at the Baths and I gathered a couple of other crewmembers to join me. We sat on the grass far from the stage and were transfixed as the music of Tosca spilled from that monumental stage. I’ve learned more about opera since that night, but I’ve never had a more memorable opera experience.

The summer season is short. This year Madama Butterfly opens on July 6 and the three operas run concurrently until August 7^th. That’s it – one month but well worth the effort if you’re anywhere near Rome during that time.

#2 Pantheon

It’s difficult to overstate the impression one gets upon entering the interior space of the Pantheon. Originally conceived in 27 B.C. by Marcus Agrippa and rebuilt to it’s current state by the Emperor Hadrian in the 2^nd Century, it is an engineering and architectural miracle. The concrete (Roman version) dome is the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. The oculus or opening at the top of the dome is the primary reason for its structural integrity and for preventing its collapse. While the dome is perfectly symmetrical on the interior, from the outside it is not, because the material is thinner at the top and gives a slightly rounded appearance.

Another surprising engineering fact is that the height (distance) to the oculus and the interior diameter of the building are exactly the same (142’), which must account in some way for the integrity of the unsupported dome. It’s a great mystery.

The obvious question when looking at the oculus is what happens when it rains? The answer is another triumph of engineering. The original marble floor of the building is still in place and slightly convex with holes drilled to drain the water. Surprisingly, when it rains very little water reaches the floor as much of it evaporates before it reaches the surface.

When it was built the building honored a pantheon of Roman gods, but since the 7^th Century it has been a Catholic church dedicated to St. Mary and the Martyrs.

I wasn’t prepared for the impact of seeing the Pantheon from its interior. On the outside it appears to be another huge colonnaded structure with a triangular pediment and an inscription. Inside it is overwhelming. Don’t miss it.

#3 Church of St. Ignatius

The Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola is dedicated to the founder of the Society of Jesus. The original structure, the Collegio Romano, was built in 1551, but was rebuilt in the baroque style at the behest of Pope Gregory VX, an admirer of the Jesuit founder and its doors reopened in 1650.

The church is fascinating structure, simple on the outside and tucked into a small piazza on a narrow street midway between the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. Its simple exterior belies the opulence of its interior. Architecturally it is interesting because its “dome” was never actually completed because the builders ran out of money. Their very creative solution was to hire a painter to paint a trompe l’oeil dome thus giving viewers the impression that they are standing beneath an actual dome.

The church is a quiet sanctuary, not heavily trafficked, and well worth a visit especially if you’re in the neighborhood and visiting the Pantheon.

#4 Piazza di Spagna (morning)/Via del Babuino (evening)

It may seem odd to include Piazza di Spagna (The Spanish Steps) and the upscale shopping area nearby as an important attraction while telling readers to avoid Trevi Fountain, a similarly popular tourist hangout. The reason is simple; Trevi is a tourist trap, and you’d be lucky to hear Italian spoken by the selfie-stick and sunglass sellers nearby, whereas the Piazza di Spagna neighborhood is where wealthy, stylish Romans live, shop, eat, stroll and hang out when the tourists leave at dusk. Granted it doesn’t have the gravitas of the Coliseum or the Forum, but it is where contemporary Romans strut their stuff. Grab an outside table at La Buvette on the Via Vittoria and check out chic Roman women toting large shopping bags from the likes of Chanel, Dolce and Gabbana, Gucci, Armani, and Versace. This year they’re all in black and white. Check out my earlier blog on the trend.

Bonus Extra: Rome Masters (Italian Open) Tennis

One extra item to include if you’re a tennis fan is the Rome Masters, sometimes called the Italian Open. The tournament takes place in May as a warm up for the French Open at Roland Garros. I’ve been to the US Open, Wimbledon, and the French Open – all impressive venues for the tennis crowd – but watching the top players in the world play in Rome was the best of all. The crowds are smaller, the prices reasonable, and the setting spectacular. The stadium venues are smaller and the outside courts stunning. Last month I watched two of the world’s best women players play on the near court while two of the best men played on the far court. I love the umbrella pines in the background and the shaded far side. Last year I was at Roland Garros. If I had a choice I would take the Rome Masters over Roland Garros any day for the spectator experience.

Enjoy…

Categories : Art, Theater, Travel, Uncategorized, Weather, Work and Adventure

Posted by jdbernard743

· June 12, 2015

· No Comments

Four Roman Attractions – To Avoid

Recently I’ve been evangelizing for “slow travel,” a leisurely way to see more of the world by consciously seeing less of it. It sounds contradictory but there’s a reason why it works. Travel provides an extraordinary opportunity to learn about people and cultures and place them in their historical and contemporary contexts. Slow travelers begin by reminding themselves that they can’t see it all. They are students of world history, geography, art, music, architecture, anthropology, languages – what Zorba called the “full catastrophe” (never mind that he was talking about marriage and family; the phrase covers all situations). Here are four famous attractions that you should avoid unless you have ample time in Rome.

#1 St. Peter’s Basilica

It sounds blasphemous to suggest skipping the flagship church in the Catholic empire, but standing in line to visit St. Peter’s is a judgment call considering the wait, the sweat, the sore feet and the pushing and shoving. The midday lines run between two and three hours, and once inside there is no time to linger, appreciate, or pray. Wasn’t that the point originally? The basilica is magnificent, and it is not to be missed, but consider viewing it from a distance. The beauty of its interior detail notwithstanding, I guarantee the experience will be much more satisfying if done at a distance. I was lucky enough to visit before there were lines and before Michelangelo’s Pieta’ was attacked by a lunatic with a hammer. That was a long time ago. The world’s population has doubled since then and they’re all standing in line in St. Peter’s square as I write this on a Thursday afternoon in 2015. By all means take a good look at the exterior but skip the cattle call for the interior tour.

The best and most satisfying time to see view the basilica is just before or after sunset. There will always be people in the square, but there is something special about seeing the basilica’s luminous spirituality when the architecture dominates and human interference is at a minimum. One night, after dinner with friends, we strolled around the square after dark. Michelangelo’s dome dominated the night sky. It was a different experience than fighting the crowds that swarm there in the daytime.

The church and the square were a collaborative effort. Bramante, Michelangelo, and Bernini were the principal architects. Bramante is credited with the basic design, Michelangelo with its dome, and Bernini with the elliptical, colonnaded square fronting the church. The most impressive way introduction to the complex is to approach by way of Via Concilliazione the broad divided road that begins at Castel Sant’Angelo and leads directly to the square with the church and it’s enormous dome in view all the way. It is truly a remarkable architectural achievement, but I suggest skipping the long lines and taking the long view – preferably at night.

#2 Trevi Fountain

Anita Eckberg and Marcello Mastroianni cavorted in it, circa 1960, as an expression of La Dolce Vita. It’s Rome’s largest fountain and over the top in it’s baroque-ness, but it’s been a long slippery slide to tackiness since the days of La Dolce Vita. Souvenir stands, pizza by the slice, pickpockets, T-shirt shops, black socks and sandals; Trevi has them all. Take a look at this picture. I took it this morning. Can you think of a good reason why anyone would endure the heat, the chaos, and the human zoo to peer through the Plexiglas barrier to see an empty fountain covered with aluminum scaffolding or watch workmen scrub the genitals of Oceanus? It’s a setup for disappointment.

On the other hand, Rome is justifiably famous for its fountains. Resphigi celebrated them in his 1917 symphonic poem, The Fountains of Rome and Roy Pulvers, a Portland, Oregon attorney and recent acquaintance of mine, showed me a book his father compiled called Roman Fountains: 2000 Fountains in Rome. A Complete Collection. The senior Pulvers was a little obsessive perhaps, but he developed a passionate curiosity about the fountains and followed it up with research and the the writing of the book. The fact that there are 2000 fountains in Rome proves that Trevi is not that singular and given its current state of disrepair, one of its least interesting. I took this photo of a fountain near our apartment last week because of its likeness to fashionably contemporary infinity pools. It’s not as dramatic as Trevi, but I didn’t have to peer over another sweating tourist to see it.

I suggest you give Trevi a pass and check out some of Rome’s other great fountains. The shipwreck boat fountain in Piazza di Spagna is especially interesting, and if you’re there early in the morning you won’t have to stretch to see it. If you’re OCD about fountains like Roy’s father, the book, all 928 pages and 9.7 pounds of it, is available through Amazon Prime for $98. You can bet Amazon and UPS are losing money on shipping that one by Prime.

#3 Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel

There are two primary reasons to visit the Vatican Museum. While it contains other wonderful art its two primary assets are the Raphael Rooms, a suite of rooms filled with Raphael frescos, and Michelangelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel. These two artists’ work represents the pinnacle of Renaissance painting, and while it is a privilege to be in its presence the museum tour is another setup for disappointment, since the crowded rooms and herding of people make it difficult to see the work or appreciate it.

The photo above shows the line for admission to on Tuesday morning at 11 a.m. It is like this every day and continues until 4 p.m. when the ticket office closes. The museum stays open until 6 p.m. The picture doesn’t show the whole line; that trails off to the left for another 100 meters and the wait is roughly two hours long. There is a line avoidance strategy – join a group that has priority admission – and the surrounding streets are lined with sales reps of tour companies recruiting people to sign up. There is some advantage in doing so, but with so many groups with priority status that line is only marginally shorter than the other one and rarely worth the cost.

If you have only a few days to see Rome there are other remarkable attractions and avoiding long waits will help you conserve energy and reap cultural and historical dividends.

#4 Trastevere

Trastevere is an old Roman working class neighborhood on the west side of the Tiber River. Fifty years ago it had charm and local color and was a favorite neighborhood for locals digging into their roots and looking for a good reasonably price Roman meal. Anchored by the Basilica of Santa Maria the Piazza Santa Maria, Trastevere’s historical center, became a favorite of celebrities and movie stars and outsiders began to notice the area.

The district was a place people came when they were looking for an authentic Roman experience and restaurants like Sabatini’s gained notoriety and prospered. Souvenir shops moved in and twenty years ago the neighborhood began to spoil. I ate at Sabatini’s thirty years ago and enjoyed a romantic meal with good service. Twelve years ago I returned and was served barely warm pasta by a surly waiter who was annoyed when I asked for “il conto,” (the inflated check for the disappointing meal).

Last week M and I returned to Trastevere to look around. It was even worse. The streets were dirty and crammed with tourists. We shared a gelato and walked back across the Ponte Sisto pedestrian bridge to have a look at the old Jewish quarter on the eastern side of the Tiber. Much more interesting. Trastevere has lost its character and charm. Like Trevi, Trastevere is better left to less inquisitive, less curious travelers. There are other sections of the city that have retained their charm and authenticity – and good food at reasonable prices – but it might take a little research and investigation to dig them out.

Today’s list of attractions to avoid is not meant as an arrogant pronouncement or curmudgeonly rant about tourists.The intent is to give the time challenged visitor advice on how to best use that limited time. Rome is full of attention worthy attractions. To balance things out tomorrow’s post includes a list of Roman sights that shouldn’t be missed.

Ciao

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

Posted by jdbernard743

· June 3, 2015

· 2 Comments

Rome: Over and Under

The surface of Rome is crowded with antiquities and monuments dating from before the time of Christ, through the Etruscan and Roman periods, the founding and dominance of the Catholic Church, and reaching perhaps it’s highest expression in the Renaissance painting and sculpture of Rafael and Michelangelo. But there is more to Rome than what appears on the surface.

Life is thriving over our heads and underground in the Eternal City. It is often difficult to think about looking up when there is so much straining for our attention on the ground, but if you do you notice that rooftops across the city are alive with greenery. This picture was taken from our kitchen window, and there are similar views from the living room and bathroom. Our apartment is on the 5^th floor of a building just off the Piazza di Spagna, and while the facades of the historic buildings on the street are neat and orderly the interior courtyards and rooftops are alive with new growth.

But it isn’t just the rooftops where Roman life thrives. There is a surprisingly active subterranean life too. There is a subway (Metro) that moves large numbers of people through a city choked with narrow twisting 7^th century streets and transportation gridlock, but there is also a surprising tunnel that begins at the Spagna Metro station and leads like the labyrinth of Knossos to the headwaters of the celebrity-rich Via Veneto. I’ve spent a lot of time in Rome over the years and thought I knew the city, but this underground passagio caught me by surprise and reminded me of the Illuminati’s escape route from the Vatican to Castel Sant’Angelo in Dan Brown’s thriller Angels and Demons.

The passagio begins inside the entrance to the Metro station at Spagna (the Spanish Steps) and turns to the left just before the ticket turnstiles for the trains. The entrance is marked Via Veneto and Villa Borghese.

The passagio then winds it’s way under and up the Pincian Hill, one of Rome’s seven hills, to the entrance of Villa Borghese. Walking above ground, the streets leading to the Villa and the top of the Via Veneto are narrow, sometimes steep, and start with a the 135 Spanish Steps that climb from the piazza to the small square and the church of Trinita dei Monti. The steps, built in 1723-1725, were the gift of a French diplomat who probably got tired climbing the cobbled hill.

Rome’s Metro consists of two lines, A and B that cross at Termini Station. Line B, that includes the tunnel was built in 1964 and today it’s showing its age. It’s modern but dog-eared, and the shiny stainless and Pirelli rubber coated floors need a tune up. There are long escalators linking different levels and half of them are out of order or at least out of service. The good news is there is usually one in a set that is working. This one actually looks pretty good.

Sadly, the expensive, extensive, underground network is not heavily trafficked. I’ve walked it several times when there is no one in the long sightlines of its hallways.

It’s a shame that more people, especially tourists, don’t use the passage. It was well designed and includes display cases for local businesses and a significant amount of public art – paintings and mosaics.

At the end of that long, half-mile walk through the Pincian Hill you break into daylight at the top of Via Veneto and the entrance to Borghese Gardens.

M doesn’t like subways or the Metro. She wants to be above ground to check out her surroundings. There’s a part of me that is like that, but I’m also fascinated by the mystery of underground construction and awed by the accomplishment of such complicated transportation solutions – Rome, New York, London, Paris, Berlin – they’re all different but equally efficient. I take M’s point, however, and one of the best surprises when you’re above ground in Rome is looking at the rooftops. It’s fascinating to check them out. Rome is crowded and there is very little open ground for private gardens. Most people live in apartments and the rooftops offer the only opportunity to be surrounded with lush green vegetation or an ivy canopy to shade yourself from the heat. I love this scene.

If you’re not a rooftop resident there are a number of hotels with rooftop bars and restaurants. This one is in Trastevere:

Or, if you’re a tourist with an urge for a Rome rooftop experience there are apartments like this one on VRBO and Airbnb to satisfy that urge:

Rome is full of treasures, some public, some private, but it’s worth exploring to see what is beneath the surface or over your head. I know you’ll find it interesting; maybe not as exciting or interesting as Marcello and Anita did, but that’s another blog.