Tuesday, December 31, 2013

28th December – The Opera Singer @ Verona

Left Ortesei with Erin, Gavin, Carri and Jo who are all flying to London from Verona. Julie and I are staying for a few days as it’s the first time for Julie here.


Side-bar – Connection Reflections

Looking back on our “White Xmas” its intriguing to reflect on how much our connections, both people and places, influence and shape our life experiences. How our social networks evolve through surprising and sometimes coincidental connection of intrigue. I’m always fascinated by such connections…we’ve all had our 6 degrees of separation moments, that make life interesting. Here are some of ours from this trip.

 Thirty two years ago Julie and I made our first trip to Europe for a skiing white Xmas in a small Austrian town called St. Ulrich …. Interestingly Ortesei also goes by that same German name.
We were a little younger than our own children are now. That trip took us through Japan to London and then to Austria for our 2 week skiing over Xmas and New Year. We had extended family with us, my cousin Debbie and her then boyfriend, Danny and Julie’s sister Kerrie and husband David. We met one couple on that trip, Beau and Janice, who were from the same town as us. Eventually our children became good friends at university. After that we travelled through Italy for the first time. With Debbie  and Danny we stopped in Milan to visit with Gary’s (from Gary & Lyn), sister Lynnie and her then husband Giovanni. This visit was memorable for a number of reasons. Firstly while we were there Gary rang with the news of his first born son David (from David & Theresa) who was with us on this trip.  We had first met Giovanni at their wedding in Sydney but we still recall the pleasure and relief of being met by a native speaking Italian at Milan station after several weeks of struggling with European languages, and now being guided around by a local.

We will be meeting with Giovanni later in this trip so I will talk more about our connections through Giovanni then. It is suffice to say however that without our connections to Giovanni it is doubtful that I would be writing this post from Italy today.

Well back to the present.  We survived the taxi ride down from Ortesei. I think the taxi driver must have been a giant slalom skier in a previous occupation, as that’s what it felt like as he descended the snow and ice covered roads down from the mountains to Verona Airport. There were several hours before their flight so Gavin, Erin and Carri came into Verona with us for a quick look around and lunch. Jo decided to catch up on some work and also conveniently mind the bags. No doubt Jo  needed to earn a few extra dollars after her expensive trip over. Felt a little sorry for Jo …. she really didn’t even get to extend her emerging snowboarding skills that much in the short time available after her late arrival. But we loved having her with us as our families are close and we would normally meet over Xmas at home. We will be meeting with her parents Geoff and Noelene later on this trip.

I had visited Verona last year and Erin, with Will had a stop over visit on the way over. Today however was a fine day and the winter holiday crowds were out in force. I was pleased to see the ‘baby in the pram’ busker was still on the same corner near the Arena and still as popular as ever.
This guy is a real hit with the crowds in Verona. Last year I managed to get some video of the act.
This year I managed to get him packing up for the day. He wasn't a cute baby and it doesn't get any better!
We steered away from the main tourist areas to look for somewhere nice for Erin, Gavin and Carri’s last Italian meal for this trip. We lucked into this Michelin star restaurant that Erin declared provided with her best meal on the trip (a big call given our experiences to date).  Julie and Erin ate Gnocchi with horse meat (….there is a big market for failed race horses in Italy). The atmosphere reminded us of the cosy family run Italian restaurants at home where the owner would often come out and serenade the diners with Opera songs. Low and behold that is exactly what happened here! … but of course we are in Verona so why were we surprised! On top of that the complimentary plate of after dinner sweets was present to us to Carri with the “just for you princess” by the charming waiter (don’t you hate that! These Italian men really know how to turn on the charm and make us Aussie blokes look bad….poor Gav).

Princess Carri....she did share a few....
So a great end to an Italian sojourn for Erin, Gavin and Carri…we were again feeling sorry for Jo as we left her at the airport with her airport Panini and a bunch of bags….lucky Jo has a great sense of humour!

Social Network Update

New and old connections



Friday, December 27, 2013

27th December – Last day in the snow connect with Illaria from Open Knowledge


Perfect day….blue skies and snow everywhere. Beginner snowboarders good enough to go to another larger field at Compatsch, close to where we had our Xmas dinner…lots of photos and videos today. 
On the drive up to Compatsch
Nice day in Compatsch

Erin and Marti after a successful run down the mountain


Carri and Gav in the Gondola on the way back down the mountain
Looks like Carri is taking no chances....but is was perfectly safe.

At Resciesa at the top of the mountain after skiing
Jo is the photo hog...Erin has Hot Chocolate

Its interesting to reflect on the technology changes since we were last skiing in Europe 32 years ago. Then we paid for a ‘professional’ video where the VHS camcorder looked like a mobile television studio. Today we have wearable cameras; Gavin had his helmet mounted Go Pro and I had my somewhat down market video sunglasses.
 
Gavin and the Go Pro...taken by my $40
video glasses


Me and my video glasses taken by Gavin and his
$400  Go Pro....just a bit of a quality difference!
I was looking for a big skiing day today but daughter Erin kept reminding me that I'm not as young as I used to be and I would regret it if I injured myself on the last day, and that we should spend the afternoon with Mum (Julie) up at the lookout. So I was happy to 'retire' from this skiing trip on a beautiful sunny day and my first and only "no crashes" day.

On a business trip to Milan with Open Knowledge earlier in the year, I mentioned that we had planned this trip and immediately was alerted to two Open Knowledge staff who were connected to two of our main stops. Poala and Sicily I mentioned earlier and Illaria who has a place in Ortesei and spend the post Xmas period here with her family. Unfortunately we could not meet up with Ilaria physically. The heavy snow delayed their arrival and our text messages also experienced some delays! She has been good with the advice on where to have our Xmas dinner celebrations. So Ilaria is added to our growing social network map. Wherever we travel in Italy we seem to have some Italian contact who has lived there or knows the place well. Its like having a personal ‘Trip Advisor. Maria and Rosario had also been to Sicily recently and were pleased with our choice. Maria says that when you ask an Italian where you should visit in Italy they will always tell you first, where they come from, and second, Sicily… so more on that later.

Social Network Update

New connections


Thursday, December 26, 2013

26th December 2013 - Boxing Day (more like Snow Day) - met a young Ski Instructor who's mother ws born in Sydney

Woke up to HEAVY snow  right down to the valley. All the grassy bits covered in hours.  Was very conducive to a sleep in but for the hardier souls it was up the mountain to tackle the powder.


In my case the powder won easily. Visibility close to zero, snow past the knees, bailed out early. Beginner snowboarders however had their private lessons and are now ready to move off the beginner slope.


On the way down the mountain I shared a gondola with a young ski instructor. After commiserating about bad weather and difficult snow I find out that his mother was born in Sydney, and so was I! As a young Italian he had work ski instructing now but he told me he wanted to go to London to improve his English. I thought it was pretty good already, especially compared to my Italian.

Side Bar – Interesting connections and 6 degrees of separation

This little episode reminded me of how as social beings we naturally look for connections. We do this by trying to identify something we have in common, however obtuse. When we find something, we can start to connect and bond. If we find nothing then we will probably just move on and completely forget the contact. Sometimes it can be something simple like the episode above, that makes the connection memorable. However the more radical the connection, for example meeting a complete stranger in a place foreign to both of you and finding that you know someone in common….that becomes really memorable.

I had one such episode at a conference in Colorado many years ago. I was hanging out with some folks from Alcoa, Pittsburgh when one of them said to me…”you know I only know one person from Australia’ his name is Bill F.” Amazingly Bill was someone I did know as well through a work engagement. He and Bill had worked together at a previous company for them both. We laughed when to think that from a population of 20 million people that the two of us who had never met before would find a common connection.

More recently Julie and I had joined a tour group in Turkey and met Sharon and Tony. They lived in Sydney but had previously lived in Port Macquarie. After a bit of exploring we found that one of their best friends had gone to college with Julie and they had even lived together during that time! They shared some even more incredible six degree stories of their own. I find these small world connections so fascinating. We still keep in contact with Sharon and Tony, no doubt influenced by our shared connections. Interestingly, in that same share house of Julie’s she had another friend Margaret who she hitchhiked around New Zealand with over 30 years ago now.  Recently we found that it is highly likely that they are related based on some genealogy detective work that Julie’s sister Kerri has been doing recently.

It really is a small world after all!

Social Network Update


New connections






25th December - Xmas Day Jo arrives a day late; in time to meet Sleigh man

Christmas day is for recovering here, starting a bit rainy but a promise of heavy snow later on. Will’s last day so Gavin and he are up the mountain despite the rain. The rest of us wander around the town and relax awaiting for our evening dinner at Gostner Schwaige, which is up in the snow and only accessible by sleigh.

We are also waiting for Jo to arrive from London.
Jo arrives after 30+ hour trip from London...
Jo is doing a stint in London as most young Aussies do. Jo is the daughter of friends Geoff and Noelene, who we will meet later in this trip. We were expecting Jo last night but storms in London and chaos at Gatwick, no tube etc.. meant that Jo only arrived late this afternoon after an expensive cab ride to Gatwick to find her flight had been delayed for 6 hours and then when it did go would only accept passengers with carry-on. Hence an unscheduled night in a hotel then had to book another flight to Milan…but from Heathrow…another expensive cab ride, the an uneventful flight to Milan, taxi to train station, train to Bolzano, bus to Ortesei, just in time to meet our taxi and then sleigh ride to the restaurant…what a trooper!

Sleigh Man ... actually two sleighs and not so Santa
looking Santa's drove 12 of us to the restaurant in
heavy snow.
The 'reindeer' must have had a smelly exhaust....
too much for Lyn and Gary
Gavin and Carri... Santas little helpers...
Two other short acquaintances…the two Santa Sleighmen and the restauranteur … schnapps man (25 secret herbs apparently)…but also the best meal to date…
Hay soup...

Some of the Xmas crew.... see Jo on the right trying to
prise her eyes open after for long trip!


Night finished with Secret Santa. Julie was my secret Santa, which I didn’t guess that I had carried my own present over from Oz!


Social Network Update

New connections






December 24th - Skiing and European Xmas we meet the Carol singers in the square

Erin and Carri...upright
Another exhausting skiing/boarding day. Will is only here till tomorrow so he and Gavin have been trying to cover the whole valley. Beginner snowboarders doing well.




Xmas eve dinner the tradition here so after going to Xmas carols in the square a 5 course traditional Tyrolean dinner at a local restaurant.
Xmas Carols in the Square
Will and Julie waiting to go in for Xmas eve dinner




















Side Bar - Me and Nelson Mandela Look alikes? I don't think so!

The first time it happened was after a twitpic was posted of me from a conference presentation and a former work colleague commented on email that it looked like Nelson Mandela. Then on Mandela's passing there were more comments, first my Daughter Erin, then my Aunty May on a skype call and most recently the waiter at the restaurant that we were having our Xmas eve dinner. At the dinner I was demonstrating to our party my new video camera sun glasses. I was showing them the zoom, wide angle and panning features when he made the comment, much to the amusement of everyone. you can see the results here. The video is terrible (no good in low light) but the audio is ok.

Really?...but I could think of worse people to be compared with :)



Dec 23rd - Paragliding at St. Christina - We meed David (Grappa Man) paragliding pilot

Today we were desperate for clear weather as Gavin had generously provided us with an early Xmas present.… a paragliding experience over St Christina. Erin, Will, Carri, Gavin and myself were all lined up for our latest adventure. Julie was also coming along, though Julie doesn’t “do” adventure stuff, but is always happy to be the “bag lady” while we go off to risk life and limb. After a couple of decades of fun parks in Australia and the USA, Paragliding and Jet skiing in Bali, Bungy Jumping in New Zealand etc…Julie has been happy to sit and watch over our bags…what a champion!

Anyway after several calls our paragliding pilot David decided that the weather should be ok. He could take some of us up first and then a colleague would join later in the morning so that we could also go in pairs.

David turned out to be an interesting character. He started by bringing out his home made grappa to share, I guess to settle the nerves. He said that before becoming a paragliding pilot he worked in a grappa factory. Apparently the grappa keeps him warm going up and down the mountain. Our thoughts however were more about ‘do they have breathalysers for paragliding pilots?...and who wants to go last!

It was determined that either Erin or Carri should go first as they had a snowboarding lesson to get back to.  Grappa man mentioned, in his halting English, that the first one would be a bit  of a ‘test’ fight to check the conditions. “Grappa...Test”….not words that inspire a lot of early confidence. You should have seen the relief on Erin’s face when Carrie stepped forward to volunteer to go first …. though on the balance…”grappa” vs “test” …perhaps she was being smart going first.

So it was Carri that was set up with Gav’s snowboarding helmet and Go Hero video camera attached to hit the chairlift to the top of the mountain with grappa man. Apparently he also shared grappa shots with other fellow passengers on the way up.
Carri landing safely with Grappa Man

Carri is fairly new to us…having only partnered up with Gav this year. We could only be impressed by her willingness to sacrifice herself for the good of her only recently acquired extended family. Julie and Carri had already started bonding through shared “toy boy” experiences. One of the good things about being born Asian is that you look younger than you really are. Until fairly recently, whenever Julie and I visited an Asian country the waiters or waitresses invariably would present Julie with the bill…much to her chagrin and my delight! Of course they would die with embarrassment when the bill was angrily pushed toward me (I’d be laughing of course!).  Apparently Carri has experienced the same thing in recent trips to Bali with Gavin. Gavin and Carrie are both 28 now…but still managed to pass for 16 in Austria when buying lift tickets…..so its not that Carrie looks like a cougar!

Will decided to follow them up the mountain to do a snow board run and view the inaugural launch, while we waited on Carrie’s fate below. After what seemed to take a long time Will returned to advise as that there had been a slight hiccough on the first attempted launch.

See Carrie playing crash dummy here…thankfully Will was on hand to save the Go Hero camera J

Carrie and grappa man did eventually make it down safely. We took lots of shots from the ground and Carrie arrived smiling and not at all traumatised by her crash dummy experience. By now David’s colleague Emanuel had arrived (no grappa though) so we could now go in pairs. Will and Erin were next up and we watched eagerly as they passed each other in flight and landed safely, delighted by their experiences.
Will and Erin ... 
 So finally it was Gav and I. With Gav having a freshly charged Go Hero camera I was relieved to not need to bring out my secret video sunglasses. Now its normal for parents to make sacrifices for their children but in this case it was Gavin who got grappa man for his third and final flight….don’t really know what happened there. Learning from Carri’s experience we ‘ran faster’ and the experienced the delight of floating down over the valley with the best vantage point in the world! The short period of panic and adrenalin quickly disappears as you relax into the experience…unlike bungy jumping when you only start to relax on the third rebound!
...looks like south pole explorer
Mission Leader



















Bolzano Xmas Markets

The Go Hero stayed charged long enough so we can share the experience:  St Christina from the air.


The afternoon was relatively eventless. Julie and I ventured into the Bolzano Christmas markets for a kransky hit!...not really…the xmas decorations were stunning, its just that the kranskys are still repeating on us… The back to our favourite Pizzeria for a 'light' dinner.





Dessert was obviously a flaming success for Julie and Lyn.





Social Network Update

New connections



Tuesday, December 24, 2013

22nd December - Gary and I have a refresher ski lesson with Carlos in the snow @ Ortesei



Up the mountain for a private ‘refresher lesson’ with Carlos. I was faring pretty well on the beginner slopes. Gary needed a little more work as he had only skied once before. Beginner slopes can give you a false sense of capability….something I found out when I got to the steeper slopes in the afternoon….smoothly carved turns gave way to messy desperation turns and stops.


Nevertheless Gary and I managed a relaxing long lunch at a restaurant overlooking the beginners slopes watching a snow board class with students Carrie, Erin and Martin disguised as snowboarders.
Carri-red pants, Erin to her right, Marti...man in black

Monday, December 23, 2013

21st December – Meet our daughter Erin and partner Will @ Verona; our son Gavin & Partner Carri in Bolzano and Alexandre our host in Ortesei.

Train from Milan to Verona then on to Bolzano and finally bus transport to Ortesei

The train to Verona is actually the Milan-Venice train as per last post. Thought I would do the romantic thing and put Julie’s luggage up on the to rack….not a response…ipad and lonely planet ebook is much more attractive after 34 ½ years of marriage! The only excitement was when a gypsy pretended to have Gary and Lyn’s seat and during the kerfuffle nearly had Gary’s wallet out if his zippered pocket!


Met our next contact, our Daughter Erin and partner Will (the Aussie Pom) on the Verona train platform.
Erin (what's with the Russian hat) and Will
They had come from London via Paris on the train.. The leg to Bolzano was less eventful. Matin got to travel 1st class courtesy of his mum finding a cheap online ticket for him. I tried the luggage thing again but found the racks were not as large as the previous one so I had to battle against the tide of passengers to get them into the end compartment. Accidentally bumped an old Italian woman who was not amused. I was careful not to crush her fur coat when I placed my backpack in said rack. There is something about Italian trains. Boarding and finding luggage spots can be chaotic. Some may find life  partners but many just et annoyed…especially if you forgot the certify your ticket before boarding. I usually plead ignorance and have yet to be fined.

At Bolzano we meet the final member of our travelling party, our Son Gavin and girlfriend Carrie. 

Gavin (what's with the Russian Hat!)...perhaps we had a
Russian connection as Erin and gavin's Grandmother was
given a Russian name - Olga as well as a grand aunt Rita.
Carrie - thankfully those bags aren't hers :)













They had come down from Austria where they had had a running start on the skiing (actually boarding). We partake in the Bolzano railway station café Xmas special coffee (basically an expresso in a big cup and smothered by whipped cream, nuts, chocolate) Julie took an extra cholesterol pill after drinking it..


So on to Ortesei on a private bus. Our next connection was the lovely host of the Pra Parmer hotel, our hosts for the next week.
Alexandre our Pra Parmer host
Lyn, Gary, Julie and I were humorously referred to as the ‘seniors’ and got the superior rooms overlooking the ski field. Rest of the day organising ski stuff. Julie and Lyn found a cheap shoe shop to buy their winter shoes. I was looking for moon boots like I had in Austria 32 years ago…great  for working on the ice.
Fashion statement


Now when I walked into the restaurant with my new purchase you would think I was wearing a paisley shirt and flared pants. Much mirth from our travelling party…the moon boots will get their revenge if we happen to get a big dump of snow this week!











Social Network Update


New connections



Sunday, December 22, 2013

20th December –  Meet Martin @ hotel and then Rosario, Maria, Benji and Paola @ Open Knowledge in Milan

Here for just a one night stop over on our way to Ortesei. Our next connection is with Gary and Lyn’s younger Son Martin.
Martin Tong...alias John Steed
We found him waiting outside, in the rain, at our hotel. Martin has an interesting vintage taste in clothing. The bowler hat he had recently purchased in Morocco caught our attention. He only needed the black umbrella to complete the John Steed Avenger look-alike. Martin is the archetype couch surfing traveller. He has also been to Milan many times, spending several weeks on Giovanni’s couch several years ago.
Best place to be on a wet Milan day...Dumo in the background
Julie is obviously happy with her menu choice!


The wet and cold weather was in contrast to the sunny June and September stops I had made this year. The Navigli  looked decidedly sleepy, compared to the buzzing and vibrant place of the warmer months.

Our next connection was with Rosario and Emanuele who are the founders of Open Knowledge and my business partners in Italy. It is worth relaying how I came to be connected to Rosario. Giovanni, Gary’s now former brother in law, had once worked with a former company that Rosario and Emanuele ran. Giovanni introduced us to his friends and business associates during one of my business trips to Italy more than 10 years ago, understanding that we had very similar interests.  Rosario is an interesting character. He has a connection to Australia as in his youth was an educational volunteer in Fiji before moving to Australia. During his time in Australia he not only purchased a didgeridoo to take home, he drove by himself  across the Nullarbor to Perth! He nearly didn’t make it as he rolled his van and ended up in hospital in Perth, then on recovering he bought another van and drove to Darwin! My initial thoughts were this is a crazy Italian. He had probably driven across Italy in a couple of hours and thought nothing of driving across an county… Then again the Italians look at me ordering my lunchtime cappuccino and are thinking crazy Australian ordering cappuccino after 10:am!

Open Knowledge Office
Julie and I visited to Open Knowledge offices to share in their end of year beverages. Open Knowledge was been very successful in building a rapidly growing business around social business despite the European economic struggles. The run an annual conference on social business, which is the biggest outside of the USA. I have been privileged to be invited to speak at for each of the 6 times it has run to date.

At Open Knowledge we met Paolo who is a long term sales person for them and a native of Sicily, which is on Julie and my travel agenda this trip. Its nice to get local knowledge of Sicily, what Mt Etna is currently doing, avoiding the mafia etc..
Paola


Benji and Maria...playing 'trains'
Our next connection was a long awaited one for Julie, Benji Sica is Rosario and Maria’s delightful 2 year old son. We had attended Rosario and Maria’ wedding in South Africa three years ago. We had also viewed many facebook updates from his birth so Julie was thrilled to see him in person for the first time.
Rosari and hi-tech Benji. He has mastered the
'Swipe and Select'
Maria I had first met with Rosario and Giovanni before Open Knowledge was started 6 years ago. Maria is Bulgarian but grew up in South Africa. They have a romantic story of meeting on a train between Milan and Venice, where Rosario helped lift Maria’s baggage into the overhead racks … but more on this later.












Social Network Update

New and old connections