Friday, May 11, 2012

Last Show For A While, Previewing The Next Trip and A Do Over

Show # 20 on Lake Maggiore was the perfect send away for my 20th trip to Italy which hopefully starts on Tuesday, May 15. I always say "hopefully" because you never know what could happen. When people say to me, I hope you have a good time, I just smile and say hope I we are both healthy, the rest will fall into place. So Ellen and I agreed that she will choose her two favorite previous shows on DVD for the repeats which will show in my normal live show slot of 5 PM Fridays on Woodstock Public Access TV for the next 2 weeks, and then for the repeats shown several times a week, they can choose anything they want. The trip will cover a lot of ground starting in the Umbrian town of Orvieto, where our friends Ric and Sharon will show us around this stunning area. Then off to Luca and Mary in Figline Valdarno, this time staying at the Villa Palagina, in Chianti, on the road between Figline and Greve. Luca will show us around his area, as we requested. Then Laura and I are off to Pisa for a night alone in a place I was at in 1995. Staying at the Hotel Royal with balcony overlooking the river should be quite nice and we will photograph this marvelous city for a future show. In fact my dream is to get about a half dozen shows out of this first phase of the trip. Then on to Florence for a week ! I have not been in Florence for that long in many years, but need time to do a lot of photographing with the expectation of getting another 6 - 8 more shows. Also, will be visiting with my other friend Lidia and hopefully her family who always seem to be very busy. I will be photographing streets, hotels, restaurants, piazzas, churches, museums, bridges, palazzi, and perhaps Fiesole and maybe another town nearby. Then off to Rome for a night for the new modern art museum, nicknamed MAXXI (Modern Art of the XX1 Century). Then I don't know, perhaps the Etruscan Museum in the Borghese Park or some Roman Ruins like Trajan's Market or the Baths of Caracalla.

    So after doing the show and feeling quite tired (not a spring chicken here ya know) Ellen told me the DVD recording system failed so I had to do the show over if I wanted a copy, so off we went and did it again !!!! I was exhausted and a little bored already but trudged through pretending I was back teaching a boring lesson to two straight classes at the college. When I finished all I could do was think of eating something and relaxing at home, which is what I did. Otherwise things are going smoothly, but there was that Flamenco Dancer in the next door community center, so I thing perhaps I am starting to get used to adversity !

    So see you in 3 weeks, and in the meantime, if you like my writing or just would like to follow the trip day by day, please go to Travelpod AlanJGreenhalgh for the blogs of my 20th trip which I will write enroute throughout Italy for the next 2 weeks. Thanks for reading these blogs and good night and good luck, or as I say on the show, Buona notte e buona fortuna. Apologies to Edward R. Murrow, wherever you might be right now.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Alan's Italy Takes to the Road

In search of newer TV shows I will be traveling in Italy for 2 weeks starting next week (after my Friday night TV show and after I do a complementary blog). If you cannot get enough of Alan and/or Alan's Italy, please google "Travelpod AlanJGreenhalgh" to follow my day to day accounts of the trip. I will be visiting Umbria, Upper Lazio, Tuscany (incl Florence), and Rome. I hope you "join" me in my latest adventure, and as always, thank you very much for taking the time to read my work and watch my shows !!!

Saturday, May 5, 2012

The Perfect Show, except .......

I got to the study earlier than usual, because I wanted to talk a bit to Ellen about how best to photograph Franc and me in that I wanted to introduce him on camera; sometimes that doesn't work so well. She suggested that I go through my normal introductory announcements and comments and THEN after all that introduce him so that it would be easier for her to handle the controls and also the cameras. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to do both successfully. We could really use a separate camera person in addition to someone handling the controls. Franc arrived and we spoke about myriad things as usual. I really like him very much, and there is always so much to talk about. We discussed future shows we will do together, and decided to talk further after the show as Ellen was setting up and needed our attention. I began by announcing that my wife (and photographer of my Italy photos) Laura Gurton is curating a show at the Kleinert/James Gallery at the current time, opening for Sat May 5. Then I announced that Lifespring Saugerties will be sponsoring Art Works Day on Sat July 25, 8 - 5. I have become associated with that group as I will be offering a course, Alan's Italy (what else !) a 6 week course in which I intend to take my audience on a multi venue tour of Italy through photos, videos, and commentary. However, I inadvertently named the date as "Wed, July 25". So I will make it up to them by correcting the error next week, and just keep announcing the day a few times. The Lifespring people are very professional and dedicated to providing the adult community with a superb program of interesting topics. I then spoke about my newest feature, Italy News of the Day. The first was an article from The Florentine Newsletter, an online magazine covering news and information about Italy in general and Florence in particular. The new high speed rail system, NTV, went into operation last week, and that is quite newsworthy, especially since I will be there soon. The high speed, sleek, and modern train will get passengers from Rome to Milan in just over 3 hrs. Franc and I then began first with his explaining his association with Pompeii, the not for tourists sites he visited with special entrance due to his art historian wife, Eve D'Ambra, who entre nous to the "secret sites" provided Franc with the opportunity to photograph the stunning images of wall decorations in Pompeii. As usual Franc was magnificent in his descriptions of the art, actually I thought, and Laura concurred, riveting in his discourse. I started the show with a brief history of Pompeii and some images of what it probably looked like prior to the Vesuvius eruption on August 24, 79 AD, and what it looks like today, which took some time. At the end of the show I again reminded the audience of Laura's show and this time make sure to name the other artists participating, as I had forgotten that at the beginning of the show.We agreed afterward to finish the photos we left out when we do the Paestum Show in a few weeks. I felt that we did not have enough images of the Greek Ruins that remain at the town of Paestum, just south of Salerno on Italy west coast for a full show. We also firmed up a few more dates, and off we went. When I got home, Laura told me and I agreed after I saw it as we DVR all shows, that this show approached perfection !!! Except of, course, for the wrong day of the week for the Art Works Program at Saugerties. So if anyone is reading this from the area, it is actually Saturday, July 25 !!!! Almost perfect !