Being the type of person who likes to plan ahead, once we embarked upon the boat trip to Portovenere from where we were staying in Monterosso al Mare last May, I was delighted to find that we could most likely develop this into a broadcast. My intent, as I indicated on last evening's show, was to take the train to Levanto which would have been perhaps a twenty minute trip by train. This would doubtless have been a show anyway, but when the train strike derailed (pardon the pun) that attempt, I realized that we had something even better. Most people get to see the amazing villages that make up Cinque Terre from the land, mainly because the boats do not run for most of the year. However, in nice weather, we lucked out and had a fabulous view of the Ligurian Coast, completely unexpected. Also at the end of the ride was our main destination, Portovenere, also a future show. But how can we simply show the coast for a entire broadcast? I decided that we needed another show about Cinque Terre. After all the last one had been over 2 1/2 years ago, # 10, and this would be more complete with the view from the sea, and adding the previously unvisited town of Corniglia which we skipped the last time we were there back in 2009. Actually I was going to develop the photos of Corniglia into a separate show, but then thought better of it and decided to weave those pictures in a larger show about the entire region. Thus what was presented was a really wonderful travel summary of one of the great areas in Italy, Cinque Terre, which in English means Five Lands. So I combined land and sea photos, threw in a couple of fun videos from the boat, gave a more detailed description of where this area was in relation to the entire country, and created a really fine broadcast, and very helpful to anyone about to visit the region, complete with advice on how to travel to this remote location and once there how to get around.
The main problem I encountered was what to do about the two shows I have planned which will focus strictly on the town in which we stayed in May 2014, Monterosso al Mare, one of the five villages. In those shows I am using videos as a main basis for the broadcast, but also had a lot of newer photos of this wonderful place to stay. I decided that I would give a brief glimpse of that town, much shorter than the views I gave of the other four, especially Corniglia, and then do the more detailed analysis of Monterosso later. This we get to see the New Town and Old Town only for a short time. I will talk more about how I developed that concept in the blogs which focus on shows # 103 and # 104. In that creation I will do one show on the Old Town and one on the New Town, mainly because the two videos are so wonderful as I interview two really amazing people, the owner of the hotel in which we stayed Hotel Villa Steno, Matteo Pasini and the owner of the bar, Colpi di Timone, along the beach where we met that owner, Giancarlo Basso. As luck would have it the hotel is located in the Old Town and the bar in the New Town, thus perfectly placed for those two shows.
Meanwhile when I pulled up to the studio, there was a huge trailer that was parked right where we usually put our cars while we are inside the studio. I knew this meant that the studio renovation was nearing its commencement. So first all the studio equipment will be squeezed into the new location, then they will start the renovation. Ellen indicates that we will not be able to broadcast for a while as the inside of the trailer becomes the new, albeit temporary home of Woodstock Public Access Television. I told her a smaller studio does not bother me at all, since after all, what do I need, just a table, a camera, and some controls. Who cares how much space there is. The problem will be that the tech people will have to get the work done to move everything over. So there could be a hiatus when there is no Alan's Italy and no subsequent blog that usually accompanies that. I am a prisoner of whatever is going to occur!!!! I will keep you posted.
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