Sleeping under the stars

I just loved my few days of working in Trastevere. The apartment was light filled but thankfully had the most brilliant airconditioning. There was an aircon in each room and I did do a bit of destroying of the planet as the aircon blared. Greta was reducing her carbon footprint by traveling on a boat and I was wrecking mine via Dreamliner travel and aircon with terracotta tiled roofs outside my shuttered windows .
It was 36c outside for my whole stay and the Roman sun blazed down from the bluest sky imaginable. Tina arrived on my third day and it was lovely to walk down and meet her at Trastevere Stazione. It was an easy walk over the river to pay homage to Bernini, but it was wonderful to escape the crowds to the cobblestone streets and winding alleys of the apartment. I had to go throw a coin into the fountain to make sure I return, but if I wasn’t superstitious, I would have given it a miss. The crowds and incredibly annoying men with roses made me desperate to hike back over Ponte Garibaldi.

I thought flying in a plane called Jillaroo with two female pilots in the main seats was a wonderful omen for the start of this adventure. I did find it slightly ironic. The Dreamliner was flown by two very competent women and there was a whole male flight attendant crew in my lovely bit of the plane. The flight to Perth was super efficient and we took off Heathrow bound on time. I had a really lovely dinner and then settled down with a G&T to watch Chernobyl. Tom had said it was fantastic and his fantastic was probably an undersell. I just loved it. Of course I remember Chernobyl, but it was something a little vague happening on the other side of the world. In pre social media and 24 hour news times the whole world did seem a little simpler. We could live oblivious to the enormity of what might have been happening in some people’s lives. I was pregnant with Tom and would have been running around with a two year old who was excited to blow out my birthday candles. While we sat and ate cake, thousands of people were having their lives destroyed by power hungry men in suits. Chernobyl was so sobering but also was a reminder to live each day – as Leigh Sales writes, any ordinary day can turn to total crap within a couple of minutes.

Heathrow passport control is now fully automated with none of those pesky forms to fill out. I can never find a pen and always have my passport tucked in the wrong place to grab quickly. I was reading that soon we will not even have to carry passports. Our faces will enable us to cross borders and move freely around the world. My arrival into Trastevere was super easy. A train ride on the regional train, four stops on a very efficient and cool tram, and then out into the blazing Roman sun. I met Vanina outside the apartment and she showed me into my home for the next few days. A beautiful apartment in the middle of the most fantastic part of Rome.

The smoke hanging over Californ – Ia (as Mark calls it) has reduced the Human-Be-In masses on the Golden Gate Bridge. We did, however, see a few ageing hippies in the tie-dyed kingdom of the world, Haight Ashbury. Jimi Hendrix continues to look down on the streets, and the streets did make me hum a little “Purple Haze”. Our bus driver, who rescued us after a massive walk from Fisherman’s Wharf to across the Golden Gate Bridge, did a bit more than hum and entertained us with renditions of San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair). He might not have been Scott McKenzie, but his rather cool African American rendition took us back to the “Summer of Love”. Oh well, should I say took me back. Mark reminded me numerous times he wasn’t born then and had no idea what I was talking about.

Our little stroll (Carol’s idea) resulted in about 25km of pavement pounding. We had a few marching bands to keep us company for the first bit as we walked into the middle of Veterans Day marches as we strolled toward the most famous Art Deco bridge in the world.

As a lover of architecture, my senses have been well and truly blasted with the most fantastic collection of eclectic buildings. We returned to the hotel about 5.30pm and needed to lie on the bed. I was in charge of dinner reservations and found a little Italian place, Capannina, that came highly recommended on trusty Trip Advisor. The food was absolutely delicious, but whoever works for Google maps hasn’t ventured far from 345 Spear St cause the walk definitely wasn’t flat.

After being freezing for a couple of weeks, it was slightly ironic that our plane was delayed because California was burning. We sat for hours at Calgary airport and waited for reports of the smoke in San Francisco. We eventually took off and hoped that the engines of our United plane did OK in freezing conditions, wildfires below, and a massive smoke cloud. A pretty easy flight from Calgary to San Francisco and a drive across the massive Bay bridge. Today we have walked kms and kms. We are in a comfortable Marriott on Fisherman’s Wharf and walked from here to the Bay Bridge with a chat to the seals along the way. The smoke was so heavy, the Golden Gate Bridge is completely invisible and Alcatraz sits out there somewhere as a hazy shadow. The ice skating ring and massive Christmas tree are up in Union Square and it is a little odd with the smell of smoke really strong. We wandered the steep hills but decided the cable car to the top will be a much better expedition tomorrow because boy those hills are steep. I loved the beautiful timber houses at each side of the colourful Chinatown and at times thought I was in Hong Kong.

Next stop Calgary. After Edmonton, Calgary was positively balmy at about minus five. Nowhere near as much snow but our flight was really late, so it was a rush to our lunchtime meetings. We checked in at Hotel Alma in the grounds of University of Calgary and the lovely Tina took us for dinner at Café Una. I haven’t managed a day off since I left, so we hired a car and headed to the stunning Rockies. A tiny bit apprehensive driving in the snow but woke to a spectacularly beautiful sunny day. Got the safest car possible: SUV, snow tires and great brakes. The drive from Calgary to Banff is quite short and morning tea was a coffee in Banff. We had planned lunch at the Chateau Lake Louise and the drive down was gorgeous. There wasn’t as much snow as when I was here in May, so the drive was not hard at all. Lake Louise was only partially frozen, and the sunshine was gorgeous. We lunched with one of the most stunning views in the world and then headed toward Jasper along the stunning Icefields Parkway. We all commented that after the glaciers, emerald lakes, thick pine trees and dramatic mountains we will never look at a Christmas card as a cliché  again. The drive was Christmas card after Christmas card with the pine and larch all dusted with twinkling snow.

Cool Winnipeg had not prepared us for damn cold Edmonton. OMG minus 16, wind and heavy snow was a rude awakening for soft Aussies. A couple of hour flight jettisoned us in to Arctic weather. The snow was deep, but it was the ice and snow on the roads that made us hone our penguin walking skills. We quickly learnt that walking forward was a must, our sensible Australian winter boots are useless in Canadian Fall, and we needed to wear so many clothes that we resembled Michelin men. Peter, our great host for work marched confidently through the snow and ice and we waddled, moving past blue, to white, in the freezing cold. The Westin has great beds that they describe as heavenly, and it was heaven to pull the thick duvet up over my nose. Carol and I had a big walk across the bridge and through the snow and instead of restorative tea, it was reviving Moscow mules at the very sedate, English library style Fairmont. A gorgeous place.

Halifax to Toronto and then on to the home of my beautiful friend Tina.

Winnipeg is now listed in the Lonely Planet as in the top 10 happening places in the world. The locals who have homes, and the homeless, are all still there near the cool century old buildings of little Chicago, but amongst them, the tourists and the hipsters are moving in. The fabulous Canadian Human Rights museum was still rising above The Forks, the place where the Red and Assiniboine Rivers meet.

I find that place so very spiritual and this time rested my head on the meeting place of 6000 years at the lovely Inn at the Forks. Work was busy and we were well and truly looked after with great Manitoban hospitality.

Manitoba was nice and gentle and got us used to the damn freezing we would experience in Alberta. Fluttery snow was gorgeous as I walked across the stunning Esplanade Riel as part of the Provencher Bridge. The massive cable bridge spans the red river and connects Winnipeg to the Franco Manitoba community of Saint Boniface. The hipsters were out in force in the gorgeous Exchange area and we had a fantastic brunch at Clementine. The Hudson Bay railway was washed out in 2017 and I think the new Lonely Planet entry is acknowledgement that the train line is now fixed. All that lies between Winnipeg and polar bears walking the streets is a two day train trip north – maybe next time

After a quick train ride to Newark, New Jersey I was on my way to Canada. US immigration was incredibly easy, so was rather surprised to be detained for a long chat when I arrived in the beautiful Maritimes and the traditional ancestral lands of the Mi’kmaq peoples. I have been to Halifax before so not super clear what the problem was this time. I did wonder whether my passport had flagged, as it had been on a rather quick trip through Perth, London, NYC and then Canada.

I did giggle when I was quizzed about any marijuana I might be carrying. Since the Canadians legalisation of cannabis, someone told me there has been an increase in twitchiness at the border. Being incredibly boring, the only medicinal excitement I had was my trusty arthritis cream. After checking who I was on the Internet and a chat about rural health, I finally got the welcome to Canada speech and was let go out of the immigration interview room. A cab ride to the Westin and thankfully, in to their heavenly beds.

I got soaked a number of times in Halifax after a PhD student mentoring scavenger hunt through the streets of Halifax and a conference dinner on a tall ship in the rain on the harbour. Of course, came down with the heaviest cold so battled through all of my conference responsibilities. I did the opening keynote on being a ratbag but definitely was not a ratbag in the Maritimes. Went out with my lovely Canadian friends one night and whilst they danced the night away, I fell asleep with my head in my hands in a groovy bar with a great band.

I woke up in New York City which was slightly surreal as 6pm last night I was in London and two days before that I was in Melbourne. Stayed at the airport which was super comfortable and much more sensible that trying to get in to Manhattan in the dark. I am usually not that sensible, but so relieved that I was for once. Caught the bus to Jamaica and then then the incredibly efficient Long Island Rail Road to Penn. I had caught sight of the news at the hotel before I left but wasn’t expecting the NYC pandemonium that was prompted by explosive devices being delivered to ex-presidents and Time Warner.

I didn’t particularly want to be caught up in exploding devices in NYC so naively thought I was better above ground. I dropped my case at Amtrak, bought a ticket to Newark New Jersey and headed to the wonderful park on the freight line above the West Side. It was a lovely day, and I walked from West 34^th right down around 11^th. It is the most fantastic public park but oh so much more as an outdoor art gallery and amazing design space. I had a great day stopping and sitting, people watching, and hanging over the barriers of the overlooks down through the Meat Packers district. Dorothy Iannone’s fantastic Statue of Liberty street art, as an ode to Lazarus’s poem, was a very cool edition.

I have driven thousands of kms in the UK but had always been hesitant to drive out of London. Had left Heathrow for north, south, east and west many times but had never braved the London traffic before. Well, it was super easy and I won’t ever hesitate again. Carol and I trudged over to St Pancras, and the Avis car hire place was right underneath the station. Only took a few missed turns and we were headed toward Lincoln.

I had nicked in to the UK, just for a couple of days of meetings at University of Lincoln. I had previously visited the beautiful medieval castle and cathedral on the hill  but this time it was downhill looking up on the city.

The University was only established on the site in 2002 and it is totally fantastic. The campus is located on the Brayford Pool and new buildings and walkways cross from one side of the water to the other between the barges and swans. The University has about 14,000 students and the superb location, with cafes,  the cathedral, and castle up the hill, make it a real university city. There were students everywhere. Carol and I stayed at the  comfortable Hilton and had a lovely dinner down beside the pool.

Our meetings went really well, and I presented a seminar in the evening. Mary Stuart, their Vice Chancellor, is one very cool woman. In 1981 she was in a homeless hostel with twins in London after fleeing South African apartheid and is now head of one of the UKs most vibrant universities. I am  excited as it looks like I will be spending part of my year there on an ongoing basis.

58 hours after arriving, I was headed out of the UK. Dropped Carol on the way at Oxford, a quick car drop off, and after 5500 km across the Atlantic courtesy of BA, I climbed off at JFK the same evening. You would think Melbourne/Perth/London/Lincoln/New York in a couple of days would make your head spin but I felt surprisingly bright when the lovely man at US passport said ‘Welcome back to the US of A Professor Kenny – have a fantastic time’