Laissez les bon temps rouler

Those who have been to New Orleans know what this delicacy is and also know where to get it: at the worldwide renowned Cafè du monde where the line sometimes gets almost a mile long. Beignets are fried and covered with sugar but man do they taste good... I was in NO last month for a conference held in Tulane Law school where I took my Master of Laws. Yes I had the privilege to spend a year in this fantastic city and I can certainly say it was one of the best years of my life. I left before Katrina hit and I was told that the situation was very bad then. Actually it stayed bad until last year o better until february 2013 when the Superbowl was held since in preparation for that, the city has become magnificent. I could hardly recognize it when I got there. Especially the downtown area was so different. I use to live uptown close to the law School which has also changed although it stays beautiful and great. Downtown and uptown are connected by a streetcar service which is one of the nicest thing you could see. It tends to be very slow though and when I took it this year it was packed with tourists who had come into town for Saint Patrick weekend. Uptown is a completely different world from downtown: quiet, green peaceful, a lot of beautiful mansions on St. Charles and the two great campuses of Loyola and Tulane Universities. When I used to leave here, most of the time I would go out uptown or on Magazine Street where a lot of bars and venues were at the time. One is still there Maple Leaf and it's one of the best places where to go and listen to very good music. I used to go there every Tuesday to listen to Rebirth Brass Band. If in town check it out: it's definitely worth it. Another really famous place for music is The House of blues and Tipitina's where I managed to see James Brown and boy was that amazing! As far as food is concerned uptown there used to be many places but one stayed exactly the same: The Camellia Grill. We used to go to this diner-like place after partying as the English say for the greasy spoon. Very greasy spoon indeed! I love that place: it is somehow hard to handle given the state of the kitchen but the waiters and the ambiance are unique. It's not really the food you go for(burgers, omelettes, fries, sandwiches, milk shakes etc.) but the atmosphere. Now you actually have to queue up to get in there . As far as the other restaurants are concerned I actually went to a lot of places with my friends where I had never been when living there. The first one was Bourbon House on Bourbon Street of course. I have to say that unlike the majority of people I am not a big fan of Creole Cuisine and I think the cuisine in New Orleans is good but way too heavy for me. Well let's just say that when I was there I gained 10 kilos in 6 months (I was partying a lot and when I say a lot I mean A LOT). Fifteen years have passed since then and I can tell you that my stomach, which at the time could digest stones, definitely can't do that anymore. So when in this beautiful restaurants with great company I had a delicious fish with a crayfish remoulade it took me hours to digest. This place is called Bourbon House because you can actually taste 10 or 20 different kinds of bourbon there. I passed since bourbon before dinner would have killed me now but I would have done the tasting in those times and believe me I would have done it egregiously. The next place I went to was Muriels beautiful place on Jackson Square where I participated to the Alumni lunch. Oh it was great to be in the warm sun of Mid march on a balcony in the Quarter while it was cold and miserable in Europe. I love New Orleans did I already say that? I have missed it so much in the years and I was really heartbroken when I heard about Katrina. If I could live in between two cities now I would love to spend half of the year there. Anyway Muriel's is very ancient and has a wonderful location. If you go, make sure you check out the table near the stairs which is set for the ghost of Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan, the man who build the house who is said to inhabit the place together with other souls. Check this out Muriel's ghost. Then I went to Antoine's one of the oldest restaurants where they have about 10 private rooms with a different theme for private parties apart from the main dining rooms. It was founded by Antoine Alciatore who went to the States from Marseilles in the late 1800's and founded this restaurant which still remains one of the most famous ones there. The food is good but(with a good dose of butter, cocktail sauce, mayonese etc.)as I said, a little heavy. however the ambiance is so nice it is worth dining there anyway. The last one was Iris an American Contemporary cuisine restaurant which I liked very much. Also the bar is nice and the cocktails apparently are very good. I really liked the atmosphere of the place and had a wonderful evening. As far as bars are concerned in New Orleans you only have to pick and choose: there are so many you can hardly decide. I have to say that in crowded times like this one the bars in the Quarter have become a little too much though. This time I went to Lafitte's where I used to go quite often when living there . It's a fascinating dark place at the end of Bourbon street away from the noisiest crowds and very nice indeed. Nothing really special in the look of the place : wooden tables and candlelight basically but very intriguing. Try to believe. Another place I was taken to was the Carousel Bar in the Monteleone Hotel. It's called like this because it revolves around very slowly and apparently it is very trendy lately. I also went to the historic Pat O'Brien's,home of the famous Hurricane: a cocktail which (for those who have lived in New Orleans)represented a habit especially on Mardi Gras. I have pictures of me and my friends during Mardi Gras drinking this vicious drink with our lips and tongue red from its colouring. Now I wouldn't be able to drink it I'm sure... Speaking of Mardi Gras we now have come to the end of my week which was the Saint Patrick's day weekend. Mardi Gras is a very big celebration in NO. A lot of people come from every part of the States to party and gather on the streets to see the parades where floats of every kind go up and down the city and there's music, dance and a lot of booze... The main thing is the beads which are thrown from the floats to the people who stand in the streets. I didn't believe it but it does become a war to get more and more of those. Also the bigger the better. Women find an excuse to " flash" their breasts in order to get beads from the men and now the bargaining has become even more hardcore. Yes hardcore like in a porn movie.. Last time I was in NO for Mardi Gras it was a giant Sodom and Gomorah atmosphere. So after a while I got bored. The nice thing about Mardi Gras is to go to private barbecues and parties which go on all day and participate to the parade. When I used to live there I really had a lot of fun. I basically partied for a week non stop day and night. In March there is another celebration similar to Mardi gras since there are floats and beads and parties but since it is Saint Patrick's day it's all green and Irish themed. Let's say that when I was living there it was a small thing but now it has become a giant celebration just like Mardi Gras. People go around dressed in their green clothes and men dressed in smoking jacket and kilts give paper flowers to the ladies who are standing at the side of the road and kiss them on the cheek. Then everybody dances and drinks green beer or Guinness and people from the floats throw beads, stuffed animals, lucky charms, even cabbage and potatoes to make Irish stew. I had a great time once again as you can see in the pictures. Oh New Orleans my big easy I'll come back again so y'all get prepared 'cause next time I might just stay there.

Shanghai Surprise

I know this video was not shot in Shanghai but I love the song! Plus David Bowie is one of my favourite artists of all times. I was in Shanghai in October coming from Bejing and my staying was as it is usually said: short and intense. I got there with the Bullet train in five hours at a speed of over 300 Km per hour. I slept most of the time but ...damn it was fast. Everytime I tried to get up I was inevitably almost falling off. I had already been overwhelmed by Beijing South Station where I had been almost stamped on by a billion people and nobody could understand nor speak English. Getting on the train was a relief although I should have thought about getting some food since there was almost none on the train . I had an instant soup which left me starving for the whole day. When we finally got to Shanghai it took us almost two hours to get to the hotel and there was a lot of humidity. Everybody stayed at the Westin just a couple of blocks away from tthe Bund but I decided to stay somewhere else around the corner (bad choice. I guess four stars in China is hardly like three stars in Europe.... ) The room was good but the hotel itself, the common parts were dirty and rundown. At the entrance there were literal shacks where people lived and the dirt was terrible. Plus as you probably know a usual Chinese habit is to spit very ofetn despite of the place. So the porter in my hotel would spit in the bronze vases at the entrance for example and at the Westin some guests would just spit in the ashtrays or in the umbrella rack. I was told that if you ride a bycicle you might also get hit by other cyclists spitting randomly and therefore you have to keep your head down: one of the reasons why I would probably have some problems in living there. Anyway, Shanghai is very modern and built up and is a very nice and lively city. The first thing I saw was the Bund where the skyline is impressive especially at night and where you can find lovely colonial buildings. Then there is this famous YU Garden located into one of the biggest open air market where they sell every possible thing you can imagine. And when I say everything I mean everything. Mostly it is all fake and counterfeited stuff but there are also thousands of little shops and stalls where you can buy whatever you want. Of course the shops and the stalls come with thousands of people amongst sellers and buyers and I found it too overwhelming for me. Therefore I decided to walk into this oasis of peace and tranquillity where at least I could slowly walk around and visit all the pavillions and the ponds. Now advice to all travellers: if two nice boys or girls or a couple ask you to take a picture of them in the market do it but don't stay and talk too long, because they are all students of English and want to practice and by the way since there is an international tea festival why don't you come with us to an ancient tea house for tea tasting? Of course it is a scam because there is no festival, and the tea houses are traps for tourists. As soon as you sit down they start this very picturesque ceremony and when they give you the list of teas to taste they are incredibly expensive for Chinese standards. Of course they will tell you that a minimum of six tastings is required in order for you to spend around 40-50 Euros. When I realized it was getting weird I left but still they managed to get 10 Euros out of me for the three types of tea I tasted. The tea houses are nice and the tea tasting ceremony very interesting but still it is a scam. Another very nice part of the city is the French concession where all the modern and trendy places are located and where most of fthe foreigners live. I went to Xitiandi where also some of the old Shanghaiese buildings have been rebuilt for tourists to see how they used to look like. In any case amongst the malls and the trendy bars and restaurants to see how the locals live one can get into these narrow alleys where a lot of families live and look at the traditional houses. Somehow similar as a concept to the hutongs in Beijing they are in fact very different. I tried to look inside some of the houses and all I could see was a unprecised number of things of various nature all contained in the same place. Outside the houses people sit and drink tea while playing majong and chess often in their pajamas (Chinese men sometimes go out like that when it's a day of rest), smoking and of course spitting. Another reason why I could not live in China: see this shop above? It basically sold everything including fish, toads, frogs, turtle and chickens. It had a basin on the street front where probably the owner was killing the chickens/killing and cleaning the fish and other animals and it was full of blood as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Sorry but it's going to take ages before most of the Chinese realize that animals have to be respected and that certain types of animals you shoud not eat let alone skin alive or torture. See why i would have problems? I think it is a damn good reason. Let's see who disagrees. As far as mundane life was concerned I didn't really do a lot since most of the time I was with people from the conference at dinners and other things but had dinner in Simply thai a very nice Thai restaurant in Xiandi. My last night in Shanghai was memorable but not in a good way: we were stuck on a ferry for a dinner cruise in the rain eating orrible food and we were going up and down not being able to get off...Let's put it this way :as much as I think Shanghai is a beautiful and interesting place it was not love at first sight so I guess I'll have to go again to see if it ever happens...

Winter fascination in Belgium

I have been in Antwerp twice and I have to admit that I always liked it more than Brussels. It has a certain something that really fascinates me plus it's very pretty. I went there in January for work purposes and I remember it to be one of the coldest experiences of my whole life. I was staying in Leopold Hotel located in the Diamond district, which was very nice although for some reason also very cold. The heating was not working properly so I always had a sweater on when I was in the room. The location is perfect since from there you can easily walk to the center or take the trams at the railway station which is a few blocks away. If it hadn't been for the cold it would have been a lot more pleasant. Even more so and a lot nicer is Park Inn by Radisson, located just outside the railways station . Now, when talking about the station one might think it is a dodgy place and/or nothing special. Instead the one in Antwerp is absolutely stunning. I actually went to take the train to go to Ghent, another very beautiful place, although the day I went it was snowing and the temperature was -17 (!!!). I am still a Southern Italian, therefore although I live in Milan and I have lived in London and NYC I will never get used to it. What can I do? It's not my fault that I carry the sun and the warmth within me all the time. Even if I thought I would not make it and probably freeze to death on a street corner I ventured and visited the city for which every comment is probably unnecessary once you have seen the pictures. It's a lovely place and I am sure that in the milder season it is great to walk around and look at all the beautiful buildings, the streets and the churches. For me it was quite a torture : apart from the cold wind which slaps your face all the time, the streets were covered in snow and ice so I had to walk slowly with my eyes fixed on the pavement since it was terribly slippery. I could still appreciate the beauty of the city which really looks like a painting from the Flemish school, talking of which I would suggest to visit Rubens' house while in Antwerp since it's one of the main attractions. I am talking about Antwerp and Ghent as the same place since they are so close (1 hour train ride) that if visiting one, one might as well visit the other. Back to Rubens' house I initially visited it to find some shelter and warmth but I ended up enjoying it very much. A great area of Antwerp is the city center where you can easily get to by foot or by public transport. Grote Markt Square is probably the most known and it is very beautiful. There is a manin building from the 17th century surrounded by a lot of Flemish coloured buildings which give the square a flare of a Grimms' tale, at least for me. Another very nice area is the one around Leopoldstraat also known as the antiques area, where you can find lots of nice shops, galleries and bars: As I said it was very hard for me to go around with that temperature and at some point I thought about going to the movie theater where I saw Life of Pi one of the best movies of the year. For those who haven't seen it I strongly suggest to do it. Pure poetry and spirituality plus great special effects. Well, the movie was great but( you would never imagine that) there was AIR CONDITIONING in the theatre. I got so frustrated that after the movie I had to go outside and have a Belgian waffle with chocolate and whipped cream. Well in my defense I can say, I was cold, frustrated and famished. Plus when you do things especially transgressions you have to do them well or not do them at all!. Until next time but ... never again in winter

Life in a Hutong. Once in Beijing do as the Beijingnese.

This is a picture taken in Tian an Men square more or less two months ago when I went to Beijing to attend the Comitè Maritime international Conference. I have to say my trip didn't start in the best way : two days before I had to go to the dentist for an urgency root canal work which lasted two hours and took 4 phials of anestaetic, and the day before I left i got a terrible cold and cough which lasted for a week. I had never been to China except for Hong Kong a few years earlier which apparently is a world apart. Well my first approach wasn't an easy one but it is my fault. Instead of taking the fast train from Beijing airport I took the bus.. (a local bus I then realized since I was the only foreigner on board ) where you had to take your luggage with you on board and which got filled like an egg. It stopped in a place near to my hotel but from where it was impossibile to reach it . In Beijing in many streets i noticed you just can't cross but you have to take passageways where of course there are only stairs, and which you have to reach walking miles. Everbody was watching this apparently crazy woman with a big suitcase wondering around, looking completely lost and with a terrible cold and no voice . Yes that was me and believe me after walking miles and carrying my luggage up and down on the stairs, after a 12 hours flight with jet leg and a cold I was not happy to notice that the Airport train stop was just outside my hotel... After basically being in bed for a whole day with my damn cold and jet leg I decided to then go and visit the biggest square in the world amd the fabolous Forbidden City. Now, all of you who have been to China probably have noticed the crazy amount of people everywhere, everytime, which doubles up during public holidays and sundays. When I got to Tian an Men I was told by a "student" (scam)to start from another entrance and actually that was a good suggestion because i got in a park where there was incredible peace, a beautiful channel and incredible old buildings where just married couples (dressed in red) were taking pictures. I sat for a while watching all the people doing tai chi and I found it incredibly relaxing before entering the actual Forbidden city. When I actually got in I had no idea of the dimensions of this incredible monument nor of the number of tourists (mainly Chinese) who I would find. Believe me : in both cases they were a lot, a lot, a lot. I walked with my audio guide from one enormous square to the other and it took me hours to see most of the city. I was exhausted and overwhelmed by the quantity of people: I could not come close to a building without basically being stomped on and squashed by the crowds who would push and elbow in order to go through. What do they say ? When in Rome do as the Romans so I started using the same tecnique and nobody got upset whereas in Europe I guess that the mildest thing I would have received is a swearword towards my ancestors. Forbidden city After I got out since I was starving I looked for a place where to eat. Now, for us Europeans or Westerners in general the hygenical standards of most places where to eat is absolutely insufficient, thus it's very tricky to find a place where to feel really comfortable. Listening to some friends who lived in China I had the confirmation of what I already thought i.e. you get used to it and you don't notice dirt anymore plus you start eating everything without questioning what it is. This is where being a vegetarian can come very handy. I have to say I love Chinese food and I have tried it all over the world. For some reason I did not like it very much in Beijing but i guess I did not choose the right places. Menus are very funny in my opinion: everything is illustrated by pictures and there are no courses not even between let's say main and desserts: you have a picture of chicken with vegetables, and then next to it one of candied fruit, a picture of fried scorpions ( oh yes) and next to it some sweet pie with lychees. I once was taken to this very elegant and nice restaurant just above Tien an Men square to find out it served Continental food and was very expensive, however if you spend a long time in the city and want to eat some Western cuisine in a very refined and elegant ambiance it is definitely worth it. Be prepared to spend a lot especially by Chinese standards . (everything is incredibly cheap). Capital M. Another place where it is worth going is the Lama temple a Tibetan Buddhist temple where peace and quiet and a lot of colours will welcome you. Just next to it there are quite a few Hutongs which are the typical narrow streets where old one storey buildings are located. They are one of the very few authentic and original things left in Beijing. " Welcome to the hutong; centuries-old, tree-lined alleyways that are the true heartbeat of this unique city and a real-life link to its fascinating past" Lonely Planet. I would definitely suggest to take a stroll around the old area close to the Drum and Bell Towers and get lost in the never ending alleyways where you can find groceries stores, hairdressers and bars where people play chess, but most of all little houses each next to the other where bicycles, plants ,electrical tools, food pets and people are all contained in one or two little rooms. In any case it is a very enlightning and nice experience especially when I did it at sunset far from the confusion of the streets outside. Lama temple and Hutongs Hutongs Last but not least we have finally come to the Great Wall. Situated 60 km or so from Beijing it can take from one to five hours to get there depending on the traffic. Fortunately I arrived (with all the other conference attendees about 400 people)in quite a short time. There can be a considerable change in temperature (10 degrees) compared to the city plus it can be very windy. Luckily the sky was clear blue and it was very sunny so the view was fantastic. The only two things are : the amount of people (thousands and thousands ) and the fact that you basically have to walk miles on the the wall in order to get a nice view. It means that it takes two hours to get to a decent point going uphill with steps which can be so steep you literally have to climb. On the way down it's even trickier: it can be really slippery. About this : guess who was the only one to fall that morning? I had a bruise on my side for two weeks. However I carried with me a copper plate some guy incarved with my ame saying that I climbed the Great Wall and I now proudly display it in my living room. Oh well next time I'll do even better ( most of all without falling) and explore some more of this very strange and different city. I'll probably manage to get into Mao's masoleum which I missed and improve my Beijingnese attitude especially during rush hour in the underground (believe me: you really don't want to be there at that time. Zài jiàn Beijing!