This Week >> 3/27/2008
Tired of multi-tasking? Ready to stop saying "I don't have time to..."? Learn the "Slowmandments" from guest Bruno Contigiani founder of L'arte del vivere con lentezza" ("The Art of Slow Living") a cultural association, which helps people live slower and better. Then come with guest Eric Sylvers as he takes us on his 900-kilometer trek from the Alps to Rome along the Via Francigena, a pilgrimage route.
Guests
Bruno Contigiani, President of "L'arte del vivere con lentezza"
Bruno's 14 Slowmandments
1. Wake up 5 minutes earlier than usual so that you have time to shave, do your makeup or have breakfast without hurrying.
2. While queueing up at the supermarket or in traffic, just relax, don't get angry, and try to use your time for planning your day or talking to your neighbor in line.
3. When you enter a cafe, make a habit of saying hello to your waiter before ordering and after enjoying your coffee remember to say goodbye (this rule works for all stores, the office and the elevator!)
4. Write your text messages on your cell phone with no symbols or abbreviations and get in the habit of starting with "Dear..."
5. When possible, don't do two things at the same time (for example, don't write while speaking on the telephone). You can run the risk of becoming impolite and inconcise.
6. Don't join and don't let your children join any activities that are far from home.
7. Avoid being so busy and full of work that you don't have time for yourself and the delight of thinking about nothing.
8. Don't force yourself to go shopping; there is probably enough food in your cupboard to make something tasty for dinner.
9. Sometimes go to the corner shop even to buy what you need, even if it's not cheap. This will save you time and stress.
10. Go for a walk, alone or with company, to a local restaurant rather than driving and waiting in traffic to get to your customary eatery across town.
11. In the evening turn off the television and read the newspaper.
12. On the weekends, don't always leave town, learn to enjoy your own city (wherever it is).
13. If you have a two-week break from work, spend ten days on holiday and the remaining days relaxing before and after your trip.
14. Stop saying "I don't have time to..." These words won't make you appear more important than you are and will only cause you stress.
A Slow-down life in New York
Christmas is approaching and many people are dreaming about leaving to profit for the first or another time of the hectic life in the Big Apple. Recalling a famous song by the famous Italian artist Mina "I am what you want me to be", I would like to suggest an alternative and new way to image, dream first and leive then the splendid New York. As N.Y. is only partially an hectic city. If you slow down, if you consecrate enough time to live it, if you calmly listen to it and let is come out, you will immediately perceive how welcoming, gentle, curious, happy and collaborative the city is.
The first decision to take is to start in the best possible way, thus staying in Manhattan at least 7 to 10 days otherwise you will not have enough time to live the atmosphere and such a unique extraordinary metropolis soul.
The second problem to solve before leaving is: where should I stay? It is certainly better to select a bed & breakfast or a small hotel located in areas which are not jammed by tourists, businessmen, shopping-hectic women or insisting souvenir sellers.
I am thinking about South Harlem, Alphabet City, East Village or a small place on the Columbia or the Amsterdam, close to the famous Columbia University. If you do prefer other well-known streets, then why not the Madison between the 80th and 90th streets or at the same level the First, Second or Third avenue. Life is calm, you can speak with residents, you meet in the bars, by the news-stand, the automated laundry, the barber (and why not, seize the opportunity to have your hair cut, only for 10 dollars) or the nail shops. You can meet university teachers, young graduates, writers or musicians looking for an alternative way of living taking personal expectations and human relationships into account, and not only caring about the salary at the end of the moths. And stop to speak with people living there… the best way to discover and fall in love with N.Y.
When you land at the JFK, think about decompressing from modern life style: queue, do not keep on thinking "how long will it take? it is not possible in such an international city...to waste so much time, far better to go to Hong Kong, see how many people.. it would take ages"…Simply care about the kindness of safety/service people caring about you correctly filling the immigration forms while you will be already testing how imperfect your English is, as you already feared.
The unique New York symbol is the ever-present yellow taxis, then take immediately the satisfaction of getting one: on the sidewalk, raise your arm, and a taxi will immediately stop, the cost is quite accessible and then forget about them. If you want to really live the Big Apple, then walk or take a bus. Possibly you will be immediately struck by the New York people tired allure, and if you then look down, you will immediately get that they were shoes, sandals or even flip flops (according to the season, clearly) which are comfortable and not nice to see: do not joke, but copy them! Then face the straight and wide avenues, as curious explorers and move to the perpendicular street: new shops to discover, cultural places, small gardens and much more, not reported on any guide, however rich of history and fascination.
Get on a bus, and the professional kind drivers will be at your disposal, sharing their time: they do not leave until all the passengers did not rubber-stamp, they are efficient and thoughtful with the numerous invalids to get in on their wheelchairs: they lower the platform and they fit the small chairs to the stops with the belts. Climb on a bus at a stop North or South Manhattan and stay onboard until the terminal: a valid alternative to double-deckers while still visiting the city from the inside, together with its citizens, avoiding, among others, the photographic safari effect Then a bit of rest… possibly you will have discover the Zen metropolitan gardens.
A few words on Central Park: get there, look for the pond with turtles where young New York people take the tortoises saving them from the cold Hudson river, where throw from the kind Buddhist monks, who once more saved them from the Chinese restaurant kitchens. Take your time to walk around the central lake, do not run, simply walk. However do it counter-clockwise. Once more you will realise that Central Park is a sort of big alarm clock, with an external ring, daily wound up by people running around the lake (the same lake as in the Catcher in the Rye). Sit on a bench to think: how strange is the speed in New York or profit from the new Zen metropolitan gardens, magic and welcoming spaces suddenly opened between a skyscraper and the following, well floored, with tables and chairs, sometimes flower cascades, and water fountains. Extremely cared for and cleaned, they offer tourists and residents as well a short restful stop. People eat, read, work on a PC, organise short meetings, meet friends, get rid of his shoes, hardly decide whether to sit or not as wondering whether on a such a central place the service will be more expensive or not. But magically no service is to be paid, because wealth is free, kindly offered by the city of New York to people, without consumption but only to profited from.
But not all that glitters is gold in the Big Apple too, but the slow traveller is always positive and does not comply about inefficiencies, caring about them only if it is possible to change them.
Visit museums only if you will and not to tell people in Italy that at the MoMA there is your coffeemaker. The atmosphere you breathe inside such unique emotional and cultural containers is the same as on school trips: you have to, but what boring!
New York would not be New York without water, because quite often too attracted department stores, Brodway and the living Fift Avenue, you forget that Manhattan is a island. Do not forget to have a walk on a long Hudson dock, on the West side, and get on a trip on a line ferry.
And if you still have time and are addict to any place mentioned on a tourist guide...have a quick tour...all the rest will be there to be lived and discovered next time you come back to New York.
Have a good journey!
Bruno Contigiani
You can visit Bruno's website at www.vivereconlentezza.it
Eric is a journalist by training and a walker by nature. He is based in Milan and writes mostly about cellular phone technology and Italian economics for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times.
His Project
What is he doing?
Promoting a rediscovery of the Via Francigena as a cultural destination routed in the history of the ancient road that brought pilgrims to Rome.
Why is he bothering?
Because a journalist can't help but ask himself why the Via Francigena can't become for modern-day pilgrims an instrument that helps them discover the territory they pass through, exactly what the Camino de Santiago in Spain does.
Personal point of view on the project
Last year I walked the 800 kilometers of the Camino de Santiago from Saint Jean Pied de Port in France to Santiago de Compostela in the northwest corner of Spain. Almost immediately after arriving in Santiago. I began to think about similar walks that could be done in Italy and soon after my return to Milan I got interested in the Italian portion of the Via Francigena.
While walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain you cannot help but be struck by the fact that the path is so well maintained and that there are extensive efforts to help the pilgrims in their trek. For the vast majority of the walk you are on dirt trails and there are places for pilgrims to sleep almost every 15 kilometers that sometimes are free (you can leave a donation) and rarely cost more than 8 euros.
Most towns have at least one restaurant where pilgrims can have a full meal for about 6 euros. Not coincidentally, thousands of people from all over the world walk the Camino de Santiago every year yet in Italy the same cannot be said for the Via Francigena. An informal poll confirmed what I expected – not only is the Via Francigena rarely walked, but many Italians do not even know what it is or why it is significant for the history of their country.
After deciding to walk the Italian portion of the Via Francigena and as I began to plan my trip I realized how unfortunate it is for Italy that the road has fallen into such disuse because it could be an instrument to help people (both Italians and foreigners) discover the country. If the path were developed in a proper way that respected the environment, it could become a wonderful way to increase tourism in parts of Italy that are not often visited by foreigners (or even Italians).
My first thought to promote the Via Francigena was to write a book, and though I will do that once I have finished the walk, I also wanted to do something more immediate. And so was born the idea for this website and the blog, which I hope will add something to the other initiatives that are seeking to improve and promote the Via Francigena. I see no reason why the Via Francigena cannot again become as important as the Camino de Santiago, which had also fallen into disuse until two people, with the help of the Spanish government, invested time and resources in the 1970s to whip the historic trail into shape.
You can visit Eric's website at www.walkforitaly.com to ready more about his journey.