May 30, 2004
Slow day
We have this last day off before the final sprint. Sienna tomorrow, 2 days
of drawing class, final critique, and then our way to Rome on Thursday for
the 'finale'. Ouf!
I will post as many pictures as I can this week as it might be impossible
when I enter France on the 6th. But I will keep sending text messages!
May 29, 2004
Firenze
The 'ponte vecchio'.
Lots of tourists and ... tourist traps in Florence. Forget buying anything
in the 'hot' section. Spend you time (and money!) in the museums, or just
walk around and admire the architecture.
We are on the train back to Acquapendente.
May 27, 2004
Firenze
Sitting in a small (very) restaurant in the center, a stone's throw from
the Duomo (cathedral). Recommended by a friend and so far excellent.
In the picture, I am sitting at the very back of the restaurant (5 tables).
May 26, 2004
Suzanne
Suzanne REALLY didn't want to have her photo taken... but i succeeded!
Domani
Domani andremo a Firenze, la cittá la piú bella d'Italia.
Yes, Florence! We received a Museum list, with various other site lists. All are 'must see'. But we are only there for 2 1/2 days! We will have to run, I guess...
We will have a private guide Friday morning.
So, more to come. I will try to post some pictures during the day.
We spent the day in Bolsena, drawing in various places. Heres one drawing, from the beach, looking at the old city and the castle.
The barbecue...
The original post was incomplete! I put it in the Outbox but it was sent
automatically before completion. Here's the full version:
It was my idea: we would have a barbecue!
My job was to pick wine and wood supply, meaning whatever was necessary to
make a 'fairly big' fire.
So I threw a bag of charcoal in the HUGE fireplace/barbecue. I then used
about 10 little fuel cubes to prime it. One match was enough to get it
going! I had a major blaze going within minutes.
Someone else was preparing the huge amount of food-to-be-cooked (there was
8 of us eating...lots of food). That quantity of preparation, and copious
amounts of very interesting local wines meant that it took well over an
hour (more like two) to be ready to cook: my fire died!!!
After a purely democratic process, it was decided that Aline and I would go
for help: all the food was already partly cooked (although barely).
Luckily, the restaurant downstairs has a wood oven for pizza. After a
complicated negotiation using our limited knowledge of Italian, the pizza
guy said 'un momento' went out and came back with a 'cariole' (a wheel
barrel or 'brouette' in French)!! He used a big shovel to fill it with
amber and moments later we were dumping all that in our 'fire'.
Dinner was served minutes later.
I went to bed a few hours later and there was still lots of amber in the
barbecue. We probably kept our part of the Italian country side quite warm
for a god part of the night.
Next time we barbecue, we won't bother trying our own fire: we will give
the pizza guy an hour's warning and come back with the cariole!
May 24, 2004
The barbecue...
It was my idea: we hould have barbabcue!
My job was to pick wine and wood supply, meaning whatever was necessary to
make a 'fairly' big fire.
May 23, 2004
Viterbo
Viterbo has a long history. The first part goes back to the Romans. An
important city, capital of a province close to Rome, it was still much
alive in the middle-ages. Its old medieval city is still inhabited and in
excellent shape.
Viterbo also hosts a 'palazzo papale', a house for the Pope.
It is a drawer's paradise, with its complicated perspectives and
interesting vistas.
May 22, 2004
Tuscania
The tomb site
We then visited a couple of churches. This one was built around 600 a.d. by
the then emerging Christians, at the beginning of the middle ages. After
the fall of the Roman empire, the 'barbarians' from the north started to
invade the Empire and influenced the culture, in general, and the
architecture, in particular, of the Italian civilisation.
Tarquinia
We visited the Etruscan museum in Tarquinia, which was one of their
city-states around 400-600 b.c.
The Etruscans were eliminated, or actually assimilated by the then emerging
Romans, around 360 b.c. and all that is left of their civilisation is what
what found in their tombs, some of which are still being excavated today.
Just outside of the city is a series of tombs.
May 20, 2004
Exceptional temperature again today! I know you're getting bored/jealous
about it... but tough luck.
Today we ad an art history class in an Roman ruin. This marble floor h s
been there for over 2000 years...
May 18, 2004
Bolsena
Today is absolutely perfect! 22 degrees, dry, incredible blue sky... we are
on the side of the lake, just had lunch after this morning's drawing
class... Maudite vie sale!!
Not to insist, but look at this picture;
May 16, 2004
The Festa
Lots of people on the main 'piazza'. At least 50 people dressed in
middle-ages costumes and 'festiving' with shows and all! Beautiful!
Pugnaloni; before
The fresh flowers just before being glued to the board
May 15, 2004
I KNOW...
Yes, I know that some of the pictures are sideways! I did it on purpose...
We all need some exercise and I thought that some neck stretching would be
good for you all...
(besides, I can just picture you looking sideways at you screen...hihi...)
I pugnaloni
This weekend is the 'Festa dei pugnaloni'. This is THE festa of the year in
Acquapendente. Roughly, it's a flower thing. A number of teams compete to
show big flower 'paintings'. BIG is the word here! 3 or 4 meters per side!
It's kind of hard to explain, so I will post a bunch of pictures over the
next few days. In the mean time the picture in this post is from the
'bambini pugnanoli'. There were all very cute and I think they (every team)
all won a trophy.
Tonight we went to a 'party' at one of the adult pugnaloni team place.
Since this is mostly made of fresh flowers glued to a huge panel, the last
part is done all night on the eve of the actual Festa. We left shortly
before midnight and they were just starting the flower gluing process part.
It will be a long night...
Stay tuned for the 'live' report tomorrow...
We had perfect weather again today. I'm actually get some tan!
Friday, the 14th
This is a post for yesterday, Friday.
Weather was perfect today! Lots of sun and not too warm (22 C). We drew at
the town's weekly market this morning and generally stayed around for more
drawing in the afternoon. What a nice day!
May 13, 2004
Viterbo
We are actually in the province of Viterbo. The lake is in the crater of an
extinct volcano. The volcano became inactive very recently. All the rain of
the past few weeks killed it! (I also have some land to sell on Mars if you
are interested..,).
The region is quite hilly and right next to the Apenine mountain range that
divides Italy between east and west. Acquapendente sits 520 meters above
sea level, which is just a few kilometers away.
Tomorrow is Friday! One week already!!
May 12, 2004
Bolsena
Today we were in Bolsena, a medieval city on the side of a lake by the same
name. Weather was miserable, of course, but the drawing class was fun
nontheless.
We took the bus to get there and come back (13 kilometers). I would guess
that our bus driver is an ex race car driver! One thing for sure, you have
to sit down quick!
I bought a bottle of Est! Est!! Est!!! white wine (semi-sweet). A known
estate. Here's thinking of you!
May 11, 2004
Our meeting place
After a few more errors, I just figured that I HAVE to put text in each
entry because if only contains a photo, nothing gets posted.
So, this is our meal area. Very sunny in the morning. Today has been
partcularly pleasant; the weather is getting warmer and dryer. Yeah!
May 10, 2004
I know, I know...
...the picture is on it's side... But IT WORKS!
I will post a picture of everyone in our class...eventually. Here's the
first one: Richard-Max
Now it works!
Finally got everything to work together! The Palm now talks to the phone
that talks to the internet. It was a simple little parameters. Some of my
posts got lost, but I will post them now.
Here's a photo of the front of the hotel-'penzione' where we are, outside
of the village.
Test because i'm having some minor problems...
Hopefully solved tonight. I have been to establish a connection using my
Palm and my phone. This means that we now have full internet access in the
'penzione' and that I will be able to post more photos.
Hope this works... I'll see tomorrow.
Bye.
May 08, 2004
Some photos...
I am having problems getting my Palm to talk to the Internet through my
phone. So I have to do email on my phone... very annoying!
Today I went in an Internet Cafe and this is why you see this picture.
The weather is quite miserable. It's been cold and rainy for weeks... so
everything is VERY green!
Adjusting
Jet lag again: up at 4h00. Today we will "explore" the village- including finding internet access. I will post picts.
May 07, 2004
On the bus
On the bus to Acquapendente with the group. Everybody tired and quiet. Maybe we need a bit of wine!
First day
Well, this is Friday morning, very early. Jet lag woke me up at 5h00. Not
too bad, as I was in bed at 10h00 last night.
Slept in a dorm with 5 other people. Apparently I snore quite a bit...
"The wise traveler always carry ear plugs" (Confucious)
It was a long flight! About 16 hours total.
I am meeting with the rest of the group this morning. We are then driving
to our final destination: Acquapendente. I guess we'll take it easy today,
recuperating.
Sorry, but no photos yet: the computer I'm using now is as old as Rome and
the phone card I bought has all instructions in Italian, and nobody knows
how to activate GPRS (High speed Internet access through the card).
Probably today... Otherwise I' ll have to regularly go to the Internet
Cafe in Acquapendente (if they have one...)
All is fine.
May 06, 2004
A Roma!
Good morning to all! I an sitting in the train from the airport. Tired but happy. Need a serious nap!
Frankfurt
Uneventful flight from Boston. Boring enough to sleep soundly. I an here for 1 hour.
May 05, 2004
airbus 340
Nice ship, I must say. My part is half empty! Nice meal ahead. Next comm in Europe
boston: logan airport
Having a Samuel Adams in the Lufthansa lounge. Business class, or is it just class, is the way.
This is it!!
Yup. Today's the day.
It won't fit in the pack...
Guess what! I got new socks! (hihi)
Later, bye.
May 04, 2004
Leaving tomorrow
It doesn't matter how much time there is for packing, but for me it's
never enough. At the end of the day I always realise that there is still
much to do.
Take notice of the time of this posting: I'm up early today. It has to be
in today, or it's not coming with me!
These darn socks...
May 03, 2004
Two days...
Serious packing today. It has to get in the backpack so that I can weigh my luggage.
The shopping list is nearly empty. I'm missing a pencil, the Hardtmuth 401, #5 (or KOH.I.NOOR) 191 6B. I don't even know what it looks like!
The rest is all there, with lots of extras, of course! Now begins the elimination process.
Starting with this entry, everything will go into the "Italy 2004" category until I come back in June.
Now... if I can only find those socks...