Arrezo

Ok, I messed up, the pictures were supposed to go in reverse order, but I'm too lazy to do it right now, and this picture looks better at the top of the post, being the first thing you see anyway. It is a countryside shot of the Tuscan hill city, Arrezo. Arrezo was the first hill city we visited on our trip, and was certainly representative of what we would see over the next week.


Of course, the one small sign I would look at as we were passing the buildings, was one regarding the possible founder of modern day botany.



Double click on this picture to view it enlarged, noticing the bishop interred near the bottom of the screen. While Keri and I weren't quite touched by this show of reverence to a man, many came by to make a sign, say a prayer, touch something, and walk on to the next icon.



When I first viewed this picture, the view program turned it right side up for my viewing pleasure. This is what I get for assuming. I'll fix it eventually. This was the first of many hill city cathedrals we walked into. There were always many people going in and out of each and looking back, this crowd actually looked very comfortable and not very touristy.


We came just before All Saints Day, so the cemeteries were clogged with the living, not just the deceased. The vendors knew there was opportunity, so there were at least 8 flower vendors on hand. This was far more elaborate than anything we do in the states, and nearly every grave had fresh flowers on it.




Well, my business side just can't help it. I would hate to be the person who paid the shipping costs to get this mum to market.

Arrezo was a nice town, but unless you just have to visit every reasonably large cathedral, there are no "have to" sites that we saw in this city. Or if you just want to have a very quiet day, this may be a nice place also.



This picture is actually how I intended to start this entry, but it could be a fitting ending too.

Home Base in Italy

For a large portion of our stay in Italy we tried to find a central location to the many hill towns of Toscany. We found it in Loro Cuiffenna.



This quaint little area was a mill town that supplied the surrounding area with flour and other milled foods. Loro comes from the laurel plants which dot the area.



Loro is also the name for the area and stems from the time of the Etruscans (600 BC), but it is doubtful this little Middle Ages town was in existence way back then.



The second part of the town's name means deer, but we saw not a one.



There were certain parts about our B&B that they could have done a little more professionally, but overall we could recommend it as an excellent spot to spend time as a home base for the Toscan hill country.

The Pantheon in Rome

The Pantheon in Rome
Originally uploaded by Keri Ann.

I'm sure Keri will post similar ones, but we'll both put our favorites on. We sat and gawked at ceiling, amazed like everyone else that someone many centuries ago was able to build this incredible structure. Ironically, as we were reading about the Pantheon being called the umbrella of Rome, it started raining, and...we'll you guessed it.
We ate dinner in front of the
Pantheon , people watched, as usual, and generally talked about life.

Our Italian Itinerary

To all who may think they actually care:
Attached is our itinerary from our trip to Italy, early November 05. It is sort of a mix of what we planned to do and what we did. I'm sure my wife will have me correct it, but pictures will come soon. Ok, within a couple of months unless I do some during Thanksgiving.
Friday
Travel – plane departs 11:35am
Saturday
Arrive in Rome 7:45 am – rent a car – sightsee
Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter’s
2pm – we must leave for North
Loro Cuifenna, (South of Florence) enjoy our “home” village.
Residence La Fierrara, a renovated Mill with B&B
Sunday
Arrezo - Churches
Siena – go late, stay late.
IL Campo
Eat “Panforte”
Back to LC
Monday
San Gimignano - Shopping – Duh, what else is there?
Volterra – Roman Theatre, Via Matteotti, Via Don Minzoni 30 (Bruno and Lucio), Balsamic Vinaigrette at the Market
Back to LC
Tuesday
Pisa -Yes, there is a little bit more there than just the tower.
Lucca – visit “atmospheric markets”, Bike tour of “ramparts” (2.5 miles), Walk via Fillungo
Wednesday
Cortona - Ambience, views, too bad it was overcast
Etruscan museum – Interesting, could have been more informative.
Assisi - Churches, tombs, theatre
Back to LC
Thursday
Florence – Call ahead for the “Academia” ( Michelangelo’s David)
Uffizi, Churches, walk, people watch.
Back to LC
Friday
Check out in am from LC
Venice – Gondola Ride, Rialto Bridge, San Marco Square
Saturday
Venice - Get Lost in side streets
Grand canal cruise
Head to Rome – Lancelot Hotel
Sunday
Rome - San Callisto Catacombs“Night Walk Across Rome” (pg 535) a one mile walk starting at Campo de’ Fiori (a good place for dinner) see: Piazza Navona, Four Rivers Fountain, Tre Scalini, Pantheon, Piazza Capranica, Egyptian obelisk, Giolittti’s, Piazza Colonnaa, Via del Corso, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps –
Monday
Rome – Do the “Caesar Shuffle” Colosseum to the Forum, then over Capitol Hill Mamertine Prison to the Pantheon.
Take a siesta – then Take a “stroll”(Dolce vita Stroll) from Piazza del Popolo to the Spanish Steps. Augustine’s Mausoleum.
Tuesday Leave at 9:55am – arrive in Cleveland 6:15 pm

O'hare Boy Scouts

O'hare Boy Scouts
Originally uploaded by davidvw.

Recently on a trip to NoCal, I had to pass through O’hare. I just saw these kids and thought, “It must be hard to try and look cool in a boy scout uniform here.” Not that there is any wrong with being a boy scout…

Gerbera Giant Spinner

Gerbera Giant Spinner
Originally uploaded by davidvw.

I think I said something about new plants, so here is something I can certainly share. The blooms are about 12-15 cm across. I don't remember how many other colors there were. Don't expect to see many at your local garden center or box retailer as it is a tissue culture item. The input is $1.50 or more for the grower, compared to the normal .15 for a seed gerber. Not too many growers are going to take that risk. Those who visit our stores next spring should get a good look at them for a few days hopefully though.

African Aid

After spending a couple years living in Ethiopia teaching farming, I would have to agree with the summary given in this article (at least until they start talking about the musicians). Africa has been taught how to beg, and the once proud and self-sustaining tribes are now little more than drug addicts, waiting for the next injection of money.
While this is a cliched statement, "discipline, honesty and good hard work need to be ingrained before money is given," it is a statement that is bound up in a generational ethic that has been taught and needs to be broken.
This isn't the end all, but we need more realistic projects like this , in Debre Zeit, Ethiopia, that build up the basic knowledge of people and help them crawl, so they can walk and eventually run. Probably the best project that I have ever seen in any 3rd world country is Selam Technical School and orphanage in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. They take the orphans of the civil war and Aids and teach them either cooking, farming, or shop work, like welding and carpentry. It is extremely disciplined and everything has a certain efficiency about it, probably due to the excellent people who run it.
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man how to make the fishing nets and fish, and he'll feed the community.

I was just able to read a few paragraphs of this , but haven't had the time to think about it. I'll come back to it.

Global Warming and the Age of the Earth

Ahh, finally, the Swiss contribute something good.
While the scientific community refuses to acknowledge even the possibility (this goes against basic scientific principles of freedom of inquiry) of the existence of a being greater than man, "scientific findings" will continue to push man closer to this idea. One set of ancient writings might just be the closest they will get to an explanation on origins.

American Exceptionalism

Why are we such creatures of provencial nature? We make allegiances to our towns, our counties, our state, our region, our old haunts, our schools, our teams, etc. Is it simply because we don't see a bigger picture? Or is it our nature? All of the above divide us, and I haven't even mentioned "politics and religion."
Getting back to the idea of nature, depending on your cosmonogy, there would surface several "nature" explanations. But that is another post. Back to the point. Personnally, I have held that, while America is the best place in the world to live, it has plenty of faults. It has literally 2 histories. 1 is a history of democracy, kindness, giving, never-say-die attitude. The other is a bloody history of using religion to justify greedy expansion, rebellion, and all-around debauchery. I want to know both histories, always have. Bummer is, history is written by the winners, and the winners always candy-coat the thing. The losers are always sore-losers and shade it their way. How do you pick out the truth? Ultimately, you have to have your best guess. Here is an article that is one person's best guess. I found it interesting, but again, I am no slave or victim to what has happened in the past, so I don't feel some kind of collective guilt about what America has done. That doesnt' solve anything.
The point is, while I am glad I am an American, I want to be careful I don't try to rationalize everything Americans do.

Tech Dissappointment

Most who know me well, know that I am a gadget enthusiast (whatever) and that I prefer PocketPC to Palm, Microsoft to Mac, etc. I just lost my last phone, so I decided to take the plunge, but to do so, I had to cross the line. The only Smartphone that Verizon has is the Audiovox xv6600 . I realize there are others on the list, but that is the closest to being a real, bonafide, PDA/Phone/Camera in the PocketPC world. In addition to that it has bluetooth. Now most people would say, "Hey, that's dandy!" and be satisfied. No, I want Microsoft compatibility, bluetooth, Wifi, phone, intuitive commands, and a stable platform. I thought about the Audiovox, but I was scared away by the battery life, the lack of Wifi (this is huge), and the dropped calls the other folks I know who have it have talked about.
So I did the unthinkable for a PocketPC nut. I bought a Treo 650 . I'll have to admit, it is a very nice phone. It is very intuitive in its design. It beats a Blackberry hands down on looks, service-ability, power, camera, web-browsing, speakerphone, simplicity, and size. Because it runs on a regular server, there is no proprietary server hardware (Like Blackberry for multiple users in a company), this makes the Treo more expensive as a unit, but far more economic for a business user with multiple users. Unfortunately, the Treo has no Wifi, but I still will use my old standby pocket pc for that and spreadsheets and Word docs. But those who also know me well, know that I have the poorest timing in the world.
Hence, literally the day I get the Treo from my network administrator, this pops up on the geek alert, Verizon is finally getting their act together, maybe.
How annoying. This is after I have a conversation with a Verizon key accounts rep and straight up tell him what I want and ask if it is on the way. So, now I'll swallow my PocketPC pride in my investment in the Treo and use it for a couple of years, till I kill it too, then I'll be able to upgrade. Hopefully then Verizon will be ready.

Mandiamo - a meal with de Victor

Mandiamo is "Let's eat" in Italian and you can't just say it unless you really have something deliciouso (or whatever).
First course:
Salata, fresh young mozarella balls, olive oil-soaked red bell peppers, Prosciutto, genoa salami
Second Course:
Calamari and Shrimp antipasta with a dash of spices
Third Course:
Rolé - That little dash sign above the "e", gives a touch of class to something that fits the definition of "A Taste of the Old Country." Mama Agostino was in the kitchen and made it special for "de Victor." Vic D. is an unimposing man, but his hospitality, loyalty, and kindness fill the room. But back to the food. As far as I could tell, Rolé is made from a lasagna pasta that wasn't cut with a fluted pasta wheel. Simply, the noodle is cooked, then layed out. A mixture of freshly grated mozarella and a creamy marinara sauce was spread across the pasta, then rolled. It must have cooked like that, then Mama must have stood it on end and covered it in more of the marinara and served us. With the delectable smell magnified by the visual of the steam, we didn't waste any time.
Add to that, the house recommendation Luce red wine, Toscana, 1998, Della Vita. It carried a strong, earthy, musky tasted, that fit the richness of the Rolé (it must be capitalized, it was that good). When that bottle was finished, we went to Luce's little cousin, Lucita, similar earthiness, and a good way to end a good meal.
We were too full for dessert, so a cappucino had to suffice.
Many thanks to our friend Victor, our gracious host at Agostino's.