Italy Trip 12

Here are some more photos from our first morning in Rome among the ancient ruins. First up is the view from the east end of the forum area. It gives you a good idea of how the old structures are kind of hidden among the newer ones. The white structure in the background is the Victor Emmanuel monument, celebrating a nineteenth century leader. In the foreground are the remnants of the original republic:

Here's a view looking up the Capitoline Hill adjacent to the Roman Forum (center of the city in ancient times):

I'm not sure if I am remembering this next one correctly, but I think it is either the central market or the hall of the Senate. After awhile, all of the ruins start to look the same to me:

Next up is an ancient temple that was converted to a Christian Church sometime after the rise of Emperor Constantine. You can see the cross at the top. This happened to a lot of Roman temples (you might recall the picture in an earlier post from Assisi). Probably the most famous example of this transition is the pantheon, a picture of which is forthcoming in a later post (I'm doing these according to the chronology of my visit, and that was on day two in Rome):

Here's another example of the Roma temple/Christian church (signalled by the tell-tale cross):

And a picture of our group coming into the Piazza del Campigdolio, right in the middle of the ancient ruins. There were several tour groups on the site that day, and we kept crossing paths. It was remarkable that a group as large as ours (52 total) managed to remain mostly intact without anyone getting lost or abandoned.

I wonder how many of these people's names I'll remember ten years from now?

Italy Trip 11

It will probably take me several posts to get through all the pictures I want to share from Rome. Although I was there on my trip eight years ago, I really didn't see very much of the city (mainly because a lot of our time then was consumed with figuring out what we were going to do about our impending visit to Florence). This time, I had a full two days to do little but explore. The first morning was spent in the area around the ancient ruins in the center of the city that go back to the days of Julius Caesar (and actually earlier). It's kind of amazing to be driving down a modern street and coming around the bend to see the Coliseum in the middle of the city:


Alongside the Coliseum is the Arch of Constantine:

And hanging around outside the Coliseum are a bunch of Centurians looking for tourists to take their picture (for a fee of course). I snapped this one surreptitiously so I wouldn't have to pay:

Once inside the Coliseum, you can sort of imagine massive crowds turning out to watch the games, even though virtually all of the interior has deteriorated down to the infrastructure. At one time, the venue held 80,000 people-- just about the same number as Rich Stadium!

The "playing field has completely disappeared, so looking down into the arena, what you see today is the staging area/storerooms that initiallywere in the basement of the Coliseum. There are a lot of passageways and chambers where they used to keep animals, and where gladiators woudl prepare. Nowadays, it apparently is a great hideaway for cats.

Here's a view of the Capotaline Hill taken from inside the Coliseum. You can see some other ruins that at one time were part of the political center of the city (and empire):

Tomorrow I'll post some more images from the Forum and some of the other ancient diggings.

A Couple Post-Election Political Comments

I know the election is now old news, but being out of the country while it all unfolded meant that I'm only now catching up on a lot of the commentary and analysis that came in its wake. I wanted to comment on two things, one which I haven't seen addressed anywhere else, and the other as a follow-up to something I posted before the election:

1. The last couple of national tracking polls conducted the day before the election (one was Gallup, and the other was Rasmussen), had Obama leading with a projected 53% of the vote. That ended up being exactly what he got. The polls had McCain at around 44%, and he ended up a couple of points higher (with all other candidates splitting about 1%). Here's what I find a little interesting--McCain seems to have picked up all of the last-minute undecided vote. The reason I think this is interesting is that it suggests a corollary to the so-called Bradley effect that so many pundits were writing and talking about during the campaign. This effect said that African-American candidates could expect a dip from their poll numbers once people actually voted, since some of those polled would lie to pollsters in an effort to appear non-racist but register their true feelings in the voting booth. Some said the potential swing could be up to 7% (as happened to Tom Bradley when he ran for governor of California some years back, hence the name). Obviously, that effect did not come into play in the manner some anticipated, as Obama met his projection. But I wonder if maybe some aspect of the effect was hidden in those who told pollsters they were undecided. Since it appears that virtually all of them swung to McCain, is it possible they hid their bias by telling pollsters they were undecided rather than saying they supported Obama? I suspect that analysis won't hold up to closer scrutiny, but it was an idea that crossed my mind.

2. I wrote earlier about the unfortunate "guilt by association" being propagated against Obama by McCain and Palin in relation to the former Weatherman Bill Ayers. To his credit (I think), Ayers resisted joining the debate, and thereby lending credence to what he now accurately (I think) refers to as the Republicans' "dishonest narrative" about him. But now that the election is over, he has been willing to talk openly about his past, his association with Obama, and his general views on America and its history of the past 50 years. One of the most in-depth interviews occurred with Walter Shapiro at Salon.com, which you can find here. I'm sure that many will read Ayers account and question whether he's being fully honest, but to anyone with even a passing knowledge of sixties activism, it rings quite true-- and, by the way, the views/attitudes he expresses about his radical past are totally consistent with the professional life he's carved out for himself in the years since. Plus, he almost makes me wish I'd been in Grant Park instead of Venice on election night.

Italy Trip 10

Here are some more photos from Assisi. The first is of the Basilica of St. Francis, which sitts on a little hill at the west end of the town. As I alluded to in my last post, there are actually two Basilicas, one on top of the other. This is the "upper" Basilica, which is the more impressive on the outside (while the "lower" Basilica, where St. Francis is interred, is cooler inside):

Again, there are all kinds of interesting things that one passes by in the streets, including hidden alleys and side streets, weird looking steps going up to seemingly nowhere, and plenty of nicely arrayed decorations and gardens that seem to pop out all over:

The day we were in Assisi. it was very foggy (which you can probably see in some of the photos). The worst part of this is that it made it difficult to get a nice view of the valley below the town, which to the naked eye looked spectacular. Here's the best I could do with the camera (click to enlarge and get a little more detail). This is from the concourse in front of the upper Basilica:


Here's the entry to the lower Basilica. One actually sits on top of the other,. and I don't know if that was by design, or maybe the result of over time deciding to create an more impressive external view for the pilgrims. This is fancy, but kind of hidden below street level:

Last one from Assisi-- I noticed these two nuns walking below a foot bridge we were crossing on our way back to the bus. Somehow it seemed a particulary relevant shot of what is a very Catholic town:

The next installment (probably tomorrow) will start to cover our adventures in Roma!

Italy Trip 9

Driving down from Florence to Rome, we took a little side trip to Assisi (in the region of Umbria). The home of St. Francis is a little medieval town on the side of a hill, and more or less intact from
about 600-700 years ago. You can walk from one end to the other in about twenty minutes, and along the way, there are all kinds of interesting things to see, like religious paintings done in the side of walls:

On the east end of the town is the Piazza de St. Clare, where we stopped to plan our tour. The church has some interesting arches along the side, as you can see here:

The streets of Assisi are very narrow, hilly, and winding with pedestrians and cars having to be on the lookout for each other.

In the center of the town is an old Roman temple that was converted to a Catholic church sometime back in the middle ages. Here's the fountain in the square (which is not as old as the temple, I'm sure):

And here's the facade of the temple:

In the next post, I'll have some shots of the Basilicas of St. Francis (and yes, I meant that to be plural).

The Last Movie I Saw

I drove up to Bozeman yesterday to do a little Christmas shopping, and while there took the opportunity to catch the film Appaloosa, directed by and starring Ed Harris, along with Viggo Mortenson, Renee Zellweger, and Jeremy Irons. Here are a few comments about it:

1. One of the things that I've come to notice about westerns (especially) since I moved to the West, is that they often revolve around a perception of westerners as cowards. This isn't anything new-- you see it as much in the films of the forties and fifties as in the more revisionist recent movies. Of course, I'm not talking about the cowardice of the heroes , but of the citizens of the towns that the heroes are compelled, for one reason or another, to rescue. In Appaloosa, lawman Virgil Goode (Harris) and his deputy Everett Hitch (Mortenson) are handed almost carte blanch authority by the town's aldermen because they (the aldermen) are cowering in fear of the powerful landowner who pushes them around (played by Jeremy Irons). Think about it for a moment-- this happens all the time in Westerns-- the average people are portrayed as dependent children. That is so at odds with the way that westerners think of themselves, since they mostly identify with the likes of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, but in the mythology, those type of heroes are the exception and not the rule. This actually conforms to the truth of the matter explained by Patricia Limerick in her classic study of Western history, Legacy of Conquest, where she demonstrates that the majority of westerners were not so much rugged individuals who pulled themselves up by dint of their own courage and ability, but largely dependent on the protections offered them by government handouts (like the Homestead Act) or a willingness to turn control of their communities over to strongmen little different from the tinpot dictators we associate with third world countries. Interesting to think that, although this is rarely the main theme in western films, it is such a pervasive element in many (My Darling Clementine, High Noon, High Plains Drifter, etc., etc.).

2. The last western I went to see in the theater was the remake of 3:10 to Yuma directed by James Mangold and starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. That movie got a lot more attention than Appaloosa, but it is a considerably inferior film in many ways, despite its arguably higher star power. I remember thinking when I saw Yuma that it had all the characteristics of the run-of-the-mill modernistic action film, with explosions and quick-cutting that falsely heightened tension not through narrative drama, but by creating phony confusion through editing. Frankly, I considered it a piece of hackwork, though the performances were strong. Appaloosa, as directed by Harris (whose only previous directorial effort, I believe, was the bio-pic Pollack), is much more stately, allowing the camera to linger over the landscapes, allowing actors to appear in shots together to emphasize how well they play off one-another, and employing a number of character point-of-view shots that neatly embellish the dynamics of their relationships to one another. I wouldn't argue that every set-up is perfect, but it's clear that Harris is willing to use the camera in support of his actors and story, and not as an alternative force to unilaterally manipulate the audience's reactions.

3. Fifty years ago, westerns were all over the movie and television screens of the country, and most hewed pretty closely to the tried and true formulas and styles long associated with the genre. Since about 1980, after westerns had declined in popularity, most that have appeared have been squarely in the revisionist camp, deliberately seeking to undermine in one way or another the standard tropes of the classical westerns. Many have been quite good (like Eastwood's Unforgiven, or even the less ambitious Tombstone). Appaloosa strikes me as much more in the classic vein. In some ways it's similar to the recent Open Range, especially in the relationship drawn between the two men at the center of the story. But it seems to shy away from many of the characteristics of the typical revisionist western, not the least in it's portrayal of violence. While there is a considerable amount of gunplay, it is not accompanied by buckets of blood, or gruesome depictions of wounds. That's kind of refreshing (and just to be clear: I like a lot of the revisionist westerns, too-- but it's nice to see something with a slightly different agenda).

4. The cast of this film is peopled largely by familiar faces that have made their fame in genres other than westerns. Harris has done work in westerns before (anyone remember Walker, one of the most perverse (not in a sexual way) of revisionist westerns?), but I was struck at how well Mortenson, and especially Jeremy Irons fit into this milieu. The big surprise was seeing Timothy Spall as one of the aldermen (and the main source of comic relief in the film). In some ways his appearance was as surprising, and welcome, as John Cleese's in Silverado. The only main performer who kind of left me flat was Renee Zellweger, who I used to like a lot, but more recently seems to be phoning in her parts (probably unfair, but for me, she just doesn't seem to exhibit the flair I saw earlier in her career).

So overall, I thought it was a good, entertaining movie. But if you don't like westerns-- no reason to think this is the one that will win you over.

Italy Trip 8

After touring the monastery mentioned earlier, I headed over to the street market surrounding San Lorenzo's church (built by the Medicis as their own personal "chapel"). Here's a shot of some of the vendors who crowd all around the square and streets around the church (which you can see in the background):

I then headed over to meet Bill for lunch. We'd agreed to rendezvous at the Piazza degli Uffizi, where I arrived to find a big demonstration going on in front of the statue of Neptune. It seems the local university students were protesting government cuts to education. There were a lot of speeches, and a pretty big crowd, but no unruliness.

After lunch, I headed for the Post Office to find stamps. It turned out to be a very confusing place-- with about 20 lines, some of which were for phone and telegraph services, but I couldn't make any sense of it (I found out later, most folks get their stamps at the little tobacco shops you can find anywhere). But here's a picture of the patio in front of the Post Office, which was filled with flower sellers:

Here's my favorite picture of all I took (though I admit, it doesn't reproduce here very well). Bill and I went back to where we heard the folk singer the night before, and this time there was a Polish musician playing some classical guitar. As we sat and listened, it started to drizzle a little, and I got this shot of a lonely stroller going down a side street with his umbrella up.

One more night shot, this one of the cafes that lined the Piazza. Notice how the rain-soaked stones nicely reflect the lights of the square:

That's probably it for today (I've run out of things to do while the computer uploads the pictures), but I'll have more tomorrow or Sunday at the latest.

Italy Trip 7

We spent two days in Florence, and on the first evening, after dinner, Bill and I wandered back to the Piazza degli Uffizi and by chance caught a street performer singing with his guitar in the corner of the square. The acoustics there were remarkable, and you could hear his for blocks around. Here's a pic (I know it's really dark, and his spotlight played havoc with my flash, but I think you'll get a little sense of the atmosphere):

Here's a little better night shot of one of the streets running up from the Piazza to the Duomo:

The next day was entirely free until dinner, without any guided tours. Upon waking up, I discovered our room had a little balcony. Here's the view of the Arno River across the street from our hotel:

Here's another shot of the river from the park above its banks, a couple blocks down from the hotel (looking east):

I eventually walked up through a farmer's market and made my way over to the Academy Art Gallery, where Michaelangelo's David is housed. I don't have any pictures of that, because it wasn't allowed, but following that I went over to the Monastery de San Marco, which was adjacent to the Academy across the square. This was a pretty neat place. Each of the "cells" for the monks had a picture painted onto the wall by a Renaissance artist named Beato Angelico (again, sorry there are no photos). This was the monastery from which Savonorola launched his political and religious takeover of Florence, which apparently was as bloody as the Spanish Inquisition. Some of the Medici family followed the orders there as well (and had noticeably fancier digs than the run-of-the-mill monks). It's also one of the places where they produced illuminated holy books, and I was able to go through the studio and see lots of examples of their work. Here's a picture of the garden in the center of the courtyard of the monastery:

And a closeup of one of the paintings done in the archways under the canopy surrounding the courtyard (also, I think, by Beato):

After that, I wandered over to the central market and then headed to meet Bill for lunch. The next post will have some shots from that afternoon and evening.

Friday Family Blogging

I'll be getting back to Italy pictures shortly, but wanted to announce the winner to the last photo contest (the one where I questioned what Tom was looking at in Times Square). Well-- all the answers were good, so all the participants win 1 Euro (I have to get rid of all that change I accumulated overseas somehow). I should have the prizes next time I see each of you.

For this week's quiz, take a look at the following, and tell me who it is buried in the sand:

The first one with a correct response get a framed copy of this picture:

Put your guesses in comments, and I'll work on getting some more Italy pictures up.

Political Comment

I mentioned in one of the earlier posts about my Italy trip that we watched the election returns come in starting at 2:30 in the morning (Venice time) through Obama's speech in Grant Park around 6:00 am (after which we got about an hour's sleep before getting up to drive down to Florence). As regular readers of the site can imagine, I was quite thrilled with the results, and there was something special about receiving them in a foreign country, courtesy of a foreign news service (the BBC).

As a student of American history, I'm well aware that for most of our country's existence it was viewed by people around the world as a special place, filled with opportunity whether economic, political or social. Even though there have been long stretches when we collectively failed to live up to the fullness of that promise (often involving the treatment of minorities, immigrants, and women), there was always a general sense that we'd overcome those shortcomings and truly embrace the ideals we professed since the days of the founding fathers, ideals that revolved around the core values of freedom, democracy and equality. Certainly that was essential to compel the waves of foreigners who came to this country to share in those opportunities despite what were often overwhelming odds, including a degree of resentment from nativists who begrudged them their share of the American dream. Obviously most of those of African descent did not choose to come here, but from the earliest days of the Republic, they too felt invested in the promise of how America defined itself (check out the poetry of Phyllis Wheatley, or the writings of Benjamin Banneker), and could imagine eventually becoming full participants in that dream (even if they couldn't imagine how long or how difficult that transition would be).

Watching the results of the recent election overseas, and reading and hearing the reactions of people whose interests were as world citizens and not as Americans was striking. They almost uniformly saw the result as proof that the US has not lost its connection to those core values; that we have not forsaken, or taken for granted, the leadership role that we assumed through the second half of the twentieth century-- that is, leadership based on ideals of international community, compassion, and collaboration and not just unitary military might (which has sadly been the direction we've drifted in the past eight years). They did not seem to feel this way primarily because of the historic selection of a black man (though that was certainly part of the heightened drama invested in this election), but because we selected a leader who represented thoughtfulness, deliberation, engagement and optimism and rejected the politics of selfishness, bullying and fear. Granted, it remains to be seen if Obama can live up to all of those expectations, but it can only be an aid that he'll come into office with not just a mandate from the American electorate, but also the momentum of international respect and support.

Italy Trip 6

This is a short addendum to my previous post-- it isn't just the ceilings, walls, etc., but also in the middle of the streets:

I'll have more pictures from Florence (and maybe Assisi) by tomorrow, including my favorite shot from the whole trip.

Italy Trip 5

Since I mentioned the Duomo in a previous post, I thought I might add some pictures from that impressive place. Let's start with one from the outside:

Inside, there are no pews (it seems that it serves more as a tourist attraction today than a working church, though I'm sure they use some of the side chapels for services):

Here is a picture of the interior of the famous dome designed by Brunelleschi (another key Renaissance figure). Apparently no one knows for sure what engineering alchemy he employed to keep the dome afloat (so to speak), given its size and weight. However he did it, the way it's decorated inside is quite the sight to see:

And one more with a bit closer image of 0ne of the panels in the dome:

Those Italians sure liked to paint on the ceilings (and walls and doors and windows and pretty much everywhere else as well). Does anyone anywhere do that anymore?

Italy Trip 4

One of my favorite places in Florence is the Piazza degli Uffizi, which runs between the main public square (where the Medieval government offices were) and the Arno River. The Piazza is lined with statues of the key Renaissance figures who made Florence their home (and hence, made Florence the center of the Renaissance), such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Machiavelli, Dante, etc. Here's a picture of our group as it made its way through the Piazza (Randy Horst, the Art professor who organized the trip is in the green shirt in the center)

Here's a closer picture of the statue of Leonardo, under which one of his contemporary descendants is plying his trade:

Here's a view looking south to the end of the Piazza. The view through the arch is actually of the south side of the Arno River. In the reduced image here, I like how it almost looks like a painting on the back wall, but if you click to enlarge, you can tell it's actually the background beyond the arch:

Here's one more, looking west along the river from the Ponte Vecchio (a bridge lined with jewelry shops). The building with the visible arches to the left is the courtyard at the end of the Piazza degli Uffizi.

Even given all that we saw and did in the few days we were in Italy, there was of course a lot that remained to explore. My biggest excuse for some day going back may be that I still have not seen the art collection inside the Uffizi Museum, which lines the Piazza. There were just too many other things to fill up the days while we were there!

Italy Trip 3

Okay, I'm up to day three of the Italy trip here. Bill and I got up at 2:30 in the morning to track the election results on BBC (available in our hotel), and didn't end up getting back to sleep until about 6:00 am (after Obama's speech in Grant Park). Despite missing so much sleep, we were strangely energized for the next day and got up around 7:30 to stroll down to the Adriatic Sea (a couple blocks from our hotel. The sunrise seemed particularly beautiful and promising of good things to come, especially in light of what had occurred back in the USA (more on that in later posts).

After breakfast, we loaded into the bus for the drive to Florence. Here's a scene (through the window, so a little washed out) of the kind of scenery we were rolling through:

Once in Florence, we immediately headed for the ceter of the city, congregating in the Piazza de San Croce. Our guide Carolina referred to this as one of the prettiest churches in all of Italy (and believe me, there's lots of competition):

We had a couple of hours before our planned guided tour, so everyone headed off in search of lunch or to do a little independent sightseeing. I was curious to see how much of the city I could remember from my last trip eight years ago, so headed for some of places I recalled visiting last time. Here's the Piazza de Signorile (I think I remember that right), where I spent part of New Year's Day 2000. Back then it was deserted (everyone sleeping in from the celebration the night before). I was glad to see the carousel is still there:

From there, Bill and I wandered over to the Duomo (bishop's cathedral), on the steps of which my friends and I celebrated the incoming new millenium. Bill took a picture of me standing on the steps, roughly where I was standing on that night eight years ago (I don't think I have a picture from the first visit, so it was nice to get one this time):

Florence is probably my favorite place of all those I've visited in Italy, and I'll have some more pictures from there to post shortly.

Italy Trip 2

I'm dividing up these messages because I have to be somewhere in 45 minutes, and I'm not sure I'd get everything done in a single post. As mentioned before, from Milan we took the tour bus to our first hotel, which was on the mainland across from Venice (which, as I'm sure you all know, is a collection of islands where there is no car traffic at all). The place where we stayed was a nice resort area that apparently caters mostly to German tourists (there were a number of German-language stations set on the TV, but also a couple English stations, which would come in handy on night two, as I'll explain in a future post). After a good night's sleep, we headed by ferry for Venice, where we spent a most enjoyable day. Here's a picture of the dock area as we pulled into the city:


From there we had a walking tour to various churches and piazzas, culminating in Piazza de San Marco (where we visited a glass-blowing studio). Here's a picture of what I guess constitutes a traffic jam in Venice, with three Gondolas backed up on a side canal:


Following the guided tour, we were on our own for the afternoon. I started out by going through St. Mark's. Here's a picture of my friend Bill in front of the church:


Here's a wider view of the cathedral from the perspective of the nearby canal:


Okay, more from Venice a little later (maybe tomorrow) as I have to head to a meeting. Feel free to leave comments on the pictures. If you were hoping to see something in particular, let me know, as I may have a picture of it. As I mentioned earlier, I really took a lot of them!

Italy Trip 1

Okay, I'm back from my trip to Italy, and as promised, plenty of pictures to share. I actually counted 1498-- but don't worry, I'll only be posting the really good ones. If you want to see the whole set, maybe I'll sell them in a series of CDs (but frankly, maybe 20% are really worth seeing). So, in this post I'll just give a basic outline of the trip , with some appropriate photos as accompaniment.

We landed in Milan, and because our group was scattered over three incoming flights, those of us who got there first had some time to kill. So where else do you go, but to the mall:


This may be the original Galleria (that's really the name), built several hundred years ago as a market, and now a high-end shopping center. Right next door is the only Gothic Cathedral in Italy (most of the famous churches there are in either the Renaissance or Byzantine style):


We also had time to visit the old fortress/castle that housed the rulers of the city back in the Middle Ages (and where we caught the tail-end of a wedding):


Then we hustled back to the bus to go back to the airport and pick up the rest of our group. After that, it was on to Venice (which I'll save for the next post).

Italy Blogging!

I managed to find a free internet connection (in our hotel in Vellitri, outside Rome), so here is a quick note to say Iàm having a great time and will have plenty of stories and photos to share once I get back to Montana. We've been to Milan, Venice, Florence, Assisi, and now Roma. My feet are killing me from all the walking, but I'm ready to head out again today for more. I hope everyone is well back in the States (and comfortable, if not thrilled with the election results-- we stayed up from 2.30 to 6.00 am to follow th returns, and it was well worth it!). Look for photos here by Wednesday, and in the meantime, ciao!