Cumulonimbus changes

30 September 2011

So many of my postings have been about the interesting places we have visited; it might be easy for someone reading these entries to imagine our lives as quite glamorous and not picture the daily drudge or the dust under the carpet.

But, it's there. It's just hidden.

OK, I might be focused on that because I've been cleaning our apartment for the past three hours. Maybe I'm a bit preoccupied with the shopping, chopping, preparing, cooking, and laundering that has to be completed in the next three hours before our guests come. Yes, we've finally invited guests to our apartment. Italians.

Gulp.

This means that we definitely CANNOT cook pasta or anything resembling Italian food. I'm still not entirely sure what options that leaves us right now (you can see I'm coping quite well - look at me, writing an entry instead of doing any of the things on my list of things to do). When we invited them they asked if they could come early because they have four kids (from ages 10-2). "Around 7 PM?" That is early here.

We'll see what happens.

In the meantime, I thought I'd also just get caught up with dates, etc. I'm a history teacher so I think I get stuck on chronological order. This and the enjoyment I get out of taking pictures, researching, and writing means that I get a bit behind on the actual date. Since we've not been anywhere monumental and I don't have any major revelations for you, I'll catch us up here with a note on the weather.

A week ago Monday, September 19th, the weather changed. On Sunday we were sweating in the sun and then early Monday morning (around 2AM), there was a three hour thunderstorm complete with cannon shots and fireworks. I've never experienced anything like it in my life; it was the closest I've ever been to a war zone.

The next day, all of the Viterbese (people from Viterbo) were decked out in trousers and sweaters. And this is how it has been ever since. Spot the tourist: they have shorts and short sleeves on!

We've not had another storm like it, but a few threatening skies. I took this photo last Sunday.

I'll let you know how the meal goes. In the meantime, I've still got some dusting to do.

Tufo!

Sunday, September 18

I had no idea what tufo/tuff was. Now I know. It is a type of rock made from volcanic ash. It is good for keeping things cool, but it can get quite damp. We visited a town made of tufo today called Barbarano Romano, population 900.

But all of that happened near the end of the day. In the beginning, Neil and Alex ran around the walls (5K) while Eleni and I...I'm not sure what we did, but it did not involve running. When they returned, we packed up the car again for another long day. This time we headed south on the Cassia Sud, which is one of the oldest roads in Europe. It connects Rome to Viterbo to Bolsena. Our little Fiat Panda chugged along for an hour to visit a family.

We had an enjoyable and easy going lunch (these last 4-5 hours, too). Afterwards, our hosts invited us to explore the town with them. The cliffs around Barbarano Romano have been inhabited since the 6th century BC. There are Etruscan ruins here, and you already know that the current city was built on tufo!

There is only one way in and one way out of the less than a half mile long Barbarano Romano. Here it is.

You can immediately smell the damp. It's omnipresent.

The city built in and around the tufo rock. The cellars of these homes go down two-three stories! Pitch black openings that made me a bit nervous about walking near with the kids.

Etruscan ruins in the natural reserve which is part of the town.

A doubly protected town! See the spaces for shooting arrows at your enemy?

Gelato and home again!

Damned

Saturday, September 17

No, Hello Kitty is not damned. In fact, she is somewhat revered here. I just took this photo because I wanted to show you a store near our bank where we started the day off from. We rented a car for the weekend again.

After the bank, our first stop was a town called Bagnoregio. That is not entirely accurate though as we didn't even get to Bagnoregio. We really just wanted to go to the old town which is referred to as Civita, the dying city. It has been nearly abandoned due to its risky subsidence. A sturdy bridge has been created to keep the two towns joined.
Alex and Neil were long gone by the time Eleni and I got going (you can just see them half way there)!

Here we are in Civita.

So, it's not entirely deserted. This is unfortunate, because it takes away from the whole adventure of it. There were plenty of tourist shops.

Eleni's first experience with a Turkish toilet.

We found a beautiful 1581 Cathedral in the center called San Nicola. It survived the great earthquake of 1695 which started the erosion of the town. Inside, we found the body of St. Ildebrando (Patron saint of Bagnoregio. I cannot find anything interesting to tell you about him except that his festival is on August 22).

Foreshadowing of what was to become of the city?

Empty, overgrown buildings everywhere.

An hour later and we were on our way out.

We returned to our car. Just in time, too. Our parking stub had only two minutes left. The police has visited the car park recently, as there were a few with tickets. Interesting which crimes are chosen to pursue here...

We got in the car and within ten minutes we crossed the border from Lazio into Umbria. This was a surprisingly big event for the kids. Twenty minutes and several windy roads later, we were in Orvieto. There is a huge car park close to the hill Orvieto is on. We parked our car and took the elevator up to this site (I was far more interested in the couple on the left than the history at this point).

We wandered through the streets for a while, but, aside from gelato and coffee, we had only one main historical goal. We've learned our lesson: keep it simple. Despite the fact that Orvieto is crowded with the beautiful and the famous, we kept to this simple rule. We didn't even stray into any shops. And yes, even Hello Kitty was here, too.

Once again, I had not read ahead. I hadn't even looked in the tour book except to quickly read that the Duomo was a highlight. So, it was. It may seem ignorant of me, but I have to admit that I am enjoying the surprise of these old cities. Having few expectations is working out so far...

This is why the view below shocked me.

And then, bam! Here we are.

I've read quite a bit after the fact, so there is much I could write about the Duomo now. But, I'll keep my comments here short. Besides, I have a feeling we will return.

The building of the Duomo began in 1290, on the foundations of an Etruscan temple and some earlier churches. Pope Nicholas IV wanted this Cathedral built to house the blood stained linen from the Miracle of Bolsena. I'll digress. In 1263, A priest in Bolsena was consecrating the host when blood poured forth. This relic was immediately brought to Orvieto and forevermore the church holiday of Corpus Christi has been celebrated.

The outside was spectacular, and then you go in. Its immense space reminded me of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Massive. Medieval. Spiritual.

And then the Renaissance part of it makes it even better. Not being prepared has its merits in that this was overwhelming, and interesting to look at with the kids. Eleni was grossed out by it within minutes, but Alex stuck around and we followed the story of the damned. The San Brizio Chapel is dedicated to telling the story of the apocalypse. It's intense.

There were sign posts saying NO PHOTOS, but the swarms of tourists were blatantly taking them anyway. Being a damn tourist as well, I followed with my more subtle method (camera in purse drive by shot). So, what you see here is my forehead on the top right, and then on the left, which is really the main panel when you walk in, is Fra Angelico's Christ the Judge. That is a wholesome piece.

In sharp contrast, you can see Luca Signorelli's torturous end (or beginning of their lives in hell) of the sinners on the left and The Resurrection of the Flesh on the right. Unfortunately, I was feeling quite guilty about taking photos at this point and the paintings were too much of a reminder, so I did not get the fresco of the antichrist for you. This is unfortunate, as it was my favorite.

We politely avoided the wedding that was taking place in the Cathedral and walked across the aisle to the other chapel in honor of the blood stained linen. By this point, I was high on guilt, so I have nothing to show you.

We exited. Photos allowed.

The square just outside the Duomo.

You are walking around in awe of everything and then, bam! You get brought back to the 21st (or 20th?) century. Alex and Eleni had a great time calling their father, Papa Puffi (ok, I did, too.).

Keeping to our rule of just visiting ONE church, we had lunch and then left Orvieto. Here is a photo of the wall above the car park.

Next, Alex and Eleni had a birthday party to go to! Forty minutes later we were here in the hills overlooking Orvieto.

A word about birthday parties here. In the States, parties run 1-2 hours and, as your kids get older, you get to drop off and run. We've been to three birthday parties in the past week (I wish I was kidding) and each one was 4-5 hours with adults expected to stay and chat. Champagne even!

So, five hours later, we drove home in the dark. There were so few lights in the hills that the stars shown perfectly; it was comforting knowing that we're under the same sky.

flying rats

September 16, 2011

Ubiquitous. I never knew life with pigeons before this year and now I know too much.

Here are two happily perched on the furthermost wall of new Tarquinia. Yes, I've been to this city before with my family, but this time I visited this site with my Art History class. I'm taking a class at the University here (in English) and we went on a seven hour field trip to Tarquinia.

I learned more about the town itself this time whereas before I was focused mainly on the Etruscans and going swimming in the Mediterranean. This part of Tarquinia was originally named Corneto, but it was changed in the 1920s when Mussolini brought it back to celebrate the glory of Italian history. That, and the word corneto has a bad connotation in Italian. Either way, the wall that surrounds current day Tarquinia is just 500 years old. I was actually disappointed.

It is exciting to be led through a town by a professor who knows the subtle differences in architecture. He read the buildings for us. The bricks on the left are typical Renaissance (called pillow blocks).

This building is located in the center, just as the town merges from Renaissance to Medieval and where the earlier wall stood. The flat front covering the blocks is clear Renaissance.

I never got to ask the Professor what this meant. It is located just outside the above building in the main square. Hand of Fatima? Protection against the evil eye?

This building is next to the pure Renaissance one above. It's a great mixture of the medieval and Renaissance coming together.

But, before we leave the main square, I'd like to pay homage to my distraction: pigeons everywhere. This is what the roof next to our apartment looks like at times. Just around 6AM every morning they spring into action and coo, flutter, and stomp. They leave feathers of all shapes and sizes and, the highly prized fertilizer, pigeon poop. Regardless, I'm quite taken by their coloring and I enjoy watching their movements. They are quite photogenic, aren't they? But not at 6 AM.

We walked into the Medieval part of town. How can you tell that the city had hard times? Towers. Towers meant there was a need for defense. This tower, just next to an old church, is for sale if interested.

We walked further into the medieval part of the town. It was here, under this arch/former road/joined homes/pigeon coup that the professor referred to pigeons as flying rats. Pigeons as flying rats! Sigh. I realized I was getting a bit too attached when I had to control my urge to protest. Goodness! They are revered in several religions (and by Bert!) and they are even considered one of the smartest birds.

Enough about pigeons. I'll move on. I'm sure this might be a sign that I'm losing it.

We visited the Etruscan museum and then we had a half hour of free time. I filled my wanderings with pistachio gelato and the best substitute for Starbucks' chocolate covered coffee beans ever: Pocket Expresso. After leaving new Tarquinia, we visited the tombs on the necropolis (city of the dead) around 6 PM. The light was just perfect; we glowed in the northern Lazio sun! Here are some urns that were found in the tombs.

Across the valley - away from the city of the dead was the living city of Tarquinia. The true ancient Etruscan city is overgrown with grass and trees (and probably packed with pigeons!).

We visited a few of the tombs. I think this one with leopards and the banquet scene is my favorite. You can see the leopards at the top.

Ok. What do you know about chemtrails? One of the leaders of the tour was insistent that these lines left from jet planes was part of a government conspiracy.

And, a loving farewell before getting on the bus. Lush pomegranates. Thinking of you, Ancient World friends!