A scary ascent...

Today we (the class) climbed to the top of the local bell tower. Recently restored and not yet open to the public (read, still dusty). I took some pictures with my little Cannon camera, all I had on me at the time. I don't know how they'll come out, will try to get them onto my computer tonight or tomorrow.

In any case, this bell tower was amazing. Its some 50 meters tall (read 150 feet). Solid brick. The walls at the base are very thick and the stairs crawl up through a tunnel in the brick. Then about half way up things open up. The walls get thinner and the stairs change into new ones installed during the restoration. They are a single I-beam running up the middle with wooden treads mounted to them. Glass side walls and open space between the treads.

So you are in a large, high-ceilinged room inside the tower and the stairs run around the edges a couple of times. Then they leap straight across the open space and up into an opening in the ceiling to the next higher room. The stair structure is pretty flexy. As you walk you feel it bounce a little bit. Totally freaky.

You do this process all over again at the next level up, then arrive at a narrow ledge running around the bells. These are pretty decent sized bells, two of them hooked up to the local clock. We happened to be up there when it struck 12:30... scared the bejeusus out of us. We all grabbed the railing at the first strike... hadn't known it was coming. The walkway is fence and railed securely, but narrow and sloped towards the edge. And very high. A great view. It is a long way down to the pavement below. Little tiny police cars in front of the local carbinari office.

I totally recommend this if you ever come to Macerata. :^)

- Brian -

There! Fixed

Now you can click on the picture in the right hand side bar and go straight to the slide show. Complete with captions. I've got to get some weird stuff about Italy posted... there are plenty of things to choose from!

Cheers-

- B -

Quick update...

Hello all-

Sorry that there haven't been too many posts of late. Internet access here is spotty and my computer screen has gotten much worse. Plus we actually have to work a lot of the time! I mean, what do they think I came to Italy for??? On Tuesdays and Thursdays for example, I have a beginning Italian class for two hours starting at 9:00, then an architecture history class from 11:00 to 1:00. Break until 3:00, then studio work until 7:00. By then I'm starved and head home to eat. But to get to the internet I have to come back to the studio space. So, needless to say, I've not been writing a whole lot.

But am settling in. Today is Saturday, I assembled the bike this morning and then rode around town doing some drawing assignments that we need done for Monday. I'm not too happy with most of them but there are one or two I'm willing to share and will scan on Monday when we get access to the regular computer room again. Evenings and weekends here we only have access to our own machines and a wireless. And thats only until 11:00pm when then shut off the electricity. Apparently that was a real compromise on their part... Italian students go home at 7:00 and stay there. American architecture students like to work until 2:00am. So I guess 11:00pm was a compromise.

And those pictures I posted were supposed to have captions... where the heck did they go?

- Brian -

And on to Macerata...

Did you know that you have to register with the Italian police now to access the internet??  Apparently ever since the bombing in Milan last year they require any internet provider, such as a cafe or hotel, to register who is given access on any given day.  

Which cuts down on the number of wireless hotspots around let me tell you.

I made it on down to Macerata yesterday.  Got off to a rocky start.  Locked myself out of my hotel room.  Got back in, had breakfast, packed up and went on over to the train station.  Wandered around looking for where the machines were where I could get my tickets.  Note that wandering around the trainstation (up and down stairs) is non trivial when you are pulling a suitcase with the bike in it, have something like 50lbs on your back and one more bag in hand which is heavy too.  Too much stuff.  But then I'm going to be here for 2&1/2 months and I had to bring some drafting supplies and all the gear for the bike.  

Anyhow, I find the machines.  I thought that all you needed to do was stick in the credit card you bought the tickets well.  But not so.  You need to punch in the code sequence that was emailed to you.  Which I didn't print out.  But I have a little time left, so I head back to the hotel to pull up the email.  When I get there I discover that I'd actually left my computer behind in the room.  So it was a good thing I came back anyhow.  And then, when I fire up the computer, I discover that the screen has been damaged.  It seems that the new battery that I bought before I left, which was larger and different shaped than the ones I had before, added more stress to the computer frame in the pack while traveling and flexed the lcd display just a little too much.  So now I have a bunch of colored stripey things running down  the middle of my display.  A real bummer. 

But I got the computer, got the code, got the tickets, and still made it to the train with a couple of minutes to spare.  The Italians in my compartment were nice.  Had a nice trip down the coast to Macerata.  Macerata is a lovely little hill town, some 35-40k people.  All out of a sandy colored brick.  Not as fancy as Assisi.  But very nice and comfortable.   Took some nice pictures this morning.  Will post when I can get settled.   We move into our apartments tomorrow, stayed last night and tonight in the local hostel. 

There are some great looking hill towns in biking reach around here.  And I have decided that I liked Cafe Macchiatos very much!

More tomorrow-

     - Brian -

Made it to Milan...

With my bags believe it or not. I was so tired today, kept falling asleep on the airplane from the minute I got on. And of course I had to get a middle seat for the 10 hours from Portland to Frankfurt. I was lucky they put me so far back in the plane that the row was only 7 across instead of the 9s they use farther up front.

But I have to say, those Airbus planes are sure nice, quiet and comfortable. And they even had a decent movie... Juno. I had been wanting to see it but a friend kept saying that they wanted to go too and it never happened. So here I was forced to watch it and it wasn't my fault. The other movie was "National Treasure". I think it is the second. Supposedly we watched the first one on the way home from France in 2005... but fortunately I've forgotten it. Hopefully I'll forget this one too.

Enough of the movie review though. The flights were fine. Everything was on time. Luggage came through in Milan, no problem, bus to the train station in town, no problem. Found hotel and other than I am carrying too much stuff again (because of the bike) all was smooth as clockwork. Got into the hotel around 2:30 and fell asleep. Didn't get out to see Milan this afternoon at all I'm sorry to say. But I was exhausted.

Tomorrow I get onto the train at the station across the street. About 5 hours to Macerata. The central train station here is beautiful. One of the ornate old train sheds. They are restoring it and I bet it will be incredible when they're done.

- B -

Italy or Bust!

You know, I always put off trip planning to the very last minute. I have to be forced into doing the web surfing and making reservations and all that. I think it is because I obsess about getting all the details right... and since I am late in the process reservations are moving quickly. So I find something one place but want to keep looking to see if anything else is just a *little* bit better... and then when I go back, the one I had is gone and everything else is worse. But I have to wait until the last minute, otherwise I'm never forced into making a decision!

Witness my attempting to find a reasonably priced yet decent hotel in Milan for Sunday night when I arrive. Starting the Wednesday before no less. Nothing from a guide book is available. I search and search. Everything is wildly expensive. But I found two good sources of information. There are lots and lots of postings by travelers on Rick Steve's web site. Lots of good yea's and nay's regarding hotels. And they you can find the sites from there. But I'm still in the 130 euro range. Is it just that Milan is too expensive?? Yeah, I think it partly is. It might be partly because Rick Steve's represents a slightly more upscale traveler. IE, the traveler I used to be rather than am currently!

Then I came happened across the Lonely Planet web site. Which of course is a great reference too. And they have a hotel search engine. The reasonable stuff had no availability... but there were a bunch of hotels mentioned that they referred you to a "third party booking agent recommended by Lonely Planet". Which got me to Hotels Made Simple. And that, amazingly enough found lots of hotels, like over a hundred, with availability, and some that were reasonably priced. I think it is one of those meta search engines. It looks at a bunch of search engines and compiles them.

Anyhow, I found a three star near the train station and then googled to see what people said. Reports were good. Price is great. Went to the hotel directly and figured I'd check the pricing there. Price was much higher!?? What the heck is that? I figured that the search engine was just out of date or something and when I attempted to complete the booking it would tell me that it was no longer available or something. (Or maybe I'd actually made a booking for 1908 and not 2008??) But no, it seems to have gone through just fine. I think it will be okay. I think the problem is that the hotel's "home page" is actually a booking agency that adds on. Despite their claim of "cheapest rates guaranteed". I saw the same site format at several Milan hotels. But here is where I'll be staying Sunday night then, at the "Monopole".

So, for those following my travels, Carol is taking me to the airport on Saturday at 9:30. That's early for my actual flight which is at 1 something but I want Erin and Emily to come see me off and this way Erin gets back in time to make it to ballet practice that morning. (Which is good... I wouldn't want seeing me to the airport to interfere with ballet!) Then I go through Frankfurt and arrive around 10:30am at Malapresa airport. There is supposed to be a fast train service from the airport into the central train station, dump the bags at the hotel and wander around Milan for the rest of the day. Then I have a train reservation heading for Macerata on Monday. A long trip, 5 hours, hence my hanging in Milan for a day. And the class group is supposed to be assembly in Macerata at 3:30 that afternoon. Cool! :^)

I'll get some links and maps posted here over the next couple of days. Right now I'm going to go and do some of the other million items that I've left to the last minute...! :^)

- B -