Jazz & Dinner & Fieldtrip...

Well, there have been few postings being made of late... mainly because I've been busy! We have class 8 hours each day except for on Fridays when we go on an all day field trip. And then of course there is all the outside class work that needs to get done as well. But there has been time for some pure fun too.

Last Tuesday we went to a jazz concert here in Macerata at the Lorro Rossi Theater. This place was great! It is one of those old style theaters before they knew how to build balconies. So there was seating on the floor surrounded by four tiers of box seat rooms. We were on the second tier. Supposedly these were not such great seats (I guess compared to being on the floor) but they were a lot of fun and gave a great view.

The music was a pianist and trumpet player. They did a mellow jazz thing that was really very nice. I was impressed by the way the trumpet player could hold a perfect note out as long as he wanted to. His playing form was funny... he sat on a regular chair and would scrunch his body all tight when doing difficult notes. Seemed like exactly the opposite of what you should do for your diaphragm but he clearly knew more about it than I do.

Wednesday night we went out for dinner at a local trattoria that was excellent. There is not a lot of variety in food here... your choices are basically Italian or pizza. The variety comes in with what kind of restaurant you select... you can buy pizza at a place with a counter and walk away with it, or you can buy pizza at a restaurant where you sit down and enjoy the meal there. Still, the food is great. This restaurant we went to had hand made tagolini with asparagus sauce, then roasted potatoes, chicken and pork chops for the main. Apparently this region is know for pork and tough chicken. They like chicken that tastes like it came from a bird that worked hard pecking up all those seeds. No growth hormones for these folks.

Friday was a field trip. We went to a lovely Romanesque church. These date from around the 1400s, after the first roman empire and a little before the second. Very heavy structures of brick, tall and dark inside. The did not dare to put in very large windows. And they had little or no glass so used thin slabs of alabaster instead. These glow golden when the sun is behind them. Beautiful. From there we visited the ruins of a large roman town, the hill town which exists today above it, and another abbey and church there. I'll see if I can get some photos posted here...

- B -