Carrara - part 3

Once again, this will be a pretty short posting. It was a really cool trip but there's not too much to say about it. Just pretty pictures.


It's hard to tell from the picture, but there was a long drop down from the roads we were on. The bus was whipping around pretty quickly and there are no guard rails. I was feeling pretty sick.


As we approached Carrara's quarries we could see a series of bridges leading from the roads into the mountain. We would enter into one such opening. They took us into the mountain in four van loads. I can't imagine those vans last very long. They drove pretty quickly over really bumpy roads.


The first order of business was for all of us to put matching helmets on. If the mountain collapsed on top of us, these plastic helmets would save us.


It was pretty dark in there but we could see tunnels leading off in different directions. It kind of looked like the Rebel Alliance base on Hoth. If you don't know The Empire Strikes Back well enough, I'm not going to take the time to explain, sir.


It was kind of eerie in there with the odd lighting and caves to who knows where, but with our trusty yellow helmets we weren't afraid of anything.


They got the huge slabs of marble away from the walls by drilling a small space above (as seen in the picture above) and then drilling down the back of the new slab. I thing they said they used explosives too. It was hard to hear in there. I also think that our guide said that they work in fairly small teams because the noise can get so loud in there.


One of the ominous caves. Gollum lives in there.


Our tour guide was so tough that she didn't need a helmet. Here she is seen rapping or something.


A light in the tunnel up ahead. Could be civilization. Could be another lamp. We all took pictures just in case.


Here are some of the vicious cave creatures that Sarah warned me about. Never fear! I was wearing a yellow helmet.


Then our van came back and escorted us back out into the real world. We were made to return our helmets. Apparently they weren't souvenirs. After our trip into the mountain an old Italian man told us all about the recent history (last century or so) of the quarries. John translated some of it but I think he got bored because he wandered off. Luckily Clark was there to fill in. Then it was back on the treacherous road back down the mountain. Our bus driver barely, but ably, managed to maneuver through some twisty small town roads. At one point both sides of the bus were nearly scraping into buildings on either side. Excitement! Then I almost got sick on the ride home again. The end.

Carrara - part 2

I don't have much to say about this posting. It's mainly pictures of the mountains above Carrara and some of the exterior quarries.


That is not snow in the mountains. It's all white marble. Marble comes in many different colors, but Carrara (and the surrounding area including Pietrasanta) is famous for its white marble.


The Romans favored Carrara's white marble. They used it for many things including the Pantheon and Trajan's Column.


It was also very popular around the time of the Renaissance. Michelangelo used it to create his David.


Unfortunately these pictures aren't really showing how beautiful it was up in the mountains.


Here you can start to see the exterior marble excavations.


I'll show the interior excavations in my next posting.


John told us that this area wasn't worked on for a long time until modern technologies allowed them to quarry further down.


I loved watching the machinery at work. They look like toys. I wanted to play with them.


As we walked up into the mountains (out of the back side of a cave that will be in my next posting) we saw that everything was covered in layers of white marble dust. My shoes (and maybe my lungs) were covered with it.

Carrara - part 1

Friday 9/12
Sarah had originally planned to go on the Carrara trip with me, but in the end she decided that she needed to get some work done before her class spill session the following Monday. So I left our apartment around 7 to get to the Piazza Savonarola in front of Syracuse by 7:30. There I met Sean, Luke, Clark, Prof. Hatfield, and about 50 undies. We boarded our bus and were off, probably leaving a few stragglers behind. Actually, a few of the students on our bus were supposed to be going on another trip to Assisi but they just missed their bus and got on our's instead.
We actually went first to Pietrasanta, a town on the coast about 7 miles southeast of Carrara. It has a thriving art community, as it has since the time of the Renaissance. It, as well as Carrara, have always been important for their marble quarries. More on that later.


Pietrasanta is a pretty small town. When we got there it quickly became obvious that they have access to marble. There were quite a few marble sculptures and facades around the main piazza. Their Duomo, the Cathedral of St. Martin, has a marble facade and a lot of marble on the inside. The bell tower was also supposed to be covered in marble but they probably ran out of money somewhere along the way. So it kind of looks like the front of San Lorenzo in Florence, which was also intended to be covered in marble.


Here are two of the marble statues around town. The lion in the background is important because it shows that this area was once under Florentine rule.


Here you can see John ___ lecturing to the class. I forget his last name. He lives in town and is a sculptor and instructor. He is from Huddersfield in Yorkshire, England. I'm sure that you all remember Huddersfield Town F.C. as the team that Herbert Chapman managed (winning two league titles and an FA Cup in the 1920's) before moving on to manage Arsenal (where he also won two league titles and an FA Cup). Anyway, you can also see Prof. Hatfield just behind John ___.


The interior of the Duomo.


More of same.


The Columbian artist Fernando Botero also lives in town and he painted two works for a smaller church down the road. Here is his depiction of heaven. You can see Mother Theresa (kind of) in the bottom left corner.


And here is his depiction of hell. Note Hitler popping his head up. That skeleton is not fat. It is big-boned.


Here is an artistic portal at the end of a row of shops and two undies that got in my way.


We walked around to an artists' workshop where sculptors, bronze workers, and mosaicists were in action. The computer is telling me that I spelled mosaicist incorrectly, but I'll be damned if that's not the proper way. Anyway, here are some lovely piles of scrap marble. We were allowed to take little pieces that were too small to be made into anything. I couldn't pass that up! So now I have a random piece of marble sitting around the apartment.


Here are some of the random finished products that were sitting around the yard.


An earthquake opens the ground between Clark's feet but he can't be bothered while telling a story.


John show's us how it's done. We all got a chance to sculpt a work of art. I made a squiggly line.


Here are some of the materials that will be used in a mosaic. There were people just sitting around putting little scenes together. I couldn't tell if they were all working on the same piece or on separate works.


Here is one of the almost finished products. We were told that it was going to Florida. We assumed that it would be installed in a McDonald's.
We also got a little lesson in bronze working, then left the shops. We had a little time for lunch before moving on to Carrara. I had lunch in a little pizza shop with Prof. Hatfield, John ___, Clark, Sean, and Luke. To be continued on the road to Carrara.

Early September

Tuesday 8/26
I guess I'll actually start before September since there were a couple of noteworthy events during the last week of August. The first was that, after more than a month of working at I Tatti, I got a desk, a computer, and a sign in and password for Harvard's ALEPH catalog. So now I was able to make the appropriate changes to the records I find every day that have some kind of cataloging errors. Most of what I do is pretty basic. If there are more difficult problems I still work on those with Angela (Reference Librarian and Assistant Cataloger). Later that day I became aware that I had the stomache virus that Sarah, Kellin, and many others already had.
Sarah and I met Gian Mario (another librarian at I Tatti) at a pizza place near the Piazza Sant'Ambrosio. We had a really good time chatting with him about I Tatti, Sarah's work at Syracuse, and his time teaching at NYU. Unfortunately, while we were still sitting around talking, the stomache virus showed up. I had the visit the restaurant's bathroom a few times. Luckily, this was a pretty descent bathroom which is an unheard of luxury here in Italy.

Thursday 8/28
The only important thing that happened today was that we went to the J. Joyce Pub for the first time. Sarah and I met Dan and Clark there because we wanted to check it out. I found it while walking around a week before and it looked pretty cool. It's a pub with a Irish writers theme. It's also got a great patio that we would visit a couple of other times before it started getting too cold.

Friday 8/29
I watched Manchester United (winners of the Champion's League) lose to Zenit St. Petersburg (UEFA Cup Champion) in the UEFA SuperCup. It's always nice seeing ManU lose.

Saturday 8/30
We went to Sean and Luke's place, which was documented in the last posting.

Sunday 8/31
This was a pretty lazy day. Sarah was working hard on her presentation preparation so I was on my own. Later, I tried to watch Fiorentina (Florence's professional soccer team) play Juventus. I have since learned that they rarely show Serie A (Italy's top league) games on basic television. Instead, there were four channels showing people talking about the game as it was going on. Since I had nothing better to do I watched one. The analysts would be talking about something while one guy was apparantly watching the game on his computer (which was facing away from the camera). Then the guy watching his computer would start yelling about something that just happened and they'd all start talking about what just happened, I guess. Then one of the other guys would actually go over to a magnetic board in the shape of a soccer field and move little black and white circles around on it to show us what just happened. It was thrilling.

Tuesday 9/2
Sarah and some of the others were working the undergraduate orientation this week. On Tuesday I tagged along with them when they went to the hotel where the kids were staying and ate a huge buffet dinner. I am really teking advantage of Syracuse. I get free food, I get free trips, I use their Internet access. I might feel bad for a second until I remember how much it costs for Sarah to go there. Then I start thinking that they owe me some more free meals. Later, Sarah, Kellin, Sean, Clark, Sarah D., Carrie, and I went across the river to the J. Joyce Pub again.

Thursday 9/4
All this week was also orientation for the new fellows at I Tatti. So I met a lot of new people at work also. One of them named Max would figure into our group later. Today on the way to work I experienced my first bus break down. That was fun. They eventually sent a replacement bus and I just barely made it to work on time. That was almost a disaster as I hate being late.

Friday 9/5
I went with Sarah and her class right around the corner to Piazza Signoria where Tom was presenting his prova. Sarah did this last semester. It's where you are going to lecture to the undergrads, but first you must prova your presentation in front of the grads and Professor Hatfield so that they can let you know what you are doing wrong. Tom was working on politics and sculpture in the Piazza Signoria. It was interesting to see what it is these grad students are doing. Plus, I got to meet Prof. Hatfield. Afterwards, Prof. Hatfield took us out for coffee. Then we all went back to Sarah's school so they could work and so Sarah and Kellin could prepare the group's going away present for Carrie, one of the past grads and TAs.


When everyone had had their fill of studying Sarah, Kellin, Sean, Luke, Tom, Sarah D., Carrie, and I went outside to the Piazza Savonarola (the plaza right in front of their school) to chat, have a mojito (seen above), and eat some apertivi. I can't remember if I've mentioned it or not, but many bars in Italy have this apertivi deal where you buy a drink and get to eat their appetizers. I'm sure they want you to drink a lot and eat a little, but many people buy one drink and load up on food. Some places have really delicious stuff laid out. Anyway, we had these 7 euro mojitos and some crappy apertivi. That's right over $10 for a drink (actually about a bottle of liquor in a forest of greens).


Close-up on the mojito.


Carrie and I take pictures of each other taking pictures of each other. Luke and Sarah try to avoid the cameras. The little stand in the piazza is seen in the background.


My nighttime shot of Sarah and Tom and the others doesn't quite work out.


After drinks in the piazza the group moved over to House of Sizzle. Clockwisearound the table are me, Tom, Sarah D., Carrie, Kellin, Sean, Luke, and Sarah.



Saturday 9/6
It was already almost 30 degrees (85 degrees to you Americans) when I got up at 9. I made lunch while Sarah worked on school stuff. I made penne pasta with panchetta, onions, garlic, mushrooms, peppers, and red sauce. I figured that I should describe what I make like Sarah does. We went to House of Sizzle again at 6 to eat and watch some college football. We saw Ohio State barely beat Ohio. It was pathetic. We met a guy named Nick from Columbus and a couple of other guys that we might watch games with in the future.


Later that night Sarah and Kellin talked about watching a movie but instead became obsessed with the show Ciao Darwin. The program was showing models in different types of underwear walking backand forth like runway models while Italian men stared and slobbered on themselves. It was pretty humorous. I actually got tired of watching, but Sarah and Kellin were overly offended yet obsessed with the display. Then they felt compelled to take pictures of the proceedings.

Sunday 9/7
We went to dinner at La Colonnine (could be spelled correctly) to say goodbye to Carrie. She had accepted a job in New York as a student tour company's Director of European Operations. Sarah, Kellin, Carrie, Sean, Luke, Sarah D., Tom, Paola, Clark, Clark's friend, and I enjoyed a great dinner. I really branched out and tried the Pizza Americana. Mary strolled by later and joined us. After dinner they gave Carrie her gift. It was a Florentine flag that Sarah and Kellin got everyone to sign and write a message to Carrie. It made her cry which made Sarah and Kellin cry. Always the sign of a great gift.

Tuesday 9/9
I went off and got a haircut by myself after work. It was scary since I couldn't communicate with them, but they actually did a better job than last time. Later that night Little Cat made a surprise return. We hadn't been graced by her presence since she mysteriously showed up on the roof tops across the street. That cat moves in mysterious ways. She sniffed around for a while then disappeared again as suddenly as she arrived.

Friday 9/12
I left Sarah to her studying and I went off to Carrara. I'll write about that later.


After I got back from Carrara a group of us went out to drink on the steps of Santa Croce. I love that this church is a popular place to hang out and drink. It started raining, which you can't really see in the photo above.


Sarah huddles under the main entrance to Santa Croce with the rest of us to avoid the rain.


I can't remember what day it was that I walked by this beautiful road construction. A lot of the streets downtown are paved with these large blocks. When they have to repair the roads they pull up the stones, mark them with their locations and order, and replace them later.

Monday 9/15
Sarah and half of her classmates had their spill session today. It is a very stressful time for them and they weren't supposed to be done until after 6 or so. So after work I got off the bus really early and just walked around the northwest side of town. From there I walked south towards the river to the neighborhood in which Lara, Steph, and Dan live (by the way dad, in case you were wondering, Casa LSD is on the eastern corner of the intersection of Lungarno Cristoforo Colombo and Via della Bellariva). Anyway, I went into a store there to buy some supplies. Unfortunately every school kid and their parents within a square mile were also there buying school supplies. I really wanted to buy a pencil and paper so I had to forge my way down that aisle. The aisles were tiny and there were approximately 111 people in that aisle including groups of parents who were camped out at either end of the aisle blocking everything. I ran out of there as fast as I could. After paying for the goods, of course. I walked home a new way, a couple of blocks in from the river. Oh yeah! That's where I saw the construction pictured above. Oh well. I'm too lazy to rearrange the pictures. Besides, these Syracuse computers take forever so I'll leave it at that.


As soon as I got home I got a call to meet the group at Piazza Sant'Ambrosio for some post-spill session venting and apertivi. It was pretty cold out for the first time since I've been here. Above, Sarah, Dan, and Tom try to act like they're having an interesting conversation while Kellin, Lara, Mary, Sarah D., and Stephanie have a real conversation.

I've been in the computer lab at Syracuse for too long. Later.

Party with the Quiet Ones

On Saturday, August 30 most of our group got ready, bought some provisions, and headed out to Sean and Luke' house for a cookout. Sean and Luke are the TAs, and last year's grad students, that Sarah used to call the Quiet One and the Quieter One. I don't know which name applied to which person. They live about two miles east of Florence on the south side of the Arno in a nice little house in the country. It's a pretty cool location, but difficult to get to. We took the bus and then walked quite a while. They have a big yard that was great for a cookout.


Dan and I prepare some food. I was put in charge of making hamburgers. Actually, Sarah mixed the meat, onions, and spices. All I had to do was make them into patties. Everything was delicious.


Everyone was stuffed. We sat around and chatted for a long time. From the back of Dan's head clockwise around the table the picture shows Dan, Lara's back, Kellin, Sean, Luke, Tom, Tom's friend (whose name I forget), Clark, and Sarah. I happened to be behind the camera when the photo was taken.


Some people rode their bikes out. Sarah and I really need to get bikes. All the cool kids have them.


Kellin and Lara play badminton while Clark winds up to hit Sean's pitch.


Clark tries to brush Sarah back from the nonexistant plate and almost takes her head off.


Sarah responded by knocking this pitch out of the park.


Sarah dreams of her missed chance of becoming a professional baseball player. We stayed for a long time until it got dark outside and I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes. We moved indoors for a while then headed back towards town. We ended up at House of Sizzle to watch the first week of college football.


The next day it was back to the real world where papers had to be written.