Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Sandy in Ashfield
Aside from a broken willow tree, we came through unscathed. A lot of minor power outages and some downed trees, and two days of school lost complete the the list of effects in our area. Nothing like Irene or the Halloween snow storm of last year.
Italy 2012 part 4
To get to Spoleto from Siena by train would have required a taxi on each end , a bus, and two trains with tight connections on a Sunday. We opted to be driven by one of the hotel's staff. It was pretty exciting as he checked his cell phone, fooled with a hand held GPS, and drove down the middle of the two lanes, at the same time. The train was starting to look like the right choice, but we arrived safely.
Another great hotel in Spoleto. We had a great room with a wonderful view. The staff were very friendly, but we need to learn a bit more Italian to take full advantage of the opportunities to converse with these nice people.
We were among the very few tourists in Spoleto, a town with bronze age roots, Roman ruins, and largely medieval and early renaissance structures. It is set at the western edge of the Apennine mountains, with lots of great walks in the town and on the surrounding hills. I was too busy enjoying the beauty of this town to take pictures so I've pinched these from the internet. I suggest you search for larger versions.
The duomo is charming and set in a peaceful piazza, complete with a cafe/restaurant.
This bridge ( Punta Dei Torrei) started life as a Roman aqueduct and is 285 feet above the stream it crosses. The views from the bridge are exquisite.
The town has a large fertile valley to the west and forested hills and mountains laced with deep valleys to the east
Above the town is a fortress built in just a few years at the order of a pope out to regain the papal lands from the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire ( neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an empire) in the mid 1300s.
The hill immediately to the east of the town is Monte Lucce. A nice , if steep walk to an old convent and charming little town with a population of 100. Thus it only has two hotels, three restaurants, a pizzeria, and a refreshment stand. All closed ( like most of Italy between 2:30 and 7 PM) when I got there, thirsty and hungry. On one day I went for a long walk, sixteen miles, and climbed two modest mountains. I saw three people on this walk, a few cars, lots of cows, horses, and sheep as well as three overly protective and large sheep dogs. The dogs have to be large enough to discourage the wolves that still live in the Apennines. I also saw some great scenery, ranging from rolling grasslands, to gentle hills to majestic peaks and frowning cliffs. If you get to Spoleto, and you should, try the walks to Monte Castlemont and Monte Fionchi.
The town was occupied by Italians not tourists, and on Sunday night the market square was loud with the cheers, groans, and songs, of the local soccer fans as their team played a neighboring rival. Restaurant meals were good to great, with friends and family of the cook and staff stopping by to say hello, show off babies, etc.
We were in Spoleto for four days and after just two we were semi seriously pricing apartments.
We did a one day trip to Assisi which is another wonderful Umbrian hill town, with the added element of being home to the Basilica of Saint Francis. I took some pictures here, and again, if you can view them in full screen mode you can see some impressive details. The basilica is a wonderful blend of gothic restraint and Italian artistry. It is comprised of a lower church, completed just ten years or so after Francis died in about 1226 and an upper one built on top of the earlier, about 50 years later.
The lower one is particularly inspiring. The town is charming, full of medieval domestic and religious architecture and some Roman remnants as well. It is overlooked by a fortress even more forbidding and older than Spoleto's.
The next day we started our trip home, which despite some very tight connection we completed successfully. Our luggage arrived two days later, but that was okay since we were home.
Another great hotel in Spoleto. We had a great room with a wonderful view. The staff were very friendly, but we need to learn a bit more Italian to take full advantage of the opportunities to converse with these nice people.
We were among the very few tourists in Spoleto, a town with bronze age roots, Roman ruins, and largely medieval and early renaissance structures. It is set at the western edge of the Apennine mountains, with lots of great walks in the town and on the surrounding hills. I was too busy enjoying the beauty of this town to take pictures so I've pinched these from the internet. I suggest you search for larger versions.
The duomo is charming and set in a peaceful piazza, complete with a cafe/restaurant.
The town was occupied by Italians not tourists, and on Sunday night the market square was loud with the cheers, groans, and songs, of the local soccer fans as their team played a neighboring rival. Restaurant meals were good to great, with friends and family of the cook and staff stopping by to say hello, show off babies, etc.
We were in Spoleto for four days and after just two we were semi seriously pricing apartments.
We did a one day trip to Assisi which is another wonderful Umbrian hill town, with the added element of being home to the Basilica of Saint Francis. I took some pictures here, and again, if you can view them in full screen mode you can see some impressive details. The basilica is a wonderful blend of gothic restraint and Italian artistry. It is comprised of a lower church, completed just ten years or so after Francis died in about 1226 and an upper one built on top of the earlier, about 50 years later.
The lower one is particularly inspiring. The town is charming, full of medieval domestic and religious architecture and some Roman remnants as well. It is overlooked by a fortress even more forbidding and older than Spoleto's.
The next day we started our trip home, which despite some very tight connection we completed successfully. Our luggage arrived two days later, but that was okay since we were home.
Italy 2012 Part 3
From Cinque Terra, we took trains, three of them, to Siena in Tuscany. We stayed in a restored Palazzo 800 m south of the Porta Romana, the gate in the medieval city walls which leads on the road to Rome. The Palazo Valli provided us with great rooms, a nice terrace for breakfasting or relaxing with fine views of the nearby countryside. There were a garden and an olive grove on the hotel grounds.
The
staff were friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable, in equally large measures.
divalli.it >. Siena is a wonderful place, full of medieval buildings, curious side streets, an amazing town hall complete with 285 foot tall bell tower from 1348, and a very impressive cathedral from the same era. I strongly recommend you walk to the top of the tower ( there is no elevator) and take in the view of the town and surrounding area. The many museums are worthwhile and the cathedral is a great combination of the spiritual aspects of the gothic with the Italian flair for exuberance.
I recommend look at these in full screen mode if you can.
The details and depth of the window framing really impressed me.
The town was extremely lively, full of tourists despite being October, and students mostly from the local University, because it was October. Its full of restaurants, cafes, shops. Despite being described as a pedestrian zone, it was also full of cars and scooters, which made things pretty noisy, and walking in the busier thoroughfares less than a joy. All in all I wouldn't have missed it, but I don't think I would want to spend a week there. Many of you younger guys would feel differently.
Next stop: Spoleto.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Italy 2012 part 2
Leaving a place like Bellagio was tough, but the fact that it was rainy helped a bit. I should have mentioned that we traveled mostly by train, and with one exception, they were on time, and we made all our connections but one, including some very tight ones.
Our next stop was Rio Maggiore, one of the Cinque Terra. Cinque Terra is five small fishing villages built on ridiculously vertical coastal hills. We stayed in an apartment with a patio/garden overlooking the sea. It was owned and rented out by one of the nicest people we've ever met. In fact all our hotels etc. were great and I'm showing their email addresses as I write these posts. Signora Lorenza's is: info@casalorenza.it
Our lovely apartment was on a hillside with a small terrace overlooking the sea. It was 134 steps down to the main street and at least 134 back up.
Jean makes friends wherever she goes. Italy was full of friendly cats.
The sea was very agitated and impressive for the first two days and the ferry ride we hoped to take was not available. The drama of the waves was pretty good compensation. Here are some pictures of waves and shoreline.
Here are a few pictures from Vernazza (you can see Monte Rosa in the distance) and Monte Rosa (Vernazza is the tiny village along the shore in the middle), two other Cinque Terra villages. The bottom one will look much better in full screen mode, if you can do it.
Next stop and next post (they are anagrams), Siena.
Our next stop was Rio Maggiore, one of the Cinque Terra. Cinque Terra is five small fishing villages built on ridiculously vertical coastal hills. We stayed in an apartment with a patio/garden overlooking the sea. It was owned and rented out by one of the nicest people we've ever met. In fact all our hotels etc. were great and I'm showing their email addresses as I write these posts. Signora Lorenza's is: info@casalorenza.it
Our lovely apartment was on a hillside with a small terrace overlooking the sea. It was 134 steps down to the main street and at least 134 back up.
Jean makes friends wherever she goes. Italy was full of friendly cats.
Next stop and next post (they are anagrams), Siena.
Mid Fall 2012 - Trip to Italy part 1
Apologies to all of you for the long delay between posts. I spent most of October doing the usual around the house and getting ready for, and taking, a trip to Italy. I didn't post about the trip in advance because I would rather not advertise on the internet that I'll be away from home for a while.
Home front briefly: In late September and early October repaired the porch deck, installed a new porch ceiling and a couple of lights and switches. I am still fooling with the mudroom door and working out how to reinstall the interior pine boards.
Physics: Because Sara Allen was doing some research and archiving at the American Institute of Physics on the work of Brillouin, I have been thinking hard about the true nature of the wave representation of particles and why wave speed is actually given by (d omega/dk) rather than just omega/k. Remember, I hope, that omega is 2 pi freq and k is 1/(2 pi x wave length) so the 2 pis cancel and omega/k is just freq x wavelength which is also equal to wavelength/ period, which of course equals wave speed which follows from one of my mantras: wavelength = wavespeed x period .
One way to think of this particle speed = d omega/dk issue is that a particle must be represented by a collection of waves so that there is no single frequency but the wavelength is still period x wave speed so even for a collection of waves of a range of frequencies the slope of wavelength as a function of period is still the wave speed. Enough of this for now, but comment or email about this if you are interested.
ITALY:
We spent fifteen days in Italy and had a great time. We visited Rome, Bellagio ( Lake Como), Rio Maggiore (Cinque Terra on the Ligurian Coast east of Genoa), Siena ( Tuscany) and Spoleto ( Umbria). I have already posted about some of this on facebook and will do more, but here is a summary for my loyal readers. Rome was crowded and noisy, lots of traffic and sirens, but the ruins of the center of western civilization for centuries are still very impressive and worth seeing as were St. Peter's and Castel Sant'Angelo. The food in Rome, and everywhere else we stayed, was good to outstanding. We stayed in a bed and breakfast comprising a half a floor or so of a gracious old apartment building. The room was large and well furnished and the host was the model of informed hospitality. We were just across the street from the Rome Opera, but nothing was being performed during our stay. FYI, the B and Bs email is info@armoniaopera-bb.it
Bellagio is at the northern edge of Italy, sort of midway between Milan and the Swiss border. It is on Lake Como, which is in the shape of huge inverted Y at the point of the Y.
Home front briefly: In late September and early October repaired the porch deck, installed a new porch ceiling and a couple of lights and switches. I am still fooling with the mudroom door and working out how to reinstall the interior pine boards.
Physics: Because Sara Allen was doing some research and archiving at the American Institute of Physics on the work of Brillouin, I have been thinking hard about the true nature of the wave representation of particles and why wave speed is actually given by (d omega/dk) rather than just omega/k. Remember, I hope, that omega is 2 pi freq and k is 1/(2 pi x wave length) so the 2 pis cancel and omega/k is just freq x wavelength which is also equal to wavelength/ period, which of course equals wave speed which follows from one of my mantras: wavelength = wavespeed x period .
One way to think of this particle speed = d omega/dk issue is that a particle must be represented by a collection of waves so that there is no single frequency but the wavelength is still period x wave speed so even for a collection of waves of a range of frequencies the slope of wavelength as a function of period is still the wave speed. Enough of this for now, but comment or email about this if you are interested.
ITALY:
We spent fifteen days in Italy and had a great time. We visited Rome, Bellagio ( Lake Como), Rio Maggiore (Cinque Terra on the Ligurian Coast east of Genoa), Siena ( Tuscany) and Spoleto ( Umbria). I have already posted about some of this on facebook and will do more, but here is a summary for my loyal readers. Rome was crowded and noisy, lots of traffic and sirens, but the ruins of the center of western civilization for centuries are still very impressive and worth seeing as were St. Peter's and Castel Sant'Angelo. The food in Rome, and everywhere else we stayed, was good to outstanding. We stayed in a bed and breakfast comprising a half a floor or so of a gracious old apartment building. The room was large and well furnished and the host was the model of informed hospitality. We were just across the street from the Rome Opera, but nothing was being performed during our stay. FYI, the B and Bs email is info@armoniaopera-bb.it
The is surrounded by mountains called the Pre Alps. I hiked to the top of Monte Grona about 5000' above the Lake one day. I started at 2000' after a ferry to Menaggio and a bus ride and reached the Refugio Mennagio at about 4000' where I took some pictures. I went to the top but the views were obscured by clouds. In fact, the best views from from the ferry. Light carpentry is not the greatest way to get in shape of mountain hikes and my legs were sore for a few days.
From the ferry, looking toward the north end of the lake.
From the Refugio
The food in Bellagio was superb, the restaurants and shops charming, and the closeup and distant scenery marvelous. Here are some shots from Bellagio, whose streets are often too steep and narrow for cars and have stairs instead of sidewalks in places. The peak in the second photo is similar is similar in height to the one I hiked to. We stayed at the hotel Florence in Bellagio , a grand old fashioned place with a very knowledgeable and courteous staff. One concierge gave me very sound advice on hiking, and they have a patio right on the lake shore.
Within a short walk from Bellagio is a fishing village, Pescalo. Here are some shots ffrom there.
I'll continue with another post soon.
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