Pink Floyd (cover) in Todi!

It was a bit surreal when the evening Mass started with Pink Floyd guitar licks instead of the usual entrance hymns.  But no worry!  It was just the sound check out in the piazza.

Last night was the final night of the Todi Festival, an annual celebration of live performance art that includes dozens of musical and theatrical productions.  Ashley had told me that the performance in the piazza would be a Pink Floyd cover band, so of course I had to see that!  A big Medieval piazza is exactly where you would expect that, right?

They were absolutely spot on!  True to major band character, they promptly did not start at 10:00 pm.  Nowhere in sight.  At 11:00 they did exactly the same thing.  Finally, shortly before 11:30 pm on a Sunday night, they walked out to enthusiastic applause, shouldered their guitars, and cranked up the volume.  And they were good!

I had planned ahead and planted myself at a outside table at the bar with something to read.  For those of you worried about the high cost of living in Italy, live music, a table 40 feet from the stage, two mixed drinks, and two hours of chilling to great songs set me back 10 Euros.

Michael

Marseille with Florence!

Confession: I have discovered that there are lots of things I like doing on my own, but sightseeing is not one of them.

I arrived in Marseille Friday afternoon, and had to get Florence at the train station on Saturday, just 24 hours later.

Roman remains outside of museum

Roman remains near museum

Since I was in another city, for crying out loud, I felt obliged to spend my day "productively"; in this case, it meant doing some sightseeing and shopping (to work on French! I swear!). I spend most of my time in the main museum, which had a wide variety of items displayed. The oldest of the items included a boat (relatively recently discovered) that came from (I don't quite remember, but I'll guess) the 4th century B.C. It was of Greek construction, so dated to that period...it was well in the B.C. era, though. The boat was found about 20 years ago during the course of some excavations for new construction...very exciting because it was relatively intact. Meaning that the boards that were still there were all placed pretty much as they would have been at the time the boat was used.

I went to a very well-regarded craft store which turned out to focus on buttons (lovely) and trims (incredible variety) but less of what I was looking for. Michael, you'll be sad to know that I didn't spend a dime there!

View of the city from the station

After a good bit of general wandering, which included a trip to the tourist office, I can tell you that the old part of Marseille is now the new part...thanks to widespread razing during the early 20th century for reasons of "hygiene". The new part of Marseille is due to an expansion started at the time of Louis XIV. There are some really lovely buildings as you wander away from the old port.

View of the city from the platforms

Fruit stand...part of our evening's meal

Florence and I spent the day "doing" the churches. There are three notable churches somewhat in the vicinity. We started off with Mass at Notre Dame de la Garde, which is high above the city. Yes, we walked. It was actually no worse than going from Porta Romana to San Fortunato, but it always feels more of a struggle when you don't know exactly where you're going and how much further it is!

Liberation Day celebration

At the base of the final climb to the church, we happened across a band and lots of fellows in cute military uniforms. Upon asking, we were told that it was a celebration for the anniversary of the Liberation! Speechifying and band playing were clearly the order of the day.

Steeple of Notre Dame de la Garde

Looking up...

After allowing a few minutes for admiration of the uniforms, we hoofed up the final stretch to get to Mass. Let me tell you, the basilica is really amazing! We had time to gawp, light some candles, pray, and were then told that Mass was "surprise!" going to be in the crypt today. They had to get the basilica ready for the special Liberation Day Mass. Fair enough.

...and looking down

View from Notre Dame de la Garde

View of one of the forts

We scuttled down to the crypt for Mass, after which we went to the church's museum. Turs out, the church was actually constructed in the 19th century, so the museum was quite small. They did include the original architectural drawings, though, so that was absolutely fantastic!

Florence telling Michael about camp...wait for her post!

View of Notre Dame de la Garde from the port

We wandered towards the town; next stop the St. Victor Abbey!























This is one of the oldest standing structures still remaining in Marseille. Mass was still going on, so we could only peep in.

Cathedral of Marseille

Lunch! Kebab/falafel...mmmm! Then off to the Cathedral. Another church on the way was closed, so we could only admire from the outside. The Cathedral (another 19th century construction) is really lovely. The ceilings are in a honey yellow and medium blue, mostly geometric with some Christian iconography (crosses, mainly). So pretty!

Footsore and worn out, we have wandered back to the apartment for a rest.

Love,

Alexandra

Fiat 500: An Exposé

We had several of our friends in the US ask about my cute car, so Jeremy and I decided to do a full post just focusing on my vehicle and its features.

To begin with, it is a 1967 series F Fiat 500. It was designed as the "everyman's car," and it evokes a warm feeling in the Italian breast. Apart from being just as cute as can be, it's actually remarkably practical (depending, always, on your definition of "practical"). Here are the upsides:

• Great gas mileage for its generation...about 30 mpg (best guess, but not a bad one)
• Parks ANYWHERE
• Easy to repair, with simple mechanical parts rather than electronics
• Can seat four (rather uncomfortably, if the two in the back are large, though!)
• Tremendously fun to drive
• Corners easily in the narrow streets
• Turns heads because of its cuteness! It's a huge icebreaker with everyone around.
• Worth more with every year that passes, as long as you keep it in good condition. My car is worth probably double what it was when I bought it just a few years ago. 

Of course, here's where one's definition of practical can differ. The downsides?

• It's old. Meaning repairs are inevitable. On the other hand, repairs are often pretty cheap.
• Driving it really quickly is unadvisable (could be an upside: forces you to take time to smell the roses!)
• No air conditioning (although the sunroof does a great job)
• Not a whole lot of "storage" space...not a single cupholder in sight. Although you'd be impressed at exactly how much I can put into the thing...I've even transported a Christmas tree!
• Safety features are typical of the period, although there ARE seatbelts
• The whole family can obviously not fit into it (given how rarely we drive anywhere all together, not a major problem by any means)
• It's rather noisy, meaning cell phone conversations are OUT if you're driving (again, perhaps a safety feature?)

Part of what makes the car such fun to drive is that it IS so very basic. To start the car, you insert the key and turn it. Based on the outside temperature and when you last started the car, you lift the choke to provide the amount of air you think will work. You then lift the starter lever. Generally three times. If you have chosen an air-rich mixture and your foot off the accelerator and it doesn't ignite after three tries, do the opposite: fuel rich and pedal to the metal. 

Once started (with quite a furore, I might add), the real fun begins. Of course, there is no power steering, but you wouldn't need it really with a vehicle this small. This little car goes down the alleyways like nobody's business at speed, where most cars have to do three-point turns. 

Shifting? Of course, it is a stick-shift; beyond that, though, it is a double-clutch (or double-declutcher, depending on your preferred terminology). This means that you have to match the engine speed to the gear that you want. If you're upshifting, the method is: press the gas to get to the right speed (or a little above), depress the clutch, pull out of gear, release the clutch, depress the clutch, upshift, and release the clutch again...and you're good.

If you're downshifting, it's much the same, but with the added complication that when you've released the clutch for the first time, you have to press the gas before you depress the clutch again in order to downshift.

Of course, you have to keep up with the brakes. We live in a hilltop town, and the drum brakes are teeny. It's easy to know, though: the parking brake comes up progressively further as the brake pads are consumed. When the parking brake is hard to apply adequately, you know that it's time to get to the mechanic.

All in all, makes for a lot of fun.

And with that, I'll turn you over to Jeremy for the pictorial tour.

Love,

Alexandra

ignition key

door key

bear in mind that this was a wide angle view

I'll be using keys for scale.

Likewise wide angle

1 foot off the ground 3 feet away

the horn is behind that grille

great position for the turn signal!

yup, tiny

the signal's roughly an inch in diameter

No, I'm NOT fiddling with perspective; the house key's ON the wheel (16 in?)

The wipers are 10 inches long

This is the wheel NOT a hubcap

1 foot off the ground 3 feet away

Cute lights, huh?

licence plate- they have since changed the standerd

The number in the red circle signifies that the vehicle
normally won't be going faster than the number indicates (in km/h)

no lock on the engine

Lets see what's in here, shall we?

simple latch, heat protection for the external light, paint, etc,...

...wires leading to the light,...

...and engine.

muffler bracket

muffler

handle- note the dimple in the door for your hand

door latch

inside of door

openable triangular window

it can open pretty darn far!

closed

latch

seal on the main window

this bar makes for a nice handhold...

...assuming your arm isn't too long!

parking brake

Right- starter left- choke

stickshift

head

Like finger-food, you hold this with your fingers, not your whole hand.

horn

Those are bolts around the horn.

lots of dials to pay attention to
 (light goes on when gas gets low, for instance...
there is no graduated gauge)

dashboard controls-(left to right): interior lights (one light on the speedometer),
exterior lights, ignition, and windshield wipers

cute or what?

turn signals and brights-dims control

not overly large, the speedometer also includes suggested shift points
 (although no tachometer)

dashboard stowage; the button to the left is actually a pump to squirt water onto the windshield

there's no latch holding the seat down in the back

you can adjust the seat forward-backward with this lever

as seen from the front with the seat down

heating control, located just in front of the rear bench in the center

back seat

this latch can be undone and the seat back pulled forward...

creating a shelf with a lip- perfect for errands!

side mirror

wiper

rear-view mirror...

with a switch-operated light

yup, incandescent bulb

ashtray

sunroof latch

gas pedal- note the pivot point

this adjusts the minimum engine power

brake and clutch

this takes air to the wind shield for the defog...

unless you turn this knob to blow the heat on your legs

state-of-the-art safety equipment

steering column

this opens the trunk... partway

you then have to push that second latch

gas filter

20-liter (5-gallon) tank and other contents of trunk

water pouch for spraying onto the windshield

headlights and wiring

electronics

yes, that IS a spare engine belt!

full-sized spare

jack

jack attachment point 

spare lightbulbs

wrench for lug nuts

toolkit: second wrench for lug nuts, different tool for the lug nuts, wrench, and wooden-handled screwdriver.

space for spare tire and horn
The red case holds a collapsed triangle to place on the road behind the car.

and under a layer of the rubber mat, the battery

Each side has one of these in the back. the suspension spring's maybe a half-inch thick

There's one leaf spring in the front. Note the canting of the rear wheels;
they arc out under load to become straight.