Field Trip!

(Started October 21, but I am now home)

I'm on a field trip to Ferrara, Mantua (known in Italian as Mantova), and Parma! I left early yesterday morning, sat in a bus for hours, and then toured Ferrara. We visited Mantua today and leave tomorrow morning for Parma. We'll arrive home late tomorrow night.

Our bus holds about 40 people, and is crammed. Fortunately, I like my seatmate just fine: she's a 42-year-old substitute middle school teacher for English and French, and she's just dandy. I've sat next to her for more than 8 hours altogether plus spent an equal number of hours on tour and still don't know her name...how lame is that? I do know that she has two dogs, has been married 14 years, and has a husband in the police force in some capacity. Her sister and her sister's friend are also on the tour, and are seated behind us.

There is also the requisite self-appointed guide (SAG), who knows everything and wants to prove how brilliant he is to the tour guide and the rest of us. Which is lovely, but he can be rather interruptsome at times. We have the "know-nothings" and the "oblivious" participants. In general, though, it's a pretty decent group...and they are remarkably punctual!

So. First stop: Ferrara. We arrived just in time for lunch (to be taken on one's own). Some bright soul had the idea to ask a local where to get a panino. This local helpfully took us to the "best" panineria in the area: about 2 km through winding streets. Bear in mind, we would have to find our way back. As we arrived, though, I spotted an Indian restaurant across the street. Knowing that a panino will never be hard to find and that Indian is hard to find, I dived right in. Unsurprisingly enough, no one followed me inside, despite my having invited them! A delicious multi-course meal later, I strolled out a chicken jalfrezi heavier (plus naan! And rice! And dal!) and 10 euros lighter. I knew that there was a merceria (generally a lingerie/sewing goods/yarn/baby supplies store, but you can never tell) nearby, so I set off to find it. It disappointingly turned out to be only a lingerie store, but it was closed in any case.

Time to check out the Palazzo Estense! This is located on the edge of the medieval part of Ferrara, and was a protective fortress for Ferrara and against Ferrara as I understand it. You see, the Este family was part of the tax collecting branch of the government and there was always the risk that the overburdened tax payer would rise up in revolt. The palazzo is one of the few moated palazzi in Europe, and is terribly romantic with its drawbridges, renaissance-updated frit, and its general cuteness. It was attached to the main palazzo for easy access in an emergency, although over time (as the dangers became less), it developed into an annex rather than an escape fortress. Today, it houses a museum and governmental offices, so we mostly just walked through it quickly. (After the fact, I found out that there is a bit more to visit than what the tour guide said, but without enough time to see everything, she had to make choices.)

Drawbridge mechanism for Jeremy

Catapult ammunition

This section of the tower houses a hanging garden, complete with citrus trees

Next stop: the Duomo. Shrouded completely for restoration purposes, the facade was invisible. According to the Ferrara guide, that is the highlight of the Duomo. A good thing, too, in my opinion, because the interior was a Baroque excrescence that just made me shudder. But, hey, I'm sure some people love it! The flanking exterior was another mess of periods, from the original, to the Baroque extensions, to the medieval porticos that were smashed onto the side to allow shopkeepers (made Jesus and his response to the moneychangers in the temple come to mind). To add to the sense of temporal whiplash, there was a fascist tower block just across the avenue.

Far right, original bell tower. The roof additions are baroque.
The upper main facade is original-ish, the front section
developed a 100 years or so after construction.

Into the Jewish quarter for us! It was a really beautiful section of town, with lovely palazzi and decent streets. There is only one remaining temple (the rest were destroyed during bombing in WWII, I think), but the area used to boast temples for the different provenances: sephardic, ashkenazi, etc. Because the local nobility wanted money, they welcomed the population as a source of loans. Later on in the renaissance period, it became a locked ghetto; although still "nice" as far as housing, availability for cultivation land, and so on, the residents had to be back in and behind the locked gates at night...yow.

Jewish quarter

I liked the overhang of this palazzo

We then went to the first street in Ferrara: the Street of Arches, it is a darling arcade between two rows of houses, and each archway is different. This street was built parallel to the river (when it still coursed there...its flow has been rerouted at this point, but I'm not sure when that was done).

So sweet!

Ferrara is actually in a sense two cities: the center is actually located at the former furthest extent of the medieval town (the Estense fortress). During the Renaissance, however, someone whose name I have now forgotten decided to impress his new wife or someone else (sorry, but the details have slipped) by doubling the size of the town. In order to do this, he essentially slapped a pile of buildings up on the other side of the medieval wall (which he tore down and turned into a road). So half the town has a lot of medieval buildings that are still quite intact, but it was time to move on to the other half, all Renaissance.

A few sights:

These made me think of Eleanor perched
in the rafters during home construction

The Diamond Palazzo, so named because
of the shaped stones all over the facade.
Rather ugly, I thought, but apparently
 it is really nifty to observe over time
 because as the light changes, the colors
of the stones change.

And off to the hotel for the night.

Love,

Alexandra

Fortunate Florence

Michael and I really enjoyed the feast of San Fortunato because (a) people in costumes, (b) lots of people out and about, and (c) Florence shooting! Her quiet competence is just a knockout...she doesn't make a lot of fuss, but just plugs away at it. I think she's come in first for the women for the last 4 or 5 competitions she's attended.

She's already given a pretty good run down of the archery, so I figured I'd add some other views.

The raptors came! 

Think this guy's made for flying?

 

Jeremy was a soldier who fenced

He hung out all day both days...

Albano made this for a competition

And the shield. The hook is to help disarm your opponent.

Check out the eye color!

Our greengrocer out for deliveries; just happened to catch it!

A reenactment

This was an archery demonstration Saturday night:
 lots of moving parts in a complicated sequence.
You shoot inside the right-hand window, which starts some targets
moving side to side in the turret. Shooting one of
 the upper targets starts the knife in the left-hand
window swinging. Shooting the target inside
 the left-hand window opens the drawbridge.
There is a skeet inside as your final target.

Love,

Alexandra

Festa di San Fortunato

It's amazing how quickly a year can go by. For some unknown reason I seem to have a different new year than everybody else. I notice that the year is gone when the feast of San Fortunato rolls around.

This year, the festivities were spread out over the course of three days. Friday and Saturday weren't much of anything other than standing around in costumes, although I did get to play with what they call medieval toys. I'm somewhat disinclined to believe them when they say that, as they seemed to be your run-of-the-mill children's toys, just in wood. I did manage to spark people's interest in the large version of Jenga (Jenga made with pieces of a 2X4). It was actually rather fun, because I was concentrating on not knocking over my tower, and then when I looked up, there was a crowd of people who wanted to try.

Animal targets in distance

Sunday was LOOOOONG, but still really good. I left the house at 9:00 in my uncomfortable, albeit cute, winter costume, and wandered into the piazza, where I was met by Kaoutar and her little brother Omar. This was particularly sweet, as they had come all the way from Marsciano to see me (they had to get up at 7:00 on a Sunday morning to do so). At 9:30, the competition was supposed to start, and it started remarkably on time (9:45). We started on the boring targets, and moved onto the more interesting ones. The first target was a simple picture. Then we shot at two animals.

L'uomino

Moving target

Then we started to get to more interesting targets: namely "L'uomino" which literally means little man, and consists of a guy tied spread-eagled to a board with a target behind. The twist is, the man is rotating. It's not as easy as it sounds. Then we had a target that bobbed up and down behind a wall.

Rotating shields

Pictures in woods

Spoked wheel with barrels

Il frate

After that, we moved on to a target that had a large spoked wheel with little barrels attached to each spoke and you had to knock a barrel off. I missed that one (but I did graze the barrel twice). The next target was what I call the double shield. It's a rotating target with two shields, and you have to hit your colour. Then we went back to boring targets. The next two were pictures, after which we shot at "il frate" which is a little bell tower with a shooting disk. If you break the disk, the bell rings. It's called "il frate" because there is a Franciscan monk (we usually say it's Jacopone, but that can change when it suits us). I got that one with my second arrow. Last off came what I call the all-or-nothing target. It is a blank canvas and you shoot at it. If all three of your arrows go into a small circumference, you get a triple 8, if they fit into a larger circumference you get a triple 5, if they don't fit into either, you get nothing. I got three 8's with an inch to spare!

My plaque!

After finishing the competition, I went to lunch, which was very good. When we walked in, there was a line-up of servers in white shirts and bow ties. I found this very amusing and a bit out of place: somewhat like bringing your best china on a camping trip. During lunch, they gave out prizes. Turns out, I placed first among the women, with 147 points out of a possible 237. So now I have a beautiful plaque that I don't know what to do with.

James and Jeremy as soldiers

The next thing on the venue was the "corteo". The turnout was incredible. There were probably over 150 people in the corteo and at least twice that in the crowd. The corteo was a type of procession from behind the duomo up to the duomo steps via Pianigiani and Piazza Jacopone. There were enough people there that when the archers (who were up front) got back to the piazza, they hit the corteo that was still coming out from behind the Duomo.

 After the corteo, there were exhibitions. This was when the drummers and the trumpets played and the dancers danced and the knights fought and the flag-wavers waved their flags. It was great. I don't know that I've ever seen that many people in the piazza (of course I do tend to avoid crowded places).

Jeremy on the parapets

Then it was another procession into San Fortunato (the church). We had a lovely Mass (which was unfortunately attended by very few of the costumed folk who had processed into the church… But there wasn't anything I could do about it). When we got out of Mass, there were home-done fireworks, including a very sinister red cross and shockingly high fire-fountains.

And then it was off to bed.

Ciao,

Florence

Casting Experience?

Today I got the call from school every teacher dreads having to make: you know, telling a parent that his or her kid has been hurt.

Well, you see, James was playing ball during recreation hour (after lunch), and was hit with a ball on the wrist. Which had become somewhat swollen, but the teacher told me rapidly that it wasn't anything serious...his arm was still attached to his body, etc., but perhaps he was too focused on his injury to remain for study hall.

Given that we had to go to the pediatrician for him for other reasons today anyway, it was perfect timing! Off we went (Jeremy, like any puppy, is always game for a ride in the car), and down to the pediatrician. Our beloved doctor took one look, declared it broken, gave us a pink slip (it's a referral form for the national health system in which we cannot enroll), and sent us to the hospital in Pantalla.

So far, so good. Except once at the hospital, I didn't have the slightest idea where to go. I'd forgotten to ask that detail. Mind you, the hospital is the size of a pimple on a flea, but still. I decided to at least enquire at the pronto soccorso (emergency room). Leaving the boys in the car parked directly next to the entrance while I cased it out, I found an empty waiting room with a darkened greeter's booth. Luckily, there was a red button on the wall next to the desk, but that seemed a rather drastic step to take: it was a very large, very red, very important-looking button: you know, the kind that you see in cartoons that end up ejecting the hero into the stratosphere.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed the button. Paused. Looked around. There were no buzzers, no flashing lights. Within 5 seconds, though, a cheerful girl of about 16 (who on reflection was probably a young woman of 25) opened the sliding glass door. I waved my pink slip at her and explained the situation. She winked, told me to pretend she'd never seen it -- because actually using the slip was the way to have an appointment set for three days hence -- and told me to bring James in.

By the time we got back inside 45 seconds later, she had vanished. Hmm. Time to press the big red button again? Why not? Yes, it turned out to be the answer.

She took us to the entry clerk, who turned out to be her boyfriend. They were very excited to be leaving for a month in California, and wanted to know all about the current weather conditions. Since it was soCal, I could tell them cheerfully that it would be dry and pleasant temperatures. Let's hope I was right!

Next, the intake doctor. He inspected the swollen wrist, declared that radiology was the next department for us to visit. Off we went, where we were given number 91. Guess what? 91 was the next number up! They took two views of his wrist, but the orthopedic doctor reading the x-rays said they didn't show a break, but he wasn't convinced there wasn't one somewhere. He asked the technician to take a different angle on the wrist and then disappeared.

The technician took the shot, then brought us back to the intake doctor, who explained that there was such a teensy fracture that it didn't really warrant much excitement, but it was nearish the growth plate, so let's just immobilize the site. Time to visit the orthopedist, just down the hall! We had a cheerful conversation in which he informed us that plastic casts don't exist in Italy (bummer, because it means James is out of swimming for the next three weeks), but they prefer plaster to fiberglass because it is much more forgiving of wrinkles around the hand, etc.

He then proceeded to spread a sheet on the floor and on James's lap to guard against the mess, pulled out water and his plaster rolls, and casted James's wrist the old-fashioned way! In three weeks we are to go back, but I asked him about payment for the visit. He responded that we owe him nothing for that visit, but will have to get a different pink slip for the cast removal and another for the check after cast removal (done in the same visit, but apparently different items?).

But that was just the orthopedist. Time to go back to the intake doctor to settle the bill for the emergency room, radiology, and so on. Turns out, this doctor already knew James from scouts (several years ago), his son was in James's elementary class, and his niece was in James's class last year. Yes, his sister-in-law was Jeremy's beloved math teacher from middle school, and we were all happy and palsy-walsy as he was trying to print out the bill.

I use the word "trying" advisedly. He told me that they had just changed the system and he didn't know exactly how it worked yet. While this was going on, our first nurse (the 16-year-old) and he were deciding that we shouldn't owe anything just because, but of course the software wasn't working in any way that he knew how to deal with.

Giving up because he figured we were ready to leave, he took my visiting card and said he'd give it to the accounting department; if they wanted us to pay anything, they'd let us know.

Back to Todi and a nice cup of cappuccino with Michael as I told him all about it.

Love,

Alexandra

P.S. We saw James's teacher at dancing tonight, so he already knows about the wrist.

Todi's Fastest

"Il Più Veloce di Todi" is an annual running competition where five of the local elementary schools pit their three oldest grades against each other. Michael's running group sets up a track, timer, loudspeaker (oh, so loud!), and the kids are bused in or walk from their schools. It is just adorable to see them all jumping around, hugging each other, and cheering the others on!

We are amazed, as ever, by the way the Piazza is used and how creative people can be. The inflatable arch over the finish line must be tethered, but, oh, by the way...the Piazza is paved and doesn't exactly come with tie-down points. Solution: feed the string through and around the storm sewer grates!

Before the races began

First school to show up...by the beginning of the races, all the steps were filled!

A little tethering...like pushing a noodle uphill

Ladies in waiting 

View from our breakfast table

Love,

Alexandra

Majorettes!

This afternoon as we were enjoying our prosecco, we were treated to the "whee whee whee" buzz-whine of a hive of vespas coming into the piazza. Lo and behold, there was a parade of majorettes coming to entertain us!

Unfortunately, the weather didn't completely cooperate, but we did get a rainbow to enjoy while we were waiting for the entertainment to restart.

The little ones were predictably adorable, and it was a real delight to see a fair number of people out and about.

Love,

Alexandra