A Visit to the British Isles

Last week, it was time to take Florence to university in Scotland; since there's no direct flight from Rome to Aberdeen, it gave us an easy pretext to visit relatives and friends in England, as well!

On the road near the farmhouse

Flying into Bristol, we stayed in a farmhouse near my cousin Paula's house and had a great couple of days with her and her family. So nice to see everyone! In England, there is a right to roam, meaning you can walk on footpaths across "privately owned" fields. I absolutely love this and couldn't resist taking advantage of the gorgeous weather for us all to go: six children, two adults, two dogs! We made quite the procession, although I confess to having held things up due to the perfection of the blackberries....

The boys spent a huge amount of time here, unsurprisingly

We found Paula's runner ducks hilarious

Breakfast en masse

Next stop, Edinburgh! Flying from Bristol directly, we only had one night in the nation's capital, and not even 24 hours for visiting. We had to make the most of our limited time! Obviously, the castle was a must-see, and so we went from the Castle to Holyrood Palace. It was somehow really affecting to see the room where Mary, Queen of Scots gave birth to James, and then to see her tapestries displayed at Holyrood Palace.

A fairly intimidating prospect, just outside the castle walls

The castle is not a building, but rather a complex of protected buildings,
many of which were built during Victorian times

The castle is perched on a rock island high above the city,
commanding a fantastic view

We liked the red truck, and the sky was so gorgeous that day! 

Turret!

Proceeding to one of the higher gates within the castle

In the middle of a city, it's hard to believe you're near the coast

Holyrood Abbey; the structure is magnificent

The detailing on the remains is just superb

Walking in the grounds

Then it was time to leave. Having had tea in a shop where the old lady was a bit batty and clearly didn't really want to have customers (and where Ashley tried IronBru, a local soda...which tasted of bubble gum!), we made it to the station just in time for it to start raining. The light from the train was fantastic, though.

Crossing the Firth of Forth

A note about Aberdeen: the local rock is a light(ish) grey granite. Every bit of architecture is built with the local stone. Meaning everything (everything) is grey! Michael laughingly declared that he was wearing "Aberdeen Camo":

After having completed a long list of errands (banks, phone companies, etc.), we wandered up to a cemetery which looked interesting, and it certainly was! It turned out to belong to a church that at some point in its history had been divided into two churches (our friend Ann posited that it was to divide sections of the city based on class lines, which made a lot of sense based on what we saw there). One side is completely dug out and in the process of excavation (how active the excavation is would be open to debate) and the other side is still in active use and furnished accordingly. The pews still go along the original longitudinal axis, but half face one way and half the other; the pulpit and altar are in the middle of the church (the pulpit on one side of the original aisle, the altar on the other). Behind some curtains were some 17th-century embroidered (not woven) tapestries that were actually attributable to a female artist. This seems really unusual to me because many projects like this would have been group efforts, and women were rarely given credit for this type of work during the period. So interesting!

Post office

 After general wanderings, we took our first (of several) trips to Florence's campus.

Deer on campus

The room as we arrived

We had to check out a few things and then wanted to go to the main campus (detached from the housing "village" by a public park), so we had the most delightful walk!

What you see is mostly manicured, but they had a walled garden, a wooded area, a grassy naturalistic section, a Japanese-y section (not traditional in the sense of bare, manicured sand beds but more naturalistic with a sense of bamboo somehow), and more!

Loved the mortar work on this building; we saw it a few times

Off to Marks and Spencer, the local department store, to find bedding, plates, and the basic necessities...

Trying out pillows

Ashley held onto the rejects 

Bed all made, mostly moved in!

And, time to move to the gym, where we could easily picture Florence in her natural element:

The gym was amazing, and the pool the prettiest I've ever seen

Having kissed Florence goodbye, it was time for a quick visit to our friends Ann and James in Ampthill, where we did our charity shop and antique shop rounds, and then back to Rome!

Love,

Alexandra

New home

As many of you know, I was accepted into the University of Aberdeen. I actually got a conditional offer and I managed to not only meet the conditions, but meet them with room to spare. I applied for accommodation with the university (as opposed to with two other providers or seeking private lodging) and was placed in the Adam Smith building, the ONLY catered building. The way it works is, all across the UK students expect to have a small dorm to themselves, unless they seek out lodgings that specifically say that you are going to have a roommate. Thus, I have a small room to myself with a kitchen shared by five people (if we do want to cook), and bathrooms and showers shared by more people. I have no idea how many people share the bathrooms and showers as I have only ever seen one other person heading to the shower. This doesn't really mean anything as not everyone has moved in yet, at least from what I can tell.

My room is actually a bit bigger than I really need it to be, but in a nice way. It means that I will have space to put a drying rack for my clothes and towels. In order to keep the limited bathroom space clear, each room has a small sink and mirror in the corner for getting ready in the morning and brushing your teeth and so on. It has a wardrobe with double hanging space and four shelves. The desk is by the window in order to let you have as much natural lighting as possible and it has a shelf above it for books.  Right now, I seem to have plenty of space, although I haven't really started to study anything. Lessons don't start until next week. This week, all the clubs are trying to rope the freshmen in and get them involved.

So far, I haven't met very many of the other students, but that is mostly my fault for not going to the events that they have. I've been avoiding them because most of them involve loud music and drinking, neither of which I find pleasant. However, I have plans to go to the sports "fayre" (fair) and try to find some friends there. I am also looking into the "Italian Society" which hopefully will allow me to keep up a little bit with my Italian. As they say, "Use it, or lose it"

That is my update from university.

Taken from door

Taken from window

Ciao,

Florence

Birrata

The day before leaving Todi, I went to a "birrata" at the archery range. This means that a lot of archers get together and have dinner and a beer or two. People talk and get to know each other and it is generally an evening of fun.

As part of the evening's entertainment, we saw a skit performed by some of the archers. The story line of the skit was as follows: Ettore, the bullfighter, has a big win against a ferocious bull (Gatto, one of the friendliest people you will ever meet). Then he goes on to win the heart of the loveliest lady in the region.

The loveliest lady in the region.
Mauro.

It was quite the amusing evening.

Ciao,

Florence

Beating the Heat

The heat wave that has been scorching Italy for a month now has been hitting the news, at least in a small way. As Wodehouse put it for a different city, "July came and went, making New York an oven. August followed, and one wondered why one had complained of July's tepid advances."

How does one handle 100+ degree temperatures in a location largely without air conditioning?

First of all, many houses' walls are thick, heavy stone. It has taken until this week for our interior walls to heat up...but heat up, they have. I measured the wall temperature and got a measurement of 88 degrees, so the formerly cool walls no longer offer a benefit.

Windows are opened in the early evening and stay open all night long, with fans blowing as much of the slightly cooler air into the house as possible, making sleeping possible. In the morning, windows and heavy shutters are closed to prevent sun infiltration (plus, keeping the rooms slightly darker gives a psychological effect of lower temperature) and to keep the cooler air indoors.

The pausa. This is the time between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. that no one visits anyone at home, because everyone in the family is sleeping or lounging in minimal clothing, directly next to a fan (which, by the way, when it's really hot feels like a hair dryer). There is very little outdoor foot traffic until 5 or 6 p.m.

Changing schedule. Because you sleep during the extreme heat, you don't need quite as much sleep overnight. A bedtime of midnight and a rise time of 6 a.m. is not unusual, and works pretty well; this allows you to go out during the cooler part of the morning to enjoy coffee and breakfast, and then hang out at night with friends or for dinner.

Lots of water. The air is drier, so evaporative cooling (sweat) helps, but that means you have to drink constantly.

Immersion. Todi has a gorgeous pool which is helpful, and cool baths (sparingly, since we're in a drought) are also a treat. You can reach the coast within about 2 hours' drive as well, so beach time is also a possibility.

Knowing the cool spots of the city. Make friends with people who have a more protected palazzo, because they take a little longer to heat up! The cisterns are also generally cool, but there's not a lot to do down there. Pianegiani has (light, just the right amount) air conditioning, so if you score one of their tables, you're golden!

Most extreme solution? Take advantage of cheap flights and travel. Jeremy, Florence, and I went to Poland in July to get a break, and we are pretty excited about looking at the cool weather in England and Scotland, since we'll be going at the end of the month.

On the plus side, remember those thick walls? Lower energy bills both summer and winter: heated walls means that we won't be running our radiators until December. And, yes, December is sounding absolutely delightful to all of us right around now.

Love,

Alexandra

Xang Sang!

I had seen on Facebook that there was some sort of concert in the Voltoni (a semi-enclosed area just off the piazza) tonight, so figured we should give it a whirl. An after-dinner gelato led us over as the initial strains sounded.

It turns out that Xang is a fairly well-known group out of Tübingen, Germany. A group of seven men, they have a barbershop quartet sound (ish), with tight harmonies. They were absolutely adorable! They were clearly enjoying their performance, and we enjoyed it right along with them. 

The acoustics in the Voltoni were fantastic (it must have felt like singing in the shower to them!), so I include a snippet of what we saw. The link (above) leads to their home page, and scrolling down gives you the chance to hear full selections of various songs (the links under HÖREN SIE MAL REIN are all audio clips, and there is the video clip on the right).

Love,

Alexandra

Todi's Full of Hot Air

A few years ago, much to everyone's chagrin, Todi was nixed as the venue for the annual hot air balloon festival. After the political machinations that led to the organizers' moving the festival to Montefalco, there was a bit of coolness between them and Todi.

Check out the flying Minion!

Fortunately, there has been a rapprochement, and there were several fly-bys this year as well as an evening of balloons in the piazza and at Consolazione!

This is just a pretty local garden...

The kids loved the flamethrower!

A different balloon to inflate...

...getting bigger...

...and bigger

Love,

Alexandra