Wednesday July 5

Well, it's been several days since I last posted here. Why? Well, after the conference was over, I lost WiFi connection for my laptop, and didn't get it back till we arrived in Paderborn. So, let's see if I can bring this blog up to date.

On the Thursday after the conference, June 29, Pat and I took the train to Florence. There we went to the Academie Del'Artes, to see Michaelangelo's David. It was worth the trip, is all I can say. The detail in the sculpture, tied with the subtley of execution was outstanding. We spent quite some time in the gallery, and I made several sketches of the statues features. To the right of the statue was a computer graphics display where you could select an element of the statue and rotate it in 3D. I passed on this, as the statue was enough for me.

In addition to the statue, we saw other sculptures and paintings from the same time period. They were all fantastic. It's amazing when you can see such great works of art, all in one place, and be able to compare them with one another. There were unfinished pieces by Michaelangelo, works from various churches (cross, alter pieces), and a room full of plaster models of statues.

After the gallery, we picked up a picnic lunch, and mounted a double-decker tour bus. Guess where we sat? It was a warm day, and breezes on the open air top level were delicious. The tour include earbuds that you wore to hear a recorded narration. We passed homes of the Medici, Galileo, and traveled through the hills just South of the city. The tour bus was the kind you could get off and on as often as you liked, so we got off in a quiter section of the city.

There we found a tiny art studio where we bought a hand-colored print. The artist's name was Stefano Ramunno, and he was working on an oil painting when we entered the shop.

We ended up riding the tour bus for two loops of the city, to enjoy the breezes, and hear the narration again. We had dinner in one of the restaurants on a plaza. Florence was only an hour from Bologna, so the trip back was quick. It was near 11PM when we returned to our hotel.

On Friday, we took the train to Venice, a two hour plus ride. In Venice we bought day passes for the vaparettos, water buses. The train station bordered the Grand Canal, where we started our ride.

Our first stop was a small cathedral on the South bank of the canal. We then continued a short distance to San Marco Plaza. San Marco is site to behold. Pigeons everywhere, and people feeding them from their hands. And all around ar buildings so grand ... it takes your breath away. And right there is the Basilica San Marco, and the Camapanile (bell tower). We took an elevator up to the top of the tower and saw the city from up high. I took shots all around the top, but forgot the USB cable to transfer them to my laptop, so you'll just have to wait till we get home.

Next we went into the Basicall, and my mouth dropped wide open. Gorgeous mosiacs everywhere inside. These mosaics were created using 1/4 inch handmade tiles or all colors, especially gold, real gold gilding. We spent a long time in the basillica, examing as much of it as we can. Inside was a musueum showing how the basillica was restored years ago, as well as four horse statues that had in interesting history of theire own. They were taken by the French, at one point, and then later returned.

After this, we visited the Rialto bridge and did a little shopping before returning, by vaparetto to the train station.

Let me stop and say that traveling by train through Europe is nothing like thye trains in the USA. In Europe the trains are clean, generally efficient, and viewed more like airplanes on tracks. Next time I'll post about our brief stay in Bern, Switzerland, and more about trains.

Monday

Monday morning was a quiet one for Pat and I. I was at my conference, presenting two posters (which were well received). Pat re-visited San Stefano, and also visited San Domenico.

We met up, again, in our room at around 6:45 to get ready for the conference banquet. It took place at Cantina Bentivoglio, and was truly a banquet. There were five courses (yes, five!), and plenty of wine and conversation. Essentially, the conference took over the restaurant. We were in the lower room, which at first was cool. But after it was filled, body heat took over. Thankfully, the waitstaff kept us plied with bottled water.

We got back to our room just before 11 and went right to bed.

Tomorrow, after my morning conference sessions, Pat will join be on a bus tour sponsored by ITiCSE06.

Sunday PM

During our walking tour in the morning, Pat and I met another attendee at my conference, ITiCSE. We met a professor from Turkey whom, with a woman from DOW, we went to lunch at a restaurant called Trattoria Giana. There we had anitpasto and lasagna verde. This was a fabulous meal, and there was lots of great conversation.

After lunch, Pat and I weent back to our room and crashed; let's call it a siesta, okay? After our "naps" we attended an opening reception for the conference at the University of Bologna. Our hotel suggested we take a bus to the reception, which we did. It was a short ride, but a very crowded one. Pat vowed never to take the bus again, and I sort of concur.

At the reception, I ran into several faculty I knew as well as meeting new folks. Pat enjoyed the reception, more I'm sure by seeing how I enjoyed it. One of the attendees I spoke with stated that he and his son had biked across Italy for three weeks prior to the conference. Wow! That's something I do not think I could ever do.

After the recepetion, we walked slowly back to our hotel (no bus this time) with the woman we had met on the walking tour. We walked through the old part of the University and saw truly remarkable architectures.

After freshening up at our room, wee went out for a late supper at Trattoria Tony, recommended by our hotel. Another great meal. Bologna truly is known for wonderful food.

Sunday AM

Sunday morning we woke at around 8:30, showered and went downstairs for a wonderful buffet breakfast. Besides pastries, cereals and beverages, there was ham, cheeses, boiled eggs, and such. A nice way to start our days.

Pat and I joined a walking tour of Bologna, starting from Piazza Maggiore, the center of town. We first visited the Basilica Patrione (sp?), a large cathedral that we were told was originally meant to be the largest in Italy. But, when it was under construction, the Pope was angered, so it ended up being smaller than planned. In fact on the sides you can see where the wings were truncated mid-construction.

We next went to Cathedral San Stefano, actually seven "churches" in a cluster. While there, mass was starting and we could hear beautiful singing.

We went back to the Basilica to see a mural based on Dante's writing. In this mural, Mohammed is shown in Hell, which, we were told, resulted in a bombing threat a few months ago.

In the Piazza Maggiore, they have a "large" screen setup for outdoor cinema in the evenings.

We also saw much of the architecture of Bologna, including two leaning towers.

Sunday, June 25, 3:15AM

The journey begins.

Kelsey and Brandon “drove” us down to JFK and saw us off on Friday evening. Actually, I drove, and Brandon drove back, but it was a heck of a lot better than doing the “Train to the Plane”, hiring a limo, or using the long-term parking.

We were able to get a light dinner before boarding our flight to Paris, which promptly left the terminal at 9:35PM (or so). We taxied out on the tarmack and then, after a short while, the Captain came on. He said the control board showed an indicator light. There was a cabin pressure fault and we would not be able to take-off until it was gone.

They did a quick reset but that didn’t work. Technicians next did an engine restart and that did the trick. Finally we were able to leave, about an hour late.

Most of the flight was a blur, as Pat and I attempted to sleep as much as we could, this being an overnight flight. Somewhere in the middle of the flight, Pat woke me up. She had gotten sick and could not locate the “magic bag” quickly enough. I helped her clean up and then we both went back to sleep. We awoke somewhere over Europe.

In Paris, our delay caused us to miss our connection, but Air France kindly rebooked us on a later flight. This was a godsend as it turned out 2 hour max stopover into a 3 hour stay, allowing us to have a light meal, and rest before our final leg. Our flight from Paris to Bologna was beautiful, going over the Swiss Alps.

In Bologna, we grabbed their Aerobus (E5.00) to Bologna Centre. From there we looked for our hotel. Okay, here’s where my little mistake comes in. I had booked the place through emails, and the place was one of the Golden Group hotel chain. This is sort of like Thistle Hotels in London; lots of older places that have recently been refurbished.

The email address had the word “university” in it so I thought we were booked into the Hotel University. We weren’t. We were booked into the Hotel Holiday, which fortunately was just around the corner.

Our room is small, and air-conditioned, but has a spacious bathroom; go figure. By 8:30PM we were both exhausted and decided to go to sleep.

Friday, last minute prep

It's all coming down to the wire, now. We've got just about all of our stuff together, and have been making last minutes preparations this morning; notes for the cat-sitter, contact info for relatives, the works. Kelsey and Brandon will be driving us to the airport, and Will will pick us up when we return in a little over three weeks.

Pat found out that the hotel we have in Paderborn has an art studio associated with it. She's now looking forward to spending some time in a studio while I'm teaching.

I found out over the past few days that our cell phones do not work in Europe. So, we'll be using email and this blog to keep in touch.

Welcome!

Such an amazing summer, this year. A full week in Bologna, Italy, and then two weeks in Paderborn, Germany, with a night or two in Switzerland in between. Pat and I will attempt to post daily, so you will know of our adventures. And, if we can get the technology to cooperate, we might even post a photo or two.

Ciao!