A funny title, eh? We are still in Vernazza...one of the Cinque Terras. Pam's iPhone has the only internet connection. Our landlord gave us an outrageously long and complex password to his wifi spot down the street. It took us 5 minutes to put the password into Pam's iPhone so it remains our only connected device. We feel like spies as we go behind the green door to send and receive messages. It is from behind the green door that Pam has posted to FaceBook, so most of you are not in the dark about where we are. Last night, after dinner we went behind the green door so Pam could post. It was black dark inside, so I lit the light on my iPhone for her to see. Of course, it was this time that a young couple entered to get to the apartment upstairs. They looked strangely at us as if we were theives or maybe, spies. Life in a small coastal Italian village is full of fun and surprises.
Many of you know our friend Brian Tracy. This is a Be Positive Tshirt we've worn and carried to Italy so that he could see himself in far away places. Brian is being treated for a brain tumor. At the same time he an his wife Kim and family are preparing for the November arrival of the little girl they call Brim at the moment. Anyway, Hi Brian. We are waiting for you, Brim.
So, I wanted to say a few more things about driving in Italy. I've talked about driving up and down the one lane road to the Rifugio from which we hiked. But driving in general? I developed a philosophy quite early: when you have someone in back of you...pull off the road and let them by. If you are on a multilane highway, pull into another lane and let the fast guys barrel on. About 130 Kph is about as fast as I care to go. It works well, my new philosophy. Coming from Auner Hof to Padua was an experience. The going was mostly two lanes, one in each direction, up and down, up and down, mountain after mountain. That wouldn't be bad except that the guys coming up or going down the other way always seem to flow over into our lane. Makes those tight turns tricky. Also, coming down toward Balzano, we navigated through many tunnels. There was construction which made everyone slow down. Not bad. We were behind a huge semi truck that had quite a time navigating turns. The truck was so tall that the top of it almost hit the top of every tunnel. Going around turns it had to take up both the coming and going lanes. There was once when we watched our truck and another semi pass one another. The manuver was done a foot at a time. At one point the two trucks were so close you couldn't have put your hand inbetween. They came through unscathed.
When we finally got into Balzano, we followed the directions given by the lady who was calling them from Google Maps on Pam's phone. Turning down a small side street, we found traffic at a standstill. Three cars ahead there was a balcony that hung over the roadway. The lead car going in our direction was manuvering up onto the sidewalk, so close it was almost scraping its side on a huge stone wall, The delivery truck coming the opposite way was attempting to swing around a balcony over hanging the left lane. It was either make this work or rip the balcony from what appeared to be a nonsubstantial support structure. Slowly, slowly the truck made it around the balcony, the lead car (a police vehicle) in our line moved back onto the street from the sidewalk, traffic moved, and the day was saved.
Here are a few pictures from Padua in case you didn't see Pam's FaceBook post (if you did see it, sorry for this repeat).
Gelatto!
One of the statues in a frescoed hallway off the entry to the free university of Padua. Students started this university with the idea that when a professor lectured well, students would pay at the end of the lecture. If they didn't like the lecture, no pay! How's that for a merit system?The most famous lecturer at the university was Galileo Galilei. His first job was to lecuture in Mathematics. He was so popular and so well liked that his classes (attended by hundreds of students) were moved to the largest hall and a special platform was built so that Galileo could be seen and heard.
The large lecture hall holding a modern day conference. The large plaques on the wall were family crests of lecturers/professors. Those were surrounded by crests of prominent students of that professor. Galileo would have lectured from a position under the large crest on the wall to the right. Students would have ranged in front of him in red velvet covered seats.
Lecturn believed to have been used by Galileo Galilei. It would have been covered in some kind of fabric.
When we were in Padua it was graduation day for the medical college. After a 20 minute interrogation/defense by a committee of 15-20 professors, a graduate would emerge into the courtyard to the cheers of family and friends. Women graduates are presented with a laurel wreath for the head and men, a wreath around the neck. As the party leaves from the university gates a small combo plays and celebrants sing, "Doctorre! Doctorre!" Quite a scene.
The first woman to ever earn a doctorate in philosophy from the university in the 1600's. She was from a very wealthy family and it is presumed the high social standing was reason to grant her admission. Her excellent scholarship earned her a degree.
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