Friday, June 19, 2009

72.) Footsore in Verona and Venice

The European Conference on Information Systems was held in Verona this year - nice long spring days, warm temps and interesting talks. These are a small sample of the dashing about I did on my way to the morning sessions and after the final talks. Enjoy! (don't forget to click on the pictures for larger views!)

Ponte della Pietro and the Chiesa del Duomo at night.






Statue of a knight at the Castevecchio (a museum)











Sharps!

































The Ponte Scaligro leading across the river to Castelvecchio. Now a quite interesting museum











The view from Castel S Pietro south to the Ponte della Pietro (the bridge) and the Chiesa del Duomo (the church)
















Garden decorations!

















Below Juliet's Balcony at Casa Giulietta is a statue of Juliet. There is an age old tradition (well at least a quite well known legend to those in the digital world) that touching the right breast of the statue brings luck. ["Legend is that if a person strokes the breast of the statue, that person will have good fortune." Wikipedia]
I was there for about 20 minutes and *everyone* had their picture taken burnishing the bronze - men, women, couples together, little kids were lifted by mums, grandmas, grandpas. Dozens of people......









Ladies, gentlemen, your seats in a Roman age theater now transformed into a modern music venue (featuring Pink Floyd if the signs were at all current). As you recall they also turned the Colosseum into a concert venue....












Fishing outside his window















In one of the many churches ( Duomo I think). Note the lovely action statue in the background.

Despite my intense (ha!) art history class at Williams, I had forgotten how many versions of Madonna with babe there were in the world. I must have seen 100 in 3 museums! The disturbing part was the equally prolific rendition of extreme violence and retribution. It may not have helped that I was reading Dawkin's bestseller at the time! We are a strange species....

Ah - Venice, the city of Water. It is 1.5 hrs by train to this marvel and words cannot describe how odd and wonderful the city it. Highly organic with a maze of wandering streets (if 5' wide paths between buildings can be called streets!, hundreds of little bridges across the canals and thousand of watercraft all galloping around in liu of cars! There are water taxis, water buses, the gondolas of course, big boats on the Grand Canal and little dingys lined up in every channel.


A very famous statue on a church but I can't recall where!


















The Plaza San Marcos from the Grand Canal









Boy with Frog outside an art museum











































Even with a detailed street map you just plan an getting lost. Street signs don't always match the map and many little alleys just end.... unless you have a boat you backtrack and try again!


































































It is an amazing place at night, hundreds of lights along the canals, all the riverside restaurants lit up, boats whizzing about. Well worth a visit and sore tired feet!

Monday, June 8, 2009

70) Verona - Bellissimo!

After passing through the zone of 10 C and raining (this must be Paris!), I arrived in Verona IT for the European Conference on Information Systems to present a paper. It is a bike/walking city so I walk from my hotel out to the University ---

Great lions outside a cemetary....







Dirk ghosting through a maze in a formal garden..












Old buildings, balconeys and hanging gardens...











A long unnamed, unremarked, unidentified bit of Verona history. An ancient wall (600 years? 1000? ) that is ...just there! There are bits all over the city but they are so common they are nothing anyone attends to. No signs, no explanation. Ask a local nd they just make up stories. That is all history is....







Outside the Colliseum - where gladiators fought and infidels were fed to the lions to the roar of worshipping crowds. Entertain the riffraff. . Now a venue for opera and really, really loud rock concerts to the roar of worshiping crowds. Entertain the proles...
Nothing has changed...



F. Adige through town - fast and cold looking but just beautiful ancient bridges across it. A beautiful water feature.
Much more to follow when I can trim multi-mega pixel photos for upload.
Ciao- baby!!