Sign In
Blogs from Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy, Europe
Advertisement
April 22nd 2012
We are visiting my old friend Rosamaria and her husband Richard Stern (brother of Mike and Dan Stern in Seattle.) Tomorrow we go to Firenze and I will do a proper entry. We are too busy to stop for the computer. So many years to catch up on and so many questions for them about the culture and history of Italy.... read more
June 30th 2011
After a hot and very weary day yesterday the tour committee agreed to a quiet day today and prepare for the next stage of our adventure. Tomorrow marks the halfway point in our trip and we look forward to the second part which starts with a train journey on the world famous Glacier Express. So blob we must today. While the room was serviced we went for a quiet drive to Bergamo. Last night we had our first rain for over a fortnight. As a result the murky atmosphere that had been around for the past two days had temporarily disappeared and the temperature had become more bearable. During our exploration around Bergamo we took the citté alta route to the top of the hill overlooking the rest of the city. While looking for a post ... read more
June 10th 2010
Well, of all the thousands of potentially interesting things that have happened to me and around me since I last wrote a blog, I can't seem to think of any when it actually comes down to writing it down.... though I suppose I will have to do my best. Labor day weekend my friends threw me a surprise going away party, It was a bit premature, but there wasn't any other time I wasn't busy. I didn't expect it in the least despite what now seem to be pretty obvious hints. I gather it was organized for the most part by my second host sister Giulia, and was all outside in the olive orchard about my second host house. There was a BBQ Italian style, so very good sausages, and all of the friends and ... read more
May 25th 2010
Hummmm, where to start? I suppose I will go in cronoglogical order and recount some of the excitement of this weekend... There was no school on Friday or Saturday on account of the Alpini. Who are the Alpini? And why would we get school off? Well, the Alpini are an important branch of the Italian military who really have more of a historical importance nowadays. There is lots more information on Wikipedia if you are interested (and it is rather interesting their role in the world wars) and if your not, I won't bore you with details. So, the weekend of the Alpini comes to a different city every year, and this year happened to be the year for Bergamo. This means that 400,000 old men in awesome little green hats invaded the city for ... read more
April 30th 2010
As usual I have committed the grave error of procrastination. I put off writing this very blog because of how impossible it seems to write about my incredible week. I had two amazing trips back to back, each one more than enough to fill a blog by itself, so I have little Idea how to put them both in one, but I will do my best, and hope the pictures help. The first trip was a short one to Milan with my host mom to the 'Fiera'. My host mother is an architect, but when I say architect I mean she does everything in the designing of a house, from the blueprints to the furniture. Every year there is what I guess I would call a sort of furniture convention in Milan for brands from all ... read more
Advertisement
April 1st 2010
Blog: This blog will follow the general form of all my blogs in the sense that it won't really have a for. If any of you find this annoying, please tell me and I will do my best to remedy it. I just find that the things I have to say rarely have a common thread with which I can sew them together. The risk of snow has left us for the certainty of rain. Tuesday evening brought the sort of spectacular storm that we just don't have in Mendocino. The abruptness and violence with which it came and left reminded me strongly of Georgia. I was enthralled by the deep, loud bangs of thunder and the bright blue flashes that preceded them. Looking out the large windows of the house I thought it looked as ... read more
March 17th 2010
Blog: As of three days ago, I am living with a new family. Sunday morning found me packing my things with not a little sadness, I really loved living with the Guerra’s. It was a warm social atmosphere and I got used to the almost constant companionship that comes with sharing a room with someone, I even liked it. I was very lucky with my first change because while I absolutely loved and still love my first family, the Eynards, the Guerra house already felt like a second home. I would go there almost everyday before I changed families to go running with Giulia and so on, so my moving in seemed natural. I am also lucky with this second change in the sense that I’m now neighbor to the Eynards and my host mom is ... read more
March 10th 2010
I'm on my way to Spain for a long weekend and flying out of Bergamo, about an hour's drive from Milan. Sergio offered to take me to the airport and spend a few hours showing me around this medieval town, so I very happily got a chance to come and see it, fresh snow and all! We walked around the old part of town on the top of the hill, seeing the historic churches and cute storefronts. Then we headed down an old walkway to the new part of town (below) for a quick dinner then took the funicular back up to the car. The city is quaint and has kept a lot of it's charm, even though it has also developed a lot recently due to the nearby factories and industry spreading out from Milan. ... read more
February 9th 2010
I apologize once again for the long interval that has pasted since my last blog, particularly since the last blog was severely lacking in written/intellectual content. This one will hopefully have a little more to offer, both in the way of pictures and writing: The other day I stammered out loud for the first time in my life. Why? What was I saying? Well, my actual sentence was "P-posso fare l'altro?", meaning, "can I do the other one?" It was in math class, and the general way math class goes here is that a student comes to the board and does one of the problems from the homework that others had trouble with. I had never done one of these problems. I figured that since I was capable of solving the next one, it was a ... read more
January 24th 2010
Seeing as it has taken me so long to find a cord for my camera, and then to get around to downloading and editing them, and then uploading them here, I have developed a bit of a backlog, so some of these are quite old, sorry! Just one quick musing in this one: Its funny how some things you only notice when they are gone... and others you don't notice are gone for five months, like ceiling fans.... read more
