Oh Happy Day!

Pictures first, because Blogger is weird.

The ceiling in Ravenna that inspired Cole Porter (more details below)

The tomb of Dante Alighieri

Nicole and I, matching (unintentionally), in the Piazza

Fireworks show in the Piazza

Mosaics in Ravenna

More mosaics in Ravenna

Even MORE mosaics in Ravenna!

Today, my friends, is a very happy day. I am FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY reunited with my computer! After spending five weeks trapped in Italian Customs, the laptop was finally delivered, thanks to a helpful lady at FedEx who did not agree with what her company was doing (or not doing), and finally got it to me. YAY!

Now onto the real stories, which are many.

Last Saturday, October 4th, was the Feast of San Petronio, the patron Saint of Bologna. There was a big stage set up in the main piazza, and in the evening there was a dance/acrobatics show presenting the history of Bologna over the past 150 years or so. It was extremely corny, with images floating on a big screen in back of the performers with music of each era to go along with it, but it was an interesting cultural experience nonetheless. The best part was at the end of the show, when there was a big FIREWORKS SHOW in the piazza. It was so beautiful. The fireworks were right above the palazzo, the government "palace," and it could not have been more spectacular. The music that went with them was varied, from Pomp and Circumstance to concertos to movie soundtrack music. I thought fireworks on a beach or over the Manhattan skyline were magical, but seeing fireworks in an Italian piazza was definitely a new and unique experience.

The night before that, I went with Emily and Nicole to see a concert presentation of an opera, Verdi's Il Trovatore. It seemed to be a community production, with just a piano accompanying the singers (and a keyboard for sounds like church bells). The ensemble was good, most of the leads were good as well, and some were excellent. There was a summary given in Italian at the beginning of each act, but luckily I had printed a summary in English to look over, because the plot was too complicated to be able to follow in Italian. But overall it was an enjoyable night out, and we felt very cultured...not to mention we were among the youngest people in the audience.

This past Saturday night, we cooked a big dinner for our Italian friends. We wanted to introduce them to traditional American breakfast foods (not to mention we were craving this stuff) so we made breakfast for dinner. It was the first time I've cooked for a group of people, so it was an interesting experience, but there were several of us cooking so I wasn't responsible to for too much! The menu consisted of french toast (with maple syrup, which is nearly impossible to find but so necessary with breakfast), potatoes with paprika, sausage links with ketchup, eggs with spinach, tomatoes, and onions, and mimosas. It was delicious, although the Italians did think that spinach in eggs was bizarre. Then with the extra batter intended for pancakes (we ended up making the french toast when the pancake batter wasn't fluffy) we made crepes with nutella for dessert. All in all, a very good meal.

Yesterday we had a day trip to Ravenna, a city on the eastern coast of Italy that was the western capital of the Byzantine empire back in the day. The city is famous for its mosaics, which are very elaborate and very renowned in the art world. They were absolutely beautiful. The churches we visited were from the 400s and 500s, and the mosaics (certainly cleaned many times) still glitter in gold. One of the buildings we saw, actually a small round building constructed to house three tombs of the royal family, has a famous ceiling mosaic of 570 gold stars. My guidebook told me that it's rumored that when Cole Porter visited Ravenna in 1920, he was inspired to write the song "Night and Day" by the gold mosaic stars on the ceiling of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. Isn't that cool?! (I love that song.) We also got to visit the tomb of Dante Alighieri, a little anti-climactic, but still exciting, because it's Dante.

In other news, I think I am finally addicted to Italian coffee. I don't drink coffee at home, I can't stand the taste even with milk and sugar, but here, it's just better. I'm still not crazy about coffee without milk (which is actually our version of an espresso - there is no equivalent to our American coffee, which Italians think of as "watered down coffee"), but there's nothing like a good caffè macchiato to get my day started. It's coffee with steamed milk, but less milk than in a cappuccino, so the coffee is still hot. Not to mention it's taboo to drink cappuccinos after 10am in Italy, so it's good to have this alternative for after 10am!