i’m sorry, i just don’t know

Today mom and I went to the flower market that was just outside our hotel.  I’ve never seen so many lovely blooms in one place.  Did you know there are dark red hydrangeas?  And here, you can get an amazing arrangement of roses, lilies, and astilbe for 12 euro?  In the states, that same arrangement would cost nearly $60.  It was lovely.  We moved from there to the “clothing” market, which was just fabric… lots and lots of lovely lovely lovely fabric.  It was wonderful.  I found the fabric for my new kitchen curtains that my mom will likely have to make.  From there we went to the church where a choir and orchestra was practicing a Bach concert.  I’ve never heard lovlier music.

This morning I met with Paul Kirschner (a.k.a. angel of mercy) who has helped me come out of my dissertation writing funk.  In a true display of cognitive apprenticeship, he intends to help me actually wade through the last bits of my PhD work (or, if you want to look at things differently… through the REAL bits of my PhD work).  For the first time in months, I feel unblocked and free to write away.  I intend to start as soon as I get home.

Well, I’m finally back in Utrecht after a week in the Cinco Terra.  As we left the coast of Italy, I noticed something about how my mom and I are different.  On a slow train from Vernazza to Genova, my mom pointed out all of the ancient castles on the hills.  I was more interested in the bamboo.  I grows wild with the fig and olive trees.  I’m no naturalist, but I’d bet my right pinky finger that bamboo isn’t indigenous to that area.  It must have been brought over from traders to the Orient, perhaps at the time that Columbus was planning his voyage over the sea.  Those plants drew my mind back over the ages in ways that my mom’s castles didn’t.  I wonder why that is?  Maybe I identify more easily with the transient, nomadic plants.

So we arrived in Utrecht yesterday after 4 train rides, 2 metro rides, 3 buses and a plane.  I did my best to enjoy the journey so I wouldn’t be cranky… but really, it was a long way to go to still be in the same time zone.  We traveled 14 hours, and then were finally led to our lovely hotel in Utrecht.

Mom is off saving the world… she fould a tiny LDS branch in a town about 15 miles from here.  She wanted me to get up at 6 so I could go with her on a train, a bus, and then a 2 mile walk over the river and through the woods to try to find the church building.  This being Sunday, a day of rest, I declined, slept in, and read scriptures for an hour or so when I got up.  I’m going to start working on the article I have due at the end of this month and to lay on the beach later.

Tonight mom and I have reservations at this restaurant built into the remains of a castle on a cliff.  That will be a perfect ending to our trip to Vernazza.  We’re back to Holland tomorrow, with a stop in Milan (of course) because Mom wants to see the opera house.  She’s been really good about moving at my pace for the last week, so I figure I can induldge her the run around Milan.  There is a place where you can pay to store bags in the train station there, so it’s not bad at all.

We found the Madonna di Reggio Drignana today. Yesterday I bought an inexpensive necklace made by a local artist with a picture of her on it, and the shop girl said that this particular Madonna is very precious to the people of Vernazza. So, Mom and I set off to find her. Our landlady, Patrizia told us that to find her, we should go to the Pirate bar, then go “up and up and up” so we did. We walked for two hours. Uphill… past the clock tower, past the cemetery, until the road turned into an ancient path made from large cobblestones. Switchbacks led us through olive trees, fig trees, passion fruit, raspberries, and flowers galore. It was beautiful. and steep. and steep. and steep. At every curve of the trail, there was a small shrine with a marble carving of different scenes from the life of Christ. The views were spectacular, of course… the amazing vineyards on the sides of the mountains that ran to the sheer cliffs into the ocean. Specatular views and sweat dripping down my back. I could even feel sweat on the backs of my knees. Remind me to start taking long walks before I take another one of these trips with my mom.

And then… we turned the corner and ta da… the large shrine. A smallish building about 15 x 15 ft with plaster peeling from the walls. On the alter was a statue of some religious guy. He looked like a pope that had been sainted or some other important person… but no Madonna. And then I looked more closely… there was a picture above him. The picture was a drawing of the tiny room, complete with the guy. In that picture, above the saintly man was a teeny tiny picture of Mary holding a little baby Jesus (to quote Ricky Bobby). It was probably 3 inches square. The gate into the shrine was locked, so we had a hard time seeing her, but there she was. Little teeny tiny Mary and baby. A bit of a let down at first, to be honest. But then Mom and I just laughed and laughed. Will post pics when I get home.

So if you ever want to walk straight uphill for hours to see a teeny tiny Mary, let me know. I’ll point the way. Probably won’t go with you… but I can tell you how to get there.

After that, we spent the afternoon by the beach, then hopped on a train to Monterosso where they have a black and white striped church, and an Oratorio of the Dead… In the Oratorio, there are choir seats with skeletons in shrouds carved on them. It’s a bit creepy, but cool. I was going to buy a pretty tablecloth at a shop nearby, but a German lady busted in in front of me and grabbed it before I could. I have got to learn to be more aggressive shopping around here

Today Mom and I took the boat three towns down and then hiked along the coast on the cliff. It was very cool… well, hot. And I don’t think I’ve ever climbed so many stairs in one day. These little towns are all built in ravines with no streets, just alleyways that all go up up up. One thing that surprised me is how BIG the fruit and flowers are here. There are lemon trees with lemons bigger than most grapefruit in the US. And the hydrangeas are bigger than my mom’s head. It’s been nice. Mom has been awesome. She even agreed to just hang out at the beach tomorrow… until the afternoon when we’ll go visit another little town.

Today I found a little shop with art from a local Vernazzan artist. I bought a necklace with charms that had scenes from Vernazza… which is very cool. One of the charms has the Madonna and Child on it. The girl at the shop told me that this was “their” Madonna. She’s apparently at the sanctuary which is about a kilomoter away. Mom and I are going to try to find it tomorrow. The shop girl said that they are “very devoted” to their Madonna, so I’m excited to go meet her myself.

It’s about 8:00 pm and I’m planning on going back to the room and just read until I fall asleep. I found a somewhat lame detective novel in our room, and I’m enjoying the lack of brains it’s taking to read it.

I miss my husband and our puppies. There are a lot of people with dogs here. The dogs don’t speak English, though, so the don’t come when I call them. I need to learn to say “come” in Italian so the dogs will be my friends.

As always, if you want to read the real story about what actually happened today, visit my mom’s blog at http://redumbrellatours.blogspot.com

Oh, and no pics right now… too much trouble at the Internet Cafe. When I get back I’ll put a bunch up on flickr and link to them.

Mom and I got to Vernazza in the Cinque Terra this evening.  It was a full day of travel that included a bus ride, plane ride, two trains, and a metro, but boy, is it worth it.  The town is tiny and built into a ravine.  Very colorful and quaint.  Our room overlooks the main street that is really more of an alleyway.  It’s clean and quaint in our room.  I had the most amazing pesto today as we watched the sun go down over the harbor.  I’ll have to learn to make it.

So yesterday I was sitting in a square in Amsterdam, eating french fries with mayo a la Pulp fiction, listening to a Mexican trio sing Guantanamera.  We went back to the hotel to find a rock concert playing outside our window and I learned that Kroketten are only served at lunch.  How silly of me to have even asked. 

I’m in Holland right now with my lovely mother.  We’re staying in Haarlem for a couple of days before heading off to Italy, and then back to Utrecht, Netherlands for the International Conference on the Learning Sciences (ICLS 2008).  If you are interested in a very detailed description of our day to day activities, check out my mom’s blog… http://redumbrellatours.blogspot.com

I’ll be blogging once I get to ICLS, or perhaps before if the mood strikes me (or I get bored waiting for my mom to finish her long posts at internet cafes).

Marion has brought me out of blog writing funk by showing me Whereigo…

Wherigo is a toolset for creating and playing GPS-enabled adventures in the real world. Use GPS technology to guide you to physical locations and interact with virtual objects and characters -Whereigo site

This allows for legitimate crossover interactions between humans, locations, and literally anything a person can imagine virtually.  I can see this being big with virtual gamers, but also with people like my mom who takes tours to Europe every summer.  My mother can take a tour of people to the Louvre where they go on a treasure hunt for famous artwork.  There are very cool applications with history, as well… Imagine taking a 6th grade class to an Anasazi ruin in the Four Corners area.  As they walk through the ruins, they encounter a 12 year old Anasazi boy going through a coming of age ritual and become a part of his experience.

Location anchored virtual experiences.  Cool.  Marion put together a tour of Temple Square in Salt Lake City.  If you are traveling this way, download it and enjoy!

Yesterday I got the last available seat for Wicked, the musical. I’ve read the book (Wicked, the Untold Story of the Wicked Witch of the West), and loved it. I was giddy… I don’t think I’ve been so excited to see a musical since the first time I saw Les Miserables. Wicked was wonderful. The music, the story (which, btw is considerably different from the book), the costumes, the actors… I was sitting next to a family with an 8 year old girl who was just as excited as I was. We even (it turns out) bought the same I heart OZ t-shirt for $40. After a difficult session at AERA, Wicked sure made me happy

I also visited the Robie House, by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was amazing. His philosophy of organic style resonates with me. Building things that live in harmony with their context. This one was the final house he built in the Prairie Style. It was striking. It was going to be torn down and he came from Arizona at 90 some years of age to save it. Now it’s on the historic register.  Read more on Prairie Style Homes.

And the old Marshal Field’s Department store (now Macey’s) has a Tiffany glass ceiling that is spectacular. I’ve never felt history and grandeur in a department store before. We stood on the top floor and looked down on the wee little people buying perfume. No luck finding Anne the perfect black shoes, though. I found some that I loved, but they were Kate Spade and cost nearly $200 so I passed.

And our hotel is right by the Wrigley building, and the Chicago Tribune building. Such interesting stuff got built here in Chicago after the fire. The Tribune building is a mix of art deco and gothic… who would have thought of that? And it’s striking. The Wrigley building is right across the street and it has this very cool skywalk that connects the two towers. I hear it now connects two law firms. One day I’ll pretend to be a lawyer and go cross it.

Things I have yet to do in Chicago…

• take a tour by air, land, and sea (well, I’ve done a couple of land tours… the architecture tour was cool last time I was here)
• Visit the Sears and John Hancock buildings
• Go to the Art Institute (there is a Picasso and Cezanne show there now that I’m going to miss)
• go to an Oprah Show taping. Somehow Oprah became the spiritual and intellectual leader of all women in the US and it’s a mystery to me how. Good marketing, I suppose.