Radical Design

Check out this crazy piece of transportation design!  I love the innovative thinking.... click on the image for a video of it in action....

Also, with this little post, I finally figured how to start getting my images to link properly again. Blogger changed the way they do business at some point. From now on when you click my images you should be able to see a full sized version.....YAYYY!

Day Twenty-two

Today we spent much time in the studio working on some of our final images for the class as Mel, our photographer is leaving us on Wednesday. We did make a brief trip out into the world to go visit an institute that restores old books. On the way there our walk was interrupted by the CRAZIEST motorcade I have ever seen! There were easily fifty vehicles involved ranging from police motorcycles all the way up to huge SUVS loaded with angry men armed with machine guns. They were driving so fast through the town, blocking off intersections and making a lot of noise. Wondering who could be this important to warrant such a scene, I noticed that the limousine in the middle of the convoy was flying the american flag. So, when I got home I looked up to see what our jokers in charge are up to these days. My search revealed this:

Mr. Cheney met Giorgio Napolitano, Italy's left-wing and largely ceremonial

president, at his Quirinale palace in Rome before some scheduled sight-seeing

in the ancient Etruscan town of Orvieto. He was due to meet Silvio Berlusconi,

centre-right prime minister, on Tuesday.

Geez, just when you think you've escaped American politics for a bit by moving to Rome for a month, the vice president comes hunting you down.... The car full of machine gun guys was not very amused by a gang of photographers just happening to be on the motorcade route. They were shouting at us as they drove by. Unfortunately I really did not get any pictures to speak of.

I did however get some nice images of the super friendly book technicians we met today. They were very thorough in their explanation of the restoration process, perhaps a little too much. Interesting nonetheless.

I also liked this nun I saw today, looking quite fashionable dressed up in blue....

Self Portrait

This is a self portrait taken quickly on my mac's webcam just before I left for this trip. Mainly to document the incredible amount of post-camping scruffiness I had accumulated. With all of the self portraits I've been taking recently I just thought this one would be kinda fun.....

Days Twenty and Twenty-one

What a week! Now I sleep.... a few of my favorite images from this trip to date...

Day Nineteen

The final day of our great Italian road trip. We kicked it off in style with a visit to the Ferrari museum. I am not a huge car buff, but you just gotta love those sleek lines and that Ferrari RED! The thing I liked about this museum was that it focused more on the history and racing legacy of Ferrari and the many greats who have piloted their vehicles than it did on the present day production stuff. From an Industrial Design standpoint though, I sure would have loved to see their production lines as well. Like I said, I am not a car buff, but at the museum I was introduced to the Enzo Ferrari shown in the first photograph below, I dare you not to love the looks of this sexy beast.

Our final destination before heading home to Rome (Rome is Home) was a stop at the Acetaia Malpighi. An Acetaia is a place that makes Balsamic vinegar. Those who know me would understand that my heart began to race a bit as soon as I stepped in the door. I love all kinds of vinegar, but particularly Balsamic. I literally would bath in the stuff if it weren't so damned expensive. The reason for the priciness was revealed to us at the acetaia by a woman who represents the fifth generation of Malpighis making traditional balsamic vinegar. Traditional balsamic vinegar is a very strictly regulated type of Balsamic vinegar. It is typically 12 or 25 years of age but can be much older. The barrel shown in the closeup below has the date written on the label. This barrel has been aging since 1860! It has outlived entire generations of Malpighis! Can you believe that? The room that the vinegar is aged in has the most delightful smell. It literally is so strong that it stings the nostrils. It did a great job of clearing my sinuses though after inhaling all this polluted air. We were joking that they could quite honestly probably charge people just to sit up there and breath. After she explained the whole process to us we proceeded down for a tasting(and purachasing). She treated us to, in order, Balsamic Jam, Balsamic syrup, 5 yr old white balsamic, 6 yr old red balsamic, 12 yr old traditional balsamic and then the 25 yr old traditional balsamic. My mouth is watering right now thinking of it and I may drool on the keyboard. The white Balsamic was of particular interest to me as I have never encountered it before and it seemed extra tangy, just how I like it!

Day Eighteen

After a restless night in a hot hotel room, we headed out to a place that makes Parmigian-Reggiano cheese. We saw the process from start to finish, with the Dairy Master keeping a watchful eye on us, the cheese and his workers. The process is very cool and is quite sensitive as the qualities of the milk can change from day to day based on many fluctuating variables. It is neat to watch the Dairy Master inspecting the cheese at various stages because he is so in tune with how it should smell, taste, feel and look. Then we went into the warehouse where the cheese is aged....heaven. My clothes smelled like cheese for the rest of the day! There were 90 kilo wheels of cheese stacked all the way to the fifty foot high ceilings!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!! Afterward we were treated to a tasting of both young and old Parmigiano-Reggiano. At the Tuscan meal we had Parmigiano-Reggiano with honey, I had never had it this way, it was so damn delicious, so I stocked up on cheese wedges to bring home and share...

After the cheese factory, we went to Bologna and were let loose in the city for about seven hours. I toured an archaeological museum filled with egyptian artifacts, a palace that was once the main building for an old university of Bologna and another palace that now houses some of the most beautiful Bolognese art. The best thing about Bologna, I got into all of these museums for FREE! How cool is that?  Oh, maybe I spoke too soon, the best thing about Bologna may be the Lasagna alla Bolognese, which the waiter absolutely insisted I must pair with a glass of local red wine.....it was phenomenal.

Day Seventeen

Today we visited a knife making workshop in Scarperia and the Lamborghini museum. The knife maker was intensely proud of what he does and his face glowed as he showed us his favorite knife. He was so proud of the design and craft of this knife that he called it his son. 

Then we all piled onto the bus to make the trip to the Lamborghini museum. On a side note, the bus driver was a really friendly guy and did a great job touring us around Italy. We all chipped in at the end of the journey to give him a nice tip. I think he thoroughly enjoyed the trip as well, he went to all the sites with us and took pictures and made friends with all the Italians we met...not a bad gig. 

Anyway, the Lamborghinis were beautiful. We got to go behind the scenes and tour the assembly line where every Lamborghini in the world is assembled by hand. Again, the quality of workmanship and pride of craft was evident on the faces of the workers and very inspiring to me. Also interesting to me was the way in which the company does business. They produce limited numbers and the workers only work a single shift from 8-5. Then the plant shuts down and everybody goes home. They could easily hire more workers and build around the clock, cranking out Lamborghinis much quicker and making more money, but the intense focus on building a quality product stands in direct opposition to this method of manufacturing.