Far from the madding crowd

We're in Oxford for a conference this weekend (another vacation from vacation for me?). When I should have been working last week, I was creating a rigorous schedule of pubs, tearooms, colleges, gardens/parks, and museums to visit (pretty much in that order). Our agenda started right away with dinner at a pub near the coach station called (after the Thomas Hardy novel) Far From the Madding Crowd. After four brilliant weeks in Italy, I was on a pasta/pizza/wine moratorium, and wouldn't you know it turned out to be pizza night at the Madding Crowd? Oh well--it was different pizza, and the bitter was good. We've otherwise been wandering around this great college town to see the deer and geese in the meadow, the dodo and dinosaurs at the science museum, street musicians on Cornmarket, and books at Blackwell. Somehow we fit two other previous favorites in: lunch at Edamame and cream tea at the Mitre.

Our schedule in Oxford is almost as rigorous as our journey--bus, train, train, bus, airplane, bus, bus, and a good bit of walking (two backpacks, one stroller, one laptop, and one kid).

J and I are hoping to take a little trip into the countryside tomorrow to see the daffodils.

Something rotten...

It's hard to tell now, but Venice was built on a salt marsh. Underneath all the marble and brick, the foundation of Venice is actually wood. The buildings rest on millions of wooden piles which, submerged in mineral-rich water, don't decay (at least not very quickly). The wood used for boat docking, however, has contact with the air, and so it decays and has to be replaced. While waiting for the vaporetto one morning, we saw a work crew quickly replace some piling that was clearly rotting at the surface. The rotten pole actually snapped in the middle when they pulled it up, so I guess it was about time to replace it. The spotted dog seemed to be the crew boss.

Venice experiences "high water" fairly often now and one wonders how climate change will continue to affect this lovely city. Many of the old merchant houses are uninhabitable on the ground floor, and the city has an elaborate system of wooden walkways used during floods.

Cafes to import

There are so many cafes in Italy, do you think they'd miss one or two? I keep seeing small cafes--just little places with a small bar and a few seats, a shiny espresso maker, snacks, and maybe a tap or two for beer and wine--and saying I'd like to pack one up in my suitcase and bring it home. With the per capita rule that seems to be used here, I figure our small Vermont town could use four or five of these places. Just one, that's all I need. Just one.

Pictured is the little cafe across from the gondola yard in Venice (mentioned in a previous post).

Water water everywhere!

And here are some non-crofter pictures (some of us stayed through the weekend). The first couple of pictures are to and from the Rialto Bridge, from which we played "Pooh Sticks" (the game Pooh and Piglet play, watching to see whose stick floats under the bridge fastest). We played with gondolas and vaporetti.

The second couple of pictures are from the neighborhood where we stayed (in Olga Rudge's house--a lovely three rooms, one on top of the other), which was a world away from Rialto. I couldn't help thinking about Las Vegas's "Venetian" while in the Rialto area--it had the same kind of decadent tourist vibe, which made us generally avoid it. Note the leaning bell tower in the third picture--Venice is gradually sinking, rotting, falling, and otherwise decaying, which adds to its charm (if not longevity). I hope Venice outlasts Vegas.

Getting lost in the canals and tiny alleys and dead ends of the other neighborhoods was quite nice, as were the gazillion little cafes. My favorite cafe was in the bottom of a building where Ezra Pound used to stay, with cheap cappuccino and a view across a little canal to a gondola building and repair yard. The last picture is the Salute (health) church (our vaporetto stop), named in honor of the end of the plague.

I appreciate the art in the Accademia, though it's really not what I tend to enjoy (I'm glad the Renaissance happened, but there are other artistic eras and I prefer). However, the Museum of Letters, Arts, and Sciences had a fascinating exhibit of Meiji era Japanese photographs that I went to see. The photos were colorized (painted by ukiyo-e artists), so they were part photography and part painting, and the exhibit statements included thoughts about the different depiction of women and men, sacred and profane, and such. The originals were produced (some by Westerners) to introduce the rest of the world to Japan as it opened itself to other cultures, and it was interesting to think about the artwork while in Venice, the ultimate merchant crossroads of East and West.

Crofters in Venice

We took a field trip to Venice last week, and the students enjoyed a short tour of "Pound's" Venice (with our host Mary, daughter of Pound), a visit to St. Michelle cemetery to see Pound's and Olga Rudge's graves, a trip to the Accademia gallery, and some time in St. Mark's basilica and the Ducal Palace, as well as a celebratory dinner together and lots of free time. No complaints regarding lodgings--the students' hostel looked out on the Grand Canal, and we stayed with Mary in her mother's (violinist Olga Rudge's) house near the Salute church. Though Venice is very walkable, and we walked and walked and walked, we all got passes to the vaporetti (bus-boats) so we could zip around the Grand Canal whenever we wanted.

The field trip disbanded in Venice so that crofters (and faculty) could stay longer, visit Padua or other Veneto cities, or plan longer weekend trips. I hope they all noticed that Italy institutes daylight savings time today! We'll see who's in class tomorrow.

Springtime, II

In Meran and at the castle.

Springtime

The grass in the rows of the vineyards is greening up, trees are flowering, and there's new life on the farm. It's workday today, and J and I wandered around checking out the crofters' work, and taking treats to the rabbits and donkeys.

Our favorite rabbit is Phoebe, who used to hide from us but now comes out of her hiding place when we visit (with carrots). J likes her because, as he says, "she used to be shy, but now she's brave.Just like J."

It took us some time to find the donkeys today, but they were happy when we did because we took them our leftover, dried bread from the last week (did I mention that there are bakeries every half block here?). We had to sit down to rest and take some pictures--this place is hilly! Where are those donkeys, anyway?

One of the goats gave birth to twins just this morning, which is very exciting! The baby in the first picture is much older, but still likes to jump on things (machinery, trees, people). The goats are a heritage breed, native to the South Tirol. Note the mama goat's horns--my leg (not the one with the pig teeth marks--the other one) had a run in with one of those horns a couple of weeks ago (an accident, that time--goats are friendly).

Other animals of note are the giant woolly pigs (no, the one who knocked me down was much, much smaller, embarrassingly smaller), and geese. Dino, the male, doesn't seem to care for us much. Our intercom buzzed from the front gate yesterday morning. All we heard was loud honking, so I'm thinking the geese buzzed us. I imagine they said something like "see, we can even get to you in your home." In my spare time, I've been looking around this castle for a suit of armor.

We're off tomorrow with the crofters and some of the family to Venice for a field trip. Pound spent a good bit of time in Venice, so we'll look around some of his haunts, appreciate some art and architecture, and enjoy the canals and boats. I suppose they have cafes in Venice, too.

Best of...last week

It's been a slow day at the castle--foggy and rainy, so we took turns working (student papers, research) and playing (reading books about Maisy Mouse, playing cars, drawing). The camera never left the backpack, so here are some pictures from around town (on nicer days) from the last week. The first is Meinhard, Count of Tyrol (not sure if he's I or II, but both are from the 1200s).

The second is the Green Mountain sign at the croft (GMC Italy campus, as I like to think of it).







Then there's the long view of the valley, with Brunnenburg at the bottom and Schloss Tirol at the top. I take this picture almost every time we walk into the village--this is from the top of the hill as we hit the first gelato shop. The snowy mountains center and right are part of the Texel Group national park. It looks like amazing hiking, and a lot of people come to Dorf Tirol because of its proximity to this area. There's a Seilbahn (gondola) from the village up to some high guesthouses, mountain huts, and a trail system (and, of course, a cafe/beer garden). We can see the gondola several times a day from our kitchen window, and finally rode it on Friday. The ride was scary (very high!), but short (only 5 minutes), and the view was spectacular. And no, I don't have any pictures. Yes, next time I'll take the spare camera battery.


Then there's the church in the village. On Sunday mornings, the bells at this church join about a gazillion other church bells in the valley at 9, 10, and 11. Last week, we went to the roof of the castle to listen to them at 10.

Mr. Pound and family

Brunnenburg is perhaps most known for being the temporary home of the American modernist poet Ezra Pound. Originally built in the 1200s, the castle was renovated during the middle part of the 20th century by Pound's daughter Mary de Rachewiltz and her husband Boris. Pound came to Brunnenburg during the 1950s and wrote the final part of his Cantos here (which Mary translated into Italian).

Today, Brunnenburg serves as a study center not only for American college students, but for Pound scholars. Our students benefit from a class on Pound every week taught by Mary de Rachewiltz, and she invites them all to tea on Sundays. Whether they know it now, the crofters have the kind of opportunity here that not many people get. Mary is a scholar's scholar, constantly hosting academics from around the world and at the same time graciously interacting with college students, many of whom are having their first experience of Pound's poetry. She's also our upstairs neighbor and often stops on her way up or down from the tower to check on us and to invite us for a visit. In fact, while I was writing this post, she stopped to invite us and our "young man" to tea (I think especially the young man).

Mary's son Sizzo manages both this castle (an agricultural museum) and the regional museum at Schloss Tirol (the fortress up the hill). He teachers our students about the history of agriculture and the region, and ancient and Medieval iconography. His wife Brigitte leads a seminar on food and culture of the South Tirol, runs the animal operation at the farm, and feeds the crofters some of the best food they'll ever eat. Their sons Michi and Nik also live at and contribute to the life of the castle. Michi, just about to complete his MA in philosophy, teaches survival German and helps us to do pretty much anything we need to, from arranging and guiding us on field trips to helping with banking to letting us know which pizza places deliver. Nik runs the vineyard and advises us on anything related to wine and helps the crofters find fun things to do, such as bowling and sledding excursions. Both Michi and Nik are experts on the hiking culture of the region. Our hosts seem to be adept at making things quite efficient and relaxed at the same time, and they're all tolerant of the addition of a three-year-old bundle of energy in this stately and quiet castle.

Every day when we walk out of the castle to the farm or up to the village, we pass by a statue of "Mr. Pound." J likes to pretend that he's hiding from our absent host and then greets him with a "good morning Mr. Pound!" He's also in our list of "good nights" at the end of the day (along with the bunnies and cat). Though J is too young to appreciate it, the statue we greet is from the cast of the Henri Gaudier-Brzeska original, now in the National Gallery.

Earthquake

The castle shook a little early this morning--enough to wake us up, but not enough to do any apparent damage. There was a 3.4, shallow earthquake centered about 10 miles south of us. Thanks to the European-Mediterranean Seismological website, we didn't have to wonder if the castle was shaking because it was falling off the cliff--we noted the little earthquake and went back to sleep until it was rabbit feeding time.

Class day

Thursday is a fairly busy day for the crofters, with three classes spanning 9-4:30 (or however long the trail boss keeps them). They start the day with German, then have a seminar on Ezra Pound with Mary de Rachewiltz (Pound's daughter and our upstairs host at the castle), then a long class with Prof. S called Agrarian Philosophy (more on that later).

Thursday is also busy for me, especially since S and the students are in class so J and I get to play together most of the day (no complaints about that, though don't tell my coauthor or publisher!). We started the day with donkey and rabbit-care, then I sat in on the German class, which is very good. We actually had a bonus class meeting last night, with Michi (Pound's great-grandson, our German instructor, and philosopher), his brother Nik (winemaker), and two friends, who all quizzed us on our (poor, in my case) conversational skills. One of the best parts of class today was that we translated ingredients on a menu for a pizza place. I no longer have to wonder what "sardellen" (anchovies) and "pilze" (mushrooms) are. They don't teach you useful things like that in "German-for-reading-Heidegger" class in graduate school. Maybe Heidegger should have eaten more pizza.

We took a break for lunch at the Sunshine Cafe up in the village. The food and drinks are good enough, but the best part of the Sunshine is the playground. The number of cafes here with toys or playgrounds reminds us of the trend in the UK of playgrounds or even bouncy houses at pubs. How civilized! On the walk back to the castle, we noticed how green the hillsides are becoming. Though it may be a sign of climate change, we have no other complaints about the weather--70s and sunny, even up on this mountain.

Now, we're watching the Agrarian Philosophy class meet outside our kitchen window on one of the terraces. Lucky students! I wonder if it's as hard to focus for them as it is for me with all the mountains and castles everywhere. And I hope the class is lively--I'd worry about a couple of students sitting on the turrets, in the event that they fall asleep...

Castles and crofters

We've been staying fairly close to the castle this week (some of us have to work once in a while, after all). We got invited to pizza night with the croft-dwellers on Sunday (and are hoping they continue to like us well enough to continue inviting us). The group of students seems well-suited to the learning and working environment at the castle. They participate in a workday every Tuesday, and have a fairly rigorous schedule of 17 credits worth of classes (everything from aesthetics to agroecology to the poetry of Ezra Pound). So far, if they're getting into trouble or complaining a lot, we're not hearing about it. They seem like nice people who genuinely appreciate the opportunity they have to study at a place like this.

We're doing some work, too. Every morning, all three of us try to help with morning animal chores. I've been cleaning the donkey stall and walking them to their orchard, and we also feed the rabbits (and talk to them. A lot.). There are three rabbits. Though they may have had names already, J has renamed them: Fuzzytail, Mr. Black (probably Ms. Black, more accurately, but I think "Mr." is her first name), and Other Rabbit (whose name, Phoebe, we've since learned). Tess the cat is also a favorite, and she meows at our door every morning to come in and say hi.

There's also work in the vineyard. S and J did some pruning and picking up sticks at workday yesterday, and we all enjoyed dinner with the students and family (with wine from the vineyard, of course) to celebrate the end of workday.

Some of the time J and I do a little exploring while everyone is in classes or working. Yesterday morning, we took a picnic lunch to an overlook above our castle (near Schloss Tirol, the big castle that towers over us and dominates the view out our kitchen window). Today, we walked down to Meran (the larger town) via the Tappeinerweg (promenade), a lovely walking/jogging path planted with interesting trees and beautiful flowers. We ended our walk with lunch (and gelato) at a cafe, of course, and after all that promenading, we opted for the bus back up the hill.

Even when we don't get too far afield, we still feel like tourists. The last picture is the front door to the castle, leading to the round tower (on the right in the previous picture) that is the staircase to our apartment.