June 20, 2005

• ITALY TRIP 2005
  
  Sponsored by GIAC, U of U School of Mines and Earth Science, and U of U Dept. of Geology & Geophysics
  
  
  
  You know what the funniest thing about Italy is? The little differences.
  
  For example, you can get a pizza with pepperoni in Italy, but you won’t get what you’re expecting, because ‘pepperoni’ is ‘peppers’, as in bell peppers. So, you can get a vegetarian pizza with pepperoni in Italy.
  
  
  
  Instead of giving you exit signs, they advise you to run head first, directly into a wall in case of emergency.
  
  
  
  The anti-war feelings are just as strong, though directed differently…
  
  
  
  The keyboards are very similar, but just different enough to really screw you over. Check out the positions of ; ‘ ? / : @ # – = plus the additional keys.
  
  
  
  In some regions, the men can have gigantic legs.
  
  
  
  Instead of the mascots you are used to, they use 6-legged, fire-breathing dogs.
  
  
  
  3-card monty (here called “the game of three cards”), is absolutly forbidden, and if caught, can be punishable by a 1 million unit fine in a currency that no longer exists. Plus, all commas are switched with periods in number systems. I.e., this fine is 1.000.000,00 Lire.
  
  
  
  Bathrooms are hard to find, and when you find one, it usually is gaurded by a person taking money.
  
  
  
  
  Hair-dryers look more like vacuum cleaners.
  
  
  
  People drive really small cars, like this two-seater Smart car.
  
  The first thing I’d like to say is I hope I did not worry anyone with the last post. Yes, there were a lot of things I did not like about the trip, and I do regret going, but I still enjoied it and I still think it was a good idea to go. You will see below the reasons for my mixed feelings.
  
  Day 1
  
  We flew from Cincy (where I bought the excellent new Audioslave album) to Roma (Rome). We did not see much of Roma, we went straight to the train station so we could quickly grab a train and spend time in Napoli (Naples).
  
  
  
  Like so many things on this trip, things beyond our control derailed our plans, pun intended. I turns out an undetinated WW2 bomb was discovered underneeth the track between Napoli and Roma, and the train was 2 hours late. Then because of re-routing, a two hour ride turned into 4.5, which is exactly what you want to do after flying for upteen hours.
  
  
  
  We were all relieved when we finally saw Vesuvio on the horizon, we knew we were close to Napoli.
  
  
  
  We got to the train station at 7:30 PM. This was supposed to be the worst/most dangerous place on our trip, but I felt much more comfotable there than South Central or Pacoima. We found our hotel (black vertical sign in center) with relative ease.
  
  
  Sonja and a Napoli street
  
  Aaron and Katrina and the other direction
  
  We were happy to get to a place we could at least temporarily call home.
  
  
  Abe and Sonja in my room, I slept on the right
  
  The rooms were pretty standard, nothing to write home about.
  
  
  
  The first night, we ate at the first of many pizzerias. Napoli is famous for the dish, and it showed.
  
  
  
  The pizzas were quite yummy. Lots of oil, skimpy on the cheese, by American standards at least.
  
  Day 2
  
  
  
  We took the train into Pompei so we could go into the Vesuvio observatory.
  
  
  Paul (L) taking a look
  
  We saw somthing there we did not expect, the world’s first true seismograph.
  
  
  
  It was built in the 19th C. by G. Mercalli, who is most famous for his scale of ground-shaking intensity, which goes from I to XII.
  
  
  typical 79 AD. eruption stratigraphic section
  
  Aaron with a strangly phallic volcanic bomb
  
  Of course, we saw plenty of volcanic things as well.
  
  
  
  Our visit was nice, and the people were great, even though they could not speak very good english (better than my Italian, for sure).
  
  
  
  Next, we took a bus and as far as we could and then hiked up Vesuvio. It was very toursity, with little shops all along the path.
  
  
  
  Here is the crater, I couldn’t really get it all in frame. An interesting not to you all is Vesuvio is not the main part of the mountain, it is just a resurgent dome out of the main crater of Mt. Somma, which is the real culpret in the famous 79 eruption. Thus, Vesuvio proper is less than 2000 years old.
  
  
  
  Thisis the view south, towards Pompei, Erculano, and the paths of all recent mapped eruptions. Very populated, as you can see.
  
  
  
  This is the view north, towards Napoli. Despite the increased population, this area is much less prepared and regulated for eruption hazards, because all recent reuptions headed south.
  
  
  
  This is a 20th C. lava flow that came from the base of Vesuvio. Here you can see the remaining crater walls from Somma.
  
  
  
  
  This day was quite fun and educational, so fun I decided to lean against a banaster along the path and collapse it.
  
  
  
  That night we had more pizza. This place was quite good, but they pulled a fast one on us. We came in the door, and they suggested we eat pizza margharita, without us even giving a glance at a menu. we said OK, and while the pizzas were not bad or pricy, they gave us €30 wine, which made our bill outragous.
  
  Day 3
  
  
  
  This day was 100% Pompei. We, as a group, spent varing amounts of time. Some of us left in the early afternoon, some spent all day. We were supposed to measure a section of the deposit, but that was not arranged previoulsy, and therefore, we could not get access to those areas, because the general public areas do not have that. At this point, I had allready realized a fact that constantly repeted itself: we were not there to do geology, we were tourists. That’s fine, but I find it dishonest (since we planned to do it) and misleading (since the trip was supposed to be educationally based). And, I did not spend all my time and money to be a tourist, I wanted to check out cool geology that I could see no where else. Instead, we mostly wandered aimlessly like a million other tourists before and after.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Pompei was cool, don’t get me wrong, it was just touristy.
  
  
  Joe (foreground L) and the Volcano
  
  It was kinda creepy to constantly see the destroyer and the destroyed.
  
  
  
  
  Some of the mosaics, frescas, and tiles were amazingly preserved. It was easy to see why this place is so famous.
  
  
  
  The streets acted like sewers and disposal sites, and the raised blocks kept you out of the muck, while leaving space for the wheels of chariots to pass by.
  
  
  
  The world’s oldest “Beware of Dog” sign.
  
  
  
  Who knows what ancient purpose this device could have represented to the 20,000 people of Pompei.
  
  
  
  Any guesses what this represents? Yes, you sick pervert, you’re right. It’s an indication “pointing” to the red light district of Pompei. Can’t make that up, it’s just too good. The crowds waiting to take a picture of this was impressive, with giggles in many a language.
  
  
  
  The famous people cavities have mostly been removed with the deposit, but some are left for display.
  
  
  
  Do feel too sorry for this fellow’s early demise, that bulge around his waist most likely represents the fact that he was a slave, and that was his slave belt.
  
  
  
  And, science marches on with further excavation. It is hard for me to believe that the most public part of the modern excavation just happens to have a group of hot young women working on it… my guess is, all the guys are thrown in the back somewhere to do other owrk, while the ladies are front and center.
  
  
  
  This night, I had my first pasta. The owner of the place came out to talk to us about, of all things, basketball. Apparently, he’s a huge 76ers fan, ever since the days of Dr. J and when Mo Cheecks was a player, not a coach. I do want to make it clear that my pics are only a cheap imatation of the master’s food-picture-taking skills. But Italy is so famous for food, I had to take some pics.
  
  
  
  After diner, we had some interesting encounters at a local bar.
  
  
  
  Joe, right, had some of the local women (30s, with kids there at the bar) all over him. Aaron, also had his share.
  
  
  
  
  I only wish I could have captured it all, but I only have these pictures. Joe was being heavily persued by the girl in orange. Aaron was being heavily persued by the girl in white. Aaron’s attempts to dance with Katrina (his gf) were constantly thwarted, and this angered both girls. At the end of the night, the girl in white grabbed his face kissed Aaron. The girl in orange, with the help of the DJ’s translation, offered to go to a motel with Joe if he paid for her drinks. She emphasized this point by saying the only word she seemingly knew in English, “fuck”, with illustrative hand motions. Well, Joe refused the offer, and the girls left angerly.
  
  Day 4
  
  
  
  This day was spent at the national archeology museum and Erculano (Herculanium), another city buried by the 79 eruption.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The museum had some of the most famous artwork recovered from Pompei,
  
  
  
  Elaborate presentation,
  
  
  
  Homoerotic/Beastialic wrestelling (by the way, there was a whole ‘sex’ area that I could not take pictures of, but it was quite explicit),
  
  
  
  Creepy busts,
  
  
  
  Scale model of Pompei,
  
  
  
  Crazy screaming decapated heads,
  
  
  Katrina and Joe get cursed
  
  and an Egyption section, complete with a mumified crocodile.
  
  
  
  I couldn’t disagree with you more. I’m not a fan of the Yankees, and every time one of them goes home, they get closer to victory. I’m so glad they are in 4th place.
  
  
  
  Later, we went to Erculano, which is several times smaller than Pompeii but better preserved. A lot is left to be discovered, but is underneeth developed land.
  
  
  Steph, Sonja, Peyton, Abe, Katrina, Aaron, and Paul do as the Erculano’s do
  
  Peyton finds a long lost bust of a relative
  
  Neptune fresca, complete with shells
  
  Joe dreams of angels
  
  In many ways, this place was better than Pompei. It was certainly less crowded and touristy, which I was allready sick of.
  
  
  
  It certainly was an advanced society. This wall show’s one Erculano’s interpretation of the Mediteranian area ~20 Ma, before the African collision, before eastern mediteranian rifting, and during the incipiant closing of the Tethys. Apparently this person believed the Apulia block was detached from Africa, a bold interpretation!
  
  
  
  Even some of the chared wooden beams are preserved here.
  
  
  
  Here’s an ancient sign. I’d love to have that in my collection. Is that about Agustos Ceasar?
  
  
  
  Here is the only place we could see the deposit. My 1.5 m pool-cue jacob staff is in the lower right for scale. We could not really measure it, but you can see some horizons in the deposit between different surges. I lugged that Jacob Staff around for three weeks, and this is the only time I brought it out.
  
  Day 5
  
  On this day, we moved to Volterra, in the central west part of Italy, but first we needed cars.
  
  
  
  Meet Pepe (a.k.a. Spiced Goods). He’s a 4 person Smart (brand, four-for model) car, driven by Peyton and Paul, and Aaron on occasion.
  
  
  
  Meet the Ford Focus (a.k.a. The Party Wagon, The Lunch Wagon, The Spruce Goose). It’s a roomy Ford Focus wagon with plenty of cargo room and comfortable seating for 5, driven cheifly by Joe, atempted by Aaron, and also driven by Paul and Sonja.
  
  
  
  Meet the second smart car, which never got a nickname, driven by Abe and Sonja, and Aaron on occasion.
  
  
  
  Both Smart cars had a semi-manual(?) transmision, where they could be driven in automatic or manual, and had no clutch pedal. When shifting, you moved the stick up for a higher gear and down for a lower gear. Several times, the natural instictis of the driver to shift down or up for a higher gear (i.e. 3rd to 4th) caused a bucking of the car as it was thrown into a lower gear on accident.
  
  
  
  On this drive I saw the stereotypical Europe.
  
  
  
  We also did some swimming.
  
  
  
  We stayed in a Monestary in Volterra. At first, I was a little scared, but it turned out to be the best place we stayed all trip, in my mind. Why? Two person rooms, great dinners and breakfasts, beautiful, and only €25/night.
  
  
  
  Mmmm… the best meal I had all trip, a cheesy lasagne.
  
  
  
  Here’s my room… guess which bed’s mine.
  
  Day 6
  
  
  
  Here’s our place from the outside. I wish it was not under construction… but that fact was vital later.
  
  
  
  On this day we went to Springfield Nuclear… I mean… Laderrello Geothermal Power Plant. It was OK, not much to say. It was loud.
  
  
  
  
  Later we walked around our sleepy little town, ’til sundown. It was not enough for the party boys, and they stayed out late. Well, since we did stay at a house of God, the doors were locked at midnight. At 1 AM, they got back into their room by climbing the scafolding and leaping into their room.
  
  Day 7
  
  
  
  On this day, we drove to La Spezia in the morning. The problem: a 2 hour drive, and we were meeting people at 9:30. Also, the monistary does not open until 8 AM. I was freaking out, because this is the area I organized and we were meeting my contacts. We were late, but it worked out. We boated along the famous Cinque Terre coast to look at the Geology.
  
  
  
  Our trip leader is Paola Vanucchi (center) from U of Florence. She was great, and knew her stuff.
  
  
  
  We were looking at some oceanic sediments and ophiolites, as Abe could tell you.
  
  
  
  
  
  And the scenery was nice, too.
  
  
  
  But no headless dogs were allowed.
  
  
  
  We stayed in Massa, well, it was actually Marina di Massa, and the hotel never told me that. It took us a while to find it.
  
  
  
  
  On this day, the Bambino was born. Abe and Sonja bought a 14 L jug of wine (for €12). Peyton and Joe adopted the Babmino and went to work early and often.
  
  Day 8
  
  
  
  Here is the first dent from the first night.
  
  
  
  On this day we went to the Alpi Apuane with Massimo Coli (center). Massimo was funny and very knowledgeable.
  
  
  
  
  For example, when he was explaining the regional stratigraphy, he drew the strat colomn right on the Grezzoni dolomite (he also signed it). By the way, Grezzoni means ugly in Italian. I didn’t think it was ugly, but I guess it’s all relative…
  
  
  
  …when you have the world famous Carrera marble nearby. This is one of many quarries in the formation that has produced statues like Michaelangelo’s David. It was a very educational day.
  
  Day 9
  
  
  
  The bambino, past a critical point.
  
  
  
  This day was very eventful, but not in a good way. We went (unguided) to Val Gravaglia and the town of Bagone to look at more Ophiolites. Well, I wanted to carefully examine these world-class outcrops.
  
  
  Abe looks for a pillow
  
  
  Many others sprinted ahead, ignoring the outcrops, saying they were going to try ot climb the mountain we were on. At 11:30, I knew I would never catch up, and I was angery that no one wanted to look at the rocks (that why we’re there) and left me behind for doing so. I stopped trying to catch up and stayed behind, went off the trail, and hiked at my own slow examination pace. I did have a pack of M&M’s to hold me over and a liter of water. Apparently, the group wanted to leave at 2 PM (I was never told), passed by me on the way down, could not find me for lunch, and thought I was lost. They were going to call the police in 30 more minutes.
  
  
  
  Well, I came down the mountain 5+ hours later, with the group distraught over my absence. I consentrated on the outcrops, took my time, and was unaware of the whole mess. Well, when I was found, everyone was relieved and upset. We got back to Massa. At dinner, people’s tempers flaired over silly things, which tends to happen after stressful days. I stormed out of dinner first, and ate by myself. My issue was we were at a seafood returant (I don’t care for seafood), and an English menu was handed to us, and one group member would not give it to us, telling us “solo Italiano”. I did not care for such shenanagins, since I had not eaten in 12 hours, and I left, in order to not explode. I found out later others also stormed out over other things, and pretty much everybody was pissed.
  
  Day 10
  
  
  The Bambino on its last legs
  
  
  
  This was a travel day to Firenze (Florence). On the way, we hit some tourist spots,
  
  
  
  like Pisa,
  
  
  
  and Vinci (as in Leonardo da).
  
  
  take that, Hot Pockets!
  
  We stayed at this awesome hotel outside Firenze with free internet. I got a good dinner of a calzone.
  
  Day 11
  
  
  
  
  This was a nothing day in Firenze. It was boring quickly, especially when you don’t want to spend the €. I know, seeing David is an amazing thing, but is it worth standing in line for hours and hours and paying €15, and taking the same picture that a billion others took? I stayed outside mostly.
  
  
  
  I did go to the museum with Steph. It was good, but I’ve seen much better.
  
  
  
  For all the Apatite pickers out there… don’t you wish they were all this big?
  
  
  
  Steph and I went back to the hotel, board. Steph had been in Europe a month prior to our arrival, so she was just as anti-tourist as I. We went back downtown for dinner, and then the most unfortunate thing of the trip happened. Steph had just took out her last €100 (you know where this is going). We got on the bus, as we had been doing. Turns out, you need to stamp your ticket as you enter. We knew this, but we had not been caught yet, so we continued. Well, we got caught. €45 fine each (if paid now) or €85 later. I had no cash, and Steph felt responsable for my ticket, since earlier I had try to convince her to get the stamp. Steph gave the ticketer her last €100, holding back tears. Luckily, the stupid bastard gave us €15 back. Steph was too upset to eat with the group, so we went back to the hotel to eat on our own. As a minor bonus to offset this trajady, we ate at a local place while Italy was playing a world cup qualifier. It was exciting, as exciting it could be since our hearts were just ripped out by the Firenze bus system.
  
  Day 12
  
  
  
  We left Firenze and headed to Venezia (Vencie). It was a long drive, but not too bad.
  
  
  
  Abe and Aaron got to the last of the Bambino. We parked our cars and walked to the hostel.
  
  
  
  This was the first true group housing. We had two rooms, 6 beds each. It could have been worse.
  
  
  
  Out our windows, we noticed some kids playing soccer in the square… 8 to 12 year olds—perfect skill level for full grown Americans.
  
  
  
  I heald my own out there.
  
  
  
  It was quite the attraction. A few of us played, but most of our group watched. We had a great pizza dinner that night, but that square came back to bite us… it was loud until 2 AM.
  
  Day 13
  
  
  
  Well, we were supposed to have a full day with the Venezia consortium regarding inundation, but after a short presentation, they gave us the brushoff and said the weather was not good enough. So, we were tourists again.
  
  Day 14
  
  
  
  Same shit, different day. Another brushoof, another wandering day. At least that night, I got to see Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (Venezia is his home town, by the way), which was awesome, better than a Hollywood Bowl performance I saw, and only €17.
  
  
  
  One of the funnier things happened that night. Nancy, who is the most disliked person in the group, borrowed the key. The next time it was needed was 2 AM, and it was bent at a right angle. When it was tried, it snapped. So, this left several members locked out. They tried to wake us up, but it was a loud square, kinda hard to hear (I was on sleeping pills). So, Joe threw his shoe throught the window to wake us up, and it did; the smack of the shoe against the wall got Greg up to open the door. Nancy never claimed any responsablity.
  
  Day 15
  
  
  
  We drove up to the Alps to see things, like the famous Vaiont reservoir disaster. If you took an Engeneering Geology class, you heard of this. It’s right up there with the St. Francis dam failure in San Fransisquito Canyon in SoCal.
  
  
  
  Basically, they filled the reservoir, causing instability in the slope, and a 250Mm3 landside seished into the lake, splashing water over the dam (the dam did not fail), killing over 2000 people.
  
  
  
  The wall of water was so high (at least 100 m over the top of the dam), that even this town was damaged way up on the hill. Pretty veiw, eh?
  
  
  
  This was the only full day that Fulvio (our faculty advisor and native speaker of Italian) was with us (part of a day in Venezia). He had visa issues, and had to be in Firenze at the American embasy. He also had some geology engeneer friends of his show us around.
  
  
  
  We check out some good places in the famous Dolomites.
  
  
  
  We also saw Fulvio’s tunnel that he designed.
  
  
  
  Alpine overthrust!
  
  
  
  This was a great day, with a lot of great geology, sights, and free wine.
  
  
  
  We stayed in this really nice resort in Passo di Fulzarego.
  
  
  
  Steph dropped her sock off the balcony, and luckily Sonja is a climber. A quick fishhook, fashioned from a clothes hanger, got it in a flash.
  
  
  
  
  The food was good, even if they don’t know what macaroni is. That’s not it, but it was good. The omlete was good too. I should explain that this part of Italy is very German, so things switch a little.
  
  Day 16
  
  
  
  This day was a hike down the high Dolomites. Do you see that little dot at the top of the highest mountain? That’s where our cable car took us. Do you see that snowy canyon on the right of the mountain? That’s where we hiked down, all the way back to where this pic was taken. It was hard.
  
  
  
  Here is the view down the cables from the top.
  
  
  
  
  
  The top did offer some impressive scenery.
  
  
  
  Just in case you could not tell, it was snowing and it was really fucking cold. I was freezin’ my nips off out there.
  
  
  
  This isthe view at the start of the pathway down… funny, I don’t see a pathway.
  
  
  
  The begining was very snowy…
  
  
  
  …but it cleared eventually. There’s the parking lot! We’re almost there!
  
  
  
  The snowy parts were hard, but the non-snowy parts were almost as challanging. This thing was steeper than the markups an airport—and much more painfull. I felt like an old man by the end of the day, my knees were barking.
  
  
  
  We eventually made it all the way to our next town, Selva. We had a fancy dinner in our hotel, and the waiter’s name was Fabio. Can’t make that stuff up.
  
  Day 17
  
  
  
  Just when I was finallz reliying the adustment to Italian-stzle kezboards, I was completelz bamboyyled bz the German-stzle kezboards, which not onlz had different special characters, but exchanged the ‘z’ and ‘y’ kezs on the kezboard. Scheiße!
  
  
  
  I liked this hotel because they had a really cool dog named Azziay (sp?). This was the most scratch-happy dog I ever met by at least two orders of magnitude. It would kick for almost any petting motion, and if you really got going, would kinda roll into a little ball and start to quasi-convulse. it was pretty cool.
  
  
  
  We drove through Bolzano and saw the famous ice-man, then made it towards Aprica. Here is the address we had:
  
  Aprica Hotel Roma Tel: 39-0342-748-993 Corso Roma 159, Sondrio
  
  So, we drove through Aprica, looking for Corso Roma, and could not find it. Street signs are genreally well marked in Italy, but here: no help. After looking for the address, we realized that it might be in Sondrio. So we drove the 30 km to Sondrio, which is an awful, narrow, and windy road. 45 min later, we got there, and found out that it was in Aprica after all. When we finally got back, we reallized we were on Corso Roma the whole time in Aprica, and we drove right past it. I guess the bright-green neon sign just wasen’t bright enough.
  
  
  
  Oh well, as Joe can tell you: a few spiced german brews, in the natural cooler, will fix any frustration.
  
  Day 18
  
  
  Some words just don’t need translation…
  
  On this day we went to our last stop: Verbania.
  
  
  
  Verbania’s a pretty city on a lake in the alps. Of course, there managed to be controversy. The place we were staying was a hostel. It housed all of us in one room, except one person would have to choose another room. Everyone in the same room for 2 nights was scary to me, so I took one ‘for the team’ and picked the solo job.
  
  
  
  I was in room 303, which was to the left, I mean, right… uhh… I guess I’m a little confused…
  
  
  Mine, all mine?
  
  Greg and Nancy in the main room
  
  I was happy. A room to myself. Of course, I ran the risk of sharing the room with a stranger, but I was all for meeting some new people. However, I was quickly moved back to the main room after something happened. I later found out that there was one loan twin, and five bunk beds. There was a debate over who got the last bed (in order to make a “double” out of two twins), with high tension between the couples and non-couples (mainly Joe). In order to solve the bed problem, Peyton and Lindsey said they would share one twin, and if others wanted to sleep together, they would have to do the same. This left a bed open for me, so I had to move to it.
  
  Day 19
  
  
  
  Our last day of field work. It was one of the best, though. We saw a lot of lower crustal rocks, including what I believe to be Eclogite veins in Granulite (see Bjørnerud, M. G. and Austrheim, H., 2004, Inhibited eclogite formation: The key to the rapid growth of strong and buoyant Archean continental crust; Geology, v. 32, n. 9, p. 765-768, and Jackson, J. A., Austrheim, H., McKenzie, D., Priestley, K., 2004, Metastablity, mechanical strength, and the support of mountain belts; Geology, v. 32, n. 7, p. 625-628 for discussion).
  
  
  
  There were so many mylonites and schists in this area, they made roofs out of them.
  
  
  
  In one of our final nights togetehr, there was plenty of drinking and foosball. I knew I was not going to be able to go to sleep at a reasonable time, so I just stayed up with everyone. We got really giggley, especially wen peop;e started singing Tenacoius D and when Joe was talking to Paul (Paul was asleep). It went something like this:
  
  Joe: So, how ya doin’ Munchkin?
  Paul: *snore*
  Joe: I’m sorry to hear that.
  Paul: *snore*
  Joe: How did that happen?
  Paul: *snore*
  Joe: You don’t say!
  
  Day 20
  
  
  
  We drove to Milan. We stayed in this crummy hotel in the outscirts. The worst part is, we were closer to our airport in Verbania than we were in our Milan hotel. Oops. I was too jaded to even go into downtown, so I just stayed behind and ate a Kebab.
  
  Day 21
  
  Back to the states! I was very excited. I saw Million Dollar Baby on the plane, which was good, not great. Seeing Aly again was a dream come true. we’ve been attached at the hip since then.
  
  Well, that’s the end. OK, I really need to get to work. I leave for Mongolia in 6 days.

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