A Different World - Part 2

Rimini is a beach town, a tourist destination. Although it was the beginning of the off season when we got there the water was still a pretty happening place when the sun was shining.  Contrary to what Americans perceive, not everyone goes topless.  You pretty much do whatever and wear whatever, from swimsuits to skives to business suits you see it all down at the beach.  Many locals come by after work for a walk, bike or run along the shore before heading home to make dinner.  The variety of shells is amazing and you find lots of pieces of stone and terra cotta that washes up as well probably from some ancient ruin or shipwreck.

Amongst my perusing of hotel tourist literature and a by chance sighting during a bus ride I was delighted to find the Ceramic House also know as Casa Ugolini, a private residence on the Via Flaminia owned by Cesare and Susanna Minelli Ugolini.  Cesare was an antique dealer and ceramics collector who created a masterpiece using tiles and ceramic pieces set to be discarded from local sites around Rimini.  Although this was not open to the public for tours it was quite the sight to behold from the street.  If you'd like to find out more click HERE for a great video tour and description plus some other photographs.

Another very cool find was an archaeological dig site.  Years ago when Rob was here for previous training this particular spot was a construction site with the usual orange net fencing surrounding it.  Apparently when they went to begin a new structure they discovered the ruin of the Surgeon's House, plus an even older development underneath that.  The Museo della Citta oversees the site now and it is part of the museum admission.  They've covered it and built walkways across so you can see everything quite well.  Unfortunately my photos do not do it justice in the least.  I did however find a couple videos on YouTube should you care to know more. 
Click and enjoy!  LONG VIDEO  -  SHORT VIDEO

My visit through the museum was quite interesting.  I went on Wednesday morning which was the free admission day only to find the place virtually deserted except for myself, two art students, and a couple museum lady guards.  They are quite particular about the order you go through the museum, or maybe they just want to make sure you see everything.  If I started to drift off course one of the ladies would come down and "scuzi" me into the section I should be at first.  They did not speak English other than "photo ok, no flash" again contrary to what I was told that "everyone pretty much speaks English".  Not the case my friends.

The exhibit about the Surgeon's House had descriptions in English and were excellent.  As I toured the upper floors I quickly discovered that was the only exhibit with English explanations.  There was an amazing display on the Crucifixion of Christ with art ranging from oil paintings to ceramics to wood carvings, paintings on wood, stone/marble, and metal work.  Then, bam, a retro advertising lithograph display!  Another area of marble and stone carvings and pieces, lots of mosaics, tapestry, furniture, all incredibly old then....hello....a contemporary photography exhibit, which was fascinating!   From there I headed over to the Piazza Cavour to check out the open air market, which is basically the Italian flea market where all the shops have someone out selling off overstock for cheap.  Not exactly the second-hand shops I was hoping to find and due to their crazy sizing I didn't purchase much.

One day I took an extensive bike ride that went along the canal and totally tripped on kitchen gardens.  I live in a rural area and people have all kids of gardens and crops but I was just so enamoured with these plots.  I watched in fascination as an elderly man came out of a his garden gate across the canal and trucked down a good 20 meter incline with a couple watering cans to fill in the canal.  They do not use heavy gardening equipment like we do in the states, at least not on a small scale. This guy had to be at least in his 70s if not older.  He probably jumped on his bike later that day and pedaled to his favorite local hangout to converse with friends as well.  Elderly people in Rimini are in great shape!  Loved seeing old ladies in their skirts and sensible shoes tooling around on their bicycles.  That's one thing I wish was more feasible to do in my little town, get around by bike.  There's plenty of places to go and bike ride but to conduct your day to day business that way just doesn't work.

One other thing I'll tell you about Italy.....it's got some great knockers!  From antique to modern, great style and designs.  Super fun.

That's all for now.  Next time I'll share a little about San Marino and of course a few more photos.

A Different World - Part 1

Ciao amici!  I have returned safely from Italy and had a wonderful time but it is good to be back home in the USA.  Life in Rimini has a very different pace than in my little Michigan town.  I thoroughly enjoyed going everywhere by bike and that there was so much to see so close to where we stayed.  Below is the Arco D'Augusto which used to be the entrance way through the wall that surrounded the city.  It was destroyed during an attack years ago but much of the wall still remains.

Seeing all the ruins around the city makes you realize how "young" a country America is.  There are buildings that have been there since 200 A.D. and others that pre-date Christ's arrival.  Instead of making everything a tourist attraction or tearing the structures down they instead just built new architecture around them.  I saw school buildings, apartments, malls, and playgrounds that had ruins as part of their structure.

While people do have cars, the vast majority travel by bicycle or motorscooter.  The main streets have dividing lines but the side streets do not, those on 2-wheels do not follow any set side or direction so it can get pretty hairy sometimes.  Everyone is out and about in the mornings taking care of their errands or going to work, then about 12:30p everything shuts down except for a few restaurants and cafes.  Most shops open up again around 3:30p or so but should the owner feel so inclind they may not return at all.  In the evenings everything comes alive again as families come out to socialize until 11p while the younger set stay out in the clubs.

There are three different section of Rimini, one as in the photo above is refered to as the historic section as you can tell by the old style row housing, one home may have very old brick, doors and shutters, while the next one may have been currently updated and modernized.  At the end of this particular street is a pretty amazning piece of a castle wall which I left some of my DNA on when a car came up as I was coming around the corner and I swerved to get out of the way!  Near the hotel there are larger houses and apartment buildings which is like the West Bloomfield sort of area and then going toward the outer rim of the city is the more middle class.

Below is photo from the Piazza tre Martiri. There are two main piazzas that are very busy, with music and open air markets and festivals going on several days a week, plus a few smaller ones intersperced among the neighborhoods.  I had a most fabulous lasagna from a little "fast food" place near here one day for lunch.  Whenever you order something you have the choice of getting it warm or cold.  Things we usually take warm in the US they eat cold and visa versa.  Ice is rarely used in drinks and there are no ice machines in the hotels.

There is no lack of churches and they are all stunning.  The Tempio Malatestiano below is one of the older structures. Off the streets of the piazza there are these little pocket prayer rooms with candles and such where people stop in and give honor to whatever saint that shine is set up for.  Church bells are constantly going during the day to announce a service starting.  I did go to mass at a church around the corner from the hotel. It was a very traditional service, I enjoyed following along with the readings and tried to say the reponses with them but they go really fast.  Their little 10 person choir was just wonderful.  People are very friendly and happy there, lots of laughter can be heard on the streets.

The Ponte di Tiberio was built in like 240 A.D. and they still use it which is incredible. I rode an extensive bike/walking path from the bridge through the Parco XXV Aprile which ran along the canal to the outskirts of the city.  I liked getting away from the touristy area and seeing how the "regular" people lived.  There isn't any regulation about where you can do business and I found many people had a mechanic shop, cafe, retail, or computer business out of the lower level of their home throughout the residential areas.

Kids get out of school at 1:30pm, I don't think they have lunch at school but rather meet their families at home for the noonday meal.  Grocery shopping is done in small increments, buying fresh items for the meals of the day, as much as you can carry in your bike basket or hang in bags off your handlebars.  There's no loading up the van with a "big shop" like we do in the US.  However, their food choices are much more limited, not as much chicken, I don't think I saw turkey there at all.  Lots of ham, salami, promescuitto, cheeses, breads, and veggies.  I'm not even sure if it was beef in the lasagna I had, it may have been ground pork.  That's it for my first installment, more to follow.