Sicilian Odessy

Well, it seems that I update this much frequently than I expected to. Which, I suppose is good, as it's an indicator that I'm out doing things, or at least busily not updating this thing. As an example of real work, I've just about finished the drawing tool I need to make to embark on my first big art project. (I needed to re-create Illustrator so that I have access to all of the point/line/shape/color information.)

Anyway, I've been hard at work (see Mandy's blog -- link over there to the right) and hard at adventuring. We recently returned from a week-long group trip to Sicily. We had some good food, got to spend some quality time with fellow Fellows and saw a lot of old rocks which were mostly buried in the ground. These rocks used to be towns and amphitheaters and such. We went to the Vally of the Temples, which, turns out, is really more of a Ridge of Temples. It was strangely striking to see the UNESCO sign declaring the site as culturally important to the world. I spent most of this time contemplating the engineering of such colossal structures. There were some really cool ruins at the site of one of the largest temples which featured fallen columns, and showed the horse-shoe form carved into the different column segments. The horse-shoe allowed them to lock the column in place and stabilize against lateral and transverse movement (there have always been lots of earthquakes in the area) which I thought was pretty clever of them. I also want to do some research on the water systems that were in place. One old Greek theater had been converted into a "water show" by the Romans. Them Romans did amazing things with water. I really want to know the mechanics behind the working of the fountains and such.

My favorite thing, though, was an unassuming church in Palermo (built late 12th Century by Catholics supervising Arab mosaic workers) whose inside was covered in golden mosaics and frescoes. Other highlights included, lunch in Selinunte (breaded swordfish seared in butter(?) and a little garlic so that it had a nice glaze), Marzipan shop Jana discovered in Piazza Armerina, the crazy nuvo riche villa covered with floor mosaics, Jana's karaoke routine at our lunch at Feeling Ristorante, and our last night's dinner in a little seafood place in Palermo in which the locals instructed us how to eat.

Also, S. learned that her name is actually Sicilian slang for left-handed. We learned this from our bartender at the hotel in Palermo. He poured a good G&T so I trust him.

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