December 2004

The “Real” Italy

December 20, 2004

^ Of course, some people in Italy actually do sing opera for fun (and/or for a living). To bring people to my site, I hang out in online forums about traveling and living in Italy, answering questions where I usefully can. It’s been an education for me as well, in American attitudes towards Italy. One [...]

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Looking Out on Lake Como

December 18, 2004

Lake Como is shaped like an inverted Y, and Lecco sits on its southeastern tip, where it debouches into the river Adda. This end of the lake is deep and narrow, hemmed in by high cliffs (a bit like a Norwegian fjord), so any wind from the north is funneled through a narrow passage before it [...]

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A Home for a Horse

December 10, 2004

I mentioned long ago that my daughter and I both love horses, and that we’ve had one (for her) since 2001. Now, very sadly, we are having to say goodbye. Ross had already been riding for about four years when I finally decided (and had the opportunity) to buy her a pony of her own. [...]

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Suggested Reading: The Economist

December 8, 2004

If you aren’t already a reader of The Economist, I strongly urge you to try it. Financially conservative, socially liberal, truly international in scope, it’s one of the best magazines and news sources in the world. It can be hard to find on the newsstand in much of the US; in Silicon Valley, travelling away from [...]

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Terms of Address: What to Call People in India

December 7, 2004

In response to my mumblings about “signora” vs “signorina,” Yuti writes: In India, as you know, we are all related to each other. Kids routinely call complete strangers “Uncle” and “Aunty”, maid-servants call the woman of the house Bhabhi (brother’s wife), and the elderly are instantly your parents or grandparents (Maa-ji, Bapu-ji, etc). And so [...]

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Italians Flying the Flag

December 4, 2004

Italians are not much for patriotic displays. You rarely see Italy’s ‘Tricolore’ flag flying, except during World Cup soccer. During his first run for office ten years ago, Silvio Berlusconi brought to Italian politics the very American notion that ‘flag = patriotism = [my] political party’. Billboards for his Forza Italia party were swathed in [...]

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When is a Mountain a Hill?

December 2, 2004

I suppose that what I see out my office window are technically Alps, but I can’t get used to calling them “mountains”. In Mussoorie, we lived at 7000 feet (2133 meters) and called that a “hillside.” Here in Lecco I live at 400 meters, and it’s supposed to be a mountain. The Alp on whose slopes we [...]

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Montorfano: A Medieval Village Above Lago Maggiore

December 1, 2004

In November of 2004 we visited Montorfano, a village near Lake Mergozzo, just north of Lago Maggiore. It’s famous for the Romanesque church of St. John the Baptist, built in the 11th or 12th century (photos below). above: This, I suppose, is the “orphaned mount” from which the town gets its name. ^ next to the [...]

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