(The following is from Autumn:)
Sorry for the delay w/ regard to posting, but we’ve been occupied by the following… Saturday, it was SO rainy & consequently Chris, Aaron, & Ryan were unable to go “cannoning” so they opted to take a drive w/ me & Cherie instead. Matt & Vicki went to Bern while the rest of us drove to see a couple of castles & lunch in the nearby towns. Sunday, we left Switzerland, (w/ our noses pressed to the rear windows of our cars- ha ha) and pressed on to France. We arrived at our B&B (after some considerable effort on the part of the car’s integral GPS, along w/ a good ole’ map) and were delighted by our accommodations. Today (Monday), we voyaged to some nearby ruins & forts w/in the area. A couple of our highlights were lunch @ a Roman aqueduct; in addition to a gorgeous sunset from the top of a fort from Pont Du Gard (a fort from the Middle Ages).
Such a wide array of architecture from Germany to Switzerland to France. Cool beans. Enjoyed the photos and words from Autumn. Thank youuuuuuu.
ReplyDeleteHey you guys!
ReplyDeleteSo I want to apologize for my mom's last comment, regarding Chris imitating Dan as a goat...
No harm was meant to Dan nor to Chris, if in fact he was just stretching. No worries. I've limited her blog use for the rest of the trip. :) jk
You guys look like you're having so much fun! The scenery is amazing! I too would of been sliding around on the ice! Miss you guys! Travel safe.
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ReplyDelete(From Carolanne) Autumn, Chris and group: The following post is from Grammy. I just shared the whole blog with her. She said that she is "so happy that you are all having a wonderful and delightful time. The pictures are beautiful." Her advice to Chris and Aaron is "If you're going to be swinging from bridges, hang on tight and wear a parachute!" Stay safe you guys! We love you all! Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip and fascinating details with us! Autumn, Grammy also said to tell you that she is still enjoying the flowers! :-)
ReplyDeleteAh, the aqueduct at Pont du Gard ... one of the world's most complete and famous aqueduct bridges from the Roman period, and a surviving legacy of the great general Agrippa, the man behind Augustus! Makes my classics geek heart go all aflutter. The Romans built thousands of miles of aqueducts, using mainly the labor of their troops, who, as the world's first professional standing army, had to be kept busy during peacetime when they weren't off a-conquerin' (hence the main purpose of Hadrian's Wall, actually; yeah, it created a boundary between Roman England and the unconquored territory, but mainly it kept the disgruntled troops occupied). Publicly-owned slaves probably contributed to the labor in such public works projects as well, but mainly it was the army. Ninety percent of aqueducts were underground, which was a matter of expediency and subject mainly to matters of terrain, but it was also important in protecting the water supply of the Empire's cities from tampering by invading Barbarians and other riff-raff. Given that fact, something as visually spectacular as Pont du Gard is really special. And just to show you what thorough and incomparable engineers the Romans were in antiquity, the Aqua Vergine still feeds the city of Rome today (you can see some of its waters at the Fontana di Trevi). I hear the aqueduct bridge at Segovia in Spain is even more spectacular, though I believe it's landlocked and doesn't span a river like Pont du Gard, so visually it's not quite so dramatic. Amazing!
ReplyDeleteP.S. what is that theater??? It is quite spectacular. Highly unusual for the backdrop behind the orchestra, the scenae frons, to be so well preserved, though some, like Bosra and Sabratha (sp?) are pretty breathtaking. Anyway, do you all know how much of it is reconstructed and/or restored? The scenae frons at Orange (speaking of France) and Taormina are heavily reconstructed, I know for sure, and that's probably also true of the ones I mentioned above. The only intact theater ever found was at Herculaneum, and it was largely dismantled and destroyed by treasure hunters before the advent of modern archaeology. Reconstruction is controversial and unfortunate to see, but it's good for the tourists and nicely illustrates in a sort of pale, shadowy way how spectacular these places were in their original incarnations in antiquity. The Greeks loved their tragic and comic dramas, which were imponderably intellectual forms of high art (even the comedy; I mean, Aristophanes sprinkled fart jokes among scenes of brilliant satire that dealt with deep issues of contemporary politics, misogyny and war!), but the Romans, who built most of the impressive ruins we see today, used them mainly for titillating "nymph" shows involving scantily-clad women, gladiatorial fights and local municipal functions, like assemblies. They did stage a play there every once in a while, though, and poetry recitations like the famous ones headlined by batshit crazy emperor Nero. Just to keep things classy. Gotta love those salacious Romans :-)
ReplyDeleteHello, ma soeur, now that I've uncrossed my eyes (induced by your FASCINATING dissertation re: the engineering ingenuity and brilliance that was Rome) I write to say hello. Oddly enough you're written assault upon our blog did make me miss you...Thank you for augmenting our knowledge of said subject. I promise to be more deligent in re: to your blog but you do understand I dislike technology...but devoted I will be. Miss you. Call me and tell her I luv her:-) --V
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