Lago Maggiore, in the rain....

This has been a very rainy summer so far in the north of Italy. For about ten days now it hasn't rained (and it got intensely hot in the process). But then today, it rained again - intense thunderstorms, and lots and lots of rain (A great big thunder just crashed over my head....).

I think I wrote in a previous post (the one about Como) that during my first visit to Italy I had the pleasure of visiting that lake during a great downpour. On Sunday, I had a chance to visit Lago Maggiore in similar circumstances....

The day started out OK. I left hot, sticky Milano with a nice air conditioned train on its way to Stresa - the main town on the Italian side of Lago Maggiore. I got there and decided to take the ferry to Isola Bella and Isola dei Pescatori (fishermen) - two of four rather small islands on the lake.

On Isola Bella I started out avoiding tacky stands selling souvenirs for tourists and headed directly to the Palazzo Borromeo. The Palazzo is nice although I couldn't understand why all the fancy chairs were under plastic covering (maybe the curator is Polish...). For 11 (!) euros I think they can take off the plastic coverings. I wanted to take pictures to show you but it's not allowed. However, the gardens of this palazzo are amazing. as you can see for yourself.

I was walking and enjoying the gardens when suddenly great big clouds started to gather above and thunder could be heard. Sure enough, a few minutes later, it started to pour. Where was my umbrella? You guessed it, at home.... So, off I went to buy another one. I'm now the proud owner of 5 umbrellas.

I kept hoping it would stop raining but it didn't. So I decided to try and do some sightseeing in the rain. Not a very satisfying thing to do. You tend to get wet.... and it's sort of dark around and no one there.

This is what Isola Bella looks like in the rain:

and this is what the train station looks like, also, in the rain.....:

There isn't much to do on the lake when it's raining like this, so I went to wait in the train station for the train back to Milan. It took awhile but in the end I was back in Milan - made it back home just before the storm, much stronger, got here. It rained and the wind howled like something out of this world. Sounded like the next flood was here. Immense amounts of water. Lucky Italians....

And that's it for this short edition of my blog.... Got to go back to the lake on a nicer day to see it more thoroughly.

Botanical Garden, Saturn and a Synagogue

Yes, I know. I've neglected writing in my blog and therefore also neglected my patient readers... My apologies.

I've been reading a lot about the Internet these days somehow (maybe missing my job as the content manager of my unit's web site?!) - there's a lot of talk about it and a lot of info about how to do it "right". What one should and shouldn't write, how frequently, how important are links (I'm good at that....), should it be serious or casual. Pictures, yes or no? Lots of words spilt. For me, I think it's mainly a way of keeping in touch and also sharing my experiences. Sometimes, when I go places I think - hey, this will be good for the blog. I wonder if journalists feel the same?! and will I get to the point where I go places so I'll have something to write in my blog?! I hope that I will continue going places and doing things just for the fun of it, not so I'll have something to write about.

On Friday I went to an event which one can definitely tag as "something to write about in my blog" kind of event. It was an event connected with an exhibition called Avvenirismo 3535 in the Orto Botanico di Brera. The Mexican Consul was a sponsor (why? I'm not really sure, didn't seem to be any Mexican connection here...).

To quote from Wikipedia: "The garden was established in 1774 by Abbot Fulgenzio Witman under the direction of Maria Theresa of Austria, transforming an existing Jesuit garden to serve students of medicine and pharmacology. The garden was restored in 1998 after a long period of neglect and decay.
Today the garden consists primarily of rectangular flower-beds, trimmed in brick, with elliptical ponds from the 18th century, and specula and greenhouse from the 19th century (now used by the Academy of Fine Arts). It contains one of the oldest Ginkgo biloba trees in Europe". and to quote me - it also contains a lot of mosquitoes (I was planning to add a picture of my bitten legs but then thought that I don't want to turn the blog into a kind of horror show that medicine books usually turn into - with awful pictures of people suffering from who knows what...).

As botanical gardens go - not the most impressive one I've seen. But in Milanese terms, not bad - there isn't that much greenery in the city and every little bit helps. I didn't realize that Maria Theresa of Austria was busy doing things in Milan (like building gardens...).

Then we went on to have an aperitivo (wine and some nice little things to eat) at the Bulgari hotel nearby. Really classy place. For my fashion conscious friends I recommend following the link to see the hotel. Snazzy...

After that - we went back to the building where the botanical garden and the astronomical museum of Brera are both situated. We waited for it to become dark (which happened pretty late, after 22:00... it being almost the longest day of the year) - so that we could take a look at Saturn (Shabtai) through a Merz Telescope from 1862 (!). Even though it looked pretty tiny through this telescope (in order to see a bigger image one needs a much bigger telescope) - it really looks like the images of it, i.e. this ball with the rings around it. It was incredibly hot and humid in the observatory for me it was a unique experience.

If I got it clearly - there will be a further exhibition in Oct. (so if you're around then we can go and see it...). One thing that cannot be taken from the Italians is their ability to design and create things pleasing to the eye. This exhibition definitely seems something of this kind.


Yesterday I made an expedition to see a performance in a synagogue in a town called Casale Monferrato (about 70 km from Milan). It's claimed that this is one of the most beautiful synagogues in Italy (and therefore, I suppose also in the world...). I highly recommend going to the web site and taking the virtual tour of the place and of course going to visit it (and me....) in person. The synagogue was started at the beginning of the 17th century and has been continuously built and restored since. The structure and decorations are in the Baroque - Rococo style of Piemonte in the 18th century (stucco and gold decorations). The Jewish community in Casale Monferrato today is very small (two families) and therefore services are held only on Yom Kippur. The place is used as a Jewish cultural center hosting events, weddings, bar mitsvahs, etc. You can see two pictures i took of the interior yesterday (a bit dark....) - above and below.




The performance was called "Next year in Jerusalem" by Eyal Lerner, the Mala Cantors and the Rhapsodija Trio. The show gave a taste of the Jewish culture - singing songs in Hebrew, Yiddish and Ladino and playing music. Very enjoyable.

I introduced myself after the show to the families of Monferrato who were very kind and explained a bit about the place. It is going to be closed now until Sep. for urgent restoration works.

And this ends this edition of my blog. A bit more intellectual somehow this time, but I hope you enjoyed reading it. A lot of references to go to, at least the ones of the synagogue are worth checking out. Ciao!