It's a lazy Sunday, so I've taken this opportunity to spend some time in the office updating pictures on my office computer. Still no Mac power cord (don't get me started about Macs).


Here are a couple of pictures from the weekly Market Day. Macerata's is Wednesday. Most towns have a day each week when traveling merchants ca set up their wares in designated areas in the city streets and piazzas. 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. each week, Macerata has all kinds of merchants selling everything from produce to clothing to kitchen items - oh yeah, and shoes. This area is pretty big into shoe manufacturing. You have to be sure that what you buy, though, is locally produced and not imported from somewhere with less emphasis on quality (very big here).



This picture is to illustrate trash collection. Back in 2002 when we were here there were dumpsters, smaller than in the US but that operated the same. Citizens were expected to take their trash there. Today, instead the dumpsters have been removed from the city center because they don't fit the historic image and they crowd already crowded small areas. Dumpsters still exist outside the walls, but inside residents are to put trash bags outside their doors, where small garbage trucks come by to collect them.

These next two pictures are taken from the top of the town's clock tower. On Friday, part of our Macerata tour was to climb the tower to see the town and its surroundings from above. Note to those visiting: the clock tower is not regularly open to tourists. It's supposed to have "regular" hours a couple of times a week, but I haven't seen it. Filiberto, however,manages to get them to open for us (for a fee, of course) and we make our way to the top. I will be the first to admit I don't have any trouble going up all the steps, but walking out to the edge - not very likely. I stayed close to the bells. Here's a picture of Audrey from Ball State standing closer to the edge than I would. In the foreground is Amanda, one of the students from Oregon. Yes, those are mountains in the distance. Unfortunately, even though you see the sun it was still a little too hazy to see the mountains clearly. I guess that's the price we pay for the inordinately warm weather we've had - up in the 40s or 50s just about every day.

Here's the Bible I mentioned in an earlier post. It was produced in the 12th Century. Obviously it was hand-lettered and illustrated by Monks. What most surprised me is that they would handle it. It was explained to me that of course they are very gentle with it, and of course they wouldn't let everyone touch it, but that there was not an issue with the librarian handling the book, tuning pages and showing it to us.
The city library is actually undergoing major restoration work right now. We walked upstairs past much of the construction to an area that looks out over the town. This picture illustrates the view of a piazza below. From the left edge of this picture, our apartment and the AHA complex of classrooms and offices is less than 50 yards to the left. Under the last archway on the left of the portico is a bar that treats out students very well.
Note: A bar and cafe are nearly indistinguishable. Both serve coffee, alcohol and often small sandwiches.

I included this video clip to show not the game, but the volleyball rowdies. As mentioned in an earlier post, Macerata's men's team was national champion a couple of years ago, The

rowdies use drums, bullhorns and really do a good job of making themselves known.