Time to catch up a little more. This is one view of the stairs up to the top of the clock tower we visited on Friday. You can see how narrow the passage is. Despite the steep incline, this is less frightening because you have solid wall on either side. Where more people had trouble was the higher partfs of the stairwell which were modern, but you could see a long ways down as you walked up, as they are out in the open. I took a picture but it doesn't really show it very well so I didn't include it.

The next picture shows part of the interior of Teatro Lauro Rossi, our local theatre. It's done to look old style (it's faux marble), but it's realy only about 150 years old - rather new, really. The picture is taken from the main floor of the theatre (is that the mezzanine?) where there are some very nice leather seats. The balconies may seem to be better, but the chairs aren't as nice and they actually sell for less than floor seats. Obviously the theatre has plays but they do other events as well. Last night a few of our students attended a jazz concert. Chet Baker was actually a regular in this town up until his death, and they still remember him in concerts, photos and other memorabilia. The place we had lunch Friday was a regular hang out of his, and it's covered in pictures.

On Friday

we also visited a palace that is currently under restoration, and wil probably be open to the public this summer - but of course Filiberto got us in. The place belonged to a wealthy family and it was given to the town. It, too, is only a couple of hundred years old. They have already brought over the carriages from the basement of the city library where they had been housed. I was extremely distraught (as were a couple of the students) when one of our students walked over to one of the carriages and opened the door. When it made noise she let the door go and ran away, causing the door of this 200 year old carriage to bang. All of us know that the behavior of one should not reflect on the group, but what does the curator now think of college students, or Americans?

Kim shot this video from the amazing seafood meal we had in Civitanova Saturday. After the fresh tuna appetizer came the clamsand mussels steamed in garlic and oil. As you an see from the video, some of us were pretty darn excited to have them. They were fresh (as you might expect) , tender and delicious. The guys in the foreground of the picture are from Rider University in NJ and accustomed to seafood. Unlike one or two of the midwesterners, they had no hesitation in digging in.