Armin Zoeggler is a TOTAL STUD

Because it was here, in Italy, why not? Therefore, I hopped on a flight to Torino, rented a car and drove into the Italian Alps. This luge track, the only one in Italy, was constructed for the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics.

Free entrance! Free parking! And the star of the show? Armin Zoeggler, 5 time Olympic Medalist (2 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze) and 5 time World Champion and an Italian!

The track is built on a mountain just outside of the town of Cesana Torinese, right on the French/Italian border. The mountains in the background of this picture are probably on the French side.

I arrived and at 10AM and was in time for the 2nd and final heat of the Women's competition. I spent some time here at this straightaway, but soon decided that standing along a banked curve was much more interesting.

The lugers gain so much speed that I could never really get the timing right, so I have lots of pictures like this, where the luger has already gone by.





So, I went with video instead!

During the women's final, I did manage to get this photo up near the middle of the course. I'm minding my own business when all of a sudden, standing next to me is.....

Armin "Il Cannibale" Zoeggler!! He pulls up within a few feet of me and is climbing around the railing, checking the ice. He was in the groove, so I didn't bother him, but I did snap this photo.

There were only 13 women in the competition, which was dominated by the German team as they placed 4 of their lugers in the top 6.

After a lunch break, we returned in the afternoon for the men's competition.

It was getting dark and the clouds were rolling in. If you find the spot where the road curves to the right and disappears, right at that corner was where I spent the men's competition because I could see each luger in four different curves.

Armin had a large and loud fan club. There were lots of cow bells ringing





Here is a clip of two time world champion and 21 year old German Felix Loch. He placed 1st after the first heat.

In the second heat, the two 25 lugers from the first heat go down in reverse order. At this point, when I took the picture, the leaderboard had a bunch of North Americans. It wouldn't last.

Loch came down last, but finished second behind Zoeggler. When the results went up, the place went wild. Myself included. It was Zoeggler's sixth world title. The scoreboard doesn't show it, but the 6th, 7th and 8th place finishers were a German and two Austrians. The sport is dominated by countries that are located in the central Alps.

Zoeggler during the interview. In 13 competitions at the Cesana track, Zoeggler is undefeated!

The mens podium! Zoeggler on top, where we usually find him.

An Etruscan Holy Site?

There is a local organization called Archeotuscia (Archeology of Tuscia, the region of the former Etruria 700-500BC) that publishes a nice local magazine and sponsors lectures and hikes to historical sites. My colleague Yvonne asked me to join her last Sunday on to go on one of the hikes. I expected a couple people, but wow, the local Viterbese, are gung ho on their archeological expeditions. We met and there were at least 60 people bundled up and ready to go.

We went to a site in Bomarzo where we saw this....

                                                 .....huge boulder at the base of a cliff.

It's been hypothesized that the Etruscans carved this and used it as a holy site.

Being a beautiful day and a chance to get away from the crowds, when the rest of the group went to a different location, I took a nap in the sun. That shadow is me.

School of Athens

The High Renaissance painter Raphael painted The School of Athens, a comment on the power and need for wisdom and philosophy as embodied by the Ancient Greeks. In 1511-1512 (exactly 500 years ago), the world was believing in the ideas of man, humanity and its power. The School of Athens is located in the Vatican Museums, and I can't believe that the first two times I went to the Vatican, I completely missed the Raphael rooms. In retrospect, I'm glad I did. Because, the appreciation I have for it has increased in two different ways. First, having a better understanding of the History of Art, I understand Raphael's place in the pantheon of artists. But secondly has to do with the fact, that since the end of May, I have been looking at a painting of the School of Athens done by the SYA students from last year.

Raphael's School of Athens. Because of some display installation in the room, one is not able to get a full on direct picture of the wall.

The SYA School of Athens is located on the wall of the school patio.

Raphael's Michelangelo...

....and the SYA Michelangelo. Recognize him? The painters replaced the major figures in the original with one of the teachers of SYA Italy 2009-10.

Plato on the left and Aristotle on the right.

Driskill left, Townsend right.

Alexander with the propeller hat talking to Socrates who is counting on his fingers.

Mazurek left, talking to Gianni C, a host parent and soccer coach. Di Giovanni the Greek teacher is in between them.

Diogenes

Sammartino

Pythagoras

Raphael painted himself into the picture, he's the one with the black hat.

Keeping with tradition, the two main painters of the SYA version, are shown on the left with Tuzi as Euclid and Eleonora behind her. Standing in the rear is Augusto (the former owner of Caffe Cavour across the street from school and a legend) he's standing in for Donatello.

I am incredibly impressed with the work done by the students and it's nice to know that I am memorialized on the wall of the school for years to come.

London (The Weather WAS Dreary)

Rain, Wind, Cold and a mere seven hours of daylight meant that most of my time in London was spent indoors. Theater, shopping, museums and high tea were on the docket.

Three shows in three days. First off, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Billy Elliot and Over The Rainbow, a play about the last days of Judy Garland.

Abbey Road! Keith and I spent the only day with sunshine walking fro the hotel to Abbey Road and through Hyde Park ending up at Harrods for its big sale.

One great afternoon spent having high tea at Fornum and Mason's with Keith and Yvonne.

Here's the spread of finger sandwiches and sweets. Note the clotted cream at the top of the center tray. Yeah, we finished it!

Return to the Scene of the Accident

I haven't been back to London since August of 2002, when I left that city flat on my back on a stretcher after my accident. I returned this January to celebrate my friend Keith's birthday and since I had a free afternoon, I took some time to go back and visit the place where my accident occurred. I was a bit scared to return to it, but I felt a pull to the place just to see it and to underscore some of the lessons I took from that life changing event.

Spring Street near Paddington station in London. I believe the apartment that I was staying in is on the corner second from the top.

This is the alley that is around back that I went to back in 2002

This is the fire escape I climbed up. It's much sturdier and complete than I remember it being.

So, what I must have done is climb up to the 4th floor and then believed I could climb across the window ledges and pipes to get to the window (unseen) that faces the backside (facing the fire escape).

St. Mary's Hospital, where I was taken and hospitalized for a few weeks before being flown back to the US.

This is the ward where I stayed. I talked to some nurses and told them my story. I am still amazed that I could walk in triumphantly after having been so far from being able to walk back in 2002.

In retrospect it wasn't actually that long of a recovery. The accident happened in August of 2002 and I was up walking by May 2003. One calendar school year. But the lessons I did learn were:

1) Sometimes things are OUT of ones control and you just have to accept the consequences. Hey, I locked myself out of the apartment just before trying to get to a flight back to the United States. So, who cares if I miss the flight and have to pay some money.

2) This is more of a 1A but sometimes you just have to let the world figure itself out. Again, this is about my issue of wanting to solve resolve and solve my problems at once. Right now, I am living this in a way. I am trying to figure out my employment situation for next year, but I know that I can't make it happen right now, but that things will happen in due time, I just have to trust it.

3) "The Shawshank Redemption" principle is what I call the last one. If you chip away at something each and every day, the outcome you want will happen. Back when I was doing physical therapy twice a day and it was boring and it seemed useless, well, look at the result. Luckily for me, I had distinct points along the way to work for so it broke up the work into discrete and seemingly tangible chunks, but it was a real lesson in the value of perseverance.

I spent about an hour at the two sites and left with a smile on my face. But I didn't dwell on it, it was simply off to the next place I wanted to go in London. Just like in my life, the accident and recovery was about a year of my life. But I've moved on and it's a part of my history, but doesn't define me. I thought it would at the time, but I think its healthier this way.

New Years 2011 in Barcelona

After my sailing course, I arrived in Barcelona on the evening of the 31st of December 2010. After taking a shower and a nap, I gathered myself up to go out. I lost track of time and celebrated the New Year in a Kebab restaurant eating a late dinner. And that was my New Year's Eve 2010. The next two days were spent wandering around the city mostly looking at the architecture.

Parc Guell is a nice respite in the city full of wandering paths and Gaudi designed structures.

From Parc Guell you can see down to the flat area of Barcelona and the still unfinished Gaudi designed Sagrada Familia.

This is the "Passion" Facade.

This scene from the "Passion" facade is in start contrast to all the classical sculpture I've been looking at over in Italy.

The interior of the Sagrada Familia

Another Gaudi building is the Casa Batllo on the Passeig de Gracia

With the use of stained glass and nary a single straight wall, he creates the feeling of living underwater.

Up on the roof.

The chimneys!

The reconstructed German Pavilion for the Barcelona 1929 Worlds Fair by Mies van der Rohe.

One of the Barcelona Chairs which were introduced at the fair.

About the most "traditional" looking piece of architecture I saw was the Olympic stadium.

The flame for the 1992 Summer Olympics. Check off visiting another Olympic venue.

One afternoon, I took the train out to the town of Montserrat, located high on a rock outcropping. Yeah, I got up there on one of those yellow cable cars.

I liked the juxtaposition of this church facade, with the more traditional building adjacent to it and the sunlit rocks in the background.

The town is situated amongst boulders like there and there are hiking trails and paths throughout the area which take you to other churches and vistas. I didn't have time to take part but the sunset was great.

Not sure if the people of Montserrat fully thought through their choice of city symbol.

Last stop in my Barcelona whirlwind was a trip to the Picasso Museum. I liked this one specifically because it was drawn on the 5th of January 1970, a mere three weeks before I was born.

Sailing School

I’ve always wanted to sail, but not actual captain a boat, but simply be one of the guys who “knows the ropes” and can be useful on a boat. Turns out there is a course just for someone like me offered by most sailing schools called “COMPETENT CREW.” During the week between Christmas and New Year’s, I found a school on the Costa Brava (between Barcelona and the French border) that offered the course. It’s been a few days since the course ended and I’m still sorting out my feelings about the course. I’m still enthusiastic about sailing that goes without saying.

My newly “earned” Competent Crew certification

Why am I ambivalent about the experience? Let’s start by giving you the schedule of a typical day. Up at 830AM. Prep the boat and get it ready for sailing. Go out and “sail” until about 2:30PM and then come back in. Put the boat to “bed” and then sit in a bar until 6PM with the instructor. The three other guys in the course (they were doing a more advanced course in day skipper certification) along with the instructor, drank so much beer, I was shocked. Perhaps, I just live an adult life that doesn’t revolve around alcohol but this I found excessive.

As luck would have it, the weather was excellent. Not cold, but that also meant NO WIND. We actual put up the main sail twice in five days, of which only one was for real ocean sailing. The second time was simply for practice. It is my hope that had there been more wind, we would actually have done more sailing. Most of what I had to learn as a crewmember had to deal with when the boat was in the marina. How to tie up to a dock. I nicknamed it “boat parking” practice. We did a lot of it. The other guys said that actual sailing is pretty boring for a crewmember. The day there was wind and we went out for a few hours was great and whetted my appetite.

The others in the course, although not guys I would generally hang out with, were an interesting threesome. Egor, 27 year old, was a Russian who works for Deloitte. Derek, 46 years old Scotsman who works for the Foxcomm (yeah, that one) and Marco, 40’s, former trader in Hong Kong, now working on a PHD in History at Cambridge. The day that Egor was supposed to navigate us to a port, he was so hungover, he actually puked over the side of the boat and we called it a day. Marco, I bet spent the entire last 48 inebriated due to a romantic entanglement he had gotten himself into with a local waitress. It was pure soap opera on that boat.

I learned a lot of vocabulary but as an educator, I can see flaws in the way the instructor handled my learning. I think its important that a student is informed of the plan of the day and the expectations for the days learning. I was ALWAYS clueless as to what was happening. Even though we weren’t sailing, I wish we had done a lot more drill and practice. I ended up doing a fair amount on my own. It just didn’t sit right with me the way I was kind of treated like cattle. In addition, the instructor spent most of the week rehashing stories of former students and never took the time to get to know me. I think that’s vital in any learning situation.

Things I learned how to do: fenders, genoa sail lines, KMT, reef ropes, sail bag, sail flaking, WOBLE, bowlines, change springs to slip lines, electric line set-up, mid boat slips, lassos, knots, tying up to a buoy, raising a halyard and more…..