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Monte Cassino & Abbey
2008.09.20
Yes, it's Italy. We passed through areas that alternately reminded me of southern California and the Carolinas. Was funny to think we were actually in Europe!
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Yes, it's Italy. We passed through areas that alternately reminded me of southern California and the Carolinas. Was funny to think we were actually in Europe!
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Drinking fountain along the trail. No, really!
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Drinking fountain along the trail. No, really!
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Little faerie flowers. :)
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Little faerie flowers. :)
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My internal radio tuned into Sweet Home Alabama upon seeing this. I wonder what the Italian equivalent of that song is.
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My internal radio tuned into Sweet Home Alabama upon seeing this. I wonder what the Italian equivalent of that song is.
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The trail passed by a small cornfield. The harvest had been collected, but a few ears were left for the critters. Erik liberated a couple of them as souvenirs. I opted not to keep mine other than in digital form.
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The trail passed by a small cornfield. The harvest had been collected, but a few ears were left for the critters. Erik liberated a couple of them as souvenirs. I opted not to keep mine other than in digital form.
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Mmm... harvest!
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Mmm... harvest!
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There were swimming mammals in a couple of locations along the stream. The first one I saw was from the car and at first I thought it was an otter. Erik is pretty sure they are muskrats. Needs more zoom!
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There were swimming mammals in a couple of locations along the stream. The first one I saw was from the car and at first I thought it was an otter. Erik is pretty sure they are muskrats. Needs more zoom!
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This is more of the little pond-y area under the road where I saw the muskrat from the above photo. The road is pretty narrow and is not a main street. Still, one fellow in a car saw us pointing and taking pictures, and pulled over to see what all the fuss was about. The critter was hiding by then, however. On its way to hiding it startled a frog that made a bit of a splash. Awesome!
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This is more of the little pond-y area under the road where I saw the muskrat from the above photo. The road is pretty narrow and is not a main street. Still, one fellow in a car saw us pointing and taking pictures, and pulled over to see what all the fuss was about. The critter was hiding by then, however. On its way to hiding it startled a frog that made a bit of a splash. Awesome!
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Leetle white butterfly. I tried to get some other shots of it, but just as I'd get focused, *poof!* it would up and flutter away!
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Leetle white butterfly. I tried to get some other shots of it, but just as I'd get focused, *poof!* it would up and flutter away!
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Sunflowers with the abbey at the top of the hill in the background.
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Sunflowers with the abbey at the top of the hill in the background.
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Flagstones in the stream bed. Roman? Who knows.
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Flagstones in the stream bed. Roman? Who knows.
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One of the entrances to the Abbey.
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One of the entrances to the Abbey.
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Not sure what the white blur at the bottom of the frame is. Got it 2 pics in a row. Maybe it's angels. ;) (Statue is from 1953. It's St. Benedict in the position he was reported to have died in "...standing, supported by some monks after having received the Holy Communion.")
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Not sure what the white blur at the bottom of the frame is. Got it 2 pics in a row. Maybe it's angels. ;) (Statue is from 1953. It's St. Benedict in the position he was reported to have died in "...standing, supported by some monks after having received the Holy Communion.")
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St. Benedict's twin sister, St. Scolastica (Scholastica in English).
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St. Benedict's twin sister, St. Scolastica (Scholastica in English).
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A view through one of the gates.
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A view through one of the gates.
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Vineyards and other agricultural areas of the abbey. I bought some soap, candy, and jam at the gift shop. The peach jam is fabulous!
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Vineyards and other agricultural areas of the abbey. I bought some soap, candy, and jam at the gift shop. The peach jam is fabulous!
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The Bramante cloister. St. Benedict on the left and his sister, St. Scolastica, on the right.
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The Bramante cloister. St. Benedict on the left and his sister, St. Scolastica, on the right.
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We paid to go into one of the museums at the abbey (there is more than one) and what we saw, mainly, were books and a few statues. I don't know if they were all books that had miraculously survived the bombardment of WWII or...? In any case, they were beautifully hand made and the covers were incredibly elaborate. There were books of text and music, some with pictures of religious figures, some with pictures of animals. The covers ranged from leather to velvet and they all had gorgeous metalwork (maybe jewels?). Even the tiniest tomes twinkled with tangled tooling!
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We paid to go into one of the museums at the abbey (there is more than one) and what we saw, mainly, were books and a few statues. I don't know if they were all books that had miraculously survived the bombardment of WWII or...? In any case, they were beautifully hand made and the covers were incredibly elaborate. There were books of text and music, some with pictures of religious figures, some with pictures of animals. The covers ranged from leather to velvet and they all had gorgeous metalwork (maybe jewels?). Even the tiniest tomes twinkled with tangled tooling!
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St. Scolastica. I think she's awesome because she's always holding books. I love books!
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St. Scolastica. I think she's awesome because she's always holding books. I love books!
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St. Benedict, perhaps? The good and evil St. Benedict experiencing a transporter issue, one presumes. ...For some reason Phantom of the Opera music is going through my head.
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St. Benedict, perhaps? The good and evil St. Benedict experiencing a transporter issue, one presumes. ...For some reason Phantom of the Opera music is going through my head.
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The Glory of St. Benedict, also known as, The Benedictine Paradise. It's a 50 sq. meter fresco inside the Basilica Cathedral.
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The Glory of St. Benedict, also known as, The Benedictine Paradise. It's a 50 sq. meter fresco inside the Basilica Cathedral.
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Not sure what this is. Maybe a surviving piece of masonry from the earlier abbey. I like it, though. :)
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Not sure what this is. Maybe a surviving piece of masonry from the earlier abbey. I like it, though. :)
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Needs more BBQ.
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Needs more BBQ.
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Looking out over the Bramante cloister. The view from the railing on the other side of the cloister is amazing. You can see for miles and miles (or kilometers and kilometers, as the case may be).
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Looking out over the Bramante cloister. The view from the railing on the other side of the cloister is amazing. You can see for miles and miles (or kilometers and kilometers, as the case may be).
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St. Scolastica's soul was said to have left earth and ascended to heaven in the form of a white dove. :)
(A few more pics on the next page. --> )
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St. Scolastica's soul was said to have left earth and ascended to heaven in the form of a white dove. :)
(A few more pics on the next page. --> )
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My friend and coworker, Erik, took me to one of the hiking spots he'd discovered during his exploratory forays. This spot was just outside of the town of Cassino, about an hour north of Naples, below Monte Cassino and the Monte Cassino Abbey, the most famous of the monastic communities founded by St. Benedict. It was also the site of the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944, which reduced the abbey to rubble and also killed many civilians who had taken refuge there. A sad time indeed. It has since been reconstructed and is extremely lovely to look upon.
We weren't sure what was going to happen with the weather, as it had been a rather wet and windy week. I brought all my rain gear for Kili, secretly hoping that I'd be able to test it out, but ultimately relieved that I didn't have to. It's possible that St. Scolastica had something to do with it, as her name is "...invoked against storms and rain." Of course, I hadn't heard of her at that point, but anything's possible!
In addition to a nice, flat hike along a stream, Eric drove me up to the abbey to let me have a go with my camera. I've been talking to some photographer pals of mine and have some ideas of additional equipment I'd like to purchase, but for now, I still have the same setup from the last few weeks. Unfortunately, that also included forgetting to reset the ISO from last week's trip up stormy ol' Vesuvius and the shadowy interiors of Herculaneum. A lot of the pics came out looking overly contrasted and/or desaturated. With the power of Irfanview, however, I was able to salvage a decent bunch. Indeed, I ended up sticking a few pictures on the next day's blog. :)
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Comments
Beautiful!
Bryan Stovold · 2008-09-22: 07:57
Ok... you have auto iso and it works pretty well. You also have the ability to shoot in RAW, which saves enough information that you can play with a few stops up or down in any free raw editor. I think your work is fabulous and getting better all the time.
Todd · 2008-09-22: 13:57
That was a great hiking day. thank's for joining me on an outing, I may not have gone other wise.
