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Friday, August 24, 2007

You won't read this in the guidebook...


The scene: brilliant blue sky. Siena's famed campanile glints in the sunshine, looming over Piazza del Campo.

Xtina (to me)
: You have to understand something, darling. This town is a bit fake. They restored much of it in the 1700s.

3 comments:

EWKPhoto said...

Bern --

100 years old when your in the US. Isn't it? 200+ starts to reach ancient status.

Bergenfield, NJ was founded in 1894...
http://www.bergenfieldboro.com/history.htm

I found your exchange very funny and true. US history limited to just over 225 years - anything beyond that on this continent doesn't really exist anymore.

When I told Tracy about it, she made the comment that all of Europe is just amazing with their history.

Thanks!
Ed

Bernhard Warner said...

To be fair, the nation of Italy as we know it was an 1870s creation...I often hear from Romans, "in XXX BC, we were building/conquering/laying down the blueprint for democracy while your ancestors were sheep". Of course, I say, "fast-forward to today and it is the sheep who are now blowing things up/destroying things/fomenting anarchy". There's a lesson in there somewhere, but not sure exactly where.

EWKPhoto said...

Bern - ahh country versus continent. I knew I wasn't making the point correctly. Yes, Italy might not be old in its present state, but as a physical piece of land, it has much more history (at least recorded).

Anyway - not much in our country still standing from 1776 let alone 1492 or XXX BC.