April 14--Last Day in Trento

The end of our trip rapidly approached. We had a great time with Chris, Tim, Maya and Cora. The week made up a bit for their absence from Texas. We decided to take the day off and relax. Tim offered to cook for us (something we'll never pass up). He also offered to take us shopping with him. Thursday is market day and we went, in order, to the meat shop, Tim's favorite vegetable stand, the fish stand and the enoteca to buy wine. Dinner was exceptional. After dinner we said goodbye to the kiddos as they went to bed. Somehow, Cora decided that although grandma and Jocelyn were going back to Texas, I was staying in Trento and she would see me tomorrow. I had to explain that I was going home, too and would be waiting for her in Texas. We also said goodbye to the Picos, our friends who loaned us a car for road trips.

I got in a few shots during the day as we walked around town and visited the markets.


At the vegetable market

Most of the piazza in front of the duomo was filled with flower stalls. I couldn't resist.

We finally visited the inside of the duomo.

April 13--Field Trip!

On Wednesday, Maya had invited us to go on a field trip with her 3rd grade class. They had been staying photography and their teachers gave them an assignment to visit three places in Trento (with the class in the afternoon) and take a series of 24 photos. Each student had a disposable camera and they were encouraged to be inventive with their photographs. We accompanied Maya and another student--basically making sure they didn't get separated from the rest of the class. The children had a blast filling out their subject assignments, running around to find the best shot. We were amazed at how well the class behaved and how they threw themselves into the assignment. We were so busy watching Maya and her classmates having fun that we didn't take any pictures ourselves.

It seemed to us that Maya is getting a very good education during her year in Italy. She has learned a lot of Italian in a very short time (although she's very shy about using it in front of us). Her teachers insist that she has been a great addition to the class and has helped the native Italian speakers improve their English (her class is taught half in Italian and half in English). The curriculum seemed to us to be very challenging, especially in history and geography, two subjects not usually taught in such depth in American schools, especially in the 3rd grade. In the school Maya attends the students stay with the same classmates and teacher through primary school. (I think the native English speaking teacher may turn over more often than that.) The curriculum that the Italian teacher has developed was very impressive, just as she was. It's possible that Maya may have missed some things taught in 3rd grade in Austin, but she's been exposed to some things she might not have gotten until high school.

I did get a chance to take some pictures later after the field trip.

This was taken from infant of Maya's school which is right next to a 13th century castle.

Two cuties with flowers.

April 12--Alto Adige/Sudtirol

On Tuesday it was Chris's turn to act as our tour guide. We jumped on a northbound train to Bolzano (or was it Bozen?). Actually it was both. Parts of northern Italy, especially in the east, have a dual personality. Long a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the area was annexed by Italy after WWI. Much of the area retains its Austrian roots and many inhabitants speak German more often than Italian. If you're a German speaker you're in Bozen, the capital of the autonomous province of Sudtirol. If you're an Italian speaker it's Bolzano/Alto Adige. Either way, it's a beautiful part of Italy.

From Bolzano, we took a cable car to Soprabolzano (or Oberbozen, if you prefer). The web says this was the first passenger cable car in the world, first built over a century ago. In Soprabolzano a train runs along the ridge line to Kolbenstein. We decided to hike out and ride the train back. The first part of the hike was along the highway and the views down into the valley were spectacular--so spectacular that we missed our first turn that would have taken us up into the woods off the highway. However, we found an alternate route and soon were walking through a nice pine forest. After we walked ourselves out, we hopped on the train back to Soprabolzano.

The highlight of our trip was a visit to the South Tyrol Museum of Archeology--the home of Otzi, the iceman. Otzi is the name given to a frozen mummified corpse found in a mountain pass between Italy and Austria. Finally determined to be about 5400 years old. The museum is fascinating and laid out like a detective puzzle. New information about Otzi is constantly coaxed out of the remains and the museum is updated accordingly. See Otzi for more information. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside the museum.

But here are some shots I took in Bolzano and on the mountain.

The Church. A very pretty roof and the interior was nice, too.

We saw vegetable and flower stands like these all over Italy.

Some street scenes from Bolzano.

The rest of the pictures are from our walk along the top of the mountain. The peaks in the background are the Dolomites.

This girl kept getting in front of my pictures.

More on Crime and Punishment

"Relative to other factors, rising prison admission rates have been the most important contributor to the increase in incarceration. Raphael and Stoll (2013b) decompose the growth in the prison population into changes in crime rates, prison admissions and time served. If criminal justice policies remained the same as they were in 1984, State imprisonment rates would have actually declined by 7 percent by 2004, given falling crime rates. Instead, State prison rates increased by over 125 percent. After accounting for falling crime rates, over two-thirds of this increase was attributable to rising prison admission rates, and 14 percent to increases in time served. In Federal prisons, longer sentences and rising admissions rates have been equally important, each accounting for approximately 20 percent of the growth in the Federal prison rate that is not due to changes in crime…"

You need read only the executive summary.

Economic Perspectives on Incarceration and the Criminal Justice System.

Police versus Prisons

I found this data startling, but on reflection, not surprising.

Police or Prison Guards?

Texas Used to Have Politicians Like Lloyd Benson

How far have we come from Senator Benson to lightweight demagogues like Abbott, Paxton, Cruz and Cornyn?

Remembering Lloyd Benson

Presidential Candidates and Fed Accountability

How might Federal Reserve policy change depending on who is elected President?

What do the candidates think about the Fed?

The 8 A.M. Call

Judging the preparedness of the major candidates with respect to economics.

The 8 A.M. Call

April 11--Verona

We had been to Verona before, but Jocelyn had never been there, so Tim acted as our tour guide for a day trip to the city of Romeo and Juliet. Verona has a relatively well preserved amphitheater, but frankly it's now a disappointment. They use it so much for a concert venue that most of it is closed off for visiting. The amphitheater in Pula is just as well preserved and much more interesting, so we really didn't miss much. Verona is a very pretty and walkable town. Tim had a good itinerary and walked us through a lot of important sites. He also took us to a restaurant where the specialty is boiled meat. That doesn't sound very appetizing, but in fact it was a very good, if filling, meal.

Here are some photos I took while we walked around.

"Juliet's Balcony"--probably not because she's fictional, but a nice courtyard.

The amphitheater.

Street views I found interesting.

Verona has two large churches. The largest is not the Duomo, but both are very pretty inside.

Not the Duomo.

The Duomo.

Random doors and a window. Window boxes with flowers are everywhere in Italy. In many cases they are varieties that repel insects, because most windows in Italy don't have screens.