May 27, 2009

New place, new house

Filed under: Galactic Core — Starhitcher @ 7:17 pm

Con la primavera, con il sole, le giornate lunghe, i viaggi di lavoro che mi portano lontano, ho scoperto di essere diventata insofferente alla mia casa buia e sotterranea.
Cosi ho cominciato, per la prima volta davvero nella mia vita, ad andare a visitare appartamenti.
Stasera alle 7 avevo un appuntamento per vedere un monolocale nuovo, che dalle foto su internet sembrava promettente. La casa è effettivamente carina, ha tutto quello che potrebbe servirmi e che non ho ora, è luminosa sopratutto, molto…eppure avevo la sensazione che fosse piccola, un poco soffocante.
O sono io che in questo periodo di spostamenti mi sento stretta in un solo posto?
Dovrei spostarmi in città?
Comunque, le dimensioni effettive suggeriscono che sia come la mia di adesso, e lo spazio in fondo era l’unica cosa che non mancava in modo eccessivo.
Sono uscita, e dovevo decidere qualcosa. Non avevo voglia di andare in palestra al chiuso, ne di tornare a casa. Era uscito il sole dopo una mattina grigia e bagnata. In fondo avevo la mia bici, e un villaggio da scoprire; ho realizzato che dopo quasi 9 mesi di vita tedesca e giri per il mondo, non avevo ancora girato per intero il pur piccolo paese in cui vivo! Cosi con la mia bici ho iniziato a pedalare, senza fretta, imboccando le stradine più piccole, le piste ciclabili, cambiando direzione solo per scegliere luoghi che non riconoscevo. Ho perso presto l’orientamento, ma ero sicura che prima o poi avrei incrociato una casa familiare…
Ho scoperto dove porta un cartello che ho sempre letto ma di cui non mi ero mai chiesta il perchè; ho appuntato tutti i giardinetti pubblici dove ci sono tavoli da ping-pong impolverati dall’inverno, ho incrociato molte coppie di ciclisti e corridori; sono entrata e uscita dalla città un paio di volte attraverso i campi e i ruscelli che si diramano dall’Isar; mi sono ritrovata senza accorgermi sulla strada che faccio tutti giorni per andare all’istituto, l’ho attraversata e ho proseguito.
Poi quando ho incrociato la via da cui ero partita, dove c’è la mia prossima possibile casa, ho girato e ho ripreso la via di casa.
Non mi interessa avere tanto spazio al chiuso, e spendere troppo del mio stipendio per avere più metri quadrati. In qualche misura mi sentirei sempre stretta.
Forse è il lavoro che faccio che mi ha rovinato con la sua fluidità, mi ha fatto scoprire il piacere del viaggio…
Preferisco investire meno in mura domestiche e più in biglietti per il mondo.
A cominciare da quello della metropolitana per Monaco.
Ora che ho scoperto il mio villaggio, sono pronta per viaggiare in città.

May 17, 2009

Ice Cream for 3

Filed under: Galactic Core — Starhitcher @ 2:11 pm

Yesterday I was waiting for friends sitting outside a coffee, in the evening. A family arrived, He, She and their beautiful dog. They entered a gelateria and went out with three ice-creams!

ice-cream!

The dog was the one really appreciated it!

May 11, 2009

d05. Trip to The beaches

Filed under: Galactic Core — Starhitcher @ 2:42 am

Yesterday and today we tried to do what people expect from those who go to Puerto Rico: go to the beach and lay in the sun, so to return to work tanned!
Unfortunately, that people do not know that the weather here is hot, yep!, but also ‘tropical’…it uses to rain every day a bit… indeed, this week (strange to say) more than usual …

Yesterday: at 8:00am (early in the morning!) we leave for the cave. Under the island, in fact, runs the third bigger underground river, who has created all the tunnels; in some places the ground collapsed and created natural accesses to the cave. They are nice, green (thanks to light and rain) and funny.
After the cave, the goal was to reach the most beautiful beach in  Puerto Rico, where we could have practice some
snorkeling. Unfortunate, while approaching to the beach, driving in the local traffic of a Friday morning, we realize that the travel time gets longer and the one dedicated to the sea decreases. And the black clouds, the rainy clouds, incumbent on us ..that’s why in the end we decide to just stop on the first beach along the way; after promising to
ourselves to reserve the best one for the following day.
The beach parking turns out to be really a few tens of meters above sea-level; we begin to follow a path that had to bring us on the beach, but that turns to stop in the tropical jungle soon…fearless we walk among the liane for arriving at the beach, as soon as the clouds become dark threatening.
Some (do not) lye in the sun, others – the brave one (including myself)-  run toward the water, amd play with breakers
(giant wave, or Cavalloni for italians). But weather is crap, it starts to rain, and while the three on the sand beach repair under the palms, we enjoy the warm water despite of the rain.
First day of sea.

Today:
Second attempt to reach the now legendary beach of Porto Rico. Departure at 9:30, with GPS and the dream of  reaching the sea. We survive on the reckless driving of Puerto Ricans, we need to do a u turn a couple of times, but finally we approache what should be the wanted beach. It’s a long spit of sand, the sea is light blue with some rocks few meters away fron the sand which create a kind of natural pool. We settle under the usual palm tree and venture into the water.
Meanwhile next to us a multiple baptism is taking place in the sea!
The depth is nice, there are many fishes and corals in the shape of brain (they are called brains, in fact :P ).
The water is hot, clouds are approaching, like a bad plot for our holiday… however, we enjoy the long bath, and when the rain comes, we leave sat isfied.
Second Day of the Sea: a full success (?)*

* why question mark? Because the beach was beautiful, yes, but we came back to the observatory, we found that probably we were in the wrong one, once again!
We MUST return to Porto Rico, to go and see the famous beach …

May 7, 2009

d03. Below the dish

Filed under: Galactic Core — Starhitcher @ 2:55 am
Trip below the telescope, where only the cool people- even if equipped with protective helmet, which lowers their charm – can adventure.
From the control room starts a downhill road that with a spiral takes you underneath the telescope to the center.
control room
The telescope is a 300meters diameter dish, spherical, made from a grid of antennas every about 20 cm. Light and rain pass underneath, and walking down you can see really lush vegetation!
Exactly in the center, then there are some tools, small buildings, farm machinery (?) and old pieces of the telescope no longer in use.
AO AO AO
It’s awesome to see from below the SMALL item you went up two days before, and look inside it. But above all, what is difficult is to resist the temptation of going on the dish and slip toward its center,. When you approach the edge of the dish, and stare that amazing piece of machinery … But it’s forbidden!!
dish
Only people from maintenance staff can walk on it, with the appropriate “big shoes” made of aluminum that distribute their weight.
Yes, because every time the dish needs to be aligned again, someone has to check ALL the single antennas (! You can see in the photos, too!) and set by hand with a screwdriver! : o

May 5, 2009

d02: Amazing,impressive,huge

Filed under: Galactic Core — Starhitcher @ 6:23 am

Today I really understood WHY I am here, and why you guys could never understand HOW you feel when you see IT, the telescope. Not in a picture, not far from the visitors center, but from it top..

AO

We had just arrived at the telescope, when the operator asked us if we wanted to climb over with him, at sunset .. so, under a torrential downpour … even tropical! (I’ll also tell you about the weather, be patient), we started the adventure! We climbed up with the cab-funicular: a cable from the ground takes you above the telescope, where there are the instruments and the secondary and tertiary mirrors.

third and primary mirrors!

LEFT: a view of the primary mirror (300 meters) from inside the dome where instruments are. The dome is the 6-floors-like-building you can see on the RIGHT (from above) and in the FIRST picture.

AO

Once you’re above, with a helmet and a coat (because rains), the fun is get out and climb ladders of metal suspended over the dish and made slippery by water. The goal is to reach the dome, and see the receivers. In one room the most valuable tools for astronomers are concentrated and kept cold: they are placed on a rotating floor, and when you- sitting in the control room on the ground – push a button, the floor moves and puts your receiver at the right position.

ALFALFA beam receivers

It is really impossible to descibe how huge is everything, and how do you feel walking THERE, YOU!

I still cannot figured out how I managed to arrive up there, but sincerely…I do not care. I am just enjoying it at my best…and waiting for a sunny day to take better pictures ;)

so, BIENVENIDOS in Puerto Rrrico, ISLA DEL ENCANTO

May 4, 2009

day01. Arriving in Puerto Rrico..

Filed under: Galactic Core — Starhitcher @ 3:07 am

with double R, that what they say.

So, we left from Munich and arrived in Madrid. Here the airport was a bit strange…long, long, with no people, and no shops, just toilette. We started walking searching our gate, and that’s what we figured out:

guardate il tempo richiesto please, notice how many minutes we were supposed to walk!

Anyway, yep!, the Madrid airport is huge, and you need to take a bus to reachyour terminal..but we maneged to get the plane in time…in the scaring airport. I forgot to say that we saw a lot A LOT of people wearing masks to prevent for swine flu…!
And here is our arrival in San Juan, Puerto Rrrico capital. I am sorry the camera cannot show you how beautiful is to arrive in a city at sunset. When the light is turning from red to dark, and if the airport is set in the middle of the city and you land over people’s head..

IMG_1202 IMG_1215 IMG_1219

May 2, 2009

Leaving…

Filed under: Galactic Core — Starhitcher @ 7:22 am

Hey guys,

see you soon in Areciboooo!

..we are coming…aeroplane1