Deep Space Parma

Captain's log...stardate 69871.6 We have successfully set up base in Parma, a quaint little city away from the crowds of Florence and Rome but with some of the best food I've had this trip. Yesterday on our way from Tuscany we stopped by the Bologna train station, the Ducati factory and the Lamborghini museum. Starting with Bologna, we were able to see the control room for what seemed to be all of Italy's high speed trains. It was a fantastic opportunity to see a rail system fully committed to getting people where they need to go and in quick order, especially all those amazing screens filled with every train line and the massive work stations of all the technicians. There wasn't much else to the visit besides walking into the nearby station to look at a train stop…seemed like an odd diversion, but I suppose the train did stop nicely!

After that, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed off to the factory. Besides walking through Plug Power and General Electric I'd never been on a factory floor before and it was pretty awesome. Ducati assembles all their bikes by hand on site so we were able to see the stages from engine assembly to the final product testing. We were told about the six models of bikes Ducati produces and their practice of worker accountability by attaching a piece of paper with the ID number of the guy who completed each part so they can track him/her down if it has a flaw. If it does...retraining must be done. Definitely not my ideal work environment in constant fear of...retraining...but for someone more into mechanics or physical creation it's probably quite enjoyable.

The Lamborghini museum was more of a showroom for the rich and powerful, but I still had fun. There were some awesome concept cars I was able to take pictures of, but overall it was more fun watching professor Rappaport looking like a kid in a toy store and listening to him talk about the cars with such glowing enthusiasm.

Today we started our learning with Guglielmo Marconi's villa and the start of wireless communication. We had an awesome tour of his lab and this video of the first successful wireless telegraphy broadcast over the Atlantic Ocean, one of Marconi's fantastic achievements...done while he casually sipped on hot cocoa in the ripping winds of Newfoundland.

This was followed by a trip to Northern Cross Radiotelescope near Bologna which was absolutely breath taking. The sheer scope of the dish arrays and the various setups for looking into deep space was one of the most fantastic views I've ever had. I'll see if I have a photo…

Anyway that's all for now! On to food tasting tomorrow...