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As you may have noticed, I spent most of last week in Italy. I’d never been to Italy previously. Even though it was a work trip, it was still hugely enjoyable.
ESRIN
ESRIN is the European Space Agency centre for Earth observation. It has quite an impressive entrance and some very swish office buildings, but not a lot in the way of otherwise space-y accoutrements. Because let’s face it, what we all want when we visit space agency centres are awesome spacecraft models and big dishes. ESRIN has none of the former and only one of the latter.
What it lacks in visible space gizmos and decent WiFi ESRIN makes up for with a fantastic canteen and rather good coffee. The canteen brought to mind the episode of “Spaced” in which Brian takes Twist to view an exhibition of white paintings. The first puzzle you have to solve is which of the white cubicles along the entrance hall might hold the (white) trays and (white) napkins. Next, you must work out which of the white stands artfully arranged in the white interior is concealing the drinks refrigerator, which the salad bar and which the pasta. When you’ve sorted this out, you walk to the white register to pay the white-clad cashier. It’s as much participatory performance art as it is lunch.
ESRIN’s one big dish.
View over Rome from ESRIN. No one I talked to knew what the shark-fin building is for.
View of the ESRIN entrance from our meeting room balcony.
The cute little rocket at the entrance. Another thing I like about this photo is that it shows the (European) diversity of our team. From left to right we have representatives from Spain, Bosnia, Poland and France.
Frascati by day
Frascati is on a hill. A very steep hill. The hotel we were staying in was very nice, but it was also at the bottom of the hill. To get to the centre of the old town once the day’s business was done, we had to climb the hill. This was perhaps for the best, as the evening meals tended to be long and involved.
Looking out to Rome from the hill.
Lantern in arch lights the way to the residential area.
She guards the column above the fountain at the central bus stop. The work seems to have taken its toll.
As have the labours of this cat and its stone steps.
The fountain leading down from one of the stately villas appears to have been off for some time now.
Big blingy handbags are an Italian shop window feature.
The Virgin looks down patiently on passersby.
Frascati by night
One of the best things about participating in this particular well-established space mission is that everyone gets on really well. When it comes time for the evening meal, almost the entire quorum gathers to eat together. And we’re not talking about a quick bite in a pizzeria. No. We’re talking about a three hour, minimum-three-course session with wine, followed by gelato (since we were in Italy) and drinks at a bar. I’m grateful to have worked on this mission for so long. Our team delivers our data on time and have done for years. I can sincerely say that I put the effort in not just from professional pride, but out of love.
The fetish pig from the photo meme post resides in this restaurant.
Pre-gluttony menu perusal.
The gluttony begins. The chap holding the wine glass and the extremely full carafe is our glorious leader, a Finn who can drink us all under the table. Actually, given the Finns that I know, the descriptor may be redundant.
Last indulgence: tiramisu?
After a short walk through town...
...we decide no, not when there’s gelato to be found on the way back to the hotel.
One more ceiling shot on my way up to bed after a last digestif.
I’m looking forward to seeing all these faces again in Madrid in June, when we have our Operations Review.
ESRIN
ESRIN is the European Space Agency centre for Earth observation. It has quite an impressive entrance and some very swish office buildings, but not a lot in the way of otherwise space-y accoutrements. Because let’s face it, what we all want when we visit space agency centres are awesome spacecraft models and big dishes. ESRIN has none of the former and only one of the latter.
What it lacks in visible space gizmos and decent WiFi ESRIN makes up for with a fantastic canteen and rather good coffee. The canteen brought to mind the episode of “Spaced” in which Brian takes Twist to view an exhibition of white paintings. The first puzzle you have to solve is which of the white cubicles along the entrance hall might hold the (white) trays and (white) napkins. Next, you must work out which of the white stands artfully arranged in the white interior is concealing the drinks refrigerator, which the salad bar and which the pasta. When you’ve sorted this out, you walk to the white register to pay the white-clad cashier. It’s as much participatory performance art as it is lunch.
ESRIN’s one big dish.
View over Rome from ESRIN. No one I talked to knew what the shark-fin building is for.
View of the ESRIN entrance from our meeting room balcony.
The cute little rocket at the entrance. Another thing I like about this photo is that it shows the (European) diversity of our team. From left to right we have representatives from Spain, Bosnia, Poland and France.
Frascati by day
Frascati is on a hill. A very steep hill. The hotel we were staying in was very nice, but it was also at the bottom of the hill. To get to the centre of the old town once the day’s business was done, we had to climb the hill. This was perhaps for the best, as the evening meals tended to be long and involved.
Looking out to Rome from the hill.
Lantern in arch lights the way to the residential area.
She guards the column above the fountain at the central bus stop. The work seems to have taken its toll.
As have the labours of this cat and its stone steps.
The fountain leading down from one of the stately villas appears to have been off for some time now.
Big blingy handbags are an Italian shop window feature.
The Virgin looks down patiently on passersby.
Frascati by night
One of the best things about participating in this particular well-established space mission is that everyone gets on really well. When it comes time for the evening meal, almost the entire quorum gathers to eat together. And we’re not talking about a quick bite in a pizzeria. No. We’re talking about a three hour, minimum-three-course session with wine, followed by gelato (since we were in Italy) and drinks at a bar. I’m grateful to have worked on this mission for so long. Our team delivers our data on time and have done for years. I can sincerely say that I put the effort in not just from professional pride, but out of love.
The fetish pig from the photo meme post resides in this restaurant.
Pre-gluttony menu perusal.
The gluttony begins. The chap holding the wine glass and the extremely full carafe is our glorious leader, a Finn who can drink us all under the table. Actually, given the Finns that I know, the descriptor may be redundant.
Last indulgence: tiramisu?
After a short walk through town...
...we decide no, not when there’s gelato to be found on the way back to the hotel.
One more ceiling shot on my way up to bed after a last digestif.
I’m looking forward to seeing all these faces again in Madrid in June, when we have our Operations Review.
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Ugh, bling is in here, too, and I hate it!!! >:E It makes it hard to find things to buy.
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Bling is really not my thing either. There wasn't much in the way of clothing that I wanted to buy in Italy...
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And how wonderful to be on such a good team. To like your colleagues, to work well with them, and to enjoy socializing with them, too - what could be better?
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I hope he's wrong, but concede that it will be quite difficult to reach the standard it's set.
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