25 Oct 2021 | Bologna> watched 1st episode or 2 of Squid Game to see what the hype was about + also cuz we cancelled Netflix cuz of Chapelle + only have it til the end of the month > started 2 watch The Chair, but wasn't in2 it, boring

26 Oct 2021> bin reading The Gateless Gate... a collection of zen koans, absurdly elusive riddles that are sposed 2 lead 1 to enlightenment > like there's 1 where sum aspiring monk asks the zen master Yunmen "what is Buddha?" + Yunmen replies "dried shitstick" (乾屎橛)(followed by pages + pages of commentary + intepretation)... maybe our brain just ain't wired 4 this shit, but seams 2 us zen buddhism is a bit of a cop out, like no matter what they say it's deep + profound, which is perhaps true, but why articulate it 2 begin? which suppose is probly a zen thing 2 say, the whole point, that no effort needs 2 be made 2 understand it

27 Oct> speaking of gateless gates, perambulated thru Porta Maggiore + Porta San Vitale this a.m... tho both Maggiore + Vitale actually have gates unlike the last 1, Santo Stefano, or a few others whose gates have bin demolished leaving only the namesake intersections > as the name wd imply, they are the major + vital gateways in + out of Bologna, @ 4 + 3 o'clock respectively > we are also currently living between vias Maggiore + S. Vitale so it's the hood where we find ourselves mostly + where our bedder-½ teaches is also right off Vitale

the 2 torre @ the intersection where via Maggiore + via Vitale meet, origin of our clock/grid

looking thru Porta Maggiore down via Maggiore @ the 2 towers

arcade along via Maggiore

Basilica di Santa Maria dei Servi

wood portico (w/ arrows sticking in the roofs)

piazza Sto Stefano

Basilica di Santo Stefano (more pics inside from 2012)

ruins of Casa Carducci

view from the Residenza Carducci where we're staying

along via Maggiore

the Maggiore gate

> we went 2 piazza Maggiore + inside Basilica di San Petronio, which is the main church of Bologna (Petronio being Bologna's patron saint) > the above line is a meridian line (the longest in the world), a sort of fancy sundial that measures the progress of time throughout the year > in theory a circle of light appears on the line @ solar noon, but either we were a few minutes too late (even tho we were there well before 12:58, which is when the Inurnet told us solar noon was for Bologna (+ we chose today b/c it was nice + sunny)) or it's 2 late in the season 2 be accurate > now that we're reading how it works, seems we needed 2 be there right @ noon (on the clock, not solar noon), which, duh, is the whole point of it... we'll have 2 try again sum other day > 2day there was a long blob of light not too far off the line (see above) around where October was so seemed generally accurate

u can see the pinpoint hole @ the top of the photo

inside Basilica San Petronio

Neptune fountain

close-up of Neptune fountain from 2016 (it's under construction now, so not flowing)

from pic we took in 2012

nearby portico also from 2012

piazza Maggiore