Planet Mad

Things I learned on my holidays about the Classical world
* The word 'arena' comes from the Latin for sand ('harena'). This sand was imported from Egypt to cover the floor of the Colusseum.
* Pliny likened the eruption of Vesuvius to an Umbrella Pine.
* The Romans built bath houses with curved, ridged roofs: this made the condensation run down the walls, rather than drip on the bathers.
* In Ancient Greece, Olympic champions were immortalised in statues; those who won three times were entitled to have their genitals shown at full size rather than scaled down.

Things I learned about the world of viticulture, alcohol and wine-tasting (The other teacher has a wine-tasting exam on Tuesday and I had to help him revise. It was fascinating)
* There are four ways of making sparkling wines, and if a French wine is an appellation controlee sparkling wine then it must have been made using the traditional (or 'champagne') method.
* Most countries have a quality grading based upon the regions of production, but the German system is based upon the quality of the grapes rather than where they are grown.
* A cider press is technically known as a 'cheese' and cider apple pulp gives up about 80% of its weight in juice.

Things that I discovered I knew but had forgotten
*The eruption of Vesuvius in AD79 was a Plinian eruption that destroyed the entire top of the cone and caused pyroclastic flows; my inner-geographer was very satisfied by our jaunt up the volcano.
* The role played by remuage and degorgement in the traditional production of sparkling wine; Charl and I saw this in action in Vouvray last summer.
*School trips can be hard work (especially when you have a hotel full of Essex schoolgirls who are determined to get some snog-action with your boys at silly o'clock in the morning, when you're equally as determined that they won't) but can also be great fun.