Once there was a way to get back homeward

This has to be the coolest thing we've done in London thus far. And we've done some pretty cool things, but this takes the cake.

Leaving our legacies.

Maria

Emily

Karla

Artsy Fartsy

So you know me... there are bound to be a few artistic shots in there. I can't be 100% tourist and still claim to be a photographer. So here are a few with my digital camera, though there are plenty more on my 35mm.

Pieta

Roman Soldier

Sunset through ancient eyes

Angel in Darkness

Sistine Chapel

I am still in awe. Pictures weren't allowed in the Sistine Chapel, but everyone was taking them anyway. How could I not?!? I even got a video in. You know me.
I think this was my absolute favorite part of Rome. Or anywhere I've ever been, ever. I could spend weeks in there and not see enough. We actually saw it twice after we realized we had missed Rafael's Stanzas, and went back to find them, effectively running through the entire Vatican Museums and back through the Sistine Chapel. LOVE.

Colosseum

Even though I can't spell it right, the Colosseum was one of the most amazing places we went. These are just a small sample of the many many pictures I took. We went later in the afternoon, so the sun coming through the wall was absolutly gorgeous. I can't explain what it is like to sit on a wall that dates back to ancient Rome, and think of all the Ceasers and gladiators that passed through the very spot I was in. An added bonus were all the kitties everywhere! I loved them. It was warm there (compared to London, where it has been about 40 degrees), but I am also wearing a few shirts. So it wasn't quite tee-shirt warm, but nice enough. I'll take it.

Pictures for the parents

This is the cat I was going to bring home. He thinks he's a lion that fights gladiators. But really he's a lover, not a fighter. He loved me lots.

Bootleg Louie, right on the streets. No shame here.

Roasted chestnuts. They were amazing (like all Italian food is). I know daddy would have loved them, but there was no way I could have sent them home... so I ate them all.

Italy = food.

So the topic of gelato has been covered, though not nearly as much as it deserves. Let's talk about other great food.

Bre and I went out to dinner at this little place in a side alley full of shops and tables. It was so cute! And the food was awesome.
First dish:
Artichokes Italiano.

You know I was all over that.
And how easy is that to make? SO good.
Main dish:

Bre's (top) was penne, but mine were gnocci. And they were amazing. And I ate the entire plate - they weren't overly filling like they are at home... not as heavy? I was determined to not let a single one go to waste as well. And the wine was good as well. I have this thing for wine now... where I drink it and I like it. Weird, I know.

Dessert. Oh, dessert.


Bre's Irish coffee, my cappuccino, and my tiramisu. Mmmmmm.



Bre and I at our little table. The waiter who took the picture was pretty cute too, but that was just an added bonus. I was more interested in the food.
SO GOOD.

Where did we leave off?

Our journey left off at St. Peter's, but we are going to fast forward a bit.

Bre had her heart set on the Trevi Fountian, so there we went. See, we really didn't have a game plan, just a tour book we left in the hotel and a map. We thought we'd wing it, since everyone knows the obvious things to see, and then you find the rest on the way.

It's a little back-lit, but it is me. Legend has it, if you throw a coin over your shoulder and it goes in the fountain, you will return to Rome. If you throw a second and it gets in, you will fall in love in Roma. Third and you are going to marry an Italian, or someone from Italy.
I got all three coins in. Bre threw her first, then got distracted and forgot the other two. Samwise also got his in. Check out his journal for that story.

This is the Trevi at night... it is the only full picture I have, so we are a bit out of chronological order, but you still get to see the Trevi!

As I was saying about walking along and seeing things... this is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which we practically fell over the top of. We saw people walking up the stairs and thought "hey, that looks like it may be important. Let's go."
I kneeled on the ground to fish out my big camera and was scolded in Italian by a guard. No sitting here, folks.
This is the view from the top of the Tomb. Bre and I are walking down the street, and suddenly we see the Colosseum. And there it is, to the right in the picture. To the left are some bits of the ancient Roman city.

Roma, ti amo!

I am going to attempt a post about Italy, and hope that Blogger does not devour it once more.

Rome (Roma) is amazing. Possibly the most amazing place I ever have been and ever will be.

The people were great, the food was great, everything was cheap, and it was even clean (but when you've been to Dublin, you think all cities are clean...).

Our hotel was a bus ride from the Vatican City. But you have to understand Roma transport. It sucks. It was the one bad thing about the entire city. Five #881 busses would pull up together and you would miss them... then it would be 30 minutes until the next bus of any kind came along. People are so frantic to get on busses... I was body-checked by a nun, RIGHT outside the Vatican walls, and quite hard! They aren't messing around! This and the fact that my shin was rammed into a pole made some words come out of my mouth. They weren't nice, and unfortunately I forgot that I was in an Italian speaking country when I used my bad Italian word. Fortuantely it wasn't loud at all, so nobody really cared. And the nun was far away. And the Metro was worse.

But once we got off the bus, we encountered this:

Piazza di St. Peter's Basilica

(The plaza outside St. Peter's Basilica)

As all good Art students who pay attention in class know, this was designed by Bernini. And if you are in my art class, you know Nigel thinks it hides Michelangelo's dome in the background there, and takes away from it. I disagree, finding the entire thing quite amazing.

Bre and I decide we should go to the top of the dome. But not before...

...gelato.

This (lemon gelato) was the first of many many many gelatos consumed on this trip.

You don't understand how very very good it is. I would go back just for that if not anything else.

And now you will see why Michelangelo is not only my favorite Teenage Mutant Ninga Turtle (the orange one), but my favorite (non-photograpy) artist.

They will see us waving from such great heights...

This is the view from the top of St. Peter's... the dome Michelangelo constructed over Bernini's Piazza. I think they go well together.

They warn you about the stairs. There is a little sign at the beginning stating you should take the lift if you have heart issues or are older, because there are 312 stairs after the lift.

Bre and I are not old and we do not have heart issues. Nor were we going to spend 2 euro to use the lift. Up the stairs.

Here is what they don't tell you. See the platform with the statues in the above picture? That is where the lift plus 312 stairs gets you. Obviously, this picture was taken far above that. I didn't even try to count. Narrow, tilted, winding staircases. It got so narrow and so windey that the last staircase all the stairs were no larger than 5 inches wide at their widest point (it is spiraled, remember) and a rope down the center of the spiral served as a handrail. But when you got to the top, that quickly dissolved (along with anything you used to call leg muscle...) - the view was amazing anywhere you looked.
Regretfully we left the top of the dome.

However, the second best part of the Basilica waited inside.

Michelangelo's Pieta. We had a paper due the day we left for Rome, and I chose to do mine on Michelangelo. I am a smart one sometimes. It gave me the opportunity to scope out some of his best works, and where to find them in Roma. I do believe this is my favorite sculpture ever.

Michelangelo's Pieta

You used to be able to get closer to it, but in the 1970's a disgruntled Hungarian went after it with a hammer. Of course a hammer is not going to do too much to marble like that, but the Vatican became quite (understandably) upset. I believe they over-reacted a bit, but can see why they would want to protect this - it is amazing. So you can now view the Pieta from a railing 3 feet away from very thick plexi-glass, which the Pieta sits about 5 feet behind. Fortunately, my daddy gave me a really nice zoom lense, so I have some good pictures. The one above is actually my digital, which has a comprable zoom, but nothing beats 35mm. And I took 4 1/2 rolls of 35mm film in Roma. :o)

Well, that is just the beginning, but I can only upload 4 pictures an entry, so more after some schoolwork gets done.

I have to write a play. Suicide.

What was that promise that you made?

I am not saying that my mother would have anything to do with this, but I may have been brainwashed as a child. There are suspicious pictures of me with a bag on my head as a 3-year-old that I have yet to get a coherent explaination for.
All I'm saying is someone did this to me...
based on the fact my hair oddly resembles that of Jim Morrison's...



not that I know anyone that likes Jim Morrison.

I wanna be a rock star

So we went and got our hair cut today... for FREE!
By professional stylists.

Have a look.











Rock stars.

Boy, you're gunna carry that weight a long time

Yesterday was Guy Fawkes Day.
Here's a mini-lesson for you on british history.
Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, leaving no heir to the thrown. James VI of Scotland is placed in the thrown, making him James I of England, and making Scotland and England Great Britian for the first time. With Elizabeth's death the Roman Catholic Church fell from government, as James was a Protestant. This made a lot of Roman Catholics unhappy.
In 1605, Guy Fawkes made a plan to blow up Parliament and James I - the Gunpowder Plot.
Fawkes was a Roman Catholic, and did not like James I (and his Protestantism) very much. Solution - blow them all up.
Parliament had been postponed until November 5th, so Guy (and other conspirators - there were 13 total) went into action.
Depending on your point of view, fortunately or unfortunately, an anonymous letter was written warning James I, and Guy Fawkes was captured - under Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder. He confessed, and was executed.

So what do the British do?
Celebrate!
Children make paper Guy Fawkes and run around asking "a penny for the man" and you would give them a pence or two so they can burn him. Unfortunately, I did not encounter any of these kids. I would have given them money. I think it's great.

Then everyone starts blowing things up. The fireworks started a bit over a week ago, but last night you would have thought we were in the Blitz. Feeling sick, I decided not to go watch the fireworks with some of the other students, but try to regain health with Katie and Maria. Jeff was taking a nap... that is, until the fireworks started.
Jeff wanted to go for a walk to find some, and I was feeling a bit better, so I agreed. We ended up walking most of Islington (which is quite large), seeing some nice fireworks. But the best part was when we found our own. There were fireworks stores all over the place. Sweet.
We didn't have a lot of money, so we only got a small pack with nothing bigger than a Roman candle. We returned to the FMC to collect Katie and Maria, and then walked up to Highbury Fields to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day the British way.





Jeff and I with our treasure.


That's the shirt Elsie got me!


above: Roman Candle. Mmmm.
left: Maria and I dancing. Pictures were hard to take in the dark, but you get the idea.














In a random side note, if you should see the Kate Winslet commercial (I think it's for Master Card) where she is walking around the market saying things like "at age --- I nearly drowned" - you know the one - that was filmed in Camden Market. That is the place we go for our cheap skirts, cheap scarves, and cheap food. The bridge that says "Camden Locks" we've walked under a dozen times, and the building it is attached to is one where I took Sam's picture (check out his blog to see it). It's just really neat to be watching a movie or tv and realize you've been by that place, or you shop there regularly.