Italy Recap

Superintendent Of Schools

Statue With Fig Leaf Added

No Explanation Needed

Iron Gate at The Vatican

Roman Forum

Tour Guide (on left)

I'm back at work and suffering from a little jet lag or old age. I slept pretty good last night and actually was asleep when the alarm went off this morning. I'm taking that as a sign that the sleep pattern is approaching normal again. That's a real good thing since I'm heading to Indy Thursday night for the Golden Gloves and won't get home 'til late. I don't think I was cut out to be a jet setter. Besides the sleep thing, that air travel really screws with my ears. I'm still not 100% good there yet. However, it was well worth the aggravation.

Looking at the photos starting from the top:

I just can't look at a horse's ass without thinking about the superintendent. And since this one looks pretty well used up, even more so.

It looks like all the statues in the Vatican have been either surgically altered in the naughty bits region or they've had a fig leaf strategically placed to cover things up. I should have asked our local tour guide, Marcus. I'm sure he would have had the answer.

Pretty lady on a bicycle, just one of a million. Lots of good looking men and women over there. Lots of them ride bicycles and scooters. Italy must have a helmet law for motorcycles because everyone was wearing one. I'm a staunch proponent of wearing a helmet but the image stuck in my mind is the pretty girl on the scooter with her hair blowing in the wind. Take another look at the photo - just wouldn't be the same with one of those dorky bicycle helmets on either.

Lots of ironwork in Italy, some old and some new. This is a classic example of the old but the new stuff looks pretty cool too. Interesting blend of the architectural styles in the cities. Everything seems to mix well, from the ancient to the ultra-modern. I didn't see any houses from the Seventies with fake Mansard roofs or Spanish arches like some of those architectural turds I installed railings in before I started teaching. Almost everything is made of block or stone and stuccoed. Even the barns that I saw when we were moving about. Lots of nice looking little farms out in the country there.

We made it to the Coliseum and the Roman Forum in Rome. I did a little "Friends, Romans and Countrymen" thing here. It's really hard to imagine the historical significance of the places we visited. Most of the time when somebody around here mentions Caesar, they're talking Little not Julius. I even stood on the Appian Way. How cool is that?

The last photo shows our tour guide, Elizabeth talking to the headphone lady. A couple of times we had headphones to listen to our local guide. Elizabeth was not allowed to talk about the monuments and important things. You have to hire a local guide for that. If she got caught, she could be fined and lose her license. The local guide's union must be pretty influential. All of the local guides knew their stuff. We had a total of four. I noticed one of them had a bag with an internet address on it. If your interested in the guide deal and can read Italian, check it out here.

Elizabeth was fantastic. She's a little bit of a thing that's got more energy than anyone I've ever seen. She speaks like six languages plus sign language. She's got a couple of degrees and has lived all over the world. She's always laughing and had everything planned to a "T". The kids got together and bought her a little present and gave her a little donation for the charity work she does. She definitely earned our respect and love. I need to post another shot of her. She's a peach.