Rome

I love Rome. What more can I say. I didn't take a lot of pictures in Rome, I mean really, how many pictures of the Colosseum does one need to show they have been there? I do have some from the Vatican Museum and a few from inside of St. Peters and some of the shops and streets. The usual shots are missing. I was on this trip for 10 days and only shot 9 rolls of film. That is about 24 pictures a day. Actually a lot are of others, and I really don't like posting others (beside the group pictures) faces here. I am proud of some of these, especially the one of the remains of Pope John XXIII. If you go back to last year's trip, you will see that I used a picture by Debbie, because mine did not turn out well. This year I made a concerted effort to clear the area of tourist and take my time and I got a great shot! So, let's start with that picture!


Italy without Garibaldi, is like The United States without Martin Van Buren! (You know the 8th president of the United States, the FIRST president actually BORN in the United States AFTER the ratification of the Constitution in 1787.....you know...ANYWAY) Garibaldi is the man who unified Italy (as well as Italy can ever be unified) in the last half of the 19th century. This Statue, shown in silhouette as the sun was setting, is of him. It looks like he is sad or depressed, but actually it isn't like that at all. There is a saying on the side of the base that says "Roma o Morta" Rome or Death (sort of like Oregon or Bust in the age of expansion). When I first saw the statue years ago, one of the guys next to me said it should say "Roma e' Morta" Rome IS dead! He was joking of course, well not really, he was from Southern Italy! I told you Garibaldi unified Italy, as best he could!


Trevi by night....well, it isn't that easy without a full tripod and better angles and a LOT LESS PEOPLE. But here is my attempt!


The Pantheon! It was amazing. When we showed up, there was a male choir singing in the church. Yes, the Pantheon is now a Church under the direct control of the Vatican. This allows for the building to be open all the time and also lets everyone in for FREE! This is of course the outside of the building.


Onto the Vatican now and St. Peter's! Here is just the face of one of the cherubs from the Holy Water Fountain by Bernini. It is huge!


Inside the Vatican Museum is a courtyard. At one end is the large bronze pine cone that dates back to the time of the ancient Romans.


Also, if you are observant like me, there are papal seals on the flower pots. Yes, I am sure there is one with Benedict's seal, but this is the one I found of John Paul II. I just love terracotta as it ages!


Now a walk down one of my favorite side streets in Rome, Borgo Pia. It has some nice places to eat, some nice little bars for ice cream or coffee and lots of souvenir stores. Most of them are a LOT less expensive than shopping from the street vendors and some are really inexpensive. Here is a street view and the the outside of a typical souvenir store. I and do mean typical, they all look alike with what they are selling. Some do have unique things, but most sell the same "stuff" as the guy next door.



Without doubt, this was one of the hottest Junes I have experienced in Italy. The humidity wasn't bad, but the heat was awful. In every picture I have of me I look like I have been baked or roasted. This is no exception. It was taken while I waited for everyone to meet me in St. Peter's Square. I was making "points" as Debbie calls it by taking pictures of couples who had no one there to take their picture. I would see people taking pictures of each other, then I would offer to take their picture together. I made a lot of points in those 50 minutes I was there! I had one couple offer to take my picture and I took them up on the offer...below is the result of one white boy under the hot Roman sun! (With the ever present camera bag!)

Florence

Florence used to hold a special place in my heart. It still does, but not the same manner as Rome. When I first went to Florence in 1979, I do not remember the vast crowds and hoards of people. The city is too crowded for me today. I enjoy the sights, especially the region around the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio. I enjoy shopping in Florence, as the fashion and jewelery are not found anywhere in the world like they are in Florence. My pictures focus on what I like to look at and what draws me back to this city. I would like to go back by myself some day and spend 2 days walking to places I want to see. This trip did not allow me to get to some of the locations I love to see, but I did see the heart of Florence!
You cannot understand the Italians nor the city of Florence if you have not read the Divine Comedy by Dante Allighieri. Being the first major work in Italian, it is comparable to Beowulf in English. It is the story of who is who in Italy and in the late middle ages and what the Florentines thought of them. It is a road map to the history of what will become modern Italy. Many of the images painted by the artist of Italy go back to the Divine Comedy, so to Dante!

This is where it all starts, the Palacio Vecchio, The Old Palace. It is here that the Medici start their empire. The stones that built the Old Palace are the stones taken from the other towers in Florence that the Medici had destroyed and then used the stone to build this one and ONLY tower in the new city they built.

The Ponte Vecchio, Old Bridge, is famous for the gold shops that line either side of the bridge. It was the only bridge crossing the Arno River that was not destroyed, be design, by the Americans as they liberated Italy from the German occupation in World War II. I include two shots of the bridge, one up close the other from a park near the region of the New Palace or the Pitti Palace of the Medici.


And of course we MUST remember it is ME that is traveling and I am NOT the most safe person about. I can slice my hand with a dull butter knife, so when I see help near by I try and make friends because you never know when I may need a bit of first aid!


Thus was Florence seen, and remembered by me in this trip...

Assisi

(The town crest taken from outside the dinning room of the hotel where we stayed.)
Many people know of St. Francis of Assisi, many do not know his name was John Francis. Yes, just like me, he had two names, but he chose to go by his middle name, and not his first name. Assisi is actually 2 cities. There is the city in the valley which is where most modern life takes place, and then there is the ancient city where Francis lived his early life. It has, by some strange power of the Saint himself, maintained a lot of the old world charm. Most of the old part of the town is not open to motorized traffic, though they do get in and about, but it is a real walking town. I was first in Assisi in 1979. It was a beautiful town that was to remain in my mind as just that a small town. Going back this time, 28 years later, I was afraid it would have become like Florence, an over crowded tourist destination. It had not. It is still a quiet and peace filled place to see and walk about.

This is a typical side street (sidewalk) in town. It went up to another level of the town were the locals actually live. Very few people who work in the old town of Assisi
actually live there, they live in the valley below and commute to work here.

This is a typical shop in the town. I love the chianti bottles hanging and the straw brooms. It is such an "old world" experience.

Not all the churches are big. This is a small chapel in a residential area of the town. It was so quiet and the setting of the olive trees made such a nice transition to the stone tower and old bells.
Earlier I showed you a shot of the bell tower of St. Clair's Church from outside the walls. This is inside the walls walking towards the church itself. You can see the city really does set on a hill!

This last shot is special to me in many ways. I was, as mentioned earlier, here in Assisi in 1979. At that time I was with a group of people, many whom have passed on to the next life. Among them were Fr. Siro DalDegan and his mother, Congressman Gene Chappie as well as his wife. We all stopped here to take a group picture with the modern city of Assisi in the background. As I looked out over this spot, I remembered these fine people and "stood" with them again for this picture. I can still see them with me, and if you look close, I am sure you can too. :)


Thus ended my day in Assisi. From Assisi, we got onto the buss and headed for Florence.

so far......

So far I have 3 pictures that I really like that I took this summer in Italy. The first is from the Isle of Capri. Though I have more from there that I like, I have not cropped them for here yet. This first one, from the Isle of Capri is outside of the oldest perfume factory on the island. It was so perfect, that all I did was remove a bit of the edges to get it here. I actually could have posted the picture "as is" but preferred to trim it a bit. So, here it is:




The next two pictures are from Assisi. I have another from Assisi that I will post later that I also like, but I need to crop it down a bit, maybe 2 more from Assisi now that I think about it. The first is the bell tower of the Church of St. Clair from outside of the city walls. The second is a residence. It is supposed to be the actual residence of the family of St. Francis, but as many things, it may not be. IN ANY CASE, it makes a grand view and a beautiful statement to the simplicity of stone and flowers! Enjoy them!

The Group of us!

Here we are on the start of our trip in Assisi. As you can tell it was a beautiful day!


Here is the WHOLE bus load we traveled with, or actually, they traveled with US! I must say the students, teachers and grandparent that were with me, were the BEST group on the bus. We were NEVER late and always attentive!


Here we are waiting to get our tickets to the museum. It was crowded that day, but we saw a lot.

NO, we are not rushing the boarder crossing. But we are in ROME and the Swiss Guard are in the Vatican City. An amazing line of demarcation that is!


Last group shot was here in Pompeii. It was a HOT day and we were quite exhausted from our tromp through the ruins. The tour guide was great and explained a lot to all of us about the history of the Ancient City Life of Pompeii. From here we went to lunch at a small cafe and rested and bought more "stuff" to bring home. Then off to our last 2 days , one in Sorrento, and then a full day on the Isle of Capri.

Guido's

Last year, when we were in Rome, we went to this small snack bar for coffee every morning. We became, in the few days, "regulars". I thought I had posted pictures of that event, but I guess I didn't. At Christmas 2006, we sent a card to the "barista" of the snack bar with pictures we had take with him on our last day in the city.
This year, I went back, but it was later in the day and he was not there, so I took this picture of the front of the place to remember it by.


The next day I went to visit Fr. Brian at the Oblate General House. He and I went for a walk and went back to what we from last year called "Guido's". We in fact did not know his name, and he was there!



He remembered me and thanked us all for the pictures we had sent him at Christmas. He also made Fr. Brian and myself a cappuccino (on the house!) which he is holding in the above picture. He did tell me his name, but I am not a great one for remembering names.

Below is a picture of Fr. Brian that I took later in that day in front of St. Peter's. I am truly amazed with that church. The line to get in through security was too long, so I didn't go in on that day, but I never fail to see something new every time I go in!



OK, here is a picture from last year, June of 2006 when we stayed in Rome.

Knockers!

You all have dirty minds! DIRTY. I thought of titling this "Knock knock knocking on Rome's Door", but I went with the best line I knew, short and to the point...knockers. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Many are from Sienna, a beautiful ancient walled city. More pictures of people places and me later! Enjoy!


If you look close, you can see me taking the picture!

Life Moves Forward

It has been a packed May, 2007. Yes, I aged another year and we added a new puppy to our household. We found her listed in the paper and went to see if she was to come and live with us. What can I say, you see a puppy and all you say is "WHAT A CUTE PUPPY!". So home she came. Cathy and I both agree we "rescued" her from her birth home. When we entered the house where she was at, it smelled of animal urine to the point of making us nauseous. The poor thing had fleas (which we noted on the drive home!) and needed a bath. Mind you she was 4 months old. So, cleaned, deflea-ed, and living in a "clean" house is our new member, Sweet Tea. If you say the name quickly, you get Sweetie. Weinette has taken to her, after 2 days of NOT enjoying a new puppy, and the two of them run and play and enjoy each other like they have known each other for ever! Here she is!


School is out, and I am off to Italy this coming Saturday. I leave San Francisco @ 6AM. AGHHHH...that means I must be at the airport by 4AM!! Oh the sacrifices we make!

The back yard has matured now with the late spring temperatures and the early and late sun makes for some wonderful shadows and images:






and my favorite calla lillies in the front yard are blooming!



Well I will post new pictures when I return from Rome, but be patient. Two days after my return from Rome, Cathy and I are off to Philadelphia for the week of the 4th of July! I will have pictures of from there too to post!

Saddness, yet hope

Aquinas says that all things seek their perfection, and all things find their perfection in God.
The word animal is derived from the Latin word anima,
which we translate as soul or animated spirit.

I know that we, humans, have a rational soul.
Not that we are rational, but that we can choose
between good and evil.

Other animals have an irrational soul, one that
does not choose. Yet a soul it is.
That soul seeks, like all other created things,
its perfection.

It finds that perfection in God.


Today, Stubby was sedated. He passed from this life to the next. He, had sought his
perfection and now he has found that perfection in God. I will miss him, Cathy more than I,
and I have no idea how much Weinette will miss him, but she will in a way that I will never
know until I too have met my perfection. He is happy, he is pain free and he lives in our hearts.


He will be missed, but only for a time.