Pompeii, Late Afternoon

And Another Thing

When we were in Perugia last weekend, they had this giant ferris wheel close to the edge of the hill that overlooked some valleys and whatnot below. Allison convinced me to go on it at night. As you can see, she was pretty excited:

As you can see, I was pretty excited, too:

This is a picture of one of the cars:

And we even bought one of the cheesey pictures they take of you, sort of like at Cedar Point:

Two More from Perugia

First, the (unfinished) facade of the city's duomo:

The have a 12th-century (I think) aqueduct that you can walk across to get out to the part of town where the round church in yesterday's post is located. If I'm remembering correctly, this second pic is from near the beginning of the aqueduct-walk looking back toward the main part of town.

A Few Pictures from Perugia

Here are a few shots from Perugia, a smallish-sized city about 2 1/2 or 3 hours from Rome. It's up in the Umbrian hills. The first is from Piazza Italia, taken right after we got off the bus.

This one is from a little bit higher up, with a view of some buildings across the way.

Finally, this is a 6th-century round Christian church out on the very edge of town by the walls.

Pompeii detour

A group of students from Hillsdale were in Rome last week. Dr. Jones, one of Eric's undergrad professors, and his wife Sally, were leading the bunch around. We were invited to join them on their trip to Pompeii. Perfect, we thought. The bus is faster, less stressful, and a way to see the highways that we miss on the train.

Unfortunately, the bus was hit in the back by an gentleman from the US Navy, who was stationed at the NATO base in Naples. We were 15 minutes from Pompeii. Apparently this was this serviceman's third car accident, so his superiors insisted he have his vehicle towed to the base, and NOT say anything. Well, that's fine. Except, no reports could be comleted without his input, meaning we sat pretty on the highway for hours.

To make matters more humourous, our serviceman didn't speak ANY Italian, and our bus driver, the police, the towers, and the insurance claim workers, didn't speak ANY English. Quite a funny dance of gestures was witnessed through the bus window.

One extra note, a policeman stepped onto the bus and waved the US Navyman's badge around in front of us, as if to say, "don't go blaming Italians for this mess." Okay fine, but that doesn't explain the 12 people we saw in uniform leaning against the guardrail while only 3 men were actually involved in getting us off of the highway. That does seem to be a completely other form of mess--and it is straight Italian.

We did manage to make the rest of the journey to Pompeii safely. And with 2 hours of daylight.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Ok, actually it was when I was on my way to the library. But first, some background.

A few weeks ago a friend from church gave me a copy of NBA Live 2005, a game for the computer, which happens to be awesome. Though I haven't been able to watch any Pistons games yet this season, I can simulate some NBA action on the PC. Allison and I were doing this one night when she decided that it would be funny to write a letter to the Pistons on my behalf (a la Letters from a Nut--remembering giving me that book, Kathy?). So she wrote it and sent it.

Lo and behold, the Pistons responded with alarming speed:

They included a letter that mentioned Darko:

And a bunch of stickers, basketball cards, schedules, and a picture!

What an organization! Go Pistons!!!

Something you have to see to believe

A beer hall on New Years in Munich, for one. And two, Mom H with three steins of house ale for the festivities. Okay, so she is holding Eric's and mine as well. This, apart from drinking a whole thing, is impressive, as you wouldn't believe how much they weigh. To see the waiters and waitresses fisting five in one hand is really quite astonishing.

And yes, that's us cutting a rug with all of the bellowing, jolly Germans.

A quick hello

My limited computer use has put a damper on the amount of posts I've been able to do. And down here at the internet point, there isn't a way for me to get shots up here.

In any case, we're heading to Perugia and Assisi this weekend. About a two and half hour train ride northeast of here in Umbria. This, in addition to going to Pompeii last week, have me feeling like we're getting out a little bit!

The trip to Pompeii hit a snag with a car accident (or, actually a van hitting our bus), so we're hoping for a better go at it this time. Don't worry, everyone walked away fine with the accident, and I have some fine highway action shots to post soon.

Until then. Ciao!

Another Note to Future Visitors

Those looking for books to read that have something to do with Italy before coming might want to check out Jonathan Harr's recent book The Lost Painting, about the search for Caravaggio's The Taking of Christ. Granted, I've only read about 7 pages of it, but Allison's read, like, way over a hundred, and she says it's really good. Thus far (7 whole pages!) I would have to concur. I think a lot of the action takes place in Italy, and some of it in Rome. It's non-fiction--Harr is also the author of A Civil Action. Liz and Vance: I think you'd definitely like it. Others: I'm not as familiar with your tastes--but I bet you might like it too!

Things in Zurich That Don't Involve Eating

Here are two more shots of Grossmuenster in Zurich, shown also in a photo below. Grossmuenster, whose sanctuary is actually quite small, was nevertheless the headquarters of the Protestant Reformation in Zurich. This was Zwingli's church, and because of his push for iconoclasm (literally, 'image-breaking'), the church is adorned with almost no artwork and presents a drastic antithesis to churches in Rome. Some bits of wall-paintings have been recovered inside, preserved, I believe, because they had been walled up when the church was stripped of its images. Because of its simplicity combined with its imposing Romanesque (I think) architecture, the atmosphere of the church is austere.

Zwingli was succeeded at Grossmuenster by Heinrich Bullinger, and his statue is on the outside of the church building. He doesn't look like the kind of guy I'd want to mess with.

Advice to Future Visitors

It occurs to me that if you are planning to visit us, you might want to include SLIPPERS in your packing list. Those who are podiatrically (?) sensitive should note that we don't have carpet or rugs of any kind, and unless you would like to wear shoes all the time or plan to shuffle around incessantly on a bath mat, slippers are your solution. Allison just got me a pair the other day that are made out of a bathrobe or something, and they are sweet. When I creep around in them, I'm quieter than a mouse--whatever that means, since the mice in my apartments have always been easily audible.

Anyway, my two cents.

Fon-Dos and Do-Nots while Eating in Zurich

While in Zurich, we had occasion to eat from time to time. Now, I knew going into it that eating out in Zurich could be more expensive than in, say, Arkansas. But I guess I just didn't know how much more. One day we went to this place to eat lunch:


We went there to eat fondue, a Swiss specialty and favorite in winter. It was very, very good, and we couldn't finish all of it. Here's the total amount of stuff we ordered for four people: four bowls of soup; two bottles of water; and one giant pot of melted cheese, which was accompanied by two big baskets of breadcrumbs.

The bill? CHF (Swiss francs) 158!!! I don't know exactly how much that is, but I think it's around $130. My jaw would have hit the floor when the bill came, except that the bottom of my mouth was still stuck to the top by a tasty conglomeration of melted cheese mortar with a bread crumb fill. Priceless. Ok, not exactly--kind of the opposite, I guess.

On the outside wall of the building, there was a cool painting of the city:


All for now.

A little taste of Switzerland

Zurich, Switzerland was a breath of fresh air. Not only is it the home of Ryan, my brother-in-law, but many other sweetnesses as well. The fact that it borders Italy apparently doesn't mean anything, as it was an absolutely different world. Eric and I have beent talking and have come to the conclusion that it is somewhat of a Truman Show. Everything is clean: the people, the streets, the hotels, the lines, the trains, etc. Some of the snow in the streets was dirty, but I am pretty sure that the powers that be in Switzerland were having a meeting on how to resolve that issue, and had it taken care of the minute we left.

And by the way, their chocolate is everthing that it is cracked up to be. We probably would have lived on that had they not served us so much meat and cheese all day long.

More Florentine Snowshine

I don't have time to write much since the library's about to close, but if a picture's worth a thousand words, here's a couple grand.

Florence in the Snow

Back to the recent holiday escapades. After Rome we went up to Florence for a couple of nights. We got quite a snowstorm while we were there, and our place of lodging had a sweet terrace from which to digitize it.

In the first shot you can see the Duomo and Campanile. My brother and I climbed up Brunelleschi's dome into the lantern one day while the ladies were, ahem, shopping. It provided some awesome views of the city, and also had a couple of galleries on the inside from which you could get a good view of the church's flooring and Vasari's dome-paintings.


In this second pic you can see, among other things, the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio, a building designed by Arnolfo di Cambio.

Today is our 5-Month Anniversary--Isn't That Sweet?

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we attended part of a midnight service at Santa Maria ad Martyres, formerly the Pantheon. These pictures aren't from that night, but they are of that building!

A view of the front:

The coffered dome:

The oculus:

A view of the piazza taken from the porch of the building:

Some Christmas Pics

Allison and I started celebrating Christmas a little early, mostly because we both have a really really ridiculously hard time not opening presents.

Allison's present:

Allison's other present (trust me, she liked this one a lot more. Come on, trust me.):

A nice holiday treat: cantucci (a type of biscotti) and Vin Santo (a sweet dessert wine):

Happy New Year!

We're back after a great vacation with part of the fam.

Just wanted to say hi.

We'll try to get something more substantive up here soon; recent photos have not been uploaded yet, but I hope to get them on here soon.

Until then...