Fourth, the Arian Baptistery

Exterior of building, the base of which is now far below current ground level.

Dome mosaic of baptism of Christ. From left to right: personification of River Jordan; Christ (with dove of Holy Spirit); John the Baptist. Ringed by procession of Apostles.

Same, but closer.

Third, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

These didn't come out so well, but here they are anyway. These are from the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna.

The first is usually thought to be St. Lawrence going to his martyrdom on the grill. On the left side of the picture is a book case containing the four Gospels in separate volumes.

The second is a beatiful decorative pattern containing stars and flowers.

Second, the Beach

Here is the beach on which we ran, and the water into which we subsequently plunged ourselves (phew, not ending clauses with prepositions sho' makes modern English sound funny sometimes. Then again, 'not ending clauses prepositions with' would sound funny too):

Was it nice? This cool dude seems to think so.

Sunset. This looks peaceful, and it was, but it was also very loud. There was some huge party going on not too far away (see if you can find the giant inflatable beer bottle in the picture).

Us (or 'We'):

First, the Camp Site

Allison working hard:

This shot shows a great deal of empty space around our tent. And that is how it was on Friday and Sunday nights. But do not be deceived: on Saturday night there was nary an open mini-box to be had. The tenting section of the campground filled up with, for the most part, what seemed to be late-teen/early-twenties Italian roustabouts. But that's ok; at the mini-box campground, privacy is a luxury, not a necessity.

Ravenna

Allison and I went camping in Ravenna this past weekend. Ok, we actually camped about 8 km outside of Ravenna in a sweet woodsy campground right across the street from the beach on the Adriatic Sea. Ravenna and the surrounding area is a lot like the Midwest in the following ways: it is extremely flat; the region actually produces food instead of just consuming it; its pace and feel are generally mellow. Some differences include: being on a giant body of salt water (the coastal thing is similar to parts of Michigan (e.g.), but not the salt!); having a lot of 5th and 6th century churches; people speaking Italian.

I don't have the pictures loaded on the computer yet but hope to get some up here soon. Ravenna has incredible mosaics and is just a beautiful place in general.

Allison and I started off the two mornings of the weekend with a run on the beach, followed immediately by a run into the water. Let me tell you something: running on the beach is one of the hardest workouts I've had. That doesn't sound like much coming from me, but I think Allison would agree, and she ran a marathon, people. Especially when the type of sand the beach has is deep and soft and when the sun is beating down on you and the humidity is skyrocketing. Invigorating. And the water was perfect.

Sculpture of Paul at San Paolo Fuori Le Mura (Rome)

Berries That Almost Fit in a Straw

The other day, Allison mentioned the fragolini of Nemi, tiny little strawberries that look just like big strawberries, only--wait for it--tinier, and burst with fruit flavor. Here is the way that some places serve them: covered by whipped cream, ice cream, some sort of strawberry sauce (I just realized I don't like the word 'sauce' very much), all served in an edible waffle-cone bowl. And yes, it is exactly as good as it sounds...and looks:

The hidden life of Santas Little Helper

I'm not sure if many of you remember my little red Cavalier, Santa's Little Helper, that puttered and purred its way through the years with me. It was a tame, reliable, happy-to-help car and it was sad day when I realized that my move to Washington, DC in August of 2004 would be the end of our friendship.

SLH made its way into the hands of a wonderful granddaughter of a wonderful friend of mine--and I couldn't have been more pleased. I knew that the tiny red thing would be a perfect match for Tisha, the newly licensed, responsible driver.

Come to find out--I've underestimated SLH the whole time. In the hands of Tisha, she just won Best System Award at Stockbridge High School for the SECOND year in a row! That's what a lot of love from the right person (with the information to get the right sound system) can do! Celebrations all around!

Some More Nemi

Here is another view of Lago di Nemi.

It was on this lake that the Roman Emperor Caligula held his pleasure cruises in two ships that were discovered in the lake. Here is a little information on them:

The Nemi Ships were huge and incredibly luxurious ships built by the Roman emperor Caligula in the first century A.D. at Lake Nemi. One of the ships was designed as a temple that was dedicated to Diana (the Roman equivalent of Artemis), the larger ship however was essentially an elaborate floating palace, which counted marble floors and plumbing among its amenities, the sole role of which was to satisfy Caligula's increasingly self-indulgent behavior. It has been stated that the emperor was influenced by the lavish lifestyles of the Helenistic rulers of Syracuse and Ptolemaic Egypt.

The size of these ships was not rivaled until after the Renaissance, and their luxury arguably was not equaled until the Nineteenth century.

Unfortunately, the Nazis torched them in 1944. You can read a little bit more about them here.

And this is a picture of me, not looking quite as German as last time, on the trail that goes through the woods from behind the house where we were staying down to the town of Nemi.

For the Youngs

Since Dan and Liz really seemed to enjoy a mullet-sighting we had during our wait in the line for the Vatican Museums a couple of months ago, I thought I'd better get a picture of this junior-mullet for them that we glimpsed while eating lunch in Nemi. Sure, it's not as suave as the 80s-business-fabulous one linked above, but come on--this kid's young, and he's probably not even a hockey player. Or IROC-Z driver.

Birthday weekend in Ariccia

My great friend Johanna invited Eric and I to her parents home outside of Rome in the Castelli Romani this past weekend. The home is in Ariccia, but we walked to another town called Nemi for lunch on Sunday. Ariccia is famous for its porcceta (pork) and Nemi for its fragolini (mini strawberries). Needless to say, we ate our way through the hills. That is, when we weren't playing cards and drinking phenomenal wine! Quite a birthday! We did try to catch the Italy v USA World Cup game on Saturday night but couldn't get the television to work--and we definitely weren't interested in going to a bar to cheer for the good ole' US. Some may call us chickens, I call us smart!

By the way, the massive bouquet of dahlias that I am holding only cost 2 euro--can you believe it?

Fine time with friends

Michelle left on Friday morning after a week in Rome. Here we are having a posed good time in the kitchen--the rest of the week was much less planned. Highlights include shopping in Orvieto, learning how to ignore vendors who hassle you on your towel at the beach, and perusing the crypt of Santa Maria della Concezione which is filled with 4,000 Cappucian (yes, for whom cappucinos are named) monk bones!

Two healthy girls!

On Saturday Eric and I officially became an Aunt and Uncle!

My sister, Kelley, gave birth to two lovely babes: Madeline Margaret weighing in at 2 lb and 14 oz, 17-1/2", and her sister, Mae Elizabeth, at 3 lb and 17-3/4".

What joy! What excitement! What blessings!

Congratulations to the new proud mother and father!!

We'll get you all pictures once we have them.