Pages

Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts

May 02, 2012

Sightseeing with Mamma Paula

John's mom came to visit us in Italy last November. John was busy student teaching, so I got Paula all to myself for most of the week. We had so much fun exploring, and made some unforgettable memories. Here are some of the photos we took during the first half of our sightseeing adventures. Enjoy!














March 22, 2012

The Colosseum

Here are some photos from John and my visit to the Colosseum.  
Not pictured: 
1) Native American pan flute players (will somebody please explain this?)
2) Con artists dressed up in awkward gladiator outfits (a little too short there, buddy!)
3) A guy dressed up in a tacky gold mummy suit (we watched for ten minutes and no one gave him any money)
4) Hideous booths packed with sweatshop souvenirs (sorry to those of you who love snow globes featuring the pope)
5) Break-dancing mimes accompanied by mediocre percussion (wow)
You can thank me later.  



  


 

March 14, 2012

Day in Rome with Joe

John and I had the pleasure of spending quality time with one of our dearest friends on two separate occasions during our stay in Italy. He is truly a kindred spirit, and we are so thankful to have him as our new brother-in-law. Here are some photos from one of the days we spent in Rome with Joe.  
 



 

 


 









Anguillara

Towards the end of our time in Italy, John and I took a spur-of-the-moment afternoon train journey to the other side of Lake Bracciano in order to visit picturesque Anguillara at sunset. Here are some snapshots from our day.   
 

  

 



February 20, 2012

The Best Clothes in Bracciano are Free

As I was preparing and packing for our trip to Italy, I made a foolish assumption. For some reason or another (perhaps wishful thinking) I was under the impression that the weather would seldom get cold and that it would never rain during our three-month visit... and then I packed accordingly. As you may have guessed already, this was an incorrect supposition. November arrived, and so did a week and a half of unrelenting rain. And then came the thunder storms. And then came the very cold weather. I was not prepared. Since John and I were on a restricted budget, purchasing more weather-appropriate clothing was not an option, which meant it was time to get creative. We went "dumpster diving", and ended up with some pretty great loot! Here are three examples of what we found.  
  
Exhibit 1: We pulled this gray sweater from a pile of abandoned items alongside the road near our apartment.
Exhibit 2: We picked this sweatshirt out from a bag of deserted clothes at the park.
Exhibit 3: And we spotted this wonderful red jacket in a pile of “give-aways” we found behind a dumpster. 


Just three more reasons to be thankful for the continual provision in our lives, if you ask me. What are you thankful for this week? 

February 19, 2012

Viterbo

Viterbo is an excellently preserved walled city located about 50 miles north of Rome. It was built between the 11th and 12th centuries, and served as a retreat center for the popes during times of political turmoil. Since it is now an agricultural town, it is also where the milk came from in the area where we were staying, so we decided to take a day trip up on the train for a visit. Here are some of the sights that we saw.