Under the Tuscan.....Clouds?

A trip to Cortona: Sabato, Febbraio 20:
Day's Mileage: 4.25

So we went to Cortona, the city that Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed. There were posters of the movie everywhere in town. The movie really helped the economy and encouraged many people to move to Cortona. I was excited and loved the city, except being under the Tuscan Clouds.















A look at the hillside




















A stairway alley. There are a lot of these in Italy. They are oh so fun to climb up......















A look over the valley. Mid-way down there is a walled in cemetery.















The cemetery resting on the hillside





















A cat. This cat followed us almost the full length of the corso, kept its distance but wanted to see what was up with these new faces in town.




















The theater in Cortona. So beautiful and it had 5 rows of balcony seating. I sure would love to watch a show, any show, in there!














The ceiling of the theater.



















Tony waiting for the Etruscan Museum to open




















A look at the clock tower














Here are more pictures of old men, so cute just chatting the morning away. Always in groups of 3-4.














Lunch at a bruschetteria on the corso. I had Pizze Salsicia e Spinaci and it was quite possibly the best pizza I have ever had!

"Vorrei....Chicken McNuggets"

Rome Day 5: Sabato, Febbraio 13:
Day's Mileage: 14 (that is a record!)















Inside the Colosseum! Can you believe it only took 8 years to complete? (and it took KSU 1/4 of the time to finish that parking garage...)




















Some detail in the brickwork




















Testing out sepia mode again. Looking into the Colosseum. The light was wonderful this day.




















Some of the original iron ties




















A close up of the upper 2 levels. You can see where the stairway once was.




















Looking into the Colosseum




















A cat at the Colosseum, with a column laying in the background















Another Colosseum picture. I just loved this place....














The courtyard of the Vatican Museum














At Museo Vaticani. This is one of the many long hallways. This one is the map room with large floor to ceiling hand illustrated maps. We literally walked 2 miles in the museum winding our way through to get to the Sistine Chapel.














Stairway exiting the Vatican Museum




















Walking through the columnade at San Pietro.















We stopped by the Pantheon during the day and caught a bit of sunlight.














The group resting on a column outside the Pantheon. (Amy, Amanda, Josh D, Laura)















Plaza outside the Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace) museum. A nice example of modern landscape architecture. It does look a lot better lit up at night though. Since it's all white stone, the stone shows the city pollution easily.
















A look at the lighting effect in a shallow pool of water. There were fountains coming out in a grid from each of these lights but they weren't on either of the times we walked by this plaza.




















Yeah.....we went to McDonald's in Italy. Just to say we did. Plus we were really tired that day and just wanted something quick (although, I must say, Italians don't really know the meaning of fast-food. I mean, the food was good, but they were slow getting it to us). Funny story, we try to practice our Italian everywhere we go but it was pretty hard in Rome, most Italians would just speak to us in English. I'm not sure why we thought McDonald's of all places would be any different...

Amy walks up to the clerk and orders: "Vorrei....Chicken McNuggets..."
The clerk just laughs at her: "haha....do you want the meal?"
Amy: "ya"

Then I go up and order a Crispy McBacon (in English).
The clerk asks "medio o grande?"
I respond "si!" (having only heard 'grande' and thinking 'well ya I want a large! I'm really thirsty and we can't get free refills in Italy'

Well I'm sure the Americans gave him quite a laugh that night.....














I must say though, it was one of the nicest McDonald's I have ever been to. The interior details of hardware, furnishings, and decoration was sleek. It was a three level restaurant with the uppermost an outdoor patio on the roof.

Would You Like to Taste Some Fish Sauce?

Day 4 Pompeii: Venerdi, Febbraio 12:
Day's Mileage: 6




















Our professor for our History of Science and Technology class, Giovanni D'Pasquale, took us behind the scenes into the laboratories at Pompeii. He also got us into Pompeii for free! Here he was showing us samples of marble from buildings. We also saw human bones and skulls (which made me think of one of my favorite TV shows 'Bones'. I know Dr. Brennan, aka Bones, and the other Squints could have solved the lives of these people!), a bread loaf that looked like burnt dark chocolate, a vine woven basket, textiles, assorted fruits (dates, pomegranate), seashells (the flatter ones were used for paints), and ingredients for 'Garum', a fish sauce. The archaeologists remade the fish sauce and ever so kindly offered to give us a taste (no thank you, but have you remade that bread yet!?)....no one took them up on the offer, however, we did smell it and it smelled like a pungeant soy sauce. Whew!















A Pompeii kitchen, the 'sinks' were separated for hot and cold coals. You can tell this home belonged to a wealthier family because the counter was made from marble. The average person had counters made with brick.




















A look at Mount Vesuvius down a Pompeii street















A cool paving pattern in the palace.















A tiled floor in the palace. It took 1 million tiles to make it. Each tile was about the size of a fingernail.




















One of the Pompeii dogs in the baths. Professor D'Pasquale told us that there are about 60 dogs who permanently live on the ruins of Pompeii.














In the baths. These men have been holding up this structure for thousands of years now...





















Another Pompeii dog, they are all so friendly and used to humans coming around. This one posed patiently while I took my picture.














A petrified Pompeiian body














The city's sundial




















An interesting array of brick styles





















Some ruins with Mount Vesuvius looming in the background...















The arena where gladiators trained




















The loggia surrounding the training arena. The sun came out just for a few minutes that day, enough time for me to take this photo.















A garden owned by a wealthy Eqyptian, here he would recreate the River Nile Flood every year




















Another Pompeii dog. Funny, his fur coloring matches the architectural materials in the background...
















Heidi, Laura, and I doing a K-S-U across one of Pompeii's sidewalks

" I Guess We Have to Expect 1 Good Scalp in a Big City Like This"

Rome Day 3: Giovedi, Febbraio 11:
Day's Mileage: 11.25
















Castel Sant'Angelo







































Sculpture on the bridge to Castel Sant'Angelo















A look at the Basilica of San Pietro from down the street




















Some sculpture at San Pietro




















Two Polizia walking through the columnade at Saint Peter's




















Outside Saint Peter's; a look at the Vatican's Swiss Guard




















A glimpse of the Baldichino at Saint Peters.














The Pope, I saw the Pope. We couldn't get up close to the altar that day because there was a service going on. We knew it had to be something special because there were so many people there. It turns out this day was honoring the 18th Annual Day of the Sick. We were lucky to get in that day; shortly after we got in they stopped letting people in.














Inside the Church of San Pietro. After visiting San Pietro we went to lunch at 'Universal Bar' Cafe. All of our sandwiches cost 6 euro each (a little pricey). Some people also ordered cokes which were 6 euro as well. After which Tony commented to us "I guess we have to expect one good scalp in a big city like this."















The Basilica of Santa Maria Degli Angeli, built on the former Baths of Diocletian




















One of the doors of the Basilica














The dome inside the Basilica of Santa Maria Degli Angeli















This is the University of Rome's equivalent to Durland Hall at K-State, where all the engineers hang out (this one is for you Mum!)



















Michaelangelo's Moses



















Walking back to our hostel that night there were some fire twirlers in the Piazza Navona (I stopped to watch hoping they would be fire throwers....but they never did)















Another gelato, this one in Vaniglia. Can you tell the historic landmark I was sculpting?