Sunday, August 9, 2009

ROME

Top Five Favorite Things About Rome

5. The Views: Looking out over a postcard cityscape with bells echoing through the streets.













4. The Fountains: I've always had a thing for waterfalls and fountains--and Rome had some of the most beautiful I've ever seen. And it didn't hurt that two of these were featured in '50's movies 3. Gelato: I've never been a huge ice-cream lover. Everyone kept raving about Italian gelato, and I'm not gonna lie, I doubted. But I soon converted, and ate it at least once everyday--coming home very disdainful of the American version. 2. Sidewalk Cafes: I loved eating outside for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I did get carbed out pretty quickly, but I fell in love with every sidewalk cafe we ate at. This one was right in front of the Parthenon.


















1. Music in the Streets: People have always made fun of me that I randomly break into song. In Rome, I found a kindred city because everywhere we went people were singing. This man was a street performer who set up a boom box in the piazza, opened his mouth and suddenly I was listening to an Andrea Bocelli.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Fairy Tale Land

My trip to Italy and Turkey was absurdly helpful in helping me with a story that I've been writing (a fairy tale). It seemed everywhere we went added a place, character, or subplot. I was kept busy writing it all down as fast as I could.(Will post more pictures later. . .)

This is the castle (Sienna and Milan)








This is the staircase to the Wizard's Tower (Sienna)





Magical Blue Pools (Pumukkale, Turkey)





Whimsey the Amber-Eyed Owl (Lake Como)


Bartlebee


Summer Castle (Lake Como)








Sultan's Palace (Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, actual Sultan's Palace--Istanbul)





Tombs of the Ancestors (Hierapolis)