Italy -- Rome

Two of my favorite people in Houston are Tricia and Liz. They are some of my first friends and they are REALLY funny! Their Dad (Jeff) took a job in Milan for a 3 years in Milan, Italy. Every time I saw their Mom (Janet), she invited me to Italy...so I took her up on it!

It was a fabulous trip - we toured 4 Italian cities... Rome, Milan, Venice and Torino. We were gone for 9 days + 2 days for travel...I figured I would try to do a "series" of blogs to describe our trip to you!

After several flight delays (weather, loose seat, medical emergency, etc), my grandmother, Corinne, and I left arrived in Rome. We met Jeff and Janet at our hotel in the Pantheon Area, which was walking distance from most of the things we were interested in.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Arrived at hotel 10:00am

Walked to Vatican Museum


Grabbed "pizza" off of a street cart


Toured Vatican Museum - the walls, floors and ceilings were decorated! (So many mosaics!)






No pictures of the Sistine Chapel :( But Rick Steve's had a Fabulous *free* audio tour available on iTunes if you ever go to Rome. There is one for the Sistine, St. Peter's, the Colosseum...ect.

Toured St. Peter's Basilica (The Biggest Church ever and the one the Pope is at!) It was huge!!

This is the altar/canopy - They built it oversized, so it would not be "dwarf" the huge ceiling and so it would fill some of the space.

You see the yellow dot behind the altar that looks tiny?

It is the chair of St. Peter, a huge gold display and a stained glass dove, whose wingspan is over 6 feet! Wasn't kidding when I said this place was HUGE!

The lower statue might look life-size but it is actually 15 feet tall. The statue above it might look the same size but it is 1 1/2 the size of the lower one! huge!


This is the St Peter's statue...everyone rubbed his foot for good luck...



SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2009 - Side note: they kinda celebrated Halloween in Italy too...their "jack-o-lanterns" looked more like a snowman's head...they carved the eyes and mouths but used a carrot for the nose...kinda funny!

On Saturday, Corinne and I took a tour of Rome with a guide that some of her friends had used...Sabino was amazing...He had like this super-parking-pass and would just pull up in front and park! We got to see alot of "must-sees" and several things "off the beaten path"

This is the site where Julius Caesar was Assassinated


Corinne and I out side of the City Wall, looking down on Rome.



This is the Church of St. Peter-in-Chains:

The story is that two sets of Chains used when Peter was imprisoned were put together and miraculously joined!

This is Moses by Michelangelo. "Halo" got misinterpreted for "Horns" oops!


This is the Church of San Clemente. It's a Church built in the 12th century...as they were establishing foundations, they discovered a 4th century church underneath! When they were excavating the 4th century church, they found a 2nd century bank/town hall/city etc! ROME = A CITY BUILT UPON A CITY!!



The Pantheon




Trevi Fountain


This is a boulder outside of the Trevi Fountain that the artist placed (on purpose) in front of a Barber shop (back in the 18th century) because the Barber kept complaining about the noise/dust/construction etc...He said "If you can't appreciate art in the making, I'm not going to let you appreciate the view!" funny huh?!


This is the Monument for Victor Emmanuel who unified Italy in 1870. Italians also have a "tomb of the unknown solider" housed here...interesting huh?!


Roman Forum




These steps went up the back side of Capitol Hill (I think!) They were about 10 feet in width and about 4 inches in rise...so that chariots could climb the hill!


This is me about to jump off of some really steep steps up to a museum (I am so daring!)


And the rest will have to come sometimes soon, b/c I am exhausted!!

Ambush Makeover

No, We didn't get picked, but see if you recognize anyone in the crowd...

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/33019924#33019924

I liked the second make over...but the first girl (the ones we were friends with) - I kinda thought she looked older afterwards, didn't like her hair or make up although her outfit was really cute...She really was VERY nice, and she really did know everyone by name including half the cameramen!!

I told her that I was going to need her to put her bag down, so that I could get more camera time.

She just laughed and told me I was hilarious.

I told her I wasn't kidding.

NYC

Watch for me on the Today Show on Friday Morning!! Kim, Kerri, Kady and I will be there...probably screaming like junior high girls...Just so you know its me: I'll make sure to put my GUNS UP every time the camera comes by!!

eew!

first:
Why are cockroaches so yucky?!

second:
I asked an 8 y.o. kid today: What do you see inside the cup? (answer: ice)
me: Good job, buddy. What else could go inside the cup?
him: dr. pepper, coke, beer
(my facial expression: what!?!)
him: Not that I usually drink it but, regular beer, lite beer, goat beer.
me: yeah, umm, how about milk, juice, water, lemonade, etc....

(eww...what the heck is goat beer?)

Sometimes

Sometimes, My Job is funny, like when a kid (accidentally) misarticulates "shit" for "sit"...or when I go to a conference and the speaker is from Israel and he say "fuckus" for "focus".

Sometimes, My Job is fun, like when I get to play with kids and with play-doh...or when I challenge my co-workers to "Scramble" tournament.

Sometimes, My Job is rewarding, like when the mom (and I) start crying b/c the kid can finally say the "k" sound after months of trying...or when a pragmatic kid appropriately gives me or another kid in the group a hug goodbye.

Sometimes, My Job is totally interesting, like when I get a new client with a syndrome I am not yet familiar with...or when I dissect a word and figure out what processes he used to make that attempt at a given word.

Sometimes, My Job is embarrassing, like when I stutter during an evaluation review...or when I forget to write down his homework from the previous session, and I give the same homework assignment, and his Mom calls me out on it.

Sometimes, My Job is annoying, like when a kid starts screaming and I cannot figure out why...or when the Mom calls to reschedule an appointment, and then calls back and cancels, only to reschedule it again.

Sometimes, My Job is yummy, like when its Christmas time and the kids bring us treats...or when my co-workers spontaneously have a pot-luck lunch.

Sometimes, My Job is stressful, like when I am transcribing an speech sample and its takes me HOURS to type out a 3 minute a conversation...or when my evaluation takes too long and I am late for my next client, and I am booked back-to-back for the rest of the day.

Sometimes, My Job is dangerous, like when a kid nearly drops a purple marker on my white skirt, or when a kid sucker-punches me in face for putting his toy outside of the room because he was not doing his work (that one really hurt).

But mostly, My Job is the BEST!!

Drives me crazy!

Lately, the Lord has been testing my patience...with traffic/road construction.

**Hypothetically,** If you were driving down, say, I-45 (a major highway; 3 lanes wide at this point), and traffic comes to a complete stop, say, at the top of a hill and you CLEARLY see that there is a stalled car up ahead in the middle lane, WHY?! WHY would you leave the right hand lane, to gun it up ahead 8 cars, and get back into the right hand lane?!

Are you STUPID?
Are you SELFISH?!
or Both!?

**Hypothetically,** If your town has had construction on the *same* main street for over a week, and EVERYONE else in the town recognizes that the concrete in the left-hand lane is torn-up for approximately one block in the front of the city...WHY?! WHY would you ride in the left hand lane until your bumper is touching the "merge right" sign?

Are you STUPID?
Are you just SELFISH?!
OR, are you Both?!

What makes you so special that you think you DESERVE to fly ahead of everyone else and merge at the last minute? Are you just that SELFISH?

Are you unable to read the signs that say "Construction ahead" or "Left Lane closed ahead'? Are you just that STUPID? (If so, I am concerned about your ability to maintain a driver’s license, just saying.)

The city of Houston has invested alot of money into automated signs that alert you to upcoming traffic problems...You must think those signs are for everyone else? Are you STUPID?

What make you so special that you think your plans for the evening are more important than mine, or the other 239043 people on this road? Are you just that SELFISH?!

Do you not realize how irritating it is to let a big, fat JERK into the line that you have waited over 20 minutes to get through?!
Do you not think the rest of us want to get home quickly too?
Do you not think that the rest of us are irritated too?
Do you not realize that if everyone merged at appropriate times, the traffic could move at a steady pace through the construction or accident?


Just asking...because it DRIVES me BONKERS...I mean...it REALLY DRIVES ME CRAZY when people do that.

(pun intended).

(p.s. Hi Marissa, sorry you heard me rant twice today!)

The move/My family ROCKS!

I didn't take many pictures :( unfortunately...but here is what I do have:

These were my helpers - 2 parents, 2 aunts, 1 uncle, 2 cousins and me:

...in order of cell phones...
Steve - the muscles/co-packer/co-mastermind
Mom - the one who was everywhere/the kitchen organizer/the cleaner
Dad - the muscles/co-packer/co-mastermind/man with a level and stud finder
Amy - the one who packed all the boxes and decided to move downtown
James - the tall one who could reach everything/helped everywhere
Lisa - closet/clothing/shoe/jewelry organizer
Allison - the bedroom organizer/chef
(Cell Phone not pictured: Margaret - the final opinion maker "Margaret, do I really need this shirt/bowl/curling iron/etc?"/the bathroom organizer)


This was the U-Haul...No one thought it would all fit...but it did (Thanks to the engineering minds of my Dad and Uncle Steve).

It might have been a record...we started around 7:30 and were loaded and on the highway by 9:30!! At the new apartment by 10:30, and unloaded (with an elevator) by 11:30...All the boxes were unpacked and out of my apartment by dinner! Impressed?! I am not sure my family will hire-out, but I could try to get you adopted-in! haha


Lunch time fun with my cousins Lisa and James!
This is my new roommate Julie and I. We met through the Phi Lamb Alumni Association.

Want to come visit us?!

We have a cute 2 bedroom/2 bath. We're right off of the highway. I guess I should take some pictures of the apartment, but I haven't done that yet...maybe in the next post...