rife38

Well, I write you from home, I have landed safely and this will conclude my blogs till my next journey. I was fortunate enough to get a my flight changed from Paris to Amsterdam and a month early than I expected. Not everything in life goes as we plan but I can say I am more than thrilled to be home after such a long time away. I am counting down the days till I get to see my daughter - she is still in Florida with the grandparents till her flight leaves on the 18th of July. Ciao ... read more

Ciao, Today I visited Villa Borghese, everything in it is in the same condition that the fouding family left it in.  So you get to see all kind of statues and paintings were originally grouped together.  It was very intresting to look at Bernini's sulpture, as compared to the ones at St Peters.  I most enjoyed the ones that looked as if he caught a moment, as the same way we do in photographs.  The hair that is flying in the wind, the tears that actually look as if they are falling down her face and the contrast between how skin and clothing is chisseled away.  They look as if they could breath themselves.  It is facinating to me to see something that looks so real and know that it is only done in stone.  http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/edefault.htm ... read more

Ciao, Today would have been the first day of freedom.  So I decided to relax, the protesters were not so bad.  And the police sierns did not last all day.  More police were out than usual so hopefull this means they do not hate Bush as much as we thought, yea right.  They are probally being really good so they can be really bad on Fri.  Who knows. Well I finished the one book I picked up 'The Dante Club', excellent book.  For those of you who liked Davinci Code, this is along the same lines but by another author.  He uses poets that really lived, you will recongnize their names and thew in some fiction.  It is good. I am on to the other book 'MIchealangelo & the Pope's Ceiling'  more historiacal than fictional.  But ... read more

Ciao, So this blog ends the last of my school entries!!!! I am excited to get away from the whole school thing and the aquentinces that come with it. We had our last dinner tonight, listening to the students who are graduating trying to justify why they have gotten smashed pratically every night over the whole months we have been traveling together gets a little old. The whole we are graduating and do not have a care in the world ... this could not be a better time in life than right now. I wonder how they would know that, they could not manage to stay sober during field trips to places they had never been and might not be back to. But here nor there we all took our experiences away for the trip. I ... read more

Ciao, Today I attempted to go to the Vatican Museum, unfortunately when they say the last Sunday of the month is free, and every guide book prints this you better be up a lot earlier than I was.  I hit the snooze and this was a mistake.  Snooze kept on being pressed until 8:00 and I got up got ready and got out about 8:30ish.  I will just say the line was down by St Peters arms, which the entrance is around several blocks, about a fifteenish minute walk from the closest point on the arms.  But only a five minute walk from where I have been staying.  So with my patience (lol) I decide that waiting in a several hour line was not the best option for me.  I decided instead to go into St ... read more

Ciao,   Well studio has kicked into full gear. Needless to say I have not been able to post much and I am going to let you know how it turned out.    As mom and dad, especially Jasmyn is aware.  When studio is in session there is not much else that happens.  Especially in this case.   My two partners are on opposite schedules as I am.  I work best early in the morning and get things done in a timely fashion.  They like to work late at night and at studio.  It is more of a social event for them than a working session.  One of them smoke like a chimney, which could explain the cough I have developed since moving into the apartment.  My two partners are also roommates next door. But the situation ... read more

http://www.wearethefuture.com/events_concert.html Ciao Buongiorno, This was the concert and it started on local italian time, whenever they wanted to start it. So it began around seven not 6:00. But it is funny how the culture differs. If you would have said the same concert in America, people would have been camping out over night to make sure they had good seats. Not the case here. I wondered down about 5:00 and the very front of the stage was not even close to full. So I made myself at home in the incredible standing room I had. Which got smaller and smaller as the night went on. I last till 9:45 and wondered my way home. It was interesting. It was not as well organzied as the Primo Maggio concert, but they have been doing that one for ... read more

Ciao Today we day tripped to Tivoli, yes it is a tourist trap. The Villa we went to go see was litterlay at the end of a dead end street that pooled the people into a space so they could go not where else except into the Villa or buy from the vendors. Then it was off to Villa Farnese which was close ot Tivoli. But we were excorted through the villa by the gaurd. Seems they excort everyone to make sure you do not take any pics. Also to make sure you are out in a certain amont of time. The frescos were incredible. The most intresting room was the room at the end. They had done maps on the wall of what they felt the world was like. They used maps from the explores, ... read more