Wicked Awesome!

My arrival back in the United States was very eventful. The main thing centered around my parents surprising me by having my sister in town. The funny thing is that we like to surprise each other by showing up in different places (I have shown up at a show she was playing in Las Vegas and made her cry, she showed up at a restaurant in Tampa and made me cry, you know things like that), so they tried to do that this time..tried being the keyword.

I got off of the plane in Tampa, got on the tram and headed to the main terminal. At the Tampa Airport, when you get off the tram you walk directly through the families that are waiting and my family was not there (Which is not uncommon, we typically do not do the meet in the airport meeting area, we meet at baggage.). So I headed down to baggage just a little sleep deprived and hungry. As I was walking to the belt to get my luggage I saw this cute dog and thought, weird, that looks like my sister's dog Quito... then I followed the leash and thought, weird, that looks like my sister. Then I panicked and thought I got on the wrong plane and was in LA (yes I was that tired, 20 hours traveling can do that do a person), finally I realized it was my sister in Tampa.

In the end I surprised her! They didn't know that my plane had arrived and my mom and dad must have just missed me and were waiting upstairs and then my sister was going to surprise me at the belt. :-) So in the end I got to surprise them all.

The next two weeks were a blur hanging out with my family, seeing my friends, and getting my final papers done to turn in.

After all of that I headed back to the airport to head to Bahston to meet with Lindsey, Michael (her boyfriend) and Michel (her roommate) and to head to some of the amazing cultural spots... like the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (which happens to be the scene of the most notorious art crime in history).

I REALLY enjoyed the Boston accent. One day I will get to pahk my cah in hahvid yahd. :-)

This is the Boston MFA.

We spent a good amount of time at the MFA. They are remodeling so things were a bit jumbled which made it a bit more difficult to stay focused, but I think we hit the high points.

Michael really loved this lady.

This is the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum. This museum is wonderful for many reasons. Reason number one it is the site of the largest art theft in history (arguably the largest theft in history). (maybe I shouldn't say that is why it is wonderful... maybe that's why it is so interesting?) Find out more here Isabella Theft.

Another reason I like this museum is that is was the complete work of one woman. Nowhere else is there a museum that was designed, created, curated and named after the same woman. I am confident that if she was still alive I would want to hang out with her, since she seems to have had the perfect balance of culture and crazy fun. Her museum is wonderful because everything in the museum was placed by her and is not allowed to be changed. If you don't like white walled gallery space museums you will LOVE this museum.

I may also be a bit biased towards the museum because one of our professors from this summer is the head of security and pretty entertaining, so we get a pretty cool tour.

You aren't allowed to take pictures inside of the museum, so to see images go here.

After the museum we all went to dinner at this fantastic Italian Restaurant and got dessert at Mike's Pastry. Yummmy cannoli.

We didn't enjoy amazing weather while in Boston, but had a lot of fun. Here are some random night shots of the city.

Oh the Boston accent, it even makes it on their signs. The boys trying to point out the spelling take one.

A slightly goofy take two.

The haaabah.

Lindsey had to use the restroom and they have these really cool freestanding restrooms that you can use for a quarter... but she wasn't exactly sold on the idea. Here she is reluctantly waving goodbye.

After you use the restroom the entire thing gets sprayed down. We were listening to make sure that really happened.

The Aquarium!!

We made friends with the penguins. They were adorable.

Here are some jellyfish. They tend to creep me out, but I acknowledge that they are pretty cool.

A different kind of jellyfish.

Close up... creeeeeepy!

A seahorse. I think seahorses are awesome! Two fun facts: seahorses typically mate for life AND the males carry the eggs until birth. Niiiice!

A sea turtle.

In the middle of the aquarium they have this huge cylinder aquarium that goes from the ceiling to the first floor. There is a spiral ramp that goes around the entire thing with lots of observation windows. Each time we would move windows in one area this little fish would find us.

Outside of the aquarium. Another beautiful day. :-)

I really enjoyed that the buildings disappeared in the clouds. That is too cool. I want to be on the top floor of one of those buildings.

Oh... and you have to love the rainbow duck tour vehicle. :-)

So that was Boston. I didn't get to take as many pictures as I wanted to because of the rain (I didn't want to ruin my camera).

There it is, the first non-Amelia blog. I promise to keep trying to do cool things so I have something to write about. :-) I have some interesting things planned in the months ahead, so we should be good!

Ciao ciao!

Ciao Amelia!

Here are the last groups of pictures from my wonderful summer in Amelia. I have to admit that it was very hard to leave Amelia, and while I know that the following will sound very cliche, it is also very true. The friends that I made in Amelia will be friends the rest of my life. Amelia is my second home and one day I will return on a more permanent basis. Here are the last pictures of Amelia... for now.

One of Lindsey's last nights in Amelia we decided to walk to some of the other doors that we had not gone to yet. There are four doors in and out of the walled city of Amelia. (You already saw the Porta Romana.)

Here are Robin and Lindsey on our way to the prostitute door (lovingly called the whore door).

Just a pretty picture.

I love the doors here. They are all unique and old. It is fascinating to imagine the generations that have passed through that door.

At the "whore door."

The view. Apparently the prostitutes were not granted easy access to the city, but the view is gorgeous.

This is the backside of Amelia (compared to most of the picture that I have posted).

I love this clock. It has two bells to announce the time, one really loud and strong one, and one cute and tiny one.

On day while we were enjoying our afternoon bottle of Prosecco (it became an afternoon tradition) when we started to get pestered by bees. :-) I figured the best way to handle them would be to catch one, and proceeded to catch one in my prosecco glass.

See him? I released him later, but then he came back. Then I tried to catch him again and I accidentally broke my glass at the stem. Oops. :-)

I have NEVER seen a sky like this anywhere else in my life.

At the end of the program we had a going away dinner at this house. The lovely ladies that live here made us a wonderful dinner.

Olive trees.

That's Tiger on the steps. He and I became great friends.

An alternate view of the house from the pool.

I miss a lot about my life in Amelia, including all of the fruit trees.

We had quite a problem with bugs, so no one was really excited about getting in the pool.

Alan... being Alan and serving up the wine while the ladies attempted to protect their legs from the bugs by submerging them in water.

Here are some pictures of our unofficial going away party. Everybody left Italy at different times, which actually made saying goodbye a bit easier since everyone did not leave at once.

Isabel and I decided to spend one of our last free days exploring Florence. Here is our first view of the city after getting off of the train. Oh the trains... apparently I get VERY motion sick now. Not a good thing when you rely on public transportation... how pathetic?!?!?

A view of the dome.

This is one of the markets of leather goods. They have lots of purses, jackets and scarves.

The Uffizi Gallery. One of the most spectacular collections of art in the world that was compiled by the Medici family.

I found this sign to be particularly entertaining. They must have had quite a problem with gum on floors and feet on walls to make a sign about it. Two odd problems to put on one sign.

Isabel's portrait blending in with the busts.

The river Arno...yes, it was that green in person.

A view of the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge). Interesting fact, this is the only bridge in Florence that was not destroyed by retreating Nazi troops. It is assumed that Hitler ordered it to stay intact. However, access to the bridge was blocked by destroyed buildings on both sides of the river.

That has got to be one of the most interesting uses of a bridge.

A view of Brunelleschi's dome and the Campanile (tower) of the Duomo.

This is me on the Ponte Vecchio.

Piazza della Repubblica. I really envy their ability to pull off a carousel and that architecture without something looking out of place. I guess I am just used to mini-carousels outside of stores or real carousels at theme parks. :-)

Neat fact (amongst the MANY to do with Art and WWII in Florence). In order to protect the blue medallions with the white figures in them, boxes were built around them to shield them from bombs and attacks. In order to protect David they built a brick enclosure around him. We did get to see Michelangelo's David, but you aren't supposed to take pictures and I follow the rules. ;-)

The Duomo. I will continually be amazed by the vastness and uniqueness of each Duomo in Italy.

The Campanile. Appreciate these pictures, I looked very odd sitting on the ground in order to get the whole building to fit in the picture.

The Baptistry.

The facade of the Duomo.

How gorgeous?? Those lucky Italians, they get to see things like this EVERY day.

The Gates of Paradise by Ghiberti. It took Ghiberti 21 years to complete these doors.

Florence, like every other trip I went on, was amazing.

At last, it was time to say goodbye to Amelia. The lovely family that owns Punto Divino (and our first guides to Amelia) had a get together for the group of us that were still around. This was the night before I left, and below is the last picture I took in Amelia.

Things I miss... the hat shop lady that would get so excited to help throw the cardboard boxes into the recycling truck. The way that the city and people welcomed us with open arms and smiles on their faces. Some of the nicest people in the world live in Amelia. The walk from my apartment, past Bar Leonardi, through the Porta Romana, up the street, past the church, past the museum and into the library for class. The ricotta and mozzarella from the cheese shop (not to mention the cheese shop owner and his wife). Crazy Johnny's and their caprese pizza. GELATO at Tropicana and the wonderful staff there!!! Valda at Porcelli's. Fizzy wine at Porcelli's...everything at Porcelli's. Wine on the terrace. The people, the sounds, the smells. Italian classes with cappuccinos. A Sunday breakfast of fruity cornettos (croissants filled with fruit puree). The chalet. The fat sweet babies getting pushed around town by their grandmothers. The views... everything.

Ciao ciao!