Monster Mash!!

When I was little my parents had some fun records (such as actual vinyl records). Kelly and I would listen to The Four Seasons, the Pinocchio soundtrack, etc. One of my absolute favorite records was a compilation record that had Monster Mash (the good, old version). If I had the ability to, I would add that song to this post!

Monsters... well first Lindsey and I were eating lunch in my apartment with the windows open. One thing I don't quite understand about Italy is that they always have their windows open, but no screens on their windows. So you always have bugs in your apartment/house. Case in point, during lunch a wasp (well.. we think it was a wasp, you can see it here.) with an enormous stinger flew in. We may have freaked out a little bit, but we pulled ourselves together.

After assessing the situation we decided we needed to try to get the wasp (who had flown up to a sky light) out of my apartment. We tried throwing paper balls at him to see if we could get him to fly down, but that wasn't too successful. Finally, after a couple of minutes Lindsey picked up my table cloth and used it to "encourage" the wasp to fly out the window. This picture is right as Lindsey was shutting the window after he flew out.

After lunch we met the rest of our class and professors at Bar Leonardi to head to Bomarzo, also known as "The Park of Monsters." This park was created by Pirro Ligorio (the architect that took over the building of St. Peter's Basilica when Michelangelo died). The actual idea and planning was done by Pier Francesco Orsini, he created it after the death of his wife as a tribute of sorts.

It is a mannerist sculpture park. Mannerism basically caught the coat tails of the renaissance and aimed to depart from the renaissance forms. (as you will now see)

I am not going to go into details about the sculptures or anything, if you want to find out anything else you can go ahead and google Bomarzo. :-)

Above is a turtle sculpture, to the left is the whale sculpture.

Below is a close-up of the whale sculpture.

A crooked house. We went in the second story, and the floor is also tilted and it is FREAKY!

This is me getting eaten by a monster.

See the large legs, the vase on the head?? Mannerism.

At one point we decided to do "Harasyn Poses" with some of the sculptures. Harasyn is an amazingly fun girl in the program who happens to have won beauty pageants.

I have to confess to something... I bought a pair of crocs! I know, I can hear your gasps halfway around the world. Let me tell you though, normal shoes do not cut it here, my shoes are failing. For instance, after two weeks I have a pair of very nice sandals that I bought right before I came here that already need new heels. Crocs are a necessary item! (and I think these ones are pretty cute)

The only downside about these crocs is that sometimes when your feet get hot your foot will slide in them, thereby making walking an even bigger hazard for me. :-)

Lindsey, myself, and Harasyn and I doing a tribute to Home Alone.

Lindsey and I needed a rest.

Ok... so... I didn't look around the building before I did my little pose, but I sorta feel bad now because it is a mausoleum. It houses the remains of the owners that bought it in 1954 in order to fix it up for the public to come and see it. I apologize if I offended the dead. 

If only I had looked at the skull and crossbones first! :-)

No photoshop, this is just how the shot turned out. I get increasingly annoyed with how I cannot capture the actual beauty I am seeing, but this comes pretty close!

That's all for now!

Ciao Ciao!