what in the world...?

blimey, it's snow...

...Heavy snowfalls, and the UK are not two things I tend to say in the same sentence.

And yet, this week, here's a look at the American Midwest this island nation blanketed with the white stuff.

BBC News - with more snow predicted. ABC News. London Times.

And somehow, the weather brings not not-such-bright-behavior. A robber caught after his footprints in the snow gave him away.

the rome gallery...

...is now open :) I've uploaded 56 pictures from Rome and will add to them over time. Enjoy looking through my pictures!

topolino...!

I first read of (Professor) Topolino in the Tintin Adventure: The Calculus Affair. As I was walking down the Via Corso in Rome, I was surprised to see this poster. I didn't realize Mickey Mouse is called Topolino in Italy. That explains a bit about the character in Tintin.

serenity...

 
Taken at the St. Maria de Popolo Church in Rome.  

picturing rome, part deux...

 More pix from Rome...

  
Caravaggio's masterpiece at St. Maria de Popolo:   Conversion on the Way to Damascus. 

One of the gates into the Roman Forum. For a perspective on size, check out the people in the area.

 
Did I mention there are taggers apparently running loose in Rome? This was a relatively tame one, on the way to the Spanish Steps.  

Crepes with Betty, anyone?

 
I sure could use some, pal. It's a long walk around the city and my feet hurt...

picturing rome...

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip to Rome! Here are a few pictures...I will create my album over the next week. Will take me a while to sift through 400 pictures!

The Colosseum, at night...

 

  
Inside the Colosseum....
The stage is a reconstruction of what the sandy floor might have looked like. There are slots in the marble joists (will have a closer shot in my album) that were used to raise and lower sets and participants. The main entrance is right opposite the point where this was taken - and it's a funny thing. When you come in from that side, the impact of walking into a major arena really hits you. It's almost as if you can hear the powerful roar of a phantom crowd..

  
Inside the Vatican museums. The ceilings were absolutely stunning. We were asked not to use our camera flashes, so this was, in a sense, a shot in the dark!

 
One of the churches in Rome. Like I said - spectacular!

 The Trevi fountain is stunning. It seems to jump right out of the building behind it...

 
The colors here just caught my eye. Taken just off the Via Corso... 

 
This picture made me laugh. I mentioned taggers in Rome in my write-up. Now, it may be the photograph was intentionally taken this way....but as I walked by, it looked like one of them got this photograph of Sophia Loren. Do you see her blackened tooth?

 
Flowers, anyone? Patches of color on the streets of Rome.

three coins and a fountain...

...yes, it was always going to be a madcap idea.

You see I had a brand-new passport, with no stamps. It was a fact that did not sit well with me at all. And if I wanted a stamp, I wanted a proper one from a far-away land. The blank pages became a bit of an obsession and I thought of places I could go to.

Paris? Been there. London? Been there. Delhi? Too far away for me to do in six days. Cape Town? Ditto. Athens? A possibility. Rome? Well, why not...??

I'm not sure I can adequately explain to my fellow Americans who were born and brought up here....the sheer exhilaration of knowing I can now travel to almost any country in the world - without needing a visa. Just a valid American passport. The freedom is absolutely incredible and I felt it in spades.

And so, I found myself crammed into an economy seat for a quick trip across continents. Yes, I realize that the bit about economy class sounds wondrously snobbish, but trust me, leg room - and not having an a fellow passenger end up in your lap for most of an eight-hour journey - is a wonderful thing.

Let's pause for a little factoid, shall we? I can say 'Thank You' in French, Spanish, Italian, Hindi, Russian, German, Portuguese and Japanese.
The latter came in real handy in Rome, because there were just so many tourists from Japan. And thanking them for taking my picture was a snap. Get it? Picture. Snap.

I really enjoyed Rome.

There were parts of it that reminded me so much of New Delhi. Like Delhi, Rome is a city that is inextricably linked to over 2000 years of history. A history that is spread out over the city with monuments that are a part of daily lives. Like Delhi, Rome’s apartment buildings are packed together, especially as you come in from the airport. What I found fascinating was the graffiti liberally sprayed on the ground floor of almost every single building I saw. There’s a tagger running loose, people! Nothing seemed to be spared. Buildings, trash cans, lampposts, walls of every sort.

My hotel was right in the historical middle. I use the term hotel – loosely. It was a residenzia and the entrance is not impressive. A stout wooden door with a little brass plaque. The entrance was on the second floor and again – looked like a house. It turned out to be a small set of rooms with an enormously helpful and attentive staff. For the latter reason alone, the Caesar House Residenze Romane comes hugely recommended should you ever want to go to Rome. I know I will stay there again. The beds and great breakfasts added to the experience.

CHRR is around the corner from the Colosseum and right across from the Forum.  With the exception of two taxis and a bus ride, I walked simply everywhere.

Some of my trip highlights/memories in random order:

• Seeing the Colosseum at night. It’s lit beautifully.
• Standing inside the Colosseum the next morning and trying to comprehend the bloodshed this place has seen. 9600 animals killed during the opening celebrations. The tiny cells. The hydraulics that helped raise and lower parts of the stage for different sets.
• Getting lost on a bus route out to the Vatican and figuring that if anyone would know the way, it would be the nun sitting next to me. She did – and led me to the right bus, her habit billowing in the wind. 
• Seeing the paintings at the Vatican – ones I have only read about before. This includes the Sistine chapel. We were asked not to take pictures, but I saw many people trying. So I did – and was promptly (the only one!) pulled up for it. :-)
• Attending evening mass at St. Peter’s. I just happened to be there at the right time. Could not understand a word of the service, so followed along by rising and sitting with everyone else. I think I did okay.
• I do wonder at the size of Bernini’s altar at St. Peter's. It’s impressive, but also felt just a bit cold to me. It seems like a lot of things inside this basilica are designed to overwhelm with grandeur. Does that make me a heretic? I’ve seen smaller, much smaller, churches which seem to draw you right in with their warmth and faith.
• Getting soaked as I came out from St. Peter’s on my first day and trying to find a taxi while realizing I only speak a few words of Italian.Eating at a location that serves pizzas made in a woodturning stove. Great pizza, but the lights went out halfway through dinner. Literally.
• Realizing my hotel room overlooked a ‘Sexy Shop’ (sic).
• Inhaling a lot of second-hand smoke in Rome. It’s like…everyone smokes.
• Standing in front of the singularly most beautiful marble statue I have ever seen: Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne at the Villa Borghese. I also liked Canova’s Pauline Bonaparte reclining on a sofa and the facial expression on Bernini’s David.
• There are several, arguably more famous, paintings at the Villa Borghese including Titian’s Sacred and Profane Love. My favorite however, was one of a young woman holding a knife and looking somewhere past her shoulder with a half smile. Deadly and mysterious. Made me wonder what her story was…
• Watching a fascinating altercation between a tour bus driver and the police over a parked car that was blocking her entry onto a narrow street off the Piazza De Popolo. It pretty much drew in the neighborhood as spectators. She got her way in the end – the little car was towed. It was like watching a novella, complete with the driver stomping her foot and screaming out in frustration.
• Enjoying the views at the Spanish steps and the Trevi fountain.  The steps must look spectacular in the summer…I believe they are covered with azaleas. Trevi is breathtaking; it seems to leap right out of the building. Okay – so I did not throw money in as the traditional way of ensuring you will return, but I will return. Besides, is it two coins? Or three? If the latter, I guess inflation strikes again!
• Getting lost multiple times as I ambled through town on day 2. I must have wandered about seven miles up hill and down dale. It got fractionally better on day 3 because I knew the layout of the land by then.
• Marveling at the dome in the Pantheon. It’s perfectly spectacular and is open to the sky. My question: it’s obviously covered to keep out the weather, but what happened years ago when it rained?
• Having  Asterix and the Laurel Wreath moments each time I walked by the Forum. If you’ve read the comics, you know what I mean! I also figured out what SPQR stands for.
• Eating the best risotto of my life in a little restaurant behind my hotel. It wasn’t even on their menu; my hotel called and asked if they could make it for me. I am now a devotee.
• Grinning as I saw the urban version of gas stations here in Rome. Literally, two or three little pumps with one booth for the attendant. No large fluorescent forecourts here!
• Tiptoeing around the ancient church of St. Maria De Popolo. There are graves on the floor and, like at Westminster Abbey, I didn’t want to step on anyone! Oddly enough, some of the confessional boxes are placed on ancient graves themselves. The heads of the grave markers of those buried there are somewhat ignominiously swallowed by the boxes.  I suppose there’s a grace about hearing confessions for eternity. I just felt a bit sorry for those underfoot.
• Absorbing the beauty and art at all the churches I visited. Realizing that as in with stone carvings in Hindu temples in India, the Biblical stories richly painted on church walls serve much the same purpose. Telling stories of Faith to those who may not have had book learning. 
• Standing at the railings around the Roman Forum and thinking about life during its heyday. Wondering how Rome itself will look in about a 1000 years and what future archaeologists will make of the city.
• Visiting the broody interior of the Mamertine prison.
• Drawing historical parallels between what was happening in Rome, Mughal India, the United Kingdom and the United States. In 1513, the year after Michelangelo finished his part of the Sistine Chapel, Henry VIII fought the battle of Spurs in France, Ponce De Leon landed in Florida and Babur set the foundations for what would become the Mughal Empire in India.
• Realizing that this is a country I definitely want to come back and explore…

I took nearly 400 pictures during my trip and am uploading a selection. My Rome album will be up next week. In the meantime, I hope you like the ones that will follow this post!

get on that plane, already!

...why thank you. I just might.

I took this picture at 38000ft, on the way from London back home to the US. Somewhere over the Atlantic, the sun was just pouring in through the windows.. it's one of my favorite ones at 38K.

and another picture...

from the streets of Lisbon, Portugal.

the travel bug...

...bites again. Maybe it's because the weather is turning colder and the leaves are determinedly falling off the trees...I just want to get away somewhere warmer! Hmmmm, maybe a picture will help.

I dug this one out from my trip to Lisbon earlier in the year. It was at a team dinner at the Red Cross Palace - and the decorations were terrific.

   

On second thoughts - it just makes me want to fly. Right this instant.

sugar sands...

...seven days on a beach with sands as white as powdered sugar. Seven days on sugar sands with nary a soul in sight. What a treat...

Punctuation marks: the Gulf coast of Florida as we come in to land... 

Clear waters on Longboat Key

Room with a view: the cabana looked right out on the beach

 

Quite possibly my favorite picture of the trip. Sunset on the day Hurricane Ike brushed by Longboat Key. It's almost a painting... 

traveler, tread lightly...

...the freshness of the air belied the fact that I was standing on what was once a blood-soaked battlefield - Antietam. It was an oddly moving sensation.

I've stood at picturesque Corfe Castle, ruined in battle during the English Civil War in the 17th century. Rambling roses and brilliant sunshine warm a ruin that once saw battle.  I've stood at Srirangaptnam, where Tipu Sultan - the Tiger of Mysore, was finally defeated by the British in 1799 during the Anglo Mysore wars. It's hard to picture these places in the heat of battle...centuries of sunshine, and tourism, have gentled both.

The phrase that jumped out at me is one I first heard years ago - at Mandu...an 11thc fort in central India. Whoever held control of this strategic fort, held control  over India.  Battles were said to be so fierce that the grounds were littered with the gleaming bones of soldiers giving rise to the (loosely translated) phrase entreating every future traveler (musafir) to tread gently, for you step on my very bones...

What is it about Antietam that made me think of that poignant phrase? This Civil War battle field stretches over thousands of acres and is known for suffering the largest number of casualties in a single day: nearly 23,000 Union and Confederate soldiers killed, wounded, or missing in action. There are several farms in the area; the very first phase of the day's action took place in Miller's cornfield - where according to my audio tour, the ready-to-be harvested cornfield was soon  reduced to  just the stalks by the ferocity of the fighting. Photographers from Mathew Brady's studio captured some of the seminal images of the war, marking the beginnings of photojournalism. One image that jumped out at me is the one I've posted below...bodies lying very close to Dunker's Church. Somehow, that one image captures the horrors of that one day for me. Ironically, the Dunkers were pacifists. One officer called that sector - artillery hell.

Stark sentinels - stolid monuments and cannon dot the rolling hills of the battlefield. It's an 8-mile drive through the area, with an odd juxtaposition of rocky fields and crops growing in many areas where men once fell. There's a freshness to the air that I've mentioned before...perhaps its helped still the souls of those who died here - no matter which side they were on. I'm intrigued by what influenced these men to stand up and fight..I'll freely admit I need to read more here; it just seems to me that nationhood, even in the middle of the 19th century was still a bit of a tenuous concept.

I'm starting my quest for greater knowledge in the 18th century. :-) I found a 2 CD set oddly enough, at a rest stop in Ohio...George C. Scott narrating the American Revolution. Listened to it all the way home. Now I need to find my copy of 1776.

I did take pictures on the battlefield - and barring a few - deleted ones I took at the National Cemetery. I guess it's my digital version of treading lightly on bones...!

Update: Do check out my album from Washington and Antietam. 

blood ties...

...in a manner of speaking. Stopped by Antietam this afternoon and am still mentally processing a lot of what I saw, including reflections on the 23,000 who were wounded, missing, or lost their lives on that one day. For now...here's a picture that struck me. Dunker's Church...site of the first battle that day. I took the picture standing in front of a plaque that shows the exact, blood-soaked, spot on Sept. 17th, 1862.

My second picture shows a Park Service guide explaining the afternoon and evening phases of the battle. In the distance, beyond the barn, is the Antietam National Cemetery.

drive by photography...

...I inched along with Washington traffic this morning...crawling through Constitution Ave and 15th street - all in an attempt to catch the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Finally gave up efforts to try find a space to park and headed to lunch...but not before I saw swathes of creamy pink trees by the river and caught this image through my car window. Which tells me that despite over a 1000 trip miles and my best efforts, my car is still pretty clean.

I have no idea who the passer-by is :-) She wandered into my frame and I thought it might make a nice color contrast. Click on the image for a larger view.

completely irrelevant factoid...

In the last 48 hours I have had 7 cups of coffee....

cherry blossoms in bloom...

...and in Washington DC! :-)  It was raining when I got here yesterday and chilly this morning, plus I got completely lost yesterday...and I DO mean seriously lost...but that's par for the course on any of my road trips, actually! Perhaps I really should consider getting that GPS.

Had a delightful visit to Mt. Vernon today with my friend Scuba. Home to our first President, the estate sprawls over 8000 acres with a view. It was a chilly day and in my first picture, please note that I am optimistically wearing a dress. Predictably, I froze...had three cups of coffee over lunch and now cannot sleep! Here goes...a few snapshots from today...

George Washington receives news that he has been named the first President of the United States...

Cloudy day, but I still like this view of Mt. Vernon. The windows on the first floor, and on the side, are those of the master suite. Washington breathed his last in this room; I found the simplicity of the furnishings in this room all the more moving because of that. The other bedrooms, by contrast, have more flowery/decorative four posters.

 

I'd probably wipe the seat before sitting down on this wet chair! Imagine if you could, however....what a view!

Almost a still life, isn't it? This table is on the way in to the main house.

 

There's a 3-D frieze of George Washington on the wall at the visitor's center. The eyes make it really interesting, don't they?

I hope I can catch a few cherry blossoms tomorrow! A complete album and a write up, will - of course - be up after my return to home base...

scene along the way...

...I did wonder whether the Juniata River was actually intended to be the Juanita...named after a girlfriend/wife....that sort of thing. Could you picture the conversation when she found out her name had been misspelled? :-)

It's apparently a variant on the word Onayuatta, or Standing Stone - associated with the history of the local Oneida tribe. Looks like the tribe took the stone with them when they left the area - the name, however, remains.

Three murals for you. The first is from the Pennsylvania Turnpike - a mural on the side of the oldest(?) rest stop along this road.

The second and third are from dinner last night. Cool murals - with great colors.

Okay...and one wooden face...

weaving through the countryside...

...somewhere out there...a goose is missing a couple of feathers. Wait a second...I know where they are - they just fell out of the pillow in my hotel room.

The last few days have been a hectic mix of deciding to do a cross-country trip on the spur of the moment, and well...just doing it. Where am I? Well, you may guess on reading this - and then look for some pictures and a write-up over the next few days.

It's interesting - I drove over five hours today without once listening to the radio or a CD. I was simply absorbing the sights and sounds of various states along the way and adding them to my mental scrapbook. I've seen picturesque farms and red barns, bounced over sections of potholed highways and shelled out more at tolls than I ever dreamed I would.  I've wondered at a billboard sign for a homebuilder unfortunately placed right next to a ramshackle barn. Chuckled at a truck rolling by with a sign that proudly advertised Fiber by-products.

Well, hmm......isn't a by-product of the fiber we ingest each day........well, you know???? :-)  That has to be a tough load to schlep across the country.

Vignettes picked up on the way included some wonderful farms that Clark Kent might have lived in; a sweet lady named Iola who made me a special omelet for breakfast this morning; a sign for a place named Eighty Four...

I also spent a fair bit of time mulling over the mountain range I was driving through/past. The area contains Civil War battlefields that I will visit on my trip. What fascinates me not just about the Civil War but also about the Revolutionary War is that soldiers fought in some very rugged country with far-flung homes....for the idea of a single nation. I'll expand on that idea later- but it did keep me reflecting for many, many miles. And made me appreciate the concept of Freedom a lot more.

One more vignette as I neared my destination: a man in a red truck, wearing a dark suit, light blue shirt, red tie, and suspenders. His jacket was draped over the passenger seat, and in his left hand - he held a lit cigar. He obviously had had a good day!

I am about to head out for a great evening sans suspenders. It's my brother's birthday!

can i offer you a room...?

...the glossy handlebar moustache quivered slightly, punctuating the apologetic expression and widespread hands .

I am sorry senorita, we have not your reservation...

You mean - you lost my reservation?

Yes, Yes, what can I say - we are fully booked now, eh? So, so sorry...

Hmmm, now what?

I was back in Barcelona, Spain, on one of my budget overseas trips. The boarding house was sufficiently close to the Ritz - a wistful glance away. And here I was...late one evening, freshly landed in the city and just a little jet lagged - dealing with Mr. Handlebar. They'd lost my booking - never mind the confirmation I held in my hand.

Great. All alone. Overseas. With no-one to call, a limited budget, and no more Spanish than the ability to order a Tortilla de Patatas.  Mercifully Mr. Handlebar spoke a bit of English; surely we'd find a happy resolution. Somehow? That day?

I give you my son's room for tonight, eh? Tomorrow we make plans to fix problem.

My round eyes mirrored my alarmed thoughts. What....with your son IN it?

Come, come, I show you He is not here tonight. Mr. H'bar came around the front desk and with an expansive, paternalistic, gesture swept me around the corner into a room. His son's room. His adult son's room - tastefully decorated with most of the contents of his wardrobe and a wide assortment of posters. I sighed and gingerly perched on one corner of the bed. Mr. H. had gone back to his desk, pleased at having provided an option. I looked around with more than a little apprehension; what if the son found his way home in the early hours and found me there? Should I sleep sitting up in a chair? Wait a second...there was no lock on the door...

That did it.

I walked outside and stood in front of The Moustache again, politely explaining that while I welcomed his kindness, I would feel much better about sitting out all night in a lit, open, lobby. He heard me out - and just then, on cue, the phone rang.

A cancellation! Sweet! A party of six had canceled and I could have their family-sized room - if I wanted. A room. With a lockable door. And an en suite bathroom...all at the same price of my original booking? Of course, Mr. H'bar! Lead the way!

For the rest of my stay I had the cavernous room all to myself. Six beds - one for each day of my stay - and a bathroom with walls that did not reach all the way to the ceiling. Must have been a trend at the time among hostelries - remember the one in Germany? Each shower turned the entire room into a sauna. 

Thankfully, I never met Mr. Handlebar's mysterious son. That would have been an awkward conversation....thank you for letting me (almost) use your room. I promise I didn't rearrange the posters. Except perhaps the one...

remembered with a giggle...

...sometimes, getting together with friends can trigger the oddest memories. Today's was about travel - and when I was a young executive traveling overseas from India with a (very) limited expense account.

Did I mention I had a limited expense account? Why yes, I did - in the previous sentence. Mentioning it twice seems to underscore the fact that I had....a (very) limited expense account. Which meant that on a number of occasions, I had to stay in youth hostels with...shared loos.

As was the case when I joined a few other managers in Berlin, Germany, for a trade show. Funnily enough, a couple of them were at the same pension with me -they'd left it too late to get a room at any hotel in the city.

I picked up my room key and meandered through several corridors looking for my room.

Ah...there it was...

The door would open only partially - the bed and a divan located at odd angles made made it impossible to fully open. I sucked in my stomach and assorted body parts and squeezed in sideways with my bags before letting out my breath with a whoosh. A careful inventory of the tiny room revealed a bed, the aforementioned divan, a radiator below a window (which overlooked a regulation featureless brick wall),  a miniature sink, and a shower stall.  It took a moment to figure out that the back wall of the shower did not actually meet the ceiling. Shaking my head and grinning, I went looking for the loo - just to orient myself. Having found all the various components of my hotel stay, I went over to the room of one of my managers, Mr. Holiday, to pick him up for dinner. He had a bigger room with (lucky guy!) an en suite.

I had just finished animatedly describing my room when he said...

...you want to see something funny? My bathroom is in a cupboard.

Seeing my mystified look, he stepped over to one of the wardrobes lining the wall and swung open the door. There it was - a complete bathroom in a cupboard. You even had to step over the plinth to get in. The first (literal) water closet I had ever seen.

Mr. Holiday couldn't have topped my alarm clock the next morning, however.

Do you remember my mentioning the wall in the shower stall didn't quite meet the ceiling of my room?

I woke up to the sound of running water, steam, and the lusty voice of the man next door...warbling away in the shower at 0530.

I wonder if he came with a 'snooze' button?