Florence (and Rome) Part Two

Where were we in the story of our Italian adventure?

Ahh yes, St. Peter's Basilica.

Or is it St. Peter's? Look closely at the first two pictures. One is the real thing, and one is a miniaturized fake at a place called Minimundus--a theme park from Charlie's mission that we visited last summer.

Have you figured it out yet?

Well, after our tour through the Vatican City, we went to Central Rome to do some more sightseeing.

Here we are at the Colosseum.

There were a lot of men dressed up in Gladiator costumes around the Colosseum. They were so cool that we had to get a picture of them.

And they were oh-so-obliging. I asked ahead of time if a picture would cost us anything, and a gladiator with a funny smile said, "A million dollars." We laughed.

You don't just take a picture with a gladiator, though. We learned that you have to do this whole routine of dressing up yourself...

And voila! Here's our final picture. Afterwards, the gladiator did charge us FIVE euros for the photo. You can be the judge of whether those were five euros well spent.

Later, we walked by the ruins near the old Forum, too.

When the weekend was over, Oliver and I travelled back to Florence. It felt small, accessible, and friendly after the larger-than-life grandeur of Rome . We appreciated that the gelaterias in Florence were never snippy about samples.

See the Duomo? It's the large red dome to the center left.

On one of our first nights back, we walked to a JHU reception held at the top of the Piazzale Michelangelo--a huge hill overlooking Florence. Oliver and I took the long way up, which was actually quite beautiful, but we arrived sweltering and starving. And what was there to eat? Sparkling water and hors d'oeuvres. I think Oliver and I together polished off all the mini pizzas. Here I am, a little sweaty from the climb, a little greasy from the pizzas, reading an essay of mine in front of the group. My essay didn't focus on death, war, or exotic dancers from Tuscon (although that would have been interesting), so it helped to lighten the somber mood of the night!

And here are all of us Hopkins people together--fiction, nonfiction, and poetry writers. Mostly females, too! The people in the front row are the real ringers, though--all big-time writers or editors.

Here's a view from the top of the Piazzale Michelangelo. Hope you're not tired of the Ponte Vecchio.

And here's the view from the window of Oliver's and my hotel--right in the middle of the Piazza della Republica. The tour guides call this place tacky, but we loved it! The piazza was always very lively, with artists, performers, and crowd-gazers. The hotel was inexpensive, too.

Well, the workshop ended after ten days, and we hurried back to our boys in Arizona. It felt so wonderful to be back together as a family. The transition back to normal family life went very smoothly, maybe because we talked on Skype so much with the kids. Oma and Opa did an incredible job making the boys feel comfortable.

In our next post, we will cover Cabey and Chase's parentless adventures. Since Alyson and Bill took those pictures, not us, the photography should be much better than usual. Stay tuned!