100

This brings our blog up to a grand total of 100 posts.  It's been fun to share snippets of our life and we love having the catalog of these memories.
 
Today I am raising a mouse, a key board, and probably some hot chocolate to the next 100!  And I'll leave you with a quick look back on our posts (cue nostalgic music)...

 

Amore

I fell in love.  

It was the cliffs, the sea

the little cities, moving at a slower pace                                                                    

the most wonderful people- the friendly, hardworking type

It was just being, just me and him.   Living in each moment.

All of this combined in one of the most beautiful spots on earth, the Amalfi Coast.  

When you follow your heart on a grand adventure you run the risk of leaving little bits of it in the most incredible places, but all the memories make you doubt that is really a risk!  I may have left a bit of my heart there, but know I brought back more love with me.

 Oh my, looking at these pictures makes me want to do something drastic.... like booking tickets to take us back there right now.  Please excuse me, I need to go look at prices... if they don't shock me back to reality maybe I'll see you in Italy. 

amore!

Pieces of Pompeii

I was struck with a sense of wonder looking at the details of Pompeii.

 

Doesn't it make you wonder who stood among those columns and carved every curvature in the stone?  Who painted that fresco and laid those bricks? What could each of these objects tell us if they could talk?

Stepping back and looking at everything as a whole is also quite thought provoking. You can almost imagine a city bustling around you with shop keepers, politicians, and poets all moving about their business.

 It probably has something to do with the years I spent in speech, debate, and drama, but the forum/ public square and theater were two of my favorite spots to consider what life would have been like in this ancient city.

And then there were the spots that put the two views together...

Rows and rows of jugs, pots, and other artifacts are a stark contrast to the casts of individuals whose bodies left impressions in the ash.  You realize there were this was a large society and yet, as with most major events, the impact of the eruption truly highly individual.

Ashes, Ashes: The Silent Streets of Pompeii

See this title ^ 
This would likely be the title of my National Geographic article, which would eventually become a National Geographic movie. Except I'm not gunning to write for NG and they already made movie on Pompeii... which brings me back to my childhood.

Grandma Dorthy always got a new NG movie (VHS of course) for us to watch on Christmas Eve.  One of those was a film on Pompeii.  This film became and remained the basis of my desire to visit Pompeii (and where most of my now hazy knowledge of the city's history came from).  And this childhood desire kicked in when I realized how close we would be to this ancient city.  We couldn't pass up the opportunity so we hopped a train to the ruins.

The silhouette of Mount Vesuvius in the background is a constant reminder of nature's ability to conquer man's creations.

You could spend days seeing everything in Pompeii and years learning its history.  For now I am glad we had an afternoon exploring the silent streets of Pompeii.

Pizza Pizza

With only a few hours in Naples, there wasn't much time to find the best pizza in the world, especially when dragging along our luggage. We did find this place and it was pretty incredible. Naturally, Margo was best friends with the owner in less than thirty seconds.