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.

St. Paul's Cathedral

I remember seeing a picture of St. Paul's in elementary school and thinking, "Hey, they copied our state capitol building!" (meaning the one in Washington DC). Good thing no one burst my bubble that St. Paul's is actually the original. To me the dome stills seems a little odd that it's on a church, since it's so similar to many state capitol building in the US. It's a pretty amazing church though. 

Can't beat the view from the top. 528 steps. 

The masterpiece of Sir Christopher Wren. It's been an anchor to the London skyline since 1700. I love visiting buildings like this because they truly are monumental in modern times, but then to remember that the are hundreds of years old. Some of the great stories we heard of the history when we visited included the fact that during air raids of World War II a bomb actually broke through the ceiling and landed on the cathedral floor, but they were able to deactivate it before detonation. The blast would have destroyed the entire building. This church has meant a lot to a lot of people over the years. 

Modern architecture in an old city

This was a really cool area of London. An old power plant has been converted into the Tate Modern art gallery. It's a pretty amazing repurposing of a building. Nearby are the Borough Market and Globe Theater. All this is connected back to the main part of London by the Millennium Bridge. The bridge was completed to usher in the new millennium back in 2000, but had to be closed 2 days later for an additional 2 years because it moved back and forth too much with foot traffic.

Couldn't resist a video from Harry Potter.

Pretty amazing stuff with free admission

The central court of the British Museum. 

There definitely are some advantages to ruling most of the world for a long time in the semi recent past.                You get to collect from every civilization and culture of the world. Some highlights: the original statues and relief sculptures from the Parthenon in Greece, entire roman Temples reconstructed, amazing carvings and statues from Assyria, gigantic busts of egyptian Pharaohs, and the Rosetta Stone. 

Another great museum was the National Gallery of Art. I learned gained some art appreciation during an art history class in college, and it was actually pretty cool to see some of the pieces we studied. 

Besides enjoying the lions of Trafalgar Square in front, these were some of our favorites inside: 

The Virgin of the Rocks by da Vinci

Coastal Scene by van Rysselberghe

Bathers as Asnieres by Seurat

The Arnolfini Portrait by van Eyck

The Fighting Temeraire by Turner

The Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio

Picnic in the Park

It's been fun watching the Olympics and reliving some of the places we enjoyed in London. Hyde Park is truly one of the best metropolitan area parks that we've ever been to. After attending church at the Hyde Park Chapel, we spent the afternoon eating, riding bikes, napping, people watching, and enjoying the scenery of the park. On a Sunday afternoon there are literally thousands people there. 

Margo's smile

Margo always has a smile. And not just in London, but pretty much everywhere.