Family Get-Together

On July 13th, I will pass from under the dark cloud of teenagerdom and enter my twentieth year. (I'm being a little melodramatic with the ''dark cloud'' stuff, but I always like a little literary flair). Anyway, in honor of this occassion and the fact that I will have survived Europe (6 days to go, so lets hope I'm not speaking to soon :)), we we're going to have a little get-together at the Scheidler household on Sunday, July 13. I'll cook some of the delicious Italian dishes I've learned to make, and we can regale you all with tales of our journey and you can gush over how dull your lives have been in our absence.

And of course, this is not limited to family, anybody who loves me can come!

For now we'll say the par-tay starts at 4:00.

See you in two weeks then!

UPDATE! Senza foto, mi dispiace!

So, I'm on a public computer, and that means no pictures! But I will try to upload some soon!

So far we've sojourned from Paris to Milan to Venice to Florence to Pisa and then back to Florence and tomorrow we're going back to Siena (my Italian hometown!).

Some interesting things we've seen:
A woman peeing near a bus stop. Seth and Camille saw this one.
Our lives flash before our eyes in an Italian taxi.
A minor riot in Paris (something at the Summer Solstice party went awry around 2 AM our first night and from our balcony we had a front row seat).

Oh, and we can'g forget that we've seen:
The Mona Lisa
Venus De Milo
Various other art pieces by Leonardo da Vinci
Notre Dame Cathedral
Sacre Coeur
The Duomo of Milano
The Duomo of Florence
The Leaning Tower of Pisa
The ''streets'' of Venice from a water-bus
Paintings by such masters as Botticelli, Giotto, and Michelangelo
and a Great Market in Florence
and Many subways and train stations!

We have Pictures!

Courtesy of Grandma Patsy's photography we have documentation of our journey to the Louvre. We were particularly fascinated by the Egyptian section (of course the Italian art was astounding! We saw the Mona Lisa, although here they call it La Jaconde, and a million other AMAZING, it doesn't seem there's a word in the English (or French or Italian, for that matter) vocabulary to explain how awesome, magnifique, or meraviglioso the museum was). So, here's what we have:
Note: Seth didn't really want to go to the Museum (we say one day he'll regret it) and Camille was sleeping off a headache

Paris? Oui, Oui!

Okay, I am coping with the bitter remorse of leaving Italy. Just as I was starting to really feel comfortable at the Palazzo Pubblico and think of Siena as my town the time came to leave. However, the sorrow of leaving my "casa lontana da casa" was eased by encountering my family in Paris.

They had quite the adventure using the public transit system to get from the airport to out hotel. However, for being a group of nine Americans with two-weeks worth of luggage, who knew little more than "oui, oui" and "parlez-vouz fracais," they did pretty good. I'll let them retell their nightmare that has already become a funny story...to some of them

Paris is beautiful it is such a vibrant city. I must say the French men seem for more openly flirtatious than those Italian boys. So far, I must say Italian boys are the most attractive, though. My personal preference.

So far we've seen the Sacre-coeur (our hotel is a block away), THE EIFFEL TOWER, and the LOUVRE. Wowza.

Paris is definitely worth the trip, but I can't WAIT to get back to Italy! At least I know a bit of the language.

OHHH, and since these folks have cameras, I'll try to post pictures soon!

Ah, The Germans

Yesterday at the Palazzo del Pubblico, I had to convince two German tourists that they were in fact viewing the fresco above that was shown in their guide book. It's actually pretty famous and was painted by this Ambroglio Lorenzetti guy, but I don't have time to double check the spelling on that, so don't quote the name.

Anyway, it was obvious the Germans didn't speak Italian, but since I only know nine and hell in German I explained in Italian. All foreigners have basically become Italians in my eyes. Nonetheless, I did manage to convince them they were wrong and I was right.

It feels good to be an asset. As opposed to being a liability.

This is where I work

The Palazzo del Pubblico. A very significant city hall turned museum. Siena was one of the first commmunities to center their city around a governmental structure rather than a church. The Palazzo del Pubblico is right in the famous Piazza del Campo, where the Palio--a horserace has been run for more than seven centuries.


The place is resplendent with 14th century frescoes. My job consists of telling people they are not allowed to take pictures of the pretty pictures, and frequently explaining where the bathroom is. A little more low-key than the fast-pace of a restaurant, but I feel like the Palazzo del Pubblico is MY museum. And working with the adorable Giacomo is a perk... :)

Sei geloso?

For the two weeks I lived in Rome, this is the view I had from my balcony. The dome peeking over the building over yonder is none other than the dome of St. Peter's Basilica designed my Michelangelo.

The colof here is a little odd because I took it at night using nightshot, so don't worry Rome isn't oddly poluted. There was no undisclosed radioactive fallout or anything.

Taking a Dip in the Mediterranean (and the world's largest thumb)

So, Rome isn't renowned for its beaches. For a reason, there's not much to renown. However, who can resist sand and sea--not us. I got a good dose of sun that day, and certainly devoured too much salt water.

And now I can say of been in the Mediterranean!

Oh, Just Another Breathtaking View

I commented yawningly once when we were atop some tall tower overlooking the stunning Italian landscape that it was just another fabulous view of a 1000 year-old Italian city.

So, here's a picture I snapped of one of the fantastic locales I've visited. Assisi.

Loverly Roman Sights

Just some random Roman ruins. I can't immagine what it is like to live in the old world. There's so much old stuff just lying around. But its cool because there's no pompousness about their existence.

However, I was musing today that it was cool that we live in the NEW WORLD. It sounds like we could be sci-fi settlers of a foreign planet, or that we live in the year 1492.