Hello everyone.  Once again, I have waited entirely too long to post a new blog entry.  I say that because yet again I have accumulated entirely too many photographs/experiences to sum up in one post.

Anyway, I do have a few interesting things to tell.

So you know how people in Indiana/Tennessee/[insert rural area in US] tend to just stand around and do nothing and have expressionless faces?  Well, as you can see from the last picture, people in Italy do the same thing.  I think it has something to do with the fact that nothing ever really happens here.  Well, OK, things happen in Rome, like concerts, random cannon shots (yes, heard from my window at 12:10 am - someone told me the next day that it was a wedding?), and an endless stream of tourists visiting the city's ungodly number of ancient sites.  But in towns like Terracina (where the photo was taken), nothing really ever happens.  This must be why these three men were just watching the cars pass by.  When I was in rural east Tennessee a few months ago I saw the same thing.  People just sat on their front porches and watched us drive by, apparently because traffic was an event worth watching.  Regardless, as someone famous (probably) said, nothing is more photogenic than poverty and dejected idleness.

I took the two face pictures at the museum at Sperlonga, where the Grotto of Tiberius is.  Apparently the emperor liked to come out to this place, essentially a cave that faces the sea side, and have glamorous dinner parties.  The strange part about this whole thing is the art that decorated his dinner grotto.  As you can see from the pictures, the sculptures, in my opinion at least, were quite horrifying.  There were four different scenes depicted by statuary in the grotto: Odysseus and his men slaying the Cyclops; Aeneas dragging his father, Anchises (who has a huge foot and is dying); Odysseus getting ready to slay the guy who is stealing the Palladium, Athena's sacred symbol from Troy; and the centerpiece - the monster Scylla killing the Argonauts and destroying their ship.  All in all, pretty gruesome, and every piece involves death in some way or another.  On one level, Tiberius was probably making fun of the Greeks - Odysseus killed to get the Palladium; Aeneas, like a good Roman, helps his dying father.  There was also probably a pun on hospitality - the Cyclops, who is getting his eye poked out, was NOT very hospitable to Odysseus and his men.  He did, after all, try to eat them.  But still, and maybe this is the modern person in me, I can't imagine feeling like eating after looking at all of this - especially the mask in pic #4!

So what else should I write about...oh, that's right, it has been as hot as 40 infernos lately in Rome.  Last night, in fact, I could hardly sleep because it was so hot and humid.  Oh, I should also mention that air conditioning is practically non-existent here.  My room is equipped with nothing more than a desk fan.  That being said, it really has not been too bad until recently.  They say the heat is going to subside soon enough...but that might be a little too optimistic.

The Vittorio Emmanuele building/Altare della patria, pic #2, is really beautiful, despite its touristy surroundings - it butts against all of the fora, is a hub for buses, and is, itself, a tourist attraction.  The building is one of the highest spots in the area, and, like a giant wedding cake monument embedded within the city, is pretty much visible anywhere and is a good location marker.  There is also a wonderful cafe/bar at the very top of the building.  And due to the enormous amount of steps it takes to climb to the top, there aren't many tourists there and the prices are very reasonable - and the view is amazing!

Buona sera a tutti!