Weekend in Umbria

This past weekend a few of us went to Tom's family's house in Umbria to spend a few nights out of the city.

The tiny town of Giove, where his house is.  It's the same place I met his family on Easter.

 View of the yard from the living room.  I love the amount of light the house gets.

 Olives growing in the yard!

 We spent the majority of our time eating :)

 Sunset from one of the balconies (there are three!)

We had a good, old fashioned, American BBQ for dinner, complete with burgers, hot dogs, and corn on the cob.  Like I said, we did a lot of eating that weekend...

Misc. Summer

Some misc. photos from the summer so far:

 

Shelbi emailed me one night asking if I had seen Matt Laurer at the Vatican, as apparently he and Al Roker were filming there.  Sadly I had not.  But the next day, on one of my tours I was exiting St Peter's with my clients and there he was, interviewing a cardinal!

Dave was back in town for about a month between June and July.  He recently accepted a teaching position at the University of Maine.  Obviously I'm thrilled for him, but hate the fact that me and my fellow grad students are growing up and scattering around.  :(

At the bars along the river, open only during the summer.  To my right is Rob (our sub-letter for the summer), Sarah (a fellow Rutgers grad student who was on a Fulbright in Florence this year), and Sarah (grad student at Maryland who was a Fulbright in Rome this year).

Burnt out on Italian food we all got together one night for a taco feast.  Man I miss Mexican food!

Escaping the city for the beach.  This is a typical Italian beach photo, complete with an old building in the background and men in speedos in the foreground.

I love summer!

4th of July

On the 4th of July our friend Treva had everyone over for a BBQ on her terrace.  Excellent food, good friends, and a few fireworks made it a fantastic night.

It's been quite a while since I've seen one of these...

Treva is an expert hostess.  She always prepares a feast, and she even fans the BBQ in heels.

I about died from the corn on the cob.  I don't even know how long it's been since I've had some... 2 years maybe?

You're never too old for sparklers.  Never.

Europride and Lady Gaga

Now that work has died down a bit for the summer I finally have some time to update the blog :)

Way back in June we went to the EuroPride parade, which is an EU-wide celebration that changes location every year.  The parade ended in Circo Massimo with some fabulous drag queen performances and then an appearance by Lady Gaga.  We knew it wouldn't be a full concert, but she gave a speech about gay rights and then performed two songs.  It was so unbelievable to see her!  And for free!

 

The crowd gathering at Circo Massimo after the parade.  I love how the banners are made to look like a rainbow Colosseum (the colored ovals look like the Colosseum's arches).

With Emily 2.  Given that we were seeing Lady Gaga it was only appropriate that I pulled out the Gaga wig from Halloween.

Just the essentials: snacks and wine

Protesting the Vatican's stance on gay rights ("Real hell: the Vatican, Guantanamo mentality")

"Free to be gay"

These guys were my absolute favorite: short togas in Italian colors (the belts are green)

Love the pink Union Jack

Lady Gaga herself, giving her speech.  I was hoping she would wear something a bit more outlandish, but during her speech she thanked Donatella Versace for letting her wear one of Gianni Versace's last creations, so that's quite special, especially being in Italy and all.

Katie is a master multi-tasker

Amalfi Birthday Weekend

For my birthday, Tom and I spent a weekend at the Amalfi coast.  We stayed in the actual town of Amalfi, and on Sunday, as we drove back, visited the towns of Positano and Sorrento.  It was beautiful and perfectly relaxing!

The town of Amalfi from the beach on our first evening.

 

The greenery you see here are lemon trees.

On our second day we hit the beach.  Because it was the middle of May the beach wasn't overly crowded, but still plenty warm enough to lay out for a while.

After the beach and some walking around we relaxed and had a drink in front of the 9th-century duomo.

The architecture on this church is strange but incredibly beautiful.  It's a mix of Gothic and Moorish styles that together create something truly unique.

Fish on the capitals.

I absolutely love architectural details such as this inlaid column. 

As we were sitting we happened to catch a wedding take place.

Leaving on our third day.  The center of town has one main street that is mostly for pedestrians, making driving a bit difficult.

Driving along the coast.

The town of Positano.

We decided not to actually stop in Positano, as we couldn't find parking, but we stopped for a bit along the road to take pictures and enjoy the view.

Looking away from the sea.

Where you see the arches indicates where the road is.  The road is INCREDIBLY curvy, and on our way down, since we had been driving for a good deal of time already, I got a little car sick, but on the way out, since it was the morning and we were just starting out, I was fine and able to enjoy the scenery much more.

Patiently waiting while I take 1,000 pictures.

And ruining my pictures...

Sorrento.

As mentioned above, we didn't stop in Positano so that we could have more time in Sorrento, rather than being rushed in both towns.  In retrospect I wish we had stopped at Positano instead.  Sorrento was nice, but much more commercial and spread out, which is not quite what we were expecting.  But we had a nice lunch and walked around.  Of the three towns we saw, we both liked Amalfi the best, so I'm really glad we decided to stay there.

To give you an idea of some the roads in the area...

It was a fantastic birthday.