The A-typical

I took lots of pictures with the new picturer that you won't see in most tour (or even history) books. For instance, here is a picture of the Roman Colosseum:



That little chunk of quartz crystal predates even the building it boldly contributes to the cause of the continuum of support. Reminds me greatly of that wonderful William Carlos Williams poem, "El Hombre":

It's a strange courage you give me,
ancient star:

Shine alone in the sunrise,
toward which you lend no part!

And this is a shot of the beautiful Tiber (TEV-eh-ray in Italian):



(I thought of you, Joe, when choosing the pose.)


This is a really great opportunity for some CSI'ing.




So is this one. Are there a couple purses in there, perhaps?



I just expanded this one and, truth be known, I had no idea that guy was even in the shot.

Isn't that Ilya Kuriakin's partner down there?

"Hellooo? Mr. Solo! Mr. Vaughn? Is that you???"


Many more to come. More prosaic, I promise.

First Reports From New Picturer

The new picturer is a 6.1mp resolution machine. It stores exactly 2,680 exposures to a 4 gigabyte SD disk. Here is one from the Piazza di San Marco in Venezia:





I took lots of pictures of stuff like this:



Venice...



You lift this ring and tie your boat to it:




It's like this during the day....




...and this during the evening...

Venice

If at all possible, don't just continue to know that it is here and not come and see it and smell it and touch it. Cuz it's amazing. No, we did not take a ride in one of them fancy conoes. But the boat ride on "the 82" out to the Piazza San Marco was sheer magic. And then there was the journey on water out to the island of Murano to take in what has to be the most concentrated occurance of beauty in glass ever to occasion this earth. If you have never heard me utter that mysitcal axiom about where we live, then here it is: "Earth is the best planet in the whole world."

If you come to Venice, you will no doubt head out to Murano. When there, do stop in at a shop called "Neropaco." Monica and her brother do the glass and then sell the glass. My sister and I not only scored some lovely keepsakes, we made a friend in Monica (pics to follow).

In terms of friendliness, I am giving Venice a disappointing 6 out of a possible of 10. Yeah, I know---typical American having to quantify. But I just have to say that I was "impressed" by several less-than-friendly interactions with the "staff." The exceptions brought the score up from a 3 or 4. For instance, this was the first place where the lady in the W/C (whizzeria) said, "One Euro" as I entered to get rid of some number one. I replied to her, "One Euro? You want me to pay one Euro to whiz?" She said, "Si." I said, "Well then, Si ya later." True story. I felt like an ugly American. Who still had to whiz. Oh well. I have my standards.

There were some really nice folks. And some great places to enjoy some very fine food served up by some very friendly fellow human beings. I want to come back here. Every year. And stay for a year. Every year. Sigh...

Since I am calling this "the appetizer tour," we are cutting out of Venice and headed for Firenze tomorrow.

Ciao to all!

OFF TO SICILY!

Thanks to all for keeping in touch.

I am leaving the monastery of Sant'Anselmo and am joining my sister at Fiumicino Airport where we will then continue on to Siciliy, and Camporeale, the birthplace of our father's parents.

Hopefully, I will be able to get some time at the board of keys in an internet cafe. This free monastic internet has spoiled me.

See you there!

Ciao,
G

Entry Level Picturer

My new camera came today. I can't wait to use it. I have decided to load up a bunch of photos from here to share with others when I am over there. Picturers nowadays make, after all, great photo albums, too.

Maybe I'll be able to get some shots like this one with my new Picturer. This shot makes like a strong wind against a snow drift----it just blows me away:



Rather than reveal my own CSIing conclusions, I will invite each of you to come up with some of your own. I am sure you will see some things I have not. There is only one CSI characteristic that I lay claim to, and that is simply because, well---As JFK says on that ill-fated Kennedy parody, "The First Family," that came out just prior to the assassination: "Because it's my ball, that's why."

Look for it at 5:10

New Camera For The Trip To Sicily

I am getting this one.



Cheendruh! tells me that this camera will perform "just fine" for what I need a camera to do. No, it is not the high-ender. But crap----$649.95 buys me a 6.1 megapixel unit that I can take pictures with and be proud to post right here.

Sheila (MOB), Bleu (DOS), Murray, Joe? Your thoughts too, please.

Oh, and Bazza. You too, please.

Heck----ALL of you who are into photography.

The unit ships out tomorrow (Monday the 8th) and should be here, two day express, on Wednesday.

My friend, Summer and I decided that we are no longer going to refer to these contraptions as cameras. They are now PICTURERS. That's what they do, after all. Since when has anyone ever talked about cameraing something? Right. Never. So.

Sure, I won't have any Kodachrome. But I will have a Nikon camera.

I'm so excited. It's a wonder I can sleep at all....