Angels and Camera-lens

If you go read Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, you'll be taken to locales throughout Roma. We made our own little journey around town, seeing the churches and chapels mentioned in novel. There is a thrilling chase seen through the Castelo San Angelo. If you make through the castle to the top, you will see this angel waiting for you. It depicts the angel Michael and he and this castle have protected the Pope in times of barbarian invasions.

The castle was once the tomb of Emperor Hadrian and was used to guard the Vatican. If you want some nice pictures of St. Peters, I recommend going to here and you won't be disappointed with the view. And as a plus you get a military museum.

*For fun...can you tell me how many times I used the word angels in this post?

Veni, Vidi, Blog Entry

In the shadows of Mt. Vesuvius lies a town that was forgotten for centuries. This picture was taken in the courtyard of an old Roman home in Pompeii. Sure there are lots of references to the Roman empire in the media in the last few years. There's Rome, where we go back to the crazy times of Julius Caesar, for one. Also, our good friend Dr. Who went back in time to ancient Pompeii (and incidently caused the volcano to erupt) in his tardis. Even our good friends from Journey to the Center of the Earth made their way to the slopes of Mt V.

The day in Pompeii was really great. Taking the train from Naples was simple enough and gave us a nice day trip. One thing that is quite interesting about Pompeii is that there are stray dogs there. I had fun giving them names such as "Capt Awesome".

Hotira Maydon....let's remember

This is the "Remembrance Monument" in Tashkent. It symbolizes the Uzbek mothers who lost their sons in WWII. This will probably be one of many pictures of Uzbekistan that will be posted on here, but I thought it was nice to start with one dedicated to memory. I used to walk near this monument every week for an English club I taught, until they told me that the Ministry wouldn't allow me there anymore. That took away my reason to go by Mir Burger - how sad.

My Desktop

So, I might as well start my blog with the picture I chose for my desktop background. I've been a Washingtonian for a couple of years now, so this is a great way to show off where I live. This picture was taken during the Cherry Blossom bloom of 2006. You can see TJ (Thomas Jefferson) across the tidal basin. I have to say this was a great Spring day in the District.