Salute

Salute - That's Italian for "To your health!" or "To your well being!" This is a picture of me enjoying a glass of Chianti in the Piazza Nuvona. What a beautiful romantic place. I highly recommend planning to have your evening meal here if you ever visit Rome.

Too all my colleagues in Italy: "Thank you very much for all of your hospitality. I had a wonderful time visiting Italy and plan to come back with my wife in a few years to share the experience with her."

And with that my tale is at an end. Salute!

NOTE: If that doesn't make sense remember that the first post on a blog is the last so go to the end which is the beginning ;-)

Statue of Christ

We visited a beautiful little church behind the Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps) and I captured this photo of a statue of Christ with the sunlight shining on it. Thank you dear Saviour for your love for us.

Dinner at Carlos’

One night we were treated to a fabulous meal by Carlos at his home in Celano. There was a large group of us consisting of some Italian colleagues, expats, and fellow travelers. Apparently, Carlos is related to all the butchers in town and his mother, being one herself, supplied Carlos with the choicest meats for our feast. This photo shows several of us gathered around Carlos and the barbeque.

The picturesque Amalfi Coast

A few years ago when I was gathering pictures of Italy for an Italian themed Valentine’s Banquet that I was organizing for my church, I came across some photos of the Amalfi Coast. I was spellstruck by its beauty and added to my “List of Things to do Before I Die” a drive along the Amalfi Coast. I’m happy to say that I have now crossed that off my list and it was even more spectacularly beautiful than I had imagined. Look at these photos and see for yourself.

The Coliseum

Another “must see” sight was the coliseum. I didn’t tour it. I just sat on a nearby fence with my colleague and pondered its significance (The second photo shows our shadows there). It occurred to me that many Christian brothers and sisters entered into God’s presence through the “doorway” of the Coliseum. I left in a rather somber mood.

St. Peter’s Basillica

There are so many things to see in Rome that one has to be selective. At the top of my list was St. Peter’s Basillica. Why the top? Well, it seemed to me to be a significant icon of church history and I had just finished going through a class on church history for the second time. A trip to St. Peter’s just seemed appropriate. It would be impossible to convey my impressions in a paragraph brief enough that anyone would be likely to read it so I will make the following summary: For me it was history made tangible. Since I am not catholic it does not inspire in me a profound sense of holy reverence but, nonetheless, I did feel a sense of awe at the length at which the church had gone to in order to express its reverence for God. I also felt a sense of great regret knowing the cost that many believer’s had paid for the structure to be built and the depths to which the church had sunk in order to raise those funds. Let us always remember that God dwells in the heart’s of men by our invitation and his willingness and not in any structure we might make with our hands.

The first photo shows me in front of St. Peter’s and the second shows a statue of St. Peter occluding the sun. Pretty clever photography if I do say so myself. It gives him a great halo.

Celano and Castle Dragonetti

One night I went out to dinner with some fellow travelers, expats, and Italian colleagues and their families. We went to the charming nearby town of Celano which boasted one of the most well preserved castles in Italy: Castle Dragonetti. We visited during a summer celebration and the town was bustling with people. Street vendors abounded and there were numerous shops and restaurants circling the town square and the castle. It was a wonderful night. The photo shows the castle’s evening silhouette.

Sulmona

We decided to take the sceninc route back to Avezzano through the countryside instead of taking the Autostrada. What an experience. We must have taken at least 10 wrong turns but one good thing about Italy is that there are numerous signs at every intersection pointing you to nearby towns and villages. The key is to figure out which one is next on the map, follow the signs to it, and then to make the appropriate turn to the next one before going into the actual town center which is usually a long windy drive to the top of a hill where the castle or fortress sits. We stopped in the town of Sulmona to explore a bit and have dinner since the travel guide informed us that it had a lot of older and particularly well preserved buildings. The photo shows me standing in the Piazza Garibaldi.

Rustic beauty

These photos show a typical Italian village and street.

The intrepid Dee

My traveling companion once again was Dee. I sure felt sorry for him having to travel all over the world with me this summer. I hope he gets a bonus for all his trouble. I have no idea what he’s doing with that piece of pizza.

Touching the Adriatic

On my first full day in Italy I ventured out to Pescara on the Adriatic Sea. I had arrived in Rome very close to the Mediterranean and then driven an hour inland to Avezzano which sits almost at the mid-point between the two coastlines. When I arrived I felt compelled to stand in the waters of the Adriatic and have my photo taken. It was a bustling place with many Italian families enjoying vacations to escape or absorb the summer heat. We had pizzas for lunch at a small beachside pizzeria.

Ciao Italia

I have long wanted to visit Italy. This year I got my chance as my company sent a colleague and I there to perform a software installation. I had some idea what to expect as I have listened to numerous colleagues relate their experiences from their own company ‘sponsored” trips. However, I suppose each person’s experiences are different because of the different things they chose to experience and also because of the personal filters through which these experiences go. So, I will attempt to highlight some of my experiences from Italia.