Photos: My Favorites, Photoshopped (2)

As promised, the last of the images :)

Swiss Guards at the Vatican

From the Top of St. Peter's

Sidewalk Chalk, Rome

Traffic in Rome

Street Performers, Florence

Ominous Cruise Ship (somewhere around Monte Carlo)

Paris Metro Sign

Traffic in Paris

Photos: My Favorites, Photoshopped (1)

Ok, I know I have posted a lot of pictures recently.  I promise, this is the second to last one of my Europe pics.  These last two posts are a little bit more special to me because they are images that I manipulated in some way that I think makes them better.  My personal favorite (of all my Europe pics) is below, the picture of two young Italians playing hacky sack in the middle of a piazza (plaza) in Rome.  For me, it captures the simple essence of the beautiful people, lifestyle and country of Italy.

Trastevere-- street magic show

"Wedding Crashers"

My favorite neon sign in Trastevere

Sculpture inside a Roman Church

Lizards, Italian countryside

Italian countryside

Hacky sack players in Rome

The street outside of our apartment

Photos: Night (1)

Trastevere

St. Peter's, after midnight

Lights at the Roman festival

Fireworks from the festival

St. Mark's Square, Venice

Paris

Photos: Sunsets (1)

Storm rolling into Rome, from the balcony

St. Peter's Basilica

Paris

Paris through my dad's DSLR

Photos: Water (1)

Tiber River, Rome

Florence

Gondola ride in Venice

Rain in Venice

Venice at night

Night cruise in Paris

Il Dolce far Niente

For a little break in my Europe photos, here's an actual post. :)

So far summer has been really good.  Here are a few of the highlights—going back in time.  Spent a lot of time working on art, reading, relaxing and with my mom and Huck.  We went to Napa for a picnic in the vineyards Wednesday and it was gorgeous up there.  We made turkey and brie sandwiches with Izze’s, I think I could eat this exact meal until the day I die.  Huck was good and completely exhausted by the time we got home.

Tuesday, out of boredom and gratitude, I baked some double chocolate hazelnut cookies for the people who watched the cats and the house while we were gone.  It was a new recipe but, if I do say so myself, they were goooood.  That night I got to see Blake for our favorite—Ihop.  Breakfast at random times during the day is one of Heaven’s gifts.

Monday morning my mom and I discovered a new channel—the cooking channel.  After watching Julia Child and the Galloping Gourmet, I turned the volume down a little and left it on as background noise.  A few hours later we sat down and started watching again.  The tv caught our attention when we saw the host walking the streets of Florence.  The show was all about Italian food and filmed in Italy.  The host mentioned the famous Italian saying “la dolce vita” or “the sweet life” but saying he much favored the less well-known “il dolce far niente”, “the sweetness of doing nothing”.

Later that day, mom and I decided to go see “Eat, Pray, Love”.  I had been dying to see it since I found out that the eat part was in Italy.  The movie was pretty good, granted the pray and love parts were a little long.  I will definitely watch the first third of that movie whenever I miss Rome—it is portrayed particularly well and made me smile.  I loved the ideas in the first third of the movie.  The idea that life should be lived passionately and with purpose, that happiness is sometimes hiding behind some doors that are hard to open and (my favorite) that people need to eat great food (fresh, flavorful, beautiful food) with passion.  Oddly enough, one of the phrases she learns in Rome is “il dolce far niente”.  Sounds like summer to me. 

Photos: Things (1)

In a Naples museum, artifact from Pompeii

On the streets of Naples, should have gone in previous post.. oops

Hotel lights in Venice

Outdoor market in Paris

Some of the most gorgeous heirloom tomatoes I have ever seen, Paris

Tablecloth in Paris

Hall of Mirrors, Versailles

Replica Statue of Liberty with Eifel Tower, taken during dinner cruise