Tallest Geisha ever

The make-up was sucky, and the wig was a total mess, by this point, but it was nice to wear my favorite kimono out of the house. The wooden shoes were a bit of a pain, but it was still fun. 

Well, we got back to the US, then ended up stuckin Cincinatti. Despite Paris' failure to communicate with our connecting airport, we managed to get booked on a flight to louisville, but then that flight was delayed another hour or more. This man in this shot is no one I know, but I told you I liked this window. (Rome, Sistina) I think the shot turned out kinda neat.

The next morning, we waited on another bus to get to the airport, waited in the airport, and then, when they put us on this shuttle (from airport to plane) we thought we were getting somewhere, but we waited on this shuttle for over an hour. 

Finally, after waiting all day long (ALL FRICKIN DAY!) they decided to put us up in a hotel. So, they shoved us on this bus and left us there for over an hour (the driver just got off to smoke, then left without a word to us). On the up side, we met the coolest people on that bus. They had me rolling laughing. But still, we were all so sick of waiting at this point. 

We arrived in the Paris airport SO early... then watched our flight get delayed by tiny increments ALL DAY LONG. No food, nothing... stuck in the Paris ariport ALL FRICKING DAY and the people were SO rude. 

Time to fly. 

It's time to say goodbye to Italy, get some sleep before traveling day. The film is rather fried (darn airport people), but that is Brandi and Bridgette waving from our hotel window. I loved that window. 

Did I mention in rained in Rome? Yeah, and it was rather windy too, as you can likely surmise from this shot. :) 

The train to and from rome was like slow death. hours and hours of ear-popping pain. 

These are some columns near the sistine chapel. I just loved the shadows.  

We're time warping, I guess. This is a fountain in Rome.  

Even the Pinapple is served with flare in Italy. 

I'm getting these out of order... oh well. This is from Rome. There was a whole row of homes with these cool courtyards behind them, below street level. They all had orange trees growing in them. 

We finished the night off with a revisit of the (cue music)...
..the DIVINE CHOCOLATE
(pause and reflect)
It was rich and creamy and made with real melted chocolate. oh, man...
and I want some tiramisu!!!!

We loved our waiter. He was great. The film is a little messed up, but many shots were worse. (airports scanned my film against my will and overexposed much of it) 

Our favorite Cafe again. We ate someplace different every meal, to take in the full experience, but for our last meal on the last night in Italy, we returned to our favorite cafe and ate a traditional multi-course all-out feast (antipasto, pasta, main course, salad, desert, etc...). It was divine and I've never been so full. 

Florence. Brandi and Bridgette waiting for me outside the Embassy where I got a passport to replace the one I lost. (ay yayyay) But whatever you do, don't point a camera anywhere near the embassy building itself (including the statues near it) or scary military men with huge guns yell at you in Italian. 

Rome. I loved the trees above the buildings. 

looking to the right, out the same window. I really liked this window. The last photo I post on this blog (very top) will be of the window itself.

zoom lens works. (still left, same window, still Rome) 

Looking to the left out the same window, Rome. 

View directly out of the window, sistine chapel 

Did I mention there were 400 of these things? (pant, pant, choke, pass out)
We got up a bit more than halfway and it was REALLY high. I was tired, legs hurting, but I wanted to go further. Brandi and Bridget weren't wanting to, since it was so high, but then the bells started ringing... The massive stone walls shook with the sound of it. It was crazy-loud. By the time it settled into just one repeating low tone, the exhiliration had taken hold. While I was standing there, humming the guitar line from "For whom the bell tolls", Brandi took off running for the next flight of stairs. Bridget and I followed. It was great. We ran like mad and hit the top while the bells were still shaking the earth to the core. It was exiting.

A view of the Duomo in Firenze. 

uh... more room service, please. Thanks! 

Now THIS is room service.