The Springfield Halvorsons

This is Linda and I as we would appear on The Simpsons.

Over at the official Simpsons movie website, anyone can create there own likeness (or a loved one) using their neat little flash app. Very cool!

Italia: The Vatican

90 of the 455 photos I took in Italy are now up on Flickr. This one is another panorama I made from 8 photographs. The original is huge!

This view is of St Peter's Square and I am standing in front of St Peter's Basilica. The wikipedia entry has a panorama looking the other way. Funny.

We spend most of our last day at the Vatican touring through the museum. And by museum they mean through the halls of the Vatican itself. The place is gigantic and each corner reveals more art, sculptures and frescos. We stood in line for 1.5 hours in enter then probably another hour snaking through the halls to the crown gem of the Vatican - Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. I was in awe of it. The room was packed with people looking straight up. I managed to take a couple photos before the guards started yelling "No Photo". I saw the signs but thought it was no flash but they weren't allowing any photography or even video. Not sure why. So I feel a little bad but never the less got to take home a memory. The room is much darker then the photos give the impression of. I lighted them quite a bit.

Italy: Siena

Our first full day in Italy was spent in the medival town of Siena in Tuscany. Siena has a famous horse race twice a year called the Palio. We were luck enough to be there for the Summer event. It's a big deal for the Sienise and a source of great pride for the winning team. I'll defer to Wikipedia for the full explanation. It's worth a read.

Unfortunately we were not able to actually see the race since it started at 7:45 in the evening and that would have made us late for the last train back to our villa. But since the race is only 3 minutes long we didn't feel like we missed all that much. The party lasted all day and in fact had been going for a few days. The town was packed with tourist but not uncomfortably so.

This photo is of one of the jockeys. Each horse was lead into a square for everyone to admire. The handlers mostly just pushed their way into the crowd and it was up to us not to be trampled by his noble steed. Ironically I have no photos of the horses themselves!

I've got more photos of Siena here on Flickr.

Italia Trip

Linda and I returned from Italy a week ago and I still haven't gotten any photos onto the web or blogged about it. I have 400+ photos. It's a real problem deciding which ones not to post. But to start with here is a panorama I took of the Tuscan town of Montepulciano. It's composed of 5 photos. (Don't forget to click on the photo for a large version)

Montepulciano might be my favorite spot we visited. Typical of most towns in Tuscany it occupied the top of a tall hill (or small mountain depending on your view). We parked near the left side of the photo and ended up walking all the way through town to the right side. Fun little shops lined the narrow main street. Linda bought a couple purses and I found a neat leather bound sketchbook that are supposedly used as props in the Harry Potter movies. It looks very medieval and sure to contain magic!

At the end the day we stopped at a cafe to have a glass of wine. We ended up staying for dinner as well. I was so busy sketching in my new sketchbook that I forgot to look at the menu. Our very friendly waiter said that he would take care of me. I was game. What I got was a pork shank that was the best thing I eat all week. Now, I rarely meet a pig I won't eat but this pig knee was truly amazing - tender and meaty. It was the only thing I ate!