More Trip Stories

So I've been back in Rome for two days now.  Thursday was a very rainy day where I did not do much, but Friday was bright and sunny so I went to the Spanish Steps to start taking notes for a paper I need to write about them.  I found Villa Borghese for the first time, Rome's largest public park.  Then I was looking through my pictures from the trip and realized there were some other things I wanted to write about.  We'll start back in Verona.  First is a picture of me and Adam next to a couple helping Verona earn the name "City of Love."  After that is me with the Juliet statue.  I know I'm not exactly being a gentleman in this shot, but supposedly it's good luck to rub Juliet's, uh, bosom.  There was no Romeo statue, which, now that I think about it, seems a little bit odd.  Probably he didn't want to hang around to see armies of tourists feeling up his girlfriend.  I think we can all benefit from the wisdom of  Pat Benetar when she said, "love is a battlefield."

Next is a picture of Castelvecchio, just because I didn't put up a picture of it last time.  The next picture, in between the scaffolding covers, is the Bridge of Sighs.  Underneath the scaffolding on the left is Doge's Palace, and underneath the scaffolding on the right is Venice's prison.  Doge's Palace was the home of the Duke as well as the courthouse.  The Bridge of Sighs gets its name because for any prisoner sentenced to life in prison in Doge's Palace, the Bridge of Sighs was the last place where they would be able to see the sun.  That'll make you think twice about taking one of those gondolas for a joy-ride.  The last pictures are from an art show that opened up our last day in Venice.  It was an exhibit of the best entries in an art contest.  The piece shown is an array of tiny paper boats (or maybe hats).  Visitors were encouraged to take one for themselves, so I did.  I'm not sure what the idea behind it was, but I thought it was a cool piece of art.  There as also a toilet filled with empty eggshells, and a tree made out of wires.  Make of it what you will.

Also, if any of you were wondering how I managed to get these pictures when my camera was falling apart, I realized I could fix it quickly with some masking tape.  So my camera now works though it slightly resembles an arts 'n crafts project.  Hopefully when I get home I can get a more permanent fix.