Merry Christmas!

We made it home from Italy just in time for Mark, Aupreille, and Teairsa to visit for Christmas.

On Christmas Eve we acted out the Nativity story (an Ellis tradition), complete with impromptu costumes and props.

"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child."

Joseph and Mary and an Innkeeper in Bethlehem.

"And so it was, that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn."

Teairsa did a great job filling in as our babe in a 'manger' (aka extra suitcase)

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid.

"And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.'

Rob was clearly sore afraid

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, 'Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.'

And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem saying, 'Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him.'

When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them, 'Where is it that the Christ should be born?'

And they said unto him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea; for thus it is written by the prophet: and thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda; for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.'

The 3rd Wise Man couldn't make it all the way to Cambridge this year

Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared, And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, 'Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may go and worship him also.'

When they had heard the king, they departed; and lo, the star, which they say in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him; and when they had opened up their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

I love this time of year. It's great to take time out of life to celebrate the birth of the Savior.

Merry Christmas!

All Roads Lead to Rome

When we planned our Italy trip, we knew we were going to go to Rome because of all of its historic sites, but we weren't too excited about spending time in the city. Well, after 3 days (and 4 nights) in Rome, we were completely charmed and didn't want to leave!
After visiting Rome, I've discovered 2 new loves.

First new love: Gian Lorenzo Bernini, an Italian sculptor in the 1600s. We went to the Borghese Gallery and saw a few of his sculptures up close. Bernini made marble glow and come to life. I'm no art critic, but I was amazed at the emotion he captured in stone. Pictures I'm finding don't really do his work justice, and Rob wasn't allowed to take pictures in the museum, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Second love: Italian Opera. We had a little taste of it in Florence with our random street singer, but Rome took things to a whole new level. Walking home on Wednesday night, Rob and I heard beautiful opera singing down the street.
The city puts on free cultural events leading up to Christmas and that night they had 4 of Rome's premier opera singers performing outdoors in front of the Piazza di Spagna. We squeezed into the crowd, found seats right in front, and sat there for an entire hour. It. Was. Awesome.

So, if any of you are closet opera fans and have any recommendations to further our opera-education, we'd appreciate it!
Other things I'd recommend: St. Peter's Basilica--totally awe inspiring; the Colosseum--crazy to imagine it packed full of bloodthirsty Romans; last (but not least, of course) Giolliti's Pistachio gelato--out of this WORLD.

Welcome to Paradise

The Cinque Terre are 5 towns on the coast of Italy's Riviera that cling to the terraced sides of the Apennines Mountains where they meet the Mediterranean Sea.
Basically, they are incredibly beautiful.
For centuries the 5 towns operated in almost total isolation from the rest of the world. The mountains made travel inland almost impossible and the only connection the towns had to each other was a rough path that wound up and down the mountain side along the coast.
They did have a neat way to communicate in emergencies though. Back in the day, that stretch of coast was consistently plagued by pirates who would land, ransack the village, and sell any unsuspecting townsfolk they could catch into slavery.
Since these small coastal villages didn't have the means to stop the pirates from landing, they found a way to avoid being sold into slavery. Each village built some kind of lookout tower near their village where they could watch the horizon for incoming ships. Whenever a suspicious ship was sighted, the lookout would light a fire in his tower to alert the neighboring towns. When people saw the fires, they would leave everything and run into the mountains, hiding from the pirates.
Now, the pirate problem is pretty much solved, and the Cinque Terre can enjoy their little slice of paradise in peace. They are connected to the rest of the country by a good railroad and Italy has turned the 5 towns into a national park, keeping the path that runs along the mountains open for tourists (like us) to hike.
It took us about 5 hours to go from Town 1 to Town 5 (which included plenty of picture-taking and a really good pizza lunch). The sky was blue, and the sun was shining; it was awesome. Probably one of the prettiest days of my life.

The only question now is whether Rob could find enough work as an American lawyer living here to pay off our student loans.....

Florence: The Art (and Gelato) Capital of Italy

First of all, I'm not really sure how we get away with naming Firenze, "Florence" in English, but we did.
Second of all, when they say that Florence is the "Art Capital of Italy," I don't think they're just referring to paintings or sculpture--everything in Florence seems to be artwork. The buildings are beautiful, the displays in shop windows are beautiful, the people are beautiful, even the gelato is beautiful in Florence!
Rob and I wanted to get a feel for all that Florence had to offer so we saw a lot of artwork (highlight definitely being Michelangelo's David), did a little shopping, and did a lot of people watching.
I also made sure we got a good sample of the gelato...purely for cultural purposes, of course.
Moving on (I know, food is kind of a theme with me), we spent our last afternoon walking across the Arno River and hiking up to a piazza that had a view of the entire city. We watched the sun set and started planning the next day's adventure: Cinque Terre.

Too Perfect

After a day of sightseeing in Florence, Rob and I are sitting in our hotel room getting ready for bed when beautiful soprano opera singing comes wafting through our window. We think someone must be playing their music really loudly, until we look out to the piazza across the street and see a woman with sheet music, singing her heart out.
She sings for almost an hour. With each new song, we look at each other and think that this is almost too good to be true...this stuff actually happens? But wow, it's pretty!

You just can't plan this kind of thing.

Venice: Starting things of with a bang...or a boat?

For our 2 days in Venice, we scored a sweet deal on a nice little hotel right by the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute--the huge domed church you see in the picture below.
This was my first trip to Venice and I really enjoyed it. First of all, I love to walk around and get lost in cities and Venice is pretty much the ideal city for that activity...zero cars and views like this every time you cross over one of the city's 400 bridges:
During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Venice was one of the most powerful cities in Europe, full of commerce, art, music, and religion. All of that combined to create great sights for tourists like us to enjoy.
My favorites were: the floor of the Basilica di San Marco, the Doge's Palace with it's enormous frescoes on every wall and ceiling, and the beautiful art at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco (known as Tintoretto's Sistine Chapel). So, if you go, those are my recommendations. :)
We also did a lot of people watching...
...and got a great taste of everyday Venice, complete with some really great old people.
We did not take a Gondola ride because we didn't want to take out another student loan to finance the experience.
We did cruise the Grand Canal on the local water-bus to get a different view of Venice...then ran around trying to get the perfect shot of the picturesque gondoliers.
What a great way to start off the trip! Someday I'm sure we'll come back here when we're at a stage in our life where we can afford to eat more than bread, cheese, and prosciutto from the supermarket (which is actually a very tasty combo)...but I'm not sure it can get any better.

If you have some time, Venice was a great place for Rob to exercise his photography muscles (as demonstrated by the following slideshow). :)

Buon Giorno, Italia!

Rob's finished his first 8-week term in Cambridge, so we're celebrating with a 2-week trip to Italy (obviously).

Our first major stop on the trip is Venice, but we decided to make a detour to see nearby Verona, most widely known as the home to star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet.

Juliet's Balcony...but that's actually not Juliet up there

Although Romeo and Juliet didn't actually exist, we managed to visit Juliet's house, complete with romantic balcony, and a statue of Juliet that brings good luck to those who touch her right breast....I passed on the good luck this time.

You just HAVE to be romantic when you're visiting the scene of "Romeo, Romeo...wherefore art thou Romeo?!"

Verona also is the home to the 3rd largest Roman amphitheater in Italy. It's still in use, although today Verona's opera probably draws a different crowd than the gladiator games. The arena can hold up to 25,000 spectators in its 44 tiers of marble seats.
Surprisingly enough, Verona also hosts a large German Christmas market in December complete with bratwurst, lebkuchen, roasted chestnuts, and mulled wine. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the change of pace. :)

Stay tuned for some fantastic pictures (compliments of Rob) of beautiful VENICE!

A Trip Home--Thanksgiving 2009

A few weeks late, but we need to put it up for posterity...

After the marathon in Athens, I flew home to Connecticut for some time with my Mom, then Rob joined us for Thanksgiving week.

Sisters: Katie, Jacqueline, Me

We kept our trip home a secret from Erik and Jacqueline so they both got big surprises when I helped pick them up from the airport.

My Dad and Katie

For Thanksgiving, my mom's sister and her family came up from Maryland. We prepared and devoured the customary feast, this year my winners were the exceptional rolls, stuffing, and cherry pie. Of course, we also played some family games including Kubb, Ninja, and Scategories, then and saw a great post-Thanksgiving movie: The Blind Side.

Mom and Me after an emphatic Kubb victory

Other highlights of the trip: Meeting a distant cousin who grew up with my grandpa and came from the same town in Romania and touring the UN in NYC with them; Erik's girlfriend, Megan, chose to join the LDS Church and got baptized the day after Thanksgiving; Laurel, a good friend of our family, also got baptized the next day and we got to help out with a little party at her house after; And in football news--Go Cougars! BYU:26, Utah:23.

Sisters

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for the trip!