We plan on heading into Iran in three days and apparently Internet is very hard to come by, so I’ll try to get a few posts ready to be published automatically throughout the next week. I promise we will try our best to let you know how it’s going and our where abouts in Iran. I know how nervous some of you are about us going there, and how jealous the rest of you are. Ha, ha.

Anyways, for now, enjoy these photos. Ciao! –Laura–

The giant heads at the top of Nemrut Dagi in eastern Turkey. Behind them is an enormous mound, which Chris and I found even more impressive than the heads, because every little stone was put there by humans. It is supposedly the burial mound of the king, although no one really knows if his remains are truly underneath it.

One of the lions guarding the burial mound of Nemrut Dagi in eastern Turkey.

Chris pointing out that various types of cigarettes were listed in the dessert section in a restaurant in Brasov, Romania.

A lovely gate in Fez, Morocco.

A stop sign in Morocco.

Fez, Morocco.

An excellent example of the craftsmanship of Morocco found in the detail of a door.

Minutes before leaving camp and starting our 60 kilometer trek.

I laugh so hard when I look at this photo, I cry. Look at Chris! Poor guy is all beet down from the Sahara. This is him taking his last few steps of the 60 kilometer walk. Behold, the Erg Chigaga dunes lie just ahead of him.

Chris resting and Rashid cooking during our first lunch break of our 3-day trek through the Sahara.

Yeah! We’re on camels! As you can see I was extremely happy.

I’m riding a full loaded camel down a mini-dune. It was a little scary. It gets your heart going and blood pumping a little to remind you that you’re alive. That was a lot of weight on those thin camel legs.

Our camels and guide, Rashid, in the Sahara desert in Morocco.

Sahara desert, Morocco.

Chris walking through the Sahara desert.

Sahara desert trek. Note, you don’t ride the camels unless you arrange to pay for another camel so that you can ride instead of walk. This was not made clear to us before we started our journey. Ah well, it’s one walk I’ll never forget.

This is Amezrou, the old Jewish kasbah near Zagora, Morocco.

Chris and Mohammad, the man who arranged our 4-night, 3-day Sahara trek. He was very friendly.

Chris took this shot.

Marrakech, Morocco.

Marrakech, Morocco.

Marrakech, Morocco.

Essaouira, Morocco.

A candle holder in the Gothic cathedral in Milano, Italy.

A cyclist in Piacenza, Italy.

Chris looking handsome as ever at the top of Nemrut Dagi in eastern Turkey.

Related posts:

1. Sahara Diaries, Part 3: Camel Trekking and Arabic Lessons
2. Sahara Diaries, Part 5: Night of the Thousand Stars, Snakes, and other Deadly Encounters
3. Sahara Diaries, Part 4: Rashid, Pain, and More Pain

I first started growing my pasta babies during our month visit in Lanciano which meant eating at a buffet for 99% of the meals, and I think we all know what buffet eating leads too. My pasta baby situation only got worse when Chris and I headed to northern Italy to visit my dear friend Christine who is currently studying abroad. Her university program has her living in three different countries this year:  France, Italy and Spain. We were lucky enough to catch her in Piacenza, Italy.

Christine....and we are the apples in her eyes.

I met Christine 10 years ago, in Lanciano Italy, on my first day of Grade 10. We were sitting next to each other at the back of the bus.  I had just turned around from waving goodbye to my parents and brother Geoff and was trying to hold back tears from the fright of being alone in boarding school, when Christine tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I had a pen and paper. With that, our lifelong friendship began.

Piacenza is a 45-minute train ride from Milano. 95% of the population own and ride cruiser bicycles, nearly all of them are equipped with baskets and/or saddle bags. It is not an uncommon site to see people, of all ages, biking home with their basket full of the parmaggiano and fresh vegetables from the market.

Bikes and markets are the two main ingredients of Piacenza.

Bicycles are Piacenza.

Piacenza has many markets that set-up in the main piazza throughout the week.

The town centre has a youthful, vibrant energy even though the buildings and streets are thousands of years old. The main piazza is a wonderful piece of architecture. The facade of the main building has numerous arches. If you look closely at the detail, each design is entirely unique. The main basilica is modest compared to most with a facade made of brick, but inside its high vaulted ceilings with dark oil paintings hold a beauty that we new world people can never get enough of.

The main building in the central piazza of Piacenza, Italy.

One of the basilicas found in Piacenza, Italy. Almost every fourth building is a church.

Chris and Christine waiting for the train. We enjoyed a day trip to Parma, Italy.

Every day in Piacenza, we woke-up around 11:00, made multiple espresso’s and a luxurious breakfast consisting of Italian eggs (which by the way have the most incredibly rich tasting yokes I’ve ever tasted in my life.  Apparently some chefs will refuse to make a recipe if it calls for Italian eggs and they can’t get any!) Anyways for breakfast we also enjoyed yogurt, tomatoes, apples, oranges and bread. We talked for hours. Went on casual walks and almost daily we did grocery runs, for food was our main objective.

Christine loves cooking and we love eating. Every lunch and dinner Christine, with a little bit of support from us and  Jamie (the guy who wrote the fantastic cook book she used for at least 10 of the meals we ate) would create meals that made our toes dance with happiness and our bellies swell with the pride of a king. Without any exaggeration, every lunch and dinner contained garlic, basil, olive oil, wine, salt, pepper and tomatoes. 95% of the time the base of the meal was pasta: penne, tortellini and linguini. The pure rich flavour of the pasta alone would be hard to match with brands bought in Safeway. The other 5% of the time we ate the most mouth watering home-made pizza.

We ate mounds of freshly grated parmaggiano everyday.

Home-made Italian pizza, made in Italy with Italian ingredients by Christine.

Everything was from scratch, even the dough. Christine’s sore shoulders from the relentless kneading can attest to this. This flavourful dough was made with flour #zero which is specially produced for pizza and may be hard to find in regular grocery stores in Canada, so head to your nearest “Little Italia”. Each pizza had simple and few toppings. I believe this helped us appreciate the texture and taste of each bite. I hope these photos give your belly the slightest ping of hunger, for none of them do Christine’s fantastic, tasty cooking the justice it deserves.

Related posts:

1. The Bikes of Piacenza
2. Awwwwwwwwwww... I ♥ U!
3. Easter Procession

We helped Christine make this video today. We made it so she could send some much needed lovin’ to her boyfriend Mike. Christine is studying oenology (wine!) in the Mediterranean part of Europe, and is currently in Piacenza, Italy, where we are visiting her. Mike is doing a masters in econ in Toulouse, France, and is far from here.

Mike seemed to enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it, so that was nice.

I ♥ U, too, by the way.

Related posts:

1. Thank you, thank you, thank you
2. Pasta babies from the pace of life in Piacenza
3. Maroc, Morocco, Marocco

It’s all over at 30.

Wow! Who knew turning 30 would be such a blast. I just want to say thanks to everyone for the kind wishes (especially Laura for arranging so many neat surprises). We had another party last night here at Christine’s place in Piacenza. It was a funeral theme, and all of Christine’s international school friends came dressed in black. They also all sang happy birthday in their native tongues which included French, Russian, Spanish, Afrikaans, Xosha (which I just learned is a South African language). It was really fun meeting them. Thanks Christine.

Jon and Cam, thanks for the books. They’re perfect choices and I haven’t read either of them already. Although I’ll probably trade them for other books after I read them (the joys of traveling light). That was super thoughtful. Erin, thanks for the card. It does get better and better. We miss you too.

Kate (and crew): thank you so much for the video! I just had to share it.

I also had to share this. I got it in an email from my sister, and I gotta say, right now Uncle Chris is missing his family. It made me cry a little because I love them so much. Anyway, thanks again everyone.

Top 30 Reasons why we LOVE Uncle Chris

30. Because he is handsome (Bridget)

29. Because I have to (Dean)

28. Because he is nice (Bridget)

27. Because he has a nice haircut (Dean)

26. Because he is so talented (Kelli)

25. Because he buys great souvenirs (Ryley)

24. Because he is a great photographer (Kelli)

23. Because he is kind (everyone)

22. Because he is funny (Gregory)

21. Because he is our uncle (Delaney)

20. Because he is a part of our family (Bridget)

19. Because he is an awesome uncle (Gregory)

18. Because he is smart (Bridget)

17. Because he sends pretty cool blogs to us (Ryley)

16. Because he gives great hugs (Kelli)

15. Because he is a special kindergarten helper (Delaney)

14. Because he sends us money on our birthdays (all kids)

13. Because he plays with us (Bridget)

12. Because he gives us toys (Delaney)

11. Because he likes to play board games (Ryley and Greg)

10. Because he gives us kisses (Bridget)

9. Because he is “Ours” (Grandma on the phone)

8. Because he is super caring (Gregory)

7. Because he is supportive and encouraging (Kelli)

6. Because he likes beer (Kelli)

5. Because he is a good cook (Gregory and Delaney)

4. Because he likes Star Wars (Gregory)

3. Because he is tall (Delaney)

2. Because he got us a great Auntie (Gregory)

And The #1 Top Reason We Love Uncle Chris...

Is That He Is The BEST UNCLE EVER!!!!

Happy 30^th Birthday!

xoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Kelli, Dean, Gregory, Ryley, Bridget & Delaney

And one more shot of the Piacenza wine gang... thanks guys.

Updated April 30: Xanthos is South African, not South American (doh!) and I didn”t realize Cam went in on Jon with the book package.

Related posts:

1. Happy Birthday Bridget!
2. Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada
3. Awwwwwwwwwww... I ♥ U!

I know I can speak for Laura as well when I say that we found it difficult to leave Lanciano.

As I write this, we’re speeding north in a cozy train compartment toward Piacenza, Italy to see our friend Christine. Laura is napping on the seats across from me, lines of sunlight and shadow moving lazily across her face as the train rounds a bend. The view is a blur of green, with olive groves, wineries, and distinctly Italian villas giving way periodically to sleepy towns of squat, graffiti-clad concrete buildings and ancient looking stone houses. Across the aisle I see nothing but blue sky and the slowly lapping waves of the Adriatic Sea. I know I should be excited to be back on the road, but I can’t help but feel like we’re leaving something behind that’s not easily found. Or replaced.

Cris met us this morning at the Mercato, where we enjoyed our last Cappucino in Lanciano. Coffee at the D’Alessandro’s market has been one of our daily rituals here, and the bartender Shamim makes them better than anyone in town. Parting with Cris at the train station was bittersweet, as parting with friends always is. But I think it’s the sense of community, of belonging to a place and a time and a group of people that we’ll miss the most.

Shamim at the Mercato Coperto makes the best cappucino in town.

We’re currently at the end of Month 4 without full-time jobs or a home, and both of us have started feeling tinges of homesickness and a subtle longing for those parts of living that a stable home life, work life, and friends and family provide. Thanks to the D’Alessandros and the cast of characters associated with their life in Lanciano, the past four weeks have been a respite for us from these feelings. We found friends among the teaching staff at CCI, coworkers (of sorts) among the Mercato staff as we did our best to help out as needed, and family among the D’Alessandros, people I have been hearing about since meeting Laura almost six years ago, but whom I only really met over this past month.

We printed some photos from the family portrait session for the D’Alessandros, and had this one framed.

We were really lucky to have visited at a time when the whole family was around, and to have been able to integrate so much with all the people here. We’ll miss Eligio’s and Mrika’s ciaos at the market, Franco’s whistle (indicating he has “a little job” for us), Marissa’s hugs, David’s film tips, Tim and Vittoria’s dance moves, Carla and Cris’s sisterly bickering, Davide’s impassioned speeches, conversations with Nonno and Nanna, Said’s buffets, poker nights, and a dozen other things and people that made daily life so rich for us.

We really enjoyed helping out as well, in the limited way we were able to. It was a pleasure to shoot school yearbook portraits of the students and staff at the school (with Laura as my fashion and hair assistant), and helping out however we could at the market, from unloading produce, wine, pasta, and flowers, to making bouquets (this was firmly Laura’s territory—I was her assistant), running separate and very spaced out cash registers during an influx of hundreds of pilgrims (despite my nonexistant Italian), or setting up (and taking down, and setting up again) chairs and tables each weekend. Laura also typed up some 500 names and addresses for the Mercato mailing list. We were happy to undertake these tasks; these little jobs allowed us to fit in.

Marissa asked me if I could shoot the yearbook pictures this year. I did my best to make them consistent considering I had no flashes or tripod, and that they were taken over the course of several days as people became available.

Laura stocks wine in the Mercato. We unloaded several palettes of the stuff.

Our friend Eligio makes like a true badass.

Eligio has been a friend of the D’Alessandro family since him and Davide used to play together as infants. He’s pretty much Franco’s right-hand man at the market and Allegria (hotel/restaurant). This shot is much more indicative of his warm and cheerful personality.

The chef Said is from Egypt, and is responsible for most of the staff and student meals. We enjoyed his work on pretty much a daily basis. He’s a genius.

We had two poker nights while in town. At this one, Tim’s chip pile eventually included most of his girlfriend Vittoria’s as well. All’s fair in love and poker, I guess.

But by the end of the night, Cris was the big winner, raking in some 15 Euro in profit.

As sad as we are to leave, we couldn’t have chosen a better note to end on. Laura and Cris have been conspiring over the last week or so to throw a joint birthday party for Mrika and I, and we had an absolute blast this past Saturday night. After a delicious meal and a few glasses of red wine in a local restaurant, we moved to the D’Alessandros’ Allegria, where Cris and Laura surprised Mrika and I with a fantastic pastry tart, complete with candles to commemorated our combined age of 61. After Mrika and I made the rounds sharing the leftovers with everyone in the restaurant, we moved downstairs to dance the night away amidst our own private Balloon Battle Dance Party.

Mrika and I blowing out the candles of our joint birthday cake. I don’t want to give away Mrika’s age, but 30 of those candles are mine, so to speak.

Tim and Vittoria at our birthday dinner. Tim teaches math and physics at the school. Vittoria is a don; she oversees the girls dorm.

The gang surprised us with a wall of noisemakers when we finally made it downstairs for the birthday party.

That’s when the wine really kicked in and we had a spontaneous Balloon Battle Dance Party. We acted like children. It was great.

Carla smokes David with a balloon of death. Carla was particularly ruthless.

Speaking of balloons of death, Tim doesn’t just take Vittoria’s poker chips, he also beats her with balloons... Actually, these two are ridiculously affectionate and pretty much a perfect couple.

Lanciano is a place that was formative for my wife while she went to high school, and after meeting some of the people responsible for that and getting to be a part of that life, I can finally understand why. It truly meant a great deal to us for her to be able to share it with me.

I definitely am excited to be back on the road. We’ve got a week in northern Italy ahead, before heading to Morocco, a country I’ve wanted to visit for years, and then Romania, Eastern Turkey and Iran. The next eight to ten weeks may be among the most interesting and exotic of our trip. But I’m also excited to begin thinking about once again having a home, whether it’s a temporary one in Thailand, or a more permanent one back home. We’ve been talking a lot of crazy talk lately about what we plan to do when we do get back to Canada; about the businesses we’ll start, the home we’ll build, eduction, children, and the life we’ll create. We can only hope to find a sense of belonging and community as rich as the one we left behind this morning.

Marissa, Franco, Carla and Cris all asked us when we’ll be coming back, and (separately!) encouraged us to do so when we “run out of money.” While we definitely don’t intend to return under those circumstances, we will be back some day.

The D’Alessandros graciously put us up in a beautiful furnished apartment that happened to be sitting empty at the moment. When we weren’t hanging out or working at the market, we were watching DVDs of the Sopranos and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Laura gets dolled up at our swanky pad. I noticed this shot while leaning out of the window admiring the view and just had to run and grab my camera.

Related posts:

1. Lanciano, Laura’s old stomping grounds
2. Meet the D’Alessandros
3. Pasta babies from the pace of life in Piacenza

Clockwise from left: Cris, Davide, Mr. D’Alessandro, Carla, Nonno, Nonna, and Mrs. D’Alessandro.

Laura and I have been having a wonderful time here in Lanciano, thanks entirely to our hosts, the D’Alessandro family. The family runs the Canadian College of Italy here in Lanciano, and life around town with them is non-stop. I call the old part of town the D’Alessandro Campus, as guests, students and staff are constantly bouncing between the school, the Allegria (for meals), their dorms, and the family-owned market. Luckily they’ve been finding lots for Laura and I to help with, and we’ve been only too happy to do so.

Things have quieted down in the last 24 hours or so, as Davide flew back to Canada, and Carla and Mrs. D are off to a conference for the next week, but I’ve felt very lucky to have finally met the whole clan while they were all here. Not only do I owe this amazing family a huge thank you for helping to see my future wife through her appendix surger(ies!) all those years ago, but we also owe them a huge thank you for putting us up in such style and feeding us while we’ve been here.

We did a family portrait session while they were all around. Unexpectedly, Cris’ 83-year-old grandparents also dropped in for a surprise visit all the way from Toronto.

Anyway, thank you so much D’Alessandros! You guys are fantastic!

Yes, Davide is this cool.

What a beautiful family!

Mr. and Mrs. D.

Nonno is Italian for Grandpa.

Related posts:

1. A Month in Lanciano
2. Lanciano, Laura’s old stomping grounds
3. Pasta babies from the pace of life in Piacenza

We’ve been relaxing in Lanciano with my good friend Cristina (who I call “Cris)  and her family. I met Cris when she was 13-years old and I was 16-years old. We hit it off from the very beginning. Some of you might recognize her because she was one of my bridesmaids.  Her family runs the high school here, called Canadian College of Italy the Renaissance School, where I attended grade 10, 11 and half of 12.

Here are a couple photos of this beautiful Italian town and the people I love.

Chris walking through the main piazza of Lanciano featuring the bell tower and the Basilica.

The bell tower rings every 15-minutes. First it rings one tone of bell for what hour it is, then another tone lets you know if it is 15-after, 30-minutes or 45-minutes after the hour. To say the least, if you visit Lanciano be prepared to hear a lot of bells.

Since arriving it has become a daily ritual for Chris and I to wake-up and head directly for the market or “mercato” in Italian, to satisfy our craving for caffeine. A double espresso or cappuccino usually does the trick.

Carla and Chris enjoying a cappuccino at the market.

We’ve also been helping out with odd tasks around the school and market. One of the first things we did was help Carla, Cris’s sister, decorate the market for Easter.

Carla and Chris hard at work trying to figure out how to make the purple and green paper hang “just-so”.

We even worked out our muscles and helped unload a van full of fresh produce the night before the weekly Wednesday market. I had no idea a crate of zucchini’s could be so heavy.

Laura and Chris help unload fresh produce at the market as their new friend, Mrika, chuckles at their technique.

Of course after a workout like that we were all craving a well deserved drink so we headed back to the Allegria, the restaurant/hotel where the students eat lunch and dinner, which at one point also contained a wine bar for the public.

From left to right: Eligio (staff member of the market & restaurant), Cris (my lovely girlfriend), Mrika (staff member of the market & restaurant), Davide (my girl friends brother) and me!

Cris and I enjoying our first beer together, EVER! She has only recently discovered the beauty of beer. I have a feeling we’ll be drinking a few more together.

Filled with excitement and energy after a good nights rest, I wanted to show Chris the school.

Chris spots my Grade 12 school photo hanging on the wall in the school.

After exploring the school for a bit, we met up with Cris, her boyfriend Dave and her sister Carla. Of course I had to get a shot of them in front of the school.

Dave, Carla, Cris and Chris standing outside CCI The Renaissance School the Canadian high school in Lanciano, Italy.

Cris and Chris, essentially THE two Chris’s in my life, walk past some students on their way to lunch.

One evening Cris took us on a tour of the central town. Her tour focused primarily on churches and architecture with its most exciting and well known topic being the Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano. Seeing as the miracle is in a church I didn’t feel comfortable taking a photo, but the link provides excellent information on both Lanciano and the miracle. However, on the tour we did see some wonderful examples of modern day life and old architecture.

People having a smoke break outside of the town teatro (theatre).

This large space rests directly under the basilica. Other hallways and corridors are found underground which were used as protective passageways for priests and as a cistern hundreds of years ago.

Lastly, I snapped a couple of photos while we were in Rome. Chris was doing a lot of street photography while we were there so I shot a few as well and a couple of the church that displays a Michaelangelo sculpture.

A little boy in Rome marvels at the Egyptian looking mime.

An intense walk.

San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome, Italy. The church that contains one of Michaelangelo’s masterpieces.

A quiet corridor of San Pietro in Vincoli, a church in Roma, Italy.

Related posts:

1. A Month in Lanciano
2. Meet the D’Alessandros
3. Easter Procession

Easter is of course huge for Italy’s Catholic population. In Lanciano, where we have been staying for the past week or so, Easter is a week long affair filled with socializing, shared meals, picnics, and religious processions through the streets, replete with religious artifacts, costumes and marching bands.

On Thursday night before the Easter weekend, the Churches open their doors to display “Sepulchre,” or artistic displays of Christ coming off the cross. Thursday night also kicked off a weekend of processions with a hooded march through the old districts of the city. The mood was sombre, if not a little eery, with a marching band droning in a minor key.

These shots were from that night. The interior shots were from a particularly well-done Sepulchre, and the rest are of the hooded procession.

For a small donation, the faithful can light a candle.

Folks exiting the church. I swear they had a fog machine in there.

One particularly penitent man has the honour of bearing a large wooden cross.

We ran a little wildly through the streets in order to see the procession pass a few more times. This was taken from the CCI school balcony.

The marching band followed behind.

As the procession snakes its way through the narrow streets, it picks up followers.

More of the silent followers.

After the procession, the main piazza was thronged with Liancanese visiting with each other. This was about midnight local time.

Related posts:

1. Lanciano, Laura’s old stomping grounds
2. A Month in Lanciano
3. Meet the D’Alessandros

Man with birds. Roma.

I hate when people ask me if I’m a photographer.

Sometimes it’s the gear that prompts this. They see the expensive looking camera, or maybe pick up my kit for a moment and are taken aback by how heavy it is. “Whoa! You must be a photographer.” Maybe it’s the final shots that have them whoa-ing, but the gear still takes centre-stage: “You’re camera takes great pictures!”

But no, the reason I hate when people ask me if I’m a photographer is because I’m not sure what to say. On the one hand, I most certainly am. I’ve shot weddings, portraiture, and used my photography as the foundation of several paid graphic design projects. I’ve been paid money to shoot. Simple. But on the other hand, I feel like I’m not really a photographer at all. To date, photography has only been a small part of what I do, and after more than ten years looking through a series of increasingly expensive lenses, I’m still not really doing the kind of photography that has always inspired me the most.

All of my favourite photographers are documentary photographers. The famous black and white street scenes of Henri Cartier-Bresson. The blisteringly visceral war photography of James Nachtwey. The artfully realized wedding work of Jeff Ascough.

Their subjects vary considerably, as well as their styles, but there is a thread of consistency among this type of work that transcends stylistic differences. Unlike fashion photography, most forms of portraiture, and pretty much anything done in a studio, quality documentary work is basically true, at least from the photographer’s point of view. They don’t have the luxury or inclination to ask their subjects to turn a bit to the left, or take a few steps back or find a more flattering angle. Their raw material is only what’s there at a given moment; the light as the camera can record it. Their medium is the world itself.

Every artist has the power to manipulate their audience, and documentary photographers are no different. But compared to a painter who can create whole worlds with the strokes of his brush, or a sculptor who can destroy with the driving bite of her chisel, the documentary photographer’s tool box is much more restricted. His only means of manipulating the final image is to choose what to include in or exclude from the frame; what to focus on, what sort of mood to imbue through lighting, composition, focal length. And while the simplest of these tools can still be very powerful means of manipulation, they do not carry the god-like creative potential of other mediums. Some might think this to be a limitation, but for me it has always been photography’s greatest strength. Art is about interpreting the world around us; recording what we see, sharing how we feel. Documentary photography does this in the most literal way possible. To me, this is the main attraction of the photographic medium, and the ideal I have always aspired to in my own style.

I certainly can’t claim to be a photographer on the same level as those mentioned above. More than anyone, I am aware of just how far my work falls short of where I’d like it to be, and this is why I struggle with the dreaded question. But I am a photographer, and although I am not where I want to be in terms of development or recognition, I am proud of how far I’ve come. One of my biggest goals during our travels is to challenge myself photographically, to think in terms of projects not just individual shots, and to push myself outside of my own comfort levels while behind the camera. Street photography is one way to do this, but it’s not the only way.

I am a photographer; one who is becoming surer and surer that this work is and will continue to be a large part of my professional life.

Man with bandage. Istanbul.

Woman on cell phone. Roma.

Mother and daughter. Istanbul.

Walking man. Roma.

Three ladies. Roma.

Street performer. London.

Busy street at sunset. Roma.

Young tour guide. Tloss, Turkey.

Commuter. Istanbul.

Man on bike. Lanciano.

Teenage couple. Roma.

Young woman. Roma.

Couple kissing. Roma.

Man on ferry. Istanbul.

Related posts:

1. 24 hours in Roma
2. Aya Sophia: up close and personal
3. Everyday Istanbul

Your intrepid bloggers do a self-portrait under the Pantheon’s concrete dome. The interior of the building looks recently restored, as it is spotlessly clean. Why yes, I am sporting a handsome moustache! I’m flattered you noticed.

Laura and I are killing a few hours here in Rome before catching a bus to Lanciano. We had about a day to take in a few sights and pasta dishes here. After almost 2 months in Turkey, the food here has been a huge delight for us. Pizaa, pasta, beef steak! And the pork! (as a Muslim nation, pork products simply don’t exist in Turkey) Delicious! Don’t get me wrong, Turkish cuisine is great, but any food will get tiresome after eating nothing but for two months.

Rest assured, we will be resting and regrouping here in Italy and will catch up on our blog posts, so expect more photos and stories from Turkey as well as the 3rd and probably final instalment of the Turkish food series. Here are a few shots from beautiful Roma.

The photo this fellow is taking seems to be duplicated by every second tourist through the Pantheon’s massive doorways.

A woman cruises past the hordes of tourists walking on the Via dei Fori Imperiali.

Tourists throng the Via Borgognona leading away from the famous Spanish Steps. Compared to places we’ve been in recent weeks, Rome is absolutely full of tourists.

We stopped into San Pietro in Vincoli to see one of Michaelangelo’s masterpieces, the Moses sculpture for the tomb of his Pope and patron, (insert forgotten Pope’s name here).

Like everyone else in this city, this couple enjoy a moment taking and reviewing their snapshots.

Another self portrait.

I have several more street photography shots from one day in Rome, but I think I’ll post those a little later as part of a post I’ve been working on regarding photography in general.

UPDATE #1: Also, it’s lonely on the road. If you’re reading this, please leave a comment and let us know you care!

UPDATE #2: We totally missed our bus out of Rome thanks to stupid Daylight Savings time. So we could use your messages of support and love more than ever. Especially Laura. She’s been bummed out all day.

Related posts:

1. Lanciano, Laura’s old stomping grounds
2. Pasta babies from the pace of life in Piacenza
3. Documentary Photography: An Unrealized Ambition