CARNEVALE IN VENICE!

Ciao tutti!

Back yesterday from Carnavale in Venice, a fabulous once in a lifetime experience!  My pal Kelly has been visiting for a couple of weeks & we took the opportunity to make a trip north.  Venice is the most charming & romantic place I have ever been!  The atmosphere of Carnavale made it so festive and fun.  Imagine people in masks & costumes carousing through the narrow streets and along the canals.  It was absolutely a photographer's dream come true.  While I am surely an amateur with my crappy little sony camera, I did manage to go crazy taking photos of everything.  I posted a whole bunch here, enjoy!

Sorry to be off the blog for a bit, I've been busy entertaining & reveling.

add a mask & everything becomes more fun!

half the fun is choosing your mask out of the million billion of them.

heh heh...

butterfly mask

so picturesque out by the lagoon

Rialto Bridge

getting into the spirit!

bridge of sighs, leading from the ducal palace to the prison

posing out in St. Mark's square, not a bad backdrop!

these guys were staying in our hotel

colorful gondola of luggage

just some average participants

confetti everywhere

then we got some wigs too

st. giorgio across the lagoon

just doing some posing of my own :)

looking across to St. Mark's, it is jam packed with people!

more of an industrial steam punk look 

love this pic!

she was our favorite

It was a game to get photos of these people, it was terrifically crowded & they would be surrounded by a ring of photographers.  You really had to be quick to get a good shot.  There would be people crouching down all around them to get just the perfect angle.  It was some addictive photography!

another fave

and then we had a picnic on the train down to Florence.

Wow!  Carnavale was so much fun!  If you ever get the chance, go!  It was freezing cold in Venice but,  still a fantastic time in a mysterious & historic city.   I'll post some more from our Venetian adventure soon.

Hope you are all well, sending hugs and kisses!
xx

La Neve!

Ciao tutti, spero che abbiate un buon weekend!! (using conjunctive tense!)

Here in Roma it is freezing!  -2 degrees C right now, a real cold SNAP!  You have probably seen in the news about Europe what a terrible state a lot of other northern countries are in.  People aren't prepared for this type of cold!  We sure aren't in Rome.  There had been talk for several days that it was going to snow on Friday.  Then, it did!  And everyone got real mad at the mayor for not preparing the city for the snow.  There were tons of traffic jams all over & the mayor had ordered things like museums and city offices to close so that people wouldn't try to go out & have car accidents.  The city certainly isn't prepared to deal with snow removal or large scale salting of the streets or anything like that.  Puzzling though why people got so angry about the situation.

outside my house.  no shovels exist here.

My flatmate & I had planned to go to the ballet on Friday during the storm.  The show was still going on & I had to convince her that we'd still be able to make it to the opera house despite the snow.  And, of course we made it!  Only about 1/3 of the audience made it to the show, kind of sad because it was opening night.  But, nice for us because we got to go down to the main floor to sit & ended up having really sweet seats!  The ballet was Coppelia, it was wonderful!  The prima ballerina was absolutely fantastic.  Here are some photos of me walking around Rome in the snow yesterday.  It was slippery & everyone was just shuffling slowly around.  My roomie said that in here lifetime they have never had a snow like this in Rome, sometimes a few flurries but nothing that sticks.

I'm not trying to make light of the situ either, the snow has really caused transport chaos all around the country.  Many people are out of power and potentially out of heat, yikes!  I am lucky to live in the city within walking distance of necessities.

unfinished start of a snowman 

Piazza Sant Maria de Trastevere, in my neighborhood.  dad, am now noticing "cornerstoning".  

Piazza Trilussa

cute snowman on the Ponte Sisto

haha, plastic bag feet.  it was really sloppy & not many people have the proper footwear.

snowy bike in Piazza Farnese

hopeful to use a sled, in campo di fiori

lots of people out to check out the novelty of snow in P. Navona

these dudes were entertaining the crowd despite the cold

those bare legs must be freezing!!  oh, ha ha.

P. Barberini

Stay warm, y'all!  xo