how ya like them apples

Ya know what's worse than being sick. . . being sick on vacation! I'd felt ill for a while, then it got really bad my last night in florence. at that moment i wanted to get home as fast as possible. the biggest thing keeping me in italy was my one thing i wanted to see in italy the most - the sistine chapel. ever since i studied it, i've wanted to see it. there was a line in good will hunting where robin williams (who happens to look a lot like my dad when they both have beards) says to matt damon, "So if I asked you about art, you'd probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life's work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I'll bet you can't tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You've never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that." that's where i'll be tomorrow.

rome at night is huge and amazing! when i turned the corner and looked at capital hill with the confident statue of victor emmanuell on horseback, i wanted to fall to my knees. there was something divine about that sight on a calm, clear night. i guess if you were the first king of rome you deserve to build something like that. the fact that it lasted through all the wars is the crazy part.