Saturday, May 30, 2009

There here!!!!

Today I finally went to pick up our wedding invitations!!!!













Thursday, May 28, 2009

12th Annual Mediterranean Studies Congress

This week I've been busy with this conference :

12th Annual Mediterranean Studies Congress


The Mediterranean Studies Association is an interdisciplinary organization which promotes the scholarly study of the Mediterranean region in all aspects and disciplines. It is particularly concerned with the ideas and ideals of western Mediterranean cultures from Late Antiquity to the Enlightenment and their influence beyond these geographical and temporal boundaries.

It is soooooo interesting! There are people from all over the world and it is so much fun to translate for them! At first when they sent me abstracts to translate I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to do a good job. But then I started reseaching and getting more and more into what I was doing that in the end at the opening cerimony yesterday, I recevied many compliments for my preperation and on how professional I was. It made me feel GREAT! I'll post more on the experince when it ends!!!


Monday, May 18, 2009

Looks like good weather has come for good! As I put together this post it is 86° outside and SUNNY! No rain! Hurray!!!!

I've been really busy putting together all the wedding plans, and some things have well, just gone wrong. Unfortunately we found out to our great disappointment that we cannot get married on the beach as we wished we could. There is a law in Italy that does not allow you to get married civilly outside of the City Hall; although we did ask the City of Cagliari for a special permit, and they granted us one, the City of Pula said no. The resort where we are have the reception is in Pula City limits and not Cagliari's, so it's their jurisdiction... what a bummer. So We'll be having the civil ceremony at Cagliari's City Hall (because Pula's City Hall is just HORRIBLE). Cagliari's City Hall is very beautiful , it is an 18th century building built in Liberty style; it was bombarded on Feb. 26th 1943 during WW2 and then restored.


As for the weekend... here are a few pix to enjoy!


Enrico over looking a surf peak, but there weren't any waves to his dismay!

A view of the semi-deserted beach

Me trying not to get too much sun all at once...
wouldn't want to be a funny color for our wedding!
wild flowers

Beaches in the distance

Beach we were at called Porto Paglia (Port Hay)

Bent trees from the strong North West winds


Green hills with bent trees as we left....



Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Sunday Stroll...

This weekend Cagliari had an Open Monuments Day. It was nice to get out and walk around for a Sunday stroll, and expecially nice for me to practice taking pictures!



Saint Pancrazius Defense Tower (1305)

If you look hard on the right hand side
there's still a bit of writing from Mussolini's domain signed by him...

just a cool picture of a palm tree's shadow

View from the terrace ...
...

Enrico Entering one of the homes...

...inside the home's entrance way, how cool would it be to live there!
With a grand stairway and all leading up to your appartment! I would totaly pretend to be a princess every day walking down!

Piazza beneath the Cathedral

Old City headquarters
A view of a balcony at the Old City's headquarters
Detail
The Cathedral
Inside the Cathedral

narrow winding roads & tall appartment buildings

Small tunnel underneath an appartment
connecting two roads in the castel.
In the distance on the upper left hand side
you can see a box and flowers. It's a shrine to the Madonna (Mary)
They're practically on every conner!


Rising Sun is a huge yacht designed by the late Jon Bannenberg, and built by Germany's Lürssen, is currently co-owned by Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation, and David Geffen. The yacht is the 6th largest in the world with a length of almost 138 meters (453 ft). It reportedly cost over US$200 million to build.


A view of Cagliari's main road, Via Roma that looks onto the port


A view of the City Hall... where we will prob. be getting married
since it's against the law to have a civil ceremony on the beach....(I'll blog on that later)

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Gabriel's Blessing/Babtisim

As most of you know, Roman Catholicism is by far the largest religion in Italy. Although the Catholic Church is no longer officially the state religion, 87.8% of Italians identify themselves as Roman Catholic, even if only about one-third of these describe themselves as active members (36.8%) Therefore, Enrico's Sister, Cristiana had Gabriel blessed and babtized. Catholics believe that baptism is necessary for the cleansing of the taint of the original sin, and for that reason infant baptism is a common practice. "It is Necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament..." Babtisim is done usually by pouring water in the West, by submersion or immersion in the East; sprinkling water is admitted only if the water then flows on the head. (More or less the same as Latter day Saints)

The sprinkling of water on the head

Godmother drys the baby's head

The priest then gives the baby a blessingThe Family or "La Famiglia" !

Carlotta and her cousins Camilla and Chiara

I don't think he was too happy all dressed up!!

Grandma Marinella & Grandma Franca

Godmother Simona (also the Auntie)
Godfather Luigi (also the Uncle) & Godmother Simona

Luigi, Rafaele, Cristiana & Simona

Crudele Family
Cristiana, Rafaele, Gabriel & Carlotta
Enrico & his 95 year-old Grandma Lucia
Gabriel & I

Again Gabriel & I
I just loved this pix of him yawning!