Aosta, Italy (5/6-8/2006)

I am actually standing in front of a Roman bridge in the city of Aosta which got it's start under Roman occupation up in a huge valley within the Alps. The town it's self is very pretty, but dead in the off seaon, we couldn't even get to the top of the mountain because the cableway was closed. I'm happy that I got to see this city before I left Italy.

There I am in front of a Roman arch. I believe that this arch was actually reconstructed in thw 30's.

The main piazza in Aosta. They were having some kind of competition and were flying remote controlled airplanes thorugh the piazza. It's a shame that all my pictures of the planes look like crap, so you'll just have to trust me when I say it was fun to watch.

This is a picture of the street that links the main piazza to the train station. I liked the green I saw down the road, so I took the picture.

This is one of the many towers that mark a corner of the Roman wall which surrounds the city. I like this one the most because it's round.

This is a picture from the western edge of town towards the higher mountains off in a distance.

Before I forget, this is my friend, Heather, another Fulbrighter who is currently up in Norway and decided to stop in Italy on her way to Spain for a conference. I'm glad she did because it forced me to get out and see another part of the county I hadn't seen before. Thanks.

Now the main even, the Roman ruins in Aosta ... How exciting ... I guess our timing was bad for this trip because not only did we not get to go to Pila, the top of the mountain, we managed to see Aosta while they were doing restoration work on the theater wall, which doesn't leave much room for a good picture. Oh well, maybe next time.

A picture of the Roman ruins in Aosta. One of these days I'll get a hang of this photostich thing and then I won't get any more of these black bars. It the scaffolding was gone, this picture would be a lot cooler.

The Runner in Me (4/2/06 and 4/9/06)

Who would have thunk it? Me a runner? After two races for two consecutive weekends, I think I may be tunring over a new leaf so to speak. The first race was the Stramilano (15 km through Milan) and the second was the Straticino (11 km through Pavia). This was taken after the second race, but I decided to put on all my gear again for the sake of the picture.