New feature: slide show

I have figured out how to add a slide show of photographs to the blog so I can upload all photos taken during the trip. In addition to posting larger individual pictures (see earlier test post) on which I can comment specifically and in more depth, I hope to maintain a running montage to the left.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Russert in Rome

I want to take a moment to recognize the life and passing of one of my all-time favorite TV personalities, Tim Russert. A week ago, Russert, his wife Maureen Orth and their son, Luke, had been celebrating Luke’s graduation from Boston College with a family trip to Italy. Russert left his family in Rome and returned to Washington DC on Thursday night. He died at the NBC studios on Friday afternoon. Tonight on Countdown, Keith Olbermann briefly showed a picture of the Russert family standing and smiling together in a corridor of the Vatican Museum. I gasped out loud when I saw it. I have stood there before, and shortly, I may stand there again. But, for me, it will never be the same. For ten days, I will wonder if I am walking in the Russerts’ footsteps, if I am taking as much pleasure from the sights and sounds as they did, if they know I’m thinking about and grieving with them. Probably not, but that’s the kind of sentimental sap I am. Rome, Russert. Just had to say it.

Picture taken from The Huffington Post.

Testing photo attachments

Because I am taking my laptop, I will be blogging throughout our trip to Italy. I've never posted photographs to a blog before, so this is a test. These are pictures from my last trip. I will try to post video separately.

This is a picture I snapped while wandering through a residential neighborhood between our B&B and the Coliseum. I am repeatedly drawn to this color Mediterranean blue. It always seems so fresh and vital.

This photo was taken as I approached the Coliseum through the park behind it--not the standard touristy perspective. I felt as if I was eavesdropping on a private moment here, but the mood of the shot captured a peacefulness that I have never personally felt in Rome because it is such a giant, pulsing metropolis.