13th of March.  SO! Today, we were supposed to get up at 8, be gone by 9 to go to the armory museum. Well, I got up at 8, thought I probably misremembered the time and maybe we were supposed to be up at 9. And 9 rolls by, 9:15, it gets to 9:30 and I figure maybe I’ll wake her up, then I hear her talking (and it doesn’t sound like sleep talking) So  around 9:45 she comes out and apologizes profusely. apparently there is a transportation strike so she has been on the phone with John for the last 45 minutes trying to figure out transportation, as he is in Rome and needs to figure out how to get back to Torino. We don’t end up leaving until 11 because he keeps calling back with questions. We get to the square (after realizing that the tram we wanted wasn’t running due to the strike had to take an alternate tram) and it is filled with police with riot gear and protesters in favor of the strike… After a brief look and a WHOA WTF? Moment we found a empty way to get to the museum and got in. So – since I am under 25  I got in as a student (2 Euro) and Kaity was 4, the lady was very apologetic. I was thinking REALLY! Even 4 Euro is a fabulous price for a decent museum. And this was FANTASTIC! The entryway was all marble and frescoes and lovely and then we saw the no photos sign! SAD! So the gallery was filled with fabulous taxedermied horses, rows upon rows of swords/armor/guns/etc. and it was all SO intricate, and elaborate and beautiful. Then we saw one of the guys who worked there talking to a man who was taking pictures with his son and figured cool… well. He let us take a couple and then told us no Sad. And annoying. The other man took a TON of photos. Boo. Anyhow. When we left (around 1:30) the museum was supposed to be closing at 2. But I guess they were tired of working, the old man and his buddy followed us out and locked the doors ?? Weird. We were about to go into the royal palace and john called and needed Kaity to go back to the house to get some paperwork ready so they could go to the courthouse to get one last thing finalized. So we go back, spend about an hour and realize that the courthouse closes at 1:45 on Fridays so no way. Oh well. At this point we just have some lunch and wait for John to get home. Once he did, we went out, and visited Kaity’s favorite statue, tortured souls looking to climb this huge mountain of rock to the pinnacle where an angel is. Very pretty. Then perused some shops in the piazza – I got a small ball of cheese, and Kaity got some calligraphy pens. Took lots of pictures of a cool museum, some light posts, and tons of architecture, and headed home. Ran to the grocery store for supplies for dinner (spinach and mushroom lasagna) Made dinner (OMNOMNOM) and watched big bang theory.

Filed under: Italy 2010, Travel by Laura
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So today I finally got chickens in my Chicken arc, or chicken tractor. This is a small coop made by my father that has wheels so that once a week I can move it around so they have a new patch of ground to scratch over. Three little hens were moved in last night and I finally got them to come out late this morning and now they are clucking about rather alarmed. I can’t wait to have my own fresh eggs again. Omnomnom. There are three varieties out there, an Americauna http://www.ameraucana.org/ (which are the kind that lay blue green or pinkish brown eggs), and she is a beautiful golden rust with pale slate blue feathers in her wings. A Cuckoo Maran http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/…..BRKMarans.html which are dark barred chickens that lay VERY dark brown eggs. And a buff rock http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/buff_rocks.html which lays nice brown eggs consistently. I will try and post pictures of my actual birds and their lovely living accommodations soon. I love chickens, such a fun animal.

Of course Isis thinks I got her a three new toys, so I am glad they are not in the yard together.  Hopefully she’ll calm down as life goes on.

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Soooes, I got up at around 10:30 – I was SO tired.
got dressed, had some eggs, and went for a walk around the neighborhood.
found tons of cool architecture – a drainpipe with a cool spike collar
was looking for a particular statue but never found it. when i got home I realized (only due to google maps google earth feature) as it is a few blocks away from the street is said to be on. hopefully i will find it later. it should look amazing at night.
came back had lunch (when kaity woke up at around12:30) then we went out to go to the egyptian museum. found a really cool church on the way with awesome sculpture that neither of us know what it is called. it’s right near the museum though.
we probably spent 4 or 5 hours at the museum it was fantastic. they had sarcophagi upon sarcophagi… in some instances literally! also tons of canopic jars, tomb pieces. reliefs and more. I took a ton of pictures! I’ll post them later… need to color correct.  It was a long day though, it was hard on my knee. we also had to run to catch the tram and snowing so a bit cold. By the time we got home it was really really sore, we took a trip across the st to the grocery store to get food for dinner. Had delicious chicken alfredo and a salad. nummy. Also made banana bread and lemon bread, it was delicious.
Stayed up until 12:30 or so with Kaity sharing tastes in music. Then up until 1:20 downloading my photos to the laptop.  Read more... (1351 words, estimated 5:24 mins reading time)

Filed under: Italy 2010, Travel by Laura
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