Italy!!

I am usually one for rugged travel, absolutely obsessed with traveling in Africa, South America, Southeast Asia and so on. When me and Paul decided to go to Italy, I was excited, but not as much as I usually am. I was so wrong. We started in Rome, and I was quickly taken away by the scale of that city. The monuments throughout the city made me feel so small because of their shear size and beauty. The art in the Vatican was breathtaking, images that I had seen before but never really experienced till I had seen them in life.

We spent New Years there, and wow, the Italians know how to party. Take a look at the broken glass on the streets. We walked around and stood next to a statue of a Roman god and watched the fireworks right next to him. It was surreal. I found a few circus performers, and they let me use their fire staff, so I gave a fire show with all these Italians chanting "kristi". I was in a circus group in Sydney and learned how to twirl fire. I didn't travel back with my stick, and really have no place in Atlanta to play with fire, so I haven't had a chance to twirl in years. I did pretty well, I think Paul was impressed. I will always remember twirling fire on the streets of Rome on the first day of this year!

We went on to Venice, and I got to shop a bit! I am a sucker for buying work from local artist, so in Venice I was going crazy. I found a mask maker I liked and got her to custom make a mask for me. I got to take some pictures of her working on my mask. I just love it!