Day Twenty-two

Today we spent much time in the studio working on some of our final images for the class as Mel, our photographer is leaving us on Wednesday. We did make a brief trip out into the world to go visit an institute that restores old books. On the way there our walk was interrupted by the CRAZIEST motorcade I have ever seen! There were easily fifty vehicles involved ranging from police motorcycles all the way up to huge SUVS loaded with angry men armed with machine guns. They were driving so fast through the town, blocking off intersections and making a lot of noise. Wondering who could be this important to warrant such a scene, I noticed that the limousine in the middle of the convoy was flying the american flag. So, when I got home I looked up to see what our jokers in charge are up to these days. My search revealed this:

Mr. Cheney met Giorgio Napolitano, Italy's left-wing and largely ceremonial

president, at his Quirinale palace in Rome before some scheduled sight-seeing

in the ancient Etruscan town of Orvieto. He was due to meet Silvio Berlusconi,

centre-right prime minister, on Tuesday.

Geez, just when you think you've escaped American politics for a bit by moving to Rome for a month, the vice president comes hunting you down.... The car full of machine gun guys was not very amused by a gang of photographers just happening to be on the motorcade route. They were shouting at us as they drove by. Unfortunately I really did not get any pictures to speak of.

I did however get some nice images of the super friendly book technicians we met today. They were very thorough in their explanation of the restoration process, perhaps a little too much. Interesting nonetheless.

I also liked this nun I saw today, looking quite fashionable dressed up in blue....