For our day trip while we were in Rome, I and several others decided to go to Pompeii. We caught the train down to Naples, where we then had about an hour before the next train out to Pompeii. We decided to eat lunch, and the seven of us headed out from the train station to see if there was a nearby restaurant. About two and a half blocks later, we decided it wasn't worth braving the electronics selling hoard of sketchy street vendors, and camped out in the train...

We got into Rome on the afternoon of the 6th, arriving at our hotel - Texas Seven Hills, where they "got paintin's on the ceilin'." We spent the rest of the evening walking all over Rome - we caught a glimse of the Roman Forum, a museum designed by Richard Meier to house an altar, and the Spanish Steps. After we ate dinner, several of us walked past the Trevi Fountain and poked into San Carlito del Quattro Fontaine on our way back to the hotel. To get r...

Today was our group tour of the Vatican. We arrived at the City walls early in the morning, a line to get in already stretching several blocks. Thankfully, we already had reservations, and got to go in before everyone in line. (it was like having the fast pass at Disneyworld, passing by all of those people...) We walked through the various wings of the Vatican museums and their tremendous collections of art - statues, mosaics, paintings, tapestries, frescoes,...

On Saturday, the group spent the day working on a design charrete, wandering the city for reference pictures and inspiration, and then working back at the hotel on the presentation pages. Today, our last full day in Siena, we - Becky and I - spent the day running around Siena documenting the 8 city gates for an extra project / contest assignec by Todd, and then did sketches and final drawings for the contest. The group met for pizza and contest exhibitions earl...

Today we headed to the city of Arezzo to wander about and see the market, which is held the first Sunday of every month, or so. If the bus at Neuschwanstein was a sardine can on wheels, the second train we rode to Arezzo was a can on rails. So many people were riding it, as it connected to most major Italian cities, that there was absolutely no seating, and hardly any standing room. Todd challenged us to find the coolest/weirdest/most unique item we could for ...