Maiden Voyage... er, Post

I used to worship the mighty genius of Michelangelo - that man who was great in poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture - great in everything he undertook. But I do not want Michelangelo for breakfast... I like a change, occassionally.

- Mark Twain, from The Innocents Abroad

So I might as well start things from the beginning, and the above quote about sums me up quite well. I adore Mark Twain and Michelangelo, and I just couldn't have expressed the sentiment any better. I discovered Mark Twain as a preteen, and then Michelangelo my senior year of high school.

Mark Twain didn't make me keen to tour the Mississipi (although I have visited his hometown in Missouri) - but Michelangelo left me desperate to visit Italy. Especially Florence. But that was just a daydream for years, completely unreachable in my mind. So in college I chose Italian to meet my language requirement, and took a class in Renaissance Art History. All this did was fan the flames of lust, not quench them.

So here we are, 17 years later, and I'm finally going to see my dreamboat. Well, his art anyway. Eric and I are going to Italy for three weeks! I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop - I'm so paranoid that something catastrophic will happen to keep me from that plane, that when it snowed on Friday I almost giggled like a lunatic. Can you imagine, Seattle getting snowed in when I'm supposed to finally make my pilgrimage?! The feeling was exactly the same as the moment the doctor told me I had Pink Eye two days before my wedding. All of the planning, and who could foresee something like that? So snow. Three days before we leave. You either have to laugh or cry.

I will leave you with an image - probably my favorite piece of art ever.



The original full-sized image can be found here.