Hey so I found a little time coincident with having an internet connection so I figured I'd blog it up a bit, now with pictures! First of all, these girls are my daughters in the Blue Mosque in Istanbul earlier this summer. I loved the pic so much I added it here. The confused one is graduating and the smiley one doesn't know I just traded her for a camel. Or maybe she does. Anyway here is a picture of me in San Francisco towering over the little people. Actually they're on a lower floor at the gate in San Francisco. 

My first stop was Paris and I thought I'd let you know that if you ever get to Paris, there is no need to go see the boring sights when you could just stay in the airport and play video games for free. If you average the price of the ticket over ten thousand games, it actually can seem like a smart financial decision!  OK to the meat of the purpose for the trip! Here is a very cool statue of Amenemhet III from the Middle Kingdom, a few hundred years before Achilles and Troy and the war. I hope you can get a look at the expression on his face. Very calm and serene, yet powerful. If you can understand something of the person you are looking at across the centuries because of the skill of the craftsman, you've got an advanced level of art. 

This is St. Petersburg (used to be called Leningrad) at 6am. No one up. Always light in the summer. This iower is the largest free-standing statue in the world.  I think.

OK! To the meat of the purpose for the trip! Here is a very cool statue of Amenemhet III from the Middle Kingdom, a few hundred years before Achilles and Troy and the war. I hope you can get a look at the expression on his face. Very calm and serene, yet powerful. If you can understand something of the person you are looking at across the centuries because of the skill of the craftsman, you've got something special, something that perhaps indicates a high level of sophistication in your society. This is why it's so interesting to see this stuff in person if you get the chance. 

Below is an image of "Statue of a Roman as a Hero," from the first century AD (just after Augustus). Interestingly, unlike the Greeks, if their subjects were ugly, a Roman sculptor would sculpt him in his ugliness. That allows us to believe that the statues actually resembled the very people they were depicting, which again, I think is really neat. In my house we make fun of the word neat, so I use it to jab my family here. But it is neat! 

 Here's another example - this is Roman from the 3rd century AD - "Portrait of a Roman." Just look at this character below. One of the  general. He looks like a pretty tough guy.

 

On the other hand, take a look at this guy below. Does he look tough and commanding? Or does he maybe look a little timid and scared. He probably was. Balbin took over as emperor after the previous guy was assassinated and Emperor Balbin only lasted three months in the job in before he was killed 238 AD. 

And the Romans didn't just sculpt the men either. Cornelia Salonina, who was first lady to Emperor Gallien around 250AD, is depicted below. I wonder if Michelle Obama's statue will be around in 1700 years. I hope so. That would hopefully mean the old US of A is still around and that cockroaches aren't ruling the earth.

This is something many people don't know - the Egytians have writing other than heiroglyphics. And here is a love letter written on a pot shard to prove it.

 The Hermitage is one of the few museums in the world that has a Da Vinci painting. Hopefully you are doing your summer reading and you'll learn about what an amazing guy Da Vinci was. Here is a painting of the Madonna and Child...

 ...and here is a picture of me photobombing the Da Vinci. This kind of thing can get you thrown out of the Agora Museum in Greece, if youwere to try to photobomb the Spartan shield there. Museum curators need to lighten up a bit. Anyway, I'm sure other tourists were snapping photos of me in front of it like I painted it. Who'll know the difference? Maybe you guys! As Junior Art Historians you will know that Da Vinci never wore glasses nor did he often wear neon orange.

 

 Ah...a Greek helmet from the fifth century BC - around the time of the War between the Athenians and the Spartans. See if you can tell me what war that was on the first day of class. Note the long nose protectors on the Greek helmets. Hmmm...can we make any generalizations? Can we think of any insults the Persians may have hurled against a Greek in such a helmet? History can be fun!

 

Ok so how do we tell Mr. Keating to stop this interminably boring blog post? Note the odd sign I saw while my taxi driver was hurtling through another intersection? What symbol in mathematics is similar to a member of the Cyrillic alphabet? What sounds would it make if it were used in a sentence like a letter??  Once you solve the puzzle, translate the answr into Russian and tell my cabbie!

 Travel tip of the day - take a picture of a map on your phone; then if you're lost you can find your way! Like that Amazing Grace song.

The outside of the Hermitage is pale green and gold. Very cool. Just as impressive on the inside too. As impressive as Versailles without all the annoying foreigners who don't speak English as well as I (note I not me). Wait...Russians aren't great at speaking English either. They would speak English better if we'd properly invaded them in 1917. Just kidding. I like foreigners a lot, especially when they're where they belong, like in their own countries, overcharging me for coffee. OK just kidding again. Really. I'll stop now.
 

Last thing...here's a picture of me after a day at the beach near Chernobyl. Actually it's a Scythian. Hopefully he looked better before he died. 

Back Soon! Keep reading.