Hot Guys, Yet So Creepy

Pinup calendar of hot Venetian Gondoliere?



Sure!

They’re athletic, fit, work outdoors, sing Italian love songs and work in a desperately romantic job.

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Pinup calendar of hot guys who have taken a lifelong vow of celibacy?



Really. Fucking. Creepy.

So Many Christians, So Few Lions

We got the cutest Colosseum Tour Guide of them all. We win!

Super Gay and More Than A Village

Gay Village is Rome’s huge gay nightlife party. It’s only in the summer and it’s in a park. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Tents, kiosks, bars, booths and dance floors sprawl as far as the eye can see.





It’s a veritable carnival of gay, gay, gay. It’s refreshing to see so many gay men and lesbians out together. New York’s queer community is quite segregated.

The selection at the snack booth is dizzying.







There’s a spin class. People brought biker shorts and gym bags for it.



The tobacconists are there to poison us and make otherwise attractive people repulsive. Fuck you, Phillip Morris.



There’s even a car show.



I decided to do it all. I was interviewed live on Radio Dee Gay. The lovely Sophia offered to teach me some Italian and asked what I wanted to learn. I said, “Since everyone here is so gorgeous I want to learn how to say ‘you are beautiful!’”

Bellissima!



There’s a booth where you can have your own photo shoot. I was feeling tipsy and sexy so I went for it.





Afterwards everyone spills out onto the streets.



These stands sell drunk food and, of course, more beer. What a country!

Ancient History

Standing amidst 2,000 year-old monuments and buildings of the Roman Forum, I overheard this conversation between American high-school students.

“Wow! I found a penny in my wallet from 1987.”

“Oh my God! That’s so old.”

A Day of Beauty

Today we went to the Borghese Gallery, which lies in a beautiful park. The museum doesn’t allow cameras, so it was to be an afternoon of just the art and me. But that’s OK. I find photography inside museums to be mostly useless. Unlike landscape photography, it rarely captures the subject well and detracts from the viewing experience. These photos are of the park and garden outside.



The photos advertising the gallery depict lovely but sparse, plain, white statues, no backgrounds and nothing else. So as I ducked through the curtain in the entryway, I was completely unprepared for the sight that awaited me in the first hall.

It is stunning. Every surface, ceiling, walls and floors is covered with beautiful frescoes, paintings, inlaid marble and mosaics. There are a dozen, thrilling, dynamic statues in different materials in the first hall alone. There was literally no direction I could look and not see art.



Every hall is this way. I’ve never experienced such absolute saturation of art in my life. Yet it was not cluttered. Despite the dizzying diversity and quantity of great works, the rooms had wonderful harmony and themes … Italian mythology, Egyptian mythology, satyrs and gods, hieroglyphs and heroes, lovers and babies, battles and glory, life and death, it’s all there.

At the end I came back to the first hall to experience again that first breathtaking moment. I chose an image of a bold Roman solider charging over a hill with red cape flowing to fix in my mind as my memory for this experience. As I did, I wept tears of joy that there could be such exquisite beauty in the world.

This is what I came to Italy for.

Ode to Italy

A friend of mine sent this lovely little Ode to Italy before I left on my trip. It's so poetic I asked if I could share it with you.

GIVE MY LOVE TO ITALY
by P.

Remind her she has my heart, that she has the power to break it at the slightest memory, at the slightest sound and scent of her. And that she makes me happy for the very same reasons.

Tell her her sons make me crazy. That I hate them because I have loved them. And that she owes me....

Toss a coin at Trevi when the tourists aren't looking. Please. For me. So I might return.



I didn't know what Trevi was or even that I would be passing by on this beautiful afternoon. I rounded a corner and its beauty took my breath away. As I tossed a Euro cent into the crystal waters, she was right there with me for just a moment and I felt all warm and squishy.

The Color of Night

Long ago I bored of what I call, "proof photos," that is, photos that prove you were there. Me in front of the Eiffel Tower. Me in front of the Brandenburger Tor. Me in front of the British Houses of Parliament.

Zzzzzzz....

I know what these places look like. And I know what I look like. I don't need to know what I look like in front of these places.

Problem is, my mother complains if there are no photos of me amongst my holiday snaps. So I've combined my interest in night photography and poi. Here ya go, Mom. Happy?

Night Colors

Oh the night ... so much more intriguing and colorful than the day.

Ever Wonder What A $35 Dollar Ice Cream Cone Looks Like?

Yeah, me either. But I got to find out when I was naive enough to order gelato in a touristy shop with no prices posted. What a scam! At least it was yummy.



If you're wondering what the hell is up with my haircut, it seems clear my Washington Heights Dominican barber did not understand my instructions. But when the first thing he removed from my face was the hair that attaches the right side of my mustache to my beard, objection seemed pointless. So I just decided to be zen about it and let him finish the job. If figured I wasn't getting the haircut and shave I had in mind. So why not see what he had in mind? Apparently what he had in mind was "Guido".

I Found The History

It's pretty.

Hello, Italy

I've arrived! It's warm and beautiful and now I must nap. Zzzzzz....