16 10, 2017

Museum Monday: Headless Roman Statues at ROM

By |October 16th, 2017|Categories: Museums, Travel|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

These two Roman statues caught my eye when visiting the Royal Ontario Museum. The artistry and mastery needed to create the folds in the woman's clothes and see the underlying anatomy must have been years of careful study. Museum Monday is an every other week series about museum news, objects, and reviews.

24 10, 2016

Travel Missteps: The Dueling Grounds of Bath, England

By |October 24th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |1 Comment

Source I always was a strange kid. I loved reading about magic and ghosts, so when my family was in England I begged to do a ghost tour. My parents figured the poltergeist tours of London and Edinburg might be a little too intense for my sister and I, so instead my mother found a walking ghost tour of Bath. It was a fairly tame tour, starting out right before dusk and telling us the history of the town, from Roman times up to Victorian times. He told us about druids and ley lines, and how the

28 07, 2016

Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa

By |July 28th, 2016|Categories: Attractions & Sights, History, Travel|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

Source The mysterious Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa in Alexandria were discovered a little more than a hundred years ago when a donkey disappeared into a hole in the earth. What was uncovered was a complex of 3 story underground catacomb. While the upper floor is pretty bare from design the middle floor has a unique tomb that combines Egyptian, Greek, and Roman iconography. Above the entrance you can see many Uraei (cobras) with the sun disk, and the winged vulture, a common sight of Egyptian temples. But on the side you see a greek Agathodaimon (serpent) wearing the double crown

30 05, 2016

Museum Monday: Dionysus Statue Selfie

By |May 30th, 2016|Categories: Museums, Travel|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

Dionysus taking a Selfie When I was visiting the Roman section of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada the lighting wasn't that great.  I didn't want to use my flash, as that would wash out the details of the statue. So instead I risked using the existing lighting. And it makes it look like this Dionysus statue is taking a selfie. Dionysus at ROM Museum Monday is an every other week series about museum news, objects, and reviews.

12 04, 2016

Egypt Travelogue: Day 6, Part 3 – Alexandria’s Antiquities

By |April 12th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Memories, Travelogue|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |1 Comment

This is my travel diary of my trip to Egypt. It contains in detail my memories of what I did and saw. Tuesday October 27, 2015 Egypt: Day 6, Part 3 – Alexandria's Antiquities We arrived to the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa. Knowing that cameras were not allowed we left most of our things on the bus, and after a quick bathroom break we had our bags checked and went through security. This place is known as the "Mound of Shards" for its many broken party shards and for most of the recent history was viewed as a dumping grounds

8 02, 2016

Museum Monday: Laocoön and His Sons

By |February 8th, 2016|Categories: Museums, Travel|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

I was lucky to have taken an entire class on Ancient Italian Art & Architecture the semester before I went to Italy. So when I turned a corner in the Vatican Museum and saw this statue I was very excited. This statue was re-discovered in 1506 but is thousands of years older. It is unknown if this was an original Hellenistic Greek Statue, or if it still dates from that period but is a copy based on a lost bronze version of the statue. It is so old that the famous ancient historian, Pliny the Elder, even referenced the statue on the

3 02, 2014

Travel Missteps: Round and Round We Go

By |February 3rd, 2014|Categories: Travel, Travel Missteps|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

In 2002, my family and I went on our second overseas trip. This time backpacking it through England and Scotland. We had utilized the hop on and off again buses frequently throughout our trip. In London it helped to orientate us, and we learned a lot of the history. When we arrived early to Bath our bed and breakfast wouldn't let us in yet. So with all of our luggage we bought a day’s ticket for the hop on and off again bus. It was the slow season, so no one else was aboard, so we put our luggage on