another eye opens

Andy in the Oltrarno

Tables being set for one gigantic feast -- wedding? block party?

At the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria dei Carmine, one of the many astonishing Masaccio frescoes -- much naked male flesh on display, including this scene of "Baptizing the Novices" (wonderful euphemism)

lots of witty street art

the Lilies room at the Palazzo Vecchio

Putti with Dolphin, also at Palazzo Vecchio

Ditto this sculpture, featuring a hold you don't see in most wrestling matches

an unsettling, smirky Madonna with Child from 1430 by an artist with the unlikely name of Maestro Della Crocifissione Griggs

Ospitalita' San Tommaso, the monastery/residence connected to Basilica di San Domenico

at Santurario di San Luca, the magnificent church overlooking and overseeing all of Bologna, worshipers kiss a replica of the icon of the Virgin Mary, who was crowned Queen and Savior of Bologna

Andy and I basking in the sun on the steps of San Luca

John, Jennings, and Michael

Tim and Larry on the stroll down the hill

the road up to San Luca winds like a snake, and the monument was designed to have 666 porticos to represent the devil (the world) tamed by the power of the Madonna -- pilgrims have been known to walk this path uphill on their knees

on our way back to town, a marching band of bersaglieri suddenly turned the corner with their black-plumed hats and blaring trumpets

I love the funky edges of beautifully designed cities

St. Dominic figures heavily in Bologna's religious history -- at the Basilica, he is surrounded by what Andy decided were his seven vampire brides....

the head of St. Dominic enshrined

the gorgeous ceiling at San Domenico

Larry in the cloister at San Domenico

John Sullivan, copy editor for CultureVulture.net -- he's been posting my theater reviews for the last year

We had breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien on Seventh Avenue in Chelsea with his partner Joe -- they raise goats on a ranch in Napa Valley, California

Farmer Morgiewicz, whose fresh vegetables I buy every Wednesday and Saturday

he's a real sweetie pie and has the filthiest fingernails

55th Street and Eighth Avenue

55th Street and Broadway

Allen at Red58

Allen, just back from a weekend at Folsom Street Fair, and Andy, just off from work at the New York Times