Some Day

Two things Europa crept into my consciousness this week.

One was planted there a couple of years ago, and filed away in the back of my brain the way I do with lots of things I don't need just yet. And certainly, these are going to have to be filed back away for quite a while, but I thought I would share before shoving them back where they belong for now. The second one is brand new, although I'm quite astonished that I'd never heard of it before. Incomplete education? You have no idea.

The first is Les Catacombs. I want the authorized *and* the less-than-authorized tour. Jamie is always up for an adventure and we have the most fun in museums together, so I know we would have a really amazing time. In fact, we were once followed by a guard throughout an entire museum. I think he could sense I sometimes like to touch things. Or. Maybe he saw me actually touch something.

I know.

That's wrong.

The second thing is the Temple de la Sagrada Família in Barcelona. I *love* colored glass. That gorgeous blue Chagall at the Art Institute (which I did *not* touch) in Chicago had me swooning




so the photos of these windows have me breathing fast.



The architecture is unsettling. At first blush, when you look at photos of this church from a distance it's same old, same old, familiar and expected. But then when you look closer, it's all new, even though it's not (very) modern. They've been working on it since the 1860's or so and it's still not finished.

Oh, and speaking of an incomplete education, I just saw this, La Pieta, for the first time recently. I saw a photo and could Not stop looking at it. Look at the fabric.



So I guess we should add Vatican to the travel itinerary. I wonder if I'll be able to stop looking at it? Maybe Jamie could distract me with some Vatican trivia. He once told me they used to whack dead popes in the head with a silver hammer to make sure they were dead. That's a pretty funny/macabre image. Or maybe promises of finding the Popemobile would do it. I wonder if I could touch it?