This Is My Secret: The Blog and Website of Writer Kristin Cashore

One night in Copenhagen, I was waiting for the hotel elevator, when two Danish men about my age stepped out of their room. One of them belched loudly as he stepped into the corridor -- then saw me, and was embarrassed. They both started chuckling, and speaking to me, both at once, in Danish.

"I'm sorry," I said in English, "I don't speak --." Then I stopped, because I couldn't remember what country I was in or which language it was that I couldn't speak this time. This happens when you keep crossing borders; a few hours ago, I'd been in Sweden; the next day, I was going to be in Spain.

"Oh, you don't speak that language?" one of them said, speaking English now. "It was a Danish word for --" and he went on to explain to me how his friend hadn't actually belched, he'd been saying something very intelligent in Danish. :)

The next day, when I told my cab driver in Madrid the address of my hotel, he began speaking to …

I have such a short fuse lately when it comes to the news. I think about blogging about things (the latest being Alabama's disgusting, cruel new immigration law, which is just one of numerous disgusting immigration laws in place all over the world today), then realize it's going to be a huge energy suck because of how angry I am... and I need to save my energy for my work. (Which is always at least indirectly about the news anyway.)

So this is going to be another post of Rome pictures. The last post of Rome pictures -- and by the way, if you're new to my blog, I assure you that I hardly ever post as many pictures as I've been posting. Really, you're all the victims of my fascinating new phone. I've never wanted to take pictures before, ever in my life, until I got this phone...

So. I adore the work of sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680, Italy). It's one of the reasons Rome is one of my favorite cities – it's full of his sculptures. You can see the…

All photos are of ceilings unless otherwise indicated. All are from Rome.  All were taken on my phone, which is an iPhone 4S. And last time I checked, Blogger was crap at jump cuts, but this post has 30+ pictures, so I can't not.  After the second picture, click on the link that says "Read more"... or, to see all the pictures, just click here.

ETA 1/27/12: Blogger, I hate you. My apologies to anyone whose blog readers were overwhelmed by this post during the time Blogger decided to arbitrarily remove my jump cut! Should be back now.

What could possibly be better than Hercules curled up in a ball?

Hurcules and Kasa curled up in a ball!

It's 6 PM in Rome and bells are ringing all around me. I'm posting this on my phone (with the help of dear Siri), with pics also taken on my phone,  so we'll see how it works...

Here's looking up at the (hole in the) ceiling of Rome's Pantheon. The Pantheon has an interesting history to do with pagans that you can read about here. 


Here's looking down into the bottom of the Pozzo di San Patrizio ("Well of Saint Patrick") in Orvieto. The well has an interesting history to do with popes and mules and double helixes that you can read about here.



Here's looking up at the sky from the bottom of the well.



Here's looking up at one of the domes in the church of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio in Rome.



And here's looking up at a few more in the same church.







Are you sensing a theme? Yes, I've been looking up, and looking down, a lot. However, I'VE ALSO BEEN LOOKING SIDEWAYS AND ALL AROUND.

For example, returning to that well in …