Hollywood

Written by Rosana Hart


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Of course, films have always been made in other places, but Hollywood has always been more than a place. It's a frame of mind. Everyone understands that it's different from anywhere else.

Naturally, it's been a tourist Mecca. Hollywood posters and postcards capturerepparttar essence of Hollywood,repparttar 138060 vintage look reflectingrepparttar 138061 dreams of a bygone era.

Rosana Hart is a reference librarian turned webmaster. Visit her site at http://www.infoandhelp.com/posters/ for a selection of popular posters and articles about their subjects.


"I Love Florence in the Springtime"

Written by Sarah Anne Polsinelli


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With street names like Via delle Belle Donne (Beautiful Women Street), one has to wonder how evenrepparttar seemingly mundane details of this city are infused with loveliness.

The streets themselves are lovely. Designer boutiques like Gucci, Ferragamo and Prada linerepparttar 138019 extravagant Via de' Tornabuoni, a higher end stretch of shops ideal for window shopping. You'll get lost in San Lorenzo's outdoor market, rich with colourful merchants who will get on their knees and beg you (I'm serious) to try on their goods. You'll marvel atrepparttar 138020 glittery jewelry stores alongrepparttar 138021 historic Ponte Vecchio, one ofrepparttar 138022 many cobblestone bridges that crossrepparttar 138023 Arno.

But since Italy and Italian cuisine are so inextricably linked, I have to say that Florentine cuisine is probablyrepparttar 138024 best and simplest cuisine that exists, using basic, fresh ingredients, most of which are grilled (alla Fiorentina) to perfection. If you decide to eat in some ofrepparttar 138025 more touristy areas (in any ofrepparttar 138026 major piazze, or town squares) you'll pay double, maybe triple,repparttar 138027 cost of what a Florentine citizen would pay. San Lorenzo has some great, reasonably-priced restaurants and of course there are hundreds of cafes, bars and pubs. The pizza - in almost every pizza place - is mouth-watering.

Andrepparttar 138028 gelato? Oh,repparttar 138029 gelato ... It is suffice to say that La Paloma and other gelaterie that are scattered around Toronto simply pale in comparison to what Florence has to offer. But since I am not a talented enough writer to do it justice with words,repparttar 138030 gelato mention here will be minimal.

Florence is ineffable, and with obvious bias aside, full of love. Yet, inrepparttar 138031 midst of all of this tangible beauty (including 60 per cent of UNESCO World Heritage Sites) many North Americans are disappointed with their travels to Italy.

"Because [North] Americans go all overrepparttar 138032 world," explains professor Costa, "and they expectrepparttar 138033 world to be a copy ofrepparttar 138034 United States. They want to travelrepparttar 138035 world and have everyone speak English and serve you hot dogs inrepparttar 138036 street."

After completing our course in Florence, my friend Mariangela Tagliabue (a third-year Italian major) and I spentrepparttar 138037 next three weeks of our trip travelling alongrepparttar 138038 Northern part of Italy, but first spent four days in Rome, la città eterna, ("the Eternal City"). Rome is much bigger than Florence, so most of our getting to-and-fro was spent squished intorepparttar 138039 backseat of tiny little cars, careening dangerously around a city where streets have no lanes and traffic lights are purely decorative.

While in Rome, Mariangela and I hadrepparttar 138040 opportunity to meet Pope John Paul II. We sat through an outdoor mass in St. Peter's square, just four rows away fromrepparttar 138041 now-ailing Pope, and whenrepparttar 138042 mass was over we were ushered into a lineup of people for a brief encounter with him. We weren't prepared to meet him and quickly turned torepparttar 138043 person behind us and asked what we should say to him. What, after all, do you say torepparttar 138044 Pope?

The man, stifling laughter, gave us a formal phrase to repeat: "Sua Santita, prega per noi" ("His holiness, pray for us"). As we were approaching,repparttar 138045 Pope was wearing red velvet slip-on shoes. When it was our turn, one ofrepparttar 138046 Pope's aides that stood alongside him signalled us to approach quickly and kneel before him. Mariangela promptly stepped forward, but I stood just a few feet before him, transfixed byrepparttar 138047 majesty of this man, clothed in ornate robes and much larger than I had expected him to be.

Kneeling before him, a small cluster of papparazzi stood alongside us, snapping photos. In between all ofrepparttar 138048 camera flashes and noise andrepparttar 138049 Pope's aides surrounding us, we were face to face with one ofrepparttar 138050 most famous men inrepparttar 138051 world.

We were frozen. We held his soft hands (I actually wondered what kind of moisturizer he used, and whether or not he applied it himself) and he cupped our cheeks. We mumbledrepparttar 138052 ceremonial saying, unmoving. But when our time was up and his aide took my arm, I quickly added something that I knew my boyfriend would appreciate: "Luigi says hi!"

If not forrepparttar 138053 pictures, I doubt anyone would believe us.

Student writer, professional daydreamer. Go to www.pumpkin-face.com for a complete list of articles.


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