Rosetta Stone and Mythical Creatures

I was lucky enough to be in Target when they had a sale on Rosetta Stone. I was able to get all 5 levels in French for only a little over $100! I feel I can finally learn French! 

In other news, Scott and I went on a date at the museum. They had a members only event for their new mythical creatures exhibit. We got to have drinks and were served calamari tacos amongst other things. It was so much fun and inspired my story this week. The drawn picture below is who the story is about so enjoy! 

My hair for date night! I was really proud of this.

Sirene Cheval

I had to include my little niece Ava because she is just too cute!

Week 16 (20-26 April 2015)

Sirene Cheval

Long ago, before dragons and fairies, before mermaids and centaurs, there lived but one mythical creature presiding over all people. She was the mother of the land, air and sea. She allowed the world to move at its own accord; whether good or bad, the world moved with guidance but little influence from Sirene Cheval. The people and creatures of the world believed that if they were in despair Sirene Cheval would appear to them and help them in their time of need. She only came through bodies of water where she lived but could appear in the pools of tears from the most sorrowful souls. Many claimed to have seen her but none could prove it.

One day, a man named Ash set out to find the mythical Sirene Cheval. He wanted more riches, more land, a beautiful wife, a better life. His life was not bad and he was not in despair but he felt as if his needs warranted the anguish Sirene Cheval desired for a meeting. He wandered near oceans crying out for her help, he swam in seas begging for her to appear, dragging his feet through creeks and every body of water he could find he soon did come to a point of complete despair and yet she did not appear to him. He sat next to a log and put his face in his hands. He tried to cry in his frustration hoping that would entice the fabled mother of the world but she was nowhere in sight.

“Why do you not appear to me!” he screamed at the silent air around him. Not even the birds rustled the leaves or the crickets chirped their legs. Silence engulfed Ash and his desire for riches and wealth pierced his heart. He noticed a sharp rock nearby him. He grabbed the rock and stabbed it deep into his leg. A howl escaped his throat and tears plunged from his eyes. Ash cried both in pain and in join for having achieved part of his goals. As he writhed in pain over the puncture in his leg a soft voice whispered into his ear.

“Sweet child, your pain has called me here to relieve you of your strife,” Ash looked up and saw before him the most glorious creature he had ever witnessed. She sat before him on a shimmering green tail, bent slightly so as to sit invitingly in his presence. Her body was that of purple sea horse. Her lips were a deep blood red and her eyes were a piercing green with lashes that seemed to want to flutter away and touch the sky. Small wings protruded from a slight curve in her back and her hair was split in two. It was half wispy flames, the other half was curled juts of ice. Although her hair was ice and fire one did not affect the other. Her conflicting hair sat beautifully atop her head like a powerful crown. She blinked her eyes and smiled at Ash who was completely transfixed by her appearance.

“Sirene Cheval, you are here,” he whispered as she emanated grace from every fiber of her being.

“Yes, I came at your cry and I see you are greatly wounded! I came after sensing great despair but I only see a wound in your leg not a wound within your heart,” she checked him over and found he had a cold heart, “I can heal your leg but you are not deserving of my assistance for your desires. You have to work hard for such things, you cannot just be granted them.”

Ash became angry but held his feelings to himself. He would get his riches and wealth if he had to force her to help him. He let Sirene Cheval approach his leg. She healed his leg wound and began to wish him well when he grabbed her by the throat, “Give me riches! Give me land! Give me a beautiful wife! Give me the things I want!” he shook her by her throat and her eyes began to loose their color. As her eyes faded to black an arrow struck ash in the heart, breaking his grasp of the mystical sea creature he held. A woman rushed to Sirene Cheval but it was too late, she was dead.

“Mother of the Earth,” cried Lilia as she reached Sirene Cheval, “ I tried to save you with my arrow but I could not,” tears streamed her face and soaked that of the dead Sirene Cheval. As she cried, the body she held began to disintegrate into a pile of colorful dust. A gust of wind blew the dust into the air and sea. Suddenly creatures and beasts began to surround Lilia. A centaur and unicorn stood next to her, a mermaid splashed nearby her, fairies flew about her hair and a dragon took flight blowing fire in the sky. Her tears had given new life to Sirene Cheval and allowed her to become mystic creatures all over the world. They could be more helpful by being more abundant to those in need. With that, a fairy brushed Lilia's tears from her eyes and a mermaid dragged Ash's body into the sea. The mystical creatures dispersed into the world and Lilia carried on the memory of their creator, Sirene Cheval.

Children helped me write my story this week

This past week was pretty uneventful. My heels are finally feeling better and I can walk around! My brother and I went to the Downtown Aquarium. It was nice to have brother/sister time but the aquarium ripped us off. We still had a good time though. I got help writing this story from the children of some ladies I am in a group I am in on Facebook. I asked the women to ask their children what kind of story they would like to hear. This week is the product of what they came up with. Enjoy!

Week 15 (13-19 April 2015)

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Once upon a time there was a castle in a far off land where all the kings and queens of the world sent their children to live. This castle was a happy place that housed farms and creatures of every child's kingdom. The children lived there to learn how to play well with others, work the land and be caring leaders for their future kingdoms. Prince Tucker, Princess Evelyn, Princess Charlie, Prince Nate Prince Cole Jackson, Prince Mason, Princess Kiannah and Princess Aria had become the very best of friends at this castle and every week they held races. They would pick their favorite animal or creature and the fairies would race them around the farm. The fairies gave special powers to their racing companions which delighted the children as a pig could keep pace with a puppy and a chicken could out maneuver a horse. The winner received special sweets after dinner until the next week's races occurred. It was the most jolly of times.

One day, after the races had come to a close, the fairies brought the children snacks along the race track. They satisfied their tiny taste buds with chocolate sweets, peanut butter and fresh honey sandwiches, cheesy crackers made by the fairies, fresh squeezed lemonade and so many other delicious things. The little princes and princesses chatted happily amongst themselves when one of the fairies sparked a conversation with them all.

“Sweet children, when you go back to your kingdoms to rule, what kind of kingdom will you have and what will you do as ruler?” the tiny fairy zipped around sprinkling her sparkly dust about their precious heads as if crowning them as they foretold their future kingdoms.

“I know exactly what I will do!” announced Prince Tucker, “I will have the biggest farms the world has ever seen. My people will always have work and lots of food! They will never want for anything because we will happily trade our goods with other lands. Everyone will work and laugh and sing and have full bellies! I will make the grandest fire truck my chariot and I will use it to resolve fires in the villages. My favorite horses, Jake and Jonas, will ride with me in my fire truck. They will rescue people and bring them to safety,” with a triumphant smile on his face he raised his chin and placed his closed fists on his hips like a noble leader, “What about you Evie?”

“I would ask one of the fairies to turn my favorite animal into a fairy. She would come with me to my kingdom and help me solve problems and make decisions. I would make her a new blue dress everyday to wear and she would go around cheering up unhappy people. The fairies will keep our land a peaceful, cheery place! How could it not be with farm animal fairies in blue dresses!” Princess Evelyn glowed at the prospect of being forever surrounded by the fairies she loved so much.

“That would be so fun Evie!” declared Princess Charlie, “I will have tea parties! Every month everyone in my land will be a prince or princess for a day! I will invite other kingdoms to join us in our parties. We will dance and twirl in fairy dust until our feet are so tired they carry us all to bed. I will build a giant castle where anyone can stay, even the fairies. No one in my kingdom will ever feel like they are less of a person, I will make sure they all feel like royalty! What would you do Nate?”

Prince Nate gave some thought to his plan. He was the most quiet and gentle of the group, “I would ask the fairies to bring my Pikachu to life. He will sit with me and guide me in my decisions. He will be loved by everyone and even go around entertaining the villagers to lift their spirits.”

“Pikachu could race in the races in my kingdom Nate! We will have the grandest races of all the lands,” boasted Prince Cole,” I will have regular animal races and mythical animal races. There will be all sorts of levels to make it fair and the winners of each level will get a fairy so we could have one big race! The winning animal and fairy will get to sleep in my castle until a new winner is named. Everyone will get lots of food and juices for participating.”

“My puppies could be adopted at your races Cole!” Mason, the smallest of them all loved puppies the most, “I will open lots of farms for puppies. They will pounce and bark and run about the farms in my kingdom while they wait to be adopted. I will take in stray puppies from all over the world and help them live happy lives. My people will become the best dog trainers and care takers any kingdom has ever seen.”

“When I become queen I am giving myself a new name,” chimed in Princess Kiannah, “I will rename myself Queen Elsa, only my closest friends will call me Kiannah. I will build a snow castle and have ice dances as often as I can for everyone in my kingdom. Everyone will get a hot chocolate when they enter in their ball gowns and black suits. The girls will get snowflake necklaces I will make for them and the boys will get snowflake pendants for their coats. It will snow everyday but no one will ever be cold and we will build large greenhouses to grow our food!”

“I will build a small general store,” stated Princess Aria, “Everything inside will cost just a dollar, Dollar General is what I will call it. Since my villagers will be busy working the land I will have cats and dogs working the general store. They will run around the store making people smile and helping them with their shopping!”

“So many wonderful ideas children! We cannot wait to visit your kingdoms!” declared one of the fairies. The children all giggled as they continued to describe their ideal kingdoms. Everyone of them different but each one wanting all the same; happy people in a happy land. The end.

Michelle Moran has done it again!

This morning I finished Michelle Moran's Rebel Queen and I was astounded! I don't really know much about India, to be quite honest, but now I am wildly interested in the country and its history. The book follows the last queen on India, Rani Lakshmi, through the eyes of one her female warriors named Sita. I felt as if I were in India as I read the book. Moran's writing style is so easy to devour each page, notably this book where Hindu culture is detailed in a manner I have never read before. Sita is an extremely likable character. You want her to win, you want her to succeed, you want her to have everything good in the world especially after so much bad happens to her. She faces formidable foes who try to take her down due to her sincere moral compass. I was a little hesitant to read this book because my specialty is European history and royalty and, as I said before, I do not know much about India. Michelle Moran ignited a new fire in me (again!) and I would HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone interested in fiction. The writing is pure, easy to follow but still capable of weaving complex images as the story moves along. So go buy the book now! If you live in Colorado you can borrow a copy from me, I have two thanks to winning a copy the same day I bought it. 

Enjoy this book and enjoy the end of the Verona story! I am hoping to fill out a blog Q&A for Michelle Moran to add to a future post. She will be in Denver in June for the Historical Novel Society but I will not be able to attend (it will cost $440 to register and that is too steep for me) so I am happy to have a Q&A from my favorite author instead!

Week 14 (6-12 April 2015)

Verona Part 3

Krysta looked in the mirror when she arrived to her apartment after work. Maria let her go early siting a lack of English letters to read and write but Krysta knew better. There were always dozens of English letters to read. She knew Maria just wanted her to meet Ludovico. As she stared at herself she couldn't help but realize she didn't recognize the person in front of her and it wasn't such a bad thing. She had a glow to her she never had before. She looked taller, happier; she felt as if she were finally a woman. She didn't have to fake her confidence or fake her serenity in a moment, she just had to be. The thrill of her date added a pink flush to her delicately pale skin and brightened the green in her hazel eyes.

She wore a coral blouse, pale blue skinny jeans and black ballet flats. She tousled her hair and pinned some of it to the back of her head with a brooch she bought in Paris. She wanted to look effortless; the days of trying too hard to be something she wasn't were behind her which gave her a greater sense of freedom. She heard the breeze blow her curtains about as it gently fingered through her loose hair and she felt ready. With a deep breath she turned away from her mirror without a second look and waltzed to the restaurant like she owned Verona. She looked around for a minute, scanning for Ludovico but couldn't find him. She was a little annoyed but continued to look. It wasn't so rare anymore that a woman arrive to a date first since he didn't pick her up but she was on time and he wasn't there. A waiter came over to seat her when she felt a hand on her shoulder and a chatter of Italian.

“I have a table for us out back. It is more private and romantic,” Ludovico smiled at her with his perfect teeth and eyes that looked as rich as caramel and seemed to drip from his eyes when he blinked. His lightly tanned skin looked soft and she almost reached out to touch his cheek but took his arm instead. She thought it kind of strange that they were eating out back but eating anywhere in Italy was beautiful. They walked through the kitchen where Ludovico introduced her to the chef and staff. They were charming and gave the pair little samples of fresh cheese and savory marinara sauce hot off the stove. Krysta had been wined and dined before but this was utterly different. This was a tour of Italy, real Italy. He wasn't showing her off to the world like her other dates had done in the past, rather, he was showing off his world to her. They exited the kitchen, after several minutes and a satisfied palate, and entered a dimly lit terrace behind the restaurant. Candles flickered as the pink and red sunset glowed in front of them. Lights hung from the canopy above them with tiny lights that looked like fireflies suspended in a frozen dance before their very eyes.

It wasn't until a slight warm breeze wafted away the smell of pasta cooking and freshly chopped garlic that she noticed dozens of lilies arranged on the terrace. The aromatic perfume from the exotic flowers was simply intoxicating. Krysta couldn't imagine why she had not seen her favorite flower before everything else but Verona set her senses ablaze which made it difficult to notice any one thing first. She nearly felt like crying but a warm hand settled ever so gently on the small of her back, guiding her to a seat at the only table in view.

“This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” she gasped at the scene laid out before her.

“I cannot take full credit my Nonna helped me with everything. She told me you are a romantic which is perfect because I am too. She said you bring in lilies every time you find them at the market and that you love to have a glass of red wine while you watch the sun set. She has talked about you since the day you first walked into Juliet's House. I think she has been trying to set us up from the beginning. Lots of girl have come in looking to help but she has never offered a single one a job, let alone sent them on a trip to discover themselves. She likes you, I can see why,” his smile was the most exhilarating thing about the whole evening. Conversation was easy between them. It was as if they had never not known each other; the heavens had opened their clouds and pushed them towards one another. It was fate and couldn't possibly feel any different. Fate and Signore Giordano!

Life had come full circle for Krysta. The chapter marking her young adult years was over. She gladly shut that door and left behind her insecurities and unsureness about herself and all that surrounded her. With her head held high and a new found grace about her, she marched towards adulthood. Her soul was set free of constraints and she was able to find love, real love that made her feel like she could conquer the world. Heartbreak led her to a city described by a playwright in an English tragedy but her heart kept her there for she finally had purpose. Love letters and Ludovico, her Italian Romeo.

Type, Delete, Repeat

My story for this week is actually a two week process. I wrote it, hated it, deleted it, wrote it again, hated it again and deleted it again. I finally finished it and I am happy with it. It is still not perfect but I left it open to continue this week. Now that that is over here is an update of the past two weeks. Scott and I went to Chicago for our anniversary. I have decided that, after Paris of course, Chicago is my favorite city in the world! I guess that makes it second favorite. The city is great. There is so much history and the architecture is amazing! We had a lovely trip and a lovely anniversary. we also had a nice Easter. The only downside is I have tendinitis in my Achilles' tendon. Not a whole lot of fun.

In that time I finished two books. I finished the Boleyn King series and another book called Royal Love Stories so here are the reviews on those followed by pictures from the past two weeks and my story this week about Verona.

The Boleyn Reckoning is the final installment in the Boleyn King series. This book was the best of all three but I can still only give it 3 stars. It was a good story in general but people just died without any lead up. There was so much drama and then all of a sudden blah, blah, blah was dead. That was slightly frustrating especially when the people who died had big parts in the story. I would recommend this series but only if you are willing to forgive extreme historical accuracy. I understand this is a what if story but that wasn't the problem, the names of random people in the story were the problem. They were so far from names that existed during those times and that was annoying. Plus the character of Minuette is the most obnoxiously self righteous brat I have ever read about. Read if you dare but do so with an open mind.

This book is a very quick read but still wonderful! It details the love stories between histories royals. We often hear mostly about history's tragedies but rarely do we hear about history's successes. It ends with William and Kate and is a delightful read.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! 

The Bean

Being weird at Millennium Park

An 8 story tall mall along the Magnificent Mile

The Chach, best waiter in Chicago at Pizzano's

This picture and the picture below are actually miniature diagrams at the Chicago Art Museum how cool!

I just love Monet

These three pictures above are pieces of buildings and sites around the world. I have Paris, Hans Christian Andersen's house and Colorado here. 

A Tiffany & Co. peacock stained glass lamp. I want!

Alfonso Mucha!

Our Anniversary

We finally finished my 3D puzzle of Paris!

Week 12 & 13 (23 March- 5 April 2015)

Verona Part 2

The warm Italian sun beat down on red clay roofs as Krysta walked through the ancient cobble stone streets of Verona. She took in a long, deep breath of the fresh air as a couple of happy birds flitted above her head. Never in her life had she been so happy. Over the past three years she had figured out what kind of person she wanted to be, the kind of person she was happy with, and although she had not found love, she had come to find that she loved herself. She walked from the restaurant she had eaten at on her first night in Verona to Juliet's House. Whether Signora Giordano allowed her to write letters was no matter, her life had been forever changed in her adventures around Europe. She approached the old wooden door and knocked. She felt a great sense of pride as she knocked this time, she had grown to be more humble and less naive. The wispy haired woman from three years earlier and answered with great joy and astonishment.

“Krysta! My dear, you are back! You didn't call, I had no idea you were coming. I am so happy to see you!” she hugged Krysta and kissed her on her cheeks before ushering her inside, “Krysta is back to tell us of her tales ladies!”

Krysta blushed as the women of the house brought her treats and gave her hugs; they treated her as if she were home. She gently swooped into a chair and chatted with the women of the house for a few minutes before going for a walk with Signore Giordano. The two walked for quite some time as Krysta filled her in on her trip through Europe. They had written letters and spoken on the phone but they had not seen each other once in the three years Krysta was departed.

“The world is such a magnificent place and I still have only seen such a small piece of it. I want to see all of it someday but for now I am happy to just find a place to settle. Ever since I was a little girl, I have always wanted to live in Paris and I finally was able to do that. I spent a year in Paris and my heart could not have been more at peace! It is such a glorious city. It is no wonder they call it the City of Love! I didn't find love but I found people who taught me love. I watched old couples walk the Seine and young couples steal kisses in the Luxembourg Gardens. I was seduced by a Frenchman while I was out there. It only lasted six weeks before we just stopped calling on each other. It wasn't love but it certainly gave me a new perspective on life. I had never done anything like that, just taken up with a man. We went on cafe dates and he showed me the city in a way no one else possibly could.”

“That is wonderful bella donna! You let yourself go! You were free.”

“I was! For the first time in my life I stopped trying to control everything and just let it happen. My little fling in Paris was just one of those things. I knew when that had run its course and I did not push it any further. I am sure he found another woman and I was not lacking in the flirtatious men department. Besides kissing my way through Parisian streets I also painted. I hadn't done that in ten years! I used to be such an impassioned painter but I let it go to focus on school. My father told me painting wasn't going to educate me but I feel as if he may have been wrong,” Krysta paused for a moment to sip her coffee and take in the little Italian woman in front of her.

“And what did painting teach you to make your father so wrong in his assessment of your talent?”

“Nothing has educated me more! I didn't take many pictures of my time in Europe, instead I painted and sketched my way through the continent. I painted the happiness on saw on smiling children's faces, I painted the lingering kiss shared by a couple in a cafe, I painted anguish of a woman laying flowers at a new grave in an old cemetery. I saw felt every color in Holland's tulips, I went back into history in the fortresses of England, Scotland and Ireland, I felt as if I was in a Disney fairy tale when I saw the castles that towered over the mountains in Germany, I went to one of the most famous book stores in Spain after partaking in La Tomatina. It was all so breathtaking! I was trapped in my little of bubble of who will love me and what will I do when I grow up, I never thought to open the door and explore what else this planet has to offer,” Krysta had a look on her face Maria Giordano doesn't see in many people. She looked satisfied and fulfilled.

“You sound like you learned a lot about this continent. Now tell me, my dear, what did you learn about yourself?” Signore smiled at Krysta but gave her a look of concern, she still wasn't sure the woman that now sat in front of her was ready for a task of writing love letters.

“I never really thought of myself before I traveled Europe. I thought about what I could do to make other people happy. I thought about what I needed to do to be successful. I thought about what kind of family I would want and what kind of house I wanted and how I would die, I thought about everything but I never actually thought about me. I was a weak person until I forced myself to see the world in a new light. I was alone, truly alone, for the first time in my entire life! I reignited my passion for painting and sketching in such vigor that I created dozens of pieces of art! I have a confidence now that I never thought I would have. I even sold most of my paintings to shopkeepers and street vendors. I never would have done that before. I think the thing I learned the most about myself was to live for today. I didn't worry about the past and I didn't fret about the future. I just took in each breath as it came and enjoyed the taste it left in my mouth.”

Maria watched Krysta as she recounted her tales of self discovery from sunbathing of Portuguese coasts to skiing down Swiss Alps. She was impressed with how much Krysta had grown. A girl came to her three years before and now a woman sat before her.

“Do you have a place to stay tonight?” asked Signore Giordano.

“Yes, I found a room for the next couple of nights.”

“Good, good. Have fun tonight, I am confident you will find a way to entertain yourself in Verona. Come back in the morning to Juliet's House,” Maria gave Krysta a kiss on the cheek and parted ways.

Krysta walked to her hotel and on the way picked up a gelato and a bottle of red wine. She sat on her balcony and closed her eyes allowing just the breeze to fill her senses. It tickled her throat and mads her hair prance freely around her face. She took in a long deep breath and opened her eyes. A church bell tolled the evening mass, people below joyously greeted one another in boisterous Italian and birds dove around her balcony tweeting about their frivolous journeys around Verona. She sipped her rich red wine and finished the gelato that made any other food seem obsolete. She had never felt more herself, more comfortable, more welcomed in her life as she did on that balcony. As the sun began to dip on the horizon, lighting everything in a red-orange blaze, Krysta decided to take out her paints and create an image for Signore Giordano as a thank you for such a life changing past couple of years.

She fell asleep and awoke to bells ringing outside her window. She happily waltzed to a flower shop and picked up the whitest roses she could find. She thought they would look lovely in Juliet's House and would add some brightness to the women's lives. Whether or not she was able to write letters, she wanted them to know how much she appreciated what they had done. She gleefully opened the door to smiling faces, half of which could not understand her and she could not understand them but there was still an understanding between everyone in the room. Maria waved her over to an empty desk in the other side of the cheerful room.

“Did you sleep well last night bella donna?” asked Maria.

“Oh yes Signore! I haven't had a bad sleep since I started this journey.”

“Good, you have a long day ahead of you,” Maria Giordano handed Krysta a huge stack of letters with a grin that spread from cheek to cheek.

“I get to write letters! You believe I have learned that much?” Krysta threw her arms around Maria and giggled like a school girl. Maria and the other women took her to another room to select stationary and a pen. They told her to pay special attention to each letter, read the words as if it were spoken directly to her and they explained to her how to answer the letters. Krysta felt as if she were flying on a cloud. Her head was spinning with so much information but she dove into the letters as if she had never known anything different. She was given books on famous love letters, famous romances and, of course, a copy of Romeo and Juliet to read each night when she went home. Initially she was given a room in Juliet's House until she could find her own apartment in town. She was living the dream!

A few months into her job there was a knock at the door. Maria merrily jumped from her seat and answered the door. Krysta shrugged her shoulders and went about reading a letter from a sweet girl in England. The quick Italian chatter behind her was slightly distracting but she continued her work. She could hear Maria speaking to a man and assumed they were familiar.

“Ladies! Ladies come! I would like you all to meet my grandson, Ludovico Martin. He is here to take car of his old, frail grandmother,” Krysta could hear the pride in Maria's voice and turned around. When the two met each others eyes the entire room was set ablaze by their instant attraction, “Ah Vico, I see you have noticed our newest girl, Krysta.”

Krysta's eyes immediately shot down to the floor and her cheeks burnt red as. She looked like someone had stained her face with fresh red wine, “Hello, it is nice to meet you. Signore Giordano has spoken often of you,” she presented her ink stained hand to him and almost immediately regretted it but Ludovico gently cradled her palm and brought it to his perfect lips. He kissed it like her knuckles were the most precious gem the world had seen. If she could blush anymore her face would have caught fire that very moment.

“My Vico, it is time for us ladies to have our lunch so please excuse us for the time being. Krysta will be done around five I believe, then she will probably want to go home and freshen up. I would say after that she will be very hungry. Maybe you can take her to solve that problem. I will give you her address,” she winked at Krysta and walked her grandson out the door. Once they were gone the ladies started cheering and whistling at Krysta's good fortune. She plopped herself on her chair and blushed violently through her pail cheeks.

“You did that on purpose,” Krysta smirked at Maria.

“I know not what you mean!” Maria winked.

“He is wildly handsome I will say that. Why is his name Martin? That's a French name I thought you were Italian.”

“I am, as was his mother. His father was a dashing French diplomat. They met and fell in love in the courtyard where Juliet's statue sits. Sadly they were killed in an automobile accident when Ludovico was just a baby. His father left him a good fortune and he was able to go to a fantastic school and find a good job but he has been lonely. He has never had a girl in his life and I like you. I thought the two of you would get along well so I invented the rouse that I was in need of his help. He was more than happy to return to Verona to help his old grandmother.”

“Why are you so nice to me?”

“Oh dear, never doubt yourself and your worth. It is as vibrant as your spirit. Now finish your letters, you have a date tonight.”

Krysta was a love lorn girl in her early 20's when she first came to Verona. She was shy, insecure and unable to understand love. Now she had traveled and found a world she could feel, taste see and hear. She had found her talent and a new passion. Now, most of all, she had found what she came there looking for, romance. She audibly sighed and went back to reading and writing her letters with a new intensity. Ludovico had ignited something inside of her that she never knew existed.