How to guarantee strange looks from every person standing near you:

Take a flowery, china teacup, set it down on a 2000-year old ruin, and proceed to take a picture.

Then be prepared to explain yourself.

The choices for a Teacup Tale shot in Rome were endless. There were so many great sites.

I settled on two.

First, my SGTC teacup came to the Colosseum. Finished in 80AD, the Colosseum is still standing. Not completely, and not in the state it was enjoyed in all those years ago, but it’s there.

We joined a walking tour to explore it early in the morning. As you can imagine, it gets quite busy, and at this time of year, pretty damn hot. We spent a while walking through the interior, before stepping outside into the seating areas. This was my photo op.

I’ve become used to setting up the teacup for pictures in random places (on top of mountains, in front of waterfalls, in small Italian villages), so I forget how odd it must look. This time I was reminded. My entire tour group, plus any others near by, just stared. I heard one couple behind me: “Where did she get that? She must have bought it with her. What for?” Then I had to tell the story of my teacup.

Then I had show people photos of the teacup, and I have more than 2000 pictures on my camera at the moment so that took some searching. Everyone loved the idea, which was nice.

The next day I took the teacup to Vatican City. Neither the Vatican Museums or the Sistine Chapel were good places, so I was thinking of St. Peter’s Basilica. Then our guide read the rules: “No strange photographs”. I didn’t know whether photographing my teacup inside the Basilica was “strange” but I didn’t want to find out. The Swiss Guard may be dressed like jesters, but I doubt they enjoy jokes.

So I settled for outside:

Author

Pegs on the Line is a collection of stories about places, people and experiences around the world. It's written by Megan Dingwall, an Australian journalist with an insatiable curiosity. Available to answer questions such as is Tasmania a real place (yes) and do Tassie devils spin (no).

3 Comments

  1. Pingback: Sunrise, mountains and tea

  2. You should do a book – Teacup round the world or something! I’d totally buy it! I see stunning scenery all the time but a teacup makes it that much cuter!

    P.S. If I had seen you setting down a teacup in front of the Colosseum, I would marched up & made friends! Haha! But totally can envision the odd looks others would have given you!

    • Megan Reply

      I’ve actually thought of giving my teacup it’s own blog, or at least a Twitter account! The problem is the more it travels the more nervous I get about it breaking. I thought I’d be concerned at first but then stop worrying it, but it’s the other way. It’s come so far now I’d hate for something to happen to it!

Write A Comment