The Journeyman – Brandon Kraft

Photos

A visual journal — places, people, and moments worth remembering.

On this Good Friday, I remember last Friday when I visited the Scala Santa in Rome. It is said in the 4th century, Emperor Constantine’s mom, Helena traveled to the Holy Land on a pilgrimage to the sites of Jesus’ life. Being the emperor’s mom and an empress herself, gave her a ton of access. There she founded some major churches (like the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem) and brought back a number of relics—including the stairs of the praetorium that Jesus climbed to be condemned by Pilate. Placed in Rome as stairs to the Pope’s private chapel (because of course lol), they became a pilgrimage location where pilgrims would climb on the knees. Hundreds of years ago, worried about wear, the original steps were covered in wood. Until now. The wood was removed for restoration work and they decided to leave it off and open them to the public until the end of the Easter season before adding the covering again. By just pure luck, I was in Rome when they reopened it last Thursday and able to visit on Friday morning. It wasn’t really a moment to snap pictures on the phone, so I took a quick one as I walked in. There are others online if you want to see detail. So, as we look to celebrate Good Friday today, my mind takes me to these stairs trying to imagine what Jesus must have been thinking climbing them, knowing that condemnation awaited him
One of my favorite things to do in a new city is explore it on foot acting like I know what I’m doing. I check out a map, get some rough directional ideas in my head, then just walk. I *was* trying to get to Campo de’ Fiori, so this not-sketchy-at-all navigational aid and dark alley was perfectly placed
Natty Light has a 77-pack now and I love that the HEB beer department trolls it along with the rest of the beer loving world
One thing that bothers me is getting my hands dirty when eating. I avoid food that I need to handle (e.g. some kind of saucy shrimp dish where you need to use your hands to detail the shrimp), but I never imagined “spaghetti with clams” would be literally clams. Not the clam meat, but the whole clam
Little Church
Ruth and I hanging out at the @rrexpress game yesterday