Florence

From this balcony, just off the breakfast room of our hotel in Florence, we could look down the street to the famous Ponte Vechio.


Here is Ponte Vechio from the other side of the river.


Florence is famous as the home of many of the great works of Michelangelo. The "David" is one of them. This replica stands in the Plaza di Senioria; the original is housed in the Academia, a few blocks away.


This is the famous "Gates to Paradise", a masterwork of Lorenzo Ghiberti that adorns the entrance to the Baptistery San Giovanni. The ten panels of the gates depict characters and scenes from the Old Testament: Adam and Eve; Cain and Abel; Noah; Abraham; Isaac with Esau and Jacob; Joseph; Moses; Joshua; David; and Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.


Here is a very large image of the front of the Duomo in Florence. Click the image for a larger view.


Tradition has it that if you drop a coin from this Boar's mouth, while rubbing his nose, and if falls through the grate then you will have good luck for the rest of the day. It looks like Audrey just missed it!


The marketplace in Florence is really something! We bought a lot of leather goods (jackets, purses, etc.), since that is apparently what you are supposed to do in Florence. Audrey was also intrigued by the many stalls selling everything from vegetables to pasta to, in this case, fresh seafood and fish.


Florence is a lovely city, with extrodinary statues almost everywhere you look!


When in Florence, every scientifically educated person should pay a visit to the Basilica di Santa Croce...


... and stop at the tomb of the great astronomer and physist Galileo. Other notables who are buried in Santa Croce include: Fermi, Marconi, Dante, and Machiavelli, among others.


We also paid a visit to the Natural History Museum of the University of Firenze. We went specifically to view the amazing true-to-life wax models of human disections created for teaching medicine in the 1700's - which are absolutely astonishing. Along the way, we stopped at this exhibit of Primates...


As we strolled the city after dark, we came across several artists creating these wonderful chalk drawings on the sidewalk. Clearly, the arts are alive and well in Florence!

Orvietto - A Hilltop Village

No, this is not Orvietto! This is Orta, another hilltop village that we drove by on our journey to Orvietto. It is just a better picture than what I had of Orvietto...


Here Barb is taking a look over the wall at the valley below Orvietto.

As you can see, it is rather a long way down!

Here is a stitched image of the valley from the walls of Orvietto. Click on the image for a much larger view!

Audrey often finds herself attracted to fountains (and water features generally!). Here she is enjoying a fountain in the gardens above the wall at Orvietto.

One of the most important sites at Orvietto is the basilica. Here I have stiched together a number of photographs to present the whole front of the church. Click the image for a larger view, and enjoy some of the paintings on the front of the church...

The basilica at Orvietto is famous for featuring two colors of stone in its construction. Apparently this was considered quite stylish at one time, and indicated the wealth of the community - that could actually afford to bring in two types of stone to construct such a building!

Orvietto also featured a large community of artists working in ceramics. There were several pieces that we would have liked, but by this point we were seriously short of suitcase space to bring things home.

As we left Orvietto, and continued to drive to Florence, we passed many Tuscan farm sites such as this one. Many appeared to be abandoned - which was a bit of a surprise - but apparently young families prefer to live in the urban centers and are walking away from the farms. Many of these farms may be quite marginal, economically.

Rome - Taxi Ride Video

Vatican Video Clips

Rome - The Eternal City

When we arrived in Rome it was early evening. We made our way to Saint Peter's Square and found it almost deserted. I was able to get this terrific night shot of Audrey, Barb, Graham, and myself in front of Saint Peter's.

Here is a night shot of Audrey on a bridge in front of the fortress that the Pope would flee to whenever he felt under threat - which was apparently rather often in the old days!

There are seven Basilica's in Rome. This is one of them. And yes, those tiny specks at the bottom of the door are people. There is a good reason that this type of architecture is called "monumental"!

Something that is a little hard for a North American Tourist, such as myself, to really understand is how routine and integrated into daily life the great artwork of Rome is to the people who live there. For example, could you imagine the outrage that there would be here if anyone painted graphiti onto an important public statue like this? We saw many examples of rather casual treatment of public statues and artwork that would be unthinkable to most Canadians...

While Graham and I were visiting the basilica above, a medical helicopter landed in the courtyard and was met by this firetruck (which soaked the grass to keep the dust down - to little obvious effect) and an ambulance. The whole thing seemed rather odd, and we never did find out exactly what was happening.

We visited the Pantheon, which was constructed as a pre-Christian place of worship and was then converted to the Christian faith. Here Audrey is enjoying walking among the forest of columns in front of the entrance to the Pantheon.

One of the basilicas that we visited had mosaics of all of the Popes. After Pope Benedict it looks like there is room for about a dozen more before all the spaces that have been set aside are used. Tradition says that when the spaces are all occupied that will be the end of the world. While that seems doubtful to me, it may provide a good excuse to expand the building!

When we toured the Vatican museums and Saint Peters we saw many pieces of outstanding artwork. A highlight was the Pieta.

Here is a picture of Audrey and me with the famous dove window over the main alter of Saint Peters in the background. The scale of Saint Peter's is overwhelming, the artwork is overwhelming, the human and financial resources necessary for its construction and decoration must have been overwhelming, and - at least on the day we were there - the crowds are overwhelming. All in all, that about sums up how we felt about visiting the historical center of Christianity and the Catholic Church - overwhelmed!

Both Audrey and I enjoy archeology, so visiting the ruins of Ancient Rome was something that was on both of our "must do" lists.

There was certainly a lot to look at.


And I was able to get quite a few nice pictures of us posing in front of the ruins. Here is one of them.

This is the excavation of the "Sacred Area". Notice how the excavation is dug down about 3-4 meters below the current ground level, to reveal foundations and structures that would have been at ground level 2-3 thousand years ago.

Here I am posing in front of one of the many arches found in the ruins.

And here I am enjoying a rather large beer with the famous Roman Colliseum in the background. I did not have time to actually go into the Colliseum, but Audrey and Barb did and thought it was one of the highlights of the visit to Rome.

Of course, we had to visit the Trevoli Fountain.

Tradition has it that if you toss a coin into the fountain in the correct way (one coin from the right hand over the left shoulder) that you are sure to return to Rome.

Naturally, we had to have our picture taken in front of such a romantic fountain! (Pun intended.)

Here Audrey is enjoying the view from the top of the "Spanish Steps".

The Monument to Victor Immanuel II (aka "the Wedding Cake") is one monument that is impossible to miss, (even if you might want too) due to its prominant location and elaborate decoration. It was obscured by scaffolding when we visited, since it is apparently undergoing some maintenance or renovations.

There are of course the usual continent of artists working the plazas. Audrey and I decided to ask this artist to do a portrait of us together, as a memento of our trip. We were more than happy with the result (I don't think either of us ever actually looked so good before - well, maybe Audrey!) and you can see the framed result hanging prominantly in our home if you come to visit.

Here is a nice picture of Audrey with one of the bridges of Rome (and its reflection in the water) as a backdrop.

I was able to get this nice picture of Graham with a lovely sunset over the Roman skyline from the rooftop garden bar of our hotel. Our two days (and three nights) in Rome went by so quickly! Tomorrow: Orvietto and Florence!

Venice Gondola Ride Video

Venice

As we drove to Venice on the Autostrasse we would occasionally come across these "Autogrill" resturants. They are a cafeteria type resturant that serves everything from salads to pasta to roast beef. The idea is that they can take traffic from both sides of the freeway, and they provide a convenient place to stop for gas, washroom, and a meal. We used them several times during our trip.

In due course we arrived at Venice. After parking the vehicle at the edge of the city we took a water bus to our San Marco Square, near to where our hotel was located. Here is a view of the "Grand Canal".

And here is a view of one of the smaller side canals. These canals are full of traffic. Here is a boat taking laundry to be cleaned. Everything in Venice moves on boats.

Here is a view of our hotel. We were staying in a 4-star annex of the 5-star Columbina, which is considered to be one of the premier hotels in Venice.

Our room was very nice.

As was the breakfast room, where we enjoyed an excellent continential breakfast each morning.

Here is a nice picture of Graham and Barb. With its many bridges it was a real challenge for Barb, but she tackled them like a trooper!

There was a lot to look at, and we did our share of window shopping.

Of course, Audrey had to feed the pigeons in San Marco square, near our hotel.

Here is a nice picture of Audrey on the Water Bus as we toured around Venice.

And here is a nice sunset over Venice, take from the water bus as we returned to Venice from a boat joy-ride to the mainland.

The crowds of tourists were quite large in San Marco square. Everyone was enjoying the fabulous weather!

On our first morning in Venice we all went to Murano to see the glass blowing artists at work there. Here is a nice picture of Graham and Barb on the boat.

Of course, the famous Murano Glass comes from the island of Murano, about a 30 minute boat ride out of Venice. Apparently, the city fathers decided that the glass making industry posed too great a threat of fire, and so it was moved entirely to Murano. A favorite tourist activity is watching the master glass blowers at thier craft. It takes a minimum of 15 years, starting at an age of 15 years, for a man to become a Master. The trade is typically passed down from father to son. The glass is very nice, but hugely expensive. (We have some nice pieces of Murano Glass that we bought at Winners in Medicine Hat - the same piece purchased at Murano might cost several hundred euros more!)

The next stop was the island of Burano, where lace is the most famous export. We did buy some lace there, but we also enjoyed an excellent lunch at one of the sidewalk - canal side cafe's.

Here is a shot of Audrey and I on the ferry back to Venice.

A lot of cruise ships make a stop at Venice. This was one of several that we got to see up close while we rode the water busses and ferries.

The Rialto Bridge is a famous Venice landmark.

As we took our leave of Venice, we had to give a thought to the "Bridge of Sighs". This bridge connects the Doges Palace with the Prison. As prisoners crossed this bridge - many to their deaths - they were said to pause and sigh at the last sight that they would ever have of the enchanting city.