Arrivederci A2Kers

Welcome back!

ok, you're from Texas - how hot did it get over there?

Probably mid-80s most days, maybe warmer. And yes, I'm from TX, but we mostly stick to the air-conditioning, ya know.

Welcome back!

Gelato...

Whaddaya mean, afternoons? They didn't teach you how to have a proper siesta?

She's back!

Waiting for a report.

Ok, I'm a photobucket novice, so I'll test a pic for size.



Edit: ok, going to play with resizing now.

Thomas, you're quite right about siestas. My friend needed some convincing about that.

Ok, these pics are a bit small, but I'm going with it. I'll play around some more with the next batch.

Rome:

Days 1 & 2: No sleep at all on flights, but enjoyed getting caught up with S on the Atlanta to Rome leg. Arrived mid-morning and the hotel room was (surprisingly) available. We got our day trip to Pompeii booked for the next day, and then set out.

Walked thru the Borghese Gardens (our hotel was just east of there), shared a panino from a cart. Saw a very cool statue in the Piazza Barberini. Works by this artist are actually all over town; this is just the first one I saw.



Had to visit the Spanish Steps because I missed them on my first visit years ago. Walked in to the first leather store we saw and bought the first jacket I tried on. It seemed too good to be true, but I really liked it.



Rest of that day: Palazzo Barberini, Museum of Decorative Arts (don't remember the Italian name), Capuccin Crypt (eerily decorated with bones from thousands of monks), long grumpy walk back to the hotel. Cleaned up, nice dinner out, bed.

Day 3: Day trip to Pompeii. They weren't kidding. We were picked up at 7 am and got back about 10:30 pm. Lovely drive and saw some sights in Naples. Stopped at a cameo factory (tourist trap) but bought a ring anyway. I didn't think I wanted one, but liked the non-traditional ones very much.



Pompeii was fascinating. It was worth the long day to have the few hours there.



Day 4: Half day City Tour included Vatican (Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's), Palatine Hill with great view of parts of the Forum, and Colisseum. On our own, rest of the day: Forum, Trajan's Forum, Capitoline Hill, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Theater Marcellus, Jewish quarter, Trevi Fountain, dinner in Piazza Barberini. Lots of shopping every day... We rarely failed to slow down for shoes or purses in store windows.



Day 5: Catacombs of St. Priscilla - probably my favorite activity in Rome. Cool (in both senses of the word), creepy, couldn't get enough. Took bus to Termini, walked to Basilica of St. Peter-in-Chains (S. Pietro in Vincula) where Michelangelo's Moses statue is. Galleria Doria Pamphilj - odd museum with some great works by Caravaggio, Titian, Durer - the family that owns the palace still lives on the top floor. Crypta Balbi - newish archeological museum. Very modern - active digs on the grounds.

Right away, a piazza I don't know.. this is great, looking forward to this.
Hard to guess the sculptor and hard to look it up. Modern sculpture in roman piazzas brings me to... mostly reproductions of classical pieces.

Catching up - drooling with green envy drops.

Cool jacket, great ring.
(I loved Galleria D.P.)

Florence:

Day 6: The Eurostar is a great way to travel! Our Florence hotel was located half a block from the Arno on the west side of town - just inside what's left of the old wall. Huge room. The bathroom was as big as my living room. We once used the mini-electric bus which ran past our hotel with a convenient stop on Piazza della Signoria, but mostly walked into town, sometimes two or three times a day.

Loved the Ferragamo shoe museum - gorgeous shoes from the 20s to present day, with photos of movie stars wearing them and order slips for stars or spouses of stars. (Mrs. Jimmy Stewart and Marilyn Monroe bought a lot of shoes.) Shopped across the Ponte Vecchio and at many vintage shops across the river. Saved the big stuff for the next day.

Day 7: Half-day city tour included Accademia (David and the Prisoners and other wonders), Duomo, bell tower and Baptistery exteriors, Piazza della Signoria, and ended at the Piazza San Croce. Bought lovely soft gloves at my mom's favorite shop on the piazza. (They put tiny monograms on the wrists.)



On our own, toured S. Croce church (tombs of the greats) and the leather school attached to it. This was my actual birthday, so we had a special lunch near the piazza. Found the post office to buy some stamps. Loved the Leonardo museum, where they've built (some full-scale, some models) of some of the gizmos which he designed. Great kid-friendly place.

Day 8: Pitti Palace in the morning (mostly the Costume Collection and Boboli Gardens, which are huge).



Siesta back in room to rest up for the Uffizi in the afternoon. It's overwhelming to see so much spectacular art all together. (I thought about Eva when I stood in front of Botticelli's Venus, of course.) We had snacks and later dinner in the piazza, then back to the hotel to pack for Venice.

osso, S took a close-up of the info about the sculptor and shots of other works near the Forum & Colisseum. I'll post them when I get the disk.

Ooh, good.

<APPLAUSE!>
<APPLAUSE!>

Venice:

Day 9: Eurostar again - I could definitely get used to this. Our hotel was half a block from the train station - a lovely old building on the Grand Canal, right by the Scalzi bridge. I loved Venice best. It was fun to get lost, because you couldn't go very far. We used our maps, but there are so many tiny streets and dead ends that you just can't be in a hurry.

Found the Madonna della Orto church which was had a great deal of work by Tintoretto. Near sunset, we went on a gondola ride with other travelers who we'd barely gotten to know - champagne and music made it a lot of fun. The guy with the accordion had a great operatic voice - even did a little Satchmo.



Day 10: Half day tour started on a water taxi to the Rialto area, then walked to San Marco. It was early enough that the shops were still closed, which allowed us to make better time. The guide talked about the piazza and Venice history a bit. We couldn't go in the Basilica because it was Sunday, and it's only open for two hours in the afternoon. Toured the Doge's Palace, including walking across the Bridge of Sighs and into the prison next door. Then (another tourist trap) went to a glass-blowing demo (cool) and routed through their gift shop (beautiful expensive things - didn't succumb).

On our own, toured the Teatro Fenice (Phoenix Theatre) and watched quite a bit of a technical rehearsal. (Few people would have been as interested as we were.) Went to Accademia museum, them walked out to see the view from the Punta della Dogana. The banner in the pic says "I will not make any more boring art." Loved that. It's an ad for the ongoing Bienniele (sp?) arts festival.



Took the vaporetto (water bus) back to the hotel. Back out later and had dinner on the canal, then walked through the Jewish quarter - the original ghetto.

Day 11: Slept in, which we needed. Toured Frari Church and Scuola. Vaporetto to Rialto - shopped and had lunch. Fortuny Museum - weird mix of modern and old art all in a building which seems to be crumbling. Vaporetto to S. Marco - wandered around a bit and toured the basilica. Vaporetto back to hotel. Joined fellow travellers for happy hour, then had dinner on our own.



Day 12: Took a water taxi to the airport which was a fun (and breezy) way to see the city one more time. Uneventful flights home (Venice/JFK, JFK/Atlanta, Atlanta/Houston).

Oh yay!

The sculpture looks a lil like a Botero:

Yeh.


Lovely trip, extremely cryptic.

You're right, jes. They were Botero-like.

osso, I guess cryptic is my usual writing style. I can certainly expand on things, if you have questions!

Reading along. Great.

Thanks, mac! I've enjoyed your 'diary' very much.