Saturday, June 26, 2010

We're really home....look at that mess. We got up at 5:30am this morning in Rome, Italy and here it is 10:30 pm in Covington KY. It was a very long day and went really well until we hit New York...what a mess that place is....no one seems to be able to give good directions and we had to wait two hours for our luggage....anyway, we made our flight to Cincinnati....and Lucy still loves us.

Friday, June 25, 2010

The Pantheon....wow...this is our last day in Italy and we just arrived by train from Florence to Rome. My last item on our wish list was seeing the Pantheon when it was open...we walked around it a couple of times early in the month....it was open today! This is my fav in Rome. It was a Roman temple, a government building and now a church....with remains of the other two functions. It has an "occulum" an opening in the ceiling, so the light shines in that way. I heard that on Pentecost Sunday they drop rose petals down into the church from the top of the occulum...it is a quite beautiful place and I have more pictures to show you later.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

San Giovanni Festa....Festival of Saint John the Baptist...the patron saint of Florence...what a day...parades, music, boat races (although we missed that) and finally fireworks. We had our last supper in Florence out on our terrace. It's been a beautiful day and we were glad to be able to eat outside one more time. The next picture is of us on our way to watch the fireworks....unbelievable...just like Riverfest on Labor Day...people walking left, people walking right....motorcycles, cars and bikes...everyone is moving all at the same time but in different directions. It was quite a show and ended with what looked like Chinese lanterns floating in the air....off to Rome tomorrow. We'll miss our little apartment in Florence, but plan to return soon.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010`

Today we went to Lucca...by train. It was about an hour and a half ride. Lucca is a very old walled town and the wall is still there. This is a picture of part of it. It's a very pretty town and you can rent a bicycle and ride all around the wall....on top of the wall. Way cool...next time maybe a bike for me!

When we left this morning, we noticed people stringing all kinds of wires outside our building on the Piazza...what we didn't realize until we arrived home was that, the wires went from our building (Palazzo Uguccioni) to Palazzo Vecchio....and when we finally read the flyer hanging on one of the barriers, realized a high wire walker was going to perform tonight at 8:00. We were there....our building, our Piazza...how could we miss it....the pictures are the "wirewalker" coming out of our building and the other one on the left is of him right above my head as he's going into Vecchio! What fun this was and everyone clapped and he came out and we all clapped really loudly....fab evening!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Today the plan was to make the long walk (2 miles) out to the big Stadium complex east of the historic center where we are staying. It was a long walk but we really enjoyed seeing this complex. The Fiorentina "Viola" play here....Florence's professional soccer team. It's huge...about the size of our football stadiums. On the complex is also a practice field where today they were having soccer camp for high school age kids. A baseball field that is a bit smaller than minor league but bigger than high school fields...the funny thing about that was the innings were numbered with Roman Numerials....there was also tennis courts and a very large swimming pool surrounded by a lot of grassy parts for sunbathing and picnics. It was a very nice place in the "suburbs". The last picture I want to show is of one of the "ambulanti" that wonder around Florence. They sell all sorts of stuff put out on a piece of fabric that they can wrap up quickly if the police come. The police really don't bother them....or chase them, it's some kind of game. The reason they are not legal is they don't pay taxes so the Guardia di Finanze is not happy about them.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Happy Birthday, Uncle Bruce.....wish you were here!

This is what Italians do at 6:00 in the evening....since they don't eat dinner until 9:30 or so, they get a little munchy at 6:00ish, so they get a glass of prosecco (champagne from Italy). Italians don't drink wine without eating something, so when you sit down at a table and ask for two glasses of Prosecco, you also get some fun munchy things...tonight it was bruschetta, olives and pistachio nuts! woohoo! After the prosecco, it's time to take a long walk and then go back home to watch the end of a "football" match. After dinner we went for another long walk (although it's just a little cold here this evening) over to Santa Croce to see what's going on...nada!

But this is what sunset looks like looking east from Santa Croce! Red sky at night, sailors delight....we're going to have a great day tomorrow....the sunset says so!

The picture to the left is two art students in Florence, making a chalk copy of a masterpiece on the sidewalk. The city has designated three spots along this street for artists to do this work. They had two baskets out for donations and both were full.....they have a picture of the original for comparison...this is one of the better ones we've seen since we've been here....there's also a ballet on the Piazza Signoria tonight....too cold to go out and watch...poor dancers!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Father's Day...even in Italy! Thanks guys for the card and texts.

We started the day with a really great breakfast to celebrate Father's Day and then had a very wet walk to St. James American Church about 15 minutes from our house. It was fun to hear all that English...American style for a change. There were quite a few people in church and the Rector was from Mobile Alabama...we liked his accent!

This is the inside of the church...it's a very pretty church and we were very glad we made the wet walk....the rest of the day was on and off rainy and we were in and out...depending on the weather....at 4:00 we watched the Azzuri tie with the Kiwis....too bad.