Buon Giorno and Arrivederci
Pics that I was not able to upload from
my previous post when I was in Italy.
Our apartment in Rome.....you are looking up 4 flights of a stone stairway. There is no elevator. Imagine carrying...dragging...all our luggage up... arrgh
Arch in the Roman Forum area of ancient Rome
Roman Forum
You might say main street
Vatican Steps
on our way up Palatin Hill.
Pantheon where Christina danced
Dancing with her Daddy on the
streets of Rome in front of the Pantheon
Roman Ruins
Roman Forum
Roman Forum
Overlooking Rome from Palatin Hill.
The name palace comes from Palatin
more ruins
inside St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican
Steps to the vatican
Roman Coloseum
Coloseum
The Vatican
Vatican Guards
San Gimignano
Streets of San Gimignano
View outside the window of our villa at San Gigmignano
Tuscan Countryside
Continuing our Italian Adventures from my last Italy post while in Tuscany..... Josh and Luisa arrived back to our Tuscan Villa to a happy family greeting. Everyone was glad to see them and hear of their travels. We all took turns talking and sharing. The gift giving worked out wonderfully. We had handcrafted cards and gifts that lined up the stairs to their bedroom... :) It was fun to improvise since I didn't have my craft room available.... Even Christina got in on the action. Johnathan had such fun surprising them... and they were appropriately pleased.
Our Villa in Tuscany
Waving to Daddy & Mommy
The next day after they returned we took a day trip to Pisa. I have always heard of the Leaning Tower of Pisa...but was never really sure just what that was. The leaning tower is simply a bell tower....gone wrong since it was constructed in soft marsh like land...with little in depth to anchor it. They were never able to repair it...so it has leaned since it's existence. Actually all the buildings lean but the tower is most noticeable.
It seems Pisa was a pretty powerful port city...and warred with nearby Florence. According to what my tour guide Josh told me....they would often win booty in war and use the winnings to improve their church. The bell tower ( leaning tower ) is adjacent to the very large and beautiful church. The churches...or basilicas were certainly elaborate... At first that seemed odd to me...to have these ornate golden churches... but the common man could not afford to be educated.. That was a luxury for the wealthy...which meant they did not read and had little book learning in regards to holy matters.. PLUS there were not many books during the early church. Most I think my guide said...were written on leather... The church itself then ...was like a living Bible... The paintings and icons and statues were symbols that represented spiritual meanings.. Knowing that made it all make sense. I saw those beautiful representations of the beauty of the Trinity and heaven with new eyes... The saints, who are also included, were living examples of how holy scripture urges us to be... The very disciples who walked with Christ...walked there too...established the church and some of their remains are in those very churches. There was a bit of growth for me in that regard. :)
This is where they stood to preach
Beautiful interior of Pisa Basilica
Dome in the baptistry...which is a separate beautiful building
Restored Fresco
We stayed in the area of the tower and church and bapistry the whole time but we could have spent hours more... The tour of the church alone was awesome... Each building was filled with beauty and history... It was a lovely day and I am so glad we were able to see it.
Josh and Luisa took another little side trip and the kids and I enjoyed a few more days of rest after our Pisa trip and more tea time with Mary and Hugo and Maria. Maria even took Johnathan for a gelato and some time at the playground. I loved my early morning deer sightings and walks with the children. It was a wonderful time of refreshment and relaxation in the beautiful Tuscan countryside with my precious grandchildren.
Johnathan with Maria, Hugo and Mary
Countryside of vineyards and Olive groves in the area of our Villa.
Inide our Villa
Having a romp in the field
on our patio
Getting dirty.
good foot prop.. :)
Tea Time
When Josh and Luisa returned we had to say goodbye to our lovely Villa and Mary, Hugo and Maria and headed to Sienna.
I LOVE Sienna!! One look at the old city layout makes you fall in love with it... The old city wraps lovingly around the most amazing Basilica at the top of the hill. We parked outside the walled city as all tourists are told to do...and walked in. We had a wonderful lunch and off we hiked up the steep narrow streets pushing Christina in her stroller...
Amazing city!
Finally a picture altogether
St Dominics where Catherine of Siena was baptised
a rest and picture with Johnathan and Christina
another magical picture of this beautiful city
On the way we encountered lovely period music and musicians dressed in medieval garb... It transformed you to years past...and was truly magical.
Duomo in Siena
medieval musicians
We spent a great deal of time touring first the church were St Catherine was baptised...and then the large Basilica on the hill.. We stopped on the way back to her home and a chapel dedicated to her... It remains my very favorite place to visit... I admire the life of St. Catherine and was thrilled to see it all. We were able to do a bit of shopping and at the end of the day headed on the autostrada to Padova.
The drive was good and easy to Padova or... Padua... We talked most of the way... charmed by the day's findings in Sienna. We found our hotel with ease...though that is not how I would describe the parking of the big SUV in the teeny parking garage...America does not comprehend teeny. I still feel the stress of that parking venture as I write this and I was not the driver.. Our rooms were nice and we were able to have dinner next door and then off to bed..
Basilica of St. Anthony in Padova
We spent the morning at the basilica and then drove to Verona. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this lovely and fair city. This part of Italy is more affluent...and I loved not only the beauty of the city....but the activity. Everyone was smartly dressed in Italy's finest...and the shops were current and trendy. We loved walking around seeing the historical sites and enjoying all the goings on... Lunch was nice and all too soon the day ended..but not before a chance to see Juliet's balcony. Of course there was no Juliet..but for some reason this has been designated as the spot...and everyone wanted to see it and get their picture taken there. I had mine taken and I texted it to Larry. A big trip highlight for me. :)
lunch in Verona
Juliet's Balcony...loved it!
stopping for a bit of lunch
Beautiful architecture!
Verona Basilica
Charming city of Verona
a stop at the river for some pictures
Beautiful hillside picture.
Note the old roman theater on the left of the pic.
The next day we took a tram to the train station and rode the train to Venice. It is so perfect that we saved this for last because nothing could have topped it for me.. I liked other cities better I think..for various reasons....but Venice is not a city to miss. It sits alone...nothing anywhere is anything like it...
On the train to Venice
We spent the first part of the day getting lost on the little side streets... We ambled about and soaked in the beauty of all that we saw.
Our tour begins
Crossing over into Venice
canals
Gondolas touring the many canals of Venice
lunch break and some local wine
Amazed
Masks are big in Venice. Daddy tries on Johnathan's mask
Christina gives it a try
Christina helps dad push the stroller..
John says he is helping to keep it balanced... ;)
Grand Canal of Venice
Beautiful!
Interior of the Basilica in Venice
Beautiful Byzantine Architecture
St. Mark's Basilica in the main piazza of Venice
Eventually we made our way to St. Mark's square and the basilica. Josh gave us the background to prepare us...but I must admit...nothing could have prepared me for it's beauty. Byzantine architecture is a continuation of Roman architecture with an eastern influence which was brought into play by Constantine when he moved the capital of the Roman empire to Byzantium, now called Istanbul. Almost every inch of the basilica was done in small gold mosaics. I was in awe of the artwork of the mosaics displaying different parts of Holy Scripture. Truly no other church is as breathtaking.
I could have stayed for a long time but we eventually made our way out and after dinner hired a water taxi and left Venice in style down the Grand Canal. I love that last hurray. We all stood in the open places of the boat and marveled as we raced down the canal seeing the beauty of such a marvelous place in the sunset. If I wrote a script the day could not have ended better..
A last farewell to Venice as we speed down
the Grand Canal. ( very cool! )
One of the prettiest sunsets I have seen
Josh and Christina enjoying the sunset
Water Taxi Ride....wow!
We were jetting down the Grand Canal
just like the movies...lol! Loved it!
We all got in on the excitement
Josh enjoys the beautiful Venetian Sunset on the water taxi
The next day we packed and shopped for our return trip the next day. At 3 am we loaded up our car....sitting on our bags and stuffing them in every possible nook and cranny and headed for the airport at Venice. Finally we found it...and Josh left us and our luggage on the curb while he returned the car. Nothing in Italy is easy... :) Luisa and I found carts...and loaded them up and proceeded to push two carts loaded with a zillion pieces of luggage...a stroller and Johnathan and his back pack and many carry ons....to inside the airport to wait for Josh. How we managed that feat I will never know..but we did it.. :) We got checked in to Iberia Airlines and waited until time to board. We managed to have a seat between us on that 3 hour flight which was very nice. The aircraft was actually good. We had leather seats and the plane seemed powerful enough to get us there. ;) Once we got to Madrid...chaos erupted though... We got lost the minute we hit the airport and made many tram trips and elevator rides until we found our proper gate. Can you say major sweating bullits STRESS. :) We had to go through security several times...and no one spoke English but we finally accomplished it and once again...thanks to prayer ...had good seats with an empty seat between us to stretch out and one for Christina. No matter how good the seats were... 11 hours on top of 3 hours and airport time and delays makes for a very long and tiring day and we were all wanting to fuss like Christina before it was all over with... :) Finally we landed in our beloved Texas...and soon home to see Larry and Sassy.
"but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
Joshua 24:15
