Venice

I expected little from Venice--I don't love the idea of a city built in the mud on stilts, and I can't help but imagine it floating off or sinking. You can see what I mean, yes? To where did that door lead when it was built?

I thought I'd find a smelly place with an occasional picturesque canal. I was pleasantly surprised. Venice is beautiful. This next one is one of my favorites. What are those colorful doors for? So much of the city seemed like relics of a different time. Fertile grounds for the imagination, I tell you.

We met Mike's family in the square in front of St. Mark's--fortunately, I love Mike's family and had a great time roaming around with them. Two of the many things the Wonnacott's are good at: shopping...

and eating.

Here's Mike in front of the facade of St. Mark's. Fun square, but no place to sit. Venice was definitley a place to be on your feet.

I loved all the little alleyways that zigzagged through Venice. It made the light do interesting things and lent the whole place a mysterious air.

This little alley made us think of Miles, who's like a little monkey with his shimmying up the walls in our house.

Mostly, though, we just roamed in Venice, and it looked like this:

Florence

So many pictures, all requiring a thousand words. Florence was akin to a spiritual experience for me--you may have picked up by now that I've been crushing on Michelangelo, and after reading The Agony and the Ecstasy I was so primed for this city. I could blog this one for days and never be done raving. Instead, I'll give you the abridged version.

Here we are in the rain outside our hotel.

Here's the work you know and love in the piazza I know and love. This copy is one of a bunch of great statues in the Piazza Della Signoria.

Here's the only intact bridge left after WWII. It used to carry the Medici across in the passage at the top, and is now lined with fantastic shops selling mostly jewellery.

This is Gregory (my brother-law) enjoying one of the many little cars. We were equally delighted with all the small vehicles and took an exorbitant number of pictures of them. Miles approved! We loved getting to be with Beth and Gregory--somehow it's thrilling to see people you know out of context like that. Someone to whom you can say, "Hey, we're in Italy!"

A beautiful, rainy alley on the way to Santo Spirito.

One of the only amazing things we were allowed to photograph. This Pieta was done by Michelangelo when he was 79-80 years old, and he intended for it to go on his tomb. The face of Nicodemus is Michelangelo's face. This was, for me, a powerful piece.

This is one of the many delicious things we ate. Do we have amazing pastries in little shops all over and I'm missing it, or is it just not an American thing? And the gelato....We actually stopped for gelato on average four times a day. So yes, we exercised restraint. The winner: rice flavored. So good. But a word of warning concerning eating in Italy: do not sit at a cafe, or the cost of your hot chocolate quadruples, and don't trust your waiter at dinner when he tells you what to order. If you do, be prepared for 70 dollars of steak as a second after you've already eaten your fill of anti pasta and first plate. Not that this happened to us, you understand, but I'm just saying. Good times, Beth and Gregory, good times.

These people really work the whole moto thing.

Really.

And here's inside the duomo's cupola.

Wow. Everything here is really close together. After Rome, it was lovely to stumble so suddenly on all this beauty.

Here's Mike in front of the duomo (the church--you can't actually see the dome from this angle, so quit looking.)

This is the campanile (Giotto's tower)that we climbed to get a most thrilling view of Florence. Worth the hike, and you get that pleasant soreness the next day so you feel justified in downing one extra gelato. Or two.

Said thrilling view: one of 4.

And how about those police officers, wearing their fancy uniforms designed by Armani (or are these the ones by Valentino--I mix them up)? Either way, nothing says law and order like a good purse.

Here's a throwback to Rome, since we're on the subject of uniforms. This is the Swiss Guard who take care of the Pope in the Vatican City, complete with uniforms designed by Michelangelo himself. Come on, now--the man could do just about everything else; even his genius had to have a limit.

FYI: This blogging thing is hard on me, because I want to regurgitate everything I know and learned here, but I feel limited to what I have pictures of, which isn't half of what I saw there that really mattered to me. So maybe next post I'll record some of that for my own records. I'll understand if you skip it.

When In Rome...

I want to do a nice post about our vacation-- I do. But I know I can't capture it with words. Pictures will seem pretty flat in comparison to the reality, also, and that's why I keep postponing it. But I don't want to lose it, either, so...

Post One: Roma!

This is where we started our big fat vacation, and it was a great start. I walked poor Mike into the ground. Oh, I heard his pleas for mercy, but I forced him to keep up. I think he's glad I did, because there was so much worth seeing. We did forget our camera for the entire first day. I blame jet lag.

Highlights: Borghese Gallery, mostly the sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Mike doesn't even remember this museum which we struggled through the rain and our exhaustion to get to (and I admit it's a little hazy for me, too), but some of the sculptures made me want to dance and clap like a three year old. I have a thing for sculpture. Seeing that marble, all polished and looking so soft just pulls the rug out from under me--I get a moment of solemnity akin to reverence--and then unleashes a tidal wave of plain old joy.

This was maybe my favorite one, and the picture doesn't do it justice. The hand is just digging into the flesh, and you have to remind yourself the thing is made of stone. I loved it.

We did a walking tour at twilight, and that was a perfect way to see the whole city and get a history lesson with it. I was't sure about spending the cash for the tour, but I'm so glad we did. It was awfully dark by the end, and I did have the misfortune of grabbing the tour guide's chest just a moment before my eyes fell on Mike standing on the other side of me. That part was awkward. Again, I blame jet lag.

Best part of day 2 in Rome had to be Saint Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. Having just read The Agony and the Ecstasy (biographical novel about Michaelangelo), I was ready to be impressed. But there's really no ready for that kind of experience. This is about one fourth of the square outside where you almost don't mind waiting in line. I kept wondering how the Pope feels about having such a constant crowd running amuck outside his home. I sort of expected him to poke his head out of the window and hollar for us all to keep it down!? Geez, can't a Pope read in peace? Shout out here to our good buddy Rick Steve for the tour.

The Basilica was enormous, and really beautifully proportioned. Best part: The pieta of Michaelangelo's. Marble, or butter? Hard to tell--it's that soft. I'm not that into the whole Madonna and crucified Jesus art thing, but this was moving. Here's my fairly bad picture taken through the glass.

And the Sistine Chapel--the first thing that struck me was what an ugly building it was in, and then it makes you realize how amazing the art is to have preserved so ugly a structure. This is also where we are starting to finally gather that those Italians don't like you photographing much of anything much of anywhere.

The Vatican Museum was awesome, and then we spent the rest of the day just wandering around, you know, the colosseum and stuff. We loved Rome.

Lastly, I can't fail to mention the food. We ate at restaurant called Lucifero's in a little back alley in the Campo di Fiori which our tour guide recommended, and it was hands down the best pasta I've ever eaten: creamy and light sauce on a spinach ravioli. Sounds simple, but it was perfection. Also, there were two of the best pastry shops on earth by our hotel, as well as a charming outdoor market with fresh fruits and vegetables the likes of which you just don't find in an American grocery store.

I wasn't really expecting as much from Rome as I was the rest of our destinations, but I was wrong to short this city. Definitely somewhere I'd like to go again.

Grazie Mille

I just wanted to throw out a big thanks to everyone who called and came and sent packages or brought goodies to Miles after his bike crash. He wrote thank you notes, but then we left for Europe and so some of them have yet to go out. We'll get them out, but here's and extra thank you. I was really surprised by how many people stepped up for little Miles. I think he was, too, and I'm so glad he was able to see it! It's good for him to know what kind of world he's living in, and thank you all for making it that kind of world. He looked like this one month ago:

By some miracle, he is fine now, and he looks like this:

I expect the scars will lighten as they continue to heal. Thanks to all the wonderful people who love my little man. Do you feel better yet, Aryn?