When my oldest grand-daughter, McKenzie, graduated from high school, I thought the best graduation gift would be a trip to one of my favorite places in the world! Why not? Then Gramma could enjoy it too! And enjoy it, I did! The most wonderful feeling was seeing her enjoying some place that I love with a passion! I saw Italy through the eyes of a loved one. The trip was like traveling with my best friend and our mantra became "If lost, don't panic....have a gelato and figure it out"!!!
We arrived at the Venice airport and took the boat, Aliliguna, to Saint Mark's Square to find our small hotel. After making out way through thousands of pigeons, we found it located behind the square and over a bridge. Our "home" for 3 nights proved to be in a great location, with WiFi!! We ate very well, shopped, toured museums and churches, got lost in the alleys (everybody does!), ate gelato, and ended our stay in this fascinating city of canals (people either love it or hate it) by taking a gondola ride on the Grand Canal. It was expensive, but so worth it!
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| Arrival in Venice |
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Bridge of Sighs from
Doge's Palace to Prison |
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| Domes & Cupalos |
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| Golden dome in the Basilica |
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| People & Pigeons in St.Marks Square |
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Rialto Bridge
Gondola Ride
After a scenic train ride, we arrived in Florence. First of all, we found our lovely hotel on the River. Then we started our sightseeing, marveled at the Duomo, shopped on the Ponte Vecchio Bridge, spent time in the Academia, with the famous statue of The David, ate gelato, climbed up to the Piazzale Michelango with a beautiful view of the city with it's red domed buildings, traveled around Tuscany to Siena and San Gimignano, an old walled city with cobblestone streets, went to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, ate more gelato and thoroughly enjoyed the splendor of Tuscany ! |
to the looming abovwith awesome views. Also, we were sure to get our daily dose of Wanting to experience more, we took a day tour of Tuscany including Pisa on the Arno River with it's Leaning Tower. We had lunch/wine tasting at a small winery in the country, where we shared our table with a delightful American family, also enjoying the hills of Tuscany. We spent a few hours in G d cobblestone streets. The last city to explore was it's beautiful cathedral and huge city square, where we witne
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| Ponti Vecchio Bridge in background |
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| A bridge of gold & silver shops |
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| View from Piazzale Michelangelo |
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| The Duomo |
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| At the Academia |
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| The David by Michelangelo |
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| Leaning Tower of Pisa |
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| San Gimignano |
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| Gelato - the Best! |
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| Siena Cathedral |
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Wedding in Siena Square
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From Florence, we took a train to Rome, The Eternal City! Again, we walked miles through a city of 5,000,000 (?) people, horrible traffic and tons of history. With so much to explore, where do we start? We started in "Old Rome". Walked through history for awhile, the forum, the senate, all the old excavations - The Glory that was Rome. Next day brought us to The Fountain of Trevi and our wishes to return. The Piazza Navona , with it's main Fountain of Four Rivers and all the artists and activity, is my favorite square. Time for lunch in Campo de Fiori at Sloppy Sam's! The Spanish Steps in all their glory and The Pantheon with all it's history were on our list. Stopped at the Piazza Venezia & Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. As we were quite tired as the afternoon ended, we decided to eat AGAIN and make it an early night, after some Roman Gelato, of course! On our last day, we toured the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica with it's beautiful Pieta by Michelangelo. We were unable to take photos in a lot of the places that we visited, so had to put lots in our memory banks! In the afternoon, we took a guided tour of the Colosseum. Our very knowledgeable guide was full of history, stories and tales of an age gone by. We spent a few hours on our own after the tour exploring and taking lots of pictures. It is so vast, it is almost mind boggling, not "almost",,,it is mind boggling!
We left Rome, knowing that it was impossible to see everything in our short time, but if our wishes at the Fountain of Trevi come true, we will surely return! We can eat Gelato and do as the Romans do!
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| Old Rome |
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Piazza Navona
Fountain of Four Rivers
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Lunch at Sloppy Sam's in Piazza de Fiori
Fountain of Trevi
Spanish Steps
Pantheon
Piazza Venezia & Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
The Pieta in St Peter's Basilica
The Colosseum
End of a wonderful trip with lots of gelato!
