Venice (Venezia)

Ahh, Venice.

Just one of the many water ways in Venice. Getting from here to there in Venice is expensive because the only way to do it is by boat. The bus was 6.50, whereas everywhere else it was like 1 euro. A water taxi was 80 euros for two people! Yikes!

Here is the group (except Brad) right after we went to a museum where they sometimes display DaVinci's Vitruvian Man. Of course it wasn't there for our visit, but still . . . hey we were in Italy. We couldn't complain.


Carnival in Venice is a little like Mardi Gras only it starts two weeks before Ash Wednesday and ends on Fat Tuesday. Masks have always been a big part of Carnival and they are sold everywhere.


We couldn't leave Venice without a gondola ride. So here are my Mom and Dad and our fantastic gondolier. We learned some interesting stuff about how you have to go to school and be a at least a second generation Venetian to be able to be a gondolier.

Vatican City

I had a really hard time picking just a few pictures of Vatican City because there were
so many great ones. If you click on the words Vatican City above, you can see Bryan's whole Vatican City album. But here's just a preview:


Bryan and me in front of St. Peter's Basilica.


The Swiss Guard. If you've read Angels and Demons you know all about the police force in Vatican City.


The Raphael rooms were fantastic I just wish that our guide didn't need to spend 45 eternal minutes in them. I thought it would never end.


This is the back wall of the Sistine Chapel. See that guy in the middle on the right with skin hanging off is leg? That's St. Bartholomew, and for some twisted reason Michelangelo painted his face in the gray skin hanging off his leg.


That line on the far side of the Piazza was what we had to wait in to get inside St. Peter's. None of us was too keen on the idea of standing in line for 3 hours, but luckily this tour guide came and solicited Brad. He told Brad that he could get us inside the church for 10 euros a piece without waiting in line. We didn't really think it was legit, but he told us that we wouldn't have to pay him until we got inside, plus he had a little tour guide badge. So we agreed. He didn't take us to a special tour guide entrance as we expected, he just started cutting in front of everyone else. It was very uncomfortable, because everyone was getting mad. Brad tried to stop him telling him that it wasn't fair, but the guy reassured him that it was okay, plus we didn't have many options because the Basilica was supposed to close at 4:00 (it was 3:40). So we kept going, getting glares and rude comments the whole time. When we got to the front of the line, some random guy came up and stopped him. A quick conversation ensued in Italian. Brad and Mike (our two Italian linquists) were at the front listening. All of the sudden Mike turned to me and said, "Walk. Go." But I wanted to know what happened so I kept asking, "Why? What did they say? What happened?" Mike just kept saying "Go, go, go." So we left and Mike and Brad explained that the random guy was an undercover cop who arrested our "tour guide" and his accomplice at the front of the line.
Needless to say, we went to the back of the line and waited our turn. It only took about 40 minutes and the church didn't actually close until 6:00.


The long line was worth it because we got to see Michelangelo's La Pieta. It was magnificent.

Florence (Firenze - I know it's the same name as the Centaur in Harry Potter)

Believe it or not I cannot find a single picture of Bryan and me together in Florence so here is a picture of gelato instead. I ate far too much of this and have a little gelato/pasta baby now (an extra five pounds right in the belly).



On our trip we would all be looking around and then somebody would turn to me and ask where Bryan was. He was always disappearing, constantly in search for another great shot.
Technically you aren't allowed to take pictures of Michelangelo's David . . . but Bryan, throwing caution to the wind, managed what no one else in our group could.


Isn't Florence beautiful at night?


(Oopsies, I forgot Vatican City, I'll hit that one next)

Rome

Yes, it's been a long time since we have posted and so much has happened. We took a fabulous vacation to Italy, so I'll start with that. First we went to Rome and I experienced my first Margherita Pizza. Heavenly.

Here I am in front of a tiny car - not a Smart Car. It was smaller than those.


In front of the Colosseum. It poured that day. Luckily when we went to the Forum in the afternoon it was nice and muggy hot.


Usually I'm not a huge fan of tons of pictures without people in them, but I loved the Trevi fountain. Isn't Bryan a great photographer? (Stay tuned for our next city - Florence)