Florence, Italy

The day we were in Florence

it rained

and rained

and rained!

My pants were wet up to my thighs,

and my shoes were sloshing with water.

I had an umbrella that was soaked enough that it was dripping through,

and had a poncho, which saved my bacon.

My feet felt like icicles!

We had a tour guide that was a local.

Ricardo (rolling the r's)

This is the city where Michelangelo grew up.

When Michelangelo was 14, 

someone recognized his genius,

took him into their home and helped him develop that genius. 

We saw where he grew up . . . probably took a picture

but can't remember which one is it!!

The Basilica di Santa Croce de Firenze

(that is a mouthful!)

They started building this in 1294.

I will share this statue with you

and hold back all the rest of the photos.

Most of the statues show male genitalia

in all its glory . . . . I'll spare you that!

The streets where sometimes pretty narrow.

They built buildings right over the remains of other buildings

and kept the original shapes of the older buildings.

I'm showing this picture because of all the motorcycles in it.

Small cars, small trucks, motorcycles and bicycles are the mode of transportation.

Crossing the street is done at the risk of your life!

They park ANYWHERE. 

Bicycles.

A man named Vasari wanted to create a quick way to get home from his workplace.

He built a walkway above ground around a kilometer in length,

that he could get home very quickly and safely,

without having to walk the streets.  

This was built in 1564.

I thought this was a statue.

When I was looking through my camera to take a picture,

he started moving!!!

He was there for tourists to take pictures with

and to pay for that opportunity.

This bridge is called the 

Ponte Vecchio

This is also part of the walkway of Vasari.

The first bridge was built in 997

but got swept away a few times.

This version was built in 1345.

Because of war, a lot of buildings have different materials on their facade.

I guess the original was the black brick.

The bell tower of the Duomo.

The Duomo or Cattedrale Santa Maria del Fiore

was finished in 1351.

This is a BEAUTIFUL building.

My eyes, just couldn't believe all the amazing things I was able to see.

The Battistero di San Giovanni,

construction began in 1059 and finished in 1128.

Can you imagine?

A closer look at the Duomo.

The rose window.

Inside the cathedral.

The dome of the cathedral.

A closer look at the dome.

And the floor, of which I always like to get a picture of.

The floors are works of art also!

Tomorrow . . . . . . . ROME!

Pisa, Italy

On our drive to Pisa

I was surprised to see a U.S. military base.

Making me wonder . . . 

Why are we there?  

It was a huge base, with lots of equipment.

I didn't see any people there though . . . . . 

are we there?  hmmmmmmm.

I also included this picture because of the 

"Umbrella Pine Trees"

They were very prevalent in Italy.  

Neat looking egh?

A random building along the side of the road.

This is the entry way into the complex that contains

The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Our guide, Francesca had the most AMAZING voice.

she spoke Italian with a french accent.

Almost all of the cathedrals have three separate buildings to complete their function.

I wonder if that has anything to do with the Trinity?

In the foreground is the baptistery.

In the middle is the cathedral,

which is built in the form of a cross,

and in the back, 

the subject of our visit,

the bell tower,

or "The Leaning Tower of Pisa."  :)

These and most of the buildings we saw in Europe

are VERY old, 

especially when you compare against U.S. standards!

The history of this tower and what they've done to keep

it standing (and continue it's leaning) is quite incredible.

We had to wait our turn to climb the tower and so

Francesca took us to the other buildings first.

The detail on these buildings carved of stone

is magnificent.

The cathedral.

The baptistery.

This really is a good representation of how this tower has sunk!

Any second thoughts about climbing the tower?

Only 8 of us on our bus actually purchased the ticket to climb it.

I wouldn't have missed it :)

BUT FIRST!

We took care of mother nature.

the 

W.C.

(water closet)

Bathrooms (W.C.'s) were hard to find in Europe,

and this one cost us 50 cents!

A last click of the camera before entering the tower.

A window.

A look up the tower from the inside.

They have a sensor system that measures

the changing tilt of the tower.

Part of the stairs.

See the wear and tear of them?

These were worn down on the outer edge.

As we climbed the tower,

according to where we were in relation to the tilt,

we would hug the outer wall,

and then the inner wall,

and then the outer wall,

etc, etc, etc.  296 steps.

At the top of the tower.

If I were good at editing pictures,

I'd take out the people,

and the scaffolding,

just take them out in your mind!!!

At the top, looking down at the cathedral and baptistery.

My mother-in-law, Claudette.

(aka, my traveling companion!)

Going back down the tower.

And a few pictures of the cathedral.

I saw so many cathedrals that they all started to blend in together.

I'm still tired of seeing them.

By the end of the trip, we'd say,

"do you want to go in?"

"they are all pretty much the same, maybe not"!!!!

OH DEAR!

I didn't quite know what to think about these mummy's 

they had on display.

They put a mask on the face,

but you can see the hands and feet.

(well, maybe not on this one!)

I don't remember who this is.

The ceiling of the cathedral.

We also went to Florence on this day,

but the blog post is too long already,

so I'll save that for tomorrow . . . . . 

Thanks for looking!

Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona

was not really a destination for our cruise,

just the port where we began the cruise.

We (my mother-in-law and I) decided that we'd fly into Barcelona

a day early so that if anything weird happened with our flights

we'd still make the cruise.

We stayed in a hotel for the night (of course!)

We checked in, and then when we got to the room

we couldn't figure out how to turn on the lights.

I'd never seen one of these before,

You had to insert your key into it to get the lights to work.

(we had to do the same on the ship!)

Having never been to Europe before,

I'd never seen their electrical plugs.

Good thing the hotel had it's own hair dryer!

Breakfast!

We purchased an excursion from the airport to the ship.

So, after we stayed the night at the hotel, we got a shuttle

BACK to the airport and began the excursion.

A tour of Barcelona:

I'd never seen anything like this before.

The whole side of the mountain was a graveyard.

Crypts . . . . .  right off the freeway.

The plant life was kind-of desert looking,

and in other places tropical, with palm trees.
To put this picture in perspective,
I'd say those yucca plants were the size of a man.
HUGE!

They are really proud of what the Olympic games in 1992 did for them.

It really revitalized their country, and continues to do so today.

They have lots of famous architecture.

The architect that designed this building always uses fish in his designs.

 A reminder of things to come!

These guys were having fun.

A bar on wheels

and they were the power behind it.

See the bike pedals?

They moved along at a pretty good clip.

Palm trees.

I thought the roots of this tree looked cool!

I just kept clicking pictures of stuff I thought looked neat.

Usually through the bus window.

This is a roof of a rich person's house in downtown Barcelona,

of course, designed by a famous architect.

Architects are like movie stars there.

This building was built over an ancient Roman coliseum.

They just built over it in the same shape as the coliseum.

It WAS a bull-fighting stadium, until bull-fighting went

out of vogue in the area.

Now, I think it is now a shopping center.

This cathedral has been under construction since 1882

and is scheduled to be completed in 2026.

It is gigantic compared to the surrounding buildings.

Our bus didn't get close to the building.

I zoomed in from far away on a hill.

This is a statue of the national dance of Barcelona.

Our tour guide said it is a proper representation

of how fast the dancers actually move. 

It is a very slow dance!

I loved this walkway and it's design.

Christopher Columbus statue.  

There was some debate about which direction he should point.

I guess he was supposed to point to the "New World"

but is just pointing out to sea, in another direction.

Our tour guide told us that the national sport of Barcelona is
Pick-Pocketing.

He said they have "the world's nicest pick-pockets,"
and they DO love to pick the tourists clean.
Pick-Pocketers don't get prosecuted unless the amount they steal is high
or if they hurt the tourist by using force to steal from them.
So they are very "polite" pick-pocketeers!
I swear I saw a guy hovering over our group while we were up on the hill
overlooking the city . . . . .
I didn't see him take anything,
but he might have :)

As stated above,
Barcelona is very proud of the Olympic games
that occurred over 20 years ago there.
They have a very nice airport,
a great freeway system,
improved trash pick-up,
nice roads,
a night life,
and a great Olympic park,
that still revitalizes the city.
WOW!

I really enjoyed visiting the city and as with all the cities we visited,
wished I had more time to stay and visit some more.

NEXT:

Our ship!  The beginning of the 12 day Mediterranean cruise!