ROME
We flew from Vienna to Rome - a short flight that was very easy for the little guys - and checked into our hotel, Trinita dei Monti, at the top of the Spanish Steps. We started our tour at the Pantheon, had a little pizza (which tasted like a something from the freezer section, but it didn't matter since the guys who sold it to me kept telling me I was a bella-mama!), and headed to Vatican City for the afternoon. We had a beautiful walk through St. Peter's and made it for Sunday Mass at 4! The following day we had a tour of the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel (no pictures allowed), and St. Peter's.
Waiting to board!
Kate, wiped out from the 4 a.m. wake-up and plane trip, in the back-carrier at the bottom of the Spanish Steps.
The view from our hotel, looking toward the top of the Spanish Steps.
Approaching St. Peter's Basilica
St. Peter's Square
At the altar in St. Peter's
Yeah, we saw Raphael's School of Athens! And afterwards? The Sistine Chapel!! No pictures allowed, but WIKI-ing is highly recommended.
Inside the Colosseum, on our tour
Kate reflects on what she's learning about the life of a gladiator...suddenly, having to eat your vegetables before dessert doesn't sound so bad...
The PeaBugger explores the Palatine Hill - he finds the terrain to be similar to the backyard in our compound.
And Raggy is wondering, as little bits of orange foam fall from her leg, if her arthritic knee will hold up through all this walking!
FLORENCE!
On the train - mouth full o' juice, happy as can be!
Raggy, taking a break after playing a few pranks on her fellow Rome-to-Florence passengers...
St. Maria del Fuori (the cathedral church, or Duomo, in Florence)
Nonny, in her classic didactic mode...
Kate absorbs Nonny's outline of her plan for the day
Walking down Via Calzaiuoli, near the hotel
Tea with Nonny!
and Raggy!
"Wait, wait, who's drivin' my stroller? Does this guy know how to steer?"
With his GaGa
GaGa introduces the tour to Santa Croce
Running around after seeing Giotto's frescoes in Santa Croce
The Deposition, by Pontormo, in an altar in St. Felicita
And you may recognize this from our home - I've had a poster of this Mary fresco since my last visit to Florence...it still took my breath away
View of the Duomo from the Boboli Gardens
Convent of San Marco in Florence - which also the Fra Angelico Annunciation, along with others of his beautiful frescos (in each monk's cell)
I picked this off the internet, but this was the Annunciation we saw - it was sublime.
No comments:
Post a Comment