Category: photography

From our base in Florence we ventured out to two additional cities in Tuscany: Pisa, and Siena. You could call this part of our trip, coming in the middle as it does, the Two Towers.

First, Pisa [wikipedia.org]. Of course there was one goal in Pisa, the Leaning Tower [wikipedia.org]. We took the train from Florence and walked to the Piazza del Duomo. The tower is fun to see and to hike up to the top. The slanted stairs make you feel like a drunk as you circle the tower, first leaning to the inside then to the outside of the corridor. After enjoying the view from the top for a while we went into the cathedral.

As I said, the Tower was the only attraction we went to Pisa for. So, after visiting the Tower and Duomo we had an early dinner. Then we took a slow walk back the train station and headed back to Florence.

A few days later we took the train to Siena [wikipedia.org]. As Siena is at the top of steep hill from the train station we took a bus to the old city. Other than just exploring the well preserved midieval city we wanted to climb the Torre del Mangia [wikipedia.org]. To be honest my knees were not looking forward to the 400 or so steps to the top. But, I wanted the photos from the top. Unfortunately, or fortunately if you are my knees, the tower was closed due to high wind.

We didn’t really notice how strong the wind was in the Piazza del Campo where the tower is located, it was a bit windy. But as we made our way to the Siena Cathedral [wikipedia.org], it was obvious why they closed the tower. In the piazza around the Duomo it was almost like a cartoon, leaning into the wind to avoid being blown over; the slight drizzle was turned into horizontal darts of water.

The Duomo in Siena is, I think, one of the more beautiful interiors in Tuscany. It’s just the right blend of the gothic and romanesque styles. It has that multi-colored marble stripes on the columns, and the gothic vaulted ceiling. I love it’s completely not circular dome. But the most interesting part, historically if not visually, is the uncompleted expansion you can see half built in the piazza, the attempted size is stunning. The nave of the current building was going to be the transept of the new one. The plague put an end to that building work, and it was discovered that it had some flaws in it anyway and most probably would have fallen down, so they never finished it even after the plague was over.

Anyway, we wondered around Siena a bit more, saw the home of the oldest surviving bank in the world, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which isn’t much of a tourist site but we did have to walk by it anyway as we wondered around trying to find here to get a bus back to the train station.

So, that was our Tuscany excursions. We didn’t go to San Gimignano or Arezzo or just wonder around the country side. Winter is not really the time to wonder around, Tuscany is justifiable famous for the beautiful countryside but that is more suited for a summer visit.

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You can see the whole Pisa, Italy, December 2023 [flickr.com] or Siena, Italy, December 2023 [flickr.com] photosets on Flickr.

Continuing our journey from Venice [confusion.cc], our next stop was Florence, capital of Tuscany and of the Renaissance. With the exception of not spending a night in Milan before going to Venice this holiday followed the same plan my wife and I took on our honeymoon in 2007 — Venice [confusion.cc], Florence [confusion.cc], Rome [confusion.cc], including Vatican City [confusion.cc] and Milan [confusion.cc]. The side trips were a little different: we didn’t visit Verona [confusion.cc] or San Gimignano [confusion.cc] or Como [confusion.cc], but Pisa [confusion.cc], Siena [confusion.cc] and even Pompeii (which I never posted about?) were all on the itinerary again this time.

Anyway, enough of itineraries. What did we do in Florence [wikipedia.org]? In addition to being the base of operations for our visits to Pisa and Siena, among the many, many things to see in Florence, we visited:

• The Uffizi Gallery [wikipedia.org], where we saw; The Birth of Venus [wikipeida.org] by Botticelli —one of Victoria’s favorite paintings— Primavera [wikipeida.org] also by Botticelli, Medusa [wikipeida.org] by Caravaggio, and many, many, more. Some of the most celebrated paintings in history (full list [wikipedia.org]), including works by three of the four Ninja Turtles.
• The Ponte Vecchio [wikipedia.org]. It’s pretty, a great backdrop for photos. The most interesting thing, to me, is that London Bridge once looked like this, only bigger as I understand.
• The Duomo, formally Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore [wikipeida.org]. As far as cathedrals go, this one, which marks the end of Gothic and start of Renaissance styles (no buttresses!), has, I think, the most beautiful exterior. The green and white gives it character. The interior is much brighter than most other cathedrals and the dome is amazing. We climbed the dome, 463 steps for the amazing views. We also climbed the bell tower; another 414 steps for more amazing views.

• Galleria dell’Accademia [wikipedia.org], housing Michelangelo’s David [wikipedia.org]. Probably the most famous sculpture in history. It’s monumental and technical amazing. But I think I prefer La Pieta among Michelangelo’s sculptures that I have seen.
• Basilica di San Lorenzo [wikipedia.org], which is notable as it has no grand façade, just the raw, naked brickwork. Michelangelo designed a facade, even built a wooden model but it was not built. This makes San Lorenzo look rather plain on the outside, hiding how beautiful it is on the inside. Donatello is buried here.
• Medici Chapel [wikipeida.org]. Which is attached to San Lorenzo but a seperate tourist site, because, Michelangelo designed it and it contains several celebrated sculptures or his and some charcoal sketches attributed to him.
• Basilica di Santa Croce [wikipedia.org]. Yet another magnificent church in Florence. The interior, is very different from either the Duomo or San Lorenzo but beautiful. This place is notable for the many important tombs found in the nave —from midieval knights, to some of the most famous people in history; Michelangelo, Galileo, Dante, Machiavelli, and more.

One thing we were not able to do this trip was to visit the Vasari Corridor [wikipedia.org] as it was closed. As I recall from last time it’s interesting, but not a make-or-break thing. C’est la vie. We. Also didn’t visit the Palazzo Pitti [wikipedia.org], or the Bargello [wikipedia.org]. I think the kids were tired of paintings of Madonna and Child, Christ on the Cross, the Adoration of the Magi, and statues of naked men and women. Livi had an app on her phone to keep count of different themes. It can be mind numbing all the renaissance and pre-renaissance art day-after-day in Florence, indeed, in Italy.

We did stumble upon a decidedly not renaissance exhibit that we decided to go to. In the Palazzo Strozzi there was an exhibit of Anish Kupoor’s works called Untrue Unreal [palazzostrozzi.org]. Including early, colorful works like To Reflect an Intimate Part of the Red [anishkapoor.com], and Endless Column [anishkapoor.com], as well as the more grotesque Three Days of Mourning [anishkapoor.com] and First Milk [anishkapoor.com], some of his mirror work and even a bunch of his newer Vantablack works. Lots of things I didn’t catch the name of and didn’t find for sure when searching online. I would not say I’m a big fan of Anish Kapoor in general but it was a nice departure from renaissance and pre-renaissance art.

And if you are keeping count, we saw the tombs of two of the four ninja turtles in Florence.

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You can see the full Florence, Italy, December 2023 [flickr.com] photoset on Flickr.

I first visited Venice in 2002, I spend a long day tramping around the city with a college friend. We didn’t stay in Venice, that was too expensive.

I returned to Venice in 2007 with my Wife, part of our honeymoon tour of Italy.

This time my daughters and my mother and youngest sister joined my wife and I. We spend three nights. We flew into Milan and took the train directly to Venice, choosing to see Milan as our last stop so we didn’t need to rush to make a flight on the last day.

We visited all the important sights —the Doge’s Palace [wikipedia.org], St. Marks Basillica [wikipedia.org], The Rialto [wikipedia.org]— spent lots of time walking around the streets and squares, at a lot of good foot and gelato, and took a trip to Murano [wikipeida.org] —for the glass— and Burano [wikipedia.org] —for the colorful houses.

We were lucky to get into St. Marks at just the right time of day, to have brilliant late afternoon sun steaming in the windows and giving all the cold mosaic walls and ceilings an amazing glow. St. Mark’s is inspired by the Chruch of the Holy Apostles [wikipedia.org] in Constantanople which no longer exits. But the influence of the Byzantium style of churches and church decoration is obvious. St. Mark’s reminds me of Hagia Sofia [wikipeida.org], it’s nowhere near as big and it actually has a lot more golden mozaic everywhere you look (thought in absolute terms maybe Hagia Sofia has more, it’s so damn big…). Hagia Sofia is one of my favorite buildings in the world, and I get a similar feeling in St. Mark’s just based on the decoration, the mosaics and the marble and the domes. It was absolutly beautiful in the golden light.

We also visited a shop, specializing in masks and costumes for Carnival, called Ca’ Del Sol [cadelsolmascherevenezia.com]. We did buy a couple of masks but this place is like a wonderland. The floors, walls and ceiling and many tables are covered win masks. Manikins modeling full costumes stand in the corners. The old guy working there was a total character too, playing it up. Few things say Venice like a fancy carnival mask and Ca’ Del Sol, had the most fancy ones your can imagin.

Of course, the girls also needed their required Gondola ride. It’s just a thing you have to do when in Venice.

Did I mention gelato? Having discovered Gelato at Amarino’s in Paris in 2022it was a must to have actual Italian Gelato. (I didn’t write about it but we went back to Amarino’s every night after we found it, no matter how cold it was in Paris.) I even got to show them where I first had Gelato (that was in Milan). My older daughter made sure she knew where an Amarino’s was in every city we were visiting in Italy so she could have Amarino’s every day. (We did try a few other placed, but the quality of Amarino’s was consitent and higher than most easy to find tourist places).

It was not a long stay, Vinice is still expensive, and while it might be nice to spend a few more days to see everything, a few days is enough. Enought to wonder though the streets and allyways, over the bridges. Enought time to get a feel for why Venice is so famous. From Venice we took the train to Florence, but that is another post…

You can see the full Venice, Italy, November 2023 [flickr.com] photoset on Flickr.

I posted photos from my 2022 trip to Paris almost a year after the trip, just at the end of September. I had intended to post about the other part of that trip, to Strasburg and Colmar, soon after and definitely before this years trip.

I failed.

So, here it is, almost the end of 2023 and I’m posting a link to my photos from the 2022 trip to Strasburg and Colmar. More than a year after the trip. Sad. I hope to do better.

In any case, my family and I spent five days in Strasburg as a break from Paris. We spend most days wondering around the old Alsatian part of town, visiting the Christmas Markets.

Between glasses of vin chaud, the local mulled wine, or hot apple cider, we browsed the market stalls and climbed to the top of the Strasburg Cathedral. And we spend a day in Colmar, checking out their markets and drinking vin chaud there.

While Paris was all about visiting museums and churches, something to do every day, Strasburg was for sleeping in and relaxing, no scheduled ticket times.

Oh, and we waked to Germany. We took the tram to the closest stop and then walked over the Pont de l’Europe, crossing the Rhine and into Germany just far enough to catch the tram back. Just to say we did it.

You can see the few photos I took, mostly of the buildings and especially the cathedral in the Strasburg, France, 2022 Photoset on Flickr [flickr.com].