A Trip to Europe Part 1: Italy

 Once again, my posting of things has slowed down greatly. Most of May was a flurry of non-hobby activities. My own school year ended followed by my daughter's university graduation! 

It was very emotional for me. My oldest is now flying off into the "adult" world. She is the oldest of my two and I felt like we have always had this special connection. 

Almost right after that, we did a long planned family vacation in Europe. Probably our last one as a family of four now that she will be starting work as an electrical engineer in Milwaukee Wisconsin. I will not bombard you with a million pictures. Just a few highlights for each place we went to.

The plan was to work our way north across Europe so the first country on our tour was Italy. We only had about three weeks total, and my wife really wanted to see Florence and Venice as well as Rome. We began our trip by landing and staying four nights in Rome. Of our various cities on our tour, I enjoyed it the least. I'm sure getting pickpocketed on a crowded right headed to the Vatican no less, didn't help! I was very sure I was careful, but the thief must of been even better. Its not to say that I hated Rome, it is more that I enjoyed the other places we visited. It was very hot and seemed dingy for some reason. It was a good thing there were all those public water fountains. Anyway:

Trevi Fountain. Hoards of tourists, plus you had to pay to get any closer to the fountain 😦: 

The Pantheon

The Pantheon

The Colosseum and Forum. I have to say that spending the extra on a guided tour was really worth it. The tour guide really knew his stuff: 

The Vatican and Vatican Museum:

A very tired Ivan contemplating which pizza to dive into first at our Air BnB:

Our next stop was Florence. I was a much happier camper there. There were a lot of tourists, but I didn't feel squished. We only stayed two nights, but we get a good tour of the city. Florence and Venice had a much higher "chill" factor than Rome did according to my kids. 

Enjoying a delicious sandwich brunch:

Pitti Palace:

Uffizi Museum:

Primavera (Spring) by Botticelli is probably one of my favorite paintings. 

It's mainly due to this woman. She is the only one in the painting looking directly at the viewers. There is something mysteriously intriguing about her. I first saw her back in 1984 when I was touring Europe. I didn't notice it back then, but she is pregnant. 

The kid has to have her cappuccino:

Of course, we can't forget the star of Florence...David:

The last stop in Italy was Venice. Again, we only stayed for two nights. It was warm there, but there were some breezes off the Adriatic that helped moderate the temperatures.

Gotta have a Gondola ride:

The Bridge of Sighs:

Next, Basilica San Marco and the Doge's Palace that included the Bridge of Sighs and the prison. Again, it was worth it to have a guided tour with a guide who really knew her history:

Ivan passing across the Bridge. Not build for a 6'4" person:

The Boy was getting rather mopey from too much culture and I was tempted to leave in the prison, but he got all happy when we let him go have a dessert at the Cafe Florian, the oldest coffee shop in Europe, while we toured one more museum: 

So ended our visit to Italy. I was going to make this one long post, but for your sake and mine, I decided to break it up. Next stop Paris.