Italy

Our train ride from the Swiss border on the way to Milan was very picturesque.

Lake Maggiore near the Swiss border

Finally in Milan. Let the pasta feast begin! Paxton eating noodles with cheese at a family run restaurant and bar near our apartment.

With the owner

Santa Maria delle Grazie church where Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper is, though we didn’t have the opportunity to see the painting in person.

Across from Santa Maria delle Grazie is a villa where Leonardo da Vinci stayed for a few years, had a vineyard, and painted some of the walls and ceilings. We started our tour in the courtyard.

Part of da Vinci’s painting outside the main residence.

The ceiling of the entry room. Each panel a representation of the different astrological signs.

The library. The woodcarving was incredible.

The back yard. Leonardo da Vinci’s vineyard is in the background at the edge of the green lawn.

One of the house cats.

An optical illusion.

A gift from the Duke of Milan, Leonardo da Vinci used this vineyard for making wine while he was working on The Last Supper. The tour said these have been growing here continuously since he received it in the late 1400s.

Looking into an inner courtyard for a building in Milan.

The ceiling of that hallway.

Lion-like gargoyles.

The outside of the Sforza Castle.

The castle from the main courtyard.

The castle houses Michelangelo’s Rondanini Pietà sculpture that he worked on the last few years of his life until he died in his 80s in 1564. It is of Mary holding a dying Jesus after he was removed from the crucifix. Apparently not appreciated at the time, the exhibition says it is now considered one of his greatest works.

Another inner courtyard.

They had uncovered some paintings under layers of stucco applied over the years.

A medieval book that has various illustrations of devils at the bottom.

This huge tapestry was apparently carried down streets in processions during it’s time of use.

The ceiling of a room in the castle that was painted by Leonardo da Vinci around 1498.

Near the center of this picture is a section of the painting from the last restoration where someone copied over da Vinci’s work to enhance it. They removed all but two sections of that restoration to show people how some are more unintentionally destructive than helpful.

They had an interactive projected story that describes the history of how the painting came to be.

Part of the projections tracing the outlines of the trees.

Below the painting were his original sketches on the wall. These were covered by wooden wall panels at the time the painting was finished.

One of da Vinci’s drawings in a temporary exhibit.

The castle has various exhibits, including this room of armor and weapons.

Jack the Pumpkin King’s helmet!

Some serious spurs!

Outside the castle is a large city park. In the distance was a victory arch.

City park turtles.

A view of the Tiber River that runs through Rome and just a few blocks away from where we stayed.

During the summer, they have a nightly festival along the riverbank filled with pop up restaurants, vendors, and other attractions. The white tents on the bottom left of the photo are part of it. We went to explore our first evening in Rome.

While eating at one of the pop up restaurants, Paxton is having fun with the camera. Dad and Mom are in each lens of his sunglasses.

Walking along the festival road.

A hookah lounge restaurant.

The festival also had various games and rides. Outside a haunted house. The lady was shaking the whole time. Paxton ran past because he wanted nothing to do with it.

One of the various Imperial Forums built by each Roman Emperor.

Julius Ceasar in front of his forum ruins

Roman forum ruins

One of many temples

The bottom of the green door in the middle of the temple — at that time converted into a church — was the ground level when it was last actively used. The rest of the structure was under dirt until they later excavated the ruins.

One of four remaining arches.

The groove worn into the road is from chariots!

The altar where Julius Ceasar was burned after his murder. It still remains one of the most popular spots in the forum ruins. People toss coins on it.

One of the statues of the Vestal Virgins (priestesses of Vesta, goddess of the hearth). They made sure the sacred fire in honor of Vesta didn’t go out. They took a 30-year vow of chastity and if they broke it, they were buried alive. If they served the entire 30 years, they were allowed to marry and had a pension.

All but two vestal virgin statues are missing their heads.

The Arch of Titus was built to commemorate the victory of when Jerusalem was sacked.

A menorah can be seen on the middle of the arch carving.

The massive Colosseum.

Roman numeral numbers marked the entrance arches.

Its surreal that people use ancient columns as seats.

They are continually working on restoring the ruins below below the arena floor of the Colosseum.

A view of the Colosseum from one of the top levels. The white marble seats to the left were reserved for Senators.

Another of the four arches.

Circus Maximus where chariot races were held.

The royal residence overlooking Circus Maximus.

Walking through the courtyard toward St. Peter’s Basilica. We got there early to avoid crazy crowds.

A view of the courtyard from the basilica.

Excited nuns. We saw nuns and priests all over Rome, but this was their mecca.

One of many doors manned by the Swiss Guards.

Inside St. Peter’s basilica. The sheer opulence of the place is pretty staggering.

One of many areas for prayer and contemplation. Seemed to be mainly nuns and priests allowed in these areas. One nun is heading into one of countless confessionals throughout the basilica.

Paxton near one of the priests walking around. Yet another confessional behind him.

We didn’t realize that various popes are entombed in the basilica. Bill and Paxton checking out one of them.

As we were heading out, we saw this man being cheered by some of the crowd.

The best we can figure, he might be Wilfrid Napier, an Archbishop from South Africa. Bill went up and briefly talked to him.

On the back side of The Pantheon, this is part of what remains of some of the decorative plaster work.

Arriving at The Pantheon from the side.

The front of the Pantheon. It is the best preserved Ancient Roman monument because it has been in continual use; first as a temple to honor all gods but then transformed into a Catholic church (what else?).

The square outside of The Pantheon.

The inside roof with the hole in the center. Apparently still the largest unsupported dome in the world.

Still used as a Catholic church.

An ancient open-air theater built in the 17th century BCE, we got tickets to see a classical concert performed next to these ruins.

We learned from a pre-performance tour of the ruins that the top level is currently used as apartments!

The opening band…finished with some spoken word performance by a cool older man. Wish I could understand Italian!

The main performance; piano performance of Bach, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, and Listz.

After the performance we stumbled upon a Fiat 500 club meeting.

The location where Julius Ceasar was murdered. At the time, it was a temple. Now it is a block of ruins surrounded by more modern streets and roads.

Next to the ruins is a small cat shelter that feeds, rescues, and finds adoptive homes for all the feral cats that stay in these types of ruins.

Remnants of ancient buildings are randomly found in between more modern buildings.

The stairs near Piazza Venezia. At the bottom of the stairs on the left was where they executed prisoners at one point in history.

Ancient Roman “condominium” ruins. The tour guide said it was six stories high at one point. The wealthiest on the bottom floors; the poorest on the top floors that were made of wood and highly flammable.

A decoration on the ruins

Completed in the 1930s, this is a monument to honor the unification of Italy in the mid 1800s.

The building that Mussolini worked out of when he was dictator.

The stretch of road built by Mussolini that leads from his building to the Colosseum. In order to make the road, he destroyed ancient, medieval and Renaissance structures.

Inside the courtyard of the building occupied by Mussolini.

Ancient baths of Diocletian

On our bus tour, they said this was lovingly referred to as the “soup tureen” fountain by locals since that is what it looks like.

The Castel Sant’Angelo near Vatican City

Dragons and eagles

Triton fountain

Fountain of the Naiads

According to the tour, when this was first built, many people passed by multiple times to check out the naiads in closer detail.

During our exploration, we happened upon the old Jewish ghetto established in 1555.

A look down the main street of the street lined with Jewish restaurants and shops.

Catacombs just outside the city center that contain popes and other important people.

Trattoria D’Escargot

One of the entrances to the original wall surrounding the City of Rome

More of the original city limit wall

One of the only gas stations we saw in the city center.

Fashionista on the motor bike.

She may need help walking nowadays, but this fashionista is still rocking it!

This guy’s got his espresso (in a small plastic cup on top of his car), his cigarette, and his tiny car.

An even smaller car…if it can be considered a car.

Staying cool on nearly 100 degree days using the many public fountains throughout Rome.

A small restaurant next to our apartment.

The Grand Canal of Venice.

The iconic gondola and it’s gondolier. They don’t sing though.

An old “garage door” of Venice.

A man diligently working on his ride.

Exploring the island, we ran into a lot of dead ends.

Gas station.

A busy (water) bus stop.

Every one at this crowded table had their own pizza for dinner. And we’re not talking American “personal pizza” size. More like the equivalent of a medium or large by our standards. We saw this all over the island.

We think this is the island’s cemetery.

The ambulance bay at the island’s emergency room.

An ambulance headed to the ER.

Cool brickwork on the newer hospital.

During our exploring, we’d run into “streets” like this. Super easy to get lost in.

An off the beaten path local bar/club.

We happened upon a really cool Venetian mask shop. This is the artist who creates everything there.

The mask we ended up getting.

Scary cat in the window.

Many of the old doors on the island are surprisingly small.

The only exterior round staircase on the island.

Before they had piped water lines they used to collect rainwater in these wells located in the center of every square. The white squares on the ground is where the water was collected. The center well was locked when not being used for fear of someone poisoning the well water (apparently it was a thing during those times).

The lion in this statue is the symbol on the Venetian flag.

The opera house that burned three times in its history. Most recently in 1991, when the nearby canals were drained for cleaning. By the time the fire boats arrived, the interior had burned completely and had to be reconstructed entirely. After that, they installed fire hydrants throughout the island.

The original “front” of the opera house where people used to arrive by boat.

One of the new fire hydrants.

The leaning tower of Venice. It started leaning very early on due to unstable ground it was built on.

I tried this orangish drink that everyone on the island seemed to be having at all the restaurants. It is an Apersol Spritz. Not my favorite. The picture doesn’t quite convey how large these drinks were.

One of the traditional dishes of Venice: Pasta alle Vongole

Maybe the oddest thing I saw to eat on the island…french fry pizza.

Venetians take their ice cream very seriously. Every ice cream shop seemed to offer one to FIVE scoops! And not small ones either.

The island is filled with shops containing nothing but Murano glass figurines and jewelry; traditionally made on the island of Murano.

We passed by this pedicure shop a few times…let the fish nibble away the dead skin on your feet first.

Time for a gondola ride!

Our gondolier; one of about 400 on the island. They have a limited number of licenses to give out, so folks who want to be one have to wait until someone retires.

They have to duck to get under bridges.

They’d have a hard time with this one.

Most gondoliers seem to be in a perpetual bad mood. Too many annoying tourists to deal with.

We attended a play called The Misadventures of Arlecchino. In Italian with English subtitles.

The production was small, so they had the audience sit on the back of the main stage, facing the small set. The play was wonderful, funny, and superbly acted.

Walking home after the performance at 10pm and gondoliers are still busy at work.

Our apartment was right near the Jewish section of Venice. Apparently it was the original place where the term “Ghetto” was used. Though there is debate as to what the term actually first meant. This is the main synagogue we saw. It is unfortunate that there still has to be army troops guarding places like this. We’ve come so far, but have so much further to go.

The guards distracted by a pretty girl.

Past the synagogue was the main square where they were setting up for some sort of celebration or community lunch.

The street sign signifies that this is the “New Gheto”. But the location is the same as the original one…so I’m not sure what that specifically means.