Philadelphia 2007

I was very lucky this year and was elected to attend the NEA convention in Philadelphia during the July 4th holiday. I spend long days at the Convention..YES I REALLY DID!...and some time with my wife doing tourist stuff! I would not bother you with pics from the NEA Convention, but I will with my tourist stuff!
This is Independence Hall all set up for a concert on July 4th.


Here it is again a day before the 4th. That must have been the 3rd..mmmmmm


Then of COURSE Betsy Ross' house and Ben. Franklin's Post Office!



Cathy at Penn's Landing. That is the Delaware River in the back and the opposite shore is New Jersey. A bit down river on the Jersey side is the decommissioned battleship New Jersey.


The Liberty Bell...from the outside looking in!

The side trips and side shows

We stopped at places between cities. I know from Assisi to Florence we stopped at a Castle that is owned by a gentleman who rents out rooms/suites for about 200 Euro a night. If there are four of you traveling, that works out to 50 Euro or about 63USD a night. Not bad considering the accommodations and that he ran a series of 5star restaurants in LA and Vail and other fine places. Here is view of the pool, and the tower in the back is a suite that is rented! Also a pic of me there!




And the young lady with the red flower was our tour guide, Barbara. This is she and a few of the students from another group walking away from the above mentioned castle through the main gate.


We stopped in Sienna, where of a lot of the door knockers that I posted earlier were shot. There is the street scene and one of me by a pillar that is used to mark off the race track for the "palio", a famous race that s held in Sienna every year.



Pompeii is always fun, here is a picture of me getting red again under the sun looking like I could blow my top before Mt. Vesuvius will! Also a road picture of the fine street building abilities of the Ancient Romans. I still believe that modern street construction could learn a lot from the Romans, such as FOUR FEET of sub structure instead of 2 feet which we use for far heavier vehicles and usage!


and some RANDOM SHOTS OF SILLINESS!

my lunch one day...anchovy stuffed peppers!

The view from my room in Serrento!

Sunrise over the new city of Assisi,

A nice place to sit and watch the world go by..a home patio in Assisi!

Capri

No, not the pants, the island of Capri. I had never been there before this trip. We left Rome and went to Pompeii and then spent the night in Sorrento. I had a private room that night, but the morning came early and we were off before 7AM to the Isle of Capri. We walked down this never ending set of stairs and then off to the ferry that would take us on the 45 minute ride from Sorrento to Capri. It was a wonderful day, sunny and bright, but a bit of haze in the air. Upon arrival, we left one ship and boarded a boat. I know the difference between a ship and a BOAT! The latter was a boat. In any event we sailed 3/4 the way around the Island and then back to harbor. From there we stood in line for about 45 minutes to take a tram to the top of the island where I could only WISH to own a residence or afford a hotel room. It was amazing! Here are some shots from the town at the top of the Island.....for those fine covered sidewalks, we have this:


For the shopper of the ULTRA fine goods we have this!


For the best in hotels and views, this!


For the city center, this.....


for the nature and scenic beauty lover...well, this is too much!


For the yachting readers, wait, does anyone I know own a yacht?..ANYWAY...


then leaving the fine island behind.....


I really enjoyed this day, I only wish I had prepared myself and covered myself in sunscreen...yes, the sun did its best to me the last day in Italy...I was scorched and hot and sweaty and ready for a LONG shower...but there was still an hour and a half sea voyage to Naples! And I choose to be topside and outside on the deck!
Oh well...at least the scenery was good and if the ship sank, I would be a steaming beacon of water to the rescue ship!

Rome

I love Rome. What more can I say. I didn't take a lot of pictures in Rome, I mean really, how many pictures of the Colosseum does one need to show they have been there? I do have some from the Vatican Museum and a few from inside of St. Peters and some of the shops and streets. The usual shots are missing. I was on this trip for 10 days and only shot 9 rolls of film. That is about 24 pictures a day. Actually a lot are of others, and I really don't like posting others (beside the group pictures) faces here. I am proud of some of these, especially the one of the remains of Pope John XXIII. If you go back to last year's trip, you will see that I used a picture by Debbie, because mine did not turn out well. This year I made a concerted effort to clear the area of tourist and take my time and I got a great shot! So, let's start with that picture!


Italy without Garibaldi, is like The United States without Martin Van Buren! (You know the 8th president of the United States, the FIRST president actually BORN in the United States AFTER the ratification of the Constitution in 1787.....you know...ANYWAY) Garibaldi is the man who unified Italy (as well as Italy can ever be unified) in the last half of the 19th century. This Statue, shown in silhouette as the sun was setting, is of him. It looks like he is sad or depressed, but actually it isn't like that at all. There is a saying on the side of the base that says "Roma o Morta" Rome or Death (sort of like Oregon or Bust in the age of expansion). When I first saw the statue years ago, one of the guys next to me said it should say "Roma e' Morta" Rome IS dead! He was joking of course, well not really, he was from Southern Italy! I told you Garibaldi unified Italy, as best he could!


Trevi by night....well, it isn't that easy without a full tripod and better angles and a LOT LESS PEOPLE. But here is my attempt!


The Pantheon! It was amazing. When we showed up, there was a male choir singing in the church. Yes, the Pantheon is now a Church under the direct control of the Vatican. This allows for the building to be open all the time and also lets everyone in for FREE! This is of course the outside of the building.


Onto the Vatican now and St. Peter's! Here is just the face of one of the cherubs from the Holy Water Fountain by Bernini. It is huge!


Inside the Vatican Museum is a courtyard. At one end is the large bronze pine cone that dates back to the time of the ancient Romans.


Also, if you are observant like me, there are papal seals on the flower pots. Yes, I am sure there is one with Benedict's seal, but this is the one I found of John Paul II. I just love terracotta as it ages!


Now a walk down one of my favorite side streets in Rome, Borgo Pia. It has some nice places to eat, some nice little bars for ice cream or coffee and lots of souvenir stores. Most of them are a LOT less expensive than shopping from the street vendors and some are really inexpensive. Here is a street view and the the outside of a typical souvenir store. I and do mean typical, they all look alike with what they are selling. Some do have unique things, but most sell the same "stuff" as the guy next door.



Without doubt, this was one of the hottest Junes I have experienced in Italy. The humidity wasn't bad, but the heat was awful. In every picture I have of me I look like I have been baked or roasted. This is no exception. It was taken while I waited for everyone to meet me in St. Peter's Square. I was making "points" as Debbie calls it by taking pictures of couples who had no one there to take their picture. I would see people taking pictures of each other, then I would offer to take their picture together. I made a lot of points in those 50 minutes I was there! I had one couple offer to take my picture and I took them up on the offer...below is the result of one white boy under the hot Roman sun! (With the ever present camera bag!)

Florence

Florence used to hold a special place in my heart. It still does, but not the same manner as Rome. When I first went to Florence in 1979, I do not remember the vast crowds and hoards of people. The city is too crowded for me today. I enjoy the sights, especially the region around the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio. I enjoy shopping in Florence, as the fashion and jewelery are not found anywhere in the world like they are in Florence. My pictures focus on what I like to look at and what draws me back to this city. I would like to go back by myself some day and spend 2 days walking to places I want to see. This trip did not allow me to get to some of the locations I love to see, but I did see the heart of Florence!
You cannot understand the Italians nor the city of Florence if you have not read the Divine Comedy by Dante Allighieri. Being the first major work in Italian, it is comparable to Beowulf in English. It is the story of who is who in Italy and in the late middle ages and what the Florentines thought of them. It is a road map to the history of what will become modern Italy. Many of the images painted by the artist of Italy go back to the Divine Comedy, so to Dante!

This is where it all starts, the Palacio Vecchio, The Old Palace. It is here that the Medici start their empire. The stones that built the Old Palace are the stones taken from the other towers in Florence that the Medici had destroyed and then used the stone to build this one and ONLY tower in the new city they built.

The Ponte Vecchio, Old Bridge, is famous for the gold shops that line either side of the bridge. It was the only bridge crossing the Arno River that was not destroyed, be design, by the Americans as they liberated Italy from the German occupation in World War II. I include two shots of the bridge, one up close the other from a park near the region of the New Palace or the Pitti Palace of the Medici.


And of course we MUST remember it is ME that is traveling and I am NOT the most safe person about. I can slice my hand with a dull butter knife, so when I see help near by I try and make friends because you never know when I may need a bit of first aid!


Thus was Florence seen, and remembered by me in this trip...

Assisi

(The town crest taken from outside the dinning room of the hotel where we stayed.)
Many people know of St. Francis of Assisi, many do not know his name was John Francis. Yes, just like me, he had two names, but he chose to go by his middle name, and not his first name. Assisi is actually 2 cities. There is the city in the valley which is where most modern life takes place, and then there is the ancient city where Francis lived his early life. It has, by some strange power of the Saint himself, maintained a lot of the old world charm. Most of the old part of the town is not open to motorized traffic, though they do get in and about, but it is a real walking town. I was first in Assisi in 1979. It was a beautiful town that was to remain in my mind as just that a small town. Going back this time, 28 years later, I was afraid it would have become like Florence, an over crowded tourist destination. It had not. It is still a quiet and peace filled place to see and walk about.

This is a typical side street (sidewalk) in town. It went up to another level of the town were the locals actually live. Very few people who work in the old town of Assisi
actually live there, they live in the valley below and commute to work here.

This is a typical shop in the town. I love the chianti bottles hanging and the straw brooms. It is such an "old world" experience.

Not all the churches are big. This is a small chapel in a residential area of the town. It was so quiet and the setting of the olive trees made such a nice transition to the stone tower and old bells.
Earlier I showed you a shot of the bell tower of St. Clair's Church from outside the walls. This is inside the walls walking towards the church itself. You can see the city really does set on a hill!

This last shot is special to me in many ways. I was, as mentioned earlier, here in Assisi in 1979. At that time I was with a group of people, many whom have passed on to the next life. Among them were Fr. Siro DalDegan and his mother, Congressman Gene Chappie as well as his wife. We all stopped here to take a group picture with the modern city of Assisi in the background. As I looked out over this spot, I remembered these fine people and "stood" with them again for this picture. I can still see them with me, and if you look close, I am sure you can too. :)


Thus ended my day in Assisi. From Assisi, we got onto the buss and headed for Florence.

so far......

So far I have 3 pictures that I really like that I took this summer in Italy. The first is from the Isle of Capri. Though I have more from there that I like, I have not cropped them for here yet. This first one, from the Isle of Capri is outside of the oldest perfume factory on the island. It was so perfect, that all I did was remove a bit of the edges to get it here. I actually could have posted the picture "as is" but preferred to trim it a bit. So, here it is:




The next two pictures are from Assisi. I have another from Assisi that I will post later that I also like, but I need to crop it down a bit, maybe 2 more from Assisi now that I think about it. The first is the bell tower of the Church of St. Clair from outside of the city walls. The second is a residence. It is supposed to be the actual residence of the family of St. Francis, but as many things, it may not be. IN ANY CASE, it makes a grand view and a beautiful statement to the simplicity of stone and flowers! Enjoy them!

The Group of us!

Here we are on the start of our trip in Assisi. As you can tell it was a beautiful day!


Here is the WHOLE bus load we traveled with, or actually, they traveled with US! I must say the students, teachers and grandparent that were with me, were the BEST group on the bus. We were NEVER late and always attentive!


Here we are waiting to get our tickets to the museum. It was crowded that day, but we saw a lot.

NO, we are not rushing the boarder crossing. But we are in ROME and the Swiss Guard are in the Vatican City. An amazing line of demarcation that is!


Last group shot was here in Pompeii. It was a HOT day and we were quite exhausted from our tromp through the ruins. The tour guide was great and explained a lot to all of us about the history of the Ancient City Life of Pompeii. From here we went to lunch at a small cafe and rested and bought more "stuff" to bring home. Then off to our last 2 days , one in Sorrento, and then a full day on the Isle of Capri.