Pieces of Italy

I’m a little late with my last post from our trip to Italy.  I think I provided a good representation of the cities we visited but I have a lot of close up photos of items and colors that don’t fit into the landscape category . I call these Pieces of Italy because that’s what they are and here are just a few.

A street light in Sienna.

I suppose this was for tying up horses. They are numerous on the walls of the old cities and come in many different forms.

There are many shop windows that are literally a work of art as is this one in Venice.

Also, many of the shop windows are a clever display of well lit color like these glass beads in Venice.

A silk tie anyone? I’m sure we can find your color.

Even the food at the market in Venice was a thing of beauty.

A typical paved street, this one is in Florence. Who figured out how to lay that pattern?

An ornament on a gondola.

You have to wonder how old these are and how much longer they will last. Our hotel in Venice was 1000 years old and it looked much better than this.

Some of the brick work is mesmerizing.

Does the wife need a pocket book to match your tie?

 

And some of the pieces are just that, pieces.

Venice Overload

Sometimes when we’re traveling I have a hard time coming up with 4 good pictures to put on the blog each day. We have been in Venice for less than 24 hours and I can only get this post down to 21 photos. This first one was taken by Connie from the boat on the way to our hotel.

I don’t have time to comment on every photo and besides there’s not much to say.

Everywhere you turn there is a picture in front of you.

You walk a little and there’s another one.

This large canal is called the Grand Canal.

I got up at 6:00 this morning so I could get night shots, sunrise shots and shots without people.

That worked quite well. All of the gondolas were tied up too.

The light was good in the early hours.

The Rialto Bridge is packed with people during the day.

The reflection on the water is always nice.

A very few things are open at that time.

I see so many interesting doors, windows and walls.

This is right outside of our hotel.

Peppers anyone?

 

When you come to a picture……

…take it.

….take it.

…take it.

…take it.

You get the idea

Etc.

More of Florence

 

Today was spent just wandering the streets of Florence. Not a bad pass time if you can swing it!

Our big excursion was a hike to the top of the Duomo. On the way up all of the tiny stairways you pass through the dome on the inside and from that vantage point I took this shot. Yes, those little specks in the pews on the left are people.

There are 436 steps to the top but it is worth the climb for the view.

And this view and the pictures don’t do justice the the panorama you can see.

On the way down you take another catwalk and from this point you can see people on the other side on their way up. All those specks on the floor are also people. This is a big dome , especially when you consider it was finished in 1436.

This is not a statue. This is some guy trying to make a living.

Him too.

We love going down all of the little back streets where there are less people and cool little shops.

A tiny little store with a colorful display.

 

Don’t forget to look up sometimes. It can be interesting.

Some of the shops are very colorful on the inside as well.

Florence

The largest building in Florence is called the Duomo which is I guess Italian for dome. This is the front of it and you can see it’s dome and gold ball in many of the cityscape photos.

 

It is what else, but a church of which there are huge Basilica practically on every corner.

This is obviously a of the river with just a little piece of the Ponte Vecchio  bridge on the left.

A market on one of the narrow streets.

   

This is an evening view of one of the several bridges in the city.       

 

A typical street lined with open air eateries. 

Some streets are quite narrow and a few are wide.

A view of the city from a vista point. That dome shaped building is, yep, the Duomo.

This is a full view of the Ponte Vecchio bridge from the vista point. The bridge is famous because it has stores right on it.  Connie even help support the economy there today.

There is really no shortage of motor scooters here and they park them so nicely.

A store window display on the bridge.

This is typical pavement on many of the streets here.

Who said it’s not as crowded at this time of the year?

There is plenty of merchandise for all though and you can bet there is a church handy if you need one.