| Trip to Italy........Pisa
and Rome
| Thus
concluded our lovely stay in Florence. Sara was truly
taken aback at this lovely city. She believes she
found the city she'd like to do a little schooling at.
She's hoping to take an Italian language class her next
semester back at U of I.
We appreciated the
hospitality of our hosts at the Hotel Albion and with a
full breakfast in our stomachs we headed to Rome via
Pisa. With bags in tow again we boarded the 2 hour train
ride to Pisa through the Tuscany countryside. At the train station
in Pisa, we stowed our bags
and walked to the opposite side of town to see the great
"Leaning Tower of Pisa". The leaning tower was a true
photo opportunity, but with a few knee injuries among
us, we opted not to make the ascent to the top. The
tower was indeed worth the walk there, but I believe the
Pisa Cathedral to be the real marvel in this quaint
town. |
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The
scale of these two building is truly amazing.
Try to spy the visitors at the foot of the cathedral. |
|
Continuing
with the "Dome" theme of the essay....
Here's the Dome of the Pisa Cathedral. |
|
| Now onto Rome....
Rome is truly an
overwhelming site to see. It is a busy working city.
|
Having
some "ROMAN" fun at the Fontana di
Trevi
It
is believed that throwing a coin in to the
fountain, you will surely return to Rome.
Throwing 2 coins it is fabled that you will fall
in love with an Italian, but cursed at the toss
of the third coin as you will then marry
that Italian. |
|
The dome at the
Pantheon.
The
dome of the Pantheon is one of the truly
magnificent architectural feats of Ancient Rome.
It was said to have it's interior dome incased
in bronze. Here we see the versatility of our
new camera. |
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|
Clark
enjoying Italy's variety of "non-American"
cars.
The Mercededs Smart Car never lost it's
appeal. |
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We stumbled
upon this Church on our way back to the hotel
for some dinner. We call it The John the Baptist
Church. We all marveled at it's interior (Sorry,
no dome picture!). A little later, a kindly
church priest led one of the kids to a special
room off the nave that housed the real purpose
of this church. The priest explained to the kids
that the church housed the relics of John the
Baptist. He also explained that this
church was one of the only churches in Rome that
catered to English speaking patrons.
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|
Skull
of John the Baptist. |
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| Our next day
in Rome was a hot one! So we decided to take in the
sites of Ancient Rome. Ancient Rome is a huge archeology
project ongoing in the center of modern day Rome. It was
quite a marvel to see. A few of the adults took in the
sites to further their understanding of an ancient
civilization. Betty proceeded to take the children
through a maze of shade finding and water seeking; for
it was believed to be over 100 degrees down in that
ancient city. After the ancient city it was onto a walk
to the Colosseum. |
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Our
family in Ancient Rome. |
|
Along
the way to the Colosseum
Molly makes a hesitant
donation to a pitiful gypsy woman along the way to
the coliseum. Brian still
believes this was an actor after coins. Molly's
travel continues when, a little while later, she's overcome by heat
exhaustion at the train station near the Colosseum.
Many people were helpful in our quest to get Molly
in top condition again. |
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The gang at the
Colosseum.
This is the only picture of
the eight of us. An English speaking gentleman was
kind enough to OFFER to take this picture. Little did he know
that we all wanted this memorable photo. He was patient
enough
to take multiple photos using many different cameras. We
were quite thankful for his cooperation and wanted
to return the favor by taking a photo of him and his lovely
family. When we finished, his family was no where
to be found, having abandoned him.
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More pictures
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1
- 2- 3-
4- home |
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