Travel

As of 11:00 pm CST Wednesday night we are safely back home.

The plane trip to and from is always the least pleasant part of any vacation.
Still, here we are… a bit jet-lagged but enjoying getting back into our routines.

Coffee is plentiful, refills are free and television is in English.

Processing the experiences, lessons learned and the pictures is going to take time.

Thanks to everyone who took time to comment on the posts I made.
It was nice maintaining a connection back to the states while we traveled.

I do have the pictures uploaded. You can see them in the gallery. http://www.baldheretic.com/gallery
There are some awesome shots from the Keukenhof in the Amsterdam section.

There’s going to be a special “William the Sheep” section as soon as I can get it organized.

Rome has been so great. I was apprehensive when we first set our sights on coming here.
The warnings of crime and hustles, the concern over the crowds and the price all added to our anxiety.

All those things aside, this is a wonderous city. The people have been kind and generous. The weather has been spectacular. The sights have been glorious and the food has been delicious.

We did witness one of the more common scams here in Rome. As we stood in line yesterday for the Vatican Museum and The Sistine Chapel some gypsies were working their way through the crowd begging for coins. As the trio swirled around us we we protected our bags. The tap you and moan and plead. It’s all a distraction. The guy in front of us lost his wallet from a zipped up fanny pack. Fortunatley the gypsy dropped it and he was able to get it back. It’s impressive how smoothly they work.

This morning it was the obligatory trek to the Trevi Fountain to toss our coins in. The legend is that if you toss a coin into Trevi Fountain you will return to Rome. I sure hope that’s true because I want to come back to this magical city again.

Cynthia and I will cherish these memories for a long, long time.

Florence is a magnificnet medieval city. At the heart of the city is the Duomo.
It is a spectacular cathedral and is currently being renovated.

We wandered the streets to take it all in. We made reservations to see Michelangelo’s David at La Academia. It is a HUGE statue. For some reason I did not realize it was so big. I do recall it was sculpted with the intention of placing it at the top of the Duomo…but WOW!

We also stood in line for the Uffizi so we could see Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” as well as several more of his masterpieces. There were also some Leonardo Da Vinci works and numerous other Renaissance pieces that were a treat to behold.

Yesterday was a day trip to Fiesole for the view of Florence from the top of the hill.

Today we took the train to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower of. Sure, it was cheesy. But when will we have this chance again?

Tomorrow we catch the train to Rome. We are beside ourselves with excitement.
On Sunday William is hoping to se Il Papa!

Cynthia and I have fallen in love with Venice.
Once you get past the crush of humanity in the main tourist areas you can find small streets lined with pleasant cafes and restaurants intermingled with shops.

Each turn of a corner reveals a scene more picturesque than the last.

The people here have been very kind and pleasant. You can walk the streets to all hours of the night and be completely safe. We strolled till nearly midnight last night.

The Venetian glass is truly beautiful and the masks are fantastic. As tempting as these items are, we cannot carry any souveniers back with us and the cost of shipping starts at 70 Euros and goes up. We must content ourselves with pictures and memories for the time being.

The one thing that continues to amaze me is that there are no cars, scooters, motorcycles or bicycles here. All the motorized traffice is by boat and the rest of the traffic is by foot.

Tomorrow we take the train to Florence. From all that we have heard this will prove to be equally wonderful.