Sunset in Mykonos, Greece

Operating on the theory that if one is good, two are better, our cruise ship took us to Santorini and Mykonos in one day.

Yep, they really do look like the postcards. (Hasn't ceased to amaze me.)

Watching the sunset over the sea...

... and on the flowers!

We found a very tasty dinner for two...

... in a very charming spot.

The island was quite crowded with a number of cruise ships in port, but we somehow lost the throngs and stumbled upon this blind alley restaurant serving absolutely scrumptuous food.

Can you just taste it?

Case was raving about the "tahini dip" (not shown), which I thought tasted rather like fish marinated in lemon juice. He disagreed until his last bite, when his dancing tastebuds apparently slowed down enough to pass on the message. He's glad, though. He says if he'd known what he was eating, he might not have had the courage, and would have missed a treat!

Shooting into the dark through the night vision lens!

Photo of the fishing port, taken as we ambled slowly home.

Mykonos provided a feast for the tum and a feast for the eyes.

Miscellaneous factoid #1: Mykonos' town was purposely built with twisting alleys and blind-ended passageways to confuse raiding pirates.

Miscellaneous factoid #2: Mykonos was Case's favorite stop on the cruise.

Santorini, Greece

Our stay in Venice found a happy ending as friends from Loma Linda arrived to embark on a cruise to the Greek Islands and Croatia.

Cameron and Irene, who by secrecy and deception beat us to the altar. Their surprise (to all but a select few) wedding occurred January 1, 2006. Some of us rob the cradle to get our brides (or so the expression goes). Others select from the residents we are chiefing. Apparently, the latter, while not technically robbery, is still a clandestine operation.

Santorini served as our introduction to the Greek Islands. They actually look like the postcards!

Jolene finally got her much-anticipated scooter ride.

There are options for the trip up to the town from the docks: you can climb the stairs, ride donkeys up the stairs, or (thanks to a newer innovation) take a cable-car. Guess which one we took?

Although nearly impossible to indicate in photos, Santorini is part of the rim of an ancient volcano whose ca 1650 BC eruption is thought to have caused the demise of the Minoan civilization. Here, we are looking at the inner rim of the caldera as we motor back to our ship, anchored in the ocean-filled space where the main bulk of the island once lay. (Photo at top shows our ship adjacent to the leftover cinder cone.)

More Highlights of Venice

The Bridge of Sighs

Contrary to popular opinion, the sighs uttered from this bridge were were not in response to its romantic beauty. This bridge connects the Doge's palace and courts with the prison. The sighs, then, were those of the convicted taking one last look at freedom before they entered prison. (We toured the cells and can affirm that the convicted had much reason to sigh.)

The Campanile, famous landmark of St. Marks Square.

The girls stop for a photo op.

Always in the mood for gelatto!

A few days in Venice

Case on the Grand Canal
The many faces of Venice

A common sight in Venice, displaying what the travel books like to call "charming decay".


I'd been looking forward to having gelatto with Denise in Venice.

The Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal

(obligatory tourist photo #1 -- sorry...)

Sunset on the Grand Canal

(obligatory tourist photo #2 -- sorry again...)

Case, Jolene and Denise riding the vaporetto (waterbus) in Venice. We were, at the moment of this photo, a little lost, but having a great time!

More Firenze

No, we weren't the only tourists in Florence.

The highly popular doors of the Duomo's Baptistry. These are replicas; the original doors were moved to the adjacent museum after they were nearly destroyed in a 1960's flood.

Inside the dome of the Duomo.

Some of the eye-catching pottery of Italy.

We enjoy some of the most tasty, well-presented, and inexpensive food we found in Florence; we became regulars at this place.

Miscellaneous factoid: Florence Nightingale was born in -- and named after -- the city of Florence. (Who knew?)

Exploring Florence

Ah, Florence, birthplace of the Rennaisance! To see all her wonders and sing her full praises could exhaust a lifetime!

We didn't attempt the first there, and we won't try the second here.

The Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) across the Arno River

Galileo's tomb, containing all except the middle finger of his right hand That portion of his body is on display in the Museo di Storia del Scienza. (Why? I don't think I want to know....)

Michelangleo's tomb is housed in the Basilica of Santa Croce, as is Galileo's (above). That church serves as final resting place of numerous Italian luminaries. Others not buried in the church(Guglielmo Marcon and Enrico Fermi, for example) are memorialized by plaques or funerary monuments, making the structure something of a temple to Italian greatness.

Santa Croce is also home to a fine leatherwork school, whose products have attracted patronage from the likes of Jimmy Stewart, Lady Diana, and Madeline Albright. I was so enthralled by their hand-crafted creations (and Case was so thunderstruck by their prices) that we failed to capture any images of their workshops or products, except in memory! (Case would like to point out that, while the showroom did display snapshots of visits by the above-named celebrities, it has yet to be conclusively proved that even they felt able to afford the prices...)

While not the most famous crucifix at Santa Croce, this one caught Case's eye for its color, iconic beauty, and simplicity. We no longer recall the name of the artist who created it.

(?) Francesco Salviati's Deposition from the Cross -- The vivid colors of this painting in the refectory at Santa Croce made it my most memorable painting in Firenze.

Florence, Italy

Arriving in a somewhat soggy Florence, Case hefts his pack past the Duomo in search of our lodgings.

Eventually, still looking for the B&B, we arrived at the Piazza della Signoria, featuring an outdoor sculpture gallery, and where I had one of those not-so-reassuring experiences one gets when traveling ... and then wonder about.

Our lodgings were reportedly just down the street from Dante Alighieri's, on a street now named after him. That street, however, was eluding us, and trudging our luggage around in search of it was proving a less-than-divine comedy.

I offered to sit with our gear in the piazza while Case searched further. I arranged the backpacks next to me and put Case's laptop bag next to my feet. Minutes later, a man walked past me fumbling in his pocket. As he pulled his cell phone from his pocket, his keys fell to the ground next to my feet, apparently unnoticed. I leaned over and picked them up as he stopped 15 feet away to talk on a cell phone. Shouting to him and jingling his keys I tried to gain his attention from where I sat, I felt pulled between my desire to return his keys to him and the need to stay with our belongings. He remained unhearing, apparently engrossed in his phone conversation. Should I leave my bags and take his keys to him...it will only be 10 seconds, only 15 feet?

Then it crossed my mind -- this might be one of those distraction scams.

I turned my attention to my surroundings, looking for anyone who might be working with him. Yes... maybe those two -- a suspicious looking couple 10 feet away from me in the opposite direction, the man with his back to me and the woman glancing over his shoulder. I fixed my eyes on them and continued to jingle the keys, determined to stay with my bags. Shortly, I heard the footsteps of cell-phone-man approaching, I continued to stare down the couple, he took the keys from my hand, thanked me, and attempted to start a conversation. Ignoring him I kept a firm hand on my bags, and my eyes fixed staring on the couple. Eventually, cell-phone-man left me alone, walking off into the crowded square -- and as I continued watching the couple walked off, too, trailing 50 feet behind him. Relieved to still have our computer and backpacks, I sat waiting for Case and wondering: Had I just imagined the whole scenario? Or were they really thieves?

That evening, we climbed the hills overlooking the city to the church of St. Mark (???), where we heard the monks sing Mass in Gregorian chant. Case says they’re not ready to cut a CD and go on tour yet (how would he know?), but the experience was still worthwhile.

More around Rome

Case's desire to see the Scala Sancta (famous in their own right as well as for Martin Luther's visit to them) took us to the vicinity of Basilica of St. John Lateran. The happy mistake of believing the Scala were housed within the basilica (they are in the Sancta Sanctorum across the street) brought us into this historic structure. We learned that St. John Lateran (this structure and the ones preceding it) was the seat of the Bishop of Rome for the first thousand years of Christianity. The property on which it stands was actually donated to the church by Constantine at his conversion, and the first church at this site was dedicated about ten years later, in 324 A.D.

My FAVORITE car in the world -- the Smart car, made by Mercedes and Swatch and coming to America in 2008! The size of two scooters, two can park side-by-side in one normal parking spot. The American version will do 90 mph, with out-of-this-world gas mileage! (Actual gas mileage on the American version is not yet published.)

I don't think there's a bad place in all of Rome to spend the sunset hour. This evening, in a plaza whose name has already escaped our memory, we sat on the edge of an ancient fountain, ate foccacia sandwiches, listened to the buskers, and people-watched in the waning light. (Note the rainbow.)

Another Mini vehicle...
"Hey, get a picture, and let's go."
"Wait... I need to take one without the flash."

"Okay, but I can't do this much longer!"
"Hold it...one more...I'm just going to change one camera setting..."
"Hurry!!! My legs are cramping!!!"

ONE PICTURE TOO MANY!

Sights Around Rome

The Spanish Steps, where Italians "on the make" go to see and be seen -- or so our guidebook said. We simply noted that, judging from the crowds, the entire population of Rome is apparently on the make, and moved on to less crowded venues.

Oh, the cars in Rome! One of the luxuries of travel (over reading a travel book or watching a travelogue) is being able to forego the usual sights in favor of observing the behavior of the natives. We spent and amusing few minutes watching various pedestrians (mostly men) ogle this Lamborghini. We were hoping the owner would return, so we could see who would drive an orange (ORANGE! I ask you!!!) Lamborghini.

What this photo doesn't show is the delicious gelatto we were consuming as we watched the sun set on the Coliseum.

The Trevi Fountain: Rome's second-most-crowded spot.

St. Peter's & the Vatican by night. Due to a fortuitous choice of lodging, the nightly stroll back to our B&B usually took us by this viewpoint.

Rome, Italy

We spent our first day in Rome at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City. The size, grandeur, and intricacy of this epic structure cannot be captured in photos, but here is our best effort to convey what we experienced.

Fortunately for us, the lines to get into the basilica moved more efficiently than we might have expected from their length (half-way around St. Peter's square). We learned later that security was a bit too efficient, as friends told us stories of "accidentally" getting through security with all kinds of contraband! The 40 minute wait provided Jolene time to bone-up on her Italian. (The words we already knew -- ciao, spaghetti, amore -- were not quite as useful as we'd hoped. "Gelatto", however, turned out to be a fix-all word for Case!)

The interior of St. Peter's is so vast that one loses perspective. See the bronze-brown canopy over the altar? It is as tall as a 7-storey building.

Michelangelo's Pieta is the only work he ever signed. After overhearing someone credit another artist for his work, he carved "Michelangelo Buonarroti, Florentine, made it" into the Virgin's sash. He later regretted this outburst of pride and swore to never sign another work of his hands. He never did.

We heard similar stories of the artists' piety and conviction as we admired their work all around Italy. In an age when movies like Amadeus & The Da Vinci Code portray creative genius as an anomaly arising in otherwise profane and heretical minds, it is good to be reminded that some, at least, wrote, sculpted, or painted what they truly loved. (c.f. Michelangelo, Bach, & Botticelli)

As most will recall, the pieta now stands behind bullet-proof glass due to a 1972 incident when a deranged geologist attacked it with a hammer, smashing Mary's nose. We noted a lot of security measures attached to the paintings and sculptures, though much was made less obtrusive by using ultrasound sensors, etc.

For the light-of-foot and not-too-claustrophobic, climbing to the top of the basilica is a worthwhile expedition. Note the slant of the walls as we climb inside the double-walled cupola.

A view, from the cupola, over the roof of the basilica to St. Peter's "square".