My Favorite Piece of Art in Florence

HEY! It's Art!

Okay, so you know how Florence is the city of the Reneissance period....has Michelangelo's David....and all kinds of other Humanity Appreciation Stuff........well I know that I'm supposed to appreciate it way...way more than I actually did......and my favorite piece of artwork in Florence is the Jester in Pitti Gardens.....

Humanities is alive and well in Florence.......and there is tons there to appreciate!....but it was by far my least favorite of all places so far in Italy.....

Anyway, this is a sculpture in the garden of the Pitti Palace...a very famous palace with tons of artwork in the museum now.....and gorgeous gardens

This is the Court Jester of the town.....look at his short little legs.......he is a little person.......

Anyway, I know that I should have brought away something a little more refined and educated back with me from Florence....but seriously...besides this little guy there wasn't much I liked about Florence....but we will give it another try when Fran and Rog get here.....maybe we didn't have the right perspective...so we are going to give Florence another chance.....

Buon Giorno! A tease of a treat for you!

Okay,

I am back on track now, however, the posts for June will be in no particular order.

We have been completely out of whack for the past month or so.....but was inspired today....

Just wanted to give you a little teaser for the upcoming sunflower season.....

There are rolling fields of these things....hillside after hillside after hillside.....I can't wait until they are all out....this is the first field that is out...and you can see that they aren't all completely bloomed....

But I know a couple of you have been waiting for these pictures...so wanted to give you one that I snapped today....on our way into Todi....just to tease you!

I apologize again for the delay....I keep saying that I will do better....but I never do....I know that the purpose of this blog is to keep you informed 'as we go along' ....not wade through 1000 pictures after a month of frollicking in the Tuscan Sun... hee/hee.....(just wanted to throw that in there)..kind of takes a little something away from the apology doesn't it? I'm just teasing...I will try to be better.....

We have also been enjoying our house and pool for the past few weeks.....

We had visitors here in May.....and then our family ...that's mine and Piddle's both...at the same time....under one roof......for 2 weeks...(11 people) ...maybe that was pushing it a little....just a word of advice...no matter what....I mean...no matter WHAT....NEVER NEVER plan a family vacation with family members from both sides of the family! The two weeks might have been the kicker......It was a disaster-waiting-to-happen....

But we have already debriefed from that ordeal...can't go backwards........and can appreciate the fun we had and really enjoyed spending time with the kids and our family...........

I do think the kids had a great time.......even though the adults couldn't behave themselves.... isn't that how it always is?.......but I think the kids enjoyed the adventure.........and that is what really matters.....giving the kids the opportunity to experience other cultures and other parts of the world....that's what it's about.....

Anyway, will keep posting.....may take a couple of days to get them posted.....but I'm on it!

Ciao!

Heading to Tuscany Today....

And on purpose this time.......

Will post pics as soon as I return....I promise........

Ciao!

"Positano....what brings me to Positano?"

Okay,

I know you all have seen "Under the Tuscan Sun" and if you haven't...you need to rent it....TODAY!

We finally made it to Positano.........remember the line in the movie where Diane Lang finally gets up the nerve to go visit the guy that she met that day and had the fling with...then they kept missing each other......when she goes to Positano to visit him.....she goes to his house...yells out his name and he comes out onto the veranda....and he asks...."What brings you to Positano?"....and she screams......"What brings me to Positano?" What brings me to Positano?"....then the another woman walks out onto the veranda......remember that scene? ...well we finally made it...and there is the little pink house upon the hill...that the waiter pointed out to us as the house where they filmed the movie...I will post another picture and point it out...but you can see this is the absolutely most magnificent town I have ever seen....pictures just can not capture it....

We are eating al fresco at the Positano Cafe...and the view was just incredible.....actually the entire Amalfi Coast was incredible....and I mean there is absolutely not another place on earth (that I have seen) that even comes close to this beauty...I don't even have enough words in my vocabulary to describe it...it was absolutely heaven!

They grow the most 'hugest' lemons down there and the limoncello was just to die for....and believe me we have tried several rounds of limoncello...but this was the best!

This is the place to visit when you come...can't miss this spectacular beauty! Of course the trade off is someone has to drive.....I'll let you talk to Piddle about that! Every book we have read..says it is best if you hire someone to drive you down the Amalfi Coast...don't try to tackle it yourself...well now we know why! But Piddle was a champ and got us there and back in one piece...and didn't get a ding on the car! He was truly amazing! You'll see!

Can't wait to take everyone on this adventure...has been the highlight of my year so far!

Pompei- The Garden of Fugitives

These pictures are of some of the people that they unearthed that were petrified under the ash....they were trying to escape the volcano lava as they saw it rolling down the hill..they said that most of the people who did escape were the most rich people who escaped in boats into the sea...and the people in these pictures were found in the garden..didn't quite make it...the were affixiated with the poisonous gases and petrified on the spot....so so sad....you got goose bumps just standing there looking at this....

In the other pictures of Pompei....I forgot to mention...that is Mt. Vesuvius that you see in the background! and is still the only active volcano in Europe and it threatens the inhabitants of Pompei today.....you think that they would relocate wouldn't you?

Pompei

As you all know (if you were in class that week) Pompei is the city that was buried when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D....

Something like 20,000 people died and at some point they started excavating the city and continue to this day.....

Pompei was once a very happening place for the upper class of Rome as a hot vacation spot.....you will need to read a little more about it....there is so much that is incredible...but out of all of it...probably the most suprising (that I failed to take a picture of..) was the street with the restaurants that served hot and cold buffet style meals...we couldn't figure out why there were so many sinks in these places...some had two..some had 5 or 6...and finally found out that the bowls that we were seeing kept the food cold or hot....and we thought the buffet-style restaurant was something new!

Okay, you would think that there would be other incredible stuff...and there was...there were tons of bath houses, brothels, temples built for gods, and so on...just unbelievable....can't wait for you guys to see it!

L'Estate E' Arrivata (Summer has Arrived!)

Summer Has Arrived!

It is officially summer!

The Pool is Open!