Florence (Firenze), Italy

We left Venice and headed to Bologna where we had lunch (pasta Ragu Bolognese of course!).  Then we drove to Florence.  It was a little bit challenging to get to our hotel, even with help from Jane, our very British GPS voice.  (there were some streets closed, and some very narrow streets!)  Once we had checked in, we headed off to the Accademia and saw Michelangelo's statue "David."  Truly a masterpiece!

Then we walked around and found a restaurant for dinner called Osteria del Cinghiale Bianco.  Cinghiale means "wild boar" which is what I ate!  

The next day we toured the Science Museum where they had an exhibit about Galileo and the development of the telescope.  (He perfected it and was the first person to see Jupiter's moons.)  They also had one of his fingers (preserved) on display - yuck!  We wanted to see Dante's house - but it was closed that day.  Below is a photo showing the outside.  

We went to the Duomo museum where many artworks that had previously been in the Duomo (church) are now on exhibit.  Then we toured the Baptistry next to the church.  Below is a painting of Dante.  
This is the ceiling of the Baptistry - very ornately decorated with Biblical and other religious figures - in mosaic.  
As the sun was going down, we walked to scout out our next dinner spot.  Here is a view of the Arno River.  We walked out to the bridge you see here . . . 
and from that bridge I zoomed in on this tower to get the lion or gryphon on top.  
Looking back toward the west and the Ponte Vecchio - a famous bridge with shops on it!
After dinner we walked back through another Piazza and found a statue of Dante.  
Looking across the Piazza toward the tower with the lion, now lit up.  Andrea was amused by my picture-taking.  
Well, High School Musical "Spettacolo" was the night before - we missed it!  
Andrea and Pascuale - we saw several of these little electric cars in the city!
Just after we saw Pascuale we happened upon an organ concert in a church - the music poured out into the street.  This was just before 10 pm so we stopped for the last few minutes of the concert.  Really neat!

One might ask why this sign in downtown Florence is in English - for the tourists, I guess!
Dan and Andrea heading toward our Pensione in the Piazza della Repubblica.  
In Italy, flat screen TVs haven't caught on yet.  This is in our hotel room.  Kind of reminds me of hospital TVs.  
The next morning we waited in line for about an hour and toured the Uffizi.  Many wonderful works of art!  Lots of Annunciations, Coronations, and Madonna & Child paintings.  Some famous ones were Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Michelangelo's Holy Family.  After the tour we stepped out onto the deck and looked at the castle next door.  
Right outside our Pensione, a vintage Vespa!  

We left late morning for Assisi, on the way to Sorrento.  

Venice, Italy - May 2008

We only had one full day in Venice.  It's a really neat city - lots of narrow streets for walking, lots of bridges crossing the many canals.  And of course, lots of tourists!  We walked around taking in the sights.  Here are some photos I took:

Notice the goldolier kicking off from the wall!  You'll see why in the next photo.

Had to go around that boat!
An interesting door knocker:
Some very creative shoes!  Can you imagine wearing the ones with the snake heads?
Dan crossing the Rialto Bridge.  
A gondola in its dock
A Chinese restaurant!  In Venice!
Dan and Andrea in Piazza San Marco 
We stayed at an apartment with a little yard.  This photo is looking out the window across the yard to the "street" (no cars here, so really more like a sidewalk).  A cat was checking out the yard.  
I thought the fig tree was lovely - right outside the window of the apartment.  

Lyon, France - May 2008

We spent a couple of days in Lyon.  It's a lovely city of rivers (Rhône & Saône Rivers), bridges, interesting architecture, and parks.  Since we were there on the May 

day holiday (May 1), museums and stores were closed, so we enjoyed

 just walking around the city.  Here are some of the sights.  Some local children enjoyed playing in the wide open spaces of this plaza.  

Dan and Andrea checked out the local scene.

If you look closely you can see Dan across the street taking a picture.  
The local farmers' market (marche) was in full swing along the river - lots of lovely flowers, vegetables, meat, and cheese for sale.  

View of a government building, and in the distance, the Basilica Notre-Dame de Fourvière.  

We happened to see this girl carrying her guitar across a bridge.  
Here is the view from the bridge.
We had lunch at an outdoor cafe.  The boy in the background amused himself while his parents ate by pulling sticks out of the screen wrapped around a tree.  
The view from our hotel window - another bridge.  Notice how close together the buildings are!
We toured a lovely park.  Since it was May Day I took a picture of the special May flower - Muguet des Bois.  
Here is a Jack in the Pulpit for Mom!
After all the walking around, we rested at the hotel and then met some friends of Andrea's for dinner.  They enjoyed catching up with each other.  Here is a photo of Andrea with Michael and Kate.  

Visit to Oyonnax, France - April 2008

We began our vacation in Europe by visiting our daughter Andrea in Oyonnax, where she had been working as an English Teaching Assistant for 7 months. 

Oyonnax is a town about the size of our hometown, Danville, Kentucky.  It is located between Geneva and Lyon.  Here is the view from her apartment balcony. 

Andrea taught at 2 Lycees (high schools).  Her apartment was located on the 4th floor of one school, called Lycée Paul Painlevé.  Here is a picture of the school courtyard. 

We toured the local lake, Lac Genin, a lovely spot for enjoying nature, fishing, or shooting a movie!  (The day we were there, a film crew was working on filming an “accident scene!” 

The best part of our visit to Oyonnax was being re-united with Andrea, and meeting the teachers she had worked with.  This photo shows a group of teachers who hosted a wonderful dinner for us our first evening in Oyonnax.