Thursday, July 16, 2009

The Last Supper and Post


Julie at St. Marks Square

Venice Beach

Our Gondolier

On our Gondola Ride

The Last Supper
Today really topped off our Italian adventure. We took a morning train out of Venice into Milan. After checking into the hotel we took the subway to Santa Maria Della Grazie. The church where the Da Vinci painting, The Last Supper, survived a 1943 Bombing in WWII. This masterpiece is absolutely breath taking. It spans the entire width of the wall and is probably 15 to 20 feet tall. To protect this work of art they only allow groups of 20 people at a time for 15 minute intervals in a climate controlled room....no pics are allowed. So that is it for our time in Italy. We appreciate your time checking out our blog and for keeping up with our trip. We fly out of Milan tomorrow at 10:45a which will put us back in Abilene some time around Midnight. (We gain 7 hours) Here are a few more pics....

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Venice

We had a great day in Venice. We slept in for the first time our whole trip and got a late start and went to the beach which was fabulous. After a few hours at the beach we came back to the hotel to get cleaned up for the Gondola Serenade. The Golonda ride was just as you see it in the movies...spectacular!! We catch an early train tomorrow to Milan where we will see the "Last Supper" painting which, by the way, is painted on a wall above a doorway in a church...Santa Maria Della Grazie. One night in Milan and we will be heading home.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

More pics


Just took this pic outside of our hotel in Venice

436 Steps up the Duomo Cathedral...the view made it worth it.

Hold it up!!!

Tower of Pisa

So we ended Florence this morning after climing 436 steps to the top of the Duomo cathedral yesterday and spending a couple of hours at the Uffizi museum this morning. What a trip!! Now we are in Venice just hanging out after dinner and absolutely loving it! We dont really have anything planned for the next two days just relax and take it easy... Check out some new pics of Italy.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Since Last we spoke

Alot has happened since we last got to update this. We have spent the last day and a half touring Florence and Pisa. We got to see the statue of David and go to most of the major churches in Florence and they were just amazing. We are up to about 380 pics with 5 days yet to go...we are camera happy. This morning was Pisa. It was very cool...more than just the leaning tower although it was cool as well. It has great people, great hot dogs, believe it or not, and a very cool Baptistry for the church that is close to 1,000 years old. What an experience this has been so far. We head off to see the ufizi (sp?) museum in the morning here in Florence. Then we board an afternoon train to Venice and begin our two night stay there.

love
Gary & Julie

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Pics From Rome


US in front of St. Peters Basilica

One of Julie with Laacoon Roman Marble Sculpture

St. Peters Square

Pantheon

Inside the Colosseum

Inside the Colosseum

First look at the Roman Colosseum

Awe inspiring

I teared up as I stared at Michelangelo's masterpiece in the Sistine chapel. Everything we see is beyond words. From Egyptian mummies and artifacts, to roman Marbel sculpture and Raphael's room full of frescos. We have yet to venture into St. Peter's basilica, but the square is GRAND. We are on our way to the ancient pantheon and will tour s. Peters when the line isn't an hour long. We keep wishing we could stay and stare at these things forever, but realize we still have many more things to see. Ciao!
- Julie

No pics yet

So through just 10 hours of touring Rome we have 168 pics. However we are not able to post any to the blog from the iPod but we are going to try to find an internet cafe and get some posted on here. Additionally please excuse any wrong spelling or gramatical errors.... We are posting to the blog from an iPod and while we are glad to have it with us it makes typing a little tough.