Well, after spending a couple of days in Corsica, we were off on another ferry to Livorno, Italy. This time, we were early and got the best seats in the house:
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right at the front of the boat! You can see the unique Corsica flag!
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Then we had more traveling to do from Livorno to Pisa, a brief walk, bus ride, and train ride to the station in Pisa, where we were met by Romeo, the owner of Romeo B&B, a terrific little place to stay in Pisa. Here are Rowan and Romeo in the very orange kitchen.
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Here are pictures of the gorgeous double room with nice big bed:
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the little things count - fresh water for each of us on our bedside table
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Lots of storage space
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and our own work or eating table, where we started to deal with a "kernel panic" (if you havn't heard of it, you don't want to know) that indicated potentially big problems with our computer (our lifeline to the world). All was well once Rowan figured out, with the rest of the Apple community, that a new "install" had been defective. Needless to say, that was scary!
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and cute communal kitchen with all you need, including an espresso machine, which Shirl learned to use (you have to stop it or it will keep making coffee all over!)
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We stayed only one day and one night in Pisa, so we saw the requisite landmark, which is surprisingly hard to find! Here, the trees look like they are holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa:
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Our next destination was Florence, where we stayed at the Terrace with a View. A new gallery will show the beauty of this architectural rooftop apartment. We went to several events in Florence which were "off the beaten path." First, we went to the Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, located at Villa I Tatti, in the hills above Florence. Here are the gardens, which are closed to the public, but which we were able to see:
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The villa is not open to the public, except on rare occasions when they have concerts like the one we attended. It was called The Italian Tour of Four Japanese Youths in 1585 by I Fagiolini. Here they are singing:
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We happened onto two other cultural events. First, there was a giant parade of people dressed up in medieval costumes. There will be a gallery of a bunch of them also. This is "A Fine Manifestazione, the Calcio Storico." This event dates back to the 16th century, when guys engaged in soccer, rugby, and wrestling (!) in historical costume. We saw them on the way to play. This guy looks like he has already been through a lot!
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And then on Saturday night, we were treated to a concert on Madonna's world tour. See the large lights? That is the stadium from the roof-top terrace at our apartment. Her new music is great!
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So, Forence was a wonder, although it was quite hot. We were very thankful for our air conditioning. If we had a euro for everyone who has said "This is an unseasonable hot (cold) snap" on this trip, we'd be rich!
Then we went on to Trieste for just a couple of days on the way to Rijeka, Croatia. Trieste is the home of the Palazzo and Museo Revoltella. a combination of a restored 19th downtown palace for the first three stories and a museum of "Modern" (19th-20th century) Art, which is just stunning, on the top three floors. Baron Pasquale Revoltella was a life-long bachelor who cared too much for his mother to marry! A sponsor of the Suez Canal (see depiction below), he left his whole estate to the city of Trieste.
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It has the following view over the the Gulf of Trieste:
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See the gallery for Shirl's favorite paintings in the museum. And the biggest event that happened in Trieste was that we "discovered" the Schengen Agreement. More to follow on that. Arrivederci for now!