Rose McCauley, Christian Author

Tourists in Venezia and Tuscany and Florence

It has been almost a month since I last posted some pictures from our Italy trip last month, so here are a few more. Hope you enjoy travelling vicariously with me!

In Venice we did a lot of touristy things--like feeding the pigeons in St. Mark's Square, taking a gondola ride on our 41st anniversary, and eating lots of gelato! We also took a water taxi to the Isle of Murano off the coast of Venice and watched an experienced glass blower turn melted sand into beautiful objects d'art.

After two days in Venice, we travelled down the road to Florence, another magnificent city filled with century-old treasures. We ate more gelato and toured the beautiful Santa Croce church seen here with the star of David on top. Inside are many frescoes and the tombs of several Italians such as Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Galileo and Rossini. We later saw Michelangelo's famous David and several renditions of it. We saw where the Medici families lived when they controlled Florence and Tuscany for over 300 years. I hope you can see the distinctive skyline of Florence in the picture behind me and my husband. Notice the church spires and bell tower. The dome-shaped one to the left of my head is the top of the Duomo.

On our way back to Rome, we spent several hours at a picturesque Tuscan village which was one of our favorite stops of the tour. San Gimignano is a real Renaissance village with watchtowers intact, known as the "medieval Manhattan of Tuscany." It even has a set of "twin towers" to prove it! I hope you can see the hand-carved stones in the ancient walls behind me and my husband eating...more gelato!

Back in Rome, our last night included a farewell Italian dinner, complete with opera singers and pasta at the Papa Rex Ristorante--a lovely ending to a lovely time. Arrivederci, Roma!