Leanne and Don, life across the pond: Southern France and Italy with friends

From the September 15th till the 25th we would be vacationing in southern France and Italy. We would be traveling with our friends from Charlotte, Kat Savage and Greg Kennedy.

As we flew Marseille to meet them we were able so see the Seven Sisters. This was the hike we had done the week before.

The first night we stayed in Arles at the Hotel Regence. Check out the high tech pointing device.

Arles is a beautiful town with the Rhone river running next to it.

Van Gogh lived in this town and there were easels set up where he painted some them.

We did a self walking tour thru the city streets.

This was an area that opened up views of the countryside.

Across from it was an ancient roman colosseum that is now used for bullfighting.

Today was saturday, and that meant market day. If you wanted something this was the place. Leanne bought a scarf that seems to match everything she has.

We walked for a few hours till it was time to eat---or at least have some wine.

Leanne enjoying some much needed time off from work.

As for me, I just enjoy being with Leanne

After our walk around town it was time to move on.

Our next town was the hill town of Les Baux.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Baux-de-Provence

There is less than 500 residents and over 1.5 million people visit it every year. Not much privacy in this little town.

As we walked up and down this hill town we saw some old things like this bell

and strange statues you could buy

and even stranger ones to look at

not sure what the purpose of these

but they were interesting.

this is the last one---let's move on.

Not me on the phone, it's a audio guide.

What happens if you get caught on your phone while on vacation.

The lovely ladies with the lower city in the background

Another view with the countryside.

This is the upper village, a lot of it was carved out of the rock.

After a long day it was time for wine----there would be a lot of wine time on this trip.

The next day we went to the town of Saint Remy de Provence

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-R%C3%A9my-de-Provence

Walking down this street we found the birthplace of

Nostradamus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostradamus

He is said to be able to see into the future

thats a scary thought.

As we walked on we decided to do what the locals were doing and buy some bread. A French baguette would be nice--maybe two. The plan was to buy the bread to eat later in the day.

For some reason I was the one chosen to carry the bread. I don't think that was a good idea.

I kept sneaking a piece of bread and putting it back in the bag. No one notice the bread kept getting shorter. After i got caught i was not allowed to carry the bread any more.

On the outskirts of town is the Roman city of Glanum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glanum

It was just a short walk and along the way were replicas of Van Gogh paintings.

Vincent Van Gogh had lived in the psychiatric center at the edge of town near Glanum.

This is us reading about one of his paintings called "Olive Trees"

and a view of the olive trees.

Greg and I hamming it up, can't take us anywhere.

Across from the psychiatric center that is now a retirement home was Glanum.

There seems to be Roman stuff everywhere in southern France. We were told that when a Roman soldiers retired they moved to southern France.

This is the triumphal arch of Glanum

Built between 10 and 25 BC, over 2000 years old and still standing.

We then moved on the village of Chateauneuf-du-Pape

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teauneuf-du-Pape_AOC

There is over 300 vineyards on 7,900 acres around this town, we would only stop at a few.

The first one we stopped at was near our hotel. We tasted three and bought one bottle

I'm trying to look like a wine connoisseur, not working

We decide to go into the town and do a few more tastings. We tasted four this time and bought one.

Leanne walking down one of the streets. Most of the small towns looked like this.

At our hotel, not a bad view from the rooms.

Kat and Greg enjoying the wine.

Dressed up for dinner, Leanne with her new scarf and her old guy.

Fancy appitizers to start things off---i don't remember what it all was.

This on the other hand i do remember. Cold melon soup with bits of watermelon and a tomato sorbet in the center. It was great.

A view of the hotel, and the vineyard. All the ground in this area was rocky, i don't think anything else would grow here except grape vines.

Today we headed or Avignon to visit the Palace of the Pope.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_des_Papes

In the 14th century the Popes resided here instead of Rome---something we were never taught in the catholic school.

Pope Clemens V was elected in 1305 and did not want to live in Rome. So he moved everything to Avignon. He was born in France and I think he was friends with the King of France.

As with most palaces and castles this place was huge, good to be the Pope.

Leanne listing to the audio guide.

It was an exciting place to be at-

Kat was a little more excited.

One of the rooms, they must have had a thing for high ceilings.

The palace was added on to a number of times---they must have had an extra collection at mass a lot.

Taking a break across from McDonalds, no big mac's for us.

Before going to our next hotel we stopped at a place that processed olive oil. Greg found a bakery and picked up two baguette

and we had a light snack in the middle of town.

At the hotel and i'm checking out the babes in the window.

We noticed a lot of trees that looked like this, they also have them in london. Leanne said they were a "Plane" tree, and I agreed they looked rather plain to me. Then she explained that that was the type of tree, a Plane tree.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platanus

I guess they ran out of tree names.

Sitting outside our hotel under the spreading Plane tree.

Just think if Longfellow's poem was written with a Plane tree instead of a Chestnut.

Under a spreading plane-tree
The village smithy stands;

Why yes it is that time again.

Today we would do a wine tour in the Cotes du Rhone area. Starting with a stop at one of the vineyards where the ground was again, very rocky.

The tour guide said, bad ground makes for great wine.

Most of the wine in this area are not stored in barrels

but in concrete tanks.

Our tour guide explaining everything about winemaking in this area.

and of course the main reason for the tour was the tasting.

Today we went to the town of Vaison-la-Romaine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaison-la-Romaine

This was another town with Roman ruins. The bridge in the picture (that we drove over) was built in the 1st century. As we walked around the town it seemed that there was a bakery on every street. We picked up bread and cheese for our next town stop.

Our next town was Aix en Provence

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aix-en-Provence

We parked the car and walked to a local park and had wine, bread with olive oil and cheese.

Nothing but the best cups for the wine.

Our table for four.

We also spent time on the Cours Mirabeau

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cours_Mirabeau

They say this is one of the most beautiful streets in Italy.

From there it was off to Marseille airport for our late flight to Rome. We checked into our hotel and were able to get to a restaurant before it closed. We had great wine and pasta, yum.

We would only have two days in Rome and they would be busy. First thing in the morning was a tour of the Vatican.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_City

At the beginning of the tour with St. Peter's in the background.

The tour would start in the museum

lots of statues and artwork that the church has "acquired" over the centuries.

The next stop was the Sistine Chapel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel

made famous by the ceiling that was painted by Michelangelo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelangelo

I got this picture off the internet as no photos were allowed while we were there. It was full of tourist when we were there. If you can picture the place full of people and then add 100 more that's how crowded it was.

After the chapel we went to St. Peters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Basilica

Replacing old St. Peter's it was started in 1506 and completed in 1626. Lots of extra offertory baskets were passed around in church to pay for all of this.

There are a number of things in the church I could mention, i will just point out this one.

Pope Alexander VII tomb by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_Pope_Alexander_VII

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gian_Lorenzo_Bernini

Started in 1671 and finished in 1678

Another view, he makes the marble look like cloth.

Another view of the interior with two tourist.

As we left we walked thru St. Peters Square

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Square

The Pope has an outdoor mass here every week.

We had a quick lunch and then it was on to the Borghese Gallery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galleria_Borghese

This is a collection of artwork by the Cardinal Borghese

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scipione_Borghese

When his uncle became Pope, he became a cardinal ---spoiled nephew.

Let's get back to the art work. There are a lot of painting but i will just talk about the sculptures.

The first three are by Bernini, completed between 1618 and 1625

Apollo and Daphne

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_and_Daphne_(Bernini)

Rape of Proserpina,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rape_of_Proserpina

hard to imagine that this is marble.

The David, completed in 7 months from 1623 to 1624. Bernini was around 25 years old when he did this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_(Bernini)

This one was done by Antonio Carnova

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Canova

Its called Venus Victrix,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Victrix_(Canova)

The subject reclining on the couch is Pauline Bonaparte, Napoleon's sister.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Bonaparte

From there we started a night walk of Rome, starting with a view of St Peter's in the distance.

And then moving on to the Spanish steps.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Steps

Time for a break from this walk, wine anyone?

After the wine break we walked past the Trevi fountain (crowded) and the Pantheon (closed) before having a late dinner and calling it a night.

The next day started off seeing the Colosseum

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum

completed in 80 AD, it held 50 to 80 thousand people----parking was not a problem.

We walked near the Arch of Constantine, built in 315 AD

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_of_Constantine

Walking along a little farther and we came to the Forum----seems like a lot of old stuff in this area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum

A view of more old stuff---in the background, young tourist in the foreground.

The latest and greatest UPS delivery system

This is the Victor Emmanuel II monument dedicated to the first king of unified Italy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altare_della_Patria

Along with other historical memorabilia, Italy's tomb of the unknown soldier is here.

We made it back to the Pantheon and it was open this time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheon,_Rome

Completed in 125 AD, It is the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome.

Heading back we past a christian robe store, Leanne stopped to check them out. I think the sign on top is "Robes are Us" in Italian.

From the "robe" store we grabbed our luggage and headed to the train station for a ride to Florence.

It was an hour and a half ride and to pass the time we played the midwestern card game euchre. It would be Kat and I against Leanne and Greg.

And i'm proud to say after a few hard fought games Kat and I came in second.

After arriving in Florence we headed to our rented an Airbnb. It was five floors up with a view of the Ponte Vecchio bridge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Vecchio

A quick trip to the local store and it was time for wine, bread and cheese again.

Kat brought had a hanger-on attached to here glass.

Not sure if he plans to swim, or drink it.

Time for a night walk around Florence, First a better view of the Ponte Vecchio bridge.

Next we walked past the Uffizi Gallery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uffizi

Originally a collections of the rich Medici family

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Medici

It was gifted the the city of Florence by Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Maria_Luisa_de%27_Medici

We walked on thru a few streets till we came to the Duomo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Cathedral

Started in 1296 and completed with the dome in 1436.

I think the contractor missed on the completion date for this one.

Another view of the front facade. Back in 1558 they decide that the front was outdated and needed a new look. It was dismantled and left bare till the 19th century----my guess is they were still looking for that "new look". A new facade was installed in 1887.

The next day we did a tour to see Michelangelo's David.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_(Michelangelo)

The 17 foot tall statue was finished in 1504 when he was 29 years old.

There is a back side to everything.

After this tour we walked thru a few streets to the Duomo.

Inside we looked up at the dome, originally it was white washed. Then from 1568 till 1579 the dome was painted with a representation of the last judgment.

The floor of the church is marble and one section had this on the floor.

Not sure if this is where flaming cheese was born.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzbOZBgWh9I

Next to the Duomo is the Baptistry, completed in 1128.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Baptistery

The mosaic ceiling is done along a biblical story line. One section shows heaven and another shows hell.

You can imagine what an illiterate person might think if he saw this scene.

Time for lunch at a restaurant in the square. A beautiful day and a great view.

For the last night the four of us would be together we would be going to the Opera. The problem is our rental unit only has one bathroom.

A nice walk to the Opera house, great views along the way.

We stopped for Pizza and wine on the way, good company

and of course great wine.

The new opera house was built in 2011. It didn't have the ambiance like some we have been in but still beautiful.

The next day we waved goodbye to Kat and Greg. They would be off to Cinque Terre for a few days before they had home.

For us we would be dodging runners, there was a marathon today thru our part of town.

As we walked we found a gelato store we had been looking for. A co-worker of Leanne's said to try the black sesame gelato by the bridge. Well after looking at all the gelato stores by bridges (a lot) we found it. Yes, it was worth having.

In the afternoon we took a train to Bologna to have lunch with friends from Dallas. We had met them in 2010 on our last Italy trip, it was great seeing them again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna

A couple of Bologna facts: In the main part of the city the sidewalks are covered as the picture shows. It where Bolognese sauce was created. Not sure if baloney came from here.