Blogs from Italy, Europe - page 1582

Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence April 20th 2005

Today we got up ready to go on a gondola, but it was pouring rain (and hailing!!!). We walked around for a few hours -- and by chance passed this place that had Leonardo Da Vinci's inventions (they had made models off his notes/drawings). We had heard about this before we left so we decided to check it out. He was a very smart guy. We took a train to Florence and along the way there was pretty blue sky -- so we were hopeful (for no more rain) but it was overcast when we got here, and eventually it started to rain. Adam remembers his way around pretty good :) We tried to stay at the hotel he lived in, but they wanted too much money. So we went around the corner to a 3-star ... read more

Cinque Terre

Europe » Italy » Liguria » Cinque Terre April 20th 2005

Cinque Terre

Dick and Mary

After a long delay, we're baaack! Sorry to be so long dropping the other shoe and finishing up, but things just had to be prioritized after our return to the US. One of the last places we visited on our world cruise was the coast of northern Italy, where the boot of Italy joins the European body. Venice was on the eastern side of the boot top, and our new destination - Porto Venere - was on the western side. Porto Venere used to be the site of an ancient temple to Venus dating back to pagan times, from which it takes its name. There are tall colorful houses along the wharves, almost like Venice, but then the land rises steeply to an old castle on a rocky point above the city. The English poets Byron, ... read more

Rome

Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome April 20th 2005

noideagirl

Geo: 41.8955, 12.4823test... read more

Venice Easter 2005

Europe » Italy » Veneto » Venice April 19th 2005

Italian Clotheshorse

dueparole

These are photos from my last trip to Venice. I like taking unusual pictures of unusual places. So, you won't find Saint Marco's Square photos, nor a gondola's photo in this blog. Anyway, I took pictures of some tipical Venice alleys ("calli"). I hope you'd like it.... read more

My sister's taking confidence with Venice's bridges

Ahhh, Venice!

Europe » Italy » Veneto » Venice April 19th 2005

Italy

greeblergoddess

It's been a very long day. The night train started off well until a fourth person joined us in the middle of the night, and continually woke me up by turning on lights and then with hideous snoring. The real kicker is that all the rest of the rooms in our cart were empty -- but all the doors locked. Adam stood around with me in the early A.M. and then we went back in to go to sleep -- he gave me his i-pod to listen too 3 It took awhile, but I fell back to sleep for a couple of hours. Our train arrived late to Munich, so we missed our train to Verona, but we caught one 2 hours later. We had a little compartment, and I slept for the first few hours, ... read more

Molto Milano

Europe » Italy » Lombardy » Milan April 18th 2005

The Bus

rsalvay

I just had a totally whirlwind, packed, crazy week, guys. I don’t even know where to begin with all of it, but I’ll do my best to get the point across without getting too verbose. The other members of ‘America’ (other KSUers currently studying in various other European cities) all arrived on Sunday evening the 10th, and spent the night on various dorm room floors, which unfortunately have NO carpet padding, and we all woke up at about 4:30am to take our last regular showers and walk down to Hofbräuhaus to catch the charter bus. The 14 hour bus ride there I could probably have done without, but it really only took that long because of all the stops we made on the way to appease the smokers and small-bladders. The drive took us south through ... read more

Pompeii,Italy

Europe » Italy » Campania » Pompei April 18th 2005

Temple Ruins

Dick and Mary

We docked at Naples, which is about halfway between the ankle and the knee on Italy's boot. Cruising into the Bay of Naples we were greeted by the sight of a beautiful harbor city with the mighty Vesuvius dominating the view to the south. We were in Naples for only one day. We chose to spend our time ashore seeing the ruins of Pompeii, the town between Naples and Vesuvius that was buried under ashes and volcanic dust in the eruption of 79 AD. Excavation started in the 1700s when Pompeii was discovered and is still going on at several sites including nearby Herculaneum. The eruption of Vesuvius was described in great detail by Pliny the Younger, who at the time was a well educated Roman teenager visiting his uncle, Pliny the Elder, a government official ... read more

Easter holidays in Padua

Europe » Italy » Veneto » Padua April 18th 2005

Entrance to Villa

dueparole

There is one thing I do really appreciate about Italy, my country: everywhere you go, you can find a piece of art. This Villa and this church were an unexpected surprise that my family and I found during a quiet walk in Padua's countryside. You can see an old private Italian villa. It was built in the 14th-15th century and it has a tipical Renaissance style. The sequence of arches and columns gives it the tipical name of "barchessa". Usually there were deposits, pantries and granaries under those arches. ... read more

some beautiful sculptural elements from around the city

Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence April 17th 2005

detail from sculpture within Bargello museum courtyard

Cristina

zooming in... read more

again from Bargello museum-a dragon at the feet of a god

kidnapping of Sabine, loggia full of sculptures at Pzza Signoria

Certaldo, Tuscany

Europe » Italy » Tuscany April 16th 2005

Taiga

I left Cinque Terre early on Saturday lucky for me cause there was alot of delays. Italian trains are cheap but they dont always run to schedule. As i was approching Certaldo i was wondering if this was a good idea it seems very very country and maybe i should go to Siena (a bigger city with more options)... Got to Certaldo and nothing much was open and there was no one around especially since it was saturday. And it was raining heavily.. I called the hostel but no one answered. I remembered that the hostel was 25 mins walk so I walked in the rain in the general direction hoping there would be a sign somewhere. I got to the hostel, it was a old convent and seemed to be deserted, just one dog running ... read more

Brief history of Italy

Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI establis...more history

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