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Italy 2007

My trophy wife and I visited Italy in July 2007.  We went with Insight Vacations after Sue evaluated other tour companies.  Insight was the right choice.  They did an incredible job, both in the cities and other stops.  Insight had outstanding tour guides, and in particular, we were very impressed with our overall tour guide (Anne Kennedy).  

We had a marvelous time in Italy, and I recommend it to anyone.  The food, the people, the sights...everything was wonderful.

Even though we were exhausted from our overnight flight, this was a wonderful evening.  It was our first indication of how good the food and the wine were going to be.  We made a lot of friends on this trip (Mike and his dad, Walt, Paul and Gail, and Steve and Rhonda are seated with us in this photo).

I took about 2,000 photos on this trip using my Nikon D200 and four lenses (the 28mm 2.8 Nikon, the 50mm 1.4 Nikon, the 24-120 Nikon, and the 12-24 Tokina).  That camera and the lenses I brought with me were perfect for this trip.   The 50mm 1.4 was really right on the money for the indoor shots where flash was prohibited (in the Vatican and in many of the churches and museums), as you'll see in the following pages.  My 24-120 Nikon lens is an older one (it's the non-VR version), and it is extremely versatile for our "walking around" shots.  The 12-24 Tokina is optically quite crisp, and it was great for pulling a a lot into a photo (like our shots of the Coliseum).  The 28mm Nikon is extremely sharp, and it made for another good "walking around" lens and for people photos (it's the equivalent of a 36mm on the D200 camera).

A few days later, my good friend Mike called to tell me several interesting things about this spot.  One is that Michelangelo designed the interesting pattern in on ground.  Another is that the building on the left in this photo is Italy's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.   Yet another interesting fact is that the building in the middle is the monument to Vittorio Emmanuel, the first king of Italy.

Ugo, our Vatican guide.  

Another Vatican statue.

I grabbed nearly all of these shots with the 50mm 1.4 Nikon lens.

And more Vatican artwork.

Aren't these colors incredible?

And another.

Seems like I've known a few people like this...

All of these are by Michelangelo.  

The image in the center is probably the most famous.

My friend Mike told me that the early Romans used to use sand to cover the blood spills where the fights occurred.  Their word for sand is "arena," which is where our word arena (meaning a place in which to compete) originated.

See the small turquoise case clipped to Sue's waist?  The guides use private radio transmitters and we wore earpieces to hear them.  Although you don't too many people in this photo, the Coliseum was packed, and there were many tour groups.  The radio sets are a good idea, as they allow you to hear what your guide is saying.

This young lady is wearing a helmet.  I'm not too impressed with the rest of her protective gear.

I visited Italy when I was 12 years old on a trip with my parents when my father was on a US Olympic team.  I tossed a coin here on that visit.  

I guess it worked.

My friend Mike called with more interesting information on this photo.  The statue in the center is Poseidon.  Note the two horses on either side, and their different poses.  One represents a calm sea,  The other represents a tempestuous sea.

SPQR. 

In ancient Rome, these letters denoted the Senate and Populace of Rome.

Today's mayor of Rome uses "SPQR" as a logo for all public works. 

It's a classy touch.

Spello and Assisi

On our third day in Italy, we visited Spello and then traveled on to Assisi.  I'd never heard of Spello before.   I had heard of Assisi but I knew little about it.  So, let's see what we uncovered in these two beautiful cities!

Actually, the food throughout Italy was wonderful.  I was just surprised to find it as good as it consistently was in the roadside restaurants our guide found for us.  We took rest stops about every hour and a half when we were on the road, which made for a nice routine.

I asked this Italian Moto Guzzi rider if I could take his photo and he said okay.  He didn't speak English and I don't speak Italian, so I just motioned with my D200 and he nodded his approval.   I gave him my card, and a few days after I got home he sent another digital photo to me via e-mail.

I was surprised to only see a few Italian motorcycles in Italy.   The most dominant moto brands are the Big Four (Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, and Kawasaki).  I also saw quite a few BMWs.  I didn't see too many Ducatis or Moto Guzzis.  Most of the bikes over there are what we would call standards or naked bikes.  I saw very few race replicas.

Scooters, however, are another story.  They are everywhere in Italy, especially in the cities.  I didn't see too many on the freeways.  I'll have a few more scooter photos as we continue this trip.

It was very warm while we were there.  Here's one of the local residents finding a bit of shade.

Spello had flowers everywhere.

A Spello resident reading the papers.  

The town was beautiful, but these poor folks have got to be tired of tourists like me photographing them.

We had people from the US, Australia, and South Africa on this trip.

The ubiquitous tourist stuff.

We somehow made it through the trip without buying any refrigerator magnets.

We stayed at the Subiaso Hotel.  This is a shot from the restaurant.

This was the view from one of the windows in our hotel room.

We stayed in beautiful hotels.

An interesting statue in Assisi.

It's actually a photo of a poster I saw in Assisi.  

I casually mentioned at dinner in Assisi that it was really a lucky break seeing the Pope in an adjoining hall when we visited the Vatican the day before. 

Our other tour members were shocked and disappointed that they missed him.  

I showed them this photo as my proof.

I had them believing me for awhile.

Venice

After another great night in Assisi, we boarded our Mercedes bus and continued north east across Italy to Venice on our fourth day in Italy.  Venice is on the Adriatic sea, on Italy's east coast.

Yep, it's the Rubicon.

Just like something you'd see in a movie.

It sure was hot and humid in Venice.

Many of us beat the heat with one of Italy's specialties, gelato.   They make good ice cream.

After the factory tour, this fellow took us to the company's showroom.  He pretended he was going to drop the vase he was holding, which got everyone's attention.

Aren't these great colors?

Saturn, in blown glass.

Work inspired by Picasso.

Gondolas docked near Venice's main square.

This church is in Venice's main square.

A restaurant window display.

These things were still alive.

Pisa and Lucca

On the next day of our visit to Italy, we visited Pisa and then Lucca, before heading to a hotel in Monte Catini.  We were covering a lot of ground quickly.

Can't trust those civil engineers, I guess.

The town of Pisa, as I mentioned above, was absolutely packed with people.  Our guide advised us to watch for pickpockets, as this is apparently a serious problem in Italy.  No one of the approximately 40 people in our tour had any problems, though.

This fellow playing the tuba just sort of seemed to belong there.

This little guy was catching a bicycle ride in Lucca.

Doesn't that 50mm 1.4D Nikon lens do a nice job?

The cathedral in Lucca.

The shops and people in Lucca are very interesting and photogenic.

That almost seems so obvious it's silly to write it. 

Everything in Italy was photogenic.

Stefano, our wonderful driver.

Here's a strong statement:  I had the best dinner I've ever in my life at this place.   The wines, the different courses, and the explanations of the different foods made for a really enjoyable evening.

My lasagna dish, one of several courses at this magnificent place.

After that fantastic dinner and an overnight stay in Monte Catini (not Monte Cassini, as that would come later), our next stop was...

Florence

We motored over to Florence the next day.  It was another smooth ride in that fantastic Mercedes Benz coach.

I had a front seat in our coach the morning we went into Firenze, so I was able to grab this shot with my 24-120 Nikon lens.  

The scooters are everywhere.

We're allowed to split lanes in California when traffic slows or stops on our freeways, but what these guys and gals do in Europe is beyond description.  I'm a relatively experienced motorcyclist, but watching these folks was enlightening. 

That's the Arno River to the left.

I guess I expected to see quite a few more, but I think that Moto Guzzi is barely hanging on.  They are classy bikes.

Our first stop in Florence, at the Piazza di Santa Croce.

The church facing the Piazza di Santa Croce square.

Visiting factory outlets is a standard part of organized tours.  

I wonder how much these guys have to pay the tour companies to make that happen.

This place was a leather factory in Florence.  This leather vendor picked Sue out of the crowd to try on a $500 leather jacket.  Fortunately for me, she didn't like it.

I grabbed this photo because of the name on the bicycle and the color.  I have a white Bianchi at home, so this one naturally caught my eye.

There we are...

More Florentine motos...

This is the most ornately-decorated building I've ever seen.

These doors are impressive.

Our tour guide told us they don't have gangs, but they do have graffiti.

A colorful photo at one of the street vendor stands.

This Polizia officer is on a 650cc single-cylinder Aprilia.

Another scooterist, this time taking a break in a Florence alley.

Pompeii

Pompeii is the famous city that was buried by the Mt. Vesuvius eruption.  It was an interim stop on our way down to Sorrento.  I was particularly eager to visit this place, as I had read about it when I was kid.  The concept of an entire town being destroyed yet preserved by a natural catastrophe is fascinating, perhaps because so many movies have had that as their underlying story.   

I was not disappointed.  Pompeii, to me, was the most impressive thing I had seen on this trip.

Enrico, our local guide in Pompeii.

The way it works on these tours is that you have a tour director guide who knows the overall area and who manages the tour.  The tour director arranges for local guides who are specialists in each area.

I thought the approach worked well.

Italy has concerts in the ancient Pompeii amphitheatre.  

Enrico told us that about 20 percent of the city is still buried.

This is one of my favorite shots from this trip.

The ancient Pompeian art was interesting.

That 50mm 1.4D lens sure does a great job in low light conditions.

More ancient wall art.

This is the ceiling in one of the rooms in Pompeii.

Artwork on the exterior of one of the buildings in Pompeii.

These are ancient pornographic paintings.

I was naturally curious, and I asked Enrico what the going rate was back in those days.

"The same as a glass of wine," he answered.

I guess wine must have been pretty expensive.

Enrico pointing out more items in Pompeii.

Roman column details.

Cameos are typically carved from shell.  

This one held an entire scene.

I have a natural aversion to buying anything at places like these factory outlets.  We did buy some jewelry when we visited Italy, but it was on our own while we walked around visiting stores.

Sorrento, Positano, and Capri

Sorrento is an interesting city on Italy's western coastline, south of Naples.  It's a place where I would like to spend more time.  The road from Pompeii going into Sorrento is twisting mountain road hugging the shoreline.  I think it would make for a great motorcycle trip.

Take a hard look at this photo.

Not only are these scooter riders splitting lanes, but they are doing it between opposing lanes of traffic!  And not only are they doing that, but the lane splitters are splitting lanes in both directions!

Our dinner the first night we were in Sorrento was at this great place right on the Bay of Naples, nestled away down a series of twisting roads.

Stefano, our driver, took that 12-meter Mercedes coach down these roads like he was driving a Smart car.

I grabbed this shot on our boat, headed around the Isle of Capri.

Our guide told us the families who live there have last names like Ferrari, Swarovski, Gerber, etc.

An interesting shot.

A tile design in Capri.

The area focuses on tourists.

We had a great lunch there.

Yet another view looking out over Capri.

Boats here ferry passengers over from Sorrento, and the smaller boats take tourists on short cruises around the island.

Another scenic shot from the Amalfi Road.

These are kids, basically, who seem to have no fear whatsoever as they routinely pass on blind corners.

She made it okay.

Anne, our guide, next took us to Positano, where they filmed "Under the Tuscan Sun."

Positano is not actually in Tuscany, but the town fit what the writer of that movie had in mind.  It's a chick flick, basically.  They showed it on the bus one day as we rode along an Italian highway.

Anne told us we would love Positano because it is so beautiful.  I told her it had to be, or else the Italians would have called it "Negatano."  She laughed politely.

This is the interior of the church in Positano.

Everything there was very expensive.

Back To Rome

We had a good breakfast in Sorrento the next morning, and from there we went on to visit an inlaid wood furniture factory outlet.  After that, we were back in Rome to visit the Catacombs and the Spanish Steps.  Sue and I opted to spend an extra day in Rome to just wander around (after the guided tour ended) to unwind a bit before flying home.

Another inlaid wood item for sale.

I didn't stay in the inlaid wood factory showroom for very long (those kinds of things are just not my cup of tea).  I left to walk around a bit and I saw a small store on the sidewalk in Sorrento selling fresh vegetables.

Peppers and eggplant.

We passed Monte Cassini, one of World War II's great Allied errors.  

We mistakenly believed German soldiers were holed up in this mountain monastery, and as a result, we bombed it into rubble.

The soldiers had not been there.  We destroyed it needlessly.

After the war, the Italian government rebuilt the monastery at Monte Cassini.

Another view of Monte Cassini, with the cemetery in the foreground.

A street sign in Rome, shot through our coach's window.

Here's Sue on the Spanish steps in Rome.

Just as I triggered the shutter on this shot, the vendor physically pushed my camera away.  I said a few words in English I'm sure he understood and he walked away.

On our last night of the tour, we all had dinner together again.  That's Paul and Gail in front, and Tony and Marg just behind them.  All great people.

The ancient Roman ruins at Palatino.

One of the arches in the Palatino area.

And more still.

Nuns visiting the ruins.

I love bicycling, but I don't know if I'd want to do it in Rome.

Sue holding our local paper in front of the Coliseum.  The Daily Bulletin has an area in which they feature local readers holding the paper while traveling.  We've made it in there a couple of times in the past.  We'll see if this shot makes it.  What do you think?

And finally, the Circus Maximus.  It's the grassy area, which used to hold the track for the chariot races.  The Circus Maximus is the largest stadium ever built, seating 250,000 people.

We had a fantastic time in Italy.  The Insight Vacations "Best of Italy" tour was a great way to do it, too, because we saw much more of Italy then we would have if we were on our own.  The nice things about these kinds of tours are that you get to make new friends, all of the logistical details have been taken care of, every meal and hotel is great, the cost is less than if you tried to do the same thing on your own, and you get an idea of where you'd like to visit on your next trip.  And you can bet we'll be back; Italy is that kind of place and I guaranteed our return with the coins we tossed in the Trevi Fountain.

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