I cannot spell it or pronounce it.
But a lovely town with 14 towers. It used to have 200.
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| raw cheese for sale |
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| towers were a way to watch for enemies and a sign of wealth. |
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| beautiful view of the countryside |
It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.
Happy Veterans Day to all of you who served our country.
Day 5, Part 2
After the American WW2 Cemetery, we went to the town of Sienna. Oh my what a lovely town. The church, the main square and the clock tower were amazing.
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| Medieval city wall of Sienna. No one was coming in!! |
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| Carved heads of important civic leaders adorned this building from the 1500s. |
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| Fantastic medieval streets and architecture. |
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| The Sienna cathedral took 100s of years to build. |
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| sculptures on the church were amazing. |
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| Clock tower was built in 1250!!! |
In America, if something is 200 years old, we think it is old. It is quite a perspective change to visit these places and realize that 1,000 years ago, other humans were looking at these buildings.
It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.
Italy Day 5, Part 1... the American Cemetery from WW2 near Florence
During WW2 the American Armies worked their way up the Italian peninsula from the south. There are three cemeteries in Italy for American soldiers from WW2. As the troops made their way north, an additional cemetery was needed, and then finally a third.
We stopped this morning at the 2nd US cemetery in Italy. It is near Florence and holds about 4300 graves from the fighting in 1944 and 1945. One row of young men after another.
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| This is the map of the campaign and its progress. |
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| Those who died made it possible for those who live on the hill above to live in freedom. |
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| 1800 of the graves are unknown. So sad. So many tears. |
41 People on our bus. There was not a dry eye among them. In a year, we will not remember the name of what city we visited or what we liked better Siena or Florence. But to our dying day, we will remember the visit to this cemetery.
So much is owed by so many to those brave young men.
It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.
It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.
We spent all day in Florence. It was fantastic!!!
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| Street vendors dressed like a monk or ??? |
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| The resting place of Galileo |
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| The doors were huge and amazing. look at them compared to the size of the man sitting at the table. |
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| The Baptistry at the Florence Cathedral |
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| The Florence Cathedral |
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| More of the Florence Cathedral |
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| some of the panels of the door to the Baptistry of the Florence Cathedral. Zoom in to see the detail. |
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| The paintings were huge and amazing. It was such an important thing in the medeval times to preserve on canvas the pictures of what we believed. |
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| Michelangelo's The David |
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| Many sculptures by Michelangelo were left unfinished after his death. |
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| Another view of the David. Which he sculpted from age 25-28. |
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| The domes of the Florence Cathedral. |
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| So many statues. |
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| So much architecture!!! |
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| Church from the 1200's |
The beautiful things of history leave me speechless.
It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the Good.
Today we visited the towns of Pisa and Lucca... Again, a fantastic day!!!
First, let's talk about the leaning tower. The Leaning tower of Pisa is actually a church bell tower. That doesn't get advertised much does it? In 2000 a project was undertaken to stop the lean as it was continuing its movement. The tower was straightened from 5.5 degrees to a 4 degree list.
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| The tower actually leans more at the bottom |
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| And is straighter at the top. That is because as they built it, they built the leaning side taller so that as it rose, it would become a bit more level with each floor. |
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| City wall in Lucca ca. 1500 |
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| Inside one of the church in Lucca. Ca. 1100. |
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| Church in Lucca Ca. 550 |
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| Walls of Pisa Ca. 1500 |
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| Church in Pisa that has the famous leaning bell tower. |
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| Narrow streets of Lucca so typical of medieval and renaissance European construction. |
Many of you know that I am on a trip with 41 friends in Italy.
Day one was travel day... drive to the airport, fly to Chicago, long layover, then fly to Milan. And then a 4 hour bus ride to the hotel in Venice.
Day 2 = Venice.... words cannot express the beauty of it all.
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| Lots and lots of statues |
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| amazing historical craftsmanship |
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| The armaments museum was so very cool. |
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| Leaning tower of the Greek Orthodox Church |
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| St. Mark's bell tower |
Next trip, I hope that you can join us!!!
It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.
