fragile

Aaaah, Murano—I'm so not into the 

tchotchkes, but the chandeliers . . .

church talk

I can't go into an Italian church without lighting

a candle—or taking a picture.  I found beauty in all 

of these: the candles in the Gesuiti in Venice,

the gilded ceiling of the basilica San Marco,

 the dome of St. Peter's in Rome,

 Titian's Assumption over the altar in 

Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice,

and the filigreed window of a 

small church in the Cinque Terre.

boats

At the get-together with Eric tonight, I met a NYC

blogger named Mame, who told me about a blog

she loves: by a guy in Scotland who puts up

pictures of boats, just boats.   I'll have to find

it and check it out; meanwhile, I'm inspired.

Siena

We did a day trip to Siena and caught the

highlights, starting with the beautiful, detailed Duomo

and the Piazza del Campo, where they run the Palio.

This is a hillside city—

not a problem for these pigeons, who've found the perfect perch.

my favorite Venetians

I've never ridden in a gondola (except for the 

traghetto, which you ride in standing up, 

just to cross the Grand Canal).  But I'm 

fascinated by the gondolieri, who ply a trade

like no other.  Not such an easy job, and they have to

drum up their own business.  And a gondola needs

to be very well cared for if it's to last.

hiking in the Cinque Terre

We did hikes at all levels—mostly easy and intermediate

in my case, but one day my brother David and his friend Cory

took off on a straight up, straight down killer (imho) hike. Cory's

wife, Lori (yes, that's right, Cory and Lori—great people)

and I took the (sort of) low road—thank you, Lori!

street shrines

These are everywhere. According to one of my daughter's

Florentine profs, they exist simply to remind you to pray.

Okay.