Part Due of Stephen and George's Visit...

As promised, here is the continuation of Stephen and George's visit with us.
We had a wonderful time - we headed to Tuscany for the weekend! We stayed at an amazing place - the Villa il Poggiale in San Casciano val di Pesa (about 17km from Florence). It was a lovely B&B surrounded by olive trees, wonderful cypress trees and the inspiring hills of Tuscany...

View of the hillside from the terrace of Villa il Poggiale

 

and Sunset!

The Villa...

A peaceful place to stay a few nights and centrally located to travel to Pisa for the day...

Stephen & George...

Tom & I...

...the Torre di Pisa

The height of the tower is 183.27 feet on the low side and 186.02 feet on the high side. The construction of the tower started in 1173, it was constructed in three stages and took 177 years to finish. It was constructed as the free standing bell tower for the Cathedral of Pisa...

The Cathedral (and Baptistry on the left)

Cathedral & the field of dreams (the lawn of the square)

Stepping back in time a little - prior to Pisa we had a wonderful day in Lucca. There was a wonderful town flea market that we wondered through. Lucca itself is one of the few walled cities with the wall still intact. They decided to do this to keep modernization out and history in. It was first built by the Etruscans and became part of the Roman Empire in 180 BC. Here are a few photos of the outside of Lucca...

Lucca...

....and...

...the wall!

 


 

& the kids!

The rest of the trip was equally wonderful. After we returned Stephen & George were on their way back to the states!



Before we leave Stephen and George - I have to add my favorite pics from the Piazza de Popolo. I told them that all our visitors climb the Sphinx in the center so I can take pictures (I lied but it was fun). Here they are...

Everybody does it...

and the dismount!

Lastly, we had a magnificent dinner at the Hotel Splendid!  Thank you Stephen & George...

Well that's enough for this posting. Tomorrow I travel back to the US for Irene and my parents. Next post will hopefully be of Mom & Dad climbing up the Sphinx for their photo-ops.

As always - I wish everybody health, happiness, and the best! Abbracci!

I will leave you all with a special photo for Greg...I saw this and instantly thought of him! Enjoy!

Bye for now!
Ron & Tom



 

Hot Times in Roma...

Well everybody, life here in Roma is still going very well!

I have to say that it is VERY HOT here at the moment - the daily temperatures have been heading into the 90s with very high humidity. The mornings are cool and in the 70s but the temp goes up very quickly. I have not been doing a lot of roaming around so this will probably one of the shorter blogs I will publish - don't thank me.
My Expats in Rome Group has been going very well. Every Tuesday we have an hour of language lessons and then Happy Hour! Someday I have to talk them into letting us drink during the lessons. A friend from the group, Rob, recently left Rome to go back to his home in Dubai. So we had a little going away party for him...he will be missed. Here are a few photos of that get-together...

A Toast to Rob - See ya soon!

Just hanging out...

Our latest visitors are Tom's college roommate Stephen and his partner George. They have been staying with us for about a week, they left for Tuscany, and we will be joining them there this weekend.
It was wonderful having more people here with us and we have been having a great time.
We got lucky and Monday was a holiday so Tom had off of work. The holiday was Ferragosto. In modern times it is celebrated as the accession day of Mary to heaven. In olden days and it's original meaning was a celebration of pagan rights. It was started as a holiday (ferie) by Caesar Augusto (agosto)...'ferie'+'agosto'...therefore...Ferragosto. No matter it's origin, it was just wonderful to have Tom home for an extra day!
We hit many of the normal places... The Colosseo, the Fontaine di Trevi, the Pantheone but we also went to the Galleria Borghese - a beautiful museum right across the street from the house.
The Galleria Borghese houses a substantial part of the Borghese collection of paintings, sculpture and antiquities, begun by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V (reign 1605–1621). The Villa was built by the architect Flaminio Ponzio, developing sketches by Scipione Borghese himself, who used it as a villa suburbana, a party villa at the edge of Rome.
Many artists from Bernini, Canova, Caravaggio, and Raffaello are represented in this amazingly beautiful suburban villa! Here are a few photos from inside the Galleria (note - no pictures are allowed):

Ceiling paintings from...

The Room of Hercules or...

More ceiling art...

...and more...

Stephen and Tom at the Galleria...

Canova's Pauline Bonaparte



Stephen, George & Tom in the Garden

Bernini's David

This was my second time at the Galleria Borghese and it still amazes me the amount of art and beautiful in a single small space. I also enjoyed that the gardens were open this time...just breath taking:

A view of the garden from a second floor window.

Well I know there will be more from Stephen and George's trip in the next blog.

I am not sure exactly when I will post next...some exiting stuff is coming up. I am flying back to the states to get Mom & Dad for their trip to Rome!

For now I am going to sign off...

I would like to end this blog with a note to James & Greg - We finally saw one!

Enjoy!

Love to all! Ron & Tom





Lazy Summer Days (Daze) in Roma...

All things are well here in Roma! The locals have started to go on vacation for the summer. The streets are filled with tourists (mainly American and German) so I have start walking around with a map in my hand so that I do asked too many stupid questions. I have recently received too many questions from people looking for something they are standing right in front of. It's cute and funny the first three times - then it's just stupid.
The weather has been very warm and humid - I try to stay in the shade (it's cooler there).

Since the departure of Stuart and Alexa, things have just been quiet (in a good way).
We really haven't done much - Tom is back to work and am trying to get back to life.
I found a few random fun photos that I thought would share...

Tom riding a sculpture in the park...

Supposedly the best Tartufo in Roma

A birthday gift from Tom -
Jack Johnson at Rock-n-Roma...

A great lunch in Capri...

Art from a great restaurant in Sienna

Our family Pizzeria
in Sienna

On a day-to-day basis things are moving along. I have become involved in a group called Expats Living in Rome. They provide Italian lessons and Happy Hours (unfortunately, we only drink after the lessons not during). I have become acquanted with a few fun people - some Americans living/visiting Rome and some from other countries working/studying in Rome, but most Italians (Romans) wanting to improve their English. I am sorry to say that their English is better than mine...

Here are a few photos of our get-togethers...

Rob (Dubai), Me, & Michael (LA)
having lunch at Antonino's

Rob (center) & Patrizia (right)
Enjoying Prosecco (a lot)

Gianfranco, Fabio, and Rob
Enjoying life after our lesson...

Patrizia (left) & Fabrizio (2nd from right)
Patrizia is the organizer of Expats
Fabrizio is my instructor

Me at my lesson on Isola Tevere
(Tiber Island)

Antonietta, Becky, Rob,
Me, and Richard
(Rome, Rome, Dubai,
America, Canada)

Our lessons are on Tuesday night and everybody is wonderful! Sometimes the nights get a little late but time does fly when you are having fun! Good people, good conversation, good times! I have to thank Patrizia for starting this group (10 years now), Fabio & Rob for inviting me to join, and everybody for making me welcome!

Well nothing else special is going on right now -

Next week, Tom's college friend Stephen and his partner George join us for a vacation...

Then I fly back to the states for a few days to collect my parents for their vacation in Rome!!

Can't wait!

Until the next installment - our love, hugs, and kisses to all!

Be well and live life!

Ron & Tom