More Venice!

What a beautiful city! And I'm so glad we visited it in October when the days were warm and the nights were cool--perfect for walking around.

gondolas lined up on the Grand Canal

 



the Rialto Bridge

 

Ross and Malima near our hotel

 

girl in period costume handing out brochures outside Accademia

while texting on her smartphone

 

two gondolas waiting for customers

 

 

 

 

Snow!

On Tuesday the forecast was for 1-2 inches of snow that wouldn't stick to road surfaces. Wednesday's morning forecast was for 1-2 inches of snow.

 

Surprise! We got nearly 8 inches of wet, heavy snow from Storm Athena!

Picturesque Venice

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words!

More to come tomorrow!

Aaahhh...Venezia!

Malima and Ross met our train in Venice and it's a good thing too--I'm sure we would have gotten completely lost trying to find our way to the hotel, especially figuring out the vaporetto schedule! Venice is such a picturesque city that no matter where you look, there's another photo op.

We did all the typical tourist things like visiting St. Mark's Square and crossing the Rialto bridge, but one of the highlights of our entire Italian trip was attending a Musica A Palazzo performance of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, courtesy of Malima!

 

Photographs were not allowed during the performance, but these are from a couple of the palazzo rooms where different scenes were performed. The electric lights were turned off at different times so the rooms were illuminated only by candles! The effect was magical, and you were easily transported back 200 years. Such a lovely way to spend an evening!

 

It's hard to choose photos of Venice because all they all look so good! Visiting the island of Murano was a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon, and we really enjoyed the Special Itineraries tour of the Doge's Palace. Everywhere you go, the water is a beautiful aquamarine color. It's so much fun to explore the nooks and crannies of this pedestrians-only city.

We took a leisurely gondola ride during our last evening in Venice--a perfect ending to a very special holiday!

 

Bella Firenze

 

View of Ponte Vecchio from inside the Uffizi Gallery

 

Florence is a beautiful and very walkable city. I think it must have more Renaissance treasures than any other place on Earth!  While some places like Accademia (Michaelangelo's David) and the Uffizi Gallery were mobbed, other wonderful places like the Bargello, Medici Chapels, and  Pitti Palace were not.

View of the Duomo and its bell tower from the Boboli Gardens

 

As much as I enjoyed visiting this city where the past of 500 years ago is very much present, I'm not sure I would like to live there. It's hard to explain, but the weight of its past glories also felt oppressive to me.

 



A small part of the Pitti Palace

 

Despite being overrun with tourists, the Italians we met in Florence were the friendliest and most helpful people!

 

A Pegasus statue in the Boboli Gardens

 





A few of the globes in the Galileo Science Museum

In Memory of Dad

October 29th was the 7th anniversary of my dad's death. He had been struggling with dementia for several years, and the last coherent words he spoke to me as we sat outside on a beautiful sunny day in late September were, "The fresh air is so exhilarating!" I had stopped by his nursing home for a visit on a Friday afternoon before we headed to Rochester, NY to see Dawn participate in a Battlebots competition during the weekend. At that time in his life, Dad had a hard time finding words to speak, so you can imagine the pleasant surprise I got that day when he carried on a lively conversation with me.

On our way home that Sunday, I got a call on my cellphone that Dad had been rushed to the hospital and was in serious condition. His health deteriorated steadily from then until his death a month later. Looking back on that Friday visit, I now realize our wonderful conversation was a special gift as that was the last time he spoke to me.

Dad at age 87 showing off his new mittens, Christmas Day 2003

 

Funny how some memories come back to you many years later...when I attended St. Joseph Grammar School, we learned how to say our names in Polish.  Mary was Marysha, and Dad was the one person in my life who called me Maryshka, a special nickname. When he worried about losing his memory as he got older, I used to tell him not to worry because I would always know that he was my daddy. I'm not sure if that brought him any comfort, but it sure comforted me. I miss my Dad.

 

 



Aftermath of Storm Sandy

We were quite lucky this year--only lost power for 2 days during Storm Sandy and cable TV/internet for 4 days!  The winds were pretty scary, but the only major damage on our property was the loss of some branches on the maple tree closest to the deck.

Mark has been tempted to cut down this tree because it shades the greenhouse for 3 weeks in October when the sun is low in the sky, but I always convince him that it has such a beautiful shape and colorful foliage that we should keep it. And it no longer shades the greenhouse once the leaves fall, so it's a short-term problem. This maple is on the left behind Mark in the photo, but the wind blew the branches quite far as they fell.

The damage is quite extensive, and the 2 branches forming a V are at the very top of the tree. The trunk looks quite weak now and I'm not sure if the next big storm will break the top.

Compared to New York and New Jersey, we were lucky this time. The storm had strong wind gusts but we got less than 2 inches of rain in our area.