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| This
is a canal in Venice. Our trip didn't start in Venice, but who can resist starting here? This is a typical canal. The best time to get these reflection shots is early morning, right after the sun rises but before anyone is up and about on the canals. |
This
is Florence, the Campanile of the famous Duomo. |
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| Our
trip began in Treviso, just north of Venice, a charming town with wonderful produce and fish markets. |
A
12th century lion outside the Treviso duomo. |
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| Treviso has its ancient canals. | These
delightful statues decorate a canal-side home. |
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| Vegies... |
...at
the Treviso market. |
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| A
scene from the undergraduate campus of CIMBA, which is a consortium of business schools in the US, including WVU. The undergraduate campus is located in in Paderno del Grappa. We send dozens of students here every year. |
A
pretty little balcony in the very picturesque town of Asolo, northwest of Treviso, home to the graduate campus of CIMBA. |
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| The
hill town of Asolo. |
A very
picturesque town with lots of shops and great restaurants. |
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| In an
Asolo shop window. |
An entrance
to the town. |
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| Next
stop was Venice, about as close to a wonderland as it gets. This is the Basilica in Piazza San Marco. |
This
mosaic is just one small detail of the Basilica. |
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| A
close-up of the Basilica. |
Next
to the Basilica is Torre dell'Orologio, the Clock Tower. |
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| This is a close-up of the clock. | Here
is another mosaic on the Basilica. |
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| The
Basilica is covered with delightful details like this. |
Above
the entrance. |
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| This
is the campanile in Saint Mark's Square. A campanile is a free-standing bell tower. This one and the leaning tower of Pisa are probably the most famous. |
Note
the use of all the colored marble. |
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| Another
mosaic on the Basilica. |
A
picturesque house in Venice. |
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| A
colorful house along the Grand Canal. |
One
of many dozens of canals off the Grand Canal. |
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| The
flag of Venice. |
Boat
parking. |
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| Typical
scene in Venice. Look carefully and you will see a gondola passing by the end of this canal. See the gondolier with his oar? |
Restaurants
along a canal. |
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| The
famous gondolas of Venice. Very expensive! |
Another
reflection in a canal. |
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| Abstract
art. This is actually just the lower part of the reflection in the previous shot. |
Typical
scene along the Grand Canal. These blue and white pillars are all over. |
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| The
Ponte di Rialto over the Grand Canal. |
A
colorful building off the Grand Canal. |
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| A
Carnival mask. |
A
really amazing mask shot through a shop window. |
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| The
Grand Canal. |
Looking
down on the Basilica from the Campanile. |
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| Replicas
of two of the bronze horses above the entrance to the Basilica. The originals are inside. |
Madonna
and Child on a random building. |
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| This
is Florence, our next stop, taken from the hills above. |
Florence
is in a valley surrounded by the hills of Tuscany. |
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| This
is the spectacular Duomo of Florence taken from below. |
Around
the right side of the Duomo. |
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| The
Campanile. |
Is it
possible to have too many pictures of the Duomo? |
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| More
and... |
...more. |
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| Another
detail. |
A statue like
one of hundreds around Florence. I do not recall where I took this. |
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| Another statue. | Perseus
beheading Medusa in the Loggia dei Lanzi next to the Palazzo Vecchio and Uffizi in the Piazza della Signria. |
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| San
Lorenzo, the Medici parish church. Michelangelo did a lot of work on this church centuries after it was initially built. |
A
close-up of San Lorenzo. Around the church is a fabulous street market that you cannot miss, especially if you are after Florentine leather. |
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| This
is street art. Literally. |
Here
are the artists at work. |
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| Cop?
Tourist information guy? |
King
Neptune (Fontana di Nettuno) in the Piazza della Signoria. |
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| The
Baptistry with the Duomo behind it. |
This
is a single panel of the bronze door on the east side of the Baptistry. The door has ten of these panels. |
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| A
corner of the Baptistry on the left with the Campanile on the right and the Duomo in between. |
The
Duomo from a distance. |
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| Some
buildings are decorated with fabulous scenes like this... |
...
and this. |
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| I
don't recall where I took this. Help! |
The
Ponte Vecchio, which is lined by shops, a major tourist attraction. |
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| A
ground-level view of the Ponte Vecchio. |
And a
close-up. |
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| This
is the square in Siena, which we visited while staying in Florence. |
Another
view of the square. Each year there is a horse race around the square. |
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| Siena's
Duomo. |
Along
the Via di Citta. |
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| Details... |
...
of the Duomo in Siena. |
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| The
peak of the Duomo. |
Another
view of Via di Citta. |
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| On
the way back to Florence, near the town of San Gimignano, we stopped at this winery. |
This
was once a village dating back to the eleventh century. |
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| Fattoria
San Donato, the name of the winery. |
A
lovely place to stop for a couple hours of wine drinking and strolling. |
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| We
left the group in Florence and missed Rome. This is a picture I took of the Roman Forum years ago. |
Statues
in the Forum. |