The cafe area of a train we 'saw' (didn't ride) at the station in Wien.
In
the
night
train
to
Venezia
Morning, the sun is up.
That's us! Only a few stations away from Venezia.
One hour to Venezia
6 beds in one room. We were the top.
Arrival at Mestre Station.
Mestre is one station before Venezia, and is the nearest station from our hostel.
Mestre Station
Camping Fusina
On the bus to Venezia
Venezian Gondola.
From the first bridge we crossed in Venezia.
This city is nothing but water, buidings, and sideways.
Ah, This is Venezia.
Giant pasta.
Free drinkable water can be found everywhere in Italy.
The masks are for the local festival.
There are so many stores like this in Venezia.
And there are so many masks in the stores.
Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari
Giant pizza.
Lunch
On the water bus.
That's water taxi, which is also extremely expensive.
Maggie taking a picture of Jack taking a picture.
And this is the picture Jack is taking.
So is this one.
On the water bus to Lido
Lido Island, famous for the Film Festival, which was just over a few days before our visit.
First Gelato in Italy, the guy at the store spoke Chinese.
Beach on the sourthern part of Lido Island.
Jack and his favorite actor Matt Damon
Italian Public Phone
On the water bus to Murano
Italian Post
Murano Island.
Along the side way are all glass work shops.
Free water
Murano is famous for glass works.
Murano
From the second floor of glass museum in Murano.
Back on the main island of Venezia
Squid ink pasta is famous in Venezia, but not necessarily recommended.
Early dinner in Venezia
Can you see the black pasta over the black jacket?
Italian cafe bar. People are drinking at the tables outside.
No "Made in China"!?
McDonald's proves that Venezia is still a city with residents.
This reminded Jack of the shopping mall in the Caesar's Paleces Hotel in Las Vegas.
So many kinds of pasta.
On the water bus
Cabin in Camping Fusina
In front of the Camping Fusina and the bus. This is the only bus that connects Mestre Station and here.
Outside of Mestre Station
The bridge nearest from the bus terminal in Venezia is under constructions, and will provide a short cut walk way between the terminal and the train station.
On the back of water bus, behind us is Rialto bridge.
Rialto and Italian Flag.
Rialto Bridge seen from the water bus.
Venezian fire fighters?
So many buildings we saw in Italy (and Wien) were under construction, really. This is one of them.
Feeding the hungry birds.
Look at the bird on the right. Birds are bigger than they seem to be.
Gondola terminal
Palazzo Ducale
Behind us is Piazza San Marco
We took like four pictures like this here but none of them looked best.
Part of Ducale and the side of Basilica de San Marco
The clock tower
Inside of Ducale
View to the south from the second floor of Ducale.
View to the east from the second floor of Ducale
The courtyard of Ducale
Outside view from the "dead men's bridge" of Ducale
We walking the path between the prison cells and the death penalty room
View from the window at Ducale
Piazza San Marco
Restaurant tables and the musicians in the palace
Ferrari goods store (not a car dealer, of course).
They fellas are made of glass.
Gelato at Ponte di Rialto.
Poste Italiane
View from the top of Ponte di Rialto
Rialto
On the Rialto Bridge.
An inch thick pizza!
Leaving Venezia Station for Firenze!
Brief stop at Bologna Station.
Decaf caffee. This is as much as the coffee served before a single sip. This is the first photo in Firenze.
Late dinner in Firenze after arrival
Alfredo at a nice restaurant only half a block away from the hotel.
Spagetti Bolognese (most typical tomato sause pasta)
First day in Firenze starts. This is Palazzo Vecchio.
Piazza della Signoria, palace in front of Vecchio and Uffizi.
We didn't go to the Academia Museum (where David is) but several Davids can be found in the city anyways.
Fiume Arno (river)
Ponte Vecchio (the bridge)
Long line at the Galleria degli Uffizi, art museum. We waited for two hours in line.
Ponte Vecchio from Uffizi and Firenze.
Ponte Vecchio from Uffizi.
Palazzo Vecchio, from the terrace at Uffizi.
On Ponte Vecchio.
View to the West from Ponte Vecchio.
Torre Pendente in Pisa.
Jack trying to hold the tower.
Now it is the ground that is tilted, not the tower or Jack.
Ducale next to the tower
Looks like the Duomo (the building on the left) is also leaning.
Minute after the Sunset
From the certain view, the tower does not look leaning any more.
The entrance to the tower.
Do you see the cables hanging from the higher part of the tower? The cables are truely vertical here.
Tower at night. We were hoping to see the tower with lights up, but no luck that day, probably due to the construction.
Pisa Station
Pisa Station (as you can see very clearly).
Hotel room in Firenze.
Dining room.
Breakfast at hotel.
Upper floor of the hotel.
The second day in Firenze starts from Food market.
Beautiful view of Firenze from Piazzale Michelangelo.
Firenze
Michelangelo's David in the plaza.
Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore), also Palazzo Vecchio on the left.
View to the west
Nice restaurant and garden on the hill.
Campanile di Giotto
Duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore
First day in Roma (&Vatican)
Courtyard of Vatican Museum.
Corridor of the maps
Vatican post
Basilica
Yard aside the museum.
Basilica behind us.
The exit of the museum. Much better looking than the entrance.
Basilica di San Pietro.
The way to the top of Basilica. The photo is NOT tilted. It's the walls.
Needs to hang on to the rope in order to go upstairs.
Finally made it to the top of Basilica. View to the West.
View to the north, the Vatican museum.
Piazza San Pietro and Roma.
View to the East
From the top of Basilica, looking directly East. (And we are facing directly towards the sun.)
Swiss Guard.
Piazza San Pietro
Ponte Sant' Angelo
Behind me is the location of the fighting scene in Roman Holiday. http://www.imdb.com/gallery/mptv/1282/Mptv/1282/9202-7.jpg?path=gallery&path_key=0046250
Castel Sant' Angelo.
Angels and Demons: Earth, Air, Fire, Water. The Illuminati Diamond. The most brilliant of all.
Castel Sant' Angelo
Puppet performance
Piazza Navona. Angels and Demons: Water.
Pantheon
Fontana di Trevi
Spanish Stairs.
Piazza del Popolo. Waited here for 20 minutes or so till there was sun light.
Guess where we are...
http://www.imdb.com/gallery/mptv/1282/Mptv/1282/9202-3.jpg?path=gallery&path_key=0046250
Angels and Demons: Earth. "Let angles guide you on your loftly quest."
Demon's Hole in the Chigi Chapel at the Santa Maria del Popolo.
Raphael's tomb (on the left) inside of Pantheon.
The front of Pantheon
Famous gelato store.
Giolitti
Hotel Barnini
Santa Maria della Vittoria. Angels and Demons: Fire.
Colosseo
Arco di Constantino
Colosseo.
Inside of the Colosseo.
Even the Colosseo is under construction.
Arco di Tito and Colosseo
Foro Romano
View from Colle Palatino
Chiesa di Santa Maria in Cosmedin, famous scene from Roman Holiday. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Holiday
Angels and Demons: Air.
Colosseo at night
We finished sightseeing in Rome in three days pretty much, so, on the fourth day, we decided to take a day trip to Napoli.
Taking a ferri to Capri island from Napoli.
Napoli is a sister city of Kagoshima (my home town) because of the similar scenaries with a bay and a volcano.
Almost there
Capri Island
The entrance of Grotta Azzurra
Inside of Grotta Azzurra
Although the entrance to the cave is small above the water (only as high as 1 meter), it's actually a large hole beneth the water, which allows the sunlight to enter and make the water look blue.
The water looks blue even with the flash.
Grotta Azzurra
http://www.capri.com/en/grotta-azzurra
Jack and Maggie celebrating their second aniversary in the dark.
We reached here by a motor boat. You can also get here from the land.
After celebrating our second aniversary in Grotta Azzurra.
We had never seen sea water so blue.
Hard Rock Cafe Rome. The glass room on the right is also a part of the restaurant on the side walk. You'll see many restaurant tables like this in Rome.
Bono, U2.
The Beatles
Small low tech elevator in the hostel.
The door is as narrow as one person, and opens like a room door.
Carbonara for the last lunch in Italy
Pizza called "Pantheon" (the restaurant is in front of it) with tuna, ham, and salami.
Beautiful view of Toscana from the train back to Wien.
