Our tiny (but clean!) room at Hotel Nuovo in Milan
The view from our hotel room: a monument to Cesare, Marquis of Beccaria, in the Piazza Beccaria
Ready to tour!
Piazza del Duomo, our first stop
Il Duomo, the cathedral in the heart of Milan
Brass doors on the Duomo
Someone left flowers in the doors
How beautiful!
There were gorgeous stained glass windows in the Duomo
Close-up of a few panes
The Duomo's facade has 135 spires and 3200 statues
Adam and me climbing to the roof of the Duomo
The 165-step climb to the roof was worth it!
Michelle's first dish of Italian pasta
In Italy, yellow lights are for pedestrian signals, too
La Scala, Milan's legendary opera house
We have tickets!
Piazza della Scala, featuring a monument to da Vinci
Dressed up and at the opera!
Inside La Scala
A view from the gallery
Translations of the opera were available on the back of the seat in front on you
Placido Domingo and the company take a bow
Train station in Milan
Our lovely room at Hotel Orchidea in Florence
I loved this room!
The outside of Florence's Great Synagogue
Florence's Duomo
Waiting in line to enter the Duomo
We found Hebrew on the doors!
The dome of the Duomo
Looking down from the catwalk around the dome
We climbed 463 steps to the top of Florence's Duomo
What a view!
Basilica di Santa Croce, as seen from the top of the Duomo
On top of the world, looking down on creation...
The gilded bronze doors of the bapitstry
Each panel depicts a scene from the Hebrew Bible
Close-up of a panel
The dome of the baptistry
Above the altar of the baptistry
A detail from the ceiling: Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve expelled from the Garden of Eden
We saw the David
Boston!
We went shopping at the open-air market at Mercanto Centrale, and I got Pashnima wraps
The ark at the Great Synagogue
Floor and lectern at the Great Synagogue
I wasn't supposed to take a picture of Botticelli's The Birth of Venus
Adam wasn't supposed to take a picture of Michelengelo's Tondo Doni
Fountain of Neptune at Piazza della Signoria
A panel at the Palazzo Vecchio depicting the Duomo and baptistry...they looked the same when we saw them!
The Hall of Geographical Maps at Palazzo Vecchio
Map of Israel!
Lunch along the River Arno, near Ponte Vecchio
Basilica di Santa Croce, designed by a Jew!
Adam at Michelangelo's tomb
Me at Michelangelo's tomb
One statue for sculpture...
...one for painting...
...and one for architecture
Galileo's tomb
Machiavelli's tomb
Our room at Hotel Carmel in Rome's Trastevere neighborhood
Column of Marcus Aurelius at Piazza Colonna
Piazza Colonna also houses the AS Roma store. Italians love their soccer!
We went to a soccer game! AS Roma versus Reggina Calcio
Crazy fans
Crazy scarf-waving
This one didn't go in, but the rebound did. Go Roma!
The Borghese Gallery was our favorite stop in Italy
Adam jumped up into my picture of the Spanish Steps, which lead to a French church
The steps are notorious as the favorite haunt of teenage couples
Fountain at the foot of the Spanish Steps
Window shopping along Via dei Condotti
Hebrew!
Lonely Planet Italy was our constant companion
Trevi Fountain, as seen in La Dolce Vita
Aww...
Fountain of Triton at Piazza Barberini
A great spray paint artist, working on the street
The tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Vittoriano
A breathtaking view of Rome from the top of the Vittoriano
Rome's new stadium...
...and its old one!
The Great Synagogue
The Arch of Titus, also from the top of the Vittoriano (my camera has 10x optical zoom)
Me on top of the Vittoriano, with the Colosseum in the background
Adam runs along the Circus Maximus, an ancient hippodrome
The Palatine, as seen from the Circus Maximus
The Arch of Constantine
After I took a picture of this horse's funny earmuffs, he bit my sleeve!
Theatrical masks on display at the Colosseum
Adam and me inside the Colosseum
Me at the Arch of Titus, feeling lots of Jewish pride
The Palatine was full of ruins
Nothing funny happened on the way to the Forum!
People still leave flowers at the Temple of Julius Caesar, where his body was burned
Church of San Lorenzo in Miranda, on the site of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina
Lapis Niger, site of the oldest known Latin inscription
Three remaining columns of the Temple of Castor and Pollux
Temple of Saturn
The umbilicus urbis, the center of the Roman Empire
In Piazza della Minerva outside the Pantheon, featuring the Egyptian obelisk
Inside the Pantheon
The Pantheon's dome is a perfect semisphere
Raphael's tomb
Artists in Piazza Navona
Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers was being cleaned for the filming of Angels & Demons
It was hard to get a good photo around the scaffolding
The great obelisk on top of the Fountain of the Four Rivers
Fountain of Neptune in Piazza Navona
Pinocchio and me outside a toy store in Piazza Navona
Italians love little dogs, real or stuffed!
This woodworker had a wonderful toy shop
We were awed by the treasures in the Vatican Museums
Apollo Belvedere
Laocoon and His Sons
We learn about the diet of ancient Romans from their dining room floor mosaics!
Map Gallery
Close-up of the ceiling
Also from the ceiling: Jesus looks down on a broken, pagan statue
Justice wields a sword in most of the art we saw, no scales and blindfold
Close-up of The School of Athens, with Raphael's self-portrait in the top right
Michelangelo in The School of Athens
A random Star of David in the floor
We found Jewish art in the Vatican!
Surreptitious, blurry photo of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
The Last Judgement was so different from the ceiling!
Inside St. Peter's Basilica
The central dome of the Basilica
Michelangelo's Pieta
Confessionals
This dome went up, up, up!
Big angels in St. Peter's
Looking at St. Peter's from Piazza San Pietro
Fountain in Piazza San Pietro
Adam loved Ponte Sant'Angelo, because it features Bernini sculptures
Castel Sant'Angelo, originally the mausoleum of Emporer Hadrian
Goodbye, Rome! Goodbye, Tiber!
