Italy is beautiful in the spring

I'm phoning this one in, both because I'm sick and because I never actually finished processing all of the photos I took while I was there. Writing about it here gives me that opportunity.

Two years ago, Eric and I celebrated our 10th anniversary (For our 11th, we went to Vancouver. There are lots of pictures spread across our 5 day trip, if you're interested.). When we were married, we went to Italy for our honeymoon and loved it. We promised ourselves that we would return, come hell or high water on our 10th anniversary. We almost didn't go due to timing and finances, but Eric decided that it was worth more to us to go than it was to stay and not spend the money. So off we went.

Apparently friends of mine had been making bets as to how many pictures I was going to take, because when I mentioned 523, Christine said she lost.

Originally emailed 5/15/06:
Well, what's funny is that if you voted for more pictures, I would have taken more except for one tiny little problem:

Almost every single bloody museum and cathedral no longer allows any photography!

Ten years ago (ahem!) they would allow photography, but without flash. The idea was that the actinic flare from the flashes would damage (or "age") the paintings. Now, it appears that with digital cameras being so ubiquitous and able to go up to 3200 ISO (in many cases), they appear to be more afraid of losing your shopping dollars. What need would you have for purchasing the museum's BOOK if you took fantastic pics of your own?

To say that I was put out would be putting it mildly. To say I was pissed would be a lot closer. Then, to add insult to injury, there are ALWAYS some turistas that insist on photographing stuff anyway and then I feel bad about being law-abiding! So the piddly 523 images I shot were mostly of outdoor scenes. They let you take pictures of the view from inside the buildings, which in many cases was quite a nice view.

I so wanted to show you all how utterly cool so much of the art is and the fantastic murals on the walls and the floors and such, ma no (but no!)! Idiota! So you (and I) will just have to make do with the few shots I DID get. You won't be too sad, will you?

Leaving the US and daylight behind.

Our room in Venice at the Hotel Rialto.

Yes, it was definitely pink. Oy!

The view from voi finestra (our window). Fantastic, no? Why yes, that Rialto!

Well...e abbanstanza per adesso (that's enough for now)!

Ciao!