Italy: Day 10 - Siena

I went for a run today. I had a goal to run each day - especially when we were in the Firenze area. I got out of bed around 6:45 and took off. Running in Europe is much different than in San Diego. The roads do not contain any room to run! There is room for cars - and that is about it. I ran 'against' traffic - but the roads were so narrow - I did not feel comfortable. I ran about 5 miles - and much of it was on a fairly busy road. I spent more time watching where I could go when a car came around a bend that it was not a lot of fun. Today we went on a day trip to Siena. We all piled into the Fiat Ducato (notice it is not a Ducatti - which would have been really cool - but would not fit 10) and went to Siena. The drive was nice and the town was interesting. We were able to find a parking spot in town just inside the wall. I have heard that parking can be really bad. We walked about a mile up to the Duomo - and the kids were none to thrilled at the prospect of the walk. Anyway - when we got to the Duomo - it was covered with some scaffolding - and they wanted quite a bit of money to go in. Instead - we spent time in the Square and had a picnic lunch. We looked in some of the shops, and looked around for a place to eat lunch. We ended up not spending too much time in the town. Liz got carsick on the way back to our villa - she was pretty green by the time we made it home. John and I ran down to the village and picked up the last loaf of bread at the market. Here are some pictures from that day:

Here is a picture of the van that John rented and all of the kids. We were there early enough that we found a great parking spot in a parking garage.

Here is a picture of the Siena Duomo. It was about a mile walk from the parking garage to the Square and the Duomo. The town provided many photo opportunities.

Finally: we made it to the Duomo. This picture does not show the scaffolding - but you don't really get the sense of the size of the entire building. It was fairly large.

On our way out of town - we spotted a nice park and were able to find a free parking spot. The kids loved it. In fact - I think that they liked it more than seeing the town! Kids - what are we going to do with them?

This is one of the buildings in the town. I loved the colors of Tuscany.

Italy: Day 9 - Good Friends

Today - we spent the entire day around our villa overlooking Firenze. We walked to the small village near our villa where we purchased some bread, enjoyed some cafe and let the kids play. About 3:00 in the afternoon, our friends that used to live on our street in San Diego met us. At this time - there were 10 kids and 6 adults. I am sure that the owners of the villa were wondering what they were getting into when they rented to us! We had a great time of seeing some of our best friends together again. Here are some special pictures of that memorable day:

Views on the walk to the small village from our villa. The road was very narrow - interesting to keep 6 kids on the straight and narrow for the 1 mile walk. The cars went by very fast, and very close!

Peter and Tess
10 Kids; 6 Adults! It was nearly time to harvest the olives. At the end of the week - we saw some of the trees being harvested.

Italy: Day 8 - Bed and Breakfast in Umbria

We spent last night in a Agritourismo (bed and breakfast based on a working family farm). We had a wonderful meal. The rooms were small - and pretty cold. In the morning - I got some great shots before we left for Firenze. Peter, Jenn, Jo and I took a walk to see some of the countryside. It was really nice. We left all 6 kids in the rooms where they had a good time together.
This is a picture of the farmhouse. Most of the rooms and the dining room is in this building. The setting was most beautiful. This is taken in the early morning. There was a slight rainstorm over night - but it is not raining at this time.

Some of the views of nearby.

Here is a picture of Jennifer and JoEllyn on our hike.

After our wonderful day in Umbria, we drove through the rain to Tuscany. We arrived in Firenze around 2:00 - but could not get into our villa until 4:00 that afternoon. The kids were hungry (when are they not?). We got off the autostrada in the town of Scandicci. Driving around attempting to locate where we were on the map - we came upon a pizzeria. We decided to stop for a meal. They were happy to see us (it was amazing that they had not yet closed for riposo). We had pasta, pizza and Jo had this monster steak (traditional Tuscan style - which means rare). This was a bit more than she was expecting - and we were able to all enjoy the steak! We then decided that it was close enough to 4:00 and decided to drive to our villa - our home for the next week. It took us a bit of time to find out where we were. The owner of the villa had provided a fairly good map that I had printed before we left the US. When we finally found it - it was pouring rain. They let us in the gate and showed us around. Very nice. I was really pleased with the grounds and the shape of the house. We could not enjoy the view at the moment because of the rain. The owners were not concerned about the money - nice - they welcomed us and showed us around and explained how things worked. They provided keys and a remote to open the gate. Here are some pictures of where we stayed and what we saw around this area.


This was our villa for the week. It was a single house - but broken up into 4 complete living quarters. Our friends were on the left - they had sleeping room for 6. The owners were on site, as well has his parents. Our apartment was on the back side.

The views from the villa were spectacular. We spent many hours just gazing at the sites of Firenze in the distance. The grounds of the villa were very well maintained. We had to watch that the little ones did not get too near the pool. Caleb tried to swim in the (unheated) pool and got out after about 2 minutes.

This was the view from the back of our villa. This is looking into Firenze. Center Right - you can see the Firenze Duomo. What a great view!

Italy: Day 7 - Orvieto

We got up early this morning. Caleb W. needed to get a permanent cast on his finger that was broken. We were done with this by 10:00 or so. Peter was able to get the weekend off! We had planned on taking the train to Firenze to spend the week with our friends John and Liz. Since Peter was able to have 3 days off in a row (one of a few times he has had 3 whole days off) they decided to drive us! What fun! There was a little bit of rain as we were driving. We spent about 3 hours going North. We wanted to go to a place in Umbria called "Monster Park" where the kids could climb on the old statues and stone carvings. We got there and it really started raining. Since it was quite expensive to get in - we sat in the car, discussed our options and had a picnic while still in the car. We decided to go to Orvieto instead. It was only another 30 minutes. Wow! I am so glad that we did this instead. This was Europe like I was expecting it! There was a bit of rain when we first got there - but then it cleared off and we had a great time wandering around this great little town perched on the top of a hill. We parked at the bottom, rode the tram to the top and were able to go in the Duomo. Here are some of my pictures from that day:

The town is so small that they really encourage everyone to park in the large, free car park at the bottom of the hill. You pay a minimal fee, ride the funicolare to the top. The price of the ticket also includes a bus ride to the Duomo.

The town was great. I did not feel rushed, or hurried in any way like I did in both Roma and Napoli. By the time we were done with the Duomo, the rain had stopped. We loved looking around at all of the shops.

There were great opportunities for photos. I took many!

Italy: Day 6 - Mt. Vesuvio

Today we had a bit of a slow morning. Stayed around the house in the morning. In the afternoon, once the kids were done with school - we all piled into the Chevy Suburban and headed for Mt. Vesuvio. It is about 40 minutes from where we were staying. We went up a fairly steep road with lots of switchbacks. At the top we came to a parking lot - several tour buses were just leaving (good for us). We paid our money (this is a national park - so Italians don't need to pay).
The hike up to the top is steep for the first 1/2 mile or so. It then levels out for the next 3/4. You can see down into the crater of Vesuvio. It is incredible to see the steam still rising from various points inside the crater. The surface of the trail is a red pumice just as you might expect. The mountain is constantly monitored for movement. There were several stations with very modern instruments shooting lasers across the crater.
Here are some of my pictures that I took that day:


Here we are unloading all 6 kids from the Suburban. Driving a vehicle the size of this generates very strange looks throughout Italy. Remember - in Europe - the average size of a car is what we consider a compact. There are very few SUVs in all of Europe.

Mt. Vesuvio is still an active volcano. We could see steam and smell sulphur as we hiked around the rim of the crater.

Here we are driving back to our house. This picture shows how much of the mountain was removed in the eruption.

Italy: Day 5 - The Vatican

Today we were up really early: I think I set my alarm for 3:45 to catch our tour to the Vatican. Our tour bus was scheduled to leave at 5:00 in the morning. The boys did really well - I am so proud of them - they never complained once! Anyway - our trip to the Vatican was kind of a bummer. There was some sort of train/metro accident the day before - and the roads were absolutely packed with traffic all around Roma. It took us more than 5 hours to get to the Vatican from Napoli. When we got there - we were told that we had to be back at the bus in about 3 hours. What a rip. We spent some time in the Vatican museum (this was crowded also). We had a guide that explained some of the things we were seeing - he was good - but since we were there so late - he had to rush and I feel that we did not get to hear all of the things that he would have liked to tell us. The Vatican allows pictures anywhere except in the Cistine Chapel. They made me put my camera in my bag once we got to the Chapel. Here are a few of my pictures from this tour:

This is one of my favorite pictures that I took - it is sans people!

The Vatican museum is amazing. They have so many artifacts here - many are original - and there are some that are reproductions on display - while the original is somewhere else. I was impressed by the volume of pieces on display. The museum was crowded - and we ended up going through it 2 times as we were looking for some specific pieces of art. Yes - we found them - but it was hard.


We did not get to go in St. Peters - remember - it took us nearly 5 hours to get here - and we did not have as much time to explore as we would have liked. Here are Caleb and Jesse in St. Peter's Square.

Italy: Day 4 - Tour of Napoli

Today we went on a tour of Historic Napoli. We met the tour at the base - and they took us all around Napoli. What a great tour. We really enjoyed the sights, the sounds and the smell of Napoli. We learned much from our tour guide. He was very knowledgeable in all areas of Napoli. Napoli is amazing. There are 2.5 million people living in the area - and it appears that they all live in apartments. I did not see many single-family homes during our entire tour. Traffic is very busy - all the time. The roads are narrow, winding and many are one way. Several of the motorways are 'elevated' with no shoulder whatsoever, and very steep. The engineering is amazing. Our tour guide explained that in the 20 km by 20 km area of Napoli there are approximately 1000 churches. We saw 2 of them in quite some detail. I was able to get 1 picture of the first one before getting yelled at (no - I was not using flash). Here are some pictures of the sights we saw that day:The Bay of Napoli is behind us and we are looking to the North. We cannot see the downtown section of Napoli - but this is looking at some of the hillsides that comprise the city. We were in a beautiful point that overlooked much of the Bay.

We are heading to the downtown section of Napoli. This is just one example of the buildings in this area. The Bay of Napoli is to my left. This was taken in mid-morning - and the sun was very bright to my left. It was difficult to get good shots of the Bay at this time of day.

Flats looking onto the Bay of Napoli. What a wonderful place to live (if you don't have to have a car!) All of the flats and apartments looked really nice.

Italy: Day 3 - Our Home in Napoli

Today was a slower day. We stayed around our friends house in the Napoli area. Our luggage arrived around noon today! Yay - we finally have clean clothes. Here are a few pictures of the area where our friends live.

This is the 'street' on which our friends live. It is dirt - and very narrow. All of the houses have the gates that swing inwards for cars to park inside the 'compound'.

Trash pickup is kind of hit and miss in this part of Italy. When we were there - there was a trash hauler's strike going on. Interesting in that every once in a while - they light the trash on fire.

Beautiful colors and landscape. Our friends lived fairly close to a high voltage power transmission line.

Italy: Day 2 - Tour of Rome

Well - since we still did not have any luggage - our friends that we were staying with loaned us clothing and necessary items we needed for the next day. We scheduled a tour to Rome which left from the base about 10 KM away from where we were staying. We were able to get up easily enough as we were still not adjusted to Italy time. We met the bus with no problem - it was still dark. The bus did not go as fast as I would have liked - and it took close to 3 hours to get to Rome.
In Rome - we saw the Coliseum, the Trevi fountain and drove around and saw lots of neat sights. I took lots of pictures. (Yes - I did have all of my camera gear with me - that did not get lost - I carried it on the plane).
Needless to say - at the end of the day - we were pretty tired. I think that the boys both slept on the bus ride from Rome to Naples.
Here are some of my favorite pictures that I took that day:



I loved these guys. They knew enough English to have a good time. They really wanted people to dress up with all the gear - take a picture - then give them 5 Euro. I just took the pictures anyway.

Even though we were in Roma in October - it was still really crowded. I have cropped out most of the people from in front of the fountain - but the square was completely filled with people.

Italy: First Day

As some of you know - we had the wonderful opportunity to go to Italy this past October. We left on Friday, October 13. We flew from San Diego to Atlanta where we went to the International terminal. While we were there - they delayed the departure of our flight to Paris.
The flight over was not too bad - except that they messed up on our seats. I had requested that we have 2 seats together - they helped us out by putting us in 4 middle seats. Way to go guys! We were able to talk one person into changing with our 9 year old so that he could sit next to his mother.
Arriving in Paris - we found that we had only 90 minutes or so to make our connection to Napoli. We made it through immigration and customs without incident. We then had to basically run for 45 minutes to catch our flight. Well - we made it - but the luggage did not.

Arrived in Napoli nearly on time. The sun was shining and it looked great. Our friends were there waiting to take us home - but we had to wait and see about our luggage. We filled out all of the required forms (the people at the airport were actually very nice and their English was very good).

Here are a few pictures that I took of the Naples airport as we were leaving.

I loved this picture that I grabbed when we were driving. This is not too far from the airport and we are going to our friends house. The colors and the experience of being in Europe is just so real when you see this picture. I loved the pizza sign and the scooters mixed in with the cars and the sidewalk.

4th of July Fireworks

You know - everyone has to post thier 4th of July fireworks. Well - here are mine. I was pleased with the way these came out. Not terribly exciting - but not bad for a first attempt. These are shots of the Lake Murray Fireworks. We were about 3 miles away in our old neighborhood near SDSU. We have an annual tradition where we spend the day with JoEllyn's aunt and uncle. We usually go for a hike, then grill hot dogs and watch the fireworks from their back deck.

I like the way the hills show up in these shots. Since we were not at the lake itself - we were not able to see all of the fireworks. We only saw the bigger ones that came up over the hils of Del Cerro.

Vista Gas and Steam Engine Museum

On the 24th of June, my photo club went to the Vista Gas and Steam Museum. Wow! What a great opportunity for photos. Here are some of the many pictures I took that day.


Since this was a Saturday - there were lots of exhibits and engines that were brought in for the day. All of this stuff works - These are more than static displays. We breathed in so much unburned fuel from the engines that we probably all needed smog checks by the time we were through for the day.




This rake looks like it has not moved from this site in many years.


This McCormick Farmall was small - but in great shape.

La Mesa Hot Rod Show

Tonight we went to La Mesa. Every Thursday evening in the summer, several of the local hot rod clubs bring their rides to downtown La Mesa. It is really neat to stroll by and talk to they owners. They acutally drive these cars!

All of the cars have signs that say do not touch - but there is nothing that says you can't photograph them! I had a great time.

This one was beautifully restored. Most of the iron there was American. There was one Porche - but the rest of the stuff was pure USA.

One of the best in the county, La Mesa's Thursday Night Car Show is a perfect small town setting for crusing. La Mesa's charming village area, with its antique stores and popular restaurants, provides a perfectly nostalgic backdrop for hot rods and muscle cars. Each week there are as many as 160 cars parked along La Mesa Blvd., and many more cruising slowly for a moving show. Each week there are between 2,500 and 4,500 spectators strolling the boulevard. People of all ages love the cars and there is a lot to see. There are Horseless Carriages, Antique Cars, Classic Cars, and Hot Rods. There is also a contingent of motorcycles for the crowd to enjoy.

Mission Trails with the Photo Club

My photo club went to Mission Trails park at the end of May. It started out as a very dreary day - with some people saying that they had to turn their wipers on driving down from North County. As the day progressed - we had more and more sun.

Mission Trails Regional Park encompasses nearly 5,800 acres of both natural and developed recreational acres. Its rugged hills, valleys and open areas represent a San Diego prior to the landing of Cabrillo in San Diego Bay in 1542.





















This is a picture of the visitors center from our hike that we took. What a wonderful place.

This is a view from the visitor's center looking North-East towards Santee.

This is a view of the north side of the dam looking at what they call the "Grasslands" section of the park.

End of the Scool Year: Art Walk

At the end of each school year - Caleb and Jesse present the art work that they have done at Aunt Kris' house. This year - Caleb did not take art - so it was just Jesse. Anyway - there are lots of unique photo opportunities and I usually come away with some great shots. Here are some that I liked.

While this was not a work of student art - I spent quite a bit of time working in Photoshop to remove the color of the house and remove the chain that was holding this beast up. I like the fact that the skull was on a mirror and the reflection is also in focus.

Some of the student artwork as Kris displayed it.

An antique sign that Kris has in her house.

One of the favorite pictures that Jesse drew this year. No - this was not scanned - I took a photo of it and then cropped it. If I had scanned it - it would look better - there would not be that weird perspective that it has. He drew it correctly - I just decided to photograph it during the art walk.