Alessandro orders at the bar

"Buon giorno. Uno cappuccino per la mia mamma e un caffe latte per me, per favore. Oh, tutti le due sensa cocao per favore. E anche due brioche con marmellata. Grazie."

I climbed the big San Gimignano Tower

The big tower is the one on the right, and that's the view from the terrace of our hotel room.



Here is what San Gimignano looked like from up the top - oh, and the last part of the climb was up a steep ladder.

Santa Croce in Florence

Here are some of the stained glass windows.



Here is the famous Cimabue cross that got damaged in the flood.

Views from Piazalle Michelangelo

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

I climbed to the top!

Santa Croce, Florence

This is Michelangelo's tomb in Santa Croce in Florence.

San Marco in Florence

We went to see the world's greatest fresco, The Annunciation by Fra Angelico. It's in the convent next to San Marco at Piazza San Marco.

Another Smart in Florence

Views of the other two Davids in Florence

We went to see the real David, but I also saw the one at Piazza della Signoria and also the one up at Piazalle Michelangelo.

At a gelato shop in Florence

Behind the Duomo in Florence

Suit of armour up at Fiesole

The nonna's house in Florence

Here is Alessandro at Via San Zanobi, Firenze. The nonna used to live here.

Acqua Alta in Piazza San Marco, Venice

Inside the Ibn Battuta Mall in Dubai

The Bridge of Sighs at the Ducal Palace

And then there was the sundae at the Ducal Palace cafe.

Torcello

Alessandro with the Carabinieri

Alessandro is fascinated by them, he really enjoyed seeing their presence in several of the places we went to. His great grandfather was in the Carabinieri - so he really enjoyed having these photos taken. In the Florence pic, they both have bullet proof vests, one inside his shirt, on the left, and the one on the right has it on the outside.

Venice - Monday 25 September 2007

This morning we got up at 6.30 then we went downstairs to leave and the angry nun got upset at us because we interrupted her mass.
We walked all day looking at everything around Venice. We went to the Salute church.


(Alessandro at Salute)
and also to San Stephano where I took a picture of the stained glass


and San Zulian.

We walked over the Accademia Bridge and the Rialto Bridge and had two traghetto rides.



We ate a very good breakfast which was these really nice croissants filled with apricot jam and two coffees. It was good getting up early as you avoid all of the crowds. Once they come out it very hard to walk along the streets as you keep bumping into people. We must have seen nearly the whole of Venice today as we were out walking all day.


For dinner I had veal in lemon sauce which was delicious. After lunch today I bought two jackets from a market stand.

Up on the roof

Alessandro spent some time at the Hotel Dhow Palace in Dubai up at the pool on the roof. The hotel is located in between the airport and the Emirates Mall. Here is a photo he took:



And a youtube:

23 September 2007 - Venice

Today we landed in Dubai after a very long plane flight.
In Dubai airport we walked around for a few hours looking at all the duty free goods. It was very different as there were a lot of people from different countries.



We then caught a plane to Venice.

We landed in Venice today we then went through customs and then went and got our luggage. We walked and had a coffee while we were waiting for our water bus to come to take us to the Fondamente Nuovo. We then walked with all of our luggage for half an hour through the streets until we finally found our convent.



We then went out for a stroll and got some gelato and walked past all the shops.