Mia Bello Italia

Welcome to Barcelona!

2009-06-14T21:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Barcelona! We got into Barcelona at 7:30 in the morning and had been up for more than 24 hours. Our hotel took our luggage for us and pointed us to this wonderful little neighborhood street that we could walk down to the beach. The first glimpse of the Mediterranean was beautiful. We loved Las Ramble Poble Nou. I only took a few shots here but you can see the fun windows and doors. You will see throughout this blog that I absolutely love windows and doors. I love these old ancient cities. I love watching the people. Natalie and Tyler had such a great time but feel a little funny about their photos. They don't like looking like an engaged couple but every time I told them to look at me, they would mug for the camera. I hope you enjoy the photos. I loved this trip. I loved having my camera with me. This blog represents only a few of the photos that I took.

The center of the Placa'de Catalunya. This is a hub of activity. It is at the top of Las Ramblas which is a street that has open air markets and street performers and vendor. It was so much fun. There were lots of people and music. It felt very festive.

There were dozens of team of these kids dancing and hitting the sticks in their hands against the sticks in the others hands. As soon as they were done the would move down the street and another team would do their dance.

After the gelato

Love flowers!

One of the street performers with Ty and Nat

Fun in the Sun

2009-06-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

Enjoying the sun and the blue, blue Mediterannean Sea. This was the morning before we were to go to the ship.

Setting Sail

2009-06-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

Boarding the ship

The ever fun life boat drill. Check out those stylin life jackets.

Cool, four person comfy chairs on the top deck of the ship. This was the one and only time we got the chance to enjoy because someone else always had them first.

Love Malta

2009-06-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

We were told to be on deck by 7:00 a.m. if we wanted to see one of the most beautiful harbors in Europe. We were not disappointed! The harbor of Valletta, Malta is the deepest natural harbor in the world.
This is a lighthouse at the end of the breakwater.

The harbor is amazing, lined with ancient buildings, cathederals, and bastians.

Love this shot. This was right across from our ship.

This is a view of the island of Malta. It is a very old country. There are no rivers and no lakes. The people are required to have both a well and a cistern to gather rain water. They have also learned to de-salinate the water from the sea. The people are very educated. They are required to know Maltese and English. By the time the are done with secondary school, they are required to know another two languages.

The dome in the cathederal

The podium

The entrance into St. Paul's catacombs

Inside the catacombs. They would hollow out spaces in the limestone. Some were small just for a baby or small child. Some were large enough

for two and some for a whole family.

The apostle Paul was shipwrecked on the Island of Malta. This is a statue of him.

A view of the top of St. Paul's cathederal

A beautiful shot from across the street from the entrance to the ancient city.

The gate to the ancient city of Mdina. The name is pronounced em-deena. It dates back to 1000 years before Christ

Nat in the stocks

Window of the palace

This is St. Paul's Cathederal

The ceiling

I love this painting of the enunciation

Lots of cute kids in school. This little guy was mugging for the camera.

When I would read novels that described the bougainvillea hanging from the balconies, I always hoped that I would be able to see bougainvillea in person. I was definately not disappointed. It comes in colors from white to pink to purple. There are photos of bougainvillea throughout this blog.

Cool window coverings

I love this street with no cars, moped and people

These oleander shrubs lined all of the road ways on Malta. They are in shades of light light pink to dark pink.
The ancient city of Mdina from the craft mall.

A glass blower in the craft mall on Malta

Glass plate blown by the glass blowers

Cameo Factory

2009-06-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

We had the chance to go to a cameo factory. The cameos are hand carved from sea shells. The detail is incredible.

This little man is Vincenza. He has made cameos for many years. He is a master teacher for those wanting to learn the art.

This is Vincenza's work station. Look at the detail in the broach with four ladies.

Yummy Sorrento

2009-06-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

The beautiful city of Sorrento sits high above the Mediterranean on the Bay of Naples.

These nets are under the olive trees. When the olives are ready to be harvested, they spread the nets out under the trees and then shake the trees. The olives drop into the nets and not to the ground.

They grow lemons all around Sorrento. They are famous for Lemon Cello which is a lemon liquor.

The lady in red made mozeralla cheese for us. The only English word she can speak is "CHEESE"

Love the Bougainvillea

Ty loved the little cars in Italy

The Ancient City of Pompeii

2009-06-14T18:56:00.000-07:00

The outer walls of Pompeii. In 79 AD, Mt. Vesuvius erupted and covered the bustling city of Pompeii in 45 feet of hot volcanic ash. The entire city was preserved. It is a very intriguing place to visit.

Mike shooting video

The ampitheatre

These stepping stones were put in the road so when water or sewage was running down the streets, people could cross without getting their feet wet.

A counter in a store

This was one of the 29 bakeries in the city. People would bring their bread here to bake. When they excavated, they found 88 loaves of bread in one oven.

Looking up one of the main streets of Pompeii.

This was a two story home. The holes in the wall to the left are where the beams went to make the second story.

I think this was a garden in the back of a house. Cool

a pool in a courtyard

Ruins with Mt. Vesuvius keeping watch

mosaic work along the side of the streets

A beautiful mosaic walkway

A painting on a wall in a house.

Part of a wall mosaic

Plaster casts of a couple of the victims of Mt. Vesuvius

Some of the artifacts uncovered in the excavation.

A view of the outer wall

More Bougainvillea

Check out the size of these lemons. They were hanging outside a juice stand at Pompeii. They are about the size of a nerf football.

Rome-The Eternal City

2009-06-14T17:21:00.000-07:00

The Arch of Constantine is a triumphal arch. It was built to commemorate the triumph of Constantine I in a battle for Milvian Bridge in 312 AD.

The mightly Colosseum

Natalie and Tyler outside the Colosseum

These guys dress up like roman soldiers and charge money for people to have their photos taken with them. I just took one from a distance.

The Forum is on Capitoline Hill. The ruins are where the government sat during Roman times.
All of us at the Forum

A dome outside the Forum

On top of a building outside the Forum.

St. Peter's Basillica is the largest church in the world. It is beautiful and ornate.

Looking at St. Peter's Square from the steps of the Basillica.

The roofline of St. Peter's Basillica is lined with statues of Pope's and Saints. Jesus is in the middle.

Not a very good photo but a glimpse of the Vatican guards in their colorful uniforms.

The front of St. Peter's. The middle balcony is where the new Pope is introduced to the world after he is elected.

A huge, beautiful fountain in St. Peter's Square

This building in the Vatican is where the Pope lives. His living quarters are the entire top floor of this building. When he appears to wave to the people he comes the the second window from the right.

Part of the Vatican

Looking toward the main altar of St. Peter's. It sits right under the main dome.

This is "La Pieta" meaning "the pity". It is a Michaelangelo and absolutely took my breath away and brought tears to my eyes. As I looked upon Mary holding the dead Jesus, her perfect son, I couldn't help but think of her as a mother and her as a woman and how she must of felt at that moment when the world thought that all hope was gone. Thank heaven for the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and for the resurrection that brings life back to man.

The covering over the altar that only the Pope officiates at.

The main dome of St. Peter's

This incredible picture is not a painting. It is a mosaic made with millions of tiny little squares. AMAZING!

Castel San Angel. St. Angel's Castle was built as a tomb for the Emperor Hadrian. It is now a museum

The "IIVittoriano" A monument built in honor of Victor Emmanuele

My heart belongs to Siena

2009-06-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

My first view of the city of Siena. Is it any wonder that I love this place? First, the ride through the Tuscan countryside and then this. I absolutely think that I left my heart in Siena and hope that someday I can return and spend much more time than just a few hours here. There is a magic feeling in Siena.

This is the church of St. Catherine. St. Catherine is the patron saint of Italy. She was born in Siena. When she died, her body stayed in Rome but the people of Siena stole her head and it is framed inside this church. In the middle ages, they believed that body parts of the saints brought their town good luck.

The outside of the Duomo.

This is one of 59 carved tiles in the floor of the Duomo. They sketched the pictures and then carved them and then filled them with the color. Twice a year, they take everything out of the church so that the people can come through and see the entire floor.

This is just one shot of several that I took in the library of the Duomo. These pictures are original and date back to the 1600's. They were supposed to get books from Rome to fill the library but they never came. So the library stayed sealed up and no one ever entered it. The pictures stayed preserved and pristine. They now let you enter but only in single file and they keep you moving through pretty quickly.

The piazza. Piazzas are the hub of so much activity in most cities in Italy. This is the clock tower and the next few photos are of the piazza. If you watch the opening scene of the movie "Quantum of Solace" the James Bond flick, it is filmed in this Piazza and in the streets of Siena.

The horse race that is happening in the opening scenes takes place twice a year. They pack over 200,000 people into the center of the square the horses race around the outside. Many riders fall off. Our guide told us that a horse can win without a rider but a rider can never win without the horse.

Narrow streets and flowers make for such a charming town.

What is it about laundry hanging in the open air that is so appealing and comforting?

MORE DOORS. . .

. . .AND WINDOWS!

Under the Tuscan Sun

2009-06-09T19:17:00.000-07:00

The Tuscan countryside was everything I had always dreamed it to be. I absolutely fell in love, head over heels, with this beautiful country. These are just a few of the shots I got out of the window of our bus as we traveled to and from Siena. I think that they turned out pretty good.

Nice, France (Harbor is Cannes)

2009-06-09T18:44:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of our ship taken from the pier. The harbor in Cannes, France is too shallow to allow the big ships in so we had to anchor out and ride the life boats into land. It was pretty cool. The life boats can hold 150 very snug people. Much different than those on the Titanic. You can see how quickly they can move through the water. Made me feel pretty safe.

Natalie and Tyler with our ship behind them.

The coastline of the French Riveria

taken from the ship!

A beautiful mansion.

A Russian Orthodox church

More windows!

An open air flea market in the center of old town.

This is the opera house in Nice. The lights on the side of the building are very ornate. The head and face are replicas of the face of the Statue of Liberty.

Every Saturday, in Nice, they have a beautiful flower market. It is in the open air and there are dozens and dozens of merchants with gorgeous, yummy smelling flowers.

Sights of Barcelona

2009-06-09T17:13:00.000-07:00

There are many beautiful things to see in Barcelona.
We spent some time on the BusTuristic which is a
hop on-hop off bus. You can sit inside or up on top.
We spent some time on top riding around the city and
seeing a lot of cool buildings, light posts, apartments,
statues and people. The statue of Christopher Columbus
sits at the end of Las Ramblas- a huge street that ends at the
pier. He is pointing toward the new world.

Christopher Columbus. It is a huge statue high up in the air. There

is an elevator inside so people can go out onto a landing

right under the ball he is standing on. We didn't take the

time to wait in line.

The photo above and right below are Gaudi architect.

The top one has beautiful mosaics in the facade.

The Barcelona Bullet

It's an office building.

Bottles lined up on the wall of a restaurant that we ate in.

Sagrada Familia was started in 1882 by Antoni Gaudi
(pronounced Gow-dee). He was a modernist artist and

had very grand ideas. The word "gawdy" comes from

Gaudi. If you look at the church with all of it's details and

sculptures you will see how the word came about. He died when he was 76 years old by being run over by a trolly car on his way home from work. Others have tried to finish his work but you can see how different their work is. The church should be finished around 2026.

You can see the old and the new trying to come together

On the back side of the church the art it completely different!

Love this window

There is a park in Barcelona called Parc Guell. It was

created by Gaudi as an exclusive living area for the rich

The idea never took off. It is now a park with walking trails

and a few funky buildings.

This is the ceiling in the pavilion at Parc Guell

Natalie and Tyler by the lizard that is used in

all kinds of media about Barcelona

Flowers of Barcelona

On our last evening in Barcelona, we spent some time at the beach. Natalie and Ty wanted to get in the water but a cool breeze was coming in off the sea and made it pretty chilly.

We had such an amazing time on this amazing vacation. We feel so blessed and loved seeing the beauty of just a small part of Europe. Maybe someday we will have the chance to go back and see a lot more. We are excited to go home and be in our own home but I think a part of our hearts will stay in Bello Italia!