European Vacation - Day 9

From city to country...Rome to Florence to Sienna.... crammed, stinky metro cars to fresh, quiet country air...

Duomo in Sienna, Italy

Casa del Cavallo, Sienna, Italy

Things run just a little slower here!

Florence has a different feel than Rome, smaller, homier... a town of tradition... shops passed from generation to generation... the tradition of art passed from generation to generation. It is an open air museum...Statues, architecture,

Duomo, Sienna, Italy

Sienna, Italy

Sienna, Italy

Sienna is peaceful, narrow alleyways lined with colorful stucco and contrasting shutters turn and curve into an open piazza, surrounded by shops, gelatorias, and restaurants...groves of olive trees, vineyards...

Ponte alla Carraia Bridge

Florence, Italy

Florence, Italy

Florence, Italy

Warning:

contains some explicit exposure

For mature audience only

The David by Michaelangelo, Piazza della Signoria

Florence, Italy

Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy

Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy

Rape of Sabine Women, Piazza della Signoria,

Florence, Italy

European Vacation - Day 8

After a long day of exploring and looking at old ruins.. sometimes its nice to go back to a place that is familiar... a gathering place where you can just rest and sit awhile... where time doesn’t matter.... where you can just relax!

Arch of Constantine, Rome, Italy

Colosseum, Rome, Italy

Olive Tree, Rome Italy

Gladiator, Rome, Italy

Colosseum, Rome, Italy

Colosseum, Rome, Italy

Colosseum, Rome, Italy

Colosseum, Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

Palatino, Rome, Italy

Republica, Rome, Italy

Near Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy

Street near Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy

Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy

Love of God

The Pieta, Vatican City, Italy

The Pieta, Vatican City, Italy

The Pieta, Vatican City, Italy

The Pieta, Vatican City, Italy

I have never been so touched by a work of art, as I was when I turned the corner and saw the Pieta, or when I looked up and saw the Creation of Man on the Sistine Chapel. Was it because my whole life I have heard about Michelangelo and I was seeing his work for the first time? Or was it what this sculpture and fresco represented? A mother, holding her son after he had just suffered and died for all mankind... the pain and anguish, the suffering, yet the hope and peace,the life! Or the touch between a loving Heavenly Father and His child. Whose touch, when I reach out, I can feel daily.

The Creation, Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Italy

The Creation, Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Italy

The Creation, Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Italy

European Vacation - Day 7

God created the world and man in 6 DAYS...and found that it is was well.

Vatican City, Italy

Vatican City, Italy

We have been told that, "The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before."

Pres. Uchtdorf

Vatican City, Italy

See... that's right!

... creating something out of nothing.

Vatican City, Italy

Vatican City, Italy

As I walked today through St.Peters Basilica and the Sistine chapel...creation was everywhere. Mans need to create...statues, mosaics, frescoes, tapestries,

Vatican City, Italy

the buildings weren’t buildings... they themselves were art!

Vatican City, Italy

Vatican City, Italy

Then outside as I walked, more creation... piazzas surrounded by beautiful columnades, ornately carved fountains, mounds of swirling gelato, flower arrangements, even down to the lasagna and bruschetta.

Gelato

Vatican City, Italy

Vatican City, Italy

Vatican City, Italy

Vatican City, Italy

Vatican City, Italy

Are my photos a creation... or are they capturing someone else’s creation?

Rome, Italy

Vatican City, Italy

Spanish Steps, Rome, Italy

Can you find me?

Rome, Italy

I’d like to think that they are a tool of creation, so that others might see things in a different way. Having the camera in my hand, helps me see differently... observing this art has helped me see things differently....

Trevvi Fountain, Rome, Italy

Trevvi Fountain, Rome, Italy

One thing I know for sure....Seeing all of these paintings of larger, Renaissance ladies , I would have been HOT in the Renaissance... I might have even been a model!