Florence and Fiesole

 The view of the city of Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo across the Arno River.

 In Florence

We arrived here on Sunday afternoon the 14th after an interesting trip from Vicenza via Padua. What made it interesting was that some of the employees of TrenItalia decided to go out on strike that day and the company was forced to selectively cancel about half its schedule... our trip to Padua was one of them. After a rather exciting hour or so wondering if we were going to miss our connection we jumped on another train that was heading in the right direction, and jumped off in Padua in time to catch the Freccargento to Florence.

This has long been another one of my favorite cities on earth - mainly due to all of the Renaissance art and architecture that make the place seem like a midieval time capsule. Even having the usual tourist hordes crowding many of the famous galleries couldn't detract from our enjoyment of the place. We went to a few of the lesser known museums and then headed in the other direction, found a little cafe along the river in the shade of the trees, sipped a cold beer, and generally chilled out for a couple of hours. It really is a great city if you're not in a hurry to be anywhere. Besides, this is Italy, and the Italians are never in a hurry to get to much of anywhere.

It's amazing what you can just stumble upon while you're ambling about. Along one of the streets on the Oltrarno side of the river was this address - home to Galileo for a few years back in the 1600's. A plaque on the building next door announced that it was from that rooftop that he conducted his early experiments with the telescope, and which led to his theory that the earth wasn't the center of the universe after all...a teaching that nearly got him burned at the stake by the Catholic Church to whom all of this was heresy. Thing is, both buildings are still everyday residences. In the US these places would be shrines, but here it's just business as usual.

A nice scene from Piazza della Signoria - a Statue of Neptune along with Cosimo I to the left - with the skyline of Florence behind. The famous statues of David and Perseus holding the head of Medusa are just to the right of the photo.

In the Cloisters of one of the many churches. I think this was San Lorenzo.

In the center of the city are the Duomo , the Baptistry  (on the left) and the Campanile (on the right). They're truly monumental, and the tight quarters and the crowds make it tough to get a panoramic photo. Beautiful though. The Baptistry is one of the oldest buildings here, dating from the 4th century. The Duomo was completed in 1436 when the bronze ball was installed at the very top. One of the bystanders that day who turned out to witness the "capping" was a young Leonardo da Vinci.

Santa Croce - the burial place for every famous Florentine who ever lived I think. Dante, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Donatello and a host of others are entombed here. See the pylon just to the right of the church? There's another one just behind where we took the photo - they were the turning points for horse and chariot races back in the 15th century. They also conducted jousting tournaments here, sponsored by Cosimo de Medici. There's a famous story that recounts a chance meeting on the corner to the left of the photo between Leonardo and Michelangelo. Seems that as they passed one said something to the other (they didn't like each other much), the other took offense, and people had to physically restrain them from duking it out in the street. And the place probably looks exactly as it did on that particular day. History is very much alive here.

 The tomb of Michelangelo Buonarotti located inside Santa Croce. Galileo is here too, but he had to wait 100 years before the church forgave him for his "heresy", and allowed him to be buried in consecrated ground.


Fiesole

One great day trip was up to the little town of Fiesole - about 5 miles north of Florence in the foothills above the city. Talk about a world away from everything. No crowds, pretty day, and having the run of the place made for a terrific day out.

There are some pretty extensive Roman ruins here, including this small theater (seating for 3000 and still used for summer festivals today), some ancient baths, and both Etruscan and Roman religious sites. And it's all enclosed by an Etruscan stone wall that dates back probably 2500 years. 

Nice view looking back at the Campanile in Fiesole from the arches near the Roman Bath.

Like Rome, Fiesole was built on seven hills. It's located about 800 ft. above the valley floor where Florence sits, and in fact predates the Roman founding of Florence by several hundred years - probably because it was placed in a much more defensible site. Made for some breathtaking views of the surrounding countryside, which was dotted with villas along the surrounding hills and each with its own grove of olive trees or vineyards - both of which are still cash crops here...same as they were 2000 years ago.

When I saw this place on the local map I knew we had to hike out to it. This is the spot where Leonardo and his crew came one Spring day around 1508 to conduct the first experimental test flight - from a design of Leonardo's  for what was essentially an unpowered glider. Didn't work - in fact I think one of the crewmen suffered a broken arm when he leapt off the cliff just behind me trying to fly the thing - but it was here, 400 years before Kitty Hawk, that Leonardo first gave it a try. I've read that with only some minor tweaking of his design, and substituting the use of modern lightweight construction materials for the lumber he used, his design has actually been demonstrated as being flight capable.

The city is just too pretty to not include another view of it.

Heading for Rome today by train and will be there for another week. Hopefully we won't encounter any more railroad work stoppages and the trip will go off without a hitch. Will be staying near Vatican City while we're there. Haven't been to Rome since 1984 with the boys so we're very much looking forward to it.

Vicenza and Northern Italy

 Our unexpected and unplanned stop in Vicenza has turned out to be one of the most enjoyable accidents we've ever experienced. The US Army base where we're staying, Caserma Ederle, has been a terrific place to stay for the past week or so, providing an excellent location from which to explore (via day trips by train) some of the pretty towns and cities of Northern Italy, and has also allowed us to recover somewhat from the 9 hour jet lag that we brought with us from Ramstein.

The town of Vicenza isn't on the main tourist trail and thus isn't clobbered with the crowds that descend upon some of the better known destinations around here. It's a relaxed, somewhat mellow place that invites strolling - has some great places to eat too. We've enjoyed our time here immensely, and in fact may work our way back up here once we complete our travels to the south. Here are some photos:

 

 One of several of the very pretty little city parks that dot the old town section of the city - in this case with a view of the Castello and the old city wall in the background.

 

 One of the old homes along the river.

 

 One interesting discovery was this monument in the central park honoring Antonio Pigafetta - the diarist on Magellan's  first circumnavigation of the world back in 1519. Although Magellan was sailing for Spain (he himself was Portugese), Pigafetta was a local Vicenito, hired by Magellan personally to keep a journal of the voyage for posterity. Turned out to be a prophetic appointment. Although Magellan and about 90% of the men on the voyage perished during the 3 year voyage, and 4 of the original 5 ships were lost, Pigafetta managed to survive and eventually published his journal in Italy a few years later, providing almost everything we know about the details of the historic exploration.

 One of our day trips was to Aviano Air base north of Venice. Wanted to check it out for future Space A travel possibilities. The nearest town on the rail line was Pordenone - another northern city well off the usual tourist track. Enjoyed a pleasant day here exploring the old town. This is the original town hall...built in 1291.

 Also had to go over to Verona - about 45 minutes by train west of Vicenza. It's not famous for much of anything except that Shakespeare set his play Romeo and Juliette here. The tale is a complete fiction of course, but that hasn't stropped local tourism officials from trading on the legend. This little courtyard for example sits just below "Juliette's Balcony". You can pay 10 Euros to have your picture taken on it. Oh, and there's a bronze statuette of "Juliette" just below and to the left of the photo. Local custom has it that it's good luck to give her right breast a little squeeze, so it's shiny and polished while the other is...well...you know. As if all of this isn't already in bad enough taste, keep in mind that the girl in the play was supposed to be only 13 years old.

 Once away from the crowds Verona proved to be a great city for strolling too, especially along the river and in back of the old citadella which you can just see on the right. The town dates to Roman times and in fact there are some very well preserved ruins from that era, including the best preserved circular amphitheater in all of Italy...still in use today I might add.

 A nice photo stop along the river.

 And another. A very pretty place on a very pretty day.

Couldn't be this close to Venice without going there for a day - even though it's not our favorite place in Italy. Our last time here was a freezing cold and rainy day in early Spring. Couldn't wait to leave. Thought we should give it another chance since the forecast was calling for a nice day, so off we went. Turned out to be much nicer than we remembered, although the crowds milling around the area of Piazza San Marco were as bad as ever. All we had to do though was walk a couple of blocks beyond St. Mark's to find an area of beautiful parks and nearly deserted Viales to stroll around. Changed our whole opinion of the city in fact. Nice to have had the luxury of enough time to relax and just absorb the city rather than to feel as though we had to run around checking off blocks on a checklist. 

 Lots of evocative scenes like this as you wander around and off the beaten path.

 And another. Looking across the lagoon of Venice to one of the churches that dominate the skyline here.

 That's St. Mark's on the immediate right... there about 150,000 people just around that corner (just kidding). The gondolas and the Vaporetto water taxis arrive and depart from the area just to the left of the photo. Can actually ride the boat back to the Railway terminal, or out to the Marco Polo international airport.

 The "Bridge of Sighs" - last view of earth for condemned prisoners back in the 15th & 16th century as they crossed over from the courts to the place of execution.

 Heading for Florence tomorrow where we'll spend a week, then on to Rome on the 21st for another. Hoping the weather holds.

On The Road Again

Our trusty C-17 Globemaster...14 hours from McChord to Spangdahlem with a 1 hour refueling stop in Bangor, Maine. 

 

This is what the interior looks like when fully loaded with equipment and about 50 Paratroopers in the side-by-side seating along the sides of the aircraft. Our airplane was essentially empty, so you can imagine what an echo chamber it was inside. I probably could have jogged a few miles just doing circuits of the cargo deck. As it was it made for a welcome place to stretch our legs on the long flight.

Space-A to Europe

After several months of just talking about it, Rita and I finally decided to give Space-Available travel a try out of McChord AFB in Tacoma...about 2 hours north of Vancouver. After a couple of false starts (we drove up but didn't make the flight) we got lucky the other day when a C-17 flight popped up on the schedule heading for Spangdahlem, Germany. Didn't see it until the morning of its departure, but we had just enough time to grab the bags and drive up in time to make the roll call. Had 53 seats available and there were only 4 takers...with the 2 of us accounting for half the payload. Not the most comfortable seats - they're essentially nylon-netting type jump seats - but couldn't beat it for the price  (free). Managed to scam about 5 blankets and pillows apiece - enough to make a reasonably comfortable nest on the floor for sleeping - and passed a reasonably pleasant night thanks to the chemical magic of Ambien. Actually, since the plane was essentially empty we were able to walk all over the place to stretch our legs at will - much better than long hops sitting upright in airliner seats.
     Anyway, we made it. Our plan (what there was of one) was to rent a car and drive around Germany and Belgium for a month or so, but the weather has turned sour north of the Alps so we're heading to Italy tomorrow courtesy of an Army shuttle bus to Vicenza (near Venice), and will so be spending the next several weeks enjoying northern Italy instead. Will try to post some photos as we go, but right now we're very much making this up as we go along, not to mention dealing with the challenge of 9 hours of jet lag (I know - no sympathy).
     Nevertheless...here we go!

Adelaide

After another long drive thru the featureless desert of New South Wales we finally reentered civilization in the Barossa Valley  just north of Adelaide. It was quite a dramatic change. One minute we were in the middle of the barren wastes and the next we were surrounded by vineyards and pretty little villages nestled in green valleys.

Adelaide never gets its just due in my opinion.  While other large Australian cities like Sydney and Melbourne hog most of the attention, the fact is that Adelaide is just as pretty as either. Doesn't have the magnificent harbor that makes Sydney so unique but it does have a laid back charm all its own.The state of South Australia (Adelaide is its capital) was the only Australian colony that didn't begin as a prison. It was instead established in 1831 with land grants from the crown as a prospective home for free settlers...both from the other Australian colonies and England. It's a University town, with several institutions of higher learning in the City, so there's always a bit of a buzz here. They fancy themselves as the "Festival Capital" of Australia and I wouldn't quibble with that description. It really is a neat place...and one of my favorites.

Adelaide was a planned community and as such doesn't have the haphazard layout of the other big cities. Instead, the planners organized it in neat little grids with parkland all around, so if you ever get tired of the city you always have the option of stepping out of it whenever you want - the nearest park is probably only 2 blocks away. And what parks they are...like scenes of England all along the river Torrens which cuts its way thru the city and divides it into North Adelaide and South Adelaide. This stretch of river walk goes for 25 miles, from downtown Adelaid all the way to the sea at Glenelg.

The facade of our apartment along North Terrace Road is typical of the Victorian sandstone architecture that make the city such a delight. We were right across the street from the botanical gardens, and right next door to Ayers House - the Adelaide home of the same gent for whom Ayer's Rock near Alice Springs is named.

We happened to be in the city for ANZAC Day (Australia & New Zealand Army Corps) - their version of Memorial Day and Veteran's Day combined. The parade began just up the street from us so we walked down to take it in, and were glad we did. These things are typically huge in Australia, where national pride runs high. The original ANZACs were the colonial troops who went to Europe to fight for King and Country in WWI. Their big trial by fire - and the battle that began their legend - was Gallipoli in 1915...an absolute disaster for the Brits, whose troops (mostly the ANZACs) got hammered by the Turks before withdrawing in glorious defeat. They've since fought for the British Commonwealth in every subsequent action from WWII, to Korea, to Vietnam, to the Gulf war. The parade lasted an hour and a half and included representatives from every veterans group within a 500 mile radius, and they had these parades in every Australian city of any consequence. And the thing is - everyone turns out for them. The crowds were enormous. Very heartwarming.

As with any good parade there were lots of bands playing martial music to help the marchers stay in step. One unique thing about this one was the number of Scottish Pipers taking part - must have been at least 8 or 10 all together. Believe me, you haven't lived until you've heard "Walzing Matilda" played on the bagpipes. Actually brought a tear to the eye.

After the parade we wandered down the street to the Botanical Gardens - a garden within a park next to the river. Beautiful.

St. Peter's Anglican Cathedral.

And another look at the river walk just behind the University of Adelaide...also just up the street from us.

  

And finally a short film clip of the Pipers marching. We weren't quick enough on the trigger to record them playing Walzing Matilda but instead caught them playing "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag", one of many WWI era tunes they belted out along the route of march.

We leave today for Sydney, where we'll be for a couple of nights before catching our return flight back home on the 30th...which is actually the same day we'll be arriving back in Vancouver thanks to the magic of crossing the International Dateline.  I think we arrive at the airport in Portland before we take off from Sydney come to think of it.

Really sorry to see this trip end. We've had the chance to truly savor the country on this trip thanks to the luxury of having plenty of time to explore some destinations that are way off the usual tourist track. Australia continues to rank near the top of my favorite places on earth, and the Australian people are without a doubt the nicest on the planet. I've been smitten by this place since my first visit to Tasmania in 1976 aboard the Enterprise, and hope to be able to return here periodically for as long as I live.

Homeward bound now.

Broken Hill

  After we left Goondiwindi and started heading thru the open country we started seeing more and more Aboriginal people in the small towns we passed thru. Appeared that there were numerous aboriginal homelands interspersed throughout the territory of Western Queensland and Northern NSW, and at any rate we started to encounter them more and more as we proceeded on. Even had the unique cross-cultural experience of waiting in line at the McDonald's in Broken hill behind a couple of aboriginal teenage girls, who acted just like any other girls the same age except that they came from a culture that can trace its origins in Australia back 60,000 years...and some say as long ago as 80,000.

Broken Hill was an interesting place in a true "Wild West" sort of way. It began as a mining town around 1885 when the richest lode of silver ore ever discovered was found along an exposed 7 mile seam. They've been mining here for 130 years and it appears that there's no end in sight. It was this discovery that began the mineral rush that has resulted in Australia being the largest net exporter of a variety of metals in the world...and made millionaires out of the original station hands who chanced to stumble upon the lode of silver oxide while boundary riding on their cattle station.

Looking up Sulphide street towards the mother lode that dominates everything in the town. The structures sit atop the slag heap of tailings from the mine. One is a Miner's Museum, and the other is a trendy restaurant with a very nice view of the town and the surrounding desert - just have to lift your gaze a bit from the moonscape in the immediate vicinity.

 

 

Most of the houses in the town were similar to this "Tinny". The place we stayed was just a few doors up the street.

One side trip was to the old ghost town of Silverton about 20 kilometers outside town. It was the location of the first strike in the area, but was quickly overshadowed and faded into obscurity once the mother lode was discovered in Broken Hill. Today it's a little time capsule of how it used to be around here. This hotel is a famous Australian icon - has served as an outback film location for everything from local beer commercials to motion pictures - Mad Max was filmed here, among other films.

The Anglican Church still looks to be in pretty good shape considering it's over 100 years old. It was the film set for "A Town Like Alice"...one of Rita's favorite films.

This view only hints at the remoteness of this location. The pavement ends about 5 kilometers further on and the road changes to gravel and dirt after that. If you continue to drive north on this road you have to go another 850 miles before you encounter the next paved highway...in northern Queensland. Now that's remote.

A look at the desert between Broken Hill and Silverton.

Back in 1860 an expedition departed Melbourne with the intention of being the first to cross the continent from north to south, to open the way for a telegraph line and further settlement. The expedition was led by a couple of blokes named Burke and Wills - two very famous Aussies (especially in Victoria) - their version of Lewis and Clark I suppose. Anyway, the explorers made it almost to the Gulf of Carpentaria before they were forced to turn back because of the torrential rains. Both perished in the desert on the return leg thru a combination of bad planning and bad luck. This is Maidens Hotel in the town of Mennindie on the Darling River...famous as the last stop for the explorers before they headed into the "Ghastly Blank" as the Australian interior was referred to in the 19th century. Probably doesn't look much different than it did for the farewell party held in the explorers honor before they pushed off. Quite an evocative place, actually.

Lots of stately sandstone buildings in and around Broken Hill testify to the flush times of the Victorian era.

It was kind of a quirky place too. Came upon this monument in one of the local parks - turned out to be a memorial to the bandsmen of the Titanic, whose courage in continuing to play until the ship sank was so admired by the local population that they commissioned this obelisk in their honor. Thought there might have been a local angle regarding the sinking, ie maybe one of the new silver barons was aboard but, no, nothing like that. They just admired the story and wanted to memorialize it in their own way.

After 5 nights in Broken Hill we headed another 6 hours further west to Adelaide...another one of my favorite cities.

Into the Sunburned Country

After 8 weeks of heading north from Melbourne, we finally turned the car towards the west and started our journey thru the outback of NSW. Spent one night in the small town of Goondiwindi, then continued on to the mining town of Lightning Ridge - famous as the source of most of the world's black opals.

Lightning Ridge was a pretty rustic place, still dominated by the mining activity that goes on here in search of the sought-after opals. This was one of the original miner's cottages on the main drag...now open as a tourists photo stop. Thing is - most of the other buildings in town (and all of the shacks on the various claims) looked pretty much the same.

Case in point being this one which served as the home of one of the original miners for over 50 years...and which is still an active claim.

Here's a good look at the highway west of Goondiwindi. Parts of it were as straight as a pistol shot, and all I had to do was engage Cruise Control, point the car in the right direction, and try to stay awake. Saw several big Red Kangaroos cross the road ahead of us, as well as a couple of herds of wild goats, which caused me to cut my speed (posted limit of about 70 mph) about 30 mph since I didn't want to hit one of them at speed.

Also saw about 50 wild Emus grazing along the side of the road and in the fields that stretched left and right of the highway. Once the trees and other vegetation gave way to open grassland it was like driving thru the African savannah. Stark, but beautiful in it's own way.

After departing Lightning Ridge we continued further west to the town of Cobar (good luck finding it on the map). Passed thru Wilcannia on the way - in fact stopped here for a cup of coffee and a short walkabout to stretch our legs before continuing on. Lots of old Victorian buildings from the flush times about 80 years ago when this whole area was the center of wool production in the colony of NSW.

Only spent one night in Cobar, but had time to walk around the town a bit and meander off into the bush a few kilometers along a heritage trail. Came upon this flock of Galahs grazing in the grass of the local golf course, whose fairways were grassy but whose greens were all sand. Not sure how they putt out to complete the hole, but that's bush golf for you I guess.

Our most surprising encounter was with this young camel who was grazing in the scrub next to one of the athletic fields (or ovals) along the trail. She had apparently broken loose from her tether at some point and was completely on the loose.

 From Cobar we proceeded on to the Silver mining city of Broken Hill - the Capital of outback NSW and the only oasis of civilization between here and Adelaide. We'll be there for 4 nights.