The Vatican

St. Peter's.


Standing in line to get into St. Peter's.


St. Peter's square.

You can take an escalator up to the dome.


We visited on a Sunday, so they were conducting mass while we were up in the dome.


You can walk up a set of stairs to the summit of the dome.


537 steps up to the summit.


The reward after climbing all those steps.


You can see St. Peter's, the square and the rest of Rome from the summit.

Erin's Visit

Erin came to visit us for a week, so we took her to some of our favorite spots.


Assisi.


Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi.


Another view of the basilica.

Erin was in town to watch Fabriano play against the team from Jesi, the biggest rivalry in the league. This is also the first time Erin had seen Alex play since college, back in 2000. The people in orange are Jesi fans.

Time out.

Spoleto

Spoleto is a small hilltown located in Umbria, less than an hour's drive from Fabriano.


Pretty Umbrian hills.


Very hilly walkways.


The famous Ponte delle Torri in the distance. The bridge was built in the 14th century to carry water to the upper part of Spoleto.


Duomo.


Close up of the Ponte delle Torri, but not that close. Don't be confused by this picture as the bridge is over 750 feet long, each tower is over 250 tall and Alex has not grown any taller.

See the guy cleaning the bridge? Scary!

Milan Duomo

They've done an incredible job cleaning the duomo. Almost done!

Cremona

Alex had a road game in Cremona on Sunday so we stayed behind to explore the town made famous by Stradivarius.

The town is about an hour southeast of Milan and home to dozens of violin makers.

Alex gives Stradivarius two thumbs up!

Stradivarius is buried in the center of town, in Piazza Roma. He lived, worked and died in Cremona. There is a museum dedicated to his stringed instruments in town, but it's closed on Mondays, of course.

Duomo.


Front entrance of the duomo. Yeah, it's pretty huge.

The town torrazzo, considered the tallest campanile in Italy. The astronomical clock is the original one from 1583.

Upper half of the campanile.

Assisi

After two weeks of rain, the sun finally came out on Alex's day off, so we headed out to Assisi.

View of Umbria from Assisi. The streets were VERY clean, which we found pretty odd.

On the way up to the Basilica of St. Francis, we found this restaurant with an incredible view of Umbria and Mount Subasio. Awesome food and wine too!

The basilica of St. Francis is built on the lowest slope of Mount Subasio. Here is a view from the base of the mountain.

The Upper Church. Construction began in 1228, two years after St. Francis died.

The courtyard connecting the Upper and Lower Church. St. Francis' remains were transferred here in 1230, when construction of the Lower Church was completed. Four of his most faithful companions are also buried with him in the grotto beneath the Lower Church.

Piazza di San Francesco. In front of the basilica.

It is off-peak season for Assisi right now, so there were relatively few tourists and pilgrims.

Bourgogne: Day 3

Clos de Vougeot

Sunday morning, we headed to the Chateau du Clos de Vougeot. It was built in the 12th century by monks who needed red wine for mass.


The chateau surrounded by its vineyards. The chateau does not run the vineyards, nor does it sell any wine on the premises any more.

Wine making barn on the right. Cellars on the left. The cellars are above ground because the limestone was too hard.

One of four massive wine presses in the wine making barn. Each press can hold four tons of grapes at a time.

Dijon

Our last stop was Dijon, the capital of Burgundy.


Palais de Ducs or Ducal Palace. It now houses the Fine Arts Museum.


St-Michel. Completed in the 17th century.


Notre-Dame. One of the oldest churches in Dijon, built in the 13th century.

Exploring Normandy with Erin and Nic

Erin is here visiting us for the week and Nic came over from Berlin for the weekend. We visited Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery and Memorial, Queen Matilda's Tapestry in Bayeux, Mont-St-Michel and Chartres Cathedral.

Omaha Beach

Erin, Omaha Beach and the English Channel.

A few of the 9,386 marble tombstones in the American Cemetery and Memorial on a hilltop overlooking Omaha Beach.

Wall of the Missing. The names of soldiers whose bodies could not be found are etched into this wall.

Bayeux

This town is famous for its tapestry, known as Queen Matilda's Tapestry. It is 225 feet long and contains 58 scenes which tell the story of William's conquest of England in 1066. Cameras are not allowed in the tapestry room, since the tapestry was stitched in 1067. Here we are, eating lunch outside of the Tapestry Museum. Chips, sandwiches and clementines, delicious!!

Mont-St-Michel

One of the absolute COOLEST and impressive places any of us has ever seen. The Mont-St-Michel abbey sits on top of a 264 foot rock off the coast of France. The original church was completed in 1144 and the abbey took over 500 years to build (1017-1521). Benedictine monks live and work at the abbey today.

You can see sand flats surrounding the abbey because it is low tide right now. We wouldn't be able park our car in this spot if we were visiting during high tide, since the sea can rise up to 45 feet.

Halfway up the steep staircases going up to the abbey.

Close up view of the abbey.

The streets of the village at the bottom of the island are lined with shops, restaurants and hotels. It looks like a Disney village.

The abbey at night. Looks kind of like Cinderella's castle, doesn't it?

Chartres

Built in 1250, the cathedral in Chartres is famous for its over 150 stained glass windows.

The stained glass windows depict both biblical stories as well as 13th century daily life. This window depicts the Glorification of the Virgin. The five windows beneath depict the kings of Judah and the prophets (including Nebuchadnezzar, David, Solomon, Aaron, Saul and Pharoah).

A typical French half-timbered house.