Throwback Thursday

I didn't have anything new to blog about today....so here's a blast from the past! :D Enjoy!

Bella & The Pigeons

Carnevale, St. Marc's Square

Venice, Italy

Post-It Note Tuesday

Last night while we were eating dinner, the sky got very dark, very quickly. We had planned on pulling weeds after we ate, and I think Thomas was a little bit happy with the thought of those plans being "washed out", lol! It got darker and darker, and then the thunder started. It didn't rain right away, but when it did....we got tons of hail too!!! It was coming down so hard and was quite large. Naturally, I grabbed my camera...

The hail melted very quickly, it had been 99*!!!, but it was so much cooler afterwards. The rain loosened the weeds in the back yard too, so we got 'em all up! I wish I had thought to take before/after photos because the difference is just amazing. Our next house has a solid cement slab, so no more icky weeds to pull!! YAY! Wish me luck today....I'm gonna need it!!

Travel Adventure to Pisa - Part 1

Well, we did it!!! We put our faith in our trusty GPS, and headed to Pisa on our own! Something we should have done a lot earlier, and a lot more often. I guess we'll know for our continuing adventures in Germany, right? No more bus trips!!!! We can do this! Thomas programmed our trip and found us secured parking practically right across the street! Starting when we want, doing what we want, coming home when we want - no more waiting, waiting, waiting on other people or boring tour guides - yay!!! You will probably want to click on the photos to enlarge them; there's lots to see!

So here we are in Pisa!

Gate into the Piazza Del Duomo

As you can see, it was a gorgeous day!

Map

The Baptistry

The reason many of these were separate buildings from the churches, was because unbaptized persons were not allowed into the church, even babies! Once baptized, you could enter.

There were TONS of souvenir vendors lined up here.

Thomas & Bella

Duomo and the Bell Tower (aka The Leaning Tower!)

Bella holding up the tower...sort of, lol!

Thomas doing a better job of it!

Catching it???

One of the museums

The tower is just so cool!!!

Eastern side of the Duomo

Cute Snoopy shirt!

Fontana Dei Putti

From this angle, it looks straight!

Southern View

 Photos on the Duomo restoration:

St. Ranieri Door

Patron Saint of Pisa

The only original door to survive the fire of 1595.

One of my favorite shots of the day!

Ahhh some shade! It was pretty HOT!

Bella with her lemon gelato!

My sweeties!

Camposanto Monumentale

Provides proper burial grounds for the tombs that had previously been set against the Cathedral grounds or adjacent areas. Only the most prominent Pisans are buried here.

A quick shot into the Camposanto.

We didn't have tickets for this, but I got one shot in!

Etruscan lion

Main Door

Incredible carved marble!

 Tiled mosaics

Lots more to see in Part 2!!

Inside the Duomo!!!