Venice, Florence, Rome

So we are off on a new adventure. We flew into Venice on Aer Lingus (very nice airline, first time we used them) from Dublin and went to the first of 3 wonderful hotels (on a Tauck tour) Hotel Baglioni. After settling in we walk thru San Marco Piazza, and have our first pizza, bono. On Sunday we did an excursion to Murano, Burano and Torcello, saw glass blowing, lace making and of course the churches. Monday saw the Doge's Palace. The first "real" Italian meal, a sign of what's coming, 4 courses and impolite to skip one, oy vey. Tuesday off to Florence on the train at speeds of up to 180 mph, lunch, then a walking tour on the way to see the Galleria dell' Academia  and Michelangelo's David, magnificent and the first of numerous works of art that only got better. Next day the Duomo and the Uffizi Gallery, with works by Raphael, da Vinci and Botticelli. Thursday saw a bus ride into the Tuscan country side with an unexpected stop to a World War 2 memorial, then a visit to a Wine Cellar and lunch with 4 pairings, did I mention the wine? OMG very stop and meal had so many its hard to choose the best!!! The Hotel Helvetia and Bristol was our stop in Florence. Now as wonderful as those two cities were its off to Rome by high speed train.The hotel was on the famed Via Veneto (Regina Hotel Baglioni) and a bus tour of various locations, but the next day, St Peter's to see the Basilica and inside there the Pieta finished by Michelangelo when he was 22!!! think back, what where you doing at 22? I'm embarrassed to say, after a free afternoon (we went to the Pantheon ) our tour has a special deal, which is really the price of going in itself, 3 Tauck tours of about 40 in each, after hours in the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel, if you know me well, you know I talk, regarding this I'm speechless, we have been to many great things in our travels, from Mt McKinley in Alaska to the Pyramid's in Egypt, the Sistine Chapel might be the most beautiful, even without the religious aspect, it's just awe inspiring. Not sure how to top this trip, but we will try next year as we think of a week in Ireland

Tucson The Third

So we love this city and since my wife can do conference time there, we made our third trip out. The hotel is always picked by the conference and this one was outstanding, JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort ,  pricey but if you want top of the line, well...

We flew out on Valentine's Day, and drove up to Phoenix on Sunday to spend time with a friend and her 3 girls, even though Ethan had kind of out grown it we went to the Zoo and had a lovely day.

Back in Tucson, Monday was the Arizona- Sonora Desert Museum, which is outdoors and a place we will always stop at regardless of how many trips we make. Ethan and I did some new things this trips, including the U of A Museum of Art, AZ History Museum, the AZ State Museum and The Steward Observatory Mirror Lab. The museums all had native artists and native american artifacts. The art has some major artists, O'Keefe of course, Warhol and de Kooning and Dali.

If you have kids who are science geeks like Ethan, the Shepard Observatory Mirror Lab  and Kitt Peak National Observatory are must stops. The former is where they make mirrors that are on huge telescopes and Kitt is where all the Astronomers come to do research .

And finally we went to Tombstone, hokey but a fun day and the Courthouse is very interesting.

As always if you need details , get in touch.