Honeymoon Pictures

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Kirk in front of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC , this is where we ended up starting our NYC tour after walking a few blocks from Maria's cousin Jessica's apartment on E 84th.

Kirk relaxing in Central Park looking at the ducks.

Central Park was so pleasant and cool, it was a pretty hot and humid day.

Maria excited to see the NYC Apple Store downstairs.

Maria sending out the first honeymoon email.

Oh, the mothership...Maria got her ring resized finally!

Maria in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral

Lighting a candle in St. Patricks.

Maria got mobbed at Saks Fifth Avenue.

Catching up on our journaling at Dean & Deluca across from "The Today Show" in Rockefeller Center.

Kirk had to get a closer look at the United Nations Building.

This is the closest we got to the Statue of Liberty on our first day, we missed the last ferry by ten minutes.

Hoping for a perpetual "Bull Market" in the Financial District.

Kirk learned of this street during the 9/11 news coverage, we had to get a picture.

Maria at Ground Zero, which is quite solemn and slowly healing.

Maria love's Frank Lloyd Wright so the Guggenheim was high on the list. Unfortunately the outside was being restored. We went in and enjoyed the inside and saw the permanent collection, which included a lot of Jackson Pollock's work.

The beautiful inside of the Guggenheim.

Then we went to "the Met" to see a bit of art and meet the Chief Scientist of the Met for our private tour.

NYC was pretty cool about us taking pictures of the art, we were not so lucky in Italy.

Kirk talking shop with Marco Leone, the chief scientist at the Met. He's a physical chemist like Kirk.

A sampling of the objects we were able to see up close in the basement lab's of the Met

When we were done with our tour, it was pouring outside. This is one of the restaurants in the museum where we had afternoon tea enjoying the view of Central Park.

These are truly "Snacky Cakes"

The Sculpture Wing

Frank Lloyd Wright's windows!

Kirk loved the Armor wing.

Now at the MOMA, for some more time away from the pouring rain.

I had no idea this painting was so large...a favorite of Picasso's.

Another one of my favorite Picasso's.

Kirk on the subway.

Maria's cousin Jessica and her fiance Ed. They are surgical residents in NYC and it was a miracle they had the day off together and were able to spend the day with us.

Dim sum in China Town.

Then we gave it another try to see Lady Liberty...they closed the ferries due to the rain. It was just not meant to be.

Kirk got a pretzel in Times Square.

Drinks in JFK and then we were off to Italy.

There was fireworks off our balcony our first evening in Rome. We felt special.

The same balcony the next morning, this is one of the only hotels in Rome with a pool. Pools are very expensive in Italy, and rarely heated. Weird.

Continental breakfast in Europe is remarkable. Fresh bread, broiled tomatoes, brie, finely sliced mortadella and ham, peaches, yogurt and coffee. American continental breakfast of bagels, coffee and oj will always pale in US hotels from now on.

We spent our day after arriving, riding around on one of these double decker buses. We were jetlagged and it was a bargain to get around the city. We began the tour in front of St. Peters Basilica in Vatican City and rode around and around Rome. We got the Bus n' Boat option which lasted 24 hours. We held off on touring most of the big sites because they would be included at the end of our Globus tour.

One of the many fountains in Rome.

Area Sacra de Argentina, this is an area of Ancient Rome which is several feet below modern Rome. There are also lots of cats living here. Interesting...

Here we are on the top of the bus.

Our first outdoor ristorante meal.

The Pantheon's oculus, the Pantheon is beautiful and free!

This bougainvillea was so beautiful, it was in the piazza where the Pantheon is.

Maria sitting at dinner in front of the Pantheon. This is what she was dreaming of when she dreamed of Italy.

Vino by the liter and Carbonara alla Romana.

Maria's amazing view from the table.

The next morning we got up early and walked for an hour to catch the boat which would tour us along the Tiber river, il Tevere.

Castel San Angelo

Italy's Supreme Court building

Kirk in front of St. Peter's Basilica... we had just mailed some postcards from the Vatican City post office.

Entertainment at the "Welcome Dinner" for our Globus Tour.

The ladie's got roses and a kiss from the cheesy Italian servers at the end of the night.

A bucket of champagne was given to us by one of the fellow tour families. They thought it was so sweet for us to share our honeymoon with them. We were in it for the good hotels, but we made some great friends and had a great time. It was a great tour group.

I was proud of my photography skills on this one, if you look closely you can see the gas escaping the champagne.

We had espresso EVERYDAY and would enjoy it quickly at the counter. When we were really jetlagged at the beginning I would order us "due doppio's" ("two doubles" for Kirk and I) and the baristas would look at me with respect.

The beginning of our tour of Pompeii.

Kirk really enjoyed this tour, it was very interesting to see all the history so well preserved.

Maria's favorite piece of art at Pompeii.

The view and the trees were beautiful around Pompeii. We also had the best pizza of the trip at the end of our tour of the archaeological ruins.

From Pompeii, we drove on down to the Amalfi Coast and stopped in Sorrento.

Sorrento is famous for lemons and inlaid wood art. We received a demonstration of how they do the inlaid wood work. We spent just a couple of hours in Sorrento which we spent shopping and drinking espresso.

A couple of views of Sorrento from the water where we waited for the hydrofoil to jet us off to the Isle of Capri.

Here we are enjoying the Mediterranean.

Kirk hammin' it up.

Our hydrofoil approaching.

Our first view of Capri, the island is four miles long and 1/2 mile wide at it's narrowest point.

We road the Funicolare up to the main area where we stayed. This was the coolest contraption. It's a tram that goes on a rail at forty five degrees.

Nice boat

This was the incredible view from our hotel room. It was stunning.

Kirk cracking open the Limoncello that I had bought at Pompeii. It is pretty strong but much better than the stuff they sell in the states.

Dinner with some of our tour mates.

Tabacchi's (Italian tabacco shops) are on every corner in Italy. Italians use them daily to buy bus tickets, lotto, newspapers, stamps, sundries etc. Kirk used the one in Capri to buy a legal cuban cigar.

We loved our balcony in Capri, it was great to kick back and enjoy the view and the limoncello.

The Limoncello only lasted a few days...

Chilling out on the balcony, looking at the Med.

This is the outdoor breakfast area in Capri.

The next morning we went up to Anacapri, up the mountain.

Maria rubbing the Sphinx for good luck

This is the view of Capri from Villa San Michele in Anacapri.

Taking a break on the tour

Maria enjoying the garden

This is the top of the precarious climb up to Anacapri before there was
a road, these are called the Phoenecian steps.

You can see Maria riding the chair lift up to the top of the mountain

The view from the chair lift

Once we got all the way to the top of the island, the view was the best.

It was nice to relax on top of the mountain.

Here is the view on one side of the island

If you look the other way, you see the other side of the island

This goatskin jacket cost about $1000 so we didn't get it.


After Anacapri, we took a boat cruise around the island, here is Georgio
Armani's house. Not sure how to get there from Capri.

This is the rock that you kiss your true love when you sail through it.

Here is Ferrari's owners house on Capri.

This is Sofia Loren's house.

The tour took us into all the nice coves of the island. The famous Blue Grotto was closed that day.

It's nice to unwind after a cruise on the Med with a pitcher of wine.

Drinking a nice cognac, smoking a cuban, looking at the harbor, not bad.

Here is the busy harbor, with lots of tourists coming and going from Naples
and the Almafi coast.

This is a nice view from our balcony.

It was sad on the last night in Capri, but we were excited for things to come.

The next day, we took the hydrofoil to Naples. Here's the castle.

We took a quick driving tour of Naples, but didn't get out. Here is a famous
galleria.

This is an example of the italian gas stations on the freeways. They were really big and nice.

It had lots of different kinds of food choices, from pizza and fast food to
fresh cafeteria and buffet choices.



The gas station also has a pretty nice market with lots of meat

and cheese. Italians are brilliant.

This is our first view of Assisi.

Here is the view from Assisi, on the other side of those mountains is Rome

Here is St. Francis' cathedral.

Another view of the Italian countryside.

We had to walk a little ways to get to the cathedral. Then we spent the night
in Assisi. We had some traffic so we didn't get as much time there as we
would have liked.


The next day we drove to Venice, and stopped in Pamposa for lunch. This was
our only time in the Emilia Romania region of Italy. Piadene (Piadina) sandwiches
were the thing to get here. It was like a fresh warm tortilla with simple fillings such
as prosciutto and cheese or Nutella. The true Prosciutto comes from the hind
quarter of the pig.


Here is Venice. The first thing we did was take a Gondola ride.


Here we are on the Gondola with our friends. It was six per boat.

I can't believe I am in Venice! It's like Las Vegas but real!

Maria getting a little romantical.


This is the flag of Venice. All the major cities were their own nation's after
the fall of the Roman Empire. Venice was big in trade between the mid east
and Europe. This really affected the beautiful architecture of Venice.


This was the boat in front of us. The Gondola drivers were expert at moving
us around even the tight quarters of the side "streets"



Maria loved all the flowers in the windows.


All the Gondola's were black with ornate fixtures. The Doges (Venices King) made them
all be the same so that elite families wouldn't try to compete by making their
Gondola more fancy.

We went under the Rialto Bridge, which is a fish and farmers market.

This is the main square, on the right is the Doge's palace, and in the distance
is the Basilica of San Marco.

It's amazing the details on the buildings. The architecture was beautiful,
lots of eastern influence. All these murals are glass mosaics.

This is the belltower of Venice. It made a easy landmark to find St. Marks Square.



We ate dinner at a famous restaurant off of the square.



They fed us great food and seranaded us with Italian music.

This picture was taken at about 10 pm, using a long exposure. The sqaure
at night was magical. We have to say, seeing Venice at night is where it's at.
All the tourists are gone and the lights are quite romantic

One of the restaurants on the perimeter of St. Mark's Square had an outdoor
five piece orchestra in the square. People danced and enjoyed the night. We
have heard that there is a $50 cover to sit down and drink water at one of
these outdoor restaurants on the square. We were right behind it enjoying it
for free!



On the Grande Canal, this church is on the ocean side.

This is the Bridge of Sighs spanning the Doge's Palace on the left to the prison on
the right. It's out of those windows that the prisoners saw their last view of
Venice and sighed. We got to go into the palace and prison, but not take pictures.

The Doge's palace, the ruler of Venice served for life.

Here is a mosaic on the Basilca of San Marco.

After the tour of the Doge's palace and the prison, we got a glassblowing
demo.


This was both a glass museum and a store. It was huge, many floors of Venetian glass.


The bodega's sold everything from jewelry to carnival masks.


When we were on the tour, we had to follow Alida (tour director) everywhere. She kept us
very organized and we were surprised with how much of Italy we got to see.
With all these important sites seen we would like to do a more in depth,
less tourist driven trip on our own...someday.


We took a boat trip to the Venetian island of Burano. Where each house is painted a different
bright color to help the drunken sailers find their way home. This is where
Maria bought her Murano glass necklace and earrings.


The next day, we left Venice and drove to Sienna. It was a quick stop before
Florence.


We sat on the sqaure and had lunch with cocktails.

Hmmm. That's a pretty old bank. Do you think they gave Columbus a loan?


Then we had a quick stop in Pisa. Here's the tower. We resisted taking a
picture trying to make it look like we're holding it up. We mostly just relaxed
on the grass, and people watched.

Here was our view from the grass. Parts of the tower were under repair.


The next day we made it to Florence. Here is the marble of the Duomo, this
side hasn't been cleaned in a while. You can see the wireless earpiece we
used so we could listen to our guide. It helped a lot to hear everything. We
also saw Michaelangelo's David in the Accademia. No pictures allowed.


The other side of the Duomo was cleaner.


Florence is known for its leather, we had a fashion show at the leather workshop.
This coat was about $1200. We didn't get that one either.


Here is the view from the Uffizi Gallery of the square. The Uffizi is a big U
shape, with the arms seen here. The Medici family sponsored a lot of
Renaissance art, then when the last of the family line died, she gave it all to the
people of Florence. This is where a lot of the most famous Rennaissance artwork
is kept. Highlight's were Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" and "Spring" and Michaelangelo's
painting of the "Holy Family".



Here is the Ponte Vecchio, where all the gold merchants are. Along the top,
you can see the covered crossing so the Medici family could walk from the Uffizi to the
Piti Palace without having to mix with the commoners.



Most of our hotel rooms were like this, with adjacent twin beds.



But the view was always incredible. Here is the Tuscan countryside of Montecatini.



We had a Tuscan night out at a nearby farm that made wine and olive oil.





Lauren and Katherine were pretty happy.

We sat on a long table and were all pretty good friends by now.

These two had different opinions of what "Black Eyed Peas" were.

The electric slide should *never* be photographed.


Maria and her posse mixing it up to "It's Raining Men."


The only real line we faced the whole trip was to get into the Vatican. This
took about an hour.


This courtyard had a lot of sculptures. This one had a bunch of moving parts.
But we didn't know what it was.


Once you got "in" it was still about an hour of walking through other
museums to get to the big show.


They had hundreds of artists decorate every surface. This is the map room.

They had paintings of the known world in the 1600's. They were the most
accurate at the time.


This is a view of the Papal gardens. We weren't allowed in there.

This is an "illegal" photo of Michaelangelo's masterpiece ceiling in the Sistine
Chapel. (Kirk did it!) It was really beautiful. They don't let you take pictures to make you
buy postcards.

In St. Peter's Basillica, Maria touched St. Peter's foot for blessings. It has been worn
smooth over the centuries.


In St. Peter's, it was really magical. The sun was shining through, to
the doors leading down to the crypt.

The Swiss Guard's outfits were designed by Michaelangelo and weren't as
bad in person.



Here we are taking a break in Vatican City.


Each evening, we would have a drink in the hotel and watch World Cup soccer.

These were the other Honeymooner's so we got to be good friends.

Our tour helped us bypass a lot of lines on the way into the Collesium.


Here is the view, the stage is seen in the distance, to cover all the holding
cells and cages see below. They had elevators to bring the people or animals up
to fight.


We loved walking around the ruins.


This is the Forum, the cultural heart of ancient Rome. The *real* Caesar's Palace!


This is Caeser's Palace on top. Emperors Augustus to Trajan lived there as well. Then,
all the marble was ripped off after the fall of Rome.


Kirk has read volumes about Roman history, so this was a favorite day for him.


There was a lot of archeology going on. They said it was really hard to build
new subway lines in Rome because everywhere they dig, they find something
of historical significance.


This is the aqueduct which fed Caeser's Palace, it still works!


On our last night of the tour, we swung by the Trevi Fountain, and threw
our coins in. Maria got to wear her murano glass necklace and earrings.


A lot of people were throwing their coins in. The coins are gathered regularly,
converted to Euro, and given to charity.

This is a famous fountain at the base of the Spanish Steps. The water is good
and you can fill your water bottle or drink from the spigots.


Here's the steps. Their were named Spanish Steps because they are close
to the Spanish Embassy.



Here's our sitting view from the steps, looking at all the tourists there.
This was not quite "Tourist season", yikes!





Our Fairwell dinner was a lot of fun, and a little sad.


All the girls got roses.

And kisses from cheesy Italian waiters.


These were all the "kids" on the tour. They were all great.

We were all sad as we walked back to the bus.

We had one last illuminated tour of Rome after dinner.





And St. Peter's looking pretty.


When we were back on our own, we had four more days left in Rome. Believe
it or not, we were missing American food...a little. We went to The Hard Rock
Cafe for some burgers and beer. Forgive us.

Our last hotel was near the Via Veneto where La Dolce Vita was filmed. It
was also where a lot of shopping was.


Someday Kirk will drive one of these babies....


Our hotel was also close to the Spanish steps, so we went back to spend
some more time in the area.


Cafe Greco is a famous place to stop in for a drink.


We think the most expensive coke in the world....6 euro which was nearly $10 usd. Maria got a glass of champagne for the same price. We also got little trazzimeni, which were fancy ham sandwices with the crusts cut off.

There was a bunch of kids playing their music for the tourists.

We stopped in the home of English Poets Keats and Shelley, next to the
Spanish Steps. They came here to get healthy from Tuberculosis but ended
up dying in Italy.

That's Keats' bed. He could to look at the Spanish steps from this room.

The next day we decided to take the fast train back up to Florence, because
we needed more time there.



We went to mass at the Duomo. It was pretty cool to hear the whole mass
in Italian.



They must have had a tall ladder!


It was back in Florence that Kirk finally found a watch that he loved. He had
been searching the whole trip.

We had time now to cross the Ponte Vecchio. Here is the view from one side.


and here is another.



We went over to the Piti Palace, where the Medici family resided.

It was packed with a lot more art and original furnishings.


The garden's were beautiful from this window, but were an extra fee, so we didn't go.


Then we went into the church at Santa Crocce. This is where many famous people
were buried, such as Michaelangelo and Machiavelli.


This is Michaelangelo's final resting place.


As well as Enrico Fermi. He was a famous Italian scientist who made a big
contribution to the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, so we was surprised to
see him here.


They had a million flavors of gelato. We tried to taste every one. Maria liked
Pistaccio and Kirk liked Stracciatella, which was like chocolate chip.

This is a famous Bernini fountain, in Piazza Navona. We spent our last afternoon
sitting in an outdoor cafe in Piazza Navona soaking up Rome's living art, it's people.

We had to go to the Jewish Ghetto to get some fried artichoke.

Maria loved the little cars.

Also the covered scooters.

All of the "bars" had grab and go paninis, pizza, espresso and gelato. A more
natural fast food concept we liked a lot. These were everywhere, it was very
easy to charge up when needed.

This was the last picture taken in the Rome airport, we were sad to leave
and excited to go home. It was quite a memorable trip. We loved Italy and
want to return again.