Italy shots

[franze]

Last week my wife and daughter were in CA. My boys had a week off from school and hockey practice. We had planned on doing some skiing but after a great day of skiing on Monday, my older son sprained his ankle jumping a ramp in the driveway on his rollerblades. We made the impromptu decision to make a road trip to Italy. Since there were three of us and the RT doesn't have a side hack, we took the BMW 320i. Most of the driving was done on auto-routes as we were focused on destinations: Pisa, Firenze (Florence), Venezia (Venice), and Como.

First morning in Genova

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Pisa

My sons discussing the situation

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The obligatory gag shot, eating pizza in Pisa

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Why P.O.V. is so important. I regret not moving to a position where I could have taken a shot of Tai Chi being performed by many

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This statue of Romulus and Remus was nearby. I really preferred this silhouette as opposed to the other, sunlit side. Also, I didn't crop out the tree tops because I liked the shape repeated in the wolf.

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A little after lunch, we headed towards Firenze, I took some great MC roads until the back seat passenger had me pull over so he could complete the last phase of being car sick. Not pretty. Here's what the terrain between Pisa and Firenze looks like.

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Firenze

We found a hotel near the old part of Firenze. We walked around for a few hours.
There is a large population of what looked like giant muskrats or some type of chubby freshwater otter along the river. The round brown thing in this photo is not a rock.

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One of my favorite shots.

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Now THATS gelatto!!! I'm surprised that at this angle, the DOF is pretty good.

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Here's the shot that I really, really, wished had turned out a little more in focus. My boys eating their gelatto on the steps of a midevil building. We talked about how many people over the past 500 years leaned against the same building and what they may have been eating.

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As darkness fell, it was time for some low-light experiments.


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I originally used my flex tri-pod from this hill but the pressure of applying the auto focus mechanism caused the camera to flex when released resulting in about 5 blurry images. Luckily, I had my heavy duty mini aluminum tripod which worked much better. Lesson learned, don't use the flex tripod for long shutter speeds.

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[franze]

The next day was Valentines day and I figured our chances of showing up in Venezia without hotel reservations and getting a room was pretty slim. We decided to head to a small town nearby on the Adriatic.

Chioggia

We really enjoyed this town. It is a blue collar fishing town. I felt like we were the only tourists in town. The town center was packed with hundreds of people around dusk. When we came out of the restaurant an hour later, the streets were deserted.

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Venezia

The next morning, we took the ferry to Venizia

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Masks are big!

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An "old school" calender.

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We found the fish market around lunch time which is about 4 hours too late to see the good stuff.

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The crew before we head back to the mainland.

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[franze]

That afternoon, we drove to Como, keeping a wary eye out for George Clooney on his HD.

Como

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Summary: This was my 7th trip to Italy, 4 on a motorcycle, one in an airplane, and two in cars. I absolutely love the people, food, history, and architecture. Granted, I've never had to do business there or deal with mechanical, medical, or legal issues. I'm happy to respond to any questions members may have about where we've stayed, what it costs, etc.

[Beemerdons]

Dear Franze, I always enjoy your travel articles, they are so outstanding and professional. Photos are great and the narrative is consistently entertaining.

When my son Seth was four in 2000 we did the same loop as you and your boys did, but we started in Rome instead of Switzerland. My wife Jean and I had rented an Opel sedan, surprisingly peppy, and spent a week covering this route.

Jean and I divorced years later, so seeing the spots brought back fond memories.

My BMW Club, AZ Beemers, just returned from Mexico. You may enjoy these pics!

http://s72.photobucket.com/albums/i177/seamus85304/Mexico%20Bahia%20Kino%20Feb%2015%20to%2018/?albumview=slideshow&start=60

[SNC1923]

Great shots! I feel as though I've been there!

You have a couple of great looking kids, too. Nice to see your face, finally. Your message looks to read that you were in California?! That's can't be right. . . . What's CA? I wish I had time to discuss a few of your shots. All are good but there are several great ones.

Thanks for having us along.

[RJM2096]

How do you post multiple pictures in your posts? I can only get one at a time and if insert links, the link shows but not the picture without clicking on it. What am I doing wrong? :ear

PS great shots!!!

[torags]

Franz nice shots.

Your favorite is mine also, I love old downtown Italian bridges.

My bride and I are going next year for our 50th anniversary, it's one of our favorite places.

[franze]

How do you post multiple pictures in your posts? I can only get one at a time and if insert links, the link shows but not the picture without clicking on it. What am I doing wrong? :ear

PS great shots!!!

There's a lot of valuable information on the "How do I....." forum under Post a picture. If you want to feel good, check out page 26.........I own that, and half of page 27.... I'm using smugmug and it sounds like you have the "copy image location " part down. When you click on the "insert image" icon from the tool bar of the posting window, you will get another window, there is an 'http" high lighted in this prompt. You need to delete that, then paste your picture URL into that spot. The "post a picture" thread is monitored by hi-tek guru's who can help you " get it" and a great place to practice posting pix. Good luck and I'm looking forward to seeing some of your world. Oh, when you do get the hang of it, postings have limits to them in characters and pictures. No more than 20 pix per post and I'm not sure about characters. I learned those guidelines the hard way.

[franze]

Great shots! I feel as though I've been there!

You have a couple of great looking kids, too. Nice to see your face, finally. Your message looks to read that you were in California?! That's can't be right. . . . What's CA? I wish I had time to discuss a few of your shots. All are good but there are several great ones.

Thanks for having us along.

that's partly right. My wife and daughter were in CA. We have a house in Roseville and we're moving back this summer. Thanks for the compliment on my kids. I'll be looking to repay that compliment to you in person, in say.........5-6 months?????

[rinty]

Excellent report Paul, as always. Your kids are lucky to have a parent like you along who can show them all these wonderful places. That's the best education they can get.

Rinty

[Burnszilla]

I want to move there.

[franze]

I want to move there.

I recall reading a reply by you to sfarson's epic post from the Alps that you're going to do a Euro ride for your 40th. I suppose the right thing to do would be to make a nice ride somewhere next fall when I'm back in CA and I'll drop about 40 pounds of maps on you. By the way, that Sweet Child of Mine shot would make a good avatar.............

[GlobalRider]

I want to move there.

I am moving there or at least somwhere around there...when I retire. ;)

When I was in Florida a few weeks ago on vacation, the real estate channel listed properties in the Ft. Myers area....are these people well? For that money I can get a really nice place in the Lakes region or Amalfi coast in Italy and not have "tacky" surrounding me.