Florence, 2024

After a high-speed rail journey from Pompeii, we’re exploring Florence for a couple of days. Walked around a bit in late afternoon when we got here and then hit the museums on our first full day. The Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze. I took a Renaissance Art class in grad school, which I ended up loving, to get some needed humanities credits. To see so many paintings in real life that I had seen in a text book was incredible. David wasn't too bad either. We were both amazed at the vibrant colors of so many of the paintings. This is definitely a city we’d like to visit again.

Pompeii, 2024

Mind officially blown. Pompeii is absolutely amazing. We spent the entire day wandering through history. I had no idea how big it was or how fascinating it would be.

Rome, 2024

We just got back from a 3 week trip to Italy and France. Rome was our first stop. The entire city was under construction getting ready for the 2025 Jubilee. The Jubilee is a centuries-old Catholic tradition that occurs every 25 years. It's a time for spiritual renewal, forgiveness, and celebration. The Catholic Church encourages Catholics to make pilgrimages to Rome or to a sacred site in their local diocese during the Jubilee. It begins on Christmas Eve this year and runs all year. This is a fascinating city if you’re at all into history. Also a great place to get your phone pick-pocketed on the subway, which really put a damper on things for a while. These are best viewed on a laptop or big screen. Captions will identify where we were. Come along!