This is the castilla at Castiglione del lago just down the hill from Madonna Dela Neve, the agritourissmo where we stayed with Ann, Peter and 20 friends. The castle is the focus of the township which is a typical Italian lake village with all the facilities and charm you could hope for.
Here is Greg posing by the river bank in Pisa at the entry to the bohemian bar which was set up out of a caravan and with a couple of portaloos behind bamboo screens. We were served darn nice margaritas and could pick at free food all night. The owner was one of those widely travelled polyglot types that are immediately charming, welcoming and friendly while simultaneously making you feel rather inadequate in language and culture.. enjoyed a great sunset and balmy night right on the river .
This is Gail after some margaritas at the same little bar on the river at Pisa.And this is a shot of Peter, Dave and Greg discussing the finer points of ....oh who cares. We are sitting on the balcony at Madonna Dela Neve farm house looking over the pool towards the mountains. I think we were drinking local wine. We did a lot of that.
The first night we arrived in Pisa we met Peter and Ann and their friends at a little restaurant just behind the tower of Pisa's duomo. Food was great, company spectacular and the bill was double what we ordered... Thankfully the team responded with calculators and in mixed Italian and convinced the proprietor that we were not your average drunk, stupid, loudmouthed international tourists. Well, we convinced them we were not stupid anyway, had the bill corrected and belligerently didn't leave a tip as we all agreed that it was not a mistake on the proprietors behalf and a due penalty was called for. Top night and a wonderful welcome to the Italian experience.... It took Gail and I back 20 odd years to memories of our house in Leichhardt, Sydney's little Italy, and the many warm and friendly meals we delighted in back then.
This is the pool we overlooked from the balcony of Madonna Dela Neve
The main square in the city of Perugia, such a special town. High in the mountains, views to Assisi and the vast valleys and mountain ranges and lakes all around. The building on the right sports bronze sculptures of the lion and gryphon (various spellings). The gryphon is a cross between the eagle and the lion. Symbolic of the earth and the heavens, the heaven and the mortal , the joining of man and god, the christ. I discovered this by reading a big book I found in the Perugia gallery/library cos nobody could tell me what it was and the bloody thing is everywhere. Vauxhaul (General Motors) even use it as their logo in the UK. I have no idea why they do but there you go.
The first night we arrived in Pisa we met Peter and Ann and their friends at a little restaurant just behind the tower of Pisa's duomo. Food was great, company spectacular and the bill was double what we ordered... Thankfully the team responded with calculators and in mixed Italian and convinced the proprietor that we were not your average drunk, stupid, loudmouthed international tourists. Well, we convinced them we were not stupid anyway, had the bill corrected and belligerently didn't leave a tip as we all agreed that it was not a mistake on the proprietors behalf and a due penalty was called for. Top night and a wonderful welcome to the Italian experience.... It took Gail and I back 20 odd years to memories of our house in Leichhardt, Sydney's little Italy, and the many warm and friendly meals we delighted in back then.
This is the pool we overlooked from the balcony of Madonna Dela Neve
The main square in the city of Perugia, such a special town. High in the mountains, views to Assisi and the vast valleys and mountain ranges and lakes all around. The building on the right sports bronze sculptures of the lion and gryphon (various spellings). The gryphon is a cross between the eagle and the lion. Symbolic of the earth and the heavens, the heaven and the mortal , the joining of man and god, the christ. I discovered this by reading a big book I found in the Perugia gallery/library cos nobody could tell me what it was and the bloody thing is everywhere. Vauxhaul (General Motors) even use it as their logo in the UK. I have no idea why they do but there you go.
Here is one of the views from the National Grammar language college's roof in the west of the old part of Perugia, by old part I mean really really old. History is one of the many things I am not good at. But I do like the result.
Of course when in Pisa there has to be the iconic shot of the tower, it looks 
a lot more tilted in real life. We resisted posing as the "trying to push it straight" photographic gag effect. The engineers have finally corrected years of bad fixes that had made it fall over more. At one point in time it defied gravity and no one could figure why it didn't fall down. Don't know if you knew, but it had started to tilt when they were building it originally, the city is built on an old swamp so most towers fell over.... anyway it got built in fits and spurts depending on which pope/ruler was in town.... The top floors are built at a different angle than the lower ones because of the elapsed time in construction so you could never straighten it.
a lot more tilted in real life. We resisted posing as the "trying to push it straight" photographic gag effect. The engineers have finally corrected years of bad fixes that had made it fall over more. At one point in time it defied gravity and no one could figure why it didn't fall down. Don't know if you knew, but it had started to tilt when they were building it originally, the city is built on an old swamp so most towers fell over.... anyway it got built in fits and spurts depending on which pope/ruler was in town.... The top floors are built at a different angle than the lower ones because of the elapsed time in construction so you could never straighten it.It is one of those international engineering challenges and every expert in the globe has a shot at stopping it toppling, It seems they have now got it sussed but the engineering story is well worth looking up in a big book if you are interested....
Anyway I hope this is enough shots of the Italy trip and although I have about a hundred more, these will give you an idea of our time there.
