Museum Day

The highlight of the California Science Center is a 24-foot-long transparent tunnel through a 188,000-gallon tank that puts you face to face with 1,500 horn sharks, swell sharks, giant sea bass, wolf eels, bat rays and other fish swimming in a kelp forest. There are 11 ecosystems highlighted, with lots of hands on exhibits at this museum. Seems like a cool place to take kids (and there were plenty of them there).

We actualy went there to see the 'Mummies of the World', a limited time exhibit. It is a previously unseen collection of 150 mummified humans, animals and artifacts from over 6,000 years ago to the 11th century. Yeah, it was kind of creepy. But for someone who can't tolerate any type of gore, blood, or anything spooky, I actually withstood it quite well. It was pretty crowded, so perhaps that helped. I'm sure if I was alone in there, I would have high-tailed it outta there pretty quick! It was interesting to read about each mummy and where they came from. We then saw the IMAx movie Mummies 3D: Secrets of the Pharaohs about the royal tombs of Egypt, which was really cool. It is hard to fathom such ancient history.

Right next to the Science center is the Natural History Museum.

There are amazing diaramas of both African animals and North American animals, about 20 of each . They really are beautiful and quite impressive. Hardly anyone there either, which was a bonus (at these exhibits).

Waterhole near the Tana River, Kenya

The E. Hadley Stuart, Jr. Hall of Gems and Minerals displays more than 2000 spectacular specimens. I found this particularly interesting seeing all the stones in thier raw form, many which I use in my jewelry designs. Chad was so patient as I looked at each of the 2000+ stones. I loved this exhibit!

This chunk of Flourite was found in Azusa (same town where I keep my horses).

A five-carat, blood-red diamond is one of just three in existence, and it is on display at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles. The Kazanjian Red has quite a history. It was discovered in South Africa in 1927, stolen out of the Netherlands by the Nazis during World War II and recovered by American soldiers. The diamond is on loan from the Kazanjian Foundation, which raised scholarships for needy students.

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Last day in Italy

Our last day was in Venice and it was a gorgeous clear warm day with crystal blue skies. We woke up early, like we had been all week, as not to waste too much time sleeping. We boarded the vaparetto and headed down to the Rialto market.

The Pescaria (fish market) and Erbaria (produce market), which combined make up the Rialto Market, have been located here since the 11th century. This is an exciting venue with which to mix with the local Venetians. Barges arrive at dawn with their crates of produce to be unloaded.

We checked out the Arsenal, an immense uninhabited space which, in the 16th century, was the site of the largest ship industry in the world. The whole exterior has been renovated and is very peaceful with a couple of cafe/bar/restaurants in the piazza outside the main entrance. What you see in the picture is the imposing 15th century gate-entrance to the Arsenale.

We hoped on the vaporetto over to Murano Island. On the way we sighted this church as our vaporetto made its way to Murano Island. The Dorsoduro church known as the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute.Murano’s reputation as a center for glass making was born when the Venetian Republic, fearing fire and destruction to the city’s mostly wood buildings, ordered glass makers to move their foundries to Murano in 1291. Murano’s glass makers held a monopoly on quality glass making for centuries, developing or refining many technologies including crystalline glass, enameled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicolored glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones made of glass. Today, the artisans of Murano are still employing these century-old techniques, crafting everything from contemporary art glass and glass jewelery to Murano glass chandeliers and wine stoppers. It was very similar to Venice, but quieter.

After Murano, we made our way back to St. Mark's Square taking in some more sights on the way. It is so much fun exploring Venice. Most of the walkways are narrow. At the end you choose, left or right. In either case you may not be able to see a bridge or a canal. If you can see a canal, you may be surprised to find the walkway dead ends with nowhere to go except by boat or back the way you came from. On one occasion we had to back track several minutes to find a path going in our direction. Even with a map it was easy to get lost in the maze. But that was one of the most fun things about Venice -- getting lost over and over again.


We decide to tour the Doge's Palace (adjacent to St. Mark's). The Doge's Palace is a Gothic palace in Venice. In Italian it is called the Palazzo Ducale di Venezia. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice. Unfortunately we only had a little over an hour before closing, so we were kind of rushed through, but it was AMAZING!!!
As well as being the ducal residence, the palace housed political institutions of the Republic of Venice until the Napoleonic occupation of the city. Venice was ruled by an aristocratic elite, but there was a facility for citizens to submit written complaints at what was known as the Bussola chamber. Ornamentation is everywhere. The interior (no photos allowed) are lavishly embellished with paintings and carved and gilded wall decorations. It is drewl-worthy.


In the basement were several prison cells, which housed convicts awaiting trial. When the “new” prison was built on the other side of the Rio di Palazzo the facility was no longer used. The new prison was connected to the palace via the now famous Bridge of Sighs. We got to walk through it.This flight of stairs led to the Doge’s private quarters, known as the “Scala dei Giganti” and is flanked by huge statues of Mars and Neptune.

It was then time for the famous Bellini at Harry's Bar.

The Rialto Bridge is the most famous bridge in Venice, we crossed it many times.

An Ambulance

Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo: Scala del Bovolo

We tried to absorb as much as possible in the short time we had in Italy. I think we did a pretty good job of seeing alot and doing alot. It went by so fast, and we know we want to go back!

"Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go." --Truman Capote

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Venice - It's called La Serenissima, "the most serene,"

The Grand Canal

After breakfast, we had one last walk around the Duomo area before departing from Florence. The train ride took three hours to Venice (ah, Venice) and it was pleasant and comfortable.

Basilica di S Maria della Salute from Grand Canal

Venice is one of those cities that everyone knows of, but it’s definitely one of those ones that you just have to go to and absorb for yourself. No matter how many times you've seen it in movies or on TV, the real thing is more dreamlike than you could ever imagine.If arriving in Venice by train this bridge over the Grand Canal is probably the first one you see, Ponte degli Scalzi.

The Firehouse ( no trucks here, only fire boats)

I don’t understand how the place still exists, to be honest. The buildings are hundreds of years old, jammed in cheek to cheek, with brick and plaster walls bowed, cracked and eroded. And yet just inside the crumbling facades and weathered window shutters are marble interiors and double glazed windows. And of course, half of these buildings are standing with their feet permanently wet in the canals. As you round another tiny laneway, it opens up to a square with yet another beautiful old church, most in astounding condition, and built on such an enormous scale for such a cramped city.

Venice is the place to get lost in. Deliberately. There is a main tourist strip located around St Mark’s square, where you can drown yourself in Gucci and Prada and any other designer label you can care to mention. Yet venture off in any other direction, and you’re soon immersed in the equivalent of (inner city) suburbia. This is where the real heart of Venice is to be found, with small alleyways and locals going about their business. Today, only about 60,000 people reside in the historic center (compared to an estimated 180,000 in the heyday of the Venetian Republic)

St. Mark's Square

Across the smaller canals, there are lots of bridges of all shapes and sizes and age. Each one began and ended with a tiny alleyway between buildings, but to someone at sometime, it must have made perfect sense to build one there, and not one laneway in another direction that may have been more open and inviting. Must have provided a shorter path to Mamma’s house. Across the Grand canal, however, there are only three bridges. If you want to cross anywhere else, you can take a ferry across, as they zigzag from bank to bank, just to add to the confusion. Alternatively, for 50 euro you can stand up in a Traghetto, which is an even longer than usual gondola. Ten or twelve people all standing up in a long thin boat bobbing across the water; a certain recipe for disaster, but it works.


The Vaporretto, or water buses, are a great way to get around. We got a 2-day pass so we could get on and off as many times as we wanted. Pretty much everything is delivered by boat……tourists, laundry, food, supplies of all kinds with garbage boats hauling off the refuse.


In Venice as with all cities in Italy, window boxes of flowers (real flowers) are everywhere. Usually geraniums. Flying like flags everywhere else is drying laundry.
Also everywhere are places to eat. They range from ‘bars’ (not the alcohol purveyors that they are here) to trattoria to osteria to ristorantes. And, of course, pasticcierias for pastry and gelaterias for ice cream.

The grand churches that consigned work from the most prestigious artists of the time are more magnificent than most museums around the world.
A tradition unique to Venice is a pub crawl (giro d'ombra). Venice's residential back streets hide plenty of characteristic pubs (baccari) with countless trays of interesting hors d’oevres (cicchetti) and blackboards listing the wines that are uncorked and served by the glass. Cicchetti bars have a social stand-up zone or a few tables tables. They’re similar to Spanish tapas. In some of the more popular places, the local crowds happily spill out into the street. While you can order a plate, Venetians prefer going one-by-one...sipping their wine and trying this...then give me one of those…and so on. This was right up our alley. We went from one place to another sampled a few things and a glass of ombra rosso and then moved on to discover another place. A small glass of house red (ombra rosso) was €1 per glass in some of these places, and I didn't have one bad tasting wine!!! There were literally 30-50 of these Cicchetti bars each unique with different food and different atmospheres, some were part of a larger trattorias or osterias. We got to meet alot of different people this way.

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Duomo and Tuscany

We woke up early to climb 463 steps to the top of the Duomo before it got too hot or crowded. This distinctive feature of Florence’s skyline is the fifth largest church in the world. The climb offers views of the Renaissance city through narrow stone windows and an interior bird's eye perspective of the cathedral. As you near the top and realize that you are actually climbing between the dome's two ancient layers, your heart pounds with cardiac exertion and heartfelt awe. The narrow staircase built into the stone dome and its spindly metal railing are precarious but thrilling, and emphasize what an immense undertaking the construction of this cathedral was. When you finally emerge into the sunlight atop the dome, you can almost feel Brunelleschi's genius emanating from the smooth red roof. So crazy to think about what famous historical people walked up the same steps and overlooked the city 600 years ago!

After the Duomo, we strolled through the central market (San Lorenzo Mercato Centrale). On the ground floor of the Central Market, vendors sell meats, fish and a variety of cheeses. The second floor is fresh fruit, vegetables as well as dried fruit, nuts, honey, homemade pasta, wine, herbs, and other produce.
The area around the central market is probably the busiest in Florence. During the day, street vendors sell anything from t-shirts to leather goods. You can also buy beautiful capes and pashminas in fabulous colors. We made a new friend with an Italian man who had a leather shop that comes to Los Angeles often. He was so friendly and excited to meet people from LA.He recommended an excellent place for lunch, La Falterona Ristorante on Via G. Zannoni.
Lapo's special Mediterranean Ravioli was magnificent!
Next it was on to our Tuscan wine tour!
Wine-tasting, scenic drives through magnificent Tuscan landscapes, and a traditional dinner in Chanti - is there a better way to spend the afternoon in Tuscany? I think not.Our first stop was Castello Il Palagio. Castello Il Palagio has been producing wines for over 200 years! We had a tour of the wine cellars and of the medieval castle, with its beautiful gothic chapel and its typical Italian style garden. We tasted four different wines here each paired with food such as cheese, salami, ham, bruschetta or bread with some typical sauces. In the end, Vinsanto, the typical dessert wine of the area, and cantuccini, the biscuits with almonds, were served. I loved their style of "tasting" they gave us a bottle of each and you help yourself!More scenic Tuscan countryside on our way to Le Cantine di Greve in Chianti.

Le Cantine di Greve in Chianti is an amazing wine museum/tasting centre. It is located underneath Greve in Chianti's old town center. It features over 1200 varieties of wine from the region and offers 140 different wines to taste. Basically you put credit onto a card and are given glasses, you then wander around the wines and when you want to try one you insert your card and press the button to dispense wine.

Most tastings for the standard wines were €0.60 for a quarter of a glass. But the Super Tuscans that are about €600 a bottle will set you back about €4 a taste. All in all a great way to try the wines - reds, whites, sparkling, and dessert wines. We thought this was one of the coolest things ever!!!! I cannot believe we don't have this fantastic idea around here!


We then stopped in Castellina in Chianti. Castellina in Chianti is a commune (municipality) of 2,800 inhabitants in the province of Siena, in the Italian region Tuscany. It is part of the Chianti Hills, between the valleys of the Arbia, Pesa and Elsa rivers. It is characterized by underground vaulted passages such as the Via delle Volte. It is an extremely charming little village with beautiful stone buildings and cute shops.




At the end of the tour was a wonderful Tuscan dinner at an award winning little restaurant in a charming old village in the hills.

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