A FEW PICTURES OF RECENT ITALY VACATION

Gloria, my wife, and I were fortunate to travel to Italy, staying 5 days at a B&B near downtown Florence, Italy with picture perfect weather. We flew Delta Airlines from Phoenix, AZ to Atlanta, Ga enroute to Milan, Italy. Then, with some difficulty due to no English-speaking train employees, we took the the train to Florence. We then returned via train to Milan, staying overnight in a Holiday Inn Express near the train station, taking the train then to the Lake District north of Milan, meeting up with a group for our stay in Baveno, Italy on beautiful Lake Maggiore at the Lido Palace Hotel. After a few hours each day spent in continuing education on an update in quality medical care by Dr. Tim Munzing, we went on various tours, via bus and ferry boat around the area. While the Lake District was a paradise, I especially enjoyed the trip to Milan in order to see Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper."

I thought I would post a few pics for those of you who might be interested, and I hope things are going well for all of you!

Gianna Squalloni, was our great B&B hostess, with one 7 yr. old child, and another one on the way. I tipped her 10 Eu, telling her that this was for diaper(s)!:

This is the DUOMO(Cathedral) in Florence, Italy, with the Dome with Cupolo in the background, designed by Brunelleschi, with the Campanile on the right, I think designed by Giotto. The Baptistry is on the left, with famous doors designed by Ghiberti.

Famous bridge, the Ponte Vecchio, in Florence, Italy, which was erected to allow passage of the famous Medici rulers from the Uffizi Palace/Pallazo Vecchio to another residence of theirs: The Pitti Palace:

Now, moving north of Milan is Baveno, Italy famous for its pink granite quarries located on the beautiful Lake(Lago) Maggiore, which is only 600 ft. in elevation so is almost subtropical in contrast to the Swiss Alps which will be shown later in the background from our Hotel: Below is a view of the Lido Palace Hotel at Baveno where we stayed for 7 days:

Welcome to Baveno on Lake(Lago Maggiore):

Sunrise on Lake Maggiore. The guide said that this view has been rated as one of the most beautiful vistas in the world. This is taken from our patio overlooking Isola(Pescatori), one of three islands we visited via taxi boat:

Villa on Isola Bella, picture taken from Isola Pescatori, where we had lunch before being taken by taxi boat to tour the beautiful villa and garden on Isola Bella.

Now, at the "Y" on the inverted "Y" of Lake Como is the famous city of Bellagio, where we had time to explore the cathedral and have lunch:

Wife Gloria with the Swiss Alps in the background with Lake Maggiore in the middle region of the picture:

Finally, a white peacock on Isola Madre the third island we visited on Lago Maggiore, where a beautiful garden was present with several varieties of peacocks and pheasants, and a museum built by the owners of these islands, the Borromeans. Interestingly, this family charges commercial fishermen to fish in this lake!