On to Milano

Water taxis took the group back to the bus as we leave Venice behind. On our way to Milano we have a stop at Sirmione a small town on Lake Garda. It's a small resort town that is quite cute, but also a tourist location. The Scaliger Castle stands guard at the entrance to the small town. We did not go inside.

Typical look of the area.

There were gardens all over some with beautiful flowers.

 Of course we had to have our daily dose of gelato.

After walking around this town for a couple of hours, we continued on to Milano. Once in the city, we picked up our guide who took us through the famous La Scala Opera House. We got to see a rehearsal in process, so did hear some singing.

Then we walked through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the world's oldest shopping mall. It was designed in 1861 and built between 1865 and 1877. Now it contains the world's most expensive shops.

Coming out the other end of the Galleria is the Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral) which is quite impressive. The Gothic cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete and is the largest church in Italy (St. Peter's Basilica is larger but that is not in Italy but in the State of Vatican City) and third largest in the world.

 The piazza in front of the cathedral was just filled with pigeons.

We had another opportunity to celebrate our anniversary as the hotel had a bottle of champagne waiting in our room when we arrived.

After enjoying a glass of champagne we joined the group for dinner at our hotel. To me Milan doesn't have much to offer in regards to beauty, as most of the city is more modern. I guess the city was heavily bombed in WWII so most of the historical buildings are gone. Another long day.

Venice Day 2

Got home last night so am able to post on my normal blog site. So I will try to get all my posts up to date asap and am glad to be able to do it under my Moon Ventures Blog.

My last post over on SomeWhereOverTheMoon.com blog was our first day we arrived in Venice, so I will continue with day two.

We started the morning with a visit to a glass blower factory on another island out of Venice. It was interesting to see how glass items are made, it's such an art. We saw a demonstration then went to the showroom to make purchases. We didn't find anything we couldn't live without even though there were many pretty items. Then we took the boat taxi back to Piazza San Marco where we met our tour guide.

The Hotel Monaco (where we are staying) is just off of Piazza San Marco on the Grand Canal.

Our tour of the church of St Mark and buildings connected to the church was beautiful, but by now we have seen so many churches and told so much history, that I'm afraid everything the guide told us went in one ear and out the other. But the buildings were beautiful. As usual, no pictures were allowed inside the church.

We had free time after the tour, so Jim and I just walked around to get exercise and just experience this unusual city.

Another full day in Italy. Ended with another fabulous group dinner at a nice restaurant which once again ate too much. These 5 course Italian meals start growing on you.

All Posts

Remember to go to SomewhereOverTheMoon.com for our posts while we are in Italy.

When In Rome ...

Sorry, but unable to get this blog to work here in Italy, so go to my SomewhereOverTheMoon.com blog site to see my posts. There is a link on this sight to get there.

Day 2 Golf

Saturday we decided to go for another round of golf since the forecast had very little chance of rain. So we headed over to Bison again (only 3 miles from the cabin), but they were quite busy so decided to go across town quite a ways to Silver Creek Golf, which we got on right away (1:10pm). We've played Silver Creek several times in the past and the fairways are more to our liking (wide). The day was beautiful, sunny with some puffy clouds around 78 degrees.

The front 9 went quite well, even though it was a bit slower play than we like. Beautiful scenery with green everywhere.

Making the turn as we go to the 10th we noticed dark clouds off in the distance and didn't think it would get to us. We still had gorgeous blue skies. As we played through to the 16th hole, the sky kept getting darker and started to sprinkle on the 16th green. Got to the 17th green and it started to rain, so pulled out our rain jackets again. By the time we got to the 18th tee it was hailing - time to head in. Got back to the Lincoln, threw the clubs in the car, took the cart back and headed home. We drove slowly through torrential downpour, thunder, lightning and hail to get back to the cabin.

What do you do when you get rained on again on the golf course? Sit in front of a blazing fire with a glass of wine and watch golf on TV.

We have a new addition to our art - Mr. Lazy Bear is now resting over our bed. I finished this 30x40 painting last week just in time to take up on this trip.

While we were up at the cabin getting rained on, we received 1.4 inches of rain at home in Tucson. Everything is just so green. I could go for a couple of days rain free though.

Golfin' In The Rain - Again

Here we are again getting the first 9 holes in before the sky decides to let loose and give us beautiful rain (but not when we are out in the midst of it). But this time I was smart enough to put our rain jackets in the bags. Drove up to our cabin yesterday after Jim got home from work, smooth sailing and arrived at 7pm to enjoy the evening out on the deck listening to the quiet. This morning we did some yard work then decided to play golf even though the forecast was for some rain. So after lunch we headed over to Bison Golf Course. We had played this course a long time ago but it must not have impressed us because we couldn't really remember the course. They have changed it around some in the past year.

 It's a tight course, but very pretty nestled in the trees. But there are houses on both sides of narrow fairways, so us amateurs have a hard time keeping it down the middle. We did make it through the round without hitting a house.

Some pretty flowers along the way.

 It started raining on the 9th hole then quit, so we just continued on. Not really bothering us too much. Then on the 12th hole it decided to give us a downpour, so we took cover under some trees for awhile to let the thunderstorm pass. Finally went onto the 13th hole playing in the lighter rain as best we could. Trying to putt through water is quite difficult. Here is Jim hitting off the 18th hole.

Here is Jim's ball finding the stream created by the rains. I won't even tell you what we shot.

We finished that is all that counts. A little wet, but had a good time. Now our clubs, bags, and towels are drying out in the garage. Hopefully they will be mostly dry by tomorrow. Maybe another golf day?

The Green Desert

Just had to go to Sabino Canyon this morning to see up close and personal the plethora of green and water this year and I wasn't disappointed even though I suffered through the humidity on a hot morning. Here are some of the shots I took on my hike.

The water is flowing over the trail. A few days ago with all the flash flooding, rescue teams helicoptered out several people who were caught on the wrong side. I guess people don't understand what flash flooding means in this area. There have been several days that people needed rescuing.

 Can you believe we have wildflowers in August? There are probably more wildflowers now than in the spring.

The ocotillos are just flourishing.

The water is rushing over the rocks.

Sabino Dam is overflowing.

The flying bugs are out in force and these plant eating caterpillars are all over having a feast.

I don't know if I have captured how green everything is, but hopefully you get the idea.

Yes we have the monsoon season every year and we get rain, but we had a record July. I measured in my little rain gauge at home a total of 8.20 inches in July only and we still have 1-2 months left. Average annual rainfall for this area is about 12 inches. July made a big dent in that average. It's great to see the desert blossom out with such color.