I got the biggest kick out of this scene! People don’t worry too much about the car traffic in some areas This street is not closed to cars, despite what it looks like:

My favorite thing about the entire visit was getting to see in person so many of the artworks that I’ve only seen in books. Michelangelo’s La Pieta is a particular favorite of mine. The list of what we saw was really endless, and I have many more treats from the various museums and monuments posted on my mixed media art blog, called Layers Upon Layers. Please visit there if you’d like more art!

After dinner one of the evenings (I can’t remember which one!), we took a bus ride over to the Trastevere district on the east side of the river. It’s where many large residences, nice apartments, and fine dining can be found. It has a different look and feel from the busy Termini district where we were staying.

Another evening (or maybe it was even the same evening…it stays light so long!), we went to see Trevi Fountain. You couldn’t get anywhere near it because of the throngs of people doing exactly what we were doing! It’s pretty impressive though. Click the link above to see some better images.

As long as I’m sharing some miscellaneous stuff with you, I’ll throw in this striking image from the church known as St Peter in Chains. It’s an amazing church, full of wonderful artwork, but we couldn’t see most of it because there was a wedding going on at the time! Sometimes we forget that many of these wonderful places we visited are operating churches!

Typical tourists that we are, we always visit any Hard Rock Cafe in the cities that we vacation in Rome’s Hard Rock is great!

Dani and Mike with Jimi Hendrix’s
patchwork outfit in the back

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Post from: Jewelry and Beading

We went to the Glass Museum, where you were (unfortunately) not allowed to take pictures inside at all. They had a central courtyard with several interesting modern pieces though, and Dani and I snapped away. As you can tell, I was particularly enchanted by the flowers. You can even see me taking the picture in the center of the bottom one!

After the museum, we walked down the street in search of beads. The further you get from the factories, the better the prices. You’ll also find individual glass artisans further down the way, making more unique pieces. They are very skeptical about having websites, because they are finding that factories in some other countries will knock off their designs as fast as they can come up with them. I bought some amazing pendants from a man who doesn’t really want me to show them to you online! I can understand that, and so I’ll honor that wish until I have made a finished piece with one of them.

These beads, good quality, but standard shapes, are available many places.

Yes, this bell tower is just as crooked as it looks!

As we were boating back to Venice, we saw a backhoe anchored in the middle of the lagoon. Digging a swimming pool, perhaps? I have no explanation.

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The Grand Canal:

Narrow alleys:

The symbol of St Mark everywhere:

Water-stained buildings:

The Doge’s Palace:

And of course, the food!

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My sweetheart, Mike

Me and darling daughter, Dani

To see all the posted pictures from our trip, not just the jewelry-related ones, please visit my mixed media art blog, Layers Upon Layers. Here’s the entire Italy trip category for you, which I’ll be posting to for the next few weeks!

Post from: Jewelry and Beading

Just a reminder…I’m not at my desk for two weeks. Please don’t get upset if I don’t email you or answer your question or approve your comment. It’s not that I don’t love you, it’s just that I can’t! Because I’m in fabulous Italy, and all the posts you are reading were written far ahead of time. Including this one, with great pictures that my daughter took months ago.

Dani was studying in Orvieto for the semester (poor poor baby!), and Mike and I have gone over to hook up with her and do a little touristing…

Be home soon! Love you all…be good!

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Well, I should be in Italy by now! I’ll be gone for the next two weeks: although I’ve set my daily posts to post as usual, I won’t be here to answer questions or approve comments. If you don’t see your comment appearing, never fear! I’ll rescue it as soon as I get home and am back in the right timezone…

That’s also why you won’t find the usual bead & jewelry blogging round-up for the next two weeks. Sorry!

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Yup, I’m going to Italy. Next week, in fact. Mike and I will be flying to Rome and then traveling to Orvieto to pick up daughter Dani, who has been studying there this semester. Pretty tough, huh? Poor little art major, having to study oil painting and sculpture in Italy…

But I digress.

We’ll be traveling to Florence and Venice (with an obvious trip to Murano!), and then back down to Rome. Mike has a plan for what we’re going to go see, and Dani has the language ability to get us there! I have the tendency to just go along for the ride on these once-in-a-lifetime trips, and I’d like to pay a bit more attention this time!

So, what should I plan to bring home with me, besides my daughter and all her artwork? Any suggestions?

Post from: Jewelry and Beading