Florence, Venice & Family: Italy Part 3

I don't want to be one of those people that bores everyone with their vacation photos, so I'm going to wrap up my final stops with my favorite pictures. After Rome, we took a couple of days in Florence, Venice and then Como/Bellagio/Lecco to see my family.

And that was it - we headed back to Rome by way of Pisa and the coast with a five minute stop to see the Mediterranean Sea. Along that route, we found lots of interesting towns that would be so cool to stop into the next time we go. Amazing ancient towns and very cool, semi-empty beaches.

So enjoy my favorite pics - again most of the photo credit goes to my hubby. He had a great time playing photographer.

After this - I promise to go back to interior inspirations. :)

Ponte Vecchio - Florence @ Night

Near the Uffici - beautiful carousel in the middle of the old city.

No tour of Florence is complete with Michelangelo's David.

Holding the Head of Medusa - I love the aged bronze

Il Duomo - so beautiful on the outside and in. 

Villa St. Michele - designed by Michelangelo and overlooking Florence. Now a gorgeous 5-Star hotel. We were fortunate to have a wonderful meal there during our visit and spent time in their gorgeous grounds.

Gorgeous gardens at St. Michele. Love the lemon trees in pots.

Our pre-meal snack. How lovely.

Il Duomo as seen from St. Michele

Looking down on Florence.

Gorgeous landscape.

The gardens of St. Michele.

Gorgeous pathway.

Arriving just outside of Venice. Need to find parking and ditch the car for a couple of days.

Ciprianni in Venice has some gorgeous gardens too. Look at these Wisteria.

Night view of the Bridge of Sighs.

Venice in the late morning (not early risers - even in Italy).

Me in Venice.

Getting lost in the residential streets. Love the laundry lines.

What a lovely image. I'm sure these people really appreciate me taking a picture of their laundry and calling it beautiful. They would say I'm a crazy tourist, I'm sure.

Bridge of Sighs. Prisoners would walk from the judicial halls in the Doges Palace to the jail (left to right) and were said to sigh at their last look out to beautiful Venice and their loved ones.

The Doges Palace - Piazza San Marco.

Beautiful color door of a residential home.

Overgrown garden with the most beautiful roses - and the wrought iron fence...

Getting lost in Venice.

Beautiful "streets" of Venice.

Gorgeous old archway.

Venice canals.

Love the reflection of the Basilica at night.

Colored pillars - each indicated the family colors of the rich merchants who owned these amazing homes.

Raining in Como.

Como.

Childrens park on the lakefront of Como. Zucchero = sugar. So sweet!

The Basilica in Como - another gorgeous cathedral.

Rainy paths of Bellagio. My husband took this picture and I promptly fell on my bum.  He took a picture of that too, but I'm not putting that on here! :)

My gorgeous 102 year old Great Aunt Josephina. It had been 13 years since the last time I had seen her. How fortunate that I was able to see her again.

I don't know what this is, but it's in Como. Pretty isn't it? I would like to live there. Just one room would do. 

Only in Italy would they say - that's good enough. People are always amazed at how much it actually leans. Steve could not get enough. It really does lean - a lot. The fact that it hasn't landed on someone's head says a lot about the engineers that supported it - and left it like that.  

The photographer, my husband Steve, looking out over the Mediterranean Sea. Next time?

That's it y'all. Hope you enjoyed all the images as much as I enjoyed watching my husband take them.

Up next... Some interiors - I promise. 

Enjoy the rest of your Memorial Weekend!

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Copyright 2013, Cristina Mullins Interiors

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Ancient Beauty of Rome: Italy Part 2

While the Vatican is a palace full of glorious riches, Rome rivals the Vatican in it's beautiful ruins. Just walking around the city, you are surrounded by history.

One thing I had expected, was a lot of dirty, black, old relics, but surprisingly Rome has been cleaned up in the past decade. The fuel is green, there are fewer drivers. In short, they have done a heck of a job cleaning and maintaining its state of beautiful, arrested decay. In short - amazing.

Anyhow, there is so much history in Rome I'm not sure I could see it all in a year, much less a day, but our guide sure did try.

Here are some of the amazing sites we saw. I hope you enjoy the continuation of my photo tour. :)

These are the famous Spanish Steps from my favorite movie, Roman Holiday. I wanted to have my Audrey Hepburn moment. Not quite what I had in mind.You should've seen them later. You couldn't even see the actual steps there were so many people.

The Roman Forum at night is ethereal.

More of the Roman Forum.

Chariot racing anyone? The Circus - almost three football fields wide.

The church that sits atop the catacombs.

Inside the Catacombe di San Domitilla - the oldest of the catacombs found in Rome.

Markings assigned to Christians in the catacombs.

More markings outside the burial chambers.

Frescoes indicate the burial site of someone of some importance during the period.

Sadly, the frescoes were vandalized to remove the images of the figures long ago.

The Chains of St. Peter Basilica (San Pietro in Vincoli) house the chains that shackled Peter when he was imprisoned for preaching about Jesus.

A beautiful, ancient keyhole on the door for a garden of the Order of the Knights Templar.

Reveals a garden that overlooks the Vatican. Read more here.

Me - in the rain - looking up at the stands of the Colosseum imagining my seats.

Lower level of the Colosseum where the fighters would prepare and animals would have been kept.

These arches are a feat of architectural marvel. Can you imagine the craftsmen that were used to build this?

Beautiful moss-lined corridors are so melancholy - especially in the rain.

View of the new Vittorio Emanuele II National Museum (built in the late 19th-early 20th century) from atop of the Colosseum.

View of Mussolini's office balcony from atop the Colosseum.

Remains of the massive bronze statue of Constantine on display inside the Colosseum is from 1100's.

More views of the Roman Forum from atop of the Colosseum.

I cannot remember what building this is. I'm sure it's important. I just loved the architecture of it, though. :)

Domed ceiling of the Pantheon - the temple of all the gods, was built with it's open top in the 2nd century. It was raining that day so the water was streaming in. Very cool.

I have to give credit where credit is due. My husband, Steve, took almost all of the pictures while we were in Italy. He's gotten quite good I think. Don't you?

I hope you enjoyed these pictures. I have some incredible ones coming up of a spectacular garden in Florence.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

If you would like to see more of my design stuff and inspirations, you can follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter.

Thank you for visiting My Head Space!

Copyright 2013, Cristina Mullins Interiors

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