Downtown Flowers

Some of the pretty flowers adorning one of the main streets in downtown Tallahassee.

I am putting my blog on another break so I can spend some time with my grandkids. See you soon!

Linking to Floral Friday Fotos and Today's Flowers.

Palm trees and a stone wall

When I was photographing the two murals I posted on Monday, I noticed this stone wall right next to the railroad overpass. Just on the other side of it is Cascades Park, a beautiful place that has been featured many times on my blog (just click on the Cascades Park label below this post to see all the pictures I have posted of this beautiful downtown park). The railroad tracks run right past the park to the overpass where the murals are located. Whenever I visit the park with my grandkids, they get so excited when they see the trains passing by.

I'm calling this wall a fence today since it separates the park from a busy street and linking to Good Fences.

"Easy Peasy"

Of course I had to take a picture after my oldest grandson pointed out this sign on a visit to our local library. It was located on the end of one of the alphabetically arranged rows of books in the children's section.

Linking to signs, signs.

Looking for treasure

After enjoying a walk around one of our downtown parks, I saw this gentleman using his metal detector to scan the ground for hidden objects. I was already sitting in my car, so I took these photos through the windshield.

Linking to Our World Tuesday.

New art under the overpass

These two murals by Toronto artist Birdo (Jerry Rugg) are located on each side of the CSX railroad overpass on South Monroe Street near downtown. The murals were done as part of a collaboration with Street Art Tallahassee and the Council on Culture and Arts. The murals, a heron and an egret, capture Birdo's specialty of geometric surreal wildlife with a taste of Florida. I have seen Birdo's work before on one of my favorite blogs (and perhaps yours too) Occasional Toronto by RedPat. You can see more of his work here.

Linking to Monday Mural.

Common critters in uncommon places

A seagull sitting on top of an ancient column in the Roman Forum, Rome, Italy.

A pigeon sitting on a ruin in the Roman Forum. There are also a couple of seagulls on top on those columns to the left.

Closeup of the pigeon.

Closeup of the seagulls.

Another seagull standing on top of Neptune's head at the Fountain of Neptune in the Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy. We had lunch at a nice restaurant near this fountain.

Closeup of the seagull standing on Neptune's head.

I took this picture of children playing with the pigeons in St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy while we were waiting to go on our gondola ride.

A cat sitting by a tree in front of the Ferro & Lazzarini glass factory in Murano, near Venice, Italy.

Another cat photo bombed this picture I was taking of my son leaning on that tree in front of the glass factory in Murano.

I got teased a bit for taking pictures of birds and animals on our vacation in Italy last week, but I don't care. I can't help myself!

Linking to Saturday's Critters, Camera Critters, and The Bird D'Pot.

Poppies

Poppies were blooming practically everywhere we went last week in Italy. The first picture shows a couple of blooms one of our fellow travelers picked while we were stopped at a rest stop on our way to Assisi. I took the second shot while we were walking around the Forum in Rome. Unfortunately, those poppies in the Forum would not be still no matter how hard I tried to get a good picture. They were too busy dancing around in the wind!

Linking to Today's Flowers and Floral Friday Fotos.

Out of town: Italy

The only day it rained on our trip was the day we visited Pisa and it was a downpour. We got soaked! Here is a picture of the Cathedral of Pisa and the Leaning Bell Tower.

The front of the Cathedral of Pisa.

Here I am trying to stand as close to the wall of the Cathedral as I could to get out of the rain and also get a picture with the Leaning Tower behind me. I bought that really cool umbrella while I was there.

It had stopped raining by the time we got to Venice later in the afternoon and I took this picture of the Grand Canal as we were walking over a bridge when we arrived.

The Scalzi Bridge over the Grand Canal. It was located right in front of our hotel.

The Bridge of Sighs connects the Doge's Palace to the prison. Prisoners would walk through this bridge on their way to their cells and it is said that they would take their last look through those windows and sigh because they knew they would not be seeing the light of day for a very long time once they were locked up.

After we toured the Doge's Palace, we walked through the Bridge of Sighs and I took this picture of the view through one of the small openings in a window. You can see the bridge I was standing on when I took the picture right above this one and the lagoon behind it.

Saint Mark's Square, Saint Mark's Basilica and the Bell Tower in Venice.

We went on a gondola ride and I took this picture of our gondolier.

View of the Grand Canal while we were on our gondola ride. It was fun!

Out of town: Italy

The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Carousel on the street in the village of Assisi.

Street scene in the village of Assisi.

View of the city of Florence from the Piazzale Michelangelo. The Arno River is in the foreground.

Cathedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, better known as the Duomo, in Florence.

The Dome of Cathedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence.

Statue of David by Michelangelo at the Galleria Dell'Accademia in Florence.

Ponte Vecchio Bridge over the Arno River in Florence.

After leaving Rome, we headed to the small village of Assisi where we walked around, had lunch, then toured the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. No photos were allowed inside the Basilica. After leaving Assisi, we traveled to Florence, one of the most beautiful cities I had ever seen (until I saw Venice later in the trip). Tomorrow: Pisa and Venice.

Out of town: Italy

This is me inside the Colosseum in Rome.

Colosseum, Rome.

Roman Forum.

Me again at the Roman Forum.

Inside Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. This church is huge, the length of two American football fields.

Michelango's Pietà inside Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. This sculpture depicts the Virgin Mary holding the body of Jesus Christ. This picture was taken through glass, so it is not as clear.

Me in front of Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. The chairs are set up for the Jubilee events.

The Pantheon in Rome.

Inside the Pantheon,

Inside the Pantheon,

The Trevi Fountain. Yes, I was able to get close enough to throw in my coin!

I took all of these photos with my iPhone because I have been too tired to download pictures from my real camera. We missed our connection in Paris from Venice and ended up having to stay overnight courtesy of Air France. A very exhausting trip home. Tomorrow: Assisi and Florence.