Italy- land of the Gladiators

Each Hari Raya holidays i get to take my longest vacation for the year. This year we decided to see the land of the gladiators. How to describe it, in one word  - awesome . I took in total 740 photos and that was just scratching the surface.  

We started at Lake Como 

Magnificent mansions and villas everywhere

night view near the lake promenade

From Como we took a side trip into Switzerland for some shopping here again

This is what you call a showroom. Only Yamahas

RTW  ready

I came here last year to get a riding suit for myself. This time we came to get a suit for my wife.

Back in Como by lunch. Time to walk around.

After a couple of days we came here 

Looks familiar ?

Venice  : )

Great local beer

Man toys

After a few days there it was on to Florence.

here is the view from my hotel roof garden

Scooters rule here

Till i saw the real tourer

Massive church in Florence. See the top of the dome ?

Zoomed in        : 0

Ancient buildings everywhere

Ancient map of Malaysia from the Roman travellers. click to see the old names.

Some survive till today    

14th century bridge with shops lining the main path

Same bridge at dusk

 

13th century bridge

This is so cool . An old tower becomes someones private residence with gardens and parking

Trying to be artistic  : )

Same as above just zoomed in

The next day we took a drive to first Lucca 

Ancient walled city

Then to here

Awesome 

look , it leans

After a couple of days all roads lead here.

ROME

View from my hotel roof garden

piazza Navona

That obelisk is from ancient Egypt . more than 2000 years old

Where men walked

fought and died

The interior of the Collesium

Its bigger than it looks

Ancient F1 track.

Circus Maximus  

Piazza de Popolo

The Spanish steps

Trevi's fountain

Pantheon 

The next day it was the Vatican 

The inside of St.Peters. you can fit a 747 in there  

Click this to get some scale 

the famous square 

that tiny dot at the end is a 10 foot high door. amazing decor .  

Sistine chapel . You are not supposed to take pics here but with a rotating screen stealth photography was easy.

The most famous part. Zoomed in  

Here you can see room after room intricately decorated.

Italy was magnificant. And that was just a short trip. 

Wish i could ride the country though.   hmmmmmm.

Grazie and arreverdeci .

Cheers.