Visited The Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Inside the main church is always interesting but the Spanish Chapel had what I thought was the nicest deigns and painting on the walls. Here is a small segment, a combination of 3 panos vertically arranged in PTGui.
The bus then headed north to Tuscany with a stop at Michelangelo Square for a panoramic view of the skyline of the city. A panoramic view deserves a hand held pano of 7 images.
We did stop at Pisa and the tower is very impressive but most of you have seen it too many times for another image post. After the visit we ent for wine tasting under a severe thunderstorm but after a few glasses most did not care. The lineup of the family owned winery in Tuscany was quite nice but the star of the show was the homemade Lasagna..... the best I have ever eaten. And it washed down easily with one of these little buggers:
Bob
PS.... tomorrow to Venice but it is supposed to rain. 😩
It was our first trip outside the U.S. specifically for birding and it was brilliant. One minor correction to my post: I said the Orange-breasted Falcon is endangered, but it is officially listed as “near threatened.”
We added almost 100 species to our life list. Many good photos, many not so good.
FYI, you won't see too much use of the Fuji equipment in the next month or so. I can't use it much on the road (too busy driving the Big Rig); on the beach (don't want it in the blowing sand and salt); or in the boat (everything gets wet in a small sailboat in big offshore seas unless you keep it in a dry bag and never take it out). I will use the Fuji stuff for hikes, exploring, sunsets and the like. Dunno the rules here in this new place and don't want to violate them. Therefore, let me know if I'm not to post supportive images from the phone or the Sony RX100's because they are not Fuji. That said....
We headed down to Ocracoke yesterday in a little caravan with me driving the MH (you need a CDL to drive 30,000 pounds worth of vehicle) and Nancy driving the truck pulling the boat. The dogs were checked out some birds while we stopped for lunch along the road in Delaware.
Pulled off for the night in a sort of pirate camp at the Eastern Shore Virginia NWR right at the southern tip of Cape Charles. Not sure they allow camping, but it was a pretty place with no one around and the price was right. 😁 Neat place to explore - there were 16" guns in massive bunkers that were used to protect the approaches to the Chesapeake Bay from enemy shipping during WWII - apparently never fired in anger.
Waiting to board the ferry that runs from the southern end of Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island - you can't drive to Ocracoke - must go by water, which is maybe one of the reasons it stays relatively remote and empty. I HATE cities and crowds and this is the only "beach place" I like because it is so remote. Getting the MH and the truck/boat on and off the small ferry involved some white knuckle driving initially, but we've done it often enough by now that it's no biggie anymore. Just follow the directions of the loading guys - they know what they are doing.
Bliss looking out the MH windshield while we were "at sea" on the ferry for a couple of hours.
Finally arrived and set up camp after two days on the road! Home sweet home for the rest of May - a small campground in the tiny town by the harbor. We'll put the boat in a slip in the nearby harbor when we can (don't want to have to launch it and recover it each day), but the weather right now won't permit that - VERY windy and supposed to be that way for several days. They call this area the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" for good reason - we've learned the hard way to really respect the marine weather here.
We didn't have much energy left, but we did hike out to see the first island sunset of the year. We take a hike and watch the sun go down over the Pamlico Bay just about every evening. It is different each time. I unpacked and carried the Fuji equipment for this. Which one do you like the best?
I think we'll do some hiking and beaching today in lieu of sailing. Maybe be able to get the boat launched on Thursday when they are calling for milder seas. More later, hopefully.