magic gondola ride

"Gondola". photo by Gina Matchinsky, the  Venetian, Las Vegas, Nevada

January 13, 2014 question is "Where do you want to travel next?"

Not the place I'd like to travel next but one of the places I want to be able to visit in my lifetime would be Rome and the Vatican City. Being an artist and a Catholic, I would like to one day visit  the Vatican City and see St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. I would love to actually see what I just read in books and know the actual feel of the place. I hope to see the actual paintings of well known Renaissance painters, the more well known of which is Michaelagelo who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. And I would not want to miss making a wish at the Trevi Fountain, too!

Next stop is a date with Michaelangelo's David in Florence and a visit to the Fountain of Neptune and Brunelleschi's Dome. I'd love to see Boticelli's Birth of Venus and Caravaggio's Medusa among others. It would be a treat to have a shopping expedition at Ponte Vecchio, a bridge across Agno River that is lined with gold and silver jewelry shops while trying honest-to-goodness Italian gelato.

I would also not miss the chance of seeing the Shroud of Turin and would also be curious about Sicily, famous for mafia stuff and its eclectic culture blend.

Cinque Terra would be a breath-taking place to take pictures. Imagine 5 towns all situated on a cliff overlooking the ocean!

Other awesome sites I'd like to take photos of are Capri on the Gulf of Naples and Sorrento located on the Bay of Naples. They are both excellent summer destinations, with active sea sports activities and rich history.

For a taste of medieval architecture, I'd like to maybe spend a day in San Gimignano. And for the best preserved medieval and Rennaisance towns, hills and landscapes maybe a day in Abruzzo, too.

Last but definitely not the least, my "Roman Holiday" will not be complete without a visit to Venice, the city of lovers. It would be cool to hangout at St. Mark's Square and take photos of pigeons or stroll tiny alleys. I have tried a gondola ride in Las Vegas with the gondolier singing O' Sole Mio under the bridge with a loved one. I wonder how it would feel like actually traversing Venice on a gondola or a vaporetti or a traghetto with a loved one and the gondolier singing Torna de Surriento a la Luciano Pavarotti for a change and kissed under each bridge at night?