To mark the seasons, I’ve uploaded a ton of photos, most from this past weekend’s trip to Harsen’s Island. Sarah’s family has a cottage there and we decided to have one last mini-vacation. The Schleicks and the Baats joined us for most of the short stay.

I’ve also uploaded some older pictures, including a couple from a trip to the zoo (see photo above) and another short trip that we made about a month ago to Grand Haven. We stayed in a cottage with my parents for a long weekend.

Photos over on Flickr.

We (OK, Sarah) planned the flights to correspond with Olivia’s typical nap time and that worked like a charm. All through the airport, security screening and boarding, Olivia was in a great mood and loved seeing all the people and activity. And once we pushed away from the terminal, she fell asleep.

The first anxious moment came as we were approaching Nashville. They had a bad snow/ice storm and we were almost diverted to Atlanta. That would have been bad. As it was, I believe we were the last plane to land before they shut things down.

Once we were settled in at grandma’s house, things went pretty well. Olivia had a great time crawling around grandma’s new condo, getting into what ever she could. We didn’t have any sight seeing planed, but did end up taking a tour of Vanderbilt’s Children’s Hospital Emergency. It’s a very nice place.

It wasn’t really an emergency, but we (obviously) didn’t have our doctor handy. On about day three Olivia had her first round of vomiting and diahrea. She didn’t have a fever and wasn’t in a bad mood, but we were concerned about her dehydrating, hence the trip to the hospital. She simply picked up a little stomach bug (hmm, rummaging through airports, packed into a plane, chewing on everything she can get her mouth on, I wonder what it could be?).

The long and short, we had a nice little trip away from home. And now, a few hectic days later, we’re unpacked, taxes are done and work resumes. Now to find a little time for that freelance work.

The wedding was Friday (friend of the family’s kid). It was interesting because the bride is Indian. Her and her family are Christian, and the ceremony proper was Christian, they did infuse it with some Indian traditions. The groom was escorted in by musicians playing some Indian music (of course); the bride arrived in a palanquin; she had henna painting done on her hands; and the bridesmaid’s dresses had an Indianesque pattern on them (the dresses themselves being fairly traditional Western dresses).

Anyway, a couple of photos. 1) Rachel at normal speed. 2) Uncle Tim and the kids.

Hopefully you will enjoy this first taste of photos from the recent trip. I may put up another photo album from Sarah and I, but then again…. This site is in need of an overhaul and I’m going to look into getting my own domain and new software, so it just may wait.

Overall, we shot 288 pictures (plus 8 rolls of print with my old Nikon FG). Batteries lasted an average 100 shots (minimum flash usage, minimum viewing of files), which means that the three sets of batteries we took lasted the entire trip with out the need to recharge them.

We also used both compact flash cards, with about 250 fitting onto the first card – a Lexar 12X 256MB. The Lexar card performed very well, with just a bit of noticeable slowdown as we neared 200 pictures. It slowed down to about the normal speed of our Sandisk 256MB card.

The Coolpix has several pre-selected modes and they all work very well. The museum mode got quite a bit of use, since we were in several museums and churches where you weren’t suppose to use a flash. The flash, by the way, doesn’t do you much good in a huge church. The effective range is only a dozen feet or so and you end up with an under-exposed image. The museum mode, on the other hand, gave excellent exposure. The trick was to keep the camera still, since it used a slow shutter speed. (I did take my monopod with me, but we didn’t carry it around much because of it’s length.)

Our only real criticism of the Coolpix 3100 is that there are almost too many exposure modes and it can be hard to remember where they all are. The top dial has a few preset modes (portrait, landscape, etc), each of which has varieties. There is also a Mode selection on the dial, which has some menu options that are similar to the preset modes. A little confusing, but manageable. And the more we use it, the better we get.

Overall, I’d give the Nikon Coolpix 3100 a 4.5 out of 5.

We have walked in the footsteps of Ceasars and Popes; some of the most talented and influential artists, and some of the most powerful families in history. We are humbled.

We made it out of Venice and on to Florence without any major problems. Oh, except that I came down with a head cold our last day in Venice. It lasted most of our time in Florence, but it never got so bad that I couldn’t get out and enjoy things. And being on cold medicine and drinking in a foreign country is always fun. (Especially when you climb a really big hill at sunset then proceed to drink La Biere du Demon (yes, Demon Beer), the world’s most alcoholic beer. That was a fun trip back to the hotel.)

Sarah and I agree that Florence was our favorite part of the trip. It is a city, but not a throbbing metropolis (like Rome). It is tightly packed, but not too large, with motorbikes whizzing in and out of people and cars.

From our hotel, a straight 10 minute walk south led us past the Accademia Gallery (home to Michelangelo’s David) to the steps of the Duomo. We sat on the steps on night talking of the art and architecture that we’d had seen, and realized that hundreds of years ago Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Dante did the same thing, on the very same steps. And in that same church (Santa Marie del Fiore) the Medicis worshipped.

The interior of the Duomo isn’t as grand as some other places — like Basilica di Santa Croce, whose interior holds the tombs of Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Galileo, Machiavelli, Dante and others — but the outside is beautiful. And climbing up through the dome to its top is just damn fun.

One of my top over-looked stops is right out in front of the Duomo — the Baptistry. People note it for Ghiberti’s doors, but the interior was astounding. Every section of the octagonal building from floor to ceiling is painted with biblical scenes. Truly one of my favorite stops. And for a couple of minutes Sarah and I were the only ones in it!

Of course seeing David was fantastic. All of the pictures you have seen combined can not do justice to this statue. For one, its sheer size is imposing (he stands some 17 feet tall). The subtle details that Michelangelo worked in his sculptures is impressive. You can see the difference in muscle tension in his legs, as most of his weight is on his right foot. That foot presses out onto the marble floor,while the toes of the left foot are more compacted since there is little weight on them. Then, look up into his eyes. I never noticed it in any picture but David looks apprehensive. You can see that he is looking off into a crowd, looking for someone to show him what to do. There is slight confusion in his gaze; a certain unknowing of what he is about to do.

The other real treat in the Accademia are Michelangelo’s incomplete Slaves. You can see the chisel marks indicating what and where he was cutting and shaping. Unlike the life that David has, these still seem to have some life of Michelangelo left in them. You can almost see him working on them.

Of course, we also went through the Uffizi Gallery. Never in my life did I imagine that I would gaze upon so many original Lippis, Botticellis, Da Vincis, Caravaggios, Rembrandts, Rubens, Raphaels, et al. Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Alegory of Spring stand out as my favorites.

Next stop, Rome.

We had a great trip; I shot 8 rolls of film and we took nearly 300 photos with Herman (our digital camera).

Once we get unpacked and settle back into our house I’ll get up a couple of more detailed posts.

After two and a half days, we still can’t find out way around. We’ve got a good map. We can find our location on said map. Choose destination, start walking and presto, we are lost again.

I feel like I’m vacationing in The Labyrinth. All I need to do is run into David Bowie. It sure feels like the bridges and alleys change as we walk them.

And yet, it is beautiful. Every alley leads somewhere interesting. After nearly every twist and turn the small (like less than 3′ wide) alles open to small campos, ancored at one corner by a multi-hundred-year-old church. It really is quite fantastic.

Except when you are trying to get somewhere. Just as we are getting ready to leave, we might get the hang of it. We’ll see if we can find our way to the train tomorrow.

Ciao.