Our first day in Tuscany

On November 17, 2025November 17, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation5 Comments

After our first 2 days in Rome we took the train to Montecatini Terme in Tuscany. On our short walk to the hotel we saw the above going down the street and I thought “How cute is this?” I knew I was going to like it here.

The view from our hotel window the next morning. This was going to be our home base for our week long tour of Tuscany. We were about a half hour west of Florence and close to many of the Tuscany sites.

On our first morning in Tuscany we headed out for Chianti and I was able to catch the above shots on our way to Greve. The countryside here is beautiful.

We started the morning with a walk around Greve which was quiet and calm after the crazy over-crowded Rome. Settled in the 11th century this small town supports the Chianti wine and olive oil area. There was a small Sunday morning market going on with locals walking around talking and visiting with each other.

We went into one of Italy’s oldest and most renowned butcher shops, the Macelleria Falorni. They also had a cheese room which smelled amazing.

The bells were ringing at the Propsitura di Santa Croce, the 4th church we went into during our stay in Italy.

Completed in 1835, it’s one of the more simple churches we went into. Mass was going to start soon so we just peeked in for a few minutes.

For lunch we headed to nearby Casa Museo Machiavelli. In the 15th century, this winery is where Niccolo Machiavelli, a famous diplomat and author, was living during his exile from Florence during the Medici period.

Before having a wine-tasting lunch we toured the winery.

The view from our table.

After a fabulous long Tuscan lunch and trying many wines (I only tasted the sparkling ones) they brought out the Limoncello. I’m not a big drinker anymore since I’ve had stomach issues over the years but what is that saying? “When In Rome?” I did have a few sips and it was so good. Everyone was dozing on that 30 minute bus ride back to the hotel late that afternoon.

The next day we went to Cinque Terre and I think that was my favorite but more on that later.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) at Image-In-Ing.

Our first two days in Rome

On November 10, 2025November 14, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation9 Comments

I’m going to go off topic and posts some shots from our recent trip to Italy every so often. I hope you don’t mind coming along for the ride.

Brett and I flew into Rome for 2 days before heading to Tuscany for a week long tour. Then back to Rome for several days before heading home. We got to our hotel just after lunch and dropped our bags and took off. Our hotel was a 15 minute walk to the Colosseum so we headed there first. There were long lines to get in and we walked past it after snapping some pictures and headed uphill towards a church.

The first church we went into (we went into 11 in total) was the Santa Maria Nova/Santa Francesca Romano, just a few minutes from the Colosseum. It was not a big church but still very ornate. It was originally built in the 8th century but then rebuilt in the 13th century and the name was changed to Santa Francesca Romano after St. Frances died in 1440 and was buried there.

A typical side street in Rome. I’m not sure if these are rentals. We saw them all over the city.

It’s supposed to be illegal to sit on the Spanish Steps but no one seemed to know that or care. And in all fairness, there is almost no where to sit all over Rome apart from cafes. We saw very few benches and everyone is exhausted from walking around. We came back here before leaving Rome and I got some great views from the very top of the stairs but more on those later.

Typical statue. They are everywhere here.

I thought this little cafe was so cute with the umbrellas on the chair.

A side view of the Trevi fountain. There was a long line to get down close to the water and the crowds around this area were insane.

The 2nd church we visited, Santi Vincenzo E Anastasio, was across from the fountain. The original church was built in 962 and then rebuilt in 1650. The hearts of 22 Popes are buried here.

We stopped in at the 3rd church right before the Pantheon. The church of Sant’lgnazio de Loyola (St. Ignatius) was built in 1650 as the chapel for a college. There are 3 saints and a Pope buried here.

The sun setting on the Basilica of St. Mary. We didn’t go inside until right before leaving Italy so more on this church later.

After dinner we walked back by the Colosseum to see it all lit up.

A new bird for me (I saw 5 on this trip). The horned crows were everywhere here and they were not shy.

Growing in the park near the Colosseum.

Random street shots in Rome.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) at Image-In-Ing.

Some iconic sights of Italy

On October 15, 2025October 31, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation14 Comments

Brett and I recently spent 2 weeks in Italy for the first time. We spent a week in Rome with one day in Naples and a week on a tour through Tuscany. We were traveling light with only a small carry-on and backpack each and I didn’t bring any of my camera equipment so all of my shots are with my phone. These are all just highlights of the iconic sights that we saw. The lines to get in the Colosseum were wrapped around the building. People were waiting hours to get in and that was with a ticket or tour so we didn’t go inside.

The Pantheon in Rome.

The Trevi Fountain. The crowds in Rome and Florence were insane and we were there during the supposed “shoulder-season” (which doesn’t exist here anymore). People told me to get to the fountain early to avoid the crowds but the only time it’s only lightly crowded was between 3am and 5am.

Florence from outside the walls.

The Duomo church in Florence.

The Cathedral of Pisa (next to the Leaning Tower) was completed in 1092.

The iconic Leaning Tower.

One of the 3 villages in the Cinque Terre that we visited. I think this was my favorite day. It was beautiful!

Mount Vesuvius (seen from the waterfront in Naples) that erupted on Pompeii in 79AD.

Not so iconic but this is Monticatini Terme where our hotel was during our stay in Tuscany. It’s near Florence and centrally located to many of the best Tuscan cities. We fell in love with this small town. The crowds were not there, the people were so nice and it was quiet and charming.

I’ll go into more details later when I get through my 1300+ pictures I took.

A visit down south.

On July 23, 2025August 5, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation10 Comments

In late April Brett and I spent a long weekend down in south Florida visiting family. We had an open morning so we went for a long walk on the broadwalk in Hollywood Beach. We got out early before the broadwalk got crowded but as we made our way back the crowds were moving in. It was beautiful and the extreme heat had not set in yet so everyone was out.

Nothing says “Florida” like a mermaid statue.

Passing by touristy sights.

It was a beautiful weekend.

On Sunday we had dim sum in Fort Lauderdale with Brett’s extended family. The Chinese restaurants are much better here than the Tampa Bay area.

For years we came down here to visit family and I never saw an iguana. Now I see them everywhere when we visit.

Watching the boats go by and relaxing along the intercoastal waterway between walks and meals.

Sleeping in a barn

On January 8, 2025February 5, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation4 Comments

Brett and I spent 2 nights in a renovated barn (on the 2nd floor) near Vero Beach. We got there late in the afternoon and looked around a little before heading to the beach for dinner.

It was a little weird driving down a long dirt road after dark to get back to the farm.

The next morning I was awake early and could hear the horses down below. I got up and ran to the kitchen window and saw the above. The sun hadn’t come up yet. I quickly changed and ran out to see what was going on.

The horses were being let out of the barn. We were able to walk around the farm so I ran back upstairs and had a quick breakfast with Brett and we went out for a walk down to the main road.

We were also able to feed the animals and I had brought a bag of apples with us from our hurricane stash so the goats got a treat for breakfast.

Most of the cows were far out in the pasture but one Mom with 2 little ones came close to the fence for a drink of water.

The sun coming up through a spiderweb.

We walked out on the main dirt road and passed by a farm with a No Trespassing sign that said “Don’t even think about it”. Who would want to walk around on that cow poop filled pasture?

It was a beautiful farm. I don’t think they actually grow anything but they do board horses. They also had chickens and a few pigs.

The next morning I was up a little later. Some of the horses were already out of the barn.

A few were still in the other barn and I gave them all of the apples we had left since we were heading home soon.

We had a great time and even though we were sleeping in a barn it had all of the comforts of home.

Sunsetting on dolphins

On December 18, 2024January 21, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, Vacation13 Comments

While on our “No power” road trip we booked a sunset/dolphin cruise in Vero Beach. We booked the tour through the Environmental Learning Center on the causeway and headed out at 4:30 pm with only a few other people on the boat since it was a little chilly.

We saw a few stranded boats along the way.

I was hoping thick clouds didn’t move in and hide the sun but the ones there made for an interesting sky.

We first saw a few dolphins chasing after fish and I barely caught a fish trying to get away.

We saw several more dolphins before the sun starting setting.

We ended the tour with a beautiful sunset. And, as the sun was setting I got a text from my neighbor that our electricity had just come back on after 7 days of being off. Luckily we were planning to go home the next day.

The sun was really putting on a show as we came back under the bridge and back to the dock.

Grinning ear to ear knowing we would have power when we got home the next day. We were very fortunate that we could pack up and leave and take a mini-vacation while the electricity was out back home. Some of my neighbors were able to go stay with friends in the area but since the power outage was so widespread there wasn’t many that had power the first few days.

Destruction and a sunset

On December 16, 2024January 21, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation4 Comments

Brett and I spent 3 nights in Fort Lauderdale while on our “no power” road trip. Since we still didn’t have power back home we left our rented condo in Fort Lauderdale and headed to Vero Beach for 2 nights. We had never been there and found a rental in a renovated barn on a working farm. We thought it would fun and something different.

We started on the highway but decided to take back roads near the beach as we got closer to Vero Beach. Just outside of Vero we came across a lot of destruction. Houses with roofs off and trees all torn up. We were wondering if Hurricane Milton made it this far east but after doing some research online we found out that 2 tornadoes had hit the area as Milton was approaching the western part of the state including one of the three F3 tornadoes that hit Florida. Before Milton flooded the eastern half of the state over four dozen tornadoes hit the state with most in the western part.

Parts of Vero Beach were completely devasted and other parts were fine. The beach was beautiful as we stopped for a quick walk before heading to our rental.

We had some time before we could check in so we stopped at a park along the causeway.

We saw a lot of big lizards (or small iguanas?) at the park. When we stopped for gas Brett pulled off the nozzle and this guy was taking a nap underneath it.

We had an early dinner at a cute seafood restaurant on the intercoastal right next to the bridge back to the mainland. As we walked on the fishing pier under the bridge the moon was coming up over the restaurant.

After dinner we took a long walk along the pier that ran under the bridge. It was a perfect spot to see the sunset.

The next day was a busy one with a walk through a botanical gardens and a sunset dolphin tour. More on those later.

Fly away, high away, bye bye

On December 9, 2024January 21, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, Vacation1 Comment

So many butterflies. I could have spent all day at Butterfly World near Ft. Lauderdale. The best thing to do is to find a good spot to sit and wait for them to land. I’ve heard they don’t flutter around as much later in the day but then the aviary would be crowded with people. We were there when it opened and there were only a few other people there

These black ones with yellow bodies were all over the aviary. I found a few pairs mating.

There were so many different ones. I’m not even going to try and identify these.

One of the rooms had a waterfall and bridge and you could see most of the area from the bridge.

One of the cool things was seeing the rows of pupas in all different stages. They had these plus many more set up in front of windows and you could see the butterflies emerging.

When I see butterflies I think of Elton John’s song –

You’re a butterflyAnd butterflies are free to flyFly awayHigh awayBye bye

Happy Birthday to my hubby

On October 30, 2024December 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation7 Comments

Brett has a birthday coming up this weekend. I don’t show a lot of pictures of him. He hates having his picture taken and doesn’t often let me take one. I usually take them when he isn’t paying attention. Occasionally he lets me get a shot of us together. The top one was while hiking the Grand Canyon, the 2nd was at Red Rock Amphitheatre.

Brett recently started working part time from home but for a many years he had a job where he worked all of the time. Even on vacation he would take calls to quickly answer questions and answer emails so he wouldn’t get too far behind. Most of the time it worked out because while I was busy chasing a bird or butterfly he would patiently be on his phone. He didn’t mind sitting for half an hour while I was looking for a critter, he could answer an email or two.

Checking his email while I was climbing up trying to get pictures of a waterfall in Utah.

On the phone while we were resting after hiking at Amicalola Falls State Park in Georgia (his niece and nephew were hiking with us that morning).

Taking a minute to check emails while hiking at Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado while I was trying to get pictures of the western scrub jay.

Checking messages while taking a break after we snowmobiled to the top of a mountain near Park City, Utah.

Checking messages while I was running around taking pictures of butterflies in Key West. Since he was standing still the butterflies were landing on him.

He looked up and was taking a picture of me while I was hiking up the waterfall at Helen Hunt Falls in Colorado.

He does take the time to look around and enjoy where we are. Above we were hiking in Utah.

Giving me a grumpy look as I took the above as he walked away to go snowboarding in Park City, Utah.

Walking with his uncle in Wynwood Walls, Miami. We walked all around looking at the murals and he didn’t look at his phone once.

Enjoying the ride on our dolphin tour in Manasota Key last December. His phone doesn’t come out much anymore on our trips which is nice for both of us.

A quick trip down south

On October 17, 2024December 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, Vacation7 Comments

Over 4th of July weekend Brett and I (along with his sister and brother-in-law) went down to Fort Lauderdale to visit some of his relatives. Everywhere we went we saw iguanas. They were literally everywhere. In parking lots, along the streets, around our hotel and in any park we stopped at for a quick walk. They were different shades of green, some were brown and blue, some were beige and orange. I think I saw more iguanas than squirrels. Most were pretty skittish.

Above is a quick video of one leaving the sidewalk and taking off into the grass as I walked towards it. They are very fast.

I saw a lot of these. I think it’s a curly tailed lizard, either a Bahama or Caymen.

I think this is a cuban knight anole. This was the only one I saw and he was pretty small, more like the size of our lizards back home.

A brown and tan one walking across the parking lot where we were having lunch.

We were able to make a quick stop at the beach. It was hot though and we didn’t stay long. With the ports nearby there were so many cruise ships and container ships out on the horizon.

The view from Brett’s aunt and uncle’s retirement home. We could see rain out on the beach. Looking right we could see Hollywood Beach and looking left we could see downtown Fort Lauderdale.