Watkins' Trip to Rome and Florence, Italy!
Thursday, we catch a train early in the morning to ride to Florence! The trains in Italy are amazing. You can set your watch by their arrivals and departures! Very different from the trains here in the states where being hours late is not unusual. The trains are comfortable too.
| Walter and Loretta enjoying the train ride to Florence. | Jan and Randy also enjoying the ride to Florence. A photo of us together is rare because we were the ones taking the pictures. Mark Metzler, the Watkins photographer borrowed our camera and took this. |
| Here's our tour guide, Guiseppe with Lynn Zilke, the Watkins organizer for these Watkins trips. | Here's the crowd waiting outside the Accademia in Florence where Michaelangelo's famous statue of David is. Left to Right, Ann Marie, Steve, Ginny, Suzanne, Shawn. |
| Here's more of us waiting in the rain for David. Left to Right, Martha Meehan, Randy, Peter, Ann Marie, Steve (Watkins Staff), Suzanne and Shawn. We don't have electronic pictures of the inside of the museum or the David. | Here's the famous Piazza della Signoria, the political center of Rennaisance and modern Florence. The small looking statue in the center is a copy of David that is in the Accademia. This is where the original stood for over 400 years. |
| Here's the film crew that followed us around unloading their equipment at the Ponte Vecchio (see right). This is just after they interviewed Jan and Randy on film. | Ponte Vecchio. The oldest bridge in Florence built in the 1200's. The bridge is lined with famous jewelry shops on both sides. We'll have more pictures of it later. |
| Here's Randy arriving at the Ponte Vecchio for the first time, behind him, the film crew is getting out of their car (see above) |