Prague - April 14-17, 2006

Here are pictures from Prague in the Czech Republic. We got a tour that took us to all the big spots and then afterwards just wandered around the city. The city is mostly a walking city and a photographer's delight. Every corner you turn the gothic architecture is just really astounding. The city was one of the cities in Europe that was not bombed during the WWII so everything is pretty much preserved. The two areas we really spent a lot of time in were the Prague Castle area and the Charles Bridge.

The entrance to Prague Castle

Prague Castle

One of Franz Kafka's former homes

Tyn Cathedral in Old Time Square

The Charles Bridge

Prague Castle at night (view from Charles Bridge)

City view of Prague from the top of the Observatory

Roman Holiday - April 8-9, 2006

All the hotels in Milan were booked for this weekend because of a huge furniture exhibition and it was also the weekend of the elections for Prime Minister so I did not have a place to stay in Milan. So I decided to go to Rome for the weekend. I tried to do all the touristy things I could cram in two days...luckily I had been to Rome before so I kind of new what to do. Here are some pics from that weekend...

Palm Sunday at the Vatican, there must have been close to 40,000 people in the square

I was trying to get close to the front while the Pope was addressing the crowd

A view of the Vatican City from the top of the St. Peter's Basilica

A close-up of Michelangelo's "La Pieta"

The Trevi Fountain

Sunset at the Colosseum

Cinque Terre - March 26, 2006

My cousin Angela and her boyfriend Jim came to visit me for a few days and we decided to hike at Cinque Terre (5 Lands). The trip is about 3 hours from Milan with a stop in Genova. We tried to hike all 5 lands but due to time constraints and a really long stop for a freezing lunch at Corniglia (the 3rd land) we could only hike until the 4th land and we ended up taking the train to the 5th land which is the biggest and is called Monterosso. The weather wasn't so great as you can see and it rained a bit but it was a lot of fun and the views are spectacular. The 5 towns are perched on cliffs overlooking the Ligurian sea just north of the Mediterranean. The total distance from the first to the last land is about 9 miles. We ended the day enjoying gelato overlooking the sea while waiting for the train back to Milan. The trip back to Milan was chaotic as we missed our original connection train but luckily the last train heading back to Milan was delayed so we caught it just in time.

La Scala - March 23, 2006

I was finally able to get tickets for La Scala. I settled on an Italian opera called Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti. The house was packed and La Scala is considered to be one of the top opera houses in the world so I had to experience it. The opera house has been around since 1778 and recently underwent major renovations. Composers like Giuseppe Verdi and singers like Maria Callas were among the people who performed at La Scala. The interior or the opera house is really different from the exterior which is really unassuming. The interior is exactly what you would expect an Italian opera house to look like, red lining everywhere, grand chandeliers, marble statues everywhere. The house seats 2800 and the stage is surrounded by box seats. The box seats are stacked and go as high as 6 levels up. I was on the first level 8 boxes away from the stage so I thought I had good seats considering I shelled out close to $140! Well, it turns out these tiny boxes can only allow two people to see the stage completely. They seat 5 max per box so I had to stand for most of the performance and lean out behind the two people in front of me. One of the guys in the box actually fell asleep during the show! Aside from the extra work of having to peer out to see the complete stage the production values were top notch. The stage and set designs were so realistic it was amazing. The singers and the costumes too were world class. If I had to go again I would buy tickets further in the back of the "U" shaped row of boxes so I could get a better view but it's definitely an experience.