Dublin & Italy 2005!
Well, here's a little background on this trip. I was invited to the wedding of a Flight Attendant friend of mine, Viola Kent, to Ermanno Antonelli, her very warm and welcoming Italian fiancé (Now Husband). She described the location of the wedding and I was instantly hooked. We were to stay in a Castle in Central Italy, where the wedding would take place. Along with my lovely wife, several other friends we work with, Mike Anagnostopoulos and Anna Wilson, were also invited. We checked flights to numerous locations, and finally decided to purchase tickets from Chicago to Dublin because of the significantly lower cost than flying directly to Rome. This also allowed me to reacquaint myself with the Dublin experience. Also, flight passenger loads were WAY too full to consider trying to fly standby. We purchased Ryan Air tickets from Dublin to Rome, which was an entertaining experience. Other than the air you breath, basically everything is for sale onboard Ryan Air, from sandwiches, soda, water, coffee, as well as duty-free goods and even lottery tickets with the proceeds going to charity. We then took a train from Rome to Perugia, passing by but unfortunately not having the time to stop at Assisi.
I have not had time to place the information below all of the photos, but I will in the near future. This is a LARGE web-page, so I apologize if it takes a long time to load. It's is FULL of pictures of the entire trip.
I have not found our notes with the names of all the people in the photos, however, we will be editing this to ensure all are entered and none are forgotten. Please bear with me while I continue to update this page.
We started out and ended our trip in Dublin.
Here is most of the crew from our voyage over to Dublin. They were so much fun, showing us around the Temple Bar district of Dublin. Several quick stops and off to dinner. We had an absolutely amazing time with them.
All the photos of Ireland below are from the return trip, as we were not in Dublin long enough to experience much on the way over, other than Temple Bar.
Bye-bye to the Coliseum.
Some Dublin architecture.
Outside Trinity College
Monument outside
I just loved the
after we saw the Book
Trinity College.
architecture.
of Kells. Awesome!
At the gate to Dublin Castle are these two statues.
Lady justice was quite a controversial installation.
One, she's not blindfolded, indicating Justice is NOT blind.
Two, she facing the Castle, with her back to the 'people'.
Several shots of the inside of Dublin Castle, a very excellent tour, well worth
the time and 6 Euro each.
In the courtyard, there were sand sculptures depicting the 4 seasons. Very impressive. Out the Castle window is a lovely view of the principle garden.
Exterior view of the only original tower from the
During building and renovation, the remains of the,
Castle. The chapel was added later.
other Tower were discovered. The bricks in the
pit were dated back to the early 1200s by their
materials. they also found the original non-drawbridge
servants entrance.
My lovely bride under Dublin Castle near the end of the tour.
We stopped for the best Fish-n-Chips in Dublin.
Someday I'll remember the name of the Church and
No eat-in, so we found a covered stairway while
Arch here.
the cold rain fell.
The 2 couples in front of the Church.
Cindy wanted to show the different skies by turning 180 degrees and clicking the
sky.
Grey south sky and Blue north sky.
Pints around!
A business open since the The infamous Temple Bar Those kooky
girls...
1700s...
in the Temple Bar district.
More pints.... The band in Temple Bar. Two friends Irish lasses.
I loved her smile..
Those kooky girls again....
Fun to chat with as well.
Falafel after a the night's revelry... Yummmmmm..
Anna has a questionable bag.
A beautiful village on the train route. Anna relaxes
with a good book. There it goes,
we'll be back!
We were thirsty after a LONG day Just
before we we off to bed, the A group of AA's
finest...
of traveling.
wedding group arrives back from
dinner in Perugia.
The groom on The lovely Mary.
Kye and Garry.
On the right, the lovely Viola and her
the right, with
beau Ermanno. On the left Stefano &
Stefano & Giovanna
Giovanna!
The AA group.
Garry and his The gardens in the
morning.
The castle in an
beautiful lady,
interesting lighting
Connie!
view.
Here's the castle, Castle Oscano!
The guest house (where we stayed.)
I love that The open
air Views of the landscape from the
Bridal Suite
smile...
dining area. which in in the
large round turret!
Antonella!
Views of the countryside from atop the castle. The terrace on top of the
Castle is where we had hoped to have the ceremony, unfortunately, weather and
rain forced us indoors. It was still an amazing day!
A lovely village on the way to the Oh,
look, sunflowers! Heidi loved Castle Oscano
from the distance!
Perugina Chocolate Factory.
these. We had a great drive with
Drat, they were closed...
Heidi and Richard. They were so fun to drive with and pal around with!
A VERY steep, rutted route when we got sort of lost. From the smile, you
can see Heidi was ready for the ride...
The Great Hall, where the ceremony These 2 boys sat And
the princess. The Maid of Honor,
was moved to due inclement weather. like angels, waiting
Connie.
for the ceremony.
Ermanno, and his cousin, Richard, the The venerable Padré.
Here comes the bride......
Best Man.
Holding hands.......
Vows said..
First kiss, outside right when
the rain stopped.
The wedding party.
My lovely bride shows off;
Lovely gardens
Richard, Ermanno, Viola & Connie. and
check out them shoes..... for
photos.
The AA Gang... (OK, Ermanno
I met these 2 on the veranda while The wave from the
married into it)
sipping champagne.
balcony.
Stefano & Giovanna!
3 beautiful shots on the rooftop terrace.
Cindy loves her fountains.
Glass in hand, The Dining Hall! Awesome
building.
of course!
Great architecture and ambience.
The lovely place-setting.
The Bride and Groom arrive.
Russ chats with the lovely ladies of Italy.
The fans of the Geisha girls.
Giovanna & Angela!
Many of you know how much Cindy LOVES when I teach people to make crystal sing.
NOT!
Mike
Anna Dan
Angie
Mark SUCCESS!!!!!!!
The Bride lovely as always, Viola!
Our table of rowdies.
Breathtaking Polite cake
Anna!
cutting.
Our Sommelier, and the 'Tasse a Vin.' Dessert anyone?
First Dance...
Viola and Father in Law.
Ermanno and Giovanna...
Look at the SMILE!
Regina & Hanna...
Another fun table!
More lovely friends we made at the celebration.
Angela/Fabio/Giovanna/Stefano/Stefano/Giada
Antonella/Alessandro Stephanie &
Connie!
Connie & Garry Richard and Heidi strike a lovely pose.
Brigitte & Regina
We revelers didn't stop after the
enjoy a moment.
reception, we just moved back over
to the out-door dining area.
Our assistants in Castle Oscano. From concierge, server, front desk, they
did it all!
And they were so warm and friendly!
The girls have a laugh.
Mike is serious with his maps.
We met a young lady on the train and
had wonderful fun chatting with
the adorable Daniela Bruno.
3 photos of the landscape in Italy as we traveled via train to the city of Rome.
Upon arrival, we went straight to the Tourist info and Hotel assistance desk.
Booked a nice room, with breakfast included, at the Hotel Palladium Palace for
85 Euro/night.
10 euro less that we were quoted at the Crew Rest hotel, to remain unnamed...
I just though it was funny to see
The church of
Santa Maria Maggiore!
A good street view.
an Hotel California in Rome.
Let's eat!
Now here's proof the Italians
That Anna, we can't
Yep, that's water.
invented the bidet <G>....
take her anywhere...
La Repubblica:
Piazza della Republica
An awesome plaza in Rome. Circled buildings direct your attention back to
Santa
Maria degli Angeli.
We enjoy anther nice meal.
Cindy loves her fountains.
The Spanish Steps, lots of steps.
Beer this time...
Trinità dei Monti
Cindy loved the corner of the four fountains..
Fonatana del I loved the statues in front of the
Unfortunately, only one was working this day. Tritona
Court building,
Palazzo di Giustizia.
Quattro Fontane
Castel Sant Angelo
We enjoy a moment by the river
Just before entering Vatican City, I
Fiume Tevere.
I noticed the Carmelite church:
Santa
Maria del Carmelo in Traspontina
Outside
Vatican City, the smallest nation on the planet.
Yep, the elite Swiss Guard, personal guard to the Pope.
The plaza mentioned in The Da Vinci Our servers at a
restaurant called The other fountain
mentioned in the
Code.
Piazza Navona.
La Fraschetta, we got caught in book,
The Da Vinci Code, in the
an afternoon shower in mid-meal, Piazza
Navona.
we ran for cover in the tiny
diner, great food and fun servers!
The
Pantheon. Notice the dome with the hole in it. Typical
Italians, Amazing altar in
there!
instead of covering the hole, they decide to install plumbing in the
floors, notice the 4 holes in the floor in the 3rd photo. Floor drains...
Cindy takes a The Grand Wall.......
Ancient and awesome...
break.
Tempio Adriano, an amazing wall facade moved from Venice if I recall.
Here we are in front of Trevi Fountain.
Centurion takes
Monumento a
Vittorio Emmanuelle II
Fontana di Trevi
a smoke break. The locals call it 'The Typewriter'
and/or the 'Wedding Cake.'
Above, ancient ruins were unearthed when Rome was planning on renovating the
center of town.
It's quite near the Coliseum.
Here's the Coliseum. Lots of walking and amazing history here. The
base and aqua-ducts are being restored.
The bottom right photo here shows the different layers/sections of the outer
walls. The history panels in the
Coliseum stated the reason part of the Coliseum is missing is because the
Vatican needed the bricks to build
Vatican City and after the middle ages.
Collosseo.
Views from the Coliseum.
Just taking a break, all those
Some typical ruins and such in down-town Rome.
cobble-stones are tough on the feet!
I loved that Smart color scheme!
Once again, Cindy LOVED when we made the crystal sing..... NOT!!!