Italy Trip 1

Okay, I'm back from my trip to Italy, and as promised, plenty of pictures to share. I actually counted 1498-- but don't worry, I'll only be posting the really good ones. If you want to see the whole set, maybe I'll sell them in a series of CDs (but frankly, maybe 20% are really worth seeing). So, in this post I'll just give a basic outline of the trip , with some appropriate photos as accompaniment.

We landed in Milan, and because our group was scattered over three incoming flights, those of us who got there first had some time to kill. So where else do you go, but to the mall:


This may be the original Galleria (that's really the name), built several hundred years ago as a market, and now a high-end shopping center. Right next door is the only Gothic Cathedral in Italy (most of the famous churches there are in either the Renaissance or Byzantine style):


We also had time to visit the old fortress/castle that housed the rulers of the city back in the Middle Ages (and where we caught the tail-end of a wedding):


Then we hustled back to the bus to go back to the airport and pick up the rest of our group. After that, it was on to Venice (which I'll save for the next post).