Climbing the tower (panorama warning)

With the arrival of Carmie,

We were spurred to climb the bell tower of the Montepulciano municipio,
which gave Chris the opportunity to continue his panorama practice:

Looking north down Via Ricci towards our house

Looking west towards Montechiello on the left and Pienza on the right

More staring out the window

At home in Montepulciano, we've become camera crazy each night around sunset...

It does get a bit hard to wander past the window without stopping...

and then when you do wander past one window, there's another one to grab you.

No wonder we're not getting anything done.

Venezia

Yep, gondolas,
Canals,

more gondolas,
And some marble bridge surfing

Who could ask for more in a city?

Bologna

Bologna - a logical stop halfway to Venice, and a city of some charm. Our unfortunate choice of lunchtime cafe meant Laura had perhaps her worst Spaghetti Bolognese of the holiday...but other more pleasant surprises were on offer....

Its own lesser known leaning tower...

Head-turning fountains....
big sunny parks for daisy-chain making...
and a lovely feel to its wide streets with wide, covered walkways and its backstreets with groovy bars and cafes, but we were having so much fun we forgot to take any photos of them.