Souvenirs

Remember how I collect things? Like dishes, pillows, and cute old stuff? Well, we all collect things, don't we, but I remembered another catagory and thought I'd share it with you. I've always been interested in architecture and it seemed only natural to me to pick up tiny buildings as souvenirs.

Here is a tiny replica of Neuschwanstein. Except this is in the summer with green grass and I saw it all covered in snow. It was Disney's inspiration for Disneyland's castle.

Added later: I'm sorry about those links. I've checked and rechecked them and they seem correct, but for some reason blogger won't show them.

The next one is from Lucca, Italy. If I look real close I think I can find our hotel. Ok, maybe not, but look, there's Torre Guinini. It's that tall one with the tree growing on top.

And here is Torre Guinini in terra cotta. We climbed all 12 million steps up to the top of it.

And here is another tower. We didn't take the stairs here. We took the elevator. All the way to the top. And then Teen1 took a nap on a bench underneath it.

And here is St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall, England. We had a nice day out there.

And here is a perfect example of a house in Venice. Terra cotta roof, arched windows, varigated pinky-orange color, air of decay - I love this one.

And another tower with too many steps. Not only were there lots of steps, but since the tower leans, as you ascend it the wall angle is constantly changing. First it leans away from you, then it's normal, then it leans towards you forcing you to the left side of the steps, then it straightens out again, then it leans away again. Up and up you go, getting more and more disoriented as you go, until finally you make it to the top dizzy and almost sea sick. And if the ascent didn't make you weak in the knees, the view will. Awesome.

Here is the church in Siena. We had a view of this out our hotel room window. It's made of alternating rows of black and white marble. Very striking.

This cute little English cottage was actually a gift from our friends who live in Manchester. When we visited them we went to the Lake District and visited Beatrix Potter's home too. Which reminds me - I should show you my all little mice sometime.