In keeping with the tradition of adventure, Sarah and I went on a big trip for Christmas and New Years!

This year, we met up with Sarah’s family in Italy, traveling to Rome and Florence; not quite a perfect midpoint for everyone, but it was close enough. And, also, you know. Rome. Florence. Amazing!

Please forgive me for some of these being a bit out of order… the posts are organized somewhat chronologically… but also organized by theme and location.  Some may not be exactly in chronological order, so for reference please see the initial summary post, which has a complete day-by-day, blow-by-blow account of the adventure.

 

Various days while we were in Florence

Street Art – it can be spray paint tags, stencils, or huge murals. It’s one of my favorite things to look for when I travel to a new city, I feel like it gives me a rare look into the psyche of the city, and a glimpse into what the people who actually live here enjoy and appreciate.

Rome did have some street art, but it was pretty few and far between… whether this was due to city laws, the fact that there were so many statues, or something else, I couldn’t tell. Florence, however, was alive with random small little stencils and sprays.

I didn’t see any graffiti or tags, such as you’d see in a subway tunnel in New York City, but I did see a lot of little artistic sprays around the side streets. There was one series of famous paintings, but stenciled with the subjects wearing swimming goggles, that became a minor obsession of mine. Every time we saw a new one, I’d get super excited and stop to take a quick picture.

So, please sit back and enjoy the following two galleries: The Swimming Goggle Collection, and the Street Art of Florence collection.