Len on Life: July 2009

Friday, July 31, 2009

Monday, July 27, 2009

Hiking the Son of Middle Creek

Lexey and I went up to Vail for the weekend and did a short hike with Jeff and Mel.

The wildflowers are incredible right now:

The hikers:

Jeff took this shot:

The rest of my photos from the hike are here.

Last day in Italy

We visited Rome's Palentine Hill and the Colosseum. Both are truly amazing sites.

Jumping in Italy:

Il Colosseo:

Thank you Mom and Dad for an unforgettable trip:

Many more from Rome.

Back in Rome after a long train ride

After Venice, we went back to Rome. That was a long day on the train, but we still had the afternoon to enjoy.

The Colosseum from the top of the Tomb of the Unknown:

My parents and me:

Others from Rome.

Venice for Dad's birthday

Venice from the tower in Piazza di San Marco:

Piazza di San Marco:

15 second exposure from my hotel room window:

Many more from Venice.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

On to Siena

We did a day trip from Lucca to Siena. That city is rather beautiful.

The main square:

Duomo:

Kinda Alice-in-Wonderland-ish:

We saw James Taylor in Lucca!

Views over Tuscany from a tower in Lucca:

Lucca's gelato is more than acceptable:

James Taylor in Lucca:

More photos from the Lucca towers and around town here.

Headed back to Florence for some museums

Stacia and a "statue":

Gelato time:

The Florence duomo once again:

Friday, July 24, 2009

We accidently got on the wrong train and ended up in Pisa instead of Cinque Terre. No worries though. We spent 2 hours checking out Pisa and their famous leaning tower then went to Cinque Terre.

Leaning Tower of Pisa:

Cinque Terre town of Riomaggiore:

Umbrellas in Monterosso:

Beautiful Monterosso:

More photos from Pisa and Cinque Terre.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

And to Florence we went.

Florence is full of history. Cool place. Crazy churches.

Florence's duomo:

Florence from the top of the tower:

Bible in the duomo:

Gnocchi for dinner:

A day in Lucca

We had been traveling quite a bit, so we decided to take a break and spend a whole day in Lucca. Wait no. That is not what happened at all. Actually we were going to go to Florence and the trains were on strike.

A church tower:

I really want this bike:

A church at night:

More photos from that day in Lucca here.

Day 4 - Lucca (and a little Lenny Kravitz)

On Saturday we left the Maiorani house and went the Lucca (in Tuscany) to check into our apartment for the week. That night Lenny Kravitz was playing so we hit up the show. I was surprised it was a bit boring...

Wine, wine, and more wine:

Limoncello ice things for dessert:

People on old awesome Italian cruisers everywhere in Lucca:

Day 3 - Alba Adriatica to visit the "cugini"

So we headed to Alba Adriatica in Abruzzo to visit the cugini (cousins). This was definitely a highlight of the trip. They picked all 5 of us up at the train station, fed us lunch, took us to the beach, fed us dinner, and housed us for the night. We got to meet all of the family and chat for hours. Really cool stuff.

In Italy, even the dogs eat spaghetti:

The family having a good old time:

Christopher and Ylenia:

Story hour:

The rest of the photos from the family in Alba Adriatica are here.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Day 2 - Vatican and more of Rome

Mom, Dad, and Stacia in the Sistine Chapel:

Stacia and her canolli:

Gelati at Giolotti:

Acting in the Roman Forum:

More from the Vatican and Rome over here.

DTN on ISS

Our work with NASA on the Interplanetary Internet (DTN) on CBS4. Video on the right of this page.

More info on our webpage at http://bioserve.colorado.edu.

First day in Rome

Just got back from an amazing 2 weeks in Italy. I have nearly 2000 photos to browse and work on. I am going to try to post a bunch from each day so people can see them before I really get down to editing and printing some.

Here is July 8th in Rome...

View from the Tomb of the Unknown: