Welcome back everyone,

We have booked our next vacation. A place full of wonder and magic...the most visited country in the world...ITALY. We leave at the end of April for a 14 day tour of the country.

We start and finish in the Eternal City of Rome.

I look forward to posting photos of our journey...to places like Verona. Famous for the setting of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Also a1st century Roman amphitheater that is considered one the best preserved ancient structures of it's kind

Or the City of Venice...which is consisted of more than 100 islands situated in a lagoon in the Adriatic Sea. Famous for the Grand Canal and St. Marks' Square. Known as the Piazza San Marco

or Florence in the central region of Tuscany...is home to masterpieces for Renaissance art and architecture. Most iconic sights is the Duomo, a cathedral with terracotta-tiled dome. Or another must see is the Ponte Vecchio which is a medieval stone-arch (closed in ) bridge

We are also venturing to Sorrento which is a coastal town in southwestern Italy. It is perched on  cliffs that overlook the marina. I expect a lot of walking here as we get to spend 3 nights in the heart of Sorrento, including May 8th. That's right I will be celebrating my 45th birthday in the south of Italy. I hope to be enjoying a 'limoncello' which is a drink made famous in Sorrento and perhaps indulging an extra scoop of gelato (Italian ice cream)

Super excited...

I haven't posted for a while now as my house renovations have basically taken over our lives. I do hope to share with you some more of my life in the future. But for now I think that I will just 'suspend' the blog. Thank you all for being interested in whatever caught my eye through my camera lens. I truly appreciated the support, encouragement and comments

-Alison

Honeysuckle bush / wall
Beautiful

'Star Flower'
Outside every room in the hotel

'Leaf' Disguised Butterfly

Mexico is overwhelmingly Catholic
This is one of their most visited churches in the heart of
Puerto Vallarta
 

Inside...to see all the tourists...

I find that people rarely look up. I however always look up and
I thought this ornate metal piece was quite lovely

The island is lite with 2500 torches and hundreds of votive candles...

Me...in candle light trying to see my meal.
We finally ate supper at 10:30
After the show which was great!

Another night we took a boat ride out to an island for a 'Circ de Soleil' show and supper
This is the type of boat we and 68 other tourists were on

An evening shot of the hotel strip and the Bay

Other snorkel boats and lots of birds to see

As these islands are bird sanctuaries people are not aloud to step on the land. We were able to swim up close
and personal to the rocks and let me tell you the waves are very strong and if you are on the wrong side of the rock formations  things can get a little dicey very quickly. Luckily we had an excellent snorkel leader who kept us out of
trouble