Year: 2025
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Vicenza, day one
Train today from lovely Mantua to dream-like Vicenza, home of Palladio, the 16th century architect. Vicenza is rich with Palladio’s palaces, public buildings, churches and other buildings. One of the more remarkable buildings — although it is hard to make such distinctions — is Palladio’s 1585 theater, Europe’s first indoor theater, still in use. Vicenza…
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Mantua, day two
There should be a rule about not visiting two palaces in one day. That is precisely what I did today and the images are confused in my mind. This morning was the 450 room ducal palace of the Gonzaga family; this afternoon their pleasure palace, Palazzo Te. Palazzo Te had amazingly painted ceilings, as did…
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Mantua, day one
Mantua was about two hours from Bologna by train, and a small city with a dramatically different feel. Everything is much slower in Mantua. After a slow lunch we visited three churches: tiny San Lorenzo from the 11th century, a place Matilda of Canosa worshipped; Sant’ Andrea, the large basilica; and the cathedral. The city…
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Bologna, day four
This visit to Bologna has been very relaxed and low stress. Last night’s dinner was a memorable one in a tiny restaurant where dishes a grandmother might have cooked were elevated to the sublime — a mortadella and potato sformatino (sort of soufflé), eggplant Parmesan, white meat lasagne, and tiramisu. Today we began in the…
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Bologna, day three
Not many pictures today, although I have been busy. We started off to visit one of the larger churches, San Giacomo Maggiore. The church was a forest of scaffolding, but the Bentovoglio chapel was open and newly restored with its paintings dating from 1486. Next door was the extraordinary oratory of Santa Cecilia. The walls…
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Bologna, day two
A perfectly beautiful day which included a visit to Santo Stefano, a complex of six or seven churches at one end of Piazza Santo Stefano, a triangular piazza and one of the most beautiful in the city; the old university (one of Europe’s first) and its dissecting theater; and the small church of Santa Maria…
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Bologna, day one
Getting here required two planes, a bus and one train, all on time, but it was a long day. This afternoon I met a friend from Nashville at the train station, or tried to: as it turns out, there is a second and even larger station below the main station. We ended up meeting at…
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Delaware Water Gap
The Delaware River passes through a gorge/valley near the intersection of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. Here the Delaware is broad and shallow, greatly loved by kayakers and floaters. I spent a few days in this area with friends who rented a house on the banks of the river. I spent part of an…
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Fourth of July, 2025
Hartford celebrated the Fourth on July 5th (Saturday). The day was hot and humid, but after sunset the air cooled and the temperature fell. Bushnell Park was filled with a large crowd; food trucks lined Elm Street. I had dinner with friends at their Elm Street house. Afterwards we sat on the stoop and enjoyed…
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Early Summer
A miscellany of photos from this spring: Penwood State Forest, where I hike many mornings; a shot or two from a spring trip to New York City; a visit to Cape Cod (Woods Hole and Hyannis); my old parish of St John’s where I preached after Easter; and a few Hartford snaps.