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Wherever Books Are Sold!Boomer Travel. Food. Laughter. Breaking the Empty Nest Rules!
David introduces you to frolicking sea lions, swimming marine iguanas, graceful turtles, and super-fast penguins, and a host of characters! See our entire underwater adventure here! >>
David introduces you to frolicking sea lions, swimming marine iguanas, graceful turtles, and super-fast penguins, and a host of characters! See our entire underwater adventure here! >>
It was hard not to let anger be our overriding emotion. Tolerance and nonviolent resistance were the hallmarks of the movement, certainly we should carry on that tradition today. When adding her name to The Wall of Tolerance, Veronica was openly sobbing… CONTINUE READING >>
Our journey through Alabama led us to The Southern Poverty Law Center and The Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery.
The Memorial captured our attention as we walked up the street toward The Center.
The smooth granite circular slab is engraved around the outside edge with the names of people killed in the struggle for equal rights. Water washes over the stone as a constant reminder of Dr. Martin Luther King‘s words, “We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
The Memorial was created by Vietnam Veterans Memorial designer Maya Lin, who envisioned the plaza as “a con-templative area — a place to remember the Civil Rights Movement, to honor those killed during the struggle, to appreciate how far the country has come in its quest for equality, and to consider how far it has to go.”
Inside The Center there is a tribute to each of the victims and information on many of the cases The Law Center has fought through the years.
After we browsed the exhibits and watched a film in the theater, it was hard not to let anger be our overriding emotion. Tolerance and nonviolent resistance were the hallmarks of the movement, certainly we should carry on that tradition today.
Just before the exit we came to The Wall of Tolerance.
This twenty by forty foot wall is an electronic display of the hundreds of thousands of visitors who have pledged to stand up for equality.
After seeing the stories of so many brave souls who gave their lives in the fight for basic American rights, it was not a difficult decision to take the pledge and add our names.
“By placing my name on the Wall of Tolerance, I pledge to take a stand against hate, injustice and intolerance. I will work in my daily life for justice, equality and human rights – the ideals for which the Civil Rights martyrs died.”
It was a deeply emotional moment watching our names appear on the wall, we’re sure we were not alone in walking out the door with tears in our eyes.
Actually, Veronica was openly sobbing and the nice volunteer at the exit had kleenex at the ready, so we’re absolutely positive we weren’t the first.
David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com
Read more about our trip through Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma with more photos and videos by visiting “Following the Freedom March in Alabama.”
Delve deeper:
The Freedom Walk in Birmingham
The Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington, DC
Following Dr. King’s Footsteps Though Travel
Unbelievable – we’re still pinching ourselves! These gentle giants… CONTINUE READING >>
Click here to see where we took this footage!
First the rules. Manatees are protected by several state and federal laws, so it is strictly forbidden to harass them in any way. No chasing, poking, scaring, riding, or in any way going cowboy with the sea cows is allowed. It is not a roundup, pardner.
Our boat captain explained that it was best to try to stay still and let them come to you. And they did. A lot. They are huge, adults often reach over one thousand pounds and babies nearly half that, and they swam right up to us. Several times we had no idea one was around until it was right next to us. They seemed to come out of nowhere.
Manatees are slow moving, very gentle, and actually seem to enjoy interacting with humans, so we mostly floated silently and let them move around us. We even got to touch a couple of them, which is allowed as long as it is done softly and with an open hand. Their skin is a little bristly, with short, coarse hairs, and often covered with a layer of algae.
Sadly, as we had noticed in our land-based manatee viewings, almost every one of these congenial creatures bears scars from collisions with watercraft. They nearly all have tell-tale parallel lines across their backs from boat’s propellers. In fact they have no natural predators, humans are really their only threat, mainly from impact with boats, but also loss of habitat and pollution.
The good news is that a great deal of effort is being made to protect them and their numbers seem to have stabilized, with at least five thousand spending the past few winters in Florida.
Click here to see where we took this footage!
See our video “How to Spot a Manatee” (from land)
Learn how to see manatees on the Gulf Coast or on the Atlantic Coast.
David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com
Visit our GypsyNester YouTube Channel!
A whirlwind tour of Rome as only your GypsyNesters can give you!Visit the colossal Colosseum, the temples of the fabulous Forum and the grandeur of The Vatican! And check out the mysterious horned Moses by Michelangelo and the chains in the church of St. Peter in Chains… CONTINUE READING >>
Civitavecchia — the name translates to ancient city — serves as Rome’s harbor on the Tyrrhenian Sea. From her docks, it is just a short train or bus ride into the Italian capital where we began our tour by walking toward The Arch of Constantine along the Via Triumphalis, the very path that triumphant emperors used.
The arch is one of many triumphal spans erected in ancient Rome to commemorate major victories. This one for Constantine’s prevailing over Maxentius in the year 312. Adjacent to the arch stands one of the most famous landmarks anywhere on Earth, The Colosseum.
The famous name for the magnificent amphitheater is thought to stem not from its own enormous size, but from a colossal statue of Nero that stood nearby.
One thing that has always struck us about The Colosseum is how similar modern stadiums adhere to the design, right down to numbered sections.
Of course it is Roman numerals above each of the archways that mark the entries leading into the seating area at this old arena.
It was heading in to one of those archways that we discovered a huge advantage to joining a tour group like the ones romecolosseumtickets.tours offers, because we got to jump right past the extensive line of folks waiting to get inside.
Even approaching its one thousandth birthday the place looks pretty good. In fact, although damage has been caused by earthquakes and age over time, the majority comes from scavenging when marble and bronze stonework clamps were taken to be used for other buildings.
Still the theater has survived well enough that the staging was still in place from when Paul McCartney performed in it a few years back.
See more photos of the amazing Colosseum!
Most of the main attractions in Rome are close enough together that they can be easily walked from one to another so we hoofed it over to The Forum.
Surrounded by government buildings, temples, statues and monuments, this was the epicenter of ancient Roman life.
Very little remains of most of the magnificent temples, just a handful of columns stand from The Temple of Vesta, one of the earliest structures in the Forum . . .
. . . and the Temple of Vespasian and Titus, dedicated to these two emperors from the Flavian Dynasty.
But the white marble Arch of Septimius Severus, a triumphal arch dedicated the Parthian victories of Emperor Septimius Severus, is remarkably well preserved.
There are also a couple of temples that have been used as churches in modern times, The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, which became the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda. . .
. . . and The Temple of Romulus, now known as Santi Cosma e Damiano, that are in good enough condition that they can still be used.
Near the Forum our next stop was previously unknown to us – San Pietro in Vincoli.
The small church is one of the oldest in Rome, dating back to 431 AD. What this little church lacks in grandiose size it more than makes up for in impressive artifacts.
The church takes its name, meaning Saint Peter in Chains, from chains displayed below the main alter that are said to have been used to hold Saint Peter when he was imprisoned in Jerusalem.
But perhaps even more interesting was the remarkable statue of Moses by Renaissance master Michelangelo.
Pope Julius II commissioned the statue in 1505 as a part of a massive sculpture for his tomb, but the pope died long before Michelangelo could finish the work.
Julius was buried in St. Peter’s Basilica, which he also commissioned, and Moses ended up in this lesser known San Pietro.
We noticed an odd feature to the prophet, small horns on his head. There seems to be some debate as to why Michelangelo did this. There are many theories… see more St. Peter in Chains
There’s no debate that any trip to Rome, no matter how whirlwind, is complete without a stop at The Vatican.
We were in reality making an international journey because this is an independent country within a city. Oddly though, as venerable as The Vatican seems, it has only held its current status within Italy since 1929, but it has endured in this spot for centuries.
The incredibly imposing Basilica of Saint Peter was constructed over the course of 120 years beginning in 1506, but it was replacing its namesake that had stood since Constantine began it in the year 323.
Tradition held that this was the site of Peter’s execution and burial so the cathedral was built in his honor. Now it serves as the final resting place for over one hundred popes.
Once again we got to bypass a really long line when we slipped inside St. Peter’s. We were certainly awestruck by the structure itself, but the basilica also houses a vast array of art treasures.
Of these we found Michelangelo’s The Pieta, showing Jesus just after his crucifixion laying across Mary’s lap, to be the most captivating. We spent most of our limited time inside taking in this monumental work. The master sculptor captured the emotion in the figures in a way that seems almost impossible.
Too soon we were being guided back out into the enormous square in front of the church, didn’t want to miss our bus back to the ship, but we took some time to gather the scene in.
While it was crowded, it was nothing like the hundreds of thousands that gather for special occasions from time to time. Such as when the new pope, Francis, was chosen recently.
Speaking of Francis, we decided to take our last few moments before the bus left to check out the souvenir shops for some Pope swag. Somehow it seems a tad inappropriate, but they did not disappoint.
We found lighters, playing cards, thimbles, refrigerator magnets, and even bobble-head dolls of The Bishop of Rome. (see all of the best? worst? most inappropriate? Pope souvenirs we found!)
David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com
Thanks to Princess Cruises for inviting us along and providing this adventure! As always, all opinions are our own. See our entire Mediterranean voyage aboard the Royal Princess here
This post may contain sponsored links.
The famous name for the magnificent amphitheater is thought to stem not from its own enormous size, but from a colossal statue of Nero that stood nearby… CONTINUE READING >>
The Colosseum is one of the most famous landmarks anywhere on Earth.
The famous name for the magnificent amphitheater is thought to stem not from its own enormous size, but from a colossal statue of Nero that stood nearby.
One thing that has always struck us about The Colosseum is how similar modern stadiums adhere to the design, right down to numbered sections.
Of course it is Roman numerals above each of the archways mark the entries leading into the seating area at this old arena.
It was heading in to one of those archways that we discovered a huge advantage to joining a tour group from the Royal Princess, we got to jump right past the extensive line of folks waiting to get inside.
Even approaching its one thousandth birthday the place looks pretty good. In fact, although damage has been caused by earthquakes and age over time, the majority comes from scavenging when marble and bronze stonework clamps were taken to be used for other buildings.
Still the theater has survived well enough that the staging was still in place from when Paul McCartney performed in it a few years back.
David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com
Thanks to Princess Cruises for inviting us along and providing this adventure! As always, all opinions are our own. See our entire Mediterranean voyage aboard the Royal Princess here
The small church is one of the oldest in Rome, dating back to 431 AD. What this little church lacks in grandiose size it more than makes up for in impressive artifacts… CONTINUE READING >>
Near The Forum in Rome is San Pietro in Vincoli.
The small church is one of the oldest in Rome, dating back to 431 AD. What this little church lacks in grandiose size it more than makes up for in impressive artifacts.
The church takes its name, meaning Saint Peter in Chains, from chains displayed below the main alter that are said to have been used to hold Saint Peter when he was imprisoned in Jerusalem.
But perhaps even more interesting was the remarkable statue of Moses by Renaissance master Michelangelo.
Pope Julius II commissioned the statue in 1505 as a part of a massive sculpture for his tomb, but the pope died long before Michelangelo could finish the work.
Julius was buried in St. Peter’s Basilica, which he also commissioned, and Moses ended up in this lesser known San Pietro.
We noticed an odd feature to the prophet, small horns on his head.
There seems to be some debate as to why Michelangelo did this, some say that it is due to the Latin translation of the passage from Exodus where Moses comes down from the mountain.
In the Middle Ages the idea that his face was horned from his encounter with God was common, now the word for horn is usually translated as shining.
Another theory is that the horns were never meant to be seen. The statue was to be placed high enough that they would not be visible from the ground and would reflect light to give the prophet a heavenly glow.
We will never know which is correct.
David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com
Thanks to Princess Cruises for inviting us along and providing this adventure! As always, all opinions are our own. See our entire Mediterranean voyage aboard the Royal Princess here
Surrounded by government buildings, temples, statues and monuments, this was the epicenter of ancient Roman life… CONTINUE READING >>
Most of the main attractions in Rome are close enough together that they can be easily walked from one to another so we hoofed it over to The Forum from The Colosseum.
Surrounded by government buildings, temples, statues and monuments, this was the epicenter of ancient Roman life.
Very little remains of most of the magnificent temples, just a handful of columns stand from The Temple of Vesta, one of the earliest structures in the Forum . . .
. . . and the Temple of Vespasian and Titus, dedicated to these two emperors from the Flavian Dynasty.
But the white marble Arch of Septimius Severus, a triumphal arch dedicated the Parthian victories of Emperor Septimius Severus, is remarkably well preserved.
There are also a couple of temples that have been used as churches in modern times, The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, which became the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda. . .
. . . and The Temple of Romulus, now known as Santi Cosma e Damiano, that are in good enough condition that they can still be used.
David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com
Thanks to Princess Cruises for inviting us along and providing this adventure! As always, all opinions are our own. See our entire Mediterranean voyage aboard the Royal Princess here