Afternoon in Kyrenia

With a valid passport, you can drive to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.  There are a lot of great historical sights.  Some friends and I went there for a day trip on Saturday.  We enjoyed the 13th century Venetian architecture, as well as a tasty lunch and a little bit of souvenir shopping.

guard tower

not bad for 15th century architecture

with two Turkish flags flying above the Venetian castle

under the heat lamp- smart kitty

Wherein I visited Rome to hit the tourist attractions before 2015 ended

Fountain Trevi

the Pantheon

San Luigi de Francesca church, where a great children's choir was performing

the very famous Carravaggio painting in San Luigi- "The Inspiration of St Matthew"

Beautiful marble work in Plaza Navarro, with random child to the left

In the amazing little wine bar, enjoying some amazing Italian wine and cheese

The Vatican (but I didn't go inside, b/c it wasn't worth two hours in line to get pushed by other tourists through St Peters)

The River Tiber by night

famous Piedmontese bridge- Constantine dreamed that God wanted him to win, so had all of his soldiers paint crosses on their shield.  They won, and he and all of his soldiers converted to Christianity, somewhere around 330 CE.  

For New Years Eve 2015, we had a wonderful 4 course Italian dinner, followed by hours of fireworks set off by everyone in the neighborhood.  I could lie on the couch and see the neighbor's handiwork.  

Christmas lights in Vienna

Votivskirche

floating cylinders

Chandeliers of light

the Rathaus

huge heart lights decorating a tree

What are these?  I don't know, but they were sure pretty.  Vienna wins at the Christmas lights in public spaces.