Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas

While it is still appropriate I wanted to post these pictures of Christmas decorations / lights / nativity scenes that I saw in Italy.

In Venice, I saw the most wonderful nativity scenes on display. They were part of a contest. Different groups entered the scenes that they had created. Many, such as the one you see above were very elaborate. The nativity in this particular display has been set down in the middle of a very European looking village with castles and Swiss style chalets in the background.

Throughout Italy, I saw various nativities and other festive scenes like the one above displayed in peoples yards or in parks. The one seen above and those below were in Camposampiero which is a little village not far from Venice (perhaps a half hour ride by train). While visiting Venice, I stayed in the small village of Fratte not far from Camposampiero and would usually make the trek over to Camposampiero at least once a day to frequent the restaurants or cafes there. Being just a little larger than Fratte, they had a bit more variety and choice. The food was excellent and the locals extremely friendly.




This elaborate display was actually in someone's yard. It looks like it was probably a fair amount of work to set up, but it certainly was lovely to look at.

This is part of the same display as above. This person's yard borders a little creek that winds its way through town.

Every town and city I visited had lovely displays of Christmas lights though their down town core. I particularly liked these ones in Florence as they looked like giant icicles dangling across the streets.

That's about all I have time for at the moment. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.



2 comments:

Cheryl said...

I love the photos of Florence! Chuck and I were there in December as well and the lights over the narrow streets were so amazing. I think the winter is the best time of year to visit some of those places.
I'm glad you're home!

Carla said...

Hi Cheryl,

I loved the lights everywhere I went. It made everything seem so festive.