I was riding my bike home around noon today and when I got to the Ponte alle Grazie in Florence, Italy, I saw unusual crowds gathered on the bridge. Naturally curious, I pulled over to see what the big deal was. And there were men falling from the sky and landing in the Arno River. Not actually in the river (which is good since the river is disgusting). They were parachuting onto a platform. All four skydivers that I saw landed on the same spot in front of Florence’s famouse Ponte Vecchio.
The last diver let go a stream of colored smoke – red, white, and green, the colors of Italia. This next picture was taken one bridge upstream from the Ponte alle Grazie (ponte is the Italian word for ‘bridge’) shortly after a helicopter flew too close to my head for my taste. It is the Ponte San Niccolò and I ride my bike over this bridge almost once a day.
I apologize for the horrible spots on these images. My Sony digital snapshot has dirt inside the lens and I was told this summer that I would have to send the camera to Sony and pay about $200 to have it cleaned. Since this is not my favorite camera (it has suffered from artifacting ever since I flew to Paris 2 years ago) and new digitals are not much more expensive, I decided to keep this for a party camera until it dies a natural death before I invest in another one. I have it with me almost all the time now.
Ok, now I am out the door to try to find my Aunt Carole, who is visiting Florence for the first time with a group of tourists. Let me see what she thinks of the David and Michelangelo’s unfinished slaves!
1 comment:
I can understand your photos better Kelly, because my daughter and I stayed about 1 block away from that bridge about 3 years ago.
You keep the memories alive for us, ThankYou.
Cool with the colored smoke and jumpers. Keep up the great blog.
Gene P.
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