Visiting Florence is an art lesson on the streets

A street artist making a chalk image of Mona Lisa on the street near some of the most famous masterpiece paintings in the Gallery Academy. Photo from FoxRVTravel article "Visiting Florence is a art lesson on the streets"

Visiting Florence is an art lesson on the streets. You can’t go to Florence without seeing art. It is everywhere: in the buildings, on the walls, standing in the squares, and even drawn on the streets. When you are visiting Florence, you are surrounded by art. Photoblog, Florence, Italy, April 12-16, 2025 Where else can […]

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Masterpiece Renaissance Sculpture at the Gallery of the Academy

Masterpiece sculpture of David by Michelangelo Buonarroti in Marble. 1501 - 1504 Photo from FoxRVTravel article "Masterpiece Renaissance Sculpture at the Gallery of the Academy"

Michelangelo’s Masterpiece Renaissance sculpture of David, and several other Michelangelo statues are at the Gallery of the Academy of Florence. The centerpiece is Michelangelo’s David, but there are also finished and unfinished statues by Michelangelo and several other impressive statues. Most of them are Renaissance Sculptures, even up to the 1800s. Photoblog, Florence, Italy, April 12,

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Pre-Renaissance paintings at the Gallery of the Academy

Madonna and Child Enthroned and Six Saints Attributed in the past to Domenico di Michelino or Lorenzo di Puccio Tempera on wooden panel, circa 1470 Photo from FoxRVTravel article "Pre-Renaissance paintings at the Gallery of the Academy"

Paintings at the Gallery of the Academy in Florence have three styles: Statues, Pre-Renaissance, and Renaissance. To me, the difference in the paintings is that Renaissance Paintings exhibit far more depth, perhaps even movement in the paintings. Pre-Renaissance is also divided into two groups, sometimes called Early Renaissance and the earlier works described as Gothic.

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Renaissance paintings at the Gallery of the Academy

St Peter Healing a Lame Man, This work, signed and dated at lower right by Cosimo Gamberucci Oil on wood 1599 Photo from FoxRVTravel article "Renaissance paintings at the Gallery of the Academy"

Renaissance Paintings at the Gallery of the Academy look much like photographs and exhibit far more depth, background, and even movement. They are more lifelike than any art preceding them except for statues. I think realism comes from the advanced techniques used during the Renaissance. The Renaissance artists created depth, including methods for seeing the

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We found Amazing Greek Temples in Italy!

View of the west end of "The Second Temple of Hera" Cover photo. Photo from FoxRVTravel article "We found amazing Greek Temples in Italy!"

Paestum is an ancient Greek city in southern Italy. It is renowned for its remarkably well-preserved Greek Temples. In Paestum, we found Greek Temples in Italy. Paestum predates the Roman Empire by several hundred years. Because of locations like Paestum, the Romans were infatuated with Greek culture and mythology. Greek culture was well established when

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The Roman Forum

Portico Medievale (medieval porch) also known as the Baths are part of the archaeological remains situated along the Via Sacra at the forum. Visits to the public bathhouses (a spa like activity) was common during the Roman Era. Photos are from the FoxRVTravel article “The Roman Forum.”

Before Rome was founded, the Roman Forum was a swampy area between Palatine Hill and Capitoline Hill. Over the next four hundred years, the swamp was filled in, drained, and converted into The Roman Forum, complete with a palazzo. Most cities in Italy and Spain have the same palazzo in the center of the town.

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The Roman Colosseum

A view of the outside brick structure of the Colosseum. Everything you see here would have been clad in white marble 2000 years ago. Photos are from FoxRVTravel article "The Roman Colosseum."

Colosseum comes from the Latin word for really big (colossal). In this case, the huge item is the Roman Colosseum. This structure is massive, but the name Colosseum is not associated with the size of the amphitheater; instead, the Colosseum was named after the enormous bronze statue of Emperor Nero. Photoblog, Rome, Italy, Europe. April

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Masterpiece Paintings in the Borghese Gallery

Painting called "Adoration of the Christ Child" by Piero di Cosimo (Florence 1461-62 - 1521) in the Borghese Gallery. Photo from FoxRVTravel Masterpiece Paintings in the Borghese Gallery.

The Borghese Gallery is all about the best fine art. In many cases, especially when considering Masterpiece paintings in the Borghese Gallery, these are the original paintings by the original artists. Photoblog, Rome, Italy, Europe. April 4, 2025 You might say that Pope Paul V (Cardinal Camillo Borghese) of (1605-1621), his cardinal nephew, and Cardinal Scipone

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Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery (and mosaics)

Statue called Truth Unveiled in the Galleria Borghese sculpted by Bernini. Photo from FoxRVTravel Masterpiece Statues in the Borghese Gallery. 

Statues in the Borghese Gallery The Borghese Gallery may have more masterpieces than any other building worldwide. I have included some mosaics at the end of the post we found in the Borghese Gallery. Starting with Roman statues and including masterpieces of both paintings, the Gallery is famous for Renaissance art. More than 300 years ago,

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The Strange Egyptian Room at the Vatican Museum

The hall of Egyptian statues in the Vatican Museum.

I didn’t expect an Egyptian room at the Vatican Museum. Over the last two thousand years, the Vatican purchased, gathered, commissioned, and was gifted perhaps thousands of treasures. The Egyptian room includes some of these treasures. Photoblog, Rome, Italy, Europe. April 3, 2025 Statues in the Egyptian room The statue would have been brought to

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Everything about Saint Peter’s Basilica is amazing.

Photo of the inside of the dome at Saint Peters Basilica .

Everything about Saint Peter’s Basilica is amazing, especially the paintings inside the dome, as seen in the above photo. Saint Peter’s Basilica is often called Saint Peter’s Cathedral, including by me. The Catholic church calls it a Basilica. A Catholic church building is called a Basilica when the location has exceptional merit. Photoblog, Rome, Italy,

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A solution for solar charging RV chassis batteries without an inverter.

A solution for solar charging chassis batteries.

Until now, we have maintained the charge on our RV chassis batteries with electricity from our inverter. Here is a solution for solar charging RV chassis batteries without using our inverter. Someday (soon), our new DC-to-DC converter will be the only charge source for my RV chassis battery because I won’t be driving the RV.

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Installing our True Topper RV fabric slide topper replacements.

True Topper RV slide toppers

Fabric RV slide toppers are junk, and I am glad I got rid of them. Unlike most projects on my RV, installing True Topper is not a do-it-yourself project. I needed professional installation of True Toppers on my RV. This isn’t something that I could do in a campground. Picnic tables are not long enough.

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Our epic 2024 travel adventure

2024 travel adventure

Wonderful visits and a few big disappointments highlighted our epic 2024 travel adventure. After our 2023 visit to Alaska, our 2024 travel adventure should have been easy. Not so; we had some issues along the way. We visited new places, and again, like in 2023, we returned to Alaska. This time, we went to Alaska

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Exploring the Puget Sound

After sunset from our campsite overlooking the Puget Sound.

Ideally, exploring Puget Sound would involve a boat. Last summer, after retreating from Canada, we spent the rest of the summer exploring the Puget Sound area in our RV. We were disappointed that fires forced our retreat from Canada, canceling our trip to Jasper and Banff. Still, closing one door allowed us to visit places

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Astronaut Bill Anders amazing Heritage Flight Museum

Bill Anders photo of earth 1968 rising above the surface of the moon

Nearly 30 years after circling the moon, Astronaut Bill Anders founded the Heritage Flight Museum with one of his favorite aircraft, a World War II P-51 Mustang named “Val-Halla.”  Last summer, after returning from Canada, we visited the Heritage Flight Museum near Burlington, Washington. In 1968, Bill Anders circled the moon in the Apollo 8

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Our RV electrical failure led to a surprising discovery.

RV electrical failure

We had an RV electrical failure, this time self-induced. My failure to turn on the electricity when we had full hookups caused the failure. Of course, that isn’t the only story about the RV electrical failure; it led to a very unexpected discovery. This discovery might be bad. I don’t want to overplay the discovery

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RV Tire Failure Driving Across West Texas (updated with the rest of the story)

Dodging an RV tire disaster our RV at the shop in Van Horn Texas

We had an RV tire failure while crossing West Texas. This was a near miss. It wasn’t road damage, and we didn’t have a blowout. We dodged the bullet and came up smelling like roses. The only thing we lost was some time and not much time. UPDATE: October 27, 2024. To include the rest

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Amazing Fort Casey protected the Admiralty Inlet from attack.

One of the ten-inch disappearing main guns at Fort Casey.

Fort Casey was so strong it was never attacked. Along with its sister forts, it guarded the entrance to Puget Sound, protecting Seattle, Tacoma, and the Puget Sound Naval shipyards. Fort Casey on Whidbey Island, Fort Worden near Port Townsend, and Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island were linked together as if they were one fort.

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Our RV slide toppers are junk and are going into the trash!

True Topper RV slide toppers

Our RV slide toppers are junk and are going into the trash. I have found the perfect replacement. True Topper has eliminated the problems with fabric awning slide toppers. Fabric slide toppers on top of our slide rooms were an ugly necessity until now. I am looking forward to fixing this problem once and forever.

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Starlink changes everything about “Roam” service

How to get FAST RV Internet in 2024

As of this morning, Starlink has changed everything about its mobile RV internet service. In an email, Starlink stated they are changing service plan names and adding three new benefits/features to the “Roam” plan. The most significant change is the “in motion” service, which means that if you have an antenna fixed to the top

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Get the best RV internet system (new service plan upgrades)

RV internet system Starlink antenna on our RV.

I will explain some available changes for your RV internet system in this article. Fast RV internet is now available almost anywhere in the country, and getting it is easier than ever. Making a reliable RV internet system requires multiple data sources. We get data from Starlink and our cell phone data plans. Getting data

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