The conference itself was held in a little town on Lake Como (near the Swiss border) called Varenna. There is an actual "Plasma Physics School" in this town, so people in field travel there on a regular basis. The picture below is of Lake Como and its famous ferry. The School is obscured by the foreground trees. The lake was pretty high this week; note the submerged pier in the center of the picture.
After the conference, I headed to Venice for what turned out to be the highlight of the trip. I can't pass along any of the wonder of the museums or the almost carnival-like atmosphere, but these pictures and those to follow should give you some idea of the city's life and color.
I don't know how many millions of people have walked by this scene over the years and never noticed it. The contrast of the flowers and the white columns caught my eye and ended up on film. I have a larger version of this same scene, but don't want to put it up here because of At Home's Web size limitations.
While strolling through the Piazza de San Marco, I saw one of its many resident pigeons perched upon this photographer's camera. I was so intent on capturing the scene that I didn't notice the couple on the right until I had the film developed.
