Bees…

While walking through the Castel Sant’Angelo we came across a newel post covered with carved bees. I thought it was charming in its weathered way.

The symbol of the bee related to the family Barberini (they had changed it from an earlier symbol of a horsefly) and a few days later we visited their Palazzo which is now the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica. This is a building worked on by three different architects, Bernini, Borromini, and Maderno. Bees were everywhere. Picasso was also everywhere on this trip…we saw three different exhibits of his work (more on that in another post.)

Bees on the top of the fountain…

On the ceilings…

Around niches for sculptures…

In nooks and crannies…

I loved this central staircase by Bernini…

Images from the grounds…

Tales of the garden (as opposed to the city)….

Butterflies finally paused long enough for me to get a few pictures.

A Western Tiger Swallowtail on a Butterfly Bush (Buddleia davidii). (Not native, but certainly does the purpose of drawing the butterflies to the garden.)

And an unidentified butterfly on a Del Norte Willow (Salix delnortensis).

Our wild turkey visitors.

And a Photoshop image of a big, round bee with so much pollen on its legs that it is a wonder that it can fly and buzz.