RV travels around the USA
I’m continuing the blog post from our high-speed train day trip to Venice. We walked all over that city with 472 bridges and hardly any motorized traffic. It was a joy to walk the beautiful canals and bridge without having to worry about the crazy traffic like in Florence. Our walk today takes us past some of the major sights.
Continue reading “Venice Italy part 2”
As a train and rail fan, we get to combine two experiences together for this one-day trip. I’ve always loved rail travel and combined with the incredible beauty of this coastal/canal city it should be a memorable day. Although a rather long day it was!
Continue reading “High Speed Train to Venice”
My plan was to write this blog post about our recent high speed train trip to Venice but decided instead to write a bit about this city and our lodging. Our goal on this trip was to get back to Italy to explore the very walkable city of Florence, see all the tourist sites, museums, churches, etc., but to also just live our normal Virginia based life with the exception of some daily walks around town or along the Arno River.
Continue reading “Live Like a Local in Florence Apartment”
Another very interesting and beautiful walking tour day. The weather continues to be fantastic with no rain and sunny days into the upper 60’s. The Pitti Palace is an over the top, and once upon a time palace and now turned into a museum. The grounds of the palace, called the Boboli Gardens are a vast botanical garden that provide many great views of the city of Florence from the hilltop location.
Continue reading “The Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens”
Before our son Ross left for his sailing adventure, the three of us tried an upscale restaurant and the food specialty the city of Florence is known for: Steak Florentine. We also checked out the huge city market, a place to either buy fresh meat, vegetables, baked goods, candy, and you name it! Then upstairs is one of the largest food courts I have seen with everything. And I mean everything.
The top two museums in Florence, Italy are the Accademia and the Uffizi. Entry tickets must be purchased in advance or else wait in a super long line. The advance sales tickets were being booked out a week. So, we worked in a few other museums, visited the Cinque Terre coast towns and then it was time for these two!
Continue reading “Florence – Accademia & Uffizi Gallery”
In today’s blog update, I’ll include some of our observations so far. The good and the bad, at least from our background and experiences. This will probably jump around a bit as I think of examples. This is our second time to visit Italy, the first just last year in May of 2023. That visit was a guided tour and very fast paced two days in most major cities. This visit is much longer, more relaxed, although more in depth.
Continue reading “Italy Observations”
Pat and I are now well into our almost two-month European trip with a visit from our son Ross. My plan is to get my blog up to date in the next 2-3 posts. We are having a great time but at the same time on a relaxed pace since we have plenty of time to explore.
Continue reading “And We’re Off!”We leave in two days for a two-month adventure! This, trip has been almost a year in the planning stages and has many different facets. To begin with some background, we took a guided tour of the highlights of Italy last year. Saw many major tourist locations but it was very fast paced – no rest time nor much on our own time. We wanted to get back and explore in much deeper detail. So here is the plan:
Continue reading “Fall 2024 European Adventure”
Today’s post will focus on our next stop on the 11-day tour: Pisa (leaning tower and Square of Miracles) and then Florence; the Birthplace of the Renaissance. Florence is the capital of the Tuscany region and home to many masterpieces of Renaissance art and architecture. One of its most iconic sights is the Duomo, a cathedral with a terracotta-tiled dome engineered by Brunelleschi and a bell tower by Giotto. The Galleria dell’Accademia displays Michelangelo’s “David” sculpture. The Uffizi Gallery exhibits Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” and da Vinci’s “Annunciation.”