2nd Bridge of Sighs in Venice
3rd Amsterdam canals
4th Throwing 3 coins in Trevino fountain
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Pictures
1st my gondalier
2nd Bridge of Sighs in Venice
3rd Amsterdam canals
4th Throwing 3 coins in Trevino fountain
2nd Bridge of Sighs in Venice
3rd Amsterdam canals
4th Throwing 3 coins in Trevino fountain
Off to Rome! - Thursday
The weather has been phenomenal! Haven't had a day that's cooler than 60 except up in the Swiss Alps.
Today we drove through Appenini Mountains into Tuscany area of Italy. Lovely scenic drive. We went off the Autostrade (interstate) to go to Assisi. Our tour guide called the stretch of road "our free massage" because it was so rough. LOL
St Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of all Italy. Its a beautiful city up on Mt Subasio. This church like St Marks in Venice had beautiful frescos painted on the ceilings. Cameras are not allowed in churches so the pictures I took outside I'll have to share later.
We arrived at hotel @ 4:30 & had to be ready to go into Rome @ 6:30.
Posts may be infrequent as some places charging $10hr!!
Today we drove through Appenini Mountains into Tuscany area of Italy. Lovely scenic drive. We went off the Autostrade (interstate) to go to Assisi. Our tour guide called the stretch of road "our free massage" because it was so rough. LOL
St Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of all Italy. Its a beautiful city up on Mt Subasio. This church like St Marks in Venice had beautiful frescos painted on the ceilings. Cameras are not allowed in churches so the pictures I took outside I'll have to share later.
We arrived at hotel @ 4:30 & had to be ready to go into Rome @ 6:30.
Posts may be infrequent as some places charging $10hr!!
Venice#2 - Wednesday
This is a beautiful warm sunny day in Venezia (Venice). Having so much fun speaking Italian even if it is only "Good morning", "Good evening" and "Thank you".
First thing we did today was take a gondola ride. OMG! Seemed so unbelievable to me. I really enjoyed the relaxing ride.
Then we went in St Marco Square. No cameras allowed. The artwork is magnificent.
3 young couples, one from Korea, one from Australia & one from Mexico asked me to join them for lunch. We definitely wanted pasta. Sooo many restaurants, so little room. 1st course is bread & drink, 2nd course is pasta, 3rd course is meat or fish. I can't eat like this twice a day! It was 2:00 by the the time we finished the big lunch. Dinner is @ hotel @7. It is true that the Italians love to eat!
Then we had free time to roam the streets and shop. I wandered down several narrow little streets window shopping. I did find gifts for some family members but I still have Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, French riviera & Paris!! I don't want to spend it all in Venice!
Honestly I haven't spent near as much as I thought I would have at this point but lots of time yet!!
We returned to hotel about 5 pm & evening meal was @ 7. I was in bed by 9 completely exhausted.
What do you think of the gondalier? Another possible Mr Right!! LOL!
First thing we did today was take a gondola ride. OMG! Seemed so unbelievable to me. I really enjoyed the relaxing ride.
Then we went in St Marco Square. No cameras allowed. The artwork is magnificent.
3 young couples, one from Korea, one from Australia & one from Mexico asked me to join them for lunch. We definitely wanted pasta. Sooo many restaurants, so little room. 1st course is bread & drink, 2nd course is pasta, 3rd course is meat or fish. I can't eat like this twice a day! It was 2:00 by the the time we finished the big lunch. Dinner is @ hotel @7. It is true that the Italians love to eat!
Then we had free time to roam the streets and shop. I wandered down several narrow little streets window shopping. I did find gifts for some family members but I still have Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, French riviera & Paris!! I don't want to spend it all in Venice!
Honestly I haven't spent near as much as I thought I would have at this point but lots of time yet!!
We returned to hotel about 5 pm & evening meal was @ 7. I was in bed by 9 completely exhausted.
What do you think of the gondalier? Another possible Mr Right!! LOL!
Venice #1
We arrived at our hotel on the edge of Venice about 5:30 pm. What a long bus ride! We are rotating seats so today I sat in first row. The other seats are comfortable but first row has no leg room. It was like seating in economy on an airplane and seeing what the 'pilot' was doing.
Obviously there are no cars in Venice. To accommodate our bus, the hotel was on the mainland. It was a Holiday Inn with the biggest bed I've ever seen! It was size of 2 double beds. After getting refreshed, we were driven to the dock where we were met by Marco. (Could Marco be Mr Right?? LOL) We boarded his boat & he took us into Venice-about 20 min ride.
It was dark but oh so beautiful! We strolled down some of the narrow alleys/streets on out way to our 1st real Italian dinner. Bellisamo! 5 courses & all the wine we could drink! Italian waiters wearing tuxes, being very charming. It was great!
I have to say our group is a fun group. We mingle well & laugh alot. We had one small dining room to ourselves & we were all taking pictures of each other as one of the memories of the evening.
We arrived back at the hotel about midnight. OMG we have to be up @ 7 for our tour of St Marks Square & our gondola ride.
Obviously there are no cars in Venice. To accommodate our bus, the hotel was on the mainland. It was a Holiday Inn with the biggest bed I've ever seen! It was size of 2 double beds. After getting refreshed, we were driven to the dock where we were met by Marco. (Could Marco be Mr Right?? LOL) We boarded his boat & he took us into Venice-about 20 min ride.
It was dark but oh so beautiful! We strolled down some of the narrow alleys/streets on out way to our 1st real Italian dinner. Bellisamo! 5 courses & all the wine we could drink! Italian waiters wearing tuxes, being very charming. It was great!
I have to say our group is a fun group. We mingle well & laugh alot. We had one small dining room to ourselves & we were all taking pictures of each other as one of the memories of the evening.
We arrived back at the hotel about midnight. OMG we have to be up @ 7 for our tour of St Marks Square & our gondola ride.
Off to Venice
Sorry for the delay in my posts but hotel was charging 5€ for an hr's worth of wifi!
We had to b up & have suitcase outside our door by 6:00 am in Lucerne as we had an 8 hr bus ride to Venice.
En route we went thru the Gotthard tunnel which is 17kilometers (10 miles) long - the 2nd longest in Europe. The longest being in Norway. The gov't is building a 57 km (35 mi) tunnel but it will be for trains.
(I downloaded a conversion app on my iPhone that has been helpful for converting different currency, kilometers to miles as well as Celsius to Fahrenheit, etc.
We stopped in Lugano Switzerland for a brief respite. After walking around a bit, I sat at an outdoor Burger King on Lake Lugano (Switzerland). It's 60 degrees here @ 10 am! I know u r asking why Burger King? Well we were crossing into Italy so I wanted to use the last of my Swiss Francs plus I missed having hamburger & coke LOL!
Swiss Francs are worthless basically on the rest of trip. We switch back to Euro in Italy. Then back in London it's Pounds Sterling again. Now u can c why I have a conversion app!
The great thing about the iPhone is that I have been able to talk to family on an app called Viber. It works using wifi so no charge! All the hotels have wifi but nowhere in between.
Next stop was Verona Italy. Picture perfect postcard views of some old Roman architecture! This is the city where Shakespeare was inspired to write Romeo & Juliet. I didn't think to take a pic with my phone so you'll have wait till I post pics from my camera.
Ciao, baby!
We had to b up & have suitcase outside our door by 6:00 am in Lucerne as we had an 8 hr bus ride to Venice.
En route we went thru the Gotthard tunnel which is 17kilometers (10 miles) long - the 2nd longest in Europe. The longest being in Norway. The gov't is building a 57 km (35 mi) tunnel but it will be for trains.
(I downloaded a conversion app on my iPhone that has been helpful for converting different currency, kilometers to miles as well as Celsius to Fahrenheit, etc.
We stopped in Lugano Switzerland for a brief respite. After walking around a bit, I sat at an outdoor Burger King on Lake Lugano (Switzerland). It's 60 degrees here @ 10 am! I know u r asking why Burger King? Well we were crossing into Italy so I wanted to use the last of my Swiss Francs plus I missed having hamburger & coke LOL!
Swiss Francs are worthless basically on the rest of trip. We switch back to Euro in Italy. Then back in London it's Pounds Sterling again. Now u can c why I have a conversion app!
The great thing about the iPhone is that I have been able to talk to family on an app called Viber. It works using wifi so no charge! All the hotels have wifi but nowhere in between.
Next stop was Verona Italy. Picture perfect postcard views of some old Roman architecture! This is the city where Shakespeare was inspired to write Romeo & Juliet. I didn't think to take a pic with my phone so you'll have wait till I post pics from my camera.
Ciao, baby!
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