Leigh, I wanted to like Venice more, but all the people got in the way. It was just unbelievable crowded, from the swarms of tour groups that got off the boats in the morning to the river of people walking through the streets in the evening. When you have to fight your way through the […]
Planning a trip is a lot of work and full of apprehension that everyone will complain, but the people on Trip Advisor gave “The Best of Tuscany Tour” such rave reviews that I thought it was safe to try. Plus it seemed a good way to see some other towns of Tuscany and drive around […]
This was a walking vacation. It was a rare day (usually one we traveled on) that we didn’t walk six plus hours. It was just the best way to enjoy the cities. We’d start in the morning, go for a while, have a break in the hotel (siesta time!) and then go back out in […]
We really loved Florence. It is a great city to visit because you really can walk to anywhere and everywhere. We were 600 meters (thanks Google Maps new walking route feature) from the Duomo and that was our main navigation device. We’d walk to the Duomo and from there head out to our destination. If […]
We enjoyed the markets of Florence with the street carts weighed down by all sorts of leather items. Some focused on jackets, others on wallets and belts, and some on purses. In between were carts of scarfs and some with beads and necklaces, and occasionally t-shirts and souvenirs. Scotty bought a wallet which he debated […]
We are big fans of the Italy train system having taken it from Rome to Florence and now Florence to Venice. The Eurostar trains are clean with well-designed interiors. One half of the seats are turned in clusters of four with little tables between the two sets of seats facing each other. This is great […]
It took us awhile, but we finally figured out lunch. Go to the “cafeterias” with the sandwiches displayed in the counter, choose from an array of small sandwiches usually with interesting cheeses and/or ham or prosciutto, have the staff warm it up, ask for a liter of water, and sit down at a little table. […]
When I said the kids could sleep in on Friday I didn’t think they would wake up at 11:00. But that is what jetlag will do to you. I was up by 8:30 and headed out for a walk. I discovered crowds (indicating no one else had slept in); the Italian version of mall kiosks […]
For the second hotel in a row we have a rather trying internet connection. Sometimes we can see sites we want, other times we can’t. And we definitely can’t read articles on washingtonpost.com so we don’t know the details or Strasburg’s injury or Chelsea Clinton’s wedding.
But more importantly, we can’t post pictures. We hope […]
Our arrival in Florence was horrible. Well, actually not exactly our arrival since that was pretty perfect as the train was great and I quickly found an information stand with a map and directions to our hotel, so it was the stepping out of the train station that was horrible: the rain was coming down […]