With only two days left in Florence I had to decide upon a visit to Fiesole or to Boboli Gardens with sunset at Piazza Michelangelo.  After discussing the options with my barista I chose to stay in Florence. I would visit the garden and finish with sunset at Piazza Michelangelo which overlooks the city.  It was another very hot day and the park and the piazza are on a hill on the… Read More

I decided to get out of the crowds and head over to the island of Burano.  I had seen pictures of the colorful buildings and wanted to see it.  I assumed that most of the pictures were way over saturated.  Not so, the buildings are very brightly colored!  According to Wikipedia it was settled by the Romans in the 6th century.  My first thought about all of the brightly painted homes was… Read More

I spent the last two days in beautiful Venice… and just at the right time!  While Venice was hot and humid and pretty uncomfortable, Florence was even worse experiencing 100+ degree temperatures with humidity in the 70% range.  At least in Venice I had air conditioning!  Such a treat! I arrived on Friday morning about 10:00.  The fast train from Florence to Venice takes 2 hours and 15 minutes.  I took the… Read More

June 24th is the day that Florence celebrates its patron saint, John the Baptist. San Giovanni day is a big holiday in the city. The day starts out with a parade and special mass at the Cathedral of Santa Maria Fiore. It is also the day of the Calcio Storico final tournament. The day is finished off with a big fireworks show. What is Calcio Storico? It’s an archaic form of football,… Read More

What a great place to visit! The palace itself is stunning, it contains some wonderful artwork, the courtyard here is where Donatello’s David originally stood (what a sight it must have been with it’s gold hair gleaming in the sunlight!), there is an archaeologic display as excavations are being carried out beneath the building and to top it off they currently have a photography exhibit titled “Heroes” and an exhibit of work… Read More

Our weekend in Rome was exhausting. Miserable and wonderful both. The weather was very hot and humid and shade was not often found. Our guide, Angela Orberer made it magic with all of the wonderful information that brought the history alive. On our first day in Rome we visited the Vatican City museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peters’s Basilica. It was so hot and the museum was miserably crowded. The museum is… Read More