A Prayer for Notre Dame
Two days ago, on Monday April 15, 2019, the world watched in horror as the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris went up in flames. Every newscaster referred to the cathedral as ‘iconic’ and it is. As of this date Read More …
Firenze, old and new
In 2018 my sister and I spent 10 days in Firenze. The previous year (2017) I spent two weeks in Firenze at a language school (see Istituto Michelangelo, parte uno and Istituto Michelangelo, parte due) and I was excited to Read More …
Montecatini Terme
Montecatini Terme In total I’ve stayed in Montecatini Terme just over 6 days during two trips. On the first trip my sister and I were meeting a group for a walking tour of Tuscany and we came in a day Read More …
Perugia, Lake Trasimeno, Assisi and Cortona
I’ve written in some other posts that I chose Perugia as part of our 2018 itinerary because my sister wanted to see Assisi and it looked relatively easy to get there from Perugia. I had also hoped to see some Read More …
Forty Eight Hours in Bologna
I’m not sure I can explain how we ended up in Bologna for the first two days of our 2018 Italy trip without making readers’ eyes glaze over. Over the years I’d read that Bologna and Emilia Romagna, in general, Read More …
Sempre Chianti
I’ve been to the Chianti region several times (see The Towns of Chianti post). I hope this wasn’t my last trip to Chianti but if it was, it couldn’t have been more beautiful–crystal clear blue skies, warm sun, fall colors. I’ve Read More …
Sixteen Hours in Istanbul
Planes, Trains and Automobiles Several years ago, I saw an ad in a travel magazine in which Turkish Airlines stated that it was voted the number one airline in Europe. When I researched their routes and fares, I found that Read More …
Venice
In the past I’d never had a burning desire to see Venice, having heard it called Disneyland and a shopping mall with a river running through it. But once my sister and I booked a cruise to the Greek Islands Read More …
Florence and Fiesole, parte due
This post is based mainly on my time in Firenze during late September, early October 2017 when I took a two week course in Italian. I took the course through a special 50+ program at the Michelangelo Institute. It also includes Read More …
Five Days in Verona and Padua
As I was planning this trip, I knew that I would be in Firenze for 2 weeks, attending Istituto Michelangelo, after which my sister was meeting me to go to Venice for a cruise to the Greek Islands. We had Read More …