Our Final Day in Milan

We woke up to beautiful blue skies which gave us another whole perspective on beautiful Lake Como which is right outside of our hotel.

 

We boarded our bus again and drove to Milan.

Our first stop was the opportunity to see Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper painting. Our tour director worked really hard to get us tickets to see this masterpiece, one of the world's most famous, studied paintings.

Due to the method that Leonardo da Vinci used as well as a variety of environmental factors, the painting has been extensively restored - the last restoration being completed in 1999. For that reason, only 25 people are allowed in at a time (for 20 minutes) to view the painting.

No photos are allowed near in by the painting, but this is a photo of a mural outside which describes the painting.

After viewing the painting, we got to explore more of the city - you see scooters and tiny cars everywhere!

 

Milan is the fashion capital of Italy - we saw lots of designer stores at "the Galleria" which also includes Italy's only 7-star hotel.

 

 

Milan's Duomo is another magnificent example Gothic architecture - we didn't have a chance to tour inside, but enjoyed seeing the outside. Our guide told us there are more than 3500 pieces of artwork in the Duomo.

Final stop before leaving Milan was one last gelato - truly I have been like the author of "Eat, Pray, Love" who ate her way through Italy! :-)

 

Posted with Blogsy

Bellagio and Lake Como

After two beautiful days in Cinque Terre and Venice, we woke up to rain. Fortunately, the morning is a travel day north to Bellagio on Lake Como. Our 4-hour bus ride was a chance to read, nap, and relax as we have had a very busy schedule!

When we arrived in Bellagio, our first stop was to find lunch. Upon recommendation from our tour guide, Laura, we went to a wood-fire pizza place.

Our pizza chef!

I've had more pizza this week than I've had in the last several years - yum!

After lunch, we got on a boat to ride across Lake Como. Unfortunately, there were low hanging clouds, but at least it wasn't raining. The lake is home to many beautiful homes and mansions (including the home of George Clooney and his new Italian wife).

 

 

We made a stop at Villa Carlotta, a beautiful mansion with exquisite gardens.

 

 

After our tour of the gardens, we boarded the boat again for a 2-hour boat ride down Lake Como to the town of Como and our hotel.

Once again, we went to dinner (4 courses) at the very European time of 8:30 pm finishing our dinner at 10 pm.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Venice

We left our hotel early in the morning to walk to the train station to take a local train to Florence.

 

In Florence, we got on the high speed train bound for a two hour train ride to Venice.

Our first view of Venice was made even more glorious by the "better than predicted" weather.

First stop was finding a quick lunch before meeting up with our local tour guide.

We toured the Palazzo Ducale, a palace built in the Venetian Gothic style which is one of the main landmarks in Venice. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme authority of the former Republic of Venice.

The "Bridge of Sighs," the most famous bridge in Venice, is a covered bridge that connected the Palazzo Ducale to the attached prison. Prisoners were tried in tribunals conducted in the building and then walked across this enclosed bridge where they could get one last look at the canals (sigh) before entering the prison which had very little life. Many prisoners died in the prison due to disease.

A view from the Bridge of Sighs.

Venice is actually a series of 118 "islands" that are connected by 425 bridges - the narrow streets are now filled with shops and cafes.

A view of the "Grand Canal."

St. Mark's Catheral is the located right next to the Palazzo Ducale.

 

Our time in Venice included a gondola ride through the canals.

 

 

The sun was setting as we finished our gondola ride before heading off to another fabulous Italian dinner. All I can say is that it is a good thing we are walking so much!

 

Posted with Blogsy

A Beautiful Day at Cinque Terre

After our rainy day in Florence, we were thrilled to wake up to sunny skies for our day trip to Cinque Terre. We to a 1.5 hour bus trip to La Spezia - there we got on a boat to travel to Cinque Terre (Five lands), a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera.

 

The "five lands" consist of the villages of Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. These villages consist of colorful residences and terraces (for the grape vines) carefully built on the rugged, steep cliffs that overlook the sea. When Greg and I went to Cinque Terre five years ago, we took a train to the first village and hiked all the way between them. So it was fun today to take the boat to 3 of the villages - it gave us an entirely different perspective.

Each day we have a local guide with us who provides all kinds of information about what we are seeing. Our guide today, Sara, encouraged us to try the locally made wine and something with pesto as Cinque Terre is know for its white wines and dishes made with pesto.

My minestrone pesto soup I had for lunch.

Greg and Lars sampling the locally made white wine.

Fabulous weather at a beautiful place!

 

Posted with Blogsy

A Rainy Day in Florence

For our day in Florence, we had rain - a lot of rain! I'm so glad that when Greg and I were there 5 years ago, we had beautiful weather because it is certainly a different experience seeing the city from under an umbrella.

 

Our first stop was at the Galleria dell Accademia to see Michelangelo's famous statue of David. What makes it all the more amazing is that unlike other sculptors that first create a plaster cast to guide them, Michelangelo just sculpted this magnificent piece directly from the pillar of marble.

The Duomo

The Ponte Vecchio bridge with all the fine jewelry shops.

Thought of my Dad today - Florence is the city where he had a magical last day of his life seeing artwork, having coffee at an outside cafe with my Mom and his close friends, Richard and Dorothy. I know how much he loved Florence!

What a beautiful city!

 

Posted with Blogsy