Florence

June 27, 2012
Betty and I arrived in Florence and naturally got lost as soon as we exited the train station on the wrong side!  It was so hot (100+) that by the time we got to Hotel Alessandra I was ready to pass out!  Our first stop was to buy the Florence Card which allowed us to skip the long lines at the Uffizi Gallery and free rides on city buses.  It is only a few minutes walk from our hotel to the Uffizi and the Ponte Vecchio so off we went!  Next to the art gallery is the Piazza della Signoria with an amazing collection of statuary, including a copy of Michelangelo's David.

   



We then walked across the Ponte Vecchio, found a place to eat (I was not impressed with the food here) and then walked back to the hotel via Friends Pub where we stopped for a nightcap at an Irish pub of course!

Ponte Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio at night

Friends Pub

Borgo SS Apostoli where Hotel Alessandra is located

Last day in Rome :(

June 27, 2012
Day 5:  Last day in Rome (insert frowny face here!)  Borghese Gallery, Piazza della Popolo, Spanish Steps, Capuchin Crypt, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Trevi Fountain.  If you are going to the Borghese Gallery, you MUST have a reservation before you go as it is usually sold out during the summer.  Betty and I took a bus to where I thought the gallery was located but no....I only had 1/2 the name of the stop right and we ended up near the British Embassy about a 10 minute walk away!  That doesn't seem like much time but when you don't know where you are and have a specific entrance time you can't miss, you start to panic!  We asked the guards at the embassy where we were and how to get to where we wanted to go, thinking that naturally they spoke english...but they were Italian soldiers and only spoke some english but it was enough for us to get on our way. (odd, wot?)

Overlooking the "Twins" and St. Peter's Basilica

Piazza della Popolo with Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto (the "Twins") and Ramesses II obelisk

One of the things that I wanted to in Rome was to find the sculptures and fountains that were in the movie "Angels and Demons".  Santa Maria del Popolo is located in this piazza and has several Bernini sculptures shown in the movie - naturally, the church was closed when we got there and wouldn't open for another 4 hours.  We continued on our walking journey past the Spanish Steps to another church named Santa Maria (della Immacolata Concezione) where there are Capuchin Crypts below that have bones displayed as art.  We then walked to another church in the movie, Santa Maria della Vittoria, to find Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.  We finished the day at the Trevi Fountain where we each made a wish of course!

Spanish Steps

Ecstasy of Saint Teresa

Trevi Fountain at dusk just as the lights came on!

Rome continued..... Vatican City

June 26, 2012
Day 4:  Vatican City, Castel Sant'Angelo, Cistine Chapel, Vatican Museums, St. Peter's Basilica.  I always thought that the Cistine Chapel was located in St. Peter's Basilica - nope - it is in a different building with the Vatican Museums in between!  Another piece of amazing religious art NOT in St. Peter's is the Last Supper.  That is located in a little church in Milan...who knew?!  We finished the day by visiting Santa Maria Maddalena, the church directly across the piazza from our hotel.  This was one of my favorite churches! We had dinner outside in the piazza; bad pizza but good conversation with fellow guests from Melbourne.

We walked to Vatican City through Old Rome - beautiful but hot!

The bridge of angels to the Castel Sant'Angelo

One of the angels on the bridge

A fragment of a fresco in the Vatican Museums

A sculpture in the Vatican Museums

Michaelangelo's Pieta in St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica

Baldacchino in St. Peter's

Swiss Guard

St. Peter's Basilica

Santa Maria Maddalena - this church is located directly across from our hotel...our morning view at breakfast!

I lit a candle for my mom here.

My trip to Italy!

My cousin Betty and I spent hours researching this trip to Italy since we were traveling on our own.  We decided to see Rome, Florence, Venice, and finished in Milan with side trips to Sienna, Pisa, San Gimignano, and Lake Como.

June 23, 2012

Day 1:  We had an 8 hour lay over in Philadelphia (our flight out of Binghamton changed for no apparent reason!) and then another lay over in Frankfurt, Germany (where I realised that I lost my credit card in Philly!). There were very strict customs officials in Frankfurt and we assumed there would be the same in Rome since that airport had a few "incidents" in the past.....but no....we just walked off the plane and through the airport without stopping for customs or anything! How bizarre!  We had a limo drive us to our hotel, the Relais Maddalena.  No fuss, no muss - that is the way to go after the loooong day of traveling! Our hotel is located 1 block from the Pantheon - how cool is that?!

June 24, 2012

Day 2:  Arrive in Rome. Pantheon, Piazza Navona and the Fountain of 4 Rivers, churches Sant'Agnese in Agone, Basilica San'Agostino and San Luigi dei Francese.

Pantheon

June 25, 2012
Day 3:  Colosseum, Roman Forum, church San Nicola in Carcere (exterior columns embedded in facade are from 192 BC Temples of Judo, Spes, and Janus), Temples of Hercules and Portunus, Santa Maria in Cosmedin (Mouth of Truth), Ponte Fabricio.  Many of the temples survived because they were converted into churches.



Betty and I at the Colosseum

The Roman Forum - Temple of Vesta (left) and the Temple of Julius Caesar (right)



Temple of Hercules



Ponte Fabricio - oldest surviving bridge in Rome (62 BC)



Funerary Art

I have no idea why I have such a fascination for funerary art but when I am on vacation, one of my must stops is to a cemetary! I have been to cemetaries in Austin Texas, Lewes Delaware, Boston, Philadelphia and throughout Ireland, England and Scotland.

This is Melrose Abbey located south of Edinburgh, Scotland. Robert the Bruce's heart is supposedly buried here.

These stones are located behind a Templar Church.

My favorite cemetary to visit was in Edinburgh. Greyfriars Kirkyard is the most haunted place in Edinburgh but I did not get to witness that first hand - maybe the drizzle kept the spirits inside!

How would like to have these monuments built right up against your house?!!

The last of Scotland :(

So much for updating my blog on a timely basis! Betty is really into knitting and aquired quite a lot of hand spun yarn. This is Shilasdair, the Skye Yarn Company on the Isle of Skye - what a remote but beautiful setting! We drove there via this one lane road where it widened periodically so you could pull over to let the oncoming car through.

We continued on to Dunvegan Castle to see the Fairy Flag and the lovely gardens. Dunvegan Castle is the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland and the Fairy Flag is rumoured to protect the Clan MacLeod in times of war. Clansmen who had a photo of the flag in their wallets in both world wars all came home safely. The exterior of the castle was under extensive renovation so my photos did not do it justice but I did great shots of the gardens!

We stopped at Talisker's to taste some whiskey.....too nasty for me. On our way out, we had to stop in the middle of the road because there was a bunch of sheep crossing the road. Betty got out to help herd them by not letting them go up the road. What fun!

We tried to take the ferry across to the mainland but we didn't have reservations (didn't know we needed them!) so we had to backtrack and therefore we missed seeing the west coast of Scotland. We drove past beautiful lochs though that we would have missed so it all worked out. This is Loch Garry, then we stopped again while driving through Glen Coe. Actually, we could have stopped every 10 minutes since there were so many photo opportunities!

We continued on through the Rannoch Moor, past Loch Lomand and ended up in Helensburgh for our last 2 nights. We stopped at Hill House designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh who is all about Arts and Crafts style of art, architecture and furniture. We flew out of Glasgow and eventually made our way home. There is still quite a bit of the country I haven't seen so some day I would like to go back!

2nd week of Scotland vacation

Betty and I rented a car for our second week in Scotland - we wanted to drive around the highlands and be able to stop whenever we saw a photo opportunity (which was quite a few times!). I drove and Betty navigated - what a team! She carefully watched traffic and signs as I had to go clock-wise around the traffic circles. Most of the roads were quite narrow and did not have shoulders. Try driving in these conditions on the wrong side of the road, on the wrong side of the car, and shifting with your left! I had a blast! We started out by driving to Sterling Castle (home to some of the Kings and Queens of Scotland) and then on to Doune Castle where Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed. We then motored on to Scone Palace where the Kings of Scotland were crowned. We stayed overnight at Corriechoille B&B located at the end of very narrow road that looked more like a cart path - but what a view when we finally arrived! This photo was taken out the reading room window of their 'back yard'. Those 2 cottages can be rented also.
The next morning we drove to Loch Ness where we took a boat tour to try to find Nessie - no luck! We then headed across the width of Scotland to the West coast and stopped at Eilean Donan Castle of Highlander fame.
We then drove on to the Isle of Skye and stayed at The Gables B&B in Portree. We had to call ahead to reserve our room and most of the places had no vacancies. I finally just asked if the person knew of any other B&B not in the guide book - we really lucked out at this place. Their back yard bordered the bay so had beautiful views!

I'll post the rest of the trip tomorrow - really!

England and Scotland

I just got back from a two week vacation in the UK traveling with my cousin, Betty, going from England to Scotland. I am still recovering! We started in London and went to Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London, Harrod's and had dinner with our UK's cousin, Eileen. Betty didn't get to see the Crown Jewels as the line was a mile long - bummer! We did get to ride on the London Eye - I took this photo of Big Ben at dusk from across the river.

We then took the train up to York where we were met at the station by new friends Anne and Pat. What sweethearts! Anne invited us to stay overnight at her house and we hadn't even met in person until then! They took us around York to see York Minster (cathedral), the Shambles (a funny, narrow little road that inspired Diagon Alley), York Castle Museum and then a drive through the Yorkshire Dales the next day. Thank you Anne and Robert!

Later that evening, we took the train up to Edinburgh where we stayed in a dorm at the University of Edinburgh - 2 twin with a private bath and breakfast included...not bad! The first day there, we took a bus tour with Rabbie's Bus Tours to Melrose Abbey and Roslyn Chapel. Roland, our bus driver was absolutely hysterical and he stopped at 2 extra places not on the itinerary - Abbotsford House (Sir Walter Scott) and the small village of Temple (Templar ruin). The rest of the time in Edinburgh, we enjoyed the Fringe Festival, the National Gallery of Scotland, the National Musuem of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle and the Military Tattoo.

The second week I'll post tomorrow!