Tag: 2016
-
Surprises and Shocks
Well, here we sit in a coffee shop near the airport at 2AM. We took the 2nd last airport bus from Florence at 11 o’clock and thought we’d just stay at the airport until check-in time as we knew we wouldn’t sleep at home anyhow and we weren’t sure if we could get a taxi at 3AM. Big mistake. We were all settled in near our check-in spot and as you can see from the picture below, I was quite comfortable. Joey was laughing at me so hard I thought she was going to fall over. I would have put…
-
Homeward Bound
We are almost on our way home! Tomorrow night around midnight we will be off to the airport to catch our very early morning flight to Amsterdam, sit and wait four hours and then a nine-hour flight to Vancouver. We are getting very excited! The last two days have been very laid back with last minute shopping, snapping a few more pictures and taking one more trip to the Ponte Vecchio Bridge which is my favourite spot to be. We walk the river roads so we can be in the sunshine on the now, very cool mornings. We are running…
-
The Sound of Music
What a wonderful night of music we had! I’m still humming some of the tunes. Our outing began on a warm autumn night with a walk to St. Stephans Auditorium. Traffic was heavy and people were out enjoying the evening. We arrive in the piazza a half hour early and met two other ladies, one from California and one from Australia, who were also there for the concert. We sat on the steps of the old church and exchanged stories of our time in Florence. Suddenly we were being rained on and we headed for an overhang on one of…
-
This and That
We are certainly getting our walking done each day. No matter how many times we get out, we find new things to see, new people to watch and new stores to shop in. It’s been fun discovering and we are trying to take everything in during our last few days here. The day we were at the Duomo, we were handed a pamphlet advertising a symphony at St. Stephen’s Auditorium. When we got home, I checked it out on the internet and it sounded intriguing so we ordered tickets for this evening. We are seeing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and we…
-
The Duomo and David
Sunday was to be our day to take in two dress rehearsals for upcoming musicals in Florence. On Saturday, I thought I’d look up where the auditorium was so we wouldn’t get too lost when we went. To my amazement, the tickets said Friday and not Sunday like the fellow at the ticket office told us so that outing was not to be. We both heard him say Sunday and we were both disappointed that we wouldn’t be going. We’ll have to find something else to take in. The Duomo in Florence is one of the biggest tourist attractions along…
-
The Last Five Days
It’s been five days since I’ve written anything and someone asked if we were OK so I thought I’d better write and let you all know that we are just fine. After our very tiring tour to Cinque Terre, we decided to take a couple of days to wander around Florence, take a bus ride to somewhere and stay close to home. We wandered up and down streets that we hadn’t been on and saw some nice sites, found a lovely cafe with wonderful pizza, rested in a small park, enjoying peace and quiet and followed that with a Saturday…
-
Another Day, Another Tour
I was hoping for a great tour yesterday but it was not to be. I did this same tour five years ago and it was wonderful but things have changed so much. Tourism has exploded in Italy. I thought October might be a quieter month but it certainly isn’t. No matter where we go, we are surrounded by hordes of people and the tour into the country was no different. Our first stop was Sienna. Joey and I got the very back seat of the bus and couldn’t see much as we drove for over two hours. We disembarked far…
-
We Came, We Saw
Five years is a long time to wait to come back to Italy and do something I missed last time. To be disappointed in it is something else. The five centuries-old seaside villages of Cinque Terre was our excursion yesterday. We woke around 5:30 AM and met with our group at 6:45. I bought a takeaway breakfast at a little cafe so we could eat on the bus. We were warm and comfy and the 2 1/2 hour ride was filled with scenic views of small towns, cypress trees and it was all backed by the gorgeous, smoky Apuan Alps. Mario,…
-
We Miss You, Canada
We didn’t do a lot today as it is cold and rainy. We did go for a walk and got some groceries, a couple of souvenirs and umbrellas but it was just too cold and damp to be out. After five weeks of travelling and being away from home, we got talking about all the things we miss so since I don’t have much to write about today, I compiled a list. I will certainly appreciate home more once I’m there. After we made our list we realized how spoiled we are to live where we do and how blessed…
-
Looka – Lucca!
A couple from England that we met in Spain weeks ago told us that we “simply MUST” go to Lucca when we go to Florence as it isn’t far. Today was the day we chose to go and it was everything they said it would be. We decided to take the bus instead of the train as we had read that was the easiest and most comfortable. It was a wonderful ride in the country passing mile after mile of tree farms and huge cypress trees overlooked lovely country homes. The traffic was heavy but the roads looked new and…