Sunday, June 15, my 55th birthday and we celebrated by going to Venice! It was a bright, sunny day, the first sun we had seen on our trip; all the other days were cloudy. We walked to the train station, bought our tickets and traveled to Venice; no one checked our tickets. We took a Vaporetto, a boat which was like a bus, and got off near the Piazza San Marcos. People!! And Pigeons!!! We went inside the church of San Marcos, very ornate; mass was going on. We heard the bells pounded by two bronze Moor statues at noon. We saw the Bridge of Sighs and took pictures.
We walked along the Piazza and found a Wendy’s. Good bathroom stop and we enjoyed the food. We walked all the way back to the train station. Venice is truly a rabbit warren; very narrow streets, some tunnels. Luckily there were signs pointing the way to the station. It was just a maze, no straight streets and lots of little bridges going over small canals. We took the train back to Padova and again no one asked to see our tickets. We really enjoyed seeing Venice.
The next day, we tried to get out of Padova and got turned around again, then we saw signs leading out of the city towards Bologna. What a relief! South of Bologna the country consists of tall hills covered in green with houses or churches on top of the hills. We got off the freeway at the right place for Florence and had signs leading to the R.R. station where we could book a room. It was only two blocks away. A very dingy doorway and up two flights of dirty stairs. I wondered what I had gotten us into. We had a nice surprise. The room was clean with freshly painted walls, sparkling fixtures but no towels or soap. The only drawback was a noisy street.
We walked to the Duomo, the big church, the most beautiful outside of all the cathedrals we’ve seen. Pink, green and white marble. White flowers with pink centers, all made of marble, is the design on part of the cathedral. It is rather plain on the inside but vast and light. It was built in 1299. We saw the older Baptistry with Ghiberti doors, very beautiful. We walked to the Piazza di Poppolo where Michelangelo’s David was displayed. The one there now is a copy, the original is in the museum which was closed on Mondays. We walked on the Ponte Vecchio, the old medieval bridge with houses (shops) on either side. A great city to visit.
Coming back to our room we saw where a car had parked in a crosswalk and a bus couldn’t turn the corner. Lots of honking and shouting. A supervisor came and the bus backed up a little, then made the corner going over the curb. Such narrow streets. A policeman was called and the driver got his car. I don’t know if he got a ticket but he deserved one. Lots of motorcycles, motorbikes and bicycles.
The next day we drove to the city of Siena, still lots of beautiful, green hills. We drove into the city through Ponte Tufi, drove through the old medieval city, parked the car at the Duomo and walked to Il Campo,a large, open square where they hold the Palio, the famous horse races. I’m glad Alan suggested we visit Siena.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Vienna and Padova
We drove into Germany; beautiful country, wooded and green. I would find the name of a town on our map and then find a sign by the road matching it. We kept seeing the sign "Ausfart" but never could find the town on our map. We finally realized that Ausfart meant EXIT! What a good joke on us. We were going to drive to Munich but got tired so stopped in Ausburg, about 50 km. from Munich. It was a great hotel and we put it on our Visa. Nice, modern room with private bath. We watched TV in German. If we ever go back to Germany, we need to know more of the language. Driving towards Austria we stopped at a nice little restaurant where the people were very helpful and we had a great meal, schnitzel.
We arrived in Vienna around 1 p.m. in a drizzle. We found our hotel, a bed and breakfast and found a parking spot. This hotel was the first place that wanted to see our passports and write down the information. I was surprised it hadn’t happened before. Also, we hadn’t had any checks at any border, they just waved us on through. This was true for Belgium, France, Germany and Austria.
We walked into the center of town and visited Demel’s, the most famous bakery in Austria. It was expensive but delicious. There was a dizzy array of choices. You pointed out your selection, the waitress would write it on a piece of paper, give you half and she kept the other. We sat at a very small table, then she brought our selections. European pastries are not as sweet as what we are used to; our choices were good but not spectacular. We walked down the main shopping street, it is only for pedestrians; we also walked by St. Stephan;s, an old cathedral, and the Opera House.
We went to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Fine Arts Museum. It is a beautiful building, built in the 1860s as a museum. It has beautiful marble walls, steps and posts holding the handrails, all made of beautiful marble of varied colors. There were three rooms of just Rubens, some Rembrandts, Van Dyke, Velasquez and others. We saw Egyptian mummies, the Cellini Gold Salt Celler and more. We really enjoyed visiting this museum. We walked back to the hotel and to our room; it has a shower in the corner of the room but the toilet is down the hall. No soap was furnished.
I had tried to order tickets to see the Lipizzan horses but didn’t get them. You needed to order them months ahead. We saw the outside of the building where they perform. We also had wanted to hear a Johann Strauss concert in the park but it was canceled because of the rain.
Going towards Italy, the road went down from several lanes to just one so it took forever to get to the border with only one car at a time going through. It took two hours but once we crossed into Italy, it was smooth sailing again. Leon did very well driving on all these roads in
the various countries.
We arrived in Padova, where Alan had served part of his mission. It is a rabbit warren of one-way streets, all going the wrong way! It was so hard to get to our address, it took about 45 minutes to trace our way through the maze and we had to park the car and walk two blocks to get to the hotel. We left the car in a garage for the two days here.
Our room looks onto a large patio on the second floor. It is only reached by our room. It costs to have a shower here, you get the knob for the hot water from the management. The two daughters speak English and are very helpful
We arrived in Vienna around 1 p.m. in a drizzle. We found our hotel, a bed and breakfast and found a parking spot. This hotel was the first place that wanted to see our passports and write down the information. I was surprised it hadn’t happened before. Also, we hadn’t had any checks at any border, they just waved us on through. This was true for Belgium, France, Germany and Austria.
We walked into the center of town and visited Demel’s, the most famous bakery in Austria. It was expensive but delicious. There was a dizzy array of choices. You pointed out your selection, the waitress would write it on a piece of paper, give you half and she kept the other. We sat at a very small table, then she brought our selections. European pastries are not as sweet as what we are used to; our choices were good but not spectacular. We walked down the main shopping street, it is only for pedestrians; we also walked by St. Stephan;s, an old cathedral, and the Opera House.
We went to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Fine Arts Museum. It is a beautiful building, built in the 1860s as a museum. It has beautiful marble walls, steps and posts holding the handrails, all made of beautiful marble of varied colors. There were three rooms of just Rubens, some Rembrandts, Van Dyke, Velasquez and others. We saw Egyptian mummies, the Cellini Gold Salt Celler and more. We really enjoyed visiting this museum. We walked back to the hotel and to our room; it has a shower in the corner of the room but the toilet is down the hall. No soap was furnished.
I had tried to order tickets to see the Lipizzan horses but didn’t get them. You needed to order them months ahead. We saw the outside of the building where they perform. We also had wanted to hear a Johann Strauss concert in the park but it was canceled because of the rain.
Going towards Italy, the road went down from several lanes to just one so it took forever to get to the border with only one car at a time going through. It took two hours but once we crossed into Italy, it was smooth sailing again. Leon did very well driving on all these roads in
the various countries.
We arrived in Padova, where Alan had served part of his mission. It is a rabbit warren of one-way streets, all going the wrong way! It was so hard to get to our address, it took about 45 minutes to trace our way through the maze and we had to park the car and walk two blocks to get to the hotel. We left the car in a garage for the two days here.
Our room looks onto a large patio on the second floor. It is only reached by our room. It costs to have a shower here, you get the knob for the hot water from the management. The two daughters speak English and are very helpful
Monday, April 13, 2009
Warwick Castle, Brussells, Paris
There are pretty pink flowering vines over the doors of many houses, maybe roses. Flowering trees and bushes all over, green woods and green grass. Many fields separated by hedges or stone walls. Many lilac bushes, all in bloom; it is still spring here. The general color of England is green, feels of fertility, age and history. It is overcast a lot of the time. It is a country for tourists; things are well labeled and people very friendly. The national speed limit is 70; small cars and fast drivers. There is a great variety of cars, all small; we saw one Ford Mustang and one Toyota.
We drove to Warwick and saw the castle. Beautiful grounds with peacocks. We saw the dungeons and torture instruments; much armor. We saw the state apartments with wax figures portraying a party which took place in 1898. Very well done. Winston Churchill was portrayed as he had been one of the guests. We then drove to Blenheim Palace. Unbelievable! It is ornate, fancy, the loveliest, most beautiful house in England. It was built, by order of Queen Anne, for one of Churchill’s ancestors, the Duke of Marlborough, because of a victory in France. We saw the room where Churchill was born and much memorabilia of his. Lots of beautiful china and paintings.
Leon was very brave and drove into London and Victoria Station where we checked our luggage and then drove back to White City to drop off the car. He did very well! We took the underground into Victoria Station and walked to Buckingham Palace. As we walked past we noticed mounted men,the royal Horse Artillery. We asked them and they were on the way to the Horseguards Parade ground to rehearse for another performance. We went and since it was a rehearsal, it was free. We saw another great program of marching bands and mounted men pulling the cannons around. They played the 1812 Overture and the cannons went off, also muskets, and the huge bells in some nearby bell tower and it was magnificent.
We walked back towards Victoria Staten and passed by Downing Street where the Prime Minister lives. You can’t go onto the street itself; it is blocked off. We caught the 9:30 p.m train to Dover , arriving about 11:30 p.m. and got on the ferry. There were two types of seats; regular seats, three across, or lounge benches that you could stretch out on. The knowledgeable passengers got right off the train first and onto the ferry and appropriated the benches. We tried to sleep on the regular seats but it was not very restful. There were also a few cabins on the top deck. The night was noisy with much banging and bustling about but the crossing was very smooth.
We arrived in Oostend, Belgium about 4:03 a.m. continental time (3:03 British time) and took a train into Brussells, arriving about 6 a.m. It cost 5 Belgium Francs to use the toilet and 6 to wash one’s hands! We located the street where we were to pick up the car on a city map at the railroad station and decided to walk since they didn’t open until 8:30 a.m. We left most of the luggage and started out. We ended up walking 2 hours and 15 minutes! Brussells is very dirty; we saw a lot of it but all was dirty. You had to watch where you put your feet as the sidewalks were full of dog doo. This surprised me very much as I though Belgium would be clean like the Dutch Netherlands. One man was very helpful and showed us where we could buy a map of the city.
This car is a Ford Escort, very nice. We drove on freeways; the ones in France are like U.S. ones. It was like driving in L.A. during the rush hour on the freeways and worse on the city streets in Paris. Mad drivers! We arrived about 3 p.m. in Paris and found our hotel. As parking is very hard, we found a spot and left the car there the whole time; we didn’t move it. At this bread and breakfast we have our own private bathroom which is nice but the room is dark and dingy. You could tell that at one time it had been a very lovely home but had really deteriorated. The window opened onto a small courtyard overlooked by other buildings. We went out and bought some food, then returned to our room. We were both very tired.
We woke up feeling much better. The bus and metro are on strike; no transportation. We finally caught a taxi to take us to the Louvre. We waited in line over an hour but it hadn’t opened; their help couldn’t get in to man the place due to the strike. A sign said it would open but not when. We got tired of waiting and walked to the Jew de Paume museum, which had been open earlier, but it was now closed because of the strike. We walked along the Seine River in a drizzle. We decided to try the Louvre one more time and it was open! We were so glad. We saw the Venus, Winged Victory and the Mona Lisa, my main interests, and so much more. I really enjoyed seeing the huge painting of Napoleon being crowned by Louis David and another smaller painting really impressed me, St Joseph in the Carpenter’s Shop by Georges de la Tour. It was mostly dark but with a candle illuminating Joseph and who I also believe is Jesus as a child. We would walk down the main corridor then step into a side room thinking we could go back but other rooms opened off the room and we would get derailed. It would take months to see everything! Wish we had had much more time.
We walked some more by the Seine then took a boat ride at Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris. We saw the Eiffel Tower from the river, also Notre Dame and the Paris Opera House. After the ride we walked to Notre Dame. It was very dark and gloomy inside. The drizzle continued but we walked along the Ile de la Cite and Ile Ste Louis, the two Islands in the river, then back to the hotel buying things for supper on the way.
When it was time to leave the next morning, we tried to pay for the hotel with traveler’s checks, the landlady, very brusque, wouldn’t take them. We had to drive to one of the railroad stations and exchange them for francs then drive back, pay her and collect our luggage. The daughter was very nice and welcoming and spoke English but the old lady was not very friendly.
We drove to Warwick and saw the castle. Beautiful grounds with peacocks. We saw the dungeons and torture instruments; much armor. We saw the state apartments with wax figures portraying a party which took place in 1898. Very well done. Winston Churchill was portrayed as he had been one of the guests. We then drove to Blenheim Palace. Unbelievable! It is ornate, fancy, the loveliest, most beautiful house in England. It was built, by order of Queen Anne, for one of Churchill’s ancestors, the Duke of Marlborough, because of a victory in France. We saw the room where Churchill was born and much memorabilia of his. Lots of beautiful china and paintings.
Leon was very brave and drove into London and Victoria Station where we checked our luggage and then drove back to White City to drop off the car. He did very well! We took the underground into Victoria Station and walked to Buckingham Palace. As we walked past we noticed mounted men,the royal Horse Artillery. We asked them and they were on the way to the Horseguards Parade ground to rehearse for another performance. We went and since it was a rehearsal, it was free. We saw another great program of marching bands and mounted men pulling the cannons around. They played the 1812 Overture and the cannons went off, also muskets, and the huge bells in some nearby bell tower and it was magnificent.
We walked back towards Victoria Staten and passed by Downing Street where the Prime Minister lives. You can’t go onto the street itself; it is blocked off. We caught the 9:30 p.m train to Dover , arriving about 11:30 p.m. and got on the ferry. There were two types of seats; regular seats, three across, or lounge benches that you could stretch out on. The knowledgeable passengers got right off the train first and onto the ferry and appropriated the benches. We tried to sleep on the regular seats but it was not very restful. There were also a few cabins on the top deck. The night was noisy with much banging and bustling about but the crossing was very smooth.
We arrived in Oostend, Belgium about 4:03 a.m. continental time (3:03 British time) and took a train into Brussells, arriving about 6 a.m. It cost 5 Belgium Francs to use the toilet and 6 to wash one’s hands! We located the street where we were to pick up the car on a city map at the railroad station and decided to walk since they didn’t open until 8:30 a.m. We left most of the luggage and started out. We ended up walking 2 hours and 15 minutes! Brussells is very dirty; we saw a lot of it but all was dirty. You had to watch where you put your feet as the sidewalks were full of dog doo. This surprised me very much as I though Belgium would be clean like the Dutch Netherlands. One man was very helpful and showed us where we could buy a map of the city.
This car is a Ford Escort, very nice. We drove on freeways; the ones in France are like U.S. ones. It was like driving in L.A. during the rush hour on the freeways and worse on the city streets in Paris. Mad drivers! We arrived about 3 p.m. in Paris and found our hotel. As parking is very hard, we found a spot and left the car there the whole time; we didn’t move it. At this bread and breakfast we have our own private bathroom which is nice but the room is dark and dingy. You could tell that at one time it had been a very lovely home but had really deteriorated. The window opened onto a small courtyard overlooked by other buildings. We went out and bought some food, then returned to our room. We were both very tired.
We woke up feeling much better. The bus and metro are on strike; no transportation. We finally caught a taxi to take us to the Louvre. We waited in line over an hour but it hadn’t opened; their help couldn’t get in to man the place due to the strike. A sign said it would open but not when. We got tired of waiting and walked to the Jew de Paume museum, which had been open earlier, but it was now closed because of the strike. We walked along the Seine River in a drizzle. We decided to try the Louvre one more time and it was open! We were so glad. We saw the Venus, Winged Victory and the Mona Lisa, my main interests, and so much more. I really enjoyed seeing the huge painting of Napoleon being crowned by Louis David and another smaller painting really impressed me, St Joseph in the Carpenter’s Shop by Georges de la Tour. It was mostly dark but with a candle illuminating Joseph and who I also believe is Jesus as a child. We would walk down the main corridor then step into a side room thinking we could go back but other rooms opened off the room and we would get derailed. It would take months to see everything! Wish we had had much more time.
We walked some more by the Seine then took a boat ride at Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris. We saw the Eiffel Tower from the river, also Notre Dame and the Paris Opera House. After the ride we walked to Notre Dame. It was very dark and gloomy inside. The drizzle continued but we walked along the Ile de la Cite and Ile Ste Louis, the two Islands in the river, then back to the hotel buying things for supper on the way.
When it was time to leave the next morning, we tried to pay for the hotel with traveler’s checks, the landlady, very brusque, wouldn’t take them. We had to drive to one of the railroad stations and exchange them for francs then drive back, pay her and collect our luggage. The daughter was very nice and welcoming and spoke English but the old lady was not very friendly.
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