Friday, April 18, 2008
Correction
I made a mistake in the last post. The ceiling is 18 feet above us, not 18 inches. LOL Didn't want you guys to think we were getting smushed.
Firenze - Florence, our home away from home
Ahhh........we are back in Florence. What a relief mentally and physically. Our new little apartment is adorable. You have to open a 700 pound door off the street to get into an entry with stairs that lead up to a rickety old elevator. Once inside, we go to the second floor. Our frnt door is right in front of us. We open that and go into a common entry with three doors leading to the individual apartments. We have a small but totally functional place. There is a couch and twin bed in the 'living room', across the room is a little dining table with 4 chairs. The kitchen, I kid you not, is 12 inches deep and 6 feet long. In that tiny space is a dishwasher, trash compartment, and refrigerator/freezer about the size of one in a camper. There is a long, 8 feet, buffet with drawers and shelves that hold the silverware, dishes, pots and pans and the toaster. Amazing that so much stuff is stored in a small space.
The master bedroom has a queen size bed. Shutters cover a double window. There is glass, a 12"ledge and then another set of dual paned windows. Luckily we have that because we are on a busy street. The windows block out most of the noise. Our room is painted a pretty blue, a little darker than robin's egg, the ceiling is about 18"above us and is painted a stark white with an 8"crown mold on the walls. When you look up from the bed, it looks like you are in a blue box with a white lid. LOL
Today, Carol and I walked to the Pitti Palace and saw the Costume Museum. Wow! Clothes from the 1700's to the 1990's. Amazing and beautiful. They even showed the construction process of clothes from the early 1800's. The button collection was astounding. Carol and I were in our glory.
This is our last week in Italy. I'm not ready to leave but I think when the 24th arrives, I will be looking forward to heading back. There is just so much to see and I haven't seen it all yet.
I've learned that I am far more flexible than I thought. More adventurous and not fearful at all. It's been so great to have this experience. I am so fond of the people we have met. A couple traveling with a friend of theirs from Denmark were staying at our B&B in Rome. Skip, Inga and Vittoria are from a tiny village of 200. Skip is originally from Philadelphia. We had a great time with them. Visiting, drinking wine, and sharing experiences. Our host and hostess at the B&B just stole our hearts, Especially Giordana. She was a sweetie pie. Riccardo saved us many times by speaking to our cab drivers on our cell phone and giving much better instructions to the B&B than we could. Thank God for cell phones.
In later entries, I will talk about the lovely differences between Amercians and Italians.
More soon,
Love, Kathy
The master bedroom has a queen size bed. Shutters cover a double window. There is glass, a 12"ledge and then another set of dual paned windows. Luckily we have that because we are on a busy street. The windows block out most of the noise. Our room is painted a pretty blue, a little darker than robin's egg, the ceiling is about 18"above us and is painted a stark white with an 8"crown mold on the walls. When you look up from the bed, it looks like you are in a blue box with a white lid. LOL
Today, Carol and I walked to the Pitti Palace and saw the Costume Museum. Wow! Clothes from the 1700's to the 1990's. Amazing and beautiful. They even showed the construction process of clothes from the early 1800's. The button collection was astounding. Carol and I were in our glory.
This is our last week in Italy. I'm not ready to leave but I think when the 24th arrives, I will be looking forward to heading back. There is just so much to see and I haven't seen it all yet.
I've learned that I am far more flexible than I thought. More adventurous and not fearful at all. It's been so great to have this experience. I am so fond of the people we have met. A couple traveling with a friend of theirs from Denmark were staying at our B&B in Rome. Skip, Inga and Vittoria are from a tiny village of 200. Skip is originally from Philadelphia. We had a great time with them. Visiting, drinking wine, and sharing experiences. Our host and hostess at the B&B just stole our hearts, Especially Giordana. She was a sweetie pie. Riccardo saved us many times by speaking to our cab drivers on our cell phone and giving much better instructions to the B&B than we could. Thank God for cell phones.
In later entries, I will talk about the lovely differences between Amercians and Italians.
More soon,
Love, Kathy
Monday, April 14, 2008
Still in Rome
We are still in Rome. We have adjusted somewhat to the pace and the fact that we will never figure out where we are in relationship to anywhere we have been. All of the streets are on angles that do not seem to lead back to where we were coming from. So many one way streets that it is a maze.
Our bed and breakfast was advertised as being in a quiet residential neighborhood. No mention that the main ambulance depot was around the corner, the frieght trains run 1 blcok behind us, we are on a major street with busses, motorcycles, and cars rushing by all the time. Also, the Romans are not shy about honking the car horns at every opportunity. So as far as quiet goes, I guess it is relative to the rest of Rome. Luckily, our room as good, double paned windows so we can shut out a lot of the chaos. Our host and hostess, Ricardo and Jordanna are wonderful. We have just fallen i love with Jordanna. She works so hard to make sure everything is just right for us. She has the cutest little girl, Lucretia who is just a few weeks older than Matthew. Darling little girl.
We have everything we need close by. The supermarket, internet cafe, a good restaurant, and the bus and tram lines within 1 block. It is very convenient and worth it inspite of the noise.
We have seem some of the most amazing things here. The Colliseum was such a high light. I stood before it with tears in my eyes. It has such a majestic feel about it and I cannot image that I finally got to see it in person. We took a guided tour which was wonderful because we got a lot of history lessons along the way plus the delightful sense of humor of our guide. Today we are going to Scuderie Del Quirinale museum to see a painting called The Kiss in English,
li bacio in Italian. I know we will see other special piece, too, but we are going especially to see this.
Tomorrow we are going to St. Peters Basicilla to see Michaelangelos, The Pieta which is a statue of Mary holding the crucified Christ. It is number 2 on my list of things I had to see here.
Cari went home on Saturday. She arrived at LAX exhausted but very happy to see Sam. She was not ready to leave Italy. She loves it here so much. I know she and Sam will return someday. Her heart is one half here.
We have decided to leave Rome a day early and head back to Florence. We have rented an apartment near the Duomo which is the center of our comfort zone. It is close to the train station, too, so we can do our day trips easily. Florence will be our home base until we leave for home. We fly out of Milan which is an easy train ride from Florence.
I will take some time, in the next day or so, to tell some funny tales. We have had so many hilarious adventures and I want to write about them so you can laugh at and with us.
More soon,
Love, Kathy
Our bed and breakfast was advertised as being in a quiet residential neighborhood. No mention that the main ambulance depot was around the corner, the frieght trains run 1 blcok behind us, we are on a major street with busses, motorcycles, and cars rushing by all the time. Also, the Romans are not shy about honking the car horns at every opportunity. So as far as quiet goes, I guess it is relative to the rest of Rome. Luckily, our room as good, double paned windows so we can shut out a lot of the chaos. Our host and hostess, Ricardo and Jordanna are wonderful. We have just fallen i love with Jordanna. She works so hard to make sure everything is just right for us. She has the cutest little girl, Lucretia who is just a few weeks older than Matthew. Darling little girl.
We have everything we need close by. The supermarket, internet cafe, a good restaurant, and the bus and tram lines within 1 block. It is very convenient and worth it inspite of the noise.
We have seem some of the most amazing things here. The Colliseum was such a high light. I stood before it with tears in my eyes. It has such a majestic feel about it and I cannot image that I finally got to see it in person. We took a guided tour which was wonderful because we got a lot of history lessons along the way plus the delightful sense of humor of our guide. Today we are going to Scuderie Del Quirinale museum to see a painting called The Kiss in English,
li bacio in Italian. I know we will see other special piece, too, but we are going especially to see this.
Tomorrow we are going to St. Peters Basicilla to see Michaelangelos, The Pieta which is a statue of Mary holding the crucified Christ. It is number 2 on my list of things I had to see here.
Cari went home on Saturday. She arrived at LAX exhausted but very happy to see Sam. She was not ready to leave Italy. She loves it here so much. I know she and Sam will return someday. Her heart is one half here.
We have decided to leave Rome a day early and head back to Florence. We have rented an apartment near the Duomo which is the center of our comfort zone. It is close to the train station, too, so we can do our day trips easily. Florence will be our home base until we leave for home. We fly out of Milan which is an easy train ride from Florence.
I will take some time, in the next day or so, to tell some funny tales. We have had so many hilarious adventures and I want to write about them so you can laugh at and with us.
More soon,
Love, Kathy
Friday, April 11, 2008
Rome......
We had our first day in Rome yesterday. We arrived the night before but did not go out. What can I say about this city of 5 million? It is crowded, hectic, scary and wonderful all at the same time. The Taxi rides are really scary for me. I cannot watch where we are going.
We saw the Vatican museums and Sistine Chapel yesterday. Wonderful, beautiful and not a disappointment.
Have to go. We are seeing another museum in 1 hour. Will write soon.
We saw the Vatican museums and Sistine Chapel yesterday. Wonderful, beautiful and not a disappointment.
Have to go. We are seeing another museum in 1 hour. Will write soon.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Ahh, Florence.......you stole our hearts
We are leaving Florence today after a wonderful week. We had a break early on for 2 days in Paris. That was wonderful!!
We are all healthy, happy and very well fed. It's wonderful because we can eat anything we want because we walk everywhere we go, up to 4 to 5 miles a day. None of us are gaining weight. I think I've lost about 5 pounds do to the walking.
Today, we leave Florence via EuroStar train to Rome. It takes 1 1/2 hours because there is only one stop between here and there. Our new bed and breakfast inn awaits. So far our accommodations have been awesome. Comfortable beds and safe locations.
In Rome, we have reservations for a guided tour of the Vatican and have planned to see at least 2 museums. Cari will leave from Rome to go home. She's not ready to go back to the US. She loves it here so much.
The best thing to happen so far as shopping is concerned is that we met a clothing designer with his own shop here in Florence. He sold Carol and I each leather/suede coats for his cost and Cari a designer hand bag for his cost. He saved us about 2500 Euros which was awesome to say the least. He was just adorable. Very friendly, flirtatious and fun. Totally spoiled us in his shop with champagne while we tried on clothes. It was such a EVENT. We were swept away.
We haven't heard any news from the US so we are getting a little hungry for some information. We can't understand their news shows so we don't bother turning on the TV.
Hope all of you are doing great. I will be posting the pictures of the trip when I get home via email rather than loading them on the blog. Takes way too much time.
Our love to you all!
Kathy
We are all healthy, happy and very well fed. It's wonderful because we can eat anything we want because we walk everywhere we go, up to 4 to 5 miles a day. None of us are gaining weight. I think I've lost about 5 pounds do to the walking.
Today, we leave Florence via EuroStar train to Rome. It takes 1 1/2 hours because there is only one stop between here and there. Our new bed and breakfast inn awaits. So far our accommodations have been awesome. Comfortable beds and safe locations.
In Rome, we have reservations for a guided tour of the Vatican and have planned to see at least 2 museums. Cari will leave from Rome to go home. She's not ready to go back to the US. She loves it here so much.
The best thing to happen so far as shopping is concerned is that we met a clothing designer with his own shop here in Florence. He sold Carol and I each leather/suede coats for his cost and Cari a designer hand bag for his cost. He saved us about 2500 Euros which was awesome to say the least. He was just adorable. Very friendly, flirtatious and fun. Totally spoiled us in his shop with champagne while we tried on clothes. It was such a EVENT. We were swept away.
We haven't heard any news from the US so we are getting a little hungry for some information. We can't understand their news shows so we don't bother turning on the TV.
Hope all of you are doing great. I will be posting the pictures of the trip when I get home via email rather than loading them on the blog. Takes way too much time.
Our love to you all!
Kathy
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Finally, Time to Write
Greetings from Florence, Italy. We are all healthy, happy and enjoying each minute of the adventure so far. Each day is better than the day before. Each meal is better than the one before ---and so on.
We got to our bed and breakfast in Milan the first night around 9:30. After unwinding by laughing hysterically for an hour, we all got a good night sleep. While there we saw The Last Supper by di Vinci. What a joy. We all go tears in our eyes when we first saw it. We were truly blessed by the experience.
In Milan, we also saw the beautiful Duomo. A very ornate building with amazing stained glass windows. We were impressed with the crowded, busy streets and traffic.
From Milan to Verona and the chance to see Juliette's balcony from the play, Romeo and Juliette. We saw the 3rd largest arena in Italy in the town square and walked through the little town for hours. Our bed and breakfast there was very nice. We would all go back again.
From Verona to Venice. It is just like I expected it to be but on a larger scale. We visited St. Mark's square where Sam had proposed to Cari. Beautiful church there. We saw many beautiful pieces of art work, statues, and of course all of the tiny streets and canels. We took a water taxi everywhere we went which was a fun experience. We stayed in a hotel built in the 1270's. Our room was on the 3rd floor and the size of a medium hotel room. Tiny! No room for our stuff but exciting anyway to experience such an old place.
From Venice to Florence and our beautiful 2 bedroom apartment with 2 bathrooms. We feel like we are staying in a mansion after our tiny little room in Venice. We have enjoyed Florence very much. We all love it here and feel right at home. We took a 2 day trip to Paris, France after being here only a day.
Paris is wonderful. We didn't expect to like it there very much but we all loved it and wished we had planned on more time there. Just too much to see in such a short day. We stayed in a charming hotel in the Latin District so it was Taxi cabs every where we went. I could write a book on the taxi cab experiences. I will do that another time. We are all just so happy to be alive. We went to the Louve and Orsay museums, the Effiel Tower, and on a night time river cruise on the Seine. Lovely!
Back to Florence and more of a normal routine for two days and then another side trip to Cortona where the movie, Under the Tuscan Sky was filmed. It is a lovely little town nestled in the hills. Very quaint, charming and welcoming. We walked through the main part of town and found the main square by their church. We heard two candidates for mayor give their speaches to all of the folks in the square. We could not understand the words but the way they expressed themselves - the way they gave their pitches - was just like in the U.S.A.
Yesterday and today, we have rested, shopped and enjoyed the town of Florence. Tomorrow we are going on another day trip to Cinque Terra. Looking forward to it very much!
That's it for now. I don't know when I will have time to write again. Hope all of you are well. Don't worry about us. We are doing GREAT.
We got to our bed and breakfast in Milan the first night around 9:30. After unwinding by laughing hysterically for an hour, we all got a good night sleep. While there we saw The Last Supper by di Vinci. What a joy. We all go tears in our eyes when we first saw it. We were truly blessed by the experience.
In Milan, we also saw the beautiful Duomo. A very ornate building with amazing stained glass windows. We were impressed with the crowded, busy streets and traffic.
From Milan to Verona and the chance to see Juliette's balcony from the play, Romeo and Juliette. We saw the 3rd largest arena in Italy in the town square and walked through the little town for hours. Our bed and breakfast there was very nice. We would all go back again.
From Verona to Venice. It is just like I expected it to be but on a larger scale. We visited St. Mark's square where Sam had proposed to Cari. Beautiful church there. We saw many beautiful pieces of art work, statues, and of course all of the tiny streets and canels. We took a water taxi everywhere we went which was a fun experience. We stayed in a hotel built in the 1270's. Our room was on the 3rd floor and the size of a medium hotel room. Tiny! No room for our stuff but exciting anyway to experience such an old place.
From Venice to Florence and our beautiful 2 bedroom apartment with 2 bathrooms. We feel like we are staying in a mansion after our tiny little room in Venice. We have enjoyed Florence very much. We all love it here and feel right at home. We took a 2 day trip to Paris, France after being here only a day.
Paris is wonderful. We didn't expect to like it there very much but we all loved it and wished we had planned on more time there. Just too much to see in such a short day. We stayed in a charming hotel in the Latin District so it was Taxi cabs every where we went. I could write a book on the taxi cab experiences. I will do that another time. We are all just so happy to be alive. We went to the Louve and Orsay museums, the Effiel Tower, and on a night time river cruise on the Seine. Lovely!
Back to Florence and more of a normal routine for two days and then another side trip to Cortona where the movie, Under the Tuscan Sky was filmed. It is a lovely little town nestled in the hills. Very quaint, charming and welcoming. We walked through the main part of town and found the main square by their church. We heard two candidates for mayor give their speaches to all of the folks in the square. We could not understand the words but the way they expressed themselves - the way they gave their pitches - was just like in the U.S.A.
Yesterday and today, we have rested, shopped and enjoyed the town of Florence. Tomorrow we are going on another day trip to Cinque Terra. Looking forward to it very much!
That's it for now. I don't know when I will have time to write again. Hope all of you are well. Don't worry about us. We are doing GREAT.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Ready, Set, Go!!
We are finally ready to go! Our departure date is March 25, 2008. Mom and Carol arrive here on March 20th so we can all pack together and spend a few days making sure we have all of our bases covered.
It's so exciting to see our dream coming true!
I will be blogging while we are on the trip and invite you all to log in from time to time to read about our adventures. Cari has used the computers in the internet cafes in Italy so she will help me log on and update.
More when we arrive in Italy. Our first stop: Milan. Then it's on to Verona and Venice. From there we go to Florence where we have an apartment for a week. During our time there, we are going to take a 2 day detour to Paris, France. After Florence time is finished, we are going to Rome.
Cari will be returning home after our week in Rome. The rest of the trip is a surprise. We're not sure what we are going to do right now. Perhaps, Cinque Terre on the coast or ???????? Check back and find out.
Love, Kathy
It's so exciting to see our dream coming true!
I will be blogging while we are on the trip and invite you all to log in from time to time to read about our adventures. Cari has used the computers in the internet cafes in Italy so she will help me log on and update.
More when we arrive in Italy. Our first stop: Milan. Then it's on to Verona and Venice. From there we go to Florence where we have an apartment for a week. During our time there, we are going to take a 2 day detour to Paris, France. After Florence time is finished, we are going to Rome.
Cari will be returning home after our week in Rome. The rest of the trip is a surprise. We're not sure what we are going to do right now. Perhaps, Cinque Terre on the coast or ???????? Check back and find out.
Love, Kathy
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