Monthly Archives: July 2015

Strasbourg in Alsace, now in France..for many years in Germany, is a stately and gracious city with wide streets, effective trams and very polite drivers …even with those who drive the wrong way in one way streets and occasionally hesitate … Continue reading →

Thursday 30th July We had only a  morning to wander the relatively quiet and ordered streets of Basel in Switzerland after the tourist chaos, blistering sun and sheer noise of Florence.  The contrast was quite remarkable.  Virtually no tourists, a … Continue reading →

Wednesday 28th July Today, as a final attempt to see the Renaissance through Florentine eyes we ventured just down the street from our hotel to San Lorenzo church, the parish church of the Medici family which also contains as an … Continue reading →

Tuesday 27 July This morning we woke to a perfect Summer day, not to hot just fresh and perfect..our last full day in Florence. After brekky we set our sites on the Bargello,  Florence’s National Museum of Applied Arts and … Continue reading →

Monday 27th July We woke to our first cooler day since we came to Italy with the temperature around 30 degrees. The papers here are saying 2015 is shaping to be southern Europe’s hottest summer for 30 years so we … Continue reading →

Sunday 26th July What a privilege to wake up in Florence and be very quickly surrounded by the some of the central icons of European Renaissance culture. Our hotel is just two blocks from the peaceful convent of San Marco … Continue reading →

Saturday 26th July This morning we vacated our lovely tiny Venice boudoir, walked the tangled lanes back to the water-bus and floated down the gorgeous Grand Canal for the last time past palaces like the Ca d’Or and hotels like … Continue reading →

Friday 24 July Venice turned on a perfect day for us today with a beautiful ocean breeze and slightly cooler temperatures than we have had for two weeks…a pleasant 33 degrees! We went first this morning to the Accademia crossing … Continue reading →

Thursday 23rd July Ann was in shopper’s paradise this morning wandering the narrow lanes of mostly clothing and fashion shops and Richard did not miss out finding mouth-watering ancient book shops and not one but two stamp shops including one … Continue reading →

Wednesday 22 July Today was a travelling day for us as we said goodbye to Padua after a very happy stay at the “Grand Italia Hotel” which was not particularly grand but who looked after us very well indeed. We … Continue reading →