One of our favorite places to spend a romantic Saturday morning is the Winter Park Farmers’ Market. It’s a positively wonderful way to start the weekend. Last Saturday morning, we packed up our market basket and a couple of hats and headed out. However, we do aim for getting there before 10 o’clock as it […]
I was drawn to the Hotel Novecento by the photos of its beautiful rooms when I searched online for lodging in Venice, Italy. While we stayed there, I was impressed by their attentive but unobtrusive service. The Italian Air Traffic Controllers called a strike the day that we were to arrive in Venice. Once our […]
After spending four nights in a smaller boutique hotel in Venice, the Hotel della Signoria (HDS) in Florence was a big shift. For one, HDS has an elevator, a convenience that our knees greatly appreciated. Though it’s a small elevator, and the sign says that it can accommodate six people, we joked just how they […]
“I’m leavin’ on a jet plane…” was running through my head as we finished packing, checked out of the hotel, and waited for the taxi to the airport. Adriel was hearing ‘Arriverderci, Roma!’ from the movie ‘Seven Hills of Rome‘. Either way, we’re headin’ home. Our taxi was a pleasant surprise…a Tesla! We noticed the […]
We had no idea what to expect for a Florentine All Saints Day, but we were about to find out. It was a sunny day in Florence after three days of cool drizzle. The view from the breakfast room was better than ever. We enjoyed our now usual breakfast of yogurt, European meats and cheeses, […]
Italian Surprises! The narrow alley ways, the canals, the art and the buildings, the food and wine and coffee, but mostly the people. I’d expected to find a dirty, kind of smelly city packed with tourists. Instead I fell in love with Venice and hope to visit again and stay longer. The biggest variation in […]
Late breakfast in the Hotel della Signoria’s breakfast room with great rooftop views kicked off our relaxing Halloween in Florence. We meandered through the nearby streets, visiting a market that appears each morning, and is taken down every night. Do these people start setting up at 3 am? Later, we met my daughter and her […]
We were up bright and early this morning for another The Tour Guy tour, this time for exploring the Medici at the Galleria and Uffizi. If we were lucky, we’d find some gelato too! I was a bit apprehensive leading up to this, given our exhaustion level after the Venice tour. I needn’t have worried. […]
Today we enjoyed a delightful train ride to Florence. It was even better than we’d imagined. However, we’ve been so busy, and since they say that a picture is worth a thousand words, I will just post photos with captions. Trenitalia turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Decades-old memories of crowded standing-room-only Italian […]
Our The Tour Guy tour of St. Mark’s, the Doge’s Palace and a Gondola Ride was early, so we were up early and out the door by 9:00. On our way to meet the tour at St. Mark’s square, Adriel noticed that water was starting to seep up from the concrete grates. Our tour guide […]
