Italia - part two

Florenza and Tuscany -

Our next destination is Florence. We catch a train from Stresa back to Milan then onto Florence. This takes most of our day. A short taxi ride from the train station to our resort 20 minutes outside of the city center. We are staying very close to the Stadio Artemio Franchi that is home to the Florentina soccer team. During games the streets flood with purple and red speeding by on motorbikes and on foot cheering loudly as they go by. Otherwise a fairly quiet suburb. Our favorite spot in the morning for a croissant and cappuccino was just around the corner.

While in Florence we viewed the usual galleries such as the Uffizi with Renaissance artwork and the Academia where the magnificent David stands. I have never experienced such awe over a sculpture before. Michelangelo's work is simply breathtaking and the lighting could not have been more perfect to display his masterpiece. I wish I had neglected the "no photos" signs as the majority of other tourists were doing and captured the David's image.

From Florence we took a couple of day trips into Tuscany and Umbria. We rented a car and drove from hill town to hill town. This was quite the adventure. I was the driver and the roads are extremely narrow and winding with impatient Italians passing you on the curves. There is no slowing down to check the signs, when there were signs. Fortunately I brought a Garmin along. Love the autostrada. Drive as fast as you can, unless your Mom is a back seat driver. We visited Casole Val d'Elsa, Volterra, Pienza, Orvieto and Montepulciano. This is wine country and yes it is delicioso!

We strolled through each town admiring the architecture and enjoying the culture and uniqueness of each one. The olive trees and crystal of Casole Val d' Elsa, the Roman ruins and intricate lanterns in Volterra, the incredible duomo (church) in Orvieto and the vineyards of Montepulciano.

More to come....

Italia!

My trip to Italy with my folks and youngest sister was a blast. Two weeks of history and travel. Of course I had my eyes behind the camera for a good portion of it, well, when I wasn't eating gelato : )

Let's begin my trip. We flew into Milan only to grab a quick bite of pizza in the airport and catch a bus for the small town of Stresa on the southern tip of Lake Maggiore. Beautiful, quaint town with lots of small shops, boutique hotels and summer homes on the banks of the lake. It was raining horribly the evening we arrived. We took a short traverse around town getting drenched, then gave up and went inside to taste a sample of Italian vino before heading to bed. The next day we awoke to blue skies and it remained that way the 4 days we were there.

Our first full day in Stresa we took a train around the west side of the lake into the Alps and crossed into Switzerland stopping at a border town, Locarno, on the north side of the lake. Attractive town, very clean with lots of bicycles and friendly locals. We wandered around town in the sunshine. Stopping for a carry out sandwich of fresh bread and salami that we ate on a park bench next to the lake. We returned by ferry. Lake Maggiore is breathtaking and very long. Our return took just shy of 3 hours. We came back and strolled around town to find an outdoor cafe to indulge in a dinner of pizza and vini. My Dad and I were in heaven.

The next day we visited three islands on the south end of the lake. Isola Bella, Isola dei Pescatori and Isola Madre. The first has mostly small shops along narrow alleyways. The second is noted as a fishing village with delicious restaurants serving homemade pasta and fresh fish. Here we tasted our first 'birra', Italian beer. The third island was completely covered with an amazing garden and an early 16th century castle owned by the Borromeo family. We will end our journey here for Stresa. Next to come will be Florence!

Enjoy!