Tag: Western Europe
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Siena waits…for you
Do you remember that color in your box of crayons called “Burnt Siena”? Maybe not, but that color comes from the color of the buildings made from the clay taken from the surrounding hills. Siena, a walled hill-town city in Tuscany, has all of the medieval magnificence of Florence on a smaller scale. What it…
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Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Travel-Weary
It’s been awhile since we’ve posted about the less glorious side of travel. As of today, we’ve been on the road for 151 days. Every new location comes with a bit of anxiety as we adjust to a new “home”. Each new place requires research and exploration to understand what sites we want to see,…
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Week #20 ~ Recap
477 miles, 4 towns, 1 major city, 6 train rides, 5 or 6 more tiramisus, 4,000 stairs (maybe not that many but it sure felt that way), 2 UNESCO world heritage sites, 1 duomo tour, 1 Michelangelo sculpture, 1 saint’s sanctuary, $649.40 UNDER budget. The week started in the Cinque Terre and ended in the…
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The Cinque Terre, magic where there shouldn’t be any.
I apologize in advance to all of you who have already been to the Cinque Terre (five towns) area of Italy ~ this post may produce a yearning to return. Lots of people have heard of the Cinque Terre ~ a coastal area in northeast Italy consisting of five towns whose only defense against pirates…
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Week #19 ~ Recap
206 Miles, 4 UNESCO World Heritage sites (1 World Heritage “cultural landscape” included in the count), 4 cities, 1 leaning tower, 3 trains, 3 boats (vaporetti), 2 tiramisu desserts, 3 gelatos, 1 moment of falling in love with Italy, and $28.74 UNDER budget. This week we moved from the NorthEast portion of Italy (Venice) to…
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Venezia senza tempo e Verona moderna (timeless Venice, modern Verona)
Verona is a sister city to Venice, having historically been conquered by the same folks and/or formed alliances with each other, but they are as different in temperament as two sisters can be. Venice is timeless as a result of tourism and law, Verona has preserved the city’s art and architectural character, but is definitely…
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Happy Birthday to Me
When we first started discussing this trip my two top priorities were: spend a month in Italy, and spend my birthday in Florence. I wanted to do a cultural deep dive, and what better place than the birthplace of the Renaissance? Florence is the home of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rafael, and Donatello—and I’m not…
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Week #18 ~ Recap
1,077 miles, 1 plane, 2 trains, 2 countries, 3 cities, 1 UNESCO World Heritage site, 4 museums, average of 12,000 steps/day, 238.54 UNDER budget for the week. We have now entered the part of the trip we have been most eagerly anticipating ever since we started planning it: a month in Italy. The food, the…
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Normandy
If you are looking for a region that is American-friendly, has lots of history, is easy to navigate and has great food ~ Normandy is the place. From the D-Day beaches to thousand year old cathedrals, to pastoral landscapes dotted with cows and sheep, we enjoyed Normandy quite a bit. We also liked Normandy because…
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Paris
I was prepared not to like you Paris. I had heard stories of the French being aloof and arrogant with tourists when they couldn’t speak the language so I started my daily DuoLingo lessons back in July hoping that I could maybe order from a menu by October. I had read multiple warnings of…