Varenna and Florence

Since leaving Venice, we have been in two extraordinary places. Varenna, on Lake Como in the Italian Alps, was incredibly beautiful. On the day we arrived, the next day and the day we left, the weather was gorgeous and we could see the snow capped mountains towering back behind the lake. The border with Switzerland was in those mountains and we could imagine the smugglers, war refugees and others stealing through the mountain passes to go from one country to the other. Our hotel was perfectly placed to give us wonderful views of the lake; we even had a small balcony! We could watch the ferries go back and forth across the lake to the cities of Menaggio and Bellagio.
On our first full day there, we took the ferry. It was a great chance to get out onto the lake and get the perspective from there. The boat went first to Menaggio and we just stayed on. Then it went to Bellagio where we got off and had lunch at a dockside restaurant. How lucky we were with the weather! The next day it was cloudy and there were rain showers and the day after that, it poured all day. We found walks to take and things to do though!
Last Saturday we moved on to Florence. Once again we used the Italian train ("tren") system and did fine! Using Rick Steves' book for reference, we had booked a 2 star hotel for its location. It does leave some things to be desired, but the location is unbeatable! If we walk 2 blocks to the left, we are in from of the Duomo (cathedral). If we walk 3 blocks to the right, we are at the Piazza Signoria, a major plaza with amazing sculptures and the Ufizzi gallery. Of course there are restaurants and shops everywhere. We are amazed by the numbers of people who are here! Of course, it is spring break and there are high school/college tour groups everywhere. Also many families seem to have chosen Florence as a vacation spot. Today we met a family from the Ballard area of Seattle!
There are many fantastic sights here; lots of museums, churches, sculptures. Michaelangelo's "David" has to be one of our favorites. So imposing and breathtaking in person! This city was the birthplace of the Renaissance and it throbs with evidence of that everywhere you look. There are two main collections that most tourists want to see. Rick Steves suggests booking tickets ahead of time and seeing if your hotel will do it for you. We did request that and they came through for us. So instead of waiting in several long lines (buying tickets, waiting for admission etc), we just showed up 15 minutes before our entry time and got in pretty fast. A great way to do it! The food here has been delicious. I've only allowed myself one gelato treat, but pasta, wine and bread are part of every dinner.
Tomorrow we leave for Lucca and our apartment that we have rented for two weeks. We will be glad to stop for a while, although we want to visit Pisa, Siena, San Gimignano and hopefully Assisi. Again we will use the train system tomorrow and probably for several of the other trips. I will write again from there.
Here are some photos. From the top: Jon and I with Florence as the background; the bridges of Florence, including the Ponte Vecchio; a nice Danish couple we met today over lunch; a heartrending wooden sculpture of Mary Magadelene at the Academia; a piece of St. Francis' robe; the front of the Duomo; gelato - yum!; looking across Lake Como from our balcony; the mountains behind Lake Como in one direction; and lastly, the lake and mountains facing in another direction.

Bella Italia!

We have been in Italy for about 10 days and each day has been wonderful! We flew from Dublin to Rome and stayed in a small hotel near the train station. We spent the next day making train reservations for our trip to Naples and then figuring out the details of getting to Sorrento from Naples. Saturday morning, the 13th., we tried out the Italian train system and liked it! We traveled on a medium speed train and reached Naples in 2 hours and then took a hydrofoil to Sorrento! It was a great way to see the surrounding area.

Rick Steves' talks about Sorrento as being a great base from which to explore that coastal region and we agree! We stayed in a superb hotel on the hillside and looked out on the Bay of Naples. The weather cooperated and we finally found sun and warm temperatures. We went to Pompeii by commuter train, the Amalfi coast as far as the town of Amalfi by bus (crazy, wild ride on curvy, narrow roads that are on the edge of cliffs with long drops to the sea!), the Isle of Capri by hydrofoil, and the other town that Vesuvius buried - Ercolano - and the National Museum in Naples also by commuter train. All these took a day each. We also just browsed around Sorrento which is a lovely town of 20,000. I bought some new shoes for walking; I had worn out the ones I took with me!

Then last Friday we took the train from Sorrento to Venice. This was a long day, changing trains in Naples (where Jon and I got separated when he couldn't get off the first train fast enough!) and then again in Rome. These were the fast trains, which helped, but we still were the move from 9:30 in the morning when we left the hotel until 6:30 in the evening when we reached our hotel in Venice. The last step was taking the Venetian style of public transportation, the vaporetto (boat) and then walking with our bags, following the great directions provided by the hotel.

Venice is delightful! We have 3 full days here and have used the first two well. Of course, our first stop Saturday morning had to be Piazza San Marco - St. Mark's plaza. Then we toured the bascilica, which is amazing. The entire ceiling has gold background and mosaics. Then we walked over the Rialto Bridge and past the market there to the Frari church with it's collection of Bellinis and Titians - WOW! Next door to it is the Scuola Grande with it's collection of Tintorettos. These are probably the three most gifted artists that Venice ever produced and their work is awesome. By the time we found our way back to the hotel, we were pretty tired but what a way to start!

Today we woke up to light gray skies with the possibility of rain to come so we wasted no time in having our gondola ride! Luca was our gondolier and he explained what we were seeing well in English. It was a lot of fun and not nearly so cheesy as we thought it might be. Then we headed back to San Marco's (which is just a few minutes away from our hotel happily) to visit the Doge's Palace. The Doge was the most powerful political person in Venice during it's heyday, which last for hundreds of years. The palace is very interesting and we took our time. Afterwards, we went to the San Marco vaporetto stop to take an enjoyable ride down the Grand Canal (this time without luggage) and to truly enjoy the sights. We walked back quite a distance and at this moment, we are getting ready to have some tasty Italian food for dinner. For the record, I am TRYING to be good and have only had gelato once so far - on Capri where it was in the 70s and sunny - a perfect day!

Here are some photos. From the top: the view from our balcony at the Hotel Bristol in Sorrento, the Amalfi coastline at Positano, me on Capri, us on the balcony of the bascilica overlooking piazza San Marco, and us at the end of our gondola ride this morning.

Pictures of Ireland

Here are some images of our time in Ireland. From the top: an old graveyard with Celtic crosses, the statue of Molly Malone in Dublin; one of the Cliffs of Moher; a fishing boat waiting for better times near Renvyle; one of MANY sheep we met on the road; a peat fire with more peat fuel in the container next to the fireplace in our hotel in Renvyle; the cliffs on the south side of the Dingle peninsula; the two of us on the path to the beach at Giant's Causeway; the "stepping stones" at Giant's Causeway; our friend Geraldine in Dublin.

Ireland

It's been two weeks since I posted an entry; we have been so busy that there was no time! I wrote last from Keswick, England the night before we were to go to Birkenhead to take the ferry to Dublin. Birkenhead is across the Mersey River from Liverpool and it was at the John Lennon airport that we had to return our rental car. (Next to the name on the signs for the airport it says "above us only sky" - from the song "Imagine".) Happily, we were able to return the car without having damaged it or anyone/thing else. It was fun to drive through that city that I had spent several teenage years imagining and to hear our cab driver talk about going to the Cavern and meeting "the boys".

The ferry to Dublin was comfortable and we had our books and sudokus to keep us busy. There was a movie theatre and we watched a Bruce Willis movie to help pass the time. It was a 7 hour trip. The Irish Sea can be turbulent, but happily was quite calm for our trip.

Dublin is a big city that has grown up on both sides of the Liffey river. We stayed in the Temple Bar area and had a comfortable room that overlooked the river. We stayed there for four nights. We toured the Guinness plant, took a day long tour into the Wicklow Mountains, went to Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells and went through the National Museum which covers the archeology and history of Ireland, and did the "hop on, hop off" bus tour. Then we picked up our next rental car and began driving west.

The Dingle peninsula in the southwest, was our first stop. We stayed in the town of Tralee which was a perfect place from which to explore the area. We spent a day driving to the little town of Dingle where we had lunch and did some shopping and then going on the loop road along the edge of the peninsula. Sometimes the roads were VERY narrow and it could be quite exciting. Irish drivers are careful and polite and so things always worked out! What a beautiful spot! Pastural, dramatic scenery! It was a cool sunny day and we drove past miles of ocean waves, high cliffs, and craggy rocks! We saw lots of sheep in pastures, some with new baby lambs - too cute! This same scenery was to be repeated with variations for the rest of our time in Ireland.

After Dingle, we went north along the Atlantic coast to the small town of Renvyle. This area has snow covered mountains, lakes and rivers, and was breathtaking. We spent two nights here. One day we drove a loop out to the coast and then east to a loop around a lake. We had a great lunch at a pub in the small town of Leename where we met a few "colorful" characters! Nice, all!

We had been told that the Donegal region was not to be missed, so we drove from Renvyle to Letterkenny and used it as our base to explore. Wow. We could see why people would be so proud of this area. It was the Dingle area, taken to the extreme! We saw the highest sea cliffs in Europe, the center of the wool and weaving culture, and a glorious national park. Again, we were blessed with beautiful weather, cool but sunny.

The drive to Bushmills in Northern Ireland completed our trip across the north coast. We stayed two nights there and spent the day in between at the Giant's Causeway and the Rope Bridge. The Giant's Causeway is a volcanic rock area that is unique and majestic. The giant Finn McCool, according to legend, made the causeway to take him and his giant rival from Scotland back and forth between the two countries. The formations resemble a cobbled street that starts out into the water. We hiked a couple of miles to get an up close look at all the fascinating geology. The Rope Bridge is located a few miles further east on the coast and really is a rope suspension bridge between the main land and an island. It is about 70 feet long and the plunge is 100 feet straight down into the water. Jon walked across; I did not. I took pictures of him - that was my role!

After leaving Bushmills we drove south through Belfast and on to Dublin where we turned in our car yesterday. Again, no serious injury done to man or beast or vehicle. Thankfully we don't have a rental car again now for months, and when we do, we will be driving on the right (correct) side of the road!

Pictures: from the top: I actually drank some Guinness - not bad!, momma sheep and two little babies, Jon and his newfound friend Tom in the pub, Jon on the Rope Bridge ("I can't look down, I can't look down..."), and snow on the mountain above the valley.