Past Trip: London/Italy 2004-5

December 27, 2004 to January 8, 2005 we spent the Christmas recess in London, Milan, Florence and Venice. No Christmas tree at our house that year, but we saw plenty on our trip, pictures of them can be seen here. We had a stop over in London then used Ryan Air to get to and from Italy and while it may have saved a little bit of cash, it required the extra time and expense traveling to small airports outside of the major cities, there was no service on the plane and you were treated like cattle.

Highlights:

• Seeing each City and Hotel's rendition of a Christmas Tree. Most had the lights strung vertically.
• Leonardo's Last Supper 
• Michelangelo's David
• View of the snow capped Alps from Bergamo Airport, the closest small airport to Milan.
• No Acqua Alta "High Water" while in Venice.
• No Train Strike while in Italy. 
• Italian made boots 
• Stylish Italian people of all ages
• Some damn good pasta

Sights:
London

• Reduced Shakespeare Co, The Complete History of America - Abridged
• Trafalgar Square to see the Tree, it was very sparse with only white lights.
• Christmas Market next to St. Martin in the Fields
• Had some disappointing Fish and chips

Trafalgar Square

Milan - A big city, has a subway. Major streets were strung with Christmas lights, each street's decorations being different.

• Duomo -Milan's Catherdral, we visited it bottom to top. The trip to the roof is not to be missed.
• Castle Sforzesco, contains armor and music museums
• Day trip to Lugano, Switzerland, 1 hour by train with no changes.
• Museum Poldi Pezzoli - A house museum with an eclectic collection of objects. I liked the clocks and the armor and the sundials that ignited cannons. For some reason there was a Painting of Martin Luther and his wife.
• Last Supper at the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. The Last supper is in the refectory and there is another painting on the opposite wall of the room which is quite nice too. You must book a time slot ahead of time.

Street in Milan lit up for Christmas.

 

Lugano, Switzerland, an easy day trip from Milan. Foolishly we rode the funicular down to the town and walked up at the end of the day. Walked along the lake and did some shopping, a Swiss watch and Swiss army knife were procured. Buildings were of a Mediterranean style and there was a mix of evergreen and palm trees. The views across the lake were of the mountains surrounding the lake and snow covered Alps to the north.

Roof of the Duomo, Milan

Castle Sforzesco, Milan

Florence -We traveled by train via Bologna, one hour 45 minutes. Florence is a nice walkable town, a lot of museums and churches to explore.

• Window shopping for boots and eye glass frames
• Ponte Veccio
• Duomo, 5 bays, no seats and the dome had scenes of heaven and hell, we did not climb to the roof of the dome which takes you between the inner and outer shells of the dome.
• Medieval museum, next to the hotel, interesting and amusing
• Galleria della Accademia - David of course. The hall of Michelangelo's unfinished statues was cool, it looked like people were emerging from the stone.
• Santa Maria Novelle -  Had nicer works than in the Duomo.

Florence's Duomo

I read a book about the Duomo's dome, "Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King" which covered the making of the dome and other interesting facts, it would have been good to read prior to our trip.

Venice - The family's favorite city of this vacation, even though the temperature was the coldest of the whole trip. The train from Florence was 2 hours, also via Bologna. After arriving, we took the #1 vapporetto (water taxi) to San Toma near our hotel. In Venice, it is difficult to find your way around, it's like a maze, but fun to explore.

• St. Mark's Cathedral - way too gaudy inside and out.
• Exhibit of Leonardo's drawing of machines turned into 3 dimensional objects in one of the churches.
• Rialto Bridge
• Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari - The exterior is plain brick, but the inside is quite ornate. The pyramid monument for the sculptor Canova surprised me. The church also had a lot of hands and bones of Saints.

St. Mark's square

A little bridge found while lost, never to be found again.

Grand Canal at Night

Back to England

• Hampton Court Palace -Palace, gardens, a maze and a greenhouse with a grape vine planted in 1768. More photos here.
• Kensington Palace - A bit of a walk from our hotel, past Queensway. There was an exhibit of Lady Diana's dresses.
• book shopping

Hampton Court Palace seen across the Thames.

Another Astronomical Clock

Formal Gardens at Hampton Court

Our Hotels:

London

Fairway Hotel (1 night)
Scored the lowest on our survey. Was cramped, mostly clean and only 90 quid.

Milan

Hotel Serena (3 nights)
We had 4 singe beds, it looked like a dormitory, but it was clean. Watched "The Osbournes" dubbed in Italian.

Florence

Hotel Accademia (2 nights)
A nice large room with a bathroom up 2 steps. It was cold one night because as we found out, "the engine it was broke".

Venice

Ca' San Polo (2 nights)
The Family's favorite, it had character, uneven floors and Pandoro for breakfast (Like Panatone but without the candied fruit)

London

London Elizabeth Hotel (2 nights)
Our first choice London Hotel, clean, close to Paddington Train Station and Lancaster Gate tube station.

Expenses:
  $1 = 1.18 Swiss Franc
  $1 = 0.53 British Pound
  $1 = 0.76 Euro

2 Adults 2 children, 12 days
$2078 - British Air 3 PE, 1 PE with miles NY to LHR
$  340 - 4 on Ryan Air, London - Italy
$2080 - Lodging
$ 850 - ground transport (trains, buses)
$2000 - cash out
$7348 - Total minus any charges