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

Travel Straps

I sometimes have a problem throwing things out, so when we disposed of our old wheelie  suitcase I stripped it of some useful items. The straps I just couldn't part with so I bought some snaps, trimmed and fused the ends of the straps and added snaps and grommets. I already had the grommets from a previous repair/reuse project.

 

One strap has a pair of snaps, one strap has 2 pairs of snaps and the other strap has grommets.

 

The straps with 2 pairs of snaps I had envisioned attaching to the webbing chain on the travel kit below, to be used to hang from a hook in a bathroom. It already has 3 straps, but none were in the right place and adjustable.

The strap connected to the bag.

A very simple project, I expect they will come in handy.

Liqueur Report: St. Germain

St. Germain: A liqueur made with wild elderflower blossoms.

Saw it first in my local liqueur store while looking for Pastis, that day I purchased Pernod, but now I know I prefer Ricard.
I was first attracted by the bottle, it looks Art Deco, the labeling is very classy and mysterious. I didn't know what it was, didn't do any research, one day I just decided to buy a bottle(very unlike me).

The scent is almost cloyingly sweet. The first taste is sweet and flowery, not too syrupy and surprisingly not too sweet. There are faint citrus notes and hardly any alcohol sting. The aftertaste was pleasant and didn't outstay its welcome. My favorite daughter who lives in London no longer but has hopes to again soon, thought it smelt like Ricola cough drops and looking on Ricola's website, Elder was listed as one of their 10 magic herbs. Ricola lists Elder as good for boosting the immune system and preventing colds. I don't know if that also applies to liqueurs made from Elder.
Three out of three alcohol drinking adults currently residing in the house liked it.

Additional info;
Pale golden color
Product of France
Each bottle individually numbered, mine is #B0 4613-11
Beautiful top heavy bottle
It is suggested to consume the contents within 6 months of opening
Developed in the early 21st century by John Cooper, a third generation distiller.

A  NY Times review of St. Germain.

Past Trip: Switzerland 2001

In August 2001, we spent 9 days visiting Zurich, Berne, Lauterbrunnen and Zermatt in Switzerland.

Saint Bernard

We had a great time, weather was mainly sunny, food was hearty and there were no language barriers, we had studied up on Menu.

Highlights:

• Scenery from the trains
• Fondue in Zermatt at Restaurant Whymper-stube
• Seeing the Matterhorn(I'm an armchair mountaineer)
• Tinkling cow bells in the mountain air
• Excellent train connections
• Rosti - fried shredded potatoes topped with anything
• First Swiss Army knife purchased in Switzerland 
• Chocolate
• Ovomaltine

Sights we saw:
Zurich (First and last day and night)

• Lakeside Promenade
• Crazy benches, one favorite had a Royal theme
• Lots of Sports cars
• Window shopping
• Painted Cows all over town

Bern "bear" (2 days)

Astronomical Clock in the Zytglogge Tower

Bern Munster (Heaven and Hell, you choose)

• 2 Hour bus tour - Rose Gardens, Bear Pits, Clock Tower and Cathedral.
• Gurtenbahn - funicular up to views of the Swiss Capital, viewing tower, play area, 10 minutes from center of Bern, we took Tram 9, very easy.

Bear Pits

• Thun - Day Trip from Bern, 20 minutes by train.
• Thun Castle

Thun Castle

View of Lake Thun from Thun Castle

Lauterbrunnen (3 days)
Very relaxed little village, a good central spot to stay when visiting the area.

The Train Station

Trummelbach Falls - The glaciers on top of the Mountain drain through the mountain, the falls are on the inside.

Staubbach Falls

• Staubbach falls (viewable from our Hotel)
• Trummelbach Falls - Short enjoyable walk (45 min.) from the Hotel, took the Postbus on the return trip.
• Schilthorn- Mountain with revolving restaurant on top. Access via a funicular to Grutshalp, a small train to Murren and then 2 cable cars. The Bond movie "On her Majesty's Secret Service" was filmed there. We watched hang gliders and just enjoyed the view. Later we had lunch in Murren with great views of the Alps.
• Schynige Platte and Alpine Garden, Plateau with great views and an Alpine Garden.
• Grindelwald - short visit, bought souvenirs and saw the Eiger a bit closer.
• Interlaken - short visit, not that exciting, lots of tourist souvenir shops.

The Eiger, Monch and the Jungfrau viewed from the Schilthorn

Cogwheel Train on the Schynige Platte Railway

Zermatt (2 days) 4 trains from Lauterbrunnen, less than 3 hours. The connections were like clockwork and the scenery was great, mountains, tunnels, little villages.

• Views of the Matterhorn
• Fondue at Whymper-Stube (Edward Whymper first climbed the Matterhorn)
• Swam at the hotel, beautiful indoor pool room
• Gornergrat - cog railway to top of mountain with great views.
• Short hike from Findelbach back to the hotel, on the way down from Gornergrat.
• Alpine Museum

The Iconic Matterhorn

10,132 feet

Our Hotels:
Zurich -
Pension St. Josef - First night
Helmhaus Hotel - last night
Berne - Hotel Bern Average large hotel
Lauterbrunnen - Hotel Staubbach Very nice small hotel
Zermat - Hotel Eden Very nice medium sized hotel, nice pool and spa services.
Almost every hotel was within the sound of church bells ringing, all night long.

August 13 - 23, 2001
Trip Expenses - 2 Adults, 2 Children:
$1 = 1.66 CHF
Costs
$3613 - Airfare (3A * $960 + 1C $733)
$  374 - Rail pass (2 Adults Swiss Saverpass 8 day, kids traveled free)
$1532 - Lodging (2598 CHF)
$1593 - Swiss Franc Withdrawls (2700 CHF)
$7115 - Total - minus some charges

Travel? Why Not!: Brussels

Chocolate, Mussels, Frites, Waffels and Beer!

Travel

• 7 hours 20 minutes NYC to Brussels Airport
• 15 minutes from the airport to Brussels Centraal Station
• 2 1/4 hours, London St. Pancras to Brussels Midi Station by Eurostar
• 2-3 hours, Brussels to Amsterdam by rail  

Belgium Rail
Belgium Tourism
Brussels Tourism
Brussels Tourist Card - Free transport and free entry to many museums.
Brugge City Card 
Ghent Museum Pass

Brussels Sights

• Grand Place - Square surrounded by Former Guild Halls.
• Place du Petite Sablon - small garden with 48 statues representing Brussels'  Medieval Guilds
• Chocolate Museum
• Cantillion Brewery
• Belgium National Botanic Garden
• Automobile Museum
• Musical Instrument Museum
• Museum of Army and Military History

Bruges - 1 hour from Brussels

• Canals
• Half Moon Brewery (tours and brew pub)
• Chocolate Museum 
• Friets Museum
• Bell Tower
• Over 50 Chocolate Boutiques

Ghent - 30 minutes from Brussels

• Medieval Center with churches
• Het Gravensteen - Medieval Castle 
• Markets on Saturday and Sunday mornings
• Gruut Brewery
• University of Ghent Botanical Gardens

Travel Kits

I have always wanted a nice Travel Kit, one that could grow old and age gracefully unlike myself, but never saw one I liked or else I didn't want to spend the money for what I liked. I was looking for either leather or waxed canvas.

This one is really a watch storage case, but since I only have one watch I planned to use it as a Travel Kit. It is a bit small so I will probably use it as an auxiliary.

This next Travel Kit I had seen on the J. Peterman site, but it was more than I was willing to pay. Just before Christmas they had a sale, it was less than half price and I ordered it. It is quite roomy and should be able to hold all my beauty needs. The manufacturer is Mulholland, it is very well made, the zipper operates easily and is very sturdy, only slight con is that the fabric doesn't seem to be waxed much if at all, something I can do something about. I just happened to have waxed some boots this morning (Bass Clifford boots, leather with olive canvas panels) photo after Travel Kit, almost like they were made to go on Safari together.

I had run across a North Face bag on my Travel Kit search, but from the description it seemed too heavy (almost 1 pound). Saw a similar one at a North Face Outlet yesterday and liked it. The outlet only had red and blue, whereas purple was an option for the Base Camp Travel Canister, that one also had a mirror. This bag will definitely hold all my toiletries, plus it has any number of other uses.

All set for traveling.

Now I just have to plan a trip. Hmmmm.

Happy Christmas

Tree at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan - 2005

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
  So momma in her ‘kerchief, I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters then threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, with eight tiny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively, so quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
Oh how he whistled, then shouted, then called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer, Hey Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on Donner, yo Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, including St Nicholas too.

  Then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing or possibly pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, then was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
His clothes were all tarnished with ashes, black soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
So he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
The beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
making the smoke encircle his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face, a big fat round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby, not plump, a right jolly old elf,
So I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye then a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
Tirelessly filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
  Then laying his finger aside of his nose,
while giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
Then away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, to all a good-night!"

Clement Clarke Moore (1799 - 1863)