We didn’t learn much Catalan in Barcelona, but everyone speaks Spanish and most speak English, so it worked out. We stayed in the newer area that was built in the last century, but the Gothic area has a wall and churches and some homes that date to the 1300’s. Antoni Gaudí and Salvador Dali are…
Our after-dinner walk was so pretty with the light reflecting off the wet tiled pavement that I wanted to do another blog post just for that. Our hotel is kind of artsy, funky and has paintings of Portuguese artists, actors, and writers on doors. A door near ours features Carmen Miranda. Until now, I just…
I’ll blog about Barcelona another day, but today we walked around lovely, calm Lisbon. When we checked into our hotel last night, the front-desk receptionist showed us a city map and pointed to the Alfama neighborhood, saying that it has the oldest buildings because it wasn’t damaged by the earthquake. Earthquake? Laurel knew what she…
We’re in Barcelona now, but I wanted to add more info about our Rome trip. I can’t get on the wifi for some reason at our Barcelona apartment (found on Expedia, not Airbnb – It’s large and wonderful, but I digress.) and my phone doesn’t have a fast cell connection. I think I’ll just have…
The Pantheon: Fontana di Trevi that’s undergoing major repairs 😦 : The Vatican and a bridge on the way: At the recommendation of the hotel receptionist, I bought online, timed-entry tickets for the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. We went through the security line once inside Vatican City and went where we were funneled which…
I took this photo in Rome this evening. We were in Paris yesterday but unfortunately couldn’t go to the candlelight vigil at Place de la Republique.
I can’t get that stupid camp song out of my head. We took a 3-hour train ride here from Paris Saturday morning and will reverse the trip Tuesday evening. Amsterdam architecture and history are definitely distinctive – no confusing it with any other European city. Saturday we visited the fabulous Rijks Museum which includes paintings…
We had second-to-last-row seats at the Opera Garnier to see La Source ballet on Christmas Eve. The building, which we’d previously toured, as well as the ballet were magnificent. I felt so fortunate to be there. Laurel loved seeing a ballet that was not The Nutcracker. (She was sick of The Nutcracker after rehearsing it…
We (Ok, “I”) wanted to see The Sound of Music sites in Salzburg but had limited time. We also wanted to walk around the old town a bit more and see the house where Mozart was born. We enjoyed looking in the store windows and seeing traditional Austrian clothes – the dresses like you see women…
We stayed in an apartment in Vienna (Wien – Did you know Wiener just means someone or something from Vienna? How did I never know that? It doesn’t seem quite so snicker-worthy now…actually, yes it does.) from December 19-22, having taken a taxi there from Budapest. We liked it, but in hindsight I would have…
Travels with Charlie and Laurel 