TravelStream™ news feed for member alanjgreenhalgh on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/alanjgreenhalgh en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:04:04 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alanjgreenhalgh/2/1255802585/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alanjgreenhalgh/2/1255802585/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alanjgreenhalgh/2/1255802585/tpod.html Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:04:04 -0400 Northern Italy

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Woodstock, New York, United States

If anyone is interested in seeing photos of our trip, please refer to Laura's Facebook page. Enjoy !
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Woodstock, New York, United States

Hello:

We arrived home after a gratefully uneventful trip from Lake Como. We returned the rental car we used to drive from Newark back to Woodstock, shopped a bit, and returned home. It was a sensational trip, and we hope that those of you who read the blog enjoyed reading about our exploits. Lake Como is surely as close as we have ever come to paradise, and Varenna even more so, and staying at Hotel Villa Cipressi more than that. We will endeavor to try to get there at least once a year, and perhaps Tuscany (our second love) as well. Venice was amazing, as usual, but is not nearly so relaxing, as it is crowded with tourists and very overpriced. Driving through the Dolomites and staying at the Castle at Pergine was an unusual and exciting experience. I can see travelling to Italy every October with stays in the hills of Tuscany, a short stopover in Florence to visit with friends, and then a few days lakeside. Hopefully that will be our annual goal. I cannot imagine a better trip for us than that.

Thank you for reading the blogs, and now signing off......

Love from both of us,

Alan
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Varenna, Lombardy, Italy

Hi Everyone,
Today Alan and I took the ferry to Lenno, another beautiful town on Lake Come. This town is known for the Villa Balbianello. The gardens were amazing and we dedided to take the tour of the Villa, which is usually not such a big deal. We were surprised to find that the past owner of this villa, Guido Monzino, had travelled the world as an explorer and mountain climber. Through his travels he had collected art from Africa, Asia, South America and other parts of Europe. The Villa was a museum dedicated to his travels and collections. Very interesting!
Tonight is our last in Lake Como. We had originally planned to stay the last night in Milan near the airport. Because we changed the plans the hotel put us in another room... a suite. They were nice enough not to charge us the usuall price for this magnificent space. Although we have to wake up at 5am, we will sleep in this luxurious suite.
Looking foward to being home and seeing our friends and family. Love, Laura
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Varenna, Lombardy, Italy

Hi Everyone:

We just returned from an amazing day with Luca and Mary, our friends who live in Figline Valdarno (20 mins south of Florence), who drove for 7 hrs (actually they were stuck in lots of traffic along the way) to visit us in Varenna. We had lunch lakeside, and then took a ferry to Bellagio, strolled around the Gardens of Villa Serbolini, ferried back to Varenna for dinner at Vecchia Varenna. They just left for what Luca aticipates to be a 4 or 5 hr trip home. We would be falling asleep, but they were undaunted. We had a wonderful time with them speaking Italian etc. They seem very happy together and it is very good to see that. We bid them adieu with the hopes of seeing them next year.

Tomorrow we will spend our last full day in Italy, perhaps going to see the most famous villa on the lake at Balboniello (forgive me if I spelled it wrong).

Love

A and L
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Varenna, Lombardy, Italy

Hi Everyone:

Laura and I are privileged to be spending our 5th anniversary at this incredibly beautfiul place. Today we had a "restful" day strolling around the town of Varenna which is a beautiful town, and also touring the gardens of the Villa Monastero which is near our hotel. I put restful in quotes because basically we never really rest, so that right now in the late afternoon, we are quite tired. Tonight we will dine on the outdoor patio of our hotel overlooking the lake. It is in the 70's here during the day and low 60's, I think, at night. The weather is perfect. Tomorrow our friends Luca and Mary will be spending the day with us. I am not sure where or if they are staying overnight, but they will arrive between 10 and 12 and we will probably spend the day ferrying thelake and seeing a villa. I then made reservations for the four us at a lakeside place for dinner, Vecchia Varenna. Sunday we will be staying here anotherday. Instead of staying near the airport, we have, as previously mentioned, turned in the car and will take a taxi to Malpensa Monday morning very early. That gives us a whole day here. They cannot give us our same room, but they have instead assigned us a lovely room with similar views. Sunday we will probably ferry the lake again.

See you all soon.

Love

Alan
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Varenna, Lombardy, Italy

Hi Everyone,
Yesterday Alan and I left Venice, rented a car and drove to a 13th century castle in the Dolomite mountains. We slept in a room that was 800 years old, although the furniture were reproductions. What wasnt a fake was the extroidnary view of the mountains and the town of Pergine as we were 1000 feet up. It was an amazing experience. This morning we drove through one of the highest mountain passes in the Dolomites, Passo Del Tonale. We even saw snow capped mountains. The views were extraordinary. I took lots of photos of course.
We arrived in Verena, on Lake Como, in the late afternoon and although we got a flat tire while parking, we are so happy to be back in one of our favorite places. Since we will be taking ferrys from now on, we decided to turn in the car. Our room overlooks the lake and the town. It is very peacfull and beautiful with amazing gardens. We just had a great dinner and we are both looking foward to spending the rest of our vacations on this lake. Thats all for now, Love, Laura
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Venice, Veneto, Italy

Buon giorno:

I could complicate matters by writing this in Italian, but to tell you the ruth it would take too long. I have bee using the language that I learned from Babrielle's book and from her lessons. People actually understand me. I went to the front desk and asked Luciano to make a reservation for us for tonight at our favorite place Taverna Sn Trovaso, and did the whole thing in Italian ! I hope we get to have dinner tonight. I used the language yesterday a lot and when the conversation is simple, it is doable.

Having spent 4 exhausting days, we are just strolling around Dorsoduro today. Our hotel is in a quiet and charming area on the oppoite side of the Canale Grande from S Marco, a fraction of the tourists !!!!!! Laura is in her favorite bead store, a lovely place right on the GC with stunning views. We will head over the Ponte Accademia to a Glass Exhbit soon, and the spend a relaxing day wandering the backstreets of Venice, my favorite Veneteian activity. The side streets, un peopled are extraordinry, to say the least. Narrow, winding alley ways basically with an occasional bridge to who knows where. You get to see the daily activities of the residents and a lot of drying laundary hanging from windows. Just before we left the hotel, we spoke with Luciano about his guitar playing and I mentioned that I was in a group with so far just my very dear friend and mentor Pascual. He told me when he jams with his friend one does picking and one strumming !!! I guess there are aren't that many variations, Paz.

Anyway Venice has been great. The weather is quite warm during the day upper 70's way too reminicent of my hot solo July and August trips in 2001 and 2002, but back then I was better prepared with shorts etc. We will move our tavels to Italy further ahead next year to early November. I also miss Tuscany a little, especially the food, which I like better there. Laura and I both agreed that the wine, vino della casa, is better is Tuscany for obvious reasons.

Tomorrow we rent a car and drive north for 2 hrs to Belluno and the Dolomites and then head west to the Val Sugana, where we will stay at that castle at Pergrine, about half way to out next major destination at Lake Como. Looking forward to the castle. I have read that it is not too good an idea to leave the room too late at night and wander around the castle, for fear of bumping into the Ghost of Pergine, a rather angry spirit who was told thats he could only pay cash at the bar when she was ready to pay using her MC during the 14th century.

Love to everyone,

Alan

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Venice, Veneto, Italy

Hi Everyone: Spent the day in Murano and Burano. A lot of time on the water. Beautiful towns we have seen before many times. Laura took hundreds of photos. We are doing well, and still have another day in Venice. Love to all, Alan
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Venice, Veneto, Italy

Dear friends,
After a grueling trip (19 hour door to door) we are happy to be in one of our favorite places, Venice. Alan and I spent the day at the biennale. It was amazing...the worlds fair of art. My favorite is an artist named Miquel Barcelò. We then walked back to our hotel passing through the Piazza San Marco and all the neighboring little alleys and many bridges. We are exhausted!!! Our hotel is an oasis...peaceful and charming with a beautiful garden. We are resting so we have the energy to go out for dinner soon. The weather is magnificent, 70s during day and cool at night.

Love

Laura



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Woodstock, New York, United States

We leave next Friday, September 25, 2009 for Laura's 11th trip to Italy, my 18th (2 other trips to Europe which did not include Italy). We are flying to Venice via Paris and then spending 4 nights at our favorite hotel in Venice, Pensione Accademia. On Wed, Sept 30 we will rent a car in Venice and drive north through the Dolomites via, Belluno, Castello Pergine (staying overnight at a 13th century castle convereted into a B and B), Trento, and then through the Tonale and Aprica passes, continuing west to eventually arrive at the eastern shore of the Lake Como town of Varenna. At Varenna we will celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary at Villa Cipressi having dinner at La Contrada on their patio (weather permitting). We will stay for 4 days before flying home from Milan, Malpensa. In Venice we hope to visit the Biennale for our second time (back in 2005 was the first), take a side trip to Padua to see Giotto's masterpiece in the Scrovegni Chapel, and spend a day with my friend Luca and his partner, Mary who will travel up from their home south of Florence in Figline, Valdarno. This will be our second trip through the Dolomites; the first we traveled east along the Great Dolomite Road through the Sella and Pordoi passes. This time we travel west on a more southern route. The first part involves travelling actually through a valley known as Valsugana with mountains on either side. After Trento when we travel through the passes indicated above, we will be at altitudes of between 4500 and 6000 feet. In Varenna we will hopefully have this time a room with views of the lake in 2 directions west and north. Along the lake I have researched side trips to places we haven't been yet, like Cernobbio and Laglio (George Clooney's house is here, but we probably won't be invited !). We might venture back into Switzerland, possibly heading as far north as St Moritz for a second attempt to get to that town perched very high (10,000 feet) in the Swiss Alps, as it is only a 2 hr ride north, northeast from Varenna. The first time we hit a snowstorm and had to turn back !! We'll keep you posted. Hopefully we will get the chance to practice the Italian that we are learning in our weekly Italian class - thank you Gabrielle !
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