Bologna day 3 / Florence

We decided to go to Florence for the day. It took 1 3/4 hours on a high speed train. 

We have been to Florence before, but never been in to see the real David, so we decided to do that this time. 
Once we were in Florence we had some time before we were able to go in so we found this museum near the train station. 

It was the Santa Maria Novella.
     
   

   
 

The architect was awesome. There were some old relics inside also. 
Then we headed toward the center of town. 

 
     
     Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flowers               

We found a new place to have lunch called Eatily. It was an interesting place. It was a cross between Whole Foods and a restaurant. We had a great lunch. 
  
After lunch it was time to head in to see “the” David. Tim and I have seen the copy at Piazza Della Signoria  but never the original. 

When you first walk in there were a lot of old musical instruments 
   
 

We didn’t have much time so after a quick look we went to find the David.  

  
This is your first glimpse of the statue. On the way in there were some statues that weren’t finished. I found it fascinating to see the process. 

   
   

Then on to the main attraction 😄

  
It was great to see the statue from all sides. The detail was so amazing.

   
 
 
 It is really amazing what Michelangelo could do before he was even 30.

After seeing the David we headed into a long room with examples of plaster models of statutes that were used to show what the statue was to look like once it was carved out. These were works of art themselves,
   
 

After seeing a few paintings it was time to meet Ron and Patty at the Piazza Della Signoria. 

This piazza is interesting in that there is so many statues there. It’s a great place to hang out. 

   
 

   
  

  From there we walked around a bit then headed back to the train and the hotel.

  
(A beautiful restaurant we pasted)
Next stop Modena and Parma

Bologna Day 2 – Ravenna

On our second day we decided to take the train to Ravenna. It was about an hour train ride. 

  
  
  

I wish you could smell these flowers. They were so heavenly.

  
Most everyone must ride bikes here.  Look at all the bikes parked here. 

  
Once we were there we found a store and bought some things for lunch, then it was time to find a place to have lunch. We headed toward a church we wanted to go into, but there was no where to sit near by, so we started walking looking for a place. We finally found a bench and laid out our lunch. 
  
After lunch we headed to the Basilica of San Vitale. It is a beautiful church with many mosaic inside.

  
  
  
  
  
  
In back of the church was the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. It is described as “the earliest and best preserved of all mosaic monuments, and at the same time one of the most artistically perfect”. It was very pretty. The legend is that these tiles even glow at night without any lights on. 

  
   
   

We found one other place to look into called the Archbishop Chapel.

   
   
After looking in this chapel it was time to head back to Bologna and have dinner 
Next Florence, Italy for the day 

Linda 

Bologna, Italy/ day 1

We are spending a week in Bologna. Since we are here for awhile and we had done a lot the week before we decided to take it a little easy our first day here. 
We had a nice leisurely morning and then headed out. Our first stop was the Tim store. Tim is the name of one of the cellular services here in Italy. (Makes it easy to remember lol). We usually get a data plan so we can keep in touch, use the mapping program, look things up, etc.

Bologna is known for a few things, they have the oldest university in the world there (founded in 1088), also these huge twin towers. 

 
  

We walked around a bit then headed to the main square for our picnic lunch.

 We had lunch in front of the church. After lunch we went into the church and walked around. Then Tim and I went to a spa and had a nice relaxing time. 

  
We meet back up with Ron and Patty and headed out to dinner. We went to our favorite place in Bologna, named Ostera Dell’Orso (the bear) This restaurant is different in that they have long tables that fit up to 6 people. So you are usually set next to someone you don’t know. This is fun in that you get to meet people from all over. 
This night we were set next to a couple. (Andrea and Ricky) We got to talking to them and he is Italian and she is from Argentina. They were in Bologna on business. We were telling them about our trip so far. We mentioned that we didn’t have anything planned for 3 days of out trip. Andrea starting asking when we have been, etc and suggested we could come to their area. She said they have a boat that held 6 people and we could go out it. Tim asked if we had to row and we had a good laugh about it.

  
Andrea showing us how to get somewhere. 

  

Looking each other up on Facebook 

  
Our notes lol 

We may head in that direction, so who knows we may see them again. It was a good day .

More later,

Linda. 

  

Southampton/Italy

We had one day at sea before we disembarked in Southampton, England. It was cold and rainy most of the day which was OK since we had to pack and get ready to head to Italy. 

Once we were off the ship, Tim had arranged for a car service to pick us up and take us to the airport with a stop in Winchester on the way. 

   

 The driver was waiting for us with this sign. 😄

Winchester was a very quaint town. There is a famous cathedral there. 

  

Outside 

Inside 

  

  

  

  
Jane Austen lived in this area and was buried in this church.

 

There was also a copy of the Gospels written on vellum (calf skins). 

After walking around the cathedral, we walked around some of the town.  

  
  
  
  
We found the Main Street and saw these cookies in the widow of a bakery.  Just had to smile.

  
There was a street fair going on, so we walked around looking at the booths. 

  
  
 
 

Coffee anyone? 

  
We ran into this character and of course had to taKe a picture with him. I think he was collecting money from the local animal shelter.
Got some lunch from one of the vendors and went back to the car to head to the airport 
After a short flight we were in Bologna, Italy. We have stayed in Bologna the last 3 years. We really like it. It is a great hub city, easy to catch a train and do a day trip to a lot of places. 
  
These cars were in the airport in Bologna as we were walking out 
After checking in we had dinner and called it a night. 
Next, our week in Bologna ………
Linda