Posts Tagged ‘Europe’
Ghost town? No, ghost castle – in Tuscany…
You’ve probably heard of ghost towns. Towns where residents moved away, and which are now quaint relics from the past. But on a recent trip to Tuscany, I visited a “ghost castle”. Truthfully, it’s not a real ghost castle, since there were a couple of elderly residents who resided there. We spoke to them, and…
Read MoreSpring hiking in Abruzzo
I’ve written many times about how much I love Abruzzo. Abruzzo is the Italian region neighboring Lazio, where Rome is. This makes it the perfect weekend escape to nature from Italy’s capital. I’m a frequent visitor here, and my husband and I decided to enjoy a long weekend here over the 1 May holiday weekend.…
Read MoreThe glamour of Paris’ Opera Garnier
I was in Paris a few months ago, and I decided to stop off to visit the Opera Garnier – a place I hadn’t visited in years (decades?). Musical afficionados will know the Palais Garnier as the inspitration for The Phantom of The Opera. And the self-guided audiotour does speak about the tales of the…
Read MoreAdmiring Exeter’s Cathedral between bouts of rain
This past autumn, I was in Devon, England for the Historical Novel Society Conference. While there, I joined one of the organized trips for us to visit Exeter’s Norman-Gothic cathedral, and to enjoy a wander around the pretty town. The Exeter Cathedral was founded in 1050, but was expanded between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries.…
Read MoreEnjoying the early spring rays in Marche’s seaside Fano
It was a glorious, sunny March day and my husband and I were were driving from our weekend trip to Urbino and long the Marche coast back to Rome. We had never been to seaside Fano, and since it was on our way we stopped off to explore this beach town. The weather was perfect…
Read MoreThe stunning fourteenth century frescoes in Padova’s Palazzo della Ragione
You can’t miss this spectacular structure on your visit to pretty Padova. I’ve already written about the picturesque Piazza della frutta and Piazza delle erbe, on which this palace is located. The bottom of the Palazzo della Ragione (The Palace of Reason) was dedicated to a covered market built in 1166, but the upper section…
Read MoreTraining it along the “English Riviera”
This past autumn, I traveled to Devon, UK for the Historical Novel Society conference. Flying in to Exeter, I took a bus to the train station, and then embarked on a trip down to the Devon coastline – also known as England’s Riviera. I nabbed a coastline window so I could catch views of the…
Read MoreAn afternoon stroll through silent, artistic Totnes, Devon
Back in September, I was at the fabulous Historical Novel Society UK Conference in beautiful Devon. Each day, on our way to the spectacular conference venue, Dartington Hall , the bus taking us from our hotel would pass through picture-perfect Totnes, nestled along the River Dart. I would press my face against thw window and…
Read MoreChagall’s splash of color in Zurich’s Fraumünster
On a recent trip to Zurich, I returned to see the Chagall painted windows I hadn’t seen in years. Russian-Jewsih artist Marc Chagall (Moishe Segal/Mark Zacharovič Šagal, 1887-1985) began a new phase of his career with stained glass and painted windows for churches. Zurich’s Fraumünster church, founded in 853 by Louis the German for his…
Read MoreParis is always a good idea…
I was in Paris for a weekend last month. Although I’ve been many times to Paris, it’s always a pleasure to get back. I left early on a Friday, and had three days in the City of Lights, and I was eager to get in as much as I could – great walks, music, art,…
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