Favorite Ocia pictures Spring 2010

Favorite Ocia pictures from Spring 2010

Family

Perugia

We really enjoyed the 'mini metro' which carried us from the train station to the city center. The town has an amazing maze of moving sidewalks, elevators, and escalators to move people around the very hilly city. We stayed at the Hotel Fortuna and enjoyed eating on the roof top patio. We took the room with the view rather than the room with the fresco ceiling. We ate a couple meals at Ristorante Altromondo, which was right from our hotel, down the street, and right at first corner, then half way down the hill on the right! Great place. That's where we first enjoyed mushroom bruschetta! We took the bus tour of the city, and saw much more of the city than we realized was even there. We attended a Steve McCurry exhibit of his National Geographic photos (most known for his image of the Afghanastan Girl. We also looked at the history of the Etruscans, who's most early civilization invented a language which was the predecessor to Latin. These were both in the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria.  Also bought Perugian chocolate! The town is full of college students, and has many universities within the area. This is the town the american girl is imprisoned in after being found guilty of murder. The an appeal is being filed on the verdict.

Perugia in May

Perugia

Our Visit to Venice

We really enjoyed Venice. The weather was beautiful. We stayed in the Residenza Cannaregio. We really liked the hotel and it's location. It was away from the crowds, in a very quiet neighborhood. We were directed to several neighborhood restaurants, all of which had delicious local food. The fish was obviously fresh and delicious where ever we ate. We were sent to a pizza place in the Jewish ghetto for our best pizza of our trip.

We really enjoyed the fast train to Venice. We were amazed that behind us on the train was a couple who live near Sacramento, CA, and have a summer home on Flathead Lake here in Montana. Then we discovered that the woman was from Minneapolis, the Saint Louis Park area, and had attended the same high school as Link! We enjoyed talking with them.

We enjoyed walking and riding the vaporetto. We did not shop for glass, but I will do that the next time we are in Venice.

Venice is a lovely place to visit.

Venice

Venice April 27-29, 2010

Our Visit to Florence

We stayed at the Hotel Columba which was a two star hotel very near the Duomo square. The hotel was on the first floor (one story up from ground floor), and had a small elevator to help tourist with their luggage. The room was spacious and very clean. We always stay at places where we have our own private bathroom. Good breakfast with cereal, breads, fruit, and very good coffee. The proprietors were a real treat. We enjoyed our stay here and would go there again.


Our favorite shopping experience was the Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella. It was a treat to find and fun place to shop.

Florence

Florence April 2010

Ischia Island off the coast of Naples

Ischia Island

Our Rental in Rome

Our Rental in Rome

Borghese Park

The Walk from our Rental

Walk from our flat

Easter with Ocia in Rome

Early April in Rome

I'll be posting more pictures as I have time. The wedding was beautiful! We are having a wonderful time with our kids here in Italy and France.

Shopping in Florence

More about the train

The trains have been a great way for Link and I to get around when the kids have been working. We bought a Eurail pass online before leaving the states, and have used the trains for our trips to Florence, Venice and Perugia. We'll probably take one more train trip to visit our neighbors from Montana who are currently living and working in northern italy. We look forward to the train trips!

Traveling first class on the fast trains through the italian countryside.

More about Ischia

Erik drove us all down to the docks in Naples, a three hour drive out of the city of Rome. We drove the car onto the car ferry for the short 2 hour ferry trip to the island. It was a beautiful day. The fun started when we had to drive to our hotel, the Europa. The roads are very narrow and they wind around the towns. Traffic is still two way, but every car must be prepared to meet a tour bus coming their way. Some streets are one way for part of the day, then become one way, the other way, for another part of the day. Interesting driving. Erik did a great job.
We enjoyed our hotel which was family oriented. There was a good breakfast every morning, and we could go out on the roof terrace for snacks and to give Ocia a chance to run around in the evening. Ischia is known for it's mud baths. Poseidon is the town with the beach a mud baths. Our hotel had a mineral water pool where the water was changed daily, and the pool scrubbed. Unfortunately, we didn't take the time to use the pools, but next time will be prepared to do so.
We had a really great meal at the restaurant on the point between the island and the monastery. I had fresh seabass that was shown to me before they killed and grilled it.

We spent a weekend on the Isle of Ischia off the coast of Naples