-
Cinque Terre
by lesleyFor years I have been hearing about the Cinque Terre, in large part from my parents, who have travelled there a couple times, luckily before they became quite popular (read: busy). As I mentioned in my post about Portovenere, we made the conscious decision not to stay in the 5 lands. However, we knew we would want to make a day trip, which is quite simple...
Comments 9 -
Isola Palmaria
by lesleyAfter a couple days wandering around Portovenere, we decided to take a daytrip over to Isola Palmaria. It’s just a quick boat ride away, but we wanted to have the whole day to enjoy the island, so we got moving fairly quickly in the morning. We packed a picnic lunch with delicious goodies picked up in town the day before and headed to the docks. Palmaria...
-
Portovenere
by lesleyPortovenere. The one that really got Italy under my skin. For years, I have read about the Italian Riviera and dreamt about visiting this dreamy locale. In particular, the quaint pastel towns of the Cinque Terre have been super high on my travel list. When it came time to plan our travels in Italy, the Ligurian coast was a no-brainer. I set my sights on Portovenere for...
-
Giardino del Museo Stibbert
by lesleyDuring our first week in Florence, we spent a good deal of time wandering rather aimlessly through town, discovering little gems and places we didn’t even have on our radar. One of these spots was the Giardino del Museo Stibbert, just a short walk from our apartment north of the centre. The museum holds the private collection of Frederick Stibbert, and apparently the armour and...
-
Buongiorno Firenze
by lesleyBuongiorno, Firenze! We flew from Paris to Pisa on May 28, leaving behind dark moody skies, heavy rain, and impending floods in France and trading them in for the hot sun and blue skies of Tuscany. Boarding a bus from Pisa to Firenze, we set foot in Italy for the first time. We were all in awe of the beautiful scenery, gazing at typical...
-
Au Revoir, Loches
by lesleyLoches. We left on May 28, nearly 11 months after arriving in this quiet medieval town. We decided to spend the month of June in Italy, before returning to Canada when our visas expire at the beginning of July. Our last week in France was a series of goodbyes; to friends, classmates, tastes, sights, and sounds. Our last trip to the market up the street, a...
-
Corners of Our Town
by lesleyDuring our last couple weeks in Loches, I became rather nostalgic. Walking through town would have me wistfully remembering our first time strolling up to the cité royale, walking through the archway with Joan of Arc’s name. Our visits to the twice-weekly market, the many trips to our favourite boulangeries, the little metal shop signs…The list goes on. I started snapping photos of all the little...
-
Chédigny
by lesleyLoches is one of the larger towns in it’s immediate area (with a population of a whopping 6500 or so!) and is surrounded by the most charming villages dotted throughout the countryside. This is something I just love about France. La campagne (countryside) is simply full of teensy gorgeous villages! Some of them have populations as small as a hundred, and their history goes back with the...
-
Jardins de Villandry
by lesleyStill catching up on our last couple weeks in France! When we arrived back in Loches after our quick trip to London, we had to really start packing up and preparing for our departure. Knowing we would be spending five weeks in Italy, we decided to pack up a whole bunch of our belongings to ship back home to Canada. In between packing and...
-
Harry Potter
by lesleyA much-delayed second blog post of our visit to the Harry Potter Studios in London back in May! Again, please excuse the photos — dead camera battery, really low light and a lot of glass cases made it hard to get great pics on my phone. While we were in the train station area, we had the chance to get a up close with the Hogwarts Express...