La Primavera

Spring has finally sprung and I am loving it!  "I would have to say April 25th. Because it's not too hot, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket."  Name that movie..
It has also been the week of good culture..(settimana della cultura) the past week and all of the state run museums were free.  I took the opportunity to go to the Palazzo Pitti, the Boboli Gardens, the Uffizi and the Accademia (the David and the prisoners always impress me). 
These first are pictures from the Stibbert Park by my house, my favorite in the city.  There were little ducklings, bees, turtles and wildflowers covering the grass.  You can see Autumn pictures on my blog here

.These are of the view from the other park by my house - a view that I will never get tired of.

I loved the Palazzo Pitti with its decorations and paintings and architecture.  The gardens are also impressive, mostly because I never get to see that much green grass anymore..and also because there are some great views of the Tuscan countryside.  An awesome storm rolled in (well, the lightning and thunder were great until I started getting wet).

There was a fun group playing drums and waving flags and such to reenact something that apparently was festive in Italy a long time ago..

And because I am finally getting around to posting these pics from our good-bye dinner with Meaghan..Litta's rice, home-made ravioli, awesome bruschetta and (of course) Titti's tiramisu.

Thanks for being such an awesome friend Meaghan!  I miss you tons!

CROATIA, BOSNIA and MONTENEGRO

       

Tamarin, me, Andrea, Lori and Rebecca                                                                                       

After a great visit to Rome, we took the train to Ancona to catch our ferry over to Croatia.  Since we've been talking about visiting there for a long time, it was about time that we finally went!  After finally finding the ferry check-in, we took the overnight ferry to Split.  It was a fairly comfortable ride, and reminded me that I am way too old for bunk beds..

Good-bye Ancona ................   Hello Split (and our favorite statue)

  In the morning we disembarked and then took another ferry to the island of Hvar.  Hvar was beautiful and peaceful and idyllic.  We stayed in a really great hotel overlooking the sea and spent a lot of time on the balcony soaking in the sun, relaxing and reading more books in a few days than I have since I've been in Italy. It was awesome to have great company and to have absolutely nothing to do...

I have been playing with slideshows..so you have to click on it and then click play (I think)
After two days on the island we took the ferry back to Split.  We toured around the old city for a little while and got to see an awesome fish market (well, for me at least) with octopus, squid, fish, shrimp, scallops, eel, etc - as fresh as you can get them.  I loved it.  The rest of the old town was nice, and our favorite was the statue or Saint Anthony? aka Merlin.  There were also the cutest little chicks and bunnies for sale (I'm assuming for pets).


We then rented a car and drove to Mostar in Bosnia.  The border crossings were a continuous source of entertainment the entire trip but luckily we were able to go in and out of Croatia about 6 times in 3 days..
Mostar is a very Muslim city that was heavily bombed and partly destroyed during the fighting for independance from Yugoslavia. The landscape was very interesting - mostly barren rocks and hills with a beautiful river running through the town. 

A beautiful view - with the mosques and the new Old Bridge

Notice the burnt out building in between the new ones..you could definitely see the effects of the war

The next morning, we continued on our way back to Croatia (Bosnia-Croatia) for Dubrovnik and the Dalmatian Coast.  Dubrovnik is a beautiful orange-roofed town beside the sea with a very impressive wall surrounding the city.  We ate pizza and ice cream (once good, once terrible), and I realized how spoiled I have been by the pizza and the gelato in Italy. 

The beautiful sunset from our balcony

For our last trip, we decided since we were so close - we might as well take a day trip into Montenegro.  It was about a 3 hour drive along the beautiful coast and a very blue inlet.  We stopped and visited Kotor, a town with a very impressive wall running straight up the hill (needless to say, we opted not to trasverse it), some nice churches and a nice park.  It was a nice little day trip and it also happened to be Easter..so we got some colored, boiled eggs with our lunch to remind us..

The weather was beautiful and absolutely perfect until the very last day when we drove back to Split to catch our return ferry to Italy - it poured the entire day but luckily we had nothing better to do besides drive and relax until our ferry left.  It was a little crazy on the way back, with 1000 teenagers on our ferry sleeping everywhere, but at least we had a room.  In the morning, we barely, barely caught our train back to Rome and Florence.. We said goodbye to Rebecca and Andrea while Tamarin and Lori came to Florence with me to see my place and spend a few days enjoying the city. 
It was a great trip and so nice to spend time with Lori and Tamarin again.  I miss them!  It's a good thing we all have such an addiction to travelling..Sopratutto, una bella vacanza!