A Life, Lived

Travel Tuesdays - Bologna at Christmas

Continuing with my traditional rehashing of the year we spent Christmas in Italy.

Our second stoop was in Bologna.

Travel Tuesdays - Venice at Christmas

9 years ago (my lord, how is it that long ago?) Paul and I spend most of December and the first week of January in Italy. We visited Venice, Bologna, Florence for short trips and then stayed in Rome for the remainder of our time. European cities go all out at Christmastime.

Here are some shots of Venice at Christmastime.

Travel Tuesdays - Florence

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that a friend of ours is flying to Florence today for a short week away. Her husband died a year ago. With the anniversary and Thanksgiving all coming quick an escape to lovely Florence seemed to be just the ticket.

It probably comes as no surprise that I follow a lot of folks from Italy on Instagram. One of them was posting pics of the light displays over the weekend. Paul and I took these pics when we were in Florence in December a few years ago.

These are the type of lovely sites that Sandi will see.

Travel Tuesdays - Florence

Last week I was chatting with a friend who is approaching a challenging anniversary. As often happens it is fraught with family drama, emotion, and stress. Like the brilliant woman she is she has decided to leave the Florence and spend the week on her own in Florence where she can relax, connect with things she loves, and be distracted from the reminder of her husband's death.

You know what happens, right?

Immediately I start to think about my last trip to Florence (on my 50th birthday so 7 years ago - ACK). Here are some pics from that trip.

Travel Tuesdays - Berlin Endings

I have finally been going through some old photo files and discovered these.

Paul and I were in Berlin 4 years ago. We rented an apartment which was built just inside the Berlin wall. South of the apartment was the wonderful Arkonaplatz - a small park in the middle of the residential area. There was a market on Fridays and a flea market on Sundays. A school nearby ensured that children's laughter peeled across the area.

It was the middle of October and the trees were starting to turn.

On our last day in Berlin we decided to hang out at a wine bar and watch the neighbourhood. Parents picking up their kids after school, elderly couples slowly walking arm-in-arm, commuters rushing home from work their arms full of groceries, bundles of flowers, a bottle of wine, or work, people navigating the area by bicycle . . .

This really is what slow travel is all about. Stopping, hanging out, and enjoying the area as if you lived there.

Travel Tuesdays - Berlin

9 years ago today we were in Berlin. We visited the Jewish museum designed by Daniel Libeskind, wandered the neighbourhood around Checkpoint Charlie, and had an amazing meal.

Photo Hunt - Rome

A friend of mine is in Rome right now. She is posting many pics on social media and they have me hankering for a Rome trip of my own.

This is as close as I will get right now.

Travel Tuesdays - Bologna

Friends of ours are in Bologna right now (or were when I typed this).

Bologna is one of my favourite cities in Italy - the food, the art, the architecture, the culture . . . it is all so good.

I can't jet off to Bologna right now but I can relive it through my pics . . .

Travel Tuesdays - London

Paul and I are headed off on vacation next week - our first real vacation together since March 2019. We have a cottage booked for a week and we're looking forward to relaxing by the lake.

I thought I'd include shots from our LAST vacation in this week's Travel Tuesdays post.

Travel Tuesdays - Montpellier

9 years ago we offered courses for teachers in France and Italy. The first time we offered the courses I was able to travel and spend some time with each of the groups and spend some time auditing things.

These snaps are from our course in France which was offered in the Montpellier area.