Brief Stops in Chamonix, Annecy, and Beaune, France

Although the sky was still overcast we could see many of
the mountains. This taken in front of our hotel in Praz
Chamonix

The view from our window looking the other way
 from above.

On the other side of the Mount Blanc tunnel although it was still heavily overcast, the mountains were occasionally visible. We found our hotel easily with our indispensable GPS and settled in. Our room was on the fourth floor and had a small balcony and view of the mountains. There was WIFI in the attractive bar so I settled in down there to send out a blog entry (of course I was way behind then as now) with a glass of wine. Not long after an American couple stopped by my table and inquired about rooms. They thought I was the proprietor! That was settled quickly and I was happy to recommend the place.
We really wanted some raclette or fondue that night and hostess was glad to suggest the La Caleche in Chamonix. It was a fantastic meal.
Scott had visited Annecy years ago on business and loved it. So we decided to spend part of the next day there. It was still cloudy but nothing could dim the charm of this town. Parks and avenues face the beautiful lake with views of the peaks. Two canals leave the lake and wind through the town. These are spanned with tiny bridge and lined with lovely homes and shops.

The next morning.

Annecy stretches out along this beautiful lake with parks
and boulevards.

We had hot mulled wine at a small shop and watched the residents going about their day. There were many students as well. A picnic lunch on a bench overlooking the lake and the canal topped off the day. Delightful.

 The Thiou Canal runs through Annecy

The Palais d'Isle built in 1132 was first the home of the Lord
of Annecy and later a jail.

We loved watching the swans.

We're walking now along the Canal with the castle on the
left.

Many of the houses on the Canal have
entrances for access by boats and as you
can see are not always true vertical.

The main square and Rue St. Claire.

Daffy Duck? in France

The Chateau d'Annecy towers over the city. Built between
the 12th and 16th Century it now houses a museum.

Still in Annecy, another quiet canal lined with small boats.

A moat still surrounds Beaune on some sides
of the city

Cathedral of Notre-Dame, the last great Romanesque church
in Burgandy, built in the 12th C

Gothic additions and this wonderful porch were added in
the 13th Century after a devastating fire.

The Museum of Wine contained a large number of these
enormous wine presses. 

The Gory Details - Italy, and a few nights back in France

Scott in the center of the terrace at Matama Braceria in
Imperia just over the border from France.

Our last night at Camp Darby near Pisa we ate again at
La Squalo in Terrenia.

Marina Piccolo restaurant in Manarolo, Cinque Terre is right
on the cliff edge overlooking the harbor. At night they have
heat lamps overhead so you can eat outside if you wish.

On our drive from Arles to Pisa we stopped in Imperia, parked in the underground parking garage and walked down to the water. There we ate at Matama Braceria next to the big yachts tied up at the dock. The food was good although pricey but it was a lovely spot in the sun.
As I discussed earlier we rented cabins on U.S. bases in Pisa and Naples. This is only possible if you are active or retired military personnel. It was $60 per night - a great deal, and we were able to eat some of our meals there.
We ate 2 memorable dinners out in Terrenia outside of Pisa at La Squalo, Via delle Rose 56128 (+3905037305). Very good food and service for reasonable prices.
In between Pisa and Naples we spent 2 nights in Manarolo, in the Cinque Terra at the Da Baranin, Via Rollandi 29, 19010. They have bed and breakfast rooms as well as apartments for rent. We had 2 studios, one above the other with well equipped kitchens and nice baths. There were views of the sea from the windows. We paid $115 per night each. It was easy to get to the hotel if you were driving but a long walk up from the railroad station. We had a lunch and a dinner at Marina Piccolo on the waterfront and it was excellent. Get the vegetable "tortas" for an appetizer, 3 different kinds, all excellent. The seafood pastas and risotto were terrific. We loved the Cinque Terre wine too.
On the way from Manarolo to Naples we stopped in Orvieto and bought their excellent white wine. We wished we bought more. We had a very nice lunch at Cucina Tipica Ristorante, inexpensive and very tasty.

Cucina Tipica retaurant in Orvieto where we had a delicious
lunch. Mine was braised pork over polenta.

In Naples we had very good pizza at Lombardi a Santa Chiara retaurant, Via Benedetto Croce 59 (5520780). It's been there for a long time and was packed at lunch. We ate upstairs in the attractive small rooms. The star here is the pizza - try the eight taste, each piece a different flavor. It's just off the Piazza Gesu Nuovo and the Cloister of the Clarisse next to the Santa Chiara Church.

After a couple of tickets we usually opted for
a garage. But you have to remember to pay
at the machine before you try to exit.

We almost stopped at this lovely spot in Positano but it was
early so we continued down to the beach.

Chez Black on the beach at Positano

If you have gelato at this place on the square in
Amalfi it comes with a little cap of waffle cone.

In Capri we ate at Le Grottelle very near the Natural Arch. The view was spectacular and the food generally good but expensive. Chez Black Restaurant right on the beach in Positano was better although equally expensive. Try the "salad bar" - all the lovely appetizer vegetables (you can have the fish too for an additional price) you can pile on a plate for one price (the plate is small but I managed to get a lot on it). Fantastic!
In Rome we had a truly memorable meal at Da Nino Ristorante, Via Merulana, 74 (74,0670453458). The food was delicious and simple, using great ingredients. This was our third visit, once over 20 years ago and it's always great. This is a small place with no tourists but they're happy to work with whatever Italian you can muster.
We stayed at Albergo Morandi in Reggio Emilia, Via Emilia S. Pietro, 64 and were very happy with our comfortable room and the friendly helpful proprietors, mother and son. She recommended Ristorante Canossa, Via Roma 37 (0522/454196) for dinner and we loved it. It is the last of the local food restaurants left in the city. We had wonderful homemade pasta and then their specialty, a trolley of boiled/roasted meats and mashed potatoes. You choose your meal from that The trio of sauces served with it were excellent. It was a fun, friendly delicious dinner. Try the local wine Lambrusco. It's not like the U.S. one. Still sparkling red and served cold but not sweet.

Hotel Les Launchers in Praz Chamonix and their restaurant
Rendezvous

Scott's appetizer, a "beggar's purse" and salad before our
main course of cheese fondue which was fabulous.

Our table, just vacated at La Caleche in Chamonix

In Chamonix we stayed 2 km down the road in Praz Chamonix at Les Launchers. There is a beautiful looking trail along the stream linking the two which is well lit at night. We were tired from the long day or we would have walked into Chamonix instead of driving. It was 89 euros with breakfast (cheese and meat as well as breads etc.) We had a lovely small room with a balcony with drop dead views. The downstairs restaurant looked welcoming but we went into the center of Chamonix to have cheese fondue at La Caleche, a very beautiful restaurant filled with antiques. It's been around since 1946. We paid 29 euros each for a delicious 3 course dinner. Before dinner we stopped in the Munster bar and had some Guinness and watched the young locals.
Hostellerie De Bretonniere was our hotel in Beaune. We had probably one of the cheapest rooms at 79 euros with breakfast, small but comfortable. It was only a block out of the walled city and we ate dinner very close by at El Manana, 45 Rue Maufoux 21200. We had a great talk with the mother and daughter who ran it. The food was excellent and the decor very attractive. The mother is Morrocan so we had coucous with minced beef and vegetables. For an appetizer we had "brick", a egg and potato filled pastry - delicious. With wine, mint tea and dessert our meal was 51 euros total.

The addition to the main house of Hostellerie De Bretonniere
where we stayed in Beaune

Nadia Duqesnay and her mother in their restaurant
El Manama in Beaune, France

As I mentioned in my earlier posting "The Gory Details - France" we stayed our last night in Paris before leaving for London at Hotel Vielle France, 151 Rue La Fayette and we don't recommend it unless you're desperate for a cheap place near Gare Nord. It was clean enough although dingy. As the the reviewer said on Trip Advisor, there are no pillows, only a bolster (with no pillow case) - weird.

A day in Florence

The monumental fresco of the Last Judgement begun by Giorgio Vasari in 1592 and completed by Federico Zuccaro and
others. We were able to get a close up view from the balcony that encircles it. This is painted on the insde of
 Brunelleschi's brilliantly engineered dome, the largest masonry dome in the world.

First of all, a day in Florence is definitely not enough. Scott and I have been before, in my case many times, and it's worth weeks or months etc. But a day was all we had and Walt and Honoree hadn't been there before. So we got an early start and parked in a parking garage near a market on the edge of town. Our method is to take pictures of the street names and try to locate it on the map, if we have one. It can be hard to find your way back.

Scott and I pose at the top

Giotto's Campanile seen from the roof of
the Duomo.

You can get a good sense of the steep narrow stairs looking
down at Honoree descending.

Another view further down with lots of graffiti  visable

The view upwards from the balcony shows the perspective necessary to
view from below.

The exterior is covered with marble in various
shades of green and pink bordered by white.

The facade of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo)

Piazza della Signoria with the Palazzo
Vecchio in the distance

 The Baptistery completes Piazza del Duomo

Fountain of Neptune by Bartolomeo
Ammannati in 1565

The San Lorenzo Market - a colorful open air  market in a
beautiful cathedral like building, built of glass and steel
in 1874.

Like Lucca, leather goods are famous here.

Everyone wears scarfs in Europe. I bought four of them in
various locations and have vowed to keep wearing them
even after returning home.

The Fontana del Porcellino - You put a coin in the boar's
 mouth and let go, If it falls intothe grate below on it's
 own, it's good luck.

The first courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio, the Town Hall

The combination of the fall colors and the still River Arno is spectacular. That's the Ponte Vecchio built on the location
of the Roman bridge, destroyed twice and last rebuilt in 1345. It was the only bridge left in place when the Germans retreated during WWII.

We made advance reservations for both the Accademia Museum and the Uffizi by telephone - a definite must. It saved us from waits in very long lines. We also bought priority tickets to walk up to the top of the Duomo (the extra money to enter the church wasn't worth it as there were no lines when we were there). This was really fun, although not for the out of shape or claustrophobic. The staircases are very narrow dark and in some cases two way. The view from the balcony around the inside painted dome is fantastic as is the one outside on the top.
Michelangelo's David is reason enough to visit the Accademia Museum although the Bottacelli Madonna and Child and Madonna and the Sea cap off the experience.
The Uffizi really requires much more than the two hours we gave it. But honestly I prefer to go many times to a musuem rather than try to spend more time than that. The building itself was designed as a municipal office building in 1560 and later became the repository for the Medici family art collection. The list of treasures here is immense but my favorites are Bottacelli's Primavera, Rembrandt's Self Portrait as a Young Man and Da Vinci's Annunciation.
We couldn't get enough of the views along the Arno river and the Ponte Vecchio. The water was so still the reflections were perfect. Two women rowed by in their shell making complex patterns in the water behind them.
We just snacked during the day so no recommendations on where to eat, although getting away from the Duomo and museums is a good idea. Restaurants far away from the tourist area are always a better value.

The shops on the bridge were once butchers but now
jewelers. 

One of the corridors in the Uffizi 

I had to take these pictures surreptitiously.

We saw scullers and rowers frequently on our trip.

Basilica of Santa Croce, burial place of Michelangelo,
Galileo, Machiavelli and Rossini, among others.

A riveting statue of Dante in the Piazza di
Sante Croce looking bitter at being
exiled from Florence.