The Scala Contarini del Bovolo literally means the ladder Contarini (a surname) of the snail. Standing before the palazzo, it’s not a stretch to see where the name originated. The steps were originally designed for the Contarini family, and the snail-like spiral of the steps is clear.
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I’m not sure what it is, but I take a lot of pictures of doors when I travel to any European city, and my time in Athens was no exception. Europeans seem to be so much more creative and beautiful in their creation of doors than we are. So, when I get home, I always … Continue reading
I’ve always struggled with blog postings like “Athens in a Day” and “Three Days in Florence.” What that person wants to do in a day in Athens is almost never completely what I would choose to do. Our priorities are all different as travelers, and if we spend our time trying to travel just like … Continue reading
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens is the church of the Archbishopric of Athens, and all of Greece. Construction on the cathedral became in 1842, and it took three architects and 20 years to complete. The church used parts of 72 other churches, both derelict Byzantine churches, and churches razed for archaeological reasons, in it’s … Continue reading
Every once in a while, my camera drags me to New York City – and I usually drag some family along so I can pretend we’re there for a show or a doctor’s appointment or something. Often, my strategy on hotels it to choose something with a pretty good location, but I don’t care about … Continue reading
For our last day in Thailand, parts of our party are dragging. This has been wonderful and exciting and perception-changing and educational… and exhausting. So, today, the vote is for something inside, out of the heat, and a schedule that is not at all demanding. So, we decided to visit Art in Paradise in Esplanade … Continue reading
The plane suddenly drops, leaving my stomach three to five feet above my head, then lifts just as suddenly, and then the right wing lowers a bit and we all seem to slide down to the right before it bumps back up again. It’s going to be one of those flights. Continue reading
Asiatique was one of the places our hosts said was a “must see” while in Bangkok. Since I had seen it listed, repeatedly, on tourism websites and travel books, I was hardly going to argue. But I did have to ask, “What exactly is Asiatique?” Because while site after site listed it as something you … Continue reading
At some point when you are planning your trip to Thailand (especially Bangkok), you are going to read in a guide book, or someone is going to helpfully insist, that you must go to a Thai mall while you are there. And you are going to think, a mall? Why would I take my precious … Continue reading
It seems many of our memories of Thailand revolve around food. (Come to think of it, a lot of our memories of a lot of our travel revolve around food. Note to self, examine our family’s relationship with food…) Anyway! On this particular day, we took a walk down an easy-to-miss back street, near the … Continue reading
Ah yes, the Tuk Tuk ride. The day we had a reasonable concern part of our party had been whisked off to parts unknown, never to be seen again. That was an exciting time. I’m telling you, we made memories on this trip! We had had our yummy lunch at <<Shoshanna Restaurant>>. We had politely … Continue reading
As we left Wat Pho, our friend had an idea for what he assured us would be a great, inexpensive lunch: Shoshana Restaurant. He was also confident this was easily walkable. Ok, the first part was quite true – yummy lunch. No arguments there. The second part… well, let’s say that it can be walked, from … Continue reading
The Reclining Buddha behind us, and one of the oldest temple complexes in Thailand is laid out around us. The colors, the details, and the architecture are not at all western at all, which is, of course, exactly as it should be. But it’s also a little disorienting to me. I don’t know what the … Continue reading
Stepping over the threshold into Wat Pho, I was surprised – and then surprised at my surprise, if you can follow that – at the size of the famous Reclining Buddha. After all, in today’s day and age, we can easily view not only the professional, perfectly lit photos – but also a neverending supply … Continue reading
I still in the midst of posting about our recent adventure to Thailand. However, a great friend of mine asked, “Where are you going next?” And guess what? I. have. no. idea. There are lots of places I could go to again, happily. Older daughter and I both want to return to Paris. Younger daughter … Continue reading
After the excitement of our Klong Chao waterfall experience, we had some well-earned downtime. Most of our time on the sailboat was actually motor propelled, travelling from island to island. But on this evening, we took some time to purely sail, including some time with the 1980 Christopher Cross hit ‘Sailing’ wafting through the boats … Continue reading
Our journey up the river was intended to bring us to the road where taxis pick up passengers, and our goal was a little waterfall about a kilometer and a half from where we were. So, we arrived at the “intersection” and found… very little traffic. And very little intersection. And the signage was… less … Continue reading
We set out from Bangkok on our drive to Koh Chang and our sailboat for the next four days. It takes about 5 hours to get to the ferry, half-hour or so to cross (not including the wait for the ferry which can be anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or so), and … Continue reading
I’m not sure exactly what we were expecting the Roman Agora to be, but it wasn’t this. Mostly, it’s a big empty field, with ruins bordering it. And the weird thing is that we could step right up on the ruins and touch things, which was so disorienting we kept looking for the signs that … Continue reading
I love travel books. Often, when browsing a bookstore, I find myself in front of the travel books and maps of foreign cities. The debate begins: I don’t need another travel book. I really don’t need another travel book on my shelf. Am I even ever going to go to Bucharest? …Well, I mean, look … Continue reading