thanks for voting and let's get this show on the road!
thanks for the votes! *hug*
there's no way to make everyone happy, but your answers gave me good indications, so here's how I'm going to do this!
Multiple picspams on 4 days (got lots of vote for both 3 and 5), with about 20 pictures in each. Harder to choose was thumbnails or full size, but full size won, so I'll go with that. They are not THAT big, anyway.
After a stop in Zurich, we landed in Milan. It had been flooding in the days before we got there, which was a theme all the way through the trip. In fact, everyone at some point bought warm clothes because it was really cold and rainy. It rained every. single. day. On the other hand? we were lucky enough that when out and about there would be a break in the rain, or it would fall less hard, then pick up as we climbed in the bus or got to the hotel.
but hey, you are here for pictures: here we go.
The first of our 3 hotels was near Stresa, on Lago Maggiore, so we visited around that for the first 3 days. The first stop:
Stresa, a charming place. The sky was blue, all was great. We were lucky over there. It rained as soon as we go to the hotel, later.
In Stresa are very nice hotels (this is not ours! lol!) It's a popular vacation spot, especially for Milanese
The main tourist attraction are the Isole Borromee, 3 island that are the property of Milan princes, who let people go visit them. Which we did.
Isola dei Pescatori (we didn't go on that one. I am painting this at this moment, btw)
Isola Bella, where the palace and gardens are (that we did visit, the guide was HILARIOUS). Isola Bella is 320 meters long by 400 meters wide and is entirely occupied by the Palazzo Borromeo and its Italianate garden.
The gardens are fabulous!
The white peacocks kept trying to out-pretty each others. All the peacocks, and there are MANY, are completely white.
wonderful flowers and blooming bushes, everywhere
very organized gardens, as you see..
After that visit, we went to our hotel for the first night. I am a big fan of stained glass (me + color = true love), and the hotel had some great pieces... like this on a ceiling:
2nd day: it was grey and rainy, so the planned trek on the top of a Swiss mountain for a view was abandoned (we would not have seen anything), but we went to Switzerland anyway to visit the town of Lugano. The main attraction is the Lake, which I am sure is very pretty when it's sunny.
that's our experience, though. Foggy.
The city of Lugano, with lots of nice shops - so many jewelers! some pieces on display were outrageously expensive :)
Then we went to another Lake/city that is somewhat iconic in our culture because of movies/songs, Como. That is back in Italy.
wish it had been sunny there too. But still pretty.
We had tour guides in almost every cities, and they always bring us right to the Cathedral/main Chuch. Lots of my pictures are me trying to take details of the floors or ceilings in crap lighting.
We went back to the hotel after that.
Day 3:
Milano!
I did the tour with the guide, but instead of visiting all that much (it was POURING rain) I went to have lunch with alemyrddin , who's such a darling. I had the chance to see her beautiful baby daughter, too. If you have noticed, I am not posting pics of myself or friends unlocked, but will do at one point, with her permission.
But I did see a bit of Milano:
The Castello Sforzesco, where lived the rulers of Milano (Visconti, then the Sforza)
The very impressive Duomo. The largest and most important example of Gothic architecture in Italy, the Milan Cathedral, is the fourth largest cathedral in the world after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Cathedral of Seville and a new cathedral in the Ivory Coast. It's something, as much outside
as inside! lots of beautiful stained glass. I was such in a hurry, this is a bad pic but gives an idea, it was MASSIVE, There were 3 panels like this one side by side.
The great Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a covered passage that connects Piazza del Duomo to the square opposite of La Scala, was built by Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1877 to celebrate Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of united Italy. It is simply gorgeous and full of shops that are so expensive I didn't even dare look at the prices! lol!
Detail on the floor, where people twirl on the bull's balls (of the Turin emblem) for good luck. alemyrddin wrote a John Holloway/Matthew Fox fic about it years ago...
Yes, I tried the spin. ;)
I like that picture a lot, still in the Galleria
HA, yes, lots of people asked me to take picture of nice looking Italian men (if possible kissing) but unfortunately I was not lucky on that front. I did see in the Galleria some SMOKING HOT COPS IN UNIFORM but sadly was too shy to take a picture in their faces. [I can totally be shy, it happens. Sometimes.] Sorry.
but I was quite despairing at one point to fulfill my duty, so I took a big publicity panel from inside the bus.
what? It counts, right? OK, so he's not Italian, but whatever.
Oh and I take the most random things. Like flowers in a tree. I have no idea what sort of tree (enlighten me if you do!)
On the fourth day we moved towards Sirmione, Verone and Venice, but that will be for tomorrow!
there's no way to make everyone happy, but your answers gave me good indications, so here's how I'm going to do this!
Multiple picspams on 4 days (got lots of vote for both 3 and 5), with about 20 pictures in each. Harder to choose was thumbnails or full size, but full size won, so I'll go with that. They are not THAT big, anyway.
After a stop in Zurich, we landed in Milan. It had been flooding in the days before we got there, which was a theme all the way through the trip. In fact, everyone at some point bought warm clothes because it was really cold and rainy. It rained every. single. day. On the other hand? we were lucky enough that when out and about there would be a break in the rain, or it would fall less hard, then pick up as we climbed in the bus or got to the hotel.
but hey, you are here for pictures: here we go.
The first of our 3 hotels was near Stresa, on Lago Maggiore, so we visited around that for the first 3 days. The first stop:
Stresa, a charming place. The sky was blue, all was great. We were lucky over there. It rained as soon as we go to the hotel, later.
In Stresa are very nice hotels (this is not ours! lol!) It's a popular vacation spot, especially for Milanese
The main tourist attraction are the Isole Borromee, 3 island that are the property of Milan princes, who let people go visit them. Which we did.
Isola dei Pescatori (we didn't go on that one. I am painting this at this moment, btw)
Isola Bella, where the palace and gardens are (that we did visit, the guide was HILARIOUS). Isola Bella is 320 meters long by 400 meters wide and is entirely occupied by the Palazzo Borromeo and its Italianate garden.
The gardens are fabulous!
The white peacocks kept trying to out-pretty each others. All the peacocks, and there are MANY, are completely white.
wonderful flowers and blooming bushes, everywhere
very organized gardens, as you see..
After that visit, we went to our hotel for the first night. I am a big fan of stained glass (me + color = true love), and the hotel had some great pieces... like this on a ceiling:
2nd day: it was grey and rainy, so the planned trek on the top of a Swiss mountain for a view was abandoned (we would not have seen anything), but we went to Switzerland anyway to visit the town of Lugano. The main attraction is the Lake, which I am sure is very pretty when it's sunny.
that's our experience, though. Foggy.
The city of Lugano, with lots of nice shops - so many jewelers! some pieces on display were outrageously expensive :)
Then we went to another Lake/city that is somewhat iconic in our culture because of movies/songs, Como. That is back in Italy.
wish it had been sunny there too. But still pretty.
We had tour guides in almost every cities, and they always bring us right to the Cathedral/main Chuch. Lots of my pictures are me trying to take details of the floors or ceilings in crap lighting.
We went back to the hotel after that.
Day 3:
Milano!
I did the tour with the guide, but instead of visiting all that much (it was POURING rain) I went to have lunch with alemyrddin , who's such a darling. I had the chance to see her beautiful baby daughter, too. If you have noticed, I am not posting pics of myself or friends unlocked, but will do at one point, with her permission.
But I did see a bit of Milano:
The Castello Sforzesco, where lived the rulers of Milano (Visconti, then the Sforza)
The very impressive Duomo. The largest and most important example of Gothic architecture in Italy, the Milan Cathedral, is the fourth largest cathedral in the world after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Cathedral of Seville and a new cathedral in the Ivory Coast. It's something, as much outside
as inside! lots of beautiful stained glass. I was such in a hurry, this is a bad pic but gives an idea, it was MASSIVE, There were 3 panels like this one side by side.
The great Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a covered passage that connects Piazza del Duomo to the square opposite of La Scala, was built by Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1877 to celebrate Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of united Italy. It is simply gorgeous and full of shops that are so expensive I didn't even dare look at the prices! lol!
Detail on the floor, where people twirl on the bull's balls (of the Turin emblem) for good luck. alemyrddin wrote a John Holloway/Matthew Fox fic about it years ago...
Yes, I tried the spin. ;)
I like that picture a lot, still in the Galleria
HA, yes, lots of people asked me to take picture of nice looking Italian men (if possible kissing) but unfortunately I was not lucky on that front. I did see in the Galleria some SMOKING HOT COPS IN UNIFORM but sadly was too shy to take a picture in their faces. [I can totally be shy, it happens. Sometimes.] Sorry.
but I was quite despairing at one point to fulfill my duty, so I took a big publicity panel from inside the bus.
what? It counts, right? OK, so he's not Italian, but whatever.
Oh and I take the most random things. Like flowers in a tree. I have no idea what sort of tree (enlighten me if you do!)
On the fourth day we moved towards Sirmione, Verone and Venice, but that will be for tomorrow!