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CURRENTLY VISITING HAWAII!!

Hawaii

Hawaii
Akaka Falls

See the World for Free

The idea here is to TRAVEL THE WORLD regardless of time or budget. It dawned on me one day that even if I had unlimited time and money (which I definitley do not), I still couldn't see everything in the world that I'd like to see--I'm simply not going to live long enough to do it.

But I had a bit of brain wave and soon after the travel envelope was born. This is an actual physical envelope. I typed the name of every country in the world, plus every state in the US on little slips of paper which I then put into the envelope. In the beginning we (myself, my husband, Dave and daugher Catherine) would draw out a slip at random at the beginning of the month and that's where we would go---at least in our minds. We grab some books about the country from the library and put them in our bathroom to look at. We also check out some videos about the country if any. We check it out on googleearth, listen to the music, try the food, maybe even attempt to learn a dance or celebrate a festival.

After the first two years we discovered that even virtual traveling can be tiring, so we travel now whenever I happen to be in the mood.

It's great fun. I especially love it when people I meet have been to the place I'm "visiting" in real life, or get excited and have some virtual adventures of their own. I hope that anyone who comes across this blog will feel welcome to come with us on the trip!



You have a standing reservation to see it all!

May 22, 2015

May 21 Florence


Ahhh, Florence.





It looks as though she found the sun. First stop was the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, your basic European Cathedral with unbelievable history, architecture and art.




 Then they went to Brancacci Chapel which is crammed full of Masterpieces. This Chapel is considered to the be the "Sistine Chapel" of the early renaissance.


Then the leather market--which looks to be about equally visually bewildering. 


So much for the sun, but she found the Disney store (of course) and there was some singing--don't know yet if she went solo in silliness or if it was a group effort. 


And she said "Buongiorno" to Mickey. 


There are many markets and shops in Florence. Some are more preferable than others. 

Bread


Cheese


 And, oh dear. I think I'll head back to the bakery. 


Then they went to the Duomo. The dome is famous because it was the first marriage between art and science.



The interior of the dome looks amazing as well. She climbed the 463 stairs to the top.


View from the top of the Duomo


They also went to the Hospital of the Innocents. This was built around 1400 as an orphanage and refuge for children in bad circumstances. It was built of limestone and other cheap materials, but is still decorated with sculpture and art done by various masters. 


And of course, they went to the Accademia Gallery and saw David.


To finish the day she got to go to a cooking class and make pizza. Here's what she said about it. "Our team didn't win, but I was trying to roll out the crust to a good thinness and they were all like, 'don't overwork it' so it was super thick and sure enough it didn't cook and the chef said it was way too thick. But he was impressed with our stuffed crust."  

They should have listened to her. Catherine can really cook. 

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