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Nuremberg Cellars

Way back when, if you wanted to brew beer in Nuremberg you need to have a cellar, both for fermentation and storage.   The cellars consist of a system of narrow tunnels and caverns that run under Nuremberg’s old town. Dating back to 14th century there were about 40 breweries in the small city all of […]

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Galileo Museum

Everything from Galilio’s finger to a broken glass from his telescope to everything else as it was invented to make the modern world tick – it’s all here and it is well worth a visit.  Alternatively – it’s worth even getting the free app and do a virtual tour of the place to explore this […]

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Sant’Ignazio

This is a small church among some 900 other churches in Rome, and is dedicated to Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, located in Rome. Built in Baroque style between 1626 and 1650, the church functioned originally as the chapel of the adjacent Roman College, which moved in 1584 to a new larger […]

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Quartiere Coppedè

This little area in Rome was built around the  1920s and is was famous for its mixture of several different architectural styles, all coming together to create something never seen before.  This is the place where you will find the Villino delle fate (the fairy house) and in the centre of the square the Fountain […]

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Shades of yellow orange and red

That seems to be the dominant colour palette for Rome.  No matter where you are and no matter where you look those are the three primary colours, occasionally punched with a bit of white, mostly churches, and the broccoli trees, the towering pines.                         […]

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Alberobello – Puglia

Alberobello is a small city of less than 11,000 people and it is famous for it’s trullos.  Trullos are scattered throughout this part of Puglia. The story behind trullo was to build a small home with only dry stone and no mortar so they could easily be reconfigured and taken down.  They were simply built […]

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The High Tower

To work off some of the gelato we have consumed over the last few days and excessive amount of food and wine today we are going cultural.  We are going to visit a couple of museums, some art galleries and climb the tallest tower in the city for the most spectacular view of the city […]

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San Gimignano by Night

We are, for the first time, not just visiting San Gimignano but staying in the city for a few days.  We parked the car at the bottom of the hill and will spent a few days just walking around and exploring all the great gelato places this city has to offer, but really just concentrating […]

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Cortona

Perched 600m up on a hillside Cortona is a medical town with narrow and steep streets and architecture.  The city overlooks Chiana Valley and  Lake Trasimeno, scene of Hannibal’s ambush of the Roman army in 217 BC.  Legend has it that Cortona was built some 273 years after the Great Flood.  After Arezzo it is the […]

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Abbey of Sant’Antimo

While pretending to know where we are going without the use of the GPS we took the wrong traffic circle exit  out of Montalcino but luckily ended up here.  This is an old Benedictine Abbey dating back to 813 A.D.  Like most of Tuscany it fell under the influence and rule of either Siena or […]

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Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta

I think everyone knows or at least has seen Cappella della Madonna di Vitality. Alternatively if you have seen a calendar from Tuscany or have visited Val d’Orcia or drove between Pienza and San Quirico d’Orcia then you should instantly recognize this UNESCO protected landmark.  This time we drove up closer to the chapel and took a […]

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Bryant Park

Bryant Park is a beloved, year-round New York City destination. Known as Manhattan’s Town Square, the park is famous for its lush seasonal gardens, free activities and al fresco dining. Located adjacent to the New York Public Library and surrounded by iconic skyscrapers, Bryant Park is visited by more than 12 million people each year and […]

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Flatiron Building

The distinctive triangular shape of the Flatiron Building, designed by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham and built in 1902, allowed it to fill the wedge-shaped property located at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway. The building was intended to serve as offices for the George A. Fuller Company, a major Chicago contracting firm. At 22 […]

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Finally in Paris

What a gong show this journey was.  Long story short British Airways cancelled the flight after an issue with the engine – so we got stuck in Seattle.  We were booked to go through Houston, then London but by the time the reservation was confirmed, printing issues, we were too late to go through security. […]

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Montalcino for Lunch

There appears to be about a thousand wine shops in this village.  There are places where you can sample over 100 wines in a single wine store.  It’s bonkers!  However, our search is for some food, because it has been at least 3 hours since our last meal, and to find another gelato place, because […]

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Paggio Dell’Aquila

Promptly after breakfast today we drove out to a small family run winery nestled just below the quaint town of Montalcino.  This place produces only 18,000 bottles of wine one Rosso and one Brunello, (read no cheap and pricey)  The local oenologist, Maria, who is Spanish, gave us a great tour and a great wine […]

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Sunrise Hunting

The idea was great, the plan brilliant, the execution none of the above.  We did not find the right hill to see the sunrise, I guess you have to be in the know to be in the right spot at the right time.  We will do better next however as we have acquired a map […]

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Cheetah

One of the great sightings this morning was a mama and cub cheetah.  The cub was nursing at first then grooming, then playing and stretching – playing nicely for all to see.  Manfred spotted a wagging tale from about 300m.  I honestly don’t know how these guys do it, I think the animal tracking is […]

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Ballenberg

Ballenberg is an open museum with a 100 original, century-old buildings from all over Switzerland, original gardens and fields. It is a working museum where people are in period, bake break, make sausages, make cheese and pretend they live in the centuries past. There are also 250 domestic animals on display as well.  This is […]

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Thun

Thun is a small city of about 45,000 residents.  The area of what is now Thun was inhabited since the Neolithic age mid 300 BC. Like most Europe and Switzerland it was conquered by Rome in 58BC.  In 1819 a Military School was founded in the city, which later developed into the main military school in […]

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Lausanne Cathedral

The construction of the  Cathedral of Notre Dame of Lausanne began as early as 1170 by an original unknown master mason. Twenty years later another master mason restarted construction until 1215. Finally a third engineer, Jean Cotereel, completed the majority of the existing cathedral including a porch, and two towers, one of which is the current […]

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Lausanne

The city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, 62 kilometres northeast of Geneva. Lausanne has a population  of 146,372, making it the fourth largest city in Switzerland. Lausanne is a focus of international sport, hosting the International Olympic Committee, which recognizes the city as the “Olympic Capital”. Since 1994 the Court of Arbitration for Sport and some 55 international sport associations […]

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Magdalena Hermitage

Directly overlooking the Lake Schiffenen is a carved out cave measuring 120 meters which was chiseled out in the rock by two hermits around 1700.  The floor, as it was recently discovered, is actually a fossilized sandstone dune from prehistoric times. The dwelling in the cliff was later expanded to its current size by the hermit Johann Dupré and his […]

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Fribourg Cathedral

The Gothic Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Fribourg  dominates the centre of the medieval town. The main church was started in 1283 and completed by 1430. The tower was completed in 1490. It is 76 metres tall and houses 11 bells.  Originally a parish church, in 1945 it became the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva […]

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Fribourg

Fribourg is located on both sides of the river Saane, and is an important economic, administrative and educational centre on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland. Fribourg also has one of the most prestigious universities in Switzerland.  Its Old City, is one of the best maintained in Switzerland. There is a very old funicular […]

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Switzerland

We have arrived in Switzerland.  Once you pass the tunnels and the trains the views open up – no matter where you look the vistas are spectacular.  Interesting note, in Italy, the fastest drivers on the highway are either from Germany or Switzerland.  The posted highway speed is 130km/h the Swiss will do 150 to 160km/h.  The moment […]

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Milan

Milan dates back to 400BC.  Today Milan is the 2nd largest metropolitan city in Italy. The population of the city proper is 1.3 million, while its urban area with a population estimated to be about 5.5 million  is the 5th-largest in the EU. Milan is the main industrial and financial centre of Italy, it has the 3rd-largest […]

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Villa Borghese

Our schedule for today is very relaxed.  A nice stroll through the Borghese gardens towards the Spanish Steps and a bit of shopping.  The Borgheses were  a wool merchant family from  Sienna.  The head of the family, Marcantonio, moved to Rome in 1541 and this Sienese family rapidly gained access to the upper echelons of Roman […]

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MAXXI

MAXXI – National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, is a national museum of contemporary art and architecture in Rome and is about 5 min walk from the gorgeous apartment we are staying in. The museum was built on the old and decommissioned military compound site.  This spectacular building was designed by Zaha Hadid who passed away this […]

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Villa Cimbrone

Imagine owning the entire mountain top of a peninsula on the Amalfi coast.  Small villa, pool and massive gardens.  Originally built in the 11th century the villa was rebuilt and reconstructed over the years passing from one family to the next.  The most extensive rebuilding and renovation was done at the start of the 20th […]

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