Boog's Blog

May 31

Rain promised. Occasionally delivered in small amounts.

Useless pin and chip cards. We have several. None work on the train system. None. No trouble with the wireless credit card. Have not seen apple or Android pay.

A day of contrasts. First a visit to Pistoia, and then a Puccini arias concert in a very bright church, church of San Giovanni

Pistoia Italy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistoia

As we travel from most to least touristed we find Pistoia mostly deserted and closed. Duomo does not open until 15:00. Few people in the square, us and a few others.

San Zeno of Verona is the namesake of the Duomo here. 10 th century with lots of further work.

Another old architecturally interesting church: San Bartolomeo

In summary: Pistoia is a good 3.5 to 4 hour visit.

Rice torta, rice with creme, local speciality. Thought it would be lemon until I tasted it. Was on the breakfast table.

Puccini, from Lucca, concert of arias from operas. Program can be found on Flickr account. The venue, a small cathedral with bare walls, no thing at all to absorb sound, is to say the least bright. In a good way.

The soloists were singing at partial throttle. The soprano was singing with her arms lightly crossed as it was effortless; indeed it sounded effortless and clear.

In Album 5/31/16

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May 30

Rain promised, not delivered

QB in fine American regalia.

Walked around the fine wide wall, about 3 miles around.

saint martins cathedral lucca, nicely decorated 11 th century forward.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucca_Cathedral

Dinner: branzini

In Album Lucca 2

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May 29

Rain, glorious rain promised but hardly delivered. Later a bit of thunder and cloudbursts.

Lucca
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucca

Ancient and medieval with a tortured as well as a cultural past.

Church san Michele in Foro, 11-12 century with many renovations over the ages.

Dinner: Tordellini lucchesi con ragu di chianina Al Chianti, a local variation on cesear salad, lots of oil, a fine minestrone.

The parts here has salt and eggs. While normal for us the local Tuscan population was historically poor, few eggs and little salt. Lucca was very rich due to trade. Eggs and salt.

Fagoili ucceletto

A potential customer for lazzari, the wood fired pizza oven at the restaurant.

In Album lucca 1

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May 28

Another perfect day. The great art gallery, uffizi, earlier the admin offices well explained in link.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uffizi

Enormous. Hundreds of Roman statues, endless Italian paintings, overwhelming in scope. We spent 2.5 hours and had to rush through done sections. A highlight for both of us were the carved wooden statues. Starting with Donatello cross,croce, piece. Fifty out more full sized, mostly painted, carvings. It was a new special exhibit.

And a visit to see the David, only briefly glanced 40+years ago. For uncompleted large carvings by Michaelangelo for the tomb of Julius II

Musical instrument museum fitted in on the ground floor.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galleria_dell%27Accademia

Ah the David.a colossus up close. Upstairs alter pieces from 14th century.

A champagne snack before dinner, the hard life!

Osteria dinner.

In Album Florence 3

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May 27

Sleeping late was a necessity. Then where to start and even harder where to stop. Our usual city wandering with each twist and turn finding beauty, history and interest.

We were here 40+ years ago. Camping. A very different experience.

Some highlights, liked by all tourists.

Visit to Strozzi plaza, architecturally famous, work late exhibition spaces. Much modern art here.

Cathedral di Santa Maria di fiore, and it ceiling. Another great cathedral.

Battistero di S Giovanni door by Giberti. A famous for with a famous history. Right across from the cathedral.

Church of orsanmichele. 14th century, charming

Piazza del Signorina. A great square near the river and the ponte vecchio .

A nap was needed before tapas, champagne and dinner.

A visit to Flickr of this date recommended.

Dinner at il profeta:. Ribolitta, a Tuscan local popular soup. And a secret recipe that they would would not even tell me the ingredients; I fell for it. Posts with an exceedingly rich sauce.

In Album Firenze 3

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May 25-26
Warm

The adventure begins. First stop: Florence aka Firenze – and the lathe sinkhole

Florence Italy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence

SFO to Heathrow and then Gatwick to Florence. Gatwick is a dump, especially before security.

We are staying right along the Arno, the famous river that runs through the historic city center. Yesterday a pipe that runs parallel to the road and river became the cause of a large sinkhole. Will visit it tomorrow after some sleep.

Lovely dinner of Tuscan soup and pasta with a bit too much wine. Arrived in time for a glorious sunset MN

In Album Florence day 1

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May 20. Rain

Early departure, required, from the ship. Then a day in Seward before boarding the scenic evening train to Anchorage.

SeaLife center, aquarium, marine study place, hosts an aviary with among other species, tufted and horned puffins, two of their four species. Great, outstanding, close up on surface and underwater views.

SEWARD, ALASKA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seward,_Alaska

SeaLife
http://www.alaskasealife.org/aslc_resident_species/26

Then, off to the Seward museum. Local memorabilia.

Train goes from Seward to Anchorage, a distance of 79 crow miles but almost four hours by train,127 miles.

In Album 5/21/16

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May 19

Highlight of the cruise is a visit to Hubbard glacier. Morning visit with full narration via the PA system.

Once again a spectacularly clear day. Each day we were told how unusual not to have rain, or just a mizzle, out heat, or fog less views.

Perfect viewing day.

Dinner: the third of the upcharged dinners. Tuscan(excellent) sushi ( eh) and tonight cusine Q, small plates theme, fancy presentation

HUBBARD GLACIER (CRUISING)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubbard_Glacier

In Album 5/20/16

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May 18

Very early departure from the boat. A trip by train and bus to the Yukon and back.

SKAGWAY, ALASKA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skagway,_Alaska

Advertised as an excursion, scenic, requiring a passport as it goes into Canada. Scenery and wildlife. Number one in trip advisor!  Narrow gage over white pass to Yukon.  This is one of the two passes used to get to the gold, Klondike 1897

https://wpyr.com/    

Snowblower

Skagway

Graffiti left but Klondike and earlier

May 17
Colder and raining

JUNEAU, ALASKA

Second largest city in the USA  (by area)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneau,_Alaska

Shuttle ride to Tongas national forest, under control of Dept of agriculture. Tanner’s haves no guns.

A smaller but interesting glacier with a good nature walk to the base, no longer accessible due to constant erosion.