April 6, 2023 to April 27, 2023
S.S. Marina
If you would like to see what and where we ate while we were on the 21 day cruise.
Tag: florence
Florence, Italy 2019
May 30, 2019
Today we checked out of Eze and got a taxi to pick up our rental car in Nice so that we could drive to Florence. Once we got settled in we walked to this cool spot with a bottle of wine and some appetizers to watch the sunset. It was such a great welcoming. Afterward, we walked to their favorite spot for some pasta and boy was it GREAT!!!
May 31, 2019
Today we did all the things tourists do. We visited the beautiful church and the bell tower and the palace. We walked up and down 2,524 steps in one day. The Bell tower has 413 steps, The Dome has 469 steps and Palazzo Vecchio has 389 steps. We got a chance to see Michelangelo’s David again which was really cool and this time we were able to take a picture of the statue. Afterward, we all went out for dinner to this amazing steakhouse called Regina Bistecca.
June 1, 2019
Today John and I walked around and did some shopping. There’s nothing like retail therapy to soothe yourself. John wanted to purchase some new sports jackets to wear on the cruise we would be on in a few days. For dinner, we decided to lay low and Avin and Lindsey purchased some cold cuts and cheese and we had some nice sandwiches and wine. We got a chance to enjoy the last few hours with them and their amazing kids Lefa & Luca.
Follow us on our journey the next destination is Rome, Italy.
The crypt in the Santa Maria del Fiore
The Dome
Four Seasons Hotel – Florence, Italy
February 2011
We checked into the hotel which was really nice. It had Murano glass Chandeliers throughout.
Hotels We’ve Stayed In :-)
These are some of the fabulous Hotels we were lucky enough spend time in.
**If you would like to skip to any particular area please click on the links below.
Amsterdam, Netherlands – Amstel Hotel – April 8-12, 2013
Andasibe, Madagascar – Vakona Forest Lodge – June 15th – 16th, 2016
Anguilla, Caribbean – Belmond Cap Juluca – April 23, 2017
Asheville, North Carolina – Omni Grove Park Inn – October 23, 2020Â
Athens, Greece– Hotel Grand Bretagne – August 10th – 13th, 2005,
                                           November 3, 2011,
                                           July 12, 2018
Atlanta, GA – Waldorf Astoria – November 2, 2019 – November 5, 2019Â
Austin, Texas – Four Seasons – May 17, 2021 – May 18, 2021
Baltimore, Maryland – Four Seasons – October 14, 2020 – October 15, 2020
Bangkok, Thailand – Mandarin Oriental – March 30th & 31st, 2014
Bora Bora, French Polynesia – Four Seasons – January 21, 2015
Boston, MA – XV Beacon – October 11, 2019Â
Big Island, Hawaii – Hilton Hotel – February 28 – March 2, 2017
Charleston, South Carolina – Belmond Charleston Place – October 26, 2020
Charlottesville, Virginia – Albermarle Estate at Trump Winery – October 15, 2020Â
Chicago, IL – Peninsula Hotel – August 30, 2017 – September 1, 2017
              Trump Hotel – March 21, 2019 – March 23, 2019
Cape Neddick, Maine – Cliff House – August 2, 2020 – August 5, 2020
Cincinnati, Ohio – Netherland Plaza Hotel – April 28, 2019Â
Cong, County Mayo, Ireland – Ashford Castle – August 2023
Dallas, Texas – The Joule – May 15, 2021 – May 17, 2021
D.C. – District of Columbia – Trump International Hotel– June 8, 2021
Des Moines, Iowa – Embassy Suites – August 23rd – 24th, 2017
Doonbeg, Ireland – Trump International Doonbeg – August 2023
Dubai, UAE – Raffles – November 22, 2011
              Medinat Jumeirah – September 2, 2019 – September 4, 2019
              Burj Khalifa-Armani-September 4, 2019-September 6, 2019 Â
              Burj Al Arab – September 7, 2019
Eze, France– La Chevre D’Or – May 27, 2019 – May 29, 2019
Florence, Italy– Four Seasons – February 2011
Grand Anse Mahe, Seychelles – Hilton Northolme – June 18th – 22nd, 2016
Grand Rapids, Michigan – Amway Grand Rapids Hotel – April 26, 2019
Honolulu, Hawaii – Ritz Carlton Residences – June 14, 2022 – June 18, 2022
Hot Springs, Virginia – Omni Homestead – October 17, 2020 – Oct 19, 2020Â
Huntington, NY – Oheka Castle – September 2018Â
Jerusalem, Israel – Waldorf Astoria – July 15, 2018
Johannesburg, South Africa – Intercontinental – September 20, 2019Â
Kahuku, Hawaii – Turtle Bay Resort – June 18, 2022 – June 20, 2022
Ko ‘Olina – Hawaii – Disney Aulani – September 13, 2018 – Sept. 20, 2018
September 14th – 21st, 2013
September 7th – 14th, 2014                                                  September 23rd – October 1st, 2016                                          February 23rd – February 28th, 2017
Kruger National Park/South Africa – April 2009
Limerick, Ireland – Adare Manor – August 2023Â
Livingstone, Zambia – Royal Chundu – June 7th – 13th, 2016
Maui, Hawaii – Westin Hotel – March 3rd – 7th, 2017
Milwaukee, Wisconsin – Hilton Hotel – August 28, 2017
Montauk, New York – Gurney’s Star Island – October 9, 2020 – Oct 10, 2020
Monte Carlo, Monaco – Hotel De Paris – May 23, 2019 – May 27, 2019
Nairobi, Kenya – Giraffe Manor – September 8, 2019Â
                  Angama Mara – September 9, 2019 – September 13, 2019 Â
                  Salas Camp – September 13, 2019 – September 16, 2019 Â
Nashville, Tennessee – Hermitage Hotel – May 24, 2017 – May 25, 2017
New Orleans, LA – Ritz Carlton – October 28, 2019 – October 31, 2019Â
Newport, RI – Castle Hill – October 9, 2019Â
               The Chanler @ Cliff Walk – October 10, 2019
Orlando, Florida – Ritz Carlton – August 25, 2022 – August 27, 2022
Oceania Cruises Suites – Owners Suite 1 & 2, Oceania Suite, Vista & Penthouse Suite
Palm Beach, Florida – The Breakers – September 22, 2013, October 25, 2015
                        Mar-A-Lago – Members since 2021Â
Papeete, French Polynesia – January 24, 2015
Park City, Utah – St. Regis – September 27, 2016 – September 28, 2016
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania –Â Ritz Carlton – August 8, 2019 – Aug. 10, 2019
Rome, Italy – Westin Excelsior Hotel – February 7th – 20th, 2011
               Ritz Carlton -August 18th – 21st, 2012
               Waldorf Astoria Rome Cavalieri – August 23, 2018
               Waldorf Astoria Rome Cavalieri – June 2, 2019 – June 4, 2019
San Diego, Califonia – The US Grant – September 20, 2022 – September 23, 2022
Sedona, AZ – Enchantment Hotel – September 27- 29, 2010
St. George, Utah – The Inn at Entrada – August 27, 2013 – August 29, 2013
Venice, Italy – Luna Baglioni &Â 2nd time – February 3rd – 5th, 2011 & October 14, 2022
Waikiki, Hawaii – Trump International Hotel – June 20, 2022
Walland, Tennessee – Blackberry Mountain – Oct. 21, 2020 – Oct. 23, 2020
White Sulphur Springs, Virginia – The Greenbrier – Oct. 18, 2020Â
Zakynthos, Greece –Le Sante Blu – July 7, 2018 – July 11, 2018
Zambia, Africa – Royal Chundu – September 17, 2019 – September 20, 2019Â
Florence-Pisa, Italy
August 5, 2018
Today we got a taxi to drive us to Florence also known as Firenze. While there we walked around for about an hour and got it was so hot we decided to grab some gelato at our favorite place called Grom. It’s right around the corner from Piazza Del Duomo and then we drove to Pisa and walked around there for about an hour we went into the La Domenica Cathedral and took some pictures and then headed back to the ship.
Follow us on our journey the next destination is Rome, Italy.
Florence, Italy 2011
February 5th – 7th, 2011
The train ride from Venice to Florence, Italy began on a bad foot. Remember all the luggage I told you we had well we didn’t realize that the tickets had assigned seats, so our seats were in car 6, and we got on car 1. John had to carry one bag at a time to get them to car 6 while I stayed with the luggage on car 1 . After a stressful beginning, we were looking forward to the scenery for the remaining six-hour ride. I loved riding the train; it reminded of being in Greece. When I was younger, that’s how we traveled from Athens to my mom’s town Kalo Nero, Kyparissia.
We checked into the Four Seasons Hotel, and after getting settled in, we decided to take a walk to get familiar with the city. We had dinner plans at Enoteca Pinchiorri which was a very impressive restaurant. We had a packed schedule for the next day, so we made it an early night.
The next morning we started on our walking tour of the city, and the first stop was the breathtaking Il Duomo di Firenze. Pictures do not do it justice! After taking a million pictures, we then moved onto The Ponte Vecchio which is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno River.
We then decided to start the museum tours we visited the Uffizi Gallery which was nice and then we visited the Galleria dell Accademia to see Michelangelo sculptures, including the impressive statue of The David.
Follow us on our journey the next and last stop on this trip is Rome, Italy.
