http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/bvchef/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from bvchef en-us Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:12:08 BST Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:12:08 BST Yesterday I did my sightseeing in Ljubljana seeing the huge Saturday Market some of the important buildings several squares a famous architect's house and such. It was a lot of fun but not really that interesting for pictures. Had lunch at the same pizzeria that I had dinner at the other night. It was just as good. I had checked out of the hotel and left the car in the hotel parking lot http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Croatia/Central-Croatia/Zagreb/blog-268260.html Wow today was a lot of fun. I headed back towards Trieste Italy but stayed in Slovenia to an underground cave system called Skocjan. It was huge. In America only Mammoth Caves and Carlsbad Caverns are larger. The tour was about an hour and a half through 2 separate caves areas. One was the silent cave and the other was the murmuring cave because it has a river flowing through it. I'm tel http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovenia/Upper-Carniola/Ljubljana/blog-267743.html Today I went to Lake Bled a beautiful lake up by the Julian Alps. It was a bit of a challenge finding the right freeway but with the help of a nice lady out to walk her dog I was pointed in the right direction. The guidebook said to follow the signs for Bled which would have been easy if there were any. Here the signs pointed to another town. It would be like looking for a sign to Vancouv http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovenia/Upper-Carniola/Bled/blog-267411.html I am once again at a hotel with internet access through the hotel computer so no pictures again. If I find an internet bar I will see what I can do. Driving up here from Firenze was actually very easy. I only made one wrong turn exiting the autostrade but I was able to fix it quickly and easily. Trying to figure out where I need to go while driving with the flow of traffic was exciting in http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovenia/Upper-Carniola/Ljubljana/blog-267126.html Today was the day I had reservations for the Uffizi Gallery It was a madhouse with lines people groups everyone pushing to get a better place in line. I was able to get in and saw the picture I most wanted to see The Birth of Venus. It was truly spectacular. As for the rest of the art I enjoyed a lot of it but didn't spend a lot of time there. It's not as if they had food pictures. lolI http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Siena/blog-266810.html What a great day today was. It started out differently with the fire alarm going off in the hotel. I didn't think anything of it but it wouldn't stop. I called the front desk and found out that it was a problem in the kitchen. It's one of those things. I didn't imagine there was going to be a fire but then again I'm sure no one at the Monte Carlo in Las Vegas thought that either. I made http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Pisa/blog-266505.html Today I had a 10 AM reservation for the Galleria dell' Accademia. I left the hotel around 9 to give myself plenty of time. I'm glad I did because I have spent almost my entire time here in Florence either lost really lost or just plain super duper lost. I just can't get the hang of this place. It doesn't help that every whipstitch there is another church or something that looks similar to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-266054.html Getting here to Florence was the big adventure today. I have discovered that driving somewhere is pretty easy as long as I follow the signs however finding my way back to the starting point is the real issue. For the life of me I could not find the car rental place. At each turn I second guessed myself finding myself turned around every which way. At one point I was driving on a roundabout http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-265743.html Well today was a terribly rain overcast day so I thought it would be fun to just drive on up to Parma. Heck I am an Americano so I figured I would drive up see a 30foot tall cow statue holding a giant piece of Reggiaono Parmesan to indicate factory tour here. It does not quite work that way here. I did not find a single tour for cheese prosciutto or balsamic. For that matter I cou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Emilia-Romagna/Parma/blog-265450.html For those of you who have been to my home you probably remember the picture of the quaint town and harbor that I have over the fireplace. That picture was the reason I decided to make this trip and today I went to where the picture was taken. Cinque Terre is a group of 5 towns along the Mediterranean Sea. I drove to the first one parked and walked the pathway to the second one. I was hiking http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Liguria/Cinque-Terre/blog-265118.html My hotel here does not have internet access in the rooms so I won't be able to use my laptop or load photos. Not to fear as soon as I can I will load some on here. Also not sure why I didn't think of this but the keyboard in Europe is different than the ones in the US. Hmph. lolI took the train from Milan through Genoa and down the coast into La Spezia. The weather turned ugly today so http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Liguria/Cinque-Terre/blog-264791.html Today was the big day in Milan. I took a buswalking tour of Castello Sforzesco the Last Supper Duomo and La Scalla Theater. Seeing the Last Supper was something I really appreciated. Just standing in the refectory where it is was an experience I can't describe. We had to pass through several air locks in order to access the room and then the same to exit. Of course there were no photos all http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lombardy/Milan/blog-264358.html I came to Milan by train yesterday and have been resting reading eating drinking and just catching up on things. For the most part everything shuts down on Sunday and Monday so there were very little opportunities for sightseeing. It was nice to take a breath and regroup. I even had some laundry done at the hotel and washed some in the sink myself. Let's just hope they dry before the ho http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lombardy/Milan/blog-264086.html Well I have to say that I may have had one or two negronis too many last night. I woke up today feeling pretty crappy but I still made it to Bellagio. The ferry was a lot of fun with great photo opps. The town of Bellagio is all that I imagined. It is cute quaint full of shops and restaurants but not much more to do than to eat shop and just soak it in which is what I did. I ate al fre http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lombardy/Como/blog-263349.html I guess I am still dealing with some jet lag because I woke up at 5 AM today. Not sure why but I decided that what I should do was to go chase down the sunrise so I could see it and take pictures of it. Trying to follow a straight line in Venice is near impossible. I walked and walked and kept thinking that I would be at the Eastern edge of the island soon. I have to say that my favorite tim http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lombardy/Como/blog-263038.html Today was a beautiful sunny day. Had breakfast on the terrace of the hotel picture uploaded. I spent most of the day on the vaporetto the water bus. Had a pretty nasty lunch today. I thought Lasagna al forno would be great here but I was mistaken. I did take a great ride across the Grand Canal in a traghetto. It is a gondola that crosses the canal at different point. No singing but it http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-262737.html I should be on a more regular posting track here. I had planned on writing up the day's events and posting a few pictures each day but that computer drama put a big ole wrench in the works. Let's hope for the best from now forward.Today was spent cruising around on a water bus lots and lots more walking and a couple tours. I went up in the Campanile which was nice. I had hoped to be up there http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-262425.html What a pain in the wazoo. I spent the morning trying to find a new memory card for the camera spent another 40 euros on card only to have the same problem on the computer. That meant another couple of hours looking for a computer store which was not able to help. Heck it's only money so I just bought a new camera. Success I just had this fear of taking thousands of pictures getting ho http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-262297.html It was a smooth trip here so far discounting the fact that the new laptop I bought to bring with me died the night before I left and now I am unable to move the pictures from my camera onto the computer. Have never had any problems with it before but for some reason it says that the memory chip is not formatted. So no pictures online until I can get a new disc and deal with that.Venice is ju http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-262128.html Ok here is the quick rundown oh where I am going how and where I will be staying.I will fly into Venice and take a water taxi to HTTPWWW.HOTELSAVOIAJOLANDA.COM for 3 nights. Venice should be a nice place to shake off the jet lag I hope. From there I will take a train to Como and spend 2 nights at httpwww.hotelmetropolesuisse.comframeing.htmlFrom there it is down to Milan via train http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-257462.html