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Europe February 2024

January - February 2024
A 21-day adventure by Ella Read more
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  • TravelerEurope February 2024
    12
    Day 2

    Milan

    January 31 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 2 °C

    We flew to Milan, very lucky to have the whole empty rows to ourselves, one for each and we slept pretty well, arriving well rested. We started the day with a VoiceMap highlights tour of Milan and walked around the old center. First, we admired the famous Duomo. Each of us saw it before, but it still doesn’t take away the awe inspired by the grandiose of this majestic marble structure. We had lunch and in the afternoon I went on another VoiceMap tour. It took me a bit further away from the center, and also told me some interesting facts - for example, pointing a sculpture on the Duomo facade that looks exactly like the Statue of Liberty! Or sharing that until now, the Madonna on top of Duomo had to be the tallest point in the city. But when they build modern buildings, they got around this rule by placing the copy of this Madonna on top of every structure taller than the Duomo! Finally, I saw the small chapel in a small church that was all decorated with the human sculls and bones - from the 15th century, when a huge part of the population was wiped out by the Black Death plague. The church was a reminder to the impermanence of life, while also taking care of the extra remains that the city didn’t have any place to bury!Read more

  • TravelerEurope February 2024
    2
    Day 5

    Bologna encuentro and tour

    February 3 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    For the next 2 days, we participated in a tango encuentro near Bologna, dancing 10 hours a day. It was a nice atmosphere, great level of dancers, but the event was really big, with almost 400 dancers and not a great leader/follower balance. So it ended up being a bit of an up and down for me, and lots of sitting. On Saturday morning we went to Bologna and did a highlights VoiceMap tour. We walked around the city center, admiring beautiful cathedral, towers and also the famous group of terracota sculptures depicting mourning of the Christ. It is also called The Petrified Scream, and is truly a masterpiece, especially considering that it is from the 15th century. Overall, Bologna is a beautiful and rich cultural center.Read more

  • TravelerEurope February 2024
    Day 6

    Arriving to Ravenna

    February 4 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Today, we decided to leave the encuentro early, but before we did that, we went to check out one last “brunch” milonga, and it turned out the best milonga for me, as I danced with all of my favorite good leaders and had highly enjoyable couple of hours. We then drove to nearby Ravenna, a medieval Italian city famous for its stunning colorful mosaics covering walls and ceilings of the churches. We arrived in the dark but one of the highlight churches was open late and we had it all to ourselves, admiring the dazzling mosaics, with amazing details and bright colors. We then went to our hotel and walked by the interesting small tower, which was visibly leaning, from which we concluded that leaning towers is pretty much a mundane occurrence in Italy. We went for dinner in a nice trattoria recommended by our hotel and had a delicious rabbit (not pictured due to the immediate consumption).Read more

  • TravelerEurope February 2024
    111222
    Day 7

    Ravenna tour and some more Bologna

    February 5 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    In the morning, we did a VoiceMap tour of Ravenna, looking at the amazing mosaics in several churches and mausoleums. It’s very interesting, how in this particular place and time, the town became famous for its unique mosaics. Most mosaics are from the 5th and 6th century, so quite old and incredibly well preserved. They used semi precious stones for the mosaics, like turquoise, jade and corals, and it definitely shows in how dazzling the colors are. We then drove to Bologna where I went on another VoiceMap tour and visited old Bologna university with its anatomical theater form the 15th century. I then walked around and learned that Bologna, despite being located inside the Italian peninsula, far from the water, used to have many canals. Interestingly, most Italian cities had many canals, before being covered with earth, to prevent mosquitos and make the city cleaner.Read more

  • TravelerEurope February 2024
    11
    Day 8

    Florence Rick Steve tour

    February 6 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    This morning we drove from Bologna to Florence, checked into our hotel and went on a Rick Steve audio tour of the highlights of the center.

    We admired a famous Florence cathedral with its huge magical marble facade and an enormous dome. We didn’t go inside the cathedral, but we went inside the church Orsanmichele and admired its outside statues, then walked to the Vecchio Palace and saw a a copy of famous Michelangelo David and other amazing sculptures inside a loggia especially built for displaying these statues. We then walked across the river on the famous Vecchio bridge, which is lined with the jewelry shops. Interestingly, in one of the window displays I noticed famous Russian anti-sglazit dulya and learned that these were popular good luck charms called figa (another name in Russian as well!) in Italy in the 1950s.Read more

  • TravelerEurope February 2024
    1
    Day 9

    Bargello museum and Medici mausoleum

    February 7 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Today was a super long day of excursions! First, we went to the Bargello museum, and admired Renaissance sculptures, understanding the influences and the breakthrough of different artists, culminating in a genius of Michelangelo. Rick Steves tour of this museum was very engaging in helping us see the progression that led to Renaissance. Unfortunately, we were so engrossed in the tour of the masterpieces that we forgot to take any photos. We then went to the Medici Galleries which was shockingly over the top magnificent extravaganza of dazzling colorful marbles and semi precious stones. It was built as a mausoleum for the famous Medici family that financed the artists who brought in the Renaissance. We then had delicious lunch of beef carpaccio and pasta. After lunch, I went to visit the Florence synagogue, which was a beautiful example of Spanish influenced architecture. Then I went to the museum of the innocents, which was the building that became the orphanage where single mothers would drop in their unwanted children and they would be raised. It had a small but quite interesting exhibit. I also had a coffee at the rooftop terrace of this museum, admiring a beautiful view of the sunset over the Florence skyline, dominated by the Duomo. Finally, I went to visit the inside of the Vecchio Palace which is now a functioning townhall and interestingly, had some sort of the meeting with speeches in progress.Read more

  • TravelerEurope February 2024
    Day 10

    San Marco monastery and Uffizi museum

    February 8 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Another long and wonderful day in Florence. We started our day with joining Rick Steves on a guided tour of the San Marco monastery, where we learned about a famous 14th century painter Fra Angelico who was a Dominican monk. His paintings were dazzling in colors and realistic details portraying human emotions. Sadly, we forgot to take any pictures. After the San Marco, we went to Uffizi gallery and were helped there by Rick Steve again, diving into the masterpieces of Renaissance. Afterwards, we went to the Academia to see Michelangelo’s David, and spent a long time there (again with Rick!) trying to comprehend how something so human could be liberated from a block of marble. Afterwards, I went to the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella and admired amazing frescoes. Frankly, at that point I started becoming a bit jaded by the abundance of masterpieces. So, satiated, it was a good time for us to leave Florence, until the next time.Read more

  • TravelerEurope February 2024
    221
    Day 13

    Offenburg

    February 11 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    The last two days we attended an encuentro in Germany, nearby Frankfurt. It was however not that great of an encuentro. The place was quite small and hot, seating was not conducive to getting invitations, so we didn’t really love it. We left on Saturday afternoon and drove to Offenburg. There, we went to the nearby town Gengenbach to watch a local parade celebrating a Day of Fools of sorts. It was happening in every town in Germany, as a way to usher in spring. We absolutely loved ll the forest creatures of this parade, especially what reminded us of Baba Yaga! The parade procession also threw lots of candies into the crowd. It was so fun! Afterwards, we went for dinner in a former prison in Offenburg and had a delicious meal with the family!Read more

  • TravelerEurope February 2024
    Day 14

    Freiburg

    February 12 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    Today we went to Freiburg with the twins and did a VoiceMap tour. It was very interesting, and a nice overview of a town center. Some beautiful buildings and also unexpected canals which reminded us of Amsterdam. In the evening, Tanyuha Sofie and I went to the thermal saunas center and enjoyed a few magical hours of relaxation.Read more

  • TravelerEurope February 2024
    Day 15

    Munich VoiceMap tour

    February 13 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    In the morning we did a four hour long drive from Offenburg to Munich and in the afternoon I did a VoiceMap highlights tour. Munich clearly seems a world capital of beer🍺 and there are Beergartens everywhere. There is even a VoiceMap tour just about the beer culture of Munich (but I didn’t do it). There was the same type of parade today happening in Munich as we saw near Offenburg, with similar but much bigger crowds, and with a distinction that they all seemed to have a beer in their hands! The center was very crowded but I still managed to walk and listen to the audio tour. In the evening we went to a local milonga where people were dressed up in costumes on the same occasion and it seemed very Halloween like. It wasn’t a very friendly milonga but the music and the space was good and we had fun dancing with each other.Read more

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