Euro Vaca 2nd Half Hilites

OK here are some of the highlights from the remainder of our trip:

* Isola bella on lake maggiore. Previously blogged. Beautiful and the lake seems way cleaner than lake como. If we went back to this part of the world I think we’d stay on lake maggiore instead of como. * Florence. My initial impression was ?gosh this is a butt ugly city”. But it grew on us – the beauty is clearly not in the streets but in the art, culture, interiors of buildings, etc. And it is a very manageable size. * The Uffizi was much more to my liking than the Louvre – a manageable size, and I just prefer the style of painting. And of course David was just amazing. I just didn’t understand the scale at which these artists operated – when you see the size of the works and the level of detail, it is just amazing. I know, my fine arts education is woefully lacking, I am discovering all this somewhat late in life. * Venice was of course beautiful, we didn’t have enough time there. We had one really great meal there at Osteria Oliva Nera, a family run place. * Milan. Everyone told us ?ugly, no point in visiting?. But in many ways I liked even better than Florence and Venice. Florence and venice are ?cities in amber? – frozen in time, operated for the benefit of tourists. Milan is a living breathing city, I like a living vibrant city. * Ferrari museum out in modena. Man this place is like a shrine. A huge number of “pilgrims” visiting, getting their picture taken with the Enzo on display. What a car.