Betty and I spent several hours enjoying the beautiful Bellingrath gardens (south of Mobile, AL). It was a little disappointing, but not surprising, that the azaleas had finished blooming, but some of the camelias were hanging on and other gardens were lovely.
We started out at Jaco’s Bar & Grill, downtown on the marina. I had the most delicious seafood flatbread with shrimp, crabmeat, avocado, pancetta, mango … Heavenly!
And then to stroll along Palafox, which was closed off for the monthly gallery walk and included lots of live music on the street. I love the New Orleans-style architecture.
And then to the charming, historic Seville district, which needs further exploration.
We met up with Diane and Ron to check out Pensacola’s Palafox market.
And then to the famous Joe Patti’s seafood- wow! Probably the biggest and best seafood market I’ve seen.
A great day spent with Agnita, Henk and the girls:
First the Pensacola Lighthouse (177 steps up and a cardio workout)
A hair-raising and exhilarating practice show by the Blue Angels.
And then some down time on the beach.
Are we there yet?
Two nights in Destin en route to Pensacola and our first dinner out! Trip advisor pointed us in the right direction yet again … Graffiti & The Funky Blues Shack, where we had wonderful meals (grouper for me and bacon-wrapped buffalo meatloaf for Dennis). Loved it there.
The warnings started in earnest on Thursday that two weather systems (one from the south the other from the west) would be colliding somewhere around Boston and would create blizzard conditions for the northeastern U.S.
Friday – the calm before the storm and an opportunity to take Lucy for a walk down Robbins Road on a light coat of fresh snow.
The real snow was to start on Friday night into Saturday morning .. and it did!
Lucy was totally confused when none of the doors on the main level could be opened! but luckily there was only about 8″ of snow under the deck (from the basement door) and then someone kindly made a little tunnel for her.
A little sustenance was needed after all the snowing and blowing. Aah! a pot of black bean soup with odds and ends from the refrigerator!
And it continued coming down and blowing around until about 5 p.m.
Sunday morning brought a gloriously blue sky, a light breeze, and sunshine that created a myriad of crystals on the snow. Out with the shovels ..
And a little grooming ..
We’re all shoveled out, so off down town to see how it looks there.
We had a lovely couple of days with Agnita, Henk, Lucca, and Julia at their new home in Hastings-on-Hudson, a lovely little town within sight of Manhattan.
We spent all day Friday in Manhattan, visiting their new office space on 5th Avenue, no less! Going to the Rockerfeller Center, the impressive 911 Memorial, and the High Line.
I forgot this cute pic of chairs ..
And lunch ..
And then the rain came ..
Over and out; back to Heathrow for overnight and Boston on Wednesday.
Shopping!
So glad I drew Ian’s name for Christmas!
We planned on taking a free walking tour of the city, but with inclement weather forecast, we took bus #12 from the station up to Piazzale Michaelangelo to see these terrific views of the city that I remember from 40 odd years ago!
I love this 2fer!!
Easy arrival at Hotel Grand Cavour in central Florence. Dennis and I set off on immediate exploration of surroundings to the river and Ponte Vecchio, where the lighting was excellent.
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A super dinner at a small trattoria that I thought looked appealing, and coincidentally Sandy had read about in her guide. Had we arrived 30 minutes later, a table would have been impossible to have.
After dinner a stroll by the Duomo…
Aaah! Chianti! A little over an hour’s drive through luscious hills covered with grape vines and olive groves. Our attempts to find some out of the way restaurants were fruitless, but once we got into Greve in Chianti and into its delightful main square – we forgot our quest. After inquiring at the small tourist information office about the best place for a late lunch, she spread her arms expansively and said we could go anywhere! So true. I had the best buffalo mozzarella I’ve ever had in my life – the mild flavour just exploded in my mouth, and delicious creamy milk seeped from the center, and to top it off, it was served with fresh figs, balsamico and oil!!!!! Aaah! To wash it down, a Chianti Classico! Life is good…..
