Category Archives: Milady ventures overseas

Perfume Shopping in Florence

If only you could sniff this blog and smell the signature scent of Santa Maria Novella pot-pouri currently filling Miladys Boudoir!

Just over a year ago I was one of the lucky winners of a prize draw on another (now no longer in existence) blog “The Old fashioned Girls“. One half of the duo, Miranda, no longer an old-fashioned girl, now blogs as “Miranda’s Notebook.” The prize was a year’s free subscription to The Perfume Society. As I love perfume I was very happy and after the first year renewed my subscription and was pleased to have the opportunity to choose more boxes of scents to try. In addition to the discovery boxes the Society organise events and send out a weekly newsletter. It was here that I discovered a section “The World’s Best Scent Shopping Cities” and one of these is Florence.

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The Fresh Air of Fiesole

As we boarded the number 7 bus opposite San Marco we appreciated that it was good to sit down for a while. The journey up to Fiesole takes about half an hour. And all was quiet when we got there. We chose to visit Fiesole on the Wednesday because that was the only day that didn’t threaten rain although it often looked very likely. We got off the bus in the main square and noticed a considerable drop in temperature. We soon found a little bakery where we chose a savoury pastry each followed by some little sweet cakes and tea. Refreshed we then began our tour of Fiesole.

 

Garibaldi etc

The Piazza Mino da Fiesole Continue reading →

Continuation of the 90-Minute Walk and the Frescoes of San Marco

On the Wednesday feeling refreshed after a good night’s sleep we rejoined the previous day’s walk where the Via dei Servi leaves the Piazza del Duomo and headed north to arrive in the Piazza della Santissima Anunziata. There’s a colonnade on the right, designed by Brunelleschi, behind which was Europe’s first orphanage The Spedale degli Innocenti.  The building now houses a museum of childhood and offices of UNICEF.

Brunelleschi's 9 bay arcade

Brunelleschi’s Colonnade Continue reading →

A 90-Minute Walk Around Renaissance Florence [Afternoon]

In order to complete this walk in 90 minutes you would have to virtually run, or at least walk very quickly and not stop to look, admire, take photos, be waylaid by shops and buildings not listed in the route description. After about 4 hours we decided on lunch and a place that was very nearby, and whose description had caught my eye, was a stall in the Mercato Centrale – Nerbone.

nerbone mat

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A 90-Minute Walk Around Renaissance Florence [Morning]

It seemed like a good idea on our first morning to follow the self-guided walk described in the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Florence and Tuscany Guide Book.

“This walk takes in the Renaissance heart of the city and passes some of its greatest landmarks. Ideally it should be done early on in your visit to get a real feel for the place and if you incorporate a climb up Giotto’s Campanile, you will get a bird’s-eye view of the narrow streets, the characteristic red-tiled rooftops and the many towers that are not so easy to see from ground level.” Continue reading →

Historic New England Houses

The second place we stayed on this trip was in Maine and had the delightful name of Merrymeeting Retreat. It’s named after the nearby peninsula and bay of the Kennenec River to which it’s possible to walk, through woods, to see eagles nesting and other wildlife.

Our host told us that the house, below, was built in 1780 by Captain Samuel and Hannah Hinton Lilly. It stands next to the very quiet Route 128 (River Road) about 12 miles north of the historic town of Bath and about 8 miles from the equally historic (by American standards) town of Wiscasset to the east.

river road house

porch Continue reading →

FOR SALE : Preserved and meticulously restored : The Crocker Tavern House, Barnstable, MA

Crocker Tavern House sign

Crocker seems to have been a popular name around Barnstable, MA, where we stayed on our recent trip to New England. Our AirBnB was the annexe of Henry Crocker House (Item 2 on Page 2) and just across the road is the Crocker Tavern House. And there’s an Historic New England property in nearby Yarmouth Port The Winslow Crocker House. We’ve visited this area before. In fact, we’ve stayed in Barnstable a few times and I wrote about it here in 2012.

CTH

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