A Walk on the Sparkly Side

 

Cartier for a nice watch

Asprey

Gucci

Old architecture

Tiffany

then a bus tour

Let’s have tea at the Ritz

London is an exciting place, full of fabulous shops, buildings, museums, theatres, and palaces.   Today, ladies,  let us take a stroll down one of the most expensive streets in the West End, New Bond Street, which has many exciting jewellry and designer shops – and afterwards we can go and have tea at the Ritz.   How’s that for an exciting day out!

Dublin on a Chilly Sunday Morning.

Dublin can be Heaven, with Coffee at Eleven

And a Stroll in Stephens Green

No Need to Hurry, No Need to Worry,

You’re a King and the Lady’s a Queen

Grafton Street’s a Wonderland

There’s Magic in the Air

There are Diamonds in the Lady’s Eyes

and Gold-dust in Her Hair

And if you Don’t Believe Me, Come and Meet Me There

in Dublin on a Sunny Sunday Morning

This song, also called the Dublin Saunter,  was first recorded in 1940 by a well known Irish actor, Noel Purcell, and was written by Leo Maguire.   You can listen to the song, sung by Paddy Reilly,who sang with the Dubliners for a few years,  here.

Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge : Blue and Yellow

Cee’s challenge this week is the post some photos in a blue and yellow theme.

On a recent walking holiday in Italy, we took a well deserved break one day (from the early mornings and late nights!) and went to visit an old town called Bolzano.   We were taken on a ‘guided’ tour of the old buildings in the town by a guide who must have been on her first job, as she had very little information on the town, except for what was contained in a little one page leaflet!   A lot of us got bored after a short while, and veered off to window shop – a much more interesting pastime!

Look at the bling we found:

And the prices of each piece were thankfully way out of our price bracket!

And I love the different colours of the houses along the narrow streets.

http://www.ceephotography.com/2013/08/27/cees-fun-foto-challenge-blue-and-yellow/

A Hiking Holiday in Italy : Part Two

I wrote a bit about our hiking holiday in Italy : Part One, last week, and now would like to show you some of the other sights we saw along the way.   We took 2 days off during our week in Italy, and on one of these days we took a bus to Riva del Garda, on Lake Garda.   We wandered around a little, had lunch in the cool shade of the quay-side cafes, while gazing at the lake.

Taking in the view

The old square around the lake has some interesting old buildings full of charm, like the town hall, with its lovely shady verandas through the archways.

The town hall,Riva del Garda

And the shopping streets that lead down to the quayside are narrow, and colourful, and full of life, a great place to spend an hour or two browsing the selection of leather handbags and the like.

After a few hours in Riva, we took a short ferry ride across the lake to Limone, which I also mentioned in a previous post.  Limone is a beautiful, quaint little town of narrow streets, with lots of hills, and a beautiful little church at the top of the hill, overlooking the lake.

The church at Limone

It was such a peaceful place, you can see why so many weddings take place there

And what views  – who wouldn’t want to spend some time there, eating Italian ice cream in the sun.

The harbour of Limone

Lake Garda

And reluctantly we waited for the ferry to take us back to Riva, with our purchases of Murano glass and Limoncello, (the Italian liquer made from lemons)  and we will definitely visit Lake Garda again to explore more of the towns and villages around the lake.

You can drive around the lake, (on quite narrow roads in places), the distance is less than 200 km, so it would be an interesting way to explore the lake,  stopping wherever takes your fancy.

Time to say arrivederchi, see you again!