Bergamo. The VT people.

We visited a palace in Bergamo. Palazzo Moroni. It was built between 1636 and 1666.

The palace is really beautiful, but what I liked most of this place was the garden.

Alison (Alif1961) and Anne Marie (Annemaryebyrne).

Jon (Jonkb) and Katherin (Ekatherinburgh).

Much of this area (the garden) is meadow.

Inside the garden there is a Medieval tower. Here you see Margaret (Margaretvn) and Koos (Kovani).

Kathrin (Kathrin-e), Russel the Wombat,  Isa (Belsaita) and Jon (Jonkb).

Katrin (Katrin-e) and Russel the Wombat. Yes, he is a real VT member!

Sue (Suvanki); one of the organizers of the meeting.

Some dinners are planned for these meetings. Here you see Lori (Loripori) and Viki (Myfanwe).

Chiara (Pollon) and Liz (Alucas) chosing a dessert.

Bergamo. The place.

I spent five days in Bergamo some weeks ago. I went there to attend the 8th European VT meeting. 

Here you can see the "Campanone". This tall bell tower overlooks piazza Vecchia.

Piazza del Duomo is joined to piazza Vecchia. Here you find the cathedral, _Sain Maria Maggiore basilica, the Coolleoni chapel and the baptistery. In this pic you can see the facade of Colleoni chapel.

This is one of the entrances of Santa Maria Maggiore basilica.

Here's another entrance of the basilica.

I didn't do any shopping in Bergamo, but I did lot of window shopping!

Casoncelli. It's a typical first course in Bergamo. Pasta filled with meat and herbs.

Bergamo alta (Upper Bergamo) is surrounded of around six kilometers of walls built by the Venetians in the XVI century.

_From the walls you can enjoy a 360 degrees panorama on the lower part of Bergamo. 

Giardini a Bassano.

Now and then I visit Bassano del Grappa as a day trip. I  call it "shopping trip". In fact I go to Bassano area to buy clothes and other things.

Today, after shopping and lunch I had a stroll and I found various small gardens here and there. Every year in april/may an event called Giardini a Bassano is organized. Several beautiful gardens are laid out in this town.

I think every garden has a theme.

This gardens was built beside the old walls of the church of saint Francis.

Another day trip to Riva del Garda.

A couples of days ago I went back to Riva del Garda. I can say I visit quite frequently that town on the lake of Garda. I  spent around one hour in Torbole, like some months ago (see post "closed for...". I wished to go to a viewpoint, but there isn't one. I was misled by a sign post. I only took a pic of a hotel with portico in Torbole. I wasn't in the mood of taking pics during the first hours of that day.

Then I headed to Riva del Garda. The street you see here is via Piave. It is where my favourite restaurant is located. Unfortunately it was closed that day.

Piazza III Novembre is the main square of the town. Here you can see the Apponale tower, The town hall, Palazzo Pretorio; some restaurants and cafes.

                                                                                                          

The tower is a leaning a bit.

                                                                                                                         

The flowers in this well are really beautiful for me. This pics doesn't give justice to their beauty.

The old core of Riva del Garda has also a maze of narrow streets like this.As you can see on the pics it was a sunny day. I can say it was a real spring day.

Sunny Innsbruck.

A couple of weeks ago I spent almost a week in Innsbruck (AT). I visited this city some years ago as a day trip from Seefeld in Tirol. I booked a short package holiday there. I almost saw all the main attractions in the city years ago, but I missed the Alpenzoo. This is a zoo located on and around a mountain. Only animals that live on mountains live there. So no lions or elephants. The Alpenzoo was a real disappointment for us. Even if we walked a lot in that area we couldn't see many animals. We could see  some birds, several savage cats and a couple of ducks.

After the visit to the zoo we had lunch and then we went to the Hofkirche. This church has a sarcophagus that should have been the resting place of Maximilian I. It is surrounded by many tall statues representing the ancestors and the relatives of this emperor. You also can see king Arthur and other characters who weren't related to Maximilian

The Tyrolean Museum of Popular Art is housed in a building joined to the Hofkirche. It is a large museum with various items. There are several stube (wooden panelled living room) there.

This is the Helblinghaus; a palace built in the 15th century and decorated decorated in Baroque style in 1730.

Innsbruck has some row of ancient porticoes, like towns as Bolzano and Merano in Italy.

This is Ambras castle. It is situated some 2 km from Innsbruck. This reinassance castle was built in the 16th century over ancient fundations.

Inside this castle there is a rich collection of armoirs and a room with strange things. Here you can see some pieces of this collection.

We did a day trip to Hall in Tirol. Here we visited a mint museum, but I wasn't too impressed of this place.

 

Hall in Tirol has some nice spots.

 

Almost every day we spent some time at konditorei (confectionery) Walter.  I enjoyed a a ice cream with whipped cream  and my mother a piece of cake or a hot chocolate with whipped cream.

This is a typical Austrian dish. Spaetzle with cheese and roasted onions. We used to have a lunch at a typical restaurant; Stiftskeller.

This is the square at the back of our favourite restaurant. Have a look at the mountains with the snow!

  I didn't want to miss the Wilten basilica. It is a richly decorated church  in Rococo style.

Innsbruck has a beautiful covered market (Markthalle). Here you can buy mostly food, but you can also have something to eat or drink. In fact there are some cafes and stalls with bakery products inside.

Here you can see some houses by the river Inn. Most of them are colorful

Ok; that's all. Have a happy Easter everyone!