World Travelling In My Bedroom

I am a world traveler. (Or at least I'd like to be if I had the money). Since I don't sleep well I have taken to watching late night PBS. Let me just say, those of us who just sleep through the early morning hours are totally missing out. I have really gotten into the travel shows that they air after midnight. They are fabulous! In the last little while I have been to: Venice, the Italian Riviera, Florence, Paris and Budapest. I have loved learning about each of these cities. It's been interesting to find out what famous places and masterpieces are to be found these places.

In Venice I would love to go for a gondola ride. I'd love to see the ostentatious homes built on the water. I would love to visit the outlying islands there. They value their craftsmanship so much that in old days they would kill any craftsman who tried to leave Italy, just so that the other countries would not be able to steal their skill. I would love to go to the fisherman's island and see all of the multicolored houses. They painted their houses different colors so that their fisherman husbands would have an easier time finding their way home. And now, those who own the homes have to paint them the same color every year. It's the law. Venice also has a history of mask making. Several centuries ago wearing masks was so common that the churches eventually had to send out an edict not allowing people to wear them to services. I would love to visit one of these mask shops and learn the history behind the various masks.

The Italian Riviera would be fun to pass through. I don't know that I'd necessarily want or need to stay there for many days. The scenery is breathtaking. I would love to walk on some of the beaches and visit the quaint old churches that pop up everywhere. It would be fun to dance the evening away on the walkways outside the delicious old restaurants.

As for Florence, it would definitely be the art. I would love to see the Medici's villas all around the Florentine countryside. I would love to visit the art museum that was once the business offices of the Medici family. They had so many pieces art that their houses could no longer hold them all, so they started putting them in their business offices. I would love to see the Duomo. That incredibly large piece of architecture. It seems that every part of Florence has artistic beauty that can be related or even dated to the Renaissance. I would love to spend a month there and bask in it's glow.

Then of course there is Paris. Who doesn't want to go to Paris - the city of love? I want to go to the Eiffel Tower. I want my picture taken by the Arch de Triomphe. I want to go to the Louvre. I want to see the masterpieces it claims. I want to go to Le Centre Pompidou. I want to see the color coded pipes and see what the inside of this remarkable building looks like. I want to go to Notre Dame Cathedral. I want to actually see it's flying buttresses and the gargoyles who are keeping watch. I want to see the Pantheon and the Sacre-Couer church. I want to walk the halls of Versailles. I want to see my image reflected in the Hall of Mirrors. I want to smell the flowers in it's magnificent gardens. And I want to walk along the Paris marketplace and buy myself a baguette and sample all of the cheeses they offer. I want to fill my stomach with the delicacies of one or many of their Patisseries. It would be marvelous.

And as much as I've always wanted to go to Paris, I want to go to Budapest more. I want to walk the bridge over the Danube that connects Buda with Pest. I want to bathe in one of their famous spas. I want to visit Statue Park and see all of the statues dictating to each other. I want to see the Transylvanian castle in their park. I want to ride the subway that is ten stories deep in the ground. I want to walk the 96 steps in the Opera House. I want to see all towers that are 96 meters tall. I want to visit Castle Hill. I want to see the Weeping Willow monument outside the Holocaust Museum. I want to sample all the different kinds of Paprika they are so famous for. I want to visit the House of Terror, to learn about the dark side of their history. I want to see the church where they hid the famous statue of Mary and the baby Jesus. I want to see the niche where they plastered it into the wall, so the invading Muslims would not find it. Yet, many years later during an earthquake the plaster crumbled and the Muslims saw the statue as a sign and gave the church back to it's people. I want to see everything that they made to honor the 1896 celebration. I want to ride the railway that was at first pulled by horses. I want to walk the spiral that overlooks their house of parliament. I want to see it all!!!