After a leisurely morning, we headed to the train station on this warm, sunny morning to board our train to Delft, a town in the south of Holland known for it's hand made and hand painted Delft blue pottery and typically Dutch town center. For Ellen this was a highlight of the trip and as with her passion for tulips, Delftware holds a special place in her heart. Delft is one of her favorite towns in Holland and she visited Delft often. It was open day at the Royal Delft factory and we took full advantage of that, walking through the factory, admiring the exhibits and most importantly, shopping!...

As great lovers of cheese, we were very excited to be visiting a cheese farm on the outskirts of Amsterdam. Clara Maria Cheese Farm and Clog Factory is situated just outside Amsterdam in the pastoral polders region. After a warm (and for Ellen a slobbery) welcome by the resident cows, our cheese-making experience began. After watching a brief video on the making of cheese it was time for us to get our hands dirty (so to speak) and donned in our blue booties, hair net and plastic apron, we entered the cheese making room and proceeded to make cheese! Particularly proud of ourselves, we left with...

Without a moment to spare we were up early and ready to explore the City of Amsterdam! Our first stop was the Tourist Office where we picked up our “I AMsterdam“ cards. This entitled us to entry into many museums, canal boat cruises, transport on the trams and buses and discounts at an array of restaurants and shops over a 24hr period. It was well worth it and we most definitely got our money’s worth! Our first stop was the Canal Tour. As we floated through the City our attention was fixed on the amazing architecture and breathtaking bridges. Many of the houseboats caught our attention...

When most people think Holland, they think AMSTERDAM and whilst Amsterdam is absolutely a highlight when visiting this beautiful Country, Holland also has many beautiful small towns waiting to be discovered, such as Broek in Waterland! After arriving in Amsterdam around 11pm last night, we were met by Ellen’s friend, Cees, who kindly transferred us to our accommodations for the next 5 nights – a Houseboat perfectly located in the center of the City. We couldn’t get enough of our little home on the water and the cameras were in full action for the first 5 minutes of us being onboard. Cees...

What the Medici, Visconti, Sforza, Este and Farnese families were to Florence and other Italian cities, the Gonzagas were in Mantua - a ruling dynasty that held sway for centuries (1328 - 1706) and left behind a priceless heritage in works of art. Something of the grandeur of their court can be seen in the City's major attraction, the Palazzo Ducale, which is not one but several buildings comprising, it is said, some 500 rooms, including 15 courtyards, gardens and internal squares. The Gonsagas patronized such luminaries as the painter Andrea Mantegna, the architect Leon Battista Alberti and the humanist...

Sunday morning in Cremona and the Duomo Square was a-buzz with people getting ready to attend Mass in the Cathedral. We met our guide, Elena Piccioni, outside the tourist office and our tour of Cremona began. We learnt about the history of the great Cathedral with its sixteenth-century Frescos, the Romanesque-style Baptistery and the Torrazzo (Bell Tower) – the tallest bell tower in Europe! The Baptistery had the most amazing acoustics and were in awe at the incredible red brick dome. The Cathedral was one of the most beautiful we’ve seen in Italy. We had just enough time to look around...

All three days in Florence have greeted us with sunshine and warmth. Quite something for this time of year. The weather has been amazingly comfortable and has certainly contributed to wonderful photographs. Don’t forget to link into our Flickr page to see all the photos. Link is on the front page of boutiquetravel.net Not only are the cities and towns in Tuscany beautiful, but the sunny days have illuminated all. The Travel Agents were hard at work Friday morning with 5 hotel inspections lined up by our Italian partner, Elisabetta. We had a selection of really wonderful hotels to inspect...

  Our second day in Florence welcomed us with blue skies and sunshine! I opened the window and smiled at the people on the street below...I knew it was going to be a good day! Our first stop was the Acadamia, the highlight - The David! Known as Michelangelo's greatest "Masterpiece", The David exceeded expectations and absolutely stirs your emotions. After spending some time taking in this amazing piece of work, we headed into the town and stumbled upon the largest flea market we had ever seen. It went on for miles in every direction. On the side of this market, we happened upon the Food...

Let me start by saying “don’t assume there is only ONE Binario (Platform) no. 1, or that “Est” (East) and “Ovest” (West) are the directions the train is going in  We learnt this today and after missing our first train at 7.55am, we boarded our next train to Codogna at 9.30am. Of course being “bad train day” our train was delayed and we got off in Codogno as the connecting train to Bologna left. Even the station attendant felt sorry for us as he pointed us in the right direction and let out a long “aaahhh” as we all watched the back of the train disappear into the distance....

As the saying goes “the show must go on”. The rain was bucketing down by the time we got on our train from Cremona to Parma. Parma is famous for its cuisine and it's art history! Currently they are holding a festival celebrating Verdi, not from Parma itself but from the Parma region. When we arrived, we were met by Melanie, our guide, and after a quick cup of coffee, we found ourselves in the center of Parma, admiring the Teatro Farnese, the Romanesque Cathedral and a few other historic sites. Melanie has been a guide in this area for many years, leading groups from such places as Harvard...