This post is just a look back at my travels during 2015.  I chose my top five trips and a few of my personal favorite photos.  I do believe that Oahu and Vermont made the list only partially because I have friends there and that tends to make vacations more fun!  I will say that Bora Bora / French Polynesia were at the top of my bucket list and I finally made it in February and March 2015.

Lake Garda,  Italy

Ko Olina Oahu Hawaii

Curacao

Burlington, Vermont

Bora Bora - French Polynesia

 Sorry this is a photo only post.  If you've been following along you've probably seen these photos already.  Thank you for the visit.  Happy new year to all and I hope 2016 is your best year yet! 

~Michelle

While visiting Florence I chose to go on the "Tuscany in a Day" tour.  It was very good tour but it was also very long.  It started at 7:00 AM in Florence and ended back in Florence at 9:00 PM.  Perhaps it would not have seemed so long to me if my hotel concierge hadn't booked my "Rome in a Day" tour for the following day.  If I were younger or a much higher energy person that might have been OK. 

I named my post what I did because it was a cloudy day.  I was also reminded of the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun" starring Diane Lane.  I don't regret visiting Italy in November as I believe Italy is worth visiting any time of the year.  I do think Tuscany will be amazing when I'm able to visit during the spring or summer when it's sunny and the flowers and fruit trees are blooming.

I absolutely fell in love with Tuscany!  We started in Pisa and although I was happy to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it was not my favorite  part of Tuscany.  I liked all of Tuscany, but Siena was by far my favorite!  Unfortunately, Siena was our last stop on the tour and we arrived at dusk.  It was very difficult to take photos in the dark while I was so tired.  I plan to return to Tuscany and spend more than a few hours in Siena. 

For those of you reading this post who are planning a trip to this area of Italy, there are other tour options that only visit one or two areas of Tuscany as opposed to all four like mine did.  If I were to plan my itinerary again I would choose to visit Siena on a one day trip which only lasts six hours.  The only downfall to visiting the different areas of Tuscany separately is that it will cost your more.  I paid 99 euros to see all four areas during my day trip.  If I had broken down the trip into three or four shorter days it would have cost approximately 200 euros.

Please remember that you can use my photos on Pixabay for free in a variety of sizes without getting in trouble as they are released free of copyrights under Creative Commons CC0.  Here is my account:  Mariamichelle's Pixabay account

The above photos are of the center of Siena at dusk and a famous tower across from the beautiful Siena Cathedral. 

I happened to witness my third wedding in just a few weeks.  The bride is wearing a red wedding dress and her groom draped his jacket over her shoulders as she was cold.  I was very happy to see chivalry is still alive and well!
Here is the Siena Cathedral.  I have visited many, many churches and cathedrals and this was probably my favorite.  I apologize for the low quality photo:
The inside of the cathedral was absolutely magnificent and one of if the not the most grand I'd ever seen in my opinion!





The following photos were taken in San Gimignano.  This area of Tuscany is known for it's medieval towering buildings.  Families in the middle ages wanted to build their homes and or towers as high as possible to show their wealth.  They believed that having a towering home showed others their wealth.  

I really don't like asking strangers to take my photo but I made an exception in San Gimignano and the following eight photos were taken there:

I will leave you with a view of the vineyards in the Chianti region during the fall season.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I love hearing from you and treasure all of my comments.  I hope you all have a fantastic week and are enjoying the holiday!

~Michelle

The Holiday Lights event at the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo Florida began on November 27th and ends on December 31st in 2015.  The hours are 5:30 -9:30 daily.  This beautiful display of tropical gardens is free, but they suggest a donation of $4.00 for everyone over the age of 13.

Not only are there beautiful decorations, but there is an array of free entertainers every night.  You can see a list of entertainers here:  2015 entertainment.  Santa Claus is also available to visit with and take photos!  This event is made possible by more than 450 volunteers, donations, and very generous sponsors.  It is the largest fund raiser of the year for the gardens.  

It would have been really difficult to use a tripod (for me at least) during this event as there were a lot of people there on the night my husband and I visited.  I did my best to capture some images.  Overall, I thought this was a really fun event that I would recommend to anyone and I can't wait to go again next year!

 Thanks so much for stopping by!  Please let me know if you have any questions as I love to hear from my readers.  I hope you are enjoying the holiday season.  Have a wonderful week and enjoy the final days of 2015! 

~Michelle

It's become a tradition for my husband and I to visit the Gaylord Palm's ICE exhibit in Kissimmee, Florida during the holiday season each year.  I really like staying at the hotel.  There is so much to do at the hotel itself as well as the Kissimmee area.

The Ice exhibit's theme for 2015 is "Twas the Night Before Christmas".  The event started on November 24th and ends on January 3rd 2016 so you still have time to go!  The prices for admission can be found here:  ICE Exhibit Packages and Prices.  Parking is an additional $20 at the Kissimmee, Florida location.  Please have your own gloves as they don't give them out this year!  It took my hands a good fifteen minutes to thaw after exiting the "The Frostbite Factory".

To make the ICE exhibit at Gaylord Palms requires 36 truckloads over a 3 week period of ice and several artists from Harbin, China which is near Siberia and temperatures fall to an average of 2 degrees in the winter.  I can't imagine having the skill and carving these awesome sculptures in 9 degrees F.

Here is the link for reservations or more information about the Gaylord Palms Convention Center.

 Here is a photo of my husband and I in the chilly entrance of the exhibit:

Here are just a few of my favorite ice sculptures:  It's not easy to take photos as it's a little dark in some of the rooms and there are a lot of people standing around the sculptures and having friends or family take photos of them in front of these beautiful works of art.

Here is one of the artists hard at work building/maintaining these gorgeous sculptures:


This crystal clear nativity scene is at the very end of the exhibit:






There are four ice slides.  There is an extra fee for them.

As I stated previously, The Gaylord Palms Hotel is very beautifully decorated, has a lot of restaurants and shows.  Here is a gigantic Christmas tree which took my breath away!
I watched several VERY talented acrobats performing neat the lovely Christmas tree.  Again, it wasn't easy to take photos.  Next year I would LOVE to stay in one of the hotel rooms overlooking this incredible courtyard!

Here is a dome and a sculpture I found just walking around:

There were a lot of small alligators and turtles in one of the ponds:


Thanks for stopping by my blog.  I hope you and are enjoying this holiday season.  Have a great week! 

~Michelle

The above photo is of myself in Vernazza

 Seeing Photos of Cinque Terre are probably the main reason I wanted to visit Italy the first time.  If you have read my blog at all, you know I've become addicted to the country.  Cinque Terre is just as amazing as I thought it would be, but there are so many other wonderful areas I've visited and want to visit for the first time or again in the near future. 

You can see the first post and photos I took in Cinque Terre in the spring of 2014 here:  Visiting Italy's Five Enchanting Lands: Cinque Terre

  On the day trip I took to Cinque Terre I visited four out of the five villages.  The only village we did not visit was Corniglia because it requires a fairly lengthy hike and climbing many stairs to get there.  The tour lasted fourteen hours so it was quite a long day already. Cinque means five and terre means land.  I must say that this enchanting area is just as beautiful as I imagined and looked just as magnificent as all of  the photos I've seen! Cinque Terre became a national park in 1998.  Fishing was what sustained their economy until that time and then they needed to find new sources of income.  Cinque Terre's current number one source of income is from tourism and the second is from the incredible white wine they produce.  More than 3 million people visit Cinque Terre each year.

I know many of you have seen some really beautiful and incredible photos of this magnificent place.  Hopefully mine will share a slightly different perspective.  I'm just really happy to have some of my own photos and memories of this experience.

                                                                                                     In Riomaggiore

One of the things I admire about Italy is the pride and care the people put into the appearance of their homes and businesses:

This famous statue is in Monterosso

Inside Vernazza's Church Santa Margherita di Antiochia
The people who live in this beautiful area are especially friendly.  This man was happy to have his photo taken with his dog while eating an ice cream cone:

 Thank you for visiting my blog.  I love reading your comments and treasure every one of them.  I hope you have a fantastic week! 

~Michelle