I spotted a competition a while back to blog about your top three travel bucket list destinations for a chance to win a holiday with
Transun and see the northern lights. As tomorrow is my birthday and I've already tried unsuccessfully to see the northern lights I thought I'd indulge in a little virtual day-dreaming and share my top three destinations.
Each one I've been dreaming about for so long that I already know quite a lot about them from films, books, tv and
Pinterest.
Most frustratingly I've been pretty close to all of them, some on more than one occasion, even glimpsing one at a distance, across traffic, yet still out of reach.
Florence
My dream desto - straight away Puccini's aria starts to play in my head. Think Room with a View, Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, Santa Croce and Miss Honeychurch. Think that kiss in the stifling heat and the poppy field. I have watched this film over and over and am transported every time to the banks of the river Arno and the art of Michelangelo.
There is so much art to see, and so many historic places and beautiful piazzas to visit that I'll name just one highlight that I'd love to see when I go there.
Hidden behind an unmarked door in the Uffizi Gallery is the entrance to the Vasari Corridor. It is closed to the general public and runs along the top of the Ponte Vecchio (the bridge across the river). Built in 1565 it gave the ruler Cosimo de Medici safe passage, which became indispensable after he escaped countless assassination attempts. For 200 years it continued in private use before becoming an art gallery of 16th and 17th century art and only open for private tours.
Versailles
The French palace built by the sun King Louis XIV and inhabited by royalty, aristos and all the rest until the women of Paris got fed up of starving and decided to go see Marie Antoinette. And that is possibly the worst summary of 100 years of illustrious history that you'll ever read regarding one of the most spectacular, lavish, ornate and enormous palaces ever built.
From learning about Louis XIV at school to becoming fascinated by the story of Helen Maria Williams and the French Revolution a few years ago, Versailles has kept coming up. I've travelled to Paris three times; once with my family, once on a charity hitch hike as a student and once on a conference to find out about Miss Williams.
The hitch hike from Cardiff involved hitching a ride with a lorry driver who told us he didn't like students, the Irish and wasn't keen on women. I didn't feel comfortable. Another ride, this time in France was with a lady with very long finger nails who drove erratically down a hill with bends in the road that made us silently hold our bags very tight and stare ahead rather nervously.
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Rue des Hospitalieres, Saint Gervais, Paris |