Lake Maggiore gardens

A good trip enjoyed that, well worth seeing.

Delightful photos Barbara, and so glad you've had a holiday!!

A wonderful blog Barbara, I love Italy but have never been to the lakes.....On my wish list :o))

Most modern art makes me think of ..."the emperors new clothes"......
Everyone except the child think he's grand...... the child sees him as he is..... in the "altogether..."

the islands look delightful. Thanks Spritz.

Looks beautiful Spritz. Love the blue waterlily especially. Sounds as though you are having a great holiday - enjoy!

Lovely blog and pics,Spritz..I remember the approach by boat,in the first picture..but you were lucky enough to be able to visit this Island..I didn't like the so called Modern art either..rusty dogs just didn't do it for me..but the rest of it is lovely....

I visited Isola Bella many years ago, and loved both the gardens and the house. Don't think I went to Isola Madre though, looks great!

Lovely photos, made me feel like I was there enjoying the sunshine!

How beautiful, have never visited Italy, we did see Monty Dons program and found it fascinating.
Pleased you had a lovely holiday, some amazing photographs Spritz.....personally I rather liked the rusty dogs, but then I come from a very arty family........
Looking forward to your next blog, (and that Colocasia put mine to shame, must try harder!!)

It's amazing to see such huge plants, which live outside all year round, Dd. You would love Italy.

Glad you all enjoyed the first episode - I'll try to write the next one soon.

I suppose 'art' is very subjective. I didn't take photos of the other exhibits, which were definitely 'weird'. I preferred the flowers! :-D)

Absolutely stunning....if there is a heaven...it must be like Italy! I also prefer the less formal garden style B. All that overly ornate baroque stuff does nothing for me at all. I was totally puzzled by the 'art'....especially the red hanging down things around the tree! lol. But the plants are just stunning. I bet you had a wonderful day! Thanks for sharing...gone to my favourites so I can revisit on a cold dreich winters day! :)

Lol...I don't know it's origin snoop...a lot of scots words are from Nordic originally....but wherever it's from, it's a good word!:))

next time you go I'm going to stow away in your luggage :o). a wonderful 'travel-log' spritz. I especially loved the water lilies.

Me too - so many different colours, Sbg! Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks, Karen. :-)) More to come later!

Thanks for the blog Spritzhenry, Brings back the memories of that lovely region. Had an opportunity way back in mid 90's to exprore that part of the world when working in Geneva.
Sounds like a great holiday you had and your pictures are impressive.

Well barbara, fancy sneaking off like that ... and no, I'm not jealous:-(( I would live on that island and not allow any visitors except GOY friends and family. Did you get the name of that hydrangea? i'd like to google it:-)

No, sorry - there weren't any labels in the pots. Oooh, I'd love to live on Isola Madre - that climate all year round would suit me fine! :-D) Not on I. Bella, though - I'd get the heebie-jeebies with some of the weird statues.

I don't even like manequins in shops, don't mind them in the shop window where they belong, but they dot them around the clothes shops now ...get the feeling they're staring at me, and don't even mention wax works ... shudder :-)

You definitely woudn't like Isola Bella, then. The statues aare ginormous and 'loom' above you! :-O

No then it's definitely going to be Isola Madre:-)

We'll live there together, Ba. :-)))

lol I must be a philistine too, where "modern art" is concerned. if I did something like that it'd be called vandalism. lovely scenery, though!

I'm glad someone agrees with me, Fran. :-))

Anyway Barbara, I'm going to put on a blog to rival this ....Walsall Arboretum!:-))

lol, Spritz, I resigned from Homo Artistica the day they put a pile of bricks in the Tate and called it art!

How about that unmade bed?????????

Ba, I look forward to it. :-)))

lol Spritz, you or me wouldn't have the brass neck to do something like that ! Someone once defined art as "whatever you can get away with", think they're right. Maybe when I move I'll paint the outside walls in orange and purple stripes and call it "art", but I don't think I'd get away with it.

Grayson Perry has a program on radio4 about modern art and from what I can gather, shares similar views:-)

to me, art in all its forms is about communication: taking an idea from one head and putting it in someone else's. if it makes yoiu think or feel something you hadn't before, it's art. No doubt that's a very limited viewpoint, but all that modern art communicates to me is that someone's found an easy way of making a living.

it's Hans Chritian Anderson's "The King's New Clothes" all over - only "intelligent" people can see the "significance"

sorry to divert from the subject, Spritz!

That's OK. It's all interesting. I must be brainless, then. Most modern art leaves me cold! Those pictures with one red dot (can't remember the artist) are worth millions - why?

lol not brainless, just more honest, not pretending to see signficance in case people thing we're thick.

years ago the Whitechapel Art Gallery had a "work" that was a large pice of pink material, with a button sewn in the lower left corner ---- ??????

Dr Johnson was on our side, too: "I had rather see the portrait of a dog that I know, than all the allegorical paintings they can show me in the world."

That's it exactly, Fran. I like that quote! :-))