Cinque Terre (da beach), Shopping, etc...

One of our few days of real vacation was at Cinque Terre where we spend the day at the beach. I stayed in the water for a while, then explored the town we were near, Monteroso al Mare.

The private beach (where we weren't):


The public beach (where we were):


People in my group:


At least one of you is curious about the shopping options.

The theme song for this section is Fashionista by Jimmy James. It goes something like this:

Who are you wearing?

Sean John, Kelvin Klein, Donna Karan’s fashion line, Valentino, YSL, Ferré, Camal, and Channel, Halston, Gucci, Fiorucci, Don’t forget my Pucci, Fendi, and Armani, God I miss Gianni. Kenneth Cole, Michael Kors, Mr. Ford I can’t afford, D&G and BCBG.

Looking good is never easy.

Here are a few stores. I typed the names for ones that are too hard to read. I only went to two of these stores and spent money in one... guess which ones are which:


Dolce & Gabbana:



Emporio Armani:


Swatch:


Fendi (which is next to Louis Vuitton):



Gucci:


Hugo Boss:


Does anyone wear Nautica any more?


There were about 3 different Guess stores. Guess, Guess Kids, and Guess by... um somebody (I forgot who). There are also tons of European brands and at least one large department store (called Coin).

If you guessed I went in Puma and Swatch, give yourself a gold star for the day. If you guessed I spent money at Puma, give your self an extra gold star. 3 gold stars if you guessed i bought a pair of shoes, a pair of flip-flops (for the beach), and a souvenir Puma Firenze t-shirt (but who would guess that). If you guessed they were on sale and I paid €90 for the whole lot, I guess you get 5 gold stars and I need to call the cops because you are stalking me.

Buying fakes is HIGHLY illegal and they will fine you dearly (€10,000+). "But I'm a (stupid) American tourist," will not get you off the hook:


This is one of the various markets selling tourist items and leather goods. Florence is known for its leather. It's scratch resistant, water proof, and as soft as a feather.


Just for fun, I made the postcard pic into a bad post card:


We leave for Rome dark and early Monday morning and I probably won't be able to post again until I get home, so please check again Friday for another update.

Oh, and I'll post eventually when my book is ready, so check occasionally for that, too.

Siena, San Gimigano, and more Florence

Some of these are more avante garde than my usual faire.

Siena:

This is the bell tower that I almost climbed to the top. I got to the second level of the top arch (the big one at the top) and decided that the brick floors held up by ancient 2x4's and the stairs with little between me and the several hundred foot drop were telling me to get back to the solid ground.


Here is a pic I took before climbing down. The Siena Duomo dome is covered for restoration.


San Gimigano, the Medieval Manhattan:

The Palazzo Vecchio from the Uffizi terrace:

Critique pics

Here are a sampling of the pics I submitted today for critique:

Sunset on the Arno:


The (Fake) David at night:


His accompanying TV Evangelist to maintain my PG rating, Benny Hinn (not one of my images and not for critique):

Source: bbc.co.uk

The Palazzo Vecchio at night:


The Duomo Bell tower and a nice pic for a post card (just add a horrible font):


The Lantern on top of the Duomo dome:


Also, as I have told several of you, I will be putting together a book of my pics from this trip to offer for sale thru blurb.com. I have a feeling it will be about $75 plus shipping (I only see a really small percentage of that if any at all). I'll post more info about that later.

Today, we visited the Uffizi Gallery which is a block away from my apartment. Unfortunately, they need to work on how they present some of their pieces. Botticelli's two masterpieces The Birth of Venus and the Primavera were sadly under lit and looked rather... well, blah. Both use gold leaf in various parts (Venus's hair particularly) and it should sparkle. But they are working on it. They are doing massive construction. One thing you can't avoid are the massive crowds. Even with its faults, this is not a museum you want to miss.

Ahhhh Venice...

We rode the PSP train to Venice. There were promotion guys passing out PSP literature, but I never flagged one down to collect any. It was in Italian, anyway. I was going to bring my PSP, but at the last minute changed my mind... *sigh*


I wanted a pic of me playing the giant PSP on the side, but that would have been too touristy (and the group was in a hurry).


This adorable dog tried to bite me when I petted it. :-( There are dogs off leash all over the place and they stay close to their owners.


Here is our hotel key and self defense device. The fob weighed about 5 pounds and we were not allowed to leave the hotel with it. We had to check it in and out as we left and entered the hotel, respectively.


Venice is known for both its canals and its glass. Here is a glassblower at work.


They work fast.


Enough stalling. Here is what you really want to see, pics of Venice:



The world famous Rialto Bridge



The (also) world famous Bridge of Sighs. This bridge connects the old courts (left) with the old jail (right). The prisoners would sigh as they got their last glimpse of the beauty of Venice and their last glimpse of freedom.


Pisa's not the only place with a leaning tower.




I took the following pic after spinning around and aiming my camera with my eyes closed just to prove it is really hard to take a bad picture in Venice... The same goes for Florence.


The island of Murano (where they make the glass):


Venice is nice, but I love Florence. The people are more welcoming and friendly. In Vencie, they go out of their way not to understand or speak English. The Florentines will speak English and put up with my bad EnglItalian. I feel more at home in Florence, i felt like a visitor in Venice.

Today back in Florence, I walked to the Puma store to grab a pair of shoes, sandals, and a Puma Firenze (Florence) shirt. The shoes and sandals are for when we go to the beach on the 18th.

After I got back, it rained for a couple hours or so rather hard. I was actually kinda happy to see the rain. The city streets and sidewalks are really grimy. They run street sweepers in some of the main Piazza's every few hours and at least 2 or 3 times a day on my street.

A week from today, we leave for Rome...