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...

More pix of stuff

The masterpiece by Giambologna you see below was originally placed in the Loggi Della Signoria way back in 1583 when it was completed. It has been in it's place ever since. Originally it was untitled and was a Renaissance celebration of the human form. It having no title was considered a bad thing ("That new statue with the nekked people" wasn't cutting it any more) and it was named "The Rape of the Sabine Women" after the story of Rome's founding. This statue was among the first to break new ground in a couple ways. First, it was created without a story in mind. It was art for art's sake, the title and background story came later. Also, this statue was meant to be enjoyed from all angles as it spirals up to the lady's hand. This is as opposed to from one or two sides (360 degrees versus front and back). The "rape" in the name refers to "raptio" or kidnapping, not rape in its modern interpretation. History here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rape_of_the_Sabine_Women

Someone said my blog was to risque, so to balance out the classical nudes and maintain my PG rating, I'm posting pics of TV evangelists with them. Here is Tammy Faye Messner-Bakker:

pic source: Wikipedia.org

The Ponte Vecchio:

Today was a free day, so I went to the Boboli Gardens behind the Palazzo Pitti. The Pallazzo was the home of the Medici when they were the Grand Dukes of Tuscany (if memory serves) and the Boboli Gardens were their private gardens. Now they are for everyone (provided you have €10). It is well worth the price of admission. I went around 10:30 in the cool of the morning. It would be a good place to get lost if it wasn't for all the Uscita (exit) signs everywhere.

This is the view from the gardens of the city. The dome is the Duomo and the tall tower on the right is the Pallazo Vecchio. The Pallazo Vecchio is 2 blocks from my apartment.

These duckies swam up to me as i walked up to the railing of the pond they were followed soon by koi. Sadly, they were hoping for food and I had none. :-(

The Kaffeehaus (I'm not sure why the name is in German):

I appologize in advance for the most touristy of pics

Sorry, It's required... And I may not be going back to Pisa any time soon. It was either that or me pinching David's butt; and they don't allow you to take pix in the Accademia (more on this in a minute) Here are some more pix of Pisa:



(The Baptistery doesn't lean like that, it's the way I took the picture.)

Inside the Baptistery:



The cemetery:



Pretty much everything except the Duomo complex was bombed and destroyed in WWII. What little remains of old Pisa leans one way or another, so if you look at the front end of the Duomo (toward the round Baptistery) you can see they tried to correct this. The front end started drooping while they were building it, so they added more blocks to level it out. Look at the top of the arches, there is a rail above them that gets higher and higher. BTW, my indoor shots will be super grainy. I have to use the highest ISO setting my camera has and no flash (it would be too weak anyway). Half the time, the shutter speed is still to slow to get a decent image.


On the way back from Pisa, we went thru Lucca. It's a lot like Florence, except smaller, quieter, cooler (climatologicaly), and there is less automobile traffic.


On the 4th, we went to the Accademia where Michelangelo's David (the real one) is. When you first get a glimpse of it you are completely in awe. Michelengelo's work was incredible. The perfection of the marble is amazing (the copy looks like it was made of cheap limestone). I did a few sketches, but my teacher laughed at them and confirmed my choice as a photographer. (Go go gadget arm) I would have loved to taken some pictures, but it is not allowed (even without flash).


Today, I went to the Leonardo da Vinci museum in Florence. Don't waste your €6. They have some machines he designed, but it's not that great of a museum overall. They do have a working clock he designed for €150 that I am considering buying. I'm not sure if I can cram it into my luggage, however. If the trains and buses weren't halted by a strike, I may consider going to the nearby town Vinci to the other Leonardo da Vinci museum (which is much better), but I can't. Also today, I saw the police take down someone who (I assume) was selling fakes. As I was headed to the Duomo, I saw the illegals running toward me with their fake Fendi (Fendo) bags and Dolce & Gabbana (Dolec & Oabbana) sunglasses. As I got closer, I heard a crowd cheering, then saw the police pepper spraying someone as he was trying to escape their grasp. Needless to say, I was cheering for the police as well (when in Rome, er Florence...). The fines for buying fakes is really steep (€10,000), so don't buy your Louis Vuitton (Louie Mutton) off the street.