Fishing in Dublin

Maybe such a store shouldn't surprise me, but I was quite surprised and amused when I saw this store in the smack dab of the middle of Dublin. I know Dubliners must getting the tackle supplies somewhere...but it still seems out of place...it's not like they are going to go fishing in the middle of Dublin...are they???

Cascina Monluè

There is a little farm called Cascina Monluè just off one of a major road near Milan that hosts various music festivals. While I didn't know the bands that were playing, I did definitely enjoy the music. This is just a shot of the place to get food so you can see the old farmhouse building. Everything is outside though.

Storms

The Milan area can get East Texas style rain storms...it's a nice reminder of home. I promise, I didn't alter this picture...this really is the rain cloud. I'm not sure what the people in that building did to make God mad, but I would suggest not doing it again.

La Piazza dei Sapori

La Piazza dei Sapori was a nice festival I stumbled across while I wandered around the city center of verona when I was visiting a customer for work. It was a nice surprise. It was a festival for food specialities of the various regions of Italy. As I was starving and not sure how I would eat the food nor how I would store what I didn't eat, I passed on getting anything and instead went on to eat at a restaurant. There was also live music at the festival so it was quite nice.

Italian Iron

These Italians aren't joking with their iron. This has got to be on of the most intense home iron I have ever seen. This puts the American home steam iron to shame. What do you think an Italian mom is trying to say to her Italian son when she gives him an iron? Don't worry, he had it before he met me so it wasn't a message to me :)

Vietnamonamour

We tried this Vietnamese restaurant Vietnamonamour in Milan the other night. It is my first crack at Asian food in Milan. While it wasn't bad, it also wasn't the greatest either, but I wasn't expecting it to be. One thing is for sure, while you can can get excellent Italian food in Italy, that is about the only excellent food you can get here. So, not-bad Vietnamese is a good thing. Look out for the Asian waitress...she's a bit of a hard-core woman...no joking with her! And be prepared for a bit of competition-bashing from her. Oh, and Vietnamonamour is actually a B&B with a public restaurant.

Eating on the patio

Is it a sidewalk cafe in a quaint little village in the Italian countryside? No, it's the new patio furniture so we can eat outside at home and enjoy the wonderfully perfect weather (when it's not raining). Don't you just love the quintessentially Italian red and white checkered tablecloth? Oh, and please ignore the dead flowers. I promise...I didn't kill them!

Reunion at the Cabin

No East Texan family reunion is complete until stories are being told around a campfire while weenies roast. It was nice to see 70 people gathering to celebrate the 50th anniversary of when my grandfather and his friend built the cabin we affectionately call Wolf Creek. One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, now go cat go...SPLASH!!!

The barber's 3rd client

Before & After...I keeeeed....I keeeeed. What a difference a season can make! This is the view of a field from Bec's balcony. This Pine-Tree-East-Texas girl is not accustom to baron winter vegetation!!

Italian pitstop

Autogrill is the Italian equivalent of an interstate truckstop. You can get crappy food, useless souvenirs, bad cds, and the classic snacks and soda. But my do I love how the big ones span the road!! It looks like some 50's version of a futuristic place.

Fra Diavolo Ristorante

Fra Diavolo is a nice restaurant in the countryside in the small village of Pompeiana. Don't be deterred by the rugged exterior. Both the interior and the food are quite nice. You can enjoy some typical local food here.

Comfort TV

There is nothing like some good ol' Dukes of Hazzard in Italian to help get a person through an illness. It's amazing how you don't have to understand a single word of an language to follow the show. Should I attribute that to the wonderful acting?

The barber

Have I ever told you that I love to buzz guys heads? Boy do I!! Actually, I shouldn't limit that to guys. Girls, I will buzz your head too. Hermaphrodites included as well. Here is my second client ever (other clients include David Sims). I think it is an excellent #1 buzz. The haircut allowed Bec to enjoy his first full English breakfast.

Thanks for your patience

Ok, so I have caught up on the blog. There some 15-20 posts of my catching up and I hope you made it through them. From now on, I promise not to deluge you with so many posts at once. {imagine rainbow picture now}

Fresh Italian Milk

Oh, how my childhood memories of getting fresh milk from an old lady we knew came back to me when we pulled up to this dairy to get some fresh milk. The outfit I went to when I was a kid was nothing like this...it was just a single old lady who milked her one or two cows and kept the fresh milk on her front porch in a fridge which you could go to at any time and replenish your supply, leaving the appropriate amount of money on a chair on the porch...oh the simple good ol' days! When Bec told me we were going to get some fresh milk, I was not expecting this...what a treat it was! Just inside the entrance to the dairy farm is this little machine where you place your your own bottle and €1 gets you one liter of milk. Yum Yum...truly fresh milk!!

Lodi Antique Car Show

We went to Lodi in the Lombardy region in Italy just to take a look around the town center but there happened to be an antique car show going on so we got to enjoy that. We saw a few nice old Porsches, Fiat 500s, and loads of other cool old European cars. There were two old American cars there and boy could you spot the American boats...oh I means cars...out!! Why did we want our cars to be spaceships back in the day? This is a picture of one of the first cars we saw, the first model of the Alfa Romeo 1900. You can't tell so much from this angle, but it was designed by the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia designer Ghia. Of course, I noticed this fact right away!

CapoVerde - Milan

This is a great little restaurant that was recommended to me back in September when I was visiting Milan. It is a plant nursery, natural cosmetics and toiletries, bar, and restaurant all rolled into one. Because of the nursery, the atmosphere is very refreshing with all the vibrantly green plant around. You walk through a maze of plants before you get to the outdoor patio where you can enjoy a nice drink from the bar while munching on the all you can eat happy hour appetizers with the purchase of a drink! Becareful because you might spend too much time having drinks and appetizers and never actually make it to the restaurant. This is what happened to me so I can't actually comment on the food but the atmosphere is great!!

French Water Taps

Maybe you were expecting H and C for the tap labels but that would be a wrong in France. It's the little differences in life that make life fun. Say for example the surprise you feel when you are sitting in the tub taking a bath examining the nice tap set and think they have mislabeled taps but then think a bit more and realized that they are labeled perfectly fine seeing as you are sitting in a bath in Paris. Hot = Chaud and Cold = Froid. So please don't be thrown the next time you are at a sink or in a bath in Paris...C and F are right...now you just have to remember which is which. (Yes, I was sitting naked in the tub when I took this picture. The first person that can detect a glimpse of me wins a prize...not really, but what else are you to write after that).

Winter food in Autumn

So, if one happens to find themselves at a cafe in a strange country where you don't speak the language too well, it would seem normal to look around to see what others are eating and if something looks appealing, tell the waiter that you would like one of those. And on top of that, you would not expect that the people who originally were eating that dish would laugh at you when they saw you eating it as well. Nor would you expect that they would point this out to your other cafe patrons so as to incite them to point and laugh as well. Apparently, that is what happens when you order a Winter dish in the Autumn in Paris at a cafe that I unfortunately don't recall the name of on Rue Daguerre. I still like Paris and this street though.

Rue Daguerre - Paris

I was in Paris and stayed in a hotel that was near the cutest little street. Ok, maybe not the cutest, but some great little food shops are on it. Of course, you have your obligatory typical Parisian cafes but there are a few uniques one to check out. More importantly are the little cheese, meat, and fish markets that are on it. It really is a nice way to spend a little time in the afternoon. It is completely a pedestrian zone as well. It's only one block long, maybe 2 so it's easy to fit into a visit.

Beer and beach

Does one need anything more? Probably so, but play along with me here! Especially since it's in East Central London at one of the older breweries in town. Truman Brewery creates it beach-away-from-the-beach just off of Brick Lane in London. They like to call it the City Beach Club. Its amazing that people will flock to sand in a hot, humid city with no water to go rinse off. Tell me why the dry, sandy spots in the city parks don't have the same appeal??

Outdoor chess

We stumbled across Stockholm's version of New York City's Washington Square Park's chess. There is only one board so that means that the one game tends to draw a bit of a crowd...the pressure is on! At first I thought they could have nicer chess pieces but as it is a public board, you don't want them too nice as they might get stolen. Though something tells me that stealing isn't so much in the Swedish vocabulary.

Swedish Design

Ok, I know this isn't the greatest of pictures but it's the only I got on the trip so I'm using it. Anyway, I liked this chair and thought my mom would as well so i took a picture of it. For me, it is a good example of the organicness (ok...so I'm making up words now) of some of the Swedish design. I wish I had sat in the chair to see how it feels. Oh and yes...that is me in the reflection if you can't tell.

Wat Pho Thai Massage

All I could think of when I saw this sign were the black guys in my high school asking why they were getting sent to the office...in ebonics of course as follows:

Teacher: Johnny, go to the office now!
Johnny (black guy): Wat Pho?!!! (What for?!!!)

It cracked me up and I couldn't stop saying Wat Pho! My friend was probably getting a bit tired of hearing it! We didn't actually go for a massage there but if you are ever in Stockholm, maybe you can check it out!

Mushrooms in Stockholm

In September last year, I found myself in lovely Stockholm. In one of my walks through the city, I passed a food market that had many of these mushroom stands. At least that is what I think they are. Maybe some foody out there can help me out on what exactly they are. Anyway, I was surprised to see so many of these foods in a Western country and not have any idea of what they were. Apparently the Swedes love them!!!

Michelangelo's Davide

And of course, no trip to Florence is complete without a visit to see Michelangelo's David in the Galleria dell'Accademia. Pure perfection! They now forbid pictures to be taken of him so I had to sneak this one but when I lived there and we went to visit you could take all the pictures you wanted. I came to learn that every female member of my family that went to see him took pictures of his butt...it is a nice one (I know it's not real) and we are butt people in our family! You can also see one of Michelangelo's Pietas and some of his Slaves he was working on when he died. To miss the opportunity to go to the Musical instrument museum as well that is attached. There are some neat old instruments there.

Ponte Vecchio at night

It really can't be beat, especially when there is a street musician playing. That is what is going on this night in the picture. Some of the evening strollers have taken a seat to enjoy the nice show. It is required when you visit Florence to take a break in one of the open spots in the middle of the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge)...best if done with significant other to steal a nice kiss. The bridge is lined with jewelry shops now that are open during the day. It used to contain butcher shops way back in the day of the De Medici family. The De Medici family had to cross this bridge every day to go from their home (Pitti Palace) across the Arno to the government offices. When a flood happened one day and ruined the shops, they made sure that the butcher shops were replaced with nice jewelery shops...a much better aesthetic than raw meat!

i 5 Tavoli

These are some pieces of art on the wall at a pub I frequented every Thursday night with my friends with I lived here almost 10 years ago! The name "i 5 Tavoli" means "The 5 Tables" and rightfully so as it is a very small pub where they know the regulars quite well. It is very close to the Santa Maria Novella Church, close to the main train station so you an stroll over after you arrive via train for a nice cold 1/2 pint of Murphey's (it's the beer I drank when I lived here).

Duomo in Florence

I took the weekend between working in Rome for two weeks to go to my old haunt of Florence. My how I love that place!! Be prepared for a number of posts about it. That being said, I was able to see some more of my friends while I visited the old site of Florence. Pistachio joined me for part of the trip but again as in Rome, one friend Caffe (Coffee) had to leave early...what a flake...always bailing so early! The Duomo is a definite place to visit in Florence. You can climb to the top of the Duomo for a nice panoramic view of Florence. I didn't on this trip but have in the past. It's nice to see friends like Pistachio and Caffe after a climb to the top!

Trevi Fountain in Rome

My friend Nocciola (Hazelnut) joined me for a short visit to the Trevi Fountain while I was in Rome in August. It was a short visit as she had to leave soon after that. My friend Caffe (Coffee) was with us earlier but he left before we could take a picture. I really do like those guys...they are a great pair!! It's great to see them in Rome in August!

Windy Rome?

No, just a cute little street performer. I must say that I do still get a kick out of them. Even though he does nothing special besides stand there looking goofy, I think street performers shouldn't go away. At least this one is fun to look at and not boring like the multitude of "human statues" you will see in Rome. I do tend to prefer when the street performer exhibits some sort of talent besides standing but being funny looking can be just as pleasing.

Updates to come

So I'll get back to adding posts and will try to catch you up on what I've been up to. There could be no particular order to my posts so just take it for what it's worth.

The end of a cold era

So, I have taken my last cold shower! And let me tell you, it didn't go out easy. We fought a number of times over the hot water. I don't think there was a clear victor and in the end it was called a draw. I, however, left happy knowing it would be my last!

For those who don't know, I have had many bouts with my shower not putting out the hot water that is suppose to be available on demand. Imagine coming home from an international flight, looking forward to a nice, long hot shower to rinse the filth of travel off of you, and all you are welcomed with is cold water. Not good...not good.

EDIT: It is my last shower because I am moving...nothing morbid.