Venice "street" scapes

One of the items on my life list is to frame and hang photographs that I have taken. Between our France and Italy trips, I think I am on my way to having some good options to choose from. Here are a few of my favorite Venetian scenes.

Feeling chic in Florence

The thing about Florence is that it's an intimidating city. Designer clothing stores abound, and the prices of the deliciousness in the window prevents you from even entering the store. And the cars, while modestly sized, are fast--really fast. I spent the first two days clinging to buildings as they sped past within arm's reach. "One driver's bad turn," I thought, "And I'm going to get squished."

Luckily, I didn't get squished, and I got over my intimidation. A heavenly meal of homemade pasta with a pink cream sauce made with bacon and mushrooms helped me to appreciate the city, and I was sad to leave after our 5 nights of Florentine fun.

Here are the highlights from the Florence leg of the trip:

* Seeing the David at the Accademia. Museums aren't my favorite pasttime, but B likes them, so I try to be a good sport and go to as many as I can handle. Seeing the David, however, was awe-inspiring. I could have lived without seeing hundreds of versions of the Madonna and child at other museums, though.

*Eating gelato every day. Most gelato stores in Florence offer as many as 7 different cups, ranging in price from 1-2 euro all the way up to 7 euro--or more. One evening we happened into a store and ordered flavors without choosing a size. I should have known by the size of the cup that the girl filled that we weren't getting the bargain 2 euro servings. She rang up the bill and we were staggered by the 18 euro total. We enjoyed our $27 ice creams, skipped dinner, and remembered from our France trip (and my 9 euro Orangina) never to order something until you see a price.

* Shopping at the outdoor markets. No, we couldn't afford to shop in most stores, but we could shop on the streets. B got a leather laptop bag, I got a purse, and we both got gloves. Our bargaining skills are improving but probably still have a long way to go.

Here are a few of my fav photos from Florence.

Our hotel. Five stars are the way to go.

The view from our hotel room--wow!

I fell in love with those little smart cars...

B in front of the Duomo.

Me in front of the Duomo.

We ate a lot of pasta in Italy...


I drank my fair share of hot chocolate.

There was a lot of watch window shopping.

The Arno is in the background.

Here's the Arno during the day.

B was mildly obsessed with this boar. He even got a figurine for his desk at work.

And we're back

We're back from vacation, and after some mediocre posting stats for September, I hereby vow to do better for October. Granted, "better" is only 3 postings, so this posting means that I am 1/3 of the way toward my goal. Low expectations are much easier to meet than the loftier ones.

Our trip in a nutshell: Fabulous. I was chic in Florence, swooned over canals in Venice, chased windmills (and got sunburned) in Mykonos, saw the effects of plundering in Athens, played Indiana Jones in Corfu, and nearly got blown off a mountain in Split. Some days it was 90 degrees, some days it was 50 degrees, and we had blazing sunshine, pouring rain, and everything in between. I bought more jewelry than even I expected and managed to convince B to buy a few treasures for himself (next time you're over, be sure to admire the woven sheepskin-esque throw).

We passed many an internet cafe in Italy, but I just couldn't break my shopping rhythm and stop in. Plus I didn't carry my passport with me, and you need your passport to access the internet in Italy (post-9/11 security measures). However, I will recap the trip (and provide photos!) in the upcoming days (or, if I can manage only a measly 3 posts per month, perhaps months--by the time I finish it will be time to go away again).

We got back last weekend, and other than unpacking and trying to bring semblance to an unusually disorderly house, here's what we've been up to:

Plotting future vacations.
I've started the Germany/Austria plans in earnest. We had a one-night layover in Frankfurt at the end of the trip and went into town for a few hours. Frankfurt might not be the most historical city in Germany, but it got me excited to go back, and not just because Germany has entire stores devoted to gummi candy. I enjoyed the energy and the language (very excited to pick up some conversational German--I'm going to buy a CD this weekend), and I love traditional German architecture. Plus it will be (nearly) Christmas! I've already told B that we're buying a cuckoo clock while we're over there. Depending on where the dollar goes, it could be a very small cuckoo clock, or perhaps just a cuckoo if we're feeling particularly bearish.

Additionally, we're looking ahead to 2009. Some of our tablemates on our cruise were from San Antonio, Texas, and they raved about the city. I did some investigation when I got home and realized that SAT (I'm a travel nerd and like to refer to cities by their airport codes) has a lot of great-sounding attractions--the Alamo, Riverwalk, several missions, theme parks, historical districts, and more. Did I mention the Tex-Mex food? Bring on the guacamole! We're thinking of heading down for a week or so in April, maybe to see part of their annual Fiesta event.

Hunkering down for winter.
I keep putting of the day of the great closet switch--when I move all of my summer clothes to the bottom rack and all of my winter clothes to the top rack--but it's coming soon. We turned the heat on this weekend, and we've already had our first frost. (Luckily, the newly planted shrubs out front appear to have survived, so far anyway.) I had forgotten how unpleasant it is to scrape frost off my car, probably because B always does it. I have decided that as of this winter, I will no longer warm up my car before leaving (except to turn it on before I scrape), in an effort to save gas/money and to minimize pollution.

Note: I am not a saint, and I will make exceptions on a case-by-case basis, depending on temperature, mood, and warmth of my clothing.

In other non-winter related news, I am preparing to cut off a foot of hair for an excellent cause. I can't wait to be able to dry my hair in less than 45 minutes.

Hidden vacation costs

Timing your vacation so that you finish the last of your fresh food before you leave is difficult, maybe downright impossible. We haven't been to the grocery store in close to two weeks. We thought that our last food purchase would last until we leave. Perhaps we were wrong.

Last night, our empty cupboards (and no motivation to cook) sent us to a local burrito restaurant. Lunch was a scraped-together pasta/sauce combination, but we wanted better for dinner and ended up spending more than we probably should have at the local primo grocery store, considering we got only chicken wings, guacamole, and sushi.

You expect to dine out while on vacation. But the pre-vacation dining out, from the time when you run out of food until you leave, is an unexpected expense. Last year, before our wedding, I refused to eat anything that wasn't home cooked in the days leading up to the big day out of fear of food poisoning (have I mentioned I'm a bit of a control freak?). Apparently, I've loosened up, not to the point that I'm loose but maybe I'm closer to the rest of the population.

And here we can see one of the many benefits of being a control freak.

Packing, planning, and reuniting

I've been quiet but not inactive--here's what's new in my world.

Bought euros.
Last we checked in, I had just purchased euros, or was about to, anyway. Waiting a day lost us $12. If the writing thing doesn't work out, it's good to know that I can always become a currency trader. "Buy, buy, buy! No, sell, sell, sell! Greed is good!" Gordon Gekko, eat your heart out.

In other currency news, the dollar is continuing its rally, so we should get an even better rate on ATM withdrawals once we arrive. My hopes are high for our exchange rate for Germany, too. Perhaps a European vacation next year is not out of the questions...but no decisions until after Germany and Christmas.

Packing and planning.
We're mostly packed. My don't-pack-anything-in-our-checked-suitcases plan has gone down in flames, to the point that we have to go buy a luggage scale tonight to make sure that our checked stuff doesn't exceed the 50-lb, per-bag limit. Tonight I'm going to peruse the suitcase to see if we can cut anything or perhaps pack smarter.

I found out the dangerous news that B, because of his airline status, is allowed to check 3 bags coming home, which brings our grand total of check-able bags to 5 (a total of 250 lbs. worth of baggage), not to mention our 2 carry-ons and 2 personal items (I tend to stretch the usual boundaries of personal item allowances). This benefit is not going to help me exercise restraint during my shopping excursions. It might also necessitate using one of those rolling luggage carts to make our way up to the check-in counter and, possibly, buying more luggage while we're away. On the one hand, glamorous ("Wow! Those people have so much luggage! I wonder if they hire people to hold umbrellas for them?"), but on the other hand, a total pain and an invitation for those with more restraint to mock (been there, done that).

We also had a grand success with the airline and were able to switch our connecting flight for the way home to a direct flight (for FREE! Am I good or what...), which means we'll arrive home in the afternoon instead of the evening and won't have to clear customs in Philly with our 12 bags of luggage.

Speaking of packing and planning, we bought season 1 of Mad Men and put some of the shows on B's iPhone for plane and train entertainment. Neither of us has seen the show (we don't have cable, and it's on AMC), but several people have recommended it. We also bought enough snacks for an army--bringing snacks cuts down on the food bill and allows us to eat whenever, wherever--very important. We got trail mix, flattened banana, mango with some kind of spicy rub (for B's enjoyment), pretzel thins, sesame sticks, and of course a ton of Larabars, which never fail to perk me up. If you haven't tried them, I highly recommend Cherry Pie--it's my favorite flavor.

Reunions.
Today I received an invitation to my high school reunion, which will be held this November. To reunite or not to reunite? I'm planning to attend, though I'll have to peruse my yearbook before I go. The class president sent me a list of names for whom she still needs contact information, and I couldn't put a face to 25% of the people--and we only had 120 kids in our class. I've kept in touch with approximately 3 people from high school, so I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone's been up to.

Proud future owner of an undetermined number of euros

Do I make things more complicated than they need to be?

You can be honest. I already know the answer. Sometimes, I do.

Take for instance the purchase of foreign currency for our upcoming trip. I opened a savings account at a new bank to save approximately .01% on the purchase, and today I determined it was time to pounce after listening to Bloomberg radio and its rosy outlook for the dollar. Lehman Brothers predicts that the dollar will continue its rally through to the new year, and London is thinking about cutting interest rates. Add that to the growing awareness that this downturn, blip, recession, whatever you want to call it, is global, and you've got conditions for an improving dollar (whether an improving dollar is really good for the country is for someone without several upcoming European vacations to decide).

And so the dollar improved. Today the dollar hit a six-month high against the euro, and while the dollar is still not strong, the rate was great in light of its six-month history, and I wanted to act (kick the euro while it was down? Maybe, a little bit). I called the bank's foreign exchange desk (he and I are practically friends by now) to confirm the good rate and planned to hit the bank's branch after work (they're open late).

But of course it wasn't as easy as I wanted it to be. At first, the teller tried to give me the inferior exchange rate. "No," I told him. "That's not the right rate." He listened--it's amazing how far an authoritarian attitude can take you--and called the fx desk, which was by then closed. He said that they couldn't process the transaction without talking to the desk, so I couldn't buy euros that evening and had to come in while the fx desk was open.

"This is unacceptable," I said to myself.

An aside: In general, I disapprove of using "this" without a following noun, but I make an exception for this declaration, which is one of my favorites and is nearly always effective, either spoken or communicated with one's facial expression.

I said out loud, "But I can't get here by 4 o'clock--how am I going to buy euros?" They offered an acceptable but not ideal compromise--I could fill out deposit and withdrawal slips, and they would buy the euros the next morning, when the desk was open. The downside: I won't be getting today's rate. The potential upside: Maybe the euro will continue to fall, and we'll get an even better rate.

The temptation to wake up for the European markets' open to track the euro/dollar rate is strong, but I think I can resist.

Cartoonish figures

Today, inspired by Christine's avatar image on her blog, I challenged B to a little game--we would each create avatars for ourselves and for each other, and then compare the results. Here's what we did. What do you think--whose is a better representation?





Here is B's representation of himself.












And here's my representation of B.













Here's B's representation of me.













And my own representation of myself.





Wanna give it a try? Go to Face Your Manga.