Wedding Bells Are Ringing

My friends Andrew and Amy (not her real name) have formally announced their pending nuptuals.  Andrew, who likes to take care of things ahead of time, has been preparing their new home.

Congratulations, Best Wishes, and thank you for scheduling you wedding so as not to conflict with the Fireworks Convention that I will be attending in February.

How To Throw A Birthday Party

Our friends the Trujillos, invited us to their son Christopher's birthday party yesterday.  A successful birthday party needs two key ingredients: Food and Entertainment.

 Food

 First and foremost, provide delicious munchies for the parents.

 

As for the kids, let someone else do the cooking.

  

Mustard angus beef hot dog with fries...mmmmmmmm.

 

 

That's me with the corporate symbol.

 Entertainment

If you want to entertain kids, you can't miss with a Reptile Show

This guy only eats Wienerschnitzel Kosher Turkey Dogs

 Even the 12-long snake was having a good time!

 The 60-pound African Desert Tortoise was very popular.  That's not rabies, he just finished eating a banana.

 Time to pack up.

Mysterious Sneakers

Yet another ghostly image was captured one night in San Pedro. There appears to be someone walking at the foot of the Korean Friendship Bell.

Ghost On Paseo del Mar

Someone took a picture of a ghost standing in front of my 4Runner one night along Paseo del Mar in San Pedro.  This picture was not altered in anyway and has been certified as authentic.

Stanza da Bagno

That's Italian for restroom.  Another word for restroom is toilette.  If you see a sign that says WC its the same thing.  The sign on the right identifies the men and woman's WC for normal use.  The green sign on the left is for folks who need a to find WC immediately.

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SecureBag

Are you are concerned about unauthorized access to the contents of your luggage.  Is your luggage falling apart because of all the wear and tear from thousands of miles of travel?  The airport at Milan has the answer.   SecureBag.    As your luggage spins atop a rotating platform, it is wrapped by about 20 layers of plastic.

Ohhh...Como

Wrapping up our tour of Italy, we crossed over to Switzerland and stopped in the town of Lugano for lunch, then returned to Italy to spend some time in the town of Como.  Actually, were only in Lugano long enough to have lunch and the find the bus, but here are a couple of pictures.

Entering Italy at the Border Crossing

I guess we looked ok to the Border Patrol, so he let us pass.

The town of Como

They rolled out the red carpet for us.  Well,  maybe it was more pinkish...

The band played upon our arrival.

The Townsfolk were peeking out their windows to catch a glimpse of us tourists.

The Churches all throughout Italy were magnificent.

I'll close with my favorite interior church photo

Ahhh....Venice

Let the pictures do the talking.

David was sad because of all of the graffiti thats everywhere.

There was no shortage of gondolas.

Lost Tourists

Pondering the wonders of Venice

"Hey, the girl on that boat waved at me!"

The taller structures tend to lean in Venice,

The striped poles mark where you can dock your boat.

Let's move on to the next destination.

Castello del Trebbio

(Source: various Internet web sites)

Castello del Trebbio was constructed in the late twelfth century for the Pazzi family. 

In the fourteenth century the Pazzi family was very powerful, surpassed only by the Medici family. In 1478 some Pazzi family members decided to change the balance of power by killing the two strongest Medici brothers, Giuliano and Lorenzo the Magnificent. History has called the events which followed the ‘Pazzi conspiracy’. Giuliano was killed but Lorenzo escaped and his revenge was terrible. Many of the Pazzi were killed and their property was seized. Castello del Trebbio was given to the Medici family. They stripped it of all but two of the Pazzi treasures; A shield sculpted by Donatello remains in the courtyard today and part of a fresco by Andrea del Castagno. 

The castle underwent the last major structural change in the 15th century when the Medici family extended it, forming a courtyard and adding an internal well. 

The cellar of the castle holds barrels of Chianti

And olive oil in big clay jars.  Notice the iron rings attached to the ceiling?  This room was also the castles dungeon where its prisoner were secured.

Looks like someone had a little too much chianti....

Florence - "The Cradle of Italian Renaissance"

The City of Florence from atop a hill

We visited the world famous Galleria dell Accademia (Academy Gallery) which hosts the Statue of David and other works of Michelangelo on he inside and graffiti (which was a common sight all over Italy) on the outside.

Photographs are not allowed inside, which I was told after I already took one.  Here it is, and it is believed to be only known picture of the inside of the Gallery.

But thats ok, because there are reproductions of most of the statues outside in the Plaza.

And others as well, like this one depicting the a classic scene from the movie "Clash of the Titians"

"I can't figure out why everyone is always staring at me"

"Oh yea...It's because I'm naked"

This is the Church of Santa Croce, the burial place of Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli.

The tomb of Galileo.

The tomb of Michelangelo (undergoing renovation)

The tomb of Machiavelli ("Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer")