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Just got back from Firenze (Florence) - I didn't realize how far I am behind on writing about Italy and my various travels lately because I keep writing so many letters describing to different people different aspects of my time here. Seriously, I just wrote my 42nd on the train ride back this evening and have killed at least three pens since I've been here. But if any of you who haven't received one yet would like one, please LJ message me an address by which I can reach you and I'd be more than happy to do so.
So, the short and flippant version of Firenze - my mother may be right about inheriting her genes and my not being able to get drunk. That said, trying Chianti for the first time made me finally understand why people enjoy drinking. Apparently it's not that hard to convince older men to give you two bottles of wine on them if you're with two tall blondes, one of whom is celebrating her 20th birthday. The inside of the Duomo, featuring Brunelleschi's famous dome, may be the most overrated cathedral in the whole city (on the inside, that is), which might be why entrance is free. The other cathedrals make you pay, but the frescoes, statues and the interior architecture are so worth it. San Lorenzo, near the Duomo, and the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine are much more worth your time. Italian mosquitoes find me nowhere nearly as delicious as American or Chinese ones, which suits me just fine. In Verona, the clothes are unaffordable but the food reasonable; in Firenze, the clothes are affordable (at the open air market, especially if you go on a Sunday and if you're willing to haggle) but the food outrageous if you go to most of the sit-down places.
In the meantime, as I try to come up with a coherent entry about Vienna, I'm really not sure what to say about this article claiming that women think about shopping as much as men think about sex. At the very least, the research methodology is probably really inaccurate, but there are so many things that bug me about the implications of this article. Because women have naturally nothing better on their minds than snagging the next so-called bargain...
So, the short and flippant version of Firenze - my mother may be right about inheriting her genes and my not being able to get drunk. That said, trying Chianti for the first time made me finally understand why people enjoy drinking. Apparently it's not that hard to convince older men to give you two bottles of wine on them if you're with two tall blondes, one of whom is celebrating her 20th birthday. The inside of the Duomo, featuring Brunelleschi's famous dome, may be the most overrated cathedral in the whole city (on the inside, that is), which might be why entrance is free. The other cathedrals make you pay, but the frescoes, statues and the interior architecture are so worth it. San Lorenzo, near the Duomo, and the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine are much more worth your time. Italian mosquitoes find me nowhere nearly as delicious as American or Chinese ones, which suits me just fine. In Verona, the clothes are unaffordable but the food reasonable; in Firenze, the clothes are affordable (at the open air market, especially if you go on a Sunday and if you're willing to haggle) but the food outrageous if you go to most of the sit-down places.
In the meantime, as I try to come up with a coherent entry about Vienna, I'm really not sure what to say about this article claiming that women think about shopping as much as men think about sex. At the very least, the research methodology is probably really inaccurate, but there are so many things that bug me about the implications of this article. Because women have naturally nothing better on their minds than snagging the next so-called bargain...
