Florence, with pictures now

We picked Florence to have a one day stopover to break up the train journey to Naples around the half way point but weren't too excited about the city. Because we've both been here previously, we didn't feel the obligation to visit all the main tourist sites like the Uffizi, Duomo, etc.... and rather spent the day wandering far afield to see how Florentines live. Originally, we wanted to travel from here an hour and half out to Pisa but couldn't reserve tickets online to get into the tower (16 day advance minimum) so the odds of us getting into the leaning tower seemed slim enough to cancel that idea.

The worst thing about Florence is that although it's a Tuesday in late September, the city was still packed with tourists. Nick Tosches summed it up great in The Last Opium Den, " the all-American theme park, Florence, where today one would be hard-pressed to find a vero fiorentino amid the overcrowding herd of estivating tourists that is Dante's revenge."

In a similar spirit, pictured below is just a small exhibit of the amount of low quality crap that fills the streets and tourists just can't get enough of.

The Duomo is much more beautiful and colorful than the one we recently saw in Milan but we didn't go inside it.



This isn't the Uffizi gallery but was just outside of it with statues around the base of some of what was on display in the Uffizi. Ryan visited it years ago and, not to sound ignorant, didn't find any the art exciting or worthwhile for a return visit. Yeah, it's one of the top five galleries in the world but his opinion stands.

David, same name as Dr. Cheng. Any other similarities?

Shauna posing it front of a bridge which survived WW2 and exists like most other things in Florence, to sell crap to tourists.


For dinner we had to walk quite a bit out of the way to get away from the tourist menus. It's not a 'holier than thou' attitude we have to avoid as many tourist spots as we can but the reoccurring disappointment we meet when we take the easy route and eat at restaurants where the entire clientèle are tourists. There is a significant difference between travelers or tourists and we just like to think of ourselves as the former. Once again it did pay off with the extra effort to eat native but it's so hard to convey the excellent taste, ambiance and presentation of the meals we've been eating so we won't try to write much about that.

Florence

We took the train through the Tuscan hills to Florence for a one night stay. Sorry we dont have photos to post at the moment as we're back to some difficulties with the internet but should be back 100% with a report from Naples.

Internet in Italy has been as difficult, if not more so, than in southern Africa. Even the Blackberry can't load internet access since the network is having issues. Chat tomorrow, Ciao!

Milan two different ways

We went our separate ways today to accomplish each of our objectives. Shauna took a bus up to the largest designer outlet mall in the region and spent the entire day shopping while Ryan walked the streets to sample as much local food and drink as he could. As Shauna took the camera with her, we don't have any photos to post today but will have a new locale to explore after tomorrow mornings train ride.

La Dolce Vita

We took an afternoon train out of Munich rather than the overnight train so that we could see the beautiful ride through the Alps.

The 2nd class train wasn't very comfortable when the entire cabin was filled with people but was certainly tolerable and as the seven hour journey reached the halfway point, it started to thin out.

Once we crossed the Italian border, vineyards and orchards began to fill the landscape in all directions.

One place that Shauna has always wanted to go is the global fashion capital, Milan, so we scheduled a few nights here. The most notable historical site is the Duomo which centers the city and is shown below.

Inside the Duomo

OK, enough historical sites....let's go shopping! Shauna is pictured below across from the Duomo in a beautiful old shopping center.

Inside the shopping center

Also nearby the Duomo was a pedestrian street filled with shopping stacked on both sides of the street.

The higher end boutiques were located on quieter streets.

Milan Fashion Week ended a few days prior to our arrival and we didn't see any great styles which are coming out.

Shauna pictured below back at the Duomo with the haul from the day. Ryan considered her to be quite responsible considering the amount of goods on display.

Random street scene in downtown Milan.

Gelato break before heading back to the hotel.

Munich Day Two

The hardest thing about Oktoberfest is getting a seat in a tent as it's communal seating and you have to find a place as it opens up. We went around noon everyday and stuck around for a few hours but after 3pm most seats are reserved and it's impossible to get in anywhere. To start our day was at the below beer hall which served Austiner beer and seafood to eat.


Only one liter today at lunch

Wine is served, not great wine but Shauna had a glass


Hippodrom, the beer hall of young people and celebrities

Lowenbrau, somewhat rowdy but good for all ages

Forgot which the below one is, perhaps Spaten

We stopped off at the below hall for a quick drink but it was pretty quiet.

Forgot which one the below is

Oktoberfest!

We took an early morning train from Zurich to Munich and got to town around noon. We're staying a block from the train station and from there its only a 10 minute walk to Oktoberfest. Even though the train left at 7am, there were plenty of people dressed in lederhosen and already drinking beer. Once we arrived, we went into the first tent we saw and got into the spirit.

Shauna took a sip and didn't like it so it was up to Ryan to finish both liters. She's never drank more than a sip of beer anyother time so it wasn't too surprising.
Time to get to work

Big beers, big pretzels....what's not to like?

In the middle of most all tents is an Oom-pah band.

Mission accomplished, time to move on. Each beer is a liter and that's about three 12 ounce beers to a liter so to drink just shy of the equivalent of a six pack with lunch was a bit more than Ryan would've liked.

The tent we drank at, serving Paulaner beer.

Hofbrau, the most famous beer hall in Munich is the Hofbrauhaus which dates from 1589 and is currently owned by the state of Bavaria.

Spaten, a Munich classic



Another Paulaner tent

Lowenbrau tent


Inside the Lowenbrau tent, we just walked through and didn't stop for a drink.

On the same grounds as the beer tents is a carnival atmosphere of rides, games, and various junk food. We couldn't imagine the nausea that being drunk and going on the rides would induce.


If one would like to combine a ride and drinking beer, that wish is catered for with a merry go round that serves beer.

Before leaving, we saw a stand where Shauna could finally get a drink and she went for a sparkling rose. Tomorrow, we'll do our best to find a beer tent which serves both wine and beer.

To round out the day, we headed to an old style beer hall for sausages and more beer for Ryan. The smallest size that beer is served in is a half liter so sampling different types is a lengthy process. Last year he visited the Great American Beer Festival in Denver but Munich during Oktoberfest is a lot more fun.

Prochain arret, Geneve

Prochain arret Geneve (French for 'next stop Geneva')

Rather than sit around unexciting Zurich another day, we took a three hour train ride to Geneva which is on the French border.


En route we passed by the major vineyard regions in Switzerland. You don't hear much about Swiss wines as they're supposedly almost entirely consumed domestically, but there seems to be quite a bit of volume from what we could see.

Geneva has much more of a French feel to it and we wish that we had more than a day to spend there. Switzerland is divided into German, French and Italian regions and from what we've seen, the French area is much more lively.

Ryan visited the flagship Davidoff store and in his opinion, it's the best cigar shop in the world.


Before departing back to Zurich, we visited the Patek Philippe Museum to view what could be the world's greatest watch collection. No cameras allowed inside so this outside photo is all we took. Inside on display was the most complicated watch in the world that the company built a couple decades ago. It was also nice to stroll around town and look at all the watches in the windows of shops as Geneva is the center of the global watch industry.

Before getting on the train back to Zurich, we went to McDonald's for a quick, cheap meal.....$10 for a Big Mac extra value meal! Isn't Europe just great.