You never really think twice about the 99¢ Store when you’re home, do you? If you need something, and you happen to be near one, and what you need happens to be the kind of thing that they’d carry, and you happen to have time to kill, and you happen to find parking, and the stars are lined up, then you may go to the 99¢ Store. Otherwise, it’s not really something that you consider in the real world, and something you probably consider even less when you’re on vacation. But you’re wrong, and I’ll tell you why.
Dining In Florence (some more)
Let’s face it; you’re in Florence. You’re going to eat. A lot. Since you’re not finished eating, why would I be done writing about the food?
10 Day Silent Meditation Retreat- My Experience
Hopefully you’ve already read my post about the retreat, here. As I said, I think it’s a very worthwhile program and it provides a valuable set of tools to attendees. So you may be asking why I only lasted 4 days. This post is unlikely to be as entertaining to read as (I hope) some of my other posts are, but here’s the unvarnished truth about my experience at the retreat, at least as I see it now.
10 Day Silent Meditation Retreat
Einstein said that time is relative, and I’m inclined to agree. Sitting in your fourth meeting of the day discussing the new cover sheets for TPS reports, each minute drags on without end. If you’re spending an evening with someone special, hours can pass in the blink of an eye. Einstein also said that, as you move faster and approach the speed of light, time slows down exponentially. Based on that theory, the meditation retreat that I just attended must be moving faster than anything else in the known universe.
Dining In Florence
When you think of Florence, you think of Tuscany. When you think of Tuscany, you immediately remember that it’s the heart and soul of Italian cuisine, from seafood that’s so fresh that it’s practically still blinking to steaks so tender that they melt before they hit your tongue. Pastas cooked perfectly al dente, gnocchi so light that they feel like little pillows of air, and sauces so simple yet so deep in flavor that you remember that this is what food is supposed to taste like; good ingredients cooked by people who actually care about food.
Cooking In Tuscany
I recently completed 4 weeks of cooking through the Accademia Riaci in Florence, Italy. While I feel like I learned a lot, there were a lot of pros and cons to the program that I need to vent about, so grab a glass of wine and get comfortable. This one’s going to take a while.
The Leaning Tower Of Pisa
If you tell your friends that you’re going to be in Tuscany (which you should) and if they know that Pisa is in that region (which they may not), the first question they’ll ask is whether you saw the leaning tower of Pisa. If you say yes, the only followup question will be whether you took a cheesy tourist photo of yourself holding up the tower. After that, all interest in the town of Pisa wanes. If you say that you didn’t go to Pisa, they’ll ask why, and you’ll have to explain yourself. Literally, the only reason why I went to Pisa was to avoid that line of questioning, but I’m glad I went.
Florence- The city of romance. And Tourists.
My trip to Florence is admittedly very different from any other trip that I’ve taken, which means my review of the city will be different from my others. Rather than fly in, spend 2-4 days hitting every site recommended by TripAdvisor, hitting the restaurants recommended by Yelp (who I’m currently disenchanted with, but more on that later), and racing from one thing to another, I’m spending some extended time in Florence. I’m not quite living like a local, but I’m enough of a familiar face that some of the panhandlers don’t bother asking me for money anymore because they recognize me. Or they look at my shirt and figure that I’m just as bad off as they are. Regardless, they leave me alone, which is the desired result. 3 weeks into this experiment, it’s been very interesting to say the least.
Baseball Tourism
A few years ago, I decided to combine my love of baseball with my love of travel and try to see my favorite team, the Washington Nationals, in all the ballparks I had yet to visit. And last year, I finally coaxed my baseball-tolerating girlfriend to come along with me. There are 30 major league teams in 26 cities, 18 states and 2 countries. Turns out baseball tourism is a really good way to see the country.
Sastre Burgos
Normally I wouldn’t do an entire post about one specific store, but Sastre Burgos was way too much fun to gloss over. The Sastre Burgos vineyard was founded decades ago by some dude’s great grandfather. It was passed down from generation to generation, and the guy that runs it now (Ignacio? Javier? Leonardo? Donatello? I don’t remember his name now) runs a great little tour of his shop in downtown Mendoza.