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.
Wine in Mendoza
The morning was almost brisk enough for a jacket, but a long sleeve shirt over a t-shirt was my wardrobe of choice for the day. It was amazingly quiet, almost unnaturally so. But that’s the exact opposite of what it was; I’m so used to the background noise of my laptop humming, the air conditioner running, traffic on the streets outside, and the occasional Air Force fighters screaming overhead, that I’m not used to the sound of actual nature. In this case, there were no insects chirping, birds calling, wolves howling or anything. It was as quiet as a tomb. Actually, it was even more quiet than the Recoleta Cemetery that we had just visited, but we were telling jokes and laughing in the cemetery, so it’s not a fair comparison. It was so quiet that morning, it was almost unnerving. The stillness was broken only by the sound of me drinking a bubbly rose that was as crisp as the morning was.
The smartest thing I’ve ever done
I don’t know if I read it somewhere or if it was a stroke of genius or a random thought that popped into my head after drinking, but I recently came up with the one thing you should do after landing. I dare say that this might be the smartest idea I’ve ever come up with (which leads me to think that I read it somewhere and that it’s not my original idea).
The Argentinian Experience
What would you say to an evening of tasting local cocktails paired with tasty bite-sized snacks, followed by a class on how to make traditional empanadas, then a damn fine steak and some great wine, and then you wrap up the evening with a delicious dessert. How’s that sound?
Riu Palace Las Americas, Cancun
One of the nicer, but still wallet friendly, options in Cancun, the Riu all-inclusive chain offers a lot for a reasonable rate. The Riu Palace Las Americas property is located well outside of downtown Cancun, roughly a 30 minute shuttle ride from the airport.
Don’t Use Expedia! Click here to find out why!
Sorry about the click-bait title. I just couldn’t think of anything better for this post. I actually don’t have any issues with Expedia or similar services; I use them all the time when I’m researching and planning a trip. But there are some significant downsides.