The other day my husband and I decided to go on a day trip to the little town of Collodi to visit the Parco Di Pinocchio and the neighboring gardens of Villa Garzoni.  We were inspired to visit after reading about the area in a travel magazine.

Pinocchio

Although it was burning hot, I had fun visiting the locations since I had never been there and everything was new.  I also learned that the real Pinocchio story is nothing like the Disney version I grew up with.  In fact, it seems to be much darker and scarier…so I decided to buy the original book – Italian version – to sharpen my language skills and learn the truth!  There’s something exciting about reading stories in their original language as well.  Pinocchio Park was a bit disappointing as a whole because it is meant for little kids.  My husband and I were the only people around without a kid!  Oops…tourist literature failed to mention these details.  Not to mention I felt it was a big rip off as activities within the park were at an additional cost to the entrance fee.  Hmm…for the state of the park and attractions I wouldn’t say it was the best deal!

This is me strangling the snake!

The Garzoni gardens that also included the Collodi Butterfly House was much more worth the entrance fee.  Wondrous gardens like you would imagine and it was pretty cool to see the butterflies up close and personal inside the house.  We hiked up to the very top fountain of the garden as well, not realizing high noon probably wasn’t the best time with this brutal weather.  Too bad there was no entry to the villa itself, only the garden.

Looking up the Garzoni garden...

Looking down after hiking to the very top!

Overall, it was still worth visiting one time.  I decided to search for more treasures in Tuscany because I’m sure there are fabulous places to visit that might not be so openly advertised.  I would love to visit places with history and culture that inspire me as well.  I just wish the level of conservation and maintenance was higher in Italy!  It’s so sad to see the beauty from the past just deteriorate…

Pretty things I saw...

Posted on August 27, 2009 at 7:19 pm | italy | 1 comment

I don’t know why it has taken me so long to layout a simple book of photos.  Although I realize wedding photos can take forever because photographers touch them up – I’ve been totally lazy and old school about it.  Just a bit of contrast or brightening in Photoshop since all my photos are an accumulation of family who graciously volunteered to be photographers.  Now that the August Italian vacation period is nearing its end, I was finally able to gather all the images together.  I think perhaps it took me a while also because I got sick of staring at photos of myself!  So weird.

I decided to try out Blurb.com to print a book of our photos instead of getting digital photos printed and putting it into an album.  I figure it’ll be a nice opportunity to try out the service, not to mention the imagewrap hardcover books look so damn snazzy!  I laid everything out using Blurb’s templates, pretty simply design and used the maximum of 160 pages since I want premium paper and hardcover.

I do hope it all comes out nicely.  I also sincerely hope I don’t run into lost mail issues, since I think Blurb has European locations.  I seem to be losing random pieces of mail every now and again, so annoying!

Now I’m onto the tedious task of getting all the book pages onto my Flickr for sharing, because I am so many months backlogged in photo sharing.  Although, I am starting to think I take way too many photos and wonder if people even have time to go through so many.  I also started wondering about security and if photos would be used for some advertisement, because a friend mentioned that the fine print can be tricky with a lot of photo sharing sites.  I figure Flickr should be safe given the use permissions, even though a google search brings up the photos and who’s to say someone wouldn’t just take the images?  Hmm…these days it’s so tricky when sharing things on the internet.  It’s been around, but at the same time still so new and undiscovered in certain facets…

Posted on August 22, 2009 at 6:36 pm | life thoughts, wedding | No comments

Even though I know it to be true – I still shock myself when counting the months that I have been living here in Italy.  The first six months after officially moving have nearly flown by, now just a memory for me.  Now it’s August, the mandatory month of vacation for my husband (and many others in certain industries).  Most everyone in Italy takes time off in mid-August to go on vacation.  I suppose it’s just too hot and humid to do anything else.

Lately I’ve been in a reflective mood and realized there are still so many things that I need to get used – or perhaps I will never get to that point?  Besides politics, corruption and injustices that I never can understand properly or accept…there are lots of little cultural things.  I’m starting to think I sound like a total dork, but one of those things are topless girls.  Seriously, I am so not used to see women topless.  Now, at the beach I suppose I’m getting used to it since I realize women just don’t want horrible tan lines.  However, in regular advertisements, TV shows and magazines…not the X-rated kinds, but normal ones…it’s totally okay for women to be topless and nearly all naked.

I have nothing against the female nude and must agree that the female body is just prettier to look at (sorry guys).  However, I still freeze a bit in terror when I come across said advertisements or magazine spreads.  It’s like, oops – oh wait – no, it’s just a regular magazine…hmm.  I just have to get used to the culture, right?

I’m not sure it’s something I will ever get used to.  Or the fact that many folks can look at these magazines with their parents and gossip about it.  Gosh, I must come from the most conservative family ever it seems!  What happened to the boundaries!?!?

Posted on August 13, 2009 at 11:40 pm | italy, life thoughts | 2 comments