Tuscan Towns: San Gimignano & Siena

Tuscany has it share of quaint towns and cities. Two of them are San Gimignano and Siena.

San Gimignano

San Gimignano is known for all its towers. The town is full of towers making a landscape you won’t see anywhere else. Unfortunately the day we visited was a rainy day but we were still able to enjoy some lovely views.

Siena

Siena is another great Tuscan town with great architecture. We only wandered around for a day but I wish we would have spent a day or two exploring this town and taking in its culture.

In the history of Siena, the town was broken down in districts or contradas. I believe that we walked by this one which I think used to be Oca (Goose).

A day in San Francisco

San Francisco is a fun place to travel. The people there are generally nice and laid back.If you are a tourist, there are plenty of things to do. On one of my last trips to San Francisco I played the tourist. I started off the day with a nice walk across the Golden Gate bridge.

From the bridge one can get a great view of alcatraz if the weather is right.

Coming back from walking across the bridge, you can take a jog down the San Francisco Bay Trail to Fort Mason to get another view of the bridge and end up in Fisherman’s Wharf.
The Fisherman’s Wharf can be quite crowded most of the year and it is really not my favorite part of town. However there is a gem in fisherman’s wharf, it is called the Musée Mécanique. This museum contains hundreds of old-school coin operated games and mechanical instruments.They are constantly refurbishing and adding new things. I loved spending time in this place.

After spending a couple hours in the museum, you can take the street car up to the top of Lombard Street. You can spend time watching cars maneuver the steep and curvy turns. There is also some spectacular views from there.

Coit Tower in the distance.

At some point you can go to the park where the famous Victorian homes used in the show Full House reside. Now you got the song stuck in your head, don’t you??

One last architectural gem in the city is the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre. I only got to drive by it. One day I stop and check it out in person.

London: British Museum

A visit to London is not complete without a visit to the British Museum. The museum has an impressive collection of antiquities, is free, and usually quite busy. We only scheduled a couple hours here but to do it right one needs to come multiple times, ideally when it is slow.

Just another day in New Orleans

I traveled to New Orleans in January 2010 for a wedding. It was a fabulous wedding that I will talk about in another post.
One thing that is for certain in New Orleans is that you will either run into a parade or party or both. While we were there one of the parades we got to see was Buddy’s Brawds. That year the Saints finally made it to the superbowl. A local celebrity so frustrated with the Saints never making it to the superbowl proclaimed that he would wear a dress if the Saints ever did make it to the superbowl. Unfortunately Buddy Diliberto (1931 – 2005), the voice of the New Orleans Saints, died before he had a chance to make good on his promise. In January 2010 the Saints did make it to the superbowl and thousands of other men made good on that promise in his honor. It was a fun parade to watch.

Kids played along too.

Always a large crowd in the french quarter.

Sporting the “Golden Girls” look.

Pigs are flying

Wait – Is that Johnny Depp?

Nice jewels

This guy was fun. We stopped to talk to him for a while.

Santorini Day 2

Our second day at Santorini we decided to do a tour organized by our travel agency. We started the day with a boat ride to the caldera on Nea Kameni.

We got to walk around on top of the volcano. Notice the volcanic rock.

There is Fira off in the distance.

After our visit to the caldera, we visited some hot springs on Palia Kameni – but only after you jumped off the boat in freezing cold water and conquered a pretty long swim to the springs. Once there, you were rewarded. Unfortunately there was another long swim back to the boat.

Little church by the springs.