Friday, October 27


NxtUp...Accessories


Trash Bag

Check out this bit of craziness. A reversible 'trash bag' by Jack Spade.

http://www.jackspade.com


NxtUp...Puzzles

Burj 3D Puzzle

This is an awesome puzzle. I would love to see this building in person.

http://www.amazon.com

Wednesday, October 25


NxtUp...Casa

Orange Fridge

Okay, this is fun & real pricey!

http://www.modlivin.com/accessories/1627-BIG-CHILL-Refrigerator.html

NxtUp...Robtober

Love it!

Mini Driving Lola, a designer & co-worker gave me this cute b'day card. Has she been paying attention or what?

Tuesday, October 24


NxtUp...B'day Weekend

JetBlue

Inexspensive flight to NYC...priceless.

http://www.jetblue.com

NxtUp...B'day Weekend

The Color Purple

I am looking forward to this. I will have hanky in hand just in case.

http://www.colorpurple.com

NxtUp...B'day

Weekend Stay in NYC

Newly remodeled. Good locale. Looks cute.

http://www.pickwickarms.com/podrooms.php

Sunday, October 22


NxtUp...Fav Things

Borghese Gardens

Wow the Borghese Gardens in Rome were beautiful. While there I was surprised with a birthday flight on JetBlue from Houston to NYC and a ticket to see The Color Purple.

NxtUp...Fav Things

The Pitti Palace in Florence

As pretentious as it sounds, I have seen the palace in Madrid & the Versaille, but the Pitti Palace...wow! People lived that way?

http://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/english/musei/palazzopitti/

NxtUp...Fav Things

H&M

Amsterdam was the first place I had been to H&M. A return trip in Amsterdam scored some new stuff.

http://www.hm.com/

NxtUp...Fav Things

Swiss Guard

Clownish outfits, but I am sure these men are trained to protect the Pope by any means.

NxtUp...Fav Things

Orange Pants

I lost count of the number of men in orange pants. I would not wear them, but "Vive l’orange".

NxtUp...Fav Things

Pace

A variation of the rainbow peace flag that is seen all over Italy.

NxtUp...Fav Things

Vatican Map Room

Mind boggling experience, even though there were more people in an enclosed space than I had ever seen in my life.

NxtUp...Fav Things

Stylish Girl

I kept seeing her in Venice. She was very cute in her green polka dot skirt and leggings.

NxtUp...Fav Things

Fashion TV for Men

Awesome!

NxtUp...Fav Things

Crossroads of the World

Brochures for Rome in every language in front of the Pantheon and a McDonalds facing the edifice.

NxtUp...Fav Things

The Birth of Venus

You see it duplicated all the time, but to actually see it in person...

http://www.arca.net/uffizi


NxtUp...Fav Things

Ancient & the New

Several of these scupltures were around Florence by Jimenz Deredia.





NxtUp...Fav Things

Wok

There were couple of these fast food places in Amsterdam with orange lite interiors.

NxtUp...Fav Things

Venice

Ethereal at night.


NxtUp...Fav Things

Street Art

These were fun to happen across in Amsterdam.

NxtUp...Fav Things

The Scupture Garden at the Guggenheim

At the amazing Guggenheim in Venice there were a couple of neon scupltures.
Peggy's grave. Peggy's dogs graves. Art by Picasso, Frances Bacon, Calder, Pollock,
Ernst and so many others. It was wonderful.

http://www.guggenheim-venice.it/english/index.htm

NxtUp...Fav Things

Oranje

In the Oranje Monarchy I found the oranje tote.

NxtUp...Fav Things

People Watching

"Hellllllo" in Siena!
He is rocking the glasses & belt.

NxtUp...Fav Things

Window Shopping

Europeans love the orange.

NxtUp...Fav Things

Calendar

I kept seeing this calendar being sold by vendors in Rome. I joked that it must be a handsome priest of the month calendar.
Turns out that it was! I clutched my rosary when I figured that out.

NxtUp...Fav Things

The top of duomo in Florence

It was an effort to get to the top, but the view was beautiful.


NxtUp...Fav Things

Travel by Train

I really enjoy traveling by train.

NxtUp...Fav Things

Stylish Mom in Venice

This mom was wrangling 2 kids, walking, texting, handling all kinds of bags and looking so glam in her fur trim & leopard skirt.

NxtUp...Fav Things

Window Shopping

These gloves looked so cool and graphic in a store in Venice.

NxtUp...Fav Things

Gelato

On every street corner...yum!

NxtUp...Fav Things

Window Display

These figures were at a luxury department store in Rome.

NxtUp...Fav Things

Window Shopping

This was a table at a furniture store in Rome.

NxtUp...Fav Things

Digital Waterfall

More in the Guggenheim garden.

NxtUp...Fav Things

Coin

This was a department store in Venice on a canal.

NxtUp...Fav Things

Prayer Candles

Sets of these were in the duomo in Florence.

NxtUp...Fav Things

Food Automat

This food automat was in Amsterdam. I can remember one as a little kid here in Houston. It may have been in Bellaire, but I can't recall.



NxtUp...Fav Things

Arabic Game Shows

In Rome the B&B had a flatscreen with 1500 channels, about 500 were Arabic telecasts from many different nations. This game show was kind of surreal to me because was all glam and American game showesque. There were even soap operas and some movies. John Olsteen was being tranlsated on one channel.

NxtUp...Fav Things

Window Shopping

While in Venice I stumbled across the orange Mao, porcelain, 20 inch tall figure. I love it!

Tuesday, October 17



NxtUp...Amsterdam

The End of the Euro Trip

After visiting the Pantheon one last time and having our last bowl of pasta and pizza we pack for Amsterdam. We arrive at the New Amsterdam Hotel just shy of sunset. Eric & I were able to walk around some and swing by places we had been before on some of the main streets. I had forgotten about the women in the Red Light windows. When we came across one I looked at her like it was something I had seen everyday, but inside I was thinking "oh my gawd!"

The next day we had the provided hot breakfast and coffee. We set out to shop at little in the rain and take a few photos before out train ride to the airport back to the United States.


http://www.hotelnewamsterdam.nl

Thursday, October 12





NxtUp...Roma

History, Sculptures, Gelato & Prada

Eric & I arrived to our 'Best B&B' without any problems. Super cute place and close to a lot of sites. We felt like we were living there since it was a one story walk up and we had old skeletons keys to the big front doors. Housekeeping made breakfast each morning and delivered it to us. Sweet. I miss that.

On a Saturday evening we walked a main shopping street and you would not believe the people watching. It was amazing.
The streets were blocked for almost a mile. Some shops had a line into the street to get in. At the end of the walk we ran
into the film festival booths sponsored by Playstation Portable. We had planned to make it to the red carpet to Nicole Kidman
the second night we were in Rome, but never made it.

That evening we walked a couple blocks to the Pantheon. We ate at Cul De Sac recommended by Wallpaper magazine and did some more sightseeing. In the days that followed we did an amazing amount of sightseeing, people watching and shopping. We made it to all the typical site and the the Vatican on our last day.

http://www.bestbb.it/index.htm

Wednesday, October 11




NxtUp...Venice

2 Days in Venice (not enuf')

From Florence we took the train to Venice. We arrived later than we wanted because we boarded a train to Zurich by mistake and missed out direct to Venice. Once we settled into our historic hotel, Hotel Al Sole, we took a water taxi around the outer banks to the
Piazza San Marco. There were not too many people out, so we could enjoy the scenery without all the people and pigeons.

After that we walked around the small streets and bridges to window shop and get the lay of the land. The next day we walked all over and took the vaperetos around. Highlights were the Ca' Rezzonico, the Guggenheim and the Basilica.

If I were able to do it all again, I would have spent more time in Venice and take a boat or ferry to Greece and Croatia.


http://www.alsolehotels.com

Tuesday, October 10



NxtUp...Last Day in Florence

Bye "Fred & Ethel"

We bid goodbye to Eric's parents as they head to Cinequeterra.