Mike's Blog: July 2010

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Us on top of the dome with Florence in background

Florence is beautiful.

El duomo

We hiked about 500 steps up this (el duomo) today, and the view was worth it. The museum was great too.

Picture Michelle navigating

With our refined methods- we should be asked to be on the amazing race.

Some restaurants are zagat rated and some are for routards

This made us laugh

Florence Italy

Best Cooking class in Florence

> After we arrived in Florence, we raced to find our accommodations > and then catch a bus to our scheduled cooking class at giglio > cooking school. A week ago in Paris we ran into a travelling group > of teenagers that we talked to and we asked what their favorite > thing was in Florence- and they told us about this cooking class > taught by an awesome lady with great English who was a great teacher > and that it all made for a great experience, so we emailed Marcella > and it was one of our favorite things to do in Florence.
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> I will write more about it later, but it was so fun. We made pasta > and sauce from scratch ( which i didn't have a clue how it was done) > and some amazing steak, and an even better dessert. More pics and > video to come
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Michelle on the train

This blog is mostly a reference for me to remember our trip as we go, so that I can reference and organize- Friday we spent from morning until 5 pm travelling from Nice, France to Florence. It was fun to navigate the train system and being on the train gave us time to catch up on some much needed naps.

Herr is Michelle really enjoying her book.

View from Uffizi museum

Here is a view of Florence from the uffizi museum. Inside this museum you see a ton of ancient art- like botticelli's birth of Venus, a few da Vinci's, michelangelo's Holy Family, raphael's self portrait and a few others of his. We ha to wait to go to the other museum to see Donatello's work, but I saw all 4 of the ninja turtles' namesakes today- a good but exhausting day.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Fountainbleu Palace

We went to fountainbleu yesterday it was really cool, one of my favorite parts of our trip. This castle was home to my grandfather for a little while during world war 2 while he marched under Patton. I bet they all liked staying there.

I was impressed by how extravagant everything was, and how unnecessary riches and ornaments are for real happiness.

Standing in the center of paris

In the apartment we rented in Paris there was a guide book for paris by Rick Steves- it was really good and we highly recommend it for people travelling to Paris. He told us that just 30 yards in front of Notre Dame is the very center of the city. So here we are standing in the very center of Paris.

Video and pic: all time worst street entertainment

I have seen some bad street performers in my day, but these two were the worst. I felt like I was watching my little sister's dance routines she choreographed and performed when she was like 5 years old (which were great for a 5 year old)

They dropped each other when they attempted lifts, stumbled as they twirled and their umbrella routine was so bad it was comical. Anyway, I tried to get their second act on video, but as you will see people just kept leaving and walking in front of my video camera- which proves my point poignantly. They did start with a big and tired audience that had found a respite on these stairs, at least until they had started their show. Enjoy!!

Download now or watch on posterous

IMG_0603.MOV (1863 KB)

Video: Eiffel tower lights

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IMG_0612.MOV (836 KB)

We were on the Eiffel tower at the beginning of the hour and so it started to light up like you'll see in this video. It was phenomenal seeing the massive structure and it really is an awesome site and marvel to think they built something like this just to impress people- it turns out 100+ years ago Mr. Eiffel beat the competition for the best design and everything- he beat out somebody that proposed to build a huge replica of a guillotine (which I am sure would have been a huge crowd magnet, "hey everyone, come see how we ran our government for a few years.") Although, it doesn't represent France's past, it certainly represents France since it was built and long into the future.

Eiffel tower picture at night

Mike Linton
801-671-2849

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Woody Allen's crew filming part of "midnight in Paris"

We just happened to be eating here when a part of Woody Allen's crew came by to film "midnight in Paris" - they are in the background. We went and talked to one of them afterwords and found out what movie it was for, and who was directing it.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Video: Monet's Pond

Download now or watch on posterous

IMG_0566.MOV (1563 KB)

You might recognize this from Monet's paintings. Because I was so familiar with Monet's paintings and it has always been a dream for me to go to France and travel outside the city for a day in the hot sun, it was like having splendid Deja vu when I saw this pond that had only been a part of my in depth studies of Monet, not to be confused with Manet, both artists and people don't think it is funny when you pronounce the T at the end of their names. He (mOnet) would come out and paint almost every day and he would paint the same thing at the same time of day and then move onto another painting, for example he would paint #1 canvas at 9am and then #2 canvas at 10am and #3 at 11, and he would do the same thing every day so the lighting and everything was the same.

The day trip was very fun, and it was really cool to see his house and his paintings and his garden and pond. We also ran into some really cool people. It was really cool to see the town he lived in- it was like you would think a town in France would be.

Monet's house and garden

We visited Monet's house and garden and pond today. It was cool. It makes me want to go and buy a sketch book and start drawing.

Mike Linton
801-671-2849

Rochambeau lemonade

I ordered a lemonade and recieved this bottle of rochambeau lemonade which was just a $5 bottle of sprite. Rochambeau- isn't that rock, paper, scissors?
I won't be getting anymore lemonade.