Newport, RI July 2022

Day 1

We left on Wednesday morning and arrived in Newport about an hour before check in at the Outlook Inn, so we drove down Bellevue and around Ocean Ave, with a very quick stop at Fort Adams (didn't go in the fort) and Starbucks (Jose was starving).

The Outlook Inn was a great place to stay.  See my review of the B&B HERE.

We walked down to Thames St and had lunch at the Gaslamp Grille - I had a very expensive but tasty Lobster BLT.  

Rented bikes and rode to Cliff Walk.  Kind of boring north of Narragansett St and part of it was closed.  So we rode around to Webster St and walked to the  Breakers and visited that mansion.

Quick drink for Jose at the Smokehouse.  Great place for people watching.

Dinner at Board and Bistro - we shared mushroom risotto, shrimp  and avocado small plate, duck drumettes small plate, scallops small plate.   

Red Velvet cupcake at Cupcake Charlie's.

Day 2

Breakfast at the B&B - Chorizo hash with over easy eggs and watermelon.

Mocktail and delicious seafood chowder at Wharf Southern Kitchen and Whiskey Bar.

Picked up Python and Alligator jerky at Gourmet Exotic Jerky.

Split a ham and cheese croissant from The Cookie Jar.

Sunset sail on the Adirondack II.  Met the owners of The Hard Pressed Cider Company, who were very pleasant to talk with.

Cheese pizza at a tiny place that had wood in the name - don't see it on Google.

Day 3

Breakfast at the B&B - French Toast with raspberry simple syrup and fresh berries and bacon.  Chatted with a nice couple doing east coast shoreline vacation ending at Bar Harbor, ME.

Quick drive through Narragansett and stop near Point Judith Lighthouse (which apparently you can't visit anymore).  

Stop at the Stonington tiny beach for an hour.

Super quick stop at the Clinton Crossing Outlets.

Late lunch at Steamed in Madison with friends visiting from out of town.

Final Observations

The restaurants in the main touristy area are not diverse at all - mostly seafood and pub type food.  But if you go outside of the touristy area there is more variety.  

It was noticeable how homogenous the people were that were visiting.  It looked like almost everyone could have been related.  Blondish, blue eyes...

Food portion sizes were bigger than I expected, which was kind of good because the food definitely was not cheap.

Next Trip Planned: Peru

Well, it's been a while since I've had a big trip, but finally my next trip is planned: Peru.  I'm going to be spending about a week in Cuzco and Aguas Calientes with a trip (of course) to Machu Picchu.


I was hoping to stay at Inkaterra, a resort in Aguas Calientes, and I was even willing to splurge a bit.  However, when I found out it would be $1800 for two nights, I couldn't justify it. 


It's going to be an expensive trip.  I hope it's worth it and I don't get altitude sickness!  Hope that coca tea works!

France and Italy 2012

I just got back from just over 2 weeks based in Nice, France and I didn't want to come home!  Usually you're ready for the comforts of home, but I could picture myself coming back year after year.

Nice
People asked me when I got back what was my favorite location, and it was Nice itself.  There is a ton to do, the food is good but expensive, the people were very nice, and it was close to a lot.

Most things are closed on Sunday, but a lot of the museums are open.  So go then!  Or, to the beach.

Venture out of Old Nice and check out the other neighborhoods for different food that's usually a better value.  For something different, Nice has something that seemed like a Chinatown slightly southeast of the train station.

Favorite bits:

• Jardin Botanique
• Amorino Gelataria
• La Pizza restaurant
• Chagall Museum

Eze-le-village
Old hilltop town with narrow, winding streets.  Cute, but very tourist-trappy.  Most of the shops contained absolutely nothing I would ever consider buying, but it was worth the bus ride (although I'd say barely).  I happen to go on the day of the Monaco Grand Prix so I had a little bit of trouble getting a bus back to Nice.  They were "complet".

The restaurants don't open for dinner until at least 7 but the last bus to Nice is at 8.  :-/

Villefranche-sur-mer
Cute, small town that's close to Nice.  It's very close (I think it's about 20 minutes by bus and I think you could technically walk in a pinch) and worth a visit.

Calvi, Corsica
Gorgeous, probably my second favorite location on the trip.  The scene was breathtaking when I first arrived, especially at my hotel which was outside the downtown area and uphill.

On my second day I walked to Notre Dame de la Serra, stopping downtown to buy a hat (I had already gotten a little sunburned on the ferry ride over).  It was hot, I was wearing jeans, and I thought I was going to die getting there, but it had great views.


View Walk to notre dame de la serra in a larger map


St. Paul de Vence
Eze-like.  But in general, prettier, although it took longer to get to.  If choosing between the two, go to St. Paul de Vence.

Monaco
Monaco was all right but not what I expected.  I expected it to be more... shiny and expensive looking, I guess.  I went the day after the Grand Prix and the guardrails and fences were still up, which was a pain in the rump.  Even without them, though, the sidewalks were inconsistent (or absent) and it didn't strike me as a particularly pedestrian-friendly area compared to the other places I had visited.

San Remo, Italy
An hour and half (or so) train ride from Nice, it was nice to pop on over to Italy basically for lunch.  The town itself is small (with the standard old section, pedestrian only) with not a huge selection of things to see and do, so we only spent a few hours.  Lunch was great though.  Carbonara!

Advice

• At least in the spring when I went, bring an umbrella with you just in case, unless you don't mind getting caught in the rain.  The weather is a little unpredictable and kind of like Florida.  Sunny in the morning, but often cloudy and/or rainy in the afternoon, clearing up again in the evening.
• Say "Bonjour" to the shop keepers when you enter and "Au Revoir, merci." when you leave.  In talking with others, this might be where they went wrong.  From what I understand, it's considered rude if you don't do this.  They'll be rude back, apparently, although I don't think I encountered a single rude person in a shop.
• Don't wear jeans if you go to Notre Dame de la Serra.  hehehe.
• If you're in Nice, it's tempting to go to Fennochio with its 1000 flavors, but try Amorino on Rue Massena.  All natural, awesome texture.

On Deck for 2012

2011 wasn't a big travel year for me, but 2012 is definitely looking up!

Planned destinations:

• Nice, France
• Belgium
• Brazil

Any suggestions for day trips from Nice or Ghent, Belgium would be appreciated!

Top Destinations

Trip Advisor publishes its top 25 destinations - with categories of World, United States, Europe, Caribbean & Mexico, Asia and lots more.  Check it out.  What a great way to plan your travel bucket list.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/TCDestinations

Windsor Locks Canal Trail

From Connecticut

I've driven by the Windsor Locks Canal Trail for years and wanted to do something outside today, so I stopped by to check it out.  It's not bad - not an especially exciting hike (very flat) but the cool part is that you have water on both sides of the paved trail - the Connecticut river on one side and the canal on the other.

The trail itself is raised so you can't really get near the water except in a few places.  Near the parking lot is a small spot with sand.

I saw what I think is a muskrat swimming along me in the canal and I'm definitely going to have to ride down on my bike.  There were a decent amount of people out with kids and dogs and everyone is friendly.

Check out the State of CT's site for a map of state parks.

Naples

I flew down to Naples, FL to check it out.  Never had been, but heard great things.  I'm in the airport on my way home and I can't wait to get back.  Naples is very pretty but BORING.  Boring.

If you like the beach and golf you're ok.  If you want much else, you're out of luck.  The food is expensive and not that great.  The most enjoyable food experience I had was a Mama Mia's where I got a couple of slices of good NY-Style pizza.  I had some crappy cupcakes for dessert at a nearby cupcake specialty shop.  I saw a reviewer on Yelp ask "Do the old people in Naples lose their tastebuds?"  I have to agree.

The beach - pretty beach, but just beach.  And you park at a meter and pay .25 per 10 minutes.  Mmm kay.  The big attraction is the fishing pier.  It's just a pier.  It's kinda long.

I did go to the zoo which I liked, mostly because I got there before all the kids poured in and it combines a zoo with a botanical garden.  The plants were great but it was a little depressing to see the beautiful lions pacing in boredom.  They have little islands with primates which are fun to watch.

Watch out for the old people drivers.  They are TERRIBLE!

Brazil 2010

This year I spent the holidays in Brazil.  I'm not doing a play-by-play but here are the highlights:

Bagé
Hot, humid and busy were the streets with lots of people buying sundaes and cones.

Cassino
Claimed to be the longest beach in the world, it was (thankfully) much cooler and pretty windy - though that made the intense sun barely noticeable which led to my burnt thighs.

People pushing ice cream carts honking horns, selling corn on the cob, hotdogs, sunglasses, hats and even clothes - there was always someone coming by.

At night, people walk the avenida with some parking on the grass in chairs people watching.

New Years - New Years Eve is big at Cassino Beach (Praia do Cassino) - it's tradition to jump seven waves for good luck and they set off lots of noisy fireworks - not so much of the pretty ones, mostly just the loud ones.  At midnight it sounded like we were being bombed.

Our New Years Eve dinner was a little bit of a disaster.  Jose set up a nice table outside and just as he was wrapping up, it started to rain.  No sweat, there is a sheltered area still outside so we started moving everything there.  Jose hit a outdoor shower with the table, which dumped some water on him.

Then we had trouble getting Mauricio to calm down to eat since he's terrified of fireworks and they had already started setting them off around 6 pm.

Just as we were about to eat, the power went out.  It was off for about 2 hours.

Another tradition is to eat lots of little things that symbolize abundance, like lentils and grapes.  We were eating grapes and Jose reached in the dark for one that was on the table that turned out to be his father's teeth.

I elected to stay home for midnight, while Jose, Michele and Cilene went to the beach.  Apparently just as 2011 arrived, it poured.  I hope it's not a sign of things to come for the new year!

São José do Norte
(Literally) Sleepy little town on New Year's Day - everything was closed except for a small truck selling food.  It had a pretty blue and white church, though, and was a pleasant little trip via ferry.

Here are the photos...

San Fran Afterthoughts

Some post-trip thoughts:

• A friend noted that people in San Francisco don't like to wear deodorant (I noticed) and they can tell who is not local because they wear nice shoes and cologne when they go out.
• I'm glad I didn't drive because 1) parking is either hard to find or really hard on really steep hills - I don't know how they don't slam into each other trying to parallel park and 2) driving over some of those crests is scurry!
• Go in September or October when the weather is the nicest - Summer is cold
• Yelp Yelp Yelp Yelp!
• iPhones really do suck royal elephant balls in San Francisco.  WHY?  At least the phone portion... data seemed OK (except Four Square)
• I really miss Naia gelato

San Francisco Day 6

From California 2010

After our host Rick made us some scrambled eggs with salmon, Jose stayed in to rest for his performance in Venus and Adonis (he is cupid) and I went with Rick to the Asian Art Museum where he was going to a lecture.

I checked out the museum's displays and walked around the city hall area for a little bit.  The city hall itself is really nice - it looks like a state capital building.  There were some characters on the streets around there - one random woman asked me if I had a phone for sale, laughed and said she was serious because she missed her phone.

I met Jose back at the house and we had lunch at the Baker Street Bistro nearby and Jose had several coronaries while watching the Blue Angels practicing over the city for Fleet Week.

Then it was time (sort of, we arrived pretty early) to head to Menlo Park near Palo Alto for Jose's concert at St. Patrick's Seminary - nice place.  The concert was actually what's believed to be the first opera in English and it was only an hour long - not bad!

After the concert, we had dinner at a Thai place in Palo Alto.

San Francisco Day 5

From California 2010

Today Jose and I went down to Pier 39 for a cruise on the harbor - it goes under the Golden Gate bridge and around Alcatraz island... it actually gets pretty close.

After that, we had lunch at the Crab House - holy fast service.  They apparently take your order at your table with a wireless device because our food came literally like 5 minutes later.  I had the "killer crab" which was half a dungeoness crab in garlic butter.  It was good, but the garlic butter actually kind of overpowered the crab a bit.

Jose went home to rest and I did the rest of Pier 39 and the Aquarium.  The Blue Angels were practicing over the harbor for Fleet Week, too.  Jose told me later he wasn't able to nap because of them.

I walked up to Washington Square Park and had some really great gelato at Naia - you can get two flavors in a small cup, so I got pistachio and Ferrero Rocher - both were excellent.

I took the bus to Golden Gate park and went to the Tea Garden that Jose and I skipped the other day.  I decided to go after seeing photos of it from a friend of mine.  I got some tea and mochi at the tea house in the garden and spent a while just relaxing a bit.

I went to the Conservatory of Flowers just in time to see it before it closed, some very nice flowers - and the jungle room was sooo humid!  My glasses fogged up as soon as I walked in.

I walked to Stow Lake just as the sun was starting to go down and ate a little of the mochi I got to go.

My friend Dante was out of work by this time so we met in Castro for dinner at Thai Chef, caught up (it had been YEARS since we'd seen each other), and he took me around to pretty much all the gay bars in the area for literally about 5 minutes each, LOL.  They're all pretty small and "clubs" are pretty rare - they're really just bars and strangely enough they were showing baseball - but because the Giants were playing.

We took a quick ride to SoMa and Folsom street and then he dropped me off back at the house!  It was great to see him again but by then (about 10) I was pretty tired.

San Francisco Day 4

From California 2010

Lots of walking today but not as many destinations.  Jose and I went to Golden Gate park and saw the Academy of Sciences - really great museum.  Aquarium, a four story rain forest with butterflies and birds, we did the planetarium show which was great...

Then we Yelped around the area looking for lunch and we settled on a Thai place for something light... Soi Gow Thai.  I got lettuce wraps and a cup of coconut shrimp soup, Jose got duck fried rice.

We drove up to Lands End and walked around up there and the Sutro Baths ruins before he dropped me off at the Palace of the Legion on Honor before going to rehearsal.  I checked out the art at the museum and the holocast memorial and then I walked alllllll the way down to Geary and 22nd... holy crap my knee hurt.

I took the bus from there to Presidio street and then another bus back to the Marina district again for dinner.  I Yelped around there for quite a while before getting pizza at Amici's - a delicious mini pizza with roasted garlic, mushrooms and carmelized onions.

While eating the pizza, I Yelped dessert and went to Crepes a Go Go and got the most amazing giant crepe - the King Lias crepe:  Nutella, bananas, coconut, almond powder and whipped cream.  Smashing!

On the way back to the house I picked up a red velvet cupcake for Jose and burned a few of the calories from that crepe by walking home.

Tomorrow I'm thinking harbor cruise, bay aquarium... and I think I'm having dinner with my friend Dante.

iPhoning in San Fran

Musings on my iPhone:

One thing I've learned:  Yelp is one of the best things in the world.  Not only can you find just about anything near you, but you get the reviews.  I definitely would have had a different dining experience on this trip without it.

My iPhone was absolutely invaluable as a GPS system.  My big walk on Monday would have been much harder without it!  Yay Google Maps!

Why the hell doesn't Foursquare work properly in San Francisco?  My phone worked fine for data, although I am dropping calls a lot... I've heard AT&T sucks in San Francisco.

San Francisco Day 3

From California 2010

This morning Jose and I got up pretty early and drove down to Carmel-by-the-Sea.  The main downtown area is pretty touristy, with nice, upscale shopping and dining.  We had brunch at this quaint place called The Cottage.  I had a delicious meal - the Cottage Special - little pancakes, "bangers" - English sausage, eggs and a side of toast.  Jose wasn't as thrilled with his eggs benedict - he said the hollandaise was very vinegary.

We drove along "Scenic Drive", stopping a little along the way, with nice views of the ocean, beaches and rocks.

We took route 1 out to the Point Lobos Ecological Reserve, which was absolutely breathtaking.  Sea lions basking on the rocks, rock arches in the water, little hidden beaches, a cypress grove... you could spend all day there but we only saw one side of it.  Jose even took a little nap in the car while I explored China Cove.

We wanted to see Monterey and Jose had rehearsal tonight at 8, so we headed there... it wasn't as compact and pretty as Carmel, but we had a very pleasant snack on Cannery Road and drove around a little bit.  We weren't all that impressed, didn't have time for the aquarium, so we headed back to San Francisco but took route 1 most of the way.

From California 2010

So many of the views on the way back were so beautiful, and we were approaching sunset so the light was great.  We stopped at a couple places along the way, most notably Pigeon Point lighthouse and Pescadero Beach.

Jose dropped me off downtown on his way to rehearsal, and I took the bus toward the house.  I stopped off at the Marina district and had a great dinner at Ristorante Parma, where they had carbonara that was not made with cream.  It had a definite chicken stock flavor but it was really good.  I also had some chocolate raspberry cake for dessert.

People in the restaurant were kind of weird (not the staff they were great - the patrons).  The guy next to me literally asked for a custom pasta dish, specifying all the ingredients.  The woman next to me wanted a seafood dish with different seafood but they didn't have shrimp so she couldn't have what she wanted, but she talked about how she wanted her shrimp.  I don't understand why people to go restaurants, wanting something really specific.  I have no idea where they were from.

San Francisco Day 2

From California 2010

Jose and I slept well, got up and had some breakfast at The Grove.  The place was very expensive and kind of loud, but the food was good.  It felt like it was trying a little too hard, though.

We drove over the Golden Gate bridge and stopped at the vista point just over it.  I don't know - personally I thought it was cool to be in a famous place but I just don't see the bridge has being particularly nice to look at.  Cool bit of engineering, though.

Jose wanted to take me up the nearby hills, but there was road construction and where he wanted to go was closed off, but we ended up in Point Bonita which was very cool and very beautiful.  Some neat historic sites like the Nike Missile Site and Battery Mendell, along with some really gorgeous views.  We also went to the Point Bonita Lighthouse, and though we couldn't get to the lighthouse itself (it was closed), the trail there was really gorgeous.

We stopped REALLY quickly in Sausalito, because I got in touch with my friend Alex and we went back to have lunch with him in a bad section of San Francisco - at Miss Saigon at 6th and Mission.  The food was good though, and it was great to see Alex.

We did some very quick shopping at the mall near Powell Station and then Jose had to go off to rehearsal.  I got my City Pass and started my big walk.

From California 2010

I walked to Union Square, walked up Grant through Chinatown, looped around Stockton - it's interesting.  Grant is the really touristy Chinatown street and the next street over, Stockton, is the REAL Chinatown where everything is in Chinese and you get the real deal like dried scallops, lop cheung and other dried scary bits.  Walking on Stockton felt like I was back in China.  Hong Kong mostly, because people were speaking Cantonese.

I went up Montgomery, got a really good look at the Transamerica Pyramid, walked up to Telegraph Hill, found an intersection where you can see the pyramid, the Bay Bridge and the Coit Tower just by turning in place.

I hiked up the Coit Tower stairs, took in the view with a bunch of other tourists, and then went down the other side, up Lombard St, including the really crooked section, up Russian Hill, over Polk to Bay and sat in the grass at the corner of Bay and Laguna while making plans to meet my friend Jaycen.

Using my new City Pass, I took the bus to Castro and met up with Jaycen, walked around the area for a bit before having dinner at La Mediterreanee and had some really good chicken with raisins and spices in pyllo.  They had such good service.  Jaycen ordered Kibbeh and only ate half.  He asked to take the rest home, and the waitress came back and said "I'm so sorry.  I dropped your food, so they're making you another one."  They made him another full one!

Back to the house for me, met up with Jose, who got out from rehearsal a bit early, and we chatted with Rick whose house we're staying at and another guest at the house.

San Francisco Day 1

Jose and I arrived in San Francisco around 5:30 pm local time, picked up our rental (free upgrade since they didn't have any more compacts), and then dropped our stuff at the house we're staying at near the Presido.

From California 2010

We drove down to Fisherman's Wharf, walked around for a little bit and after a couple of long waits, settled for a short wait at Pompei's Grotto where we had some excellent food. We shared a crab appetizer - crab bruschetta, a baby crab cake and a half cracked dungeoness crab. I had a full dungeoness crab which is chilled and so sweet. It was delicious and reasonably priced. I was very full by the end.

We walked around a little more before going back to the house and going to bed.

Double Hike: Connecticut

From Connecticut

Continuing my exploration of Connecticut, today I drove down to Southford Falls in Oxford, CT.  It's a nice park although the "falls" were not much more that a trickle - I've seen brooks with more action.  I had a nice walk/hike on the trails that loop around the park and saw lots of chipmunks.

I think I heard a bear up near the watchtower, and later I saw what appeared to be bear poop, too.  Not really loving the idea that I might have been near a bear.

I had planned to have lunch in Litchfield and then take back roads home.  On the way, I SWEAR I saw signs for a Garlic and Harvest festival, and followed the following signs to a vineyard where there was no garlic, so I left.  I am not a huge wine person and was pretty hungry at this point.

I got to Litchfield and ate at Aspen Garden and I had a delicious cup of chilled apple and butternut squash soup, and an OK greek salad with spanikopita.  I poked around the shops in the cute little downtown area and then took off for my slow drive home.

When I got to Simsbury, I saw what looked like a monestary on a mountain and I immediately thought, a la Liz Lemon, "I want to go to there."  So, I kind of just drove toward it.

From Connecticut

I found Talcott State Park and Heublein Tower (it's not a monestary).  I hiked my butt again up to the tower, took in the 360 degree view from the observation deck and hiked my tired butt back down.

I heard a woman who was on her way up with some kids say "It's so much easier on the way down!"  LIAR!!!  She should have her kids taken away for lying to them like that.  I jest.  Mostly.  I was tired.

I continued on back roads home until I drove by a southern/cajun joint in a plaza and picked up some dinner:  ribs, cornbread, corn, rice and candied yams.  OK, at this point I had food so I hopped on the highway for the rest of the trip home.

My feet are tired, but it was a great day and I'm going to sleep well!  I burned a lot of calories today and enjoyed the fresh air.

I'll think of it as prep for my trip to San Francisco with Jose which is coming up!

Trying out the local stuff

From Connecticut

So I've lived in Connecticut for 8 years and I hardly know it.  I've been to somewhat unusual locations throughout the world, but I have not seen much of the US, so I've been using my weekends to explore the area around me.

I made some half-hearted attempts to find a traveling companion but decided to go it alone like I often do when traveling abroad while Jose's rehearsing.

I had heard from a friend of mine who was CEO of a tourism board in CT that Essex was a nice, quaint town, so I drove down and checked it out.

It was nice, but really small.  The one main street had some little shops and galleries and a lot of expensive cars parked along the road.

I did, however, book a cruise on the Connecticut river on the Mary E. which is based from the Connecticut River Museum.  I grabbed a quick lunch at Olive Oyl's - crab cake and a shrimp thai pasta salad.  Then I had perfect weather on my side and me and a boatload of older folks had a nice, relaxing time on the river.

Lots of really expensive houses, an island for sale ($1 million with a house), osprey nests... one bird of prey we couldn't quite identify.  A biplane flew over us... People on the river in speedboats, though, are not very considerate.  I saw one little boat almost get bowled over by the wake of a speedboat.

From Connecticut

Someone on the boat mentioned Gillette Castle, so I decided to head over to there after my sail.

The castle itself is a little weird looking - very craggy - and I didn't pay to go inside, but had a nice walk around the grounds (there are trails) and down to the river near the ferry.

When in Rome...

... do as Romans do.  So what does that mean?  In my opinion, from three days:

• Eat massively delicious food and somehow keep from becoming morbidly obese.  I haven't figured out quite how they manage.  
• Drive like MANIACS.  Holy crap.  On a road with two car lanes and one for buses, they drive 5 cars wide, and that's not including the motorcycles driving between the cars.  We're talking like an inch or two from their handlebars and the cars' mirrors.  Eeep.
• Live totally casually among ancient (ANCIENT) ruins and beautiful architecture.
• Spray graffiti on anything modern.
• Drink Acqua Panna.  Yummmmm.
• Learn how to "Ciao bella" at women if you're a guy and learn how to deal with it if you're the bella.  No one said "Ciao bello" to me.  :-P
• Wear tight pants.

I loved Rome... no way I could drive though.  I'd never get anywhere because I am no good at forcing my way through traffic.  That's why Jose's always good for driving when leaving big events like concerts.  And there's only two metro lines downtown because of the multiple levels of ancient ruins under the city.  

Rome II

From France and Italy 2010

Our second full day in Rome had us taking the bus to the Vatican (no students - they were probably all hung over).  The line to get into the basilica was INSANE.  Perhaps even a mile long.  We took some photos and browsed some cheesy tourist shops around St. Peter's square (there was even a calendar of hot priests!).

We walked around the wall of the Vatican to the other side where we got into the Vatican Museum with no line... but there were old people tours everywhere and at one point it was really bad - packed like the bus was!  We forced our way through and pretty much ran through the museum to the Sistine Chapel, pausing ever so slightly in the hall of maps, which was probably my favorite room.

The chapel was pretty awesome - lots of people, some occasionally taking a photo and getting yelled at, and guards shhhhing people.

We found a little pizzeria and had some pizza and some crab things I love so much.

We did some shopping and I got a bunch of great shirts from a store called David Saddler... really great stuff - contrasting inner cuffs you can flip out, cuffs that have both buttons and holes for cuff links... they took a lot of my money but the woman who helped me, Andressa, was really sweet and from Sao Paulo so we talked in Portuguese.

The Castle of Angels and the Piazza del Popolo were next and by then my feet were ready to fall off.  Home and then dinner at Pomodoro which had good food but Jose and I agreed our favorite restaurant was the one we went to on our first night... Mmmmmm that carbonara.