Glasgow to Poggibonsi - a long day

I was up at 5:15 yesterday for the bus to Prestwick. Dozed much of the flight to Pisa, then discovered that Kevin and Maureen were in the row in front of me. They must have been snoozing too! They are off for a couple of days in Siena before the Villa Pia kneesup. I don't have much of a plan, but that's pretty much how I like it. I had an early light lunch in central Pisa - outdoors by the duomo and tower. The tower is such an iconic image of Italy it is difficult to just head off without taking another look. It doesn't seem to have leaned much more since the mid 70s, but they have cleaned it up a bit.
Back then I did some work with Piaggio in Pontedera, and I wanted to go by and see how they were getting on without me. Pretty good seems to be the answer. They make Vespa scooters and other light vehicles, and business seems to be booming. I had a wander round the Piaggio museum, but this was a rather weird experience. There seemed to be absolutely no-one on duty (except maybe some CCTV) and I was free to wander round the whole place. I was particularly taken by the prototype(?) one-man mini-helicopter. Just what I need for my arrival at the James Bond party. Shame there was no-one there to make the sale!


After that I thought I'd head for Florence, but decided to move on after a quick (actually not so quick) look around. It is of course a really great place - but don't take a car! I ended up in Poggibonsi, in the middle of Chianti country, and am very pleased with this result. Another nice old mediaeval town, but with a modern outlook, a good hotel and excellent trattoria. And no tourists. Magnifico!
Here is a photo of the Pisa tower, and one of the mini-'copter.

Home again

I'm back in Glasgow, and ready to have an afternoon snooze. The flight was trouble free, except that I didn't sleep at all, and for the unexpected news at this end that my luggage has decided to continue its holiday and has gone off to San Francisco! The airline promises that it will be with me tomorrow, but I will believe it when I see it.
The last important bit of news from the NY trip is that we managed to dig out a restaurant with garlic soup on the menu - the El Quijote on 23rd Street (more or less next door to the famous Chelsea Hotel). Lunch was good and the soup tasty, but like so many Western restaurants they have chickened out of presenting a real garlic soup and what these folks offer is an egg-yolk soup with a bit of garlic and croutons thrown in. That's Judith with the soup!

Last day in NY

Yet another quick update here. I'm nearing the end of a short but very pleasant visit to New York. The 39 Steps was excellent - a comic version which is a take-off of the 1930s Hitchcock movie. Yesterday Judith and I took a long stroll round the "Green Flea" Market at 77th Street (highly recommended for all sorts of interesting stuff), before I went off for a look at the Ground Zero site. The highlight of my stay in NY has to be the Laura and Stephen engagement party in Greenwich Village yesterday evening - a true New York experience, complete with band and catering - and a view of the Empire State Building. Very many thanks to Rheda for the party and to Judith for her wonderful hospitality! That's Rheda with her daughters Susan and Laura in the pic.

NYC

I'm in NYC for a few days c/o my old friend Judith, who I haven't seen for 20 years or so. Today we have had a very pleasant walk round the American Museum of Natural History and back through Central Park (on a fine Autumn day). Tonight we are off to a production of the "39 Steps" at the Cort Theatre on 48th street.
And I am pleased to report that Elaine and Chloe are safely back and that all is well there - except that Tanya the Sheltie seems to have put on a bit of weight!

Farewell to LA

Just a quick note here to say that the last two days have gone very well, with Disney yesterday and Huntington Beach again today - and some more boogie boarding. I think we all feel we have just scratched the surface in terms of what is on offer here and we would love to be able to stay longer! But tomorrow we all move on, leaving LAX in the morning: Elaine and Chloe for Edinburgh via Newark; me for a few extra days in New York before I have to get back where I came from.

The beach

Today was beach day. There is a wide choice around here, but we settled on Huntington Beach, mainly because it is relatively close. It turns out that it is one of the best surf beaches around; so we all had a go at boogie boarding. This is a short board that you lie on; so it is a whole lot easier than the real thing. Anyway it is great fun and we had some difficulty in pulling ourselves away. We stayed in Huntington this evening - for a stroll through the evening street market and dinner. Elaine undertook some fairly serious retail therapy! All in all, this is a great place. It is Disney again tomorrow, but Thursday is scheduled for the beach again and it will be a difficult choice between Laguna (as planned) and going back to Huntington. Sorry, but today's picture has to be me with board and wetsuit. The air temparature is high seventies, but the water is pretty cold!

Rubberneckin'

We have been all over the place these last couple of days - as tourists in LA. Yesterday I did the driving; today we took a small minibus guided tour. So we have been to many of the hot tourist spots in Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica etc. It is genuinely good fun in lots of ways - e.g. bumping into movie icon lookalikes at every turn. Everything from John Wayne, Jack Sparrow, Batman, Dorothy (from Oz), Marilyn Monro, and Spiderman (halfway up a scaffold). My new favourite place here has to be the LA Farmers market: a great place for lunch and people watching (and lots of shopping if that is your fancy). Venice Beach is about the only place that has been a bit disappointing. It seems to have lost its cool and moved to the sleazy side. My solo pic today is of the "bakery for dogs" at the farmers market. I just like the name!