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Holidays in France [Saturday 9th August 2008 - Saturday 23rd August 2008] Here we are with the promised account of the holidays spent in France this summer. I will try to be as brief as possible because I'd like you readers to concentrate more on the pictures rather than on my report. The holiday company was composed by four individuals, namely, me, Chiara, Silvio and Gianfranco. We drove more than 4000 kilometres at the end of the tour, and we have been jumping through a lot of places in order to make the most of the time that we were given, but certainly increasing tiredness and stress from the trip. In brief: 1st stop - Carcassonne - Lovely fortified city that I was meant to visit many years before during another holiday but didn't quite get to it... 2nd stop - Saint Emilion - Here we actually stopped for three nights. The city itself is quite great, with a very beautiful underground church, unique! Then we spent some time in the Sauternes region to sample the wines and visit some Chateaux, we went to see the biggest sand dune in Europe at Arcachon and the centre of Bordeaux. 3rd stop - Rocamadour, Sarlat and Cahors - On the way we stopped at Bergerac and at a Fois Gras farm (this visit was quite great). The names belong to three cities that are worth a visit in a lifetime. Especially the first one, Rocamadour, is quite stunning and very beautiful. 4th stop - Peche Merle, Millau - The first place is a cave where prehistoric drawings have been found. Very nice place, even if the drawings weren't there the cave is worth a visit, it's truly beautiful. Millau was a stop to see the longest viaduct in Europe (2km long, 400mts tall) and to visit the caves of the famous Roquefort cheese. 5th stop - Provence - Here we spent three days visiting Arles (where we had our hotel, a beautiful country house), Avignon, Baux en Provence, Pont du Garde and one full day spent cycling in Camargue (where we managed to see the pink flamingoes). I wish we had more time because Provence is quite beautiful, but it was a very nice stop. 6th stop - Cote d'Azur - This was the last stop, four days, where we mostly rested by the pool or the sea, but we also managed to see Grasse, Port du Vence, Saint Tropez, and Port Grimaud. Grasse is quite beautiful, the visit at the Fragonard perfumery was great and the place itself is nice. Saint Tropez is a must see, but I wouldn't spend there more than the evening that we stopped to see it. All in all a great trip, we had fun and ate a lot of marvellous things. The wine and food was probably one of the best part, we managed to sample a lot of typical dishes from the various regions that we crossed and we also manage to see the actual producers of France's most famous culinary products (such as Bordeaux wine, Sauternes, Roquefort and Fois Gras)! Mission accomplished! [3 comments] Slow [Wednesday 27th August 2008] I feel slow. Maybe is this knee of mine that keeps twisting, with a Swiss made two weeks time lap. Maybe is the fact that it's still too hot and it's not easy being on holiday when everyone else seems busy doing their things. Maybe is something more, I don't know. But I feel slow. I hate it! On Saturday I need to go and collect two suits that I have bought in occasion of the new job, I needed some change as the older ones belong to the previous glacial era and did not fit me anymore. I also wanted to do some workout but the underwater rugby team is on holiday till September. I went to see Matteo today, it was great to meet with him and Esperanza (his wife), he gave me a lot of hints on the Mac and a couple of programs that I badly needed, as I am writing I am planning my first re-install of the Mac-book, Leopard is going to be featured soon on my laptop (if I manage to install it that is...). We also had a go at the Wii, I love that console I think it's simply great, I just wish that Chiara liked playing games a little, so that we could play together, but she hates technology and the likes, so I guess that the Wii will have to wait a little... I think at the people at Signoria, some of them did not see me leaving at all, as I resigned when part of the company was on holiday. I wonder what they have thought not seeing me there, although I was too much of an outcast to be remembered for days to come! Still working on the pictures, they will soon be coming! :P [No comments] Back Home - Summing up things [Saturday 23rd August 2008] So the holidays are over, the trip through South of France will be accounted for in the coming posts with great detail and visual aid (i.e. pictures). It has been very good, and we all came alive through it so it must be positive! :D I have got back in touch with a great friend that I did not hear from in ages, Antonio Carboni, we used to hang around together during summer holidays in Sardinia, and even if I do not seem if since a long time I am sure when we meet we'll pick things up from where we left them, Tito is certainly one of my best friends ever. Talking about Sardinia, unfortunately during the holiday my grandmother passed to better life, in her sleep. She didn't have anything majorly wrong apparently, but such is life. I am quite sad about the fact that I did not managed to see her before she left us, the last time we met was at Cristina's wedding, (my cousin) in Rome, 3 years ago, if memory still serves. Post coming up for her as well of course! New job is coming on the 1st of September so I really have to make the best of this week here in Florence, trying to sort out things that need to be done, and resting a little bit more! Oh, almost forgot: I want a cat. [2 comments] Resignations [Monday 4th August 2008] Yes, the main reason that prevented me from writing about my job experiences has been left behind today around 17.12 when I handed in my resignation notice to the owner of the company, a producer of luxury home and bed linens in S.Casciano, near Florence. The experience was quite good, I learnt a lot and gave me the chance of working with great people, unfortunately not all of them were that great and in the end they had the best on me, but only because I have found a better position somewhere else. I think that in future posts I will be writing more of what happened, mostly because the scenes that I had to witness to have been on the verge of a modern-comedy (or tragedy). I am pretty sure that Sheri could make a movie out of it, human beings are certainly very interesting! All in all a very good piece of news of course, let's hope in a bit of luck in the coming job, the one that I did not have in this last position... :P [7 comments]

Lox, Lorenzo... ME!! A little introduction about the author and the blog itself. Plus contacts and CVs... You never know! Pictures A Selection of the best pictures that I have taken all over the world during the years, all nicely indexed by year and geographical area. Jolly good! History of this Blog A collection of all the articles that I have wrote so far, divided by month/year. I have had the bad idea of writing my e-mail address on the board before, so this time I'll try to prevent some spam to get to me by putting this little image.. Let's hope it does the trick! [--------------------] A reminder to Myself Left and right Like day and night That's what makes the world go round In and out Thin and stout That's what makes the world go round For every up there is a down For every square there is a round For every high there is a low For every to there is a fro To and fro Stop and go That's what makes the world go round You must set your sights upon the heights Don't be a mediocrity Don't just wait and trust to fate And say, that's how it's meant to be It's up to you how far you go If you don't try you'll never know And so my lad as I've explained Nothing ventured, nothing gained You see my boy it's nature's way Upon the weak the strong ones prey The human life it's also true The strong will try to conquer you That is what you must expect Unless you use your intellect Brains and brawn, weak and strong That's what makes the world go round [------------------------------]