Tuscany to London

[hauchyi]

We went to Tuscany to celebrate a dear friend's birthday. Rented a villa and travelled to Florence, San Gimignano, and Siena before heading to London.

Weather was mostly beautiful with occasional rain created dramatic fog.

All pics are mine. Hope you'll like them.

View of the villa. You can see San Gimignano in the foreground.
IMG_8432 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

San Gimignano close up:
IMG_8632 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Inside the city:
IMG_4766 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8318 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

San Gimignano probably is not your number one tourist attraction in the Tuscany region, but it is worth visiting for sure! Read more about how penis worship and show-off of wealth create this city of impractical towers on the internet.

IMG_8341 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8328 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

The view in the morning is so dreamy:
IMG_8436 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8427 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Next stop will be Siena.

[hauchyi]

IMG_4832 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Tasty Pork everthing...
IMG_8399 by hau.chyi, on Flickr


There is only one single tree in the entire Siena old city:
IMG_8397 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Renaissance Bankers staring at pedestrians on the narrow street
IMG_8385 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Heading down from the Heaven?
IMG_8411 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Turned out Hong Kong is nothing more than a modern day reincarnation of a medieval Italian city...

IMG_8409 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8377 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8380 by hau.chyi, on Flickr


Sienna Duomo is impressive enough
IMG_4843 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Houses in Siena have so many lives that it shows:
IMG_4831 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

[hauchyi]

Two instantaneously recognizable views of Florence:

IMG_4865 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8590 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Inside the magnificent dome:
IMG_8601 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

We decided to go all the way up the bell tower (about 90m)
IMG_8539 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

View of the top of Duomo of Florence from the bell tower:
IMG_8569 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

The city:
IMG_8550 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8564 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8587 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Da Vinci tested his aircraft on this very hill:
IMG_8567 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

[hauchyi]

Do you know that the upper part of the bridge used to be a private walkway of the Medici family from the city hall to their palace on the other side of the river? The walk is about 20 mins, is fascinating (and for a price of 300 Euro, you can get inside)... The entrance is on the second floor of the Uffizi, but sorry, pictures are not allowed there...

Start of the walkway is from the Uffizi by the riverside:
IMG_4874 by hau.chyi, on Flickr


The view from the upper part of the bridge:
IMG_8495 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8483 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8491 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

The walk way cuts through the facade of a church.
SDC10492 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Inside the walkway, Medicis have a private window for worship.
IMG_4875 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Ordinary worshipers probably don't know the .1% are watching them:
IMG_8607 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Part of the walkway. I wonder if unsuspected tourists ever wonder what that is:
IMG_8514 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Inside:
IMG_8498 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

The end of the walkway is at the side of the Pitti Palace:
IMG_8506 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Exit is not very noticeable:
IMG_8500 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

The view:
IMG_4878 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

[Corinthians]

Italy is Italy!

The rest are just countries, there is no comparison

[hauchyi]

Nice clear day to leave Florence ...

The Arnor River and its bridges:
IMG_8789 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

City and river:
IMG_8787 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

The burbs are rather uninspiring:
IMG_8781 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8784 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Random Plaza/Park
IMG_8256 by hau.chyi, on Flickr
Approaching London City Airport:

Suburbs?
IMG_8838 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8802 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8817 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8821 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8832 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8831 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8827 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8826 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8849 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Olympic Park:
IMG_8845 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

[hauchyi]

A perfect day to go up to St Paul's Cathedral:
The Shard:
IMG_8948 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Nothing beats this view!
IMG_8958 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

If you are scared of height, the top is kinda scary..
IMG_8936 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Tate Modern (and millenium bridge):
IMG_8956 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8921 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8932 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8929 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8926 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8946 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Tower Bridge:
IMG_8947 by hau.chyi, on Flickr


IMG_8949 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Climb up is kinda steep. We walked in between the inner and outer domes.
IMG_8910 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Little tiny hole allows you to fall through onto the oval lobby:
IMG_8913 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

[SignalHillHiker]

Gorgeous pictures. Love the Siena shots.

[fflint]

Great tour, thanks

[FutureNorthEnder]

Great pictures! I love Siena and San Gimignano! I have a picture of that butcher shop in Siena, too. Such beautiful store displays there.

[hauchyi]

Thank you for the replies. I really appreciate them.

In the mean time, this would be the last set of the photos.
Secretly, I think I took good photos of architectures.
IMG_9030 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_9029 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_9008 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Benefit of running in the morning
IMG_4964 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

I like this picture
IMG_9006 by hau.chyi, on Flickr


IMG_9002 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Dawn on me
IMG_4989 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Many Britons are freakishly tall
IMG_8990 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

I want my cock back
IMG_4944 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8996 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8984 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8982 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8980 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_8978 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

IMG_5010 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Will they be kept?
IMG_4987 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Tuscany in the morning is like a Chinese ink and wash painting...
IMG_8439 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by hauchyi

The burbs are rather uninspiring:
IMG_8781 by hau.chyi, on Flickr

Yep, post-wwii reconstruction wrongly executed. Pretty much the same kind of slovenly development all over the continent. We just had to go cheap and fast back then.

So you've gone from traditional Italian family to the British worldclass mess... How did that change feel? I think despite appearances and their weird euroskepticism, the Brits could actually easily teach us southerners (including France in that term, since that's what we largely are) about some kind of famous friendliness and public spirit of theirs. That's not just a stereotype. The English are often a remarkably and sincerely welcoming people for real. At least, that's my feeling and it's touching when I think about it, even when I sometimes bash them for fun, just to keep the good old rivalry up lol.

So you had a good time, eh?

[SHiRO]

Great pictures! Fascinating tours!

[hauchyi]

Originally Posted by mousquet

Yep, post-wwii reconstruction wrongly executed. Pretty much the same kind of slovenly development all over the continent. We just had to go cheap and fast back then.

So you've gone from traditional Italian family to the British worldclass mess... How did that change feel? I think despite appearances and their weird euroskepticism, the Brits could actually easily teach us southerners (including France in that term, since that's what we largely are) about some kind of famous friendliness and public spirit of theirs. That's not just a stereotype. The English are often a remarkably and sincerely welcoming people for real. At least, that's my feeling and it's touching when I think about it, even when I sometimes bash them for fun, just to keep the good old rivalry up lol.

So you had a good time, eh?

Coming from Taiwan, having worked in China for 6 years, and now living in Chicago, I think I've seen plenty of the awful side effects of rapid growth. In the end, people have to deal with what they were given. Judging by many urban scenes I've been to, good tastes of people can sometimes make bad, albeit necessary, urban development much better.

I've always enjoyed Europe (excluding Austria and Switzerland, sorry folks...)
My most favorite city so far is Genoa. So charming and exotic....

[gatt]

Well done