Party people

Berlin has had rain and clouds since we got here. So, we haven't done much sightseeing yet. But, you know where it's not raining?

The bars.

So, Oscar, Edgar, Celio and I went out for drinks down the street. Beer is quite cheap here and we consumed mass quantities of it throughout the night.

Edgar and Celio left around 11:30, so Oscar and I decided to check out a nearby funky-looking bar called "Rose". And that's when Oscar met...



Helga.

Well, that's what we called her anyway. She was the bartender, but looked like she also might work in a German correctional facility. She gave you your drinks when she felt like it and you liked it!

Blucher!



We then made friends with a group of German kids in a booth and spent the rest of the night drinking and hanging out with them. They were very friendly, fun and could speak English too, which is always a pleasure.

The bar walls and ceiling were covered in fur and adorned with a variety of interesting props, tacky religious figurines and paintings, and lighting that would even make Barbara Walters comfortable.





Nothing says "Welcome to my bar" like a giant silver pistol on the wall.





Or a plastic moose head and floral mirrors (and no...I'm not pulling my undies out of my crack in this photo, although it does kinda look like it).



Around 3:30 am, the kids decided that we were going to be joining them for Karoake. Not tomorrow, or "sometime this weekend"...

NOW.

Most people know that I hate Karoake almost as much as going to the dentist. But, we are in Germany and had been properly liquored up by Helga...so, I just went with the flow.



We all piled into cabs and headed to a bar on the other side of town. When we got there, it was empty and I was praying that they would say "We're closed, get out ya' bastards".

But no...

They assigned us one of those Karoake rooms you see in every movie, gave us a song book, more drinks and then we spent the next hour butchering just about every pop hit that came up on the screen.



Around 5:00 am, we headed back to our side of town, de-cabed, said goodbyes, and walked back to Edgar's condo and crashed into bed (almost literally in our condition)

Good times.

Florence...not Henderson

What a way to end the day...

After working all weekend at the castle, we were only left with one day to see all of Florence, which is really impossible. Oscar and the other four people on our team decided to drive to Rome (three hours away), rather than see Florence. Since I have already been to Rome, I decided to stay behind and see Florence on my own. So, I got my boots out (cause they were made for walkin'...and that's just what I planned to do) and prepared for the day in the city.









When I woke up, it was windy and POURING rain...so I put on long pants, took an umbrella and got on the train anyway. Thankfully, when I got into town, the rain had stopped and it started to clear up. It also got very hot and humid, which made me a very sweaty American mess for most of the day.











The city is full of so many churches, statues, historical buildings and wonderful restaurants...it's almost a cultural overload. You really need a couple days to see it all. But, I didn't have that...so I just kept pushing my sweaty tits through the crowds and enjoyed the sights along the way.










The three largest main structures in the city are the Piazza Duomo (a large church, dome and tower)...





The Palazzo Vecchio (a huge square with a vast selection of ginormous scantily clad detailed statues)...



As much as I wanted to go in and see the real statue of David...the line was just too long and I didn't have enough time to see that and the rest of the city. Thankfully, his stunt-double hangs out with the other statues here...so, that was free and allowed me to keep moving.







And, finally, the Biblioteca Nazionale (a giant library that I didn't have time to visit up close).



Along the way, I discovered that Betty Boop has obviously made a career change and is now a sassy waitress in a small cafe downtown. But, she was still very friendly looks like she hasn't aged a day.



I also saw a couple of mimes who were wandering around behind random tourists and doing what they do best...scaring and manhandling people, which amused the unstalked to no end. I waited a few minutes to see if anyone would punch one of them and, when they didn't...I sadly moved on.



This gold "historical figure" was not amused by the mimes either, because they were stealing attention away from him (people normally pay to have their picture taken with him), so he just brooded nearby smoking bitterly and turning away from people who tried to take his photo from afar for free (like me).



I ended my trip by walking up a very steep hill to a large lookout over the city. There is a big statue of some naked guy whose perky stone butt cheeks provided the only shade I had for a couple of hours while I waited for the sun to set and the city lights to come on.





Nearby, this young couple proceeded to vigorously makeout as if they had just reunited after several years apart (rather than just meeting the night before after many bottles of wine). It was sweet, romantic and annoying all at once...



While resting on the only stone seat near a breeze, a woman came over and asked if she could take a photo of the collection of padlocks that had been jabbing me in the back for the past twenty minutes. She then proceeded to tell me that people in love from around the world leave locks with their names on them attached to this area of the balcony fencing. The story says that people who "lock their love" above the city remain in love forever. Very romantic sounding, but not the most ergomatic back support for the lock-less visitors just trying to air-dry.



As the day begins to wind down, people start to gather along this set of large stone steps to eat, drink and watch the sun set over the city.



Then as the sun finally disappears, the city lights begin to come on...which provides a breathtaking view of the whole city and the river running through it.







It's a really a beautiful city and if you ever get a chance to come to Florence....do it.



I'm in Berlin, Germany now...so, soon I'll be donning my Lederhosen with camera in tow and venturing out.

More to come soon...

Storming the castle

Here...kitty, kitty.

The reason Oscar and I came to Italy was to help his friend Edgar set up a wedding reception here in an a castle in Florence. So, we spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday putting things up (and then tearing them down and packing up the materials to be sent back to LA).



The castle is gorgeous and has all of the decor that you've seen in a thousand movies. Medieval design, lush gardens, stone architecture and statues akimbo.























They even make wine here...wish I could take a couple of these back with me to LA.



So, the past three days have been dedicated to focusing on the party. It's been very busy and we've all been functioning on small doses of sleep, but it was a lot of fun and well worth it in many ways.



We had to unload materials from a huge metal container that was shipped over, then take it to the castle (along with the other three members of our team, plus additional local helpers).



This is the rest of our main group, plus Monica the party planner (who is also the daughter of the Villa owners where we're staying). Monica and her husband, Max (on the right in the photo below), have also served as wonderful guides and hosts while we're staying here (they made both of the delicious meals for us the first two nights and have shuttled us around and given directions, rides and so much more.



They have been great during this very busy weekend.

Decorating a room, to many, sounds like a fairly easy job. It's just a large space, fabric and furniture all thrown together, right? Well, it takes a LOT of hard work by many teams of people to transform a room like this...



Into something festive and unrecognizable as this...





Here is a before picture of one of Edgar's round mirrored tables (with a cool reflection of the castle above), followed by the end result.





It's really amazing how all the materials, planning, design and grueling work all come together in the end. It really makes me appreciate, more than I already did, how many skilled and talented people it takes to put an event together.



Everything worked out very well and the client was happy, which is all that counts. It must have been a very big client because you know who stopped by and sang a couple of songs during the reception?

Sting.

Yes...THE Sting.

Of course, that happened during the only four hours (out of twenty four) that we weren't at the castle. But, Monica got to meet him and said that he was very nice.



Now that work is done, it's time to relax and enjoy the rest of our time here. I spent all day in Florence today...so, that will be showing up on the blog very soon.

It's four a.m. now...must sleep....

Ciao Bella

We got into Florence last night and are staying at a beautiful villa in the countryside. The weather is pretty warm and a bit muggy...but we're in Italy, so who's gonna complain?











We are staying in one of four main living spaces (the last image above). There is a main house, our house, a house on the backside of ours and another on the hill. The countryside is beautiful and the people who have put us up have been wonderful. They have cooked us dinner both nights...amazing company, food and wine (and lemoncello...no wonder Danny Devito goes crazy for it).









The grounds are vast with a variety of gardens, statues, olive fields, and amazing architecture everywhere you turn.

















We are working a party tomorrow at a castle, so everyone has to get up early...so, this will be short.

Hopefully I'll have more time in the next couple of days.

Pasta Tower Kraut

I am off to Florence, Italy tomorrow for six days...



Then, fly out of Pisa (hopefully with enough time to see that vertically challenged tower)...



To Berlin, Germany for 6 days.

I'm not sure what my internet connection situation will be, so I'll post when I can over the next couple of weeks.

Ciao!

Tilt Shift Photos

If you want to do something fun with your photos, there is this great site where you can take a photo and make it look like the subject is a toy-sized version of the real location. You can see how it looks in the photo above of a cityscape in Greece.

The process is called Tilt Shifting and you can do it for free on this site.



With the right photo, the results can be a hoot.

Enjoy!

Style over substance

If you want to make $201 million dollars in 5 days, here's all you have to do...



Make sure you have a ridiculous amount of robots for the kids.



Add some gratuitious booty and cleavage for the ovulating boys and men.



And lots and LOTS of things blowing up.

If you have enough of the above, the whole plot-thing is really irrelevant.

The next Transformers movie should just focus on Megan Fox as a scantily clad robot who explodes every five minutes.

Box office gold!