Carnevale Viareggio , Italy 2004

One of the best and craziest parades I’ve ever been to was in Viareggio, Italy. I was living as a student in Florence at the time, and almost every weekend my friends and I would find a cool place to go and explore. During my studies in Florence I travelled all over Italy with other students. Each trip was always a last minute thing we'd plan on a whim.

 I loved the idea of spontaneously traveling like that,  making all the trips unexpected adventures. It was nice to know that you could get up any day and just say “umm…what town, city or village should we visit this weekend? and then just go”

 It was on one of these spur-of-the-moment escapades that my friend Lex and I ended up at the coolest craziest and most bazaar parades I have even experienced in my life. Both of us had traveled a lot through Italy and wanted to do something different, more local and less touristy. We wanted to see something  that  was authentic, representative of the Italian Heritage, but not a tourist trap.

I am not sure how we found out, but somehow we got word of a Carnevale (Parade/ Festival) that was going to take place in the small town of Viareggio, near Florence. Having been to the Venice Carnevale together a couple of weeks prior to this week, Lex and I  knew that Italian Carnevale’s were artistic, fun and full of exciting moments. That particular week had been so rainy in Florence, and we were both itchy for the sun to show up. Viareggio is a coastal town outside of Florence and this made the trip all the more attractive.  
 Before that weekend, I had never heard of this place and therefore didn't have much to go on. After quickly goggling the event, we found out that it would be a cheap 11 euro round-trip ticket and only 40 minute train ride. This, along with the beach Carnevale idea was enough to convince us both.

 And so, after a brief conversation about the parade we made our decision and headed to Stazione Santa Maria Novella to take the next train to the Coastal city of Viareggio. When we arrived, we found absolute madness, the good kind of madness. It was full on celebrations. There were gigantic Floats that were vibrantly painted and hand made from paper mache. The floats were political satires or caricatures of popular social figures. Each Float would be paraded along the seaside avenues of the town.Sorrounding the colossal  floats where hundreds of people excitedly celebrating the funny displays of politicians and social characters. Among these political mockeries were Silvio Berlusconi, Tony Blair, Bush,  Osama Bin Laden and others. The floats have allegoric meaning to represent the social and political  issues presently occurring around the world. They're not meant to be attacks but rather opinions represented in a humorous ways to demonstrate social themes for the public consider.

The tradition to hold this parade began as a secret protest that was organized in 1873 by the people of the city. They  wanted to protest against the high taxes that were in place  and so they secretly made a giant float ridiculing their tax collector,. They paraded it around the city on a Sunday afternoon. Since then, Carnevale lives on in Viareggio, displaying with other satirical social figures.

 It was insane and awesome, to say the least. My friend and I had so much fun and laughed so hard at all the madness that was going on around us, and which we hardly expected upon arriving to this little town. Apparently, people prepare for this Carnevale for months and the floats sometimes take up to a whole year to make. The floats carry like 70+ people who sing, throw confetti and are also responsible for making the characters move by pulling on strings. The floats  we saw were four stories high and taller than most the building of the city.  Here are a few pictures and a video of the Carnevale which we went to in 2004.








Video of Viarregio Canevale

Funny things about Spain and Spaniards.

These Holidays I will be travelling to Spain. My family lives there so every other year I am lucky to spend xmas in the wonderful city of Madrid. While I was in college, I used to spend summers there working and enjoying the life of Spaniards. During my stays in Madrid and the surrounding towns, I’ve come to learn a lot of interesting, weird and funny things about Spaniards and Spain.

Here are a few:

1.       Spaniards love to talk about royalty and every household has an “HOLA” magazine. It is like People magazine in the US and Principe Felipe and Princess Leticia are the equivalent gossip to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pit. 

2.   Spanish TV is terrible; however this might not be such a bad thing because maybe that’s why people in Madrid don’t watch nearly as much television as they do in the US. Everyone is always out and about. 

3.       Spaniards translate everything to Castilian Spanish. They change English word to Spanish words. For ex. Freak becomes frikki, CD becomes CEDE, Delete becomes deletea, Shrek becomes Esreq etc.… 

4.       No one parties like the Spanish- I always thought Latinos where by far the best partiers, but boy was I wrong. Spaniards ALWAYS have something social to do. EVERYONE has plans at ALL times and ALL ages.

5.  After a night of partying, young people tend to have breakfast before going to bed (at 8:30 am) and it usually consist of churros con chocolate. 

6. When you go to Spain your life will be shortened from second hand smoke and they sell cigarettes in vending machines

7.  Casual is not in the Spanish vocabulary. You’ll notice that everyone has put a lot of thought in their outfit. Wearing sweatpants (unless going to a gym) is a sin. It would be like wearing pajamas to a store.

8. Spaniards curse like sailors. Most Spaniard curse at least once every 10 minutes.

9.      The Spanish government is one of the most progressive and active when it comes to environmental laws, sustainability and green movements but that said, when it comes to animal treatment, all rules go out the window. Yep, Spaniards love their bullfights, their  hanging legs of ham (delicious), and just about every older lady walking on the street will be wearing a very nice fur coat. 

10.  If you go to Madrid, be sure to look down because just about every Spaniard owns a dog, but no one ever picks up the poop.

11. Thus, Fri and Sat night El metro (subway)is jam packed from 8pm -8am and alive with people. At 8AM it’s still hard to know who is going to work or just going home from “LA MARCHA”! (the nightlife) 

12.   Young people like to drink Calimocho which is red wine mixed with Coca Cola.

13.   You can buy prescription medication over the counter.

14.   They sell beer and gazpacho at McDonalds.

15.   The cross walks beeps really loud at you when the walk sign comes on. It’s for blind people. 

16.   Chinese liquor stores are open 24-7, not sure if legally, but they’re open

17.   When Spaniards speak, it sounds like they're yelling at you, but it’s really just excited chatter.

18. No one calls each other by their name. Everyone becomes tio, tia, chaval , nena, rubia,  etc. or some sort of a nickname. 

19. Every home has a rolling fabric collapsible grocery cart they take to the supermarket. 

20. Everyone plays the lottery. It‘s called “el Gordo” and it is the national Christmas lottery that people get obsessed with. 

21. Madrid has the BEST holiday sales. On January 6^th everything goes on sale for around 70% off!!!!! It is the best shopping ever!

22. Time has a different meaning in Spain. If you have a party that starts at 5pm, expect people to show up at 7pm or after. If you have hired a contractor, a plumber, electrician or some type of service, you should be happy they show up at all. 

23. Spain is GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Picture I took leaving the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

Where in the world is this?

This is Phuket, Thailand

Prambanan Ruins Java, Indonesia

 

Ulun Danau Temple, Bali, Indonesia

My mind has been drifting to the far East lately...the sandy and warm far East. 

Indonesia (specifically Bali) intrigues me. "Places I go before I Die," type of intriguing. This is a travel blog (mostly,) but I recently moved into a new apartment and my second love, decorating, has taken a step forward. My new  guestroom, big deal for me coming from a 400 foot sq. single bedroom apt, is my latest project. I haven't been able to decorate at all due to my current grad school created lack of funding.  Since this whole Indonesia/Bali trip has only existed for me in print and travel magazines,  it has served as an inspiration for this new empty space and an outlet for my itchy wanderlust.

I absolutely love the colors and elements found in Indonesian décor, a very organic feel that mixes the old elements of this green and blue paradise with the new modern developments of today. I picture soft and dark woods along with earth tone linen fabrics.  Pops of color: lime green, burnt orange, canary yellow, corals and piercing blues from the beautiful plantlife and aqua marine waters jumping off the pages of pictures of the idyllic country.  Ceramics and natural wood pieces to put a bow on it.

           I'll have to wait to create my Indo-inspired new room, but I do love to search for these pieces just to imagine what it would look like one day... 

Here are a few thoughts I have so far to make this dream a reality....

Rope Accents

I love these type of accents because they can be elegant and also look organic. 





 Although rope accents are usually used in beachy / nautical spaces they can fit very well into the Indo/Bali decor I am going for.

Some of these pieces can be home craft projects one can do  with nothing else but a little glue gun, rope and a piece of something you  want to glam up. Since I love the Nate Berkus Show, I thought I would share this link to a recent post he has. It shows you step by step how easy it is to make your own rope mirror.

MAKE YOUR OWN ROPE MIRROR

Room inspirations

I like this room. It is a bit too modern for what I want and needs a bit more color and accents but still i like the clean look.

This one is from Coastal Living's decorating coast inspired color palettes. The color palette for this picture is Neutral. Nice isn't it?

 This one above is also amazing. It has statues, patterns and the perfect colors.

Ceramic Statues, Stools and Accents

Not sure if everyone has noticed that Ceramic  is very  IN these days.

 I have seen them in tons of decorating websites, magazines and shows. Personally I love Indonesian garden stools. I think they go very well next to an older looking piece of furniture. In general, I like contrast and I think ceramic accents can be a perfect tool to create this look and also help create my Bali/ Indo inspired decor that one day I will get to do. 

 

 I love this stool  because its not the regular square or round ceramic stool. This one is a little bit more funky, although the  most popular styles for these stools are these:  

The bad part about these stools is that they tend to be very expensive. They run from $90-$400 plus. You can find these in several websites like:

Gumps.com                           AND                HOMEdeco-direct

LUCKILY...

I am a bargain shopper and like to find cheap  deals. I found a beautiful Indonesian ceramic stool from a website that I absolutely love !!!!!!!  This one is ONLY $39.00 and the best part is, that this website is a fair-trade retailer. This means that part of the money you spend on their products  goes to the people who actually created them. The website even shows you the picture of the person.

NOW.. This is what I call a steal of a deal!

 If you don't like the color and you prefer the white or bright green or whatever you like, you can always buy some ceramic paint and PAINT IT!

 Once you paint it with ceramic paint it will look brand new, however I wouldn't do that with this stool (above) since we know that somewhere in Vietnam, someone took a long time to paint this stool so they can sell it. This is a piece of art.  

But, if you do find other cheap garden stools that you woudl like if they were a different color, then just paint them!

Help artisants improve their busines possabilities by SHOPPING here:

So.. This is the website where I found the stool above. It's also a great website to find cool things from all over the world. They sell everything from art, to jewelry, to furniture and other things. This organization sells things from 38 different countries and all of their stuff  is made from different artisan groups. It's the perfect place to find cool finds around the holidays. Everything is affordable AND you are helping these artisans in developing countries make some MULA  to improve their lives.

Ten thousand villages

Cool Pillows

Some of the new bright patterns that  are being designed are awesome! These are Christopher Farr Design but of course they are on the expensive side. His fabrics are awesome and you can pick your color, fabric material and pattern to use for your pillows, bedding, furniture etc.  Christopher Farr

Above are fabrics from a great designer Lulu de Kwiatkowski. Her prints are so fresh and modern and surely make something look more modern and lively.  Lulu DK Fabrics

NOW.. ...

 I do appreciate amazing designs like these but we all know I am no millionaire and designer fabrics tend to be way over the normal person's budget. 

Here's what I would buy instead: 

These are $29.00 for THE PAIR! Whoo hooo. We can all thank Walmart for these beauties! Walmart pillows