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I LOVE SO MANY ASPECTS TO ITALY. My trip to Italy was an interesting one. I personally spent about 7 days in Italy between Florence and Milan. I can’t say I got to have the real Italian experience. I will only speak from my perspective. Milan was always a dream of mine until I got there, nothing pleasant for me, the fashion scene was insane, I found that the local Milano Italians were somewhat arrogant, not friendly and saw so many wealthy and fashionable people with tons of plastic surgery, that was very shocking to me, they walked stiffly as if on the catwalk. I thought I saw Donatella Versace walking from one side to another, the fashion capital was very busy, dirty and polluted. We stayed a few blocks away from busy Milano and that was great, the hotel itself was an architectural beauty, food was ok, nothing that defines authentic Italian cuisine. So, I was dying to leave Milano and we decided to drive to Florence instead.
FLORENCE WAS SOOOOO BEAUTIFUL! I absolutely love Firenze and can’t tell you what a world of a difference it was, two different Italian cultures, people were so kind, polite, welcoming and friendly. The Firenze locals, got it going on. The city itself is so beautiful, rivers, tons of mom and pop boutiques, tons of leather accessories factories. We passed by Salvatore Ferragamo’s headquarters and factory which is a historical castle. We bought a few leather goods there, went shopping and as expected, ahead in fashion I was by years. The local cuisine was absolutely delicious. Such a great visit. We stayed at one the top hotels in Firenze, I still have our room key, heavy brass with fine green tassel, even the hotel food was delicious, thus we did dine in some local restaurants. The shopping experience is wonderful, imagine walking around though small streets of uneven bricks, full of little shops and factories, it all felt very romantic, warm and united. People walking around, taking their time, enjoying the moment and it’s environment.
OH A FEW POINTS worth mentioning, driving through the country from Switzerland to Italy was absolutely green and beautiful, I got to see the Swiss Alps and the Italian Alps, the lake and mountains were soooo fresh and beautiful. Italian pizza is a nothing like the pizza we eat in the USA, two different worlds, authentic Italian Pizza is of a super thin crust, delicate on the cheese and sauce and fragrant and absolutely delicious. The authentic Italian gelato is out of this world delicious. Bread is not served in every restaurant, the pastries are light and delicious.
OVERALL I know there is so much more to Italy than my short trip and so much to historically see and experience. I definitely must visit again and when I do go again, I must stay for a good 4 to 8 weeks in order to grasp the real essence of Italy. Until then, this is all the experience I had.
Sooooo…..unfortunately, I cannot find my Germany photos anywhere and even though my trip to Germany was a drive through for a few hours, we ate there, passed through Munich and that was all. I only took maybe 5 or 6 photos of Germany. In either case, all I remember about Germany, was the their countryside which was really beautiful, clean and isolated. Munich was a quick drive through and I remember it being stunning and clean with and beautiful architectural building. That is all to my German experience. It was worth it for me to write about it, because it’s a country I wish to visit again soon. I also remember us stoping on the side of a long countryside road, at this little countryside sausage restaurants where the only seating was outside on these wooden picnic tables. The scenery was of beautiful green mountains, green hills, valleys and long roads of beautiful green farms. I remember the food was very German and very delicious. The air was so fresh and clean. Not surprised at all that there many tourists like us at this small food stop. I wish to find those photos, but digital cameras did not exist at that time and all I had was a regular 35mm oil camera.
UAE is located in Asia, Western Asia, between Saudi Arabia and Oman. UAE is composed of seven emirates and it’s capital is Abu Dhabi. It’s mostly a desert covered country, even though its most popular emirate of Dubai is one of the most advanced cities in the world, packed with some of the tallest structures you can imagine, extremely eclectic and aside from being an Islamic territory, UAE is very welcoming and very respectful of other cultures, but beware if you disrespect them, all jokes aside, you will be in danger. Be respectful, because from my personal experience, it was an extremely safe country. The UAE culture is very unique, the locals for the most part are mega wealthy and don’t work much, I saw them shopping and riding around in their high-end luxury vehicles pretty much at all hours, they are great employers. I did not get to interact with them much, because my friends were not locals, they all lived there and own businesses there, but are not born there.
ARCHITECTURES OF UAE
- Dubai under construction
- The Burj Khalifa
- Dubai
MUST VICIT HERITAGE VILLAGE
SHOPPING MALLS
- OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
MY EXPERIENCE WAS GREAT! I was in UAE in February 2008, 3 months. And let me tell you, thus the flight was a little over 16 hours at that time, but what a fabulous flight I had. I flew in one of the best airlines, Emirates, and let me tell you, the amazing hospitality was amazing, plus I had an entire row to myself with windows, delicious plane food, I got along with all the flight attendants and they totally hooked me up with almost anything I wanted, I don’t consume alcohol so I splurged on foods. I was given a few plush gifts from the first class area, which I still own and use. The beginning of my trip started in that plane, which I can’t wait to experience again in the near future.
My first couple of days upon arrival, the climate was super hot, sticky, humid and I’ve never experienced a sand storm and that was a shocker out of this world experience for me, my hair was absolutely insane crazy between the sand and the humidity, I don’t know, I was washing my hair every single day. But then I got used to it and simply put my hair in a bun when need be. At that time, the internet was highly censored with very little access to the rest of the world. Facebook was a secretive thing, as well as MTV, and such channels. In other words UAE was blocking tons of the international medias from penetrating the country. I remember watching only Arabic TV. I wonder what it’s like now. In a nutshell, Dubai is a place to spend a lot of money in exchange for a fun time. Oh, the customer service in Dubai is top notch, even if you want anything in the middle of the night, you just call the supermarket, or pharmacy and they will deliver. I literally ordered a few things from the pharmacy located blocks away at different hours and they would deliver to our door. That was great! My friends told me that driving or walking with any alcohol was prohibited, but there was this Philippine guy on a bicycle that would deliver any alcohol you wanted.
THE NIGHT LIFE IN DUBAI is absolutely insane, it’s music, social and ambient fun, expect to meet locals without their religious attires and definitely expect to experience a luxury vehicle parade after club hours and weekends, which starts on Thursday to Saturday and Sunday is their Monday. The Music scene in Dubai is at least 6 months ahead of ours in USA. I remember listening to a super hot song by a Danish singer for the months I was there, I knew the song extremely well and it finally made it the States, it was almost a year later. Shocking, but true. The nightlife in Dubai is not one to be reckon with, it is a serious Mecca of International music, from A to Z.
NIGHTLIFE & GATHERINGS
- Fun nightlife
- I cooked sometimes
OUTDOOR CONCERTS IS A MAIN ACTIVITY IN DUBAI
HOW FUN IS UAE??? Super fun if you have tons of funny to blow up without a care or stay with friends. This is definitely a fun oasis in the desert. Dubai is the most popular and funnest emirate. There is a ton to do if you surround yourself with good people, a great group of people and my friends are absolutely wonderful, hospitable, fun, vibrant, happy, funny, healthy, drug free, intelligent, generous, welcoming and adventurous. So, I had an amazing experience, to keep it real, I stayed at my friends house for a few months, was treated like a princess and I barely spent any money, as a matter of fact, I spent under $1,000 in three months and that’s because I begged to treat to a couple of dinners, went gift shopping and treated myself to a few gifts, I treated myself to beautiful home goods articles and some many locally crafted fragrances. Anyways…. most Arabic men are generous and do not allow women to pay for anything for so many reasons, one is they will feel offended by females paying, it is the culture. Men literally fight to pay the bill amongst themselves. So, my friends took me sand dunning, dancing, outdoor concerts and festivals are super popular in Dubai, we attended a few, my friend owns a mirror and glass business and because he was working inside one of the palaces, I was invited to tag along and was held captive inside an air conditioned room, under security who were very kind to me by keeping safe and hydrated with water bottles. We also went out for dinners, friends houses for karaoke and fun gatherings the dynamics are spectacular, beach, we had special invitations inside the Burj Khalifa and the World islands.
While very few were welcoming, Bedouin desert tribe is not to be disturbed for they can be put up their weapons real quick. Just be respectful and they respect back in return. Abu Dhabi was for of a water community, super quiet, kind of empty and very strict, more Islamic strict and less eclectic, not much fun for me, we spent very little time there. Shopping in Dubai is on a whole different level, Dubai hosts the largest mall in the world and I was there the mall the place to be. It is extravagantly beautiful, it is a city, it has every high-end luxury shop you can imagine, from Cartier to Hermes, that mall even has it’s own ski resort, attraction park, water canals with gondolas, I mean, the place is a a world of it’s own. We visited the mall a few times and I love it, talk about neon lights water fountain shows at night, that mall is insane. Ahh, also, I know Arab women love, love, love their makeup, but holy smokes, I have never seen women wear so much makeup, i witnessed layers and layer of makeup at all hours, that was crazy for me to see. While the men, no matter how rich they were during the daytime they wore their Islamic attire and always wore sandals. At night, the locals fashion scene was like a fashion show.
SAND DUNNING
- Goodbye beautiful dessert
- Friendly camels
- In the middle of the dessert, Bedoin towns, where we were stopped and interrogated by the local tribe carrying guns, very scary moment for all of us
- Massive sand mountains
- Sand dunning
- We were escorted out of the dessert by local police that, that have zero say in the dessert, waiting for Fabian to be hopeluffy released by the Bedoin dessert tribe.
- Getting ready
- The now with white top, was the irresponsible one who almost got us all killed by doing tons of circles in the sand and disturbing the town, he was told to stop and did not and so we were ambushed by the Bedoin tribe with riffles, our friend Elie saved us by speaking in Arabic with them and apologizing. They kept Fabian and released us all
FUN BEACH DAY
I definitely wish to visit again, because when I was there Dubai was still under construction and I want to see the finished product. I do not want to forget to mention that Dubai offers the greatest customer service from anywhere and everywhere. The service industry is dominated by the Philippines, the construction workers industry is dominated by the Indians and the marketing and architecture industry by the Europeans. At that time I felt Americans were not respected too much and to be on the safe side, I said I was Dominican, which I am and people automatically assumed I lived in DR, my closest friends knew I lived in the USA. UAE is a very expensive place, when you do visit, make sure your bank account has a minimum of $50,000 to be on the safe side. Again, without my friends hospitality, I would have had to stay in hotels, rent a car, pay for all my meals and then pay for all the attractions to have the full Dubai experience, and for 3 months, I would have been really hurting. By the way the food in Dubai, is delicious wether you visit an all Arabic restaurant of a local Asian fusion, the food is exotic and packed with delicious flavors.
THE SAD SIDE OF UAE that will break anybody’s heart is truly sad. Not everything that glitters is gold and I will try to keep this short. Dubai was built almost over night, it’s a fairly new overdeveloped territory, it host the largest and tallest structures on planet Earth, Dubai is all about going over the top, the best of the best and the oasis for all things luxury. It is built on sand and all their money came from petroleum (oil, gasoline), if I recall correctly, gas was cheap out there. But…… Back to my sad note. When I was there, Dubai was under construction and was still not a travel hot spot, it was under construction 24 hour a day and I am not being sarcastic, that was true and real. I observed all the constructions workers being from India and questioned my friends about it. And boy was I in for a very shocking surprise, Dubai was built by the Indians, who lived in the dirtiest and smelliest construction worker community designated just for them and the community was filthy, small, ugly, sad, and seemed very concentration camp like. I demanded my friend to drive me by and was instructed not to get caught filming or taking photos, so, I was very careful and hid those files so well before getting on my flight back home, I can’t even find them on my hard drives. At that time UAE was very protective and controlling over what was said about their country. Just so you know, Indians were being imported to work for the Kings and prince under contract, they were shipped in boats, paid super little and abnormally low. They were not allowed to live outside that poor living condition metal gated community. Those Indian men risked their lives, to get there, left their families behind to send them money and the worst part is that, while I was there, almost every week was an Indian suicide. This is truly very painful to say, but they would kill themselves due to depression. Keep in mind they were under contract, the money was being sent to their loved ones and thus, I did witness many Indian man walking around the city and even at night having fun, I understood what was going on and it was very sad and heartbreaking for me. On a side note, I will also mention that many Indian workers had gotten arrested and jailed for life for raping both local and non-local women. That is what happened back then, and I don’t know what 2021 is like in Dubai.
DUBAI UNDER CONSTRUCTIONS 24/7
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- Dubai under construction
MY FINAL THOUGHTS are that, you should definitely visit UAE and to guarantee a fun trip, try to meet with friends, take a loads of money and for the mega wealthy, Dubai is a little heaven, Dubai was made to never leave, literally the world at your feet. Plus if you’ve got the funds, it’s a great place to invest in both real estate and many other industries. The living quality is great, relaxed and some of the residential communities are absolutely beautiful. Could I live in Dubai, sure, if I was super rich, I would totally own a townhome or a massive flat and visit for 3 months at a time, I could not live there permanently. But it is an amazing place to live in for a few months. By the way, in order to do business there, you will need a local sponsor and in case I did not tell you why I went to Dubai for, I actually was trying to sell American cement to export to UAE, at that time I was meeting with one of my Turkish leather supplier who had a partner in Dubai and they needed me to represent the deal in the USA as well as find cement suppliers to export and I did. Due to my innocent lack of experience at that time, I believe was cut out of the deal after releasing my sources during my meetings with the Turks and his partner. I should have known better to trust anyone, but I learned a valuable lesson. No regrets, my trip was safe, fun and memorable. THANK YOU SO MUCH TO MY WONDERFUL FRIENDS Elie, Eddie and the rest of their friends that made this trip amazing, I love you all. Elie, even threw me a fun farewell party, FAREWELL my dear friends, till next time.
MY FAREWELL PARTY
Check out my UAE article at www.wearethewroldproject.com
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“Style is about having fun, being bold, making statements and establishing your own unique look that identifies with how you’re internally feeling at that moment. Style is about being comfortable and feeling good, it’s being uniquely you.” Giselle Trujillo
THE GREATEST 16TH CENTURY VENETIAN ARTIST
TIZIANO VECELLIO aka TITIAN
1488/1490 – AUGUST 27, 1576
Tiziano Vecellio aka Titian (1488/1490 – August 27, 1576) was one of the most important and greatest 16th Century painter from Itlay. Vecellio had worked under two great Venetian artist, Giovanni Bellini and Giorgione, both whom died within six years apart. His actual birth year is yet to be confirmed. Vecellio was born in the town of Pieve di Cadore in the Republic of Venice. He was married to Cecili, the daughet of a barber from his village Cadore. Cecilia was his housekeeper and mistress about five years. They had two boys together Pomponio and Orazio, in 1525 Celia fell seriously sick, wishing to mary her to legitimize their children, he married her, they had two more kids, two daughters, only the girl Lavinia survived in 1530, however Cecilia died giving birth to her. Vecellio decided to move to a new home with his two boys , convincing his sister Orsa to take charge of the household, which was a mansion in fashionable suburb in Biri Grande, at the edge of Venice with beautiful gardens on the sea facing Murano. Vecellio was known to be one of the most versatile painter of Italy with a profound use of colors and strokes that contributed from mythologies, painting altarpieces, renaissance art, portraits to landscapes with figures. backgrounds. Vecillio established a place as a leader of painting when he was commissioned for his first public masterpiece for the Assumption of the Virgin for the high altar of Santa Maria Gloriosa di Frari church in Venice, which took him three years to complete from 1516 – 1518. Vicellio achieved notability and international fame though his many portraits of Pope Paul III, Emperor Charles V (whom did not wanted to be painted by no other artist) and many others. While alive many fake copies of his work was being produced and sold. His paintings portrayed depth and psychological dimensions. During his last years Vecillio mostly worked for Phillip II as portrait painter. Vecelio died from a fatal plague in Venice on August 27, 1576. He was the only Venice Plage victim to have been given a church burial, was interred in the church he wished, the Frari. Vecellio rests close to his very famous painting, the Madonna di Ca’Pesaro. Unfortunately, no memorial marked Vecellio’s grave till Austrian rulers of Venice commissioned Canova to provide the large monument until much later. Sad to say, his favorite son Orazio, who was also his assistant, immediately died after his fathers death, due to the same Venice Plague. Vecellio’s most influential altarpiece was burnt in a fire at the SS. Giovanni e Paolo church in the 19th Century. His work has been an influence to many artist around the world. Tiziano Vecellio “Titian” is know as the Italian Renaissance Master.
Check out some of Tiziano's masterpieces:
The Venus of Urbino 1538
Portrait of Pope Julius II
Diana and Actaeon 1559
Diana and Callisto (detail 1)
Venus with Organist and Cupid 1548
Venus and the lute player
Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino 1536 -38
Venus and Adonis
Federico Gonzaga, Duke of Mantura
The Andrians (Bacchanalia) c. 1525
Portrait of young girl with feather hat – a young women wearing a reddish burgundy (possibly leather) hat with a large feather to the left. She is removing formal wear off left shoulder and exposing her right shoulder in undergarment. She seems to wear a pearl necklace.
Portrait of a girl 2 – an elegantly dressed lady with braid in her hairs and elegant beige outfit.
Portrait of Empress Isabella of Portugal 2 – A women dressed either in silk or velvet brownish Burgundy elegant dress, with a long pearl necklace that drapes from the middle of chest from an oversized jewel.
Portrait of man in rec cap c. 1516 – A young man with an overused slouchy hat and oversized shoulder cape that seems to be of cheetah or henna fur. He also wears a sword which rests in front of his chest and seems to be wearing fitted off white leather gloves.