Sunday, July 09, 2006

BELLA FIRENZE…Florence, Italy, the city that captured my heart!


I have been reminiscing recently about my second trip to Florence, Italy. In my first blog, written just 5 days ago I tell of being in Italy in Sept. 2001. The Italians could not have been nicer. They were concerned, generous and very sympathetic about the horrendous events of 9-11

The highlight of my trip was our week spent in Florence. Of course we used it as a base to visit the wonderful towns of Siena, Fiesole, Arezzo, etc. but it was the city itself that captivated me. Florence is a joy to behold and a walker’s delight. Our days were filled with Duomos, museums, piazzas and, of course, Gelato! When we left I made a pledge to myself that I would return.

When I did return in 2004 the city had remained the same but the people’s attitude had changed drastically. It was a shock and a great disappointment to me. It would seem that the “Ugly American” has come to the forefront again and it breaks my heart. Where, just 3 years before, I had been met with smiles and open arms I now encountered tolerance, at best, and an actual dislike of all that was “American”.

Will we never learn? Why do we have to inflict our way of life on to others? Why can’t we live our lives and let others live as they want? Our differences make this world a glorious place and I am haunted by the fact that we seem to be obsessed in making them all see “our way”.

Oh, well…….time to get off the Soapbox. All the best. Ginnie

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi, ginny, thanks, your Comment did get to me. your post on Florence, Italy has a kind of resonance to mine today. glad to be able to leave comments! -naomi

9:25 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ginnie,

I am going to try and see if I can help you with the issue of installing photos in your posts. Hope the instructions make some sense and good luck….

First of all, I am assuming all your photos and images you might want to post are on your computer. Second of all, make sure you know which “folder” the photos/images are stored in on your computer because you will have to know how to navigate to them in this procedure. Okay, here we go…..

When you are at the screen/window where you write/edit your post and are ready to input a photo, click on the next to last menu item on the top of the post editing window that looks like a tiny photo. That will open up a new window which is the window that allows you to post a photo. Up at the top left you will see “Add an image from your computer”. Click on the “BROWSE” button and it will open up a small window showing the folders on your computer. Navigate your way to the folder where you have your photos/images stored. Find the file name of the photo and click on it. The path to the photo/image you chose will now appear in the “BROWSE” window. The next section of the screen you will be looking at is the “Choose A Layout” Screen. Just leave it as is for now. Next - click on the orange “Upload Image” button. A new window will appear saying “Uploading Your Image”. After several seconds or so the screen will change and indicate that your image has been added. Now you click on the blue “Done” button. Then you will be returned to the window/screen where you were entering your post. You should see your photo now appearing in your post editing window (you may have to scroll up or down to find it). You can move your photo up and down within your post editing window if you want it to locate it somewhere other than where it appears after being inserted. Click on the photo which will “select” the photo. You will see small little squares surrounding the photo and your “mouse cursor” will appear as a small group of arrows when over the photo. Click on the photo to move your photo and position it where you want it in your post and then go back to editing or writing your post, continuing and publishing the post as you normally would.

Hope that helps you a bit in an effort to share some of your photos and I know several are looking forward to seeing some of them.

*************************
PS….One other thing while I am writing. If you look at your blog page you may notice that your menus on the right side of your blog page have shifted to the bottom. That is being caused by the fact that there are too many ‘asterisks’ entered on two of the lines in your latest post. If you go in and edit your post, deleting about half of those “asterisks” on each of those lines, then your menus should return to their proper position on your blog page.

11:26 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was in Florence this winter, not for the first time, and loved it. Of course it's totally "plagued" by tourists, like all those places of great interest even though it was March and raining. Not being an American, I cannot comment on this aspect of your post. I took quite a lot of photos in spite of unhospitable weather ;) and enjoyed seeing the sights.

2:48 PM  

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