The Brandt Home during my impressionable and pre-adolescent 1970’s was an ABC-TV family. Schoolhouse Rock, SuperFriends, Happy Days, Mork & Mindy, Welcome Back Kotter and The Love Boat made up our broadcast banquet table. This is not to deny occasionally tuning into other network programming. We watched CBS broadcast the Walter Payton Bears on Sundays, […]
February 12, 2022
Part 2 – Cycling Using the tired but true cliché that 1 pic = 1000 words and excluding my quippy yet informative captions; here are 24,000 words about why cycling in Tuscany is on (to use maybe an even more tired cliché?) every rider’s bucket list. In humble objectivity, I can’t speak for every cyclista […]
February 10, 2022
Part 1 – SIGHTSEEING We’ve done more than ‘just a tad’ of walking past, through, over and around Firenze’s myriad landmarks since arriving. We all to often haven’t participated being either too preoccupied or pressed for time with things like… well, I can’t think of anything right now. Buying soap comes to mind … But, […]
February 8, 2022
The astutely observant Blog followers certainly have noticed in several posted pics a conspicuous black strap looped over my shoulder. Despite that Europeans are more culturally accepting of man-toted personal carryalls, this mismatched-chromosone American expat is not ashamed to admit to my state-side readers that there is most definitely a man-bag (aka: Murse, Bro-bag, Bro-sack, […]
February 5, 2022
Having totally MASTERED during our twelve hours in the ‘cucina’ with Anna: centuries of Neapolitan foods, drinks, customs, localized tastes and what to serve at regional/religous festivals, we subsequently headed to a different neighborhood within Firenze’s city walls to learn a different perspective on Italian Culinary Artistry from Simona, a Sardinian (Sardegna) by birth and […]
February 3, 2022
I’ve been asked, “When you’re riding in those Tuscan landscapes how do you concentrate on the road?” The answer is, “The conditions change so quickly, unless you want an asphalt exfoliation… you lock into the road 25-50 feet at a time.” Today… I admit, focusing was hard. I set out in a different direction (ENE) […]
February 2, 2022
Our “RESIDENZA” in Firenze is to “TURISMO” just as “COCINANDO” is to “MANGIARE“. Or… if our interpreter Giovanni were to translate, “residence is to tourism just as cooking it to eating.” For we two, living in a country where a family’s recipes are guarded more closely than are their fortunes and regional dishes can cause […]
January 30, 2022
It’s safe to say that after 14 days, Anne’s and my respective bio-rhythms have synched with Florentine astronomical, artistic and geographical cycles. If that commentary seems pretentious and absurd, what can I say? This is where the Renaissance began – SHOUTS OUT to: Galileo, Michelangelo, Dante and DaVinci. If it seems like old people kvetching […]
January 28, 2022
We came to Firenze figuring that a three month residence would be long enough to force us into local-like routines. This meant packing and planning to a degree so diminished from our previous family trips that our sum-luggage for a 3-month ‘residenza’ could only be considered to be minimalist. “We’ll figure it out when we […]
 | JHB on Ultimo Giorno |
 | Lisa Ford on Ultimo Giorno |
| JHB on Full Fam Fotos |
 | L. Brandt on Full Fam Fotos |
 | AMB on Tre Giorni |
The Brandt Blog 
February 15, 2022
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