sean brendan

After watching yesterday’s dramatic Italia/Australia match, and witnessing Francesco Totti’s dramatic game winner in the 95th minutes… I’ll be rooting for Azzurri from here forward. 

US Soccer Ties Italy
I know this game was on Saturday, but I’ve been away from the blog for a few days, and wanted to post some quick thoughts on this game:

When the teams were equal it seemed that the US controlled the game, but Italy was much more effecient with their chances.
The US team played […]

From ESPN.com - Five Disapointing Minutes

I become a soccer fan.  Every 4 years, I vow to watch more soccer before the next World Cup.  Every 4 years, I realize I haven’t watched enough soccer since the last World Cup.  Here we go again!
With the World Cup kicking off in Germany later this week, I’m going to be watching a lot […]

Coltibuono Chianti Classico 2004
According to them: Brilliant and deep ruby-red in colour.
On the nose it has notes of blackberries. It is full, soft and well-structured on the palate. It has a well-balanced acidity and a clean and persistent aftertaste.
According to me:  Up front this wine smelt like a mushroom patch, but as the wine opened […]

I recently discovered, through iTunes, this great podcast for learning Italian, LearnItalianpod.com.    Italian is such a beautiful language, I could listen to it all day.

Photo by Ryan O’Connor
Edited: Turns out this bike hasn’t move for at least five years.  Sam Howard took the same picture five years ago when we were living in Florence.  Great eyes see the same thing.

I’ve been waiting for a moment during the Torino Olympics to blog about, and I just finally watched it. Enough pair skating, enough talk of Bode, enough talk about Kwan, enough of Apallo, enough snowboarding… and tonight, finally a great Olympic performance by Ted Ligety of Park City, UT to win the mens […]

Is there a more beautiful mountainous region in the world than the Alps? Ryan went and had fun in the snow in France last weekend, check out his pictures here.

Aix en Provence is a college town with quaint narrow streets that empty into fountain filled squares in southern France just north of Marseille. It was also the home of Cezanne for many years. Aix has that old world charm that small towns in the US just can’t come close to, where charm […]

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Florence, originally uploaded by karneyli.
My little brother Ryan leaves this weekend to spend a school year in Firenze! I’m jealous, but I’m going to visit him in November.
Enjoy yourself Ry!

speed, originally uploaded by venticello.
“SIENA, Italy It was the perfect way to begin the day in Siena. As I lay back on the sun-warmed bricks of the Piazza del Campo, staring up at the cloudless Tuscan sky, waiting for my four-shot due doppio espresso to kick in, it was almost impossible to imagine the chaos […]