Finally...

Pics have been posted... enjoy!

I am back...

Yep, I have been back for two days and I am still in denial...The trip back was brilliant and was aided by a wonderful upgrade and some very nice eye candy (A very young and well behaved English rugby team)... Thank you BA! I have to say after that experience, I am much more likely to fly with them again.
The last few days in Paris were great. The highlight being seeing the end of the Tour de France on the Champs Elysees... geez, those guys can ride fast! Rodin was awesome and just as I liked him. I could sit in those gardens for days! The highlight at the Louvre was the Rubens/ Medici room and the Michaelangelo's Arch angel sculptures. Mona was there, and the room had changed, but I always feel bad for all the other paintings in the room. I tried to find my favourite hermaphrodite sculpture to no avail. The Toulouse Lautrecs at the d'Orsay never fail to impress me, although Caillebotte's 'Raboteurs du parquet' also impressed me.
Notre Dame was cleaner than I remembered her, I missed the visit to the crypt as it was a Monday. A picnic on the Seine was a nice way to end the Parisian experience, as was the hike up the Eiffel at 2330, with a descent at midnight.
Other highlights... a night view of Paris from Montmarte and dinner in the Pigalle area, a few amazing dinners featuring some amazing French food and the final buzz from a run along the Seine and under the Eiffel.
Will post photos on my flick'r site once I've edited them... but now, very much back in the swing of things with work, uni (I almost forgot about that!), running and I also now have a very busy weekend coming up.
A very big thanks got to all the friends and family I had the chance to catch up with. This trip has definitely highlighted the importance of these people in my life and I will endeavour to keep my visits more regular.

A quickie

update.... that is.... currently writing from my last port in Paris....the last week has been great...
Florence, the Duomo and Botticelli not as I remenbered....smaller paintings, bigger room?!?....tearful goodbye.... a farm stay in Manbrotta.....Verona, Juliet and the Opera....Lyon, for some summer fetival goodness, featuring Elvis Costello, the brothers Lumiere.... throw in a train strike, a few bushfires and Milan and that was the week that was....
onto the louvre, d'orsay, rodin, la fnac, zara....and then home...actually looking forward to seeing everyone again....

An evening in Verona

Opera ticket: 24,50 euros
Home made sandwich for dinner: 3 euros
Guide to 'la Boheme': 5 euros
Puccini, live at the Arena in Verona, unreserved seats, no cushion: Priceless

Last day in Pomezia

Well, my bag is almost packed... It is getting heavier after every stop and I still have over a week left. I saw the date and freaked out a little today... Time has absolutely flown by! Today has been relatively quiet for us, we are out for a beachside dinner tonight to say goodbye. We went to the pool today and I got the chance to watch the courting rituals of the teenagers here. It is funny how we are pretty much all the same in the end... the boys tease the girls and the girls giggle amongst themselves. It's all very cute :)
Exhausted Rome and many of its sights over the last few days and that has been great. It is a very different experience being here n Summer. They have set up pretty good nightlife on the shores of the Tiber... including art installations, outdoor cinemas, bars and night markets, giving the city a really nice relaxed vibe. This is, however, accompanied by a heavily 80's, early 90's soundtrack featuring mainly Roxette (I still remember the words!), Black Box, Rick Astley (why do I find him everywhere I go? please refer to shanghai post) and 1927 (ok... maybe that was all in my head).
Florence tomorrow... cant wait to get to the Uffizi and hang on Ponte Vecchio and watch life go by.

Bella Roma

This has been my last few days... words can not express the beauty of this city....There was the Coloseum, the Pantheon, Trevi, the Spanish steps, Castel de S'angelo and St Peter.... and much more... Despite all the inefficiencies of the Italians, they do come up the goods when it comes to history.

Commisiare Rex

Yes, ladies and gents, I have seen Inspector Rex in Italian... that means I have now seen Rex in four different incarnations... is there a prize for that? Italian TV is a mix of foreign programs, dubbed in Italian, and glitzy Italian productions featuring a lot of singing and very little clothing... Apart from Rex, I caught Steve Irwin, the Italian voiceover had no charisma whatsoever, Beverly Hills 90210 (Tori Spelling before the surgery), the Fresh Prince of Bel Air circa early 90s... whoa, what a blast from the past! I saw the Italian Judge Judy... who knew that two women at opposite ends of the world could look so similar? No,I havent been watching TV all day, but since we take a siesta here after lunch, I often find myself surfing the channels for these childhood memories. Speaking of which, it is stinking hot over here, and although I am overall very pleased about this, it does get a bit uncomfortable. The sun is up before 5 and sets after 9, making for a long day. It does mean that the running has taken a back seat, and I am cycling instead.
I leave Pomezia in a couple of days... it'll be sad to go. I have had a great time with my aunt and uncle, but the little traveller in me feels like I have been barely hitting second gear these last few days. Onto Florence on Saturday and then.... still being contemplated. I have two weeks left and I want to make the most of it.
footnote: i just read the SMH online, apologies... dont mean to be rubbing it in about the warmth over here... hope everyone is keeping themselves cosy and warm in Oz.

I see Assisi!

Like every good catholic, I must spend some time in Italy hanging out in churches... so it was with this in mind that we sauntered off to Assisi to hang with San Francesco (or Francis to his mates). St Francis is the patron saint of the Italians, although, his competition, Padre Pio is catching up rather rapidly. I am not sure if the Italians are proud of him because he renounced his inheritance or because he was able to build such a powerful order of monks. Assisi is a beautiful, peaceful town full of nuns and tourists. Just a note for those religiously inclined, there are many many nuns here and it appears that they go off on these tours (aka junkets) visiting all these famed sites in a regular basis. I spoke to a Phillipino nun and she informed me that these visits are nice, they get to hang with other like minded individuals and see the world. She has been to 14 countries since joining the sisterhood 20 years ago....mmmm, food for thought. Anyway, back to Assisi... it is a nice, peaceful town, surrounded by an amazing landscape. I think I will let the photos do the talking... I am loosing my grasp of English at a rapid rate!

That's another thing, between the English, French and poor Italian I am speaking, my words are becoming jumbled and I no longer know what language I am thinking in. I am sure I had a dream in Italian the other night...

Happy Birthday Lambrini!

To the Greek goddess of curls, Happy 30th Birthday! Have a great day and a wonderful party, I am sorry to miss it. See you my return!

Vedi Napoli e poi muori

See Naples and you can die (happy?)... well, that's how the saying goes. I have seen Naples, but last time I was here, we started off on the wrong foot and I escaped rather quickly. Not this time... this time, I devoured Naples and all its glory. Naples reminds me of Mumbai, choatic and smelling of diesel, sweat and garbage, but with all the architectural grandeur of the Grand boulevards of Paris as captured in a Pissarro painting, an unlikely but spectacular mix. It is chaotic driving and walking around here, but the city has a real energy about it. Its quaint narrow streets of food vendors, the diverse ethnicity of its inhabitants are juxtaposed by the amazing architecture and the many sites of Italian and Napolitan history.
The Napolitans are a rare breed, they speak a dialect which makes it difficult to communicate (even my aunt and uncle had trouble at times), they walk with purpose, they are a very very proud breed and they are most certainly Napolitan and not just Italian. It is unfortunate to see, however, the poor hygiene and the lax public services, but I suppose without these discrepancies, Naples just wouldn't be the same.

>sigh<

The last few days were spent on the Amalfi coast, visiting the mountainside city of Ravello, then the coastal towns of Amalfi, Positano and Sorrento.

Ravello is tiny and has a cathedral dating back to 1086! It is a music festival city, green and shady with amazing views of both sides of the moutain.

Amalfi is captured in the first photo. Touristy, with a hint of elegance. The town's population has swelled enormously over the last month, but this is likely to decrease with the closure of the only road along this coastline. You see, it gets so busy that they figure it is best to close the road to all bar locals and public transport in the peak summer months of august and september. This ensures that businesses across this coastline do not benefit much. Doesnt make a whole lot of sense to me!
Next photo is one of my uncle and I in Positano (please note the new haircut, i must write a post on this... a haircut in Italy and a wax in Paris, quite an experience.... ). We'd just eaten lunch, a Calabrian panino consisting of fresh buffalo mozarella, basil, tomatoes and oilve oil... best sandwich I have had in a long time. The great thing about Italy is that most places are still highly agricultural, thus they tend to use only local produce. This is ussually fresh and very very tasty (which reminds me, a post on food is a must...). Anyway, back to Positano, smaller than Amalfi but somewhat more touristy. The road is lined with shoemakers and sellers of lemons (another local product). It has a nice feel about it,

though. It would be nice to spend a few days here,

although apart from the beach and the local shopping, there isnt much else to do.

And lastly, Sorrento. My favourite spot on the coast. It is bigger than the others and much more lively. There is a definite buzz about the place. It has a great music festival line up for the summer, and plenty of outdoor theatre events. There are day trips to coastline caves, available... so maybe next time, I will partake.

It's the little things...

like the buskers on the metro, the death and funeral notices signposted all over town, the way you never hand someone money but put it on the counter, the condom vending machines, the way you drink your coffee at the bar, the manner in which you greet someone as you enter a shop, the big men in tiny Smart cars with stereos blasting, the sheer number of motorcycles, the smells of brioche, cornettos and coffee all mixed into one, the lack of toilet paper in public toilets, the tabacs/tabacchi, the speed of speech, the carabinieri and their uniforms, the lack of clothing on many, the attraction to Nutella and all its derivatives, the overwhelming use of the word 'jolly', the three wheeled car/utes, the uses of donkeys in everyday life, the turning off of engines at lights, paying for public toilets... all these and many more that makes us all a little different from the other.

Un giorno alla spiaggia

Today, mia zia e mio zio and I went to the beach and the mountains. That's my aunt in the photo, dipping her feet in the ocean. As you can see it was a beautiful day.

We started the day out in Nemi, a town in the mountians famous for its bush strawberries (fragoline di bosco). They are delicious, and we ate some with some panna and gelato.

Afterwards, we headed for Fiumicino port, where there are plenty of millionaires and their yachts, private beaches and the general smell of money. Unlike Australia, here you must pay for your piece of sand. It may come with an umbrella, or you may upgrade to chairs, beds for your siesta and even a cabin kitted out with shower and day bed.... noice!Ah, la dolce vita!!!

We are off to Amalfi coast in a couple of days... woo-hoo!