I was gutted to learn that it is actually much cheaper to fly between european capitols than it is to train it...so thats what we did. After a speedy 160 kph ride to the airport from Paris we boarded a plane to Rome. Now, Paris is crazy, romantic, and beautiful. Rome is crazy, romantic, and chaotic!
We stayed in the old part of the city, very close to the spanish steps and Trevi fountain. Although it was crawling with tourists, we were able to find some lovely eats down the side streets....and the wine....yummy!
Day one we had a wander, admired the fountain, the steps and the city in general, we got lost a few times, but who doesn't? Day two we went to the colluseum and the forum-we had pretty good guides to point out the important ruins, but as it was roasting hot (35/95) we mostly stood in the shade and he pointed stuff out from underneath the trees! Day three I defied logical sense and ventured to bring Mike to the vatican. Again, it was incrediably hot and the first 2 hours in the musuem I thought I might melt...keep in mind I am not overly heat sensitive but jesus christ!
The collection is spectacular, as well it should be given how much they've plundered over the years and our giude was quite good. To be fair though, I was quite dismayed when on the musuem tour he skipped right over a room full of Chagall's in favor of some others....I however, paused =)
Mike, was mostly well behaved, although he did say things like, 'is it really a good idae to bring children here?' in the direction of a family with lots of little boys...but I don't think they were english speakers, whew! In the basicalla he did a few naughty things-but didn't get caught so we I can safely say we didn't get thrown out...which as some of you know was a risk I took that day! We also met up with some friends of mine in Rome, D and C whom I had met in france in 2003! We had dinner, drinks, and lots of laughs as Mike questioned them insessently about Papal interference in Italian politics!
The day we were due to leave, there wa s train strike. So, instead of being able to jump on the metro, we ahd a to take a cab. Then, instead of taking the cheap train for ten euro, we had to take the euro star. Of course, we didn't work that out until we'd missed a number of cheap trains to naples. Luckily we finally made it to Napoli, where we boarded a ferry for sorrento for the weekend!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
J'adore Paris!
God I love Paris! It was exactly as I remember, although I must say infinitely more romantic with a partner! I'm pleased to report that Mike enjoyed Paris almost as much as I did! We did all the usual things, notre dame, la tour eiffel, arc de trimophe, le louvre, d'orssay. But a few less usual things as well.
My personal highlight was the Musee De l'orangerie. It is a space sourced by Monet, specifically to exhibit his waterlillies. I literally had tears in my eyes when I walked into the first gallery. Its all natural light deflected through a skylight and the waterlillies look amazing. We also climbed up the towers of notre damen (significantly less stairs than those I've had to climb to my flat during various floods!) which I'd never done and I was finally able to pay my respects to the Lizzard King, which was memorable!
We induldged in some other truely french experiences, aside from making out all over town, which included wine and cheese along the banks of the seine as well as at the base of la tour eiffel. We also watched some fabulous buskers in the square in front of notre dame fire twirling one night...it was like magic. And oh did we eat! I love eating in Paris almost as much as I love Paris itself =)
Regrettably I don't have the words to explain my deep profound love of this city, but I'm eternally gratefuly I was able to share it with Mike =)
bisous
My personal highlight was the Musee De l'orangerie. It is a space sourced by Monet, specifically to exhibit his waterlillies. I literally had tears in my eyes when I walked into the first gallery. Its all natural light deflected through a skylight and the waterlillies look amazing. We also climbed up the towers of notre damen (significantly less stairs than those I've had to climb to my flat during various floods!) which I'd never done and I was finally able to pay my respects to the Lizzard King, which was memorable!
We induldged in some other truely french experiences, aside from making out all over town, which included wine and cheese along the banks of the seine as well as at the base of la tour eiffel. We also watched some fabulous buskers in the square in front of notre dame fire twirling one night...it was like magic. And oh did we eat! I love eating in Paris almost as much as I love Paris itself =)
Regrettably I don't have the words to explain my deep profound love of this city, but I'm eternally gratefuly I was able to share it with Mike =)
bisous
All's Well in London-town!
It is important to remember that this was my very first trip to London without being insanely hungover, and it was brillant!
We arrived in early afternoon and promptly went to meet up with one of my dear friends Z. We met in Paris and haven't seen each other since a super crazy highly memorable pamplona experience in 2005. I'm sure none of you will be surprised to hear we didn't miss a beat! She has a charming town house in Notting Hill with a very pleasant (illegal) rooftop terrace where the three of us passed a fantastic afternoon drinking screwdrivers. One of my favorite things about English summer, is that is stays light until about 10pm so afternoon generally lasts until 7.
About that time, we hopped a bus to Mike's mate's place, in Chiswick. To be fair chiswick is a bit out of town....but it is right on the water and the train station is very close....so it worked out quite well. J and H made us feel right at home and even welcomed us with a BBQ....Z came along too since she was off to birmingham the next evening and we wanted lots of catch up time! Dinner, drinks and convo were all spectacular and fun was had by all.
The next day we went back to Z's where I made yummy brunch accompained by my signature bloody mary. We had a nice slow morning and we were off! After saying goodbyes-Mike and I commenced to wandering! We had very firm plans with a strict itinary, however as often happens we got caught up in the wander and much was missed! We did in our ramblings end up at Churchills war rooms, which were very cool as they have remained virtually untouched since the end of the war.
London was a lovely mish-mash of sightseeing and catching up, as Mike spent a number of years there. His oldest friend, is a fabulous artist, and you should check him out his stuff is awesome AND he took us to a fantastic viet resto in brick lane...which is traditionally where you'd get curry...but apparently living there you get sick of it quite quickly which is understandable! He also had a fantastic rood terrace, this one legal, where we all enjoyed drinks and sunsets =)
One of my favorite London experiences was absolutely the Tate Modern...I've been a bit intrigued by modern art for awhile ( it grew from disinterest) but the Tate was fantastic! It's in an old factory so the space is spectacular, but the exhibits were really stunning....there are some pictures, look for them on picasa soon. But the highlights were defintiely the VW sculpture art and the Andy Warhols. The Warhol room begin as a total mind fuck-there is color and light everywhere-classic warhol screenprinting as wallpaper with warhol screen printing portraits behind....but once you warm up to it-it is really stunning.
Our last night in London we watched the US play Ghana and a classic english pub-I had fish and chips for dinner and then we went to a late night comedy show. The comedians were hillarious, even when they were taking the piss outta things I didn't understand, I suppose that was mostly because they hada funny accents! Late night comedy is not entirely conducive to an early start which is exactly what we had the next day boarding the euro-star to paris!
xxx
We arrived in early afternoon and promptly went to meet up with one of my dear friends Z. We met in Paris and haven't seen each other since a super crazy highly memorable pamplona experience in 2005. I'm sure none of you will be surprised to hear we didn't miss a beat! She has a charming town house in Notting Hill with a very pleasant (illegal) rooftop terrace where the three of us passed a fantastic afternoon drinking screwdrivers. One of my favorite things about English summer, is that is stays light until about 10pm so afternoon generally lasts until 7.
About that time, we hopped a bus to Mike's mate's place, in Chiswick. To be fair chiswick is a bit out of town....but it is right on the water and the train station is very close....so it worked out quite well. J and H made us feel right at home and even welcomed us with a BBQ....Z came along too since she was off to birmingham the next evening and we wanted lots of catch up time! Dinner, drinks and convo were all spectacular and fun was had by all.
The next day we went back to Z's where I made yummy brunch accompained by my signature bloody mary. We had a nice slow morning and we were off! After saying goodbyes-Mike and I commenced to wandering! We had very firm plans with a strict itinary, however as often happens we got caught up in the wander and much was missed! We did in our ramblings end up at Churchills war rooms, which were very cool as they have remained virtually untouched since the end of the war.
London was a lovely mish-mash of sightseeing and catching up, as Mike spent a number of years there. His oldest friend, is a fabulous artist, and you should check him out his stuff is awesome AND he took us to a fantastic viet resto in brick lane...which is traditionally where you'd get curry...but apparently living there you get sick of it quite quickly which is understandable! He also had a fantastic rood terrace, this one legal, where we all enjoyed drinks and sunsets =)
One of my favorite London experiences was absolutely the Tate Modern...I've been a bit intrigued by modern art for awhile ( it grew from disinterest) but the Tate was fantastic! It's in an old factory so the space is spectacular, but the exhibits were really stunning....there are some pictures, look for them on picasa soon. But the highlights were defintiely the VW sculpture art and the Andy Warhols. The Warhol room begin as a total mind fuck-there is color and light everywhere-classic warhol screenprinting as wallpaper with warhol screen printing portraits behind....but once you warm up to it-it is really stunning.
Our last night in London we watched the US play Ghana and a classic english pub-I had fish and chips for dinner and then we went to a late night comedy show. The comedians were hillarious, even when they were taking the piss outta things I didn't understand, I suppose that was mostly because they hada funny accents! Late night comedy is not entirely conducive to an early start which is exactly what we had the next day boarding the euro-star to paris!
xxx
Meeting the King & CO?
So although it's been a number of weeks....weìll carry on as if it hasn't, ok?
It was nice to be in England with Mike and visit with his parents.....don't tell him I said this ( as he gets the 'live show' he isn'tt a follower!) but it is so easy to see the connection between them all, lol. His 'mum' made a lovely dinner the first night I was there, of course he didn't tell her about the 'meat that swims' thing, so she'd made lamb lasagna....hmmm.
On day two Mike took me on one of his classic pre-gena dates. We went to this adorable village, Henley-on-thames, where Mike rowed me down the thames in a row boat =) it was all very civiliZed and romantic to be sure. Then we had lunch at this charming little french cafe, over which I was rapt until I realized a few days later that it was a chain...boo! Henley-on-thames also happens to be the town where my favorite Beatle, George settled and so we went into stalker mode and made our way up to his house....and by house I mean mansion and by mansion I mean estate. For those of you who may not have seen an estate before, it's the kind of property where you can't see the house from the road. SICK!
Day three with Mike and Fam, his parents took us to Hampton Court...home of intregiue, huge dresses, and clandistine affairs-at least is was 500 years ago! It was, at it's zenith, the most ridiculous of all the ridiculous castles stayed in by the English royal family. For those of you Henry VII fans, it was built by cardinal Wosley and became property of the King when he had 'off with his head'. Unfortunetly, it was all rebuilt in baroque style by Christopher Wren in the 18th cen-so very little remains of the original building. It can, however, boast to having the largest and oldest vine-yes vine in the world as well as the original gardens and tennis courts. To this day, you are only allowed to play on this court if you are a royal....well whoo-wee.
It was a really wonderful day and I'm so grateful that Mike's parents suggested it....after a lovely morning/early afternoon at court Mike and I hopped a train to London-town =)
xxx
It was nice to be in England with Mike and visit with his parents.....don't tell him I said this ( as he gets the 'live show' he isn'tt a follower!) but it is so easy to see the connection between them all, lol. His 'mum' made a lovely dinner the first night I was there, of course he didn't tell her about the 'meat that swims' thing, so she'd made lamb lasagna....hmmm.
On day two Mike took me on one of his classic pre-gena dates. We went to this adorable village, Henley-on-thames, where Mike rowed me down the thames in a row boat =) it was all very civiliZed and romantic to be sure. Then we had lunch at this charming little french cafe, over which I was rapt until I realized a few days later that it was a chain...boo! Henley-on-thames also happens to be the town where my favorite Beatle, George settled and so we went into stalker mode and made our way up to his house....and by house I mean mansion and by mansion I mean estate. For those of you who may not have seen an estate before, it's the kind of property where you can't see the house from the road. SICK!
Day three with Mike and Fam, his parents took us to Hampton Court...home of intregiue, huge dresses, and clandistine affairs-at least is was 500 years ago! It was, at it's zenith, the most ridiculous of all the ridiculous castles stayed in by the English royal family. For those of you Henry VII fans, it was built by cardinal Wosley and became property of the King when he had 'off with his head'. Unfortunetly, it was all rebuilt in baroque style by Christopher Wren in the 18th cen-so very little remains of the original building. It can, however, boast to having the largest and oldest vine-yes vine in the world as well as the original gardens and tennis courts. To this day, you are only allowed to play on this court if you are a royal....well whoo-wee.
It was a really wonderful day and I'm so grateful that Mike's parents suggested it....after a lovely morning/early afternoon at court Mike and I hopped a train to London-town =)
xxx
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
The Redcoats are Coming!
So now I'm in England and it's adorable!!
I landed on friday morning and spend my first weekend with my friend H and her fiance R. Now H & R met while H and I were traveling through Australia! Then she moved to england to be with him and now they're getting married! How cute is that!?! We had a terrific weekend and although we were all disappointed by England's terrible showing in the soccer, I managed to stay up til the end and sleep through the night....jet lag? Not this girl!
On Saturday we went for a lovely English drive through villages that look like Harry Potter could have stepped out of the door. It took me a while to enjoy it, because a regular road in England is the size of an itty-bitty side street, and the English drive like they're on the bloody autobahn! To be honest it's terrifying, then you remember that nobody wants to crash the car and you loosen up a bit! After life in the sunburnt land of oz the green of england is unbelievably refreshing! It's something you don't notice that you're missing. But my first glimpse of green had me feeling thirsty for more! Apparently it's been raining heaps in England (I hear it does that) but I've had beautiful sunny days so far-lucky lucky me!
On Saturday night we had a bit of an Australia reunion, as the mate R had traveled through oz with came out for drinks....oi was I in trouble! Two shots down and I realized I was screwed! We yanks just can't really hang when the English want to drink...even after three years in oz I was in over my head! After a long fun night came the painful morning =(
Luckily I'm a bloody mary master - J and I sucked one down and felt much better! We were able to have a leisurely morning - which I love - and then I hopped a coach (bus) to Reading (think redding) to meet up with Mike - hurray!
xx
home again home again =)
I really have to say I had the best visit home. Although, to be fair it was way too short!
I'd like to preface by saying I'm so sorry if I didn't say goodbye and even sorrier if we didn't get to meet up. My time was super scheduled and I had a very. important. wedding one weekend which made it tricky to see everyone. Chances are, if you're reading this, I really wanted to see you and I'm sorry =(
It's not you it's me.
For those of you I skipped town on, I'm also incredibly sorry. I have a hard time with goodbyes these days...so sometimes it's easier to avoid them...look for a postcard coming your way =)
Oh but DC how I love you! I had a really amazing few weeks, from the other out of town guests (thanks Kate and Kris) to the wonderful meals/drinks with friends....I don't have the words. Suffice it to say I love you all.
My first weekend back but was big blur between a huge Saturday night and then a BBQ on Sunday I felt like a giant lush all weekend! The BBQ was fun and it was even more fun bc people brought kids =) I love kids. I especially love my friend's kids....especially when I can give them back when they start crying! haha
My weeks were filled with lunches/dinners with friends. I'm really happy I was able to spend more time with my momma this trip =) We got to go to a bit of theater and had some great chats which was special. I can't tell you all how well Mom and I get along now that we're on opposite sides of the planet!
The wedding weekend extravaganza has got to be one of the best weekends in memory! Not only was one of my favs marrying a guy I'd known for 10 years, but their awesome families went out of the way to make sure everyone had a good time. Don't believe me? The mother of the bride gave us (the bridal suite) THREE HANDLES OF LIQUOR to ensure our levity and oh did it work!
Although I was definitely ready to see Mike (it'd been 3 weeks!) I was super sad to leave. I had an awesome last day...I got to meet a friend's baby - coincidently this baby has the same name as the future daughter of yours truly - and I spent most of the day with the best best a girl could have =)
DC you must know that although I chose to live away you and yours are always in my heart....I love you guys!
xxx
Better Late than Never!
Well seeing as how I'm traveling I decided I'd better do with some regular writing again =) I've been taking notes, so hopefully I'll get everything in.
I left Melbourne on 25 May and flew the long way round (through abu dhabi-it's on the Saudi peninsula look it up! ) Now, before you go judging me for going 'the long way', you should know that the planes were brand new, the food was better, AND I could charge my iphone from my seat! Oh yeah, and the flight was cheaper plus I arrived in Chicago sans jet lag. An all around score I'd say! In fact, I'm not above a little plug, as long as Etihad Airlines remains cheaper than the rest I'm happy to fly an extra 10 hours in comfort...did I mention I avoided customs at LAX?? Bonus Round for me!
Chicago was fantastic as always. Not only did I get to see my oldest and dearest friend, I got to meet her son, my nephew Grant =) I love him. I wish I could post pictures, but I didn't get my act in gear and upload before I left emerica...so we'll all have to wait on that. lociento
Chicago in summer has got to be one of the best cities around, as Liz (a childhood buddy I caught up with in chi-town) claims, the winters keep the real estate prices down which is why most people don't know how amazing it really is....I wouldn't really know about the winters as I avoid the north like the plague come snow season!
We enjoyed booze filled dinners on the deck. Booze filled dinners on the boat. Booze filled dinners....I think you get the point! My point is that for the first time ever I drank more than Cat-not Bill, never Bill :-p. You have to understand, Bill especially has relished in getting me drunk ever since I was a wee lass-something about him filling in my only child neglect or something....anyways, since they had a baby on board it was a one woman show and let me tell you, it was a good one!
In all seriousness though, all you out there should absolutely go to Chicago and take a boat on a lake! Hands down my favorite thing to do in Chicago summer as long as I'm with my favorite Chicagoans....is that what you're called?? For the first season ever I was present for the boat's first dip. Even more spectacularly I was witness to baby's first boat ride =) He loved it until the motion of the ocean knocked him out! tee-hehe
Cat's parents are my father's oldest friends, so catching up with them is always incredibly special. Her father especially has memories of my dad that no one else does, so dinner with Cat's parents was a major highlight.
As much as I love everything in chicago, baby Grant is my new chi-town love. My last day there we took him to baby music class-he was rapt! As was I-haha. There was singing and dancing and instruments and scarves....bubbles at the end whats not to love??
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