Hola from Granada

Remember me? Only about two weeks till I return to Melbourne, reality, exams etc. But I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone - how are we all holding up?

I've managed somehow to not post during my entire stay in the south of France, partially because I'm lazy and Dad and Stella have needed more use of the laptop than I anticipated (*suppresses resentment*), but also because it was completely awesome.

After a brief stop in Genova - our last Italian location - it was off to Nice to visit our great uncle Karl, his wife Jenny and son Liam.

I actually enjoyed Genova's oddly Melbournian weather (rain was a novelty back then), and less touristy vibes than Florence or Rome. Plus the university there was having an open day:


The inside courtyard.

No I know it's no Menzies building - but still pretty impressive, right? Seriously, how cool would it be to study here?

And did my bit to support an Italian socialist revolution, by purchasing this from a member of a non-represented party:



Nice was lovely - full of the "other half" as mum said (and in Nice, they really do constitute approximately half). The boulevard near the shore is dotted with casinos, and very tanned retirees dressed in white stroll along walking little dogs.

Our uncle lives in Antibe (just out of Nice), where the concentration of wealthy folk is even higher. They are renting while they finish building a villa, which looks absolutely stunning in progress (and it's huge). They took us out to lunch to their favourite hotel (also favoured by J.F.K, oh, and Jamie Packer got married there. Oh My God). Needless to say, the food was fantastic. We had a lovely visit, and I can safely say that is the first and last time I will hear anyone complain about unpleasant "nouveau riche" Russians. (There is a lot of Russian money in Nice, apparently.)

Arles was our next big stop, and a hot contender for favourite location. The locals where absurdly friendly (none of that French snobbishness you hear about, but we haven't been to Paris yet so I'll hold my breath).

Arles is where Christian Lacroix had his humble beginnings. They just so happened to be holding an exhibition of his wears and the work of other artists, modern and old, who have inspired his designs. It was pretty inspiring, and some fantastic black and white photography has left me itching to pick up a camera when I get home.

We also visited the famous Camargue, saw its flamingos and other wildlife, were feasted upon by its legendary mosquitoes. But Stella and I know that the visit was actually planned to give mum and dad the chance to stop and identify (by common and botanical name) every single plant and tree in the god-forsaken wetland. *Sighs* - That's what you get for being born of two horticulturists.

Arles is also the location of Pablo Picasso's famous ear-cutting episode. He painted this garden whilst in hospital:

Arles began our very dodgy tradition of cooking and eating meals in our hotel room (after Arle, we even purchased a camper oven). We needed a break from the hassle of eating out, and serious lack of veggie-rich restaurant dishes.

Dad even smuggled hard boiled eggs from the hotel's buffet breakfast up to our room in napkins. Good grief.

Next was a pit stop in a roadside hotel (where we listened on-line to the crushing defeat of the Saints in the prelim), then on to Carcassone, where we stayed within the bounds of a medieval castle, restored and thoroughly packed with souvenir shops

The castle boasts excellent defences, 2500 of history, and a very distinctive smelling beggar.

In the Middle Ages, the Cathar religion (an alternative interpretation of Christianity) became especially influential in the south of France, so naturally the Pope opened up a can of whoopass, slaughtered some folk, and Carcassone duly surrendered. So it goes.

Stella and I next to a big lion thingy in Barcelona.

Barcelona, Spain, brings with it a new cuisine, a new European language to fail at, and the best architecture so far. The city is known for its Mordernisma style buildings, constructed during the end of the 19^th century/ beginning of the 20^th. It's the Spanish equivalent of art nouveau, and primarily represented in Barcelona by the architecture of Antonio Gaudi.

A weird and wonderful Gaudi window.

This house, designed for a wealthy family, was really something else. Beautiful, genius, and incredibly practical. Even the servants quarters are divine. The rational behind the design is “we need a banister, so lets carve a beautiful banister in keeping with the theme of the house, perfectly contoured to fit the hand” not “we need a banister, lets build it with the most expensive material we can find, paint it gold and embellish it with completely arbitrary flower motifs” as with so much old European design.

I visited the (still in construction) Sagrada Familia alone, got stuck in the rain (I swear, the shit weather has followed us from home), and lost, twice. It was nevertheless stunning, huge, and so full of life. Gaudi draws inspiration for his shapes and structures from the natural world, making the Sagrada is so different from other churches I've seen in Europe. It seems to celebrate life and humanity rather than express how grim and scary the world is, how powerful the church is, and to “do what we say or you won't go to heaven”.

This gargoyle from the medieval church in Carcassone, case in point.

The roof of the Sangrada

Another cultural highlight in Barcelona was seeing a Flamenco performance, that included opera in between and sometimes during the dancing. It was phenomenal. The female dancer was especially good; so aggressive and with calves like small tree trunks. The male was good too, but lost the plot a bit during what seemed like the Flamenco equivalent of a ten hour drum solo. And the opera - my god - was more moving than anything I've seen in Melbourne.

All the culture vultures out for a night at the opera/ flamenco.

We ate fantastic tapas and paella at an organic eatery, and had a lovely meal at a Japanese restaurant where the owner watched over us grinning to make sure we used the right sauces/ knew how to handle chopsticks. (He gave Stella a pair of sprung, tong-like sticks, obviously kept for people who fail at chopsticks – feel the shame, Stella!).

Christopher Columbus is all like "Omg, I can totally see my house from here!!!!"

Phew. Ok, take a breather. One last location to bore you with: the current, Grenada. The poor weather continues, but it stayed moderately fine for our visit to the Alahmbra and the Generalife (Jen-eh-ral-ee-feh), the center of what was the last Muslim stronghold in Spain. (The Catholics kicked them out. So it goes etc.) The palace and gardens are stunningly beautiful, so I'll let the pictures to the talking:

A rare sighting of a woman outside of Mohamed the 5th 's harem

Some other pictures that just about speak for themselves:

The reason why I won't be coming back from Europe with a tan...


...and the reason why I'll be coming back from Europe substantially wider in girth.

Oh well, hope you survived that. Not long now, after Spain is Paris, then.... TOKYO!!!!!
(Start putting in requests for special presents now, and recommendations for things I simply must do in my 4 short days, because I'm having lots of trouble narrowing my itinerary. And don't say “try fugu”, it's too expensive.).

I'll see y'all after the 14^th. Adios amigos.

PS. sorry this is prob riddled with errors etc, but i'm running out of internets...

The Uffizi Gallery in Florence

A special entry for the Uffizi gallery.

(Sorry, I'm starting to spam now... I've collected quite the backlog of entries.)

This is probably a good place to mention that I've started stalking Japanese tourists, who I seek out and inconspicuously hover around whilst attempting to eavesdrop. In the gallery, I tried listening to a Japanese tour guide, but was (not surprisingly) waaaay over my head. So far I've understood “chotto”, “hai”, “nani?”, “mo ikai!” and “hajime desu ka?” (not very advanced, but exciting for me ^_^) Plus most signs are translated into Japanese, so I'm practicing my katakana comprehension for Tokyo...

Anyway, the gallery was fantastic. It goes from pre-renaissance all the way up to the 1700s, and I seriously doubt there is a conception of the Annunciation, Madonna and Child or the Crucifixion that I have not seen. To be fair, in the Renaissance there is a revival of imagery from classical mythology, and then more portraiture and scenes from life.

Whitney, I thought of you (being my usual gallery-buddy) - and we gotta to see an exhibition when I get back, before my NGV members card expires! We need tea and biscuits in the members lounge before it's too late!

I loved the Sandro Botticelli pieces, like the Primavera and the Birth of Venus. And I know it's probably cliché to say your favorite artist is Leonardo da Vinci, but in all seriousness he is mine. His Annunciation was my favorite piece in the whole gallery. It was so beautiful, and I'm such a massive wuss that I actually teared up.

This obviously does it no justice at all. The light in his pictures is just amazing... so beautiful... *sobs*

Rome and Florence *finally*

Backtracking a bit, here is the story of Florence and Rome (mostly in pictures/ video, because words take effort, and I'm on holidays).

Every morning we ate fresh fruit from the market near our Apartment in Rome. The produce there is fantastic - the best figs and melon I've ever tasted.

Novona Piazza in Rome, and some buskers you actually want to pay. I love this song.


The Forum in Roma. It was pretty hot that day - Dad resembled Matt Holm during his valedictory.


More of the Forum, ancient Rome's center of civilisation.



The Colosseum.

Colosseum from the inside.
"And who were the lowest class of citizen, who had to stand all the way up the back of the stadium?" Asked our tour guide at this point.
"The slaves?", someone chimed.
"No. No no no." He said, pausing for effect. "It was... the women!"
He then proceeded to high-five all the males of the group.
Not long after that, he demonstrated how to use the ancient bidet in the passage. Apparently, they where also a privilege denied women at the Colosseum - *high-fives*.

Now for some Florence...

The Duomo in Florence. Very ornate, but this is my favorite cathedral so far.

A fountain in the Boboli Gardens, behind the Pitti Palace in Florence.


Perseus, having slain Medusa. Outside the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.


Everyone goes by bike... with no respect for pedestrians. Zebra crossings are navigated through force of personality alone (rarely lights, and no one stops - you need serious confidence to stop traffic).

(I do have a video of St Paul's Basilica, but have been having trouble uploading, so i'll edit this post later. )

We did go to the Sistine Chapel, but (fun fact here) you aren't allowed to take photographs, not because a photo might damage the frescoes, but because the Japanese company who sponsored it's restoration now have rights over the images.

The colours are pretty spectacular, but they dim the lights so it's kind of hard to see. Apparently it was Michelangelo's first shot at frescoing, and I gotta say he wasn't bad for a newbie. Seeing all this art is a major highlight for me... can't wait for France ^_^

Ok, it seams the remainder of my pics are on Dad's usb... will upload more when I can. Grrr. Maybe words are easier....

Greve, in Chianti

(Written 10/9)

I'm in Greve in Chianti at the moment, a little Italian town not far from Siena. It's a pretty busy time of year – every day there seems to be some festival or major procession into the main piazza. On our first day there was a parade of major characters from history in celebration of St Francis, including a giant polystyrene float of Tutankhamen, which got stuck trying to navigate through a side street just ouside our apartment. It is my most profound regret that I didn't get a photo of Cleopatra's two slave boys working to free it with chainsaws. The night after was the big religious celebration, and tomorrow is a wine tasting festival.

Three guys in the "Pergatory" section of the parade.

It's very pretty here, with lots of quaint gardens and delicious food places. It's a pleasant change of scene from the cities.

Oh, and speaking of culinary excellence, I found the European equivalent of Pocky:

I think this was imported from France...

And to finish, here are some gratuitous shots of Italian countryside and townships:




The town of Lucca is surrounded by a great Renaissance-era wall, which is remains totally intact. It is also the birthplace of composer Giacomo Puccini.


Italy: a meat lover's heaven. I've been eating lots of eggplant :D


Veggie patch and vineyards in countryside near Greve.



the Virgin Mary, in Lucca


Greve

Stella and I miss our cat, and photograph every stray we come across. (There is a multitude here, so its getting kind of ridiculous. This one is pretty sweet though, eh?)

For whatever reason, it's not letting me add any more pictures, but I'm sure this is more than enough! Grrr this blogging process is not as quick and easy as I'd planned. Hope you are all doing well XD

It begins...

Well I'm sitting here writing this at four o-clock in the morning Rome-time, 11:42 home time, finally realising what it is to be jet lagged. All I can say is I'm glad I finally have my ankles back after the 14 hour flight from Singapore. I retained so much fluid the bones of my delicately formed ankles were completely submerged:

Cankles and screwy sleep patterns aside, the trip has been awesome. Even now I'm listening to the dulcet tones of drunk Italian men singing “Ciao, ciao, ciao, my darling” below our Rome apartment. Bliss.

So, here is (part of) the story so far:

We had a days stopover in Singapore, before our marathon flight with Lufthansa to Rome via Frankfurt. The major languages of Singapore are English, although “Singlish”, an adorable mish-mash of the two (plus others), is also commonly spoken. The national past-time, sport and religion is shopping:

Singapore's main drag Orchard Grove is one giant shopping centre. Where there isn't a multiplex, one is being constructed.

We didn't go nuts on the shopping front (I bought some earrings), instead choosing to go to the zoo and eat out.
(Update: Huzzah! The aforementioned earring purchase constitutes my first screwing by a Singaporean shopkeeper. “Yes, yes - they stainless steal!!!” my arse.)

The zoo was wonderful, I took lots of photos:


Yes, there is a polar bear at Singapore Zoo... I mean, wtf?


Mother and baby gorilla

Yo mamma.

After our Singapore jaunt, it was 14 hours with Lufthansa to Rome via Frankfurt. We flew over the Swiss Alps! It was pretty special. (In Frankfurt airport, mum dropped a poor-taste zinger by likening smokers-capsules to extermination chambers – don't mention the war etc.)

Rome has been an awesome mix of magnificent grandeur and unspeakable gaudiness (those Popes just don't know when to say “stop” with the decorating). But I'll have to get to that next time.

Ciao!