Email subject lines

I learned somewhere that a lot of internet advertising is tailored to the reader - whether it decides which ads to display to you based on your internet history or your personal preferences on certain websites, etc.

I wonder if spam is sent the same way. I get the generic emails asking me to buy cheap drugs or viagra, but lately I'm getting more fake pharmaceutical company emails. Since I deal with pharmaceutical companies on a semi-regular basis at work, I wonder if somehow someone caught on and is trying to lure me with emails from Pfizer, etc.

I don't know what the point I'm trying to make is, but I have to admit, I was very amused by today's spam with the subject line of "Mass geek suicide." If spam is sent in a manner meant to deliberately pique your interest, I wonder what this email said about me...

Poetry influx

Beware. Poetry looms on the horizon.

"Mother Summer"

Hello summer, welcome back.
You’ve been gone awhile
Leaving us to winter’s cruel rack,
But now you’re here, bringing us your sunny smile.
Pick us up, brush us off, tell us it’s okay.
Place warming kisses on our brows,
Prepare us for the coming day.
To your season we will always espouse.
And in your loving glow we’ll laze,
Lounge by lakesides, play carefree.
Try to extend your stay, elongating these long days.
But if leave you must, despite our giant plea.
Promise that next year you’ll return.
Bringing again those warm days we forever yearn.



"Help"

“Help”



I died without knowing.

I woke to find myself six feet deep.
Walls stretching high on all sides,
Sky out of reach.
Choking, panicked,
I paced my grave.

People passed above.
Some slowed but ignored me.
Others wept and left flowers,
Lamenting my departure.
I feared to call out.
What if they did not respond? Did not turn?
It would confirm my death.

As I followed my path back and forth
I realized I was slightly deeper.
My grave wasn’t a grave at all,
But a rut built over time.

Could I escape? Was it impossible?
Each familiar step merely carried me on.
Five steps forward. Five back to the start.
Deeper and deeper I dug.

Tears did not help.
They turned the dirt to mud
Sucking me deeper.
Scrabbling at the walls brought more dirt down,
Drowning me further in darkness.

Rage against my death I did
But to no avail.
I sat, leaned against root-riddled wall
And watched the living pass me by.
I yearned to join them.
To walk in sunshine once more,
On new paths with new sights.

A single word, more whispered than said
Escaped my lips.

A passerby, one whom oft left flowers heard.
I feared they would continue to their way
But without delay they stopped and extended hand.

Half-afraid, half-hopeful I grasped it.
Working together we pulled and strained
Until, in a burst of light, I found myself resurrected.

I walk among the living again.
I keep one eye on the road ahead.
But the other, the other always remains on my grave.
It follows me, ready to pull me in.
But when I feel its inexorable pull,
I cry that little word
And a dozen hands dart out,
Stabilize me and help me find my path again.

Grade 10 English class

Starting in grade 10 English, we always had a section of the class dedicated to learning about poetry and analyzing the hidden meanings behind it. Often I thought that we put way too much thought into what the authors were trying to say (e.g. We soooo did not need to analyze every bloody word of "Seven Days" By Gary Dunford!), but sometimes it worked out and you got deeper meanings.

How come when I try to allude to things in my own writings, people either don't get it or misinterpret it entirely?

Example 1: "The Letter Opener": I wrote this short excerpt back in grade 12. We pulled random objects out of a hat and had to write a story about them. My object was a letter opener. So for some morbid reason I wrote this short story. However, most people who read it assumed the woman kills herself at the end. I never understood how people got that idea (okay, until now - I just reread the story and finally I get a glimmer of where it's coming from), but my original purpose was to indicate that she was going to kill her husband. I just felt that elongating the story to write his murder would detract from the overall feel.

Example 2: "The Taste of Falling Rain": I wrote this poem for a small online contest at writing.com. The purpose was to take a line they had given you and either incorporate it into the poem or use it the title. I chose the line, "The Taste of Falling Rain." Several people on writing.com reviewed the poem but no one seems to have realized the allusion that I was trying to make. The poem is supposed to be about someone dying. You know, everything was good, and then someone dies, so salty rain falls from sad clouds (I was trying to refer to the rain as being tears) on fresh-turned earth (an allusion to a grave). The end of the poem refers to the time of healing that occurs after any death - you know that the sorrow will eventually end.

Well epic fail on the allusion front for Mau. I guess I'm being a bit too obscure. It's just that when I write things more explicitly I feel like I'm clouting people over the head. Maybe like all good writers, I'll have to wait until I'm dead before people start analyzing my writing. ;)

Taste of Falling Rain

Until now the weather had been clear;
Days filled with blue skies and blue birds.

Nowadays rain squeezes from sad clouds
Falling salty on fresh-turned earth.

At last a glimpse of far-off light
Seen on the horizon, seen in the future
Promises an end to the storm.
Promises rainbows and sunshine
And blue birds once more.

Humor appetizers

I like to capture the funny points in my life, just so I can look back on them and chuckle. Therefore I'm writing these down before I forgot.

Rosemary
Many of you have met Rosemary, the creepy creepy doll that has become my family's mascot. I was joking with my family that now that Rosemary has emigrated to a French-speaking province, she should have a French name. Well, in one of my rare moments of wittiness, I decided her French name will be "Marie-Antoinette." Why that name? Because Rosemary's head isn't very well attached.

Lost
Have you ever received one of those email forwards that list what best friends do for each other? One of the lines in them reads something like, "I'll answer the phone and help explain to you where you are on your map. Dumbass." I never understood that particular joke until last Thursday. I decided to walk home from work because it was such a nice day. Unfortunately I didn't pay much attention to my directions - I just glanced at them before I left the office. I knew I had to turn somewhere, but couldn't remember where. I ended up just walking along one of the streets. I was 97% sure that the road I was on would eventually meet up with the giant highway near my house, but I wasn't quite sure.

Well, I'm walking. And walking. And walking some more. No highway. Walk some more. By now, it's been at least an hour since I set out on this foolish expedition. I start to wonder, "Hmm, am I sure the streets intersect? What if the highway starts further North...? What if the streets curve?" So I bite the bullet and phone my parents. The conversation goes kind of as follows:
Mau: Hey!
Mom: Hi!
Mau: So uh, are you at your computer right now?
Mom: No, I'm just having dinner. Why?
Mau: Umm, I'm kinda but not really lost.
Mom: ... What?
Mau: Well, I'm pretty sure I know where I am, but I'm getting tired and I just want to make sure that I'm not going to walk longer than I have to...

We ended up hanging up without finding out where I was, but I finally stumbled upon the intersection I was looking for. Unfortunately it didn't look anything like a highway, but I set down along it heedless. My mom eventually phoned me back, this time from her computer and she was able to tell me that I was on the right track. In the end it came to naught as 5 minutes after we hung up (again) I came across one of the metro stations near my area. Oh great and glorious God! Thank you! All in all it took me about 2 hours to get home.

Note to self: Like Paris, Montreal is a lot bigger in real life than on a map. :|

(Hmm. I just googled the route that I took - apparently I walked 7km! (It would have been 8.5km if I completed the walk instead of taking the metro home.)

Montreal digs

Bonjour de Montreal!

I'm pretty sure that everyone who reads my blog is also on Facebook with me, and therefore knows that I've moved to Montreal. However, just in case, here's a quick recap of what's going on.

When I was first hired for my job in Toronto, it was only for an 8 month contract. The program wasn't sure if they'd get more funding from the government and so they couldn't hire me for longer than that. In addition, they told me upfront that if they got more funding, the job itself would move to Montreal and would I be willing to move too? Anyone who's ever done a job interview knows that the only answer to that question is always yes. I never had any intention of actually following through with it, but lo and behold, it turns out that I enjoy my job and decided to actually move!

So on June 29th (mere days after my return from Europe), I finished packing up and my parents and middle sister and her boyfriend helped me migrate to the new province.

First of all, let me say how much I adore my new apartment! It's on the second floor of a small apartment building and I have a balcony and I have huuuuuge windows. (Ugh, and said windows are open right now and it's monsooning rain. I've just put my headphones on so I can't hear the rain and won't think about the water filtering into my apartment, soaking things, etc...) It's much bigger than my place in Toronto. And best of all, it's $120/month CHEAPER. It has its foibles (e.g. the shower pressure isn't strong, the hot water takes forever, the oven is older than my parents, etc.), but nothing I can't handle. It's also really close to the subway, so it only takes me 30 minutes to get to and from work (that's 30 minutes from the moment I close my door to the moment I enter my apartment)! I have to admit though, I'm already missing my free laundry facilities. :S

Montreal so far is a lovely city. And I say this despite the fact that it's been raining 90% of the time since I moved here. (On Saturday I felt like I was caught in a flood!) It has so many patios and terraces. I just really like the vibe - it's like a more chill version of Toronto and with more culture. That being said, it's not without its intimidations. I speak some French, but I still get flustered when people talk to me. Whenever my phone rings at work I suffer a moment of "fight or flight" panic before I pick it up. I then stutter my way through a bit of a message before the other person relents and switches to English.

I've moved and lived in many other cities (e.g. Vancouver and Ottawa) before, but they've always been temporary relocations. This one certainly has more of a sense of permanence. And the bad thing about that is that I don't have a support network here - I know absolutely no one beyond a couple of colleagues. And considering that English isn't the most-widely spoken language, that means that it's harder (than normal) for me to meet people.

To increase my socialization prospects, I joined a group I found online. They are comprised of people who are new to Montreal like me, or who are "old hands" and are here to welcome the newbies. I went for coffee with them on Friday and I had a good time. Through them I also found out about a language exchange group that meets for dinners on Wednesday. I'll endeavour to go to some of those events just so I can improve my French. I'm tired of being embarrased everytime I open my mouth.

Now I have to admit, work has been a semi-daunting ordeal so far. I say "semi" because in the grand scheme, I'm doing the exact same job I did in Toronto, so it's not like I'm having to learn anything overly difficult. The daunting part is the getting acquainted with the workplace and socialization aspects of the new job location. On my first day of work I was shown my office (which was totally empty. It didn't even have a desk or pencil in it!), given access to the net, shown the lunch room and that was it. I was left on my own. I figured, "Okay, not a problem. I'll just leave my office door open, unpack, and I'll meet people sooner or later."

Well, it's been a week and I've only met about 3 people on my floor, one of them being my boss. This floor is a veritable ghost town! I just can't reach a happy medium. In Toronto the office was hectic because there were 3 of us, the phones were ringing and patients and doctors kept wandering in and out. Here, my floor is home to the offices of mostly doctors and clinicians, all of whom spend the majority of their time in their labs and clinics, so I never see anyone. It's the same with the student offices. Most of them are with their supervisors, those aforementioned elusive doctors and scientists. So I have to admit, I've been feeling a bit bereft socialization-wise.

To combat my loner-tendencies, I force myself to go to the lunch room everyday. I'm met with varying degrees of success each day. My first day, I didn't bother bringing a lunch because normally people go out for lunch or something with the newbie, or I figured that I could at least tag-along with a group who already had plans. Well, but the time 1PM rolled around and nobody had shown up, I realized that it was not meant to be and went out for lunch on my own. On my second day there was a whole table of ladies chatting in French but there wasn't any space so I sat with a couple of Chinese people, but they only spoke English and are preparing to move to the states. The third day one of the students from my program came and sat with me, and we chatted together with two other random people in a mixture of French and English. The fourth day there was no one, etc... Today was my most successful "socialization" day. I successfully sat and chatted with a co-op student from France for 40 minutes in French! Yay me! It's unfortunate that most of the people I've met are only "temporary" but at least it's getting a bit better.

So that's the quick run down on my quebec adventures so far. Maybe I should re-dub this blog in honour of its French slant now? Perhaps I'll call it, "Coureurs de Montreal" or "Mau dans la ville"... Nah, my French doesn't extend to bad puns yet.

City of Lights

Unfortunately it's obviously been a bit since I was in Paris, so I'll do my best to recapture the highlights of my time there!

First off I must comment on the Paris metro system. I had been warned by a friend that it was confusing as hell, but I kind of sloughed her off... Little did I know how right she was! Oh my gosh, in my time I've navigated the Toronto, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Thailand, Shanghai, Rome and Milan transit systems... And Paris is by far the craziest! At least, that's how it first appears. The transit system is actually quite in depth - you can get anywhere you want to go and pop out of the transit really close. You just have to figure out which connections to make! There are FOURTEEN separate subway lines and they all mix in and interconnect - so to get to the Eiffel tower from my hostel, I could either take the #6 train (green line) and then transfer to the #2 (blue line), or I could take the #4 (purple line) and then transfer on to the RER C line (yellow), etc... If you had the time to get familiar with the system it would be great, but on a whirlwind tour like the one I embarked on, it felt like you spent more time with your nose in your subway map than actually going to your destination!

Paris is an absolutely lovely city! It took me a bit to understand the appeal of it, but now that I've been and experienced, I would love to return there. As with most of my other destinations on my trip, I spent my first day wandering around aimlessly, just getting oriented with the city. I ended up going to the Champs Elysee just because it was easily accessed via the metro (as in, I saw it listed on the metro map and so I tackled it rather than trying to figure out anything else!) The Champs itself was a bit anti-climatic. It seemed to be just a long long busy street lined with some cool restaurants, lots of stores, and beautiful trees... But I felt that in the end, it was naught but another shopping district.

At the end of the Champs I did encounter the Arc de Triomphe. Again, it was a bit of a let down, but at the same time it wasn't. I think this "let down" feeling is more of what I'm sensing now that I've had some time to think about it. Yes, the Arc would be very interesting if you hadn't seen one before, but in Europe I saw several already! I didn't bother paying to climb up it because a) I was feeling cheap, b) I was intending to climb the Eiffel, and c) I was freaking exhausted! I did walk around underneath it though, but there was some kind of ceremony for the unknown soldier going on. (At least, that's what I assume it was.)

Honestly, the thing that caught my attention the most was the roundabout surrounding the arc. You couldn't ever PAY me to drive in that monstrosity! Look up bedlam and chaos in the dictionary, and you'll see a picture of that roundabout. There was no rhyme or reason to how people drove in it. You entered the circle and you either emerged unscathed, or you lost 10 years off your life. (Or your life. Period.).

I ended up catching the subway to the Eiffel Tower and had to walk quite a distance to reach the tower itself. This is when I entered the phase of my trip where I'd see something and say, "Oh, this is it?" and when I got up close, I changed my opinion to, "Oh! This IS it!" The Eiffel was a prime example of this - when I got off the subway I could see its tip and I was like, "Gee, that's kinda small and rusty!" but when I got up close, it got bigger and bigger and more detailed and I realized it was painted brown and suddenly it was a whole lot cooler! Seriously, the Eiffel was tres tres cool!

What wasn't cool was the line to get up it! I guestimate that to take the elevator to the top, it was about a 3 hour wait in line... So Mau, being the impatient (and frugal) person that I am, decided to climb the Eiffel Tower instead. I still had to wait in line for about 45 minutes, but the climb wasn't all that bad. By this time it was night, so the tower was lit up with huge flood lights everywhere. Normally I'm not a nervous person about heights, but I have to admit that there were several times that I was very disoriented by being able to see through the grill/steelwork to down below. (The climb down was even worse because there were times that I was blinded by the lights and couldn't see the steps!) The view from the top of the Eiffel (I opted to climb to the 2nd floor too!) was absolutely splendid! Because it was dark, and it was my first night in Paris, I couldn't recognize many of the landmarks, but they were pretty nonetheless!

I scooted back to the hostel and met my roommates - I was staying with a guy from Russia and two South Africans. These roommates were probably the most chillaxed of all the ones I had - as in, they weren't going out partying (although I think the Russian would have preferred to), so it was nice not being judged by people for going to bed at midnight!

The next day we all decided to join a free walking tour. The tour was surprisingly good - it was conducted by various local students and they gave not only the history of the various sites, but also pointed out amusing stories about certain locations. Unfortunately about half way through the tour it started to rain heavily so I decided to leave because my jacket wasn't water proof and I was really tired. I returned to the hostel and had a long long nap. I know what you're thinking: You're in Paris and you're SLEEPING? Why yes, yes I am. And I dare you to question me after you've done two weeks of traveling by yourself at breakneck speed!

Post-nap I ventured out to go see some of the sites from our tour on my own terms. I went to see Notre-Dame first. The Cathedral was quite interesting - architecturally it was very very similar to the church in Milan - but a lot less creepy for some reason. Part of this was probably because they had more lighting inside, and because mass was going on. (This was probably the closest I've ever been, and ever will be, to a religious ceremony in my life!) I liked Notre-Dame, but after having seen St. Peter's Basilica and the duomo in Sienna, nothing can compare!

I wandered outside to go look at some of the cathedral's architecture more closely and behind the church I found this random orchestra playing classical music. There was quite a crowd around them so I stopped to listen. The next thing I knew, 2 hours had passed! It was so fun sitting and listening to them! I mean, how many people can say they listened to an orchestra outside of Notre-Dame in Paris? It was so relaxing and pleasant!

By this time it was dinner-ish, so I wandered the touristy areas of St-Michel and ended up buying my dinner from a grocery store. I returned to the benches where the orchestra had been playing (they had left) and enjoyed the ambiance behind the cathedral. I also amused myself by feeding the tiny little birds near me. They're so used to people that they're like puppies - when someone starts eating, they all flight over and nervously hop around, hoping that someone will drop something. The braver (or stupider) ones will also hop over and accept food from your fingertips! I had an absolute blast feeding them.

Now, my fun time would have lasted even longer, but some random guy decided to come sit on the bench beside me. He sat beside me even though there were about 30 other empty benches around me! Ugh. This is when I got really really tired of being a single female traveler. However, this fellow wasn't sketch looking so I decided to make a conscious effort to be polite and actually chat with him. I'm not sure what was up with him, but it was beyond awkward. He said hello and then just sat there, silent. He'd say something else and I'd respond and then he'd fall silent again... We were talking in a mixture of French and English and I KNOW that I left conversation openings, but he wasn't taking them! Ugh! I finally gave up and told him that I had to meet up with friends. Sheesh, the one time I decide not to just brush someone off and they fail epically at whatever they were trying to do.

For the rest of the evening I just walked along the Seine River from Notre-Dame to the Louvre to the Tuilerie Gardens past the Hotel des Invalides to the Eiffel Tower. I also go to see the Eiffel Tower night show (aka random flashing/twinkling lights)... Yeah, not overly exciting. The walk, while exhausting, was quite pleasant though.

The next day I wanted to see Versailles. I don't know why, but for this entire trip I've been so excited to see that place! And boy, it was awesome! It took quite a ride to get there. I'm glad that I left as early as I did though - even though I arrived at around 10ish, the lines were crrrraaaaazy! You had to get in line to get a ticket (and they have about 20 different variations of tickets and ticket combos, etc so it's confusing as fuck) and then you have to get in line for security, and then if you forgot to get a map there's a line for those and if you paid for an audioguide there's another line for that!

As I said, Versailles was great! It was opulent and gaudy and everything I thought it'd be! I bought the huge ticket (because I didn't know what else to get) so I also got to visit Marie Antoinette's estate, the grand Trianon and the Little Trianon (none of which were very interesting in comparison to Versailles itself). The gardens at Versailles were terrific though - they were so pretty I felt like I was walking around in a painting! Also, because it was Sunday, they were pumping out classical music and had the fountains running, so it was even more impressive! Overall, I spent about 6 hours at the place, and I barely touched a third of the gardens in that time!

Upon returning to Paris proper, I had time to waste. I was transferring from my hostel to stay with my friend Agnes and she couldn't meet me until 8PM, so I decided to visit Montmartre, the area that holds the famous Basilique du Sacre-Coeur. I looooved Montmartre so much! (For those of you who have seen Amelie, you'll probably recognize that area as the one where she leaves the chalk arrows for the guy.) Because it was Sunday, the area was a pedestrian only zone, was filled with tourists, artisans and performers etc. It had such a great vibe! I didn't actually go into the basilica, but the area around it as I said was interesting enough. (I also had my first French crepe there - so tasty!)

I finally returned to my hostel to pick up my baggage and then met up with Agnes. We hadn't seen each other since June-ish 2007 so it was terrific getting to see her and catching up. Her apartment, while uber-tiny, was ridiculously cute and comfy. We didn't do much for the rest of the night because we were both tired and she had to work the next day. We did however go out for a sandwich (I got a veggie sandwich because I felt like I was getting scurvy from lack of proper nourishment). It's a shame that were were both so tired though - it was the first day of summer and so the area around her place (St-Sulpice - you may recognize that from DaVinci Code) was filled to the brim with live bands, dancing, etc. We did stroll around and soak in the groove but we didn't stay for any length of time.

The next day I decided to hit up the Louvre. I made sure I got up early so I could beat most of the rush. While in line, I started chatting with this random girl who was from Michigan and we promptly became "Museum Buddies" for the day. It was a good match - she knew the history and significance of the artwork and I could read the museum map. People had been telling me that the Louvre was a big place and you could get lost easily, but I kept sloughing them off thinking they were exaggerating. Well they weren't. Not by a long shot. It was insanely huge in there! We did a bit of a whirlwind tour - if we saw something interesting we'd stop and snap some photos, or we'd saunter through unimpeded. We tended to follow the signs to the more popular sights just so we could claim to have seen certain things. E.g. I did get to see the Mona Lisa. From a distance. Seriously, the room where she's held is INSANE. The crowds were so thick (and the painting is only a few centimeters bigger than a piece of computer paper!) that you couldn't even TRY to get close to it! I also saw the Venus de Milo and some other famous statues along with a zillion other things that I'm sure are famous on their own but that I didn't recognize.

My Museum Buddy and I ended up breaking for lunch and then parting ways. I had been intending on visiting the Hotel des Invalides (a war-museum) but I was pretty tired and museum'ed out so I ended up walking around Place St-Michel again and exploring a bit. I actually ended up finding the French Pantheon (by accident) and wandered around the Jardins Luxembourg. The gardens were really pretty - plus it was great seeing local French people just chilling out doing what they do. I got... Not lost, but a bit dazed (?) on my way back to Agnes', but I eventually made it. We had dinner and ended up walking around her neighborhood and along the Seine before crashing for the night.

My last day in Paris was very relaxing. Since it was a Tuesday, many of the museums weren't open so I decided to get a late start and then visit the Sewers of Paris! (Most of you know by now that I have an unhealthy obsession with waste removal. LOL) It sounds weird and gross, but the sewers were actually rather interesting! You actually do descend into the sewers! You walk around seeing displays of the gear that sewer workers use, the equipment, etc. You then walk along actual walkways beside sewer runoff. At one point I pulled my camera out of my purse and nearly dropped Agnes' keys into the sewer! (Turns out they were wrapped around my camera cord and got pulled out along with the camera - they were literally within a centimeter of the sewer's edge!)

The most interesting part of the sewers was the historical background section. They had a series of panels explaining the development of the sewers, who built what, why, etc. However, the panels were located in the only part of the sewers that were actually kind of stinky. They were above water that had obviously drained off the street into the sewers - you could see leaves and debris that had been washed away!

After the sewers I wandered around a bit aimlessly. I found the Grand and Petit Palais, but I didn't feel like going in. I then decided to visit the Musee D'Orsay because several people said they preferred it to the Louvre. However, upon arrival I saw there were long lines (are there any other kind in Paris?) and decided not to. Instead I grabbed a crepe and wandered back to St-Michel area.

At this time I decided that I had procrastinated on my souvenir shopping long enough and ended up going back to Montmartre again to buy some souvenirs for my niece. I also just hung around the area in general because I loved the ambiance - seriously, my three musts for Paris include the Eiffel, the Louvre, and Montmartre.

That evening I chillaxed with Agnes again. We went out for a great meal at a traditional French restaurant and sauntered around for a bit before heading back to her place.

The next day there was really nothing for me to do other than finish packing up and heading to the airport. The flight home, while delayed for about an hour and a half was relatively uneventful.

I'm very happy that I did this Europe trip. It was so different from Asia and it was great knowing that I could do that kind of thing on my own, but I doubt that I'd ever do something like this again. As I've said several times now, I got really tired of being a single female traveler. There's definitely safety in numbers, if only so you're not targeted for being alone. Also, even though you meet people at each hostel, it gets lonely being on your own and tiresome of having to constantly make new friends each place you go - you need a bit more constancy to really relax.

So all in all I consider the trip to be a success. My fave places by far were Nice, Sienna, and Paris (in that order).

Back in Canada!

Okay, so I failed epically at blogging in Paris, but that's because the internet wasn't free in my hostel and the damned cafes were too expensive! I'll put an entry up about jolie Paris when I can.

In the meantime, I shall recuperate from jet lag. I managed to stay awake until 11:00PM last night (that's 5:00AM for my body) but I woke up at 4:30AM this morning (which is 10:30AM for my body). I'm starving and must go in search of food.

New Life Plan

I quickly glanced at what I wrote yesterday, and you know what? I can't for the life of me remember what the hell I did yesterday after I finished typing! If I repeat myself, forgive me.

I know that one thing I did was go check out the Russian Orthodox church here in Nice. It's supposed to be one of the best examples of its type outside of Russia yadda yadda yadda. It was really pretty on the outside.... And then you pay 3 euros to go in and discover that it's tiny. Like, a single small room tiny. And it's covered in the same art style I left behind in Italy. Doh.

After the church I ended up just moseying around residential areas. It was quite a nice walk because there were no tourists, just people doing their regular thing. I ended up down at the beach again and decided to chill on a bench and people watch.

Now, Italy and France have issues with illegal immigrants, especially those from Africa. Every time I turn around, I seem to be getting accosted by one of them (or some other poor legal immigrant) trying to sell me something or whatnot. (E.g. in Rome they give you a rose for "free" and then ask for money after you take it. Or in Milan they give away "friendship" bracelets... And then demand money.) My new defence is to just talk in a different language until they go away. But I'm in Europe where everyone's multi-lingual! How can I fool them? I talk in Chinese.

While I was on the bench, some random guy (who was probably actually another tourist) came up and tried saying something to me so I tell him (in Chinese), "I don't speak Chinese." (I'm just yammering whatever sentences come into my head.) He tries again in French. Mau says, "I'm going to the train station." He tried for a good five minutes to talk to me, going through every language: French, English, Spanish, he even asked if I was from Holland or Japan! LOL. I'm like, "Get a hint buddy!" Seriously, most people give up after a few sentences, but this guy was persistent! He finally did leave, but now I'm curious as to why the hell he was trying so hard. I watched him walk away, but he didn't try talking to anyone else nearby.

After the beach I moseyed back along the side streets and ended up finding this small grocery store called "Casino." I nearly bypassed it except that I saw melons in its window... I ended up buying myself my dinner, some snacks, and a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon (it cost me less than 3 euros!) I made it back to the hostel and cooked up my food and sat with some random people.

I chatted with an old guy (turns out he and I were in the same room) from Michigan, a 31 year old guy from South Africa, and several Aussies. It was a great evening and we had fun. I'll admit that I was a bit fuzzy from the wine - I caught myself though and forced myself to hold off on finishing the bottle till was I was de-fuzzed.

At 9PM the hostel's patio was closed and we all got turfed out. I met up with another group of people and we ended up going to the beach together to chill out. It was great - first we went to this bar called Wayne's and then we gave up on that and went to flop out on the rocks. We were there till nearly 1:30AM before we ventured back to the hostel.

I felt bad upon entering the hostel room - normally I'm the first one in the room at night so I don't disturb people. This time though, I was the last one in and I had nothing laid out so I was rummaging through my bags, using my cell phone as a light source because we only have 1 big overhead light, etc. However, apparently I didn't wake anyone up because they were already awake... The old guy from America snored like a chainsaw. No. Louder than a chainsaw. The first night in my hostel, I was the first one in and I slept with my earplugs like normal... This guy managed to wake me up from a sound sleep with his snoring even with my earplugs in! It was one of those snores that you can feel through the vibrations in the floor! Egads! Thank god he's gone today.

The group of people I partied with last night agreed to meet up at 9:30AM to go to Monaco. I woke up late and didn't see anyone so I ended up going to the city on my own. (I'm not disappointed - it's easier to see things on your own than coordinating a group.) I think the police were doing some kind of sting on the train through - 6 police men were going from car to car and checking the ID on certain passengers... Mainly older men or immigrant looking people. It was neat to watch because they were deadly serious.

Anyways, I got to Monaco and upon first sight of the city and the water I formulated my new life plan: Find and seduce Monaco's prince (age is not a factor) and live the good life forever and ever. Seriously. Monaco is even more picturesque than Nice. Mind you, it's on the side of a cliff, so walking around (err, up and down I should say) is a real bitch. Especially in the humidex of 35 degrees! I'm a bit bitter because it wasn't until on my way home that I discovered this whole underground AIR CONDITIONED pathway that leads directly to the train station... I had walked up and down instead. :(

The only things I did in Monaco were to go see the Exotic Gardens and the Aquarium. The gardens were tres cool. They were full of cacti! Like, huuuuuge cacti! It was awesome! You also got to go for a tour of a cave that was there, and that was cool too (both literally and figuratively - it was 18.5 degrees in the cave. Can we say heaven?) The only bitch was the 300 steps to get down... Which you then had to climb up again to escape the cave.

After the gardens I ventured down the cliffside (huzzah for public elevators!) and climbed Monaco-ville so that I could visit Monaco's aquarium. I had fun there - it's such a nice change from churches and museums, etc. It wasn't an overly fantastic aquarium (I think Vancouver's has been the best I've seen) but it was a nice change.

Other than those two things I didn't do much. I walked back to the train station and found two of the guys from the beach the previous evening (they left later than planned, so I'm glad I didn't wait around!) and we headed back to Nice together. I kind of wish that I had walked up to Monte Carlo, but there's a dress code there... And it's up. Like, a long walk up the cliff up. And I was already glistening with sweat. And I don't need to justify myself anymore.

So now I'm at my hostel contemplating what to eat for dinner. I can't remember where the store I bought my dinner at yesterday is, and I'm really hungry right now. Ugh. I can't wait to set up shop at Agnes' apartment. Or hell, I can't wait to return to Canada where I'll be able to cook on my own!!!

6 days left...

Nice is nice and other lame jokes

Wow. My train ride to Nice was both great and terrible all at once. It was terrible in the sense that it was slow - we stopped at every town along the route practically. It was also ridiculously hot on the train. Like, "I'm going to puke because it's so humid in here" hot. Italy, if I haven't mentioned it, has apparently not discovered the joy that is AC. Few of its buildings, buses, or subways have it. Neither did this train. Also, the train was one of those funky ones where's there's a hallway to one side of the train and compartments for 6 people on the other side... And Mau was stuck in the middle of the 6 other people. (Especially awkward since I was the only non-Italian speaking person.) There was a bit of AC on, but not enough to help being surrounded by people. And, because my other trains have all had AC blasting, I decided to wear my jeans and longer shirt so that I wouldn't be as cool this time. The joke was on me I guess. It did get a bit better as time went on and people came and left the room - I got to move into a corner seat nearer the AC vents, but I might as well have stayed in the same spot for all it did.

As for the great part of the train ride - that was the scenery. I had assumed that the train would wind its way through the Alps to its destination... However, instead it wended (is that a word?) its way along the Mediterranean coast. It was so gorgeous and picturesque! Any picture you've ever seen of the Italian/French coast really IS as pretty as it looks!

After getting off the train I checked into my hostel. It's not the nicest I've been in, but I have to admit, my Florence hostel has spoiled me. My room mates were apparently slobs since they left their crap scattered around the room and it smelled in there... I don't know if the smell was from them or the AC because they've left and the windows are open now, so the smell is gone.

Anyways, priority number one upon arriving in Nice was to find the beach. I can't go swimming because I have no one to guard my stuff (one of the bad things about travelling on your own), but I can still enjoy the ambience. While walking to the beach the first thing I noticed is that I feel infinitely more comfortable in Nice than I did anywhere else in Italy. I strongly suspect that it's because I can speak the language. It's such a relief not to have to struggle to know what the hell's going on, or to be able to ask for directions, etc.

Also, it's also a relief to walk on streets that are FLAT and PAVED. Cobblestones are cute and all, but I'm tired of nearly breaking my ankle anytime I step outside the hostel. LOL.

Anyways, Nice is very very picturesque - it looks EXACTLY like the pictures and TV shows show it as. However, the one surprising thing is that the beach isn't sandy - it's covered in rather large rocks/pebbles! Like, golf ball size and larger.... So not the best place to go if you want to flop out on a towel. There are people who do so anyways. I've seen quite a few boobs since being here and that doesn't bother me. What bothers me is just how tanned people are - some white people are now BROWN. It's disgusting! Haven't they heard of sun block or skin cancer?! I'm honestly revolted when I see some of them.

The only thing I did yesterday was wander the beach, watch the sunset over the mountains, and then eat dinner.

Today I started off early by wandering the beach again and climbing the Castle Lou. Now, apparently Nice averages 300 days of sunshine a year. Apparently today is day 301. It was so cloudy this morning, and, while it was still cool, the clouds trapped the humidity making it hotter than hell! Castle Lou was anti-climatic... The hillside is covered in beautiful palms, pines, and cacti... Cacti? Yes. There is a surprising number of cacti here in Nice and along the coast. I'm rather enthralled by them. LOL. I also checked out a famous cemetery here (although it wasn't as impressive as the one in Milan). Otherwise, the only other thing I've done today is grabbed lunch and eat in a small plaza.

On the way back to the hostel (I had to change out of my jean capris, it was too bloody hot) I got a bit lost and had to ask for directions. I received several compliments on my accent. Yay me!

I have to admit, the allure of my trip is winding down. I'm getting tired of living out of a backpack and trying to find out where to eat each day. (Nice is effin' expensive - 17 Euros for a meal? No thanks!) I doubt I'd ever do such a long trip on my own ever again. I'm kind of counting down until I get to come home.

That being said, don't get me wrong. I'm so glad that I've come here, but as I've joked to everyone else at one time or another, I left my heart in Asia. I really do prefer Asia to Europe so far. I feel more comfortable, safety-wise, here than I did in Asia, but Hong Kong and China were so much more exciting and interesting than here. I was talking about this with Li Min before leaving Milan and it's as true now as it was then.

7 days till I come home!

Drunk in Milan

Note: This blog entry was started while I was in Milan but I didn't get around to finishing it.
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Wow, I seem to have discovered a partial love for wine since arriving in Milan... 2 bottles in 2 nights (with the help of Li Min) and I just bought a third for tonight. Is it normal for your face to be numb before going to bed?

Milan has been a great break in my vacation. I've barely done anything since arriving here on Saturday. I've done some half-assed touristy things with Li Min, and today was my day to hit the "sights," but honestly, Milan is rather dull!

On Saturday I arrived at 11:30 and met up with Li Min. We haven't seen each other since April 2006 when I left Hong Kong. It's crazy how time flies. I got settled into her apartment and we ended up going out for a walk. Mainly this was time for her to acquaint me with the transit system since getting to her apartment from the train station requires taking a subway and bus.

The weather was ridiculously hot and humid. We ended up going to an aquarium (suggested by Alyssa) and then walking around a local park. There was some kind of big fitness expo going on in the park - and I felt like collapsing while watching the people. There were multiple exhibitions where people were exercising in the park - in the full sun. There was spinning, aerobic dancing, etc. I was sweating just watching them! There were also lots of booths promoting health products, healthy living things, etc. I was also amused by the Hare Krishna parade that was jumping around handing out free cookies. We ended up coming back to the apartment and watching movies and drinking wine.

The next day we lazed around (again, it was deadly hot) until nearly noon. Then we forced ourselves to go out and check out a famous Italian cemetary - it was famous because the graves are so ornate and crazy. Seriously, these weren't just plaques and markers - there were giant obelisks, sculptures, crypts, etc. I'm rather taken aback by how much money people put into them. It was also interesting seeing what meant what to different people - like, why did Mr. So and So and his family want a sculpture of a fake mountain with two ox and farmers to mark their grave?

After the cemetary we wandered over to Milan's canal (who knew Milan had a canal) and got some gelato. We really had no interest in doing anything but were forcing ourselves to go out. The area was rather boring though because it was Sunday and all the stores and restaurants were closed. We gave up, went to the grocery store and bought some more wine. Siestas, reading, and movies ensued.

Today Li Min had to go to school so I ventured out to do some sight seeing. I went to Milan's Duomo. Wow. It's crazy to look at! It's done in the "gothic" style and there's no mistaking it. It is so ornate and "lacy" looking! The inside, if there weren't so many people and lights, would be creepy because it's really dark and there's no painting or frescos really... It's just a giant stone interior. The other churches I've seen have had lots of colour and warmth, but this one felt a bit foreboding.

After the inside of the church, I chose to pay 5 Euros to climb the steps to its roof. (Ugh, such a long climb! And in the heat! But I was too cheap to pay 8 Euros for the elevator! LOL) The roof was awesome because you got a great view of Milan and you could see the details of the sculptures up close. My only issue was that my view kept getting obscured by my sweat!

I then moseyed through Milan's Galleria (I think its official title is something like "Vittorio Emmanuele Monument") - an old building that looks like a train station and had Prada next to a sport store and across from McDonald's... You get the idea. Outside of it, I sat next to a monument dedicated to Da Vinci and other scientists from Milan. I was trying to find the Scala (Milan's famous opera house)... I walked in circles for like 5 minutes consulting my map only to realize that I had been sitting across from it the entire time! The Scala, one of Milan's only claims to fame, is such a boring building!

After my various mishaps I wandered around some of the other famous streets and found a vendor to buy a panini from. I ended up chilling in a big pedestrian area and then went for some gelato... Or at least, I was going to, but when I saw that the prices were like 10 Euros for an effin' cup of gelato, I had to walk away!

By this point I was really lazy and just wasting time till I could go back to Li Min's. I ended up walking through an old castle ("castello") and returning to the park we had been at that weekend until it was time to return. However, I got a bit lost on my way home - I couldn't find the bus stop! I knew the bus I had to take had its route diverted due to construction, but I didn't realize that it was diverted away from the area I was currently in. I ended up walking around for like half an hour before I called it quits, took the metro to a station where I knew the bus stop was and finally made it back to Li Min's.

For people interested in visiting Milan, I'd recommend not bothering. With the exception of the duomo and an opera if you're interested, there's nothing to do! I did enjoy hanging with a friend and having no obligation to go out and sightsee!

Sights in Siena

Holy mackerel! If someone had told me that Siena was mountainous, I might have reconsidered going! In short, this city was fabulous! I barely did anything, but it was better than Florence in my opinion!

I got up early, got to the bus station, bumbled through buying a ticket and managed to be on the road by 9:15AM! The scenery was so nice on the ride over. I kept "oohing" and "ahhing." And then I had to sit back and ask, "What makes this place so much better than Canadian scenery?"

When I honestly thought about it, the answer is nothing! The main differences between Canadian (or at least Ontarian) scenery and that of Tuscany is that Tuscany has much more hills - and more dramatic hills at that. Also, any houses that do appear in the fields have the generic terra cotta roofs and the same look to them. Finally, the cypress trees line the roadways, and let's face it, cypress trees look too cool for school! I have to admit that I was surprised at how many trees (trees in general, not cypress trees) there were. I'd have pictured Italy with fewer of them considering how long people have settled there. This was not the case. Anyways, I think I enjoy Canadian and Tuscany scenery equally. That being said, I didn't see any of the real stereotypical Tuscan scenery (e.g. fields of sunflowers, etc.). I may have to revise my opinion if I catch sight of some.

One amusing anecdote I'd like to share is that on my ride there I was oggling all the houses/villas. The bus went by one and I just absorbed all the cypress trees lining the roadway, the beautiful green grass, etc. It looked so majestic! My first thought was, "Oooh, what a pretty villa! I want to stay THERE the next time I'm in Florence!" ... And then I found out that it was a cemetery.

Siena itself was gorgeous. As I've already mentioned, it's very hilly. Like, steep hills. Like, really steep hills. It's very medieval - much more medieval feeling than Florence. I bought a useless map and ended up following the tourist signs around. By total accident I found the major hot spot of Siena, a half-shell shaped piazza. It was pretty... But I don't really get the appeal. It's just a giant bricked over area with no shade from the sun in front of a clock tower.

I ended up moseying over to Siena's Duomo. Wow, this one was much much nicer than the one in Florence! Much more ornate and pretty. I think this might be my fave church after St. Peter's! It's just so humbling to realize that you're walking around in a building that was built in the 12th to 13th century! Crazy! Another reason I enjoyed my trip there was because there were people working, restoring and repairing the church. There was an old guy and another man hunched over some tiles on a section of the floor - either a tile had come loose or had totally come off, so they were repairing it. It was fascinating to see how long the process took to put the tile back into place! (The tile was only about the size of my hand.) In another section, workers were washing the walls that had a gazillion details. The one woman was using an enlarged cotton swab to wipe the dirt away and it was a) crazy to see how much dirt came off, and b) interesting to see the care she has to take with the swab, the water run-off, etc.

After the Duomo I realized I was kinda hungry so I wandered around and found myself at the Piazza again. I ended up deciding to splurge on my lunch and ate at a totally touristy trattoria.

A note on dining in Italy. I'm thoroughly confused as to how local Italians eat at restaurants. I realize they have more money to spend and thus aren't paying as much attention to prices as we tourists, but the whole dining experience for me is so confusing. Italian menus are divided up into several sections which translate to: Appetizers, First Plate, Second Plate, Third Plate, Sides, and Desserts. (Somethings "plate" can be switched with the word, "course.") When I first arrived, I was horrified, thinking that I'd have to order one item for each "course!" Plus, I was intimidated by the appearances of the restaurants because they all, even their patios, have wine glasses, cloth napkins, pretty tablecloths, etc.

Back to the menus... Usually first plate consists of pastas, etc. However, 2nd plate is usually meats... And only meat. E.g. Today I ordered a 2nd plate of pork and all that came on that plate was a huge chunk of pork tenderloin that was cooked with some kinda cheese and pastry crust. (I thought I was just getting a filet!) So if you want something other than meat with your meal you have to order a side too. I ordered a "green salad" with my meal for 4 Euros. Guess what I got? A plate of lettuce. Yes. I paid 4 Euros, that's $6.25CAD, for a fucking plate of lettuce. I don't think I need to vociferate on this anymore. So my point is, how does someone go out for a meal on their own? I only splurged because I feel like I'm going to get scurvy for not eating vegetables! I could have ordered "baked vegetables" at the restaurant, but it would have cost 7 Euros. That's insane!

One other difference with restaurants is that in Italy, you have to ask for the bill. They'll never bring it on their own. Also, they always bring your bill to you on a small dish. I think that's cute.

Anyways, after my exorbitant meal (which I enjoyed despite my bitching), I headed back to the duomo because I had paid for an all inclusive ticket - it got me into the Duomo itself, the museum, the crypt and the baptistery. The crypt wasn't really a crypt - it was an even older museum that was discovered during renovations. It was kinda cool because the walls were preserved because it had been buried under debris for so long. There wasn't much to the rooms, but it was neat to see something even older than the church above it. I also poked into the Baptistery, but it was really nothing - it was just like another portion of the Church, but apparently the bapistizing font there is really famous.

The coolest part of my inclusive ticket was getting into the museum. The museum itself wasn't interesting, but on the top floor you could ascend some stairs to get on to the museum's roof. The museum was housed in an old old building, so the stairs were stone, narrow, and steep as hell. To be honest, I was kinda afraid on them! If you met anyone going down while you were going up, you'd have to backtrack because there was no space to pass each other. If you fell, you'd roll like 2 flights down and probably have multiple broken bones. The view from the top was amazing! However, even better, you could ascend a SECOND set of stairs (equally terrifying and claustrophobic) and get to probably the second or third highest views in Siena! (First probably being the duomo's tower and the other being the clock tower.) You could see the entirety of Siena and even into the countryside beyond. So gorgeous! I took a zillion pictures and tried to get a video, but I don't know if the latter worked.

(Ugh, there are 2 spanish chicks talking to each other beside me but it's more like yelling with their volume level.)

By the time I had finished all of the above it was getting late in the afternoon. I just wandered the streets, admiring the views. I got some gelato (turns out the stuff I had earlier was hazelnut, not walnut) and wandered towards San Francesco's Basilica. Because I still had gelato, I didn't go inside the church. (Plus at this point, I could care less about seeing another church - I've been in more churches in the past 6 days than I have in the past 24 years.) I ended up finding a series of escalators that randomly led down the mountain and from there, I climbed back up via a different route. LOL. It was the steepest climb yet, but still pleasant because there were no other tourists around.

By 4ish I was ready to go back to Florence but I missed the bus and had to hang around. In the meantime I wandered a bit more, but then Mau's colon knocked on her backdoor. If you don't feel like reading about my anatomical exploits, stop reading here and skip over the next paragraph.

Ugh. So I felt a bout of diarrhea coming on and had to use the bus station bathroom. First of all, it's .50 euros to use the toilet there, and it's like a vending machine - you insert the money and can get past the gate. Seriously, half the museums in Italy don't have this much security. After the gate, there's an open room with a guy sitting at a desk. Guys go to the left, women to the right. But it's still pretty much a giant open room with separate stalls - e.g. the moment you exit your stall (more like a small closet), you can see the guy at the desk. I enter my stall. Oh god. There's no seat. Oh god. It's dirty. Oh god, I'm going to shit myself. I can shit while on a squatting toilet. I can shit while on a sitting toilet. What I can't do is shit while hovering over a toilet with no seat. I do the best I can and decide to just exit the stall and finish off the job in another stall... I do that (feeling very self-conscious because there's no way Mr. Desk can't hear my sound effects) only to find that the other stalls are all closed and occupied. God dammit! Can't I catch a break? I ended up re-entering my stall and lining the rime with toilet paper and doing the best I can. Ugh. I felt like scraping my ass with sandpaper by the time I was done. GROSS!

After my toilet exploits it was time to hop on the bus. Ugh. The bus we were on was a double decker style and I decided I wanted a good view so I chose the top... But the bus wasn't running, the AC wasn't on, and it was a veritable fucking sauna up there. Seriously, I had sweat literally pouring off me until the bus started. And then, god, you'd think I'd be smart enough to think this stuff through - I accidentally chose the side of the bus that was in the sun (and it was too full to switch to the other side). I chose that side of the bus thinking, "Well, the people on this side this morning had the sun, so on the way back there shouldn't be any." I forgot to account for the fact that oh yeah, the sun moves across the sky during the day. Fail Mau. Epic fail.

I made it back to the hostel by 7 and met a new roommate who's from Whitby! We ended up going for dinner together and sat chatting with a bunch of other Canucks. I can't believe how intensely they argued over the facts about zombies. Seriously. We talked about Zombies. It was fun but weird as fuck.

Now I'm just chillin' - everyone out drinking I think but I have no interest in doing so. I'm pretty wiped from climbing hills all day and I've gotten my first blister (on my baby toe no less!). I'm getting up early tomorrow to catch the 9:19AM train to Milan whereupon I meet up with Li Min! So excited!

Finally Florence

I finally made it out and actually did some sightseeing in Florence! After yesterday's post, I went for my free dinner. I sat with one of my roommates and two other Canadian girls. Umm, are there any Canadians left in Canada? Everyone seems to be over the big pond!

The free dinner was tasty! Well, when you haven't eaten in nearly 10 hours, hunger sauce makes everything tasty. :) HOnestly the food wasn't bad, but it was kinda greasy too. Like, oil left on my plate greasy. I think tonight I'll try one of the pizzas. The breakfast today was good too - I got a ham and cheese omelette. It wasn't anything to write home about (well, apparently it is since I AM typing about it!) but again, anything free is usually good. :)

After dinner I wandered around again WITHOUT getting lost. I made my way down to the Arno River and watched the sunset from the bridge. I also bought some gelato on the way home... Wow! I finally get what all the fuss is about! I got crema and niccolata (or however you spell it). So so tasty! The creama was a plain vanilla creamy flavour, and the niccolata was kinda walnut-y. I had to force myself not to go out and buy some more this afternoon because I already have cookies, etc.

Other than that, the rest of my evening was fairly uneventful. I chilled back in my hostel room, chatted with some of my roomies and went to bed early. Am I the only person whose earplugs fall out in the middle of the night? I've lost 2 so far and it's only been 5 days!

This morning I ventured out bright and early to make up for the time lost yesterday. Except apparently I was a bit too excited to go. My first stop was to visit the Duomo... But it didn't open until 10am and I was there at 9:10! LOL. Fail. I ended up waiting in line with an American family. We amused ourselves by watching merchants who obviously didn't have permits to set up stalls run away from the police whenever they came by.

My guide book described the Duomo as being rather bleak instead because all the art has been moved to the museum next door (which they charge admission for)... Well, they were right. The outside of the building is so amazing to see, but the inside... Well, I doubt any church will be impressive now that I've been inside St. Peter's Basilica.

Afterwards I headed towards the museum that holds the statue of David. Now, don't ask me how, but I somehow got it in my head that the location was on a certain part of my map. I followed the map trying to find the museum but couldn't see anything! I just kept circling this building that looked like some kind of mall. Finally I gave up and went inside... Only to discover that it's a fish market. I was like, "Umm, I'm pretty sure this isn't the right place." I got back outside, rechecked my guidebook and realized I was looking at the wrong spot. I have no idea how I did that.

I walked back to the museum and stood in line for an hour. An hour! Lucky for me there were 2 Australian couples in front of me that I could chat with, and an American dude behind me. They helped me pass the time. The museum itself was a bit tiny... It was mainly some random paintains and sculptures, or plasters of sculptures. However, the statue of David was very very cool. I never realized how BIG it was! The thing is like 5 feet tall! It was so amazing to see the amount of detail that went into it. One of the things that most caught my attention were the veins in his arms. Like, how much attention did Michaelangelo put into it???

Since the Duomo and David were my top priorities, I was left with time to waste. I grabbed a delicious panini sandwich from a small cafe and ventured forth to see the Uffizi Museum. (Several people had recommended it.) It's a large gallery that holds paintings and sculptures from the 15th to 19th centuries. I can't recall all the paintings that I saw, but I got to see some works by Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Botticelli, etc. I also saw The Birth of Venus. (Mind you, I nearly walked by the damned thing because I didn't see it!)

By then I was pretty tired, so I retired back to the hostel. I did take time to find the bus station though and make my reservation for Milan.

I must admit that by this point my mind has been thoroughly saturated with religious art. I'm trying to appreciate it all, but my mind is glazing over. I might try to venture out again tonight but I may also just flake out again.

While I was chatting with a friend on the net just now, they asked me which city I preferred: Rome or Florence? I had to think about it for a few moments, but I can honestly reply that Rome is more interesting to me. This is because of its ancient buildings - I love the medieval flare of Florence, but when compared to the acient ruins of Rome, it can't compare.

Outta steam

Wow. I got sooooo lost here in Florence. I saw the outside of the Duomo but the lines were long so I didn't bother trying. I followed random signs and saw the Basilica of San Lorenzo instead. Well after that I ended up getting lost. Like, REALLY lost. And I'm terrible for not asking for directions. By the time I finally oriented myself, I was at the outskirts of my map!

I was so exhausted that I just made my way back to the hostel and got set up in my room and then I crashed for 2 hours. I was so freaking tired I couldn't stay awake anymore.

Part of me feels guilty for sleeping when I could be out sight-seeing, but hell, I'm on vacation, right? Right?! Of course, the sleepiness is attributable to the fact that I haven't eaten since 8:30AM... :)

Right now I'm just chilling on the computers until the hostel's restaurant starts serving its free dinner. (That's what sold me on this place.)

Ta ta!

Ciao Florence!

Yesterday was the closest I've come to actually having a "vacation" day since arriving in Europe! After I finished getting my internet dosage for the day I totally flaked out. I <3 my 3 Musketeers book so far. It's pretty hilarious!

While I was resting, another new roomie came in. We ended up hanging out and going out for dinner - she was from California. Dinner was great - I had real authentic lasagna... Which was the same, just a bit saltier, as our Canadian stuff. LOL. I did splurge and get dessert though! I had tiramisu! Sooooo delish!

Afterwards we just wandered back to the hostel and chillaxed in the room. I'm also happy that the new roomie spoke Spanish, so I didn't feel so awkward about ignoring the Argentinian chick.

Anywho, I caught the Eurostar to Florence just now. I have to figure out how this railpass stuff works - I don't necessarily need a reservation, but I don't know what I do otherwise! While trying to get on the train, I had to get help reading my ticket because I had no idea what "Carbonazza" and "pisto" meant (and don't try spell-checking those because I soooo didn't spell them right.) So now I know they mean "car" and "seat" respectively.

Argh. Italian keyboards and I don't get along - this one is mostly great, but it has a tiny backspace button and immediately to the right of it is the "home" key, so I keep accidentally hitting it and typing at the start of the line...

Anyways, I should go out and explore the actual city now that I'm here. I have no idea what I want to do, but I'd like to see David, and go hang at the Bugogli Gardens just to spite my friend Michelle. I think I mentioned also that one day I want to do a day trip to Siena.

Oh, and before I forget, yes, the scenery was pretty damned cool on the ride over. You could see beautiful fields, rolling hills with villas on top, etc. There were a surprising amount of tunnels though, so I finally gave up on taking on/off my sunglasses each time we went through one.

On the ride, I amused myself by imagining what once stood on those fields - small roman villages, fields of army tents, poised to invade, invasion forces from the world wars... Temples. The list goes on!

Another way I've been amusing myself is by looking at the local italians and imagining what they'd look like as a statue. Oh wait. I think I already said this in a previous post... Oh well, it still holds true.

Ciao!

Rome finito

Wow. So I'm officilly declaring the Rome segment of my trip as being over. It's only 2:15PM but I've used up all my resources. Yesterday after I logged off, I went to my room for a catnap and ended up having to rush to get to the basilica on time.

As mentioned, our tour guide offered to be there at 6:15ish to take us for a short tour to make up for cutting ours short... Well, because of my nap, I was late so no one was at the entrance to the basilica. I ended up walking around on my own, which, honestly, was probably better than going on my own. St. Peter's Basilica was very beautiful - it was also great that it was near closing, so there were few people there. I could walk around and not bump into people, there was a hushed reverence, etc. The basilica is very gorgeous - waaaay more massive and grand than anticipated. Yes, it has the gaudiness of excess opulence but I enjoyed it and got a lot more feeling from it than I did the Sistine Chapel.

On my way out, I was amused by watching one of the changings of the Swiss guard. It was very informal. The guy saluted his comrade, went into a nearby door, another guy come out and took his place, and then the original guy came out with his briefcase and saluted and walked away. The Swiss guard uniforms crack me up. Some of them look like they should be painters because of their big floppy hats. Others remind me of the Jacks on playing cards.

As I was leaving the basilica, the two Canadian girls I had met up with found me - it turns out that our tour guide never showed up. (Although apparently they came after me, so my guess is that yes, either the guide didn't show up, or, equally likely, the guide showed up, no one was there (I was 10 minutes later remmeber) and left. Apparently they planned to go to the office today to complain and try to get some money back. Anyways, we were trying to plan to do things, but in the end admitted defeat and just returned to our perspective hostels.

I grabbed some pizza and brought it back to my hostel's patio. While I was eating, some random old American guy came and sat near me and started chatting. He wasn't creepy or anything, but it was just annoying to have to force a conversation. Luckily one of my roomies came down and helped pick up the slack... And then we found out that the guy was one of those old opinionated American guys who wouldn't even listen to other people's opinions. Another of our roomies came down which helped the conversation a bit, but we all sighed a breath of relief when he finally packed up. (Apparently my Dutch roommate thought the guy was my dad at first.)

My roommates and I just chilled and had some drinks which was pleasant. We then retired to our room and met the new people (3 of our roommates had left that day) - we now have an Argintinian girl who speaks no English (umm, awkward!), a Thai guy who's sudying in the Netherlands, and a guy from New York. Luckily one of our roommies spoke Spanish, so he conversed with the latina, while Michael and I yapped with Ed, the Thai guy. But as of today the last of my original roomies have left so we have no one who speaks Spanish.... Umm, awkward some more!

Last night was the first night I've had a good night's sleep since arriving. And by "good" I mean I was only woken up twice - once when one guy came in late at night, and one when my bunkmate came in. Not bad for a hostel. LOL

Today I did a bit more aimless wandering. My first step was to go to the Pantheon since I didn't make it in last time - on the way I got to see the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain again... But there were very very few tourists this time! I mean, I could actually SEE the Spanish steps this time. LOL. When I upload my photos, I'll make it a point to show the busy/not-busy photos to demonstrate what I mean.

After the Pantheon I wound my way to Piazza Navona. It was just a wide plaza with pretty fountains and buildings - my fave parts was a random band playing music in a corner of the plaza. Plus I saw a woman feeding a mass of pigeons. Seriously, I was worried they'd peck her apart!

When I first arrived in Rome, I saw this person dressed in a sphinx mask and wearing this shiny/sparkly yellow blanket. You could tell this person would do something if you dropped a coin in the can in front of them. I have to admit, I was curious as to what they'd do, but I didn't bother paying them. However, the next day outside the colosseum I saw the same person! And later down the street, there they were again - oh wait, no, there's a whole troop of these people scattered around Rome, dressed in their spandex blankets with their masks. It wasn't until I was in Piazza Navona that I saw someone pay them. The person's reaction? They bowed. Umm... That's it? Boooo! You couldn't pay me to stand around in the humidity with a hat and blanket to make what these people are making!

I wanted to walk to the closest metro station, so I had to walk to the colosseum. Along the way I found a cool site where in 1929 while demolishing a building for new construction, they found ruins for 4 temples and decided to preserve the entire site. The reason this was so interesting is that they were actually doing to work to preserve the site! You saw people with little brushes, guys taking photos, people washing the slabs of materials, etc. It was tres cool. I just wonder why, if the site was discovered in 1929, it's taking so long to restore?

I strolled along the Roman Forums and the colosseum again and eventually made my way to Piazza di Vittorio Emmanuele. Now, there was supposed to be a huge local market here, but I certainly didn't find it! I tried finding a restaurant but there were very few and most of them were expensive. Instead I went into this little mom & pop take-out store and got a mozarrella and prosciutto calzone. Yum? Not. Picture the thing like this: Take some sliced ham and shredded mozarella, toss them together in a blender , wrap it in thick dough and then deep fry it. Don't get me wrong, it tasted okay (not great, but okay) but the fact that it had the texture of look of something that someone had pre-chewed and spat back into the dough was very VERY off-putting. LOL.

I was going to wander around some more, but I realized I was pretty freaking exhausted, so I said, "Screw it! I'm going back to the hostel!" Which is exactly what I did! I did make a quick side trip to the English bookstore though - I picked up the Three Musketeers because I couldn't stand sitting down and reading my guide book anymore. LOL.

So now I'm going to go up to my room and lay down. My subway pass is valid for the rest of the night so I'll probably go out this evening for dinner - I've been in Rome for 3 days now and I still HAVEN'T HAD PASTA! I've had pizzas, paninis, and calzones, but no pasta! This must be rectified! LOL

Tomorrow I'm headed to Florence. I originally wanted to go for a bike tour of Tuscany, but my back's a bit tender, so I'll probably do a day trip to Siena instead (my roommates insisted that Siena is the place to be). Plus the Canadian girl's said that I could see the Tuscan scenery quite well from the train, which was my main reason for wanting to do the bike thing.

Ciao!

When in Rome...

Howdy folks!

So as most of you know, I'm currently in Italy on my Europe trip. I arrived on Saturday, June 6 and I'm already exhausted! I'm having a few issues typing this entry because a) I'm using a really really tiny keyboard, b) I'm exhausted, and c) this is an Italian keyboard so keys are in different locations! (E.g. the parenthese keys are two left from where they normally are, the apostraphe key is on the question mark key which is beside the backspace, etc... Colour me confused!)

On to the recap! (Photos to come later when I have more time to sit down and sift through the gazillion I've taken.)

My first adventure started at the airport when I kept setting off the security alarms. I ended up having to get patted down by a female security guard. I'm blaming my underwire bra.

I flew on Air Transat... Wow. What a dump! I've flown on many planes before, but Air Transat was the first time I've ever felt like I was in steerage! If my ass was any bigger, I'd have never fit into the seat! It didn't help that I was sat next to a gruff Italian guy and his wife. The guy was much more vocal than I about how uncomfortable the seating was, and he kept fidgeting. The flight itself was okay - I was uncomfy because at first I was too cold, and then I was sweating hot. I didn't get much sleep due to nervousness and Mr. Italian flopping around like a landed fish.

After landing, it was surprisingly easy to get from the airport to the city centre! I took the airport train to Rome's Termini station - but I don't remmeber much of the trip. It is soooo humid in Rome! And the train wasn't airconditioned, so lack of AC and lack of sleep makes for a very very sleepy Mau - I kept drifting asleep and then jerking awake. :(

I managed to make it to my hostel eventually. It's pretty cool! Very very North American/European. The checkin counter was playing the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and even now in the bar where I'm typing this, they're playing Moby. The hostel rooms are huuuuuge and they have big lockers under the bunkbeds to store your stuff. Very awesome. The old-school Italian elevator is a bit intimidating though - it's this tiny contraption with the folding doors that you can see through. It took a bit to work up the courage to use it. I'm also happy because my roommates are all cool - but more on them later.

Yesterday I immediately left the hostel to start exploring the city. I soon learned one of the first lessons that all tourists to Rome must learn - thou shalt not snap photos of every old building you come across.... Or you'll be sitting around forever and ever and run out of camera space. Seriously, I can't believe how indescribably beautiful Rome is. EVERY BUILDING is the old old style. Streets have the old bricks instead of asphalt. The streets are narrow. There are churches on every corner. So I rapidly had to give up on taking a picture of every interesting building I came across because it was an exercise in futility.

Another observation about Rome - Smart cars abound. Seriously, I've seen more Smart cars in the past 48 hours than I have in the past 10 years in Canada. Plus all the other cars are extremely tiny too... Which is probably a good thing considering the crazy paralell parking that goes on here. I saw a car bump into the one ahead of it while parking and totally didn't give a damn. When there aren't tiny cars, there are scooters and motorcycles. I also haven't been this terrified of crossing the street since I was in Thailand. Seriously, it's pretty freaking scary to take that first step through a busy roundabout.

During my initial expedition, I can't remember how many times I got lost. Well, lost is a relative word. I always knew where I was in relation to a certain tourist location, etc. I'd randomly walk down some streets, run into a beautiful fountain, set off on another street, find a tourist spot, wander off again, etc... My fave thing right now is the tourist map everyone is given. It's so detailed and helpful.... And it's ridiculously easy to identify who else is a tourist by it. LOL - we all have them in hand.

Despite being continually "lost," I still managed to find the following tourist destinations:

• The Spanish Steps - These were in a very pretty area. At their top is an old old Church and an Egyptian obelisk. The best thing though is that you can get a beautiful view of the rooftops of Rome. I can't believe how many domes there are! At their base is a pretty pretty fountain. I think it has some historical significance, but I can't for the life of me remember what.
  
• Shopping district - Beyond the Spanish steps you can find the couture shopping area of Rome. Gucci, Prada, Armani, you name it, they got it. I felt low-class just walking through it!
  
• After the shopping area I wandered to the Piazza di Popolo (or something like that)... Much more impressive on my map than in real life. LOL. Again, I have no idea what its significance was, but there was a pretty fountain, columns, etc. I was also pestered by Indian men trying to sell me roses.
  
• According to my map, at this point I was near the Tiber River, so I decided to walk along it. Now, in most cities I've ever visited, water areas are pretty. Not so with Rome. The water was so dirty and brown, plus it was really really low. The pretty thing were the bridges crossing it - they had multiple arches, etc. Very cool.
  
• I wandered South towards the Pantheon. Unfortunately I got there while it was closed for Mass, so I want to visit it again tomorrow. But I have to admit, it's an impressive building! It's just so mind boggling to see how huuuge it is and to realize how old it is. While I was in that plaza I sat on one of the rock columns beside it, and I have to admit, it was humbling to sit in the Pantheon's shadow on a rock that was over 2000 years old!
  
• After the Pantheon I wandered further South along whatever interesting roads I found (and of course, in Rome, they're all interesting looking!) I saw the Vittorio Emmanuele Monument. I was beyond tired at this point, so I just admired it from a distance and proceeded to get lost again.
  
• Now, this time I was truly lost - I thought I was somewhere South East of it, but somehow I stumbled on Trevi Fountain. I snapped a few photos, but in the end, it's just a pretty fountain! I don't get the appeal.
  

By this point I was utterly exhausted and starving. I hadn't ate since Breakfast on the plane (11am) and it was like 7PM. I did have some gelato, but I paid an arm and leg for it, only to discover that it's that same as is served in Canada! Now, I've been reassured by some people I've met that Italian gelato truly is better and that I must give it a second shot.

After getting lost on side streets, I finally made it back to my hostel and met all my roommates. I was sharing my room with 2 American girls who were on exchange in the Netherlands, an American guy who was travelling through all of Italy, a guy from the Netherlands who just finished BIKING here, and a guy from Malaysia who has been travelling for 2 months and is on his final month in Europe. They were all crazy cool about introducing themselves and were super friendly. However, they are kind of inconsiderate about certain things - the first night some of them went for a pub crawl. I didn't have a problem with that, or with my bunkmate waking me up when crawling into bed at 3am. The girls were rude though in that they turned on the huge overhead light when they came in a 6AM. And last night, I was in bed sleeping when everyone came back from their evening walk. I woke up and told them they could turn on the light if they wanted... But I was under the assumption they were back so they could go to bed (It was 1AM)... Well they poked in and out, were chatting, etc. I woke up some more and we chatted and were laughing, but I have to admit, I was uncomfortable with how loud some of them were being, and sure enough, someone came and banged on our door. And then they got loud again, so bang bang bang again. And STILL my bunkmate was hyper, so I had to be a bit of a bitch (and by that I mean, meekly remind them) that I HAD been trying to sleep before they came in. They settled down after that, but I was wide awake and had a hard time sleeping again.

Anyways, more about Rome. Yesterday I spent the day in Ancient Rome. One of my roommates told me I should sign up for a tour because you get the skip the line, they're good, etc... Well, skipping the line was right, but the tour was crap. We were a group of 30 people and the tour guide had a little microphone that we all listened to through these cheap-ass ear pieces... And it was a windy day, she had thick accent, etc. so the result was that I couldn't hear a thing. At least I skipped the line for the colosseum!

Oh the colosseum! Words can't describe how magnificent it was! As with the pantheon, it's mind-boggling to realize how ancient these ruins are! I don't know what else I can really say about the Colosseum, because you've seen most of it in books, etc. I did manage to jar my back though when I was leaving - the turnstile I was going through didn't turn when expected, so I hurt myself. :( After the colosseum I visited Palatine Hill, the legendary starting location of Rome. It had some terrific ruins, but I didn't know what any of them were! There's a distinct lack of signage to explain all of Rome's tourist locations. :(

While on Palatine Hill I was taking a short rest and listened to part of another tour group. I liked their guide so much that I got her brochure so I could take in part of her Vatican tour.

After Palatine Hill I visited the Imperial Forums... Crazy cool ruins!!! Columns and arches and ancient temples! OMG they were beyond cool. Again though, you don't know what you're looking at, so you tend to have to do post-research after you get back to your room. (That's what my roomie referred to it as.) I was so tired at this point that I actually found a slab of marble and flopped down on it for 30 minutes or so and catnapped in the shade. Nothin' like flaking out at some ancient ruins.

While on Palatine Hill I met some Canadian girls and I ran into them again while in the Forum, so we got together for a lunch at a nearby trattoria. It was great not having to eat alone. We made plans to go to the Vatican today (more on that below). After lunch we split up because I wanted to explore the ancient area some more.

Well, I didn't really do the ancient stuff too much again - instead I walked around the ancient Roman Forums (lame becuse they were indistinct lumps of rock in grassy areas - I could have been walking around an rocky field in Canada for all the definition these ruins had). I strolled around the outside of the colosseum some more and wandered to Domus Aurea... Which is apparantly just a park for locals... Probably the first authentic Roman locals I've encountered since arriving!

After ancient Rome I decided to go back to the Spanish Steps - it was nearly night now and I was hoping to catch sunset over Rome. Well, I did... But it was anti-climatic. LOL. I stood around for like an hour with such anticipation, only to have the sun go down with barely a blink. No red skies, no brilliant flashes of light, etc. Le sadness! Oh well. I wandered home, got a salad for dinner and went to bed. (Whereupon the roommate fiasco with loudness took place - right now I've had about 12 hours of sleep in 48...)

Today I got up bright and early so that I could go on the Vatican tour. Again, I don't know how to describe it! It's so opulent and gaudy! I'm sure if I was religious, I'd be more properly impressed, but I'm happy our tour only took us for the highlights. You could probably take a full week to explore the various museums and look at their paintains and sculptures. I got to see some original works by Rafael, Michalangelo, DaVinci, etc... Towards the end of our tour, we of course went through the Sistine Chapel. Erm... Anti-climatic is the word. Again, if I was religious it would be more impressive, but I'm not, so oggling the dreary walls (little light to protect the painting) was a bit boring! You get better details in replicas, etc. I feel blasphemous just typing this.

Our tour had to cut short before we could go to St. Peter's, so I'm meeting up with the Canadian girls again at 6:15 to check it out again.

Right now though I'm utterly exhausted. I've used up all my energy reserves, especially since I haven't had a good night's sleep since arriving. My feet also feel like they're going to fall off any time now. I'm sweaty and sunburned (if I get skin cancer, can I claim it's couture cancer because it's from Italy?). I really don't want to go out again, but if I don't, I'll have to visit the basilica on my own. Despite this, I AM thoroughly enjoying Rome. It's not at all what I expected, but it's also more.

Tomorrow's plan is to chillax and re-visit the Pantheon. I also want to go to the Capitoline museums. 3 of my roommates left today, so it'll be interesting to see who's left.

I also just want to say - WOW. There are so many tourists here! It's insane to fight through the crowds! And it's not even the heigh of tourist season!

P.S. I apologize for the mispelling of any location names in this post - I'm too tired/lazy to pull out my guidebook and find the proper spellings.

A sobering thought about cancer research

I just learned that there will never be a cure for cancer. It's sobering. http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1162

Similes

I just had a minor heart attack over an April Fool's post on a blog I frequent. The blog posted a news item. saying that Walmart was buying the CN Tower and was going to rename it the Walmart Canada Tower, etc.

Firstly, good job on the April Fool's joke! I was momentarily horrified before I clued into the fact that it just had to be a joke. Secondly, I loved the one reader's comment, "You guys had me. Damn, I was about to tune into the TV news to witness Toronto liberals jumping from high rises like lemmings."

Ha! Lemmings. I like that.

Stream of consciousness

One of the things I learned in my grade 10 creative writing class was a writing exercise to get your creative/writing juices flowing. Essentially you just sat down and wrote for 5 minutes solid. It didn't have to make sense and you didn't have to correct your spelling. All you had to do was write for the sake of writing.

I miss writing. I used to really enjoy it but when I contemplated sitting down these days, I just get really weary at the thought of the effort required. This got me thinking of the stream of consciousness exercises - after all, the point of those was to get in the habit of writing, so I thought I'd give it a try. I came up with the idea last night and I even started brainstorming ideas of what to type about. It seems like very few of them got implemented. The result of my exercise was so amusing that I decided to post it for you to read. Enjoy!

I'm going to try this whole "stream of consciousness" thing again. I haven't done it since highschool but I think it's like a muscle - you have to work it out in order to get it working again. Or, like my analogy this morning, it's like having "sleep" in your eyes first thing in the morning. You've got to rub 'em (or it in this case) to get things flowing again. My mind is so weary these mornings. I don't know whether it's because I didn't get enough sleep (god those pillows are comfy) or whether it's just too early. Or, as I said, maybe my morning brain muscles have atrophied.

Oh gosh. Now my mind is starting to wake up a bit more and more. Is it coincidence or is this actually helping?

I keep reloading the CIHR website, hoping to find the results of our CIHR grant but it's not loaded yet. I suppose it was too much to hope that the results would be on first thing this morning, but a girl can dream, right?

I felt so inspired by the Twilight website last night. I really do miss writing. Or do I just miss the praise that went along with my written work? I miss the creation, the thrill and excitement of creating what I considered to be "rivetting" scenes. I'd really like to start practicing again - and hopefully that's what this writing exercise will do - give me the incentive to sit down and actually do something.

God. Those pillows were so soft and fluffy. I'm kind of grossed out at the idea of how long I've had my old ones. I don't even know where that ink spot came from. And I'm pretty sure they aren't meant to tbe an off-brownish colour. Yup. Gnarly. I'll have to set up a reminder in Outlook to change them every year.

So fluffy.

I also need to change my contacts. It's rather gross to realize that I've rarely cleaned my contacts this month. I just hate that whole "decontamination" process when I get home.

I miss wearing my sweatpants. I wish I could wear informal clothes here at work. My grad school shirt would get a hoot. I wonder what Michelle's dress looks like. I feel the urge to go shopping for myself now, but I can't justify it (I think) because I have stuff I can wear to the gala. I think I do at least. I'll have to double check the state that my clothes are in. Maybe I can justify it after all.

I wonder why I always misspell after all. I should look it up online. Maybe it's one of those weird words that aren't a word. Like shebang and hooplah. Heh. I just should try to include "shebang" in an email with Alyssa.

I wonder how Cathy's liking her new job. I haven't seen her online or anything on Facebook. It's crazy how people get into jobs they don't want just for a paycheque. I know that technically that's what I did, but at least I enjoy my job, if not my boss. I wonder if CIHR is loaded yet. I should go check. It's been morethan the 10 minutes I wanted to spend on this exercise.

Will this exercise count in my whole, "get used to writing again" attempt? Because I do write everyday... Just not so continuously. Maybe I should put this off until I get home and actually intend to write something for personal reasons.

Did my damned mp3 player freeze up? Oi. I don't know what to do. Oh email! I hope it's either Lyss or Bilodeau. I'd prefer the latter, if only to find out aobut the grant and nothing else. Here's teh incentive I need to finish this up. And off I go!