Vote for me

I have two photographs to be voted on for a photography contest, so please vote for me cause I'm so cool.

http://www.focalpress.com/contest_item.aspx?category=45&id=2989

http://www.focalpress.com/contest_item.aspx?id=2988&category=45

"Mussolini said, "Right, we're all fascists!" but most Italian people are always on scooters going, "Ciao!" And they're into football and life...

"...and they're not fascists. He said, "We're all fascists!" "Uh....All right, ciao!" No helmet on. All those 50's films like Roman Holiday. Everyone's just cool and hangs out" "

The weekend before last Andrew and I went to Milan so that Andrew could do this James Bond 007 Goldeye bungee jump off a dam. I wasn't too thrilled to have to witness this but you do what you've got to. We took an early flight Friday to Milan, after scouting out our hotel we went into the city to explore since it was our only full day there.

There isn't too much to Milan, a castle, a big church and an old shopping arcade....that's about it so it didn't take us long to see it all.

The church

The castle

The church again

Saturday we headed to the train station to hop a train to Switzerland for the jump. The station was incredibly packed with lines everywhere. We finally talk to an agent and found out that the earliest train we could take would be at 3pm arriving a little after 5, every other one was booked up. Since Andrew's jump was supposed to take place at 3 we realized it was a lost cause. Since we had already seen all Milan had to offer we decided to hop a local train somewhere. We chose the town of Como which is one of the three major lakes in Italy's lake district, it also happens to be the second stop on my backpacking trip so this was a nice preview.

The town is absolutely beautiful, a large lake in the middle of a valley. We spent most of the time walking around, had a lovely lunch along the lakeside. Andrew had lasagna and I had a meat tortellini in cream sauce, no idea what meat it was or what spices they added to the sauce but Andrew and I both agreed it was the best we've had. We even splurged and got some tiramisu which ended the meal perfectly. After some more wandering we hopped on a train back to Milan absolutely exhausted.

Me happy because Andrew isn't putting his life in danger

Andrew being sad because he isn't throwing himself to his death

Lake Como

Our delicious lunch

Another church, this one in Como

This incredibly old tower that is part of the old wall of the city of Como, a large street market is on the other side following along the old wall

Sunday we got a late check out so after breakfast we relaxed before checking out and heading to the station to go home. On the way to the station Andrew managed to drop his leather jacket with his ipod in the pocket with neither of us noticing until it was too late. He was understandable upset to lose two such prize possessions, although his company decided to buy him a new ipod touch for his going away gift which he absolutely loves. Once we arrived in London our luggage got lost between the plane and the baggage carousel, along with about 15 other peoples they managed to misplace them somewhere in the airport so we went home empty-handed. Luckily they delivered the bag early the next morning.

This past Friday Andrew's workmates took us out for drinks once they were done for the day. It was my first time meeting them and they were all very nice and fun to be around.

Saturday we got up and took a train down to the coast to Brighton for the day. I'd been there once before but it was during the really cold months so yesterday was much better. It was sunny and warm with bright blue skies. We met up with my old flatmate James who lives outside the city for lunch and a bit of shopping (I managed to get a £5 bikini for my backpacking, yay!). Good day indeed.

The big news

I'm sure word has spread by now but there may be a few people who still haven't heard so this is for them.

I've decided to move to Australia when I'm done with school. I've bought my plane ticket and my visa was settled with lightening speed (they granted it less than 6 hours after I submitted it), so as of October 14th I will be leaving the good old US of A again for a much longer journey.

Luckily, I will be in the states for a month before I leave so I can try and see as many people as possible during that time. The plan for being back in the states goes as follows (right now):

September 15-20 New Hampshire

21-24 Connecticut 

25-27 Vermont for Harvest Market

28-1 Connecticut

2-4 Philly

5-14 Connecticut

If there are any stopovers/day trips from CT that people would like that can be arranged, I may throw in a day trip to NYC during the week and such so let me know.

So yea, there you go.

So you don't know the way to France either - bugger.

Back tracking a bit. The 30th Michelle arrived from the states for a visit. Her first day was full of fun and excitement running around the city with me trying to get some new photographs for our interim show that was Wednesday. It was a very very long and hot day that saw Michelle not getting to sleep until after 10pm. Wednesday should have been a stress-free follow-up with us spending the day in Harrow after printing and hanging my image for the show. Well, it didn't work so well. After a corrupt file, frantic trip to and from my apartment, a minor freakout and Radi putting up my image while I was still en-route rounded out the day. In the end it was ok because the image was incredibly well received, everyone loved it and some couldn't even believe that it was my work because it was so different from what I was doing ealier. Andy, the head of the department, even made a comment about it in the little speech he gave. See for yourselves:



Thursday I had a long day of work so Michelle headed off to do the big bus tour around the city. That night there was a surprise birthday party for Radi thrown by his girlfriend Neha and her family. It was held at her aunts house not too far from us to Andrew and I went over for some delicious fish casserol and wine. Friday Michelle and I headed off to see the changing of the guard before going to Greenwich for a bit. It was more work for me Saturday and Michelle did a tour outside the city going to Bath and Stonehenge. Then we went with Neha to an 80s dance club I love called Reflex. It was incredibly hot, and sweaty, but the music was loud and pumping, the crowd was dancing and we all quickly joined in. Radi went out and joined Andrew and some of his friends in Leicester Square. Such a fun night for all.

Sunday Michelle and I got up to spend the day out in Oxford. It's a lovely little town. We wandered all over, ate in a pub called The Bear which was original founded in 1242, the building it is currently in wasn't the original tavern but the residence of the inn's groom. We sat out in the back garden and drank some Scrumpy Jack with out sandwiches. After that we decided to try punting. Soon after we started I came to the decision that I hated punting with a passion and we agreed to never do it again (on our way to bring the punt back we heard this opinion reflected in many of the other punts around us). The rest of the day was spent wandering into small shops and enjoying the nice day.

Michelle punting

Monday morning we got up to take an early train to Paris. We took the day by charge starting with a visit to the Louvre, we saw all the typical sites in the museum including the Mona Lisa, which was a travesty to see for those who haven't been to visit it. This beautiful masterpiece was roped off and surrounded by crowds of people just trying to get close to photograph it to prove that they were there. They have no appreciation for what they are actually looking at, most of them aren't even looking at it. Slightly frustrating to see.

After the chaos of the Louvre we grabbed some crepes from near-by plus little bottles of wine to go with it. We decided our next step should be to ride this ferris wheel near the end of the Louvre. You could see lots of Paris laid out from there, very neat view. We walked down the Seines, through the Latin Quarter and then took a boat cruise to see and hear about the city from the river. After which we trekked over to the Arch de Triumph. Before we could head up to the top I was put in charge of a minor child. Apparently you have to be over a certain age to climb to the top by yourself, since this young boy wasn't they asked me to accompany him up. My question is since when was it decided that I'm responsible enough to watch after a child? We walked from the Arch down to the Eiffel Tower where we ate more crepes while watching evening fall on the tower. The lines weren't terrible to go up into the tower but it was after 10pm so that might be why. Sadly we were there too late to get up to the very top floor but we went to the 2nd floor which still gave a great view and was quiet high up, about half way up the tower. Once we got down we hurried to catch one of the last trains back to our hotel, final check in and crash for the night.

At The Louvre

On the ferris wheel

Michelle deep in thought

Look forward to lots of pictures of the Eiffel Tower

The stairs down out of the Arch de Triumph

On top of the Eiffel Tower

Our little two star hotel was modest but perfectly suited for us. Very clean with a huge bathroom that was spotless, and the beds were so comfortable, either that or we were so exhausted that it felt so good.

We were up and going early Tuesday morning starting off at the Concierge which started as a castle and became a prison, eventually became the place to hold Marie Antoinette before she was killed. Then we walked down the street and entered Notre Dame. From there we wandered through some more shops and found a little bar that served french onion soup (one of the things I was looking for because it is so delicious). The french do a very nice version of it, go figure :) After that it was back across the river to go into Sainte Chapelle. I never realized how it would look until walking into the main chapel. The whole room is stained glass windows. When we first walked up the stairs we actually paused to stare in wonder at it. It was a strange experience and amazingly beautiful. After that we went to Notre Dame to go up to the top of the tower getting close to the chimeras. After another long day we grab some wine and snacks on the way back to our room where we got caught up watching the Michael Jackson memorial before heading out to dinner, a very very late dinner. We sat for dinner around 11:30 or so getting back to our hotel around 2am, more exhaustion as we fell into bed.

From on top of Notre Dame, you can see why Victor Hugo chose this as the setting for his novel

Wednesday was our last day in Paris so we headed over to the Eiffel Tower to join a bike tour. Our tour guide was an american named Jackson from California. Most of the tour group was made up of americans and australians. It rain occasionally but not enough to cause us to stop. The tour reminded me how much fun riding cruiser bikes can be, I'm thinking of getting one myself.

Michelle being a good student writing notes during our bike tour

After the bike tour we climbed the hill at Saint-Coeur to see the view of the city from there and explore yet another church, so many. We slowly made our way down the hill through the area of Montemare to see the Moulin Rouge and be glad that we decided not to spend the money on going to a show there. We hurried back to our hotel, made a few last minute purchases before catching our train back to jolly old England.

Thursday Michelle headed back to the states and I got back to work. It's been a week of work, meeting Radi and Neha for lunch on Sunday and roaming around Covent Garden a while. Last night Andrew and I went to see Avenue Q, it's pretty much Sesame Street for adults, very funny.

And that's about it for now. More very very soon, and more pictures of Paris too, Michelle has most of them.

Quick moment of zen:

Sainte Chapelle, at least half of it, so image the same thing on the other side

I Rock!!

See just how cool I am: http://lecool.com/cities/london/newsletters/current.html