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Oct. 16th, 2004 01:10 amSo. Europe and Australia, in a hundred words, so I can say I wrote about it.
Left Aug. 4; endured overnight sleepless trip to Rome via Frankfurt. Rome was overload. Vatican, tour of the city, caught in rain outside Coliseum, walking walking walking...it was gorgeous. Bus to Assisi; saw St. Francis' tomb, and a great view. To Florence. Santa Croce, Pitti Palace, too-crowded Uffizi Gallery, and Michelangelo's David... I was entranced by that one.
So many old, beautiful churches.
Then! Bus up the coast to France. Monaco and Grace Kelly's tomb; the view from Eze; Nice, Cannes. [I'm probably over my word limit. Fuck.] Carousels in Cannes in the middle of the night. Dusting off my old, unused French, and actually getting complimented on it by French people, niotably a woman shopkeeper. Swam in the sea at Cannes. Saw St. Paul de Vence, then went to a couple sites somewhere in Provence before the next stop: Nimes. Day trip to Arles, where we saw a Van Gogh tourist trap, and swimming beneath the Pont du Gard. Clean river water, ancient aqueduct. Another day trip in there, this one to Aix, where we saw Cezanne's studio. At Nimes, there was this great outdoor marketplace throughout the whole city; the locals hung out, much as they do at Farmers Markets here, but it was bigger and more fun. Avignon and the Papal Palace, in front of which I have my sister doing a Buddy Christ pose. Then, the TGV to Paris.
Paris was too full to wreite about now, as I am tired. More later, probably.
On Aug. 16: Train to De Gaulle. Plane to London. Another plane to Singapore, then to Sydney. Met a lovely, late middle-aged Aussie couple, talked grammar for hours with the woman. I was incoherent; I hadn't slept. Got a room in Sydney, and crashed; missed by first bus to Batemans Bay/Moruya/Tomakin, and had to get the second one. Got to Tomakin for a couple needed days of rest around 4 p.m. on like the 18th or 19th -- I forget. Met Andrea, and it was a glorious moment. Met wombats, koalas and kangaroos and wallabies and a fallow deer...it was wonderful. Worst car ride of my life back up to Sydney in a crammed-full minivan; I puked in the street and John B had a panic attack. All seven of us piled out of the car at like 9 something, after six hours in that fucking poison van...and on to Cairns. Seven days of a luxurious apartment/condo/timeshare, shopping, diving on the Reef twice (for me), visiting a little touristy village at the edge of what they called rainforest, called Kuranda; miore chillin', and the best Italian food I think I had all month, and yes, that's counting Italy. (Although the coffee at this student town between Rome and Assisi was likely the best I've ever had.) A night of clubbing with this Canadian girl we met. Then off to Sydney. Clubbed, saw sights, including the Aquarium at which I think I could live, and at which I met a dude from UCSB (who'd have thought?). Went to this bar called the Three Wise Monkeys, which had this terrible cover band called the Pajama Party but they had Strongbow on tap and in bottles. Next night (I think), went to a rugby game, which was awesome but at which there were all sorts of drunken Australian guys trying to grope Andrea's friends...in a not-ok way...Next morning, off to the airport, for the 14-hour journey to L.A. (Mine was longer, owing to an Auckland layover.)
Anyhow. An absolutely FANTASTIC fucking time. I'll happily tell stories if any of that sounds like something you wanna hear more about :)
Left Aug. 4; endured overnight sleepless trip to Rome via Frankfurt. Rome was overload. Vatican, tour of the city, caught in rain outside Coliseum, walking walking walking...it was gorgeous. Bus to Assisi; saw St. Francis' tomb, and a great view. To Florence. Santa Croce, Pitti Palace, too-crowded Uffizi Gallery, and Michelangelo's David... I was entranced by that one.
So many old, beautiful churches.
Then! Bus up the coast to France. Monaco and Grace Kelly's tomb; the view from Eze; Nice, Cannes. [I'm probably over my word limit. Fuck.] Carousels in Cannes in the middle of the night. Dusting off my old, unused French, and actually getting complimented on it by French people, niotably a woman shopkeeper. Swam in the sea at Cannes. Saw St. Paul de Vence, then went to a couple sites somewhere in Provence before the next stop: Nimes. Day trip to Arles, where we saw a Van Gogh tourist trap, and swimming beneath the Pont du Gard. Clean river water, ancient aqueduct. Another day trip in there, this one to Aix, where we saw Cezanne's studio. At Nimes, there was this great outdoor marketplace throughout the whole city; the locals hung out, much as they do at Farmers Markets here, but it was bigger and more fun. Avignon and the Papal Palace, in front of which I have my sister doing a Buddy Christ pose. Then, the TGV to Paris.
Paris was too full to wreite about now, as I am tired. More later, probably.
On Aug. 16: Train to De Gaulle. Plane to London. Another plane to Singapore, then to Sydney. Met a lovely, late middle-aged Aussie couple, talked grammar for hours with the woman. I was incoherent; I hadn't slept. Got a room in Sydney, and crashed; missed by first bus to Batemans Bay/Moruya/Tomakin, and had to get the second one. Got to Tomakin for a couple needed days of rest around 4 p.m. on like the 18th or 19th -- I forget. Met Andrea, and it was a glorious moment. Met wombats, koalas and kangaroos and wallabies and a fallow deer...it was wonderful. Worst car ride of my life back up to Sydney in a crammed-full minivan; I puked in the street and John B had a panic attack. All seven of us piled out of the car at like 9 something, after six hours in that fucking poison van...and on to Cairns. Seven days of a luxurious apartment/condo/timeshare, shopping, diving on the Reef twice (for me), visiting a little touristy village at the edge of what they called rainforest, called Kuranda; miore chillin', and the best Italian food I think I had all month, and yes, that's counting Italy. (Although the coffee at this student town between Rome and Assisi was likely the best I've ever had.) A night of clubbing with this Canadian girl we met. Then off to Sydney. Clubbed, saw sights, including the Aquarium at which I think I could live, and at which I met a dude from UCSB (who'd have thought?). Went to this bar called the Three Wise Monkeys, which had this terrible cover band called the Pajama Party but they had Strongbow on tap and in bottles. Next night (I think), went to a rugby game, which was awesome but at which there were all sorts of drunken Australian guys trying to grope Andrea's friends...in a not-ok way...Next morning, off to the airport, for the 14-hour journey to L.A. (Mine was longer, owing to an Auckland layover.)
Anyhow. An absolutely FANTASTIC fucking time. I'll happily tell stories if any of that sounds like something you wanna hear more about :)
