Catching Up...

Hello!

Gee I've been slack recently! Seeing too much and writing too little... I'm going to splurge a bit and let you all know what I've been up to.

Let's work backwards! That'll keep you awake!

I just confirmed a room in Chiswick, West London for the next 4-6 weeks. It's only £50/week, which is really cheap for London! Much cheaper than hostels as well... the good ones are kinda closer to £20/night and you have to share the room with tons of ppl etc. This way I'll be able to stay and look for work knowing my stuff is all OK, and saving cash. Chiswick is kinda out of the city... but not really too far, there's a tube stop and train station nearby. There are Aussies, Kiwis and Canadians in the house, supposedly... haha barely any english people in London... maybe they just know better than to share with us!

So... anyway... I'm in Taormina, Sicily now! The train from Venezia (Venice.... did you know it used to be called "The Most Serene Republic of Venice"... err... pretty uppity! But twas quite nice, really) left just before 7pm, and I arrived here at around midday. Instead of catching a bus, I walked up from the train station to the town! It was 3km, well maybe it was 3km the short way. The part I didn't realise was that its also quite a few hundred metres upwards! I arrived at the top, found the tourist info desk, found the hostel, and then noticed it was going to be closed until 4pm (I thought) but I think I misread the sign and it was 5pm. Anyway, I had my first bad italian coffee and read while I was waiting, and finally got into the hostel... I'm the only one staying there! It's all quite bizarre. And the hostel is a bit shabby... but for €15 a night, breakfast included, I'm not complaining!

So what's in Taormina? I'm not really sure yet... today was a bit strange as I was solely focussed on getting to the hostel... imagine Sam... Robocop style... stepping through walls etc. OK maybe not, but once you get up momentum with a 20Kg pack, you don't really want to stop! I'm here to see Mt Etna, but it turns out it's erupting! Which is quite interesting... and annoying. There's ash everywhere (took a while for my brain to realise what it was! OK maybe I'm slow, but I've never been to a town in the shadow of a volcano before!)... it blows around when dry, and is just like ikky black mud when wet.. but hopefully my photos will be OK! You can also see the sea from here.. it's below and there's this really cute island with a sandbar bridge... I think there's a church and some other building on it. There's also some Greek ruins that I might check out tomorrow. Being so empty, this is like a recoup place before I hit Rome and have a few days of hardcore touring. Still haven't decided if I'll stay for one or two nights. There's a night train out of here, so at least that makes the next few days a little cheaper.

So... I came here from Venice! I took TONS of postcard-quality photos... a bit sad really... I mean, canal, gondolla, canal, condola, *sigh* haha yeah I do have others. I didn't ride in a gondolla (you'd think money grew on trees the amount they were charging!) but I went in a Vaporetto, (ferry)... haha their name sounds more exotic. That was quite strange... over there with no cars, the ferry system IS the bus system. I know how ho-hum I get about bussing every day in Perth... was quite interesting the number of people who just hopped on and off and didn't look the slightest bit interested in the journey... haha but then again, I had a snooze... you know me!

I caught the vaporetto to Murano, where they make tons of glass stuff. Some of it was really nice, all of it was quite expensive. I saw cutesy xmas gifts for everyone, but bought none... sorry guys, I don't trust the postmen not to crush your presents... ;-/

I'd been hanging around in Venice with Jeff, Christine, Brian and Bridie. They were a really great group, although we went to too many restaurants! I was staying in this 1-star hotel, sharing a room with 3 beds for €18p/n, which is a really cheap price!

Ohh I also went to this Penny Guggenheim museum. Tons of interesting paintings... Picasso was one of the only names I recognised, but I liked tons of the paintings and sculputres. I've still seen barely no modern art!

So Florence... I ended up going to the Ufizi museum with Sheldon da Kanuk and Maja from Belgrade... which was OK, but a few too many portraits for me. The next day I went off to the gardens at the Palazzo Pitti, which were *REALLY* nice. Seattle Jason and I just sat up overlooking these olive fields, in t-shirts wearing sunnies... was a beautiful day!

Ummm ohh yeah! And then there was the night in Florence where we got 5 shots for €5! Twas pretty memorable... and slightly dangerous... the popular italian combination was bacardi, with a chaser of pear juice! Mmmm that was good!

So... I'm sure there's more... uploading photos will help me to remember! Will have to do that again sometime soon.

Take care all... next entry will be from Rome!

Posted by Sam at December 03, 2002 01:52 AM