The adventures of the Mel

Mwah, ah, ah!!!

mel_mel — Mon, 8 Dec 2008 23:55:00 GMT

BAHAHAHAHA!!! I am an evil wench.....I have tricked you all and I am home!!! Glorious, glorious Australia!!! Part of my last post was a complete ruse - I never headed to Maratea or the stiletto....I just went to Rome and caught a plane (or three) home. It feels a little strange (and tiring - though my jet lag could be a lot worse). It’s been lovely surprising everybody, and I’m so pleased that nobody had any idea I was coming home early.

The first thing I noticed when I got home was the smell. Australia has such a distinctive, warm and inviting smell to it. After half an hour you don’t notice it anymore, but it just made me smile and I knew that I was home (even though I was technically in Sydney). It was also fantastic that within 20 minutes of having landed in Sydney I had already been bagged out by 3 separate people. God I love Australia.

There are so many things I’m going to miss about the trip, but I will reflect on those perhaps at a later stage. For now, I will leave you with my final post, written on my last night in Roma….

I’m sitting in my hostel room in beautiful Roma, my last night, and I’m feeling strangely apathetic. At this stage I thought I’d feel excited, sad, anxious, fidgety and a whole other range of conflicting emotions, but I just feel….meh, in the words of Shan. I’m not sure if this is my brain’s way of avoiding the potentially lethal cocktail of emotions I was anticipating, but I don’t feel like I’m going home tomorrow. Certainly I know that you’re not expecting me home – I’m really looking forward to surprising you all. I just hope you haven’t figured it out!

I was planning on going for a walk today but it has rained all day and prevented me from doing so. Hopefully tomorrow morning – I want one last breath of the Pantheon, and perhaps to see the Trevi Fountain in the wee hours of the morning to intake its beauty in solitude.

I have been thinking on how to sum up the trip, because I anticipate the inevitable ‘What was your favourite part of the trip?’ How do you condense a year long trip down into a concise statement? How do you pick a single experience out of so many amazing experiences, so many different experiences that beg heresy to compare? To formulate my crude summaries onto the entire trip seems boorish and deficient. That’s not to say I haven’t tried. I sat there for quiet some time trying to squish 11 months of awe into 20 dot points. The positive thing is that I couldn’t really think of many things poor enough to put into the ‘bottom 10’.

On the other hand, it’s hard to characterise the trip in sweeping statements – the scenery, the culture, the nature, the people, the experiences – all deserve more than ‘amazing’, ‘stunning’, ‘unforgettable’, ‘life-changing’ and whatever cliché that comes to mind. So I sit here, staring at the blinking cursor as it begs the questions. I just don’t think I have the answers.

I was talking to Anna earlier about society’s need for instant gratification and the consequences it has on us as a society (and a whole other tonne of implications I won’t go into); and it really got me thinking about (amongst many other things) what people have gained from reading my journal. Do you like my stories? Do you like my summaries? What have you enjoyed? Has it increased your desire to see the world? Has it bored you to tears? I’d ask if you think I’m funny, but considering that you’re human we all know the answer to that question.

I mulled over the summaries for a while, not knowing whether to actually include them or not. I decided that I would. Sure, it defies the entire point of my post, but I actually don’t think that this is important. I think for me it will be interesting to look at these lists in the future, 10, 20 years down the track and compare it to what I have remembered. What will TRULY be the experiences that I keep with me, for better or worse? Will I look back at this and think ‘Wow, I’d forgotten about that’, or will I remember them ‘like it was yesterday?’

Plus, extra benefits for all those in need of instant gratification out there.

So, to begin with Italy.

Bottom 3 (yep, I struggled!)

3. Missing out on seeing Da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’

2. Leaving.

1. Trenitalia strikes

Top 8.

8. Revisiting Rome time and time again.

7. Learning the beautiful language.

6. The food – the pizza, the pasta, the pesto, the cheese, i arancini…

5. The crazy lovable Italians.

4. The very hazy night in Venice

3. Living the Italian life in Catania and making a good friend.

2. Hiking across Le Cinque Terre

1. Seeing the family for the first time in 8 months or something ridiculous.

Europe

This was hard to summarise…I have spent so long in Italy I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like outside!

Bottom 5.

5. The Aussie dollar crashing

4. Having to stay in dorms because of #5

3. Not seeing the Last Supper!

2. Europe’s inability to provide decent pillows or actual double beds (twins pushed together apparently = double)

1. When their hand-held shower heads have no ‘stand’

Top 10.

10. The efficiency of transport in Switzerland

9. The amazingly good vanilla yoghurt they had everywhere

8. The wax museum in Berlin and the Escher museum in Den Haag.

7. Visiting CERN!

6. The beautiful architecture

5. Hiking around Interlaken

4. Hiking Le Cinque Terre

3. Cesky Krumlov

2. Living in Italy and learning the language and way of life

1. Spending time with friends and family

Overall Trip.

Rather than my conventional rankings I’m just sticking with an ‘in no particular order’ list…

Highlights

* Encountering so many different cultures

* Seeing the family in Italy

* Living in Italy

* Galapagos Islands

* The Inca Trail

* Iguazu Falls

* Easter at Copper Canyon

* Palenque

* Bolivian Salt Flat tour

* Learning pieces of so many different languages

* Northern lights in Churchill

* Food markets in Marrakesh

* Hiking in Switzerland

* Visiting various museums including CERN, Escher and the wax museum.

* Being treated like family in Chile

* Making friends and having the occasional wild night

* Seeing Cam and Sare in Edinburgh (and having Sare with me in Canada!)

* Although not exactly a pleasant experience – holding that freaking tarantula is something I will never forget!!

* The butterflies in Mexico

* Drinking cocktails on the beach in Mexico

Things that sucked

* Getting Andrew’s backpack stolen in Chile

* Wanker from hell in Canada

* Missing out on the boys’ 21^st

* Having my credit card eaten in Mexico and all the dramas that went with it

* Being in really different time zones to everyone so frequently

* Not seeing everyone I love for 11 months (bar my Snuffy Pig [yeah, yeah, and Italy…]}

* Copping Giardia and piles in Morocco and Mexico

* Missing the train to Churchill

* The bitter, bitter cold wind in Canada

And that, is all folks.

Contemplating Catania

mel_mel — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 17:01:00 GMT

I’m lying in my bed in my hostel in Maratea, a small coastal town on the foot of Italy, having left Catania a couple of days ago. I didn’t really want to leave – I was so comfortable there – but I figured I should head across and check out the stiletto of the boot before heading back home.

Living in Catania was just a wonderful few weeks. I’m going to miss so many things. I’m really going to miss talking with the family that owns the B&B – whilst the main owner (Daniele) and his brother spoke English, the parents did not and it was so lovely that, given they spoke slowly and were patient, we could converse and enjoy a laugh. I miss that feeling of being cared about and feeling like you’re almost at home.

The remaining staff were just lovely – Gianna and Oriana both made me feel less homesick and more like part of the furniture – they took me out and introduced me to their friends and really looked after me.

I’m also really going to miss strolling through the markets every day. The vendors line up with their various wares, the amazingly fresh fruits, the cheeses, the meats and their strung up carcasses (probably not a great place for an ‘ethical’ vegetarian to wander through), the pungent fish and seafood….the list goes on. But what is so wonderful about the markets is the interactions you see….the vendors sing out about what they have. It’s not calling out like at the markets in Morocco, they literally sing, bringing a warm glow and a big smile to your face, thinking, yeah, I can live with this. You walk up and buy a few different fruits, and they throw in a couple extra and a wink for good measure. As much as supermarkets are a wonderful convenience you can’t help but be aware of what you are missing out on by not interacting with people on a more basic level.

In the end I didn’t end up going to Taormina, which is a shame but after such a wonderful time spent there I have no doubts that I will come back. The weather unfortunately just kept me inside (rain, rain, rain), which I guess has been good for my work ethic (or my ability to watch Numb3rs in any case).

So once again, my news is limited. I’m heading to Bari in a couple of days, at the top of the stiletto before making my way down and then back up again for the long, long, long, long flight home. As much as I’m dying to get home, the flight I can wait for. Yikes. 23 hours on a plane is not my idea of fun. As the time draws closer I am still feeling torn between wanting time to hurry the hell up, but also wanting it to stop completely. I am really looking forward to coming home but I also don’t want to come home because it means my adventure is over. I don’t want it to be over dammit! I guess that’s also another reason I decided to leave Catania – my last hurrah of sightseeing before returning home.

So I’ve only got two weeks left, which, like I said, is a bit frightening. Will report in again at least once before I get home.

Tanti baci!!

Sicilian musings...

mel_mel — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:54:00 GMT

Greetings my hungry little readers,

The year really is winding down. I have 3 weeks left and not a lot to report bar a growing desire to be home in the warmth. I’m still living in Catania, still at the B&B and still enjoying it. I’ve spent a lot of time working and hurting my brain in Italian lessons, and I also finally managed to go to Mt. Etna.

I’m a little disappointed to say that it wasn’t as exciting as I had expected – not that I was expecting spewing lava, but more that we spent most of our time in a 4WD rather than trekking as I would have liked. The area was beautiful in a semi-barren kind of way, and interesting to see the paths of past lava flows, encrusted with varying levels of lichen and plant life depending on the value of the 4^th dimension. The guide was absolutely stunning – I could have just taken him home and propped him on the mantle to look at all day, that is, if I had a bloody mantle. If I had a bloody house! Have I mentioned how much I hate househunting? I haven’t even gotten home and I’m already sick of it.

Anyway…I think what has been interesting for me is the continual process of learning we are in – learning facts, processes and applications in the world around us and, importantly, about ourselves. If there’s one thing that matches the amount of Italian I’ve learnt, it’s what I’ve been learning about myself. I’ve always considered myself an addicted learner: I love learning, the taste of knowledge and the ever growing realisation that you indeed know nothing – the more you learn, the less you realise you know. However I am beginning to realise that I don’t tackle all challenges with the hunger that I thought I did. Being in this Italian class has been overwhelming – the two other people in the class are at a much more advanced level, which has been fantastic – I am running flat out to try to catch up, rather than being bored and waiting for others as is usually the case. This in itself I don’t mind, but I have found it emotionally challenging when I’ve come across things that I just haven’t understood and the other two have been quite comfortable with. As the teacher only explains things in Italian it is difficult to get a solid grasp on some concepts (however, she thankfully sat down with me for a few minutes after class today). It has been a remarkable insight into the helplessness and frustration that many of my students must experience on a daily basis, and it’s horrible. I’m not sure if it’s partly because I’m homesick – usually when I don’t understand something (like half the time Anna talks about something) I’m comfortable with clearly stating I don’t understand and wait patiently for the explanation so that I can continue on having a clear understanding of each step of the process. However, I haven’t been able to do this – the teacher speaks rapidly and I have to concentrate hard to discern the general gist of what she is saying and if I focus on a word that I don’t remember the conversation proceeds without me and I am completely lost. Feeling stupid isn’t something I’m really familiar with, and I tell you it’s quite humbling. It makes me sad for so many of my students – I understand why they just give up. It’s awfully tempting, but I’m too damn stubborn for it (well, I like to call it determined).

I have also discovered that I’m not exactly as independent as I tenaciously tell the world. I really miss my Snuffy Pig. Sure, he’s only been away 2 weeks, but it will be another 3 before I see him and I just want a freaking cuddle!! Sigh.

I’m also starting to think about the completely disgusting jetlag I’m going to be suffering from when I return. Whose idea was it to have a flight straight from London to Sydney? Actually, it wasn’t mine, it was the only one BA had. Bigger sigh.

Anyway I have nothing more to report. Still don’t know when I’ll leave Catania – still have another week booked….I plan to visit a small town called Taormina in the next few days, but who knows when that will actually happen?

Love and kisses to you all – just three weeks to go!!!

XXXX

Mt. Etna photos

Piano, piano....meravigliosa Siclia

mel_mel — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:56:00 GMT

I thought I’d take a break from relaxing and learning Italian to update you on my past week! Mind you, I am about fed up with all the damn different types of tenses that exist! Passato prossimo, passato remoto, condizionale, imperfetto….haven’t even got anywhere near the future yet. Sigh. I personally blame you, Mum and Dad. It’s your fault that you weren’t fluent in other languages so I could have just absorbed them by listening and talking rather than going through the painful process of distinguishing between different tense usage. *emphasised sigh*

I have actually got a little bit to report on this time round, I’ve had a relaxing but full week. I have met some lovely people and I get to speak in Italian every day for at least five minutes (mind you, in theory I could be learning more, but it’s kinda hard to stick to a schedule when it’s your own timeline you’re working on). I’m still in Catania, and will be for at least another week – I really like it here; the place is great, I get free wifi and the staff are bloody ace and talk to me in Italian frequently. Sounds exactly like what I wanted….

ANYWAY….went out again with Daniele’s friends the following night (from my last entry) for dinner, which was a steep damn learning curve. The next day at breakfast I met a lovely Canadian couple who were having a short holiday. Not only were they absolutely gorgeous, but they also reminded me a LOT of Andrew and me….Jenny was excitable and talkative and full of beans and Bryan was lovely but had no strong feelings one way or the other. The numerous comparisons we made just cracked us up (yep, me and Jenny. Bryan just smiled). I could predict Bryan’s reaction to things in the same way she could predict Andrew’s….it was just gold, I tell you. Pure gold.

Anyway, went out for dinner later that night with Jenny, Bryan and Farid – a guy from Mexico we met at the B&B, with whom I forged a good friendship with over the ensuing days. Dinner was absolutely fantastic – we talked for hours and were surprised at the passing of time – we were supposed to retire early because Jenny and Bryan had to catch a ridiculously early flight (getting up at a sparrow’s fart, Bryan said). Farid and I stayed out and had a drink and continued to chat. I actually miss Farid a bit – he was just fantastic. Not only was he gorgeous (absolutely killer eyes), but he was kind, funny, intelligent, and most importantly, respectful. He is the only man so far I’ve met in Italy that I have felt safe with – a typical response to “I have a boyfriend” is “well he’s not here is he?” Farid looked at me and declared me hopelessly in love and adopted me as mia sorella (his sister). He looked after me and protected me from leering Italians the entire time he was here. Every time they started chatting to me before I could say too much Farid would jump in with a “she has a boyfriend” and would make it clear that he expected no funny business. It was really nice to have a friendship that I felt safe in.

But, as always, I digress. When having a drink at the hostel, Farid struck up a conversation with a group of young locals and one thing led to another and all of a sudden we were in their car zipping across to another bar (sokay mum, I checked that the driver wasn’t drinking!). We ended up having a few drinks there and didn’t get home until about 2am. Far too late for this not-spring chicken.

We organised to meet up with them again the next night, after dinner. Meanwhile, at dinner we met Sidney, a guy from Brazil who then joined us for dinner and yet again, we sat there talking for bloody ages. Sidney was also really nice and interesting to talk to. Farid left to go and find a girl he had organised to meet and I stayed with Sidney for a bit longer, chatting and the like until I was tired and had to go home. The next day it emerged that Sidney had bumped into Farid (whose date stood him up – poor Farid!) and Giuseppe (the local boy) and they drank until 6 in the morning! Crazy bastards.

The next night was supposedly Farid’s last night, although we realised later on that his flight was on the Saturday rather than the Friday. We went out for a few drinks yet again, also meeting up with Giuseppe’s friend Daniele. Another late night and I was feeling pretty damn tired.

The next day Farid and I went for a day trip to Siracusa (Syracuse), which started off fairly dully but improved considerably. Walking through most of the town was not very exciting – it was just an average city. There was a park called Parco Archeologico della Neapolis which had a few ruins, including a Greek Theatre, Roman Amphitheatre and a giant sacrificial altar.

We made our way to Ortygia, a small semi-island part of Siracusa. This was absolutely lovely. The whole cobblestone/pretty building combination with quite a beautiful church and a lovely atmosphere. Saw an absolutely stunning sunset and watched a game where water polo meets kayaking.

I’ve decided that I quite like the food here in Sicily – eggplant is a huge staple here, which means it’s actually quite easy to get vegetarian meals. One favourite is called ‘norma’ – pasta with a tomato sauce, eggplant and ricotta cheese. It’s bloody ace!

That almost brings me up to date – today I went for a really damn long walk around two towns/suburbs called Aci Castello and Acitrezza. I took a bus part of the way out to Aci Castello but got off early and walked along the coast, smelling that ocean air and watching the fishermen cast their lines into the deep blue water despite the chaos of it crashing into the black volcanic rock below.

All in all I walked about 10km and I was exhausted at the end of it. At Acitrezza there is a protected marine park with three structures not unlike the twelve apostles. I sat down for a while and just watched the waves crash against these and other volcanic remnants, enjoying my Sunday afternoon.

And that’s about it. I have exactly a month left now, which is pretty exciting. I’ll hang around here in Catania for a while I think, at this stage I’ll be here for another week but in all honesty I can’t see myself moving on very quickly. Until next time I can be bothered….

XXX

Aci Castello/Acitrezza photos

Catania/Siracusa photos

Sicilian adventures

mel_mel — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:21:00 GMT

I’m sitting in my room in Catania looking for an excuse not to do the work that is looming ominously over my head……so a post it is! Sicily is remarkably different to mainland Italy, well, the northern part at least. I have to admit, when we first arrived in Palermo, I didn’t really like it. It is very dirty, and not exactly in the character-adding way of Roma. Mind you, it didn’t help that my first couple of experiences after we arrived were waiting for nearly an hour for dinner, and the strangest experience of being demanded for our passports when we wanted to use the internet. Umm…I think not. I was later told that this is a rule ‘all across my Italy’ to help protect providers of internet from when the police scrutinise their internet access records and find something they don’t like. Really translated to ‘invasion of privacy’ to me. We couldn’t access internet anywhere without providing some form of identification which they recorded our information from. Sheesh!!

Anyway….thanks largely to our wonderfully hospitable B&B owner, Palermo grew on me after the first day. It is a bustling city flecked with poverty, its dilapidated buildings bearing the scars of years of weathering and mafia-induced neglect, decorated with lines of washing hung out from busted-up windows. The people are as friendly as ever – drivers wave you across the road with a smile and people are patient and eager to help in any way they can.

The city (and indeed the island) feels like a conglomeration of South America and Morocco, speckled with Italian influences rather than vice versa. Certainly I now understand why Mario insists that Sicily is not actually part of Italy but ‘Arabia’.

After buying my 4^th pair of sunglasses this year (I know, I’m freaking hopeless) we wandered around the city a little, but we didn’t actually do the explore thing until the last day there. Lonely Planet describes Palermo as a place of hidden treasures – you have to go searching for attractions rather than being confronted with them everywhere like in Rome, and we found this to be a rather accurate description. The Teatro Massimo and the Teatro Politeama Garibaldi were reasonably impressive and the main cathedral was fairly spectacular, albeit quite Arabic. We also visited the fountain known colloquially as the Fountain of Shame, named for its ‘flagrant nudity’ displayed by the nymphs surrounded the water centre. Unfortunately for the male statues they do not retain any of their, uh, manhood, unless they were pre-pubescent or merman.

What really made Palermo for me was the hostel owner, Giorgio. He was just lovely and quite a funny man. Admittedly I can’t say I was exactly taken with him at first, but it may have been because he had a swollen eye and didn’t appear….undodgy. However, my apprehensions were quickly quelled by his affable nature and love of teasing. He, at no cost to us, took us for a hike at Cefalu and a night tour around Palermo. Like I said, they are just amazingly friendly down here in the south.

The hike was amazing – gorgeous green rocky cliffs set against a bright blue sky and a deep dark blue ocean, the terracotta roofs of the houses of Cefalu below adding to the tapestry of colours. We hiked up with Giorgio and a pair of Aussie girls, stopping to take photos and untangle ourselves from plants when Giorgio took us off track. Afterwards he took us for a walk around Cefalu itself – this town being much more typically Italian than Palermo.

The night tour was also fantastic – it was so wonderful having a local take us around and point out things that we never would have noticed and get interesting snippets of history to boot. Needless to say we were pleased with our accommodations! He was also quite insistent that we try gelato with brioche – essentially ice cream in a sweet bun. It was different, but delicious.

And now here I am in Catania, feeling a little lonely to be honest. Andrew is currently in the air on his way to Tokyo and I am missing him already. I can’t believe I won’t see him till I get back….it makes it seem ages away!! I guess I’ll learn more Italian without him, but I am really missing having him here, particularly because I have a double bed to myself in the B&B that I’m staying in.

I am going to stay in Catania for at least a week though – I originally had 4 days booked, I got here and I have a double room with private bathroom, free wifi, a desk, a fridge and the super friendly people here talk Italian with me (when I’m not locked in my room pretending to be working), so I don’t really see any need for me to move on too quickly…

I did have a very typical Italian experience last night though. The owner, Daniele (male, pronounced Danyieleh) invited me out for an apertif. We walked out the door and then he stopped and asked if I wanted a helmet – I was completely shocked. Here I was thinking we were going to a bar around the corner! Well, hell yes I want a helmet thankyou! I appreciate that it’s not very Italian, but there was NO way I was getting on a motorbike without a helmet, even if they drive much slower here. But it was an absolutely amazing experience zipping around the streets of Catania on a motorbike – as I gripped onto poor Daniele trying to slow my fluttering heart, he casually spoke in Italian about various things as his hair whipped around (because he, of course, did NOT wear a helmet. Crazy Italians).

He took me to a bar where you pay 5 euros and you get a drink and all you can eat appetisers. We grabbed a drink and placed it on a table. He had a laugh at the mini freak out I had about leaving the drinks unattended – I just don’t trust people anymore, unfortunately. He calmly explained that if we didn’t put the drinks down we couldn’t gather food and we needed to ‘bags’ the table before the crowds arrived. We filled our plates brimming with food and returned to the table. I drank my drink so damn slowly, terrified that there was some horrible scam being pulled to drug me – my rational side said that as I had booked on hostelworld that Daniele would absolutely make sure I was safe, but my heart was racing and I could only think of an unfortunate backpacker in recent times. Thankfully, I was being completely paranoid (though mind you at the rate I was drinking that drink, I don’t know if any drugs would have affected me!) We finished our plates and Daniele and I went back for more – it was bloody ace!

I had a really nice night, chatting to his friends in my very poor Italian, but in general I was understood and I understood them, so I can’t be doing too badly. I feel like I’m getting better, at least until they start talking amongst themselves and then I’m completely damn lost!

Anyway, there it is – that is me up to date! I guess I can’t avoid work much longer, though I do believe I have a few episodes of Bones to watch….

Love you all and look forward to your lectures!

Palermo and Cefalu photos

Tropea and the middle of bf nowhere

mel_mel — Sun, 9 Nov 2008 06:10:00 GMT

You know, it’s kinda amazing how amazed I continue to be after travelling for so long. Mind you, I have become somewhat indifferent to ‘beautiful churches’, ‘interesting museums’ and ‘gorgeous panoramic views’. Yet I am still surprised at the disparity between different areas of a country. Southern Italy is so different to northern Italy. One of the biggest discrepancies I’ve noticed is the distinct lack of wealth here. It is a much poorer area. I have been consistently reminded of South America in my travels along here, in both town and cities. The farmers use only their hands or tools to plant their crops……tools to help section the dirt into rows, then each small plant is hand-planted. I shudder to think of the hours it has taken them to plant the rows upon rows of their crops. Walking along the footpaths amongst paddocks, bonfire smoke permeates the air and wraps me in a blanket of nostalgic comfort as the farmers burn off whatever it is that they no longer need. This is different to where I’ve been before.

Another big difference, well perhaps a larger exaggeration, is how very VERY seasonal the area is. Sure, you are always going to find a lot more people spread throughout Italy in the summer months, but down here everything just closes down mid-autumn. We were the only people in our hotel and likely the district where we stayed, just outside Tropea. Finding the hotel was definitely an ADVENTURE!!! moment. After leaving the train station we were greeted with rural nothingness….and we had NO idea of which way to go. Usually outside a train station we find a map of the area and Snuffy has a quick look at that at and then we trot off to our destination, however there was NO map at this train station. There was nothing except a ragged departures list. So we started walking in the direction Andrew estimated the hotel would be and miraculously found ourselves on the right street! We started following signs to a different hotel on the same street in the hope that it would take us to our hotel. ADVENTRE!! We started walking….and kept walking…..and kept walking….and kept walking. This was a damn long street, and to top it off we hadn’t seen a single number. Technically the number of our hotel was 1, but we weren’t even sure if it was just there to keep tourists happy. We finally made our way to the end of the street…..to find a lighthouse and several stray cats. No hotel. With a sigh and a flurry, we flopped down onto the pavement and felt the hopelessness kick in. We would just have to call the hotel…but my battery was flat and Andrew’s was very nearly. We tried to make a quick call….to get hold music. Five minutes later, the same thing. We sighed and picked up our baggage to trek back to see if we had missed the place. Just at this moment a car came down the road to do a u-turn and make its way back and we flagged it down. I asked the gentlemen in my best Italian where La Bussola was located and he replied in English with something along the lines of ‘far from here – I’ll give you a ride”. We were so grateful. I couldn’t believe the kindness of this gentleman – he was obviously nearly at this destination and he went out of his way to deliver us to the hotel. I could have kissed him, particularly as it had just started to rain! Turns out we turned the wrong way onto the road and it was about 3km from where we were standing. Bugger!

Anyway, we got into the hotel and were met by the lovely owner who again spoke English, which I must admit I wasn’t really expecting for the lack of people and wealth lying around….but he was great! We made it up to our room and relaxed for a while.

When it came to eating dinner, the owner drove us to a restaurant and told us to call him to pick us up when we were done! We weren’t going to of course, but he sent his son down half an hour later to wait for us! I just can’t believe how much people go out of their way to help you down here – it may be poor in wealth but certainly not in character!

The next day we went for a walk into Tropea, which is supposed to be exquisite. It is certainly beautiful, but is very much a summer destination. Tropea was also pretty much closed up with the exception of a few cafes and grocery stores for the locals. The beach was quite pretty, and was the first ‘white sand’ beach we’ve come across in Europe. It was definitely sand (not rocks) albeit quite coarse, and it was sandy in colour rather than black. The one anomaly we found was that it was much more ‘sinky’ than normal sand. You know how if you want to walk with a little less effort and a little more grace at the beach you walk right next to the water where the sand is firm? Well, it’s not firm here. You sink just as much, and you get your shoes wet. Weird.

It was a nice walk though, throughout Tropea and into there – 7km on winding roads, working farmers and even the owner from the hotel just sitting in his van and checking to see if we were okay – not sure if he drove past and saw us or if he was sitting there for some other reason, but he left after he asked after us.

The only other news is that I missed a step in the bathroom and banged my knee really damn hard (and, of course, I have no bruise to show for it – it is swollen though) which has meant that my physical activity has been limited. Thankfully the next day we were just travelling to Sicily – and yet again, the owner of the hotel drove us to the station. He was so lovely – he even gave us the number of a friend he has in the police force in Palermo for us to call if we got into any trouble. Unfortunately we misread the timetable and ended up waiting at the nothing station for nearly two hours. Sigh. We also nearly missed our train to Palermo because we arrived 2 minutes before it took off – a mad dash to the platform revealed the train starting to move off, but thankfully the train driver saw us and waved us on. Phew!! It took a little while for the train to really get gong, well at least I thought it was – turns out it was being set up to drive onto the ferry to take us across to Sicily. That was something I wasn’t really expecting – we were on a train on a ferry. Tee hee. Here I was thinking there was a tunnel or bridge or something. I was way off.

Which brings us to Sicily and Palermo….until next time folks.

Tropea photos

Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast

mel_mel — Mon, 3 Nov 2008 09:50:00 GMT

Apologies to my dedicated readers for the lackadaisical approach I’ve taken to my journal upkeep of late….we’re travelling more slowly and hence I have a lot less to report. Add to that that I’ve been working a bit recently and you have my excuse.

After arriving in Rome we stayed in a B&B of a nice young man for a couple of days whilst we attempted to reroute our tickets so that Andrew gets to go to Japan and that I can go straight home from here rather than via Hong Kong and Moscow. However, to our disappointment we discovered that all British Airway offices and essentially most offices of oneworld associates are now closed to the public and you have to telephone in changes. This sucks on a number of levels – it’s harder to deal with people on the phone, it takes longer because they have to send requests off to the fares department rather than doing it on the spot, and we’ve also been told numerous times that we cannot change our tickets over the phone. Thankfully we were able to call BA and find that they are immensely more helpful than QANTAS and they were able to change our tickets for us (after a week of to-ing and fro-ing to the fares department mind you). Not that it came cheap – it cost me bloody 300 quid to change my ticket…thank goodness I’m still working is all I can say.

Anyway, we made a vague plan to head down to Sicily but decided it was too much travel in one day (about 11 hours) and broke it up a little. We booked four nights in a B&B in Piano di Sorrento, a small town 3km from Sorrento, but ended up staying 6. The woman who ran the hostel, Rachele, was just wonderful. She was so friendly and did everything in her power to ensure that our stay was pleasant. It was just us in her house as it is the beginning of the low season and guests are few and far between. Despite this, every morning we would get up to the kitchen table set with breakfast and a cheery ‘Buongiorno’, the bathroom was always cleaned immediately after we had finished showering so it was like we had never been in there…..everything was spotless but not without soul. To top everything off we spoke in Italian and English so that we could both learn a little….I’m seriously considering going back after Andrew has gone back: it fits my checklist of warm weather, friendly owner and learning Italian.

We spent the first couple of days relaxing; well, Andrew relaxed and I worked intermittently. We walked into Sorrento and it was fantastic to see all the places that
Spunk and I visited so many years ago….Fauno bar for a drink, a restaurant we ate at, the gym we went to where the men marvelled at my calves, the shop I bought some stockings from…poor, poor Andrew. The numerous irrelevant stories I told.

On Thursday we decided to head to the Amalfi Coast and check out what everybody had been raving about. We boarded a bus to Positano, said to be the most beautiful of the towns on the coast, and we weren’t disappointed. This is despite the fact that I was in a shitty mood, felt sick from the winding bus and consequently had been in such a hurry to get off that I had left my sunnies on board. FRICK!!! I finally get another pair that are okay and I leave them on the freaking bus. Sigh. Needless to say I was mega-shitty, but it didn’t stop me from appreciating the beauty of the town nestled amongst the rugged cliffs before me. Quite similar to Le Cinque Terre in terms of the town and its architecture hugging into the rock, but in the words of Andrew, it was more ‘cliffy’. The drops were more dramatic and the ruggedness more pronounced. The skies were streaked with dark grey ominous clouds that we ignored at our peril for the patches of blue sky that murmured sweet nothings of weather that could have been. The bus wound along the ascending and descended road that cut into the cliff-face, tooting at every corner for the road was really only made for one and half vehicles and to pass the bus needed to manoeuvre slowly and carefully around. Thankfully the traffic are very aware of this and everyone tends to drive quite slowly, so despite making the Great Ocean Road look very wide it doesn’t seem to be an accident-prone place. Then again, who am I to judge?

We wandered around Positano for about an hour, and found that the town itself was not as pretty as the towns on Le Cinque Terre…it was very touristy and didn’t seem to consist of much, lacking the beautiful winding narrow laneways sparsely littered with locals and instead housed jewellery stores and expensive clothing labels.

After an hour it had started to get cold so we decided to jump on the bus to make our way to Amalfi and hoped to locate my lost sunnies. We arrived and made our way to the SITA office (the bus company) and were able to communicate effectively with the guy about what had happened. The buses were certainly run quite efficiently as he could tell me where that exact bus was at that time, but he wouldn’t know about sunnies until the end of the day. We left Rachele’s address and moved on to explore Amalfi to discover that apart from the Duomo there was absolutely nothing there, much less than Positano. Yet another tourist place with not much to offer. Certainly I think the appeal of the coast is the views you get making your way from one place to another. You can hike between the two places and I might try to do that if I get time before I leave. The Duomo was located at the top of a set of steep stairs and was sufficiently different from the duomi that we had seen previously….when you first walk inside you walk into a courtyard full of plants, which was a nice change to the plethora of Mary and Jesus paintings. Not that it lacked these, of course.

We decided that we would head home a bit earlier than planned when the weather turned on us, but unfortunately so did everybody else and we were left standing in the thick pouring rain waiting for the later bus. On the bright side the bus drivers let us stand inside one of the buses whilst we waited for the next bus to Sorrento, which turned out to be the one we were standing in! Woohoo! We just sat down at the front and felt very pleased with ourselves. To top it off the bus actually drove through Piano di Sorrento so we didn’t even have take the train back there! Awesome.

On Saturday we went to Capri, which is just as beautiful as I remember it. The ferry made me more sick than I remember though. We arrived and started the short trek up to the town centre up winding stone pathways and staircases, flowers spilling out from the garden fenced boundaries. After wandering around the centre briefly, we started the trek up to Anacapri, the town at the top of the island. We walked along the winding roads as the traffic soared past….well, the cars drove past and the motorbikes soared anyway. We located a staircase and began the climb up that avoids most of the roads. It was beautiful to walk amongst the trees as they shed their leaves to litter the stone stairway allowing hikers to crunch their way up to the top.

Just at the entrance to Anacapri is the church Villa San Michele, which we didn’t actually enter but I remember passing last time I was here. We walked through here and got some much needed water after our rapid ascent. We didn’t stay in Anacapri for long, enough to wander around the tiny town and grab a quick bite to eat. Before we knew it, we had trotted down the staircases to be back in Capri and onto the ferry back home. We probably covered about 20km in all our walking that day, and we were bloody buggered!

So that, my dears, is essentially what I’ve done for the past week. We’re sitting on a train and are on our way to Tropea, a small town that is apparently gorgeous on the way to Sicily. We have a couple of days there and then a few days in most likely in Palermo and then my boy is off to Japan, leaving me alone for a month in questa bella paese. Only 44 days till I get back, it’s starting to all go a bit quickly! Anyway, hope you’re all enjoying the warmer weather and the fact that I have finally posted.

Ciao!!

XXX

Sorrento photos

Capri photos

Kicking back in Edinburgh

mel_mel — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 01:58:00 GMT

I know – I’ve been terribly slack. But, I really haven’t had too much to report because I’ve just been kicking back in Edinburgh with Cam and Sare and my laptop to work on.

We are currently on our way to Rome yet again and after fixing up our flights we will move down to southern Italy – not really sure where yet. Thinking of stopping in at Sorrento again and making our way to Sicily. We’ll see what takes our fancy – it just needs to be warm!

So after a wonderful two weeks of not a lot I am feeling quite refreshed. I was beginning to feel quite homesick and absolutely sick of travelling around, but this two week break from being on the go all the time has done wonders. Despite being really sad that I have just left two of my best mates behind, they have re-energised me to complete my last couple of months without pining too much for home. Bahahaha! In your faces! Maybe I’ll stay longer…..don’t worry mum, I need to get home before the school year finishes so that I can pick up gear to plan for next year….then again, I could take another year off……

So after making you feel insecure, I might actually quickly recount my last two weeks of R&R. After getting in to Edinburgh I was quickly rushed off to the local pub to be welcomed in the traditionally Scottish way – overconsumption of alcohol. Can’t say I remember too much of the night, but I know that the bartender was bored, creating cocktail concoctions, toasting marshmallows and enjoying a broken glass so much that another was accidentally broken, giving him something else to do. It was hard to pay for my drinks, as the bartender would only accept my money when he had Cameron’s permission that it was okay that I pay for my own drinks. I know, tough night!

I woke the next morning feeling a little seedy (some hazy memory of drinking a shot from my bosom flashed past) but Sarah still managed to pull me out for a walk around the city. I must admit I didn’t take a whole lotta photos, but as I’d already been here a few years ago it was not really about sightseeing as much as spending time with loved ones. Nonetheless, it was a pretty walk through leafy paths, winding rivers and beautiful old stone buildings. It certainly made me feel a bit better!

That night we went out for tea at the local pub and I got to meet some of Cam and Sarah’s friends here in Edinburgh – which unsurprisingly consist of many Australians. One woman (Nikki) in particular was fantastic – she was so easy to talk to and really helped me to put things into perspective, alleviating my homesickness substantially! After a great dinner and a game where I beat Sarah in pool and nearly beat Cameron, we retired to bed.

Most of my weekdays were spent working or watching Bones (I do NOT have a David Boreanaz addiction, I swear!). Cam introduced me to the local drink Irn Bru, which outsells Coke here. It’s essentially orange-coloured creamy soda, or in other words, yum. On Friday I was promised a big night at the pub with Cam because he finishes work at 1pm, but after a nice few drinks at a relaxing metal/rock bar called Black Rose we ended up watching movies at home. Black Rose was really cool actually – the very few venues that play metal in Oz are definitely clubs, and this was a bar where you sit down and chat….and play the air drums to Slipknot in the background. Awesome.

Snuffy joined us on the Saturday, coming up from the Lakes District to join me for what was initially planned to be a day and turned into a week. Granted it was partially dictated by flights, but after receiving news on Sunday morning that my little one-eyed snot-box had moved on I was in no state to be travelling and was a sheer case of misery guts for a few days.

We went out for Teppanyaki on the Saturday night which was a bit of fun – I’d never been to a Teppanyaki restaurant before. Had a few drinks at the pub afterwards and Andrew was in a good state of jovially clumsy by the time we left. However, this did not prevent him from finding our way home – we were both impressed that his first night in a strange country and having gotten a cab from the house that he just winged it and we made it home. We were going to cab it, but it was so damn cold we couldn’t stand and wait – we started walking then all of a sudden we were home.

Sunday night we went over to another friend’s house and they cooked us chicken laksa and we watched YouTube videos all night. Sounds terrible, but it was actually good fun. On completely unrelated news you will all be very proud to know that I have stopped chewing my nails. I know, 27 years in the making, and I finally have nails. They’re starting to irritate me a little though – I keep accidentally scratching myself and if they get too much longer they will start to interfere with my typing, and I certainly can’t have THAT happen. No siree. How do girls do it? Plus, they snap and get dirt under them. What’s the big damn appeal??? Sheesh.

Anyway….on Friday Andrew and I decided to take a tour up to Inverness and back, going through the highlands and Loch Ness. Unfortunately I had a very late night trying to get my work finished, and consequently I kept falling asleep on the bus, waking up to take a photo or two and dropping straight back to sleep. Ah well, I’ve never been good on staying awake in buses anyway. We spent more time on the bus that we had envisaged, but it didn’t really bother us much because the weather was completely miserable. The highlands were beautiful though. Autumn was draped throughout the countryside, its red and orange leaves sprinkled across the countryside, peering out from underneath the blankets of fog that hung amongst the mountains and added a beautiful sense of mystique to the endearing Scot-accented commentary we had running in our ears. We passed lochs galore and learnt a bit about Scottish history. One notable story is the story of Glen Coe, whereby an entire clan was massacred, the MacDonalds, by soldiers that had stayed with them for two weeks – apparently they were rebels. Not sure – if you’re curious there’s a site called Wikipedia. Check it out.

We eventually got up to the famous Loch Ness where it was REALLY freaking cold. Wind, rain and a good dose of brrrrrr. We looked out across the loch for a while, enjoying the beauty of it all and yet again dispelling perceptions in our heads. Well in mine anyway – it’s much longer than I had thought it to be – 37km in fact. I expected it to be more circular I guess. Anyway…the only monster around was Snuffy the cuddle monster, though they kept plugging what a ‘friendly’ monster Nessie is. Righto then.

After that we headed up to Inverness and had a walk around, looking at their Victoria Market (nothing like ours), and the beautiful river and buildings lining it before getting back on the bus. A final stop at a small Victorian town called Pitlochry for a quick bite to eat and then back home. 13 hours after leaving home, we were back and bloody tired.

This brings me to yesterday – we took Sarah and Cam out to lunch and somehow didn’t end up back home till after midnight. Not quite as large a night as it sounds – we drank slowly, stuffing around with modes on my camera and ended up at a friends house with the promise of Nintendo playing but ended up watching the X-factor. God save me. At least Ernie was entertaining. Ernie is a dog belonging to Chris, one of Cam and Sare’s friends, who only has eyes for Chris. However, he LOVES wrappers and packets, and sticks his head right in before tearing them to shreds to get all the yummy goodness out.

So here we are, sad to have left behind Cam and Sare but very happy to be going on to warmer weather. I’ve nearly lost all my tan. Pouty McPouty Pants. Andrew has nearly lost his Zorro feet tan.

I can’t really do a very thorough summary of my time in the UK because it was more about seeing people than exploring, but we’ll give it a go:

Bottom Four:

4. Having to spend so long working

3. Everything being so expensive

2. Saying goodbye to Cam and Sare

1. The shitty, shitty weather

Top Six;

6. Seeing Ross again after so long.

5. Staying still in the one spot for two weeks – easily the longest since I’ve left home.

4. Having unlimited access to the net and entertainment at home!

3. The beautiful Scottish accent – I just love it!

2. Visiting the highlands and Loch Ness

1. Seeing Cam and Sare again after so long!

Edinburgh photos

Highland trip photos

Berlin and the end of Germany

mel_mel — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 23:29:00 GMT

It’s strange – being in an English speaking country for the first time in 7 months, and I don’ know what to say. It may be because I am feeling nostalgic and reflective and not quite ready to put my thoughts down, or it may be because I just spoke to Ross flat out for over four hours and my brain has nothing left (yeah, screw your columns). I’ve had the best airport stay ever – Ross came out to meet me and we chatted for the afternoon, sitting in the sun of the London Luton airport and taking in the sun and the spare time. In addition to making me reflect on life and friends that pass by, it’s also made me remember travelling times and think about the world that we live in. However, I think we also need somewhat more of a context, and that takes me back a few days to our adventures in Berlin.

It was fantastic to finally have Andrew to myself after 3 weeks of not seeing him or seeing him surrounded by others. We’ve had some great quality time together over the past four days – take that as you will. I was really looking forward to exploring Berlin, as it has been one place that I have always wanted to go in Germany. Call me silly (yeah, yeah) but whenever someone mentioned Berlin it conjured up images of Russia and fur hats and cold, and I could never figure out why. Only upon starting to research the history of Berlin did I remember that for some time it was under Soviet control – the Berlin wall only fell in 1991! I may not have paid much attention to the world around me at that time, but I obviously absorbed something to have that stereotype in my head. Anyway….it was an amazing city which we thoroughly enjoyed despite the cold (that part was certainly not just in my head! Stupid autumn).

We headed first to Alexanderplatz, one of the main squares in the city – a major hub for public transport and shops. In the centre of Alexanderplatz is the vertigo-inducing TV tower which stands in contrast to the humble market below and on the other side, the beautiful church and distinctive Rathaus. Also in this area is a fountain with King Triton/Neptune surrounded by various animals and semi naked women which thrilled Andrew more than I’d like.

Up next we walked past the beautiful Dom – reminiscent of the beautiful copper-domed buildings we saw in Prague and around the Czech Republic but eye-catching in its own right. Some people may complain about the ‘dirtiness’ of these buildings, but I think it adds a beautiful sense of history to them. We passed a beautiful building encroached upon by beautiful red, wilting vines and were delighted to find that this courtyard and fountain led into the public library. I like a city with their priorities right.

This brought us close to the Brandenburg Gate which has an important place in history, though unfortunately I cannot remember enough to write about it confidently. It’s called Wikipedia people. Get with the times. I do know that the Berlin wall Snaked around it, cutting it off to the West and essentially the usage of it to the East. One thing that I found…interesting, was that all (well, the majority) of the ‘to see’ sights are on the eastern side of the former wall – this was the oppressed Soviet side.

Ahhh…the Berlin Wall. I assume most of you know very well about this, but a short synopsis is thus: Back in the 50s (?) the Soviets had gained control of much of Eastern Europe and essentially half of Germany. There was a clear distinction between eastern and western Europe, and Germany to boot. Despite Berlin being well in the ‘Soviet’ side it was divided up into east and west as well. It started to emerge that the west provided better living conditions in addition to the freedom, and people started to migrate towards Western Germany to escape the Soviet oppression. The people in charge didn’t like this, and built that wall around western Berlin to stop people from emigrating from eastern Berlin, in 1961 I believe. This wall was in place until 1991, when the government bowed to public pressure and allowed the East through the wall which was previously not allowed at all – the west were allowed some movement, and finally the wall was brought down. I still wonder at this – how was this happening? It really makes you pensive, thinking about oppression that happens in countries we like to label as civilised, and happening now, not 50 years ago. It’s easy to write off atrocities in the past because you can take your damn moral high ground and pretend that we’ve evolved and that we will never allow that to happen now….it’s a security blanket that most people cling to. It makes me think of all the atrocities that happen now and how much the world ignores it, the ‘uncivilised’ countries and clash of cultures. Forgive my idealism, but it just makes me sad. However, it also makes me very, very grateful. I am grateful that I live in a country where our quality of living is so good the worst thing we have to bitch about is an apparent dichotomy of politics. From NO HoWARd to Recession 08….we are so lucky that we live somewhere that we are allowed to preach our opinions and stand up for what we believe in. Our government does not censor our criticism, it does not murder to protect its ideals (is that a silent l?) and whether you hate or love our current or past prime minister, they generally try to govern the best they can and create better living conditions for us. Don’t push your luck dad - don’t even think for a minute that I will say John Howard is okay! I’m just spouting my little idealistic head off, okay? I wear my rose-coloured glasses with pride.

So, where was I??? Ah…the Brandenburg Gate. We looked around for a while and eventually jumped on a number 100 bus which takes you around the town past nearly all the major attractions that you pay €20 for on a tour bus (minus the commentary obviously). The sky started to darken and we hustled over to the longest stretch of the Berlin Wall still standing – the East Side Gallery. It was very interesting to look at (not to mention not exactly easy to find!). Back in its ‘heyday’ the wall was painted only on the western side – the so called death strip (or security strip, they called it) prevented people from getting close for fear of being shot and hence did not paint the wall. However today, painted murals are visible on both sides, indeed the eastern side is most prominent. Most of the murals symbolise freedom in some manner but couldn’t quite shake off the former horror of the wall – 3m-ish high with rounded edges to prevent people from climbing it, the Iron Curtain was indeed deserving of its name.

The next day we made our first stop at Checkpoint Charlie (so named for the phonetic alphabet of NATO rather than some darker reason), which was an important gate through the wall. Here many people passed through from west to east, some important people from east to west and some even luckier people who managed to smuggle themselves out. Here the original sign stands “You are entering/leaving the American sector” and they have left in some of the checkpoint. Much of the area is surrounded by boards detailing the history of the Berlin Wall, and also a tribute to the known people who died trying to cross the wall, including the infamous death of poor Peter Fechter, the eighteen year old who was shot whilst trying to escape and was left to bleed to death – the western guards could not intervene and the eastern guards left him there until too late. Also detailed are a few successful escapes, including ones using a car, a hot-air balloon and others smuggled in boots and disguising themselves in American uniforms, though this did not always work.

After this we headed to Madam Tussauds wax museum. I’ve always wanted to go to one of these, so I was thrilled to finally find one without a massive queue. It was fantastic – I would probably even go again to see the different wax figures in another location. We had, (well, I had at least) a great time romping through the museum taking pictures of the amazingly life-like figures. It was funny to actually see the stature of some famous people – Tom Cruise IS a short ass and so was Beethoven. I felt like a real person! Highlights included hugging my true love Albert Einstein, giving Bush the bird and pretending that I was Angelina’s partner, not Brad. The figures are just amazing – each hair is individually placed on the scalp (or chin if needed) and is real human hair – making their haircuts perfect! They even wash and restyle their hair every week. They have to clean the figures regularly as even though the wax is hard and set (kind of a strange feeling actually), you are encouraged to touch and ‘interact’ with the figures. Definitely a highlight! They even explain the process and the history of the museum. Get to one if you can – it’s well worth the €18.50 we each paid. It is definitely a museum with a difference.

After this we headed in and Andrew cooked me a yummy dinner and we retired, having to move places the next day. We ended up getting a really cheap room out at the airport, handy for the 9:40 flight that we had booked. Doesn’t sound early, but considering you have to be there at 7:40am….certainly made it easier that we only had 5 minutes to travel. We flew into Luton after being grilled leaving Berlin (didn’t help that Andrew doesn’t have an entry stamp into the EU in his new passport) and again coming into Luton. Sheesh! I don’t want to stay in your stinky cold country! I will be coming home for the Aussie summer, thank you very much. Idiots.

So here I am, waiting in Luton airport for a plane to take me to the Cam Cam and the Sare Bear. Just spent ages chatting to Ross about random crap and I’m about to go and see some crazy cats! Hurrah!

Before I go, it’s time to do another crass country summary:

Bottom Five:

5. How bored I was a lot of the time.

4. Being sick for a week. Sucky

3. Stupid crappy cobblstones. I hates them

2. The toilets. I apologise for the image, but it just ain’t nice standing up and viewing past meals once again.

1. How absolutely ridiculously expensive it is to travel in Germany.

Top Five:

5. How cheap most accommodation is.

4. Having a ball in Madam Tussauds.

3. Munich.

2. Walking around and immersing myself in Berlin’s history.

1. The beautiful Heidelberg.

Berlin photos

A cobbled story

mel_mel — Tue, 7 Oct 2008 08:09:00 GMT

It was a light and not stormy morning. An uneasiness slinked and festered in the streets; something was coming. The breeze blew tentatively, warily anticipating what it didn’t know. Upstairs a woman, oblivious to the tension below in the streets, hauled her huge backpack onto her petite shoulders, taking a deep breath in as she struggled to do up the clips. Brushing her hair aside, she bid farewell to her sleepy room-mates who murmured goodbyes from beneath their morning hair and half-awake eyes. She clomped down the stairs of the hostel and out onto the street, where everything was eerily still, as if the breeze had held its breath at the sight of this awkward misplaced woman. Her much-loved navy-blue Kathmandu backpack stretched her entire torso, from the bottom of her hips up to the tip of her head, looking as if it were half her weight and ready to topple her over. Perhaps it might, if not for the black daypack situated on the woman’s front, weighed down with her computer, books and other various items that she had collected along her journey. Straps hung from all angles from her backpacks, too lazy to tighten them up on every leg of her journey, making her seem just that fraction more chaotic.

A short gust of wind burst past as if the breeze could no longer hold its breath in apprehension but go along for the ride, just waiting. People hurried along, feeling the tension seep in and the cold beckon with its claw-like fingers; a better day to be inside. Whispers seemed to resonate throughout the street; presumably the locals in their hurried state, but strangely enough wherever the woman looked, she could see nobody talking. Slipping off the clutch of disquiet, she started to make her way down the cobble-stoned streets, thinking of trains and hostels, at times pausing to look at a striking building.

Beneath her it rumbled. They wanted something. They were going to make a move. Not yet, not yet. She walked along the streets, amongst them, oblivious to their plans. Soon……soon……wait for the vehicle. A truck loomed ominously, waiting to turn the corner for the woman crossing the road. Now! If she had listened she would have heard the sharp intake of breath as they launched their plan into action, moving away from each other and opening up a crevice between them that would fit her boot nicely, as she raised her foot. Her foot swung across the open air; the breeze stopped, people faded into the murmuring background and slowly, ever so slowly, the boot made its way towards the crevice. Down, down, down, and jamming into it sideways. The woman gasped in fear, managing to dislodge her boot but not before throwing her entire body off balance.

The cobblestones chuckled, telepathically high-fiving one another as they watched the aftermath in slow motion. The woman was thrust forward, backpacks and all, her centre of balance all but gone and her body hurtling towards the ground. Her short-ass legs ran with all their might to attempt to halt or at least slow the journey towards the ground, her arms flailing like an out of control show-ride. Her backpack weighed upon her back, pushing her down; her daypack yearning for the ground and dragging her down towards it. The cobblestones cheered gleefully as she made her almost inevitable descent down.

But out of the not-darkness, somehow, something…..in her plunge the woman caught sight of the vehicle, giving her one last energy burst to push up towards the sky. She stumbled across to the curb, almost crashing into the wall of the building….but remaining upright. The vehicle stood, watching her in amusement tinted with concern. She stood, breathless, leaning against the wall, nursing her hurt ankle and pride.

The cobblestones gasped…how could she have escaped her fate from their dastardly plans? The woman smiled at their loss, rubbed her ankle and moved on into the cold and away from the bereft cobblestones….