"It's not a Pizza, it's a Cake-ah!"

The title on this post is based on an italian cop that we partyed with the last night and the detestful look on his face when i told him that in Canada, we enjoy ananyas (pineapples) on our pizza! He proceeded to tell me that if i said that out loud in Naples they would throw me in the Sea!!!

The rest of Firenze was so much fun...we did some market shopping and then went out with some locals which made the experience so much better. We started off at this place called "Angie's Place" both nights as the owners were friends with the locals we were hanging out with. It was a cute tiny little place that only a local would know about! We also ate AUTHENTIC margherita pizza at this other random hard to find establishment called Cafe Italia, and we enjoyed expressos at an expresso bar. I'm so excited that i actually enjoy expresso! its so.....italian chic!! We just had them this morning too, with a yummy mozzarella and tomato sandwhich....meal of my dreams!!!

Yesterday we got into Venezia and passed out in our hotel room...thank god for air conditioning. We are staying in Meastre which is a 10 minute bus ride from Venice and is a smart choice of a place to stay b/c its no hassle getting to it. We got into Venice in the evening and took a water bus through the grand canal. A city built on water, its insane! And so very romantic. Sophia, Sahra and I have been doing a lot of romantic things together... "Via del amore", horse and carraige rides...etc....lol so we decided to NOT take a romantic gondola! Then we had some good pasta at this place called Vino Vino and we got laughed at when we all ordered pop!!

Ok once again i am racing the clock on this post! Will update from Rome!

Gratzi, Gratzi - Prego Preeego!!

Ciao Bellas and Bellets!! (im pretty sure thats not what you call a senor)

So i have 6 minutes and 50 49 48 seconds left at this internet cafe underneath the Firenze (florence) train stazion before we leave for venice! lets see how much i can write out! excuse the grammer mistakes and spelling errors!

So the food in italy has been absolutely AMAZING. tomatoes mmmm i love tomatos and cheese!! We got into Firenze on monday and we are staying at Youth Firenze 2000 -- we were excited cuz we thought we would meet some young people (weàve been pretty isolated at hotels lately ) but it turns out this place is like a hotel too! dammit! and there are OLD people -- like 2000 year old people!!

Anyways so the day we got in we went to Piazza de Michealangelo which had the original David over a century ago...we just took in (yet another) view. they are all starting to blend together now!! then we had the most amazing gelatto i think iàve ever had in my whole entire little skinny existance!! 3 mins left! ahhh

The next day we went to see the Duomo and then the Uffizzi museam. twas nice, very nice but everything is looking pretty much the same now! then we were pooped so we went to sleep like the party animals that we are!!!

The day after that we went to 'the mall' which is like this outlet place with gucci, burburry, etc. it was fun. yesterday (wow i am writing like a child! 2 mins left!) we went to the market and the shops and we tryed to squish more isht into my backpack. i am finding a lot of work clothes which is good cuz i dont have have to buy them in calgary and they are half the price here!! i love saldis!! (sales). it was like ' shopaholics take italia'! but we are all crazy!! so its ok

ok time running out!!
45 44 43 42

ciao ciao!

I double heart Gelato!!

Italia has been amazing so far!! After our all nighter in the Milan Melpensa airport (in the middle of NOWHERE) we caught a slow train into La Spezia which is the gate way to the Cinque Terre towns of NW Italy. Our hotel, Villa Argentina is the cutest little place, very Italian, complete with nutella and cherry tomatoes included in our brekky! Speaking of food, Italia is food heaven for me!! cheese and tomatoes on everything and gelato for dessert! We are staying in Rio Maggiore, which is the first town. We have successfully hiked through all 5 towns: Rio Maggiore to Manarolla to Cornegilia to Vernazza and finally to Monterosso, which we are at right now after a day of a 4 km hike and then the beach. We passed through beautiful vineyards, olive groves and lemon trees, all framed by the turquoise blue of the Mediterranean sea. We relaxed on beautiful white quartz rocks, went on rock beaches full of colourful large stones and hiked the coastline while looking out at picture perfect images of colourful houses built on cliffs edge. Cinque Terre is definitely a sight to see!!







Leaning tower of Pisa and Florence tomorrow!

Hola from Lisboa!

We did an overnight train from Madrid to Lisboa and thankfully we lucked out and the three of us got a four person cabin. We had a massive beautification party in the cabin and used some well needed products like apricot exfoliator!!! Sigh the life as a backpacker...complete isolation from essential products :(

Lisboa was a hectic 2 days...we got to do Golden Jubilee Kushali there and im quite glad we made sure we put it in our trip. Regrettably we didnt get to see much else of Lisboa but i guess ill save that for another time! We got into Lisboa at a bit of a shaky start...we got lost on our way back from the pèost office! We finally go tto the kushali celebrations and found a little canadian crew that we hung out with. It was brutally hot but so interesting to meet portuguese Ismailis!! Some knew english but most just spoke portuguese and gujrati! But it felt like home... and we got some good nourishment...biryani and fanta and fruit and other yummyness. The next day Sahra and I ran around trying to find the Centro Ismaili -- the ismaili center. it was quite hidden and when we did find it (an hour from our airport departure time) we ran around it snapping pictures like crazy women.

Then we flew into Milan and had nowhere to stay so we pulled an all nighter at the airport, straight backpacker style!! It was quite fun!!

The Fragrant Flowers of Andalucia

[The orange trees in southern Espanya]

Andulucia...sweltering heat and absolutely stunning views of rolling hills and azure skies. We started off in Grenada and saw the Al-Hambra Palace, which was incredible. Beat Versailles anyday! It was built for Grenada´s muslim caliphs between the 13th and 15th centuries. The plaster work and intricate woodwork is breathtaking and pictures definitely didnt do it justice. It is an excellent example of the beauty of islamic architecture using perfect semmetry and a combination of tranquil pools of water with lotus flowers and an assortment of roses in full bloom. In its intricate design and sumptious inner quarters, we could not even begin to imagine what the Nasrid Palace (Palacio Nazaris) looked like in full color before the process of natural weathering.



Cordoba was our next stop and it was a cute little town. We were a stones throw from the Mesquita, which was an 11th century mosque that was turned into a cathedral when the Muslim empire fell in cordoba. After both Sevilla and Cordoba fell, the Muslims moved to Grenada, which is when the Al hHambra was built. It was crazy to see how the characteristic Islamic architecture was ¨Christianized¨... the delicate woodcarvings were stripped and worked over by embellished gold and the 8 point stars atop the domes were redorated with flowers. Lattice worked windows were converted to stained glass and crucifixes replaced the spaces under the characteristic arches. After seeing the Mesquita we walked in the sweltering heat and passed the famous Andulucia orange trees. It was beautiful! That night we went to the Festival Guitarra Cordoba and watched manuel Barrueco play the spanish guitar.



We got into Sevilla (pronounced Sev-ee-ya) yesterday morning and it is such a cute town. Beautiful old hispano-muslim architecture and horse and carriages everywhere! i wish i could get pictures on this thing! There are Rebajas (sales) everywhere but the stores were closed today (domingos-sunday), the only day we had to shop! maybe its a sign!!! The heat sucks the life right out of us and we are trying hard to stay hydrated. We went to the alcazaba today which had some more beautiful islamic architecture that was retained in some areas and christianized in others when the muslim empire fell. Then we saw the Sevilla Cathedral which was beautiful as well... we went to the top of the Giralda tower (which was a minueret of the mosque in the muslim days) and soaked in beautiful views of the city. Right now is siesta time...it is way too hot to walk around! Tonight we are going to see an authentic flamenco show and then go to a festival where there is food from around the world and awesome spanish music. On to Madrid tomorrow!

Hola...Siesta Time!

Currently in Barcelona -- and its actually not all what i expected it to be. I find that the city doesnt have much unique character...it could be any big city with lots of people and odd smells. I dont see much local culture, and there are a lot of random people on the streets.

The timings here work so differently...clubs dont start bumping until 2:00 am ... so what are people supposed to do until then? Its pretty crazy...so most people wake up really late, then go shopping or to the beach, then siesta time you eat and sleep and rest up...until around 10:00 when you go for a really late dinner, then a pub until the clubs open at 2:00, then party till 6:00 and start all over again. We haven´t done any of this yet because we end up getting sooo tired by 12:00...so lame!! But we have been waking up quite late and its more laid back and relaxed. Today we decided we are going to nap until about 12:00 am and then go out!! lets see if it actually works!!



I guess there is a bit to see here...we saw some very very random architecture by Gaudi...and tomorrow we might see some Picasso. Shopping season started on July 1st --we saw the prices change over night. Other than that i feel as though Barcelona is quite the dissapointment! I have 2 more days here...i´ll keep an open mind and hopefully my opinon will change.



As for trendspotting...Satin is in in in!! Longer leggings seem to be the new rather than the calf long ones and white skinnys are chic!!

There is a HUGE roach at this internet cafe! ewww!

i´m cutting my losses and leaving!!! EWWW

The Land of The Basques

Currently in San Sebastian --the Basque are absolutely beautiful people. They have a language that has no latin roots and they have no traceble lineage -- meaning that they are one of the oldest civilizations living here in Spain.

We got an absolutely amazing little hostel and are so upset that we just booked one night! The hostel is like a home -- not too many people so everyone becomes like family -- huge bathrooms like we are in someonés house &we can cook anytime we want in the little kitchen. We even have a dvd player!

Yesterday after getting into town we sat on the beach -- so nice to finally wear bikinis. Then we ate some amazing Pinchos (called Tapas everywhere else in Spain...basically like little appetizers served during siesta time). So we had cod, skewers of sizzling shrimp and sangria of course!!

This morning we did our first Spain shopping (make room in the shoe closet mummy!!). Although my bag is already quite heavy with the 4 articles of clothes i brought with me so i´m really going to try to limit myself.

Tonight we are off on a first class night train to Barcelona. Adios!

To view some pictures of the trip this far, click here!

Ju nu comprend pas Francais!

(as a warning -- the keyboard here is hard to type with so my punctuation is off!!)

J'arrive en Paris mon cheries!

We trained here from Amsterdam which was an interesting experience. It was quite comfortable and we shared a quartet section with a fascinating West African civil engineer turned sikh turned yogi master. We had such intellectually stiimulating conversations on religion, politics etc that the 5 hours flew right by. We are going to drop into one of his yoga classes today which should do loads for our backs and our mental state after all of this cold depressing weather! This is what i love most about backpacking -- often times its not the places you see but the people you meet that shape your experiences!

oh no! the rest of my blog got deleted :(
i don't remember what i wrote but probably just raved about the wine and the cheese. I feel like Carrie when she didn't back up her system!!! arg.

[yogi ram we met on the train - and the kundalini class we dropped into]

[cheese and bagette party we had in our hotel room]

[stopping in front of moulin rouge]

[mmm bagettes at lunchtime]

[Notre Dame cathedral]

[la'Tour Eiffel: Standard Pose]

[The Louvre]

Roxanne [you don't have to put on the red light]

I'm typing my heart away here at an internet cafe in Amsterdam. What an eclectic city this is! Canals pass through the city making it very hard to navigate, but its so quaint...even when we end up going in circles. The food is absolutely delectable, and there are tons of little shops (winkles) selling everythin from buttons to housewares to illicit goods. The streets are all darling but as you pass by you inevitabley smell marijuana wafting through your nostrils from the many "coffee shops". We havn't ventured into one and we likely won't but every other shop sells magic brownies and internet under the shroud of being a coffee shop. Thats why it took us so long to find a coffee shop that sells just plain coffee and internet.


Everyone rides bikes here - it is the most efficient form of transportation...the cobblestone is a bit hard on the feet so our plan was to get bikes today but things didnt really work out as planned! The locals are quite nice and it is really neat to get to know them. We made some friends in random shwarma places and cafes - mostly locals that give us a glimpse of the "real" Amsterdam - the one that has police everywhere even when you think they aren't there, the open-mindedness, and the friendly locals ready to give directions when you are stranded in the middle of a gracht (canal) and a curving stracht (street).

Yesterday evening after we got in we decided to do a bit of exploring. We went to the red light district - which was so crazy to see. So many women, standing in windows lit by dim red lights and flourescent black lights beckoning tourists and locals to give them a try. Prostitution is legal here but to see it displayed so freely was a bit odd as it is something pushed so underground in most other countries. In the end it is safer for the women this way, but it was a bit disturbing nonetheless.


We had our first bump along the road last night in our hostel, and we ended up sleeping on the couches in the common room!!! It was pretty fun though as it was a good story and we had a tv! We immediately got transferred to a hotel this morning though which is nice. We woke up and trekked across the city (doesn't take that long...Amsterdam is pretty small) to the new hotel, checked in and then went to the Van Gogh Museum. It contains some of his most famous works including many famous masterpeices. It showed the works in chronological order, which illustrated his growth as an artist and transitions of different periods of his life...how he was influenced by artists and other cultures, such as the Japanese.

Then we went to the Anne Frank House, who was a victim of holocaust and whose house has been set up as a memorial to show how her family hid from the Nazis during that time period. 8 people hid in the house during this time until they were betrayed and split up in different concentration camps.

After some yummy crepes we ended up here, a non magic brownie coffee shop! Tonight we are just going to relax and tomorrow we have our first Eurorail experience to Paris!

Still on Commonwealth Soil...

We just finished day one of our trip...its probably going to go by so fast from here. We got into London last night and trained it to our hostel which is right smack dab in the middle of Picadelly Circus. We were wide awake because it was barely 6:00 Toronto time but 11:00 London time. After dropping our bags off in our hostel, we decided to walk around for a bit outside and take oh-so-touristy pictures in those very picturesque red london telephone booths. Of course by the time we got home it was already 3:00 London time and we couldnt sleep because our clocks were still working Canadian.



We woke up this morning to a stereotypical London day - ominous clouds and a hint of humidity and chill. I saw a Mephisto store and of course took a picture in front of it! Then i proceeded to see if they were the same price in London as in Canada [Affirmative - phew!]. The Mephisto lady told us to buy umbrellas from Boots, the chemist down the way [read: a pharmacy similar to Shoppers Drug Mart]. So we strolled to Boots expecting to pay £5 for an umbrella...but to our shock and dismay they were priced at £22!! We felt sooo violated!! Of course, we opted to take the chance without one!

This city is beautiful but reminds me a lot of Melbourne...obviously very Victorian architecture. Walking around this morning i felt as though i was in a movie...the cars are all weirdly shaped. The bright red double decker buses are made by Mercedes and everything is the same price it would be in Canada - just multiplied by 2.2. Pents not cents. Must pay to use the bathroom. I'm glad i'm not here for too much longer! Although the people here do have an undeniable coolness...maybe its the accent?!? They also seem to have an uncanny way of making tourists feel like tourists with there blatant dry sarcasm. Obviously, we can't hide the fact that we are tourists since we look left before right when crossing the road and stop in the middle of crowds of people trying to re-navigate using crude tourist maps!


We spent the day being our own tour guides and bought a full day train pass to check out all the sites. We saw Buckingham Palace and the changing of the gaurds, Big Ben, West Minister Abby, the London Bridge, a huge ferris wheel (the London eye?) and fed some pigions in Trafalger Square. We also forked out a hefty sum to see Madam Tussauds Wax Museum...it was well worth it! Right when we walked in we saw a Bollywood exhibit with Amitabh, Sharukh and Ash! Being the fobs we are, we took pictures pretending we were the head heroines. Chaiya Chaiya was playing in the background...ahh these are the times of our lives! We then went on a quest to find some fish and chips...mission accomplished! The true London way - at a pub no less. After that we decided to jump on a random double decker bus and i had a little Harry Potter moment. Just call me Hermoine!

Tomorrow morning we leave for Amsterdam!

Merrells: My Nemesis

I've reached a roadblock. My images of Europe included me, a self-proclaimed fashionista, looking crisp and cool in the UK - the London look, if you will. In my mind's eye, i looked a Paris Chic - alluring and mysterious, with one of those scarves thrown haphazardly but still methodically around my neck. Visions of sashaying through the white powdered sands of the Mediterranean Sea in a flowy azure dress tantilized my senses...until...the issue of comfort came into play. Now, most people traveling Europe recommend "backpacking shoes" - as pictured above. Merrells, comfortable backpacking shoes - the bane of my existence. Now I know that every woman has to make the inevitable choice - comfort versus style. But why, may i ask the shoe gods, why can't a woman find a comfortable yet stylish shoe? I may be backpacking but i don't necessarily want to look like a backpacker! So here my dear friends starts the quest to find a pair of sexy comfortable shoes that will show off the flowers on my toe polish and allow me to feel oh so stylishly European....a girl can dream, can't she?


*Post NB: Mehphisto is the only thing that kept me stylish and comfy through my backpacking adventures - a bit of a splurge but a great investment and lots of styles to choose from!

Globetrotting

Wanderlust. The itch to travel. The nomadic gypsy life. Whatever you may call it, I just switched over my old blog (bye bye crocodiledundeena *sniff*) to this new one to more accurately represent my travels. I will also be updating my blog through my upcoming eurotrip...and the countdown begins...