Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre is absolutely beautiful. It is five traffic free villages on the Italian Riviera. There is lots of sun, sand (rocks), wine and pure unadulterated Italy! Ahhhhh... I am staying in the second town named Manarola but I headed to the fifth town; Monterossa for my first full day here. The "bar" above is what I thought Italy would look like - I have not been disappointed!



After checking out the village of Monterossa I spent the afternoon at the beach. It was really relaxing minus the Italian kids whining at their mother and then an old Italian lady yelling at the kid for whining and then yelling at the mother for letting her child yell at her! Of course, this was all in Italian but let me tell you, it was pretty obvious what was happening!

Manarola is really pretty! I am staying at Ostello 5-Terre in a room with three sets of bunkbeds! It is super clean and the staff are wonderful. You get locked out from 10-5 so it gives lots of opportunity to check out the villages and go swimming:

I hung out to the right of the yellow umbrella. Under that umbrella is a little kid sleeping - yes, on the rocks! Ever since I saw Mama Mia and they were jumping off the rocks into the ocean I have wanted to do it. Well, I did it in fine style and it was so refreshing! To make it purely authentic I guess I have to go to Greece :)

I ended my day with a gorgeous meal at Dal Billy. A speciality there is black pasta so I decided to give it a go and it was sooooooo good. Incredible meal and Billy is just delightful. He has run the restaurant for 25 years and last year he sold it to his son and another dude who told me it was a shame I was staying in a hostel where the curfew was 1am....

Tomorrow I am doing a 11mile hike between the five towns!

Pisa

I arrived in Pisa and hopped on the local bus and went to the Stazione (Train Station) to store my bag while I checked out the town and the infamous leaning tower.

Pisa is quite lovely, loads of tourists, but a nice town to amble through on route to the tower.

It really is leaning! I was shocked that it had this much of a lean - 15 feet off the vertical axis or a 5 degree angle! Finally, I got to see it. I don't know why but this is a landmark I have wanted to see for quite some time now.

Before I hoped on the train I had my first Italian meal; pasta! I am in heaven, pasta, focaccia and pesto. Really, what more could a girl ask for???

Off to Cinque Terre!!!!

RYANAIR

I left London yesterday and flew to Pisa with Ryanair. This is a budget airline that I read and heard about when researching this trip. I saw prices such as 2pounds from London to Venice and I was skeptical but then I found London to Pisa for 28pounds during peak season! I thought this was a bargain so I booked and discovered if I wanted to check a piece of luggage it was an additional 15 pounds. Still not bad considering it is a 2 hour flight. All over the website it screams about your carry on not being more than 10 kilos and the checked baggage not more than 15 kilos. All seemed reasonable! Well, at Vancouver when I checked my bag is was 17.9 kilos....

After buying a few pair of shoes plus a few other things I knew I was in weight trouble. I started to rationalize that maybe I could sweet talk the check in person since I am a lighweight that maybe I could be a few kilos over with my luggage. Well... when I arrived at the airport there were people everywhere with their luggage open and re-arranging between bags... on top of that there were weigh scales every 10 feet that you paid 50 cents to weigh your bag. At this point I knew I was shit out of luck with the sweet talking...

My carry on bag weighed a ton so I was hopeful I had put enough in it. The conversation went like this:

Ryanair dude: Good morning Ms. Brown
Tracy: Good morning.
R: It seems as though your bag is 1.2 kilos over weight
T: Really? I thought I had paired it down enough...
R: Oh, your birthplace is St. John's. That is in NB right?
T: (should I lie or correct him?) No, Saint John is NB, St. John's is in NL. My sister lives in NB though, have you ever been there?
R: Yes, I have when I was 15 (very long pause where I smile sweetly). Okay Tracy I will let your overweight problem go.
T: Thank you so much!!
At this point though I was fearful of what I might have to pay for on the flight; bathroom...

I was pleasantly surprised! Ryanair knows how to do budget; when you get to the waiting lounge there is a line for people who priority booked and then there is a line for the rest of us who did not pay to go on first as there are no assigned seats. I was at the back of the line and managed to get the second row - pays to travel single at times :) and then when you get on board there are only 3 flight attendants for a massive plane! I have been known to complain about weight profiling (skinny person gets next to the largest person on the plane and the arm rests needs to be up for both of us to fit). Well, Ryanair has dealt with this problem for me; the armrests don't go up. End of problem. Also, the seats don't go back, there is not seat pocket hence the safety instructions on the seat in front of you (would not want to waste paper) and there is only one washroom for the entire flight! It was quick and dirty all for the grand price of 43pounds. Ryanair can teach the Canadian air industry a few tips!!!

Roehampton University

So, I rationalize this trip by presenting my research at a conference at Roehampton University; Child and Adolescent Psychopathology Conference. Really, it is all about visiting Wade in London and checking out this amazing city!!! And by checking out I mean; I took public transport to the conference and on my way home I met up with Alek but.... there was a really cute guy wearing a blue stripy shirt on the tube. I had to get off... to meet Alek and when we got back on the tube - there he was Mr. Stripy in all his cuteness! He had a lovely scruff, open collared shirt, black 'trousers' and the most lovely butt!! Can you believe it? Seeing a cute boy twice on the tube in London? I couldn't help but wonder what this was all about? Then... Alek told me that in Venezuela when you bump into a random stranger three times it is essential that you sleep with them! Whew, thank God I only saw him twice :)... or should I have gone on the tube for the third time looking for him?!! Alek and I had a full conversation about what was so hot about him - Alek liked his beefy lips and manly 'posh' hands, I quite enjoyed his boxer brief lines on his athletic thighs! I digress.... yummy!

Really, this city is amazing, actually I love big cities and this one is no exception! However, it does remind me of when I was living in Toronto and commuting and now how grateful I am to live a 20 minute walk from work! Having said that, my destiny is to live and work in a thriving metropolis such as London or Mumbai, which includes riding transport with cute boys :) Oh did I forget to mention there are many brown boys in London that made me smile sweetly

Greenwich Park

Well I did not fall asleep in my drink but I slept in until noon and kept dreaming someone was breaking into my apartment!! We got our butts out of bed and spent the afternoon in Greenwich Park. It is lovely there, not quite Stanley Park but beautiful just the same! The building behind Wade is exactly where the Greenwich Time Line goes through "Greenwich Mean Time."

The gardens are beautiful and right after this shot I found myself upside down and being swung around - dancing with the stars style - it seems as though my gay boys love to put me over their head!

We ended the day with a bbq and a fierce game of rummy where I got my ass whooped. I won the first time I ever played the night before - beginners luck.

Here I am with oh so sweet Alek xoxo

Off to the conference tomorrow..

London Baby!!

I am here safe and sound lying on a bear skin rug in my darling Wade's Victorian terrace house which was built in the 1800's - how english!!! Getting here was speedy on the Heathrow Express and I was picked up at Paddington Station to start my London journey.

The first order of business was lunch and a glass of wine at Sofra, a Turkish restaurant in a small pedestrian only Piazza. My head was spinning the entire lunch but the cutest was when I noticed a boy/girl couple; boy in fuschia jumper (AKA sweater) and girl in red heels with long blonde hair and they were holding hands and the free hands had their scooter helmets - hers was pink, so cute!!!! Next was the little boy who was taken out of the restaurant mid meltdown and his Mom let him but his full body in the water fountain. This is going to be a great four days!!

After lunch we did a little shopping and I bought my first pair of red shoes ever in my life. Of course, I would not have even looked at them and Wade holds them up and says "you have to try these." Oh so fun!! We twacked about and ended our day with my most favorite kind of shopping - grocery shopping. I almost damned near died when I saw the prices..... I was shocked and stunned as we worked our way through the aisles, I could not believe my eyes and the calculator in my brain was going crazy! At one point I was starting to get angry because it was sooooo cheap! Even with the exchange rate. We had three large hand baskets spilling over with loads of cheese, meat, fresh produce, baked bread, three boxes of cereal and champagne, organic gin, and designer beer all for the grand price of 75 pounds. In my calculations from brand to brand it would have been $250cdn!!! Why, how can this be? It was a fun shop none the less!

We are now having a drink, Wade is lounging on his pony skin corbusier chaise drinking his organic gin on ice and I am ready to do a faceplant in my vodka cran from sleep depreviation!

I cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings. xoxo

The First Difference

My bag is twice as big! I went to India for 6 weeks with a 40l pack and I am going this time for under 3 weeks with an 80l pack! My first 'suitcase' with wheels!!! I am taking more than twice as much clothes and shoes, I even have jewelry packed plus my new laptop. This really is a different trip. I am excited and off in about 20 minutes to the airport with one stop to pick up contacts. My next post will be from London where I am staying with my friend Wade!!!!