April 30, 2007

Back To The Grind Again

After being knocked on my arse by the Arabian Flu, which is fairly similar to camels ten-pin bowling in your head while flamingos play xylophones on your teeth, I'm now back at work again. Much to my annoyance the flu wasn't even my fault. I wasn't sick when I was in Italy or on the flight back, however at Dubai this Indian guy sat down beside me, started shivering convulsively and then sneezed all over me—and I felt the droplets land all over my face. Needless to say, 48 hours later I got sick... slightly pissed off wouldn't even start to describe it!

Tonight is also my first night back at Italian classes in Auckland. Petrol has gone though the roof here again, up 20c whilst I was away, so these are unfortunately going to be some very expensive commutes... probably close to a $100/week in petrol, yikes! However, I need to work on my language skills if I want to live in Italy, so it has to be done.

A friend of mine yesterday suggested I talk to owner of a local Italian restaurant who has a friend [he thinks] that does conservation classes here in Hamilton. This is would be really good and I'm planning on following it up this week, because while my written Italian is getting quite good, my spoken Italian, especially listening comprehension really could do with some help! There are weekend conversation classes in Auckland too, but the cost of commuting up twice a week had ruled out attending them.

Other than that not much to report, other than it's raining and my car is running like a piece of shit, but I'm planning on fixing that next weekend—yes, probably with a hammer! hehe.

Great hall locations: Miscellaneous  |  Talked about by: 2 Fraggles

April 20, 2007

In The Land Of Magic Lamps

After delayed departure Milano and a brief stopover at Roma, I'm back in Dubai again. This time it's only an 8 hour layover, not quite as bad as the 11 hour one last time. It's been a busy few days this last week in Italy. After getting back from Positano late Sunday night, I worked Monday and then took the train up to Bologna for 2hrs to catch up with Anna & Agnese for a few drinks, before catching the late train back to Firenze. Tuesday/Wednesday I met with possibility new clients, everyone was very impressed with the quality of my work, but the general feedback is we don't have any work right now. However they'll have a face for the name when I do a follow-up in a couple of weeks. For now all there is do is wait and avoid the shops. Too much duty free, and too much time... but I must resist the temptation ;-)

Great hall locations: Arabia  |  Talked about by: 2 Fraggles

April 15, 2007

Positano

This weekend I went on the whirlwind trip down to Positano to visit Nicki and Carlo. Positano is a little town on the Amalfi Coast, south of Napoli. It's about 6-7 hours each way from where I'm staying in Firenze, and road from Sorrento is really really windy. Not recommended if you're still slightly hungover from the night before. Unfortunately the weather started to pack in around Napoli, and it was still raining lightly when I arrived at Positano.

Nicki met me at the Chiesa Nouva bus stop at the top of the town, I booked into the Hostel for the night and we headed down in the town to have a look around and meet up with Carlo and Poppy (their daughter) later on. Positano at night is really beautiful, from the bottom you can see all this lights twinkling up the hillside. Having accidentally left my camera at the hostel at the top of town, and not wanting hike all the way up those steps again, I unfortunately don't have any photos so you'll just have to use your imagination ;-)

The following day Carlo had to work, but since the weather had cleared up, I met up with Nicki and Poppy after breakfast at the Hostel and we went to one of Positano's many beautiful beaches. Luckily this time of year you don't have to pay for access, as most beaches in Italy are privately owned and charge a premium for access during the summer. As you can see from the photos the ocean here is absolutely stunning. For lunch we went to a restaurant at the top of the town, near the Hostel so I could catch the bus back up north shortly afterwards.

I had this really superb ravioli, mozzarella and pumpkin pasta dish. When asked what she wanted for lunch Poppy, who is 4, answered Octopus. Now I was thinking that this was some kind of kids pasta, but no, it was in fact real octopus and pasta, lol! The same weekend I was in Positano, there was a classic car rally/meet as well, so every second car driving through town was either some kind of classic Ferrari or similar. Many of which whizzed by as we where eating, often a little too fast to get the camera out!

Photo Gallery for Positano

Great hall locations: Italy  |  Talked about by: 0 Fraggles

April 12, 2007

Hooked Up, MTV Style

After several weeks of difficultly getting Internet access here in Italy, I've ended up at the other other extreme. 3.6 Megabit Broadband that works anywhere in Italia, on the train, at the beach and also on the [pictured] Patio over looking the Mediterranean! Oh, and I forgot to mention it's also free, all thanks to Vodafone Italia's HSDPA network and their 1 month free promo. After that it's €30 per month for 100 hours, but only when you use it as the SIM is prepaid. If you don't have enough credit, the Internet access is suspended until you do, which means it'll be good to go next time I'm in Italia.

Initially I did have some problems with the account not being setup correctly. It had defaulted to €4,50 per hour, and of course I ran out of credit really quickly. However, I went into the Vodafone store and managed to explain the problem and get the whole thing sorted out in Italian, and I even got a €10 credit in addition to free Internet for rest of my trip!

Great hall locations: Computing  |  Talked about by: 0 Fraggles

April 10, 2007

Easter Sunday

As you would probably guess Easter is a big deal in Italy. First thing in the morning there is a parade with soldiers, drummers and flag throwers bearing the city's crest with everyone dressed in renaissance era costumes. At the end of this procession are clergymen/pyrotechnicans leading a fireworks cart drawn by 4 cows—the cows are also all dressed up. The cart is lead up the doors of the Duomo, a cable is connected to the cart and runs through the air inside the Duomo. After a very long wait, a fire carrying dove flies out along this cable and sets the whole thing off. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so you'll have to imagine what a 5 metre wide, 3 story height pile of fireworks looks like when it goes off—however the photo from the web on the right will give you some idea ;-)

In the afternoon we went for a walk south across Ponte Vecchio over the Arno river. This is one of the nicer area's of Firenze, large houses on good sized sections. We walked out of the city gates and along Viale Niccolo Machiavelli that eventually turns into Viale Michelangiolo—which is pretty much the best place to go for a run in the city. That road is also used by Firenze's cyclists to train and I can see why, it's beautiful up there and the asphalt is super smooth. The view from the hills was exceptional as you can see, olive groves line the hillside leading down the river from the winding tree lined road.

Great hall locations: Italy  |  Talked about by: 1 Fraggles

April 6, 2007

Noi Abbiamo Acqua Calda

Per la prima volta dal mio arrivo in Italia abbiamo acqua calda nel nostro appartamento—doccie calde, doccie calde, Doccie Calde! It has been freezing cold here, raining, and the apartment I've been staying in hasn't had hot water until this morning. Three days of ice cold showers in a stone renaissance era apartment is less than fun. Add the mix the problems I been having with my Internet access, Vodafone New Zealand haven't setup my roaming correctly, so I have had limited access to the net and work stuff has taken up the time I've had. As a consequence, the entries on here will be somewhat limited.

Today the sun is out and it's slightly warmer (though I'm still wearing thermals), below some views from and of our apartment. It's just around the corner from Michelangelo's house and at the end of our street there is a statue of some naked guy called David. Nothing other than that to report really, just been doing the get up, have breakfast, work, lunch, work, dinner, sleep thing. Will have a bit of a break and wander around the city on Easter Sunday/Monday (the public holidays here).

Great hall locations: Italy  |  Talked about by: 0 Fraggles