Uncle Traveling Matt Archives

February 19, 2008

It's On Like Donkey Kong

I now have a rather flash looking complete with holograms 12 month multiple entry Schengen Visa, which means I can work in Italy and live pretty much anywhere in Western Europe.

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

February 12, 2008

These Shoes Were Made For Walking

I'm sending off my Italian Visa application in the morning. At this point I'm really hoping they issue one since I have had to buy tickets and insurance prior to applying, otherwise it's going to be a rather expensive exercise.

Travel dates are now leave New Zealand on Tue 15th April and arrive in Italy on the 16th. Start looking for a flat over the following week while staying at my friend Anna's place. On the 23rd I'm taking a quick trip via Roma to Istanbul, spending the night there and then traveling down to Gallipoli the following day. After the dawn memorial service and a little exploring heading back to Istanbul, another night there and the most of the following day. Heading back to Bologna late on the afternoon of the 26th.

After that continue to look for somewhere to live, if I haven't found somewhere already. Also on the list at some stage is a trip to Casablanca, since I now have enough Frequent Flyer Miles to go there and back for free! And visiting friends in London and Ireland. Though these trips will be a bit later on in the year.

UPDATE: Visa application has been sent, now we wait...

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

January 17, 2008

Tumble Weeds

Sono davvero spiacente per penuria del notizie. È l'opposto di che cosa potresti pensare, sono stato moltissimo impegnato. Sono anche spiacente per come cattivo il mio italiano è diventato (devo troppo usare del dizionario). Allora, del notizie adesso... Primo, tutti è andando a piano per il mio ritorno in Italia. Al momento il giorno è martedì 08 aprile, arrivando mercoledì 09 aprile a Milano Malpensa. Sarò confermare ne nella settimana prossima o così. Il mio visto lavoro sarà per uno anno, supposizione il governo italiano mi lasciato nuovamente dentro il paese, lol.

Ho molte cose fare primo parto, devo finire il mio software agenzia (la causa principale per la penuria del notizie), è vicino a finito, anche installare Windows 2008 sul server rastrelliero [rack server] (mi piace w2k8 ;-). Sono usare RC1 ora, ma sarà spirare nel giugno quindi devo installato di nuovo primo vado, in più RC1 è beta! Ho un altro triathlon al 23 febbraio in Naiper, ho visitato Napier due weekend fa e il percorso pare bouno, è soprattutto piatto e la nuotata pare ok anche. Sto portando il mio abiti sportivi triathlon, monitor di frequenza cardiaca e cose della nuotata in Italia, ma non la mia bicicletta o tuta subacquea—il logistica di portarle è troppo difficile. Sono stato datare una ragazza buona anche, essere stato un ragazzo impegnato lol ;-)

Ok, tempo di cena! Ciao ciao

The english short version: sorry for the lack of news, currently planning on returning to Italy on the 8th of April, been busy finishing my business software, have another tri on the 23th Feb and have been dating a nice girl!

Great hall locations: Italy , Miscellaneous , Triathlon | Talked about by: 0 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 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

November 6, 2006

Hurry Along Children

Has been the most common phase from the Professor over the last two days. Yesterday was my final day in Venezia. We visited the Guggenheim in the morning and then San Michele, the cemetery island of Venice in the afternoon. San Michele houses the remains of many great artists, poets and other famous people, however it was extremely helpfully to have a guide who knew where all these people were. Later on I explored some of the smaller side streets in Guidecca and Castello taking photos. In the evening I returned to the Hostel collected my pack which was in storage and caught the train back to Bologna, so I could pack to fly out first thing this morning.

Photo Gallery for Venezia

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

November 5, 2006

Chance Meetings In Venice

This morning at breakfast I met an old friend from Canada that just happened to be in Venice with her Art School class—the Canadians I'd met the night before. The dorms are not co-ed so I hadn't met any of the girls in the group till now, as I was exhausted and went to bed quite early the night before.

So today I tagged around on a free tour with them and their professor who was a very knowledgeable guide of Venice. We visited the Accademia, the most important gallery in Venice in the morning, and then St Mark's Square and church with its gilded mosaics. It also houses the bones of John the Baptist's father, which were stolen and brought here. In the afternoon we took in some of the older islands, Lido, Burano and Torcello. Torcello is now protected site and is one of the few places in which the original Venice survives. During the course of the day we saw the houses of Renaissance painter Titan and the philosopher John Ruskin.

Photo Gallery for Venezia

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

November 4, 2006

Thunder And Lightening In Venice

I took the EuroStar first class to Venice today, mainly before the damn machine sold me an InterCity ticket for a train I couldn't get to, ug. The weather has dropped significantly in temperature, and I so haven't packed correctly for this and am consequently freezing my arse off. Venice is both what I expected and also not what I excepted. Outside the main tourist areas, the place is quiet and the streets bare. You're left wondering if anyone still lives here. The island that I am staying on, Giudecca, has may "for lease" signs, it brings new meaning to the phrase "death in Venice". Tonight's sunset was red with fork lightening out over the Lido—it was quite spectacular as you can see in the photos (image #9). My hostel room was empty when I arrived, 16 beds, 15 vacant, however later in the evening a large group of guys from Canada arrived.

Photo Gallery for Venezia

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

November 3, 2006

Siena On Ice

If I thought yesterday was cold I was wrong, but unlike yesterday today was clear and sunny. Many people said I had to visit Siena, I now understand why. I had pretty much decided I wanted to live in Firenze but now I'm not so sure. Siena is a beautiful medieval city built on a hill and I've never been anyway where so many girls have given me butterflies in the stomach in one day!

Photo Gallery for Siena

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

November 2, 2006

Itsy Bitsy Pisa

Today is a public holiday here. This morning it was cold and the streets empty, which made the wait for the train fun. I'd read that Pisa was boring but I decided to go with an open mind. I'm sure it's a nice place to live but apart from the tower there really isn't much to see. I planned on spending the day, but left after 45min. All I can say is that they have good marketing dept! lol.

Photo Gallery for Pisa

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

October 31, 2006

Romarama

This morning I visited the Colosseum and Palatino. Everyone goes to the Colosseum first and there the ticket queue was quite long. However it's a combined ticket for both, so I bought mine at the empty Palatino ticket booth and then walked the 100m back to the Colosseum and walked straight in! The building itself quite impressive and entry to the games was free for ordinary roman citizens.

However everyone got a ticket with a seat number, so that the entry and exit of thousands of roman citizens was carefully orchestrated. The best seats were those closest to the arena, held by Senators who had their names craved above them. In the afternoon I explored a bit more of central Roma and did some grocery shopping. Food prices here are close to Firenze, about 5% cheaper overall.

Photo Gallery for Roma

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

Welcome to Roma York

As the graffiti on the wall just outside the train station said... Yesterday I visited the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel, since they were free one day only. I arrived at 8am and by then the queue was already 3 streets long! 3hrs later I got in. The chapel was ok, though i'm not sure it was worth the wait. In the afternoon I visited the Trevi & Tritone Fountains and the Spanish Steps.

Photo Gallery for Roma

Photo Gallery for Vatican

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

October 26, 2006

Sempre Lavoro

Yesterday I took the EuroStar from Napoli to Bologna to stay with Anna again until Saturday morning. Today and tomorrow I'm working, so there isn't going to be much of interest to report—well I'm going to buy a couple of new shirts after work but that's about it. On Saturday I head south again to Roma, as the Vatican museum is free this Sunday only—yes the queues are likely to be huge.

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

October 25, 2006

Pompeii

Today we caught the train to Pompeii, the city that got buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted. What surprised me most was the size of the city, I spent 3.5 hrs exploring it and probably covered less than half of it. The frescos were pretty cool, as were the gardens that have been replanted. One of the buildings was an ancient brothel with frescos depicting a menu of various positions on offer!

Photo Gallery for Pompeii

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

October 24, 2006

Napoli By The Sea

I'm sharing my room with a French guy from Luxembourg, today we explored the waterfront and a couple of forts and churches. I see why my friends said I had to visit here—it's really nice, the weather is good and the people very friendly. However the traffic is absolutely crazy, people doing U-turns right into on coming cars and parking in the middle of road! I also think it must be a legal requirement to honk your horn every 30 seconds to make sure it still works, and I haven't seen a single car here without dents, missing mirrors, bumpers, or all of the above!!

Photo Gallery for Napoli

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

October 23, 2006

The Wild South

Southern Italy is like another country. I arrived last night in Napoli at about 9pm in the dark, it was hot, humid and busy. I went to the McDonalds in the station to get a late dinner the only a couple of letters of their sign were working and everything inside that be stolen had been stolen, including the toilet seat but fortunately I didn't need to use that!

After getting off at the correct Metro station for hostel, I got hopelessly lost. Turns out the hostel is up a winding industrial driveway in the middle of a construction site, and very difficult to find in the daytime, let alone at 10pm at night in the dark. I ended up miles away from it, being spat at by passing youths on Vespas. Napoli was starting to sound like a very bad plan.

The area I'd wandered into was pretty rough, with rubbish piled piled a metre high on the sidewalk and I was starting wonder if I was going to end up in dumpster too. However, I saw a family walking by and asked the husband for directions, but got lost again. Then they drove by in their car and motioned for me to get in and kindly drove me to hostel—without them I'd never of found it!

Photo Gallery for Napoli

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

October 22, 2006

The East Coast

After Firenze I've spent two days over in Marche staying with Anna and her parents in a small town near the sea. Yesterday her father drove me over the mountains into Umbria to an even smaller town to catch the train to Roma and then on to Napoli. The mountains are really pretty in autumn but I'm looking forward to the better weather in the south as it's been raining and a bit cold here.

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

October 21, 2006

Follow The Yellow Brick Road

Today is my last day in Firenze, tomorrow I head east to met up with Anna. Firenze is undoubtedly the most beautiful city I've ever been to and I can understand why so many great artists were inspired by it. However, it is incredibly easy to get lost here, the street markets being much like pinball machines, but this has lead to many unplanned discoveries, like the botanical gardens today!

My Hostel was about 5km away from the Train Station, so it took some effort to find. Below is a montage of the landmarks I use to get from Centro to the Hostel and back. The painted foot prints on the pavement are in fact to help school children find their way to school—green and red are two different schools. They also help lost tourists to find their way through the maze of streets too and I was very lost at the time!

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

October 20, 2006

European Hostels

After staying in a number of hostels in Australia, with lots of hot foreign girls that all spoke English, hostels here came as quite a shock. For one they're not co-ed, so I'm stuck here with a elderly guy, a young Dutch guy, both of which don't speak English or Italian, and an old Australian guy that sleeps naked. Yes, i don't think it could worse! lol. Hopefully the next one is better!

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

October 19, 2006

The Bicycle Mafia

Many people over here ride bicycles, not the modern looking ones we get in New Zealand, but bikes that look at least 40 years old. However, there is the problem of the Bicycle Mafia, who will steel your bike, stip it down, and then try to sell it back to you, lol. This may explain why all the bikes on the street have at least 2 locks, if not more, with chains that are up to an inch thick!

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

October 16, 2006

The Italian Job

After 3 planes, 4 trains and 51 hours travelling I finally arrived in the City of Bologna in Northern Italy. This has been the longest trip I've ever done and navigating Milano after being awake for 45 hours straight proved to be an almost insurmountable challenge. Everything was in Italian, no-one spoke English and I was fast approaching the point of complete physical exhaustion.

Everything here is old, the airport felt like I was walking in the 1970's, there's no modern malls, big supermarkets, or chain stores. Grocery Shopping is done at several small vendors, the butchery, the baker, and yes, there is probably a candle stick maker around here somewhere too! There is also small fruit and vegetable stores that look like they haven't changed for 100's of years. Today I'm working in Anna's office at the University of Bologna, which is 918 years old...

So far I been been getting of over the jet-lag and the dodgy aeroplane food—for the first two days I had a very upset stomach and was feeling rather ill. The food here is quite different to what I thought Italian food was. They put Olive Oil on everything and I mean everything, peas, beans, carrots, broccoli, potatoes, pasta, they're all coated with oil. Bread they eat plain with nothing on it, and at the home where I'm staying they keep the dough pre-prepared in the fridge and bake it fresh each day.

I also found out why Anna and her flatmates don't have a car, apart from the fact there are no and I mean no car parks, petrol is over $3 per litre—and we thought $1.70/litre was bad!!

Below is a photo taken from my bedroom window at about 7am yesterday. Each morning the bells of the Duomo (The cathedral in Centro [the city centre]) ring to call people to mass just after dawn. On Sunday there are several masses in the morning, so they go to town on the bells—there's no such thing as a Sunday morning sleep-in here!! Tomorrow I'm heading to Firenze and Sienna in Toscana, I'll post again in a few days.

View from my window