Hop, Skip and a Big Ole' Flop.

Wow. Im home now. I can't really believe it. Although i've actually been home now for almost 2 weeks it just doesnt seem fair. I miss travelling. There is something absurd and wonderful about not really knowing where you are going to sleep at night. It's a weird mix that you have when you meet people on the road. You have an instant connection with people that you meet yet you know its not going to last.

Social networking has sought to rectify this (i suppose), in the fact that we are all so closely connected with each other we can't escape even if we wanted to. There are some wonderful things about this., ie. meeting up with a friend in Rome that you had met 2 months before in Paris. There are also some things that are slight drawbacks, ie. the dreaded "so and so added you" while you think "who the hell.....".

That being said i am glad i can still connect with people i have met on the road. Being home really doesnt compute for the first few days. Not when you get on the plane. Not when you take off or get off or go through customs. Not when the customs agent puts a weird mark on your paper and sends you through that other line and not even when they search the entire contents of your backpack because they don't believe that you only spent $100 on gifts for yourself in 2 months. (IM BACKPACKING!!! I don't have room or money for gifts! Plus any gifts i might have bought, i drank instead!)

It takes a couple days of being home for the shock of reality, nay, the shocking desperation of your situation, to take hold. You realize that tomorrow, you wont be seeing any castles. Nor will you be sitting on a patio trying to converse with a server who clearly doesn't understand you. No more pointing at a menu and hoping you recognize what arrives in front of you. Its a shock.

Now, some people might think that im not happy about anything now that im home. That's not true. I enjoy having my own room again. I like having a kitchen that i can cook in and having frying pans that haven't been used as baseball bats.

I enjoy the small creature comforts. Tim Hortons has been wonderful. Watching a hockey game. Even if the Leafs are pathetic, i am a Leafs fan through and through. There is no other way. Remember that everyone.

I am now looking for a job, which i hate. If anyone wants to hire me please let me know.

We will talk soon, as im sure i'll be sitting around procrastinating later.

Shamrocks, little bearded men and some expensive food.

So I went to Dublin. It is a brilliant city. Just beautiful. I had to get up bloody early to hit my flight but I made it. It's hard to believe. I'm actually back amongst English speakers! Well, more or less. I can't understand a bloody word mostly, but the signs are english.

I met up with my friend Rachel whom i met in Prague, and was off to the hostel. It was a quieter and more reserved place which was the perfect thing to have to be able to sit and chill out for a few days. It really is a beautiful city. Walking through the temple bar area is so cool. We went to a pub or dinner and got 10€ burgers. Not the way to make budget at all. The pub made up for it in good beers though. They had a selection of really good beers from all over the world. It's kinda not cool that Canada was represented by moosehead. I enjoy moosehead don't get me wrong, but it's not really the Canadian juggernaut of a beer is it? To my delight they did have some fantastic beers I had tried in bruges. Westmoller, duvel and chimay blue. I didn't try them. Too expensive.

We ended up doing a tour through the Irish countryside. We went to glendelach and Kilkenny. It was absolutely beautiful. I can't describe it. Just really pretty countryside and stuff.


Our bus driver was great too. How can he not be if he does a rendition of "I want it that way" over the microphone. Really. He also played "she thinks my tractors sexy" which I found very enjoyable.

Kilkenny Castle

Rachel (Australian's don't get fall) loving the leaves.

On a walk through Dublin I literally ran into a friend of mine, Shannon. How random is that? Just standing there on a corner in Dublin. We had met over 2 months ago in Paris and there we were again. Random.

Made a dinner that night which was really nice, pork and leek sausage over steamed and then creamed leeks with a carrot and parsnip mash. Also had sauteed bananas with melted chocolate and whip cream. Yumm.

Another note. I FOUND TIMMY HO's IN DUBLIN!!!! Seriously! Tim Hortons in the convenience store!!! I made Rachel try it. She was convinced i was nuts.

We also went to do the one thing you HAVE to do in Dublin. Checking out the Guinness factory. It was awesome, we got to our our own pints. I'm now a certified pro.

After Dublin it was off to Belfast. The beautiful weather that had held through Dublin quit hard in Belfast and we got rather wet.

Ps. Know this entry is lacking a little but I'm currently on a train to London and I dot have a seat, so it's a trick to stand, shake and type.

Anyhow. Belfast was nice too. Really neat place and not at all what I thought it would be. We had planned on going to the giants causeway which is a huge rock formation that's supposed to be really cool. Didn't wake up for it though so no luck there.

The last night in Belfast we met up with a friend of mine from Budapest. So amazing to see people way after you meet them. Damien came up on the train and we went for some pints. Really good to catch up with him.



The next stop on my trip was Newcastle. And I had an 830 flight.

Now, looking back on my last flight, the one with chuck Norris swimming in my head, (11am) I should have thought that maybe 830 might be tougher to get to. Maybe ease off the booze? Fuck no.

Turns out that running a kilometer with a 13kg (30lb or so) bag on your back at 6am is not the way to get rid of drunkenness (not even a hangover by this point) I'd suggest not trying it.

Lovely, lovely Newcastle

Well let me tell you I've spend the last 2 days being absolutely spoiled. Just wanted to get that out of the way first off.

Back to the flight.

Flight sucked.

Got my bags and stuff and made my way to the Starbucks meeting point I was planning on meeting my lovely friend Alice and her family at.

I met Alice, her mom Viv and dad Paul at my good buddies wedding. Yay Joely and Helen. I stayed with Joel and Helen for a few days before the wedding and Alice, Helens cousin had been over to visit before the wedding as well. We all had a blast getting to know each other and when I it to meet Alice's parents they were wonderful too. We got talking during the wedding and it came up that I was traveling. I was then promptly invited to visit Newcastle and Hartlepool for a short stay.

How could I turn that down?

The 3 of them picked me up at the airport and we headed back to Alice's flat. Talk about a starving student *cough*

They were all so wonderful, I've never been pampered so much. When your getting asked what kind of bread you like eating it's just over the top haha.

I'm pretty sure I've put on ten pounds because Viv must have been convinced that I hadn't eaten since the wedding.

That afternoon after much chatting and catching up I was asked if I would like to have a nap. Despite 2.5 hours of drunken sleep and a hangover that was still thinking of making an appearance I declined. (I actually wasn't that tired, and certainly didn't want to be impolite) the polite question of my desire to have a nap then turned into an order to nap. I'm sure that if I had resisted any longer I would had been led to my bed by my ear. (I hit the pillows and was OUT)

Alice and I went out for dinner to Nandos, a popular chicken restaurant. It was delicious though. After this we headed to a bar for cocktail hour.

To clarify, I haven't had cocktails since that unfortunate cheap vodka in Florence and before that not since a long forgotten, yet dearly missed rye and coke. Well in that case wouldn't it be fantastic to get a long island iced tea? Well it wasn't that exactly but it had rum, tequila, gin, champagne, and some lemony stuff. Turns out. They're pretty strong!

Viv and Paul joined us for cocktails and my drinks just seemed to multiply. Apparently the bar made a lot of mistakes. I however, am not so sure.

We headed back to the flat where we spent the rest of the night watching movies and drinking wine. My kinda night!

Next day included a trip Ito Newcastle and more movies. I loved it! I also told Alice I would make her dinner that night. Despite her objections that I shouldn't do any work I won out. (didn't happen often this week)

Dinner was chicken roasted with grapefruit for Alice and steak for me. Also was sweet potato fries and homemade bruschetta. Not a bad meal I thought.

I was also being sneaky and while Alice was on the phone I snuck into the kitchen and did all the dishes. For the win!

I got a time out and yelled at.

We had a nice relaxing night after that. Watching Adam Sandler movies.

also spent 2 hours watching my new fav show the "X factor" (it has Simon, love him!). I'd never heard of the show but it's American idol uk. Halloween special FYI. So good! The old Brazilian guy was my fav. Simon was so much nicer in this show than idol. Weird. I can't wait to get home and download every episode of every season though. So excited!!!

Ps. If you know me at all you will know if that last paragraph is sarcasm or not.

Today we went out to see the city of York. It has one of the largest cathedrals in northern Europe. It's absolutely beautiful. A fantastic example of gothic architecture. The town was really pretty as well. Seeing the small shopping streets was so cool. Like something out of a medieval city with tourists instead of pilgrims. (sorta the same thing no?)

York Minster

Lovely Alice and Newcastle.

I'm now on the train to London. I'm getting into kings cross station. One thing I have to check out there. Platform 9 3/4 anyone?

Tonight is haloween and I'm not sure how it's going to be here in London. Should be interesting. I'm not dressing up or anything and I'm not sure of other people will be, especially travelers.

Ah well. Let's find out!!

This picture was added later.....yes they were dressed up.

When in Rome...

Ok well i just wanted to make that a title at some point. It's amazing how much you feel you can get away with when you say that.

"feel like a glass of wine?" - me
"it's 11:00 am" - Dave
"well, when in Rome..." - me

And that makes it ok. Awesome.

I'm in Rome now, obviously. I suppose that most of my trip has been about getting back to Rome. They say that if you toss a coin into the trevi fountain it ensures your return to the eternal city. Well I'm back baby.

Last time I was here I really loved it. It's an amazing city. It's a weird combination of beautiful architecture and fantastic ruins (coliseum, forum, pantheon) mixed with preserved and newer beautiful things (piazza navona, trevi fountain). It also has a if city feel while still maintaining a small area feel. Don't get me wrong, its not perfect, tourists are fuckin everywhere, street hawkers are something like you've never seen in Rome, and it's generally filled with people. It's still an amazing city.

The first 2 days consisted of most of my sightseeing. Did all the things I've mentioned so far as well as the palatine hill, and some other small things. I had 6 nights so I wasn't in a rush.

Rome really got exciting on my third evening there. I re-met with a buddy from Paris. Can you believe it? I managed to see a guy I had met for 5 days in Paris about 2 months ago. We had just missed each other in Florence and massager we saw each other in Rome. Dave is a big tall Aussie with crazy hair and says things like "he's as mad as a cut snake" he is wonderful.

We went out for drinks and dinner after a tour. By drinks and dinner I mean we found cheap takeout pasta and one euro wine and went and sat in a piazza and drank and ate. It was wonderful.

The next day we went out to find markets. We figured seeing a cool Italian market would be really neat. We went 3 different places and failed at all 3. With no markets to be found we headed back to the hostel to chill out.

That night was amazing. We met up with 5 friends I had made in sorrento and bumped into another guy from Florence all staying at our hostel. My other buddy was coming into town too.

John from cinque terre goes to school in Maastricht (Netherlands) he's a great guy and he and I travelled a couple weeks before. I saw on his facebook that he was bored and wanted to go traveling again. I said "I'm in Rome next weekend, yellow hostel, I'll see you there."
His response was "sounds good"

Can we just take a minute and think about how sweet that is? Going to school in the Netherlands and then traveling to Rome for a weekend? Fuck yes please!

The ten or so of us partied all night and it was absolutely fantastic. One guy gave me 20 euros to go to the store for him as we were all going. With that money he just said "surprise me". Now for those who know me well, you would never make that mistake with me and alcohol. Just stupid. Well with that 20 I got 2 26oz bottles of vodka, 1L of sprite, 1L of orange juice, and 2 bottles of wine. I took one bottle for myself and said the 20 bought the rest. Unfair? No. Surprise, you bought me alcohol.
Thanks Ohio.


I must just mention that i think thus far this has been the most surreal part of my trip. I was sitting at the head of a table today with 10 people that i had met in DIFFERENT cities than rome. Dave was from Paris, John from Cinque Terre, Catherine from Venice, Shane from Florence, Emily, Kristen and Rachel and the girls from Sorrento. It was absolutely surreal and amazing.
End first half of Rome.

I got a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick to the face....

And survived to wrote about it, if not remember it.

After the eventful Thursday night, we went to the catacombs. Upon arriving we realized that since Italians do whatever they want, the catacombs were closed for siesta for 2 hours. I chased a pigeon to pass the time. No joke. Could have caught him if I wanted. I just didn't feel like it.

The pigeon and i circling eachother

This was right before shit went down. It flew straight at John, then right back at me. Asshole pigeon.

That night we went out to a random place in Rome. Equipped with our cheap liquor we went and found a random place that seemed to be having a jazz festival. It was full of people and since drinking in public is legal we settled down on a sidewalk and drank. We had a blast.]

Next day was nothing too much. We split up to do all the things we still had to take care of. John and I went out to the forum area cause he hadn't seen it yet. Also checked out the circus maximus. Really sweet place where they had the chariot races. It's all ruins bow, but still cool. We also checked out a street art competition.

We regrouped that night and all went out for a nice dinner. It was awesome Italian food.

John owed me 2 drinks from before because we had money on bets. (dont bet me, i dont bet unless i know im right.) moose are bigger than elk, and canada won the most gold medals any country has won in a winter olympics. = 2 drinks for Deaner. That night we decided to challenge Chuck Norris.

I'll explain. I posted on my facebook a while ago how I'm staying at this hostel and blah blah. I got a response from like 3 people saying "say hi o Charlie the bartender for me and make sure you challenge Chuck Norris!"

Challenge chuck we did. The bars signature shot/drink is called...are you ready?....

"The Chuck Norris Roundhouse Kick To The Face"

A kick to the face it is. It doesn't fit into a shot glass. 3 shots usually don't.

1 shot of Sambuca
1 shot of jäger
1 shot of (real) absinthe
3-4 good splashes of Tabasco

= Face kick by chuck.

I don't remember much of the rest of the night. But the morning sucked. I had to get on a plane to Dublin at 11 which meant leaving the hostel at 830. Not fun to do.

Also not fun to do.... Flying with a head that has just been roundhouse kicked.

When in Rome...

Sorrento and other musings...

The past 3 nights I've been in sorrento which is a smallish town just south across the bay from Naples. It's a beautiful town. I met my friend Catherine there. It's a town that is great to use as a base point to do day trips. The first day we went to the ruins at Pompeii.

Pompeii is a roman city that was at it's height in 62 AD. One of the major sites in the southern Italian roman empires Pompeii was a thriving town until an earthquake severely damaged the town. As a good strong roman town they began rebuilding at once. with rebuilding ongoing the town met it's unfortunate end in 68 AD with the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

The town was buried under ash and rock and the roads into town were closed. It was eventually forgotten and it wasn't until the 18th century that it was found and excavations began. it is currently the most complete diagram of a working roman city historians have.

Pompeiian forum

Mount Vesuvius standing beyond the city of Pompeii

You can take a train there and walk all throughout the city as it remains. It's amazing how you can still see frescoes on the walls and pottery and stuff. The most amazing part is the bodies however. They have created plaster cast molds of body cavities found in the ash. In other words the bodies were buried in ash as the people died and when the bodies disintegrated there was a cavity let in the solid rock that formed over the ash. The archeologists poured plaster of paris in the cavity and were able to chip away the ash to leave a cast of the body exactly how it was when the person died. It was pretty creepy to see these people. Even with terrified expressions on their faces.

That night was just chilling out. the hostel, while being fantastic, was quiet and pretty boring I must say.

The next day we went to the island of Capri. It's a vacation island for the Italians. It's about a half hour ferry from sorrento. We decided against renting scooters because the guy told us that unless we drive a scooter in the city every day we would kill ourselves in Italian traffic. He wasn't lying. Italian are crazy mofo drivers. We walked around mostly and saw probably the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen. Really. It was bloody amazing. Look up pics and then go there. No other way to describe it really.

The absolutely gorgeous Catherine my new friend from Vancouver.

Me being a boy and throwing rocks.

The night again was just sitting around and talking. Fun times though.

Today I'm on a train to Roma! Fuck yea!
I stopped in Napoli for lunch with my friend because we wanted pizza. Naples is the home of pizza and there is one place that is regarded as the best ever. If you've seen "eat pray love" it's the restaurant that Julia Roberts eats at. I swear it is the best food I've ever eaten. There. Done. Best food I have ever had. Only 2 kinds of pizza. Marinara and Margarita. Fuckin amazing. One note. Don't go to Naples except for pizza. It's dirty, creepy and feels dangerous.

Off to Rome! But before I'm done here are some random thoughts I've been having...

Italians are a funny people.
- they do whatever they want whenever they want.

- rules of the road consist of not hitting anyone

- park anywhere. I mean anywhere. Crosswalks? Of course. Halfway through stopsigns? Yep. Double park someone on the street? Any time they can.

- food comes first

- personal space does not exist

- if someone wants to walk down the street as slowly as possible and swing their briefcase around and take up the whole sidewalk...they do.

- I don't understand dressing up like a statue and expecting someone so give you money on the street. Is that a talent? A gold robe and a king tut mask?

- spray-paint art, on the other hand is an incredible skill

- mopeds and scooters need to be more popular in north America

- Toronto transit is put to shame by every where else.

- I love a good cappuccino. Like really love it

- I miss my sweatpants

- I've never had to fight an urge to suffocate someone as hard as I did last night. Snoring should be punishable by death whilst in dorms

- Italians love gelato. For good reason, it is yummy.

- I wish I could dress as well as Italian men. If you think of Italians as the typical new York Italian (fat, greasy, loud and obnoxious) you are sorely mistaken. Maybe not about the loud part, try certainly are that. But they are the most impeccably dressed people. Also usually very thin and clean. Stereotypes are remarkable.

- simple cooking beats all else.

- limoncello is heaven

- wine is cheaper than beer, so when in Rome...

- I got a lesson on Italian hand gestures. They all actually mean something individual and you can have a full conversation whilst not saying anything at all.

And now...

Off to Rome! (actually I'm in Rome now finishing this entry at a cafe outside the Vatican over a cappuccino.

Ps. I'm also loving life.

Wow that statue has a very statuesque ass.

Really? Girls boggle my mind. Whatever.

I travelled to Florence (Firenze) with my new buddy John. Imagine going to school in Amsterdam and traveling Europe in your weekends. How freaking amazing would that be?

We got to Florence and found the hostel which was actually a pretty sweet place. We met up with Jason and lizzie from cinque terre and decided to check out the pool. Yea, hostel had a pool, and I had a little Italian bathing suit. Woot.

We went into the steam room Which was so steamy you couldn't see. As my eyes focused some one says "Dean? Hi!" turns out the 3 Canadian girls from Venice were still at the hostel. We all hung out that night and the 3 girls started arguing about something stupid and caused a scene. I said fuckem all and went to bed. I'm not dealing with this. Especially arguing girls....from keswick. (if you know keswick, you know what I mean)

Next day we just walked around. Climbed another tall tower right beside the duomo (huge beautiful church made of green, white and red marble). We went to ponte vecchio and walked through that. It's the only bridge over the Arno river that wasn't bombed out in ww2. It's now full of exclusive jewelry shops.

Looking at Brunelleschi's Dome

The Duomo

That night we went to piazza michaelangelo to see the sunset. Kinda lame I know. It's a big square overlooking the whole city so it's actually really cool.

That night went out to dinner and had likely the best pasta I've ever had. It was stuffed with cheese and pear. Random but so wonderful!

Next day was a wine tour through the Tuscan countryside. Holy fuck. This was some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. Wine was excellent. Ate lung overlooking all the rolling hills. Just amazing. Tasted olive oil and truffle oil also. Better than any I've ever had.

Jason, Lizzie and I

Also tried world wide winning gelato in San gimingiano. Cinnamon? Wonderful.

Cinnamon, yum.

Did you know they also make pasta in the shape of a penis? Seriously. Little red green and yellow penises in pasta form. Bizarre.

That night we decided to go out on the town. We went to some crazy bar that sells 3.5L of beer in one big thing. Apparently it comes with a sparkler!

FYI. At this very moment I'm im Capri sitting by the water....watching unsuspecting Asian tourists creep closer to the edge of the water and watching the waves grow bigger...I'll keep you updated.

The beer actually had it's own tap. It was really sweet. Night wasn't anything really too special just the usual.

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast. Which btw was amazing. Bacon and eggs, baked beans, sautéed mushrooms as well as toast and cer-

*An woman just backed up from a wave so fast she fell over. Didn't get wet. Stay tuned.

-eal. I also must comment on the Italian coffee and tell you all how wonderful it is. It tastes like coffee should. Thick, dark and beautiful.

Ooohhh! One guy just jumped in the air and screamed!! Thy may be catching on soon. More to come as events unfold (I'm enjoying this too much)

That day we went out with Jason telling me I just had to go and see the food market. Florence has a huge leather market which runs along a few different streets. The leather is fabulous. There are-

Breaking news. We have an Asian down and a broken or waterlogged camera. Looks to be a nikon SLR but unsure of the make. it is however worth more than me. The man is now cursing the water and shaking his fist. Apparently he didn't know that there are big and small waves and that if the rocks are wet they A. Get hit by waves and B. Are likely slippery.
That leaves about 20 once happy people a little less enamored with the island of Capri. Back to the update.

-beautiful leather jackets, bags and belts and stuff. The food market was in a huge building I hadn't really noticed. They had really wonderful stuff. Fresh fish, beautiful meats, tons of offal that I haven't seen in a market before (offal being stuff from animals you don't usually use. ie. Organs, feet, faces.) Italians really don't waste and I think it's just fantastic.

Frui and Veg Stand, I wish we shopped like this all the time.

Amazing Meats

I want this in our stores everywhere! Italian's don't waste.

I also bought a new ring which I was pretty happy with. It's a bottle opener as well. Pretty sweet I thought.

That night was a party. It was all of our last nights so a buddy ad I went for the good stuff. By good stuff I'm of course referring to a 26 of vodka for 5€. not even joking. You can't make that up. Needless to say. It was fun. I forgot about the drinking game horse races! So much fun!!

10 Euro's total....

I'm in sorrento now and I'll post another update pretty soon. I know I'm behind. Deal.

A while in the making.

So it's been a while since I've posted anything. I've been pretty busy and haven't had much time. That's not actually entirely true as trains are a perfect time but I've been reading Harry potter and not wanting to put it down. How good is that last book?!

I'm currently in sorrento. Which is an Italian town just south of Naples. Since my last post I've done cinque terre and Florence so I have a bit to write about. Starting with leaving Venice.

I mentioned I think in my last post that I wasn't sure about accommodations in cinque terre. I was going and attempting to find a hostel there that've friends were at because the one I had booked was closed by the time I got there.

I arrived at about 830 and started walking up the street (there is really only one) it was a nice night so I was hoping my friends would maybe walking around or sitting in a restaurant. I realize that this hope lies somewhere between doubtful and stupid but I was hoping. After walking around for a half hour I passed by a laundromat. Sure enough, there were three canadians I had met in Venice! They took me back to their room which had extra beds in it and I stayed there for the night! Sweet ass free room!

Next day we went out on the walk through cinque terre. It is about a 5 hour walk between 5 villages along the coast. It is a stunningly beautiful trip. I really can't describe how amazing it looks. You have to climb really high up stairs at some points and at other points your walking along 2' narrow pathways beside cliffs. It's simply breathtaking.

Breaking for lunch

Jared, Morgan Sharla, (the 3 who saved me from the street) , Me, Ada, John

We got to the last village, and after stopping for lunch decided to go for a swim. Now I know I'm in Italy and it's supposed to be hot. It's pleasantly warm I would say. Not all that hot. And this is the Mediterranean in October, kinda chilly. I didn't even have a bathing suit. Before we were going to swim I needed a suit. I went into town on a mission. Well actually 2. Bathing suit AND gelato. I'm serious the gelato here is stunningly good. More on that later.

I found a nice bathing suit (your opinion of nice may differ from mine, remember that my sister has made a rule that I'm not to shop by myself). I must admit that the suit is a little "Italian", meaning small. Kinda like short shorts and bright red. Meh, what do I care? Ten minutes later I was proven correct in my theory that the water was not at all warm and o plunged in and came up blue.

Earlier on the hike the girls we were with had the brilliant idea that we should make a nice dinner that night. There were 3 girls and 3 guys on this trip. What they actually meant is that the guys should make them dinner. We said ok (the other 2 said it reluctantly before I informed them that it would be ok and we wouldn't burn down the hostel (especially since I was still staying for free, and I liked that)

Ada Morgan and Sharla

We went shopping when we got back and planned and executed a pretty damn good 3 course meal. Keep in mind that our cooking utensils consisted of a 2.5 burner gas stove (don't ask) and an oven we needed to light (in trying to do so I considered revoking my comment of burning down the hostel). We also had at our disposal; a serrated butter knife, a spatchula(?), a couple pans that looked as though they had been used to play baseball (unfortunately I'm familiar with that look in a pan), and that's about it.

We created the meal as follows:

Crostini with roasted fig, pecarino cheese, and a red wine reduction.

Fennel, orange and walnut pasta with a cream sauce

Oven roasted peaches (halved and cored) with a blueberry, blackberry and red wine sauce to top.

It ended up being pretty damn good and we surprised the hell out of the girls. For the whole meal for 8 people (2 joined late) and 10 bottles of wine the total came to 50€ which is like 6.25 each! Fuck yea!

That night we went down to a rock beach near the hostel. We took a bunch of wine down with us and sat down in the pitch black watching what little waves we could. It was a ton of fun. (ten bottles of wine fun)

The next day, due to a drunken promise, I had to make the best french toast in the world. I made ok French toast. It had an apple and burned topping that was pretty good.

One note is that in our bathroom, we found this note beside the toilet.........what would you do?

We went back to the scene of our drunken escapades the night before and hung out on the beach again. It was pretty sweet. Then we all left for different locations. The 3 canadians, Jared, Sharla, and Morgan were off to Rome and Jason, lizzie, John and I were off to Florence.

Florence is another story all together...

Go Leafs Go!

Oh there are so many memories. Have you ever looked up old commercials that you used to like? For instance, do you have any idea how many fantastic Molson Canadian commercials there are? I mean going back and talking about "Joe Canada" remember that?


Or how about the guy who says "so I hear your from Canada...eh? I thought all they had up there were lumberjacks and curlers? Where's your toque eh? No doubt about it!" and then the Canadian guy drops all his stuff and jerseys him like a hockey scrap?


Or the code? "there's a code here in Canada and if you live by it chances are; you've used a blow torch to curve a hockey stick, you've grown a beard in the post-season, you've turned down a booty call in the playoffs, and they're not dents...their goals!"





One of my favorites is the one that starts with one guy standing in front of a tv in a store window saying "at first, when there's nothing, but a slow moving dream..." and then it Changes guys "that your fear seems to hide" changes "deep inside your mind" and then the guy who resembles one of my best friends Fergy screams "what a feeling!!!"



Basically, what I'm getting at is that I'm really sad to not be in Canada right now. Because all of these commercials tend to appear at one particular point in the year....

HOCKEY SEASON!!!!!!

HERE WE GO!!





That's right Canada! Grab your sticks and gloves, lace up those skates it's hockey time again!!!

Leafs won their first game!!! Woot!!! And Ottawa is going down tonight too!!!' hells yea!

Apparently however, Italians neither know, nor care that hockey season is back and I will see none of it for a month.

Puck. (get it)

So I'm in the Venice train station now. Which is very cool. You walk out the doors and bam. Grand canal. It's a beautiful city. I've been before, and I really didn't think much of it last time. It was cool of course, but I thought it was rather dirty and busy and kind shitty. I wanted to come back and give it another chance. And I'm so very glad that I did. It's beautiful, and just wonderful to spend hours walking around lost. (your always lost here. Always. It is so confusing. There are little alleyways that you don't even realize are streets!

It's bizarre. It's still really busy and there are too many bloody Americans here. One lady gave me a rundown on how the republicans are coming back in November. "I always knew Obama was a bad choice, your enemies should never be happy with the person you elect" ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING? Why are there so many enemies? Ou know why they're happy? Cause he's not a fuckin republican! I kinda wanted to slap her but she was way bigger than me and may have caused the boat to capsize so I didn't.

Aside from that. It's been fantastic here. I found some really cool souvenirs and gifts for people. And the coolest part is that they are things that I know the people will like. I know that sounds ridiculous but it's so hard to find things people will really like sometimes. Success!
I've spent 3 nights here now and it's been great. Hostel makes you a 3 course Italian dinner every night for 5$. We went out playing guitar and singing last night just sitting along the canal. It's fun. Cinque Terre is next but unfortunately you have to arrive at the hostel at 5pm or earlier. I get in at 7. So I have no place to stay tonight basically. Ballin.

I'm sick too. Sick as a fuckin dog that is sick. Not fun. I have that cough that flares when you try to talk which makes meeting people difficult.

Sweet.

Ps. I haven't shaved in a long time. I look like a terrorist.

Halfway through...

So i hit the milestone the other day. I've made it halfway through my trip thus far. Pretty exciting I know. I've been on the move a bit lately but nothing too significant to write about.
I'll sum up.
After Prague I went with Bam (a friend from budapest and prague) to Cesky Krumlov. It's a small picturesque town on the czech/Austrian border. It's really beautiful. I don't really know why I went, but why not right? Actually I know exactly why I went. "river rafting pub-crawl" anybody think that's a bad idea?

We didn't actually do it. Apparently most the bars are closed for the season so we decided on another adventure instead...horseback riding. Now that sounded like a good idea as well!....3 days later and my ass still hurts.

It was fun though. We went with 3 other people. Walked about an hour to get there. But it was a really pretty walk. If I had been there about a week later all the trees would have just turned and it would be stunning. Although it just made me miss a true Canadian autumn. Nothing I've seen yet comes close.

Our guides for the horses were two 13 year old girls. Who basically just told us all that we were terrible. We found as we often have on this trip (caving) that there really was very little instruction given. Sorta more like "ok, your horse. Hold reins here, shorter, ok." and then you are off. Now I've never really rode a horse before. Bit I figured I had the basics. Pull left he goes left, right he goes right, both and he stops right? Sorta.

My horse, while we mostly got along had a real affinity towards trees that he could barely fit under. And I really couldn't. I ate a lot of leaves and needles.
Also he had one gear. Slow. No amount of kicking helped. He did not want to go faster.
We had a blast though. Tons of fun.

We went up to the castle, which overlooks the town. It was really god, there was a walkway over a moat type thing. We were looking into it and then i saw a sign that had a lot of czech words and a bear. ok? Apparently in the czech rep. They don use Moats to protect their castles. They use bears.

I also got to cook again! I made beer stew! Yum! Potatoes, red peppers, keilbasa sausage (which we all thought was basic sausage when we bought it) onion tomatoes and beer. When all stewed up together it was pretty damn good.

After cesky krumlov Bam and i split up. I think to meet up in a month in London. I went off to Zurich on the night train which was really nice. Had a cabin mostly to myself despite not having a booking or having a clue if I was on the right train (seriously, had some panicky moments). Got to zurich at 8 am. Spent the day wandering around mostly. Now, it's funny how many people said Zurich is really expensive. I thought maybe a couple bucks here and there. No. Let me tell you. Don't bother with Zurich. Oh, it's beautiful yeah, But it loses some of it's..."charm" when a small coffee at Starbucks is 5$ and a doughnut is 4$. I went looking for McDicks just assuming it would be reasonable priced as always... Nope a big Mac meal was 11$ for a SMALL fries and drink! 12.50 for a med! FML!!!
Anyhow. It is a beautiful city but stupid expensive and nothing too special to see. Don't bother.

Since leaving Zurich this morning I have embarked on what I deem to be the second last leg of my trip. Italy. I must admit, of everywhere I was going, even including Oktoberfest, this is what I've been the most excited for. I've been here before. And many of the places I'm doing are the same; Venice, Florence, Sorrento, and Rome. I went there with the family before and no offense to them, but we have very different tastes whilst on vacation. As anybody who knows me is aware, Locking me in a museum for a day is heaven not hell. My darling sister may think differently.

I've also added cinque terre to my list of Italian destinations. It's a series of 5 towns along the west coast of the country just north of Florence. There is a walking trail that runs along them. It's supposed to be just beautiful.

I can't wait to start exploring here. Venice is first and the eta is 2 hours.

trip from Zurich to Venice (via Milan)
Ciao!