Rottnest for the moment
08/10/06

For those of you who truly, madly and deeply know us, you’ll know that our favourite holiday spot, possibly in the world, is a little island off Perth called Rottnest.

Yes, its true that apart from last new years when we slept in a random person’s hammock, in their backyard, we have never stayed there overnight. But it is also a well known fact that as long as stay for the sunset, you too will agree that Rotto is superbly majestic.

Coming to France for a year meant a year apart from our beloved island, a distance met with great anxiety and sadness. And, it really is a place that we missed during our summer months here. Don’t misunderstand us: france has many a thing Australia does not. But Rottnest island is one of Australia’s advantages.

On Sunday, we traveled to Marseille for the millionth time partly to visit Chateau d’If. When we got to the ferry terminal at around 4, the lady at the counter told us that the last one had already left. BUT there was an option B. Apparently there is another island off the coast, just next to Chateau d’If. So, sam and I thought why not try it instead.

And we think we found our Rottnest for the moment. What do you guys think?

In the footsteps of Mr Luhrman, through the modern city of Verona (9 Septembre 2006)

Verona- the hometown of the Capulets and the Montagues. And let me tell you, after our visit there, I learned that this town may actually believe that the story of Romeo and Juliet is true!

Like all self respecting Italian cities, it has an ampitheatre.















That comes with its own Roman ruins.




















There were two things about Verona that we loved most. The first is the weekly market they hold in the city centre. It’s quite big and sells various things, like most markets. But every stall here is there in order to raise money for various charities and foundations. Everything from a diabetes stall (which is by the way the only place you can get little packets of sugarine for the next café stop) to a group that were interested in preserving the Italian environment and other global environments. They sold stuff from Africa and Asia, they had handy tissue box covers for sale, and they had a group of opera singers and ballroom dancers who took turns to pass around the hat.

Then of course, there is Juliet’s house where Juliet cries out to Romeo etc etc and they eventually get it on. Sam thought it was worth getting a photo with Juliet, and then climbing up to her room for some more fun, too.




























































Meanwhile as Sam climbed the wall to Juliet’s house, I walked over to another wall where notes between lovers were permanently fixed.


























There was a heap of ‘for profit’ shopping to do as well, and it would have been rude to say no! So, mum, dad and I started looking for presies to send back to Oz.

As we left the city, we saw this threatening letter:

The First Taste is pretty good, but the Last Bite is better.
27/10/06

We’ve finished the first portion of uni, and we’ve been served a few surprises, as well as a surprisingly large helping. I had to adjust my palate as I found out I needed to rearrange my classes twice to accommodate work. Hence, I’m now taking one Masters level course in international private litigation, as well as French administrative, penal and civil law. Mayan is doing a great job at swallowing 24 hours of French classes a week, and is getting better and better at spitting it out too. Luckily, we’ve found plenty of friends to help us wash our daily bread down with some healthy doses of French wine.

At the moment our groups of friends are varied, and hardly linked with each other. However we’ll continue to hold parties at our apartment, and as that proceeds so will a little synergizing. Mayan has her uni friends and is still very keen to develop further our more vintage relationships, while I keep grabbing every opportunity to pretend like I understand what’s going on in the teacher staff rooms and uni lecture theatres.

We’ve had lots of great ideas to organise our holidays here, to make the most of the cheap tickets you can get hold of by buying in advance. But so far, while we’ve got hold of all the info we should need, there’s always one more thing that we forgot, and needs more research. Which leads us inevitably to the day before the holiday with nothing organized. Still, I have 15 weeks of solid vacances to spend wisely before I leave, and Mayan has even more. So there’s hope yet.

Our culinary skills have improved. We’re maîtres now in the realm of making soups and salads, and are even pretty damn good with the old tajine too. And I know so much more about cheese now. I love the stuff. We’ve been keeping a list of the cheeses we’ve tried at home, and it’s on to its second page.

One thing that I haven’t been able to take advantage of much yet are the student services. Sure I’m a regular at the super-cheap student cafeteria, but unlike Mayan, I haven’t taken up one of the free sporting activities. And neither of us have used the international student social networks that much, mostly cos they always go to a really crap bar and we know better ones.

So, that’s about it for the First Taste, the first three months. It’s gone really quickly, and we’re a little surprised to be honest. But we’ve learned a lot and are happy with how we’ve been doing. But just like before I left, the time I’m looking forward to most is the later greater Last Bite holiday here, when uni’s finished, work’s finishing up, and I speak French and have money to burn. For your reference, it’ll be the months of June and July, and the last few weeks will be spent in Paris.

I hope to keep in contact with all of you. We really love getting emails and comments on the blog.

"We all lived in a golden submarine"
23-27/09/06

You guys are about to get totally envious and wish you could just have been me for a few days. Well, I would if I were you.

A few days ago, Sam and I went on the most amazing holiday ever.

As students we necessarily must endure some financial struggle. Students, who have to wrack their brains for good marks, while working many many hours in retail, where wealth is flaunted right in front of our faces. Students, who have to put up with welfare bureaucracy and pay the rent. Students who cook for themselves and clean after themselves. All of whom would love to be rich for just one day…

The other thing about students is that, when they backpack, they always stay at youth hostels. So we began our weekend, riding the public bus to Nice, where we would catch another public bus to our youth hostel (there never used to be anything wrong with the old pub bus but you’ll see soon why limousines may be more suitable in the future).

Actually, this youth hostel was uniquely amazing (from a poor student perspective). It was right next to the football stadium, and we had a great view of the big soccer game on Saturday night. The hostel also had a kitchen and the most amazing hang out room, filled with stain glass windows left over from the monastery it has since re-posessed. But, it could not prepare us for our upcoming encounter.














Let me tell you about our close encounter of the third kind, with our new friend Rova. He is 30metres long, 8 metres wide. He comes fully equipped with flat screen TVs in each of the five bedrooms, as well as the entertainment room and the lounge room. He can walk on water.














Ok, money is not the most important thing in life.















But a chef is definitely in the top ten. And Rova (the boat, incase you hadn’t picked that up) has two chefs on board. Plus a captain and engineer and steward. All in all we had five crew for six people on the boat we were about to spend four days on.














We began the trip at the port of San Remo in Italy. It’s a nice port, and Sam and I had arrived a little before departure time (mostly because I couldn’t believe that the train from Nice (France) to San Remo (Italy) could take only thirty minutes). We sussed out the boat possibilities and after finding Rova, we calmly and collectedly squealed (ok, it was just me that squealed…a bit like Karen in sea change). We spent our entire coffee talking about the best ways to get rich and new business ideas.

When Sam’s uncle Bruce and aunty Jacqui arrived, along with cousin Amy and relative (possibly Sam’s 12th cousin) Wendy, we were welcomed onto the yacht. Our first glimpses were pretty amazing and unfortunately, no one could pull it together and react as though luxury was normal. Luckily, the chef came out, informed us lunch was ready, and stuff our mouths with food to avoid any further squealing.














We were supposed to sail to Corsica but bad weather meant we would actually struggle to leave San Remo. So we went for a quick hoon around the Italian coast instead. Everyone but Bruce were attracted to the lounging areas at the front of the boat and, despite the roaring seas we all sat there determined to live out our dream on these cushiony things up front. Needless to say, we got absolutely drenched and started dropping like flies. Each running around the back of the boat, inside, downstairs and to the hot shower. Sam, Amy and I managed to hang on the longest but then surrendered in unison when the rain had started and it felt too much like hail to try to overcome with dillusions of tropical, island boat-skipping. By the time we got back to our berth in San Remo, our three course dinner had been prepared and we couldn’t get over the squid, followed by the veal etc etc.














The days continued like this, just in different places. We spent the second night in Monaco (where the owner and his boat reside) and the third night in St Tropez. Our daily schedule was much the same. Wake up around 9am, walk upstairs and eat brekky with everyone, be asked what kind of coffee or tea we would like. After brekky we would sail out, go for a swim ifpossible, eat lunch and then dessert, go back to the sundeck and ask the steward for a cocktail. Etc etc. you know how these luxury lives go.

There were some really strange luxuries that I want to highlight, not to rub it in but just because. At lunch and dinner we were always served one bottle of white wine and one red. Did you know that the red wine goes in the bigger glass…so it can ‘breathe’? I even learned how to swoosh it around like a snob…I mean wine appreciator (sorry Bruce, it’s not that I don’t appreciate wine).

Also, the beds were made in five seconds flat every day. We would go up for a quick brekky and when we would return to our bedroom or bathroom-voila! Even the toilet paper was neatly folded. But what was even weirder was the way in which the day bedding is actually different to the night bedding. That’s right folks, our beds actually got made twice each day in two diff styles just incase we couldn’t remember the time of day. There was always some chocolate sitting on the bed, set for the evening (although the chocolate may have been eaten before bed time…oops) Strange luxuries really.

Although, I’m sure I can overlook/get used to the oddities of luxury.

One of the best things about this holiday was the food. On one level it tasted great (yes Sonya, I kept a record of the menu). But the thing I really loved about being cooked for in that way, combined with the boat size, was that we would all eat together. It was during these times that we had some great conversations.

Bruce is writing his book about father-daughter relationships, so we all became muses for him…in the form of interviewees. Jacqui was quite determined to take two important photos: one of a perfect sunset (the magic of which is undeniably difficult to capture on film) and a photo of all six of us. We sat at the dinner table one night and took about thirty photos on the camera’s timer setting. I’m still not quite sure why we didn’t just get a crew member to do it? Bruce and Jacqui would go off into a corner of the boat to ‘watch the second half of the footy’ for anywhere up to two hours at a time, and by the end of the trip, we were all wondering how long a second half could be??? Amy’s place, found almost immediately after boarding, was in front of the TV upstairs watching one of the music channels. She did not leave the couch and tv until the last moments on the boat. While I was obsessed with my new spot on the front of the boat, legs dangling over the edge. I also found it difficult to ask for any beverage other than a cocktail (hey, a girls got needs). Amy and I later branched out and played cards together, hot chocolate becoming the new beverage of choice. Sam read out aloud the entire play of Don Juan. He said it was work on his French pronunciation. The wind blew his words all the way down to lower deck where Amy and I were trying to concentrate on a serious game of snap. And maybe Sam deserves to be the richest of us all in the future, because every single drink he asked the steward for was not actually do-able and in the end, he had to settle for an affogato with a dash of Baileys. Wendy, who felt like a minority, being surrounded by digital cameras and still carrying one of those old ones (what do you call them again?? J) was often found drinking GTs and telling Bruce that England would win some sport this year (it may have been cricket or rugby but I sort of tuned out). She also had some extreme phobia of animal heads and eyes being visible in her meals. I can understand that.

Bruce and Jacqui were keen to find what was one thing we had learned this year? And after this boat trip, Amy, Sam and I all agreed that being rich is a very good idea.























It was a huge shock catching a public train home from Monaco. They didn’t even have waiters! Or beds! One toilet for fifty people! Sam and I thought, where is our service????!!!!
I guess the trip left us with delusions of grandeur. Perhaps it’s not a great idea to give students one (or five) days of luxury, cos now the bathroom needs cleaning, and we’re definitely not doing it!

Housewarming 22/09/06

We had pre-drinks at our house about a week ago with a bunch of friend. It evolved into something a little fuller, which may have had something to do with the bouquet of the red we were drinking and sort of turned into a bit of a housewarming. Sam and I though you might be interested in these photos, too…we’ll try to point out/name some of the people that are a part of our Vie Francaise.







































This is actually a bit later on in the night aftwer the neighbours told us to shhhh so the party moved inside.















Midnight munchies called for some serious pancake cooking. L-R Anna, Bec, Denise, Me, Judith














Denise and i headed the pancake co.

















L-R Geraldine, Damien and Adeliene















L-R Anna, Denise, Sam trying to get in on the photos, and Bec














L-R Chloe, Jeremy, Not sure but his t shirt was a bit strange, Anne

Looked for art, found Florence. Good choice, us! (9-12 Septembre 2006)

On our way to Florence, we detoured and went into the countryside of Tuscany. We were a little sick of the autoroute and turned off down a very windy road in the hills. We drove and drove, without a map, avoiding the other cars (three lanes in a one lane street) and passing through villages. It was sunset. We were aiming for a lake we’d seen a sign for. Finally we found the next best thing (or maybe the real thing, who knows): a dam. It was very idyllic in the hills of Tuscany at sunset by the ‘lake’, so we went looking for the one thing to complete the picture-postcard: dinner. It was here that we finally found a real, home made Italian meal. And it was oh so good. Home made pasta and sauce as well as home made wine…mmmm (even home-made Italian: we couldn’t really understand anything, so we’re glad we ended up with something nice). Afterwards we packed up and sped down the hill in the dark, searching a little frantically for the previously-hated, now longed-for sight of the autoroute. Eventually we found it, and Florence, then our hotel, and our beds.



















Afterwards we packed up and sped down the hill in the dark, searching a little frantically for the previously-hated, now longed-for sight of the autoroute. Eventually we found it, and Florence, and eventually our hotel, and our beds.
The next day, we were ready to hit the museum routes again.
We started at the Dome where we climbed up tiny, unlit staircases that could only fit one person at a time and had no windows (which became especially difficult to deal with once oncoming traffic came…come to think of it it was a lot like driving in most old cities in Europe).
Anyway, after five hundred steps, this is what we saw:














It was a bit of a disappointment, because the inside was MUCH nicer.
We then headed off to the Medici’s palace. This family reintroduced Greek sculpture to Europe by founding an academy, where masters such as Donatello taught artists such as Michelangelo. They (or rather the Godfather (Don) Lorenzo the Magnificent) also reintroduced Greek philosophy and influenced Italian politics so much they were attacked and destroyed within three generations. The palace is stunning and even though it’s not a huge tourist attraction, it’s worth going to!! It has the family chapel inside with its own fresco, and beautiful sculptures everywhere.



















Florence is probably one of the most beautiful cities I’ve seen. I can’t believe its soo full of tourists yet maintains some form of tranquility about it.

































I even found this popular add on the back of buses that looks very similar to Em.



















We managed to fit the tourist bill exactly in Florence: cameras on necks and maps in hand, we got the first bus in the morning, and the last at night, then each night scanned the reams of brochures we’d picked up to really make the most of our time the next day. For May and I that meant having time to stroll through some ancient gardens, visit the temporary nightclub near the hotel a bit, and drink a few coffees. But of course we also saw the Uffizi Gallery, which was pretty impressive (and incidentally has really good coffee). There’s an awful lot to see, including some really famous (Botticelli’s Venus), some a little disturbing (i.e. a little Goya), and a really interesting Leonardo da Vinci exhibition on the way out.

We can now say that we were in Firenze for three days, and survived. And in fact we enjoyed it immensely. But we haven’t ‘done’ it, nor Italy as a whole, by any means. There’s simply too much to see. Italian students of art have free access to the Uffizi gallery, and they can have it: they need it. Pizza delivery to gallery 35 would be appreciated too, for those who simply can go no further. It’s hard to quit at the end, and the philosophy of ‘next time’ plays a big part in letting go. But after my first time I have learned that you can buy average pizza in Italy, I can’t speak French with an Italian accent and get away with it, and (contrary to what a traveler told me recently) not every city looks the same.

Lake Guarda (8-9 Septembre 2006)

Our next stop in Italy was Lake Guarda, where we’d get a break from doing the museum-thing.
The drive there was superb!! The scenery was just vineyards, castles and fields of luscious greens.
The water in the Lake is from the mountains. It was freezing, but since it was summer, we convinced ourselves that the water temperature was something one could get used to.


Despite the fact that the place is teeming with tourists (I think we were the only non Germans there), the area felt totally calm.

There were a few dramas with the hotel: couldn’t choose one, overbooked, couldn’t find it when we got there, problem with the rooms… but in the end we ended up with the two best rooms in the hotel, which overlooked the lake itself, and was a five minute walk away from a cool little town!

There was a funny thing about these mountains. They’re the Alps, which makes them pretty high, and rocky, and wooded…except for at the very top. Every time we passed a big mountain it looked rather dangerous and menacing right up until the top, where there were idyllic green fields flooded in sunlight. It was like something from the Land Before Time.












After the sunset, we headed straight out to dinner and after that, straight on to dessert. It was at this point that we discovered the AMAZING ice cream they serve. We sat right next to the ice cream machine (pictured below, with me)


And dad kept adjusting the temperature while the ice cream man had his back turned.

We only stayed there for a day and a night, but we definitely had enough time to enjoy ourselves before jumping back in the and heading south.

First, they sank the Loveboat. Now they’re working on Venice. (6-8 Septembre 2006)

Everyone always told me that Venice is a ‘floating city’. But when people say things like that, it does tend to sound like they are exaggerating. At least a little.

So when we arrived in Venice, got out of the train station and were faced with an enormous canal, it felt a bit strange. When there are no cars even allowed in Venice centre and ‘le bus’ timetable actually refers to the ferry timetable, life seems a little warped. But it gets stranger and stranger. As we walked down the streets, we noticed that people’s backyard doors were actually half underwater- which I think makes Venice a sinking city as opposed to a floating one (but don’t tell the Venetians that).
















There we were: my parents, Sam and I, sinking with Venice. My dad was convinced that the canals are full of everyone’s shit- “can’t you smell it??!!!” he would say. But no, neither Sam, my mother or I could smell anything resembling sewerage. But dad was adamant and that made me feel a little more hesitant about sinking on this end of the world. About one month later, we met a traveler who had spent a lot of time in Venice and learned that Venice has one of the best sewage systems in the world. So maybe that was just a brown fish after all!















Venice is also famous for serving the most enormous single slices of pizza. We were all totally captured by the sheer size and greasy cheese, but then bitterly disappointed by the taste. In fact, Venice was one place we kept trying to find gourmet Italian food and were incredibly disappointed.

Despite the food, we were still so excited to be seeing Venice. Amazing frescos, museums, cathedrals, and palaces that got even me standing in queues. There’s not much to say about the golden statues and all the unique things you can find inside and around these places, I know it can get boring listening to museum stories. If you do go, make sure you have knees and shoulders and boobs covered, no matter what the temperature! Otherwise, the churches are off-limits.















Sam’s favourite place in Venice was a room in the Doge’s Palace; the map room. Here was the google earth of the C16th in two globes: one for Earth and the other for the Heavens.

We also looked in, and out of, the Bridge of Sighs, where prisoners had their last glimpse of daylight en route to the state-of-the-art prisons, right next to the centre of government.







































We also got excited over this new form of paddling: notice the people are STANDING















As well as this, i totally indugled in the tourist culture. Blown away by the thought of carnivale, i bought me a little souvenir:


















After two days we were sad to leave, but consoled ourselves by theorizing that the closer we get to Bologne, the better the food would become.


ps more venice photos will come up but for the mo our blog is being a bit tempramental