Wednesday 28 December 2011

French, German, French... Italian

Oui, ja, si... Yes, it's been a little while between posts, but internet access has been a bit patchy. We are in the glorious French Riviera, the C'ote D'azur, a little town called Mougins, very close to Cannes and Nice. Phil and I are very much indebted to Jo and Nick and especially Jo's mum, who booked this two bedroom apartment at Le Club Mougins - it's lovely. Here's the view from our balcony. There are also snow capped Alps in the background!!




















I don't think I've seen a single cloud since we arrived on Christmas Eve and the days are a respectable 16 degrees. Heaven! Christmas Eve was lovely - celebrated in style with some homemade decorations and champers:


Yes, that is a Christmas tree cut out of wrapping paper stuck to the fridge. Joelle made awesome festive paper chains which are hanging in our lounge room.

Berlin has been and gone already - four fun-filled and somewhat freezing days in a great apartment in Prenzlauer berg, a suburb in the old East Berlin. It's such a massive city that four days is barely enough to scratch the surface.  So we divided up the time between a little sightseeing, shopping, cocktailing, Christmas markets and outdoor toboggan slopes!

Our first day was a cold, windy one and we headed to the Mauerpark - which translates to Wall Park. We walked around a fairly bleak park around where the wall once stood, in one of the most affected areas. Apparently, the former death strip - the area between the two walls which separated the east from the west and which we're patrolled by soldiers with guns and dogs - has been turned into the Mauerpark. There was some street art nearby commemorating the wall and the death strip.


  






















We went to Alexanderplatz, a huge square in the east, on our second evening because we'd spotted a ferris wheel which looked enticing. It turned out to be a whole carnival plus a Christmas market - double score! Phil and I tried a half metre of bratwurst and we all got stuck into the mulled wine. I wondered if Jo would feel left out of the sausage-y fun, but Berlin actually offered veggie hot dogs, veggie burgers at McDonalds and promised (but never delivered) veggie bratwurst. 

Nick and Jo were a lot braver than me, and went on a huge chairoplane which was massively high and went really, really fast!! This is a photo of the ride they were on - I think they're on one of the red chairs. 


I did brave the ferris wheel which was massively high, and fun:


What else?? Well, we went to the Veuve Cliquot champagne bar at Ka De We, Berlin's fanciest department store, to the Reichstag and Brandenberg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie and Potsdamer Platz; the latter of which had an awesome icy tobogganing slope which Jo and I tried out on giant rubber tyres. It was fast and fun and I screamed my head off! I think Nick took video on his phone! In addition to the toboggan slope, there was also.... another Christmas market - these things are EVERYWHERE in Germany. 

On our last day in Berlin, we decided to take it easy and go for a gentle shop followed by cocktails at a couple of bars. It was the perfect way to end the trip.

One short but very turbulent (one woman screamed in the plane) flight later, we were in Nice. We've hired a car here, so we drove up the coast to Mougins on Christmas eve. Christmas Day was very genteel affair. We had a late start, a delicious lunch at the restaurant here (duck breast, chocolate cake, smoked salmon - mmmm!) followed by a relaxed walk through Mougins. On Boxing Day, we walked (hiked??) up to the ancient city of Mougins which was gorgeous. Lots of 17th century buildings, church, watchtowers, etc.


It was gorgeous, plus there were some spectacular views from the village over the whole region, all the way to the Alps. 

Yesterday, we ventured even further... All the way to Italy!! Nick drove us form Mougins across the French/ Italian border to the Italian Riviera town of San Remo. I'd been really sorry that we hadn't squeezed Italy into the itinerary, so it was fab to head over, even if it's just for a day.  We had a wander around the town, by the beach, had a huge plate of pasta for lunch (yumm) and the best coffee since we hit Europe!! And despite the four of us speaking about six words of Italian, we got along just fine. Between the German and the French and the residual Indonesian, I'm so confused at the moment anyway, I have to say a word in three different languages before I hit on the right one!

Here are some pics - hard to believe its the middle of winter:





After all the excitement, today was a pj day! Is it a waste of the gloriously weathered French Riviera to spend the whole day indoors? Well, maybe, but I really both needed and enjoyed having a day of absolutely nothing. 

Tomorrow, we're planning to go to Cannes!!! Fingers crossed for a Clooney sighting!!

Tuesday 20 December 2011

Hamburg

As I write this, I am sitting on a train to Berlin. The three nights stay in Hamburg flew by - we did manage to fit in a fair bit, like the fish market, Christmas markets, and yesterday a whole day of shopping in the centre of Hamburg. Last night, we picked up some pork cutlets and made them for dinner for Phil's grandmother. A little sacreligious for the first night of Channukah, although on the way home last night, we picked up a donut, courtesy of a bakery handing out free samples - I don't think it was for Channukah, but it was a nice coincidence. 

It's been cold in Hamburg - it has snowed every day at least once, which is quite beautiful. We are in Berlin for four nights and the forecast has 2 "warm" days of 6 and 8 degrees, and two cold days of 3 and 4 degrees. It's been a very long time since I was in Europe in winter and I'd forgotten just how cold, grey and wet it can be. Even the swans which usually swim in the Alster in the centre of Hamburg, have vanished for the winter. Yesterday, I went armed with bread rolls to feed the swans and found only a bunch of loud seagulls with no respect for personal space! On the upside, the cities are built for the cold - public transport is heated and so is pretty much everywhere else you might go. 

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Ooh, we have just arrived in Berlin. Our apartment is huge and seems to be in a pretty lively area. More later...

Sunday 18 December 2011

Germany

OH. MY. GOD. MY. LIVER. And with these words, I know I am in Germany!

We arrived in Hamburg last night and arrived at Phil's grandmother's home at around 9pm. Nick and Jo have organised an apartment near the centre of Hamburg for the three nights we are spending here. It's a short stop, but it's lovely to visit Phil's grandmother, even for just a few days. 

Over the last couple of years, Phil has spent a bit of time in Hamburg without me (usually staying on an extra week at the end of a trip together), but we have visited Hamburg together before for a couple of days at a time.  But until today, I'd never been in Hamburg on a Sunday. 

On Sundays, the docks play host to the famous Hamburg Fishmarkt, a market that has been operating since 1703 (according to one not-very-official looking website). The market features market stalls selling fruit, clothes, coffee, meats and, of course, fish in fresh, smoked and cooked forms. Plus, in the century-old building that usually houses fish auctions turns into a hall with a distinctively bar-like vibe. There's a live band playing (ours was playing classic rock in both English and German), fresh waffles cooking and beer a-flowing. At this time of year, the market opens at 7am and runs until 9.30 am, which explains how I managed my first beer of the day at 8.30 am - wa-hey!







This is what 8.30am beer looks like!!

We arrived at the nearby train station at 7.30 am and made our way down to the market - first in a light drizzle which quickly morphed into... Snow!! Beautiful snow!! Big snowflakes drifting down - it was gorgeous. And cold. And very wet. And in fact impossible to find a spare inch of clothing (or skin) that was dry enough to wipe the icy snowflakes from off my face. Every time I tried to clear my vision from snow, I succeeded in only wiping more wetness across my face, hair etc. So we made our way pretty quickly to the auction house for warmth, seating and local beer. Ahhh... Lovely! 

Beer hall... 

After a couple of hours in the fish market, we picked up some smoked fish for brunch with Phil's grandmother and headed back home for brunch which (after a little siesta) was delicious... And followed by apple schnapps - wa-hey! Brunch down and we're already on to the spirits...

A couple of hours later, we headed into town to meet Jo and Nick for some Christmas markets, German-style. Hamburg has at least a dozen Christmas markets on, with the biggest in a square in front of the Rathaus, or Town Hall. It was absolutely packed! Five minutes in the throng and you could almost forget that it was outdoors and freezing cold (ok, not freezing, but my toes were feeling it). There were stalls with mulled wine, and more stalls with mulled wine, and more... Well you get it. They also sell Christmas tree ornaments, gingerbread, ceramic decorations, sausages of all descriptions, crepes, etc. 

The main Christmas market was so crowded, we decided to visit another one (about 150m away) located on the Alster, which is an artifical lake in the centre of Hamburg. This one was not quite so busy, so we could actually get to the stall with the mulled wine - wa-hey! We'd had mulled wine in London and Brussels, but the German mulled wine was so much tastier... I did manage to stop at one though, and after a bit more wandering, we trooped back to Jo and Nick's lovely apartment for some warmth, sitting around and sparkling wine that the apartment's owner kindly left out - wa-he.... you get it..

As I write this, I am sitting in Phil's grandmother's living room, a glass of wine in hand getting sleepier and sleepier... 

It's been a big day for my poor liver. Tomorrow, my major plan is to go to the Alster and feed the swans. I figure it might be a good day for little goals!!

Friday 16 December 2011

Utrecht

Today, Phil and I decided to head out of Amsterdam and take a little side trip to Utrecht. Last night we went for cocktails on the 23rd floor of The Okura hotel - the view was amazing and the drinks both yummy and potent. So it wasn't the earliest start, but we did make it there. Fortunately, it's only a 25 minute train ride there. 

It's scary to think that it's been more than ten years since I went on an exchange to the University of Utrecht to study a couple of law subjects. I only spent three and a half months there, but I have great memories of that time and I was keen to go back and just take a look at the place to see how much things had changed. 

I still remembered the route from the train station to my old apartment, so we walked down to see my old street and take a walk around the area. 


These photos were taken on the Oude Gracht - the old canal running through the centre of town. It's a gorgeous (if not a little chilly) walk with lots of very old, sometimes leaning, shops and houses. 



In this pic below, you can see the walkway that runs along at canal-level where there are lots of restaurants and bars. We stopped for one of Holland's signature dishes - pankoeken - or pancakes. Phil opted for one called the Masai with sunflower seeds, mushrooms and cheese - mmmm, tasty!!

Yet another place I could quite happily live in again. 

Tomorrow - off to Hamburg!

Thursday 15 December 2011

Amsterdam

It's day two in Amsterdam and so far it's been a trip with a bit of de ja vu. First, the weather is pretty much identical to how I remember it from last year - not too cold, but overcast with a little rain. Secondly, yesterday we somehow ended up at the same cafe for lunch that Phil and I ate appeltart in last year. It was a pretty nondescript little place, so I don't know how we managed not only to find it again, but to find it when we weren't even looking! It was as good as I recalled. 

In addition to lunch, I gave a raw herring roll a go. Despite having been to Amsterdam quite a few times before, I had never tried the raw herring. It was quite delicious:


Christmas was in full swing in both London and Belgium, so I had expected it to be much the same here. We did come across a small Christmas market in Rembrandtsplein, but Dam square - the large central square - had nothing. Nada. Zilch. There were some shops around with lovely decorations though, like this chocolate shop with decorations all made of - you guessed it - chocolate!
























The apartment we booked months ago has turned out to be really lovely - we have a fully equipped kitchen, nice deep bath, washing machine, dishwasher - heaven! We're staying south of the city centre in a vibrant neighbourhood with lots of restaurants, bars, cafes etc all around and pretty close to the centre of town.
























The plan for tonight is to head out for a cocktail on the 23rd floor of The Okura - a Japanese hotel about a block away from the apartment, before dinner.

Tomorrow, Phil and I are going to visit Utrecht, the Dutch town where in 2001, I spent a semester on exchange from Monash Uni doing international law. The last time I was there was over ten years ago, so I wonder how much it has changed??



Tuesday 13 December 2011

Blog issues

By the way, you will probably have noticed from the new blog post below that the technical issues with my useless app remain. 

If everyone could collectively wish that they'd debug my old blog app, Blogpress, I'd be very grateful!! 

Monday 12 December 2011

Belgium

We have been in Belgium for the last couple of days... Or Belgique as the French say...

I don't remember so much French being spoken in Belgium when we were here last year, but on this visit, English seems very much in the minority. Good thing I can still remember about ten words of French. Today saw me say "Je voudrais" (I would like - so far so good) "that cheese on the right. Merci beaucoup". Impressive, non?

Our last few days in London were really fun! Lex had taken most of the week off work to hang out and we went... everywhere. Through the brick lane vintage shops, the Christmas market at London Southbank, Canary wharf, shopping on Oxford st, dinner at a great pizzeria in Soho. We packed a lot into a couple of days. 

To remedy a wrong from the last blog post, here is a(n allegedly) more flattering pic of Lex. (for the record, I liked the photo I put in the last post - I thought it was all cute and wistful):

Cute...

On Friday morning, our European travel companions, Nick and Jo arrived after spending a week in Penang. The plan is to travel with Nick and Jo for the next five weeks through Brussels, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Berlin, Nice, Baden-Baden and Munich, with two nights in London to start. 

We planned out and booked most accom and train/ air travel months ago, but had a lot of trouble finding a nice, affordable place to spend two nights in London. But the apartment we ended up with was amazing - we even had two bathrooms and an entrance hall. The apartment ended up being a great base for our further London travels. We all went to Camden to try Windian (Caribbean) food on Friday night - goat curry and jerk chicken - yum! 

Saturday was spent wandering around Southbank, St James Park - where we handfed squirrels (so unbelievably cute) - and to Buckingham palace. I went off to spend the afternoon my sis for our last few hours together, sob. Then we headed to Brixton's O2 Academy for an Ocean Colour Scene gig that Nick and Jo had organised tix for - thanks again guys!

I hadn't listened to Ocean Colour Scene in a long time. I had liked them back in the day - they were never very big in Australia, but they released an album called Moasley Shoals back in the late nineties that was a really great album. What made this gig special, is that they decided to tour that album and that album only. 

The deal was they put on a series of shows where they would play Moasley Shoals, right through, in order. No filler, no "oh this is our latest stuff", no support, basically no mucking around. Brilliant!!!!! 

Okay, true there are no surprises, but how many bands do I wish would tour my favourite album, play it live through once, at a decent venue, with great sound and then take a bow and leave us all feeling all warm and happy??? The crowd loved it. There were a lot of British men in their mid-thirties enthusiastically arm pumping the night away. Which is also nice - I like to be part of an appreciative crowd, rather than the apathetic hipster crowds you sometimes unwittingly find yourself a part of these days. As you can imagine, it was hard to get any good pics from up in the gods, but I tried:















Definitely a night I will remember. Especially after we got back to Angel (a few mins walk from our apartment), we dropped into a pub to use the facilities and by the time Jo and I found Nick and Phil, Nick had managed to win a modest jackpot on the poker machine! All in pound coins too - which filled a beanie and came in handy for the late night kebab on the way home. I think it may be the height of cheek to walk ino a pub, use the bathoom, clean out the poker machine jackpot and leave - but no one seemed to notice.

Here are some random pics of London:

Cute curious goose at St James Park

Jo and Nick On Westminster Bridge

Phil in vintage shop...

Sunday morning, we took the Eurostar for a quick, uneventful trip to Brussels for a two night stay. 

I think Brussels gets a bad rap as a not very exciting city. Phil and I first visited last year and were lucky enough to take over a cancellled booking on short notice at the most beautiful bed and breakfast we've ever stayed in - so relaxing. 



The B&B would have been enough of a draw in itself to return, but the city itself is also lovely. There's a spectacular old city area, which on this trip was lined with Christmas markets and mulled wine stalls. And even the streets away from the touristy centre are lovely to walk around fairly aimlessly. And then there's the beer. Oh my god, the beer!!  For most of this trip, I've been off the booze. I got to a point in Bali where I was caffeine-free, alcohol-free and mostly meat free. But I'm pretty happy to welcome substances back in on the European leg of this trip and when in Belgium, that definitely means the beer. Lovely molassesy dark beers, delicious fruity wheat beers and heart-poundingly strong 9 and 10% beers. So good! And so cheap!!

There are lots of decorative bars/pubs all over the city centre which probably date back more than a century, but last year Phil and I found this little unadorned, very local bar that had a great atmosphere so we dropped by with Jo and Nick for a beer on our first day in Brussels. After ordering some fabulous beers, Jo spotted a strange looking vending machine that held small cans. Is it canned fish??? It can't be canned fish... 

Phil went in for a closer look - it's cans of nuts - hey, that sounds good. So he tried to operate the somewhat complicated mechanism which required that you put a fifty euro cent coin in the slot on the left hand side of the machine and a one euro coin on the other side. Somehow tholocals friendly local put a one euro coin into the fifty euro cent slot, got firmly stuck and high drama ensued. 

The whole bar got involved... watching the action as poor Phil tried to pry the stuck euro coin loose with... a toothpick. A group of guys called out suggestions, and one brave soul with a pocket knife came forward to offer his services. All the while the bartender looked on with a decidedly surly expression. I think we all held our collective breath as the hero pried out the coin with his very sharp knife... I could just see him slipping and hitting a vein... But he managed to pry out the pin without bloodshed and we left the bar with a can of hard won seasoned sunflower seeds... 

Wandering around the city centre, we stumbled on the Brussels Christmas market - stopping to soak up the atmosphere, and the mulled wine. Here more stops for beer and dinner and I was starting to feel all that beer just a little. On the way to dinner, we came across this guy busking with a didgeridoo. 


On our second day, the weather was beautiful, so Phil went for a long run and I walked through a part of the city I hadn't previously seen:







And tonight we've arrived in Amsterdam, where we will spend the next four nights. Canals, art, porn and stroepwaffels. Should be fun!!

Wednesday 7 December 2011

Lahn-don

First up, there is some good news and not so good news. The good news is that I have picked up a replacement iPad -yay!!

The not so good news is that when I loaded the new operating system onto the new iPad, my blogging app which was fabulous and easy to use, choked and died. So I'm now using a completely shitful app which, despite unfathomably positive reviews, is confusing, difficult to use and making me hate it with a fiery passion. So I'm not sure how all this will look once posted (becaus there's no handy preview function). If only half of a photo turns out, I'll try and fix it later... Anyhoo...

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After a couple of days in London, I'm getting used to the cold. So used to it in fact, that I think it's going to be a struggle to get used to the heat in Bali again. We're staying in a small hotel above an Indian restaurant on Brick Lane in inner east London, which is in the next street from my sister's place. 

Her area is a pretty awesome place to stay. 

Last night I thought I heard a disembodied voice wafting up into the window talking about gruesome stabbings... Looking out of the hotel window, I realised there was a whole tour group standing just underneath our window, being led by a guy talking about grizzly murder... I think it was a Jack the Ripper tour - we're only a few steps from Whitechapel rd, where the Ripper murders took place. Cool. No? Okay, maybe a tiny bit creepy. Turns out the spot where the indian restaurant under the hotel sits is the same place where the Ripper's first victim had her last drink - spooky, but awesome, right?

Speaking of my sis, here she is:


During the week, this culturally diverse area is dotted with cafes and bars but dominated by curry houses and vintage stores. (I have eaten waaaayy too much curry, but it's just so damn good!!) 

It feels like a busy thoroughfare for commuters that also caters for local residents with schools, churches and convenience stores. However, on the weekend, the whole street transforms beyond recognition as the markets take over the streets with food stalls, jewellery, antiques, knick knacks, records, t-shirts, knitted Christmas decorations - pretty much everything imaginable. We went on Sunday and I scored some fabulous teapot earrings and a knitted Christmas pudding tree decoration. 


We also had some awesome Ethiopian vegetarian curries for breakfast. Yummo!!

When we arrived on Saturday, neither of us had much in the way of winter clothing, so it was a serious priority to do some shopping. Luckily, we found a great vintage store on Brick Lane which we mined for a jacket, scarf (for me) and hat (which Phil has claimed - see pic below) and a pair of boots. 

Phil decided not to bring any pants on this trip and didn't find any at the vintage store, so he's been rocking a pair of salmon pink surfie shorts.
The shorts are not warm, but it is a great conversation starter... Thanks to the shorts, we met a lovely Arabic photography artist (artist not terrorist is his tagline) at the market who was also wearing shorts (albeit long ones with thermals). He had the kind of luxuriant beard that Phil dreams of growing... I loved this series of photographs of his notebooks:


There is also some amazing street art:


There was a book signing featuring the uber cool, Jarvis Cocker a few hundred metres up from our place on Monday night, but unsurprisingly, it was all sold out. We went along anyway, but sadly no glimpse. Fortunately there are bars and pubs galore in which to drown all sorrows. 

Today was a big east London day. Philip, my sis and I took a trip to my dad's childhood neighbourhood, Bethnal Green as a memorial - to look at his old haunts... And to try the infamous pie and mash with liquor that he used to talk about - which is a meat pie, served with mashed potatoes and a translucent gravy made out of green parsley. I'd like to say that it was delish, but it wasn't. Sort of tasted like nothing much and went down about as well as if you'd swallowed a brick! It feels oddly disrespectful to say this, but ugh!

We considered trying the famed jellied eels at the (apparently) famous Tubby Isaacs:


But after a close look at the jellied eels, we decided to give them a miss... just couldn't do it. 

It was surreal going to the place where my dad grew up. The area where we're staying is also in east London, but it's pretty gentrified. A few minutes further east on the bus and it's a different story. Its obviously more impoverished than the area we're in, but there was also a different culture - sort of both more open and sociable and more menacing at the same time. 

We passed a supermarket that had employed Christmas carollers outside the front doors, presumably to bring cheer to the shoppers. As we walked past, I heard a middle aged woman leaving the supermarket snarl, "how about you just give me a pint of what you're on" to the cheery singers. Yikes! I guess too much enthusiasm is suspect in Bethnal Green. 

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We have done some touristy things - yesterday we went to the Tower of London, which was fun!

Tomorrow, the Christmas markets in Southbank. 





Sunday 4 December 2011

Strong language warning

The scene: Terminal 1, Changi Airport, Singapore.

The situation: Six and a half hours to kill until midnight flight to London. Already flown from Denpasar that morning - on Air Asia which I booked before the pact never to fly them again.

Passport? Check
Credit cards? Check
Luggage? Check
Travel companion? Check
Trusty iPad for amusement purposes? Ahhh, no.

Cos on Thursday afternoon, I left my iPad in the back of a motherfu&@ing taxi!!!! Goodbye iPad, my friend. Sadly, all those hours Phil spent downloading 2 seasons of Community at the woefully slow "high speed" Internet cafe in Bali - gone. All my emails (still being pushed to the iPad) no longer so private. And most irritating for you, my dear readers, several incompleted saved blog posts as well as countless other notes, info etc.  

The disappearance of the notes is, without question, the most irritating part. I'd been keeping a journal of sorts every day on this trip, so I could look back and remember not only the highlights of the trip, but just the stuff we did day to day. All gone. Three months worth. Phil had been urging me to put the notes in a program that backed them up online, but I didn't know how to use the program, so... I didn't. And now I'm feeling like an idiot...

How did it happen you ask?? In our last week in Bali I've been frantically trying to redecorate the Bali apartment because after the earthquake earlier this ear, it needed patching and a new paint job. But the new white walls left it looking a little prison-cell bereft of colour. So, a few days of shopping later and I'd bought cushions, curtains, table runners, furniture, plants, decorative stuff that eludes sensible description. And all that was left was to pick 2 paintings for the walls and the job would be done. If you've been to Bali, you would know that it fancies itself an artistic island and there is a roaring trade in paintings. They're sold on the beach, on villages, in art markets, in street stalls, in galleries - you can take your pick. 

Unfortunately many, well, most paintings are ugly, ugly, ugly. Ugly. Really ugly. And the ones that aren't start at $900 each. Which is undoubtedly great value for nice work. But I'm not looking to start a collection, just fill some wall space, so after looking for days at a bunch of ugly paintings, I was thrilled to find a couple of nice paintings at reasonable prices at a gallery a few kms away from the apartment on our last full day in Bali. I went in and chose the paintings. Easy. Paid for the paintings. Easy. Arranged for the paintings to be delivered. Not so easy - no delivery service! In a place where you generally can get anything delivered. 

Okay, maybe they'll fit in a taxi?? So I take these two huge and heavy paintings out into the street. It's 36 degrees. And after flagging down a taxi and trying several creative angles, I confirm that they do not fit in the taxi. A local guy who watched the whole taxi saga comes up and tells me I need a motorbike... And he has one! He brings his motorbike over and tells me to sit on the back, holding the paintings in front of me, and he'll drive me home. I even briefly got on the back to give it a try but with the paintings in hand, there were no hands left to hold on!! I could just see me falling off the back, head all caved in like a watermelon. So I asked him if he had a friend who could help out... He didn't, but the seed of the plan had been planted... 

Fifteen hot and sweaty minutes later, I'd found two guys with a motorbike who had agreed to ride the paintings back. Of course there was a small hitch - they didn't know where the apartments where. So I suggest taking a taxi back that the motorbike can follow. Excellent, a plan that might work! Plus, air conditioning in the taxi - thank god!!

The traffic in Bali is pretty awful at the best of times, and (I'm pretty sure I wasn't imagining it) this was the worst traffic I've ever seen. The trip which usually takes ten minutes took over thirty and I spent the whole trip watching the poor guys weaving through traffic, holding the two paintings from the back window. When the taxi finally pulled up at the apartment, I literally leapt out of the back of the taxi to relieve the guys of the paintings, paid them double what we'd agreed, put the paintings against a wall, rushed back to pay the waiting taxi driver through the front passenger side window and let him drive away. With the motherfu&@$ng iPad in the back. 

Aaaaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhhhh... Fuuuuuuuccccckkkkkk!!!

It took me ten minutes to realise what had happened and once it did... Well, I could repeat the whole tirade that followed, but it would just be six straight lines of non-sequitur swearing. I'm sure you can imagine it for yourself.  

On the upside, the new paintings look great...




Saturday 3 December 2011

London

We have arrived in London to a glorious 11 degrees and cloudy. And I'm actually loving it!!

Some technical hitches are frustrating proper blogging at the moment, so more to come!

Stay tuned