Plans have changed. My grandfather passed away today. Have gone to Romania. Not sure when my trip will resume. Mum's flying over. Isn't it ironic how reunions always happen under the worst of circumstances... Take care everyone- of each other. Love Deni. [View Full Entry]

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If you happened to be watching Italian MTv today at about 3pm, you would have seen yours truly in the background, tactfully avoiding the hosts running around with a mike, interviewing people by hiding behind a bush! Hehehe. So really, I guess you would have only seen the bush...hmm... ;p Anyways. It's hard to imagine that just two short months ago this city was playing host to the Winter Olympics. Where has all the snow gone??? Yes, I'm well aware that it is now spring, but still. Although remnants and reminders of the games are everywhere. Flags with the games motto [View Full Entry]

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It is always amusing when one goes travelling, and comes across signs in different languages that have a completely different (and often rude) meaning in your own language, or badly translated ones. Unfortunately, there has been a distinct lack of amusing signs thus far in my travels... Unless you count the one saying "have a nice trip" half-way down the 300 odd stairs I climbed up to a temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Or the ones forbidding public displays of affection, posted all around Thailand- yes, apparently you are not allowed to be 'loving' towards your partner in a public place. [View Full Entry]

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Ah, the mating ritual of an Italian male. What a beautiful thing. (Note the sarcasm) It goes something like this: Boy sees girl. Boy walks next to girl. Boy asks to speak to girl to 'practice his English'. Girl starts walking the other way. Boy nonetheless follows girl. Boy continues to hassle girl despite being ignored. Boy tries to hold girl's hand. Girl tells him she's not interested. And drops hints to make him PISS OFF (without actually saying it directly, cos unfortunately for her, shes too polite)!! Boy persists. And persists. And persists!! Until he gets the hint (well, sort [View Full Entry]

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Haha. What a pun(ny) title. Aren't I clever?! ;p Ok, not really...that was pretty lame. But it's true- Venice is one giant maze. Makes me feel a lot like one of those poor rats running through Skinner's box (sorry, psych reference there- yikes, getting lamer by the minute, hey!)...although I didn't receive an electric shock every time I fucked up and got lost. Lucky really, else I'd be KFD (Kentucky Fried Denisa) by now! Anyways. I fell in LOVE with Venezia! Really, I did. No particular reason. After all, it's just a bunch of bridges, little narrow streets, and water. Dirty, [View Full Entry]

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So you like pizza, right? You may even LOVE pizza. I know I sure do...or rather, did. But seriously, give it two weeks, where the cheapest (and pretty much ONLY) option for any meal involved refined, white carbs, and you will get sick of it too. Here, it's an overkill. Walk down any street, and you will see a minimum of 5 pizzerias, 3 gelaterias, 4 pastarias (ok, so I think I just made that up- they're not really called 'pastarias', but hey, whatever!). Let's review the options shall we? Ok, you have pizza and pasta. Obviously. But also a variety [View Full Entry]

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Picture this. A teeny tiny town on the coast. Population of 500 or so. One hostel. And who do I run into? A bloke I knew in high school! Small world or what??!! Ah, Cinque Terre. One word- postcard. Seriously. What you see in the pictures is exactly what you get, and ten times better in real life. It's unbelievably beautiful. And the weather I had whilst there was to die for. Perfect for the 12km hike from one town to the other, which got progressively harder between one town to the next, and left my calves feeling mighty sore the [View Full Entry]

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Yes, those were the exact words that escaped my lips as I set eyes on David's arse. That is, the famous Michelangelo statue of David (sorry Dave! Your arse is very nice too though, hehe!!). Well, a replica of it at least. (Who would seriously pay over 10 euros to see the original, when there is a to-scale copy in the centre of Firenze? Clearly, I didn't). Firenze, aka Florence for all you English-speaking folk, was actually abit of a disappointment to me. After all the hype I'd heard about it, which went something like "OOOOHHH, I LOOOOOVEED Florence!!", to be [View Full Entry]

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From Roma, down south to the west-coast town of Napoli. Decided to take my chances, and call the Napolese man (Pasquale) I met on the plane from Bangkok- and boy did I hit the jackpot! Was put up in a hotel room for the two nights I was there, wined and dined (yes, I too was wondering what exactly he expected in return...luckily for me he was just a nice, generous guy...I think...), and driven around all day. Bloody sweeeeeet as!! ;) Now, the only reason I was interested in going south, which is a total detour from anyplace else I [View Full Entry]

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Ha ha! Ha hahahaha! Gimme a sec to get it all out of my system....hahahaha!!! :) Ok, I'm done now. Sorry bout that, but the notion of Italians actually FOLLOWING road rules is highly laughable. Truly. Ha ha. Ok, really, I'm done. Let me explain... Driving along in Pasquale's car, holding on for dear life and watching my knuckles turn a pasty white (which was undoubtedly the colour of my face before it turned blue as we were approaching the top of Vesuvius), I learnt the following about Italian road rule, or, rather, lack of them. Sticking to your lane? --> [View Full Entry]

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