Oh, Italy, how glorious you are, Italy. I just spent a wonderful weekend in Tuscany, at a beautiful guesthouse, Fattoria Bassetto in a little village called Certaldo. I went to San Gimignano on my way from Rome to Certaldo, a town famous for its medieval towers and for its hordes of tourists. Well, it's not meant to be famous for them, but it's got PLANELOADS of them. San Gimignano is indeed a beautiful village - Italians appear to have a knack for doing beautiful villages - but it's so heavily touristed (yes, I was one of them), and there were so [View Full Entry]

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Oh my giddy aunt! But WHAT IS THEIR PROBLEM?! PLEASE GIVE ME A PARISIAN! Oh for some of that ole Parisian friendliness… Honestly, these Romans can be sooooooo rude. I had some hardcore rudeness in Milan too, and I remember that when I travelled around Italy when I 20, I found rude people all over the place (back then my refrain was “Italy, beautiful country… shame about all the Italians”). So I’m not saying that Romans have got a monopoly on rudeness in Italy, oh no, just that I need to exclude my Calabrian friend and Puglian friend from this rudeness [View Full Entry]

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I’ve now been in Rome two weeks and there is a lot to love about this city. The historical centre (il centro storico) is beautiful, and full of Roman ruins (and in what other way could we like our Romans?!... oops, that sort of comment is for Part II), which is seriously cool. It’s awesome, in the literal sense of the word, to be wandering around town amongst old theatres, forums, lion pits (no I don’t really like the lion pits) etc. which were built thousands (THOUSANDS!) of years ago. Today I went to the Capitoline Museums which are fantastic (statues, [View Full Entry]

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PHOTOS AND FRENCH VERSION TO FOLLOW SOON / DES PHOTOS ET VERSION FRANCAISE A SUIVRE PROCHAINMENT... Ciao ragazzi e ragazze di Milano! It's fashion week darlings, in Milano, or it is next week? non lo so, but already this week the fashionistas are throwing parties (Armani!) and visiting their stores (Dolce! or was it Gabbana? non lo so again but it was fabulous, darling, fabulous), and George, Robbi and Nina are mooching through Via Monpeleone, checking it out, and looking gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous, except for the oil and cheese I dripped all down the front on my t-shirt from the deep-fr [View Full Entry]

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PHOTOS AND FRENCH VERSION TO FOLLOW SOON... Lyon, situated on two rivers (the Saune and the Rhone/Rhine), with a charming old quarter recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, site of the Basilica with its amazing murals, home to the famous Jacquard silk, and also the residence of STEF, my friend Stef from Belgium (as she is constantly reminded by all the Frogs who are hopelessly provincial and mock her charming accent and her relentlessly cool Belgian slang). I visited Stef for about four days, first stopping at a party in the Alps, like you do, thrown by her friends. [View Full Entry]

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PHOTOS AND FRENCH VERSION TO FOLLOW SOON / DES PHOTOS ET VERSION FRANCAIS A SUIVRE BIENTOT... As everyone knows from my first post about Paris, I adore Paris. I spent a wonderful 5 days in Paris, again with my great friend Lily, who has a gorgeous apartment which she's decorated impeccably, and who is a fantastic cook, and a supremely interesting, intelligent and fun person. I walked an awful lot, which is my absolute favourite thing to do in Paris (with drinking a glass of wine on a sunny terrace coming a close second), through the sex districts of the 9th [View Full Entry]

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J’ai passé neuf jours à Liège, ma chère Liège, où j’ai vecu quand j’avais 17 ans. L’année passée, je suis retournée à Liège, directe de Bangkok, et Liège m’a aparute une ville belle, très charmante, les petites ruelles, mignones maisons, des parcs au centre très agréables, et un centre historique renouvellé et beau. Mais il faut dire que Liège n’est pas si belle quand on vient de Paris, la plus belle ville de monde. Mais, quand meme, Liège est une petite ville charmante. C’est drole, mais je ne suis jamais rende compte comment elle est petite quand j&r [View Full Entry]

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Dear all, Here begin the diaries of Nina in my state as willfully unemployed. Unfortunately I'm not yet bludging off the state, (though I'll be sure to grab a dole form from Centrelink as soon as I get home), but am gallivanting through Europe. For those who don't know, I finished work in Thailand August 25 and left dear Thailand on September 5 for the surprisingly sunny shores of Europe. I've already spent a day in London and a couple of days in Paris, and am now in Liege, Belgium. I'm in Liege another week, before a triumphant return to the [View Full Entry]

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Well, I have no little town blues, coming from the Big Smoke of Bangkok, but nevertheless, I went to New York for two weeks in April. New York is a big city of concrete. When I used the adjectives “big” and “concrete” (though “concrete”, in the sense of stuff what you use for pavements, is traditionally not an adjective), to describe it to my little brother, he rightfully pointed out that this was not a very illuminating or sufficient description. Like the boy who pointed out the emperor was wearing no clothes. Anyway, so, all the green is there in very [View Full Entry]

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Comme j’ai écrit dans le blog passé (en anglais), mon organisation a payé un voyage de recherche pour moi et cinq collègues en Europe. Quelle joie ! Nous allons passer trois jours à Kiev, en Ukraine, et puis trois de nous six allons à Rome pour quatre jours, et le reste vont à Londres. Nous allons rencontrer des des organisations qui travaillent aussi sur la traite des êtres humains. Alors, j’exploite cette opportunité pour prendre congé et rendre visite à mes chers amis et familles à Liège et à Londres. Et pour mes chers amis belges, j’écris aussi en français. S’il [View Full Entry]

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