MsNina
Nina Joined: February 22nd 2005
Logged in: August 30th 2011
Logged in: August 30th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
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 few Italian residents there, that it didn't feel like it had much of a soul. It did, however, have 17 towers, a church with frescoes by someone (will look it up later), and a spectacular ... read more
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 stereotype. (Actually, I believe my boss is Roman and she’s one of the loveliest women I’ve ever met.) And museum staff seem to take a particular pride in being unsmiling, refusing to accept an Australian ... read more
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, paintings), I highly recommend them, I spent SIX hours there. Get this: a large portion of the collection is largely made up of bits and pieces wot people found during archeological digs around Rome of ... read more
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-fried bread stuffed with cheese I ate (delicious!)... I slank (slunked?) off home to change and met George and Robbi and their posse of Italians and Italo-Australians for Lombardi food (Milano is in the Lombardy region) ... read more
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. I met a Frenchman there who likes feminists - yes, a Frenchy who not only isn't sleazy but actually likes femos! It's crazy. Actually, pretty much everyone at the party was lovely, very friendly (don't ... read more
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 arrondissement (I'm always working), around the Louvre, along the Seine. My awesome friend Vanessa, from Melbourne, happened to be in Paris at the same time, so we spent a day together, walking and walking (from ... read more
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’étais la comme étudiante d’échange - il y avait tant de choses nouvelles et interressantes, beaucoup à découvrir et beaucoup de gens à rencontrer Mais, en effet, Liège est un petite ville. Les magasins ferment entre 17:00 et 18:00 ... read more
View from Lily's window
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 gai Paris (to my friend's apartment with a view of Sacre Coeur!), and then I sidle down to Roma, via the slopes of Grenoble/Lyons (a Belgian friend lives there) and the catwalks of Milano (where ... read more
Natural History Museum - stuffed dead tiger
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 specific, defined spaces - contained in small parks throughout the city, or trees set out in those square holes in the sidewalk, some planters with tulips and daffodils around. There's no grass nature strips, and ... read more
Le Palais de Justice
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 y a des erreurs, n’hesitez pas de me le dire - après tous, si je veux venir travailler en Belgique un jour, il va falloir que j’écris avec plus de façilité que j’en ai maintenant ... read more
