Arrived in Nice after a very long train ride from Cinque Terre and it couldn't be further from Italy. The first thing that strikes me is the number fo Asian food joints. Excellent. We are so so keen to have something other than Italian food (dont get me wrong I love it but my body isnt used to all that pasta). So my first meal in France is actually chinese. Hmmm... At night we head to a funky little bar called "bar". Love it, easy to remember. There is some thing about glow stick bracelets here. Scary but I accept one [View Full Entry]

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Siena is about an hour and a half by bus from Florence. A small medieval town with an interesting history. We got lost here. There are so many winding little alleys and streets lined with little beautiful shops (I bought spectacularly unique jewellery here) that we had no idea where we were by the end of the afternoon. I'm sure the vino rosso over lunch didnt help. If you ever come here, the one thing I would suggest definitely visiting is not necessarily the duomo or the campo but a restaurant called "Pappei". Recommended by our new Polish friends, this restaurant [View Full Entry]

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Buttons. We take them for granted but where do they come from? A question that I had never thought to ask yet was answered for me during my visit to Galleria de Costume. This place is a must for fashion lovers or at least lovers of the history of fashion. In addition to some very funky Chanel necklaces (which I just wanted to run away with), there was an exhibition describing the history of the simple button with 2900 examples. Bonafide button expert now. As it turns out the button is not so simple. Buttons were originally a pure male thing. [View Full Entry]

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Quite simply this place is a slice of heaven... Situated on the hills overlooking Florence, the aristocrats used to live here and you can see why. Carefully manicured gardens filled with flowers, secret paths and the view from here appears as though florence and the tuscan hills are a watercolour painting on a canvas. It starts raining while we were wandering through so we stopped off at a vernadah cafe (cafe belvedere) and soaked up the atmosphere over cappucino and panini. I remember how much I love nature. If I could have a second home, it just might be here... [View Full Entry]

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Today I discovered more things about Florence: 1. Staying in a renaissance apartment does not guarantee you the peace and quiet of 400 years ago. I wake up staring at the beautiful fresco on our bedroom ceiling wondering who needs to make that much noise at 6am. 2. If you want a really cheap, like mega cheap lunch go to the local supermarket. Each supermarket has a deli type counter where you can choose the bread and ingredients to make your very own take away sandwich. Total cost = 2 euro. Beer or Birra is also extremely cheap. You can get [View Full Entry]

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Rome - a big city with an even bigger history and the ruins to prove it. Walking through this city it feels like the focus of life has shifted from budiling the worlds most powerful empire to the maintaining the worlds most prolific tourst industry. Day 1 in Rome - we decided to get up bright and early to visit the colloseum. Arrived at 8am. The colloseum needs its sleep and is not yet open, but we are greeted by many tourist operators setting up their vans of souveniers, postcards and of course, gelato. We are unexpectedly hijacked by a man [View Full Entry]

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I knew I would love Florence. Not just because I had heard good things either. Before setting foot on the ground, I had this vision in my mind of what I would love about Italy. Florence definitely has "it". The maze of cobble stoned streets, the endless piazzas, the merging of old with new.. Before I went on this piccolo (small) adventure I thought long and hard about what I hoped to find on this trip. I decided that my one guiding principle would be to be simply open to the experience. Embrace the culture, seize te day and experience life [View Full Entry]

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I love this place. LOVE it! After a mere 24 hours I am craving my next visit and have already started to plan my return. The people here have to be some of the friendliest I have ever met. Not only was this my first time in Japan but it was my first time experiencing an earthquake (three in one night). Imagine waking up very drunk with the room spinning. Thats what it felt like. The first earthquake woke me up straight away - my thoughts "man how much have I had to drink?!?" I really enjoyed the Kirin but not [View Full Entry]

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