Finally left Perugia

So, I've just arrived at the camping grounds we're staying at outside of the Cinque Terre.

The last 24 hours have been spent on trains and, more often, in train stations. The 4 hour wait (from 12:30 to 4:30 am) was the most painful, but fortunately I was drunk, so that dulled the pain a little.

We've rejoined with Andrea, and we're going on a walk through the five towns tomorrow. Hopfully, they're as beautiful as they're fabled to be.

Finally leaving Perugia

So, the chocolate factory was a bust. We spent two hours getting there, missed our stop (but luckily the next one wasn't very far), and then we found out that you have to book the tour, and that the last one for the day had JUST left. If only we hadn't missed the stop. We did get a couple of free samples, though.
Also, I discovered this in the parking lot:



I think it's some kind of porno magazine.






It was quickly explained by this sign:
Clearly, the whole area has been corrupted, and you shouldn't eat chocolate from the Perugia Nestle factory, because it will make you blind.


On Wednesday Kalan, Laura and I went to Assisi, which was beautiful. At the Basilica, where you'll find St Francis's tomb, there were over 50 pictures hung in the Piazza, with titles like Witchcraft, Power, Imperialism, Contraception, Women's Sufferage... They're so cool, I had to get a picture of all of them.


We also waited to get into the church that has St Clare's tomb. When the doors opened, we found it wasn't as massive and impressive at the Basilica, and quickly got down to the tomb. It was at that point, though, that a choir started singing these fantastic hymns. It was quite a moment when that sound started filtering down through the stone floor to resonate around the room.

We all ate gelato... the end.

Off to Cinque Terre... after we spend all night in trains and train stations =(

Perugia still

I'm in Perugia still (well, actually, the hostel is in Torricella), and today we're going to the chocolate factory for FREE SAMPLES! WOO!

We went into town the other day to check out some of the jazz, and Meghan suggested we go see the aquaduct. It should have been easy to find, as it's supposed to be in Piazza Acqueducto, but we had to ask directions multiple times. One store owner told us to go back to the stairs we walked past and descend them, and gestured the the stairs would continue down where another path would go up. Go up, he said. So we got to that bit, and went up. It was cul de sac footpath. So we turned back and wondered where the fuck you can hide a fucking aqueduct. It was around this time I notice a small plaque next to the path with the word "Acqueducto" inscribed, along with a lot of other gibberish.
So there it is, the only remaining 500m of the aquaduct.

We caught some Jazz and then headed to the station to catch the last train home, without bothering to buy a ticket. It was just a few stops.
It was actually kinda lucky that the inspectors came, because the didn't fine us (you gotta perfect your Confused Idiot Tourist look), but that did tell us that, despite the fact that we could have bought a ticket to Torricella station if we had wanted to, the train was not going to stop there, and that we would have to get off at Magione.
So there we were, stranded in Magione, a bitch of a walk from our hostel. Luckily, Meghan got on the phone and was able to scam us a lift home from an employee of another hostel entirely.
While we were waiting, Kalan and Steph set about building us a hostel that we could stay at if we were stranded, and that would even make us money: just 10m from the station, breakfast included (we'd give them a cigarette) and a playground (broken swing) for the kids.
It would be built from chairs and called Hotel Fortress.

Here's Kalan trying to convice us that it's still good after a light breeze caused a little structural damage.


Tragically, Meghan left for Florence the next day, so the collective Italian speaking skills of our party has gone down by about 90%. Let's see how we do getting home from the Choclate factory today.

Perugia

We came to Perugia a couple of days ago and are staying in a hostel that's way too far out of the city, but other than that it's fantastic. The guy who runs it, Giacamo, is far too generous... until last night I hadn't payed for a single meal, had I've had quite a few free beers too. Jacamo seems to just want people to come live at this place with him for a while and have a great time, instead of wanting to run a business. He give people lifts all the time, and is just the friendliest guy ever.

All the people here are eerily friendly, though. When we asked at the bus station information booth what we should, the guy came to tell our bus driver where we were going and to tell us where to get off. Then, when we had to change bus, that driver got out and explained the same thing to the other driver. It's a good thing, too, cos I don't think we could possibly have figured it out without their help. Though, we could have just called the hostel and Jacamo would have insisted he come pick us up.

There's a jazz festival on here at the moment (tonight's the last night), with lots of great people playing. Unfortunately we got here right at the end of it, and I missed Brad Mehldau, but I did manage to get up on the drums and jam with some guys at a club. That was great fun.

We've been hanging out with Meghan from Chicago, who's come to Italy for six weeks to learn the language as part of her college course. She and I get along great, and we spent hours yesterday talking about religion and movies and shit.

Meghan and Laura, while we're playing drinking games.

Florence

Well, I've met up with Kalan, Steph, Laura and Andrea, and I'm staying in a tent at a backpacker camping ground thingin Florence.
It's so fucking hot here, but I've gotten used to it pretty quickly.

I know it's pretty early, and I haven't seen Prague yet, but Florence is a serious contented for the most beautiful city in the world.
I saw that big cathedral over there, and went into that gallery over there.... I'll try to rememeber to come fill in those names later.

We've been drinking with Phil the Brit, Roland the 17 year old Dutchman and his mate Daniel the Braizilan, and having a great time. Roland was very impress that I had Brad Mehldau on my iRiver.

Well, internet is hella expensive here, so I'll try to do more comprehensive updates later, including pictures.

Miss you all.

UPDATE:
Oh yeah, and we went to Pisa. There is, of course, only one thing to do in Pisa...

Rome

In Rome now, at an internet cafe stinking to high hell cos I haven't showered since I left. My room should be ready now, so I'm pretty anxious to get there.
Get some sleep, too. It's nearly impossible to sleep on an 12 hour economy flight. Well, for me, anyway, but I've always been a picky sleeper.

I got on the wrong train from the airport, so I was lost for many hours. The locals weren't very helpful... they all speak some strange language here.

It may just be because I've gone from winter to summer, and therefore winter-clothed women to summer-clothed women, but I'm pretty sure that all the women here are stunning.
I mean, you can't swing a knife without murdering some bodaciously bootylicious babe.
Speaking of which, I think I hear police sirens. Better go. Tomorrow: Florence! And hopefully some pictures.
a picture that someone had stuck to a road sign (which someone had stuck to a post)

Singapore Airport

So, here I am in Singapore airport.

I couldn't find any Stuyvies in the duty free shops, so I've got 200 Kent charcol-filters (8s). I bought my 5mp digi cam with movie recording and a 1gb memory card in Melbourne. There are photos of me looking very bored in my seat on the plane, waiting for the engineers to re-align the probability matrix (i presume that was the problem).

As proof that having no idea what you're doing is a great idea in my situation, I was pleasantly surprised that my stop here is only 2 hours, and not 7 hours as I had thought. Woo!

Singapore Idol looks exactly like Australian Idol.

A very special thankyou to Pintadoguy for setting up my blog.