Adv 17. God Bless Florence

WOW! Florence is the most beautiful city in Italy
It was really really cool, even though the weather was a little drizzly, and it bucketed down at night, and the thunder and lightning bashed and crashed while we had to sleep in a tent at the Michelangleo Camping Ground. above: the river Arno. top, with the moody clouds. bottom, looking at the most famous bridge over the Arno.

April 26 - after catching a train from Venice, we jumped on a bus to get to our camping ground. i think the bus took us a really long way around the city, which was cool to see but also a bain cos it took forever. it made me smile to see the traffic conditions, typical Italians with no road rules and there are like 5 lanes around the roundabouts and mopeds trying to weave in between all the cars, in other words TOTAL CHAOS!!
and then we drove through a scenic route, a stunning contrast to the hectic city

April 27 and 28 - Simone and I spent these two days just walking around the city, getting a feel for the place, shopping, avoiding the african men trying to sell us fake stuff, trying to find some bargains in the markets, sitting in parks and eating bread and cheese, sitting in cafes and drinking coffee. sitting at the bar in the camping ground and talking to some other travellers. eating gelato, and looking out over the city from Michelangelo piazza. we did a lot of walking!!! walked the scenic route that the bus took, was really beautiful.
We climbed the stairs of the duomo in the city centre, and we could see the whole city laid out 360deg. it was really spectacular.
below is simone and I happy to be in italy overlooking florence from the top of the cathedral :)
and i am pointing to our camp ground,
















April 29 - heres where Simone left me to go back to Holland, and i spent the day doing 'stuff'
walked around a bit, managed to sun bath for about an hour, did some reading etc etc. in the evening i sat with some NZ girls, who it actually turned out went to the same high school as i, was good times, reminescing about the old days, and teacheres who have been teaching there far too long, and singing the school song :) (well what we could remember of it)

Adv 16. Venice: the city of canals

Venice is fantastic!!! It is made of 150 islands connected by 400 bridges. there are no roads for the cars to drive, everything is by foot or boat. This place has such great character. we werent there very long, didnt really need to be it was a very small city, but it was cool!!! and it wasnt even festival time, which i imagine would be so insanely cool, i must go back there one day when it is on.

April 24 - After spending the arvo in Pisa we missioned on a train to the mainland part of Venice. well we actually seriously considered renting a car and driving around italy when we first arrived in pisa , which would have so so cool, but in the end we opted for the train becuase money is tight being a student trying to live on new zealand dollars in the countries with the euro.
Oh i hate trains!! especially so late at night, we'd been travelling all day...
we missed the last bus to the camping ground, and had to fork out mega bucks for a taxi...

but we made it safe and sound, praise God!
April 25 - in the morning the sun was shining and the camping ground was beautiful!

we caught a ferry over to Venice, and spent the day shopping and walking around the market stalls, and eating gelato and watching the street performers (which were amazing, like two guys playing a concert on glasses of water! bloody brilliant and they had their own album!) i dragged Simone into the Doge's Palace, cos i wanted to learn at least something about Venician history. and we caught a water taxi right around the outside of the city and down the grande canal. then as we were trying to navigate our way through the insanely narrow paths with a really small map back to the ferry terminal we totally got lost and ended up in the opposite place, on the other side of the city. but it was ok becuase Venice is really not that big so it didnt take us long to walk across.

April 26 - we were booked to stay another night at the camping ground but after the old Italian man at reception told us the night before that the other island we were planning to go, which was a beach and we wanted to lie on it all day, was not that good this time of year, and then the weather wasnt very good either we decided to get out of venice and head to Florence.

Adv 15. a quick peek at the leaning tower

April 24 - this day marked the first day of spring break, which i decided to take an extra week off for, because one must do these things and make the most of it when one is one the other side of the world.
Simone and I flew into Pisa, Italy.

Italy is the place on earth that i would call my 'dream' country. The place that i would most like to visit, i guess becuase of movies and literature that has romanticised this place for me, and becuase of the creative culture they have so rich in the arts. So it was a must that i explore as much as i could.
It is much the same as Europeans having New Zealand as their 'dream' country, especially the Germans and the Italians. i think that it is so far away makes it a dream country becuase the majority would never be able to get there, and the film industry has made our country into something really exotic.

anyways we flew to Pisa on the East Coast of Italy, and the weather was great! beautiful sunny day, just the way Italy should be in the spring :) made me very happy.

And Simone and I went to visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa, as you do when you are in Pisa.

ok so this photo is not so good, cos it actually looks like we are leaning as well.... which i think we probably are, and so it just looks like i didnt take the photo straight, which i actually did

but notice the singlets!!! first time in three months we have singlet weather. so we lay in the sun for a while :)

Adv. 14 Happy Easter

well for the last whole week, ive been frantically making and making. im trying to construct a large scale model of the cathedral structure ive been working on. im making it out of wire and plastic sheets and string, it has been long and tedious, but i think it has potential. for pics and further explanation see my online workbook www.rosyponders.blogspot.com
so that explains the lack of adventures in my life of late, ive been becoming very aware of the lack of time i have left to produce some quality work and plans for next semester so its been head down for a brief while, not too mention utrecht isnt exactly the most happening place, and im taking an extra week off with spring break to do some travelling around this wonderful world of europe :)


But its just been Easter weekend. And not too shabby either, the sun has managed to govern the sky the majority of the time. and simone and I went on a little adventure to Amsterdam.

Saturday 15th April
After a slowish start to the morning, we made it onto a train at 10.30am or there abouts.
a very sleepy trip to Amsterdam... wake up!! wake up!!
first stop was a quick peek at the Stedelijk Museum, an art gallery of contemporary art, they had an exhibition of video gaming art and Shirin Neshat videos among others. I found the Neshat videos really interesting if not a little wierd. they were commenting on Iranian Muslim society. but i like wierd things.

We met Simones friend Karen from NZ, who's living in London and in Amsterdam for the weekend and her British friend Penny. we stood in a 'short' line that wasnt moving very fast to get tickets to the Anne Frank House at the info centre, in order to avoid the much longer line that went around the block from the house itself.
These two girls were cool (from left: penny, karen, simone, rosy), it was awesome to meet them, we spent the arvo wandering along the canals looking for some of the crazy sites like the skiniest house, the most crooked cafe and the cat boat, we had lunch, we ended up at the flower market, we had coffee. it was pleasant, though not at the time of this photo so there's blue sky thanks to photoshop.
We made it to the Anne Frank House, very interesting, but very crowded and a little compact.

After that Simone and I jumped on a few trams and the metro to get to her brothers friends house, Eavan a girl from Ireland who said we could crash at ther house for the night, she was also very cool. she made us dinner and we rushed out again to make it to the theatre in time.

Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett
a very interesting production, one of the kind where you either love it or hate it.
I thought it was fantastic, a very realistic portrayal of the human condition, but written with a very abstract plot. So kind of wierd, which is what i love :) Simone and I found it hilariously amusing, and seemed to be the only ones who did at some points. Honestly. we couldnt stop ourselves from laughing, and endured some strange looks, but it was really really funny. it was the dialogue and the facial expressions that made it, some very brilliant acting.
"...concurrently simultaneously what is more for reasons unknown but time will tell..."
they've made it into a movie i think, samuel beckett is quite a famous playwright and he's produced a bunch of other weird plays as well. i'd never heard of him before we watched a doco on him last year for school. it was great to be able to see one of them.

there were a group of Irish people at Eavan's apartment when we got back, on holiday for the easter weekend. Amsterdam seems to be the place to go... they were cool too, of the 'artistic' brand of people, was intersting listening to them talk about art and culture.

In the morning we went to church. It was a really lovely day for it, which really helped to overcome the tiredness. we met Karen and Penny on the tram, and made it just a little bit late, though of course there is always time to grab a coffee, much to Penny's dismay ;) who is British and must always be on time. A very good service too i thought.

mmm another sleepy train ride back home again and a lovely strodal (cross between stroll and pedal) home in the sun.

look where i had to get my bike out of at the station!!! what a mish, stuck in the middle, it wasnt how i left it...lovely Easter.
Christ has Risen!!!
He has Risen indeed!!

- the first sign of spring

a daffodil!!!!
it is growing outside our kitchen window