Hey everyone!
I've been pretty much cut off from the world for the past few weeks, but I must admit that might have been a good thing. It has certainly been a very fruitful period for study - in 2 weeks I've managed to collect and interpret almost all the available concrete data I needed, and after days of locking myself in a dark room with only my computer for company, playing with thousands of numbers and excel spreadsheets, I have managed to end up with some pretty pictures and graphs which appear to represent the entire southern 10km of the TIber River Delta in a 2D profile! I may have been staying in the middle of nowhere with people I'd never met before, with no firends anywhere nearby nor any chance of meeting any, but my hosts have been absolutely adorable, making me feel so at home, and besides Civitanova and all my "family" and friends there are only a few hours away.
For now I am thankfully blessed with full wireless access for the entire week, thanks to the Hotel Dory in Riccione. Mum and Dad flew in very early thismorning, and the entire journey from Sydney to here via Rome has gone without a single hiccup... except that mum appears to have left her beautiful brand new camera at the changeover station and is really devastated. I am bewildered that I was unable to get a hold of a single person that worked for the whole Italian rail network ANYWHERE in Italy in any department, to see if it had been handed in (which I doubt, but how can I not at least try???). Now they are both tucked safely into bed after a very, very long journey (44 hrs all up???) to let their puffy ankles go down and regain strength for the ride tomorrow! I felt a bit like a parent at times today, with my packed lunch and constant advice... but it was also so exciting to relive my first impressions of Italy though mum's eyes! I hope I can show them all the beauty and fascination I've found in this country - we should get a pretty good taste of it! Can't wait to see how teh various dinners with host families etc go, should be hilarious!!
The hotel, although a little squishy, is lovely. We're going to be very comfy here this week! We have buffet breakfast, a packed lunch and dinner included every day, and lots of interesting bike rides to do around Emilia Romagna, including castles and wine tasting and BBQ lunch out in the country. Should be wonderful! Plus I get to catch up with even more people who I haven't seen for years.
You will have to put up with daily posts from me, since I am making the most of this internet access, so look forward to cycling anecdotes and updates on my poor physical health after 2 months of drinking and sleep-deprivation ;-) Just kidding, it will be a bit f a shock to the system but the "Capuccino" level shouldn't be too taxing overall.
Please write me (and mum and dad, where applicable) emails, I promise I will reply if I get them before Friday! Would love to hear what everyone is up to!
Lots of love to all
Kellie
Saturday 29 September 2007
Saturday 15 September 2007
Amsterdam, Prague and Cesky Krumlov
First night in Amsterdam with Kirsten my West Virginian roomie, after braving the sexmuseum!
Here you are Lozz, a canal.... (?) This is Amsterdam in a nutshell, bikes, bridges and canals. Oh I probably shouldn't leave out the drugs and prostitutes either...
A windmill... what can I say, it was basically just a photo op, but still kinda cool!
Amsterdam canals at night
The infamous red light district. In some photos you can actually see the girls in the windows... but not this one evidently!
Jewish monuments abound... this one dedicated to all those who died at the concentration camp at Terezin. 
The Charles Bridge in Prague, with the castle in the background to the left. Buying a mini tripod was the smartest thing I ever did
Absinthe shots as they are supposed to be done... much more stomachable ;-) Or so I hear!
My hips are not thanking me for this meal or all those similar to it... Turkey breast topped with melted camembert cheese and cranberries, with crispy potato pancakes on the side. Mmmmm
Beautiful little Cesky with the Vltava river running through the middle... what you see is pretty much what you get! A quaint little town with a castle and a square...Friday 14 September 2007
Photos from my last few Busabout stops and Lago di Garda
Ahhhhh Prague, unbeatable.
Austria's answer to the Hunter Valley, haha, the Wachau Valley
This castle was just outside Vienna in Durnstein, in the Wachau Valley, where we did a wine tasting tour.
A sword-full of meat.. that's how it comes in Vienna! Nah just kidding, this was a seriously different restaurant
Nicole, my favourite Busabout guide :)
Ahhhh back in Italy - Sirmione (Lago di Garda)
Lago del Garda - it extand right back between those 2 mountains - beautiful
Aaahhh relaxation time
Apologies to all those who had the misfortune to read my previous few entries, they may have been written in a slightly intoxicated state... The fact is, that at the Plus Prague hostel the computers were located right near the bar, so it only seemed logical to combine email-writing and drinking to save on time, you know, European cities to see and very little time to do it in, and all that...
So anyway all the excitement is over now, and it almost seems like it never happened... the hectic world of changing countries every 2 days, constant changing faces, getting confused between 4 different languages, rain, worrying about money and trying to cram a whole capital city and outskirts into 48 hours seems a million miles away, somewhat like a dream. Thankfully I've been blessed with a little time to find myself again - I was meant to head to Rome after 3 days in Civitanova, but Prof. Paolo Tortora is taking a few days holiday and I won't be going until Monday afternoon, giving me one last weekend in my host-town. And for once I am actually here for a big event - la notte bianca. This saturday night the city will come alive, with all the shops staying open all night and streetshows etc going on. Can't wait to see what it's like! The weather is supposed to be good, too. There's been one day of rain but apart from that it's been cool but really sunny, like a perfect Australian autumn day. Not really enough to want to go swimming but, definitely to go to the beach and chill out. I'm making the most as I only have a few days of it left!
As for the rest of the European loop - it was a bit of a disaster. We got to Viena and had a morning of clouds, followed by 2 days of non-stop pouring rain. So to be honest, while I had plenty of fun, I don't feel like I really saw anything of Vienna. The first day we did a grap-grazing tour of the Wachau Valley which should have been on bikes, weaving through the grape vines in the sunshine and then playing beach volleyball by the river... as it was we had to do the whole thing in the minibus and there was no chance of getting any river action... Still, we tried some great wines, had a delicious lunch and an entertaining joke-telling session on the way back into the city. We also got to try some AMAZING liquours, of which I purchased 2 bottles, and a crazy selection of jams, most of which involved apricot, the local fruit. Also, it is said the the Wachau region was the first producer of Riesling wines, as the grapes originated from there and there is a Riesling River whose name predates wine production records.
The second day we tried SOOOO hard to do the right thing and see the sights, but it was sub-10 degrees (I SWEAR) and with the rain and the wind we could not deal any longer. We found refuge in a restaurant, ate like starved children (which we certainly weren't after 5 days in the Czech Republic) and dashed into the metro to go straight home. At least my last night was a real ripper though - in every major city we overlap with the Busabout group behind us on the last night, so I caught up with a few people and who should be their guide? The same crazy chick who made our time in Greece so much fun - Nicole!! When I fist started busabout Northern loop I dreamed that she had appeared on the main circuit, and low and behold she appeared on my very last night in Europe, divine providence I do believe! So after a crazy dinner at "Centimeter" where we got through a sword's worth of meat and 2 metres of beer (?!?!?) I hit up the bar and proceeded to get "well-munted" with Nicole, for the last time :)
Getting the train the next day was admittedly quite painful, after 2 hours sleep, when I swear I was still slightly drunk... but thankfully it was fairly empty so I was able to curl up in a little ball for the 7 hours into Venice. Thankfully I didn't have to get all the way back to Civitanova, but only had a 2 hour journey to get to the beautiful Lago del Garda where I spent a very peaceful weekend in a B&B, NOT A HOSTEL :-)
Now I've had time to catch up with everyone in Civitanova, including my bestest mate Ilaria, FINALLY, and I still have a weekend to shake the inevitable cold that has caught up with me since I stopped moving around.
Wednesday was the Geo-Italia conference in Rimini where my honours Prof. presented a poster. It was great to get to meet him after months of emails back and forwards, and also a few others from the University, including one of the phd students who is a bit of a waterpolo champ and lives quite nearby Paolo, so I may get back into swimming sooner than I had thought. Feels much better to be going there knowing a few people who can show me around, and I might be able to go out with. Though honestly at this point the less friends I find the better as time is getting very short on this thesis of mine!
As per usual sorry about the essay, that's just what happens when you only write once a week - it seems like there is something happening every day, I can't keep up!!
Love to all, I guess the next post will be coming from Rome,
Kels xox
So anyway all the excitement is over now, and it almost seems like it never happened... the hectic world of changing countries every 2 days, constant changing faces, getting confused between 4 different languages, rain, worrying about money and trying to cram a whole capital city and outskirts into 48 hours seems a million miles away, somewhat like a dream. Thankfully I've been blessed with a little time to find myself again - I was meant to head to Rome after 3 days in Civitanova, but Prof. Paolo Tortora is taking a few days holiday and I won't be going until Monday afternoon, giving me one last weekend in my host-town. And for once I am actually here for a big event - la notte bianca. This saturday night the city will come alive, with all the shops staying open all night and streetshows etc going on. Can't wait to see what it's like! The weather is supposed to be good, too. There's been one day of rain but apart from that it's been cool but really sunny, like a perfect Australian autumn day. Not really enough to want to go swimming but, definitely to go to the beach and chill out. I'm making the most as I only have a few days of it left!
As for the rest of the European loop - it was a bit of a disaster. We got to Viena and had a morning of clouds, followed by 2 days of non-stop pouring rain. So to be honest, while I had plenty of fun, I don't feel like I really saw anything of Vienna. The first day we did a grap-grazing tour of the Wachau Valley which should have been on bikes, weaving through the grape vines in the sunshine and then playing beach volleyball by the river... as it was we had to do the whole thing in the minibus and there was no chance of getting any river action... Still, we tried some great wines, had a delicious lunch and an entertaining joke-telling session on the way back into the city. We also got to try some AMAZING liquours, of which I purchased 2 bottles, and a crazy selection of jams, most of which involved apricot, the local fruit. Also, it is said the the Wachau region was the first producer of Riesling wines, as the grapes originated from there and there is a Riesling River whose name predates wine production records.
The second day we tried SOOOO hard to do the right thing and see the sights, but it was sub-10 degrees (I SWEAR) and with the rain and the wind we could not deal any longer. We found refuge in a restaurant, ate like starved children (which we certainly weren't after 5 days in the Czech Republic) and dashed into the metro to go straight home. At least my last night was a real ripper though - in every major city we overlap with the Busabout group behind us on the last night, so I caught up with a few people and who should be their guide? The same crazy chick who made our time in Greece so much fun - Nicole!! When I fist started busabout Northern loop I dreamed that she had appeared on the main circuit, and low and behold she appeared on my very last night in Europe, divine providence I do believe! So after a crazy dinner at "Centimeter" where we got through a sword's worth of meat and 2 metres of beer (?!?!?) I hit up the bar and proceeded to get "well-munted" with Nicole, for the last time :)
Getting the train the next day was admittedly quite painful, after 2 hours sleep, when I swear I was still slightly drunk... but thankfully it was fairly empty so I was able to curl up in a little ball for the 7 hours into Venice. Thankfully I didn't have to get all the way back to Civitanova, but only had a 2 hour journey to get to the beautiful Lago del Garda where I spent a very peaceful weekend in a B&B, NOT A HOSTEL :-)
Now I've had time to catch up with everyone in Civitanova, including my bestest mate Ilaria, FINALLY, and I still have a weekend to shake the inevitable cold that has caught up with me since I stopped moving around.
Wednesday was the Geo-Italia conference in Rimini where my honours Prof. presented a poster. It was great to get to meet him after months of emails back and forwards, and also a few others from the University, including one of the phd students who is a bit of a waterpolo champ and lives quite nearby Paolo, so I may get back into swimming sooner than I had thought. Feels much better to be going there knowing a few people who can show me around, and I might be able to go out with. Though honestly at this point the less friends I find the better as time is getting very short on this thesis of mine!
As per usual sorry about the essay, that's just what happens when you only write once a week - it seems like there is something happening every day, I can't keep up!!
Love to all, I guess the next post will be coming from Rome,
Kels xox
Monday 3 September 2007
Bohemia budget
The hour-long wait at the Czech border was sercatinly worth it - this place is really something else! Everything here is so incredibly cheap (excet phone cards, unfortunately...), I have managed to eat out for every single meal and get entrees, side dishes and tonnes of wine, for an average of about $15 AUD each time. I went to a chamber orchestra in Prague and treated my ears (and everyone else's) to Pachelbel's canon, Mozart, and Vivaldi's 4 seasons for $25. A tram/metro ride costs around 70c, and I've done a lot of much-needed shopping all whilst staying well under budget.
Prague was stunning, especially at night, with the castle lit up and reflecting into the river. We managed to catch a rave party from the other side of teh river too, with hundreds of colourful lasers and enoromous floating dinosaurs and sea creatures, and smoke machines. It was a pretty amazing view!! I also invested in a tiny tripod for my camera so I can now actually take good night shots!
I am now in a tiny little town called Cesky Krumlov, where I am quite happily doing absolutely nothing. It's beautiful here too though, it boasts a castle, a lovely town square and plenty of quaint little streets with boutiques. Tomorrow it's off to VIenne which may or may not be the last stop on my European adventure, I haven't decided yet.
So in short, my return to Europe will involve doing Switzerland, France and Belgium far more thoroughly, and certainly seeing more of Bohemia!! Go Eastern Europe!!
Prague was stunning, especially at night, with the castle lit up and reflecting into the river. We managed to catch a rave party from the other side of teh river too, with hundreds of colourful lasers and enoromous floating dinosaurs and sea creatures, and smoke machines. It was a pretty amazing view!! I also invested in a tiny tripod for my camera so I can now actually take good night shots!
I am now in a tiny little town called Cesky Krumlov, where I am quite happily doing absolutely nothing. It's beautiful here too though, it boasts a castle, a lovely town square and plenty of quaint little streets with boutiques. Tomorrow it's off to VIenne which may or may not be the last stop on my European adventure, I haven't decided yet.
So in short, my return to Europe will involve doing Switzerland, France and Belgium far more thoroughly, and certainly seeing more of Bohemia!! Go Eastern Europe!!
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