Goodbye Europe, goodbye Spain, goodbye mullets!

Hola!

I am now in Madrid but as I only got here today I can't report much about it. It seems busy, crowded; it has a metro. But Barcelona! Wow, a new rival for my heart where previously there was only Berlin. And Venice. Heck!

Anyway, Barcelona was great - I loved it! I had to leave Home Hostel on Monday because they were closing for a week. And so I moved to another hostel - this one in town, rather than the train ride out of town where Home is. And this other Hostel, Backpackers BCN, was pretty good too - almost as good as Home I'd say. Not as good as home though. (Oh, I am looking forward to being home).

On Sunday, I went to the Fundacio Joan Miro - an art gallery which I thought I'd have to catch a fun funicular railway to get to, but alas, it was broken, so there was a funicular substitute: a bus funicular. Not as fun! The gallery was great - lots of Miro (obviously) and also a special exhibition on collages which was great - more Picasso!

Then on Monday, I went to La Sagrada Familia - the Gaudi cathedral that is still being built. They estimate 25-30 years more and it'll be done! It's quite amazing: neo-gothic, a lot of Gaudi's inspiration came from nature so lots of the shapes in it imitate nature. Also instead of the usual ugly gargoyles, there are animals: snails, chameleons, turtles, lizards, etc (more I'm sure but I can't remember). And in the facade that depicts the Nativity, it shows turkeys - because people eat turkeys at Christmas! Hilarious.

All that is well and good, but what I really want to tell you about is something I saw that has given my life a whole new meaning. In fact, I don't know how life now can have any meaning. What I'm talking about is the mullet to end all mullets. I realised early on when I arrived in Spain that here they take the mullet seriously. None of this namby-pamby "fashionable mullet" business. No, these are serious mullets on serious men, the kind of mulleted men you would probably never want to make eye contact with. And then I see The Mullet. Words cannot describe it. All I can say is that it was amazing. It flowed. It was greasy. It was dark, the man attached to the mullet was swarthy (because, you know, the mullet wears the man, not the other way around). It was ... wow. I am breathless just thinking about it.

And there I will leave it, ladies and gentlemen. On that lovely thought - perhaps what I came to Europe to find! - I will sign off. This will be my last Europe entry, but maybe I will keep posting once I am back in Melbourne, I don't know.

May the spirit of the mullet be with you.

xxxx

Is 7 mins enough time to write a blog?

Hello all,

Ah, ah, ah, ah, aaah! The world provides! Barcelona is - well, to quote Napoleon Dynamite - awesome. Incredible. ... I love it! Eep! (That was me. I´m sure Napoleon is about as likely to say "eep" as Snape is!)

Things I´ve loved so far (har har):

• Parc Güell and its stray cats (I counted 6 today) and it´s views of the city and the sea. Oh the sea, I´ve missed you!
• Picasso Museum - a lot of people have said it´s crap, but if you love Picasso as I do, then you won´t find it crap. (And if you don´t like Picasso, then why go to a Museum called "Museo Picasso"?!!) Yes, it has some of his more boring early stuff, but I found it really interesting because it shows the progression of his work and also some naked people, and then it gets to some really cool later stuff like a whole room devoted to his study of Las Meninas, by Velazquez, including his most famous version (go here for a squiz: http://www.abcgallery.com/P/picasso/picasso211.html). It´s great. Also there´s a picture of his friend/secretary Jaime Sabartes, as a faun! I want someone to paint a picture of me as a faun! (I do like fauns!)
• Gaudi. All I can do it put on an English accent and say "Brilliant". Brilliant, utterly brilliant. Only been to La Pedrera (an apartment building with a famous wavy roof) and Parc Güell so far, but to quote Kath from Kath and Kim, I like what I see. (That is, "I loike what I see")
• Finding a cinema that showed Harry Potter and what´s more, it wasn´t dubbed in Spanish - bonus! I´ll limit my comments on this subject to two, maybe three. 1: Ralph Fiennes as Lord Uncle Voldy is damn scary. Scary as hell. 2: I think I enjoyed watching this film more that reading the book. I mean, the fourth book is not so great, eh? But the film! It´s good! 3: The three Spanish teenagers (at a guess, 15 year olds or so) sitting next to me in the sold out session were swooning in the scene where Harry takes a bath. So hilarious.
• The sunshine. Not really convincingly warm, but sunny enough to get me in the mood for summer. Which is where I´ll be in one week´s time (the season of course also being a place, yeh? You always take the weather, etc). Yes, this is my last Saturday in Europe for the time being. I´ll be back in Melbourne before you can say Sunday-Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Friday-Saturday. Well, maybe a bit after you´ve said that.

And guess what? That took longer that 7 mins to write - I had to put more money in. (No need for an exclamation mark there, Esther. Settle - settle.) But now I will go to bed. Mmm, I like my single room as well. On the top floor - the view out the window in the morning is tops!

xxxx

I've made it Hôme at last!

Heloo, as the keyboard seems to want for me to say. I am in Barcelona - the night train left me in one piece, one tired piece, but I am here and all is well with the world! I have had my earl grey tea, I have had a shower, and the DVD room of Hôme Hostel seems to be beckoning me tonight. I even washed my hair!

The crapness of Milano didn't end at the last post! It ended today, when I discovered that while on the Milano Metro someone nicked, pilfered, robbed, stole from me a small pencil case type thing - which they obviously, stupidly and wrongly thought was of value and say, a wallet - but which instead contained tampons, anti-menstrual-pain drugs (my friends! my sadly missed friends!) and some not-currently-in-use-but-not-retired-either badges! That bastard! Or a desperate menstrual woman who likes badges of strange cartoon characters - I thought that was only me and Rachel and Rachel (when menstrual and minus the desperate part I think)! At least most of my best badges are in use, safely attached to my bags and clothing. But the drugs, today of all days, I miss! Aah, the pain. And Rachel, Furry Bowels, this means more badges must be made once I am back in Melbourne, to replace the ones the cruel Milano Menstrual Metro Robber stole from me! Including the Harry-Ron-looking-at-Draco-in-crystal-ball one - which would have been damn appropriate for me to wear tomorrow night when I chase down some Harry-Ron-Draco tension at the cinema, hopefully not dubbed in Spanish!! For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, never mind.

Anyway, not much more to report, as I have done little here so far. Became acquainted with the hammock in the garden of the hostel, while I drank a nice and well-needed cup of earl grey tea and wrote in my journal. (The most important thing I wrote is: Avoid Milan at all costs, especially its Metro!) Found the Lidl supermarket via a funny park that had a bit of water - pondage, lake-type thing - that had triangles of wooden islands in it and a stone bridge going over it. Crazy! But probably not so crazy as Gaudi. I will report back on that one. I am looking forward to exploring this gorgeous sun-filled place and all its Gaudi and Picasso and Miro. Hopefully also there will be some new cheap summer-ish clothes for me to buy and take back for my Aussie summer. Also I want another book as I sadly finished the last Kurt Vonnegut last night on the train. I feel silly buying another book to carry around with me (especially as I can't bear to part with the others - I loved them too much! I now am growing a bit of a Travelling Kurt Vonnegut Library!). But one week without reading - I don't think I can do it! Especially not the killer plane ride back home - and with Lufthansa rather than the delightful Singapore airlines and their individual screens! ... ,-) (That´s a one eyed wink!)

xxxx

Hold your jealousy for one more day ...

Italy doesn't seem to want to let me go! Either that, or my own incompetency is finally catching up with me. Heartbrokenly, I left Venice and took a nice mostly-empty train to Milano, eating a picnic of cheese, tomato and bread, and mini chocolate filled coissants while I read The Guardian. Went up to Counter A at Milano Centrale, only to discover that my planned night train was not so well planned after all: did not leave that day, only the day before and the day after. So, here I am, having a night and a day in Milano where previously I thought I'd be on a train and then in Barcelona. Oh well, I thought! It's all an adventure, eh? So then I have to go up to a different counter at Milano Centrale to get my ticket for the night train, let's call this counter Bitch Counter of Death. The woman at BCoD is unfriendly and follows what seems to be a "tried and true" method with foreigners who don't speak the language: you speak louder and slower like that will somehow help them overcome their "little problem" with understanding what you say. This goes really well for Bitch Counter Lady and I. But we progress to the part were I pay for ticket reservation, only to discover their credit card facilities don't work at this particular special counter, so I have to scamber off and find a "Bankomat" to get out cash. By the time I get back I'm laughing at how stupid the whole situation is, which I think puts Bitch Lady out a bit. Anyway... All well and good in the end. I have my ticket, I found a hostel where I met a nice redhead Dutchie, I have filled up on a big pasta lunch, I have managed for the most part to avoid getting freezing cold, despite it being freezing cold outside. And tonight I get on my night train and wake up in Barcelona! For that, I can't wait.

I feel like a freak here in Milan for the following reasons: a. I'm not blonde, b. I haven't had something unnatural injected into my face, c. I don't really care what I look like, well, not enough to actually do my hair. I just put on a hat (my "Paris" hat for any of those who are familiar with my Travelling Hat Collection). In fact, I can't remember when I last washed my hair... Hmmm, there's something for me to ponder. Well, I'll definitely do it in Spain though! Reason d. for my feeling like a freak here is that a pigeon nearly landed on my face. My face! Not my head - my face!

I quote the following which made me at least rather excited: "Spain 25 November 2005" which is from www.imdb.com, under a heading: "Release dates for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)" Heh heh heh! I know what I'll be doing on Friday!

Well, I will be sad to say goodbye to Italy, but not to Milan. But I am looking forward to summer! Australia! The Nova! My cats! My own bed! Oh my ...! I am actually counting down: this is my 9th last day in Europe. But hopefully I won't be counting in Barcelona. I'll be too busy taking in all the Gaudi and the awkward teen wizards!
xxxx

To quote my new god, Kurt Vonnegut: If this isn't nice, what is?

I am in Venice and am so happy to be here I could cry. (Or that could be because the price of Internet useage here? It's so hard to tell in these high emotion situations.) Everything is good: the food, the Peggy Guggenheim, the Grand Canal, the hostel (yes, even the hostel), the Italian wine, the coffee (especially the coffee). What is also good it my putting away of my map, so that: a. I am not technically lost, and b. I can avoid all the tourists (yes, I know I am also a tourist!). The weather is fine and sunny, though frikkin' freezing.

I love Venice! I want to live here and make like I'm Jeanette Winterson writing The Passion.
xxxx

ps. I have totalled the poll results and ... actually I'm too lazy to find another way to Barcelona, so the night train it is. But don't worry, everything will be locked to everything else, and Erin, I'm sure I will be ok without a shower in the morning! And then I go to Home Hostel, which better live up to everything youse guys, E&J, R&D, have said about it!!

A Poll! Reader interaction! Your vote will change my travels! Woo!

Hello all,

I come to you from Firenze - Florence as it's known to ye plebes. And if you keep your eyeballs peeled on the website of my damn-it's-not-sir-toby's-in-prague-why-can't-every-hostel-be-as-good-as-sir-toby's-in-prague hostel: www.ostelloarchirossi.it - then you might catch a glimpse of me on their webcam, running through the foyer to avoid the Greek (?) guy behind the desk who I think just asked me while I was waiting for my washing to wash. Now I'm waiting for my washing to dry and writing to you! Lucky you. Lucky me: clean clothes! Wow, so novel.

I had a day of trains today - read the Guardian, did the Guardian's sudoku, napped - all the usual joy of trains. I also, incidentally, got from Roma to Firenze, dumbed my luggage at this here lov-er-lee establishment, then jumped on another train to Pisa, hung out there for the arvo before the final train back here at the end of the day. Pisa was, well, the leaning tower was funny. It leans! And it's a tower! A leaning tower! ... That's about as exciting as it gets people. But I liked it. It's a cute little town where not much happens and there's nothing to do. Which is exactly what I needed after the craziarity of Roma. I looked at the tower and laughed. I had lunch and was harrassed by a busker. I watched the tourists take photos of the tower and drew a picture of them and it - them with cameras grafted to their heads where their faces should be. I call it: "Can you see anything through that thing?" I was mistook for a "genuine" artist - people looked over my shoulder to assess my work! No offers though. To buy it, that is. The tower didn't fall down, much to my disappointment. I met an Irish lass, who was also travelling alone, and very nice. I think she wants to live in Italy and it's really not hard to see why. Despite the tourists and the tower not falling down!

So, here we come to the interactive part of the blog. .... You get to vote! ... In a poll! ... Wow, it's just like Big Brother only less, ah, TV.

I am debating - Esther, indecisive? I hear you say, How is this be!? - whether or not I should take the night train from Venice to Barcelona.

To vote, leave a comment with either a "Yea" or a "Nay". And everyone who reads this should vote, you hear me!

Now, you want to hear the pros and cons before you make your vote, don't you?! Well, here they are:

The Pros (that's the good stuff):
-More time in the good places - Venice and Barcelona - and less time in the bad places - riotous France (and not the goooood riotous).
-Price is covered by my Eurail pass except for the reservation/suppliment which would be pretty much equal to the price of a night in a hostel were I not on the night train. Ie. no extra cost.
-Saves time in my book: one must sleep and one must travel, thus killing two birds with one train. So to speak. And I can actually sleep on night trains, despite Mexicans (on the last one) and with the help of my most prized possession: my ear plugs!
-Leaving and arriving in what I like to think are decent hours of the day. Ie. in daylight. Instead of cheapo flights that arrive in some obscure airport in the middle of the night and then you have to find your hostel.

The Cons (the less good stuff):
-Italian night trains are meant to be dodgy, ie. you'll have your stuff stolen, etc. I caught one from Munich to Roma and had my beanie, scarf and gloved nicked (or I lost them at the station?), all from my backpack, but not my wallet, which was in my backpack as well, with it's 6 Euros in it! So, robbers - yes! But they're stupid! ... Another guy from the next room had his camera stolen on the same train, but I am sensible with my valuables. Ie. I wear my money belt with all the important stuff in it (passport, tickets, credit card, any notes, etc) and I put other valuables, eg. my camera, in my big heavy case which is too big and heavy for someone to really "run" off with, plus it's locked shut and perhaps on the night train in question I will also lock it to some bit of the train.
-Possible horror situation of being gassed and the not-so-stupid robbers searching your body, stealing your documents and taking your soul to do with what they will. Hopefully feel it gummi bears, but I suspect they are not that nice.
-If I don't catch the night train, I have to work out another way to get there - which will most likely cost a. money and b. time. Eg. I could go half way by day, stay the night somewhere (like Nice, for instance), then go the rest of the way the next day, thus losing TWO whole days to travelling and paying for the extra night. Or flying at some ridiculous hour, from, say Milan, thus having to get to Milan during the day, catch the flight at night, then find the hostel in Barcelona at night as well. All in all, equalling, hassel and money, but only one day lost to travel. Or something... I don't know what. Please feel free to do this research for me and email me the itinerary details! I am to leave Venice on Tues 22nd. My email address is: esthergjohnson@gmail.com
-Bed hair in full public view when one wakes up on the night train.

So now VOTE! Go, scamper! Leave a comment! Leave a "yea" or a "nay"! I am in your hands. Well, cyber hands. I can't decided. Decide for me people! You have less than a week.

Other then that, life is coffee flavoured and my clothes are probably by now dry or stolen or both! In which case, I will just have to go to H&M and buy new stuff! Do they have H&M in Italy?!

xxxx
...............................................VOTE!

Another questions: ... is it wrong to stalk nuns?

...But they're just so cute!

I am in Roma, Italy, and enjoying the nun and mullet spotting. So far haven't seen the two combined but if only I could get under those habits...! Don't have much time because the coffee beckons. Italy is great. Boy, do they know how to eat! Especially after all the stodge of Germany. No, that's not entirely true - I ate very well in Berlin, thanks to Mich and Charlie's wonderful cooking and taking me to all sorts of great restaurants. Monsieur Vuong comes to mind - surely Berlin's own Iron Chef!

Berlin was great, as per usual. I really love that city - I don't even have to be doing anything special and I'm happy to be there. Finally got to the Jewish Museum which was well worth it (when I was in Berlin in August, me and Marnie planned to go pretty much every day we were there and never got there!). I also saw a special Picasso exhibition, which was amazing. So much Picasso - room after room after room, of drawings, prints, paintings, sculptures, photographs, even a film he made later on in life which showed him drawing, ie. the process he goes through in creating a drawing. Very inspiring.

After Berlin, Dresden - which I think I liked because bits of it are like a mini Berlin: scungey and arty and with the cute East pedestrian traffic lights which I love so much. Also, as a bonus, I didn't kill myself while riding around on a slightly too-big bike and without a helmet and totally unsure of which direction the traffic would be coming from!

Then onto Munich, which was ok - but not my favourite. While there, Genna channelled the spirit of Lydia Bennett and ran off, not with a soldier, but with a yank. Makes me wonder where, if anywhere, my Mr Darcy is? I'd even settle for Matthew McFayden, if he was available, (Sorry, Colin). Or even his wife(?) Keeley Hawes... Hmmm... So I am back to travelling my by onesy again, which is really quite not-bad at all (especially given Genna turned out to be such a - how shall I put it? - crappo friend). Also now no one to frown on my nun stalking habits or on going back to the cat shelter here in Rome every day!

I found this great cat shelter on my first day here. There are ancient ruins all over the place here and I stumbled across another lot right in the centre of town - a big block sunken below ground level as a result of the excavation of the ruins of 4 temples, dating from 4 to 2 thousand years ago (as in the info sheet told me). And the place is being used as a shelter for abandoned cats! They have a bit where they treat the sick ones and there are healthy ones wondering around left right and centre. You can go in and pat them and play with them. There are apparently 150 cats there! So it makes me happy as I'm missing my kitties back in Melbourne so much. And there are some really beautiful moggies as well and most of them fairly friendly. And hopefully I won't get rabies by the time I leave!

So here I sign off for now.
E.
xxx

A Question - one of those eternal questions

I pose a question: if travelling is a seemingly never-ending quest for the perfect cafe, what happens when you find it? And I´m not just talking about a pretty nice cafe with decent - or even very good - coffee, and friendly, physically appealing staff ... but The perfect cafe. Why, then, travel?

So somehow, unexpectedly, I ended up in Estonia, in the lovely medieval capital Tallinn (double L, double N). Me and Marnie caught an overnight night from Oulu to Helsinki - ah, the Finnish trains: so so nice. And clean. Relaxing even. Safe. ... Ok, enough of me whistful about a train! I catch a flying glimpse of Helsinki before we jump on the Ferry of Joy - full of drunken Finns (even though it was 9am) and the best of all bands ever - three moustachioed Finnish chaps and a keyboard (a keyboard to rival even your keyboard Julia!). They did a nice selection of western, English-language hits: 'Save the Last Dance For Me' (I did, but they never asked me), 'Imagine', what else? I can´t remember; but all you need to know is that it was quali-tar (with a capital QUOLL). Especially the verses in Finnish and the choruses in English (a method I think the Northcote Military TATU of Death should consider, especially if they want to break into the cross-cultural ferry band scene). So, some hours of musical joy later, we arrive in sunny Tallinn - which was indeed sunny. That day. And beautiful.

So beautiful, in fact (sorry, was that a random paragraph break or what?), that instead of just spending one short afternoon, one short night, one short morning there and then leaving the next day; we decided to spend another day there and another night. Like a lots of old towns here in Europe, Tallinn was a maze of little cobbled streets constructed in the days when town planning was nothing more than a puff of smoke in the future and much more important was finding the nearest cat to chuck down a well in order to keep the water supply plentiful - not to mention, ah, hygienic (something they apparently used to do in Tallinn - and there was only one well!). Great place to get lost, which is what we did a fair bit of. Also great place for little cafes, bars, restuarants and other cosy nooks ideal for drinking coffee or mulled wine and eating yummy sorts of things like pancakes. "Absurdly cosy" was the phrase I think the guide book used. Or "ridiculously cosy". Or "obscenely cosy"-??! One such place is the one I refer to in my opening question. And I won`t tell you where it is or what it´s called, because then what will you have to travel for, or even live for?

Day 2 in Estonia we awoke to white white everywhere. And it was cold! So not talcum powder or crack cocaine all over the streets and houses (not even very cold talcum powder and crack cocaine!), but SNOW! More snow! Great! Still so novel to me at this point. And still so cold. Hence the cosiness of all the cosy cafes became even more important to us and we spent even more hours in The Perfect Cafe, doing little more than drink coffee, write postcards, and covertly drink Estonian-Scottish whiskey to keep our insides warm. Ah! Delightful. Why am I still travelling again?

So we cosy-hop through Tallinn for the day, I buy my new favourite hat, thus bringing my travelling hat collection up to an inappropriate but still manageable five. And covered in white stuff, Tallinn really is more obscenely beautiful than before. And made me want to explore Eastern Europe even more. So y'all, listen to me: go to Tallinn!

Then shall I fast forward through time, give you a brief rundown on the Finland, non-Tallinn part of the week... We jumped back on another ferry, this time not the Ferry of Joy, but the Ferry of Rough Seas, Sleeping Esther, Knitting Marnie, Subliminal Messages Telling you to Eat Finnish Lollies and Duets between Mick Jagger and Jude Law. I kid you not. On the TV that is - not like those two are now in the "cross-cultural ferry band scene" as well! Wow, that really would be something!... "Laaaaaaaaaaadiees and gentlm'n, Tallink and Viking Line Baltic Seas Entertainment are pleeeeeased to present to you, straight from the set of Alfie, just for you, just for tonight, well, just for this morning and for the rest of the week and for however long we can keep them, singing ALL the words in English, maybe even pashing, let me hear it for, will you give it up for JUDE LAW AND THE ROLLING STONES!"

So, anyway, where was I? We arrive back in Finland, which is icey white and covered in cold cold icing sugar. Mm, tasty. We then jump on another delightful Finnish train, following a small tour of Finnish railway doors (very interesting if you like that sort of thing. Doors, that is), and find our snowy way to Tampere, a Finnish city which appallingly lacks in cute cosy cafes and in not being Tallinn. Though we did find what is possibly the only cute cosy cafe there and frequented it for a bit. And it did amazing Pulla (Finnish wheat bun) so I should cut it some slack. Also in Tampere was our buddy Karien - over from London to avoid the English heatwave and get some of that icing sugar action. Also H&M therapy. Good fun times for everyone but our wallets.

Then I caught yet another divine, clean Finnish train and headed south to Helsinki, while Marnie headed north to Oulu and Karien caught a large flying bird back to England. By this stage the white stuff had gone where white stuff goes to die (should I try a pun about Kate Moss at this point?!) and the weather heated up to acceptable 8 or 9 degrees. And I found I still had all my toes - bonus!

This time I checked out Helsinki for a bit longer and found it nice, but it´s no Stockholm. This post is already rather long so I´ll tell you just the highlight. Which, for me, was a chap working at the Helsinki Library who looked so much like Gary Oldman that if I hadn´t talked to him and found that he spoke English with a Finnish accent and thus probably was Finnish, then I would have thought he was Gary Oldman! Working in Helsinki Library! Crazy shit! ... Though now I think about it, Gary Oldman is an actor, right? ... So, maybe, he can do accents?! ... Do you think I talked to Gary Oldman without even realising it!?! ... So, like he was a man in tartan troosers, I stalked this may-or-may-not-be-Gary-Oldman-chap for a bit. Joy to be had by all, namely me.

Now I am in Berlin with Michelle and Charlie and young Genna. Flew here today, back in time, and am somewhat tired, so hence the possible craziness of this post! Shoulda warned you at the start, right?! Hope life is sweet for y'all and you know what y'all should do? Apart from joining a ferry band or visiting Tallinn or stalking some random member of the public. You should leave me comments and tell me what you're up to!

xxxx