Blurr.

On the Manly ferry.

The train and the flowers.

Yesterday all the Briertys (and a few strays) gathered in our ancestral home of Coldstream to celebrate my mother's birthday.



I took my camera with me, but I was so busy celebrating and socialising that all I managed was one this one shot of Jacqui on our way out to Lilydale, with flowers for my mother by her side.

Fog.

One of the advantages of working the early morning shifts (I start at 6am (!) most days..) is that I see a side of the city that few others get to see. From bulldozers digging up Flinders St, to drunks fighting outside the Tankerville, my camera and I see it all.

Last week we had a couple of mornings that were spookily foggy. I couldn't see the tram until it was right on top of me!





I felt sorry for all the people who had to drive in it, and especially for this poor cyclist!





I was actually late for work because I had to stop every 10 metres to take pictures of the buildings and trees looming out of the fog on Elgin St. Lucky my boss is so patient with me..

Random photos #1: Italia.

I've been doing a bit of a clear-out of the photos on my mobile phone and on my computer, and I found a bunch of photos that haven't yet made it online.

This first lot are leftover pictures from my time in Italy.


This is the view from my third-floor hotel room in Rome, taken on my very first night in Italy. Nice, eh?

Another view that people generally don't get to see - Italian backyards, as seen from the train to Prato.





Don't be fooled! This isn't a real bird. There was this clear glass? Perspex? thingo that ran along next to the trainline, with birds in flight printed on it.

Shopping in Zara - these are Holly's feet:


..and my feet.

(I loved those shoes. They were only €20 but it was nearing the end of my time in Italy and I'd run out of money. *cries*)

Un cioccolato caldo. I wish I'd drunk more of these. A. Maze. Ing.


This graffito was on a Milanese Metro platform. Wow! It really perked me up.


Our last day in Venice. It started off foggy, as you can see, but by the afternoon the fog had lifted and it became a glorious sunny (albeit FREEZING COLD) day. Magic.



Basilica di S. Marco.



The beautiful Riccardo and I. We met in a shop in Prato and it was love at first sight.


Construction work out the back of the Uffizi in Florence.



xox Liz

Still alive!

Ciao!

Just a quick note to let you know that I'm still alive and well and in freezing cold, drizzly Milan.

I was abandoned by the tour group this morning as they head back to Australia, by way of Dubai, and I've just spent a frustrating and fruitless couple of hours at the central train station trying to locate the lost property office - I left my red leather Columbina mask on the train from Venice yesterday! I was told "Down the stairs and to the right" by many different station staff, but it must be invisible or something - it's definitely not there! I wll go back with Rita or Mia in tow tomorrow and they can help me break through the language barrier. One phrase I will definitely not forget now is "dov'è l'ufficio di bagliato perduto?" Argh!!

I'm feeling quite at home in Milan though because they have trams, just like in Melbourne! I am spending three more nights here before flying off to London very early on Monday morning.

What else is news? Since I last posted from Rome, we've been to Sorrento (spending the day at Pompei in the pouring rain), Orvieto (Google it - the duomo in particular is just AMAZING), Florence (David! The Uffizi!!) and Venice. The day we arrived in Venice was the day it flooded - the highest acqua alta in 50 years! We arrived at the station at 12.00 and weren't able to get into our hotel until the water dropped at 16.00. Venice is so gorgeous though, I felt the most at home there than any other city so far. I'd really like to go back there (once I've finished paying off this trip!) and spend a semester or two studying at their university.

I did some serious shopping in Venice too - I bought a pair of gorgeous, soft, cashemere-lined red leather gloves, a red leather mask (now trapped in the non-existant Ufficio di Bagliato Perduto...grrr), a print of my favourite painting in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and a cute navy blue leather purse from a shop I just happened to stumble into on my roamings through the lanes and streets.

I'm sorry for the lack of pictures, too - I'm in an internet cafe, and my USB cord is in my suitcase back at the hotel. I'll post photos soon, I promise!

Here's a photo of the print I bought at the Guggenheim, though - it's called Solidità Nella Nebbia (Solidity Of Fog), painted by Luigi Russolo.



Until next time....

xoxoxo

Mighty Ducks 8.

1. $60/kg cheese.
I couldn't help myself! I dropped into Maria's Coffee House & Deli in Nicholson St on my way home from uni to stock up on capers (an essential in my larder) and this little wedge of cheese caught my eye.



It's parmigiano di bufala, or buffalo parmesan. I tasted it in the shop, and it's much sharper and zingier than cow's milk parmesan. The woman in the shop told me firmly to hide it! For the price it was, I'm going to use it for something special. I'm Googling recipes as I type so hopefully I'll find a dish that complements the cheese perfectly. I shall report back!

Side note: OH MY GOD. As I was hunting up recipes just now, I found this on a menu - "Spaghetti alla castagne: Spaghetti sautéed in a chestnut cream sauce topped with cocoa powder. Like Pip says, that sounds like it should be illegal.

2. People on public transport.
It was a bit scary on the bus home from uni tonight - a young man got on and sat up the back of the bus near me who was very agitated. He was muscled, and dressed in trackies and a tank top - not someone you'd want to mess with ordinarily. He was talking to himself quite loudly, and bouncing up and down in his seat, occasionally coming out with bursts of manic chuckling. I don't want to say "crazy," or that he was dangerous but he definitely made me and some of the other passengers that I spoke to later feel very uncomfortable. What do you do in those types of situations? I just kept my head down and my sunnies on and read my book. The whole bus breathed a sigh of relief when he disembarked.

3. Cute thing cute thing!!.
Everyone! One.. two... three.....

...AWWWWWWWW!






I spied these cuties at uni, enjoying a walk in the sunshine around the campus with their mum. Awwww!