October 31, 2002

prenanowrimoparisandaidancountdown

i'm still in italy. i went to a town about 100km out of florence to stay with matt, jonathon and christy who i met in spain. it was fun and i was able to get a taste of american college life (dorm rooms and mass produced food, the bitch and the jock). matt and i also carved a jack o'lantern called craig and i went on two field trips.

(go team!)

i was intending to go by train to paris tonight, but it's all saints day tomorrow, so i couldn't get a ticket as everyone is going on vacation, so i'm leaving for paris tomorrow night instead.

so i get to spend a night and most of a day in florence. how pretty!

and tomorrow i'm going to start work on my novel. i'm planning on writing a 3200 word "chapter" every two days.

as yet i only have a vague idea of what i'm writing about:

girl goes travelling, unfortunately gets groped and flashed in almost every country, maybe she finds love and the meaning of life, but she probably ends up buying a lot of stuff.

i've already got quite a few stories of my own, and i've been acquiring other people's stories to incorporate in with mine as well.

so, we'll see how i go. maybe one day we'll all get together at the premiere of the film version of my book?

or maybe you'll all just get to read an online copy of the first and only 1500 words!

Posted by pipstar at 04:27 PM | Comments:

 

October 25, 2002

cinque terre

check out the cinque terre website!

today i walked from rio maggiore to vernazza with stops for the a yummy toasted foccacia (ricotta and rocket with fresh rosemary on the bread before it went in the toaster), gelato, a couple of small watercolour paintings.

and then i caught a train with a girl called anna to the final town monterossa. tomorrow i'll take the potentially slippery hike.

Posted by pipstar at 09:45 PM | Comments:

 

the weather

the weather over the next couple of days in florence is going to hit maximums of 24°.

in adelaide the weather will hit 34° on tuesday.

and in paris it's been raining for the last couple of days.

guess where i want to be!

Posted by pipstar at 09:36 PM | Comments:

 

October 24, 2002

cinqua terre

after a relatively unproductive 2 full days in roma, i'm now heading off to cinqua terre for a couple of days before going to meet matt, jonathon and christy near florence. (they're the texan kids who cheered me up no end in bilbao).

i have seen the vatican museum, st peter's basilica and the sistine chapel. and i've walked around the forum, the colusseum, the pantheon, heaps of fountains and i've thrown coins in the trevi fountain to guarantee a return to rome.

i've also just started reading swann's way, the first book of in search of lost time by proust, and i bought war and peace. i doubt that i'm going to need a new book for ages.

and my pack! it's so very heavy.

i still have two turkish rugs in there, but i also have war and peace, half a kilo of muesli and a litre of vodka i bought duty free on the ferry from croatia.

but i have thrown away my pair of black summer shoes. they were about to fall apart and i've only worn them about ten times this trip. they wouldn't have made it to thailand, let alone back home.

arrivederci!

Posted by pipstar at 10:45 AM | Comments:

 

October 22, 2002

ciao, i'm in roma!

after fellow ferry arrivers and i managed to finally catch a train to roma, we arrived at 1750, rather than at my planned arrival of 1500.

i feel a little pathetic blogging this, but i had some of the best fastfood that i've ever had while here in rome. mr panini for €5.90, they made a mean (real) chicken baguette, pretty good fries and a bottled soda.

i'm staying at the best hostel of my trip so far, Yellow Hostel, a great kitchen, working washers and dryers, clean bathrooms with hothot water and good water pressure.

after i'd had a welcome shower and washed my clothes (the simple things in life are best) i met up with luke, one of the people i met on the train and we walked around roma for a while and looked at the forum and the colusseum at night.

wicked.

Posted by pipstar at 12:10 PM | Comments:

 

October 19, 2002

the rookies wear parachutes

i have been fortunate enough to get hold of a free copy of drogulus zine by eric j merrell.

and it contains one very strong candidate for the image that will be my first ever tattoo.

but don't worry mum, i'm not going to get it straight away.

(i'm definitely going to wait until i get back to adelaide before i invest in that kind of permanent body art. there is no way that i'd get a tattoo on my lower back and then wear a backpack for the next couple of months.)

there's a certain san exupery (le petit prince) feel to it, and it's a little like a stanley donwood image (inner sleeve of radiohead's the bends album) and the lopsidedness reminds me of lenore the cute little [dead] girl by roman dirge.

sounds odd? it really is much prettier than my description.

Posted by pipstar at 07:10 PM | Comments:

 

October 18, 2002

No Plot? No Problem!

i've just signed up with NaNoWriMo.

i like that, working on my first novel whilst i'm travelling around europe.

it might mean that i don't write that much to my blog during the month of november. i've got a 50,000 word count to fill.

wish me luck!

for more information on NaNoWriMo check out the FAQ.

Posted by pipstar at 01:57 PM | Comments: *

 

it keeps on getting better

i'm now in dubrovnik for the next two days before i head to italy, and this is a truly pretty town.

the walls around the city are huge, and look like the city could never be damaged. however, the city is not indestructible and was subjected to a huge amount of damage during the yugoslavian war.

thankfully, a concerted effort coordinated by UNESCO has resulted in the town's buildings and famous walls being repaired.

i'm loving croatia, but i'm also itching to get to italy!

Posted by pipstar at 01:38 PM | Comments:

 

October 16, 2002

pardon.           oh!

i was walking around the ruins of solin near split chasing after a butterfly with my camera at the ready.

imagine my surprise when i turned around the remains of a doorway to discover a man sitting down.

and then imagine my bemusement, shock and utter amusement as i took in the open magazine next to him, the partially undressed women portrayed in the magazine and the fact that he was masturbating.

he didn't miss a beat.

and i was out of there in a second.

Posted by pipstar at 11:55 PM | Comments: **

 

sur paris

and then about ten days later i'll be in paris!

think paris

where to kiss in paris... (hint)

let's go - paris

voyages sncf

the louvre

Posted by pipstar at 07:46 PM | Comments:

 

la dolce vita

in about 5 days i'll be in Italy!

dolce vita

trenitalia

Posted by pipstar at 07:39 PM | Comments:

 

October 15, 2002

i (heart) warped

Posted by pipstar at 08:38 PM | Comments:

 

scrubbles

a link via dollarshort

check out the traumatic halloween comic strips.

Posted by pipstar at 08:17 PM | Comments:

 

like a rolling stone

on the radio in split, croatia.

Posted by pipstar at 07:40 PM | Comments:

 

October 14, 2002

in memorium

i've just visited a beautiful island called vis and spent a morning in the sun. part of me wants to write about the fantastic time i've just had.

but i can't.

i'm overwhelmed with sadness at the news of the attack which took place in bali on saturday night.

there is no way that i can write about my journey, when the journeys and lives of so many other people have been devestatingly cut short.

my ex-workmate and current travelmate karen told me of the news after she made a call to adelaide this morning, but even this forewarning could not prepare me for the impact of the news reports.

my deepest respect and sympathy goes to the families who lost loved ones on saturday. and so much love and support goes to the people still struggling with their injuries.

for more information:

DFAT - australian department of foreign affairs and trade

ABC AsiaPacific

ABC

Posted by pipstar at 03:27 PM | Comments:

 

October 12, 2002

travel information for italy

trenitalia

Posted by pipstar at 04:38 PM | Comments:

 

the owl and the pussycat

while i was travelling through south-eastern turkey i was dissapointed to find that i couldn't remember all the words to the owl and the pussycat. but now i have found the words and also discovered that the poem was written by edward lear.

for rick, tish, jon and simon

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat:
They took some honey,
and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"
Contemporary Illustrator: Donna L. Derstine

Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl,
How charmingly sweet you sing!
Oh! let us be married;
too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the bong-tree grows;
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood,
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

And hand in hand on the edge of the sand
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

Posted by pipstar at 04:33 PM | Comments:

 

tableau

there's something cool about a country where artificially posed stuffed animals are considered to be a justifiable form of decoration.

for those in adelaide, think of the vile dead animal tableau in the seven stars.

(for those elsewhere or unfamiliar with the seven stars; stuffed animals in a "desert scene" with a few rocks thrown in for good measure stuck behind glass.)

and then think about the image of dogs playing poker.

i think that now you are sufficiently prepared.

at 2.30am this morning when the bus to split stopped, i went into the traditional roadside restaurant to use their toilet facilities (which incorporated a useful handbag / beer glass shelf) when i walked past one of the most beautiful sights that my eyes have ever beheld.

a stuffed bear was standing up, brandishing a wooden club. arranged around him in a semi-circle, was a posse of four hares, each standing up and holding a sawn-off shotgun.

i wish i owned a spycam.

Posted by pipstar at 04:21 PM | Comments:

 

i like mondays (yes, this is a hint)

travelling means that weekends are really not that exciting.

shops are shut, ferry booking agencies have limited hours, and most of all, i don't get email.

everyone (apart from maybe pete and chris) leave behind their computers at work or uni, and don't check their email until monday. and then with the return of work and study, they once again have things to procrastinate.

i don't think that i'd be whinging, except the day in split started off beautiful and sunny, and it just rained and is cloudy and grey and my cool, yet entirely impractical long flared pants got wet around the cuffs.

and then karen and i came to check our email and i got nothing from any real people! so i just thought i'd whinge and let you know how i feel.

thankyou for listening... to me.

Posted by pipstar at 04:12 PM | Comments:

 

October 11, 2002

zagreb

croatia is beautiful so far, the greenery and europeanness is a welcome change after turkey (despite the days in ayder). i got off the bus from the airport to find my friend karen waiting for me, which made me very happy. the ravnice youth hostel is the best hostel so far, clean, quiet, with comfy beds and a self-catering kitchen.

and tonight we head down to split!

i'd love to stay in zagreb, but there'd be the horrible chance that i might again be in the same room as the freaky croatian girl who checked in at about 11pm last night. she had very powerful body language, kept on telling me about how spiritual she was and how the british guy she was travelling around after was such a brilliant teacher. (i think that she might have been in a cult). she also told me about 7 times thoughout the one sided conversation that she was incredibly sexy and could fuck any man that she wanted to, but she didn't because she knew that she could destroy them.

and then she'd give me some advice on how to live (with a raised fist, or her finger pointing to the heart) and then she'd point at me and lean forward... "do you know what i mean?".

she was creepy.

Posted by pipstar at 12:20 PM | Comments:

 

October 09, 2002

on departure from turkiye

i can't believe that tomorrow i'll be leaving turkey! it's been just under four weeks since i arrived here, but the time has gone by so quickly.

i think that it's been because of the great company i've had: jonathon, silke, andrew, sandrine, françois and most importantly for the last two weeks, simon, jon, rick and tish.

and i've actually been doing things in the time i've been here.

i can afford to eat in turkey, so i've been having 3 healthy, wonderfully tasty meals a day and having baklava, pistachios and turkish delight regularly. and i've never been desparate for tea at all.

i have climbed to the tops of mountains, forded streams, seen a couple of rainbows and had the types of experiences that only happen in dreams.
yes, that was a sound of music reference. yes, i am proud that i have now seen whirling dervishes and lonely goatherds high on hills. do not laugh. please/

and i have been able to take some pretty cool photos, which you are just going to have to wait the next 5 months for. sorry.

i still don't know how to use depth of field or anything, but i am back in practice (i wasn't too happy with my shots from spain, i hadn't used my camera for a while).

so, in about an hour i take a bus back to istanbul (i arrive at about 1am, erck.)and tomorrow i pack up the piles of stuff that i have accumulated over the last 4 weeks... about 7kg minimum (uh oh) and then i'll fly out to croatia to meet up with karen!

so goodbye turkey, i've loved my time here and i'm going to have to come back to revisit the places i love already and to visit the places that i've missed out on this trip through.

and bring on croatia!

Posted by pipstar at 04:23 PM | Comments: *

 

yesterday

going to gallipoli was weird. as with all touristic places which are about history, it's really hard to get a grasp of the history because there are so many damn people around. but i ended up trying to picture people like aidan and james and nick h and nick b all preparing to arrive on the shore. not a happy thought, but it helped me to understand a little bit.

we had a really good tour guide whose grandfather (turkish) was killed on the peninsula (i think at lone pine) and left behind his 19 year old wife and 9 month old son. it was valuable hearing the turkish perspective.

Posted by pipstar at 04:01 PM | Comments:

 

October 08, 2002

today

today i visited gallipoli and celebrated my 23rd birthday by nursing a mild hangover which resulted from a fun night out with rick, tish, simon and jon.

thankyou!

Posted by pipstar at 08:38 PM | Comments: **

 

October 06, 2002

congratulations!

congratulations are now being sent out from istanbul all the way to melbourne, australia to claire and big p on the birth of little amelia joan!

well done guys!

Posted by pipstar at 11:31 AM | Comments:

 

October 03, 2002

i [heart] ayder

this place is beautiful.

Posted by pipstar at 12:34 PM | Comments: