I am back from Italy. The trip was great. The beach ultimate was great and hanging out with all the wedding folks was great. Fortunately/Unfortunately, most of it is a drunken haze so I can only generally describe what occurred.
I can recall the 38 hour trip over there pretty vividly. I flew from Melbourne to Singapore for 8 hours and after just a few hours in that airport, flew from Singapore to Paris for 13 more hours. I was trying to drink my weight in the free business class champagne.
Movies watched in Route:
Juno: A+ - New rule: the more former Arrested Development cast members, the better the movie
Beowulf : B- - Angelina Jolie as Grendal’s mom? Really?
No Country for Old Men – A+ Best villain since Ving Rhames
I am Legend – B+ - Breaks the rule that the dog never dies
Margo at the Wedding: B- - Am I supposed to hate her? I do.
We Own the Night – A – Marky Mark + Joaquin Phoenix means and A was the lowest possible score for this movie, given the eye candy factor, and boy did it ever earn that. Must avoid if you don’t love them both.
Upon arriving in Paris, I learned that due to some Italian labor dispute my 7 AM flight was cancelled, as was the 9, noon, etc. on until 4 PM. I decided to take the train into Paris and though my warm clothes were checked through to Bologna, I had a pretty fun time tooling around a beautiful city.
I took the train to Notre Dame:
From there I had a typically touristy French breakfast that was delicious:
Well fed, I walked along the Seine to the Eiffel Tower. This is a view from my approach:
And from under her skirt:
There were long lines to go up the tower at 3 of the bases. The fourth has a much shorter line, because you had to use the stairs (no elevator) so the fat American tourists did not even consider it. It only took 15 minutes or so to walk up to the second platform. It was windy and hailing, so I took some pictures and got out of there.
There are these cool tourist city bikes that you can hire for just a few dollars an hour from stations all over the city. I rented one of those and biked back to Notre Dame. Here’s the bikes being serviced:
Paris seems pretty bike-friendly with lots of cycle lanes. After I got back to Notre Dame, I took the train back to the airport and waited to fly to Bologna. That flight was uneventful (a little more champagne and a nap). Once I landed in Bologna I saw this slogan which captured how I was feeling quite accurately at the time.
From there I had an 80 minute train to Rimini and then checked into the Cortina, where I took a long overdue shower and went to sleep. This would prove to be my last full nights sleep for the length of the trip.
On Thursday I synced up with Jen, Chip and the rest of the gang. We started drinking red wine on the beach and the rest is pretty much a haze until I had to get back on the train on Monday. D. Rex played really well, beating our seed (14) and ending up 7th. If it hadn’t been for rain induced hypothermia I am pretty sure we could have broken in to the top 4. We ate one good Italian dinner and a lot of Shwarma. There was much dancing and drinking. There was much amusement due to Duck Rex. Check out his magic neck:
Here’s a wedding point, with a groomsman (Max), the groom, the bride and two bridesmaids:
It's all a haze to me but if you want to see a proper breakdown of scores and games please see Chip's write up who covers everything with such detail I'm beginning to wonder how drunk he really was.
Monday afternoon I needed to head back to Bologna for my plane. The Italian trains on Easter Monday are chockers. I had a seat but it was still nuts trying to get on and off with all my luggage, especially since I had picked up the Sporting Team Box Athletico United brand spanking new jerseys and shorts off the boys from 5 to save on the postage all the way to Australia.
It was a struggle but I made it back to the airport. There was a lot more sleep on the return flights, but I did see a couple more films:
Rendition: C+ - Cloying, pregnant Reese Witherspoon just about cancels out Jake Gyllenhaal, which is saying something
August Rush: D- - I could only tolerate the first 20 minutes. I should have known better.
Lions for Lambs: C- - Contrived. Stilted. After-school specialesque. I think that might be the kid from growing pains.
Now that I’m back home in Melbounre I’m still on Italy time. It might be jet lag, or it might just be a protest about the trip being over.
3 comments:
hah hah, dig it, that duck rex madness looked rad.
with you, with you... but lions for lambs a C-? I caught the last hour of it on one of my transatlantic flights, and really liked it. I thought the dialogue was great, and while perhaps the setting contrived, the language was original. And unflinching in a way that many movies are not. Refreshing, and thought-provoking. A for effort.
tony - you can face book duck rex, if you are really in to it.
chip - lions for lambs was broke as. sorry. you are getting a little maxwell house in your old age. i guess it is the married thing.
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