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Feb. 13th, 2004
So; I'm back from Italy...
Time since arriving through airport before hearing 'caio': 12 seconds.
Number of non-local signs seen on way to hotel: 1 (Q8)
Number of channels on TV: 24
Number of channels worth watching, even if they were in English: 0.5 (The BBC news network)
Number of attempts before winning at freecell the first evening: 3
Italy is a nice place, the people are pretty friendly but they do drive like total lunatics, but that said Italians can park anywhere and I mean anywhere leave a space for 12 seconds and someone will try - and succeed in parking there, in a tree under a van, anywhere. They can do it.
Italians also don't seem to be quite so prudish as the Brits, my first clue to this was when I saw a sign directing me to a sex shop at a major road junction (nope, didn't see it - not enough time).
The national animal of Italy is the moped, which frolics freely on it's roads and pavements. I'm not kidding, they're everywhere, everywhere. In halls, stairs, roads, rivers... blink and theres six dozen of them screaming past in a triangle formation team, I jest ye not.
Food. Oh yes. Italians know how to eat, and they make damn good food - not to mention the best pizza I've ever eaten (well I had to, didn't I?). Not that I didn't try some of the local traditional foods as well, one was basically what looked like creamed rice, but had cheese in it too; it was ladeled out from a huuuuuge cheese about a yard across and about half a yard deep. It was yummy.
There seemed to be little provision for the hardened vodka drinker (at least in the traditional places I ate) and orange juice exists solely at breakfast, after then it is sucked into an interdimensional time warp to appear next morning; it's just not available at any other time.
I saw a single McDonalds, it was empty and closed. :)
I've got a pile load of pictures to sort out from the evenings I was wandering Verona, which is a beautiful city, so many impressive buildings. Including the first decent Roman ruins I've visited, wow wow and wow again.
All in all it was probably the best business trip I've ever been on, pictures to follow when I sort my camera out.
Oh and last night I dreamt I was Holly Johnson, strange.
Time since arriving through airport before hearing 'caio': 12 seconds.
Number of non-local signs seen on way to hotel: 1 (Q8)
Number of channels on TV: 24
Number of channels worth watching, even if they were in English: 0.5 (The BBC news network)
Number of attempts before winning at freecell the first evening: 3
Italy is a nice place, the people are pretty friendly but they do drive like total lunatics, but that said Italians can park anywhere and I mean anywhere leave a space for 12 seconds and someone will try - and succeed in parking there, in a tree under a van, anywhere. They can do it.
Italians also don't seem to be quite so prudish as the Brits, my first clue to this was when I saw a sign directing me to a sex shop at a major road junction (nope, didn't see it - not enough time).
The national animal of Italy is the moped, which frolics freely on it's roads and pavements. I'm not kidding, they're everywhere, everywhere. In halls, stairs, roads, rivers... blink and theres six dozen of them screaming past in a triangle formation team, I jest ye not.
Food. Oh yes. Italians know how to eat, and they make damn good food - not to mention the best pizza I've ever eaten (well I had to, didn't I?). Not that I didn't try some of the local traditional foods as well, one was basically what looked like creamed rice, but had cheese in it too; it was ladeled out from a huuuuuge cheese about a yard across and about half a yard deep. It was yummy.
There seemed to be little provision for the hardened vodka drinker (at least in the traditional places I ate) and orange juice exists solely at breakfast, after then it is sucked into an interdimensional time warp to appear next morning; it's just not available at any other time.
I saw a single McDonalds, it was empty and closed. :)
I've got a pile load of pictures to sort out from the evenings I was wandering Verona, which is a beautiful city, so many impressive buildings. Including the first decent Roman ruins I've visited, wow wow and wow again.
All in all it was probably the best business trip I've ever been on, pictures to follow when I sort my camera out.
Oh and last night I dreamt I was Holly Johnson, strange.
Theres another Spice Opera CD original for sale on EBay
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
philw very generously made me a copy of it from burnt mp3's, but I want the original, so much. It must be mine, my precious...
It's at 50 quid already, I'm bidding, I must be mad.
help! help!
philw very generously made me a copy of it from burnt mp3's, but I want the original, so much. It must be mine, my precious...It's at 50 quid already, I'm bidding, I must be mad.
help! help!
