Friday, August 30, 2002

 
Hey Aleta! How do you post pictures? Help me. Help me please.
posted by Alleen at 9:35:18 AM

Wednesday, August 28, 2002

 
I have internet access at home! Now I can tell you guys about the TV I watch. Right now, I'm watching a show about elephants on National Geographic Channel. This dude, who is bathing his friend Shirley the elephant for the last time before she is set free into an elephant sanctuary is bawling his eyes out like some kind of weepy elephant-loving wussy.
posted by Alleen at 7:52:47 PM

Monday, August 26, 2002

 
I just realised that a whole bunch of cool stuff is going on. So everybody give a big hand to:

Aleta, who is started her first job as a teacher and molder of fine minds.

Dave, who is about to start an internship in Washington where he will give W a great big piece of his mind.

Dorsa, who just got a promotion at CTV.

Jess, who has found a wicked place to live in the midst of a bout with pneumonia.

Keef, who is going on tour with his newly revamped band (and props to Junior for somehow managing with Keef as a dad).

Minna, who recently started hair school and has an art show coming up.

Tom, who just got a contract to publish his comics because he rocks.

Vivien, who is working three jobs for sucky bosses.

Me, whose plans for world domination are proceeding nicely.


posted by Alleen at 5:46:18 PM

 
Well, it's been a long and interesting trek, but I made it home.

I had a delicious pizza dinner in Split, as traditional Croatian food was pretty thin on the ground, and then packed hurriedly to get to the ferry. I probably made the world's rudest goodbye to Kate and Aimee as I ran for the ferry, but I've hopefully been forgiven by now as they're coming to visit in a couple of weeks.

The ferry from Split to Ancona was insanely crowded, with the kind of conditions that you'd expect from a war transport rather than a perfectly normal daily ferry. On the other hand, I'm not given to taking 10 hour ferry rides, so its likely that this is normal. Anyway, there were not enough seats for everybody, so those of us who showed up late (or those of us who'd come prepared with mattresses and sleeping bags and such) ended up bunking on the floor. I was in a teeny corner of concrete floor, but I was reasonably comfortable as I had piled up a bunch of clothes and towels to sleep on and had plenty of room to stretch my legs. This all came to an end when it started raining outside and everyone who'd chosen to sleep on deck rushed inside. A group of six Italian girls spotted the 3 x 5 space next to me and decided that they could all fit. Within two minutes, I had been edged into a space about three feet long, surrounded by nonstop loud Italian. At one point, two German guys came back to find their space taken up and started to argue with the Italian girls. Needless to say, I got no sleep. I dozed until about 3:30 am, when I decided to go on deck and get some air. I figured since I was up, I'd wait and see the sun rise over the Adriatic Sea. Sometime around 7am, I realised that sunrise had already come and gone; it was just too damn cloudy.

After debarking in Ancona, I took a ride in a tram and hopped the train to Milan. On the train, I discovered that Italian trains will just keep on letting people on, no matter how little room there is. I ended up sitting for about six hours (the train was about 45 minutes late getting there) on a bench thing in the corridor, staring at an Italian family resting in relative comfort in a reserved cabin and feeling like a complete moron. By the end of the trip, I'd memorised the entire family and their little quirks. Thankfully, I promptly forgot all of this when I got to Milan.

Ah Milan. I've been told in the past that Milan is a fairly unsexy industrial town and if I was going to Italy that I should give it a miss, and concentrate more on other, more attractive places. Sadly, I didn't get a choice as Milan was the only city that had a direct train to Amsterdam. Or so I thought. Immediately upon my arrival, I discovered to my great dismay that they had cancelled this train and that now I had to take a train to Brussels, something I could have done from many other, sexier cities.

On the other hand, I was so tired that I could have been in China and not really noticed. I ended up taking the Metro to the Duomo, Milan's great cathedral, and limiting my wandering to its immediate vicinity. I went to the Galeria, the Palacio Real (I think that's spelled wrong), and then bought a map because I figured that since I was in Milan I should find La Scala. I discovered that I'd already passed La Scala. It's just that I'd missed it behind all the scaffolding. Apparently La Scala has been shut down for repairs, something I could have no doubt found out if I'd made any effort at researching Milan before I got there.

Not only that, but the entire front of the Duomo was also covered with scaffolding, which was okay because the back and the sides are pretty impressive too, though it did detract from the overall effect. Given this lack of cultural edifices to gawk at, I went shopping and bought some shoes. That used up the rest of my energy, so I sat down in the Piazza de la Scala (or something along those lines), under the watchful eye of a statue of Leonardo da Vinci and read Colors, the road issue. I gave up on this after falling asleep sitting up on an uncomfortable stone bench.

I headed back to the train station and soon after got on the train to Brussels. My ride was pretty uneventful except that I was in a cabin with three people who had gotten on the wrong train, one of whom tended to fart in her sleep. I got there more or less intact Sunday morning and then hopped a train to Den Haag. It was pretty uneventful except the train had to turn back at Rotterdam, so I ended up changing trains about half an hour from my destination. Still, I made it home okay and here I am the next day, still more or less intact.

I had forgotten that I had my first Pilates class this morning, so imagine my surprise when I got a call from my instructor at 11:30 this morning wondering where I was. I detangled my bike from the vines in front of my house who were trying to consume it and made it there in four minutes flat.

So far, that's it. I'm still really tired and I'm now expected a call from the Schmenkies, Alex and James, at some point, who are hoping to visit me in a week or so. Should be interesting.
posted by Alleen at 5:32:20 PM

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