Lucinda arrives in Italy :)

[okarol]

I have always wanted to visit Venice. Thanks for glimpse!

I also love the murano glass, I have a little bird a friend brought back for me from Italy, it's really cool!

Have a great time!

[pelagia]

Wow, a hotel right on the square.  That must be amazing.  The whole trip sounds amazing.  I can't wait to see the pictures.

[monrein]

That is impressive, a hotel right on Piazza San Marco.  Exciting.  I despise the pigeons though. 
Really sounds like a great trip.

[pelagia]

I despise the pigeons though. 

but they look so good in photos!

[monrein]

It's just city pigeons I despise.  We raised pigeons for eating on our farm and they were lovely birds and I've known a few homing pigeons too but I find city pigeons to be like rats with wings.  They poop everywhere and while you're sitting at a nice cafe having something lovely you never know if you're going to have "offerings" in your hair.   When I lived in France I never knew whether to look up to avoid the pigeon poop or down to the sidewalk to miss the dog poop.  As for the dogs on the beach in Nice...just shoot me now.  Revolting, and I don't revolt too easily!

But hey, Pelagia, if (I mean when) I get a transplant, let's go back to Italy and I promise I'll take the photos of you covered in fluttering pigeons.

[pelagia]

Hey, I'm going to Nice in January for a conference.  Will there be dogs on the beach then?  I hear it will be chilly.

When you get that transplant, I'm ready for Italy. 

P.S. When I was an undergraduate I did a summer course on an island in Maine.  I had to establish a field site to sample and it turns out it was in the middle of a sea gull nesting area.  Those birds pooped and attacked, but they looked good in photographs, too.

[monrein]

I taught English Literature and Language at the Université de Nice for a year ( 1978-79) and that was the most fun I ever had working anywhere.  There were eight of us from around the world and we were chosen from our respective departments (mine was the French Literature Masters Program at U of Toronto) to go there.  I used to take the train to Monaco for the afternoon quite often and hang around talking to the gardener in charge of the cacti garden on the hillside in Monte Carlo.  I loved that spot and he used to pick fruit from various cacti to let me try.
I taught a translation course with a great guy from Ireland, so brilliant that he'd send me articles to read on Irish Literature from a magazine of which he was the Editor and I could never understand what on earth he was talking about.  We had two sections of the translation course and we'd do our prep together but our translations were so completely different due to our different regional vocabularies that we decided to always present both to students and used them as a tool to compare North American and British English. 
I lived on Boulevard Tzarevitch right near the Russian onion-domed church but whenever I had to walk home late from the University, I'd walk along the streets that the hookers did business on because it was safer.  I'd always say hello and they got used to me.  I was very "bookish" at the time and of course they were decked out in thigh-high boots and teeny teeny skimpy skimpy outfits.  What an education. 

As for the beach.... pebbles (les galets) and dog poop hidden so setting down a towel was always a bit of a dicey gamble.  Then there was the raw sewage floating by so I actually never swam there.  What I love in that area is the hinterland up behind Nice... Vence and St. Paul de Vence.  I'm also very fond of the little fishing village of Cassis, not too far from Marseille. 

Oh dear, I need a trip to France right about now.  For the food of course!!   January will be a bit chilly, but not by Canadian standards.  It can also get quite rainy in Nice in winter.

[RichardMEL]

Hi all just a quick update... I had a couple of messages from Lucinda a few hours ago. She's not feeling so good - I think all the travelling and wonderful times (and shoes!!!) has taken its toll and she wasn't feeling so great so they were just catching a plane for the long journey home. I guess they will be back in Sydney tomorrow late or Friday morning our time. I am sure we will hear from her once she's settled and recovered. She seemed in good spirits just tired so I'm sure we'll hear all about it (and those shoes!!!) in great detail soon

[Sluff]

I know how she feels. Can't wait for all thos pictures of her modeling those shoes.    Fully clothed by the way.

[lola]

Cindy, OMG you are so my kind of gal, SHOES!!!!! I'm so glad your having a wonderful time, and sorry George was busy with me had I known you were visiting we would have made the time for you Hope to hear from you soon.

[pelagia]

Hope she's feeling better soon. 

[okarol]

Oh dear, I need a trip to France right about now.  For the food of course!! 

Can I go with you? 

[RichardMEL]

Oh Sluff don't be modest. I understand premium members get to see ALL the photos... even the sealed section!!!!

 

(hmm I should upgrade shouldn't I? )

[monrein]

Oh dear, I need a trip to France right about now.  For the food of course!! 

Can I go with you? 

Yep.  Of course you can.  We'd have a blast, I have no doubt.

[RichardMEL]

I have not heard from Lucinda since last Wednesday - she would be well and truly back in Sydney so I am somewhat concerned and hope she is doing OK whatever is going on.

Unfortunately knowing her track record I imagine it will be quite an adventure...

Hope you're doing OK Lucinda!

[pelagia]

I have not heard from Lucinda since last Wednesday - she would be well and truly back in Sydney so I am somewhat concerned and hope she is doing OK whatever is going on.

Unfortunately knowing her track record I imagine it will be quite an adventure...

Hope you're doing OK Lucinda!

Lucinda posted a short note in the gift exchange thread yesterday.  Hopefully she is just jetlagged!  Can't wait to see some photos.

[RichardMEL]

Oh.. well... silly me then!!! LOL I didn't see. Thanks for letting me know

 

[Lucinda]

Hey everyone.  It is 4.32am and I haven't slept a wink.  The jetlag really has a hold but I am feeling better now I am at home.  The trip back was pretty horrible.  We did the 24 hours in one run so I was a bit tired when I got home but I was very excited to see that the secret santas were out but hubby hit me over the head as soon as he saw we on the site and he confiscated my mobile phone and my laptop.  I know.....pretty unacceptable...but in fairness I had a bit of a scare back in Rome so he just wanted me to go to the hospital and get checked out.  No surprises that my potassium and blood pressure were through the roof.  Too many tomatoes in Italy and absolutely everything is drowned in salt.

One thing I was really surprised about was how skinny the Italian women are.  I wasn't expecting it with all that pasta but by the end of the trip I worked out it is because they walk everywhere over there and so many women in Italy smoke.  A few of the Italian women I spoke to said that they only eat pasta for lunch, they rarely eat dinner and they walk everywhere.  But a couple of the women in the shops I spoke to said that they had given up smoking and put on so much weight so they decided to start smoking again.  They are heavy, heavy smokers. I think I will stick to the curves rather than take up smoking.

As soon as I am feeling up to it I will download all our photos and post some.  The thing I got sick of while I was overseas and moving every couple of days....the girls will understand this.....was the constant blow drying and ironing my hair straight every day.  It just seemed like a much bigger chore over there so the hair is now about an inch long but in a very Milanish kind of cut.  It's certainly different but very easy wear.

Thanks for your text RichardM....I found my confiscated phone but every time I think about replying it is in the middle of the night when I am wide awake and I think it will wake you up if I text in the early hours.  I am a real vampire since I have been home.  Sleep during the day and up during the night hours.

I have a confession to make.  When I came home our luggage was 56 kilos overweight. Yep....we bought two new large suitcases over there and I came home.....with shoe orders from all my friends...with 32 pairs of shoes.  It is disgusting.  I bought 15 pairs of new shoes and boots and the rest were for friends and my sister who had put in their orders before I left.  They didn't charge us for the excess baggage because they had a light flight coming home and when we got home I confessed all to customs and they were fantastic.  They just laughed and told me I wasn't the first person to raid the shoe sales in Milan.  They told my husband that he had their sympathies. I hate that people always assume that the man pays for everything for his spend thrifty wife.  Bloody hell, when are the blokes going to accept that most women these days do their own buying with their own hard-earned funds. Sorry, I am ranting now but it is even more infuriating when hubby accepts their condolences and casually flings the old liner with a long winded sigh ..."You know how it is mate....happy wife, happy life."  Touche to Carrie in Sex in the City.  You keep buying those shoes doll.

Anyhow, it was a fantastic trip but I am pleased to be home.  I have builders coming on Tuesday to start my new bathroom.  I will post before and after shots which of course I am going to be able to do after next week because I am going to have training for a week on my new Apple Mac.  I am a techno nightmare when it comes to computers and I haven't got the heart to keep asking RichardMel to resize my pics etc.

Anyhow, I have to catch up now to what everyone has been up to.  Can't promise I will post much in the next few days as I am getting the house ready for the builders and it is my study that is getting knocked out to make way for the new bathroom so I have to relocate to another room so a few fiddly things to do over the next few days.  It will probably take me a few days to get back into a routine with my dogs and sleep but I will be back up and running very soon.  Lots of love for now.....Cindy. xxxx   

[RichardMEL]

thanks for the post Lucinda... and late night textx would always be welcome.. I am a night owl anyway and I could think of worse people to be woken by than you So that would have been fine.. but ty for being considerate xoxoxox

Send me any pics you want resized... no problem to do it for you

LOL at 56kg over and 32 pairs of shoes/boots... OMG!!!

I'm glad I didn't put in an order for anything except a fantastic time!!!!

xoxox