Figjam's Epic Adventure 'The Second Coming'

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Restless in Rome!

29/6/12

1845 (local time)

Rome:

Still on that train to Venice!

Rome, well I don’t know what to say. Honestly, I did not like it. Far too many tourists for my liking it was unbelievable! Everywhere I went I was bumping shoulders with tourists. Australians that I can’t stand, are in Rome! Dumb American tourists are in Rome, it’s the go to place for them.

Fortunately for me I met a really cool Canadian guy that is doing a bit of a Euro trip, he shares the same values as me… getting off that beaten track.

Anyway, so Tyler and myself hit all these ‘tourist’ attractions together but making sure we had fun doing it.

We had a pretend knife fight in the Colosseum, we pretended to be the pope in the Vatican city. We did our best to enjoy a pretty uncomfortable situation.

I think Rome as a city is beautiful… it’s a bit over the top with all the buildings (and fountains) but at the end of the day, they are pretty stunning! And if it wasn’t for all the people around, it would be good.

But.

It definitely wasn’t the best place I have ever visited. - maybe because I set such high expectations...

Tyler and myself had good times at night, we found some local bands, I did my first ever pub crawl, but it was still lacking for me.

Anyway, enjoy the photos, and let me know what you think.

Maybe Venice will be different…

Take care all my lovely battle axe warriors!

Steve The Enforcer Flack signs out once again!

First Stop - Colosseum

CHECK THAT OUT!

in the background, is the Roman Forum!

Pretending to be the 'decider' of who lives and dies..

FIGHT TO THE DEATH!

Typical Knife Fight!

We convinced this Indian shop owner to wear his helmet and sword! I spoke about the cricket!

THIS IS SPARTAAAA... wait, is it?

I think this is at the Tomb of the unknown soldier?!

Potentially one of the most beautiful buildings!

Trevi Fountain

Tourists!

More Tourists at the Trevi Fountain!

The Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon

Spanish Steps!

In the Vatican City - SO HOT!

Inside the Cathedral!

Outside the Cathedral!

The Pope?

The Popes!

At the Vatican Museum

Average Photo of Average Dudes - 'how did this get in here'

Good Roof!

Great Roof!

Pope's Back!

Pope is definitely back

THE END!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Florance and Including a FIGJAM RANT!

29/6/12

1745 (local time)

Florence:

Written on a very comfy train from Rome to Venice, and the most relaxed I’ve felt in a while.

Ok, so it seems like I’m going to all the places every ‘tourist’ wants to go… at exactly the same time. Welcome to prime time on-period.

I think there are 2 types of people that travel the world. First you have your Tourists.

The tourist goes to a city/country and will just follow exactly what their local planet says. If lonely planet says to stay at a particular hostel, they will book it. If lonely planet tells them this is where they should go that day, they go there.

The tourist, will only go to see the locations just to take a photo and move on, they will do absolutely nothing to get involved in the ‘culture’ of a place. They won’t try and speak the language, they will only hit tourist bars, I suppose they just won’t try to get ‘really’ involved in a city, which somewhat annoys me – go to a city and take in as much information as you can! Smell, Vision, Listen, Touch! GET IN THERE!

Anyway, I’m getting distracted!

The second type of person that does this kind of trip is called a ‘traveller’ a traveller will try to get off the beaten track, and traveller wants to find sketchy little coffee shops down little ally’s where only the locals eat, and where the people that work there don’t speak a word of English! A traveller wants to discover new and exciting things, and meet people that aren’t from America or England.

Travelling through Italy at the moment, I feel like I’m turning into a tourist, and it’s so frustrating! I want to get off the beaten track, but it’s so hard! Every-thing, Every-place has got tourists in it! On the Brightside, it’s such a relief to find a local place!

Ok, the best times I’ve had in Italy has been when I have been hanging out with the local guys. Silvia, Irene, Francesca, Sandra; you guys have introduced me to the real Italy and its beautiful! The food is beautiful, the people are amazing, and the wine – its fantastic! So thankyou!

I arrived in Florence via a very hot and uncomfortable bus ride from Milan! But funny story occurred after a dozen bottles of wine got destroyed because the bus driver closed the door on it… (mental note)

I was greeted at the bus station by Sandra, Sandra is a good friend of Silvia and Irene – and she is filled with positive energy and craziness!

She told me at the bus station – ‘here are my keys, I’m going away for the next day, so you got the flat to yourself, here’s how to get to my place, bye, kisses’ and then she was off!

I eventually found her place after losing a litre of sweat! I had a shower in the smallest bathroom ever, squeezed down the tiniest corridor ever, got changed and wandered into town, where I met a friend I met in Dahab. Shani was doing a trip around Egypt when I met her on New Years, and we hung out for a bit! It was only by coincidence that we planned a meeting place in Florence!

Shani, showed me around the hot spots and then took me up (way too many) steps to get a lookout over Florence! It’s called Michelangelo’s Lookout. We consumed beers and wine whilst we talked and talked and watched the sun set over such a beautiful city! What an awesome way to spend my first night! Unfortunately the next day Shani had to head off, so I caught a train to an hour away Piza – to see the leaning tower.

I made a Chinese friend on the train, a 32 year old guy called Felix that’s on an extended business trip! He was cool. We took our photos, I laughed at the ridiculousness of this building then I quickly caught the train back to Florence.

From here, I then caught a number 15 bus, to (I have no idea what the place is called) to go for a bit of a hike up to the top of this mountain which overlooks the city. Again, another beautiful view, where you can relax a take everything in.

That night, it was Sandra’s birthday. So we went out for birthday drinks and Sandra introduced to some proper Italian food, cooked by locals! And guess what! It was some of the greatest food I’ve ever had! It was perfect! Because it was a day celebrating St. John the Baptist – there were fireworks that went for about 30 minutes! It topped off a awesome night!

The next day was spent me just wandering around town, trying to get lost… Fortunately I managed to, and found some great food to snack on!

It was my time to leave the next day, so booked a very cheap ticket to Rome and off I went.

Thanks Florence for a great time.

PS: As I write this, we just pulled into one of the many Florence train stations – it makes me slightly concerned why we are here… I think we have a LONG way to go to Venice now…

Ok, so this is the start of many sunsets - you have been warned...

This is at the place, where you catch the Number 15 bus!

Now, we are back in Florance city centre - this is up the top of Giotto's Bell Tower

Ants!

the Chapel is just next to us!

SELFIE!

Getting my art on!

Duomo - The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore!

Duomo - note all the people!

Centro Storico

nice looking bridge!

"its all about the angels"

BUT WAIT! WE HAVE PISA!

PISA

The Learning Tower!

People like this everywhere!

I amused myself.

in many ways!

me and my mate, felix!

THE END!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Multilingual Milan!

25/6/12

1924 (local time)

Milan, Italy (written in Florence)

It’s been go, go go for the past week! The weather in Italy is HOT! Super hot, we are talking 28 – 33 degrees! Feels pretty good compared to Melbourne which has 10 degrees at the moment…

Ok, so I arrive to Milan via Bus from Zurich! The bus as a whole was a bit of a nightmare! It arrived late, and it wasn’t the most comfortable journey, but that’s buses for you I suppose.

I eventually arrived and I met Silvia at the bus station on the 18^th of June in her little VW Golf GTI. She then showed me the way that Italians drive… In a word, Sketchy!

I’m not one that drives all that dangerously, I find no real need for it. Well, the Italians don’t think like this. Everyone on the road, speeds, changes lanes about a dozen times in the space of a kilometre! Its pretty mental, not as bad as the Egyptians though!

I met Silva out in Dahab, Egypt herself and her friends came out on holiday to work on their windsurfing skills, and since they love a drink and I do also, we got along quite well.

So I kept in touch with her, and when I let her know that I was coming to Milan she was more than happy to let me stay for a few nights as I explored her city, and maybe even do some windsurfing if there was some wind.

As soon as we got in, I freshened up had a shower and then we went to Irene’s lovely flat which is just outside of Milan. Irene was one of the girls that was windsurfing, and now has her own windsurfing equipment! We had an amazing dinner, the girls certainly know how to cook! and then headed out for some beers, what a perfect way to start my trip in Italy.

The next day involved A LOT of walking. I explored the city, I went to a pretty cheesy natural history museum which had dinosaurs bones and dodgy looking stuffed animals behind glass. It was a bit of laugh. After chuckling through the museum, I wandered on down to check out the Duomo, which is Milan’s landmark and the WORLDS biggest Gothic Cathedral.

Its pretty amazing with its 3400 statues, 135 Spires and 155 Gargoyles, I payed my 7 Euros, and headed up to the top. It was an amazing view, even though I was sweating profusely it was beautiful.

Afterwards I walked through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and saw a pair of Bull’s Nuts (Balls, Testical’s) that are part of the beautiful tiled floor, where tourists spin on it 3 times for good luck. I didn’t bother.

I then wandered through the city to visit the old castle, and then a beautiful Arch that’s looks similar to the Arc De Triomphe in France.

After this mammoth day of walking, I headed back to Silvia’s where I had to get dressed looking ‘nice’ as we were going to a going away party for one of Silva’s friends.

All though I felt completely underdressed, it was fantastic meeting all these peoples and laughing at the ones that looked completely ridiculous with Kashmir scarfs tied around their neck in 30 degrees heat!

I’m normally not one that feels self conscious, and I will generally wear anything, but some of the Italian guys have this attitude that you don’t feel all that welcome. Obviously there are some absolute legends, that are completely the opposite… Just my views… don’t have a go!

I woke to a sore head, but managed to get out of the flat at a reasonable time, Day 3 was going to be about checking out Museums. I went down to the ‘Science and Technology’ Which was similar to Science Works in Melbourne, I wasn’t such a huge fan.

Afterwards, I checked out a museum talking about the walls that surrounded Milan…

I’m pretty over museums now.

The plan for Thursday was to hit the lake and maybe even get some windsurfing in with Irene! Unfortunately the wind never prevailed, but I did manage to get out and do some light wind freestyle! The only thing that sucked, is that I got a text off Irene the next day, saying that it was absolutely howling… bugger, we only missed the wind by 1 day! Welcome to windsurfing!

That night, we hung out with more of Silvia’s friends! We were fortunate to see Francesca, who was another one of the girls we met out in Dahab. We had probably the greatest BBQ in her beautiful flat, with great music and great company! It was a great night.

My last day (which was a Friday) I found out Tim (the turbo) Williams was in Milan. Tim is one of my hockey mates from back in Melbourne and to catch up with him after not seeing him for like 3 years was awesome! We picked things up where we left off!

I quickly showed Tim around the city, had some proper Italian Pizza with Silvia which was potentially the greatest (and biggest) pizza I ever had.

That night was spent at a Chicken and Chips restaurant, where they only served you Chicken and Chips, weird I know… I spose you had to be there…

After the Chicken and Chips, we all engaged in some Karoke… I think we were the only ones that spoke English. I’m not to sure if the Italians were that impressed that we were rockin’ out to Bohemian Rhapsody!

PHEW! And that finally concludes my amazing trip in Milan!

A massive thankyou goes to Silvia for taking care of me in Milan! And of course I cant forget Irene and Francesca for everything! You were all fantastic!

Next up is Florence! BE PREPARED!

Ciao!... 'thats what they say'

Note- We dont actually call Tim, Tim The Turbo Williams... but it sounds amusing!