Musings of a Displaced HK-Aussie

Spent the weekend in San Diego. Woke up early on Saturday in order to get on the whale watching tour. $20 per person and 3 hours later…no friggin’ whale! Not even a seal lion or dolphin! We got raincheck vouchers to go back within 12 months to do it again for free. Those sneaky operators charged the next group as well, knowing there’s nothing to see. They’re banking on tourists not returning within the 12 months.

Anyways we went to Gaslamp District for dinner. GasLamp is a happening place…reminds me of Chapel St back home…only hipper with better looking chicks.

So the Aussies won the 3rd and final ODI at the Gabba to win the annual triangular series. Not very impressive because they were on the brink of losing game 2 before Punter and "Dreadlocks" Symonds launched the rescue mission. Aussies are old with no depth in the bowling department. They have some serious soul searching to do to get ready for next year’s Ashes series and the World Cup.

Finally finished The Da Vinci Code last week. Interesting book and its probed me to do the geeky thing and google search on a bunch of related topics. Has the church been covering up Christian secrets? Was Da Vinci a genius and the head of a secret brotherhood society? Who cares!!! Can’t wait for the movie to come out, starring Tom "Oscar" Hanks.

We only had 1 day in Florence. In retrospect we didn’t need the 3rd night in Venice. Florence was too rushed. The hotel we stayed at was family-run - the staff were very helpful and friendly. Ask me if you want to know the hotel name.

Went to the Uffizi and Academia Galleries and saw Michelangelo’s David and other masterpieces by Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Botticelli (where was my favourite turtle, Donatello?!?). Michelangelo was involved with more than arts - he studied anatomy (by dissecting the deceased) and helped plan the city’s defences. I thought he just ordered pizza take-outs!

The Church was impressive from the outside, but I was surprised to find it barren inside. The guide explained that Florence used to be a republic and despised the aristocatic lifestyle where the citizens are sent to war. They said, FOCK THAT, we don’t need war if we have money! We’ll make our city the center of all trade routes. Around the time of the church’s construction, Marco Polo stumbled across the Spice Route and everyone started using the sea as a transportation route. Florence was no longer the center of attention and the money dried up, so the church was never completed. I wonder if Florentines despises Venetians because of that?

Last stop was Rome. We stayed on Via Veneto, supposedly the equivalent of NY’s 3rd Ave. Rome was ok - I was bummed that they are not many historical ruins left. The main ones left are the Colosseum and Circus Maximus. I made a video at the Colossesum quoting Rusty Crowe from Gladiator… "Are you not entertained?". Funny shiite. Also took some photos posing as Rusty.

In the end we took over 900 photos - the digital age has truly arrived!

For Venice, I reserved the Westin Europa and Regina in San Marcos. After landing at the airport, the cabbie took us to the main train station and told us that San Marcos is only accessible by water. So it took about 1.5 hours to eventually get to the hotel. The hotel was hard to find - we expected it to be big and brightly lit, but it was actually tucked away in a little alley. No cars are allowed in central Venice - the only transaportation are via water (gondola, water taxi or water bus) or alleyways.

Venice gets kinda quiet at night. Daytime is full of tourists. Good thing about Venice (and Italy in general) is that most people speak English, so I didn’t have to rely on what little I remember of Italian language from high school!

We finally got to sample authentic Italian pasta and pizza. Wendy and I have been debating whether the Aussie or Yankee versions of Italian food was more authentic, so Italy was to place to settle it. We found that marina pasta does NOT have seafood, so the Yankee version is true in this case. Still, we reckon the Aussie spin of Italian food are tastier. (I liked the thin crust Italian pizzas though).

Wintertime in Venice isn’t too bad, as long as it isn’t windy. On my last day there, we switched hotels (I didn’t have enough Starwood points). OMG the hotel was hard to find. We asked heaps of locals and either:

1) they gave us conflicting directions, so we kept on backtracking, or

2) they never even heard of the hotel or the hotel’s street address. WTF!

Ended up taking 3 hours to find the hotel, and it was dark by then. CRAP! I wanted to go to the church/library from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Interesting fact is that it regularly floods in Venice - St Mark’s Square will regularly be under water.

Went to Madrid (3 days) and Barcelona (2 days). Most locals don’t speak English so communication was a bit problematic. Used free nights at Park Hyatt Madrid - the staff were ok but not very friendly.

Food wasn’t cheap in Madrid. Tapas cost 15 euro each. We hung out at Puerta del Sol - a popular destination for tourists (shopping) and pickpockets. We got the concierge to book a flamingo show. The men don’t do squat - they sit on their fat arses, sing and clap. An exception to that was a special performance by a male dancer, but he had the most goofy expressions that I burst out laughing!

Barcelona was definitely a more happening city. Take a stroll along the shops along Las Ramblas and you will end up at the Mediterrean Sea. The Olympic Stadium from ‘92 is very run down, but admission was free

BTW, we also found out that there really was a king named Aragorn (of LOTR fame).

Came back from Europe 2 weekends ago and was sent straight to San Diego the following Monday. Argh! At least SD is a happening place and there are heaps of Starwood (including Westin and W!) and Hyatt hotels - time to hotel-hop and rebuild my points!