back in action

I have had a loud request from a certain Michaella to write something on this so called blog of mine. Well if you are listening my gorgeous, I will.

I am in London until saturday. Unlike every single other Australian I have never had any desire to live in london and I don't understand why. It is a thriving city, bursting with music, fashion, excitement, history, culture and generally just good ol fashioned life. I blame the weather. I'm really not a rain, grey skied person. It really does affect my moods. I have the same reservations about Melbourne. I would love to live there. Its less corporate and fast paced than Sydney but it just doesn't have that same sunny skied happiness, that takes away a little of the corporateness. Maybe after living through the coldest winter in awhile in Lyon, I will be okay with this climate problem. Anyway back to London. For the first time since Sonar I went clubbing last night. After a little break, it was great to get back into it and the music last night was perfect. Deep house and electro downstairs and some quality cheesy house upstairs for Susannah, which I'm ashamed to say I actually enjoyed! but I still have problems accepting how unreal it all is. I hate to think I've changed since meeting my boyfriend, but I think it's inevitable. It's a single world, the clubbing world. A guy might come up to you, you start talking and you think he's a nice guy and really friendly but as soon as you mention the b word, he's gone. Then you find yourself not saying it, almost pretending for one night, and it's almost as if you're being unfaithful to them. It's been 2 weeks since I've seen V and I find myself noticing other guys alot, especially one particular one last night. I guess it's natural but you cant help feeling that if you can be attracted to other people, maybe you're not so in-love as you thought. But then again, there's so much more to it than attraction. I guess I am just really new to this. It is so much easier to see someone in a nightclub, build a relationship with them based on attraction, kiss them and leave. It may be easier but you miss out on so much.

I've been travelling around Italy with my sister, her boyfriend and his brother and I've had such a great trip. I've been rebuilding my relationship with S, which last year suffered some damage which we didn't create ourselves but which we took on as ours. I feel so much closer to her now. I missed her alot before but in a different way. I missed her because I depended on her, I took alot of my personality from her, it was the first major thing I'd done without her. But now I have a whole new respect for her. We've both been through alot together and I'm constantly amazed by how vulnerable and how un-selfabsorbed she is, the very opposite of what I'd been influenced to think of her. She is everything I hope I am.

Italy is beautiful. After Paris (yes I gave the scary French capital a chance and it is a magical place after all) and Lyon (where we did a fat lot of nothing, except go to the zoo and Fourviere and hang out at my house) we went to Venice. Its like Disneyland. Its a dream world. We were walking around on the first day with our jaws open, ahhing about how pretty everything was. Its so weird. I look back on Venice and its almost as if it was a dream that I thought was real. We went to Murano and Burano, two islands near Venice where they make glass and lace. I preferred Burano, because it was less touristy and because the houses were all different colours which made it visually spectacular. Venice will forever mean to me- magic, murano glass, lace, opera, gelato and bellinis by the water, beautiful alleyways, bridges and streams, balconies with flowers, getting lost in side alleys, scary scary masks, history, beauty alongside decrepidation, interesting smells.

After Venice came Verona for one day then Florence. Verona is gorgeous. The third largest Roman arena, which now hosts concerts and operas. Coldplay was on the night we were there. Romeo and Juliet balcony- covered in the gum and graffiti of lovers. Better to remain a mystery. A little bit fabricated, the balcony was put in in 1935 and really is just a misrepresented tourist trap. But I am still a romantic, it hasn't ruined me. Verona itself is beautiful, with a huge park square next to the arena and sections of the wall still in tact, gorgeous piazzas and beautiful cobblestoned streets lined with old frescoed buildings. We got to Florence at midnight that night and crashed. The next day we slept in in our usual fashion. We rocked up to see the David only to be confronted by a line that resmbled the pilgramage to the holy land. We tried to make a reservation but they were booked out for the whole week. Only option was to get there at 7.30 and line up for an 8.15 opening. Good times. Next stop, the Gallery Uffigi. The line here seemed even longer. Some friendly australians towards the front told me they had been waiting 4 hours. Hhhhm. Only option was for the others to come here after David and line up, while I stayed and looked at the whole museum, not just the David. Then we went to the Palazza Pitti, an over-the-top Medici residence, where everything is covered in gold and the walls of paintings have no spaces- i loved it! It was the ultimate fantasy. After that, the Pallazo Vecchio, the town hall in the main Piazza and a bit of shopping, then dinner and sleep ready for our huge day of art galleries. The David is amazing, it is everything you've heard it is plus more. It really is so impressive. It was by far the stand out and the others left to line up after seeing it. I stayed to look at the rest of the Galleria del'Accadmia which was very small but one of the best museums I've ever been to. It was a mix of classic and modern art, mainly centered around the David. The huge religious paintings were all explained on panels, which gave details about the artist, the symbolism in the paintings and the new details revealed by restoration. The Uffizi was a 2 hour wait, which admittedly I did very little of and Andrew did most of! but it was worth it. It had a very impressive collection of Boticelli and Raphaelo, but my favourite was the Da Vinci 'Adoration of the Magi', with Mary and Jesus in the centre surrounded by worshippers and a sea of ghostly faces. It was very haunting. I also have a penchant for Carravageo, of which there were several. His works are so dark and depressing. He depicts death so directly and without fear that it becomes a natural and unavoidable thing, which it is really!

I will have to continue my adventures later... We are going to see what goodies the London shopping world can offer us for as little pounds as possible. Damn the Australian dollar and the pound's strength. It's so not fair!

After Venice

&nbs p;