Venice, Italy and Paris, France

Venice

Venice was my favourite place.

It seems like madness to build so much on a tiny scrap of land, but the Venetians were fearless in a way modern architects can never be

The rooftops of Venice

The canals of Venice

I feel like I lived here in another life, jumping from bridge to bridge and leaping from roof to roof.

Lots of people, pigeons everywhere, phone to call internationally at the top of the tower, gondola rides, doors that opened into the canals from houses that were built hundred of years ago, the courage it must have taken to build these buildings on a network of tiny muddy islands, the huge cruise ship, gelato, the book binding man, the North Africans and their rip off bags that look great, but you can get busted 2000 Euros if the police catch you buying one, cold drinks, too much heat, gondoliers balancing and shouting to one another, the Merano glass and the glass blower who wore extremely tight clothing and blew glass, handling it like a well practiced lover, my beautiful azure glass heart, a boat ride through the S canal, imagining what it must be like to see Venice underwater, imagining what two big gates to block out the sea would look like, pondering the thought of Venice becoming a dead city with the only industry being tourism, plotting and planning my return in the winter to ghost through the streets reliving something and imagining I might stealth over Venetian rooftops once more...

Paris

Long bus ride, rubbish flowing through the streets of Paris on the way to the Moulin Rouge, the fact that I am never sure to spell it "Moulin Rouge" or "Moulin Rogue" which are two very separate things, the talking dog, the acrobatics, the fancy costumes and bare breasts of the dancers, the tiny tables and cramped space, the huge line of people for the second show, the Louvre with its Da Vinci-esque pyramids upside down upright, the crowds of people, the incessant photographs, the irritating Mona Lisa, the unfinished works of Michaelangelo who I am sure would be horrified to have works in progress exposed to the prying eyes of tourists (this is how I would feel if people considered my first drafts of stories to be genius...how embarrassing) but whose works nonetheless look like they are resigned to life half out and half imprisoned in the marble, the Eiffel Tower with its views of Paris, Duncan McLeod's houseboat, walking down the steps of the Eiffel Tower after the most irritating man, buying a pink scarf emblazoned with PARIS, buying my pink bag and some pink nougat at the Louvre, the candles in Notre Dame, the life of Quasimodo (who only lived in Victor Hugo's head, but if I was deformed and had to live in a bell tower, I would choose the bell tower of Notre Dame), the new altar with its new age 12 apostles who looked very out of place, the weird hot dog in a bun with cheese on it from the vendor, crepes and ice cream with Lorna and Carlos, almost buying a Dior purse, seeing the Eiffel Tower lit up late at night and flashing its sparkling lights happily, taking a cruise on the river and watching the city of Paris light up.

I understand why people love Paris. I didn't think I would love it, but a part of me does. What can I say? It's Paris!

Sunday Scribblings: Observation

This is the perfect prompt for me this week as I have been sifting through my holiday memories and making random observations about the places I visited. This post is about one of my favourite places in Europe - Lucerne, Switzerland.

Lucerne

The view at the top of Mt Stanserhorn in Switzerland

Lake Lucerne

Lucerne as seen from the lake

A lovely white swan going about its business on the lake

This post is a little different. I wrote things on Lake Lucerne - not snippets, not stream of consciousness, not tiny glimpses of memories. I wrote fully formed sentences, crafted paragraphs of sights and sounds and feelings... Here are some of my favourites:

The water of the lake is so achingly clear that I can see the rocks on the bottom. It is like looking through fluid glass. I hear a car revving, people talking Swiss-German as they walk past my kelly green bench. I hear the splash of someone diving into the lake. I see perfectly white Swans gliding across the glassy surface like they have swum out of a storybook and into the scene before my eyes. I hear rope clanging softly against the metal masts of the yachts bobbing gently before me. My raspberry painted toenails rest on my shoes which rest on grey gravel that crunches as people walk by.

I breathe in peace and breathe out worry and tension. It is like the top of my head has been lifted up and a stream of ideas and concepts and consciousness has flowed in. A key in a lock, the completion of something I didn't know was undone.

There are white fluffy swan feathers on the surface of the lake, floating like nothing will ever weigh them down and they will simply float on this lake as it ebbs and flows until the end of days.

Rome, Italy

Rome

The Coliseum

The Vatican Entrance
The Pantheon

graffiti, ancient, awe inspiring, all roads lead to Rome, Julius Ceasar, posterboards with thick sheafs of paper built up over time as new posters have just been put on top of the old ones layer 'pon layer 'pon layer, hot, gelato, amazing Margherita pizza, fountains of fresh water, crumbling ruins, Popes, magestic buildings, gladiators, kissing Italians, roses, cheesy souvenirs, 3 coins in the Trevi Fountain, pushy modern day gladiators getting 5 Euros for posing with tourists - what a strange way to make a living, beggars and gypsies thrusting their twisted limbs and other maladies in my face so sure this gives them the right to money from strangers (maybe it does?), fields of sunflowers, Etruscan villages rising from stone plateaus, beauty within, dead popes, the beauty of the Sistine Chapel, Vatican stamps, olive trees, Under the Tuscan Sun, pasta.

Cologne, Germany

Cologne

The Cathedral in Cologne

The golden box where the bones of the three magi are said to rest

Arch upon arch upon arch...

Kolin, soot covered church, awesome sandwich with sundried tomatoes and creamed cheese, wasps in the pastry cabinet attracted to the sweetness of the cakes, the most amazing bathroom I have ever seen in my life, the fact that the bones of the three 'magi' (wise men) rest in the church, the fact that the 3 Wise Men were considered to be real people with bones, the couple dressed like extras from a Vin Diesel eastern European movie, the 11,000 (or just 11) virgins who were sacrificed in Cologne to Atilla the Hun.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

This is the first in a series of posts about my travels around Europe. Each post will focus on one city I visited and will include my favourite photographs from that place and some free association words.

This one is for Amsterdam.

The canals of Amsterdam

Where I come from, there are no buildings marked as being constructed in 1665.

Why is it that life on a houseboat seems so romantic to me?

people, bicycles everywhere, bells ringing, canals, sex workers in windows beckoning men, tall skinny buildings, houseboats like Duncan MacLeod's, fries with yummy mayonnaise in twisted paper cones, wooden clogs, busker with a dog, boat ride, big ferry, decorated gables, an area so expensive only banks can own buildings there, steep stair cases, thinking of my life on a houseboat, feeling alone, wooden doors on buildings, weird fashions, cold.