Isolation Day 33 - Last day of Level 4

In years to come, I will look back at this month of my life with some fondness and sentimentality. I say this as I feel I have done my best to use it as productively as possible, albeit the further into it I got, the more marginal the productivity felt. There are things on the To Do list I didn't even get to touch, and to be honest I didn't spend the time to prioritise  the tasks on it, so there are still some things that perhaps should have been done, but nothing of course that is hugely important. My focus was more on momentum, so I did things when it seemed logical (eg cleaning the car and house windows on rainy days, as there was bound to be some) and in terms of cleaning the house, working my way through it, and vacuuming once the clutter was out of the way etc. The sentimentality comes from it being the time I essentially was "living my best life" and achieving some of the things that I hadn't managed to in the 6 years I have been living in this house, such as clearing out some of my wardrobe, and going through what I have on my bookshelves in the lounge.

Like I said before, the further into the lockdown, the more marginal the productivity felt, so it's hard to list the things I got done since the last entry, but I'll give it a go.

More things I have got done
Managed to not go to supermarket until the day after they reviewed the level
Managed to make space in pantry and Freezer
Did lots of cooking

Other observations
Anzac Day.
One of my favourite memories of the lockdown would be the morning of Anzac Day. Because no one could go to an Anzac day service, the country was encouraged to celebrate it by standing at the end of their driveways at the traditional Anzac Dawn service time (ie 6am). I have only been to about 3 other dawn services in my life time (once in Kaitaia, and twice in consecutive years with my ex-girlfriend Susan). Because of the lack of travel required, I found it relatively easy to get up and attend. I was surprised that more neighbours weren't up and out there, but there was about 3 couples, several houses down on either side of me (the third were from road that T-junctions in front of my house).
What made it especially poignant, was what was going on globally at this time, and the fact that our country was again requiring us to do our bit, albeit, a simple sacrifice compared to risking our lives and going to war. One of the couples several doors down were watching the national service on their iPad, and because it was so quiet otherwise, I managed to hear it all.

Panic at the supermarket
As it was the only time I went out in public, it was actually a bit confronting going to the supermarket again. Especially as there was lots of people, (seemingly it was like because it was one of the few allowances that people were given, they probably went more than they actually needed to.) Of course then people didn't seem to respect my personal boundaries as much as I would have liked.
Needless to say, I ended up feeling a bit agoraphobic at the supermarket, but that is not surprising, when you also consider for over a month before lockdown I had already been in relative isolation down in Awakino.

Isolation inspiration - Not everything that looks like it might be a mushroom, is a mushroom

This post is a result of a comedy writing workshop I did with Neil Thornton and the NZ Comedy School, online on Zoom over lockdown. In case you haven't read the surrounding posts, I have enjoyed my daily walks and pleasantly finding wild growing mushrooms on people's berms and next to the footpaths I have been frequenting.

Things that look like mushrooms (from the middle distance) -

Dog shit
– amazing how much so

Toadstools

The main reason I haven’t preached to the masses (to go forth and gather mushrooms) as I have the benefit of experience of growing up on a farm -so I know the difference between a mushroom and a toadstool whereas other people may not, and I don’t want to poison any one, or send them on a psychedelic experience

Litter 
Especially on berms

Wool/Cloth
Wool was a big one on the farm now it’s random bits of cloth

Daisies

Puff balls
Like toadstools they are natures cock tease.

Isolation Day 13

Lets start with a couple of JT's life hack's for getting through Isolation - 

• It’s a great time to explore "roundabout traffic islands" while there is virtually nil traffic.
• Its also the perfect time of the year for mushrooms, I found some on my lawn, and subsequently found several on my walk, enough for breakfast this morning with a couple of eggs. Since then I have often supplemented my lunch time wraps with some mushrooms - to give you an idea of the amount I'm finding. To be honest I have held this post back, because as much as I want to encourage others to forage, (without being an old mate/my own personal hero about it) I know that I had the benefit of a childhood on a farm, and picking mushrooms each year, so I can tell the difference between a mushroom and a toadstool. The last thing I want to do is encourage people to go out and pick something and then they have a psychoactive experience, or worse, poison themselves. Keep an eye out for a post shortly, in which I came up with a whole lot of things that look like mushrooms but aren't, while I was free-writting in a class with Neil Thornton and the NZ Comedy School.
• Once I get around to it, I will create a bit of a mini golf course around my lawn

What I've got done recently
Again, I'm writing this retrospectively (from the future lol) so I can't remember exactly where I was up to at this point in time. What I can tell you though, is it felt as time went on that I was using the time less and less productively. But to be fair, I think it was more the fact that the time seemed more precious and finite the closer we got to the date the level 4 was reviewed.

Anyway, some of the things I did were - 

• Wash car - I did this about the second day of lock down, as it was a day when it rained. I figured it was a logical time to do it, as it required less water and effort on my part as the rain naturally pre-rinsed and rinsed the car. As it was still only late March, it was relatively warm still, and I helped myself by wearing my togs and rash vest.
• Clean inside windscreen of car  
• Vacuum the car - I did this at a latter date, once the car was nice and dry. I had given it a good vacuum over the New Years' break, but since then I had had my sister's dog in the back seat.
• Vacuum shed - a logical thing to do while I had the vacuum cleaner plugged in. I got rid of cobwebs, and a lot of sawdust from when I've had my father around to help with the odd project in the past.
• Clean bathroom - I think I did this on day 1. I figured I would get it out of the road, and then any subsequent cleaning of the bathroom is my flatmate's responsibility (I have a toilet there, as well as in my laundry room, so generally I used the laundry toilet, and he uses the bathroom, so I only really go in there to shower, shave, and brush my teeth. I have been stricter on myself during lockdown to only use the one ("my") toilet.
• Vacuum house - I did this in sections over several days, as I wanted to do it properly, and in a logical manner. For example in the spare room at the same time I took the opportunity to re-arrange the bed etc, and vacuumed all of it. In my room I went as far as flipping the bed against the wall and vacuuming underneath it, and pushing out the drawers to get in behind and beneath them.
• Cull Recipe books - I went through my recipe books, I got rid of two, and have put two others in the box "for Papamoa" in other words to go to live at my parent's beach house, as they were too good to get rid of, but were essentially double-ups of books I already had. I did use this time to have a look at some recipes, namely for soup.
• Washed the house's windows - again, I decided to do this when it rained. So I waited until the second time it rained, which, as a meme circulating Facebook pointed out, was rare for once for a New Zealand April.

The Inequity of it.
I'm not complaining, much the opposite. I'm in a good position. But I feel sorry for medical professionals and other essential workers who have to put themselves at risk, and its another day at the office for them, whilst others are getting a "holiday". In my sister and brother-in-law's case, they have had to work from home, and at the same time look after my nieces. While I would love to spend some time with my nieces right now, I know that I would also soon like a break from them. So, on top of my personal ambitions, I have also been motivated to be productive as I appreciate that I have been lucky, and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Isolation Day 10

Unfortunately it’s a bit of a struggle providing a unique perspective on my unique experience of something everyone else seems to be going through at the moment - my experience in isolation. As interesting as I find the tasks of my day, I’m sure it’s probably not as interesting as I think it is.

Managed to get up at a decent time 7 o’clock. Decided it was a victory if I went to my chair and after doing things even if I did keep falling asleep in the chair for you my breakfast and once I woke up enough I watched couple episodes of big bang theory before tackling some properties. I have actioned the clothes I’m in my room and worked out which ones were too small and which ones are gym clothes.

Then I concentrated on moving my wine rack from the bottom of the pantry to the other big kitchen cupboard to give my flatmate some more pantry space. A benefit of this was that I actually ended up with more wine bottle storage spaces and the wine is now hidden behind other things in the cupboard.

After this victory I had some lunch I’m of of wraps with three mushrooms growing in my lawn recently and a bit of an omelette.

As I was doing this I finished series 6 of The Big Bang Theory.

Shifted my focus back to my bedroom. I fully completed dealing with the clothes and now I’m dealing with the small boxes of random stuff. At the same time I have been falling down the YouTube app at home and as I looked up whether there was a Verona (by Elemeno P) parody song because of the obvious rhyming with Corona. Some one had of course beaten me to the punch. Check it out here  -

 Tonight is daylight savings so clocks go back one hour and which is good because it should mean that I wake up and hour earlier. 

Had a good chat to my parents and later on to my brother-in-law over the phone and FaceTime respectively.

I was keen to try and do the online open mike night again tonight and however decided that as it is daylight savings tonight I would hold off another night and because as of tomorrow it’ll be dark a lot earlier and therefore a lot easier to participate just because I’m finding it hard to get around to being organise for it beforehand because obviously wants me like I am doing whatever random job I’m doing and not really watching the time.

On to book 8 for the year. Last year I only got through 10 for the whole year, but that was because I read a 500+ page Bill Bryson book (1927). It was good, but one that size takes longer obviously, but also perpetuates the problem because you lose motivation. I started the year with Shaun Wallace’s autobiography,  have read 3 Barry Crump novels, and 3 Stephen Clarke Merde (which I found on TradeMe, but they’ve come from the UK,) and am currently reading Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch. I’m trying to read one authors works at a time, preferably in order in which they were written. I switched to Nick Hornby as I have some gaps in my Crump collection, but also discovered I don’t have a copy of what I think is his most famous (and most often found at book exchanges etc) About a Boy.

First world problem of the day

Pooping- usually need to go first thing in the morning, unless I went the evening before (generally). At the moment that doesn’t seem to be the case, and I may think I need to go, but then only achieve reading several pages of my book. Where the problem lies is I hold off going for my walk because I know that will often get the ball rolling, and since I’m trying to do 4kms a day, I don’t want to be desperate to go when I’m 2kms from home. Of course then I don’t go, and it gets to 6/7pm and I decide to bite the bullet. And yes, I’m writing this draft after such a walk, from you know where.

Other isolation observations - dude driving his car to pick up chicks, but it’s not a good time to be picking up chicks.

While there is quite a few people out walking, it’s awkward purposefully keeping quite a distance. The odd person says hi, a lot do not. I remember as a kid walking around Mt Maunganui and the majority of people would say hi, and those that didn’t we thought were snobs.

Isolation Day 9

A reasonably productive day.

Initially I woke up just before 7am, and had I not felt like I just couldn't do it, I would have gotten up then. But I couldn't, so I ended up getting up about 9am, which was a good start - I want to get back into a good routine.

Anyhow, had my pre-prepared breakfast, and then went for a walk. Earlier in the week I had requested a prescription, which had been sent to my local pharmacy. So I investigated a walk which took me past there.

On the way home I gave my mate Ron a call, and after that I had some lunch of wraps. I have multiple packets of wraps in my freezer, as up until this time last year it was my go to lunch. That changed this year as I needed to take a premade lunch, so I reverted back to sandwiches.

After lunch I vacuumed out my shed, and my car, finally ridding the backseat of the hair of my sister's dog.

For dinner I finished off the Pumpkin soap and beer bread I made yesterday. The beer bread was actually nicer today cold. I tried to get involved with the open mic night online again, but faced technical difficulties, so watched an episode of Lego Masters instead.

Isolation Week 1

So here I am, well, we all are, in isolation, unless you are from Australia and really dragging the chain on this one...

Personally I'm enjoying being able to do the things that I haven't had the time to do in recent times. It's like being at the beach over Christmas, albeit I feel less guilt for not going swimming more, climbing the Mount (Mt. Maunganui) etc. and there is internet and most of my possessions here.

Unfortunately some of my more fun and recreational "to-dos" are at the beach, such as all my Lego, and my stamp and other collections. This has benefits though, in the sense that I'm doing the less fun and possibly more important, necessary and beneficial tasks.

I came back to Hamilton the day/night before lock down, so I had about 24 hours to get what I might have needed. As it was, my freezer and and pantry are pretty well stocked anyway, as I'm a supermarket addict, and enjoy eating, and therefore enjoy growing things in my garden as well as cooking. Having only being home one or two nights a week for the past month, I had a full contingent of pre-made dinners already made in the fridge's freezer. To be honest I appreciated the opportunity to get to use them up, as well as starting to use some of the countless supplies in the chest freezer such as mixed veges and all the (grated and sliced) courgettes that have been growing in my garden.

On the day before lock down I went out, mainly to hunt out some manure and/or compost, so I could restock my garden as well as possibly going about fixing up the differing levels of my lawn. Unfortunately, other people probably had had the same idea, and the couple of places nearby where I know there is usually manure available on the side of the road (pre-bagged, either for sale or free) had already been stripped of their goods. So I ended up going to the Warehouse and picked up six bags of compost, as well as a copy of the book "Funny As" (which was published alongside the documentary of the same name, which talked about the history of New Zealand comedy) for $15, which I think was a bargain. To be fair, I felt the Warehouse was treating the day like Boxing day - a good opportunity to sell sell sell, albeit with social distancing. Before going home, I thought a good idea would be to get some more Masala oats (like porridge, just curried) as they don't require milk.

So tasks I have ticked off since isolating:

• Washed car
• cleaned the bathroom, including the bath and both toilets, and the shower curtain
• gone through my recipe books and (tried to) cull some of them (I only managed to decide to get rid of two, and send two others to the beach)
• Made the bed and tidied up the spare room.
• Partially tidied my room (still a work in progress)
• Culled some of the clothes in my drawers
• Put away all my clothes
• Tidied my pantry
• Gone for a 4km walk most days (so far only missed two non-consecutive days)
• Used up some of my frozen dinners,
• Generated some more (I had portions of Scalloped Potatoes already made, so I added some shredded chicken (already pre-frozen) and courgette bake which I made
• Today I used a frozen pumpkin soup which I pimped out by adding some bacon pieces and chopped up small chillis, and made some beer bread. Unfortunately the bread ended up being a bit more of a pizza.

Along with the above tasks, I have also attended two online comedy workshops, participated in an online open mic, participated in a MCed quiz (like a pub quiz, just online instead),

As you can probably tell, I've also been attempting to resurrect my blog. Keep an eye out, I'm updating it, but jumping a little from entries from Bali in 2018 to entries in Europe in 2014, to present day entries such as this (in 2020) 

Lembongan

I jumped in the vehicle and we were off. 

The driver seemed cool- chatty and young. It probably only took us an hour to get to the harbour /HQ of the boat/resort. It seems the resort and the boat(s) and pontoons where you alight to hop into a smaller boat are all owned by the same company. What was cool was on the big boat to the pontoon, I met again an Australian couple that I had done the bike ride with the previous day. It was nice to have some company and conversation.

I made it to the resort, which was really nice. On checking in, they wanted my credit card details for security - standard practice at hotels. It was then that I discovered my Credit Card had been blocked, despite the fact that I had advised them that I would be travelling to Indonesia, and my travel dates. Turns out it had been blocked prior to my trip when someone random had tried to use my details. The hotel was good about it, but of course it meant I couldn't use it for the rest of the trip. Luckily I am a man who has contingency plans, needless to say, someone got a bollocking on the phone once I got back to New Zealand.

As I said the resort was nice, and there were several activities you could do. There was about an hour or two before I could access my room, so I tried to do some of these, as well as having the complimentary first day lunch.

One of the activities was a banana boat/biscuit ride. I had always wanted to try it, but it didn't live up to the expectation - I was on the back of it, and physics isn't my friend, so it was 'sinking' underneath me, whilst the front stuck up in the air. This meant I was more concerned about hanging on for dear life, and fighting the resulting urge to be sick.

Another activity was a drive around the island. To be fair, this was also a waste of time, as they took you just down the road to a big yellow bridge, waited there for about 20 minutes, and then returned back to the hotel. I did try and explore the island myself a day or so later, but to be fair, it wasn't really an explorable place, as the layout wasn't conducive, things looked the same, and not tidily laid out, and the island was bigger than it appeared when I originally looked at it on a map.

I can however say, conversely, the food on the first day was a great buffet, as well as the other meals I had while there.

My room was amazing, it was a bure. Underneath there was even an outdoor lounging area, but being a single traveler, that pretty much went to waste. One of my regrets was it wasn't really a place for meeting people. I spent a lot of time on Tinder trying to remedy that fact, however I did spend a lot of time reading and napping.

It was a lovely place to be, although the snorkeling out from the resort was fairly average as it had a bit of an undertow, as well as a bit of traffic.

I ended up going out several times with the people doing scuba trips, which was good, got to see some more interesting areas, albeit, it was naturally disappointing only getting the 2D experience when they got the 3D. The highlight was just before hopping back on the boat the last time I believe I saw a small tortoise. 

On the day I was to head back to the mainland I asked if they could take me back to the pontoon a couple of hours early, so I could enjoy some of the attractions there - such as the water slide and the snorkeling. From memory the snorkeling was actually pretty good.

Anyhow, eventually I hopped back on the big boat, and was returned to the mainland.

Once there, it took a while to find the person who was actually my transfer to my next hotel, and once I did, it was a bit of a drive (due to the traffic, and the fact it was rush hour) and I had to make sure he was dropping me off at the correct place, as like I had found with Ubud, there were places with similar names.

Ubud

Ubud.

I made it through customs easy enough, albeit for the waiting. Once I got through I was welcomed by my own guy with a sign with my name on it - which is another first for me. I almost wanted to take a photo of him with it. I had hoped to get a SIM card at the airport, but I was looking for a Vodafone shop, but I only saw a couple of other brands that I didn’t know how legit they were, and I had the guy waiting for me. So we went to his vehicle. He put my bags in the vehicle and handed me an ice cold water and a welcome pack. Now I was a little paranoid at this point as the seal didn’t crack as dramatically as it would usually at home, so I was questioning whether the water hadn’t just been filled from a tap, so I only took a small mouthful at that point. Which was a good idea, as it took a while to drive to the hotel as traffic was quite built up, and toilets probably few and far between. I was waiting for the density of traffic to dissipate before attempting any real conversation with the driver, (remembering how educational the conversation I had had with the guy who transferred me in Fiji was) however it never did.

Once I got to the hotel I had a read of the pack and figured if the company recommends you don’t drink the tap water, they aren’t going to give you (disguised) tap water to drink.

Once I got to the hotel I wanted/needed to sort a few things out, but at the same time was fighting a long day. By the time I got myself sorted, it was about 10pm local time, so I nipped out and got some quick dinner - some soft shell tacos before going to bed.

Woke up the next morning with my alarm at 6am. Breakfast opened at seven so was nice and organised for that. I organised a 1.5 hour massage at 12, and once that was over, went about finding a SIM card. The hotel people had mentioned a booth just out the front gate - which I found and discussed with the guy running it - however I thought it a little too convenient being just out the gate, and figured I ought to check out the Main Street, especially as they might have a more non-tourist brand. Truth be told, I should’ve just bought the SIM card there as it took me ages to get to the Main Street due to the fellow pedestrians sharing a pavement that periodically had pavers missing, and then between them, periodic open manholes (which to be fair are big and square and raised, so not invisible). I also purchased a pair of sunglasses (some “Oreys” - ie fake Oakleys) and some gelato. By the time I had completed this and got back to the hotel, it was virtually 6pm, the closing time of the monkey forest and the Elephant cave. The rest of the evening I spent having a swim in the pool, having dinner and getting organised for the next days bike ride.

The next morning I woke up early again, and before breakfast went and got some supplies from the convenience store next to the hotel - just some water and chips. However a monkey had a go at stealing my chips, and on the second go right outside the door of my room  it succeeded in mugging me of them. It was a little sinister as I had no where to go, and wasn’t going to fight due to not wanting rabies or ebola. I had breakfast and got picked up at about 8 and we headed north for about an hour or two. I had been dreading this part of the trip for several reasons - one that it might be quite strenuous and I wasn’t particularly fit, and two that I got a seat that made me feel violated afterwards.

When we got our bikes, I was horrified to discover the seat was not particularly big, however both fears were unwarranted as 90%+ of the ride was downhill and required little pedaling, the strain was more on your arms and feat to keep you in position- which I think was also made harder by the fact the bikes had suspensions, meaning if you were facing downhill, you potentially were further forward than usual. What I wasn’t a fan of was the sharing the road with all the Bali traffic and the off-road bits could be rough in places.

However, it was over before I knew it, and the lunch we got was fantastic.

Once I got back to my hotel, I went and did the monkey forest - which was nice, albeit less special after my run in with the monkey that morning.

That evening I had organised to meet up with an American girl. It ended up she got back later from her tour than expected, and then had a massage booked (which was Ok, as it allowed me to fit in an hour massage too) but by the time we met, I was starting to feel like going to bed, so my conversation probably wasn’t on point.

The next day I was told to be ready to be picked up at 7-7:30 to head to my next hotel. At 6:45, whilst on the toilet I got a call saying the driver was here. Luckily I had used the time wisely the night before whilst waiting for the American girl, to be all packed.

The Return to Asia - Bali

Yes, there is a Four-year gap I still haven’t filled, but I figured you may appreciate some current adventures in the meantime. I know it’s four years, as my niece Sienna has just had her Fourth Birthday.

After a weekend of packing and preparations, I spent the night at Mum and Dad’s so we could get an early start with Dad dropping me off at the airport. Admittedly somewhat self-serving, I promised him a McDonald’s breakfast. The stop there also gave me a quick paranoia inspired check that I had my passport and ticket before it was too late, of course it was just paranoia.

As we got into Auckland the traffic locked up at Takanini, and it was around this point I fell asleep, waking at the airport. This of course was a little bit of a shock to the system, saying my good-byes to Dad, and facing the reality of the situation after just waking up (again).

Relax: That's my intention!

I was nice and early so I wasn’t pressured for time. I had a quick look around in the general airport after checking in my bags, having a small chuckle to myself that there is a KFC based at the airport- presumably for the people who take home buckets of KFC to the Islands. As much as I’m a fan of KFC, I was still full from McDonalds, so I proceeded through security and into duty-free.

Once on the plane I proceeded to watch some movies and TV. I started with “The Breaker-uppers” a recent Kiwi film - it had some good one-liners that had me laughing out loud. I followed that up with “Good-bye Christopher Robin” - about A. A. Milne and his son Christopher- who was the inspiration of his namesake in the Winnie the Pooh stories. That had me crying at the end - my neighbours in the seats next to me may’ve thought I was a bit nuts. I watched about half of Deadpool - but as I was next to the toilets I decided it was a bit too graphic considering I had kids walking past. So I switched to watching most of a documentary on “Back to the Future” and a few 5-10minute travel documentaries. As I was travelling through the day, I only dozed off briefly at one point.

On arrival to Bali, I was hit by the heat as soon as I hopped out of the plane and into the airlock into the airport. Customs took a while to get through, solely because of the number of people that were coming in - our  plane had been put into a holding formation for about half an hour before we landed as the run way was busy - I think out of all my travel, that’s the first time that’s ever happened, or at least the first time the pilot has mentioned that is the case - despite reading about it when I was a kid.

I’ll leave it there and continue in a new post...

Amsterdam

Don't you love how with a bit of imagination you can actually read the foreign words eg. Schwein is pork (swine).
Admittedly I know Champignon is French for mushroom from prior travels, where I quickly learnt all the words for my favourite foods, such as cheese (Kase, fromage, queso etc)

The next day I hopped on the train to Amsterdam. What I remember most was that it was a long train ride, and must've taken most of the day. Long enough that I bit the bullet and ordered food on the train, as it was going to be a while before we got to Amsterdam.

In preparation for my visit, I had purchased and been reading The Diary of Anne Frank on iBooks on my iPhone. Now I don't want to spoil it for you, but it doesn't have a happy ending. Anyhow, I had managed to finish reading it before getting to Amsterdam.

Warp speed Mr. Teddy

Once I got there, I found my hostel relatively easily, dropped my gear off, and went exploring.

I found a cheese shop, so made some purchases there. I had no interest in the coffee shops or their products. I would love to say that I had the same level of interest in the other main attraction(s) of Amsterdam, but I'm only a human, and a male one at that, so walked through the famous Red Light district.

The following day I went to the Anne Frank Haus (house), the building where her and her family had been hiding. It was a weird experience in the sense the book had moved me, but the building/"museum" didn't do a lot for me, and it was only really the multimedia stuff at the end which elicited some feelings. However, considering I had felt similarly after visiting Auschwitz, which is a lot more confronting, I wasn't so hard on myself.

I'm not sure whether it was after this, (or the day before) but I did a walking tour with a company I have experienced walking with all over Europe - New Europe walking tours.

As usual I enjoyed it, and it was a great way to get a good overview of the city, historically and culturally.

One thing that I remember about Amsterdam was that if you had to go up stairs in a building, they were very steep, apparently something to do with how buildings there are built on soft and sandy ground.

I'd love to write more, but I only spent approximately a day each in Bern, Amsterdam, and Brussels, so there isn't that much more to tell...

Anyhow, I moved onto Brussels, =>

Bern

After travelling past the Cinque Terre, I believe the train went through Genoa before heading north into Switzerland. Whilst on the train I did a quick google map search to see whether we would be traveling over the Landwasser  viaduct - unfortunately not, as that is a bucket list dream since seeing a picture of it as a child.I believe it must've been sometime in the afternoon that I reached Bern. Unfortunately Switzerland is a bit of a mongrel in the sense that it doesn't use the Euro, despite being in the middle of countries that do, so I had to change some money, and estimate roughly how much I was going to spend in a day, so I didn't change too much or too little.Once I had sorted that out I went about finding my hostel, which was down a hill via cable car. I checked in, and remember I was lucky enough to score a stand alone bed (rather than a bunk). I know I then spent a bit of time sorting out Eurostar tickets from Brussels to London, and possibly also my ticket to Amsterdam for the following day, as it was starting to get dark as I went out to explore Bern.I got some dinner at a restaurant that specialised in Fondue  - apparently a national dish of Switzerland, which I kind of knew from reading Asterix comics. I ordered a fondue, and ate it, with the intention of following it up with a Raclette - which is a Swiss dish where raclette cheese is melted and scrapped off the wheel onto potatoes and gherkins. I had had this several times at Borough market in London, after my sister had introduced me to it. Unfortunately I was already full, and something stodgy like potatoes would have been a step too far.  I figured I would get the opportunity again once I got to London.The walk was nice, albeit not too overwhelming. (I believe I had a map, and had circled a few things to check out, most of which weren't memorable enough to be recalled 6 years later.) I recall at the turning point of my explorative walk there was a park which you looked down into, which contained bears - the Barengraben (the Bear Pit), which may've been the most exciting. I did pass a shop with a Swiss Army knife display, something that MacGyver-mad young me was interested in.On the way back to the hostel I found the Einstein cafe, so called, as it was the building where Einstein had lived/worked at some point. There I had a nice hot chocolate before returning to the hotel for a sleep.

La Spezia, and the Cinque Terre

So I made it to La Spezia - which is essentially the gateway to the Cinque Terre.

I went about finding my hotel, from memory I believe I found the street easy enough, but initially was looking at the wrong end of the street. Once I found it it was all good - the lady who checked me in was nice, and could speak English. The Hotel itself  - The Hotel Astoria - was nice, slightly older, but not a dump by any stretch of the imagination. It was well worth the €50.00 I paid per night, which is actually really good considering a dorm room isn't that much cheaper.

I believe after sorting myself out at the hotel, I went back to the train station and talked to the tourist information people, in preparation for the following day, as there wasn't much left of the day to bother attempting to try and see any of the Cinque Terre.

On the recommendation of the hotel, I went somewhere for dinner that specialised in Pizza. I can't remember if I tried two pizzas or just the one, with the intention of another. From what I remember, it was delicious.

I then had a little bit of an explore of La Spezia and it's marina, however it was dark by this stage, so I made my way back to the hotel to sleep.

The next morning I got up an went to explore the Cinque Terre, albeit probably not as early as I should have. I decided to do it in what I perceived was the reverse order to what most people would do - ie. Monterosso al Mare to Riomaggiore as opposed to Riomaggiore to Monterosso al Mare. There were a couple of reasons for this, the first was because I wanted to go against the flow, secondly was because I knew the walkway between the first and second villages (Riomaggiore and Manarola) was closed, due to enviromental damage, and thirdly because I knew the walk between Monterosso al Mare and Vernazza was the longest, so I figured I would be taking the road less traveled.

Monterosso al Mare

Vernazza

After a quick lunch/(brunch) and a swim, I proceeded from Monterosso al Mare to Manarola. I quickly discovered why it was the track less traveled as it took over an hour, and up and down a hillside. Of course the views were great, and we went past a guy selling Lemoncello, where I bought some. What was also great was that on the way I ended up meeting an older (albeit still relatively young, i.e. between my and my parent's ages) couple from Wellington. We were heading in the same direction, and they were great company. Once we got to Manarola, the three of us had a swim in the harbour to cool off. I believe they may've had several days to explore, whereas I just had that day, so I had to bid them adieu and proceed to the other villages.

The next village, Corniglia, is up in the hills, as opposed to being a coastal village. I took the train to that stop, and then you have to catch a minibus ride up the hill to the village proper. I had a look around the village, and had another meal, before proceeding to the other villages.

Looking at google images, I believe it must've been Manarola where I spend a little bit of time exploring the alleyways which went up hill and at one point ended in a courtyard with a church in it. By this time it was dark, however I'm sure I checked out both Manarola and Riomaggiore before returning to La Spezia for the night. Unfortunately, by the time I reached La Spezia, all the restaurants were closed.

The following day I hopped on the train to Bern.

Pizza in Pisa

Yes, you may have noticed I seem to have gotten half-way through my trip and then have gone quiet for two and a half years...

There are several reasons for this, mainly the rest of the trip was quite full on and had less down time on trains etc, but also in a couple of posts time I will deal with this further - there was another reason which will make more sense when I deal with it then.

My apologies if it is obvious from here on in that it has been written 2 years after the fact.

From memory the journey to Pisa was non-eventful.

Ah, the Joys of Southern Europe in Summer

Once I got to Pisa I worked out I had several hours - I got hold of a map and checked my luggage into a storage place and started the trek to the leaning tower. It turns out the Leaning tower is across town from the train station - across the river and at least a 15/20 minute walk - so I got moving. When I got close enough to be confident I was on the right track but not too close so I wasn't paying tourist prices I found a pizza shop and bought a couple of slices, from memory they were damn nice- I'm guessing my appetite was starting to come back.

Once I got to the park where the Leaning tower is, I found an empty piece of ground and sat down and finished my lunch. This was probably the first time this trip I made good use of  Rick Steve's Europe through the back door - by using it with the back door - using it to sit on. In his defence, it is a great book, especially the bit about the Cinque Terre. He can probably be accredited with making it the tourist spot that it is today. Since returning I have enjoyed listening to several of his clips on YouTube. It was a book I had picked up in a hostel book exchange my first time around Europe in 2009. Anyhow, as I was saying - I sat down and had my lunch and figured in the time I had I probably couldn't do/go inside all the things there, so I chose to do two, the Battistero di San Giovanni (The Pisa Baptistery of St. John) Dome, and the Cathedral. Of course I had the obligatory look at the Leaning Tower - but I decided against going inside it as I figured if there was any day it would fall, it would be the day I climbed it, that and the fact that I think the lean would mess with my balance especially near the top.

Credit to Google Maps for this picture

Anyway, the Dome was pretty cool - it had awesome acoustics. I don't remember a whole lot about the Cathederal - in the end they all blend into one. I did catch a  quick documentary on how they fixed the lean (or got it to a safe angle) on the Leaning tower which was also interesting.

Once I finished there, I headed back to the train station and proceeded onto La Spezia - which I recall was a nice trip - as we were most of the way there.

When in Rome...

My hostel was reasonably easy to find from the station, so  I checked in and had a shower before grabbing some dinner. I believe I went for Gnocchi this time.

The next day I invested in a two day train pass, and decided I would knock off country #30 - the Vatican City. To be honest it was a bit of a disappointment as it was really just some glorified buildings with paintings on the roof. There wasn't even passport control, I had expected that we'd be allowed to walk around the "city". All in all, it was a bit boring and pretentious.

Once I finished that I decided to walk to several things that were nearish where I was, and would use the subway where convenient. First stop however was some food - I believe I opted for a panini and some gelato. The next stop was a small castle - Castel Sant Angelo - it looked kinda interesting but didn't entice me enough to go in, to be fair I think I had finally reached castle-apathy. I sat down in front of it and finished my lunch. 

From there I walked beside the river until I got to the next bridge and crossed there and went to the Piazza Navona. From there I headed to the Pantheon. On the way however I came across a souvenir shop and bought my newborn niece a t-shirt and a little pink teddy bear. I decided from then what would be cool was taking a series of pictures with the teddy as I travelled through Europe and back home on the journey back to her. The first photo of course was outside the Pantheon. I wasn't exactly sure what the Pantheon was before I went to see it, as I confused it with the Parthenon in Athens. Turns out the Pantheon is an old church - which is a perfect dome, with a small hole at the top to allow light in. Apparently despite the hole, not much rain enters the church. I thought it was pretty cool. From there I walked and checked out several piazzas and minor sites. At one point I stopped and enjoyed some gelato. The final leg of my walk was down a  big street, and at one point there was an underpass that had become a bookshop, so I had a quick look through there, and then popped across the road and checked out the Adidas store in the vain hope they'd have something All Blacks related and at a cheap price. A failure on both accounts. Eventually the street got me back to a subway station and I headed back to the hostel. After a shower I opted for dinner around the corner at a different restaurant the hostel recommended, all I remember was that it was nice, as I was disappointed the following night when I found it was closed. After dinner I took my laundry down the road to a laundromat to get washed.

The next day I believe I started with the essential tasks, breakfast, investigating and booking accommodation for the next location (La Spezia) and organising my train ticket, and picking up my laundry. On a positive note, the train operator was very helpful and I discovered I didn't need to head to the other main Rome station to head north, I could just get the train from that one- which saved a lot of stress and time. Anyhow, it was midday before I got to the colosseum. I jumped on a tour of the Colosseum which then took us on a tour of the forum. Both were very interesting, albeit a little different to how I'd imagined them to be. After the guided part of the forum was over I had a pretty good look around, and since at one part it overlooked the Circus Maximus, I decided I didn't need to go there and do that myself. My only regret, was not getting to the government building next to the forum earlier, as I believe for free you could go to the observatory at the top. Never mind, Italy is definitely on the return-to list. 

Ted at the Colosseum

Walking back was interesting for multiple reasons - there were excavations like an open cast mine in the middle of the main thoroughfare. Once I had cleared them, a series of Supercars came along. I couldn't work out why, and also why the ferrais and Lamborghinis were allowed into wherever they went- it seemed they were being allowed into the forum- but not the Porsche. When I finally made it back to the colosseum I was tempted by a handout for a
€10 buffet meal - I went as far as finding the restaurant, and checking out the Buffett table, but decided against it as it reminded me of the disappointment I had in London when I went to a £5 buffet and then realising it was vegetarian, despite some things looking like meat. So I headed back to the hostel and had dinner at the restaurant I went to the first night (as the other one was closed). As I was sitting there along came Kate, the Australian girl from my walking tour in Florence, so she sat down and joined me. It was great having a catchup - one of the downsides of travelling is that you meet lots of cool people, but you meet them the once and then never see them again, so it was nice crossing paths again, and sharing our experiences of the in-between days, as well as talking topics that are more advanced than the first time meeting. After dinner we had a beer in the hostel then called it a night. The next morning of course I checked out and hopped on the train for Pisa and La Spezia.

The Italian Job - Florence

I got to Florence sometime in the afternoon, found my hostel and checked in.

When I went upstairs I saw they'd given me a top bunk, but there were plenty of bottom bunks free so I went downstairs and swapped. I went about my ablutions and sorting my bag etc, I think I had a bit of a lie down, and by then it was dinner time. Now it seems in Europe that they push the limits of advertising further than we would at home - in this case the lonely planet had mentioned that dinner was free in the low season, and the flyer at the front desk advertised what was provided by the hostel, including free breakfast and below it was dinner, which on a quick glance you would assume is also free, which it wasn't. In saying that I ended up getting the three specials which were a Euro each, a basic margarita pizza, salad and a basic pasta dish. At this point I had the choice of sitting by myself, or by a girl who'd already got her dinner, or one who'd come in after me. I decided the best idea would be  to sit by the one getting her dinner after me as then I'd have more time, and also I think the other girl had been fussy when ordering, and I'm not having the mother of my children being a fussy eater lol

I asked the "after" girl if I could sit with her and she was happy to have me. We had a good chat, she was from the Netherlands and studying Italian. She told me about Florence, and I mentioned how I was heading to Amsterdam and currently reading Anne Frank's Diary in preparation. I even mentioned my new baby niece, but it was all in vain as she was meeting an old friend later on.

After dinner I went to the station and organised my ticket for Rome for the next day at 6pm and went to the Pharmacy and bought some more nasal strips as I had run out, and so far I've only had one mention of snoring, and that was a night where I have drunk the most.

When I got back to the hostel I sat down to organise my accommodation for Rome and got talking to a girl next to me, as she was trying to decide what to do in the next few days. She then asked me if I wanted to go for a beer later on, which I was up for. As luck would have it, the first hostel I checked out was conveniently located etc, so I booked that without too much effort and went and got ready.

I went and found Hannah (the girl from the computer) and we and her roommate who was originally from Panama but living in the States went out. Hannah was keen for sushi, so when we came across a place we went there.

The next morning I got up and had breakfast, and was joined by Hannah. It was a fairly decent breakfast considering it was free. I went back upstairs and got my pack ready, checked out and put it in storage and by then it was time for the free walking tour that the hostel provided. 

It was a good walking tour, informed me of stuff I wouldn't have otherwise have known. Hannah and I got talking to an Australian girl called Kate and once the tour concluded we swapped names to add each other on Facebook and went our separate ways. I headed first of all to the Michaelangelo square which was on top of a hill, and had great views, albeit souvenir seller Mecca. On the way I stopped for lunch and had a Penne in Pesto pasta.

After the square I headed back to where the tour concluded and went across the bridge, which had buildings along it to (imagine the London bridge that burnt down) and to the Duomo/cathedral etc. I got a ticket and went through the cathedral and catacombs, and climbed the bell tower. I didn't bother with the Dome as the line was too long and I didn't have time. The bell tower was an effort to climb, but good. Once I did that I headed back and got my bags and headed to Rome on the train.

The Comedy of Errors: The Merchant (/Medic) of Venice

My train basically was supposed to go from Prague to Munich, and then 40 minutes later I would catch a train from there to Venice, travelling through the night.

When we got about halfway through the journey to Munich, an announcement came over the intercom informing us that the train would go as far as one place, then there was a rail replacement bus to take us to another station to rejoin another train. It was a bit stressful, but I managed. I realised however once on the train taking us to Munich that it was running quite late, so I went about finding the train manager to check if we'd get to Munich in time for my next train, which he assured me we would, and the other train would wait for us. We didn't, and it didn't however, so I went to the information people and they gave me a form to claim on, stamped my ticket, recommended I stay at the hotel across the road, and told me the next train was at 7:30 tomorrow. So I had a night in a rather nice albeit not particularly cheap hotel, but it was a better sleep than I would've otherwise have got. 

Next morning I got up, had breakfast and went across to the station again and went about claiming my money back and getting a ticket for the new train. I seemed to get the only person who couldn't speak English, and after waiting for my number to come up there wasn't much time. This ended up causing a headache because I then didn't have reserved seat on the trains I was taking, and because I'd got my money back on my other ticket, I didn't have proof that I originally did. The ticket guy should've told me that. Annoying as I'd asked all the right questions but got all the wrong answers.

I ended up sitting with some young Germans for most of the way, and they were most helpful especially at Verona when it wasn't clear which platform I needed to be on.

Before that though, it was interesting passing through Austria, and then into Northern Italy, and the amazing landscapes of them both.

At one point I poked my eye with a cable tie on my rucksack when I was putting it up on a rack. Ouch!

Quite fittingly, this vending machine represents

Venice well - i.e. that "You can get Fucked",

 and being a self-service that it is DIY, in other

words - "Go Fuck Yourself"

I got to Venice about 2pm and found my hostel. The hostel itself was alright, the beds weren't bunk beds for a start, the staff however I found weren't particularly keen to help, but neither were the tourist information people - maps were €3, there were 3 staff but they'd only serve one person at a time, and only let one customer into the office at a time. 

The same day as I got there I went for a walk and got information for my next train journey - the train people on the other hand were awesomely helpful and restored my faith in Venetians and Italians in general. On the same wall I found a Co-op supermarket so I had a bit of a look, about 500gm of cheese was about €2 so I bought myself some and proceeded to munch on it (the constipation didn't hit until 2 days later), and some gelato, which I knew Suzanne and Bevan raved about when they were in Italy.

I think I had a bit of a sleep, and then went and had some pizza for dinner.

The next morning I woke up and the eye I had accidentally poked with the cable tie had weeped and was bloodshot and sensitive to light. Like I said the staff at the hostel were a bit useless, but I got the name of another hostel from them, and proceeded to book it for the next night, as I hadn't seen much, and I would also need some time to have my eye seen too.

I took my stuff to the new hostel, and instantly they were 100x more helpful, the manager Nick was an American and he told me how to get to the hospital, and that it wouldn't cost more than a maximum of €70.

I headed to the hospital, getting a little lost, as Venice is hard enough to navigate with two good eyes... But eventually I found it. They have assistants in the waiting room who tell you what to do, and to be fair looked amazingly hot in their white coat/dress things. Eventually I got seen by the eye specialist, he told me I'd scratched my cornea, put some ointment in my eye and bandaged it, and gave me a prescription for some drops.

I then proceeded back towards the hostel, stopping at a pharmacy for the drops, and getting them to help me put them in and re-bandage my eye. Near the pharmacy was a place I had lunch, at quite a reasonable price too - I had spaghetti bolagnaise, which was nice, but not mind-blowingly better than homemade. The good thing about Europe I'll happily admit, is they are up with the times and most accommodation and restaurants have free wifi - I mention this, as it was at this point I checked my emails and found out that I was an Uncle to Sienna. I'll also happily admit I teared up, which of course made my eye hurt ...

I made back to the hostel, they gave me a bed, a bottom bunk which I was stoked about and I got directions to the main sights and proceeded that way. Somehow I got a bit confused and somehow approached the Rialto bridge from the other side than what I thought I was on. Once I worked that out I headed to St Marks square, and then back to the hostel for a pasta dinner. - by this stage my bandage was a bit lacking due to sweat and the fact I kept playing with it, so I bought some adhesive eye patches at another pharmacy- which were just the ticket. To be fair walking around Venice with only one eye is a little disconcerting due to the crowds, the possibiIity of pick-pockets and sense of direction. Back at the hostel I got talking to a young Swedish guy who asked me how old I was, and then told me you're never too old! However we did have quite a good chat after that. Most of the other people at the hostel ended up playing a drinking game which included the game "I have never..." This made interesting listening the next morning when the Swedish guy related in a phone conversation how he'd meet a guy called Luigi, (a comical name even to a Swede) and one of the the "I have never...s".

The next morning I got up, and took some stuff to the post office to send home. It ended up being a little bit of a long exercise, and not cheap, but I got sick of having to jiggle around the stuff in my bag, and any weight I could get rid of was a bonus. I debated whether to get a ferry to check out the canals, but put it in the too hard basket and didn't want to  use up valuable time. I headed back to the hostel to collect my bag and book the next hostel, then went to the station and got a ticket for the next train. I sat down for a while and then caught the train.