i want to be a part of it...

ok i am so excited to be back in nyc. i am staying with rob and erin until i solidify a place of my own. so i have been getting myself sorted out over the past few days and may have found a fantastic place with an uber groovy roommate! i should know for sure tomorrow if it's mine or not. i'll give you all the fabu details if it is (don't want to stir up bad juju talking about it before anything has happened!)

after that gets taken care of i'll just need to find a job. what a concept! ;) it'll be strange working again and getting back in to the swing of things after having 4 fantastic months off. i can just picture myself telling my new boss "um yeah, i need a couple weeks off to head to australia. interpol are playing down there. why are you laughing? i'm being serious" ;) right!

i got to have dinner with my friend marah yesterday. she is a filmmaker and tons of fun. we met at the david lynch weekend in iowa back in may. needless to say, catching up was a ton of fun. plus, she likes to go to gigs so we'll be going to one next wednesday which i am so excited for! ok - admission - it's a side project for the interpol drummer. stop the rolling of your eyes right now!!! ;)

tomorrow i am heading back in to the city to dig up some more trouble. YAY! :)

MWAH!

tiff

catching up!

thursday i was a bit lazy and stayed in and did my laundry since the weather was really dreadful anyway. for some reason, pete's machine takes 3 hours to do a load of laundry. however, it's quite convenient because it does the wash and dry all in one device! so while washing i called up the fabu heath to see if he would be available for a cut (he cut my hair back in the oc). he had me come over at 5 and we were able to catch up. it was so fun and great to see him. he's loving london! pete and i then had a fabu dinner at a thai place that was amazing with yummy panang chicken curry and of course mango sticky rice!

friday i did an all day tour of windsor, stonehenge and bath. i loved it! windsor was really interesting and beautiful, stonehenge was fascinating and bath was just gorgeous! we had the funniest guide and every other word out of her mouth was naughty, great news ladies or sexy. she ruled! see some pics below. the camera died half way through stonehenge so i bought a disposable for bath and will post those pics later.

windsor castle:


stonehenge:


today i woke up at 1:15! PM! it was so marvelous! i haven't done that since i don't remember when!!! ;) i slowly (very, very slowly) got ready. pete and i got on the tube and had a long discussion about how long it takes to get to heathrow on the piccadilly line not realizing we were going the wrong way. a few people laughed at us as pete stated our inability to get on the proper train quite publicly and we got up and got off the train at the next stop. as we got on to the right train we saw all these crazy people dressed up in neon colored clothing. one person was even in a banana costume. it was so great!

pete and i poked our heads in to the british museum for a few minutes (it closed within 10 minutes of us getting there) and then we grabbed a coffee at starbucks. we then headed to st. paul's cathedral and it was massive and beautiful. after that we then went to the tate modern museum. we had a great time looking through the exhibits and decided to have dinner upstairs in the restaurant. it had the most spectacular views!

cool spider sculpture at tate:


pete and i were on crack! ;):


view of london from the tate restaurant:


i just had to post this - it's pete's hair dryer!:


it was a great night overall. coming back we saw a stag party and the soon to be groom was dressed in full regalia as snow white and his friends were wearing elf hats. that was quite the topper to end the day! i wish i would have taken a picture of that!

i am heading home tomorrow. WOW! not sure what i'm feeling but i am so excited to get back to nyc.

MWAH!

tiff

sex dolls in diver suits, porn stars and baggie vodka!

when i met up with pete this afternoon he mentioned that i shouldn't be alarmed by the sex toy doll dressed in a diving suit in the lounge. because naturally, i'm always on the look out for those when entering lounges in people's homes. apparently, it's a bit of a joke at his flatmate's expense! she needs to be called stella as interpol has a song that fits it perfectly. have a look at the lyrics: well, she was my catatonic sex toy love joy diver!

also included is a bad pic of the baggie vodka (my camera is just not working well), a pic of the porn actress (it's not that great, either) and a picture of christmas-y grafton street in dublin.
enjoy!:

stella was a diver and she was always down:


oh how i love baggie vodka:


born to do porn:


grafton street, dublin:


MWAH!

tiff

post traumatic no more interpol shows syndrome!

well then! the show last night was so utterly fantastic - what a perfect way to end the tour. harley put me on the guest list and i got sound booth privileges once again. AND! they played specialist. again, happy camper-ness prevailed!!! the show was really fantastic and the crowd was good. all of the songs were spot on and the drums were earsplitting as well as the bass. i had such a great time - every moment was definitely enjoyed to the fullest extent!

after the show i grabbed chips and curry at a local hamburger joint (i sooooo love chips and curry!) as i was munching, i got a little bummed realizing that it was all over. but then i got so happy because i realized what a fucking fabulous time i've had! this has really been the best!

ok, so here are some shots from the show. i realize they aren't the greatest but i found out last night that my camera kind of sucks. oh well!:

my boyfriend ;) and the drummer sam:


carlos the bassist is on the right (blurry, i know!):


sam and paul again (blurry!)


daniel (guitar) and paul:


sadly, these were the best pics :(

i took the train back down to london and pete and i will be hanging out til sunday. we may go to paris on saturday, we haven't decided yet. we're going off on an adventure somewhere, just haven't decided where yet! i am going to bath and stonehenge on friday. i also may go see dolly parton on a tv show tomorrow night. i'll let you know if i get to!

MWAH!

tiff

pure dead brilliant!

so i got up this morning and headed to the airport. my taxi driver told me that the airport was having a fairly significant power failure. it figures - with my luck traveling lately!

anyway, i show up and all is apparently well. however, ryanair's check in layout isn't exactly helpful so i hang out in line with two other people heading back to glasgow and we get told our line was elsewhere. so the guy and i start chatting and he ended up being so awesome! his name was kieran and he was originally from ireland but had moved to glasgow just recently to move in with his girlfriend. we grabbed a bite to eat and then decided it would be a good idea to start drinking. who cares that it was 10:30 in the morning! so we proceeded to get drunk - and then even more so on our 35 minute puddle jump across the channel. which i so have to mention this - ryanair gives you buy one get one free drinks. so the flight attendant hands me these clear baggies and i was like what is this? folks, there is a new innovation in drinking - baggie vodka. i am so not kidding and i am absolutely thrilled with this! it's beyond hilarious. kieran and i were absolutely blown away. one of the warnings on the baggie is to not drink the vodka directly from the baggie. it's like when you pour the soy sauce out of the packet so you have to be careful to not waste anything. i so need to find out where i can buy these things! i'l take a picture of the baggies and post them when i get back to london!

anyway, we landed and took the train in to the city. kieran was like - do you fancy another pint? to which i promptly responded of course! so we went and had another drink at a pub near the train station and saw really horrible music videos. apparently, michael jackson has gone and made a mess of a new song. we were rolling.

kieran then headed back home to go buy groceries (he was such great company!) and he put me in a taxi to go to the hotel (even though it was close by) because i was perhaps a little too intoxicated and given my tendency to get lost he thought that was the best idea.

so i got to the hotel where i promptly passed out for a couple hours. i got up, ordered some room service and then headed to the interpol show at carling academy glasgow. which was an amazing venue, fyi!

harley let me hang in the sound booth again and the show was brilliant! stand outs were heinrich manuever, nyc and the drums on the lighthouse. i so love it when they are so loud that you think you eardrums are going to burst!!! i really can't wait for the show tomorrow night. i am hoping they will play specialist one last time. please send good juju my way that they will!! ;)

ok, off to sleep. my last interpol show is approaching much too quickly! :( oh! btw, pure dead brilliant is the official saying of glasgow apparently. i think that so rocks! kieran was a bit disgusted/embarassed about it himself! :)

MWAH!!

tiff

what a mutha-f*ing fantastic day!

i finally received my baggage at 1 today - which was a bit of a bummer as i was in a completely inappropriate state for venturing out since i didn't have a change of clothes and nothing to comb my hair with. so i waited. i hate bmi, it's official.

ok, so it's brutally cold, rainy and windy in dublin right now but that didn't keep me from rocking the streets. i went off to grafton street (i guess it's the main shopping hub) and what appeared before my adoring eyes? marks and spencer, that's what. how do i love thee? let me count the 5 billion ways! i was so excited as it's one of my favorite stores in london and i didn't know they had them in ireland! so i did some shopping there and finally broke down and bought a travel flat iron to replace the one i electrocuted myself with in italy. i am so sick of having crappy hair days every day. it blows :(

and good god - why is there no good coffee anywhere but italy? it's a bit depressing. i may just have to resort to starbucks! i got so spoiled - *sigh* pete and i discussed this the other day and he is as happy as a clam with his nescafe instant coffee. bleck! i need to convert his unacceptable coffee drinking ways. 

anyway - walking around grafton was great fun. there was the freakiest girl who was causing quite a stir wanting people to sign her petition. it was so fabulous - she had big blonde hair, huge boobs,  a pink shirt , matching pink spandex leggings and a sign saying "born to do porn". i'm not making this up! i have pictures but didn't bring my cord for my camera with me as i downsized at pete's for this side trip. i'll post them when i get back to london on wednesday. regardless, she was fantastic! 

i also went to the national gallery and that was nice as well. there were a lot of dutch artists and italian renaissance artists (heavily religious stuff). they had one painting of caravaggio's and it was really fantastic. they also had this wonderful classical music concert and i just sat there and listened for the longest time. it was sooooo nice!

after that i came back to the hotel (the flat iron was immediately put to use) and i got ready for the interpol show. it was fantastic! the kids here in dublin are insane and they were by leagues the best crowd so far. those irish peeps made me proud. harley let me stand in the sound area with him again and i got a setlist. fabu!!! so, of course, i am just the happiest little camper ever! 

and of course, i had some guinness today. i don't like it so much but when in ireland do as the irish do, right?

i am off to glasgow tomorrow (pete warned it is going to be fairly frigid there - much more so than ireland). i am going to my second to the last interpol show. oh boy. the countdown starts! i have had so much fun and i am so happy that i've been able to do this.

MWAH!

tiff

dublin!

ok, so i decided at 1pm to buy my ticket to dublin tonight :) so i'm here but a little worse for wear. i, unfortunately, was quite late for my flight out of heathrow. but by some stroke of luck, so was the flight. i barely made it - my luggage, however, did not :(

getting around is always confusing the first day in a new city. so of course, i got lost trying to find my hotel! once i got here, they didn't have my reservation as i just booked it today and they never received confirmation of the booking from hotels.com. thankfully, they had one room left for me and they were all so totally nice and helpful at the front desk. ok, so maybe playing things by ear a bit too much can come back and bite you in the ass. however, i am in the homeland of my ancestors so i'll be going out and getting properly drunk shortly. because that's what we irish do! i'll make my predecessors proud, i'm sure.

i can't wait to get around the city a bit more tomorrow. wish me luck (and that i won't be so directionally challenged in the morning!) also, please send good juju my way so that i actually do get my luggage in the morning!

MWAH!

tiff

i love the way you put me in the big house...

ooooooooooohhhhhhhhh the show tonight was so utterly fantastic i can't even put it in words. tonight was why i love love love the interpol boys! ;) they played my favorite song called specialist (that's where the lyric comes from above!) and either being in a different part of the venue (with a much better view of boyfriend) was better soundwise or maybe some other improvements were made. it was really quite amazing.

getting around london on public transport is great but good night sometimes it takes forever! coming back from the venue i was on a bus and i heard the best quote of the day: "no! don't do that! why do you think you can smack her ass? because your a bloke and you've got a penis? well done then!" i may have peed my pants a little when the girl said it. it was so sassy and hilarious!

then in the tube there were two boys "sword" fighting with their umbrellas (clearly, a little intoxicated). the one boy pretty much destroyed the other's umbrella but the other guy insisted he could still fight and took what was left of the umbrella and turned it in to a "shield". there was such great entertainment value on the way home tonight, it ruled!!

i got to have lunch with pete today at a fantastic place called giraffe in angel near where he lives. i had turkey enchiladas that weren't quite authentically mexican but were definitely good anyway. i chatted with pete about the remaining shows and he's being such a great cheerleader. he's also followed bands around (quite a bit more so than even me, actually!) so it's great having him in my corner. yes, 13 shows does sound like a lot but i think i am one of the more mellow hardcore band groupies (believe it or not!)

and that's another thing - recently i've been reading a lot of extremely negative definitions of groupies - that all they amount to are stupid girls who are looking to get poked by the boys in the band. while i admit, if that were to happen i would be none the less happy to oblige. however, not all groupies are strictly in it for the boning factor. i think there should be a better definition in which i am also going to try to rationalize what i do! ;)

groupies are enthusiasts, first and foremost. and they have a great appreciation, love and passion for the band they admire. the music of the band is so utterly relatable to them and provides a very emotional high/experience to the groupie - especially when you can be present and hear/see the music performed live. so see, it's kind of like a hobby. some people collect stamps, elvis memorabilia, shop on ebay obsessively, etc. i just so happen to love seeing bands play live. yes, i absolutely take it to an extreme - but it doesn't mean i'm crazy! i'm not hurting anyone or myself by doing it so there you are! :) plus, believe it or not, with all that i've been working through personally over the last 3 months, following interpol around has been fairly therapeutic in a not really explainable way! it's an emotional thing (again) ;)

k so i'll get off my groupie high horse now. and also report that i will be going to the last 3 shows so i'll be heading to dublin either tomorrow night or sunday morning for a show sunday night. then to glasgow, scotland on for a show on monday night. then wrapping it up in newcastle, england on tuesday night. i'll be coming back to london for a few days and probably stay through the weekend and then i'll be heading back home to the states.

what will i do with myself without any interpol shows to go to? ;) i think i'll be able to figure that out ok, i promise! after all, i'll officially be moved in to the big apple! YAY!

mucho MWAHs!

tiff

weird day

so today i woke up a little off and bummed that i was leaving amsterdam. i got on my flight to london and all was well until we got to the airport and i had to wait forever for my luggage. i made it just in time for my eyebrow appointment at the hotel/spa (unruly eyebrows!). btw, bmi is quite a lovely airline!

i got to catch up with pete (my dear old friend - one of my first london friends!) and we had dinner at a place called chop chop. he then got me well on my way to the interpol show and i got so lost! i was wandering the streets of alexandra palace to no avail. i finally made my way there and i had missed quite a lot of the show. it was a total bummer. plus the sound wasn't that great in the venue (it sounded like we were in a bathroom) but it was still a good show :)

i got back to the hotel and no sightings of the band to report. oh well! it's a cute hotel, anyway. but i think i may check out a day early and just hang out with pete instead.

i am debating whether or not i want to go to dublin. i'm thinking i am fairly tired and kind of want to get back to nyc so i can start to settle in to my new life there. on the other hand, i think going to dublin would be a lot of fun. i'll let you know what i decide! what do you think i should do? post a response for me!

i finally got official word from gap adventures that the antarctic tour has been cancelled. i emailed mexicana airlines to see if my airfare is refundable at all. wish me luck! at least gap will be refunding their portion of the tour.

that's about all for now. i can't wait to get out and see london tomorrow! :) plus maybe i won't have issues with getting to the show tomorrow night and it will rock! plus it will be show number 13 for me for this tour so i'm kind of thinking that may be where i end things! lucky # 13!!!!

MWAH!

tiff

red light district, van gogh and walking around

today i went to the van gogh museum and it was beyond amazing. it's nice how they focus on one artist and you get to have more of a feeling for that artist and the different periods they went through in their life. van gogh was so sad at the end and looking at his later works you almost actually feel the pain and sadness as he produced works while he was checked in at the mental hospital. he was only 37 years old when he killed himself. he was truly brilliant and worked with so many fantastic artists of that time including gauguin, seurat, toulouse-lautrec, bernard, etc. they also had works on display from some of the artists mentioned above and also monet, manet and rodin. i spent hours there - it's absolutely amazing! it is a must see for when you are in amsterdam.

everyone in amsterdam is so nice! seriously! but i think it's maybe because everyone is high all the time! they have these "coffee shops" and they are every third or fourth shop on the street if not more so! i walked in to one thinking it really was a coffee shop - i was like, i'm going to get a cappuccino and when i walked in i realized that was the last thing i was going to be getting in there! ;) the boy asked me if i wanted to sit down and if i was interested in anything and i politely said no and excused myself. it's so funny! and there are always people in all the coffee shops that i've seen. it's so hilarious, i love it! i wonder if people go to work high, if they drive or ride their bikes around high? i need to find out!

so i went walking down to the red light district and i have to say i was surprised at how mellow it was. maybe mellow isn't the right word - tame? there was very little nekkidness (i've seen more nekkid peeps on tv here than in the actual red light district). there were tons of sex toy shops and porno palaces and girls dancing in windows. and of course, plenty of boys (some desperate, some very nervous!) one boy was actually following me around saying "um hmm" for a few minutes. i was getting irritated and getting ready to turn around and kick him in the cajones when he decided to start um hmm-ing someone else. did he think i was a prostitute or something? gross! maybe i just went too early or something. there were a lot of guys yelling from the stores to boys walking by saying "for you?!?!?" i laughed a lot and it was fairly entertaining but not nearly as much as what i was thinking it would be. i may try again later tomorrow night. there really has to be more to it than what i saw.

so here are some pics from today. i just uploaded the pics from yesterday to yesterday's blog as well in case you want to check those out:

walking down to the van gogh museum along a canal:


the rijksmuseum:


a cool little sculpture thingy on the street:


another pretty canal shot:


kussen!

tiff

amsterdam day 3

ok so today wasn't all that fab - i did a "best of holland" tour. and to be honest, it was a bit boring. i think i fell asleep 4 or 5 times. i will definitely attribute some of that to my lack of sleeping while i've been here. however, the tour guide's voice was so soothing, too. so maybe that had a lot to do with it. it kind of reminded me when jake and i saw hollywoodland and we kept falling asleep through that, too. except jake's snoring kept waking me up so i didn't fall asleep as many times as he did! ;)

so we got on the bus this morning and everyone started hacking and sniffling and coughing. i was immediately disgusted and broke out the emergin-c and sucked down 2 in a row. i so refuse to get sick while i am out here!

we headed first to aalsmeer which has the worlds largest flower market. while it was pretty and smelled nice we only really needed to be there for 10 or 15 minutes. we then moved on to a bus tour of rotterdam (i was totally bummed we couldn't get out because it looked really interesting). then we went to delft. that's the place they make all those white and blue plates, pottery thingys, etc. again, we were at that place for way too long and that was boring.

we went in to the town square at delft for lunch and that was good. i met simon and louise, a cute couple from quebec. they were both studying abroad in france (one in paris and the other in strausburg). we talked about the whole frenchy thing (see previous post) and they even said that they thought the frenchies had bad attitudes a lot of the time. french is their first language and the locals would talk to them in english which they thought was strange. they thought that it was maybe due to their accent being different? anyway, they ruled :)

so after lunch we went to the hague and saw all the cool buildings there and the peace court and peace flame (we saw it for 5 minutes!). then they took us to a totally cute beach town called scheveningen (don't ask me how to say it). we only drove by that as well :( the winds were really picking up so the swells were pretty high. andrew - you would have so wanted to surf there! i miss the beach!!

then we went to the most non-appealing/lame thing of the day. it was miniature models of a lot of the things we had seen that day. it was outside and at that point it started pouring. but people were in to it for some reason. i'll post some of the pics and while it was semi interesting it is so not worth the 13 euro admission and a complete hour was so not needed there. however, the chocomel from the cafe was fantastic (i think it's chocolate milk with caramel in it. YUM!)

so, overall, some of it was ok but a lot of it wasn't. so if you ever come to amsterdam don't bother with that tour. i am awarding it two rolling eyes that roll back in to your head and pass out! but maybe it's just that amsterdam is so exciting and fun and the rest of the netherlands just doesn't live up to that kind of standard. who knows? here are some pics:

a windmill in haarlem i believe:


the statue of the man without a heart in rotterdam (i think the guide was saying rotterdam means the city without a heart!)


the pretty church and square in delft:


the peace court in the hague:


the miniature place:


other than that, walking around town again was awesome. tomorrow i am going to the van gogh museum and maybe nemo (it's a scientific-y, nerdy museum for kids but it looks really interesting). the only thing that sucks is that it's so cold, rainy and windy. and i don't think the weather will break before i leave. oh well!

and i also have to make up my red light district night tour!

ok, so i am heading home after london (possibly dublin) in december and i think i may be back and ready to settle in to nyc. i don't know what the situation is with the antarctic cruise yet but they informed the dec 8th cruise people that there would be no cruise so they will probably be notifying us soon as to what's up. i'm a little bummed because i paid $1600 for my plane ticket to buenos aires and i don't think it's refundable :( anyone up for a trip to south america? it's summertime down there, you know! i could so use some sunshine right about now!

MWAH!

tiff

i must miss the states

i'm watching son in law and haven't turned it off yet. yes, that is the one with pauly shore.

i think i'm home sick or something! ;) god only knows why else i would put up with it.

i'm off to explore amsterdam at night, YAY!

oh my good god i love amsterdam!

it is so unbelievably cute here. and the boys are crazy good looking! ;)

ok, so it's time to reinstate the usage of my friend pepe's hotness rating system so you have an understanding of the hot/cuteness factor of the boys in various geographic locations in and around europe.

first of all, you must determine that the boy(s) is/are hot. if not, do not bother with the steps that follow. if so, the first rating is hot (it makes sense, right?) ;) second, if they break through the hotness plateau, they become porn. but, if he/they are mega attractive and you are just dying then it's PORN (you say PORN all dirty and sexy like when saying it out loud or thinking it in your head).

k, got it?

greece - didn't really make the hot scale. however, i was in athens and not on the islands so that may have something to do with it.
italy - PORN for sure
brussels - hot (i only saw a few guys though and wasn't even technically there for 24 hours. will have to make an additional visit at some point to provide a more accurate rating)
amsterdam - PORN for sure as well

they seriously need to relocate some of these guys to the states!

anyway - back to the actual visit ;)

last night i got ready for the red light district walking tour and the weather was so nasty - rainy and mega windy - so i decided not to go. i'm going to rebook for tues or weds.

today i went to go for my canal cruise/anne frank house visit and when i got to the ticket office they said they cancelled the tour and that they don't do it anymore. i was a little perterbed but then they suggested a nice canal tour at night. a candlelit one. i was a little annoyed cause i'm sure it will be all romantic like and with tons of couples but then the boy told me that a lot of times people meet on the cruises or even swap partners! i was like - easy fella - not all that interested in swapping around! i guess that's amsterdam for you. i decided to go ahead and do that tomorrow night so i'll take some pics and post them later.

i also went to the rijks museum and it was a bit disappointing. they are renovating so only a small portion of the museum was open. there were some great rembrandts and a few vermeers. but i got through it so quickly! i headed over to the van gogh museum and the line was way too long. i'm going to try again tuesday and buy my tickets online - entrance in to the museum is apparently faster that way.

walking around amsterdam has been so awesome - can't wait for tonight. i am doing the ultimate pub party crawl. free vodka shots between every stop so of course i had to sign up for that! i'm supposed to get up early tomorrow for a grand holland tour so i may have to restrain myself a bit. wish me luck! i suppose there's nothing to stop me from doing another pub party crawl, worse case scenario ;)

that's all for now - MWAH!

tiff

arrividerci italia - bonjour brussels!

so italy was so fantastic. i stayed at fulvio's until this morning. we did a not so traditional thanksgiving dinner on thursday - we ate spaghetti carbonara and i made home made pumpkin pie. the pie was a little sketchy but it just needed to cool a bit before we ate it. so yummy! andrea and i went grocery shopping together in the morning for all the stuff we needed and it was fun. he was trying to make me buy milk from the shelf that wasn't refrigerated. totally gross! he is such a goof ball! we found a good netherlands book for me for my departure to amsterdam tomorrow. and of course, he got all excited when he saw mcdonalds but i told him no mcdonalds mangia!!!

i am so random - at 1am thursday morning i decided i wanted to go to brussels to see interpol since it was so close to amsterdam. it was killing me so i just shoved all my plans back by a day. it ended up being cheaper to fly to brussels anyway. however - a travel tip for those who may go abroad - the luggage limits are very different in europe vs. the states. so i had a bit of a panic having to unload a lot of my stuff/sending it back home from italy. oh well, now i know!

brussels is a bit bland (not too much going on) but the show was so utterly fantastic tonight. paul told us we were a "fucking great" crowd and they actually came out and did a 2nd encore (which they don't typically do at all!) it was so fantastic! it would have been perfect had they played specialist but i think i probably would have had a coronary from the sheer excitement i would have been experiencing.

harley was so nice tonight, too (not that he isn't always an amazingly kind person!) he let me hang out with him, lucas and tim in the sound/light board area. which was so nice because the place was huge and the view was absolutely brilliant from that spot. lucas was a nice little dude who does the lighting and i had met tim in vegas - he helps harley with sound.

i was a little nervous getting around belgium (even though there are very convenient trams all over). i think it's because i'm really terrible when it comes to speaking french. i get so intimidated because everytime i've been to france the frenchies are always kind of mean to me - regardless of whether i'm attempting french or speaking english. but there was the nicest lady who told me when my stop was and then i just followed the rest of the kids to the show. the belgian people have all be so nice, it's been great :)

ok so the totally scary thing - i was actually supposed to be on that antarctic cruise ship that is sinking!!!! i had initially signed up for the cruise that was out there now but they were going to charge me close to $3000 more to go in november vs. december. so i ended up changing the date to december. i still can't believe it! i was so relieved to hear that all the people got off the boat safely. however, even if the cruise does stay on for december, i'm a little scared to go. obviously they are working on getting things resolved with the existing passengers but they don't know what's going to happen with my cruise or all the 2008 scheduled antarctic cruise. i guess i'll just have to wait and see... a bit of a creepy sidenote - the 2 nights before that boat hit the iceberg i had these dreams that i was on the boat but that it had hit something and i was drowning. just floating down further and further in to the sea. and the whole time the song stella was a diver and she was always down by interpol was just on repeat in my dream. although i just kept floating down and drowning. it was almost like the whole dream was on repeat or something. really strange!

so that's about it for now. tomorrow i check in to my princess "residence" and i have a night tour of amsterdam in the red light district. it's going to be so cheeky, i can't wait!

MWAH!

tiff

florence back to milan

our hotel in florence was fairly shady. it was near the train station and there were total freaks hanging out around it. also, the booking site said it was a 4 star hotel and it was no where near that. it was kind of gross. but we survived. plus it may have just been worse in our eyes after the princess hotel. it did have a rooftop swimming pool so that gave it some cool points. even though a whopping 47 degress doesn't exactly provoke a dip in the pool ;)

anyway, we did loads of shopping yesterday (sarah more so than i) and we went in to the coolest store called roberta with the nicest man. we were there for almost an hour trying everything on (gloves, scarves and purses). when we were done making our purchases he gave us scarves as gifts - it was really cool! we're such good shoppers! after that we went to quattro leoni (the four lions) per a suggestion from my friend molly. it was so fantastic! the food here is rarely disappointing.

sarah also did a wine tour on monday and said it was great as well. we did more shopping today to buy some additional luggage. sarah needed it because of all the shopping she did and i needed it because (i just found out) that a lot of airlines in europe only allow one carry on bag. oi! so we both bought these really nice leather rollie bags. they have shoe compartments in the bottom and are nice and roomy on the top. i so love it, i've wanted a bag just like it forever but they are so expensive back in the states. florence rules for leather goods!

we made it back to milano and i had to say ciao ciao to sarah - she headed to the airport since she had an early flight tomorrow back to the states so she can get home for thanksgiving. that realization threw me for a bit of a loop, i completely forgot! i asked fulvio if he would like to do a turkey dinner and he said that would be nice so we'll see what i can come up with. in the meantime - happy thanksgiving to everyone!

oh, i am going to miss black friday :( everyone do some extra shopping for me!

MWAH!

tiff

last day in venice - on to florence

so we got kicked out of the not so splendid hotel - they were retarded and told us we could stay an extra day but didn't book it so they ended up being overbooked! total jerks.

however, we ended up in the biggest princess hotel ever! seriously!! sarah and i were dying. it's called hotel bauer palladio and it's across the water (a ten minute boat ride) from piazza san marco on a small island called giudecca. it used to be a convent and the property had been abandoned for 100 years until this hotelier found it and completely revamped and renovated it. it's absolutely ridiculous! we got upgraded to a junior suite and the thing was gargantuan. sarah and i were running around the room all excited like we were two. it even had a freaking door bell! it was so cozy and we so loved it. they were all about service - we wanted to watch a movie so they sent a bellman up with their movie collection for us to choose from in our room!

we had the best dinner at an adorable little place in dorsuduro (the jewish ghetto - that's seriously what it's called!) and the woman who was running things was a crack up. she kind of reminded me of laura palmer's mother in twin peaks. she was so crazy! dinner was delicious and actually affordable. we just needed to go to the ghetto to get it ;)

if you've never been to venice, you have to go. you will fall in love with it immediately, i promise. it's absolutely one of my favorite places to visit in the world. it's so picturesque and charming. the people are so alluring and affectionate. take a look!:

i'm always looking for salvation ;)


a canal in dorsuduro:


our crazy princess hotel room (this is about 1/3 of it)


near san marco:


the facade for the bauer palladio:


a cool church statue thingy near san marco:


piazza san marco and the duomo:


near the accademia bridge:


today we headed to florence - the weather was nasty, unfortunately. we stay here tomorrow as well and then head back to milan on tuesday. still trying to decide if we are going to do pisa on tuesday. i am staying in milan until friday (sarah heads home on wed) and then i'm off to amsterdam til the 28th. i get to stay in a princess hotel there, too. thank goodness for the starwood amex and my bazillion points! after that is london to see my boyfriend 2 last times :) YAY!

MWAH!

tiff

venezia!

sarah and i got in to venice yesterday after suffering through a fairly tedious and long train ride here from milan. we took a water taxi to the hotel (it's called hotel splendid!) our room is actually pretty nice. even the toilet paper wrapping is replete with 4 stars on it ;) there is an airplane sized tv in the bathroom so i can watch larry king while showering. and it's pretty much the size of my cottage that i had in dc. how fabu is that? we have a nice corner room but it can get fairly loud through out the night as we are right in between piazza san marco and the rialto bridge. which also puts us in the high rent district. so for example, tonight we paid $50 for fucking spaghetti. clearly, i'm still a little bitter. how many cans of spaghetti-o's could i have purchased for $50 back home? i'm going to find out.

yesterday we did tons of shopping - i found a cute bat necklace with a scrappy diamond in it that now i'm not so sure i like. damn me and my impulse shopping! venice is certainly all about excess. sarah paid $200 for a pair of very cute shoes this morning. and she bought a matching frauda (fake prada) for $35 bucks to boot!

we did an ok cruise of the venetian islands - to murano, torcello and burano. murano and torcello were completely worthless but sarah and i are going back to burano tomorrow for more shopping. it was so cute - see the pics below:

on the rialto bridge close to sunset:


a cool facade while we were in the water taxi to the hotel:


the docks in murano:


from the docks in torcello:


the cute and colorful houses of burano:


the boys in venice have been cracking us up. our waiter at lunch asked us if we wanted to take him home with us to the states to which we replied with a robust and resounding yes! he was so adorable! and tonight when we walked in to the hotel with our gelatos (gelato is absolutely necessary, especially when it's 37 degrees outside) the front desk man said "oh thank you for my gelato" and took mine from me. then he asked how many kisses i wanted to trade for my gelato and i told him 500. he said "oh, 12 hours worth? all night long?" and sarah and i just about peed our pants. he insisted he was up to it but i was insistent on having my gelato back (it's really that good) perhaps tomorrow.... ;)

we actually decided on tuesday night in milan that all of the hot boys in the world have been shipped to italy. needless to say, we have not had even the slightest lack of eye candy or ogling opportunities! we may never leave if they boys keep all this flirting up! it's really quite marvelous :)

today i got a little fed up with my flat iron not working with my adapter this week so i decided to try to plug it in with the converter the hotel provided to us. the buttons were flashing and it started making a weird buzzing noise. unfortunately, there was an abbreviated version of my london hair dryer electrocution and i got zapped fairly seriously. i suppose the old adage that beauty is pain really is more than appropriate :( LAME!

we went to a really cute bar called bacarro tonight - i think we'll make a return appearance there tomorrow as well.

off to sleep... MWAH!

tiff

bergamo and mcdonalds loving andrea

fulvio picked sarah and i up to take us to dinner in bergamo where milena works. we were going to meet her after we ate for drinks. fulvio brought his friend andrea and he was especially hilarious. and yes, he really, really does love mcdonalds. "mi piace mcbacon!" (i like mcbacon! he said repeatedly). he was wearing embroidered cowboy boots and a jean snap button up shirt. he totally ruled! he didn't know much english and i was fumbling through my italian. he was excited to hear we were from new york and texas. new york because he likes "the NBA - new york knicks" and texas because of cowboy-ish stuff i think. sarah told him she would send him a cowboy hat and i told him i would send him a bolero tie - a really ugly one ;) we were all cracking each other up by the end of dinner - which was so freaking unbelievable! i had veal or something with mushrooms and polenta - to die for! and the boys ordered some really good appetizers. it was probably the best meal i've had in years. i so love italy. i don't think i'm ever going to leave!

bergamo is such a beautiful city. tons of cobblestone streets and gorgeous views. after dinner we went for drinks at an irish pub and met milena and her friends from the language school. they were all really nice. here are some pics. note - sarah and i have been unable to do our hair due to unfortunate dissimilar voltage issues so we don't look all that fabu - bear with us:

the pretty duomo (church) at night:


milena, sarah and i at the irish pub:


fulvio and the donnas:


mcbacon and mclovin (i mean me):


tomorrow is venice!

baci! ciao ciao...

tiff

milano e mio ragazzo!

so today i had major issues getting to my friend milena's house in carnate usmate (a suburb of milan) but it was all good. i think i was just having lack of mental capacity issues!

anyway, i got to meet up with milena and meet (actually re-acquaint myself with) her husband alberto. i had met alberto at a football match i had gone to with milena's brother fulvio 4 or 5 years ago. at the stadium, fulvio told me that he was going to yell run and that i needed to not ask questions or slack behind and to run really fast when he said to. we were not properly entering the fan section and it was a blast - football in italy is insane!

so then alberto, milena and i went and picked up my friend sarah at the airport. she is yet another interpol virgin that i was bound and determined to turn in to another fan :) we picked her up and then met fulvio at the venue. i ran in to harley (the sound guy) and he looked completely exhausted (poor little dude).

seeing blonde redhead a second time was good but again, still a bit irritated with the girl. maybe the more i listen the less tedious her voice will become.

milena told me that "my boyfriend" translates in to "mio ragazzo" or my boy in italian. so when paul came out on stage i screamed mio ragazzo and people laughed at me. it was fun :)

the milan show wasn't quite as good as the florence show - the crowd wasn't as hyped up. it was still a good show, though. i ended up in the middle with the rest of our group (i usually stand in back so i can see and not be claustrophobic) and i got way too hot and had to get away and breath for a few minutes. it was so gross and smelly :( but like i said, still a great show.

i'm still trying to decide if i want to go to the paris show or not. i'll probably end up staying a couple extra days in milan after sarah goes home and then head to amsterdam and then london after that for the shows at the end of the month.

MWAH!

tiff

florence and interpol

so i flew in from athens to rome this morning and i have to say that european airlines are way cooler than american airlines. as we were getting ready to take off they handed out candy to everyone (and who doesn't love candy at 9 in the morning prior to take off?). they also still feed you (and it ends up being a lot of food) even if it's only a two hour flight! nice.

so i got in to rome and took the train to florence and got to my shady 45 euro hotel. it was ok and a 10-15 minute walk to the venue. my taxi drivers were hilarious and crazy and fun. one of the guys didn't know english and was talking to me only in italian. he asked where i was from and i told him new york and he got all excited and said that's where a lot of the mafia is now. he was whistling and driving around like crazy. he was like roberto benigni - at any second i was expecting him to break out in to a buon giorno principessa!

on to the show! i got to see blonde redhead for the first time and i love their music but i don't know if i like the girl's voice. there are some songs she sounds ok on and then others where she sounds really horrible. when the guy sings it's really fantastic.

ok, you all know i'm a total music freak so now i am going to go on and on about the show. it was one of the most amazing shows i've seen! i always say seeing a band in europe (italy and paris, for example) is one of the best things you can do if you are a mega fan of a particular group. for example, when i saw the cure in paris, florence and milan those four shows are still so embedded and present in my mind. i don't know what it is or how to explain it - maybe the people are just more passionate or open to being moved by the music? or maybe they are all just as crazy and as intoxicated with the experience as i am :)

the florence crowd was crazy - whistling and chanting - demanding that the band come on stage to play. the band totally fed off of it and it was this unreal sublime perfection. daniel was on fire and quite the little dancing machine - egging the crowd on every opportunity he had and strumming away on his guitar like there was no tomorrow. carlos was flying his base all over the stage and sam was just assaulting his drum kit - he's such a dynamic and amazing drummer. and then of course, paul and his voice are just stunning. there were so many times during the show that i got so consumed in it that i had to catch my breath. really, the magnetism and the energy was just insane. so needless to say, i had a fabu night!

on to milan and another interpol show tomorrow night!

MWAH!

tiff

delphi and arachova - greece day 3

so i was a little leary of my day trip to delphi but it was actually quite amazing. in delphi are the ruins of the sanctuary/temple of apollo. it was all very interesting but kind of sad at the same time. so much of the ruins have been destroyed over the years due to earthquakes, town people using the marble from the site to build new homes because they didn't know it was an archaeological site, etc. which is actually an overall feeling i have about greece. rome seems to have so much more intact and is so beautiful overall while athens just seems to have a bunch of true ruins and is a big city. which has been a bit disappointing. and actually, i was speaking with 3 other people on the tour and they all mentioned the same thing. while it's nice to visit these sites, you basically see the same things over and over, just in different places. if you come to greece i wouldn't suggest spending that much time in athens - you'd probably be better off focusing your time on the islands. the day trip to delphi was interesting and beautiful but it cost nearly $150. so not so sure it was completely worth it. i'll let you take a look at the pictures and judge for yourself:

arachova - the cute mountainy/ski resort town before delphi (you can ski at mt. parnassas - i felt so at home!)


the apollo temple/sanctuary ruins


a cool sphinx that used to guard something:


the beautiful view from delphi to the corinthian and aegean seas:


i met a cool girl named may and a cute couple from singapore (i'm forgetting their names). may and i had dinner at her hotel at a place called meat me. cute. her hotel and the restaurant totally reminded me of the standard in l.a. so of course i loved it!

i am so excited to head to florence tomorrow! interpol interpol interpol! it's been nearly two weeks since i've seen them last ;) i think i may have reserved a shady hotel room (it's close the venue) so please send good juju my way. oi! MWAH!

day 2 - athens

good night it is windy today! it actually sounds like cats hissing and screaming from inside the hotel! but my ventures out were awesome and athens has started to become magical to me :) i went to the national archaeological museum and it was unbelievable. so much to see and they close early on the weekends so i kind of had to rush through it a bit. here are just a few pics:

wall art from mycenea (sp?) i believe:


a siren (love those sassy sisters):


for erin - a sea goddess:


aphrodite, pan and eros:


i met a funny boy who worked at the museum cafe named eliah. we talked for a while and i got to say i am from new york for the first time. i know it sounds dorky but it was so exciting for me. the museum cafe is awesome, btw. they have these adorable nooks with white leather booth type seating. very modern, white and immaculate. the sandwich and cappucino were fantastic and it was really cheap.

i also saw this crazy open air market - they were slinging fish and meat everywhere. there were some pigs heads on a rope and the people were a little - um - saucy i suppose is a good word - with them. one of the pigs had a sausage coming out of it's mouth (i think i laughed out loud!) and the other was smoking a cigarette. everyone was yelling and it was pretty chaotic. but it was entertaining, to say the least!

i had to buy a camera bag and an alarm clock (given the wake up calls i'm getting aren't properly waking me up - i miss the westin and my many follow up wake up call requests!) the greek people have been very sweet - the guy in the camera store went above and beyond being helpful. he asked me where i was from and when i said new york he looked shocked. he told me i didn't have the ny accent and i just laughed and said i was raised on the west coast.

i'm going to wander over to plaka later for dinner and shopping if the wind dies down a bit.

MWAH!

tiff

the acropolis

so today i staggered out of bed around 10 and got my lazy ass ready. i'm unfortunately still a bit jetlagged. i wanted to go to the acropolis and the national archaeological museum but the front desk guy at my hotel said they were in two opposite directions and that i should just focus on the acropolis today since the weather was so nice.

it was a nasty walk up (i had to stop several times as did everyone else) but the views were spectacular. you have a 360 view of athens. check out some pics:










after the acropolis, i went wandering around the streets of athens. there are so many flea markets/junky stores that i kind of felt overwhelmed with the fact that i am such a tourist here. most places i travel to i have a tendency to feel at home fairly quickly but i haven't felt that so much here. i think it's been challenging in that i didn't really plan or think about learning at least a few words in greek. i now have a complete understanding of the saying "it's all greek to me". i'm also a little irritated that i didn't think to look in to traveling to the islands. this time of year the hydrofoils apparently don't run (or they are really expensive). i think my whole throwing organization/planning out the window may have backfired on me a bit for this trip. but it's all good and i'm learning things about myself so i do have an appreciation for it - even though it sounds like i'm just whining a lot ;)

tomorrow i'm off to the archaeology museum.

MWAH!

tiff