January
New years day; we spent the day wandering Vienna, checking out the fantastic art and history museum. There was a fantastic exhibition on and I got to see original Breugals; fantastic to see how large and small the paintings were and to enjoy all the details. There was even one of my favourite Clouets:
The next morning, before heading off to Ljubljana we visited Castle Schonbrun
Then on the road again to Slovenia and Ljubljana. Got lost going in, but not very. The lights of the city were very beautiful.
The next day we went up for a walk to the castle. Its been restored in an interesting manner, blending the old and the new. There was some interesting art installations:
The view from the castle over the city is lovely:
The symbol of the city is the dragon, and images of the dragon can be seen all over the place:
Then it was on the road again, heading towards Venice. We had planned to go to see some caves, but when we got there, there was an hour and a half wait so we decided to go on to Venice.
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As usual we got a little lost, but not very, and it was all worth it to arrive at our hotel. woweee! I had swung us an amazing deal - two rooms in a renovated 17th century palace. Very gorgeous, luxurious and perfectly placed between the Rialto and the cathedral St Marco. Lusciously decorated and overlooking a canal, it was lovely and even sported maroon toilet paper - a new experience for me, and somewhat disturbing truth be told.
This place was so fancy that the breakfast buffet included caviar! I had scrambled eggs and caviar for breakfast. |
| We went in search of dinner and after some wandering found a pizza joint. Post that, went for a wander around to St Marco. Walking around places at night is wonderful as you often find little things that in daylights hours you would just overlook. For example: |
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Warning: following photographs may cause any archers or armourers viewing to suffer from over-excitement.
The next day we visited San Marco, and saw its treasures
..then visited the Ducal palace.
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Mum and Dad and I went to Murano and bought all sorts of wonderful bits and pieces although despite my best efforts I still bought less than I had hoped!
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Farewell Aveline.
A friend of mine, Aveline died last weekend, of an aneurysm. I am kinda stuck for words about it. That's not quite true.. I have many words, but its pretty hard to share them.
When this stuff happens, it is natural to ask questions and perhaps more than just the obvious "why?". I don't even understand what happened really. Why is my friend gone? Aveline and I had some physical resemblence, people sometimes asked if we were sisters. In some ways when I looked at her, I saw what I could have been if I hadn't been afraid. I know most people wouldnt see me as a scared person, but really I am. I have often been too scared to chase the things I wanted.
Too nice to fight for the heart of someone I loved perhaps, too frightened of failure to try some things. The thought often comes to me. Maybe I could have been a musician if I hadn't been too lazy and too frightened. I love music so very much, and making music makes me happy in a way that few things in the world do, but I really let myself down in many ways. I didn't spend the time and the energy pursuing it as I should have, especially for one who professes to love it so much.
Its hard to think that I won't see Aveline again. No spiky dog collar, pierced nose and deep throaty laugh. Its good being overseas. Somehow the distance gives me, well, distance between the loss and reality. It hurts but it is very easy to fool myself into believing that she hasn't really gone, she is just where she was, on the other side of the world. Its just that now, when I go back, she will still be on the other side of the world.. always a world away from me. Farewell my friend.
