Playlist

Ooopsie a bit late but better than never right?

This time again I had loads to choose from and hopefully got the right ones here.

Selena Gomez ft Asap Rocky - Good for You

I kind of only like the first part though :D

The Corrs - Bring on the night

Fell in love immediately when I heard it :)

Philip George - Alone no more

This just reminds me of summer and holidays :)

Wstrn - In2

It took me a while to find this because trying to catch lyric snippets while it's playing on the radio is quite hard :D

Grace ft G-Eazy - You don't own me

First I heard on the House of Fraser christmas ad and was actually contemplating putting that up... Oh hell I'll do it because I really like the ad, and the song obvs.

I hope this is the full version :D Such a wrong version the first time :d

Enjoy

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Blondie

Why is it that people always wan't what they don't have. Well most of them anyway.

Girls with straight hair desire to have voluptuous locks while the latter would give an arm for their hair to be perfectly straight and manageable for just one day. Or is it just me?

So naturally as a brunette I've always wondered and longed for blonde hair. I even have on photo form 10 years ago where I photoshopped my hair very very very light. And it looks nice! A couple of years of being a redhead I started to think about mixing things up and going blonde really seriously. And then Ruby did it... shit! If I do it now it looks like I copied her :D

Another couple of years have passed and I did it! Bleached my hair at home :D Luckily I'm not too invested in the wellbeing of my hair and are willing to undertake these experiments :D Yeap I left it on for wayyy too long under the foil. So my head was actually smoking and piping hot when I took the foil off. Oops! :D Obviously some hair were burnt off and all that was left on top of my head was a length of a finger :D Obviously again my hair were very very very dry especially in that part and after washing would dry into a block :D Tangle teaser does wonders though. Not too bad though I hope :D in work I had to wear a bun or a ponytail anyway so what state my hair was in made no difference and no one knew. Hopefully :D

I can laugh at it now but believe me it took a couple of days (of crying) to get use to it. And I'm still not a 100% sure that I like it... :D Just need to keep it for some time before dying my hair red again (and I'd just found the perfect shade before!!!!) so people wouldn't smirk knowingly :D Or just move to where no one knows me ;)

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Morning train people

I sometimes happen to take the train to work, well train and a bus. As the train leaves 6.53 I consider it an early one. So one morning I was sat in a crowded train and observed 2 ladies. One of them was putting make up on, as a secret germ freak I was holding my breath when she put all her brushes on the train table, like who knows what has been on those tables and then you brush your face with it.

But the other one was probably a teacher and all of you out there who had a teacher with awful handwriting so that you wondered what was written on your work let me tell you now...your work was probably marked while on train. So she marked essays or something and seriously, who on earth will understand the handwriting that ended up on the paper? And then all the teachers tell students how their handwriting needs to be nice and whatnot.

Ems

Playlist

Had so many songs in my mind but now when it's time to actually post them they are all gone :D

The video is weird, but nevermind

Nice song to fall asleep to

No judging, okay!

Last one was difficult to choose, but let it be this one this time, otherwise should put most of the top 20 songs here :D

And to finish it off

Ems :)

Not in a big city

The struggle is real.

A little while ago Royal mail and post offices were separated and it's hella confusing especially when your packages do not arrive. Where to run? Who to call? No one knows because the one is blaming the other and vice versa.

A couple of days before we left for Italy (yes, it's been that long) we got a letter from the postman saying he tried to deliver a parcel but no one was home. We were home the entire day and he probably couldn't bother to walk up to the first floor to actually knock on our door but that's that.

So the next day Mr. Special went to the post office with the letter to claim our parcel. Apparently it was locked in the postman's van though... and he was supposed to come round again that day. OK. Mr. Special went back home to wait for the postman. Guess who never showed up! Next day going back to the post office I think it was closed, then it was Sunday and then we went on our holiday.

As soon as we got back Mr. Special went to the post office again to find it closed again. After a  couple of days trying he managed to catch the postman who said that the lady working at the post office is sick and he doesn't have the authority or access to go look for our parcel in the office. A couple of days later again we got news that due to all the complaints (they were actually surprised and a little annoyed that so many people complained about not getting their parcels :D ) all the parcels will be taken to the town's post office for us to collect but it will take a couple of days AGAIN.

What I thought was a reasonable time allowance we went to enquire about our parcels (by this time we had another red letter for another parcel). Basically got told off because the transfer was not fully ready yet. Jeeesh "we're not in a big city you know!" - The new post office lady actually said that! :D ummm... wouldn't that mean you have less parcels to worry about and more affection to your job as you basically know everyone in town :D

Several visits later and in September by now they advised us to claim our money back. Seriously???? Those parcels are there somewhere. Literally that postman has touched them with his own hands!!!!! How can you lose them now? No answer from the post office because the postman is royal mail employee. No answer from the postman because he has nothing to do with the post office. Great. Awesome.

BTW still haven't received the money back or post office voucher or however they promised to refund us...

The best part is the town post office lady who is actually annoyed with us going there to ask the same question every single time :D Sort it out and we can all get on with our lives eh?????!!!!

NB! The postman once asked Mr. Special if this block of flats was blahblah cottages or something. He said no. No idea where those are. Guess what the postman did? He freaking left a bunch of letters addressed to the blahblah cottages to our freaking stairwell?!?! Dafuq? There might be something important in there that someone is anxiously waiting for!

Quality service in this local little adorable town that certainly is not a big anonymous city ;)

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Aber food scene

There's quite a few pubs/restaurants/cafés in this little town and after 3 years of living here I've been to most of them (ok half at least?). So here are my fave places:

1. La Taberna – ever since I've been to Spain and understood what tapas are, I've been craving to have them every single day :D I don't really know why I've never been to the restaurant before (probs coz it is open only during evenings and said to be full all the time). But I was very positively surprised with the food – like real tapas man + they have honeyed aubergines mmmmm... my faves. The only reason I don't eat there every day is because I think they'd think I am a weirdo... AAAnd they make their own delicious sangria!!!! 
2. Agnelli's – a little Italian café with amazing food and not your typical spaghetti bolognese or lasagnes but chicken skewers and paninis etc. fresh Italian mediterranean food. You mustn't forget the authentic homemade desserts. Omg I want a tiramisu now! ;)
3. Medina – another mediterrenean cafe but more of a greek and african influences. Chilli jams and baklavas, not to mention the various dips to start off your meal. Only been there once so far but would definitely go back to sample more of their food :)
4. Irie's – Caribbean restaurant that is one of the poshest places here. Quite expensive but worth it. I wish the menu would be a bit bigger though – I would defo go more often then. The owner always comes for a chat and is lovely and nice + Don't even get me talking about the cocktails! There are SO many to choose from: some traditional and some exotic.
5. Nick's – A lovely little family restaurant with amazing and interesting food. A little fresh twist on traditional dishes and omg the mozarella stuffed tomato is why I go back there :D The only thing that irks me about the place is the looong waiting times – seems like they don't have any employees: it's just them cooking and serving. The service is very nice though :)
6. Y popty - Best jacket potatoes to takeaway. They also do bakes and little desserts. Nice lunch.
7. AberYankee – American Diner. Huge choice of burgers and hot dogs + pancakes!!!! The one thing I miss is having pancakes!!! Chips are served in little buckets and you can have icecream with coke for drink. The design is very American - the colours, the flags, the diner-like booths. I do like it.
8. Le Figaro - Nice fresh fish dishes but apart from that they have a pub menu as well and somethng for everyone's taste. After the first time I went there I was raving about it :D
9. Fusion King – Best takeaway place :D They have quesadillas and wraps and burgers and noodle meals and ice cream fritters. Need I say more? :D quite a quirky place that at first I was cautious about (me no likey different things or new places :D) but it has grown on me :P
10. Gannets Bistro - Another nice little family run restaurant. This time more traditionally british menu and no long waiting times. And you can order and Asti :D
11. Backyard BBQ – my first go at pulled pork :D proper bbq food. Nice big portions as well. A good safe traditional choice for me.
12. White horse - pubgrub but a bit classier than your average local. 
13. Chives - Quiches and sandwiches for lunch :)
14. Caesars - A typical british cafe serving lunch (and only lunch). Good choice and good prices.
15. Sophie's – It used to be one of my favourite places: nice food, good prices, big portions but I find myself wanting to go there less and less... Maybe all this mediterrenean healthy food has ruined my taste buds and I no longer want greasy british food :D + they slightly changed the menu and probs took out my favourite things, so now I don't know what to get from there... The meat in the burger wasn't good once (it wasn't gone off or anything :D but I suspect it came frozen from iceland or something) and having that memory in my head I just can't order them anymore :D
16. Pier Brasserie - Could and should be so much better than it is. Food is simply not impressive: it's good but quite expensive. They have a posh vibe but it doesn't really work in my opinion and that kind of puts me off...
17. Crimson Rhino – only been there once when they had their one year anniversary. It's supposed to be a super healthy gluten–free etc. place and the little food I had to taste was amazing. The main reason I haven't properly been there yet is bc I haven't really understood before what it was... just a smoothie bar or? + it does look a bit shabby... (yes you have miss fuifui here ;D ) And after having my first try of halloumi there, I've decided to properly give them a go and drag Ruby out there for a lunch one day.
18. Wetherspoons - Once my spaghetti carbonara had the shape of a box it'd came out of :D
19. The Starling Cloud - Very hit and miss. At first I loved it but as time went on I started noticing that the food is not great... They do the rotisserie meat very well but everything else is not up to scratch. Last christmas meal was just awful :D And most of our party thought that...
20. Casablanca - On paper this kind of moroccan? arab? food is not my style at all. I've only been once first year with the girls. For the life of me can't remember what I had but that also means it was not awful and instead was very much pleasant and eatable :D
21. Little Italy – I've heard that they have finally gotten they're food hygiene rating up to 5 but the food just isn't as good as it should be. The atmosphere is great and you do feel you're in italy but the food is just bland I guess... nothing horrible just meh... + why in the UK you get pasta carbonara with freaking leeks??? WHY? So I haven't been there for a while now...
22. Baravin - Quite expensive and nothing really interesting on the menu + no music :S AND the last time we went there I could smell the dishes... Not really wanting to go back... Great location though :D
23. MG's - A coffee place that offers paninis and small salads? Nothing really for my taste...
24. Scholars - I've been hearing about their ahmazing sunday roast for a long time and when our cooker pretty much exploded one sunday :D we decided to go there but were so disappointed. Mainly because of the beef that was just too toug to eat :( Everything else was lovely - you could choose your own sides and how much but yeah the beef left a bad taste in our mouths. Otherwise haven't been there. I hear they also have a Little Italy upstairs.

This is it, my list of places to go to eat in Aber. As you'd notice I haven't included any chip shops, because after Dolphin closed, I very rarely eat that anymore. Also left out most sandwich places like Spartacus and Coffee1 and most pubs where they serve the classic pub grub as well... I just don't have anything to say about them :D

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Back in time

Had my first holiday from work and what did I do with it? I obviously used it to go back to Aber and visit Jazz and Scarlet. My trip started with a “lovely” train ride. As the train was rather full I sat on the first free seat and omg, the seat felt weirdly cold and that was due to it being wet...great. Got up and found another one, but seriously, I thought that things like this could only happen in here, where public transport is free and all sorts of people can use it. Tried not to think too much about the contents of the liquid on the seat, otherwise would have been sick there.

Training to Aber was weird, never thought I would go back so soon and I managed to go during the time when some students were arriving for the sports week/freshers. Brought back so many memories watching those students with their huge suitcases, exactly like me and the rest of us years ago :D

Anyway, as I stepped out of the train the only thing I thought was that “I can't believe I returned so soon” :D

So many new places had opened up and some old ones were closed, but overall, still looked the same and what's most important I had such a great time :) Catching up with Jazz, Scarlet and Ruby.

Went out twice but the nigh to remember has to be the one when we decided to start with posh cocktails in a new cocktail place. The drinks were good indeed and thank god this place was not open when I was living there :D After that Ruby had to go to work, we went to eat (not gonna write about the struggle we had to decide on a place). Went to a new place, which had a cocktail bar under it and a tiny restaurant upstairs. Somewhere in between we decided to go to R.'s leaving party as he had his last shift in our beloved shop and was about to leave Aber. After eating we had time though, so we went to another restaurant/cocktail place and spend our remaining time there. Then headed to the pub where the leaving party was supposed to be. After hanging there for a while it was decided that we would go to Yokos. Oh dear, oh dear, I literally didn't think I would ever go back there but as Jazz thought that what the heck, it's probably my last chance to go there and if the music is good we might as well stay for couple of songs. I don't know if it was luck or unluck, but they had good music on which left us no chance but to dance. Jazz wanted to leave after a bit though (what a let down, I know) and even R. couldn't change her mind, so I was left in the club with Scarlet who doesn't dance and R. and friends of him. Who doesn't know yet then I like dancing and since I don't really go out in here I danced to every good song. The shock of the night was a dance battle, where one girl forgot that she is wearing a skirt and the fact that sometimes skirts have the tendency to lift up. We ended up staying there until the club closed, oopsy. Then me and Scarlet found ourselves walking her dog with R and his friend, who was rather interested in Scarlet, we told them to go home at some point (it was raining outside and I had the only umbrella, sorry guys!). That was the end of that colourful night.

Had to leave couple of days later to visit state rooms in Buckingham Palace. The start of my journey was fine until the train stopped in the middle of nowhere and didn't move for ages. Then it was announced that there's something wrong with the signal box so we ain't gonna move any time soon. Asked the conductor for an alternative train times and journey as there was no way I was going to catch the ones I bought tickets for. Started to move at some point, but too late to catch the trains the conductor suggested, so had to ask again and you can imagine my stress as the train I was able to catch now was supposed to leave me half an hour to get from London Euston to Buckingham Palace, if everything would have gone according to the plan I was supposed to have nearly 2 hours. So after stepping out in Euston had to give my suitcase to baggage hold and then run for life, because I had a prepaid ticket for a certain time. As much as I tried to rush I got there a bit later than my time but hoped to be let in with my ticket and I was, phew. The Palace was awesome of course, very nice and majestic. No pictures were allowed inside, so the only ones I have from my visit are form the cafe at the end, where I had 2 cakes (yeah, I'm greedy and love cake) which were sooooo good. After that I had a plan to buy myself one book, which was only available in 2 or 3 bookstores so then I was trying to get to the ones closest to me (of course almost nothing is close in London) before it closes, so that was even more crazy rushing. Got my book, yaay and just chilled after that until it was time to go to the airport.

Enjoyed my time back in the UK and London too much because now I want to move back. Feel so much more home in there :/

Of course, thank you Scarlet for hosting me and cooking for me!

Thank you Jazz for all the time you spent with me in cafes and around shops!

Ems

Blah blah blah

So here I am, still in Aber. No reason to go but not really wanting to stay :D You see my predicament? What I do have is my job. And currently I am applying to become an official member of the management yay right? The huge BUT that doesn't really let me get excited about it is that I'll tie myself down here, in the middle of nowhere for another year or two... Oh god how much I want to get out of here. Talking to Mr. Special, he proposed moving to Chester and while I look for work he can manage his pub, I would absolutely love that because I love Chester... And now this... This is a real shot in advancing my career (lol) and to turning it down would be stupid, right? Is there any point in moving now and basically having to start all over again from the bottom? After a year or two I can add an official management course to my cv and experience and move on to bigger things, right? That's my logic anyway...

For this management course I had to write a letter to the big boss. Umm... what kind of letter? Panicking now... So I just wrote a little letter saying I'm interested, worked here for a couple of years, would like to progress and my managers have given me the green light. Simple, short, straight to the point. After I sent the letter my manager said the big boss is on holiday next week... I could've had more time to think about what to write etc etc. What letter does he want anyway????? I don't know, my manager doesn't know either :D Oh god... now I have to sit here thinking it isn't enough or has freaking grammar mistakes in it bc my manager talked to me so I couldn't check it over and kind of sent it in a rush... yes I can take the pressure lol. 

You know what my manager said then? That there is an assistant manager position going in another shop (the current assistant manager does not know yet) and I was considered for that role. What if my stupid short letter ruined my chances?????? But I'm not technically applying for that job, am I? And I have to wait a whole week to even getting my hopes up to hear anything back...  This week will go really slowly...

You know those people who just look like complete idiots? 99% of the time they are... and we got one of them now. At first I was like looks don't matter, he'll be fine and not a complete waste of time... I was wrong... Unless a miracle happens and he'll find his brain and starts pulling his weight in the next few months, unlikely... One shop in town is full of those people. I mean people who look like they have no idea what common sense is and I've always wondered how to they get the job? Are the shopkeepers really that desperate? I realise being a cashier is not particularly hard but believe it or not but not everyone can do it...  

Ooooh remember Peggy? Well she got fired... and if I understood correctly she didn't even blink an eye, said bye and went... What? I understand it isn't your dream job but getting fired should provoke some emotion, or not? She still comes to the store regularly and is friendly to us... I would be mortified and avoid that whole street in the fear of seeing some of my ex coworkers :D Maybe it's only me...

My favorite part of the job is the moment when this man comes with his adorable adorable little collie pup. Omg he is so cute and cuddly!!!!!! The dog I mean ;) It is almost making rethink having a cat and wanting that dog instead...

Police came in one day and said if we smelt any cannabis on anyone we should call them immediately... Can you imagine that in reality though? Let's say there's a queue and he's the first person. By the time someone calls the police and they come to us that guy is long gone. Or are they going to get photos from CCTV and track him down? All because some cashier said he stinks?

Ttyl ;)
Jazzz...

Playlist

I'm only obsessed with one of these songs this month (the first song obvs), the others are ok... :D

And after changing the 4 ok songs I'm starting to get obsessed with all of these :D

Ellie Goulding – On my mind

Calvin Harris – How deep is your love

Nicky Jam ft Enrique Iglesiad – El Perdon

KDA – Turn the Music Louder 

I'm only just starting to listen to the last one so that might be the new obsession ;)

As for the Estonian selection then meh... I've been hearing it on the radio and I guess it's caught my ear a little bit so here it is:

Shanon – Ootan Ööd

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Aubergine vs Courgette

When I was home many many moons ago my nan made a delicious aubergine and cream cheese pie. Man I dreamt of that pie. So a couple weeks later I managed to convince Mr. Special that we should make one too. I used the dictionary to get the word aubergine (just in case coz I've been known to mix up vegetables and herbs every now and again). Mr. Special looked high and low in every store and came back with nothing but an assumption that they might have it in with the next delivery in Morrisons (they showed him an empty shelf as well :D)

Next time in Morrisons we couldn't find any aubergines, but saw courgettes, which looked suspiciously similar... So we asked the guy who worked there. "What is that aubergine thing you speak of? Never heard of it! Is it in Polish? What's the English word for it, that defo does not sound like English?". B.. please wtf? Polish? yeah I'll come to a UK shop and ask for something in Polish... Never heard of it? Excuse me have you ever looked at restaurant menus: aubergine bakes here, aubergine lasagnes there, aubergine blah blah everywhere??? And you've never heard of it? It doesn't sound like English? But courgette does?! As we were standing next to the courgettes I said they look exactly like them (a little light went on in my head) and said it should be in the pumpkin family. He offered us some Argentinian potato–like things. What? I don't want just any vegetable thank you very much.

Obviously there wasn't wi–fi there to check but at home guess what discovery I made. Yeah freaking aubergine is the same thing as a freaking courgette!!!!!!! I was fuming, because they sell courgettes pretty much everywhere and that is the British English word for aubergine, which is more used in American and Australian English and in British menus as well for some reason :S

The pie was delicious btw ;)

Rant over

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Llangollen and Chirk castle

Llangollen is apparently known for it's steam railway station. Otherwise it's a small small town: bustling with people during day time but near enough dead after 5 PM

The steam train makes 2 couple hour journeys a day and I think it is quite expensive: something like 13 pounds there and back. When I say THERE and back, then in reality THERE is just another little (way smaller) town, where only locals, or people who are camping go to. So you are forced to get a roundtrip ticket. Otherwise you'll basically be stranded.

The journey starts off amazing: all the noises, the old carriages, soon enough you'll pass through a tunnel and notice smoke coming through the window so you close it hurrily. And then.. You're jus on a train... for a couple of hours... with not actually having to go anywhere. The scenery is great no doubt and if you're a train person you'll love it. But if you're like me who HAS to take the train for at least 2–3 hours to even start the main part of your 6 hour train journey then trains do not excite you as much as cause annoyance. Top that with a kid who boarded in the second stop and can't stop complaining five minutes in how boring it is (you've been on it like half an hour or so). Well she has a point...

Looks awesome and authentic right 

Doesn't it make you want to go for a ride?

The adorable looking stop where the whiney kid boarded the train.

The main part of the town is just ahead

The Dee river and on the right is the train station

Old abbey ruins that we couldn't get into because they are fenced in and you have to pay (again quite a lot actually imo) to get it + it was closed when we were there anyway. But as you can see you can get the idea of it by not paying the money just as well :)

And now the Chirk castle. No gardens to impress me but we did get a free tour of the rooms before they opened officially :) aww yeah.

The courtyard inside the walls

Dining room (obvs)

So this is how you eat scones? They're actually rather nice now... ;)

Oh wait... there was a garden behind it :D but not as impressive as Powys then.

A good half–day trip to the castle :)

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Conwy

Conwy is a small town on the north coast of Wales and it is absolutely adorable. Perfect for a day out walking in the sun taking the the sites. It has a huge castle ruins bordering the town and you can actually walk on the town wall circling the town and occasionally peeking into peoples' small backyards.... :) 

The castle from the wall walkway

Three stories of the castle. You could even go up most the towers :)

PS! free for National Trust card holders ;)

Bridges for cars, pedestrians and trains. Viewing from the castle

View to the bay from the castle. And you can see the town wall there as well + the smallest house in Britain is there too. You can enter for a quid and it has two rooms on two levels. Literally the length of a bed and the width of a grown mans stretched out arms. At one point a family of four lived there :O

Near Conwy are also the Bodnant Gardens which are HUGE, it'll take you half a day atlas to walk through every corner. It is varied with beautiful exotic flower beds to one point feeling that you've lost in the woods.

A lovely bench in one of the furthest points of the grounds

The same pond on the other side (I think...)

There were a couple of lovely bridges across the ponds

The most known building of the gardens probably.

Flower beds and Palm trees :)

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Playlist

Why is it that there's loads of songs in my head until I need to make that post and then it's...all gone? Although, this time there are new songs that I keep hearing from the radio but I just don't know who sings them or the titles -.-

Discovered this one when watching Home and Away, his "Surrender" is also good.

This is my "must listen" song of every evening as it's just so dancey and put me in a good mood.

Last 2 are difficult ones, but picked these and left out Rita Ora "Body On Me" as the addiction for that song has passed.

Since I haven't heard any good new songs released is Estonian I posted this one by Estonians.

Ems xx

Verona and Cinque terre

Forget Bardolino and Milan, why didn't we spend more time in Verona????? :S

So this post was meant to be the last in Italy series and all about Verona, until I started adding photos and realised we went to one of the towns of Cinque Terre too! :D

A day trip from milan to Cinque Terre takes about 4 hours on train (I think there are some faster and some slower trains - like 6 hours long... planning planning planning) and costs about 40 euros... (I might totally be making this up though as I can't remember anything - I swear I wasn't drunk out of my mind :D ). At first we had booked a viator.com tour that would include more towns and a boat trip and all the shebang but last minute for some reason the website cancelled because they had had no contact with the tour company :( Coming back we did see a tour group entering a train for a few stops (just like our promised tour would've!!!). So we were left to our own initiative and devices.

View straight after stepping out of the train in Manarola

The town or village is just around that rock.

The main street

This could've been me vol 2 :( I think I might've cried seeing these people

The walkway where everyone takes THE photo of Manarola and possibly even Cinque Terre

Guess where this trail ends up? Another freaking swimming spot!!!!!

THIS photo :) 

yeah yeah if I photoshopped it or blah blah blah it'd look more impressive but hey I'm just a simple girl with no photoshop skill or interest tbh...

Ballin' at the sight of the water :'(

This is on top the rock with the walkway :)

The other side of town

The extremely hot day and climbing the endless heights (2 different height walkways on the mountain semi-circling the town between vineyards like you can see behind the town) and not wanting to take the 6 hour train back meant that we didn't have time for other towns this time.

And now our last (half)day in Italy was spent in Verona and having seen it 5 minutes I regretted not planning even more time there!! See I appreciate small towns (like Verona, Manarola, Bardolino) more than big cities (Milan). I just think smaller places have more character and this trip proved it :) We happened to be in Verona when Carmen the musical was on and around 8 or 9 saw people in fancy dress queueing up to the old arena to go and see it :)

Our hotel was right next to the arena and 5-10 minutes from the Juliette balcony. The arena is impressive from the outside but I think a bit too expensive to visit. Although I'm glad we did. Then somehow we managed to take the longest route to find the balcony: I'm talking like 40 minutes or so. Please don't ask me how...

"How do we know which one is THE balcony???"

Oh... the hundred people shoved in one little courtyard must mean something...

Haha I didn't even think the photo of THE balcony was worthy enough to add (I put photos here like a month before writing this all up), probably because there was always some random person on it. Find another blog for your 15 minutes of fame thank you very much! You can actually visit the house and the balcony obvs. but be warned of the masses. We decided against it: Shoving ourselves into the courtyard and then back out was experience enough :D

Anyway the wall full of love letters before THE balcony

The arena I was talking about earlier

Something has gone wrong in ordering the photos from now on... but we'll go with that since it's funnier and if I put them in the correct order I will have to delete one part of the text. Can you guess which one?

Anyway these are huge props next to the arena probably used for the performances 

Oh look this is THE balcony without anyone in it :)

The inside view of the arena. The higher you got the hotter it got.

In the evening there were little stalls here selling seat cushion etc for the performance

This is a very important photo obviously. I assume on the left that's me and on the right is Mr. Special taking the photo of the ground. The finger is also his :D 

I have no idea why this is here. Honest :D

Back to Manarola and the vineyard. The walkways are somewhere there on the lines you can see.

Like this :)

I want to go back now :D

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Milan and the Expo

The reason we chose Milan for our holiday destination is the Expo to be honest. There was such commotion around it and being so close to us (Shanghai last time and Dubai the next) I was just hell yeah lets go. Especially as I liked the ITB so much and thought it'd be something like that but on a much bigger scale.

Ps as you might've noticed I am wayyy behind on my posts (this trip took place in July).

Milan itself is a typical big city and partly due to the excruciating hot weather we didn't quite get to see everything or as much as we would've liked to BUT in saying that I don't really feel like we missed anything as such... So if you're planning to visit Milan a couple of days should be enough.

The high street just before reaching Duomo. Lots of "friendly" scammers there to give you bracelets :) Hello Hello Shakira Shakira

Tadaaah! The Duomo.

It is impressive. And later on in the day the square is not filled with that many people anymore.

The Expo is a huge thing in Milan. Signs like these are everywhere in town and on trains (official transportation)

A castle just a quick ten minute walk from Duomo

Through the castle and an enormous park you get to the Brandenburg gates apparently :D

Expo grounds from afar :)

Proper airport security gauntlet before being allowed to enter

Trying desserts in a Korean restaurant. They were delish

And that was about it of the Expo. It was like a huge museum site and I must say I was a little disappointed: standing in long queues to get in the houses to see pictures and video demonstrations about their traditions etc. I don't know I was hoping for something more interactive, something more like the ITB where they put on dancing shows and wine tastings. Instead there were photos with information and expensive restaurants for meals. I would've been perfectly happy paying a little bit to get to taste samples of the local cuisine... OOOOOh Russia had a mad lab style local drink tasting.

Now back to the Duomo :D we decided to visit early early after it'd just opened and it was a great decision - hardly any people were there :) You can go to the roof as well as inside + under the cathedral as well. Keep in mind the dress code though: shoulders and knees covered and they're really strict about it.

Only one more post to go about the Italy trip in JULY :D

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...