Ciao Napoli!

Renblawg = official new name thanks to Kayla A.
Napoli (Naples) is insane, and we wre just in Rome, which is a tough act to follow! If anyone evr comes to Naples, Hostel of the Sun is where its at. Best so far by a landslide. Had pizza again today. . . and then a salad with corn, and I dont think I can ever have another without corn.
Im sad were leaving Italy in 2 days. . . .Im starting to get the language a bit more, and today on the street I had a long conversation in Spanish with someone! All my nerdy hours self=teaching myself have paid off!
So Barça won. Oh well, Im definitely not a die=hard fan or anything, and maybe by th time we get to Barcelona they will still be celebrating!

Tomorrow were heading to Capri for the day, and maybe to another island, or the Vesuvius volcano, then I wll probably hunt down the best pizza in the world, although Danielle is really, really sick of pizza, so I might just have to eat a whole pie to myself.

Finally, last night in our room the two other girls were from Kanata! Really! Its a small world after all!

Saturday= France here we come! How many times will my French=Canadian accent be mocked . . .well see.
Heard its raining back home. . .pushing 25 degrees for the fourth day in a row!
peace

Who the fuck are Man United?

So as is turns out, we are in Rome for the Champions League Football (soccer) final match.
Kind of a big deal. . . . it really is NUTS, but in the best way possible. Manchester United are playing FC Barcelona. We have met so many Mancs that we cant help but cheer for them tonight. We even spent an hour looking for Man United scarves. . . . but had to settle on half Man half Barcelona.
Last night at a bar, there were probably 30 Man United fans singing and chanting for an hour and a half ! SO loud that everyone has to listen. Not to be outdone, we probably saw over 200 Barcelona fans today at the Vatican. . . equally loud, equally cheery.
OH also, the sale of alcohol is BANNED today in Rome!!! You can get it in pubs, but not in liquor stores, grocery stores, etc because of the match. I have NEVER seen such . . . I dont even know how to put it. Were so lucky to have been here at this time!

Oh, we also went to a little place called St Peters Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. Words cannot describe these, so I wont even try. But wow! We saw the Pope give a Mass (Alexis we thought of you, we took pictures) and even though I am the furthest thing from religious, its pretty impressive.

So were leaving Rome tomorrow for Naples, and staying there two nights and three days where we will eat the best pizza in the world.

Danielle is surviving on a diet of only gelato. Its sooo good.
Anyways, thats all for now. . . so much more to say, the rest Ill save for in person!

Ciao (yeah, I say that now)

ROME!!!!!

Hiiii from Europe!
First of all, excuse my typos. . . different keyboard.
Second, we are leaving our first hostel in 10 minutes, so this will be super super short.
The plane was fine, long, but fine. We watched Bride Wars. . . . do NOT do this.
We had the BEST sandwhiches of LIFE on the flight from Frankfurt to Rome, mmmmm.
After getting over jet lag, we toured Rome for a day yesterday. We went to the Colosseum, the Forum, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and had dinner at a tiny cafe.

We have met SO many people. especially Canadians, and people from Manchester. . . stayed out till 3 ish last night with some rowdy boys.

anyways, time to head to the next hostel.

all my love and go wings go!

TOMORROW

:)
that is all

Cannes you dig it?

TWO DAYS TWO DAYS TWO DAYS!!!
When the F did this happen?
Well, I found out that a frw of my friends are actually following this mundane attempt at sharing travel plans. . . . *Hi Alexis!* so I'll continue for now.
Anyways, we have slightly changed our schedule. . . and added Nice to the tour! From there, day trips to Cannes (and Monaco) are in the works, for sure.
The hostels we are staying in RULE ( famous last words) and I'm getting pretty pumped.
If anyone reading this wants a postcard. . . send me your address! :)
Happy Birthday Sarah!

dear heaven on earth, here we come!

Capri! Thanks to Lou Labrosse, a new destination has been added: the island of Capri.
I'll let the images speak louder than my words, since I haven't (yet) seen all of its beauty.

. . .and catch a plane to Barcelona, 'cos this city's a drag.

oh Adam Duritz. For Kayla, if you read this, I always think of you when I hear this song :). Seems appropriate now, as I'd not listened to it in a long time.
(ummm a few words might have been changed to better suit my life)


Got no place to go but there's a girl waiting for me down in Mexico.
She's got a bottle of tequila, a bottle of gin.
And if I bring a little music I can fit right in.
We've got airplane rides.
We got Ottawa drowning out the window side.
We've got big red cars.
And we've got stories how we slept with . . . no one at all.

I may take a holiday in Spain.
Leave my wings behind me.
Drink my worries down the drain.
And fly away to somewhere new.

Hop on my choo-choo, I'll be your engine driver in a bunny suit.
If you dress me up in pink and white we may be just a little fuzzy 'bout it later tonight. She's my angel, she's a little better than the one that used to be with me. Cause she liked to scream at me Man, it's a miracle that she's (I'm) not living up in a tree.

I may take a holiday in Spain. Leave my wings behind me, drive this little girl insane, and fly away to someone new.

Everybody's gone, they left the television screaming that the radio's on. Someone stole my shoes But there's a couple of bananas and a bottle of booze (pancake mix?).
Oh, well happy Victoria Day, baby. We could probably fix it if we clean it up all day.
Or we could simply pack our bags. And catch a plane to Barcelona 'cause this city's a drag.

I may take a holiday in Spain Leave my wings behind me. Flush my worries down the drain.
And fly away to somewhere new. Take a holiday in Spain. Leave my wings behind me. Drive this little girl insane. Fly away to someone new. Fly away to someone new. Fly away to someone new . .

a few more Naples shots.

Naples <3

wow, wow, wow.

b r e a t h t a k i n g

Immacolatella fountain, Naples.

. . . . and here are some pictures of Naples pizza . . .

mouth wattering enough?

Naples, I can tell this is the start of a beautiful relationship.

Naples! Pizza! What Else is There?

Naples, Naples, Naples. It seems so obvious. . . why have these words rarely exited my mouth?Pizza, Pizza, Pizza.As someone who has had more relationships with food items than actual people, obviously, these words leave my mouth every few days. A fourth city has tentatively been added. This city is Naples! On my mom’s suggestion ( and threatening urging, actually) I’m reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love.” So far I’ve only read the “eat” part, in which she recounts her own adventures in Italy. Yesterday I read her about her visit to Naples. She visited the place where they serve the best pizza in the world. . . and I actually kind of believe her.

“I love my pizza so much, in fact, that I have come to believe in my delirium that my pizza might actually love me, in return. I am having a relationship with this pizza... Thin, doughy, strong, gummy, yummy, chewy, salty pizza paradise. On top, there is a sweet tomato sauce that foams up all bubbly and creamy when it melts the fresh buffalo mozzarella . . .Sofie and I each order another pie- another whole pizza each- and Sofie tries to pull herself together, but really, the pizza is so good we can barely cope.”

After reading that passage, four words entered my mind: "Naples, here I come!"

Google Earth: Helpful, yet not as Good as the Real Thing

One step closer! Something has been booked!!

For our first three nights, we're staying in a campsite just a bit out of Rome. A friend told me he stayed there, and loved it. The price is also reasonable, and it seems fun. Yes, it is a bit odd that two people who live in the country are leaving it and going, well, camping, but I'm sure it's not actually roughing it by any means. So that's a good step!

There are still many decisions to be made, like deciding if we want to visit a fourth city, if we want to book transportation now (probably a good idea). . . well, I guess those are the two last ones that remain. I think the top city contenders seem to be Florence, or perhaps another city in Spain, or even France. It might be nice to visit a smaller town other than huge Metropolitain areas, but who knows. It's hard to focus on just the trip with friends coming home, work popping up everyday and needing to clean my room and organize my next year.

I've been looking up the cities on Google Earth. Oh my god it's fun, which tells me a lot about my ideas of fun.

There isn't much else to update, it's a beautiful day outside in Carp!

European Adventure T-Minus 16 Days!

O.K! Well, the title says it all! 16 more days until I (we) depart on a European Adventure for a little under three weeks this summer!
My travelling companion is my dear, dear friend Danielle. We have both just finished our undergrad degrees, and it feels like the perfect time to head off on "the trip of a lifetime" (too ambitious?).
So far, the trip will begin in Roma, Italy. After a few days breaking my vegan diet by eating copious amonts of pizza ("When in Rome. . . .") the trip will take us to Marseille, in the South of France. From there, we will end in Barcelona, Spain. The more I look into Barcelona, and speak to people who've been, I get complete mixed feelings. The purse snatching, fake-gypsy scams, etc. etc. obviously bring feelings of apprehension, but at the same time, these grim tales are outmatched by the many, many great things I've heard about Barcelona.
We're trying to book our first few hostels, and roughly think of things to do. I have also received mixed accounts about planning: some swear by having everything planned to the T, while others say a more "go with the flow" attitude makes for a spontaneous and amazing trip. I guess ours will be somewhere in the middle.

There is SO MUCH left to do. I'm trying to work as often as I can in order to have more than enough spending money, but so far tips have been low, as have been the hours I've worked.
We obviously need to finalize a few things before we leave. I plan on doing a bit more "research" into the cities we're visiting, to better appreciate what I'll be experiencing.
Changing money, and a lot more boring stuff I'll save for myself.

I'm off to run to clear my head. . . only 16 more runs in before we leave, because I doubt I'll do much running in Europe.

How does one sign off these things?

Peace for now,

Ren.