Italia - part 1!

Maybe it's the Commonwealth connection, but the beauty of not needing a visa to enter Europe is great. At least that was what I was thinking until my arrival in Rome which changed my opinion on this. But then again, I can still blame the Italian immigration for incompetence, stupidity, and just plain uncooperative and un-informative. Pick any adjectives along these words and I'm sure it fits their description beautifully. At least I managed to get through and in after some "checking" done by them... That is another story altogether which will not be featured in here. But now I've made my way to Paris after spending about 10days in Elba Island and Florence, which makes better post that the previous incident!

And what an eventful trip it was! Upon arriving close to 11pm in Florence from Rome on Friday the 20th, I was taken straight to Marc's place, only to drop my bags and then go downstairs to the pub where I met the lovely people he hangs out with. Granted, due to the status change in our relationship there was quite a list of people whom I had to meet, but never would I have expected the honours to began the night I arrived... They even came in a car to the station (after Marc had left on foot!) to pick me up when they heard that he was meeting me. Let's say that he was just as surprised at the enthusiasm as I was.


That aside, the next day we left very early in the morning to catch the 7.30am train. I just keep racking in the travel miles!! In the space of two days I had done Tokyo-Beijing-Rome-Florence (which ended up taking close to 24 hours) and now to Piombino, where we later took the boat (or ship seeing that it was so huge!) to Cavo on Elba Island* to spend the weekend there; a weekend getaway that Marc had planned for us and kept as a surprise. It was an amazing weekend. The sun, the sea, the food, and of course, the great company! It was indeed a big change from Japan. I had a tan and "rosy cheeks" by the time we left on Sunday.

Elba Island taken from the boat


Marc and I on the boat/ship

* Elba Island is famous as the place where Napoleon was exiled. It is near Corsica, where he was born. Now we'll have to visit Corsica too to complete the Napoleon "tour" ^_^

typhoon?

I heard that this weekend there will be a typhoon. The thought of it just give me chills. I definitely do not want rain and constant rain the whole day! But I guess even with the whole population wishing the same thing it really isn't going to work. So typhoon, (well up to now I really don't know if it's a real one), constant rain has been pouring since this morning.. and it will last for two days... yucks!!!!

Definitely more reason to look forward to Europe!! Sun and beach!!

Harry Potter World Premiere

Guess what? June 28th came and gone, with us at the BBC not being very busy after all. Harry Potter is supposed to be top news priority for us, but funny enough, the Japanese organisers decided to block all foreign media red carpet access. Even London couldn't do anything and hence, it was a rather "quiet" day....

But yes, Daniel did come, apparently he greeted the Potter fans in Japanese too. Well done!

Day 3 & 4 - On the Island

The day began at 7, being awoken to a beautiful sunrise and mist covered land that reminded me so much of the view seen from the top of Fuji. All that was missing was the “shadow of Fuji” on the “clouds”. Janice and I went jogging before breakfast, while the folks followed behind/ahead of us in the jeep, stopping occasionally to snap photos of us.

The highlight of the day was the VIP tree planting at 11am. Janice and I had the honour of planting two palm tree seedlings in the VIP patch, with a board of our names and date next to the trees. Immortalised forever… now we’ll have to come back to check its growt; perfect excuse to make a trip back… ^_~


Later in the evening we went to one beachside hotel for dinner of local dishes: deep fried fish, matoke, posho and some peanut and bean sauces. To top it off, we were greeted by such a lovely sunset that simply was, indescribable!

The next day was a slow one, but the weather was lovely. After lunch, we head down to the company’s private beach (they are trying to build it) to admire the view. How different it feels compared to the normal sandy sea beaches! Because Lake Victoria is a freshwater lake, the air remains fresh and clean; no salty taste. It was the perfect place to relax, do some reading, or just simply enjoy the view. There is a sign which says “Welcome to the island of peace, palm, and prosperity”. Forget the 3Rs, we’ve got the 3Ps right here, lol! I would really love to return here somewhere in the near future. I definitely didn’t feel like leaving the next day.