Italy Sept. 2013

    Here I sit beside a canal in Milan. Yes, this city has them as well. It used to be full of them, now the city has covered them for car traffic. Makes it humid and fraught with mosquitoes. I having my first meal outside my room. I am that conservative. Service, mediocre. Bread as bad as I remember, entree flat. That is why I have my own food. However, I wanted the experience. Italian women know what they want and get it. Lesson to be learned.

    I have seen The Last Supper and the Cathredral out from restoration. It has been many years since I was here and both were covered up. Would not dream of ordering a cappuccino-only for morning here. Now the next table will smoke, funny how normal it seemed when I smoked. 

     First day I walked for 9 hours, covering three museums, then slept for 12 hours. All the great masters are here to be admired, and, I know how lucky I am.

     Lost again. Gmail has messed up my mail. I was on the quest to fix it. Tried to do it myself, too scared of the implications. So, found an 'Apple' shop and started on the walk to find it. 11/2 hours later, after some wrong turns, I found it, only for it to be closed! Many places, it seems, are closed on Monday as well as Sunday. The directions from my iTouch were not very good. Asked young man at the bus stop if the bus goes to the train station. Yes. As he bus was coming, a man opened the store. I gave up the bus for that and he was not in the shop-hiding- I think. It was a phone shop, not Apple at all. Waiting for another bus, I ask the driver if he goes to the station, yes, he says. Now I know to ask- do you stop at he station? After I saw the sign pass and on the way out if town, I ask him, he is embarrassed, let's me out, and I walk back. 

   Now yesterday was a big smile day. Rode on the Vaporetto in Venice, up and back on the Grand Canal in the afternoon, four hours for a round trip. Every moment was a treasure. One building more beautiful than the last. Cold and blustery made it different from the postcard view of golden sun shinning on it all. I could feel the play, "Merchant of Venice" as we landed at the Lido. Casanova at the boat landings all around the city. Leonardo da Vinci teaching, Verdi composing. Wonderful. 

    Smoking everywhere. 

Big Mac and small fries- €5

Train mestre to Venice-€1.20

Local bus-€2.50

Carbonara-€8.00

Spinach pasta-€12.00+€2 cover, €2 water, €2bread, ouch. Pasta tasteless.

Toilet-€1.50

Electric cigarettes shops all over.

Real cigarettes in street vending machines as well as condoms

Vending machines for snacks in small 6'x5' holes in the wall

Marlboro's £3.50

England 2013

     Before the movie starts, Virgin media shows short films to show debut new movie makers. Bravo Richard. 

    WalMart has come to London. Called ASDA.

   The  London skyline is so very different, once it started it seems to go pell mell. It will look like Shanghai soon and not LONDON. And, nothing prettier than the English countryside. 

    Pubs are called that because they are public meeting places. 

   So nice to be called - love- and I can hear caring in voices. Not all the time, that would not be reality. So many accents that I cannot identify. 

     How do you cross the English Chanel thru the Chunnel on a bus? Each bus is sealed in a silver compartment, connected like a train. Feels like being inside a Russian doll. There is a sign for toilets, have not figured out how that works. I am on the  iDBUS, a new and comfy subsidiary of SNCF, French rail. Viva la France.  The bus has the biggest windows ever and a camera in the front which is televised on screens for us to see where we are. I have the front seat, only three on the bus, like the front on a London double decker.