Backtracking

Something I forgot to tell you last time I was in Nice was that I visited some amazing old towns in the surrounding areas.  One of them was called St Paul de Vence.  It was a medieval fort town that has now been transformed into a bustling tourist attraction full of art galleries and boutiques carrying locally made goods.  This has to be one of the most charming places I have seen so far, and I found myself wondering "How will I ever be content living in Canada or Australia when I now know that places like this exist in the world?"  Whilst pondering such things, a woman walking just behind me started speaking to her friend and i realised she was Australian.  I was just about to turn around and make contact with her, as I didn't expect to find another Aussie in a tiny french town in the middle of nowhere.  But as soon as I turned around I realised it was Naomi Watts! (one of Australias most fmous actresses).  Can you believe that I, Miss motor mouth, who talks to anyone and everyone, suddenly got struck with shyness and I didn't even say hello!!  I'm kicking myself now, but something tells me she was enjoying being anonymous hanging out with her kids, free from public attention.  But Goddam it would have made a great story if I had the guts to do it :)

Decisions, Decisions...

After an exhausting 10 hour train ride I finally made it back to Nice.  I left most of my luggage here so I had no choice but to return.  I'm definitely not complaining, now that the sun is out, this is a great place to be.

Before leaving Florence, I was happy to dicover that it's after dark, that the real magic happens in that city.  I decided early on in my travels, after one scary night it Paris, that I shouldn't go out at night alone, but Florence is so full of tourists that it felt safe.  I'm so glad I took the risk... it was so beautiful, there were musicians  busking everywhere, all of that stunning architecture lit up against the night sky, it was so much more impressive than during the day. 

I sat for dinner in a charming restaurant next to the Duomo, my favourite building.  The waiter there, Leonardo, was very chatty and friendly and he introduced me to another girl sitting alone.  We ended up joining tables, and it turned out she was a very talented classical pianist from Russia.  She was only in her early 20s but she was brilliant.  She showed me one of her concerts on Youtube where she was playing Rachmaninov, her favourite composer.  

We shared our stories and our love for music and both agreed that it has brought so much to our lives and that we couldn't imagine a life without it.  Her story so far seems to be unfolding like a fairytale and she was about to move to Texas to study under a master Pianist there.  She was so excited about this opportunity.  

It makes me so happy to hear about peoples dreams coming true.  It gives me hope for my own dreams, although, I don't think I've ever worked as hard as she does, she practices for 8 hours most days.  I guess the saying is true "Good luck comes to those who work hard"...I think I've been pretty lazy so far, but I have to say, this travelling experience is making me feel more determined and more focussed.  I'm actully looking forward to getting back to Toronto to work on new songs and to play more shows.

My last night in Florence ended at a at cool bar called BeBop where there was a live band playing Beatles tunes.  Leonardo the waiter came with me.  The band was great, they were dressed up as the Beatles and they sounded just like them.  The bar was packed and was quite noisy and rowdy so I found myself imagining that this was what it must have been like for the Beatles when they first started out, and i was pretending like it was the 60s and I was hearing them for the first time. Sounded so good, no wonder they got so famous :)

So now I'm in Nice, trying to figure out my next move, but it's not easy, I don't have much money left and I somehow have to make it last until the 3rd July, that's the day that my flight returns to Toronto.  I'm going to go and hang out at the beach and see if the answers come to me :)  

(The beaches here by the way are made of rocks, not sand, which at first was a novelty, but I dicovered yesterday,  in reality it's very uncomfortable and quite painful if you want to lie down Best to stay completely still so you dont get hurt! )

xx

A Date With The Renaissance

I left Rome yesterday as a total convert - I went from hating to loving the iconic Italian city and I feel like I barely even scratched the surface.  My couch surfing host really helped to make it a wonderful experience.  He took me to a live show,  we hung out in bars in the ancient narrow streets, sat in piazzas next to beautiful water fountains, ate pizza and pasta and drank lots of wine.  We played guitar, he taught me some tricks for fingerpicking technique, we sang Beatles songs and he introduced me to the world of Jimmy Hendrix. 

We also did a guided tour on one of the oldest roads built in Rome, where the ruins of old churches, tombs and public baths are scattered.  The highlight of my stay was when he took me for a ride on his motorbike around the historic part of the city late at night.  The streets were empty, not a tourist in site - it was the most beautiful way to see the famous ancient monuments, they were silhouettes against the moonlit sky. 

Sadly, thanks to the pressure of time and lack of money I had to keep moving and I am writing to you now from the picturesque town of Florence.  This beautiful city is quite dense and compact, theres a lot to see  but its all within walking distance.  It definitly fits the more sterotypical, romantic idea that I had of Italy.  Rome was quite a surprise to me because a lot of the time I felt I could have been in Africa or in an Arab country, but here in Florence, Italian culture dominates the streets.   

For one thing there is a strong smell of leather in the air and youd be lucky to find a street that didnt have a shop selling brightly coloured leather bags, shoes and jackets.  There are a lot of outdoor and indoor markets, fruit and vegetable stands, flower shops,  italian cafes and restaurant, icecream shops, icecream shops and more icecream shops...believe it or not ive manged to resist the temptation of gelato so far, but i may cave in before the night ends.

Shortly after I arrived yesterday I found the coolest music store full of old instruments, recording equipment, books, records, nick nacks, posters and more.  It turned out the guy who owned it used to be a recording engineer and had a studio back in the day. 

As soon as he found out I was a musician he set up a guitar and microphone for me and got me to play him a few songs, he cranked it up so load a few people walking past stopped to listen.  It was a fun way to start the day.  I also found out there is a bar not too far from my hostel that has live music so Im planning to check it out tonight.  Apparently Tuesday night is Beatles night...their music seems to be following me where ever I go...

Aside from wandering the streets I managed to check out the Uffizi gallery and saw the famous paintings by Boticelli. As usual, i have a problem when it comes to paying attention to detail, and so it wasnt until I reached the exit that I realised I had missed the 2nd floor of the gallery and didnt see the works of Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo...Of course somehow I manged to lose my ticket somewhere along the way and they wouldnt let me back in.  It was a typical scattered brained event for me...things like this are happening to me all the time...Its expensive to be me!

PS sorry for missing apostrophes, i cant find the button on this keyboard

xx