Some more pictures from my visit to Paris....

Cupid and Psyche in the Louvre

Sacre-Couer Basilica in Montmartre

The Champs Elysee at night

The Royal Palace at Versaille

The Gardens of Versaille with view of the Apollo Basin

Weekend in Paris - March 17-19

So I went to Paris over the weekend. It was chaotic! You'd think it wouldn't be as busy during the later winter months but it was packed. I can't imagine what it's like in the summer but I saw everything I could pack in a weekend. The Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Champs Elysee, Arc de Triomphe, Montmatre, Versaille...you name it! I am still feeling the pain, I walked 14 miles the first day and 9 miles the second so I definitely got some excercise in but it was a cool first experience in France. Even cooler was that my hotel was a block away from the Eiffel Tower in the 7th district. The people were all very friendly and language was not a barrier at all. Then again I was so used to hearing Italian I found myself answering back to people in Italian by accident! Considering how big Paris is (14 metro lines!) getting around was very easy and I never got lost. Well here are some pics from my weekend in Paris...

It's me in front of the Arc De Triomphe. I am on the Champs Elysee.

Winged Victory at the Louvre. This is a timelapse shot taken from across the hall.
Notre Dame Cathedral
The Eiffel Tower lit up at night with view of Pont d'Lena

I especially like the last picture which is the panaromic shot. This was taken from the top of the Arc De Triomphe. I basically took a series of pictures and stitched them together on my computer. Very cool feature.

The Last Supper - March 2, 2006

Ok so I finally made my way to see Leondardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper". It wasn't easy! First off you have to book tickets weeks in advance so I booked mine for March 2 which was a Thursday (about 2 weeks in advance). The thing with this viewing is that you have to pick a time slot and go in at that time slot. The groups are limited to 25 people per time slot and you can only look at the painting for 15 minutes before they kick you out. I chose the 1PM time slot which would have been my lunch hour and I figured I would have plenty of time to get there and back. Big mistake! In my infinite wisdom I decided to wing it and figure out the location of the church the day of the viewing. As soon as I got off the subway I immediately asked for the right direction. The thing with Milan is that roads are not perpendicular, it's all criss-crossing and diagonal and they can change names after every block! Well I was running for blocks hoping I wouldn't get shut out of my time slot and made it in time (maybe 1 minute late). They gave me the audio tape and I caught up to my tour group and I have to say it was very awe-inspiring. It's much bigger than I thought. The paining is on a refectory wing of "Santa Maria della Grazie". The wing itself is very modern, it has sliding glass doors and the room is climate controlled. The reason for this is that the hall the walls were blown out during WWII but luckily they sandbagged the fresco so it was saved. This is why the wing looks so modern even though the church is hundreds of years old as most of the refectory was rebuilt after the war. The painting is not in the best condition as it is very faded but you can still see the masterful work, the colors and the perspective were really amazing and ahead of its time even though the materials used did not stand up to the test of time. Apparently even Napolean's army had used it for target practice so the fact that it's as well preserved as it is says a lot! Alas, no pictures were allowed inside but I can say now that I've seen the painting with my own eyes.

Venice and Carnivale - February 24-26, 2006

Here are some pictures from the Carnivale festival in Venice. It's the Venetian Mardi Gras where everyone walks around in costumes. The interesting thing was how authentic and intricate a lot of these costumes were. I didn't see any Walmart Halloween throwaway costumes, it was the real deal. Some must have been either homemade or custom made, the lady with the birdcage on her head comes to mind. I couldn't tell if these people were locals or also tourists but the costumes were really impressive. The only bad side about the Venice trip was the food. Everything was overpriced and the service was terrible. Most restaurants charged a 12% fee on top of the cover charge which is per person. I don't know if it was like this because of Carnivale or if it's always like this. Oh well! It was cool wandering around the streets and narrow alleys and looking for hidden gems. I found a jester's hat for $5 euros so I can't complain.

More Olympics

Here are some pictures from my weekend in Torino. I never could figure out what the official Olympic mascot was suppose to be, he kind of looks like a tooth! He would look perfect hung up in a dentist's office. There are also pictures of the various lights that were strung up between each of the major streets. They contracted different artists to each come up with a distinctive design for each of the streets so it was cool wandering from street to street looking at the artists came up with. There is also a picture of the medals pavillion, this is where the atheletes actually got their medals and went through the whole ceremony and where they would hold concerts and events at night.

Torino Olympics

Long time no post. I have been very busy with work and all but I did manage to go to the Olympics in Torino!! We went on Feb 19th, and we had tickets to see the Women's 1000M Speed Skating finals. Unfortunately USA placed 10th but it was still fun! The place was mobbed and about 50% of the audience was from the Netherlands (probably because they were heavliy favored to win!). I can't remember the last time I saw this much orange as it is the national color. Whenever they would announce someone from the Netherlands the crowd roared and would knock you back to your seat if you were standing. So the results were 1) Netherlands 2) Canada 3) Germany.

Torino is a very cool city too, very small and quaint. Unfortunately it was raining and then it began to snow pretty bad and it was FREEZING but the Olympic experience will never be forgotten. It was pretty amazing to see all these people from different nations all supporting the athletes. Later after the game we went to the Olympic Medals Stage and got as close as we could to the stage. It turns out that Whitney Houston was performing live that night, we only stayed for the first couple of songs...she was actually sounding very unspectacular mostly talking through the songs and not really singing and we were really cold and tired so we headed back to Milano. I am definitely going to pencil in Vancouver for 2010!! I think it would be cool to watch the outdoor events like snowboarding and slalom.