Backpacking through Europe

I wish wish wish I could tell you ALL about my tales of traveling through Italy. So far I have been to Cinque Terre, Florence, Rome and I am now spending my last night in Naples (which is awesome- having seen the Amalfi coast and Pompeii).

Tomorrow night I am going to catch an overnight train to Nice where I will be staying for three or four nights- I can't wait to be there. Having struggled to find accommodation for Saturday night I realized the Monaco grand prix is currently on, so hopefully there will be lots of buzz around Nice on Sunday. I hope to go to Monaco for a day, and also to Grasse (home of perfume).

From Nice I am going to visit my host family who I lived with in 2005. I am super excited to see them again and can't wait to see the girls all grown up.

Backpacking is lots of fun (though at times it can be hard) but when you go out with a big group of new friends to a cool piazza to drink beer with Italians at midnight, or you see the Pope give his weekly address outside St Peter's Basilica, life seems so incredibly good I wouldn't want to be anywhere else!

It's quite hard to get the opportunity to use the Internet, but I will be sure to update the blog as and when I can.

From Italia, ciao Bella xx

Angry Boys

Summer Heights High is one of my favourite Australian comedies, written by and starring Chris Lilley.

But the newest kid on Chris Lilley's block is Angry Boys and, having watched the first episode (released this week), it is fair to say it will challenge Summer Heights High for top spot in my favourites.

Some of the characters from We Can Be Heroes - one of Chris Lilley's first series, prior to Summer Heights High - feature in Angry Boys, including Daniel and Nathan who are 17 year-old twin boys. Lilley plays both twins, one of which is deaf. Their past-times include doing 'mainies', (where you drive up and down the main street of town), taking profile pictures of themselves, and tormenting their mum's new boyfriend's dog.

Chris Lilley also plays a juvenile detention centre justice warden called Gran, who has been working in the centre for over 20 years. She is unbelievably politically incorrect, but it shouldn't be taken seriously - it's all tongue in cheek. For example, she separates the soccer team into 'darkies' and 'whities', and makes 'punked' jokes like "go grab your gear, we've just found out you're getting an early release." She even makes the child walk to the front gates of the prison, asking him "where can your mother be?" before exclaiming "Gotcha!". Gran likes to make superhero pyjamas for the boys, including Superman, Batman and Mr Incredible, as well as the zebra from Madagascar, all with doona covers to match.

It's one of those shows some people might take too seriously, but it's easy to see that Chris Lilley means no harm with his humour and that it is intended to make you laugh, rather than to offend.

I look forward to seeing the rest of the series as it is released over the coming months.

Unusually though, the Sydney Morning Herald didn't give Angry Boys a great review. You can read their review here.

It will be interesting to see whether the audience ratings reflect a positive response to Chris Lilley's latest show.

London Town

On Friday my Mum and I took the train into London for a full day (and night) of sight-seeing - after all, it wouldn't be a proper visit to England without a visit to London.

 We had a really fun time strolling through the Burlington Arcade, which is probably one of my favourite places in London. It is an arcade full of the best antique jewellery shops, featuring pieces such as antique Cartier and Tiffany & Co diamond rings, plus the biggest sapphires and emeralds i've ever seen.

We then visited the British Museum and saw the Egyptian rooms. Amongst the collection were the Rosetta Stone, incredible sphinx sculptures and enormous statues (with an individual arm spanning over two metres in length). Some of the items in the collection were dated back to 2000BC - it's hard to get your head around time when something is that ancient.

 In the afternoon we headed towards another of my favourite endroits of London: Covent Garden. I think there is a really fun vibe to Covent Garden, with buskers always guaranteed to be performing. We were lucky enough to see a string quintet that danced while they played, as well as human statues in both bronze and gold. The buskers were great fun to watch, and there were also markets we checked out, which had fabulous Banksy artworks.

We then made our way to the King's Road in Chelsea, which is probably similar to Oxford Street in Sydney's Paddington. It's where Kate Middleton is often seen and it certainly had a very distinctive 'sloane ranger' vibe. Lots of nice shops and lovely buildings too.

After a nice, quick Italian dinner, Mum and I ventured over to the Victoria Apollo Theatre to see the musical Wicked. Most of my school friends in Australia had raved to me about it, my friend Sarah Harding in particular is a strong Wicked advocate (I think she's seen it three times). Fortunately it did not disappoint. Although we had the understudy as Glinda (the good witch), the performance was fantastic and Elpheba had an incredible voice. The costumes were really fun and the music was catchy. I can now join Sarah in thoroughly recommending it.

A really fun day was had in London and, although we arrived home after midnight, the long day was well worth it!

Spring Sun and Stately Homes

Stourhead Gardens

Sorry for the prolonged silence ... sometimes when blogging you lose the desire to write and, for me, I have experienced that over the past month.

All that aside, I finished my ski season on the 27th April and from there, Janine, Paul and I all traveled back via countless trains and the Eurostar to Wimbledon, where I stayed overnight. I then made the journey to Reading and have since been staying with my grandparents.

I was lucky enough to visit several amazing places during my stay here in the UK, a highlight of which was The Vyne in Basingstoke; a National Trust stately home and it's stunningly green gardens. My Auntie and Uncle took me there for the day and we packed a picnic and soaked up the beautifully warm Spring sun on the lawns, before touring the house. What is special about it is that it features architectural styles from many periods, including Tudor and Adam.

Inside The Vyne

The Vyne and the lake

The Servants' Bells

On the subject of stately homes, I had a three-day visit down to Devon (to visit our family - who spoiled us rotten), Somerset and Bath. During my time with my lovely friend Claire - who did a Gap Year to Australia and lived with me at my boarding school - we went to Stourhead, another National Trust house.

Stourhead is made famous by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, the 2005 movie features Stourhead's gardens, and one of the temples in the gardens, The Apollo Temple. The gardens were teeming with blooming flowers, particularly rhododendrons. Ducks floated along happily on the lake and it was one of the most picturesque scenes I think I've ever seen. Funnily, when you're in that kind of setting, you lose concept of time - it could easily have been the 19th century and I doubt things would have looked much different at all.

Claire and I enjoying our lake walk

As seen in Pride and Prejudice

Such lush greenery

It is so bizarre going from the white, snowy, alpine landscapes to such vividly coloured flowers and greenery. I've enjoyed having some time to rest, re-group and detox - I have hardly touched any alcohol (only one glass of champagne I believe) since I finished the season.

Since my Mum arrived we have been enjoying each other's company and yesterday took a huge day-trip into London, doing things like visiting the British Museum and seeing Wicked The Musical. I hope to blog about that really soon.

The big backpacking adventure starts on Monday so I have lots of packing to do between now and then, but excitement is certainly starting to build.