Ok, I’m back. Saw another country. Experienced a new culture. Ate many interesting foods. Got bitten several times by a cat. Came home, and now dealing with a very heavy case of jet lag while trying not to fall asleep at the computer again (like I did when I tried to write this last night.)
For those of you unfamiliar with Italy, it’s that country in Europe shaped like a disembodied Tyrannosaurus limb where everybody speaks Italian and listens to English radio.
It was home to many Vespas, pigeons, churches covered in century-old statues, and many interesting varieties of hot chocolate. I stayed with my long time friend, Valentina (the one who got me started on all those music videos) where I was mauled to death on a daily basis by her cat. Due to some complications, as well as a bloody transportation strike, I was only able to visit three major cities – Mestre, Venice, and Padova. And because some of you just want to see pictures, here you go:
Venice:
Because clearly you haven’t seen enough pictures of this place in movies and on TV. Got to see a nice religious festival here (complete with Goku and Spongebob balloons,) saw the library where Indiana Jones uncovered the Holy Grail catacombs (which is actually a church in real life – Hollywood LIED to us,) and took a nice stroll through the darkened alleys of night-life Venizia.
Mestre:
I spent most of my time here because this is where I stayed. When in Mestre, and probably everywhere else in Italy, remember that snack bars are your friends. I could spend all day snacking on those sandwiches.
Padova:
About 20 minutes by train from Mestre, we have the beautiful city of Padova, which is a lot like a dilapidated medieval version of Edmonton, only with more battlements and city walls. It also has the amazing St. Anthony’s chapel there which is probably one of the most amazing pieces of architecture I’ve seen throughout the entire trip.
All that other stuff:
From plane shots to my going-away birthday party to Italian curiosities (such as Harry Potter wearing a rat helmet,) here’s where I store all those extra pictures I took.
Some odds and ends about Italy:
Forget pasta and pizza – you’re there for the ice cream and the sandwiches.
Speaking of food, pumpkin-filled ravioli is AWESOME.
Pastry shops – also awesome.
Raw meat and oranges for lunch? Strange… yet… awesome.
“Mamma Mia” is actually more of a women and children’s phrase.
Contrary to what “Italian Phrases for Dummies” teaches us, Italians apparently DO NOT love to talk, or at least DO NOT want it implied that they love to talk.
“Italian Phrases for Dummies” is probably not the best book you should read before going there. You can apparently get lynched for using any of those phrases.
In Italy, Arnold Schwarzenegger voices Optimus Prime. How cool is that?
I just found out “Schwarzenegger” is included in the WordPress spell check.
Ironically, the word “WordPress” isn’t.
“Ciao,” “Arrivederci,” “Per Favor,” “Grazie,” and “Preggo” are the essential words, but you darn well better know how to ask for directions to a bathroom, get a table, or ask the waitress why your water tastes like disgusting watered-down wine.
Incidentally, the disgusting watered-down wine is carbonated mineral water. Restaurants reserve the right NOT to serve you free tap water.
Many Italian drivers will not slow down for a baby carriage. Cross the street quickly and carefully.
As a side-note, Italy is definitely more of a ladies’ country. Reasoning being, I could barely find any souvenirs to buy that weren’t ornamental glassware, leather boots, hats, or expensive jewelry. It a great place to shop for women, but if you’re a guy, you’re better off picking up souvenirs while connecting to flights in Amsterdam (where you can’t buy a t-shirt that doesn’t have pot all over it.)
You don’t know funny until you see an 18th-century Frenchman kick Darth Vader in the balls.
Jada is in charge of sombreros.
-Chris Ushko
December 05 2007 | Travel | 6 Comments »
So it’s official! I purchased my ticket on Saturday and on November 18th (my birthday,) I’m flying out to Italy for two fun-filled weeks of doing Italian stuff! Vale and I already have plans to take a tour of Venice, travel to Padova, take a couple days out to go and see Rome, and eat a lot of fish. Assuming Vale isn’t actually a 45-year old male stalker trying to lure me out there, that is (in which case, I may have to resort to some Griswald maneuvers to make the best of my vacation.)
In other news, my Cowboy Bebop video won yet another award over at a convention in Atlanta. I’m not sure what award I’ve won yet, but fortunately someone from Edmonton was down there and brought it back for me, so I’m gonna meet up with him and see what I got.
October 01 2007 | Music Videos, Travel | No Comments »
Last night, I flew back in from New York State after six days of vacationing away from the norm. I had a great time, but it feels weird being back here again so soon with my feet up on my coffee table, the lappy in my lap watching TV and blogging. I really want to book another ticket and travel somewhere else now, but I’ve got a lot of saving and bill-paying to do before I tackle another trip like this again.
Anyway – run-down of the trip!
Day 1
Got on a plane, watch some movies, listened to music, watched TV, landed in Toronto, connected in Albany and get picked up at the airport by Diane and her dad. It’d been years since I last saw Diane so it took us several minutes to find each other. I had a hunch which one she was, but I had to sneak up behind her and whisper “Diane” just to see if she turned her head. Then we went to her house and hung out with her family for a bit. Her family’s very political and likes to watch TV, so there was always news, political debates, or Stephen Colbert on the tube. That night, we watched Yellow Submarine and ate perogies. That was fun.
Also found out that we wouldn’t have time to go see New York City together, so in the guttsiest move I ever made, I booked bus tickets and planned to head down by myself on Friday.
Day 2
Headed down to Albany with Diane and her brother Adam to check out Howe’s Caves, an old tourist attraction Diane use to go to. It was really cool. Miles of underground caves, and even an underwater boat ride. I had to lead Diane around a lot though because she’s got glaucoma and is mostly blind, especially in the dark.
Then we went to Friendly’s and I ate a delicious chicken nugget sandwich. Also, we got fudge.
Later that night, Diane introduced me to the “World of Warcraft.” I created my warrior character “Slagathor” and went around being a noob for a few hours, dancing around, shouting random nonsense, and getting clobbered by stronger characters. I was the best noob ever.
Day 3
As per her mom’s orders, Diane and I traveled back down to Albany again and took a tour of their state’s capital. There was lots of security going on including metal detectors and everything. It was weird, because I remember on Canada Day, people were getting wasted on the roof and the stairway of Edmonton’s capital building – as of where those people would’ve been shot on sight in the states.
Then we wandered around Albany for a bit before meeting up with her family to go see “The Simpsons Movie.” My review: well worth the 18-year wait. There was a lot of nostalgia tied to the film but it could work as a stand-alone movie if it had to – and they still managed to up the stakes from anything we ever saw in the TV show.
Oh, and here’s the photo gallery from Days 2 and 3.
The rest of the night was spent watching “Angry Nintendo Nerd” and other random videos on YouTube.
Day 4
Gone to New York! On the bus by 6:55, into the city by 10!
It took a few tries, but I eventually got the hang of the Manhattan subway system and was zipping all over the place. My first stop was the Statue of Liberty. It would’ve taken too long to get on the ferry, but Battery Park was much more interesting to walk through anyway. Then after the Liberty visit, I got lost in New York for about an hour, hitting all kinds of random places until I finally found my way to Times Square again.
And then I got lost wandering around Times Square before I found a friendly Italian pizza chef who gave me proper directions. Only after then could I get all my souvenir shopping done. I was going to go check out the Empire State Building, but it was too far a walk and I realized it was only a high place to look at things from. So I detoured into the famous Ripley’s “Believe it or Not” museum instead and had a great time messing around with all the interactive exhibits (I spent about 10 minutes going back and forth through the Black Hole. That thing was trippy.)
After Times Square, I headed down to Central Park and loved that place too. Every other block had a theme park, a zoo, a playground, a baseball field, go-kart track, or just a generally awesome hang-out spot. They did a great job of designing the entire park overall. You couldn’t take a bad picture no matter which way you looked.
Incidentally, never let the media make you afraid of visiting the city. Even though every NY movie has at least one mugging scene, the truth is I felt really safe wandering around the whole place. No idiot in their right mind would ever mug a person with such huge crowds around. Just stay out of the shadowy areas. They’re probably safe too, but don’t take chances. Heck, I didn’t even see any homeless people. The only guy who asked me for money was a scary guy at the Albany bus station.
Ooh, and I also bought a Bubba-Gump T-shirt from the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. That’s my trophy of the trip.
Anyway, here’s all the New York pictures.
And here’s some random videos I shot.
This is a trippy TV floor at the Ripley museum.
And here’s some ducks in the park.
Day 5
Wedding Day!
Woke up early, drove to a fancy Italian restaurant for the La Juene-Gillespie wedding. After about twenty minutes, I finally ran into people I knew. There was Micah from Texas (aka Bittar/guitar on the forums) and Diane’s two best friends Vicky and Jo Anne whom I’d only ever spoken to once about ten years ago when they called me up to see if I was a creepy internet stalker. They were awesome. And Vicky was so TINY!!! Seriously, Jo-Anne could pick her up and do the whole “Spider-Pig” routine with her.
After the wedding, we went inside and got Hershey’s chocolate and Legos. Then we ate delicious Italian food, including giant chicken nuggets, eggplant, and some kind of creamy Alfredo that was really good. Then we just hung around for a few hours. Good times were had all around.
After the wedding, we all drove to Diane’s frat and had the afterparty. Me and a big guy called Will beat Diane’s husband at quarters then a bunch of stuff happened. It’s mostly a blur, but I got drunk as part of Diane’s wedding present (no more after this, seriously.) I also got her a stuffed ducky as a present.
Here’s the wedding and party pictures.
Day 6
Went home!
Tired now!
Now I’ve gotta start saving again. Think I’ll eat more sandwiches.
For my next vacation, I definitely want to see Italy. Then maybe Ireland, Japan, maybe New York again, but we’ll see what happens.
Think I’ll go into hiding for a bit now.
August 06 2007 | Travel | Comments Off
After five months of getting screwed around with by Passport Canada, they finally came through. Tomorrow morning at 6:30 AM, I’m flying out to Albany, New York, to attend the wedding of one of my best friends. Pictures will follow, of course.
Still no clue as to what kind of schedule I’m looking at. Either Tuesday or Wednesday, we’re going on an actual NYC tour. The rest of the time before the wedding on Saturday will probably be spent hanging out around Albany, playing World of Warcraft, or going to see the Simpsons Movie. You never know.
Anyway, this’ll be one of the last things the internet hears from me in the next little while, so everybody keep your nose clean. I’ll be watching.
Especially you.
July 30 2007 | Travel | No Comments »
Originally posted June 18th, 2007
Six weeks ago, I traveled yonder south to the dark and magical land of Calgary to attend the release of our project. For those of you unfamiliar with Calgary, here’s what it looks like.
And here’s a hippy van.
And here’s a toilet you shouldn’t drink from.
And here’s what’s behind door #2.
And here’s the Apocalypse.
And here’s another picture of a toilet I took.
And that’s my Calgary adventure! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Have a great night, everyone!
July 20 2007 | Travel | No Comments »