Tasting Torino

Our four nights in Turin were meant to ease us into the holiday spirit prior to snow-boarding. However, both of us managed to come down with pretty bad colds which, if I were at home, would have been a great excuse to stay home in bed. However, I am not one to waste a good holiday, especially when it involves eating. I got the low-down on what to eat and where to eat it from a colleague of mine, and was ready to take all of his suggestions on board...

Piazza Castello and the Royal Palace

Hamburgers

The engineer in me was totally fascinated
by the train being able to roll onto the ferry
for the crossing to Germany.

As every intelligent person knows, Hamburger refers not only to the delicious meal, but to a person who comes from the German city of Hamburg. In fact, in adjective form, it also refers to anything of Hamburg origin. Unfortunately, when one does not understand German and therefore cannot understand the words that follow 'Hamburger' on a restaurant menu, it is only natural to assume the item is something along the lines of two all beef patties special cheese lettuce onions on a sesame seed bun. Well, one is wrong.

Meaningful Objects

When I moved to Denmark just over a year ago, I realised there were very few valuable inanimate objects (lets call them 'things') in my life. Or rather, very few that really really mattered to me. I came over with a couple of bags, and quickly discovered that the only things of monetary value that I really needed in my life, and which I would be really annoyed with if I didn't have, was my laptop. All $250 worth of it. And I'd only really be annoyed if I lost stuff that I hadn't yet gotten around to backing up - so no big deal. The only other things of value I had were locked up in Australia - there the big, insured things, which really don't matter if they disappear (like a house - insurance will reimburse), but maybe there were some photos and my coin collection stashed away. Otherwise, nothing.

Shortly I realised that apart from my laptop, I had 2 other things of value with me that I cared about - a watch my dad had given me, and a gold chain I wore daily that I received from my grandparents.

After my second trip to the Hittegods - Copenhagen's Lost & Found, I realised my gold chain was gone forever. It's quite sad when there are only a couple of 'things' you really care about, and then you lose one of them! Out of an accident which broke a tooth, bloodied a shirt, made me look like Fat Albert temporarily, has given me a[nother] permanent scar and 'bump' on my chin, destroyed a nice shirt, caused me great pain dealing with stitches, and made my gold chain disappear. The only thing I really care about is the gold chain.

I'm now trying to work out the lesson in all this.... There are very few irreplaceable things in life - one of them is memories.

Dear Denmark

Dear Denmark,

It is time to be 100% open with you - I'm not sure this relationship is for life. That's the short, blunt, story. The long story though, is that I have not given up yet, and I want you to understand what might happen and why...

Diving the Red Sea

The Negev - like the Australian outback, but with hills and cliffs!

My three day trip to Eilat was as much about relaxing at home, as it was finally getting to dive in the Red Sea. With 3 other countries in clear sight, one still feels as if one is clearly in Israel, and not necessarily some international resort. Of course there is no shortage of foreign languages being spoken, but Hebrew still dominates (and Russian isn't that far behind). I don't remember Eilat that much from my previous visit around 20 years ago, just bits and pieces. But I'm sure it has grown and changed quite a lot - the bits I do remember, were the same.

Silence is Golden

I have just returned from a weekend trip with a bunch of friends to Helsinki. We went over there for a birthday party and an all 'round good time. We stayed at one of the Omena Hotels - a chain renowned for the sex trade due to the lack of reception and therefore lack of witnesses. Apart from getting punched in the eye by the guy sleeping next to me in the middle of the night, our hotel stay was rather uneventful. The weekend itself was filled up a really great party, a few hours walking around a city which I don't think has changed that much since last time I was there 8 years ago and a visit to the island fortress of Soumenlinna - a 20 minutes ferry ride from downtown. Of course, there was also an evening in a sauna thanks to our local Finnish hosts. The sauna involved a 20m (literally) ferry ride to the island on which it is located, a lot of sweating and relaxing, and then feeling like my feet were going to fall off my legs after going for a dip in the ice cold (well, not literally, but it felt this way). All in the spirit of good health!

My impressions of Helsinki: well, some of the stereotypes definitely have validity...

• Most people in the street look like they are going either to or from a funeral - smiling at strangers or being talkative (when sober) is possibly frowned upon.

• 

  Looking down the barrel of a canon on Soumenlinna Island
  

  Finns like drinking. I thought Danes liked it, but Finns really like it. Walking through downtown Helsinki after midnight, you struggle to find someone who isn't drunk.
• There are lots of crazies about.
• Food isn't their strong-point. This is perhaps a common theme in the Nordic Countries, and Finland isn't any different.
• The more the same vowel can be repeated consecutively in a word, the better. Bonus points if the vowel has dots on top of it.
• Finnish is impossible to understand, even a little bit.
• Turning the traffic lights off during the night at the less major intersections in the capital is an acceptable way to save the planet.
• The Finns are a damn friendly bunch of people who are very hospitable - it's worth your while getting to know one! (or more...)

The Amazing Human Body

T + 5 weeks

On the positive side, I am amazed at how quickly a a bunchy of atoms stitched together in the form of a human is able to repair itself so well when something goes wrong.

On the negative side, I am constantly astounded by the way it can fall apart so easily in the first place (both mentally and physically). It is for this reason, that certain objects, such as bicycle helmets, were invented.

As it so turns out, this story would not have been much different were said bicycle helmet on my head in the first place, but another story down the track might just be - hence its very procurement...

I'll let the pictures tell the story rather than words, it is that much more amusing.

2 days after - Fat Albert, here I come! Oh, and
now I notice bruising and grazing on my neck and chest

The day after - before the swelling started

T+10 days - I can't take the beard!

So I shave off what I can

3 weeks later - looking nothing worse than
someonewho has had a amateur plastic
surgeon work on him

So the moral of the story: just because you broke your wrist (twice) by falling on it, doesn't mean next time you fall you should land flat on your face in order to save your wrist! Whilst it does allow you to end up with a totally untouched wrist (despite the smashed watch), eating gravel is not fun!

But, as they say, when you fall off your bike, you have to get back on again. And so, after my visit to the ER I returned to pick up my bike and ride home (of course, my bike wasn't locked up so I just didn't want it to get stolen...)

Admittedly, the pain really wasn't that bad - but having stitches put in your upper lip after receiving what must have been saline water as an anaesthetic, is not pleasant. Nor, of course, is having them yanked out through scabs. Ouch!