Silvano On The Go

There I was getting all excited about my trip to Atlanta next week when I was reminded that I hadn't even posted my blog about the weekend in Brussels wth the girls in August! Day 1 Arrived fresh and alert after a 2 hr Eurostar journey. Our first mission, food and we choose what looked like a quiet restaurant just off Grand Place. More interesting than the food we were eating was the horrific argument between our waitress and the chef. The screaming which started in the kitchen emerged into the restaurant. Tempers raged, arms flared and voices soared. Shame it was all in French. Mission two was to find the Manneken Pis – the famous Belgian statue of the peeing boy. I had seen him before and had pre-warned the others that it was nothing grand nor spectacular. Still, nothing could brace them for just how unimpressive this tiny pisser was up close in person. For those of you who posted questions on my facebook photos asking why he was famous, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma...

A shocking realisation overcame me one day as I was loading some picture from Tokyo onto my facebook account. I had done city tours, Toronto, Singapore, Sydney, Rome, Bangkok, Beijing… and the list goes on and on. Yet I had never even thought to explore the city right on my own doorstep – London. I remembered last year that I did a city tour in Prague by a company who also offered tours in Berlin, Jerusalem and yes, London. So I Googled them, got the tour times, convinced my husband and friend to join me and set a date and off we went. Guided tour First embarrassing moment occurred when neither I nor my friend who had lived in London all her life (I can be excused as I hail from the North) knew where, or what, the Wellington Arch was. Tour started at 11a.m. on a Saturday. Our tour guide, Nathan, was the most energetic tour guide I have ever met. He jumped up and down continually during the 2.5 hour tour and he waved his arms around fervently as he spoke at about 3 dozen words per secon...

Miyajima Island The weather for my last 2 days was postcard perfect. Took the early morning bullet train to Hiroshima. Everyone said that Miyajima was a must see so I headed there first. I didn’t find it spectacular but nor was I disappointed. The stalls and small shops that lined the main shopping street reminded me a little of Blackpool, the seaside town I frequented regularly as a small child. Stall owners gently called out (in Japanese) announcing what they had to offer. My favourite was the steam bun stall. Those seemingly small buns were extremely filling; a smooth exterior concealing the moist, succulent beef gravy. The tide was out so I didn’t have the opportunity to see the Torri Gate (of the Itsukushima Shrine) surrounded by water. But never the less I enjoyed my visit to this beautiful little island. Hiroshima Peace Park I guess it’s not the norm for people to cry on holiday but I could not help but shed a tear or 2 as I was shown around the Hiroshima museum that bro...

The Bullet trains are cool (caught 3 in total). I think maybe I expected to be zoomed across land at the speed of light with my cheek bones pulled backwards and all. In reality it’s mostly a smooth but very fast ride. The trains get up to a speed of over 300km per hr. What I like most is the efficiency of not only the bullet trains but all the trains we caught while here. They pulled off exactly on time and arrived exactly on time – not a minute earlier. The conductors bow on entering and exiting the carriages, which I also thing is really lovely (they all seem so sweet and gentle, it’s hard to imagine what 1 of them might do if someone didn’t have a ticket). And like all other public transport here, they are immaculately clean. As are the streets. We were playing a game of ‘spot the litter’ and the only thing I saw was I small piece of paper blowing along the pavement one evening in Gion... must have been a tourist. Kidnapped A curious Japanese lady struck up a conversation with ...