Where the Hell is Matt

If you haven't heard of Matt and his amazing travels already shame on you? This guy is one of my heros... check out one of his powerful videos!

I love the Indian slide and keep a close eye out for St Stephen's Green in Dublin!

Zhouzhuang town and the temple of two religions

Location: Regal International, Shanghai

Stars: 5
Cost: $140 pernight
Note: Best breakfast ever and excellent Butterfly massage parlour around the corner, excellent 1 hour foot massage for 6 euros!

Just as I remembered from my recent last visit just over a year ago Shanghai was as pacy as the pulsating neon lights that dappled the impressive skyline. The skyscrapers looked taller and prouder than ever and the illuminating light shows were somehow even more sophisticated and far reaching than my minds eye had recalled. A little like meeting a cousin who just sprouted a few inches Shanghai felt as if it had done the same. It was good to be back. It felt like I had landed my natural Asian home. I'm not sure why I felt so comfortable in this massive city! Maybe it’s because I now have a few friends here or perhaps it's because it feels a bit like a racier frontier mixture of Sao Paulo and Hong Kong with a dash of the wild west San Francisco gold rush thrown in for good measure which appeals to me. I'm not sure - for whatever reason it felt great.

In Shanghai the immersion tour took off into another gear and we started by visiting our new 5,000 seater offices which are currently under construction and will be ready next May. Once finished they will be the most modern offices that Microsoft has in its portfolio anywhere in the world. Next was updates from the business from our general managers of our servers and tools division and our MSN Online services. Then lovely and soft spoken twinkled eyed Sophie Xu, a very young local in her mid twenties just promoted to Staffing Manager gave us a very interesting recruitment update on how the recruitment challenges where unfolding on the ground. Overall an excellent update and I now feel a little more assured of my understanding of how Chinese culture and Microsoft’s business is operating in this amazing country. Needless to say words such as “harmony”, “sustainability”, “face” are as important here as “success”, “profit” and “confidence” are in Western society.

On Friday morning we got a chance to  get out of the city an hour and a half from Shanghai and visit the famous “Venice of China”. An old city of canals and waterways quite similar to the real thing in Italy but with much more dilapidated building and far far more less tourism crap that you get all to often everywhere else.  The town itself was called Zhouzhuang and it was famous for its pearl selling, both ocean and river, and also for its fertile farming land mass which spread for many many miles almost as far in as the metropolises borders. While there I picked up 6 single pearls which I had authenticated by one of the local Microsoft staff who seemed to know all there needed to be known about these little beauties and I also picked up a three tubed local bell top flute which I really like.

Probably the highlight of the visit though was a visit to one of the few temples we saw on the entire trip which practiced Taoism and Confucianism. While there I got my fortune told which you can check out in the video.

Great trip and definitely worth a gander if you get to Shanghai.

Duck tongue and dodgy mobiles

Hotel: Shangri-La, Beijing
Rating: 5 star
Note: Excellent joint rooms with a fantastic Chinese garden setting surrounding the back of the hotel.

After a 2 hour delay in Dublin and a 2 hour delay on the runway at terminal 5 in Heathrow I was finally off and on my 9 hour flight to Peking. The reason I’m here is business. Microsoft is having a HR summit in China where it brings a large number of its HR and Recruitment Managers to China for an Immersion tour to learn about China’s culture and business environment and to also absorb as much information as possible about Microsoft’s operations in Peking, Shanghai and Shenzhen on the Hong Kong boarder.

Once landing in China I was met by one of the Shangri-la’s concierge staff who brought me to get my bag and then showed me to my driver who in a quick 40 minutes got me to my hotel. With the delays on route it was 12.40 by the time I had signed in. After a quick shower I then tried to call Patrick Sullivan the Recruitment Director in China, to see where the 35 other MS people were in Beijing. Before I called I looked up the detailed itinerary we had which told me they’d be on a boat ride on the way to the summer gardens. Tired from only getting a couple of hours sleep on route and ready for the bed I tried to find a network on my iPhone to dial for coordinates but to my annoyance the phone while picking up China Mobile wouldn’t allow me dial out. I checked my credit online and I had plenty to make calls for the week but still no dial tone. I tried texting home to say I had arrived safe and sound but “failed transmission” is all I got. So, the wily traveller that I am (or thought I was), and the doubting Thomas I've learnt to be when concerning iPhones I tried by trusty old Nokia and again no luck. Next stop was reception. Not even the super helpful army of receptionists could get through but at least they could call my iPhone so I at least had incoming call ability. I then tried Patrick and home on Skype and that didn’t work either. Weird...  Eventually, I decided enough was enough and hit the bed and decided to give the Summer gardens a miss. Thankfully, I had seen them the last time I was here so no sweat.

I wasn’t going to miss Da Dong’s world famous duck restaurant and I knew from my brilliantly detailed agenda that everyone would be in reception at 7pm and low and behold there they all were. After a few hugs and kisses I was on track again and we were all whisked away to one of the most famous restaurants in the capital. I had recently been to Thorthons on the Green in Dublin and saw how the other half lived and this again was another one of those experiences with a huge variety of care and technique mixed it with consummate professional staff and amazingly fresh ingredients.  There was no set menu simply 15 people around a round table with a spinning white glass in the centre which was laden with oriental riches. To start we had some duck liver enclosed in brown jelly, some asparagus with chilli dips on a bed of crushed ice, chopped bamboo with soya and ginger, gelatine truffles with mango toppings and then some duck tongue with black raisin looking olive type things which I don’t have the faintest idea what they were. Washed down with plenty of local beer I moved onto some of the main course meals which was assortment of fish delicately cooked with a surrounding of peppers, unrecognisable vegetable and some colourful condiments. Then, the army of slicer and dicer duck carving expert cooks came out and in front of us all weaved their steel and blade magic and placed succulent plates of tender pink duck flesh with it fantastic caramelised skin on our spinning glass. I was instructed to dip some in sugar which I did happily and closed my eyes and the lovely taste hit my palette and I remembered eating sugar paper back home in Waterford in the early 80s. We all then, just like fajitas in Mexico were given wraps to put some of the duck meat into and we mixed it with a variety of new condiments ranging from heavy black rich soya sauce to garlic paste, leak and cucumber. Top notch fodder very much appreciated. Finally then came an assortment of fruit and before you could say the “Birds Nest” we were off again on the bus and back in the luxurious Shangri-la. Looking forward to better mobile phone coverage tomorrow and a trip to the local subsidiary to learn about some of the HR and Recruitment challenges Microsoft China has which should be very interesting.

Tuscany

Taking a side step from the world's economic meltdown and a bounce away from my new job responsibilities to fantastic Tuscany was perfectly timed and thoroughly enjoyed. A few days away from keyboard and phone in mainland Europe is always a nice one and this time the trip started off the way I liked - by taking in a curve ball - and going to the coastal retreat of Vilareggio a short 70 euro taxi ride from Pisa that only took 20 minutes. Camila, Fernanda, Carolina, Stephen and I were the travelling cohort and we stayed in a quaint family hotel that had modest 3 star facilities but 5 star friendliness, value and personality.  "Hotel Katy" had an amazingly gregarious and warm hearted older couple running the show with a hilarious Spanish gay chef who wouldn't stop talking to us every time he saw us. It's a long time since I visited a hotel where the breakfast was closed at 10.30am but when we arrived at 11am they simply opened it up again and set the tables! A breath of fresh air - maybe, just maybe the customer service industry is still alive! The town itself was nothing to write home about but it had a cool beach with sun which was more than satisfactory for perfecting the art of lazing about and soaking up some vitamin C. The promenade, dodgy pubs and clubs didn't peak my interest much but some  of the ice cream parlours were cool and I enjoyed a few scoops while the sun did its job. [Would I go back though? Probably not.]

From there we moved onto to the walled town of Lucca,  a place I know well as I buy every its famous olive oil and balsamic oil from Lidl which I like to sprinkle generously on my bruschetta and mozzarella dishes. The city is a old medieval town that has a huge walled fortress surrounding it from all sides forming an uneven but formidable protection against would be invaders of old. The town itself was very small and while thankfully flat was easily walked in 30 minutes. It’s buildings were obviously well taken care of over the centuries and the amazing Piazza Del Mercato in the hear of the town and San Martino cathedral with with its fascinating gabled facade wit three tiers of ornate columns all of which were individually carved demand careful concentration when studying it.

After two nights in Viareggio and the day trip to Lucca it was next to the enchanting town of Florence (or Fianze) as the locals like to call it in their own tongue. There with grammar book firmly in hand and tongue in cheek i tried my hand at plenty of hand gesticulations and dodgy Waterford accent ridden, Portuguese froth, Italian. Surprisingly, the man I asked for directions understood me and I even managed to ask for a recommendation for a nice restaurant for the night which in hindsight turned out to be just what he promised: “Belisimmo”. Unsurprisingly, Italian is hugely similar to Brazilian and Castilliano. The “ch” sounds and the “g” are different but with plenty use of “are’s”; “ere’s” and “ire’s” instead of the more familiar “ar’s”, “er’s” and “ir’s” of Brazilan and Castillano I could form some simple sentences. It may be time to spend some extra lunch time with the Italian’s in work to see if I can pick up some more basic phrases for my next trip to this beautiful country.

We stayed only 1 night in Florence in a strange 3 star hotel where we slept in one hotel and had to have our breakfast in another 5 minutes walk away. Never again. We won’t have taken it only for it was late in the day when we arrived and we had plenty to see before we left early for Siena. The highlights for me was seeing the Duuomo, Campanile and Baptistry in the city center, the Piazza della Signoria with its brilliant collection of huge statutes and of course the Ponte Vecchio or old bridge that was built in 1345 and the only bridge to stay up in WW11. Plenty to see here that I didn’t have to visit and will need another visit.

Next, the beautiful setting of Siena which we arrived into by train as unbelievably all 3 car rental locations we visited in Florence where flat out of cars. Siena, with its vast networks of windy streets is on a steep set of hills and is set off by the fantastically elliptical hollow cobblestones of the Piazza del campo and the over lording presence of the massive Torre del Managia. While there we drank, ate, walked, shopped, ate, drank and watched a beautiful local knight in armor and flag bearing soldier parade. Well worth a trip for those aficionados and gourmets of the palette who want to sample some of the best Italian food and Chinati wine on the planet.

The trip ended with the leaning tower. A weird looking protuberant white snooker table leg type thing that looks like something the cat brought in after a few towers decided to go out on the town and get sloshed. We stayed 10 minutes on the way to the airport and if you ask me while worth a look at 10 to 20 minutes would be enough for me.

And so back in Dublin greeted by the news of the US failing to ratify their 700 billion get out of jail clause for the rich and the Irish government running round frantically to stop the flood waters that once like Florence when the waters of the Arno cruelly burst its banks threatening to destroy all around. As someone quiet rightly put it today “privitisation of the profits and the socialisation of the losses”. One has to wonder how "might" ever became "right" and how capitalism unfettered is as dangerous as a pitfall left in a room with a new born babe.

Next stop China 2 weeks time.

Africa Day in Dublin

 
I'm just back after a flying 4 day visit to Seattle where I was working with a new central sourcing team I will be joining in mid-June. As ever i got a chance to visit Ipanema Grill, my favourite Brazilian chuasscaria outside of Brazil and completely pigged out on picanha and Guarana. I got back on Friday and now it's Sunday and a lot has happened in between...

Yesterday, was the last day's training of a documentary course i've been doing over 4 Saturday's, and 8 mid week Wednesday sessions in The Irish Filmbase. I've shot a documentary called "The Bikeman of Phoenix Park", my first, which is about a guy called Paul McQuiad who was an ex-professional cyclist who is now renting bikes in the park. Yesterday was all the final edit where I was fortunate enough, with the crew, to spend time with Loopline's famous Irish editor Se Merry Doyle slicing and splicing the final reels to produce the 6 minute piece. Hopefully, in about two to three weeks time i will be able to get it up on YouTube for you to check out.

Today, was all about Africa Day in Dublin Castle and it turned out to be a great affair with Kila rockin'the cosmopolitan crowd with uileann pipe, thin whistle, base rifts and bohrain beats to beat the band. At the gig I took this photo of a very cool onlooker who looked like he could smashing open a bottle of JD with a flick of his fag and knock it down in one without a hint of a wobble or the slightest betrayal in coolness. Big Jim! There's a new dog in town.

A taste of Venice

This week I got the chance to check out if I could find the bloke that sung "Just one corneto" and I did. He seems to be everywhere in Venice doing his thing in the choppy gondola infested canals and him and his mates are delighted banging out tunes for the in awe tourists. But times have moved on and now he's reinvented himself into a floating 3 piece band, songs in tact, costumes in place but ice-cream no where to be seen! At least not when i was there while the clouds ruled the sky and the rain raised the water levels over the islands many banks.

This time it was work and not pleasure. Well kind of! You can see from the video and a lot of fun was duly had. Monster, the biggest job board in the world were having their European annual conference and I was forunate enough to be asked to attend on behalf of Microsoft in a small group of 40 clients who attended from some of Europe's bigger IT companies like Google, Symantec, Ebay, etc. The event was about watching some presentations, the clients providing some positive and constructive feedback and celebrating a good year and having some fun. It turned out to be a great two days where I met with some fellow recruiters and had a chance to discuss some of our issues and get to know each others businesses a little more. All very generously on Monster's tab.

I didn't get too much of a time to ramble although I couldn't resist taking a taxi boat at 11pm at night with the Google representative, a fellow Irish man, called Dara, leaving our fancy 4 star highly recommended Molino Stucky Hilton hotel and venturing on to the almost deserted main island. My first impression was it's Sevilla or Barrio Gothico in Barcelona except the roads or rivers and their is cool bridges all over the place. The highlights for me where watching some people eating on the rivers flooded banks with water up to their ankles and waiters delivering food in wellies, the Rialto bridge and the impressive Piazzo San Marco. I didn't get a chance to pick up a fridge magnet for my collection but hope to go back again some time, maybe for the mask carnival in March!

Cote D'Azur and beyond

3 weeks ago I decided a break from work was in order and thankfully with short notice my manager gave me a green light to take some time off. After flirting with the idea of visiting Tunisia, Algeria or Syria I finally decided a trip to the famous Cote D'Azur was in order. And on reflection, what a good idea that turned out to be.

It always amazes me what you can see and do in a week. In our case we took an excellent 1 day cook course in Chateau De Berne in Lourges, which was 120 euros per person for 3 hours with an amazing Michelin chef who thought 6 of us how to prepare an an excellent fish soup called Bouillabaise accompanied by floating island marangues for desert. I now know how to gut and fillet Saint Peter's fish which the French love and Dourada. Learning from a Michelin star chef was a definite experience I want to do again. In the space of a few short hours you can learn so much from someone who knows what there talking about and gets you to do the things yourself. Also packed in was a Ros[e] wine tour and a Fraganard perfumery tour both in the Var region. I now at last know the differences of eau de toillete and eau de cologne and also why Rose white wines from the south of France are the best from around the world.

This trip started with a flight to Nice with Aer Lingus at a very early conjunctivitis 6.30am that was the same time as RyanAir but 50 euros more expensive. Im always happy to cough an extra few bob in AE which usually pays off when i come back with bags over the weight limit which i did on this occassion again and got away with with AE but wouldn't with O'Leary's crew. As I said we packed in more action than a sardine manufacture would pack into a can of the little rippers for their Christmas special edition. Condensed into the week was a visit to Monaco's port, Monte Carol's famous casion, DolceAgua's famous bridge (in Italy's beautiful north west), Eze's famous mountain chateau and famous cactus garden laden with amazing statues looking out to sea, Saint Raphael's wonderful artist and writers cobblestoned mountain village retreat (the perfect place for my mates Ben and Murph to hang out in), Gourdan's cascading roadways and amazing little church, Nice's famous boulevard de Angleais and WW1 and WW2 memorial site, Canne's slick walkway and old men basking at the seas front and Agay's quiet and serene get away port off the beaten path down near the Estreal mountains where I hung out for 3 full days.

All done in a 240 euro a week Peugeot that cost us an additonal 70 on diesal.

What I liked about this trip was the excellent food at quite often affordable prices, the 15 to 21 degrees weather and the amalgam of countless amazing beautiful portrait images everywhere you go. Everywhere you look on the cost there are a potpourri of tiny little boats in a port or on the horizon, beaches dot the cost line everywhere and their is an obvious fecundity of herbs, flowers, vegetables and grapes which gives a very rustic feel to the countryside as you drive by. In particular lavender seems to be everywhere. For me the must see place was Eze. And with 4 restaurents in the village one that has a Michelen star and its neighbour having two you wouldn't be dissapointed with the food if you're prepared to dive into the pockets a little!

What I didn't like about the trip was the signals for driving were quite bad especially in Nice. It is easy to get lost and get into trouble especially with the occasional bizar French traffic sign that an Egyptian hyrographic specialist would have trouble translating. Also, a pain in the ass was the 24 euro for 10 hours are more parking in Nice which was day light robbery. While restricting your flexibility a little the train system is really good in the south of France so most of what we did could probably been easily done. Also, a little unnerving even for that time of year was the amount of tourists in the region. I'd say stay well clear of the main sites in June, July and August unless you want to dive straight into large numbers. Instead try check out the more inland offerings and just hit a town on the map that no one knows and see what you find.

A bientot

Skiing in Switzerland

Skiing is to the Swiss as GAA is to the Irish. Both are synonymous with the intrinsic fabric of each other’s rich cultures and when you think of one you almost automatically think of the other. I love sport and watching skiing as a kid in Waterford typically evolved some snippets on Grandstand early Saturday morning before Saint and Greevies. It typically consisted of strange looking men in space like children clothing with fancy helmets and goggles anxiously waiting on the top of a mountain in a cable car looking contraption. Then suddenly you could hear a clock beeping down and with three or four frantic pushes of their skis and duck like waggling of their feet, from a shoulder hugging TV angle, the athlete shot down like a rocket along a mountain, which looked like a devilishly tilted white dotted needle cushion. The foreign crowd always cheered and roared. I remained bamboozled in appreciation of an art and technique I knew little of. The nearest I had ever got to skiing was hanging off the back bumper of a truck driving on ice down Paddy Brown’s road. The next angle was always a side on shot with the skier who a few seconds early was waiting anxiously to start now bulleting along his white icy undulating pin cushion at 120km or more desperately and skillfully holding his trajectory with incredible balance and dexterity. Respect.

On the way to Zurich to see “Maddog”, a good friend working hard as a stockbroker in UBS and with the beautiful Camila and friends from home “Horse” and Caroline also taking part in the adventure the images of Grandstand, fondue and Lindt chocolate were weaving and bobbing in my brain like a down slop lunatic. The sense of anticipation was fabulous. Not for a long time, a very long time, probably since I was in Dublin airport the 22nd of March 2004, saying goodbye to my family, on my 30th birthday, as I was just about to embark on my trip of a lifetime around the world did anticipation and excitement mix and swirl so potently in my veins. A nice uplifting sensation of adrenaline flowed as I looked out of the window and stared beguilingly as usual at the snow hugging the mountaintop over a beautiful French Alps backdrop.

Lots of people talk about how brilliant a holiday skiing is and now that I have tried it for myself I can safely say they all undersold it. It’s like a lot of things in life in that until you actually try it for yourself and sense the weight on your feet that ensues with getting into the strange ski boots and sense the awkwardness of being restricted to heavy long duck like hip trusting quads and calf pushing lunges to walk you can’t understand fully what people are talking about. Then you have the weird and wacky opening steps when you have to get used to your new “body” with all its additional limbs and muscular movements. You must relearn how to walk and run to ski. No longer the traditional foot after foot followed by arm after arm. The old repetition of decades of movement flies out the window and now you are forced to reevaluate all basic movement functions to exist in this new world. Gripping sticks tightly and pole pushing now become the norm. As does pushing your leg ever so slightly out and forward on both sides in a waggling movement to move forward. Also the hints and pelvis reinvent themselves and take centre stage and act as your guidance system for left and right weaving turns down the slopes This is your new method of walking.

Learning to ski for me was like a pregnant woman carrying twins trying to approach a gentle slope in Phoenix Park with two planks of semi-sold laminate flooring strapped to her already heavy feet. You don’t have a single iota when you are going to figure the damn thing out and you feel like a complete eejit stumbling around albeit with a big pink rosy smile with carbon dioxide flying around everywhere.
But slowly and surely with a little patience and perseverance and the help of a few basic techniques from an instructor, a fleeting rainbow in the background, and a few go’s on the beginners slopes you’re skiing. And the feeling is magical. Fun, fun 5 star fun.

We skied in Flumserborg 30 minutes outside of Zurich by car. Beautiful location and perfect for beginners. Now I’m hooked and now I have a new reason to look forward to January and February.

La Dolce Vita and the Vagabond

Rome. What a wonderful wonderful city. I’ve just come back after 3 days from the Eternal City and I can’t get it out of my veins. I keep thinking of the magical images that I encountered as I strolled lazily around the ancient streets. Rome has always been high on my list of places to visit but for a combination of reasons I have decided not to until now. The prime reasons for not visiting have been:proximity and prioritising other places first. I now believe that this thinking was an error. I should have went earlier so I could have used it as yard stick to judge other cities architecture,food, fashion and overall spirit and personality.

I’ve always felt a special connection with Italy and now after this trip I know why. Ever since I worked in Zomax I was surrounded by Italians on a daily basis and we got on really well. People like the ever smiling Benedetta and constantly laughing Anna had infectious personalities. There stories about growing up, football, food and family were brilliant to listen to. If you collected all the stories through them in a meat dispenser they’d always come out with with strings of minced meat labeled: art, history, laziness, motor racing, cars and soccer, love, fashion, pasta, ice cream, giant sun glasses, furry coats and vespas. And pretty much I got a bit of all of that in the small amount of time I had there.

The trip started with a 120 euro flight (all in) with Ryanair to Campino airport which is about 25 minutes from the city center and a 30 euro taxi ride. I was going over to see the beautiful Camila as she journeys around Europe with her Mum. We all stayed in a small cosey 3 star hotel called Edera a 5 minutes walk away from the Coliseum.

I arrived 5pm on the first night and we quickly made our greetings and started a walking tour around the main sites in the city center. In the space of a few hours we saw the outstanding and unforgettable exterior of the outside of the Pantheon. Big and proud it stands formidable and commands attention. It must have been awesome in its prime laden with gold and bronze with all of it Corinthian columns in tact. When we visited it’s massive entrance doors were closed but I inquisitively went to them anyway and tried to peek though the small gap near the lock. Suprisingly it was a vent. A gentle cold breeze greeted me from within and tickled my right pupil. My natural reaction was to pull back immediately but i didn't. A strange but enjoyable sensation like someone blowing into your eye. I also was able to see the alter on the for side of the room which looked ornate and beautiful. The inner circular chamber seemed wide, vast and tall. We then made ou way past Largo de Torre Argentina and towards Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II. What I loved about this stop was there was a cacophony of noise overhead beside the monument where there was some very tall trees that housed thousands of small excited birds that looked like robin red breasts except they were brown and a little bit bigger. For 10 minutes we stood in amazement with a small crowd of smiling people watching the birds take turns darting from one tree to the other in small battalions of one or two hundred at a time. The distance between the trees was about 20 meters and the birds playfully chirped at each other as they flew from one tree to the other in a set of very skillful mesmerizing creative dives, ascents and curves. I really enjoyed it. They were definitely communicating and acting out some kind of ritual or exercise that the humans below couldn’t decode. I couldn’t help but try imagine what they were doing. Maybe it was a dance of appreciation for the joy of being allowed live in the eternal city. It was like to break dance groups meeting and egging each other on to out do each other with a new more creative and daring flight show. Brilliant entertainment. Just how I imagine birds play on some far away pond, doused with trees on the plains of Kenya or Tanzania when they sense the rain season upon them After that it was a glimpse of the lengthy Forum and a quick hello to Cesar’s statue on our way to the Coliseum. I never thought my introduction to Rome would be on a late Wednesday evening but it was and it was perfect. Hardly anyone in the city center! The weather a very pleasing 14 degrees for January and the buildings beautifully lit up by light with a beautiful purple and blue sky dotted by some straggling grey and white fluffy fast moving clouds whispering to the birds as they went on there way.

The next day was the tour bus. It cost 19 euros, included a guide book and a free headphones that you were allowed take with you after the tour. The idea was like most others in big cities. Get on and get off and set of preordained sites with buses coming every 30 minutes to whiz you away. The buses took off right beside the Coliseum right behind Constantine’s arch so we went there first and decided to have a look inside before we got on the bus. The history of the Coliseum is well know and is barbaric. It was fascinating how cruel the Romans were to Christians, criminals, deserters and prisoners of war. Very little mercy was dispensed to these poor soles that were quite often sreaded to little pieces by very hungry predators denied food except the flesh of man. A big cross is erect inside on the west side as a sign of respect for those slane. Next we went around the city on a winding sinuous route through mainly cobblestone streets with Smart cars and vespas roaring about us. Each street seems to have a spectacle in it. Either a fantastic old baroque building, a statue, a monument, a fountain, an obelisk or an arch. Churches abound. If people say Dublin is full of churches well then the same could be said for Rome in relation to churches. I wasn't prepared for the number of churches the city had. They are everywhere and there simply is too many to visit. My advice would be to take your chances and pop in to one or two randomly and take a little break in a urban oasis to contemplate life and the cornucopia of spectacles surrounding you.

Our destination was Peter’s Basilica and center piece of the Vatican. After about 45 minutes we got there and were presently surprised by the small number of tourists. Bernini was a magician when he designed the entrance to the Basilica and its almost complete circle of columns stretched out like welcoming arms given all those who come in and embrace Christianity a tender hug. The fist thing I noticed was the 140 saints that are all around the arch on the columns above then the huge statue of St Peter on the way to the basilica. After passing some Swiss guards and then going through the airport like security we were allowed in the church. It is massive. The biggest church in the world. Inside there is all kinds of beautiful art including masterpieces from Raphael, Bernini and Michael Angelo. We received a free tour by one of the studying priests in the Vatican and if you can do the same I would recommend it.

We spent a lot of time in the church and in the square itself and then went for some food in a restaurant on the main road to the Vatican which turned out to be a scam. 6 euros for a can of coke and 14 euros for a small plate of pasta. What ever you do no matter what religion you are go and marvel at the Saint Peter’s but do not eat in any of the nearby restaurants. Next stop was the Pantheon again this time to see its inside which wasn’t half as impressive as its outside and then we went to one of the more famous gelaterias or ice cream parlors beside the stunning Trevi fountain. I got a very nice scoop of coconut and vanilla and proceeded to toss some coins in the water ensuring that as the tradition goes I am guaranteed to visit the city again.

The third day I was due to fly home on a 4.55pm flight which gave me enough time to see the catacombs or the Vatican museum and the Sistine Chapel. I decided for the latter and for a fairly valued 14 euros we went in to see one of the most huge museums in the world. Massive does not do the collection justice. They say that if you looked at every piece of art in the Louvre in Paris it would take 7 years of your life. It would take 12 years of your life in The Vatican. A few hours wasn’t enough to see the museums so I saw what I could in an hour and a half and then headed straight for the Sistine Chapel. After corridor upon corridor laden from top to bottom in gold including the roofs with all kinds of maps, statues and frecos I eventually got to the chapel and it was worth all the effort. Mistakenly I thought that Michael Angelo’s masterpiece depicting the start of the world was at the top of the arch in St Peter’s. For those that like me make the same mistake let me explain. St Peter’s and the Sistine chapel are two different places. The first very huge and overbearing at the front of the Vatican the second very small and petit a little like a small county church you’d find in the Irish countryside at the back of the Vatican. The Sistine if covered like the corridors from top to bottom with art with the famous almost touching fingers in the center of the roof over head. What was most impressive to me of all the art was Michael Angelo’s amazing painting of the apocalypse at the back wall beside the alter. I listened twice to the audio guide explaining what it meant. For me the finest painting I have ever seen bar none!

Rome. La dolce vita. For those who haven’t gone yet. On your bike and Go.

Hunting Taranchalas and Rats

Over Christmas I got the chance to edit some of the video footage I shot when travelling aorund the world in 2004/2005.

The first video is my good friend Chief getting over his fear of spiders in the Amazon. The second the famous day I went hunting joint rats in Bebadora in the middle of Brazil 400km west of Sao Paulo.