Queen Mary and Elisabeth

Yesterday i went to Cronulla Beach close to where Allison and Paul are living. Its a nice bay and you can walk al the way around it. After that i took the train back to Sutherland, got changed and then Allison and I went into Sydney City to Circular Quay. We arrived just in time to see this beautiful enormous cruiseliner the Queen Elisabeth 2 arrive in the Harbour. The boat so big it doesnt fit under the Sydney Harbour Bridge (see pictures). There were a lot of people that came to see this event.After we met up with Melinda and some of her friends in the Opera House Bar thats overlooking the Cruiseliner and Sydney Bridge. The other cruiseliner Queen Mary was docked in the Wooloomooloo Harbour and we didnt make it over there but we caught a glimpse of it standing at the Operahouse steps. It is even bigger than the Queen Elisabeth, its the biggest cruiseliner in the world. After a lot of wine and the fireworks, we went home. But i prefer the 14th July fireworks in Marseilles...

Australia: Menai & Manly

After a long haul of 24 hours i finally made it to Sydney. Paul and Alli came to pick me up with the Boxing Kangaroo flags waving in their hands. We went for a lovely breakfast in a little harbour and after we had some catching up chats in their garden in Menai. After Mel the Kiwi arrived we did the dress fitting. Beautiful yellow dresses with lots of sparkels and glitters. Robyn, Pauls mum, had the Professional Eye on it and fitted us in the dress. And of course after this followed the Barbie!! A real Garden Happening with a massive BBQ. Of course the wine was flowing and sparkling..... I guess by 9 pm i was a bit typsy and very very tired. My eyes falling down while watching some great Tokyo Moments on the video Mel showed us. My head hitting the pillow and boom i was in a Coma. I had a great nights sleep of 12 hours!!! yeah no jetlag!! Next morning Paul brought me to the train station and i took the train to the City. In Circular Quay i took the Manly Ferry. I spent the day with Mel at Shelly Beach, had a swim in the gorgeous ocean and had dinner (Thai) and drinks (Manly Warf Hotel) before i went back again to Menai. A beautiful day with more catching up and videos.

Paname

Paris also known as Paname, is hosting me again. Im back in this most romantic City. Its true when i do come back i get this nice feeling over me, but it's not a feeling of Peace. Paris is stress and I always relate it with work. Well that's a good one than, cause at the moment there is no work for me. Im being the Unemployed Artist waiting for my Benefits to come trough. At the same time i m not standing still cause our appartment has to be decorated and furnished. So i got my painting gloves on, the more look like i m about to do a chirugical operation. And the kitchen that once was a ugly wooden color is now completely turning white..... Color of Zen.
I will show you soon the before and after results.
Lio and I visited over the weekend Dome, Alinea, Ligne Roset, Cinna, Ikea and Habitat to find our comfy couch, very difficult task since we need a Bedspace (Canape Lit). We found this real great shop that sells exactly what we like but its rather expensive: BoConcept. wwww.boconcept.com Well for now we have decided to go for the 15% discount rates @ Habitat. So lets see if it will be delivered soon.... I cant wait for our project to get worked out.
Keep you posted on the Interior Design Award......

The Summer

The Summer
In the summer we all start to be more happy when we see the sunshine come into our room in the morning. We have more energy and we laugh more. The sun is the key for a good holiday and we use her to get a nice tan.
This summer I didn’t get a tan at all but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the sun. I was so busy with my Psychology study that my day started with that ray of light shining on my study books. It was a big investment and very exhausting to go back to 8 hours a day with your nose in the books. But in the end I picked the fruits. I passed my Introduction to Psychology University Exam, but unfortunately failed the Work and Organisation Psychology twice. I will try again in November or December. I can decide to study at my own pace, but this needs a lot of discipline…
So I had my full Holland fuel again after visiting the lower lands 2 times this summer. Holland was Hot. But there is no nice beach or nice place to go and get the sun. I stayed at my parents and visited the city on Poles, Amsterdam, to see my good friend Marie-Jose. We had a little reunion on Elles’ birthday where I met Ted as well. We all used to dance together in Kirrwiller, France.
Also Lionel made it over with his new retro SAAB. My SAAB master and I drove to Hilversum to pick up some nice chairs we bought over the internet for our new apartment. Yea I forgot to tell you all about this new acquisition.

The apartment located near the square des Epinettes a Paris was finally ours. We are still in the process of moving and settling in. My challenge was to paint the kitchen all in a nice white. I got all the best tips from my father and after several layers of paint the result was visible. Still I have to finish the framework so the before and after comparison will be shown in next writing. I feel really happy in this new house. It is the real first time I moved in with my lover and partner for life. We decided to do everything really together and Lionel is fantastic for this. He made such an effort for being a great BRICO master as well. He even got his own Tool BOX yeah!! Organisational skills are getting much better. I’m proud of you my Man.
Besides the fact that we had our housewarming party to celebrate, we also had to see the Final World Cup on the same day. Lionel projected the game on our new white wall and with all our friends we had to accept the defeat of France by Italy. I even shed some tears and Lionel was comforting me. We even had a small party after but it was a little anticlimax of the day. Well our lives are not only about football and Nationalism, as we found out a couple of weeks later when a lot of our friends enjoyed the miracle of life: babies were born. We had first Stephanie and Thibaut who embraced their twin girls: Margaux and Charlise. After Solenne and Matthias gave their kisses to Joseph. My friend Maria gave birth to Laura and my niece Simone to Tijme. Baby boom!!!
Well another big baby announcement was made by me best friend Arinda. She’s Pregnant as well. Wow!! This made me really realise that I’m entering the Era of Motherhood. With all my friends getting babies makes me realise that my clock is ticking too. But I’ m not sure wether I really want to do the same. At this moment in time I’m not ready yet. I want to wait. But nevertheless I m so happy for Arinda and Federico!! My best friend getting a child, I will learn from her. Meanwhile in Australia another really good friend of mine, Allison, is preparing her Wedding. I had the great news in May and I will be her Maiden of Honour. Really also so exciting!! I don’t know yet what to expect, but I will be informed on time. I know she is making a beautiful dress for me… oh that reminds me I better get going and start measuring myself.
Milano is getting wet. Today the whole day it started to rain, is this the end of the Summer?? Well we still took good advantage of the nice weather when Lucie and I went to Rimini this weekend. We visited Arinda and Federico and had a quiet and relaxing weekend. The sun was giving me a lesson and saying that she missed me this year. Therefore my conversation with her was one with a moral: always use sunscreen!! I got burned!!
Well with all the nice things in life we also have to look on the other side of the coin: new life is coming, but some lives are going. Unfortunately some of us are going to young. The lesson I learned from Lionel’s friend leaving this world, gave me some insight in always to enjoy life and live every moment as the last one!! Together with our beloved and too be loved!! Carpe Diem.

Milano..Firenze..Marseille

Well after one and a half month milano, i have not seen the time go by. Meaning that time flies!! we have to enjoy every minute and enjoy all the small moments. What I have been doing for the last one and half month. Besides the regular thing here: the 30 minutes danceshow every night except Sunday's, i have been taking Salsa classes for instance. The school is a well known school in the salsa world Tropical Gem. The teacher Fernando Sosa has created his Sosa Style, very theatrical and showy. Its great to follow his classes because its very choreographed. Off course you will all know that practice makes perfect so i went dancing Salsa in a danceclub, but here you have to forget the sosastyle because you just have to follow the men, and believe me thats difficult because there are so many styles....
Inscription in the gym is another thing and keeps me busy, but i had to occupy my lovely boyfriend with other excercises, hihi. Well he made it for his 2nd time to Milan, this time on time and didnt miss the plane. Cool one whole week with him next to me, we went for Aperativo, wich is a concept, or constitution here, Just go to a bar at around 18. 30 and the happy hour serves you the best and greatest cocktails of all kinds( i love Mojito, Capiroska Fragola or a Pimms) and.... FOOD, you can eat little bits and pieces of the italian cuisine. So for hungry people definitely great, but if you want to go to the restaurant later you have to leave the aperativo for what it is, because believe me once you start you wont stop.
We also went to Florence, Firenze and stayed in the great Hotel Royal, via delle Ruote, in centre of Firenze. You can park car here. Firenze is a very nice little city, the centre is all to do by foot. After seeing the Duomo, Piazza Vecchio, Palazzo Piti, Ponte Vecchio it started to rain, we bought some umbrella's for 2 euros from the chinese lady and went to the other side of the river. This area is called Oltrarno . We walked to the Piazza Spirito Santo, less touristic and here we found a bar with live music, we started on the red wine and the aperativo, nothing compared to milan but was ok for now. We went across the piazza for more drinks, Chianti off course. Then we found the restaurant also on this square and we had more wine and delicious food!! We had a great feast, we got a bit typsy too!! After dinner we "walked" home and Lio fell asleep in the bed.. while i fell a sleep in the bath!!!
The next day we were more lucky with the weather and we decided to walk to see the Mercato and buy some Parmeggiano Reggiano for Lio's Parents and after that we walked to the Gardini Boboli, it was a very nice walk and nice gardens and Toscan Views with the so wellknown Cypres everywhere. We had to drive back to Milano that same day.
The next day back in Milan, we went to the photo exposition of Helmut Newton Sex and Landscapes in the Palazzo Reale next to the Duomo, strolled around in Naviglio area, had aperativo along the water. We also ate dinner at Trattoria Toscane. One night our friend Murali, or Mus invited us and his friends for dinner at his place, great and gorgeous mixed style food of Malay, singapore etc. The next day we went for a aperativo at a nice Bar ALtro which had a roof top terrace. The weather is changing and therefor great to have drinks on terraces, this one is recommended.
Sunday morning we drove to Marseille, where we arrived at 8 am and had breakfast with Lio's parents Alain and Marie-Jose. We were tired and had a nap, i slept until 16 !!! We enjoyed the great soupe au Pistou de Marie-Jose, and the parmesan we brought from Firenze. Monday afternoon i had to drive 500 km back on my own since Lio stayed there. It was too short this trip, but very nice to have had Lio by my side, off course i m a bit sad right now being here on my own, but i know its only for a short time, my parents will arrive the 25th, in one week!!
to be continued...