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Phil Willis Online

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Feb 6th

It was good to see the Steelers win Superbowl XL today, even if dodgy umpiring decisions cost the Seattle Seahawks the game.

I didn't realize how much I missed American football, so I'm glad SBS decided to screen it live - including a taste of some of the famous Superbowl advertisements at half-time.

Jan 31st

Flew to Bris-vegas today to spend some time with the folks.

It's taking me a while to realise that I'm not just back here for a holiday. This is the new "normal" now.

Leigh and I got a chance to see our new nephew Kailan. He's cute and looks a lot like Leigh when she was the same age.

Jan 30th

Back in Sydney at last and we were greeted at the airport by friends with massive "Welcome Back Phil and Leigh" signs.

Our friends are way too kind to us.

I've already sampled some of the chocolates I haven't seen in years: Violet Crumble, Cherry Ripe, Mars Bar, Freddo Frog and Caramello Koala.

Yum.

And as if I needed any more convincing that the world is an incredibly small place, I bumped into and old university mate of mine who I haven't seen in ten years ... in the customs queue at Sydney international airport!

Jan 29th

I had my first dream in Italian!

Pity it was on the plane somewhere between Hong Kong and Sydney. Oh well, better later than never.

Jan 28th

One last day in Rome before we travel to Australia.

Hard to believe this Italian adventure is almost over. I'm worried that I'll wake up one morning and think it was all just a dream.

Jan 26th

I had very good intentions of visiting the natural hot springs (bagno caldo) around Tuscany today, but waiting outside in the cold weather for the bus in combination with the beers and mineral water I drank over lunch meant that I was busting to go to the toilet.

Finally the bus arrived, but I had to get off at the very next stop since I was in very real danger of creating my very own bagno caldo in miei pantoloni!

Jan 22th

Feeling a bit under the weather today after a sendoff dinner and drinks for one of the Swedish students who's leaving.

And what better hangover remedy than to go out in the biting cold, sit on an icy, wet aluminium bench and surround yourself with thousands of singing, chanting, drum beating Italian soccer fans.

Not even the score could cheer me up. Milan beat Sienna 3-0.

It could have been worse though. At least I was in one of the more "refined" sections of the stadium away from fervent revelry of the "cheap seats" crowd.

I don't remember specifically asking to be seated away from the most strident fans but I think my Italian was probably so woeful during the transaction of buying the ticket that the clerk correctly assumed I was an out-of-towner.

I should probably be thankful I didn't get assigned the "vistor's stand".

Sad to say, but on this particular occasion - watching the game live from the stands was nowhere near as fun as watching Rome play with the all the civilised comfort that comes with a warm pub and a cold guinness.

Jan 19th

I just found out I'm an uncle!

Leigh's brother Glen and his wife Penny just had their first son named Kailan Joseph Sales.

Kailan has long legs and big feet (like his dad) and is no doubt bound for a career in Basketball or AFL.

Jan 18th

After yet another delicious Italian meal of onion soup, crusty bread, rabbit ragu, Tuscan beans, sausage, osso bucca and pannacotta (yes how many times can we eat so much here), we went to a 90 minute class on the art of Sienna.

Leigh was worried that a class conducted completely in Italian entitled "Art and architecture from the Romanesque to the Gothic periods" might be too hard for us, but I'd had the teacher before and she was great.

The teacher had a good knack for gauging the level of understanding of the class and keeping it simple enough for us to follow. Plus the ubiquitous Italian gestures that accompanied her lecture helped a lot.

Jan 17th

Finally got around to posting some photos from Florence and Sienna.

Jan 16th

Leigh and I have settled into the habit of watching The Simpsons (aka I Simpson) each afternoon at 2:30pm.

The amazing thing is that even though it is dubbed into Italian, the characters still have their very recognisable voices. Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa sound the same - even in Italian.

It's also a good program to watch on TV because I've seen most of the episodes, so at least I know a bit of what's going on.

Non hai una mucca = Don't have a cow. ;)

Jan 15th

After about half and hour of searching we found our favourite Florentine restaurant from five years ago is still open! The menu is larger than I remember, but the food was still great.

The other big highlight of the day was nearly missing our bus back to Sienna.

We mistakenly thought it was a train and we spent forty minutes looking at the departures board in Florence train station wondering why there was no platform number assigned to it.

Jan 14th

We're spending this weekend in Florence.

Even though we've been here before, it was well worth coming back for a second look.

I spent some time in L'Accademia sketching Michaelangelo's David.

It's absolutely incredible. (David I mean - not my sketch!) It's hands are so lifelike you can see the veins under the surface of the skin.

Jan 12th

I bought a small sketchbook and have been going around to various museums and cathedrals to do a bit of drawing.

This is something I should have done at the start of my time in Italy - not at the end!

If only I'd thought of it in Rome I could have spent heaps of time sketching the fountains of Piazza Navona. Oh well.

Wrote a list of the best books I read in 2005.

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