Hayley is making me fat... Oh yeah and the girls won in Florence

So I said I'd be blogging up Florence in Bangkok... spoke to soon... am writing this in Paris instead and I'll explain why later.

After a long line and a short sprint I made it onto the last train from Rome to Florence and I met Max, Hayley and Nick at the station shortly after they watched the showcase game. We then headed off imediately to "the best Tiramasu in Florence" for dinner (good pizza), beers (good micro brewery beers) and dessert (the aforementioned tiramasu that was really fucking good).

Deciding to forego the early U23 games we met early early (like 8ish or so) the next day to go and see Dave... and it was AWESOME. We saw Dave really early before he got crowded so we got the full affect and even managed a sneaky photo. He really is very very impressive. We also got to see some other stuff... highlights being seeing/hearing a hurdy gurdy and a trumpet marine... The hurdy gurdy being the bastard lovechild of a violin, guitar, piano and angle grinder and the trumpet marine being a single stringed bass type thing that somehow sounds like a trumpet being played underwater... google them.

Oh and we also went to "the best granita place in Florence"... once again not lying...

A trip to Pisa where there is A TOWER THAT LEANS with Max and Nick followed that before a regroup with Hayley to go to the fields just in time to find out the U23 boys lost their quarter to Germany =(
We then got to see the girls win before we headed off to dinner at "the best restaurant in Florence" this time with Nat and Liz in tow. Again no lies... it was AWESOME... the pizza kicked ass and so did the hot tomato pasta. Amazing gratis lemon granita and credit card roulette (with me winning the pot) made that probably my best italian restaurant experience... Even with the waitress nearly in tears because she felt so bad hayley had to pay for everyone because that's the card she didn't pull out. Oh and the top shelf gelato across the bridge was pretty sweet too...

A bit of a sleep in and then we got our disc on the next day (amongst granita/gelato/tiramasu trips of course) and we especially got to see the girls win their semi. Then another trip to the restaurant followed and this time the waitress refused to play credit card roulette and instead went to get her boss to do it... very funny... she was pissing herself laughing at us as we left ("oh you crazy aussies" style) and then it was off to the mixed final and party... the party was at a pool... kinda cool... but had a slightly odd vibe for me.

Sleep in again and it was finals day... The girls won... it was an awesome game... I took a shirtload of pics on TG's camera so I don't have many but the game was really tight and very cool to watch and cheer them along with the boys. Seb's juice moose song and the blatant cheer stealing (not to mention the japanese hate/love backflip between womens and mens finals) were quite fun. All the girls played well and deserved their win over japan...
Mens final was ok too... but being less emmotionally invested meant I payed less attention... I did get to hear some sweet heckle calls on Canada though.
And obviously following the win there was a fairly big (if informal) party at one of the hostels... Max, Hayley and I first had to have yet another italian dinner though... this time with free wine. We saw the sign and were a tad curious... especially after we still saw reasonable prices on the mains... So we guessed it was just a free glass... but then got told it was UNLIMITED free wine... so we asked what the catch was... The owner made the wine himself...
But it was still pretty good, the red better than the white...
Off to the party (where for a change I was barefoot...) and party party party till it was home time when Max and I discovered we were locked out. This is where I saw the main difference in how Max and I deal with things... He threw grapes and rang doorbells till we got inside... I slept on the doorstep...
Breakfast and packing my bag today and then Max, Hayley, the Birthday boy Nick "I'm going to read my book on the pooper" Dousett and I went to the Florence leather market to get magic wallets (amongst other things) and then Nick and I went to the aeroporto... We met the HoS boys there for all our flights to Amsterdam, which was cancelled... much lining up and waiting and frustration followed with those fellows off to a hotel for flights tomorrow whilst I lucked in and had my Florence-Amsterdam-Bangkok-Sydney flight changed to a Florence-Paris-Singapore-Sydney flight that I THINK gets me home faster than I would've originally...

So I'm in Paris now writing this and next time I get net-side I will be home... Not sure how I feel about that. I'm tired of living out of a bag and would like a relax for a while. But I think I will also get antsy at home within a week or so to be going new places and to museums etc... oh well...
Also not looking to the long haul flights... I hate flying... not from fear just the fact I can't sleep and the aircon screws my sinuses... oh and the cliche of shitty airline food will only be stronger with the gastronomical delights I've had the last week or so...

Oh well

See you all soon

Love, Hugs and Kisses
ANt