If it ain't Scottish, it's Cr*p!

Me, M, My brother Renaissance Man and Bren headed North today to Scotland to stay once again with our gracious host - Mr Dundee Cake for our what's lined up to be a fabulous weekend in Scotland.

Plowing through the driving rain we crossed the border and arrived in Glasgow within 5 hours ... slow going due to the awful weather and numerous stops at the services from coffee and relaxation. Eventually the Northerly blew through and we made up some time.

Mr Dundee Cake made us all a fab Scottish dinner which we all enjoyed followed by some tasty whisky tasting and amazing Scottish caramel shortcake. Afterwards we headed downtown and of all places spent out night at the Gay community centre - which was essentially a restaurant/community centre. Good times having a laugh with the karaoke drag queen. It has to be said that ever community needs a place, and even though Jake Spears doesn't hang out here - he would enjoy it - and this place had the fringe of the community hanging and supporting one another - which was good and important.

Glasgow is super great, super working-class and raw. Had lots of laughs with random people all night and looking fwd to the weekend adventures.

There is a light that never goes out....





The last few days here in Manchester. We've been mostly hanging out the folks, helping out etc... but we did manage to go out for a 'rumble in the jungle' the other night with friend. We met up in Manchester and had a jolly good session. The hustle-bustle of the place always surprises me - everytime I come back a swear there's 1/2 million more people on the streets. It was UNBELIEVABLY packed.

Yesterday we walked up Holcombe Hill. A super massive hill a few miles from my parents. It's got an old tower at the top which is a tribute to Robert Peel (inventor of the modern police force) and epic views over the Irwell Valley and the towns flowing in the city of Manchester. We took the tough route up, something we felt we needed after all the exuberance in Spain. Afterwards we followed the valley and walked to an old-village of Summerseat. I'd not been for many moons and I wanted to show M around as I've talked a lot about it over the years. The village now has a few more restored mills that are now apartments, and still as charming as ever.
We're off to ScotchLand this weekend, where we'll have wi-fi and a few more movies to post

Andalucia, We Love You...




Once again we've had a epic time here in Andalucia, Spain. It's probably going to be a while till we return here - so we say "Salute" and go away with many happy memories and bigger hearts for our experiences in this amazing part of the world.


We fly to Manchester tommorow. I'll have no wi-fi until we get upto ScotchLand in a week. We'll be packing our woolies and porridge oats for that trip -- brrrr.

Malaga


We took a day trip to Malaga yesterday. Hop'ing on a local bus it only cost $1.25Euro .. that's about $2.10 US .. but that's another story that's flooding the head lines. Nearing the city there's a lot of high density, and a stunning amount of graffiti everywhere. We was really surprised.

Leaving the bus, gathering our bearings we headed off to the old town where we stumbled upon a Rodin public exhibit on the street - which was nice. For the next 5 hours we explored the town, constantly walking only to stop for a 45 minute tapas lunch in a old square- which was nice.

Malaga is an unusual place, the old town is stunning and there's an incredible density of buildings there. We came across one part that had been left to decay, almost ghettoized and covered in graffiti. There was construction sites all over the place. Very odd for a euro town.

It was a glorious sunny day and a good time was had exploring.

Pez Espada

We watched a fabulous flamenco show last night. I love it. I find myself captivated by the gestures of the dancers. A bunch of emotions are expressed - defiance, sorrow, sadness and joy - you name it, it's in there. Of course the dancing, rhythm and music is brilliant too.

It's still really hot here, the air is fresh, the sea is beautiful and I've a head full of ideas. Tommorow we're off to Malaga to check out the old town.

Butteras Butteras Gali

Scorcho continues. It's been super hot the last few days and it's hard to think that laying on the beach, catching up with our reading and sinking a few San Miguels is not a brilliant idea - so that's exactly what's been happening. It's great to be in Europe.

Walking in the beach surf is my new hobby - the water is really warm. It's hard to believe that England is below 0 and the Pacific Northwest is probably close. 80cm of snow fell at Whistler a couple of nights ago - boarding season starts soon.

(lol). Just looked over the balcony and saw this pensioner walking down the road 'raving' to some euro-techno pumping out this dudes tiny euro-car. (lol)

Need For Speed: ProStreet

My latest game - Need For Speed: ProStreet is released in North America today. It's recieving great reviews which is good news since this year we've re-invented the game. The game looks, if I may say, awesome.

Scorcho

We're having a brilliant time here sunny Costa-del-sol. The hotel is very nice and the weather is excellent. For the most part we've been relaxing ... taking walks, laying on the beach, eating some great food and soaking up the sun. Today, we ventured out to Marbella which was fun. We sauntered around the old town, checking out this-and-that ... beautiful place.

Si, Par Favour !

Thanks to *free* wi-fi on the Mediterranean diet I'm able to sit here in our luxurious 'single bed apartment' up in the sky and update the blog. Someone is serving free ip packets that I'm consuming. I think this is the way to go .. distribute *free* Internet and protect yaself by blocking all ports except port #80 -- http -- ala Internet. It's only right I think, the internet is free it's only the companies charging for access .. it kinda goes against freedom of info to not share it.

Ah it`s great to be here. So what`s gone in the last 48 hours. Well M and I had a second night in Rome. We walked around the city all night checking out this and that ... what a cool town Rome is.


We got up early and flew back to Manchester ... watched some quality telly then headed off to bed to get ready for an early start. Awoke up at 3am, had a 30 min victory lap then jumped out at 3:30am to get ready for a 4am cab to Manchester airport for a flight to Spain with my family.

Got on the plane, test circuit malfunction - quick repair. These are the times I wish I did not know technology so well. Plane took off, quick flight to the Costa Del Sol .. quick transfer to the hotel .. and here we are. We're staying to a lovely hotel on the beach ... views are great, it's super hot and we have a panoramic view of the ocean and mountains... lovely.

Amalfi Exploration

Today we explored more Amalfi. Climbing the various ancient staircases clusted with houses that climb the mighty hillsides - it feels other worldly.

We left the warren and headed high into the mountains. Spectacular views of Amalfi and the ocean. At one point a few donkeys carryingsupplies and passengers trotted by us. LOL. We got as high as we could before heading back down to the town.

In the afternoon we did some more hiking, heading through town along the ravine following a path into the hills. We walked past raced gardens filled with lemon trees, lime trees, olive trees and beautiful flowers. Fufther along the path .. as if it could not get any better - we came across a UNESCO limoncello factory. A nice big sign filled with Italian text was in the window and snuggled right at the bottom the fantasitic words sat "free samples". Poking our heads throught the window a friendly man showed up and asked if we'd like a tour - which was nice. He showed us the factory and the manufacturing process. Back in the entrance he lined up several bottles for sampling, provided a detailed explanation of each whilst pouring. We checked out lemon, tangerine, lemon-cream and chocolate liqueurs. We bought some stuff marmalades for my folks, thanked him and heading back down the trail.


All that walking required some beach time - so we lay in the sun listening to the waves crash on the rocks.

Vietri

All the local ceramic artists live and create their ceramic art in this tiny town near Salerno. After some brisk coffee's at Giovanni's we hopped the bus for more fair-ground-excitement. After a short ride we strolled around Vietri checking out the ceramic shops. Very nice stuff ranging from traditional to artist-on-absinthe style creations. The town is clustered with the ceramic art - on all the walls, the streets, the alleys - everywhere. It's really something.

For a late lunch we found a lovely place down by the sea and once again checked out some fabulous food and vino. Refueled we headed up to the ceramic museum only to find it was closed. Oh bugger, M was dissapointed as she was really looking fwd to seeing it. We spent more time strolling the streets checking out the art.

Positano

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Today we headed to Positano on the SITA house. It was an exhilarating white knuckle ride all the way.Again the views were stunning all along the route.

We spent the day exploring Positano, taking lots of pictures, weaving around the idyllic streets that hug the cliffs and relaxing on the beach.

For a late lunch we found a nice place with epic views overlooking the valley and sea, ordered some tasty food and a now ubiquitous bottle of wine.

Video games and deadlines are fading into the distance as the fragrant flowers, warm sun take the place of wide eyed development directors and tired looking engineers.

Later we walked back up the hill to the bus stop and waited in the hot sun with the locals. The bus -eventually- came and we embarked on phase iiof the white knuckle ride.

Amalfi
Amalfi

Opening the shutters we let the glorious sunshine and ocean breeze flood into the room. The town and mountains looks stunning from our windows overlooking the old square and the mighty mountains facing us.

It didn't take long before a coffee headache rolled in, so we dressed and headed over to our friends coffee shop. We asked a girl there if Giovanna stillworks here, "She does, she'll be in later. I'm her sister in-law". We explained who we was and that we'd met her last time we came to Amalfi. She told us tocome back in a few hours.

We explored the town, walked along the beach before settling down for a tasty-tasty-tasty late picnic lunch on the terrace - fresh bread, pesto, palm.,olives, sundried tomatoes, red wine and a bar of local chocolate. mmmm-mm-mmm. Siesta time came early today :).

Later in the day we headed over to see Giovanna. She was there! - it was big hugs all around, had a nice chat. Very Nice.

For dinner we walked the cliffs to a local town - Atrani. It`s a great walk giving some epic views of Amalfi and Atrani. We found a great placeto eat in the piazza. We ate, drank and watched - all the while soaking up the ambience of the warm Italian evening.

Heading To Amalfi

It's all too easy getting around Italy. We caught the morning train to Naples from Rome. A cool 2.5 hour ride watching the countrysidezoom by and before we knew it we could see Mount Vesuvious and was entering Naples. It was great, leavng the train everything looked familier to us, so we knewwhere to head to catch the regional train to Salerno at the very end of the Amalfi Coast.

Arriving in Solerno we grabbed some tasty calzone from the local pizzeria and caught the SITA bus to the town of Amalfi. The bus rides are mental - pure white knuckle rides along high cliffs with narrow lanes. Cars and motorcycles compete for the narrow lane space on the road,whilst massive cliff drops are only a tiny barrier away. Some how the crazy dance just works and we marvel at the coastline and the stunning towns we pass.

We'd arranged with the local tourist info to call our host family upon our arrival. The place was closed! - the lady in the ceramic store next door saidsomething had come up and they had to close. Oh bugger! She called the host family - no answer. We know where they live so we headed over there to knock onthe door. A couple of buzzes and Marioto was at the door smiling. Good to see his smiley face. He welcomed us to his home then showed us to our room.

Quickly unpacking we headed up to the terrace to check the view out. Ahhh - magnificent. Admiring the view for a while we then headed out for dinner and found a new place amongst the labyrinth of tunnels that extend up the hillsides. Yum Yum Yum. Afterwards we strolled around the tiny town feeling super glad to be back here, then headed into to a Bottega at the base of the church. We enjoyed some tasty local wines both agreeing it was *ace* to be drinking vino in the base of a 1000 year old church. The staff was super friendly and enjoyedsome banter with them. Feeling warm and fuzzy the first evening came to a close. Ah, it's great to be back here.