It's the final count down!!!

My last day in Como was bitter sweet :) :(

We awoke in the morning to this........

I'm not sure these photos really do it justice but u get the idea!!

after gawking at the snow covered mountains for a while we went for our last coffee and croissant in our local coffee shop where the friendly bar man gave us some freebees and took our photo :)

Yes i am wearing two scarves........i am also wearing two tops, two jumpers, and two pairs of socks and trousers, not because it was particularly cold but because i had no more space in my suitcase.

In case u were wondering, that very large bottle of champagne was not one of the freebees we received that morning!!

After coffee we said a sad goodbye to Tulay who went to Milan for the day :( Mamma Tualy u will be missed!!! Then good ol Zeffy and me went for one last stroll around the lake.

We got back to the hotel with just enough time to say a quick farewell to our hotel room and cram the last remaining things into our already over packed cases before we were collected and taken to Malpensa by the lovely Paolo. Thank you Paolo :)

The flight back was very clear so it seems fitting that i leave u with the same view which opened my blog...........the view of the Alps from above!

Thank you for reading :) If u enjoyed following my travels over the past 7 weeks (or whenever u started reading) this may not be the end of my blog so keep ur eyes peeled for more! For now however, this is goodbye!!! xxxxxxxx

Cannes

Now that I'm home and enjoying a nice long laze in my bed (which thankfully doesn't squeak and which i have to share with no one.........not sure if the latter is such a good thing but whatever) i can fill in the last of my trip!

so i think when last i posted i was on my way to Cannes. I was a really a really long trip.....enjoyable but long! i kept dosing off but i did manage to stay awake long enough to catch a look at the sun setting over the mountains.......but sadly i didn't take a photo. in fact during this particular day i was a bit shit at taking photos.

When we arrived we found the hotel (not my hotel but a hotel) to bump our stuff in (again not my stuff but some stuff) then we went for a nice dinner where i still couldn't read the menu so i entrusted the ordering to Daniele who did a very good job ;) I particularly enjoyed the chocolate desert!!!!  After getting a little bit merrier than i'd planned on wine we went to a bar where i attempted not to drink anything else but was teased until finally i gave in an ordered something. At this point the conversation turned to smut which i enjoyed muchly!!! yes i'm sticking by my use of the 'word' muchly

We eventually stumbled across my hotel which was nice since until this point none of us were certain that i even had a hotel to stay in. Not that i hadn't been enjoying the company of Zeff and Tulizzle back in Como but it was nice to spend a night on my own.

In the morning I went for a solitary breakfast in the hotel and for the first time since i arrived i took a picture!

The weather in Cannes was lovely!!!

Also i think it's worth mentioning my brilliant time keeping skills and sense of direction on this morning. I was told to meet the others at their hotel at around 8.30. not only did i manage to get there on time but i did it without getting lost!!! so proud :)










After a nice healthy breakfast we headed to the show where my picture taking got its groove back.............

I told u it was a nice day!!!

Once inside the show i was given a badge and taken to the stand. i think it's worth mentioning that i was Emy Saint-Hill for the day. Of course i found it hilarious that they couldn't get my name right in France (my name is actually French for those who don't know.....it's got a little accent and everything ;)) <---------double chin!

moving on...........the stand looked something like this

It was busy most of the day and i started to feel as if i may have been in the way so i decided to take a little stroll around the show. As i stepped out the stand i bumped into someone i went to LCF with (Natalie Thomas.......u defo deserve a mention!!!) which was totally bizarre!! actually, thinking about it its not that bizarre given that Natalie works for a swimwear company and in fact was studying swim at uni but in any case it was great! we had a little catch up and sat by the sea which i very much enjoyed :)
We also stumble across the terrible comON canvases from a couple of weeks before.

Here they are in Cannes for all to see.......with our names on them........trashing what little reputation we had left.........

Luckily i was moving undercover as Emy Saint-Hill so people where none the wiser ;)

I did manage to take some photos of the promo design i did for the stand. unfortunately the original surfer i used was too pixelated when we blew him up to the bigger size so we had to use this dude who kinda looks like he's taking a dump..............

The below image is also some of my handy work.........not all but some......go me!

The stand got a little more quiet after lunch so i was able to catch up with some of my colleges and play a little angry birds. All in all i had a great time in Cannes!!! :)

Of course there was wine and cheese at the end of this day along with some music and dancing :)


I couldn't leave without having my photo taken with the crew!!! you will all be missed!!!!

I was soooooooo sad to leave!!!! hopefully we will keep in touch! I find it difficult not to be cheesy at times like this but i really am so grateful for the time i spent at Textra! Everyone was soooooooooo nice and really made me feel at home so big hugs and kisses to you all :) Thank yooooooooooooou!!!! xxxxxxxx

A quick farewell

I hadn't considered this earlier but today may be my last post :(

I will add my Cannes adventure and final days in Como when i'm home in cosy ol' London but for now i have to say farewell to my blog and farewell to Como!!!

Also! Thank u to all the organisers of comON and Textra!! I've had an amazing time! Como u will be missed!!!

Problem Solved

Ok, photo uploading problem solved!! These are some of the photos i took during our last stroll around Venice before taking what turned out to be a slightly more treacherous journey than we had planned.

Basically the train that we were supposed to catch at 4pm (scheduled to arrive in Como at the sensible time of 7pm) was full so we had to catch the 5.25pm. Of course by the time this train arrived in Milan at 7.55pm there were no trains leaving for Como.

Luckily there was a train going through a place called Monza.........but it wasn't leaving until 9.25pm..........so we played cards and drank coffee till it arrived. We also got told off by a grumpy cleaning lady in the station coz we cheated the machine that makes u pay to use the toilet. 1 euro to pee?!?! i don't think so!!!

Hopefully the left image will give u an idea of just how little entertainment there was in the station. We resorted to making tiny cups out of tin foil. I took a photo of the station at Monza bcoz i thought it deserved a mention. It was here at 10.55pm that we met a woman speaking in tongues (she turned out to be using a hands free but she was still pretty scary) and a man who decided that our game of cards needed background music and started humming whenever we played a card. Thankfully our time at Monza was short and we were back in Como by 11.30pm :)

I have a feeling that this week will be full of more slightly strange and disorganised travelling as tomorrow i will go to Cannes with Textra! Until today I didn't know how i was going to get back in time for my flight on Friday afternoon and I still don't know where i will stay when i get there! No one else seems to be worrying about this so for the time being i see no reason to either.

Now i will get back to work before this post gets any more wordy!

Venice in the rain

When we left our cell.....i mean room in the morning we were greeted by an entirely different Venice.

Luckily our failure to see the exhibition the day before meant that we had somewhere to go out of the rain. Don't get me wrong, all this water is amazing for like a half hour but after that u just wanna get the hell inside!!

As i said before, the exhibition we had planned to see was no longer showing (the Swiss had stolen it) so we went instead to see Tony Cragg who, from what i can tell makes sculptures that look like poo.

There were two other exhibits accompanying Tony, one was an oriental exhibition and the other was modern art. Deciding we'd seen enough oriental art for the time being we went to the modern art exhibition. In actual fact the art wasn't so modern. Sadly though this image is all the evidence i have of the second exhibition coz the photography police were working extra hard on this one!

It was still raining when we left the exhibition (with Zeffira's friends in tow.......probably should have mentioned we met up with them just before) so we went to another exhibition! 

Luckily the staff at this exhibition weren't such photo Nazis

The rain continued after this so we went in search of a more inside entertainment and we found it in the form of a restaurant!

Thankfully the rain had stopped by the time we were done with coffee so we had one last wonder around before we left!












hmm.......while trying to upload more photos i've been informed that i have to purchase more storage space.......curious.............this calls for further investigation. Stay tuned for the continuation of my Venice adventure..........

Venice!!

Sooooooooooo..........theres not all that much i can say about Venice other than OMG omg, its AMAZING!!!!!
I mean i'm sure on an average day its beautiful but it was made all the more beautiful by the fact that by some freak chance it was sunny!!!! ok........enough words..........

Don't be surprised if u see a load more photos of doors and windows during my posts (and i say posts becoz i think i'm gonna have to write a few) of Venice, I was fascinated by them for some reason.

We were hungry when we arrived so we stopped to eat lunch and drink wine by the water.......did some drawing too!

Fed and watered we went in search of our hostel which we were able to locate by boat. It just so happened to be across the water from Piazza San Marco (or St. Marks Square for all u English folk) so we went for a little wonder after

This is a church so obviously out of respect for religion (and what with Italy being big on religion) we were asked to relinquish our cameras at the door. The following should give u an idea of how much respect i have for religion..........and also for rules..........

Honestly, how could i not have taken photos inside here!! look at it!!!!

Anyway..............determined to cram as much into the day as possible we went in search of an exhibition.........but..........we got distracted...........

I did warn u about the doors and windows!!

Unsurprisingly, by the time we finally found the gallery it was closed! Not only that but it wasn't showing the exhibition we wanted to see either. This, under ordinary circumstances would have been a problem but.......we're in Venice people lets have coffee!!!

Coffee quickly turned in to dinner (followed by coffee) and was very enjoyable.......apart from a minor face raping incident but thats a story for another time.........

After dinner we decided to make our way to our.......ahem......accommodation.............on the way we passed Piazza San Marco again and took some spooky photos

The view from the hostel was nice.......but the room left a lot to be desired. I sort of felt like a cast member of 'Little Orphan Annie' bundled into a room with 15 other women in bunk beds. Not to worry though coz........say it with me........we're in VENICE!!!!