Author Archives: eliasnohra

Buongiorno, Florence! Nice Duomo you got there.

Within 2 hours of leaving Marthese’s parents in Verona (bye and thanks for everything!!), we arrived in Florence (Firenze). Early start, gloomy day. Great hotel location, right next door to the Medici Chapel.

So while waiting for our room to be ready, we took a little stroll and ended up at the Duomo (Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore)! Mighty fine building. We decided to join a random line (there were a few) and it ended up to be the one that let us climb the dome. 500 something steps, but well worth it.

So far Florence feels much more touristy than Verona and other places we’ve been (aside from Venice) but it also feels more “lived in”. We’re spending a week here and I can’t wait to immerse myself in it more!

Ciao.

Dsc_0003Dsc_0007Dsc_0018Dsc_0025Dsc_0026Dsc_0029Dsc_0031Dsc_0028Dsc_0035Dsc_0047Dsc_0051

Wine tasting in an Italian Cave

After getting off the train from Brig to Verona, we were piled into a car and off for a wine tasting spree with Marthese’s Parents!

 

We went to an old converted cave where Zyme wines store their wine casks. After a quick tour, we were led to the tasting room. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t buy any wine, but of course after a whole lot of wine and grappa all promises become null and void.

 

Went to bed with a sore head. I love Italy.
Dsc_0073Dsc_0075

Popping out to Switzerland for some Cheese & Snow

We just spent 2 nights in a lovely little town called Saas Grund with Marthese’s German host family from her High School exchange. The Ostermann’s were lovely and generous, they looked after us so well. We were kept warm with lots of food and alcohol.

 

Beer, wine, schnapps and punch (a warm-fruity-potent-alcohol-creamy-delicious-thingy). 

A definte highlight was eating Raclette, a traditional Swiss meal that involves melting cheese onto potato and eating until you collapse or explode.

 

As you can see from the pictures, it snowed. We spent a few hours up on the mountain (3km above sea level apparently!) where it was about -15C. Despite the cold and the sting of the wind and snow, it was a gorgeous place to be.

 

Many thanks again to Wiebke, Connie & Matthias for making our stay so memorable. So awesome, an amazing few days.
Oh and of course thanks to Leo, the dog. I miss you already.
Dsc_0022Dsc_0023Dsc_0036Dsc_0039Dsc_0044Dsc_0049Dsc_0051Dsc_0062Dsc_0059Dsc_0060

A Day in Venice

Did a day trip to Venice today. Visited the Doge’s Palace and San Marco square, Rialto Bridge and random wanderings.

Despite the fact its a massive tourist-trap, Venice is without a doubt one of the most remarkable places I’ve ever been! It was a beautiful sunny day, and the supposed “stink” that I’ve heard so often complained about was totally absent, perhaps because its Winter. Or perhaps because most things smell better than my end of Stanmore. We avoided the Gondolas but got a great view of the city catching the Ferry from the station to San Marco’s and reading along to Rick Steve’s Italy tour. (plug!)

Below are some photos, but they do not do the city justice, its something that has to be experienced. (Not allowed to take photos in the Doge’s Palace which sucks cause it was AWESOME!)

Wandering around reminded me of Assassin’s Creed 2. Getting lost in the streets of Venice in that game was so much like getting lost in real life. AC2 is seriously a MUCH better way to enjoy the Venice experience from afar than photos. Plus you get to climb everything and use knives!

Dsc_0011Dsc_0035Dsc_0043Dsc_0049Dsc_0057Dsc_0061Dsc_0077Dsc_0095Dsc_0121Dsc_0088

First disappointment from Telltale Games – Jurassic Park: The Game

I’ve been a big fan of Telltale Games for a while, having enjoyed their early Sam n Max games, and delighted as that series improved and others spawned as well. Wallace & Gromit, Back to the Future, in particular enjoyed Strong Bad and Monkey Island. 

So without really thinking twice about it, I pre-ordered their Jurassic Park game, expecting the same level of quality. Having played through the game in the past few days, it sadly failed to live up to expectations.

Its not all bad. Some decent graphics and voice-acting, and at times I was genuinely surprised and thrilled by being chased by dinosaurs or discovering new set pieces. Some of the character interaction was ok.

But mostly it was kinda bad. The characters were generally uninspiring and cliched. 

And then there is the gameplay. Fail. Its more an “interactive movie” than a game, you spend most of the time watching things happen and then pressing a few buttons to get to the next bit. Think the “action” sequences from Heavy Rain but completely linear, with no consequence to any of your actions. You live or you die. The plot is always the same. At times the key combinations are impossible to get on your first runthrough a sequence, and you have to replay it, and if you keep failing it dumbs it down for you to stop the game being endlessly repetitive. The interface for the non-action bits is annoying, you can manipulate a very slow moving camera and select highlighted bits on screen. But it felt so clumsy playing on my computer. Perhaps its better suited to console play. There were some fun puzzles (the roller coaster cars) but mostly they were dull too.

Interestingly, the game is divided into 4 episodes like many of Telltale’s other games, however was all packaged together. Perhaps they realised people who bought episode 1 wouldn’t buy the rest.

Anyway. It was mildly enjoyable but ultimately annoying, and I was glad to finish it. It played perfectly on the Mac unless you paused the game for more than a minute, then it crashed. 
Going to check out Hector next, hoping it fares better.

It DID get me in the mood to re-watch the first Jurassic Park film…. if I hadn’t been a closet Jurassic Park fan I probably wouldn’t have bothered playing the game through. But I enjoyed inhabiting that world, the music….

I’ve written more than the 5 lines I thought I would. ah well. if anyone bothers reading this i’ll be surprised. cheers.