MrM and I have been watching Farscape on dvd tonight, with Leela curled up next to us. I can't quite decide whether I like Farscape or not. I want to like it, and it often feels as though it's just about to be really good, but something about it just seems off - I'm not sure if it's the writing or the direction or the perfromances, but scenes somehow don't seem to flow quite right - characters react too strongly, too fast, or not enough, and the dialogue doesn't sing the way it should. I suspect I've been spoilt by the Whedonverse!

We had a lovely relaxing and social Saturday today, starting with a late breakfast at Relish in Bentleigh. I do like their potato and ricotta hotcakes with smoked salmon and a poached egg on rocket. Very yummy.

Then we went to Bunnings and looked at powerboards - we made the slightly alarming discovery on Thursday that our tv/video/dvd/sound system draws 45W just on standby, so just leaving it like that accounts for up to 10% of our energy bill. Ouch! We're not going to climb in amongst the cables to turn it off at the wall each time we leave, but we also desicovered there's something called a green energy saving powerboard  that detects when the appliance plugged into the master switch is turned off, and automatically turns off the other appliances plugged into the slave sockets, which could be really useful. But we didn't buy one today, because it wasn't entirely clear from the packaging whether "turns off" always means "really truly off", or whether it sometimes means "puts on standby". And since a six-socket one costs nearly $60, we decided to go away and do a bit of research before we buy one. But I've been having a look at the specs on the web tonight, and it looks like it might do the job.

After that we went to catch up with some friends, a number of whom had been on a longish bike ride this morning, and were feeling a bit stiff, so we ended up with 12 of us in an 8-person spa (we hadn't been on the bike ride, but the spa was too good to pass up!) I could have stayed there all afternoon, but we had plans to meet other friends to see Terminator Salvation at 4.30, so we got dried and dressed and drove off to Chadstone

Terminator was a very silly movie, and I did get impatient with the scenes that served no plot purpose whatsoever, and were solely there for the videogame tie-in. It's a pet peeve of mine, and it's showing up in more and more movies (the idiotic blue and red monsters on the ice planet in Star Trek also made me cross) I was a bit disappointed it didn't go further into the exploration of what is the difference between a self-aware machine and a human. But possibly that was expecting a bit much from an action flick! Overall verdict: not my kind of movie, but there were some very pretty CGI effects and it was a not unpleasant way to pass the time. We finished the evening with a group dinner at Safi in Brighton - good food and plenty of it. It took a long time for the food to arrive, but there were nine of us and the conversation was flowing nicely, so I didn't really notice. 

It is nice to be home again after a busy Saturday and know that I still have two more days before I have to go back to work. :-)

Big party last night, with lots of dancers, most of whom I hadn't seen since before we went away. It was an excellent party, although not as raucous as last year (and no swimming, since the pool heater wasn't working properly). I had my hair cut and recoloured yesterday, and had a very entertaining time watching people see me without seeing me (as they mentally processed the image as a blonde they didn't know) and then, sooner or later, realise they did in fact know me. It was a late night - we got home about 3 in the morning - but I slept in till 11, so I'm feeling okay. Which is just as well, since it's the DeChorum concert this afternoon:

Passion Fire and Fury
Melbourne’s newest choral ensemble, DeChorum, is pleased to present a concert of madrigals old and new, featuring works by Monteverdi, Janequin, Palestrina and Lauridsen.

Conducted by Trevor Jones

WHEN: 3pm | Sunday 31st May | 2009
WHERE: Memorial Hall | Melbourne High School | Forrest Hill | South Yarra
TICKETS: $25 adult | $18 concession
ENQUIRIES: 0407 830 820 | info@dechorum.org

MrM and I went to see A Little Night Music at the State Theatre tonight. It was the first time I'd seen a live preformance of Sondheim - I know the music to Assassins and Company and Into the Woods reasonably well, but I've never seen any of them live. 

It was a great show, with some fantastic lines and situations, and farcical while not being cringe-worthy: I  was never afraid that the characters wouldn't be able to talk themselves out of trouble, and quite looked forward to seeing what they'd come up with, whereas I watch most farces thinking "this is just going to be embarrassing for everybody" and wishing they would end. 

We booked very late, so had tickets in the second front row, just below stage level, which wasn't the best angle for listening, but was great for seeing all the little facial expressions and details that aren't visible from further back - particularly for those of us, like me, whose eyesight is far from perfect even with glasses!

The performances were good; the women perhaps more than the men, although Ben Lewis as the Count was delightfully appallingly pompous. I enjoyed Kate Hoolihan as Petra, especially her physical comedy (although the fast sections of her solo felt a bit frantic) and Katrina Retallick as the Countess with her beautifully dry delivery. Sigrid Thornton was good as Desiree, although having seen her so much on tv it's a bit difficult to "buy" her as a character - she doesn't have the knack that some actors have of inhabiting a persona and making themselves unrecognisable (Paul Bettany is a stand-out at it.) But tonight Nancye Hayes as Madame Arnfeldt stole the show.

MrM and I love our Prius - it's a great car to drive, as well as making us feel less guilty than if we were still driving a petrol-guzzling Commodore - but there are drawbacks.

And the big one is needing to be super careful around pedestrians when we're driving slowly, because they will just step out in front of us without looking, assuming (presumably) that because they can't hear an engine, there is no car. Pedestrian crossings are okay - I expect people to step out there; it's all the people milling out in all directions from a tram stop or train station that scare me. And clearly we're not the only ones to notice this issue, although the idea of replacing actual engine noise with speakers that play a recorded sound just seems silly.

We drove out to Werribee Gorge State Park (which is actually just outside Bacchus Marsh, and not particularly near Werribee) and did the Circuit Track today with some friends from dancing.

We actually set off up the wrong trail from the Quarry picnic area at the start and found ourselves slogging up a hill along a couple of sheep tracks before we found the path we were supposed to be on about a kilometre later. Oops. But once we were on the right path, we walked along the ridgeline for a while, enjoying some great views over the surrounding countryside. I must admit that, although I love Australia, I do have to work at enjoying the scenery - I find the green softness of the English and European landscapes we've seen recently so much easier on the eyes. Then we went down a very steep and rocky path and found ourselves in the gorge itself, although there wasn't much water to be seen. The path opened up after a while and we stopped for a lunch break and was laughed at for having included an icepack to keep the sandwiches cool. What can I say? My family takes picnics seriously!

After lunch we resumed our journey, and soon found ourselves walking quite close to the water. It wasn't flowing particularly, but it was nice to see the variety of flora and hear the birds. We had to have another stop when one member of our party realised he'd lost his thermos and had to go back for it, and then another person's left shoe fell apart (the sole parted company with the upper). I cannibalised a bandage from the first aid kit (aha!) and tied it around the middle of the shoe to hold it together, and had to do the same with the right shoe about 10 metres further on. We eventually got under way again, and soon found what would have been a much nicer picnic spot at Needles Beach (and if the day had been hotter, and the water a bit clearer, I might have been tempted to go for a swim!) There was a bit more scrambling after that, across and down a scree slope, and then we had to manouevre our way around the base of the cliff, which was made easier by the thick wire rope that had been strung along the cliff face (it would have been doable without it, but it provided some extra security).

We eventually reached Meikles Point picnic area and carpark, but had to slog up a hill back to the Quarry. Note to self - next time, park at the lower carpark and do the climb first! We had to take a couple of breaks along the way - it was a rather steep hill - but eventually we made it back to where we'd parked our cars, and could take off our backpacks with a sigh. We finished the day with coffee at Frango's in Caroline Springs on the way home.

We're home!!!

It's very good to be back in our own house and see our little cat again. Thank you so much to mawaridi  for looking after both while we were away.

We're in Dubai airport, with three hours to wait until our flight leaves for Melbourne, but at least they have free wifi, and also laptop charging stations, which is very civilised of them.

It's been a strange day - walking round the Roman Forum this morning, then off to the airport (negotiating Rome airport was a bit of a saga, and despite arriving more than 2 hours prior to our flight time, we didn't make it to the departure gate until after boarding had started, which was a little nerve-wracking), then flying into the night. The time zones are messing with my brain - it's 10pm in Italy, midnight here, and 6am in Australia.

Not quite such a busy day today.

We started witha late breakfast on the hotel rooftop terrace, overlooking the Colosseum . Then we went and walked around it for a couple of hours (staying under cover as much as we could, because the sun was baking.) We had thought of doing the forum in the afternoon, but decided it was too hot, so went back to the hotel, wrote postcards, and slept. After an unsuccessful hunt to buy stamps, we wandered around the outside of the Forum (it was after 6.15, so closed for the night), then caught the metro to the Spanish steps, took some photos there, then walked up to Via Veneto of La Dolce Vita fame and had dinner in Cafe Veneto (which was delicious - truffle pasta) and came home again via Giolltti, which makes truly excellent icecream. I had blueberry, amarena and marron glace, MrM had chocolate, lemon (which will surprise noone), and fruits of the forest. 

We fly home tomorrow. I'm sad at the thought of our holiday being over, but I am looking forward to being home and seeing my cat and sleeping in our own bed, and knowing how the shower works, and catching up with friends. Possibly not in that order. 
 

A full day of sightseeing today:

Basilica di San Pietro - climbed 551 stairs (we could skipped the first 230 by taking the elevator, but we are made of sterner stuff than that!). Almost no graffitti this time, unlike Florence, although I suspect that was mostly due to the large signs saying "You are under video surveillance" with cameras at every turn. Fantastic views over the Piazza and the rest of the Vatican from the top, although we had to share them with rather a lot of other tourists.

Castell Sant'Angelo
Bakingly hot, and we were approached by a pair of young men in gladiator costumes who posed for photos with us and then wanted E10 each (Au$40) for the privilege, somewhat to my surprise. MrM laughed at me, but I didn't really expect them to want money - I thought they might have been a public service. Naive of me, I suppose. Rome isn't exactly short of tourists! As it happened, we'd both run out of money, so scraped together E7 and gave them that. They were disappointed, but I felt there was a measure of poetic justice since they hadn't specified in advance that they expected payment...   

Piazza Navona
Full of fountains and tourists and portrait drawers. We got money from an ATM and had a drink and slice of cake each in a cafe overlooking the Piazza, which was rather expensive but is one of those Roman things one just has to do. 

Pantheon
I was tired and cross and my feet hurt by this time, so didn't go inside. Turned out MrM had been mixing it up with the Parthenon which is why he'd been so keen to see it. *giggle*

Fontana di Trevi
Another of the Roman things one just has to see. It was crazily over the top and bigger than I remembered. We took a couple of photos, waiting our turn on the fountain's edge between the other tourists.

And of course the Colosseum, which is one block from our hotel, and which I can see from our bathroom window. The view from the bedroom is of the Domus Aurea, which used to be part of Nero's palace and is a hillside garden where we went walking yesterday. This is a great hotel.