Round The World With A Fridge

This video got mixed reactions. There won't be any more videos in this format because YouDecide is about to begin and the videos will be the challenges I do...

With a heavy heart I've left my friends in Italy behind, and arrived in Moscow. Unfortunately I didn't feel so good yesterday and spent the day in bed taking cold+flu capsules. Feeling better today so I headed into down-town Moscow to see the Kremlin and Red Square (wow!!)

While I was in bed yesterday I did a bit of video editing - the Italy video will be online shortly. I'm writing this for a net cafe so no video or photos today - sorry.

The first ever [unofficial] YouDecide was held to decide my next destination. Although Iran was popular (thanks you f**kers!), Moscow won (4 votes - Angus, Leo, Mike and Caleb).

The challenge goes like so -

1. Go to Moscow
2. Goto The Hungry Duck nightclub ("holy crap!!")
   
3. Visit St Petersberg
4. Check out the space center just outside Moscow
   
5. Go to Murmansk (on the 36 hour train if possible)
6. Bark like a seal
7. Swim in the freezing cold ice water

Looks like I'll probably head up there on Friday... I'm flying from Milan to Moscow on Sunday.

What a mental week it's been. Not only have I been to the Colloseum in Rome, propped up the Leaning Tower of Pisa with the Fridge, but I've been hunting the Stresa Strega - also known as the Stresa Witch - in the mountains above the lakeside village of Stresa near the Swiss/Italian border. Did I find the witch? Well, lets just say I'm editing up a video much scarier than the Edinburgh one! Stay tuned...



For those of you who enjoy travelling, Rome was very romantic and the ancient architecture and scenery along the banks of the River Tiber is beautiful. I can't recommend a trip to Rome enough. Pisa, on the other hand, was the opposite. It's nothing like I imagined - it's full of drunk old men, and skanky looking huts run by illegal immigrants. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is pretty impressive, but apart from that, there's not a lot going on. I spent 1 day and 1 night there and I was bored. However, the trip from Pisa to Milan was an unexpected treat - the train travels along the West Coast of Italy for a 3 hours, about 50 yards from the sea most of the time, and the views out of the train window kept me gawping for at least 2 hours.

Stresa sits on the edge of Lake Maggiore, just below some of the highest mountains in the region. It's a whole world away from busy Milan with mostly rich, elderly American tourists milling about the place. It reminded me of a town in Northern Canada with it's deserted high street, and colourful locals. A 15 minute ferry ride on the lake takes you to any of the 3 Borromean Islands, which are all very pretty. Alternatively, a 20-30 minute ride on the cable car (not for the faint of heart!!) takes you up to Mottarone in the mountains, giving you an opportunity to take some breathtaking photos of the mountains and the lake.



I've come back to Milan for a few days to do some travel research (and work for Leo) before I head off to China (Chengdu to be precise) on Thursday to complete Christines challenge (see the video below) - whoops, looks like that'll come later. Next destination unknown, will know tomorrow. Right now I'm staying with another person I met through couchsurfing.com - Silvia - who's been absolutely incredible...not to mention her family too who cooked me a traditional Italian Sunday lunch yesterday. Made a change from pizza (I was going for a record - 5 nights straight eating pizza for dinner!!)

Giacomo is going to install FridgeCam - a wireless spycam - which will see through the "eyes" of the fridge. Can't wait to test it out tomorrow!



And lastly, a wee video for you...

I've been in Milan for a couple of days now, wandering around with the fridge, taking in the amazing Sforzesco Castle and the Duomo Cathedral [check out the 360 view on the website] (which is still impressive even though the front has a massive array of scaffolding attached to the front). Something I'd highly recommend to any visitor is the photography exhibition in the castle showing Milan circa 1800, really gives you a feeling of life in Italy back then ... sometimes I think it hasn't changed that much!

I decided to save some money and try couchsurfing.com - basically you search for an area you want to stay in, and you get a list of people in the area who are willing to accomodate you on their couch (or spare bed if they have one) for a night or two. You might be thinking, "you're not serious? you're bound to get robbed or mugged", and I wouldn't blame you - I was thinking the same thing too, but hey, it's worth a shot right.

Having pimped me and the fridge on couchsurfing.com, last night I stayed on Genevieve's couch - right across the road from the hostel I was staying in - quite a coincidence. She'd been having a really hard day with her poorly child and broken toilet (read: nightmare Italian plumbing/plumbers) and was kind enough to put all that to one side and play host for an evening. I got to see some of Genevieves wonderful watercolour art, and learnt a little about the inspiration behind it. Talking to an artist who really knows their stuff is an eye-opener - I'm already thinking of new ways to make my designs better. It's such a shame that my industry we don't meet more traditional artists.

As I write this I'm waiting on Giacomo (who used to work with me back in the Clear Channel days) coming to pick me up so we can go for authentic Italian birthday pizza and a few shots of Creme of Lemoncella! I'm missing some of you folks back home, you know we'd normally be out somewhere for a royal piss-up tonight.

Tomorrow I'm taking the train down to Rome for a couple of days. I'm staying in a nice hotel there (part of my birthday treat), and taking the fridge to see the Colosseum. After that, I'm heading to Venice for a couple of days, and yep, you guessed it - taking the fridge out in a gondola! And beyond that? Well, I'm either staying on the shore of a lake in a place I can't quite remember right now, or with another couchsurfing.com person called Silvia. But fingers crossed, YouDecide will be live by then, so you'll decide what I do...

I'm 29 today :)

It'd really make my day if you'd donate some cash to the Round The World With A Fridge fund so I don't get stranded somewhere...