"england's oldest pub"

ciao ciao a tutti!

its been probably one of the most varied week and a half of the trip so far. after leaving iceland with my brother i went to manchester, england (near manchester) to hang out with pauline. unfortunately it was only five days but we did fill the short time nicely. after checking out manchester we went to the "lake district" which is an area north of manchester.

we had a good time there with long hikes around farms, hills, mountains, and lakes. it felt a lot like being back in new zealand; there is a really good nature feel there. the strange part was seeing every single person, from babies to old people, wearing only outdoor clothing (north face, columbia, 66° north, and every other brand). wearing jeans makes you stand out there. waterproof hiking pants are all that can be seen.

manchester is high on my list of possible places to move to. the only bad point is that it isn't on the beach--and, that they drive on the other side of the road. but both of this are alright by me (for a short period of time). but, we'll see. i change my mind a lot about these things.

after leaving pauline, i went to see dani in nottingham to hang out for a day and to return his jacket. it was a good time checking out the place where robin hood came from. i had to leave so quickly that we couldn't do much, but we did stop by "england's oldest pub" -- at least thats what they say. i guess its a few hundred years old and the inside was very cave like.

the next day i was in rome for a night before going to florence for ashley's birthday. ashley is a friend from university that is studying art here for a year. her friends are rad and we all had a giant dinner at il latini (my favorite restaurant) and then saw Finding Neverland in a really cool italian theater.

for the weekend i went to an organic farm conference near siena. it was mostly just spending time with other wwoofers while all the italians talked and voted on official things. the location was really cool and i'll be going back there to farm for a week. they have horses and i would really like to spend a lot of my free time with them so i can be more comfortable around them.

after that i think i will visit a wwoofer i met at the convention who lives in balogna, and then maybe find a farm somewhere near there. i think after my month of italia i may go to slovenia and croatia. i still have to look to find the cheapest way to get there, but they are pretty close to italy so it should be easy.

this month my entries may be a bit more spread out, but i'll fill you in whenever i get a chance.

thanks to pauline, dani, and ashley for letting me stay at their places. it means a lot to me.

have a good day
ciao ciao
your friend

chad