It's official: I am Superman

I have had this link to MyHeritage sitting in my eail account for more time than I care to imagine. Well, in the lead up to my Oz trip, I am trying to knock things off my to do list. Including testing the MyHeritage face recognition online application.

This application requests that you upload a photo and then matches it against its database of celebrities. Nifty.

So who do I most look like, according to the cold and calculating eye of MyHeritage's AI?

1) Tom Welling. I did not initially recognise the name but it turns out that he stars in Smallville, the TV show that centres on a young Clark Kent (A.K.A Superman, The Man of Steel, Son of Jorel)

2) Dean Cain. Funny, this one. I have a sister and a niece that have always subscribed to this theory. Not me - there is no way that I bear a resemblance to Deano, star of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Well, okay, if MyHeritage says so ...

3) Nelson Mandela. Sure, this is a stretch. He is black. I am white. OK, white-ish. He is a champion of the people and liberator of the oppressed. I am a CPA. He may not be Superman, but he might be seen as a super man. I'll take it.

4) Fernando Redondo. No idea. According to Wikipedia, the F-Man is " ... a former Argentine professional football player. He was a defensive midfielder of outstanding skill and culture ...". My god! He is SO just like me. Except for the soccer, the skill and the culture he could be my physical AND mental twin!

And of the rest? Well, if beauty is in the eye of the beholder then so is facial recognition. Which, of course, sums up the MyHeritage facial recognition application rather nicely - flawed. Just like the rest of us.

Except me, of course. As it turns out, I am Superman.

It cost more than a p.

But it was well worth it. To hang out with KW and her new beau for the weekend in stunning Lucignano and Milan ... I would have spent 10's of 1,000's of pennies!

I arrived at my hotel in Florence at around midnight on Thursday evening and not being one to waste any time I dumped my bag and headed straight out the door to explore. The first sight that hit me was the Duomo right outside my door, lit up splendidly and bearing down on me in all of it's imposing, breathtaking glory.

Florence at midnight was beautiful, but not really the place for a lone female tourist to be lurking around in so I did a quick lap and took myself back to my hotel to get some sleep.

The following day was spent sightseeing, including the open top bus tour which took me around to all of the must-see sights and gave me an idea of the places I wanted to stop at for longer (thanks Paul for that tid-bit. Yes you were right. You are always right). I spent a couple of hours exploring the Uffizi and not enough hours meandering around the many cobbled laneways of Florence. But ... as far as train timetables go, my not enough hours meandering was unfortunately still too many hours as I missed the train that I was meant to catch to meet KW. Oops.

I eventually caught up with KW and her new beau (herein called Michael) at the train station in Arezzo and they took me back to Norm and Jane's villa (KW's Dad and his partner in crime and Italian adventures) where we spent a fantastic evening devouring delicious italian food and wine (thanks Jane!). Their other dinner guest was a charming worldly lady by the name of Claire who was a model in the 60's and who has lived the most amazing life. Claire entertained us with her fantastic stories of being a Vogue covergirl in the 60's!

Before leaving there for our four hour train trip up to Milan the next day we posed for our obligatory photos with the boxing kangaroo outside N&J's villa ... see below;

Next two days was Milan. And, Milan is stunning. We shopped, walked, danced with (or should I say, tried to palm off) sleazy Italian men in a Milanese nightclub (poor Michael had his hands full with us two!), drank champagne, ate really yummy food and took in the sights. The Duomo in Milan is stunning. It's one of the largest churches in the world with it's gothic facade and skyscraping spires. It was definitely one of my favourite Milanese sights.

But alas, Monday morning came around far too quickly and before I even had a chance to say arrivederci i miei amici I was on my way to the airport.

A weekend just wasn't enough. Lucky KW and Michael had another two days there before spending 5 nights in Mauritius. Dream!

Two lovely ladies from across the pond

A couple of Sundays ago my dear old friend G-Roov (old because we've been friends for over 10 years ... not because he's old!) invited us out to The Alma, a pub in Wandsworth Town to hang out with his dear old friends Angie and Laura from New York. His golfing buddy Mark and his girlfriend Aina joined us also. We started out at around 3pm (was meant to be much earlier but that's another story about unreliable cabbies) and ate and drank and chatted and debated (rather loudly at times too) until around 9:30pm. That is my kind of Sunday afternoon!

Angie and Laura were staying at G-Roov's house for the weekend (I know ... two gorgeous girls all to himself, all weekend, I don't know how he does it - it's the G-Roov charm) and he took them on a fabulous whirlwind tour of all things London which included London Eye, Soho House (what's a weekend with G-Roov without a visit to Soho House), lots of beer, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London etc etc etc.

From the photos they've sent us, they seemed to have a fantastic time. And, from the photos attached here you can see that Paul got up to his usual cheek squeezing antics (with Laura).

It's our turn next to go and visit them in New York and tag along with them to a Yankees game. And if Laura's biggest crush (Derek Jeter) is any indication of the talent in the Yankees ... I'm so there!

No way is it going to be as comfortable as it looks

I got this photo from an airline's web site. As a (now) experienced long haul traveler, I can say that the 22 odd hour flight and the 11 hours time difference makes the Travel from the UK to Oz, well, just a tad trying.

Sure, in flight entertainment has made things a lot better. I mean, I wouldn't read more than two books a year. In the old days, making the long haul and back would mean that I would need to lug around at least five of them. And all that reading ... messed with my equilibrium ...

So why do I do it? Because I need to refresh the batteries. I need to get my fix of all those things I love about Australia. I need to catch up with friends and - as I am getting on in my years - their new children.

And with that in mind, I will be spending Easter back in Australia. I have just booked in my flights and look forward to it immensely. Now where are my noise canceling headphones ...