30.08.22 - Quem vê cara não vê coração

Hallooo,

Hope all is well and that you're having fun on the Trans-Europe Express. 

We're getting the hang of city life once again, including trips to the office and, er, the countryside to check on the cats while Adny and Ridaut went on a business/road trip down south. We also went to the Festa da Achiropita, a traditional month-long festival in which an entire Italian neighbourhood comes together to bake biblical quantities of fogazza and pasta to feed the masses and raise money for good causes.

In other news I've made another mixtape, and my phrase of the day translates as "he who sees the face doesn't see the heart", which is a spin on "don't judge a book by its cover", "beauty is only skin-deep", etc. And that'll do for the noo!

Speak soon,

Shrimp Fred Rice

23.08.22 - Do Oiapoque ao Chuí

Halloooo,

Hope all well, and good to talk yesterday in between loch-walking and ancient Chinese self-care sessions. 

As I mentioned we're back to work here, and determined to officially put the renovation work to bed this week. We spent most of the weekend installing a walk-in closet then unpacking the last few cardboard boxes, and the builders are coming back to touch up the odd bit of paintwork etc. We're hoping to wrap it all up today, although given their previous form this could take weeks. 

I also went properly viral on Instagram, which was a weird experience - I posted a completely innocuous video positing that Brazilians would struggle to eat pizza abroad, since they're used to waiters serving it to them one slice at a time, and it seems to have become a lightning rod for the absolute worst people in the world who a) don't understand it's a joke and b) have turned me into the poster-child for spoilt, entitled Generation Z (at 35!). Anyway I'm now about 7000 followers better off, and wondering what other basic activities I can pretend not to grasp.

Elsewhere I've made a new compilation, and my phrase of the day is shorthand for "the whole of Brazil", from its northernmost point (Oiapoque river) to the southernmost (Barra do Chuí). Although apparently it's now out of date, as SCIENCE has since proven that Mount Caburaí is further north.

Speak soon,

One Nation Under Frod

16.08.22 - Matar aula

Hallooooo,

Hope all well over there, and lovely to see you! We're back in São Paulo and back to work here, but to sum up the rest of our Eurotrip for the sake of completism and posterity:

• Annecy: got absolutely fleeced to drive through a trans-Alpine tunnel  and had to park in a different town because Annecy was completely full, but had a lovely time wandering round the old town once we got settled in, eating tartiflette and renting a pedalo to go out on to the lake. 

• Gruyeres: tiny town perched on a mountain, full of medieval barns and castles (and an HR Giger museum, bafflingly) - we basically only went there to eat fondue and it did not disappoint, although it turned out our venue of choice had burnt down shortly before we arrived. Nice drive over the Jaunpass afterwards as well.

• Interlaken & Grindelwald: had a fantastic view of the Brienzersee from our hotel balcony, so spent most of our time there since we were priced out of doing just about anything else. After Waze took us on a terrifying detour up a narrow mountain path, we eventually found the right cable car in Grindelwald, and had a death-defying toboggan ride back down, before heading back to Interlaken for a McRaclette, and onwards.

• 
  Zurich: our tour of the Lindt chocolate factory was the clear highlight, with all the truffles we could eat and stow away in our bag. The rest of our stay was a bit of a let down since Alex had skipped town a few days before, the city was dead and we were getting a bit sick of Switzerland by this point anyway.

• Colmar: the Venice of Alsace, full of picturesque cottages and creme fraiche. Supposedly the inspiration for the village in Beauty & the Beast. Would recommend! 

• Paris: drove all day, got unbelievably lost trying to return the hire car at Orly airport, eventually hopped on a tram into town for huge portions of Vietnamese food with Jean Luc and Nic, followed by a late-night drive to the Eiffel Tower, then back to the airport Ibis for an early night, and a full day's travel back home. 

Think that about covers it - had a lovely time but glad to be back, if only to be able to remove a troublesome wisdom tooth later today. I've got two new compilations lined up and my phrase of the day, "matar aula", is the Brazilian version of skipping class (literally "killing class"), in keeping with the whole holiday theme.

Speak soon!

Fred-a Kahlo