From the Daily Dish:
In terms of heart-warming Hollywood moments, it doesn’t get much better than this. According to the UK Sun, the three actors who took over Heath Ledger’s half-finished role in the upcoming fantasy epic The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus have decided to donate their salaries to a cause close to Heath’s heart — his two-year-old daughter Matilda.
With rumours swirling that Heath’s dad Kim may be mismanaging his son’s fortune (unfortunately Heath never updated his will to reflect his young daughter), Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell (all dads themselves) wanted to make sure their late pal’s daughter is well taken care of.
When told about this act of generosity, Imaginarium director Terry Gilliam could barely contain is emotion, saying, “That’s extraordinary! And wonderful…and when you’re part of that, you think, ‘Ah, this is maybe why I went into the movies in the beginning. I thought it would be full of wonderful people.’
Beautiful… just beautiful!
pants then he must be something special so we decided to investigate further.
London was our first stop and the perfect place for us to adjust to the pace traveling. We stayed with my cousin Emily in her beautiful house in Wandsworth. It was great to get to know her better, since the last time I saw her was about 8 years ago. Em does freelance graphic design work, her husband Robin is a fishmonger (who trains students from Jamie Oliver’s 15), and they have two boys Joey, 7, and Nicky, 5.
being wasted (Annie will probably tell you otherwise). Still, despite lack of sleep and the horrendous exchange rate) we managed to get a lot accomplished. We did a double decker bus tour, rode on the London Eye, saw Spamalot in the West End, watch Mamma Mia (the movie) in Leceister Square, visited Kensington Palace and Harrods, took the train to Windsor for dinner with another cousin and her family.
pans cooking paella. Within the first twenty bought a turquoise and white striped bag too. On the way home we stopped at Paul Smith, an uber-trendy boutique store in a converted house. It was way out of my price range, even without the conversion, but a ton of fun to browse. When we (and the little guys) were exhausted beyond exhausted, we headed home for some Thai food and Love Actually.
Station until about 12 AM the next day. A suicide on the tracks between Brussels and Antwerp added another stop (in Antwerp) and about a hundred hours of sleeping, reading and waiting in the train station. When we finally arrived at our hostel, we were two hours late for check-in. This being our very first hostel experience, we were nervous about what to expect. We just wanted to fall into bed and prepare for the days ahead.
silent, which was slightly unnerving. However, we soon fell into conversation and were given a proper Amsterdam welcome. And mix in women and coming to a consensus on half Asian/half white. It was just then we later, the guys explained that before we walked in they were debating their favourite ethnic entered, at which point Tom muttered that “a winning lottery ticket would be nice too.”
stopping at attractions like the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank Haus. Unfortunately that meant that we saw each queue from the comfort of our seats, and thus vetoed the idea of waiting in the insanely long lines of for any of them. But we found other ways to occupy our time.
. The mentality of people on vacation, especially the ones who visit Amsterdam, always equals a really good time. Although it can be both freeing and heartbreaking to know that these are people you will probably never see again (you know who you are). We celebrated on the steps of the Palace in Dam’s Square, frequented a coffee shop or two, explored the red light district, ate hamburgers from a vending machine and had an amazing time. We were heartbroken when we packed up to leave only three days later and we resolved to one day return.
book hotels instead of hostels so we didn’t meet many tourists. Then there was the fact that, as many people say, Paris is the city of lovers. Not necessarily meant for two sisters. Yes despite all of this, we managed to have a pretty amazing time.
day, taking us shopping in galleries and for coffee in charming Parisian cafes. We ate lunch along the Seine, browsed book vendors in St. Michel and ate pastries for breakfast every day. Some more a typical but no less memorable Paris moments include spending hours listening to these three Parisian black men play songs by Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, Bob Marley and James Blunt, and having a caricaturist call us cows (in French) when we refused to pay for a picture he insisted on sketching.
We saw some truly beautiful art, architecture, landscape and culture while in Paris. Everything was so grand and demanded your attention. I cannot imagine how much time it would take to digest everything the Louvre has to offer. The longest I have heard of someone staying is 12 hours (congrats Will!) and even then did not cover even close to everything. However, the most beautiful memory I have of Paris is this adorable guitar player we saw at dinner one night. We were indulging in a much needed steak (to replenish our protein) and people watching
on the patio of a restaurant when I spotted this really cute guy (and his friend) eating a baguette with Nutella from the jar. They were sitting on these adorable backless folding chairs so, figuring they were just budget savvy fellow travelers, I snapped a pic of them. (Oh yeah, I am a creeper like that!) Turns out that they (and their friend who joined them after the baguettes) were street musicians, who played the most delightful music (think Amelie Soundtrack) for the remainder of our meal. It was surreal, but nothing like what was to come…
ampshire, was traveling alone so we chatted until the train came and we took our seat/beds separate from each other.
On our first day in Rome we ambled around the city making stops at the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and the Spanish Steps. We bought a couple of bottles of wine on the way home and decided that we would go out that night. When we got back to the hostel we made some dinner (kitchens in hostel are a great money saver) and recruited people to join us for drinks. After several bottles of wine we headed out to a pub. We sat on the patio and people watched for a while before last call, and our hostel’s curfew, approached. But by then, we were sufficiently sloshed that it this didn’t really matter to us. So, we approached the bouncer for 
the address of an after hours club and took a cab over. The venue turned out to be a beautiful, rooftop patio, gay club and it was insane. Annie was kissed by a big balding drunk man, Bula got hit on by a toothless lesbian and I met a beautiful (straight) half-Alaskan half-Danish boy. We partied there until closing, when we were forced to make our way back to the hostel. This presented a dilemma, as the door to the hostel would not be re-opened until 7 am, and it was then only 6, but our exhausted minds decided that it would be safe to pass the time sleeping in the street. Luckily some men happened to be taking out their garbage and saved us from what would’ve certainly ended horribly. 
I saw some breathtakingly beautiful things in Rome; things that have ruined my experience of living in Toronto. We visited the Villa Borghese, the Coliseum, the Vatican Museum (and the Sistine Chapel), St. Peter’s Basilica. Everything was so intricate and decadent; it was a bit overwhelming. I came out with at least 30 pictures of ceilings in Rome because some of the art, carvings and patterns that I saw were completely unbelievable. We spent our last night eating gelato on the step of a fountain across from the Pantheon, listening to jazz musicians and soaking up every moment. It was the perfect ending to a perfect trip.
cooking with utensils that look more like our own than the latest line-up from Williams Sonoma. The ladies were full of interesting facts, charming stories, and a passion for food that is a refreshing change from the camera ready, celebri-chefs of today.
