Twilight, Travel, and Treats

Here are a couple more colour palettes...

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This was my second TwiTour or as I like to call it TwiCon. My first was in Vancouver last year where I had brunch with Peter Facinelli (see post here).

My favourite Breaking Dawn photos from the convention. I'm finding a way to make these my iPad wallpapers :)




1. You don't have to sleep in the street for days to see Robert or Kristen up close.

They announced a few weeks before the convention that Robert and Kristen (oh and Taylor too) were going to be in Los Angeles. HonoluluGirl and I had said if there was any way we could pay to have good seats to see the Twi-fecta rather than sleeping on the street for 3 days (like our dedicated friends do for Comic-Con) that we would totally do it. Suzie - I missed you! You must come out next time :)

2. I need a better zoom lens for next year (yes I'm going next year!)

Instead of shelling out 300 bucks for seats in the back for the whole weekend I banked on buying the Saturday reserved seats for 60 bucks. Managed to catch it pretty early after it was released. For reference I got seat D28.

My view from seat D28

As zoomed as I could get without worsening the blur.

I didn't get great photos though. Why? I love my Canon S90 and decided to take it and gave Mr. TC the SLR for his photo tour. It still wasn't good enough. However, I did sneak some video footage for myself - teehee! I know you can see the whole panel online right now but it's much better when you took it yourself!

Twired Jen has MUCH nicer photos and was sitting just a few feet behind me.

Check her blog and others who had nicer seats (and nicer cameras) for all the great pictures.

3. Hyatt Regency, although pretty, was lacking some amenities for a picky girl.


The Hyatt Regency Century City where the convention was held was nice. Great convention rate of $189 down from $299 rack rate. Easy check-in and even better with a Hyatt Gold Passport that Mr. TC has from years of business travel. Nice good Beverly Hills feel. Downsides if you're a picky princess like myself? Missing bathrobes, slippers, hairdryer in room, and a showercap.

4. There are crazy fans out there willing to pay $2000 for an autographed 8X10 of Rob and Kristen.

The auction started after noon. Most notable was a bedroom BD photo autographed by Rob and Kristen went for $2000! And I thought I was crazy.

4. I could have flown in and out of LA on the same day and still seen the Cullens and Twi-fecta.

The schedule packed most of the good stuff into a few hours. After the auction at noon there was some secret footage and behind the scenes interviews. Not great but a nice taster.
The Cullens and Twi-fecta with Director were on after them and everything was finished by 5:30pm.

5. I am now a real fan of Jackson Rathbone. Oh, and I don't hate Melissa Rosenberg.


Now while I'm watching the Twilight movies I often bitch about some of the poor writing, etc. But to be frank I still think she has done a good job and the feminist in me is just happy to see more women in important positions. It was actually good to hear her perspective and also a bit more about her writing process.

About Jackson, that man is such a character. It's such a 180 to see him as Jasper now because he's quirky, funny, sweet, and humble.


6. All Edward merchandise is sold out on the Friday already.

I was on a mission to come home with a Breaking Dawn fleece blanket. Imagine my dismay when I showed up Saturday am and all the Edward merchandise was gone. Apparently the diehard Cullen Crest gold passport people are mostly Edward fans (of course I wasn't surprised, just disappointed).

Next best thing?

Head over to the nearest Hot Topic store. We don't have these in Canada so I was ecstatic there was one 5 minutes from the hotel. And of course they had a ton of Edward merchandise with no lines.

Yes I picked up one of these too.

My hubby was trying to convince me this pillowcase is too precious to use. I'm not falling for it.

7. The vendor room was worth it for the movie props.

I'm not sure how many of these are real. Frankly I don't care but happy to just delude myself.

Note the wedding invite is there too.

The only interesting display for the vendors was the Barbie Collectors. They had the whole display on sale. I wanted to buy the Jane doll but alas it wasn't for sale. They were just there to announce that in Feb 2012 there will be Bella & Edward Wedding Barbie dolls.

They gave out Wisteria seeds as well - same as the Breaking Dawn wedding arch flowers. But alas no seeds can cross through customs so I had to leave them behind :(

By the way I am oddly a huge fan of projected light displays. The convention entrance area was pretty to say the least. I wanted to take one of these things home.




9. You can tell a lot about someone by their shoes.

Of course this is an old adage but I definitely think it holds true in this case.

Rob - with his short socks, totally beaten up shoes. Awkward, would have been the shy kid at school. Adorkable.

Kristen - stylish yet comfortable. Cares but doesn't care about what you think, know what I mean?

Ashley - trendy, daring to the point of perilous. Appearance is important.

Elizabeth - stylish, sexy with confidence.

Didn't realize how deep my shoe obsession runs until just now...

10. For some reason watching Kristen Stewart put her hair in a ponytail in mesmerizing.

I have no idea why I was so intrigued by this mundane action. Maybe it's because I've been waiting for years to see her in person. Or just that I've always liked her high ponytail looks. Regardless I was captivated. So weird!

You can see the entire Rob/Kristen/Taylor panel (including the ponytailing) in its entirety here.

It was nice to hug some of my Twihard friends from out of town. I'm glad we had a chance to see each other even though it was brief.

Well, I survived my first Rob and Kristen live viewing. I've realized that unless I get a new lens for next year I'll be spending lots of time taking pictures of the screen again :)


Next I'll do a small LA Shopping and Food Bites post...

So I was surfing today looking for UHQ pics of KStew (btw let me know if you have a good source). I was at the AllKristenStewart blog and came across this Robsten video. I'm sure all you Robsten freaks have seen this many times (yes that's you Lisa and Jen - Happy Birthday sweetie). But you know I've been in a mild bit of denial about them for a long time. I just didn't want to believe it because I didn't want to see it fall apart before Breaking Dawn finished.

My fav pic - in colour this time!

Now I've become a bigger Robsten fan than a Bella/Edward fan. What the hell is wrong with me? Maybe because they're so frickin cute together.

Anyways here's the video that I had to rewatch multiple times yesterday and I teared up every time. It doesn't help that I have loved this song since the 90's and may have a small thing for Richard Marx.



And yes I have this video playing in the background while I'm writing this post!

Off to grab tissues...

So far on the Europe trip we`d travelled to

London
Venice
Bologna Part 1 (Parmigiano Reggiano) and 2 (Balsamic Vinegar and Prosciutto)
Florence

See Montepulciano is the most southern point on our trip



The view of Montepulciano on the road in

 Twilight stuff

Yes, this section comes first because that's why we're all here :)

Incidentally the first time I ever contacted another Twihard was when I saw Dangrdafne's comment on a Twitarded post. She mentioned she'd done the Montepulciano New Moon thing. She shared her photos with me and we've been friends ever since. Thanks to DD for all the tips!

Before we start I wanted to show you the map from the Montepulciano official tourism office or here. 


Official Twilight Montepulciano map - click to enlarge

 They have a New Moon tour but I did not partake and thought my husband would be too bored. So we decided to hunt down all the sites ourselves.

We tried to make it for noon but I didn`t get to the Piazza Grande square until 12:10 :(

Porta al Prato Where they enter in Alice's Porsche

Piazza delle Erbe The Porsche comes through this route

Piazza Grande Yes it`s true there is no fountain here in real life

 Mr. TC left me alone in the square to have a moment to myself. He couldn't be around when I was in public taking photos with my dolls.

I brought mini E and B all the way from Vancouver just for this moment.

I know he's supposed to be shirtless but this is pretty close.

Portone del Palazzo Comunale I feel tiny in this doorway - squeals that Rob stood here

For a Twihard this gave me the ultimate thrill. I was buzzing with energy sure that I'd be getting weird looks. But no one seemed to care - I guess they've seen much crazier than this :)

Yeah to be in the same place as the New Moon filming group

On to other filming locations

We went down to the Red Cellar where they filmed the winding stairs to the Volturi. Holy sh*t that place was freaky. I didn't even know if we were in the right place because there were no people around. Very spooky and Mr. TC couldn't believe I was willing to go down there.
Twilight makes us do strange things.

Seriously couldn't get out of there fast enough.

More pretty pics along the Porsche path

Vicolo della Concordia Where Bella stops to search for Edward more squeals since I love Kristen Stewart

Mr. TC couldn't help taking a pic of grate on the ground with Twilight graffiti

Lastly I really wanted to get the aerial shot of Montepulciano that is from New Moon. I found out from the director commentary on the New Moon DVD that you'd need to go out from Montepulciano a slight way. Managed to find it on the map but my husband and I could not figure out how to get to that point. Sigh that I'll settle for watching the DVD again.

Shopping

Things I bought in Montepulciano were all Twilight related.

These were purchased from the official tourism office. It's very small and in the grand square.







Next to the famous Edward/Bella doorway there is a small cigar shop. They've got T shirts, mugs, and some really nice New Moon cushions. I just couldn't justify carrying an Edward pillow on the plane home.




One things to remember is that shops in Italy close in the afternoon for a break. Luckily smart business people know that tourists shop all day. There was a very nice gift shop along the Porsche route that was open with lots of New Moon stuff. Reminded me a lot of my favourite stores at home. They had posters, handmade soap, and 4X6 shots of the cast for sale. Can't remember the name of this store but the owner was very nice. Apparently there are tons of fans from Japan that stop by.






Food

Lastly we did have to eat before we left. Food was okay but the wine, from Montepulciano, was exceptional. A nice dry red.

Pici pasta - apparently Rob is rumoured to like these

Couldn't resist watching New Moon on my iPhone while in Montepulciano Look - matching street!

By the way, if we had stayed in Montepulciano this is the place I'd choose.

La Locanda di San Francesco

This is a luxury B&B and I really wanted to stay here but it was just too out of the way. It's above a restaurant/pub but the washrooms look very modern and the views are amazing.

This is the view in the morning from this place - beautiful!

Gotta love the view

All right, we're down to the end soon. Just Tuscany Part 3 - Volterra and Sienna left.