Well my trip is almost over! Seems like only last week I was boarding a plane to London and now I'm getting ready to board one to come back.
The trip has been simply outstanding and I've been to 16 different countries, and stayed in 40 different cities. To sum up....I started in London, then went to Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Rome, Seville, Granada, San Sebastian (via Madrid, but that doesn't really count), Bordeaux, Marsielle, Nice (and, while I was there, Monaco, Cannes, VilleFranche). Then onwards to Milan, Venice, Florence, Bologna, Bern, Geneva, Interlaken, Basel, Munich, Salzberg, Vienna, Nuremberg, Berlin, Budapest, Frankfurt, Brussells, Bruges (and Ypres), Amsterdam then Hamburg (for a night each on my way to Copenhagen - I didn't fancy a 16 hour train ride all in one go...), then Varberg (or rather, just south of Varberg), Stockholm, Belfast, Dublin, Lisbon, Porto, Paris, London, Bath and I'm currently in Oxford.
Phew!
As a "last post", I thought it would be fun to share some observations I've made about my time in Europe in list form. These lists are in no particular order. Enjoy:
My Favourite Places in Europe:
1. Paris. What's not to love?
2. Berlin. Great history, and a really fun city to boot. Plus, because we won, you walk around feeling a bit superior...gotta love this place.
3. Budapest. Had a great time there. A very beautiful place that was cheap and a bit dodgy at night. Strangely that added to the experience.
4. San Sebastian. Terrific food, great beaches. When the weather is good this place is amazing. A great place to relax and just enjoy life. Dave and Billie have picked one hell of a place to live.
5. Nice. I loved it last time and I loved it again. The only thing that wasn't so great is the pebble beaches, they look like fun but they have "broken ankle" written all over them...
My Least Favourite Places in Europe:
1. Bologna. Don't ever go there. EVER. Its supposed to be the foodie capital of Italy but lets be honest: the food in Italy is amazing EVERYWHERE. Its not THAT much better in Bologna. Plus you have an unispiring city, that is not tourist friendly and every building you see that looks mildly interesting is either closed to the public or in reality a very un-exciting place (like a library).
2. Bruges. I had high hopes for Bruges, I'd heard it was supposed to be like a fairytail. In many ways it is, but the place is ridiculously small, incredibly overpriced, filled with tourists, and a tad fake. Good for a day trip but no longer.
Best Nights Out I've Had in Europe:
1. An all you can drink canal cruise in Amsterdam with the Contiki Tour. Epic.
2. Paleo Music Festival in Nyon (just outside of Geneva). Mel and Guilia were great company - we were practically at the front in the concert and had a great time. Funny stories both getting there and afterwards (see my earlier post if you've forgotten what stories these are).
3. Delirium Bar in Brussells. This bar had over 2004 beers to choose from and in my company that night (from the hostel) I had, a French DJ (who was apparently a semi celebrity in France, even though I'd never heard of him), about 8 of his French friends, a well spoken but hilarious Englishman, and a dating coach. Chaos ensued and fun times were had by all.
4. Berlin with the Contiki Tour. A history lesson about the Cold War and the Berlin Wall, then a "Stazi, Cold War" themed pub-crawl across Berlin (where you had to de-cypher clues to find out where the next bar is) then a trip to the Matrix bar, a world famous club. Awesome....
5. Sziget in Budapest. Muse and Kasabian in the biggest open air festival in Europe. Biblical.
Things that Europe Does Better than New Zealand (not an exhaustive list):
1. Public transport. Every city I went to had either an underground, or trams, or an effective bus network. Every country I went to had a domestic (and, most of the time, international) rail service. It makes a huge difference. New Zealand must follow suit (and in particular Auckland). Sorry to get all political but how is New Zealand ever going to become a truly global city, and compete with the rest of the world, if we have a third world public transport system? The answer is it won't. I also don't want anyone to read this and say something like: yeah but Auckland has a low population density, but a high area, so therefore a metro (or Trams or whatever) won't work. It WILL work if its done properly. The same goes for the rail networks throughout a country. It is so much more convenient than flying! Again, NZ must follow suit. We don't have to do it all at once, but we need to start doing it NOW. The need is only going to get greater and the cost more...
2. Drinking culture. Okay, excuse the UK and Ireland from this, both of these places have a far worse drinking culture than NZ and Australia. But most other places I've been to people have a few drinks but don't get drunk. Its a cultural thing but it would be great to see a similar culture in New Zealand.
Things New Zealand Does Much Better Than Europe (again, not an exhaustive list):
1. We don't have a smoking culture and we have smoke free bars. This makes a huge difference! Much more pleasent to go out and not come home smelling like you've smoked a 12 pack... A lot of places in Europe have smoke free bars as well but its really noticeable how much more people smoke around here.
2. The Europeans have an obsession with sparkling water. Why?!?!?!?! Many times I've asked for a bottle of water only to be given a bottle of sparkling water. It tastes horrific.
3. People, as a general rule, see more laid back in New Zealand. I like that.
Stupid Things People Have Said on This Trip (nationality is in brackets):
1. "I Like your accent. I wish I had an accent" (heard this about 10 times, all from Americans...).
2. "When its winter in America - I know its warm in New Zealand - but do you still call it winter in New Zealand?" (American)
3. "What are they made out of?" (a question to our tour guide after she explained that the sculptures to our left were sand sculptures...) (American)
I'm forgetting a few here...I'll add to this post once I remember... And PS, yes everyone on the list happens to be American, but don't think I hate Americans or anything. Most of them are GREAT. Its just one or two that let the side down...
Things I Want To Do Next Time:
1. Oktoberfest. I had no idea getting accommodation was so hard! I've heared its incredible and I'm gutted I didn't get to go.
2. The running with the bulls. A really stupid idea, I know, But would be a lot of fun... I've heard it is a festival atmosphere all week and it sounds amazing.
3. Cork, Ireland. I didn't spend enough time in Ireland but I absolutely loved it. I've heard Cork is beautiful and I'd love to check it out.
4. Turkey. I made the conscious decision not to go to Turkey this trip but I'd love to go there again. Instanbul and Galipolli are at the top of my to do list there.
4. Croatia. Again a conscious decision not to go but I want to go there before it becomes a tourist mecca.
Anyway I've spent waay too long on this post already (and I could go on all day if I don't stop myself). So I'll leave it there for now.
See you all soon.
Anthony
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Portugal
After Ireland I decided that I needed a bit of time in the sun, so I headed down to Portugal. I was pretty tired by the time I got there (the Irish certainly know how to party!) so I figured a few days lazing around working on my non existent suntan should do me good.
To tell you the truth my first experience down there wasn't good. I had to fly from Dublin to London and from London to Lisbon and the guy checking my passport in Lisbon gave me a hard time about not having a "leaving the UK" stamp on my passport. I tried to explain that I was only in transit in London, and as Ireland is also part of the EU I didnt need a stamp, but he was having none of it. After getting quite aggressive he eventually backed off completely and let me through.
I hoped it wasn't setting the tone of things to come.
Fortunately it wasn't.
The hostel I was staying in was fantastic and even had an outside bar (which gives you an idea of how often it rains there: practically never). Everything was cheap and the people seemed friendly and all spoke English. Already the trip was turning out to be a good idea.
The first night we went out an experienced the street side drinking culture of the Portugese. Basically, in Lisbon you only go into bars to buy drinks, then you wander outside into the streets to mingle. It works quite well considering its so hot. Fortunately drinking on the streets in Portugal is legal, as it is pretty much everywhere in Europe, and it was a great time. The only downer is that you're constantly being approached by street vendors trying to sell you crappy hats, "genuine" Ray Ban sunglasses, and, occasionally, cocaine. I couldn'd believe how open they were with trying to sell you drugs in this place (until I heard from someone at the hostel that they weren't actually offering you drugs at all, just condensed sugar...hence why the police didn't care).
In the end a big night was had by all considering that the drinks were sooo cheap. For example for €4.00 you get HALF A LITRE of Mojito...
The architecture in Portugal was pretty interesting. Similar styles to in Spain and they had tiles on the outside of the buildings. Very cool.
I decided to just relax for my time in Lisbon so I didn't do as much sightseeing as I should have. It was still a great place though.
After Lisbon I went to Porto to catch up with Mark Russell. It was great to see a familiar face and, as Mark had been staying in Porto for the last week, he took me round the city. Mark was in good spirits and was sporting a beard that looked like it had taken about 2 months to grow. A very impressive piece I must say (and incredibly gross, he was constantly getting bits of food stuck in his moustache...). He also showed me his photos that he'd taken (or, more accurately, a selection of the photos that he'd taken) and I was pretty blown away. Its clear he could be a professional photographer, and I made a mental note to upgrade my camera at the first chance I can get!
Mark has been travelling through Europe (predominantly) by using Couchsurfing which is a website where people offer the spare room in their house for travellors to use. I know what you're thinking: sounds kinda dangerous. I thought so too, but after you've stayed with someone you give them a review which stays on their profile permanently (much the same as Trip Advisor). So everyone has an incentive to be on their best behaviour. If you stay with people who have a lot of good reviews you can't go wrong - its when you try and stay with someone with hardly any reviews that you can run into issues...
The great advantage of Couchsurfing is that you get to live like a local in the cities you stay in. That afternoon/night we met up with Mark's Couchsurfing hosts in Porto and had a night out with the locals. We started by having a few beers (at €1.20 each) and things progressed from there. They have a street drinking culture in Porto too and it was similar to Lisbon (except, incredibly, even more laid back and cheaper). We took things to a square where all the locals go on a Wednesday night and eventually ended up at a reggae dance party in what looked to be a converted flat. It was a pretty massive night and we didn't get back to the hostel until about 4.30am.
The next day, not surprisingly, we were feeling a bit jaded so ended up just cruising round the city...but I did manage to have a glass of Port (which, for those of you who don't know, originates from Porto).
Unfortunately my plans for Oktoberfest fell through, as did my other plans for Wasenfest (but not before I'd booked non refundable tickets to Paris, with the intention of training down to Stuttgart). Instead I decided to fly back to Paris for a few nights. Again this place has blown me away. Its horrendously expensive next to Portugal, and there are tourists everywhere but I don't care. Its my favourite European city.
After Paris it'll be back to London, and maybe a very quick tour around the south of England, before flying home.
Talk soon
Anthony
PS. Surprise surprise the computer here isn't letting me upload photos. A recurring theme this trip. Once again I'll put them up as soon as I have the chance...
To tell you the truth my first experience down there wasn't good. I had to fly from Dublin to London and from London to Lisbon and the guy checking my passport in Lisbon gave me a hard time about not having a "leaving the UK" stamp on my passport. I tried to explain that I was only in transit in London, and as Ireland is also part of the EU I didnt need a stamp, but he was having none of it. After getting quite aggressive he eventually backed off completely and let me through.
I hoped it wasn't setting the tone of things to come.
Fortunately it wasn't.
The hostel I was staying in was fantastic and even had an outside bar (which gives you an idea of how often it rains there: practically never). Everything was cheap and the people seemed friendly and all spoke English. Already the trip was turning out to be a good idea.
The first night we went out an experienced the street side drinking culture of the Portugese. Basically, in Lisbon you only go into bars to buy drinks, then you wander outside into the streets to mingle. It works quite well considering its so hot. Fortunately drinking on the streets in Portugal is legal, as it is pretty much everywhere in Europe, and it was a great time. The only downer is that you're constantly being approached by street vendors trying to sell you crappy hats, "genuine" Ray Ban sunglasses, and, occasionally, cocaine. I couldn'd believe how open they were with trying to sell you drugs in this place (until I heard from someone at the hostel that they weren't actually offering you drugs at all, just condensed sugar...hence why the police didn't care).
In the end a big night was had by all considering that the drinks were sooo cheap. For example for €4.00 you get HALF A LITRE of Mojito...
The architecture in Portugal was pretty interesting. Similar styles to in Spain and they had tiles on the outside of the buildings. Very cool.
I decided to just relax for my time in Lisbon so I didn't do as much sightseeing as I should have. It was still a great place though.
After Lisbon I went to Porto to catch up with Mark Russell. It was great to see a familiar face and, as Mark had been staying in Porto for the last week, he took me round the city. Mark was in good spirits and was sporting a beard that looked like it had taken about 2 months to grow. A very impressive piece I must say (and incredibly gross, he was constantly getting bits of food stuck in his moustache...). He also showed me his photos that he'd taken (or, more accurately, a selection of the photos that he'd taken) and I was pretty blown away. Its clear he could be a professional photographer, and I made a mental note to upgrade my camera at the first chance I can get!
Mark has been travelling through Europe (predominantly) by using Couchsurfing which is a website where people offer the spare room in their house for travellors to use. I know what you're thinking: sounds kinda dangerous. I thought so too, but after you've stayed with someone you give them a review which stays on their profile permanently (much the same as Trip Advisor). So everyone has an incentive to be on their best behaviour. If you stay with people who have a lot of good reviews you can't go wrong - its when you try and stay with someone with hardly any reviews that you can run into issues...
The great advantage of Couchsurfing is that you get to live like a local in the cities you stay in. That afternoon/night we met up with Mark's Couchsurfing hosts in Porto and had a night out with the locals. We started by having a few beers (at €1.20 each) and things progressed from there. They have a street drinking culture in Porto too and it was similar to Lisbon (except, incredibly, even more laid back and cheaper). We took things to a square where all the locals go on a Wednesday night and eventually ended up at a reggae dance party in what looked to be a converted flat. It was a pretty massive night and we didn't get back to the hostel until about 4.30am.
The next day, not surprisingly, we were feeling a bit jaded so ended up just cruising round the city...but I did manage to have a glass of Port (which, for those of you who don't know, originates from Porto).
Unfortunately my plans for Oktoberfest fell through, as did my other plans for Wasenfest (but not before I'd booked non refundable tickets to Paris, with the intention of training down to Stuttgart). Instead I decided to fly back to Paris for a few nights. Again this place has blown me away. Its horrendously expensive next to Portugal, and there are tourists everywhere but I don't care. Its my favourite European city.
After Paris it'll be back to London, and maybe a very quick tour around the south of England, before flying home.
Talk soon
Anthony
PS. Surprise surprise the computer here isn't letting me upload photos. A recurring theme this trip. Once again I'll put them up as soon as I have the chance...
Friday, September 10, 2010
Fiddle de de! Potatoes!
So I'm really enjoying Ireland. The weather sucks here but apart from that its a great place. They drink like crazy here, they speak English (well, sort of, everyone sounds like the Pikey from the movie Snatch) and they even drive on the left hand side of the road. Whats not to love?
I spent the first two nights in Belfast as I wanted to check out Northern Ireland. Lonely Planet assured me it was very safe as the Troubles are over. Typically (it turns out) it was raining when I got there but I was told that apparently last week it was in the mid 20's and sunny, but there was also a bomb threat. The person also told me, with a smile, that she believed the bit about the bomb threat but not about the 20 degrees!
Maybe Lonely Planet was wrong...
Belfast is not surprisingly not a a very touristy place, but I really enjoyed it. You can tell the tensions still run deep though so I was very careful not to make any Irish/British/Catholic jokes when I was there! Apparently with the Good Friday Agreement (the agreement that more or less ended the Troubles) a lot of the militants got released and some even run the "Black Cab" tours, which take tourists to some of the Troubles hotspots. This to me was an unnerving thought but I was told that it was perfectly safe. In fact, some of the militants from both sides actually work together on some projects for the benefit of all of Belfast and it seems to occur without incident.
[pic: Belfast]
I did hear that random violence still occurs occasionally. Apparently car theives are not well liked by the IRA or the RUF (I think that's the Protestant equivalent but to be honest there are so many splinter groups its like that scene off the Life of Brian where they sit around and talk about the Peoples Front of Judea, the Popular Front of Judea, The Popular Peoples Front etc...). If a known car theif is caught he would get knee capped, by taking him to an alley and shooting him through the back of the knee. Apparently he would walk again, but never truly recover...
Nasty.
In saying all of this I really did find the place fascinating.
After Belfast I headed to Dublin. Dublin is quite a pretty place and I absolutely adore it. Yesterday I went to the Guinness Brewery and after the tour had a pint of Guinness in the Gravity Bar (a glass dome that over looks the entire city). The Guinness tastes different here than in New Zealand. In New Zealand it tastes like...well...crap. Here its surprisingly drinkable (although I suspect I may be getting seduced by it simply because I'm in Irelenad!).
[pic: me enjoying a Guinness in the Gravity Bar]
[pic: the view of Dublin from the Gravity Bar]
Last night I went to Jimmy Carr. A two and a half hour show that was full of all of his new material. Needless to say I was in stiches the entire night - he is really hilarious! Although I heard probably 200 hundred jokes its surprisingly difficult to remember them the next day, but here are a few of the ones I do remember (and thought were quite funny):
"Why do so many people die in schools in America?...because you're not allowed to run in the halls"
"Where would we be without our sense of humour?....Germany"
"Have you ever heard the saying: "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen!"? If that's true, shouldn't the Jews love the Germans?"
"I had a traumatic childhood. Our family Priest....was cheating on me."
"I had a threesome last night, it was amazing....had a couple of no shows...but I had a great time."
"I asked my girlfriend whether she wanted to do some role playing where I pretended I was a stranger trying to rape her. She said "no". I said "that's the spirit""
I could go on....
Later I went on a pub crawl where chaos ensued. Naturally it was a great night and just as naturally I've once again dispelled the myth that you can't get hungover whilst travelling....
[pic: the last stop on the pub crawl]
Off to Portugal tomorrow so I will be in touch soon.
Anthony
I spent the first two nights in Belfast as I wanted to check out Northern Ireland. Lonely Planet assured me it was very safe as the Troubles are over. Typically (it turns out) it was raining when I got there but I was told that apparently last week it was in the mid 20's and sunny, but there was also a bomb threat. The person also told me, with a smile, that she believed the bit about the bomb threat but not about the 20 degrees!
Maybe Lonely Planet was wrong...
Belfast is not surprisingly not a a very touristy place, but I really enjoyed it. You can tell the tensions still run deep though so I was very careful not to make any Irish/British/Catholic jokes when I was there! Apparently with the Good Friday Agreement (the agreement that more or less ended the Troubles) a lot of the militants got released and some even run the "Black Cab" tours, which take tourists to some of the Troubles hotspots. This to me was an unnerving thought but I was told that it was perfectly safe. In fact, some of the militants from both sides actually work together on some projects for the benefit of all of Belfast and it seems to occur without incident.
[pic: Belfast]
I did hear that random violence still occurs occasionally. Apparently car theives are not well liked by the IRA or the RUF (I think that's the Protestant equivalent but to be honest there are so many splinter groups its like that scene off the Life of Brian where they sit around and talk about the Peoples Front of Judea, the Popular Front of Judea, The Popular Peoples Front etc...). If a known car theif is caught he would get knee capped, by taking him to an alley and shooting him through the back of the knee. Apparently he would walk again, but never truly recover...
Nasty.
In saying all of this I really did find the place fascinating.
After Belfast I headed to Dublin. Dublin is quite a pretty place and I absolutely adore it. Yesterday I went to the Guinness Brewery and after the tour had a pint of Guinness in the Gravity Bar (a glass dome that over looks the entire city). The Guinness tastes different here than in New Zealand. In New Zealand it tastes like...well...crap. Here its surprisingly drinkable (although I suspect I may be getting seduced by it simply because I'm in Irelenad!).
[pic: me enjoying a Guinness in the Gravity Bar]
[pic: the view of Dublin from the Gravity Bar]
Last night I went to Jimmy Carr. A two and a half hour show that was full of all of his new material. Needless to say I was in stiches the entire night - he is really hilarious! Although I heard probably 200 hundred jokes its surprisingly difficult to remember them the next day, but here are a few of the ones I do remember (and thought were quite funny):
"Why do so many people die in schools in America?...because you're not allowed to run in the halls"
"Where would we be without our sense of humour?....Germany"
"Have you ever heard the saying: "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen!"? If that's true, shouldn't the Jews love the Germans?"
"I had a traumatic childhood. Our family Priest....was cheating on me."
"I had a threesome last night, it was amazing....had a couple of no shows...but I had a great time."
"I asked my girlfriend whether she wanted to do some role playing where I pretended I was a stranger trying to rape her. She said "no". I said "that's the spirit""
I could go on....
Later I went on a pub crawl where chaos ensued. Naturally it was a great night and just as naturally I've once again dispelled the myth that you can't get hungover whilst travelling....
[pic: the last stop on the pub crawl]
Off to Portugal tomorrow so I will be in touch soon.
Anthony
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Bruges and beyond
Before this trip started I had marked Bruges as a potential highlight. Admittedly, I had only heard of the place - and wanted to go there - because of the movie In Bruges. To quote from the movie: "it looked like a fairytail".
When I got there I was pretty impressed. The movie was filmed on location and everywhere you went you could see familiar sights. It was a pretty place. However, a couple of things didn´t come across when you watched the movie:
1) The sheer volume of tourists that were there. This brought with it its own issues such as crowds everytwhere and overpriced food/drinks everywhere.
2) How little Bruges is.
You could walk around the entire town in about an hour. Its great for a day trip, but after a few hours you´d seen everything. As time went on I could empathise more and more with Colin Farrell´s character in the movie (which, for those of you that haven´t seen it, HATED the place) and always refers to it as a "shithole". His best line was: "I grew up in Dublin. I love Dublin. Maybe if I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me. But I didn´t, so it doesn´t."
Certainly by the end of my forth night I was ready to move on. Probably the highlight wasn´t Bruges itself but Ypres. I went there on a battlefield tour to check out Flanders fields.
The first thing that struck me was just how flat it was. The "high ground" that literally tens of thousands pf soldiers died trying to take was nothing more than a very gentle incline on a hill. The New Zealander´s were well represented there - especially on the Passchendale Ridge - with numerous monuments, and of course, a large number of graves.
We were also shown a number of photographs of the area during the First World War. It looked like a picture of the moon with craters everywhere, as well as mud. It must have been obvious that ordering attacks in such conditions was suicide. In fact, we were told that during the Third Battle of Ypres (when the New Zealand battalion took heavy losses at Passchendaele) its estimated that a third of all the deaths were due to drowning in the mud.
We also leared that an average of three artillary shells landed per meter of land in Flanders. Also, 1 in every 3 shells didn´t go off. So, statistically speaking, everywhere we went we were standing on live ammunition. This explained why when we were on Hill 60 (called Hill 60 because it was 60 meters above sea level) our tour guide got us to go first...
Walking amongst the graves of the soldiers that were killed its hard not to think that it was such a futile waste of life, with so little gained. It worked out that the Allies gained about 5cm of ground for every soldier killed. Maybe the line in Blackadder Goes Forth, that General Haig wants his drinks trolley 18 inches closer to Berlin, has a ring of truth to it.
AFter that sobering experience I made my way to Copenhagen. Copenhagen was nice. On my last night I went to Tivoli which was the worlds first theme park. It was every 14 year olds dream: a theme park that you felt was all to yourself. I didnt que for anything and the rides were really really good. As an example I went on a rollercoaster, didn´t que - just jumped on - and at the end we asked the conducter if we could go again. He shrugged and said sure.
Also went on an aeroplane ride that you controlled yourself. Some of the time I was the only person on the ride. It was really amazing. I also did a bit of shooting and it turns out I´m a bit of a sharp shooter. Won a few things which was fun.
I´m currently in Sweden catching up with Martin and Johanna. Its great to see a few familiar faces! Sweden is terrific even though its very cold (5 degrees last night!).
Next stop is Stockholm where I´ll be heading in a few days.
Talk soon
Anthony
When I got there I was pretty impressed. The movie was filmed on location and everywhere you went you could see familiar sights. It was a pretty place. However, a couple of things didn´t come across when you watched the movie:
1) The sheer volume of tourists that were there. This brought with it its own issues such as crowds everytwhere and overpriced food/drinks everywhere.
2) How little Bruges is.
You could walk around the entire town in about an hour. Its great for a day trip, but after a few hours you´d seen everything. As time went on I could empathise more and more with Colin Farrell´s character in the movie (which, for those of you that haven´t seen it, HATED the place) and always refers to it as a "shithole". His best line was: "I grew up in Dublin. I love Dublin. Maybe if I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me. But I didn´t, so it doesn´t."
Certainly by the end of my forth night I was ready to move on. Probably the highlight wasn´t Bruges itself but Ypres. I went there on a battlefield tour to check out Flanders fields.
The first thing that struck me was just how flat it was. The "high ground" that literally tens of thousands pf soldiers died trying to take was nothing more than a very gentle incline on a hill. The New Zealander´s were well represented there - especially on the Passchendale Ridge - with numerous monuments, and of course, a large number of graves.
We were also shown a number of photographs of the area during the First World War. It looked like a picture of the moon with craters everywhere, as well as mud. It must have been obvious that ordering attacks in such conditions was suicide. In fact, we were told that during the Third Battle of Ypres (when the New Zealand battalion took heavy losses at Passchendaele) its estimated that a third of all the deaths were due to drowning in the mud.
We also leared that an average of three artillary shells landed per meter of land in Flanders. Also, 1 in every 3 shells didn´t go off. So, statistically speaking, everywhere we went we were standing on live ammunition. This explained why when we were on Hill 60 (called Hill 60 because it was 60 meters above sea level) our tour guide got us to go first...
Walking amongst the graves of the soldiers that were killed its hard not to think that it was such a futile waste of life, with so little gained. It worked out that the Allies gained about 5cm of ground for every soldier killed. Maybe the line in Blackadder Goes Forth, that General Haig wants his drinks trolley 18 inches closer to Berlin, has a ring of truth to it.
AFter that sobering experience I made my way to Copenhagen. Copenhagen was nice. On my last night I went to Tivoli which was the worlds first theme park. It was every 14 year olds dream: a theme park that you felt was all to yourself. I didnt que for anything and the rides were really really good. As an example I went on a rollercoaster, didn´t que - just jumped on - and at the end we asked the conducter if we could go again. He shrugged and said sure.
Also went on an aeroplane ride that you controlled yourself. Some of the time I was the only person on the ride. It was really amazing. I also did a bit of shooting and it turns out I´m a bit of a sharp shooter. Won a few things which was fun.
I´m currently in Sweden catching up with Martin and Johanna. Its great to see a few familiar faces! Sweden is terrific even though its very cold (5 degrees last night!).
Next stop is Stockholm where I´ll be heading in a few days.
Talk soon
Anthony
Monday, August 16, 2010
Sziget Festival (Budapest)
[pic: the Budapest sign at the festival]
As I mentioned in my last post I changed my plans around a bit to go to the Szegit Festival and to see Muse and Kasabian. The Sziget Festival (pronounced "shigit") is the largest open air music festival in Europe, with Paleo in Switzerland being the second largest. Its held at a very cool venue, on an island on the river that runs through Budapest.
[pic: the bridge into the Sziget Festival]
To get there I took a flight from Berlin (as I couldnt be bothered with the long train ride and Berlin is where I could get cheap flights). Berlin really is a great place - its been the surprise package for me this trip. I`d go back in a heart beat.
The Sziget Festival was very similar to the Big Day Out except it was larger in size, went over an entire week, and there was practically zero crowd control. The crowd did as they pleased and there were constantly people crowd surfing and "fight circles" were breaking out in the middle of the mosh pit where everyone retreated into a circle and then charged into each other and started shoving each other around. An experience, but very crazy - there was a serious chance that people could be crushed to death if there was a sudden panic. At the festival there was also a place to go if you wanted to go zip lining (essentially a HUGE flying fox) and they even had a Karaoke stage right next to a bar...
I got there in time for Billy Talent who is a Canadian hard rock band with a foul mouthed lead singer who has a cartoon voice. This cracked me up, he was swearing away, singing a really aggreeive style of music and when he chatted to the crowd between songs he sounded like like a cartoon character.
[pic: the Billy Talent gig. Although it looks like there is a lot of room in the crowd and its quite sedate its actually a fight circle - you can see a guy with blondish hair about to take out the guy with the blue baseball cap. Very psycho. Note also the crowd surfer in the background]
For the main acts, my plan was to get as close as possible to the action but this proved difficult. I was about 20 meters from the front for Kasabian, and got about 5 meters closer for Muse.
[pic: part way through Kasabians set]
Both bands were pretty awesome. I really enjoyed Kasabian but again Muse took the cake. My only criticism is that the set they played was pretty much exactly the same as at the Big Day Out, which was disappointing. In the bands defence this festival is part of the same tour that began in Auckland so maybe I`m being a bit harsh. In any event the atmosphere was electric and it was a terrific show. Again they had an awesome light, smoke and lazer show to accompany the music. The crowd was as tightly packed as anything I´d ever experienced and every time I took a pxt or photo I was terrified that I was going to lose my camera. There were plenty of crowd surfers as well which was more frustrating than anything else, if you didnt keep an eye out there was a good chance one would fall on you....
[pic: the start of Muse`s set, the lead singer Matt Bellamy wearing some silly glasses]
[pic: Muse busting out the lazers...]
By the end of the show I was drenched in sweat, spilt beer and mud, and I was exhausted from trying to hold up crowd surfers, but I had a smile all over my face...
All in all a great night.
Anthony
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Vienna
I've spent the last 3 days in Vienna. Vienna is currently ranked the worlds most livable city by the Mercer Quality of Living Survey and this was the main reason I decided to visit.
At first glance Vienna looks like any other big European city but once I went into the centre I discovered that it is the most visually beautiful city I've been to since Paris. Its buildings and parks really are very impressive and its an easy place to navigate around. The food here is pretty good as well (Weiner schnitzel is from Vienna - Wein is what the Austrians call Vienna. This means that technically all "Weiner schnitzel" you eat outside of Vienna is actually schnitzel Vienna style, just like all "champagne" you drink that comes from outside the Champagne district in France is sparkling white wine...there's my useless fact for the day).
[pic: in Vienna they have Indiana Jones on the street signs...]
Despite living in such a nice city the Viennese all seem to walk around with a chip on their shoulder. Everyone seems grumpy for some reason that I haven't been able to work out. The guys in particular seem to come across as grumpy and gay - its really quite funny.
[pics: a collection of the pictures showing Vienna in all its glory]
The hostel I stayed at here was really good. After being landed with families and old people in every hostel I went to in Switzerland I decided that it was time to go to a few party hostels. This hostel had its own bar with 2 Euro beers so met my requirements well! Met a few cool people here as well, including a group of English and Irish girls who were really hard case. One girl in their group is quite staunch looking with blonde hair whereas the others are smaller and have dark hair. Apparently after they visited the Jewish museum in Berlin they thought it would be funny to draw a joke "propaganda" poster in their travel diary depicting the blonde girl as an Ayrian and her friends as Jewish. This is pretty bad form and I don't condone it at all, but what's funny is they showed the poster to their American room mates without realising that the Americans were Jewish!
...pick your audience girls.
I also met a few other English guys who were going to the music festival in Budapest to see Muse and Kasabian in a few days. Apparently its one of Europes best festivals and they suggested that I join them. As I think Muse is the best live band in the world I didn't need much convincing! So I've changed my plans a bit and after Nuremberg I will have to make my way to Berlin to fly to Budapest for a few nights to catch the festival. Its a bit out of my way but then again when am I ever going to have the chance to go to a music festival in Budapest?! I'm really looking forward to it.
I arrived in Nuremberg earlier on today. I decided that I need a break from the hostels and have checked into a hotel, so Im looking forward to a few decent nights sleep! I haven`t yet had a chance to explore Nuremberg but I can say already that its got the most confusing metro system in the world. Its one of those silly ones where you have to change trains about 4 times even though your stop is on the same track. Of course I didn´t know this when I first got here so jumped on the train that was going my direction. The train then set of on the wrong direction (ie, when it arrived it arrived travelling left to right, but then it set off travelling right to left). So I went a stop in the opposite direction. Not to worry, I thought, I´d been travelling for about 7 hours so I´d probably just got my platforms mixed up. So when the next train arrived I double checked the line and direction: I was definitely on the right one. It took me a stop in the right direction then took me back to the stop that I´d come from! By this stage I´m getting pretty frustrated, but I perservered once more and realised that you had to go a stop in one direction, then change trains and go for another stop, then change trains again etc...
Why they do it like this is beyond me, maybe just to confuse the tourists!
Anyway I must fly.
Anthony
At first glance Vienna looks like any other big European city but once I went into the centre I discovered that it is the most visually beautiful city I've been to since Paris. Its buildings and parks really are very impressive and its an easy place to navigate around. The food here is pretty good as well (Weiner schnitzel is from Vienna - Wein is what the Austrians call Vienna. This means that technically all "Weiner schnitzel" you eat outside of Vienna is actually schnitzel Vienna style, just like all "champagne" you drink that comes from outside the Champagne district in France is sparkling white wine...there's my useless fact for the day).
[pic: in Vienna they have Indiana Jones on the street signs...]
Despite living in such a nice city the Viennese all seem to walk around with a chip on their shoulder. Everyone seems grumpy for some reason that I haven't been able to work out. The guys in particular seem to come across as grumpy and gay - its really quite funny.
[pics: a collection of the pictures showing Vienna in all its glory]
The hostel I stayed at here was really good. After being landed with families and old people in every hostel I went to in Switzerland I decided that it was time to go to a few party hostels. This hostel had its own bar with 2 Euro beers so met my requirements well! Met a few cool people here as well, including a group of English and Irish girls who were really hard case. One girl in their group is quite staunch looking with blonde hair whereas the others are smaller and have dark hair. Apparently after they visited the Jewish museum in Berlin they thought it would be funny to draw a joke "propaganda" poster in their travel diary depicting the blonde girl as an Ayrian and her friends as Jewish. This is pretty bad form and I don't condone it at all, but what's funny is they showed the poster to their American room mates without realising that the Americans were Jewish!
...pick your audience girls.
I also met a few other English guys who were going to the music festival in Budapest to see Muse and Kasabian in a few days. Apparently its one of Europes best festivals and they suggested that I join them. As I think Muse is the best live band in the world I didn't need much convincing! So I've changed my plans a bit and after Nuremberg I will have to make my way to Berlin to fly to Budapest for a few nights to catch the festival. Its a bit out of my way but then again when am I ever going to have the chance to go to a music festival in Budapest?! I'm really looking forward to it.
I arrived in Nuremberg earlier on today. I decided that I need a break from the hostels and have checked into a hotel, so Im looking forward to a few decent nights sleep! I haven`t yet had a chance to explore Nuremberg but I can say already that its got the most confusing metro system in the world. Its one of those silly ones where you have to change trains about 4 times even though your stop is on the same track. Of course I didn´t know this when I first got here so jumped on the train that was going my direction. The train then set of on the wrong direction (ie, when it arrived it arrived travelling left to right, but then it set off travelling right to left). So I went a stop in the opposite direction. Not to worry, I thought, I´d been travelling for about 7 hours so I´d probably just got my platforms mixed up. So when the next train arrived I double checked the line and direction: I was definitely on the right one. It took me a stop in the right direction then took me back to the stop that I´d come from! By this stage I´m getting pretty frustrated, but I perservered once more and realised that you had to go a stop in one direction, then change trains and go for another stop, then change trains again etc...
Why they do it like this is beyond me, maybe just to confuse the tourists!
Anyway I must fly.
Anthony
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Don´t mention the war!
After Geneva I went to Interlaken and then Basel. Interlaken was killed by the weather but Basel is a very beautiful city and I was lucky enough to be there for the Swiss National Day. This involved heading down to the river Rhein, having a few drinks, mingling with strangers and watching the most amazing fireworks display I´ve ever seen. There were so many firworks they literally shipped them in on a barge, like freakin King Kong!
[pic: Basel fireworks. As is often the way, this picture really doesnt capture how impressive these fireworks were]
After that I trained to Munich and met up with Matt Smith. It was terrific to see a familiar face! Munich (and Bavaria) is what people think of when they think of stereotypical Germany (ie, beer halls, laderhosen, sausages and Nazis...). Its a really interesting place and very pretty as well.
On our second day we decided to go to the Dachau concerntration camp. It was a harrowing experience. I´d heard from Jemma that apparently no birds fly over the concerntration camp and this proved to be true, which gave it an even more eerie feel. The first thing that strikes you when you visit a camp like that is its sheer size. Dachau was the first concerntration camp but certainly not the largest and it was truly massive. When you also think that Dachau was one of 2,500 simililar camps around Europe you it hits home what a massive institution it was. The institution being the state sponsored persecution and, eventually, extermination of fellow human beings. Its a frightening thing when you realise its not just a few wackos doing this, but an entire institution.
[pic: Dachau concerntration camp, the main yard. This gives you a sense of the scale when you consider that the space depicted here represents about one fiftieth of the size of the entire camp]
Its also frightening when you begin to learn about the systems that were used to maintain order and ensure that everyone went along with it. They were clearly thought up by some intelligent, yet very evil, people. For instance, cleanliness was the medium used to terrorize the prisoners of these camps. When the prisoners arrived they were showered and brutally shaved to make sure they were clean. If anything wasn´t clean, they were beaten, whipped and made an example of. This process was repeated whenever they were forced to move camp (which we were told happenned regularly). So when the SS wanted to gas the prisoners all they had to do was move them to a different camp and instead of shower them show them to the gas chamber. Of course when the prisoners arrived at the new camp they were expecting a shower and didn´t find out they were being gassed until it was too late.
Another scary system in place is that whenever a prisoner was beaten or tortured it took place in the shower rooms. This is so all evidence of the crime could be covered up by turning on the water and washing everything away. Very important if there are to be visitors that are about to be shown the camp for propoganda purposes...
All of the brutality that went on at these camps was carefully orchestrated. Nothing was an accident. Even the most horrific torture was ordered, and signed off by a number of different officers. This no doubt allowed the soldier carrying out the order to feel absolved of any moral responsibility.
Complex and smart systems used for the most evil of purposes.
[pic: A picture of a reconstructed "dorm" room. There were about 3 prisoners per bed]
And there was absolutely no hope of escape either. The prison was actually a small part of a much larger camp and if you did manage to crawl through the electrofied barbed wire fence, and through the moat, you would find yourself in the middle of the SS barracks (where a few thousand SS were based). Even if you got out of that you knew that because you escaped the guards would round up 10 people at random from your room and execute them. Just as bad, when the camp first opened it was only the men that were sent there and the women and children stayed at home. If you were to escape the SS would simply round up your family and have them gassed.
[pic: this shows the perimeter of the prisoner section of the camp. If you can make it past the shown moat and electrified fence you found yourself in the SS part of the camp. I should also point out that I didnt take any pictures of the gass chambers - it didnt seem appropriate at the time]
All of these systems were put in place to control an entire population and they were very very effective.
I´m pleased I went to Dachau and saw it for myself but by the end of this Matt and I were in need of a pick me up. So we decided to go to the Englisch Gardens for a beer. We decided to detour via the man made wave to check out the surfers and stumbled upon the nudist part of the gardens. This was pretty gross, especially the obese German guy who was jingling his tackle at the passers by.
So we went there for a pick me up but in the end only succeeded in replacing one horrific image with another!
[pic: the surfers at the Englisch gardens]
That night we met up for dinner with Sebastian (a friend of Matt´s who worked at Simpson Grierson for a while) and his friend Fabian. Both are terrific guys and it was great to be shown Munich by some locals. Sebastian even offered his place to stay for Oktoberfest which was an incredibly generous offer. The only catch is if we are sitting at his table we too would have to don laderhosen...
I´m currently in Salzburg. Its a pretty place but has been killed by the crappy weather (which looks to be settling in). Vienna tomorrow so hopefully I have better luck there!
Anthony
PS. I hope to post pictures soon!
[pic: Basel fireworks. As is often the way, this picture really doesnt capture how impressive these fireworks were]
After that I trained to Munich and met up with Matt Smith. It was terrific to see a familiar face! Munich (and Bavaria) is what people think of when they think of stereotypical Germany (ie, beer halls, laderhosen, sausages and Nazis...). Its a really interesting place and very pretty as well.
On our second day we decided to go to the Dachau concerntration camp. It was a harrowing experience. I´d heard from Jemma that apparently no birds fly over the concerntration camp and this proved to be true, which gave it an even more eerie feel. The first thing that strikes you when you visit a camp like that is its sheer size. Dachau was the first concerntration camp but certainly not the largest and it was truly massive. When you also think that Dachau was one of 2,500 simililar camps around Europe you it hits home what a massive institution it was. The institution being the state sponsored persecution and, eventually, extermination of fellow human beings. Its a frightening thing when you realise its not just a few wackos doing this, but an entire institution.
[pic: Dachau concerntration camp, the main yard. This gives you a sense of the scale when you consider that the space depicted here represents about one fiftieth of the size of the entire camp]
Its also frightening when you begin to learn about the systems that were used to maintain order and ensure that everyone went along with it. They were clearly thought up by some intelligent, yet very evil, people. For instance, cleanliness was the medium used to terrorize the prisoners of these camps. When the prisoners arrived they were showered and brutally shaved to make sure they were clean. If anything wasn´t clean, they were beaten, whipped and made an example of. This process was repeated whenever they were forced to move camp (which we were told happenned regularly). So when the SS wanted to gas the prisoners all they had to do was move them to a different camp and instead of shower them show them to the gas chamber. Of course when the prisoners arrived at the new camp they were expecting a shower and didn´t find out they were being gassed until it was too late.
Another scary system in place is that whenever a prisoner was beaten or tortured it took place in the shower rooms. This is so all evidence of the crime could be covered up by turning on the water and washing everything away. Very important if there are to be visitors that are about to be shown the camp for propoganda purposes...
All of the brutality that went on at these camps was carefully orchestrated. Nothing was an accident. Even the most horrific torture was ordered, and signed off by a number of different officers. This no doubt allowed the soldier carrying out the order to feel absolved of any moral responsibility.
Complex and smart systems used for the most evil of purposes.
[pic: A picture of a reconstructed "dorm" room. There were about 3 prisoners per bed]
And there was absolutely no hope of escape either. The prison was actually a small part of a much larger camp and if you did manage to crawl through the electrofied barbed wire fence, and through the moat, you would find yourself in the middle of the SS barracks (where a few thousand SS were based). Even if you got out of that you knew that because you escaped the guards would round up 10 people at random from your room and execute them. Just as bad, when the camp first opened it was only the men that were sent there and the women and children stayed at home. If you were to escape the SS would simply round up your family and have them gassed.
[pic: this shows the perimeter of the prisoner section of the camp. If you can make it past the shown moat and electrified fence you found yourself in the SS part of the camp. I should also point out that I didnt take any pictures of the gass chambers - it didnt seem appropriate at the time]
All of these systems were put in place to control an entire population and they were very very effective.
I´m pleased I went to Dachau and saw it for myself but by the end of this Matt and I were in need of a pick me up. So we decided to go to the Englisch Gardens for a beer. We decided to detour via the man made wave to check out the surfers and stumbled upon the nudist part of the gardens. This was pretty gross, especially the obese German guy who was jingling his tackle at the passers by.
So we went there for a pick me up but in the end only succeeded in replacing one horrific image with another!
[pic: the surfers at the Englisch gardens]
That night we met up for dinner with Sebastian (a friend of Matt´s who worked at Simpson Grierson for a while) and his friend Fabian. Both are terrific guys and it was great to be shown Munich by some locals. Sebastian even offered his place to stay for Oktoberfest which was an incredibly generous offer. The only catch is if we are sitting at his table we too would have to don laderhosen...
I´m currently in Salzburg. Its a pretty place but has been killed by the crappy weather (which looks to be settling in). Vienna tomorrow so hopefully I have better luck there!
Anthony
PS. I hope to post pictures soon!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Paleo
Haven't heard of Paleo have you? Neither had I. But its a music festival that happens each year in Nyon (about 20 minutes outside of Geneva). Think the Big Day Out but spread over an entire week. Every year they have a few big names that come through but usually this festival is for the up and coming artists. Mel got some tickets for the Saturday which she thought was probably the best day.
Because the festival is spread over an entire week each day it starts at about 4ish, with the better acts coming on later. I wanted to see the John Butler Trio (an Australian band and the only artist playing that I'd heard of!). We (me, Mel and Gulia, Mel's sister) headed out to catch the train to Nyon. We were a bit pushed for time so we set out at a fast'ish pace.
We got to the station just as the train turned up. I had my Eurail pass so was fine but the girls needed to buy a ticket quickly or else we risked missing the train and having to wait around for an hour until the next one arrived. For some reason the vending machine Gods were against us and it kept rejecting Gulia's coins.
We started to get nervous.
Gulia tried with different coins and had the same result.
Now we started to panic a little bit. She turned and told me to keep a train door open as it looked like the train was going to head off at any moment. I tried but the doors refused to open. Shit! I noticed that there were some guys on the last carriage that were holding the doors open but that was 20 meters away.
Unfortunately the vending machine was STILL rejecting everything we put into it. Then the train started to move off. Shit!!!!
Instinctively I ran towards the train as it was moving off and jumped through the door that the guys were forcing open. Gulia was in after me. I was helping to keep the doors open as well - they were surprisingly heavy, similar to forcing the doors of a lift open that are trying to shut but we eventually pulled Gulia inside. Mel was next, by this stage she was running at an almost sprint as the train was gathering speed. This was a pretty dangerous thing to do, but in the end we were able to pull her inside, in one piece. Fortunately there were no ticket checkers in the train otherwise we would have been in a lot of trouble (for one, entering onto a moving train, and two for not having a ticket!)
That episode set the tone for the night.
When we arrived we saw stages and acts everywhere (honestly, it was just like the Big Day Out).
[pic: Paleo]
We walked past a band called the Giant Killers that looked terrific.
We bought some alcohol at one of the stalls, and after meeting up with Gulia's friends saw the end of the John Butler Trio's set. They were pretty cool.
[pic: The John Butler Trio]
Afterwards, we got some more alcohol (I'm sure you can see a theme starting to arise?) and went all the way to the front for Paolo Nutini (a Scottish singer who has the hit "Hey Jenny don't be hasty!").
[pic: us waiting for Paulo Nutini, me, Mel and Gulia (getting squeezed, in the middle)]
I have never been so close to the front in a concert in my life. There looked to be about 12,000 people there and we were so close to the stage we were within spitting distance! We also got on tv a couple of times when the camera's showed pictures of the crowd. Paolo Nutini was hilarious, he came out and he was quite obviously drunk or high or both. Fortunately it didn't affect his singing. He was really superb.
[pic: Paulo Nutini in full drunken flight!]
At the end of his set we checked out another band (called the Klaxons, I think) and then decided we were in need of some more to drink. Gulia's friends had invited us back to the camp site they were staying at (about a kilometer away) and we thought they were bound to have some more alcohol there. The camp site was a lot of fun, even if they were staying in the most dirty site I'd ever seen and had named it something appalling (but fitting - see the picture...).
[pic: this is perhaps my favourtie picture of the trip so far, the camp site in all its glory. Gulia in the background in the grey cardigan and Mel just behind her]
By this stage Mel and I (but more Mel, if I'm being honest) came up with a plan to try and swap Gulia for some more alcohol. The plan was for Gulia to flirt with a guy we knew had something to drink and for us to request alcohol as well after he offered it to Gulia. This was dastardly.
It was a sad moment in my life, perhaps the moment when it dawned on me that I am in need of professional help (joking), when we tried to elicit free alcohol out of a bunch of 18 years olds! Even more depressingly, it didn't work!
In the end though we were able to find and tuck into some 15 CH wine. I felt a bit weird hanging out with all these 18 year-olds. Mel decided it would be funny if she dropped me in it and asked what I did for work in a voice that got everyone's attention. I lied and said that I was a Hollywood stunt man and was often used as a body double when an actor had a scene where he took his shirt off. Mel and Gulia were in hysterics when I said this but I got a few bemused looks from Gulia's friends. One guy laughed and asked whether I was a body double for Brad Pitt. I looked at him and with a completely straight face said that I haven't yet worked with Brad, but I had worked with Ben Affleck anbd Colin Farrell.
This put Gulia and Mel into even more hysterics but I think some of her friends couldn't quite tell if I was joking!
It was a really fun night (even if freezing cold at the camp site) and we got home at about 3am.
Believe it or not we also felt okay the next day - no mean feat when you spend a night knocking back cheap wine!
Because the festival is spread over an entire week each day it starts at about 4ish, with the better acts coming on later. I wanted to see the John Butler Trio (an Australian band and the only artist playing that I'd heard of!). We (me, Mel and Gulia, Mel's sister) headed out to catch the train to Nyon. We were a bit pushed for time so we set out at a fast'ish pace.
We got to the station just as the train turned up. I had my Eurail pass so was fine but the girls needed to buy a ticket quickly or else we risked missing the train and having to wait around for an hour until the next one arrived. For some reason the vending machine Gods were against us and it kept rejecting Gulia's coins.
We started to get nervous.
Gulia tried with different coins and had the same result.
Now we started to panic a little bit. She turned and told me to keep a train door open as it looked like the train was going to head off at any moment. I tried but the doors refused to open. Shit! I noticed that there were some guys on the last carriage that were holding the doors open but that was 20 meters away.
Unfortunately the vending machine was STILL rejecting everything we put into it. Then the train started to move off. Shit!!!!
Instinctively I ran towards the train as it was moving off and jumped through the door that the guys were forcing open. Gulia was in after me. I was helping to keep the doors open as well - they were surprisingly heavy, similar to forcing the doors of a lift open that are trying to shut but we eventually pulled Gulia inside. Mel was next, by this stage she was running at an almost sprint as the train was gathering speed. This was a pretty dangerous thing to do, but in the end we were able to pull her inside, in one piece. Fortunately there were no ticket checkers in the train otherwise we would have been in a lot of trouble (for one, entering onto a moving train, and two for not having a ticket!)
That episode set the tone for the night.
When we arrived we saw stages and acts everywhere (honestly, it was just like the Big Day Out).
[pic: Paleo]
We walked past a band called the Giant Killers that looked terrific.
We bought some alcohol at one of the stalls, and after meeting up with Gulia's friends saw the end of the John Butler Trio's set. They were pretty cool.
[pic: The John Butler Trio]
Afterwards, we got some more alcohol (I'm sure you can see a theme starting to arise?) and went all the way to the front for Paolo Nutini (a Scottish singer who has the hit "Hey Jenny don't be hasty!").
[pic: us waiting for Paulo Nutini, me, Mel and Gulia (getting squeezed, in the middle)]
I have never been so close to the front in a concert in my life. There looked to be about 12,000 people there and we were so close to the stage we were within spitting distance! We also got on tv a couple of times when the camera's showed pictures of the crowd. Paolo Nutini was hilarious, he came out and he was quite obviously drunk or high or both. Fortunately it didn't affect his singing. He was really superb.
[pic: Paulo Nutini in full drunken flight!]
At the end of his set we checked out another band (called the Klaxons, I think) and then decided we were in need of some more to drink. Gulia's friends had invited us back to the camp site they were staying at (about a kilometer away) and we thought they were bound to have some more alcohol there. The camp site was a lot of fun, even if they were staying in the most dirty site I'd ever seen and had named it something appalling (but fitting - see the picture...).
[pic: this is perhaps my favourtie picture of the trip so far, the camp site in all its glory. Gulia in the background in the grey cardigan and Mel just behind her]
By this stage Mel and I (but more Mel, if I'm being honest) came up with a plan to try and swap Gulia for some more alcohol. The plan was for Gulia to flirt with a guy we knew had something to drink and for us to request alcohol as well after he offered it to Gulia. This was dastardly.
It was a sad moment in my life, perhaps the moment when it dawned on me that I am in need of professional help (joking), when we tried to elicit free alcohol out of a bunch of 18 years olds! Even more depressingly, it didn't work!
In the end though we were able to find and tuck into some 15 CH wine. I felt a bit weird hanging out with all these 18 year-olds. Mel decided it would be funny if she dropped me in it and asked what I did for work in a voice that got everyone's attention. I lied and said that I was a Hollywood stunt man and was often used as a body double when an actor had a scene where he took his shirt off. Mel and Gulia were in hysterics when I said this but I got a few bemused looks from Gulia's friends. One guy laughed and asked whether I was a body double for Brad Pitt. I looked at him and with a completely straight face said that I haven't yet worked with Brad, but I had worked with Ben Affleck anbd Colin Farrell.
This put Gulia and Mel into even more hysterics but I think some of her friends couldn't quite tell if I was joking!
It was a really fun night (even if freezing cold at the camp site) and we got home at about 3am.
Believe it or not we also felt okay the next day - no mean feat when you spend a night knocking back cheap wine!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Switzerland
I have to say, I'm very impressed with Switzerland so far!
I took the train from Bologna (via Milan) up through the Swiss Alps. The first thing that struck me was that the Swiss landscape is very similar to the South Island of New Zealand. They have the same mountains and lakes, and we even went past a fair amount of farms!
Needless to say it was pretty spectacular, and struck me as a place that I could live in (as opposed to most other area's I've been to in Europe, which are great to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there). Unfortunately I couldn't get a direct train to Bern and had to go via Zurich. I was very amused that the train from Zurich to Bern left EXACTLY on time.
[pic: the view from outside the window of the train, somewhere between Lugano and Zurich]
Bern is a quiet town that is very pretty. There isn't much to see there, but its in the centre (more or less) of Switzerland so is surrounded by mountains and has a river that runs through it.
[pic: Bern from a good vantage point on my first night]
My first night at the hostel was typical. When you arrive they gave you the linen to make up your bed. I did so and went to sleep early that night. Our room was divided by a wall that went through the centre. On one side there were two bunk beds and on the other there was only one bunk bed. Being unlucky I got landed in the side with two bunk beds and the guy sleeping in the bunk undearneath me snored (of course). At about midnight I'd had enough so decided to crash in the other area of the room with the spare bunk beds (which appeared to be empty).
I got to the spare bunk beds and I noticed that there was linen that was folded on the table next to the bed. So I took it, quickly made up the bed and went to sleep. After about an hour it then dawned on me that as we get our linen when we arrived the likelihood is a person WAS sleeping in that bed, but just didn't bother to make up the bed before they went out. So they would come back and see me sleeping in their bed, with their linen!
In the end I decided to risk it and fortunately no one was sleeping there so i got a good night's sleep!
The next day I discovered a favourite pasttime of the Swiss that live here is to jump into the river (at a chilly 19 degrees celsius) and let the very strong current take you down stream. I was told when I arrived there that, although fun, the river is very dangerous and each year about 10 people die swimming in it (mainly, because if you miss the last area to "bail out" there is nothing to stop you except for the dam further down stream...). Also, when you get close to the river there are signs in every language under the sun that you swim there at your own risk.
Because of this I decided to give it a miss, but I got some great photo's of people being taken downstream by the river. In all about 1,000 were all doing it at the same time. Looked like a lot of fun (and if I'm being honest I kinda wish I'd given it a go)!
[pic: a lady contemplating whether to jump into the river at Bern. If you look closely you can see people in the river floating downstream]
After Bern it was a two hour trip to Geneva where I met up with Mel and her family. After a month by myself it was terrific to see a familiar face! Also, staying in a proper house, in a cool, dark room by myself, is absolute luxury. Mel's family are great value and have been very acommodating. One thing which made me laugh is Colin (Mel's Dad) remembers fondly that fateful golf game with Dad in Malaysia...
I had an explore around Geneva and found it to be different to what I had pictured. I thought there would be at least some high rise buildings, and have more intimidating architecture. I found it to be very quaint and modest. It looks to be a really nice place to live. We have done the touristy things, like taking pictures in front of the the Jet d'eau (water fountain), visiting the cathedral, taking pictures in front of the cannons, seeing the UN building and seeing the flower clock.
[pic: me posing in front of the Jet d'deau]
[pic: me posing on a cannon...and mel put me up to doing that!]
[pic: at the top of the cathedral with geneva in the background]
There is also a music festival on here atm and we are hoping to go to that tomorrow and also have a day trip up the Swiss Alps. Should be a lot of fun!
Fortunately Mel hasn't yet got me completely drunk and taken pictures but I'll keep you posted...
Talk soon
Anthony
I took the train from Bologna (via Milan) up through the Swiss Alps. The first thing that struck me was that the Swiss landscape is very similar to the South Island of New Zealand. They have the same mountains and lakes, and we even went past a fair amount of farms!
Needless to say it was pretty spectacular, and struck me as a place that I could live in (as opposed to most other area's I've been to in Europe, which are great to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there). Unfortunately I couldn't get a direct train to Bern and had to go via Zurich. I was very amused that the train from Zurich to Bern left EXACTLY on time.
[pic: the view from outside the window of the train, somewhere between Lugano and Zurich]
Bern is a quiet town that is very pretty. There isn't much to see there, but its in the centre (more or less) of Switzerland so is surrounded by mountains and has a river that runs through it.
[pic: Bern from a good vantage point on my first night]
My first night at the hostel was typical. When you arrive they gave you the linen to make up your bed. I did so and went to sleep early that night. Our room was divided by a wall that went through the centre. On one side there were two bunk beds and on the other there was only one bunk bed. Being unlucky I got landed in the side with two bunk beds and the guy sleeping in the bunk undearneath me snored (of course). At about midnight I'd had enough so decided to crash in the other area of the room with the spare bunk beds (which appeared to be empty).
I got to the spare bunk beds and I noticed that there was linen that was folded on the table next to the bed. So I took it, quickly made up the bed and went to sleep. After about an hour it then dawned on me that as we get our linen when we arrived the likelihood is a person WAS sleeping in that bed, but just didn't bother to make up the bed before they went out. So they would come back and see me sleeping in their bed, with their linen!
In the end I decided to risk it and fortunately no one was sleeping there so i got a good night's sleep!
The next day I discovered a favourite pasttime of the Swiss that live here is to jump into the river (at a chilly 19 degrees celsius) and let the very strong current take you down stream. I was told when I arrived there that, although fun, the river is very dangerous and each year about 10 people die swimming in it (mainly, because if you miss the last area to "bail out" there is nothing to stop you except for the dam further down stream...). Also, when you get close to the river there are signs in every language under the sun that you swim there at your own risk.
Because of this I decided to give it a miss, but I got some great photo's of people being taken downstream by the river. In all about 1,000 were all doing it at the same time. Looked like a lot of fun (and if I'm being honest I kinda wish I'd given it a go)!
[pic: a lady contemplating whether to jump into the river at Bern. If you look closely you can see people in the river floating downstream]
After Bern it was a two hour trip to Geneva where I met up with Mel and her family. After a month by myself it was terrific to see a familiar face! Also, staying in a proper house, in a cool, dark room by myself, is absolute luxury. Mel's family are great value and have been very acommodating. One thing which made me laugh is Colin (Mel's Dad) remembers fondly that fateful golf game with Dad in Malaysia...
I had an explore around Geneva and found it to be different to what I had pictured. I thought there would be at least some high rise buildings, and have more intimidating architecture. I found it to be very quaint and modest. It looks to be a really nice place to live. We have done the touristy things, like taking pictures in front of the the Jet d'eau (water fountain), visiting the cathedral, taking pictures in front of the cannons, seeing the UN building and seeing the flower clock.
[pic: me posing in front of the Jet d'deau]
[pic: me posing on a cannon...and mel put me up to doing that!]
[pic: at the top of the cathedral with geneva in the background]
There is also a music festival on here atm and we are hoping to go to that tomorrow and also have a day trip up the Swiss Alps. Should be a lot of fun!
Fortunately Mel hasn't yet got me completely drunk and taken pictures but I'll keep you posted...
Talk soon
Anthony
Friday, July 16, 2010
Ahhhh Venice (and Florence)
Before this trip started I was most excited about visiting Venice. It didnt disappoint. Venice was exactly how I imagined it would be in my mind. Its a very beautiful place, similar to any city in Europe but instead of roads they have canals. Its a cool experince wondering the streets there.
[pic: Ahhhh Venice]
Apart from visiting the main center and basilica the thing that I wanted to do most was to get a picture in front of the library/converted church from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Now this is easier said than done, Venice is notoriously difficult to navigate around and I had no idea what the library/church was called! Even after I googled it it was almost impossible to find the area of the city to start looking. Even worse there are literally hundreds of places that look very similar everywhere you go. So its hard to work out whether youre on the right track.
To be honest I pretty much gave up on the idea after searching for about half an hour. Then, the next day when I was wondering around I stumbled upon it. Result! I got a few cool pictures in front of it as well which I am pretty pleased with.
[pic: "tht doesn't look much like a library...looks like a converted church."]
I only spent two nights in Venice and, as beautiful a it is, I was ready to move on. There isnt much to do in terms of tourist attractions and it is the most expensive city in Italy so I was churning through the cash at an alarming rate.
From Venice it was a two and a half hour train ride to Florence. The hostel I stayed in there was realy nice and had...wait for it....AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!! That was an absolute God send as things have been horrendeosly hot in Europe for the last month (in fact I saw a news article that people were wondering around in bikinis in MOSCOW; now thats a heat wave!)
Florence is a very beautiful place as well, probably after Venice the second most beautiful place Ive been to in Italy. I had been there once before but there was much I didnt get to do and see. The highlights were probably the Uffizi gallery, which houses some of the most well known paintings around, including a couple from Leonardo Da Vinci. As an interesting side note, I was bored the other day so Wikipedied Leonardo. Wikipedia told me that only about 15 of his paintings survive today and in the last month and a half Ive seen about 10 of them! Standing in line for an hour and a half to get into the Uffizi was not a highlight though!
Yesterday I went to the museaum that houses Michaelangelos David.
[pic: me posing ridiculously below a replica of Michaelangelo's David]
That too was very impressive as too were the half finished sculptures on either side. That night we (Id made friends with an English girl in the hostel and a New Zealand guy) went to Michaelangelos piazza to view the sunset, which we had been told was a "must do" in Florence. It was absolutely breathtaking and again I have some amazing pictures.
[pic: sunset at the piazza]
[pic: sunset in Florence again; me showing off my guns haha]
After three nights it was time to move on though and Im currently in Bologna. As i got here a few hours ago there isnt much to report yet but watch this space!
Anthony
[pic: Ahhhh Venice]
Apart from visiting the main center and basilica the thing that I wanted to do most was to get a picture in front of the library/converted church from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Now this is easier said than done, Venice is notoriously difficult to navigate around and I had no idea what the library/church was called! Even after I googled it it was almost impossible to find the area of the city to start looking. Even worse there are literally hundreds of places that look very similar everywhere you go. So its hard to work out whether youre on the right track.
To be honest I pretty much gave up on the idea after searching for about half an hour. Then, the next day when I was wondering around I stumbled upon it. Result! I got a few cool pictures in front of it as well which I am pretty pleased with.
[pic: "tht doesn't look much like a library...looks like a converted church."]
I only spent two nights in Venice and, as beautiful a it is, I was ready to move on. There isnt much to do in terms of tourist attractions and it is the most expensive city in Italy so I was churning through the cash at an alarming rate.
From Venice it was a two and a half hour train ride to Florence. The hostel I stayed in there was realy nice and had...wait for it....AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!! That was an absolute God send as things have been horrendeosly hot in Europe for the last month (in fact I saw a news article that people were wondering around in bikinis in MOSCOW; now thats a heat wave!)
Florence is a very beautiful place as well, probably after Venice the second most beautiful place Ive been to in Italy. I had been there once before but there was much I didnt get to do and see. The highlights were probably the Uffizi gallery, which houses some of the most well known paintings around, including a couple from Leonardo Da Vinci. As an interesting side note, I was bored the other day so Wikipedied Leonardo. Wikipedia told me that only about 15 of his paintings survive today and in the last month and a half Ive seen about 10 of them! Standing in line for an hour and a half to get into the Uffizi was not a highlight though!
Yesterday I went to the museaum that houses Michaelangelos David.
[pic: me posing ridiculously below a replica of Michaelangelo's David]
That too was very impressive as too were the half finished sculptures on either side. That night we (Id made friends with an English girl in the hostel and a New Zealand guy) went to Michaelangelos piazza to view the sunset, which we had been told was a "must do" in Florence. It was absolutely breathtaking and again I have some amazing pictures.
[pic: sunset at the piazza]
[pic: sunset in Florence again; me showing off my guns haha]
After three nights it was time to move on though and Im currently in Bologna. As i got here a few hours ago there isnt much to report yet but watch this space!
Anthony
Friday, July 9, 2010
Milan
Hey
Just a quick post to update eveyone and answer a frequently asked question, that is: how are you enjoying travelling by yourself?
Truth be told its fine. There are a few ups and downs and it would be great to have someone to share the good times and bad times with but there are a lot of positioves as well (mainly, that you can do everything at your own pace). I've adjusted to the hostel life pretty quickly which is good. Its actually a really good way to do things, and if you have cool room mates its a lot of fun. Of course the opposite is true as well and if you're room mates are creepy it can be a real drag. There's a certain honour amoungst travellers in hostels which I've noticed, and which helps a lot. Similar to how in golf you never walk on someone's line, in hostels there are things which are not done either, such as:
> if you get in late you try to make as little noise as possible; and
> you never turn on the light if someone's trying to sleep.
I've also noticed that everyone (myself included) goes out of their way to be nice to the other room mates. This is mainly because (I think) that everyone is worried that they might get their stuff stolen. So you try and take measures to ensure that it stays safe, like locking your bags and being super nice to everyone. The logic is that if there is a thief in the room if you're really nice to them they won't steal your stuff, they will steal from the other, less nice person. Of course this logic is totally flawed but it does mean that you are constantly meeting new people and everyone seems to get along quite well.
Of course there are some people who don't follow this ettiquette, like my last room mate here who I'm certain was an ex prostitute or drug addict. She (who for the purposes of this post I will call the Crack Whore) had a disgustingly weathered face and masculine voice, coughed and spluttered like a diseased person and had those crazy eyes. Naturally I tried to be nice for fear she might stab me in the middle of the night or something. She was constantly getting up in the middle of the night and switching ALL the lights and when I woke up the next morning she was smoking a cigarette in bed. Needless to say I was pretty annoyed. Fortunately though the Crack Whore went that day and my new room mates seem okay.
Milan itself is pretty cool. Went to the Duomo, which is a large cathedral in the centre of town.
[pic: Duomo in Milan]
Was pretty cool but didn't find the body that Mum told me was there....
Also saw Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper. Was blown away by that. And I have to say (my art historian friends may not like this next part) that I'm convinced that the figure on the left of Jesus is a woman. I know that traditionally John is depicted as young and effeminate (and often even asleep on Jesus' shoulder) and I agree with the logic art historians use as to why that figure is not a woman but when you look at the painting you see a woman. Presumably its Mary Magdeline. Also telling (in my view) is the painting at the other end of the hall. This showns the crucifixion and Mary Magdeline IS depicted in it. Both paintings were done at the same time and Mary Magdeline is wearing the same clothes (in roughly the same shade) as the figure in The Last Supper.
So I'm pretty convinced. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Dan Brown was right, I'm just saying that Leonardo, for reasons only known to him, decided to paint Mary Magdeline in the Last Supper...maybe he thought it was funny or something.
[pic: a copy of the Last Supper, I wasn't able to take a picture of the actual painting!]
One thing that also made me laugh is that there is an archway that intrudes onto the bottom of the picture (google the picture and you'll see what I mean). Apparently years after it was painted the decision was made to build an arch and the moron that did it decided to cut into Leoonardo's masterpeice. Why you would do this is just beyond me. I hope that man didn't get his Christmas bonus that year!
I was supposed to head to Lake Como today but unfortunately there was a train strike (not even the metro was working) so I wasn't able to. Looks like I'll have to do that tomorrow. That sort of killed the day a bit for me so I've just been taking it easy. I also decided to get out of the way a few of the more mundane things and even got my haircut. The barber didn't speak a word of English and my Italian is pretty non existant so its no surprise that I'm now sporting a pretty terrible haircut! Haha
[pic: Where I had dinner that night - designed by Leonardo Da Vinci]
Anthony
Just a quick post to update eveyone and answer a frequently asked question, that is: how are you enjoying travelling by yourself?
Truth be told its fine. There are a few ups and downs and it would be great to have someone to share the good times and bad times with but there are a lot of positioves as well (mainly, that you can do everything at your own pace). I've adjusted to the hostel life pretty quickly which is good. Its actually a really good way to do things, and if you have cool room mates its a lot of fun. Of course the opposite is true as well and if you're room mates are creepy it can be a real drag. There's a certain honour amoungst travellers in hostels which I've noticed, and which helps a lot. Similar to how in golf you never walk on someone's line, in hostels there are things which are not done either, such as:
> if you get in late you try to make as little noise as possible; and
> you never turn on the light if someone's trying to sleep.
I've also noticed that everyone (myself included) goes out of their way to be nice to the other room mates. This is mainly because (I think) that everyone is worried that they might get their stuff stolen. So you try and take measures to ensure that it stays safe, like locking your bags and being super nice to everyone. The logic is that if there is a thief in the room if you're really nice to them they won't steal your stuff, they will steal from the other, less nice person. Of course this logic is totally flawed but it does mean that you are constantly meeting new people and everyone seems to get along quite well.
Of course there are some people who don't follow this ettiquette, like my last room mate here who I'm certain was an ex prostitute or drug addict. She (who for the purposes of this post I will call the Crack Whore) had a disgustingly weathered face and masculine voice, coughed and spluttered like a diseased person and had those crazy eyes. Naturally I tried to be nice for fear she might stab me in the middle of the night or something. She was constantly getting up in the middle of the night and switching ALL the lights and when I woke up the next morning she was smoking a cigarette in bed. Needless to say I was pretty annoyed. Fortunately though the Crack Whore went that day and my new room mates seem okay.
Milan itself is pretty cool. Went to the Duomo, which is a large cathedral in the centre of town.
[pic: Duomo in Milan]
Was pretty cool but didn't find the body that Mum told me was there....
Also saw Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper. Was blown away by that. And I have to say (my art historian friends may not like this next part) that I'm convinced that the figure on the left of Jesus is a woman. I know that traditionally John is depicted as young and effeminate (and often even asleep on Jesus' shoulder) and I agree with the logic art historians use as to why that figure is not a woman but when you look at the painting you see a woman. Presumably its Mary Magdeline. Also telling (in my view) is the painting at the other end of the hall. This showns the crucifixion and Mary Magdeline IS depicted in it. Both paintings were done at the same time and Mary Magdeline is wearing the same clothes (in roughly the same shade) as the figure in The Last Supper.
So I'm pretty convinced. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Dan Brown was right, I'm just saying that Leonardo, for reasons only known to him, decided to paint Mary Magdeline in the Last Supper...maybe he thought it was funny or something.
[pic: a copy of the Last Supper, I wasn't able to take a picture of the actual painting!]
One thing that also made me laugh is that there is an archway that intrudes onto the bottom of the picture (google the picture and you'll see what I mean). Apparently years after it was painted the decision was made to build an arch and the moron that did it decided to cut into Leoonardo's masterpeice. Why you would do this is just beyond me. I hope that man didn't get his Christmas bonus that year!
I was supposed to head to Lake Como today but unfortunately there was a train strike (not even the metro was working) so I wasn't able to. Looks like I'll have to do that tomorrow. That sort of killed the day a bit for me so I've just been taking it easy. I also decided to get out of the way a few of the more mundane things and even got my haircut. The barber didn't speak a word of English and my Italian is pretty non existant so its no surprise that I'm now sporting a pretty terrible haircut! Haha
[pic: Where I had dinner that night - designed by Leonardo Da Vinci]
Anthony
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Living it up on the French Riveira
So I'm loving the French Riviera. The hostel I'm staying in in Nice is the best I've been in so far. Its comfortable, you can get meals for 6 Euros, they have one Euro beers and they even have a big screen so you can watch the football. Pretty cool set up. Its only drawback is that its a little bit out from the city centre (but considering they have a bar that serves beer for one Euro its not THAT much of a drawback...) The room I was put in for the first two nights was incredibly hot (my terrible luck continues...) however they were nice enough (no pun intended) to move me around for the next three nights to let me have a cooler room.
[pic: the view from the hostel of Nice]
Have been meeting a few hard case people in the dorm rooms. Probably the funniest was an Irish-man called Jay. I met Jay at the worst possible time, I had decided to have a night off drinking, but he, being the stereotypical Irishman (ie, drinks like a fish, foulmouthed (but because of his accent no-one takes offence) and good fun) managed to talk me out of it. Needless to say it was a big night, probably most memorable because Jay kept introducing himself to new comers, putting on an Australian accent and saying: "Oi! Do yoouuu like Ostraaaalia? 'Cos if yooouu don't yoouu can get the f**k ouuuutttt!" Then laughed hysterically.
Something about the Irish...I was horrified when he did it the first time, but everyone thought it was hilarious, even if about half thought he actually was from Australia, and not one person took offence to it!
Been having a few day trips here. Went to Villefranche the first day which was terrific. It was there that I discovered the secret to getting into and out of the pebble beaches: you go in up to your shins, then emerce yourself in the water as best you can and crawl out to sea. Not only does this ensure that you dont break your ankle, it looks graceful as well (haha...yeah right!) When I did it the first time I was mocked by all but by the end of the day we were all doing it!
[pic: Villefranche]
I also decided that when I'm a billionaire I will be buying a house in Villefranche, its beyond awesome.
And speaking of billionaires the next day I went to Monaco. The amount of money that's there is ridiculous. Lets just say that if you drive round in Monaco in anything less than a Bentley you'd be considered poor. I went for a stroll down by the port and saw row after row of super yachts. Perhaps just as impressive was the sort of cars in the carpark. Within 35 meters I saw a Maclaren Mercedes SLR and 3 Ferrari's (including a Ferrari Enzo). Wow.
[pic: one of the ports at Monaco. Trust me, the super yachts were a lot bigger than they look in this picture!]
[pic: the view from the steps of the Casino in Monaco]
To be honest though I'm not that big a fan of Monaco. Its cool, but its a bit stupid at the same time (you got the impression that the billionaires that lived there just wanted to have the huge super yacht and fast car to show off a bit). I far preferred Villefranche or Nice.
I also went to Cannes and loved that place as well. Perhaps the most impressive part of Cannes was the beach, which, shockingly, had sand on it! Was a welcome change.
[pic: OMG a sandy beach! Its a miracle!]
Today I just had a wonder around Nice. Again I really enjoyed it. However, I did notice that the guys who ask for tickets on the trams are on a bit of a power trip. They're all militant looking types, dressed in combat boots and white polo shirts. They also have pepper spray and all of them seem to have army style haircuts. You get the impression that they'd really love to be in Stazi or something...If you're caught on the tram without a validated ticket they go a bit mental. We witnessed one kid yesterday who got on their bad side and was pined up against the wall by four of them and forced to pay the 43 Euro fine (and just so you know the price of a ticket is 1 Euro). Admittedly this kid was an idiot and tried to act all tough, but you still don't need four militants to pin one 15 year old skinny kid up against the wall...
I saw them again today, acting all macho and tough, but then they greated each other by kissing on both cheeks!
I know its a European thing but it still cracked me up.
Off to Milan tomorrow for 4 nights, so will be in touch soon.
Anthony
[pic: the view from the hostel of Nice]
Have been meeting a few hard case people in the dorm rooms. Probably the funniest was an Irish-man called Jay. I met Jay at the worst possible time, I had decided to have a night off drinking, but he, being the stereotypical Irishman (ie, drinks like a fish, foulmouthed (but because of his accent no-one takes offence) and good fun) managed to talk me out of it. Needless to say it was a big night, probably most memorable because Jay kept introducing himself to new comers, putting on an Australian accent and saying: "Oi! Do yoouuu like Ostraaaalia? 'Cos if yooouu don't yoouu can get the f**k ouuuutttt!" Then laughed hysterically.
Something about the Irish...I was horrified when he did it the first time, but everyone thought it was hilarious, even if about half thought he actually was from Australia, and not one person took offence to it!
Been having a few day trips here. Went to Villefranche the first day which was terrific. It was there that I discovered the secret to getting into and out of the pebble beaches: you go in up to your shins, then emerce yourself in the water as best you can and crawl out to sea. Not only does this ensure that you dont break your ankle, it looks graceful as well (haha...yeah right!) When I did it the first time I was mocked by all but by the end of the day we were all doing it!
[pic: Villefranche]
I also decided that when I'm a billionaire I will be buying a house in Villefranche, its beyond awesome.
And speaking of billionaires the next day I went to Monaco. The amount of money that's there is ridiculous. Lets just say that if you drive round in Monaco in anything less than a Bentley you'd be considered poor. I went for a stroll down by the port and saw row after row of super yachts. Perhaps just as impressive was the sort of cars in the carpark. Within 35 meters I saw a Maclaren Mercedes SLR and 3 Ferrari's (including a Ferrari Enzo). Wow.
[pic: one of the ports at Monaco. Trust me, the super yachts were a lot bigger than they look in this picture!]
[pic: the view from the steps of the Casino in Monaco]
To be honest though I'm not that big a fan of Monaco. Its cool, but its a bit stupid at the same time (you got the impression that the billionaires that lived there just wanted to have the huge super yacht and fast car to show off a bit). I far preferred Villefranche or Nice.
I also went to Cannes and loved that place as well. Perhaps the most impressive part of Cannes was the beach, which, shockingly, had sand on it! Was a welcome change.
[pic: OMG a sandy beach! Its a miracle!]
Today I just had a wonder around Nice. Again I really enjoyed it. However, I did notice that the guys who ask for tickets on the trams are on a bit of a power trip. They're all militant looking types, dressed in combat boots and white polo shirts. They also have pepper spray and all of them seem to have army style haircuts. You get the impression that they'd really love to be in Stazi or something...If you're caught on the tram without a validated ticket they go a bit mental. We witnessed one kid yesterday who got on their bad side and was pined up against the wall by four of them and forced to pay the 43 Euro fine (and just so you know the price of a ticket is 1 Euro). Admittedly this kid was an idiot and tried to act all tough, but you still don't need four militants to pin one 15 year old skinny kid up against the wall...
I saw them again today, acting all macho and tough, but then they greated each other by kissing on both cheeks!
I know its a European thing but it still cracked me up.
Off to Milan tomorrow for 4 nights, so will be in touch soon.
Anthony
Friday, July 2, 2010
Frustrating times in Bordeaux...
So my love affair with the French is officially over.
After an incredibly enjoyable four days at San Sebastian I went to Bordeaux. There's only one hostel in Bordeaux so I had to book into a hotel: no problem though, to be honest I was actually looking forward to getting a few decent nights sleep.
After I checked in I explored Bordeaux. Its a pretty place that reminded me a lot of New Orleans.
[pic: A cool water fountain thing in Bordeaux]
[pic: Bordeaux again]
There was also a food festival on and all the restaurants in town all set up tent in the main street so I was spoiled for choice as to where to go. Unfortunately none of the menus were in English but in the end I was able to order a steak and some red wine (the steak was average but the red wine was amazing). After that it was home James for a good nights sleep.
Unfortunately for me the hotel, although comfortable, was sweltering hot and had no air conditioning. The water from the taps was also warm so I didn't have the option of having a cold shower to cool off. Even worse, outside the hotel was a fountain that got lit up at night. However most of the light also shone directly into my room!
Let me tell you it was horrific. Needless to say what followed was perhaps the worst nights sleep of my life. At four in the morning I decided that I wanted out, so I booked myself into another hotel for the next night (even though I'd paid for the second nights accommodation in advance at the first hotel).
By the morning I was hot, tired and frustrated. I then went to check out, wondering whether the lady behind the counter spoke English:
"Bonjour monsieur" the lady behind the counter said.
"Bonjour. Parlez-vous Anglais?"
"yes"
I was in business.
"I'm staying in room 116. I've booked for two nights but I'd like to check out now please"
"pardon?"
"I've booked for two nights but I'd like to check out now please"
"ohh, oui. So how many nights would you like to stay?"
"no no. I'm checking out"
This went on for a while: her English was average and my french was non-existent!
Eventually she understood and printed off another bill (despite me insisting that I'd already paid; in the end I had to dig up my receipt and give it to her to prove it). I also said that I needed to pay for breakfast (a complete rip off at 8 euros) and she asked whether I wanted breakfast tomorrow morning as well!
"no no no no no. I'm checking out now, I won't be here tomorrow"
"but do you want breakfast tomorrow?"
"I'm not going to be here tomorrow! I'm going forever!"
"oh, pardon, my English is not very good."
"thats okay"
In the end I though we had it sorted and I "checked out" only for her to say "see you tonight". Then we had to start all over again!
Grrrrrr
My next hotel was terrific; albeit out a little bit in a dodgy neighbourhood.
Bordeaux is a nice place but here is my advice if you go there: spend extra and stay at the best hotel you can find right in the heart of the city. Trust me on this one.
From there my frustrations grew as my train was delayed (or retard, in French) by 2.5 hours. This meant that I missed my next train in Toulouse and had another long wait (naturally I didn't get a refund on what I'd paid for the ticket of the train that I missed). Then my next train got delayed!
My scheduled arrival in Marseille was 6pm and I ended up getting in at past midnight. So frustrating times indeed...
Marseille is an okay place but its a bit dodgy. I was always looking over my shoulder as trouble felt like it was close by. That day I tried to go to the prison island in the centre of the bay. (the Alcatraz of Europe) Its called Chateau d'if (I think anyway) and was the prison from the book, and later movie, The Count of Monte Christo. I say "tried" as I accidentally got off at the wrong island (the announcements were all in French so I thought I'd follow the crowd, wrongly assuming that they'd all be going to the prison!) Although I went to the wrong place I had a good time at the other island and got some cool pictures which I hope to post on here as soon as I can.
[pic: the view from the main train station in Marseille]
[pic: the view od the harbour. As I found out Chateau d'if is the island on the left...]
I'm currently in Nice and am loving it! It really is a nice place (hehe). Had my first swim in the Mediterranean which was awesome. The stones on the beach were less awesome but at least the water was warm and the sun is out! The hostel here is great as well so it should be a fun, relaxing few days.
[pic: Ahhhh, Nice...]
Anyway got to go, happy hour at the hostel is about to start....
Anthony
After an incredibly enjoyable four days at San Sebastian I went to Bordeaux. There's only one hostel in Bordeaux so I had to book into a hotel: no problem though, to be honest I was actually looking forward to getting a few decent nights sleep.
After I checked in I explored Bordeaux. Its a pretty place that reminded me a lot of New Orleans.
[pic: A cool water fountain thing in Bordeaux]
[pic: Bordeaux again]
There was also a food festival on and all the restaurants in town all set up tent in the main street so I was spoiled for choice as to where to go. Unfortunately none of the menus were in English but in the end I was able to order a steak and some red wine (the steak was average but the red wine was amazing). After that it was home James for a good nights sleep.
Unfortunately for me the hotel, although comfortable, was sweltering hot and had no air conditioning. The water from the taps was also warm so I didn't have the option of having a cold shower to cool off. Even worse, outside the hotel was a fountain that got lit up at night. However most of the light also shone directly into my room!
Let me tell you it was horrific. Needless to say what followed was perhaps the worst nights sleep of my life. At four in the morning I decided that I wanted out, so I booked myself into another hotel for the next night (even though I'd paid for the second nights accommodation in advance at the first hotel).
By the morning I was hot, tired and frustrated. I then went to check out, wondering whether the lady behind the counter spoke English:
"Bonjour monsieur" the lady behind the counter said.
"Bonjour. Parlez-vous Anglais?"
"yes"
I was in business.
"I'm staying in room 116. I've booked for two nights but I'd like to check out now please"
"pardon?"
"I've booked for two nights but I'd like to check out now please"
"ohh, oui. So how many nights would you like to stay?"
"no no. I'm checking out"
This went on for a while: her English was average and my french was non-existent!
Eventually she understood and printed off another bill (despite me insisting that I'd already paid; in the end I had to dig up my receipt and give it to her to prove it). I also said that I needed to pay for breakfast (a complete rip off at 8 euros) and she asked whether I wanted breakfast tomorrow morning as well!
"no no no no no. I'm checking out now, I won't be here tomorrow"
"but do you want breakfast tomorrow?"
"I'm not going to be here tomorrow! I'm going forever!"
"oh, pardon, my English is not very good."
"thats okay"
In the end I though we had it sorted and I "checked out" only for her to say "see you tonight". Then we had to start all over again!
Grrrrrr
My next hotel was terrific; albeit out a little bit in a dodgy neighbourhood.
Bordeaux is a nice place but here is my advice if you go there: spend extra and stay at the best hotel you can find right in the heart of the city. Trust me on this one.
From there my frustrations grew as my train was delayed (or retard, in French) by 2.5 hours. This meant that I missed my next train in Toulouse and had another long wait (naturally I didn't get a refund on what I'd paid for the ticket of the train that I missed). Then my next train got delayed!
My scheduled arrival in Marseille was 6pm and I ended up getting in at past midnight. So frustrating times indeed...
Marseille is an okay place but its a bit dodgy. I was always looking over my shoulder as trouble felt like it was close by. That day I tried to go to the prison island in the centre of the bay. (the Alcatraz of Europe) Its called Chateau d'if (I think anyway) and was the prison from the book, and later movie, The Count of Monte Christo. I say "tried" as I accidentally got off at the wrong island (the announcements were all in French so I thought I'd follow the crowd, wrongly assuming that they'd all be going to the prison!) Although I went to the wrong place I had a good time at the other island and got some cool pictures which I hope to post on here as soon as I can.
[pic: the view from the main train station in Marseille]
[pic: the view od the harbour. As I found out Chateau d'if is the island on the left...]
I'm currently in Nice and am loving it! It really is a nice place (hehe). Had my first swim in the Mediterranean which was awesome. The stones on the beach were less awesome but at least the water was warm and the sun is out! The hostel here is great as well so it should be a fun, relaxing few days.
[pic: Ahhhh, Nice...]
Anyway got to go, happy hour at the hostel is about to start....
Anthony
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