Transatlanticism

Where East meets West: Turkey

2007-06-25T03:53:00.000-07:00

Istanbul was the city that most shocked my senses on this trip. It's a very westernised city in Turkey but not quite like anything I was used to. Walking down the main streets proved difficult with old Turkish dudes staring at the tourist I was and people hassling you to eat at their restaurant, buy their turkish carpets or stay at their hotels. This literally happened every second, I could barely take a breath to say no before the next one hassled me. That said, it was all worth it.

I got to see the most amazing two mosques: The Blue Mosque (which is still an active mosque) and the Hagia Sophia (now a museum). They were so amazing, a nice change from the catholic churches we were seeing so frequently. We bargained so much at the Grand Bazaar and other shops alike to get beautiful jewelry and scarves at reasonable prices (it really is hard to get a good bargain here, we worked so hard!). We wondering the tangled streets and mixed in with the locals, ate lots of turkish delight and kebabs, admired the lovely Topkapi Palace where the Sultans once resided and sailed along the Bosphorus seeing how huge Istanbul really is. We mainly stuck to the touristy Sultanahmet and nearby Eminonu which is such a small part of Istanbul but it really is so big that you'd need to be a local to know where to go outside of these areas!

The Blue Mosque

The really exciting part of our stay in Turkey was an area in the centre of the country called Cappadocia. This area is famous for its facinating rock formations which was caused by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago that spread ash everywhere. Over time everything eroded to form these amazing valleys and rock formations. It was ideal for people to carve into these rocks and early Christians lived in caves and underground cities they had carved out in the areas.

That's a bit of ancient history but we did however, stay in a cave too! Most hotels and pensions in the town we stayed in, Goreme, have rooms carved out of caves that keep the temperture cool and give a great experience. We used this town as a base to go on amazing walks around some of the best scenery I have ever laid eyes on. We also went on a bus tour that took us to an underground cave city, a massive gorge which we walked through and a monastry carved out of rock. It was amazing seeing tables and churches carved out of this rock with beautiful frescos painted in archways and on roofs.

The highlight was the hot air balloon. This is what everyone does in Cappadocia and although it's expensive we ended the trip with this amazing experience. I have never been on a hot air balloon before and I can tell you this: please do it once before you die (preferrably in Cappadocia). Rising in and out of valleys coming so close to these incredible rocks was just awesome. I can't describe it.

Goreme and in the background the Rose Valley from the hot air balloon

And that's all folks. I could make a separate entry for Hong Kong but pretty much all we did there was shop ourselves silly and choke on the humidity.

A BIG thank you to everyone who kept up with this blog and kept in touch with me through it. I really appreciate it. It was great to know that people read about my adventures and cared about what I was doing. I hope I have given you all some inspiration to get out there and for those who have, I hope you related to me and I can't wait to share stories.

Thanks again!

Chilling out in Barcelona

2007-06-13T07:11:00.000-07:00

This is totally a city I could live in. Barcelona is the coolest city I have been to since Berlin. It is also the first time I have shopped since Berlin which is probably a bad thing but the fashion is really cool and there are great independent jewelery designers (one of which I splashed out on a really gorgeous ring). The cool stuff is mainly concentrated in the old town areas of El Born and the Barri Gottic. Not only were the shops cool but the food and cafes are great! We took advantage of the cheap set price 3 course lunch meals which were imcredibly good value with amazing food. Of course there are also lovely cathedrals and churches and what not but we are a bit over the site seeing and more excited about the fashion!

We did however do a comprehensive tour of Antoni Gaudi architecture, a fresh change from Cathdrals and Palaces (don´t get me wrong, I love those too!). For those of you who don´t know, Gaudi was a really famous architect from Barcelona whose designs were so unusual that he became really popular and was commissioned by the city to do all sorts of projects. The most famous is the Sagrada Familia, an enormous church that still isn´t finished today, nearly 100 years later. We also saw the famous apartment blocks La Pedrerra with their famous chimney´s and Park Guell wıth it´s famous lizard and snake like benches. His style ıncorporated a lot of mosaıcs and was very gothic. It really dazzled me, I have never seen architecture like it before, nothing even matches his creative style in this day and age.
Sagrada Familia
The rooftop of La Pedrerra

The highlight of Barcelona was the 3 day Primavera music festival held in the city at the best festival grounds I have been too. So spaceous and excellent stages with a view of the sea and with the majority of the festival taking place in the night the atmosphere was great (one night we got home at 7am!). The highlights were The Smashing Pumpkins, which really was Billy Corgan reliving his glory days with only half the band but it was still fun hearing the classics, Blonde Redhead, The Melvins(who I´m surprised didn´t make me deaf - loudest band ever!), Modest Mouse, Built to Spill, and Wilco. The most amazing act though was Sonic Youth who played theır break through album Daydream Nation from start to end follwed by some newies in an encore. What an incredible performance, I am truly a converted fan now!

We did a lot of lying around in Barcelona (getting to bed at 7am will do that) so we missed a few museums, including Picasso´s (we didn´t know it closed at 3 on Sundays and had only got up at 2) and a cable car ride up tp Montjuic where the Olympic events were held (We did see the stadium though) but we got to try a lot of excellent food and really emersed ourselves in the city, including the dodgy El Ravel area where there prostitutes hanging out on corners but also some excellent record stores and cafes. It was definately one of my favourite cities.

My next update about Turkey will probably be from home (unless I have time in busy Hong Kong) so you may see me before I update next. Looking forward to June 22, can´t wait to see everyone!

Hola from España!

2007-05-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

I think I have a new favourite country: Spain. Tapas bars on every corner, free food with your beer, laidback people who start everything late (shops after 10am, dinner at 9.30pm), siesta's, sunshine till 9pm and the occasional flamenco. What more could you ask for?

First stop was a small medieval town called Toledo, about an hour out of Madrid. This town is so old and has really retained all of its medieval culture. It was great to wonder around the windy, narrow streets, which felt like you were walking in a maze (kinda like Venice) and it was so much fun to explore and lose myself in this really historical town.

Toledo

We travelled along the south of Spain next, which is apparently the more traditional part of the country: The area is Andalusia and first off was Seville. This city was full of tradition, with incredible tapas bars, an amazing Alcazar, which is a Spanish castle with enormous gardens, a huge gothic style cathedral, a bullring with a massive bullfighting following and a really laid back vibe. Wondering around the streets of the old town and dropping into bars to try a selection of tapas, like sausages, potatoes, salads, cheeses and meats with a refreshing glass of sangria was so much fun.

Bullring in Seville

The Alhambra may soon be one of the modern seven wonders of the world and that was the main attraction in Granada. Back in the 12th century Granada was occupied by Moors, or Arabs, so the town echoed Arabic culture and The Alhambra was built in this period so there was a lot of Islamic detail embedded in it. It acted as a sort of town within Granada with a beautiful Islamic style Palace with Arabic art engraved in the walls, lush gardens with fountains and an old fortress. We wondered around The Alhambra for about 4-5 hours, there was so much to see! Granada itself was a lovely town, particularly the Albaycin, the old town with old white buildings and tea houses.

The Palace in the Alhambra

We saw a lot of old white buildings along the Costa Del Sol, the southern coastal towns of Spain, which have been raided by tourists. Unfortunately the small town we picked, Nerja, was no better. It was like a British colony, the place had been taken over by British expats and tourists, so much so that it didn't feel like I was in Spain. The beaches however, were lovely. I wouldn't go so far as to compare them to Australian beaches, but they had some sand and clear blue water. We found a part of the beach that had great little coves to explore and even jumped in the painfully cold water when it was only 20 degrees!

Nerja beaches

So Spain has been wicked and next is the cultural capital: Barcelona. We have 9 nights with a cosy apartment and the 3 day Primavera Sound music festival to look forward to. Can't wait.

Snobbery Abounds!

2007-05-28T07:26:00.000-07:00

This is where the rich and famous flock to in France and it certainly wasn´t a true backpacker option, what with enormous French villa´s, expensive restaurants and glamorous people strolling down the streets. We didn´t really look the part with backpacks and I certainly didn´t fit in with the hundreds of topless women lining the beaches.

And the beaches, you´ve heard so much about them right? Well let me kill the aura of the French Riviera and tell you that they suck! Firstly there is no sand, just pebbles and rocks which isn´t very comfortable to lie on and it really hurts to walk on in bare feet. The water looks clean but when i managed to work up the courage and jump in (it was freezing!) it was actually pretty dirty. And unlike Australian beaches, which stretch for miles and have that great, easy going fun vibe, these beaches are small coves with everyone crowded in and a huge snobbery factor. People are here to sunbake and look good and pay money for the private beaches where waiters serve you drinks. ARG! There was so much pretension here I couldn´t stand it!

That said we stayed in a really pretty town called Villefranche-Sur-Mur meaning French village on the sea. It had a lovely little old town where we managed to find a really nice classic French restaurant (a little on the pricey side) and awesome deli meats and cheese to make our own rolls for lunch. We laughed at the people paying 2.50 for a glass bottle of 0.2 litre coke at the cafes while we skulled our 1.5 litre for less than half the price. Nice, the capital of the French Riviera, was pretty cool too. We only really explored the old town which had lots of little cafes, a food market and nice squares to chill out in.

I suspect we will be doing lots of chilling out in Spain, our next destination. But after France I am really craving an Australian beach. Give me Ocean Grove any day!

Switzerland

2007-05-18T08:22:00.000-07:00

There are no words to describe the Jungfrau region of Switzerland other than jaw dropping. Looking outside the window first thing in the morning and all you see are huge snow covered mountains towering way above and beautiful green valleys below. The place was incredible.

We stayed in two small towns: Murren, which was on the edge of a cliff, and Grindelwald, set within a valley. To get to Murren we had to catch a cable car up the side of a mountain and then a scenic cog rail with the most amazing views. It was the best welcoming to a town I have ever had. We had a lovely chalet in Grindelwald which was like living in our own apartment. It had a great balcony with the best view of the 3 biggest mountains in the region but it was a 30 minute uphill walk from the train station and the town, quite a treck after a day of hiking and a full belly after dinner!

We mostly did a lot of walking and hiking between small towns in the area amongst beautiful scenery. Everything is so green, which is a change coming from Melbourne. Walking amongst the mountains felt a bit intimidating because they are so big and threatening. During our walks we would stop in an isolated pub for a cold beer or a farming village for some local cheese and yoghurt, which always tasted better than anything you could buy in the Supermarket. A highlight was seeing a huge glacier and walking through amazing valleys and forests.

Unfortunately it rained a lot for us. Which made it hard to plan hikes. It also made it hard to plan when to go up to `The Top of Europe´ on the Jungfraubahn. This is basically the highest view point that anyone can reach in all of Europe on the Jungfrau mountain some 3000 metres high. You reach it via a special train that goes through the mountains on the steepest rails. You could probably guess that it costs a mint to take the ride up and so you would want to chose a clear day to get a nice view. When we woke up early in the morning the day looked glorious so we decided to go but it soon started to cloud over. When we go to the top we had a good 20 minutes or so to look out, which was something words can´t describe, and then the clouds set in and we couldn`t see a few feet out. It was an amazing experience though, one I will never forget. I mean, imagine being on the highest mountain in the Swiss region!
The view from Jungfrau

Thanks to everyone who sent birthday messages, I really appreciate it. I had a great day in Switzerland amongst the mountains and a lovely fondue dinner, which consists of a whole bunch of melted cheese which you dip bread and potatoes into. It`s a traditional Swiss cuisine and I loved it. Michael also bought me tickets to the Versailles palace near Paris which we are going to for a day when we get back to London (we are staying in London for another 4 days soon). We missed it last time cos it was closed on the day we went. So that was a great present!

Click here for photos

Stay tuned!

Italy Part Two: Under the Tuscan Sun

2007-05-02T06:35:00.000-07:00

Cinque Terre isn't techincally in Tuscany but the sun was blazing and not a cloud was in the sky for the three days we were there. Most of you may not have heard of the Cinque Terre and it is an absolute hidden gem!! It is 5 small villages sitting about 1-2km from each other on the cliffs of the Mediterranian coast. My eyes have never seen anything more beautiful than the scenery of the Cinque Terre. We stayed in the fourth town, Vernazza, which came out onto a small cove and the water was crystal clear. We sat on the rocks that jutted out from the cove as the sun set and just couldn't believe my eyes at the beauty of this place. It was truly amazing.

We also hiked between the towns, which at times was a little difficult as it was along the cliffs, but the sweating and the tiredness were completely irrelevant when I turned my head toward the sea and saw the most gorgeous views of the cliffs, the towns and the water. Definately a highlight of the trip.

Off to Florence next, what some may consider the capital of Tuscany and what I have heard many say one of the most beautiful cities in Italy. Unfortunately I didn't share this enthusiasm. It could have been the dreary weather we had, the millions of tourists due to an Italian long weekend, or the fact that we waited in lines for everything. In fact thats all I seemed to do in Florence! It took us 3 hours to see Michalangelo's David! 3 hours! We skipped the famous Uffizi Gallery cos the rumous suggested it would be an even longer wait. The two highlights of Florence were the excellent Trattoria we found by the nqme of Mario's. It had the best homemade Italian cooking I have tasted all trip set in a rameshackle restaurant with a great vibe and it was super cheap. The other highlight was an excellent view of Florence from Michalangelo's square and the surrounds of Tuscany.

Another town worth mentioning in Tuscany was Siena, which we went to on a day trip from Florence. It is a gorgeous medieval style town with beautiful scenery and a huge public square where everyone chilled out. It had an amazing church with famous artist's works and very intricate details. It was lovely to stroll around Siena, particularly for its old style and the amazing Tuscan scenery surrounding the walls of the town.

Stay tuned for stories of me relaxing in a delux chalet amongst the mountains in Switzerland!

Click here for Italy Photos

Italy Part One: Venice and Rome

2007-05-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

First off, Italy is just gorgeous!!

My first taste was in Venice, so of course my first impression was a good one! The place is an absolute labyrinth. Narrow streets wind everywhere and lead to nowhere, including deadends. Getting lost was a reoccuring theme but fun, its half the charm of Venice. The canals were a little smelly but they still look so pretty! We took a gondola ride (thanks to my Mum's generousity) armed with a bottle of red and of course a camera. It wasn't the most romantic thing in the world, despite the legends, but something you just have to do! We also had to eat amazing gelato and pizzas in the many piazza's throughout the islands, drink a classic venice drink called sprizze and fight our way through the crowds in the enormous San Marco square. All in all Venice is very picturesque and I fell in love with it.

Next was a day stop in Trieste, a small town on the sea way up North where my Dad's family is from. Here we stayed with his aunty, uncle and cousin where they stuffed our faces with food while we laughed with limited communication around the kitched table. It was everything I could have wanted staying with family in Italy. Classic.

From a small town to a big city: Rome was yet another overwhelming stop. The place is absolutely packed with tourists. Our first stop was the famous Spanish Steps of which you could hardly see any of the steps itself through the swarms of people. I was shocked! And it was like this at the Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Roman Forums...pretty much all of Rome! It was, however, an enchanting city. The history amazed me, I couldn't believe I was walking in a nearly 2000 year old Colosseum, whose size astounds me, and the many ruins of ancient Rome. Incredible. Another highlight of Rome was the hundreds of churches literally on every block. And they were all free!! So we went inside so many and they were all so intricate. The Catholic church has a lot of money!!

And of course there was the Vatican city. After waiting ages to get through to the Sistine Chapel it didn't disappoint. Wall to wall with incredible paintings, it really was jaw dropping. We staying in there for about 30 minutes and still could not digest it all. Saint Peters square was also a surprise: we managed to see the Pope addressing the people! That was pretty cool. Later we wondered inside Saint Peters Basilica, and OH MY GOD, what a church!! I can't describe the beauty and magnificence. It was almost like walking through an art gallery.

So Italy was swept me off my feet and I still have the Cinque Terre and Florence to encounter. Keep a close watch here!

Krakow and Budapest

2007-04-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

I was fairly excited about coming to Poland as this is where my Mum's side of the family comes from. I especially couldn't wait to try all the Polish food that my Nanna cooks and Krakow didn't disappoint me here. I had traditional Polish food including Peirogi (dumplings that can be stuffed with anything from potato to meat and mushroom), golobki (cabbage rolls stuffed with meat and rice with a mushroom gravy sauce) and borsh (beetroot soup). It was all so yum! But of course not as good as my Nanna's.

Krakow is a pretty small city. The main part of town is a huge medievil style square with a huge 'cloth' hall in the centre which sells traditional Polish things which make for good souveniers. Its surrounded by lovely park land and cute streets with plenty of restaurants. There is also a huge castle on top of Wawel Hill, but it looked a little less impressive than some of the castles I've seen so far so we gave an inside tour a miss.

A highlight of Krakow was Aushwitz, the concentration camp about 3 hours out of the city used in World War Two. This really was facinating. Most parts of the camp were left in their original condition so you could see the buildings and beds where the prisoners slept. We saw some original prison cells too, including a standing cell which was completely surrounded by brick walls and four people had to stand in it for an entire night. It really was so sad. What got to me the most though was seeing original clothing, suitcases and hair that was taken from the Jewish people as they arrived. One of the buildings has become a museum that stores all of this. About 3mins down the road is the Birkenau camp, the bigger 'death' camp where the gas chambers were. Here there was the ruins of the gas chambers, all left in original condition when the Nazis attempted to destroy them to erase evidence of their crimes. The whole experience was unbelievable and I still get so upset when I think that such a terrible thing could take place here.

Aushwitz

Next destination was Budapest in Hungary, which was a beautiful city. The Buda side consists of big hills with a Cittadel on the highest point, a Palace, a church and a Fishermans Bastian surrounding the church, all of which made for great lookout points to the Pest side over the Danube river. Walking along the Danube at night is extraordinary, Everything is lit up and the lights reflecting on the water as you walk across the Chain Bridge is amazing. The Parliament building in particular was awesome. It's a gothic style building and the biggest in Budapest. It's a great city to do some chilling out, as it has a huge park with beautiful surroundings and statues on every corner. My favourite thing though, was the food market in a huge hall. It had so many fresh fruit and vegies, meats and pastries. One of the best strudels I have tasted was made fresh on the spot. Such a great place!

The Palace on the Danube River

Next we arrive back in Western Europe, which I think will be a welcome change. Italy is first on the agenda so you will hear lots about Gelato, Pizza and Pasta!

First taste of the East - Czech Republic

2007-04-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

The Old Town of Prague is absolutely gorgeous. The town was built in something like the tenth century and maintains most of its charm. Of course there are now commerical shops running the main streets but the buildings are lovely, as well as the churches and clock towers. Looking out over the river running through the town is a sight in itself. The Charles Bridge is the main bridge over the river and has about 18 statues running the course of the bridge. If you see in the photo below it really is quite beautiful. A glance upwards towards the mountain shows the huge cathedral, which is of course exquisite inside, and the castle overlooking Prague.

All this dazzled me so much on the first couple of days, but once you step outside the old town Prague wasn't the most appealing city on the trip. The main train station in particular was so filthy and full of bums and the stenches coming from the building were putrid. Not to mention the rude staff! The city outside of the Old Town had really nothing to see but sparse, dirty areas. It was almost like they have tried really hard to keep all the tourists in one spot, The Old Town, and totally neglected everything else. And for me, this is why Prague seemed really fake once you took it upon yourself to explore outside the comforts of the Old Town.

There were tourists in the thousands too! It was the Easter weekend so the place was swarming with tourists. It was so packed sometimes that you couldn't move anywhere! To escape this we went on a pretty cheesy paddle boat ride along the river and bathed in the sun and chilled in a park along the river. It was a fun relaxation!

It was good to leave bustling Prague on Sunday and wind down in Cesky Krumlov, a small town about 3 hours away on a lovely little river that weaves its way through the town. The place was gorgeous and there was nothing scummy about it! It was, however, overun by tourists but I have to remember that I am one myself! There were so many cute little streets and restuarants, including the fantastic Medievil style place that cooked as much meat as you wanted on a huge open fire grill! I had a feast! We also went on a bike ride 9km away to some caslte ruins. The ruins were great but the bike ride not so much - I now know how unfit I am!!

The link below has pictures of Fussen, Berlin and Prague. I have added them to the London and Paris set, they are the first 21 photos. Enjoy!

Click here for photos of Germany and Czech Republic

Germany: the land of cheap beer

2007-04-12T10:27:00.000-07:00

My first taste of cheap German beer was in Bavaria in a small town called Fussen. An overnight train from paris was very uneventful (not to mention uncomfortable) until we started rolling towards the town, where huge snow-covered mountain tops came into view. This really excited me. The whole town is surrounded by these mountain tops where two amazing castles hide (not so well from tourists though..). The two castles are Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein, the latter being what the famous Walt Disney castle is based on. Here the kings of Bavaria resided, Maximillian and his son Ludwig who later on in his life went crazy and was found dead in a lake. They sure had a lot of ego. After the castles we decided to follow a walking trail up a mountain but failed to take someones advice to not go to far and got ourselves a foot deep in snow in some parts. The views were incredible but they soon became a bit scarey when we realised we would never make it to the top and hurried back down to the bottom!

Fussen was also wonderful for the food! My blog entry would not be complete without a food listing so here goes. Traditional Bavarian food was to be found everywhere and at cheap prices! We ate huge schnitzel's covered with mushroom sauce, beef rollups with gravy, dumplings and lots and lots of saurkraut. And the beer was so cheap! Never before have I chugged down a pint so fast, European beer is fantastic. I now know that the only reason I struggle with beer in Australia is because it aint so great (but not as bad as American beer...)!

Berlin was a mixture of amazing historical sights and cutting edge culture. We thought the best way to get all of the history was to go on an all day walking tour with a geeky American guide who knew absolutely everything about German history. We saw everything from the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie (where everything is unfortunately a replica), The Reichstag, Hitlers bunker and of course The Berlin Wall. We went to the East Side Gallery which is a section of the wall that still remains and has been graffitied, some parts by famous artists. It really is amazing to think that the wall still existed and that Germany was so divided up until 1989.

The shopping was also great, as was the night life. There were so many places to choose where to go out. We danced to indie music, saw a band and of course drank a lot of beer! There were a lot of cool boutique stores to shop in and the cafe scene was great for a beer break.

It was also so much fun hanging out with my good friend Deanna and Melissa in Berlin - I had so much fun guys!

Would have loved to have put some photos up but I can't from this computer so they will come next time, when you read about my first Eastern European adventures in the Czech Republic.

Pastries, Coffee and Wine

2007-04-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

I could only be referring to one place: Paris. As soon as I arrived I fell in love with the city. It is just simply gorgeous. There are cafes and patisseries on every corner filled with the most incredible looking cakes that you have ever seen. The streets are so cute and each corner you turn is a mystery. The wine is cheap and delicious! And of course there is the most amazing Eiffel Tower. So many reasons I love this city!

One of my favourite areas was Montmarte, where traditionally a lot artists used to live and work. Here at the highest point in Paris is the Sacre Coeur, which is a beautiful church overlooking the city. Below this is the Montmarte area which has lovely narrow streets filled with cafes and so many different surprises. Here we past just another patisserie (which was their slogan) and saw a huge line to get in. We though that it had to be good so we lined up stared at the most amazing cakes, narrowed it down to three and gobbled them down in a nearby park. Later we stopped and ate and lovely cheese and met platter with red wine outside a cafe on the pavement in traditional Parisien style.

This post wont all be about food, I promise. Of course we did the usual tourist things and in Paris there are a lot of them. We took a day explored the amazing Notre Dame Cathedral, The Arc de Triomphe, the busy concord intersection and the Eiffel Tower. You see so many photos of it but it really is stunning. We went to the very top and saw a spectacular view of Paris, decided to wait an hour for the sun to set and saw the city lit up by night. As we came down a little light show went off: lights started flickering up and down the tower and it really was the most amazing thing to see.

We of course went to the Lourve, probably the most famous museum in the world. It is absolutely enormous. We spent about 3 hours in their and got about two thirds done, after rushing through some parts! The Mona Lisa was behind thick glass with two guards standing each side of her. It wasn't the most amazing thing to be seen. The building was wonderful. Another museum of sorts was one that housed human bones: The Catacombs. We walked through dark tunnels with so many bones, some belonging to famous French people. It was so spooky and I freaked out when I came face to face with them!

Other than that Paris was all about exploring cool areas, like The Marais, The Latin Quarter and St Germaine Du Prais, the later being a very expensive cafe scene where I paid about $7 AU for a cup of coffee (I did sit outside which caused the price to rise!). It was also about eating $12 Euro 3 course lunches at really cool cafes and having picnics on the banks of the Seine with a baguette and a bottle of red.

Click here for photos

London Town

2007-03-25T12:26:00.000-07:00

From one big city to another: New York to London. I was preparing myself for another huge week but surprisingly I found London much more laidback than New York but maybe this was beacause we took a took a much more relaxed approach to the city.

It has many historical buildings and landmarks and most of the time we just walked around and admired. The two churches were incredible: Westminster Abbey was so detailed and intricate, just gorgeous, and Saint Pauls Cathedral was huge. We climbed all the way to the top and saw a not so amazing view of London (the city is almost entirely flat), and whispered to each other across opposite ends of the whispering gallery in the dome itself. Other gorgeous London sights were Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, The Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. It was also great to stroll through the huge parks, including Hyde Park.

A highlight of London was definately in the East: Brick Lane and Spitalfield markets. The markets weren´t just your junky market, it had some really cool stuff not to mention the amazing food of which we bought fresh bread, smoked sausage and cheese. Brick Lane was very alternative and had lots of Indian restaurants along the way, one of which we ate a mini banquet and of course over indulged!

Shopping was also great! The centre of London wasn´t too bad at all but I really loved Kensington. It had a great vibe and awesome shops. I probably spent too much money on a dress, but hey, it´s London right? We made our way down to Harrods from Kensington and gaped at more designer clothes than you could imagine with ridiculous price tags. Then we over-indulged again: we went to the French cafe in Harrods and had the most amazing cakes with some very aromatic Chinese tea (we had to do the English afternoon tea tradition!). These cakes were AMAZING. I can´t describe how good they were but you can see for yourself:

I must also mention that on the night we arrived I got to see my favourite band at the moment: Arcade Fire. For those of you who aren´t aware this band is a sensation and are selling out gigs at incredibly fast times. We were very lucky to get tickets. It was worth the sleep deprivation and much much more (we had the 6 hour overnight flight from New York). The band had me in awe a few times and I had to pinch myself to make sure it was real. Wake Up was so so inspiring and awesome. The only unfortunate thing was that they didn´t play my favourite and possibly their biggest song: Power Out. Anyway, this makes up for missing the Pixies (please don´t tease me).

Next update is for Paris: more shopping and much more food!

The Big Apple

2007-03-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why they call New York the Big Apple but I can assure you that it is big. In fact, the city is huge and the size overwhelmed and facinated me all at once. I knew it was going to be big but nothing prepared me for how big. We had a week to conquer New York but you couldn't see everything in a month so we tried our best amidst exhaustion and sickness.

We arrived in the evening after trying to get to our lovely little guest house in the East Village via the confusing and very dirty subway. Looking for a bite to eat we arrived at the famous Katz's Deli where I ate an awesome hot dog with saurekraut and mustard and a hearty helping of chicken noodle soup. We hung out at a groovy bar and then saw blues/rock artist Holly Golightly at the Mercury Lounge before collapsing in bed.

I was tired and probably not prepared for the amount of walking ahead for the next few days. A free ferry to Staten Island was adequate enough for a look at the Statue of Liberty. We had a walk around Wall Street, which had guards with huge guns!, and the financial district, before reaching Ground Zero. There wasn't a lot to see, just a timeline and pictures of the event but it did give me chills none the less. We made our way up to Canal Street where there was many a bargain to be found (if you could sort the real stuff from the fakes) then ate at an excellent dumpling house where they had 10 dumplings for $2!!! What a feast.

The Museum of Modern Art was free after 5pm so we made our way down there and it really was the most I have ever enjoyed art. The building was amazing and they had pretty much everything from the Impressionist period onwards. After this we saw some different art: music at Brooklyn's Southpaw, which has played host to some great bands. Tonight we saw some Chinese rock bands and some weird electro dudes from Canada.

That day exhuasted me but the next few were worse: we did plenty of window shopping in Soho, where everything was too expensive for real shopping and everyone looked beautiful and in which case I felt completely ordinary! This area is very upmarket with so many designer shops and expensive cafe's. The Prada store impressed me the most with what looked like a giant skate ramp in middle. I didn't belong there! Broadway was much more affordable for shopping and a lot of fun to walk around. The next day after walking around midtown for hours and window shopping and strolling through Central Park I walked 80 blocks back to the guest house and nearly collapsed! My feet were in so much pain. This area is exactly what you see in the movies. And although it cost 18 US dollars I had to go to the top of the Empire State Building and gasp at the view. It was beyond anything I had ever seen in my life. This city is enormous!

An entire day was also spent exploring Brooklyn, in particular Williamsburg and Park Slope, the former being a really cool alternative area with vintage shops and dive-y bars and the latter being very picturesque and more residential. Brooklyn was a great 'escape' from the busy, noisey life of Manhattan but even so you really cannot escape the city in New York, which is ultimatley why I could never live here. We ate at a great burger place called Schnack where they give you an option to have as many mini burger patti's in a bun as you like and beer milkshakes (they taste better than they sound!!).

I didn't think I would but we spent a bit of time around Times Square, where all the bright lights and crazy ads suck you in. We even bought Hershey's chocolates at the huge store which was packed with tourists. The square is so bright it looks like daytime. And you can't help but be sucked into the ads some of them are really awesome. We also saw The Roots at Nokia Theatre here, which was a lot of fun, and The Producers, which was so funny and entertaining! My broadway show was truly worth the $60 ticket (half price at tkts).

I did so many more things like gape at crazy clothing price tags in the East Village, eat Magnolia Bakery cupcakes and fall really sick with a cold and cough, surely due to exhaustion. But there is so much to do in New York that I couldn't waste time recovering in bed. It's a crazy city and very overwheliming. Surely unlike anywhere I will ever visit in my life.

Click here for photos

The Windy City

2007-03-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

When I emerged from the subway station Chicago greeted me with a cold cold wind. I have never been colder in my life, walking the streets in the middle of the day in negative 5 degrees and battling the freezing wind. Last night after the ice hockey, where I saw the Chicago Blackhawks beat the LA Kings 3-0, it was snowing and hasn't stopped yet. We went down to Lincoln Park where the free zoo is and everything was blanketed in a thick layer of snow. You probably don't need to be told that most of the animals weren't frollicking in the snow.

Besides the freezing weather Chicago is an awesome city. It's fairly big but not overwhelming. We've probably covered most of it. The streets are very long and one street in particular, Michigan ave, is referred to as 'Magnificent Mile' where all the designer shops and expensive restaurants are. It's lovely to walk down and window shop but not great to look at the prices. The 'cool' area though, is down at Wicker Park, which could sort of be compared to Fitzroy and Brunswick street. Here we found some trendy cafes and bars and vintage stores, where I bought a few bits and peices for more affordable prices. We spoilt ourselves with a lovely Spanish tapas style dinner and ran out after leaving only a $4 tip. (The tipping is very hard to get used to). Apart from that we have been eating lots of hotdogs and Chicago style deep-dish pizza, not the healthiest but very tasty (and an improvement from all the fried chicken).

The first night we arrived we decided to go to a small bar, which was difficult to find as it was in a quiet part of town just outside the city and was around what appeared to be some old abandoned warehouses. Once we found it though, it was very cool and we watched a Melbourne band called Love of Diagrams play. Coming half way around the world to see a Melbourne band play is quite amusing in retrospect. But apart from the barman staring me down without me realising cos I had forgotten to tip him, the night was a lot of fun.

When I was little I was a huge Wizard of Oz fan so when I saw that a musical called "Wicked', about the untold story of the two witches of Oz, was playing at the Oriental theatre I really wanted to go. We put our names in for a lucky draw where we could purchase tickets for $25 if we won. And my name was drawn! We had terrible seats but the theatre was not full so we moved to an awesome view. It was very entertaining and a fun night, hopefully you will all see it in Melbourne soon.

As for me, my next show will be at Broadway in New York City!

Ya'll enjoy your meal, ya'll

2007-03-01T11:17:00.000-08:00

When I arrived in Arkansas after 23 hours in transit I planned to sit in a classic southern USA style diner at least once for the 8 days I would be here. Well, that's exactly where I ended up on the way to Michael's Mum's house from the airport. We sat surrounded by cheesy American patriotic objects, like mosaic American flags plastered on walls and 'God Bless America' banners. We ate fried shrimp, fried catfish, fried chips, fried chicken and yep, fried frogs legs. It felt so bad but I just had to taste the South USA fried specialities.

Unfortunately, that's pretty much all that's available to eat down here. So I got sick of it pretty fast. It's actually really hard to find some healthy food here. There are about 20 different take away food outlets and even the supermarkets (or WalMart) are chock full of bad food. We couldn't even find aborio rice to make a risotto!

I'm staying in the middle of nowhere in a little town called Calion. Everyone knows each other and everyone says 'ya'll'. I love listening to this accent. The house I'm in is on a huge lake and cos winter has just finished the trees are really bare and there is a really eerie vibe. We took the boat out on the lake and it's so peaceful and calm. We saw a few abandoned duck houses, where people park their boats and shoot ducks from perches. There is a lot of hunting down here.

We also went down to New Orleans in Louisiana for a couple of days. Most of the city is restored but you can still see some of the damage that hurricane Katrina left behind, especially in some of the poorer suburbs. The city itself is a little sleazy, particularly at night. You can walk around with alcohol on the streets and every second shop is a sleazy, cheesy cover band joint with middle age boozers dancing around. We tried to find some jazz but had no luck. By day the city is nicer, especially The French Quarter, which is a bit more picturesque. We did, however, eat a lot of very nice food, included cajun food, which is a style of cooking special to New Orleans. My favourite was probably some snails I had which were marinated with mushrooms and came with French bread. It sounds gross but it tasted amazing. We also went on an airboat tour in the swamps and marshes, as a lot of south Louisiana is covered under water. We saw some alligators and I held a tiny one.

Just trying to get some relax time in before the busy backpacking kicks in. Next stop is Chicago.

Ya'll have a good time, ya'll.

Photos

Countdown

2007-02-21T16:01:00.001-08:00

This time tomorrow I will be on my very first International flight out of Melbourne and I can certainly say that I'm feeling nervous, excited, anxious and weird all at once. My first stop is Arkansas, in the south of the US of A and indeed that will be a culture shock (gotta dodge those bullets in the forest cos its squirrel hunting season!).

Here's a basic rundown of my itinerary:
Arkansas > Chicago > New York > London > Paris > Fussen > Berlin > Prague > Cesky Krumlov(Czech Republic) > Krakow > Budapest > Venice > Trieste > Rome > Cinque Terre > Florence > Murren (Switzerland) > Grindelwald (Switzerland) > Villefranche-sur-Mer (French Riviera) > Toledo > Seville > Nerja > Granada > Barcelona > London > Istanbul > Cappadocia (Turkey) > Hong Kong > Melbourne

I'll miss everyone but I'll be sure to keep you updated.

Ciao.