James left Newcastle and I did the same heading further north to Edinburgh, another fantastic town, minus the weather and the lack of light outside.
I spotted a big hill behind the town and immediately set off to climb it. I got to where the normal people go but wasn't satisfied with having rocks still above me. After one lame attempt I decided I was too close to home to risk it on the slippery wet rocks.
I didn't want to end up here...
So I settled for this view of Edinburgh, which really should be spelled Ed-in-bra.
After that I needed a 'hearty' meal, but since there were none available I chose a 'livery' meal instead, taking my first taste of haggis. The haggis was tasty, the whiskey sauce good, but the best thing was that I got it all for half price!
Unfortunately there were no half price kilts. The set on the right roughly $1500 AUD
Soon word got out to the Government offices that a foreigner had gotten Scotland's signature dish for half price. This created all sorts of controversy
So I took one last snap and stopped at a Chinese buffet to down as much food as 25 minutes would allow before returning to Newcastle to fly out of the UK until the heat died down.
All plans of earning money teaching brats from the UK went out the plane window which was soon filled with a view of Spain. The airport was negotiated successfully but problems soon came up when I failed to grab a map from the main train station.I spent the next 3 hours in search of a backpackers asking passers by if they knew of one. "Donde esta Juventud Hostal", I still remember how to say it! But what I also remember is that everyone I asked would give me directions to a Hotel. Even after I got hold of a map the hostel I was told about cost more the hotel I had just come from. I decided to make the 'trip' back.
On my way back I passed down some dodgy streets, any light from the sun now truly gone. Those streets proved less of a problem than lifting my legs to step over a gutter. The fatigue caught up with me and sent me head first onto the road. With my arms to weak to break the force of a full pack, my face and nose decided to help out. You could say Spain made an immediate impression on me!
The next day I took my bloodied head around in the daylight and finally found a reasonably priced backpackers for 18Euro a night. I dropped my junk there and then headed for Park Guell, one of Antoni Gaudi's many artistic feats. On the way there I noticed that some parts of Barcelona are attempting to take both people and laziness a new level.
The park was full of weird and wonderful things.
Apparently I was one of the weird ones, as school children stared at me while shouting things in Spanish.
It was only fair that I stare back and scout their silky soccer skills as well as noticing their cool green uniforms. I think I just liked being around a school setting.
I moved on from there and saw some more cool stuff and have only just noticed that the sculpture in the bottom right of this photo shows up again later, (see if you notice where)Gaudi's influence on Barcelona was clear.
Now for finance with $ally The dollar has experienced major fluctuations throughout Europe with the massive variation set to effect China before stabilizing in Australia. As for the companies "Hygeine" remains steady with its showers department around 25%. "Stomach" is doing quite well despite rising concerns over the development of competing company "Gelato". "Bag weight" has experienced a drastic drop as James C Packer has taken control of over 50% of the corporation. Cigarette companies continue to take advantage of upward trends but are expected to return to normal by around Christmas day. Confusion also remains high "Cheap Planes" continue to soar as do companies "Husqvarna" and "Stihl". "Dirty Clothing" continues to pile up interested investors while "mountain" shares have fallen from their peak in late August, however global franchise "Beggars" has made an enormous comeback after the installation of many new departments. With it "Guilt" is set to rise, but sadly not for those who invest! Shareholders are waiting to see what comes of "Umbrellaz" market 'de-saturation' program, while "Cheap Christmas Presents" is looking at massive returns although conservative investors are quick to point out what they are terming "huge risks" Finances are slowly drying up for "Cathedral" which will also effect offshoot companies such as "Stained Glass Inc". "Europe on a shoestring" has gone bust while rival company "Europe on a piece of dental floss" takes up the slack. Finally "Washing machines" have taken out their coin operated division as they have failed to receive sufficient funding. In fact this division has not received one single investment throughout 2007. And that's finance news for today.
After that I spotted Hansel and Grettle trying to eat their way out of these houses. I dobbed them in and while the witch was throwing them in the oven I stole a Snickers brick.
Which I sat down and ate right around here.
That sugar hit was enough to keep me going till dinner which was a cheap Chinese buffet.
The next day I felt bad for stealing that Snickers and thought about returning what I could of it! I thought it was a better idea to go to church and repent, so I found this one called Sagrada Familia.
The stories behind them were the same, but this church had sculptures quite unlike anything I had seen before.
Their chiseled edges and lack of detail was something I had never come across.
Perhaps they could call it Sagrada Unfamilia!
Then again, like all the famous churches it had big crowds and beautiful stained glass windows.
But the big crowd all turned out to be seripmav's who are scared of the dark and only come out in the day, leaving me by myself to appreciate the genius of Gaudi and enjoy the beautiful view of Barcelona.Beating the rush
If you want to beat the masses carry a pointy stick and a whip...but seriously, if you are heading out and about and want to avoid the crowds follow these simple suggestions.
1) Don't be afraid to wander, explore! Don't just visit all the highlights on the map
2) If you can bear missing out on peak season do it
3) Go really early or stay really late, do not go in the middle of the day
4) Take a hike! The more walking you do the less likely you are to run into people.
Which i took my time in doing
Before heading down the spiral staircase alone and back to the hostel for the night.
I soon realised that Sagrada Familia had stolen their designs from a community of snails. The word 'Familia' was just a very cheap way of getting out of copyright issues.
When the snails design was robbed they decided to try out for the Barcelona Olympics
But by the time they got to the stadium, 2007 was coming to an end. Over fifteen years late, all that was left were a handful of tourists. When I heard their story I felt sorry for them.
So I decided to cheer them up by inviting them to a soccer match, they still had to pay of course!
The only 'shouting' I did was at traitor, Tierry Henry, who did nothing but fall over and cry as Barcelona beat relegation battlers Recrativo 3-0.
After that the snails felt better but when they saw this sign they nearly threw up. I could hardly believe it, giant food service company Sodexho had infiltrated Spains borders, no longer restricted to American dining halls.
This was too much to handle so we decided to take a rocket to the moon to get away from all this craziness. I got there early the next day and waited for my new snail friends.
But by the time they got there it was dark and the rocket was fired up and ready to launch.
I got the snails to take a photo of me counting down to lift off. The rocket launched safely and we all celebrated at a Chinese buffet. After that we walked round the main street and saw people trying to rip others off with a familiar little game.Refusing to fall prey a second time, I stood back and declined all offers to play while pointing out the person who was "winning" hadn't laid out any money! The pressure got too much, the game was packed up. The facade was soon exposed when I spotted the "players" down a side street being paid off.
If that wasn't playing with enough fire I got lost again late one night when I forget the address of my backpackers. I stumbled upon a street fight which I joined someone else in trying to break up with two Spanish words. "Alto" (Stop) and "Por Favor" (Please).
We separated the two for a moment but I think they went down a backstreet and fought anyway. It was pretty scary having no idea what they were saying and I was much less brave than the other guy.
The next day I took the snails to the waterfront where I treated them to some typical Spanish things.
Balconies with washing hanging from them
Scooters, lots of Scooters.
And mullets, delicious mullets, which haven't been fished to extinction in Spain.
Finally there were these guys, who were selling stolen goods. But, just to make sure i hadn't jumped to the wrong conclusions Sammy snail suggested we watch and wait, Suzie snail agreed. I was also curious to see whether their preplanned rope tying would pay off. We waited.Any sign of police set these guys on edge but when they were least expecting it two men ran in and overturned one of the mats. They scattered like pigeons, taking most of the goods with them and looking back momentarily before leaving the area. The two men, presumably undercover police, (or gutsy criminals) gathered the goods and left.
Sammy was energized by what he'd just seen so we took a walk up a hill.
The enthusiasm had worn off by about the 3rd stair but I refused to carry any of them.Oh the complaints. I nearly stepped on Suzie, I was getting that sick of her. Simon snail wasn't much better.
After spending all this time together I couldn't just leave the snails in Barcelona so I took them with me to Girona, the next stop on my way up to France. When we got there I tricked them into thinking this pretty road was a picture of their ancient ancestor Phyllis Withlies.
The sun was out for a perfect day. Girona was such a lovely town that we all made up a song, "ma ma ma my Girona." The snails thought it could be a hit someday, I didn't think so.
We went for a weeks worth of walks while we worried, wondering about wandering Williams whereabouts.
We found him on another bridge later that day practicing his alliteration.The next day I snuck into a university to try and find a computer that would burn me a CD. My attempt failed as the computers needed a student ID and password I didn't have. I figured I wouldn't take many more photos before heading for a friends house in France who was bound to have a computer.
But later that evening while hanging out on the cities old fortifications I was proved wrong.
Very wrong.I frantically deleted anything I could spare and filled the camera with so many photos of this sunset even I could hardly believe. I was simply overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. The snails and I just stood in awe for the longest time, thankful to God for the greatest sunset ever. My camera could only capture a few half decent pictures (click on them to enlarge) but the experience will be captured in my memory forever.
Girona was such a great town I decided the snails would enjoy living there. They asked me why I couldn't stay with them so I told them of my plans to go to Paris then Rome and soon enough back home. Before we parted ways they gave me a 'snail' award, Sensitive New Age Individual Lorimer. I gave them a rock in return.
The next day I took the bus to Montpellier to visit my friend Laetitia. I arrived to a warm welcome which was as far as my French skills could take me. Then we sat down for a brilliant french meal which involved cute little frypans, melted cheese, baguettes and forbidden meat.The effects from the blow to my head caught up with me and I conveniently forgot I was vegetarian for the next few days, while the hospitality was lavished on me.
The next day Laetita took me into town, got me a map and taught me a new word before heading off to a meeting. I was so eager to use this new word "si vous plei" (please) that I replaced "merci" (thankyou) with it. Good thing Laetitia was still around to bail me out as I "please'd" the tourist information desk for their free map!
Montpellier was nice, they even threw in a protest for me to spice things up. Police came prepared with riot gear which I wanted a photo of. Not knowing how to ask I had to pretend I was taking a photo of the sunset in the background. The officer doesn't look to amused!
Eventually I did get a real photo of that sunset and because the one from a few nights ago was still etched in my memory I attempted to make this one look even better by being artistic.
After hanging out inside the house and forming a slight addiction to 'Age of Kings', Laetitia decided to get me out of the house by driving to Navacelle, a beautiful French town nestled at the base of some mountains where a river used to flow.
There we went on a hike where I conquered the mighty sphinx and was made King of France.
Once we returned from the hike I inspectigated my new land. This town could have taken minutes to pass through but since it was extremely pretty it took quite a bit longer.
Set in the absolute middle of nowhere, its quiet, charming buildings would be the perfect site to bulldoze to establish my new Kingdom.
We drove back up the mountain and took one more look at the site of my future palace.
This old windmill would have to go too, all in the name of progress.
The inspectigation continued as I said goodbye to Laetitia and headed to Paris to see what was on offer.
Not much in the way of parking
Or in the way of food! Paris, of all places.I decided this powerful Sodexho beast was a threat to my kingdom and for the next few days I lived almost entirely off Baguettes refusing to support their reign of terror. Alright, the fact is they were cheap, tasty and... cheap! Just like the backpackers I stayed at which I was told had a rat in the kitchen however it was already nasty before I heard about that.
Speaking of heard, the next day a Catholic priest got wind of how much bread I'd recently consumed and decided to deny me communion. I wasn't all that impressed about this, having sat through an entire service in French and then being disqualified from the one part I actually understood!! (More on that in the next Spiritual update)
Soon the hunger struck, but I was unwilling to succumb to Sodexho to satisfy my stomach. I rationed out my last baguette and came up with a plan to earn some quick money.
I headed to the Louvre.
So much to steal but I wasn't going to be distracted by anything less than priceless. I followed my ears to the Moaner and snuck up to do the deed. While sneaking around I overhearing two men discussing . "It can't be done" said the doubter on the left. The one on the right cocked his head and chuckled "yeah, you'd have to be crazy" he replied, as he took his last ever look at the famous painting.
"Are you serious" they said in unison as the painting was lifted right in front of their eyes. The alarm system sounded, and very soon the Louvre was crawling with security guards.
"King Andrew, over here" a young Sphinx whispered. I hurried over and listened while he told me about a secret passageway and gave me some advice... and get a haircut" were the last words I heard as I escaped through the underground tunnel.
Apart from a few stained glass windows it was a very dark tunnel. Each of the windows provided me with cryptic clues on how to get out. I rang Robert Langdon and asked him for some tips but he was busy being chased by an Albino monk.
While in the tunnel I stumbled upon the remains of Mary Magdalene, solved a dozen cryptex' and met Leonardo DaVinci himself, who asked me what I was doing with his painting. I said "finders keepers, losers weepers" and offered him a Holy Grail I found on the tunnel floor. He accepted my offer and then showed me the way to the Eiffel tower, "the symbol for masculine" he told me.
I walked casually through the streets looking for an internet cafe to put this newly acquired picture on eBay. Instead of an internet cafe I ran into my snail friends. "We've been looking for you everywhere, we missed you" they said as they gave me a hug and a massive amount money as a gift.
Just then I saw the police coming and said "well, I got this for all of you" and handed the painting to Nigel, my least favorite snail. I put it on his back and told him to take it somewhere safe while the rest of us took turns at seeing if we could be more masculine than the Eiffel tower. We waited a few hours and when Nigel didn't return we went to a shop to get the latest news headlines.
The magazine we bought was no use, but it did help explain the self esteem problem rampant in France. Look closely.
After this I suggested we go to Notre Dame Cathedral to look. On our way there we spotted Nigel in the back of a police car headed for jail. He looked mad as he repeatedly pointed to the outside of the stolen painting. "Framed", the message I hoped none of the others understood.
From that moment on their "A"ttitude toward me changed, which the Eiffel tower clearly 'pointed' out.
I invited the remaining 12 out for a meal that night. I knew they were planning on dobbing me in but I got in first, ordering 'Escargot' off the extensive menu. One by one my small little friends disappeared into the kitchen, later returning on a plate accompanied by Baguettes and garlic. Deeeeelicious, betrayal has never tasted so good.
With them out of the way I was free to tour the remainder of Paris. Next stop Sacre Coeur, where I'm sure I saw the same group of beggars outside the Eiffel tower a day earlier.When they asked if I spoke English I just ignored them. Dave a guy who was with me answered "no", which implies that he at least understood that sentence. Perhaps a more effective reply would be "No, I most certainly do not speak English!"
While all the begging stuff was beginning to frustrate me I couldn't be frustrated by the magnificent building that was in front of me. I did some climbing to take a few photos and then it was time to leave for Beauvais where my next flight was from.They beg to eat we beg to differ
A month ago we sent undercover reporters all over
Thankyou Tony. The begging scene, are you being short changed? After our extensive research the most likely answer is ‘yes’. Begging works mostly by appealing to guilt or a sense of obligation all humans apparently have. The tactics vary but the point is the same. Produce a feeling, get some money.
There are various ways people choose to do this, waving around deformed limbs, exaggerating disabilities, holding up photos of your children who need food, even if their skin colour differs greatly, sending those children to do the work for you, hitting up high traffic areas. One reporter is convinced he spotted the same group of beggars at the
One unusual trick which insiders call “Finger string, chit ching” involves someone asking you to put your finger through a loop in a piece of string which is then tightened around your finger. If you are too slow in removing it 'BAM' you are asked for some local currency to cover the cost of this worthless string. One report confirms someone being stung for 7 Euros.
By far the most successful tactic was the age old train ticket trick. One of our reporters fell for this one but remained at a distance while he spied the girl approaching 10 others at about a 50% success rate. This reporter has now left his job and taken up a new career!
Again I made it to this far smaller and far less recognized town, yet I loved it. After finding out there were no backpackers in town and deciding 26Euros was too much to spend on a hotel, I went for a wander. I passed this monster Cathedral on the way, which was completely empty except for a few construction workers fixing the inside.
Which looked like this.I had this beautiful church all to myself. This allowed for the luxury of dropping my pack while I had a look around.
I spent a while taking photos and films before heading back to my pack which I thought may be looking suspiciously like an abandoned bomb. After grabbing my pack again I settled for spending the 26Euros on the hotel which had no rooms left by the time I got there. The next best offer was 40. Tonight I was going it homeless!I emptied my pack and covered myself with as much clothing as I could find, then went in search for a nice place to spend the night. I got into the homeless mentality immediately and started seeing everywhere as a potential place to sleep. After a fairly long search I locked my pack against a fence down the side alley of a church and went for a walk.
I wandered around the town for a while and met another begging drifter who couldn't speak much more English than I could French. I think he invited me back to his sisters house to spend the night which I would have done if it weren't for my locked up bag. I tried to explain I needed to get it before I could come with him but he didn't understand, so later that night I ended up in my little alley behind the church pretty happy with myself and the great spot I'd chosen.
My mat had just been laid out when I noticed a flashlight pointing down the alley. I was hidden behind one of the juts of the church but I thought it might be a police officer so I said "Bonjour", "I'm coming out". I couldn't tell what they were saying but I guess it was something along the lines of "come out please". I grabbed my stuff and jumped the fence to see a frail old woman with a flashlight in hand. Her husband was watching from the safety of their 3rd floor apartment next door calling out something like "is everything alright" as I emerged from the alley. "Bonjour" and "au revoir" was all I understood from the courageous old woman as I left both her and her gutless husband in peace.
So being homeless wasn't that easy after all. I decided it might be easier to head out of town to the airport for some free accommodation. I got on the bus and met an American who had missed his flight out and was possibly going to be homeless that night too. I waited for him in the airport until it was confirmed that I had a homeless buddy for the night.After that we stumbled upon another of his friends who had missed a different flight. He was talking to a girl from Rome who had also done the same thing and our party of two quickly became four.
The airport closed at 11pm and we were booted out into the cold with 1 thermarest and 2 sleeping bags between the four of us. The bottle of wine I bought earlier that night came in handy as we talked our way into the wee hours. The two on the inside drifted to sleep
Leaving me and Nick to wander around the corner and say g'day to the other group of four spending the night at the airport. They had a guitar which was shared between those who could play it and we had a group singalong. My request for "In the Jungle" was honored and I went to bed a very happy man, very cold but very happy.
The next day I took my flight to Rome and made the same mistake of not getting a map of the town before setting out in search of a backpackers. After nearly an hour of walking, being reminded of my experience in Barcelona I thought it would be best to find a hostel online. Even after getting an address and directions it still proved hard. This yellow building wasn't much of a giveaway as a hostel!There was a whole bunch to see in Rome but it was a very dirty city. This street typical.
This made me pretty mad because I thought with all the tourist attractions they would at least spend a little time cleaning the place up. Nope.
At least the clouds were nice.
But the rest of the city looked like rubble. I guess thats bound to happen after all that has gone on here, which I heard about compliments of a "free guide".Stealing guidance
Concern has been raised about tight tourists who are taking advantage of experienced guides by listening in on their tours while pretending to take photos of nearby locations. The less clever of these tourists stray too closely and make a run at the end. The wiser choose to linger at a distance here and there.
Guides are devising new strategies to make themselves less susceptible to this sort of thing. There will be a conference held in early 2008 to discuss this issue.
I made a friend "Mick" from Australia who wandered around with me seeing the sights.
He was also appalled at the state of the city.
There were a few nice things.
But for the most part it was broken rubble
Debris and ruins
I decided to go see the Pope about this and about the litter problem. There were alot of people with complaints!
We rode the wave of people past golden roofs covered with paintings.
Far too much to take in while being trapped inside a moving mosh pit.
Eventually the mosh pit came to a halt inside the Sistine Chapel. Any spiritual experience was ruined by the constant requests of powerless security guards who insisted people remain quiet and don't take photos. One of them completely lost it and started screaming "No photo, quiet, no photo, no photo, NO PHOTO". An awkward silence followed and within 5 seconds I spotted someone filming the roof.The outburst was quite funny but I felt sorry for the guards. Given an impossible task and absolutely no power to complete it. Perhaps if they were able to confiscate cameras more people would listen. Even if they succeed in their job I can't imagine them gaining much satisfaction or coming home and to their wife and telling her "Guess what honey, I stopped everyone taking photos today". So even though I completely disagreed with the dumb rule I was good and took the above photo of a replica being sold outside the chapel.
Once outside the chapel I came across my favorite painting of all, it's about the last judgment. I think the images within paint their own picture, even though I no longer take them so literally.
I liked the painting so much that I got distracted and missed the pope.
I ran up the stairs to the top of St Paul's Cathedral to see if he was there.
All I saw were crowds of people, a dome and a hazy view of Rome
We got tired of searching so we stopped at a restaurant for some genuine Italian pasta which turned out to be quite disappointing. I figured I'd seen enough of Rome so I said goodbye to Mick and took the train to pizza hoping it would taste better.
After I got off the train a man named James spotted a Canadian flag sewn onto my pack and came over to talk to me, together we searched for a backpackers. On our way we came across this big tower of pizza and I took a bite out of it, but it didn't taste good at all. That made me mad, so I kicked it as hard as I could. Now it leans to one side.After I calmed down James told me we should probably find somewhere to sleep. We eventually agreed on a hotel that worked out being 24 Euros each. With our bags gone it was time to hit the town in search of some quality pizza.
Not only did we find that, we found some delicious pasta as well. The three words I love most when shopping for my stomach were all taken care of here. Big, tasty and cheap! At 3.6o the pizza was so cheap and so huge that I called the waiter over just to make sure. Not overcrowded with toppings, but definitely the best pizza I have ever eaten.I continued supporting the local economy through my pizza and gelato habit. Coming from Rome where two scoops was 3.50 to Pisa where four scoops was 2.50, how was a person like me supposed to resist??
Small town, Big rating
Every time I arrive in a small European town I fall I love. Pisa
Somehow I am always sucked back into the big cities even though I enjoy the little towns far more. Is it the sights? Or maybe that there's more to do? I don't know but i do know that every single small town has proved itself.
After some dramas transferring photos from the camera to a CD we went in search of a memory stick. The rain came down hard confirming the fact my 'waterproof' jacket needs a new name. The free umbrella I picked up wasn't much help either!
Neither were the many others gracing the pavement. The only litter to be found in Pisa mind you.
Somehow I am always sucked back into the big cities even though I enjoy the little towns far more. Is it the sights? Or maybe that there's more to do? I don't know but i do know that every single small town has proved itself.
After some dramas transferring photos from the camera to a CD we went in search of a memory stick. The rain came down hard confirming the fact my 'waterproof' jacket needs a new name. The free umbrella I picked up wasn't much help either!
Neither were the many others gracing the pavement. The only litter to be found in Pisa mind you.Umbrella Sella
No matter when, like ants these guys know when rain is coming and are prepared. As soon as the first drops hit the ground they are on every street corner offering their high quality products. Such high quality, that on a rainy day in Pisa
The search for a memory stick continued despite the weather and eventually the boys found what they were looking for. This meant photos could be backed up and deleted, making room for many more stupid photos of the now leaning tower.
This was just one of many.
We came back later that night and tried drinking out of a straw, eating the leaning tower, holding it up with an umbrella...who knew what was once built to be a church bell tower would become so famous! In fact, who knew it was a church bell tower? Not me.
The remainder of the day was spent searching for a supermarket to stock supplies for tomorrow's train trip. After a long wet walk we risked getting even more wet crossing a rickety bridge. Luckily there were free samples at the supermarket to revive us. My Canadian friend James fell prey to the guilt you are supposed to feel after taking these samples, I on the other hand used his purchases as justification for taking a few more free samples of my own.
We got back into town and James suggested I stop in here for an evaluation. I gave myself an evaluation instead, and we agreed to stop in somewhere else.
You guessed it.
The next morning we woke at 5am for the early train to Milan and although there was a slight drizzle there were no over-committed sellas to be found.
This turned out to be one of the nicest train trips I had taken. Not only did I have company but the darkness soon gave way to light and the colors slowly rose from the east, the perfect backdrop for the mountains we were now passing through.
The remainder of the trip stayed shrouded in fog which gave the bare trees an eerie feel as we passed by.
Eventually we got to Milan and as soon as I set foot in that city I was glad I chose not to stay there a night. It was busy, people were rude and beggars were everywhere. The one highlight was the Duomo, a brilliant church in the heart of the city.
Its stained glass windows were probably the best I'd seen.
Dubbed the fashion capital of the world I was never going to fit in here. I made the most of my time by searching the stores for the most ridiculously priced items. This woolen jumper/sweater was on sale for guess how much??
548 Euros, over $900AUD!! In second place, barely missing out on the title were a pair of shoes for nearly 800 Euros!
I had enough, I said goodbye to James and headed to Krakow, Poland where everything seemed like it was on sale. I was tempted to swipe all this gear for the next State Youth Games!
Weather
Heavy rains of "Incorrect pronunciation" and "frequent misspelling" have occurred all over Europe but should clear up by the end of December. While unusual eating patterns look likely to continue while our radar shows that future flights may be blown off course by by hurricane "Apparently you need a visa". With that sunset times will experience abnormal changes as they are predicted to move from 4pm to around 9pm. As for the temperature, freezing.
Everything but the weather in Krakow was beautiful. The hostel, the city, the people and especially the food.
Which blows my mind to think how Sodexho has popped up even here!
I was so mad I couldn't even talk straight anymore. Nothing made sense
Except to my stomach
Which was treated to the finest potatoes ever. If I lived in Poland there is no doubt that I would explode from all the overeating that would occur. It didn't help that the hostel I was staying in provided both breakfast, dinner and anything else you could wish for.
I thought I better work off some of that food by walking down into a salt mine.
This workout was actually quite boring except for an underground chapel carved into the rock salt.
Even the chandeliers were made out of rock salt, but the tour still wasn't worth the near $40 Aussie dollars it cost. That confirmed my decision to find my own way to Oswiecim early the next day.
It turned out to be one of the best decisions I had made as I got to the Auschwitz concentration camp well before all the tour groups and stayed till well after they left. This was my one reason for coming to Poland, I wanted to feel the horror for myself and understand what went on.
I can't really pick a word to describe the experience, but it's one I am extremely glad I made time for.
It was almost unimaginable to think of the many stories that ended in tragedy here.
Things like this really cause you to stop and reflect. It's almost awkward for me to go back into joke mode after this
The next day was bright and sunny so I chose to go exploring and ended up climbing Mound Kosciuszko, a mound used in the defense of Krakow, named after war hero General Kosciuszko. This same war hero finds his name attached to Australia's tallest mountain which was dedicated to him by Polish explorer Strzelecki.
Even though it looked nice outside, let me assure you it was bitterly cold. I think that day reached a top of -2C, 28F
Later that night I went out to a Polish restaurant and had some more delicious food before finally heading back to a more or less English speaking country, England!
The search for a memory stick continued despite the weather and eventually the boys found what they were looking for. This meant photos could be backed up and deleted, making room for many more stupid photos of the now leaning tower.
This was just one of many.
We came back later that night and tried drinking out of a straw, eating the leaning tower, holding it up with an umbrella...who knew what was once built to be a church bell tower would become so famous! In fact, who knew it was a church bell tower? Not me.
The remainder of the day was spent searching for a supermarket to stock supplies for tomorrow's train trip. After a long wet walk we risked getting even more wet crossing a rickety bridge. Luckily there were free samples at the supermarket to revive us. My Canadian friend James fell prey to the guilt you are supposed to feel after taking these samples, I on the other hand used his purchases as justification for taking a few more free samples of my own.
We got back into town and James suggested I stop in here for an evaluation. I gave myself an evaluation instead, and we agreed to stop in somewhere else.
You guessed it.
The next morning we woke at 5am for the early train to Milan and although there was a slight drizzle there were no over-committed sellas to be found.
This turned out to be one of the nicest train trips I had taken. Not only did I have company but the darkness soon gave way to light and the colors slowly rose from the east, the perfect backdrop for the mountains we were now passing through.
The remainder of the trip stayed shrouded in fog which gave the bare trees an eerie feel as we passed by.
Eventually we got to Milan and as soon as I set foot in that city I was glad I chose not to stay there a night. It was busy, people were rude and beggars were everywhere. The one highlight was the Duomo, a brilliant church in the heart of the city.
Its stained glass windows were probably the best I'd seen.
Dubbed the fashion capital of the world I was never going to fit in here. I made the most of my time by searching the stores for the most ridiculously priced items. This woolen jumper/sweater was on sale for guess how much??548 Euros, over $900AUD!! In second place, barely missing out on the title were a pair of shoes for nearly 800 Euros!
I had enough, I said goodbye to James and headed to Krakow, Poland where everything seemed like it was on sale. I was tempted to swipe all this gear for the next State Youth Games!Weather
Heavy rains of "Incorrect pronunciation" and "frequent misspelling" have occurred all over Europe but should clear up by the end of December. While unusual eating patterns look likely to continue while our radar shows that future flights may be blown off course by by hurricane "Apparently you need a visa". With that sunset times will experience abnormal changes as they are predicted to move from 4pm to around 9pm. As for the temperature, freezing.
Everything but the weather in Krakow was beautiful. The hostel, the city, the people and especially the food.
Which blows my mind to think how Sodexho has popped up even here!
I was so mad I couldn't even talk straight anymore. Nothing made sense
Except to my stomach
Which was treated to the finest potatoes ever. If I lived in Poland there is no doubt that I would explode from all the overeating that would occur. It didn't help that the hostel I was staying in provided both breakfast, dinner and anything else you could wish for.
I thought I better work off some of that food by walking down into a salt mine.
This workout was actually quite boring except for an underground chapel carved into the rock salt.
Even the chandeliers were made out of rock salt, but the tour still wasn't worth the near $40 Aussie dollars it cost. That confirmed my decision to find my own way to Oswiecim early the next day.
It turned out to be one of the best decisions I had made as I got to the Auschwitz concentration camp well before all the tour groups and stayed till well after they left. This was my one reason for coming to Poland, I wanted to feel the horror for myself and understand what went on.
I can't really pick a word to describe the experience, but it's one I am extremely glad I made time for.
It was almost unimaginable to think of the many stories that ended in tragedy here.
Things like this really cause you to stop and reflect. It's almost awkward for me to go back into joke mode after this
The next day was bright and sunny so I chose to go exploring and ended up climbing Mound Kosciuszko, a mound used in the defense of Krakow, named after war hero General Kosciuszko. This same war hero finds his name attached to Australia's tallest mountain which was dedicated to him by Polish explorer Strzelecki.
Even though it looked nice outside, let me assure you it was bitterly cold. I think that day reached a top of -2C, 28FLater that night I went out to a Polish restaurant and had some more delicious food before finally heading back to a more or less English speaking country, England!
Can priority boarders please stand up
Budget airline EasyJet made a call to all people with priority boarding to come forward for the flight from
Again EasyJet was in the papers for their priority boarding blunders, this time on a flight back to
The temperature was still unpleasant, there was still ice on the ground and the sun still went down at ridiculous o'clock, but I was glad to be back in England speaking a familiar language and entering a familiar door.The only unfortunate thing was that I needed to take all the junk I'd left at James' house with me.
I lugged it onto the bus and headed for London passing this franchise on the way. I decided I was too manly to eat here and instead went to the restaurant opposite. Here, I drank peoples half empty coffees and cleared the remains off their plates.After a free night in London (thanks Uncle Mark) and a few more pictures for my Monopoly board I set off for Brighton to visit my friend Stacey.
After waiting over 15 minutes to be picked up I put this graffiti on a nearby door.
But then Stacey came to the rescue and started showing me around her great town, courtesy of a double decker bus. The trip was soon soured when we went out bowling. Lets just say I lost more than a bet. At least her family was good to me.
Stacey tried to cheer me up the next day by taking me to see this nice building whose peaks bought back horrible memories of deformed bowling balls that wouldn't roll straight.
After I had a fit she took me to some pointy buildings
But I soon became paranoid about something else.
That was one of a few crazy signs I spotted.
Most people only took it half seriously. The famous Venus de Milo kept on the bottom half
While this dummy found in a Brighton shop window kept on the top half.
The signs influence on singer Rihanna was quite noticeable as she advertised herself on stage. My good friend Paint Shop Pro to the rescue!
This was the most modest outfit she was seen in. Clothing aside, the concert was first-class. Boy that girl can sing. The concert would have been that much better again if Stacey had have let me bring an Umbrella to wave around for her song of that name.
She kept an eye on me the whole time to make sure I didn't come into contact with any sellas'.The Umbrella song was saved until last during which a few gutsy pioneers pulled out the umbrellas they'd been holding all night and were for a moment the coolest people in the building, in my eyes anyway. The show ended (thanks to Stacey's friend Adele for the tickets, hope your legs is getting better) and so did my time at Brighton with the lovely Rodger family.
Europe's Top 5
1. Girona (Spain)
2. Pisa (Italy)
3. Bridgnorth (England)
4. Navacelle (France)
5. Edinburgh (Scotland)
My tour of Europe was complete and the next morning Stacey's dad got up nice and early and drove me to the bus. Next stop China.Or was it...
I got to Heathrow Airport only to discover you can't fly into China without a visa. A really nice lady rescheduled my flight back to Australia on the same day I got in to China which made it possible for me to get home. This also made it roughly 48 hours straight of flying and airports.
The first plane touched down in Germany, the second in smoggy Beijing where I swear I spotted the great wall. Maybe I wanted to see it so badly that my mind built a wall of its own! The third flight landed in Sydney where I rescheduled my domestic flight and went waaaay over the luggage limit without being charged any extra. After four flights I was finally back in Melbourne and not a single person knew about it.
The good run continued as I made it to the bus station just in time to catch one to Sale. Once I got there I rang for someone to pick me up so I could surprise my family. We stopped in at the mall where I picked up some flowers for mum...
The bunch I picked were reduced for quick sale, proving I haven't changed one bit!
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