Fool Around The World

Full Circle

2009-01-30T08:29:00.003+11:00

After being back in Sydney a couple of weeks, it's still interesting to reflect on the differences between this "Europe in the South Seas" city and the heartlands of The Industrialised World in which we spent the past few months.

Sydney is awash with sunshine in summertime, insects abound, the mangos and cherries are really amazing, and the beach is a daily paradise.

Sydney is beautiful in spite of the best intentions of all the generations of urban designers that have tried to bury the environment beneath endless strips of poorly laid, buckling concrete and a transport system that fails, in fact, to transport anyone anywhere.

Sydney has a small-town feel that I hadn't previously noticed. It seems strange to see large groups of men standing around in parks, by the roadside, drinking, talking, fighting. People seem to have a higher sense of individuality, fashion is more diverse, people move quickly but without urgency.

We are looking at Sydney with different eyes from the ones we left with. Both the limitations and charms of Sydney are more apparant.

Travel Stats

Plane: 42,000 km

Train: 1,000 km

Automobile: 7,000 km

Hotels: 24

Hostels: 3

NYE in Vegas

2009-01-05T02:39:00.012+11:00

Due to a late start, we didn't get a chance to go through Death Valley on the way to Vegas, but the traffic out through the Mojave desert was terrible anyway, so this turned out to be okay. Accidents and heavy traffic choked the freeways and we inched along for a lot of the way.

But as soon as we arrived to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, all was forgotten and forgiven. We're not gamblers, and we still aren't, however hard the Vegas system tries to get into your head the message that gambling is fun, sexy and rewarding. Hard Rock Casino spoke strongly along these lines, the game floor is the best looking casino we saw, filled with young sexy people dressed to kill. Our room in the hotel was by far the coolest room we had stayed at (it was up high, and had a rock-star's casual pad kind of vibe).

Therein lies the only obvious charm of Vegas. The message is this: You, the common schlob, can come here and we will treat you like a star. You can dress in your tracksuits and walk around with your plastic pitchers of beer and vomit on our streets and our police will protect you and our waitresses will pretend you are a celebrity and you will believe in the absurdity of this desert city that is somehow, at night, stunningly beautiful, and charming (and surreal) and the memories you will take away are ones of the buzz of participation in a sexed up, crowded hyper-reality that is more dream than reality.

The deals we had on our hotel at least were great. $40 bucks for the Hard Rock and a mere $160 a night (not including the NYE surcharge) for the MGM Signature Suite. $160 is by far the most we payed in America, but it was the absolute best hotel I have ever stayed in. Compulsory valet parking is a good start, followed by an intense effort at achieving "stylish luxury" throughout the entire hotel. The staff are under orders to strike up friendly conversations at every opportunity, which they manage to do without being obsequious. The room was up high and had a marble/stainless steel kitchen, the bathroom had a jacuzzi and it's own tv, there was quiet air-con and a fridge and the entire room was huge, new and tastefully decorated.

NYE was about as much fun as it could be under the circumstances. The crowd in Vegas is generally drunken, but surprisingly friendly. One gets the impression that the typical Vegas tourist can hold their alcohol (the casinos have perfected the art of pouring alcohol down the throats of their visitors).

New year's day we spent further luxuriating, followed by the buffet dinner at Paris (casino) which proved to be delicious. We were both really hungry, and the deal at Paris is that there are five food sections that have excellent quality and well cooked food from various regions of France. There was a lot of seafood on offer, and we had a lot of fun eating crab, trying the regional highlights, and I personally enjoyed the prime rub, which was quite rare and melt in the mouth good.

Further touring of the casinos helped us to walk off dinner and we drove out of Vegas
the next day well satisfied with our time here.

Coming back from Vegas to a slightly worn-out LAX hotel seemed a major step down. That's the problem with inhabiting dream worlds - there's the letdown when you wake up.

Christmas week in LA

2009-01-02T08:14:00.014+11:00

We found ourselves back in LA for our last week of this amazing trip and decided that this is where we would be spending Christmas. We had originally planned to have a white Christmas in Tahoe but since that wasn't to be it was left to me to be the 'Christmas coordinator'. Christmas Eve went off without a hitch and we spent the afternoon at the Getty museum which is an amazing space set high up in the LA hills. Although it houses some beautiful 19th and early 20th century art my favourite thing about this place was the unique architecture, gardens, and view (overlooking Los Angeles). In the evening we went to see a movie in the pretty town of Westwood at the The Village Theater which opened in 1931 and is often used for movie premiers. We watched the movie 'Yes Man' which was really quite funny and much better than I was expecting. After the movie we headed to Church for the 10pm service (much better than waiting for midnight mass in my opinion). It was quite strange to be at a church where the priest had an American accent and the service was so formal, not what I'm used to at all. It was a lovely service though complete with a pipe organ and choir.

Christmas day was a little less organised unfortunately. I had planned a day of ice skating and movie watching but after waking up on Christmas morning to grey sky's and rainy weather my plans were foiled. Instead we spent the day driving around the abnormally deserted streets of LA. At night we visited the Grove with the intention of watching another movie, however it was sold out by the time we got there, so again my plans were foiled....I think Jack was beginning to wonder why he put me in charge by this point. We stood around watching the fountain and the Christmas tree trying to think of something to improve this day, when a Christmas miracle appeared, It began to snow! Snow in the middle of LA...could this be possible? I got my white Christmas after all, what a great way to end the day. OK so it was fake snow coming out of the roof tops but who cares!

After several attempts we finally spent one day skiing at Mount High. It took us ages to get there due to all the holiday traffic but it was well worth the wait. I hadn't been skiing for 12 years and it had been five years for Jack. While he was full of confidence I was a little more apprehensive. After my lesson though I remembered just how much fun skiing can be and I'm proud to say that I only fell over once it sux that it had to be in front of Jack but it was my first time on the chair lift so I can't complain. We both were feeling pretty tired by the end of the day and happy to head back to the hotel for some R&R.

The rest of the week was spent exploring Venice beach, catching up with Jack's friend Harry and his wife, and watching more movies.

LA is a pretty crazy city, its strange to me to see so much going on that the people just seem to ignore. Everyone just seems to go about their business with minimal interaction with the people around them. In the week we have been here we have seen some weird and crazy stuff. A man collapsed in Whole foods and people just ignored him and continued to shop and eat their dinner (paramedics were called). We saw one of the most outrageous car crashes where the front section of the car was completely cut off right up to the windscreen. Luckily no one was injured, however the guy in the car was in a bit of a daze. He managed to stop three lanes of traffic (including us) to pick up the scattered pieces of his car. I guess he figured if he survived that crash he must be invincible. We also walked passed a person lying face down in the bushes on the side of the road, again no one seemed to take any notice!

Aside from all the craziness LA does have a lot to offer and I'm glad that I got to spend some more time here and get to know what this city is all about. I think a lot of people come here and only see Hollywood and downtown and then decide they don't like it much. I guess it would be like coming to Sydney and only seeing Redfern and Kings Cross, and missing all the great things the city has to offer.

With only a few days left to go of this Vacation I'm starting to hear the warm Sydney weather call my name, don't let me down Sydney I need a tan!

Southland Redux

2008-12-23T12:55:00.012+11:00

After bidding a fond farewell to Northern California we drove back the way we had come, dropping in again to San Jose (like moths to the flame) for some serious outlet mall shopping.

Decked out in new threads we thus continued to Santa Barbara where we got ridiculously drunk from one single winery tasting (they push you to buy wine at the end - go figure) followed by an Irish pub experience that exceeded all the pubs in Ireland we had been to with the quality of food and music - again go figure.

We love Santa Barbara! The air is one of inverted cinema verite - one of leaving aside the real for the imagined and styled, which is then decidedly realised. I don't see the problem with rendering an image of perfection, of declaring that the imperfect is made obsolete with one perfectly realised airbrushed smile. Baudrillard declares that Santa Barbara is paradise, albeit one in which meaning has been discarded. But Australian culture has never made much pretense to grandeur in the European tradition, and so Santa Barbara appears as just a wealthier and classier version of our own native hedonism.

After checking out the local university (the one with it's own freeway and palm lined beach) we hit the road again bound for San Diego. Total distance from Santa Rosa to San Diego was 1000 km, and the difference is really significant. Jumper and coat weather to t-shirts again, and beachy sea-breezes rather than frosty mountain air. The sun seems to de-saturate the colours in Southern California compared to the north and everyone drives faster the closer you get to Los Angeles, as if it was the source of boundless light and energy.

Freak snowfalls had closed three of the north-south freeways that lead to LA and we could see the snow on the far off mountains as we stood on the beach in San Diego in blazing sun. The night before in San Diego we had had the most amazing American meal since leaving Manhattan - Phil's BBQ which takes the American delight in slow cooked barbecue to the next level with it's amazingly decadent and delicious goodness. Our hotel was across the road from this place and there was no escaping the scent of roasting meat anywhere in the vicinity during the day. Come night and the place is a feeding frenzy, with the line stretching well out the door into the chilly evening air by 5:30PM. We ordered mesquite chicken, giant beef and baby back ribs - the portions were massive and the only way to eat is with your hands, and the meat is delicious and the sauce goes beyond good. Just as amazing are the sides - "best ever" declared Jannie of the coleslaw and potato salad.

It seems to me that barbecue is THE American cuisine. Intoxicatingly deadly but unmissable and best served along with unlimited quantities of soda.

More beaches followed, La Jolla, Laguna and Newport as we made our way back north to "the" OC. A full day of rain allowed us to catch our breath and actually enjoy not leaving the hotel all day, meanwhile planning our next adventure...

Lake Tahoe - Sacramento - Santa Rosa

2008-12-15T14:21:00.006+11:00

Our trip to Lake Tahoe was a little shorter than we had hoped but still just as magnificent. We left San Jose on Wednesday with the intention of staying in Truckee (named after the river not the Truckers that drive through) over night and making the 1/2hr journey to the lake the next morning. We got to Truckee after driving for about 3 hours only to find that there really were no good places to stay. It was about 5pm and getting dark so we found some wifi and a really cute cafe and paid a visit to our favourite website for this trip (hotwire.com). The best place we could find was a casino hotel in Reno, it was only 1/2hrs drive away and cheap as chips naturally being in a casino. Although Reno is a bit of a grotesque kind of place (a down market version of Vegas) the hotel was big and comfy and our view was amazing. We could see out the the sierra Nevada complete with snow capped mountains. So while I hate gambling I can't help but be grateful for the cheap accommodation and food it provided for us.

We were up bright and early for our drive around lake Tahoe. Now I should explain that we had planned on spending 10days in Tahoe skiing over Christmas but cancelled it for a couple of reasons. 1. Hertz does not allow you to put chains on rental cars, and if it snows you can't drive to Tahoe without them. 2. We are not too sure we want to be driving in the snow and 3. Our dollar dying in the last few months had made the trip way more expensive than we had hoped. So anyway we had decided that we should at least get there for the day before the snow starts so we can at least see what we were missing. Lake Tahoe is one of the most beautiful places I have ever had the pleasure of visiting. It is one of the cleanest, deepest most scenic lakes in the world. The photos we took really just don't do it justice. Should anyone ever be in this area this is a must see destination.

We left Tahoe after completing the drive around the lake and drove on to Sacramento. Apart from being the state capital and kind of pretty it really isn't very interesting. It was an old gold mining town and has kept some of the original buildings, but I was glad we only spent one night there.

Now at this point I am beginning to feel like a bit of a gypsy moving from place to place but we are on the home stretch and really want to squeeze as much as we can into this adventure. From Sacramento we drove back to San Jose as we didn't quite get to do everything we had planned the last time we were there. One of the things on our list was to let out our inner geek and visit the Computer History Museum. It was quite amusing to see just how many geeks there were visiting that day, you know the tall lanky long hair and glasses kind, I just couldn't help but chuckle to myself. We had a tour guide to show us around and explain to us the workings of Charles Babbage's Difference Engine (made from brass and able to add numbers up to 30 digits long) and walk us through all the old machines from the abacus to the modern day computers. It was quite fascinating to see just how far technology has come in such a short amount of time. I thoroughly enjoyed our visit....well except for being called a house wife in an example of a census question!

So Now we have arrived in Santa Rosa and the temperature has dropped to about 4 degrees. We arrived last night at John Tarrant's house (a good friend of Jack's Mother) who was gracious enough to let us stay for a few days. We have felt so welcomed by everyone we have stayed with thus far and this was no exception. John cooked us a fantastic meal of whole fresh crab and fresh baked Tuna (delicious), then we woke to fresh tamales care of Brian (a friend of Johns) whom we met last night. Apparently the tamales are sold on the side of the road by a family of Mexicans who make them fresh each night. I have never had them before coming to California and I have to say they are my favourite Mexican cuisine.

We spent today driving around the Sonoma wine country all the way to Armstrong woods to take a walk in the rain forest and see some of the tallest trees I have ever seen. We also had lunch at the gorgeous town of Healdsburg before we got too cold and called it a night. We are now just relaxing at Johns house and trying to decide where our next stop will be!

PCH - Monterey - San Jose

2008-12-11T05:42:00.005+11:00

Driving up Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Barbara we found elephant seals, roads covered in rockfalls from the sheer cliffs, and expansive views of the coast. It was a great drive.

Even though it's a "highway" you can't do more than 40MPH due to the continual curves and sheer drops on the other side. The road is basically cut into the cliff and follows the contours of the mountains around the coast. Every turn revealed something new and amazing - "ohhh, wow" we kept saying.

Eventually the road turns into the forests of "Big Sur" but it still feels remote and curvaceous until you pop out at Carmel ("a dream place" according to Jannie, due to it's pretty tree lined main street that slopes down to a lovely beach).

It's then a short drive to Monterey where we spent the night. Monterey is always lovely, with pretty houses and seaside. The next morning we saw butterflies and deer at the butterly sanctuary and continued the drive to Santa Cruz, which although pretty is definitely a part of Northern California as the wind was icy cold. Definitely not shorts weather up here.

Deciding to give it a miss, we headed over the mountain to San Jose where we both enjoyed being back in the city, in the heart of "Silicone Valley". I never knew that San Jose is the 10th largest city in the US. It feels so much like a small town. Everything seems to be a ten minute drive from wherever you are.

The way we found the hotel was totally appropriate. We dropped into the Holiday Inn Express to go to the bathroom and to find out their rates only to be told it was $160. That's $240 AUD! Totally outrageous. (Walk in rates always suck - we paid $60 at another hi express and the person ahead was paying $16 on some corporate rate). Anyway, we asked if there was free wifi around. They looked at us and said they had no idea.

So we went out to the car and checked - it turned out there was free wifi from the hotel across the street, so we drove around with the laptop to find the strongest signal, then booked a room with hotwire.com for another holiday inn for the much more acceptable rate of $60.

San Jose is business town - everyone here is geeky or business like, tapping away on laptops or PDAs but it's still kind of fun. It has nice mountains on each side and is 45 minutes to San Francisco and 45 minutes to Santa Cruz.

Jannie finished buying her ski clothes here - total cost for funky warm waterproof jacket, pants and gloves is $100 (the jacket is last season's style - oh the shame).

We also went to the IMAX dome for Adrenaline Rush and saw the Tech Museum of Innovation.

So now we are all set for an adventure to Lake Tahoe - and skiing if there is any snow to be found.

Santa Barbara - Pismo Beach

2008-12-08T04:01:00.007+11:00

With the fog clearing, So-Cal reveals a warmth that had me walking around in shorts all day, nearly a week into "winter". We left LA and headed to Camarillo where there is an enormous outlet mall. You guessed it, this was where Jannie bought more shoes. And jeans. We'll need a new suitcase to carry everything back at this rate.

Next we arrived in Santa Barbara, a really outstanding beach community that features lovely beaches (almost as nice as Australian ones), fantastic food and a rampaging nightlife. We were just in time for the Holiday Parade, a real small-town-Americana experience. They trundled out numerous marching bands from the local high schools, gymnastic clubs that did cartwheels down the street, the town's "No 1" fire engine and Santa made an appearance at the end, all to the crowds applause and a sea of smiles and "Happy Holidays!". The contingent from the town's special olympics group gave especially heartwarming exhortations and brought tears to Jannie's eye.

I was reminded several times of the film Cutter's Way while in Santa Barbara. There are a number of parade scenes in that too (and it was shot in Santa Barbara) - one in particular where the protagonist is asked by somebody on a horse how they look - "you look like a fat man on a horse, Georgie" is the reply. There were a lot of fat men driving over-sized trucks in the holiday parade Friday night.

It's a wealthy community with a large Latino working class belt on its fringes, and as Tom Wiener notes "Cutter's Way is acutely sensitive to the bitterness that gnaws at people drawn to the physical charms of California, only to be disappointed by their inability to share in the false promise of happiness those charms hold out". We'll try to get back to Santa Barbara, it is in my mind the quintessential so-cal experience.

The next stop was Pismo Beach where we saw an outstanding sunset and were bathed in the smoke of numerous barbecues on the beach. (The American BBQ method is more like smoking meat rather than the fast cooking as we impatient Aussies demand).

The scenery while driving has been amazing, and we are having a great time. This is the first time in a long while that we have been out in the country and it feels fine.

CA Road Trip - LA

2008-12-05T05:32:00.007+11:00

We decided the other day that 13 flights would not be enough on this trip so we have added one more and are now in LA. Our first night was spent at lovely Redondo Beach but unfortunately the city is covered in fog right now so it was not as picturesque as we were expecting. After a long walk along the beach and an even longer walk to the hire car place (yes i complained the whole way) we have picked up a car and are ready to start driving.

We have spent the last two days in Culver City which as it turns out was an excellent choice, due to its proximity to all the local LA attractions. Jack has settled right back into driving on the right hand side of the road with only a few 'keep to the right' reminders from me! I'm still afraid even as the passenger and continue to hold on to the door handle and press my imaginary break pedal when I think we are going too fast. The highways here are crazy everyone is travelling at around 130km/h and changing lanes with a seconds notice...all i can say is I'm glad I'm not the one driving. We have been given a GPS to find our way around which has come in handy. Now normally we are both quite apposed to these devices and think they are a cheaters way to get around, but I'm really glad we have one here. She is so helpful and never gets angry at us even when we constantly miss the turns she advises us to take. The only bad thing I'll say about her is that she keeps telling us to make u-turns on 10 lane highways....I don't thinks so Marcy! (that's what we have named her by the way, I think she sounds like someone named Marcy and is secretly laughing at our inability to follow simple instructions)

So far we have checked out Farmers Market and the Grove where we had delicious Gumbo and found the happiest Christmas place in the city. Amazing Christmas decorations combined with all my favourite shops...i was in heaven! Then we took a drive through Rodeo Dr, Beverly Hills and then to Santa Monica where we strolled for miles down the beach at sunset.

Dinner was Panns - an original fifties diner, where we had fried chicken, biscuits, pulled pork and onion rings. All American Goodness!

Finally we went to Manhattan Beach for a quick after dinner stroll. It's like an upscale version of Byron bay with lots of bars, restaurants, and sparkly Christmas lights. It was a little quiet but I'm sure its a great place to be in the summer months.

Leaving San Francisco

2008-12-01T17:20:00.005+11:00

It took two weeks in San Francisco to recover from the city that never sleeps, but after being in solid holiday mood all this time we feel sufficiently refreshed, nourished and have caught up on all that sleep we missed.

Good points about San Francisco:

Funky art deco buildings everywhere

Funky art deco trams and cable cars that are still in service

Smiles on everyone's faces

Best Yum Cha outside Hong Kong (in Jannie's expert opinion)

Anti gravity ensures furniture sticks to the side of buildings

There is a really good Indian restaurant that is also an Irish pub.

$2.50 cocktails, $1 draught beer, free pool in the four hours of happy hour each day

Great sourdough!

North Beach is all the funky, groovy parts of Sydney squashed into one convenient walking distance

Bad points:

Public transportation is SLOW! (Stopping at every corner is a good idea, why?)

There is no escape from the buskers when waiting in line for the cable cars

The fog is really, really cold (which can be depressing when the lovely warm sun is shining just over the hill - and Jannie wants to point out that fog is Bad For Hair)

There are far too many good points and not enough bad points and we are leaving today

So I really came to like this city. There is a certain vibe here that is really comfortable - like, here in the land of plenty, it was this city where living the good life became an art form.

San Francisco

2008-11-28T05:34:00.011+11:00

Well we were a week early for the tree lighting ceremony as it turns out so we will have to wait till tomorrow night for that....oops!

We have been in San Francisco for a little over a week now and have spent most of our time here getting to know the city. We are staying in Fisherman's Wharf which in hindsight was a bit of a mistake. This is tourist town and most things here are a bit mediocre. Luckily we can walk to North beach were things get more interesting and there is a lot of public transport around although its almost as bad as Sydney's public transport system. There are street cars, trolleys and buses that you can catch from almost every corner which will take you anywhere in the city. Now while this sounds like it would be a great thing it's actually not, it means that they stop at every street corner to let people on and off so just travelling a few kilometers will take you more than 20mins...very frustrating.

Aside from the transport woes we have found San Francisco to be a great city, the sun has been shining most days (there is a lot of foggy mornings too), the people are super friendly....and they have real sourdough bread! We have had my favourite San Francisco food three times already, Clam Chowder in a bread bowl....yummy! You can get Clam Chowder from pretty much every cafe and restaurant in the Wharf but we thing that Boudin's is the best especially since they make their own sourdough!

San Francisco is home to the largest Chinatown outside of Asia and not surprisingly it reminded me a lot of Central Hong Kong with it's narrow alley ways lined with discount stores and Asian green grocers. We went there in search of Dim Sum but had to bail out after an hour of walking around and only finding one empty slightly dodgy looking place. After some quick research back at the hotel we found that in actual fact Chinatown is not the place to have Dim Sum in this city....go figure!

We have also visited North Beach which is 'Italian town' and had really good Pizza and Ricotta Cannoli. Haight-Ashbury which used to be home to the hippies and while there are still a few around its mostly just interesting places to eat and alternative clothing stores not to too dissimilar from what you would find on King St in Newtown.

We took a walk along the Presideo admiring the coast line, and headed through Golden Gate park. It's very different to what I was expecting, I guess after spending so much time in New Yorks Central Park I thought it would be similar, but its not like it at all.

San Francisco has really been a bit of a rest stop for us. After the buzz of New York its nice to finally catch up on some sleep and chill in a Comfy Holiday Inn Bed.

Us in Golden Gate Park

A store named after us?

Just a slight incline

Houses in Haight-Ashbury

Yummy Clam Chowder!!!

Someone really Loves Coke

San Francisco - First Impressions

2008-11-22T11:54:00.003+11:00

We woke up at 4:45AM on Monday (Jannie promised to be grumpy and did not disappoint) for our flight to sunny California. And just in time too to avoid a major cold snap on the east coast with "flurries" and temperature no higher than freezing (the newscasters blame Canadian air for this). Our last week had been unseasonably warm - was it any coincidence that this was the week that NY really came together for us and that we realised just how fantastic it is as a city?

First impressions of San Francisco - deserted, quiet, super friendly and warm. The first few days we must have still been wearing our NY faces (lots of people told us to smile more) and we were certainly still psychologically back in Manhattan as we could not believe how quiet SF was. "Where are all the people?" we kept asking. "It's soooo quiet!"

San Francisco has a reputation for being expensive, but we've already discovered a local bar that has $2.50 cocktails (good ones too!) and free pool, and no meal has been more than $30 so far, which qualified as a "cheap one" in NYC but here is delicious and filling and seemingly the average.

So we are really enjoying it, and staying in a hotel means it feels like a holiday for a change and we just did a 16km trek from Sausalito across the Golden Gate Bridge and about to head off to a Christmas tree lighting ceremony so this blog post must be a short one...

Culinary Delights

2008-11-21T04:36:00.007+11:00

Although New York can be cheap there are a lot of not so cheap things to try. Since this is such a culturally diverse city one of the things we wanted to do was try the myriad of cuisines available at our doorstep (one of the perks of living right by Hells Kitchen as it turns out). Our first adventure was Ethiopian. Jack had already tried this before but for me it was completely new and I have to say I loved it. We ordered the vegetarian and non-vegetarian tasting plates. You get about 6 different curries brought out on pancakes called Injera in a big plate that looks like an up turned sombrero hat. You then just rip the pancake and dip it it the curry, it's like pick and mix curries....Delicious!

We came across a little Chinese place in the village which turned out to be pretty good but very different to what we get at home and not so spicy. We had Thai twice, once at Chelsea Markets from a little hole in the wall shop which I think was very tasty. I can't be sure just how good it was cause I hadn't had Thai for about 2 months and it is my favourite cuisine so I think I would have loved even the worst Thai food in the city. The next time was in Hells Kitchen again and it was way hotter than I expected but still OK now that I am no longer a chili wuss. The funny thing was the Green Curry was milder than the Pad Kee Mao (which is usually the milder option). We had Moroccan at a place that was supposed to do belly dancing but I guess we got there too early or on the wrong day cause there was no dancing to be seen. Also we were their only customers for most of the dinner so that may have had something to do with it. The mint tea was delicious and the lamb tagine was pretty good too. We had Dim sum in China town which in my opinion wasn't as good a the one we go to at Greenwood plaza. Oh and we also went to a Greek place on the upper west side with Jack's cousins friend Giles.

It wasn't just international food that we tried we had plenty of American food in the form of Burgers, Pizza, Brunch and BBQ. My favourite would have to be the two brunch places we went to with my old school friend Anna, Cook shop where the bacon was to die for and Good where I had a sensational frittata and biscuits. Biscuits are fantastic and something I'm really going to miss about America. They are similar to scones but much more crumbly and buttery and go perfectly with bacon and eggs! One of Jacks favourites would probably be Rub a Louisiana style BBQ place that seemed quite authentic, well as authentic as a place can be to two Australian people who have never been to Louisiana. I'm not a huge fan of smokey BBQ flavour but I did enjoy the fried green tomatoes and the ribs I ordered were quite tasty too. Jack ordered burnt ends, pulled pork, baked beans and onion rings which I think he enjoyed judging by the amount he had on his face!

The other things we tried which don't warrant much mention were Caribbean Jerk Chicken, Mexican Nachos in Brooklyn, Bagels and Coffee, and probably a dozen other things which I can no longer recall.

We also thoroughly enjoyed the home cooked roast chicken dinner made for us in up state NY by my lovely cousin Charlotte. Her place is amazing there were even deer in the back yard! It was great to see all my family again.

That's it for New York we will defiantly miss our time here. This post has made me hungry so I'm going to go eat!

NY is Cheap as Chips

2008-11-17T02:32:00.007+11:00

So, if you exclude accommodation (or maybe if you live, really, really far away) then it turns out that you can have a really good time for very little (something that we are increasingly interested in given the aussie dollar is now the prototypical little aussie battler).

Even accommodation can be cheap if you are willing to stay in the gritty old school Manhattan as we did (and then put up with intemperate heating and construction on three sides). But I digress.

The best way to save money is to not spend any at all. There are a surprising number of venues that do not charge cover, and give away free alcohol and food. We went to Chelsea Markets twice to see free indie shorts and were shouted free beer. Free movies and beer - a winning concept if ever there was one.

There is a website that lists the bars that are giving away free alcohol each night. There are also gallery opening nights that routinely give away free stuff. If you get really desperate, every bar has happy hours with drinks around $3. So clearly, paying for drinks in this town is for suckers.

Food wise, you can still get a massive cooked breakfast from a really excellent diner for $5 (includes orange juice and bottomless coffee). Prices seem to be going up fast though, so these "old school" prices are probably from people that haven't gotten around to printing new menus.

Most delis, Whole Foods, etc have great salad bars where you can get tasty fresh food (healthy too) for around $6, which is cheaper than going to a supermarket and cooking at home (the supermarkets in Manhattan are soooo expensive). The salad bar at Whole Foods is the best, Jerry, the best.

The met has a policy of pay what you want. The suggested amount is $20 per person, but we decided to pay $2.50 each.

Guggenheim, MOMA and Whitney are some really excellent galleries that are pay what you like on Friday nights. We decided to pay $1 each for both of these (suggested amounts are both around $20). This is seriously good value, as the collection at Whitney is mind-bogglingly good and of course MOMA has just about every piece of popular modern art in existence.

Free events abound - I went to a two day semantic conference for nix at NYU (and where else in the world would you find 200 people interested in the discovery, use and organisation of semantic knowledge).

Movies are $6 before twelve every day of the week, and of course this is the place to see those limited releases that might never be released to the cinema in Sydney.

And there is endless entertainment just from walking about Central Park, catching the subways (buskers do their bit, and there are some really good ones) and just walking down the street. There is a strange sense of evident truth, an unfiltered insight into the human condition that is both stimulating and provocative. When you take every culture in the world, add in some rational civic sensibility and an overriding courtesy that stems both from a feeling of equality and a fear and uncertainty of who you might be sharing a street with, you get the opportunity to understand the world as a whole.

And when you can get all this for next to nothing, it really is something to celebrate. To use a well worn phrase, We Love NYC!!

Orlando, Florida

2008-11-13T02:45:00.005+11:00

My cousin Ben and his wife Karen were in Florida for Karen's brother's wedding at the same time we were in New York so we decided to fly down for a visit. Karen's parents made us feel very welcome by bathing us in American Hospitality - as Karen said, "this is the land of plenty".

The weather was a treat too for our ice bitten faces with warm sunny days and cloudless skys. We arrived on Wednesday evening and were welcomed with margaritas and mexican. We were interested in the Florida concept of enclosing the back yard of the house with mosquito net - which meant that the house becomes very open, and the back patio an irritation free extension of the house.

The next morning, after staying up all night talking and watching movies, we headed to Universal - Islands of Adventure. After not being on a big rollercoaster for some time, I had genuinely forgotten just how much fun they are!

Due to the season and possibly the economy, we found the place empty. Along with the fabulous weather we were in for theme park heaven! Every ride said there was a five minute wait time, but it really only took a few minutes to walk through the miles of roped off areas where on a summer day you might find yourself waiting. It was scary for some rides just how much waiting there might have been.

The first ride was The Hulk. This one starts off with tremendous acceleration up a ramp, before flinging you out on an open track in crazy upside down loops. Talk about starting off at the deep end!

We quickly progressed to the water rides section. Lucky for us it was so warm that it didn't really matter that we were literally soaked at this point. My favourite ride was a water ride - Dudley Do Right - that has you in a log, bobbing about a water track and then falling a ridiculous distance down waterfalls, with resulting enormous splashes. If you don't get wet enough doing this, there are water pipes that onlookers can fire at you from a bridge. (These are placed at face level, and you are strapped into your seat, so you only have two choices - eyes or ears).

We were drenched from these rides and spent the rest of the day with soggy underpants, but it was still way fun.

Because of the lack of lines, we did all the rides in the park by lunchtime and so upgraded our tickets and hit Universal Studios for more of the same. The Simpsons ride was great - it belongs to the "4D" category whereby you don't move all that much but you get a really strong sense of motion, due to tilting and looking at an enormous screen that projects movement.

So in one day we did both parks and had an absolute blast. We finished up with more margaritas and hamburgers before paying a visit to Karen's brother to drink draught beer and play Rock Band 2, where I found I was unable to play the drums AND hit the snare drum pedal with any coordination (maybe margaritas and draught beer aren't so good for coordination, despite all the advertising to the contrary).

The next day was more laid back, we ate a large leisurely breakfast, sat around talking, finished a jigsaw puzzle and had a look at the free parts of Disneyland (which are not as much fun as the expensive parts). During breakfast, Ben and Karen told us to put maple syrup on our "biscuits" with eggs and "sausage" and watched with the kind of anticipation that Australians reserve for people that have never tried vegemite. (Australia wins in the unexpected tastes at breakfast department).

Disney had decided to create a lagoon with white sand and beach chairs so we had a drink on that to catch the last rays of lovely Florida sunshine before getting to the airport for our flight back to New York, which was cold and rainy but felt, in just a small way, a little like home, which was both interesting and surprising.

So big thanks to Ben and Karen for showing us around, and big thanks to Linda and Chase for their hospitality. Sometimes you do need a vacation, even when you are on vacation.

A Great Week to be in New York

2008-11-10T00:30:00.012+11:00

A lot has been going on this past week in New York. It all started on Thursday, wathcing Chicago on Broadway. It was okay, but tired - probably due to running continuously since 1996! (In fact it holds a record for the longest running musican revival on Broadway).

Friday followed with Halloween. We went to watch the Parade but were a little too late to get a good spot. There were literally millions (two) of people crammed along the streets all dressed up in their costumes and it was really exciting to see. Even though we couldn't get right up close to the parade we did manage to see a little of it. We spent the rest of the evening walking along the street watching everyone in their costumes all getting a little crazy. It a bit like the atmosphere on NYE in Sydney only 10 times as many people and every one is dressed up. It was a fun night and we topped it off by eating a Ben and Jerrys Ice-cream Sunday before heading home. Yum!

The NY marathon was held on Sunday so we headed down to the park to watch the runners cross the finish line. It was so inspiring to see everyone who had just run 40 km still look so full of energy. Having said that there were some people that looked like they were about to pass out. Apparently a couple of people died later that evening, which isn't an unusual occurrence!

We had planned on spending Monday wandering around Astoria in Queens however after getting on the subway heading in the wrong direction we ended up at Battery Park. Instead of trying to go back in the other direction we decided to catch the Staten Island Ferry. Since neither of us have any interest in visiting Liberty Island this was a good way to get a view of Manhattan from the water. It's free to ride the ferry and sails right past Liberty Island on the way a much better idea in my opinion than spending the $20 to get someone to leave you stranded on Liberty Island with nothing to do.

Then of course came Election night on Tuesday. The city was buzzing all day. Buskers were working the name Obama into there songs which seemed to work a treat for the guy that got onto our subway car that morning. He must have got at least $7 just from our car for the one song he sang. We took the 7 train to Queens as far as you can go to check out the "International Food". It's interesting how in about 20 blocks the area can change ethnicity not only in the people that inhabit the area but also in the ambiance. Our first stop was Flushing which is home to a rather large Korean and Chinese population. We were told that this would be the place to get authentic and cheap Chinese food. One subway station further were Mexican restaurants everywhere and I especially liked all the music playing in the street. One interesting observation was that the street sellers would be speaking perfect albeit heavily accented Spanish and then immediately switch to perfect New Yorker accent when speaking to a non-Mexican, what was even more interesting was that a lot of the sellers were not Mexican at all but African-Americans. After walking out 30 blocks we came to an Irish neighbourhood and after having just been in Ireland it was funny to see pubs that look almost identical to the ones we had see over there. We stopped here funnily enough for some Thai food which was pretty average but very inexpensive (I guess that's what you get for eating Thai in an Irish neighbourhood). We continued to follow the train line where the scene then starts to change into India, the Mexicans and Irish disappear only to be replaced by women wearing sari's and the smell of Indian food. I bought one of the best samosas I have ever had before hopping on the train back to the city.

We arrived home later that day and watched Colbert and John Stewart cover the election. At about 11pm it was announced Barrack Obama had won the election. The streets erupted in a roar of excitement which we could hear even from our apartment even though it is set away from the street. The city feels like it has just been injected with hope, and I think I have even noticed some smiles on peoples faces instead of the usual straight faced look directly at the ground New Yorker.

NY dresses up for Halloween

Jannie forgets to depresss button - complains that there is always a three second delay when using her camera

NY Reveals Wintery Goodness!!

2008-11-01T01:53:00.003+11:00

From walking about and wishing we were wearing shorts on Sunday, to the iciest, nastiest cold snap where it started snowing around the city on Tuesday...what a change icy cold wind can make to a city.

I guess you can say Jannie and I are fair weather fans, as exploration in this kind of weather is just impossible. Just walking to the end of block is uncomfortable even in jumpers and jackets and multiple layers (your face freezes, if nothing else). Thermals are great outside but, of course, the heating inside each building is set to barbeque, so thermals and all layers need to be quickly divested.

Luckily the weather is warming up again now, but if that is any taste of winter, then we both decided that we will be happy to leave it for the locals.

Noo Yawk

2008-10-29T00:33:00.004+11:00

If the building we were staying at was a bar, then you could definitely call it a dive bar. It's kind of cheap and nasty, the doors were never built to close (they're actually too big for the door frames), and one neighbour got into an hour long screaming match with the super about the heating, which is, admittedly, somewhat erratic.

Steam heating is something I've never seen before, there are pipes that run into the apartment and at certain times start pumping out steam (the pipes are meant to radiate some heat too). There is no real way to predict when the heating will kick in. Sometimes you can come home to a sauna, sometimes there is no heating at all.

Still, with a fresh coat of paint and freshly polished floors, the place is actually somewhat okay. Although next to the bus station, the 7R stands for rear and so it's actually really quiet.

We're two blocks from Times Square, which is handy for when we want to stroll to the local cinemaplex (with a mighty 25 screens) and last night saw the really masterful new Kaufman movie - Synecdoche, New York (highly recomended). We're also within strolling distance of Hell's Kitchen which features lots of interesting restaurants, and the night before last we had some tasty Ethiopean dinner, which features a unique pancake bread (Injera) that you eat the curries with.

Around Times Square are The Tourists, which we can sometimes avoid being grouped with by the non stop array of people selling tours and sketches and tickets, etc. Tourists all walk about with a kind of nervous sluggishness, they are generally much heavier than the NY locals, who stay thin by a combination of walking, taking subways (in which there are no escalators that work) and by yelling at each other.

The typical NY local is stylish, but in a deliberately casual way. There is a sense of non-conformity compared to the classical European styles of Germany. One suspects however, that this non-conformity is merely an illusion as the number one activity without doubt is consumerism, either in a buying or selling capacity.

Compared to my memory of NY, people have had the wind knocked out of them by the latest financial woes, which they are all taking pretty hard. Reviews for theatre have mentions of "lovely and upbeat, particularly in these times", and people do NOT seem to have that typical upbeat attitude and instead can be overheard muttering about how much money they've lost.

Everything bad aside, New York is still a great city. If you like people, are interested in everything that people do, then NY is the place to be. There is so much richness just in the street, in the subways, as people publicly live their lives and interact and the countless wonderful strange moments that you get to witness are the things you remember. People here are not so reserved, and there is a kind of honesty in that.

Oh, and before we perpetuate the myth any further, there is indeed good coffee to be had here. We found, just down the end of our street, a perfectly boheme cafe that serves killer lattes with their funky music and cupcakes - The Cupcake Cafe. But even in a typical European/Sydney style cafe like this, they still cater to the local tastes with their self service coffee cart - serving off course lovely Americano (yeargh) style coffee...

New York New York

2008-10-25T05:44:00.004+11:00

I was a litte apprehensive arriving in New York as I had very low expectations of the apartment we had rented and the neighbourhood it would be in. I have been pleasantly surprised about the the apartment, it is a teeny tiny one bedroom even smaller than our studio in Sydney, but very functional and clean. The only downsides being that we are on the 4th floor of a walk up building and the bed is not big enough for the two of us. We had to go to Kmart and purchase an air mattress and are now sleeping in separate beds, which kinda suxs. As for the neighbourhood it's about what I expected but maybe not so scary. It is a lovely neighbourhood, we are right next door to at least two adult video stores and as a pleasant extra surprise, a large parole office to which ex-cons must make their weekly reports. On the bright side a pretty major subway stop is only three doors down and we can basically walk to all the action. Once you are inside the apartment you really forget how seedy the outside is. Our super Wilson and his wife are very friendly and helpful even when we constantly interrupt his tiling efforts and walk all over her mopping the floors with our dusty shoes.

We have now been in the city for almost a week and we are really trying to get an authentic New York experience. We have spent most of our days exploring the numerous boroughs, eating bagels and trying to find a decent cup of coffee. Funnily enough Starbucks coffee is near to the top so far, which is lucky since its on almost every street corner. Other New York experiences we have had include: doing our washing at the local laundromat, baking apple pie, going for a jog in Central park and catching subways everywhere.....oh and SHOPPING! You will be pleased to know that I have limited myself to 4 pairs of shoes so far. The terrible exchange rate is putting a dampener on things though.

New York really is one of the most interesting cities I have visited mainly due to the diversity of people that live here but also due to the difference in all neighbourhoods. You get a sense of the lifestyle the people lead just by walking around and listening to the snippets of conversation and other body language. In our neighbourhood we really need puffy jackets and baggy pants to fit in. While I'm not sure this is a place that id choose to live in, there is a certain energy that consumes you just being amongst so many people and listening to the sirens and horns echoing down the street at any time of the day or night. Rush hour is times ten and not just on the street, forget about trying to buy anything with out having to join a queue that loops around the entire shop, they even have people whose job it is to hold a sign indicating to shoppers where the end of the queue is. Amongst all this chaos there is the park where one can go to get away from it all. Its so peaceful although totally overrun with squirrels. They are everywhere and not at all timid like I thought they would be.

So on the whole we are having a great time figuring this city out and try to determine if it is somewhere that we might like to live, so far im still undecided. The way the dollar is going we may have to. Hope everyone is well we are missing you all!

Irish Road Trip

2008-10-20T11:23:00.007+11:00

We had hired a car for a four day road trip and set off from Dublin on Sunday morning, not having a good picture of how long it would take to cover distances. In the event, we were given a car that had been seriously battered about and had very uncomfortable seats, which meant that driving was not especially efficient or comfortable.

We had set out to the south from Dublin, and reached the lovely town of Enniscorthy by the time we decided to stop. We found a B&B with a WW1 theme - rifles, recruitment posters and newspapers from the era - but the best feature was the view across the river and the two main bridges across the town.

Since it was Sunday, the town was basically closed. Dinner options consisted of a choice between fried chicken, pizza or hamburgers. I chose a hamburger from a place with people that were playing pinball and the sense that the past twenty five years still hadn't happened. It was like an Australian fast food place from the depths of childhood memories.

The interesting thing about Ireland for an Australian is the sense that Australia is more or less a continuation or Ireland in another country. The people are MUCH friendlier though, and the countryside is unique. Once you get out of Dublin, the country opens up and becomes wonderful.

But the culture seems about the same, the pubs identical, and the things which are different such as the eloquent and preppy Trinity culture are still vaguely familiar from popular imagination of how university is (if not in fact). Even a lot of the urban landscape seems constructed by the same companies and designers.

Irish breakfast the next morning introduced me to soda bread and white pudding - the first consistently delicious across Ireland, the second a mixture of lard and oatmeal and not a particular highlight. We visited Vinegar Hill, the headquarters of a failed southern rebellion, and then set out for Kilkenny, which had a nice castle and cathedral (we came to find that ALL towns in Ireland have a nice castle and cathedral, a fact seemingly not lost on some other towns, who began combining and multiplying their castles and cathedrals, presumably to distinguish themselves). Along the way we got lost and discovered that Irish road signs are generally good in the countryside, but somewhat inadequate in the cities, with the street signs placed against the far wall rather than on a pole, which means that they are hard to see and actually invisible at night.

Jan had given us a GPS device with a map and this proved helpful. Later it actually made all the difference in the world on our nightmare Dubin re-commute, which came later as part of our Journey From Hell.

After Kilkenny came Cork, and this city was really fun. I guess any town with a large student population just becomes fun, albeit in a drunken kind of way. We stayed this time at Garnish House, a B&B that is trying to rewrite the B&B experience (but not the prices). You get welcomed with afternoon tea and the full attention of the host who talks about what you should see, gets out maps, tells you about Cork, and helps you to plan your next day. Then you get a room that is as nice as a hotel room, if not better, and then the next morning you get Breakfast Extravaganza, starting with fruit, local cheese, ham, salami (all interesting and delicious), followed by porridge with Baileys, followed by an extensive list of choices from a hot menu and then, a final course of pancakes!! (Needless to say, Jannie and I only managed fruit and eggs, to the disappointment of the host, who was tried to persuade us by saying he could give us "just one small pancake", after everything else.)

And then it rained. In a big way.

We struggled on to Killarney, where we found another B&B and just went to ground, trying the local stouts and Irish Stew but otherwise not doing much. Jannie bought a scarf.

The highlight of the next morning was an abbey that (along with everything else in Ireland) had been sacked by Cromwellian forces and never rebuilt. It was GRAND to wander around the ancient ruins, which were still largely intact.

By lunchtime it was time to head back to Dublin, at which point began the Journey From the Depths of Hell (okay, slight exaggeration). The big problem with driving in thick heavy rain in Ireland is that you can’t see anything (including signs) and that tractors and farm trucks drive on the highways (oh, and there are no overtaking lanes. By none, that means zero. Oh, and there are no shoulders either, so trucks can't pull over). So it would be good for a little while, but then we would get stuck behind another truck or tractor, before overtaking it or having it turn away. Sometimes this would take a while. And then, almost immediately, you could get stuck again.

So not much fun, but still infinitely better than Dublin at rush hour, which is when we arrived. We got to the west side of Dublin at around 5 PM and had been told that we couldn't take the perimeter freeway to the north west airport side unless we had bought a sticker for the toll (this proved to be false as you can buy one afterwards). So bravely and foolishly, we plunged into the depths of Dublin only to find complete and utter gridlock. It took 3 hours to drive to Jan and Jaime's house, and it was only with the aid of GPS that we could navigate as the street signs were all rendered invisible by darkness and the light in the car wasn't working either to see a map. Dublin is not an easy city to drive in even without traffic, and since it is cut in half by rivers and canals, crossing at the bridges in rush hour takes great, deep patience. Other highlights included driving the wrong way down one way streets and missing critical turns that required doubling back though interminably long and crowded routes, all to the sound of Jannie's cries of "I can't see the maps!" and "This stupid GPS is losing itself and is a pile of @#@#!".

If that wasn't enough, there was a big hurling match on and of course we drove right next to that as well. There were more people than cars on the road, creating a new kind of gridlock.

We got to Jan and Jaime's house to drop off their maps and GPS and were in such a rush we didn't even leave a thank you note (BTW, thanks heaps!) as we had to get to the airport and return our car before getting charged a late fee. After driving all day our patience was shot and we didn't get to sleep before 11, which was bad news as we had to get up at 4:30 for our red eye flight to Germany. Once we had boarded this flight (and only just did we make it, we were rushing about like headless chooks through the many long lines and then the endless Dublin airport and basically got to the plane with no time to spare) we were told that the flight was delayed an hour due to wind in Germany.

We got to Germany only to find the thick rain had followed us there too so we didn't do much while waiting for our 5PM flight. This flight was largely uneventful except we were both tired and grumpy and I managed to spill someone's wine all over an elderly irritable German when I put my seat back. Then, when we landed for some reason we had to sit around on the tarmac for an hour waiting to get off. The lights were all off and all the announcements were in German only and so Jannie was on verge of nervous collapse by the time we finally got off, only to find more gridlock in the immigration lines. Finally, the next day, we arrived at our apartment only to find nobody there and so we had to wait around another hour for that.

So basically travel can be less than fun, and while each thing individually would have been fine, all this collectively over 48 hours, and throwing in only ten hours sleep, it can really suck.

But two good nights sleep later we are in good spirits again, with clean clothes, and enjoying NYC to the max...

Dublin

2008-10-14T10:05:00.003+11:00

We arrived in Dublin at around 10pm after almost an entire day of travel and a flight delay of about 45mins. It's just lucky we had such a restful sleep the previous night because we where exhausted! After stepping off the plain we caught a taxi to Jan and Jaime's place in Raheny (north of Dublin city). It only took about 15mins to get there, even after the Taxi driver made a couple of wrong turns. The first two observations we made about Ireland is that everyone is very helpful and polite and the street names are REALLY confusing even for locals. Jan and Jaime's house in on Grange Park Cres which should be easy enough to find except that in the same area will be Grange Park Close, Grange Park Street….you get where I'm going here right? Anyway the taxi driver was really nice and waited till we knocked on the door to check that we had the right house.

We hadn't seen Jan and Jaime for about six months so it was fun catching up again. We ended up staying up past midnight catching up which I must apologise for as Jaime had to get up pretty early for work the next day.

Jan and Jaime were both working on the Friday so after a bit of a late start we headed into Dublin city. Luckily Jan has a pretty flexible job and was able to catch the train with us and point us in the right direction. We made plans to meet up for dinner and proceeded to spend the day looking around the city. We met up with David (my cousin) for a coffee and in true Irish style we spent the rest of the afternoon in a pub drinking Beer and Cider (Bulmers is everywhere in Ireland much to my delight) when it started to rain.

After a pint and a half of Bulmers we met Jan and Jaime for dinner at a lovely restaurant where we drank two bottles of delicious wine. Those of you that know me will know what a cheap drunk I am so you can imagine how fun I became after all that! After dinner everyone decided that they needed more alcohol so we went to a pub for Guinness and a water for me, by this stage I was a little worse for wear but a fun night was had by all. Thanks again Jan and Jaime.

The only things we managed to do on Saturday were to sleep in and to see Trinity, where we saw the book of Kells. Then we went back to Jan and Jaime's yummy home cooked roast chicken and a movie night consisting of the hilarious Hercules Returns and oh so serious Michael Collins.

A big thanks to Jan and Jaime for there hospitality and everything else...see you in New York!

Berlin

2008-10-14T09:55:00.003+11:00

I thought Berlin was an amazingly rich and interesting place to visit. We were there for three nights, two of which were at a former monastery turned youth hostel, the third at the decadently luxurious Steigenberger, which came as something of a relief as something licey, something bitey was eating me alive and Jannie was complaining about the 75 stairs and (gasp) no lift.

Our Mexican friends, Alex and Claudia, were in Berlin at exactly the same time as us and we ran into them again on the train from Prague, although there was a scramble for the seats in the sole first class carriage and we ended up sitting in someone else's reserved seats by mistake. Alex and Claudia fixed the problem by removing the reserved indicators, thereby ensuring that their seats were "free". We followed suit as a joke just before the rightful ticket holders rolled up to claim their seats. In the Mexican stand off that ensured, Alex and Claudia held their ground and won the seats, while we went to the other end of the carriage (after all, the aggrieved party were Aussies too).

Anyway, there was so much to do in Berlin and we only scratched the surface in the time we had. I don't believe that we would of run out of new things to experience if we had been there a month.

On the first day we went to the Technical Museum (which is enormous). War is so tied into German history that the museum sort of mirrors the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, for example with the intact (Australian) Lancaster bomber in Canberra and the crashed remains of another Lancaster bomber in Berlin. There were WW2 rockets, jets, fighters and trains, all along with suitcase making displays, brewery displays, and the trains, oh the trains. I guess about fifty locomotives and train carriages are all on display, including one used to transport people to the concentration camps that you could walk into.

Anyway, we left only when we were exhausted and there were still more things to see. After drinks that night with A&C in a Mexican place at Potsdamer Platz, we went the next day with them to the Hamburger Bahnhoff which is now a modern art museum for yet another massive museum experience and some really excellent modern art. There were extensive exhibitions on Beuys and Warhol and then a selection from their permanent collection on a theme of deconstructionism in a series of galleries the size perhaps of Central railway station in Sydney. After seeing the Biennale in Sydney, it was so very refreshing to see modern art that was good. We left again with sore feet, but in excellent spirits. A barrage of deconstructive art leaves one seeing the humour in all things.

So the end effect was that or five star Steigenberger experience was one of recuperation and to finally have a Good Nights Sleep. The next day we spent in travel, meantime wishing we had done these things as well, as we trained it to Frankfurt to catch the plane to Dublin...

Praha

2008-10-08T18:44:00.001+11:00

While agreeing with all of Jannie's sentiments about Prague, I would just like to relate an observation about the city and my favourite Kafka novel, The Castle. As we all know, Kafka grew up in Prague, and it is above the city that indeed stands an imposing castle, although not one in the classical sense, one of thick walls and turrets, but one of a very definite aloof grandeur.

Leading to the castle from "Charles' Bridge" is a very steep, windy road, lined with shops and from which the castle seems close, but elusive as it continually disappears behind another shop, and in fact vanishes somehow just at the very end.

One can easily imagine Kafka, struggling with tuberculosis, making his way up this long and arduous road, and getting the inspiration for his masterpiece.

The other observation is that the Castle, while grand from a distance, is indeed somewhat plain from the inside, and actually quite hollow. The inner courtyard is barren, its emptiness entirely hidden from the outside. Like biting into a limp apple, the beauty of Prague lies in the imagination.

Why does everyone love Prague?

2008-10-08T02:46:00.003+11:00

.....that it wasn't at all what we were expecting. This is a difficult post for me to write as I feel I don't really understand Prague at all. We were there for four days which right now I feel was too long. I was very excited about the prospect of visiting this city as I have never heard anything less than glowing reviews of the place, so you will understand why I feel quite strange about writing that our experiences were not really that great. Don't get me wrong Prague is a beautiful city and I feel that perhaps 5 years ago it would have been fantastic. However now it is overrun by tourists to the point of exhaustion and the Czech people are not happy about it. If you don't speak Czech they people are extremely unhelpful and will rip you off at any given opportunity. They will add a 20% surcharge to every meal after already adding a 10% service fee. I can only speculate that this 20% is for being a foreigner! Having said that its not that expensive (about the same as Sydney prices) but the food is not very good and the service is worse, so it's kind of just annoying to get ripped off.

On the bright side the scenery is beautiful, the castle was amazing, i only wish we could have gone into the church but the line was way too long....damn tourists! On the third day we decided to try and find more of what the real Prague is all about and headed to a town about a 15min tram ride away. The people were a little friendlier here and the food looked better which was a relief. We also managed to stumble across a concert in one of the bars that was being given in aid of children with Epilepsy. It was great the music was good, even though we couldn't understand any of it and they even sang a few English songs. A good time was had by all. Especially the really drunk girls dancing 80's style!

If it wasn't for the last day I would have left Prague extremely disappointed but as it stands now I think it was an interesting place with a lot to offer if you speak the language and actually may come good in about 5-10years when the people learn to cope with tourism, I certainly wont be back before then.

Oktoberfest

2008-10-04T18:08:00.004+10:00

I liked Munich - with lots of parks, bike paths, trams and of course so much fresh and delicious beer. (So cheap incidentally - a six pack from the supermarket is 3.5 euro and a 5 litre keg is 8 euro!)

So even though it was cold and windy I came to think that it was an interesting place. We were there for two days and staying at a place near Oktoberfest, and it was chaos. Everywhere gets booked out months before, and the place was absolutely overflowing with people. The hotel seemed to fall apart while we were there, with lifts and doors to the breakfast room rendered inoperative - presumably after two more weeks of Oktoberfest the place is in ruins.

Anyway, Jannie had a cold and felt "terrible" as she frequently liked to tell me, so we didn't really get into the drunken Oktoberfest atmosphere as we might have. It's hard to get a table unless you have a reservation (i.e. work for a company that reserves tables) or plan to stay there all day from the opening at 10:30 in the morning. Some people clearly took the second option and so extreme drunkenness was the norm by 4:00 in the afternoon, when the party really starts to take off. Five thousand people dancing on tables, singing German songs, all while carrying enormous glasses of beer, creates a unique spectacle.

When the waitress brings you the beer, she asks if she can keep the change, and so when everyone is drunk by that point a waitress could probably make 30 euro per trip to the bar and back in tips, which is undeserved, since she spills most of it on the way by carrying the glasses at an angle (although of course carrying ten steins is still moderately impressive).

We managed to avoid a hangover the entire time in Munich, was is an achievement, and managed to get on the Prague train early enough to get a seat, which was another achievement b/c it was extremely full and people were lying around in the corridors, drinking, of course, more beer.

We met a lovely Mexican couple on the train, Alex and Claudia, which made the long train trip a pleasant breeze and even though the Police became intensely suspicious by Jannie having two passports (and no arrival stamp) we managed to get to the Czech Republic safely, only to find...

One Week Later

2008-10-03T21:11:00.002+10:00

My flight from Sydney was on a new double decker A380 and flying economy felt like business with all the entertainment options. They even had power points, which I didn't use because I was too busy watching Peep Show, Family Guy and Flight of the Conchords!

For some reason I had been led to believe that Frankfurt was dodgy, but it seemed fine and I had a great time while waiting for my flight to Malta the next day. The local speciality is apple wine, which nobody is supposed to really like, but I do for some reason, and all the local drunks in the bar were both dubious and impressed.

I think I need a sign that says I speak no - as in NONE - German, as everybody just assumes I am fluent and are asking me for directions and expecting me to observe the complicated German societal observances, of which I am sonorously unaware (I find it difficult even to switch on the lights over here).

Anyway, Malta struck me as a totally unique place. The cars zoom around the narrow laneways that were built for horses, and the houses are all sandstone, which means that they are mildly colder in the harsh summer heat, but can also corrode quite easily and seem to be continually being rebuilt. Plus, the houses can take some time to clean, with our hosts spending two days cleaning per week (!).

The landscape is rocky, to say the least, and the rocks are generally gathered to form rubble walls, but there are still plenty of rocks left over. Even the fields where crops are grown are full of little rocks.

We were staying in Gozo, the less populated of the two islands that form Malta. The airport is on the main island, along with the capital, the factories and most of the people. Gozo is more rustic, and the only means of travel between the islands is a car ferry that costs 5 euro per passenger, and means a trip from Gozo to the capital by bus and ferry takes around two hours, which we discovered on our first (and only) bus trip.

Valetta, the capital, is an all sandstone fortress city complete with invasion bells that nevertheless still seemed to be captured by any European power that gained ascendancy in the Mediterranean. There are a lot of steep stair-cased streets that really shouldn't have cars driving down them, but they still do anyway. In some ways it was a city as interesting and unique as Venice.

On day two, we explored Gozo, exploring the Citadel, which, in the sixteenth century fell to the Turks who enslaved all the inhabitants of the island (except for 40 old men as stipulated in the surrender conditions). We had local wine, tomatoes, cheese and olives in a really FRESH and rustic lunch that seemed to come from another era.

We also went to Ramla Bay which is the nicest beach in Gozo and Malta, and has golden sand like at Narrabeen. Walking there, Jannie saw many things to be scared of - which is an achievement given that there are no poisonous snakes or spiders on Malta.

On our final day we went to Malta to see an airshow and have lunch with Jannie's cousin Joe and fiancé Lisa. The airshow was mainly British and was reasonably loud and dangerous looking. The afternoon highlight was visiting Paceville, Jannie's namesake town and full of modern shops and bars.

Back in Frankfurt we found an early prelude to Oktoberfest with a bar full of crazy friendly drunk Germans that were celebrating Oktoberfest and feeling sociable. And then Munich and Oktoberfest washed away all sins in a sea of beer...

Here's Jannie doing an impression of a typical German

Malta

2008-09-30T16:11:00.004+10:00

It's been really hard to blog b/c of all the cool things we've been doing, with little time to spare when internet is available. But in short, a Good Time has been had by all.

Malta is great, with the amazing weather, food, hospitality and unique architecture among the highlights. The weather is just perfect this time of year, with a little rain but mainly warm and sunny.

Our hosts, Joseph and Maria made us feel at home, and made sure we didn't go hungry. We won't feel hungry for some time!

And now with the shuttle bus leaving momentarily, this post will need to be short. But we will try to put together a more detailed one on the trains we will now be catching (long train journeys all).

One More Sleep to Go

2008-09-24T01:24:00.003+10:00

Only one more sleep until Jack arrives and I can't wait. I know this will sound a bit corny but it's been two and a half weeks since I saw him and I have been missing him so much. It's the longest we have ever been apart since we met. I think it may even be a bit harder since we are used to living is such close proximity to each other (in the studio). He arrived in Frankfurt this morning so at least we are in the same timezone now!

Weekend Highlights

2008-09-22T19:54:00.005+10:00

This weekend was a nice mixture of touristy sight seeing combined with hanging out with friends as a local would do.

On Saturday we walked around the Citadel and went to the Museum of Archaeology which was quite interesting. It was funny because you are supposed to pay to see all the exhibits but my clever auntie told everyone that she was from Gozo so shouldn't have to pay and they let us all in for free! This didn't work however at the one exhibit where the attendant was female...go figure! After walking around in the hot sun all day we came home to rest our weary heads before watching the sex and the city DVD and having some dinner. I know what your all going to say, you watched it again! but my cousin hadn't seen it and I have only seen it three times before (he-he). OK so I'm a bit obsessed, I get it! After that we headed out for a few quiet drinks and then it was off to bed for this old chook.

Sunday found us getting up reasonably early to catch the ferry to Malta. It's a nice 25min ferry ride from Gozo to Malta but the bus to Mosta leaves a little to be desired. The buses are pretty old school (which translates to - they look cute but are pretty uncomfortable and a little scary). It was about a 45min ride with middle age couple in front of us who really needed to get a room, if you know what I mean.

We met Rose's boyfriend and went to Mdina which is the old capital of Malta. It's a medieval town, with narrow quiet streets, situated in the centre of the island. It has a magnificent view of the island, which we enjoyed sipping coffee from a nice little cafe.

Our next stop was lunch at the bayside restaurant in Bugibba, which wasn't too bad at all. Although I did order fried calamari and chips expecting it to be like what we would get at home but that wasn't at all the case. Its not battered and it's cooked in some kind of tomato sauce, very similar to my mums octopus stew, luckily i really like that!

We spent the afternoon watching the football (soccer) with some of my cousins and their friends at a bar near by. I'm not really that into it but its a lot of fun watching everyone get so carried away with it all. Another coffee later it was time to head back to the ferry terminal to start making our way home. It really was a fun day out.

Cousins and friends - Joe, Rose and Marco

Chillin in Malta

2008-09-19T18:38:00.007+10:00

The last few days I have just been relaxing and taking it easy. My cousin Rose has gone back to work after three months of vacation (sob), so I have just been hanging around the house until she gets home around 2pm. It's good though cause its given me a bit of time to catch up on my emails and upload photos etc for you all to see. In the afternoons Rose and my Auntie Maria become my tour guides. They drive me around to see the sites, and even print out information of the places we are going to and read it out as we go. It's so much fun and even though we haven't spent much time together since they moved to Malta some 14 years ago its like they never left. We really are so similar in personality and looks, a couple of people have told us that we look like sisters, which we love hearing :).

I have been to visit some of my relatives here in Gozo and in Malta, although I'm related to so many people here I really doubt I'll get round to seeing them all. I did however mange to meet my cousin Joseph who I think may be the last of the cousins that I have never met before.

Yesterday we went to Dwerja Beach where people go diving and snorkeling. It's probably the most beautiful place I have seen since arriving, well except for the Church's I guess. The churches here are amazing. In contrast to the houses which are all sandstone and pretty much cardboard cut outs of each other, the churches are huge, colourful, ornate buildings and you can tell a lot of work must go into building them.

One of the churches we visited called 'Ta Pinu' is a very religious site. People come from all over the world to ask for help if they have a sick child or relative. Apparently what ever you wish for here will come true. The back rooms of the church are lined with children's clothes, plaster casts and messages asking for help and thanking Mary for healing there sick family members. Its quite moving reading everyone's stories although most of it is in Maltese and I'm a bit rusty so can't really make sense of it all.

Anyway that's about all my news for today, here are some photos I have taken in the last week

Hope everyone is safe and well

Mosta Church

Azure Window Dwerja Beach

Rose, Ryan and Me at Marsalforn

The altar at Ta Pinu Church

The Maltese Love to Party

2008-09-14T20:01:00.003+10:00

It's lunch time and I have only been awake for an hour! Last night we went clubbing in the Grotto till 4am! I can't believe I stayed out that late. It's been a long time since I've been out that late....actually who am I kidding I've never been out that late. I didn't realise when I agreed to going out last night that it meant we would be leaving at about 11pm to go and have a drink somewhere so we could then get to the club around midnight. And apparently I'm a bit of a piker for wanting to go home at 4am.

It was a fun night and I met loads of people, half of which I'm probably related to, but its a bit much for this old chook, I'm really feeling it today!

The club was an interesting place most people were well under 18 wearing next to nothing and dancing to doosh-doosh music, not really my scene. There where a few young girls passed out in front of the bathrooms who could not have been more than 15 years old! Despite the under age drinking and drug taking, it was a nice looking club quite large and open air, which I guess is what you need in this heat. Today I think I'll just take it easy and recover.

Hope everyone is well, missing you all terribly. Only 10 days until Jack gets here...yay! I think its going to be interesting to see what he makes of the place.

So This is Where I Come From

2008-09-14T19:37:00.003+10:00

Arriving in Malta is a bit like coming home, which is a strange thing to say for someone who has lived her whole life in Australia. It feels quite foreign to me to look around the place and see that everyone looks like me. I guess im feeling it a bit more this time after spending the last year living in North Sydney.

The heat here is almost unbareable. I thought Hong Kong was hot but this is so much worse. Its probably due to the fact that know one really has air conditioning, they just kind of put up with it.

I arrived here at 3pm and it was about 34 degrees so if i wasn't already wiped out from the long flight i certainly was from the heat. I crashed out at about 9pm which i feel terrible about as one of my aunties was visiting, but i really just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

After a long sleep I was refreshed and ready to start exploring Gozo. First up we went to do a bit of shopping in an airconditioned centre. I know its a bit weird to be excited about that but when your this hot its heaven!

We spent the afternoon in an english pup watching the football (soccer) jam packed with about 50 other people. One things for sure, Malta is mad about football, and its not a good idea to say that you don't like it. its kind of like hating cricket in Australia

Sorry I haven't put up any photos yet but I can't figure out how to put them up on this computer! I'll try and do it soon.

Hong Kong Xpat Style

2008-09-13T16:51:00.006+10:00

The interesting thing about Discovery Bay is just how western everything is. You might think you were still in Australia. The only real difference I found were all the 'helpers' (who are all Philippino) running after blond haired children, in their jeans and t-shirt 'uniforms'.

We did manage to get out and about to see a bit more of the real Hong Kong however I have discovered just how much harder it is to do anything with two small children. Veronica I'm not sure I gave you enough credit for the job you do looking after your two angels. William and Ella were great, we made them put up with so much travelling around in the heat and delaying meals and nap times so we could fit a bit more in.

Although it was such a short stay I did get to experience some of what Hong Kong has to offer. We went to Central to have dim sum with Breck at a place called Maxims Palace. It was fantastic food and somewhat difficult to find. I'm so proud of us for finding it and of William for walking the whole way and not complaining once even though he was 'Berry Berry Hungry'. Hong Kong has coped with the lack of reasonably priced real-estate by moving a lot of restaurants to the upper floors of buildings, as ground floor is the most expensive. This is an ingenious idea however it does make it difficult to find anything, especially when most people just point rather then talk to you when you ask for directions.

We also went up to the peak for dinner. It has a great view of the city and at night when all the lights are on you don't notice the haze of pollution that hangs in the sky during the day. Having said that the pollution levels aren't nearly as bad as I thought they would be and they do vary somewhat each day.

On the last day we went in search of the big Buddha. We caught the scenic cable care ride to the top which Will thought was great. You feel like a bit of a celebrity travelling around Hong Kong with a little white baby. The Honkys all crowd around you oohing and ahing over Ella. Its quite amusing since they try to talk to you in Cantonese and we assume they are saying how lovely Ella is but really have no idea what they are saying so we smile politely and walk on.
After a little Gelato stop it was back home for us so we could get out of the heat and we could all get our naps.

I'm not really looking forward to the next part of the trip. It involves a 12hr flight to Munich and then a 7hr wait for my 2hr flight to Malta. Hopefully I wont be too tired and grumpy by the time I see my family in Gozo which by the way is another hour of travelling from the airport. Oh well I'm sure I will have plenty of time to rest up on the beach.

Thanks for taking care of me Veronica, Breck, Will and Ella. Sorry I looked so tired all the time, I had a great time and can't wait to see you all again.

Bye Hong Kong...Malta here I come

Arriving in Hong Kong

2008-09-09T19:44:00.005+10:00

Yesterday was a rather emotional day for me to say the least. Saying good bye to family and friend is something that should be avoided at all costs! I think I got through the goodbyes OK but walking through those doors sent the tears flooding. I had to stop for a sec and pull myself together or everyone on the plane would think I was a freak.

I was quite apprehensive about flying with Qantas after all the bad press they have been getting lately, but my fears were greatly misguided. The flight was great, i had two empty seats next to me so it was very comfortable and i basically spent the whole time watching movies and reading. The service was fantastic, everyone was kind and polite, and I'm happy to report that you can still get the free wine on board in economy! They even give you ice-cream and chocolate so i was set!

The welcome I received from William is a memory that I will hold dear for a long time to come. He ran out to me calling my name and gave me a great big hug, which as you can imagine sent he tears running again! It is so wonderful to see Breck, Veronica, William and Ella again, although it has only been six weeks since I saw them last I have missed our weekly visits terribly. The apartment here in Hong Kong is great it has a lovely outlook and is in a fantastic location. The ferry and bus terminals are literally at your doorstep so travelling is a cinch. William has been kind enough to give up his room for me so I even managed to get in a great night sleep. It looks to me like Breck and Veronica have set up a nice little life out here!

Arriving and Departing

2008-09-07T12:41:00.004+10:00

Departure looms.

To understand where you are is to leave it - a paradox that gains little significance on the long haul flights that depart Australia daily.

Is it arriving or departing that is more anticipated?