Around the World in 78 Days

Reflection on the trip as a whole!

nobody@vox.com(no1bone) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:59:20 +1030

Well, now I have written the mammoth journey all up, I thought it might be useful to write a little re-cap on my favourite things, the worst parts, etc in a nice little package for your benefit as much as mine.

Sunrise over Lake Eyre (South Australia)

Distances:

Total Distance travelled (as the crow flies) throughout the trip: 43,665Kms (27,132 Miles) [More than once around the circumferance of the globe!]

Furthest Distance Travelled: Kuala Lumpar to Amsterdam (and back) - 10,197Kms (6,336 Miles)

Longest Flight in hours: Kuala Lumpar to Amsterdam - 11 hours, 40 minutes

Favourite City for:

Holocaust Monument

History: Berlin, but closely followed by London. Apart from hosting the uber cool Stef, it hosts so much history that would take years to actually see all of it. Ranging from the turbulent Reich history, through the Great War to the Second World War and then in most recent history the Berlin Wall. It was just so fascinating! I could have spent far longer there than I did and I do believe I overstayed my allotment anyhow :P I'd like to think that now after hosting the Soccer World Cup that Germany tries out for hosting the Olympic Games again so it gives me a solid excuse to go back! All of the war history Germany has, London has the same but from the other side of the coin making seeing both the cities a completing experience. A definite must for any traveller wanting to get the most out of European war history.

Piccadily Circus, London

Nights Out: London, tying equally with Paris. London specifically because f the Awesome people I met there and the great atmosphere of the clubs and bars. I think because it is home to just so many people, no matter what night it is, there is always something to do and people to hang around with. The 'Walkabout' chain definitely helps with the home feeling acting as a homing beacon for rampent travelling Aussies. Paris has the night life of the bohemian as well as the classy. From Moulin Rouge one night to picniccing under the Sacre Couer another to chilling out watching the Eiffel Tower show another night... what more could you want in a city?

Old Rome

Food: Well, no surprises that it should be Rome, but Stuttgart gets the solid second place! Rome has the home of GREAT coffee, pizza, pasta and wine. Really awesome cooked food. One resturant I went to, for only 10E mind you, I got salads, a huge ass pizza, breads and wine! I mean BARGAIN! All within walking distance of my hostel, so that was a bonus. Stuttgart heralded my favourite dishes of the trip, Mautaschen and Spatzle! Two dishes expertly prepared by Elena which contain pasta looking substances, onion and cheese. What more could you want? Check out my Stuttgart blog for the full details.

Sunset over Stockholm (11pm)

Shopping: Stockholm takes this place. Why? Because the great people of Sweden fit my body type and I can therefore find clothes that fot me! To be honest though, the entirety of Europe offered amazing shopping opportunities and if I was working to a strict budget, I probably would have bought more, but I didn't because everything I bought, I then had to carry on my back. Not an option really. But next time I go....!!!!! I mean London is totally fashion capital of the UK, but at the same time... things are expensive. Except the UBER cool 'McKenzie' brand of clothing!! You have to love that egh?

Ellie and I in Nice

Random Company: Nice, without a doubt. I met some really awesome people in Nice, Ellie and Harry being my two droogs who did most things with and then the crazy bunch of Americans etc in the room next to us at Alyses who took us on a Nice wide trek in search of a good, cheap bar. It was also the place where I managed to charm a Swedish waitress into free rounds! Awesome :D

Memorable Event: Well this is near impossible to pick really because every single place I stayed had something especially memorable about it. So I can't really answer this, so I'll lead into the next section where I can assign each place I went to a 'Cultural Tick', a tick which was awarded to the thing that I couldn't do anywhere else in the world.

The Cultural Ticks

Jetty outside the Sauna

Stockholm - *Outdoor performance with the Wira play * Saw the Nobel Prize Dinner Hall *Picked Berries in the Wild *Drank wine with a 'Parlimentitian' ontop of the Swedish Parliment Building *Saw the sun set at 11pm

Helsinki - *Saw the Architecture in Helsinki... *Caught the Ferry/Cruise ship between Stockholm and Helsinki *Experienced one of the largest Cemetaries in the world *Saw Rabbits and a hedgehog in the centre of a city

Jyvaskyla- *Went to a traditional Finnish Sauna *Saw Poker machines in a little kiosk type shop *Saw the Alvar Aalto museum and much of his architecture in town

Utrecht - *Went to the studios of Dick Bruna, who created Miffy *Saw MANY street organs playing music from cards and spiky wheels (Twas like being at the circus x50) *Experienced the mulititude of bikes that define The Netherlands

Domkerk Bell Tower

Amsterdam - *The Red Light District (Need I saw more) *The Coffee House Culture *Anne Frank House *The Cat Barge

Rotterdam - *Netherlands Institute of Architecture and the whole city of architecture to go with it *The Bridge

Berlin - *Umm... Everything! = *Berlin Wall *Potsdamer Platz *Berliner Dome *Berliner Weisser *East Berlin Beach Bar *Stazi Headquaters *Holocaust Monument *Reichstag Building *Brandenburg Gate

Stuttgart - *Mautaschen! *Spatzle *Saw the First Mercedes and Porsche ever built

Rotterdam

Rome - *Volunteered at a Cat Sanctuary *Colloseum *Saw the 4 Rivers statue featured in The Da Vvinci Code *Went to Vatican City and saw the tomb of Pope John Paul 2nd *Saw the remains of St Peter *Took a siesta in the beautiful North Rome parks overlooking the city

Nice - *Sunbathed on the pebble beach *Saw street performers who are famously Nice *Partied at some of the coolest clubs on the Cote D'Azur

Monaco - *Saw the Changing of the Guards *Lit a candle in the church where Grace Kelly and the Prince of Monaco are buried *Went into Monte Carlo Casino (Foyer, haha)

Notre Dame from the back

Paris - *Climbed the stairs to the second level of the Eiffel tower *Saw a show at the Moulin Rouge *Went to the Louvre, Saw Mona Lisa, Venus De Milo, etc *Picnicced on the VERY steep lawns of the Sacre Couer at night *Saw artists in the street with an easel and pallete *Went into Notre Dame

Glasgow - *Saw the Bagpiping Champions of the World *Saw the Glasgow Necropolis and Cathedral *Had 1 Pound Fosters *Learnt the history of 'The Thin Red Line'

Stirling - *Went to Stiriling Castle *Saw the Wallace Monument *Walked the green hills of the lowlands *Learnt the history of the MacKenzie Clan

Keswick - *Went Ghyll Scrambling!! *Paddled a Kyack for the first time, then eskimo kissed it before running across several and jumped into the lake. *Scrambled over a ridge that had previously killed people *Went to 'The Loft'

Razor Edge Ridge - Lakes District

Birmingham - hahaha... Birmingham... *Didn't get stabbed :D *Saw the Bullring

Stratfod Upon Avon - *Saw the Birthplace of William Shakespeare *Visited the church where he is buried with his wife Anne Hathaway *Saw the swans of Stratford

Cambridge - *Saw the punts of Cambridge! *Kings College Cathedral -Woah! *Saw the place where the DNA double helix was announced to the world *Saw the place where Steven Hawkins studies/works *Used a Red telephone box

All Souls College - Oxford

Ramsey -

*The whole 1940's Weekend!! *Played a British Soldier, work hobnailed boots and carried a gun *Had Cherry Coke for the first time

Oxford - *Got through 8 of the 33 colleges that make up Oxford University *Saw the place where the bloodiest 'student vs publican' battle took place

Basingstoke - *Saw the writing desk (and the house) of Jane Austen *Had Maryland biscuits

Portsmouth - *Toured 2 old sailing/war ships of the British Army *Saw the place where Lord Nelson was killed *Saw the Main sail of the HMS Victory which was involved in the battle of Trafalgar

Changing of the Guards

Brighton - *Saw the Brighton Pier *Saw the hotel which the IRA bombed in an attempt to kill Magaret Thatcher *Saw my first English Football game live *Toured the Royal Palace

London - *Saw Phantom of the Opera in the West End *Walked the Tower Bridge *Saw Shakespeare's Globe *Walked the Millenium Bridge then toured Tate Modern *Caught the Tube *Rode a double Decker Bus *Saw Downing Street *Toured the Churchill Bunkers *Experienced the Blitz at the Imperial War Museum *Saw the Rosetta Stone and Cleopatra's Sarcoughagus at the British Museum *Saw the Changing of the Guards *Rode the London Eye

The Eternal Flame

Sydney - *Walked under the Harbour Bridge *Saw the Opera House *Saw the protest/riots for APEC *Was escorted through the Police Barriers in the North of Sydney

Melbourne - *Toured the Shrine of Rememberance *Saw the Newly opened Eureka Tower *Saw Gold and Silver Deposits in the Old Treasury Building *Checked out the Famous Exhibit in the State Library *Managed to get half way across Melbourne without leaving a mall.

Also a special mention to the people who generously gave me a couch, bed, a blanket or rollout mattress and helped make this trip possible!

New Holland - Australia

Carro in Stockholm
Janne in Jyvaskyla
Stef in Berlin
Elena in Stuttgart
Bronnie in Keswick/Newlands
Chris in Sudbury/Ramsey
Bex in Alton
Dawsey in Brighton

And meeting Hannah in Cambridge, Craig in Oxford and Jacob and Leandra in Melbourne. You made those half days well worth it guys and I appreciate it!

So that totals 8 Bolt meets and 4 Uni/Old Friend meets for the trip which I didn't think was too bad. If I do say so myself!

Glasgow - Guess where they are from...

And with that, This part of my blog comes to a close! If there is anything you want to know more about or whatever just email me or leave a note on here for me. I know a lot of you guys didn't sign up to leave messages and I can understand that, so don't worry :D

Remember, if anybody needs a local tour guide or a couch in Adelaide. I'm your man! Don't hesitate to drop me a line and I'll work out the particulars :D

'Til next time.

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The Home Run

nobody@vox.com(no1bone) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 22:33:51 +1030

Sydney Opera House

I really wish there had been a better time for me to land in Sydney as my coming coincided with the APEC summit which meant that Sydney was (supposedly) locked down tighter than a nut. I found that I really hated Sydney airport. I've been in a lot of airports this trip and I really didn't like it that much. Might have been because I was tired as hell and it was early in the morning, but I just didn't like it one bit. Anyway, I got into town, ditched my bag at a coach stop and went exploring. Haven't been to Sydney for a few years and sure enough, while the main bits where the same, things had changed. The biggest change being scores of Kilometres of fencing blocking off streets and paths to prevent happless tourists from crossing the city... The picture of the Opera House (left) was snapped on the other side of the harbour... as close to it as I could get! But it was ok, it felt weird being there and I had to force myself to take pictures of the Bridge and the Opera House because they just didn't feel as exotic anymore. It was a really strange feeling. If this was a year ago, I would be running the flash and memory card into oblivion!

APEC Lockdown, Sydney

While I was in the 'on alert' zone, I went and checked out the Modern Art Gallery on the Quay. It was interesting to see some Australian art and have a comparison point to that of Europe. After that I went and found myself lost in a maze of metal, concrete and police officers. SOME were nice enough to escort me across the road inside the barriers so I could get through, others told me I had to walk the 6 blocks to go around... whatever... Meh, Sydney.

It had a really eerie feel to it because there was just no one around and after travelling from London to Sydney, expecting at least some comparison in people numbers, it felt like Adelaide on some idle Tuesday night :P

Anyway. Made the most of my day there by going to the Musuem, checking out the ANZAC memorial and getting up close and personal with the damn hippies in the Sydney protests. It was a bit far fetched to call the war on Iraq "genocide" but alot of the people there seemed to believe that was what was taking place. I do agree it has reached a point now where they were found to be frauds going in on those terms but the APEC summit was about reducing green house gas emmissions, which on a side note, South Australia is the first Australian state and one of the few in the world, to legislate targets to reduce Greenhouse gases. GO US!!

APEC Security, Sydney

Another interesting tid bit of information, as I know you guys all love them! South Australia also has just shy of 50% of the country's wind AND solar grid connected power. Again, hats off to us. Media Rann isn't so bad after all is he?

After checking out the cops vs protesters and there where hundreds of each, I'd hazard a guess at one stage the cops were in equal numbers to the protesters in the afternoon gatherings I wandered the empty streets looking for something to do. In all honesty, because the city was so dead and all, I got my backpack early and went to the airport to check in like three hours ahead of schedule due to bordeom. Best part about that was though, the Crows vs Hawthorne match was on in the departure lounge and although we lost...in the last 30 seconds... it was an awesome game. To the calibre I'm told all of the finals footy has been so far.

Final stop: Melbourne, city of arts, culture and sports. My love child of a city. It rivals my love for Adelaide let me tell you!

Staying with my uncle and cousin meant that accomodation costs were down and being broke at the end of the trip, this was a huge bonus, let me tell you! That and Uncle Don is just so passionate about Melbourne and it rubs off on you making the trip just awesome! I checked out the sights of Melbourne because in all the times I have been there, I have really never been a tourist, rather sticking to the suburbs with family.

The Rememberance Shrine, Melbourne

Big ticks for Melbourne:

*The Tram/train system - in non peak hour - fantastic

*Free Newspapers like European cities

*The Shrine of Rememberance - One of the best memorials in the world according to some and it's easy to see why. Not going with the traditional Obelisk or mounted statue, the designers decided to go with what you see in the pic. Somewhere people could come inside and pay their respects. The actual Shrine is in 3 main parts; The Crypt underneath which houses the father and son statue representing the First and Second World Wars. They stand back to back on a pedestal in the centre of the room surrounded by battalion flags to signify what families in the past have had to endure.

The Crypt

The main shrine is directly above the crypt and contains a stone in the centre of the floor which says: "Greater love hath no man" and on Rememberance Day (11th of November) at exactly 11am, natural light from a strategically positioned hole in the cieling rests on the word 'love' for a minute. This is the minute of silence observed by Australians on that day. Quite moving really. They have a demonstration of it with artificial light to simulate the effect and it's really quite cool.

The other part of the shrine is the balcony up the top which affords a great view of Melbourne, and the new Eureka tower. The tower was opened in May this year and has an observation deck on level 88 (which you get to in 40 seconds). It's the new 'must see' for Melbourne whereas the Rialto Towers previously helpd that spot at over 40 floors high.

Jacob and I in Fed Square

Through good fortune, I managed to meet up with the last Boltie of the trip, Jacob, making the total of meets: 8

Top effort I say! Jacob is a really cool guy! It was nice to get in and meet someone so laid back and who's willing to try new beer. Ahhh Amber Ale, I love thee. Spent the afternoon only chatting in a pub but it was still cool all the same.

Met some other mates in Melbourne too, Leandra being one and it was great to see her too. So good to see familiar faces again!!

So with the week in Melbourne under my belt, it was finally time to make that last flight home, real home, to Adelaide. And whether it was rose coloured glasses or genuine observation, but there isn't many cities as beautiful as Adelaide when flying into them. The lights were all twinkling and calling me home.

And what better way to enter Adelaide terminal to your best mate waiting for you! There just is no better way I tell you!

So that officially concludes the re-capping part of this mighty adventure! If you have managed to read through all of it, I commend you immensely and will be quizzing you later. For those that just looked at the pictures, well, that's what they are there for right? The final entry will just be a recap about everything, ie: the map, the favourites and all just incase you were wondering!

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Last UK stop, London

nobody@vox.com(no1bone) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:51:16 +1030

British Museum - Grand Atrium

Well, here we are. The end of the European part of the trip. And to be honest, it couldn't have ended on more of a high. I decided to london last because it is just so ridiculously expensive, if I didn't I would have run out of funds half way across Europe and had to beg for food for the rest of it, haha. But seriously... it is EXPENSIVE. Just everything from accomodation, to food, to attractions and with the dismal exchange rate... FAWRK. In the end though I did take the attitude that really, it is my last stop (technically) and that if I don't do things I'll whinge when I get home, and no one needs that!

The first thing into London was the Tube from Victoria station. Now the Tube is interesting as I was DREADING it looking at the little coloured pinwheel map they give you, but seriously, it is SO easy to use, when it's working it is fast and although it is hot as hell and I would be changing my tune if this was last summer, I thought it was really great. HOWEVER. The day of arrival there were weekend maintenance on some of the lines (not mine) which is fine, so I went and bought a week pass for the Tube (at A$60) and the whole time I'm there there is a Tube strike, hahahaha! Gotta love it. I was lucky in the sense that the lines I used most often were the only ones open through the strike, but yeah, typical. Some of the stations are really cool too. I mean I had seen the mozaic thing in the Paris Underground but some of the London ones are really trippy!

Trafalgar Sq. Lion

Anyway, Hostel is really cool here, it is directly across the road from the British Museum (Astor Museum Hostel for those travelling) cool staff, big rooms and all... ahhh last hostel is a nice one, you cannot know how relieved I was seeing I had been living with people for the previous week.

So yeah, I do my normal thing of checking stuff out all around my area.

Did most of the British Museum, and when I say most I mean a tiny fragment as it is insanely big and after three hours I was just too tired to go on even though I was so interested! It was cool through to see things like the Rosetta Stone and the casket of Cleopatra and all. Things that you always see in books and now I get to see them in real life. The cool atrium was really visiually impressive (See Pic) but at first I thought it was white frosted glass, but it turns out that it is actually clear glass, it was just overcast... like most of my time in London, hahaha.

Tower Bridge, London

After I gave up on the Museum, I went for a walk to Covent Garden, Leister Square... Piccadliy.... HAHAHA MONOPOLY BOARD! It was SO funny walking around the street seeing a Bow Street, a Mayfair, Park Lane, Oh look Moulbourough... I'm such a kid! I did resist the tourist urge to take photos of these signs, as I thought I'd laugh at people doing it, so I couldn't with a clean conscience. That and the red telephone boxes, double decker buses and black taxis, hehe. So Stereotypically London.

But seriously, London is awesome. It is a massive city with a cool vibe to it and I would seriously like to work here and live here too. I am going to find out more about the Ancestory Visa and all because I think it is a great opportunity, especially in my line of work. But yeah...

London Town Hall

On my huge ass walk around London I went and saw Downing Street, which can I just point out, you have absolutely NO chance of getting onto. When you see it on TV with all the presse there, it looks like they camp outside No. 10 and just go for it. Hell no. There is boulards, gates, dogs, guards, security, cameras, etc at each end and there is NO way you are going to get in without some prior arrangement. Not even onto the street. but still, it was kinda cool to see all the same. Big Ben is actually really impressive. I was reading an English paper and it was described as one of the biggest let downs in English tourism, but i think it couldn't be more wrong. I loved it! They were fixing one of the clock faces so the hands are set to 12, in the traditional way they always do. There is actually writing around the clock face too, but it's just too small and scripty to be made out by my dodgey eyes on street level. Looks cool at night too, not sure if I have pics of that, but still. I think london is one of the least photographed cities on my trip beacuse I spent more time without the lens infront of me and enjoying it for what it is. Good move I think.

Changing of the Guards

Walked all the way along the Thames (which is really dirty and low...) along past the London Eye, Tate Modern, the Millenium bridge (famous for it's lateral movement upon opening), Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, The Tower Bridge, which really does look awesome at night as well as during the day. Funny thing about that too. London Bridge is just a boring, flat, concrete bridge. Nothing special at all. Tower bridge and most of the other bridges crossing the Thames are really cool, so why the song describes losing London Bridge as such a tradgey is beyond me. I'd be more worried about losing Tower Bridge, or even Blackfriars bridge. Anyway, looks awesome.

Buckhimgham Palace

Jane, you'll love this. I have actually picked up on architecture people around the place. I walked past the London Town Hall and was gobsmacked at how similar it looks to the Reichstag glass cuppola in Berlin. Turns out that it is actually done by the same guy, just like the 'Gherkin' in London's business district. This guy gets around! and the same thing just happened to me in Melbourne too (more later on that). It was very cool, very modern and very London.

Tower of London

The london tower at night looks really cool too. All of that stone, must of have been so menacing in the days of old. I walked the city until it was fairly late and caught a double decker bus home :D Big Tick for London! But yeah, I was buggered from walking and so I pretty much went straight to bed that night but it was cool because I had some really cool people in my room by the time I got back. Spent until the early hours talking to them about whatever and because they were Aussies and one of the girls actually lives and works in Oxford now, (where I had been last week) I had so much to talk about and it was great! like being home. On that note Ill just point out, it's funny when you are backpacking you just take on people so quickly, get good mates with them, maybe do a couple of activities during the day with them, have a few drinks with the next night and then say goodbye.

Tower of London, Jewel House

It's such an amazing turn around of friends it's amazing. I've tried to keep most people's details when I can and although you only spend a day with some, they make a really good impression and there is nothing wrong with having mates on the other side of the world... Right!! This trip is a classic example of that, and next time I can expand the hirizon now having mates in other countries and cities. And there is always the offer of those people to come back to Adelaide with me and I'll look after them.

Tate Modern and Millenium Bridge

Anyway, Next day brings on the Tower of London. This place while expensive to see, was actually worth it. I always imagined the Twoer of london being just that, a Tower, but it is actually a complex made up of 20 towers, some defensive, some to keep convicts in before they were sentenced to death, others were living quarters. The White Tower is widely agreed on to be a living quarters, it's now the garrison for weapons and the armoury. I took a tour around with a Yoeman Warder and we were introduced to a historic mking moment as that day heralded the day when the First Femal 'BeefEater' started. Oh, Noone really knows why they are called Beefeaters either. There are quite a few theories but none have been proven. Interesting fact I thought.

Lord Nelson's Tomb

Aside from the grizzley history that the Tower of London has had with the many, many hangings and beheadings it also houses the crown jewels. Now these things are impressive! The security around the place here is amazing! But when you have a 5000 caret diamond on display, you need it. The amount of diamonds and the sizes of some of the other precious gems is simply astonishing! The thing is, it's not just the crown jewels, they have sceptres, orbs, rings, badges, gold plates, Coronation stuff, blah blah blah... Just think Crazy expensive. I think it's the State Crown has something like 3000 individual diamonds and gemstones on it!!

London Eye

The other cool thing about the tower, aside from all of that stuff is the Ravens and the history of some of the prisoners. First with the Ravens, legend has it that if they were ever to leave the Tower the monarchy would fall as would the Tower, so although it's pretty unlikely, there are always at least six ravens kept at the Tower by means of having their wings clipped. you don't want to tempt fate with these kind of things. And these Ravens are no small little birds either, they are like the size of a small dog! Some are little but I'd say the 'permanent residents' are the big ones. They are pretty good with humans too, not that Id get too close because they bite, but you can get reasonably close to get a good photo of them and they don't move a muscle.

London Eye

Ahhh so much more about the Tower I don't remember but you get that when you are on overload. There was so cool 'graffiti' etched into many of the cell walls which dates back to the 1500's and historic escapes made by using the juice of an orange, a toothpick and some Rosemary beads... I believe this to be the basis for the modern-(?)-day MacGyver!

I seriously spent half the day at the Tower, so that afternoon I met up with Beth and the other Brisbanians i met the night before for a few drinks at this Aussie chain of pubs called 'Walkabouts'. It's not really thaaaat Aussie, but they have drinks like Thooey's Extra Dry, VB, XXXX, V, Cruisers, etc, and they are cheap as! Cheaper than getting them home in Adeliade, hahaha. love it! They play the Footy anf the Rugby and have Expat Aussies and Kiwi's working the bar. Great atmostphere, so after the others left for dinner with family, I came back to it later and spent the night there.

Houses of Parliment

Next Day. Went and saw the Changing of the guards.. meh, It was ok, but they are Guirka Soldiers now, not the Fuzzy hatted Redcoats. The Redcoats are now solely the band, who, mind you, play for about 40 minutes after the actual guards have changed. It's all a big spectacle with horses, music, and guns. I think with modern times it's less impressive than days of Old, but still. it was something you have to see while in London right?! The crowds it drew on an off peak time were still amazing, so I would HATE to be there in the middle of July/August!

After that I moesied on down (Through the Australia Gate of Buckhingham Palace) to the Churchill museum and Cabinent War Rooms. This was my taste of British War history I previously knew very little about. I kinda knew who he was, and that he was good at speeches but really, this guy was a legend! Some memorable quotes:

"It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required."

"I am prepared to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter."

"We shall show mercy, but we shall not ask for it."

"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender"

And my personal Favourite: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few". This one refers to the Battle of Britain and the fighter pilots who really did save Britain from falling to Nazi Germany. It was in this speech where you really do realise how close Britain came to coming unstuck and losing the war. This was something I never knew. It was the 'British Bulldog' resolve that Churchill inspired in the country and the troops is what won the war. Try a the Nazis might to break the spirit (and towards the end of the battle of britain, that's all they had left) they could not do it. Britain were DAYS from falling to the Germans as they had run out of planes, ammunition, pilots and were seriously in danger of not being able to continue the fight when Germany finally said 'Bugger it' (well not really, but anyway) and they stopped their bombing tactics and thus lead to the beginning of the end of the Second World War for the Germans.

Churchill's War Room Bunker

You see what I did there? I relayed something I had learnt from about three different places across this trip, HAHAHA. I love it!

The museum itself takes you through Churchill's life and it also takes you through the bunkers that were underneath London as the Blitz raids took place because they sheltered all of the 'important people' in the war. Funny thing about that though is that Churchill used to go and watch the raids from the top of the building above. Classic! The guy was really cool. He slept next to no hours a night because he was always thinking about new ways to out strategy the enemy, get in a new weapon, write speeches to inspire (like above) I mean the guy just did not stop! The bunker itself had some crazy thick concrete between it and the street level which could sustain a major, direct bomb hit, however despite being an awesome target for the Germans, it was never actually struck with a bomb.

After spending quite a while in there, I went over to the other part of the Imperial War Museum in London. Duxford, the bunkers, the Naval ship i nthe Thames just down from the Tower Bridge and the Imperial War Museum are all part of the same trust. So it's really cool. Unfortunately I couldn't spend all day in there, but it was a great place and it was cool to get a different view on the Holocaust in their WWII section. Although not radically different from the German version, it does show more of the POW camps, the tradgedies and more visual and anecdotal evidence of the Concentration camps which I found really interesting. The bottom floor of the museum is HUGE and takes you through EVERY SINGLE theatre of war that has taken place and it is amazing. Right up through Vietnam and into the Current conflicts overseas. Amazingly detailed and so much work has gone into this place.

Houses of Parliment

I did notice though, that Australia is not that well represented in these major theatres... I was a bit disappointed because here we live and breathe the ANZAC legends and I'm not for one second doubting out contribution to the wars, it seems like no one else noticed... But coming back here to Melbourne has been good to get an Aussie's Eye View on the same wars. Damn I love this country. No matter how much I loved being overseas, there is just something about being on home soil that makes it all worth while.

On my last day in London I did the London Eye, which has an amazing view, and in some twist of fate, the Sun came out and I could see for miles, I did Tate Modern which is a groovy Art Gallery in a disused Power/Generator Station, I did St Pauls Cathedral and Westminster Abby too so I got a real range of what London has to offer.

I'll give you a quick overview of what each place was like. Tate Modern was really cool except that the generator room which houses all the HUGE, cool exhibits was being swapped between exhibitions so I didn't get a chance to go in there and see it and the other exhibitions were really expensive, BUT the permanent collection is actually very damn cool. St Pauls Cathedral is impressive. It is a gigantic church on the bank opposite Tate (acrosss the Millenium Bridge) which has an amazing amount of space inside! It reminded me of St Peter's Basillica in Rome actually. The cathedral here is famous for its domes. There is on central dome which was to be the highest point in London, but the architect also realised that by building such a large dome, that the ornate paintings on the downside of them would be so far up, no one would be able to see them. So what he did was designed another dome, inside the church, lower than the main one so it could be made pretty and people would be close enough to admire it! Good man.

The Gherkin!

Also he built a viewing ring that could be accessed from the main alter so that worshippers could get again closer to the dome... and God. The Crypt underneath is also very cool with many stones dating back to the early centuries and notably, Lord Horatio Nelson (ie, Battle of Trafalgar) is buried there. The cathedral also offers a viewing are on the outside of the dome which actually affords one of London's best views. While it is no longer London's tallest point, it still gives you a 'miles around' view. (The pic of Millenium Bridge and Tate is taken from there). The Cathedral was hit during the Blitz by the Nazis and has been perfectly restored, but it was also lucky because it was also hit with a huge Luftwafe bomb however it did not explode. If it had exploded, because it was such a direct hit, the Cathedral would have sustained complete obliteration rather than damage to one alter like it did. LUCKY. God must have been lookiong out for it I think.

After this, I went and had a look at the Houses of Parliment up close... so amazing!!! They just don't build them like that anymore, that's for sure. Then right next to it is Westminster Abby. Wow, what a place. Most of the Kings and Queens are buried here along with hundreds of other influential people across England. There are also memorial plates in here for those influential people who are buried somewhere else, ie Shakespeare, The Bronte sisters... etc. I spent AGES walking through it because there is SO much to see. There is one chapel that is the knights hall, where all of the Templar knights once where and there is now little plates naming all of the Knights from the UK and their crests. That was REALLY interesting. The Abby is huge and everything is ornate and old of course, but I couldn't help but feel cluttered. EVERY alter, wall, floor space, column is surrounded by statues, plates, stones, panels etc comemorating someone and it really is over the top in some areas. Mind you they've had a lot of time to accumulate, but still. Tht is why I loved St Pauls so much because it was white and had Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide open spaces inside, free of clutter.

Sunrise over Lake Eyre (South Australia)

Well that night, I met my American buddies and we went out one last time because it was all of our last nights in London. We decided to do a pub crawl, starting at the local Museum Pub (Across the road from us and the British Museu), then a cool pub which was really small on the front, but opened up into this three floor (down) room which had a huge Gum tree in the middle and many levels of bars and knick nacks! It was great! Pity it shut so early, so we went to the Irish pub were were at the night before and we then finished it up with the Walkabouts on Shaftsbury Avenue. This one was more of a club then a Aussie pub, but it was cool. Pity of it all was the music was SO loud, I still had ringing in my ears late the next day... Big Day Out doesn't even give it to me that bad... :/

BUT... All in all an awesome night, with awesome people and it finished London off nicely. The next day was check out and so I went down to Covent Gardens and walked around Trafalgar Square one last time, saw the National Portrait and National Galleries quickly before having to catch my last Tube ride to Heathrow :(

Heathrow is an enormous place and I'm glad I was only in Terminal 4 (1, 2 and 3 are all together another train stop down) but that was big enough. I can now say I've been through there though egh? That flight left in the evening and flew to Schipol, Amsterdam. Luckily I didn't have the trouble you did Carro!! Instead it was pretty much the opposite, I browsed the art gallery in the airport, (haha, I love the Dutch) and had a cruisy change over. The flight from Schipol to Kuala Lumpar is something like 11,000Kms and takes 12 hours. I was lucky in the sense that I was in front of the wings, I had no one sitting next to me and I managed to get maybe 3 hours 'sleep'.

Kuala Lumpar Airport

Got to KL, had a 6 hour stop over and actually I like KL airport, but It is so big that there is hardly any people in it. It's really bizzare. It seems empty all the time despite being a hub of travel! The flight from there was 7 and a half hours later that night, but I hardly got any sleep at all. I managed to see the sunrise over central Australia (See Pic) and got into Sydney Airport at about 0730. Coming over Oz, before the sun had come up, I was just gazing out at the Big Dipper, the Southern Cross and I was just smiling uncontrollably. Despite having travelled to some of the World's most recognisable places, there is still nothing like coming home to see the same stars you've always seen and just be content with that!

Next up: Sydney and of course, my FINAL destination before home, My favourite Australian city (aside from Adelaide), Melbourne.

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Flashback: The 1940's Weekend

nobody@vox.com(no1bone) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 16:24:22 +1030

Me as a Soldier

As promised, once I got all the photos I would write up the 1940's weekend I spent with Chris up at Ramsey and I'm a man of my word.

After Chris picked me up from Cambridge and we had a bite to eat, we went up the mass highway system that England is famous for to a little town called Ramsey which holds an old airbase which was used in the Second World War. So I found out while with Chris (who is unbelievably clued up on all things British and War related... quiiiiiz night!!!!) there are a lot of now disused airfields all over England. Because the key to winning the Battle of Britain was in the air, there were many, many airstrips holding 100's of planes within 10's of Km's of each other. this was one of them.

The idea of the weekend was to step back in time to the 1940's which includes the war history and everything like that. It meant that Chris' mum sold all this 1940's parafanalia, ie. dress making patterns, clothes, jewellery, shoes, hats etc, Chris' Dad is a re-enactor with his own US Military jeep (See pic) and Chris ofcourse re-enacts too, and I was lucky enough to be able to do it too!

Chris and his Dad's Jeep

It was seriously the most fun weekend I have had in a long, long time. I got to dress as a British soldier who would have driven machines, like trucks and such in the war. From memory, the kit that I was wearing had his Gliders badge because he was airlifted into areas during the war. (Chris will have to back me up on this). The whole airbase was alive with 1940's action!! It was literally like stepping back in time and it was uncanny. Because there was no super buildings around except the aircraft hangers, the old brick offices and people dressed in period clothing, it was easy to forget where you where, and when. I had hob nail boots too, which meant that when I walked I clicked, haha, it was awesome. There is something powerful about walking making a crunch noise as you do so.

Some people get really into it too! There are groups of re-enactors who stay the night in tents, have all around their camp set up to look like it would have back in the war days, they've all got the vehicles, whether they be the old motobikes, the jeeps, tanks or trucks, they are full into it. Like I say, stepped back in time!

Hanger Dance

We walked around being cool for the afternoon before we got ready to go to the big Hanger Dance at night. The swing dance event of the weekend was awesome! mind you I can't swing dance to save my life, but it was fun watching the rest of the people do it. The event had 1200 people there, but the hanger was so big, it would have been hard to tell. The coolest thing was seeing 100 people or so on the dance floor all doing the same moves in a 'stroll' which is like a square dance I spose you could say. all in the same direction and in step with the music! Awesome! Chris is VERY good despite what he might tell you. He and his partner Louise (who took me out and bared with me as I sucked, haha) were looking great splitting up the dance floor!

Nothing but Authenticity!

I actually managed to pick up an elderly lady... I was having a beer watching the dance floor, just moving the hips to the insanely catchy tunes of the 1940's I get a tap on the shoulder and it's a lady well into her 70's, maybe even 80, asking me for this dance. HAHAHAHA! Of course I obliged, her telling me that it was her first dance of the night. Oh it was Gold! I mean I suck at this kind of dancing, even though Chris' Dad tried to teach me the basics, and really, the basics are really four main steps, but I just couldn't get it! Thank goodness the song was half over when she got there, so I didn't subject her to misery for too long, but yeah... not the type I was hoping to pick up with a man in Uniform...

Rememberance Service at Ramsey Hanger

The swing band were good, there was a girl, Lola, who sung the ballads for a half or so and she was really good. I don't know how to explain it, but she just had 'that' voice for the era of music. i won myself a little glass cube with a plane lasered in it. You know those? Put them on little light tables and they look spiffy. First raffle I've been in ages!

Sunday was good, I got to wear a gun which was cool and it was funny because there was more people on Sunday because I had got there quite late on Saturday. We were the attraction! It was strange feeling walking around and people are asking for their phot with you. There was one guy who had all this speccy equipment who asked me and Chris to pose for him. Awesome! You do actually kinda forget that you are all padded out in kit and when people look at you funny, it takes a second to realise why.

Memphis Belle - Duxford

Funniest bit is, there was a few kids talking to me about the gun I was carrying and seeing as I know next to nothing about it or the suit I was wearing, despite Chris' best efforts to teach me, i was just talking to them like i knew what i was talking about, haha. They'll never know. I told them that I wasn't in the Army when they asked, so I didn't go that far to lie to them, but ya know, gotta make the show look good and authentic!

It was a shame the weekend had to finish really, I was having so much fun! I really want to host a 1940's party when I get back home, so any of you close enough to come, remember this for December... I might just spring it on you!

Duxford War Museum

The fun didn't actually stop there. on the Monday Chris took me up to Duxford Imperial War Museum, which is a H-U-G-E air museum. It's also an operational airfield too, so you could see some of the older planes taking off, flying around and landing. There were several hangers of planes from different eras, with one whole one dedicated to American planes. This one held a B-52 Bomber. it took up like the entire hanger! Accompannying it was a Stealth Bomber and a whole heap of other planes. There was also this new hanger which was MASSIVE and held big planes like the Concord (which you could walk in!) and a heap of other modern fighters, old war planes, helicoptors, bombs and missiles for the planes.

Stealth Bomber - Duxford

To be honest, I could have spent days there because there is just that much to see and if you were to read all about each and every plane, you'd be there for weeks. That's how big it is. It's like everything though. All of this war stuff is SO INTERESTING and I could just spend weeks learning about English history. Actually, it is interesting because I got to learn about the Aviation history with Chris at Duxford, the land army on the 1940's weekend and then finally the Naval history with the trip to Porstmouth with Bex. I'm happy that I know enough now to fake being a British citizen!

Duxford Air War Museum

Chris' Dad actually owns his own war museum on the edge of a once functional airbase. Not the same one as the dance, but similar. There is so many things to learn and to see and it was good to have both of them being very patient with me and explaining things. Haha, I had a great weekend, I hope I didn't stress too many people out!

So with that, we'll now return you to your regulalry scheduled program with the final destination in the European part, The Hub of the UK, London.

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Alton, Bex, Brighton and Dawsey

nobody@vox.com(no1bone) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:36:22 +1030

Bex and I

Well we're now on the home stretch, so I have a computer at my disposal now, so I can finish this tale of adventure and excitement! After leaving the literary rich Oxford, I jumped on a short train ride (past the Reading festival :D ) and down to Basingstoke where I was met by a vision of lovliness, Miss Bex. Being that it was Saturday and all, it meant that I went back to her place, ditched my ever increasingly big bag (Thank God Kate it's so big!), got ready and went out. Saturday night was cool as I met some of her mates, Fran, Tom and Jess. Twas a good night with many Guinesses and a girl behind the bar who was practicing with them. I was lucky enough to get a 4 leaf clover in one and I told her I'd be back for the rest of the deck of cards through the night... Ahhh.. So easy to be cheesy when you are travelling! It worked in Nice and I got two free rounds, I mean what more do you need!

Alton - Tom and Fran

I have decided though, and Bex will back this up, is that Alton (Like Keswick in a way) is a town of pubs. There is some crazy number of pubs where nearly every second shop is a pub of some sort! My kinda town let me tell you! There was some drama through the night after we all got home which I slept right through despite being on the lounge in the front room. I managed to miss two ambulances, 3 paramedics, Bex's mum and Jess all trasping through back and forth with a sprinkling of a doorbell in there too. Goes to show that I'd be dangerous in a cyclone prone area as I'd sleep right through it. All in all everything was alright but yeah, go figure!

Jane Austen's House

As the next day was kinda chilled, We went for a scenic ride through the surrounding countryside, which is really picturesque, just like country England should be, and we went and saw Jane Austin's house. Very cool actually. It's funny to be in the same room, see the same desk, etc where history is made. I never tire of it I tell you. It was such a quaint little house, but you can tell it is old ( I mean other than the thatched roof and just the history of it) because the floors and the walls were all slanty and cool. Kinda made you feel drunk just walking around haha. Seems I'm so not cultured enough to appreciate it :P

It was actually awesome being with Bex because I got a chance to sit and relax in a house and do normal things. With travelling so much and trying to cram everything into bigger cities and all that, one can get really tired and I got to that stage where I just wanted a bit of my own space where I could lay out my stuff with no fear of it being stolen, and have a normal shower without the need for shower thongs to avoid the spread of tinea...ugh. So Alton was a great stop for that alone!

HMS Warrior - Portsmouth

Next day we trundled off down to the historic port of Portsmouth and despite my bad directional skills...in a foreign country... we made it down there and I was really impressed! The docklands is a mix between the OLD and the new. There are a few old war ships with sails, rigging and the good old cannons, while they are contrasted against the blue and the greys of the new Navy warships and aircraft carriers. A tour of the port revealed a huge number of Navy vessels all geared to go and fight something as well as those that have done their required 25-30 years of service and are being sold or retired. Although the tour on the harbour was really interesting, I must say I totally tuned out for a while beacause the guide was obviously VERY into his ships and while it's nice to know their class and their name, maybe a war they fought in, I don't need to know the calibre of every gun on board, the last 2 colours of their paint jobs and the thickness of the pop rivets holding on the bulkhead doors. But I guess having too much is better than not enough.

HMS Victory - Portsmouth

The HMS Warrior was one of the tall ships we went on. It's been fantastically preserved and I got a real kick out of it actually. makes you feel a bit Russell Crowe or Johnny Depp being on boats like that. You just can't help but think Pirates! It had an impressive load of cannons and I found out a fact that may never be used again, but when they call a cannon a '40 pound cannon' they are called that because the ball they put in it weighs 40lbs! So there you go. The ship was cool because everything had been restored into really great nick. From the boiler rooms to the cabins to the jail cells to the gun deck and the Captain's quaters. There was actually a live show on how the guns and such were used back in the day. They guy doing it was really good and knew his stuff. Nothing worse than a half arsed attempt at something by a guide that doesn't really want to be there.

The Mary Rose - Portsmouth

Also on the dockyard menu was the HMS Victory which is the ship where Lord Nelson was killed at the battle of Trafalgar, 1805. This boat again was magnificantly restored but I would have HATED being on it in real life because the further under the deck you go, the lower the roof is and you literally are hunching the whole dam time or risk smacking your head on everything. Totally authentic mind you, but I'm glad to have been a short arse as I am. One of the coolest parts of it was the doctors ''surgey'' if you could call it that. It was a crude, rude way of amputating limbs and sewing them down to prevent further bleeding etc. They did use tar if the wound warrented it, but they normally just quaterised it with heat... and sterilised it with urine... Hmmmmm... thank you modern medicine! In another exhibit was the Trafalgar Sail, which is the still gun hole ridden main sail from the ship, the largest and best preserved in the world. It takes up the whole floor of a warehouse building with still 1/3 rolled up, so just think HUGE. I was really impressed by this whole naval history stuff!

Lastly we checked out the Mary Rose which is the only surviving 16th century warship. It is pretty much a giant half a hull of the ship which was buried all those years ago and by luck it didn't rot away because of the heavy silt covering it. It is displayed in a huge room with a glass gallery for guests because it is continuously being sprayed with a waxy water concoction to keep it from rotting in the present day air. They have to keep it going until 2009 where they can stop and start restoring it properly. It also had a museum attached housing the things they found on it, like cannons, rings, bowls etc and it was cool to be looking in on another life altogether.

You most certainly need more than a day to look through all of the historic docklands, so if any of you reading this are planning on it, get the big ticket and go back another day.

Alton is also infamous for its high number of charity stores because they are a wonderfully loving people! And this fitted in well with my new found love for buying second hand books at dirt cheap prices however they are current titles. I love being Pov! (But only for that reason...). So with market day, book finding and the discovery of SCRUMPY JACKS! I was most pleased with my time in Alton. Oh yeah... Scrumpy goodness. Someone told me this... don't ask me how they knew or even who it was, but it's called Scrumpy Jacks because the act of stealing apples from an orchid is called Scrumping... thus Scrumpy Jacks was born... BRING ON THE QUIZ NIGHT!

Aye, with sad eyes and heavy heart, I had to leave the little country paradise that was Alton and say goodbye to one of the coolest girls I know, Bex. Genuinely awesome person, needs to be more like her around. Take note people, hahaha.

The Brighton/Palace Pier

From Alton in the countryside comes Brighton by the beach. A pebble beach at that... another beach famous for its pebbles (ie, Nice) that I had no idea about. Dawsey met me at the station which was great, because my pack had got decidedly heavier in the last leg and I have no idea why....??

Another damn tall person though! haha, Im such a shorty compared to every one I've met.

Dawsey showed me around Brighton which was really cool because a lot of stuff has happened there. [Oh, this just in today, the founder of the Body Shop (First shop in Brighton), Dame Anita Roddick died today of a brain Haemorrhage... :*(( ], the IRA tried to blow up Margaret Thatcher in a magnificent hotel on the beach front (and failed), Brighton was bombed in the Blitz during World War II and the Brighton Pier was called the Palace Pier until recently even though everyone stills calls it the Palace Pier and everyone I spoke to said it was stupid to change the name... Politics huh!

Paragliders at Devil's Dyke - Brighton

The pier is cool all the same because it has rides and arcades on it all along. Although they are CRAZY expensive to go on them, Im talking eight pound for a ride on a kinda slingshot looking thing, the whole Pier is really awesome. When I was in the Brighton Museum there was photos of it in the old days and it was all lit up, people where frocked up because it was an outing and they were all eating Fairy Floss (Candy Floss, Cotton Candy) and being happy... ahhh times where good back then. They actually broke the Pier during the war to stop the germans using it as a landing platform and avoiding the beach mines and barbed wire :) There was actually two Piers, the West Pier was set to return to its glory days like the Palace Pier did, however it was set alight, twice, in the restoration process and due to poor management they lost a big grant to restore it afterwards so now it is a burnt out shell which really is scarring the beachfront view... But they can't pull it down apparently because of it's heritage listing, even though it is a mere burnt out shell of a Pier... again, politics.

Brighton and Hove Albion vs Southend

Brighton is another place full of cool English pubs... being that it is in England, that figures... But still. Good Guinness, real ales and Fosters (EVERYWHERE IN ENGLAND) makes for a good night, any night of the week.

I got taken along to my first real experience with an English Football game when I got to watch the Brighton and Hove Albion Seagulls down Southend 3-2 by scoring 2 goals in the last 12 minutes. Very exciting game! Good that it was my first one, it didn't rain and there was some stupid decisions by the refs so I got to see the cheering crowd and the jeering crowd. I love that so many people are so passionate about it, make the game far more worth while. And I see Dawsey that Brighton are still doing well, now in 6th possie.

That was a cool day, AND the pub we went to first had Scrumpy's on tap! The first and only pub in the whole of England I found with it on tap. Gotta love ice cold cidar.

Other groovy highlights of Brighton include a pub quiz night where I helped the 'Wizard of Oz' come into third place, but we didn't win any money :( was fun though, getting to use some really useless knowledge for the greater good. We went out for tea on the Brighton harbour at a really cool resturant. Awesome food!! And I was treated to it too, so that was a superb bonus which polished off an awesome night. Discovered the joy of a show called 'Only Fools and Horses' which was funny. Gotta love British humour.

The Royal Pavilion - Brighton

Oh yeah! I went to the Royal Pavilion which was a residence for the British Royalty throughout history and is this magnificent place in what is now the centre of Brighton. It looks really Arabian from the outside but on the inside it is an Oriental palace with silks. I don't have any pics of it because it was forbidden and they had guards everywhere, but take my word for it, it was STUNNING! It really had that wow factor because it was so elaborate and well thought out. The King (Edward?) was really flamboyant and loved colour and glam, so there was plenty of it. Just the dining room alone was worth the visit. It had a chandelier that weighed something like half a tonne and it often scared people and they didnt want to sit underneath it. The actual chandelier was all dragons and each of the four 'corners'of it had a dragon breathing fire into a lotus flower and apparently when it was operational the lights used to flicker and it looked quite real. The roof above it was a painted dome but nearer to the chandilier was raised palm leaves that fit with the theme of the roof, made the whole thing all levelled and gave it this amazing realness. Hard to visualise I know, but bare with me. The kitchen also is the size of most New York Apartments. It was enormous as the King liked to do the dinner party thing often having 39 courses.... Yeah... 39. Mostly entrees but still, what the hell! Consequentially the staff loved it because they got to eat whatever the King and guests did not.

One of the other jaw-dropping rooms was the dance hall. B-I-G is the only way to describe it. Despite the silk on the walls, the million dollar plush carpet (which when it got dirty and they couldn't clean it they would send it back (the whole thing) to the weaver and they would trim the tiniest bit off the top of the carpet so it looked new again.) The historian said that the carpet would have been so plush that the threads would have come over the top of bare feet. So the plusher and more lost your feet got in the carpet, the more a sign of wealth apparently! This room was another flamboyent, all fun room with dragons and snakes everywhere, including the chandelier equal to that in the Dining room. However beautiful this looked, the Japanese said that having these dragons and snakes together was bad feng shui and was responsible for the many accidents that happened there.

Dawsey and Me

After the Royals wound down their visits to the Palace, they looted it and sold it to the Brighton City Council way back when. They restored it to what it is today. They were painstakingly restoring this room and shortly after it was reopened an arsonist set alight the Dance hall and it was damaged a lot! The photos were kind of heartbreaking because all of that original and then restored effort wasted! Oh I forgot to mention, one of the coolest thing about this room was the something like 2500 INDIVIDUAL, gold leafed cockleshells that formed the dome on the room above the chandelier. Of course these were all destroyed and had to be individually restored after the fire. It took something like 9 years for the restoration work to be completed and in the 'Great Brighton Storm' ie Cyclone, scaffolding from the restoration work was battered against the castle and one of the Arabian looking baubles from atop one of the spires came loose and nearly a tonne of concrete crashed through the roof, the dome, and planted itself two feet into the floor of the dance hall, further closing it for many a year. So let this be a lesson to you. Don't put snakes and dragons together, they don't play nice and misfortune will befall you at every turn.

After being sufficiently awestruck, I mosied over to the Brighton Museum which was showing a history on the Brighton Theatre Royale. Now THIS impressed me. They have very short spans between shows, I'm talking a day. So when the one show finishes, they all take down the set, however elaborate it is and then the next day, normally a Sunday/Monday they put up the entire new set. They did a stop motion video of the dressing down and then dressing up over two days and it was incredible! Totally impressed! Makes me miss the theatre immensely. The rest of the exhibit was all the great names of English theatre throughout time and the bill postings, etc and was all very fascinating. The museum also had an art gallery in it and it had a cool exhibition on art of the dead. It was a modernish (Talking 1800's-1900's) artwork of convicted murderers either what the act would have looked like, the story leading up and past the event or the depiction of their death. It was REALLY interesting because all of the paintings came with stories and the history of the convicts presented. Some of them were little crimes that aren't known on a big scale but for the towns and the times they were really devastating and so it was all written down and painted. Groovy. The rest of it was actually really cool. One of the better museums I've been in all over Europe, and that's saying alot because rest assured I have been in MANY. The biggest drawcard was the really interesting, non standard things on display. They had a gallery of fashion through the last 100 years, a expo on body modification, homewares through the ages, ie chairs, tables, kitchen stuff etc and its funny to see the real old stuff is also the most recent things too.

Oh! And although you are probably tired of hearing about war stuff, too bad, because wait until I get to London blog... But I'll give you a bit of a taste for it now. They had a section in the museum which was the history of Brighton through the ages and it was REALLY indepth on a lot of things. Really interesting. Dawsey, despite hating museums, go there and look through, it's free! But there was a section on the war and how it came to Brighton. Being that it is on the South coast of England it was very vulnerable to attack by the Luftwaffe which where these big German pilotless airships which were bombs. They were launched across the channel and would fly for a predetermined amount of time in a direction of their choosing and when the engine cut out, they would drop like stones and detonate on impact. VERY instrumental in the near loss of the battle of Britain (this is where the England forces where fighting the Germans across the channel and became known especially for its extraordinary heroism for fighter pilots. Really the crowning achievement in the English Royal Air Force's history). Anyway, I was watching this little video about the war and there was commentary by war survivors from Brighton over the top and there was a teacher who was saying about his encounters with the war and how he was always taught (and I guess rightfully so?) that all Germans were evil and had to be taken out at all costs. Well he ended up being in the situation of capturing and guarding some German prisoners and it turned out that one of his prisoners was a teacher back home and hated coming into the war as much as the person commentating did. He was also a teacher and it dawned on him after the conversations that he was NO different to the German soldier. They were both fighting for their country at any cost and although they had normal jobs they were in uniform and that was all. It was interesting to hear him say that at that moment he realised how futile the whole forum of war is and that people from both sides are not as evil as each make out and that they were just doing what they had to for their country.

Really interesting commentary and really true. In Duxford when I was with Chris at the War Museum with the planes there was a photo of a German soldier in front of an English plane that he'd captured. Looking on the same photo, Germans would be rejoicing because they got those damn poms, the Brits would be dismaying because it meant that one of their own had died for that picture opportunity. SAME thing if it had been an English troop standing in front of a German plane. It was really uncanny the revelations you have on trips like this. It really made me think like I had never before. Just like the Teachers, these pilots would have been in the same situation and it really does make you wonder about war and its usefulness.

Anyway. Enough on that because there'll be more in London with the Imperial War Museum talk. After Brighton was set and sealed, came London, a short train trip and into the Tube... More in the next instalment!

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Oxford

nobody@vox.com(no1bone) — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 08:27:13 +1030

All Souls College - Oxford

Aye, I realise that most of you have probably been missing me and the posts seeing as I technically havent been writing for about 2 weeks now but rest assured I am alive and kicking. Since we last made contact I had left the very chilled and very knowledgably Chris. Seriously, I was talking to Dawsey last night and if we had a quiz night that we could get a few people from around the blocks involved in, we'd be unbeatable. Chris with History, Dawsey with Sport, Bex with Entertainment, etc, etc. Think about the Quid we could rake in!!

Christ Church College - Oxford

Anyway, Oxford was the next stop on the trip and that meant that I had come to the home of the University town and I got to find out that Oxford University isn't technically a university. It is a culmination of 39 different colleges which fly under the banner of the Oxford University. Best part about Oxford? LOTS of students pubs and all of the museum-y things were all free, while the Uni grounds required an entrance fee... Damn Uni's making any money they can. All the same, you pay it because you are there right?

Bridge of Sighs - Oxford

The buildings are just insanely old. Big and Old. I mean there are university buildings that were started in the 1200's right through until the 1800's. How can that not be presitious going and studying there? Same in Cambridge mind you, but I liked Oxford more. More to see and do in my opinion. Can't really remember the days and the events in order, so lucky for you all I'll give you the abridged version :D

Brasenose College - Oxford

I managed to get through eight of the campuses in the time I spent there, many were closed to the general public without a tour group and others were just closed. The two that I would have liked to have seen were closed because they were filming the new Inspector Morse series, Louis, there, so that counted them out. But the guided tour of Oxford took you to the outsides of them all the same and gave a bit of history where is was warrented. One of the more interesting things about Oxford is the ringing of a BIG bell called Tom.

It rings 101 times from 21.05 as a tradition when all 101 students of that college needed to be in their dorms before the ringing stopped.

Merton Chapel College - Oxford

That and there was a huge Students versus the public brawl that lasted days and the 'streets ran red with blood', after an altercation between a student thinking that his beer was watered down and threw it at the publican who then decided to get even, ring the emergency town bell and start a riot. Gotta love it!

Went on a bit of a time warp with Alice in Wonderland having its roots in Oxford, mainly in Christ Church College. The daughter of the dean there was none other than Alice, and the dean became the White Rabbit because he was always running about, lookiong at his watch. The rabbit hole was a stair case which was hidden behind the main dining hall's wall that the dean always used to get away quickly. The Dodo was none other then Lewis Carrol whose real name is actually Charles Ludwige Dodgson.

J.R.R. Tolkien's Grave in Wolvercote

He had an extreme stutter, so pronouncing his name lead to "Do-do-Do-Dodgsen". Interesting stuff. There was a lot of other things in there, like the Chesire cat, the Tree he was found in, the deer park, the queen, etc. All very cool.

Oxford - Einstein's Blackboard

Oxford is seriously FULL of history in the literary world. And the science world so it turns out too. Aside from that I went and found J.R.R. Tolkien's (of Lord of the Rings fame) grave which was at Wolvercote about an hours walk north of Oxford. Took me a while to find it but thanks to modern technology, the internet and Luke, I managed to find the modest grave. He is actually buried with his wife. I saw squirrels too!

New Holland - Australia

Other highlights of Oxford:

* Catching up with Craig for the afternoon the first day. Very cool guy who was set to be interviewed for a college position the day after I met with him so wish him luck.

* The cool museums around the place, especially the natural History museum and the Pitt Rivers Museum.

* Seeing the Bourne Supremecy and being allotted a seat in a movie theatre (haha, England!)

* Having a Homeless guy staying in my dorm room who was an alcoholic and suicidal. GREAT combination and the place seriously STUNK because he did not shower for the 5 days I was there and he was arrested one night, whislt not coming home another night because he passed out in a park... gotta love that egh?

* The cool breakfasts at the hostel every morning :D

NEXT STOP:

Basingstoke, the lovely Miss Bex and another entry still to come :D

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Home of the McKenzies

nobody@vox.com(no1bone) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 21:44:41 +1030

Glasgow Necropolis

Ahhh Scotland, you just can't beat a morning when you wake up, look across the park outside your hostel and you hear the distinct sound of bagpipes. You can be nowhere else. Arrived in Glasgow late in the evening, like about 01.30 and didnt quite make it to the hostel before 2am so by then I was ready to find a bed and just sleep and I did just that, only to be woken by someones damn alarm at 07.30 the next morning. You know that state of mind when you are half awake, half asleep just wishing it would be quite, your mind is not the most responsive. So after almost a minute of this damn alark, I got up properly to discover that it wasnt infact an inconsiderate hosteller, it was infact the fire alarm of the hostel and we were being evacuated... Hooray... We're all ushered onto the street with 3 fire trucks approaching to check it all out, I couldnt smell smoke or see fire, but it turned out that someone had let something burn in the kitchen and it caught fire, only minor... Welcome to Glasgow huh?

Glasgow Cathedral

Being up I decided to check out Glasgow early. I really wish I had stayed longer, to see more of Scotland but with the extra days in Nice and Paris, meant I had used up 'free' days. As I said, it was the week of the World bagpipe championships and there were groups everywhere. I went over to the Glasgow Uni and there were different groups from all over the world practicing in different green bits on the campus. Saw an Aussie contingient, which were easy to spot despite their tops which had the distinctive 'AUS' on the back, but they were all in thongs, boardies, Oakley's and had a tan despite the cold weather over there. Yep, they were Ausies alright.

Wallace monument - Sterling

They were good, and so were the rest and because they were so close, it was almost deafening. The way it should be! Walked around Glasgow and saw the two 'mst see' things which were the Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis (City of the Dead). They were both of course very cool and it was amazing to see how much effort some of the old folk went into grave stones. the Necropolis is on a hill top and has some of the oldest and largest headstones (read: marble and granite houses) in the UK. These things were massive! Must have been a sale on Granite. The cathedral was adorned with the tell tale stained glass windows and huge gothic ceiling.

That night was the bagpipe show at the Glasgow concert hall and it was very cool. I am always amazed at the drummers because the military drummers are always so accurate and loud while the other drummers with the larger drums on their front with the spinning beaters (?). I am really surprised they didn't come off their hands beacuse they were spinning them so fast it was a blur some of the time. All in all a good show had by all I think.

Sterling Castle

The next day I went up to Stirling which is about a hours north of Glasgow, it forms the 'brooch between the highlands and the lowlands'. And you can definitely see it too. One side has the craggy mountains/hills of the highlands and the other side has the curvey, soft hills of the lowlands. The town is very nice, old school construction and I had a wander around before making it up to the castle. The view from there was a mazing and you could tell why it was chosen because you really could see for miles around. The castle was the last place any Scottish cannons were fired in anger. The castle itself has been restored in many parts but it was still quite complete and undamaged for most of its life. I'll have to check up on the details of the kings and queens there (was a while ago now) but alot went on.

Really, the 2 days spent in Glasgow were too brief and I want to go up again for a longer tme and do Haydrian's Wall and more of the MacKenzie trail. I was at the site of one battle of the MacKenzie's near Stirling and I picked up a brief history of our clan. It was Tres cool! Incase you're wandering, we were a MacKenzie Clan before we came to Australia and dropped the 'a' to become McKenzie as we jumped ship and needed to hide under an Irish spelling of the name.

Keswick - Lakes District

From Glasgow came the Lakes Distict in England where I caught up finally with Bron! (For those not playing from home, Bron's my mate from Adelaide who has been working in the UK for 14 months). The Lakes District is a beautiful place of hills, mountains, lakes (funnily enough) and an altogether good feel about it. Meeting Bron after all this time really didnt seem that weird and felt like I still had seen her last week really, was good. Went back to Newlands where she worked and it is an adventure place for kid's school camps and other corporate adventure things. You can Kyack, canoe, mountain climb, bike ride, go Ghyll Scrambling (going down mountain streams) etc. Was really fun!

Bron and I ontop of Blencatherine

On the first day Bron and I took our packed lunches (All food is included and I think I ate as much in those five days as I had eaten in about the two weeks previous) and went up a really big hill (maybe mountain, forget the height threshold) Blencathera. It really was awesome and there were mountain sheep everywhere and other 'ramblers' (Older folk who go walking with sticks, haha) too. It was a really overcast day and upon getting to the top after scrambling across a high ridge (which we later found out several people had fallen from and died) we got to the top just in time to be covered by clouds and experienced a white out. In every direction we could see maybe 10m infront before it was a white wall of clouds. Oh by the way, it's damp and clouds smell like 'wet', haha, what are the odds? Then the rain started... So soaked through and after I managed to stack it a few times in the mud, we made our way back to the pub for a quiet pint of real English Ale. Big day, a lot of hours gone but was glad I'd done it.

Razor Edge Ridge - Lakes District

That night we went into Keswick (closest big town) and went out on the town. Best thing with Keswick being a tourist town is that every second shop that isnt an outdoor shop is a pub. With one club in Keswick, it was the last stop. Was a good night and despite forgetting that English pints are larger than ours back home yet still drinking them as if they were the same, there was no hangover :D

Lakes District - From Cat Bells

The rest of the stay was spent hiking up to 'CatBells', an easy climbing hill overlooking Newlands, and reading at the top in the freezing wind, going Kyacking, my first experience on water like that, and Ghyll scrambling, which was SO fun. It is where you get layered up (like four jumpers and two sets of pants) and you go slipping and jumping down a mountain stream of freezing water. And by freezing I mean it. Ill put the pics up later but it was a mind expanding experience because you get to push yourself a bit more than I normally would on my own. Some of the little waterfalls you jump off are fairly high, maybe 10-12 feet and the water is deeper underneath but with our awesome instructor Johann I felt safe. Guess that's the point right? And I also figured if 10 year olds can do this, so can I!

Lakes District - Derwant Lake

I really wish I could have stayed longer, but the rest of the trip was calling and from the Lakes District I went down to Birmingham for the night, went to Shakespeare town, Strathford-Upon-Avon, saw his birth place, the church where he and his wife Anne Hathaway are buried and got to see where the Royal Shakespeare company has its many theatres. Couldn't see any shows because they finished too late to catch a train back to Birmingham, but it was cool to see where they do the shows.

Birthplace of William Shakespeare

From Birmingham was Cambridge, the old University town (pics to follow eventually), where you really would feel a sense of prestige if you graduated from one of the many Universities that make up Cambridge. There is no one 'Cambridge University' like I thought, but lots in the town. Kings Colledge and Trinity are probably the two biggest and prestigous.

Met Hannah too, and we checked out the Kings College which has the most enormous cathedral in it which I suspect would rival most of thre large churches in Adelaide. Every year the Kings choir sing on Christmas eve and I am told the waiting line for tickets extends into years. The roof is unbelievably ornate and high! (HIGH!!) while the stained glass is just as impressive. The Cambridge waters are filled with punts which are the boats used like in Venice, with a guy or girl on the back with a long stick to push the boat through the canals. It is VERY easy to spot the students taking tours to the tourists trying to punt themselves, haha. Spending the day with Hannah was great, gem of a personality and a great local tour guide. We had lunch where DNA was announced to have been found. Go the double Helix and the Cambridge professors! Got to see where Steven Hawkings works/studies and was shown a lot of cool little places. I'd go back in a second. Clean, neat and old, like much of England I spose.

That's all for the minute, Ill update later with the coolest weekend this side of the 40's as I spent it with Chris dressed as a Britsh Soldier who drove lorries and the like uring the second World War. I even got to carry a gun! The photos are cool so they'll be here later. But the whole weekend was a 1940's at an old airbase with the Saturday night ending in a huge dance in the main hanger. Couldn't have been a cooler evening. I tried and failed to swing dance (Bro and Kate I need tips) but it was a good night. Re-enacting the war time was really fun and I now need an excuse for a 1940's theemed party, so look out 23 December!

Next is Oxford, Basingstoke, Brighton before finally finishing in London. My trip is now in its dying weeks and I'ma bit sad really. It has been so cool, but there is still two and a bit weeks left before I say goodby to Europe and head home to Down Under.

Til then, Bruce, signing off ;)

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Paris Part 2

nobody@vox.com(no1bone) — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 20:03:32 +1030

This is going to be kinda short because Im so far behind with this, if it isnt I will be here all day.

The Pompidu Centre

On the Saturday I went and checked out the Pompidu Centre which is very, very cool. Its a modern art gallery which has its insides on the outside and apart from being a piece of work itself, it houses some of the coolest things around. One pf the funniest things in the whole place (and it took me a good 6hours to get around, so it pretty much took up the whole day) was 3 huge canvases which were on a wall of their own, probably about 8-10 ft square and they were white.... That's it... Just white... BREAKTHROUGH IN MODERN ART! A BLANK CANVAS!! But you know what else is funny? Aside from the ridiculous tripe they came up with to explain it? The same artist had 4 smaller white canvases in another art gallery... This guy is either really smart or really lucky... OR there is a candid camera somewhere in the room to watch the outrage of some people Im sure.

The Notre Dame Cathedral

Aside from that I went and saw the Notre Dame Cathedral and that is really cool too. So big and old and gothic, the true centre of Paris and it definitely makes its mark. The stained glass inside is stunning too. The big rose glass pieces, one at the front and two at the sides are nearly 10m in diameter.

Next day, Sunday meant that everything was free entry, so I went to the Louvre with some Aussies I met at the pub the night before. Bit of a mistake. The line was ridiculous and I was SO close to punching tourists because they have no appreciation for what they are actually there to see. Most make a B-Line for the Mona Lisa, the Venus De Milo and a few other choice pieces, take their hundreds of photos (while not actually looking at it with their eyes, and elbowing me to get a closer look!) and they leave. I was appalled at the behaviour of some people. Most ridiculous Ive seen all trip! The Louvre is just SO big, you can actually get lost, and I kinda did. But I mean it's all good because there is a lot to see. Youd need more than a day to see it all thats for sure. I loved the Sculpture gallery, the Egyptian stuff and the old French Masters stuff.

About a quater of the line to get in to the Louvre

As predicted, being on the second floor and with no flashy pieces, the French Masters Gallery was nearly empty, like a good art gallery should be!

I checked out the Petit Palais and saw some more cool art, in the night we all picniced up outside the Sacre Coeur (See Part 1) watched the sunset on Paris. Lovely!

Next day, it was pissing down rain but Peter and I decided still to go and checkout the world famous Paris Cemetery (Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise). Home to many famous people including Jim Morrison! We went to see his grave but seriously, I was very underwhelmed with it, nothing special, just a standard grave really. Saw the composer Chopin's grave as well before it really was just too wet to go on (this place is enormous) so we bailed back to the notre Dame to meet the rest of the guys for lunch. This is where the coke was 8€ and the wine was 4€, ooohh yeah, gotta love the touristy spots huh?

Modern Arab institue

Finally, the cool thing for Paris was indeed the Moulin Rogue!

It was AWESOME.

Cost a fortune to get in but you're only in Paris once right? You got a half bottle of french champagne and it was all very nice. Butlers (who I imagined could dance... girls... :D ) and suits everywhere. There was a bohemian feel to the place although it was infact NOTHING like the movie. It is actually quite small. Intimate even. The stage was smallish but it opened up bits came from the ceiling, etc, so it was very cool. They used it well. I wont go into everything because Ill be here forever, but it wasnt just dancing, it was magic, acrobatics, strength (like Cirque du Soliel) and just general comedy things.

Notre Dame from the back

The coolest bit was when the stage opened up and a huge glass tank came up with snakles in it. A girl was put in there and she danced and twirled these big snakes all around her... creepy but mesmorising!

Was a great night, and it meant that the next day before flying up to Glasgow in the evening was slow, so I went to the Eiffel Tower and climbed up. Great view, something that had to be done I guess. but the lines!! Again, everything is with the lines.

Well thats a short version of Paris.

Glasgow was cool, I didnt stay long enough though. It was the World Bagpipe Cahmpionships when I was there, so I got to see a lot for free and I paid for one show at the Glasgow Concert Hall which was really cool. To be perfectly honest with you, the first one I sat and watched in the Glasgow version of Rundle Mall I had a few shy tears roll down my face because they were playing music from Roddy's funeral, and with it being so loud, you could really feel it, I guess I got a bit homesick too. It was really awesome though and I wish I could go back.

I have to go, but Ill finish it off when I can. Keep letting me know whats going on back home, and Ill blog again soon! With pictures, I cant get them up at the moment

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Paris - Part one

nobody@vox.com(no1bone) — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 00:55:10 +1030

Paris from atop the Sacre Couer

I have to do this in two parts because I have to leave in about half an hour. So! Here we go.

Got to Paris in the evening after a long trainride from Nice. it was funny because it took almost 3 hours to get along the coast to Marsaille which isnt that far really, then another 3 hours to get from the coast to Paris.Gotta love high speed trains! Paris is a big city, but it has a great mass transit system, and funnily enough, Adelaide has the same ticketing system as they do. We pinched the Metro ticket off the French! Love it!

Paris

Found the hostel, which was actually a hotel and I got my first rael chance to practice my french conversation. Ofcourse failed miserably, but the lady at the hostel was amazing and she appreciated my attempt so we hit it off I think. Id stay back there in a second. Great neighbourhood, on the fringe of the red light district of Paris, smack in the heart of the artists home (it was funny to see people everywhere with easels and a canvas and pallete painting churches etc) and it wasnt too far from major attractions. Best part, cheap! The Moulin Rouge was up the road too :D :D :D

Sacre Couer (Cathedral of the Sacred Heart)

First night I went out on a look around the city because I really didnt have anything better to do and I like to orientate myself ont he first day. So I walked up to the Sacre Coeur, which is a really big white old church (pics later) on the top of a hill overlooking Paris, which I think has some of the best views of the city really. The inside of the church is very gothic, but has beautiful stain glass windows (like all these old churches do). I paid my fare and climbed to the top of the biggest spire for a look and wow! it was way worth it. Mind you it is 264 small stone winding stairs, so they make you work for it, let me tell you!

After that, I went for a big walk (looked smaller on the map!) to the Arc D'Triumpth which is in one of the biggest roundabouts in the world. It has 12 major roads leading into it and it would probably be wide enough for about 6 lanes or so, but there are really no lane markings, just road. It is SO notorius for accidents that no insurance company in France will insure an accident on there. They just flat refuse and it is in the fine print apparently. haha, gotta love that.

Paris by twilight

The Arc itself is a monument to the war victories by Napolean, but he never finished it, so it was later finished and now is the home of the Unknown Soldier monument, which a flame (like everywhere I guess) burns eternally. After that, I took the 'Champs Elysees' which is the rich street of Paris. Every big store of note has their BIG store there, ie Gucci, L'Oreal, Prada, Gap, etc. It is wall to wall with fashion and it runs from the Arc right down to the Louvre. I noticed that there wasnt a single bin along the whole damn strip... Like London (Im told) they dont have them for fear of terrorist bombs being placed in them. I wandered down (It was getting past sunset) and thought I may as well check the Eiffel Tower out at night.

Looking up at the Eiffel Tower from Underneath

Wow, what a sight! It is really amazing up close, much cooler than pics, and BIG. It is lit up with flood lights both on the ground and mounted to the structure and as I was walking under it (at 10 o'clock) a light show started. The whole thing sparkles with hundreds of little strobe lights and it is really, really, cool. (Pics later). i didnt know about the show, so like everywhere I go, I seem to be lucky like that. I went out onto the Champs Mars (Named after the God of war), which is the big green strip next to the tower.

Louvre Courtyard by night

After that, I headed on down the river Seine to the Louvre at night and OMG!! It is stunning at night. The Pyramid is all lit up and they have fountain ponds next to them but they are still at night to allow a perfect mirror of water to appear and woah is all I can say (pics later!). The Louvre itself is a massive old building built in kinda of a C shape with the big court yard in the middle housing the Pyramids. More on the Louvre later.

Louvre by Night

So after my mammoth walk I slept pretty damn well that night let me tell you.

OK, that is that day done and so is my internet, Ill finish this later.

**In the Next episode of 'Around the World in 78 Days'!

*Scott goes to the Louvre and sees the Mona lisa, but nearly stabs a tourist

*Scott climbs the 668 stairs to the 2nd platform of the Eiffel tower

*Scott sees Notre Dame and almost purchases an 8 Euro Coke (AUD$13).

*Scott does the Moulin Rouge and is blown away

*Scott takes in the baguettes and cheese and crazily cheap wine of Paris

*Scott Sees Jim Morrison's Sorry excuse for a grave.

Til then, Stay tuned to these messages!**

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Monaco - Millionaires Paradise

nobody@vox.com(no1bone) — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 00:30:44 +1030

Monaco Yacht Club

Before I forget, I did do something else in Nice other than sit on the beach, I went for a day trip to Monaco (pics later). Monaco is home to the rich, the super rich and the filthy rich. It is a tiny little independent nation with their own police, their own military and Prince and Princess. It is most famous for the Monte Carlo Casino and the famous and stunningly gorgeous Princess Grace, of the Grace Kelly persuasion.

It has manicured lawns in all public spaces, stunning ocean views from pretty much every where as it is on the side of mountain (which is JAM PACKED full of houses), and really beautiful people to be honest. You can definitely spot the tourists here. There is a huge marina in the centre of the 'city' and it is packed with million dollar yahts. Actually I took a photo of the Yahts for sale board on the Marina and there were some for 'only' 8.5 million Euros, which is roughly 14 million Aussie Dollars. But hey, if thats out of your price rannge, try the hire ones for only 28,000 Euro a week!

(Princess) Grace Kelly's Grave

Changing of the Gaurd in Monaco

I went to the royal palace and saw the changing of the gaurds (marks my second gaurd changing experience) and then went to the ginormous Oceanarium, which contains about 90 tanks fo fish from all over the world and uniquely around Monaco. It was really, really cool. It was underground and they had these huge tanks with big sharks and fish of all colours, and even this huge cylinder tank of Nemos!

Nemos in Monaco

After there, I went over to the Monte Carlo casino! But as i am dressed as a tourist and it cost 10 Euro to get in and the minimum bet was 20Euro, I just walked in to the foyer, was awed and amazed and then left (going past ferraris, porches, mustangs, BMWs etc parked out front). Monaco's normal car I swear to you costs more than most houses in Adelaide. RICH PEOPLE EVERYWHERE.

I felt a bit left out, but also cool because I was where these people were too!

After that, I decided on the last thing that Monaco had to offer me for the day (and that I could afford, remember to bring a packed lunch!) was the Grace Kelly exhibition at the big expo hall in on the coast.

Monte Carlo Casino

The Exhibition went right from her childhood, the history of her parents (her dad was an dual olympic gold medalist), how she came up through school, her acting career, her royal meeting and ofcourse her own family before she died. It was a GREAT expo, I thought it might be a bit meh, but really, it was so well done and it was in English! Even though I can read most french things or at least guess correctly, it was nice to have all of her letters and what have you written in English, because she was originally an American belle. Alfred hitchcock and her were very close and there was even letters and such from the Queen of England, the Presidents of the USA and lots of other famous people. Oh and the Queen signs her name... Elizabeth. I always wondered what she would do, so now I know.

I spent ages in there because it was such a massive exhibition with lots of paths and winding corridors and rooms etc. You could get lost in there I swear.

Yachts for sale board in Monaco

Well that is the short version of Monaco.... NOW onto Paris, haha.

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