Oslo Norway

I write this entry from my room in Puerto Escondido on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, there’s a nice breeze coming from the window where I can see the beach and its sprinkling of fishing boats

Now Oslo, wow, that seems like a long time ago, I guess it is a long time ago. From Stockholm I took a night bus to Oslo, I thought I’d be able to handle it well with 3 night buses under my belt in Turkey, but nop, I got to Oslo at a little over 6am and I was a zombie, quite literally.

Day 1

I dropped my bags at the hostel, of course I couldn’t check in yet, but somehow I convinced the guy at the hostel to let me use the showers, it wasn’t so straight forward, since all the rooms had ensuites and the hostel had no shared showers, but the guy was nice enough to let me use the showers in the sauna.

After the shower, I felt a little more alive and set out for the Viking Museum. It contains 3 excavated viking ships, 1 was almost completely intact, it was great to see. The one that was almost intact has amazing cravings on it, the shape and the swirl at the end is just like in the picture books! Though the museum is quite small, you can see it all in a couple of hours, but still worth the trek out from the city.

On my way back, I went to buy some groceries for dinner and guess what was happen in the square in the city?! Norway’s next top model! Haha! A small crowd gathered to watch while the contestants strut their stuff.

Early to bed that day!

Day 2

I went for a whole day of hiking in the famous Olso marka/forest. It was a Saturday and many Norwegian families were also out exploring the marka. So you take this train to the end of the line and the marka is right there in front of you. There are many different marked trails with varying degrees of difficulty, I chose the easiest paved path but there were still plenty of see on the way, 2 lakes, lots of different trees and does the words Norwegian Woods ring a bell? Haha, well being a Murakami fan, it felt great to hike a real Norwegian wood.

All these photos from the marka were shot on film

The hike was around 4.5 hours with some super hilly bits at the end, it took me near where the super crazy giant ski jump is, well, it wasn’t actually there, it was being rebuilt or something. Anyway, the point is I was really high up and the view was gorgeous. You can see all the fjords that runs into Olso, not impressive close up since the fjords are somewhat wide, but from that distance it looked amazing, the soft late afternoon light also helped.

The view there was amazing, my photo doesn’t do it justice

Speaking of fjords, it was a shame that I didn’t get to go to Bergen, where the really impressive fjords are and the train ride up apparently has great scenery all along the way too. Unfortunately I had already booked everything for Iceland and didn’t have enough time in Norway. Shame, next time.

Day 3

I walked around the city and went to see the Olso opera house which is quite an impressive sight. From the glistening blue harbour, this white roofed and blue glassed creation rises out. The roof, yes the roof slopes right into the ocean, from afar, to me, it looked like a ski field with all the tiny people on it. Looked amazing.

As I walked around the huge roof all of a sudden these kids carrying instruments start tumbling up, at first one by one, then dozens and dozens of them started coming up. Before you know a big crowd had gathered to watch the kids setup and perform right there on the glary roof

In the afternoon I went to the Vigeland Park. Lonely planet called the centerpiece in the park “the phallus”, alongside with the descriptions of all these nude sculptures, then it says that families flock to the park on weekends. Well! I thought to myself, man, aren’t these Norwegians open minded…

The phallus isn’t what I thought it was… It was a column sculpture full of nude intertwined people. The other sculptures along the wide path are either in stone or copper, some romantic, some thought provoking and many quite funny. The park is nice and green and no wonder families flock to it.

The phallus

You thinking what I’m thinking? Cos that’s exactly what I was thinking when I saw this…

C’mon you dirty minded bastards! :p

Day 4

I didn’t do much, took a walk around the cemetery where Edward Munch, the painter of scream and several other famous Norwegians are buried. Went to the national gallery, so one of Munch’s scream, there are several versions. I remember also going to the trendy part of the town, can’t remember the name of the area. I hoped to get some shots for the street fashion blog, but unfortunately the Norwegians don’t dress as well as the Swedes, so none were asked, none were taken.

Did I mention how freaking expensive Norway is?? Well, it’s freaking expensive!!! The first day I got there, I wanted some lunch and went to burger king, guess how much my regular whooper meal costed? 9.35 euros! Fuck! That’s 18 Australian dollars! So nop, didn’t step into another food vendor in Norway, packed sandwiches and cooked dinner at the hostel everyday.

Day 5

I flew to London, got a bus to Heathrow and flew to Iceland. More on Iceland, next time.

The plan ahead

A quick update.

So right now I’m in Toronto traveling with my parents. We will travel onwards to Niagara-on-the-lake and the Niagara Falls tomorrow and stay in Buffalo for the night. Then onto Washington DC for a couple of days, then back to NY to fly to LA. Travel around West coast with my folks, San Fran, Las Vegas, etc.

Then my parents head home and I will go on to Mexico by myself for around 2 weeks. Safety concerns or not, I’m going in, I’ll be very careful, but if I pass up Mexico this time round, I’ve no idea when the next time may be. So after Mexico it’s back to NY for Christmas and new years, I’ll be staying til around the 10th. Then a trip to Cuba, fly to LA to fly to Fiji for a day then finally, yes FINALLY back to Sydney.

So, more adventures ahead

Sweden – Stockholm

Sorry for not updating for so long, but I’ve only just gotten used to traveling with my parents, but finally I’m getting back in the swing of things.

And so the journey continues, though this is all from the beginning of September, what now seems like a long time ago, yet also feels like yesterday. I spent 4 and a half days in Stockholm, it’s quite different from what I expected, though I thoroughly enjoyed it in the end.

Day 1

Somehow in this big head of mine, I always thought Scandinavia would be very different from the rest of Europe, like not just a little different, but very different, but that didn’t turn out to be the case.

After getting a bus from the middle of nowhere airport (thanks to Ryanair), it’s already quite late by the time I got to my hostel, so I found a supermarket, made dinner, ate and slept. A little side note, this hostel has got to be one of the best, if not the best I’ve stayed in so far. Great rooms, bunk beds are arranged and half covered to give lots of privacy, spacious clean showers and toilets, small but fully equipped kitchen with free pasta, tea and coffee! A communal kitchen in a hostel tends to the social point, where people mingle, cook, chat and drink. That’s exactly what happened here, free pasta helps too, met a whole bunch of people here, ate in every night to save money and have good conversations with Aussies, Germans, Swisses and Frenchies. It’s called Skanstulls Vandrarhem, do check it out if you head Stockholm’s way, I highly recommend it, I even bothered to write a feedback on hostelworld for it.

Day 2

In almost all European cities, there’s an old town, so I headed straight to Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s lovely old town. It’s not so big, not so small, plenty of old buildings that really looked very similar to what I had seen thus far, which was a bit of a shock to me. (Remember my big head thought all these Nordic countries would be very different…) The architecture though similar, but compared to Paris, it’s so much more simpler and straight forward, yet colourful and cute.

Stockholm, if memory serves correct is built on 16 island, all connected by bridges or ferries. Being by the coast and seeing the ocean made me miss Sydney. Even right now after just seeing Venice, it’s amazing how much I miss the ocean when I finally see and smell it.

To walk from Gamla Stan back to the hostel you pass by all the shopping streets, so I had a peak. Especially at the vintage shops, local designers and of course the Acne flagship store. Stockholm would have been shopping heaven for me, with unique pieces, huge selections and reasonable prices, but alas it was hell for me. Thanks to Ryanair’s 1 bag policy I could buy nothing, in fact all I want to do is throw away things…

Changing of guards at the palace.

The Swedish royalty contains a Orlando Bloom look-a-like prince!

Great chain clothing shop on the main street.

With awesome cute graphics

Day 3

I headed to the Skansen open air museum, one of the first open air museums in the world. Situated on a nice hill top reached by the ferry, it’s a nice day away. The Skansen museum contains many traditional style Swedish country houses from all around the country, all of them real, the houses are dissembled, transported and ressembled at the museum. There are many many houses, some big farm houses, a school, cottages, blacksmith, glass workshop and pharmacy just to mention a few. Some houses date from 17 – 18th century, the most recent from the 20s and 30s. Most buildings are open to visit inside and most of them contain original furnitures and actors all dressed up in character as the houses original owners. They all spoke perfect English and most took their time to explain to me Sweden from that time and how Swedes lived at that time.

Sure it’s pretty touristy, but it’s still a good way to learn about Swedish culture, given my big head had a lot to learn about. Plus it was a nice sunny day out and a nice ferry ride away.

Ferry over to Skansen, where there’s also a fun park.

There was also a zoo in Skansen, where a woman is being “attacked” while taking a self portrait.

Grass roof! I wonder how it doesn’t collapse.

Overlooking at other islands. Those are birds, not dust on my lens I swear…

Moose! On the loose! (Oh I couldn’t resist adding that second bit.)

Caching caching!

Moulin rouge…

Day 4

I went to the national history museum and learnt about Sweden properly this day. Yes this big head of mine managed to cramp in a few things, even some about the Vikings, for example, they were mainly farmers, sure they were good on the sea and raiding other countries, but those were rare, most of the year were spent tending their farms.

In the evening I took a very long stroll around the harbour, climbed some steep stairs to reach a vantage point and took lots of cheesy sunset shots, what else does a tourist do anyway?!

Nice apartment blocks. Fancay!

Viking ornaments in the museum

Nice shadows

Viking stone carvings

Here come the sunsets!

Tunnel through buildings, it glows.

Day 5

I heard about how nice the archipelago islands were around Stockholm, so I went to one. Unfortunately it was overcast and a little cold and the island was alright for a walk, but much too boring for more. On a sunny summer day, it would be nice for a spot of swimming and sun bathing, but much too late in the year for that.

In the afternoon I headed to the trendy Södermalm which I’ve passed many times in the last few days. I did some style hunting there. Stockholm turned out to be one of the best dressed cities I’ve seen so far.Yes, better than Londoners and better than Parisians in my opinion. They are trendy, classic and unique all at the same time, I would have said such a thing is impossible, but Stockholmers seem to do it effortlessly. So the afternoon was spent pacing up and down the trendy street with an awesome break in a nice cafe, sipping a large latte and a bite of lemon pastry. It was while sitting in this cafe that I fell in love with Stockholm. The beginning of Södermalm is a pedestrian and bicycle only area, also at the beginning of the island where people come off the ferry or the bridge. So it’s always hustle and bustle, watching all the people pass by, I was totally mesmerised.

Bridge over archipelago islands

Vroom vroom. Not really.

Södermalm! Most awesome place in all of Stockholm in my opinion.

Latte and lime pastry while people watching

Next stop, Oslo Norway. You will have to wait a long time til I get the entry up I’m sure. I have a packed Canadian schedule right ahead of me for the next week and I mean packed!

France – Part 2 – Paris

Paris to me was a let down.

Take your time, let that sentence sink in.

Perhaps I’ve seen too many French film, perhaps I had unrealistic expectations of Paris, perhaps that’s not my fault, perhaps Paris is just overly good at marketing itself and ends up overselling itself. The Paris I saw was not the Paris they sold me. The Paris I was sold is moody, sexy, glamorous, artistic, like a 35 years old gorgeous woman, not young, no, she’s been around the block, but she’s sure of herself, she’s single but she’s got it all. However, the Paris I saw was clean, wide boulevards, beautiful in a few rare moments, rarely romantic, sexy or glamorous and never moody, never did I find that oomph that character. Let down, yep.

I sometimes think it’s perhaps the way I traveled around France, the way I did Paris last, because I thought it would be a great whirlwind ending with me falling in love with the city. Perhaps if I started the trip with Paris, I would have liked it and enjoyed it more, but I’m not sure if this theory is valid. Paris is what it is, it’s become overly touristic, overly gentrified. The Paris I had in mind can only be found in old photographs.

Sorry to start on a sad note, but to cheer you up, here are some lovely photos.

Day 1

A photo studio’s way of advertising itself. Pretty cool huh, really reminds me of Amelie.

Jady and I went to the biggest outdoor food market in Paris, we arrive too late and some stalls are already packing up, by the time we buy and finish eating lunch, almost all the stalls have packed up and gone. We did buy a box of lychees for the cheapest price in history, 2 euros! And I did a little scavenging in the dumped fruit pile and found some perfectly ripe plums, I believe Jady has photographic evidence…

Jady’s potato heart…

Day 2

We did the new Paris walking tour, it was a good introduction to Paris, seeing almost all the famous sights on foot in about 3 hours.

Place St Michelle in the Latin Quartier

Pont Neuf with its funny faces

Tip of Il de la Cite

“Let me out!”

Hiding in the archways of Lourve waiting out the rain

Concorde with that famous thing in the background

Petite Palaice

Day 3

Took this photo right near the tunnel where Diana was killed, didn’t realise that and was wondering why there were a whole heap of people there and so much graffitti and scribbles.

We just walked around really. I made sure that we visited Colette, it’s like the most famous hip clothing store I know in Paris, it’s expensive and attracts a hip young crowd, some will even tell you that Colette is legendary. It’s similar to London’s Dover Street Market or Sydney’s Corner Shop I suppose. Downstairs in Colette was just cheaper fun little gadgets that people would buy because they can’t afford anything upstairs. So upstairs, as soon as I look through any rack of clothes, a shop assistant would come immediately after to rearrange it. That pissed me off.

Oh! We also looked for Pierre Herme’s shop that day, but it was closed for summer. Bummer, I was so so SO dissapointed, but we did come across a nice little looking restaurant which we went back to later for dinner.

After dinner we strolled around, ended up on one of the bridges, I can’t remember the name, apparently it’s the bridge in the last scene in Sex and the City the movie… hmmm… Anyhow, being a balmy summer night, the bridge is filled with young people, mostly tourists, drinking and having picnics. Jady and I linger, take photos and finally we sit down to just enjoy the view. One of the guys sitting next to us, offered us some box wine, we accept. He’s from Czech and is apartment sitting in Paris for 3 weeks while his friend goes on vacation. What did he study? Some science related really serious sounding thing. And we end up having a conversation about economy, China and politics, ending on the note that I said “the perfect system (both economical and political) isn’t possible, because humans aren’t perfect” Deep huh? I know! It seems like a lot of conversations I have with strangers in Europe end up being deep and meaningful. What’s up with that.

Il de la Cite again.

People on the bridge

Day 4

We went to Versaille, all my photos are on film. You might get to see them, some day.
Day 5

It’s a painting, wordpress can’t censor that right?

Musee D’Orsay! It was great, I loved it. So tiring, so so much to see, by the end I felt like I was simply looking at the paintings but not seeing them.

After that we dropped by Pierre Herme again, the notice on the door said it should be re-opened by now and it was Jady’s last day in Paris. And it was open! Oh what relief and what tremendous exciting. How my heart pounded as we waited in line, “oh oh, I can see a little bit of cakes now”. Yes of course the queue went out the door. We buy 10 macarons, 1 of each flavour. Never mind the pretty boxes, just in plastic bags please, we are only going to devour them in 30 seconds. Jady and I somehow manage to choose a cake each, with the not so big but each tantalising looking selection, it was a difficult choice.

Jady chose something chocolatey, it had a few layers inside, 1 was chocolate mousse and 1 was praline if memory serves me correct. I chose an almond  mille fuille, it was messy to eat and if we weren’t in the middle of a public square in Paris on a sunny day, I would have licked the plastic wrapper the cake same in. It was that fucking good. Oh excuse my French! With the macarons, we had half of each flavour and each produced an “woooo” “arhhh” “ooohhhh” “mmmmm” from us. Each flavour oomphed but our favourite was the salted caramel. No wonder the guy in front of us bought a box with 1 of each flavour but 3 salted caramel.

Mmmmm

Jady’s cake

My cake

Half way through the delicious mess

Actually writing this is making me sad. When will I next have the chance to eat Pierre Herme’s macarons? Never??? At least not for a few years. I don’t see myself going back to Paris anytime soon. So I guess I’ll just have to jump on a plane and head to Tokyo at the next opportunity.

Jady took the train to Venise with a fully and satisfied belly

I took a long walk after dinner from Place du Concord all the way to Arc D’Triumph.

Seine at night

Concorde in the background, fountain in the foreground

Arc d’Triumph

Shop window on Champs Elysee, cake killed fashion

Asian photo shoot on Champs Elysee

Inside of arc

Day 6

I walked around Marais, the Jewish quarter in the morning, it was quite nice day and I had the best felafel wrap for lunch.

Hotel de Ville aka Town Hall, took me a while to work that one out “So… where the hotel?”

Seeing as this was my second last day, I felt anxious to tick off more on the tourist list. So I saw the Notre Dame. It’s ok, not that exciting.

The world famous flying buttress

I went to the Louvre. Since it’s free for all under 26 on Fridays after 6pm, it opens til 9.30pm. I found the Louvre itself very impressive, it rivals the Versaille. There are so much art in the Louvre and I was pressed for time, in 3.5 hours, you get to see nothing. So I was the Mona Lisa, it’s small, you can only see it from 10 meters away, behind a wall of tourists, I didn’t like it much. I saw Venus de Milo. But the favourites I saw and I only saw about 30% of the Louvre, they were 2 frescos by Botticelli, they were magnificient, beautiful and sadly most people just walked right past them.

All for a glimpse of Mona Lisa

Can’t see shit being 10 meters away

Venus and her admirers

There was also Napoleon’s apartment. It was grande beyond excess and really too too much, I have no idea how anyone can live in such a space.

The entertainment room, it was so dazzling, you didn’t know what to look at.

The giant dining table

Looks like a giant glowing insect with red eyes…

Day 7

I went to Centre Pompidou and I absolutely loved it. The building itself is very impressive and its collection even better. I saw so much, Picasso, Mondrian, Calder, Matisse, Rothko, Pollock, Duchamp, Arbus, it’s like a who’s who of modern art and of course they contain some of their most famous pieces.

My fav though was this video floor projection, I must have stood on it for 20 minutes. It wasn’t part of the permanent collection, it was part of Elles @ Centre Pompidou.

To the left, Eiffel Tower.

To the right, Montmartre.

The project that I stook on for 20 minutes.

Mondrian

Calder

Duchamp

Matisse

The square below

Oh! How could I forget, I had been looking for a nice pair of vintage boots ever since the purple ones I got in London started falling apart and I threw them out. As I headed to Pompidou, I walked past this vintage shop. Now the day before I searched up a whole list of vintage shops in Paris and went to all of them, they all had very little ankle boots. But just accidently I past this shop and they had a great selection of ankle boots, I tried on a pair, they fitted, I paid for them and just kept them on… Hah! It all happens when you don’t expect it.

Then it was an early night in packing bags and getting ready to fly to Stockholm today the next day.

France – Part 1

Words written 29 August 09 & 5 September

And there are 72 photos in total, it’s going to be a long post.

Tonight is my last night in Paris, I am inside the hostel writing this because I have no money, I still haven’t gotten paid for my work in London and the transferred money from Sydney still hasn’t come through. Plus I’ve been on my feet all day, I think I deserve a break.

So I have been in France for exactly 1 month now, this whole big adventure started on the 29th July with me taking a Eurostar from London to Paris then changing to local trains twice and a bus to get to Bagneres de Bigorres where I spent 2 weeks on an organic farm. From there I spent 1 night in Cacarssonne, 1 day in Avignon, 4 nights in Lyon, 2 nights in Geneva, 2 nights in Strasbourg and 7 nights in Paris. All these journeys I made by train, it was fun, different, much less stressful than Ryanair flights though also quite expensive in comparison.

So then this blog entry should really start with my 2 weeks on the farm, except all the photos I took are on film and they are sitting in the bottom of my newly purchased 38 liter backpack (Never have I thought I’d look like one of them backpackers, but I honestly do now… my country road bag has nearly broken my back and I’ve had enough, plus the next leg of my trip involves many Ryanair flights, with their 1 bag policy. There’s no way my camera bag can fit into my country road bag, hence the 99 euro purchase blah blah blah justification justification, oh I’ll be using it when I get to the states too.) (That bracket was way long! And how nice to not type on a French keyboard!)

Cacarssonne

Well then, we shall start with Cacarssonne! Cacarssonne is a medival walled city, the main attraction is the old city itself and the Chateaux, outside the old city, it wasn’t very exciting. But the old city amazed me and delighted me, after getting a navette from the train station to the old city then walking through the draw bridge, into the city, I squealed out loud. The tiny cobbled stoned winding streets, the old city walls, the tiled watch towers, the ivy covered houses, splendid!

I dropped my bag off at the hostel and immediately changed into a skirt and singlet, it was steaming hot! It was around midday, so I had lunch and went to visit the Chateaux to escape the boiling sun, it was a good plan. The old town has been built and added to by many in many different eras, including the Romans, the city became famous during the Cathar Crusade. It was good to learn how Cacarssonne became what it was today. It was a very picturesque town and the perfect starting point after 2 weeks on the farm.

Outside the old town

Bridge to the old town

Outside the old town

Avignon

Next stop Avignon where I met up with Jady for a few days. Avignon was also boiling hot, it was a small place with not too much to see. So Jady and I spent most of the time eating lunch, sitting in a cafe in the shade and looking at things we won’t buy in air conditioned shops :p

Lyon

That same evening we took the train to Lyon and were there for 4 nights. The hostel is a bit of a hike to the one of the high points in the city, so even 2 of us dragging my country road bag up hill was a struggle, we had to have 3 pit stops. But once there, the view was gorgeous, there’s a terrace in the middle of the hostel with much of it shaded by trees and plants. It was chilled and quiet at lunch and beautiful at night when the sun goes down and the city lights up, sitting there with our bread, cheese, jambon (cured ham), salad, sautered yellow mushrooms, sweets and fruits, it was just perfect.

The first day was a Sunday, market day, we had a good night sleep, got up late and went wondering around the market, it took us many hours, strolling up and down the market several times being amazed, drooling and trying to decide what to buy. I wanted to buy everything, I wanted to eat everything, I wanted to cook everything. The atmosphere, the fresh produce, the smell of fruits, the stink of cheese, the smoke from the rotisseries, everything was tantalising!

Unfortunately being August, much of the restaurants and shops recommended by Jady’s Lyon farmer host were closed, it’s also a hilly city, so we take our time and have frequent ice cream breaks. Speaking about ice cream, there’s 1 famous ice cream place in Lyon, it’s by the Rhone and is often packed. They must have about 20 flavours, it took me a while to decide upon slated caramel and chestnut. Chestnut in French is maroon, Rs in french are pronounced almost like a H with your tongue curled trying to draw up all your phlem, yes, that’s exactly what it sounds like, I’m still perfecting mine, but since I have a phlemy cough right now, it helps a lot. So I go up to the counter and say “Double sil vous plait, caramel sale e maroon sil vous plait.” Thinking I’d done a good job pronouncing maroon, so the guy replies “Caramel sale e maRRRrrrroon, d’acorrd.” Oh gosh no, I need more phlem, a lot more definitely.

Restaurant napkin

Giant Jady!

Spot the odd one

Basilica at night

Jady with Lyon nightscape

The Lumeier brothers are from Lyon, so we visited the museum which is situated in their original residence. They were also amazing painters with much of the paintings in the house by them. Across from the Lumeier museum was a little park where several games of boules or bocci were being played out enthusiastically. We stayed for a little and had look and I had a few snaps.

Crazy 3D photo thingyo

Painting by one of the brothers

Game of boules

Lyon sunrise

The next day Jady and I went our own ways for a few days. And I took a train to

Geneva

I know it’s not in France but they speak French there! All the signs are in French, everyone’s speaking French, if didn’t feel like I was in Switzerland, except for when I see souvenir shops filled with watches and swiss army knives. I enjoyed Geneva very much, it had that big city feel which I was starting to crave after so many lovely but small towns, but Geneva also had a laid back feel. The days are long and hot, some shops close for siesta and people don’t rush around.

I dropped my bags off at the hostel and first stop was of course, the UN! Oh how exciting! It’s only a 15 minute tram ride from the city center and visits are ran only as guided tours. The guide I got had a heavy or should I say eavy French accent, so I really had to listen hard, but it wasn’t too bad. It’s so so uber cool to see some of the different meeting rooms, the circular rows of tables and chairs fitted with mics and buttons and stuffs. I also sent V a UN postcard using a UN stamp sent via the UN post. Wow!

The United Nations!

Press the button

Fountains outside the UN

My visitors pass

The old town in Geneva is lovely to walk around. Cobbled stoned streets, hilly, windy, many nice boutique shops and cafes, people in this town dress well and they got money. Actually I think there are 2 types in this city, 1 is the type I just described, smooth operators, the other type isn’t so smooth, they are your dorky diplomats…

By the afternoon of the 2nd day, I was in need of a good cool down, so I went to the big water spraying thingy thingyo at the lake. You know, similar to Canberra’s thing but only much bigger and you can walk right upto it. I walked there, I took photos, I packed my camera away and I walked across fast and got a little bit wet and suitably cooled down. The wind blows in 1 direction, causing the water to create a little bit of mist curtain. It’s a big mist though, if you stand directly under it you can get drenched pretty quickly, which a lot of people did since it was hot.

Macarons will make you buy clothes like mad

Could be anywhere really

Modern art museum

The lake

Strasbourg

After lovely Geneva I took the train to Strasbourg. One of the main reasons I went, ok, THE reason I went was that it’s close to the black forest and that’s where the black forest cake comes from. 2 layers of chocolate cake sandwiched with fresh cream and cherries soaked in liquor, topped with more cream and chocolate shavings, it sounds like heaven. But alas I was there on the weekend and the tour company only runs tours to the forest on Wednesday, other companies were only running wine tours. Who the f*ck cares about wine, I know it’s the specialty here, blah blah, but I want my cake!!!

I got NO cake, the only other way to get there would be to hire a car, I had no time or money to do that. Strasbourg is a very nice town but 1 day is plenty, I had 2 days, so yeah, meh, after seeing so many old towns and castles, it can get a bit much.

Despite the very different style of architecture (more German styled),  the many canals going through the old town, Strasbourg for me nonetheless felt average. Though I did have a lovely lunch and tried some snails in a pesto sauce, yum! And the cathedral here is amazing, the architecture is very unique, it employs the flying buttress like the Notre Dame in Paris, but it’s nothing like anything I’ve seen so far. So gothic, yet so ornate, I walked to the viewing platform, I had to rest 3 times while getting there… I never walked so much small circular stairs, if you have to do that everyday, I think it will make you go crazy! The view is pretty good from the top.

The most amazing cathedral

View of Strabourg from the top

17th and 18th century graffiti

Flying buttress like on the Paris Notre Dame

So after Strasbourg, Jady and I met up again in the city of light, Paris. But to hear about that you have to wait til the next blog post!

Portugal redux

Not going to put any words up, just pictures since last time I used Jady’s photos and now I finally have my film photos developed and scanned.

Enjoy!

Brighton

Words written last week.

No better way to start than with a glass of pimms and lemonade!

Thanks to my love of film and my traveling schedule, all the entries from now on aren’t going to be in any chronicle order, they are just going to be all over the place. And I’m actually on a train to Carcassonne changing at Toulouse as I write this, they have power plugs on the train! Wahhh!

So I went to Brighton with Jady in was it June? I think it was June… It was a mighty fine day, great weather which made it a fantastic day trip out of London. The British beaches are very different Australian beaches, Brighton is a pebble beach, as in there’s no sand, just big pebbles. It’s not very comfortable to lie on but at least you won’t have a shoe/towel/hair full of sand by the end of the day.

Brighton had 2 piers but 1 burnt down, they’ve left the burnt skeleton of the pier there and it’s actually quite interesting to look at and makes good photos, when the tide isn’t high, you can waddle out to it a bit too.

On the functioning pier there’s a small fun fair, a few food outlets and some pokies machines. The actual beach on the day was filled with people and as always dotted with lounge chairs which you can hire for half a day for a few quid.

Brighton is absolutely filled with Martin Parr moments, before I thought you’d have to hunt for such moments, but nop, they come to you and plenty of them too, if I wanted to I could have filled rolls and rolls with Parr-esque shots. Take this one below for example. I actually laughed out after I saw this shot scanned large. I was concentrating on the couple in the foreground, their white whale-ness, how the man has his top off but his shoes on, the woman with her eyes closed while holding onto her hot pink beach bag and the 2 sort of holding hands lying there dead straight. But the magic is the 3 people a few meters behind them, their odd frozen movements while moving their deck chairs. I would like to claim that this was a decisive moment, but the truth is I can’t remember if it was, so I think it was more of a happy accident.

Lastly, I’m loving ektar! Though this is the only roll I’ve seen so far, but the colours are fantastic, I like

Banksy VS Bristol City Museum

So this is the giant queue that greeted Jady and I as we found our way toward the museum… I checked the Bristol City council website and it stated to be prepared for queueing for around 1 hour. So since we came all the way to Bristol for this, we joined the que and it took an hour and half to get in.

Those of you that are Banksy fans will know that he had a show in NY last year, so the Bristol show has all of those what I’ve been calling “moving sculptures” or “animated sculptures” as well as many guerilla paintings and non animated sculptures and works.

Spoilers alert – If you intend to see the show for yourself and don’t want this to spoil it for you then please do go any further, because I have taken photos of EVERYTHING!

As you enter the Museum.

Buddha’s had a rough day

The main hall as you entered is filled with these sculpture/installation works, the ice cream van served as the information desk. The SWAT guy on the horsy was particularly creepy, the horsy rocked back and forth producing a squeaky sound. I had a close look at the mannequins face, it was very life like and completely creeped me out.

The first room had many large scale complex stencil works, many paintings and a few installations. The most interesting was a little caged room that I suppose is meant to be Banksy’s living room. With a knit jumper that says “thug for life” draping on the back of a rocking chair, loads and stencils and an audio loop of a radio talk show that had audience call in discussing the “art” of Banksy. I felt like you got a glimpse of what the man himself thought about the media circus that’s played out around him and his fame.

The second room was filled with cages containing “animated sculptures”, these got lots of giggles out of people. It’s hard to explain but each piece moved a little repeated movement.

Featherless tweety blinked a little, he looked so so miserable that it makes you want to take your own life.

The 2 cocktail sausages on the top right of the stone, in 1 sequence of action seemed to be humping, yes I’m pretty sure they were humping…

These look pretty normal static, but the way they wriggled was absolutely disgusting but also fascinating.

In stead of the monkey watching monkey porn that NY had, we unfortunately got a family friendly monkey painting. Pppfffttttt! So much more tame.

These photos of mine don’t do the works justice, so please take out a few minutes and watch these youtube clips, you’ll see just how funny and how Banksy they are.

Now these 2 rooms were the main areas where his works were, but throughout the museum he’s littered many more works. You just got to keep your eyes open and look for them.

Spot the odd one

Prehistoric cave painting

The evolution of mankind

Tucked away amongst the museum’s real collection of serious paitings are many guerilla paintings by Banksy.

Would you like a like a lolipop or…?

There were 250 or some number like that soldiers on this work and 1 terrorist. We failed to locate the terrorist, so please send in more troops.

So did I enjoy the show? Indeed I did, but after lining up for the longest time in my life amongst mostly middle aged parents with their 8 years old sons and daughters, I can’t help but feel that Banksy is now absolutely mainstream and therefore no longer cool. So like all scenesters do, I will now abandon ship and claim that I am no longer a Banksy fan. But shhh just between you and me, the dude’s a genius and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.

What? I didn’t say that… Banksy is like-oh-so over! Oh well, shit happens.

Banksy VS Bristol Museum is on til 31 August 2009. Do pop in if you are around, well worth the wait. More info on Banksy site here, or here on the Bristol Museum site.

the plan forth

Today will be my last day of work for a while. I’ve freelancing for the past month or so if you didn’t know, full time, with a few overtime late nights too, I’m not used to this 9-6, not at all.

So, next Wednesday I depart for Ireland with Jady and Markus joins us on Friday, we’ll hire a car, drive around a bit and return on the Monday after.

Around 29th or 30th I depart for France for a month. I’ll be heading straight into Pyrénées, for a farm I’ve arranged to stay at for 3 weeks. I volunteer my work, they put me up and feed me. It’s a small family, young couple, a few kids, in the mountains, perfect. Pyrénées is right by the Spanish border, deep down south of France. According to Julien, it’s in the middle of nowhere and I will be forced to learn and speak French, again, perfect. But 2 minor/major things, the family is vegetarian and there’s no internet in the house. o_O We’ll see how I survive. After the farm stay, I’ll travel upwards in France a bit, Lyon, Paris, etc.

From Paris, I plan to fly to Scandinavia, take 2 weeks in beginning of September to travel around a few selected spots and Iceland.

From there I’ll get myself back downwards to Munich for a few days for Oktoberfest! Woo! Just about everyone I know in London will be there, or perhaps the entire British population will be there?!

Then it’s back to London for a few days as my folks arrive on the 26th Sept. We’ll stay in London for a week or so, fly up to Germany, then drive all the way down to Spain, through Austria, Switzerland, Italy and France then fly back to London. 6 weeks with my parents, most of it in a car!!! Am I mad? I don’t know…

Together with my parents, we will fly to New York. West coast, east coast, Miami, Las Vegas, Toronto. Then they fly back to Sydney, I stay on for a bit.

So that’ll be none stop on the road for me all the way til November. WOW! It’s a bit scary to think about actually. November and December I’ll stay in NY, enjoy the winter, be a loner for Christmas or join where the homeless go perhaps. Hehe, can’t wait to photograph NY in winter, will be awesome. New year’s eve in Time Square, now that I must do.

In January I’ll head to South America, I’d like to visit Cuba, Mexico, Peru and Brazil. Then it’s back to LA briefly before heading to Fiji for a quick 2 night relaxing stopover and then onto home, Sydney.

Gosh… it sounds a lot more scary typed out then in my head… A lot more awesome too.

Yay yay yay! Makes me very excited to think about this giant adventure ahead. Happy travels!

2 months on

Funny, this thing they call time. I’ve been overseas for over 2 months now, it feels like it’s been a long long time since I left Sydney airport, yet I can remember V and I at the airport sharp and clear like it’s yesterday and yet it has only been 2 out of 9 months. I miss Sydney very much, I just really didn’t think I’d miss it as much as I do.

London on the other hand, I’m slowly discovering bit by bit and I’ll have to admit, I’m slowly falling in love with the place bit by bit. It’s sometimes chaotic, often eccentric, and always energetic, which makes the perfect brew for me. Just now I took a walk to Primrose Hill after dinner, a nice warm evening with a nice slow stroll, a few photos, a nice sunset, topped off with a cone of Italian toffee ice cream from a 75 years old shop How could I not enjoy the place.

I do often forget I’m in London though, I may have mentioned this before but the place is so damn similar to Sydney. However earlier in the week I couldn’t have had a stronger reminder. I’ve been working at a small digital agency in London Bridge, at lunch, I got my salad, was about to sit down and eat when a few colleagues spotted me asked me to join them to go and eat on the grass. It was a sunny hot day, we walked between 2 big office buildings and low and behold the grass looks right onto at the London Bridge. Sure I’d seen it from the distance before but I hadn’t seen it up close yet and there I am, eating my lunch while looking at London Bridge! I find myself having surreal moments like that.

Enough of that, let me give you a low down on some of my recent food adventures.

Photos by Yasinta

On my brithday, Jady, Yasinta and I descended onto Taste London Festival and gorged on many many things. It was a huge event for me as I had my first ever truffle and foie gras, unfortunately both were underwhelming. One of my highlights was a cold pea and broad bean soup with almond bread from Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester. Reading their menu, it sounds quite safe and lacklustre but since I can’t actually afford to eat at the Dorchester any time soon and that I can’t possibly pass on tasting an Alain Ducasse creation, I decided to try the soup. It was refreshing, summery, tasty and just simply great.

Another highlight was ash baked celeriac from I can’t remember where… but it was amazingly tasty! Who knew the humble celeriac could be so damn yummy. We also found out that 3 girls ordering 1 single portion meant we got extra large portions! hehehehehehehe muahahahahahahahaha

Last weekend I went to St John at Spitafields for dinner with Sissi and David. I honestly haven’t been this stuffed in a long time, except for the several occasions I at Norman and Joyce’s of course. The spitafield restaurant adopts the same nose to tail eating idea, but the menu had much more than pork. We ate venison, ox heart, lamb breast, quail, fish roe and pig skin, that’s just the meat stuff. It was all delicious. I could barely fit in some peach jelly as dessert, my dessert stomach had almost entirely been used by the savoury stuff. Those who know me will know, that almost never happens, there is always room for dessert. But nonetheless by the end it took us forever to eat our desserts and I had to sigh an awful lot, because I was so full, have to say, sighing doesn’t make room in the stomach.

Note: I just checked the Dorchester website, I can actually afford to eat a 3 course lunch there, hmm, now now, who wants to go with me?!