Happy Xmas & Seasons Greetings to all

Hello & Happy Xmas

Apologies again - taking time to sit & blog just hasn't been easy recently. Anyhow, things are looking up with possible change in my life soon.

I recently auditioned for the Rich List & if I'm lucky will be on in late January (don't know when it would go to air - I'll let you know).

Most especially I would like to send out warm wishes to all my new friends overseas, who all hosted me during my (brief) world tour.


Rebecca,


& Matt in Naples.


Victor & Cat in Milan.


Anna & partner in Nuremberg.

The girls (Sunny & partner) in Berlin - I still have no photos of you guys.


Duncan & Sarah in Edinburgh


Axle & Eyda in Koblenz


Saunouke (s?),


Micah,


& son in North Carolina.


And last but not least Kuno & Irma in Vancouver

Back to my trip - London to Paris via Dover

Hey guys

Sorry its been a while, but you really need to be in the right frame of mind for this sort of thing. I;ve now been back for longer than I went - how depressing. If only money wasn't such an issue in this life we lead, I'd be quite happy travelling the world, meeting new people & having new experiences for many years.

Despite all the place I managed to get to, there are so many more that I want to still see.

Anyway...

After exploring London (with lovely Fiona along to keep me company), I set out for France. The initial idea being to take the train to Dover, catch the Ferry & then try to get to either Normandy, France or Arnhem, Netherlands. Unfortunately, as it turned out, neither was really an option - so after getting to view the White Cliffs of Dover (didn't get any time to explore them unfortunately) I was on a Ferry across the Channel.





Once we arrived, it turned out there were very few people who needed transport assistance (myself & 4 US teenagers (a group of 3 girls & a single guy)).
Once past the passport checkpoint, we were on our own, out the front of the building in a small glass bus shelter like you'd find on the street for a regular suburban bus - with a very small timetable & nothing else. No taxi rank, no other people, no foodstand, nothing - very, very spooky).



Anyhow - Once we caught the bus, to the train station (again, very little information coming our way - ok it was a weekend, but still - this is Europe). Anyhow, we found our way to the train station - the Americans thought they knew best, said "See ya" & took off for the platform - whilst I headed to the Reservations desk. They all turned up a few minutes later a little sheepish - and (not for the first or last time on my trip) I uttered the words "You have to trust your Aussie tourist guide - he knows what he's doing!". It is so easy with American tourists around for us Aussies to look good.

Anyhow, caught a slow train from (whatever the small town is) to (another town I just can't remember) where we connected to the fast train (TGV) - which took us to Paris.

Arrived in Paris late evening (around 10pm), having left the Americans behind at that small town to catch a later TGV - there wasn't enough seats for them - I think they had a cheaper ticket or some such. Before I left I did clue them in on the New-Europe tours & that there was one in Paris - and sure enough, the 3 girls were on the tour the next day.

Anyway, late night, get off the train in Gare Du Nuer train station, Paris. Take my luggage to the luggage lockers (past 2 security guards & x-ray machine) and then it was off to find cheap accommodation in Paris.

What a HOLE.

The train station itself had about 30 "rent a cop" security guards around, along with a squad of 4 soldiers (proper army, full gear including automatic weapons & the appearance of happy to use them). As I found out the following day - during daytime, when there are more people, they have 3-4 squads roaming around.

Then, when I finally get out on the streets, you could feel the imminent violence in the air - the whole place just oozed "unsafe". All of my personal alarms were going off. Of the whole trip, Paris was the least fun, most threatening place I journeyed the entire trip.

I did have to giggle however when one of the first places I found was this:



After wandering around for a about an hour & a half, I eventually found a place for about 35 Euro a night (the next cheapest that was available was about 80. Whilst wandering around I did notice an inordinate number of a "not real sexy" bike. I turned out that Paris has a "hire a bike scheme". For short term use a bit too expensive, but if you lived in Paris it is too cheap over a year not to do. This is what one of the bike racks looked like:



All of the bikes have a lights & (I think) a minor power supply (for steep hills). When you got where you were going you just connect the bike up to recharge - if you were going to need it again within a few hours there was also the facility to reserve the bike (for a limited time). I really like the concept - very cool.



So - the next day I set off to find an internet cafe, so that I could find out what the start point & time was for the New Europe Paris tour (since I hadn't planned to be here, I didn't know the details). I knew that I had to be back to the train station about 2pm to ensure I caught the train to Koblenz around 4pm - I did not want to stay in Paris a second night (I never wanted to stay 1 night).

As I wandered around, I found my way down to the River Senne (?) - and on an island in the middle, I found Notre Dame Cathedral - pretty cool. I especially liked all the different gargoyles, really creative & most appeared to have the water run out their mouths or over their heads.
I would have like a quick 10 minute rain shower at that point to show it all working.



Eventually I found a internet point - very different to other cities, found out that I wasn't too far from where I needed to be. I did however stop for breakfast at a



cafe, and whilst eating some cheap crosiants & tea, noticed this advertisement - the French do have problems, however censorship laws are not one of them (oh, every where I looked from the train station when I stepped out was Neon signs advertising "sex". They really don't have the same taboos in this area that their neighbours across the channel instilled in us (Hmm, maybe it would've been interesting if France, rather than England, had colonised our country - downside,
we'd have to worry about what gender each word is - stoopid language to learn if you've never tried.

I found the tour, and wandered around & saw a heap of stuff. Not a lot of worthwhile photos in Paris itself, but here are some:



The Louvre - the pyramid bit that everybody knows is actually just in the very centre of the modern gallery, which was originally the Royal Palace (I think) - either way, a hugh, rambling structure that goes on & on and does look quite cool.




Some gardens - somewhere in Paris - don't really remember too much.






The hotel Normandy - as close as I got too the beaches (this is in Paris).





The girls from the day before. The stayed with this old Parisian guy who the met from a website called couchsurfing. They had a great night up drinking till late with him (and they really enjoyed the tour and thanked me for putting them onto it).




And to finish off, a nice shot of the river - river has been cleaned up in recent years, but the tour guide warned us "Especially you Australians who have a tendency to jump into any body of water you can find" that it is really, really unhealthy to go swimming in the Seine.

Catch you all later (I'm on Facebook now, so feel free to look for me - Simon Hoad (aka Hanbal))

Now back to blogging my trip - Berlin

Berlin was awesome. Just the feel & friendliness on the streets (after Italy which had been very stand-offish).

Also just being in such an important city of recent (modern) history felt really good.

This first photo is of the Brandenberg Tor [s?] (gate). This was the built to be the primary entrance gate into the city of Berlin - and it was here that the Cold War kicked off with the Berlin wall being constructed in front of it (the gate was isolated in the no-mans land for the duration of the cold war. Those cars in front of it are all taxis - and all mercedes (sigh). This view is looking West from what was East Berlin.

This statue on top is very famous - having being placed here, then stolen by Napolean, then returned later.

This is the re-creation of Checkpoint Charlie - the most famous of the Berlin Wall crossing points. The really interesting thing is that they have marked the location of the former wall with a double line of cobblestones around the city.

This is another set of famous buildings in Berlin - it has a wonderful collection of old and made to look old buildings around it. The girl in the foreground is our guide for the day - from New-Europe tours (New-Berlin specifically). She was absolutely brilliant - really knew her stuff. This photo shows her as she was - hands constantly emphasising the information she was providing - part of the reason she was so good was she obviously enjoyed her work & sharing the history of this great city.

This photo was taken from the taxi as I was heading to the train station (to catch a bus to the airport - don't go there). This is the TV tower - built by the East Berlin government to be a land mark of their greatness (similar but smaller version of the one in Moscow). Unfortunately for the East Berlin government (who had banned all signs of religion from being displayed) - when the sun reflects off the dome, it highlights a golden cross (just a natural occurance). Just another fact of Berlin for your information.

I didn't take a lot of photos in Berlin - not sure why. Anyhow - I am back at it & will have some more photos up soon (York, Edinburgh & London coming next).

So then I went to Germany - First stop was Nuremberg

This message was started when I was in Koblenz, but I was interrupted before I finished and never got around to it till now.

For those who've been waiting I'm starting to catch up and will hopefully have some more stuff up soon.

----------------------------------

Hello again. I'm trying to catch up a little before I go to Pennsic tomorrow (yes, tomorrow - it hardly seems true). Okay -

So I'd been to Venice, now I had to go to Nuremberg. Caught a train to historic Verona (keeping eyes out for star-crossed lovers) and changed to a north running train to Munich (running through Austria). Travelling north from Verona I started travelling through mountains that

are the eastern extension of the Alps. With some glorious vistas like this one.

Then from Munich, I changed over to another train that took me to Nuremberg where I was met by Anna & Agilmar. We stowed my gear in a locker at the train station (on to Berlin the next day) and then headed out for a good old fashioned German dinner, via a number of important landmarks (dinner was pork shoulder with potato dumplings, lots of gravy and a very large beer (Anna please provide me with the correct German name for this meal if you could).

Before I went there, all I knew about Nuremberg was that it was the headquarters for the Nazi propaganda machine and that they held the trials there afterwards.

However, it was a very important medieval city, has lots of medieval structures still around including some wonderful fountains (including this one with a nice Pelican, doing what we know best (helping others)).

The next day I went out and looked around the town - starting with the castle at the top of the hill. Its a very impressive structure, with extra walls added in the 15th century to deal with the threat of cannons. The castle (and town) were very important within the empire of Charlemagne and then later through most of the medieval times.

It also hosts the German National Museum which I also attended (and have the book of, and I guarantee has something of interest in it for everybody). The cannon is fairly special because it is a wooden barrel (double click on the picture and have a close up look - there is a steel piece in the mouth of the gun, but this is only a few centremetres deep then it is just wooden barrel. They have a nice collection of armour and weaponry there (not huge but still nice as you can see).

The postcards from Germany (see earlier post) are all from Nuremberg.

I eventually dragged myself away and headed off to the train station, and Berlin (where Swanhild met me at her local train station - very convenient).

More on Berlin soon.

Cheers

Hanbal

Venice - some pictures

Okay guys

Here are some of the pictures of Venice. It was nice, but I didn't fall in love with it or anything.

Now - I didn't take a whole heap of scenic pictures of Venice, because you get those everywhere.

I was more interested in the activities that made up this city and the people.

Firstly a practical matter. That green boat that you can see (middle right) is a garbage boat, collecting the rubbish from the days market.
And then here is one collecting the rubbish from a cruise liner that has come into port (big ship, next picture gives you an idea just how big).

Anyhow. When I turned up, I found my hotel, dumped my gear and then wandered back out to see the people and places of this town.

I soon found this site. These people are dancing in front of and on a large fishing vessel. Picture several of these fishing ships, docked one after the other, each with stereos blasting different music. Around each there is a bunch of young people (est. 16 to 22yrs) with a smattering of older people, dancing to the music and jumping into the lagoon (then getting out, dancing again, drinking and jumping again.

Now the next couple of pictures give you an idea of the construction of this place. It has a really good medieval feel, simply because so much of it is not built on straight lines. The streets (foot paths) are tight, winding and so are the canals. I did get lost on the night that I had arrived, you can't see enough sky to get reference from and there is no sun to guide you.

Unfortunately, the next couple of pictures are as close to the Arsenele as I got - the only part that was open involved a modern art gallery & was too costly to be bothered with - so I circumnavigated the vast area and saw it from the outside. Still pretty impressive (give how much of a premium land was and is, it was very dedicated of them to put so much land aside).

The first picture is the "gateway" into the Arsenele from the Grand Canal. I guess this was used by officials arriving and such (staff maybe).

The other entrance accesses the lagoon on the other side (away from the Grand Canal, with a direct access to the sea from there.

There were towers all along the lagoon side, and where it was butting up to other islands, the canals around it are wide enough to stop you getting to the walls easily, but narrow enough to stop major engines being brough to bear - a real castle surrounded by moat.

Anyhow, that'll do for Venice - except one last picture showing me reflected in a window, just to prove I was there (Of course, with my choices of photographs, its pretty easy to tell that it was me taking them of course).

Milan - the pictorial version

Okay, now Milan was a bit of a wild card for me. Ulisse (Victor) seemed like a really nice guy, but apart from fashion (which funnily enough I'm not really into) I really didn't know much about Milan when planning my itinerary.

Looking it up I found that it has a very well known cathedral (with lots of Gothic work). So I planned to have a look at that.

Now, to be fair, when I arrived I was a little overwhelmed by all the options open to me (offered by Victor). However, I decided that the best option was just to take the map provided, head to the Duomo and take things from there. He told me that there was also a good castle in the centre of Milan, with museams in it - well, that sounded like the day all sorted.

That night (that I arrived), after updating some blogs, offloading pictures from my camera to my memory stick and calling Judith, Victor took me out for dinner. We then went on to a bar he goes to regularly and I got to observe Italian night life.

The next day, I headed off into town.

This view of the Duomo (Cathedral) was the first thing I saw when I stepped out of the train station (Duomo station of course). It is very impressive (but undergoing repairs, so the boards get in the way of the full view.

Here you can see the bronze front doors. These are a 19th century addition, this church was built over a period of 500 odd years (due to varying financing concerns by the "city council") but has then had additional works done over following years (including the doors in the late 19th century (I think thats correct). Just to the left of the guy in the blue hat, you can see a bit of the bronze door with its original "sheen".

And here you can see that whilst it is the leg of one of the figures, it is a convenient hand hold for the tourists and is kept nice & shiny by them.

Okay, so next I went looking for some breakfast. Really looking for something cheap but Italian (however really hoping for somewhere I could get a GOOD cup of tea (a problem in Italy).

Well, I wandered in the big fancy shopping centre that comes of Duomo square, and looking at the price lists, it didn't look like the place for me.

Underneath the big dome, appear to be a central shopping point for those with the cash.


Bernascion on one corner



Prada on the next corner



Louis Vuitton on the 3rd corner.



But have no fear, I'd been wrong before and would be this time - of course there was somewhere to get a reasonble cup of tea.

MCDONALDS!!! (Hey, at least the stock English Breakfast tea as standard all around the world) on the 4th corner. Who knew that they were a major fashion industry icon???? I just about needed a toilet when I took these photos. Unfortunately, at this point Milan lost any credibility it might have had with me as being a major fashion location.

It does however have some other nice stuff.

So, off I went to the Castle. Streets were no where near as chaotic as Rome or Naples (This was a good thing). The castle didn't really hold itself to any good photos (from the right distance there were too many things in the way, and up close doesn't do it justice). I wandered through the various museums contained within - nice stuff including some wonderful paintings which have some detailed clothing on them - will investigate when I return home.

Anyway - eventually got kicked out around 1:30pm (didn't do anything wrong, they just close for an hour at lunch). Decided I could be bothered hanging around, so I wandered off (starting to get hungary at this point and keeping my eye open for a good restaurant.

This is the restaurant that I found. The manager didn't speak English, but grabbed the Chef, who did. He then proceeded to serve me & check on me through the 2 course meal.
It was a simple, wholesome meal from a very simple little restaurant. The frontage is only that little awning, and a very basic menu - and yet, a brilliant meal for a reasonable price.

So then I continued wandering through town, towards the graveyard (which jumped out at me on the map). It seemed very big (and it was).

These are just a few of the family shrines in the yard of this massive graveyard.

Some of these individual (or family) shrines, are far bigger than the some small local churches built in Australia around the same time (1800's).

The graveyard continued on, and on, and on. It was a marvel to view and I was just staggered by the size and creativity that went into some of the structures. The picture on the right (with the shrine undergoing repair) is actually from the Jewish corner (separated from the rest of the graveyard interestingly, however it appears to have survived WWII mostly intact).

Anyhow, after walking through this graveyard for many hours, I made my way back to Victor's. This last photo is my favourite piece from this garden - not for the actual artwork but just the work that went into this single shrine - dedicated to one person or family (the door at the bottom is at least 6ft high).

And that my friends, is Milan.

Hopefully I'll be able to cover more in the next couple of days.