Lair of the Cave Penguin

The Catch-22 with writing a travel blog is that, when you're busy doing interesting things, you're busy doing interesting things and hence not updating the blog. The only time you have time to sit and write is when you have nothing to write about (''Phew, that's some catch-22'')

Halong Bay was stunning and I think just the pure fact I escaped what was rapidly become my least favorite city ever would have made anything look good. So imagine the bonus that Halong actually deserves it's World Heritage listing... the caves were gorgeous, the lunch superb and the bus ride long and tiring but totally worth it.

One of the caves was only recently discovered. UNESCO have donated the funds to light it up and place paths through it for tourists. They also (I suspect) supplied a number of rubbish bins - although why they thought it would be appropriate to place penguins and dolphins inside a cave, I'm not sure. But I managed to get a photo of the wily Cave Penguin, standing under a stalagmite with his mouth open, hoping for food to fall in...

I finally managed to get to Ho Chi Minh city (the locals call it Saigon, for reasons I'll expand on in a moment) and again, it compared highly with Hanoi. If anyone else has ever been to the 'Capital of the North' and actually enjoyed it enough to want to go back and stay there for a week, please let me know!

Anyway, Saigon is only slightly less chaotic but a bit more westernised. Went on a tour of the Chu Chi tunnels (along with what seemed like every other tourist in HCM that day) and had an amazingly crazy, complex and controversial tour guide named Joey. In the first twenty minutes, he managed to insult North Vietnam (they are all crazy and come here and take our jobs but they aren't smart), homosexuals ($20 bills try to hit on my all the time, I say no, is not good), American tourists and a range of others. He was also all for capitalism, which was an interesting contrast with the movie we were shown at Chu Chi - designed in the 70's, it talked about the 'crazy American devils who shot woman, children, trees, rocks, water, even bamboo pots' and the 'intelligent and courageous Chu Chi inhabitants who hunt Americans'.

The tunnels are impressive just as a demonstration of how people are willing to live in order to defend their homeland. Something to be said for nationalistic fervour I guess, which the communists seem to have been adept at whipping up...

It was the Northerners who, after defeating the South/USA in the Vietnam War, moved the capital to Hanoi and renamed Saigon as Ho Chi Minh, in memory of their leader who always wanted to go there but died before he had the chance. Needless to say, people in HCM don't necessarily agree with this and so the locals still call it Saigon. We'll see which one wins, but HCM seems to be on most international maps, which I think is a pity because Saigon is a beautiful name for a city.

It's a pity I was only in Saigon for the day. Caught a bus to Phnom Penh, after having nightmares about the lack of visa in my passport... but again, google triumphs against the forces of books and I was able to get a visa on arrival at the land border. Can highly reccomend the bus - gorgeous rice fields, stretching out either side of the road, water buffelo being herded across the bridge and a ferry crossing on the mighty Mekong.

The next few weeks will be involved with the RiverKids project - orientation tommorrow so hopefully all goes well!

Hello Hanoi

Day 3

Theme song: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...

If you've ever had a panic attack, you'll dread the sensation of even feeling slightly stressed. The tightness in your chest, the inability to think coherantly, the desire to run into open space away from people - being unable to remember a four-digit code you used sucessfully two days earlier.

I still can't remember my pin and thinking about it just makes me start to panic a little so instead I'm living off my credit card and cash reserves. Successfully so far! Thank god for signature technology - once that dissapears, they'd better replace it with fingerprint/eyeball recognition or else I'm screwed.

So it was probably a good thing that I spent two hours in a Chinese tea house in Singapore, drinking tea and eating mooncakes. Tea solves all problems.

Day 4

Hanoi is a crazy city, true, but I think once you've been to Egypt any other cities attempts at being loud, chaotic, overwhelming and chauvanistic just pale in comparison. In fact, people here will actually take 'no' for an answer and be satisfied with a chance to practice their english instead. It's quite nice, once you actually stop looking at maps upside down and walking into traffic...

Went to a water puppet show last night - brilliant. Look it up on YouTube. Best thing I've seen in ages, much better than Transformers 3 (which I saw on the plane... would have considered it a waste of a few hours except that I couldn't really have utilised it any other way).

Off to Halong Bay tommorrow! YAY!

On the road again

Day 1:

Theme Song - Barber's Son (Jack London)

Stepped out of my house and straight into East Berlin - the driver ran over gutters, brushed side mirrors and made various illegal and life-threatening moves in an attempt to get me to my bus 2 minutes earlier than it would have otherwise taken. Dissapointingly (or perhaps for the best) the bus driver seemed aware of Australian road rules and was bent on sticking to them. Would have enjoyed travelling across several lanes of traffic inside the tunnel at Sydney airport...

A quick flight with Sci-Fi movies, a born-again Christian who believes the moon landing was a conspiracy and a woman who left her 18 and 19 year old children alone for three weeks, truly believing her alcohol cabinet will still be full when she returns (thank god for duty free) and I landed in what is my favorite airport in the world - Changi.

Day 2:

Theme Song - Backstreet's Back (Backstreet Boys)

Had forgotten that Singaporean stores seem to have a neverending love affair with boy bands, particularly the Backstreet Boys. Walked for four hours along Orchard Road, through Centrepoint, Paragon, OC, Ngee Ann City, Wisma Atria and Ion Orchard and I swear I heard their entire back albums as well as some supiciously new stuff.

Had also forgotten my pin number for my ATM card. I took that as a sign to go home, shower and regroup before meeting up with some friends and hitting the Quays. I'm sure my pin will come to me after a few drinks...

New Blog

Hello peoples,

My new blog is 'clear as mud' at http://mudpuddle-net.blogspot.com/ I'll leave this one up for any travel-ly stuff I might do in the future.

While the Egyptians were building the pyramid, look what was happening in the UK...

Finally got out of London for a day (and paid through the teeth to do so) - we went to Sailsbury Cathedral and Stonehenge.

The Cathedral is gorgeous and, of course, has a great story attached. It was originally built ontop of a hill called Old Sarum but unfortunatly, the army had already baggsied the best bit with water and shelter and a view so the clergy had to constantly negotiate with the army. This didn't go down well, particularly when the army archers used the cathedral windows for archery practice.

So, the Bishop wrote to the Pope and asked to move it. They picked a plum spot by the River Avon in Sailsbury and all was smashingly good fun until, surprise surprise, they started to have disagreements with the wicked townspeople. So they dismantled their old cathedral and used the bricks to build a big wall around their cathedral so no-one could come in.... seems a little un-christian but hey, it's their call.

It's beautiful as you can see (well, beyond the trees anyway):
After wandering around Sailsbury, we caught a bus out to the plains, where the gorgeous stonehenge still stands. Actually, the whole area is full of archeological intrigue, with multiple barrows and stone circles. The whole area is basically chalk (it used to be ocean) and so the stones used for both stonehenge and general building tend to come for other areas. For example, Wales.

Stonehenge began life as a ditch (or hedge) - they can date it to around 950BCE because they dug it using antlers and they were left in the ditch. Basically this means that while the Egyptians were building pyramids, the native Brits were digging a ditch. Kind of puts a different perspective on the whole thing...

OOOh and the best bit... it snowed in London! Finally!!! I caught this momentous occasion on camera. It is a little bit long so apologies... but i must admit I was a little bit excited.

Scots Trip Pt Four

Alrighty, so we last left our intrepid adventurers on the banks of Loch Ness...

We'd already paid for a cruise on loch ness and so, after consuming a few £1 specials at the bar, we wandered down and jumped onboard. The cruise was run by a 'marine biologist' and had I been more sober (or more drunk) I may have questioned that a little more. And it was also an occasion that a physics guru would have been handy.

It's a very pretty lake, but the highlight was the equipment downstairs - two screens, one mapping the layout of the lake (so effectively showing it as if there was no water in it) and the other showing objects directly below the boat. He says that the first was a live feed but I sorely disputed that point, particularly after I saw them select their route, feed it into the program and then let the program run... but I was a little preoccupied with my Scrumpy Jack.

Anyway, it was a bit crap. He tried to show us photos of Nessie, sonar screens proving there were more than one - they think there are 18 of them in the lake and they're just as intelligent as us which is why they haven't been caught - and they bury their dead, which is why they never wash up on the shore. Hmmm. And I suppose the reason no photos ever work clearly is because they transmit undectable radiation that interferes with the focusing element in both film and digital cameras. Makes perfect sense now.

The remainder of the night consisted of getting very pissed, dancing around a bit, swimming in Loch Ness and stealing a witches hat to put ontop of the tour bus.

The trip home to Edinburgh was, not surprisingly, pretty quiet. We visited a pretty cool garden that was basically planted using a cannon - the guy who owned the land just shot a selection of seeds into the area and so there is a huge variety of plants all living together.

Back to Edinburgh, a bus back to Glasgow and Michelle (my cousin) was on a bus down to London by 10:30pm. A pretty full on six days really, and I've forgotten bits and pieces I'm sure.
Sorry about the lack of photos, it's a bit hard because my wireless is no longer working and I can't seem to fix it (D'oh).

Scottish Trip continued (or Part Three)

After washing our faces in the water of the wee people (that sounds really, really bad), we ended up at Fort Augustus, one of three major Forts the British built to keep law and order in the Highlands. It doesn't actually exist in any real sense now but there are a few pubs and a pretty good hostel (even if the staffing needs a bit of help).

Oh, and I almost forgot the distillery tour. Visited Glen Ord. It was very good.

The next day was spent doing Ness stuff, visiting Urquardt castle - well, not really visiting it because they charge exhorbinant amounts to look at the ruins and they've purposely planted trees along the roadside so in a few years time people won't even be able to see it from the road and will definatly have to pay for the privilege.. so of course we did the honorable thing and stole a tree. It's now living in the hostel's garden, rather than being used by a corporation to deprive people of their hard earned cash and much happier.

We drove down to Culloden battlefield - now this will take a little bit of historical background to appreciate so I'll try not to make it too painful...
There have been many periods in history where more than one person can lay claim to the royal throne. Bonnie Prince Charlie (who you may have heard of) and his father James were of the Stuart line and had a lot of support from the scottish highlands (I think partly because they were descended from Mary, Queen of Scots and her son James I/VI).
Their supporters, the Jacobites, consisted mainly of highland clans like the McDonalds, the Camerons and the Frasers.
Bonnie Prince Charlie (so called because he dressed like a fashionable frenchmen, ie. a girl) grew up in France and eventually decided to press his claim on the throne, with the help of a French army. He landed in Scotland and drummed up a lot of support while he waited for the French to arrive.
They got a bit sick of waiting and marched all the way from the central highlands to within striking distance of London - the English king was already in a boat on the Thames, ready to abandon his city if the army invaded. But because the French hadn't turned up (and Charlie didn't know the King was about to flee), the Scottish generals argued that they should fight the big battle on familiar ground so Charlie and his army marched all the way back up to Culloden.
They thought they'd made pretty good time so they thought they'd have time to recuperate, feed properly, rest and wait for the French.
The English army turned up two days later.
The French troops had tried multiple times to cross the Channel but the winds stopped them and eventually they'd given up.
It was a complete massacre - the English slaughtered Charlies army, who had been marching for months and were tired, hungry and unprepared.
But the worst was yet to come. At this period in history, it was normal for the women and children to watch and come onto the battlefield once the fight was over and tend to the wounded - but the English slaughtered those women and children watching. They killed anyone wounded and they chased anyone who ran for help.

As a result, many basic Scottish customs were banned : playing bagpipes, wearing kilts, speaking Gaelic. And much of the highlanders land was given to wealthy landowners who made more money from sheep and cattle than renting it back to the highlanders and so they were moved on - many ended up in Canada, Australia, New Zealand...

It's all pretty tragic. It was the last major land battle on British soil. And a pretty moving place to visit.

Then we wandered back to Fort Augustus and went on a cruise of Loch Ness... that's a differently paced story so I'll leave it for the next post....

Part Two

Ok, I'm doing this of memory now since I've forgotten my notebook...

So, Day Two. Started in Oban, we began our trek up the Great Glen, which is a huge valley with four substantial lochs in it (the most famous being the northernmost Loch Ness). We stopped in a small town to get lunch and then had a picnic at my favorite loch, Loch Garry (ok, it's not spelt that way but thats how it sounds :o)

I kissed a dirty old bagpiper on the cheek.

Then we wandered over to Skye, crossing the road bridge that caused soooo much angst. I can't quite remember how much it was to cross but it was an outrageous amount for people who had to work and live on either side of the bridge - but the Scots had a cunning plan.
- You could cross the bridge for free if you were transporting livestock. So people used to chase down sheep (the sheep wander pretty freely around here, they mark them with paint to keep track of whose is whose), chuck one in the back of the car and then point to it as they sped across the bridge, depositing said sheep on the otherside for someone else to pick up and take back home.

Anyway, Skye was gorgeous. Lots of munroes and bens and general star-like quality. We saw a few blackhouses (the traditional house of the Highlanders, basically a thatched roof cottage) and the grave of Fiona McDonald, who saved Bonnie Prince Charlie after one of the most disasterous and horrific fights between England and Scotland which basicallly led to the ethnic cleansing of the Scottish highlands (more on that later, it's actually pretty sad and we visited Culloden battlefield towards the end of the trip).

Slept in a gorgeous hostel on the edge of the ocean but no sunsets/sunrises (would it surprise anyone to know that Skye is Gaelic for misty/cloudy?)

The next day we wandered through Skye for a while and washed our faces in a river supposed to have been magicked by the 'wee people' (if you've never heard of the wee people, they are basically just like us, same likes/dislikes/prejudices/weaknesses/strengths except about three feet tall. And with magic powers. Some are good, some are bad, some I guess are just indifferent as long as they get what they want.)
Anyway, this river apparently makes you beautiful. Since I can't post photos, you'll just have to take my word that it worked and I am now a ravishing beauty with Scottish men falling at my feet :o) It's next to a pub and a steep-ish hill - story goes that one evening two guys were having a pint and one dared the other to run up the hill and back in under an hour. He did it in 59 minutes. Now it's a big charity event - the record is 48 minutes! Pretty damn impressive really.

Stay tuned for the next thrilling installment (i'm writing this for my fathers benefit more than anything else so he'd better be reading this!!!!)

Haggis Tour (part one)

Ok, only have fifteen minutes to descibe six days of Scotland... hmmm... will see how we go...

First of, for those who don't know, Glasgow and Edinburgh are in the central belt of Scotland (the lowlands) while everything north of the mountain range is called the Highlands (the majority of Scotland's land area but minority of population). Don't know why I think that's an important fact to know but meh. Now you've learnt something.

We left Glasgow and caught the train to Edinburgh (which leaves from Queen St, not Central as I assumed, resulting in an impromptu tour of Glasgows pubic transport system for my cousin Michelle) and wandered up to the line of big yellow buses denoting our touring company.

Jumping on the bus, we got a quick intro to Edinburgh (basically it's all world heritage listed, like most of Europe, and they use to drown and burn witches. A lot.) and then we went to the William Wallace memorial.

Now here is my dilemma. Do I drown this whole post with a pile of historical intrigue, drama and fact or just do dot points? Lets go for the compromise...
1. William Wallace memorial - has a god-awful statue of Mel Gibson as Wallace. Commemorates the Battle of Stirling Bridge where the Scots used the brilliant tactic of enticing the heavily armoured, horse-riding English across the old wooden Stirling bridge and then hacked the bridge apart, sending said English scum to their deaths. Wallace was made Defender of Scotland, a big deal for a commoner. Oh, and he was from the area around Glasgow (which means he never wore a kilt) and the blue paint from Braveheart was used about 600 years before the Wars of Independance. And the French queen he gets it on with in the movie was actually about 6 years old at the time. And Braveheart doesn't actually refer to Wallace, it's a reference to Robert D'Bruce (he'll pop up later).
2. Doune Castle. "Your mother was a hamster and your father smells like elderberries". I couldn't find the Grail, bloody lying French bastards.
3. Glencoe. Sight of the infamous slaughter of the McDonalds - the Campbells signed a treaty with the English so the king got them to kill all the McDonalds because they were late in following the kings orders... The Campbells pretended to be their friends, took advantage of their hospitality and then killed every man, woman and child in the village. To this day, the Glencoe pub doesn't allow anyone named Campbell to stay there. An American guy tried to sue them because they refused to let him stay... the pub won.
4. Oban - a seaside town on the East coast, saw Dunollie Castle. Not much else.

Ok - that took a wee bit longer than expected. Will write another post soon... with photos!!!

Mitchell Library Blues

I've joined the library, I'm known by face at the pub across the river from work and I have a bank card - I guess I'm now an official alien.

My birthday was pretty uneventful, except for calls from Saurabh n Mum, but the weeked should be great - am heading to London to have a BBQ with a few randoms and then we're going to see 'Wicked --the musical' at the theatre. Exciting! I'm looking forward to it anyway... and it's only costing me 35 punds return which is pretty damn good.

Apart from that, life has settled down although nowhere near what I'd call 'normal'. Then again, I don't seem to do 'normal' anyway so not sure why I'd expect anything different. Missing people, hope veryone is well.

Oh, and as you can tell, I was nowhere near Glasgow airport but a cool story - the guy who crash tackled the terrorist has become a bit of a national hero and a campaign was set up to donate money towards 1000 free pints at his local. It's already hit that and people are still donating, I don't think he'll ever have to pay for a drink again.

Love this country.

Life at the GSC

Ok, well I have found a place to live and it may be old and smell of strange people but it's now my home (sigh). Finally got my work uniform today so feel like an actual staff member now but they still don't have my bank account details or anything else so I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to get paid....

Workwise, it's pretty similar to Q except they've instigated a 'learning module' policy which means I have to prove I can do everything I've been doing for the past three years. It's a bit like being sent back to square one, which I guess is what happens when you're starting a new job anywhere. Hopefully I'll get to do a bit of Outreach work as well which would be really nice.

Umm, what else? I'm off to do a tour of the Highlands on Sunday which should be nice. And the IMAX theatre at work is showing Harry Potter in 3D so I'll get free tickets if anyone wants them (yes, I've resorted to bribing people to be friends with me :o)

I'm also on Facebook but there isn't much I can do with that until I get broadband connected in my place. It's a-coming.

Later peoples, the library shuts soon and I'll be kicked out :o( Love you long time

Crazy times...

Well, still havent found a place to live. Maybe I'm being too picky - all I really want is a place with internet, a front entrance that locks and is clean. Preferably with a window. Apparently, those places are few and far between... maybe I'll up my ante a little, which may involve getting a bar job as well.

As a result, I don't really have anything interesting to write. I've been too busy trying to find a bed - and haven't been sleeping very well lately. But at least I have a job. I start on Monday, which should be good - will be nice to meet some people.

Once I find a place, rest assured the whole world will know about it.

Classy Glasgow

Man, trying to think of titles for these things is hard.... normally I leave the subject heading blank so that the bulk of the email/post/thing is like a secret and then you read it and wham, your hit by the stunning simplicity and wittyness of my writing.

Can you tell I'm drinking at the moment?

Actually, just had my first Fosters. Apparently its ok to drink overseas - although I never really saw it in any bars back home so never had a chance to try it before. It's a girly beer, which is ok since I'm a girl.

Been wandering around Glasgow and it's an interesting place - one street looks gorgeous and then you turn a corner and there are gangs of 12 year old boys running madly down the road, down another street and there is a 5 minute parade of taxies decorated with balloons and then you hit the main shopping drag... actually, it's starting to grow on me, people seem much friendlier here than London and then there's the accent (the girls will know what I mean :o)
However, it is summer (apparently) and I dont think i'll ever be taking off a jumper...

I've been offered a contract at the science centre here doing gallery/outreach stuff - just waiting for an email so have been ringing people to look at flats... got a few to check tonight. Hopefuly I can find something before the weekend - then I'm planning to head off to Edinburgh to visit a friend I met while travelling. Back to London in a few weeks to celebrate my official disqualification from youth discounts (26 is apparently too old. 25 is still a youth in Europe... goodbye free museum entries and cheap transport) and then THE festival is on in August. YAY.

Missing everyone. Will have Skype up and running next week so I'll set up a lottery and ring people at random times, pretending I have no idea what the time is back home (he he he) - maybe I'll start with Ally who is probably up all night with Thomas anyway (hope it's all going well, send me photos!)

Choos.

Paris and beyond

Well, after loving Barcelona I wasn't sure what I'd think of Paris... two very different cities in a lot of ways (well thats what I would have assumed anyway, yet to really decide if thats true or not, to some extent - in the words of Paul Kelly - 'every fucking city's just the same')

But I had one of those great moments when you realise where you are and how bloody cool it is that I am able to do what I'm doing... just sitting in a train station, having a coffee and a croissant and watching the destination board clacking through all these places... not sure why, was very happy about being there at that point. And I love the old fashioned traintable, the ones that clack as they rotate around... they're much more satisfying for some reason than electronic lights or voices.

Met a wonderful woman yesterday at Notre Dame - she's a volunteer explainer there and after the others all left, she asked if I wanted to see another church she'd talked about so I said sure. Then she showed me a whole heap of cool things, like the hotel that Mozart stayed in and the oldest house in Paris. And she showed me how to find the most famous ice-cream store in Paris. Hooray!

Then I had one of the best dinners I've had in Europe in a cafe by the side of the road. I will try to reserve judgement on Parisian food until I've had a few more meals (maybe it was a fluke) but its damn promising :o)

So I guess to sum up, am enjoying Paris. Even though its raining (just like in the Hunter Valley, although not so many emergency beer drops here), its still pretty nice. Tonight I get free entry to the Louvre and then I think I'll jump on a night boat and then head out to the bars in the Latin Quarter, which I found yesterday and is a cool little maze of cafes, turkish/italian restaurants and bookstores. Reading 'Canidide' because I figured I should read something vaguely relevant to the country... it's actually quite funny (still think Voltaire was a grade-A dickhead but anyway...)

Love you long time

Big Ships and Briliant Houses

I may be showing my ignorance here, but I'd never actually heard of Antoni Gaudi until I got to Barcelona... I've been missing out! He designed some of the coolest buildings I've ever seen along with a church (The Sacrada Familia) that he worked on for 45 years designing and will still take another 25 years to finish building.

The Picasso museum was pretty cool too. I really like Barcelona, its lovely and warm and it has a great vibe, full of energy and enthusiasm. Las Ramblas is the main drag and is an icon in itself, loaded with human statues, capoeria demonstrations, pet/flower stalls, magicians, cafes... its a pretty cool pedestrian area and its nice to sit and watch people enjoying the company of others.

I head off to Paris tonight on an overnight train, which will be nice since I got kicked out of bed at 4am... long story and not entirely suitable for small children.

Anyway, hooray for the Maths-ys who are back in Canberra along with the Smovers I assume... hope you guys had a good tour, and farewell to Rich who will no doubt be working in the galleries when I eventually come back, a wise and wizened woman.

Spanish is just like Italian (in the same way that chicken is just like beef)

I've left the green fields of Germany and arrived in a balmy, coastal metropolis. First impressions of Barcelona are that its easy to get around. Thats about all I've done, only just arrived at the hostel since leaving Frankfurt at 5am (!!!).

Germany was fantastic. Beer, sausages, good mates... what more could a girl want? And just in case anyone is interested in seeing the Heidelburg Castle (with the worlds biggest wine vat but more on that later), I'm sure Torsten would love to walk you up there. Again. Then he can take you to the chocolate museum :o)

Dusseseldorf was pretty nice. They have some amazing buildings, the area around the harbour is gorgeous. They are also known (according to my guide book) for having the worlds longest pub strip. There are a LOT of pubs in Dusseldorf, and thats saying something for a nation that has built a reputation around breweries. I even went up the TV tower, which overlooks the city - pretty scary because the windows lean out and apparently you can lie on them (hence lying on glass about 160m in the air)... which I didnt do because I have a healthy fear of falling 160m.

We visited the Cologne Cathedral which was stunning, and finally made it up the 560 odd steps to the top of the tower - on the way down there were kids about 3 years old literally climbing and crawling their way up the tower, dragging their parents behind them. No-wonder Germans are so bloody tough if thats what their kids can do...

Then we visited the Neanderthal museum and discovered that fathers are the same all around the world - they all know everything already and like to show off just all the things they know. Elly's, Torsten's and my own dear father all knew about the Neander river (we didnt) and that the original Neanderthal discovery was in West Germany (I didnt) and so on and so on. But it was a pretty nice little museum and although the actually caves and area where the fossils were found has been destroyed by limestone-mining, they have a park which commemorates the area. They've also bred cattle and horses to look 'authentically' stone aged but we couldnt find them despite numerous attempts. I think the photos were staged, they just put extra fur around the horses.


Then onto the Rhine Valley, one of the more beautiful parts of the world and a large reason that the Germanic tribes managed to avoid too many Romans living in their part of the world (the other reasons being the Black Forest and the tribes themselves who were famously vicious and skilled fighters..... and now they have kids that can climb bell towers faster than tourists.)

Koblenz was gorgeous and I got to see a medieval festival (Historenspiel) in the old fortress which was entertaining (better than the museum anyway) - and I had a glass of ye olde cherry beer (Kirsh? I think thats what it was called) which was pretty nice.

Then onto the Loreley cliffs, which has a legend similar to that of the greek Sirens. It was stunning as well, and full of grey nomads. On Friday, we caught a ferry unaware that it was half price seniors day so we had to battle old ladies with bricks in their handbags and old men with their sticks and knee socks.... but it was worth it.

Heidelburg was really nice - great for shopping and the castle is pretty cool. And they have a HUGE wine vat, that was used to collect taxes... so everyone put their wine in the same vat... white, red, sparkling... mmmm, nice. Then, to make sure they could collect taxes the next year, they would have to drink it all and the townspeople would come and help. At least you'd get some benefit out of paying taxes.

Long blog - sorry i havent been writing but its been hard without a computer. Bill Gates hasn't worked THAT one out yet. Good for nothing.

Frankfurt, Elly and Sex on the Beach

Now I bet people are reading my blog!!

To start with a more somber topic, I visited the site of the Gestapo yesterday - there is a big open air gallery/museum which describes what the area was like from the 1910s onwards. There are some pretty confronting photos of political prisoners being shot and public hangings that the Nazi party put on to disuade any opposition. They were big on arresting anyone who disparaged the regime on the charges of 'personal safety' and undermining military strength. Germany's greatest piano player was executed for making comments at a dinner party after his mothers childhood friend informed the Ministry of Music (who did nothing) and then the Gestapo (who did a lot). There were also items about the failed assignation attempts, the proposed coups and a section about the Berlin wall.
Elly said something last night that I'd read in the guidebook - the wall still exists in German heads. There is still a gap between East and West Germany - housing is more expensive, the standard of living is apparently higher and there is more economic investment in West Germany. Its cheaper to live in Berlin than Frankfurt.

For people who dont know, Elly was my best mate in S'pore who I havent seen since 2003. So finally met at the train station yesterday and we went and had cocktails. On the menu, Sex on the Beach had 'secret of the barman' underneath rather than ingredients... so when we were paying, the waiter came to pick up a SOTB, looked at it and asked what it was. The bartender said its a SOTB, to which the waiter replied 'it doesnt look like one' and the bartender basically said the menu means he can make whatever he wants and call it Sex on the Beach. (of course, this was all in German so Elly was laughing and i had no idea why).

Anyway, there isnt much to do in Frankfurt apart from shop, so thats my plan. We´re heading to Düsseldorf tommorrow (which was rated the most livable city in Germany and 5th in Europe) to meet up with Torsten, my other good mate from 2003. YAY!!!

All Alone in Big, Bad Berlin

As JFK once famously said "Ich bein ein Berliner" (which actually means I am a jelly donut, known as a Berliner... what he should have said was Ich bein Berliner... but hey, its the sentiment that counts...)

I managed to score a lift to Berlin (thank you Mark, the best tour leader EVER) and am joining the Topdeck mob for a pub crawl later tonight. Until then, I have been entertaining myself on Museum island, which is an island in East Berlin full of elephants (I wish... Well, that would be pretty damn cool).
I saw the Pergamon which, for those history buffs out there, is home to the Pergamon altar and the Ishtar gate, two pretty huge finds in archeology. They have both been reconstructed in the museum to give some idea of how imposing they must have been originally and they are pretty damn impressive. Especially the Ishtar gate, which was built by King Nebachanezza in Babylon.
I wandered around the Ancient History museum and the Egyptian museum as well, which is home to THE statue of Neferiti that pretty much everyone would have seen on a poster/book/postcard/hairy mans arm... and for something thats had no restoration work, it looks amazingly new.

This afternoon is reserved for the task of tackling the bits of Berlin that caused so much pain and anguish around the world. I visited the Eastside Gallery yesterday, which is a section of the Berlin Wall that was painted just before it was torn down in 1988 (i think it was 88, feel free to correct me) and we drove past Checkpoint Charlie, which was one of the more notorious checkpoints between East and West Berlin - Im heading back for a closer inspection today. There is also a brand new memorial to the holocoust victims in Berlin. Its a whole garden of gray, tomb-like slabs in varying heights and sizes, designed to confuse and overwhelm people and perhaps gain a perspective of something that seems so impossible. I cant write too much because I havent been there quite yet but it will be different after visiting Austwizch on Sunday.

Krakow

Krakow is in southern Poland, the second largest city in the country. I'd never heard of it before this trip so I assume the majority of my avid audience hasn't either.

The story goes that a Dragon once lived on the hill here, along with a man named Mr Krak. They got along swimmingly and eventually the people built a castle on the hill that they lived on and named the city after Mr Krak.... as you do.


Again, a very pretty city. Today I took a trip out to the UNESCO protected Salt Mines - 20 euros to get in (ouch) but I think it was worth it. We had a guide take us around for 1.5 hours, walking about 2km and down 135m underground. I think my favorite cavern was the Chapel, which 3 men carved out of the salt rock over a 68 year period. It was pretty amazing - everything was made out of salt. The chandeliers, the baby Jesus, the altar, the floor tiles... and around the edges were a series of carvings depicting different scenes, like the Last Supper or the Slaughter of the Innocents (which seems to be a popular theme but I don't recall learning about it in R.E.... maybe someone can help me out?)

The whole thing was carved from salt, which is different colours depending on how pure it is and what it's mixed with. So iron rich salt is a deep red, while the majority of salt in Krakow is a marbled grey. It was pretty impressive.

The other picture is of Princess Kinder, who is credited with creating the salt mine by moving it underground from Hungary to Poland with her engagement ring... don't ask, it didnt make much sense to me either. But they were cool statues and, again, made out of salt.


I also wandered around the Cloth Markets, which is an old undercover marketplace thats smack in the middle of Krakow. Apart from that, it's just been wandering around the city. Had half a bottle of Polish wodka last night so I think the walk outside was needed.

Well, I'm now in gorgeous, hot Budapest. It's a really pretty city, and we're staying in a hostel just down the road from the markets which has been handy...

We left Vienna yesterday - this photo is actually from the Butterfly House in Vienna which was a part of the Imperial Palace.

We got to Budapest in the afternoon and spent it trying to avoid roadworks. Unsuccessfully. Eventually, we made it to the Citadella and Buda Castle, which are both in the hills.

Just a quick point - Budapest was originally three seperate cities: Buda, on the hilly side of the Danube, Pest on the flat and fertile side and Obuda, the old Roman settlement.

The photos below are from a spot called the Fishermans Bastion, which was the part of the city wall that the Fishermans Guild were responsible for. And its the only bit still looking good, so all I can say is I'm going to give Fishermen a wider berth from now on.

Below is the Pork Snitzel we had for dinner. I ate just over a half of it and 7 people managed to finish it. Then today I had a liver sausage, which was really nice. Tonight, I'm having GOULASH! (Yay, love goulash... if its what i think it is...)