Travel Location: Venice,Italy

Travel About: architecture,food-&-wine,art-&-museum,shopping,romantic

By the time we arrived in Venice, we were starting to feel more like wilted flowers in mid summer than the spring chickens we are. Jet lag plus a packed schedule of almost every waking hour was starting to catch up. Venice was still magical when we came out of the station though. A gondola idled up the Grand Canal opposite us, vaporetti coming and going – ahhhh it is good to be here.

The vaporetto ride was a wake up call in itself. The driver was positively savage with his use of the gear box and each stop on the journey was occasioned not only with near whip lash when he slammed the boat into reverse on the approach to the stop, but side to side whip lash as we career into the boat stop buffers. Not ideal for those feeling tender from jet lag, over eating, long train journeys and lack of sleep and we had to endure about 6 of these before our stop finally appeared.

What I haven’t mentioned is that it is stinking hot here. About 30 degrees C. After meandering aimlessly through a beautiful park, I ran out of any self respect and asked someone in Italian for our street. The vague instructions given were a general direction that did prove fruitful in the end. Finding the apartment was great though. It is just perfect for us (see the picture).

Then, no rest for us though, it was off to Murano, to meet with one of our suppliers. We dressed up in non “touristy” clothes and tried to look as professional as possible and headed for Murano. We didn’t realise that it is a reasonably big place and there are about 4 vaporetto stops. We had no idea which one to get so took the first one and were herded down to watch some glass blowing. The furnace is just what you need on a day like this!!! Finally we tracked down our supplier and find that she is not there and is not intending to be there. Oh well, it was good to find the supplier and see that they do in fact manufacture jewellery. There are many fakes, even in Venice, with look alikes made in China selling for very low prices.

Staggered back onto the vaporetto, went to dinner in zombie like state (Kathy doesn’t even remember this!) and then collapsed into bed.

Venice Day 5 20 May 2009

The tradition commences; firstly a caffé espresso made at home to kick start the day; then a meander down to a local café for a caffé latte and a “cornetto” (pastry filled with creamy chocolate). Ahh…. Now we are ready for the day.

Today is a day for visiting mask suppliers and we head across to Giudecca, one of the islands to find our supplier. We are entranced to see so many masks that are not on the web site and place a large order! Our host takes us out to lunch at her favourite local pasta restaurant and we eat right on the edge of the canal in lovely 30 degree temperatures and have the local cuisine of cuttle fish, calamari (sea food dishes galore). Great experience and lovely to meet the people we deal with over the internet.

The next supplier is on the main island and we find a completely different experience. This is artistic chaos, with masks stacked in shelves leaning at dangerous angles, piles here and there, but lovely people, who were so warm to us. The heat was starting to get to us and I look at the idle air conditioning units longingly. We return home finding that some vaporetto drivers are in fact sane and navigate with a degree of precision and skill that delivers a smooth experience to docking the boat.

The thing we notice about Venice on this trip is that it is full of Italians! This may sound a surprising conclusion, but if you just visit St Marks Square and the main tourist spots, you will come away with the impression that Venice is over-run with tourists of every possible variety. However, we are staying away from the main tourist area and find an abundance of locals who live here. It is so nice.

The highlight of the day is that we decide at the last minute to “eat in” and arrive to find the supermarket just closing, but there is one next door still open. We rush around to find essential supplies, including wine, cheese etc and are at the check out to pay and realise that we don’t have any money on us right now. AHHH!! Kathy explains our dilemma to the proprietor, who suggests we pay tomorrow!!! He looks at our faces with jaws dropping and confirms his offer. Wow!! We are amazed at his trusting of us and walk up the street with our bags of groceries vowing to repay his trust first thing tomorrow. That would never happen in NZ!!

Venice Day 6 21 May 2009

The morning ritual starts today with a difference. EVERYONE in Venice offers a greeting. All through the day you hear “Ciao!” ringing out, often sounding like a cat “meow” from some of the women! It is a lovely aspect of local life and embodies friendship and an atmosphere of comradeship, which is very appealing. Anyway, I like to join in this ritual as well and as we exit our apartment, our neighbours are also leaving and I offer a jovial “Buon giorno” and get a response under breath of “guten morgen”. My instant feeling of offence at this lack of cultural awareness brings to mind that there must be an Italian version of “I think I’m turning Japanese – I really think so”! (hope someone remembers this song!). This was reinforced to me by the fact that the next morning I awoke to the refrain “La prossima fermata e’… Zattere” followed by “The nexta stoppa is … Zattere”. Too many trips on the vaporetti!!

Our relentless schedule continues today with a visit to another supplier we are highly suspicious of. His goods usually arrive at our place reeking of smoke, so we are expecting a heavy smoker. We seem to be always on the vaporetti and this time we get on one with our destination to meet Roberto, but while we are sitting there, we realise that there are like 20 stops and a lot of time; in fact, so much time that we are likely to miss our appointment with Roberto, who has agreed to meet us in Venice, before we travel with him by bus to his mask laboratory. Thank goodness for an Italian cell phone number that we purchased effortlessly the day before (just need to produce your passport). We ring Roberto and detect slight irritation. He only speaks Italian and is waiting for us at the bus station in over 30 degree heat.

We greet Roberto apologetically after over an hour on the vaporetto (you just don’t realise how big Venice is). He is lovely, which is great, as the night before Kathy was wondering if he was an axe murderer as he specified exact times for our meeting via text. Maybe we were going to be kidnapped?? But no, Roberto was just lovely and our being late meant we missed a direct bus and had to make a connection. He and Kathy had much lively conversation in Italian while I understood snippets. The temperature continued to rise as well and now is consistently over 30 degrees every day. We finally arrive at Roberto’s offices and find a surprising neat and tidy operation and his lovely wife. We spent a great time with them and really sensed a friendship more than just a business relationship. This strikes a resonating chord of what Dream of Italy is all about and we left feeling very warmed and satisfied. This was so different to the smoky den we expected to find. He was SO kind to us and escorted us back to a bus. Then back to Venice to get on a train to head back in a similar direction to our next supplier. This was a very different experience with these people very professional business people, with much more of a package available to people like us who wish to visit them. Va bene, as they say here.

We arrive back at the apartment pretty exhausted after a pretty hectic day and decide to eat out locally at one of the restaurants in the street just down from our apartment. We have yet to find a really “good” restaurant and we have high hopes for this one. There are lots of locals there. The highlight of the evening turns out to be the proprietor who sings. He sets up his little PA and begins to sing in rich baritone voice local songs, to which the locals all join in. At certain points, they all stand up and shout in unison. It was far more memorable than the food and the highlight of the evening. We were very tired, so had to wrench ourselves away from his voice echoing around the ancient street to return to bed “stanchi”.

Venice Day 7 22 May 2009

This morning we find a great place for breakfast and have now decoded the local code for a great “caffe latte” (double smudged milk please).

Today is officially a “day off” after some pretty hectic business days. I decide to mooch at home and leave Kathy to do her “market” experience. She takes off to the Venice Markets and has a wonderful time finding products and invaluable contacts.

Venice Day 8 22 May 2009

Today it is back to Murano to check out some more suppliers. We are continually surprised by the most promising leads turning to nothing and some small back room operations are just what we are looking for. Every where we go there is evidence of how the Chinese are taking over and Chinese replicas of Murano products are everywhere, even in Venice and you need to be very careful. There are some amazing works of art in glass here, but at prices we can’t entertain. However, we end up buying some stock to take home and get some excellent contacts for the future. Mission accomplished.

That evening we decide to go out for a meal and we find a real Italian back-street “Trattoria”. No tourists here. We book a table. Upon our return to take up our booking, the place is buzzing with locals. A milieu of dogs, smoke and loud conversations fill the air. All tables are taken! Booking a table is a novelty that they don’t really know how to handle here! We soak up the observation of raw Italian culture in backstreet Venice and I am so glad I did not bring my camera.

While our table is being freed up, we order a Campari Spritzer, to really fit in here. We saw some old guys order one for breakfast the other day!! I must say this paint stripper taste has grown on me and I have come to quite like it. For dinner we order local fare, which is basic Italian pasta and nothing terribly special, but it is nice. For the wine we note “Tocai” on the wine list and having just seen the film on the plane “Dean Spanley” we sample this and start barking (no, just kidding)…

However, I do decide to start a photographic series called “Dogs of Venice” or “Cani di Venezia”. I have some good material already. Depending on what happens I may expand this to “Cani d’Italia”.

As evening falls, what I thought was someone taking flash photos turns out to be lightning. It grows more and more and the thunder comes. We ask for the bill sensing impending rain. There is no response much and after large drops start to fall we press inside to the chaos happening in the kitchen and bar. Lots of people, a dog also nearly getting trodden on and a frazzled barmaid who finally puts a bill on the counter under a saucer. I take a chance, grab it and yes, it is ours. We could so have walked off into the night, but this is a family restaurant and trust seems to be the value here. Nice.

We walk home amongst large, but dispersed rain drops and are glad to get to our apartment before the heavens open. We find out the next morning, they never did. Great last night in Venice.

Related Travel Entry

• Canals are really cool
  It wasn’t a direct train so lots of people came on and off the train during our ride to Venice. There are also two stops in Venice but we only booked it to the first stop. Luckily the train att...
• Ahh Venice!
  Apparently I have the job of describing Venice as i have more ways of saying things like "wow thats amazing" or "my God how beautiful is that". Well here goes...From the minute you arrive in Venice yo...
• Into the Earthquake Zone
  It was so tough to leave Pengadaran, even tougher because it meant that we needed to get back on the god awful train.  And it was god awful, as before.  Luckily, it was only 4 hours, so we s...
• The Serenity of La Serena
  Wow a lot to say as a lot has been done.Firstly, let me mention that photos will be coming as soon as we find a place that actually has DSL or Cable, as it´s basically impossible to upload our (fanta...
• London
  Friday, September 21st, 2007Good day ladies and gents!The Jewel Tower is a medieval tower (so cool, I know!!) built c. 1365 to house Edward III's treasures.It’s our third day in England and I’m alread...

Travel Location: Venice,Italy

Travel About: architecture,natural-wonder,art-&-museum,adventure

It wasn’t a direct train so lots of people came on and off the train during our ride to Venice. There are also two stops in Venice but we only booked it to the first stop. Luckily the train attendant didn’t feel like kicking us out when he was checking tickets.

Though even the name Venice sounded beautiful, I had heard that Venice canals were actually a bit ugly and smelly. So I had reservations but after we got on the ferries to go to our hotel, I was blown away about with the Venetian architected houses right on the canals. The canals didn’t smell. It was a bit cloudy but there weren’t any trash that I could see on it. With the wind blowing in my hair and riding a boat on the canal, it was just one of those “ah” feelings.

Gotta get to the water to get anywhere in Venice

We got on land in the heart of Venice. There were lots and lots and lots of tourists. Everything is just about tourism there – I can only see restaurants, bakeries, tourists shops, and a handful of necessity shops like super/mini markets and pharmacies.

The streets are really so narrow. They were definitely only 2 lane walking streets. Given that Rome is made up of 117 islands, there were many very cute crossing bridges along with the streets. It wasn’t too hard to find our hotel and it was a cute one. The hotel had a “shabby sheek Venetian” style to it. So a bit dated but definitely cute and clean.

We had lunch and figured out what coddle fish was. It’s squid and the way the Venetians cooked it was delish! They used this dark, almost black sauce on it. Ken kept having these big black lines around his mouth. I had their mixed seafood special and it was a great way to experience the seafood specialties of Venice.

We decided here that we were not museum people, meaning if we didn’t want to look at one more marble art work or oil painting inside the museum or a chapel in the short term. Venice for us was about just walking the streets, finding interesting architecture,, taking photos, and just getting the vibe of the city. Oh and of course, lookin for good fridge magnets from a location. That might be the theme of most of our vacations from now on.

We did want to see the grand Piazza San Marcos and the outside of the Basilica di San Marco that we’ve heard so much about. It was really beautiful and one of the “wow” moments for us.

I was torn at this point, in that I was really starting to miss home but also really

Wow Moments:

San Marcos Square and Basilica

The pope!

Walking into Vatican Square

Related Travel Entry

• Ahh!! Vera Venezia!!
  By the time we arrived in Venice, we were starting to feel more like wilted flowers in mid summer than the spring chickens we are. Jet lag plus a packed schedule of almost every waking hour was start...
• Kedi-vegas
  With our scooter loaded up again, we rode into the wide green yonder heading for the crater area of Ganung Batur. We knew it wasn't going to be a long ride so scheduled in a stop at Tirta Empul (Holy...
• Isle of Skye
  Today was our first and only full day on the Isle of Skye. The Isle of Skye is part of the Inner Hebrides Islands in western Scotland. We started out on the A855 north out of Portree towards Old Man ...
• Ahh Venice!
  Apparently I have the job of describing Venice as i have more ways of saying things like "wow thats amazing" or "my God how beautiful is that". Well here goes...From the minute you arrive in Venice yo...
• Some Rome Summer Sun & Sights
  July 3 (Tuesday)We arrived in Rome around 9 a.m. after catching a nonstop train from the airport to Termini Roma. From there we caught a taxi to our hotel, 47 Hotel (aka Fortyseven Hotel). As it was ...

Travel Location: Paris,France

Travel About: architecture,big-city,nightlife,road-trip

7:15 Comenzamos el segundo día con ganas y nos pegamos el madrugón para no perder ni un rayo de sol. Desafortunadamente, lo que nos encontramos tras desayunar y salir a la calle es que está volviendo a llover intensamente. A las 8:15 ya estamos en carretera, y durante las dos primeras horas el chaparrón es constante.

Dejamos atrás ciudades como Angoulême, Poitiers (y su Futuroscope, que descartamos visitar), Tours (aquí perdimos mucho tiempo en encontrar la entrada a la autovía) y Orléans; fue en ésta última donde paramos a comer unos sandwiches de la “caja de la comida”, sobre las 13:15. En estos momentos hemos dejado atrás los nubarrones y disfrutamos de un tiempo agradable.

Tras esto tomó el volante Puro para llegar a Versalles casi dos horas después. Pese a que era temporada baja, la villa presentaba una invasión total de autobuses de turistas, sin duda atraídos por el mayor interés del lugar: visitar el Palacio de Versalles, fantasía hecha realidad por el afán de ostentación de Luis XIV y sus benditos sucesores…

Para empezar, tardamos media hora en aparcar. Luego tocó sacarse los tíckets (13,5 € por cabeza), que pagamos con sumo entusiasmo. El último trámite fue coger los cascos de la visita guiada (incluidos en el precio, claro).

Resuelto lo anterior, pudimos comenzar a pasearnos por los interminables pasillos y desmesurados salones del Palacio. El lugar es impresionante, difícilmente se puede imaginar algo más gigantesco, recargado y opulento. Dimos vueltas y vueltas pero aquello parecía no tener fin (de hecho, son 50.000 metros cuadrados de Palacio abiertos al público).

Las 800 hectáreas de jardines también tienen su miga (se alquilan cochecitos para recorrerlas…), y tan sólo echamos un vistazo general.

Como aspecto negativo de la visita, resaltaré la EXCESIVA presencia de turistas, especialmente orientales, a los que Puro empezó a coger cariño.

Nos fuimos de allí bastante cansados, la kilometrada matutina pasaba factura (600 km), y es que fue una de las mayores del viaje. Pero aún quedaba entrar en París y buscar el albergue. Puro me volvió a ceder el volante y nos metimos en la maraña de tráfico. A trancas y barrancas, entramos hasta el barrio de Clichy sin sufrir percances, pero cometiendo alguna que otra tropelía circulatoria.

Eran las 18:30 y ya estábamos en el albergue, con una habitación entera para nosotros. Subimos hasta el 6º piso cargando con las maletas por las escaleras (ascensor en reparación justo cuando llegábamos). Nos duchamos y salimos a cenar algo sencillo: McDonald’s.

Unas cervecitas en la terraza de un bar parisino sirvieron de relajado colofón a un día bastante duro. Ya en la habitación, aprovechamos para distraernos viendo unos capítulos de “Joey” en el portátil de Bur (que era lo único que había).

Con la iluminación de la Torre Eiffel entrando por la ventana, nos acostamos sobre las 23:15.

Distancia recorrida: 640 km

Gastos: 70 € (Gasolina, Peajes, Visita Versalles, Parking, Albergue, Cena, Cerveza)

Related Travel Entry

• Afternoon in Paris
  Well, I am back. I have been having the worse time getting caught up. I know it isn't jet lag. I think it is just being old. No, not me!Ok, luckily, my memory isn't gone yet.We took our final picture ...
• Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s (again), Soho, Camden Town Market, Warwick Castle, Stratford…and maybe a Good Frolic.
  Well, friends, about a week or so has passed since I’ve last managed to write on this blog. The main mental block about doing so comes down to one thing: the internet. My connection here is slow, if p...
• Canberra
  Canberra... think perfection, think blue skies, perfect clouds, tree lined streets, sunshine, kept parks, streamlined houses, roads that travel on perfect angles from each other, think smiling people,...
• Day 13: Norte Dame and The City of Paris
  Visit a French perfume house and then take the opportunity to visit some of the most celebrated icons of Europe. The Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Nôtre Dame, Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysées all await...
• Manchester United
  Well, we have officially completed our first travel adventure outside of London, one of many more to come no doubt. Ange somehow managed to round up a pair of tickets to the Manchester United v Blackb...

Travel Location: Copenhagen,Denmark

Travel About: architecture,cultural-immersion

Well as you might have guessed, I did head to Scandinavia after Iceland — Copenhagen, to be exact. And Copenhagen is a delightful city!! For one thing, it was WARM and sunny. I was able to wander around without a jacket and still be warm at 10pm. Ah, a lovely change.

have i mentioned how light it stays over here? The light-til-late was most extreme in Iceland. At one point I asked Betsey what time it was. She said “it’s only 11:30 — can’t you tell? it’s still light out.” And we laughed because it was so true! same thing here in Scandinavia. In Norway I thought nothing of starting a hike at 9pm. Plenty of daylight left! It’s really quite an amazing difference. It makes it hard to go to bed at an early hour when there’s still plenty of daylight to do stuff outside!

Luckily, the hippies have lawyers.

So in Copenhagen I made fast friends with various folks including a woman a couple of years older than me from Australia named Priscilla. She was definitely full of interesting contrasts and quirks and was fun to hang around with. Priscilla had invited me on a walking tour the first day. That was a lot of fun, stolling the long pedestrian streets, along the docks on the waterfront, and all over for that matter.

The second day we found some free Copenhagen bikes on a rack and proceeded to ride about the town for a while. Well it’s actually free USE of the bikes, as you insert a 20 kroner coin and get it back when you return the bike to a rack. You have to watch out for people taking your bike, though –either to use it or to get the 20 kroner coin. Priscilla and I might have used a few covert methods to keep someone from stealing our free bikes, though I deny everything. hehehe

Copenhagen is well set up for bikeriding with bike lanes and signals, and is a delight to ride around in! Another good thing about bikeriding is that it not only uses different muscles than walking, but it saves feet from another day of pounding. Anyway, lots of amazing and cool buildings and parks and water and nature to see in Copenhagen. In fact, it was gorgeous and different pretty much everywhere we looked. We checked out the national museum and lots of other stuff. Sorry, readers of my online journal have to get the edited, less-interesting version of my time in Copenhagen.

So let me quote you a few lines from my guidebook on Copenhagen. Ya think it might be of interest to me? “Denmark is one of the most environmentally-conscious European contries.” Then it goes on to describe one section of Copenhagen, Christiania, as “an ultra-human mishmash of idealists, hippies, potheads, non-materialists, and happy people (600 adults, 200 kids, 200 cats, 200 dogs, 2 parrots, and 17 horses)….a fascinating, ramshackle world of moats and earthen ramparts, alterntive housing, cozy tea houses, carpeter shos, hipie vills, children’s playgrounds, peaceful lanes, and people who believe that ‘to be normal is to be in a straight-jacket.’” hmmmmm….whaddya think? I had possibly found my new home and had to go check it out!!

And indeed, Christiania was very interesting to visit. It had started as a squatters community and many of the buildings were painted with interesting graffiti. They used to have pot/hash stands on the main drag but disbanded them a couple of years ago in an effort to keep their community safe from overzealous officials. Of course it’s said that you can still easily find some here, or so the guidebooks tell me and confirmed by Priscilla’s experience. Just follow the wafts of smoke. It’s also easy to find gangs of police officers marching through town, too, which seems a bit ridiculous to me. But hey, I guess they need something to do.

The community is only pot/hash smokers — the hard drug users were kicked out years ago. Despite this, the conservative Danish government is hoping to “normalize” Christiania, and maybe build luxury condos. Luckily, the hippies have lawyers.

All and all, it was a very interesting place. And again, you will have to see photos to understand how the residents have managed to recycle everything into building their community. Reminds me of the Netherlands trash house, my workcamp in August. None of the people own the land or the houses, though, as it’s an old military base. In order for a new person to get in, they have to wait until someone leaves and then the community decides who should move in. So whaddya think? I could go for an idealistic community like this. Walking/riding through it, though, it didn’t grab me immediately as the perfect place for me. I’d have to get to know the residents better, though, to understand the community philosophy and some of their personal philosophies. There’s more to a home than the freedoms, you know! Ah, Christiania…a place to consider…

So anyway, before I took the overnight train to Oslo, I checked out Tivoli, Copenhagen’s amusement park. That was fun! I guess I have fun wandering and taking pictures and enjoying the sites, whereas others would think “an amusement park by yourself…how boring!” So lots of adventures in Copenhagen….made friends, rode our bikes around, gorgeous, interesting city, checked stuff out…

And lucky me, I was taking the train to Malmo, Sweden from Copenhagen to catch my overnight train. And so this drunk guy (smelled like beer, slurred) sat across from me and tried to carry on a conversation through the trainride (which did stop for a delay and seemed soooooo long). I wouldn’t tell him exactly where I was going, though, “somewhere near Malmo.” And of course, once I get onto the overnight train, I find he is in the sleeping car next to mine! and of course he sees me! argh! oh well, maybe he got the hint. But I didn’t actually let him see which car was mine — good thing since I was in the 6-compartment car all by myself. (so you see, all the people who find it necessary to always warn me to be careful, I AM careful! rest assured you can find something else to worry about, or even better, don’t worry, be happy:)

So that’s enough of an update for now. I decided against calling Bill because the more I considered it, the more I became suspicious of his intentions, despite the fact that I’d met him on the airport bus and he seemed like a nice guy who just wanted to show off his city and buy me a cup of coffee (he actually was born in America but fled when he was young). Yet, there’s something about the way he asked and acted…this despite the fact that he’s quite the older gentleman, with white hair and a beard, reminds me of the rugged skinny Kenny Rogers type.

Men….hmmmmmm….they are a mystery. Why can’t we just be friends? Why must there be secret hopes and intentions that us women have to think and worry about? I have plenty of guy friends in the States…is there something about foreign men that think that American women are easy, or desperate, or something? Do they think we need a mate to be happy? I can only wonder.

I could wear a fake wedding band, but even mention of my fictitious boyfriend or husband doesn’t stop some guys from continuing to try. I am not a cure for all the lonely men in the world, though I do seem to attract them in droves. And there are sooo many (mind goes off onto Beatles song…) And yes, there’s more fuel and stories behind this line of thinking of mine, but you will have to wait for my Norweigan update… But for now, enjoy!

Related Travel Entry

• The Seventh Day: The Cairo Museum
  We flew from Aswan to Cairo. One of the fascinating sights were the streets of Aswan and Cairo and in Cairo all the activity on the street of a major world city. (See The New York Times, March 1, 200...
• Barcelona, Day 2
  We woke up and had free breakfast in the hotel, and then hit the streets.We headed first for the Palau de la Musica Catalana, the music theater with beautiful mosaic tiles covering the facade.From th...
• Angkor Wat: Tourists Do, Travelers Pass Through
  I love Cambodia and it is, undoubtedly, the best country I have ever traveled in. But I don't love it because of it's claim to fame - the astounding temples of Angkor, the site of the Khmer ancient ca...
• The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Peru
  When Jan and I decided to go to South America each of us had a destination in mind that stood out from the rest. For me it was the Amazon. For Jan it was Machu Picchu. I reminded him of this the day b...
• san cristobal, gateway to adventures
  the first thing i noticed about san cristobol was the women. no, not that they are beautiful, because i´ve found mexican women everywhere to be beautiful. rather, i found them strong. just walking dow...

Travel Location: Helsinki,Finland

Travel About: architecture,big-city

Helsinki is AMAZING!  Such a typical European city.  Brilliant architecture, pretty street lanterns, cobble stone streets, pigeons, and talented street musicians. It feels so strange and wonderful to finally be living so near a city líke it! So far I have been there every weekend..in the summer I hope to go there every week-night. ;)  Riitta Heilimo (old friend and fellow English speaker) took me downtown my very first time one Sat. night. Although it was cold and dark, there were still so many people out and about.  We walked around and I took pictures and we went to a pleasant coffee shop to warm up (Helsinki is full of really  great coffee shops).   I have a few very bad pics of the city..they were taken that first night and it was so cold and dark that it was difficult to get even one good shot.   Some day if I remember, when I don’t have fat mittens on and it’s daylight..I’ll take some more pictures.

Related Travel Entry

• Día 2: Burdeos
  7:15 Comenzamos el segundo día con ganas y nos pegamos el madrugón para no perder ni un rayo de sol. Desafortunadamente, lo que nos encontramos tras desayunar y salir a la calle es que está volviendo...
• A bit Boring in Brussels
  Okay, so I know I have been to some pretty amazing places already so it might be hard to impress me, but I thought at least Brussels would have something to see. I was wrong. Val and I arrived by tra...
• Final Days…
  Final Days... Today we went to little India for lunch, and I enjoyed some amazing curried eggplant with cheese pita bread. It was absolutely delicious. We tried to wander the area for a little bit, b...
• London
  Friday, September 21st, 2007Good day ladies and gents!The Jewel Tower is a medieval tower (so cool, I know!!) built c. 1365 to house Edward III's treasures.It’s our third day in England and I’m alread...
• Downtown London
  I'm in London, England now. Staying at my good friend Irina and her husband, Andres' house. My 8 hour layover in Oslo wasn't too bad. Much nicer airport than Frankfurt, certainly. There was duty-free ...

Travel Location: Ljubljana,Slovenia

Travel About: architecture,art-&-museum,nightlife

We spent two nights in Ljubljana (lube-lee-ahna), and it quickly became one of my favorite cities in all Eastern Europe. It is a beautiful capital city, compact (260,000 people), and soaking in the arts. There is wonderful art everywhere, from the omnipresent graffiti to little galleries and open air exhibitions.

The hostel we stayed at was an art exhibit by itself. It was a converted prison, and we stayed in a former cell. The hostel, Celica, commissioned famous Slovenian artists to come and redecorate each cell (about 30) in the prison in their own unique styles.

Possibly the finest Eastern European capital city

Ours was a simple, yet beautiful cell with a bunk reachable by a ladder and small abstract art around the cell. There was an actual art gallery in the lobby with daily performances, such as theatre, music, etc.

Next door to the hostel is an area called Metelkova, which is basically Ljubljana’s answer to Copenhagen’s Christiania. Squatters took over an abandoned military barracks and turned it into a stunning complex of bars, clubs, art, and hippie stylings.

The government has not done anything about the complex yet, so currently these young, kind of crazy people live for free and hang out all day, drinking, performing, drinking, performing, etc. The second night we went out to several of the bars, each of which was bizarre, yet comfortable.

One bar had a crazy guy singing crazy songs in english with a video presentation behind him; the seating area next to the stage consisted of about twenty five car seats, pulled from used cars (very comfortable). Another club was blasting Rage Against the Machine in a large warehouse type building with upside down umbrellas lined with christmas lights.

Outside in the “quad” each building had strange, but cool video displays, outstanding graffiti, and skeleton dummies. A unique way to spend the night – and the beer was dirt cheap.

The main core of the city has some excellent architecture, sort of a mini-Vienna type center. There are countless outdoor cafes and many amazing desserts.

There was a theatre festival going on, and the jazz festival was just starting (missed Medeski, Martin and Wood / John Scofield / Jack DeJohnette by a day!). The city is crowned by its castle which, as usual, is slightly underwhelming but provides fantastic views of the city.

Later on I will do a separate entry for Ljubljana’s incredible graffiti, as I have tons of pictures of their unique stampings and tags.

A truly wonderful place, one of the finest capitals I have set foot in.

Related Travel Entry

• Canberra
  Canberra... think perfection, think blue skies, perfect clouds, tree lined streets, sunshine, kept parks, streamlined houses, roads that travel on perfect angles from each other, think smiling people,...
• C’mon England!
  After our morning Eurostar fiasco, we arrived in London: the land of the football (soccer) crazed fans, C’mon England! I became an England fan in 2002 during my first trip to Europe and we were in Lon...
• Ahh!! Vera Venezia!!
  By the time we arrived in Venice, we were starting to feel more like wilted flowers in mid summer than the spring chickens we are. Jet lag plus a packed schedule of almost every waking hour was start...
• Canals are really cool
  It wasn’t a direct train so lots of people came on and off the train during our ride to Venice. There are also two stops in Venice but we only booked it to the first stop. Luckily the train att...
• Día 2: Burdeos
  7:15 Comenzamos el segundo día con ganas y nos pegamos el madrugón para no perder ni un rayo de sol. Desafortunadamente, lo que nos encontramos tras desayunar y salir a la calle es que está volviendo...

Travel Location: Kathmandu,Nepal

Travel About: architecture

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been here for a week now. Time is flying so it looks like I’m going to try to extend my time here and fly home maybe a week later.

After leaving Sikkim, I spent a few days in Siliguri (which is definitely not my favorite place). I did some research, but wasn’t able to find what I was looking for. Siliguri is about an hour from the Nepali border so I opted to take the 14 hour bus ride from there to Kathmandu. I was able to find the necessary 10 US dollars for my visa from various shops, travel agents, and small currency exchange offices…quite an experience.

The bus to Kathmandu left around four in the morning so I had stunning views the entire bus ride. We drove through hours of lush green mountains…many tight switch backs. Unfortunately , the road was so dusty that it was hard for me to take photos during the ride. Anyways, got to Kathmandu and found my hotel – nice place with a garden and hammock that I can hide away in in the mornings for breakfast or late afternoon to read.

Kathmandu is beautiful…although I’ve been reading about Nepal and anticipating coming here, I didn’t realize how much I would like the city itself. I expected to find it more like cities I’d been in India, but it feels completely different. The energy here is much more laid back even in the midst of all the political changes going on here.

My first two days here I did some basic research and contact work, but really let the days be site seeing days. I spent the first of many golden afternoons in Durbar Square – the main square in old Kathmandu. There are tons of temples and shrines. People sit for hours on the steps of the temples drinking chai and playing games. It’s the perfect spot to sit and people watch.

I befriended a local guide, Krishna, who took me mountain biking through parts of Kathmandu valley. We visited the smaller village where his family is from and got great views of the entire valley. It was a great way to get a sense of the city and surrounding land which is a lot of farmland. Some of you might be interested to know that next to corn and rice, marijuana seems to be the most popular plant growing here. It’s everywhere! It practically grows through the cracks of sidewalks. I’ve tried to visit different sites throughout the city- Baudhanath, the monkey temple, Bhaktapur….I spent one night at Krishna’s sister’s house after visiting Baudhanth. It was unbelievable how open they were, they invited me to stay for dinner (I got to have real newari food) and to spend the night with them. We stayed up telling each other stories and they spent about an hour telling jokes. Most of them are about all their different gods…really fun to take listen to now that I can understand the humor.

Trying to keep myself from buying everything in sight. Sort of. Thamel (near where I’m staying) is shopper’s heaven.

My time has been spent in both work and play. I have already had several really good meetings with local NGOs here. I’ve set up interviews with one organization to put together a story about their work with displaced youth and I will have the opportunity to interview a number of people that are currently in their program. I met with another organization that works with female ex prisoners and war widows left by the insurgency. Also met with a woman who works for NGO that works to monitor the local media in order to protect human rights. A few more meetings to go too! This is all really exciting.

So, I’ll try to post again soon with more pictures. Lots of love…missing all of you (just a little bit though)

Related Travel Entry

• Temple hopping in Kathmandu (Under construction)
  Managed to change our flight without any issue, so we got back to Kathmandu on the 23rd. Bit of a scarier flight this time, since the day was much more cloudy than the previous flight to Lukla. Plus,...
• Song dedications, burning bodies, musical whores
  Day 16 -Arrived in Kathmandu again after a horrendous, hangover fuelled and bumpy all the way 5 hour ride from the border. I arrived around 4pm and did not move from my bed until the next morning.Day...
• Stop 2
  So we're in Kathmandu now. The flght from Delhi was only about an hour long which was good - especially since they fed us and there was free beer. We got chatting to an Australian guy on the plane wh...
• Monkeying around in Temples and watching flute rock
  Day 1The flight over Nepal was rather spectacular with the snow capped mountains and scenery below - I was grateful for my window seat and was now getting more excited by the prospect of Kathmandu. T...
• Ahh!! Vera Venezia!!
  By the time we arrived in Venice, we were starting to feel more like wilted flowers in mid summer than the spring chickens we are. Jet lag plus a packed schedule of almost every waking hour was start...

Travel Location: Curitiba,Brazil

Travel About: architecture,art-&-museum

Wow, Jema and I are in a new town, and it is a vast improvement over the stressful city of São Paulo. At 11:30 pm on the night of the 18th we boarded a bus bound for a town called Curitiba. After a 5 hour ride we arrived at our destination, groggy but ready for the day. I expected that we would encounter muito (much) stress as this is a new and different place. However, to my surprise we have been fairing wonderfully, and the stress level has been kept to a minimum. Curitiba is much smaller than São Paulo (1.6 million compared to 18 million. It is friendlier, cleaner, and more beautiful, too. We are loving this place and will be sad when we have to leave (which will be either tommorow or the next day). The downside to a smaller city is less facilities. For instance, we have been here for two days and this is the first internet cafe we have found. Also, we have yet to run across a lavandaria (laundry place). However, I would much rather be here than back in São Paulo. We are safer, and the pace of this city is slower and more relaxing. Curitiba has numerous city parks, all of which are beautiful. We are having an awesome time.

So, we didn´t do much yesterday. We took a nap in the morning because the sleep that we got on the bus was not adequate. Then we walked all the way across the city to the Oscar Niemeyer Museum (he´s a famous architect), but for some reason it was closed on Mondays. It´s open on Sunday, but closed on Monday, weird. So we walked back through the city stopping at the parks and just sitting and taking in the new environment. Then we went back to our hotel and went to bed early. This morning we were up with the sun. After quick showers and even quicker breakfast we headed for the train station. We bought tickets for a train headed for Morretes. Morretes is a little town in the mountains, not far from the coast. The train ride was gorgeous, the tracks were literally cut into the mountain. We passed through a dozen tunnels, over several bridges, and the views of the mountains and valleys were breathtaking. The whole way Jema and I were smiling from ear to ear because we were finally in the outdoors. Once in Morretes we ate the local dish, which is called barreado. Barreado is a meat stew cooked over coals in a clay pot in a hole in the ground. The dish was originally invented so that the women could prepare an easy meal during Carnival so they could all party with the men. The dish has since become a popular attraction of the town. We mixed our barreado with rice, manoic flour, fresh-picked banana sliced into the stew, and a super hot sauce made locally. We ate this meal at an awesome restaurant that sat right on a river running through the valley. The food, atmosphere, and company (Jema´s, of course) made this meal the best I´ve had in a long time. After the barreado we walked through town, saw some awesome banana trees, stopped at a few little shops, and then boarded a buss back to Curitiba.

The train ride was gorgeous, the tracks were literally cut into the mountain!

When we arrived we realized the Oscar Niemeyer Museum was probalby open, so we started walking in that direction. We got there in time to spend two hours looking at all sorts of art: some was fascinating, some was bizarre, but it was all interesting. The Museum is shaped like an eye, it looks awesome. After the museum we walked back through town (it was dark at this point). The parks here are so nice, and the street lighting is vintage. And with the old buildings and cathedrals it gives you a feel of peace and relaxation. After enjoying the sublime feel of it all, we bought an ice-cream cone and started back to the hotel. On the way we spotted this internet cafe. So here I am.

On a side note. All of this walking is wearing us out. Seriously, we walk everywhere because we are too cheap to take a taxi or ride the bus. Only for really long distances ( 3 km or more, do we take a bus). By the end of the day (like right now) we are both complaining about how exhausted we are and how much our feet hurt. It is sort of a catch 22 because we complain about it all the time but the excercise is good. Maybe by the end of this trip I will actually be in shape.

Tommorow we are taking a bus to a place called Vilha Vela. It is a park of some sore that has awesome natural sandstone formations. After Vilha Vela we will come back here to Curitiba, maybe see some botanical gardens, and plan for our next destination, which will probably be a town called Blumenau, which is farther south. Anyway, the next time you all here from me I might be in a different town, as interent is so hard to come by here. I hope you all are having a superb summer!!! It is great to get comments and feedback!!! Talk to ya later!!!

Patrick -:-)

Related Travel Entry

• Rio de Janeiro
  (5.31.06) This morning I left Renato in Curitiba and flew to Rio de Janeiro. When I arrived in Rio, I found that fewer people spoke English than I thought. I followed what my guidebook said and took ...
• Rio De Janeiro
  Flew into Rio and decided after 10 months of roughing it we could spoil ourselves for the last four days of our trip so checked into a very nice hotel on the beach in Ipanema.Spent a fair bit of time...
• Ahh!! Vera Venezia!!
  By the time we arrived in Venice, we were starting to feel more like wilted flowers in mid summer than the spring chickens we are. Jet lag plus a packed schedule of almost every waking hour was start...
• Canals are really cool
  It wasn’t a direct train so lots of people came on and off the train during our ride to Venice. There are also two stops in Venice but we only booked it to the first stop. Luckily the train att...
• Slovenia: Ljubljana
  We spent two nights in Ljubljana (lube-lee-ahna), and it quickly became one of my favorite cities in all Eastern Europe. It is a beautiful capital city, compact (260,000 people), and soaking in the a...

Travel Location: La-Serena,Chile

Travel About: architecture,food-&-wine,art-&-museum,market,off-the-beaten-path

Wow a lot to say as a lot has been done.

Firstly, let me mention that photos will be coming as soon as we find a place that actually has DSL or Cable, as it´s basically impossible to upload our (fantastic) photos on a 56K modem, which is all that is available where we are.

Anyway back to last week…

Monday: We arrived in La Serena after a 7-hour bus trip which was, put simply, boring. We got into La Serena without any hostel bookings, as we´d found there were heaps of people waiting around at Valpo bus terminal for tourists to recruit to their hostels. Sure enough we arrived to about 5 people all crowding around us, insisting we stay at their hostel. In the end there were 2 competitors, a guy who spoke English in an LA cap, and a woman who had prepared a ´portfolio´ of her hostel, with photos and a list of facilities (including HOT WATER). I should add that the guy in the LA cap when he found out we were from Australia, ran off (very rapidly) a list of all the major Australian cities… kinda freaky, needless to say.

Overwhelmed by their advances, we sat down to eat, and Jason noticed that the woman was still hovering around outside the café entrance. In the end we decided that if she´d take 1000 pesos (AU$2.50) less each per night, then we´d go to hers. Sure enough, the moment I said (in Spanish, of course) : “My boyfriend wants to pay 4000 pesos per night” she almost shouted “Sí!” straight away. Obviously she was desperate for people, and I started thinking we should have started with a lower price.

She drove us to her hostel, Hostel Gladys (her name… it was one of the things that put me off actually). We get there and it had turned out we´d made the right choice. In the middle of (or very close to) everything, clean, internet facilities, hot showers, and a really nice room painted in my favourite colour (purple!) and with cupboards, a table and Cable TV. The small plaza and park outside the hostel was, as are most parks in Chile, filled to the brim with teenage couples making out.

That being said, La Serena is one of my favourite towns thus far. Quiet but not isolated, Safe but not a tourist trap, and clean but not sterile, the town is a lovely getaway where you don´t have to worry about looking like a tourist but also don´t need to worry about being stuck in a town ONLY with other tourists (like the next city you´ll read about).

After settling in, we headed to the supermarket to stock up on goods. I should mention here a small fact about Chilean supermarkets. In the vegetable section and the bread section, theres a little stall where staff weigh what you´ve picked up and put a price on it, similar to how to Deli sections work in Australia. If you get to the checkout having not pre-weighed your vegetables, fruit, or bread, you either go back and get it done or leave it behind. We later discovered that we had inadvertedly bought liquor-flavoured (or should I say tainted?) Vienetta, which WAS going to be our splurge item for La Serena but ended up just being a tragedy.

We went to bed annoyed at the lack of delicious icecream, but satisfied by our otherwise-pleasant dinner.

Tuesday: Ok. I´m very excited. Because Tuesday morning something happened which I´d been waiting for ever since arriving in Chile : I got to eat Bacon and eggs. OH! The joy! Having a bacon and egg delicacy on delicious La Serena bread was just.. ah.. indescribably delicious and great, just great.

Anyway.. after breakfast Jason and I decided to see all the typical touristy stuff in the area like the museums and parks, etc. We saw:

- Iglesias (churches) : Catedral (big, catholic building with great architecture), Santo Domingo (a smaller church right next to our hostel), and San Francisco (a church next to a school which had bars all around it so really didn´t look all that inviting).

- Museo Arqueológico : The archaeological museum full of info about the indigenous history in the area. Also with a display of two shrunken heads – COOL!

- A big parkland area which, it turned out, houses animals (with no entrance fee!). Animals such as peacocks, ducks, rabbits, and condors. Yes, condors. With farm animals. What the connection is I just don´t know.

We then headed to the giant supermarket complex, the entrance to which was a big white hallway filled with calming live harp playing. As I said to Jason, it felt like a stereotypical entrance to heaven, which I guess is what the supermarket owners want it to feel like. The Lider (a supermarket chain) inside was HUGE, bigger than any Australian supermarket I´ve ever seen. After perusing it´s aisles to no avail, Jason decided to buy a Churro, and we were smart enough to get a photo of it this time. Deeeeelicious! While he was eating it, we noticed that the radio station they were playing on loudspeaker in the complex was playing.. the Neverending Story themesong? Ayayay.

I should mention that in between seeing churches, we made eye contact with a random dog that decided to start following us. Freaked out, we crossed the street maybe 5 times before losing it. In retrospect, I think it just wanted some company. But nevertheless the number of stray dogs you see does make you a bit suspicious of them.

We also booked a tour that day, to go to Islas Damas. I was determined to go out of the numerous brochures boasting Penguins.. and I luuuuurve penguins. So we booked that (at about AU$60 each, out of my extra spending money) and after tossing off our shoes in the hostel and grabbing our “games bag” we went and sat in the beautiful Plaza de Armas. We started playing the Monopoly card game, but after a while two interesting women approached us. “We Gypsy” they said to us. And they looked it. Long skirts, dark curly hair, straggly appearances, they really were genuine Latin American gypsies. After a while of pretending not to understand Spanish, one of them started grabbing at Jason´s pocket where the bulge of his wallet was showing. When he affronted them, she walked off huffed saying in Spanish “Ah! I hate you!”

Shaken, but not stirred, we returned to the hostel for a good night´s dinner and rest.

Wednesday: We´d discovered the day before that there were a few things in La Serena that we hadn´t had a chance to see but which were apparent “must-sees”.

The first was a Japanese Garden, located right next to the giant park with all the animals. We took a heap of pictures as it really was very beautiful but not, in what I´ve seen of Japanese Gardens, very Japanesey. And, as with every garden, there was a couple making out right in the centre. Nevertheless it was a nice little getaway and was a pleasant stroll.

After getting a lot of wrong directions (or at least my interpretation was wrong), we headed toward the ocean and the apparently infamous Faro (lighthouse) of La Serena. The beach had a huge sign up saying that we couldn´t swim, and we later discovered it´s because the sewerage is pumped straight out into the ocean. Disappointed, Jason spotted horses and asked if I fancied a horse ride. For AU$7.50 each we got a ride along the ocean, accompanied by the owners´ son, who I guessed to be at about 12 years old. When we started off, he kept staring at me, which was a bit strange. But then when he started helping to ´adjust´the straps which were coming loose, he started “brushing” past my breasts and bottom, after which point I decided I would adjust my own straps. His hands got slapped away only once more after that, and I think he got the message.. I should say as revenge though, I only gave in 75c as a tip, which is probably more insulting than pretending I didn´t know he should get a tip. If he wasn´t so young (and I´m guessing he didn´t go to school which probably made him even more young) then I wouldn´t have paid his father anything either. Nevertheless it was a small glitch in an otherwise hilarious experience: though not for Jason, as not only did his stomach hurt when his horse gallopped, but his horse also kept trying to turn around and go back. Naturally, this was side-splitting for me, and side-splitting in a less positive sense for Jason. As Jason said, his horse was completely “retarded”.

After a quick and cheap taxi ride back to the giant supermarket, we grabbed some extra food, and I discovered an as-yet-untapped cheap food resource: the dehyrated soups. for about 50c a packet, I could get half a meal in soup form. And we´re talking really big packets which make about a litre of soup. I call this my “soup economy” idea.

We got back to town and dropped off our food, deciding to find a vegetarian restaurant listed in my guide book. Unfortunately, after much searching and despairing (on Jason´s behalf), we couldn´t find it, and came to the conclusion that it must have shut down in the two years between the book´s release and our travel to the area. We went toward the supermarket, deciding to find another restaurant instead. On our way, a man in a tuxedo approached us. Thinking he was yet another hostellier trying to convince us to go to his hostel, I was pleased to see he was actually from a restaurant trying to recruit customers.

He started following us and we said we´d think about it. When we got to the restaurant area (after briefly buying Jason some goggles), we went up the escalators and found literally (and I mean literally) 7 people all in tuxedos all harrassing us to come to their restaurants. They were following us around and all trying to shout over the top of each other. Overwhelmed, we ran. We actually ran. We found a restaurant where nobody was trying to recruit us, sat down, and ate. We had a fish dish covered in Shrimp sauce. I preferred the fish, Jason preferred the sauce. Yes, that´s right, Jason´s eating fish now. My guess is more out of necessity than desire, as the options for vegetarians here are slim to none. In the end, for a large delicous fish dish for two, chips, salad, a beer and a soda, we paid AU$25. Not bad really.

Jason and I also realised at that point that we´d never had a sit-down meal at a restaurant together, just the two of us. Never. Strange but true. It was a nice experience, despite the view from the balcony being that of a taxi rank.

We also took Wednesday to visit the Museum Gabriel Gonzalez Videla, an old Chilean President from La Serena who had kicked our famous poet Pablo Neruda out of government. It was one of his old houses and filled with stuff from his time, including the clothes he wore to parliament.

Back at the hostel, Jason taught me the chords D, A, A minor, B, G, and C on guitar, and we decided that after dinner we would have “sit-up games”, whereby the loser of any given game must do more sit-ups than the winner. This is in order to be consistent with our joint aim of improved fitness. I should mention there was a big controversy over a game called Battlemasters, which ahd the most sit-ups at stake, because horses can´t go in the tower because they cant climb the stairs, yet Jason´s ogre (clearly a beast far too large for such a small tower) was allowed in to kill my crossbowmen.

….Errr… anyway… After fulfilling our sit-up requirements we packed everything up, ready to leave at 8am the next day for our Penguin tour.

Thursday: Our last day in La Serena, and also the day of our tour of Islas Damas, or “Penguin Island” : which is not a translation just what I like calling it. We got driven to a small town up the coast, the drive taking about 2-3 hours in itself. After almost foretting the camera, we got on the boat and headed to the island, with Jason getting even more motion sickness (wherever there is a bus, or plane, or train, or boat: his motion sickness will be there). We got to see a whole bunch of Sea-Lions and Penguins (YAY!) as well as Cormorans and lots of other birdies. See the photos (once you can) for an awesome summary of what we saw.

We had snacks on a smaller island nearby, where we had some tea and got a close-up look at some awesome cactii. When the guide found out about Jason´s motion sickness, he insisted Jason stand at the front of the boat holding onto a rope for balance. Sure enough, once this was done, Jason was no longer motion-sick (tada!) and I got to get to know the guide a whole lot better as he discussed his relationship woes.

APPARENTLY, he and his girlfriend of two years live in different cities and when they´re together they always fight, but once they´re apart they fall back in love over the phone and can´t wait to see each other. Combine this with his indecision about whether to buy a cake and then take it to her for her birthday, or whether to get there and THEN buy a cake, and you could tell this relationship was going a little crazy!

We had another fishy lunch at a restaurant covered by the cost of the tour, where the German couple we were with were debating with the guide about how different (or not) other countries of latin america were in comparison to Chile. Also, after lunch, a couple who had ived in Australia asked where we were from and were thrilled to hear we were from Sydney. It was really strange because the town in question has a population of about 300 people, so to find two from Sydney was strange to say the least.

I found out a whole bunch of facts about all that we saw which I wrote down but won´t bore you with on here.

Anyway, we drove back to La Serena with an hour to kill before our 16-hour trip to San Pedro de Atacama commenced. We´d gotten the last two seats and decided to fork out about AU$50 extra to get the buses with the more bed-like seats. A decision we certainly do not regret, as it allowed us to actually get some rest on this giant trip. By Friday at 11:30am, we were here in San Pedro de Atacama, 2300m above sealevel, yet again being accosted by hostel owners.

Photos now added! Please click on the See More Photos button as there are heaps more, especially of some of the animals we saw and a few other random tidbits

Related Travel Entry

• Ahh!! Vera Venezia!!
  By the time we arrived in Venice, we were starting to feel more like wilted flowers in mid summer than the spring chickens we are. Jet lag plus a packed schedule of almost every waking hour was start...
• Settling In
  Well it seems like it has been a while since I have posted anything. I have been sick for what feels like a week with a sore throat and a cold. I went to a doctor yesterday and I got some antibiotics...
• London
  Friday, September 21st, 2007Good day ladies and gents!The Jewel Tower is a medieval tower (so cool, I know!!) built c. 1365 to house Edward III's treasures.It’s our third day in England and I’m alread...
• High Tea at the Burj Al Arab
  My second day in Dubai was lots of fun. It started with another drive through Dubai. This time Ursh and I wanted to check out some of the souks (markets). The traffic here is terrible though, and it t...
• The American’s are coming, the American’s are coming!
  As you all know, thanksgiving was a little over a week ago and since I could not spend it with my biological family in Texas, Gen and I decided to cross the English Channel and spend Thanksgiving with...

Travel Location: Rio-de-Janeiro,Brazil

Travel About: architecture,art-&-museum

(5.31.06) This morning I left Renato in Curitiba and flew to Rio de Janeiro. When I arrived in Rio, I found that fewer people spoke English than I thought. I followed what my guidebook said and took the Real Auto Bus which was operated by no one who spoke English. I made it to Botogofo where my hostel is, but the bus dropped me further away so there I was with my huge suitcase trying to find my street. I finally found it and checked in. The people here are so friendly and all young of course. They showed me the hostel and all their facilities. I have a private double which is up this very narrow spiral staircase so I had to pull my giant suitcase up there. I guess they usually don’t see people like me traveling with such big cases.

After I settled in, I quickly left for the Museu do Indio (The Indian Museum), which displays exhibits on the indiginous Brazilians. The exhibits were in Portuguese but I got the gist. After that I walked further down Rua Voluntários da Pátria, the main street with lots of shops and restaurants. At the very end (about a 30 min walk from the hostel) there is an indoor market where I had some dinner at Rota 66, a Mexican and American restaurant. Again, not many spoke English which I was surprised considering Rio is a heavy tourist area. I headed back to the hostel and decided to relax. Many people here are going to a futebol match but I think I need a break from my non-stop journey. It is nice to meet people from places like France, Lousiana, USA, Ireland, Austrailia, and other parts. I also have seen some nice views of Christo Redentor which I will be visiting tomorrow.

I felt like Jason Bourne zipping through the streets of a third world country on a motorbike!

(6.1.06) What an exciting day today! This morning I had some breakfast and met a couple more people, one from Italy and another from Miami. At 9:30 I left for a favela tour organized through the hostel with an excellent group called Bealocal. They picked up ten more people and we headed to the base of Rocina, the largest favela in Rio. 200,000 people in Rio live in these favelas or shantytowns which are technically illegal land but since Rocina is so big it even has its own bus route and post office. We each rode up the mountain on the back of a motorbike. I felt like Jason Bourne zipping through the streets of a third world country on a motorbike! At the top our guide lead us down the hill through the narrow streets and passageways. This tour is very safe and the company has been leading them for three and a half years. They take the same route and our guide knows everyone! Yes, drug lords may hide in favelas but everyone that lives there has a job or opens up shop. Most can’t afford to live elsewhere but they get by. In Rochina there are four high schools which is not enough for the number of residents.

Everything, even the living on the land is illegal. But, the favela is 75 years old and buildings are just built on top of one another. People tap into the electric poles for free electricity. It looks like any poor neighborhood, but the reality is quite amazing. We stopped at an art studio in case we wished to buy some of owner’s paintings, then we had a bite to eat and off to a local daycare! The children were so cute and the daycare was in quite good condition. From that point we walked down some more and were shown some graffiti that said “ADA” which stands for the drug gang that controls that favela. Again… very safe. Our guide Marcio is an expert when it comes to navigating the favela. The people there are very friendly and nice. The tour company donates some money from their revenue to the daycare from time to time. Even to the local favela residents if they need something like a repair to their house. It’s sad, many children play in bare feet near the open sewers and often contract disease.

Afterwards I walked a bit on Copacobana beach but it was so rainy and foggy it wasn’t that exciting. I had a bite to eat and then took a taxi to the Cristo Redentor monument which is 710 metres high. What a huge statue of Christ! And, gorgeous views of the city. I then took a taxi back to the hostel. Tomorrow it’s off to Belo Horizonte!

Related Travel Entry

• Rio De Janeiro
  Flew into Rio and decided after 10 months of roughing it we could spoil ourselves for the last four days of our trip so checked into a very nice hotel on the beach in Ipanema.Spent a fair bit of time...
• I love this town!!!
  Wow, Jema and I are in a new town, and it is a vast improvement over the stressful city of São Paulo. At 11:30 pm on the night of the 18th we boarded a bus bound for a town called Curitiba. After a 5...
• Ahh!! Vera Venezia!!
  By the time we arrived in Venice, we were starting to feel more like wilted flowers in mid summer than the spring chickens we are. Jet lag plus a packed schedule of almost every waking hour was start...
• Canals are really cool
  It wasn’t a direct train so lots of people came on and off the train during our ride to Venice. There are also two stops in Venice but we only booked it to the first stop. Luckily the train att...
• Slovenia: Ljubljana
  We spent two nights in Ljubljana (lube-lee-ahna), and it quickly became one of my favorite cities in all Eastern Europe. It is a beautiful capital city, compact (260,000 people), and soaking in the a...