Melting clocks and the like

To combat not feeling too crash hot of late I decided to treat myself to lunch out at one of the vegie places on Happy Cow. My body now likes me after I fed it much wholegrains, tofu and organic vegies. Amazing what a good feed can do if you are feeling a bit low. They also have pot set soy yoghurt here which I am very impressed about. And it seems all of Europe has vegan puddings (sorta like a thicker version of yogo) which are very junkie but yummy too.

Also went and looked at a couple of art museums in the afternoon. The first I went to was Museo del Prado which had more old school art, marble sculptures, a few things by Raphael and lots and lots of religious paintings. I was all crucifixed out by the end of it. Not too bad I must say, though I am hardly an art critic.

The second was Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. It has work both by Dali and Picasso as well as a lot of photography and mostly modern art. I was happy to discover Dali does more than melting clocks (melting clocks are very cool, but nice to see a big range of his styles shown) and I must say Picasso is kinda overated. Alot of his stuff is funky and some of the shadowing would have taken ages to perfect. But they had stuff that looked just like his doodlings framed on the wall, just because it was a Picasso. Also in one gallery there were two teddybears tied together and hung from the ceiling, which I really don´t see as art as much as you want to be abstract. Many sculptures that were really cool however and as I said before some splendid photography.

So yes here for a day and a bit longer. Apparently there is a party at the hostel tonight which given how small the kitchen is should be interesting!

Airline woes.

You see the thing is I am currently in Madrid, Spain. And the trip to Madrid was just for a couple of days as a quick stopover before going to Brazil. This is because of my funky airline ticket giving me all these little flights that I may as well take advantage of because well I am paying for them. And I have never been to Madrid before and that is a good excuse as any to go there. But the thing is I am now stuck here an extra 12 hours.

Twelve hours isn´t that much really in the grand scheme of things. However it means I need to find another nights accomodation somewhere. It also means I get into Rio in the evening instead of the morning. I prefer to arrive during the day to places I am not familliar with. It means just that much long to South America.

All in all these are slightly annoying things.

However for me to actually work this out several things had to have happened.

Firstly when I changed my flights in London the girl stuck a flight change thing on my Madrid-Rio ticket, I looked at this yesterday and went hmmm that's no good, I rather liked the flight I was previously booked on why did she do that. So I went to no less than two counters at Rome airport to see what had happened. They suggested I sort it out when I got to Madrid. Fair enough, it was with a Spanish airline after all.

After the flight that was half an hour late and was foodless (as I felt €2 was far too much for a small packet of peanuts) I was in Madrid. I spoke to no less than 5 different people over three levels of the airport (lugging my 17kg pack) before I found out that Iberia just changed the time of the flight on that day and there were no other flights with seats at suitable or unsuitable times before then. And that is just tough bikkies if I actually needed to be in Rio say on the afternoon of Monday.

Which I don't have to, but I want to be.

I am curious as to what would have happened if I hadn´t chaged my fligths in London and just rocked up to the airport on Sunday night as I planned.

That is all.

You should all go to Rome as it is very beautiful and had wonderful food and weather.

Well that is just typical.

It is raining today. How miserable for my last day in Rome!

Went to Santa Maria Maggiore yesterday which is yet another decadent church. However it still has a peacful churchy feel to it and doesn't scream tourist trap in quiet the same way as the Vatican.

The coffee here is good. The pizza here is great. The sorbetto is fantastic. Off to try the pasta now.

That is all. Off to Spain tommorrow.

Poverty, chastity and obedience.

WARNING: If you are of particularly devout, closeminded or brainwashed by organised religion, particularly Christianity you may find this post offensive.

So yesterday I went to the Vatican museum with some lovely Irish ladies who I met at the hostel. There are four of them here to celebrate one of their birthdays and they are incredible lovely and friendly people who seem to have a urge to adopt and feed everyone. Two nights ago they made up a big pot of Irish Stew and roasted chestnuts in the oven and had wine and insisted everyone who was there have something.

We headed out early to the Vatican (the world's smallest country, but no passport control, so no extra stamp). But even when we got there the lines for both St Paul's and the Museum were *huge*. But there were buskers (am beginning to appreciate the piano accordion), beggars, sprukers for local pizzerias and I got to listen to a discussion on Irish politics during the 40 minute or so wait so it was all good.

After finally getting in you get entry to about a dozen different rooms and exhibits as well as the Sistine Chapel, so well worth it for your Euros (which seem to be getting more valuable by the day). Given the lines they must be making and utter fortune. It starts off with the Egyptian gallery. I am beginning to feel sorry for the Egyptians, it seems everybody has plundered their ancient art. Then a room full of Roman marble statues which were mostly of ancient figures and old Roman Gods. Very impressive. Then a room full of tapestry from the Raphael school. And then my favorite...

The Map Gallery. Think a long hall. Think of maps of the different regions of Italy. Think of them painted floor to ceiling fresco style (where you mix paint in with the wet plaster so that it is literally part of the wall). Think of the places on the west coast on one side, and the east coast on the other. A cartographical delight. The photos do not do the room justice (and for some reason there are alot of them). Also the ceiling has some fantastic paintings too and marbled floor throughout.

I likes maps. I especially likes them when they are 500 years old and painted floor to ceiling.

After that there is another room of tapestries. And then half a dozen rooms covered in art, mostly by Raphael. Some depicting the life of Christ, some showing Christianity destroying Paganism, some showing different aspects of Christianity over time.

And then there is the Sistine Chapel. Which I think really does deserve it's reputation. The painting is amazing, detailed and vast. Words really cannot do it justice. You do get a bit of a crick in the neck though! Absolutely beautiful.

Then there is the Library which has more trinkets and artifacts than books. Mostly because the Vatican is paranoid that someone will actually sit down and read the old books and discover that the church has been doing some creative editing over the years. There are some very old globes and star charts too which I found great. Even one of those models of the solar system and had a discussion on if it was the earth or the sun a the centre of the model.

The affect on your eyes and brain is huge. You start to get a visual overload and have to sit down and close your eyes for a minute or two lest your brain explodes from the amount of information it has to take in. One of the people I was with is an artist so she was also explaining the different styles and techniques used which was also really cool.

It is all very decadent, marble everywhere, a little gold leafing and heaps of totally priceless art work.

It is very commercial too. You can buy all sorts of trinkets from about a zillion shops, the most amusing we found was the pin up priest calendar. I kid you not, a calendar with young attractive men in Catholic priest outfits. Which was kinda funny and launched a discussion on "who on earth was it marketed at", possibly other priests, possibly nuns, possibly sweet little old church going ladies. Would have bought one, but I couldn't think of anyone who would possibly appreciate it.

So much wealth.

So much for poverty and chastity.

Also went to the Pantheon which was impressive and interesting historically. It was the first Pagan site to be converted to a Christian place of worship. Architecturally it is amazing. The first time concrete was used in a major construction and the dome roof should theoretically cave in given there is a hole in the middle, but those Romans were pretty good a building stuff I must say.

Been doing heaps of wandering around and around here you can just stumble over big fancy fountains, churches, ruins and the like. The coffee is good and the sorbetto is better.

Rio in less than a week- huzzah!

A walk in the park.

I spent today getting my vitamin D by hanging out in the park. It's the biggest park in Rome and is full of park like things such as trees, birds, park benches and grass. There were things that I occasionally associate with parks like scouts, canoodling couples, families, ice cream and those funky bikes that are like the Proshmobile. It also has things I don't usually associate with a park like the Museum of Modern Art, old statues, the zoo and a copy of the Globe theatre. I kid you not. A copy of Shakespeare's Globe with appropriate seating, open air and made of wood (French forests that have been replanted according to the sign). Was kinda nifty.

Spent the entire afternoon there lying in the sun, catching up on some writing, listen to the birds, enjoying the good weather and watching the world go by. I have forgotten how much I like the weather of a Perth Spring, which during the day at least seems simmilar to a Rome Autumn. But given they both have the same climate type you'd kinda expect it. Warmish days, blue skies with the occassionly fluffy cloud, nice humidity, no more than 29C, but unlike Perth the nights aren't hideously cold. So lovely.

Of course saying this I have tempted fate and the weather will turn. Which means back to looking at museums and art galleries :P

Farewell to old England...

The last few days in the UK were good. I am seriously considering living here, though the weather is frightfully shite. Of course to mock me leaving it was a gorgeous blue skied day and last night was comfortably warm (as in I didn't need to wrap my scarf around my head and put on gloves).

Went out to The British Museum on Tuesday. Everyone said I had to go there, the collection is quiet impressive, really interesting etc etc. Well I must say I was a little disappointed. It's the biggest collection of stolen goods in the world and was full of screaming school children (yes I'm noting the irony that I am one of the people who will be dragging said school children to museums). Had a look at the Egyptian section which was packed and the Roman and Greek stuff which was less packed. Also the section on money where the feature display was on badges which as a badge collector I found really interesting. Everything from "born again pagan" to boy scout badges to really old political party pins. Wandered into the Asia section and decided not to bother, I've seen far more impressive Buddha statues on this trip.

Had lunch and loafed about before going to pick up my passport which now has a visa for Brazil in it (yay!) with a few hours to spare I decided to have a quick look at the Natural History museum. Given time limits I thought I'd just have a quick look through the Earth Gallery and maybe look at the Life Gallery later on.

Well not only is it housed in a far more impressive building but it has a far cooler collection of stuff. Fossils, rocks, a statue of Atlas to greet you at the door. And lots of hands on stuff as well and even more funky stuff involving volcanoes and the like. Impressed? Very much so and rather annoyed that I had wasted most of the day looking at some old pots at the Museum.

I managed to catch up with Bec on my last night (after phone chasey over a week). We went out to dinner and had a good catch up and gossip which was most enjoyable. During the day I made it out to Greenwich to have a look at the Prime Meridian (or where it's officially recognised to be at the moment) and it was funky. Lots of clocks, including a 24hour style hand clock, maps, telescopes and globes. Really interesting. Catching the Docklands Light Rail out made me remember what it was about the DLR that I learnt in class a few years ago. The redevelopment reminds me at times of East Perth, but more so of Melbourne.

So now I'm in Rome, was going to go to Naples but now I'm not so sure. Went to the Collussium today which was interesting to walk around and just took a general wander around the city.

All the leaves are brown...

Despite all stories and suggestions that it was going to snow this week, yesterday turned out to be beautiful and clear. After running around with flight changes (yes again, I know), getting show tickets and visiting the post office (I am very impressed by the British Postal Service, less than a week for a parcel to get from London to Perth) I wandered down to Forbidden Planet, the big SF store. OMG it was most impressive and was conviently within a mere stumble of a dozen or so other book shops and no less than three vegetarian eating places. That's right you can get books, fantoys and vegan cake in less than 15minutes if you paced it right. Needless to say I was rather impressed.

Given the fine weather (fine as in no rain, rather than a decent amount of heat) I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in Hyde Park. A well manicured park with lots of lovely European trees with golden brown leaves all over the place. And squirrels! They are terribly cute were more than happy to carry out their business and ignore the stupid tourist with her camera. Got the oppertunity to sit and lie on grass with autumn leaves all around me which was lovely.

Went and saw Jerry Springer- The Opera last night in the West End. With David Soul as Jerry. Think of the average Jerry Springer show, with all the usual hillbillies, transexuals, wannabe strippers, adulterers and fetishists. Now think of them all singing and dancing in opera style. Think about the usual lines used in the show such as "fuck you", "dip her in chocolate and throw her to the lesbians", "talk to the hand", "three nipple cousin fucker", "whore", "chick with a dick" but sung in opera style with no bleeping. There was even Steve and JerryCam. Transexual angels. And tap dancing KKK members. It was hilarious and suitably highly offensive.

Falling down...

Actually all stories of London Bridge falling down are lies I tell you. Yesterday at least it seemed to be in one piece and looked more blue than being built of "siliver & gold".

Spent yesterday at the Tower of London, home to Beefeaters, ghosts, more fancy architecture and some of the biggest ravens I've ever seen. Although packed with tourists my uncle & I managed to get two short guided tours, one with a Beefeater who was rather amusing and one with a historian who spoke about the chapel in the White Tower. Also saw the English Crown Jewels, which compared to the Scottish Crown Jewels was a bit of a disappointment.

This is also the place where poor Anne Boylen was excecuted for alleged adultery. Given Henry VIII had 6 wives by the end of it I think it's just a wee bit rich of him to go around accusing others of such things. Didn't even have a proper coffin for her, just a old box. I'd come back and haunt the place too if my husband was such a cheapskate.

The ravens are the biggest crows (black birds local to an area) I've ever seen. Incredibly well fed they also have their wings clipped to stop them leaving, but given their size I'm not sure that they would be able to, or would want to fly away. the story goes that if the ravens leave, the monarachy will fall. It seems the republican movement has it all wrong. They should just employ a few members of the A.L.F. to liberate the birds and the next thing you know presidential elections for all.

Ended the day with a curry at the east end of town. Walked past the pub where many of the victims of Jack the Ripper were sighted prior to their demise. Also went to where they filmed Diagon Alley for the Harry Potter films. All in all a good day.

Castles in the sky.

Well not in the sky, but more up a big hill.

In Edinburgh, saying with the best friend of someone I met in the hostel in Prague (because we all know I paid attention to those stranger danger classes). Caught the night bus up two nights ago & spent most of yesterday marveling at the old buildings, cursing the weather and being underground. Did two tours, one of Mary King's Close (as suggested by my uncle) and a ghost tour of some of the old vaults (which was less spooky and more scientific).

Mary King's Close was a small street running off High Street (the Royal Mile) which was covered by the Council Chambers. They literally built right over the street, the result being that many of the old buildings are still there, just underground. So someone has made them safe, did a bit of restoration, wacked in a few wax statues and put some very knowledgeable tour guides in period clothing. It's actually a really interesting insight into the life of the lower and middle classes during the 1600's. Also really interesting to see how land use has changed and how they went about building over a part of town without filling it in.

There are literally dozens of ghost/horror/spook related tours that you can take here. The one I chose went through the old vaults, which were built under the South bridge. It covered different accounts and reports of various spirits in the area, as opposed to traditional style ghost stories. The vaults were inhabited by the poorest of the poor and so have more than their fair share of unhappy spirits, but not all of them. The work done by psychologists and scientists in the vaults were really interesting as well as the different accounts from the tour guides and tourists. Would like to point out we didn't see any ghosts.

Spent yesterday evening hanging out and listening to Canadian/Scottish Punk, which is actually pretty good.

Today I tackled Edinburgh Castle which is a fantastic structure in the Old part of town. Has the Scottish Crown Jewels, a bunch of military stuff, the POW jail (lock up them American pirates!) and has some of the most elegant period artwork as well as some of the most lovely views of the area.

Also got Perthed today. I ran into one of the receptionists from UWA student services in a cafe who's on a months holiday.

Back to London tomorrow morning at some ungodly hour, but this time I'll be able to look out the train window at country side. Still alive, lungs are shot though, playing wait and see.

To walk the fine line between self control and self abuse...

Just got back from visiting Simon Fryer in Swindon. Had a fantastic time! I caught the train up to Swindon on Saturday early afternoon. A bit later than I was hoping but had to deal with medical issues before I left London. Swindon is about a hour on the train from Paddington Station and is home to The Magic Roundabout (amongst other things). The Magic Roundabout is basically what happens when town planners are on acid or other fun drugs. Think one really big roundabout, but with 5 smaller roundabouts around it in the shape of a pentagram. Roundabouts are great :)

We went out to Avebury (place with older stone circles than Stonehenge) for a walk about on Saturday evening then again to look at the museum on Sunday. It's amazing to think that people have been living and worshipping in the same place for thousands of years. The country side is pretty, the stereotypical rolling hills, hedgefences, sheep and cows (go BSE & foot and mouth!) that you expect to see in the English countryside. Also a bit chilly.

On Saturday night we went clubbing. I drank local beer, a half pint. I then had a stolly. And then 5 shots of vodka with lime. In under two and a half hours. No hangover! No depression! (but a weak stomach). It seems I drink much, much more when I am away from Perth (as in I drink, rather than teatotal which is what I do in Australia). It was pointed out when stumbling home that I wouldn't have put myself in such a situation unless I trusted the people (or in this case person) I was out with. And after much sober thought it has occured to me that there are very few people I trust enough to be in that situation (when I am out of my comfort zone, off my nut & slightly flirty) to ensure that they will take care of me. I did however notice the two guys who were perving on me all night (as did Simon) and I still was able to give a suitable fake name and contact details to get them to go away. Thanks also to the nice girl who dragged me out of the bathroom so I could stumble home, I hope she got laid as it was her birthday :)

Went out to Bath on Sunday afternoon and Hay-on-Wye (the book town) on Monday, will go into more detail later about them.

So yes, election result. What the hell are people thinking? I can understand why some people would want to vote Liberal, but who on earth would vote for the crazy right wing groups who want to put us back in the dark ages? What on earth are you on? Can you please leave my planet?

It's really sad, you meet so many people travelling. Some of them have been really nice people, who also happen to be from the United States. It's really sad to see people who are ashamed and embarrassed by their own country and the mentality of the people in it. I don't want to be like that.

Embassy

Today after crawling out of bed (or should that be couch?) I went down to Australia House (our embassy/consulate thingy) to vote. The line was halfway down the block so had to wait about half an hour before getting inside. During this time I was given a flyer for the play Cosi (which happens to be one of my favourites) and was harrassed by people from the major political parties. I go to the other side of the planet to vote and I still have to put up with how-to-vote cards and flyers. I politely told them I had already decided (well I did have a nice chat with the man from the Greens, but can you blame me?). This is an improvement on what I said to a Liberal campaigner a few years ago who asked me (whilst waring my nursing uniform) would I vote for John Day who the previous week had blamed the nursing and hospital crisis on nurses, my response wasn't very repeatable. This year there seems to be heaps of right wing, anti choice, religious nut jobs that just had to be put below all the other parties meaning that the two major parties were about halfway down my senate form rather than at the bottom.

The security wasn't as tight as at Singapore, but still a closed road and police with guns. They let me take my camera in and didn't ask for ID. There is a funky sculptor as part of the building of a naked man and some horses. I have decided that this is someone who has gotten sloshed on Melbourne Cup Day and is streaking before the race in a fine example of Australian sportsmanship.

I then hiked out the the Brazilian Embassy to sort out my visa. After waiting 15 minutes I was told that I had to go to the Consulate. Of course it was about 40 minute walk in the direction I had just come. So I hiked back. By then it was after 4pm so they were closed. I would like to thank the nice security guard who ran upstairs and got me a form anyway. So, yes more paperwork. Though on the upside I did get to walk through Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Regent Street and other places found on the Monopoly board. Also walked along the Thames and saw Big Ben and Dowing Street (which you can't actually go down) too. Some very pretty old buildings.

Tommorrow I am going out to Swindon to vist Fryers for a few days which should be fun. I hope my cough goes away. All of you going to Wastelands, I hope it's a riot of a weekend and you better be having fun and creating gossip you can tell me about. I demand gossip! Seriously though, I do appreciate the occassional email, it's nice to hear from people.

Looking forward.

In London, flight delayed for over an hour on the runway as they reorganised cargo. My meal was pitiful (okay so having flown Cathy Pacific, I now have really big expectations of airline food), but the nice french men next to me gave me their fruit cup things (well they had pasties, cake, chocolate, fruit and salad and I had stewed fruit and a tiny bit of carrot and cucumber). It is alot colder here than in Prague. I am worried about a few health things that don't seem 100% Got grilled at the airport by immigration (like how am I supposed to know which company my uncle and all my friends who live in the UK work for?)

But I am in London! Yay!

And best of all the IVU Congress program is up here.

Prague.

Well I'm in Prague which was the city everyone said "You have to go there, it's really amazing/cool/funky/pretty." I must say that they were right. There is some fantastic architecture here, though it is insanely touristy. Also they have street art similar to the lions in Singapore, but instead with different painted Cow statues.

Helsinki (aka Nokialand- yes I saw it advertised like that!) was great, I really liked it, got a few nice clear, but still cold, days which were lovely to walk around in. Went to the City Museum, which had bullet holes from one of the wars in the front door and did a self guided walking tour, the details for which I got from the uber friendly information centre people. The market square was lovely, lots of food, fish (including a lady selling it straight off her boat), furs and crafts. On the last day the girl I was sharing a dorm with, Laura, one of her friends and I went for a walk to a flea market where there was a distinct lack of fleas but still pretty fun.

Also spent a day in Tallinn. The old part of Tallinn is a sweet medieval town (nothing new has been built in about 400 years or so). It's really great with turrents, cobbled winding lanes, big fancy churches and a town square. Lots of little stores selling handy crafts like pottery and woolen hats.

Having a great time in Prague, the hostel I'm staying at is really friendly and I'm finally getting over the sore throat/lung problem after reluctantly starting antibiotics. It's alot easier to take them when you are told you aren't allowed out of hospital until you do, rather than having to make the choice yourself thinking "oh I'll just give it another day..." Drank "young wine" the name of which I forget but it was really thick with the consistency of juice, but tasted like a very sweet wine yesterday. Went to the Museum of Sex Machines which had really old porn, a big display on corsets, old style peepshow box and a bondage room to name just a few of the interesting things. Also one of the guys who works at the hostel took a few of us for a long walk to see stuff yesterday, which was really nice as it was his day off. We went up to the castle and back across Charles Bridge and a few other places too.

So yes, alive, well and having fun. Also found a place selling vegan central European pastries. Hmm, cake...

Just a quickie

Currently in Prague, still alive (though it doesn't feel like it at times), Helsinki was great, ditto Tallinn, will write more later about them. Having issues with gmail at this hostel so if you need me you can get me via ucc or hotmail or phone.