Monday 17 May - Munich

I'm not sure whether to cry because it's coming to an end and I've had so may good times and have so many treasured memories of new friends and re-found family and friends - or to be happily anticipating seeing Zeb, Pete and Chel and my Shai again, and to talk to Brigit at length as well as Kim, Em and Kiara. I miss riding my scooter too - I hope it's all started and ready for me when I get home.

Arrived in Munich on a rainy and cold day to be met at the train station by Pants - one of the 3 times this trip that someone has met me at the end of a journey (the other 2 times was when Av and Ken met me in Colchester), and I'm surprised at how much it's appreciated. I'm also surprised at how much I really need a good hug and someone to lean on for a short time - so maybe it is good that I'm going home.

I've no regrets about having travelled alone again on this trip as there are possibly more advantages to it that the disadvantages previous shared trips have bought. But there have been times when I'd have loved to have had someone at the end of the day to sit quietly with and go back over the day. To share memories and impressions - and a meal. Eating alone is always the most unappealing part of these things.

Nice medium sized hotel in the area that has a lovely multicultural feel about it with all the Lebanese, Turkish and Vietnamese restaurants around. The hotel itself is a lovely piece of art deco and the room's lovely, with a normal sized bathroom and it's as clean as a whistle. The internet is dodgy as the routers aren't working other than on the ground floor. But that's ok, i've actually met a few nice people and chatted with a few.

Pants and I found a cafe and sat drinking coffee and chatting for a couple of hours (well I did a lot of the talking I think - sure sign it's been a while since I sat and talked to anyone) before heading back to the hotel for me to check in and for him to head home to do the regular Sunday thing for him. All the people I've met up with from my virtual worlds have been wonderful and a real life extension of the friendship I always felt in the virtual world.

This morning I decided I'd explore the city on foot, and if I found a hop-on hop-off I'd catch it. Also wanted to find the Hard Rock cafe that's here somewhere.

I've had enough of churches, but Munich has a fascinating diversity of architecture. Another city that had the crap bombed out of it in WW2 (bloody stupid men again who don't care how much of the human cultural heritage they trample on in their blind squabbling).

There's a central square here called Mariensplatz - and in the middle of it is the Rathaus - the local government seat. It's the most over-the top piece of pseudo-gothic froth you could imagine. It's really awful. Anyway - there's this glockenspiel in the front of it that plays music on the hour and the clockwork figures do a bit of a dance. When I first heard this early in the day, the cafe tables were full and people packed the square to watch. To my utter amazement, when it stopped a bunch of them clapped. They actually clapped a piece of machinery for doing its function. Must admit I had a chuckle.

Anyway, at one side of this square is a beautiful piece of Romanesque architecture in a small but fairy-tale like church. Completely outshines the Rathaus edifice.

Oh yeah. I finally managed to get my seat done and flight confirmed - what a drama that was. The airline office was closed regardless of the sign saying it was open hours. And the stupid phone card I have couldn't get the numbers sorted so I couldn't call - there's not an internet cafe in sight - and I walked for miles looking for one. So I headed back to the hotel and finally go it sorted. Sigh. Seat booked and even though the ash cloud is looming and not looking good, it seems the airport is flying tomorrow so long as you don't want to go to the UK or Ireland.

Headed back out to find the Hard Rock and after a long walk managed to do just that. In the process I wandered back to Odeonsplatz - the first place I went to on my first day in Munich at the start of the holiday. So it's a nice way to completely round off the trip. The pic here shows the banner on the gallery for the Maharajah Exhibition - the one Pants and I went to when I first arrived.

Did have to pick up a small bag on the way back to the hotel to put my overflow in for tomorrow and as I stepped out of the shop the most incredibly beautiful facade was in front of me across the street.

One thing I've noticed in particular on this trip in Europe particularly, is the light and colour that surrounds you in the towns and cities. The buildings aren't all that tall and are often either light shaded stone or wonderfully coloured plaster. As with every city I've ever visited whether it's in the US, the middle east, Asia or Australia each has it's own feel about it, and i can generally associate it with a colour or a texture. In Europe it's not been possible to do this association as there's a lovely natural quality about them.

I'm sure I'll have more impressions to pass on as I spend time going back over this blog and reliving memories and thinking about things, and going over the 700 or so pictures I've taken.

So it's packing the bag for the last time, and preparing to leave all this behind me - while taking so much with me.

The sun came out here in Munich this morning - first time I'd seen it in weeks. Lovely way to say farewell.

Saturday 15 May - Salzburg

I'm still really tired so it's a slow start. Will only attempt to do one site today - there's this quite beautiful white fortress that sits above the city on a cliff face - exploring this is the objective.

It's still overcast though not raining and I actually think the cloud cover is a little higher - still friggin' cold though. Tackle the bus system - which is pretty easy.

Wander through the eastern end of the old city trying to find the bookshop that sells English books as I've nearly finished the third of the books I bought with me and will be completely lost without some fiction to read. Picked up a Bill Bryson autobiography of his childhood " The Thunderbolt Kid". A bit of light humour for the rest of the trip and the flight home.

As it's Sunday it seems the entire eastern end of the town is full of market stalls and it's really lively and crowded. Found the little funicular that takes you up the steep cliff to the fortress and head off to find the audio tour. Took a while to find, and then a while to wait for a turn, but it's really interesting and the fortress itself is incredibly well preserved. Lots of stairs, some winding enough to make you dizzy before you get to the top. But the view is to die for - and if the sun was out or the cloud cover less it would be fabulously beautiful.

The little white palace on the lake I took a photo of yesterday looking back to the fortress in the distance is now laid out below, and everything's so lush and green. Can even see the base of the mountains that surround Salzburg.

As a bit of an aside here, I've decided that when I get home to Melbourne, I'm going to do a post listing all the hotels I've stayed in, and a map of where I went and how.

In most places I've done hop-on hop-off bus trips, but not everywhere. In some places I've just taken a tour or have explored the town centre only on foot.

Ok. Back to the fortress. There's a lovely little old church (the fortress itself dates back to the 11th century, but there are bits added over the next 500 years or so), that's 16th century and a bride and groom turned up with their wedding party. The church itself is tiny, but really lovely. I had a great time taking pictures of doors around this place. It's started to be a bit of an obsession for me, collecting door pics for textures - but there are so many really really interesting ones I just can't help myself.

Spent a delightful several hours wandering up and down staircases, around buildings, in and out of little niches and exploring interesting looking places. One of them is a courtyard in the middle of everything. Just took my fancy, so I took a pic of it.

There's also a display of marionettes here from the local theatre whose founding family have been making the marionettes and putting on operas with them for over 50 years.

Really tired after about 3 hours or so, so it's time to take the funicular back down to the town level. As the Dom is on my way, thought I'd drop in here for a looksee.

It's really unprepossessing on the outside, but oh my goodness, did they make up for it inside. It's incredibly lushly decorated in high Baroque and there are 2 organs. One at the back of the church and one in 5 parts surrounding the altar at the intersection of the nave. And even though it's now overcast and drizzly outside, there's still a lot of light in here. I can only imagine what it's like on a beautiful clear and sunny day.

After this I had to walk past the Residenz so went in to see the floor of rooms the Archbishop Princes used. Very beautiful and so many really nice doors. There's a saying about Salzburg "if it isn't Baroque don't fix it" and it's sooo true. It's as if Baroque was invented and at it's height here. So many cupids and stucco vines and twirling bits and... and... and....

I'm really glad I decided to make the time to come here - it's a lovely little city, the people are friendly and happy and the whole place seems so alive.

I was supposed to go to a Mozart concert dinner tonight, but I was so exhausted when I got up this morning after not sleeping well that I cancelled the booking. By the end of the day, I was exceedingly grateful I did.

The cafe in the hotel made a delicious pizza and salad for me, washed down with a pot of tea, and it's off to bed as tomorrow is an early start on the last bit of my journey. Munich again to round off what's been the best trip I've ever taken, and one that will not be equalled I'm sure.

Friday 14 May - Salzburg

Got to say it here - Salzburg is one of the jewels of Europe I'm sure as far as cities is concerned. Not that it would be even called a city in Australia, as there are only just over 100,000 residents here. Probably at least 5 times that number of visitors though.

The view from my hotel room this time

It's really pretty, and hard to decide whether the old part or the 'new' part is the best as they both have their own charm. Of course it's the birthplace of the Mozart of "The Magic Flute" fame - the favourite Salzburger.

Was totally whacked when I woke up this morning - to the point where I almost fell asleep at breakfast. Body is tired, but it will keep up for a few more days I'm sure. So I headed out for a walk up the road from the hotel to get my bearings. Found a great little bar/cafe and had some wonderful Austrian cooking for lunch, then headed back to the hotel to be collected for a tour of the main points of Salzburg. Today is a public holiday here for some reason and there's a huge festival happening in the old city from mid-afternoon on, so traffic's crazy. On top of that the Salzburg soccer (football) team just won the Austrian final and there's a huge 'do' on this evening in the main old town square to laud the lads. Oh, and tomorrow is the Salzburg Marathon, which ends in the old town. So all-in-all it's going to be a nutsoid couple of days.

Anyway, the tour wound its way (small van with 8 of us onboard) through the traffic-jammed streets of the old and new towns, and out into the countryside where we visited a couple of palaces. One with the most lovely and peaceful lake in front of it, and the fortress above the old town in the background. Evidently the lake freezes over in winter and the locals play ice hockey on it.

Palace 1 with the peaceful looking lake.

Then it was on to another one - sorry, can't remember the names and the relevant bits of paper are in my room - I'm downstairs in the public area, so you can just take my word that I have the names somewhere. The second one is all yellow and really pretty. More peaceful gardens, this time with a tiny palace perched on the hillside above them - the Month Palace (cos it took a month to build on a bet between the Archbishop Prince who commissioned the main building and some other guy).

Palace 2. The gardens had 2 statues of unicorns in the middle if you can see them.

I got dropped off in the old town and spent a couple of hours wandering around until I heard the sound of music (no, not the film, though you can do "Sound of Music" tours here cos it's where the whole thing happened). Anyway, the old town is all these cobbled streets, with little covered laneways going off them to other courtyards and shops. In one of the small squares is the house Mozart was born in and spend his early childhood. Nice little museum in the house and learned a lot about the man himself, his sister and his mum and dad.

.. Oh, the music. Yes, so why music? Well of course it's the festival (an annual thing evidently). First there was the pounding sound coming from the huge speakers attached to a huge black Red Bull promo van. Then I saw the square with a huge stage set up at one end and massive screens either side of the square and the stage.

The zydeco/reggae band

Wandered around the opposite side of Mozart square and heard yet more music, but this time it sounded live, not canned. And I was right - a couple of guys with guitars playing some wicked blues. Listened to them for a while and then went off to find the source of more music in another direction. Came across a larger band of blokes playing a cross between Zydeco and Reggae that had the crowd bopping and smiling - everyone was smiling and found I was too. These guys were having a great time and it spilled over to the audience. Hung out and listened to them for half an hour or so then went to see if there was anything else - and found a duo out front of the Irish Pub (yes there's one in every city). One guy was Irish, the other an Aussie and the music was all oh, so familiar. Made me a combination of homesick, familiar and happy.

By this time I'd done as you're always told when a kid - if you want to know, ask a policeman. What was going on in the area that seemed to be the main stage and when was it scheduled to kick off.

This was where the soccer team thing was happening and it started at 7:30, so I had decided to hang around until it happened as it looked to be fun.

The square before the festivities started

So glad I did. Lots of hundreds of Salzburg soccer fans all went nuts when they eventually bought out the team - was really cool to see. This tiny city had won the equivalent of the AFL Grand Final. They had good cause to be happy, and happy they were in spades. For those who have no idea what the AFL thing is, it's the Aussie equivalent of the Grand Final of any national football game - it being Australian rools footy.

I escaped before the end of it all as I thought it was going to get mad trying to get away, I knew there were taxis just behind me, and it was getting cold and damp (not raining, just like the clouds had decided to descend into the valley).

As the soccer team is driven onto the stage.

So here I am back in the hotel with a cup of tea, filling you in on my day.

Tomorrow I'm going to explore the city some more, and will probably get run over by a few marathon runners. I'll let you know.

Thursday 12 May - Berlin

I went off to explore museums yesterday and to have a bit of a wander through some of the backstreets and byways on the Eastern side of the Spree, then over the bridge to cross to the museum island from the west. Four of the major museums are sited on this island - all are over 100 years old and monumental.

The Bode Museum from a bridge

They're all undergoing reconstruction and repair work one at a time with 2 of them completed, one being the Bode.

The Bode houses an astonishing collection of sculptures, artifacts and architectural elements from the Byzantine and west Roman periods from 3rd to 15th centuries. I've seen a fair bit of this period now, including the exhibition at London's Victoria and Albert (the V&A), which although a huge exhibition, pales in scope to the collection in the Bode. It's all beautifully curated and it was interesting to be able to get behind the altar screens and see the construction of them. You can also get up close to see the detail on the wood, bronze, marble, alabaster and (in one case) wax sculptures which makes a change, as each is mounted on its own pillar with plenty of viewing space around.

The building itself was purpose built to house the original collection and is its own work of art and gobsmackingly beautiful inside, with immensely high ceilings including 2 huge domes, and flooded with natural light.

After several hours happily wandering around and listening to the audio guide at the relevant numbers (really good guides in all the German museums I've found), I headed out, back over the bridge, along the road a bit to the Pergamon. One thing that amused me is the way the elevated train line runs between these buildings. Looks like the modern present really separates the past.

One of the things I'd been recommended to do here in Berlin was to see the Ishtar Gate. What I didn't realise was that the Pergamon was built to house not only this one massive archeological piece, but several even bigger ones.

The building itself is built to reflect the classical architecture of the structures it houses, and has just commenced it's period of repair and reconstruction work.

All 4 of the museums were damaged in WW2 and on the outer wall of the Pergamon, you can still see chunks missing from some of the pillars.

The collection itself is stunning in size and quality. The pieces are the result of agreements made between German archeologists and the governments of the relevant countries around the turn of the 20th century, which allowed the archeological teams to bring these pieces back to Germany, resulting in the museum itself. The structures were meticulously reconstructed inside the building from the recovered fragments and you get some idea of the size and impression they were meant to make in their original locations.

Babylonian market gate complete with Roman statues

You start off by walking into a huge hall where the Pergamon Altar is located - a partial reconstruction of a temple surrounded by a giant-sized frieze of warlike images and the grand staircase. Then you head to the wing that houses the market gate.

After I got over the OMG factor with these massive constructions, I couldn't help the thought that these should really be back in-situ for the world to see, but then the world wouldn't be ABLE to see them for the most part because they were dug up from places like Iran, Iraq etc and in all likelihood wouldn't have survived the present conflicts.

At least here, in climate-controlled conditions, anyone who can make it to this museum can get a sense of scale and craftsmanship that existed up to thousands of years BCE.

Through the market gate and into the room housing the Ishtar Gate and remnants of the processional walk.

It isn't possible to get the entire beauty of the gate, it's the most rich and vibrant blue and gold/yellow glossy tiles.

This museum is truly awe-inspiring in the scope of the projects undertaken to get these structures not only located and uncovered, but in what must have been mammoth tasks to get the structures back from their dig sites to Berlin - at the turn of the 20th century up to the beginning of WW2.

Had a great time exploring these 2 museums and only wish I had the time and energy to explore the other 2 as well, but there's only so much a body can take, and 7 hours of walking or standing (almost without any rest) is about as much as I can do.

So it was a very tired and foot-sore me that headed back to the underground. On the way I found of all things, and Aussie restaurant called Corroboree. So it had to be done - food there - really nice Chicken Tikka Massala - very Australian and a Merlot from the Riverina.

I really like the public transport systems in the European cities. They make it so easy to find your way around. The maps are easy to read, and it only takes minimal assistance to get a hang of how everything works, from buying tickets to locating the S or the U or whatever system you want to use.

I really should look at how the Melbourne system "works" when I get home.

Tomorrow is another travel day so it's a take-it-quietly night - but I've enjoyed my Berlin days, even though I've only managed to get a taste of the city and its life as a whole. Didn't see one single transvestite by the way, nor did I get accosted by a drug-pushing crim. So maybe the taxi driver had it a bit wrong.

Austria tomorrow (via Munich) and Salzburg where I'm hoping the sun may eventually come out (well I can hope I suppose).

Tuesday 11 May - Berlin

Arrived in Berlin and when I was getting out of the taxi at the hotel, the driver announced that this wasn't good. When I told him yes it was a good hotel, he told me I didn't understand - not a good area. lol. Evidently on the other side of the overhead train line is where the drugs are peddled, and on this side the transvestites hang out. Told him I'd stayed in a lot more dodgy places than this in my time and he just muttered as he left.

The central train station is massive and all glass. Really cool.

So - other than the fact that the hotel is full of bus-loads of teenagers and old people - the area isn't safe. Can't say as it appears at all dodgy - but time will tell.

I did walk past a few questionable bars today on the way to get on the hop-on hop-off bus - does a club announcing "leather, rubber and jeans" in big letters outside and a banner stating that it's a gay fetish club constitute dodgy???

lol. This one corner along from beautiful leafy residential streets of quite nice homes. And some not inexpensive restaurants around too as well as a couple of mid-range hotels. So maybe it's not all bad. Anyway, haven't seen any needle-bedecked druggies or overdressed, overacting he/shes.

Did the bus tour all the way today to start with and the first time I got off was to go to the Hard Rock Cafe. Had to be done and the pin and charm had to be purchased. Bit disappointed in the decor of this one though, and the collection. They've only just moved from their old premises a bit further up the road into these new ones, and new they are. Unlike any of the others I've ever been in. All glitzy shiny tiles and glass (http://www.hardrock.com/locations/cafes3/cafe.aspx?LocationID=573&MIBEnumID=3).  The quesadilla was really good though and they make a good macchiato latte. And as always the staff are young, friendly and chatty. They do have the Gibson that Jimi Hendrix played on  the first tv interview he did after the Monterey Festival though. Nice piece of history. Oh and the contract signed by Janis Joplin and others in the Big Brother and the Holding Company - outlines the minimum requirements for the band. Interesting read.

Anyway. Got back on the bus and continued along around again as I wanted to stop at the Checkpoint Charlie site and look at the Wall Museum. This was something always in the background of my awareness of the rest of the world during my teens and twenties. And I distinctly remember being surprised and pleased for the German people and for the show of some sort of  sensical behaviour by the dark powers that be at the time. Since then it's sort of played some sort of representative role in the background for me. Pink Floyd performing The Wall at Potsdamer and all the symbolism in that helped to reinforce the feeling that a very dark and disturbing era was over. Throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s I remember reading or hearing about various escape attempts (usually only the successful ones), and other bits and pieces that are vague.

Checkpoint Charlie and the view to the east

Visiting the museum and seeing the extent not only of the schism caused by the creation of the wall on the city, but on people's lives, and the extend they went to to try to cross over. I know from my time in Jordan and Egypt that the media usually only report what they think is palatable for their "western" audience, and the things people had to go through just to get back to family were incredible. Not only that, but I wasn't aware that as punishment one of the strategies employed by the east was to take away the children of people who were caught or suspected, and adopted them out to politically respectable people.

The view to the west from Checkpoint Charlie

I was also aware that the entire communist dominated European portion of the world was getting fed up with the regime and it's ways and the Cold War, and that the worker uprisings and mass demonstrations were happening. It's interesting to now have the dismantling of the USSR in a single context. This is all part of my contemporary history and putting all these pieces into place and context is quite fulfilling.

Checkpoint Charlie is a sort of symbolic relic from the era as are the remaining sections of the wall. They are a part of the fabric of Berlin and the dismantling of the barrier seems to underpin the unbelievable construction/reconstruction programs in place. I know there has always been a need to rebuild since the devastation of WW2, but the Wall is contemporary and in the living memory of a huge percentage of the population. There is an interesting difference between the construction undertaken in the east during the Cold War period and that of the west. As if the east wanted grandiose and the west wanted the past back.

Overall though Berlin is quite beautiful, and the overall residential building style is the same as in the other German cities I've been to. 5 or 6 story apartment buildings all abutting each other and generally painted in different colours, making a wonderful tapestry of colours, especially with all the springtime green of the trees that line streets and boulevards.

I think Berlin must be the capital of Europe for graffiti. Maybe because it became almost ritual to adorn the Wall with it, but it's everywhere and really good artwork too. There's a whole long section of the remaining Wall that is all art work panels signed by the artist as an outside gallery, but I really liked the entry to this train station, at one end.

Although a lot of the original Berlin was lost in WW2 due to allied bombing, a fair bit has been rebuilt. I also found it interesting to see that a lot has been subsequently built that's reminiscent of previous architectural eras, and parts of the original building are incorporated into the build without seeming to be out of place.

The Gendamenmarkt


There are of course a number of original buildings which give a small glimpse of how truly beautiful and grand the pre-war Berlin must have been. It's no wonder people gathered here as artists and that the vibrancy that came with Cabaret pretty much spawned here.

The Brandenburg Gate

Well tomorrow I'll go check out some of the museums. I've used the subway now and it's not hard.

Oh yeah - it's cool to see the trains above the street like they are in some US cities, but the station buildings are really lovely. Will take some pics tomorrow and show you.

Saturday 8 & Sunday 9 May - Rotterdam

Just a quick update. Slept late today (such a comfy bed), but I may not get to another connection for a few days.

Explored more of Rotterdam yesterday - walked for hours and hours it seemed, including the museums. Thought I'd head south of the hotel then see how I went.

There's a huge development going on in the park where all the museums are located as they're putting in an underground car park, so much of what would otherwise be a very pretty area is a construction site. But I managed to find the path through and eventually found the little natural history museum. I've never seen so many dead birds in my life before - all in one place. If there had been an English version of the descriptions though, the exhibit on canaries would have been far more interesting than it was - as even without it was fascinating that people can be so obsessive over a bird. It must have been almost the primary occupation of loads of people in the mid-late 19th century.

I did like some of the old bird cages though - the big ones. The tiny ones made me feel sad for the birds, only kept because they sang. If I were a canary it wouldn't have been all that inspiring.

The other thing that I found pretty awesome is a complete skeleton of some extinct dinosaur type, but I couldn't figure out what or anything about it, so still none the wiser. And the butterfly collection is really pretty. Never ceases to amaze me the diversity in the humble butterfly.

Then headed next door to the art gallery. One question. Is it part of the brief for designers of modern public display buildings that they be as confusing as possible for visitors. Every time I go into one that's in any way modern, I get completely lost as they seem to go around and around themselves and double back and end in dead-ends. Sigh. Fascinating exhibition of a photo journalist whose name escapes me. He photographed Castro, Picasso, Corbusier, Sadat and so many other prominent people as well as war zones all over from the 1950s to fairly recently. All his press passes and flight tickets were there too, he must have made a decision early in his career to keep them as mementos. Good call.

Other than that, the lighting in the gallery was appalling (strip lights way overhead) and reflected badly on a lot of the glass or gloss finishes making it impossible to see some of the images unless you got up to their level - not easy when you're 5ft tall and the images are 6ft up the wall.

The collection of really incredible paintings from the 15th to 18th centuries is huge, but again, the lighting made it really hard to get any sense of appreciation - and their sheer number meant you couldn't really see them all.

Oh another question. I carry a bag that has multiple carrying options - it's highly convenient and useful. In some galleries/museums you can't carry a bag at all, in some you can take your bag, but can't leave it in a cloak room as you have your personal belongings in it. In others you go through a security check, then all's fine.

So, I have this bag. In places you can't take a backpack, I have to either use the shoulder strap, or the hand strap. As soon as I put it on my back I get pounced on by the 'guards' and told "You can't have it here - it's a backpack". Me "but you watched me take it off my shoulder and put it onto my back. It was ok before". " Yes. You can put it back on the shoulder strap to carry it or you have to put it in the locker". Makes absolutely no sense to me.  Then there's another anomaly. Some places (in other cities) you can leave stuff in a cloakroom. If it was a normal backpack, I could leave it regardless of what's in it. But it's multi-functional, so I can't leave it because I was carrying it or wearing it as a shoulder bag and it has personal stuff in. Why is it purposely so damned confusing? I have no idea. I understand security needs, but really - this gets laughable.

Anyway. After the museums I continued my walk past some place advertising sex shows, and some questionable hotels. Then there in the middle of it all is The Seaman House (I kid you not and obviously a stopover place for mariner types as we're really close to the dock area). But it struck me as particularly funny given the surrounding businesses.

The dock area has heaps of huge yacht type boats, mainly old wooden varieties and quite pretty, then a little further along and across the other side of the river is the cruise ship dock and lo and behold, the same cruise ship I'd seen in Southampton was docked there. Is it following me??? teehee.

I really like how there's a lot of really modern buildings, but all with a sense of purpose and as everything is spaced out you can really appreciate the design of each rather than have them all blend into each other as you do in most cities.

Further around along a waterfront cafe area and on into the main shopping area and the beginnings of a Saturday throng of locals. I like the feel of Rotterdam. I don't feel rushed or stressed or the need to do anything strenuous. Back to have something to eat late afternoon in the same area I came to yesterday which is very quaint and has a heap of cafes.

By the time I got back to the hotel I was really tired and looking forward to a restful evening. Seem to be needing more of these as the trip has progressed. I think I'm tiring more easily or maybe just getting tired as a matter of course.

Slept for 10 hours and woke up feeling really good. Spent some time online and phoned Zeb. Was wonderful to hear her voice. I miss you all.

Met up with Dawny and KLee and spent a really good afternoon. We wandered through the Beurstraverse and had lunch in the dining/cafe area of a department store. Great idea, you can choose whatever you want from any of the specialist kiosks and you pay for it before heading to a table. Loads of really yummy "good-for-you" food to choose from.

We talked and talked about everything from birthday restaurant surprises to virtual worlds - from kids to "what got me into computers". Again, it was as if I'd known both of them since forever and easy to talk and laugh. Thank you both for adding a creamy icing to my stay here. I enjoyed getting to know you both better and it's always good to give and get a hug in real life, instead of just wishing huggles.

Now I have to organise somewhere to stay in Berlin from tomorrow night. It's come around faster than I thought, and I've not done that yet.

Saturday 7 May - Rotterdam

Yes, yes. I know I had intended to go to Amsterdam, but the price of hotels there is ridiculous and on reading about the city and doing some research on the Netherlands generally, Rotterdam appealed to me more. And I got a great deal on a 4-star hotel (even cheaper than the hostel/hotel I'd been staying at in Cologne).

Took some pics from the room balcony of the garden, and it's lovely to hear all the birds and he ducks.

Went for a wander in the rain (it's really light and you can still get around in it - not like the deluges we get in Melbourne). Seems I'm right across the road to the centre for shops, cafes, bars, clubs and generally pretty much most of the 'life' around town.

Then in the other direction I'm also close to all the museums, and off another direction isn't all that far from the docks area. So all-in-all I think I picked good again. Gotta love the Laterooms.com website. i've been using the to book accommodation all along.

Found a great little bar to sit and have a beer and an excellent salad - old art nouveau pub with different levels for seating areas. Frankfurt has a quite nice feeling to it - vibrant and alive, though I think that may have something to do with the fact there's construction work going on on a fairy big scale right as you come out of central station, so the first impression you get is of new things emerging.

Well off to explore the museums today - tomorrow afternoon I'll be meeting up with Dawny from OL which will be delightful.

Oh yes, I bought another mobile phone when in Cologne to replace the one with the cracked screen. Its good to just have that level of connectivity with the world.

I'll update this in the next few days.

Message for Vanessa if you're reading this. Thanks for the email. I wouldn't have noticed I'd left the pin there (at the Hard Rock Cafe) until I got home and unpacked. I've replied and given you my address.

Message for Zeb. I'll be home on the 19th and I'll be jet lagged, grumpy and tired and desperate for a cup of tea. A hug would be lovely too. Plane gets in at 6:15pm and I'll get the airport bus and a cab home.

Wednesday 5 May - Cologne

It's been a few days since my last update, but a fair bit has happened in the interim. Some good, some not awful but could have been better.

I slept heavily the second night in Lyon - a really nice hotel actually and very easy walking distance from the city centre (old part) and would be even easier if the buses and trams had run on the Saturday. Had a nice view across the river and actually it wasn't all that bad seeing the rain - rather nice actually.

Anyway, I didn't get up until fairly late on the Sunday morning, so I decided to just do a slow pack and get ready to travel as I knew the day would be a bit tiring and long with traveling.

Cliffs alongside the railway on the way to St Gervais

The train trip from Lyon to St Gervais is so very pretty and passes through and past sheer cliffs of stone topped and bottomed with lush green growth. There seems to be a huge plateau level about half way east between Lyon and St Gervais that is a massive farming area - particularly crops and wine. And again there were all those beautiful little French villages with their stone houses and the occasional large manor house scattered around.

At one point we passed quite close against a cliff face that you had to really look at closely to notice the structure built into the cliff. I'd imagine it's some sort of monastery as it would appear to be really isolated. Half of it was perched below the other half which almost topped the cliff, and from the other side has 3 gaping holes, 2 square ones above a huge square 3rd one, making it appear to be a hugely yawning face from some horror movie. I have no idea what it is, but I'd be really interested to find out and may have to do some research. I wrote down the name of the train stop nearby in my little notebook, but then stupidly, lost the notebook the next day, so will take some effort to find out.

Many of the little villages as I got closer to the alps region looked so much like the towns in the Snowys. Same architecture and layout so could easily have been Smiggins Holes for example.

Got to St Gervais and boarded the bus to Chamonix along with about 10 other people. I should have known things weren't going to be all roses when the bus went past the hotel I was to stay at, and continued on down the hill, across a river and finally stopped for me to get off at the bottom of the valley. Great. No way to get back UP to the hotel other than walk, in the rain dragging my wheeled bag (which isn't light by any means by now). I got to the flat part of the road after only 3 stops to get my breathing and heart rate back to normal, and only just made it before my legs gave out on me - was a very hard walk up the road and around a couple of steep, climbing bends.

Eventually made it to the hotel though and was given a pleasant room with a good bathroom and even a bath - yay. Lovely view from the little balcony, clouds notwithstanding. I can imagine that on a clear day it would be incredible. The town itself is so reminiscent of Thredbo or Smiggins it's very very familiar.

Was feeling a little peckish as I hadn't had anything other than a really nice salad before leaving Lyon, so I headed down to the foyer to find out about eating places.

This is where it all fell apart. There is nowhere open in Les Houches because everyone has closed up and gone away for the weekend as it's now out of season and this weekend was a national holiday. Evidently the only place that MAY be open wasn't the night before, but I could try this even though the girl isn't confident it will be open. I asked what my options were as I had 3 nights booked and during that time I would have to have something to eat at some time other than breakfast. I knew it was off season and had considered this 3 days to be a well-needed rest in somewhere quiet. She said there wasn't any other option as I didn't have a car. If I had, I could have driven the 7kms into Chamonix as there were a few places open there she thought.

I went and got my laptop and headed for the bar where the internet connection was and organised with the internet hotel place (liverooms.com) to cancel my other 2 nights and explained the reason why. They didn't hesitate at all which was quite good of them. I then set about figuring out what to do from here, so found a hotel in Cologne and worked out the trains I'd need to get there. Then asked the girl at the desk how I could get from Les Houches to Chamonix to catch a bus. She said their probably wouldn't be one tomorrow, but I could get a taxi to take me to Chamonix for about 30 euro. I asked about a taxi to St Gervais in that case and she thought it was about 30 euro for that too, so I got back on the computer and booked a room in Cologne from the next night while the girl tried to organise a taxi for me. In the end I had to pay 45 euro for a private taxi to get me from Les Houches to St Gervais. So I needed to get more cash - where's the nearest ATM? - well there's one up one way at the petrol station, but that may be closed - or there's one up the other direction a bit further in the village centre by the information place.

I put on my coat and headed out in the drizzle to find not only was the "possibly open cafe" not open, but neither was the petrol station after walking about 2 kms along the road. So I headed back and continued walking off in the other direction from the hotel for about a km, where I did find a pizza kiosk. Starved by this time, so I ordered a pizza and stood around in the freezing cold while it was cooked (no inside place, just a kiosk on the side of the road). Spoke to an English couple for a few minutes who confirmed there was an ATM here somewhere but they couldn't remember where - I wasn't in a mood to go exploring in the dark and cold by this time, and my pizza was ready anyway. So I ate pizza while walking back to the hotel - not really nice pizza either. In fact possibly the worst one I've ever had. Packed my bag and set the alarm as the taxi was booked to pick me up at 7:50am.

I did manage to get a couple of pics from the balcony of the room when I first arrived which was good, because the cloud cover was dense the next morning and you couldn't see across the street, but the taxi was on time and off I went with a trip across Switzerland and into Germany ahead.

There's actually a high mountain behind the hills that are all you can see in the clouds.

Train to Geneva which dropped me at a local station out on the edge of the city. The conductor on the train had told me I could get the tramway from this station to the central one where I needed to get to and get the next train to Basel. It was across the other side of Geneva. No tram, no taxi in sight and the one person at the station behind a glass screen was extremely rude and yelled something that I gather was "we're closed you idiot, can't you see that". Not an auspicious start to my short time in Geneva.

So I headed off in what I hoped was a direction where I might chance on a taxi, and noticed one or two passing by further along the road - with little yellow lights on top. After about half an hour of walking and having asked several people where I might get a taxi - I eventually managed to hail one. Luckily I knew I had a long time before the connecting train departed so I wasn't too fussed about taking the time, but dragging my bag along isn't too much fun, although not terribly difficult unless it's up hill or up stairs.

Geneva central station and I eventually found where the train to Basel left from and finally got on that - phew. Off across Switzerland now. Oh yeah, the taxi ride across Geneva took me over the lake and along it for a short trip, so I got to see the huge water spout fountain which is so much like the one Canberra has in Lake Burley Griffin. Geneva is quite pretty as a city from what I could see also - very orderly.

The train trip was through beautiful countryside with so many small towns nestled along the train line. In more than one place there was a "castle" or a big old church right up against it. All very picturesque though. Several hours later we arrived in Basel, and at least here I don't have to change stations, only trains. Long wait, so I got something to eat and read while sitting on a bench in the hugely steel-arched railway station. I think it must have been completely rebuilt inside at one stage, and that the original railway line ran across the direction it does now from the way the entry is constructed.

Couple of young men were doing tricks with a football (soccer ball for you Aussies) while 2 young girls handed out information to passersby about the Honda cars they were obviously promoting. People watched for a bit, then headed out to the station to get on the train to Koln. Settled in and chatted to an American for a few minutes before the train set off and we each retreated into our own traveling modes.

My mode is to snuggle down in the comfy seats and plug my iPod into my ears and listen to audiobooks. That way I can watch the world go by, but still be entertained by fiction. It's the only way to go .... and the next time I listen to the book, I remember the places I saw and things around me when I heard it - sort of like memory cues from a book.

By this time I was getting pretty bored with the countryside though, and dozed a bit I think - it's been a long couple of days. Through Manneheim, Frankfurt and eventually the train is again passing over the bridge with all the padlocks on it that I talked about on my first trip from Munich to London so long ago it seems now. And the huge edifice of the Dom hoves into view as the train then pulls into the Koln station.

Quick taxi ride to the hotel/hostel and I've already decided to extend my stay here for an extra night so that I can have a day's rest tomorrow.

Nice clean room if a little asceptic - and a nice little bathroom that's not cupboard sized. Settled in then headed out to find something to eat and found a small shop to get a mars bar from, and a little further on is a cafe where I had a huge bowl of the most delicious potato soup I've ever had with a crusty bread roll and some great orange juice. Finally, I feel like I've had a feed.

Back to the room, and it's hot shower, jammies and hook onine. Connection isn't great, but it's sufficient. And so my stay in Germany begins.

Day 1 is a rest day - it's cold and windy outside so it's no big deal and I really need the rest. Spend a lot of time online or working on the Phaedran site after having spoken at length to my friend and web-collegue, Eli. Oh, I managed to talk to Dawny that evening too, and arranged to meet her in Rotterdam on Saturday, as I'd planned to head to Amsterdam on Thursday or Friday for a few days (after talking again with Pants, the only thing to swing me was speaking to Dawny, so Amsterdam is back on the itinerary). I was completely surprised at how fast the day zoomed by and it was surprising when I realised it was 10:30pm already. Always a good day when that has happened.

Woke up this morning with a sinus headache and face pain that little would shift, so eventually got up and had a hot shower at 6am, then headed back to bed and got another 3 hours sleep. Was really hard to wake up fully and I realised I'm still really tired, so I decided extend my stay another day in Koln. My body is completely whacked. Antihistamine and anti-inflammatory taken, along with the usual stuff pumped up my nose and although I still have a bit of a headache, I think I need some outside air. Got a few things I'd like to see in Koln, so I'll see what I can achieve. Not the least of which is the need to buy another mobile phone as the screen has rendered the other one totally useless.

The original house of 4711. There's a clock thing on the top level of the south wall that plays tunes. Was playing the Marseilles when I was there - and knights, horses and other people parade around on the clockwork mechanism

I've decided I really quite like Koln. The people are friendly, and the city itself (what i've seen of it) is very quaint and quite vibrant. The feeling of the place matches too and I found myself smiling today quite a bit. Managed to find a shop that's the equivalent of a JB HiFi and bought a new phone so that's one big problem solved, then wandered through the streets in the general direction of the Dom (I do have a map, and there's more than a random nature to my wanderings mind you).

Found the 4711 Eau de Cologne house (which was on my list of places to go to) and bought some of the cologne from the place it originated - always did like it from when I bought my first bottle back when I was about 14 and working at Boans on Saturday mornings.

Wandered on, in and out of shops and along streets and eventually there's the Dom. Probably the most impressively massive structure I've seen so far on my trip. It seems to be rooted to the earth and a part of it. I eventually found out that during WW2 all around it was pretty well flattened, but the cathedral remained standing. I don't know if the story is the same as the one for St Paul's in London, but there must have been some reason it was just left there while everything else around it was wiped out. The churchmen had removed all the stained glass windows and stored them away except one, so most of the windows there now are the original works and date back to the 12th century in some cases. It's really a remarkable structure, and the engineering employed to build it over 300 years must have been incredible.

Found the next stop on my itinerary, the perfume shop that created the very first eau de cologne. I quite liked the scent actually, very citrusy and fresh, and intended to go back and do a tour of the place which is also a museum to perfume making, but as I had a half hour to wait before I could get to do a tour, I headed off to the Hard Rock Cafe down the road and as usual, got waylayed there, while eating, drinking and chatting to the bar person. Seems her brother is coming out to Aus soon, and she'd like to at some time, mainly for the diving on the Barrier Reef. Gave her my contact details in case she makes it to Melbourne, and told her about the marine national park at Ruang on Flores in Indonesia. ACaDaCa (AC/DC for those not familiar with the Aussie slang for the band) video playing and also talked about how I'd seen them in the pubs back when they were just another Aussie rock band.

Yet another Eric Clapton guitar on the wall along with some easily recognisable Jimi Hendrix clothing, a pair of Bon Jovi's ripped jeans with Union Jacks peaking through the holes and not as big a collection of memorabilia as you usually find. It wasn't as busy either which is nice for a change. I have another pin in my collection now.

I'll head back to the perfume place tomorrow when I also head out to find the chocolate museum (one that makes chocolate, not is made of chocolate). Then I think my Koln tour will be about over other than to find more places to eat, icecream to munch down on and delightful people to chat with.

At this point, I'd like to say a huge hello to everyone who's been following my journey, and thank you for all the emails and online messages I've received. I don't always get to answer emails, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy receiving them.

I'm thoroughly enjoying each and every day of this trip, it's been a wonderful time in my life and includes the incredible times I've spent with many of you in the real world. You will always stay in my heart and thoughts and are more than just a memory of a journey. You all know who you are.

For my family (Zeb, Brigit, Pete, Chelsea, KJ, Em & Kiara) - I miss you all a lot as I also miss Australia, my home and Shai in Melbourne. I'll be home to see you all very soon I hope. In the meantime, I'm collecting little things along the way for you.

Saturday 1 May - Lyon

Not much to say. Was raining today, and it's a public holiday for May Day, which means no trams or buses are running. So sightseeing is by foot only, and nearly all shops, cafes, restaurants etc are closed.

On top of that I discovered when i got to where I was going that I'd left my camera in the hotel - and when I went to use my phone instead discovered that the mobile phone I'd paid $450 for before leaving has a cracked screen and is totally useless.

Sigh - not my day.

Did find the one thing I wanted to see though and spent an incredibly interesting 3 hours wandering through the Musee des Miniatures et Decors de Cinema - you'll have to check out the website for an idea of what it's like. This is the guy who made the miniature of the White House in Independence Day that they blew up, and the latex masks for Planet of the Apes, and the models for Terminator, I Robot amongst others - way too much to list here - check out the website.

Lyon is quite beautiful and much like something you'd expect to see in a painting or an illustration - the old town anyway. It's a shame I couldn't get around much today. I don't leave until after lunch tomorrow for Chamonix, so as the buses are running again, I'm going to try to get to the Musee des Lumieres - the museum dedicated to the Lumiere brothers who started their work here in Lyon and lived here. The museum is in their house. Fingers crossed - and I already have he camera in my bag.

Was good to catch up with everyone this evening in OL and chat. Actually feeling quite inspired lately to get back into building.

Chamonix (well Les Houches anyway) tomorrow. My first real alps - at 2000 metres.

Will add pics as I go.

Some wandering thoughts

Just thought I'd add a bit of a mishmash here of thoughts that have occurred to me as I've travelled around in different places. So these are not chronological, nor are they place-specific. Not in any order either - just as they come off the top of my head.

• The size of food portions in the UK is pretty much equal to the HUGE sized portions you get served up in the US. Have no idea why this is so and I've spoken to a few people about it who have also noticed the phenomenon. All agree that it's a relatively recent development, but is gaining momentum and probably more than contributes to the equal gain in the national waistline average. Asking for child-sized portions helps to get around it, or just ask for the soup.

• Salads in the UK comprise only Ice lettuce (none of the great lettuce varieties I'm used to in Aus), and probably 2 slices of tomato - that's it. Very disappointing as I love salads that have variety and taste (without relying on various dressings to provide said taste).

• Even menus supposedly in English in French restaurants are predominantly in French, so there's little chance of trying to work out the meaning of the French words for food, which can then be used to order in restaurants which don't offer an English menu. And as a lot of food items have a different French word than the English one, it can be daunting and limiting if you're not wildly adventurous with what you're going to eat. I tend to stick with things I can at least recognise and have some idea that I will enjoy, rather than be served a meal that doesn't appeal to my palette, is therefore a waste of money and leaves me still needing to eat.

• Bathrooms in most of the less expensive (but not necessarily low end of the market) hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs tend to be little more than cupboards, and I will never complain about the size (or lack thereof) of my shower at home again, as it's bigger than most of the shower stalls I've encountered. Also, having such huge single tap mixer controls, and usually a dangling, in-the-way, flexible pipe from the shower head to the control, means that even for someone small as me you can't lean over to pick up the shampoo, but have to bend down from the knees. And even then so many times, I knocked the control and either got hit with an extra hot or extra cold couple of seconds of water before I could readjust it. Very annoying.

• Very few train stations, even in major centres, accommodate people carting suitcases. This was especially the case in the London underground, though I know they're sorting it out with the upgrades. I was also not alone with having a big traveling bag and so many people struggling up a couple of flights of quite steep stairs makes one wonder why there's not at least a small side ramp up which to wheel bags. Going down isn't an issue as you can just set the bag on it's way down in front of you if it's wheeled. Luckily, in the UK, someone always helped out. Not the case in France however. There you have to fend for yourself regardless of how much of a struggle it is.

• No-one makes a good cup of tea like the English do - the French really suck at it and you can't get a pot of tea made with tea leaves anywhere - just like in the US. At least in Asia you can get Jasmine tea, ordinary green tea or good black tea, and in the middle east the tea is equally good so long as you remember to stipulate NO SUGAR unless you like a lot of it in your tea.

• You can drink the water from the taps in UK and in France. Not something I've ever been game to do in Asia or the middle east, but did in the US. Now when you consider that the UK use recycled water in their potable supply, that's something of a leap of faith for me - but no ill effects had at all.

• The English REALLY like their heating. I was slowly steamed in so many places and removing layers of clothes while the English were still rugged up in their jumpers and woolly coats. Completely stifling at times and more than once I felt the desperate need to get into the fresh air.

• Double glazing on windows should be mandatory in all houses in Aus. Great not only for temperature control, but for noise reduction from traffic it's great.

• UK and Europe have these really neat windows that you can open either inward from the side, or inward at the top depending on which way you turn the opening handle. First came across them in Munich when I arrived. Scared the hell out of me as I was expecting the window to open inward from the side, and panicked a bit when it seemed to be falling outward on me from the top until I realised it was supposed to do this and had a stop point. Great for air movement without having the disadvantage of a large and heavy window sticking into the room, as they all open inward, not outward as in Aus.

• When you ask for milk with your tea in France, you get container of hot milk. Someone needs to tell them that it means you want un-heated milk.

• The best hot chocolate in the world has to be in the Belgium Chocolate Shop in The Shambles in York.

• The icecream in France is to die for - absolutely fabulously creamy and yummy. And this from an icecream connoisseur. The best I've had anywhere except maybe for that time we stopped at the home made icecream place near Noosa that was also a Mango plantation - many years ago.

• I don't feel guilty for taking a day out and just doing nothing but reading or playing on the computer and I've come to be very considerate of my feet. They get regular massages and rubs with cream. They deserve it as most days they take me at least 10 or more miles.

• I discovered that i understand quite a lot of French words I'd forgotten I knew (I was actually quite good at French at school, probably from having done so many years of it as a ballet dancer). So picking up the gist of conversation is sometimes not impossible. At times it comes down to thinking how the word would look if spelt, and then I understand it because it's just spoken differently to how I'm familiar. This on its own has been quite an interesting observation for me. At times I can figure out what things like descriptions are in the various museums, on menus, in railway stations. And in the usual way of assimilating a language, figuring out what the words for Exit, Toilet, Taxi, Bus, Train etc are, these all add to a bank of knowledge. Next is to see if the same happens in Germany, though my knowledge of that language is light years away from even the basic French I have.

• Not many French people speak English, but evidently most Dutch and Germans do I'm told - yet to be tested. However, I'm sure a number of Brits don't speak English either as I've had difficulty understanding them at times depending on where I've been. Has been much like in the US. Regional accents, use of language and local words make it almost impossible to comprehend at times, meaning much nodding and trying to figure it out on the fly. Doesn't help that such linguistic divergents are usually spoken so fast that you're still figuring out what was said 5 minutes ago, and miss the whole thing. Felt like an idiot on more than one occasion.

Well that's all I can think of for now - but I'll add to this as I get further inspired.

Thursday 29 April - Avignon

Deep breath - get ready because there are a lot of pics with this one - too hard to do this any other way.

Arrived here in Avignon yesterday having ridden the train through the gorgeous French countryside. You know you're getting closer to the Mediterranean as the countryside gets increasingly more thickly green. Pass by old ruins of old fortifications and castles perched on hilltops, and pretty little stone-built villages.

Avignon bustles - and the first thing you see when you come out of the train station is an opening in an old wall that seems to go all the way around the town (well the centre anyway). I later discovered that this is indeed the case as the town was actually the Papal seat for quite some time before the Vatican, and that the original Papal castle is here.

Crossed over the Rhone on a bridge (one of the Ponts D'Avignon) and to my hotel - old building but completely modern inside - I have a real bathroom for a change (not a cupboard) and a great view from the room (which has a small balcony). The pic here is from the rooftop breakfast restaurant which is above my room.

Settled in and went for a walk back over the bridge into the town. Great fun wandering through the back streets away from the tourists and found a couple of very good little museums. The Musee Calvet which had a load of wonderful 15th to 18th century artworks and sculptures, and a small natural history museum called Requiem. Load of excellent fossils, and lovely old books from the likes of La Perouse including their original collections of plants etc.

Sat in the square to the side of the Papes Palace and drank red wine while listening to the music of some Chilean pipes from a busker and reading my book, then wound my way back to the hotel for a relatively early evening. Have booked myself on a tour of the Provence area tomorrow morning and they pick up at 7:50am.

And so for the reason for all the pics. The tour ended up being 2 tours and so the whole day, but what an amazing day it was too. 6 people in the morning and 8 of us in the afternoon. So here are all the pics with descriptions as it's too hard to write it all here.





The stone-built town of Gourdes where only the rich can afford to live. But it's very beautiful

Les Baux de Provence - seemingly carved into the Bauxite rocks on the top of the hill - there's a ruined castle on the top at the right. But the town itself is steep, beautifully constructed of stone and while it's the most visited village in France, we got there early, before the tourists.

Roussilon is built on iron hills that have been oxidised and are now completely ochre of all its variant colours. All the houses are built of it, making the village a beautiful tapestry of colours worthy of any painter. It's no wonder Van Gogh and all the rest of them loved painting in this region.

The complete Roman arena at Arles is incredible. It was used as a venue for gladiator fights in Roman days, and today it's used for annual bull fights as well as other events - so it's had seemingly continuous use for over 2000 years.


The outer walls are about 4 - 6 feet thick in places and 3 levels high. The size of the blocks of limestone used to build the supporting areas are massive, and the arched walkways inside are engineering feats on their own. A lot of the stairs are worn from so many feet for so many years and wandering around the structure you get a feeling that this building is deep in the fabric of the region's life.






The audio guide tour of the arena is excellent, and there's a room dedicated to the bullfights they have here as well as one for the gladiators which is extremely interesting and informative. I never knew that the gladiators were NOT slaves as the movies would have us believe, but actually specially trained fighters, much like boxers are today.


It's a little disturbing though to find out that in this arena, some of the bullfights held here end in the death of the bull, something I know has ceased in Spain.


The arena itself was built originally to house about 26,000 people, though I doubt it would hold that number these days given the condition some of the areas are in and modern laws on these things.


It's a much smaller structure than the hippodrome in Palmyra in Jordan, but in far better condition than any other I've seen and is in fact the most compete Roman arena there is.

Pont du Gard - defies me and words. Completely incredible example of the fantastic engineering skills the Romans had. This aquaduct takes water from a region miles away and was built to traverse a valley and took 15 years to build. The bit we saw over the river is only part of a massively long structure in all, with the water running along one of the upper levels. It's incredible that such a huge structure was built just to carry water - today we'd build a pipeline and suspend it - or pump the water, but the Romans used natural declination and good old gravity.


I did get a bit carried away with taking pics of and reading all the old graffiti carved into the parapets and walls though. Some of it dates back to the 17th century, and as I know the Romans had a habit of carving their names and messages into all sorts of places, I'm sure there was some here at one stage. It's just worn away now.


The pic I've decided to use here has a simple carved initials and the date 1758. Some of them are quite decorative, others beautifully structured lettering, and others are little more than carved scrawls. There is a common artifact in a lot of them though. They feature what seems to be a stone mason's hammer. I'd love to know what that means.


So now you see why I didn't want to blather on about the day. Suffice it to say that I had enjoyed every minute of it, all in good company, and all with the most beautiful balmy weather.

Tomorrow I again pack my bag and head off. This time to Lyon, then after a couple of days to Chamonix in the Alps and some actual, live, real mountains.