I'm sure plenty of other people are saying the same thing right now, but I'm still going to join in anyway: Obama has won the US election. It is virtually certain now, once Ohio was declared for Obama (not officially, but predicted by everybody) there is NO WHERE Obama can lose, except if he didn't get one of the West coast states, which isn't going to happen. Even if he didn't get one of them, he's been 'giving' New Mexico already which puts him over the 270 number anyway.
So my point is, Obama will be the 44 president of the United States.
In my opinion, what a relief. What a great moment for the USA, and potentially for the world as a result.
It's just unfortunate that everybody has to wait 3 months for things to start.
I'm going to go celebrate somehow now.
Have a good night.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Decision Time
I'm about to board my plane to Washington, DC. It is election day today; people all over the US are voting right now (hopefully...) The general phrase is "Vote", but really we all know that it should rather be "vote for Obama"
And that's one of the few times I'll actually make such a statement.
It's fitting, in a way, that the election is today and yesterday I was cycling around the flood-decimated areas of New Orleans. The biggest thing about it was the way I just turned off the main rode, went maybe two-three blocks and was immediately surrounded by vacant plots. There are a few houses here and there, some fixed up and some falling apart, by the vast majority of the land in that area (Ninth ward) is just empty sections. The house numbers are often painted on the ground in various places because there is nowhere else for the number to be attached.
This is three years after the event. Three years.
Something to consider.
And that's one of the few times I'll actually make such a statement.
It's fitting, in a way, that the election is today and yesterday I was cycling around the flood-decimated areas of New Orleans. The biggest thing about it was the way I just turned off the main rode, went maybe two-three blocks and was immediately surrounded by vacant plots. There are a few houses here and there, some fixed up and some falling apart, by the vast majority of the land in that area (Ninth ward) is just empty sections. The house numbers are often painted on the ground in various places because there is nowhere else for the number to be attached.
This is three years after the event. Three years.
Something to consider.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Leaving California again
Well, not quite yet, but soon.
I'm sitting in Sargon's living room at the moment, waiting for Stefan to arrive for us to begin the road trip. But I won't quite be leaving CA just yet, since we'll be driving around in along the coast and in the parks for the first couple of days.
I'm in California? But the last time I made a post I was in New York. How did that happen? I want to say "ah, the magic of air travel", but that's only partly the story, and to be fair it was over three weeks ago when I last made a post so the fact that I'm now, "suddenly" in CA three weeks later isn't really that astounding.
I left NY on Friday 10th, and spent 18 hours on a greyhound bus getting to Chicago. I quite liked Chicago, especially since a) There was the Chicago Marathon the day after I arrived, and b) on that same day I happened upon a small Science Fair(NextFest, I think) that was being held and it made me think about doing Science/research again.
From Chicago I flew to Seattle, and as soon as I landed there I jumped in a rental car and drove up to Vancouver. My flight into Seattle was fairly late in the evening, so I didn't arrive in Vancouver until 2am. The benefit of this was that it meant I went over the border at 1am, and hence there was absolutely no line. I didn't realise the significance of that until a few days later, on the way back into Washington, when I had to wait over 90 minutes to get through.
I went to Vancouver to visit my Aunty and Uncle and cousins who live there, and while there I finally managed to go for my first "real" run in a number of months - 10km. And I really felt that 10km too. I've got a bit of work to do to get back to where I should be.
I also finally made it to Victoria on Vancouver Island, on my third visit to Vancouver. I felt kind of bad for not going there on my first two visits, but after discovering how long it took I don't feel so bad about that anymore -> 1 hour to drive down to the port, an hour and a half on the ferry, and then another hour on the bus from the port on Vancouver Island down to Victoria, EACH WAY. When you add in the extra time to ensure you're not late, etc, it meant that I left the house shortly after 7am and didn't get back until 21:30, and yet I only really had 5 hours 'in Victoria'. 14 hour day, 5 hours actually exploring. That's not a good ratio.
I was in Vancouver for about 3 days, then on Saturday I hopped in the car and headed out to Spokane. I was by myself, so I could go where I wanted, though it also meant that I would have to cover the cost of the gas myself. My original plan was to take Highway 20, which goes through top of the Cascade mountains and closes in Winter time [Google Maps will NOT let you plan out this route even if you try to force it, presumably because the pass closes], however I didn't leave as early as I had intended, and after the extra hour and a half lost going through the border, I decided it would take too long to do that route so I drove a little further south and went along Highway 2 instead. It was still a nice drive, and I saw some nice scenary - I even stopped briefly at Leavenworth, which is a German-orientated town somewhere near the middle of the mountains. Almost predictably, they were having an 'Oktoberfest' festival on that day. They've all the buildings to a strict style code, so one could almost imagine one was no longer in the USA - all the Starbucks and 7-Elevens have non-corporate-standard frontages.
I finally made it into Spokane at about 21:00, a little tired and a little crazy after driving nine hours by myself.
Ok, have to leave pretty soon, so I'll try and be brief(er): In Spokane visiting friends; did a bit of hiking; main museum in Spokane is closed on Mondays, the day I had intended on going. From Spokane I drove back to Seattle, this time taking the I-90 and with a passenger. People had told me that was a 'boring' drive, and the road is fairly straight for quite a bit of it, but there is still some nice scenary, especially around where the road crosses the Columbia river.
In Seattle, as a rarity, a bought a 'Citypass' to let me go to a bunch of places (only 5 actually, but it was still kind of worth it). I paid another $5 extra to finally see 'The Dark Knight' - at the IMAX. It was a fairly good movie, I suppose, and I much more pleasant IMAX experience than my first one - which was, coincidentially, 'Batman Begins' at a place in San Jose, I believe the Science center. After all the talk of 'the disappearing pencil trick' I was expecting it to be something slightly different. Didn't go up the Space needle - that was another $16, and to be honest, I've been up a few taller buildings recently: The needle isn't even the tallest building in Seattle. And despite what people might have expected, it didn't rain once in the 4 days I was there.
I flew from Seattle to San Francisco on Friday night and Sargon picked me up from the train station. We went out just down the street on Friday, which was fun but 'nothing to write home about'. On Saturday we went to a BBQ at Stefan's old host family's place - where Stefan was staying while here, and a number of the old IBM guys were there. It was kind of strange to be back here in San Jose (and especially in that area of it). Somewhere I am so familiar with but yet different at the same time. After the BBQ? We went to Mt Charley's. That was entertaining. I spent most of the night just laughing at the fact we were back there. Good fun.
Now? Road trip, terminating in Vegas for Halloween. That should be interesting.
I'm sitting in Sargon's living room at the moment, waiting for Stefan to arrive for us to begin the road trip. But I won't quite be leaving CA just yet, since we'll be driving around in along the coast and in the parks for the first couple of days.
I'm in California? But the last time I made a post I was in New York. How did that happen? I want to say "ah, the magic of air travel", but that's only partly the story, and to be fair it was over three weeks ago when I last made a post so the fact that I'm now, "suddenly" in CA three weeks later isn't really that astounding.
I left NY on Friday 10th, and spent 18 hours on a greyhound bus getting to Chicago. I quite liked Chicago, especially since a) There was the Chicago Marathon the day after I arrived, and b) on that same day I happened upon a small Science Fair(NextFest, I think) that was being held and it made me think about doing Science/research again.
From Chicago I flew to Seattle, and as soon as I landed there I jumped in a rental car and drove up to Vancouver. My flight into Seattle was fairly late in the evening, so I didn't arrive in Vancouver until 2am. The benefit of this was that it meant I went over the border at 1am, and hence there was absolutely no line. I didn't realise the significance of that until a few days later, on the way back into Washington, when I had to wait over 90 minutes to get through.
I went to Vancouver to visit my Aunty and Uncle and cousins who live there, and while there I finally managed to go for my first "real" run in a number of months - 10km. And I really felt that 10km too. I've got a bit of work to do to get back to where I should be.
I also finally made it to Victoria on Vancouver Island, on my third visit to Vancouver. I felt kind of bad for not going there on my first two visits, but after discovering how long it took I don't feel so bad about that anymore -> 1 hour to drive down to the port, an hour and a half on the ferry, and then another hour on the bus from the port on Vancouver Island down to Victoria, EACH WAY. When you add in the extra time to ensure you're not late, etc, it meant that I left the house shortly after 7am and didn't get back until 21:30, and yet I only really had 5 hours 'in Victoria'. 14 hour day, 5 hours actually exploring. That's not a good ratio.
I was in Vancouver for about 3 days, then on Saturday I hopped in the car and headed out to Spokane. I was by myself, so I could go where I wanted, though it also meant that I would have to cover the cost of the gas myself. My original plan was to take Highway 20, which goes through top of the Cascade mountains and closes in Winter time [Google Maps will NOT let you plan out this route even if you try to force it, presumably because the pass closes], however I didn't leave as early as I had intended, and after the extra hour and a half lost going through the border, I decided it would take too long to do that route so I drove a little further south and went along Highway 2 instead. It was still a nice drive, and I saw some nice scenary - I even stopped briefly at Leavenworth, which is a German-orientated town somewhere near the middle of the mountains. Almost predictably, they were having an 'Oktoberfest' festival on that day. They've all the buildings to a strict style code, so one could almost imagine one was no longer in the USA - all the Starbucks and 7-Elevens have non-corporate-standard frontages.
I finally made it into Spokane at about 21:00, a little tired and a little crazy after driving nine hours by myself.
Ok, have to leave pretty soon, so I'll try and be brief(er): In Spokane visiting friends; did a bit of hiking; main museum in Spokane is closed on Mondays, the day I had intended on going. From Spokane I drove back to Seattle, this time taking the I-90 and with a passenger. People had told me that was a 'boring' drive, and the road is fairly straight for quite a bit of it, but there is still some nice scenary, especially around where the road crosses the Columbia river.
In Seattle, as a rarity, a bought a 'Citypass' to let me go to a bunch of places (only 5 actually, but it was still kind of worth it). I paid another $5 extra to finally see 'The Dark Knight' - at the IMAX. It was a fairly good movie, I suppose, and I much more pleasant IMAX experience than my first one - which was, coincidentially, 'Batman Begins' at a place in San Jose, I believe the Science center. After all the talk of 'the disappearing pencil trick' I was expecting it to be something slightly different. Didn't go up the Space needle - that was another $16, and to be honest, I've been up a few taller buildings recently: The needle isn't even the tallest building in Seattle. And despite what people might have expected, it didn't rain once in the 4 days I was there.
I flew from Seattle to San Francisco on Friday night and Sargon picked me up from the train station. We went out just down the street on Friday, which was fun but 'nothing to write home about'. On Saturday we went to a BBQ at Stefan's old host family's place - where Stefan was staying while here, and a number of the old IBM guys were there. It was kind of strange to be back here in San Jose (and especially in that area of it). Somewhere I am so familiar with but yet different at the same time. After the BBQ? We went to Mt Charley's. That was entertaining. I spent most of the night just laughing at the fact we were back there. Good fun.
Now? Road trip, terminating in Vegas for Halloween. That should be interesting.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
USA USA
I'm in New York (again (again) ). Flew in two weeks ago, then jumped on a bus to Toronto the next day. Following that I went to Ottawa, Montreal, and Boston before going back to New York. Now I'm figuring out how I'm going to get across the other side of the country.
I took a tour to Niagara Falls while in Toronto. It was 'nice', but I've seen a lot of waterfalls before. It wasn't that special to me. Instead of 'admiring the beauty' of the falls, I was more struck by the development that has occured around it, simply because it's something people want to go and see - the number of Tourist crap around - hotels, fast food places, casinos... - all because people want to come and watch water falling over some rocks.
This also lead to another thought - do other animals stop and 'admire a view'? It would seem anti-darwinian for animals that are prey, lower in the food chain, to let themselves be distracted by scenes of 'beauty' (of course, beauty is a human standard), but perhaps large predators. It was pointed out to me that cats like to sit up high on things and look down on a place, but I reckon that's more to observe, than to admire.
I took a tour to Niagara Falls while in Toronto. It was 'nice', but I've seen a lot of waterfalls before. It wasn't that special to me. Instead of 'admiring the beauty' of the falls, I was more struck by the development that has occured around it, simply because it's something people want to go and see - the number of Tourist crap around - hotels, fast food places, casinos... - all because people want to come and watch water falling over some rocks.
This also lead to another thought - do other animals stop and 'admire a view'? It would seem anti-darwinian for animals that are prey, lower in the food chain, to let themselves be distracted by scenes of 'beauty' (of course, beauty is a human standard), but perhaps large predators. It was pointed out to me that cats like to sit up high on things and look down on a place, but I reckon that's more to observe, than to admire.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
New York City Tomorrow
This time tomorrow I'll be sitting in New York. One big city to another.
But I'm not going to stick around there for very long - the next day I'll be heading up to Toronto, either by Bus or by organising a ride in a car, depending on how things work out. Haven't figured out many plans about what to do while over here; just figured I'd make it up as I go along. Unfortunately it's a little more difficult in the US (or perhaps just expensive) to jump on a train to another city if I get bored of a place than in Europe. One can do that with Buses, to some extent, but these are LONG journey times. We'll see.
But I'm not going to stick around there for very long - the next day I'll be heading up to Toronto, either by Bus or by organising a ride in a car, depending on how things work out. Haven't figured out many plans about what to do while over here; just figured I'd make it up as I go along. Unfortunately it's a little more difficult in the US (or perhaps just expensive) to jump on a train to another city if I get bored of a place than in Europe. One can do that with Buses, to some extent, but these are LONG journey times. We'll see.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
That Icy Place
Long time since I last wrote anything; getting close to two months even.
Wow, I've done a fair bit since then - including going back to London at least three times (four?).
After 84 days away, I finally flew back to London from Carcassone. It wasn't that exciting. In fact, whenever I'm back in London now I seem to simply be waiting to leave again. Probably because of the lack of home and job thing.
I'm not sure what I should write about.
I went to Iceland, for 10 days. That was pretty fun, though it rained quite a bit, and it was rather cold, especially for summer. It surprised me somewhat that a country that is 1000 years old can still only have a population of about 300,000. Especially given how much they like to have sex there (so I was told...) - there's not a whole lot else to do. However after spending some time there I can kind of understand why people don't stick around - it's a really beautiful place - like New Zealand taken to the extreme, except no trees. But Summer is pretty shitty (for Summer), and I imagine the Winter is bloody freezing. I understand why people want to bugger off somewhere else. Given the choice of lying on the beach in Spain or freezing in Iceland, it's a pretty easy decision.
I make it sound like it is a horrible place. It's actually really nice, and I would like to go back there some time and do the whole Ring Road, either hitch-hiking or renting a car with some friends. But I wouldn't want to live there.
Still, it was definitely somewhere 'different' to go. Iceland isn't on the Kontiki route. :)
I'm going to the US in a couple of weeks. Don't really know where I'll go or what I'll do yet; take it as it comes I guess.
Wow, I've done a fair bit since then - including going back to London at least three times (four?).
After 84 days away, I finally flew back to London from Carcassone. It wasn't that exciting. In fact, whenever I'm back in London now I seem to simply be waiting to leave again. Probably because of the lack of home and job thing.
I'm not sure what I should write about.
I went to Iceland, for 10 days. That was pretty fun, though it rained quite a bit, and it was rather cold, especially for summer. It surprised me somewhat that a country that is 1000 years old can still only have a population of about 300,000. Especially given how much they like to have sex there (so I was told...) - there's not a whole lot else to do. However after spending some time there I can kind of understand why people don't stick around - it's a really beautiful place - like New Zealand taken to the extreme, except no trees. But Summer is pretty shitty (for Summer), and I imagine the Winter is bloody freezing. I understand why people want to bugger off somewhere else. Given the choice of lying on the beach in Spain or freezing in Iceland, it's a pretty easy decision.
I make it sound like it is a horrible place. It's actually really nice, and I would like to go back there some time and do the whole Ring Road, either hitch-hiking or renting a car with some friends. But I wouldn't want to live there.
Still, it was definitely somewhere 'different' to go. Iceland isn't on the Kontiki route. :)
I'm going to the US in a couple of weeks. Don't really know where I'll go or what I'll do yet; take it as it comes I guess.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Still alive, but missing a few things
I thought I should make a quick note just to let you know that I'm still alive, just in case somebody was concerned. I "ran with the bulls" on the second day of the running - July 8th. It was fun, but not particularly thrilling. I considered getting up again the following morning, but decided to get some sleep instead.
The missing things are what I managed to lose while in Pamplona. After all my previous travels, and the two and a half months up to this point, I have lost very little, but during those 5-6 days in Pamplona I had my camera stolen, left my torch in the bathroom after showering and then left my pillow (which I've carried around everywhere) on the train out of Pamplona as I rushed off to get my connection.
Nothing major really. I still have all my fingers and all that. But still quite annoying. So many times in the last week I've wanted to pull my camera out to take a photo. I'll get a new one soon.
Currently I'm in St Pierre des Champs, which is somewhere south of Carcassonne in France. I'm here until Thursday before finally returning to London for the first time in almost 3 months (although only for the weekend...)
The missing things are what I managed to lose while in Pamplona. After all my previous travels, and the two and a half months up to this point, I have lost very little, but during those 5-6 days in Pamplona I had my camera stolen, left my torch in the bathroom after showering and then left my pillow (which I've carried around everywhere) on the train out of Pamplona as I rushed off to get my connection.
Nothing major really. I still have all my fingers and all that. But still quite annoying. So many times in the last week I've wanted to pull my camera out to take a photo. I'll get a new one soon.
Currently I'm in St Pierre des Champs, which is somewhere south of Carcassonne in France. I'm here until Thursday before finally returning to London for the first time in almost 3 months (although only for the weekend...)
Monday, July 7, 2008
Still alive in Pamplona ... today
I haven't been hurt yet, apart from cutting my toe running around in bare feet at the campsite. But I also haven't done the running yet. I watched it today, figuring that today (the first day) would be the busiest, and therefore least space to run. I'm not entirely sure that will be the truth or not, but that was the idea.
So I'm going to run tomorrow. Perhaps this will be my last post ;)
On lighter note, I got my camera taken yesterday. Lost the camera, but more importantly the photos from the last 4 days or so, including the events of the opening ceremony that day. Very annoying. Put a bad mark on the day.
I'm going to have an "easy" night tonight - not even going to drink that much...
Unfortunately that means that I'm going to miss the fireworks, since I have to be on the bus just before they start.
I'm sticking around until the 9th or 10th. I think I'll be pulling an all-nighter on the 9th and then jumping on the train to Toulouse in the morning.
Going to be back in London soon (briefly). Is that a good thing?
So I'm going to run tomorrow. Perhaps this will be my last post ;)
On lighter note, I got my camera taken yesterday. Lost the camera, but more importantly the photos from the last 4 days or so, including the events of the opening ceremony that day. Very annoying. Put a bad mark on the day.
I'm going to have an "easy" night tonight - not even going to drink that much...
Unfortunately that means that I'm going to miss the fireworks, since I have to be on the bus just before they start.
I'm sticking around until the 9th or 10th. I think I'll be pulling an all-nighter on the 9th and then jumping on the train to Toulouse in the morning.
Going to be back in London soon (briefly). Is that a good thing?
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Bit of catching up to do
Almost a month since I last made a post. I'll try and at least give a "Hey, I'm just arrived at / left X, going to Y next" kind of thing a bit more often in future.
Maybe.
But I´ve said that before, and I still don't do it.
Here's the overview of where I have been in the last month:
Milan -> CinqueTerre -> Torino -> Marseille -> Nice -> Avignon -> Montpellier -> Farm near St Gaudens -> San Sebastian.
And tomorrow I'm going to Pamplona.
Hey, I've cut through France and am now in Spain, and the last post I made was when I was in Italy. Anyway.
As you'll be able to see from the the timestamp, it's quite late here, and I've had a bit of wine, so that kind of explains the rambling, incoherentness of this post, but I felt that I had to write something since it has been so long since I last made a post.
What I wanted to say 3 weeks ago:
The CinqueTerre was one of the best places I have been so far. I would happily recommend anybody coming through Italy or the South of France to go spend a few days there.
The CinqueTerre, which, as the name suggests, is a collection of Five towns along the north western coast of Italy - very near La Spezia, between Pisa and Genova.
I only spent 2 days there, which was ok but another day or two would have been nicer.
The first day I was there I began by going for a walk along a less-used track to a view point, took a few photos, then came down again and then just went for a quick jog along the "blue route" - between Riomaggiore (the "first" town, from the south) and Monterosso al Mare (the "last" town).
7 miles something. Took me 1 hour 50. Somewhat belong my normal running pace, however
a) It was really hot.
b) There were other people on the track too
c) The track was quite narrow and uneven in places
d) It´s up and down a bunch of bloody Hills!!!
I have a photo of a few sections but I don´t think they really give you a proper indication of what it was really like.
Still, I really enjoyed running along there. Slightly better scenery than my typical "run around Hyde Park 4 times" training runs.
I hadn´t taken anything with me other than my drink bottle, money and a few things to eat, so when I got to Monterosso and discovered the nice beach they had there I couldn´t really utilise it as I would have liked. No big deal, I still sat there for an hour or so before taking the train back.
The second day I had planned to get the train back out to Monterosso (I was staying in Riomaggiore) and then walk back the other way along the path that I had walked the previous day, and spend an hour or so on the beach somewhere along the way. However I figured that I had a bit of extra time so I wanted to do ANOTHER track as well.
Long story short: The train times didn't work out, I must have missed a turn or something along the track I had chosen because I ended up on the main road and walked back into town, and then it took me longer to walk to track than I had anticipated.
The result of this was that when I got to the path (down the cliffside) to the beach I thought I chill out on, I didn´t really have much time left. I started down the path, stopped a few times thinking "This is stupid, I´ve got no time for this.", but then kept going anyway. I felt that I might as well go and have a look, and hopefully I can walk around and back into town a different way.
Well, it was a waste of time, and after spending 10 minutes sitting on the beach going "Hey, I made it here.", I had to get up to leave. Just along from the beach there was a tunnel that lead back into town. But apparently it was a "private" tunnel, and to use it one had to pay €5. At this point it was about 15:55, I wanted to catch the train at 16:18, it had taken me at least 20 minutes to get down the cliffside (Down, remember), and I didn´t really know how much farther it was into town from that point. The smart thing to do would be just to 'give in' and pay the €5. But I'm a stubborn bastard, and I wasn't about to pay €5 just to walk through a bloody tunnel. So I took off back up the cliffside. This is the point where I really wish I had some photos to show what I was doing, however there was no time for that. I literally hauled myself up the cliff, then sprinted off along the path and back into town. Once in town, I had to get to the train station, which was conveniently on the other side, and down about a thousand steps (ok, maybe it was more like 300 or something, I don't know. I remember running up them was pretty hard the previous day. Running down was 'easy' but still took some time). I was just coming along the finally stretch as the train was pulling into the platform. I had heaps of time.
Why was I rushing to catch the train? The typical story of public transport, of course - hurry up and wait. I had to get back to pick up my bag, so I could get the train at 17:00 back to La Spezia so that I could then sit for an hour to wait for my train to Torino.
Travelling is fun.
Definitely bed time for me now. Off to Pamplona tomorrow. If you don´t hear from me within the next week or so then it means that I have been gored to death by a bull (either that or drowned in pool of sangria / own vomit). I've got at least the first two runs, and I've basically resigned my camera to whatever fate shall befall it while carrying it around for the second one, after using the first as "training".
Maybe.
But I´ve said that before, and I still don't do it.
Here's the overview of where I have been in the last month:
Milan -> CinqueTerre -> Torino -> Marseille -> Nice -> Avignon -> Montpellier -> Farm near St Gaudens -> San Sebastian.
And tomorrow I'm going to Pamplona.
Hey, I've cut through France and am now in Spain, and the last post I made was when I was in Italy. Anyway.
As you'll be able to see from the the timestamp, it's quite late here, and I've had a bit of wine, so that kind of explains the rambling, incoherentness of this post, but I felt that I had to write something since it has been so long since I last made a post.
What I wanted to say 3 weeks ago:
The CinqueTerre was one of the best places I have been so far. I would happily recommend anybody coming through Italy or the South of France to go spend a few days there.
The CinqueTerre, which, as the name suggests, is a collection of Five towns along the north western coast of Italy - very near La Spezia, between Pisa and Genova.
I only spent 2 days there, which was ok but another day or two would have been nicer.
The first day I was there I began by going for a walk along a less-used track to a view point, took a few photos, then came down again and then just went for a quick jog along the "blue route" - between Riomaggiore (the "first" town, from the south) and Monterosso al Mare (the "last" town).
7 miles something. Took me 1 hour 50. Somewhat belong my normal running pace, however
a) It was really hot.
b) There were other people on the track too
c) The track was quite narrow and uneven in places
d) It´s up and down a bunch of bloody Hills!!!
I have a photo of a few sections but I don´t think they really give you a proper indication of what it was really like.
Still, I really enjoyed running along there. Slightly better scenery than my typical "run around Hyde Park 4 times" training runs.
I hadn´t taken anything with me other than my drink bottle, money and a few things to eat, so when I got to Monterosso and discovered the nice beach they had there I couldn´t really utilise it as I would have liked. No big deal, I still sat there for an hour or so before taking the train back.
The second day I had planned to get the train back out to Monterosso (I was staying in Riomaggiore) and then walk back the other way along the path that I had walked the previous day, and spend an hour or so on the beach somewhere along the way. However I figured that I had a bit of extra time so I wanted to do ANOTHER track as well.
Long story short: The train times didn't work out, I must have missed a turn or something along the track I had chosen because I ended up on the main road and walked back into town, and then it took me longer to walk to track than I had anticipated.
The result of this was that when I got to the path (down the cliffside) to the beach I thought I chill out on, I didn´t really have much time left. I started down the path, stopped a few times thinking "This is stupid, I´ve got no time for this.", but then kept going anyway. I felt that I might as well go and have a look, and hopefully I can walk around and back into town a different way.
Well, it was a waste of time, and after spending 10 minutes sitting on the beach going "Hey, I made it here.", I had to get up to leave. Just along from the beach there was a tunnel that lead back into town. But apparently it was a "private" tunnel, and to use it one had to pay €5. At this point it was about 15:55, I wanted to catch the train at 16:18, it had taken me at least 20 minutes to get down the cliffside (Down, remember), and I didn´t really know how much farther it was into town from that point. The smart thing to do would be just to 'give in' and pay the €5. But I'm a stubborn bastard, and I wasn't about to pay €5 just to walk through a bloody tunnel. So I took off back up the cliffside. This is the point where I really wish I had some photos to show what I was doing, however there was no time for that. I literally hauled myself up the cliff, then sprinted off along the path and back into town. Once in town, I had to get to the train station, which was conveniently on the other side, and down about a thousand steps (ok, maybe it was more like 300 or something, I don't know. I remember running up them was pretty hard the previous day. Running down was 'easy' but still took some time). I was just coming along the finally stretch as the train was pulling into the platform. I had heaps of time.
Why was I rushing to catch the train? The typical story of public transport, of course - hurry up and wait. I had to get back to pick up my bag, so I could get the train at 17:00 back to La Spezia so that I could then sit for an hour to wait for my train to Torino.
Travelling is fun.
Definitely bed time for me now. Off to Pamplona tomorrow. If you don´t hear from me within the next week or so then it means that I have been gored to death by a bull (either that or drowned in pool of sangria / own vomit). I've got at least the first two runs, and I've basically resigned my camera to whatever fate shall befall it while carrying it around for the second one, after using the first as "training".
Monday, June 9, 2008
Milano on a Monday
Well, I didn't really think about it ahead of time, but I've got one day in Milan, and it is a Monday. In Italia, generally, museums are shut on Mondays. Apparently there's some quite interesting places to go here - like a science museum with modern recreations of Da Vinci machines. Ok, so things I might find interesting, perhaps not other people.
The Cathedral is open, though. So I went in there, then paid to go up the top - that's kind of a standard theme in these Italian cities - go into the Cathedral (Duomo) and then pay to go up either the top of the dome or the bell tower (campanile). The Cathedral in Milan is an oddity because it doesn't have a belltower. Took a bunch of photos (a lot, seriously), though they, of course, would look much nicer on a better camera.
The good news: FREE INTERNET!!! I found a City-run place that has free internet for the purposes of e-mailing,job searching, education, etc. So ... I could spend my time here instead, but that would be kind of silly. Especially when it's so sunny outside.
Oh, in addition to having my one day in Milan on the closed-day, I'm also going to be travelling right before the game tonight starts (Italy Vs Netherlands). I might just be able to get to the hotel, check-in and find a bar in time, but it will be close.
The Cathedral is open, though. So I went in there, then paid to go up the top - that's kind of a standard theme in these Italian cities - go into the Cathedral (Duomo) and then pay to go up either the top of the dome or the bell tower (campanile). The Cathedral in Milan is an oddity because it doesn't have a belltower. Took a bunch of photos (a lot, seriously), though they, of course, would look much nicer on a better camera.
The good news: FREE INTERNET!!! I found a City-run place that has free internet for the purposes of e-mailing,job searching, education, etc. So ... I could spend my time here instead, but that would be kind of silly. Especially when it's so sunny outside.
Oh, in addition to having my one day in Milan on the closed-day, I'm also going to be travelling right before the game tonight starts (Italy Vs Netherlands). I might just be able to get to the hotel, check-in and find a bar in time, but it will be close.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Round round round, I get around
Since I have last wrote, I have been all around Rome, up to Florence, out to Pisa, and now I'm sitting in Bologna. I'm supposed to be getting out and going to see the museums before they all shut (at 1 or 3, depending), but I've got things that I need to sort out first and don't know when else I'm going to do it - like... find a place to stay in Milan, which is only 4 nights away. That's quite some time really, given that I only got a place here in Bologna yesterday morning, the day I was coming here.
I need to take the time at some point to write about things properly, but I don't spend much time on the computer at the moment [nor do I spend much in my bed; I'm pretty tired right now].
I've been looking at where I might go for the next couple of weeks, and I've discovered that I have many more places I want to go than I have days to go there, unless I spend just one night in each place. But I was doing that in South America and that can get pretty tiring, plus you don't really see the places properly.
I won't do a star rating, but I can give a better idea of if I liked a place or not - or even if I think it's worth a visit. However, that will have to be later, when I have more time.
I need to take the time at some point to write about things properly, but I don't spend much time on the computer at the moment [nor do I spend much in my bed; I'm pretty tired right now].
I've been looking at where I might go for the next couple of weeks, and I've discovered that I have many more places I want to go than I have days to go there, unless I spend just one night in each place. But I was doing that in South America and that can get pretty tiring, plus you don't really see the places properly.
I won't do a star rating, but I can give a better idea of if I liked a place or not - or even if I think it's worth a visit. However, that will have to be later, when I have more time.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Do as the Romans do
I was in Greece for about a week and a half and it didn't rain once (at least not that I remember, so not while I was walking around). I've been in Italy for 4 days now and it has rained every single day.
I spent the first couple of days in Naples. I went out to Pompei and got rained on. Not just a little; torrential downpour, thunder and lightning. But then it would stop for 20 minutes or so, before doing the same thing again. I was intended to climb up to the top of Mt. Vesuvivo afterwards but that idea got washed out.
I left Naples and came to Rome, and immediately I decided that I liked Rome [much better than Naples]. I don't know what it was exactly but the city just felt "nicer".
I'm here until the end of the week then I'm on my "break" for the week.
The plan tonight is to head off to the Spanish Steps Pub Crawl. The metro line stops before Midnight so I don't really have any idea how I'm going to get back to the hostel. Hopefully it will sort itself out.
I've finally got some sort of plan for what I'm going to be doing for some days in the future - basically planned out my time in Italy -> which was required because I needed to figure out how the days would match up with my Railpass. I'll go into details about that when I have more time, but essentially the city list is:
Rome -> Florence (day to Pisa) -> Bologna -> Venice -> Milan -> Switzerland (Zurich)
I spent the first couple of days in Naples. I went out to Pompei and got rained on. Not just a little; torrential downpour, thunder and lightning. But then it would stop for 20 minutes or so, before doing the same thing again. I was intended to climb up to the top of Mt. Vesuvivo afterwards but that idea got washed out.
I left Naples and came to Rome, and immediately I decided that I liked Rome [much better than Naples]. I don't know what it was exactly but the city just felt "nicer".
I'm here until the end of the week then I'm on my "break" for the week.
The plan tonight is to head off to the Spanish Steps Pub Crawl. The metro line stops before Midnight so I don't really have any idea how I'm going to get back to the hostel. Hopefully it will sort itself out.
I've finally got some sort of plan for what I'm going to be doing for some days in the future - basically planned out my time in Italy -> which was required because I needed to figure out how the days would match up with my Railpass. I'll go into details about that when I have more time, but essentially the city list is:
Rome -> Florence (day to Pisa) -> Bologna -> Venice -> Milan -> Switzerland (Zurich)
Thursday, May 15, 2008
What a misson!
I've finally made it to Patra, and have the ferry tickets booked for tonight and Sunday. I'm spending two nights in Corfu. Luckily the times worked out perfectly.
However, getting here today was somewhat of a mission; I don't think I'll have the time to describe it all before I have to leave...
I basically conceived of the idea of going to Corfu yesterday. I started looking and the travel options, and discovered that had I been looking one hour earlier I could have jumped on the bus back to Athens then from there jumped on a bus straight to the hostel in Corfu. Oh, the frustration at being just ONE BLOODY HOUR too late. So, naturally, it took me an hour or so to get over that. I spent the night in Napflio and got on the 08:00 bus back to Corinth, intending to get the train to Patra from there.
While sitting on the bus, I had the thought that perhaps I could get another bus from Athens to Corfu, that might leave during the day so I would arrive there this evening. Several very unsuccessful phonecalls later and I didn't have any information about it. I called the hostel in Corfu and they told me that the only bus was at 19:00, so I was better to take the Ferry from Patras.
Meanwhile, I had disembarked at Isthmus, and NOT Corinth (Korinthos) as I had said I wanted. Somehow.
So I needed to get back into Corinth to get the train to Patras. When I went to Isthmus / Corinth Canal previously I jumped on the bus right near the bus station in Corinth. For some reason that didn't work today. I walked over to the bus stop (what looked like the bus stop) and stop there and waited, and waited. While waiting somebody even pulled over and asked me what I assume was "Where are you going?" I immediately said "Korinthos", since that was where I was thinking I wanted to go. Corinth isn't that far away, so he said, "Ah, ok", and drove off. As he was pulling away I realised that I could/should have said "Patra".... So, I spent the next hour or so trying (unsuccessfully) to hitchhike. Meanwhile buses were coming past, ones that looked like the ones I wanted, but they weren't pulling over, even when I "flagged" them. After about an hour I decided to start walking. I stopped and various bus stations on the way and buses came past but none pulled over for me.
In the end, I walked all the way into town.
The train station isn't actually "in" town, but a little further out. I also got a bus from the train station when I had arrived a few days ago. Looking around I couldn't see any likely bus stop, and asking didn't get me very far, so I jumped in a Taxi. Only cost me 3 Euros, so that wasn't too bad. Turned out that getting the Taxi was kind of lucky, because the train to Patra was leaving literally as I arrived - the guy at the counter started to say "I have no trains until..." then said "There's a train now. Platform 3, run run." I just made it.
Ah what an adventure. But now I'm in Patra, I've got 6 hours until the ferry leaves, but I'm glad that I've got all my tickets sorted and can just sit back and wait.
Rather annoying to waste a day screwing around like that, but at least I've got two days to sit on the island doing sweet FA.
I probably should figure out what happens after I leave Corfu...
However, getting here today was somewhat of a mission; I don't think I'll have the time to describe it all before I have to leave...
I basically conceived of the idea of going to Corfu yesterday. I started looking and the travel options, and discovered that had I been looking one hour earlier I could have jumped on the bus back to Athens then from there jumped on a bus straight to the hostel in Corfu. Oh, the frustration at being just ONE BLOODY HOUR too late. So, naturally, it took me an hour or so to get over that. I spent the night in Napflio and got on the 08:00 bus back to Corinth, intending to get the train to Patra from there.
While sitting on the bus, I had the thought that perhaps I could get another bus from Athens to Corfu, that might leave during the day so I would arrive there this evening. Several very unsuccessful phonecalls later and I didn't have any information about it. I called the hostel in Corfu and they told me that the only bus was at 19:00, so I was better to take the Ferry from Patras.
Meanwhile, I had disembarked at Isthmus, and NOT Corinth (Korinthos) as I had said I wanted. Somehow.
So I needed to get back into Corinth to get the train to Patras. When I went to Isthmus / Corinth Canal previously I jumped on the bus right near the bus station in Corinth. For some reason that didn't work today. I walked over to the bus stop (what looked like the bus stop) and stop there and waited, and waited. While waiting somebody even pulled over and asked me what I assume was "Where are you going?" I immediately said "Korinthos", since that was where I was thinking I wanted to go. Corinth isn't that far away, so he said, "Ah, ok", and drove off. As he was pulling away I realised that I could/should have said "Patra".... So, I spent the next hour or so trying (unsuccessfully) to hitchhike. Meanwhile buses were coming past, ones that looked like the ones I wanted, but they weren't pulling over, even when I "flagged" them. After about an hour I decided to start walking. I stopped and various bus stations on the way and buses came past but none pulled over for me.
In the end, I walked all the way into town.
The train station isn't actually "in" town, but a little further out. I also got a bus from the train station when I had arrived a few days ago. Looking around I couldn't see any likely bus stop, and asking didn't get me very far, so I jumped in a Taxi. Only cost me 3 Euros, so that wasn't too bad. Turned out that getting the Taxi was kind of lucky, because the train to Patra was leaving literally as I arrived - the guy at the counter started to say "I have no trains until..." then said "There's a train now. Platform 3, run run." I just made it.
Ah what an adventure. But now I'm in Patra, I've got 6 hours until the ferry leaves, but I'm glad that I've got all my tickets sorted and can just sit back and wait.
Rather annoying to waste a day screwing around like that, but at least I've got two days to sit on the island doing sweet FA.
I probably should figure out what happens after I leave Corfu...
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Last few days of Greece
In Napflio currently, nice little beach town. Apparently if you ask any Greek person what their favourite town is they will say here (according to the Lonely planet book).
Enjoyable, but not a whole lot to do. I went for a run - which didn't "go" as well as I would have liked.
Trying to figure where to go next. Heading to Patras in the morning, and hoping to catch a ferry either to Italy, or, probably the same ferry, to Corfu.
Don't really have that many days to spend though.
My attempts at Couchsurfing have those far been unsuccessful. I think it would help if I made the requests further in the future, but I don't know where I'll be that far ahead of time.
Ah, planning, planning. A little stressful.
Enjoyable, but not a whole lot to do. I went for a run - which didn't "go" as well as I would have liked.
Trying to figure where to go next. Heading to Patras in the morning, and hoping to catch a ferry either to Italy, or, probably the same ferry, to Corfu.
Don't really have that many days to spend though.
My attempts at Couchsurfing have those far been unsuccessful. I think it would help if I made the requests further in the future, but I don't know where I'll be that far ahead of time.
Ah, planning, planning. A little stressful.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Arrived in Athens
Well, I decided to just come straight to Athens from Thessaloniki. I was considering going to some other small towns on the way but decided it wasn't worth the effort. I would like to get a car/van and drive around that way. I think that's really the way to do it. Have to try and organise that some how another time.
I arrived at the train station this morning shortly before 11am, intending to take either the fast IC train at 11 something or the later one at 12:30. There was no mention of the IC train (another station maybe?) and I discovered that the 12:30 train was already fully booked - and there wasn't another one until 11pm. Seems like a problem, however I was already aware that there were a number of buses throughout the day as well, so, after a bit of effort getting there, I managed to jump on the 12:15 bus to Athens instead.
So I've been here for about 5 hours so far. I've seen the Acropolis briefly, when I was wandering around earlier. I thought I might be going out for a 'night on the town', since it is Friday, but I'm rather tired and will be going to be shortly.
I'll definitely make it out tomorrow night.
I haven't decided how long I'll be staying in Athens. I was originally thinking that I'd stay Monday night and leave Tuesday to go to Corinth, probably spend the night there and then off to Patras. I probably should stick to that, but we'll see.
It's pretty late; I think I should head off to bed.
I arrived at the train station this morning shortly before 11am, intending to take either the fast IC train at 11 something or the later one at 12:30. There was no mention of the IC train (another station maybe?) and I discovered that the 12:30 train was already fully booked - and there wasn't another one until 11pm. Seems like a problem, however I was already aware that there were a number of buses throughout the day as well, so, after a bit of effort getting there, I managed to jump on the 12:15 bus to Athens instead.
So I've been here for about 5 hours so far. I've seen the Acropolis briefly, when I was wandering around earlier. I thought I might be going out for a 'night on the town', since it is Friday, but I'm rather tired and will be going to be shortly.
I'll definitely make it out tomorrow night.
I haven't decided how long I'll be staying in Athens. I was originally thinking that I'd stay Monday night and leave Tuesday to go to Corinth, probably spend the night there and then off to Patras. I probably should stick to that, but we'll see.
It's pretty late; I think I should head off to bed.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Lazy day in Thessaloniki
I've spent today in Thessaloniki doing very little. I guess that's relative though - I did go for a 5-mile run, but since then I haven't done anything. I considered going to a few of the museums but didn't really feel like it.
I was considering stopping off in Litohoro, which is near Mt. Olympus, but I've decided I'll skip it and just jump on the train straight down to Athens. I figure I should probably spend a bit of time there.
No Idea when I'm going to get some photos up. Might not be until I return. That could be a long time.
What do I want to say? I'm not sure. I'm still alive. Yeah. Haven't had any real problems yet - the hostel I was aiming for here in Thessaloniki has been closed done, but there are plenty of "cheap" hotels around. Walking is fun.
Currently trying to book a hostel in Athens. I don't have the luxury of my normal long-winded selection process, especially given the short notice. I should try and make use of couchsurfing more, but again that kind of requires a bit of planning in advance, which so far I haven't managed to do.
I'll have a wander around tonight; see if I can get into any trouble.
I was considering stopping off in Litohoro, which is near Mt. Olympus, but I've decided I'll skip it and just jump on the train straight down to Athens. I figure I should probably spend a bit of time there.
No Idea when I'm going to get some photos up. Might not be until I return. That could be a long time.
What do I want to say? I'm not sure. I'm still alive. Yeah. Haven't had any real problems yet - the hostel I was aiming for here in Thessaloniki has been closed done, but there are plenty of "cheap" hotels around. Walking is fun.
Currently trying to book a hostel in Athens. I don't have the luxury of my normal long-winded selection process, especially given the short notice. I should try and make use of couchsurfing more, but again that kind of requires a bit of planning in advance, which so far I haven't managed to do.
I'll have a wander around tonight; see if I can get into any trouble.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
It is hot in Luxor
Just a quick note as I've got no time left.
Egypt has been full-on. There has been very little time for rest (and not much for sleep either) since the tour started. Today was in Luxor, seeing a lot of temples. I'm all templed-out now, and we've still got Cairo tomorrow.
The heat was almost unbearable today, which didn't help the mood walking around the temples.
Tuesday morning it's back to Istanbul then probably over to Thessaloniki on Wednesday.
I'll try and be more descriptive next time.
Alan.
Egypt has been full-on. There has been very little time for rest (and not much for sleep either) since the tour started. Today was in Luxor, seeing a lot of temples. I'm all templed-out now, and we've still got Cairo tomorrow.
The heat was almost unbearable today, which didn't help the mood walking around the temples.
Tuesday morning it's back to Istanbul then probably over to Thessaloniki on Wednesday.
I'll try and be more descriptive next time.
Alan.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Leaving Istanbul for Cairo today
Don't really have a lot of time to write anything at the moment. I'm sitting on the net in the hotel in Istanbul; my flight to Cairo leaves in a few hours.
Just finished the ANZAC tour. It was an experience, although I didn't like being part of the tour for certain bits - I definitely would have preferred to have had more of my own time, and I wouldn't have chosen to do certain things.
The night in ANZAC cove wasn't as cold as people were predicting, but the temperature did drop. The dawn service was "interesting", but I didn't find it especially moving - all very formal procedure.
Apart from Gallipoli and Istanbul, we only went to a couple of other places. Nothing really worth mentioning - some place where they sold carpets (mildly tempted to buy one, but not really) and an old acropolis type place which I am trying to remember the name of, something like "pergamon".
Oh, and I didn't go for a run, because the weather was shit but I did spend 30 minutes on the treadmill and then other time at the gym (there was a gym in the hotel so I decided I should make use of it while I had the chance).
Anyway, leaving for Cairo very shortly. Must dash.
P.S. Stupid Turkish Keyboard. When I get the opportunity I might replace all these stupid characters.
Just finished the ANZAC tour. It was an experience, although I didn't like being part of the tour for certain bits - I definitely would have preferred to have had more of my own time, and I wouldn't have chosen to do certain things.
The night in ANZAC cove wasn't as cold as people were predicting, but the temperature did drop. The dawn service was "interesting", but I didn't find it especially moving - all very formal procedure.
Apart from Gallipoli and Istanbul, we only went to a couple of other places. Nothing really worth mentioning - some place where they sold carpets (mildly tempted to buy one, but not really) and an old acropolis type place which I am trying to remember the name of, something like "pergamon".
Oh, and I didn't go for a run, because the weather was shit but I did spend 30 minutes on the treadmill and then other time at the gym (there was a gym in the hotel so I decided I should make use of it while I had the chance).
Anyway, leaving for Cairo very shortly. Must dash.
P.S. Stupid Turkish Keyboard. When I get the opportunity I might replace all these stupid characters.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)