Archive for July, 2009
I Heart NY
Sitting on my AMTrack train at Penn Station at 7.15 in the morning I felt an immense sense of melancholy as my mind rolled through the events of the last 8 days in New York. The city has seduced me, taken my soul while I was off guard and sliced off a piece. With each blast of the train’s horn it seemed to spread that piece over the state, echoing between the buildings, down alleys, through the subway, bars, restaurants and parks. I feel like I have left something important in New York and I need to go back and find it. A yearning, like that for a lost love boils in my chest. I can still hear that horn, signaling not only my departure from the city but my arrival.
One part of me wants to recount every beautiful and amazing waking moment that I spent in New York. Wants to share my experience and shake any one willing to listen until they open their eyes and see what I have seen. But then I think that doing so will dilute this warm elixir of NYC I have bottled in me. It is mine and I am not willing to share it. It feels selfish. I guess it is something you’ll just have to experience for yourself.
New York Yankees
New York has just been one life experience after another and with last night I struck off yet another goal: watch a Yankee’s game at Yankee stadium.
I am not much of a sports fan. I do watch a bit here and there, but I find it hard to enjoy going to watch say, the footy. Going to the baseball however was a whole different experience. The game moves suprisingly fast, and almost constantly there is crowd involvement with quizzes, sing / clap along’s, mexican waves and other general shenanigans.
The game I watched was Yankee’s v. Oakland Athletics, and while it was a bit of a white wash towards the end in favour of NY it was still an enjoyable watch. I saw a couple of good double plays and a whopping home run from Posada.
The ground is amazing. Situated in the Bronx the new Yankee Stadium is MA-HOOS-SIVE with a capacity of around 53,000. It is well organised and laid out, with HD screens everywhere, heaps of kiosks and views are great from pretty much anywhere, including the nosebleeds where I managed to score a seat. Getting in and out of the ground took no time at all, and the Subway at 161st street is right at the gates.
Overall the atmosphere is what made the night. The crowd was energetic and positive. Music got people up and dancing between plays and one highlight was when YMCA came blasting over the PA and even the ground crew got involved with the dance. Funniest stuff I have seen in a while. When I look at the photos I still can’t believe I am doing this, it seems unreal.
Central Park
Once again rain has followed me on my adventure and a trip to Central Park turned into a 100 block swim through pouring rain.
In the moments when the rain let up a little I did manage to a few shots of the beautiful park that runs down the middle of Manhattan. The park is huge, around 843 acres and I only managed to walk through about half of it before the rain really started coming down. It runs for around 50 blocks from W 59th in the south to W 110th in the North. The park was commissioned in 1853 as an oasis from the busy city. Before that people would congregate in any open space available, including cemeteries just to get away from the noisy town.
The Park is a mix of dense vegetation and winding paths (such as the Ramble) to landscaped gardens, open fields and sporting areas. It is very peaceful and beautiful. One day soon, if the weather clears up I’ll visit the rest of the park that I missed out on seeing. I hope you enjoy my overcast photos!
New York, New York
So I’ve been in the States for around 3 days now. Arriving in JFK airport I spent around a hour trying to find an Internet Cafe to print out my bus pass so I could leave the terminal. I didn’t really feel like I was in NYC until our bus hit the Van Wyck. Seeing that sign made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. As we crested a hill the Manhattan Skyline appeared and I went all gooey.
In the short amount of time I have been here so far I’ve seen heaps of Manhattan, I’ve caught the Statten Island Ferry, visited cool bars, watched Hip Hop Open Mike till 4am, had an awesome burger in downtown, seen the WTC site, been to the Chrysler, Empire State and Rockerfeller buildings, jumped in Grand Central Station and wandered the Natural History Museum. Best of all though is seeing Tom’s Restaraunt, the diner from Seinfeld. Major life goal completed with one short subway ride.
I’ll be heading into Central Park today for a bit of a walk. I still have so much to see but I know one thing for sure. New York is my kind of place.
Paris
My final stop in my European Adventure was Paris, but to get there was always going to be a mission.
After travelling through the very cool Liechtenstein, up in Germany to stay a night a Munich I jumped my final ever Busabout Bus. I was fairly lucky because, while it is a long bus, requiring a driver change I managed to get both Zoltan and Owen for my drivers: two of my favourites of the service. The drive from Munich to Paris took us from 8 am through till 9pm, nearly 12 hours of constant bus, punctuated by short rest stops with nothing really look at apart from boring flat french farmland.
It wasn’t until I got my gear into my hostel, had a rest and ventured out the next day that I really started enjoying Paris. While the disgusting smell of urine punctuates every corner of the city, the beauty of the place over powers it. The architecture, the city planning and the history combine to make for a wonderful city.
One of my favourite moments in Paris came in my second night and involved catching up with Sophia, Ben and little Max at a tapas restaurant in the heart of Paris. It was a great evening and Max has grown up heaps. Last time I saw him he was still pretty much just a poop machine!
During most of my time in Paris I wandered the city by day, did a walking tour with New Paris, made new friends and then more friends. We adventured to the Eiffel Tower at night, drank wine and enjoyed the lightshow. The next day I went wandering with some people from my room, checked out the Notre Dame and caught more of the city.
My final night in Paris I took part in a Fat Tire Night Bike, by far the highlight of my time in the city. Guided by the very cool, very chilled and very Californian Billy we wove through the streets of Paris in the gathering dusk. We saw the sun set through the pyramid at the Louvre, caught a boat cruise and drank wine as the Eiffel Tower lit up and still made it home before 12. Billy even taught me the ways of the Segway, something he said to keep on the down low.
The next day I caught the Eurostar First Class across the channel, waving a fond goodbye to Europe and the adventures I had there. I hope the US is just as exciting.
I was unfortunately feeling poorly for most of my time in Paris, so I didn’t get to do everything that I wanted to do, but I’ll be back again some day for sure. For those wanting to experience what was going through my head the whole time I walked Paris, just hit play on the video clip after the jump. I dare you to try and get that tune out of your head without a spoon!
Busabout
Probably the single greatest descision I made on my Odyssey so far was to jump on a Busabout coach, rather than buy myself a Eurorail Pass.
For those who don’t know Busabout is a service that runs a series of busses in constant loops around regions in Europe. They operate three main loops, North, South and West and offer a range of options for how you would like to tackle these routes.
The main benefit I thought intially was the flexibility it provided. You’re not locked into any particular schedule (other than the days the buses will be in your area) and you don’t need to follow any specific set route. If you want to skip a whole section and meet up with a bus a few countries away you can do that. While this was a bonus it wasn’t the be-all and end-all.
I then thought it was the convenience the bus provided. Being dropped right at the door of a hostel, bags all secure and after having had a nice relaxing bus ride is pretty awesome. Every bus has an awesome driver and talented guide who are always willing to help, but in the end it wasn’t this that has cemented busabout as my mode of travel of choice.
No it was the passengers. Each bus saw you meet up with new people, all who seemed like minded. Everyone was out to find their own adventure and have fun in the process. Busabout isn’t the boozy shagfest that Contiki and Top Deck are known for. You wont find (that many) deadhead 18 yearolds spending their parents money. I met awesome people with every bus ride, I longed for the busses to arrive at my hostels to see what old and new friends it might bring. Stories were swapped, tips made, drinks shared and friendships founded.
I had a fantastic time on Busabout, and anyone wishing to travel around Europe I can’t recommend the service enough. Infact I’m gonna apply for a Guide job the moment I hit Australia. I can’t get enough.
To my favorite busabout crew members: Zoltan, Nicola, Coops, Owen, Ben and the irrepressible Lucash. Thank you!
Liechtenstein
If I can say anything about my adventure it is that I have achieved some of my greatest dreams. I’ve seen snow in Tokyo, I’ve stood at the foot of Colusseum and I’ve touched the Berlin wall and, in the outskirts of Switzerland, I visited one of my “must see’s” : Liechtenstein.
When I mentioned my excitement in seeing this tiny 160km square patch of dirt most people responded with blank looks, others harrumphed and snickered at my enthusasim. I don’t pretend to think that these people will understand. See, for me, Liechtenstein has risen to some kind of shining light in my own sphere of personal “pop-culture” references. I don’t expect people to understand the giggles that boil from deep with-in me when ever I mention that I have stood on the streets of Liechtenstein. I just wish I had bought a lighter in this wonderful little tax haven.
For those who want a little more out this blog post than just some burble about in-jokes heres some facts. Liechtenstein is the Fourth Smallest democratic country in Europe, with a population of around 35,000 people. Being the crazy awesome tax haven it is, Liechtenstein has more registered companies than citizens. Formed in 1719 Liechtenstein gets it’s name from the Liechtenstein Dynasty who hailed from Liechtenstein Castle in Southern Austria. It’s topography makes it a great location for winter sports and is home to some of the worlds Top downhill skiers. One of Liechtenstein’s biggest exports is false teeth!
As Liechtenstein was just a stop over, we only stayed in this fantastic place for but moments, but I did get my passport stamped, just for good measure. It takes pride of place on page 8 of my official documentation. I’ll have to come back again to explore more of the country side and sample some of what I am sure to be crazy awesome Liechtenstein nightlife.
Seilpark
While I didn’t have the money to indulge in any of the more EXTREME adventures on offer in Interlarken, I did sign up to the Seilpark. SeilPark is a high ropes course, set 20 to 30 meters in the trees of a swiss national park.
Being a fairly confident climber from doing heaps of indoor, I had no problems with the course, my rope handling and climbing skills coming back to me quickly. The equipment was top notch so I could put full faith into the harness, often leaning way out over drops that others found vertigo inducing. Probably the most enjoyable of the courses was the flying fox course which consisted almost entirely of zip lines, but the park offered paths of varying degrees of difficulty so everyone could get involved.
I went with Owen and Coops (a driver and guide from Busabout) and Renee one of my mates from the bus. Renee struggled through, but did a great job considering she was terrified of heights.
At one point in the day I was asked by the staff to pretend to have an accident on the highest course, let myself drop and they would send one of the new girls to save me as training. I accepted and then proceeded to hang suspended for around half an hour while the staff got her stuff together, hooked me up to a pulley and lowered me down. As I ran off as soon as I hit the bottom she wasn’t too impressed and when I went up to congratulate and thank her she ripped me to pieces saying that “some people just can’t make it and need help getting down, its nothing to be ashamed off”. I couldn’t explain to her so I let it slide. It wasn’t until later that she met up with her boss that she came over and apologised. All good fun!
A great, cheap day out in Interlarken, well worth checking out.
Trummelbach Falls
One of the most amazing things I saw while staying in Lauterbrunnen was the Trummelbach Falls. Situated just a few minutes walk from our camping grounds, the Trummelbach falls are a series of Glacial fed falls which cascade through a mountain, accessible by tunnelling and an underground elevator.
The place is amazing, the sound of around 20,000 litres of water a second smashing through the mountain is intense and everywhere you look sunlight through the mist makes little rainbows. I walked out of the falls feeling renewed, like nature had given me a strange little awakening, filling my lungs with icy air and coating my skin with pure glacial water that dripped down the neck of my jacket and tickled my spine.
Photos cant capture the majesty of this place, but I gave it a try anyway.
Lauterbrunnen
First of all, let me apologise for the lack of updates to the site. Not only have I been on and off the grid more than I would like to say, but I have also been dealing with a good dose of the Swine Flu. It knocked me about for nearly a week, I lost around 5 kilos and has made my time in London fairly boring. That said, I’m back on track to catch up before I head to the States. I hope to be on a reasonable posting schedule once I hit the land of the free.
Today I’d like to introduce you to one of my most favourite places I’ve encountered on this adventure: Lauterbrunnen. Lauterbrunnen is a tiny town of the area of Interlarken in Switzerland. Situated in a valley this primarily agricultural area with a population of around 3000 is also popular with Extreme Sports fans. Base Jumping, Cayoning, Sky Diving, White Water Rafting: you name it, there are some crazy Swiss doing it.
The camping grounds we stayed at were called Camping Jungfrau. Being surrounded by around 17 waterfalls gave the grounds this surreal beauty. Their sound coated the night in a comforting clatter of white noise while during the day they provided a never ending changing background to everything we did.
Apart from one day of recovery after a big night at the Bomb Shelter the rest of my days were spent wandering the town and hiking the area. With my new friends we organised a great BBQ, I cooked up a storm most nights at the hostel kitchen and enjoyed a beautiful Schnitzel from the camping grounds restaurant. There was so much to do in Lauterbrunnen, and the surrounding Interlarken I can’t even start to describe. I definitely have to go back. The valley calls me like a siren’s song.