Just James and his European adventure

Tallinn

2008-11-28T12:42:00.000-08:00

Getting to Tallinn, Estonia, was simply a short 2hour cruise from Helsinki.

The central part of Tallinn is called old-town. It is a well preserved... old town. Right down to frequently re-laying the rocks that make the streets and footpaths.

ARTchitecture :p

White Bar. A "futurisitic" looking bar with many screens, and pulsating lights that slowly cycled through different colours. The look was much like the feel of the seats... tacky.

Protest Bar. ha ha

I had stayed in a lovely backpackers in the heart of old-town for a week. I loved the place so much and had met some awesome people.

In the 12bedroom dorm was a group of German friends travelling together. Up on the post, taking a photo was one of them.

On the first night I checked into my hostel at 11pm on a Saturday night by a very kind man who didn't have to be there, I'd asked if he could recommend some local bars to check out. He recommended a semi-underground (literally and part colloquially) bar identified by an orange light at the stairs going down to the entrance. At the bar I ordered a drink next to this lovely lady who then proceeded to introduce me to her friends, and we all continued to drink and chat into the night/morning.
Indra. A lovely Latvian lady who made me feel very welcome.

I liked my week in Tallinn so much thanks to this fascinating woman. We hung out alot and went to many different places around town. It was great.

Brotherhood/fraternity ceremony room. At 3:15am (thank you photo timestamps) we were getting ready to leave and I started talking to a member of the oldest fraternity in Tallinn. He was very keen to tell me all about it, and he also took me to their headquaters around the corner, and showed me their ceremony room.
I must confess, this was probably not the smartest move to go this alone, but I'd sensed he was a friendly guy just wanting to share his excitement about the fraternity.
It was a little weird though whilst telling me about the ceremonies, decided to bang the unsheathed ceremony sword against the table.

spaghetti

a bus mid transformation to a tram *transformer noise*

Empty snob shop. I think all the potential customers where out doing better things.

Mr Project. Now, where is Mr Coffee? I always have Mr Coffee before working on Mr Project.

Human processor?

Gates of hell

Yet another element to add to the periodic table, Bosphorus. I think it goes next to Saffronium.

More beauty of Tallin. The second photo here is of a public stage often used by students.

A modern Mary Magdalene?

Old-town with hightech spa dvd player

Bike hired through the hostel. It allowed me to get out of old town, and take a look at some recommended trails,

I was tempted to climb up one of the ramps with the bike and try pedal fast to jump the gap... but I think I would have failed.

Did anyone watch mortal combat, with scorpions trademark phrase "GET OVER HERE!"

Old town from afar

near water avec bike

an abandoned house

down a hole in the ground (where gas/water pipes would go)

And so that was Tallinn... sorry for the belated completion of this post.
I will make a post to briefly fill in the gaps in between then (Oct2008) and now.

Helsinki

2008-11-28T07:07:00.000-08:00

Viking line cruise boat.
My first impression of this cruise was disasterous. I walk into my 4 person cabin to put down my luggage, and am overwhelmed by the scent of really bad BO. There is one gentleman in the bathroom shirtless performing some preening ritual of sorts, but no de-odourant in sight! I am forced to cut the conversation short to get some fresh air, it was sincerely that bad.
Fortunately, by pure chance, I upgraded cabins that night.

pretty

statue
obviously out of order cruise boat photo. On the roof chatting with an Aussie from Newtown.
the ripples reminded me of using the (SIN) function in qbasic with the palette command. Dont you just love nostalgia.

Good defences.

Autumn leaves.
Grave of the designer of the fortifications.

No entry to open prison... hmm...really...

Inside open prison ;)

Sculpture and building.

I think the guy in the middle lost a really bad bet.

more of military fortification... looks a bit like middle head, no?

Art of art with art.

stadium just near hostel. This vantage point had a nice look over the stadium, and another field. I spent some time up here contemplating things.

Stockholm

2008-10-03T00:44:00.000-07:00

From Eindhoven Airport I flew to Nykoping, a town about an hour south of Stockholm.

Flight to Nykoping. Bus to Hostel.

I made a booking for the hostel but since I'd be checking in after reception closed, they entrusted me with details for accessing the hostel after hours without even so much as a surname.
In the morning I had to leave early, before reception opened, and there were instructions on how to pay by leaving money in a box with your name and key. It was really nice to see such trust.

FartHinder

Central Station
People in every direction.

View

Bldgs

I originally booked only one night in Stockholm, but after a little while in Stockholm, I booked a second night. Because I sensed there was plenty more to see than just two days worth.
The Stockholm city bikes are really cool. Once you buy a pass (I bought a 3-day pass) you can simply go to a bike station and collect a bike, then you must return it to a bike station. There is a low resolution bike-station map they provide, but its hard to see exactly where the stations are, so you may have to wander around a little before you find the one your looking for.

I *heart* stockholm bikes

On a wharf

Pigeons on statue finger

Three ducks, three masts

Lots of SEK's

Ubuntu cola

I love lamp... street-lamps

The hostel I stayed at in Stockholm had a prison theme. This was an unexpected surprise and I realised it wasn't actually a theme, but a former prison. Which made sense because it was on an island just off the mainland.

When I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, I was startled by this guy who was just outside my door.

My Cell #2. This was a luxurious 4-bed dorm room.

Cell block tango. I just had flashbacks of chicago when walking through here. Pop, six, squish, uh uh, cicero, lipschitz!

Piece of art I saw in a museum.
I liked this one because it looks like a man and his wife presenting their point from a rights-book to a panel and some large/powerful men who are not impressed. Also you'll notice later this style of art was in the Vasa Museum.

Crown on Bridge
Outside contemporary art museum.

Partitions in art gallery. I like this because its partitioned, but you're still free to wander as you please. I wish Ikea shops did this.

Invisible piano, Max Earnst.

Contemporary art I liked.

Architecture museum piece.

Red facade. I love these off-season travel colours

Boat ride

Concrete art. I wish councils could afford to do more of this, its much better than a bland grid, or solid wall.

More art for arts sake.

I *heart* food, not bombs

Dizzy handdisk. If i were a DJ, that would be my alias.

Coloured model of Vasa in foreground, with real one in background.

Similar style to aforementioned artwork.
my blog is boring, who's reading this, seriously

Vasa museum (big viking boat)

Mustard and sauce dispensers like singled-teeted udders.

Hilarious posters at viking line cruises.
This is just before I got on the overnight cruiseboat enroute to Helsinki!

Goodbye Amsterdam

2008-09-22T07:03:00.000-07:00

The trip to Den Haag and staying in the hostel at Rotterdam made me really crave further backpacking. Also after the inital museums in Paris, Lille, and Amsterdam, I realise I prefer contemporary art museums, or simply street art and observations.

Back in amsterdam...

A poster for a movie or play in Amsterdam.

Yes, those are potato chips in between the diagonaly cut halves of my salmon club sandwich!

A new appearance near Amsterdam Central Station. This is a 7-billboard wide display of parkour! woot!!!1

I caught the train from Amsterdam to Eindhoven, and didn't correctly anticipate the delay in busses from the train station to the airport, so I had to catch a taxi (24Euro :(
On the way I was able to get a good shot of this sculpture.
Bowling for Eindhoven.

On the plane I took some photos of the bed of clouds over Sweden, but that will be for another post later on.

Its been quite a session, but I'm glad to have updated the blog. It gives me some feedback as to how not to take too many pictures.

Hope everyone is doing well. Thoughts of family and friends have come to me throughout the writing of these blog-posts. I'm thinking about you all.

The Hague and Rotterdam

2008-09-22T06:14:00.001-07:00

I took a train from Amsterdam to The Hague. In Dutch this is, Den Haag, which sounds like "deneag" in case you expect it to sound like "den harg", and think you're on the wrong...

The first think I did was took a number 1 bus to the beach and soaked in the warm sun.
I had some fish and chips, and as usual there was a large dollop of mayonaise

Wow.

So after a pleasant afternoon in Den Haag, I took a short train trip to Rotterdam for the evening.

Crane art. What I noticed is that alot of art in Rotterdam was themed around cranes. This is a great idea because there genuinely was alot of cranes to be seen, so making the art mimic that disguises there omnipresence.

Here were 4 large crane-like lamps that shone over an open pedestrian area. This was pretty much in the heart of town, so in Sydney this would become over developed due to it being "Prime realestate".

What I've liked about most cities is that the city centres are not CBD's.

Street urinal. Unfortunately every toilet in a pub/club costs money. A macdonalds had a toilet which cost .30 Euro, a night club cost was 1 Euro! At first I walked into the macdonalds toilet, and had an old lady follow behind me. I didn't realise she was calling to me until she stood beside me at the urinal. I hadn't started by then, so it wasn't too awkward. But she wanted her 30 cents.

More street sculptures.

In Rotterdam, I met a guy in my room of the hostel who was keen to come out with me for the night, even though it was a Thursday night, and he had work in the morning.

To explain the club we went to, i've copied the following from "http://sustainablerotterdam.blogspot.com"

---

Club Watt, World's First Sustainable Dance Club - Live opening

Friday, September 05, 2008

A milestone towards a more sustainable future was accomplished yesterday evening in Rotterdam when Club Watt opened its doors to the public.
---

To recycle this plastic cup, you return it to the bar... simple!

"Sustainable Dance Floor". Each of these tiles generates electricity from vertical motion, so as you dance, you generate electricity. I think the clubs would be better off forming a partnership with a gym, and putting one generator on one excercise bike. This way they could generate more electricty than the entire dancefloor. Seriously, each tile I think had its own little generator. www.sustainabledanceclub.com has a video

Crap Salad. This one's for you Warren. This photos was taken at a club called Vibes. Its hard to see, but the picture is of a scrunched up newspaper that looks like a lettuce. Let-us dispose of crap newspapers!

Industrial life. I named this one becuase I think that is what represents Rotterdam's appearance. I can still see crane's in this sculpture.

This was taken on my way to Rotterdam station from the hostel. I was walking with another guy from the room I stayed in, and we couldn't figure out what it was the gnome is meant to be holding in his right hand...

The famous bridge in Rotterdam. As seen on many postcards.

Industrial scene. In the forground is a piece that I think is a very large pump. In the background is genuinely used machinery.

OMG its the pixel police!!!

Detail. Little figure atop street sign. awww

Building Infrastructure. The plaques inside were written in Dutch, but I guess this was to do with the bombings in the second world war.

Bas (friend from Amsterdam) said that there are some light jokes between the Dutch and Germans, such as "When am I going to get my bike back?"

I then took the train back to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam

2008-09-22T05:35:00.000-07:00

My friend Bas was kind enough to let me stay at his place for the near week I was in Amsterdam.

Bikepark. A multi-leveled bicycle parking lot.
Just a small indication of how much bikes are part of life in Amsterdam...

Bridge.

Westerpark. A lovely park just a short stroll from Bas' place.

Street scene. On the right is a metal statue fixed to the street. A not too uncommon occurance in Amsterdam. A bike is on the left, and a tram in the background.

This one's for you Marianne. A picture of the vegetable that was on that t-shirt. I finally saw one in real life!

Bug street sculpture.

The keys to Amsterdam. Me in yet another museum.

A religious framed sculpture. I think it was meant to be Jesus! Perhaps just before he was reserected?

Wires. I started to like the lamps suspended by cables. The tram lines added a nice touch to this I think.

Freedom. Beautiful scenes in Amsterdam were not hard to come by. The dot in the middle is of someone rowing down the canal.

"We are everywhere and unstoppable", Sabokru.

"Free your self" "Refuse Revolt Resist"

Hooks. The hooks on the top of practically every unit are used to attach a pulley, and lift furniture up the levels. This would be convenient for the terrace houses in Sydney!

More graffiti art.

Mosquito. There is said to be a bit of a problem with mosquito's in Amsterdam. Obviously due to the water from all the dams. But I didn't find it much of a problem; no more than I'd found in places i've lived in Sydney.

Mint tea. hmm not sure why this is suss to me.

Courtyard. This is the view of the courtyard from Bas' balcony.

"Setpoint. Passion for men only" is what I thought it said... i think it says "fashion" :p

Human Garbage? Not sure if "Humana" translates to human, I hope not! otherwise this dreamy town has some seriously scary skeletons in its closets...

Church.

Church and fountain.

DUMP Adventures. I'm not taking a dump adventure thanks.

Polariod. I took this in some side street which had most of its wall done like this. I'd love to have this as a postcard!

I *heart* Amsterdam!

Belgium. Brussels train change to Amsterdam

2008-09-22T04:43:00.000-07:00

From Lille to Amsterdam, I changed trains at Brussels...

mmm, chips in a roll with processed meat, pickles, and other salad vegies

pseudo pigeon

Window of train.

So that was Belgium... Not really a visit, but was on a bit of a mission to get to Amsterdam before my friend went to work for a few days.

Lille, France. Near the Belgium border.

2008-09-22T03:31:00.000-07:00

I feel I have to apologise for the large gap between updates, but I'm still alive and well for those using this to see how I'm going.

After Paris I took the TGV to Lille, taking only 11kg of the 34kg of my life. Many thanks to Elizabeth for letting me leave things at her place.
The TGV is a high-speed train that made the journey feel nothing more than a trip to the central coast.

Marianne, camera in hand.
I cant begin to say how awesome Marianne is, she took me around and showed me parts of Lille in a day that I probably wouldn't have been able to see even if I tried.

Good vs Evil?
Ok, so maybe its just a photo of two nude male sculptures.

Engineers make it happen

Gotcha! Beautiful Lille and its people.

Street scene.

In sydney the guide dog donations container is a realistically sized plastic guide dog. This church had a similarily sized gargoyle!

Again, inside the church. We were lucky to get in here because the guy had just locked up, but opened up again for us, and showed us around. Better than a guided tour, I'll say.

One of several funnies inside yet another museum.

Amen to that. I need to make more art!

Awesome awesome t-shirt shop!! The yellow t-shirt (roughly translated) has a potatoe on one side saying hey ladies, "i'm feeling fries", and the fries respond with "we're potatoe". The funny things is, feeling fries or potatoe roughly means feeling chilled out!
Ha... Ha... I think its funny.

Flower in front of building (I've got to come up with some more original names for these photos)

Sunset in Lille

Me and da ladies at the opening of a boutique clothing store. Thanks again to Marianne for the special invite!

Painting. Although with the dodgy resolution the scene may look real, its actually a very nice painting

Marianne, this ones for you! I'll never forget how to say strawberries; La fraise!!
Solong and thank you for the waffles!

Sunday 7th Sept, 08

2008-09-07T03:27:00.000-07:00

After getting used to using the metro on Thursday, Friday was spent doing other day to day things such as shopping, and walking around the arrondisment I'm in.

Nothing much too report during the day, but at night I found out that the Midnight Juggernauts (Melbourne band) were playing at the Bataclan. The venue was just down the road, and it was their final performance in France. Luckily I was able to get tickets at the door! When I'd find out about their gigs in Sydney, Newcastle, and even Melbourne, about a week before they played, they'd be sold out. Its funny that I finally get to see them in Paris on a days notice.

At this gig I met three people, Marianne, Benoit, and Bruno, all who were very nice and friendly and were able to speak English with me. One is quite keen on helping me with my french, which I am most appreciative of.

Photos from second supporting act.

Photos from midnight juggernauts
I love the drummers hair in this shot.

Saturday I went and performed with Keving and the small jazz band at a venue about an hour out of Paris.
It was their local community festival where all the community groups show what they do, and entice others to join. A bit like the street festivals in Sydney.
This town was a new town, unlike most in France. It reminded me of Gosford, but more dense (even though the roads and footpaths are larger).

Afterwards we tried to go to Versailles to see the ponds and such, but unfortunately they had just closed. I think they had had their street festival that day also.

View from Elisabeths apartment window.

Some building I stumbled across whilst changing trains (Metro Alma Marceau 9 -> RER Pont de l'Alma C)

After spotting my trumpet these guys sat near me and had a chat, mostly in basic French. They travel the trains busking. This was the train station (RER line C) on my way out to the band performance.

Leaving Pont de l'Alma

Versaille

Saturday night I went with Elisabeth and Vincent to a party with their friends. Luckily some of them spoke English. It was a nice party where everyone brings a bottle of alcohol, and shares drinks. Most people smoke inside.
I ended up leaving the party early due to limited communication with the few people who spoke English. But it was good to go and make me realise how much I need to practice French.

Building I stumbled across after party

After doing a bit of emailing this morning, and updating blog, and doing laundry, I still have to start planning my trip to Amsterdam to meet my friend, Bas. On the way, I will go via Lille to visit Marrianne on my way. After this I hope to meet up with my friend Benedikt in Germany.

Will see what happens.

Paris day 1

2008-09-05T23:14:00.000-07:00

The flight landed in Paris at 6:30am and it was still dark, but it looks like its going to be a nice day.
The sky is light blue, but the temperature cold enough for my breath to make vapour. Also, I'm pretty warm because I'm carrying all my bags.

Am waiting for the 351 (trois cent cinquante et un) to take me to "Nation" where I will get a train to near my friends place that I am staying. PS this is my first experience with traffic on the right (not neccessarily correct ;) side of the road.

After buying tickets and getting the correct bus/train to get to Elizabeths place, I was greated by her friend, Vincent, who is also temporarily staying. After a much needed shower, Vincent and I went out and took the metro to a few regular tourist destinations.

To be continued... I want to check out some sites whilst it is still morning (8:30am), and then I will be going with a friend and playing in their jazz band which is in need of trumpets. As I had done when I had joined the concert band in Sydney, I would be sight-reading at first performance. Luckily there is another trumpeter that I can mime behind if things get too tough.

My first croissant and coffee in Paris.

A noteworthy building

Panoramic shot from noteworthy Cathedral... (construction of image is left as an exercise for the reader)

The Cathedral itself

A nice big building.

Sculpture outside of Opera

The big arch

National academy of music...

...avec cool statue on the top

Thursday 10am.

There is so much Paris and so many people. The streets are nice and wide, and the buildings not too tall. I much prefer thus distributed layout of buildings. Its nice to see sky wherever you look. Alot of places in the Sydney CBD dont really let you see sky unless you look straight up.

So that was my first day in Paris.

Hong Kong stopover

2008-09-03T07:08:00.000-07:00

What I thought to was a 5hrs stopover was actually almost 7hrs, so I had enough time to comfortably leave the airport and got some food in Hong Kong Central. (The time stuffup was due to me automatically subtracting an hour on either side as buffer and having this number in my head).
Second time stuffup was looking at flight departure and arrival times, thinking that they were perhaps in the same timezone. But in hindesight I see how much clearer it is to have the arrival times in the arrival countries time. This has only served to alter my pre-planned sleep pattern.
I simply have to sleep this flight through, and be awake in Paris to start Thursday morning.

So to actually talk about Hong Kong itself, the airport seemed as large as any airport. This is not to say that they are the same size, but I dont traverse from gate-1 to gate-n of every airport to appreciate the size.

Once I left the airport I could feel the hot humid air. "A warm 30 degrees" is what our captain said prior to landing at around 5pm. How right he was. Once I checked in my <10kg bag, I wandered with my <4kg for hardly a minute before feeling sweat beading on my forehead. Even my first few breaths of Hong Kong air were heavy due to the moisture in the air.

Hong Kong has a nice shuttle service for 100HKD (17AUD) from the airport to the city. The photo to the left shows the interior of sed train, and an LED progress bar of the trains journey.

After going to the piers and taking a few happy snaps of buildings, I proceeded to Hong Kong Central by foot. As I intend to do throughout this trip, I took the road less travelled and found a nice little restaurant in a quiet lane for dinner... but it was lunch according to my newly adjusted timezone.
I had Braised Eggplant with shredded chicken in crab sauce, all the ingredients for a good dose of food bacteria if it were to be present. But that was a couple of hours ago now, and I feel fine.

I really enjoyed the meal, and walking around. It wasn't too dissimilar to Sydney; Ashfield or Chinatown.
After dinner I went to budda bar wich was further up the same lane as the restaurant.

I had a beer and took another self portrait.

The first I had taken at a cafe prior to take-off from Sydney.

I felt pretty lame/self conscious taking photos like this, hence the blande expression.

Thanks to free wireless at Hong Kong airport, I am able to update this blog.
I'll upload photos with blogs once I get them off my camera.

Next stop Paris! I'm due to depart in about an hour or so, hooray!

T minus 3 hrs

2008-09-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

Just about to shutdown laptop and pack it into my <4kg laptop bag. The <10kg cabin luggage will have to take a few french books that i'd forgotten to pack, and the <20kg backpack is full but not overly dense.

I slept from midnight - 4am, without intending to wake up at this hour. Perhaps it was my roommates watch, which beeps every hour, catching me at a light sleep phase. Whatever the case, I thought it best to stay awake, and try sleep the entire flight to hong kong, that way I will pretty much be in Paris time.

Must say goodbye to housemates now, they're just waking up...

Night before flight

2008-09-02T06:24:00.000-07:00

After packing two pumkins, a jar of tomato cooking sauce, and a large can of tinned tomatos into a bag, I have now created a 4kg mass approximate. Had I actually bought scales today and weighed my luggage, such primative weight comparisons would not be required to give me piece of mind about being under the limit.
My roommate, in its literal sense, is reading in bed, so I must finish packing and be ready for my early arrival at the airport.