I am back in London and I'm sooo jet lagged, and have a week to pack up my flat. I'm going to write a proper blog entry about each country (later), but for now, if you're desperate, I'm posting links to all the various photo albums and videos I took while I was away.. Enjoy!
Videos: (various) 1: me jumping off a 3 story platform into the ocean in the Greek Islands, 2: Niagara Falls, 3: the whirlpool near Niagara Falls.
Photos albums:
New York
Canada
Egypt - Luxor
Egypt - Aswan
Egypt - Dahab
Egypt - Cairo
Egypt - Hot Air Ballooning
Greek Islands
Turkey
PS: I get back to Australia on 29 November!!
Friday, 21 November 2008
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Where on Earth is Amanda?
Well, it's official. I have given 2 weeks notice at work and resigned and I'm off on a BIG holiday before I head back to Oz at the end of November. If you're wondering where on Earth I am and where I'll be, here's all my flight details :)))
Depart: London Gatwick (North), Sunday 19 October, 4.30pm
Arrive: Athens, Greece, Sunday 19 October, 10.00pm
Flight number: Easyjet 8587
Greek Islands & Turkey Cruise info
Depart: Athens. Greece, Saturday 25 October, 00.50am
Arrive: Cairo, Egypt T2, Saturday 25 October, 01.45am
Flight number: Olympic Airlines 325 (1 hour, 55 minutes)
Egypt Explorer 15 day tour info
Depart: Cairo, Egypt, Saturday 8 November, 5.10pm
Arrive: London Heathrow T1, Saturday 8 November, 8.45pm
Flight number: BMI - MS 9230
Depart: London Gatwick, Tuesday 11 November, 9.50am
Arrive: Toronto, Canada, Tuesday 11 November, 1.00pm
Flight number: Air Transat TS 123
Depart: Toronto, Canada T3, Saturday 15 November, 4.35pm
Arrive: New York – JFK T4, Saturday 15 November, 6.30pm
Flight number: LAN 533 (1 hour, 55 mins)
Depart: New York – JFK T4, Wednesday 19 November, 10.05am
Arrive: Toronto, Canada T3, Wednesday 19 November, 11.45am
Flight number: LAN 532 (1 hour, 40 mins)
Depart: Toronto, Canada, Wednesday 19 November, 7.45pm
Arrive: London Gatwick, Thursday 20 November, 7.55am
Flight number: Air Transat TS 322
Depart: London Heathrow T3, Friday 28 November, 11.30am
Arrive: Hong Kong T1, Saturday 29 November, 7.05am
Flight number: Cathay Pacific 252 (11 hours, 25 mins)
Depart: Hong Kong T1, Saturday 29 November, 12.35pm
Arrive: Brisbane, Australia T1, Saturday 29 November, 11.20pm
Flight number: Cathay Pacific 157 (8 hours, 45 mins)
Depart: London Gatwick (North), Sunday 19 October, 4.30pm
Arrive: Athens, Greece, Sunday 19 October, 10.00pm
Flight number: Easyjet 8587
Greek Islands & Turkey Cruise info
Depart: Athens. Greece, Saturday 25 October, 00.50am
Arrive: Cairo, Egypt T2, Saturday 25 October, 01.45am
Flight number: Olympic Airlines 325 (1 hour, 55 minutes)
Egypt Explorer 15 day tour info
Depart: Cairo, Egypt, Saturday 8 November, 5.10pm
Arrive: London Heathrow T1, Saturday 8 November, 8.45pm
Flight number: BMI - MS 9230
Depart: London Gatwick, Tuesday 11 November, 9.50am
Arrive: Toronto, Canada, Tuesday 11 November, 1.00pm
Flight number: Air Transat TS 123
Depart: Toronto, Canada T3, Saturday 15 November, 4.35pm
Arrive: New York – JFK T4, Saturday 15 November, 6.30pm
Flight number: LAN 533 (1 hour, 55 mins)
Depart: New York – JFK T4, Wednesday 19 November, 10.05am
Arrive: Toronto, Canada T3, Wednesday 19 November, 11.45am
Flight number: LAN 532 (1 hour, 40 mins)
Depart: Toronto, Canada, Wednesday 19 November, 7.45pm
Arrive: London Gatwick, Thursday 20 November, 7.55am
Flight number: Air Transat TS 322
Depart: London Heathrow T3, Friday 28 November, 11.30am
Arrive: Hong Kong T1, Saturday 29 November, 7.05am
Flight number: Cathay Pacific 252 (11 hours, 25 mins)
Depart: Hong Kong T1, Saturday 29 November, 12.35pm
Arrive: Brisbane, Australia T1, Saturday 29 November, 11.20pm
Flight number: Cathay Pacific 157 (8 hours, 45 mins)
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Vienna
Vienna City Photos
Vienna Zoo Photos
Friday night: hideously long bus journey to Heathrow straight after work. Saw the new Terminal 5 – lots of shops and decent places to eat. Had sushi. Mysteriously had a business class seat on the plane! Told the guy next to me we must have someone really skinny sitting in between us (business class seat dividers squish the middle seat – German / Austrian guy didn’t get it and decided to give me a speech on business class seats). Plane sat on the tarmac for a good half hour. As we took off, saw a big queue of planes, about 10 waiting to take off as well. Why does British Airways always serve crappy sandwiches? Landed 2 hours later. Kerri (my cousin) was also delayed. Caught a taxi to the hotel. Oohed and ahhed at the pretty buildings on the way. Very tired and very late, we went to bed not long after checking into the hotel.
Saturday: huge insane buffet breakfast. Best bacon I’ve ever eaten – wafer thin. And smoked salmon *drool*. Time to get out, discover Vienna and get lost. And we did. However, we did see a cute street market that looked like an old person’s house had been emptied – lots of old tins, prints, photos, frames, clothes.. After our “diversion” on a few trams, trains etc, we finally ended up back at the Museum Quarter, and wandered around some grand and gorgeous buildings and parks. Eventually we ended up at the Belevedere Palace, walked through the gorgeous grounds and saw the one thing – the entire reason why I came to Vienna. To see Gustav Klimt’s painting, “The Kiss”. I stared at it for so long. To see it up close was so different to seeing it in books. You could see the texture, the real colours, the strokes. Not only was there gold, but also silver used in the painting. I kept coming back after looking at the other paintings to see it over and over.
We then hired some bikes and peddled around Vienna along the parks and riverbank. SO much better and faster than pounding the pavement. Highly recommend it, and loads of bike paths. There’s just sooo many buildings to see. Eventually we went back to the hotel, kicked our feet up, had a couple of drinks and then went upstairs to get ready for the opera. The opera house was stunning. We had champagne to celebrate and our own box on the balcony. Choosing seats is quite hard and also, thank GOD – we had little screens that translated what they were singing into English. Other seats didn’t have that. The opera singers were amazing. No microphones whatsoever – their voices filled the vast, tall area. Afterwards, we went out for a late bite to eat and slept very well that night.
Sunday: the Spanish Riding School. Basically, very well trained white horses, who dance, do ballet and jump around lots to music. Beautiful horses. Enjoyed the second half where they did the ballet, dancing and jumping the most. Afterwards, we went to the Vienna Zoo.. OMG: highlights: mum and dad tiger with 2 baby tiger cubs. 1 leopard and 2 black jaguars all climbing over each other like best buddies and the panda, including the baby panda bear. Great zoo - they even had a delicous restaurant there too! We had dinner and wine there, headed back to Central Vienna on the Underground and found a mexican bar and downed a jug of strawberry marguriatas.
Monday: Kerri had to fly home very early that morning, which left me to my own resources for the day. So after a hearty baconny breakfast, I headed to the Museum Quarter to the Leopold Museum and saw more Klimt paintings and other Austrian art. I then hired a bike and peddled over to Augarten - a huge park. Ended up at Stephenplatz - big Notre Dame like Cathedral, had a bit of retail therapy, found a gorgeous old cafe where you can see the pastry chefs making everything from scratch and had the most insane delicious iced chocolate EVER. Headed back to the hotel, picked up my bags and made way for the airport. Had another amazing seat on the plane - emergency exit row, loads of leg room, an almost empty plane and no one sitting next to me - yay!
So, thanks to my cuz Kerri for a wonderful weekend together - I had such a great time :) xoxo
Vienna Zoo Photos
Friday night: hideously long bus journey to Heathrow straight after work. Saw the new Terminal 5 – lots of shops and decent places to eat. Had sushi. Mysteriously had a business class seat on the plane! Told the guy next to me we must have someone really skinny sitting in between us (business class seat dividers squish the middle seat – German / Austrian guy didn’t get it and decided to give me a speech on business class seats). Plane sat on the tarmac for a good half hour. As we took off, saw a big queue of planes, about 10 waiting to take off as well. Why does British Airways always serve crappy sandwiches? Landed 2 hours later. Kerri (my cousin) was also delayed. Caught a taxi to the hotel. Oohed and ahhed at the pretty buildings on the way. Very tired and very late, we went to bed not long after checking into the hotel.
Saturday: huge insane buffet breakfast. Best bacon I’ve ever eaten – wafer thin. And smoked salmon *drool*. Time to get out, discover Vienna and get lost. And we did. However, we did see a cute street market that looked like an old person’s house had been emptied – lots of old tins, prints, photos, frames, clothes.. After our “diversion” on a few trams, trains etc, we finally ended up back at the Museum Quarter, and wandered around some grand and gorgeous buildings and parks. Eventually we ended up at the Belevedere Palace, walked through the gorgeous grounds and saw the one thing – the entire reason why I came to Vienna. To see Gustav Klimt’s painting, “The Kiss”. I stared at it for so long. To see it up close was so different to seeing it in books. You could see the texture, the real colours, the strokes. Not only was there gold, but also silver used in the painting. I kept coming back after looking at the other paintings to see it over and over.We then hired some bikes and peddled around Vienna along the parks and riverbank. SO much better and faster than pounding the pavement. Highly recommend it, and loads of bike paths. There’s just sooo many buildings to see. Eventually we went back to the hotel, kicked our feet up, had a couple of drinks and then went upstairs to get ready for the opera. The opera house was stunning. We had champagne to celebrate and our own box on the balcony. Choosing seats is quite hard and also, thank GOD – we had little screens that translated what they were singing into English. Other seats didn’t have that. The opera singers were amazing. No microphones whatsoever – their voices filled the vast, tall area. Afterwards, we went out for a late bite to eat and slept very well that night.
Sunday: the Spanish Riding School. Basically, very well trained white horses, who dance, do ballet and jump around lots to music. Beautiful horses. Enjoyed the second half where they did the ballet, dancing and jumping the most. Afterwards, we went to the Vienna Zoo.. OMG: highlights: mum and dad tiger with 2 baby tiger cubs. 1 leopard and 2 black jaguars all climbing over each other like best buddies and the panda, including the baby panda bear. Great zoo - they even had a delicous restaurant there too! We had dinner and wine there, headed back to Central Vienna on the Underground and found a mexican bar and downed a jug of strawberry marguriatas.
Monday: Kerri had to fly home very early that morning, which left me to my own resources for the day. So after a hearty baconny breakfast, I headed to the Museum Quarter to the Leopold Museum and saw more Klimt paintings and other Austrian art. I then hired a bike and peddled over to Augarten - a huge park. Ended up at Stephenplatz - big Notre Dame like Cathedral, had a bit of retail therapy, found a gorgeous old cafe where you can see the pastry chefs making everything from scratch and had the most insane delicious iced chocolate EVER. Headed back to the hotel, picked up my bags and made way for the airport. Had another amazing seat on the plane - emergency exit row, loads of leg room, an almost empty plane and no one sitting next to me - yay!
So, thanks to my cuz Kerri for a wonderful weekend together - I had such a great time :) xoxo
Monday, 22 September 2008
Switzerland and York photos
August - what a month, from Turkey at the beginning, to beautiful Switzerland staying with my cuz, to a quaint day trip up to York.. Off to Vienna this weekend and lots more to come!! Enjoy :)
Switzerland photos (album 1)
Switzerland photos (album 2)
York photos
Switzerland photos (album 1)
Switzerland photos (album 2)
York photos
Friday, 29 August 2008
The sun doesn't shine
The sun doesn't shine in London
The clouds are permanently set
So dull, so weary –
Her people march lazily in her shadow.
No sunrise, no sunset.
The clouds push down,
Unemployment rises, inflation rises.
Nobody smiles, eye contact is minimal, wrinkled faces distort.
A trail of smoke lingers from every hand with its mandatory cigarette,
While rain comes down and dampens our clothes and our spirits.
The hiyas, dyouknowwhadimeans, the youalrights?
The queues, the crisps, the chips, the pints, the stodgy food
No wonder they drink so much, smoke so much, eat so much, complain so much.
Her only hope, is to break through the grey,
And escape by plane to a cleaner, warmer salvation called Europe.
Apparently there were good days
Where the summers here were dry and long.
But the only summers I remember,
Are in the place where I come from.
And I ask myself this question, where do I belong?
By Amanda Home.
The clouds are permanently set
So dull, so weary –
Her people march lazily in her shadow.
No sunrise, no sunset.
The clouds push down,
Unemployment rises, inflation rises.
Nobody smiles, eye contact is minimal, wrinkled faces distort.
A trail of smoke lingers from every hand with its mandatory cigarette,
While rain comes down and dampens our clothes and our spirits.
The hiyas, dyouknowwhadimeans, the youalrights?
The queues, the crisps, the chips, the pints, the stodgy food
No wonder they drink so much, smoke so much, eat so much, complain so much.
Her only hope, is to break through the grey,
And escape by plane to a cleaner, warmer salvation called Europe.
Apparently there were good days
Where the summers here were dry and long.
But the only summers I remember,
Are in the place where I come from.
And I ask myself this question, where do I belong?
By Amanda Home.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
