Day 67: NYC

Had a pretty quiet day around NYC. Started with breakfast in a neighbourhood diner (one of several surprisingly different and important culinary experiences in America - see also hot dog stands, bagels, and pumpkin pie). Went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for an exhibition of Rembrandt and his contemporaries. The Met is amazing and everything, but since Steph and I saw it last time, we just checked out the African gallery (missed last time), and moved on. Walked through Central Park. Saw a cute couple having wedding photos by a pond despite the freezing weather - it was adorable to see the bride's take-the-damn-photo-already-because-I-want-to-put-my-coat-on smile. Went to FAO Schwartz, the best toy shop in the world, and spent ages and ages in there since, well, it's the best toy shop in the world. Walked down 6th Avenue and around Times Square, then back to Queens for a tasty Thai dinner.

Day 66: New York City

Donnie was working and Steph was in Philly so I spent the day by myself on a Death March around NYC. Started at the United Nations; I realise it's not a particularly inspiring building, but I wanted to see the flags and the couple of sculptures outside the main building. It's funny; the original concept would have been to have the member nation's flags in front of the building, but now that there's so many nations - 192, to be exact - the flags are spread up and down the street, crammed into little corners and amongst trees. Something about that makes me laugh.
Went down to Greenwich, walked around lots of nice little tree-lined streets, with a much more neighbourhood-y feeling than most of NYC. Then went to Union Square, where there was a cool little market going on, and lots of folks just hanging about. It always makes me think of the line in a song by The Velvet Underground: "gonna take a walk 'round Union Square, never know what you're gonna find there."
Next stop was Chinatown, which was a lot of fun. The main thoroughfare is pretty tacky and touristy, but the side streets are a delight. Satisfied a craving for Japanese sweets with a little multi-pack of goma, anko, and others. Found the World's Grossest Butcher, which really had every organ from every animal. Goat uterus, anyone? Seriously, what does one do with a goat's uterus? Blegh. Chinatown merged into Little Italy, and that was enough wandering for the day.
Went back to Donnie's, had some dinner, then headed out again to meet Steph, Edward and Dimple (Round 2 of the Japan Friends / Internet Friends Collision of Universes!) for karaoke. Went to a Korean place, had a blast. Dimple carried on the tradition of sneaking in her own grog, and it was grand. Ended the evening in a cosy pub, with me pumping coins into the jukebox and the girls getting their groove on.

Day 65: New York City

Spent most of today at the awesome Bronx Zoo. It's a huge zoo, with lots of woodland and parkland amongst the enclosures, but we managed to see most of it. New animals: duikers, okapi, congo peafowl, tinamous, hyraxes, mousebirds, quetzals, skunks, cane rats, jerboas, lorises, alligator snapping turtles. Really cool, modern exhibits - definitely recommended.
Went back into Manhattan - Steph hopped on a train back to Philly and I walked around Koreatown (a couple of blocks of 32nd St, really), looking for a karaoke place for tomorrow night.
Everything worth saying about New York City has already been said, so I'll just restate the obvious - it's enormous, busy, and doesn't slow down for anyone or anything. It's the dictionary definition of a metropolis.

Day 64: Philadelphia - New York City

The Locust Punch turned out to be Locust Poison, and it took Steph and I a while to recover from them today. Went to a really ghetto McDonalds for hangover-curing greasy food, then took a long subway ride to sprawling Northeast Philly to visit the insectarium. In the most bizarre interruption to sightseeing, it turned out that the insectarium had been shut down by the police just five days prior for operating without a licence. Whoops.
Instead, we hit up a nearby costume shop for my rather confused attempt at Halloween. Went back into the city, met Edward at his work, editing a documentary on the Spin Doctors. Went for tasty burgers at a Belgian pub, then dashed home and out again to catch the sketchy Chinatown bus to NYC.
Met Donnie and headed out to Queens. Witnessed much Halloween mayhem on the way. Most original costume: tofu hoagie. Went to a local bar for Halloween drinks.

Day 63: Toronto - Philadelphia

Another travel day, with a dash of Amazing Race-style transport-dashing. Flew from Toronto to New York City then bolted out of the airport to make my train to Philadelphia (no Toronto - Philly flights!). Made it, met Steph in Philly, went straight to the pub (pretty much). Philly has nice pubs. Steph went to slave away at the library and I went out to Westchester to visit Margaret. Westchester is a very pretty town, all old buildings and "Main Street, USA" sort of feeling. Back into Philly, where the Democratic presidential debate was happening in Drexel University. Seems like the Democratic presidential candidacy is more important than the presidential election itself. Met Steph, and we hit the town - first the Locust Bar, a student pub where we indulged in the trademark Locust Punch, then Woody's, a friendly gay bar.

Day 62: Toronto

Spent today on one of my patented Death Marches around Toronto. Started at the CN Tower, which is enormous, but not at all pretty. Walked up to Queen St (again!) and past lots of important buildings that I've already forgotten to the Eaton Centre, which is a very pretty mall, with cool flying-geese art, but still just a mall. Popped into The World's Biggest Bookstore (it's really called that, though I don't believe it). Strolled through the University of Ontario, along Bloor St, and finally back down to Kensington where I met Kevin for coffee. We had another walk around Kensington and then through Chinatown before parting ways. Walked to the financial district, found some statues of cows and not much else, then met Kate for the subway ride home. The google-pedometer thing says I walked 13km today. I shudder to think of how far I've walked on the whole trip.

Day 61: Toronto

Started the day with a driving tour of Toronto. Saw the CN Tower, Lake Ontario, lots of other bits and pieces. Stopped at the Distillery District, an area of old industrial buildings converted into trendy shops for trendy people with more money than sense. Found a bakery with pies, pasties and sausage rolls, which immediately puts Canada leagues ahead of America in my view.
Drove out to eastern Toronto, to the beaches. The beaches, of course, being the beaches of Lake Ontario. Lake Ontario is so huge I can't register it as a lake; lakes are meant to have a visible opposite shore, at least they do where I'm from. Anyway, had a nice stroll along the shore, then through a nice neighbourhood a bit like Norwood or Unley.
We drove back downtown to meet Kevin for Round 1 of the Japan Friends / Internet Friends Collision of Universes. We had a nice afternoon tea, then Scott and Kate went home and Kevin showed me around the uber-cool Kensington market. Kensington really is the funkiest neighbourhood I've ever seen - second-hand shops spilling out of the front of houses, cars painted with murals and full of shrubbery, and bands playing on the street just because they can. It's wonderful fun.
Walked with Kevin down Queen St to meet his partner Lauren, who was working at a convention / market for local artists - comics, posters, record covers, badges and such. Really neat. Ended the day with a dinner of awesome $3 burritos.

Day 60: Toronto

I think the secret to this journal is being alone. It's now November 6th, and I'm at JFK waiting for a flight to San Francisco.
So back on the 27th of October, Kate and Scott took me around Toronto. Went to the St Lawrence Market, which is much like Adelaide's Central Market, and therefore great. Followed the market with a tram ride and a long walk down trendy Queen St. Had an amazingly good sandwich lunch, and eventually headed home, where Scott made a fabulous blue cheese lasagna for dinner.
Toronto is big, diverse, and much friendlier an un-snobby than a city of five million has any right to be.

Day 59: London - Toronto

Today I flew from London to Toronto. That's about it. Met Kate and Scott, and given the hour that I arrived, and the views available from the highway, all I can say about Toronto is that it isn't too cold, and there's lots of condominiums.

Day 58: London

Curiously, when you get the 5:30 wake-up call for breakfast on thie boat, you've already docked at Harwich, England. I suppose there's no point in getting off to just wait around for the first train of the day.
Spent the day in London before meeting Chris and going back to his place. Went to the British Museum again to finish off what we missed the first time - Africa, Asia and the Americas. I've decided that the best three museums in the world are the British (history), the Louvre (art), and the American of Natural History (natural history, naturally). So there. Spent ages reading books in Borders and two different Waterstones, then went to the National Gallery. Saw Sunflowers, Virgin on the Rocks and... that one on the Crash Test Dummies album.
I was thinking that I'm bound to be asked which city was my favourite, and I came to the conclusion that if someone put a gun to my head and made me choose, I would say London. The things I loved about each of the cities could be summed up in either their visuals - the monuments, parks, settings and such (Paris, Rome, Vienna, Venice, Luxembourg); or their liveliness, their people-atmosphere (Munich, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Marrakesh) - and basically, London combines the two better than anywhere else. That, of course, doesn't take into consideration things like food, nightlife and music, which I couldn't really experience. I'll be back for those when I've made my millions.

Day 57: Amsterdam

So Amsterdam is more than just quirky and ramshackle. It's full of life, and is a lot more laid-back and unpretentious than your average European capital. With Paris, Rome and Vienna, it seems like they're too worried about how fashionable their outfit is to have any fun. Amsterdam just shrugs its shoulders and enjoys itself.
Had a long walk through several pedestrian shopping streets to the Van Gogh Museum, which was manageably-sized and in possession of most of the Van Goghs that I know. Wandered back through town and found what I really dislike about the whole dope culture - the God-awful souvenirs. I'm not really the demographic that all the cannabis-leaf merchandise is aimed at anyway but still... a picture of Christ on the cross smoking a joint really isn't okay. The other thing is that all the stoners result in a lot of Marley / Guevera / dolphins / crystals rubbish.
Went for a walk to the red light district, and chanced upon a really cool bar / pub precinct (wrong time of day, unfortunately) and a surprising Chinatown. The red light district itself is obviously not aimed at me, though most of the shops and such were kind of amusing and silly, though the barely-dressed women in their glass-fronted rooms, beckoning passers-by, just felt awkward and a bit sad. If they're choosing what they do as a job, then good for them, but if it's the only way they have of making a living, then that's pretty depressing.
Kept walking around other, trendier, classier neighbourhoods - found lots of trendy shops, canals and bicycles. Amsterdam is full of bicycles, which is a great thing.
Eventually took a train to Hoek van Holland, to hop on a ferry back to England. I was expecting something like the ferries on the Seto Inland Sea, and was wondering what the price difference would be between a seat and a couchette. Boy, was I wrong. It's more like the Spirit of Tasmania, halfway to being a cruise ship. Now I'm sitting in my private cabin, looking forward to a good night's sleep and a big buffet breakfast in the morning.

Day 56: Brussels - Amsterdam

Brussels then Amsterdam today, and both were bloody freezing. Walked around the Grand Place again, and bought some chocolates. Then went to the Musee des Instruments de la Musique, one of the coolest museums I've ever been to. You get headphones at the ticket desk, and when you stand in front of a display, you automatically hear music played on that instrument. It's really neat to wander around and have the music change from one thing to another: sitar! Lute! Bagpipes! Harpsichord! There's also some quirky instruments that didn't get past the prototype stage, like creatures from the Cambrian Explosion.
Hopped on a train for a surprisingly long ride to Amsterdam. The Netherlands looks like you'd expect; flat, waterlogged, heavily populated - but surprisingly pretty, given the above. Didn't get a hostel until 6ish. Dealth with the world's most useless tourist info lady at the station.
Me: Excuse me, I'm looking for a YHA hostel.
World's Most Useless Lady: I can make a booking for you...
Me: No thanks, I just need directions.
WMUL: (drawing massive circles on a map) There are hostels here, here and here.
Me: Is there a YHA hostel? Do you have any addresses?
WMUL: No, I don't know.
Then what bloody use are you?
Walked around a bit and found that for all the dope / prostitution / gay scene etc trademarks, Amsterdam just feels kinda quirky, that's all. Not a torch-bearing beacon for liberal attitudes, nor a pit of sin and debauchery - just a little wacky, slightly ramshackle sort of city. Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Today was two capital cities for the price of one: Luxembourg then Brussels. Spent the morning wandering around the old central part of Luxembourg, admiring the views from atop the cliffs / walls that encircle it. It really has a marvellous setting, this sort of plateau bounded by cliffs, with the modern part of the city on the other side of a river gorge. Sort of hard to explain without a diagram.
Hopped on a train, and after a surprisingly long ride, arrived in Brussels. For a start, Brussels has actual skyscrapers, which I haven't really seen since London. Like very other city in Europe, it has plenty of Old Stuff too. Of Brussel's best-known landmarks, the Grand Place is certainly grand - it's a big square of lots of beautiful buildings, but there's nothing actually happening there, unlike La Rambla or Djemma el-Fna; the second, Manneken Pis, is a very small statue of a boy peeing. Meh.
The street squares and arcades around the Grand Place, however, are absolutely charming. Lots of restaurants and shops, but neither sketchy nor pretentious - just warm and inviting. The sort of fun mishmash that I found in Montmartre, but was missing from more central parts of Paris or Vienna, which are too busy thinking about how important they are to look like they're having any fun. I also found lots of chocolate shops and a street full of really nice (again, warm and inviting, not stuck up) seafood restaurants. If only I liked mussels...

Day 54: Zurich - Luxembourg

Spent the day on trains from Zurich to Luxembourg. The scenery wasn't inspiring and nothing happened, so not much to report.
Had enough time for a stroll around Luxembourg, which seems utterly charming, even on a wet Sunday evening when the streets are empty. Finally, Bryan Ferry seems to be doing a tour of Small European Capitals Starting With L, judging by the tour posters I've seen here and in Ljubljana.

Day 53: Zurich / Liechtenstein

My plan for my trip to Liechtenstein was that I didn't need to bring the LP or any information, since the bus would drop me off right at the tourist office. That plan would've worked if I had gotten off at the right bus stop. Instead, after entering Liechtenstein, I soon saw a castle, and thinking there was only one castle in Liechtenstein, figured this was Vaduz, the capital. I realised my mistake soon after the bus sped away, but I was in a pretty spot, and Vaduz had to be close. Two hours of walking later - half the length of the whole country - I actually arrived in Vaduz.
I'm glad I actually made that mistake, because the scenery on that walk was gobsmackingly beautiful, and central Vaduz isn't really anything special. The mountains on both sides of the Rhine Valley in which most of Liechtenstein sits soar very dramatically skywards; better still, they were capped with snow, running down to surprisingly low altitudes. Some of those peaks were over 2300m; Vaduz sits at a modest 400m, so that's pretty lofty view.
I climbed to the actual Vaduz castle, walked around Vaduz (doesn't take long!) and got back on the bus. Central Vaduz is mostly banks and souvenir shops, whilst the streets going up the mountainside are very nice, there really isn't much to see.
Got the train back to Zurich, and enjoyed yet more amazing scenery. The train follows the whole length of Lake Zurich, and with the snow-capped mountains and green pastures with bell-wearing cows - it's just perfect.

Day 52: Zurich

Went to the Zurich Zoo today, mostly to see the famed Masoala Rainforest. It's a nice, modern zoo, and I can add trumpeters, trogons, Arabian oryx, geladas, prairie-dogs and Pallas's cat to my animal-list. The Masoala Rainforest is spectacular; it's a reconstruction of a rainforest in Madagascar, and it's huge, authentic-looking and very lush. So lush, actually, that you could very easily walk through without seeing anything. I managed several birds and one of the five kinds of lemur that live there.
Walked back into central Zurich, through the pretty old town. Turns out that Zurich is very hilly. Looked at a couple of churches. Walked along the lake, where I was a little too excited to see a couple of grebes. Walked back into the city and walked to the hostel, which isn't as far as I thought.
Zurich may not be bursting with must-see sights for tourists, but I bet it's a lovely place to live.

Day 51: Munich - Zurich

Took a train to Stuttgart with Mark and Lexie, two nice Canadians from the hostel in Munich, then continued on to Zurich.
The hostel in Zurich is a fair way out from the city, which gives the advantage of seeing Swiss suburbia (and the disadvantage of being a long way out). It turns out that Swiss suburbia is very pleasant. I went back into the city and walked down Bahnhofstrasse, which is also pleasant. There's some things every city so far has had that Zurich's missing; the most striking of which is the complete absence of beggars. Munich, Vienna, Rome, Barcelona and Paris all had a lot more folks on the streets than I would've expected, and in Zurich, there are none. Also lacking - kebab stands, phone centres, souvenir-sellers, and anyone even remotely unsavoury-looking. It could just be because Zurich is smaller, or it could be because the whole place feels rather... neutral, for lack of a better word. Oh well, it's certainly pleasant.

Day 50: Munich / Fussen

Spent the day on a trip to the over-the-top and over-touristed castles of Schloss Neuschwanstein and Schloss Hohenschwangen. The train ride was pretty, as per usual, though the poopy smell from the many dairy farms often filled the carriage.
The town of Fussen itself is, of course, pretty.
The castles are perched on cliffs with a complete tourist village between them. This certainly was not off-the-beaten-track, that's for sure. Hohenschwangen is a nice yellow and has some funky fountains, but everyone comes for Neuschwanstein. It looks much like the Disneyland castle is was supposed to have inspired - actually, that pretty much sums it up - "like the one at Disneyland."
There's a bridge over a beautiful gorge nearby which has the best views; naturally, it was packed with photo-snapping tourists like myself. I had to wonder what the carrying capacity of that bridge was.
Back in Munich, I've become rather fond of the anti-pigeon spikes on lots of signs, especially the way they add a sinister edge to the sweetest of businesses. "Bunnies, Kittens, and Marshmallows," surrounded by PIGEON-KILLING SPIKES. Heh heh. Damn pigeons.

Day 49: Munich

Munich is a nice city, very relaxed, at ease with itself and just a shade above Adelaide in terms of its city-ness, but good lord, there's a lot of Jehovah's Witnesses about.
I also managed to fill the day without doing very much; between getting photos unloaded onto CDs, and getting flights rerouted from Montreal to Toronto, it was noon before I started sightseeing.
Strolled around Marionplatz first, then had lunch in the park behind Neues Rathaus. Walked to Englischer Garten, where I saw some nude tennis - certainly a first, I imagine - and plenty of other nudes as well. The whole park is really carefree and fun, lots of bikes, rollerblades, unleashed dogs, and folks relaxing on the lawn (no "keep off the grass!"). Walked through another neighbouring park, passed by the Residenz (mostly hidden under scaffolding), failed to find a quirky museum, and that was it for sightseeing in Munich.

Day 48: Salzburg - Munich

Somehow, I expect everything in Germany to run with exquisite precision, but I guess it isn't so.
I went for a walk around Salzburg in the morning - yep, still pretty, yep, cliffs still there - then hopped on a train to Munich. That train stopped at the first town in Germany, where I had to change trains. Hopped on the first train, couldn't find any unreserved seats, hopped off again, expecting another one in twenty minutes. The next two trains were cancelled, so it was a two-hour wait for another train.
Still, got to Munich in time to have a bit of a look around. The main pedestrian street, and the big squares of Karlsplatz and Mariansplatz, are very nice, lots of the usual fancy shops but none of the three I needed - a music shop, a photo lab, or a supermarket. A couple of lovely big churches and museums that I'll explore tomorrow.

Day 47: Vienna - Salzburg

A curious kind of a day has led me to be listening to church bells in Salzburg tonight. The plan was to spend the day in Vienna and take the overnight train to Munich. Since I didn't want to pay for any sightseeing, I had the idea of going to Graz for a day trip. Went to Sudbahnhof Station only to find that there wasn't anything to Graz for quite a while. So I walked around the city for a bit, had lunch and generally didn't want to wait around 'til midnight for the train, nor did I want to arrive at Munich at 6am. So I decided to go to Salzburg instead, halfway between the two.
Salzburg, then, is obviously very pretty, of course, all cobblestone streets and baroque buildings bounded very abruptly by very steep cliffs. Also of note: Austrians always so hello and goodbye when entering a train compartment, and Austrian dogs can ride the subway, but they need their own ticket.

Day 46: Vienna

The first thing I noticed about Vienna is how sedate it is. The people are quieter, the traffic sensible, and people actually wait for traffic lights. It's not as glitzy or outwardly hedonistic as Barcelona or Rome, but it has its fair share of grandeur and classic beauty.
Started with the Hofburg; it was raining and all of its museums and such were very pricey, so I just zipped through. Next, up a nice mall to St Stephen's Cathedral, then down to Naschmarkt. It was a lively, crowded market, but still more orderly than a lot of other cities. An amazing variety of fruit (for Austria in autumn), and a very junky flea market.
Went to Schloss Schonbrunn, intending to just take a cow photo, but the gardens (which, miraculously, are free) have buckets of neat things. I couldn't resist the temptation of the zoo, which had giant pandas (!), giant anteaters (!!!), capybara, reindeer, keas, seriemas, hutias, lammegeiers, serows and coati among other cool things. It's also neat how they've built modern enclosures around the beautiful baroque architecture, rather than replacing it, or having the animals living in concrete.
Took the subway to the other side of Vienna looking for a park mentioned in the LP. Instead, found a completely awesome amusement park, full of rollercoasters, dodgem cars, and crazy fast-spinny-things. Just like the stuff at the Mt Gambier Show, only less shonky. I really wanted to go on some rides; if I ever come to Vienna again, someone better take me there.