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Unfinished Melbourne: Day 5
Soundtrack: “My Bag”, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions There’s always mixed feelings about the last day. The knowing that I’ll be heading back to the 6.30am alarm, getting ready to go to work, the daily commute traffic, the junkie-like fix of the morning coffee, salad for lunch, the daily routine, the torment of only being able to dream of travel to come. Then there’s being home with L, the comfort of familiar surroundings and sleeping in our own bed, getting to know our two new feline overlords, the comforting stability of being home while dreaming of travel to come. The alarm kicked me out of bed at 6.30am so I’d…
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Iberian Spring: Day 9 Madrid
Soundtrack: “Spanish Bombs”, The Clash | “Hieronymous”, The Clouds Today is art day. Madrid’s Museo Nacional del Prado, or The Prado for short, houses some of the world’s most magnificent paintings by white people. It’s amazing how language translation works, here Prado means things of beauty, while in Australia Prado means ugly faux-tank driven by white people. According to google translate, prado actually translates to meadow, which really neither describes a multi-storey building with over 100 rooms full of priceless artworks, nor a metal box that flattens all in its path, plants or otherwise. (Apparently there used to be a meadow where they built the museum, sometimes the truth is…
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Buns2025: Day 6 – Paris
Soundtrack: “Never can say goodbye”, The Communards I have Louvred. Somehow I managed to get up early (probably due to my body not yet knowing what time it’s supposed to be) and headed down to that big old museum. Stopped for breakfast at an artisanal boulangerie, where I couldn’t decide if I wanted the croissant or the the pain au chocolat so I went for both. And they both were very nice, either dunked or undunked. I’m still not converted. Does dunking add something to the croissant? Not really if it’s fresh. Does it add anything to the coffee? Nope. I booked a 9.30am admission so when I wandered to…
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Buns2025: Day 2 – Melbourne
Soundtrack: “Under the Clocks”, Weddings Parties Anything Finally made it to day 2. Currently sitting in the airport departure terminal, watching a dog get unloaded from a flight and I’m only a little damp around the eyes. Day 2 kicked off with heading to my usual cafe, Euro Lane I think it’s called, tucked away in a little alley between Flinders and Collins, that for a number of years now have done some amazing middle-eastern/spanish breakfast options, piles of turkish bread, spicy beans, eggs, and the like. It’s been the staple for a few years now. I last enjoyed their wonderful plates of goodness when I was here in June.…
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Day 22: Amsterdam
My full day in Amsterdam, and where I realise that I didn’t really have my act together planning this bit. After possibly not enough sleep, I made an earlyish start for the Rijksmuseum. I figured I could wander down the street my hotel is on and there must be somewhere I could get breakfast, as this also worked for getting the direct tram to the museum. As described yesterday, I really don;t know which establishments actually serve food or coffee in this city, which was made abundantly clear when I headed towards a large stand on the corner, to find that it sold all manner of chicken, from eggs by…
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Day 19: Edinburgh
Basically a day of wandering around Edinburgh, seeing pretty things, buying a few things for me and others, and eating things. Kicked off with a bit of a wander through New Town, and by new, we’re talking only built up around 250 years ago. It’s a chunk less touristy than the Old Town, there are odd spots but generally the tours don’t stray far from Princes St. Was able to grab breakfast at a little local cafe, a “triple” bun with egg, bacon, and haggis, and a decent serve at that, with coffee (a decent flat white), and paid less that 10 pounds. There seems to just be the one…
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Day 8: Mambo de la Luna, Camaguey to Trinidad
Historic Camaguey, or Port Principe. The tour started with an old church, including an offer to tour the crypt. I took the tour, hoping to get a glimpse of some relics, maybe a body part of a saint or two, or a chunk of the true cross. Sadly no such luck. They had three rooms open, each with some interesting items. The first had a candle presented to the church by Pope John Paul II, the glasses of a priest that is held in high regard the locals, some other items like 17th century art that has been found under the church. Through a very low doorway into the second…
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Say it slowly tour Day 54: London
Last breakfast at the Bayswater Arms. Have lots to do today, so am here right on opening. Get to help move furniture, set up the outdoor stuff. The manager has been watching marine documentaries, and she’s full of knowledge on killer whales, sharks and stingrays. The plan is huge, but I can do it. I didn’t do it. The list was: Tate Britain, Jellied Eels and possibly a good old east end pie, find bottle of ginger wine, look at other booze, National Gallery, Wallace Collection, catch up with G (and possibly A — if he’s back), work out how to pack everything. What I did was: Tate Britain, jellied…
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Say it slowly tour Day 27: Budapest with a vengeance
I’m still in Budapest, will train to Sarajevo tomorrow. The weather is fairly sunny, a littlle fuzzy cloud cover, the obligatory polution haze, and I’m going to do my absolute best to enjoy today, I’m not going to let anything stop me. Not even my tummy trying for a repeat of Krakow. I wish I could blame it on last night’s feast ala ordinaire, but given the timing suspect it was someting I ate and enjoyed immensely. It’s a cruel world sometimes. So the plan is to head towards north Pest, check out St Stephen’s kirk, find some fine food, do some souvenir shopping (and buy a couple of books…
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Say it slowly tour Day 26: Sunshine on Pest / thoughts on easy and hard travel / Buda, Pest, and all that
Today the sun shines, and I might be able to see more of this place. I’m still pondering where there is any point to staying an extra day — I would like to see more of the place, but am not overly keen my my current digs. Will ponder some more. The Marco Polo Hostel is well promoted, and a member of Hostels International. It’s also a bit like a MacHostel, giving the basics but not much else. I realise that hostels are, by their very nature, the very very low end of the market. But if I look at the Birmingham backpackers, there were private shower cubicles with room…
