tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-221234052024-03-14T09:48:41.302+04:00Melissa's Flight Attendant BlogHello! I've just finished training as an air hostie. Living in the only city in the Middle East that never sleeps - Dubai! Hope to see you here soon!Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.comBlogger262125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-44243243189966848732014-02-28T10:55:00.001+04:002014-02-28T10:55:27.616+04:00The State That Does Not Exist<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Along with the DPRK, Transnistria was one of the places I was most curious about. The first time I heard about the place was in a very short article in Monocle Magazine, no more than 2 paragraphs long. But after a night of internet browsing increased my knowledge a tad, my interest in the place grew and I knew then that if I ever found myself in Moldova then Transnistria was a 'must see'. Plus my Norwegian friend 'S' (who was mentioned in a previous post <a href="http://tampaxtowers.blogspot.ae/2011/09/beautiful-bergen.html">here</a>) had been on a work trip, so I knew that a visit would be possible and worth it for a non-Russian/non-Romanian speaker.<br />
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For those not clued-up, Transnistria is this tiny sliver of land that borders Moldova on the west and Ukraine on the east. After the USSR collapsed, tensions rose between those on the west of the Dniester river (Moldova, who had declared itself independent shortly after) and those on the east of the river, who still wished to remain part of the Soviet Union. After a 4 month war in 1992 a ceasefire was declared, talks were held, but the political status of the territory was still unresolved. This territory, having declared itself independent 2 years before the conflict, is only recognised by three other Soviet 'frozen conflict' territories - Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The other 200+ sovereign states recognise Transnistria as a part of Moldova. They have their own army, their own currency, and they even have legitimate Transnistrian passports for citizens. <br />
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Whilst I knew it would be an achievable trip, I only had about four days in Chișinău, and had heard that there were problems with the border controls in Transnistria, particularly for those travellers arriving via the main road from Odessa, Ukraine. After 8 years of travelling to some varied, awesome, modern and underdeveloped countries, one of the things I have managed to avoid so far is the payment of a bribe. At least by taking a guided tour I would avoid such a confrontation, pass through border controls relatively quickly and had someone with local knowledge guide me around the state. I chose Andrey at <a href="http://transnistria-tour.com/en/">Transnistrian Tours</a>, who through my research was the only guide I could find that was born and raised in Tiraspol. He picked me up in Chisinau in a 30 year old Honda that had seen better days, and with a couple of turns onto the R2 motorway we were on our way to <i><span class="Unicode" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: normal;" title="Russian transliteration">Pridnestrovskaya Moldavskaya Respublika.</span></i><br />
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My entry/exit card. Sorry about the re-touching, but I'm not about to post my passport details on the net... <br />
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Hearty spinach soup from 7 Fridays in Tiraspol. Isn't that the most glorious green colour? I shared a pizza with Andrey at the restaurant and it was tasty as well. <br />
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Tiraspol Theatre, where on the 2nd September 1990 the state of Transnistria was declared an independent state. <br />
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Taras Shevchenko University, the main university in Transnistria. Being a Sunday on the day of my visit, the university was closed, however with Andrey being a former student, he managed to have a nice talk with the security guard and I was treated to a tour of the interior. <br />
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When you enter the university, you're met with these gorgeous stained glass artworks</div>
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Having been founded in 1930, there are many references to the Soviet union. <br />
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Throughout the university, there are quotes and portraits from Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, Romanian poet Mihai Eminescu and Russian Poet Alexander Pushkin.<br />
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The Transnistrian National Anthem line the walls, translated in Ukrainian, Russian and Romanian. <br />
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And just adjacent to the university is the Bulevardul Gagarin, where a bust of the USSR's most famous cosmonaut stands.<br />
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A monument commemorating famous Transnistrians, including the first President Igor Smirnov.</div>
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'Dom Sovetov', translated as the House of Soviets, the Parliamentary building of Transnistria, with a bust of Lenin displayed prominently at the entrance. <br />
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Afterwards, Andrey took me to Kirov Park, and I really did feel as if I had gone back in time.<br />
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Adding to the visit was that being played on speakers throughout the park were children's songs - all in Russian of course - that Andrey had said reminded him of his childhood. There weren't too many people in the park but it was nice to just stroll around in the sun and to breathe in fresh air. I guess with my visit being in October the park wouldn't have been as buzzing as it would have been during the height of summer. The statue featured is of Sergei Kirov, one of the main Bolshevik leaders in the USSR who was assassinated during Stalin's time.<br />
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The Suvorov Monument, featuring Alexander Suvorov, who founded Tiraspol in 1792.<br />
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The building and plaque are significant in that it is the only government building plaque that has a translation in English. <br />
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A bust of Nikolay Zelinsky, inventor of the gas mask. Greatly revered in Transnistria, there's even a museum here in his city of birth, but I was lacking the time to visit. <br />
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Eternal Flame at the war memorial in the central plaza of Tiraspol, commemorating those that lost their lives during conflict in Tiraspol in 1941 and 1944.<br />
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Orthodox Church in the central plaza on 25th October Street. Apparently there is a larger church on Shevchenko Street, but this is the most popular church for Transnistrians to get married in, as it has a nice view of the river and many famous monuments of the country are located very close to this church, so provide the best photographic opportunities. I asked Andrey if he had his wedding in the church, and he said he did. I'm sure it would have been particularly special, this street is the lifeblood of the city of Tiraspol and with every weekend there being a wedding in the church (and indeed there was a wedding when I visited), to finally get your day would have been something. He had a bit of a twinkle in his eye when he talked about his wedding day too. <br />
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So along with the Suvorov monument there is this T-34 tank that dominates the plaza, placed here to commemorate the Soviet victory of WW2. There were some 84,000 produced in an 18 year period. Mainly due to the sheer number that were built, but also due to it's efficiency and design, there still remains hundreds of tanks that are still operational, many of which are in private ownership.<br />
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Dniester River, from which Transnistria adopted its name. The sandy bank to the right of the photo is popular for swimmers and sunbathers during the summertime. At around 8 degrees Celsius during my October visit, whilst it was nice and sunny, it was perhaps a bit too cold for sunbathing. <br />
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After the tour was coming close to the end, we went to Bendery for a last minute Kvint run.<br />
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A branch of the Sheriff supermarket. The Sheriff company are the second largest business in Transnistria (I presume that Kvint are the largest) and it's not hard to see why - they have a monopoly on the supermarkets and petrol stations, plus they have a TV station, a mobile phone network, a (very successful) football club and a massive football stadium. When I first heard the name of the company I, for some reason, thought it was pronounced Sharif, as in the actor Omar Sharif. After a moment thinking as to why a proudly Transnistrian company would give itself an Arabic name, I then realised my mistake when I saw the logo. <br />
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Also spotted in Bendery, a stretch limo, seemingly permanently parked at a petrol station. I didn't see any wedding parties at the capital with limousines waiting, so I wonder when it would be used?<br />
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A bottle of Transnistria's best export, Kvint cognac. So famous that the factory has even been featured on the Transnistrian rouble. I don't really drink cognac, I have a bottle at home for cooking gravy and what not. Then Christmas in Dubai happened, and they were selling Borden Egg Nog seemingly everywhere so I decided to buy a single serve, took it home and mixed in some Kvint - WOW, just WOW. The bottle is only 1/4 full now, so you guys can tell I had a pretty good Christmas!<br />
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Just in case you were at all curious, this is the Trasnistrian Rouble, plus some kopecks. As you can see on the Rouble, it has the founder, Alexander Suvorov, and on the kopeck there is even the Soviet hammer and sickle. <br />
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The trip to 'The State That Doesn't Exist' certainly didn't disappoint, and a large reason for that is mainly due to my tour guide, Andrey. Had I attempted to make the trip alone, there would have been frustrations that would have possibly given me a negative impression of the territory, whether it be with the mashrutka trip, the border guards asking for bribes, not knowing anyone that speaks English, not knowing any Romanian, Russian or Ukrainian to ask for directions. I wish I had more time to spend there, particularly to check out the Kvint factory and the Zelinsky museum, but overall, if you happen to be in Moldova, for whatever reason, make the effort to visit Transnistria - if only to see what a visit to an unrecognised territory is like, and how it could possibly happen. <br />
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I'm not entirely sure if I've mentioned it before, but I'm hardly the type who spends a lot of my time in bars and drinks. As it is, I probably drink at a rate of 2 alcoholic drinks every 3-4 weeks, and the only time that would increase significantly would be during Eurovision. I just don't see the point of consuming something that is just going to make you feel gross the next morning, that's damaging for your health, and that has the ability to change your behaviour in a negative way. I don't need it to have a good time, unlike many other people, the behaviour of which I was witness to on a number of occasions in my old job at the Convention Centre in Perth. The minute people hear the words 'Open Bar' they have a certain crazy look in their eye, that they need to get every last drop of booze out of the building, mouth over the beer taps to suck it dry. I guess in comparison to working on an aircraft serving (virtually) unlimited booze there, it's far more civil in the skies. Don't get me wrong, people still have the capacity to take things a bit far, and you can easily find news reports supporting it, but I still think people are more civil in the air. I guess flyers understand that they still have to be conscious enough to identify their luggage at the baggage carousel when they arrive. </div>
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Anyway, a few months ago I had annual leave, and I decided to spend it in the Balkans. Four days in Sarajevo, four days in Belgrade. I fully intended not to have a drink, but the Balkans are so ridiculously cheap, and after receiving a fantastic recommendation, I couldn't resist. </div>
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The beauty about being involved in Eurovision is that you wind up with a massive network of friends spread all around the continent. Even if you're travelling to a city where you're not familiar with any locals, chances are there will be someone in this vast network who has been to the city you're headed to and they'll be more than willing to offer some tips. One of these friends was Roy, who runs the most amazing Eurovision blog <a href="http://eurovisionapocalypse.blogspot.ae/">here</a> and if you have the tiniest interest in the contest then I encourage you to go there because 99% of the posts are hilarious and amazing. Anyway, Roy told me I needed to see this bar called Zlatna Ribica, just a short walk from Sarajevo's Eternal Flame, and he made a point of it, "You MUST visit the toilets!". Okay then!</div>
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How on earth do you create the typewriter to be like that? I wanted to shove it in my suitcase and take it home, but alas, I still had 7 days of the trip left. I hate unpacking as it is, let alone having to get the vacuum out to suck dirt out of my trusty suitcase.<br />
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The pictures of the interior of this bar simply do not do it justice. <br />
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I can't even begin to inagine how many years it would have taken to collect all this bric-a-brac. You didn't know where to focus your eyes, there was so much going on. </div>
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So I ordered a Gin and Tonic. It arrived in a square drinking glass, on a gold and white doily, served with bar snacks served in a sea shell. That passport you see next to my drink is actually the menu. Apparently you could get Bosnian & Herzegovinian passports from the tourist office that would have inside the detailed history of the country and the cities of Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Mostar, but this was years back. Out of all the menus I've seen this was the one I've spent the most time reading, that's for sure. </div>
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They even have a goldfish kept in a bowl of some strange design. I couldn't figure out how they got the poor thing in and out of the glass, or how they feed it. It also doubles as a wishing well.<br />
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But the true star of the place is the toilet. It's crazy, chaotic, in-your-face, and just completely amazing.<br />
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I'm a bit annoyed tht I wasn't in need of any deodorant, sanitary pads,
talcum powder or the hair brush during my visit, but none the less it
was a great place to freshen up before heading out for some Cevapcici.<br />
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Hands down, the most awesome bar I've ever seen with my own eyes. If you happen to be in Sarajevo, have a late afternoon drink there. It's totally worth it. <br />
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Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-83207025608903898212014-01-13T16:16:00.000+04:002014-01-13T16:16:08.906+04:00New year, new blog post. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I've had a lot more readers than usual bug me about finally getting into blogging again. I never abandoned it, just lacking some serious motivation for a few months. These things happen - but I've been keen to write a few posts for a while now, it was just a matter of actually getting all the text down from my journal to the computer, then getting the photos right to make a publishable post. The transfer from the journal to the blog is the worst part, at least for me, as I can write and let things flow with no problems. But with typing you have editing and spell checking and what not - which can be somewhat tedious. Anyway enough rambling...<br />
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So following on from the big life-changer of getting my driver's licence at the start of the year, I decided it was about time I bought myself a car. Isn't it pretty?<br />
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After I got my licence I was more than happy waiting a while and driving a hired car around before having the money to buy one, but then I found out you can't hire a car in most places in Dubai until you've had at least 1 year of driving experience on your licence. It took me 8 months to buy this for a few reasons, the main reason was that I didn't want to get out a car loan for something that will only depreciate in value over time. Also by waiting until the summer months to make a purchase a lot of the prices went down on used cars for sale, so I think getting a 2012 Mini Cooper (Baker Street edition) with only 3000km on the odometer for just under 80,000 AED cash wasn't too bad. I knew I wanted a small car, as I wasn't entirely confident in my parking skills yet, and this is perfect for me and my lifestyle in Dubai. I'm seeing Dubai in an entirely different light, and getting out of my area a lot more now and quickly filling up my time with gym, shopping at the Fruit & Veg market, cooking said produce, driving to cafes to work on my research project. I'm trialling different jogging paths around the city so I don't get bored with the same route. So if you live in the city and see a bad driver driving this car, it's likely me. I already had a mild accident in the Dragon Mart car park which was my fault, nothing major thank goodness. <br />
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My January so far has been less than great. New Years was celebrated on a flight from Amsterdam back to Dubai, then I had a deadhead Milan flight (which was all kinds of awesome!) but then the night that I landed I was hit with the worst bout of gastro I've ever experienced. I'll spare you guys the very disgusting details, but it was downright brutal. I spent 5 days on the 'BRAT' diet and by the third day I was going nuts - stomach was getting better but it messes with you mentally as your taste buds crave proper flavour and spice. It isn't going to do next month's pay packet too well either - there's a massive gap of about 10 days where the only flight I've operated is a Muscat, 37 min there and 50 minutes return. It's all good though, in a way it was my body's way of telling me I needed to recharge. <br />
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December, in contrast, was actually pretty good - I basically felt as if I was living in Europe without having to deal with the cold rainy weather on a daily basis. Hamburg (x2!), Stockholm and Vienna was full of Christmas market glory. As to which ones are the best? I guess Vienna had better handicrafts, whilst Hamburg had the better food. I'm still dreaming of the potato cakes with bacon and lashings of remoulade. There was also a stall that had cooked mushrooms - *just* cooked mushrooms - served with this creamy stuff that may have had booze in it - it was amazing. I'm so glad Christmas only comes once a year because there is no way my heart can take all that cholesterol again for another 8-9 months at least. </div>
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Speaking of cholesterol, my European bonanza continued in Amsterdam - the final flight of the year. The Airline added another daily flight to it's roster which is operating the Boeing, so now I can fly there on layovers again :-D I missed the place like crazy, especially the croquettes at Holtkamp, so of course I joined the queue and bought some frozen logs of goodness to take back with me to Dubai. Regardless of the weather there, I always make myself hire a bike and ride around the city, though doing so on New Years eve was a little crazy as people were already getting sloshed and setting off fireworks even before sunset. It would've been nice to have stayed for the celebrations, but alas, I had to operate AMS-DXB and the clock struck midnight somewhere whilst I was airborne. <br />
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Such is the hostie life :-S</div>
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Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-16229849103248358622013-07-29T19:25:00.001+04:002013-07-29T19:25:14.435+04:00Istanbul - Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So as some of you have read in post from waaaaay back, I used to do Business Promotions somewhat frequently. This is where you work an event in uniform, sometimes it can be to openly promote the airline, as is the case at Travel Expositions, or an Airshow, but most of the time it is at a sporting event that we sponsor.<br />
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I'm not on the official team, nor do I want to be as there is a lot of ambiguity with the rosters each month. It's nice to do an event, say, once every 2 months, just to give yourself a break from flying. More often than not when flying again after a BP I feel mentally refreshed and eager to work again. However since last November, every month, the airline have been calling and emailing me to work a BP again. Many of the dates have clashed with the exam dates for my diploma course, so I have had to refuse. But slowly I'm starting to pick up events again which is a bit of a nice change. Last month I worked a cricket event in Birmingham - I hadn't been to Birmingham in over 5 years and have friends that live there, so that event was a pleasure to do. This month I worked a soccer event in Istanbul - also a pleasure to do, not only because the other 11 girls were very sweet and enjoyable to be around, but also because I'd never been to Istanbul before. When they offered me the BP, they told me the dates, but not the location, and since it fell within Ramadan here in Dubai, I took the job, hoping to get out of the 'fasting' environment, not realising it was also in a Muslim country. As it turns out I didn't have to worry too much - the laws in Turkey are nothing like the laws in the UAE, and it was great to see tourism thriving there where in the UAE it basically comes to a standstill for the holy month.<br />
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We were also assigned a hotel right on Taksim square, and hearing about the recent protests worried a few of the girls. Nothing of note really happened when we where there, pretty much every night after sunset there would be a few protestors shouting in the streets as they converged on Taksim square, but it was all very tame. The amount of police in the square - with water cannons and clad in riot gear on standby - was absolutely immense, you'd have to be pretty brave to stir up trouble. <br />
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As much as I wanted to do a ton of sightseeing, in the end I was ultimately there to work, so I wanted to at least see Hagia Sofia (Ayasofya) and the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet) during the trip.<br />
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Hagia Sofia is constantly under restoration, not only to make it more structurally sound, but to restore the mosaics that were hidden underneath plaster for over 200 years. <br />
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Showing it's wear and tear <br />
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This dome is absolutely massive - barely got it in one shot... <br />
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The museum's former life as a church, then a mosque, all culminate into the most famous example of Byzantine architecture.<br />
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Stained glass windows, I'm not entirely sure if these are currently undergoing restoration or are in need of it. <br />
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Blue Tile. <br />
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The Perspiring Column. Apparently if you rotate your thumb inside the hole one full rotation and it comes out damp then all your ailments will disappear. It wasn't damp for me :-( <br />
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Ramps to go up to the second level, and there were stairs to make it back down again. If you're headed here anytime soon - BRING GOOD SHOES! Some tourists dared to take on these ramps with kitten heels on...<br />
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View from the second level <br />
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Other visitors leaving their mark. <br />
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Not as crowded on the upper level... <br />
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Exterior shot of Ayasofya.<br />
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Once we left the Ayasofya we then heard the call to prayer, and after asking around we heard that for the next hour there would not be public access to the Sultan Ahmet mosque. Eventually we did make it there, but chose not to spend too much time there as Iftar was fast approaching.<br />
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Exterior shot of Sultan Ahmet mosque. <br />
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Courtyard of the mosque.<br />
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As you can see I love my roof shots. <br />
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The interior of the mosque, and as you can see it's not hard to know why this is known as "The Blue Mosque" <br />
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Yep, I had to cover myself as well. <br />
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Dusk at the mosque, waiting for Iftar.<br />
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It was a shame we didn't get a lot of time to see much of this city, and I know I'd love to come back here on days off. I still managed to fit in a Turkish Hammam (slightly different to the Morrocan Hammam I was used to on <a href="http://tampaxtowers.blogspot.ae/2011/03/tunis-to-dubai.html">layovers to Casablanca and Tunis</a>), tried Turkish ice cream (far too 'gummy' for my tastes, but one to check off the list) and bought more Turkish Delight and Baklava than I know what to do with. <br />
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Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-35575789151548200462013-05-28T23:53:00.000+04:002013-05-28T23:53:08.992+04:00Eurovision 2013 - Team San Marino<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So I wrote this post from the Tuileries gardens in Paris<br />
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And rather than spend the layover on an intense tour of the city with my <a href="http://sodwee.com/blog/">blogger partner-in-crime Ben</a> (who's antics I encountered the next day) I decided to chill out for a bit. I was blessed to have a 48 hour Paris in my roster for May - actually my entire roster is amazing with a day off for my exams, 4 days off to extend my leave, this trip plus 2 Nice flights, where I've never been able to visit except within the confines of the airport. The 48 hours were actually the first I had to myself to completely chill out and finally jot down my thoughts on the chaos that was Eurovision 2013 in Malmö.<br />
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This year I was fortunate enough to be a member of the San Marino
delegation. After a failed attempt at working as Press and a rejected
application for a Fan Accreditation, the delegation were more than happy
to take me on board and do whatever possible to support their entrant,
Valentina Monetta. She participated a year before in the Baku contest,
but this year was a bit different - we had a song that was written
specifically for her and that was generating a lot of buzz and support
amongst the press and fans. I was in such disbelief after hearing I was
working for San Marino that I told absolutely no one I was with a
delegation until I physically saw the accreditation around my neck in
Malmö. <br />
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Valentina Monetta at the meet and greet.</div>
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Finland's Krista Siegfrids in what I believe to be typical Finnish attire :-)</div>
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Eythor Ingi Gunnlaugsson from Iceland performing an acoustic version of his entry - he probably had the second best male voice in the contest, behind Romania's Cezar. </div>
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Most of the meet and greets were quite chaotic - crowds were usually 8-10 people deep, with the exception of Germany and the UK which were just complete pandemonium. The press conferences were a little more tame though. </div>
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The home favourite, Robin Stjernberg, who was just absolutely adorable.<br />
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A very unfocused shot of Bonnie Tyler. It was hard to keep my camera straight what with all the actual press jostling with each other. <br />
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The San Marino press conference. From left is our lovely Head of Delegation Alessandro, lyricist Mauro Balestri, Valentina and composer Ralph Siegel. If anyone from Australia is reading this post and remembers <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvS351QKFV4">this song</a> charting around the 1980 Moscow Olympics era, he was responsible for composing that as well.<br />
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It was a great experience working with a delegation for the first time,
and particularly one that was international in its very nature - There
were Sammarinese, Italian, French, German, Israeli, Maltese, Estonian,
American and Icelandic members of the delegation; and as the only
Australian on the team it felt amazing to give my full support for an
entry for a change, compared to previous years where you don't really
know who to cheer for, and end up with other Aussie flag bearers
cheering for whatever song you liked. It felt amazing to be included,
and it felt even more heartbreaking to be in the arena during Semi Final
2, to hear 10 countries qualify and your country not being announced. <br />
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Valentina outside the dressing rooms.<br />
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Finland rehearsing their number dressed in onesies. </div>
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The bright red vertebrae dress from Azerbaijan. <br />
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I think one of the best moments for me was during the rehearsals where we were permitted to access backstage, then see the rehearsals from a special delegate viewing area with a great view of the stage and the monitor. The feeling of elation when things would go well timing-wise and seeing how that translates on the monitor for what the viewers would see back home was something special. It felt amazing to be a part of that moment. <br />
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My promotions accomplice over the two weeks - Kelly, whilst we're in the delegate viewing area. <br />
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I was also invited to attend a breakfast meet-and-greet with the Australian broadcaster SBS and their commentary team, Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang. I was in a unique situation compared to everyone else there - I've been in Dubai since 2005, and Julia and Sam took over the commentary duties from 2009. I've tried to get hold of the Australian commentary, however everything online from them is geo-retricted, so I've never heard what they're like regarding the contest. I only knew Julia from watching repeat episodes of RockWiz during my Australian layovers, and Sam I've never heard talk before. There were some video shorts that were played at the event, and some of the humour in them was lost on me. I'm wondering whether or not living away for so long has taken a toll on my Australian-ised humour a bit. It's a strange moment of realisation, that's for sure...<br />
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With Valentina at a cocktail function with the Sammarinese head of state.<br />
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So onto the actual arena shows themselves, and it was a different vibe to previous years. All the fans in Malmö Arena were assigned into the standing area, which for six consecutive nights can be a little too much - I quickly grabbed the offer of seats when they were offered for the Jury Final of Semi Final 2. The tickets were booked back in November, and I had very real concerns about how my ankle would hold up for the shows, but the pain was very minor and it didn't swell up - when you're in the arena surrounded by other fans you can't help but dance and forget the pain during the shows. <br />
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Next to the most important man in the contest - the wind machine operator<br />
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These bracelets would light up before each entry in the flag colours of the country performing. We were also told that if we stayed until the end credits that they would be reprogrammed to light up after the contest was over. The floor manager only told us this on the night of the Grand Final - I wish I'd known that for the previous 5 shows I attended so I didn't have 5 bracelets that no longer worked :-S <br />
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And of course you have the fans who dress up every year and make the contest just a little more special. I'm truly stumped as to how they manage to fit a costume and wig in their luggage - I had barely any room left for two weeks of Eurovision in the cool Swedish climate, let alone having to worry about costuming and flags as well. <br />
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I was quite pleased with Denmark's win - after seeing it live at the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix in Herning it was obvious that this would challenge for the top position. Now the discussion has turned to next year's contest - and even though Copenhagen Arena isn't completed yet - I really hope they choose Copenhagen to host. There was too much drama with booking a hotel, then getting to Boxen on the night of the national final. I really don't want to go to Herning again...<br />
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At least in Copenhagen if the accommodation situation gets really bad, I could at least book a hotel in Malmö ;-)</div>
Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-292097076998417892013-03-27T20:48:00.002+04:002013-03-27T20:50:21.244+04:00Quick March Update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Well rather than another photo-filled holiday post, I thought I should update you all on how things have been going here in the Towers.<br />
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Well the biggest thing that's happened is that I passed my driving test! First attempt too :-)<br />
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It was a bit strange though, for over a decade I imagined how I would react once I finally scored my drivers licence. It took so much time for me to rouse myself to get behind the wheel of a car again, I kept imagining myself dropping to my knees and crying out of sheer happiness once that glorious laminated card was mine. But I did none of that - just a good 10 minutes of smiling and that's it. I worked my butt off to get it, and now it was mine.<br />
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One thing they don't really tell you - and what you don't realise until after you pass and start searching on the net, is that you cannot hire a car unless you've been driving for a year or more. The plan I had was to hire a car and make do with that until around June/July and then get serious about purchasing one. I guess I am stuck using RTA public transport until that time, which is a shame. They even have signs for car hire companies around the driving institute saying "Hire the day you get your licence!" However after a short enquiry, this is mainly to target those that have licences back in their home countries that do not convert directly to the UAE, so they have more than a year's driving experience.<br />
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The test itself was very short for me - about 10 minutes. You also hear a lot of things beforehand about the testing system, that everyone except Emiratis fails on the first attempt, that the examiner determines whether or not you pass based on how you're dressed or your nationality etc. so I did my best to block out all this and at the same time expected a first attempt fail. I did one right-hand turn at a signal, then one U-turn, a lane change, and I was finished. Unlike back home where it's just yourself and the examiner in the car, here in the UAE there are 3 of you being assessed in the same car. I was paired with two Arabic girls who insisted on getting tested first, and the two of them spoke Arabic the entire time with the examiner, so the whole time I kept quiet and tried to not only avoid freaking out but to also take note of the mistakes they were making. It must have worked - the other girls didn't pass. <br />
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Those lessons consumed about 6 weeks of my life, my entire free time. Every single rest day and day off was spent at some point behind the wheel of a car, so I'm glad now that it's over with and I can now concentrate with flying and studying.<br />
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The Security Management course is going great, I guess. The first unit I did was really interesting, but the one I'm currently in the middle of, Risk Management, is just doing my head in. I spent an entire Manchester layover just immersed in the stuff, and I'm certain that what I submitted in the assignment was just word salad after the 9th page, but having just received a mark of 80% on the paper, I guess not. I know the proper thing to do is to go through the paper again and see where I could improve and what not, but I don't even what to look at it again until the exams in early May. My current due paper is on Aircraft Incidents and Crisis Management, which isn't as bad I guess. <br />
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Flying-wise, I've just been flat out up until now. Mainly Russia and Johannesburg. Lots of Pelmeni, Borscht and Boerwors. I'm not complaining.<br />
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The trip to St Petersburg was my favourite. The crew were all amazing to be around and it was the Captain's birthday, so we were in a celebratory mood. Yalki Palki is probably the most touristy restaurant you can visit in old Leningrad, but I didn't have a single bad meal there. Dancers doing the Kalinka every 30 minutes had me downloading the Alexandrov Choir's album as soon as I got back to the hotel.<br />
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I'm also on a bit of a health kick at the moment. Slowly trying to change my diet around, less eating out and more cooking at home. I don't know what spurred this on - perhaps after having amazingly hearty food on the trip to Bratislava/Budapest I needed to give my heart a break.<br />
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I mean, after walking a good 4 hours in snow this deep...<br />
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The only thing that will warm you up is this... <br />
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Bryndzové halušky, potato dumplings and sheep's milk cheese curds topped with bacon bits.<br />
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Anyway, whilst cleaning up around the apartment, I found a 'workbook' full of exercises that I received from a personal trainer from years back. I was in London on a promotion for a week, and I'd never been in a gym before in my life, so I don't know what possessed me but I hired a trainer for 3 sessions during my stay. Mainly working with dumbbells and the Swiss ball.<br />
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Currently I'm doing 2 days of weights, followed by 1 day of running, twice a week with a day of rest. Cutting down on the running (before I was doing 4-5 days a week) has actually helped a lot with my motivation - I don't dread getting out of bed in the morning and the running play list I have doesn't bore me. I can slowly start to see muscle definition in my back and shoulders - which makes a bit of sense considering I don't tend to hold a lot of weight there. It might be a while before I see a full body transformation, but at the moment I'm loving weight training, and its been almost 4 weeks now.<br />
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This has had a knock-on effect with my diet. I cannot remember the last time I had a cupcake or a cheesecake. Or coca-cola. When I work out in the morning, I feel like I have to be healthy for the rest of the day so that I don't waste the morning's effort. Now when I'm in the mall and I get a sugar craving I head straight to a juice bar. If the craving's still there after the juice, then I allow myself something sweet, but this has yet to happen. And the biggest change is that I'm currently teetotal. After I came back from Copenhagen at the end of January, I just wanted to challenge myself as to how long I can cope without a drink. Now it's been 2 months and I haven't had any alcohol in my system at all - I feel great! I have a bottle of Hungarian Tokaji chilled and ready when it's time, but at the moment the goal is to last until Eurovision without any booze. Let's see how long I can last...</div>
Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-32351305047478453812013-02-24T22:09:00.001+04:002013-02-24T22:09:21.594+04:00Beautiful Bratislava<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
When I told people that I was going to Bratislava on my leave, the basic consensus was not exactly positive. "Why Bratislava?" "Why not visit Vienna, or Prague instead?" "There's nothing there!" and the first impressions of the trip were not going my way either. Missing the first bus I booked from Vienna airport to Brastislava Bus Station. Then being charged over 20 Euros for a journey that was 10 minute walk, reluctant to rely on data roaming and Google Maps unless absolutely necessary. Then despite my hotel advertising free WiFi in all areas, this was limited to one device, and the code on my iPhone would only allow me to look up Facebook - no email, no weather, no maps, no TripAdvisor nor any web browsing. Hardly dire, but still very frustrating. Then due to the lack of internet, the location I thought my walking tour was due to start was not actually in the Hlavne namestie but actually in the Hviezdoslavovo namestie, so I stood for a good 25 minutes in snowy conditions wondering whether or not whether the tour was cancelled or not. <br />
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Fortunately, the tour actually passed though the area where I was waiting, and after confirming with the friendly Simona that the walking tour was still going ahead, I joined a little late. There is a great trend in tours happening amongst the walkable cities of Europe - Free Walking tours, usually led by local students, operating solely on tips so that they're motivated to give the best tour possible. I took one when I was in Riga a few years ago and was very pleased with my experience there - and whilst it was a <a href="http://www.befreetours.com/">completely different company in Bratislava</a> I do think the working-for-tips idea really makes a difference. Plus a good 2-2.5 hrs exercise can't hurt?<br />
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Napoleonic soldier statue on the Hlavne namestie.<br />
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Old Town Hall<br />
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Fountain within the Hlavne namestie<br />
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Guard Statue at the Hlavne namestie<br />
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Cimil - Man at Work statue, one of the most iconic symbols of modern Bratislava. <br />
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Apparently what used to happen is when Cimil was first erected many drivers were unable to see him and on several occasions he was run over and decapitated, so now this sign is up informing drivers to look out for Cimil. <br />
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There's a cannonball stuck in the Old Town hall!<br />
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St Michael's Gate, well there's actually 2 gates on this very path built at a 90 degree angle to make it harder for enemy troops to attack the city. If they were build parallel to each other then they could just charge through, but by building the gate at an angle armies were forced to slow down on the approach. Quite clever I thought...<br />
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So apparently 15 Kings and Queens were coronated in Bratislava, and in many places within the Old Town there are gold crown stamps marking the path the royals had to take during the coronation ceremony. <br />
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The second-slimmist building in Europe (possibly the world) behind a dwelling in Amsterdam, and now this houses a Kebab shop.<br />
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Trinitarian Church<br />
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OK so the gold plaque is there to commemorate the very first witch-burning in Bratislava during the 17th century, but unfortunately by the time we were there some random car had parked there with hazard lights on. I'd have to come back another time and view it in full later. <br />
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Distant view of Bratislava Castle, though it is actually a fort.<br />
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Commemorative poem in SNP square<br />
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The Church of St Elisabeth, more commonly known as the Blue Church, Marshmallow Church or the Smurf Church. The colour in real life is just absolutely gorgeous, very reminiscient of Wedgewood Jasperware Blue. </div>
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This is a school opposite the Blue Church, and I thought it was pretty cool had they had a sun dial to show the time outside the school rather than a standard clock. Dont' see too many of those nowadays.<br />
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And also opposite the Art Nouveu beauties of the Blue Church and the school, this was a former hospital with distinctive communist architecture. Apparently 70% of Bratislava's historic buildings were torn down, as it was decided early on in Czechoslovakia new life that Prague would be the designated 'beautiful city' and Bratislava would be the 'business city'.</div>
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Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-11182817133318593702012-12-26T19:32:00.003+04:002012-12-26T19:32:33.073+04:00Study, study, non-stop study<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So I've been hitting the books pretty hard this past month<br />
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If some of you have been following my Twitter and Formspring you'll know that in addition to flying I'm back at university - I'm lucky that the airline offer a few university courses through the training college with some recognised institutions, and one of the ones on offer was Aviation Security Management. It's just a diploma, and only part time - 6 units somewhat compressed into an 18 month period. They don't work around your roster, but all the lectures are up online and so far I'm doing pretty well. Well much better than I was when I was first at ECU studying a Chemistry degree. The course material is somewhat fascinating, and I have no plan to use it after it's finished. It is just nice for a change to exercise my brain a bit, I feel I'm ready to study now, as opposed to after I left high school and burnt out really quickly.<br />
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I'm also studying for something else - I'm learning how to drive. In Dubai.<br />
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This would be the number one thing I've put on New Years Resolution Lists since moving here, and I've finally decided to bite the bullet and enrol in a driving school. Whilst I can easily convert an Australian license in Dubai, I've never been able to get an Australian license. I tried when I was 17 years old, and failed the test after doing something illegal at a roundabout, then I never really could rouse myself to go through the whole process again. Since then it has become very difficult to obtain the license - 50 hours logged behind the wheel, and 2 years on 'P' plates after a successful test, which is very difficult to achieve when you live in Dubai. I figured I should just get the lessons in Dubai, then afterwards I don't have to go on the 'P' plates (apparently they only issue probationary licenses to those 21 and under). The full course is 40 30-minute lessons, plus 8 lectures, plus simulators and theory testing. It costs a fortune as well - which is why I waited until December to enrol - just needed to get over the broken ankle, then the lack of salary from the broken ankle, then wait for reserve to finish, and now I have a nice chunk of about 3 months where I don't have any leave planned. It'd be nice to hire a car on layovers and explore them more freely. <br />
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December has been pretty good to me, even though it's being spent buried in paperwork and books with the Diploma, driving and SEP recurrent, I had a nice layover in beautiful Prague.<br />
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The last time I was there it was summer 2008 - I'd never been before with the airline, and the flight is pretty difficult to get as it's desired by most of the First Class crew. I was really hoping to see snow, however the only snow I could see was, on approach into Prague, some of the rural farmland had a light dusting. I only had one goal of the trip too - to see the Christmas market. I wish the markets weren't just a European thing; not only do they have cheap meal options (pig on a spit, bread roll, mustard - yes please!) but they're usually the best places to get Christmas decorations. The one I purchased was a glittery snowman, only I later found out it was glass (and not plastic which was my initial thought) when it smashed into shards in my suitcase full of winter gear. Not happy about that at all.<br />
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But right now I'm at home for the Christmas period, the first time I've actually had Christmas Day off in 5 years. Usually what happens is that I bid for leave, then I get 18-24th off, or 17-23rd off... never the actual day itself. So in previous years our family have had the big lunch on the last day I was in Perth, but you kind of feel that no one's heart is fully into it, especially if some of them had to work. Then I skipped bidding for it last year, tried for 2012 and was successful. I honestly don't mind working Xmas day - especially if its a layover, the crew all come out for a big buffet and everyone is in a great mood even though most are missing their families.<br />
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But it's good to be home, and to see my nephew again. Here he is climbing walls after receiving the Spiderman costume for Christmas. I think the next time I visit him there will be fingermarks all over the walls :-)<br />
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Happy holidays everyone!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image from <a href="http://automiddleeast.com/2010/03/21/news/misc-news/cheaper-vehicle-insurance-for-safe-drivers-in-the-uae/">here</a>.</span><br />
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Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-66794504887565484572012-10-19T22:48:00.000+04:002012-10-20T08:47:30.567+04:00Journey to North Korea - City Tour<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Next up on the agenda was the city tour...<br />
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We were in for a treat as there were school students rehearsing for the Torch Festival to be held in a few weeks time. (Even though we were there for the 'Liberation Day,' we were told that there wasn't expected to be anything particularly grand in Kim Il Sung Square, and especially none of the military parades that the DPRK had become famous for.) The first stop on the tour was the Mansundae Grand Monument.<br />
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Bouquet with the Kimjongilia flower, named after the late Kim Jong Il. <br />
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Now in our briefing notes, the Mansundae Grand Monument was the only place where we were, I wouldn't say forced, but told that if we weren't prepared to bow at the monuments, to basically not bother turning up to the tour. To be honest, I cast any political feelings aside the second I signed up for the tour, so bowing at the Monument didn't bother me greatly, and if it meant that the North Korean guides could trust us and, in turn, perhaps mean that the guides were more lenient with our photo opportunities, then great!<br />
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About half of us bought flowers as well and we walked up numerous steps to see the Monument of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.<br />
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In addition to bowing at the Monument, out of respect, every photo we took of the Great leader and the Dear leader must be complete - we couldn't cut off their legs, arms, head, torso - nothing. Any newspapers in the DPRK that had a photo of the Kims on the front page had to be folded in such a way that their bodies were not over the fold. <br />
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What was really amazing was the statue of Kim Jong Il was added only recently; up until December 2011 there was only the statue of Kim Il Sung, but since his death the construction of Kim Jong Il commenced and was finished by April 2012 - astonishingly fast!<br />
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And here I've accidentally chopped off Kim Il Sung's forearm :-S<br />
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In front of the monument, just to give you all an idea as to how massive this was. <br />
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The detail here was insane. At the bottom you can see a US soldier's helmet. Anti-US iconography can be found in many of the monuments in the DPRK. <br />
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So onto the Grand People's Study House... Which obtained the name after Kim Il Sung decided that calling a building a 'Library' would somehow make his people reluctant to go there. I think it was well attended when we went - it was certainly the nicest library I've ever seen, though if you knew what public libraries I had access to growing up in northern Perth you'd understand why.<br />
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Statue of Kim Il Sung.<br />
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Hallway of the Study House.<br />
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The lecture hall where we were encouraged to walk the stage and speak.<br />
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We also attended one of the English class being held.<br />
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The music room, where our guides played 'Yellow Submarine' and Madonna's version of 'American Pie'. Foreign books and music could only be borrowed by the locals only with special permission. <br />
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The best part of the building was the view. You could see the whole of Kim Il Sung Square and the Juche Tower in the distance. I felt like a sniper targeting a spy in a movie on this roof - sans gun.<br />
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The left and right views of Kim Il Sung Square.<br />
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Schoolchildren practising their formations ahead of the Torch Festival. <br />
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The next stop on the city tour was the Art Shop - however my budget didn't allow for much shopping here, especially being depleted of funds following 6 weeks off work with a broken ankle some months earlier.<br />
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In house artist at work... <br />
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A massive embroidery piece. The detail on this was exquisite. <br />
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Madame Tussauds, eat your heart out!<br />
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We also made a not-so-Kosher pit stop to an information centre, which just happened to be located in a great spot to take photos of the infamous Rungyong Hotel, the 105-story pyramidal hotel that had been under construction since 1987. Basically we had to make a dash for the Info Centre, take 1 to 2 shots of the hotel, pop into the convenience store, look around and feign interest (or in my case, go completely mental seeing a can of grape-flavoured Fanta) and then pop back on the bus.<br />
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On a side note, the guides from my tour group<a href="http://www.koryogroup.com/blog/"> have since been inside</a>.<br />
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Next up was the cabin of Kim Il Sung. <br />
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Now, you know how there's this perception in the West about the local people being somewhat robotic and brainwashed? Well up until this point I thought it was all BS, and ever since my arrival in North Korea everyone has been super friendly, relaxed, sweet, not strange at all. Then I met this guide.<br />
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She was very enthusiastic about how the Great Leader lived and was raised. Perhaps a little too passionate. I got a strange vibe from her, I guess.<br />
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On the left, a well that Kim Il Sung used to drink from (and most of the Chinese tourists who were there at the same time as us all made sure to drink from the same well), and one of the rooms in the cabin, with photos of Kim Il Sung and his parents.<br />
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Here is one of our guides, Mr Oh, finding great amusement out of an umbrella hat fellow Australians, Mark and Liz, purchased in Beijing. I guess he'd never seen such a thing before. <br />
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The last stop of the day was to the Mangyongdae Children's Palace.<br />
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Murals on either side. <br />
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Statue outside the Children's Palace<br />
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Spaceship structure <br />
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Our guide inside the Children's Palace, who had the best posture out of anyone I've ever seen. <br />
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I actually like the concept of this place - somewhere central where children from all over the city get together and participate in purely extracurricular activities. It seems this is a purely Soviet concept - they have Pioneer Palaces in former USSR countries and a Children's Palace in China.<br />
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We were taken to an accordion class.<br />
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Calligraphy class<br />
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Embroidery class<br />
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And the tour of the Palace finished off with a performance in the auditorium. And so followed the second strange vibe of the day - the way these kids performed was exactly in the way in which the West had described to us - none of them looked relaxed at all, like robot children. <br />
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Girls choir. This uniform is also used in a lot of children's animation on North Korean television.<br />
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She has a jar on her head! And she's spinning!<br />
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Accordions are about as popular in North Korea as guitars are to
adolescent teenage boys back in my country. By the time we saw the
performance my batteries had died. The last few intensive days took
their toll and halfway through the performance I nodded off to sleep.<br />
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That kid in the white tux then proceeded to play virtually every single instrument on stage. It was as if he was the North Korean Prince.<br />
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Believe it or not I was in an orchestra once. I played piano which is mainly accompanied material, hardly any solo material, which suited me and my skill level well as it was pretty easy chord work. But I also played with some violinists, who did have solos, and the sound that came from them was horrendous. No one could play a note which did not sound like nails against a blackboard. I own a violin myself and I'll be the first to admit that I sound exactly the same.<br />
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But this girl was very skilled. If that boy in the white tux was Prince, this girl was the North Korean Nigel Kennedy.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/yHom02YcebU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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Also, if you're interested, I've finally put together my video of the Arirang Mass Games. I hope you all enjoy this :-) </div>
Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-41772875893312422922012-09-27T22:38:00.001+04:002012-09-27T22:38:15.440+04:00Journey to North Korea - Kaesong and the DMZ<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Well as the floods had hit DPRK about 10 days before my trip, there were
a few attractions on the itinerary that were affected. So since the original journey to Mt Myohyang was not possible, the road trip
to Kaesong was the only real road trip of the tour. I was very much looking forward to the day, especially since I was one of the few in my group <a href="http://tampaxtowers.blogspot.com/2007/09/seoul-far-seoul-good.html">who had seen the DMZ from the South Korean side</a>. It was a good 2 1/2 hour drive to the border on really rough roads - I thought that maybe I or someone else from the group would suffer from motion sickness, so I told myself to bear with the roads, full of cracks and uneven bitumen (which was similar to the airport runway) for an hour, and I'd be okay after then. I was craving for a tunnel though - it was nice and smooth under those.</div>
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Yes the drive was long, but it was quite nice to see the 'proper' DPRK
outside Pyongyang. There was a lot of farming that we could see, mainly
corn and rice fields. At one point we passed a village that had a bridge
collapse due to the flooding, which must have happened overnight as
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We were also given an informative talk by one of our guides, Mr Lee, who was really new to the whole 'tour guide' business. He was very sweet but needed a few months just to get the information flowing a bit better during the tour. One of the classic Mr Lee quotes was...<br /><br />"Always ask before taking photos as don't take photos of the militarily or your camera will be constipated."<br /></div>
But he took the long drive to Kaesong as a chance to tell us a bit about DPRK life, such as<br />
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<li>Sunday is a day off, Saturday isn't spent working, but used as a study day or for any political meetings.</li>
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<li>The biggest surprise to me was that Army service isn't compulsory but highly encouraged, which is in total contrast to what I've read. He said that their service is generally between 3 to 4 years and many people choose to do military service as they are looked at more favourably for university places. </li>
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So once we arrived at the DMZ we first went into a souvenir shop/lecture room, where the layout of the DMZ area was explained to us. We were told that there would be four military checkpoints to the DMZ area, and of course there was another reminder not to take photos of the military until told.<br /><br />
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Propaganda posters at Kaesong<br />
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General layout of the DMZ and the buffer zones. <br />
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Kim Il Sung Signature Memorial <br />
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Once we were taken to the Joint Security Area of the DMZ we saw the Armistice building where the peace talks are held, and on the right was the location of the DPRK flagpole that I saw 4 to 5 years earlier, however for some reason things appeared different, location wise. We also saw no South Korean soldiers nor tourists, despite being told we were close to the border. The Joint Security Area is apparently the only point in the DMZ where North and South soldiers stand face to face. <br />
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Everyone listening to the soldier guide in the Armistice building<br />
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This microphone is supposed to represent the divide between North and South<br />
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North Korean guard keeping watch. He was on the south side of the microphone at this point. <br />
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Panmongak Hall<br />
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The blue UN Armistice buildings, aka Conference Row, with the South Korean Home of Freedom in view behind. <br />
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The DPRK soldiers are standing on the gravel, whereas the concrete separator is the border on the 38th parrallel where North and South meet. <br />
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Kijŏng-dong with the notorious flagpole in the distance, and believe it or not I could see it more clearly from the South Side.<br />
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Obligatory group shot with the DPRK soldier.<br />
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Our military guide giving a speech inside the North Korea Peace Museum<br />
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Of course, there has to be a photo of the Supreme Leader, Kim Il Sung.<br />
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Korean Armistice Agreement, signed by the North; and signed by the United Nations Command <br />
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Old clippings and photos from the agreement era, plus there was a special section for the "Axe Murder Incident" of the 70's. <br />
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Map of the Koryo Museum<br />
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Koryo Museum <br />
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Apparently this was a chart showing how much a person was worth. A woman was worth 120 won, a man 100, elderly and kids worth 60 won, but the Ox was worth a staggering 400 won! <br />
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Gorgeous murals and paintings at the Koryo museum. <br />
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Replica of the Tomb of King Kongmin <br />
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Jorge trying to blend in. <br />
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The actual tomb of King Kongmin <br />
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So after a day of coping with reasonably heavy rain, we had one last stop to go - the Arch of Reunification.<br />
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Base of the Arch <br />
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The two women representing the North and South, holding up a sphere with the unified Korea.</div>
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Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-74476096933705050172012-09-09T21:32:00.001+04:002012-09-09T21:32:23.245+04:00Journey to North Korea - Arirang Mass Games<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Since I saw the documentary "A State of Mind" it has been a life goal of mine to watch the Arirang mass games in person, so when I booked the tour I made sure to include it in the itinerary. At the pre-tour briefing in Beijing, our tour leader Simon said to us "You will forget your children's names before you forget the Mass Games." and now that I have seen it with my very own eyes I am inclined to believe him. In total honesty, seeing the Mass Games was one of the best 90 minutes of my life. If you haven't seen this documentary I highly encourage you to do so as whilst the Games footage is beautiful to look at it is the interviews with the performers that are the most fascinating.<br />
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The skill level of the performers is absolutely jaw dropping.
Considering the London Opening Ceremony was on about 1.5 weeks before I
left for Beijing/Pyongyang, then seeing kids as young as 5 doing all
sorts of tumbling, skipping, human pyramid stacking, plus seeing those
performing the card stunt change to every scene without a (noticeable)
mistake, it made the Olympics look completely amateur. Apparently
there's 100,000 performers in the Mass Games, training since February,
and there's 30,000 performers responsible for the card stunt alone.<br />
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I'm going to have to apologise in advance, this is going to be a very photo heavy post. <br />
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The Rŭngrado May Day Stadium, where the games are held. This is also apparently the largest stadium in the world, by capacity. <br />
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When we arrived at the May Day Stadium, the performers were just finishing off their rehearsals. Aside from the performance itself, I will certainly never forget the thrill of hearing the 'war cry' the performers shouted every time the cards changed scene, which was very audible from outside the stadium. No one could wipe the smile from our faces at that point - we knew we were about to see something spectacular, something we were never going to see outside this country ever again. <br />
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Throughout the show there were sky blue flags being held up - these were used to 'shield' the acts waiting for the scene to begin or end from the audience. <br />
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I am still absolutely dumbfounded as to how they managed to create the scenes, particularly the 'sunset' with the sun illuminated. I don't think they had light up cards. <br />
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Patriotism well and truly on show...<br />
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I quite enjoyed seeing these ladies and their twirling skills. Very chipper, and their skirts are pretty short for a normally conservative army uniform. <br />
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The magnolia, meant to represent Kim Il Sung.<br />
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These kids were super cute - they ran onto the field and waved at us with the adorable laughs of 5000-odd 5 year olds. Then they start doing tumbles and flips of superhuman skills and you're just left with your jaw on the floor. <br />
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Even Air Koryo made it into the Mass Games<br />
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This was pretty confusing to me. I think it was to celebrate hydroelectric power, or a dam, or I could be completely wrong. <br />
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This was clearly a celebration of the produce trade that the DPRK are known for. Pretty much every meal I ate there ended with a dessert of sliced apples. <br />
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Loving the cow and sheep heads here. <br />
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The freakiest sheep's head you've ever seen.</div>
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Bunnies and chicks? If I didn't know better I'd say they were celebrating Easter. But surely that isn't the case...<br />
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So seeing these kids perform the stunts they did just made the recent Olympics look totally amateur.</div>
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Taekwando in the mass games? Of course!!!<br />
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This cabin scene and the sunset scene were my two favorites of the night. <br />
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There were also some pretty decent air stunts. Cirque du Soleil eat your heat out.<br />
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The Mass Games were a perfect opportunity to reinforce the reunification message. <br />
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And what better way to promote China-DPRK relations than to incorporate their friends into the Mass Games? Dragon dances and Panda costumes included, just in case the message was a bit lost. <br />
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Coming up to the finale...<br />
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<br />And no good performance can end unless there's fireworks!<br />
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Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-61410330593279665762012-08-24T16:17:00.003+04:002012-08-24T16:18:23.186+04:00Journey to North Korea - Air Koryo<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Well I've just arrived from my short trip to North Korea, and honestly, there is no way I can describe the tour briefly, so what I've decided to do is write a series of posts on the trip, especially considering it is highly unlikely that I will ever fly there again (then again, Dubai is a twinned city with Pyongyang, so there is a 0.0001% chance this could change...) And taking into consideration the 'Avgeek' demographic likely to read this blog, I thought it was only fitting to start off with a post dedicated to Air Koryo, the national airline of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.<br />
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Exterior of the Air Koryo Tupolev 204-300. I was on the same aircraft both into and out of Pyongyang<br />
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Boarding. Once we got off the airport bus everyone whipped out their cameras and took photos. Well not everyone - about 3/4 of the passengers. <br />
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Boarding the flight. With white gloves to stay classy. <br />
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If you weren't already aware, Air Koryo is the <a href="http://www.airlinequality.com/Airlines/JS.htm">only airline currently rated as a 1 star airline by Skytrax</a>, and has been for quite a few years. There are some things that they mention that I completely understand (the lack of a website, for example), but generally I had no problems flying with them. The toilets were clean, my luggage arrived in one piece, I had something to eat on both sectors - I've seen and heard of worse things happening on some low cost airlines. <br />
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The toilet pics I took on the Pyongyang-Beijing sector, and I cannot tell you all how glad I was to see toilet paper after a week of using squat toilets with no running water, soap, paper. Nothing. What I love even more is the bin is pedal-operated - I wish we had this on our airline...<br />
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Air Koryo Sick Bag <br />
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The food was surprisingly edible too, well on the trip to Pyongyang anyway. <br />
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This was the meal from Beijing-Pyongyang, which was actually provided by caterers in Beijing. There was a (stale) bread roll, cut fruit in syrup, cold chicken nuggets served with soy vermicelli, breaded trout, and the hot meal was a curried beef and potato dish with white rice. <br />
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The meal from Pyongyang-Beijing was a little less exciting, a sandwich made from a sugared bun with a lettuce leaf and a chicken mince patty. <br />
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The in-flight entertainment on the Tupolev was the ceiling TV types, and it showed footage from the Korean Central Television channel. On the journey over it showed some documentary about foreign kids visiting the DPRK; on the way back it was showing karaoke. I was slightly disappointed that no one broke out into song. <br />
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So some of the things worth noting compared to what I read on Skytrax<br />
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<li> We were all mixed - the Westerners, the Chinese and the North Koreans were not separated into sections.</li>
<li>The flight attendants were all seated for take off and landing, though I have heard that on the Ilyushins the flight attendants have to stand in the galley holding onto handles for the critical phases of flight.</li>
<li>I have heard rumours of both operating pilots leaving the cockpit at the same time, and on the flight from Pyongyang to Beijing you could imagine my reaction when I saw, what looked like, both pilots walking through the cabin talking to passengers. There was a Chinese man in front of me and one of the 'pilots' spoke Mandarin, and it was only then that I saw on their ID that they were in fact cabin crew, to my relief. No wonder passengers get confused - the male cabin crew also wear stripes on their shoulders, 3 and 4 stripes, which would normally designate the First Officer and Captain respectively.</li>
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Up until the landing into Beijing I would have been the first to boast about feeling very safe flying with Air Koryo, however well into the descent stage the call bell went off in my row - I certainly didn't push it, and the guy in the window seat was asleep. The stewardess came over and asked what the call was for, we woke the guy up and he said it was a mistake. He still didn't move his elbow and the bell kept going off, so the stewardess kept coming up to our row to tell him to stop. This must have happened 5 times, and it wasn't until we were actually above Beijing Capital Airport (ie. you can see hangars, cross runway approach lights, the airport perimeter etc. from the windows) that she went back down to her seat. Surely if you know the call bell is a mistake the first 4 times you would simply remain seated for a crucial part of the flight and worry about your own safety rather than an annoying chime? At least for our airline we do a mental safety review for each landing and take off, I guess this is something they're still to adapt at Air Koryo.<br />
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Having said that, I was still pleasantly surprised with the airline. I honestly don't believe it would it be worthy of its reputation as the only 1 star airline in the world. 2 stars, maybe :-)</div>
Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-71192736339195201952012-08-11T20:09:00.000+04:002012-08-17T16:38:00.860+04:00Another country to add to the list...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Well I am currently on my Annual Leave, but this trip is a bit of a strange one for me. I've left the laptop at home, have taken along my iPad, have absolutely ZERO access to WiFi internet and had my mobile phone seized by customs. Would you believe it, I'm currently in Pyongyang.<br />
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Of course I've had to schedule this post in advance, but this is a trip I've been looking forward to since as long as I can remember. During my Seoul trip I had a discussion with the two first officers, and telling them about my visit to the DMZ years ago when the thought actually hit me - bids were currently open for Annual Leave, so on recommendation from my friend Andrew I looked through the itinery list of various tour companies, then booked my leave to coincide with the Arirang Mass Games. The problem was, when bids were released, the allocations were out by one day, so now I have to fly back to Beijing rather than take the train, before making the final journey to Dubai. It'll be the first time I have travelled on an all-inclusive tour, stuck with the same people for 5-6 days which isn't my usual travelling style, but its something I can deal with to see a country so few tourists get to see in their lifetimes. I know that so much has been bandied about the country in the media, moreso than other tourist wastelands such as Bhutan, Somalia or Tajikistan, and I wanted to see for myself what the country was like. <br />
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So on that note, I'll be offline for about a week, and hopefully have some excellent content for the blog when I return. </div>
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Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-63572232066298626952012-07-27T14:38:00.000+04:002012-07-27T14:44:39.342+04:00Duesseldorf Sightseeing and the Mustard Museum<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Well with Düsseldorf being my third operational flight since the fracture, it dawned on me that I hadn't really spent any time in the city sightseeing. I think it's a bit of a crew mentality - the hotel is located at the airport so it just seems too much of a bother to head into the city, one which many don't see as anywhere near as exciting as other German cities such as Berlin or Hamburg, or even <span class="pp-headline-item pp-headline-address" dir="ltr"><span>Köln</span></span>, just a 30 minute train ride away. </div>
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I felt that after last year's Eurovision in the city I'd been really slack being a tourist in the city, so now with my injury able to cope with longer walks, I packed the wellies and trench coat and headed to the 'K<span class="st">ö' with the main goal of purchasing some ESC CD's, many of which cannot be simply purchased on an Australian iTunes account legally. But once that was over and done with, it was time to get snap-happy. </span></div>
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Maxkirche/St Maximilian Church<br />
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I don't know why I didn't notice these pillars before, they're quite charming to look at. There's nine of them in Düsseldorf and they're known as the pillar saints. A casual stroll in the city can turn into 'spot the pillar saint', but during my stay there I only saw two. This is the bride.<br />
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Now I'm a sucker for crazy museums, and when I saw that Düsseldorf had a museum dedicated to mustard I had to go. A bit more low key compared to the <a href="http://tampaxtowers.blogspot.com/2011/10/leprosy-museum-bergen.html">Leprosy museum</a>, or the <a href="http://tampaxtowers.blogspot.com/2009/06/osaka-and-momofuku-ando-instant-ramen.html">Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen museum</a>, and doubling as store selling exclusively L<span class="st">ö</span>wensenf products, I think it is still worth a visit for any tourist, especially since it doesn't cost anything!<br />
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Old mustard mill.<br />
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Labelling stamps from the 30's<br />
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There was a huge selection of flavours, from the more common honey mustard to the more imaginative coconut curry and fig. The most unique for me was the strawberry mustard, and I was so impressed I walked away with my very own jar. <br />
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Modern mustard mill for small scale production.<br />
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The only downside to the Löwensenf Senfladen is that all the text material is in German, so unless you speak the language it was hard to learn anything. Then again, you don't need to be fluent in German to sample all 14 flavours!<br />
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Marktplatz<br />
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Bolkerstrasse, the heart of the Alstadt, "The longest bar in the world."<br />
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Now if you ask the crew what they love most about German food, most will say the Pork Knuckle (well, those that are able to eat it). Usually I can never get through an entire knuckle, and for some reason the only place I've managed to have a truly amazing pork knuckle is in a random bar in Mainz, near Frankfurt, back in 2006 during the FIFA World Cup. Then a Hungarian Crew member, Istvan, told me about Schweine Janes, and whilst they specialise in pork knuckles, what I loved about this place is that they do various grills and pork platters, and this one plate I had was just phenomenal. The meat was so juicy, and the crackling perfect, but to have it all served by super friendly staff made me want to visit again very soon. <br />
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The Königsallee, said to be the Champs-Élysées of Düsseldorf. Somewhat hectic to walk along one side of the road where all the shops are, on the other side it's quite nice. <br />
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So as far as the ankle goes, it's fine now. I don't really get any pain, but it is still quite stiff. I get physio once a week, and I still struggle with going down stairs, but I have these resistance bands that I do my ankle exercises with and they do help. I've been told that I can expect ankle swelling during flights, and that this won't stop for another 7-8 months! Sightseeing is a bit of a challenge as well, in Düsseldorf I lasted about 4 hours before I needed to take the weight off my legs. I'm still not allowed to go running for another month, which is driving me crazy! It's a long recovery process, that's for sure...</div>Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-13357003498866446752012-06-12T17:12:00.002+04:002012-06-13T16:39:44.456+04:00One big massive update - Visas, Reserve, Eurovision<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So I know I haven't been all that good on the updating front, but I do have a good reason, but before I explain in depth as to why, I'll give you an update as to what I've been up to since my last post, that for whatever reason I've been reluctant to post on until now.<br />
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<b>MARCH</b><br />
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Well I spent most of my free time in March trying to organise my Azerbaijani visa. I knew I couldn't do it in April as it was my reserve month, and I've heard from others who've travelled there that they can sort out the visa in 3-5 days. Which is 3-5 days without my passport, pretty difficult for someone in my job to do.<br />
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After a few colourful visits to the Azerbaijani consulate here in Dubai (and I thank my lucky stars that there is a consulate in Dubai, most of my other Australian mates had no choice but to send their passports off to Malaysia) I had a nice visa in my passport, and I have no idea why, but I bawled my eyes out after seeing it in there. I've never taken my passport for granted, but I certainly grew to appreciate it far more now having gone through the epic process. The consulate workers were asking why I was in tears, and I made up some bullsh*t story about being so happy I could go to Baku, but it was certainly more of a case of feeling the stress totally release from my body, the visit visa matter had been a weight on my mind for a very long time, essentially since Ell and Nikki won the ESC in Dusseldorf.<br />
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<b>APRIL</b><br />
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Well this was my reserve month, and I was actually quite pleased with what I was scheduled. I only had one turnaround, a Chennai, that was painless enough. I got pulled out for Amsterdam, and the first thing I did was hire a bike.<br />
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I knew after my previous journey to Amsterdam I wasn't going to spend it on foot again, especially since this time I intended to visit the cafes I fell in love with on my first trip there .<br />
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It was Good Friday, but that didn't stop me ordering Holtkamp's famous croquettes<br />
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Or their out-of-this-world Raspberry Tart. Phenomenal. <br />
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The entire trip from Dubai to Amsterdam was super busy, and having to operate as a Business Class crew member made things a lot more frustrating, but what got me through it was the thought of trying a slice of Winkel's Apple Pie. So good.<br />
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<b>MAY</b><br />
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So the real reason I took so long to update? Well if any of you have been following me on Twitter you might have noticed that I have been attempting vlogs. Ever since my reserve month and my Seoul trip, I've been taking my 'bloggie' and recording footage, and the ones in both Seoul and Tokyo are both very shaky and very long.<br />
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I'm not even joking...<br />
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After my Tokyo trip though, I ended up in Baku, and have been filming what I can of the rehearsals. I'm still not entirely happy with the quality of the footage, but I figured if I don't bite the bullet and edit/post now, I'll never do so, and never improve, which at this point is just a matter of time. I'm sorry also it is so Eurovision based, I know that many of you are not familiar with Eurovision, but at least you get a fan perspective on the contest rather than the spiffy edited version the professional news networks will give you. And as you will all be able to see, the press filming area inside the Crystal Hall was too great a distance for the zoom in my bloggie to handle :-)<br />
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Part 1 of the Eurovision vlog - <br />
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And Part 2 - </div>
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Generally when we first arrived for Eurovision, the first week is usually the busiest as it's full of rehearsals and press conferences, so we were all planning to do most of the sightseeing in the second week. However due to the timing of the broadcast (it started at midnight in Baku) you spend the morning sleeping and my nights before the concerts were spent editing the footage that I filmed during the first week, so I did virtually no sightseeing in Baku, which I'm really not happy about at all. </div>
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National Flag Square, which used to have the world's largest flagpole until the record was claimed by a flagpole in Tajikistan. Those taxi's you see in the bottom of the photo were absolutely frustrating. On the upside, they were all metered and branded, and the drivers especially trained to know all the required locations accredited delegates needed to go. However, when it came to actually using them, there were more than a few times when I'd have to get out a map, point on the map where the big Azerbaijani flagpole was (which was also the location of the Baku Crystal Hall and the Press Centre) and the driver STILL wouldn't know where I wanted to go. And people think the Dubai Taxi system is frustrating...<br />
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Baku loved their fountains, and this was the most grand fountain I saw on my trip. <br />
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Not too sure, I think this is the Art Gallery. <br />
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Our accommodation was in a great location - The Old Town, known as İçəri Şəhər (pronounced Ichari Shahar) and this is the Maiden Tower, which I believe is the most prominent landmark in the Old Town. </div>
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So, quite shamefully, that was all the landmarks I managed to see in Baku. Then this happened, which fudged up my plans considerably.</div>
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This has made things about 10 times more difficult than it really has to be. </div>
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So here is the full story. About 1hr 15min before the start of the live Semi Final 2 I walked up to the (free!) BBQ that was held just outside the press centre. There was this flat concrete tiling, and a grassed area where the BBQ was, and they were separated by a raised curb of sorts. I stepped onto the curb, slipped, fell and heard a crack at the same time. At the time I could move my foot, then I could take maybe 2 steps on it, but about 5 minutes later my right foot was totally unusable. </div>
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So after being carried Bodyguard-style through the backstage area by my friend Paul and getting this cool spray stuff on my ankle, I was transported by ambulance to the nearest appropriate hospital, and with no waiting time (it was, quite literally, only 1 minute from the ambulance to the x-ray room - having both the Eurovision accreditation and the accident happen on press centre grounds meant pushing aside other sick Azeris. I did feel bad about it though) I was X-rayed, the fractured fibula was confirmed, an injection of heaven-knows what was administered via the, er, glutes, and I was fitted with a gargantuan plaster cast. As I was being transported by the ambulance back to Baku Crystal Hall, the female paramedic got so motion sick we had to let her out to throw up, then security wouldn't let us back into Crystal Hall. Once the arguing had stopped and I was allowed back inside, I was plonked on a wheelchair in time to see Estonia, Slovakia and Norway perform on the monitor, and Bosnia and Herzegovina and Lithuania perform live. </div>
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The last few days in Baku weren't too bad, but it was frustrating how little things that used to take no time before the fracture now required an immense amount of forethought and energy. I had to rely on my Baku flatmates for food. Travelling from the accommodation in the Old Town to the road where the Eurovision taxis stopped was challenging due to the cobblestone paths, and incredibly painful due to the crutches. I had to wait for an escort to go through the restricted area to get me a wheelchair just so I could get to my seat in the arena. It took me about 40 minutes to shower. It took me about 4 hours to pack my suitcase for the flight back, with assistance. It didn't help that for the first 2 days on crutches they weren't adjusted correctly and I had very sharp pain in my upper arms every time I needed to use them. Actually every single day I was in the plaster cast I did in fact slip and wind up flat on the ground, constantly frustrated with myself for getting injured in the first place. </div>
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It had some highlights though, this letter from Tooji being one of them</div>
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And a sympathetic bear hug from Ott Lepland being another :-)</div>
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But when I was able bodied I did get some nice photos with the artists.</div>
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Myself, Icelandic Jonsi and my flatmate Belinda. We were convinced the Icelandic delegation were stalking us, particularly Jonsi. First time we saw them was at Eurovision Village and it was after they qualified so everyone was really bleary-eyed. Second time was again on the Bulvar, but with Greta Salome and Fridrik (He performed in 2008 as part of Euroband) in tow. Then Belinda had them on her flight out of Baku. I didn't mind though, he's still as good looking as he was when he first competed in 2004, and the entire delegation was super nice. </div>
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Max Jason Mai, competing for Slovakia. Also surprisingly nice. During rehearsals he had his leather pants so low everyone in the press area could see his butt crack, and you can tell from the vlogs that the press area is kind of far from the stage! <br />
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With Jedward, competing for Ireland. They took one look at us, and we had no flags with us or anything, and they said in unison "THE AUSTRALIANS!!!" <br />
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Trackshittaz, competing for Austria. Was so disappointed they didn't qualify, I actually liked their song and I felt so bad for Manuel (on the right) that he had to use the wheelchair after tearing his crucial ligament on stage during the live Semi, especially considering I had to use the same wheelchair 2 nights later... <br />
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Soluna Samay, competing for Denmark. Also very sweet, and totally didn't deserve the placing she received in the Final.<br />
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Baronivsky Babushki competing for Russia. These ladies were the hardest to take photos of, as every time they entered the press centre they were followed by a mob of paparazzi. As cute as they are, the song really was gimmicky and didn't deserve 2nd place.<br />
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And here we have the former winners all on stage. Dima Bilan, Ell, Nikki, Marija Serifovic, Alexander Rybak and Lena Meyer-Landrut. This was the moment that, to me, made the visa hassle, the plane trip, the tickets worth the money. Until Ell and Nikki started singing 'Waterloo' that is. Then it just descended into chaos. Still better than Emin though. <br />
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<b>JUNE</b></div>
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Now I'm back in Dubai I've gone through 2 more casts</div>
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The green one was fitted whilst the swelling was going down. I really didn't like this one, it looked like a DIY job out of gardening material that someone grabbed during an impromptu trip to Ace Hardware/Bunnings.</div>
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Now I have the purple one, which will stay on for about 4 weeks or so. I'm allowed to partially weight bear from tomorrow, which I'm excited about, but I'm also not looking forward to the pain involved and the probable use of painkillers required to get through this stage of the injury. </div>
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There are other things about the fracture that still frustrate me. I guess the lack of flying pay is the big one, but I'm dealing with that via budgeting, stretching my leftovers as much as possible. Every time I shower, I put a plastic bag over the cast and seal it up with rubber bands and tape, but I still somehow manage to get water into the bag. So far out of all the times I've showered since the fracture, I've managed to keep it dry only once. Cooking in itself is challenging - there is a real moment of fear when I've finished boiling pasta and I'm trying to transfer a big pot of boiling water to the sink balancing on one foot. But it's the lack of cleanliness in the apartment that is annoying me the most, as it's pretty hard to use a vacuum with one hand and trying to stay upright with crutches in the other. I'm trying to grin and bear it, trying to resist the urge to call for a maid to clean up. I can last another 4 weeks. </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*On a side note, I need to say a massive thank you to the <a href="http://www.escinsight.com/">ESC Insight team</a>, <a href="http://www.escinsight.com/category/in-depth-articles/video-insight/terry-vision/">Terry Vision</a> and the <a href="http://escxtra.com/">escxtra team</a> for kindly accomodating me in the press centre. </span></div>
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</div>Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-67270994179202406342012-03-16T13:28:00.001+04:002012-03-16T13:28:24.127+04:00Dakar - Senegal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I was looking forward to my first layover in Senegal. I resisted the few swaps I was offered, and I'd heard some pretty positive reports from the crew. It's been in operation for almost 18 months, so it was about time I visited.<br />
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So during the ridiculously empty flight, we chatted, and quite a big group of crew were interested in sightseeing. We were working out our itinerary already - Goree Island, Dakar Cathedral, African Renaissance Monument among others - but when we landed the Captain received a note from Airport Operations. As it turns out the day that we landed in Dakar was the day after the Senegalese Presidential elections, and since the election itself was considered to be somewhat controversial there were protests expected in the city. So basically the airline advised us to stay within the confines of the hotel rather than get caught up and risk facing potentially violent demonstrations. In the end we all decided to limit our ventures out of the hotel and instead chose to leave the sightseeing for another layover.<br />
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It wasn't too bad I guess, we went to a nearby market, and there was a beach nearby. Crew, being crew, bought every souvenir they set their eyes on and did well to fund the Senegalese economy. I was only interested in a fridge magnet to add to my collection back home, and still have yet to buy one.<br />
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Views of the beach near the market at des Almadies<br />
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The rocky coast was full of shells.<br />
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And floaty bits of newspaper :-(<br />
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The restaurant district.<br />
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Senegalese markets. <br />
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The Dakar trip was also the first time I ever saw medication delivered to the aircraft just for the crew. I've been to Africa numerous times, and about half of the destinations there are Malaria-risk countries, so I have a small spray bottle of DEET in my medicine cabinet just in case, but foolishly forgot to pack it with me on the trip. Our forward-thinking Purser called up our airline clinic before we were due to sign in so that hopefully the meds could be distributed to all the crew, but they couldn't get to us in time. So at the very last minute, with everyone on board and 5 min until push back, our plucky clinic courier turned up with bag full of doxycycline. To be taken 2 days before travel (already missed that) and to take for up to 4 weeks after. The worst part is you don't know whether you have malaria until 4 weeks after leaving a high risk country. Seeing as though I have an Entebbe flight at the end of the month, I guess I'll be on the meds for a while.<br />
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<br /></div>Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-44110043483109935232012-03-03T01:35:00.001+04:002012-03-03T01:36:50.701+04:00Table Mountain - Cape Town<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So the first time I was in Cape Town, it was the final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. I was pulled out from Standby and operating as a Business Class crew. It wasn't my favorite trip, as not only was the flight hard work, but everywhere in Cape Town showing the game was fully booked out, so there was a few hours of walking between all the restaurants in the Waterfront area just to have something to eat and watch the game. I was rostered the Cape Town again in February, and I was determined to make this trip count. Or at least get *some* photos unlike my first trip.<br />
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When you travel between the airport and the city, it's hard to miss Table Mountain. Not having a lot of time, we chose the easy option to ascend, and at 8.30am were were on our way to the cable car base station.<br />
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Moustafa, from Algeria. He was on one of his first layovers, and pretty stoked.<br />
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Taking the car up. These are the old cable cars before the current ones were fitten in 1997. The current ones are great - the base rotates, so if you're facing any window you just hold your camera to the glass and in a few moments you'll get the window opening - open just long enough to get a shot.<br />
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View from the base of Table Mountain<br />
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Everyone crowded inside the cable car<br />
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Note to self - make sure you get a crew who knows how to use a camera (and flash) before getting photo taken. Nice view though.<br />
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Stunning views of Cape Town city from Table Mountain.<br />
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Now it is at this point that my camera decides to sh*t itself - the back light for the digital viewfinder is no longer working. I have a manual one but it is in Dubai - I'm basically shooting all this gorgeous scenery blind/from the hip. I curse myself for becoming so reliant on the viewfinder, but what to do. The camera is in the repair shop now...<br />
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Cabin crew getting their poses right.<br />
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Must have some proof I was there!<br />
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And here we have Table Bay and Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 years during Apartheid.<br />
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Surface rocks of Table Mountain<br />
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Vera from Serbia, and Irina from Moldova. We set up everyone's camera on a level rock, then set the timer. Once everyone set the timers for the maximum time, we'd run to where they were. There were about 7 cameras set, and we all ran, but mine was the only one not to get the whole group in. Shame. <br />
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Lizard sun baking in the gorgeous weather.<br />
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View from the cable car heading back down again. </div>Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com7Cape Town, South Africa-33.9248685 18.4240553-34.346497500000005 17.7923413 -33.5032395 19.055769299999998tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-41477920056189382392012-01-14T13:19:00.001+04:002012-01-14T13:19:54.995+04:00Vilnius - KGB Museum/Museum of the Genocide VictimsI mentioned in my <a href="http://tampaxtowers.blogspot.com/2011/12/vilnius-lithuania.html">previous post on Vilnius</a> that I wanted to separate the photos from the KGB museum from the other shots taken on the trip. Aside from the other post being very photo-heavy, I think the subject matter warrants a post on its own. Much of the photography is very dark, and I tried to lighten them up where possible, but I wanted to keep the photos true to the experience as much as possible. If you see one place in Vilnius, this should be it.<br /><div><br /></div><div>So after arriving and settling into my room, and seeing as though I was so close, I decided to first visit the Museum of the Genocide Victims, also informally known as the KGB Museum. The first and second floor are worth a look, and are in fact what is recommended by the museum to visit first - they contained a plethora of memorabilia, letters, prayer books, handicrafts, uniforms, badges, bullet casings and photos amongst its vast collection. </div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NWjm6zBMxbs/Tv2Y07Y5cII/AAAAAAAADsg/_SXaQ8C71JY/s1600/Museum-of-Genocide-Victims-440.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NWjm6zBMxbs/Tv2Y07Y5cII/AAAAAAAADsg/_SXaQ8C71JY/s320/Museum-of-Genocide-Victims-440.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691873539128914050" border="0" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>But it's once you enter the basement floor that the museum really becomes poignant. Chilling. Disturbing. What I saw at the basement of the museum still enters my thoughts, had done so every single day during my visit to Vilnius. The basement contains the cells that victims were imprisioned in, some done up to focus on one particular group that was marginalized (such as the Jewish memorial in cell no. 3) but many were set up to recreate the exact conditions of the cell during Soviet occupation. </div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fnw2QvJi9ds/Tv2XUKrFJfI/AAAAAAAADsU/qencOFfTgCE/s1600/P1010720.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fnw2QvJi9ds/Tv2XUKrFJfI/AAAAAAAADsU/qencOFfTgCE/s320/P1010720.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691871876784399858" border="0" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>A cell with some shredded documents. Probably a recreation, but there was noting I saw written saying it was. For all I knew it could have had sensitive KGB information in those bags.</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cyP-n3Aye-c/Tv2VOcs0MWI/AAAAAAAADsI/Ow15FKoS84k/s1600/P1010723.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cyP-n3Aye-c/Tv2VOcs0MWI/AAAAAAAADsI/Ow15FKoS84k/s320/P1010723.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691869579521044834" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1w-Py4czQj4/Tv2VONWsE3I/AAAAAAAADr8/_8Xh8zCmRPg/s1600/P1010721.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1w-Py4czQj4/Tv2VONWsE3I/AAAAAAAADr8/_8Xh8zCmRPg/s320/P1010721.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691869575401706354" border="0" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>From the top, a 4 person shared cell and a 2 person shared cell. </div><div><br /></div><div>The majority of the cells were in either the 2 person or the 4 person configuration, but there were other cells that they saved for those convicted of more serious offenses, such as espionage.</div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7-TGwFg97dY/Tv2T7pPaFQI/AAAAAAAADr0/hQQEraYYzGY/s1600/P1010722.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7-TGwFg97dY/Tv2T7pPaFQI/AAAAAAAADr0/hQQEraYYzGY/s320/P1010722.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691868156958217474" border="0" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The interrogation cell. I think my photography here is a little misleading as the cell was only about 2m x 2m, not very large at all.</div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pqpK7AvFzP0/Tv2T7e4TwoI/AAAAAAAADrk/69hKh_CpNQw/s1600/P1010725.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pqpK7AvFzP0/Tv2T7e4TwoI/AAAAAAAADrk/69hKh_CpNQw/s320/P1010725.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691868154176979586" border="0" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The water cell. The guards filled the cell with water until it was about 10cm off the ground. Those who occupied this cell had no choice but to either stand in the water or to stand on that tiny island. Considering how cold it can get during the winter in Vilnius this was, essentially, torture</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D1xgLoEju1s/Tv2RjdilwXI/AAAAAAAADrY/U_68HGOUKV0/s1600/P1010724.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D1xgLoEju1s/Tv2RjdilwXI/AAAAAAAADrY/U_68HGOUKV0/s320/P1010724.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691865542477332850" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div>Onto the most chilling room in the entire museum. That black thing in the middle is actually a straight jacket, and this cell is completely padded. Reserved for those prisoners that were, or had become, mentally insane. The padding was interesting to look at - it didn't look particularly soft, there wasn't a lot of 'give' when you pushed with your finger. I think the padding was more to stop whatever screaming and shouting from the prisoner becoming too loud rather than to prevent the prisoner from seriously injuring themselves. </div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-asT3bE52mOE/Tv2RipwMxBI/AAAAAAAADrQ/snZIyqak0xE/s1600/P1010726.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-asT3bE52mOE/Tv2RipwMxBI/AAAAAAAADrQ/snZIyqak0xE/s320/P1010726.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691865528575771666" border="0" /></a></div><div><br />Under Stalin, the prisoners were permitted 15 minutes outdoors every day, which increased to 1 hour of exercise time when he was no longer the one in power. The walls of the exercise yard was no larger than one of the 4 prisoner cells, so it was only really 15 minutes of fresh air that they were getting. As you can see there wasn't a whole lot of sunlight. </div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ch2mIe6dGfo/Tv2RiF28WEI/AAAAAAAADrA/58lhd17B_8U/s1600/P1010727.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ch2mIe6dGfo/Tv2RiF28WEI/AAAAAAAADrA/58lhd17B_8U/s320/P1010727.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691865518940379202" border="0" /></a><br />This was the room where all the executions happened - the plexiglass you can see in the photo is <span style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Buttons"><span onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);FormatbarButton('richeditorframe', this, 8);ButtonMouseDown(this);" class=" down" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_CreateLink" title="Link"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" alt="Link" class="gl_link" border="0" /></span></span>protecting the bullet holes from corroding further. The TV is playing on loop a movie that had some scenes shot in the room about the occupation in Lithuania. The transparent floor showcases some more memorabilia, some of them items left behind by the executed prisoners. The room also has this smell to it that is very strange, not in a putrid sense - it isn't yak-inducing, but in addition to the history of the room the smell really sends a chill down your spine. I wish I knew how to describe it.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Stock photo taken from <a href="http://www.historvius.com/">here</a>. </span></div><div face="Noteworthy" size="18px" color="rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094)" style=" font-weight: bold; line-height: 24px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0898438); -webkit-composition-frame- -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br /></div>Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-92212193305336373582012-01-07T19:52:00.000+04:002012-01-07T19:52:39.672+04:00Dodgiest Train Line in ParisI love my Paris trips. If I'm not catching up with <a href="http://sodwee.com/blog/">Ben</a>, then I'm either shopping at Galleries Lafayette, having a browse at Collete to see what the hipsters of Paris are into, or just taking a short stroll around the Tulleries for some fresh air. It's one of these layovers that, unless the city is closed down for, say, Christmas, then I always make the epic journey from the hotel to the city for a few hours. It's worth the money. I can't mentally cope well trying to save on allowance eating pot noodles in my room when I'm in Paris.<br /><br />One of the downsides to having a layover in a renowned 'world city' is that the traffic can be unreliable, and so the airline has us stay in a hotel at the airport, rather than where the action is. Well not *at* the airport, we're housed in a hotel in a village called Roissy, about 5 minutes from the airport, and it seems this is a specific hotel village, as there are some 30 hotels alone staying in Roissy. Not many stand alone restaurants in walking distance, but lots of warehouses and single storey office buildings. Horrible to go running as there is no clear footpath.<br /><br />To get to the city we have a few options. The hotel has a shuttle bus service where you pay 5 Euros each way to go to the city and back. Which would be nice if the timing was better - the trip from the city back to the hotel has us arrive after our wake up call - so that isn't an option. There's a shuttle bus from the hotel to the airport, after which you can either take the Roissybus to the city, or take the RER train and then the metro to the city. I usually take the last option (RER & metro), as you very rarely wait more than 8 minutes for a RER train, and you rarely wait more than 4 minutes for the next train to appear on the Metro line. I like to have complete control over when I arrive and when I leave Paris, particularly when it can mean the difference to getting a few hours of sleep before pick up, and not even making it to your pick up on time.<br /><br />So just the other day I had my Paris layover. Got to catch up with Ben. Got to do a little bit of sightseeing. Even managed to do a bit of shopping. When it came to making the trek back to the hotel from the Bourse I was well and truly shattered. I didn't really pay much attention to where I was standing or seated, once I got on the RER Blue line I was in my own little world.<br /><br />So at one point (at Aulnay-sous-Bois I think) I looked above me to figure out how far there was to go on the journey, and saw this...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EJPOgjfSg0E/Twhlyg0LZfI/AAAAAAAADuk/LXOgB_J-oBo/s1600/398543_10150572344626282_705221281_11253847_266143119_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EJPOgjfSg0E/Twhlyg0LZfI/AAAAAAAADuk/LXOgB_J-oBo/s320/398543_10150572344626282_705221281_11253847_266143119_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5694913647286642162" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The metro map, with seemingly fresh blood stains. Was I shocked? Just a little. Was I surprised? Not at all. Most of the Parisian crew that we fly with are more than willing to tell you that both the RER Blue and the RER Green lines are some of the most unsafe lines you can possibly take in the city. Most of them take either a taxi or get family and friends to transport them around the city during their layover. The rest of us are left with the dodgy RER train. It made me wonder, especially since it was so high in the carriage, what on earth happened? Nothing that I could see around me was stained, so it had been cleaned since I had boarded. Was someone punched? Stabbed? Shot? Suffering from a projectile nose bleed?<br /><br />I think I might take the Roissybus from now on...Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-55028949514130497392011-12-30T16:19:00.001+04:002011-12-30T16:23:35.087+04:00Looking back on 2011It’s been quite a 2011 for me I must say. I feel as though this year I’ve seen change between becoming someone who has been here for ‘just a few years’ to ‘an experienced Dubai resident’. And I know it's somewhat of a cliche here in the blogging world, but I thought I'd do a summary post all the same.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Celebrating 5 Years </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cT51v1CcKOg/Tv2jbnTwkhI/AAAAAAAADto/qu0dGIEEH_c/s1600/P1010185.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cT51v1CcKOg/Tv2jbnTwkhI/AAAAAAAADto/qu0dGIEEH_c/s320/P1010185.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691885198869828114" border="0" /></a><br />In February the blog <a href="http://tampaxtowers.blogspot.com/2011/02/anniversary.html">hit the big 5 year mark</a>. I didn’t think I’d even last 5 months. Many other blogs from others in this industry (some even from the same airline) pop up and disappear, and I never thought in the beginning that this was something I’d stick to. But the support from readers just blew me away and ultimately kept me going.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Formspring Account</span><br /><br />This blew up in size more than I could have ever dreamt of. The idea behind it was that people would ask me questions, then it would give me a few ideas as to what to write for my next post. Some of them did (The <a href="http://tampaxtowers.blogspot.com/2011/11/airline-catering-tampax-towers-guide.html">airline catering post</a> is a great example) but mostly it’s a quick way for me to interact with you guys, as I really procrastinate with the email account nowadays.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The airline</span><br /><br />Well they found out about the blog. Which as you can imagine led to a "Oh S**t” moment. But it also led to...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Geneva Inaugural</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5Tg9rn8a54Y/Tv2kIwoV6SI/AAAAAAAADt0/azmKvhOzquc/s1600/248907_10150264261840757_532805756_8897014_3066594_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5Tg9rn8a54Y/Tv2kIwoV6SI/AAAAAAAADt0/azmKvhOzquc/s320/248907_10150264261840757_532805756_8897014_3066594_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691885974466193698" border="0" /></a><br />Which was certainly an experience! A tough flight, both sectors full of management (including the President of the Airline) and non-stop posing and smiling. I must have done the Arabic Coffee service 5 times out of Dubai just so this one lady with a video camcorder could get the shot correct. The atmosphere amongst the crew was simply amazing, from the Captain to the Purser to the most junior Grade II. We were also invited to the gala dinner held on the same night we landed, the first ever inaugural crew to be invited, and we felt like celebs dressed in our cocktail gear, walking down a red carpet, wine and dined on the airline’s expense, which I have never experienced before. Mostly, especially in my old job at PCEC, I was the one serving the people who were wined and dined on their employee’s expense. We were lucky if we even had more than one choice at the buffet in the staff kitchen, let alone a 3 course meal. An amazing meal at that.<br /><br />My inner 15 year old self almost squealed when I found out that Westlife were going to perform at the gala, and I even got to share the stage with them at some point! Talk about a good layover!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">New Layovers</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IxF23hrCjuc/Tv2mAQGw8BI/AAAAAAAADuA/iPGlMsuPMpE/s1600/P1010544.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IxF23hrCjuc/Tv2mAQGw8BI/AAAAAAAADuA/iPGlMsuPMpE/s320/P1010544.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691888027319726098" border="0" /></a><br />Geneva aside, I also operated flights to Amsterdam, Guangzhou and Copenhagen for the first time. Amsterdam was spent catching up with my mate Amy from my uni days, and Guangzhou was spent sleeping. Guangzhou was one of those unique Flight Attendant moments where you wake up in a strange bed and look around the room, think "Why am I not in my room?" then check the hotel stationary to find out where you REALLY are. And you all know <a href="http://tampaxtowers.blogspot.com/2011/10/first-time-in-copenhagen.html">what happened in Copenhagen...</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Run Run Run...</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7tTLmZK_OHY/Tv2omq0eOpI/AAAAAAAADuM/qB97441QvIw/s1600/DSC00039.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7tTLmZK_OHY/Tv2omq0eOpI/AAAAAAAADuM/qB97441QvIw/s320/DSC00039.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691890886349044370" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rMsfcH7yWP0/Tv2om6gQMwI/AAAAAAAADuY/IlllZ1zo1UY/s1600/DSC00031.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rMsfcH7yWP0/Tv2om6gQMwI/AAAAAAAADuY/IlllZ1zo1UY/s320/DSC00031.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691890890559206146" border="0" /></a><br />The ultimate goal that I set myself for 2011 was to turn running from an occasional treadmill thing to a proper habit, and I’ve more than exceeded that this year. I never ran outdoors until I bought some sneakers during the Black Friday sales in New York, and I also bought a very basic pace monitor as well. It was probably the most motivating thing I could have done to kick my fitness into gear, and slowly but surely I started running more and more until it grew into an almost obsessive thing. First it was buying a new pair of Capri pants as my old ones were chaffing along the side seams. Then some good sports bras. Then more exercise pants and tank tops. Then a Garmin Forerunner for my birthday. Then it was trying out different recovery drink formulas and gels and energy bars that I would bring over from the US. Throughout all this I was pouring over my training log, seeing what was happening during my ‘off’ days, whether there was a correlation between poor running performance and lack of sleep, lack of good diet, too many flight hours. I love looking at the statistics and seeing how far I’ve come from a year ago, and I also feel that I’ve had less colds as well since taking it up and I have more energy during the morning and during flights as well, even night flights! Right now I’m booked to run my first ever 10km race at the Dubai Marathon, and whilst I don’t imagine myself having a cracking time, if I can just complete it it’ll mean the world to me because I know that I’ve come a very long way from what I was a year ago (running the 3km and getting beat by some very fit primary school kids), let alone from when I first moved here never having done any gym time before.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">New Places Discovered</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dl9lpgf0Upk/Tv2gYCQn-jI/AAAAAAAADtQ/BglGWJURPEc/s1600/P1010562.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Dl9lpgf0Upk/Tv2gYCQn-jI/AAAAAAAADtQ/BglGWJURPEc/s320/P1010562.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691881838850079282" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_JubbL4k-kI/Tv2gXzVUPjI/AAAAAAAADtE/G1i6MvNVQ2o/s1600/P1010663.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_JubbL4k-kI/Tv2gXzVUPjI/AAAAAAAADtE/G1i6MvNVQ2o/s320/P1010663.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691881834843225650" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AG_ZDiYV2sU/Tv2gY0tdSNI/AAAAAAAADtc/c1a4ZcSdhUw/s1600/P1010205.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AG_ZDiYV2sU/Tv2gY0tdSNI/AAAAAAAADtc/c1a4ZcSdhUw/s320/P1010205.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691881852392786130" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I don’t know why I didn’t do this more often – whenever I saw 4 or 5 days off in the roster, to book a mini holiday to Europe, somewhere I hadn’t been before. <a href="http://tampaxtowers.blogspot.com/2011/03/riga-latvia.html">Riga</a>, <a href="http://tampaxtowers.blogspot.com/2011/08/reykjavik-hard-to-say-easy-to-love.html">Reykjavik</a>, <a href="http://tampaxtowers.blogspot.com/2011/09/beautiful-bergen.html">Bergen</a> and <a href="http://tampaxtowers.blogspot.com/2011/12/vilnius-lithuania.html">Vilnius</a>. I had a ball, and took some great photos; I just hope I can do the same in 2012.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Eurovision - Dusseldorf 2011</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2yshGmQ0C9M/Tv2ect0Qw4I/AAAAAAAADss/au-Q7ycjB7s/s1600/P1010284.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2yshGmQ0C9M/Tv2ect0Qw4I/AAAAAAAADss/au-Q7ycjB7s/s320/P1010284.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691879720238498690" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qH2PrmxOtoM/Tv2evbIgTdI/AAAAAAAADs4/0IaiVqFu8tA/s1600/228439_10150604425560055_876960054_18551009_4066531_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qH2PrmxOtoM/Tv2evbIgTdI/AAAAAAAADs4/0IaiVqFu8tA/s320/228439_10150604425560055_876960054_18551009_4066531_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691880041640644050" border="0" /></a><br />By far the highlight of my year. I got to catch up with the friends that I made in Oslo and saw the rehearsals, went to the parties, hung out in the Press Centre, met some of the performers and had a great time. I’d love to repeat the experience in Baku, especially since I haven’t been to Azerbaijan before, but it’s looking somewhat unlikely at this stage so I guess I’ll just have to reminisce about my <a href="http://tampaxtowers.blogspot.com/2011/05/pilgrimage-to-eurovision-2011.html">great week in Dusseldorf</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Looking forward to 2012</span><br /><br />So what of 2012? Well I'm not going anywhere, this job is just too good to leave! But I have decided to bite the bullet and finally try to get my driver's license. I know I have lived quite well without it for the past 6 years here in Dubai, and could get around very easily with public transport when I was in Perth, but its been 10 years now since I first took my driving test in Perth and caught air over a roundabout, which scared me a bit. I think I am ready to take it on now. There will be frustration, there may even be tears, but I know this is something I have to do sooner or later and I may as well try it now.<br /><br />On that note, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas (or other applicable holiday) and that you all have a wonderful New Year! :-D<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Geneva photo credit to S. Perez</span>Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-45131121617859067782011-12-16T21:39:00.002+04:002011-12-16T21:46:33.002+04:00Vilnius, LithuaniaEven though I love my job to bits, there is one thing that if the airline took away from me I'd be resigning straight away - my travel benefits. I know that there are very few other jobs that would allow me to travel and enjoy other countries and cultures as much as this one, and whether it be on a layover or on my own time I still have a passion for travelling 6 years on. So when I saw on my October roster 4 days off sandwiched between some rest days, I was straight onto Trip Advisor trying to find cheap hotels to somewhere I hadn't been before. I was gravitating towards Vilnius, as after finishing off the Nordics in August, this would be my last city in the Baltics to cross of my 'countries visited' list. Tickets were booked, hotel was booked, and when I landed I even had a tour booked.<br /><br />I had a great tour guide - if I do book one it's usually with a large-ish group, and I'm the youngest tourist there by about 15 years, and the entire tour is peppered with questions from others about history I've usually read about before the tour. So it was nice to be the only one on the tour (it was 4 degrees at 10.00am - I guess every other tourist wanted to sleep) and not only that the guide was actually my age - the lovely Natasha from <a href="http://www.vilniuscitytour.com/">Vilnius City Tours</a>. She was as local as you could get, and very passionate about her home city. It was close to the best tour I think I've ever been on.<br /><br />So now onto the landmarks, and the first stop was the Church of St Peter and Paul (Šv. apaštalų Petro ir Povilo bažnyčia)... I'm warning you all, this post is very photo-heavy, particularly with many places of worship, but I couldn't really help myself considering how insanely beautiful this was. The concept behind the sculptures in each chapel was that they were to be seen in some sort of theatrical sequence, with a clear beginning, middle and end. Also it is vastly different from every other church in Vilnius is that it doesn't go crazy with colour - white clearly dominates, but it still manages to be jaw-droppingly stunning.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cxMaEPAhBrc/TuX071ausQI/AAAAAAAADic/hySGkJuf7bE/s1600/P1010744.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cxMaEPAhBrc/TuX071ausQI/AAAAAAAADic/hySGkJuf7bE/s320/P1010744.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685219413413769474" border="0" /></a><br />Exterior of the church<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7GC2dMmJHa8/TuXuwiwUfQI/AAAAAAAADfs/aHbO3rZ2aw8/s1600/P1010729.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7GC2dMmJHa8/TuXuwiwUfQI/AAAAAAAADfs/aHbO3rZ2aw8/s320/P1010729.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685212622355725570" border="0" /></a><br />Christening Bath in the Baptistery.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nHF323zKh-s/TuXuw3h792I/AAAAAAAADf4/fPb1N2-tZVo/s1600/P1010730.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nHF323zKh-s/TuXuw3h792I/AAAAAAAADf4/fPb1N2-tZVo/s320/P1010730.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685212627932542818" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n1fsb8VJfV0/TuXuxbiVKfI/AAAAAAAADgE/Yl1takO7QwY/s1600/P1010731.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n1fsb8VJfV0/TuXuxbiVKfI/AAAAAAAADgE/Yl1takO7QwY/s320/P1010731.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685212637597870578" border="0" /></a><br />Chapel of the Holy Queens. The two large Turkish Drums somehow didn't seem to fit in with the church.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-blX4TdCGMu0/TuXxKi_sZII/AAAAAAAADgQ/7YwvMLDvAUs/s1600/P1010732.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-blX4TdCGMu0/TuXxKi_sZII/AAAAAAAADgQ/7YwvMLDvAUs/s320/P1010732.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685215268120061058" border="0" /></a><br />Chapel of St Augustine. The church is full of surprises, such as the elephant stucco sculptures on the left.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VY8hpRhLLM4/TuXxK28NbeI/AAAAAAAADgg/NqgfGQRKl50/s1600/P1010733.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VY8hpRhLLM4/TuXxK28NbeI/AAAAAAAADgg/NqgfGQRKl50/s320/P1010733.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685215273474158050" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c08ZJ96sfYk/TuXxMFKG5qI/AAAAAAAADg4/hxSfdVlbY5I/s1600/P1010735.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c08ZJ96sfYk/TuXxMFKG5qI/AAAAAAAADg4/hxSfdVlbY5I/s320/P1010735.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685215294470416034" border="0" /></a><br />There was a christening on when I visited, but no one seemed to mind me taking photos, especially after a small Litas donation.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4g5-su1tSYA/TuXxL5GsIsI/AAAAAAAADgo/uptYOSyHRbE/s1600/P1010734.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4g5-su1tSYA/TuXxL5GsIsI/AAAAAAAADgo/uptYOSyHRbE/s320/P1010734.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685215291234853570" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t2K_sXn_1sw/TuXx0x8WJRI/AAAAAAAADhQ/6bEI5dWjSK4/s1600/P1010737.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t2K_sXn_1sw/TuXx0x8WJRI/AAAAAAAADhQ/6bEI5dWjSK4/s320/P1010737.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685215993687057682" border="0" /></a><br />The stunning sailboat lantern, a gift from Venice. It's far more sparkly in real life.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--D7T-qXBSLg/TuXxNPu2oxI/AAAAAAAADhA/5k0-LMSs83Y/s1600/P1010736.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--D7T-qXBSLg/TuXxNPu2oxI/AAAAAAAADhA/5k0-LMSs83Y/s320/P1010736.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685215314488763154" border="0" /></a><br />The dome of the church. There's an inscription around the dome which is the same as St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City, which I've inadvertantly cut out from the picture. If you look right into the highest part of the dome you can see the face of God looking down on His people.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XINqL5mee-c/TuXx1CQcbqI/AAAAAAAADhg/x-VSWg240-I/s1600/P1010738.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XINqL5mee-c/TuXx1CQcbqI/AAAAAAAADhg/x-VSWg240-I/s320/P1010738.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685215998066323106" border="0" /></a><br />Chapel of St Ursula<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8DaVGc8cQaM/TuXx2Ot1q-I/AAAAAAAADho/vLdJCvtYCrc/s1600/P1010739.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8DaVGc8cQaM/TuXx2Ot1q-I/AAAAAAAADho/vLdJCvtYCrc/s320/P1010739.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685216018590706658" border="0" /></a><br />Chapel of the Military Saints<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GX-sbNRJ44Q/TuXx2QvnjSI/AAAAAAAADh0/tAKXnp2d4u8/s1600/P1010740.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GX-sbNRJ44Q/TuXx2QvnjSI/AAAAAAAADh0/tAKXnp2d4u8/s320/P1010740.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685216019135040802" border="0" /></a><br />So following the sequence, we come to the Chapel of the Crucifixtion<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qyLHnhTiIT0/TuXx3DolELI/AAAAAAAADiE/ME0PUmwijAU/s1600/P1010741.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qyLHnhTiIT0/TuXx3DolELI/AAAAAAAADiE/ME0PUmwijAU/s320/P1010741.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685216032795726002" border="0" /></a><br />Stucco statue of the Queen of Death<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F_5jUS6fYRI/TuXyOtFK_LI/AAAAAAAADiQ/EMl6lOzTQMI/s1600/P1010742.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F_5jUS6fYRI/TuXyOtFK_LI/AAAAAAAADiQ/EMl6lOzTQMI/s320/P1010742.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685216439058496690" border="0" /></a><br />Lots of skulls in this Chapel.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ov5vEbQ6MZM/TuYBTiSIJII/AAAAAAAADio/xSi0Zp-zcXY/s1600/P1010748.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ov5vEbQ6MZM/TuYBTiSIJII/AAAAAAAADio/xSi0Zp-zcXY/s320/P1010748.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685233014733808770" border="0" /></a>Gates of Dawn (Ausros Vartai), in the south part of the Old Town. There are a lot of pilgrims who flock here from neighbouring countries, so I had to make a few attempts at trying to see the Chapel. After the 7pm mass I managed to get a photo of...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pSCqgmpJS2g/TuYBUGL9z5I/AAAAAAAADi0/0LScWluCpqw/s1600/P1010792.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pSCqgmpJS2g/TuYBUGL9z5I/AAAAAAAADi0/0LScWluCpqw/s320/P1010792.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685233024371642258" border="0" /></a><br />Chapel of Our Lady of the Gates of Dawn. The sides of the altar is adorned in some intricate silver (possibly pewter) detailing. Such a joy to see.<br /><br />So onto the Vilnius Cathdral and Cathedral Square...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RmZJPPqCyVM/TutKxcX2kpI/AAAAAAAADjY/GW8kjs03W3k/s1600/P1010754.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RmZJPPqCyVM/TutKxcX2kpI/AAAAAAAADjY/GW8kjs03W3k/s320/P1010754.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686721167775666834" border="0" /></a><br />Monument to Gediminas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-haQxrC44jcU/TutKwly39hI/AAAAAAAADjM/gO3ryfBLYH0/s1600/P1010753.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-haQxrC44jcU/TutKwly39hI/AAAAAAAADjM/gO3ryfBLYH0/s320/P1010753.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686721153125053970" border="0" /></a><br />Cathedral Bell Tower. You can climb here and take an amazing view of Vilnius, but I prefered to wait until I was at the Hill of the Three Crosses.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EC9YsBS34hk/TutSO9o8KUI/AAAAAAAADkA/EzFw7Ka0eyo/s1600/P1010758.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EC9YsBS34hk/TutSO9o8KUI/AAAAAAAADkA/EzFw7Ka0eyo/s320/P1010758.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686729371503307074" border="0" /></a><br />Front view of the Vilnius Cathedral (Arkikatedra Bazilika).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_Fi-nrFeIh0/TutKxhiaGtI/AAAAAAAADjo/VD4aton1uAE/s1600/P1010756.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_Fi-nrFeIh0/TutKxhiaGtI/AAAAAAAADjo/VD4aton1uAE/s320/P1010756.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686721169162115794" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QXbxMCP_Hdw/TutKyoQLfJI/AAAAAAAADjw/nCgyVYfFmyc/s1600/P1010757.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QXbxMCP_Hdw/TutKyoQLfJI/AAAAAAAADjw/nCgyVYfFmyc/s320/P1010757.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686721188144577682" border="0" /></a><br />Chapel of St Casamir and sarcophagus.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d75Q_QTWaQI/TutSPvdRMCI/AAAAAAAADkY/q92hA-Rx-DE/s1600/P1010760.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d75Q_QTWaQI/TutSPvdRMCI/AAAAAAAADkY/q92hA-Rx-DE/s320/P1010760.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686729384876126242" border="0" /></a><br />Gediminas' Tower<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-erotF3wyS1A/TutSPGwUuNI/AAAAAAAADkM/nGIShsB1jOI/s1600/P1010759.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-erotF3wyS1A/TutSPGwUuNI/AAAAAAAADkM/nGIShsB1jOI/s320/P1010759.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686729373950195922" border="0" /></a><br />Entrance to the National Museum of Lithuania, housed within the New Arsenal of the Vilnius Castle Complex. You can see Gediminas Castle Tower in the Background.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0h2IaGM9A3c/TutSQJ9KqYI/AAAAAAAADko/IyzAN6zeKpU/s1600/P1010761.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0h2IaGM9A3c/TutSQJ9KqYI/AAAAAAAADko/IyzAN6zeKpU/s320/P1010761.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686729391989238146" border="0" /></a><span lang="lt"></span><br />Žaliasis tiltas, also known as the Green Bridge, above the river Neris. There are still some Soviet realism sculptures on the bridge - there was much debate after Lithuanian independance as to whether or not to have them torn down.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mhidBeoGrl0/TutVx9VfGbI/AAAAAAAADkw/_Hk0AOd1pyg/s1600/P1010763.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mhidBeoGrl0/TutVx9VfGbI/AAAAAAAADkw/_Hk0AOd1pyg/s320/P1010763.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686733271252015538" border="0" /></a><br />A conversation between the banks of the Šnipiškės and Old Town sides of the Neris. This one is saying "I love you!"<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jvasV0ht_2o/TutVyGaloqI/AAAAAAAADk8/KozBnkm-6CU/s1600/P1010764.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jvasV0ht_2o/TutVyGaloqI/AAAAAAAADk8/KozBnkm-6CU/s320/P1010764.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686733273689334434" border="0" /></a><br />"I love you too!"<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4PkIaEC2QfY/TutW9HTbyzI/AAAAAAAADlI/OWcwhGuQppU/s1600/P1010765.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4PkIaEC2QfY/TutW9HTbyzI/AAAAAAAADlI/OWcwhGuQppU/s320/P1010765.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686734562417953586" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HMv2eFfQFNM/TutW9R-8Z8I/AAAAAAAADlY/JRT6UwbsOKg/s1600/P1010767.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HMv2eFfQFNM/TutW9R-8Z8I/AAAAAAAADlY/JRT6UwbsOKg/s320/P1010767.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686734565284800450" border="0" /></a><br />So a few years ago someone floated about an idea of having local artists create sculptures to pepper throughout the city of Vilnius to make it more 'cultural' and 'tourist -friendly'. The rings underneath the bridge were derived from an old legend of someone scaring the residents and flying his light aircraft underneath the bridge - the rings were to prevent anyone from attempting the feat again. No explaination was given for the pipe-thing in the second picture, though I was assured by my guide that it was, indeed, a sculpture and not some city plumbing.<br /><br />A short walk later and I was in Kalnai Park, also known to contain the Hill of the Three Crosses...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yT_kPL3roXM/TutaFU4FwdI/AAAAAAAADlg/_0FuLQPApuU/s1600/P1010770.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yT_kPL3roXM/TutaFU4FwdI/AAAAAAAADlg/_0FuLQPApuU/s320/P1010770.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686738002035196370" border="0" /></a><br />Amphitheatre in Kalnai Park.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bTZLjqVFWtE/TutaGUgsD_I/AAAAAAAADl4/4xo03tgr6Tc/s1600/P1010777.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bTZLjqVFWtE/TutaGUgsD_I/AAAAAAAADl4/4xo03tgr6Tc/s320/P1010777.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686738019116912626" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TQAjOo8acEw/TutaFpsZB-I/AAAAAAAADlw/Zb8KpZLeJpQ/s1600/P1010772.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TQAjOo8acEw/TutaFpsZB-I/AAAAAAAADlw/Zb8KpZLeJpQ/s320/P1010772.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686738007623272418" border="0" /></a><br />The Three Crosses, from the front and rear.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GbNqGQ6NOhs/TutaGp41F9I/AAAAAAAADmI/Jo9u9v3hSOk/s1600/P1010775.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GbNqGQ6NOhs/TutaGp41F9I/AAAAAAAADmI/Jo9u9v3hSOk/s320/P1010775.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686738024855312338" border="0" /></a>View of Vilnius from the Hill of the Three Crosses. I know it looks like sunset here, but it was around 2pm or so when this shot was taken.<br /><br />Vilnius also happens to contain its own micronation - The Republic of Užupis. Even in the gloomy weather it's one of the most colourful areas of the city and has a great bohemian feel to it. Very similar to Montmatre in Paris. Being a self-declared republic, it has its own army (of 12 people!), its own flag, currency, president and constitution. The constitution, especially, is a tourist attraction in itself, written in 8 languages and containing statements such as<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><ul><li>"People have the right to have no rights."</li><li>"Everyone has the right to love and take care of the cat"</li><li>"Everyone has the right to realize his negligibility and magnificence."</li><li>"Everyone has the right to celebrate or not to celebrate his birthday. "</li></ul></div>And you get the idea. With the Independence Day falling on April Fool's Day are you surprised?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hqapSRiFPT4/Tuth_Ku4tKI/AAAAAAAADmQ/1PiQGfsYM9I/s1600/P1010781.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hqapSRiFPT4/Tuth_Ku4tKI/AAAAAAAADmQ/1PiQGfsYM9I/s320/P1010781.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686746692326044834" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mXd5hlo5h-M/Tuth_ocvAfI/AAAAAAAADmc/yiNqUKiAz4Y/s1600/P1010782.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mXd5hlo5h-M/Tuth_ocvAfI/AAAAAAAADmc/yiNqUKiAz4Y/s320/P1010782.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686746700302975474" border="0" /></a><br />Entrances to Užupis.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Og-dgRxA5bQ/TutiAIS0mYI/AAAAAAAADms/Kt5poRaiWq0/s1600/P1010783.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Og-dgRxA5bQ/TutiAIS0mYI/AAAAAAAADms/Kt5poRaiWq0/s320/P1010783.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686746708851333506" border="0" /></a><br />The Angel of Užupis.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UTgh8ZJs8PA/TutiBfHomWI/AAAAAAAADm0/TLZaqdF9rcU/s1600/P1010784.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UTgh8ZJs8PA/TutiBfHomWI/AAAAAAAADm0/TLZaqdF9rcU/s320/P1010784.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686746732158294370" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UplRbyA2EJ0/TutiB7LAmTI/AAAAAAAADnA/KmUsC34B23A/s1600/P1010785.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UplRbyA2EJ0/TutiB7LAmTI/AAAAAAAADnA/KmUsC34B23A/s320/P1010785.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686746739688642866" border="0" /></a><br />The infamous Constitution.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bil1yc3Z4_c/TutnD4EIORI/AAAAAAAADnQ/2yyJ0EEt-R0/s1600/P1010790.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bil1yc3Z4_c/TutnD4EIORI/AAAAAAAADnQ/2yyJ0EEt-R0/s320/P1010790.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686752270772353298" border="0" /></a><br />Užupis Bridge, covered with padlocks. Cute concept that can be found not only in Vilnius but in many places in Europe - A couple who get married, or otherwise commit, engrave or write their names on the padlock, sometimes as well as the date of the wedding, then throw the key away. Would have loved to have seen this tradition back in Australia - I think it's great!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w0PlPAPz4J8/Tuto_dsh-XI/AAAAAAAADoA/JTLOLlDrJO0/s1600/P1010800.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w0PlPAPz4J8/Tuto_dsh-XI/AAAAAAAADoA/JTLOLlDrJO0/s320/P1010800.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686754393997834610" border="0" /></a><br />The Frank Zappa statue. This is the most difficult thing to look for in the whole city - when driving past in the tour bus my guide pointed it out, and I couldn't even see it. I then went back, thinking I may as well get a photo, and missed it 4-5 times before finally seeing it. Apparently Mr Zappa has zero connection to the city of Vilnius - the proposal for erecting the statue was a 'test' of the new democratic processes by the artists just to see whether or not they could get the project approved. It was, they did up a bust (which wasn't too bad I must say) and hence you have the bust of Frank Zappa on a pole in a parking lot... I guess it ties in with the bohemian mindset that's seemingly everywhere here in Vilnius.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rYK8Ou1bLP8/Tuto-_ZQvxI/AAAAAAAADn0/GXsQ57NhgQ0/s1600/P1010799.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rYK8Ou1bLP8/Tuto-_ZQvxI/AAAAAAAADn0/GXsQ57NhgQ0/s320/P1010799.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686754385863950098" border="0" /></a><br />Choral Synagogue.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BAIWVC2qlrA/Tuto-XUIaaI/AAAAAAAADno/QHgfGPeCDSI/s1600/P1010797.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BAIWVC2qlrA/Tuto-XUIaaI/AAAAAAAADno/QHgfGPeCDSI/s320/P1010797.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686754375105014178" border="0" /></a><br />Church of All Saints, also built in the Baroque style. There was Sunday service on when I arrived, so I didn't go inside.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-reB49xdXeaM/Tuto__EO6aI/AAAAAAAADoM/jXQR1XLm3lc/s1600/P1010801.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-reB49xdXeaM/Tuto__EO6aI/AAAAAAAADoM/jXQR1XLm3lc/s320/P1010801.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686754402955618722" border="0" /></a><br />Church of St Catherine<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GevBe9r0-Rg/Tut0azHJEVI/AAAAAAAADpA/6PfcEEbyZ_4/s1600/P1010815.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GevBe9r0-Rg/Tut0azHJEVI/AAAAAAAADpA/6PfcEEbyZ_4/s320/P1010815.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686766958230966610" border="0" /></a><br />St. Anne's Church, a Roman Catholic Church. Loving the gothic stylin'.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6BHqlb1iMYA/Tut2vsZO-nI/AAAAAAAADpM/hoqnbhYe0n0/s1600/P1010803.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6BHqlb1iMYA/Tut2vsZO-nI/AAAAAAAADpM/hoqnbhYe0n0/s320/P1010803.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686769516228311666" border="0" /></a><br />Vilnius University (Vilniaus Universitetas). The tiny tower on the left housed the old observatory.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-usekeh-YVEo/Tut2wEZCE6I/AAAAAAAADpY/fIsxCTeRNMs/s1600/P1010806.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-usekeh-YVEo/Tut2wEZCE6I/AAAAAAAADpY/fIsxCTeRNMs/s320/P1010806.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686769522669917090" border="0" /></a><br />Presidential Palace<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ASK8Ce9l_A8/Tuto92c3w2I/AAAAAAAADnc/ibwLPZO92Zc/s1600/P1010795.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ASK8Ce9l_A8/Tuto92c3w2I/AAAAAAAADnc/ibwLPZO92Zc/s320/P1010795.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686754366283301730" border="0" /></a><br />The top facade of the National Theatre of Lithuania. Love the statue of the three muses.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AEG16lA8QLs/TuuAU9iy5CI/AAAAAAAADqk/DbUxbNI2F3g/s1600/P1010812.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AEG16lA8QLs/TuuAU9iy5CI/AAAAAAAADqk/DbUxbNI2F3g/s320/P1010812.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686780052091626530" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dYcb5M-gjTw/TuuAUp0-BNI/AAAAAAAADqY/SqGWbkneOIk/s1600/P1010809.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dYcb5M-gjTw/TuuAUp0-BNI/AAAAAAAADqY/SqGWbkneOIk/s320/P1010809.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686780046799144146" border="0" /></a><br />The interior of the Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit (Staciatikiu Sv. Dvasios Cerkve). Jaw droppingly beautiful.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-neBYwFyCA-Y/TuuAVVg3nsI/AAAAAAAADqw/mJJ_ZaE_CdE/s1600/P1010814.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-neBYwFyCA-Y/TuuAVVg3nsI/AAAAAAAADqw/mJJ_ZaE_CdE/s320/P1010814.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686780058525998786" border="0" /></a><br />Interior of the Church of St Theresa. This was my guide's favourite church, as she said it totally changes character after dark. I tried to enter at around 6.30pm and couldn't get in, so was only able to take a photo the morning after. Beautifully decorated, I must admit.<br /><br />And of course I have to give some mention to the food! The cuisine is basically similar to other snow-prone climates, lots of soups, creamy sauces, potatoes and what not. Very artery-clogging. It all tasted amazing, so amazing in fact I pretty much had a Lithuanian dish for every single meal. If you're a vegetarian though then there isn't a whole lot on offer here, I'm warning you guys.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gbV-KDCM0uk/Tut55WtcJgI/AAAAAAAADpk/S-mI_TzaswA/s1600/P1010751.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gbV-KDCM0uk/Tut55WtcJgI/AAAAAAAADpk/S-mI_TzaswA/s320/P1010751.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686772980741056002" border="0" /></a><br />I love borscht (Barščiai) - if you're frozen to your bones there's nothing that warms you up like it. I've had borscht everywhere - Riga, Moscow, Vilnius etc, and I've never had a bad serving.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-03N6YMloCyA/Tut56rUv4zI/AAAAAAAADp8/B3ukh5mzAW8/s1600/P1010796.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-03N6YMloCyA/Tut56rUv4zI/AAAAAAAADp8/B3ukh5mzAW8/s320/P1010796.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686773003454505778" border="0" /></a><br />Balandėliai - Cabbage Rolls stuffed with some minced meat, boiled and served with the best sauce I've ever had in my life! I wish I knew what was in that sauce - the only ingredients I could make out were sour cream and paprika...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dpImCezOCVw/Tut57LOjJqI/AAAAAAAADqM/60_V5Jjodqk/s1600/P1010807.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dpImCezOCVw/Tut57LOjJqI/AAAAAAAADqM/60_V5Jjodqk/s320/P1010807.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686773012018439842" border="0" /></a><br />Kėdainių blynai - Basically potato pancakes served with some sort of remoulade with minced meat in the centre. It was alright but very oily - I wouldn't want to be having this very often.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OyIT27iu4Y4/Tut557jFk4I/AAAAAAAADpw/Hu397p-RqkQ/s1600/P1010752.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OyIT27iu4Y4/Tut557jFk4I/AAAAAAAADpw/Hu397p-RqkQ/s320/P1010752.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5686772990629745538" border="0" /></a>Cepelinai - The national dish. Named after the Zeppelin, these are made from potato and minced meat and big enough to fit in my hand. It's boiled and served coated in this sour cream and bacon sauce. Tastes absolutely divine.<br /><br />I'm not finished with Vilnius just yet - I have some photos from the KGB Museum/Museum of the Genocide Victims which I think warrants a seperate post altogether, so stay tuned!Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-23110226180439090732011-11-24T00:20:00.001+04:002011-11-24T00:21:31.649+04:00Airline Catering - the Tampax Towers guideWell after a short absence due to training college draining most free time I had, I'm now back to blogging and <a href="http://www.formspring.me/melissaecholima">Formspring</a>. I just got my December roster, and whilst I got New Years Eve off, I'm sure I'll be working the 1st, so no partying for me this year. Christmas I'll be working, which I actually wanted, so it isn't so bad. Probably best for me to avoid eating a massive turkey dinner drenched in gravy with roast potatoes and vegies anyway...<br /><br />We airlines get a really bad reputation when it comes to our food, and whilst this may have been true, say, 20 years ago, having been around airline food constantly over the last 6 years I think this is now unwarranted. There are some things that we cater that are just plain difficult to present to customers as intended by our chefs.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6_PVjdN6ky8/Ts1SVHwKMII/AAAAAAAADfU/RLgW90vHK2o/s1600/airline%2Bfood.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6_PVjdN6ky8/Ts1SVHwKMII/AAAAAAAADfU/RLgW90vHK2o/s320/airline%2Bfood.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5678285227995836546" border="0" /></a><br />The worst, at least for me, is pasta. It is a dish that pleases the majority of customers – if you make, say, a spinach and ricotta cannelloni, it can please both the omnivores and vegetarians we have, unlike other vegetarian meals such as a tofu stir fry – so because of this even if you don’t see it in Economy that often you will very likely find it in both Business and First Class on almost all our flights. But even if I heat up a pasta meal for 10 minutes less than the recommended time, if there isn’t enough sauce provided (or in the case of First Class, where the sauce is heated separately from the pasta itself) it almost always comes out dried and disgusting. 'Al dente' doesn’t exists in the airline catering vocab. Rice is also notorious for coming out of the oven all dried out, though, if you have a good company packing the meals, all it takes is a cabbage leaf on top of the rice for the moisture to remain.<br /><br />The test of a good galley operator is a breakfast service. If the meal has eggs in it, then there is a great chance that the eggs can overcook and be horrible to eat or even look at. With egg dishes, including, but not limited to, Omelettes, Scrambled eggs, Fried Eggs, Poached Eggs, and Frittata, if you overcook the meal, the egg portion can turn into a horrible grey-green colour. I guess it’s the same process which gives hard boiled eggs that horrible sulphur-grey ring around the yolk. Omelettes and Frittatas can be quite hardy to this problem, but I have seen it happen, mainly in Economy Class when the service can take a really long time in a 2 class configuration aircraft. Scrambled eggs are the worst – with this dish there is not a lot of buffer between heating them to food safety acceptable temperatures and then overheating them to the grey stage. Soft poached will almost always turn hard poached on board and it takes a galley operator with true skill and lots of experience (and properly working ovens) to have both a hot dish and a runny yolk.<br /><br />We’re under a lot of restrictions on the aircraft when it comes to food preparation. Nothing can be cooked on board from its raw state. Even in First Class, with Dine-On-Demand service, which is slowly becoming standard on most 4 and 5 star airlines, when you’re served Chicken Breast, Beef Fillet, Fish Fillet, Rack of Lamb, whatever it is, must be cooked first on ground, then flash chilled at the catering facility, then loaded on board still chilled. Beef steaks in particular cannot be cooked to order – sometimes in First Class a passenger may ask for a medium-rare steak, after which we have to apologise and explain why this isn’t possible, to avoid their eventual disappointment after cutting into a well-done steak.<br /><br />So having said that, I was quite surprised when, on my recent flight from Frankfurt to Dubai, I tucked into a crew meal and saw that the steak was actually pink inside. ZOMG! A pink steak! How could this be? To those of us in the industry, and to those frequent flyers, this is an extremely rare occurrence, so rare in fact I had to take a photo as proof.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8FSiS0FaA6w/Ts1QmJq2OKI/AAAAAAAADfI/-OqtQ4neYVg/s1600/Ae9c5PnCQAA6TZg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8FSiS0FaA6w/Ts1QmJq2OKI/AAAAAAAADfI/-OqtQ4neYVg/s320/Ae9c5PnCQAA6TZg.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5678283321544947874" border="0" /></a><br /><br />And I’m sure those of you who are not as familiar with airline catering as we are will probably think “Pfft, so what, it’s a pink steak”. But take my word for it - this here is worth the photo. In almost 6 years of being subject to aircraft food, this was probably the best meal I’ve ever had on board (passenger meals included) which is somewhat sad.<br /><br />And so, to follow up, here is my mini-guide to aircraft food. I had someone ask me on Formspring what I would recommend to eat on board a full service airline. To be honest, I would treat airline food like you would fast food. If, for example, you eat McDonalds/KFC/Dominos only once every 2 weeks, then treat aircraft food as your junk food fix. It certainly has the salt, sugar, preservatives and calories to be equal to them. It’s very hard to diet on the aircraft – you’d have to bring your own food almost every time, and with the LAGS rule in place is isn’t a viable practice for everyone - you’re better off choosing items off the menu based on taste, and putting it down to your 'cheat meal'.<br /><br />If you have any dietary requirements, such as Vegan, Diabetic etc then most airlines cater for this, and you do get served first on the aircraft, but if you do order it with your ticket then please, please eat it on board. I remember one flight I did to Melbourne where a group of about 8 over 50’s all ordered different special meals. One Fruit Platter, one Asian Vegetarian, one Bland meal, one Low Sodium, one Oriental meal etc. But when we served all of them their food and they saw what was on their tray, they suddenly wanted a regular meal. We asked them why did they order a special meal if they weren’t in need of a Bland Meal/Oriental/Fruit Platter etc? They said they wanted to see if they would get served before everyone else on the plane. We had to tell them that we couldn’t give them a normal meal – it just isn’t fair on those passengers who didn’t order a special meal to be given zero choice, or worse yet, to be given a special meal when they haven’t even requested one. If they simply asked us during the flight whether the special meal requests get to eat first we would have had no problem telling them. It’s not a secret by any means.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aRcuy3x_bnk/Ts1S2lc9VSI/AAAAAAAADfg/gN1ezsiEFJM/s1600/Qatar-Airways-Catering-Doha-DSC05529.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aRcuy3x_bnk/Ts1S2lc9VSI/AAAAAAAADfg/gN1ezsiEFJM/s320/Qatar-Airways-Catering-Doha-DSC05529.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5678285802904048930" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">THE TAMPAX TOWERS GUIDE TO AIRCRAFT FOOD</span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Breakfast –</span><br /><br />BEST – Stick with a continental breakfast if you can. Fruit, cereal, museli, yogurt and bread, with a glass of OJ, a Virgin Mary or Black Tea. If there’s a cold cuts selection then this is what I’d recommend. I’ve never had a bad continental breakfast, not on my airline or Lufthansa.<br /><br />IF YOU NEED A HOT MEAL – The mixed grill option is a somewhat ‘Aussie’ thing, but it holds up the best out of all the breakfast options I’ve eaten/served. Also if there is a ‘regional option’, such as Congee on Far East Asian flights, Nasi Lamak on a South East Asian flight, or Aloo Burji/Palak Paneer on a South Asian flight, then this is usually very good.<br /><br />ACCEPTABLE – Pancakes. They’re usually served with some sauce, compote or reduction of some kind, so not only do they have decent flavour but they also don’t taste THAT dry on the tongue. Even if it doesn’t come with a special sauce on the side, most breakfast trays on airlines have portion control packets or jam or marmalade which serves as a decent alternative. If you don’t have an issue with the sugar content, then this is what I would recommend.<br /><br />MEDIOCRE – Waffles (always super soggy, esp when served with sauce/compote). Taste is OK though.<br /><br />IF YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE EGGS – Omelettes or Frittata. I would recommend the Frittata over the Omelette option though as it tends to be more ‘meal’ like. I can honestly say I have never ever had a nice Omelette on a plane, ever. But then again I believe that they should be super moist and somewhat runny in the centre, which is not possible to do on board. Frittata is always better.<br /><br />AVOID IF YOU POSSIBLY CAN – Fried Eggs, Poached Eggs, Hard Boiled Eggs and Scrambled Eggs. The exception with Scrambled eggs is if you are flying First Class on a Dine-On-Demand service airline, but you’d be hoping the galley operator knows what they’re doing. Just like your home oven has ‘hot spots’ and uneven temperatures, the aircraft ovens are very unpredictable (especially with so many aircraft, you can’t keep track of which aircraft has good ovens and which has bad), so it’s not uncommon to see overcooked scrambled eggs go out into the cabin.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lunch and Dinner</span> –<br /><br />BEST – Curries and Stews. The reason why you see this as one option on most flights is that they preserve the best. The meat is usually very tender, boneless, and very flavourful. I would also class meat pies and hotpots in this category as well. They can be a little too salty sometimes, but even then they win hands down over the other options you're likely to be offered.<br /><br />ACCEPTABLE – Fish. I don’t know what method catering companies use to cook fish, but I suspect they either poach or steam the fish. It is almost always served to the passenger super moist. I don’t even like eating fish, but I have to admit that on board its actually quite tasty. Maybe my tastebuds are messing with me.<br /><br />HIT AND MISS – Beef Steak, or a Chicken Breast. Most of the time they’re overcooked, very dry, if they’re served with sauce there is never enough. Hence why a crew meal steak made me snap-happy with the iPod.<br /><br />AVOID – Non-fish seafood. Prawns, Calamari, Scallops, Lobster etc. Almost always overcooked. Some catering stations don’t even remove the vein from the Prawn. Even though it may be dressed very well, or served with a nice fresh salad, the gritty after taste is just nasty.<br /><br />AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE – Sushi. We have this on our Japanese flights, and whilst I haven’t done one in a very long time, I am, quite frankly, embarrassed to serve the sushi onboard to our Japanese passengers - Especially the Economy Class sushi. Everytime I’ve tried it the rice is undercooked, there’s no rice vinegar mixed in, the seaweed is super dry and flaky. All the fish has to be cooked anyway so it’s not even proper sushi. It may look somewhat appetising but take it from me – you’re better off having it on ground.<br /><br />Have any thoughts on airline catering? Agree/Disagree with the above? Let me know in the comments section :-)Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-6343370962472400732011-10-17T11:55:00.000+04:002011-10-17T11:55:20.414+04:00First time in CopenhagenI thought I was lucky at the time. Only 5 days after launch of the route, I was rostered to operate Copenhagen. It was to be the highlight of what was an undesirable roster – no where I bid for, 3 turns, the 5 days off before my leave that I requested were not granted, wheras others in my bid group who were less senior than I was were granted the days off they requested. I was going to be missing out on the Reykjavik marathon, and I wasn’t happy.<br /><br />I guess the first problems were that it was overbooked in Economy, so with an originally empty First Class this was expected to fill up quite fast. We arrived at the aircraft to discover that we were catered 8 out of a possible 12, but the ground dispatcher told us to be expecting a full house. As the galley operator for the flight, this is quite frustrating, since the catering personnel has to load the new catering by hand, and on the Airbus 330 there isn’t a lot of room left in the chillers for the dine-on-demand top up. Maybe back when we bought the aircraft and it was a scheduled full service the galley was useable, but with both breakfast and lunch for dine-on-demand it is just unworkable with a full cabin.<br /><br />When everyone boarded, we saw that about half of the passengers were upgrades, and the other half staff. Pilots, to be specific. When staff travel they’re not permitted to use the lounges in the terminal, so almost all of them will eat on the plane. The upgrades would have all had J/C lounge access, but after finding out they had First Class boarding cards, they ordered what they were not normally entitled to otherwise, such as the caviar and the Dom Peringnon. I take a lot of pride in serving our caviar – but the plating is extremely problematic and chews up a good 10 minutes of a single crew’s time just to make the plate look first class standard. Every single passenger ordered the caviar, some ordered seconds, 6 did so at the same time, and it really felt like I was working at McDonalds, but instead of compiling burgers I was plating caviar worth almost 100 USD a tin.<br /><br />The service just didn’t stop. The only time I had to sit down was in the cockpit waiting for the pilots to get their tray table out whilst I held their meals. We didn’t have time to eat, we didn’t have time to pee. It was probably the hardest I’ve worked in First Class in the last 2 years.<br /><br />After the flight had finally ended, all I wanted to do was just lie in bed with the duvet over my head and emerge only for the wake up. But then I thought, at the very least, I should shop for groceries , so I went to the nearest supermarket. On the way back I saw some bicycles parked outside the hotel available for hire, thought ‘I may as well’ then went for a bike ride around Copenhagen. I was so pleased afterwards that I did, the fresh air really lifted my mood. I took a few photos, nearly crashed the bike a few times, but you’ll have to excuse me for the lack of photos and detailed labelling as I was still recovering from that spirit-defeating flight.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CgQru6BEuTo/Tj_SdOAhLmI/AAAAAAAADIA/eT_9-_0Rb5c/s1600/P1010555.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CgQru6BEuTo/Tj_SdOAhLmI/AAAAAAAADIA/eT_9-_0Rb5c/s320/P1010555.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638456657909460578" border="0" /></a>Church of Our Savior - Love the spiral on top.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U_ZaCsgyTaA/Tj_Sc6Dg7KI/AAAAAAAADH4/1ImyFtUEC4Q/s1600/P1010552.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U_ZaCsgyTaA/Tj_Sc6Dg7KI/AAAAAAAADH4/1ImyFtUEC4Q/s320/P1010552.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638456652553317538" border="0" /></a>Christiansborg Palace<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xupIoTpwi6Q/Tj_ScvDvrdI/AAAAAAAADHw/oI6f-CYVxYo/s1600/P1010551.JPG"><br /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fHtDjLCH1P4/Tj_NB2dhzZI/AAAAAAAADHo/jinhQP2z3hg/s1600/P1010550.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fHtDjLCH1P4/Tj_NB2dhzZI/AAAAAAAADHo/jinhQP2z3hg/s320/P1010550.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638450690174078354" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dJ4l5EUeeJk/Tj_NBjQL2wI/AAAAAAAADHg/pYgaO1XegVU/s1600/P1010545.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dJ4l5EUeeJk/Tj_NBjQL2wI/AAAAAAAADHg/pYgaO1XegVU/s320/P1010545.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638450685017840386" border="0" /></a><br />Central Train Station<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XZPbkXmZFfk/Tj_NBUHiNfI/AAAAAAAADHY/PybhVdHhAgA/s1600/P1010544.JPG"><br /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HH7r6wUZd2o/Tj_NBFfhdfI/AAAAAAAADHQ/jzLB-8exhjg/s1600/P1010543.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HH7r6wUZd2o/Tj_NBFfhdfI/AAAAAAAADHQ/jzLB-8exhjg/s320/P1010543.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638450677029107186" border="0" /></a><br />Entrace to the Tivoli Gardens.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r6J2Hdg5eMo/Tj_MatWHKjI/AAAAAAAADGw/wUKgDf58r6Q/s1600/P1010538.JPG"><br /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MWfu6obR5ao/Tj_MaQom7SI/AAAAAAAADGo/KLfnjy_n4fQ/s1600/P1010537.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MWfu6obR5ao/Tj_MaQom7SI/AAAAAAAADGo/KLfnjy_n4fQ/s320/P1010537.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638450010005105954" border="0" /></a><br />Copenhagen Town Hall & Square. At the time there was a fashion show being held inside as it was Fashion Week.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g_2ETHog9C0/Tj_MaCMvApI/AAAAAAAADGg/PB7FTi2jyBY/s1600/P1010533.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g_2ETHog9C0/Tj_MaCMvApI/AAAAAAAADGg/PB7FTi2jyBY/s320/P1010533.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638450006130098834" border="0" /></a><br />Kunstmuseum<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wq5NOPJVanY/Tj_Sds52gdI/AAAAAAAADIQ/e_v2Dxjtk9k/s1600/P1010556.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wq5NOPJVanY/Tj_Sds52gdI/AAAAAAAADIQ/e_v2Dxjtk9k/s320/P1010556.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638456666202997202" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b41tCMeiMBw/Tj_SdW9BTTI/AAAAAAAADII/guA8vTVxe2E/s1600/P1010557.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b41tCMeiMBw/Tj_SdW9BTTI/AAAAAAAADII/guA8vTVxe2E/s320/P1010557.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638456660310707506" border="0" /></a><br />Later on in the evening when I was on my way back to the hotel on the hire bike I saw a massive gathering of people along the Kalvebod Brygge - What seemed like almost 1000 people donned their roller blades and roller skates, and with boomboxes in hand went for a sunset skate. Very cool.Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-56723916762853086542011-10-02T20:03:00.000+04:002011-10-02T15:52:58.901+04:00Leprosy Museum - BergenI love seeing strange museums - remember when I went to the <a href="http://tampaxtowers.blogspot.com/2009/06/osaka-and-momofuku-ando-instant-ramen.html">Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum in Ikeda, Japan</a>? But when S. told me that there was a Leprosy museum in Bergen, I have to admit, I was sceptical. We’d only just arrived in Bergen a few hours ago, an 8 hour journey from Oslo by train, so I was a little more tired than usual. I thought that if I went straight after the epic train ride, then all the reading that usually is the norm with museums would send me sleepwalking through the beautiful streets of Bergen. It was decided that we would spend as much time sightseeing on that afternoon as we could, and work on the museum the next day.<br /><br />I’m not going to lie – even though I was keen on the idea initially, I was quite freaked out when I walked inside. I knew nothing about the disease, and didn’t know whether it was contagious or not (stupid, I know). I figured that it should be okay to enter if they allowed tourists to enter and other locals to work there. I later found out that the building was the former St Jørgen’s Hospital which housed leprosy patients, and that the last patient housed was there over 500 years ago, which made me feel a bit silly.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4HJJ7OBYXfg/Tn1c_xQHtJI/AAAAAAAADeM/a5Hhr4-GQyI/s1600/P1010715.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4HJJ7OBYXfg/Tn1c_xQHtJI/AAAAAAAADeM/a5Hhr4-GQyI/s320/P1010715.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655778957669676178" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The museum is unique to say the least – it details the work of Gerhard Armauer Hansen, of whom Hansen’s disease is named, and who is thought to be the most famous Norwegian outside of Norway. It goes in depth into his effort at finding a cure, a treatment, anything that would give the lepers a chance at self-affirmation and worth. As you enter the rooms that formerly housed the lepers, you read their stories, many outcast from their family and the rest of society, some still loved by their families but hid away whilst the disease took its toll, some left with no choice other than falling into a beggar’s life. Their struggle with limb amputation, enormous boils, scab sores and other ailments made it very clear how brutal this disease was. I think what shocked me the most was reading that it was not uncommon for sufferers to be dealing with kilos of bacteria inside their bodies. KILOS!!!<br /><br />So, here are a few photos from the museum that I took. I really wanted to take pictures of the chapel, which had sculptures of Jesus Christ surrounded by lepers, but there was a guided tour in Norwegian happening there at the time, and I didn’t want to disturb them with my photo taking.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xWIANTJn1yU/Tn1cXmrxfZI/AAAAAAAADeE/vP8cYd_ZrPE/s1600/P1010704.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xWIANTJn1yU/Tn1cXmrxfZI/AAAAAAAADeE/vP8cYd_ZrPE/s320/P1010704.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655778267638103442" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9b8TjkiXrXw/Tn1cXVca9PI/AAAAAAAADd8/GDezmbnhBbs/s1600/P1010705.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9b8TjkiXrXw/Tn1cXVca9PI/AAAAAAAADd8/GDezmbnhBbs/s320/P1010705.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655778263010309362" border="0" /></a><br />Displays, now located in the patient's former living quarters.<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O-AMCgEgTx4/Tn1cXA-jACI/AAAAAAAADd0/W64VR_RFLnY/s1600/P1010707.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O-AMCgEgTx4/Tn1cXA-jACI/AAAAAAAADd0/W64VR_RFLnY/s320/P1010707.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655778257516298274" border="0" /></a><br />On the left were the rooms where the lepers stayed, and on the right were the treatment rooms.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fdij6mMmktw/Tn1cW9gFCJI/AAAAAAAADds/Wn8tIr-YYqw/s1600/P1010708.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fdij6mMmktw/Tn1cW9gFCJI/AAAAAAAADds/Wn8tIr-YYqw/s320/P1010708.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655778256583198866" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xwgyDcKYYog/Tn1cWhJaG0I/AAAAAAAADdk/yHtNxcPXFNo/s1600/P1010709.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xwgyDcKYYog/Tn1cWhJaG0I/AAAAAAAADdk/yHtNxcPXFNo/s320/P1010709.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655778248971918146" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6GSfk7sSJ2A/Tn1dgxW3-PI/AAAAAAAADes/W2suwGLhaCE/s1600/P1010710.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6GSfk7sSJ2A/Tn1dgxW3-PI/AAAAAAAADes/W2suwGLhaCE/s320/P1010710.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655779524633688306" border="0" /></a><br />I have a strange facination with scientific equipent from the 1800's.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0TRCdT5jSSo/Tn1dgdlo4II/AAAAAAAADec/CZqLAS9HZXw/s1600/P1010713.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0TRCdT5jSSo/Tn1dgdlo4II/AAAAAAAADec/CZqLAS9HZXw/s320/P1010713.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655779519326904450" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ko6fKUpo1a0/Tn1dgN7ixOI/AAAAAAAADeU/TXyI8XZJ_c8/s1600/P1010714.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ko6fKUpo1a0/Tn1dgN7ixOI/AAAAAAAADeU/TXyI8XZJ_c8/s320/P1010714.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655779515123811554" border="0" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mhyt-ZT4NTo/Tn1dgghoDVI/AAAAAAAADek/3BhkK1yqFJw/s1600/P1010712.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mhyt-ZT4NTo/Tn1dgghoDVI/AAAAAAAADek/3BhkK1yqFJw/s320/P1010712.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655779520115379538" border="0" /></a><br />Hospital Kitchens.Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22123405.post-43512076851114132402011-09-23T20:04:00.000+04:002011-09-23T20:04:39.072+04:00Beautiful BergenNow that I had my own personal Norwegian Tour Guide (who shall now only be known as S here in this blog, to protect his innocence), he had kindly arranged a day trip to Bergen for the both of us. An 8 hour train journey there, which was said to be the most beautiful train Journey in Norway, and a 2 hour plane trip back to Oslo, just in time for my flight back to Dubai.<br /><br />At least for me, the highlight of the train ride was the 20 min rest stop at Finse, which had views of several glaciers. For an Australian now permanently based in the desert, this was the coolest thing ever, especially since the only other time I had seen a real glacier was in Iceland on the Golden Circle Tour only a week before. It was similar to the feeling I had when I saw snow for the first time – something you’ve always wondered what it looks like in real life, that you’ve only ever heard of through documentaries, have only ever seen in photos and video footage. S also told me that this was the location of the mountainous snow scenes of Hoth from Star Wars – The Empire Strikes back. So by looking at these photos you can imagine what Hoth would have looked like if it had a maximum temperature of 17 degrees Celsius...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v7-VOmXiDds/TntgUxl3sEI/AAAAAAAADa8/G6tScSgnOM0/s1600/P1010663.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v7-VOmXiDds/TntgUxl3sEI/AAAAAAAADa8/G6tScSgnOM0/s320/P1010663.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655219667119616066" border="0" /></a><br />Finse, at 1222m above sea level, the highest station in all of Norway.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4Yw4jTR0PNM/TntgVSEuKfI/AAAAAAAADbM/MClKeI-Y-5g/s1600/P1010659.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4Yw4jTR0PNM/TntgVSEuKfI/AAAAAAAADbM/MClKeI-Y-5g/s320/P1010659.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655219675838949874" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WAZXmJR9so0/TntgVLvOe2I/AAAAAAAADbE/1zVhZwXfUx4/s1600/P1010665.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WAZXmJR9so0/TntgVLvOe2I/AAAAAAAADbE/1zVhZwXfUx4/s320/P1010665.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655219674138180450" border="0" /></a><br />Glacier close-ups<br /><br />We also managed to pass some fjords during our journey, which I really wanted to do on my last holiday in Norway.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9fXqCki5R78/TnthKPgY5eI/AAAAAAAADbc/yQ4IBOyu3Vc/s1600/P1010662.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9fXqCki5R78/TnthKPgY5eI/AAAAAAAADbc/yQ4IBOyu3Vc/s320/P1010662.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655220585682757090" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IdlEEed0FxE/TnthKInOb5I/AAAAAAAADbU/6afkBbJyypU/s1600/P1010675.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IdlEEed0FxE/TnthKInOb5I/AAAAAAAADbU/6afkBbJyypU/s320/P1010675.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655220583832383378" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Eventually we do arrive in Bergen, and whilst we were both tired, a few small naps on the train meant that we still had some energy to sightsee. Firstly it was off to Bryggen (Norwegian for Wharfs), a UNESCO Heritage Site for which Bergen is so famous for.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fxflhNzy9fk/TnyLOVfK-ZI/AAAAAAAADbk/8r_kpinj65Y/s1600/P1010680.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fxflhNzy9fk/TnyLOVfK-ZI/AAAAAAAADbk/8r_kpinj65Y/s320/P1010680.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655548310472817042" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9iW6hIAiVNY/TnyLPWAh1-I/AAAAAAAADb8/f7hJx_SgKLA/s1600/P1010684.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9iW6hIAiVNY/TnyLPWAh1-I/AAAAAAAADb8/f7hJx_SgKLA/s320/P1010684.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655548327792596962" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RU4HAHkGkHE/TnyLOiEVa-I/AAAAAAAADbs/w2ueRg0MlFI/s1600/P1010681.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RU4HAHkGkHE/TnyLOiEVa-I/AAAAAAAADbs/w2ueRg0MlFI/s320/P1010681.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655548313849916386" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9EsN79EIBsg/TnyLPIkXYNI/AAAAAAAADb0/rDGBQaOVZgY/s1600/P1010682.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9EsN79EIBsg/TnyLPIkXYNI/AAAAAAAADb0/rDGBQaOVZgY/s320/P1010682.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655548324184809682" border="0" /></a><br />Next we took the Fløibanen up to a lookout tower at Fløyen to get the best view of Bergen.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nxQGrpZnjfg/TnyPLSFouQI/AAAAAAAADcE/WQ8QbmCvHfY/s1600/P1010694.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nxQGrpZnjfg/TnyPLSFouQI/AAAAAAAADcE/WQ8QbmCvHfY/s320/P1010694.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655552656067311874" border="0" /></a><br />Have to admit - was pretty hard getting an acceptable shot of the cable car, the angle was insanely steep.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wxDCHRh4L9Y/TnyPMboe44I/AAAAAAAADcc/hAgweQ2DbxU/s1600/P1010689.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wxDCHRh4L9Y/TnyPMboe44I/AAAAAAAADcc/hAgweQ2DbxU/s320/P1010689.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655552675809256322" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pvozmqn9FBc/TnyPMHVzjDI/AAAAAAAADcU/H-KdCQ41phM/s1600/P1010690.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Pvozmqn9FBc/TnyPMHVzjDI/AAAAAAAADcU/H-KdCQ41phM/s320/P1010690.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655552670362209330" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lmq0SDgCQdc/TnyPL4raDFI/AAAAAAAADcM/TmbKyVrGF8I/s1600/P1010693.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Lmq0SDgCQdc/TnyPL4raDFI/AAAAAAAADcM/TmbKyVrGF8I/s320/P1010693.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655552666426281042" border="0" /></a><br />A troll!<br /><br />And here are the rest of the highlights of Bergen...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8IyKx7DhJFQ/TnyRSrfWtmI/AAAAAAAADck/SXn3z4IbnLI/s1600/P1010696.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8IyKx7DhJFQ/TnyRSrfWtmI/AAAAAAAADck/SXn3z4IbnLI/s320/P1010696.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655554982168409698" border="0" /></a><br />Monument on Torgallmenningen<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o-OAdKeVHo4/TnyRSzeWlhI/AAAAAAAADcs/_boqnYM_aj4/s1600/P1010699.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o-OAdKeVHo4/TnyRSzeWlhI/AAAAAAAADcs/_boqnYM_aj4/s320/P1010699.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655554984311690770" border="0" /></a><br />Statue of Ole Bull, Norway's most famous violinist.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w0-zTaVi8-g/TnyRTHbJQCI/AAAAAAAADc0/NAWlHwLO4vg/s1600/P1010700.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w0-zTaVi8-g/TnyRTHbJQCI/AAAAAAAADc0/NAWlHwLO4vg/s320/P1010700.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655554989666943010" border="0" /></a><br />The Grieghallen, named after Edvard Grieg, and also host of the ESC in 1986 (I couldn't help myself). If you haven't heard Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite, please do, it is absolutely brilliant.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CR3ORkY8N0w/TnyRUCgoZUI/AAAAAAAADdE/LqpkgpZ7eAk/s1600/P1010702.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CR3ORkY8N0w/TnyRUCgoZUI/AAAAAAAADdE/LqpkgpZ7eAk/s320/P1010702.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655555005527647554" border="0" /></a><br />Den Nationale Scene, Bergen's largest theatre<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R_74Jn9BcW8/TnytDHP2nyI/AAAAAAAADdc/AcsQA-D7bIU/s1600/P1010703.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R_74Jn9BcW8/TnytDHP2nyI/AAAAAAAADdc/AcsQA-D7bIU/s320/P1010703.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655585501067255586" border="0" /></a><br />A wonderful statue of Henrick Ibsen outside the Den Nationale Scene.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HvG1SWQqQNM/TnyRT8SnAuI/AAAAAAAADc8/AKGKOrS4KPs/s1600/P1010701.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HvG1SWQqQNM/TnyRT8SnAuI/AAAAAAAADc8/AKGKOrS4KPs/s320/P1010701.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655555003858223842" border="0" /></a><br />Johanneskirken, also known as St John's Church.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4mZ4sFD9VwU/TnypjgdY8DI/AAAAAAAADdU/BmjbwUBGY_M/s1600/P1010718.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4mZ4sFD9VwU/TnypjgdY8DI/AAAAAAAADdU/BmjbwUBGY_M/s320/P1010718.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5655581659544219698" border="0" /></a><span class="rg_ctlv"><br />Vestlandske Kunstindustrimuseum, or the West Norway Museum of Decorative Art.<br /></span>Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01481580789075154401noreply@blogger.com2