PaulMac

I (heart) New York. So say the tee shirts, which in this time of recession, can be had for 9 for $10, just off Times Square. Things must be really tough. When I was here two years ago, they were 4 for $10, or maybe 5 of you were a block or two away from the tourist sites. By spending more time in Europe, I only gave myself two and a half days here on this visit, which was fine, as I'd spent two weeks here on my last visit. If you're contemplating going, there's an enourmous amount of things to do and sights to see here. Give yourself a week at least. More importantly, the city has a "feel" or vibe that's hard to describe. That takes time to appreciate. Hmmm. Actually, I felt it ... read more

Bikes. Everywhere. Amsterdam will be remembered for the bicycles… Except that unlike in Italy, these ones are not noisy Vespas that go hurtling past, rather, they are of the pedal variety. They are literally everywhere, chained to anything that’s solid, ranging from fences to trees to benches to rubbish bins. Apparently, tens of thousands of them get stolen each year, which is surprising given that there appears to be three for every resident. And if they aren’t chained to something solid, they will end up in the canals as a drunken late night joke. Thousands are pulled from the canals each year, according to the tour guide. If they aren’t chained to something, they are being ridden flat-out by students, mums and delivery men, apparently obeying some road rules, but I was unable to work out ... read more

Apart from changing continents, I’m trying my best to avoid taking flights from city to city. Following the advice I got from the seat61.com website, I got myself from Belfast in Ireland to Edinburgh in Scotland using the train and ferry, instead of spending 50 minutes in the air and not seeing anything apart from yet another airport and some clouds below. The cost was compartable (31 pounds, or 23 if I’d managed to book beforehand), and far more scenic. The Stena line ferry was enourmous, and was powered by two gas turbine (ie, jet) engines. I thought the ferries were big in Greece. This thing had enough room for 40 or 50 semi trailer trucks below, and had all sorts of bars and amusements upstairs for the short two hour ride across to Stranraer. From ... read more

Well it’s June, and I’m finally finding time to write about Paris, which I visited a month ago. I was expecting to be blown away by Paris, but I left there kind of unimpressed. That said, I can fully appreciate that five days, while longer than the average tourist gives it, is nowhere near long enough to fully appreciate the city. I reckon that given a few weeks or a month, I’d find what makes the city tick, and appreciate it for what it is. When you first arrive in a new city, it is all unfamiliar, and you don’t often get to feel it’s pulse for a while (New York two years ago left me breathless from the word go, however!) The original plan was to meet Clare in Hong Kong, as I was coming ... read more

31 May 2009 I’m going to have to get more imaginative than just Wow. How about Holy Cow… Santorini is one of those places that you see incredible pictures of in brochures and on postcards. Surprisingly enough, it’s all there for you to photograph too. It’s Greece’s answer to Positano in Italy. Whitewashed buildings all perched precariously on top of one another, only these ones are doing it perched 100+ metres above the water on the edge of a volcano crater. The old port is located below the main town of Fira, and there are three ways to get up to the top: take a cablecar, walk 500+ steps, or let a donkey do the walking for you. Nowadays a new port has been built about 10 km away, and there is a fleet of buses ... read more