http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/PaulMac/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from PaulMac en-us Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:07:59 +0000 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:07:59 +0000 Irsquom writing this almost a month after arriving home. Slack but I thought Irsquod better finish the storyDoesn't the sunset picture above really set the scene for the last blog entry which is about going home... geez I'm cleverFollowing the advice of the seat61.com website I chose to take the train From New York to Toronto rather than fly. It was a nice view up along the Hudson Rive http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Toronto/blog-418869.html 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 we http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/blog-417518.html OK this entry probably won't get me any awards for Picture of the Week but I thought it was worth publishing anyhooo.I've seen so many people having their photo taken of themselves standing in front of whatever monument or scene they were witnessing. Actually I forget how many times I helped fulfil the task for them. Here's a bloke with a big camera he can take it for us... I'd imagined th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-417022.html Bikes. Everywhere. Amsterdam will be remembered for the bicycleshellipExcept 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 thatrsquos solid ranging from fences to trees to benches to rubbish bins. Apparently tens of thousands of them get stolen each year which is sur http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-416133.html Irsquove just spent 15 minutes in a tunnel under the water on the Eurostar and out the window I can see rolling French countryside and villages. The Eurostar from London is pretty cool. Almost silent and only partially deafening as the train goes in and out of tunnels causing a big change in air pressure. Irsquom sitting with a bunch of French school kids but theyrsquore not willing t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-414397.html Apart from changing continents Irsquom 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 poun http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/blog-411184.html Green.Then green again.Lots of rocks.Then another slightly different shade of green.Everywhere.Ireland is such a contrast in colour to Australia and Greece for that matter which is bone dry and brown a the moment. If only we could share the water around somehow. I donrsquot think the 100ml Irsquod be allowed to bring home on the plane would make much difference thoughhellipI arrived int http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/blog-410726.html Well itrsquos June and Irsquom 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 Irsquo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-408108.html Hmmm. What to say about Paros. Certainly nowhere near as impressive as Santorini for itrsquos astounding location Paros is a bigger and much flatter island. The port of Parikia is a fairly major port for all of the ferries to the different islands. It has an ldquoold townrdquo located nearby that is the maze of whitewashed buildings with blue doors some of which has given way to shops http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Mykonos/blog-405462.html 31 May 2009Irsquom going to have to get more imaginative than just Wow. How about Holy CowhellipSantorini is one of those places that you see incredible pictures of in brochures and on postcards. Surprisingly enough itrsquos all there for you to photograph too. Itrsquos Greecersquos answer to Positano in Italy. Whitewashed buildings all perched precariously on top of one another on http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Santorini/blog-404631.html Irsquove just visited Athens and Irsquom on my way to Santorini in the Greek Islands. Irsquom sitting on an Aussiemade fast catamaran as I write. Irsquom smiling because I chose the ldquowooshrdquo boat 52 euro 5 hours over the slower one 33 euro 9 hours. The slower one left Piraeus Athens port before us and we overtook it within ten minutes of leaving the harbour...Athe http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/Athens/blog-404515.html Rome marked the end of the trip for Clare and the beginning of my solo trip for the next two months. We had extended our stay in Positano by one extra day and we were very lucky but got a good lecture from the owner that the next hotel allowed us to change our booking without penalty. This left Clare with one evening to see something of Rome before flying home so off we went exploring.We ca http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-403658.html Wersquove just left Florence and Irsquom sitting on the Eurostar Alta Veloce to Naples on our way to the Amalfi coast. Not bad Italy but not as good as the Shinkansen OK itrsquos a far cry from anything we have in AustraliahellipAfter leaving the Cinque Terre via a few trains we arrived into the hustle and bustle of bigcity Florence on Wednesday afternoon. We booked into our lit http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-403656.html I had to start off this page with something other than Wow so there it was. Wow. The Amalfi Coast really is a great place to visit. There are just as many stairs to climb as in the Cinque Terre although this area is ten times the scale and size. Accordingly there is room for roads here even if they are only a car and threequarters wide or a bus and half a car depending on your viewpoint http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Campania/Positano/blog-401644.html The Cinque Terre five lands is a national park that contains five villages. Each is jammed into the folds of the cliff. Houses are built on top of each other literally. There would be no demolishing and rebuilding of the lower ones because the five others above would in serious trouble. Actually they all stand on each otherrsquos shoulders too so it would be more like fifteenhellipAn http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Liguria/Cinque-Terre/blog-399526.html 10 May 2009Irsquove just spent three days in the most amazing city yet. Venice is one of those cities that everyone knows of and it seems like everyone was there but itrsquos definitely one of those ones that you just have to go to and absorb for yourself. I spent my time wandering the streets searching for the ultimate photograph to take. To take such a photo I think yoursquod hav http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-398332.html Hi fellow readersJust a short note to say hello to all after being netless again for a while.Since I wrote last I've been to Kyoto Hiroshima Himeji and Kobe. Now I'm sitting at Kansai airport waiting to spend a horrendous amount of time in the air getting to Paris.I'll find the time to write more about Japan in the airYou have to hand it to the Japanese. If anyone else needed a new airport http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-395344.html Hakone is at the base of Mount Fuji and is the prettiest place Irsquove seen so far. The town is built in a valley not far from the coast and to me felt very ldquoJapaneserdquo in itrsquos architecture and style. Everything is so green unlike anything Irsquove seen in Australia for so long. Houses jammed in together with the road barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/blog-393747.html .Today saw us take our first Shinkansen train north to Nikko. We waited on our allocated triangle on the platform and two minutes before departure time the 16 car Shinkansen train pulled up precisely in front of us. I discovered that my Hong Kong bargain wristwatch was running 20 seconds fast as we pulled out of the station. I canrsquot believe that it was due to depart at 1027 and 20 seco http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tochigi/Nikko/blog-393743.html Hmmm it could be interesting writing this. Irsquove just had a hot spring bath at the inn we are staying at in Nikko and it was bloody hot But that comes later. I havenrsquot told you about Tokyo yet.Tokyo is big. Sorry that should be Big. Bustling crowded hectic organized ultra clean. There are almost no rubbish bins to be found anywhere on the street or in the stations and yet t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-393736.html