Updated Blog
This blog has been reposted from where it used to live on the
Geocities site. The reason for this is twofold: 1, in case Geocities ever decide to delete it because it hasn't been updated for years, and 2, because Blogger is so much easier to use, and combined with Flickr I can now add photos to the blog that I couldn't add before.
So here is my account of a trip I took in 2003, visiting friends all around the world. The map below shows the countries I visited.
create your own visited country map or check our
Venice travel guideCheers,
Megz
Moscow, Russia
After leaving the UK I spent two and a half days in Moscow staying with a friend. My good luck with the English weather didn’t stay with me, and Moscow was grey, wet and bleak for the whole time I was there, despite Tara’s assurances that it is usually stifling hot at this time of year. For Kiwis who imagine Russia to be a cold, desolate place anyway, it probably comes as no surprise. But the weather did have a bearing on my mood and experiences.
It was my first time in Russia so the first full day I was there I did the typical tourist things. Visited the Kremlin, Red Square and St Basil’s Cathedral. St Basil’s is neat. The outside is spectacular enough, but you can’t even imagine what is like inside. There is one central chapel in the middle, surrounded by eight other chapels under each of the domes. The walls are all colourfully painted, and the brick floor is so old that the bricks have worn down leaving you walking on the mortar that holds them together.
Within the Kremlin walls you have to be careful not to stray off in the wrong direction or else you get told off by the guards, as it is the working offices of the President. But there are four different cathedrals to visit, and a few other buildings you can see. The Russian cathedrals are such a contrast to the English cathedrals I visited the previous week. Small, cosy buildings, not much light inside, and the walls and ceilings are completely covered in religious images and icons. Unfortunately nothing is labelled in English so I didn’t really have much appreciation of what it was I was looking at.
If you want any kind of confirmation that Russia has thrown off the shackles of communism and joined the capitalist west, you need look no further than the GUM department store. Built by the Soviets, it now contains 1,000 different stores including all of the big expensive western designer brands – Gucci, Armani, YSL, etc, etc. I didn’t buy anything but it was a good place to shelter during one of the frequent downpours outside.
My second day in Russia I went shopping for typically Russian souvenirs. And then went to a Russian Art Gallery to soak up some Soviet culture. Not exactly propaganda, but lots of idealised images of Russian daily life, peasant life, etc. Very interesting. That evening Tara and I had dinner at her Siberian friends’ house. I got to try home made borsch and blinis. Oh how I wish I had the recipe. It was so delicious. Cabbage soup may not sound exciting but oh it is so tasty and hearty. And such an enjoyable evening with the locals.
My last day I only had half a day available and spent it just wandering round the streets of Moscow. A lot of people drive cars in Moscow and as a result it is quite dirty and polluted. But they do make an effort to keep things clean. A lot of the buildings are brightly painted in pastel colours and I did see several that had been freshly painted or cleaned. It’s a rather old city, and reminds me of the older parts of other European cities. Outside of the city centre everyone lives in apartment blocks, and things look a bit newer but not as pretty.
I caught the bus to Moscow airport at 2.30pm local time, and arrived home exactly 36 hours later...
Oxford, England - Part II
Towards the end of my stay in Oxford, Tina and I took a two day trip down to Dorset on the south coast of England. Tina took Friday off work and we headed off early that morning, trying to avoid all the long weekend traffic, with the following Monday being a bank holiday.
We headed west to Bristol and down to Cheddar Gorge, origin of cheddar cheese and the biggest gorge in Britain. Compared to say the Manawatu Gorge it wasn’t so big, but the cliffs were pretty spectacular towering above us. We parked halfway up the gorge and walked back down to the township, along with dozens of other tourists. But despite being crowded it was a pleasant little village. We went to a cheese factory and sampled some real cheddar. Much tastier than what we buy as “cheddar” cheese. We were keen to climb the 100+ steps of Jacobs Ladder up to the top of the gorge, until we found out they wanted to charge almost three pounds for it. So we passed on that.
Then it was off to the town of Wells, where we ate our cheddar sandwiches in a sunny park, overlooking the moat around the Bishops Palace and the cathedral. While the cathedral wasn’t as large as Salisbury it was almost as impressive. Wells town is very pretty and looks quite European with flowers hanging everywhere.
Next stop was Glastonbury where we looked around but as it was nearly closing time at the Abbey we didn’t stay. Glastonbury Abbey is said to be the burial place of King Arthur and Guinevere, and the town is full of new age, spiritual, hippy stores. Not really my cup of tea.
Then we drove by the well-endowed Cerne Abbas chalk giant on our way to the small village of Osmington, just along the coast from Weymouth. We left our trip planning a little late and consequently had to ring round at least 15 B&B’s the night before until we found one with a room available. But we were not disappointed. We found our B&B situated down a side lane in an old stone cottage with ivy growing all over the walls, and neighbouring houses with thatched roofs. So cute!
The next day, Saturday, we explored the Dorset coast, starting with Lulworth Cove (an almost circular cove surrounded by cliffs and perfect hideaway for smugglers) and Durdle Door (similar to NZ’s hole in the rock), joined by a 2km walk up and over the cliffs and affording stunning scenery of the cliffs and English Channel.
Drove through Weymouth and were surprised to find it teeming with holiday makers and the beach covered with people and deck chairs. It was even more of a seaside town than Brighton. We followed the small country roads back to Glastonbury, where we finally saw the ruins of the old Abbey. Pretty amazing to see how much is still standing considering it was abandoned almost 500 years ago. Then it was back to Oxford again.
Spent a bit more time in Oxford but there isn’t really a lot for the tourist to do. Didn’t try punting, but we did have a picnic down by the river and watched other people trying to punt. Probably almost as much fun as doing it yourself! Visited Blenheim Palace, which was gifted to the Churchill family by Queen Anne as thanks for John Churchill (the Duke of Marlborough)'s role in defeating the French, and was where Sir Winston grew up. Didn’t go inside, but the grounds are lovely and stretch for literally miles.
The 10 days I spent in Oxford just flew by. It is a really good place to base yourself to be able to see the surrounding areas. The Cotswolds are literally just outside the city. Salisbury is an hour and a half drive to the south, Bristol and Bath are an hour and a half to the west, and London is an hour and a half to the east. And although I didn’t go there, I think Stratford on Avon would be just as close to the north.
Oxford, England
I have been based here in Oxford for the last five days. Although I have done a lot of daytripping to places outside of Oxford. It has been really nice just to get out of the city and into the countryside. The countryside around here is mostly farming so reminds me of home. Except that there's all these quaint villages and thatched roofed cottages and neolithic monuments.
The first day I was here, Tina, Wayne and I went down to Brighton for the day. Brighton was heaps of fun. It was just as I imagined it - stony beach with Brits sitting on it wearing jeans & sweatshirts (ok so the weather was overcast that day and not overly warm), seaside pier with amusement arcades and rollercoasters. Bought some Brighton Rock. Rode on one of the rollercoasters. About the only thing missing was those cardboard cutouts where you stick your head through the hole and have your photo taken. Actually there was one, but it wasn't of a semi-naked girl and dirty old man that I was expecting to see. The pier and waterfront is tacky seaside fun and really great.
The next day I got given the tour of Oxford, including Christ Church college where some of the scenes from Harry Potter were filmed (the dining hall and staircase).
Monday I went day tripping around the Cotswolds. I should mention that I have a rental car that I'm using to get about in. Driving in England isn't too hard once you get used to all the roundabouts and the naming convention of the roads. Then all you have to know is where you're going and what road numbers you have to use to get there. Except that in the Cotswolds I purposely chose to drive along the roads that are so tiny that they don't have numbers. And it was great because I stumbled through so many beautiful little country villages. I've taken heaps of photos. Everyone keeps asking me if I went to Stow on the Wold in the Cotswolds. Yes I did, but I have to say I don't know what the attraction is. Lots of overpriced gift shops and not the most attractive buildings. Chipping Campden and Bourton-on-Water are much more attractive IMHO.
Yesterday and today have been spent south of Oxford visiting Stonehenge, Avebury, the Uffington White Horse (chalk hill carving), Salisbury Cathedral and the New Forest in Wiltshire. And once again getting lost on little roads with no numbers. Often so narrow that through the villages it's only one lane so you're constantly stopping to give way. Frustrating sometimes when you're just trying to get somewhere but the road twists and turns and you have to keep slowing down. I actually wanted to go to Salisbury yesterday but arrived there at 5pm and had to turn around and go back to Oxford again. So today I went back and saw the cathedral. Very impressive, especially for something almost 800 years old.
Last night I went with Tina and some of her work colleagues to a pub Quiz Night. This is definitely a university town because the questions were impossibly difficult. If there hadn't been so many English questions I might have had a better chance. Between the six of us we got 9 out of 25. The top team got 20. Don't know how they managed it - must be professors or something. The really cool thing was that the pub we went to is the same pub that was frequented by CS Lewis and Tolkein and is where they used to discuss, among other things, their latest manuscripts. How cool is that!
So now after a week and a half in England, I've done all the museums I want to do, have seen all the ancient sites I want to see, and all the churches. Still can't get over all the quaint thatched cottages though. So next on the agenda is some dramatic scenery. Tina and I are thinking about heading down to Dorset for a couple of days. Bank holiday coming up on Monday so everywhere is going to be crowded unfortunately.
One last comment on English drivers - on the whole they're pretty good but I can't believe how fast they drive. On the M roads (major motorways), I've been sticking to around 110kph (around 70mph) which is what I do at home. And every other car on the road passes me. The only things I pass are trucks. Most cars that pass me are doing between 80-90mph. That's up to 150kph! I can't believe it. It just doesn't seem safe to me. I guess the NZ police's down with speed campaign has worked on me. Well really I drive at 109kph at home so that I don't get caught by a speed camera. There are speed camera signs up all over the place here too, but it doesn't slow anybody down...
London, England
I arrived in London in the midst of a heatwave and on the hottest day ever recorded in England. After having had only one hours sleep on the plane and still being on Central time of 4am while it was 10am in London. At first I didn't realise how hot it was. I thought it was just me still not being used to the heat after coming from an NZ winter. Until I went to the London Eye for my 3pm booking to be told it wasn't running because of the heat and that it was 38 degrees Celsius!! It didn't even hit 30 degrees while I was in Chicago. So I was absolutely wilting. It was tempting to just sit in the underground and wait for that rush of wind that you get when a train is about to arrive. Except that when there is no train coming it is just unbearably hot. And it's even worse once you get on the train and it's packed with commuters. Luckily the weather has since cooled down to a normal 20ish degrees now.
I was in London for five and a half days from Sunday 10th to Friday 15th. During that time I went to: the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, the National Maritime Museum, The Museum of London, the British Museum, the National Gallery (that's a heck of a lot of museums!), Hampton Court Palace, the Globe theatre, the BBC tv studio (for a studio tour), went shopping in Camden Town, rode the London Eye and fell asleep on the grass in Hyde Park.
I highly recommend doing a day trip out to Greenwich. It was good to get out of the city (even though it's not really out of the city, especially now that the Docklands rail goes directly out there), and both the Royal Observatory and Maritime Museum are very interesting. There are also other places to visit there but I ran out of time. And the best thing is everything is free to get into. That is one very good thing in London is that a lot of the museums at least are free.
Hampton Court palace is also very interesting, but quite expensive. You can easily spend a day there though. There are four different tours you can take round the palace or you can wander around by yourself. I probably spent a couple of hours just inside the palace. Then there's the grounds as well. I'd heard all about this famous hedge maze at Hampton Court but it was very disappointing. Very tiny, and therefore impossible to get lost. I wandered slowly from the outside to the middle in five minutes, and back out again in another five.
I have to admit that this time around London wasn't as fantastic as it had seemed the first time I came here. Possibly I could put that down to the heat. It's hard to enjoy something when you feel sweaty and dirty and everything around you is dirty and polluted. Because there was no wind at all to blow the pollution away or to cool you down.
I stayed at a very noisy inner city hostel, but at least it was cheap. After staying with people for the previous week it was hard to get used to being on my own again. And I'd just started getting used to the American way of doing things and had to adapt to the British way. Oh boy did I miss that American habit of putting ice in every drink. Especially on those very hot days. London water tastes foul.
Chicago, Illinois and north-eastern Wisconsin
I arrived in Chicago in the late afternoon about two weeks ago. I managed to figure out Chicago's transit system and caught the famous "EL" (short for elevated ?) train into town where the hostel was. Just down the street from the hostel was a blues club, so what better way to spend my first (and only) night in Chicago, than by enjoying live Chicago blues music. The band were really great and I stayed out till midnight (it was only 10pm on the west coast!). Even at midnight it was still warm outside.
The next day I met up with John and he showed me the sights of Chicago: Lake Michigan, Navy Pier, the Wrigley Building, the Water Pump and Tower (survivors of the great Chicago fire), and of course Sears Tower. Now anybody who knows me knows that I don't like heights. I don't even like going up the Sky Tower in downtown Auckland, so why would I want to go a hundred stories up into the air? But you know, when you're surrounded by really tall buildings it doesn't actually look that high. So I took a deep breath and got in the elevator, and pretended I was only going up to the 3rd floor.
And once we were up there it wasn't all that scary after all. The view was amazing. Imagine looking down on clouds (and not from an airplane). You could see for miles on all sides. But it still didn't seem that high up - you could still make out the details of the cars on the ground. But we spent a bit too long admiring the view, and then got to experience rush-hour Chicago style. Actually it wasn't too bad, but it did make it a long trip back to Appleton, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin is actually a very nice place. Reminds me a lot more of NZ than Washington state does. Flat, wide open areas, farmland, and older suburbs with wooden houses on large(ish) sections surrounding the downtown shopping area. There isn't much to see in the way of sights. Drove past Lambeau field, the home of the Green Bay Packers. Visited a couple of railway yards (just out of curiousity, I'm not a foamer yet!), and although the scale is much bigger, a railyard is a railyard wherever you go.
So after a day sightseeing in Wisconsin it was back to the big city of Chicago and to the airport for my flight to London. Chicago is a great city. The city centre is flat and clean, and laid out in a grid so it's easy to find your way around. And despite the fact that 2 million people (I think) work there every day, it doesn't seem that crowded. I highly recommend a visit.
Tacoma, Washington
Well I'm coming to the end of five fun filled days with the Hamilton family in Washington State. It's been one hectic ride so far. Have you seen the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding? Well this is my big fat German American family (in law) - in order to be heard each family member has to speak louder than the next. And that's how *they* describe themselves.
I've probably spent the most time with Gayle, my 13 year old sister in law. She thinks I talk strange and that I'm really weird because I've never tried Sprite Remix or Graham Crackers or Lays. We went to the mall yesterday and she thinks it's strange that I've never heard of any of the stores there. Go figure. (see I'm even starting to talk like them now)
It is so hot over here. High cloud and temperatures in the mid 20's. Today the drought has finally broken. Apparently it didn't rain at all during July so everyone is happy about that. The kids have been in the pool most days and I even ventured in once.
I've been playing baseball in the backyard with 8 year old Ian, and "beach" volleyball. I tried to teach the kids bats down and rugby. I would try to teach them cricket but they only have a baseball bat. We've also been for a couple of long walks together. These kids eat lots of sugar and they have lots of energy.
Tomorrow I fly off to Chicago. The flights over from NZ went well. It only took 11 hours to get to LA, then I had a 3 hour stopover and then a 2 hour flight to Seattle. I managed to get a couple of hours sleep on the plane. DO NOT go see the movie Bulletproof Monk. It is really, really bad. In LA it was midday when I got there and so hot that I went and sat in a little park at the airport just soaking up the sun that I haven't seen in NZ for months. I'm already starting to get a bit of a suntan.
Hope you all are doing well.
Prologue
Six weeks till I leave and counting. Can't stop thinking about it and planning every minute detail. So I've set up this web site in anticipation of being able to post reports and photos as I go.
I started planning this trip probably about eight months ago. After my friend Tina moved to Oxford and started sending photos back, I've been dying to go over and see her. So I figured if I saved $300 a month for 10 months I'd have $3,000 to go over and visit her with. Ok, so it turned out to be a little more expensive than that. The airfare alone is $3,500. Anyway then I thought that if I was going to go all that way, it couldn't hurt to stop off in the States on the way over and visit Peter's family in Tacoma WA. And then I thought if I was doing that, it wouldn't hurt to stop off in Wisconsin either to visit a couple of Kiwi's I used to work with. And the easiest way to do that is to go through Chicago, so I'd have to spend at least a day there as well. And so with all these other stopovers, and since I was going to be in that part of the world, I also figured it wouldn't hurt to stop off on the way home and see my friend Tara who lives in Moscow.
The plan goes something like this. Leave New Zealand on Friday night and arrive in Seattle also on Friday night. Spend four or five days with Peter's family, then fly to Chicago. Spend the night there on my own, then the next day John has kindly offered to show me round the city before driving up to his place in Wisconsin. Spend the next day there with them, and then bus back down to Chicago and fly out to London Saturday afternoon. Will arrive in London first thing Sunday morning and the first thing I want to do is head to the Sunday morning markets in Camden. Will have the rest of that week in London. Then Friday I pick up a rental car and head off to Oxford where I'll spend the next eight days. Have got several day trips planned to nearby towns and areas. Then Sunday afternoon it's back to London to return the rental car and spend the night at Heathrow airport before an early morning flight out to Moscow (I'm assured it's quite safe to sleep at the airport). Then I'll have three days in Moscow before flying home again via Frankfurt and Singapore.
Most of the planning is done now. I sent off my application for a Russian visa two weeks ago. They say it takes three weeks for processing so still have to wait at least a week until I hear anything. For anyone contemplating a trip to Russia, it is very complicated to get the visa. First of all you can't just apply for it. Before you can get the visa, you need the *invitation*. If you're going with a tour, they can organise it for you. Or if you're staying at a hotel, they can issue you one. Even hostels will issue one ... for a fee. And that's the catch. The invitation costs money. On top of the cost of the visa. As I will be staying with friends, and not at a hotel, it seemed a little more complicated. Until I found this wonderful web site, www.waytorussia.net, a web site made by Russian travellers, for other travellers. And they explain all the requirements for the visa, and what to do. And they can also help you get an invitation. The standard cost of the invitation seems to be US$30. But wait, that's not all. Once you get your invitation, and your visa, you still have to register it within 72 hours of arriving in Russia. At the same place that issued your invitation. And that costs an extra US$20. So if you're planning on travelling to Russia remember these two points - start arranging your visa at least four weeks in advance, and make sure you budget plenty of money for the visa (mine will cost around US$85).
