G'day from down under!

My first time on this island… and besides a bum foot that's seriously limiting my walkabout capabilities, I did manage to walk around (probably a bit too much) the first day and second morning to see a few sites.

Syney Opera House and a P&O cruise ship just after sunrise

Sydney Opera House

Along the way I met a Yorti Yorta man; an Aboriginal man making his living in the city selling artwork. I bought from him a beautiful dotted painting of the Rainbow Serpent; the Creator.

Urrunga, a Yorti Yorta man

On the second morning, thanks to a jetlag-induced 5am wake-up, I made a run for sunrise to the other side of the Opera House, and due to road closures because of World Youth Day (someone should tell them to rename it to World Youth Week-and-a-half), I had to hoof it the last mile and came over the hill just as the sun kissed the fins of the Opera House. Pretty, but with a cloudless sky, not terribly interesting. I'm hoping for some more dynamic weather before I go (it is winter after all… can't you tell?!)

Sunrise from Mrs. Macquiries Point

This is a public photo gallery; (this same gallery is linked on all Australia posts)

Family Vacation, SeaWorld San Diego

Following my four-week, round-the-world trip (which I still have to finish posting on, I know…) I took two weeks of to spend with the kids. I took them to SeaWorld for a few days, then for five days of camping at Lake Henshaw.

SeaWorld was wonderful, and the kids had a great time. They were having a deal where if you bought a one-day pass by June 25, you got the rest of the year free. So I bought the tickets online early and planned to spend three days there. No you don't really need three days to see SeaWorld, but with little kids in tow, it's nice to know you can just go for a few hours at at time. We watched countless shows of dolphins, whales, seals and otters, pet and fed manta rays, walked through a tunnel of sharks, and took in the view from the Sky Tower.

The Shamu show

View from the Sky Tower

And the best part of coming and going as you please from the park… we spent as much time as we wanted at the hotel pool.

View from the Sheraton hotel

Not much to write about; the photos tell the story.

This is a private photo gallery; please email me for the login and password (same gallery linked on all Family Vacation posts)

A weekend in Budapest, Friday

(back-posted to keep chronological order)

It's been too long now since my trip to Budapest so I'm not going to detail the restaurant reviews like I normally would. I didn't take copious notes and frankly it's not the most interesting part of that weekend. It's more important now to get the stories and photos up!

In the middle of my world tour, I had a weekend off that I chose to spend in Budapest. My girlfriend met me there, and of course we had a fabulous time. We both arrived Friday; myself by plane from Berlin in the morning, and her by train later in the afternoon.

We stayed at Le Meridien Hotel on Erzsébet tér, a gorgeous hotel in a fantastic location. Right on a metro stop, we were walking or subway-ing distance to everything.

Panoramic view from Le Meridien Hotel

While I waited for her arrival, I took a long walk from our hotel on the Pest side of the river to the train station on the Buda side. It's a beautiful walk that takes you across the Széchenyi lánchíd (Chain Bridge) over the River Danube.

Széchenyi lánchíd

Half-way across the bridge, I met an animated gentleman by the name of Mr. Erdely, a Transylvanian photographer selling his images precariously wedged into the stones of the bridge, and very eager to discuss the history of his homeland.

Mr. Erdely, Transylvanian photographer

I bought a photo of Dracula's castle from him that you see displayed here. I may have to visit Transylvania one day just to see this castle; it's quite a sight.

After a rapid climb up Castle Hill and an even quicker descent down the other side, I finally found the train station. From there we enjoyed a tranquil afternoon and a nice, albeit expensive, dinner at Rézkakas Vendéglö. Probably not quite worth the expense but it was enjoyable, and we were entertained by a live "gypsy" band (a bit of a misnomer, if you ask me… gypsies playing in an expensive restaurant… ha!), and were educated on the finer points of Heimann wine, a Hungarian favorite.

Gypsy band at Rézkakas Vendéglö

Delicious Heimann Syrah

This is the PUBLIC photo gallery; (this same gallery is linked on all Budapest posts)

This is the PRIVATE photo gallery; please email me for the login and password (this same gallery is linked on all Budapest posts). This gallery contains all the photos from the public gallery as well.

Tsukiji Fish Market

The Tsukiji Fish Market is widely known as the largest fish market in the world, and is a great place to start your visit to Tokyo. Arriving in Tokyo from the the U.S. means you're pretty much guaranteed to wake up at some horribly early hour (4:30 a.m. in my case), and since the market opens at 5:30, you can experience the madness first hand!

It's an amazing experience; a large warehouse packed to capacity with fishmongers selling the mornings catch, much of it alive, some larger catches flash-frozen, and all incredibly fresh. Not a single whiff of "fishy smell" will permeate your nostrils anywhere you go. You will see fish you've never seen or heard of before, you can watch a man slice through thousands of dollars worth of tuna with katana of a fish knife, or see eels skinned and gutted in record time.

Of course you stand still for any time at all entirely at your own risk and peril, as hundreds of motorized carts run at breakneck speeds up and down the tight, wet alleys between stalls. Getting bumped and knocked is to be expected; just try not to upset anyone holding a large bloody knife!

Surprisingly a lot of Japanese tourists are there as well; I think we saw more Japanese with cameras than gaijin.

Here are a few pictures; the full collection in in a [gallery]





After an hour or so of walking around the market and watching all that delicious fish being sliced and diced, you'll find yourself hungry for a sushi breakfast! Just outside the market are rows and rows of shops and sushi restaurants, where you can have the freshest sushi you've ever had, washed down with beer or sake, sitting next to chain-smoking Japanese fisherman… all before 7:00 in the morning. Perfect!


Enjoy a larger [photo gallery] here.