(no subject)
Hi folks.
Still here. Hope you are all well. Last month must be the first month when I failed to update at all since I first started this thing back in 2003. Well, at least I have an excuse, since I spent most of the month travelling around Europe. Unfortunately, I am now back in Melbourne; have been since the 9th of this month.
My itinerary at a glance was:
06/07-10/07: England. Spent most of that time based in Cornwall, which was lovely. Certainly wish I had spent longer there.
10/07-13/07: Paris. Took the Eurostar there from England and achieved one of my railfan goals of travelling through the Chunnel. Saw U2 twice in Paris; will go down as the worst U2 concerts I've seen. The first halves of both shows weren't bad, but after Sunday Bloody Sunday, I could have gone home and not missed anything.
13/07-17/07: Switzerland, based in Geneva. AMAZING. Highlight of the trip for me, really. The food, the scenery, the efficiency of the railways ... consider me impressed. Found this blackberry chocolate stuff in Zurich that is the best thing I have eaten in my life. Oh yeah, and I took the TGV from Paris to Geneva, thereby achieving another one of my railfan goals.
17/07-19/07: Liechtenstein, which basically counts as part of the same highlight as Switzerland. Gorgeous little country. We went up to Malbun and found SNOW. Not much, mind you, but when you live in Australia, any snow is impressive snow.
19/07-23/07: Netherlands. Saw U2 twice in Amsterdam. First gig was not much of an improvement on Paris, but the second was very good, equal with some of the better Australian Vertigo shows (e.g. Sydney III; a bit below Melbourne II). Tour debuts of Elevation (who cares), Until The End Of The World (hell yes), and Bad (FUCK YES).
23/07-31/07: Ireland, based in Dublin. Saw U2 three times. First show was the best of the seven shows I saw this tour. Second was back to Amsterdam I level. Third show was pretty good, but after the soundcheck, I expected more ... if only they had played some of the songs we heard them soundchecking, I might have finally been blown away. U2 were good, but never blew me away. Last tour, they blew me away five times out of ten (Boston II and III, Melbourne II, Auckland I and II). This tour, zero out of seven. Anyway, as for the other time in Ireland - great! Especially loved the trip we did to Northern Ireland, a tour of the coast of County Antrim. Giant's Causeway and the rope bridge at Carrick-a-Rede were two of the best places I went on the holiday. Also had a very nice afternoon in Galway.
31/07-08/08: Back to the Netherlands. Needed a couple of days just to rest after the madness of the previous month. Then we spent some time visiting places like Amsterdam and Utrecht, and it was all very nice. I naturally loved the railway museum at Utrecht. It was kind of funny whenever I became conscious of being a good few metres below sea level ...
I have loads of photographs to upload; all in good time. I want to go back now. I want to go back yesterday. Australia just doesn't feel the same. I love Melbourne, but ...
Still here. Hope you are all well. Last month must be the first month when I failed to update at all since I first started this thing back in 2003. Well, at least I have an excuse, since I spent most of the month travelling around Europe. Unfortunately, I am now back in Melbourne; have been since the 9th of this month.
My itinerary at a glance was:
06/07-10/07: England. Spent most of that time based in Cornwall, which was lovely. Certainly wish I had spent longer there.
10/07-13/07: Paris. Took the Eurostar there from England and achieved one of my railfan goals of travelling through the Chunnel. Saw U2 twice in Paris; will go down as the worst U2 concerts I've seen. The first halves of both shows weren't bad, but after Sunday Bloody Sunday, I could have gone home and not missed anything.
13/07-17/07: Switzerland, based in Geneva. AMAZING. Highlight of the trip for me, really. The food, the scenery, the efficiency of the railways ... consider me impressed. Found this blackberry chocolate stuff in Zurich that is the best thing I have eaten in my life. Oh yeah, and I took the TGV from Paris to Geneva, thereby achieving another one of my railfan goals.
17/07-19/07: Liechtenstein, which basically counts as part of the same highlight as Switzerland. Gorgeous little country. We went up to Malbun and found SNOW. Not much, mind you, but when you live in Australia, any snow is impressive snow.
19/07-23/07: Netherlands. Saw U2 twice in Amsterdam. First gig was not much of an improvement on Paris, but the second was very good, equal with some of the better Australian Vertigo shows (e.g. Sydney III; a bit below Melbourne II). Tour debuts of Elevation (who cares), Until The End Of The World (hell yes), and Bad (FUCK YES).
23/07-31/07: Ireland, based in Dublin. Saw U2 three times. First show was the best of the seven shows I saw this tour. Second was back to Amsterdam I level. Third show was pretty good, but after the soundcheck, I expected more ... if only they had played some of the songs we heard them soundchecking, I might have finally been blown away. U2 were good, but never blew me away. Last tour, they blew me away five times out of ten (Boston II and III, Melbourne II, Auckland I and II). This tour, zero out of seven. Anyway, as for the other time in Ireland - great! Especially loved the trip we did to Northern Ireland, a tour of the coast of County Antrim. Giant's Causeway and the rope bridge at Carrick-a-Rede were two of the best places I went on the holiday. Also had a very nice afternoon in Galway.
31/07-08/08: Back to the Netherlands. Needed a couple of days just to rest after the madness of the previous month. Then we spent some time visiting places like Amsterdam and Utrecht, and it was all very nice. I naturally loved the railway museum at Utrecht. It was kind of funny whenever I became conscious of being a good few metres below sea level ...
I have loads of photographs to upload; all in good time. I want to go back now. I want to go back yesterday. Australia just doesn't feel the same. I love Melbourne, but ...