SO...either Australia has grown much older or I went to Europe.  Ahem...I went to Europe.

Right, well, I spent the majority of my time in Vienna.  That's in Austria for all of you science and art majors.  The funny thing is that, for the most part, it was either too rainy or too cold to use my digital camera while i was there...huh.  REAL pictures exist, but the digital ones are few and far between.  Regardless, here is a taste of Vienna:

Because Royal people are much more special that regular people, they get to live in giant houses that are so big they're not even called houses they're called Palaces.  Also, even in a place as small as Vienna (which is only relatively small, I mean it IS a city after all), special royal people get to have summer houses and winter houses because one house...oops i mean palace...is not suitable for both seasons.  right...after all of that there needs to be one section for living and one for entertaining, because those are the only things that royal special people do...SO!  I PRESENT TO YOU!  the Upper and Lower Belvedire.  The Lower for living and the Upper for entertaining.  One of them is modest, you pick which one it is...

Lower -->

<--UPPER!!!

Mostly, I was freezing, and all I could do to save what little tan i had left was to take refuge in various art museums.  There were so many that i lost count, but here is one...THE SECESSION BUILDING!  it looks funny alright, but before you laugh at that stupid looking cabbage thing on it just remember that we all have bad hair days.  This one is just permanent and huge.  Either way it was cool, and so are you.

So, that was Vienna...Not really, but those are the only pictures i can show you until i get to a scanner or snail mail them to you or something.  But, aside from the cold and the snow and everything, I did like Vienna.  It has a lot of what some of my friends would call KULCHA (and most of you would spell it as culture).  The art was amazing, and the buildings nothing short of breathtaking.  Maybe I'll go back some day when it is warmer.  And then leave again before it gets cold.

So, when you've traveled all the way across the equator, why not take a weekend to go to London?  Indeed, WHY NOT, i ask!  So Laura and I started our journey.  We caught a train to a plane that was cancelled so we caught another (11 hour) train to Brussels.  Brussels is in Belgium and notable for it's Chocolates and Waffles.  We do not recommend the waffles.  After our 45 minute Brussels experience we caught another train that went under the ocean to the island of England, where we exited at Liverpool station and were once again surrounded by ENGLISH.  "Allo Guvnah!  Did you know that 37% of Americans agree that while they would hate being British, they wouldn't mind having a British accent?  [from Michael Moore's "Adventures In a TV Nation]  So there we were...

We wanted to scare ourselves silly so Laura, Meri and I went on a Haunted Walking tour...Above is our haunted guide.  We saw where the ghosts of London lived for TWO HOURS.  guh!  so much walking in one day...But, over to your right is a haunted 'castle' thing, complete with a moat, i forget the story about it.

Above is for all you Harry Potter fans, the opening sequence of the movie was shot here.  No one else that I know of was shot here...come to think of it I don't even think it was Haunted.  Just pretty...in a spooky kind of way.  and to the right is an alleyway we walked through.  Look at the doorway, funny little skull and crossbones, you say?  eerie cage-like drop door you say?  yup, PLAGUEHOUSE!  they used to lock people up inside their homes when they got the plague, and here is one of those lucky residences.  Yipes. Unfortunately, no one was scared into crying, but we all had a good time.  hmph.

We also went on the Jack the Ripper tour, but my hands were glued inside my shirt and tucked inside my pocket, so there aren't photos from that.  I mean, it was too dark to get photos...BUT, to help you imagine, picture lots of cobblestone corners and lots of dark buildings.  And then go rent the movie "From Hell" with Johnny Depp...it's not that scary either, but a movie about a killer will probably have lots and lots and lots of gruesome violence.  yum!

Needless to say we did the whole sightseeing thing!  Here are some happy snaps from the two-day PACKED London city tour...

Westminster Abbey was cool because it is probably the largest church i have ever seen in my entire existence.  Besides being large it was also quite ornate and held the bodies of many people i learned about during various years at various schools...including the Poet's Corner i remember from my "Poetry, Drama, and Short Story" class.  Dylan Thomas, the author of the one poetry book i own was there, along with many other names you would know...trust me. It was cool to see Queen Elizabeth as well.  Uhm, and by seeing her i mean her tomb.  Because when you're in the Abbey, you're not in a grave you are in a TOMB.  Maybe that should have been in the Haunted Tour...huh.

I love this picture (Right) because I love BIG BEN!  I made it back to hear the good 'ol boy chime away at 5 o'clock, and it reminded me of the song that the clock in Mom's living room plays.  I'm glad it doesn't play as loudly as Ben, though!  And I love the picture below because, man o man, look at Laura's face.  That is a classic my friends...

There is Art in London TOO!  Thanks to Kristen for suggesting we go to the Tate, because whoa.  It was absolutely stunning (cough, and free)!  I went twice and the second time ran into someone i knew!  RANDOM!  but below is what you stand and gawk at for a while when you first walk in.  the ceiling is a mirror and you can see everything below you...very calming effect, though.

The next three pictures are the coolest things about the Tower of London's Armour collection.  Lances, Amour (of course) and Playmobile castle sets.  The Tower of London is also home to the Crown Jewels...and we saw them, standing on a conveyor belt like everyone else.  Royals are SPECIAL...i already said that!!  and, like their houses, their jewlery is in a completely superior category to anything you might have laying around the house.  Do YOU have the biggest diamond in the world?  huh?  well, do you?  I don't think so.  The Queen does.  All i could see was sparkly and that made me think a lot of Grandma...you and Mom would probably have gone on the conveyor belt more than once...and not just to stay inside where it was dry and warm.  aww.

Then we went to a planetarium that ended up being for children, not 20somethings wanting to learn about the stars.  So we watched the Treasure Island spinoff and left, but not until after molesting our friend the Pirate!  YEARGH! Of course, we had to eat...and since England isn't really known for it's yummy traditional food, we thought we'd share one of the samples with you.  <----------------------- Hungry for Austrian food, Laura left, and shortly thereafter Allie arrived.  Meri and Allie (along with some others and soon to be more) are some of mis chicas from Australia that are trading a big sunny island for a little rainy one.  They're silly, and sorely missed.  So i took the opportunity to hang out with them for a while and catch all the stuff that Laura and I couldn't fit in to two days.  Below was the day we went to Trafalgar Square.  It is really cool!  Points of interest are the fountain and the lions on below the column.  Also, since we were visiting on international AIDS Awareness Day, the red ribbon was being projected onto the column, which was kind of funny because we didn't know what was going on until a few days later when we realized that it had already been international AIDS Awareness Day.  Then it all came full circle...

After that we went on a Bus Tour...you know, London, double-decker buses.  Well, to save money we took a suggestion per Allie's book that said that the No. 8 bus gives a similar trip through the city.  Little did we know it didn't...and that it would drop us out in the middle of nowhere.  HA!  Adventure time!  Below are the unknowing Meri and Allie on their way (past the American Steakhouses) to nowhere. On a side note, buses in London are scary.  if put in a tight situation where a normal person would slow down, they speed up.  Which is why our bus hit another bus's sideview mirror.  EEPS.  but, riding on buses is good in the morning to get the adrenaline pumping...probably healthier than a coffee pickmeup i'm sure!

Our preferred method of transport...the London Underground.  It's okay once you get over trying to find out where that smell is coming from.  But, this is Notting Hill Gate Station...yes like the movie.  Yes, that one with Hugh Grant.  sigh.  Don't you people care about anything but Hollywood?  sheesh.

In case you don't remember me, there I am...and i think i'm getting an idea! P.S.  that's my snazzy new coat!!  whee!

And, with a coming there is always a going...so i left London and went tooooooooooo....

Berlin!!!

Due to more adverse weather conditions, and my waning attempts at being a good tourist in an effort to avoid becoming a humansicle, the Berlin pictures are also few and far between.  Once again, there is still the possibility that some may be mailed to you or scanned at a later date.  Send all complaints to your least favorite McDonald's Franchise, please.

Berlin had a bit better public transportation than did the other cities i went to.  Granted, it can only hold 5 people at a time, but Berliners like to travel in style.

Believe it or not, the Berlin Wall still exists.  Luckily now it is not enforced with military force, but 1.3km is still there nonetheless.  So, to end our day we watched the sunset and moonrise (above) at the east-side gallery, which is the remaining wall covered with artwork, some of it is new, some of it is old, and some of it is new versions of old work.  This was a very very very cold walk. But good, nonetheless.

That is Laura again, back up to her old antics...Here we are teetertottering (or, for those of you unfamiliar with that terminology, see-sawing) on GIANT teetertotters (see-saws) in Berlin.  This is what they call Urban Art...because no child would get much amusement out of these huge things for very long.  Come to think of it they're not very practical really, with their giant hunk of slow-moving cold metal.  And this isn't the only one, there were about 8.  Ah well...it's there for some reason.  Someone must like it...sigh. But ... yeah. So that about wraps up Berliln.  We did a lot of Sight-SEEING, and hung out with Katrin, who was awesome!  We played Risk (the game of World Domination) auf Deutsche...which was hard, but fun, and ate lots of good authentic (Mexican) food (and Pizza, don't forget Pizza...oooh! and Asia Snack! yummm).  And that was that weekend.

And now for the oh-so-exciting Closer picture.  This is the one that will take your breath away and make you say..."WOW, I can't go another day in my own existence without in some way incorporating that amazing beauty into my very own life."  And, believe it or not, that's it on the left.  The Closer.  To explain...well...uhhhhhhhh Nope, I can't explain it.  I think it speaks for itself, really.  I mean, it IS a statement and all.  So, I dedicate it to all of you out there looking at this website.  Take it with you, keep it near, and save it for a rainy day. In the meantime, I'm back in sunny weather on sunny beaches, and sweating with a sunny attitude. Sun sun sun sun sun. Miss you!!