Cottlesloe Beach

We got up at four this morning to head into Sydney and catch our plane. Between the walk to the train station, two transfers and another 20 minute walk to the domestic terminal (so we could save $24 instead of getting off the train in the airport and paying the access fee), it took us just under two hours to get to the plane. The Sydney airport is both cool and weird. All of the check-in process, at least for domestic flights, is automated. You check-in and print your boarding pass, but then you’re in charge of stickering your luggage and putting it on the belt yourself as well. It was a little confusing for 7:30 in the morning, but we managed.

I was picked out for a security check when we went through security, so I had to step aside. All they did was wave a wand over me and my bags though, so much simpler than the US. By the time we walked down to our gate, the plane was already boarding, so we didn’t even have to sit down. It’s amazing how quickly things move when the process is automated and there aren’t any lines. I wonder if it’s the same situation later in the day too.

Our flight was pretty boring. It takes four and a half hours to get from Sydney to Perth, but there’s a two hour time difference (Perth is two hours behind Sydney, putting it 12 hours ahead of New York) so we made sure to get some sleep on the flight in order to prepare ourselves. Granted, with as early as we woke up, I’m not sure we helped much. Even though it was a domestic flight, we were still served an in-flight meal of cereal or eggs as well as a granola bar for a snack. I really love the service on international airlines.

Stepping off the plane, we managed to pull our bags off the carousel right away and headed to the bus stop outside. It took a few minutes to find, but that was okay because the buses here don’t run as frequently as Sydney and it only picks up about every half an hour from the airport. It’s nice though that our tickets only cost $4 each and allow us to transfer between other buses for two hours.

We ended up having to take three separate buses to get to the hostel we’re staying in—Ocean Beach Backpackers. Our first bus took us into the city where we transferred to the Cottlesloe/Fremantle line. The bus driver on our second bus was very helpful in directing us to a better place to get off so that we could transfer to a bus that would take us directly to our hostel. It all worked out and we were let out right outside. It took almost two hours though.

Our hostel is decent. We decided on getting a private room and we ended up with three beds in it—two twins and a double. I’m not sure why they gave us such a large room, but it’s probably all they had. The hostel is basically right on the water; all we have to do is cross the street. That’s not to say we have an ocean view though. Our room looks out into a courtyard that the hostel surrounds. They do charge a lot in deposits for things though. We had to pay a $20 key deposit and $15 each for towels. We’ll get it all back, but it still seems steep on top of the room charge.

We spent the rest of our afternoon walking along the shops on the oceanfront. There are a lot of fish and chips takeaways as well as a few nicer restaurants. We ended up getting sandwiches and chips (that’s fries in Aussie) from the convenience store/takeaway place. They were pretty good, although they squished the croissants our sandwiches were on when they toasted them. We went to the grocery store nearby too and picked up some Shapes—which are like a chip-like cracker in a variety of flavors--(to feed my mom’s new addiction), apples, and popcorn. Finally, we checked out the train station which will take us to Fremantle tomorrow.

Cottlesloe Beach

Cottlesloe Beach

The sun was starting to set, so we took some pictures along a boardwalk we found that juts out into the sea. It started to get chilly because of the wind though, so we grabbed sweatshirts before heading down to the beach and sticking our feet in the Indian Ocean. The sand was actually colder than the water, but it was really pretty with the sun setting.

Tourist Tuesdays

I had a really good day in the city yesterday. Going into town by myself made me feel really independent. It also really made me look forward to go going to New Zealand, particularly Queenstown, where I’ll be completely on my own. I like being self-reliant.

I actually missed the bus that I had planned to take into the city by about two minutes. I saw it go past as I was walking down the hill and since the village’s bus station is pretty minor, it didn’t even stop. It sucks because I was on time, it was just early. I know now for next time though. I was able to walk to the next bus stop, which is on campus, and by the time I got there I caught a different bus that was going to the same place—the Queen Victoria Bus Station, which lets out in the center of the central city.

I spent the day wandering around and touring museums. I took some pictures of centrepoint tower, also known as Sydney tower to tourists. It was once a mere tourist destination as the tallest point in the city, but now it’s being used for advertisement. I went to the Hyde Park Barracks museum, which has plenty of information about Sydney’s past as a convict community. It was entirely interesting, but I took some cool pictures of the barrack recreation. Apparently they slept in hammocks. I find that really weird, for some reason, but maybe the wooden beds overflowing with people is still stuck in my mind from the tours I went on of the concentration camps in Europe.

Pretty fountain in some courtyard

Inside the barracks

Outside of the Hyde Park Barracks

Centrepoint Tower

Next was the Museum of Sydney, which I surprisingly found fascinating. This one wasn’t even on my list of museums to see, but since I could get in free, I figured I would go. The place wasn’t very large but they have a lot of interesting information about how Sydney has progressed as a community. I also really enjoyed their then and now exhibit, which showcased pictures from the past taken in the same place present day. A lot of people found pictures from their parents and grandparents and went to the same exact place to hold up the picture and take another snapshot. It was really cool. They also had two landscape photos of Sydney—one from the 1800’s and another from 2003. It’s amazing to see how much the landscape has changed. For example, there used to be a law that buildings couldn’t be higher than 150 meters, but when that was abolished in the 1950’s the central business district full of skyscrapers sprung up.

Museum of Sydney!

Finally, I visited the Police and Justice Museum, which was a complete waste of time. I took a cliché picture in the mock court room, but other than that, the only interesting thing I learned was that Australia used to have a height and weight requirement for its police officers. The height requirement was 5’9; I’m not sure about the weight. Female officers also apparently didn’t become widespread until the 1970s.

My cliche picture -- the guy who took it for me was cracking up

I have no idea how an accident like this happens

I tried to go to a historic house afterward in the Rocks district, but apparently my information was wrong and you can only see the house by guided tour. I had thought it was open daily from 2-6, but I was told at the information desk that guided tours run for an hour at 2, 3, and 4 only. I was a little disappointed because that was the museum I was most excited about, but I’ll have to go back another day.

I spent the rest of my time on my own wandering around the Rocks. It appears to be the cheaper district in town, at least on the North side, from what I’ve seen. I found a place where I could get a chicken burger for $5.50, which is starting to sound amazingly cheap to me. They also had a lot of $5 happy hours in that area. I was tempted to sit down and people watch with a glass of wine, but it was so cold outside. They have heaters on almost every outdoor patio, but that still only helps so much. Instead I decided to get a $6.50 ice cream from Copenhagen ice cream (so good), which doesn’t really make much more sense since I continued to wander around outside while eating it.

I ended up sitting by the harbor as the sun went down and watching the boats come in to the wharfs and the lightening on the opera house change. Watching Sydney light up at night is really cool. I can’t wait to spend more time in the city once it gets warmer.

My view of the bridge

Darling Harbour at night

Falling Off a Cliff

Today has been host to both a near death experience and a very awkward one.

After checking out of our hotel this morning, we visited the Sigatoka Sand Dunes, which are located in the one and only national park of Fiji. These sand dunes aren’t anything like what I was picturing from what I’ve seen of those in Michigan. In Fiji, the sand dunes are almost completely covered in vegetation from mere grass to full trees. The sand just makes things grow, I guess. The only recognizable sand dunes that I saw were when we got closer to the ocean and those are only clear because the winds keep them shifting enough to prevent growth.

The dunes were extremely hard to climb up though. My tennis shoes were completely filled with sand; it was ridiculous. You had to get a running start to even be able to clear the top. They were very picturesque though.

Sigatoka Sand Dunes

View from the top

"Tree hugger" - based on a story from Nepal where  many women were killed as they tried to protect the trees from being cut down

After the sand dunes hike, we cleaned out our shoes and got back on the bus from a trip to the Tuvuni Hill Fort. The trip was fairly death-defying as our bus driver attempted a u-turn on the side of cliff. Lili, our guide in Fiji, actually had to get off the bus and direct the bus driver, but there were a couple of moments when the stick shift stuck and we weren’t sure we were going to make it. Most of us were begging to get off and walk the rest of the way rather than go off the cliff with the bus. Luckily, he eventually managed.

When we finally arrived, we ate lunch of corned beef, egg, and tuna sandwiches (ew!) with fresh fruit before setting off on another hike on the sites of one of the old villages who practiced cannibalism. Some of the girls were a bit freaked out that people would actually eat people, but our guide explained the villagers only ate those of rival villages who they captured as it would allow them to gain control of other villages. The rest of the time they would eat more normal meats. The actual site of the old village is completely torn down. The only remnants are rocks left to mark the sites of old houses and burial grounds. Again though, since it was on the side of a cliff, very picturesque.

View from Tuvuni Hill Fort

Following the fort was a two-hour bus ride that definitely seemed more like three to the town of Suva where we met our host families. The whole meet-and-greet was very awkward. Deirdre and I are both staying with a family that has three girls and one boy. It also appears that the father of one of the parents lives with them as well as possibly a school friend of the boy who may or may not be related. We got off the bus from the fort, unloaded our luggage, and were basically handed off to a woman standing outside the school (the University of the South Pacific). She seemed nice, but it was still strange.

The family has been incredibly accommodating and seems fairly informal, but we’re both still very unsure of how to act and what’s appropriate. We don’t know where any of the others in our group are staying either because we were the first to leave. We’re figuring it out though. The husband travels quite a bit and the wife is an English schoolteacher at the university we’ll be attending.

They served us tasty biscuits (kind of like a shortbread cookie) and cookies when we arrived along with Cola and water. Dinner was chop sui and rice with a cake-like desert. I ate what I could. I didn’t realize that coming to Fiji would be the thing that made me try chop sui.

The kids have all been very shy with us, although it appears one of the girls is a bit more social and willing to answer our questions. We were also able to talk with the two boys for a bit at dinner and they seem to be warming up to us. I guess it’s just a question of how long it will take before things start to feel more natural and comfortable.

Our European Adventure, Day 9

Today went surprisingly smooth. Shortly before seven we boarded our train in Warsaw after Madeline noticed we were waiting on the wrong platform. We were able to get to the right one at the same time our train pulled in and joined our two Polish-speaking cabinmates. After sleeping most of the train ride, one of the girls was able to indicate the correct station in Krakow where we were supposed to get off.

A free cookie we received on the morning train

The Krakow station was under construction, but we easily navigated our way to the bus station and, after getting directions to the proper bay, we located a bus to take us to Oswiecim and at a rate cheaper than I had planned.

Following the eighty minute, 10 zloty bus ride, we ambled through Auschwitz's parking lot and were able to eat our prepacked lunches in the cafeteria. We then purchased an English-guided tour in the camp office and stored our luggage.

The Polish countryside from our bus window

The guide led us through Auschwitz I, explaining that Auschwitz is actually just the German name for the Polish town of Oswiecim. She informed us that the camp's first prisoners were the Polish individuals who lived in the wrong place at the wrong time. These people and the captured Jews were forced to build the second camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau II, nearby.

While being guided through the camp, we saw various bunkers that had been turned into exhibits showcasing things such as the human hair collected from prisoners to be used in German trade as well as bunkers in their original form. We were also able to tour the reconstructed gas chambers in the first camp.

Inside Auschwitz I

A collection of shoes from Auschwitz prisoners, held in Canada I (the collection point for belongings)

The gate to the camp

A gate to Auschwitz-Birkenau II

"The gate it like a mouth ready to swallow the prisoners, so menacing and eerie," Madeline Miguel.

 The visit was emotionally taxing and the 1.3km walk back to the train station was a welcome relief from the sights and smells of the camp.

As our last meal in Poland, we were able to dine at a nice Polish restaurant called the Scorpion. The menu had meals such as steak and salmon at rock bottom prices, so we made sure to order the fancy meal that we haven't been able to afford in previous destinations. We even went for the specialty desert -- The Scorpion.

Salmon at dinner

Our steak dinner

The flaming Scorpion deserts we ordered

After dinner, we killed time in the small, cold train station (all of South Poland seems really cold for that matter) before boarding our 11:31pm train to Prague.

Our European Adventure, Day 5

This morning we were shaken awake by a train attendant who alerted us that we were about to arrive in Berlin. I quickly packed up my things and was about to go to the bathroom when Madeline realized her money wallet was in a different place than she had put it the night before. She lost all of her cash. Jean recalled seeing someone poke their head the train car around 3 AM, but he said they quickly left once they noticed he was awake. She only noticed because the wallet was moved slightly down the table, but luckily they left all of her belongings except her 70 euros and about $20.

I was careful to make sure I had all of my things before running down to the bathroom with my bag of toiletries. After washing my face, I noticed the train had stopped moving and we had already arrived in Berlin. I rushed them out of the cabin as quickly as possible, in the process forgetting to pack my bag of toiletries, including my toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, and face cream. I just cannot win on this trip.

We oriented ourselves in the station, but were required to wait outside of the ticket office to purchase public transportation tickets because while our train was nearly two hours late in arriving, we still had to wait outside the office until 7AM when it opened. I bought our city travel cards that came along with a nice, informative booklet on tourist places around the area.

We navigated our way out of the Hauptbahnhof afterward and walked the 100 meters or so to our hotel, Hotel Meininger. The hotel is actually really nice. It has a modern decoration that appeals to me and it was quite cheap. We were able to store our luggage and purchase breakfast from the hotel before figuring out the best way to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. We piled onto the train that took us one station over and then another that directed us out of the city and into Oranienburg. From there, we found the city bus that would take us a few stops away to the camp. Amazingly, all of the hour journey was covered by our transit cards.

The camp was very draining, according to Madeline. It was horrible to think about all of the people who died on the soil that we walked on. While not many of the buildings were still standing, the memorial had buildings erected for the sole purpose of educating people on the history of how the camp came to be, who was trapped within its walls, and how the city was involved. Apparently, the city had originally had a smaller camp in the center of town, but it was closed down after they prisoners were forced to build another closer to the outskirts. We viewed the second camp, who was notorious at the time amongst the press because of its proximity to Berlin.

The entrance to the camp

A memorial in the camp

After taking pictures around the memorial and walking throughout the exhibits, we walked back to the city train station and boarded a regional express train that cut the journey back to the hotel in half. I managed to purchase deodorant (after looking all over the pharmacy for something that looked similar) and a toothbrush before leaving the train station and we all took showers after checking into our hotel room. It felt really refreshing to wash off the grodiness of the train and then take a nap to catch up on some sleep.

We woke up around eight and went out for dinner at a small Italian restaurant that we found in town. The food was actually fairly delicious and we wandered in during happy hour, so we were even able to sample some very cheap drinks in addition to our pasta and pizza overload. We managed to stay under ten euros per person, so we’re keeping to budget too. Now we’re just hanging out in the hostel for the time being to prepare for tomorrow.

The views from near our hotel

Some cool graffiti we spotted on the way to dinner

Italia: Day Ten

We got up super early this morning, at like 4:45, so that we could hop on a bus and go to the airport to catch our flight into Florence. The problem was that even with getting up early, we couldn’t get to the airport because our bus didn’t show up. We ended up taking four taxis so that we could catch our flight on time. It was especially urgent because only one flight goes out of Cagliari to Florence per day and we wouldn’t be able to see the city if we didn’t make it.

 After the one hour flight where I sat between two older businessmen, we checked in Hotel Albion and dispersed into the city. Pam, Chelsea, Becky, and I headed to an underground mall that while similar to the one in Montreal, was actually really ghetto. I didn’t find anything in the mall to buy, so we continued on toward the San Lorenzo market. The stalls were really a repetition of each other, but I managed to find a cute dress, a magnet, a postcard, a jacket, and some cigarettes for Daniel. I wish I could have bought the absinthe that I saw, but I wasn’t sure who I would drink it with and I can’t exactly take it back to the U.S.

The river that runs through Florence 

We stopped for lunch near the side of the market at a restaurant called Za-Za. I ordered the chicken breast and was really surprised by how bland it tasted once it arrived. I also had some potatoes with it. I’ve been craving chicken because of the lack of it since we got here, but the meal definitely did not quench the craving. If anything, it only made it worse because I wanted something that tasted good. The meal was outrageous too and had a 2.50 euro cover charge per person. I swear, the system with which they charge for food in Europe is so unusual.

After lunch, Pam bought a postcard and in our effort to find a post office for her to mail it from, we ended up stumbling upon the Duomi and taking pictures of it. None of us wanted to wait in line to go inside, so we turned back because Pam had lost her postcard by then. We headed back to the hotel so that Becky could unpack her suitcase and Pam could take a nap. Chelsea and I grabbed some delicious gelato along the way and I actually got a really good waffle cone. The man who worked in the shop was really nice too. We made conversation about Jeni’s.

The Duomi doesn't even look real

The bathtubs they have all over Florence

While we were hanging out in the hotel, I looked around on the internet for some clubs that we could go to. Florence has a club that actually sounded really cool, with five floors and different music on each one. It had an outrageous cover charge of twenty euros though, so I decided it wasn’t going to happen. A lot of the other clubs had similar cover charges or weren’t open on Mondays. In fact, only one was free and it was pretty far from our hotel. Monday is such an awkward clubbing night.

We tried to go to the Boboli Gardens after everyone woke up, but the gardens closed at 6:30 and no one wanted to walk all the way there. I tried to find us a bus route, but we had trouble. We ended up going back to the hotel for a little while before we got bored and decided to wander around.

Pam, Chelsea, and I walked along the river, which was feasible once the sun went down a little bit. We took a lot of pictures and walked along the quaint Italian streets. Florence really didn’t feel like home though. We found a market and bought some fruit and Barcadi Breezers then walked down the street drinking them until we found a cheap café for dinner. We all ordered sandwiches and ate them out on the patio before going back for desert. We were charged extra because we ate at the restaurant. I’ll never understand all of the hidden charges.

The expensive gelato in the center of Florence - 15 euros for a waffle cone!

Dinner of sandwiches

A bridge in Florence

After dinner, we wandered the streets of Florence in search of Absinthe, but it sounds like most of the stores that sell hard liquor close at 7PM. It was pretty much a wild goose chase from going where one person told us to where the next person said we would be able to find it. We ended up at some African picnic/dance party that may or may not have been political in orientation. I didn’t really feel like dancing and none of the guys were cute, so I didn’t really want to stay. But I did because Pam and Chelsea were having a good time dancing with the guys.

When it was time to go, Pam suggested that we take a picture with all of the guys that we had been dancing with. They had been teaching us moves and Pam and Chelsea had been sharing theirs, so a sort of camaraderie was formed. They didn’t speak English very well though, so it was difficult getting them into a picture formation. One guy kept doing weird hand signals too, but he would wait right until the guy was taking the picture to do them, so we couldn’t stop it.

Once the pictures were over, we went to leave and Pam noticed that nearly ninety euros were missing from the front pocket of her shirt. She immediately asked who had taken it, but obviously, no one confessed. We looked at the pictures that had just been taken and you could clearly see a guy reaching toward the same pocket the money was in. Everyone in the picture, his friends included, started blaming this guy and Pam got into an argument with him. A bunch of other people who had been sitting under some of the tents set up for the party came over to see what the commotion was. They also started arguing that Pam probably lost the money and there’s no way one of the guys took it because he’s one of them, one of the “hardworking people”. It all pretty much sounded like bullshit but we didn’t know what to do. Pam was really flustered and me and Chelsea were just standing on the sidelines, upset.

The guy that Pam accused gave her twenty euros and another guy came over and kept saying that we should be friendly and was trying to keep the peace while saying that Pam was wrong. Another girl came over and started arguing that no one was at fault, that they were just trying to have fun and we shouldn’t bring bad vibes into their party. She seemed kind of drunk while she was arguing, but she knew both English and Italian, so it made the most sense to pay attention to what she was saying. She gave Pam another thirty-five euros in an attempt to get us to stop worrying about the money.

We were still trying to figure out what to do. It sort of seemed like Pam wanted to report the theft and I had seen a few police cars drive by before everything happened, so I started to walk out to the street near the plaza to see if I could find another. Just as I started walking, one drove by. I ran over to the car with my hand in the air, trying to get their attention. The woman who spoke both English and Italian realized what I was doing and started charging after me with a beer bottle in her hand. Apparently, it was quite the sight.

I managed to get the police’s attention though and they parked their car nearby. One of the officers only spoke Italian though and the woman started into her side of the story in fast Italian before I even had the chance to explain what was happening. She put her beer bottle down on the ground while she was having the conversation with them.

Once the other officer walked over, I was able to tell them what happened, but I have no way of knowing what she said to them. Essentially the officer just kept repeating that we needed to be “friendly, friendly.” He said there was really nothing we could do except go to the police station and file a report in the morning, and even then, he didn’t really see what that would do since we’re just tourists. Pam was freaking out because she didn’t have her passport on her and she was afraid that they would ask her for it if she filed a report, but I tried to calm her down while conversing with the officer. The whole time my legs were shaking. I hate talking to figures of authority.

It was ridiculous though because it was like he looked down on us because we weren’t citizens and felt no need to help us whatsoever. I never realized foreign police were so rude. As much as I hate the local police and all that I’ve been through with the law, this has made me respect the way they enforce things in America a little bit more. On top of the lack of help, the officer proceeded to lecture me about trying to get their attention. He said that running after a police car and calling for help are things that you only do if someone is getting hurt or killed. He made it sound like their job was basically to drive around writing tickets and preventing murders. I wanted to fight back against the lecture, but I just tried to thank him for his assistance with the smallest amount of sarcasm possible before walking away. I needed to leave to control my temper. I can’t stand when people are rude and unhelpful.

We spent the walk back to the hotel trying to calm Pam down and figure out where we were. We were actually pretty far away when this all happened and we ended up being twenty minutes late for the meeting. I think Kimberlie and Dr. Fink understand though.

Ireland: Hamburger Helper

The Air Canada plane ride to Ireland was really peculiar. I couldn’t bring myself to fall asleep on the plane, but that’s okay because they served us a meal midflight. The dinner consisted of a fruit cup, brownie, noodles, chicken, and a roll. The food was actually really good!

After dinner, they came around to offer all of the passengers nightcaps. I was surprised when the flight attendant offered me wine, but I declined. It didn't sound like it would be the best idea if we hit any turbulence. I read for most of the plane ride and then they gave us banana muffins and orange juice in the morning.

We waited forever in the customs line, to the point where I noticed their exit signs are a lot different here. We decided to pose underneath a sign for a picture. It’s going to be our thing while we’re here.

Our exit sign pose

After leaving the airport, we got on a bus headed toward Cork. I fell asleep almost immediately and didn’t wake up until we stopped for lunch. I tried a chargrilled chicken pita with chips from the Burger Bar. The chicken was good but I didn’t realize the pita was going to come with a ton of stuff on it. The bread wasn’t very thick either, which was a bummer. I tried the chips with vinegar and salt, but it wasn’t very good and neither was their tomato ketchup, so I just ate them plain. Our bus trip continued until we arrived at the hostel, which is actually quite nice.

My Chargrilled Chicken Pita from the Burger Bar

After dropping off our luggage, we went to explore St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral. It was really boring, but pretty to take pictures of outside. I bought two postcards of Cork while we were there. We stopped at a park near the hostel on our way and were able to take some really scenic pictures. Afterward, my travel group broke off to buy some groceries for the hostel, but we ended up getting lost and wandering around the city.

A peculiar tree found in the park.

The University of Cork, right near our hostel

St. Fin Barre's Cathedral

We carried the groceries back and the other group had dinner ready. It was hamburger helper – the most disgusting thing that I’ve ever eaten. Needless to say, I’m still hungry.