One Last Post - catching up on months past

I haven't updated this in ages. I'm sorry to have been so slack. Mike rightly pointed out the dodgy quality of the last post, but it seems I've had far too good a time in the last few months to take the time out to update this quite so thoroughly. And, yet again, I'm too busy to transcribe my travel diary ("at 1:06pm I had lunch, then at 1:24pm I went for a walk..."), so here are more photos. Fill in the blanks yourselves. :)

Edinburgh

[the best busker at the Fringe]

[me and Kae outside "Chocolate Soup" in Edinburgh... highly recommended!]

Belfast

[The murals in Belfast. You can't really see it when the picture's so small, but the blue mural says "Stop that crazy son of a Bush." I like it!]

[The Commitments in Bangor. "Mustang Sally," anyone?]

Dublin

[The Garden of Remembrance, for those who've lost their lives for the cause of Irish independence.]

[O'Connell Street]

[the old Jameson Distillery]

[the Liffey]

[Guinness and Irish music... had to be done]

[Temple Bar]

Oslo

[the Palace]

[The sculptures of Gustav Vigeland in Frogner Park - just amazing]

[The model in the window of the Mini Bottle Gallery - I kid you not.]

Paris (take 3)

[Needless to say I got lost... again. I took lots of photos at the Picasso Gallery, but probably shouldn't publish them online.]

Lauterbrunnen

[The Jungfraubahn, heading up to Jungfraujoch - the Top of Europe]

[Crazy mountain climbers.]

[The view from the cafe that we trudged through to snow to visit. I'm going to blame my out-of-breathness on the altitude.]

[Me, Bart the Snowman and Tim from Melbourne. Tim and I spent two days in Lauterbrunnen walking down hills. We're tough.]

[Wall of Fame. It was a first and only, but c'mon - I was at the Top of Europe!]

[...as you do.]

[Lauterbrunnen. So pretty.]

[The second treck downhill, this time accompanied by Simon from Queensland and Chloe from Queanbeyan... and we saw a very lucky cow - what a view!]

[A shower in a phonebooth. They do things differently in Switzerland, by all accounts.]

[The Trummelbach falls - the world's biggest interior waterfall. Ridiculous amounts of water were hammering through the mountain every second.]

[Tim and Simon at Trummelbach]

[On our way back to the campsite...]

[...and the view from the campsite. Isn't it beautiful??]

Liechtenstein

Some of you may know my obsession with the tiny country that is Liechtenstein. Busabout kindly does an hour-long rest stop in Vaduz, so I got to get my passport stamped. The "Cross Country" run will, unfortunately, have to wait for another day.

[Me, Tim (with one of those mooing toy box things) and Lisa from Brisbane in downtown Vaduz. It went off, clearly.]

Munich (take 2)

[The things people in the middle of a continent have to resort to in order to surf.]

[The Devil's Footprint in the Frauenkirche]

[Random monument which, on closer inspection, was written in German and therefore remained random, in the grounds of the Nymphenburg Palace]

[Lisa with Simon, being a silly bugger.]

[The fantastic group of people I spent time with in Munich. L-R: Tim, me, Nick, Naomi, Eloise, Lisa and Simon.]

Isle of Wight

[The Ryde Carnival. How cool is this? A one-man Village People!]

[And if he wasn't entertaining enough, along came the Chocolate-Covered Group!]

[Osborne House]

[A bumble bee. Call me a tourist, but I still think they're cool.]

[The Smiths (long-lost rellies). L-R: Ben, Sara, Tom, Paul, Georgie and Grannie.]

[The cousins with partners. As Ben is single, while Tom snuggled up to Lindsay and Georgie was joined by Rossy, Ben picked up a nearby stone turtle to keep him company. Too funny.]

[Chris (cousin) and Liz (aunt) at the top of Tennyson Downs.]

[The fruits of Liz's allotment.]

[The menagerie that is the Smith's house...]

[No, we didn't cook the sheep.]

[And, of course, Liz's rats.]

Montreal

[The three flags of Montreal.]

[The Parisien Metro sign in the International Quarter.]

[I'm a big nerd, but I had to find the location where the Amazing Race had taken place. I've got to say, I love the tunnels.]

[The Biodome. Am I the only one who can't help but think of Pauly Shore when it's mentioned?]

[STOP in French. I liked this, mainly because of the contrast with the Stop sign I photographed in Dubai.]

[Mirella, whom I met in Rome and stayed with in Montreal, and her friend, whose name I have forgotten.]

Boston
I love Boston, and my third visit just made me love it all the more.

[Good old Quincy Market. Overpriced and touristy - just how I like it!]

[I'd actually not stumbled upon this before - it's dedicated to the children who spend time in the parks of Boston Common.]

[The skyline across the Charles River. I'd ridden here on Ben's bike and it was another goose-bump inducing moment. I just love this city.]

[Not the best photo, but Ben was running late for work. Ben and Jo, whom I met in Thailand and put me up while I was in Boston.]

New York

[Third time lucky - I finally saw Times Square's Naked Cowboy!]

[It was so good to catch up with Katie - as if the last two years had never happened. The random who tried to chat us up with the line "You two look like partners in crime" was a little interesting, though...]

Chicago > Champaign > Chicago

[Me and Dan at the Sox game. Obviously.]

[It was good fun to go to the baseball again, but unfortunately the Sox lost. Boo.]

[Yet again, Dan provided a weekend full of Chicagoy goodness. Sunday was spent tailgating before the Bears game. And boy do Bears fans know how to tailgate!]

[All together now: "Da Beeeeeeears!"]

[Down in Champaign, we got a little rural - apple picking with Kim and Helen.]

[Helen, me and Kim before hitting the town.]

[Travis in his apartment in Evanston. For those of you who haven't seen him since he went home, never fear - he's exactly the same as he's always been.]

Waikiki

It may seem extravagant to have come home via Hawaii, but with good old Jet Star and South West both flying through Honolulu, it just made sense!

[It looks impressive, and though it's real, it is actually in the garden of the Waikiki Hilton.]

[The view from the top of Diamond Head - the almost perfectly circular crater left after a volcanic eruption millennia ago. The walk to the top and back was supposed to take 90 minutes, but because I was running late (the park closed at 6pm and I arrived at 4:45pm), I had to try to get to the top as quickly as possible. 22 rather sweaty minutes later... I'm proud.]

[Diamond Head and Waikiki]


[I'm so proud of this photo. What a gorgeous way to end a fantastic six months!]

And that brings me to the end of my travel blog. I hope you've enjoyed it. Here's hoping that my plan to visit South America late next year comes about so that you will yet again have a way to procrastinate when Facebook gets boring.