It's not a cry you can hear at night, it's not somebody who's seen the light...

Oh ill. But already feeling better for sitting down. Darn you, blood sugar!

Clare and I went to Regent's Park! And we took pictures of it! And then found 55 Prince Albert Road, which is not a house at all so the layout of the house I found there LIED to me ;) I think now it might be 5 Prince Albert Road but I am so not changing it ahahhaahha I'm too lazy. So in Darker London, there's a house there shhh no telling. And I shall have to be content knowing Peter's house is SOMEWHERE on Prince Albert Road where I was and since I don't know the outside, it's true location shall always be a mystery!!!

Incidentally, the flats at 55 prince Albert Road are like 1066 pounds A MONTH for the cheapest ones. So. That's expensive. Imperial Court it certainly IS! Maybe the house layout was really a flat in the building.... hmmmm.... But it had staff quarters. Ah well, Victoria Lane doesn't really exist either DON'T TELL DEIRDRE!

We went to the Sherlock Holmes museum (which is on Baker Street which is where Kat lives! Well, just off of it!) and Camden Town Market and they were AWESOME and then we went to Forbidden Planet where I would have spent FAR TOO MUCH MONEY had I not felt incredibly ill. But I did buy the two Emilie Autumn cds I don't have from Resurrection Records. You would have LOVED it, Honey. And the market. Clare and I commented that if we brought Circe there, we would never get her away from it again! We went in the eletrogoth store and it was AWESOME! Fairy Goth Mother moved though, according to Clare, so no Yvonneing!

Tomorrow we're visiting the Globe and seeing Westminster and Big Ben before heading to Covent Garden since we missed it today on account of my bailing to rest. I'm such a spoilsport! I can't believe it's almost over noooooo! One more whole day in London and then a few in Dublin before heading to Montana and the touristic part will be done. It's been awesome!

Happy birthday to Circe and my Mommy! Also to Peter Kemp, who is 39 and displeased about it. Chin up, old chap. It's not like you're actually getting any older. Moving on...

I.LOVE.LONDON. Like love love. Serious love.

Vienna Love.

I went to the London Dungeons with the lovely Muz, Clare and Lisa. We jumped the line and I got in free, which was quite lovely! It was awesome and more involved than the Edinburgh Dungeon, and Idid the ride again and then Clare bought me pictures of the ride with me screaming and Muz looking too cool, and Lisa and Muz beheading Clare and I! Then we met up with Jess and had lunch where I had fish and fish and fish and chips. No. Really. I'll upload the pictures tomorrow and you'll be amused. And I ended up eating fish and fish and half-fish and half-chips so I finished most of it, GO ME! Then we went to the tower of London, after walking across the tower bridge which REALLY EXCITED ME (it did, ask any of my compatriots) and the tower was awesome and we saw crown jewels OooooOooOOoOOOOooo! Then we went for pizza and then we went on a ghost bus tour which was AWESOME and I saw Big Ben and the houses of parliament AND WE DROVE OVER TOWER BRIDGE IN A DOUBLE DECKER BUS LIKE IN THE MUMMY 2 OMGOMG except Brendan Fraser wasn't there. Which was most upsetting. But a strange and somewhat fit conductor was. He was awesome. It was a great tour. And I got a picture of where Sweeney Todd's place was on Fleet Street! And then when we were walking back to the underground station we passed the theatre where Jude Law is performing Hamlet but I DIDN'T lick him and the fact that he wasn't actually there has NOTHING to do with it at ALL... I'm a good girl.

:D

AND TOMORROW IS DARKER LONDON DAY and I might be having a really excellent time, if you couldn't tell :D

EDIT: Photos here

I'm in freakin' London, baby.

:D

I’m on a train! I’m headed for London, which is very exciting and I can see the ocean which makes me very, very happy! The ocean is Lara’s favourite :D Apparently I'm in Somewhere-on-Tweed. It's pretty! And I cannot express how pleased I am to be leaving Edinburgh.

Now that I think about it, Edinburgh or where ever I happened to go after Vienna, was always going to suffer from a case of the Not-Viennas. I really wanted to love it, but I just didn't. That isn't to say I hated it, with the exception of the TERRIBLE hotel I was staying in. Dear Lord, never again. It was called the Herald House Hotel, but I have another, more colourful name for it which rhymes with (Don't look, Mommy!) Schmidthouse. I couldn't shower, the thingy was so small (though I gave it a go!). Ridiculous. And I think there was mould on the ceiling. But as I didn't know the festival was on when I booked, I didn't know to try to book accommodation in advance. Ah well.

The town itself is beautiful. My tours were incredibly enjoyable as was the visit to the castle. I will NEVER, and I say EVER return to Edinburgh during August again, however. The festival was impressive (I got chewed on by a zombie!), but there were people everywhere and they were all around me and shoving flyers in my face (Eventually I yelled 'JUST LEAVE ME ALONE' to one because I waved him away and he persisted by saying "oh, you'll love it" and then felt bad because he looked horrified...) and ARGH I couldn't take it. It was hard to find a place to eat or sit because of all the people. Never again. Though I did see the lovely Wes Snelling!! It was strange to run in to someone from Melbourne, even though I knew he would be there. I don't think an arts festival would be complete without the Wes. He yelled "LARA MOSES" and blew me a kiss because I was on a tour and therefore couldn't stop to chat :D

I walked down the Royal Mile from the Castle to Holyrood Palace and abbey (OMG Mary Stuart) but by the time I got there I couldn't be arsed to go in. So I took two photos through the gate and then sat outside and had Devonshire tea and figured the world could go screw itself! The scones were wonderful though, and I found a bus which took me to the Edinburgh dungeon which was GREAT fun! And then I found a pub and tried haggis, despite saying I wouldn't. It was actually good, though I wouldn't go out of my way to have it again. THEN I needed to find a place to hang until my next tour so I found a place advertising desserts and asked for the dessert menu only to be told 'this is a restaurant, get out'. Ooookay! Bastards. So I went to Starbucks, TAKE THAT! I guess they were worried I would take a table away from them where they could be selling a dinner, but it was 8:30 PM AND several people heard as they were coming in and they turned and walked away. MUAHAHHAHAH Jerks. I am not riffraff, and I don't think I look like it... So weird and RUDE.

The second tour was creepy and I can't imagine ever spending more than 20 minutes in the Blair Street vaults. Doors opened and closed (there really was no one there, we were STANDING RIGHT THERE) and we heard shuffling and screams. And I got locked in when I was on my way out all by myself, but I REALLY don't want to talk about THAT. So freaking scary... Then I returned to my hotel by walking uphill at night, by myself, because I couldn't find a taxi. TOO MANY PEOPLE. Oh and then this morning, my suitcase BROKE. So I taped it with crappy tape I bought from random-cheap-shop-owner-man, and the tape doesn't stick and it looks ridiculous and just maybe I want to scream but in a few hours I'll be in London, so what can you do, right? (STUPID SUITCASE, I HATE YOU AND YOUR STUPID FAULTY ZIPPER) I guess this means "I think I want to buy a new suitcase in the US" just became "I have to buy a new suitcase in the US if not before..."

All in all, I know the experience was not the place, so I won't hold it against Edinburgh, which really is an amazing city full of mostly friendly people. I do want to come back when the festival isn't on sometime. I think the owner of the Mexican restaurant said it best though, when I was trying not to sob into my mariachi burger. "You're not really here, are you?" I replied, "no, I'm in Vienna". It really wasn't all bad by any stretch of the imagination, I'm just grumpy from being woken up at 6 am by the Scottish workmen rebuilding the next door building and yelling. The hotel had NO sound proofing OR air conditioning OR fans to drown out sound...yeah. The hotel did a lot to taint what could have been a lovely experience. I still remain glad I went because it was worth it to see the old town AND to go down in the vaults even if it was scary!!

Oh and I bought a teddy bear with a kilt, and I am totally in love with him. His name is Quinn (despite Quinn not being Scottish. His Uncle/adoptive daddy is) and I want to buy an Irish bear in Dublin now, to name Flynn, (despite Dublin not being in Northern Ireland where Flynn is from) so they can be fuzzy gay teddy bear lovers.

Wow, there are a lot of sheep. (I am obviously no longer by the ocean...) Bring on London and Clare and Lisa and Jess and a NICE hotel. *deep breath* I'll upload photos when I'm not on a train ;)

Oh, and I didn't see Dylan (he lives in Edinburgh), but I'd like to think it wasn't because I didn't try... :D I'm going to go back to listening to Amanda Palmer and writing because that makes me happy.

Ahhhh I did it. I said Auf Wiedersehen by doing what used to be my favourite thing to do in Vienna. Getting lost. When you're lost you find some pretty impressive things and if you just let it happen instead of panicking, it can be incredible. I used to take the U-bahn to a station I didn't know and just wander until I either found my way back, or another U-bahn station and it was always when I had the best time (that was how I discovered the side entrance to Schoenbrunn I then visited constantly). Today I stayed in the first district because I didn't feel like dealing with the U-bahn and if I got really lost, my poor feet might have killed me. So I just went in a direction I hadn't been before. I found the theatre which will be playing the Dance of the Vampire soon. I found the Pestturm (which I have been looking for, stupid thing!) I found Am Hof, a little shopping district, and I found Petersplatz. Peter's Place (and Peterskirche). How perfectly perfect. When I found Stephansdom again, there was a street magician doing illusions to the song 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' right in front of the Dom. So I watched him and it made me smile. Then I just happened to find the best Wiener Schnitzel I have ever had, completely on accident. And some very nice people too. And I didn't have to punch anyone in their genitals, WHOOHOOO! Oh, and then I ate a Burger King brownie DON'T JUDGE ME!!

I don't think I will purposely lose myself in London or Dublin or Edinburgh because I don't know them well enough to try it. But in Vienna, it was the perfect end to a wonderful, nostalgic visit.

Now back to the epicness than is my current Johan scene, which I am madly pre-writing and which is making me ignore what currentstory I have... Oh Johan, how I adore you. And broody Thomas is annoying anyway! Ahahha so many people will be like "huh?" But OH there was a Thomas' shop right around the corner from Petersplatz hehehhehe YAY!

New Photos start here

OH MY GOD MY FEET ARE DYING!

I got to Schoenbrunn at around 11, only to discover that apparently THE POPULATION OF A SMALL COUNTRY decided to go to the palace today. Stupid people. Don't they know it's MY freakin' palace. So rude, wanting to partake of the history pfft. Anyway, the line actually moved relatively quickly for reaching across the palace grounds. And I had company anyway. Two Scottish men I met by accidentally punching one of them in the dingaling while walking with authority and swinging my arms. I was horrified, but he laughed, because apparently a girly punch to the mandingo does not worry a big, burly Scottish man. They told me things to see in Edinburgh and made me laugh until the line reached the thingy and we could buy tickets. They were going on a different tour, however. Alas. I so think they were lumberjacks. They were HUGE and I am tall. They called me 'wee lass' and said things like 'oh aye' ahahah LOVE!

When I had my ticket, it was then I found out you have to wait a half an hour before you can go in. That was so not the case last time! And this is someone who HATES having time to waste. I am supremely bad at it. I have to have something to do or I go mental. So I bought a souvenir book and read YAY.

The inside of Schoenbrunn is incredible, though I could take no photos to prove this. I can show you the book if I know you in person ;) It takes and hour to wander through with one of those audio guides, and I got to hear allllll about my beloved Sisi. That's Empress Elisabeth. Though Schoenbrunn was done up by Maria Theresia, so the tour seemed to center on her, as she deserves. That's Marie Antionette's mummy, by the by! She was born at Schoenbrunn!

Lara, stop it!

Then I went to the Hofburg which houses the library which is just amazing. And from there on to the Sisi museum and the Imperial Apartments. THAT tour was all about Sisi and her husband (COUSIN) Franz Jozef (who declared WW1 when his nephew Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo). By the time I got halfway through, I was done due to severe footache. I did finish the tour and then I came back here to sit. I'll find a nice place for dinner, and then walk around a bit more to say goodbye.

Tomorrow is Edinburgh and it's a darn good thing I can spend the day sitting around because I have a walking tour at 9 pm, and I want my feets rested. The hotel I'm staying at charges for internet, so I won't post anything until I'm in London, unless I post something tonight! But I'll be taking photos aplenty.

:X!

Oh man, how does one say goodbye to a place like this? I just love it here so much. And I can't wait to show it to my Lewi :D It's so strange leaving after so short a time because I lived here for three months and even after 8 years, being back is so natural. Like I never left. I guess that is how one would say goodbye. 'Until next time.' How German! ;)

My socks are patterned like cows.

New photos start here!

I went to the Prater and realised I'm an old woman. All the rides looked TERRIFYING and the ones that didn't required me to leave my bag behind. And I was like "forget that, it's my bag! It has my inhalers in it!" So I wish I'd brought my camera after all because these rides were full on (really, look!). Slingshot things and...man. Nothing half-arsed like Luna Park!! So I went on the Riesenrad (big wheel) ala Orson Wells (by the way, if you haven't seen The Third Man and you like film noir, you don't know what you're missing!). Apparently today is 'face my fear of heights' day. I was scared the entire time but I totally did it. Go me. Then I sat outside Stephansdom and had a coffee.

See? Old lady. I watched younguns walk by and sipped. Mmmm.

I remember once someone told me not to walk in the Prater at night, but it was fine. Like most of Vienna, it felt safe. Vienna has to be the safest I have ever felt getting around on my own at night, with the exception of Karlsplatz. And that remains true, and now even during the day it's iffy. There was a fight when I was there this afternoon (with knives, the big dummies), but the police were there in seconds because they have a HUGE station about every 5 meters or so. I gave it a miss tonight. It's easy enough to avoid. The dealers all go there and the cops mostly leave them alone (when they're not fighting) because then they're in one area and not expanding out into the city. But I have no need to be there, certainly! It used to be where I switched U-Bahn lines every day (U4 to U2 Karlsplatz to Schottentor!) but that was at 8 am!

Anyway...I'm old, and now I'm back in my hotel and itching to actually write something YAY!

I couldn't write yesterday because I baked my brains. BUT I went to Melk and it was awesome. So incredibly Awesome. Even if Peter cowered behind my brain the entire time. On the train there I saw this thing and though 'oh there's a kangaroo!' and then I realised that's ridiculous before realising it was, in fact, a haystack... But you know...a marsupial-like one...

I wandered in the Melk woods (yes, I was OUTSIDE) and then I visited the town before heading back, writing Peter-story in my head the entire way. I started a backstory scene, but as I baked my brain, I only got through two paragraphs. How did I bake my brain?

I went to Schoenbrunn on a whim (I am going inside tomorrow) because the train happened to stop at Huetteldorf station which I happen to known is also an U-Bahn station because I had to depart for class there every day for three months in 2001. So I got off the train there instead of where I got on, and took the U-Bahn to the palace. I used to park myself there several times a week to read, so it was purely for nostalgia value. HOWEVER since it was hot out (it was only 26, but I'm a wuss) and I decided to climb the gloriette and I had only slept for like 3 hours the night before AND I couldn't breathe (stupid asthma) once I got to the top I decided I cared for nothing. Absolutely nothing. So I came back to the hotel and slept. For TWELVE HOURS. It was awesome. Ah, vacation.

Today I went inside Stephansdom because I LOVE IT and it is the most impressive place ever. It's just SO BIG. I think you could fit my entire high school in there with room to spare. You can't get a proper photo because it's just too tall and too huge.

This sexy guy dressed at Mozart offered me his umbrella and I thought 'oh, he's a ticket-seller but he's being sweet' Then he was like 'pretty girls like you shouldn't be in the rain' and I giggled and thought 'Ah, he's not going to try to sell me any-' "Would you like to buy a ticket for a concert! It's not raining in the imperial palace!" Stupid ticket seller. What about our covetous glance-love!? *sigh* And by the time I decided maybe that would be cool, I couldn't find any of the Mozart impersonators to buy a ticket from. Oh well. I'm going to the Hofburg tomorrow at any rate :D

Stephansdom is amazing and I went in the Catacombs like last time. The bones are gross, as are the pots containing the guts of the emperors. Though I did make a funny when the guy asked if anyone knew what they were and I said, "They're for the insides of the people who keep taking pictures". Seriously, you're in a CRYPT and the tour guide said no photos 12 times. Have some respect.

I went up in the north tower and holy shizzle, it's terrifying! The elevator opens up onto this see-through grid and you have to walk up see-through stairs to get to the top. SO SCARY!!! And then you're just on this cement thing which was meant to continue to be build on, and there's a halfhearted fence around it. *shudders* But the view was awesome.

Then I went to Belvedere, which is a castle but also an art gallery. No photos were allowed, but I saw Gustav Klimt's The Kiss. Incredible. And a painting of Der Erlkoenig as well as several of Caspar David Friedrich's paintings. I love him and he loves boats.

Tonight I think I will head to the prater if the rain keeps away! No photos though, as it's a carnival-place. Or perhaps a cafe! Tomorrow is my Habsburg day (*SQUEALS*) and I PROMISE I will try not to make tomorrow's entry a history lesson... But omgHabsburgsomgomg.

New Vienna photos start HERE and Melk photos are here

Now for today's update!! I got to Vienna at around 11pm, and I was so pleased my hotel was only thirty seconds from the airport. I took a shower and got to sleep 50 HOURS after waking up for work on the 31st. It wassome good sleep, yo. No fooling. Dead to the world. I slept until 11 and then checked out so I could move on to the city hotel. I'm at Hotel Mailbergerhof, which is wonderful!

Everyone automatically speaks English to me and I sort of love the :O when I answer them in German. Today I went to the Folter Museum (it's about torture...shut up, it's run by amnesty international or something) and then Haus des Meeres. House of the Sea (HAHAH I wrote 'hose'). I saw fish and various! And the aquarium is in a flakturm which is a huge concrete tower which was meant to be used when the city was bombed. It is nine stories tall. SO, it has a balcony and I got cityphotos! Then my feet hurt and it was hot so I came back here to rest. I'm going out for dinner later, and then for a night time wander, because I love the city at night!

Tomorrow is Melk, and then I'm going to Castle Belvedere, Schoenbrunn, the Hofburg, Goodness. More places... I just love being here. It's awesome. It's kind of surreal though because I always dream about it and now I'm actually HERE here. So strange... It ACTUALLY feels like I'm walking in a dream in a completely non-wankery way!

Photos here More later!

I wrote this yesterday in Singapore. Facebook won't let me update photos yet!! (My feet hurt so I am relaxing until dinner!)

1 August 2009

Singapore’s Changi Airport is INCREDIBLE. I think you could spend your entire vacation here. They have a free movie theatre, and a BUTTERFLY HOUSE. Which is tiny, but it exists. I took pictures.

I went on a free tour of Singapore run by the airport and that was awesome too. We got to see a Chinese Temple, and Chinatown and Indian Village. Singapore is very small, and I am so glad I did the tour instead of sitting around in the airport like I am now! The tour was awesome and I took a lot of pictures. Can’t complain about free either!!! I then bought a tiny portable mouse for this computer but have no way to open it yet. FAIL!purchase! It's childproof, seriously...

This is an attempt not to fall asleep in the chair because reading wasn’t working! I was reading Wicked and it’s awesome but I am SO TIRED. To be fair, I haven’t slept since getting up for work on July 31! And I have a 12 hour flight to Frankfurt and then a 1 hour flight to Vienna. At least it doesn’t matter if I drift off in the plane. At least I just miss the in flight movies. WHICH I chose Star Trek and Wolverine and Boat that Rocked, and the only one I didn’t snooze during was Boat That Rocked. Never would have seen that one coming.

Like twenty minutes until boarding begins. I think I’ll play Solitare. I’m having a blast so far, and I haven’t even gotten where I am going yet!!! This pleases me.

Stay awake, Lara!! Stay Awake! And get used to this keyboard ;) (I’m getting the hang of it now. It’s SO TINY and my fingers are NOT.)

EDIT: Photos