Catching up on my Europe Posts… A bit of a chore to be honest… But being there three weeks ago means it’s still somewhat fresh but clearly beginning to miss a few bits and pieces…

To think tht just three weeks ago, I had some beautifully crisp weather with an unseasonably warm 5-15 degrees depending on where I was. And just a week after leaving, it plummets and transforms the place into a winter nightmare. And it forces the closure of a number of ancient attractions…

Pre-post but related short ramble: HIGH SPEED RAIL IS BLOODY AWESOMELY BRILLIANT WHY THE HELL DO WE NOT HAVE IT IN AUSTRALIA OR AMERICA?! Traveling though Europe on trains can be a bit of a chore when you’re not going from major centre to another major centre, but when you are, and when there’s highspeed rail, why the hell would you want to board a plane? Sure they’re not as fast, but they are so much easier to board, alight and smoother then flying… Not to mention the 0.01 EUR Wi-fi connection available on the Italian Frecciarossa’s!

Anyway, onwards with the post.

So after being on a beautiful French-run TGV High-Speed Train (or HiSpeed in Neteherlands) from Brussels to Nice the day before, it was another long journey on several not on a high-speed train, but on a slow regional train along the beautiful French-Italian Mediterranean Coastline getting on in the morning from Nice, and changing at Ventimiglia and Genova to our coastally remote-ish destination.

Manarola, Liguria

Arriving at close to sunset along one of several small villages along the famed and absolutely stunning Cinque Terre coastline.

The village of Manarola is such a beautiful little village, and a great place to spend the night after two-days straight of travelling for me. The brightly coloured houses that stack themselves along the cliff-face is just so cute! Many of the people here are incredibly friendly, and it seems that the baristas around here can make some good coffee. (and food in general; A damn good Pesto Gnocchi!)

We had the pleasure of enjoying the sunset along the rocky shoreline while being oblivious to the boating tragedy that occurred just down the coastline.

Every year, they place a brightly lit Nativity Scene along the higher clifface that encloses the village. There is a pathway towards the back of the village that lets you get up and be a part of the scene and inspect the lights yourself.

Rome, Lazio

Arriving at Rome after yet again, a long train ride on late-running regional trains. (apparently late-trains in Italy are as expected or even more so than Sydney’s CityRail network…) But once here, we arrived at the apartment we are borrowing for our stay here. A rather spacious split-level studio-like apartment which was pretty much my IDEAL apartment if I ever moved out alone or with one other person.

Not to mention that the glorious Colosseum was right at our doorstep!

And so after a straight three days of travelling, we got to explore the sights of the ancient city where stolen Egyptian Obelisks can be found scattered throughout the city.

And of course, the many many beautiful elaborate and intricately decorated churches.

Along Rome’s High Street “Via Del Corso”, Christmas decorations remain hanging between the buildings, and you get the sudden urge to buy a Mercedes product…

Why don’t we put anchovies on pizzas more often? They are an amazing ingredient. Especially on pizza!

And what’s a trip to Italy without Gelato? And some damn good Gelato too!
Three generous scoops from a place called ‘Giolitti’ for 4.50 EUR and a good variety of flavours to choose from. The three flavours in this off-white-light photo of Gelato were a super intense Tiramisu, Crema and Nutella – Which we swear was basically just super-cold Nutella.

The Spanish Steps with not the best lighting.

And the beautiful view of the city from the top of the stairs.

The Fontana di Trevi – Hard to capture the whole thing with all the tourists surrounding the area, and the lack of a full-frame camera or ultra-wide-angle lens.

A beautiful little fountain… Well… its not that little…

Altare della Patria. (Altar of the Motherland) – An impressive monument I must say…

The next day, it is off to see the and visit the smallest country in the world; Vatican City, and Saint Peter’s Basilica.

I had seen too many people use their tablet device as a camera…

Overlooking the impressive St Peter’s Square. (Tienanmen Square is more impressive though =P)

Inside Saint Peter’s Basilica.

Just… Wow…

And the ceilings inside the Vatican Museum!

Just… stunning…

Then it was time to visit the rather large building in our neighbourhood.

It really is an impressive sight, and amazing to see (for a good part) in tact.

To think it took them only eight years to build back then… Takes us longer to even decide to build nothing!

Quick hop next door to the Roman Forum. An absolutely stunning historical site within the Roma Metropolitan Region. I didn’t study Roman History, nor do I have much interest in it, but it really does make you wonder what the place looked like back then, and how life may have been like…

Many tour and school groups here too… English and others… Could have tagged behind one to get a pretty good history lesson.

*nyan* One of many strays that are said to roam the streets and historical sites.

King/Queen of Roma!

Pompeii, Campania

Some uber-cute dogs just sleeping outside one of the many entrances to Pompeii’s Historical Site.

Mt Vesuvius looms in the background of the ruins site.

It’s amazing to see the vast site in person. A lot of the things have been removed, but some (like this mummified body, are on display in cages throughout the historical site.

One of the Auditoriums where I impersonated Steve Jobs and gave a keynote presentation. A stray dog that was sleeping upon one of the stairs got up and left… =(

Much of the remains and artefacts are stored in a museum in Naples, which we didn’t really visit other than to transfer trains at. To be honest, it looked like a really poor city, and people all the place warn us about the commonality that is petty crime…

Florence, Tuscany

After a beautiful ride through a lot of tunnels on a Frencciarossa, we arrive in the Tuscan capital of Florence, and stay at one of many hotels near the railway station that look somewhat dingy, and smell of mould.

Here we met up with our good buddy Daniel who is working his way down to Rome from Germany. With him, an old friend of his who is tagging along. (He uses Olympus… *judges*)

Above is their main church or “duomo”, which contrasts the majority of other churches by having an ornately decorated exterior…

Whilst having a more modest interior.
Nonetheless it has a REALLY HIGH ceiling…

The Arno river runs through the City, and street stores line the… streets… with shoes and leather. (Never seen someone try so hard to sell people a BLUE leather jacket…)

A replica of Michelangelo’s “David” stands in one of Florence’s main squares.

We visited the Pitti Palace, which honestly is a ridiculously regal ‘house’, but no photography of the interior was permitted. So here’s the view of Florence from one of the many rooms.

A Florentian Waffle.

A place we were recommended to eat at here by one of our Paris buddies, was ‘La Taverna’ on the corner of Via Cimabue, and Via Arnolfo, which was a bit out of the way, but very much worth the walk. The place is mainly filled with locals, and they have a rather nice steak here.

I love a good Tiramisu. Had a good number of them over the duration of my trip.
They had an interesting Tiramisu here, which was more creamy and light, than slightly rich and somewhat heavy like I’m used to.

Venice, Veneto

Then another High-speed train later, we arrive at the jaw-droppingly beauty that is Venice.

Plenty of intricate glasswork, glass-blowers and miniatures can be found throughout the maze of piazzas, canalways and alleyways of Venice.

And of course, plenty of Venetian masks! (Which don’t really fit my Asian head properly… =/)

Looks like they’ve had a recent outbreak of toxic paint issues here…

Venice is an absolutely gorgeous centre of Italy. The Grand Canal that runs through the island city is the main transport route.

Many much smaller canals like this one that enable access to the more inner-parts of the city.

Piazza San Marco – The main square in Venice which I never new exisited and I was just struck with awe at the place.
Am I the only one who knows Venice for their pigeons? (My family and Bevan knew… XD)

After spending most of the day through narrow alleys and crowded pathways, I was shocked to see such a large square in such a tightly enclosed space! (As well as another amazingly ornate church!)

That evening along the San Marco coast, we decided to take an expensive Gondola Ride because you’re in Venice! you kinda have to… (I guess that’s why they cost so much…)

HYPER-SPEED!

The purple sunset glowing behind Santa Maria.

The boat ride was really chilly, so we decided to hop into what we weren’t expecting to be somewhat expensive hot chocolates/mochas. These buddies were about 8 Euros.

CONTRAILS!!!

Peggy Guggenheim Museum of Venice. Told to visit here for this statue specifically.

Modern Art is weird…

Out on the point of where the Santa Maria della Salute is, overlooking the lagoon. It was ten degrees and sunny when we went. Our buddy Daniel was there three days before us, where it was minus-four and the place was just fog…

A statue that stands on the point, that symbolises boy’s triumph over frog. (I really don’t know…)

My last ‘real’ meal in Europe. How could I go past a plate of fried seafood?!

My last day in Europe was spent for the most part in fast-moving metal tubes… En-route to Zurich from Venice by train, I had a stopover in Milan, where I was greeted by a big beautiful Nokia Lumia 800 Banner. But it was also the place where I had to farewell my travel comrades as they made their way onwards to a different region of Switzerland.

Only walked out of the station a bit to look around. Didn’t head into the centre because there were scary-ish beggars outside most of the Metro stations… But having three hours till my train to Zurich, I walked towards the main financial district, which(like most European Cities) is being constructed. Love glass and concrete!
(I felt like I was in Shanghai!)

Next thing I knew, I arrived at Zurich Airport, the only place I could actually visit of ‘my time’ in Switzerland… Buit it was time to part ways, good weather resulted in a no delay flight out, and so it was 22 hours (With a ramen stop in Hong Kong of course. XD) of flying back home.

After a week in Paris with my New Years Eve comrades, it was time to part ways, some for Germany, others for various other parts of France. For me, it was off to the Benelux region, (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxombourg, but no Luxombourg…)

- Liege, Belgium

Liege is one of three, ‘significantly major’ centres in Belgium, and in 2009, the city’s main station – Liège-Guillemins – got a massive upgrade, designed by the ever growing portfolio of Santiago Calatrava . In doing so, they’ve increased their rail capacity, and has opened the corridor for TGV high-speed rail.

Though Liege is far from an excitingly vibrant city. This is their main town centre on a quite Sunday. Very little is open on the Sunday, with the main shopping piazza pretty much deserted…

The main square in Liege where four people were killed a month before this photo was taken after a gunman fired and dropped grenades below from close to where I was standing. The glass still hadn’t been replaced at the bus stands below.

Every Sunday though, everyone’s at local markets here where the locals buy and sell their goods along the Meuse River which runs through Liege.

Inside the main church of Liege. It was interesting to see it’s black exterior and it’s comparatively dark coloured interior.

Before coming here, I had never heard of the city before. All I knew was that my Uncle lived here (hence why I visited Liege…) Arguably, the most notable permanent attraction here is pictured above, “The stairway of the Montagne de Bueren”. I had seen pictures of this famous stairway before, but had no idea what it was called, where it was, or what was famous about it. Turns out it leads to a citadel?

- Maastricht, Netherlands

A quick hop across the border took us to the City of Maastricht, a large-ish city located in southern Netherlands, also along the Meuse, of similar size to Liege from my short two hours here. It was amazing seeing the subtle yet strikingly large differences once you crossed the border.

It is a supposed to be a major centre of history and culture but I only managed to get a tour of the town centre, whereby I was told at the sight of a Kentucky Fried Chicken store that Belgium does not have any of these. Same with Burger Kings… But yeah, that was pretty much all I got to see.

- Brussels, Belgium

Then again it was a quick hop to the capital of Belgium and of the European Union, where of course, a waffle had to be eaten. ^^

Similar to Liege, I knew very little about Brussels… Above; Manneken Pis. Pretty much all I knew about Belgium apart from waffles, chocolate and beer.

About as well known as Denmark’s “Little Mermaid”, many legends behind it, the one I like is this:
“Brussels was under siege by a foreign power. The city had held its ground for some time, so the attackers conceived of a plan to place explosive charges at the city walls. A little boy named Julianske happened to be spying on them as they were preparing. He urinated on the burning fuse and thus saved the city”

In the main square where famous people wrote famous stuff, (See:Marx) is Brussel’s Town Hall. Another piece of architectural discussion. It’s a non symmetrical building…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels_Town_Hall

“…it stands 102 metres (335 ft) tall. It has nine steel spheres connected so that the whole forms the shape of a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times”
I don’t know how I had never seen the above monument before, but it’s also an icon of Belgium almost as famous as ‘Manneken Pis’ and similar of story to the Eiffel Tower. Twas built for the Expo in Brussels in ’58, and is called The Atomium. Unfortunately, it was closed from the 8th to the 13th, (the duration of my stay here in Brussels)

Cinquantenaire, built to celebrate Belgium’s 50th Anniversary, and is similar to Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate.

Rather large Military Museum located in one of the Gate’s wings.

I would love a Musket(?) with a pretty pattern just to put on for display.

Then it was down to see “The Lions Mound”, where the Battle of Waterloo took place. (I’m a historical n00b and thought it was in England…)

It’s just outside of Brussels and you pay 6 Euro to walk up this hill…

- Amsterdam, Netherlands

From one capital city to another; had a day to spend in probably one of the more intriguing cities of Europe, and what I think is a clever advertising slogan.

Both Belgium and the Netherlands are known for their production of diamonds so decided to pay a trip to see one of the factories/museums.

Honestly though, although pretty, I don’t understand why these can be sold for 58,300 Euros.

The Van Gogh Museum’s boring exterior, and where interior photography was prohibited. Van Gogh was an interesting person…

Heineken.

Trams run up and down the incredibly long main shopping piazza of Amsterdam which I thought was interesting in both logistics and pedestrian safety…

Someone dressed up in front of the Grand Palace who I hope is not Poseidon…

Amsterdam Centraaaaaaaaaalllll Station. Gets incredibly busy in the evening and despite all the rubbish bins throughout the station, they all get full and overflow.

The appropriately designed “NEMO” Maratime Museum of Amsterdam.

Overall, my stay within the Belgium and The Netherlands wasn’t all that exciting, either because I didn’t have anyone I knew, or there isn’t all that much to see in the region. (Despite staying with relatives, it was the first time I met them since I was tiny, and they also said that there wasn’t much to see here or do here)
For some reason, I get the image that Belgium is somewhat oppressed due to their lack of… well… dare I say ‘fun’? Each time I crossed the border from France, or into France or The Netherlands, there was just a better atmosphere to the area. That said, it’s not like I had a bad time, I certainly enjoyed the experience in Belgium, but despite being the capital of the EU, there really isn’t much here. (NATO and in some ways the EU Headquaters are also incredibly boring buildings/sites. Though a new NATO HQ is being constructed but who knows when that’ll be finished…)

Bonne Année once again!
This post is a little late to go up, but heck, who’s ever on time with things these days?

Very frosty, as well as a hard landing at Zurich Airport for a short stopover, after a thirteen hour flight from hectic Hong Kong.

Honestly, I thought I’d have more photos from Paris, but no… Some of these were taken by my friends. (Above, my group of friends in Paris)

Then it’s onwards to celebrate the coming of the New Year in the beautiful city of Paris!

Our chosen vantage point; Champ de Mars, where fellow celbrators were a-plenty.
Sadly, there were no fireworks this year, (which served an incentive for others to bring plenty of their own) but the ever sparkly ‘Tour Eiffel’ is always a nice sight

A much later on view of the Tower in the night when there are traffic jams and broken bottles scattered throughout the streets.
But NYE is just a small part for why I’m here…

FOOD (particualarly patisseries) was a huge pull for me coming to Europe. (apart from the fact a number of friends are here)
And yes, food from corner bakeries, and for the most part, in supermarkets are quality and delicious. (Except for milk… It seems rather hard to buy just ‘fresh’ milk, whether full-cream, 2% or skim…)

This Niscose from a small cafe vaguely around the site of Notre Dame, was absolutely munch-alicious. Anchovy, tuna, potato, egg, lettuce, green beans, tomato, olive and peppers. If memory serves, about 10 Euros? Which I’d delightedly pay for again.

Being the holiday season, Paris, along with almost every other major European city (so it seems) has large ice skating rinks in their city centres, often in front of Town Halls or bustling market places.

Down the Champs Elysee, the Christmas markets sell tons of various mulled wines, soups and other french-style street food, along with random books and jewleries.

The avenues and boulevards that are the life-blood of Paris are lined with foliage and shrubbery along the sides.

In between boutique shops and the creperies, Paris being pretty much the arts capital of the world; Street art can be found on walls, signs and generally wherever there’s space throughout the city.

Along one of the major boulevards that direct into Bastille, camera stores can be found selling digital, film, vintage and enthusiasts from the many generations image capturing technology has been around.

The large pole that is Bastille.

One of the most contraversial pieces of mordern arhcitecture, the pompE2 (as I like to call it, because it’s such a post-modern name) is one of my favourite buildings in Paris, for having the insides on the outsides.

Much later on my Parisian week long excursion, a daytime trip to the Eiffel. (well, late evening)

What immortal hand or eye. Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

After a lot of stairs, (yes we chose the stairs over elevator) the view from the first floor observation deck and just a small part of Paris below. (For some reason, this bit looks like Canberra to me)

The same area, at night, from the top level observation deck. (Top of the tower pretty much)
One of the things about Europe is the lack of skyscrapers. In some ways it’s kind of nicer as you have the Eifel Tower centrepiece (though it’s not in the centre) provides an amazing view of the low-rise metropolis below.

The Lourve’s iconic square glass-pyramid. I wonder if Professor Langdon is around…?

The Lourve is an amazing piece of interior architecture, and personally, it is so much more mesmerising than the thousands of items throughout the mueseum.

Especially the hall where the Mona Lisa is kept and the Mona Lisa itself.

But really, I’m sure all the designs were stolen from Apple. =P

Walk like an Egyptian!

The apartment where we were staying was located near the Piere Lechaise cemetery, which when we went, was appropriately cold, overcast, leave-less and crow nested.
Above is “Chopin’s Medalion”.

And last but not least, the Notre Dame, which is by far the fanciest looking church I have ever seen.

Not far from the Notre Dame, is a bridge, where somehow, a trend has started, and people place padlocks alongh the fence. (One of my friends placed her own)

Turns out that you can live reasonably decently on a budget while on holiday, as we (so far) are well under-budget. (Although, I am a little tired of baguettes every morning XD)

La bonne année!!! from Paris!
Arrived here three days ago, but for the four days before that, I had a stopover in “Asia’s World City” of Hong Kong. My first time overseas that’s not Shanghai or Beijing. So it was nice to explore a city other than Australia, and not exactly ‘China’.

I arrived down at 10pm on Christmas Day, so I spent the night at my friend Geoff’s over at Tai Po who showed me around the fish market in the morning.

This is what fish markets should be like. It is a little disturbing to see that many of these fish that have chunks chopped out to be still moving, but at least you know the fish is still fresh.

Checked into the hotel later that day with another friend Shannon who arrived earlier and I’m tagging along with here in Europe, along with a bunch of others. (A decent view outside the window too)

After checking-in, we bussed down to the southern point of Hong Kong Island where the world famous Stanley Markets are, where there are tons of Angry Birds on everything, everywhere; just like the rest of Hong Kong.
Lots of shirts. clothing pieces and stuff you’d find at two dollar shops that sell a variety of souvenirs and overpriced tech. But it’s a fun experience to browse.

Having Geoff to show me around Hong Kong helped make the most of my four day stop-over. He’s up there for two months thereabouts so he had some time to help me out buy some winter clothing.

Decided to climb around on the rocks along the side of the bay. It’s a nice view out to the other side of the bay.

The place is a tourist hotspot with people from the Mainland, as well as Western tourists. It’s a medium length bus ride from Central, that is rather scenic but also a little scary if you’re on the top deck of a double decker, with the narrow roadways and steep cliff-faces.

Later that night, we visited the Causeway Bay area, and the Time Square department store complex.

Some form of Barbie doll exhibition was there at the time, and so plenty of barbie figurines and portraits of Ken around the bottom floor of the mall.

There is a large advertising campaign in Hong Kong at the moment for the Nokia Lumia 800, Windows Phone device.

But despite this campaign, along the Metro (MTR) and at restaurants, it’s most common to spot the iPhone, iPad, and Samsung Galaxy Notes and S IIs in the hands of all ages and occupations. Did not sight a single Windows Phone product over the duration of my stay, and so I was disappointed.

We also visited a rather cool eatery which offers meals in different serving portions. (They call it “democracy”, which I would have thought to be a rather dangerous word to use considering the official return of Hong Kong to the Peoples’ Republic…
I think it’s a genius idea offering “Small”, “Medium” and “Large” size options and respective pricing for pretty much everything on their menu.

This was a “Small” size of their Paella. Although the concept is nice, it’s a shame that the food is actually not that great… (If it’s not patented, I’d probably like to steal it =P)

Downtown Mong Kok – Street markets where arcades and alleyways are the way to shop. Plenty of random junk (or ‘goods’) and almost any form of technology (new and second hand) can be found around here, similar to the markets down in Stanley, but with much more pollution. Neon signs are everywhere, and so are a lot of people trying to get you into shopping/eating at their store. A true asian marketplace.

Down closer to Kowloon, where more of the higher-end stuff is, several large department stores and hotels along line the main road of Nathan Street. (Your Sydney “George Street” equivalent.)

Inside this one (not sure which department store this is) a Hello Kitty exhibition. I’m finding this Hello Kitty to resemble the Android robot…

An Ajisen Ramen was located here and so we decided to grab us some grub. The one’s in Sydney I’ve found to be not that great. This Hokkaido Scallop Ramen was really good, and a little more of what I’d expect from an almost world famous chain of Japanese fast-food.

Decided to take a trip down on a “Symphony of Lights” cruise along Victoria Harbour, which arguably offers the best views of both sides of the incredible Hong Kong skyline.

The iconic red sailed boat (don’t know it’s official name) sailing along side us.

Above is the International Commerce Centre, the tallest building on Hong Kong, and fourth tallest building in the world, and only recently completed.

The “Symphony of Lights” runs everyday like clockwork at 8pm for around 15 minutes, where the Hong Kong skyline is lit up with dancing lights and lasers on both sides of the harbour.

We need a universal power standard…
Ran into some power adaptor issues when it came to getting plugs for the outlets in Hong Kong when you use other adaptors from your imported good. Had to buy a Hong Kong adaptor to plug into the European to Australian Double Adaptor, to a Australian to Universal adaptor, to a Chinese to USB power adaptor so I could charge my phone… =/

My first “Cafe De Coral” experience for breakfast. A mild curry with pork cutlets, rice and an Iced Mild Tea to start the day. Food is alright considering the price, but considering this is the Hong Kong version of MacDonalds of Asian Cuisine… Eh…

Despite all the markets and large banner ads that decorate the walls of pretty much everywhere advertising nothing and everything, I still hadn’t bought anything substantial or needed for my Europe trip, and so the immensely large Sha Tin shopping complex was the last place for me to visit, where I picked up a new down jacket with a detachable windbreaker, a new MAN BAG, Touch screen compatible gloves, and a few dress shirts…

Jumped up to the public observation deck of the Two International Finance Centre, (55th floor I believe), where the view is incredibly disappointing, and generally unexciting… Just like the other skyscrapers over on Hong Kong Island. (But the 1ifc is so cute sitting next door! =P)

Below the 2ifc is the ifcMall, where the ever iconic Apple Store is located, the first in Hong Kong.
- Highlight of my trip.

A lot of the shoreline on both sides is on reclaimed land, and there is much still being created.
The ICC and the “Water”, and “Fire” apartment complexes of Kowloon can be viewed just across the harbour.

The last two things on my bucketlist; HSBC Main Building, and the Bank of China Tower.

Squirrel hunting in downtown Hong Kong. An interesting catch amongst the towers of Downtown Hong Kong.

Posing on a wall outside the Bank of China Tower.
Above photo credit goes to Shannon.

The Bank of China Tower – Highly controversial piece of architecture for not following the guidelines of Feng Shui.
Nonetheless, an icon of Hong Kong, and my favourite building in HKG.

Last, but not least, just before the flight, The Peak.

An awesome view of the North and South sides of Hong Kong Island, and incredibly windy.

Flying out of Hong Kong, heading off to where I am now.
Hong Kong International Airport is a beautifully modern structure, where the the coloumnless interior makes the ceiling just seem to stretch to infinity…

Quay is an Australian restaurant that boasts a top “Three Hat” ranking by the “Good Food Guide” for 10 years consecutively, as well as having won “Best Restaurant” and more recently “Chef of the Year” (Peter Gilmore) down here. None of us had ever been to a “Three Hat” restaurant before, nor have we spent $250~ for a single dinner… Not many would, seeing it as ‘just food’ but for us, ‘life is food’, and so, this was quite an experience for us…
So, after three months of waiting, and quarter of a grand poorer, my sister, my old Food Tech buddy Nick, and another friend Gaby payed a trip to the “26th best restaurant in the world“.

This post is more of a photo-dump, my sister has a long ramble over at her blog here. =P

Going for the eight-course seasonal tasting menu, I was delighted to sight the amount of seafood on the degustation.
AS expected, a great starter and combination of light citrus flavours to ‘cook’ the raw shellfish.
Also; flowers.

Never had a congee like this before… Definitely the surprise of the night, and probably one of the stand-outs of the tasting menu.

Very nice soft dish that focused on delicate flavours of the various seafood.
Wasn’t all that much lobster sadly…

My sister thought the two holes were cute, and created this ceramic, shell creature. (Eyes look like Android?)

Cocktails (Clockwise); Gaby’s Aperol Sour, My sister’s Amaretto Sour, Green Tea Squash for me, with water and Gaby’s cocktail in the back, and I love the single star anise in Nick’s “Quay Butterfly”

Or “The Pork” as Nick so likes to remember it as… The artichoke was fried to the golden crisp you see above. Kinda like an artichoke chip I guess…
You can visually see each layer; Artichoke, Mushroom, Scallop, Jowl.

Quail wasn’t much of a story here, but the combined textures was intriguing to say the least. ‘Funky’ was one way to describe it, with almost a rice-bubble like crunch.

Far from the most visually appealing of the tasting menu. This is what a Wagyu should be. Marbled and melt in the mouth texture that makes other ‘Wagyu’ definitely not Wagyu.

Gaby treasures her reason for being.

A truly amazing dessert.
Words are hard to describe how beautiful this little piece of culinary mastership is, and absolutely lives up to the hype behind it.

Loved the chocolate bark and pulled toffee sticking out of the dessert. Fairly decadent, with the salted caramel walnuts and prune hidden underneath the ice-cream.

Asked if this was an occasion towards the start, mentioned this was an HSC celebration, and we got a ‘congratulations’ towards the end. ^^ Also, as with most restaurants… It’s hard to achieve good lighting, and for me, photography quite diffucult… Overall, it was an incredible food experience that I’d love anyone who even has a minor appreciation for food to have at some point in their life. Bookings have to be made months in advance, and if you are interested, their website has much more information; http://quay.com.au/

Oh, the joy…

Where many have had their head down in a book for the most part of the last two weeks, I have not. The seeming amount of stress and effort many of my fellow schoolmates have been going through, I seem to be having none of that. Which really worries me… The fact I have found the time to even write this blog post, just hours before the start of an exam that will most probably decide my future… I don’t know how I’m doing it, but I am.

I have almost the same attitude right now as what I had before and during my Trial exams completed about two months ago. Relatively unstressed and almost an ‘anything goes’ attitude. Upon return of the tests, they revealed gaping holes in my knowledge, scraping into B scores for three of my subjects, while failing all my maths. I discovered how unprepared I truly was.

Had I learnt from that? No.

In Economics, we’ve learnt about ‘micro-economic reform’, where relatively small sacrifices in the short-term are made for benefits in the long-term. It would appear I have rejected to implement an equivalent for myself.

Over the past two weeks I’ve done little in terms of study, opting to do my usual, less productive activities. I’ve glanced at my notes every now and then, completed only a total of eight past papers across my subjects, (better than none, but nowhere near as many as others) and only sought help from my one of my teachers four days ago, who is now on leave. Even now, I’m clearly, not studying, and I feel like saying ‘eh’, to all my upcoming exams. I’m confused as to whether or not I’ve grown to ‘not care’ anymore, or if I’ve just become lazy. Probably both.

Despite this ‘laziness’, I haven’t been sleeping very well. Not worried about my exams, I’m more concerned about what I plan to do after the exams. And not about what lies ahead career/NEET/homeless-wise, but the short-term. “Europe or Japan?”, “24-70mm F/2.8 or 17-30mm F/2.8?”, “Anime or Manga?”, “Circle or Square?”

It has been driving me crazy.

It doesn’t help seeing everyone else seem to have their goals for the future already planned out. Many of my friends have their university goals made, what ‘fun’ they’ve already planned and booked for after their exams…

I used to think I had it all planned out. Earn some money over the next few months, pursue some photography, make my first pilgrimage to Japan with a few of my friends, move out from my parents, study at University, and have a career somewhere in the field of Engineering or Architecture. Though over the course of the year, it began to fall apart, primarily due to my seemingly growing disinterest in Mathematics and Physics…

Ack… I’ll stop here for now, I really do just have to ‘go with it’. In two months’ time, I’ll receive my University entrance score, and I know my results will reflect the amount of effort I’ve put in this year. I can’t help that now… I need to concentrate as much as I can on maximising whatever I can over the coming three weeks.

Wish me luck for my upcoming exams?
I know I’ll need it…

Ahhh… School’s over and yet it isn’t… With school technically finished, all that’s left is our HSC and and then it is a few months of freedom!!! (with one month of worrying about our results…) But in that intermediary between graduation and studying for my HSC, there’s room for a little fun, and so we decided to celebrate a bit with a little trip to Ribs and Rumps at Macquarie Park, among other places, and I’ve spent some time experimenting with some photography and with a new Digital Audio Converter one of my friends bought.

Ribs are good… Ribs are amazing…
Ribs are expensive…
Ribs and Rumps is a well known and established steakhouse here in Australia, most well known for it’s well… ribs and rumps… And they do some pretty good ribs…

What they aren’t as famous for however, is their coffee… Otherwise, they’d be ‘Ribs and Rumps and Coffee’ or something… This ‘flat white’ I ordered had foam that almost looked like you could make a nice coffee and meringue dish if the foam was egg whites and sugar. =P

Macquarie Park is an established business park with many large corporations, both international and domestic, locating their operational headquarters here. Sony Erricson is just one of them.

On the lines of technology, my friend Geoff has been doing some research into Digital Audio Converters and Amplifiers to complement his Alessandro MS-1is. His research led him to the above; a relative newcomer in the space, ‘Audinst‘ is a South Korean brand, currently selling international through eBay, the Audinst HUD-MX1 ($179US) has had glowing reviews, and like many new ‘unknown’ and ‘cheap’ Korean/Chinese brands, has been praised for it’s value for money.

Again, I was skeptical as to the magnitude of improvement I’d experience using a DAC with low impedance pairs of headphones such as my Creative Aurvana Live! (RRP $169AUD) (32 Ohms) and my Shure SE420 ($350AUD) (22 Ohm) IEMs and Geoff’s MS-1is ($109US) (32 Ohms). At the moment I’m giving them some time before I make a final judgement (giving the amp some ‘burn-in’) but at the moment, I’m finding an unsubstantial ‘improvement’.

Meanwhile, something that has been causing a bit of a stir in the Photography community today, was the above post by Nikon to their Facebook fans. The resulting outrage by Photographers (Nikon as well) to this statement has been both hilarious and depressing at the same time. I as a Canon user, who uses a camera more for fun than what people would consider ‘actual photography’, wholeheartedly disagree with this statement that “A photographer is only as good as the equipment he uses” because I know there are people out there who can do amazing things with what some would consider ‘the crappest of equipment’.
Whether this is a publicity stunt by Nikon, or whether it’s just some statement Nikon thought would generate discussion about photography in general within it’s fan group, they’ve certainly caused a lot of anger in the photography community.

Speaking of photography, thanks to Canon Australia and the tutorial video below, I discovered the somewhat magical concept of inverting a lens to do some macro photography. (Above is an inverted lens on part of small icon from my Zune HD’s OLED screen)

I tested it out a bit on my Nanoha Uniform Ver. figure by ALTER which I am yet to photoshoot, lighting, aperture, focusing and stability are things that need to be adjusted and are harder to adjust due to the lack of automatic features by using an inverted lens, there are some pretty inspirational results for me. Though there’s still a lot I have to learn…

But there’s still (hopefully) a lot of time for me to learn about all that, and I still have a lot ahead of me.
But for now, I need to get my head down, and prepare for my future.

With exams over, there were a load of birthdays to get through, futures to be planned, and just overall busyness!

Made some Kyubey cupcakes for my friend Leon’s birthday. First time I made cupcakes of these size, and the second time I’ve tried creating “Red Velvet”, using what I’m finding to be a pretty decent recipe index Epicurious.

My first time decorating tiny cupcakes too. Struggling to coat the frosting level and evenly across the tiny cupcake, as well as using the writing icing to create Kyubey’s face and keeping them consistent… Took a while too.

For another of my friend’s birthday, we visited one of the Gelatissimo chain of Gelati stores to pick up a “Chocolatissimo”. They don’t make the best gelato, but it’s yummy nonetheless.

But to celebrate my birthday, I decided to pick up a cake from the world famous Adriano Zumbo’s little “lab” in Rozelle. The place reminds me very much of Bourke Street Bakery in Surry Hills, due to the popularity and tiny corner location.

Small picnic with a group of friends at the Royal Botanic Gardens.

It was a beautiful day too, and you can get an amazing view of some of the skyscrapers of Sydney.

An expensive “Rose and Raspberry Millefuille” that was knocked a bit thanks to transport.

Didn’t want anything too heavy. The caramelised puff pastry was a tough one to crack through with a plastic knife, so I’m glad that we only had to share it with only 12 people. =D

PLANNING MY FUTURE!

Visited the USYD and UTS open days to see what they have to offer. Interesting to see that UTS was much more youth and fun oriented, while USYD was just like “Yeah, we’re good, and you’ll choose us no matter what we do/don’t do on open day”. Also payed a visit to Macquarie University open day today.

Morning of USYD/UTS open day was foggy indeed.

Spent two and a half hours on a Friday night to decide on a place to eat. Decided to settle on a place in World Square called “Thai Express”. Not too impressive, small setting, decent price… They make a good Thai Laksa I can say.

Also, I’m creating an Urbanspoon account to add to the many biased and contrasting reviews of various eateries of the world.

Lots of tech news around the world, with Germany’s IFA concluding just a few days ago. But down here, we recently got the HTC Sensation. One of my friend’s Tom picked one up and I must say, it’s a beauty! (or should I say “Sensational!” =P)

My own personal birthday present. =D
Been waiting for this Nanoha Uniform version by ALTER for over eight months now. So excited to see it arrive!

And last but not least, and since on the note of figurines, I’ve published my/Bevan’s Tenshi by GSC Photoshoot, which can be found here.

Picked up a beautiful Angel a good time ago, sadly, not for me, but as a birthday present for my good friend Bevan, who also allowed me to do a small photoshoot too. And so, some of the photos and my thoughts about one of Good Smile Company’s latest figures.

As expected from Good Smile, they’ve produced another high quality figure, this time of “Tenshi” from “Angel Beats!”. Packaging is fairly standard, and only accessory are the removable wings. Which I think is a good thing as I’m beginning to get frustrated with moving and adjustable parts.

With limited props, lighting options and time, I used the stock background provided by GSC in the box for some of these photos.

Tenshi’s skirt floats gently giving her a more ‘angelic’ appearance; which is nice.

Her uniform is, as you can see, detailed fairly well and on this model. Her paint job (at least for this particular figre) is pretty much flawless.

Those beautiful legs! ^^

I think clear plastic should be used more often. One problem though is that minute scratches and dust particles become distinctly visible , and impossible to not notice when photographing.

Overall, Good Smile has produced another well proportioned, and well designed figure. Although comparatively simple in design, Tenshi’s graceful nature has been well recreated in this figure, and has enabled some more advanced photographers and photo editors to produce some amazing pieces of art. There aren’t too many high-quality Tenshi figures out there, but this one by far is the most representive of her character, and the anime. This is a must have for any die-hard Tenshi fans (who have money) and I would seriously question your appreciation if you didn’t already have one.

Ergggghhhh… So tired…

So, my trial exams are finally over! (Hence a lack of activity on my blog) Pretty sure I didn’t do all that well in them, but they are over now and I can get a little bit of my life back.
And so, With trials over, we can PARTAYYY! A number of my friends are celebrating their coming of age (18) now, and so will I in the coming few days! ^^

Having these trials has led to some interesting developments and ideas, some of which will hopefully result in substantial changes in the way I write and some reorganisation of my blog.

Leon (lokloklogs) and I are looking towards organising a joint blog project, and are preparing to launch it towards the end of this year. Details are yet to be finalised on but things are looking good at the moment, and if you were interested in joining us, or want to learn a little more about it, drop me an email at unmei_no_haguruma(at)hotmail.com, or mention one of us on Twitter @gochisoudeshita or @lokloklogs. =)

I’m really curious to try out Key’s latest production “Rewrite”, not just because of “Kanon” or “Clannad” etc, but with RyuKishi07 contributing ideas in this storyline (Higurashi, Umineko) I can only imagine it to be amazing! I purchased the First Release Limited Edition box over a month ago, but I still haven’t opened it, and I think I don’t intend to…? Also, I’m waiting for an English Patch…
Speaking of RyuKishi, I’m curious to see what he’s done for his latest work “Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni”… I’ve heard Umineko didn’t end to the satisfaction of those who followed it…

Finally managed to deliver Tenshi to one of my friend as a birthday present (over one month late) and he’ll let me do a photoshoot of her. I already took a few shots, (one above) and I cannot wait to publish a shoot in the coming days. =D

And since the trials are over, I might ‘splurge’ a bit on my anime watching, having just had Ano Hana dumped on me, and have fallen behind in the mildly-interesting series of “Blood-C” and “YuruYuri”… Should be interesting…?