Sydney Debriefing

So, in 2 ½ days, it appears that we have managed to cover a lot of ground and in our estimation, we have walked 13 miles. In other words, if we walked this distance in NYC, we would have covered over half of its square mileage (23 sq. miles). However, walking 13 miles in Sydney means covering less than 2% of Sydney’s 678 square miles. Though it doesn’t seem like we’ve covered much now that we think of it, we have managed to walk around the Sydney Opera House, boat out to and walk the cliffs of Watson’s bay , stroll down Oxford Street (Sydney’s answer to NYC’s West 3rd St. – more adult shops than I can count on both hands), scaled the Harbour Bridge , recoiled watching eels swim in the ponds in the Royal Botanic Gardens, dine on the water in Darling Harbor, salivate watching the surfers in Bondi Beach
, and pub crawl throughout the Rocks. Sydney has something for everyone and has been well worth the jet lag and shin splints.

Beyond giving us a lot to satiate our thirst for travel, it has also given us the following observations:
1) They need to stop saying sorry, especially because I’ve yet to find something that they should be sorry about. They are not sorry for any shortcomings of their own, they are sorry because I mumble, because we can’t make up our minds at restaurants, and because we hop into cabs without knowing where we want to go. The fact that they feel sorry for everything, however, explains why....
2) Imperfection is embraced. Though we have been going crazy with trying to see every square inch of this city, we've also taken some time to relax in our hotel room and watch some TV. One show that happens to be on repeat is "X-factor", Australia's answer to the US's "American Idol". Whereas the US version highlights singers as polished as the platinum artists that rake in millions each year, the contestants on the Australian version are about as polished as a pop warner football team in its first game of the season (I had to revert back to sports because I didn't have a "polished" analogy for singing because I'm a terrible singer). These contestants will forgot the lines to a worldwide hit 5 times during one audition and still move on to the 2nd round. Watching "X-factor" has been highly entertaining because they are such train wrecks, but it can also be highly endearing because it's easier to relate to these imperfect contestants. A great TV show overall, although probably not the best TV show they have because they have a show called....
3) "The Farmer wants a wife". This show looks to be Australia's answer to the US's "Bachelor"/"Bachelorette" series. Like "X-factor" this shows highlights people that we can relate with -- regular ole Farmer Joe's -- rather than narcissistic, semi-beautiful people obsessed with the spotlight. If only I had enough time to watch...
4) They make really good beer here. I'm going to write a post on this on www.halffullbrewery.com, but just to give you a quick rundown, they make many of the same styles we enjoy in the states, only their beers are made my ex-convicts such as James Squire, can be served in various sizes such as a midi, a schooner, a half-pint, and a pint, and can be found mostly in hotels because of old liquor laws that required any establishment that served beer to also provide accommodation (which I assume was to prevent drunks from roaming the streets). Thus, we've had a great time expanding our palates with beers we have never had at establishments of and with great character(s) such as the Hero of Waterloo Hotel and the Lord Nelson Brewery .
5) A correction to our last post -- we have not yet seen Wombats. What we saw in the Royal Botanical Gardens was actually a fruit bat known as grey-headed flying fox. Every Australian in Sydney is sorry for our mistake.

That's all for now, onward to Coogee Beach, Lindsay's former home!

Guess's who's back....

......POOR MAN's JET-SETTERS ARE BACK!!! Two years, a wedding, school, new jobs, 3 moves, and a dog later and we've landed in Sydney, Australia for any of you out there still reading. Consider this post and hopefully a few more from the great continent of Australia as the band getting back together for one last fan tour.

We landed in Sydney around 6:30 AM Sunday local time. (4PM Saturday ET) after about 36 hours of travel..OUCH. I think I'd blocked out how painful the flight is. San Francisco to Sydney is almost a 15 hour flight. Although it was really smooth, it's just so hard to sleep. So we sat through few a few painful movies, and again I sat in a sleeping pill induced haze, yet unable to actually snooze. After customs we arrived at our hotel right off of Hyde Park and unfortunately it was too early to check-in so we were forced to immediately hit the city in our scuzzies. We powered through and were able to visit the Rocks area of the city, the Rocks market, the Strand Arcade, Circular Quay, the Opera House, and wander through the Royal Botanical Garden. Conor's quote of the day "This is my most favorite part of the whole trip!!" after being in Sydney for only 4 hours and seeing his first wombat. If Conor gets that excited about Wombats, I feel pretty confident he's going to have a great 10 days here! Speaking of Conor, let me just give you a little run down on his "tourist appearance" so far: the beginnings of an Australia beard, slicked hair, bright red "Dillion" t-shirt, and grimy jeans - nice - right where we left off. I wasn't looking so hot either.

After a long day of sightseeing were were finally able to get back to our hotel and crash for a few hours. After a much needed shower we had dinner in Darling Harbour's Cockle Wharf amongst all the glitzy restaurants, bars and the Sydney Aquarium. I'm trying to convince Conor that we should go back tomorrow to see all of the sharks and Nemo. It was really surreal to be back in Australia after 6 years, so far...looking exactly the same - same Hungry Jacks! We can't wait to get out in the city tomorrow with a little more energy and clean hair. More to come!

Wobmats! Duck!

"We're going to Hungry Jacks! Where we get the whoppers and the fries!" (Australian for Burger King)

-Lindsay & Conor

Trip Wrap-up: The Trip by the Numbers

Well, Lindsay and I are back in the states finally and I thought it would be fun to analyze what we accomplished during this trip. So, here is a look at our trip by the numbers (mostly ballparked, but we did our best):

Trip length - 104 days
Number of cities/towns we stopped in - 60
Number of countries visited - 15
Number of countries visited, according to the Palin Rule including stopovers - 16, our train went through Bratislava)
Number of countries visited, according to the Palin Rule including countries you can see - 17, I think we could see Hungary from our train at one point
Number of different beds slept in - 54...that means we had 54 opportunities to bring bed bugs home
Number of different carriers we flew on - 12
Number of takeoffs and, thankfully, landings - 22
Number of days we rode on long-distance trains - 18
Number of different languages we spoke at one point - 9 (english, spanish, french, portuguese, italian, greek, czech, dutch, and german)
Number of days we took hikes - 14
Number of different forms of transportation taken - 13 (plane, train, car, bus, smartcar, scooter, chairlift, 2-person motorcycle taxi, 4-wheeler, tram, ferry, subway, bicycle)
Number of incidents involving a bird of some sort - 3 (one parrot attack, one given to a tailgater in France, one given to a tailgater in Italy)
Number of times we had to pack/unpack our bags - 47
Number of job occupations Conor considered - 7,160,943
Number of those job occupations Conor is actually going to pursue - 0
Number of Malaria-pill induced nightmares - 22
Number of Advil popped - 30
Number of Pepto-bismal tablets chewed in South America - 16
Number of countries we went for runs in (working off the vino) - 6
Number of ATM withdrawls - too many
Bodies of water we saw the sun rise or set over - 5 (Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Aegean Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, Mediterranean Sea
Beaches blessed with our hard bodies - 12
Total distance traveled - approx. 34,500 miles
Number of times you will ever see me look like this again - 0














It was an amazing trip and thanks for tuning in and making comments, we really enjoyed reading them and keeping in touch with everyone that way. We cant wait to talk to you all about our trip and hopefully we can convince you to take your own someday too!

Love,
Lindsay and Conor

LAST STOP: Amsterdam

It's crazy, but true...we've reached the end of the 15 week journey. While this won't be the last post (conor has all these crazy ideas for a Final, Final post) this is it from abroad. We've been spending the last three days in the lap of luxury at Sarah's mom's apartment (palace) along the Prinsgracht canal in Amsterdam. We are being treated like a king and queen, so it's going to be hard to come back to reality. But, we know that our mom's will do a great job of spoiling us for a few days before it gets old (Conor just mumbled something about wanting his mother to make her famous chocolate chip cookies). While we are sadly sick of taking photos, we do have a few we'd like to share from the last two weeks.


Those this looks like it was taken from the summit of Mt. Everest, it was actually on the way up to Rigi Kulm. It looks like a blizzard, but it was just the cumulonimbus at the top of the mountain.



















On our anniversary outside our restaurant on Uto Kulm overlooking Zurich.
















Conor with his best friend, the Nightwatchmen from Rothenburg, who he was drawn to because, like Conor, he hasnt shaved or gotten his haircut in awhile and he wears the same outfit every day.






















Here is a picture from Bruges, very similar to Amsterdam, with less canals and no redlight district.

















Can't wait to see everyone in a couple days or weeks...and stay tuned for Conor's very business like wrap up report. Thanks for all of your comments, too. It's been a blast!

-lindsay and conor :)

Another country, another keyboard

Well, we made it to Brugge, Belgium yesterday for our 2nd to last stop before we head to Amsterdam and then home. Brugge is home to some of the best gothic architecture in Europe, two different estqblishments that serve over 300 brands of beer , beautiful cobblestone streets that weave in between the old buildings and over the many canals throughout the city, and yet another keyboard that i am unfamiliar with. Here is how the last 9 words of the last sentence would look if i typed them without looking at the keyboard: qnd yet qnother keyboqrd thqt i q, unfq,iliqr zith: Anyway, you can see how painful it is to make posts.

Anyway, inbetween our time in Switzerland and Brugge, we made two stops in Germany. The first was in Frankfurt and was really just a stopover. However, for me, it was one of the highlights of the trip because I got to see Notre Dame play live for the first time this season. We stopped by a bar that was playing the ohio state game and after the game, it cut to the last 1:33 of the ND game where we did our best to hand Navy a win after what looked like it would be a blowout win for the Irish. Luckily, we prevailed and I was estatic for that reason and because I realized that I have probably saved myself 3 years of life by not watching the Irish play live this season -- what torture.

After Frankfurt, we took the train along the Romantic Road to Rothenburg, Germany. This town, which is completely enclosed by a wall, has no modern buildings in it. We went to Hell one night, a pub located in a building with a foundation that dates back to the 900s. Anyway, it was a very sleepy, very quaint, and very beautiful city that was spared a US bombing in WWII because the US general in charge of bombing the town had a mother that enjoyed vacationing there. Anyway, we were very happy it was spared because it was magnificient. It was the type of town that was straight out of a Thomas Kinkade painting, and I of course loved it because I am a sucker for all things cheezy.

That is all the time , see some of wou in a few days and talk to you hopefully one more time.

Switerland Wrap Up...

But first, a settle of the score. Minus 1 for Heidi. I´m keeping Conor warm on those "cold bavarian nights," thank you very much, Warner!

Now to Switzerland. While Conor entertained you with comparisons of heidi klum and our hikes, I´ll bore you with the gorey details of our travels. With our stay in interlaken we undertook the Harder Kulm hike and rewarded ourselves with Fondue, wine, bread, and Suisse Rosti (basically egge overeasy, bacon, chives, and cheese all mixed up with hash browns in a skillet...it was no three star diner, but I was in love.) After two nights in Interlaken, we headed for Lucerne. Which is in between Zurich and Interlaken and is the "in between" in location too...its got views of the sweeping Alps, big lakes, but its also a small, very cool, Suisse city with old wooden bridges criscrossing the river that flows through the center of the city, cobbled stone streets, and fantastic restaurants. On our first night there we were lucky enough to sample one of the best, the Rathaus Brewery, where we met up with another American ex-pat, Pat Capen, a friend from NYC by way of Shaun Horrigan. Pat works for J&J about 20 minutes outside Lucerne and agreed to meet us for dinner and drinks. We had a great time catching up, getting answers to some of our Suisse questions, and sampling various christmas brews from the brewery. The next day we dragged ourselves out of bed and boarded a boat that crossed Lake Lucerne for a small village of Vitznau which is at the foot of the large Rigi Kulm Mountain. The weather was pretty crummy, but we decided to give the hike a shot. So, in 3 short hours we hiked directly uphill through various small villages, by the time we got to the top it looked like we were in Siberia...blizzard contidions, whipping wind, and certainly no views to see. But thankfully we got plenty of the lake and towns below as we hiked up into the clouds. Lucky for us and our freezing butts, there was a cog railway we took back down instead of hiking again....With our serious hiking amibitions behind us, the next day we set off for Zurich to take a bit of a rest and stay in a nice hotel.

We did a little sightseeing but the real highlight of the stop was to venture to the top of Uto Kulm (by train this time!) for a special anniversary dinner overlooking all of Zurich and the lake below. That´s right...10 years, and Conor´s still got some good tricks up his sleeve, great restaurant choice, Conor! It was an awesome restaurant with great food and awesome views. Today we returned to die Deutschland for an overnight stop in Frankfurt before we head to Rothenburg tomorrow. Sadly our time is winding down very quickly....

Auf wiedersehen!

Heidi Klum (the model) vs. Harder Kulm (the mountain) -- warning, this is a PG-13 post

Some of you (and most of you men) have heard of Heidi Klum, the German supermodel, but have you heard of Harder Kulm, the German Switzerland mountain overlooking Interlaken? Well, we had an encounter with the latter today and there are more similarities than you think. I will now compare them for you and try to decide which one is in fact better. First, the contestants, who you should be able to tell apart because one is human and one is not:

























Harder Kulm is the mountain behind me in the back picture, which took us 5 hours to walk up and down today. Here are some more views from our hike below...

Now here are 10 comparisons, lets see who wins -

1) Which one makes me weaker in the knees? Well, my knees are asleep right now from the hike and it is tough to get weak knees from someone who you dont see in person, so Harder wins this one.

2) Easier to reach? Took 4 trains and 7 hours to reach Harder Kulm. I can only imagine it takes a lot longer than that to get to Heidi, and once you do, you gotta deal with the big boy, Seal. Harder wins again.

(EARMUFFS for the next few)

3) Which one has nicer peaks? Well I saw Harder's peaks today and they were maginificient. I dont believe I will ever see Heidi`s plus Harder's will probably age better, so Harder wins and goes up 3-0.

4) Which has provided more wood to humankind? I believe that for both , we are talking in the high millions, so it is a toss up. 3-0 Harder still.

5) Which one would be more fun to mount? No question. 3-1, Harder still leads though.

6) Which one makes you want to take a cold shower more (good for the environment)? Well, I can imagine you get pretty hot hiking Harder in the summer, but it was cold today and we had to thaw out, so we ended up taking hot showers. Harder gives one away but is still up 3-2.

7) Better accent? Heidi`s is very sexy, but if she isnt talking, you cant experience it. Harder had accents ranging from colors to views that you could experience as long as the sun was out. I just realized that this was a really stupid comparison and am throwing it out, so Harder is still up 3-2.

8) Which is more attractive in autumn colors? Though the leaves were beautiful, I am actually not attracted to something that is not at least human, so Heidi wins and we are tied!!!

9) Better curves? Well, Harder's are hard, jagged, and full rocks, so Heidi wins this one and goes up 4-3

10) Which one would leave you more speechless? The views of the Jungfrau mountain range were absolutely amazing today, but I was still able to talk at the end of it. And I can only imagine how much of a bumbling idiot I would sound like if I met Heidi, so she wins this one 5-3 and takes the prize!

Well, there you have it from the perspective of a 15-year old inside a 26-year old's body. I hope everyone enjoyed those, which were just way to easy to think up. Does anybody have any other comparisons they can think of that I might be able to weigh in on?