Burrellian's Travels

Gallery: Sydney Harbour - NYE

burrellian — Tue, 1 Jan 2008 17:27:00 GMT

SYDNEY - New Years Eve

burrellian — Tue, 1 Jan 2008 16:49:00 GMT

Plane landed an hour later than scheduled due to a headwind most of the way. Fast turn arounds at both stops, so it felt like 1 incredibly long flight.

Mum & Dad were at the airport to pick me up, so was home before 10am. Unpacked & had a lie down.... woke up around 7.00 & decided to head to the Harbour for the midnight fireworks. One last little trip to finish of an amazing 6 weeks.

Germany - Munich

burrellian — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 01:53:00 GMT

Day 1 - arrive 16:37 - big Welcome to Munich Drink with Rob

Day 2 - Easy day, Robs band (POU) rehearsal in arvo

Day 3 - Shopping, music shops & site seeing, meet Claudia

Day 4 - Shopping, souvineers & gifts, big walk through city "had a coffee in a german beer garden called the Chinese tower, which was donated by the Japanese in the English gardens in Munich, Bavaria, where people keep their beer warm in winter in the fridge & cold in the river in summer.

heading home today 7,10 flight

I'll update this more later, gotta pack, haven't had internet at Robs place till today. AC

Gallery: Munich

burrellian — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 17:12:00 GMT

Austria - Innsbruck - Merry Christmas !

burrellian — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 21:06:00 GMT

Day 1 - Another full day of travel ahead, but very excited to be heading into the alps for a White Christmas :-) Said a quick farewell to Tarena, who is heading back to the UK for Xmas with some friends. I've really enjoyed having her company for these days in Paris & we've promised to keep in touch. She will always be welcome "in the guest room" of Burrellian Manor. I might not have found "love" in Paris but I centainly fell in love with Paris.

The scenery on the way was beautiful, was nice to see some French country side, even though it was rather foggy. It turned out to be a wise move to train it to Austria, as I found, out through other annoyed passengers, that lots of flights around Europe had been cancelled or delayed. As the really comfy train headed into the Alps the scenery changed dramaticly, the mountains rose seemingly out of no where & as we passed through a long tunnel at one stage the world suddenly turned white. Ohh Yeah ! this is what I came here for, snowcovered mountains, deep rocky gorges with raging rivers, cute little villages & fields of white. I was in awe of the beauty, once again, that I have seen on this trip.

Met an older American couple on the train after the change in Zurich, coldest station in the world so far, & they suggested a nice 500 year old hotel, that they had stayed in before when in Innsbruck. Arrived & checked in as they had a few vacancies left. Innsbruck looks lovely but it was dark when I arrived so can't tell you much. Made some plans after speaking with a few more people, to head to Stubaier Gletsher for some skiing tomorrow (link: http://www.ski-innsbruck.at/panorama.php)

Should be a Christmas day like no other I've ever had !

Merry Christmas to all my family, my life long friends & the multitude of new ones I've recently made. Love & Cheers, Andrew :-)

Day 2 - Christmas Day - Headed out just before 9.00 & caught the bus up to the the top of the world. As we made our way up, up & up the snow got thicker & thicker the surrounding mountains higher & higher, the scenery more breathtaking, literaly, as I was going higher than I´d ever been before, after each tunnel or bend in the road. Tiny little mountain villages speckled the countryside & real Christmas tress heavily laden with snow were everywhere. We made it to the top & left the warmth of the coach, WOW - both amazing & incredibly cold, about -10. Checked in at the ski school, hired my gear & was on the slopes, snow ploughing & making turns within the hour, my instructor was rather impressed :-) Had a spot of lunch & headed out to tackle the slopes on my own. Bit off more than I could chew when I headed up on the chairlift, so took a few photos & headed back down for some more realistic practice. Was all over way to quickly & caught the last bus of the day back to Innsbruck.

Met up with some fellow travellers, staying at the same hotel, that I had chatted to yesterdaz & headed out to have Christmas dinner with them. It was a good hearty Austrian feeast & the company was excellent. Finnished the evening with some gingerbread, chocolates & wine back at the Hotel.

Day 3 - After a great sleep had breakfast

Gallery: Paris

burrellian — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 10:07:00 GMT

PARIS

burrellian — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 10:01:00 GMT

Day 1 - Well it would have been if I'd caught the flight I'd booked from London to Paris. Got to the airport in plenty of time, just under 2 hours before the the flight, but once there hit a wall of humanity that just wasn't moving..... I took my place in the check in Q & waited, 1 hour.... 90 Mins still only halfway to the counter.... this is not good.... if I leave my place in the line to enquire, I'd have to stqrt again, surely they'll call my flight soon....

well they did & I wasn't on it, this is so stupid. Left my spot in the line & into another one for the airline counter, after another agonising 40 mins I find out there's no more flights till tomorrow & they will charge a transfer fee of 35 pounds, the flight only cost 60 ! On top of that, of course, would have been another nights accomodation probably another 50 + pounds. There had to be another way....

Got online & found it, Coach to Paris leaving in 2 hours for 41 pounds, that will do, so hot footed it to Victoriq Bus terminal. Made it onto the bus with time to spare & once again on was on my way to Paris.

It was a long trip around 9 hours, but this was broken up by the Channel crossing, on the Pride of Canterberry Ferry. Massive boat & I was able to stretch my legs for an hour or so. The ferry left from Dover, so I got to see the white cliffs, all be it at 1.00 in the morning.

Day 2 - Sunrise found me waking up in Paris Traffic, almost at the coach terninal. Once there (7.00am) took a few mins to work out the Metro & where I had to go. Was pretty tired so took me a bit longer than normal. Arrived at the Hotel around 8.30, after a knock on room 44 a sleepy eyed Tarena, greets me with a "hey, what happened to you, thought you were arriving last night ?" I considered crashing for a few hours, but the day was looking so sunny & inviting that I couldn't do it, too excited to be in Paris ! Terena suggested we take the free walking tour, which sounded like a good way of orientating my self with this big city. Turned out to be really good & have now worked out how the Metro works as well, it's not as well laid out as London but it's ok. After a lovely dinner & a sharing of travel stories we hit the hay.

Day 3 - Got an earlyish start, then hit the Louvre with avengence, this place is massive !! If I hadn't seen so much art in the world already I'd swear it was all here ! I lost Tarena after only about 30 mins, we hadn't set a meeting point so was a little concerned I'd not see her again, at least untill we got back to the Hotel. Ran into her a few hours later in the Egypt section which was incredibly lucky ! Got to the Tower just before sunset which was cool. Another big day planned tomorrow so had a reasonably early one.

Day 4 - Woke with a sore throat & the sniffles, you'd think I'd learnt by now not to push myself so hard. Oh well, went to the the Arc de Triomphe, took some great photos, but started getting the shivers. Left Tarena to explore the long list of galleries & attractions we'd planned & headed back to bed. Slept most of the day away, but managed to drag myself out of bed to have some dinner, but couldn't join Tamerna on the planned pub crawl, would have put me back in bed for another few days I reckon. Had a good night sleep though I was a bit concerned for my friend when she still wasn't back after 2.00am (when the Metro stops for the night).

Day 5 - She ended up gettting in as the sun was rising & I haven't really talked with her since. I'm feeling great again so headed over to Notre Dame. Tarena was still in bed & feeling a little under the weather when I left to do this update around 3.00pm. Hope she feels Ok for our planned outing to the Moulin Rouge tonight ? Making plans to head to Innsbruck, Austria to go skiing on christmas day, the train leaves at 8.30am & arrives, via Zurich, around 5.30.

Made it to Moulin Rouge, so glad I did what a great show ! understood about 20% of the words but everzthing was sung/said with such passion that it really didn't matter. At one stage during the show (during a set change) they had a guy up doing a ventrilaquisem act (no idea how to spell that - lol) he entered the crowd & picked 4 people, guess who found himself on the stage at the Moulin Rouge..... he instructed us when he queezed our hand to open & close our mouths, was very funny & great to be involved. No photos allowed in the place, which is a shame, but what an experience !

UK - Windsor, Stonehenge & Bath

burrellian — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:56:00 GMT

Coach picked me up fron the Hotel around 8.00 & we headed straight for Windsor Castle after picking up a few more passengers. Ended up being quite a packed bus with only 2 spare seats, I scored a seat which was cool room to stretch out :-).

Winsdor really impressed me, so much to see, I could spend a few days here going through the mulitude of collections on display from every era of the empire. Saw alot & learnt too much to remember but I've certainly caught the History bug & will be researching more of my British ancestory when I return. I mentioned to one of the info guys that I'd recently been to Waterloo in Belgium & he proceded to take me to all the Napoleon related displays which was great, tieing info into what I'd already learnt.

I seem to constantly run into other Aussies on these tours which is great & there were a few on this tour, chatted with one on the bus & a coiuple of young girls at lunch.

Lunch was at Stonehenge pub, bangers & mash, how very English & very nice it was too.

Stonehenge was inspiring, already knew most of the known history but it was greqt to be refreshed & to actually see the place with my own eyes. The weather today has been great as the photos show, but of course it has been rather chilly, around 5-7 degrees. Dressing acordingly, I hardly notice anymore.

Bath as a city is gorgeous & again I would love to spend nore time here one day. The ancient Roman baths we visited were quite a surprise, walking on stones laid thousands of years ago & marvelling at the inginuity of these ancient builders. So much amazing history here.

We headed back to London, where I checked into my roon at the Montana Hotel, Kensington, very nice :-)

Gallery: UK - Stonehenge & Bath

burrellian — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 20:49:00 GMT

Gallery: UK - Windsor Castle

burrellian — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 20:48:00 GMT

Gallery: UK - London

burrellian — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 05:22:00 GMT

LONDON

burrellian — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 21:55:00 GMT

Ended up taking a plane from Brussels to London city airport, hard to believe, a flight was cheaper than a train, it was a very small plane (Focker 50, if interested), then the underground to South Kensington, where the Hostel is. On my way to check in now :-)

The London Chapter begins...... found the hostel fine, headed out pretty much straight away for an explore, quite excited to be here, I hadn't really planned on coming to the UK this trip, but I'm so happy I did !

Took some night shots around town. Planning on a walking tour of the city tomorrow morning, if I get up in time.....

Day 2 - Feet a bit sore today so decided to catch the Tube to St Pauls for an easy day looking around.... Turned out not to be such an easy day on my poor feet.

I noticed on the city map that Kensington Gardens were quite close to my Hostel so decided to take a morning strole through the park & catch the Underground from the other side (Lancaster Gate). It was a lovely park & I even saw a couple of Squirels ! So cute. I've got this Tube thing sussed, so made it to St Pauls with no trouble.

Amazing place, 2nd largest Dome in the world, I'm told St Peter's in Rome is the biggest. Walked around for quite a while in awe of the multitude of paintings, sculptures & mosaic covered ceilings & floors. A shame they didn't allow photos or video, but I listened in on a few of the guides talking as I walked around & learnt quite a bit about the history of the place.

Then I saw the sign.... stairs to the top..... god I'm so sick of stairs... well I'm here now, might as well. So up I went. Over 440 steps later I was rewarded with incredible views of London. Even though the day had turned cloudy & bloody cold, I revelled in the fact that I was on top of St Pauls Cathedral in London, how cool !

As it was so cold I made my way back to the Hostel, then into an internet cafe where I am now. Going out for a nice hot Curry tonight, then an early night before heading too ? maybe Stonehenge tomorrow. Stay tuned....

I've decided I need a night in a hotel for my last night in London tomorrow so had a walk around the area & found one for q reasonale price, keen to hqve q night to myself & get a good night sleep before meeting Tarena in Paris the day after tomorrow.

Day 3 - Found a great tour to go on today, Windsor Castle, Stonehenge & Bath, all in one packed day. And what a great day it turned out to be !

It was a very wise choice to get a Hotel room for after this day, it was pretty exhausting, got back around 8.00pm & had an excellent Idian meal with a lovely English girl, Helen, she's a professional nanny, between flats atm, so she was staying in the Hostel for a few weeks untill somthing decent turned up on the Market, which is where we met. Really enjoyed her company, before a good nights sleep, heading to Paris tomorrow !! Woo Hoo !!

Gallery: Brussels

burrellian — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 08:35:00 GMT

Belgium - Brussels

burrellian — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 08:19:00 GMT

Day 1 - Arrived by train from Amsterdam around 2.00pm, walked around a little, before finding a Hotel for the night, pretty cold here. Ventured out for a walk around after dinner & stumbled, once again, onto festivities in full swing. The light show set to opera & rock classics was very cool, got some video for Steve, he likes thqt kind of thing ;-)

I've organised a personal city tour with a guy I met at the first Marillion show, that I've been in touch with since, sharing photos etc.

Day 2 - Kris picked me up from my hotel around 10.30 & we headed out of city into the countryside around Brussels. First stopm the site of Napoleons final battle, thats right..... "my my # # at Waterloo Napoleon did surrender, Oh Yeah # #...." ok enough of that.... but yep, thats where I was today, I felt so dumb, didn't even know it was in Belgium.

Anyway, amazing place, so much history my head hurts, 23,000 British troops with 44,000 allied troops and 160 guns against 74,000 French troops and 250 guns & yet the short dude still lost !

Kris then took me driving around Brussls taking heaps of photos & giving me a bit of history & the purpose for each building we visited. The Atomium was definatly a hightlight, had a really strange feeling of de sha vou here..... Kris was an excellent guide & of course the car stereo played Marillion all day :-)

Day 3 - Slow to rise this morning, decided last night to head to London today, so.... pack is packed again & off I go....

Gallery: Amsterdam

burrellian — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 02:27:00 GMT

Gallery: Croatia - Dubrovnik

burrellian — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:38:00 GMT

Gallery: Marillion LIVE in Amsterdam

burrellian — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:52:00 GMT

LIVE in Amsterdam

Amsterdam - Marillion Concerts

burrellian — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:06:00 GMT

Concert 1 - Yep I'm going to both Amsterdam shows - a lucky boy am I - Firstly, a HUGE thankyou to Sarah & Steve. I think you guys just made, not just my week, month or year, but my life !

Just got back - WOW what a show, I met a whole heap of other fans who couldn't believe I'd come from Australia to see the boys play ! Woke this morning with a bit of a headache, didn't sleep well, maybe a little over excited.... anyway, took it easy & had an afternoon sleep. Got to the "Paradiso" Venue around 7.00pm already a huge Q, but started moving pretty much straight away & was in by 7.15pm, felt really cool to be on the guest list at the door. AC the VIP. Didn't have any trouble setting myself up center stage & about 3 people back. perfect spot, gotta think of the little people, so let some stand in front of me.

Band came on & played as perfect as I had always hoped, I even knew most of the songs ! Steve H came out at one point dressed as Santa. Got lotsa of photos & some Video as well, yes Steve, I'll make you a copy ;-) Might even put some up on youtube tomorrow. I'll link it here.

After the 3rd encore, the lights came on & I got a chance to speak & thank "Frenchy" the tour manager for the tickets, lovely guy, he invited me for sound check & meet the band tomorrow. I could have done that today, but wanted to say thanks first & be able to tell the guys how much I enjoyed the show.

More tomorrow YAY !!

P.S. just finalised some more plans - I'm off to Paris in a week Accomodation booked, 19th to the 23rd. Nice Hotel for only 39 euro a night, laughing !
WOO HOO HO HO !

Amsterdam

burrellian — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:46:00 GMT

Day 1 - Arrived feeling q little off colour, flying sometimes does that to me. Took me a while to find the Hotel & once there, a while to sort out, the easy, I thought, changes I was requesting.

Even though it was incredibly cold out & a little damp, I couldn't help myself, had to have a good look around. The city had it's Xnas lights on, of course, most streets had garlands every few meters overhead, very nice. Got fairly lost that first night walking around, but pretty much saw all of what this city was about, shopping, sex & drugs. The only thing missing from the classic line "Sex Drugs & Rock n Roll" was whqt I was reqlly their for.... Marrilion :-)

Day 2 - Had a good sleep & a really nice sleep in, so did more exploring in the dimness of what they call daylight here, the city definatly looks better at night though some of the old buildings had charm. Overall I find Amsterdam a bit seedy & dirty for my liking. Shock, horror ! too some I know that love this place, but after all the beauty I have seen & felt a part of this place just isn't doing it for me. First Marillion show tonight, can't wait ! Had q little snooze in the arvo then headed to the Paradiso for the show.

See the Marillion Stories for the show info.

Day 3 - Late to rise again, but made it to breakfast today :-) Wandered around, did some shopping & looked into cheap city tour options for tomorrow & check on trains to Brussels. Then off to Narillion sound check & meet the band around 4.00. Had enough time after that to pop back to the Hotel, drop off my freshly signed guitar, grab a bite, then head back to the venue again.

Day 4 - just made the tour before it headed out, learnt quite a bit about the history of Amsterdam, but did little to chqnge mt jaded opinon. Didn,t have time for my planned canal tour, but didn't really mind that much. Time to go to Belgium, which turned out to be quite a nice surprise....

Croatia - Dubrovnik

burrellian — Sun, 9 Dec 2007 01:39:00 GMT

Day 1 - Woke to the sound of rain, ohh well, no big loss, still a bit tired, a good day to update the journal & organise my side trip to Bosnia & hopefully Montanagro, if I have time & weather permits. Looking forward to seeing Marillion in Amsterdam in just a few days :-)

Day 2 - Weather not good, side trips cancelled don't want to risk getting sick again. Cleared up enough to have a walk around the walls of "the old town" city walls. So glad I did. The weather continued to fine up, sun even came out (sort of), so took the oportunity to jump in a cab, after some haggling with the taxi driver on a price, for a ride to the top the the mountain overlooking the city, EXCELLENT views & the driver even gave me a little bit of history about the area during the war.

Day 3 - checked out & headed to the airport to fly to Amsterdam.