Goodbye Dave

I remember first discovering the Late Show when I was at university.  I was a simple undergrad who was staying up late, trying to convince myself to study, but usually doing very little of that.  I often found myself sitting in bed, watching TV trying to fall asleep.  Late at night, even in Australia, the Late Show with David Letterman would play.

I started watching because I was bored and had nothing to do.  After a while, it became a part of my routine.  I loved Letterman's sense of humour and his brutally sarcastic wit.  He managed to do it all with such style as well.  When he sauntered onto stage, he would always be immaculately dressed as he buttoned up his suit before launching into his opening monologue.  His treatment of his guests was "generally" good, but there were still hints of his famed older and harsher approach to guests.  I would watch the opening monologue, his jokes and random segments, I'd watch the top ten and listen in to his interview.  After this, I'd normally switch off as I wouldn't have too much interest in the musical guest.

Letterman's time on the Late Show was finished now.  He was retiring and so his time on my screen would be coming to an end.  It was strange that Letterman was finishing up.  Seeing him walk onto stage for the last time sent a rush of nostalgia through me as I thought back to those days in my college dorm.

As he waved one last time and the camera panned away, it felt like the very last of my links to those university days were finally gone.

Super angry

The day started out well enough.

I had gone to watch a game of football with Leon.  The weather was good.  The skies were blue.  Living in Sydney, we were also revelling in one of those rare weekends where we actually got to see our team playing.  On top of that, the Hawks were playing the GWS Giants, who were terrible.  What could possibly go wrong with our lovely day out?

 It turns out quite a lot could go wrong.

It didn't take long before we began to worry.  The Giants had been regularly crushed all season.  They were awful.  It wasn't all that surprising given they were a new team.  Most of their players were still young and they were slowly finding their feet.

This game was different though.  From the very start of the game, the Giants seemed to have a determination about them.  They weren't being pushed off the ball and they definitely seemed to be much faster than the Hawks.  As the game went on, every attack by the Hawks received a successful response.  We all assumed that the Hawks would eventually push the Giants over, but every attempt was met successfully.

As the fourth quarter started, the Giants really started to push ahead.  They started to take a lead and nothing the Hawks did seemed to make a difference.

The Hawks were going to lose to the Giants...

We were seated in the Hawk members area, and Leon was not enjoying himself.  There were a few Essendon fans seated in the crowd who were having a great time at our expense.  This infuriated Leon and he let fly with abuse after the game was over.

The joys of being a football fan...

A night at that opera

Sarah loves the opera.  She asked me if I wanted to go watch an opera on the harbour with Lisa.  I had only ever been to the opera once years ago when I was backpacking in Austria.  I didn't enjoy it back then and I remember Chris and myself leaving after the first act.  There was a stuffiness to it all and following the story didn't help to make it more interesting.

It had been a long time though, and I admittedly enjoyed the "music" of opera, even if I didn't enjoy the performance of it so much.  On top of that, Sarah wanted to go to the open air opera which was held on Sydney harbour.  This seemed to be one of the great experiences of living in Sydney, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it.

On a nice warm evening, the three of us went out to the Botanic Gardens to watch the opera.  Most people were dressed casually, but there were some who decided to go very formal.  It added to the atmosphere and I was glad that for once, I wasn't one of the people dragging down the classiness of the place like I was back in Austria.

During my time in Sydney, I had spent almost no time in the Botanic Gardens.  It was always something that I intended on doing more, but just never got around to doing.  Being there at night was a bit surreal.  To be sitting there looking at the enormous stage, whilst having the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background didn't quite feel real.

Watching the show itself, I felt many of the same feelings that I did back in Austria return.  The music was lovely and I enjoyed it as much as I always did.  Sadly the whole package of opera is not something I enjoy all that much.  The acting was over the top and the sets, whilst impressive, didn't give me enough reason to stay interested.  There were subtitles displayed on screens for everyone so that we could follow the plot, and unsurprisingly the plot was ridiculous.  We were watching the opera "Aida".  A story about an Egyptian general fighting between his love for his country and Aida.  It all ends tragically (of course) and with pretty much everyone buried alive....

In our modern day of well written dramas and complex stories, I wonder whether it's simply the case that people in the past were a bit simpler in their tastes.  Would audiences in the past have found this silly story gripping and compelling or would they have seen this all as merely a "vessel" for the music, something to be tolerated for the true item of value?

Even without the story, it was good to be able to experience something different.  The music was indeed very enjoyable and I was able to look at Sydney is a very different light.

Taronga

One of the great benefits of working at my law firm are the free tickets to Taronga Zoo.  Years ago, the firm did some pro bono work for the zoo and in exchange, the zoo gifted the firm at set of lifetime gold passes.  The firm was nice enough to offer these passes to all of the staff and all we needed to do was book out the particular day we wanted to use them.  I'm never one to pass up the chance for a free trip to the zoo, so I decided to take Jimmy and Eva to the zoo with their family.

The trip over to Taronga is always one of the nicest in Sydney.  You can drive through the northern suburbs to get to the zoo, but personally I think a ride on the ferry across the harbour from Circular Quay is the best way to go.  Sydney is at its best when it is near the water, with its incredible beaches and beautiful harbour.  It's easy to forget about it sometimes, but these trips help to remind me of what is here.

The entrance to the zoo is at the top of the hill and away from the water.  Whichever way you arrive, you will head to this entrance at the top.  After you enter the zoo, you start to walk slowly into the zoo and down the hill until you see one of the best (and most confusing) views you can get all of Sydney. 

Seeing the whole of the Sydney skyline, with both the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House from this angle is what most tourists dream of.  Not many people realise that it's actually from the zoo that you get this incredible view.  What makes it all so strange though is who actually makes up the foreground of many of these views.

One of the first big enclosures on your walk down the hill is for the giraffes.  They have pride of place in front of the amazing view.  So when you visit the zoo, you're more than likely to get your first glimpse of the beautiful harbour as you're looking at a large group of giraffes.  It's not the picture you would have had in your head of what Sydney harbour should look like!

The rest of the zoo is great as well.  There are plenty of shows where you can see the animals up close and there are even places where you can see them feeding.  It's not really a place I would regularly go to, yet a trip to the zoo never feels wasted.

Royal Show fun

The Royal Easter Show is an annual Sydney tradition.  There are Royal shows all over Australia every year, but the Sydney show always happens around the Easter period.

I love the show.  I've loved it since I was a kid.  People from overseas don't always understand it.  To be honest, I'm not sure I would understand it all that much if I didn't grow up with it.

It might be simpler than I think though.  City dwellers in Australia have a nostalgic view of the Australian bush and country.  The show gives us one of those rare opportunities to get a bit closer to the country and a different part of what Australia is.  It's a far cry from the original purpose of the show, being an opportunity for those living in country and rural areas to gather in the city to compete and to buy much needed supplies.

The closest comparison I can think of for the show is probably what Americans would call their "State Fairs".  Like the American state fairs, there's always a huge and varied amount of carnival style foods on offer.  Everything is in huge portions and frequently served on a stick.  It's kinda fun to gorge of this type of food once in a while and the show is the perfect time to do it.

From a food perspective, the more important place to go is the Country Women's Association cafe.  This is always set up inside one of the main halls and I definitely think it is the highlight of the show (from a food perspective anyway).  Every year, the old ladies with the CWA set up and start baking thousands and thousands of scones.  It's one of the great pleasures to be able to sit down for a cup of tea with some truly fantastic scones.

Of all the events, I think my favourite would be the woodchopping.  Going to the show means you also get to go to one of, if not the only, purpose built woodchopping arenas in the world.

Competitive woodchopping is a thing, and when you see it in person you appreciate incredible skill and power involved.  I think the event where they start building their own ladder up a log must the true highlight.  The show is a perfect event to bring overseas guests to.  You see enough weird and wonderful things that make up Australia and you can feed them.  It's the perfect combination.

Parisian streets

My trip was nearly finished, but I had a little bit of extra time in Paris before heading home.

The streets of Paris are exceptionally beautiful, and I find it enjoyable to just walk around.  Maya wanted to go to some markets in the city to buy some groceries, so I followed,  We bought a whole range of different vegetables, saucisson, pates.  All of the things you would expect to buy in a nice Parisian market.

Before we left, Maya wanted to get some dessert for dinner.  She took me to a patisserie called "Aux Merveilleux de Fred".  The patisseries specialised in merveilleux cakes, delicate little meringue cakes that were covered in cream.  We bought a box home for after dinner that night.

The weather was cold outside and as we left, we also decided to buy a loaf of chocolate brioche that had just come of the oven.  I sat in the car as Maya drove home with the warm loaf in my lap, slowly pulling out pieces to eat.

Nordic Christmas

It was definitely feeling more and more like Christmas was just around the corner.  Everywhere Phil and I went, there were more decorations and more and more people were dressed for the "festive season".  We decided we wanted to join in with some of the fun, so we made a reservation at a specialty restaurant that was doing "Julebord", which is pretty much just the Christmas version of a Swedish smorgasbord.  We wandered off to a bizarre former prison island, got lost, then eventually found the Julebord restaurant.  Inside, the place was filled with Swedes wearing Christmas sweaters, enjoying one another's company whilst politely eating their fill of the limitless food.  We were surprised by how polite and well mannered they all were given the nature of the meal.  Phil and I clearly didn't have the patience or the class of these Swedes as we attacked the food.  Our old boarding school mentality was still with us and having "unlimited food" in front of us seemed to trigger a response to test the limits of that claim.  The food itself didn't seem to be anything special.  There was a Scandinavian tilt towards it all and I've definitely never seen so much herring in one place at one time.  Still for the price of it all, I didn't think it was worth it other than to add to the list of experiences I've had.

We spent the rest of our time in Stockholm walking around and exploring.

Outside of the old town of Gamla Stan, Stockholm is a mix of historic old buildings and newer buildings that are probably best described as "modern brutalist".  There's a lot of concrete and a lot of steel.  Even some of the public walkways displayed this sleek and abrupt form of architecture.

As much as that look may appeal to some people, it was definitely the older style that I found nicer to look at.

The Christmas decorations definitely added to the atmosphere.  I felt the Christmas mood everywhere I went.  I've always loved Christmas, so this was very welcome to me.  The streets weren't yet covered in snow, but it was already more than cold enough for us to start enjoying some of the festive activities.

In the centre of town, a small Christmas market had been constructed.  We gathered around small fires, we ate the cakes, drank the glug and wandered through the shops looking at the strange traditional Swedish toys that were synonymous with Christmas and the region.  I often think of Christmas as being a fairly generic holiday for all, but the reality is that to this day, even in our globalised world, there are still many traditions for Christmas which are unique to different regions.  Here in Sweden, during Christmas they celebrate with little "Christmas trolls", which are bizarre little troll dolls which only appear during Christmas.  I'm sure there's a deeper meaning to them, but it was completely lost on me.

In the middle of everything was a large ice skating rink.

Kids dashed around with a confidence that neither of us had.  It made me wonder how different we would have been if we had been brought up in this environment instead of in Australia.

The Wasa

I remember reading about the Wasa (or Vasa) when I was a kid.  I had to prepare an assignment and I found the sinking of the Wasa to be a fascinating topic.  It gave me a particular joy to be able to visit the actual ship now that I was in Stockholm.

Even after hundreds of years under the water, the ship was still impressive.  It was meant to be the flagship of the Swedish fleet during the height of Sweden's military power over the whole of Europe, so it was only fitting that it would have the most impressive new warship of the era.  Sadly for Sweden, the Wasa was a poorly designed ship and it sank on its maiden voyage as it was leaving the harbour.  According to reports, a wind slightly stronger than a breeze was enough to tip the ship, such were the issues with its balance.

Amazingly, the wreckage of the ship was rediscovered and refloated in the 60s.  Now, it has it's own climate controlled museum to house it.

I had sadly mistimed the trip a little bit.  My old friend Pete used to work on the restoration work relating to the Wasa and he was the still friends with the head of the archaeological work being done on this beautiful ship.  Unfortunately he was away at the very time I was in Stockholm, otherwise I would have been given the rare opportunity of actually boarding the ship itself.

Even without the opportunity to board the ship, being up close to the ship was a special experience.  It's one thing to look at pictures and videos, it's another thing entirely to be able to see the intricate details and to understand just how large the vessel is.

Old Stockholm

I arrived early in the evening in Stockholm.  It was already pitch black when I landed at Arlanda Airport.  I grabbed my bags and took the shuttle bus into the city.  The trip was fast, but there was nothing to see.  Along the road into Stockholm there was nothing but forests and the occasional strip mall.  There was something "desolate" about it all even though there were trees everywhere.  I didn't do much the first evening other than explore the area around Adam's apartment (which he was kindly letting me stay in).  I felt exhausted so I went to sleep. 

The next day Phil arrived from Norway. 

We took the time to walk around the old town of Stockholm, Gamla Stan, as much as we could.  It sits on an island in the middle of Stockholm and is filled with historic old buildings.

It "almost" feels like a theme park at times, but thankfully it doesn't quite reach those levels.  Instead, it remains a well manicured and idealised view into the past.  I don't in anyway think that these places used to look so good when they were full of the trash and garbage of people living here, but it's still a nice image to see.

We walked around town as much as we could.  It was hard to describe Stockholm with words other than "nice" or "clean".  Everywhere we went had that classy European vibe.  The people definitely added to this as well, as it probably had one of the most attractive populations I had seen anywhere.  Everyone was tall, slim and blonde.  Outdoor life and fitness continue to play an important part in Swedish life, and this showed with the people.

We got closer to the water and felt the chill of winds blowing in from over the sea.  It probably wasn't the most ideal of times to be in Stockholm.  It felt like everyone was hibernating a bit.  There wasn't much of a liveliness anywhere.  We found a warm cafe to sit down for some "Fika".  Inside the warmth of the cafe, with a hot cup of coffee and a slice of cake, people seemed to smile more and be happier.

At least everything looked incredibly pretty.

Suburbs of Paris

I always enjoy visiting Maya and Adam.  They don't live in the centre of Paris, but instead in the southern suburbs of the city closer to where Adam works.  I find that I'm able to get a very different experience staying with them than what other tourists see.  It's a more genuine experience of life in Paris and it's always relaxing and extremely pleasant.

One of my favourite things to do when visiting them is to go to Parc du Sceaux.

I've mentioned this park many times before, but it really deserves as much attention as possible.  It is one of my favourite parks in the entire world.  It's beautifully landscaped, and offers so much space for people to enjoy.  People flock to "famous" parks and gardens in Paris like the Tuileries and Versailles, but I think that Parc du Sceaux is better than both of them.

The size of the park is what impresses me every time.  To be able to maintain such an enormous park to such a high degree of quality would cost a fortune.  The pictures I take only capture a small portion of the entire park which also includes vast areas of forests and enormous man made lakes.

Maya had decided to go for our walk that day wearing a pair of flip flops.  It was a cold day and Adam and I had both put on heavier jackets.  Within the hour, she was complaining about how cold her feet were and so Adam kindly gave her his socks.

We walked up to the chateau which looked like it had some construction on it.  Instead of looking at construction work, we found ourselves in front of the set of some filming.  Turns out that Parc du Sceaux was being used as the filming location for a new drama called "Versailles" which would be coming out soon.  With it's grand architecture and vast expanse of gardens, this seemed like the perfect location for Versailles to be recreated.

The rest of our time was spent just walking around town.  We went to the markets, had lunch in the cafes.  It was just a nice and comfortable time without any particular rushing around.

On one evening, Maya and Adam got a babysitter and we all went out for dinner at a restaurant they had discovered.

It was located in an old French barn that had been converted into a fine dining restaurant.

The food was rich and traditionally French.  I ordered a grilled piece of foie gras for my entree and then followed it up with pan seared calves liver for my main.  I was feeling extremely full, but still decided that I wanted dessert and so I ordered the creme de marron for dessert.  It would all prove to be too much for me later, but it was a good dinner.  We sat by candlelight as we ate our fill and drank the wines on offer.  I hadn't been to any of the famous sights at all on this trip to Paris, and I didn't care about that at all.

Christmas approaching

Christmas was approaching fast.  Europe changes quite a bit over Christmas as people get ready for the festivities.  In Germany, the Christmas markets are a wonder to behold, with food and activities for everyone.

In France, the Christmas markets are a bit more muted.

I was in Paris to visit Maya and Adam and they suggested we go and look at some of the Christmas preparations.  We hopped in their car and they told me that we'd be heading to Le Defense.... that seemed very strange to me.  Le Defense is probably the least French place in all of France.  It is outside of the limits of "Paris", and is probably the main business district for Paris.  It's where all the big companies are headquartered and there really isn't all that much to the place.

It turns out that every year, there's a big Christmas market that gets set up at La Defense.

It's not as a good as the epic German ones I've seen, but living in Australia meant that I was starved of any of these events more generally.

It was still very early in the "Christmas season" so the market turned out to be relatively empty.  Thankfully the stores were all already open so I was able to get my fill of the food and random sights.

The all of the cooked cheese was particularly enticing.  I stared down the wheels of raclette being grilled before I settled on a big plate of tartiflette.

I'm fairly sure I can get most of these foods in Australia, but it really isn't the same without the cold weather.

Spanish art

Phil was on a real winning streak with our choice of accommodation.  He had found us a great little apartment in Madrid that was in the middle of a triangle of galleries and a short walk from the famous Puerta del Sol.

We spent much of our days walking through these incredible museums and galleries that Madrid had.  The quality of the exhibitions and displays were very good, mixing the traditional art you would expect to see in any large European gallery with more contemporary pieces.

Our favourite gallery was definitely the Reina Sofia.

The building itself was a blend of new and old.  A classic old European structure that had been encased with modern elements.

It was like much of Madrid.  The old elements were all there and they were well maintained.  Yet the modern was also blended into the city.  It felt natural, like it had developed according to a pre-determined plan.

A few days wasn't enough and we wished we had more time.

Madrid

After a few days of partying in Barcelona, Phil and I boarded the fast train for Madrid.

It was convenient, comfortable and actually went incredibly fast.  Australia has been mulling the development of a fast train network for decades, but it's hard to appreciate what we're missing until you actually ride one.  The process of getting to and from the station is so much quicker and you don't have the same hassle of having to go through the usual pre-boarding routine.  It's also nice to be able to just go to a train station in the middle of town and not have to schlep out to an airport on the far outskirts.

Phil had found us another great apartment in the middle of town.  It was in fact right in the middle of a triangle of museums and galleries which would prove handy.

The Barcelona and Madrid divide is famous around the world.  Geographically, they aren't far apart, but there's a huge gap culturally and politically.  You could see it quite quickly from the moment you arrived.  Madrid just looks different.  Barcelona has the look of a Mediterranean city, it's relaxed and the buildings have the "look" of a Mediterranean city.  Madrid on the other hand is classically European.  It has the grand and traditional style of architecture you would expect when visiting Europe.  Even the people seem more serious. 

I quickly liked Madrid.  I liked it a lot.  The city was full of parks and monuments, incredible museums and beautiful galleries.  At night the city was just as lively as Barcelona, with bars and restaurants everywhere.  As much as I enjoyed my time in Barcelona, I think I enjoyed myself more in Madrid.  The bar culture was one of the best I had ever seen and the food at each place was fantastic.  For an inland city, I was surprised by how seafood focused all the bar snacks were.  We ate calamari sandwiches, mussels, baby eels, cod croquettes, gambas.  All of it delicious, but not what I expected at all.