Edinburgh

I have something to report.

My new favourite singer: Elliot Smith (the perfect soundtrack for wandering around the ancient city of edinburgh. do you know how many famous people are buried here?)

My new favourite actor: Raoul Bhaneja (who finally, after all these years, showed me why people are so into this shakespeare guy)

My new favourite theatre company: rotozaza http://www.rotozaza.co.uk/ (who drove me around edinburgh for 45mins in one of the greatest experiences of my life http://www.auroranova.org/phloxAntigram/event.php?eventNr=138&Kategorie=&tt=1184529712)

My new favourite city: Edinburgh (who showed me that it is possible to be even more beautiful when its raining - the city that is, not me. My hair still looks frightful)

Oh, and they spell it E-D-I-N-B-U-R-G-H (not eden borough, not edingburg, not edinboro)

End memo.

this is not adam smith's grave.

this is a pavestone leading to adam smith's grave.
the real gravestone wasn't nearly as poignant, so i didn't take a photo.











this is my arty goth shot of edinburgh old town - pity i can't be bothered figuring out how to rotate the image. but imagine it is the right way up - wow. spooky. intense.









would you like some condiments with your fatandcarbs ma'am? (p.s. the green stuff is mushy peas. i was mildly disappointed to discover it tastes just like... mushy peas)











most of the time edinburgh was busy....











... but i still managed to find some quiet spots.

Cries colette

"o solitude of my young days! you were my refuge, my panacea, the citadel of my youthful pride"









actually, it's not like that at all - where my fellow pub goers?! I NEED YOU!

London

My first week in london taught me:
1. Privatisation of public utilities BAD (expensive train travel and a vast array of ticketing options to bewilder small town tourists like me)
2. Free trade GOOD (cheap valpolicello from the local supermarket - which possibly i enjoyed a little too much)
3. American Cultural Imperialism BAD (so many coffee chains! i thought hong kong's starbucks epidemic was bad)
4. If i lived here, i would be signing up to a bad hair LIFE. Even in summer, it doesn't seem to be able to decide if it wants to (a) pour (b) rain intermittently (c) think about raining, or (d) rain a few ominous droplets until you give in and scrummage around in your bag for your umbrella, open it in a crowd (risking eye gouging and punch ups) before you realise it is (e) not raining. Until you pack the umbrella away and it starts all over again (see (d)).

Due to learning 4, i have resolved to avoid cameras for the time being. i did take some lovely photos of london things but can't post them now - IT issues. Damn internet cafes (macbook i miss you and will come back for you soon. promise. love love)

Helsinki

because i can't read maps, first i thought the official president's residence was this beautiful building...


















then this...

















then feared it was this...













but finally decided it was probably this (no flag!)










anti litter signs were strewn through the parks - there were more english ones than finnish ones (hmmm)












helsinki at night time - in late summer it is only dark from around midnight-2am











helsinki city streets

Hong Kong

typhoon level one (it gets worse, i promise)

six different varieties to choose from - best mini bar i've ever seen

Sydney

so, i decided to take some inspiration from the writer Colette. She and I share a birthday, it must be fate. Of her, it has been said

"the earthly paradise is here: it is not lost for her; others merely fail to see it, indeed shut themselves out from it"

(hey, i don't do this lone woman travel stuff often - forgive the self-indulgence)