RTW Adventures of J&M

The Taronga Zoo in Sydney must be the world's most scenic zoo! Many of the animals live in habitats that have a view of the Sydney skyline. Giraffes never had a better advantage (Picture 9)!

J and I spent almost the entire day there and had a great time. It was really nice to see that at least one third of the animals on exhibit were exclusively from Australia. The highlight of our zoo stroll was witnessing the "gorge" feeding of the Tasmanian devils, which apparently only occurs once per month.

I had a particularly amusing moment when I overheard a little Australian boy pointing to ostriches and calling them emus because just a few hours ago I had been pointing at emus and calling them ostriches (Picture 7).

1. Dingo

2. Koala

3. Kangaroos

4. Australian White Pelicans (my personal favorite of the day)

5. Tasmanian Devils

6. An Australian Ladybug?

7. Emus vs Ostriches

8. A pregnant gorilla

9. Giraffes living on some prime real estate

10. Areas east of Sydney CBD

11. Sydney CBD

12. Downtown Sydney

Port of Call: Port Stanley, Falkland Islands

Excursions: Bluff Cove Penguins (Me and J); Rockhopper Penguins (J's Parents)

Brief Thoughts: Getting to and from the penguin rookery was an experience in itself. "off-road" is an understatement. We saw thousands of adult and chick Gentoo penguins at Bluff Cove as well as a few King penguins. While the adults avoided us, the chicks were fearless, especially the two little ones which you will see in the photos below. The chicks had started to moult and were absolutely adorable. J and I really enjoyed this excursion. It was definitely the highlight of the cruise so far.

Here are some assorted penguin pictures from today. Can anyone guess what Picture #18 is?

Current Location:52D09.03'S and 058D01.85'W

Port of Call: Montevideo, Uraguay
Excursions: J and J's parents went on a city bus tour. I decided to opt out of the bus tour and walk around town on my own.
Brief Thoughts: I much prefer Montevideo to Buenos Aires. The city seems more friendly, cleaner, smaller and safer. This is a city I'd be very interested in returning to in the future.

1. Once I got off the boat, I saw a big bulletin board advertising the route of the offical city walking tour. This route is patrolled by the "tourist police" on virtually every other block.
2. The flea market at Plaza Matriz
3. A tree-lined walkway in Plaza Matriz
4. Sarandi - a pedestrian street
5. 19 de Julio - a huge avenue that cuts through the middle of Montevideo
6. A random apartment building
7. A statue of Jose Gervasio Artigas in Plaza de la Independencia.
8. A man fishing along the waterfront in Montevideo
9. Locals relaxing near the water
10. Our ship - RCCL Radiance of the Sea
11. A view of the city from the Radiance
12. Montevideo as we're sailing away
13. Our towel animal for today - I think it's a rat.

Current Location: 35D46.58'S and 055D31.12W' ("D" stands for the degree symbol)

We've been in Buenos Aires for 6 days now. Here are some of my thoughts on the city.

The sights aren't very impressive. Having just come from Paris the major sites in Buenos Aires have failed to WOW us. We spent our first Saturday covering more than half of the major attractions in Buenos Aires. We'd go, snap a few pictures and move on. So far, the most interesting site has been the Recoleta Cemetery, the resting place of Evita. We've avoided going to cemeteries so far (even the famous ones in Europe). However, we decided to go to this one because we seemed to be running out of places to see on our second day here! There is a National Museum of Art here, but can the Van Gogh, Monet and Renoir collection top what we saw in Paris and Amsterdam? Rest assured, this situation is perfectly fine for us because we're a bit exhausted from running around Paris trying to hit all the "must see" sights. Buenos Aires will probably be a chill stop for us - eat Argentine steaks with some Malbec wine, enjoy the local ice cream on a hot day, picnic in the parks, do some people watching and catch up on blogging.

 
The city is... different from what we're use to. Buenos Aires is separated into a couple of different neighborhoods - Microcenter (downtown), San Telmo (more traditional), Recoleta/Retiro/Norte (wealthier), Palermo (young and chic), Puerto Madero (waterfront) and La Boca (dangerous and poor). Before coming to Buenos Aires I had imagined the city to be pretty big and developed. Afterall, it is the capital of Argentina. However, after walking through some of the neighborhoods it is obvious that they still have a ways to go before being able to compare to other world cities. Honestly, I don't really feel that safe walking the city streets - even in touristy areas such as San Telmo. I'm sure that what I consider is deserted and run-down, others would characterize it as old and charming. I feel lucky that our apartment is located in a better part of town.

The people are nice. We've already met some nice people. The owner of our apartment is extremely friendly and helpful. Although, J overheard her telling some people (in Spanish) that we don't speak Spanish because we're Chinese - I fail to see the correlation. Most people know a little bit of English and the ones that don't will put up with our poorly spoken Spanish.

Beware of children. It's sad, but true. We've been lucky so far to have not encountered any child beggars or pick-pockets, but came across both within 15 minutes of each other while taking the metro in Buenos Aires. First, a kid (7-8 yrs old?) tried to pick my pocket, but since I already noticed her odd behavior (following us into the station) I was prepared. Granted the station was crowded, but what are the chances that the person I was already suspicious of bumps into me and so happens to have her hands at just the right height to brush against the left pocket of my shorts? As Professor Moody would say, "Constant vigilance!"

The language is Span-talian. The majority of the locals, or Portenos, are either ethnically Italian or Spanish. Therefore, there is a huge Italian influence on the local Spanish language. Bon dia!

The food is cheap! 30 USD for two of the best steaks we've ever had, garlic fries and bottled water. That was at a higher-end restaurant, too!

1. Avenue Corrientes (Retiro/Microcenter border)
2. University of Buenos Aires in Recoleta
3. J giving me the biggest flower in the world! (Floralis Generica in Recoleta)
4. A typical row of tombs in the Recoleta Cemetery - if you peak in through the doors of each tomb you can often see the coffins!
5. One of the more ornate tombs in Recoleta Cemetery
6. A cat lying near Evita's tomb. He/she is probably just as visited as Evita herself because all the passer-bys stop to take pity on him/her.
7. Casa Rosada - the White House equivalent of Buenos Aires
8. A tango performance at Plaza Dorrego
9. The inside of Cafe Tortoni - a historic cafe
10. Helado (ice cream) and cafe (back to the expresso!) at Cafe Tortoni

Dim sum at Asia Palace. I woke up today and wanted dim sum. It's kinda nutty, if you think about it - we'll be in Boston in less than 4 days. However, J humored me. After consulting Chowhound, I led the two of us over to the Chinatown in the 13th arrondissement. I put my confidence on a thread that had a huge side discussion on where to get some sort of Asian black beans that no one seemed to be able to find. (When I looked for Beef Noodle Soup in Vancouver, I trusted the thread that had a heated discussion on which of two eating establishments served the best hand-made noodle with the soup.) Unfortunately, it was somewhat of a pricey (by Chinese standards) dud. The Su Mai and Fried Turnip Cake were merely acceptable and but the Shrimp Chang-Fen and BBQ Pork Buns were definitely sub-par.

Opera at Palais Garnier. After lunch, I wanted to go to the Louvre and Champ Elysees areas. I haven't seen the Tuileries Garden and wanted to window shop the famous street on the last weekend day before Christmas. Our walk from the metro to my targeted area led us by the famed "rich man's" opera house - the Palais Garnier. At first, J just wanted to snap pictures from afar, but we spontaneously decided to buy some cheap tickets from a scalper. The opera was Fidelio and the start time was 15 minutes ago. Our seats were pretty bad and I learned that I find watching the orchestra more interesting than watching the stage performance (the conductor was so intense that I thought he was going  to have a heart attack), but it was a pretty awesome experience. For example, the French are so serious about having no interruptions after the show has started that we were asked to stand for the remainder of the 1st act (1 hr 35 min) in the back of our section. In fact, doors to the seat box can only be opened from the hallway by the ushers with a special key! In Act 2 we found that standing wasn't so bad because there were so many bad seats in the balcony section that a large percentage of the ticket holders opted to stand through the performance, even if it was at the expense of other patrons behind them! In contrast to the poor stage visibility, the sound was absolutely amazing. We could hear every single word so clearly! On our way out after the opera, we picked up a performance schedule for the Palais Garnier and was surprised to find out that we just attended the final performance of Fidelio! The continuous clapping, hugging of the cast and crew on stage and three curtain calls suddenly all made sense!

Dessert at Laduree. I knew of this place only as "the shop where that Frenchman we met at lunch recommended to get the best macarons in Paris." I didn't know of its name until we got there (J knew but never mentioned the name) and realized that it's the same place our friend Kelly told us to go just yesterday! The place was a mad house for take-away so we opted to sit in their cafe. We enjoyed 3 types of macarons, a cafe creme (close to a latte) and a pot of tea (J was actually trying to order cold milk, but got tea instead). The macarons were heavenly. A little sweet, but it melts in your mouth. For the next hour we nibbled on these delicate and absurdly expensive desserts, sipped our hot beverages, and exchanged ideas on what we thought was the storyline of the opera. You see, the entire thing was sung in German and subtitled in French. We had to make up a story in our heads based on the minimal physical movements of the performers,  the emotions of their singing and whatever French words that look English or have recognizable Latin roots. We got the main idea - a tyrannical warden who has it in for a certain prisoner who's lover has disguised herself to get into prison to help her prisoner lover escape.

Dinner at Quick Burger. After our stop at Laduree, we continued to the Champ Elysees via Place de la Concorde. The entire avenue was flooded with Christmas shoppers. Our stroll brought us past a Quick Burger, a fast food joint that J's been wanting to try since we first saw it in Barcelona. Since we only have 3 days left in Paris we decided to eat dinner there. J had their VIB (very important burger) burger meal, and I got 5 fried chicken wings. Tasty, but McDonald's is still my preferred fast food restaurant. J's curiosity was finally satisfied.

As we headed home on the metro, I realized that today had the makings of a pretty romantic date! Well, at least the middle part of it. A date in Paris! Who gets to do that?! =)

1. Asia Palace place setting
2. Palais Garnier
3. Foyer of the Palais Garnier from ground level
4. Foyer of the Palais Garnier from the 2nd floor
5. The door to our seat box. Notice the lack of a door handle.
6. Stage and orchestra pit
7. Center balcony - all good views
8. Side balcony opposite our seats. You can see that each seat box is comprised of 6 seats arranged in 2 x 3 row configuration. 1st row are the only decent seats.
9. The view from our seats
10. Laduree storefront
11. The ferris wheel at Place de la Concorde
12. Christmas shoppers on the Champ Elysees.
13. Our meal at Quick Burger.

Current Location: Paris, France

In honor of Puzzlehunt 12 being announced J and I wrote this puzzle. It was inspired by our recent trip to the Louvre. We are sad that we won't be in Seattle with our team during the Hunt, but we hope to improve our 4 AM to 8 AM PST statistics from Australia. Enjoy!

Email the answer to jm.rtw.posterous@gmail.com.

 

Written by: J & M

Photography by: M

 

 

 

N121 Bus. J's got one over Rick Steves (RS). Our flight from Paris to Amsterdam was scheduled to depart CDG at 8:00 AM. At first, we thought we'd just take the Metro (subway) and transfer to the RER (train) which goes directly to CDG. However, J found a night bus (not mentioned by RS) which runs from Gare Montparnasse (5-minute walk from our apartment) directly to CDG! The N121 operates between midnight at 5 AM,  so we hopped on the 4:57 AM bus. For some reason, the driver didn't want to collect bus fare from us so we ended up with a free ride to the airport!

Paris to Amsterdam. The flight time was less than 1 hour long! It's like flying from Boston to NYC. Given the distance, I'm surprised that I had such a hard time finding a cost-effective and time-efficient way of getting to Amsterdam. Someone should consider starting a Boston-NYC Chinatown bus equivalent for Paris-Amsterdam.

Schipol Airport. Probably the most beautiful, cheery and comfortable airport I've ever flown in/out of. There was so much shopping that it felt like an upscale mall. Lounge sofas and cafe furniture were available everywhere for travelers to enjoy.

The city. City center is very picturesque. Christmas lights were everywhere. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Bikes, bikes EVERYWHERE! I didn't ride one because it was wet and cold, but that didn't stop everyone else. From an idealistic point of view, I think it's awesome that everyone bikes, but from a practical point of view, I thought the bikes were really annoying. Bicyclists ride wherever they please - in the bike lanes, on the streets with cars or on the sidewalks with pedestrians. Parked bikes sometimes took over the entire width of an already narrow sidewalk  and blocked the pedestrian's path. I likened the bikers to snowboarders. They think they own the streets and go where ever they please with no consideration for others.

Coffeeshop. Whenever I walked past a coffeeshop the smell reminded me of the bus stop in front of my high school. Although the cake itself was disappointing, we later found out that the establishment we chose at random from the hundreds of shops in the city (The Other Side Coffeeshop) just happened to be the only gay/lesbian bar recommended on Lonely Planet! What luck! At least we have an interesting story to tell now. =)

Attractions. On our first day, we visited Anne Frank's House. I didn't know the Secret Annex was such a prominent part of the house. It makes me wonder how it wasn't discovered sooner. The weather cleared up on the second day so we hopped on a boat for a 75-minute canal cruise in the morning. It was a good way to see the city, but I felt the city was prettier on foot. We spent the afternoon at The Heineken Experience. Do you know that Heineken is still a family-owned business and they strive to lower their environmental impact? They even prototyped a bottle that can be stacked like Legos to be used to build houses! On our last day, we finally hit the Van Gogh (pronounced Gock) Museum. It's hard for me to appreciate art by itself, but I've found that I enjoy hearing about the artist's life while viewing their work.

Food. We sampled random bits of foods here and there. There was the Dutch meal, which I will talk about later, the Cantonese meal, the street-side potato frites (fries) with mayo, the Dutch sweet and savory pancake, the vending machine fast food, which I will also talk about later, the roasted nuts and trail mix from the open-air market and the Big Mac. All was good, but my favorite food was the Spinach Soup from a bakery (Bakken Met Passie) we stumbled across in the De Pijp area. As you will see from the picture below, the soup was not visually appealing at all, but it was the best Spinach Soup I've ever had.

 The Shower. Yes, I am writing a whole paragraph on the shower. Never have we appreciated a shower as much as we did in Amsterdam. In Barcelona, our shower stall was so small that if we put our hands on our hips our elbows would touch the wall. We toughed it out and found comfort in the belief that it couldn't get any worse. We were wrong. Our shower in Paris is located in the kitchen. The side is so high that I have to climb onto the side and jump in. Elbow room is an improvement on Barcelona, but now, I can't stand up straight while showering because the ceiling is sloped (we live in the top most floor of the building so the ceiling is the roof). When we first arrived, the drain was so clogged that we had to shower using trickling water. In Amsterdam, we loved the hotel shower so much that we managed to each take 3 showers in a 24 hour period!

1. Charles de Gaulle International Airport
2. Schipol International Airport
3. On our way to Amsterdam city center by train
4. A canal by daylight
5. A canal by moonlight
6. A canal by red light (Red Light District)
7. A canal from canal-level
8. Magere Brug - Amsterdam's most famous bridge
9. A typical row of houses in the city center
10. A row of parked bikes
11. Christmas decorations on the streets
12. The front door of Anne Frank's House
13. The boat we took for the canal cruise
14. Me and J at The Heineken Experience
15. Our first of two Heineken tastings that came with the admission ticket

16. The stackable Heineken bottles that can be used to build houses
17. J enjoying some potato fries with mayo
18. The best Spinach Soup ever!
19. Finally, someone thought to combine my two favorite tic-tac flavors - lime & orange! It cost me over 2 EUR, but I got my large-sized lime and orange tic-tacs in one convenient container!