Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Vienna
It was time for the annual Tripod holiday...and this time we found ourselves singing Ultravox.
This year we excelled ourselves with the amount of sightseeing we did. I've never walked so far in my life...certainly not since I've lived in leg-shy-car-happy Doha. We were tempted on every corner by beer festivals - in the grounds of the Hofburg, outside the Rathaus, but for the most part we managed to resist.
We walked past Parliament,
around the Natural History Museum,
stumbled across Karlskirche,
toured Schönbrunn Palace,
(posed)
(natural)
and staggered up the bell tower of St Stephan's Cathedral. Not the place for someone who doesn't like heights of over 2 cm (me).
(It's a grimace, not a smile)
We also jumped on Riesenrad, the huge ferris wheel in Prater, and saw some amazing sights,
(I know, we're such losers)
...and of course made the most of the breadsticks, I mean nightlife.
I was never very good at those self portrait photos. The only disappointment was not getting into a casino, because it was shut, or we weren't wearing blazers, or some other such excuse. Maybe they just caught sight of the breadsticks...
This year we excelled ourselves with the amount of sightseeing we did. I've never walked so far in my life...certainly not since I've lived in leg-shy-car-happy Doha. We were tempted on every corner by beer festivals - in the grounds of the Hofburg, outside the Rathaus, but for the most part we managed to resist.
We walked past Parliament,
around the Natural History Museum,
stumbled across Karlskirche,
toured Schönbrunn Palace,
(posed)
(natural)
and staggered up the bell tower of St Stephan's Cathedral. Not the place for someone who doesn't like heights of over 2 cm (me).
(It's a grimace, not a smile)
We also jumped on Riesenrad, the huge ferris wheel in Prater, and saw some amazing sights,
(I know, we're such losers)
...and of course made the most of the breadsticks, I mean nightlife.
I was never very good at those self portrait photos. The only disappointment was not getting into a casino, because it was shut, or we weren't wearing blazers, or some other such excuse. Maybe they just caught sight of the breadsticks...
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
My First Dhow...only by Tomy
Since I arrived in the desert people have been telling me I should go on a dhow trip. I have a sneaking suspicion that these very same people didn't really want me on their dhows though, as they always arranged to them when I was working. Finally one of them mis-calculated and after just 22 months of living here, I finally set sail.
Unfortunately the end of August isn't really the best time of year to venture outside, even late in the evening. I have never sweated so much in my life. I know that girls are supposed to 'glow' rather than 'sweat', but I can assure you that in 35C with humidity of saturation, even a marble would sweat.
Look, us sweating:
Things improved once we anchored up and all jumped in the water. It turned out that my friend Martin, who was visiting from the UK, has rather dodgy legs. On land he appears fine, but if he tries to tread water, he's a one-legged duck - round and round he goes. Not only that, but if he lies flat and just kicks his legs, he actually goes backwards. There's something really messed up about that...
Anyway, on the way back, we managed to clear the sweat from our eyes long enough to see Doha...it's really quite impressive:
...and if we hadn't gone on to an after-party party, and argued about architecture with an architect and discussed the pros and cons of the colour green, I think it would have been really easy to get up at 6am the next day to fly to Dubai...
Unfortunately the end of August isn't really the best time of year to venture outside, even late in the evening. I have never sweated so much in my life. I know that girls are supposed to 'glow' rather than 'sweat', but I can assure you that in 35C with humidity of saturation, even a marble would sweat.
Look, us sweating:
Things improved once we anchored up and all jumped in the water. It turned out that my friend Martin, who was visiting from the UK, has rather dodgy legs. On land he appears fine, but if he tries to tread water, he's a one-legged duck - round and round he goes. Not only that, but if he lies flat and just kicks his legs, he actually goes backwards. There's something really messed up about that...
Anyway, on the way back, we managed to clear the sweat from our eyes long enough to see Doha...it's really quite impressive:
...and if we hadn't gone on to an after-party party, and argued about architecture with an architect and discussed the pros and cons of the colour green, I think it would have been really easy to get up at 6am the next day to fly to Dubai...
