Hornsby - Water Clock

 

The Hornsby Water Clock is in the Florence Street mall. Created by Australian sculptor Victor Cusack in bronze, stainless steel and glass it is about 8 metres tall and 20 tonnes and it revolves once every 12 hours.

It represents three types of water clocks, a Greek clepsydra, a Chinese water wheel clock and a Swiss pendulum clock.

The inscription on the clock face is "Dare We Forget". Reminding of the importance of preserving the environment. Man is represented by the figure of a woman and a child and local fauna is represented by  the fruit bat, rainbow lorikeet, possum and blue tongue lizard.

Lavender Bay - Wendy's Secret Garden

 

Wendy Whiteley's Secret Garden. At considerable personal expense, Wendy started to clean up and landscape a large patch of derelict land adjacent to her home in Lavender Bay, owned by the NSW Rail Corporation. It was choked by weeds and overgrown with lantanas, and strewn with old train carriages, abandoned refrigerators, rotting mattresses and broken bottles, and some homeless people sometimes slept there. Wendy treated the garden like a giant painting, structuring, planting, pruning, moving things around, and letting nature work its own magic. Over 15 years, it has become a coveted spot for those who have heard about or chanced upon it, with random benches in quiet spots, secluded paths, and a spectacular view to the Harbour Bridge.  A wide variety of birdlife previously unknown to the area has arrived. It has been described as rivalling Claude Monet's garden. It is affectionately known by locals as "Wendy's Secret Garden", although the public have always had free access.^[

Paris - Last day and starting journey back home

Last day and starting the long journey home. Zak is leaving a few hours later for Germany and later Lebanon.

I love my life in Australia and my little flat. At the same time I love my 'other' home here in Paris. This journey makes it my 8th visit in 5 decades. Very lucky and great to share this visit with Zak. What fun we had.

Paris - Parc des Buttes-Chaumont

Last full day. Zak and I wandered around Belleville and the beautiful Parc des Buttes-Chaumont

Paris - Paris Opera and Le Primptemps

Still very warm in Paris. Usually by now there are a few cool days! Wanted through Les Halles. Did notice the Forum has been removed. Ended up at Paris opera and also Le Primtemps. Had a look at the beautiful dome roof

London - Anniversary day

Not been to London in over twenty years so decided to pop over for the day. We took the 7.15am Eurostar from Gare du Nord to St Pancreas. We did a 'jump on jump off' bus tour. Saw most of the main sites and missed many. So much to see. Need to get back there again one day.

Paris - Le Louvre

 

Been a while since I have been to Le Louvre. I had forgotten what a marvellous gallery it is. We started top floor and worked our way down. After four hours we had had enough. It is exhausting.

Paris - Jardin de Luxembourg et Bastille

Hot day. Wandered the Luxembourg Gardens and home for a snooze and later a wander around Bastille and Rue de Lappe.

Paris - Versailles

The RER to Versailles. The crowds are extraordinary. Really very difficult to see anything. Wandered the chateau and the grounds. This time had the chance to visit the Petit Trianon.

Paris - Right Bank

8 kilometres today! Walked from 11ieme to Arc de Triomphe. When we finally got home got caught up in the Techno Parade. I remember being caught up in the last time I was here too.

Paris - Left Bank

 

 

Walked ten kilometres! Metro to Trocadero then walked to Eiffel Tower, along Champ de Mars to St Germain and St Michel then to Notre Dame, Marais and home in the 11ieme. Exhausting but a great way to see the city.

Barcelona to Paris

Paris still very pretty but also so much more crowded that I ever remember it

Barcelona - Montjuic

 

 

Climbed Monjuic behind our apartment . Great views.

Barcelona - Gaudi

 

 

Wandered the streets and found the Sagrada Familia. Crowds everywhere. It does appear much more finished that I do remember it.

Barcelona - La Rambla

 

Last time I was in Barcelona was 38 years ago! I am sure much has changed but the only thing I remember of it was this statue of Christopher Columbus. Walked around La Rambla and the adjacent streets. Ate yummy food in the local markets.

Sitges

Day at the beach and sunburn

Sitges

Arrived Sitges and found hotel room double booked. Luckily the owner took us to a much better hotel down the street for the same price. Sitges is a tourist mecca for gays. The place is heaving. Even more so when Bears Week.

Madrid - Las Ventas

 

Went to Las Ventas bull ring for a tour. Totally fascinating and atmospheric. Especially so with the bellowing of a bull somewhere in the background.

Madrid - Reina Sofia, Temple of Debod & Chueca

 

Today went to Reina Sofia museum. Mainly to see Picassos Guernica. I never realised it was so big. The rest of the gallery was also impressive stuffed full with 20th century art.

Lunch time nap followed by a walk along Gran Via and the Temple of Debod. Back home via Chueca.

Madrid - Toledo

 

 

Up early and took train to Toledo. Glad we arrived early as we then beat the crowds. Walked, walked and walked some more including back to station in the afternoon. This evening we wandered around Chueca.

Madrid - Prado and Flamenco

Waking up early. Walked in the early morning through the beautiful Retiro park. Some of the trees have leaves turning red already.
Arrive at Prado museum at 10am. This museum deserves all its accolades. Impossible to choose what I like the most.
This evening went to Villa Rosa to see flamenco and I love this stuff. This place has been going since 1911. Tonights dancers were young and hot. Sweat flying off the faces and hair and they moved.

Madrid - Plazas

 

Arrived in Madrid after a 34 hour trip because of a late notice 7 hour wait in Singapore. Caught the bus from airport to Atocha, then Metro to Anton Martin and walked few streets to our studio in Calle Santa Marie. Unpacked, showered and got out amongst it all.
Walked to Puerto de Sol, Plaza Major, Plaza Oriente and every tiny back street in about 35C. Exhaused.
Went back home for a small nap at 5pm. Woke up 2am! There goes day day one and any chance of a late night dinner. Oh well so it has to be 'Chocoprince' biscuits and fresh figs in bed.

Goodbye beautiful Lebanon I will miss you ktir ktir

My last night in Beirut and I went to the 10pm session of "Where do we go now?", the new Nadine Labaki film from "Caramel" fame. Wonderful. It was in Arabic with French subtitles so it was linguistically challenging and kept me on my toes. Now what was it about again! The cinema was packed on a Monday night. Gonna miss this place.

I have experienced Hezbollah strongholds of yellow flags in the Bekka Valley, fantastic food, Palestinan camps with people still yearning for a country most have never even been too, police and army checks, luxury car dealerships and clothing shops that makes 'international Sydney' appear rural, beach resorts, mountain villages with huge homes paid for by the diaspora and most of all warm and friendly people who were always helpful even if they were ready to run you off the road or just run you over.

I would not even hazard a guess as to the immediate future of this pocket sized country surrounded by neighbours only too willing to stick their nose into the local affairs. But with 5000 years of history the show will go on. What a fastastic place.

Only thing left to do now is to collect Zac at spooky Charles Helou bus station, go out for a great lunch and grab a dilapidated Mercedes taxi to the airport and begin the long, tedious trip back to Australia.

And then it is all over.

Last remaining days

In the beginning the unrelenting newsness made for something like blindness. Three years, a dozen or more books on Middle East and Lebanese politics, discussions and dvds on Islam, studying the Arabic language and weeks traveling and now it is all drawing to a close.

Today looking for a something to read at the local book shop I unthinkingly walked past the Middle East section and the Robert Fisks and bought a Kate Grenville. My mind is ready to move.

Last afternoon at the yacht club pool, surrounded by million dollar boats, under a solid blue sky and a temperature that has hovered around the 30C each day I have been here. Only when in the mountains does it get a little cooler. The pool was busy with Lebanese and Europeans the colour of kelpis applying more oil to already over coloured skin and laying under the full sun. While I have taken on all the years of skin cancer warnings and lay on a sun lounge under a huge umberella. I will miss Mediterranean pools with full bar and food service.

Tripoli and Hallab sweets

Woke up with a husky voice after being out dancing in a room full of cigarette smoke. I forgot what that was like.

A beautiful Sunday and to Tripoli for a great breakie at Hallab. A place famous for food and some serious cake eating.

Back home by bus watching the scene unfold as the road hugs the Med back down south to Beirut. The map shows lots of little villages all along the coast but in reality there is building going all along the coast and it will soon just be one long urban strip I suppose. Being Sunday the road was less busy than usual but the curbsides was still was peppered with fruit stalls and the coffee vans. Zac thinks the bananas are about $A0.80c a kilo.

Raouche - Pigeons Rock and a night at Ghost Bar

Off the coast of Beirut is a landmark called the Pigeons' Rock (also known as the Rock of Raouché). I did read the Phoenicians launched their corps of carrier pigeons from here to fly messages up and down the coast.

Saw this last week and was going to watch the sunset into the Med from this vantage point tonight but went shopping instead at ABC Mall in Ashrafieh. Then had a great dinner at our fav Italian in Rue Gouraud and people watched as there is no place better on a Saturday night.

Went to Ghost Bar at 11.45pm and paid our $A20 each to get in. With the entrance price you have an open bar  - all you can drink, all night, at no extra charge. Imagine this in Australia! The only rules at the club seem to be "no shirts off" and "no photos" allowed. Other than that - go for it. Patrons dance on the bar and every elevated spot there is. The floor is awash with bottles, glass and drinks. Everyone smokes so you have to be careful not to get burned or have a drink spilled on you. The crowd is super friendly - all ages and sexes - from the super girly to the super str8 acting. Music is a mix of both international and Arabic hits. A fantastic night and we stubbled out at 5am.

Martyrs Square

Martyrs Square before the civil war

Martyrs Square during the civil war

Martyrs Square today. A work in progress.

Another tough day laying around the pool but it is an even tougher gig for local politians trying to make a difference.

From the 1980s, one President, one President elect, one Prime Minister, one former Prime Minister and four Members of Parliament have been assisinated. Would our MPs stay in their jobs if we had these awful statistics?

I am getting my Francophone hit tonight and going to a Luis Buneul film festival to see "Belle de Jour". Not that I really need it as I seem to speak more French and English here than my little Arabic. The Arabic I do know is at least helpful to read signs.

Rafiq Hariri and time for rest and relaxation

A statue of Rafiq Hariri stands in a memorial garden near the place where he was assasinated in 2004. He became Prime Minister in 1995 and was largely responsible for the rebuilding of Beirut city centre.

Zac is spending this last week mostly with family up north so I now can also have a well deserved break from touring. I wander a new unwalked district in the morning and then in the afternoon lay around the pool at the St Georges Yacht Club and read and order food and drinks. In the evening I go to the movies. Nice.

Little things I have noticed while here. Firstly people are generally shorter than me -  gotta love that. Guys ride bikes around street ring bells and selling bread with baked in handles and people drink date juice as much as orange juice. Everywhere including around the pool people are smoking nargilas. People drive to shops, restaurants, bars etc - they just stop at front door, hold up all traffic behind then and give keys and $2 to some kid to sort out the parking issue and traffic mess behind them. Car parks often have mirrors on trolleys, just to check under the car to ensure it is not going to blow every one up.

Ashrafieh and a $A5 movie

Wandered the streets in Ashrafieh, Beirut. During the civil war bombs and rockets wiped out a substantial portion of the areas architectural heritage. Now demolition teams tear down old houses and bulldoze hundred-year-old gardens which are replaced by tall apartment towers. There are no law to protect old homes and preservation is low on the list of things to do for the local politicians.

Went to movies for only $A5. Movie in English and subtiled in Arabic and French makes for a busy screen.

A young mum out with her toddlers, she walks two paces ahead of her two small Filipina maids who struggle to carry her kids and her shopping. Occasionally she turns around to goo at the offspring. Am I getting bent up over the maids? Are they just poor people making a living? Is this exploitation and are the parents setting a bad example for their children?

National Museum of Beirut and local taxis.

Up early to leave my cell and say au revoir to the night porter. Breakfast at Hallab, famous for Oriental sweets, onto Jounieh for Zacs dentist appointment and finally back home to Beirut after being away for two days.

Visited the National Museum of Beirut housing artifacts from prehistoric to the medieval Mamluk period. It is surprising there is anything left to see as the building suffered extensive damage in the war. Most of the artifacts were saved by being walled up in the basement and the mosaic floors were covered in a layer of concrete.

We did the travelling today around Beirut by taxis. Theses are usually beaten up old Mercs. There are no metres so you need to bargain before you even get in.

The first taxi of the day had a driver that said we can pay anything we like, then proceeded to show us all the medical bills he has to pay for his sick daughter. Our second taxi driver had many brothers in Sydney and wanted us to visit each of them on our return to Sydney. The last driver of the day drove at 100km an hour through side streets, up on the pavement and squeezed into gaps that could not house a cockroach. All the while followed by what seemed a very cool young dude, driving a brand new shiny black Merc. I think he used our taxi as a way of clearing a path for him.

Qadisha Valley, Bcharre the famous old cypress pine .....

A huge day. Up at 6am and off to Qadisha grotto, Qadisha valley, Bcharre, The Cedars, a church and a monastery or two and the Khalil Gibran museum. Finally saw a fabled Lebanon Cedar.

Picked an apple from a tree and picked up a old guy who supposedly had not spoken for twelve months. He had converted from from being a Maronite to a Muslim and wondered why in the little Christian village where he lived every one hated him.

The Lebanese take their confession very seriously. You can't even legally marry across the divide. Did see "Civil Marraige Not Civil War" in Beirut, so maybe thing will change. People seem very curious as to your religion and the rejection of belief in the existence of deities is hard for people to even contemplate.

Tripoli, La Mina and Otto Niemeyer

Left Beirut to stay in Tripoli for two nights. Trouble was that there was no room at the Quality Inn if you did not have a passport and I had left mine in the hotel in Beirut. Much hunting around found room at an Othodox Monastery in La Mina, the coastal city next to Tripoli. The monastery was happy to except my drivers licence as to proof of identity. I stayed in a cell repleat with crucifix and TV. I have not watched TV for two weeks and I was starting to get the shakes.

At 4.45am awoken by the faithful called to prayer by the surrounding mosques. Got back to sleep then woken this time by church bells ringing their faithful.

While in Tripoli checked out the Otto Niemeyer Fair site in Tripoli. Loved the arch.

After dinner walked along The Corniche at La Mina to watch the setting sun. On Sundays so does every other Tripolitan. The corniche was packed with families picnicing, kids riding bikes, teenagers on mini scooters, mums and dads promenading and parked cars, door open and music blaring filled with local lads showing off and checking out the talent.

St Georges Yacht Club and kitten heels

A relaxing day around the pool at the St Georges Yacht Club. It is a French colonial hotel built in 1932 and expanded in the 1950's. It was once the most luxurious hotel in Beirut but the hotel was destroyed in the civil war and remained a ruin for 30 years. It was finally being restored in 2005 when Rafik Hariri was killed in a bombing in front of the hotel. The bombing destroyed the hotel again! Love this place as the pool is surrounded by not only the bombed out St George but can see the still gutted Holiday Inn behind the new Phoencian Hotel. Love it.