Parc Astérix is a theme park situated in the north of Paris, France. This theme park is based on the stories of the French comic character Asterix. You will enjoy the park more if you do know about European comics and appreciate the France humour.
If you have more time, take a walk across the bridge and have a good aerial view of the habour.
You could sign up for the half day climb of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and get certified.
There is also the Rock where you could have some refreshment while doing your shopping.
You could also take the ferry to the zoo or to the other side of the nude beach and take a bus back. Just take note of the timetable for the ferry as the last boat is at 5pm.
The trip to Bali was through Time Sharing. Someone invested in time sharing and was given a free stay in a restort in Bali with 2 free return air tickets. He approached me to accompany him on this holiday trip. The resort is rather comfortable with a swimming pool infront of the room. The beach is about 15 minutes walk. However, when we turned on the tap to take shower, muddy water came out. The Australian engineer took a few hours to fix it. The next day, we hired a taxi driver to take us around to visit the tourist attractions.
Auckland to Rotorua is about 3 hours car ride. When I was in Auckland, I stayed in Nomads Kiwi Paka with 20 beds in a room and I was the only guest in that room. Maybe I should not call “beds” as it was rows of mattresses on the floor.
I visited the the Te Puia to see bubbling mud pools. I also visited a Maori village and experienced the culture differences. I went to a farm, watched the sheep show and fed the animals.
I arrived in Christchurch by the colourful Virgin Airlines. Anyone who has taken the flight will have a deep impression of the airlines as it is different from the traditional airlines. There are posters and advertisments inside the plane. When the plane landed, there were loud cheers and chaps (from the speakers).
I took the seven o’clock morning train on the scenic route from Auckland and reached Wellington at seven o’clock in the evening. The 12 hours’ ride was spectacular with the view of the snow mountain. We even had a stop in the National Park to get down for photo taking. In the city, I took the cable car up to the hillside and had the aerial view of the city. From Wellington, I took the domestic flight to Christchurch which is in the south island.
Fremantle is just about 45 minutes of train ride from the city of Perth. I was there on a Friday afternoon. The place is bit of slow and quiet. I think I see more people in MBC than in Fremantle. The Fremantle Market opens only on weekends. I bought a T-shirt from one of those tourist shops at a discounted price of A$10. The next day when I was in Perth, I saw T-shirts with the same design are selling at A$5 each. Got cheated!!!!
From Perth, I took the Indian Pacific Train (印度太平洋火车) to Adelaide. The journey is 2 days and 2 nights (48 hours). The train had a stop at Kalgoorlie at about 1am. I got out of the train with my seat partner (a young German girl) to explore the quiet town. We walked for about 30 minutes and finally found McDonald’s.
The train continued. We passed by 2 deserted towns – Tarcoola and Forrest. We had our second stop in Cook Town. There are only 5 men and one fat woman living in this 鸟不下蛋的地方. We got off the train and had a self-guided tour in this ghost town for about 2 hours.
St Kilda is about an hour walk from the city of Melbourne. As I was staying a distance away from the the city, I have to take about an hour walk to the city and another hour walk to the beach in St Kilda. I never take any bus or train when I was in Melbourne. I only once took the free city bus to travel around the city (I took 3 rounds). Most of my travel are on foot and with a map.
While I walking towards St Kilda, I found that there was no many vehicles on the road. Later I realised it was the day of the Pride Parade and some of the roads were closed. I joined in the crowd to watch the parade and took some pictures.
The parade ended with music, dance and performance in the park near to the beach.
Italy is my first and last stop for the Europe trip. I arrived in Milan and flew back from Rome. Milan is a cosmopolitan metropolis with a European flair, and is considered one of the world’s fashion and design capitals.
A must visit place is the the Duomo di Milano (Cathedral). You could pay 7 Euro and climb up to the roof top to have a aerial view.
I joined the free walking tour and visited the Sforzesco Castle and other places.
Even if you are not into arts, Santa Maria delle Grazie is also a must visit. In this small church you could see the original Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The last Supper” painted on the wall. According to the website, you will have to book the ticket at least one month in advance as they only allow about 20 people per visit and each visit last about 30 minutes. I was lucky as one of the tourists did not turn up at the particular time slot when I was there. So, I took over the place. We were not allowed to take pictures during the tour but I still managed to get a few shots without flash.
See what the people have done to Milan.
I stayed in the town of Assmago when I was in Milan. I also stayed in another place but I do not know the name of that place.
