Views of The World

The Colosseum, Rome.

2009-08-31T13:26:00.000-07:00

Vatican.

2009-08-31T13:08:00.001-07:00

The Vatican - all a bit of wank really.

Basilica, Vatican city.

2009-08-31T12:52:00.001-07:00

Pantheon, Rome.

2009-08-31T11:49:00.000-07:00

They don't know how it was built, and they don't know how it stands, they say that if they tried to build it today, it would be impossible!! The dome is made of concrete but there is no reinforced steel rods so the structure should crumble under its own weight especially seeing as it has a 4 metre wide hole in the middle! If you made an exact replica of it, turned it upside down and underneath itself it would be a perfect sphere! Amazing!! I also acts as a clock and a calendar indicated by where abouts the sunlight falls inside the dome.

Rome, Italy.

2009-08-31T11:16:00.000-07:00

Fontana di Trevi.

Paletine Hill, The Ancient palace.

Some ancient ruins that are now a cat sanctuary, the pink building behind them is the site where Caesar was assassinated, it is now a pizzeria.

Rome! Brilliant, amazing, extravagant, awesome! Loved it! Everything was massive and awe inspiring, old and full of history. I had two days in Rome and you really need a week, crammed a lot in, got to town at 8:30, left town at 21:00.
There is much to see and do, I did a walking tour held by a guy with a degree in Ancient Roman history an he just knew so much, he gave us centuries and centuries of information in the space of a few hours, it was great. The Romans were full on and we heard all about the bastards, if you want to know you'll just have to go and see it all for yourselves, i ain't even gonna start! sorry!

Venice, Italy.

2009-08-31T10:48:00.000-07:00

Sadly, for the 2 days I spent in Venice I was struck down by The Flu; one of the perils of sharing hostel dorm rooms with 4 to 24 other travellers. I still managed to drag myself through the city but was unenthused. I liked Venice, but it was touristy, very very touristy, like most of Italy. Its not the type of place I will rush back to but well worth exploring. The was not any one point in time in Venice that I knew where I was, there are lots of tiny lanes and squares and my map didn't have many street names on it. I am usually quite good at navigation. It was a nice place to get lost in anyway, the quiet local areas were peaceful and pretty. There were alot of gondolas! The gelati was delicious.

Paragliding - The Stunts and the Landing.

2009-08-28T05:04:00.000-07:00

Paragliding - The Flight!

2009-08-28T04:49:00.001-07:00

Paragliding - The hike.

2009-08-28T04:32:00.000-07:00

2 Germans, 2 Aussies.

Nearly at 1750 metres!

Place where I ran off of a mountain!

Getting ready for take off!!

St. Johaan in Tirol, Austria.

2009-08-28T03:56:00.000-07:00

A breathtaking place! Just so beautiful. This town has a population of just 10,000 people. Here I went Paragliding and then hired a mountain bike and went along to the nearby towns along the base of the mountain. It was fantastic. The hostel was basically just someones house called annalies'. Annalies was a lovely old Austrian lady, she loves the sport of hunting and her front room was coverd with deer skulls and various dead animals. She introduced me to four generations of the girls of her family (including her), all very beautiful aerians, and very sweet. Her mother gave me chocolate.
The Schnitzels were good and so was the beer.

A trek up to the biggest Ice Caves in the world!!

2009-08-28T03:09:00.000-07:00

Not far from Salzburg is the Largest ice cave in the world! Its a whopping 47km long! The first km is an ice cave. The cave was only discovered in 1879 by a mountaineer. On the drive to the bottom of the mountain, we passed through the valley in which the Romans invented the Mile! Historical stuff!!
Unfortunately, I was not able to take photos inside the cave as it was forbidden and I respected that, It was very dark anyway and photos would not have done justice to its brilliance and the sheer size of the thing.

Up the mountain in Salzburg.

2009-08-28T03:01:00.001-07:00

Salzburg, Austria.

2009-08-19T10:03:00.001-07:00

Salzburg was one of the most beautiful places I've been to yet! I was really pretty, surrounded with mountains and forest, vast green spaces and the town was so quaint! Salzburg is famous for the movie "The Sound of Music" and for being the birthplace of the legendary composer and musical genius, Mozart.
In the town, you often see the people going to dinner or a concert wearing the traditional outfits, it was so nice to see them. The men wear Lederhosen and the women wear a Dirndl!
We went to a beer hall, I trecked up a mountain for a superb view, saw the icecaves about an hour away and explored the old town, one of my favourite activities on my travels.

Vienna, Austria.

2009-08-17T02:29:00.000-07:00

The marketplace.

Some cool stuff in a gallery window.

Unfortunately I can't say much for Vienna, I didn't find it very interesting to walk around, it was just another big European city really, unless I missed something. They did have some cool buildings though. (pictured above)
I ate Schnitzel for dinner and drank schnapps for desert, two things Austria is Famous for, the lady at the restaurant was lovely and very Austrian.
We went to a market and got some lovely bits and pieces to eat and we visited the modern art museum called Momuk where we saw the scribbles and finger paintings of a madman called Cy Twoombly. I didn't get it.
Our little family of travellers said goodbye and we all had plenty to drink at a bar called The Travel Shack which was mainly Aussie travellers.

A trek up the mountain above Cesky Krumlov.

2009-08-17T02:21:00.000-07:00

Bohemian Feast!

2009-08-17T02:12:00.001-07:00

A bohemian feast for 5 of rabbit, smoked ham, pork, potatoes, potato pancakes, potato dumplings, millet and cream cheese with tomato and peas.
DELICIOUS!

Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic.

2009-08-17T01:35:00.000-07:00

View from Castle.

Entrance to the Town.

Castle tower.

In the Castle.

The Castle bear!

Cesky Krumlov was quite possibly my favorite place yet! I was breathtakingly beautiful and really relaxing. The hostel there is now my favorite hostel, it is an original 16th Century hospice, we slept in the attic which still has its original wooden beams. They offered plenty of activities like horse riding, kickboarding down the mountain, a selection of DVDs and a "pub crawl" on a raft!
The rafting was sooooo much fun!! There was a crew of 6. I was "Captain Beard" and I had my "Skipper Dreadlocks", and pirate crewman and wenches! It was a great adventure on a beautiful clear day, the water was lush and the woods were beautiful. I waved our flag (my shirt tied to a stick) as we drifted down to three shanties that served cold Czech beer along the way, by the third shanty I was no longer able to wave our flag.
The castle of Cesky Krumlov is the second largest of the Czech Republic after Prague, it is a leisure castle so just for a holiday, thats my kind of holiday house, one day I will have my own Castle for a getaway. This castle had much more character than the one in Prague, it was very beautiful and it even had a bear pit!! Bears are awesome!
Once again the food was fantastic, more Bohemian feasts served by friendly Czech people wearing bohemian style attire.

Prague, Czech Republic.

2009-08-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

Astronomical clock and harvest clock.

Prague Castle.

Prague was so beautiful and amazing, you feel like you are walking through an old storybook, it's a real fairytale place. Prague has the biggest palace in the whole of Europe! It is MASSIVE but I didn't think it had much character though, still quite pretty anyway, extravagant to say the least. Czech Republic is really cheap so that always makes for a more enjoyable stay, the food was fantastic, we ate out every night, old style bohemian feasts of fish, duck, pork, fried cheese with bacon pieces with potato dumplings, potato pancakes, millet, pickled red cabbage and of course quality Czech beer.
I have been close with a bunch of other travellers and have a bit of a family, they are great people and it's been great too make some new friends with a wacky sense of humor. I also linked up with an old friend who now lives in prague and had a good old yarn in a beer garden, met some really nice locals and went for a walk around the old town and the redlight district.
There was a strange nightclub that was made from car parts and machinery.
We did a walking tour of the city which was packed full of information and history, most of which was pushed out of my brain by the next sentence.
The highlight was definately the food and beer, we ate and drank alot!!

The Berlin Wall

2009-08-13T10:48:00.001-07:00

Various parts of the wall around Berlin.

Awesome street art in Berlin.

2009-08-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

Berlin, Germany.

2009-08-11T10:54:00.001-07:00

Berlin went off! Mainly a night place for me, as the clublife there is awesome. Not the prettiest of cities really, but still really fun and full of funny Germans of course so that is a recipe for a good time. There are some crazy unique clubs there like an upside down club where everything is on the ceiling, one where everything in the place is miniature so it seems like everyone is gigantic and a beer stock exchange where the price of beers is determined by the its popularity at the time. One we went to we needed a password to get in, luckily my friend was told about the place by a local so we knew the code. The Germans really know who to "make party" as the say, like this classic German bloke I met there called Carston who was a real laugh, at the club he was taking the piss out of all the Germans with a really over exaggerated German accent and all the people thought he was a foreigner.
Berlin was pretty cheap, we had a pizza for €2.50! They have awesome kababs too because they have the largest Turkish population outside of Turkey! Delicious kababs!!
There were a lot of historical monuments and war memorials and things like that but they didn't really interest me. There is a thriving music and art scene in Berlin and I went to some great art fairs.

Cheese and funny wooden shoes.

2009-08-02T16:08:00.000-07:00

The buildings of Amsterdam

2009-08-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

Red light district.

A leaning candy shop, when is one of these gonna fall over?!!

Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

2009-08-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

One of the many canals.

A stream in Vondlepark, the hippie park.

Another of the many canals of Amsterdam at dusk.

A pirate ship! ....Maybe.

And this is how you look after you come out of one of Amsterdams famous coffee shops!

Wow! Amsterdam! What can I say? What an awesome place, it is bizarre!! No doubt you have heard about the notorious red light district with its window girls and the dutch's tolerant approach to Marijuana, despite all that I found Amsterdam to be such a romantic place. There are many beautiful canals and architecture, there is a wonderful feeling of happiness and warmth in the air and the people are so kind and lovely.
There are lots of interesting buildings lining the streets and canals that oddly lean in all sorts of directions due to the fact the city is built on a swamp and they have resided over time. There is much culture there, many artist and you will often walk past a hazy coffee shop and here the strumming of a guitar and the voice of a long haired reefer smoking hippie. There are stoned cats all over the place! Thats right, I said stoned cats, they also like to go to the coffee shops and do funny things!! :)
There is a beautiful park called the Vondlepark. In the 60's when the many hippies flocked to Amsterdam, the Dutch let them live in the park so they would have their own area, you can still see many around today.
They make wonderful cheese, beer and funny clogs that are worn buy the farmers in the fields. The population of Amsterdam which is the Capital and largest city in The Netherlands is around 1 million. Lots of people ride bikes, and I mean like 1 million of them!

A day trip to Gent, Belgium.

2009-07-24T02:41:00.000-07:00

Unusual stalls with crazy figures who were watching the Belgium music festival.

Adele with a Juliper.

Gent is the largest city and capital of the East Flanders, Flemish region of Belgium.
It is about a half an hour from Bruges by train, a fellow Australian traveller and I took a day trip out there to get a broader view of Belgium.
In the Middle Ages it was one of the richest cities of Northern Europe. The population is a mere 240,000 people.

Beer beer beer beer BEER!!!

2009-07-24T02:10:00.001-07:00

International cyclist!

2009-07-22T04:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did something I've never done in my life, I cycled to another country!
I rode from Belgium to The Netherlands, it was about 15 miles away and took me an 2 hours including a break by the beautiful canal. Also a first for me was having to ask someone what country I was in! It was a strange feeling at that point.
I returned to a nice cold Belgian beer and let me tell you, it was the most deserved beer I think I've ever had.

Bruges, Belgium.

2009-07-20T08:06:00.000-07:00

In the 14th century, Bruges was one of the leading trade centres in Europe but due to its canals to the sea being silted during the following century, it was abandoned by many Traders and Townsfolk, leaving it suspended in time. Much of the town however was rebuilt in the 19th and 20th centuries to reflect its Medieval heritage.
Belgium is mostly famous for its beer, chocolate and of course belgium waffles, all of which I intend to consume generous amounts of. A popular dish here is chips and mayo, also very yummy. The country makes a staggering 750,000 tonnes of chocolate every year and has 500 types of beer many of which were originally brewed by Monks!!
Other well known things to come out of Belgium include The Smurfs and Tin Tin which has still sold a whopping 200 million comic books this decade alone!
Bruges claims to have some of Christ's blood so I figured if I can get my paws on some of that I will gain infinite power and will be able to rid the world of AIDS, Cancer and Climate Change!!

On the road again!

2009-07-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

Now I am in Paris, just for the night. I leave for Belgium in the morning! I am so excited to be on the road again, tomorrow is the beginning of my 'Busabout' adventure, a 7 week journey through Europe.
I got to Paris fine although had a close call on the way to the hostel when a man started hassling me in French outside the Metro, luckily though a very nice young guy across the road noticed and ran over asking if there was a problem. I presume he told the guy to piss off and then he gave me directions to the hostel and a smile. He was very kind and it leaves a warm fuzzy feeling in me knowing that there are some people in this world who will look out for you, even if they never met you. It was a relief to get inside the hostel and be greeted by a smile from reception and to be surrounded with chatter at the bar.
I love the hostel environment and am so glad to be in them again finally, I've already met some really nice Americans in my dorm who have been travelling since May, we had a good old yarn.

One last look at the Algarve.

2009-07-19T17:07:00.001-07:00

Portugal was so very beautiful, we had such a great time lying on the beach, by the pool, soaking up the rays and swimming. We saw sea-caves, had such a fun day at a waterpark - OMG! The food was amazing and we had not one lousy meal. The people were friendly despite a run in with some gypsies. I could have stayed there forever and it was difficult to leave, I miss it already and its only been a few hours since we left.

My Birthday dinner

2009-07-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

Yum yum yum!!

Portugese seafood birthday dinner!

All local ingredients from the Algarve.
Mussels in Garlic Butter and
Sardines! ..mmmmmmm

All of us with a Friendly local

Sangria!

Cave Exploration by boat in the Algarve, Portugal

2009-07-16T06:39:00.000-07:00

A tunnel between beaches

2009-07-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

Chillin' by the pool

2009-07-14T13:02:00.000-07:00

Clube Praia da Rocha

2009-07-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

Portugal, Praia Da Rocha

2009-07-14T12:53:00.001-07:00

Tish´s College Ball

2009-07-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

Duck Racing!

2009-07-14T12:34:00.000-07:00

An unusual but ever so fun Welsh tradition where 500 rubber duckies are raced down a river!

Welsh Cave Exploration

2009-07-14T12:08:00.000-07:00

Dinosaur Rodeo!!

2009-07-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

Animals!

2009-07-14T11:45:00.000-07:00

Wales

2009-07-14T11:33:00.000-07:00

My time in Wales was fantastic, it is a beautiful place and very relaxing pace! It was great to see my Cousins and Aunty Jenny who I rarely ever see sadly as they are a right laugh and great company!

Leaving Whitechapel / Bye Bye Roomie!

2009-06-26T10:07:00.001-07:00

A weekend in the English countryside

2009-06-25T06:48:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful weekend in at Gravetye Estate in West Sussex, despite the fact that it rained half the time but if it hadn't, that just wouldn't be very english now would it!

My beautiful Tish relaxing in a patch of shade in the garden.

A sunset over East London

2009-06-05T04:46:00.000-07:00

Other photos of the UK

2009-06-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

For other photos of the UK see:
www.flickr/photos/bstoneherbert

2009-06-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

Our place in Whitechapel

2009-06-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

Our's is 2nd from bottom and left

Why we have a pigeon net.

The Gerkin

2009-06-04T10:54:00.000-07:00

2009-06-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

...They're always watching!

It's my lucky day! Free beer to promote golf in Liverpool St.

...and a free burger from Zach's Burger stand!

Zach and I.
It always tastes better when it's free!!

2009-06-04T10:38:00.000-07:00

2009-06-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

A walk down Whitechapel Road

2009-06-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

.:_View:London_:.

2009-06-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

2009-06-04T03:25:00.000-07:00

Today is the beginning of a new chapter in the life story of Benjamin Stone-Herbert.
June 4, 2009: the first day of adventure, discovery, freedom; all things that the shackles of working life have denied me. I am taking a new lease on life.
Yesterday was my final day at work as a photolab printer in London, where like an eagle kept in a cage, I was denied the ability to soar and be invigorated by the airs of freedom we all deserve that belittling bosses squash down with their giant demeaning fists of control and restriction of individuality. I don't have much money, and my plans didn't turn out the way I had expected but at least I am now my own man, not controlled or restricted by others, I am free, young and in London! Here to bring you the views of the world right to those of you still in the grip of working life and those of you who wish to involve yourself in a real life adventure story. My gift to you is an escape from your routine that I no longer endure, so follow me in my adventures may they be big or small.
Today I start off with a walk through Whitechapel,
my mission: to enjoy a day in the big city, penniless but rich in aspirations. Where will I end up?