3 years, 36 months, 156 weeks, 1095 days, 26280 hours, 1576800 minutes

However you look at it, it's a looooong time. Almost 10% of my life so far.

That's how long it's been since I got on that jet plane and left Adelaide to see the world. 

1 year on from my last post I got that whole nostalgic feeling and thought it was about time I did another one of these, so here goes......

I've been asked a fair bit lately about how much longer I'm going to stay in London, mainly because quite a few of my friends have gone home lately, people who I've shared a large chunk of my overseas adventure with (when it gets to 3 years, is it still technically an "adventure"?), and also because my parents have been asking about it. I know for most people, parents asking when you're coming home is quite natural and probably would have occurred well before the 3 year mark, but let's just say my relationship with my folks is somewhat more dysfunctional. But I digest... a whole bunch of good people are heading back home, whether it be for visa reasons, loss of job reasons (damn credit crunch, GFC - whatever you want to call it), can't bear the thought of another English winter reasons, study reasons, growing up reasons or those who just know it's time. While it sucks majorly that inevitably most people go home, one of the best things about London is that you do have the opportunity to meet new people who hopefully go some way to fill the hole left by others. 

Also, it's a great place to come for a holiday and we've had loads of visitors. We have a super comfy couch and flights are cheap thanks to the credit crunch/GFC and swine flu so come and visit!

Since the last post, highlights have been:

• Croatia - I can't stress how highly I recommend you go sailing around the Croatian islands - Hvar, Dubrovnik, Korcula, Mljet - they're all freakin awesome, or as Lou would put it "outraaaaaaaaaaaaaageous"
• Krakow - anywhere is better with local knowledge, the Zakopane mountain region is a beautiful place to hike, even for 8 hours...
• Liverpool - I got to stand in the Kop and sing-a-long with the locals
• Adelaide - always a pleasure to go home (yes, I still call Radelaide "home"), especially when your best mate gets married to a girl that you proudly call a mate too
• Malaga & Granada - fantastic food and a hit of sunshine before the English winter kicked in
• Jersey - I tried to run a half marathon with absolutely minimal preparation and badly injured my foot at the 9 1/2 mile mark - still managed to finish in 2:30 which I was reasonably pleased with as I had to walk the last 3 1/2 miles
• Moscow & St Petersburg - fascinating and incredibly different. The Cryllic alphabet threw me but luckily we had guides in Moscow and Liam & Lara's sketchy Russian to get us by in St Pete's
• Cornwall - didn't really spend enough time there to explore properly but it's only 5 hrs drive so I'm sure I'll get back there - and we got to shoot shotguns - awesome!
• Berlin - four days over Easter - awesome place full of contrasts, my second visit but the first time I could explore properly, definitely a place I would go back to
• Brussels & Brugge - Brugge really isn't a shit hole, despite what Colin Farrell might think :-) Again, places I had visited before but got to explore better this time round and we drove out to a monastery to drink beer made with Holy Water - it was sacralicious...

So that's pretty much been my past year of travel and obviously there were other non-travel related highlights through the year but they mainly involved getting drunk. Thank Buddha for Facebook photo albums or else there's no way I would have remembered most of that...

I'm hoping to get to Lisbon in late July and am trying to organise a private charter cruise through the Greek Islands in early September so  give me a shout if you're interested and I can add you to the mailing list for it.

The sun is shining here in London town, I think the hangover from last night is fading and I have a BBQ to get to, so that's it from me for now.

Hope all is well with you, dear reader.

Hit me with stories of what you're up to.

PK :-)

Over the hill and feeling old(er)

Somewhat hilariously, I was recently accused of writing with wit and humour (thanks Gumbo) and as such was inspired to once again add to this blog that probably only Gum reads (feel free to contradict me dear reader!)

So anyway - what have I been up to of late?

Most recently (literally last weekend) I marked the anniversary of 27 years of disappointing my parents by having a costume party, the photos of which can be found on Facebook (and a selection below). I've been to a few concerts - Foo Fighters! (at Wembley Stadium no less - and Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin came out for the encore) - Hilltop Hoods - Jack Johnson with Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, G-Love & Special Sauce and the O2 Wireless Festival - GooGoo Dolls, Powderfinger, Lyrics Born, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals (twice in a week!) and Counting Crows and I'm off to the Big Chill Festival next weekend.

Also I went to Royal Ascot and hilariously won money by betting on a horse named "Beaver Patrol" (no, seriously, that was its name), I had my parents over for a few weeks and did some touristy stuff with them, went to Wimbledon for an evening and saw a "Legends" game 4 rows from the court on Centre Court.

No travel since my last ramblings but I'm off to Croatia for a week of sailing in mid August and hoping to get to Krakow in mid September. Most excitingly I'll be back in Adelaide from late September to mid October to help my mate Liam throw his life away.... oops, I mean - get married ;-)

In mid June this year I "celebrated" my 2 year anniversary in London and was prompted to write the following piece of self indulgence titled - "2 yrs on and what have I learnt", which you can have a gander at below:

Wow - so as of today I'll have been in London and away from good ol RADelaide for 2 years. 2 years sure goes by real quick! I guess it's true when "they" say time sure goes by fast when you're having fun. Is it just me or do "they" say a whole lot of things?
Anyways, it got me thinking - what exactly have I accomplished/learnt over the period?

Starting with what I've accomplished: probably not a whole lot really.
- I've managed to blag myself a fairly decent job with a big company
- I'm living in a great flatshare with awesome people (shout out to Marie J, Tom M & Kitzy K) that's a 15 minute walk to my work - fairly unheard of in London
- I've met some awesome people along the way that I'm proud to call friends
- I've kept playing basketball and am arguably a much more dangerous threat from 3-point range than when I left home
- I've reconnected with long lost old friends - thanks Facebook
- I've done a bit of traveling and seen a portion of what I want to whilst I'm on this side of the world- which kind of leads into...

Things I've learnt:
- I now know how to say hello, goodbye, thank you, pardon and beer/wine please in Italian, German, French and Spanish (really I should know all these things in Turkish, Dutch, Swiss, Norwegian and Danish as well but so much of the world understands English you kind of get lazy)
- I miss proper, competitive basketball with statistics - my Fosbury quotient would be through the roof (PAOCBC boys will know what I'm talking about)
- most modern music sucks balls - I've been looking to the past for new stuff to listen to. Jazz, funk and soul - the likes of James Brown, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone (thanks Kim), Dusty Sprinfield, Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee
- almost every Liverpool player has their own song "Steve Gerrard, Gerrard, he'll pass over 40 yards, he's big and he's fookin' hard, Steve Gerrard Gerrard"
- I shouldn't scull saucepans full of punch after a concert and not eating a whole lot during the day
- drinking games are fun but dangerous when G Waddell is around
- bathroom usage terms must be specified on the toilet door (thanks Waz)
- houseparty crashers that none of the housemates know should be kicked out before they've defiled (a) your bathroom floor (b) your comfy sofa
- my timing can, on occasion, be extremely poor
- I'm terrible with managing money
- however, I'm much more capable of being independent that I ever thought I'd be
- for those special friends who've got your back during the tough times, you'd do anything in return
- I've learnt to enjoy the simple pleasure of going for a run by myself (without needing to be chasing a basketball)
- I appreciate RADelaide all the more for what it is - it's just not where I need to be for now
- I can understand how people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder - you really start missing sunshine after a while
- meat is better if it's cooked over hot coals - especially if it's from Best Mangal in West Kensington
- Piano bars can be hilarious fun
- lawn bowls is not just for old people
- signing up to your favourite band's mailing list is a brilliant way of not having to get up at ridiculous hours and battling with thousands of people to get tickets to that gig you really wanna go see
- ticket scalpers are the scum of the earth but the have their place - much like cockroaches
- everything in London is negotiable at 11am in the morning when you've been watching the AFL Grand Final and drinking since 4am in the morning - especially donuts(thanks Danielle)
- watching friends go back to Oz after sharing the London experience really, really sucks (thanks for reminding me Kath!)
- new experiences are fantastic but are all the better if they're shared with friends
- the world is an awfully big place with a whole of things to see and do, but even so, it's important to take time out to simply do nothing even in a place you've never been to before and may never visit again

Things I miss:
- the food - Adelaide has some fantastic restaurants - Peking Duck from Ming's Palace, chicken rice from the Chinatown Cafe, any steak from Gaucho's, sugarcane prawns from Vietnam (the restaurant not the place), yum cha from Ding Hao, Farmers Union Ice Coffe just to name a few
- The Barossa Valley - Rockfords, Grant Burge, Turkey Flat, Henschke
- McLaren Vale - d'Arenburg, Fox Creek, Wirra Wirra, Coriole, Chapel Hill
- drinking great South Australian wines on a Tuesda night with my Maxims crew: Steve, Sully, Crofty, Tommy (when he shows) Ange (RIP brother), Katie, Sammy and the occasional drop-ins Gerbs, Huffy, Kaz and Schaps
- nerd sessions with Tim and Liam
- playing basketball for the Mighty Reds
- poker nights with the boys
- in fact - my whole RADelaide crew - you know who you are

Please hit me back with any thoughts or observations you may have had over the past couple of years and especially if you have any suggestions about things that MUST be done over this side of the pond.

Hope you're all well - even if you don't read this note :-)


my housemates


Amy Winehouse makes an appearance


Hugh Hefner style


just some of my harem... ;-)

And I said hey yey yey yey, I said hey, what's going on?

'Straya

It's perhaps somewhat appropriate that I blog about my time back home after having been to the last show of Crowded House's reunion tour at The Royal Albert Hall last night and whilst listening to the dulcet tones of Tim Freedman and The Whitlams.
It's now been 2 weeks since I got back to London and in between running around to get paperwork together for my Highly Skilled Migrant Permit application and going out drinking every single night I have had a chance to ruminate on just how much fun I had and just what it is that's so special about our great Southern land and also about the things that are perhaps less cool.

I guess, for me (and I probably most of us), the best thing about going home for 6 weeks was the pure and simple act of catching up with people over beer, wine, hot chocolate (I don't do coffee), fruit juice, food, gelati etc. Deep down, I'm kind of a busybody and I like to know what people are up to. I did however find it slightly distressing that what most people were up to was Growing Up & Being Responsible. Almost everyone is starting to settle down, get married and buy houses. One of my mates is even having a baby in February. It's all a bit much for a not-so-recently single 26 year old who just wants to go out partying more nights than not. Having said that, I am extremely happy for all of my friends that are moving down that path and hoping to one day join them in their domesticated bliss, just not yet...

In between wine tours (god I love the Barossa and McLaren Vale), golf, Henley Beach, Holdfast Shores, Victor Harbour, all my favourite restaurants, I came to conclusion that many people have probably already come to. If the best thing about Australia is the people (and in my slightly biased view, I think it is), they are that way because of the environment around them. In the Nature vs Nurture debate, I'm going to come down on the side of Nurture - in that we are the way we are as a result of the environment around us. Ergo, the Australian people are laid back because we live in a generally spectacular physical environment with great weather and open spaces. We can put things off because we're fairly confident that the weather will be fine tomorrow and the day after and the day after and so on, hence the "She'll be right mate" mentality. More often than not it will be alright.
Don't you love simplistic views? ;?p

So, onto the not so cool stuff and really it's only not so cool because I'm at a stage of my life where I want to be partying more often than not, but having been back in London for 2 weeks, I've probably had almost as many BIG nights as the whole six weeks back in Oz, purely because people over here are much more up for partying on a school night. Probably not a bad thing if you are Growing Up & Being Responsible, but I'm not ready yet.

I've now got all my paperwork together and my HSMP application has been lodged so it's really just a matter of sitting around and waiting for it to hopefully be approved. Fortunately, I've moved into a really cool flat with some super cool people and it's the festive season so there's plenty to do.

Be good to one another,

PK

Possibly the longest thing I've ever written

Well howdy folks, I guess it’s now timely that I should be writing a new update on how my last few months have been given that I’ll probably be visiting as many of you as possible to discuss said events face-to-face in the next few weeks, but whatever…

So I find myself in the all to familiar situation of having to recall events that have long since passed, while relying on photos and a memory hazed by the copious amounts of alcohol that have passed my lips in the past few months. However, in this particular circumstance I am writing this update from somewhere over the Denmark Straight of Atlantic Ocean at 10,058m in the air, travelling at 929 kph and it’s a chilly -62 degrees centigrade outside. No, I haven’t developed the Supermanesque ability of flight; I am in fact onboard United Airlines Flight 931 to Los Angeles.

Before I go into my past few months, I feel it my civic duty to advise you all to stay the hell away from United Airlines. They charge $US5 for alcoholic beverages, there are no movies on demand and the plane is unsurprisingly full of stupid and fat Americans and crying babies. Also, I'm sitting next to a couple that look like they have just walked out of the American Gothic painting and put on clothes from the late 1960's...

Next time I fly home, I’m paying extra to take a Singapore/Malaysian/Qantas/anyone else airlines flight

Anywho, I think I left ya’ll after Paris, about to tackle Rotterdam and Edinburgh.
The only reason I went to Rotterdam was to watch Liverpool play in a pre-season friendly tournament against Feyenoord, and the game was certainly the highlight of the trip. Having had some experience of the Netherlands through my previous trip to Amsterdam, I must say that Rotterdam let it’s much more famous cousin down miserably. I had been pre-warned that Rotterdam was not exactly an exciting place to be and I must say Kaz & Caitlin were right. Even though there were a fair few travelling supporters for the tournament (FC Porto and Shenghua Sharks were playing as well), there was no buzz about the place and the whole town seemed kinda dead.
My mate Daz and I did manage to find a decent place to grab a meal though and it must be said that there were a few good sorts in the restaurant…
I can't believe I ate the whole thing

The Coopers hat on tour
The lads before the game

I'm guessing it's a cigar lounge...

It’s hard to explain, but there was just none of the vibrancy that I have experienced in many of the other European cities I have visited. We went for a wander to the bar district which reminded me of a really quiet version of home and I was vaguely surprised I didn’t see any tumbleweeds go rolling by.
From what I understand Rotterdam got relatively flattened during the war and I guess in their haste to rebuild it, they didn’t really bother building anything nice.

Edinburgh on the other hand had it all going on. To be fair, we went during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which is almost as big and good as the RADelaide Fringe Festival, so I guess that helped, but I can certainly see that even without the Fringe Edinburgh is a beautiful town. Really, a town that has a big castle looking down on it is always going to be cool.
We managed to squeeze in a whole lot of comedy shows, saw a Japanese break dancing crew and saw the Soweto Gospel Choir. It was freakin AMAZING! Next year, I’m going to book a few days off and do more than just a weekend and maybe book far enough in advance that I don’t end up staying in the worst hostel in the town…
Evening over Edinburgh

The castle overlooking the town


More cool stuff in Edinburgh

So Edinburgh ended my epic three trips in three weekends and after having done it once, I don’t think I’ll ever be doing that much travel in such a short time frame ever again.

Due to the extremely unhealthy state of my bank balance following my travels, I chose to spend most of September in and around London. Highlights included visiting Bournemouth beach (I actually managed to get sunburnt), Brighton beach to go Orbing, having Slats and Amber visit – we had an impromptu house party and having Zuzana and Luke visit – we went to the Notting Hill Carnival.
Everybody's going surfing

Rentable huts just by the beachfront
Notting Hill Carnival

Greg, Zuzana, Luke & me
Amber, Slats and me

Climb in, the water's fine
Me & Marie - drenched but happy!

If you’ve never been Orbing before, I highly recommend it. If you have no idea what Orbing is, it’s also known as Zorbing in Oz/NZ and is basically an activity in which you climb into a great big ball and get rolled down a hill. I did it 3x, once a dry run and twice on a wet run. The wet run is SOOOO much fun it should be illegal - it's basically as close to experiencing the inside of a washing machine as you can get

September was a month tinged with sadness as we farewelled one of our drinking team – Shaun, who had to go home due to visa issues, so we got rollickingly drunk for his whole last weekend.
Shaun's drinking injury

The last weekend of September signals that start of the confusingly labelled Oktoberfest, so a crack team of drinkers was assembled and we shot off to Munich for another weekend of cultural immersion.
We spent Friday immersing ourselves in the grand old tradition of the German beer hall – sinking many a stein in the Paulaner hall near Karlsplatz, but aware there was a long weekend of drinking ahead of us, we didn’t get too crazy and were tucked safely in bed in a random B&B in the middle of deep suburban Munich before midnight.
Saturday morning saw us wake up early to get to the opening of the festival and even though we were at the Wiesn (German for field) by 10am, we were unable to get into a tent and had to settle for a table on the outskirts of the Paulaner tent. In hindsight, that was actually kind of cool because the weather was magnificent, with the sun shining brightly and the temperature in the high 20’s. We were fortunate to snag a table on the edge of the beer wenches walkways and with some fairly generous tipping, we never had to wait all that long to get beers when we needed them. Perhaps the only thing disappointing about the day was the fact that our assigned beer wench was actually a Ginger haired dude. However, he was cool and brought us beer and pork knuckles, so we forgave his lack of breasts. I tell you what though, some of those girls are amazing, they may be only 5 foot 2 with arms smaller than Liam Golding’s but they can still carry 6 steins in each hand with a few more seemingly held up by their boobs, seriously – I saw a girl carrying 15 1L steins – as I said, AMAZING! Following a long afternoon of drinking (they don’t serve beers until midday on the opening day) we decided that the rollercoasters and other amusement rides required our attention – we even managed not to throw up.
Sunday saw me at a friend of a friend’s place drinking beer and doing shots of proper German Schnapps at 9am after a skimpy “breakfast” pretzel. Needless to say, more drinking was done, this time in the Hacker tent, with dancing on the tables to the dulcet tunes of a German Oompah band playing AC/DC’s TNT, DJ Otzi’s Oooooh baby, I wanna know if you’ll be my girl, the Angel’s Am I ever going to see your face again – no way, get fucked, fuck off, Living Next door to Alice – Alice, who the fuck is Alice? And some traditional German tunes, most of which I was somewhat reliably informed had to do with sex.
I even managed to learn some German – “Du bist sehr shön” which means “you are very beautiful” and some other phrases which are perhaps inappropriate to post, buy me a beer and I’ll tell you later ;?p
More amusement rides in the evening and in true Schutzenfest style, we went target shooting. I must say that I do find the German tradition of getting drunk and shooting guns somewhat worrying, but hey, who am I to judge?
Welcome to Oktoberfest
Just working the guns....

Early opening morning

Inside the Paulaner tent

Outside the Paulaner tent

Our very own beer "wench"

Me & my pork knuckle

Me & some locals

Me & gingerbread - I'm lead to believe it says "Hello from Oktobefest 2007"

Is this the best beard ever?

Monday was slightly more sombre as we decided to go to Dachau concentration camp. Unfortunately, the museum was closed so we had to make do with the view from the outside, which was perhaps, less educational, but moving nonetheless.

Since Oktoberfest there was the AFL Grand Final, which we woke up at quarter past three in the morning for – and I guess I should give respect where it’s due – well played Geelong, the biggest win in Grand Final history is indeed an impressive effort and whilst not a Port supporter (GO THE CROWS!), I was disappointed in their performance. As a result, we largely ignored large portions of the game and focused our attentions of the steady supply of jugs of snakebites that we kept purchasing. Later that evening, I got to experience the institution that is Fabric nightclub and it certainly lived up to its hype.

Me & Melli at Fabric
Me, Huffy & jug of snakebite

The drinking team

Somewhere in between the drinking, I managed to figure out that I was getting very close to breaching my Working Holiday visa, which would have had unfortunate repercussions and so I have taken an extended leave without pay from work to travel back to Oz whilst my Highly Skilled Migrant Permit (apparently I am considered highly skilled in certain circles) is sorted out so that I can go back and work in the UK legally.

So that’s it, and bloody hell, it’s been a big few months, demonstrated by just how much crap I’ve just written. If you’ve managed to make it through to the end though, and can prove to me that you read all of that, I will buy you a beer, or even two if you’re lucky!

Looking forward to seeing you all real soon.

PK

Photos from Paris

Well I know you've all been hanging out for these snaps and the witty commentry that accompanies them, so I hope you're not too disappointed. Will blog my halfarsed observations on Rotterdam and Edinburgh soon, but cos I like you, here's a quick taste of what's coming up:

Rotterdam - it's kinda shit

Edinburgh - it shits on Rotterdam

Peace out,

PK


Apparently the French love baguettes so much they need to be randomly left on dashboards


Things not allowed at the top of the Arc de Triumphe - food, fat people, smoking, tripods, walkie talkies and dogs (if that's not a fat person, then you tell me what you think it's representing - ok it's either a fat person or a person in budgie smugglers - either way, I think it's hilarious)


Looking down the Champs Elysees - those poles are literally all the stops you from falling off


Champs Elysees - this time without the git ruining the view


The Eiffel Tower


Home of the Hunchback with Shauny


I may have fallen asleep on the boat cruise but I knew when to wake up!


Who says French art is rubbish?


We've all seen this shot before (but usually with better looking people)


View from the Lourve gardens down to Concorde


Apparently French gay men prefer blondes


Part of the shameless marketing parade before the riders came through


Apparently it can't be Australian unless there's a kangaroo involved


The leaders finally arrive


The pellaton streams through

Paris - not as bad as everyone says it is...

So I've just gotten back from a weekend in Paris, nominally to see the Tour de France, but really, well... because I can. Gotta love the Eurostar!
and I thought I'd take the novel approach of writing some thoughts about it whilst the trip is still fresh in my mind (my thoughts have a very short use by date), and I must say that having previously not really thought it was all it was cracked up to be. Now before you all drown me out with a chorus of "but Paris is the city of love!, it's the most beautiful city in the world" etc, etc, let me explain how I came by my previous misconception:
1) the weather when I went previously was shit. I mean really shit
2) as a result, pretty much all I saw of Paris was the Sacre Coeur, the Champs Elysees and Zara (a predominantly female clothing store) oh and lots of dog shit and rubbish on the streets
having been again with reasonably good weather I have now had the opportunity to climb the Arc de Triumphe, check out Notre Damne, Plaza de Concorde, the suburb of Saint Michel, the grounds of the Lourve and take the boat cruise past the other main sites (including that big tower) and I must say that I now agree with the majority of the human population that has had the pleasure of visiting Paris!
However, I do still have a few beefs with the beautiful city, namely:
- in 2 1/2 days all of the meals I ate (except lunch at a delightful Greek gyro house) were shit. Really shit. As shit as the weather was last time I was there.
- the customer service is terrible. Now, living in London, I'm used to poor service, but the places I visited really raised the bar on shit service levels
- the trains were as bad as those in the UK - stopping for no good reason and making things worse was the service announcements in French (to be fair my fault for not learning French)
- the beauty of the walkways by the Seine river and in fact a lot of the city of Paris being rudely interrupted by that most delightful odour - human urine. Now, we've all been caught short at one time or another and I'm as guilty as the next person of just a spot of public urination, but really, I've never smelt public spaces as bad as I have in some of the prettier parts of Paris
- continental breakfasts are generally good unless you're staying in a ridiculously cheap (and inconveniently located) 2 star hotel "near" the Carrefour Pleyel (not to be confused with Carrefour - the French version of Coles) metro station and their version of "ham" is suspiciously similar to "Spam" - complete with that nasty jelly like substance holding it all together
- getting into clubs is generally difficult enough - wrong shoes, wrong haircut, wrong shirt and all that jazz, we've all been there - even in Radelaide, but to be turned away from a club that was already mainly full of girls because there wasn't a girl in our group was a bit of a slap in the face
- for all of it's reputation as a city of high fashion, most of the Parisians we saw were not inappropriately dressed for a night out at the Village Tavern

Now, to the Tour de France.
On a certain level, I'm glad that I can say that I've now seen the starting (in London) and closing stages of one of the most famous sporting events in the world, BUT - not actually being that big a fan of cycling in the first place, on balance, I would rather have been watching it on a big screen either at home or preferably with friends, beer, toilets and most importantly... couches! Rather than spend any time ripping on the experience (which I am glad I've had), I've compiled a few suggestions for those who want to see the Tour up close an personal...
- having seen the Tour come through the streets of Paris I would probably recommend watching it up on one of those hill climbs that they do, so you can get close enough to the riders to push them (over if you so choose) and there's likely to be a reasonably steady stream of them come through over a period of time, as opposed to the whole pelaton cruising past in 30 seconds (admittedly they did a few laps of the Paris street circuit)
- pick a good location - luckily my boss suggested the corner of the Champs Elysees and Plaza de Concorde and that actually worked out quite well for us
- get there early... but not too early. We got to our spot at about 1pm. If you get there too late then the crowd will be six deep and unless you're over 6 foot massive (I'm not) you probably won't see anything
- bring water and snacks - but don't drink too much! if you leave your location, some will steal it and even if you don't people will keep encroaching into your personal space until you just want to start lashing out and hurting someone. I don't have the largest bladder in the world and not being able to go to use the facilities for 4 1/2 hours is not fun
- bring something to sit on - standing in the same spot for 4 1/2 hours is also not fun
- bring some music, a book to read, or someone you can talk shit to for 4 1/2 hours. If you're lucky, there will be speakers set up near you, but those speakers, whilst playing a reasonable selection of music (including Midnight Oil and INXS) may change over to random French commentary at any given moment, which can be confusing
- oh and be prepared for a parade of truly commercial proportions, made amusing by the sheer fact that you won't know half of th products being advertised but tolerable due to the large numbers of pretty girls dancing on fast moving automobiles

So that's it. My weekend in Paris. Photos and a video clip (if I can figure out how to make it work) of the race to come. I can feel the anticipation already...

PK