Day 2 in Yerevan, Armenia

Today was Sunday, although you wouldn't guess it from the number of workers.

The hotel is on the corner at an intersection and our room is on the corner of the hotel so we have a great view from our wrap around balcony. Two of the three other corners are building sites, both of which were in action today, and one is still going now at 7:30pm - more than 12h.

All the shops too were open, with hours like 9am-8pm. I am guessing it's an indication of the economy that working hours like that in a shop 7 days a week is necessary.

Today was Palm Sunday, so we saw lots of people in their Sunday best heading to church. The women and girls were wearing vine wreaths on their head and many people were carrying branches of cherry blossom buds.

Tom was a superstar everywhere we went, with people trying to touch him and kiss him, tousle his hair, pinch his cheek, press his nose. He was the only naturally blond person we saw all day. He is curious about and enjoying the attention, but not loving the strangers who grab him. There was one older lady who grabbed him either side of the head and laid a bunch of kisses on him, as soon as he was released he was out the door without looking back.

Luckily he hasn't been picked up for riding his scooter everywhere. He's very attached to it and is now steering around corners (thank goodness). We went past a local square where you can hire bikes and electric cars. It appears that most families can't afford bikes, so you hire one to learn on.

Based on the popularity and childhood fear of dogs at the park, they are also rare.

A big day today. It will be different tomorrow when Lee and the other men head to work. They'll be able to walk a bit faster for one!

London Day trips

London Day trips

Below is a collection of ideas about places you might like to visit.  I have put together groups of places in the same vicinity where you might choose to spend a day.  Look up a few places to see what you might like.  I have listed opening times while we are there and prices just to give an indication.  Sometimes buying online or as a concession card holder will be cheaper.

St Paul’s Cathedral, Millenium Bridge, Tate Modern, The Globe (Shakespeare’s theatre), Borough markets, London Glassblowing

From 20120807 Junior Tour - England Pretour

St Pauls (£15 to go to top, cheaper online, otherwise free; 8:30am-4:00pm Mon-Sat)

- Beautiful cathedral

- Survived both World Wars when everything around it was destroyed

- Information Centre here is a great place for picking up a free map!

Millenium Bridge (free)

- Pedestrian bridge running between St Paul’s and Tate Modern

- It’s just a bridge

Tate Modern (10am-10pm Sun; 10am-6pm Mon-Thu)

- Modern art gallery

- Large sections free, top sections will have special (paid) galleries

The Globe (£13.50 for tour, various hours; to see a show, from £5 for matinee standing)

- The relocated, open-air theatre that Shakespeare wrote for

- Has tours and Shakespearian Shows

Borough Markets (10am-5pm Sun-Fri)

- PICKPOCKETS

- An excellent place to find a fresh lunch and maybe some other (eating) treats. Eg. cheese, olives, bread, cakes

London Glassblowing http://www.londonglassblowing.co.uk/ (10am-6pm Mon-Sat)

- I have spent literally hours (at least 6) watching them create glass sculptures and vases in their workshop behind their gallery.

- I love this place.

- It’s in Bermondsey which is previously a industry/warehouse-type area and is now a centre for design (very hipster)

Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Monument, Bank of England

Basically all within the Square Mile of the City of London.  The walls of the Tower of London mark a corner of the square mile that was once a walled city.  You can see traces of the wall throughout the city.  The wall was built up at different times with whatever came to hand.  The City of London (even now) has a different police force to the rest of London.  This might be one reason why Jack the Ripper got away - all he had to do was cross the road and he was in a different jurisdiction.

Tower Bridge (free)

- This is the one in all the post-cards

- It does open to let boats through occasionally, you can find when here:

Tower of London (£20.90, cheaper online; 9/10am-5pm)

- Allow at least half a day

- See the Crown Jewels

- See various versions of Henry VIII’s armour

- Free tours by the guards that live there (Yeoman Warders).

Monument to the Fire of London (£3; 9:30am-5:30pm)

- If laid down, the tip of the gold monument reaches the origin of the fire

- Can climb the steps to the top for a view of the city, Thames, Tower Bridge

Bank of England

- Has a free museum taking through the history of the bank, explains inflation (yawn), and shows the first bank notes

- If you think it won’t interest you, you’re probably right

- Still kinda nice to walk in this direction/get lost in the myriad of roads of Central London (the square mile)

Buckingham Palace, Changing of the Guard, Mounting of the Guard, 10 Downing St, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery

Buckingham Palace (depends on which bit you want to see)

- I’ve never been in

Changing of the Guard

- I’ve never been, apparently there are lots of people and you have to wait around to get a half decent spot

Mounting of the Guard

- Apparently much better than Changing of the Guard

- I’ve never seen

10 Downing St

- Where the Prime Minister lives - all you can really see are some police guards outside a gate

Trafalgar Square

- Fountains, Giant lion statues, and a guy at the top of a pedestal (Nelson’s column) in the middle of a busy cross-roads that lots of red buses and black taxis go around

National Gallery (free; 10am-6pm)

- Lots of famous paintings in a beautiful setting

- Next to Trafalgar Square

National Portrait Gallery (free; 10am-6pm)

- Portraits of the who’s who in British history

- Next to National Gallery

Windsor

Transport

Catch the train (~£23; ~1h each way) to Windsor & Eton Riverside. (The Olympic rowing is out this way, so will affect the timetable - check out http://www.getaheadofthegames.com/travelinaffectedareas/windsor-and-eton.html for details)

To Do

- Visit Windsor Castle (£17, 10am-5pm) - at least half a day - to see amazingly decorated rooms, the most amazing dollhouse, a changing of the guard, a gorgeous church where the Knights of the Order of the Garter sit

- The Long Walk - a long street with park and trees either side. The Queen goes in and out of this entrance to Windsor Castle - this is where I saw her!

- Walk along the riverside with all the houseboats and ducks

I liked Windsor Castle better than the Tower of London - there was just so much more.  It was sumptuous and I could see why this is where the Queen likes to spend her time.

The Monopoly Board

- You know the streets

Shopping: Oxford St, Hamleys, Harrods

Oxford St

- A street full of mainstream shops - usually packed

Hamleys (188-196 Regent St  London, UK W1B 5BT)

- A 6 storey toy shop (fun!)

- Hard to walk out empty-handed

Harrods (87-135 Brompton Road  London SW1X 7XL)

- Expensive and known world-wide

TKMax

- Big name brands at cheap prices.  Usually quality, but need to search a bit.

Primark

- Really cheap

And plenty of others

Southbank, The Eye, Houses of Parliament (Big Ben), Westminster Abbey

Southbank

- Really nice to walk along the Thames

- often a festival atmosphere

The Eye

- Expensive to ride but fun to see

Houses of Parliament and the tower containing Big Ben

- Cool to see

Westminster Abbey (£16; 9:30am-3:30pm Mon-Tues)

- Beautiful

- History of coronations and weddings

Other Great Starting Places:

Walking Tours

http://www.walks.com/

These go everywhere, fairly cheaply, departing at a variety of times.  I am keen to go on the Harry Potter tour and can recommend the Jack the Ripper tour.

Hop-on-Hop-off buses

There are two main companies. They are comparable on price, quality and route.

The Big Red Bus

The Original London Tour Bus

Free Stuff!

There are free museums and galleries all over the place.  You can access all the permanent galleries for free (there are boxes for donations, but no obligation) and there are often featured shows for a price.

The National Gallery - some of the Big Name Painters of all time on display

The National Portrait Gallery - a history of Who’s Who in (mostly English) history

The V&A (Victoria and Albert) - Design Gallery (sculpture, paintings, jewellery, costumes...)

The Tate Modern - modern art

The British Museum - full of colonial plunder including Egyptian mummies

The Wellcome Museum - some weird stuff - science and art museum combined

The Natural History Museum - haven’t been, but heard good stuff

The London Museum - takes you through a history of how it was to live in the London area, from the point when it was only animals

Olympic Events

Women’s Marathon (Sunday 5th 11am)

Lookup Wikipedia for the route which has a start leg, followed by three loops of the same course passing sites such as: Trafalgar Square, St Paul’s Cathedral, Bank of England, Tower of London, The Monument, along the Thames opposite The Eye, Big Ben and Houses of Parliament.

Men’s Triathlon (Tuesday 7th 11:30am)

The 1.5 km swim, 40 km cycle and 10 km run will take place in Hyde Park, one of the eight Royal Parks of London. The swim will take place in the Serpentine which will have a pontoon constructed to act as the start. The cycle will involve athletes leaving the park via Queen Mother's Gate, travelling through Wellington Arch, down Constitution Hill and on to Birdcage Walk in front of Buckingham Palace before returning to the park to complete the event with a four lap run around the Serpentine.

A temporary 3000-capacity seating area will be constructed in the park in June 2012 and a three-metre high temporary fence will surround the events.

WUGC Day 1, Sunday 8th July

While it was the first day of play for all other Ultimate divisions, Women’s Masters don’t start until Tuesday.  We used the morning as an opportunity to train together again.  We brushed up on our connections and zone defenses, an intriguing site for the neighbouring soccer players, not to mention the sumo school or cage of monkeys.

The afternoon was free time, with the majority of players choosing to head to the fields.  First stop the Australian Mixed team (Barramundis) beat both Germany (17-10) and Finland (17-1).  The Australian Men’s Masters (Wombats) got up over the USA (16-13) – described as an entertaining game due to the characters involved.  The Women’s team (Firetails) followed up their showcase game with a win against Singapore (17-5).  The Open team (Dingoes) “beat up the Frogs” (17-8).

As I was flying straight back to Australia after the final game of the tournament, I joined up with Liz and Lu to explore the area.  We each had already found some lunch at a local street market where you could buy fresh seafood and grill it yourself over hot coals in buckets on each table, a band singing Engrish onstage.

Going in search of a temple that Liz had spotted from her hotel room, we came across a park where hundreds of kids were waiting to play, were playing or had just played.  The boys were there for baseball on the lushest grass I had seen and the girls for a version of basketball.  The boys were really cute all in their matching, complete baseball outfits, but the three of us were most intrigued by the girls’ game.  Played on gravel in the steaming heat, there were no basketball rings.  Instead, at each end, there was a stool that one of the players would stand on, and around them, a semi-circle that a defender would stand in.  It appeared that every other aspect of the game was the same, but to score, a team would throw the ball to their teammate on the stool to catch.  As is fitting for an Australian, we cheered for the underdog.  This team fielded one of two girls who were a head shorter than everyone else, looked 6 where the others were 8 and who ended up standing near their own goal daydreaming.

The park was an oasis in a very industrial area.  The whole family was out and we dubbed the playground a ninja training ground given the amount of balancing equipment.  Leaving there with a hundred photos of Japanese kids, we felt like our stereotype of the Japanese was reversed.

Our search for the temple aborted, we headed back to the local market, only to find it had been packed up, then back to the hotel to form our next plan.  A tourist map supplied the answers – we headed to the Nintoku-ryo Tumulus (Emperor Nintoku's burial mound) and Daisen Park to visit a tea house.  A couple of trains later, we found the Tumulus, really only visible from the air, it’s a giant keyhole shaped mound covered in greenery, surrounded by a moat, more greenery and another moat.

We headed to the tea house in nearby Daisen park, only to find it closed.  The park itself was probably a more authentic Japanese experience and it was full of people.  We stopped to watch a couple of games Shoji (Japanese chess).  One of the elderly men in particular took an interest in us and we tried to converse.  He asked us where we were from (Australia), whether we were students (no), how old we were (30 – really? Asking a woman how old she is?), whether we were married (after showing them my ring, he then examined both Liz and Lu’s hands) and whether we had children (no).  To start with I thought he was trying to pick us up, but on reflection, I think he was just curious about our culture and expectations for women in general.

The rest of our afternoon passed with a quiet sit by the lake, praising the ingenious fishermen, laughing at the groups of giddy lap dogs and their owners, learning some Japanese phrases, respect for an elderly man's high knee hill runs, taking photos of tiny kittens and a wander through the serenity of the park.


We met the rest of the team in Namba (there is more than one information centre..) for dinner - a delicious combination of food including a highlight Shamba(?) where you cook your own food in a giant pot of boiling stock.  From there, an exploration of the river and some icecream for dessert.


Unfortunately, all my images from this day were corrupted - it's a good thing I have such a good memory.

WUGC Day 0, Saturday 7th July

Today was the first official day of the World Ultimate and Guts Championship (WUGC2012).  It was launched by numerous politicians and, notably, Miss Japan.  We were entertained by fan dancers, percussionists with giant drums and each country was represented by a school child bearing our flag – a much more efficient and endearing method than each athlete walking out, but without the same buzz.

The very first games in the Open, Women’s and Mixed divisions followed, with Australia playing Japan in the Women’s match.  A really tough match with turns from both sides, and blocks being generated by the Aussies.  The confidence of the Aussie Firetails seemed to peak and trough, which, together with some unfortunate drops, saw them finish down 17-10.

My team, the Women’s Masters, known as the Flying Foxes (or I’d like to think ‘affectionately’ as “the old bats”), played a warmup match versus Great Britain prior to the opening ceremony (Lee and I made a mad dash from Kyoto to the field via 3 trains and a bus).  It started with torrential rain, moved through high wind and in the final stages, sunshine – all in 45 minutes.  Both sides worked out some of their nerves with some early turns, particularly drops.  GB’s strengths were their inside-out break throws and hard man defense.  The Foxes used this as a great opportunity to meet each other (3 of our players are based in 3 different countries outside Australia) and to run through our strategies.  We were lucky to come through with the win 8-5.

Kyoto

After travelling all day, two flights and a bullet train, we arrived in Kyoto tonight.
Without trying to sound like a pretentious wanker, we have travelled quite a bit lately and as result each new place tends to stir up memories of a past one.
My first impression of Kyoto was of the humid heat, which took me back to Hong Kong (but without the smell). As we walked down quiet, one way streets with bicycles tethered to themselves, I was reminded of the Netherlands.
Once we checked in at the hostel and were shown to a completely separate building down the street, I was reminded of the place I stayed in Venice.
A feature of Kyoto that seems all its own are the vending machines that are literally 10m apart along every road.
We ate a late takeaway-style dinner (ordered through a vending machine, of course) of Katsu Don and Sukiyaki, then wandered through the local supermarket boggling at all the seafood, fresh and dried, available. Following advice from Andy, my work colleague, I bought some milk chocolate to try.
I am looking forward to getting to see more of this historical city tomorrow.

If only

I have debated whether to post about this topic as it's highly personal and I'm not sure that it's appropriate.  However, just like plenty of other people out there I am choosing to share perhaps too much information - primarily, as a journaling process and secondly as a way to reach out to people.

Almost 7 weeks ago I miscarried.  The pregnancy was at 7 weeks and 5 days.  Since that time, Lee and I have filled our lives with busy-ness.  I have re-entered the Australian Women's Masters team, I have continued coaching the Australian Junior Women's team, after about a month I was ready to take photos again and did two photoshoots.  

Today, I went to see the Doctor about another matter and on coming out received some scans.  I have only had one scan.. from the day I miscarried (it's actually longer than one day).  That was a bit of a side swipe.  I could see it.  It was real.  The report from the scan is so dry, and yet knowing the outcome so powerful.  Our little foetus stopped growing at 6 weeks, without even developing a heart beat.  And yet I still feel sad for what could have been.

Now that all the body changes have reverted and we're so focussed on our outside life, it's so easy to believe that it never happened.  That the dream was never a reality.  I am left wondering how my life would be different.. 

I wouldn't be going to Japan next week to play for Australia.

I might even be wishing that I could go and feeling like I was missing out.

Our house might have some semblance of order.

Instead, I console myself with the fact that everything is operating as it should.  Which right now just feels a bit weak.

The footy

Sunday, we had the luck to land some seats at the footy (Australian Rules Football). Not just any seats, but seats with mini screens and close to the middle of the field where substitutions take place.

It was great to be at an Australian-loved (Victorian-obsessed) game watching the West Coast Eagles (my team) beat Richmond.

My lasting impression was less about the game and more about the crowd. The supporters hate the umpires. They are referred to as maggots and every call or perceived lack of call sets off the resident expert. The loudest and most frequent cheer is not actually for the teams or players, but an appeal to the umpires of "Ball!" (They are calling for the opposition to be penalised for Holding the Ball.)

There are 5 active umpires on the field that is approx (insert size of field). (It's no wonder that it's referred to as going for a kick in the paddock - you could feed a community for a year on produce from just this space.) Only in Australia would a field this size exist for a single game. The umpires are extremely fit and are more often than not in a position to see the play. However, being a contact sport, with a ball that can travel 50m with each kick, the sheer size of the field, the number players surrounding the ball and an intention to keep the game flowing, it's pretty much impossible to keep everyone happy. So how do you strike that balance?

It's impossible to play the game without umpires and impossible and not worthwhile for them to call every foul. My Pollyanna view is that supporters should have the awareness to realise this and move on. Perhaps they think it's safer to have a go at an umpire, than risk annoying the big bloke a couple of seats down.