tangerinepenguin

The Seattle International Film Festival was fun; it seems like this would be fun at least once. I wonder if I could lure my sister in on this one as well…

OK, strictly speaking speaking, I’ve been to this already several years ago, in a moment of serendipity while visiting Australia. And it was a lot of fun

The 2006 Melbourne International Comedy Festival is going to be lucky number 20. It seems an appropriate opportunity to go back, and spend more than just a couple of nights this time…

Must go at some point. Some sunny weekend afternoon, with camera in tow.

I moved to Pittsburgh in the mid-80s for college, and stayed after for the tech boom. Pittsburgh seemed to have so much promise then, honest. But the tech crash hit it hard, and it doesn’t seem to be pulling up well out of it, much as I’d held out for a while.

Still, there’s plenty to see (checking out the Carnegie family of museums could keep you busy for a while just by itself) and it makes a handy base from which to explore a wide variety of surrounding countryside and small towns.

I had the miles on USAirways (and who knows how long that was going to last) and the vacation time, so off to Sydney! Actually, for a week, off camping in the foothills of the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, but then several days seeing the city itself. Check out the zoo, if you can (although try to do it on a day when school trips aren’t completely terrifying the nocturnal animals into hiding.)

Melbourne was a surprise; I’d planned on going to Sydney on frequent flyer miles, and the only way they could make the return trip work was to leave a couple days early and “layover” in Melbourne. Two cities for one? Sing me up!

I also had the good fortune to arrive during the annual comedy festival. The 20th Anniversary festival is coming up in 2006; I think I may have to add that to 43things as something I want to do…

The plan was to connect to Sarlat via a small local run from the railway station at Libourne, just east of Bordeaux. But even with my limited French, it was quickly apparent that something was not right – trains were still going into Bordeaux, but any runs originating there were being cancelled. Turns out that Bordeaux was the beneficiary of a rail strike that day.

So… I ended up working my way back north on one of the last trains that would head that way for the day, over to Brive, down to Souillac, and into Sarlat from the opposite side via the shuttle bus from the Souillac station.

I’ve been here a couple of times, always on business. Take the express train into town from the airport; it’s a far sight cheaper and faster than hiring a taxi (even if you then connect to a taxi once you’re in town.)

I visited Victoria as a weekend trip out of Seattle, which was enough time to see the city, hit several museums, and bus out to the Butchart Gardens (which are incredible). I don’t know that I’d have found that much to do staying there longer, unless I had friends in the area to hook up with, but a weekend was about the right length of time.

Most of day, while connecting from my flight from the States to the night train into Lisbon. Spent hopping from museum to museum (notably the Prado and the National Museum Reina Sofía). One day in Madrid is better than no days in Madrid, but I could still spend more time there one day.