Belfast

1. The Northen Ireland Cancer Centre

2. (at) The Belfast City Hospital

3. Drizzt the rabbit
4. Dad's school

5. Belfast City Hall (and wheel)

6. Crown Bar

7. The only other evidence of Belfast's shipbuilding history

8. The titanic memorial statue
9. Belfast has officially made it: they have a big wheel

10. Titanic-era tools left in the pumphouse connected to the dock.

11. Picture of the Titanic coming in to the dock.

12. Picture today taken from exact same spot as in 11.

13. The dock that housed the Titanic for a brief time.

14. The Albert Clock, on a bit of a slant- according to some, due to the locals throwing Guinness at it on New Years Eve (think they'll have to throw the other way next year)

15. Where the Titanic was built, 2009.

16. My accommodation in the student village

17. One of the massive Harland and Wolff cranes (nicknamed either Samson or Goliath.)

Goin' South

Hello again,

Tomorrow is my last day in Belfast. It's been an interesting 2 weeks here: after a slightly hesitant week last week, I had a fun weekend looking round and great week this week, expanding my knowledge a lot, feeling a lot more comfortable in the new surroundings and meeting some new people.

I particularly enjoyed Tuesday night when I was invited to stay with the Henrys, the family of a high school mate of Dads. Despite my best efforts to hear stories, I can't seem to find any dirt on Dad and what he got up to at school (maybe he's been on the phone to people...). We had a lovely dinner and I got to meet their rabbit, Drizzt, who I'd heard about from when Mum and Dad went to visit the Henrys in 2005. They were all so lovely to me. The following day, Dr Paul Henry took me to a different hospital for the day to experience clinics there. He tried to arrange for me to go see some oncology surgery, but most of the surgeons were away, so I joined him in clinic for the day.

All the nurses, doctors and patients (and radiographers, porters, random ladies having coffee in the cafeteria etc) have been so nice to me, and I can't count the number of times I've answered questions about where I'm from, how I was finding Belfast, why I was crazy enough to come over here and miss summer or responded to "Oh, Australia my [sister/cousin/aunt/best friend's little brother's school teacher] lives there". Having a non-Northern Irish accent I really stand out, as, unlike Melbourne, the hospital staff and patients are overwhelmingly local. As a result, and because of the efforts of some of the doctors in finding me things to do, most people seem to have heard of me.

The patients here seem very stoic, every inquiry as to how they are is answered with "aye, I'm doing well" or at worst "aye, well, up and down a wee bit". Interestingly, the few overseas trained doctors I have met seem to adopt words/phrases such as aye pretty quickly (it sounds funny with an Indian accent!).

The other day I went and joined the radiologists who were interpreting CT/PET scans. I was in fits of laughter because they had a voice activated transcription system and they struggled to use it. Every time they said something, it could not understand their accents and so very different words appeared on the screen. I think it could understand their curses though!

Wednesday night I decided to head to the local student pub for dinner. I got there about 7:15 and it was pretty empty. Within a few minutes I had met some local girls who I chatted to for a while. We noticed there was a soccer match to be screened at 8, so the girls told me they'd probably head off to avoid it. Before we knew it though, they couldn't get out as the place was so full you could hardly move, as the pub filled with men arriving to watch the match. Apart from the 2 girls I met (who were totally uninterested in soccer), I only saw 2 other girls in the whole place (who were on the periphery). I got chatting to some Aussie tourists and their Irish friends who joked with me that the whole place would buy me drinks if I told them I was related to Johnny O'Shea, a Man United player (I didn't try it)! Unfortunately, it ended up being quite a boring game with the only goal being the one scored by Man U in the 1st 50 seconds of the match. Nevertheless, an interesting 'cultural' experience!

Its my last day in the hospital tomorrow, then I'm off to visit Ros in Dublin for a few days before heading to Oslo on Wednesday afternoon. Looking at the weather there, I think Belfast will soon appear warm to me!

Best Wishes to everyone there,

Anneke

Just a few more Italy!!

e




1. Mestre by night, in the fog/snow
2. St Peter's Basilica in action
3. St Mark's, Venice
4. Ticket to vespers
5. On a gondola in Venice- the day Jarnie succumb to good taste and bought a hat like mine.
6. Venice by night
7. The only Beatles shop in Italy
8. Vespa snowed in
9. Magical Mestre
10. Birds prints in the snow

More Italy Pics

1. Updating the Vatican Opening hours for 2009
2. The Pope (left side of shot, approx middle)
3. Some of our mates in the queue for Vespers
4. The roof of the map room
5. The Colosseum cat
6. Roman corporate boxes.



7. Inside the Colosseum
8. Jarnie and the mouth of truth (note her hands all still intact)
9. The place for all your priestly needs
10. Modern day Trevi fountain (don't worry, I threw a coin)
11. Me and one of the many uniformed Italians.

Aye, I'm in Belfast, you know

Hiya (typical Belfast greeting)

Well, I'm currently in Belfast, having left Italy, stayed overnight in London at my friend Evie's place and arrived (on a very small plane that was quite empty) in George Best Belfast City Airport. Think Avalon, but smaller!

I thought my flight to Belfast was a domestic flight, but aviation security in the UK is insane. Flying anywhere at all is not the simple affair it is in Australia, what with the distances to the airport, early check in times, queues, 20 minute walks to departure gates and the fact you are lumped in with the international departures (ie fluid and hand baggage restrictions). I think I showed my passport about 4 times before I boarded and then put it securely away once on the plane, figuring I would not need it again. Turns out I was wrong. On arrival, we all had to flash our passports (or UK ID) before we could proceed to baggage collection. Being the only foreigner on the plane, I got pulled aside and questioned about my purpose in Belfast! Luckily I seemed to answer their questions adequately and they allowed me into Northern Ireland!

Then I was in for a shock. Coming from Italy, where whilst it was fun to practise my Italian, it was hard work to understand people, I was looking forward to communicating in English again. It seems not. I was reminded of this as I struggled to understand the safety briefing on the plane, and it hit me full on as I arrived and hear the voices around me. Despite their broad accents, the locals also seem to speak incredibly fast, leaving me utterly lost. I think I'm getting used to it now, having been here a week, and actually really like the Belfast accent. I can also use some Belfast phrases: Aye, I'm taking the wee lad for a dander, you know.

I've been here a week doing my elective and have noticed some interesting things. Firstly the Oncology unit is very new, having opened in 2006 and thus is very nice, with clean and attractive wards.

Some of the differences: junior medical staff here are assigned to wards and not teams (eg ward 4, not the oncology team), hence they spend all day on the ward doing everyone's general running around. Patients' notes seem to be a lot messier, they have separate files for their oncology notes and they are full of separate plastic files, unfiled pieces of paper and so on. They also seem quite reluctant to start a new file, hence some of them are overflowing! However, they are coloured by year, which makes filing and finding them a lot easier. Many of the notes are dictated and typed as well, preventing the inability to read handwriting! But some are handwritten and there seems to be no standard format or page that notes are to be written on. The obs charts are very well layed out, with coloured bars indicating danger levels and instructions as to how to manage them (eg temperature).

Medically, the patients I've all have quite serious cancer (mostly metastatic- cancer that has spread from the original site) and are often on 2nd or 3rd treatment options. The doctor I am with is The Melanoma Guy for all of Northern Ireland and hence my first few days consisted of nothing but skin cancer!! The melanoma rates here are not as high as Aus, but the Irish skin is very susceptible to it, and the incidence of melanoma in people without a history of sun exposure is probably higher than in Aus. All of the melanoma patients I've seen have had particularly nasty and fatal disease. Partly, it is because the healthier ones are treated in GP/dermatology/outpatients settings, but it may be that Aussie GPs/dermatologists (and indeed patients) are more aware of it and hence find it earlier.

Belfast itself is a nice city, in some ways it reminds me of Adelaide, in terms of its size and so on. It's very easy to get around as everything is within walking distance and there are regular buses. I've found the people to be far friendlier than they look, and very eager to talk about Australia. Most know someone who lives or has been there, but I find that apart from Sydney they know very little about the place. One thing I have noticed: I think Belfast is a little ambivalent about whether they want tourists. On one hand, they have the logo, the slogans and the tourist bus. Their public transport is very regular and their signage around the city is excellent. There is some great architecture and history. They've made some efforts to promote the sites, however many of the brochures have the wrong information, the main sites are closed on the weekends and their advertising feels a bit empty and doesn't really hit the mark- not really distinguishing it from any other city. I think they are still rebuilding from a past they may be overshadowed by, and to be honest, don't really have enough tourists to justify opening on the weekends. I had an interesting chat to the guy in the tourist office about this (for about 15 minutes), who was a bit bewildered at the idea of travelling to tick off 'seeing a city', and mentioned his shock at some of the things tourists had said to him, showing no evidence of any thought or research about why they were visiting Belfast. I came to the conclusion that maybe Belfast would benefit from being an Adelaide or Perth in terms of tourism- a lovely place to visit and stay, with some interesting sites and streets to explore, but not somewhere swarming with tourists and major attractions, such as Rome, London or Sydney.

One of Belfast's main industries in the past was ship-building. It was well known throughout the world for its ships, made by firms such as Harland and Wolff, which in its day was the largest ship building firm in the world with the largest dock. One of its most famous ships was the Titanic and its sister ships, the Olympic and the Britannic. All three were built and launched in Belfast and I set off today to discover more about this. Weary world travellers would be imagining it now: titanic pubs, titanic t shirts, titanic water bottles, titanic trails that took in everything from the place that made the rivets to the house of the second bell boy. Well, you're wrong. Belfast's modern day contribution to to the Titanic legacy consists of 1 walking tour (which was advertised as 7 days a week, for 8 pounds but was actually only when there were enough bookings, in a car and costing 15 pounds!), a boat tour (only in the summer) and the Titanic pump house and dock (open M-F only, except for a 1 hour tour on Saturdays and Sundays). The only sites actually available to view are the pump house and dock, although you can walk past the vast industrial wasteland and see the building that houses the old drawing room for Harland and Wolff, and try and catch a glimpse of the slips on which they built the Titanic. Furthermore, visiting these sites is only for the dedicated: it is about half an hour walk from the city along an empty industrial road. So why is this the case? My mate in the tourism place reckons its all political: the subject of the Titanic was apparently taboo, by orders from up high, until recently, as he said "it was designed by Protestants" and there was some question as to whether faulty rivets were used, thereby apparently causing the Northern Ireland government to refuse to talk about the Titanic. Only recently, since the release of the movie Titanic, the powers-that-be have released there is great interest in the Titanic and money can be made from it. Hence, opening 2012 (the anniversary of the ship sinking) there will be a multi million dollar museum, with a simulated submarine dive to the wreckage and all the bells and whistles.

Anyway, back to the pump house and dock: the tour was fascinating. It lasted about 1 hr and we took in the dock in which the Titanic sat for about 3 weeks. The guide had photos taken from the same spots that we were standing in, and rare video footage (bought for 10pence from a garage sale!) of the Titanic entering the dock. The reason the Titanic was 882 ft 9 in long and not a nice even 900ft was that the dock could only be extended that far to squeeze the Titanic in. We then got to see the pump house that emptied the water from the dock and also an old tool shed, in which the engineers had simply left their tools when they left, hence there were Titanic era medical stretchers, rivet hole expanders and other tools. At the end of the tour, the guide emphasized "The Titanic left here OK, it was a good Irish ship!".

After the Titanic experience I walked back through the city and decided to go and see a movie. As luck would have it, the movie "The Reader" was on, a movie based on a book I chose for a year-long year 12 project. The movie was very faithful to the book and I highly recommend it, as it looks the ideas of evil and good though a person who finds out about the past of someone they love, and the circumstances in which people do things they might not have otherwise done. Interestingly, seeing a movie and buying a novel are both quite cheap here, as opposed to buying food. Even a fast food meal (I think about 5-6 pounds) costs more than a movie (4.50 pounds)!

Well, I think that's about done me for today, off to bed now.

Best Wishes,

Anneke

More modern Italy

1. Italian Botox
2. Multicoloured striped bowtie pasta for 5.50 euros.
3. Uniforms for every occasion
4. Italian leather gloves




















































5. Dolce Del Papa- Desert of the Pope
6. White wine options at a lunchtime self-serve cafeteria
7. San Benedetto (Saint Benedict) Bottled Water

Modern Italy

1. sign at the Vatican. No bathing costumes?
2. modern day Circus Maximus- a running track.
3. Christian tours of Rome
4. Colossal mess at the Colosseum























5. When doing renovations, simply cover up scaffolding with pictures of the building
6. it's just one colossal party for NYE!
7. Pantheon Internet

Venice

After our adventures in Rome, we set off for Venice, travelling by Ryanair. Ryanair does not reserve seats, so any Ryanair flight involves a scrum as people run to the plane to get the best seat (apparently, there's a difference!). Surviving the scrum, we managed to get seats together and away we went.

Upon landing, we noticed it was very foggy and even more excitingly, snowing! We got on the bus to Mestre train station. When we booked accommodation for Venice, we got a great deal at a hotel in Mestre, far cheaper than youth hostels, which is about 10 min by bus from the island of Venice. I was initially concerned about staying on the mainland, but we were soon to be rewarded for this as we got off the bus at the Mestre station. After a fair bit of confusion, we found the bus to take us to the hotel, which dropped us off at Piazzo Ferreto, a nearby square. It was absolutely magical, all lit up with Christmas decorations, foggy and covered in a thin layer of snow. After the confusion about where to go and how to get there, this sight made staying in Mestre worth it. We then got another surprise as we got to our very nice hotel- they upgraded us to single rooms each as they were out of twins (at no extra cost). And the bus to Venice left from outside the hotel, every 10 minutes during the day and every half an hour from 11pm till the morning.

The next day we set off to venice at 1st light in order to make the most of our limited time there (after our buffet breakfast included in our hotel deal!) there was still plenty of snow around, and we spent about 10 hours wandering. Despite it being freezing (I had to buy another pair of socks)
we had a fantastic day, wandering without a map, peeking into shops and meeting locals and tourist alike. As well as finding the only Beatles shop in Italy, we saw gorgeous lacework, great cafes and lots of Murano glass. We also met and had a long chat to the photographer for the venetian paper, whoe father's photographs of celebrities such as george Cloony, Nicole Kidman etc adorned the walls (from the Venice film festival). He owns 2 photography shops open 9-7:30pm and does the newspaper photography, working 7 days a week.

We decided to do the tourist thing and go on a gondola ride, but when we found out how much it was decided against it. As we were walking away a brazilian couple in their 50s or 60s asked us how much it cost and on a whim I asked them if they wanted to split the cost. After some discussion, they were keen. The next gondelier asked a higher price than the previous one, but the combined bargaining powers of Jarnie and Anneke meant we got it cheaply!

Before I go, another few observations about Italy: there is a very prominent military prescence, with all sorts of forms of armed forces and police everywhere, guarding embassies with their machine guns, wandering around the streets and sitting on street corners. They all have very smart uniforms.

Italians were very friendly to us when we mangled their language. After learning Buon Anno, we said it to everyone we met. One lady, in the supermarket, practically hugged us as she smiled a huge smile and said 'bellisimo'.

Anyway, running out of time at the internet cafe.

Ciao,

Anneke

When in rome....

Buon Anno from Roma!

This is a tale of Vespers and Popes in the city of vespas and gropes.

December 31 in Rome was chilly but the sun was shining as we set off to the Colosseum, having arrived there too late the previous day. After dodging the men dressed as gladiators we made in inside and stood in awe at the history inside. Highlights included seeing the names of senators inscribed upon the seats in which they once sat and the corporate boxes of the Roman world! We also met a cat who seemed to live there!

Following our time at the Colosseum we set off for the Vatican. Intending to get the bus, we wandered round the Circus Maximus to the bus stop- circo massimus is now a popular place to walk dogs and jog. As we missed the bus we set off on foot to the Vatican. We wandered along the Tiber, which was full of litter including trees absolutely covered by plastic bags. We made it to the Vatican and found out that because it was New Years Eve, entrance to the museums and Sistine Chapel would close at 1pm. As it was 12:40 at the time, we sprinted about 1km to the back of the Vatican and were amongst the last 10 people admitted to the museums (we were allowed to stay till 3). To get to the Sistine Chapel, we had to go through dozens of rooms, all extravagently decorated with various themes. My favourite room was what Jarnie and I have dubbed the map room- a long narrow room, it had intricate maps on the walls and an amazingly decorated room, with gold everywhere!

After a while, the rooms became a bit tedious, with so many great works of art and lavish decorations. We then got diverted to a bit of scaffolding over the carpark (they are renovating at the moment), which actually allowed us to appreciate the rooms a lot better!

The Sistine Chapel was absolutely full of people, talking, taking photos and just staring at the roof and walls. Throughout it were guards yelling 'no fot' (no photo), but it seems few people were listening! We saw the 'creation of man' painting on the roof, which is famous but actually blended in with all the others, so it took some time to find it!

After the Sistine Chapel, we decided to head to St Peter's Basilica. We waited in a line for some time before finding out it was a line for Vespers with the Pope for New Years Eve. Unfortunately, we were told, whilst the tickets were free, they were booked out 2 months ago. However, some friendly texan priests we befriended suggested that groups often had 1 or 2 spares. The hunt for tickets had begun.

We made many friends with various priests and nuns on our hunt for tickets. Jarnie would go up to a group and act ignorant of the process, asking if they knew were to get tickets. Our first group, of priests and Catholic scholars were also from Texas, and gave us hints on how to get some. They were so lovely, they gave us a ticket for mass the next day and the tour leader gave us her business card. We then went up and down the line, meeting Italian nuns, Indonesian nuns who spoke Spanish, and a group of gynacologists/priests from the US who had 2 spare tickets to Vespers. By this time the line of people with tickets was huge, so we went back to our friends from Texas to return their mass ticket (as they only had 1) and asked them if we could sit with them. We were thus adopted!

Their tour leader had done this for 30 years, so she knew what she was doing. Thus we ended up sitting about 1 metre from the centre aisle, so the Pope walked straight past us on his processional! In the meantime, we had befriended the Italian family behind us, as their gorgeous daughters Flavia, 6 and Adriana, 13, were thrilled at the idea of praticising their English. They had another daughter sitting behind as so all three were clamouring over us, fighting to get a word in. Adriana's English was fantastic- espcially when she told us her cooking was a disaster! They were from a small rural town and were thrilled to be seeing Il Pappa, and Adriana was so excited she got to touch him!

Vespers was conducted in Latin, with an Italian translation. I was surprised at the fact that everyone was taking photos, talking amongst themselves and so on.

After the service, the Pope went out the front of the Vatican to kiss babies and pray in front of the nativity scene, as the costumed Swiss Guards played Christmas Carols. We had intended to go to the Colosseum for the countdown, but never made it there. All in all, a unique New Years!