Perth

While quickly posting the Melbourne and Grand Prix pictures, I almost forgot to mention Perth, where I went for a week before I went to Melbourne.
Some of you may recall that I used to rave about Perth. “My favourite place!” I never got tired praising it.
Until… I went to Melbourne.
Perth is still as beautiful as it has always been, if not more. Have a look at the pictures below (click the image) and see for yourself. Clean, organised, sunny, green and blue. Really beautiful!
Somehow though I must have changed. The buzz and the flair of Melbourne together with its European attributes are just so much more exciting now. Delicious restaurants, clubs, great shops, the Grand Prix, trams and the best coffee at a café next door to European food markets all filled with an international mix of well-dressed and slim people. Melbourne easily beats every other city in Australia (except possibly Sydney, I haven’t been there long enough) and many in the world.
Well, anyway, during my Perth-praising times I was asked to take some pictures, so people can see what is so good about Perth. Here they are, including arrival and departure. Unfortunately the beach is missing, because the sunburn I had brought along from Brisbane didn’t really entice me to go there.

Perth 2007
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Grand Prix Melbourne

So, I went to Melbourne for a week. Melbourne is great!
On my last day in my favourite city I went to the Grand Prix in Albert Park. Pretty amazing! I had watched a few races on TV, but the live experience is totally different. These cars are incredibly loud. Everyone wore earplugs and even then it was loud. It’s not all noise either, these cars are incredibly fast.
I think the best numerical description of their speed is 0 to 160 km/h and back to 0 in 6.6 seconds!
Here are some pictures I took.

Grand Prix Melbourne

Pictures are static, so I recorded a few movies, too:
Movie 1, Movie 2 and Movie 3.

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PhinisheD!

Yippee!!! I finished my PhD thesis!
A friend got a mug when she submitted, which said “PhinisheD” hehe. Unfortunately at the University of Queensland I just got a piece of paper that said that I submitted. How disappointing!
However, the disappointment lasted only a few fractions of a second, because…
I finished!!! Freedom at last 🙂

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Business Class

Well, business class, what more needs to be said? Hehe!
So, I went to Chicago O’Hare airport and wanted to check in with Lufthansa. I have silver status with both Lufthansa and Thai, however the economy line wasn’t long so I just went to check in normally like everyone else. Soon it was my turn and after I put my bag on the balance, the woman told me that it’s too heavy and costs US$50 or I have to take out 4 kgs. It weighed 27 kgs, and when I came from Brisbane it weighed the same, but I didn’t have a problem. So I explained that I am flying around the world and that the first leg was no problem, that this has never happened before and that I have silver status which is supposed to give me higher baggage allowance anyway. She refused. I was not going to pay $50, so I said I will come back later and proceeded to the ticket counter to complain. There was a line as well and so I decided to just go to the business class check-in with my silver card. The first class counter happened to be free and there was not even a balance for the baggage, so no problem.
Well, to make a long story short, in the end and unrelated to my baggage incident I got a business class window seat 🙂 Very very pleasant!
Internet on planes is free these days because they will shut down the service at the end of the year, what a shame, but at least I could write this (and the 2 coffee) blog entry about flying while I am flying.

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