Teddy does a Tour de Friends

[Rawhide]

Optical, although I do need drink ones as well since I keep smashing them.

I miss Teddy already ;_;

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[The Succubus]

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

o.o

I now have yet another reason to go to Australia in addition to seeing lots of Playgrounders.

[Teddy]

After a long and ardous journey, I'm finally at home. With the adrenaline settled, I came to realise exactly how badly worn I am. Still, a pair nights of sleep and I'm starting to regain a posture of humanity.

My second day at Halu's place was mostly spent exploring a nearby village which was the tourist spot of hist valley. Walking along the river and the houses of his childhood, I must say that neighbourhoods sure are quite different wherever you go in the world. The sun was shining harsh down upon us, but hot weather seems to bother me even less now that it used to do. All in all, it was a nice day spent.

The following day was a much needed slow day. In the evening, though in the evening, Halu took me to visit another friend of his. Sadly, I didn't manage to interact all too much with her. I was too distracted by the YouTube videos played on the computer, and she was sitting a few steps away. I'm not all too happy about how easy I am to distract sometimes...

The travel day was mostly slow as well, but Shardok came over to hang out a bit after before I left. He'd intended to bring some of his homemade mead along (because I'm a sucker for mead), but to everyone's disappointment the yeast hadn't settled yet, so it wasn't ready for drinking and I couldn't test it. Oh well, next time.

My flight to Australia, as already noted, was a long and trying one. Despite the 15 hour pan-Pacific being a nightly one, and despite the fact that I was well prepared with earbuds and sleeping mask, I only managed to get one single hour of sleep toward the end of it. Nevertheless, I managed to stave off the sleep deprivation well enough to have a greatly enjoyable day with Skeppio. First we went to the Melbourne aquarium, which had a lot of really cool animals. I had a great time, despite my camera pretty much running out of battery almost immediately, as I'd forgotten to charge it before I left the states. I especially liked the glass tunnels over which huge stingrays would pass at almost reaching distance. Australia has so many colourful fishes, and corals, and seahorses! And also funny penguins. It was a really well built aquarium.

In the evening, we played Mario Kart 8 well into the night. It was really fun, I can see how this game was so well reserved. At first the controls were just way too many buttons, but toward the end, I'd gotten a well enough hang of it to execute some cool manouvers and do a few surprising comebacks. Or run into a wall and drop from first to ninth place, because that's how you roll...

The only negative side of my Melbourne stay was that, well, let's just say that Australian architects believe in the Australian winter just as much as the rest of us, i.e. not at all. When I woke up in the morning, the whole world was covered in frost, and strange sight for me who came from the 35°C of California, and the house wasn't much better. The entire lower floor was pretty much uninhabitable, which made going to the bathroom a bit inconvenient. Especially since the uninsulated walls meant the hot water was pretty much deep frozen as well. No showering for me.

My final stay on the tour was long and yet not nearly long enough. Brisbane was is a pretty city and Serpentine was an excellent host who took me all around to see it. In the night of arrival, she had a pair of friends over and we watched the hilariously low-budget Australian zombie movie Undead. We also watched The Castle, but I can't remember if this was a latter day or not.

The first day, Serps took me for a walk around central Brisbane. We explored the river boulevard and the botanical gardens, where we saw wonderful flowers and I hugged a boxwood kangaroo. In the evening we ate kangaroo as well, which tasted pretty good.

In the second day, we went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, a wilderness-oriented zoo with lots and lots of koalas. We saw a bird show, and I got pictures with both bird (best eagle! ), snake (and Serp! ) and a koala (so floofy! ). We also got to partake in the feeding of the lorrikeets, which flocked everywhere around us! And we fed and petted kangaroos, which ranged from completely content with life to being pushy and pretty grabby, rather going for the bag than the food in your hands. And we saw a sleeping wombat which just looked so I-can't-even-start-describing-it where it lay on its back, legs outstretched. And I even managed to befriend a pair of the utterly cute, shy wallabies. Or "wabblies" as Serps called them, and now I'm doing it as well! And there was even more animals and I pretty much had a cuteness overload!

In the evening, we went and bought deliciously decadent hot chocolate (almost like molten chocolate) at a hot chocolate bar in the city centre, and then we went back home and had Crocodile, which, well, tasted pretty similar to chicken, but the texture of the meat was very much more like that of pork. Not bad, although not quite worth it's price. I think I'll stick to the kangaroo...

On the following day, we (initially just me, because Serps had an appointment with her doctor to get new glasses) met up with a bunch of other playgrounders. First I met up with Elemental (and his sister) on another hot chocolate café, and after hanging out for a bit, we wen t walking down the river boulevard until Serps could meet up with us. A bit later in the day, Rawhide came to join up with us as well, his first question being if he seemed more human now. And to answer that, yes, yes he was, and a delightfully silly human at that while still retaining the ability to stay serious. We ate at a flower shop café, went to visit the Queensland museum (where I did modern art with their information monitors on dinosaurs, and then we nailed the really hard word puzzle in the children's section (pictures will be).

In the evening, after the others had said their goodbyes, Serps and Rawhide took me to this really fancy restaurant (although the building was a bit run down, it was an interesting contrast) serving luxury food made from local fauna. I had the emu, which surprisingly enough looked like beef and tasted quite reminiscent of it as well. It was delicious, with the only drawback being the general rule that serving sizes stand inversely proportional to how expensive the restaurant was. Oh well, I had enough notes to stop it from burning a hole in my wallet, but it was far from cheap...

In the last full day, a friend of Serps drove us out to Bribie island, where we took a long walk along the beach. It was a beautiful day, and we marveled at all the wonderful fauna, from the silly soldier crabs running in great flocks, fleeing before your feat and burrowing all at once until you hardly believed they'd covered half the beach, to the pufferfish, the strange sea slugs and the pair of eagles passing over our heads. We also founds lots of pretty shells, corals and mother-of-pearl, and I made sure to collect as much of the latter as my hands would hold. I even brought some home!

In the evening, Serps friend picked us up and we drove to Mount Mee, a great vantage point from which we could observe the sunset (it sets so fast down there) and the emergence of the star. I got to see the southern cross, and the rabbit in the moon. Sadly, though, the still-a-bit-from-full moon overshadowed (overlighted?) the night sky, so I didn't get to see the Winter Road (Milky Way) in its full glory, but as a consolation prize, I got to learn that my camera can take some really good moon photos.

My travel day eventually came way too soon. Serps offered me to follow her to Armidale for another week, promising bushwalks and other funsies, and I was about to take up on the deal when I learned that there was no other day on which there would be a free seat on each of the three planes required to take me home before September. Seeing how that was just way too much, I had to hurriedly buy a ticket to Sydney the very same day, fight with the "temporary problem"s of Virgin Australia's online booking tool, do a 30 minute phone call (spelling out my name takes time, as does repeating my credit card details 3 times over), and say my heartfelt goodbyes before the 36 hour journey home.

Time does become a strange thing when you travel. When I in Frankfurt, only two hours from home, saw the full moon, I found it puzzling, because the moon hadn't been full ast night when I watched it with Serps. Then I realised that with the time zones and the night I spent awake herded into a corner of Sydney's airport playing Civ, "last night" was actually two and a half day ago.

Also, I don't like it when everyone sitting by the windows in a plane pull down their curtains. Nothing makes me feel as much locked up inside a tin can as the inability to see out. Also, I find it a complete waste of window space. I should probably have asked someone if they were willing to trade seats with me...


In conclusion, this truly was the trip of my life. So many great friends met, so many experiences gained. Before I left, my parents said that I would come home a new person, and while I'm still very much me, I think that might be true. I've pushed too many limits and lived too much outside of my comfort zone to not have grown from it, but I guess I won't know how until I've been allowed to settle down a bit more into my own routine again. I extend my greatest thanks to all the friends who took me in on this tour, to all of those who hung out with me, took me to activities, kept me company, helped me out when I was in trouble and hugged me when I was sad. It's been a wonderful time, and it hasn't been nearly time enough. One day I'll have to do this trip anew, and then I'll make sure to spend as much time with you as you all deserve!


PS: Pictures will appear as soon as I have the energy to upload them. Hopefully tomorrow, I might do it in several runs...

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Glad you're back safe! And you saw a live wombat?! Sqeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

[KuReshtin]

Good to hear that you're back home safe and sound.

Your parents were right, that you will have changed as a person, even if you yourself won't notice it for a while.
You've already mentioned a few things that's changed in this thread, including the events that caused you to have to start improvise, which you've said that you don't like.
You might not like it even after this, but now, at least, you'll know that you can handle it, and that improvisation isn't necessarily a bad thing.
One can not plan out everything in advance, and having to go with the flow and keep on going regardless of how things change is a very good thing to be able to handle.

Take at least a few days, preferably a week to get racclimatised at home before you start looking for new things. As you've learned from the trip, jet-lag is a very real thing and it can cause havoc several days after you get back home, so don't do too much hectic stuff too soon after you're back home.

[Asta Kask]

Congratulations for your safe return.

*fireworks* (but silent fireworks, because my cat hates explosions)

[Skeppio]

Yeah, our house can get pretty damn cold in winter.

Very glad to hear you've arrived home safely and that you enjoyed your stay here. Glad you liked all the strange sea creatures we have on offer down here!

[Serpentine]

I'm still super sad that you've gone and didn't get to come down with me. Next time!
I'll post the pictures I got eventually, too. 'specially since half of them I pretty much just took for you, in case you didn't get something.

[FinnLassie]

I'm glad you're back home safe and sound. As Kurre said, take it easy, give your mind and body time to get used to the regular life again...

Also, I don't like it when everyone sitting by the windows in a plane pull down their curtains. Nothing makes me feel as much locked up inside a tin can as the inability to see out. Also, I find it a complete waste of window space. I should probably have asked someone if they were willing to trade seats with me...

Well, I usually pick myself a window seat as it's the most convenient in terms of sleeping. There are many reasons why people close the lid, one being that it's really annoying to have the cold window against your cheek if you sleep. Other things are depending on the time of the day the amount of sunshine or the flashing lights of the plane... and sometimes people just don't like looking out of the window, but as I said, it's a convenient spot (especially if you don't plan on running to the toilet at every hour during a long flight). It's not always the person's choice to be by the window anyways, so, eh.

[Teddy]

I'm glad you're back home safe and sound. As Kurre said, take it easy, give your mind and body time to get used to the regular life again...

Yeah, I'll try to take it a bit slow. It's not all too easy, though, I've still got a bunch of stuff to wrap up. Pictures, for one, and I need to clean up my room after dumping all my stuff on the table, and I want to do a complete write-up of my expenses...

Well, I usually pick myself a window seat as it's the most convenient in terms of sleeping. There are many reasons why people close the lid, one being that it's really annoying to have the cold window against your cheek if you sleep. Other things are depending on the time of the day the amount of sunshine or the flashing lights of the plane... and sometimes people just don't like looking out of the window, but as I said, it's a convenient spot (especially if you don't plan on running to the toilet at every hour during a long flight). It's not always the person's choice to be by the window anyways, so, eh.

Yeah, this was a morning flight and the people were predominantly staring themselves blind on their entertainment systems, so none of those really applied apart from the last. Mum suggested that I should've asked the flight crew, since they can have a more distanced and professional relationship to the passengers, but, well, it takes a bit effort for me to ask that sort of thing of people...

[Haluesen]

It's good you made it back home well Teddifer! I hope you can recover nicely from your travels. It was great to have you here and I'm glad you're trip was fun! I stand by what I told you before, I think it was such a cool idea that you were able to make this trip. Maybe a little crazy, but awesome.

[Serpentine]

My photos time! A selection of them, anyway.

Spoiler: Day 1

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Spoiler: Day 2

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Spoiler: Day 3

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Spoiler: Day 4

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Spoiler: Last Day :(

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[Rawhide]

On the following day, we (initially just me, because Serps had an appointment with her doctor to get new glasses) met up with a bunch of other playgrounders. First I met up with Elemental (and his sister) on another hot chocolate café, and after hanging out for a bit, we wen t walking down the river boulevard until Serps could meet up with us. A bit later in the day, Rawhide came to join up with us as well, his first question being if he seemed more human now. And to answer that, yes, yes he was, and a delightfully silly human at that while still retaining the ability to stay serious. We ate at a flower shop café, went to visit the Queensland museum (where I did modern art with their information monitors on dinosaurs, and then we nailed the really hard word puzzle in the children's section (pictures will be).

Hey, it wasn't my first question, I waited until evening to give you a chance to actually get to know me . Also, thanks .

P.S. I had a salad with edible flowers!

In the evening, after the others had said their goodbyes, Serps and Rawhide took me to this really fancy restaurant (although the building was a bit run down, it was an interesting contrast) serving luxury food made from local fauna. I had the emu, which surprisingly enough looked like beef and tasted quite reminiscent of it as well. It was delicious, with the only drawback being the general rule that serving sizes stand inversely proportional to how expensive the restaurant was. Oh well, I had enough notes to stop it from burning a hole in my wallet, but it was far from cheap...

It we'd only ordered the mains, not the water () or desert, it would have been a bit cheaper. Also, I very much agree with you on portion size...

Spoiler: Day 1

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That poor N64 controller.

[Teddy]

Pictures! :3

(Uploading and writing comments for all of these is a chore (I've got just above 500 which passed my first sifting), so I'm going to post them in bursts. I'll try to not split the pictures I got with the same person between several posts...)

Spoiler: Asta Kask

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Squirrel! As will have become evident by the end of this, I like animals.


Mini frog!


This tree had the thinnest root system ever...


This crack reminds me of the entrance to a dwarven kingdom...


Did I say I like animals? I also like to climb up on stuff!


... and into stuff!


Taking a break.


Birches! An unusual flower box...


Alfons.


Catnip!





Best friends!

(Not really, though, since Asta actually had Nisse, the other cat, as his favourite... )

... and sleeping buddies.


View down Avenyn, the main boulevard of Gothenburg.


Gothenburg's most famous landmark (within Sweden), Feskekôrka.


Really low bridge. The boat tour guides much wittily called it "The Cheese Slicer".


The people of Gothenburg called this building "The Lipstick". I personally think it looks like a Finland ferry.


The ship Viking, which the tour guides claimed to be stuck at the harbour due to the height of the harbour bridge, but as you can see, the masts are foldable.


The destroyer Småland.


This pilot ship is so disproportionate and so cute!


Dramatic lighting...


There is something wrong with this picture...


Pretty, old machinery...


Remnant of the old city wall.


I think the ancient ones might be surreptitiously invading Gothenburg. It would explain all the really poor jokes and puns...


I really like these pictures...



Nisse finally dared to enter the house. He still remained quite wary of me throughout my stay.


It's a bear!


*pets*


Packing up again. Nisse thinks it's high time.


Alfons just slept.


Saying our goodbyes!

Spoiler: UKitP

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Pre-meetup dinner at a nice Russian restaurant. With Dvil, Ku, Strawberries...


... Succubus, Delusion...


... Thufir, Archie, Gnomvid, Lesser Minion...


... [forgot his name] and another Thufir.


A full picture of the table, including Finn and Snowfire who weren't featured on the other photos!

(I appologise to those of you whose names I've forgotten. Feel free to remind me! )

Gaming pictures (I have way too few of these)!




Cool mural!




Would you buy a car from this man?


Plants growing in unusual places always fascinate me...

Spoiler: Strawberries

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I really wish I'd gotten more pictures, and generally spent my time better while I was with Strawberries, but, well, I wasn't in very stable mood at the time...

Here's a picture of her cute cat at least. The poor guy had a curfew, so he was really speeded and really social at the same time.

Spoiler: DraPrime

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Kayaking!



Boston's skyline from the river.


Cool musical instrument on the subway.


Saying our goodbyes!

Spoiler: Assorted Travel Pictures

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A rookie seconds from walking out the door. This all seems so far away it's almost unreal...


I love clouds! And you won't be getting away from them anytime soon. Don't worry, the image quality will improve as I get more used to my camera.


British train toilet. I must say I like British humour.


Performers at the Glasgow train station, did provide some entertainment while I was waiting for Finn to meet me up. I also got cookies!


I must say I find something charming with such a run down, industrial looking alley like this one right next to the train station...


By the way these people were looking into this empty train, you'd almost think they were seeing ghosts...


Cool steampunk logotype on the Heathrow terminal. They didn't quite live up to their name, though...



I and DP were greatly amused by these posters on the Boston subway. Join Vecna today!

[Serpentine]

UKitP pics: Hey, I remember those people! Aw, now I miss them

[FinnLassie]

Yes, good, pictures of me hiding my face. Excellent.

Also, would not buy a car from Ku. He might hug you after the deal is done...


Looking forward to the rest of the pictures, Nalle!

[Gnomvid]

or even before as he's a friendly fella

[SarahV]

I and DP were greatly amused by these posters on the Boston subway. Join Vecna today!

I always laugh when I see those too There is one ad they have which talks about how you will "revolutionize health care" when you join Vecna. I'll say...

"Doctor, I've got a pain in my left hand..."
"No problem! Step one: cut it off..."

[KuReshtin]

Of course you would buy a used car from me. Look at how trustworthy I look.

Also, the persons you forgot the names of in the meetup dinner pics are lesser_minion (red t-shirt across from Archie, and the saviour of your luggage) and Snowfire (sitting between Delusion and Finnie).

[Teddy]

Also, the persons you forgot the names of in the meetup dinner pics are lesser_minion (red t-shirt across from Archie, and the saviour of your luggage) and Snowfire (sitting between Delusion and Finnie).

Right, Snowfire! And I already had a hunch saying that was Minion, but I didn't dare to guess.

Also, I realised one of my UKitP pictures was accidently duplicated, so I fixed that now. Now it'll properly show the third person I couldn't remember the name of...

[Kneenibble]

Kaskatoon is a huggy-bear. I'm glad to see the birches in his flowerbox are well.

I had no idea kangaroos could be so cuddly.
And furthermore, I love rainbow lorikeets. I just love them. Do they nibble?

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Kaskatoon is a huggy-bear. I'm glad to see the birches in his flowerbox are well.

I had no idea kangaroos could be so cuddly.
And furthermore, I love rainbow lorikeets. I just love them. Do they nibble?

The lorikeets were so pretty! I loved the sleepy wombat, too. It's just too bad they didn't have any birds mounted on wombats.

[Kneenibble]

The lorikeets were so pretty! I loved the sleepy wombat, too. It's just too bad they didn't have any birds mounted on wombats.

You seem to have forgotten your oath to secrecy on the matter of our elite cavalry. Your conduct will be monitored by budgie agents.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

You seem to have forgotten your oath to secrecy on the matter of our elite cavalry. Your conduct will be monitored by budgie agents.

Ah! But at least I haven't told them about our TRUE FORM!

[Asta Kask]

Teddy, can you send me the pictures from Gothenburg? I'd love to have them.

Also, this fellow decided to emulate you and left for 3½ weeks at the end of July (apparently he needed some time to plan his odyssey). He just returned. Hip hip hooray!

Spoiler

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[Teddy]

More pictures! :3

(Sorry for the delay, I came down with a cold and lost my ambitions...)

Spoiler: TheWombatOfDoom

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I step off the train in Philadelphia and walk up and down a few unintuitive staircases, get out on the parking lot and see the small crowd part for this. Suffice to say, I felt instantly welcome.


After having dropped off my baggage and picked up Wombat's housemate and fiancee, we went to the best burger restaurant they knew: Sketch Burger. It was great, and in case you ever have your ways through Philadelphia, look it up and then look for this above the bathroom door.


Groundhog!


Friend, Wombat and housemate after a great round of frisbee golf!


And here's one with me too!


One really scenic part of the frisbee course Wombat had to show me. The only thing it missed was a ring of dancing fairies...



There was the ruin of some unknown building standing on the field on the other side of the course which we just had to walk over to and inspect...


.../pose in front of.




Slightly overgrown, stone-paved forest roads are among the most positively scenic things that exist, in my opinion.


The tired crew is tired...



Decay...


It actually makes me think of a zombie. If garden decorations could rise as undead, this is most certainly how they'd look in my mind...


Pretty birdie...


The apex of my stay: the abandoned bottling factory!


A portal into the abyss...


... complete with a few cool bottles. I'd gladly taken a souvenier hadn't I been running on limited baggage space...


Remains of an elevator shaft. On some floors, these were the only features left, together with the detailless pillars holding up the ceilings.


The bottom of the shaft was swallowed by darkness, but with a strong flash, you could pick up the fate a fall would hold for you. In this case it's rusted water and forgotten bottles...


I really love the contrasts created when nature reclaims something so industrial as shatter-proof glass...


The strange remains of what used to be a large electrical central of sorts...


And an abandoned lift, presumably for lifting boxes, but it didn't seem to have wheels...


The view from one building to the next, and the brave plants living of the sun which comes to visit their door every morning...


Early stages of stalagmites growing from the floor as the rain slowly makes its way down the building...


A dead pigeon, a tragic yet fascinating sight...


I mean, it almost poses in death...


Three friends overlooking the view and the looming nuclear powerplant in the background...


It's the best combination of a sunny day and decaying human influence, slowly returning to the green lands it sprung from.


I really love the landscape which had sprung up from the roofs. Barren land with sparse grass and junipers has a very special spot in my heart. Especially junipers.


Small sceneries like this one are just way too cute!


More human influence slowly crumbling and nature sprouting to take its place...


I'm pretty openminded toward what plants I might find on top of an abandoned house, but reed actually came as a bit of a surprise to me.


A cool bird's view perspective, and a slowly falling ceiling lamp hanging on a thread above its ultimate fate...



Nature is like a slow but unstoppable army, breaching every perimeter in due time...


Rust is an interesting phenomenon. The handrails were all completely intact, except for at this spot when it just disappeared...


Scenic. Just so very scenic.


This used to be the track on which trains would run up to the loading bays of these warehouses. Now only grass runs along their length...


They make for a very decorative slash in the otherwise straight road, though.

(The water bottle to the left is mine, the area was actually surprisingly clean of debris outside of the buildings themselves, and there was practically no littering to speak of...)

I actually had to get down and take a closer look just to see if the tracks still remained.


A crumbling wall and thrivin vines. I love vines...


When I grow up, I want an entrance like this one, except less industrial and more intentional...


Man and nature mark the central line in their own ways...


Some of the graffiti was of the expected, immature kind. Other was step up from your regular bridge...


Vines and staircases is a match made in heaven.


I found a forklift.


An invasion force crashing through the barricades. I want to believe that nature caused this wall to collapse, but there wasn't enough evidence for either option...

(We'll revisit this place later.)

I've always found silos and oil tanks fascinating. And that hedge in the foreground? It's actually a fence...


The only hall with remaining machinery...


I've never ever programmed with a punch card, yet just seeing one speaks to my programmer soul...


Close-up of another machine. It looks like an ancient supercomputer, it's hard to believe that most of its purpose was to rotate stuff...


Once upon a time, this was someone's every-day life...


Black as death or the tea I drank earlier today. I wouldn't want to fall into this...

(Pay attention to the bottle in the lower right corner. It can't be even close to new...)

"Nature is practically just outside the door."


This spider looked very much like the shell of a sea snail.

Sadly, I didn't know of the manual focus settings on my camera yet, and this was the only angle the camera would agree to focus from...

The others argued that this would be the perfect setting for a zombie apocalypse. I'm personally wandering if it hasn't already begun...


Sadly, I think the oil levels of this machine has dropped below acceptable...


A dragon's hoard among all other debris.


I think this safety switch has reached the highest level of perfection...


Where human society fails to provide support, nature will step up in its place...



I finally found my ride!

(Alternative title: "Oh, so that's where I parked her!". )

I've had enough, I'm out of here!



It doesn't matter what I write, there's only one thing your eyes will come to rest on anyway...


A beautiful sniping spot water tower.


Pretty flowers...



Another look up the tower. It's pretty high. I could climb it, but due the fact that it's all rusty, and the fact that soon enough a false step equals certain death, I opted out on it. It would be terrible to die with half of the tour still ahead of me.


It almost looks like that tube is watering the tree, like it's all arranged and intentional...


The look inside a building crumbling on the verge of collapse...


It doesn't show, but...


... I wasn't kidding on the "collapse" part.


More electrical appliances whose purposes have gradually descended into the mists of time...


Last stop: Eternity.



A beautiful little spruce. It would make for a perfect christmas tree if dancing around it hadn't spelled certain death...


Pigeons!


Interesting shatter patterns, it almost looks like someone had practiced shotgun fire on the glass, and whether it is or not, we did find fired canisters left on the ground...


Perhaps not the most diehard fan you could find...


The remnants of something raised, now lost to obscurity...


The flooded floor. If you remained perfectly still and silent, you could hear the droplets echo through the hall...

(Sadly, the others weren't very good at staying that way for long... )

This is probably the cutest pine ever!


Some plants even defy the complete lack of a soil to grow in. I admire their tenacity.


Birdie!


Its silhouette against this perfect web of cracks is just beautiful...


Hello!


Third floor, a scene and habitat on its own right...


(Pay extra attention to the wall to the left of the hole... )

A pillar perfectly framed by burgeoning stalagtites...


A look through the hole, nature is slowly crawling its way inside.


Another rooftop view.


Lounging by the windows.


(I think the lighting is more representative in the second picture...)

I'm as high up as you can get short of climbing up the water tower, looking down the deepest shaft in the entire complex.
Seriously, this place gave me vertigo like no other, I didn't linger for long.

The view from the highest point of the buildings. As you can see, it's almost on par with the water tower.


Climbing down...


(... or perhaps, just perhaps, posing for the camera... )

As we were finally leaving, I caught these pretty birds sitting in the field...


Saying our goodbyes early in the morning. I must say that Wombat looks positively stunning in his uniform.

Spoiler: Assorted Travel Pictures

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As a Railroad Tycoon fan, this sign really spoke to my heart. The GG1 is a really great locomotive for its era.


Cool close-ups.



This is how you name a train!


Eating on Newark, I didn't know what drink to order, so I ordered this blonde ale, not knowing what to expect...


... and this is what I got.


The resemblance is so striking it's perfect!


Just like any airport food, it wasn't cheap, though...

Teddy, can you send me the pictures from Gothenburg? I'd love to have them.

Sure! PM me your email and I'll send them to you. I warn you though, you'll get all the blury and duplicate ones as well...

Also, this fellow decided to emulate you and left for 3½ weeks at the end of July (apparently he needed some time to plan his odyssey). He just returned. Hip hip hooray!

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Ohh, I'm already a source of inspiration! Have you asked him for pictures?

[Asta Kask]

Ohh, I'm already a source of inspiration! Have you asked him for pictures?

That's actually the reason I want your pictures. They're better than any I've got of him, and I want good pictures to place in the newspaper because I don't think he's done running away just yet.

And he won't reveal where he's been. He hasn't lost much weight (although he's lost a little), and so he's either visiting some other family or he's living off the land. I think he could survive on his own for a while, he's a good hunter.

[Serpentine]

Wooooow. That factory looks AMAZING. I'd love to go exploring there.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Wooooow. That factory looks AMAZING. I'd love to go exploring there.

Anytime you're in PA! We found a whole stash of bottles recently, which we're using for the wedding. It's a special place. Been going there since I was a kid, and just recently found out its like 93 to 100 years old (thought the buildings we mainly explored were built in the 50's).

As for Teddy's pictures. Absolutely lovely. Love the titles and such. Congrats, you're displaying the first images of me on the playground. (i really don't mind.) And I wouldn't say I look stunning. I always feel the uniform doesn't really fit who I am pretty well, and it was quite early, but I'll shush up and say thank you for the compliment. Us folks miss you in this area of the world. I've got plenty more to show you next time. Also, perhaps someday I can ship you a bottle.

[Serpentine]

So-ooooo...
<.<
Straya pics? ;_;