I know that, some while ago, I did a post linking to all the photos that I took of the 18 Cup on my trip to Europe, but only realised this week that I never got around to showing any of the 700+ others of the generic tourist things. So accept this as the post that should have gone up a long time ago containing most of my favourite photos. They are in no particular order, though are grouped together per content.

A warning, a lot of these are just photos without the 18 Cup in it. But, then again, some of them aren't.

I believe I took the most photos at Gallipoli, and a few selections of them include the two I took at Anzac Cove here and here. The memorial at Lone Pine and the well preserved Gallipoli trenches were two highlights among the many. Of course, I was obliged to pay a visit to John Simpson's place of rest as well. And, to my surprise, I found this. I hadn't done any specific research on what I'd find at Gallipoli before I went because, well, I thought I knew what I'd find. But the big monument, which has Ataturk's famous letter to the mothers of the Anzacs who had died in the Gallipoli campaign was a surprise, and a welcome one. My great-uncle, who was traveling with my grandfather and me, had never heard of it, and when he read it, shed a tear and was really moved by it. The long story short behind us going there is that we had a distant relation (that my grandfather knew as a child) fight there and survive, only to die on the Western Front. Reading the monument had a similar effect on me, and ever since, I can't read it without feeling that familiar lump in my throat.

I get the most requests from family and friends to talk about Auschwitz, followed by seeing the photos. I think sometimes my response disappoints people. I guess that people have different experiences there, and me not exactly being the greatest at expressing emotional experiences, might sell what I did actually feel there short. Anyway, I took photos of the main gate (which was eerie to walk through) and of the haunting main building at Auschwitz-Birkenau, as well as some spur of the moment ones. This is looking down one of the many fences within the Auschwitz camp. Block 11 in the Auschwitz camp was the prison within the prison, and between it and Block 10 was a non-visible (all windows looking into the yard, as well as the entry and exit were boarded up) as it was where prisoners were shot. I took this photo of the area not because I could but because there were people laying wreaths there as we came. It was, really, the only colour you could find in the entire place.

At Auschwitz-Birkenau, you were allowed to go into the main building and look out at that horrific place. This was a photo looking out to the fields. Each chimney was a building that would 'house' hundreds, sometimes thousands, of prisoners. That was only looking out to the right. This is looking out to the left. This photo is looking out the centre windows, where one can sees the train tracks leading into the camp, where the prisoners would 'disembark'. I'm not going to retell the horror stories that could go with the photo because everyone knows them all.

I took photos inside of the prisoner blocks and of the outside of the gas chambers, but I don't want to post them.

Onto something more lively, well, lively in mind, not physically. I enjoy taking photos of statues, probably because you don't have to worry about them moving or blinking. Anyway, the British Museum is great for that, as is a trip through Italy. This is a statue in Pompeii (and boy are there many of them). At the British Museum, two examples (and I took a whole heap of photos of "old stuff" as my younger viewers have deemed it) of the exhibitions I saw are this Egyptian statue, this Greek one, as well as this Greek temple (?). Of course, how could I not take a photo of the Rosetta Stone. I did an assignment about it for the HSC and scored ridiculously high marks on it, and since then I've always wanted to go and see it (perhaps to say thank-you?).

Taking photos of the Statue of David is banned (someone explained it to my father and I the first time we saw it, but the reasoning eludes me). The temptation to take a photo, for my father, was too much, and he managed to snap off a few before we left. The challenge had been laid down to me, so of course I took a photo ... and was promptly thrown out. Luckily I took it after I had gandered all over the place, so i wasn't heartbroken. In fact, I was rather pleased - I was thrown out of the Accademia Gallery.

I saw this nice, entertaining statue in Singapore. I liked it. A lot of the people I've shown it to didn't, or at least didn't 'get' it. But what's to 'get' about simple things?

The Trevi Fountain in Rome. It's a strange thing. Before I saw it on my first trip, I was slightly excited to see it. Then when I did see it, i said "So what, it's just a fountain". Then, this second time, it was actually impressive. Perhaps it was my impetuous youth speaking the first time, but regardless, I took two of my favourite photos there. This is a wide shot of the fountain, while this was a close-up side shot of the main statue of Neptune.

When you go to Rome, the thing everyone visits is the Coliseum. This was my second visit (I just love an opportunity to brag), and I took as many photos as my parents did the first time. This is from the second tier looking down at the arena, while this is also from the second tier, looking straight ahead (from the opposite side to the first).

The next place that people go to in Rome? The Vatican. I know, not an official part of Italy, but it's there, and people go. I went, and it was alright. I wasn't expecting a whole lot (other than the Sistine Chapel), and that's sort of what I got - nothing too flash. I was impressed by the size of everything. The building, especially St. Peter's Basilica, is huge! This is a photo of the outside. Seriously, inside, the columns and the interior hoo-ha is unbelievably massive.

Florence yielded many photos for two reason. One, it really is a picturesque place (even though I don't really like being there). Two, no one in my family had been to Florence when it rained. I was 'lucky' enough to be the first to get the rain. But, regardless, I got many photos of, really, the same cityscape. So, to save on your's and mine's time, I'll show you my favourite of the lot. This. Why is it the favourite? Because you can see the Duomo and Campanile (that thing that looks like it has a terracotta roof), the Ponte Vecchio (that big bridge over the river) and the rest of the city.

Venice is, quite possibly, my most favourite place on Earth. I made a point to go back because it's so foreign to be there. There's no cars, no road, nothing that you expect back home. You can really escape the world when you go there. That's my feelings anyway. And my opinion hasn't been changed by those people who slander the place for this or that (whether they've been there or not), and it never will. I became so 'wrapped' by the place that I hardly took any pictures. This is a photo from the Rialto bridge, looking down the Grand Canal. This is just one of the hundreds of canals that you pass. I thought it sort of summed up my time there: a quiet, secluded part of the world with no hustle or bustle of home, where you could just go to relax.

Going to Stonehenge is a funny story that I'll probably write about one day soon. This is one of the dozens of photos I took of it as you walk around it. It was freezing there, so walking around took us a whole of fifteen minutes haha.

And that's about it. I had a heap more photos, and some of things I haven't mentioned above. But, for the most part, what I have linked to are my favourite photos. Credit to anyone who I forced to sit through all 750+ of them, and more to people who want to see them all of their own volition. But I doubt I'll find too many of them any more. Maybe one day I'll get around to at least uploading a single photo of everywhere I'd been, but that's a task for the holidays.

Thomas.

Note: This layout sort of sucks in terms of showing a link. It's a light-ish brown in amidst all the black font. For the most part, I linked to photos on the word "this". Sometimes it was specific words, like "Lone Pine" or "Gallipoli trenches". Maybe, as you read, you should run you cursor over the line if you have trouble. If anyone does find locating links a hard task, say so and the layout will be gone.