February 2012
13 posts
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Japan 2012 - Recap
11 days of epic snow and food. japan seems to never disappoint we called ourselves.. the Niseko Rugrats. yeah. Day 0 - Sydney & Tokyo Day 1 - Tokyo, Sapporo & Niseko Day 2 - Niseko Day 3 - Niseko …more… Day 4 - Niseko Day 5 - Niseko Day 6 - Niseko Day 7 - Niseko Day 8 - Niseko & Sapporo Day 9 - Sapporo & Tokyo Day 10 - Tokyo Day 11 - Tokyo
Feb 13th
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Japan 2012 - Day 11 - Tokyo
early morning start for Tsukiji fish markets for the best sushi in the world! tsukiji fish markets and the crazy mobile cargo transporter thingys this is what you do while you wait 3.5 hours for sushi… the legendary line for sushi a mini cooper just hanging, inline for sushi sushi dai! we got the omakaseeeee our sushi chef. same one we got one year ago (almost exactly!) ...
Feb 12th
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Japan 2012 - Day 10 - Tokyo
spend the morning looking for new snowboard boots in Kanda and no, i didnt buy these.. i wanted to though! NT and JS trying the sperm sac of cod haha the reactions while eating it grilled engawaaaaaa harajuku! during the day this time! PH in tokyo <3 <3 ispahan love. once i tried this in the paris bonaparte shop of PH, i have declared this to be the best...
Feb 11th
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Japan 2012 - Day 9 - Sapporo & Tokyo
time to leave Sapporo onto the capital ola Sapporo, the view from our room bye sapporo! some weird rockmelon bears.. that decided to take a bite of JS! on our monorail to hammamatsucho hmmm looks auspiciously like someone.. ah yes. NT. the ever efficient japanese shinkansens on our way to shibuyaaaa! the stupendous amount of people at Shibuya on a Saturday night ...
Feb 10th
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Japan 2012 - Day 8 - Niseko & Sapporo
it was time to leave Niseko, via a 3 hour bus to downtown Sapporo.. but hello Sapporo! SAPPORO! walking down to Odori Park where the ice and snow sculptures are at the ice sculptures! more photos of the ice sculpture some of them were made solely for marketing their restaurants the KFC man burger is in Japan! time for AL and I to reminisce and have some dessert at this...
Feb 9th
Japan 2012 - Day 7 - Niseko
day 6 of boarding - our last day :( HAHA JS! he tried to lead us down this path with trees, turns out it ended in a cliff and he fell face forward and his skis came off. it was like a 1.5m drop into powder lol. thanks for sparing me from the fall dude. time to reverse.. beep beep beep i found a twin on my last day! turns out he’s from NZ! last lunch in Niseko - 308g steak from...
Feb 8th
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Japan 2012 - Day 6 - Niseko
day 5 of boarding on the bus to Annupuri since they closed the Niseko Gondola someone chose a random route through the trees, look where he ended up lol waiting for everyone at the bottom of annupuri walking towards a soba place that was… closed. hi NT! ordering from a computer at annupuri for lunch instead the choices of food  someone had some alcohol with lunch =P ...
Feb 7th
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Japan 2012 - Day 5 - Niseko
Day 4 of boarding - heres to hoping for clear skies the happy couple at the Strawberry Gate NT down strawberry fields us getting ready for the zipline in Hanazono :) yayyyy down the zipline I go! AL on the zipline JS on the zipline NT on the zipline look how happy she is! YEAH lunch was japanese curry boarding in the afternoon was with clear skies. for the first...
Feb 6th
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Japan 2012 - Day 4 - Niseko
Day 3 of boarding view going up the niseko gondola AL and his flying V ah the synchronised couple at annupuri bright skies! :) after a bit of boarding in the morning - we went to ezo pub to catch the end of the superbowl! giants won! the superbowl winners being presented their trophy snow angels in powder snow while waiting down blueberry fields. i suspect its cause of...
Feb 5th
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Japan 2012 - Day 3 - Niseko
Day 2 of boarding - powderr powderr poww poww! AL in deep powder strawberry fields? bring it on powdery strawberry fields HANAZONO 308! lunch! tonkatsu curry :) after lunch we went down a couple more slopes before chilling for some afternoon hot chocolate at the 1000m hut :). my camera refused NOT to fog up - hence the cool effects on the photos NT & AL JS & AS ...
Feb 4th
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Japan 2012 - Day 2 - Niseko
day 1 of snowboarding. so so SO ready for my first day at the slopes. Niseko’s usual deep powder is around :) a nutritious breakfast is essential for a day at the slopes. ohaiyo hokkaido whip butter! powderrrrrr my trusty yellow snowboard :) up the Niseko Gondola hi JS! annupuri was the first resort we went downfor the trip pork belly sandwich for lunch :):):) night...
Feb 3rd
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Japan 2012 - Day 1 - Tokyo, Sapporo & Niseko
a day of mainly travelling. got in Tokyo - time to head to Sapporo then a 3 hour bus ride to Niseko to snow snow snow! Narita airport ah triangle sushi - first thing we got once we got into Tokyo! fresh seaweed awesomeness! our plane when we arrived in Sapporo - snow on the tarmac. gonna be a good ski trip! salmon roe for lunch! hobo with beats at Sapporo Airport. NT is being rather...
Feb 2nd
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Japan 2012 - Day 0 - Sydney & Tokyo
after 4 days of recuperation and summer in Sydney, Japan and winter - here we come (back)! QF21 - a nicely reconfigured 747 by Qantas! Naritaaaaaaaaaa
Feb 1st
January 2012
29 posts
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Europe 2011/12 - Recap
recap of the whole trip. an amazing 55 days. Day 0 - Sydney & Dubai Day 1 - Frankfurt & Düsseldorf Day 2 - Düsseldorf, Köln & Bonn Day 3 - Düsseldorf & Dortmund Day 4 - Düsseldorf & London Day 5 - London ..and more.. Day 6 - London Day 7 - London & Manchester Day 8 - Manchester Day 9 - Manchester & Paris Day 10 - Paris Day 11 - Paris Day 12 - Paris...
Jan 28th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 56 - Dubai & on our way home
emirates comfort win! the beautiful horizon look what McDonald’s in Dubai has? a Chicken Mega Mac! Its like 4 McChicken with less bread! home time!
Jan 27th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 55 - Frankfurt
last day in Europe :( walking around Frankfurt, we saw this demolition project going on Goethestraße - where the shopping is at. ok, probably mostly expensive shopping.. a cool shopping mall! look it at, with a hole! there was a Lego store - with a 3D viewer of what the models of each box would be like! amazing! the inside of the cool shopping mall with the hole! last try of...
Jan 26th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 54 - Berlin
since JG heard all about our cool Berlin stories, and that Berlin was the place to be from other people, we decided it was wise to make sure she sees a bit of Berlin - day trip from Frankfurt it is! first stop was Brandenberg Tor, since it is close to Berlin HBF the Reichstag area Reichstag! amfelman at the pedestrian lights! man with the hat says its ok to walk, then we walk! ...
Jan 25th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 53 - Frankfurt
good bye sunny and warm spain, hello chilly Germany! First stop - Frankfurt! via Basel, Switzerland the massive Euro! there was an Occupy movement to the left of this shot. you can sorta see some of it there already Main river in Frankfurt Frankfurt skyline the Deutsches filmmuseum was next on the agenda! sandman inside the museum! amazing 3d from paper! that would be...
Jan 24th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 52 - Barcelona
last day in Barcelona! bright and early - with an exquisite view from the terrace of our apartment first order of the day was to walk down Passeig de Gracia to Casa Mila, also known as La Pedrera. It is another of Gaudi’s work - we skipped it yesterday since we thought it was not worth its steep entrance fee. But after an awesome experience at Casa Batllo - we decided it’ll...
Jan 23rd
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 51 - Barcelona
a long day of Barcelona ahead - but exciting! Camp Nou, flea markets, Casa Batllo and La Pedrera! yay at the entrance gate for the tour! our tickets! Barça! historic moments at the Camp Nou - see what happened in 1999? Mes Que Un Club - more than a club the coloured seats! the press room - where they hold the interviews pitch side! the tunnel towards the pitch! ...
Jan 22nd
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 50 - Barcelona
sunny day in Barcelona! perfect day to check out La Sagrada Familia! time to chill in the terrace to soak in some sun first view from the balcony breakfast is churros and muffins, with some spanish chocolate! a vending machine for phone accessories. when we found this, someone behind us casually just bought a new case for his phone from the machine. random! has its own Sortida! ...
Jan 21st
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 49 - Barcelona
first full day in Barcelona! we decided to start with a free walking tour! Santa Eulalia - a patron of Barcelona. word is that back in the day she refused to recant Christianity, so the Romans put her into a barrel with knives stuck into it and rolling it down this street - Baixada de Santa Eulalia (literally, descent of Santa Eulalia) synagogue in the Jewish quarter of Barcelona  in...
Jan 20th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 48 - Madrid & Barcelona
with pub crawl the night before, and an 8am train out of Madrid, it was planned to be a slow and recuperation day. with only 1.5 hours sleep for all of us, that was the most sensible haha. But - Barcelona here we come! the land of the Catalans! barcelonaaaaa - the spanish trains are awesome - they was so much space for luggage, seats were spacious and they gave out earphones! turns out...
Jan 19th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 47 - Madrid
another sunny day in Madrid! for breakfast, it was back to the awesome baguette place we had for lunch yesterday - the infamous “number 88” and we got nachos too this time! Almudena Cathedral, Madrid. you can see bullet marks on the facade as a result of the Spanish civil war - pretty riveting stuff Royal Palace of Madrid - 2800 rooms with about 50 on display. pretty...
Jan 18th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 46 - Madrid
we decided to take a tour of Madrid - a free walking tour breakfast before tour at a chain called Museo del Jamon, where Jamon is dry cured ham. awesome stuff. cheap-as too! dolls in the various regional traditional dresses Plaza Mayor - where the tour started Sobrino de Botín - world’s OLDEST restaurant - even Goya worked here as a kitchen hand top left apartment - where...
Jan 17th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 45 - Lisboa & Madrid
and it is time to leave Portugal for 8 days in Spain! waiting for the aerobus at Restauradores. Bye Lisboa! our flight! Puerta del Sol, the heart of Madrid. Old Post Office in the background, with a few street performers here and there a freaking scary street performer. awesome though :) first order of the dat after we met up with JL? leave Puerta del Sol towards Estadio Santiago...
Jan 16th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 44 - Lisboa
a day to enjoy the sun of Lisboa, Portugal! good morning Lisboa! time for us to explore your hilly city! we decided to take the funicular down such advanced police force. on segways! streets of Lisboa. reminded me a bit of Melbourne! but much warmer of course =P the we decided to catch a hop on hop off bus, since we didnt have much time in Lisboa, and probably a decent way to find out...
Jan 15th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 43 - Manchester & Lisboa
and after one night in Manchester, we were on the move again. this time - hello slightly warmer weather and goodbye cold weather! Portugal here we come! goodbye Manchester! our flight to Lisboa! our little plane - and their service was excellent. possibly best service during all my flights throughout europe! hello portugal! and to get to our accomodation, we had to catch a funicular...
Jan 14th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 42 - London & Manchester
it was off to an early morning train up to the North West of England to Manchester yay! goodbye awesome tube system! our Virgin trains - the Pendolino trains that dont need to slow down when turning. looks like caterpillars to us haha duck liver and herb pie from harrods for breakfast on the train massive as pie from harrods for breakfast too! tickets to Manchester! and the first...
Jan 13th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 41 - Amsterdam & London
bye Schipol! bye Amsterdam! onwards towards London - part 2! and back to the excellent Tube system we go! hi earl! photos from lunch at 3-michelin starred Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road to be added soon - its on facebook already if you cant wait! then we went bike riding around Hyde Park! look how cool she looks! basically you can just hire them for like 2 pounds or something, and...
Jan 12th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 40 - Amsterdam & Volendam
decided to enjoy a bit of the Dutch countryside today - day trip to Volendam it was! port ships of Amsterdam, near Centraal station :) windmills! my trip to the netherlands is complete… i guess? haha houses with moats! i could defs live in the Dutch countryside similar looking houses and we decided to take photos in traditional costumes. fun timesss :) dutch...
Jan 11th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 39 - Amsterdam
breakfast! dutch pancakes to provide some energy before anne frank house! fresh mint tea. so fresh! breakfast! dutch pancakes and omelette! anne frank house was the next stop. amazing - how did they manage to hide these people in the annexe?! no photos sadly :( streets of amsterdam cool alleyways our lunch! freshly made burgers - delish! those are bike parking lots!...
Jan 10th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 38 - Krakow, Warsaw &...
flight to warsaw then amsterdam! snow on the top of the plane so these guys washed it off! our little plane what ill be missing out on. only if my euro trip extended another few months! view of Amsterdam! yay train to Centraal Amsterdam Centraal station the Heineken Brewery for the Heineken experience in Amsterdam! Highly recommended! the ingredients for a...
Jan 9th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 37 - Krakow & Auschwitz
day tour to Auschwitz - time to see some history and understand it just a bit more onwards! the layout of the guided tour at Auschwitz I tour guide - “no that isnt the crematorium. that the kitchen. thats why theres chimneys” the reconstructed gate the double barbed fences the buildings from where the prisoners in Auschwitz came from the sheer number those...
Jan 8th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 36 - Prague & Krakow
since we had to head to Krakow today, we decided to start early and to check out Prague’s Charles Bridge at dawn and the “dancing house” before our train to Poland Prague’s Old Town Charles Bridge at dawn seagulls! Prague’s famous dancing house then it was for the personalised buffet breakfast at our hostel our French chef for breakfast ...
Jan 7th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 35 - Prague
Today’s plan is to check out Prague Castle and surroundings good morning Prague fancy street lights the view while walking up the Prague Castle one of the entrances to the Castle.  The next series of photos are just cool photos from the inside of the Castle complex, which was grand and hugeeeee! anddd the entrance of it. sadly, it was pouring rain so we...
Jan 6th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 34 - Munich & Prague
note to self (and others) Europe sleeper trains are generally not cool. but we finally got to Munich for a 2 hour stop at 7am! but still a bit more towards Praha! onwards towards Prague - the last leg of 6 hours FINALLY THERE. yay 29 hours of train and wait over :) downtown Prague the astronomical clock at the Old Town. I have no idea how you read this lol :) view from Old...
Jan 5th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 33 - Sestriere & Bologna
it was time to say bye to the snows :( as well as starting a total of 29 hour journey to Prague, via Oulx, Turin, Bologna and Munich the view from our hotel room - this was a football field. bye bye! gonna miss the snow! waiting for our local bus back to Oulx the main st passing Turin - birthplace of Nutella and TicTac and Bologna is where we are to spend about 8 hours before...
Jan 4th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 32 - Sestriere
Day 2 of snowboarding! we decide that JG might be benefited from a lesson - and she looked like she had fun. she had no idea I took these photos though haha whata pro… i couldnt do that on my first ski trip! her training baby slopes…. much like “big & easy” for me! :) sunny sunny days i miss my white helmet end of another wonderful day of boarding
Jan 3rd
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 31 - Sestriere
Day 1 of snowboarding, and day 1 of snowboarding ever for JG. excitement! teehee.. hi honey! pretty backdrop, and sunny conditions for boarding! ski season - but there were no asian. i repeat. we were the only asians there lol lunchtime! after a hard day of snowboarding. im gonna say JG was more than just slightly bruised with all the falling off her board haha and yet she...
Jan 2nd
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 30 - Florence, Milan, Oulx &...
and its time to end my love affair with Firenze. I’ll be back! bye Firenze Santa Maria Novella! and we stopped by MIlan for an hour - where JG became a perfect host and offered to show me the Duomo and we got offered seeds.. yeah.. but it was pretty! there were a lot of pigeons.. but it was a pretty backdrop! around the Duomo then we took a FR train to Turin, and then a...
Jan 1st
December 2011
29 posts
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 29 - Florence
First day of 2012! We decided to start the day super late since most things would be closed anyway, and after almost a month of travelling some rest and sleep-in would be invaluable this was brunch. so so good. Leonardo’s yay! the rest of the day JG and I decide to capitalise on the bright weather, cafe hop for macchiatos and paninis and just sit along the river admiring Florence. enjoy...
Dec 31st
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 28 - Florence
last day of the year! Started the day early at the Uffizi saw the birth of venus and long long corridor(s) of sculptures and paintings. amazing stuff by the Medici family. sadly no photos allowed.. view from the Uffizi overlooking Ponte Vecchio finally - we lined up for lunch at the place Kylie Kwong said she had the “best meal of her life”. We waited about 2 hours for it -...
Dec 30th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 27 - Florence, Modena,...
it was day trip to Maranello day!  why you ask? the photos below should explain why we are headed to the small Italian town of Maranello if you have no idea.. to get to Maranello - we needed to catch a train to Bologna from Florence, then to Modena, then catch a bus to Maranello downtown Modena. it was freezing! to get to the bus stop in Modena to take us to Maranello, we had to catch a...
Dec 29th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 26 - Florence
so so ready and excited for my first full day in Florence. How do you start? eating a local Panini at the Duomo of course! why did we have to eat? because we were going to climb the cupola. the dome of the Florence Cathedral lol. all 463 steps. the view of the dome from the inside simply.. wonderful. <3 florence i felt a bit like ezio. just a bit. needed his skills and a...
Dec 28th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 25 - Rome & Florence
SInce our train was at 10:48am, and JG and I had to miss Colosseum yesterday, we left early to check it out. We dropped off out luggage at Termini, then metro-ed to the Colosseum the impressive interior of the Colosseum bye Colosseum! then it was onto catching our train to Florence. the city I have been looking forward the most! our train to Florence and how does Florence...
Dec 27th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 24 - Rome
JG and I didnt feel too well (PC suspected it was from the heavy rain we sorta got stuck in two days ago at Piazza del Popolo) so we decided to skip Colosseum with the gang and meet up with them at 1pm for Vatican stuff the best pizza so far! look at the tonnes of mushrooms, and the thinness of the pizza. pizza by weight has never tasted so good! after brunch, JG and I met up with the others...
Dec 26th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 23 - Rome & Pompeii
It was take two for Pompeii - at least now we are sure sure that Pompeii Scavi was open We took the train to Naples, and then had a quick breakfast in Naples yummy and cheap food at the station yay pompeii IS open towards Pompeii Scavi  look how excited she is to see some excavations! some ruins. this used to be a town! there we a lot of stray dogs around the place this is...
Dec 25th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 22 - Rome & Naples
Christmas day! we decided to go to Pompeii, which needed a trip to Naples, from which we catch a regional train towards Pompeii On the metro towards Roma Termini Naples here we come To our horror, and contrary to all our separate internet research, POMPEII WAS CLOSED. oh the horror. and it was christmas day too so a lot of things wont be open. Thankfully, an interesting museum for PC was...
Dec 24th
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Europe 2011/12 - Day 21 - Rome
i have JG all to myself today! so we decided to walk around Rome and do all the big ticket items! Its Christmas Eve! JG with St Peter’s Basilica JG at Castle of St Angelo. then we walked towards the Pantheon for the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome. i felt i was in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood! the view from the inside of the Pantheon After that, we...
Dec 23rd