Charles Perry's Website

747 being loaded for flight — My trip started with a Qantas flight from Brisbane to Los Angeles.
This is a photo of the 747 at Brisbane airport, being loaded up for its flight.

Lobby of the Fairmont Hotel — The incredibly ornate lobby of the historic (and expensive) Fairmont hotel.

View Of San Francisco — A view of San Francisco.
San Francisco is a great city to visit.
It is very tourist-friendly, easy to walk around, and the climate is good.

Cable Car Machinery — The machinery that powers the famous Cable Cars.

Grateful Dead House — The Grateful Dead lived here during The Summer Of Love.

The Haight Ashbury district — The Haight Ashbury district. The Hippies have all gone, but some quirky shops remain.

Hollywood Sign — If you look carefully, you should just be able to see the Hollywood sign in the background.

With Oscar — With Oscar.

Ronald Reagan — Ronnie gets a mention on Hollywood Boulevard.

Beverly Hillbillies House — The house used in the Beverly Hillbillies.

Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Castle — The Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland Anaheim.
Admission was not cheap - it cost me $96.
However, all rides are free.

Disneyland Fire Department — The Fire Department in Main Street USA, which is the first thing you see when you enter Disneyland.
The upper floor is actually a small apartment.
Walt Disney would sometimes stay in it in the early days of Disneyland.

Disneyland Columbia Sailing Ship — The ship Columbia in Frontierland.
It is a replica of the first American ship to sail around the world.
The ship does a 12-minute ride round a circular canal, complete with nautical songs and cannon shots.

Disneyland Submarine Ride — The Submarine Ride provides views of underwater coral and fish. It is very popular with the kids.

Disneyland Teacup Ride — The Teacup ride looked to me to be one of the more sedate rides.
However, apparently the spinning can induce motion sickness in some people.

Goofy and Charles — Goofing around.

Las Vegas Sign — The famous Las Vegas sign.

Paris Casino — A view of the replica Eiffel Tower at the Paris Casino.

Eiffel Tower Restaurant — The view back from the other direction - from the restaurant in the top of the Eiffel Tower.
The large hotel is the Bellagio. The food was excellent, and the view superb.

Helicopter And Pilot — This company provides helicopter tours of the Grand Canyon.
The helicopter is an Airbus Helicopters EC-130, a model specially designed for the tourism market.

Helicopter In Grand Canyon — Our landing spot in the Grand Canyon.

Helicopter Over The Strip — Flying back to the Las Vegas airport, showing a good view of the Las Vegas Strip.

Forum Shops — The Forum Shops in the Caesar's Palace hotel.
Note the luxury brands, the Roman statues, and the fake sky.
The shopping in Las Vegas has to be seen to be believed.

Slot Machines At Airport — Las Vegas airport has an impressive collection of slot machines itself.

The asassination of President Kennedy in 1963 is not widely remembered today.

However, at the time it happened,it was as profound a shock as the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

During my visit, I saw the window that Oswald is believed to have fired from. It had a perfect view of the traffic below.

Also, the road just outside the building has a very sharp turn in it, which would have slowed the motorcade significantly - and a slow-moving target is an easy target.

Book Depository Building — The Texas Book Depository building.
Oswald worked here. He is believed to have fired on the motorcade from here.
The building has now been renamed, but apart from that it has been left substantially unchanged.

Sixth Floor Museum Sign — The Depository buiding now contains a Sixth Floor Museum.
It has has numerous interesting displays about the asassination.
Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside.
If you want more information, you can see more at the Sixth Floor Museum website.

Bookcase of Kennedy books — Literally shelves of books have been written about the Kennedy asassination.
These are some of them.

JFK tour bus — I went on a "JFK tour" in this bus.
We saw the house that Oswald lived in, and the theatre that he was arrested in.

Dallas gun sign — A sign I happened to see in Dallas. You know you are in America.

New York Athletic Club entrance — New York impressed me more thant any other city I visited. I stayed at the New York Athletic Club.
It has a reciprocal club relationship with Tattersall's Club in Brisbane.

New York Athletic Club - view of Central Park from room — The view from the window of my room, showing Central Park.
The building where John Lennon lived can be seen from here.

Me at the top of the Empire State Building — At top of the Empire State Building.
You get a very good view of Manhattan.
This Observation Deck is on the 86th floor.
The trip to the top costs about $50, and the wait time was about 30 minutes.
I thought it was well worth it.

Me at the World Trade Centere Memorial — At the World Trade Center Memorial.

The New York Stock Exchange — The New York Stock Exchange.
This facade is not actually in Wall Street, but in Broad Stree, an adjoining street.

Great Northern Railway Company Goods Warehouse — After the hustle and bustle of New York, I found the slower pace of Manchester vary relaxing. This is the Great Northern Railway Company Goods Warehouse.

The train to London — You can travel by train from Manchester to London in about 2 hours.
It's almost as fast as flying, and travel by train gives you a better view.

Telephone Box — I didn't take as many photos of London as I should have. Classic British design - now with WiFi.

Australia House — Australia House.

Ronnie Scott's club in Soho — Ronnie Scott's Club in Soho.

Eurostar train in London — The Eurostar train will get you from London to Paris in about 2 hours.
It runs from St Pancras Station in London to the Gare Nord station in Paris.

The Eiffel Tower — The Eiffel Tower from below. It's quite enormous.
The restaurant on the second floor sells an "Eiffel Burger" but I didn't try it.

Locks on a bridge in Paris — It is a custom to put locks on the bridges over the Seine.
This is one of hundreds of locks on this bridge.

The Mercure Hotel — Nice is a lovely place to visit - one of my favourites. I stayed at the Mercure Hotel.

The Beach In Bad Weather — The only problem was that it was raining. The beach looked pretty dismal, unfortunately.

The Rain was heavy — The rain was heavy, almost like a subtropical downpour -several hundred millimetres of rain fell during 3 days.
This shows a downpour on a sidewalk cafe.

The Promenade Des Anglais — The Promenade Des Anglais is the main promenade along the waterfront.

Roman Ruins — The Romans settled in Nice 2,000 years ago. They built a city which they called Cemenelum.
The ruins are still there today. They are some of the best preserved Roman ruins north of Rome.

Sunny Weather At Last — Sunny weather at last!

View From Train Window — I travelled by train from Nice to Rome.
This is the view from the train window, showing picture-perfect views of the French and Italian Riviera.

Where I Stayed In Rome — I stayed in Rome in a hotel in the Via Ludovisi, which is near the Via Veneto.

The Via Del Corso — The Via Del Corso, a lovely street to stroll along.

The Vatican — The Vatican.

The Vatican Museum entrance — The entrance to the Vatican Museum.

The Queue For The Vatican Museum — If you plan to visit the Vatican Museum, allow for a two hour wait to get in.
This photo shows the queue, which goes around the block.

Vatican Museum Security — Even the Vatican Museum has security scanners now.
A sign of the world we live in.

Our Tour Bus — The eruption of Mt Vesuvius in AD 79 preserved Pompeii. This is our tour bus for the visit.

Our Tour Guide — Our Tour Guide. The device around his neck is a small radio which he used to communicate with our group.

Mount Vesuvius — Mount Vesuvius.
It has erupted about 30 times since AD79. The last eruption was in 1944.
Vesuvius looks surprisingly harmless.
However, it is actually regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world.
This is because of the large number of people living nearby.

Me in the Forum of Pompeii — In the main Forum of Pompeii.

A Main Street In Pompeii — A main street in Pompeii.
You can still see the wheel ruts from the wagons that used to travel on it.

A water fountain In Pompeii — The rich people of Pompeii has water piped to their homes.
The poorer people had to use this public water fountain.

The Poet's House — This house is known as "The House of the Tragic Poet".
It has a mosaic of a dog in the entrance.

Cast of a dog that died — Cast of a dog that died during the eruption.

The old city of Frankfurt — The Old City of Franfurt.
It dates back to the middle ages.
In 1844, it was reduced to rubble by an Allied air raid.
It has subsequently been rebuilt.

Europe sign — Frankfurt is home to the European Central Bank.

The plane To Hong Kong — At Frankfurt airport.
The Lufthansa 747 for our flight to Hong Kong is being made ready.

Barricades in Hong Kong — Barricades in Hong Kong, erected by the pro-democracy protesters.

Plane To Brisbane — At Hong Kong airport.
Our Qantas Airbus being made ready for the flight back to Brisbane.