Saturdays in Perth #1: Freo

In our time here, we've had 3 full Saturdays which we turned into mini day trips of sorts. For our first one, we went to Fremantle, which is a (city? suburb?) of Perth by the coast. This area is full of good places to eat, a nice indoor market (kind of like a farmer's market) and a prison that has been partially converted into a hostel.

We started the day eating something that is apparently very Australian -- smashed avocado. I'm not sure how you feel about avocado toast (love it, hate it, think it's overpriced, too hippie, etc.) but this was next level avocado toast.

Top view of the avocado toast... but you probably can't even see the avocado (possibly a lighting issue...)

Had to include this for size comparison, but I'm not sure if it's clear how much avocado there was. It was delicious :)
We also had earl grey rhubarb cake (also pictured here)

To the markets! I didn't take many pictures inside but it was really nice.

Fremantle prison -- I think this is the only world heritage site in Western Australia. As of 1991, it's no longer in use as a prison, but most things were left pretty similar to how they were and only guided tours are allowed.

My history knowledge is not very good (nor is my memory) but I believe the story goes something along the lines of... people didn't want to move from England to Australia, so they sent convicts to start early colonization. One of the first things they had to build was their own 'housing'... this prison. 

They had to use buckets for their toilets and every morning they'd have to dump them out here (or some place similar). I'm pretty sure this continued up until the prison closed in 1991 o_o

Some of the prisoners were very artistic. Originally they weren't allowed to paint on the walls but this inmate was granted permission for therapeutic purposes. I think he taught some of the other prisoners, so there were a few cells that had such paintings.

After going to the prison, we walked around the town and saw these random yellow lines on the streets and buildings.

Turns out they formed some ellipses!

Winter is a bit rainy here but given that we've been getting highs of 19 deg C, I really can't complain.

Do you see the double rainbow?

One thing I've learned about Australians is that they like to abbreviate everything. Hence, Fremantle = Freo.

Gotta have some fish and chips by the ocean! (I forgot to take a picture when they were just served...)

There was also a small museum that had a lot of history about Dutch ships coming to Western Australia. (I've decided that I think Australia is kind of a hybrid of the UK, Europe [specifically the Netherlands, but maybe it's because I only pick up on Dutch things] and North America.) 

... okay, and Asia to some extent... Australia is basically like everything in one and its own thing, at the same time.
We went back to the market later to eat more food. Mochi-filled bubble waffle with red bean, matcha and strawberries! (Unfortunately, the savoury kangaroo one was sold out... that was the one we were originally going for.)

Sushi roll snack -- you can get these almost everywhere in Perth. I guess when you think about it, it's an efficient way to eat sushi... you could even pack it for lunch.

Well, I thought I had more pictures but I guess I didn't. Anyway, tune in next time and next next time for the other two weekends... one at the wildlife park, and the other at Rottnest Island (aka Rotto)!

The hills are alive....

with the sound of trains being delayed....

Haha. No, they aren't really.

But Salzburg, birthplace of Mozart and location of The Sound of Music was... full of snow. Perhaps it would've had a musical ambiance, had it been able to penetrate the freezing air.

I have nothing witty to narrate, largely due to tiredness, so here are some pictures!

It was cold!

Teehee, horse with gore tex jacket.

The view of the Old Town in Salzburg, from atop of their fortress-castle-thing

I was amused by the super green football (soccer) field, in the middle of winter... with people playing on it.

This is apparently the Mirabell gardens, where "Do Re Mi" was filmed. I think. It was hard to tell what things were, due to the snow... and all the plants being dead.

Austrian schnitzel!

Did you know that Red Bull is an Austrian company? I didn't. In Salzburg, they have a little Red Bull museum in Hangar 7, which is close to the airport...ish. It's about 20 minutes away from the airport if you walk, or if you take a bus from the train station, you get off a couple stops before the airport. Anyway, they have this nice showcase of Red Bull planes and cars and stuff. And nice restaurants where you can eat while viewing their lovely displays. And clean bathrooms.