Nearly a thousand people packed the auditorium waiting for a sell-out record for the Sydney Morning Herald Dymocks literary lunch. The mostly gray-haired, glasses the audience enraptured Sat, their fillets of veal a simple side dish for the main course, English adventurer and writer, Michael Palin.With New Europe, Michael says to fill what was a void in own experience and that of many of his generation. In all 20 countries he visits, starting high in the Julian Alps on the border between Slovenia and Italy, where the Iron Curtain, once executed, he traveled through the Balkans and the countries bordering the Black Sea, before to turn north through the heart of the old Eastern Europe for the Baltic States, almost as far north as St Petersburg.I sit diligently listening and taking notes, preparing for the few minutes fifteen years you get to ask him my questions, when one responds spontaneously to the day s podium.It '86, Estonia, and Michael has a date with a hirudotherapist. "After a little striptease, Ms Agaj, a shapely woman in her fifties and a generous, especially maternal way is applying leeches to my body because, as Roger the cameraman thought it would be painful and unpleasant -.?. Mandatory and, therefore, it seems the application of leeches is an old way and tried to treat impotence, high blood pressure and a host of other ailments. "After fifteen minutes the little buggers are swollen and satisfied and have provided sufficient discomfort for pleasure Roger. Lyudmilla, we are in terms of first name, now, suits my wounds with a thick plaster industrial attack warning me that the blood loss is likely to continue until the anti-coagulant is absorbed. Back in Tallinn I feel like a celebration is in order and I end up with more than one glass of wine or two at a restaurant in Tallinn's Hotel St Petersburg ". Next morning I wake up to a repeat from The Godfather, the bed and my T-shirt are soaked in blood and look around for the horse's head, which fortunately is not. I tear bandages military Lyudmilla quality at a deafening noise and the promised 300 ml of blood splashes all over the bathroom. Now it's like a scene from M * A * S * H. The ordering, check out and are on track in Latvia before someone discovers the terrible scene that I left behind. E 'is a charming hotel though. "The dinner continued intermittently through the waves of laughter and applause, and yes, someone pushes Michael to sing the lumberjack song, which does kindly, in German, a queue of 200 meters ovation.After ecstatic to disperse book purchases, I prepare for my introduction. "Hello Michael, I'm Roderick" to which he looks at me with a hint of annoyance reserved for a weak attempt at humor. "No, really," I say, handing him my card. He looks at her and then at me with a magazine, looking apologetically: "Oh, you poor." My copy of New Europe is duly signed by an official apology by Pontius Pilate. But I am tolerant, after all I have to thank him for my freedom. (If you have not seen Life of Brian, then the joke is lost and you're probably not reading this anyway). My turn. Michael, your experience at Hotel in St Petersburg he had stiches, was that your worst hotel experience? "Well, to be honest it was me who ruined it, the hotel was excellent. But several places in China were quite strange and you come to mind: the Rongbuk Guest House was a stand out "is how Michael describes him .. Day 60, Himalaya. "From the dirt courtyard strewn with the soulless concrete rooms with broken windows and the foul, toilets without doors, Rongbuk Guest House is pretty much a hell hole." Michael adds a flavor that was missing in the book. "It 's run by a group of monks, whose minds are clearly elsewhere. The toilet was a freezing corridor and only a crack in the floor. So many people had used over the years that there was this frozen excrement stalactite hanging out of it. A shame, such a spectacular location right next to Mount Everest "Your favorite hotel?" Our lodge in Torres del Paine National Park overlooking the glacier was just the most magnificent "Day 161 of Full Circle" ; .. A few souls have ventured far into the park this time of year and we have the Hosteria almost to ourselves. sit by the wood stove, playing dominoes and drinking scotch in seven years, with seven glacier thousands of years. Sometimes the work is. almost bearable "On a more serious note, I ask Michael - with all its experience in brand hotels in the city - which is the only thing that needs to get a hotel right" Well I think that, just like good restaurants, a manager or person in authority should be around at all times. When a manager says, 'Call me anytime if you need something' should mean, not only between 10 and 12 or after 9. This service, after all. "" Hilton, I find. The name stands are particularly good for something, and certainly have a standard of service I can trust, "Pole to Pole 80 days:. Addis Ababa. "Culture shock as it gets to the Hilton Addis in a world of white faces, blond hair, thick legs, full belly. Curfew 1:00 to 6:00, but the telephones and mini-bar. Gorgeous, stunning and wonderful shower. The 'powder runs off into muddy canals. My eyes are rimmed with red and sore, and I collected a bunch of flea bites from somewhere, but I suppose it's a small price to pay for what we just experienced. "At 65, Michael Palin seems bright and spritely like a man half his age, or just a bit 'more than me. For a guy that has surrounded the Earth is on the edge of the horizontal and vertical, climbed mountains, crossed deserts and stopped in front of a camera (two takes) to minus 50 degrees to the South Pole, is in pretty fair nick. I do not need to ask the next question, because it's written all over him. The trip is obviously a great tonic. Drink your fill! TriviaPalin Palin became a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to television in 2000.Along with each member of Monty Python, Palin is an asteroid named after him. His is asteroid 9621 Michaelpalin.In recognition of his many train trips, Palin has two British trains his name. In 2002, Virgin's new £ 5 million high-speed Super Voyager train number 221 130 has been called "Michael Palin." Michael Palin is the president of the Campaign for Better Transport whose motto is "transportation that improves our quality of life and reduce environmental impact. "In 1993, following his winning performance in A Fish Called Wanda, Michael has agreed to (well, had) the name of Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children.
