Nearly a thousand expectant guests filled the auditorium, a record sellout for Sydney Morning Herald Dymocks Literary Lunch. The mostly gray-haired, bespectacled crowd Sat enthusiastic, their veal fillet a clean side dish for main course, English adventurer and RACONTEUR, argues Michael Palin.With New Europe, Michael fill what has been a void in his own experience and that of many of his own generation. In all he visits 20 countries, starting high in the Julian Alps on the border between Slovenia and Italy, where the Iron Curtain once ran, he traveled through the Balkans and the countries bordering the Black Sea before turning north through the heart of the old Eastern Europe to the Baltic States, almost as far north as St. Petersburg.I sit diligently to listen and take notes, prepare for scarce fifteen minutes that I will have him ask my own questions, when he answers one, unprompted by podium.It 's 86 days, Estonia , and Michael has a meeting with a hirudotherapist. "After a little striptease, Ms. Agajeva, a woman in her fifties and mellow in a generous, motherly way applying leeches on my torso. Why? Therefore Roger cameraman thought it would be painful and uncomfortable - and therefore mandatory. Apparently the application of leeches is an old and proven way to treat impotence, high blood pressure and a myriad other complaints. "After fifteen minutes the little buggers are swollen and satisfied and have provided sufficient discomfort to please Roger. Lyudmilla, we are on first name terms by now, dresses my wounds with a thick, industrial plasters warns me to additional blood loss is likely until the anticoagulant-absorbed. Back in Tallinn, I feel a celebration is in order and I will finish with more than one glass of wine or two at the excellent restaurant in Tallinn Hotel St. Petersburg. "Next morning I wake up to a replay of the Godfather, the bed and my shirt is drenched in blood and I look around for the horse's head, which fortunately is not there. I pulled off Lyudmilla military grade units to a deafening noise and the promised 300 MLS of blood spraying around in the bathroom. Now it's like a scene from M * A * S * H. I clean up, and I check on the way to Latvia before someone discovers the terrifying scene I have left behind. It was a charming hotel anyway. "The luncheon will continue my intermittent waves of laughter and applause, and yes, on the one Michael singing lumberjack song, which he obligingly does, only in German, to a rapturous ovation.After 200m queue for book signings dissipated, I prepare for my introduction. "Hi Michael, I'm Roderick" as he looks at me with the hint of annoyance reserved for such a weak attempt at humor. "No, really" I said and handed him my card. He looks at it and then at me with a revised, apologetic look, "You poor man." My copy of New Europe has been signed by an official apology from Pontius Pilate. But I am forgiving, 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 was your experience at the Hotel St. Petersburg us in stitches, that was your worst hotel experience? "Well, to be fair it was me who ruined it, the hotel was excellent. But several places in China was pretty weird and one comes to mind: the Rongbuk Guest House was one stands out. "This is how Michael describes it. Day 60, the Himalayas. "From the dirty, littered yard to the soulless concrete rooms with broken windows and smelly, less toilet door is Rongbuk Guesthouse pretty much a hell hole." Michael adds some flavor missing from the book. "It is run by a bunch of monks, whose minds are clearly elsewhere. The toilet was down a freezing corridor and only one scored in the floor. So many people had used it over the years that it was a stalactite of frozen feces sticking out of it. A shame, such a fantastic location next to Mount Everest. "Your favorite hotel?" We put in the Torres del Paine National Park with views of the glaciers was just the most magnificent place. "Day 161 of Full Circle:" Few souls have ventured far into the park at this time of year and we have Hosteria almost to ourselves. sitting at the fireplace, play dominoes and drink seven-year-old whiskey with seven thousand year old glacier ice. Sometimes the work almost bearable. "On a more serious note, I ask Michael - with all his experience in branded city hotel - what is one thing a hotel needs to get right?" Well, I think, just like the good restaurants, manager or person in authority should be around all the time. When a manager says, "Call me anytime if you need anything 'they should mean it, not only between 10 and 12 or after ninth It is a service after all. "" Hilton, I think this is very good. The name stands for something safe and they have a standard of service I can trust. "Day 80 pole to pole: Addis Ababa. "Culture shock when we arrived at the Hilton Addis, into a world of white faces, blond hair, thick legs, full bellies. Curfew 01:00 to 6:00, but telephones and minibars. Gorgeous, sensational and wonderful shower. dust flowing into muddy canals. My eyes are red-rimmed and sore, and I've picked up a cluster of flea bites from somewhere but I guess it's a small price to pay for what we've just gone through. "At 65, Michael Palin seems so bright and spritely as a man half his age, or just a bit older than me. For a guy who has circled the Earth in both horizontal and vertical limits, climbed mountains, crossed deserts and stood in front of a camera (two takes) to minus 50 degrees at the South Pole, he is in pretty fair nick. I need not ask him the next question because it's written all over him. Travel is obviously a great tonic. Drink your fill! Palin Trivia Palin was Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to television in 2000.Along with each member of Monty Python, Palin has an asteroid named after him. His is Asteroid 9621 Michaelpalin.In recognition of his many train trips Palin has two British train named after him. In 2002, Virgin's new £ 5m high speed Super Voyager train number 221 130 named "Michael Palin". Michael Palin is chair of the campaign for better transport, whose motto is "transportation that improves our quality of life and reduce our environmental impact." In 1993, after his award-winning performance in A Fish Called Wanda went to Michael (yes, he had to) Naming Michael Palin Centre for stuttering children.
