Singapore & Home

Day 48 & 49

Well we all knew these days would come. We had been trying to not think about them however the time has come to head home.

We started off by getting an 11 hour flight from Frankfurt airport to Singapore. The flight left at 10pm and we were keen to grab some shut eye so we wouldn't be too jet lagged by the time we got home. The couple in front of us put their seat back to get so sleep so we tried to do like wise. Unfortunately two prats continually pushed our chairs back up and complained to us that they didn't have any leg room (one of the guys was my height so that wasn't going to cut the mustard). I tried again and again he pushed the seat back then the nonce decided to ram Jane's seat back almost knocking her out of her chair. Some words were exchanged, cabin crew came over to calm me down and in the end we got our seats back as far as we needed. Made sure when we got off the flight I gave him a big smile and kept on going on about how good my sleep was.

After this we had a car pick us up from the airport. We decided that for the last night we would go all out. Nice hotel, good meal & obviously that will lead to a chauffeur picking you up from the airport.

We decided early that we weren't going to do any sight seeing in Singapore just shopping. So we headed straight out and hunted for the bargains. It's great being in a country where the Aussie dollar is so good. We went looking for a digital SLR and the one I was keen on was around $895 at most places. One guy as soon as I asked the price and then said thanks and turned to leave dropped it to $700. That's when I thought maybe I can do better else where if he dropped his prices that easily. Needless to say I am still without a digital SLR. 

Dinner was a buffet at the hotel. This is probably the best all you ban eat thing I have ever been to.... maybe not Wildfire. They had so many different types of Asian food as well as top quality seafood and a pretty good carvery and dessert menu. I ate way too much and was in agony for about 15 mins while my body tried to digest it all. Unfortunately it couldn't and I was a little bit sick for the rest of the night. Nothing to do with the quality of food, I was just a pig.

After a bit of shopping the next morning we hit the airport (3 terminals all like little shopping malls). Spent hours walking around, buying a whole lot of gifts both for others and ourselves.

Plane ride was on the new A380 airbus. This thing is massive. We were in economy and had more than enough leg and elbow room. Each seat had a 10 inch wide screen TV in the head rest where we got to chose what ever we wanted to watch. Both Jane and my TV was skipping a little so they moved us to another 2 seats that were together. I can never say enough about Singapore Airlines. They are the best by far.

So the holiday is at an end. As you can see we have a lot of cleaning up to do. We have out duty free liquor, over 3,500 photos and enough memories to last a life time.. well maybe another 2 years.

Big thanks again to all those that put us up, came out, went Lambanana hunting, drank with us, ate curries with us. We had an awesome time and can't wait to see where our next holiday will take us.

Bye for now!

Berlin - Day two

There is a walking tour of Berlin that we wanted to do which started in Alexanderplatz at 10:30 and we wanted to eat before hand. So we got into town nice and early and walked around looking for a place to get a decent meal. After 20 mins or so I gave up and Jane settled for a Dunkin Donuts muffin. Not quite what we had in mind but it served it's purpose.

We were at the starting point for the tour but no one turned up. So we knew of another starting 30 mins later on the other side of town. By the time we got to that one we had just missed it (d'oh!) but Jane did manage to pick up a brochure for a bike tour of Berlin which started at 4pm... sorted.

That gave us the rest of the morning/mid afternoon to go check out the Olympic Stadium, home of the 1936 Olympics and home ground of the not so mighty Hertha Berlin FC. We have plenty of useless facts to tell you all about the ground but we'll save that for another time. We had lunch there then it was home to get ready for the bike tour.

The tour started around 4 and finished close to 9:30. The guide was the very first American to go to school in Eastern Berlin after the Berlin Wall came down (random but true). He had a great knowledge of everything we saw and the tour included a stop off at a beer garden for a quick bite and beer. We also got to see: Checkpoint Charlie, Hitlers Bunker (the site, as it is now a car park... thanks Russia), the Holocaust Memorial, the Berlin Dome, the French Dome, the Victory Monument, Russia's memorial to their fallen soldiers & of course the Brandenberg Gates. This was the scene of the Hoff standing on the Berlin Wall in 1989 singing Looking for Freedom with that leather jacket with lights on it. Oh and also right near where Wacko Jacko held that baby over the ledge a couple of years back... it also has some serious historical significance but I know the IQ of some of the people reading this so we'll leave it at that.... you know who you are.

By the time we finished we headed back to the room which is where we are right now. Not sure what tomorrow will bring. We need to get to Frankfurt airport by 10:00pm and it looks like we'll catch the train there (about a 4 hour journey). We'll see though. Might catch a plane of there are any cheap flights. Until my next entry... Catch ya later!

Berlin - Day one

We awoke and pretty much headed straight for the airport. Once again Denmark proved to be one of the most expensive places to eat/drink This time it was almost $25 for a beer and a coke. I couldn't wait to get out of there. So

We arrived to the country that delivered so much on our last trip. This time it was Berlin whereas last time it was Bad Durkenheim, Frankfurt and Munich.

On arriving at the airport we called Greg, the guy that ran the guest house we were staying at. He is an American (from Kentucky) who has been living in Berlin for the past 15 years. He met us at the train station and took us to our place. On the way passing about 6 kebab joints.... I know what I'll be eating this week.

We were staying in an old church which was a bit weird but we had the place to ourselves. No curfew and we are staying in the Newtown of Berlin. Heaps of little take away places, bars and heaps of artists live in the area so there is a lot of art work on the walls. We are also only 2 streets away from the longest piece of what remains of the Berlin wall.

After showing us to our room Greg gave us a quick download of what to see in Berlin. One of which was a hostel that is on the river (literally as it is a boat) which has an English language party every Wednesday night.

So, Jane and I decided after a brief stop in the city at Alexanderplatz we would head there for a drink or two before dinner. There wasn't a lot of people there speaking in English and everyone seemed to be sitting in their own little groups so after a couple of drinks we made our way to an Indian restaurant called Amars. I'm naming this one so you all know where NOT got if you want good Indian food.

From here it was off to bed. We have decided to cram most of the touring into one day. Is that a good idea?? We'll let you know tomorrow!

Copenhagen

Monday

We flew in and grabbed our bags so it was off to find our hotel. We jumped on the train from the airport to central station and from there we worked out that it was a simple walk of about 20 mins to the hotel. This would have been the case had we been heading to the correct street. It seems in Copenhagen there are 2 streets in the city with the exact same name. Oh well at least it was around lunch time so it gave is a chance to see a bit of the city and work out what we wanted to come back and see once we had checked in.

The hotel was OK and Copenhagen overall is OK. A little on the expensive side but I knew that was the case when coming to Scandinavia. We jumped on a Rickshaw in the main town square and the guy took us around parliament house, down by the river, past the Tivoli Gardens and amusement park (the park which Disneyland was based on) and to a few other buildings. We finished up along Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard.

On arriving back at our room we discovered there was a blackout but as soon as we thought about going back out it all came back on again.

Open small gripe about Denmark is a lot of the restaurants don't take Visa/Mastercard/Amex, instead they only take a Danish Credit Card called a DK. Nice an inconvenient but cash always work so where there's a will there's a way.

Tuesday

We had seen a lot of the city that we wanted to yesterday so we decided to catch a train to Malmo in Sweden. It is only 15kms from Copenhagen so nice and close and we get to chalk off another country. It has rained all day so we jumped on the train and on arriving in Malmo headed straight for the Malmo Caste to get the sight seeing out of the way while there was only a light drizzle. Wouldn't recommend going to see it as it's not that impressive. There is a better time to be had in the main city square. Full of restaurants but today it also had the circus in town so there is plenty to do.

We jumped back on the train to Copenhagen after lunch and we're now sitting in the hotel looking out at the wet wet streets contemplating going out for tea some where nice and warm.

Tomorrow it's off to Berlin for a couple of nights then we start the long journey home. Here's to another great trip. Bring on Germany!!!

Prague

The train ride from Vienna to Prague took around 4 hours and there wasn't a whole lot to see unlike other train rides we have dome before. Still it was nice and relaxing and again I managed to get some sleep... Am I ever awake on this trip?? It took us around an hour to walk to our hotel from the station which believe it or not was way easier that dealing with the locals and their transportaion system. Nath I know you moan about Adelaide and Girv you do about Sydney but try Pragues and I guarantee you won't say a bad word about them again.

Firstly their machines only take coins which isn't unsusual however we only had notes. So off to the first ticket winbdow where the woman (possibly the rudest information atendant I have ever met) said we couldn't get a ticket from her and told us to go away. Right, off to the next window and then another (all of which have the big 'Tickets' sign on them). Not to be out done each was ruder than the last so we thought stuff it we'lkl walk.

On arriving at the hotel we unpackegd and ventured out onto the streets firstly to fnd a place to eat and secondly to see what was around our area. Not a lot where we were staying but we were only a 20 minutre walk along the river to the Charles Bridge and the old town. We were lucky though to find a top shelf Japanese restaurant right next to our hotel. The bill came to 1290.00 which luckily is about $90.00 Australian. We spent the rest of the night inour rom watching CNN (the only English speaking channel and a Czech station which had the Olympics highlights from the day before.

Sunday

We were uo nice and early so it was time to see everything we could in one day. We managed to take in Parliament House.Gardens, Prague Castle (with the changing of the guard at 12:00), The Golden Gates, Charles Bridge, Wenceslas Square where a guy in 1969 set himself on fire in protest to the Communist regime... he was a smart cookie, The Astronomical Clock and a Jazz festival in the square where the clock was. I have to say a pretty successful day although by the end my feet were killing me. This is the first day I haven't wore thongs in about 3 weeks and I was paying the price for it.

Dinner again was close to the hotel at a little Italian cafe. Wouldn't recomend going there but it was convenient and cheap as. I thik we had a few drinks, entree, mains and Jane had a desert all for around $35.00. Add that to lunch where Jane managed to get a 3 course meal for $12 and you can see why people love coming here. The beer is cheaper than water, coke and anything non alcoholic. I guess that makes uop for the rudeness we experienced on the first day. They're lucky : )

Monday

As I sit here on the plane we have had a pretty easy morning. The taxi picked us up at 7:45 this morning and our flight wasn't till 10:50 so we've been hanging around the airport and now almost half way to Copenhagen. I think we'll spend today wandering around the city then catch a train to Sweeden tomorrow but only time will tell. Can't belive the is only 7 days left....

Ahoj!

Vienna

Arriving in extra late thanks to a storm that hit Zurich just as we were boarding was one thing but the flight itself was more like and hour long ride on the Mad Mouse at the show. The pilot was not even looking like turning the seat belt sign off. We flew with Niki airlines (Niki Lauders airline) and I have to say for a cheap airline they were really good. Free snacks on the flight, TV during the flight & free magazines and news papers as well. PLUS the cabin crew were top notch although Jane will be writing a letter regarding their outfit She thought jeans were way too casual.

Now on to my dummy spit for the week. As we left Vienna airport via the train and arrived at our station Jane took it upon herself to lead the way to the hotel knowing that our street was not on the map. On leaving the station we saw an information booth but Jane said it was only 100 metres away and she had a good idea where it was.... 20 mins later we headed back to the train station, David quite tired and cranky where we asked for directions and finally made it to the hotel @ 11:30pm. THEN the key to our door wouldn’t work. It took us a further 15 minutes to get into the rom. No one would come up to help us and as you may know I am not a patient man at the best of times. I vowed to Jane that they would feel the wrath of Dave the next morning.

Friday/Saturday

The door still wouldn’t work for us the next morning so I grabbed one of the non English speaking cleaners to get her to open it with her card. She couldn’t so I said I wanted it fixed.... she went back into the room she was cleaning and continued to clean. I could see my point was not being made so as we left to do some sight seeing I spoke to reception stressing my desire to have it fixed by the time we got back... more on this later.

Austria, or little Germany as I call it, is filled with old buildings, friendly people and home to one of the dodgiest looking Australian pubs I have ever seen. We spent the day walking around all the different tourist attractions like Karlzplatz, Stephen Platz, Stadt Park, The Albertina, The Danube which was dirtier that the Torrens after a storm and the old Palace & Parliament buildings.

There are not as many beer halls here which I am sure Jane and my folks will be happy about, I’m sure it sounds like we’ve done nothing but drinking... that isn’t true I promise.

Anyhoo back to the hotel and we had a new key (swipe card) so I thought beauty it’s been fixed.... No all they did was replace the card. By this time my rag was well and truly lost so I went down again to have a go at the new person in reception. He get’s someone to come up and she gets it with her first go. It seems that I haven’t fully mastered how to open a door properly and the 2 times I did manage to do it correctly was just sheer luck. Standing there red faced I thanked her and tried to laugh it off but I know deep down she was saying sucked in idiot!

On the last morning we had a few hours till our train to Prague left at 1:30. So we headed back into the city then went for a walk around the ringstrasse which circles the main city (kinda like Canberra) before jumping on our train. That will do for now. I’ll write more once we leave Prague on the 11th.

Tschüs

Zurich

Tuesday

Well they say the places you expect nothing from usually provide you with the biggest surprise. Zurich, to a certain extent did just that..... We arrived in Europe’s banking capital and jumped on the train from the airport to the main central station. Once again all the signs were in the native language and in English so this made it really easy to get around.

Our hotel was right next to the main station and to the left was a lane way filled with restaurants & beer halls. Eureka!! We checked in and decided to go for a stroll along the Limmat River which was full of swans, the clearest water I have ever seen and topless girls sunbaking in the women’s only swimming pool. Jane pulled me away from there and we hit a local beer hall for tea. Weiner Schnitzel time! The Swiss/Austrian/German people really know how to make a pork schnitzel.

After having our fill we continued down to one of the main shopping strips and jumped on the big Ferris Wheel (the Zurich Eye) to get a view of the city and decide what it is we want to go and see. From here it was back to the hostel for a well earned sleep.

Wednesday

We booked a tour a few days ago as we didn’t think there would be much to see in Zurich. It started off as a tour of the city then hit the countryside taking in Heidiland (the place where Heidi lived... see children’s story books for more info) before venturing further east to Liechtenstein for a short stay. The tour of the city was a little long and thanks to a woman who couldn’t follow simple instructions like when to be back on the bus. As a result Liechtenstein was cut down to a 30 minute stop over in Vaduz. If I see her around there will be words.

In the end a pretty disappointing day but we did get some great pics on the way home. The scenery was superb.

Thursday

We were flying out from Zurich at 9:00 pm so we spent the morning and most of the afternoon looking around the city and checking out the shops. If I had to say anything about Zurich it would be this...... a Night Club is not the sort of night clubs one would go to with your girlfriend and get a small loan if you want to eat here. At maccas a big mac meal was the equivalent of $18.00... Needless to say we stayed well clear of any junk food like that.

Next stop.... Vienna!

Barcelona - Day two

Monday
Today we started off by taking the Blue route bus (yesterday we completed the Red route) as far as Anella Olimpica where we saw the Palau Sant Jordi (basketball stadium) and the Olympic Stadium. Unlike Camp Nou yesterday we were able to walk in freely and take photos, and I think even the museum (which we didn't go to) was free! This stadium is home to Espanyol so I guess they'll let anyone in to view the ground (they probably do that and count it in their attendance figures... no no wait that's Hindmarsh that used to do that when Adelaide City played there.
Back on the bus we went and it took us down to the coast. The green bus starts and finishes there so we hopped off one and on another. There is no need to get off the green route unless you are thinking of hitting the beach, we had no time for that so we continued around. The tan I was getting from just being on top of an open roofed bus was enough for me. It was back on the blue route as it continued its way into the city. As the time was approaching 2pm it was now lunchtime in Spain. Love that they have lunch from 2-4. We headed down La Rambla and it wasn't until 3:30 that we actually found a place that we agreed upon eating at. This was right down by the coast (we should have just stayed on the tour bus and got there a lot quicker).
After lunch we jumped back on the bus to get us in to the city. We just seemed to wander around for the rest of the day. I managed to find a store with the Nomination link to add Spain to my chain. We walked up the other end of La Rambla where we found a restaurant (tapas of course) that was recommended on Trip Advisor. I must say it was 1000 times better than what we ate the day before. Big tip though if they say the wait Will be 30 mins hang around as we were seated in about 5 mins. The place was called Cerveseria Catalana if anyone is in this neck of the woods and wants good tapas.
Tuesday
As I sit here writing Jane is sitting, arms crossed, waiting for her clothes to dry so we can check out and make our way to the airport. Barcelona has been fantastic or as the locals say "Fantastico" At this stage we are heading to Zurich, home of....... mmmmm...... could be a small blog entry next time.
Adios!

Barcelona - Day one

Saturday
Buenas dias! Yes that's right we finally arrived in Barcelona after a long wait at Liverpool airport and then an unusually long wait at Barcelona airport. Seems they forgot about us and there was no steps to let us off the plane.
Well we finally got outside and the heat hit us straight away. in the 30's and nice and humid. The hostel we were staying at was more like a cheapish hotel. Private room with bathroom, toilet and a little kitchen to cook our dinners... like we were going to be cooking on this trip. Here we are in the home of Tapas and Paella so me thinks we'll not be using that part of the room at all. We were staying about 100 meters away from Placa de Catalunya which is in the very heart of the city. Easy access to the tour bus we had booked as well as La Rambla which is a stretch of road that takes you straight to the beach.
Sunday
Up bright and early and we set off to find the starting point for the tour bus. As I said before it was really close to where we were staying. Our first stop was Sagrada Familia which is the cathedral started by Gaudi and which is expected to be completed in about 20 years. Really quite spectacular, we had a look around inside and then went up one of the bell towers for a pretty good view of Barcelona. We then went to Camp Nou, the home of Barcelona FC. After a look around in the merchandise stop we moved on as we did not want to pay 13 euros each to go inside the stadium considering all we wanted to do was take 1 photo of the inside of the stadium, not to do the tour or check out the museum! Next stop on the bus tour was Tibidabo which is a mountain/hill overlooking Barcelona. From the bus stop we jumped on the blue tram which has been in operation for over 100 years, and from where the tram terminated we caught the funicular railway up to the top of the hill. Again some nice views over the city and the coast. The 2 main attractions up the top were the Sagrat Cor church and a super tacky amusement park - an interesting juxtaposition! We went up to the top of the church and had a wander about inside, and we didn't bother with any of the amusement park rides before heading back down the mountain again. After a brief stopover at our accommodation we set out for the evening, first to a German beer hall style tapas place (needless to say it was not what you would call authentic Spanish food, and overpriced to boot!) and then along the Gran Via which led us to Placa Espanya and the Magical Fountain. There were a lot of people there so we took a prime position at the top of the stairs in front of the Palau Nacional where we watched the display, one big fountain with cascades lining both sides of the street down to Placa Espanya. It was very spectacular! After the long walk back to Placa Catalunya we returned to our place and hit the hay - the end of a very long but very enjoyable day!

Liverpol - Day two/three: British Chess Championship

Friday

As promised we were up early hunting down Lambananas. I guess it's hard to sleep when the Dodger is driving the porcelain bus all morning.

We had to get as much done early in the days as possible as the chess championship started at 12:30. We were drawn against each other so at least one of us would make it through to the next round. We found a staggering 50 of the suckers this time thanks to a little visit to the Liverpool 08 store which had a map with a list of where they are/should be. More about that in a moment.

On to the chess tournament.... up front I have to say that am pretty good but I was well impressed with the way Roger , using Kasparov famous 'attacking bishop' technique, was able to expose my king and take the match within 19 moves. So through to the next round... or so we thought. It seems that the urine sample that Roger had given before the match contained traces of Ritalin (used on kids with ADD to help them concentrate) so he too was kicked out of the tournament.

This gave us a lot more time for Lambanana hunting. Some were easy to find, others hard and some just plain weren't there!

Back to the Dodgers we went before walking down to the local curry house for something a little different then it was onto the Raven Hotel for a couple of beers before an early night.

Saturday

We got up around 10 and had a few hours till our flight s the Dodger and Jane decide we'd go for a wee drive and of course we drove in the direction of the Lambananas that we hadn't seen before. I scoffed down some of the worst McDonalds I have ever eaten then we were popped on a plane. I'll wrote more about the flight and what we did after in our Barcelona blog....

Once again big thanks to our host with the most... catch ya soon buddy!

Stay tuned

Liverpool - Day one: Land of the Lambanana

Thursday
Waking up to a good fry up from Heavey set the tone for what has been an excellent few days. After saying our good byes we jumped on the bus to Liverpool. The trip was only an hour and yes once again I slept most of the way.
Waiting for us at the bus stop like an eager 9 year old waiting for Santa Clause to come was Roger "Chimpmits" McOzzy... honourary Australian and even comes packaged with the Southern Cross on his arm.
After a quick drive to his house we dropped off the gear and caught the first train into the city.
2008 is a special year for Liverpool, the arrival of Robbie Keane and plus it is also the year that Liverpool is the European City of Culture. This means there is a heap of stuff to do one of which is Lambanana hunting.
So what is a Lambanana I here you say. It's a cross between a lamb and a banana (duh!) It seems an artist quite a few years ago made this 8 tonne tribute to genetic modification and used a lamb (Dolly the sheep was the first cloned animal) and a banana to symbolise fruit which has been geneticaly modified for some time now. For this year they have made 122 of them, got local artists and communities to decorate them and then placed them all over the city and beyond.
After a beer or two Jane, the Dodger and I decided we'd make it our goal to see as many as we could. This worked out quite well considering they were spread out so we got to see a lot of the city as well.
Of course no game of Lambanana spotting is complete without many, many trips to the local establishments to sample their fine array of amber fluids. We went to the Jacaranda which is the pub where the Beatles first played as the Beatles (theyre was a whole ensemble of names and band members before that). Our biggest struggle for the day was finding a pub meal after 8pm. Instead we had to make do with some pasta from a little Italian restaurant washed down with a fine bottle of rose all the way from France. Doing hard on this trip I tell ya!!
We hit a couple more pubs in the evening and caught one of the last trains back to the Dodger's abode where we settled down to a few more cans and Top Gear on the telly. We managed to find 23 of the Lambananas so there was is a big day ahead of us. Plus the Dodger and I entered ourselves in the British Chess Championship which was being held in Liverpool.

Manchester

Wednesday

After sleeping in Glasgow for the night due to the early bus trip to Manchester Jane jumped up bright and early to make use of the free breakfast and I took the opportunity to get another 20 mins sleep.

The bus took 4 and a half hours to get to Manchester and once again I slept most of the way. Jane must love traveling with me : )

It was about a 20 min walk from the bus station to my mate Heavey's (James) work where we dropped off our bags and headed to the pub while he finished work. Stopped off at the Walkabout (Aussie pub for those of you that don't know). VB, Tooheys New, Tooheys Extra Dry.. I was in heaven.

Heavey turned up and we headed to Akbar's for a traditional Manchester Curry before hitting a couple of pubs around the city and out by Salford. The plan was go and watch FC United play Salford City in a preseason friendly then hit a few more pubs. James had to work the next day so we kept it pretty low key.

Well in to Heavey for making a big fry up for breakky with black and white pudding.. love that stuff.

So here we are ready to head off again. It's 10:30 and our bus to Liverpool leaves soon. Gearing up for a couple of nights with the Dodger. I can feel a couple of hangovers coming on!!

Greenock

Another 5 hours on the train and by 1:00 we're back in my home town of Greenock. First up was a trip to my aunts house where I was meeting up with a few cousins before we walked down to the world famous Cappielow Stadium to watch the mighty Greenock Morton do battle against their arch rivals St Mirren in the Renfrewshire cup final. Best cup system ever. No qualifying games just the two teams meeting each year to see who is the best in the region. 1-1 after full time it was straight to penalties. St Mirren won 5-4 but since they are a premier league team and Morton aren't I say we won.
From there is was off to my cousin Donna's house for a barbie and some drinks. Wasn't expecting a big one.... let's just say I needed to look at the camera the next day to see what went on. Nikki (whose house we are staying at) was not a well girl and spent the morning driving the porcelain bus. Needless to say I wasn't in the best form and spent the best part of the day to get off the couch.
That night was another barbie back at Donna and Dave's this time a little more subdued and more of the family was there. The little ones have all taken a stretch and the bigger ones are just the same : ) Always great to catch up with them all even if it is only for a few hours.
The rest of the weekend was spent shopping (finally got myself a Morton top) and also on Monday night we caught up with my dad's side of the family at the James Watt hotel. Good meal and again great company. Other than that it was across the water to Dunoon to see my Uncle Sammy's side of the family for lunch... boy was that a big lunch.
Tonight it's off to Glasgow for the night so we don't have to have a early one before our bus down to Manchester tomorrow. Curry mile is just 24 hours away... Get on it!!

Fort William/Skye

The last 2 days have been spent on trains, buses, ferries and in plenty of pubs. We arrived in Ft William around 4pm and headed straight to the Hostel. Ben Nevis (UK's tallest mountain) is only a 5 minute drive from here so it is full of back packers eager to climb it... that doesn't include us : )

Went to a pub for tea where they had possibly the slowest service I have ever come across. Must say though the dinner was goooood. I had a traditional Scottish chicken tikka masala with chips and Jane went for a steak pie. Hit another pub on the way back to the hostel after going for a walk down by the Loch. The scenery here is really nice, hills everywhere and the loch is really peaceful. A little boring if you want to be out partying but it's a nice change of pace from Edinburgh. We popped into another local ale house for one last beer before we hit the hay.

Next morning it was off to the Isle of Skye. It's about a 90 min bus ride plus 40 minute ferry ride from Ft William. Here there is a lit of tiny country towns, castles, awesome views and not much else. Struggled to find anywhere to eat other than a tine cafe near where the ferry docked. Certainly no pubs so we walked, and walked and walked.

We did learn about the origins of the McDonald clan and how they started McDonald restaurants to help fund their community's defences against the attacking Spanish. Because the Spanish were so strong and would have crushed them had they known they were building up such wealth they opened the first one under the name of Ray Kroc (or Crock in Scotland). As this was a dummy name this is where the term Crock of Shite comes from. Needles to say they made a heap of money and crushed the Spaniards... true story, I promise. By the time we got back to Ft William it was 5:00 and all the stores are closing by then so all there is to do it hit a pub or two and have a curry for tea. Tomorrow we head to Greenock just in time to see the mighty Morton play against St Mirren in the Renfrewshire cup final then it's hanging around the family for 4 days. Will report more at the end of that.

Edinburgh - Day two

Wednesday

Today the plan was to walk the Royal Mile, climb Aurthur's Seat, find a store that sells Nomination flags and have a curry for tea. Tick all the boxes except one... climbing Aurthur's Seat. We did start walking it but then we got kind of hungry so we headed back doon. We will do it one day. I couldn't resist the urge to head to the nearest KFC and have a Zinger Tower burger. This is the burger that turned wee skinny Dave into fat Dave all those years ago. Luckily for me KFC didn't make it a permanent fixture on the menu otherwise I'd be a hell of a lot bigger than I am now.

We couldn't walk all the way to KFC without stopping off for a pint so half way up the mile there is a pub called Tolbooths. Really nice looking pub on the outside, pity about inside.

After the pint and burger (tear was running down my cheek with each bite) we walked past a pub advertising Scottish music live from 9 o'clock. After just doing the Irish music pub crawl in Dublin we thought we had to give it a go. So we headed to the Hostel for a bit of a rest.

We went out for dinner to the local curry house. We had a fantastic meal although it was not hot enough. The waiter kept me in stitches. Here's this little Indian guy with the biggest Jock accent you'd ever hear. After drying my eyes and paying the bill we went next door to the pub. The music was ok but I put that down to the singer and the style he sings rather than Scottish music in general. Again Jane knocked back a Bulmers or two (I've lost count how many she's had) while I sat back on the waters and coke.

Check out tomorrow is pretty early then it's a 5 hour train ride to the Highlands where I doubt we'll get Internet access. I'll write more when we hit Greenock.

Edinburgh - Day One

Tuesday

The flight from Dublin was a quick one again (about 40 mins). We arrived in Edinburgh around 2:30 and once again Scotland has put on some spanking weather for us. Temperature was about 22 degrees, it was sunny and just a hint of humidity so that's perfect for me. We caught the bus to Waverley station which is as close to our hostel as we could get from the airport (or so we thought). From there it was a walk up to to the Royal Mile which is where we were staying. Anyone who has been to Edinburgh will know that the walk is nice and steep. Add a couple of 15kg back packs and some hand luggage and it gets a lot worse. Just to rub it in another bus that we could have got from the airport went past us and stopped almost out the front of our hostel. Edinburgh 1- Davey 0. Edinburgh then made it 2-0 when we read a big advertisement for Hibs vs Barcelona ON THE DAY WE LEAVE!!

I said in an earlier blog that this is by far my favourite city. One of the reasons is all the buildings on the old side of Princes st. I love how you can be in a shopping district, cross the road and all the buildings leading up to the castle are well over 100 years old. There is also heaps to do here whether your here for a day or a month. Good pubs, great food that's all I can ask for.

We headed from the hostel up the Royal Mile to the castle and took a few back streets where we found a pub called Greyfriars Bobby's. After reading the menu incorrectly (so much for skimming through the menu) I got a meal consisting of 8, yes 8, sausages and a heap of wedges. Dunno what I was thinking when I ordered it and needless to say I got nowhere near finishing it.

Again we headed back to the hostel to drink in their bar (cheaper beers). The hostel was really clean but it was full of 14 year old Italian kids on a summer camp excursion. Old man Dave was getting a little narky with all the noise they were making so after a few beers we went to bed. Still very very bloated after the sausage dinner... I won't eat for 3 days!!!!

Dublin

Sunday
Top o' the mornin' to ya all. Yes we're in the land of Guinness, limericks and leprechauns. The flight in from Gatwick was delayed by just over an hour (nice one Ryanair, we can always count on you to throw up something out of the ordinary when we're in a rush) but we got here safe and sound. The hotel is about 5 bus stops out of the city so a nice walk each morning was in order which helped build up my appetite for the black stuff.

After checking into the hostel we legged it through backstreets, alley ways and parks to get to the Guinness Storehouse. 7 floors of memorabilia, information and free tastings of Guinness. Best part of the tour was the Gravity bar on the top floor. You get a 360 degree view of Dublin which made it easier for Jane and I to decide where we wanted to go.

After downing a pint we wandered in the direction of town and had dinner and an Italian Restaurant. Nae too bad even if it was a bit pricey. From here it was just a hop, skip and a jump to Temple Bar. The place was buzzing as the Dublin based Gaelic Football team had just played and won their semi final (I think). Drunk English, Aussies, Eastern Europeans and one or two Irishmen around as well. In true Aussie style I was wearing thongs and wasn't able to get into any places (I reckon that was the easy way to keep the numbers down) so we headed back to the hostel for an early one.

Monday
Normally I'd wake up on a Monday and think of how many different excuses I could make to stay in bed. But not here. I was up (even in time for breakfast) and we set about walking as far as our legs would carry us. Nath (b*stard) told us to go find a pub called the Liffey for a drink. Was closed down but in the end he was taking the piss anyway. For summer Dublin put a beach in the docklands to give the town something to do when it reached 20 degrees rather than every man and his dag sitting around and park they can find topless. Popped into The Met for lunch and a Guinness.
In the evening we went on a musical pub crawl around Temple Bar. We started at The Oliver St John Docherty then hit the Ha' Penny Bridge Hotel (the only family run pub in Dublin) and finished up at Brannigans just off O'Connell street. 2 genuine (you could tell by the accents) Irish musicians took us around and set up their instruments there and play some songs then it's off to the next place. Was a lot better than I thought it would be. had a great time and between sculling down the Guinness's and Jane knocking back her new favourite drink (Bulmers) we staggered home just in time to pack out bags and have a good nights kip before our flight to Edinburgh. I definitely need to come back here and have a few more days lookign around as well as seeing the rest of Ireland. So anyone up for a guys week away??????

London - Day 3

Saturday

This is the final chance we get to see the sites of London so the plan was to get up early so we could beat the rush to the London Eye which is always busy.... Again we didn't get out the house as early as we wanted and yes there was a big line at the wheel. It only took about 40 mins to get into our capsule then we were away. The wheel takes about 30 mins to go all the way around and you get a good view of the city.

After that we tossed a figurative coin and decided to jump on the boat to Greenwich Village and have lunch there rather than eating before we left. Had another pub lunch (that would be 4 in 4 days... waist line increasing) then headed up to the observatory to see the Prime Meridian (where time starts.... zero point for GMT). Got the tourist shot with Jane standing on the east side and myself on the west side. There are a few other sights to see there but can't think what they were right now... a planetarium and a few statues.

Back into the city we stopped off at a pub which was surprisingly quite difficult for a Saturday afternoon. Almost all the pubs were closed. James said in that part of the city the pubs do all their business on a Friday night and don't bother opening on a Saturday.

Finally found one then after a bevvy Jane and I popped into see a friend (Patrick) for an hour. He was having a party so we left him to it and went back to meet James and Kristy. Had dinner in Islington and as I write this we are sitting backing having a beer getting ready for tomorrow's trip to Dublin.

Once again thanks to our hosts for the lodgings and the awesome tour of London!!!!

London - Day 2

Friday

After another good sleep it was time to hit the foot path and take in some more of London's sites. We caught the Tube to Knights Bridge. Question... what is the definition of opulence?? Answer - Harrods. Between the Opera Singer performing on the escalators and the Egyptian escalators which were designed with such detail I could tell this wasn't a place a guy from Elizabeth Vale would be shopping in. They had all the polo gear and horse riding accessories which is lucky because I've broken my polo mallet.

From here we headed off to Bucking Palace and the House of Parliament for the usual photos and stopped in at the Silver Cross for lunch. Great service there... maybe not. I got the wrong burger and only realised this because I ripped the burger apart to see what was on it. On noticing this the table next to me saw that they had just been given mine. So the waitress gave me theirs.. not an issue as they hadn't touched it but then gave them mine ripped bun and all. There own fault though as the fat b*stard ate it without complaining.

We hit the Tower of London and spent and hour or so in there seeing the crown jewels and touring the Bloody Tower.

Now for the serious part of the day. We started at The Ten Bells Hotel for a couple of beers. Kristy, Paul, Zoe & a couple of her friends showed up then it was off to Brick Lane. This is a much smaller version of The Curry Mile in Manchester. Not a bad eat at Monsoon's Curry House then we hit a bar called 2012 where we kicked back for the rest of the night drinking Coronas, Mojitos and smoking some apple flavoured Shisha (a Turkish pipe thingy). Good company, not too bad weather, all in all a great day. Tomorrow it's The London Eye and who knows what else.

Pip pip!

London - Day 1

Thursday
We got the train from down south into London and were met by my cousin James. We're staying with him for the next 3 days in Islington (about a 5 min walk from the Emirates Stadium. The closer I got to his house the dirtier I felt... Arsenal Scum.. (not you James)

After lunch at the Duchess of Kent we headed out on the tube to the Tower of London. We got there late in the day so we didn't go in. Instead we crossed the Tower Bridge and walked along the Thames stopping off at the Anchor hotel for a bevvy. Plenty to see and do around there with Shakespeare's Globe and a pretty good view of the city across the river.

We crossed back over the Thames on the Millennium Bridge and headed up to St Paul's Cathedral where we met James' fiancee Kristy who was just finishing work. Popped into another pub (there's a theme here) called the George for another beer then it was off to Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square & after dinner Piccadilly Circus.

Tomorrow is the big day where we try and see as much as we can and then meet up with our other cousins Paul & Zoe so there will be a whole lot more to write then.

Tally-Ho!

Portsmouth & Brighton

We spent the last couple of days lying around the house with the family catching up and brushing up on my sign language. First day was mainly spent traveling from Heathrow and then out to dinner with the everyone. Can't believe I was here 2 years ago. The little ones have all grown up quite a bit and it was great to just chat and take it easy.

Wednesday involved an hour trip to the pebbled beaches of Brighton. Aunt Ella, Uncle David & Zoe came with us and we spent the arvo having lunch on the beach and walking around the Lanes which were pretty impressive. Topped off with some excellent chocolate fudge just before we headed back.

All the family popped around that evening after dinner for more chatting and I am still trying to get some of those people over to Australia (to save me money on all these trips)

The saga continues..... next up London!

The Long Haul

Monday

Today we head for Heathrow. This involves a 1 hour flight from Buffalo to New York. Then a 1 hour flight from JFK to Washington DC and THEN a 7 hour flight to Heathrow. So far we have done the first two legs and we got upgraded to first class for the New York to Washington leg but it’s cattle class for the big leg : (

Ohhh Canada - Niagara Falls

Sunday
Another day, another airport. This time it was an hour flight from JFK to Buffalo and then a shuttle to Niagara Falls. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza on the US side but we headed across to the Canadian side during the day for a better view of the falls. We met up with Matthaus & Rookie around lunchtime and suprisingly I was hungry (doesn’t happen that often) so after a sandwich and chocky donut we went down to the water and booked our tickets for the Maid of the mist cruise. Definitely the way to go you just have to get a good spot on the boat and try to keep your camera dry.From here we walked along the water, had a very colourful meal (corn chips were dyed red, blue & green). It was great to catch up with Matthaus and Rookie. Can’t believe you guys had a 7 hour car ride ahead of you when we left... well in & thanks for tea!!

New York - Day 2

Saturday
What a difference a day makes. I now know how to set an alarm clock correctly. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Last night on our way back to the hotel or on the tour we say the line up for the empire state building and it was huge. The tour guide said best bet is to get there first thing in the morning so that is what we did. Out the door by 8 and yep there was no line up so straight in we went. Now for those of you that know me I am not the greatest lover of heights. That’s the reason I went out of my way to make sure I wouldn’t grow over 5ft 7. So up there on the 86th floor some 1200 feet above the ground big mucho Dave had his knees a wobbling and being a gentleman I let Jane take all the photos from right next to the fence. Very god view but I gladly headed down after 30 mins or so to continue with the tour.
The rest of the day was spent looking for the Ed Sullivan Theatre (where David Letterman does the Late Show), the Soup Kitchen which was home to the soup Nazi on Seinfeld plus a pretty cool 2 hour tour through the mean streets of Harlem. Well have I been greatly misinformed about that place. Was a pretty nice area, home to Columbia University & the tomb of Ulysses S Grant (America’s 18th president) nothing like the gangsta movies you see or the hood that the news channels always show you.
One thing I can’t find anywhere in the states are internet cafes. Heaps of places have free wi-fi but you need your own laptop to connect to their internet. So Jane and I went to Macy’s (the biggest dept store in the world) and bought a compact laptop to use for the rest of the trip. Only cost $600 and it is tiny so it won’t take up any room and we can update the blog a lot easier.
Tomorrow it’s off to Niagara Falls (Canadian side) to catch up with Matt & Rookie who are driving down from Montreal for a visit.
Stay tuned....

New York - Day One

Friday
Some call it the town that never sleeps, others the capital of the world. I like to think of it as New York – The town that never bathes. If you intend on coming here please do so once you have lost your sense of smell. In saying that the place itself is awesome and the 3 nights we stayed there was never going to be enough time to see it all.
We arrived at our hotel late Thursday evening after our flight was delayed by about 40 mins (that makes up for all the ones that have gotten in early. The hotel was ok. In mid-town about 6 blocks away from the Empire state building and a block away from 7 or 8 Indian restaurants.. I was in my element.
We went to a Japanese restaurant for some sushi then called it a night. The plan for the next day was to get up super early and start our hop on/off tour from Time Square. Little did we know I have not mastered the art of setting an alarm clock and we woke up about 10am. This threw out our plans a little so we legged it to Time Square, got our bus passes and jumped on the first bus we could see.
The pass gave us access to a downtown & uptown loop, a tour of Brooklyn, a night loop of Manhattan and Brooklyn plus access to the Empire State building observatory, the Southport Sea Museum and a cruise to Ellis and Liberty Island.
We jumped off the bus at the World Trade Centre site a.k.a Ground Zero to have a bit of a look around. They are starting to build some new buildings there so most of it was closed off and you couldn’t really see inside. The church next to the site, where the NYPD & FDNY set up their base camp during the recovery was worth a quick 5 minute look. Here there are still shrines to those that were working in the twin towers plus there’s a chair that George Washington sat on at the first mass he attended after he was inaugurated (a bit random I know).
From here we walked down to Battery Park where the very first battery was ever made (if you believe that then I have lost all respect for you). Down here we lined up for about 30 mins waiting to go on the Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty Cruise. You have an opportunity to get off at the 2 stops but really the best photo ops are on the boat so we just sat there until it headed back. Took an hour all up so not too long that we would be missing out on anything else.
After walking past Gordon Ghecko’s old building we jumped back on the bus and I decided to do my bit for international relations with a trip to the UN. After brokering a peace deal between France and Italy (was quite hard as both sides were trying to surrender) we stopped at the Rockerfeller Centre so Jane could audition for ER. After realising that her acting is as good as my attempt at humour we looked around Central Park looking for Central Perk of Friends fame. Unfortunately it doesn’t exist but we got some great pics of the park with the city in the background.
The tour then heads back into Time square and it’s getting close to 5 so we find a dodgey Italian buffet, eat there then head out on the night loop. This takes in most of what we have already seen but it gives you some pretty good photo ops with the city lights and sunset etc.

San Fran

Tuesday

Who's idea was it to drink late then fly out early the next day... d'oh it was mine. After finally coming to the realisation that I lost my wallet we headed off to the Airport. The flight was meant to be about 90 mins and as with all other flights we've had so far it was way early.

Stayed at a hostel in the middle of the city. It was pretty close to Union Square which is perfect for getting around. We dropped the bags off and headed straight to pier 33 for our Alcatraz tour. We had tickets set for 12:00 so it was always gonna be close as to whether we'd make it. The tour was packed and it took about 3 hours to get around what we wanted to see. Could have spent a lot longer there but I really don't get into flowers that much and a lot of the tour was about the different species of flowers on the island.. yawn.

We finished up and started on the hop on/off tour that we had booked. 48 hours, a few different loops with stops at all the major attractions. That is definitely the way to do it when you are visiting a city that has so much you want to see.

Let's see we took in The Bay Bridge, Fisherman's Warf & a Trolley ride. We went on the night tour which did a lot of similar places but also took in Alamo Square. This has the 5 houses called the 5 sisters that were on the opening credits to Full House.

Wednesday

Continued the tour plus jumped on a Golden Gate Bridge/Presidio tour. The Presidio is where George Lucas has a lot of his studios plus there is a heap of old army barracks and houses there. We then got off at the bottom of Lombard street and walked to the top of that. It is the street that zig zags at the top because it is so steep to stop any accidents should breaks fail. It was a hell of a climb (I think they said it's the steepest street in the world (dunno about that. Hang about... Google... nope it's the crookedest..) Speed limit on the street is 5 mph.

We walked back down it then up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower before walking down 440 steps to the Fog City Diner (used in the movie So I married an axe murderer). That was pretty much enough touring for us so we found an internet cafe (there are stuff all of them in the USA). Tomorrow it's off to NYC. It's a 6 hour flight so doubt anything will happen tomorrow but then again you never know when I'm leading Jane astray.

Take me out to the ball game....

Monday
After the last few days where it has been non stop with the 4th of July, Vegas and Tijuana Jane and I decided to have a rest day. Romeo went to work so we both got up, packed our bags (tomorrow we leave for San Fran) and then headed down to Pacific beach to do a bit of shopping and have some lunch.
They have a Ripcurl shop there and all the t-shirts were $20 which is damn cheap. Instead of buying more Ripcurl shirts we decided to head to a few of they touristy shops and get a San Diego top then head back top Juliet’s place. On the way we stopped off at The Australian Pub which is pretty poo.
The evening was one of the best I’ve had since we got here. We headed to The Tilted Kilt which I think was meant to be an Irish bar with scantily clad beer wenches serving our ales. From there it was fish tacos and a another couple of beers before we went into Petco Park to see the not so mighty San Diego Padres take on the Florida Marlins in the baseball. The game itself I have never really gotten into but since I’ve been over here it’s the only sport on TV so you find yourself watching it whenever you get a chance. For the record the Marlins won 3-1.
During the 8th innings we headed up to the roof top bar at the Marriot (on the 22nd floor I think) where we watched the rest of the game and continued to knock back a few more quiet beers.
The low point of the trip came in the taxi on the way home when John ‘Romeo’ Girvan stole my wallet (either that or I lost it). Now comes the fun part where I have to cancel all my credit cards (which also cancels Janes!!!) and get a new one sent out urgently.Tomorrow we fly to San Fran. Girv you’ve been an awesome host and Juliet and Sara thanks for everything as well. Loved San Diego!!

Tijuana

Sunday
No trip to San Diego is complete without the John J Girvan tour of Tijuana in Mexico. The place is a cross between the bad bits of Kings Cross and the worse bits of the Eureka on a Sunday night. Girv and I were 'home.' The girls on the other hand looked a little out of place.
After crossing the boarder (no checking on the way into Mexico) you can immediately smell he urine. Something tells me they're facilities consist of the nearest doorway or tree.
We stopped in at Taco Locco for some Dos Equis & Tacos. 10 beers, 11 tacos.... $26.00 It's clear why Girv goes here now.
Next up was a place that said on the door "Sorry We're open" Good Sign. Supposedly Vias knows this place well or at least their window he jumped out of when trying to evade paying the tab.
Highlight was seeing two Mexican cops around tea time arrest 2 blokes and take cash out of their wallets in the middle of the street. The whole place is dirty but definitely good enough for a Brahma night out!!

Las Vegas

Saturday

Well it was time to hit Sin City. As you all know Davey is no stranger to casinos and my word there are a lot of them! The day started not too early (luckily given that yesterday was a big one) and we flew across the desert (which by the way is very different to our deserts, quite rocky and even with some lakes!) and hit a bit of turbulence as we approached Vegas airport (which I am told is pretty much par for the course). We jumped into a cab which took us to the Venetian Hotel right on the Strip. I can't imagine anyone wanting to stay anywhere else! We had a great suite - 2 king sized beds in a split level room, and 2 big screen TVs (not that we spent much time in the room!) Immediately after we arrived we spent about 6 hours wandering around the strip (save for an hour or so enjoying the sumptuous buffet at the Bellagio) and saw all there is to see. And countless guys (and the occasional girl) flicking cards with pictures of "escorts" on them. Classy. But really it was quite amazing (and HOT - over 40 degrees in our language). The live lion in the MGM Grand. The indoor outdoor area at the Venetian and Paris. Oh and the water show at the Bellagio. Davey has become quite the connoisseur of fountains!!!!

We did a little gambling (and no winning!), not much drinking, and probably could have spent several more days there just SEEING everything, let alone seeing any shows etc!

The above photo was actually taken INDOORS. We knew it was indoors because it was a pleasant 25 degrees as opposed to the 40 in the real outdoors!

4th of July

Friday
Time for the yanks to let their hair down and celebrate one of Tom Cruises better movies. We rocked up at Juliet & Sara's around 10:30am & tapped the keg. It was light beer so it was going down like water. Jane brought a couple of bottles of Champers to keep herself ticking and I decided to get in on the keg stand, ice luge & any tequila shot that was going around.

After downing an entire glass of tequila around 6pm Davey wasn't a well boy and went to the loo to relieve himself of the past 3 days food. In doing so I managed to miss the fireworks and awoke Saturday morning to find everyone had gone other than John, Sara, Juliet, Jane and another couple that were staying with them.

A quick inspection of the photos from the night before found that I don't like wearing pants when I've had a few and Jane who was very drunk early on managed to save face by kicking on into the wee hours of the morning. Big highlight was the body shots off one of the girls!!

Next up.... Vegas!!!!

San Diego

Wednesday cont...
The Girvan tour of the US rolls on. I must say if you ever get a chance to go to the states take this man with you. Not only does he know every cheap bar but he has googled all the interesting facts about the town so you dont go wanting.

On our arrival we got to meet the very lovely Juliet & her room mate Sara. We sat back and had a few beers talking about all the things that Australians do way better that the US :) It was a reasonably early night (about 1am) as we were due for a few big days coming up.

Thursday
Jane and I set off to San Diego Zoo. Natural home of the Panda and home to the grizzlies from Anchorman. It's set out a lot like Taronga Zoo but without the million dollar views. We spent most of the morning/afternoon walking around trying to push our way past thousands of school kids who were on their summer holidays.

From here we checked out the museum district before our tour organiser picked us up and took us down to Pacific Beach (PB as the locals call it) for some brews. First stop was La something or other which seems to be well known for it's endless supply of topless guys. John promises me this was a once off and normally it's pretty much 50/50

The Shore Club was next followed by the Fire House for tea, Moon Doggies & another pub which had peanut shells all over the floor was our last port of call.

The flight & LA

Well after a suprisingly good night's sleep Jane and I awoke Tuesday morningready to begin the trip. We arrived super early at the airport and on checking we were told we had been upgraded to Business Class for free. Obviously my reputation as being a high roller was leaked to United Airlines so I was treated accordingly.

The flight was an easy 13 hours complete with reclining chair, silver service and a three course meal. Not only were we upgraded but we were upgraded before one of Australia's premier boxers, Mr Jeff Fenech who was sitting back in economy with the rest of the scum.

On arriving in LAX we were given priority baggage claiming which meant we were through customs in about 25 mins. No smiling though!! They take it very seriously over here and I wasn't about to push my luck (we've seen how strict the Aussie border security can be).

John J 'Romeo' Girvan was there to greet us, the weather was awesome and it was time to hit Santa Monica & Malibu for drinks, dinner and 'a quiet night' 6:30am I strolled into the hotel after getting lost in what John calls some of the roughest streets in LA. Luckily ignorance is bliss and I just kept to myself and finally made it back.

Wednesday was spent making our way down to San Diego via Hollywood, Rodeo Drive and the OC. Already I can see from what we've eaten that if you don't like cheese you won't be able to eat here. I had a burger with Jacks and Cheddar (cheese and cheese) disgusting but when in Rome....

Next stop is San Diego and we will add more at the end of that trip.

Catch ya!

The Itinerary

Well it's just 3 days till we leave. The Davey & Jane karaoke festival will be embarking on our world tour. Here is a brief rundown of all the gigs we will be doing....

• July 1-14 USA taking in LA, San Diego, Las Vegas, Tijuana (Mexico), San Fran, New York, Niagara Falls and little America (Canada)
  
• July 15-19 England where we'll do Portsmouth & London
  
• July 20-22 Ireland but probably just Dublin
  
• July 23-30 Scotland starting at Edinburgh then fitting in Ft Williams, Skye, Greenock & Dunoon
  
• July 31-Aug 2 England for Manchester & Liverpool
  
• Aug 3-15 We hop around taking in Barcelona, Zurich, Vienna, Prague, Copenhagen, Berlin & Frankfurt
  
• Aug 16-17 Singapore

Aug 18th will be when we finally get home for some much needed sleep and perhaps the odd AA meeting if required. We're hoping to keep the blog up to date as much as possible but we'll see how that goes..... 

Girv get ready!