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!!