theWarren's Europe 2007 Trip

London-Day53 19-20th July

2007-07-22T19:45:00.000+10:00

Thursday-Friday,

(dear reader, it’s of no consequence but I realise I’ve mucked up the day(s) of our travel. Did some checking and I didn’t count them correctly at the beginning of the journey and today should be day 57 not 53...)

Had a great sleep and went down for our full English Breakfast (beans, mushrooms, bacon and egg) with juice, coffee and toast. We were back at the Paddington station just after nine and got a bit stressed till the district line tube train turned up (there had been heaps of station announcements that there were delays due to obstructions on the tracks and that another train had also broken down). Anyway, we made the connection to Earl’s Court and were soon on the Piccadilly line heading for Heathrow.

Checked in easy enough (but Wendy and I had separate seats) and laboured our way through the security checks, taking our shoes off and me getting touched up by a huge security guard who wanted to see the lollies I had bought that were in my back pocket (I think I may have left them just to see what would happen?) and my wallet... The boys went onto the plane early and we tried to get them to seat us together and what do you know, we ended up next to each other in row 58 which is just behind the exit with all that legroom! Bonus! Well, sort of - people come and stand there and step on your feet and the gallery is a busy place when it feeding time but we were fairly comfortable and it was easy to get in and out of the seats. So, then it was up and away after an hours delay on the tarmac (hard to clear some debris) and on our way home. Fairly straight forward trip (we made up most of the time in the air) to Hong Kong and then the transit (where we were scanned by an thermal imaging thingy) back to the same plane (which had been cleaned) and on the final 9 hour leg. Watched Sunshine (not very good science fiction) and Ten Canoes (just OK), a couple of Top Gear episodes (had to laugh out loud) and a Tribute to Leonard Cohen (excellent) and listened to some classical music while trying to sleep. Arrived on time, bought some cheap liqueur/ liquor (some poor person dropped one of their bottles and it broke and leaked scotch liquid on the floor and smell in the air) got through passport and customs, had a coffee, caught the Gull bus home and brother Andy picked us up. It’s winter here and a lot colder than Europe, only 12 degrees inside had to put the heater on for an hour before going to bed and beginning our recovery from the jet lag.

What a trip! A very busy one but very enjoyable and we’ll never forget some of the experiences and things we’ve seen. I’m very thankful to all those who have been so generous and hospitable to us, particularly our respective families in Holland, Liz in Wales and Edith in Vienna. I also appreciate those who helped look after things at home - there was a huge pile of mail and newspapers to wade through. So, now I have to have a look through the thousands of photos, put in a couple of insurance claims, change some pounds into dollars, stock up the pantry, and get back to the normal routines of work etc. Thanks for your positive feedback on the blog and I’m glad you could come along for the ride (sort of). This will be the last post here unless I decide to let you know that I’ve uploaded some photos to a site like Flickr, but then you could also check my normal blog space to see if I do that...

Cheers, Colin

Holland-London-Day52 18th July

2007-07-22T19:30:00.000+10:00

Wednesday,

Up early and a quick breakfast before saying goodbye to Ash and aunty Jane. Geerlof drove us to the airport and we said our farewells before he raced back and headed off to his brother’s 50th wedding anniversary bash 2 hours away from Leiden. It was great to able to stay with the Los’s and we appreciate their generosity in looking after a family of five who lobbed up and filled their home to capacity. Ash is staying for a few more days till he sorts out what he’ll do next.

We caught an Easyjet flight to Gatwick and then caught the bus to London’s Victoria station and then bought a day bus pass (₤3:50 and good till the next day at 4:00 pm) to get to Paddington and our accommodation. Checked in at the Belmont Hotel and dumped our bags and headed for Paddington station a block away.

Bought some lunch (bagels, cream cheese, ham, juice and some sushi) at Sainsbury’s and ate that in a nearby park before we split up to do our own thing. The boys headed off to Soho, Oxford St. and Portobello Rd. while we headed for the Victoria and Albert museum. A great museum and spent a few hours there enjoying an eclectic range of exhibitions (casts, photos, medieval, ancient, sculpture, modern and the rest) and a nice coffee in the rooms.

We’d negotiated to be back at the hotel at 7 but we were half an hour late because we’d caught the return bus on the wrong side of the street and headed the wrong way! We were too stingy to invest in a ₤3 map of the bus routes but really didn’t buy one out of protest, because there was no good tourist info anywhere except in the centre of London. Everyone we asked though, was very helpful. The boys were waiting for us and had had a very successful shopping expedition. We freshened up and went out for a pub meal around the corner at the Fountains Abbey and sat across from St Mary’s Hospital where Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. A plaque on the pub wall credits the spores from 'this ale house' floating across the road to activate the bacteria that led to the discovery. The meal and the drinks were a pleasant way to end the last day abroad and Matt found out what mushy peas were (I actually got asked if the boys were over 18!).

Holland-Day51 17th July

2007-07-22T19:20:00.000+10:00

Tuesday,

Had a slow morning sorting out the packing and getting ready to leave and then went into Leiden to see the volkenskunde (ethnographic) museum. I had stayed at home to write some blog and copy some photos onto dvd and had to race in on the bus to meet the others. It was a very nice collection which was laid out very well in a recently renovated building.

We met Keith and Emmy at the train station and had a nice lunch before walking back into town to check out some of the architecture with the boys. At the ‘Beesten mart (used to be the livestock market) we had a look at some of the second hand books. The guy had set up all his books in boxes and made a wall of them that you could walk along! Very impressive and I thought that he was lucky it wasn’t raining. Also saw an old guy walking home in a picture frame - he was holding it in such a way that he was the contents of the painting!

Stopped at another bookshop so Wendy could buy another tome that was by the guy who wrote Max Havelaar and reflected life in Holland through the life of a young boy using text and illustration. Back to a few places we had seen on our walk with J&G (to show the boys) and found a quaint cafe for a coffee and warm apple pie before heading back through some of the old parts of town towards the station. We said our goodbye’s and caught the bus back home by 6 for another nice meal with Jane and Geerlof (they make a good team!) and then packing up ready to head back to London before our flight home

Holland-Day50 16th July

2007-07-22T19:01:00.000+10:00

Monday,

Caught the train to Amsterdam (along with hundreds of other commuters) and the weather started looking ominous. Had to stand till we got to Schipol and managed to find a seat for the rest of the trip. We were fairly disappointed with the amount of tourist info at the railway station office so just bought a map out of a vending machine for 2 Euros and decide to walk down to the Dam (square) and then find a coffee before going to the Rijks Museum. Ended up walking past the bloemen (flower) market and seeing all the vareties of tulip bulbsetc. and then had to shelter from a downpour before queuing up to get into the museum.

They are doing renovations to the museum and they don’t seem to be set up for large numbers of people coming through - it was very slow and wet waiting to get through the security check. Once inside we could see a smaller collection that what is usually available and enjoyed some wonderful paintings by Rembrant and others, and yes we did see the Night Watch. Then it was across the road and a quick snack before visiting the Van Gough museum. While this was a great exhibition, well curated and worth visiting, I was disappointed by just how many people were filing past the paintings. It was like a slow shuffle/jostle following everyone else past the paintings. The text for each painting was small so you had to get up close to read it but mostly I cruised behind everyone and picked my targets of things I wanted to see more closely.

Walked back toward the city and found out the times for a canal cruise and then went and got some lunch before hopping on board. The cruise was for just over an hour and fun to do, along with lots of other companies vying for the tourist dollar. The captain spoke three languages and gave an interesting commentary with many asides (and additional info) in Dutch, so it was nice to be able to understand and translate for the boys. Sailed past some old building and the Anne Frank House (yes, a huge queue there too!) and out into the harbour a bit before coming back via the Nemo and the Heren Gracht (lords canal) where all the rich people used to live (well, some sill do). Lots of nice views of canal bridges and old (many leaning) buildings. The weather fined up during this so it was nice to see the sunshine but it did get fairly warm under the glass roof and with little breeze on the water.

Amsterdam doesn’t seem that Dutch anymore, lots of tourist here for the ‘soft’ drugs (’coffee shops’ selling cannabis and various other supplies) and the red light district. You’d probably have to live here for a while to get to ‘know’ the real Amsterdam but I reckon Schiedam, Leiden or Haarlem would do just fine. We decided to split up for a couple of hours and do our own thing (checking out the flea market, looking for the fashion stores and checking out the souvenirs) before catching the train back through a very heavy thunderstorm that apparently caused flash flooding and closed the airport! Ate some dinner on the train and were very glad that we’d boarded when we had - the water was streaming down the windows. Straight onto the bus in Leiden and back to J & G’s without getting too wet.

We had arranged to go out with Jan and Anneke and keith and Emmy to an outdoor museum tomorrow but decided that it would be too much to spend a whole day out again just before we had to leave (at 6:45 the next morning). So, I rang and cancelled and they were very understanding about us just feeling too tired and starting to feel overwhelmed. We did agree to met Keith and Emmy in Leiden for lunch though as we did want to see a bit more of the city and just take it easy.

Holland-Day49 15th July

2007-07-22T15:39:00.000+10:00

Sunday,

Caught the train to Haarlem where cousin Albert lives, and met him and Margreit the two children at the railway station. An amazing old station with lots of woodwork and tiles.

Walked into the city centre with the kids on their bikes stopping at each road crossing waiting for us to catch up... On to the central square where it started raining so we ducked under the awning of a cafe and sat and ordered a coffee. There was thunder and lightning which frightened young Dewertje and then it really started to pour. It was that bad that so much water came between the gap in the awnings above us we had to go inside. Some brave souls stayed outside sitting with umbrellas up under the awning.

It cleared a little so we walked on and into the cathedral and saw how the floor was covered with grave stones of the rich who could afford a plot in the church building (from hundreds of years ago - 1600 to 1700’s). Apparently that’s where the phrase ‘stinking rich’ comes from. These people were buried in the floor of the church and their decomposing bodies gave off a rank smell, so people called them the stinking rich! There was some nice music playing on a fantastic looking organ and we saw a memorial for Fans Hals (the painter).

Then outside the church and stopped by a procession of horses pulling carts (bit like the tractors we saw in Groningen) and then walked through the town to Albert’s place. Had a nice lunch with them and the children enjoyed playing with the boys despite the language difficulties. Unfortunately all our visits have been short but they have been good and meaningful and it’s great that our Dutch family now know our boys and vice versa.

On the way back into the city we stopped at the Frans Hals museum which is housed in a converted single old mens hostel. Great architecture and some more excellent curating with a nice display of the paintings which tell the story f Dutch life and history. The interpretation was well written in English and worth an hour to read it all. We also saw some great paintings, huge dolls houses, room set up as they were in the 1600-1700s, furniture and other bits and pieces that made for a worthwhile visit. We also meandered our way around the city to find the Corrie ten Boom house (her family harboured Jews during the war) and then caught the train back to Leiden. Jane & Geerlof had organised another get together with all my mother’s siblings and their partners. Keith and Emmy were also there so it was fun to catch up with some of the adventures they’ve had since we saw them in Budapest. Great to talk a bit more with my uncles and aunties and again eating lots of nice food.

Holland-Day48 14th July

2007-07-22T15:29:00.000+10:00

Saturday,
Drove with Jane and Geerlof down to Rotterdam to do a boat trip around the harbour (one of the biggest in the world) on the river Maas. Made it on time, parked the car and bought tickets for the Spiro which took us on a 75 minute tour.

It was cool and windy on the water but bearable. We sailed past some historic sites in the harbour as well as visiting the dry docks and the container terminals - amazing. Cranes and forklifts dealing with 40 foot containers like a 7 years old plays with Lego. Seeing these huge container ships being un/loaded close up was fun and some of the statistics were mind boggling.

Back up the river towards the big bridge and the terminal where my parents first set sail for Australia in 1956. We then walked into the old Rotterdam Harbour (which is really where the barges used to tie up) and enjoyed a nice lunch of pancakes and coffee. We were serenaded by a South American band playing on a barge moored loosely to the quay. Around was all this fascinating architecture that has been built since the city was bombed flat over 60 years ago.

The cube houses looked crazy and were difficult to understand how they were laid out inside. We also saw a spectacular sculpture designed the reflect a city that had had it’s heart ripped out. Los of other buildings that weren’t your standard square or rectangular shape which makes it all a feast for the eyes.

On the way back we passed by The Strand (the beach) which was a section of the bank of the Maas covered in beach sand and a few umbrellas and beach volley ball court. What a hoot, the beach next to the river - had to pay for the privilege though....

Then J & G drove us to Schiedam and we visited tante Ploon in her flat facing the Maas river. There was a festival in the park between her building and the river and it was kids afternoon so there was a break in the Rock & Roll music with something for the little ones. Lots of activities and food stalls. Had a nice cuppa and went for a walk to take in the view of the off-shore oil rig undergoing maintenance (before heading out to drill some more holes in the sea bed). We wandered round to sit on the river bank before heading back while the boys disappeared into the festival.

They wandered back across the grass and past the public urinal set up in the middle of the grass were the guys could stand and do their thing. At the appointed time we walked over to my cousin Marcel’s place and had a drink with Yolanda and their son Kevin. Then it was time to head over to cousin Rene’s (and Jeanette, Daniel, Milerna & Vera) place for a meal. They’d organised a chinese take away banquet which was very nice (and I’ve been eating far too much!). We went for a walk afterwards to get an icecream and unfortunately Ash threw the dog’s frisbee in one of the stinky canals so the frisbee got lost and the dog stank (she’s dived in after it but couldn’t find it). Not to worry - Rene threw a stick into another canal and Bera went in and washed herself.

After a very enjoyable afternoon and evening of meeting everyone and catching up the two cousins then kindly drove us back to Leiden.

Holland-Day47 13th July

2007-07-22T15:19:00.000+10:00

Friday,

An easy morning and then into Leiden city for a walking tour with Jane and Geerlof. The boys had decide to take the little boat that Geerlof has tied up next to the canal. They had to get the water out first (filled by the rain and then get a map (and a handheld GPS) and some instructions on boatsmanship. We arranged to rendezvous at a cafe on the water and the boys set off for a trip through Leiden on the canals.

We walked into the city past the old water tower and the Hooglandse church and the ‘Burcht’ (an old fortified mound from the Middle Ages) and then Jane and I made our way to the rendezvous point with while Geerlof and Wendy went to a bookshop looking for a second hand copy of the book ‘De eeuw van mijn vade’ (the age/time of my father) by Dutch writer Geert Mak. We walked down to the canal and saw the boys doing some circle work in the canal looking for us. They had made a wrong turn fairly early in there trip but had worked out the way they needed to go and we met down at the dock side where they tied up the boat and we found a table. G & W turned up soon after (with a copy of the book along with a recent 2007 publication by the same author!) and we enjoyed some coffee and a beer on the edge of the canal down on the water (along with a fair few of the local teenagers and a small plague of flying insects). The boys hopped back in the boat and we started for home.

On the way back we bought some coffee from a shop worth visiting just for the aroma (and would you believe it - the girl in the store new an Australian girl living in a house called Geelong in Leiden!) and then on past the old Pieterskerk (closed and having some restoration work done) and through the old part of town where Rembrant went to school. Stuck our noses into another ‘binnen hoff’ where there was accommodation for poor people surrounding a small courtyard. Very quaint and populated by people who are happy for visitors to walk around while respecting the privacy of the residents. We walked past lots of historical buildings including windmills, the street where my grandfather was born, the town hall, the Gravensteen and the quaint canals. All in all a decent walk that tired us all out, and the boys managed to navigate their way home safely. Somehow Jane managed to whip up a lovely meal that was much appreciated.

Paris-Day46 12th July

2007-07-21T15:20:00.000+10:00

Thursday,
Had another good brekky and then packed our bags and left them in the luggage room as we’re heading back to Holland tonight and will come back for the bags before catching the train. We headed back to the Metro and Les Arts Decoratifs museum but it didn’t open till later so walked over the river to the Museum D’Orsay.

Spent a couple of hours there looking at a fine collection of pre-impressionist, impressionist and post-impressionist paintings. I especially liked the Art Nouveau section which had some really nice furniture in it. This is another museum with a range of artistic styles and forms to look at. You should really just pick one or two (at the most museums per day and take you time to read up on what’s there and then read the interpretation that comes with the art work. Not a lot of English in the older exhibitions but generally it’s done well. Lashed out for a coffee and cake in the cheap cafe (where it’s semi self-serve) before checking out the last bits worth looking at.

Back to the Les Arts Decoratifs and another eclectic sort of collection from the medieval/middle ages, to the renaissance, to the 17th-18th centuries, to modern furniture, art deco and toys! The museum card is very handy except we did pay a few €s to get Reubs in to see a special exhibition of the designer Joe Columbo. Another hour and a half spent hear and the hunger pangs had set in.

We walked into the gardens between this and the Louvre and had some lunch under the trees (sheltering from a passing shower) before heading via the Metro to the Hotel Invalides with all these bushes trimmed into cones and heaps of old cannon from far off lands.

Then across the road and around the corner to the Rodin museum and some more amazing art work. Fantastic to see the sculptures coming out of the raw material. Chunks of marble with perfect figures/hands etc. appearing from under the sculpture’s chisel. There was a good display on how the bronze casting is done and (while I still don’t understand it exactly) it looks like a lot of work - like too much work! Beautiful things to look at in the gardens and inside, with some marble carvings being so delicate you can see the light through them. Caught another metro to St. Germain and wandered around till we found the cafe Le Duex Magots which has been made famous by Hemingway, Satre and De Beauvoir and others. Due to its fame it’s charging €6 for a coffee which is $9 a bit steep for me when you’ll have to fork out even more for a bit of something to go with it. We checked out the cathedral across the road which had some very old stained glass and these amazing (holy?) water bowls made out of guilt edged clam shells.

Thought we’d wander the back alleys for a coffee shop/bar and found a beauty, just like Le Duex Magots would have been 50 years ago! A few locals sitting at the bar having a coffee and chatting to the lady behind the bar and an old fellow having what may have been his third glass of wine. A few other people around including a few guys playing chess at a small table in the window (with the stop clocks and all!). We found a nice corner spot and sat down only to hear a couple of girls carrying on in American. So, we spoke to each to drown them out... The lady made us four coffees and an expresso ad brought them over to our table in five cups and two jugs of hot/steamed milk. We could make our own lattes to tatste! Excellent coffee and only €2:30 ea! (the expresso is always cheaper on the account of no milk). A great experience and just what we needed to get a feel of authentic French cafe life. So much different to sitting on the street watching the traffic lights change.

Reuben then headed off to find some of the fashion houses back towards the Pompidou and we wandered around and bumped into the church St. Sulpice which was huge (but undergoing serious renovations) and then through the Jardin de Luxemurg. A very nice park with lots of chairs that you can move around, some art works to play with , fountains and some gendarmes keeping an eye on things. Also poked our noses into an exhibition that featured some art by a guy who uses old tea bags. They looked aesthetically pleasing from a distance but up close the magic is goes and they’re just old tea bags stuck to a canvas. But, there may be a message in that... Then we had to race off to Gare du Noord station to make sure we rendezvoused with Reuben. Reubs wasn’t there so Wendy stayed and Ash raced off to the supermarket while matt and I went and picked the bags up. Got back a bit hot and bothered and Reuben had turned up so we hopped on with 10 minutes to spare. Met three girls from Georgia on the train who had seen us on the train to Paris (but they’d only had one day in Paris and a day in Brussels). They remembered Reuben’s faux leopard skin jacket...

We got off the train at Rotterdam around 10 and caught the connection on to Leiden where Jane and Geerlof kindly picked us up around 11.

Paris-Day45 11th July

2007-07-21T15:19:00.000+10:00

Wednesday,

Headed downstairs at 8 for breakfast and enjoyed a good continental breakfast and filled up the backpack with some extra rolls and cheese for later. Down into the Metro and off to the Picasso museum. Just love the Metro, it’s easy and quick, with lots of trains and once you work out the directions of each line things go relatively smoothly.

The Picasso museum was great, a nice cross section of his development and output with lots of different types of art from this prolific artist (paintings, sketches, sculpture etc.). Walked back towards the Pompidou Centre and stopped at a pharmacy to find some Listerine. None on display but the guy found us some for €5:15 and we had some fun with the translation as the chemist said 50 in English, but meant 15 in French (‘quinze’). Then a (good) coffee on the street before heading indoors for some more art. Spent a couple of hours in the Pompidou as it now houses the Museum of Modern Art and has a couple of huge floors of excellent things to look at. It’s all very inspiring, well most of it - some things I just didn’t understand. But, we were in a hurry and you could easily spend a whole day here.

Sat next to the crazy fountain thing and filled up on bread and cheese for a snack. The Pompidou is built ‘inside out’ and has all the infrastructure on the outside; escalators, ducting, plumbing etc. and it makes quite a juxtaposition against the older Paris skyline. We’ve noted a fair bit of this in the old cities of Europe and would notice it again in Rotterdam which was bombed flat in WWII and was rebuilt with some architecturally different buildings.

On the way to our next stop I found a ‘Passion a la pain’ and bought a couple of baguettes while Wendy and Ash visited a supermarket (more, pate, cheese, yoghurt and juice) to eat for lunch across the road from the queues waiting to visit the Sainte Chapelle. This is one thing that has changed since our previous visit to Europe. Access to cheap and fast air travel has opened up other countries so that now the main ‘attractions’ tend to get visited (particularly in the summer) by large crowds. lots of school groups doing the excursion and families from all over seeing the sights. I don’t like the fact that you have to spend hours queueing and being ‘crowd controlled’ to visit something that many people just visit to ‘tick off’ the list. Anyway, that’s life it seems and if you want to minimise the waiting and queues, best to plan well and visit things early or later in the day. So, St. Capelle was crossed off the list (couldn’t afford the wait) and it was over the river to the 'ile de la cite' and the Notre Dame cathedral. More queues here, both to get in and have a look around inside, and also to climb the tower. We jumped the queue to get in and marveled again at this old church and the beautiful windows and chapels. Had to think of all the people who have come here for regular worship over so many hundreds of years. Someone was playing and the organ music was most suitable for such a place.

Outside it was still an hour wait for the tower and Wendy and Ash went off to check out the museum of the Moyne (olden) Age. I chatted to Swedish couple who had come to Paris for 5 days to check it out and get away from the miserable weather up there and found it disappointing that it was cool and wet in Paris too. Mucked up the communications a bit (my texts go via Australia so take a while) and all of a sudden we where off up the staircase before Ash got back! Halfway up we had to wait in a shop for 5 minutes (decided not to even look at the merchandise in protest) but were soon enjoying the view of Paris from amongst the old sandstone gargoyles. I can’t remember how many steps but it was in the mid hundreds!

We also visited the Crypt under the cathedral and saw the old Roman ruins they have discovered - amazing to think most of the large cities in Europe would have something like this under their streets! We raced off to the Pantheon but missed the last group to be allowed to enter so wandered through the Latin Quarter joining the crowds looking for something eat. Settled for a €10 set menu (at La Marathon) that had enough choices so that Reuben could find some gluten free. Made a mistake with the French onion soup though, it comes with bread and cheese! Good to eat out every now and then and it was good to sit down for a while - but then we had to keep moving to get to the Louvre (it stays open till 10 on Wednesdays...)

Spent a couple of hours running around this great museum/art gallery - ticked off Mona Lisa (too many people posing for photos in front of it despite the signs asking not to!) and the Venus de Milo and some fantastic other things like the huge paintings by David. Also bumped into the archeological section underneath showing the foundations (bit like the crypt under the Notra Dam). The whole place is amazing and people everywhere even at 9:30 in the evening. Ahh, Paris. Yes, the people, the Metro, the buildings, the bridges and the river, the cars and scooters, the cafes and the baguettes. It’s all good, and a couple of more days would be nice to sit and relax and watch the rest of the world go by but maybe next time...

Paris-Day44 10th July

2007-07-16T15:22:00.000+10:00

Tuesday,

Had planned to leave home at 6:10 am to walk to the train station to catch the train to Rotterdam and then the train to Paris. I had left my phone on silent so we slept through and woke up at 6:10! Don’t know how we did it, but we managed to get out of the house at 6:15 and made the train OK. Had some time in Rotterdam to by a coffee and pastry, recover from the shock and wake up a little. We were traveling light with just a small day pack each and a bag of food. The train stopped at Antwerp and Brussels before Paris but it only took three hours and they went by quickly enough. The train was full, all the announcements are in four languages (Dutch, German, English and French) and the last sector went very quick as the train went flat out at over 150 Kms.

Arrived at Gare de Noord on time and walked up to the hotel which at first seemed a bit dodgy but there were renovations underway ad it really was a reasonable place. We couldn’t check in till 2:00 pm so we dropped off our bags and headed out to see some sights. First up through Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur. It was overcast and drizzling a bit but still very special to see the old church up on the hill. Found a nice cafe for a crepe and coffee and meandered our way back down past a cemetery that had a road/bridge built over it and then and walked along the Boulevard de Clichy with the Moulin Rouge on it. Found a tourist office and learnt all about the museums and metro. This was close to our hotel so it was back to check in but they only had a booking for one room for three (the boys)! We did have twop vouchers though, so they but found another for us and all was OK. We all had a relax for a moment in our room on the six floor, while the boys were a floor down. Ash and Reubs had been to the supermarket on the way back so we had a lunch of baguette and cheese with some juice to recharge.

Headed out for the afternoon and spent nearly $350 on 2 Day Muesum and Metro tickets, it sure adds up when you’ve got five people to cater for. Caught the Metro to place do Concorde and walked up the Champs Eleysee (lots of preparations underway for Bastille Day). Had to stop under shop awnings to shelter from the rain showers every now and then and ended up at the Arc de Triomphe.

Then wandered over to the Tour Eiffel and found out that the advice about having to wait in queues to get up was true. It’s amazing how this has changed since we were here last. Decided that the boys would climb up the stairs to the second level as it would be a bit quicker while Wendy and I looked around on the ground. Kept getting asked by gypsy women if we could speak English (we said we couldn’t) and then they show you a letter and hopefully get some Euros from you. There was also a presence of police and soldiers making their presence felt. Then it was a walk along the Siene for a bit and back home around 10:30 for a supper of bread, cheese and ham.

Holland-Day43 9th July

2007-07-16T15:19:00.001+10:00

Monday,

Got picked up by Jane and Geerlof and headed for the Delta Works and the Neeltje Jans park. Had to drop the hire car off in De Haag first and sorted all that out after which I could relax a bit and let Geerlof do the driving. We headed south west and stopped at the beach on the way and noticed how the 4 metre tides can make it a long walk to the water. The beaches are very flat so once the tide is out - it’s quite a walk to get wet.

Then on to where the dutch have built a dyke that consists of a series of gates that can be lowered to keep out the high seas generated by storms in the North Sea. There was a dyke breach during a big storm in the 1950s and it was a national disaster. It was decided to protect the country from this sort of thing so a series of three large dams/dykes to control the level of the water. We visited one where the gates are always open and let the tide in and out but if the sea gets too high they close and stop the water levels from rising and flooding the low lands. Lots of new technologies developed to help build the dykes and the mechanisms that let the water in and out, new ships, barges, concrete structures etc. In one dam they had to build a series of locks but had to over come the problem of letting sea water into the fresh water systems of lakes and rivers. They managed to created a sophisticated system that used the principle of salt water being lighter than fresh water.

At the Neeltje Jans park we visited an exhibition and watched a film about the tragedy and how they overcame the challenge of keeping out the water. It cost a lot of money to do all the work but now the dutch are consulted whenever anyone needs to solve this sort of problem. Had lunch outside and learnt about the ‘zee meeuw’ (sea gulls) which have become a bit of pest (so we didn’t feed them. Big birds that are coming into the cities, make a lot of noise and a fair bit of a mess. The municipalities remove eggs from nests and replace them with fake ones to hopefully slow down their reproduction.

We then went onto the delta works and had a look at the structure close-up. Very impressive indeed. Back at the park we also checked out the whale exhibition and the ‘storm’ (wind) tunnel. There is a fantastic water playground for the young at heart and also a water slide that Geerlof and I tried out! Then back home or a nice dinner with Jane and Geerlof and before being driven back to Apoline’s to sleep before heading of to Paris tomorrow...

Holland-Day43 8th July

2007-07-16T15:19:00.000+10:00

Sunday,

Headed down to Dordrecht to visit Wendy’s cousin Harma but had to first rendezvous with cousin Marcel (he’d left his wallet behind the night before) before getting lost between Dordrecht and Parpendrecht. We were following a ‘route planner’ that we downloaded of the internet but it left out specific information and we may have missed some of the finer points of the Dutch language. Anyway after a bit of round and round the Dordrecht town and some phone calls, we were guided to the house via the mobile phone... Nice to see Harma again and met the children, but Dik was away so we didn’t catch up with him. They have a nice house and make the most of the space they have. When (land/house) space is at a premium, good design is important - four bedrooms have been squeezed in and the house has three levels. The visits all seem to go quickly and it would be nice to spend more time with everyone but then we’d have to stay in Holland for another month. Next time we come it will have to be at a different pace with a different agenda.

Back to Vooschten and we managed to make a rendezvous with Apoline and Ben on the highway (they zoomed past in a bright blue MX5) and followed them to the yacht club where Ben has a motor boat. We enjoyed a wonderful cruise around on the lake and up and down the canals around Brasema Meer. It was a sunny afternoon and a very nice way to spend a long afternoon. There were lots of boats out on the water, little dinghies (rubber ad wooden), sailing boats, open launches, double & triple decker power cruisers (called ‘irons’ over here), tourist boats, barges and whatever else. It was quite busy once we got into the narrower canals and we had to keep to the right and follow the boat in front. Some people are in a hurry, but generally it’s a gentle 5-9 kms cruise and waving it people going the other way. People actually have houses and businesses right on the edge of the canal so there are docks and jetties for mooring. Had to stop for a bridge to open (it didn’t lift but rotated) and also saw a couple of punts that get dragged across the canal by wire. The water level in the canal is higher than the surrounding farms, so a little strange to see cows and sheep grazing a few meters down below the edge of the dyke.

We ended up in a sort of dead end/pond near to a wind mill with a few other boats, and threw out the anchor and stopped for a picnic on the boat. Fed the ducks some crackers and then did the return trip. As they say in Holland, ‘en heel gezellig daag’. Enjoyed a great stir fry at home and organised ourselves for tomorrow.

Holland-Day42 7th July

2007-07-15T16:05:00.000+10:00

(dear reader, I'm running about a week behind in my posts but hope to catch up over the next day or two so we're up to date before I arrive home at the end of the week!)

Saturday,

Headed off early and said goodbye to tante Yantine. She has been a gracious host and we are very thankful that she has been kind enough to have a family of five stay with her for a week. It was very nice to be able to be in one place for a while and have a base from which to head out on excursions from. It’s been great to catch up with the family on the polders (lands reclaimed from the sea) and nice for the boys to get to know everyone. We’ve been pleasantly surprised to see just how easy it’s been to connect with the family again - everything seems normal and natural and like we were here only last month.

We headed off to get to Ermelo to visit om (uncle) Harm and tante Mien. Did miss a turn off so we lost a bit of time but managed to fit in a detour off the highway to Staphorst - a small town where traditions hold fast. Amazing to see people living their normal lives still dressed in clothes that were fashionable 150 years or more ago. Saw mostly women wearing the traditional black dresses with coloured waist coats and bonnets. Very tidy town and the buildings were all well kept - lovely farm houses with green and white painted shutters. Many houses were set behind each other so it was difficult to see how the land was divided. Also saw lots of little (miniature) goats (sort of like Shetland ponies that are small horses) and thought that they may be used for pulling little carts? The farm machinery we saw was of the modern variety though, so some things have changed and kept up with modern technology.

Great to see Harm and Mien again, we saw them last in 2001 in Perth during our 6 weeks road trip to Western Australia. They had also visited us in Geelong when the boys were still very young and Matthew was still a baby. So, had some coffee and lunch with them and caught up on all the news and heard some stories about the family. Mein is recovering from a hip replacement and Harm is trying hard not to become a housewife! Then on to Voorschoten to my cousin Apoline’s home for a BBQ with my mother’s side of the family.

Had a successful navigation to Voorschoten and parked the car and did a bit of a walk to find the house (it’s in the main street in the centre of the town) so we thought it best to make sure we knew where it was before trying to park the car. Saw a gigantic (groote) Dutch flag hanging over the fence and thought that might be it and then knew we had found Apoline’s house (called ‘Wildlust’) when i could see my cousin Albert over the fence! We enjoyed a big party with 7 aunties and uncles, 8 cousins (some with their partners) and also a few children. It was fun to see everyone again and renew the acquaintance after so many years. Just like meeting the families up north, the feelings here were the same and we were able to catch up with what has been happening in our lives since last time. Mostly children being born and job changes etc. A great spread of food (well organised by Apoline and with everyone chipping in) and Ben looking after the cooking... It was another late night with lots of talking, listening and lots of laughs. A fair bit of mashing the dutch language by me and the boys being able to be involved in conversation with my cousins as they all speak English very well. Some visits were organised for the next couple of weeks and we all climbed up to the studio/attic to sleep.

Holland-Day41 6th July

2007-07-08T10:45:00.000+10:00

Friday,

Raining again, and we spent the morning sitting about drinking coffee, chatting, making phone calls, reading and writing. A slow day and it was lunchtime before we realsied. We headed out later in the afternoon to visit Anita and the boys and Wendy did some email. Back to Grijpskerk and did some shopping in the C1000 supermarket (noticed that soft cheese like camembert and brie is only about $5 a kilo!). Then out again and visited the Verhildersum house/estate at Leens which we could get into with our museum cards. An impressive home that’s been set up in period style but it seems that not much of it is original anymore. i suppose that a few hundred years will see the fortunes of such a house come and go and change hands a few times. We could see a dining room, kitchen, bedroom, drawing and the cellar and it all adds to the picture that we’ve developed over the last week. As part of the estate they have also have a farm museum and as a replica of the farms we’ve been visiting is was great to see some of the older equipment that was used. There was both hand and machine tools and it was amazing to see potato sowers that used to be dragged behind a horse and did one row at a time. Now the tractor can pull one that can do four rows, more accurately and much quicker. Some of the hand tools looked like too much hard work to me, long handles and lots of tines for hay and grass and other bits and pieces used for repetitive tasks.

Found our way back via the back roads and bumped into the small church at Saaksum. There were a couple of draft horses in the field next door and they came over when we walked up to the fence. We enjoyed a close up view of these traditional Groningen horses, they have a stout body that would be most suitable for dragging stuff around. Even though the weather has been terrible with lots of rain and wind to blow it around (and make it cold outside) we enjoyed the drive home along the roads lined with trees and the small villages one of which, Koomerzijl, is celebrating 400 years of existence. Back home and some tidying up as we head off to the southern region of Holland tomorrow. A couple of boys are reading books, I’m editing some photos, not sure what Wendy’s doing and Reub’s is ringing Connie at home. We’ll have a couple of relatives coming round tonight to say goodbye and hopefully we don’t get to bed too late.

Holland-Day40 5th July

2007-07-08T10:40:00.000+10:00

Thursday,

Off on a bit of a tour of North west Holland today, we started in Dokkum and parked the car next to a bridge over a canal. We’d just got out of the car and made a cup of coffee when a bell rang and the bridge went up. 5 boats came through, a couple of sailing boats and a few power boats and it looked like a nice way to travel. A bunch of old guys were sitting on the water’s edge next to the bridge catching up on the goss, watching the boats go by and enjoying the sunshine. Yes, it’s not raining today, some clouds but pleasantly warm so no need for the umbrella but sunglasses required. Dokkum is nice little village with winding streets and lots of bicycles, canals and little bridges. The people are friendly and it seems that even in little villages there seems to all the necessary requirement to live a good life. The town halls and council offices are generally large and well equipped and there’s always a library and sports/entertainment complex. It would be quite easy to fit right in...

On to Leuwarden and had a wander around the streets there. Parked next to a canal with boats/barges that were being used as houses. They are all connected up to services and had the obligatory bike parked on board and some boots/clogs near the door. Walked round to the Church of St. Boniface and then onto the main shopping strip that went up both sides of the main canal. Saw the town hall, the weighing building and an old tower that had a fair lean on it. I got asked to participate in a survey (for visitors to the city) and let them know that the parking was OK and that the information was OK, but they did need to do some work on providing public conveniences. There is a distinct lack of public toilets in Holland and if you find one you have to pay for the pleasure. It’s a bit sad really, we haven’t even seen many picnic places on the highways either. Seems like they want visitors to go to shops/retaurants and pay for a coffee or a meal and then use the toilets there.

Then onto Franeker and its famous Planetarium (showing the positions and relationships of the planets and moons solar system) built by Eise Eisinga over seven years in his living room. Well, the manifestation and display was painted on and came through the ceiling of his living room, but all the mechanism was above that on the roof cavity. This planetarium has been running non-stop except for a short time when Eise was away (during the French Revolution) and is an amazing piece of work (about 35000 visitors a year). To make the solar system fit in his ceiling he had to make the scale of one millimeter equalling one million kilometers, he was some mathematician. The construction is of wood and steel and there are large disks with 10,000 hand made iron pins in them to act as gears and teeth to make it all work. As well as the current positions of the planets in relationship to each other, there are other dials which show the phases of the moon and time of sunrise and sunset. The mechanism has never been adjusted and all that has to be done is to reset the weights that drive the clock every couple of weeks. Also visited the old town hall and a little building that was built in 1635 on a bridge on the edge of a canal and it also has a significant lean.

Then we headed further south and across the the Afsluitdijk which is the 35 kilometer dyke built in 1932 that keeps out the Waddenzee (with the north east islands between it and the North Sea) and created the Ijssel Meer. We then headed towards Amsterdam and then east and crossed another dyke that divides the Ijssel Meer and the Markermeer, and onto the polders which are the reclaimed land that was created around 65 years ago. We visited the small fishing village of Urk which has a monument to fishermen (and boys as young as ten) lost to the waves (210 of them between 1985 and 1904). A crazy little old town that seemed not to have a straight street, they meandered all over the place but made it very interesting. The street here are usually very narrow and there’s lots of stopping to let the traffic through as there are also parked cars. Even on the roads between the villages it’s tight (particularly out of the towns) and it’s a bit scary driving close to the edge of the road with a canal right next to it just waiting for you to drive in!

Then on to Marknesse to visit Wilfred and enjoyed a nice meal with him. Wilfred visited us 18 months ago and we were able to show him and his friends around Cape Otway. The town was all decked out in bunting (like all the houses had flags and there were lights and signs up everywhere) as they were celebrating the 65th year since the foundation of the town )population 4500). There is a week long party with a fun fair in the middle of town and a town wide volleyball competition with 28 teams (made up from residents from a particular street) that Wilfred’s street won. Then it was back onto the highway for an hours home to Grypskerk through Drachten. We’re all feeling a bit tired and will have an easy day tomorrow.

Holland-Day39 4th July

2007-07-08T10:35:00.000+10:00

Wednesday,

Raining again and visited another cousin today, (Selma and Jan) but met at Jan’s mother’s home in Oldehove. They came to pick us up so we could follow them to the town. On the way we stopped at Hamsterborg which is the original Wierenga family (Wendy’s) home and where the family started (well, as far back as has been traced - to the 1600’s). The home has a really long driveway and has a moat around it and is now part of the national trust system and available for functions. There are three apartments built into the old farm shed that are rented out to people to help pay for the up keep. It’s a beautiful old stately building and the boys were very impressed to be able to visit a place that is part of their history. The original house dates back to the 1500’s and needed to be rebuilt in 1633 due to damage sustained during the 80 year war with Spain. The Wierenga family also have a book that traces the genealogy all the way back to this couple and (from the 1600’s to about 1984) and has Wendy and I in it. It’s quite a volume.

Then on to Oldehove and past a farm where a farmer had built a church (must have been a quite year) that seats 60 people that can be hired out for functions. We had to drive through a downpour that was that heavy we had to slow to 30 kms and it would have been handy to have a couple more speeds on the wipers. There was a thunder storm after that that passed right over the village and we were glad to be inside. Jan’s family home is opposite the church and his family is busy with cleaning it up as his mother has just passed away. We had a great visit and caught up on the past 23 years. It’s really interesting to see how much people have changed physically over that time and mostly it doesn’t seem to be all that much. Maybe a bit less hair and sometime a little greyer but mostly the people we’ve met have aged well. The boys went off to Zuidhorn with Wendy and Selma on a successful shopping expedition and came back with some soft clogs (slippers that look like clogs) while Jan and I did the dishes and caught up on our respective jobs.

Late afternoon it was back to Groningen for more sightseeing and more rain - had a huge downpour that made us all a little damp. I walked into a coffee shop and realised the odour inside wasn’t a mix of coffee and tobacco but something else. Wendy and I were trying to find a coffee shop but over here a ‘coffee shop’ is generally something else, like a place where you can buy and use soft drugs (typically marijuana). We did find a real shop which sold coffee and enjoyed the respite from the weather. We tried a typical takeaway of some croquettes a frikandel (sausage) and patat (fries) with a huge serve of mayo.

We got a bit lost in Gronigen as we had forgotten to take the maps, and did a lap and a half of the city before actually turning right into a potentially good road but it was bus freeway (that supported a park & ride), so we enjoyed a quiet couple of kilometers (hoping that we wouldn’t get picked up by the police) and didn’t see any buses. Everyone thought it was hilarious except me! The driving is fairly stressful as it’s on the other side of the road and you do need to be focussed that you don’t end up on the wrong side and you need to allow for traffic coming the other way at intersections. I’m the only driver as it costs a fair bit more to have another designated driver for the hire car, it’s going OK, but it makes me tired.

Finally found the ring road and we headed back to Hanneke and Willy’s place to pick up my rain coat and a pillow we’d left behind and then on the way home we visited another cousin, Erna and her three children. It was fairly tricky to find her place (she care-takes and old farmhouse) as it was actually off the main road a bit, and the house is at the other end of the shed where you drive in and park the car. Not to worry, we found each other and enjoyed a short visit with her. The kids got on well with ours and now they are quite interested in Australia. The boys played around a bit and matt did some skipping and acro-balance with Isebella. Rimmer had a broken arm and will start high school after the summer break and will join his Mathilda at school in Groningen. School finishes here this week and everyone is getting ready with final celebrations, reports etc. We had a tour of the the old farm building and up into the solder (ceiling) to see where they stored the wheat grain) and also the kelder (cellar) before heading home at 11!

Holland-Day38 3rd July

2007-07-08T10:30:00.000+10:00

Tuesday,

We visited the Rinkema farm and spent some time with Gerrit and Fokje. Fokje and Wendy went to pick the girls up from school and we had a nice lunch for nine people! Gerrit showed us round the farm after the girls had been taken back to school. It’s very special to see the crops growing just outside the house windows. The Rinkema’s also grow grass for seed and it’s a crop that’s good for the soil as it gets plowed back in. Potatoes can only be grown on the same plot once every 3 or 4 years. There are no fences required here as the small ditches and canals provide a natural barrier for the cows, horses and sheep.

There were a few guys trying to get some paving done for the patio outside between the rain showers. Once the base had been prepared they moved right along. I wish I could lay paving that fast - the job was mostly done by the time we got back from a tour of the farm an hour later. It was too wet to go into the fields and it’s too early for harvest - that happens from the end of August so we could only see around the buildings. The sheds have been sprayed inside the walls and roofs with foam/insulation to help keep the temperature inside above freezing point.

Gerrit showed us lots of tractors, forklifts and machinery for seeding, nurturing and maintaining the plants, and harvesting the various crops. He works closely with his cousin Diederik and they have shared machinery and help each process the crops. They have a huge potato sorter that processes the potatoes into different sizes, removes some of the dirt (there’s a clever thing that sprays steam at various points which keeps the dust down), and once collated by size, they can pack into small bags that are stacked onto pallets, or into large bags or into 2 ton crates. The sowing and harvesting machines are also interesting and an be calibrated depending on the soil and other conditions. A real lesson in the intricacies of what’s involved in running a farm and seeing how the machine can accurately drop one seed at a time in the furrows and then shape a nice ridge for the plants to grow in and keep them out of the water. I’ve found it all very interesting and I think the boys now also understand how it all works. The farms are very efficient and they are able to get as much yield as possible by using the latest technology to sow the crops as close as possible, and also to harvest it effectively.

Then it was on to the Wierenga farm (La Vicke)and met Khatrien, Diederik and their four boys. Diederik had been out with an inspector who was checking the potato crop for sickness and gives the crop a rating that determines the price of the harvest. There are certain tolerances that are acceptable (like how many plants per row can be effected) and he got an excellent report card, and should do well out of it. He was quite chuffed that the inspector congratulated him on how good the crop looked, I think there was only one plant that was sick!

There are three huge sheds for storing the seed potatoes and more machinery, ploughs, tractors and trailers. They need a sophisticated climate machine that ensures there’s enough humidity and that the temperature is maintained at an even 4 degrees. Huge blowers and a refrigeration unit ensure that the piles of potatoes and also bins full of sorted The most important is the sorting and sizing machines that are fairly automation but require a human intervention at the final stage to ensure no sick potatoes get in amongst the good ones that head off for export to southern parts of Europe. I think between the two cousins they process about 20000 tons of potatoes a year! They live next to a canal and have a boat for touring about on the canals but they don’t get much time for summer holidays because that’s when the farm is busy.

Drove into Zuidhorn for a dinner in an Italian restaurant for a couple of pizzas and some chicken paprika for Reubs before dropping into Anita’s on the way home for a quick coffee and some email checking...

Holland-Day37 2nd July

2007-07-08T10:25:00.000+10:00

Monday,

We dropped into Anita’s to check our email’s before heading to tante Tina for coffee. The boys came later with tante Jantine and we had a nice chat - we’d stayed with Tina for a week last time we were here and she enjoyed having us. Then to Johan & Femmy for lunch and a tour of the house and farm. A feature of the houses here are cellars for storing fruit and vegies and keeping things cool. The sheds/barns here are huge and need to be able to house the machinery and also be able to store the potatoes after harvest and during the sorting and packing processes. At the back there were two huge lovely draft horses that were only 9 months old and already huge (the foxes won’t be able to eat these - the ducks and chickens had unfortunately been taken). Outside it’s crops as far as you can see and they rotate between potatoes, sugarbeet, wheat and barley.

We had a drink and then hopped into the cars for a bit of a tour. First through Zoutkamp, then Vierhuizen and then on to Lauwersoog (with windmills and dry dock) where they have a harbour, fishery and we could see Schiermonnikoog island where the ferry goes and many people go for holidays.

We visited the old fishing village of Paesens and Moddergat (which actually means mud hole). There is a museum which recreates some of the old houses and shows how people used to live, up to 12 people living in two rooms. They had cupboard beds in which they would sleep sitting up (there were some superstitions that evil spirits would get you if you laid down flat) and they could fit up to 6 kids in each one (along with the potty so you didn’t have to go out to the toilet). On top of the dyke are some memorial stones for those fishermen who were lost in the storm tragedy of 1888. Out of 22 fishing boats only 5 came home and 83 men died. The fishermen wore earrings and if the perished the earring could be used to pay for their funeral. They also had a sliver (gold if they were well off) button at the top of their shirt which was used to pay for a rescue if required. From the top of the dyke (that had sheep grazing on it) we could see the island Ameland and the water was out a long way out. Apparently the fishing boats had to anchor 1 kilometer off-shore as it was so shallow, and they rowed the catch back to the beach. A hard life.

On to Oostmahorn where there is a new holiday village with houses that have facades that look like the buildings you see in Amsterdam. You can hire a house to holiday in and also charter a sailing boat and go through the sluis (loch) and a cantilever bridge that provides access to Lauwersmeer. Back to Johan & Femmy for dinner and a pleasant evening and a bit more internet. It’s been quite hard to get online as we’re busy and Jantine doesn’t have a connection. It may take a few days to get these bolgs posted...

Holland-Day36 1st July

2007-07-08T10:20:00.000+10:00

Sunday

Had to rush a little to get to church in Munnekezijl by 9:30. We wanted to go to the old family church and it was all very familiar and similar to what we’re used to, but in another language and with a female minister. I followed most of the sermon - on the issue of faith.

Met tante Douwtji after the service (going to visit her for coffee later) and then went to the begraaf plaatz (cemetery) to see the grave of Wendy’s mother and a few other family members. Quite moving for us (and particularly the boys) as it’s only a small village cemetery. So, we went through the family genealogy explaining who was who and how they related to the people we’ve already met and will meet. Ww then walked over to the nearby molen (mill) nearby and tante Yantine saw a guy she knew and we managed to get a tour of the old flour mill. We walked up five flight of stairs and saw how each level was important to the functioning of the mill. It’s all very well engineered and the miller had a complex job ensure that the mill was oriented (to the wind) correctly, that it didn’t turn too quickly, that the mil/grinding stones were set correctly and that enough grain was going into the mill and that the flour didn’t get too hot. Each level got a bit smaller and at the top you had all the wooden gears, the turntable and brake, a fantastic tour!

It was getting a bit late and we had to get to tante Douwtje (she lives in the old farm house) and met with Gerrit (and Fokje) and Carla. Had a nice coffee and cake (baked by one of the daughters) and also went over to see Gerrit and Fokje’s place for a while. The old farm houses are built and according to style that includes the head (house), neck (corridor) and rump (shed) usually under the one large roof. The corridors usually had cows inside during the winter but the farms in the family don’t have cows anymore so it doesn’t smell like it did 23 years ago. The sheds contained all the farm equipment and space for keeping harvests and seed potatoes.

Back to Jantine for lunch and then Matt and Reubs went for a bike ride, and Anita and Martijn and Janieke came over for a coffee. After dinner Johan and Femmy came and also Wilfred (who came to visit us at Cape Otway 18 months ago). Tante Tina also dropped in later for a coffee and it was nice to see her again, she is 86 and still rides her bike around the village. So, by the end of the day it must have been about 6 or 8 coffees! Will have to make sure we keep drinking water as the Dutch don’t seem to drink much. In everywhere country we’ve been so far people carry drink bottles with them, but not here.

Holland-Day35 30th June

2007-07-08T10:15:00.000+10:00

Saturday,

Slow start after a broken night’s sleep - Matthew came in a couple of times and ended up staying with us in the camper. He’s definitely not well and the pain in his stomach was quite bad. We’ll try and get to a doctor today. There were 5-6 missed calls on my mobile (over a couple of hours) but it was on silent and there was no caller ID - I wonder who was trying to contact me/us? Anyway, we woke to sunshine and then a fantastic breakfast. We were sitting in the sunroom when a parade of tractors drove past the house and we all waved and everyone was waving back. Must have been about twenty of them, and all different types and vintages (called ‘old timers’ here) heading off to some social gathering. We then had a bit of a tour of around the locality and visited Schildemeer (a holiday resort type place next to a lake) with new log cabins/houses for sale for about $200,000, then to Schlochteren and Freylameborg ‘castle’ (an old house surrounded by a ‘moat’) and went to a market in Hoogezant.

Willy & I took Matt to a doctor while Wendy, Hanneke, Ash & Reubs went to the supermarket looking for some gluten free food. The doctor wasn’t sure what was wrong and said if it was appendicitis it wasn’t bad yet because Matt would need to have a temperature and feel more tender in the abdomen because of the infection. So, we’ll see how he goes over the next few days and hopefully claim the €74 (over $100) consultation fee.

By now it was getting late so we headed off to Grypskerk to tante Jantine. Got slightly lost but enjoyed the drive along the tree lined avenues running next to the canals. Once we got to the town we asked an old man how to get to the street and he gave us excellent directions. On the way we stopped to just check we were going the right way and bumped into one of Wendy’s cousins (Anita)! She had her bike so we followed her to Jantine’s home. She has an upstairs with three bedrooms and a bathroom that we are able to stay in.

Went for a walk after a wonderful dinner and saw a windmill that moved water from low lying land to a higher canal (via a large Archimedes screw) and also stopped at a lock and bridge on a large canal. The bridge raises both the road and bicycle path to let the boats through, and works on a cantilever principle and has a 60 ton counterweight to help lift it up. We stopped at the railway station, which isn’t manned but has a ticket machine where you can buy a ticket to anywhere in Holland! It’s nice to be able to wander on the paths around the town, and cyclists and pedestrians are well catered for.

On the way home we stopped at a ‘pols-stock-springgen’ (fierljeppen in Friesian) sport event. This was a hoot - it’s a cross between high jump, long jump and pole vault (the poles must be over 10 meters long!). This sport has it’s origins in people using poles to get across canals to work and to steal bird eggs from the fields. They ran up to the edge of the water planted the pole in the canal and swung across on it. Here they have the pole planted in the water and spend some time setting it up properly as it leans against a jetty at the end of the run up. After a 30 meter run up, they grab the pole and as it swings out over the water, they climb up it as quickly as possible to get as far across the water as they can before landing on soft sand. If they time it wrong the pole starts to fall back towards the jetty or it goes sideways and then it’s into the water before impaling yourself on the jetty. What a hoot! They had a full-on competition happening with teams, a commentator, computer software for displaying and recording results and determining finalists and prizes for the winners.

Another of Wendy’s cousins Louwrens caught up with us there and we all walked home and had a coffee before saying good night. Asher went out with Louwrens to a dance festival and they will probably be out for a while...

Holland-Day34 29th June

2007-07-08T10:10:00.000+10:00

(it’s been nearly a week since the last post so there's a few to upload - don’t read them all at once...)

Friday,

The boys slept in the loft/attic (under the roof) and Wendy and I were outside in the campervan (next to the sheep stable). After a fairly late night but a good sleep, heard the cock crow early in the morning - and it was still raining. Hanneke had to go to work, so after breakfast we went into Groningen with Willy who had the day off. First up we went to the Groninger Museum (Art Gallery) which is a modern design (by an Italian - Alessandro Mendini) and has been a bit controversial as it doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the architecture around like the old train station. We decide to buy a museum card which will get us into the rest of the museums in the country for free - a bit of an investment but will pay for itself after a couple of museums. As well as the permanent collection there was a large exhibition by Japanese artist Mariko Mori. She has made art work in various media including photos, video and installations and the themes she works with are time, space, Utopia, reality and spirituality. We didn’t all get a chance to experience the Wave UFO, but Ash did. It’s a capsule that you and two other people climb into (with electrodes attached to your head) and you get connected to a computer which then projects ‘real time’ brainwaves into a graphics program that is then projected onto a screen above your head. Other interactive artworks include a set of glowing ‘stones’ set up in a circle and a group of green ‘aliens’ that you can hug, which causes their eyes light up and their hearts to start beating! All good fun!

After an hour we meet up with Willy again and walked around the centre of the city and visited a binnen hof (an inside courtyard which was originally a hostel/retirement village but now cheap accommodation run by a foundation) the Groote (big) Market and the Fish Market. Tried some (raw) herring with onions and had some fried fish and chips. Also walked past the old weighing building, the Martini Tower and the university before heading out to pick up the hire car we had booked. Ended up at Europcar instead of Avis and a different car as well. A Skoda Optiva station wagon which is a mid size car that is a bit of a squeeze for three adults in the back seat, at least we can fit all out gear in the back...

Then it was out to visit another cousin, Fenneke and her husband Frans (and their daughter Inneke) and meeting Tante (Aunty) Ali. It’s been interesting to see how people have changed in 23 years (since we saw them last) and nice to catch up with what has happened in our lives (we now all have grown children) and what we are doing for work. Tante Ali is 91 and sharp as a tack - her eyesight is failing and she has difficulty walking but still able to speak fairly good English. So, it was only a few hours before we had to head off again, it’s a shame we are moving so quickly as it would be nice to spend a little more time with everyone.

Back to H & W’s for a fantatsic Janapese stir fry (I did put on an apron and gave a hand) and nice wine before crashing again.

London-Holland-Day33 28th June

2007-07-02T18:32:00.000+10:00

Thursday,

A bit of a restless night knowing we had to get up early (to get to the boat on time) and got up just before 5 to check out and wait for the bus. All the connections worked fine, and people were very helpful in providing directions. We had to swap trains at Manningtree and helped a dutch girl lug her two heavy suitcases onto the train. At the ferry it was all fairly simple and no stamp on our passports leaving GB. We checked in and got our cabin number (9613) and they then ferried us out to the ship in bus loads of 12, so it took a few trips to get us all on. Our tickets didn’t open the door so we went to the office/reception on board and they gave us new swipe cards. We had booked a 5 berth cabin so that we could stow our luggage, have a place to make some breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea, and somewhere to have a shower and sleep comfortably. They rent the cabins at half price during the day trip and it was a good decision that gave us a bit of room. We went out on the rear deck and watched them load the trucks on and they were still doing it when it went 9 o’clock (when we where supposed to leave). The semi-trailers are driven on board by these neat little prime movers that have a swivel seat for the driver so he can be facing forwards or backwards depending on the direction he’s driving. They have to be fairly precise because the trailers have to fit in close together. they get backed in and then lifted onto stands while the mover heads off to get another one. A few guys then chain the trailer to the deck so it won’t move in rough weather - quite a process as I counted at least 28 trailers just from the back deck without looking in side! There was also a queue on the dock of camper-vans, caravans and motorbikes still waiting to get on too!

At 9:30 Ash and I went to the movies to see Wild Hogs and it was a fun look at mid-life for a few wannabe bikers and good for a laugh. During that time we heard the announcements that the ship had ben delayed for an hour. This means we’ll miss our connection to catch the train for Groningen from Rotterdam at 6 pm. So, we’ll have to catch the next one which will be an hour later. During the voyage I was able to catch up on blog writing and photo editing and the others slept, went for wanders, read, ate, and had showers etc.

After the ship docked we whizzed through customs (got a stamp this time) and were welcomed to Holland (land of my forefathers & mothers). Hopped straight onto the train and connected at Rotterdam Central and again at Armesfoort (had to get on the front half of the train because the back was going to Leeuwaarden).

The boys are very interested in the language and how to pronounce words, it should be fun when we are amongst native speakers to see how they cope. Everyone here speaks very good English though, so they’ll get by. Was nice that the conductor who checked our tickets spoke to us in Dutch and I didn’t have to ask him to say it in English. Asher has the railway station announcements down pat - reckons he can understand them in any language! Amazing what a couple of months overseas can do for you... Had to wait at Armesfoort for 15 minutes so bought a coffee and watched a guy on a mobile (talking Arabic or Jewish) who was pacing so hard up and down the platform and speaking so earnestly that he was loosing most of the Malteasers out of the packet (held in his other hand) and he didn’t even notice. They were rolling everywhere, and everyone was having a chuckle. Gave Hanneke a call and said we were going to be late. Willy was home so they were be able to take us from the station to their place without any of us having to catch the bus.

London-Day32 27th June

2007-07-02T18:30:00.000+10:00

Wednesday,

Had the same breakfast but a bit earlier this time to beat the rush. A bit slow to get out but headed out on bus 94 towards Nottinghill Green and Portobello Road.

The bus drivers hit he brakes and accelerator fairly hard and do it before you get to your seat - as we tried to climb to the top (of the double-decker) we got thrown around a bit. So, hang on to the hand rails. Got to sit right at the front and had a great view of the city as it went past, it didn’t seem like the bus would fit through the traffic at times but always did. I don’t think driving a London bus (or cab) would be my type of job. We noticed on Charing Cross Rd. yesterday that there was a queue of nearly 15 buses in the bus lane and they weren’t moving... Anyway found a nice place for a coffee and then wandered the length of Portobello. Not much happening on a Wednesday morning, but as the stalls are marked on the road you can imagine that it would quite crazy on the weekends.

Then we caught the No. 23 all the way back to St. Pauls Cathedral (which took well over an hour) and went to Marks and Spencer (simply food) to buy some things for lunch. Got some bagels (rice crackers & corn chips for Reub), cream cheese and ham and sat on the steps to eat. Also had some bananas and yoghurt which Ash had bought earlier. Revitalised, it was off over the Millenium Bridge and to the Tait Modern for some art.

Saw a great exhibition on cities which highlighted how 50% of the worlds population now lives in cities and this would become 75% by 2050. Some photos, stories, video and installations helped provide a message that some of the biggest cities with the highest population per sq. kilometer aren’t the high-rise capitals but places like Mumbai and Cairo. There was a great rendition of these population figures (mapped to the area of each city) measured on a vertical axis. The photo below explains it well the very tall one’s are Cairo and Mumbai while London and Mexico don’t reach as high because they are more spread out (great for Wendy’s SOSE). Using plywood this way is a nice way to make a 3D graph. There were a couple of free exhibitions so had a quick walk around those before we went our separate ways and agreed to rendezvous later for dinner.

Did a shop at Tesco to stock up on supplies for the ferry tomorrow, and bought some food for dinner to cook/eat at the hostel. Some corn chips cheese and sour cream for Reubs, and some potato & leek soup for us along with some bagels. Also did a bit of internet, email, and blogging (managed to check five lots of emails, post some blogs, checked four bank accounts, sent a few emails all in a fairly rushed hour) and packed our bags for a quick getaway in the morning.

London-Day31 26th June

2007-07-02T18:28:00.000+10:00

Tuesday,

After breakfast at the hostel (a complimentary two slices of toast which we could spread with butter and jam - bit cheap!) we decided to go our separate ways for the day. Ash took the boys off on a tour (a couple of parks, Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guards, Soho and Covent Gardens) and we went on a similar tour except we did Charing Cross (bookshops) and the National Gallery. But let’s start at the beginning... Visited the tourist information centre first to find out how we needed to get to the station on Thursday morning - need to get up at 5 am. to catch the No. 23 bus at 5:28, to the Liverpool Street station to make it time for the train at 6:25 to Harwich International (with a change at Manningtree) to catch the ferry at 9 (boarding at 8:45). So, now we know that. Also found out which bus to catch to get to Portabello Road markets, but that’s for tomorrow.

Wendy and I wanted to check out the Covent Garden and Soho areas so headed back to Piccadilly Circus and then along Shaftsbury Avenue to Charing Cross Road, all the way looking left and right and up and down. Lots to see and plenty of people about. There are these people standing on the footpath holding bright yellow and green (neon) signs (usually on pole) advertising; “£1 per hour Internet“, or “2 course meal £6.99”, or “Tattoos & piercing” with arrows (➡) pointing the way. I wonder what they get paid to stand there and hold these all day?

Stopped at Foyles bookshop for a very nice coffee (served by a New Zealander) and a browse. This was a serious bookshop and great to have a look around. There’s also a Borders and other big stores in the close vicinity, so no lack of places to get out of the rain for a quiet browse or spend your cash. We’ve noticed lots of young people here from countries such as Slovakia, Spain, Poland, France etc. working in the service industries - quite a range of accents to deal with. On our wanders we bumped into paintings from the National Gallery which had been ‘set free’ and hung on walls in the streets. They are part of a project called The Grand Tour that brings some of these famous paintings to the public - a great idea.

Did a bit of a meander around and ended up at Covent Garden and shared a baked potato for lunch - had to keep it to one because things are very expensive here. Coffees average around £2 which is $5, and if you want cake with that, it’s roughly $9. So a morning coffee costs nearly $30 for two if you both have cake! Covent Garden doesn’t seem to have changed since we were here over 20 years ago. Good to see a few buskers around (music and street theatre) and there was also the tourists ticking the boxes of places they have done/seen.

Then around the Soho and Chinatown area with the little fashion shops for shoes and hats and also businesses of other natures that I won’t go into here. Through Leicester Square and back to Traflgar Square and the National Gallery (to see the ‘real’ paintings) and had a wander through this amazing gallery looking at the pictures. Ended up in the bookshop too close to closing time and found some good stuff but no time to buy, so may have to come back when we’re in London again in July. Had to head back to Old Compton Rd. for our rendezvous with the boys for dinner. We had read about a cheap (but wholesome) place in the Lonely Planet so met at the Stockpot for dinner and managed to keep the cost down to $90 even with a couple of beers. After dinner we split up again and we ended up in the bookshops again (were nearby) and found out that Borders stayed open to 11 pm.

We weren’t all that keen to get back to the hostel to sit around so dilly-dallyed around and got back in time to go to bed. Clive had gone and a young French fellow had joined us who was looking for work in London. At least the fire alarm didn’t go off in the night!

Wet, wet London

2007-06-28T07:15:00.000+10:00

Hi everyone, a short post to let you know that I haven't had time to get any photos done for the last two posts - so you'll have to come back and check them out later. We're off to Holland tomorrow and will try and get things up-to-date then.

Wales-London-Day30 25th June

2007-06-25T18:28:00.000+10:00

Monday ... and it’s raining even more.

Had plans to all head off to Tintern Abbey (Liz would lead us down and then head back home) but woke to more rain. Decided that we’d just leave from The Glen Farm and say our farewells. Liz has been a wonderful host and something to aspire to. Opening her home and welcoming a family of five to come and stay must have been quite an imposition! We did have a wonderful stay and will hope that Liz might come back to Australia so we can return the favour - would love to show her around Cape Otway.

We headed from Liz’s down the Wye valley and stopped at Tintern Abbey and had a wander around the outside. Amazing to be driving along and suddenly come upon these wonderful old ruins that Wordsworth imortalised. Some restoration work going on (as is just about everywhere in Europe...) and it’s still raining. Then back across the Severn and bypassed Bristol to get to Bath. Had a walk around for a few hours and saw some of the highlights. Not enough time to do any tours or see inside the roman baths (not to worry, saw them on Getaway only a couple of months ago!)

Then it was back to the M4 and all the way back to Budget to drop the MPV off. Everybody had a powernap (except me - I was driving the three lane highway!) during the 120 miles back. fairly uneventful except for the stops once we got closer to London (did I mention it’s a lot like the Westgate?). Lot’s of nice cars zooming past going faster than the 75 mph I was doing. The 2.9 ltr diesel auto coped well with the trip and we did 654 miles and spent about 90 pounds on fuel (a bit over $2 a liter so not too bad). All up, hiring the car was a successful venture.

Got to the backpackers just before 8 and had to wait while a big school group checked in before us - very glad we booked! Had to walk up to the 4th floor to register and hand over the cash and receive our linen and the swipe card for room 412. We were in a dimly lit room with three double bunks, a few lockers built into the wall, no fan (it was warm and even though the window was set open it was a bit stuffy), a sink that was semi blocked, no chairs or table, and a South African guy called Clive. Settled in and went out to see the lights of Piccadilly Square. One good thing about the hostel is that it’s very central.

We then wandered down through Trafalgar Square (lots of people and pigeons about) and down to the river. Wandered along to the North bank of the Thames and then crossed over on the bridge. Noticed that there were these cast steel statues on the bridge and then on the top of buildings on both sides of the river. Amazing must have been able to see about 20 of them!

Then along the South bank and towards the BA London Eye. Had a great view of the city in the twilight and s it got darker and the lights came on, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament/Westminster Abbey. Heard the big clock strike 10 pm! Felt very tired at the end of the day and looked forward to lying down and closing my eyes.

Got woken by a fire alarm at 12:45 halfway into a deep sleep. Didn’t panic (been through too many false alarms at Deakin - but still a bit scary) but we all had to evacuate out on the cold windy street (grabbing some essentials on the way out). Spent about 30 minutes outside with a hundred other people and the fire truck with it’s flashing blue light before we could go back inside and back to sleep.

Wales-Day29 24th June

2007-06-22T16:46:00.000+10:00

Sunday,

Had a bit of a sleep in, and then had a wonderful cooked breakfast, nothing was too much for our host, including catering for Reuben’s coeliac condition! Did a bit of internetting and then headed through Monmouth via a nice drive through narrow lanes with hedgerows which followed fast flowing river. Saw the covered bridge and other highlights of the town before heading on to Cardiff and the outdoor Welsh Folk Museum at Fagans. A bit like Sovereign Hill, this large site has original buildings (transported and rebuilt on the site) that depict Welsh/Celtic life over the past couple of thousand years. From thatched circular huts all the way to the 1970’s.

One particular terrace/row of cottages had small houses that depicted the change of the past couple of centuries - great to see the differences in such a compact space. Things like roof and wall cladding, furniture and how technology (radio, TV, appliances, heating) changed over time. Great to see the simple old farm houses and how there was a miners institute which was built by funds supplied by the workers and was used for education and recreation. We walked over to the castle gardens with the ponds and walk up the stairs to a rose arbor, which was fantastic. There were small garden plots designed with symmetry and a range of plants, there were amazing gates, and hedges to provide some surprises as we walked around. The castle building was also impressive with large rooms and huge tapestries and four poster beds - the rich sure did live well.

Decided to take the scenic route home and headed north out of Cardiff and first stopped of at Castle Coch. An amazing little castle built by a rich guy and looks like the archetypal castle with a drawbridge and cylindrical towers perched high up on a hillside. Then headed on to Brecon and across to Abergavenny before getting back to Monmouth. There were intermittent showers all the way home but the drive was amazing up through the valley. Now and then small mining communities down near the river with lots of (cheap) terraced housing for the miners. This is traditional coal mining country and lots of history of disasters and fighting for rights and better conditions. Still visible slag heaps of discarded rock piled up but no sign of the mines (must be hidden behind the hills or lower in the valley).

Wendy was being provender from the back seat and dished up some yummy banana and honey sandwiches and even cups of tea and coffee! The landscape her is stereotypical English countryside. Dotted with small farms, fields with hedges and stone wall, small woods here and there and sheep and cattle braving the elements. ... and did I say it was green? Must be absolutely idyllic in the sunshine. We did have a few patches of sunlight, offsetting the light coloured fields against the dark grey sky. All in all a good idea to see a bit of the countryside rather than the dual carriage motor way. A good day and thanks to Liz for being our guide.

Helped Liz cook up a lovely prawn risotto and and enjoyed another marvelous meal. Ella (the labradoodle) really enjoys company and would like to play all day. Hit the sack a little earlier tonight.

UK-Wales-Day28 23rd June

2007-06-20T23:54:00.000+10:00

Saturday, Oxford, Stonehenge, Salisbury, Bath, Bristol and Monmouth...

In the morning we were surprised to see all the people around and how big the place actually was. Apparently a big day at Ascot with lots of people heading to the races and the Welcome Break stop (with the hotel and a few fast food chains) is one of the most popular places to pull over and it was very busy. We headed off and spent a few hours at Oxford. It was a special weekend (with loads of tourists) and they had lots of extra places open. We happened upon St. John’s College (on St. Giles) and had a bit of a tour of the place, quadrangles and gardens etc. Very nice. Then on foot around some of the landmarks parts of town and decided we keep moving on to Salisbury and did a drive by of Stonehenge on the way. It was very crowded and we didn’t think it was worth the money to stop (besides it was threatening to rain).

Found a car park in Salisbury and decided to check out the market before the cathedral. It had started raining - stopped at an oppy and found a reasonable brolly for £2.50. The market was OK, with a few stalls starting to pack up (about 4:00 pm.) but bought some fruit cheap. Had a nice wander through the city and over a small bridge over a small creek. It was full of swans and ducks. The swans were busy preening themselves (bending their necks and using their beaks to sort out their feathers) and kept being carried down stream by the current. They’d have to stop and paddle back up under the bridge to be where the people were (a bit like Sisyphus in the myth). Did a little bit of shopping for necessities and then walked over to the massive cathedral with the tallest spire in the UK (123 meters).

Had a quick look inside (they were starting an evening service) and saw what might be the oldest working medieval clock (1386) and an amazing fountain that had a reflective surface but still flowed. Visited the Chapter House to check out one of the remaining (four) copies of the Magna Carta which was written in 1215 by the noblemen of England to persuaded the king to relinquish his power and brought about democratic government and parliament. It was written on vellum, which is animal skin (it’s an academic argument as to whether vellum is calf [veal] skin and parchment is lamb skin) and quite an amazing thing. The actual Chapter House is wonderful in itself, but I won’t go into details here other than the amazing carvings in the frieze around the walls - put it on your itinerary if you visit Salisbury here.

Then on the road again and a drive-through of Bath and also Bristol before finding our way to Monmouth in Wales. Had to pay £2.10 to cross the Severn river on a very large bridge (won’t have to pay on the way back). Apparently the tide here is the second largest in the world (don’t know if the tide near Broome is the largest) but there was hardly any river left (tide was out) and lots of mud flats. Would be useful to find an environmentally sound way to harvest the energy of the tidal flow.

Following Liz’s excellent instructions we found her place (The Glen Farm) around 9:00 pm and it was good to see her again (and we met Ella the dog). Had a very nice curry dinner and were very well looked after by Liz who had set up space for us all to sleep and stocked the pantry. We definitely felt at home. We had a late cuppa after dinner but realised we were all ready to crash as we sat down around midnight. Liz had also had a big day, coming back from Norfolk and getting ready for us.

Sweden-UK-Day27 22nd June

2007-06-20T23:53:00.000+10:00

Friday, Stockholm to London (and some other places...)

Oh dear, had a bit of a mix up this morning... I woke bright as a button and check my watch and saw it was 10 to 7. Told Wendy and hopped up and had a shower and got dressed. Coaxed Wendy out of bed and thought we’d head on down to breakfast asap. I did comment how quiet it seemed in the hostel and that there wasn’t a car in the street. It’s Midsummer celebration from the 22nd-25th so I put that down to late night celebrations etc. Anyway, I put on my watch and noticed that it was 20 to 5! Had to shake my head and then apologised to Wendy and tried to work out how I’d read my watch wrong - maybe looked at it upside down? Wendy went back to sleep and I wrote a bit of blog and then went back to bed too. Did set my alarm on the Palm Treo and forgot to switch it of silent - so I missed that too. What a mess! Anyway we made good time and caught all the connections and did a self check in at the airport and changed our seats so we could get a window and sit next to each other. Bumped into Heather and Philip again and heard about their drama - Deb had taken Heather’s passport by mistake and was catching a 9 am flight. She rang them at the hotel and they managed to get ready in 15 minutes and race (doing 180 kms in a taxi!?) out to the airport in time to swap the documents so Deb could make her flight. Then they had 3 hours to kill...

So, we had a two hour flight and got into Heathrow a little late (had to do a couple of fly rounds) and then took ages to get through passport control. They hardly had any people on the counters and it must have taken at least 35 minutes. Texted the boys and they were on their way to meet us at our terminal and they waited patiently. Finally walked out and there was Reuben with a sign (written on his hand) “C & W Warren“ just like all the other guys with their sheets of A4 and people’s names on them. Great to see them again. They had nearly got deported because they didn’t (couldn’t) write down on the landing card where they were going to stay - we hadn’t told them! When they said that they were going to meet their parents, they were asked what they were going to do if we didn’t show. ”Sleep at the airport“, was their answer and it nearly wasn’t good enough. Anyway they got a little talking to, and had to give my mobile number and then got let through. The little things you don’t think of passing on...

Went to Budget to pick up the car and ended up with a 7 seater Kia Serdona instead of a small station wagon. This ended up being a much better option... It ran on diesel and there were four arm chairs (two at the front and two in the middle) with a bench at the back and still room behind that for the luggage. Cool! We had to be driven from the airport to the depot and then we were on our way. Had to head out on the M4 and then the M25 to get to Stanstead to pick up Ash. What a hoot - first time driving in the traffic in England. Just the same as the Westgate really, lots of traffic and some stop/start stuff - roundabout a two hour trip. Ash had processed fairly quickly through the airport and was waiting (for about 20 minutes) out on the road, so we did a drive-by pickup. Once we were all loaded in there were lots of stories about travelling and flying and catching up on news - nice to have the family together again. Matthew took over as navigator and we headed us the back way over towards Oxford to stay at the Day Inn Hotel (a WelcomeBreak facility). We did a stop in a small town and discover Waitrose (the supermarket) and stocked up on supplies. Then we hit the M4 right on the money and the hotel was just on the other side! Nice to have a hot shower and comfy bed.

Sweden-Day26 21st June

2007-06-20T23:52:00.000+10:00

Thursday - end of conference and back to Stockholm...

Had a couple of admin things to do first up, ring the boys, check with Ash and book some accommodation in the UK for tomorrow night. We’ve booked a car and will pick that up from Heathrow, then go pick Ash up from Stansted and then find the Days Inn Hotel in Oxford (all on a Friday afternoon/evening). Have been enjoying the breakfasts, lots of coffee and orange juice, cereal, scrambled eggs, meatballs and sausage and a range of bread and toppings.

Edward De Bono was unable to attend the conference for the final plenary (he’s had heart surgery and was advised to stay home) so they patched him in by phone. After morning tea Hans Rosling, in his talk, Is the World a Better Place, gave a great overview of what has changed with regard to global economy and health (using statistics that he animated to show change over time). The software he uses is available from http://www.gapminder.org.

If you’re interested you can see a similar presentation that he gave at a recent TED conference. The closing/final activity was a couple of sisters (from Sweden - and yes, with the obligatory blonde hair) who were musicians (one on the piano and the other on violin and signing) and they performed some folk/jazz music. Very nice.

Then picked up some freebie conference paraphernalia (they were giving it away - postcards, badges, bags etc.) on the way out. Phew, I feel tired but now we have to find some lunch and then catch the train back to Stockholm.

Caught the same train as Heather, Philip and Deb and enjoyed a smooth, fast ride back to the capital. Found our youth hostel after a long trip down (to the underground track) and back up again. We didn’t get good advice from the ticket seller and ended up with an 8 trip ticket for 160SEK and could have got a day ticket each for 180SEK. Anyway hostel was close to the station, dropped out gear and headed back into the city to visit the south island and then walk back into the city.

Found the Sofia Church on a hill and then wandered back along the water front and across the bridge into the old town. Had a nice beef curry for dinner which was the first asian food for a while. The narrow streets are amazing and the old town is sort of on a hill so the street often meander up/down. The buildings do start to get a bit boring after a while, all of similar design and painted in a range of ochre colours (red, yellow) and pastels (green, blue, pink). Started to run out of energy so decided to head back early around 9, found the underground and had an entertaining ride back listening to a couple of happy (young) drunks trying to negotiate wether they were going to go out again after a short rest. It’s midsummer here so the days are long, it’s holiday time and there are things to celebrate. Tomorrow back to the UK and seeing the boys again.

Sweden-Day25 20th June

2007-06-20T15:08:00.000+10:00

Wednesday,

Back to the conference and looking forward to the coffee breaks and lunch - the food has been great. The first plenary was a dry (but interesting) lecture on neuroscience by a French professor, Jean-Pierre Changeux. He spoke of the Capable Person as someone who can understand themselves as another (be aware of themselves as a rational, conscious individual).

I went to a double-session run by a group of health-care workers who showed us an innovation method for creative thinking. We had a group of five which include an Italian, New Zealander, British, Swedish and me. Quite interesting and a bit like what I’d learnt at a Proteus conference a couple of years ago in Melbourne. About brainstorming and using random words to associate with ideas and apply them to the problem to see what thoughts a rise. It was good fun and nice to meet some other people. A consultant, accountant, pre-school teacher and an adult educator.

Also went to Goran Carstedt who is a consultant and coach and has held management roles with Ikea and Volvo. His presentation was about Co-creating a Desired Future and suggested that we first need to place our mission, work and organisation into the bigger picture, then we need to organise ourselves by inviting people to co-create (rather than a top-down approach) and then leaders need to take an outside-in approach which is like bottom-up rather than top-down.

Howard Gardener finished off the day and spoke about his project Good Work in Education. He suggests that good work is work that is at once excellent in quality technically, personally engaging and meaningful, and carried out in a responsible and ethical manner. It is important that the conditions that are conducive to this are provided and he suggests the important things to nurture ‘good workers’ are:
• early value systems (often religious)
• the first workplace (internships)
• vertical support (mentors)
• horizontal support (peers)
• periodic booster shots (positive and cautionary examples - like conferences?)

We have been trying to find a public phone booth that will take coins (10 kroners - which is $2!) but all we can find take your credit card. All we need to do is make the first local connection and then we use the 30 digits to make the long distance call, so it seems crazy to use a credit card to make a local call... There are apparently other cards you can get but we must have tried a dozen shops without luck - people look at us crazy and say use a mobile! Then we tell then we want to ring Australia... Use the credit card they say - but that’s expensive. We bought an international card that was such good value, we probably won’t use it all. They seem to have removed most public phones except for at railway/bus stations.

Had dinner with Heather and Phil to finish off the day.

Sweden-Day24 19th June

2007-06-20T15:07:00.000+10:00

Tuesday,

The walk from the hotel to the conference venue is a pleasant one (either way you go - along the river bank or via the streets) and I’ve noticed that there are a fair share of Volvos on the streets here... Duh! A few hoons with their doof, doof, making heavy going of the cobbled streets but otherwise sedate drivers in their sensible cars. There are few bicyles around and it makes sense - fairly flat landscape and special section of the footpath is bitumen so the ride is smooth - so there are lots of bikes parking/locking places. We are fairly well in the old part of town and the ‘industrial landscape’ has changed so that it now houses the university and the conference center, and all the paper mill industry has moved out of town. Many of the existing buildings that were owned by the Holmen Company still stand and they are all painted Nörrkoping yellow (check the photos). Many are now halls/perfomance auditoriums and university buildings as well as a few converted to museums.

And now to the conference talks for today: Philip Adey gave a presentation that examined the notion of a general intellectual capacity that everyone has. There’s no quick solution of magic bullet (that will mean you can teach everyone something) but if you allow for the notion that there is a general intelligence, then there are specific ways to stimulate this while allowing for different types of abilities. He discussed the range of intellectual capacities concerning general mental abilities (including the cohabitation of general and special abilities), cognitive modules, cognitive development, and some evidence for plasticity of the general processor. All sounds a bit complex, but it made sense on the day.

David Perkins spoke about he Thoughtful Will and took us on a journey to discover just what the will is, and suggested that it may be a resource that is a reservoir of strategic wisdom about self-management. It was very good, the guy is 78 and he was walking around on the stage and then off the stage and up into the audience - very engaging and had a conversation with us rather then giving a lecture.

Bob Swartz did a presentation on Infusing Critical and Creative Thinking into Content Instruction and didn’t impress me all that much. He had tiny little overheads and didn’t seem well prepared. His topic was really about using ‘graphic organisers’ that facilitate skillful thinking.

Listened to Jonathan Rowson who spoke about, What is it like to be a Chess Grandmaster? A very interesting talk and boiled down to the fact that you need to take into account your intuition as well as be able to process the cognitive load. Gave a nice insight into the world of competitive chess and showed how a lot of playing the game at that level is about looking for patterns and not necessarily making the best move but what feels or looks right.

The day finished with Per Frankelius suggesting that time has come for a new innovation perspective. He showed how innovation has changed over the 50 years and that we now need new models.

We went on a dramatised tour of Nörrkoping in the evening before the dinner. It was raining a little and the tour guide brought some umbrellas with her. ‘Joanna’ was the person who told us about like 100 years ago. How a young girl come to the big city, had to find accommodation and a job. You needed somewhere to live before you could get a job, and you needed a job before you could get somewhere to live! The problem was usually solved by someone renting a corner of a room for you to sleep in and you paid some rent to call the place home. She was dressed in period clothing and talk more about her getting married to a good (sober) man who also had a job and having four children. It was nice to get the history lesson from a personalised context.

Conference dinner in the evening and we chatted with Kathy from Sydney and watched/heard a thunderstorm come over, then saw a rainbow and then blue skies. Nice food again with a range of yummy (cold) seafood and strawberries and ice cream for desert. Actually had some Four Sisters Shiraz with the food! The entertainment afterwards were a very lively musicgroup group who jumped around a fair and kept the crowd amused.

We also went to a demonstration called Memory of the Universe, of some new 3D universe mapping software where a guy (via Skype from New York) took us on a 3D tour of the universe starting with our planet and traveling out to edge of the know universe. This as far as light has travelled in something like 10 billion years. I lost track of the the dimensions once we left our Galaxy, the Milky Way. Very interesting though and amazing to see, made me feel very small. The photo below shows the earth surrounded by communication and geo-stationary satellites, the space station, the moons orbit, the geo-magnetic field and the sun (as well as other stars).

So, to sum up - it’s all too magnificent & wonderful for me to comprehend and understand completely.

Sweden-Day23 18th June

2007-06-17T06:04:00.000+10:00

Monday, and the conference has begun.

We are based in Nörrkoping (pronounced Norshopping) and staying at the Strand Hotel which is a quaint older style hotel with a great staircase. Our room has high ceiling and a writing desk and sitting area and a view out of the window onto the river and bridge. The toilet has a warning sign in four languages that says there is a shredder attached to the flushing mechanism so don’t throw anything into the toilet that shouldn’t be in there.

The conference opened with some Swedish folk music and dancing and then we were off. As it’s a conference on thinking, there are topics from the brain and neuroscience (which may be interesting), to topics on how can we teach for better learning and how to work together on innovation or shared futures. As usual, conferences are a good measure as to your own knowledge/understanding and some of the presentations have been a bit ho, hum, while others are stimulating and expose you to new ideas. Peter Gärdenfors kicked things off explaining how we became human and explain the evolution of thinking from primeval man to now. Also went to Bo Ekman who gave us a rather pessimistic view of the world and the state of global warming and economical development. More questions that answers. Britt-Mari Barth in her talk, Knowing - Process or Product, gave us a wonderful example of a learning activity which encouraged primary school aged children to think (hard) about what they saw in a painting. They went on to discover different types of painting styles and how light and colour where used. On evaluating the lesson, one student commented how they learnt a lot and the teacher didn’t even help! Just how it should be, although there had been a fair bit of preparation involved.

Wendy and I had a chat to Guy Claxton who had given a good presentation regarding the need to think about the language we use to talk about learning. He mentioned a macro-language to talk about learning dispositions and a micro-language to talk about student ‘learning’ rather than student ‘work’. He said we should build learning power through; gently, systematically coaching the development of positive learning dispositions in three ways:
        •        broadening: becoming more ready
        •        strengthening: becoming more willing
        •        enriching: becoming more able
He has written about the new three ‘Rs’ which are resourcefulness, resilience and reflectiveness etc.

Bill martin was the last plenary presentation and he was replacing John Edwards who couldn’t make it (quite a few keynote speakers have been unable to attend). Bill gave a talk on Creating and Sustaining a Culture of Leadership, and suggested that to have a successful organisation things need to be aligned, everyone needs to be on the same page and leadership has a responsibility to provide this through providing values and mental models of how to be. So, rather a big day with lots of things to think about.

The food has been excellent, the venue is amazing (not too much walking between any of the 12 concurrent talks) and we’ve met lots of people. There are about 1300 delegates and many of them are teachers from Australia and New Zealand, so good to hear some familiar accents. After the talks ere finished we went on a guided tour of the industrial landscape of Nörrkoping which introduced the historic buildings and how things have changed in the last 150 years.

Sweden-Day22 17th June

2007-06-17T05:27:00.000+10:00

Sunday,

We sailed all night and arrived in Stockholm at 9:30 am (picking up the hour I lost on my birthday). Awoke to see tiny islands as we sailed by them at beginning of landfall on the Swedish coast which is an archipelago. Looks like lots of little holiday residences scattered over these islands, tucked away in the forests and usually with a boat tied up to a jetty. Looks like a nightmare to navigate through it all, some of it is quite narrow for a big ship. Have seen a couple of other large vessels so it must be the main route to Stockholm. The rocky islands remind me a bit of the granite near Esperance and Albany except here they are black and grey rather then red. Had a good sleep and a great shower. It was overcast and drizzling which was a shame because we’d planned to spend most of the day looking around Stockholm.

Whizzed through customs (nothing to declare - although we had to stop while a dog sniffed us over) and out into the rain. Found a bus into town easily enough and dumped the luggage into a locker at the station. Had to do the bankomat thing first and got ourselves some Swedish Kroner. The only problem with some of these machines is that you get large denominations - so now I had a couple 500 SEK notes ($100). Banks re usually good at changing them but it was Sunday and they’re not open. So, off to a news-agent and bought an international phone card and a snack. Then we could get some change for the locker and also tried to make a couple of calls home etc. but couldn’t raise anyone so we set out into the rain.

Walked across into the old town and enjoyed the narrow streets and (not many cars could get around here) and ended up in the old square. A few tour groups also out braving the elements but we headed into a coffee shop and down a tight spiral staircase to the cellar. Only candle lit, so quite dark but full of people and dry and warm. Enjoyed a latte (which came in like a soup bowl) and some cardamon cake and a chocolate cake. We then discovered that Wendy had left her reading glasses on the ferry and the waiter very kindly lent us his mobile to ring the company to ask about lost property. Didn’t have much luck (got the ‘on hold’ messages) and was cut off. Tried again later when we visited the Alfred Nobel museum and the person selling the tickets let us borrow the house phone! People are very kind. Finally got through (after 15 minutes on hold), and let them know of our loss and hopefully we’ll hear something about them. Will need the loss report to be able to claim on insurance... The Nobel museum was expensive and probably worth a longer stay (lots of audio and video which we didn’t really have time to sit through) and had a focus on creativity and how breakthrough ideas don’t always happen in the laboratory but often during times of relaxation/contemplation.

Back into the weather and past the palace with its guards standing in the rain getting wet and back across the river to see if we could find something to eat. Found a mall and found out that things are expensive - a takeaway bowl of soup was $12. Lots of people around and everybody is eating ice cream/yogurt. Didn’t find anything as we were running out of time and headed back to the station but did see a sort of cultural center (drama, art & literature) that had a whole library of animated novels. Lots of people inside out of the rain lounging in bean-bags absorbed in these cartoon novels. Emptied the locker and raced to the platform and noticed that our train was leaving at 16:40 (I had 16:20 in my mind so we did find something to eat in the station and went back to the platform in time for the 16:40. The train was there but it wasn’t ours! We’d missed the one we needed (the 16:20) and there were others in the same position (a couple of primary school principals from Sydney)!. A train guard told us not to worry, “just go to the last carriage and it will be OK”. Plenty of seats but it was a slower train so we’d get there an hour later than planned - did have a good chat with Gloria and Danuka though.

Got to Nörrkoping and checked into the hotel (they had emailed a code to get into the front door and also into the 2nd floor) where we found our room (door was open with the keys inside) and the conference registration information. Settled in a little and headed down to the conference centre, 6 minute walk. The area is very interesting and used to be very industrial with a river flowing through which used to drive 17 power stations (the water drops about 18 meters over 2 kms through the town which is situated near the mouth of the river that runs into a bay). We were about an hour and a half late but were greeted with a smile and we traded our registration voucher for our name tags and the conference bag and found some food and a glass of wine. We bumped into Heather, Philip and Deb a little later and it was nice to see some familiar faces. Will have a closer look at the program in the morning to work out what sessions we want to go to.

Latvia-Sweden-Day21 16th June

2007-06-17T04:04:00.000+10:00

Saturday, three weeks on the road already!

Still had the morning to spend in Riga so we packed up our bags and left them at the hostel while heading off to the cathedral (Doma laukums) which is the largest in the Baltics. Cost $6 (2 Lats) to go in so we didn’t bother - we’ve seen so many churches. This cathedral does boast a 6768-pipe organ which when built in 1884, was the world’s largest. Also visited St.Peter’s and I went up the lift inside the spire and had some good views of the old city. It was a little crowded in the lift with 12 of us (me and a bunch of French visitors) and as we exited the lift we had to squeeze past all the people going back down! There was really only room for 16 people (4 on each side of the viewing area), so we all shuffled along looking North, West, South and East before the lift arrived and we had to squeeze past the next lot who came up. Hip and shoulder together as we descended and a phone went off. It was that tight they couldn’t get to answer it before we got to the bottom. Bit of a weird experience...

Stopped for coffee (had a Viennese coffee again - half coffee/half cream - yum) and had to sit through Latvia’s version of Rage that was showing on a large LCD panel which was mounted in a lovely gilt frame! A few Irish guys were consuming shots of something and beer and I don’t think they’d been to school because they had a very limited vocabulary. One word in particular was getting used fairly regularly as a noun, verb adjective, adverb, past participle, conjunction and preposition, all in the one sentence! (very clever for not having been to school).

Dropped in at the hostel to do a bit of Ineternetting and then went to the markets to have a greasy Latvian lunch. It was very yummy though. We had these fried dumplings with either meat, cheese or potato in them and also what’s generically known as a zeppelin. A bit like a potato/hash-brown with a tasty onion/bacon/mince filling. We actually ordered another one it was that good.

Went back to collect our bags and had to try three taxis before we were happy with the price quoted (from $24 down to $15!). Departed Riga at 17:30 on the Regina Baltica a large passenger ferry with 10 decks, 8 with cabins for up to 1500 passengers as well as lower decks for trucks, camper vans and cars. Like a big hotel, it also has restaurants, casino, duty free shopping, a sauna and bars. Fairly comfortable but showing it’s age.

On the way out of the river/harbour we passed the coal docks! Amazing, heaps of cranes all working feverishly unloading trains into trucks and loading ships from big piles. No sophisticated conveyor belts or anything clever here - looks like they have been doing it this way for a long time. Then out through the breakwater and into the open sea. Thankfully the weather’s calm.

On the boat/ship we had a double cabin (a bit like the train but with only two bunks instead of three, and our own toilet and shower) and Ash was in a 4 berth with 3 other guys. We bought dinner on board and noticed that things were starting to get more expensive so Sweden will encourage us to watch the pennies (kroner) a bit more closely.

Latvia-Day20 15th June

2007-06-16T06:35:00.000+10:00

Friday - Riga (capital of Latvia and a port city on the Baltic coast - so far we’ve been in landlocked countries which is a bit difficult for an Australian to comprehend),

In our ‘apartment’ (with another double room sharing the bathroom and kitchen) we did a load of washing and the room stayed warm enough to dry it in the afternoon. There was a cool wind from the north today so light jumpers were put on. Asher is in a dorm in the Riga Old Town Hostel and up on the 4th floor. We’re a couple of doors down the road, up one level in an apartment building. They gave us a code to get into the door from the street but you don’t need it! Just push the door and you’re in (gives me the yips a bit, lots of shady looking characters hanging round). But, we need two keys to get through a double door and then we have another key for our own lockable room. Just that there’s so much security makes you wonder a little, well me anyway. The Hostel has a noisy bar (but you have to smoke outside) and the door to the spiral staircase that goes up to the dorms is made to look like a bookcase so it’s sort of hidden a bit but people keep coming in and out. It’s ll fun and noisy and many different English accents. Last night we did have a drink at the bar and tried out the Black Balsam (one straight, one with black current and one with coke) so we could come away saying we had tried it. It’s a herbal liqueur and black, some people don’t like it, but I reckon it could be an acquired taste. It’s a bit like Jagermeister or the Czech Becherovka. I probably like the sweet ones like Benedictine better.

Started off the day in the huge markets near the bus station where we arrived yesterday. There are five huge hangers (originally designed to house zeppelins) and cater for all your needs. Each one has different produce; meat, fish, vegetables, bread, cheese, staples, etc. and outside there are many more small stalls for the shoppers delight (lots of vegies, strawberries and cherries, and even people selling secondhand shopping bags for you to carry your stuff home in. After wandering through we ended up near the Academy of Sciences building, which is an interesting example of Soviet architecture (called Stalin’s birthday cake and built the year I was born). We were able to take the lift to the 17th floor for some great views of the old city. There was an interesting display in the lift foyer of the work done by the Latvian Folklore Association. They go out and visit the rural/remote areas and record music and songs, take photos and take oral histories of the local Latvian culture.

On our way back through the old town we did a DIY walking tour and after visiting the Ravel Hotel and going up the lass elevator to the 26th floor (for a great view over the city) went through the area with all the Art Nouveau district and it’s fantastically designed buildings. The building facades are covered with carvings of lions, nymphs and goblins etc. with colourful tiles accenting the designs. A few have been lovingly renovated while others are in various states of repair. On our way back through the old town and onto the bridge to get a view looking back to the city, I managed to trip on a stair and dropped my camera lens first! Oh, woe is me. Smashed the glass in the filter and mangled it into the lens so it was fairly well jammed in. Ash helped get the glass out of the filter and the lens still seems to work OK (auto focus etc.) except the zoom has got a little tight. Will have to take it into a camera shop in Sweden and look into an insurance claim.

Visited the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia (a most appropriately designed building, very sombre, if not scary) and spent an hour walking through reading about the Soviet and Nazi occupations. Terrible stuff, with the invaders bringing their armies and new settlers with them and embarking on efficient programs of re-culturation which There were also mass deportations by the Nazis (just the same as elsewhere) and the Soviets shipping people of to the gulag! It’s an amazing story and you begin to wonder how these things have an effect on a people. I can understand that there may be some residual anger but also fear, particularly with the KGB actively monitoring what’s going on.

Went to the Lido restaurant for dinner and tried out few things but they weren’t as cheap as we thought they might be. This place was a bit similar to the Delano in Vilnius but less to choose from, they cooked fries in a huge (1 meter wide) fry pan!

Did some email at the hostel (wireless connection in the bar) and Wendy got roped into playing cards with a couple of Finns and a Latvian who were drunk enough to shout all the time.

Lithuania-Latvia-Day19 14th June

2007-06-15T23:49:00.000+10:00

Thursday, Vilnius and then off to Riga (Latvia)

This morning we had a big breakfast and Asher filled his new thermos (bought from a Hyper Market - rather than just a Super Market) with coffee from the machine (cheeky!). Wendy did a bit of shopping and found some amber and a scarf. Spent the morning walking the old town again and popping into a couple of old churches. We’d seen one last night that was full of scaffolding, and I mean full. It’s rather rudimentary with complete saplings (rather than the clip-lock aluminum we use) that reached to the ceiling which were supporting a matrix of pine boards that completely surrounded the columns. It effectively filled the centre of the church and was boarded up so you couldn't get in amongst it.

Caught the bus to Riga (4.5 hour trip) at 1:30 and travelled down a dual-carriage way for an hour and a half. Stopped off for ten minutes in a town and then travelled on a two lane highway (one each way) and noticed that the driving here is a bit crazy. People overtaking wherever! At times cars on the verge and others overtaking so that it was nearly two lanes each way! Scary stuff. The bus kept up a good pace and did lots of overtaking too. Took a while to get across the border into latvia, a customs/passport checker bloke came on board and took all the passports, giving everyone the once-over, got off the bus and went somewhere and then 10 minutes later the bus driver handed them all back. New stamp, with a car on it this time (a little symbol to mark the mode of transport into, or out of, the country) - we got a boat on the Slovakian stamp (hydrofoil) and a train on the Austrian leg. Ash chatted to a Latvian girl who was on her way to London and I read a bit of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s. A Time of Gifts. It’s a travel story about a young guy who set’s out from England in 1933 to walk to Constantinople (Istanbul) and the book covers the first half of the journey to Hungary (there’s a second volume that covers the rest). It’s started well and the writing is good and looks like it will be a grand adventure.

Got into Riga just after 6:00 pm. and the Riga Old Town Hostel was only a 5 minute straightforward walk from the bus station and we checked before heading out for a wander to get our bearings. Did a walk through to the main thoroughfare and the Freedom Monument (where it’s traditional for newlyweds to lay some flowers) and the Laima clock. The parks all beautiful with a canal running down the middle (used to be the old moat protecting the city), paths, flower beds, benches, fountains and trees. Many of the churches are orthodox so laid out a bit differently from the usual Protestant or Catholic model. Inside there’s not many places to sit and always the separated place where the priests go (high altar?). All very nice to look at though, and nice paintings, chandeliers, domes in the ceiling and heaps of gold leaf. The language in Riga is different again and there seems to be a lots of Russain. It’s great to just walk around and sensible shoes are the go, the cobblestones are very uneven in places and the OHS rules are fairly lax. Often there’s a few stones missing or a broken step so you need to keep your eyes open. This becomes a real challenge because you should always be looking up, there re always surprises above your eye level, in the roof line of the buildings, a spire appearing at the end of a narrow street, an interesting gable, etc.

I have never seen so many expensive cars in one place. Lots of Porches, BMW (5,7 & 8 series), Audi, Lexus etc. and a lot of the taxis are Mercedes. Must be some money around, or it’s just that the rich people live in the old town - you actually have to pay to get into the old city, a bit like the tax you pay in London.

Lithuania-Day18 13th June

2007-06-14T23:50:00.000+10:00

Wednesday, in Vilnius...

Had a slow start after the big day yesterday, it is hard to keep up with myself dear reader. Not so much to do with age, but more to do with the way that we are living. We spend very little time sitting still, maybe first thing in the morning for breakfast, for a cuppa in a cafe, in a park for a snack, lunch on some steps or a bench and dinner somewhere. Other than that, it’s feet to the cobble stones and walking, walking, walking (don’t know how the pretty girls in their high heels manage to keep their ankles intact!) So the days are long and the sleep is sound - at nearly three weeks on the road my real life seems far away and difficult to think about.

Forgot to mention that on the way back from dinner last night we wandered through an old bohemian part of town called Užupis which was (playfully) declared a republic by some of the creative type residents. There is a small tributary running through and people were canoeing in the late evening while others watched fro the deck of a bar perched above the water. The wrought iron bridge across the river had all these padlocks fastened to it and they had engravings (betrothals?) on them like “Tomas ir Akvilė, 2007 02 14“. Looked fantastic and I think it’s it’s kind of nice to make public declaration - apparently the cusom was started in Latvia so we’ll have to look out for more there. We are wondering what happens to the keys...

Another great thing we’ve noticed is how the shops display their opening hours and have seen a few different ways... One involves a happy face when open, unemotional face when open half a day and sad face when closed, another uses clock symbols for each day, etc. etc.

Set out to walk up and down most of the old town in Vilnius. Planned a bit of a route that took in some old town and some of the significant places of interest and some of the quirky. Thy do seem to have a healthy sense of disrespect of themselves (or should that be a good sense of humour?) Did arrange a rendezvous with Ash for lunch and ended up at Delano which is a big basement type cafeteria-style eatery and tried just about one of each of the available dishes. Rolled out of there (really feeling like having a siesta) and back onto the streets to check out what was across the river and then wandered back through some of the old streets.

Found the university complex of buildings and did a tour the old campus following a map that led us to a number of the old courtyards. There’s even a church, St. John’s (founded in 1387) that faces into the largest of them. Then there’s the best ever looking bookshop (Littera) with 300 year old frescoes on low ceilings that have to be seen, particularly in that late evening light. There was even some English books! There’s also a huge brass door leading into the library that provides a commemoration/celebration/history of the university. Founded in 1579, it’s Eastern Europe’s oldest university - the Russians closed it in 1832 and it wasn’t reopened till 1919. Lots of history here.

The history of the churches and some of the buildings is all a bit sad. Lost to fire, decay, neglect, war etc. and rebuilt numerous times, not much is really original anymore but they are still magnificent. We have also noticed some archeological digs around the place, so folk are still finding out about the local history.

For dinner we found a place in the Lonely Planet guide and wandered down into the cave that is Balti Drambliai vegetarian restaraunt. It was packed but managed to find a table for the three of us up some steep half stairs and into an alcove that seemed like a small space in an old wall! Amazing. Had some nice (cheap) food though.

Poland-Lithuania-Day17 12th June

2007-06-12T16:16:00.001+10:00

Tuesday, my birthday and I’m 50 at last!

Up at sparrow fart (5:10 am) to catch the train at 6 - the express to Warsaw. Wendy and Ash had done a shop the night before and we had some muesli & yoghurt on the train. Fairly straight forward trip in a compartment that was full, lucky we reserved our seats the day before! Two girls were yabbering most of the way and there was a gangly guy who managed to sleep (fitfully, twitching as he dreamt) most of the time other than for when his phone went off. Head resting on a hand, legs everywhere and mouth agape (bad teeth) he didn’t say boo to anyone. I asked the girls about the ‘justus’ blokes and they said that they were private security guys. Scored a free nescafe from a girl wheeling an urn down the train.

In Warsaw someone directed us to the bus that took us to the airport and luckily got off at the departure lounge and then (with hundreds of other people) waiting, waiting, waiting (as you do in airports) to check in. Got to the counter and was told to go and get the paper tickets first!. That took another 15-20 minutes but got it sorted. Sat down and had some lunch and then went through passport control (Wendy was told she was a very attractive woman by the lady with the stamp) and off to board at Gate 2 and ran into another queue! Had to push in a bit and then they called us through. 3 gates checking through two scanning/xray points. They were checking everything. Lucky we were running late so they just asked me to open the laptop and then we were the last to get on the bus which took us out to the (turbo-prop) plane with 5 minutes to spare...

So, while we sat and had some lunch for 15 minuets the rest of the 2.5 hours we were there was waiting in queues! But then it took another 25 minutes before anything happened. Once we got on the plane and I grabbed a financial review ad there was an article about LOT (Polish airlines) saying that it had the worst delay record of any airline and the most lost baggage! Only a short flight of just over an hour, but we lost one hour as we moved into a different time zone on landing in Lithuania. So, I will only have a 23 hour day for my birthday, but I had it in three cities (Krakow, Warsaw & Vilnius), two countries (Poland & Lithuania) and also travelled on a train, plane and bus! What a day - finished it off with a nice dinner looking out over the old town and watching the sun start to go down (at 9:30 pm.) and saw a few hot air balloons sail/float/soar(?) past.

But back to arriving in Vilnius...

Caught bus into town from the airport and met an American lady who lives in Lithuania (teaches English and has been here for 9 years!) and she gave us directions to our accommodation. Through the ‘Gates of Dawn’ and under the Chapel of the Virgin Mary (apparently miracle-working and one of the holiest icons in Polish Catholicism) and visited by many of the faithful. Then around the St. Teresa’s Church and into the Domus Maria where we stayed in a converted monastery on the top floor in an attic type room with a view into a courtyard. Sweet.

Dropped our clobber, freshened up, grabbed a map and walked into the old town. Got accosted by a young bloke who showed me his gammy leg and said he was hungry. Took him to a supermarket and bought him some bread and a drink (happy to help out on my birthday). Saw the same guy later hassling a group of elderly tourists and getting some cash! Spent the next few hours wandering around enjoying the sites, the old, dark churches, the windy, cobbled streets, lots of shops selling amber and ended up near the river and went up to the old castle.

Great views from up high and the sun is still warm and high in the sky at 7:00 pm. Walked back down, through a park (lots of lovers sitting and canoodling - single stemmed flowers seem the go) and found the restaurant we were looking for, Tores. Sipped a cold pint of Švyturys while enjoying the view and a nice meal (not cabbage and sausage!) Put up with some Americans talking politics behind us but had a very pleasant evening. The day ended in the usual manner (asleep within 10 seconds of lying down), after doing some email and blog posting (actually have a network point in the room - first time yet!).

Poland-16 11th June

2007-06-12T03:38:00.000+10:00

Monday,

I like Krakow, and a bit sad we’ve lost the day - but I won’t let it upset me. After dinner last night we did bump into a concert in the main square with a choir and orchestra and a tenor/baritone. Sort of nice way to finish off the evening, lots of people out in the balmy evening weather and some music (not sure if it was all that nice - but it was music). They have a bugler how plays a short bugle on the hour and it's quite nice, a bit of a change from the usual bell ringing...

Today it was off to Auschwitz-Birkenau the infamous concentration camps. Caught a mini-bus out and decided to visit Birkenau (Auschwitz II) first. The place is a few minutes away on a free bus and it’s huge, they had nearly 100,000 thousand people there at times. A lot of it is in ruins and the SS blew up the gas chambers as the Soviets advanced. It was very hot in the sun and felt a little weird to try and imagine what it might have been like during the winter. Had a walk amongst the barracks made of either brick or timber (can’t imagine that had so many people in them lying down on three levels - the bottom concrete and then two wooden ones) and through the latrines and wash houses. At the opposite end of the entry gate (down the length of the railway track) was the ruins of the chambers and an amazing monument (can’t explain it in words).

What a business it all was, weeding out the women children and sick (murdering them in the gas chambers immediately) and keeping the fit to work (slave labour). An evil business and difficult to understand - millions of Jews killed and also political prisoners from Poland and Hungary.

Back to Auschwitz (I) and more of the same. Watched a 15 minute film that explained some of the processes and then wandered around the barracks learning more about how it all worked. Some amazing exhibitions and memorials to many European countries. Learnt that out of the 140,000 Jews in the Netherlands, 107,000 were deported and only 5,000 of them survived. It’s all very sad and many people have their own particular stories on the them. Towards the end of the tour (we did a self-guided one), more gas chambers and crematoriums and that was it for me - enough said - time to reflect...

Poland-15b 10th June

2007-06-10T18:51:00.000+10:00

Sunday afternoon...

Visited the Jewish quarter with its old and dirty (if not nearly derelict) buildings and saw a few old churches. They were all a little different with lots of fancy decoration in the Rococo Baroque one and they all had nice looking pipe organs. Lots of people attending church and Also bumped into a bread festival in a small square, some stalls selling food and others tourist information. There was a stage and some traditional Polish folk dancing and singing. Some guys got up on stage and yabbered on for 10 minutes on the virtues of the twisted bagel (or at least that’s what it looked like). Lots of tough looking polish men with crew cuts wandering around as well as a smattering of security guys with ‘ochrona justice’. Not sure of their official status, but there’s a fair of bit of security and police presence around. Not sure if that makes me feel better or nervous. Found the minibus stop for the Wieliczka Salt Mine and headed 20 minutes out of town to what I’d call Poland’s Sovereign Hill. What a setup...very organised. Bought our tickets and waited for a foreign language (English) guided tour to begin.

Walked a down wooden stairway about 70 meters and travelled along some (tidy) tunnels to a series of caverns with carved (out of rock salt) statues either commemorating a myth/story or a famous person. Lots of timber bracing the tunnels and ceilings, some of it literally tree trunks! There are chapels carved out of the salt/rock (where miners pray for safety) and even a temple/cathedral (Chapel of the Blessed Kinga) that required the removal of 200,000 tonnes of rock salt! You can get married down there (they also have a ball/reception room as well) and there’s some fantastic carvings of Bible stories and a pulpit carved out of the side wall with steps leading up to it. It’s 50 meters long nearly 20 mtrs wide and the roof is 12 mtrs high, has huge chandeliers with clear salt crystal pendants and took 30 years to dig out.

As usual, lots of stories from the guide about the danger of working in the mine and just how valuable the salt was - as good as currency. It was all very busy with about twenty in our group and we kept bumping into the back of the group in front of us and the one behind (German) kept pushing us along. They have 300 guides and they do 3-5 tours a day (they take just under 2 hours). It was cooler underground (about 15˚) and we ended up over 130 mtrs below ground level but only reached level 3 of the mine, it goes down 9 levels. Caught a lift back to the surface jammed in a cage with 4 levels to it and nine people in each level - it was very tight. Fantastic experience all up and worth all the zloty we paid for it.

Had a bit of a stress waiting (was after 6 pm on a Sunday after all) for a bus to take us back (we used public transport rather than an organised tour) but in the end it all turned out Ok. Had some authentic Polish cuisine for dinner including ‘bigos’ cabbage and meat and Ash tried a (minced) blacking pudding. After that...you guessed it, crashed again!

Poland-15 10th June

2007-06-10T13:25:00.000+10:00

Sunday, can’t believe we’re already in Poland! It’s about 5:30 am and I thought I’d scribble a little before we arrive in Krakow. Had a bit of a broken sleep (sort of was expecting that) as we stopped at lots of stations and there was a fair bit of shunting of engines and carriages. The Polish passport control came through at 3:00 and didn’t even give us a stamp! (maybe at the train station?)...

It’s a beautiful morning, sitting in a park at the old city gate and things are slowly starting to wake up. The expected ‘park bench’ people are around but also young lovers and others heading off to where ever. The trams are running, the traffic is getting heavier, the birds and chirping, the pigeons are fighting over an old bagel and some Japanese tourists have made an early start. The light is amazing as the sun comes up behind me, lighting the green tinged (moss/lichen) trunks of the trees and giving some warmth. We can’t check into our apartment till 10 so Ash and Wendy have gone off on a reconnaissance to see if there’s somewhere open for a coffee, and I’m looking after the luggage. There’s a fly sunning itself on the top of my laptop screen and I reckon he’s fallen asleep.

We found out yesterday that there’s a mistake in our itinerary because I got a call from Damian from the P&J Apartments asking where we were. We’d said we’d arrive on the 9th, but our train was leaving on the 9th and arriving in the morning on the 10th, oops! I think I mucked up the dates because of the late departure and early arrival, which means that now we only have 2 days in Krakow, dang. We’ll have to do some good planning to get to see what we wanted to in the time we have. Anyway, checked through the rest of the itinerary and it all seems OK. Wandered down to McDonalds and bought 3 cappuccinos for 9 zlotys and checked our the tourist information. Decided on checking out the old city this morning and then off to the salt mines for the afternoon. Tomorrow off to Auschwitz and Birkenau and then back to the old town and the Jewish quarter.

The old city looks great with it’s gates and wall and is all decorated with bunting as they had a festival last week celebrating a defeat of the Tartars. Looking forward to poking around a bit further. Finally checked into the apartment and had a freshen up. Damian (our host) was interested in our itinerary and how must it costs for Australians to travel. He knew it took 8 hours to fly from perth to New Zealand! I agreed with him that Europe was easy to get around in and he told us that last weekend he drove through three countries! Well, now off for some adventures...

Vienna-14b 9th June

2007-06-10T07:22:00.000+10:00

Saturday evening and we’re on the night train to Krakow. A three berth sleeper and the beds were made up . The carriage was very warm after the hot day in Vienna, so we opened the windows and enjoyed the cool breeze once we started moving. The WC has a marble sink and lots of the mushroom coloured toilet paper and towels that falls apart when it gets wet - you get used to using a fair bit at a time (to give it some integrity). There is one conductor just for our carriage so we feel well looked after. He’s Polish and his white shirt fits his large belly nice and tightly. He’s got his own compartment with couch, desk, thermos and a burgundy jacket and waistcoat hanging up (which are maybe just for coming and going from the office). There was a little confusion with the Rail Pass so he hung onto them till the morning when he can work out which date to fill in, either the 9th or 10th. There’s probably only another 6 or so passengers so the carriage is half empty. I do wonder what is going by outside the window...

Vienna-14 9th June

2007-06-09T21:01:00.000+10:00

Saturday, woke at 7 and rolled over for some more sleep - the shutters and the double glazing make sure it’s dark and quite in the room. Once up, I had to race out to find a bankomat (ATM) to get some Euros to pay the bill and had to walk a couple of tram stops before I found an open one! We checked out and caught the tram to the Süd-bahnhof to dump the bags in a locker and headed off to the Nachtmarket...

Caught the tram and wander down at least a kilometer of stalls, fresh fruit, veges and meat, coffee and food stalls. At the end a great second-hand junk market with a bit of everything; trinkets, records, books, watches, jewelry etc. etc. Wendy found something small to have as a souvenir. Then we dropped Ash off at the Leopold Museum so he could see the Schille exhibition and we went looking for an old Viennese coffee shop for a really nice coffee with strudel. Wandered down to St. Stephans cathedral and joined the throng milling inside.

At 2:00 we met with Edith again and caught the bus up to the Vienna woods and had a picnic before walking across to the lookout. Fantastic views over the city and Danube and had to walk through a wedding reception being held at the lookout. There was also a gathering of the Blue Knights law enforcement motorcycle club at the summit, there must have at least 60 bikes! I wonder if they were the same group we saw in Budapest? Their leathers had different chapters from the UK, Austria etc. On the way back down stopped at the house where Beethoven stayed to write the 6th symphony and had a glass of wine in the lovely garden. Edith kindly invited us to dinner at a restaurant (called the Vienna Woods) in the courtyard of the Scotts Monastery. We each had a nice chicken dinner and much pleasant conversation. Edith had to come back to the Süd-bahnhof to catch her train home so she saw us off and we said Auf Wiedersehen.

Vienna-13 8th June

2007-06-08T19:15:00.000+10:00

Friday, mild to warm sunny day and slept well in a dark and quiet room. Fluffed a bit getting organised in the morning, a bit of journalling, looking at maps and washing clothes in the shower. Our room is on the 3rd floor and looks out over a sort of tram exchange. they come in and a guy blows a whistle for them to stop, he then uses a big lever/crow bar to change the tracks and the tram heads off in another direction. Continental breakfast and then out into the street to get our bearings in the day time. Yesterday was a public holiday, so there will be people taking today off as well and making a long weekend of it. Walked along a mall to get back to the station and used the code Guenter had given us to get our ticket out of a machine - it worked, great! another thing sorted.

Spied Edith at the statue and said our hello’s before walking out across the intersection to Belvedere. Edith was a fount of knowledge of Viennese/Austrian/European history and a great guide. We wound our way around the old city of Vienna and were surprised time and time gain when a new place or church appeared out of nowhere! Had a stop at a Tresniewski shop for some sandwiches of cucumber & egg and herring & onion and a pfiffe (a fifth or a whistle) glass of beer. Stood up at a little round table out on the street for this special experience. Edith continued picking out the highlights for us and took us for a lovely coffee and cake at the L.Heiner cafe. Caught a tram to Schonbrunn (good spring) Schloss (palace) and walked past the post office where Edith’s grandfather used to work (he actually got to deliver a letter addressed to the emperor. Beautiful gardens and nice shade to walk in and lots of birds and few squirrels. It’s all amazing and looks expensive, the aristocracy sure did it in style. The conservatory in the palace gardens below (three climate zones even!).

Back into the city and off to the Volks Theatre to rendezvous with Guenter at 7. Then onto tram line D and up to the Heurigen (Vienna’s renowned wine taverns) for a lovely dinner. Lots of people out in the balm weather, kids still running around at 10:30pm! Good-bye to Guenter, and headed back to Süd-bahnhof and goodnight to Edith when she had to change stations one stop before us. We agreed to meet her again tomorrow afternoon at the Opera house and head up to the Vienna woofs in the afternoon.

Bled-Vienna-12b 7th June

2007-06-08T08:19:00.000+10:00

Thursday cont...

I tried out the free internet service at the station but could only check mail - no blog post unfortunately. It’s proving a bit difficult to get connected at the rate we are moving. Wendy and Ash went off to the shops to find something to eat on the train. The train trip was great and the train wound it’s way along the river bank through Slovenia and then climbed up through the mountains into Austria. Ash managed to call Edith on the mobile (she’s a sister of Imri, a lovely lady he’d met in Glasgow who kindly showed him around the city) and despite the short notice, she agreed to meet us at the station (next to the carved lion statue) and show us a round Vienna for the afternoon on Friday. We had also been in touch with another person, Guenter (who is an acquaintance of Bruce) and we had agreed to meet on Friday evening for dinner. Guenter had also managed to sort out our train ticket reservations to Krakow - a champion!

Arrived in Vienna on time at the huge Süd-bahnhof (railway station). Same old type of place with all sorts hanging around and lots of different languages being spoken. Always tricky to orient yourself when landing in a new place with no familiar surroundings, late at night and with a reference map that makes getting to the accommodation easy and is way too abbreviated. Bumped into some folks who had just done a day trip to Prague on the train, but they couldn’t help. Found an info booth and managed to get hold of a very detailed map and in the end Ash got us oriented. We found our pension (in an older neighbour hood) after about a 30 minute walk and we crashed once again around midnight (don’t know how we manage to keep doing it). Our itinerary sure is hectic, trying to cover so much in the limited time we have. I’d like to think that we are doing some fact finding and determining which places we might like to come back too.

Bled-12 7th June

2007-06-08T08:18:00.000+10:00

Thursday, my how the time flies - will be two weeks on the road in a couple of days. Not that it’s all been on the road, there’s been air, water and rail as well.

Had a great breakfast served up by Damian and we decided to head off to the Vintgar Gorge in the Triglav national park. Our host kindly helped us drop our bags off at the bus station and then took us out to the gorge so we only had the 3km walk back to do. What a character, a wizened little man with grey whiskers and a little sign-song going on in his head all the time (a little, “hm, ho, he, hum”). Always chattering and giving us the available options (for dinner, transport, walks etc.) and asking if we are satisfied and to do what we want and he will help. His son has spent some time in Australia traveling around so he has a soft spot for Aussies. Lots of things to say about Slovenia and it’s history and how the small country can be very proud of itself. The village where we were is close by to the town where the national poet Preseren was born. This guy had a troubled life and after falling in love with ‘Julia’ (who didn’t return the affection and according to Damian was ugly!) became depressed, wrote some great poetry and slowly became ill and died.

The gorge was amazing, a beautiful walk along the water’s edge on either wooden walkway or a gravel path and there simple wooden bridges crossing the torrent every now and then. The water was pristine and clear and you could see the trout swimming in the shadows of overhanging trees. The weather was overcast (threatening to rain) so it was dark in the gorge and there was a mist due to the spray of water over the rocks. It was a 30 minute walk to the waterfall at the end and we met a few busloads of people on the way back (school groups of year 9s on an end of school year excursion and lots of tourists (like us). We stopped for a coffee and then braved the drizzle to head back through the old alpine village to Bled. The smell of farms was strong and many of the buildings; house, barns and sheds were right next to the road. Lots of nice looking wood stacks, drying cobs of corn, dark timbered barns with silage piles next to the doors to feed the cows and hay drying racks dotted about the hillsides. All very picturesque and would be absolutely amazing to see in the winter. Back in Bled we stocked up at the Mecator (supermarket) for lunch supplies and caught the bus back to Ljubljana.

Ljubljana-Bled-11 6th June

2007-06-06T03:28:00.001+10:00

Wednesday, and time to check out of the Hostel Celica.

Did have a walk into the city last night after a bowl of vegie soup and bread shouted by a couple of Aussie guys who over-did the stock, but had bought heaps of fresh vegetables at the market and filled up a pot. Yum! On the way in to see the lights of the city we found and internet cafe that was closing but they did sell me half an hour of WiFi (€1.50). We had to sit outside in the dark (first time I was really glad that the MacBook keys light up!) on the footpath while checking email and uploading a few days of blog...

The prison hostel sure was interesting, a real hostel with lots of people coming and going, backpacks everywhere and the three computers/internet always being used. You can hire bikes, which is a great way to get around and see the city. The idea to give free reign to some designers to convert an old building with that particular configuration was surely inspired. While the rooms are small and a fixed space to work in, the challenge was taken up and they’ve done an admiral job. Lots of timber and nice touches like designer handrails (carved out of natural timber/branches), unique spaces made to fit in under the slope of the roof and modular furniture. The top floor has dorms, the middle floor two, three and four bed cells and then the ground floor has reception, lounge (a sort of dark retreat with reed/woven cushions for seating), cafe/bar dining area and outdoor space. There are toilets on each floor and also a kitchen up stairs as well as a meditation room. It’s a pity you can still smoke in designated areas in the building because the smell wafts every where. They did have some live music last night and it seems to be a regular feature. A guitar, piano accordion, clarinet, drum and guitar - they went till after 12 and seemed to be improvising and playing songs 20 minutes long. It wasn’t too bad, and had gypsy & Mediterranean themes.

Happy birthday Wendy! After a good breakfast we celebrated by heading off to the charming/picturesque town of Bled, one and a bit hours out of Ljubljana. Buses go every hour on the hour and forked out €18.90. Also bought our train ticket for tomorrow - just need to pay for the bit inside Slovenia, from Ljubljana to Maribor.

It was only about 50 kms to Bled and a nice, quite ride. Walked down to the lake from the bus stop and found a place to have a coffee at. Ash rang the hostel (Jakelj Backpackers House) and the guy offered to come and pick our bags up and then collect us at the end of the day, great! So we set off around the lake (about 6kms). Made it a bit of an amble and just enjoyed the pleasant weather (slightly overcast and cool in the shade). The lake is beautiful with clear emerald green water and surrounded by forest. Stopped halfway for some soup and then hired a clinker dingy to row out to the island with the baroque Church of the Assumption on it (you’ll get the idea if you look up Bled, Slovenia on Google Earth). Really enjoyed being on the water and hearing the oars splashing as we rowed the 10 minutes out to the island. An amazing stairway leads up from the water to the church (roof under restoration) and makes for a special place and a very nice way to spend the afternoon. You can hear the church bells ringing regularly and it all makes for a nice ambience and it’s good to be alive and in good company.

Damian came and picked us up at 7 pm and took us to the hostel and we had a three course home cooked meal for dinner. He likes to chat and speaks English quite well, gave us a few anecdotes and a potted history of Slovenia and his life.

Ljubljana-10 5th June

2007-06-06T03:28:00.000+10:00

Tuesday, Had a nice breakfast (included!) at the Hostel and checked some email. Thanks for the comments on the blog - appreciate the encouragement. It’s hard to find the time to sit and write some times but yesterday on the train was easy and then there’s usually a rest time towards evening before we go out looking for something to eat. I’m keeping my writing on my laptop and haven’t found it that easy to find places where I can plug it in. There are wireless services around the place but even then I don’t want to be too preoccupied looking for those. Have to get the photos off the camera and then resize them but that’s not too hard, picking out a few is the hard bit (have taken about 1700 so far)...

Walked into the centre of Ljubljana this morning and enjoyed poking around the streets. A river runs through the middle of the old part of town and there’s lots of bridges and cafes. Walked down the river a bit and then had a nice coffee on the way back towards the town hall and saw a little cobbled street that led up to the castle and decided to climb up. Very nice little walk and not too strenuous. The weather was overcast and coolish so didn’t get too hot. The castle was an amazing complex with bits of old and bits of new and they’ve done a good job integrating it all. Ash and I climbed the tower (with a fantastic view) and saw a virtual tour and history of Ljubljana (3D animation type thing watched with goggles). Saw a photographic display of a short history of Slovenia, lots of wars and finally independence only in the 1990s.

Enjoyed the walk back down and wandered past the funicular railway that takes the lazy people up to the castle. Ended up at the open air market and tried a Burek for lunch. Got a cheese and a meat one. Very tasty and filled us up nicely. Walked back into the centre with the three bridges and found out where to catch the bus tomorrow and where something was that Asher wants to go to tonight.

It got cooler and then went grey and a thunderstorm broke and then it rained and then it poured! Everybody seemed to pull out an umbrella (even Wendy) and we had to go for our coats. Once it stopped raining we visited the University library designed by the local architect Joze Plecnik (18-1957). He had quite an influence on the look and design of the city public spaces. Went further on to find some of the other features he designed and stopped at a church near where he used to live. Live organ music! Fantastic. Stayed for a couple of numbers... Headed back into town and then out to the Tivoli gardens. They are amazing - huge and lots of lawns and trees, birds and squirrels.

Budapest to Ljubljana-9 4th June

2007-06-03T01:33:00.000+10:00

Monday, awoke with good intentions but things moved along slowly (the day already a warm at 7:30!). Headed of the the supermarket and then had bacon and eggs for breakfast with juice and coffee - yum. Got packed and headed out (saying goodbye to PET-1) and onto the metro to get to the other side of the river to check-in the packs and buy the extra leg of the train trip (Hobos-Ljubljana). Took ages to get the tickets, some people just stand there telling their life story while we wait patiently, anyway, coughed up the money (couldn’t get Ash a student price) and went out into the sunshine.

We had a couple of hours to wander the castle precinct and climbed up some stairs to get to the wall and then did a semi-circumnavigation before finding the entry gate. Meandered up to the Mathias Cathedral and stopped for a coffee and strudel before heading over to the ramparts. A group of kinder kids stopped at the same cafe and all got themselves a small ice cream cone. I think they thought we were a bit of an attraction - speaking English etc. Enjoyed the sit down for a few minutes and then walked over to a fantastic view of the Pest side across the river. Promised ourselves to have a coffee at the cafe in the ramparts next time we come. There was a small climb up a tower but not worth the money and we decided to not go into the church (also a fee). Did make a quick call home but the phone booth was in the sun and it was getting warm Reubs has finished for the semester and Matt has to wait for his exam. Walked on to the Castle and bumped into a changing of the guard - 4 soldiers and their sergeant all with shiny swords, and a bugler playing some march. We then realised it was time to head back and rushed the last little back down.

Got back to the station a bit hot but not too bothered and with 10-15 minutes to spare. Collected the bags and walked/climbed straight onto the train next to the baggage store on platform one. Found a 6 seat compartment for ourselves ad I raced back out to buy some fruit with the left over Forints I had. It was a pleasant train ride but we changed direction twice (like the locomotive un-coupled it self and went to the other end of the train and we started back the way we came) so couldn’t follow our path all that well on the map. Had some nice rye bread, brie, salami and tomato sandwiches and enjoyed the quiet of the train (not a lot of people bustling about). I did a bit of reading, Ash tinkered with his new antique watch and Wendy did a bit of dozing. It was a warm day but we did pass through some rain which cooled things down a bit. Stopped at Hodos for Hungarian and Slovenian passport control and the ticket collector. Through lots of farming country (corn, wheat and potatoes) and hay making. every home we saw up against the railway tracks had a garden (has tempted me to think about developing my green thumb when we get home).

Once into Slovenia started seeing high mountains in the distance and quaint villages with churches on the hilltops. Met a young Slovenian guy (who joined us in our compartment - the train filled up as it headed closer to the capital) who’s doing orthopedic study at Uni and got a few good tips from him (spoke very good English). Arrived in Ljubljana about half an hour late so that made it 10:00 pm. Found an ATM and got some Euros to pay for the hostel celica. The building used to be a jail and the cells have all been converted to bedrooms from 2-4 people and there’s a dorm upstairs. It’s all modern and laid out by interior designers/artists so it should be an interesting place. Ljubljana is a lot slower than Budapest and much smaller, walked for 10 minutes to get to the hostel and checked in. Our ‘cell’ was much smaller than the 2 bedroom apartment we had the night before. Two single beds with a narrow gap between and Ash got the bunk bed which went across the room above the door (there’s a barred cell door and a wooden door outside that). Very tight and just enough room to get rid of pack a small table under the window and a fan! (reminded me of the Castlemaine jail and how warm that was) The place was still doof, doofing, so I had a shower and then went for a beer with Ash while Wendy ht the sack. Crashed around midnight. Ahhh, sleep, come and take me away...

Budpest-8 3rd June

2007-06-03T01:28:00.001+10:00

Sunday. Ash and Wendy headed out to a flea market while I stayed in the apartment. Cleaned up a little and did some washing. Read my book for a while and dozed off. We had some lunch together after they came back and I heard the stories and saw the acquisitions. Ash scored a brilliant little coffee machine called a Gomba (mushroom) and Wendy found some little notebooks and some utensils. We then headed out to ride the public transport and ended up down the river edge at the Ludwig Museum/Budapest Museum of Contemporary Art which is part of the new Palace of Arts. Nice new buildings and some great art installations in the gardens. Rode a tram back up towards the Parliament buildings and found some lunch before walking the length of Margaret Island. It’s amazing with sports ovals, aquatic centre, plenty of gardens, large trees, benches, paths, ancient ruins, jogging track, a hotel etc. and must be nearly 3 kms long...and it’s got the Danube on both sides!

Ended up in the castle district (on the Buda side) and got the lie of the land (more of that tomorrow) and walked back over the Chain Bridge (lots of spiders catching little bugs attracted to all the lights) as well as using up more opportunities on our day ticket on the public transport. Back home and to bed (crashing again!)

Budpest-7 2nd June

2007-06-03T01:28:00.000+10:00

Saturday, and a slow start to the day. Up early, but feeling poorly so did a bit of a sleep in, and headed out after 10 to look for an internet place. The one we had on a list wasn’t there so kept walking and decided to head up the main cultural avenue. Did come across an open internet cafe so posted some blog stuff and we all did some email. Also checked out St. Stephen’s Basilica which was beautiful inside and had a nice aesthetic, majestic, calm and richly ornate. It was very busy though (tour groups etc.) and there were about 60 Harley Davidson bikes parked outside (didn’t see any black leather inside though, they must have been out getting a coffee). It had started raining and there had been thunderclaps, but once we headed up the boulevard the rain stopped and it got kind of muggy.

Ended up at Heros Square and walked through the City Park gardens looking for a market that was suppose to be on. Didn’t find that so headed back and decided to go take the waters. Had a great sausage (quickly reheated with a heavy iron pressing them down onto the grill) and mustard at a road-side cafe before heading into the mineral baths. Ash headed off on his own while we experience a range of water temperatures a hot sauna and I braved the cold plunge pool. All great and rejuvenating! Lots of people having a good time in the pools outside and others relaxing in the heated mineral pools inside.

Caught the oldest underground in Europe back down under the boulevard. Hooked up again with Ash before he choofed off to pick up Keith and Emmy for another diner rendezvous at a cafe that wasn’t open (being saturday some shut after lunch!) - but we found something else fairly quickly. I had a “Been Soup with sour cream” with lots of sausage and very tasty, fantastic! After tea farewells to the happy couple and a, “see you in Holland in July”.

One of the pleasant sounds around these old cities is the ringing bells. Either on the hour (to help those without a watch), or a call to worship. Have heard them in Melbourne (mostly St. Paul’s) but not much in Geelong.

Budpes(h)t-6b 1st June

2007-06-03T01:27:00.000+10:00

So, arrival in Budapest continued...

Found our way to where the PET1 apartment and found the door after asking a few folk about the address (there was no sign - it’s part of a residential building). Couldn’t work out how to get in or what to do, so found a seat at an outdoor cafe and rang the guy. He was actually waiting on the street for us and must have turned up just as we walked away, he was expecting us earlier but due to the ferry being late... There was some initial confusion because Keith and Emmy were with us and he thought we were only three people. Anyway got everything sorted and found ourselves in a very pleasant (new) two bedroom apt. We then all went down to the river for a coffee and chatted for a while watching the rest of Budapest go by. Very nice sunset over the river behind the castle. Went up to K & E’s room at the Sofitel and had a great view of it all. Went out for some very nice goulash and wine for dinner and crashed into a beautiful bed and let sleep take me over.

Bratislava-Budpes(h)t-6 1st June

2007-05-30T05:44:00.001+10:00

Beautiful morning and had breakfast before heading out (around 8:30) to see the cemetery that Wendy had checked out earlier that morning. Through a park that was just waking up and to a walled cemetery that was like a walled park. Lots of birds, trees and shade, benches and a range of monuments. Very peaceful and quiet away from the busy streets. A lady was doing laps in her joggers and tracksuit and we found a nice place in the sun to sit and eat some delicacies from a bakery we’d past on the way. Had to be at the ferry port for 10 so went back , grabbed our bags, checked out, and stopped at Tesco to pick up some stuff for lunch. A short walk under sufferance (heavy packs - except Wendy had her 6kg wheelie thing happening) and down to the river.

On board the hydrofoil and pleasant cruising (although the old airplane seats are falling apart, the engines are noisy and the diesel fumes sneak in now and then) till we got to a lock at Gabckovo. Pulled up in time to fit in with a few other boats and found out that the difference in levels was 17 meters!. An interesting experience as it closed behind us and all the water was pumped/let out and we dropped down 6 stories... We had actually been traveling down a ‘managed’ section of the rier where the river is contained and the water used to generate hydro electricity. Lunch on the ferry and we sailed past Esztergom at 1:55 which was a town old Roman fortresses and ancient library etc. I suppose there are a few of those around this art of the world. The scenery then got a little hilly as we wound our way to Budapest.

Arrived about half an hour late and pulled up to the wharf after an amazing last few minutes of sailing past the city skyline from the vantage point of the river. Keith and Emmy where waiting at the quay! Had to go through passport control and then said gidday and had a big hug, fantastic to see each other on the other side of the world!

Bratislava-5 31st May

2007-05-30T05:44:00.000+10:00

Thursday today, woke up to sunshine and promise. Let’s see Bratislava! Thought we’d start with the castle first so meandered our way through the old old and up the hill to the castle. Everything is old and lots of renovations going on behind the facades. The architecture is basically a 3-4 stories block with a courtyard that is entered from the street through a large gate (or cars etc.) which has a small door in it for people. Inside it’s either residential or offices and shops (which are also facing the street. Groups of tradesmen wear the same coloured overalls (purple, green or blue) depending on the company they work for. People seem happy though and want to help despite the language barrier.

The castle was fairly plain (like a big house not a medieval castle) and not even square, but had great views of the city and across the Danube. There was a barge making slow headway against the current, which we’ll be doing tomorrow on the hydrofoil. Lots of school groups on excursions visiting the historic places with their teachers (bit like going to Sovereign Hill...). Walked back down behind the castle and found a nice cafe for a latte and listened to a bit of Pink Floyd.

Had a great hearty lunch at the U Jakubu (soup and a mains) and we all tried something different. It’s a self serve type of place but you do ask them to put what you want on a plate. It’s quite popular and there was a queue out the door when we arrived. Had to rest up for a while to let it all settle before heading of towards the river via the St. Elizabeth’s Church (Blue church and under renovation) and past the university down to the riverside. Past a playground that seemed to be secure - like one way in and one way out... Then back into the old part of town and the Slovak national theatre building. Found a nice park bench and relaxed for a while before heading down the Hviezdoslavovo nam (boulevard). Back past the big St. Martin’s Cathedral and found an art gallery that Asher had a wander through. Went to a nice looking cafe but heir coffee machine was ‘kaput!’ so went to a takeaway for a nice coffee and strudel nd sat in the late afternoon sun enjoying that watching the security working at the American Embassy. Did a big loop back to the hostel via the Grassalkovich Presidential Palace (complete with two guards in old-style costumes) and the gardens behind, as well walking down the Obchodna mall.

Had a short rest and a cuppa before heading out for a pizza and quick stop at Tesco for some breakfast supplies and a wander though the streets to se how things are lit up at night. Very nice! It was quiet and easy to walk in the mild weather (although past 10:00 pm) looking up at the buildings lit up to make them look a little like cardboard cutouts. Walking back down the boulevard munching our way through a bag of potato chips (the salt burning my lips just right) and enjoying the ambiance of the low murmur from the sidewalk cafes and the (just the right amount of) people enjoying the evening stroll. A very pleasant way to finish the day.

Walked and walked everywhere again (a pedometer would be working overtime, like smoking even) but it’s the best way to absorb the sights and smells and the public transport takes time too. Tired at the end of the day and the feet are sore but it’s all good.

Bratislava-4 30th May

2007-05-30T05:43:00.001+10:00

Made it onto the train for our first trip and found two seats facing each other with a table in between, yipee. Then we found out we had landed in a smoking section, yuck! Looked further into the carriage (past the barrier that said smoking one side and non-smoking on the other) and saw another set of seats. Moved down to them, and hoisted pack onto the racks and sat down in comfort, yipee! Three young people from Las Vegas sat opposite so we chatted a bit with them. They’re doing a whirlwind tour of most of Europe (left and right and top and bottom) in six weeks. They’ll be getting good value from the Eurail Pass!

Travelled through the Czech Republic covering some flat farm land for the 160kms and then got into low hills with forests and farms in the valleys. It’s all very green and lush. Haven’t seen many animals (only a few sheep) so must be mostly crop farming (seen some young corn). Got into Bratislava on time and used the ATM (bankomat) to get some Slovakian Korun. It’s very beautiful looking money, nice designs and great colours, and difficult to give it away. So as well as having value as a medium of exchange, it also has an aesthetic value. Caught the right tram (bought a ticket for 10 minutes and hoped there wasn’t a traffic jam!) into town and everything went smoothly getting to the hostel. Found the local Tesco supermarket and stocked up on food, had a late cuppa with some Slovakian delicacy/sweet bun and crashed! (I think crashing at the end of the day will be par for the course).

Prague-3 30th May

2007-05-30T05:43:00.000+10:00

It’s Thursday and cool (long pants and a jumper today). Checked out and left our bags in storage and headed off the check out the railway station to validate our rail pass while Ash went to check out the Communist Museum. I don’t like public transport hubs like bus and rail stations, generally dirty, too many poor people trying to keep warm, beggars, scammers and drug dealers. They are excellent displays of the seedy side of life, are a bit depressing, and effect my sensitivity to the point of running away and not wanting to deal with anything. Anyway, took a deep breath and got in a queue for international tickets and waited ages for a couple of old ladies to sort out their business before we found out we were at the wrong station. Did find out which metro to catch to get to the correct one, got our ticket stamped with 30th May and made our back into the old town towards the Jewish quarter.

Tried to find a cafe with internet but lucked out and got a little frustrated of walking around sort of wasting time. Texted Ash and we rendezvoused for a coffee back in the Sq. Had a bit of a chat about our modus operandi with regard to doing stuff and sorted out some things. Decided to head back to pick up the packs and headed to the (proper) station. Found some postcards and a small book on Franz Kafka to spend the last of our money on. Bought tickets for the subway (you have to buy a half price ticket for your bags!) and did the down and up the escalator trick. Hung out the Holesovice station and found out that we could reserve a seat on the train (for an extra $15) but decided not to do it, had some lunch of rye bread, mustard, tomato, sausage and cheese washed down with milk. Rang Bratislava to confirm the hostel (made me feel better when they said they were expecting us) and used up our Czech phone card to ring home to let the boys know we were OK.

Prague-2 29th May

2007-05-29T16:06:00.000+10:00

It was a cooler evening after the rain and that helped make for a good sleep. Overcast and slightly damp in the morning and aiming for only 22 degrees. Made a bit of a plan last night so after breakfast headed back down to the bridge and grabbed a coffee on the way. Very quite at 9 in the morning and stall holders just starting to set up. Dodged the groups of school kids making their way across the bridge and the early punters getting in their photos in front of landmarks. A couple of guys sitting patiently in boats in the river doing some fishing and a barge with a huge (advertising) beer bottle on board navigating it’s way up the river.

Walked up from the river and stopped at the St. Nicholas church (on Lesser Town). So full-on baroque it’s nearly overwhelming. Marble and frescoes galore and lots of St. Nicholas’. Found the lovely gardens (Wallenstein Gardens and Palace) adjoining the parliament/senate buildings and enjoyed a wander around them. Saw the fake stalactite grotto, giant carp in the pond and noisy peacocks (including an all white one) walking around. Snack of rolls with cheese and salami much appreciated. On to the palace after walking the streets and looking for the national gallery. Once there, saw some nice religious icons, an outdoor sculpture exhibition, an amazing creaking parquetry floor and a Bronzino portrait of Eleonora z Toleda. There was a security guard who paced around his set track like an automaton and kept uttering some guttural phrase under his breath whenever he turned around, a bit mad maybe? After that, found Wendy (who didn’t come to the gallery), rang the boys at home and all’s well with them. It was windy and cold, so jackets were on and we had to find a bench to sit and have some more food.

Wandered further up hill (Uvoz St.) to the Strahov library (in the Strahov Monastery of the Premonstratensian Order) which has a couple of very old libraries (philosophy and theology) dating back to the baroque. Amazing to see but you have to wonder when the last time the books where actually looked at, some are definitely looking a bit musty/mouldy. All the women working there looked like they might be related and they didn’t smile. seems to be a Czech trait, that you don’t respond to people with a smile. Haven’t seen many shop keepers who are outwardly pleased to see you, or people working in the galleries etc. that look they enjoy their job. There seem to be lots of tradesmen around (stone and cement repair) but I suppose it depends which part of the city you are. There were diplomat/politician types at the the senate buildings and I’m sure out in the suburbs things are different to the city. No idea what’s it’s like to be in the suburbs, but you can see the apartment block out or town a kilometer or two.

Found our way back down to the river via the Mala Strana area (saw a little dead mole on the track - different from a mouse or rat in that they are more like tube of fur rather than a tapered/pointy sack) and walked through the Praha 1 section and had a nice coffee, hot chocolate (the spoon nearly stood up in it!) and a glass of grog (hot rum drink) in a small cafe. Witnessed a fair bit of peak hour traffic with lots of cars (on the wrong side of the road) and the red and cream trams taking people somewhere.

Ended up crossing a bridge up from the Charles bridge and wandering back down the old city side of the river with late (7:00 pm) sunshine warming us a little. Had some minestrone and pizza (with beer) for dinner and back to the hostel around 10 pm. Did stop at the supermarket on the way back to get some stuff for tomorrow and also something for a nightcap, peanuts and some Becherovka (the national drink - herbal liqueur with cloves and aniseed). Tomorrow a bit more of Prague and then an afternoon train to Bratislava in Slovakia.

Prague-2b 29th May

2007-05-29T15:47:00.000+10:00

It was actually quite a warm day and we heard that it got to 35 degrees. There was respite from the sunshine with clouds scudding across the sky to give some shade. Spectacular clouds formed later in the day and there were thunderstorms and, while it didn’t start raining, we did catch a few large drops on the way back over the river. Enjoyed some of the wholesome Czech culinary delights in the evening (downstairs at the Rudolphfina). Some duck and sauerkraut, beef and dumplings and chicken schnitzel and potato washed down with large mugs of beer. While in the restaurant I noticed people coming in with wet shoulders and realised the storm had broken. Walked back through the wet streets and as we got back to the old square, heard the end of a concert and watched the people come pouring out of the hall as the applause continued...

Prague-2 28th May

2007-05-29T01:08:00.000+10:00

Slept like a dead man. Woke up around 7ish and felt refreshed but a bit overwhelmed on realising where we were. Ash took charge and walked us to a supermarket for some buttermilk, muesli and yoghurt, jam and a couple of cheese and bacon rolls. Found a bench under a tree and had a nice breakfast. Prices seem comparable with those at home - the thing that is cheaper is the beer (roughly $1 for a 500ml can, pub price is about $2.50 for 500ml). Walked around a bit (you seem to do that in Prague as the old city meanders everywhere, but if you keep walking you’ll end up where you want to be) and found a nice cafe for a latte and chatted while watching the city start to wake up.

Decided to go on a free walking tour of Prague (found a brochure at the hostel) and joined a group of 20 people at 10:30 am who were capably led by Libor. He’s part of a group of other entrepreneurs who have just started the free Prague tours (two weeks ago!) and ask that if you enjoyed the tour to show your appreciation by tipping the guide. We ended up walking for about three and a half hours (just about non-stop) and learnt heaps of the history of the city and Czech history and culture. We covered the Old and New Town, Jewish Quarter, Charles Bridge, Prague Castle and must have walked about 8-9 kms! Ash and I climbed the stairs in the Cathedral and had some great views of the city.

We did see some special places that are hidden behind large doors and gates. Rose gardens, amazing churches and quaint little alleys along with great examples of different architectural styles from the gothic through to rococo. In one of the old churches people flaunt the rules about photography and keeping quite. When I heard a mobile go off, I turned around ready to show someone me most scornful look only to see a cassocked priest (long black robe with the white rope knotted around his waist) answer his phone in dulcet ones and sounding like he was giving a liturgy, beautiful!

Lot’s of work going on in the city, renovations happening in the old buildings and cobble stones being repaired, big ones in the roads and small ones on the footpaths. It’s always worth it to look up and see what’s above your eyeline, reflections in windows, statues etc. on buildings, and roof lines are all interesting. It’s difficult to get a sense of the real city, business, university, government as it’s all in an other language and we’re really only focussing on the tourist things. Would be fun to spend a few weeks here and check out the art and music and other culture. Will check the email and post this before finding a place for dinner soon and then a nice long sleep...

London Heathrow-Gatwick

2007-05-27T17:37:00.001+10:00

Arrived a little early but then spent 35 minutes parked on a runway waiting for other planes to move etc. The slowest part was getting through passport control and walked straight through customs. Found the coach and enjoyed a relaxing ride to Gatwick and made good time. Looks like it’s all coming together. Fingers crossed all goes smoothly with EasyJet. Can’t believe we’ll be in Prague tonight and will catch up with Asher.

It’s a long way from Hong Kong to London! 10,500 kms. and takes a long time (even at ~900kms and hour) especially when you are trying to sleep. We flew over China and Russia rather then the middle East (didn’t have to wonder why). The food was OK but we were in seats that got served last. The guy with the little skull cap a couple of rows ahead, seemed to get special (kosher) treatment every time (like first served). There were a few brave mums with little ones on their laps and (on this leg) I sat next to Hillary who has just retired from work and treated herself to a trip to Australia (Melbourne and the Barrier Reef). There was a bunch of chunky rugby players (from the army) at the back of the plane but didn’t hear from them. Watched the History Boys and something forgettable with Hugh Grant and about song writing. Read a bit of book and slept fitfully. Must try and get row 46 or 57 next time, they’re on the exits so lots of leg room (but next to the toilets!). Walking out of the plane it looked like a bomb had gone off. Rubbish, blankets, pillow, wrappers, sleeping masks and other rubbish everywhere! what a mess but not surprising considering the amount of people in the space.

Heathrow looks old, and quite a few turbans worn by staff at the airport. It’s not as organised as Tullamarine! The coach was comfortable and Wendy’s had a snooze. A motley crew on the bus, africans, french, indian and asians as well as the ubiquitous anglos. There’s only one colour outside the bus: GREEN. We were on a motor-way through some farms country with white sheep in the green meadows and the occasional field of yellow daisies.

Checked in at Gatwick early and had a wander, no seats anywhere except for a smattering at various ends of the terminal. Bought some food at Marks & Spencer so we wouldn’t get hungry on the plane. Once through customs/security back in retail heaven (need to keep reminding myself that a pound is over $2.60!), have an hour and a half to waste so will try to find a free wifi spot (out of about 8 networks that come up) and post this... If it works, talk to you from Prague... other wise, talk to you from Prague!

Prague-1 27th May

2007-05-27T17:37:00.000+10:00

It was only a two hour flight in a new Airbus 319 and putting our clock forward an hour and we were in Praha. The real trip starts now. (have set my laptop to local time so hopefully the posts will be chronological)

Our eldest (who has been traveling for a couple of months already) met us at the airport and had brought some dinner (rye bread with salami and cheese with a beer to wash it down) and had organised tickets for us to get to town (a bus halfway in and then about 4 stops on the metro). Up a very long escalator (keep to the right if you’re not climbing) and into the old city at Mustek station. Another reality! Everything is cobble stones, windy (like, all over the place), buildings 3-5 stories high, lots of different smells, beggars, tourists with maps and all a fair bit to cope with at 11pm after traveling for about 32 hours! We walked through the old town square on the way to the hostel and it was packed with people for the millennium clock to chime the hour. Lots of languages being spoken, tour guides spruiking to tight knitted groups and the ubiquitous digital cameras flashing for all their worth.

Checked into the Tyn hostel after a few minutes walk from the sqaure and paid our 4600Kc (thank goodness for ATMs) for three nights. Had a great hot shower and washed off a fair bit of travel grime before crashing...

zee plane, zee plane

2007-05-26T17:37:00.000+10:00

Melbourne to London (like, are we there yet?) equals nearly 24 hours of travel. QANTAS have been good with the food, watched The Pursuit of Happyness, talked to a sound engineer who was going to Hong Kong to test the noise that helicopters make, read a few pages of Confessions of a Thirteenth Man, slept fitfully (little girl in front of us kept having a sook). It’s all a bit rude trying to sleep in a room with 300-400 people and lots of attendants scurrying around.

Currently on the ground in Hong Kong for an hour and a bit and tried to have a power nap in the transit lounge. Very early in the morning so not much happening. I’m going to have to try get some more sleep on the next leg. Wendy’s got the aisle so can poke her legs out a little. The new rules for liquids make it a pain to carry water on and off the plane, it’s only a small hassle though.

Hove found the free wifi internet access so will post this along with the earlier scribble I did at Tullamarine. Can I be jealous of those lightweight travelers with only a wallet and their iPod?

Tullamarine-departure

2007-05-26T17:36:00.000+10:00

Said goodbye to the Matt in Geelong and Reub’s drove us to the airport. Said our farewells on the ramp and wandered in and over to the checkin counter when I realised that I’d left my phone in the car! Didn’t have my phone so couldn’t ring to get Reubs to come back - so rang my own number and after a 7 minute panic Reubs pulled up outside (after doing a u turn on the freeway). Phew, hope I’ve got the moz out of the way doing that stunt.

Checked in (me 16.3 kg & Wendy 6.7 kg) lots of people in the queue with just a light bag and a few with the humungus 25 kg jobs. pushing the limits. Very cosmopolitan bunch, quite a few Asians heading home (we stop in HongKong) and smattering of everyone else. Sat down to fill in the forms and arrange the backpacks (managed to pack the sleeping tablets in my big pack!) had an apple and filled up on water. Watching the folk walking around the airport is engaging (rather then interesting) but everyone seems to be on a mission so there’s not much engagement other than furtive glances. The Indian girl pushing a small wheelchair, the tall dude with the long leather coat and the haircut, the elderly couple looking anxious and pacing back and forth, the airport staff with lots of accreditation around their necks, kids racing around in luggage trolleys, and the regular announcements over the loud speaker. “Could, Macollig Jusfahted and Lefderoom De Bahsted, please come to the Emirates counter”. ;-) Thought about buying some pounds but I’d booked the Heathrow-Gatwick coach just before we left so won’t need to buy a ticket.

So here we are, after all the organising and tidying loose ends (not like driving down to the block!) and heading off on long service leave. Have to remind my self that this is the reward for good and faithful service. Will be fun to see a bit of Eastern Europe, attend the Thinking Conference in Norrköping (look it up on Google Earth) and then spend time in Holland visiting the relatives. I’m glad we are finally on our way and looking forward to seeing Ash in Prague. I’ve been feeling the stress of it all and hope that now we’re on our way things will settle down a bit I can relax and enjoy the ride.

nothing happening yet

2007-05-19T16:34:00.000+10:00

still a week to go, so come visit again on the 26th May...