Ok,
There's a fair bit to say about my journey post Majorca so bear with me cause this is going to be long. I'll try and cut out a lot of unnecessary detail but there is a bit to cover. Upon returning to Austria, I set up camp at Siegfried's place for a day or two to help him celebrate his birthday. He and I then ventured into Northern Austria for some hiking in the mountains. This also involved a visit to an ice cave, which I must say is rather interesting. Instead of the formations being made of rocks, they are all made of ice. Very pretty but it's rather cold in them.
After a couple of days on the road hiking around the Alps, I returned to Vienna where I said my final auf wiedersehen to Siegfriend and his friends and headed to Berlin, via Stuttgart airport. I flew an airline called "FlyDBA" and without a word of a lie, the inflight magazine is Playboy. Yep, people just took these as they entered the plane without batting an eyelid. I indulged also purely to see if it's the same "quality" magazine as it is in Australia. Indeed is it.
My next two days were in Berlin where I took in all the sights I could, including a walk along 1.3kms of the original Berlin Wall, a stop at the infamous Checkpoint Charlie, a walk through the Topographie of Terrors, sighting Brandenburg Gate and visits to both Berliner Dom and the Reichstag. From Berlin, I headed to Hamburg by high speed train where I met up with a colleague Karen and his significant other. Karen showed me all around Hamburg, including its Reeperbahn/St Pauli which is the notorious "sex industry" area. I've never seen anything like it and words I type here really can't convey how open they are about prostitution. I had two days in Hamburg and toured around the city and its port, churches and markets. If you're looking for a cheap, very new, funky hotel, stay at the YoHo. Specifically for younger people, it's very affordable.
After Hamburg, I trained back to Berlin then continued on for a flight to Stuttgart. Back to Le Meridien for one final time. I had two nights remaining. I hired a car the next day, much to my disappointment, instead of a BMW 1 series, they gave me a renault convertible. I was looking forward to spending my last two days in Germany blasting around their autobahns in a German car but never mind. I headed south towards Austria and Schloss Neuschwanstein, the pinnicle of fantasy castles and the inspiration behind Walt Disney's castle. Weather was pretty ordinary but I got there relatively early after speeding down the autobahn at speeds my family would rather not know about. King Ludwig II, the mad hatter behind this castle was truly a flamboyant character and his castles are amazing. I completed my tour and headed for Konstance.
To get to Konstance from Neuschwanstein, I had to leave Germany, drive into Austria, leave Austria, drive into Switzerland before returning to Germany again. Konstance is a little lakeside town set upon lake Konstance and is really a very beautiful part of Germany. I had dinner here down by the lake, taking in a fine seafood meal. I then set upon the autobahn for my return to Stuttgart where I proceeded to exceed the theoretical top speed of a renault meagane officially noted as 200km/h by hitting 222km/h flat out in 6th gear. All perfectly legal but that was the last time I'd try that again. Overnight in the Meridien would be my last and I packed up and said my final goodbyes to the staff that had looked after me so well over the last 6 months.
For my final day in Germany, it was pouring with rain. I had earlier had my heart set on getting up to the Nurburgring but bad weather and an impending flight that night kept me closer to Stuttgart. Instead I headed for Heidelberg where I walked around the old town, both the new and old university's, visited the old bridge and went up to see what was left of the Schloss (or castle) which was accessed by funicular. Given my progress to Heidelberg had been slow due to bad weather, I grabbed a meal and then headed back to Stuttgart for the last time mid afternoon. I returned the car to the airport and checked in for my flght home.
And so ended my 6 months in Germany and Europe. Stay tuned for more travel adventures to come.
Hi
Today I finished a week in Majorca with Siegfried and 4 of his friends. The entire week was spent in this order: Party all night, sleep all morning, beach what's left of the day. Fantastic. We did have one day where we hired a car and toured the island and another where we headed in Palma de Mallorca for some shopping and tourist activities but otherwise, party, sleep beach x 7 days.
My holiday travels now take me into Austria for a bit of hiking around the Alps, then it's off to Berlin for a couple of days, Hamburg for a couple of days then finally Stuttgart for a couple of days before heading home to arrive August 10th.
This therefore will be my last entry probably and so ends my adventures. Maybe i'll do one final instalment once i'm home but we'll see.
Until then!
Auf Wiedersehen
Dave
G'day
Well, I've now officially rolled off the project and have just spent the last 4 days with Mum. We left Stuttgart early Saturday morning and flew to Barcelona. There we got onto one of those hop on, hop off tourist buses and headed around Barca. Our first stop was Park Guell where we looked out over Barca. We then headed out in the direction of the site of the 1992 Olympic Games on Mont Juic.
We next took the funicular down to Las Ramblas and walked around there and through the Gothic Quarter back to our hotel for a regroup and to check in seeing as we were too early to check in earlier. After, we took the underground out to the Church of the Sacred Family. By this time it was getting late so we headed out for dinner.
The next morning we hired a Renault Meagane(despite asking for a VW Golf) and headed towards the Pyrenees and southern France. Our destination for today would be Toulouse. The drive through the Pyrenees was long and windy and slow in sections but the views were excellent. Somehow, we found the city centre in Toulouse, almost by accident and after smashing the car into the hotel car park wall, parked for the night and set out to look around Toulouse and get some dinner.
We got up the next day for a bit more looking around Toulouse before getting in the car and heading out in the general direction of Nimes. Along the way we stopped at a few smaller French villages along the canal regions including Castelnaudary and Carcassonne(which had a big walled city which we explored. More car troubles were to come when we got rear ended when I stopped at a red light. Thank god for plastic bumpers, you couldn't even tell we'd been hit. This time, I did manage to park the car at the hotel without more damage tho.
The next morning, we got up and looked around Nimes a little including a tour of the amphitheatre, which is a Colosseum type structure which was really good. We headed off next in the direction of Avignon but first stopped at an Aquifer just outside of Nimes. We passed through Avignon and headed for Marsailles. Let me give you the big hint, Marsailles is a hole, don't go there. We didn't even stop.
We then headed for Sete, a little seaside town just south of Montpellier. This was our destination for the night and dinner was had down by the canal that runs through the centre of town. Seafood of course.
Our final day, we drove back to Barca but only after we drove through another city, Bezier, which I was unable to navigate out of. After driving around for about 15 circles and 65 days, we finally found the way out of Bezier and headed to Barca. Our final car problem occurred on the way when a warning light on the dash came on and being a Spanish hire car, was in Spanish. I pulled over and called a colleague who spoke Spanish and informed me that it meant "Change Oil Quickly". A few more calls were made to Spanish 'help' lines, and dad and in the end, we went to the nearest Europecar who topped up the oil despite it not really needing it and drove on regardless.
We returned the car, got the guy to sign off saying there was no new damage and then casually walked away until we were out of eyesight then ran off thanking god we didn't have to pay extra for all our 'incidents'. That night we flew to Frankfurt but only for a base to fly from the next day.
Overnight at an airport hotel and then I flew off to Vienna to continue my holidays and Mum flew home to finish hers. We said our goodbyes and parted company.
I will endeavour to update this after Majorca but we'll see how we go.
Til then.
Stay safe, sorry about the epic post.
Dave
Hi
Apologies for the late entry. This weekend just been was officially my last weekend of travel for Project Rainbow as I'm finishing up work here on the 14th of July for good. Anyway, before I get sentimental I better tell you about it. Mum and I left Friday night for Lisbon, Portugal which was somewhat of a novelty given the Portugal team were coming to Stuttgart to battle it out in the World Cup for 3rd/4th place against Germany.
Our flight was quite long as we had to transit in Frankurt but we still got there and checked into the Meridien. Not much was done that night as we were tired and it was late so we crashed ready for an early start Saturday. Saturday morning we quickly realised that our hotel wasn't exactly central to the action but it wasn't that far either so we just strolled down the main road in the general direction of the centre of the "old town".
We found some Elevador de Santa Justa which took people sorta up one of the hills to the side of old town which also doubles as a good lookout. I think it was built in like 1901 or something but to be perfectly honest, I can't really remember. Anyway, after that, we headed down to the water where we caught a tram up the hill on the other side of old town to where the Castelo de Sao Jorge is. We wandered around there and took in the great views and general castle structure but there were really no rooms or anything as such to speak of to go in and look at.
We then headed back down the hill to catch another tram out toward the Monastery. We grabbed lunch here then wandered to the Monument to Discoveries and again, climbed that to grab the view down the water front and back over to the Monastery. We decided not to go to the Monestary today and headed back to the hotel for some research about where to go when I finally finish. We headed out again for dinner where we went to a restaurant part owned by actor John Malkovich, Bico do Sapato. We had a really good meal and some nice champagne.
Sunday we slept in a little after drinking too much Champagne the night before before heading to the Monastery for a look around. We were a little disappointed we couldn't explore more with the public area essentially restricted to a courtyard. There were several exhibitions though that we looked around. Given our flight was at four, we didn't actually have much time for too much else so we headed back and wandered back up the main pedestrian street again taking in some last minute shopping.
Flights home were uneventful and so ends the last of my work travels. I will update once more before I leave Stuttgart as i'm not taking my laptop on the next leg of my travels.
Hope all is well, see you soon enough!
Dave
Hi
Well, firstly, mum arrived in Germany on tuesday night as she decided to join me in my travels so i'm now travelling with her on weekends. Her choice for this weekend was to visit Edinburgh in Scotland so off we went on Friday evening.
We arrived uneventfully after a flight via Amsterdam and found the Sheraton where we were staying after a bus ride to the airport. Friday night we just stayed in to conserve engergy for tomorrow. Saturday we got up, hired a car, a pug 206 and headed for St Andrews. About 60 odd miles of motorway and we arrived. The weather was kind to us and we walked around and saw all the sights, grabbed lunch and also visited the famous "old course".
After taking in what St Andrews had to offer, we headed off to Perth, Scotland of course, the "other Perth". We also stopped by a castle somewhere I can't recall off the top of my head for the moment but they wanted 10 quid to go in (like $25) and i've seen heaps of castles in my last 5 months so we kept going.
We drove back to Edinburgh and returned the car in time to watch the end of the England world cup game. Sorry chaps, your time has come. Also for Brazil which is a surprise, loosing to the French. Anyway, we ordered a bottle of wine in the room and started on that before heading out to dinner at Est Est Est which was very nice. We returned to the room a little under the weather to retire for the night.
Sunday was a little gloomer than saturday with some scattered showers but muggy. We headed straight for the royal mile and started at the Edinburgh castle end. We spent most of the morning touring around that looking at all the prison cells, the museums and general castle grounds. We then headed down the royal mile in the direction of Holyrood Caslte which is at the other end. Unfortunately, the queen was due to visit the next day so the castle was closed to the public and we couldn't go in.
We then decided we were running out of time and headed back via the Grssmarkets to the hotel after quickly grabbing a bit to eat for lunch. We then headed back to the airport for our flight back to Stuttgart which was typically uneventful.
Portugal next weekend so stay tuned.
Cheers!
Dave
G'day
This weekend I finally managed to head to Barcelona. For as long as I can remember now on this project, I've been trying to get to Barcelona but was hindered by expensive flights, until now. Myself, Raja from London office and Sarah from Jersey office flew out Friday night and then met Sarah's friend Laura in Barcelona who flew down from Edinburgh. We parted ways at the airport due to the girls having different accommodation (booked separately and only found out by co-incidence that we were both going).
Raja and I found our hotel, which was very nice and located right by Placa Catalunya which is really in central Barcelona. We then headed out to Royal Square where we had dinner and then wandered down La Ramblas street to the harbour and took in the night atmosphere. We were both tried (I'd been up celebrating the aussie victory the night before) so we headed to bed early that night.
Saturday we got up and headed for Parc Guell for a bit of a look around and out over the city. It's a very funky park designed by some famous guy who's name escapes me at this point and it quite weird in all fairness. We then headed back to the Gothic Quarter by underground and wandered around there and grabbed a quick bite. After lunch we continued around the Gothic Quarter some more before heading to the beach.
It was a nice day so the beach was packed. Fortunately, being spain, it was packed with many very very good looking ladies. Eye candy everywhere. It was also nice in the water. We chilled here for a while before heading back and getting ready for dinner which was also by the beach at a restaurant called Agua. After dinner we met up with the girls and went to a few local bars before heading back to the beach area again to a nightclub called Catwalk. I nearly choked over the 18 euro cover charge, but once inside, partied the night away. Quite literally. I got to bed shortly after 7am.
Sunday was a little slow but I somehow dragged myself out of bed at 10:30 and headed for the Church of the Sacred Family. Was a little disappointed as it was under some heavy construction both inside and out with scaffolding everywhere. Would certainly have been impressive short of that. I then went back to hotel and woke Raja up around 1pm and headed up to the site of the Olympic Games and saw several arenas, the torch and generally walked around that area. We then headed out to an English bar to watch the England match and were thoroughly disappointed, despite England winning. Bad game.
After soccer we headed back to the hotel and prepared for the night. We'd booked a dinner and a show. The dinner was a buffet style with Spanish cuisine and the show as a traditional Flamenco event. The show was excellent with the exception of the stupid American lady next to me who insisted on calling out "ola" every bloody 3 minutes. After about 45mins, I eventually told her to shut up. After the show, we again met the girls for a recap of the previous nights events and a final drink to say bye to Laura who was going back to Edinburgh while the rest of us returned to Stuttgart.
Monday we all headed to airport and parted ways with Laura and once again, I find myself back in Stuttgart.
Hope everything is going well back home. Remember to e-mail me with news from Oz. Dying to hear what has been happening.
Ciao!
Dave
Hi All
Unless you live under a rock, you've probably realised that World Cup Soccer is on here in Germany. As I wrote in my Munich weekend update, I managed to scalp two tickets off some random aussies for the Australia v Croatia game. Well, today I went to said game.
UN-BE-LIEVABLE
What an atmosphere, what an experience, what a victory!! (well, it was a draw but enough to see us through to 2nd round). Although heavily outnumbered, the aussies were out in force and so too were the socceroos. Although we outplayed them and dominated most of the game, it was Croatia who scored first. We then equalised late in the 1st half to be 1-1 at halftime. Croatia again pulled away with a weak goal and it looked bad for us but a piece of Kewell magic and we tied. It was then an emotional rollercoaster as Croatia pushed heavily in the dying minutes but we held off, despite several bad calls by the referee who has subsequently been suspended.
When the final siren blew, the aussies erupted with the masses of croatians deadly silent. The aussie party continued well into the night and we joined the huddled masses in Schlossplatz, which is the main square here in Stuttgart and partied til well into the wee hours of the morning. Was truely a memorable event and one i'm not likely to forget.
Unfortunately, in our match against Italy on the 26th, we were robbed with a very bad call against us made with 8 seconds to go in the 2nd half. A penalty was rewarded and the winning goal scored. Robbed I tells ya. Anyway, good job Socceroos, your country is proud.
Hi
This weekend I headed to Munich by train to be there to soak up the atmosphere of the Aussie game scheduled for Sunday as well as to check out what all the fuss is about the beer halls of Munich.
I arrived Friday night and was a little disappointed to find that my hotel that was dubbed "in the city centre" was about a 20 min u-bahn ride out. Nevermind. Had a quiet friday in the hotel room doing some research about what to see and do, hit the bed early ready for a big saturday.
Got up Saturday and headed into town where I was temporarily lost due to a totally useless map provided by the hotel. After stumbling on the main pedestrian mall purely by accident, I proceded to wander around taking in the sights such as St Peters Curch, the old and new town halls, as well as the famous outdoor markets. This was made easier after a trip to the tourist info centre to obtain a better map.
The day continued with a trip to Munich's most famous beer hall, the Hofbrauhaus, which I would later stop to smaple their finest but more on that later. I continued on foot past the Bavarian Opera house, and down through Hofgarten towards the English gardens which are huge. I next took a u-bahn out to Allianz arena, where the world cup is being played but due to the World Cup, couldn't get within cooee of it. Nevermind. Then headed out to the Olympic Park which is the sight of the fan fest for world cup (place for those to go who don't have tickets) and also checked out the BMW museum which is in that direction.
On the train to Olympic Park, i ran into a group of aussies who I started chatting to and learnt that they are spare tickets to the Australia v Croatia game. I quickly offered to take them off their hands and needless to say, 500 euro later, i'm the proud owner of two world cup tickets for the game here in Stuttgart this Thursday. SO EXCITED!!
Anyway, didn't do much saturday night, watched more cup action then retired. My work colleague Sigi came up from Austria Sunday morning to meet me where we both prepared for the big game and headed into town. It was a madhouse with green and gold everywhere, not just australians, but also brazilians who also happen to wear the colours. Was amazing. We grabbed a traditional Bavarian lunch and then proceeded to the Hofbrauhaus, which is where the Australian Green and Gold Army were meeting before the game. What a madhouse. So much fun and the atmosphere was just indescribable.
After a "mass" we headed to Olympic Park which was simply overflowing with people. We managed to get a seat on the lawn and proceeded to watch Australia play very well but ultimately loose to Brazil, 2-0. This puts us into second for our group with a draw with Croatia sufficient to see us through to 2nd round. Fingers crossed. After that disappointment, we quietly headed back to the hotel to watch the 9pm game and get a sleep.
Monday morning we had to get up early to catch our train back to Stuttgart. Not much fun as i'm really not a morning person but you get that. Anyway, that's the end of this week.
Hope all is well back home.
Take it easy
GO AUSTRALIA!!
Hi all
Been a little while since I last posted but anyway, I'm back in Germany and alive with World Cup Fever. Last week, I went to a friendly game of Australia v Lichtenstein which was very cool, especially given we won 3-1. There were a surprising amount of Aussies there which was really cool to see as well.
Anyway, this weekend I headed to Merry 'Ol England on Friday night where I landed at Standsted (not recommended) and travelled for like an hour and a bit to get to my hotel. After a train and two tubes, I finally arrived. Didn't do anything that night but went to bed. Saturday I got up and took a tube to Westminster where I saw Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. I then walked accross the Thames and went to the London Eye. A 30 min "flight" afforded great views of London and the perfect weather I had (28 degrees) made visibility excellent.
I next walked to the Tower Bridge, all the way along the Thames which took me a little while. I got to see the bridge "draw" as a yatch sailed under and it had to raise. Very cool. I then headed to London Tower and saw the all the military relics as well as the crown jewels. Very impressive. I wandered around a bit more before heading to East Putney to meet a good family friend for the England game. We headed to her friends place where I met a whole pile of Aussies and enjoyed the game, a few bevvies and finished off with a BBQ.
Saturday night I was meant to go out with them, but by the time we went to go out, it was 10:30 and I was still in shorts. It took me about 35mins to get back to the hotel and at that point, i couldn't be bothered going back to meet them. Sunday I went for a walk through Hyde Park to Park Lane, down Piccadilly and headed for Buckingham Palace. I waited around to see the changing of the guard. Again, it was very good weather (31 this time) which made waiting in the sun very hot. What made it worth while was the queens' royal guards music unit playing the Abba megamix. Quite amusing.
After Buckingham, I left and went to Harrods for a spot of shopping. Next I headed out to Lords Cricket Ground to visit the home of Cricket. The rest of the day, I just wandered around and checked out London in general, a few shops, etc and not much else. Went and had dinner in Kensington near my hotel and then went to bed. I had to get up at 4:45am London time in order to get accross town to my train station to get back to Standsted for an 8am Monday flight. Not pretty.
Anyway, that's about all. Australia had a BIG win against Japan yesterday in an exciting 3-1 win. Photos will be a little slow as I no longer have internet at the hotel.
Ciao!
Dave
Howdy
This weekend I headed for Copenhagen, Denmark with one of my colleagues, Mark from the US Boston office. We flew out Friday night via Amsterdam on KLM and arrived around 11pm. We found the hotel then headed out to have a bit of look around and try and grab and bite to eat. We initially headed towards the main pedestrian mall and were stunned at the number of people out so late at night (around midnight at this point). We grabbed a quick bite then decided to check out a local pub just by the hotel for a quick quiety to start our weekend. Not much to take away from the bar experience except that people don't seem to mind about barging right through crowds and bumping into people without a word. Really quite rude.
Saturday we got up and headed back towards Stroget, the pedestrian mall, for more of a look around Copenhagen. We detoured via Amaleinborg Palace, town hall, as well as several other buildings before walking out to find the little mermaid, which is one of the most photographed things in the country apparently. We didn't actually find her I later realised as we found another pretty impressive fountain and decided that must be her. It wasn't. We then continued to walk around, passing through a church called the Marble Church which, funnily enough, is made of marble and quite impressive.
Saturday afternoon, we grabbed a late lunch at a corner cafe which was far nicer than i expected before heading to the Carlsberg brewery for a brewery tour. This ended with a sampling of some product which we a great way to finish a day of looking around. We headed out for dinner at a restaurant recommended by the hotel called Peder Oxe which was very nice. I must stop here and say that I hate the Krone currency used. Getting a dinner bill for 900 odd is a little scary. Works out to be like 120 euro so not too bad I guess. We then headed downstairs at the restaurant where they had a wine bar and then onto K-Bar, which apparently has won awards for best cocktails 5 years running.
Sunday we again headed out to the little mermaid, realising our mistake from saturday. On the way this time we went via the Round Tower which is another sight in Copenhagen. We eventually found the little mermaid, took the obligatory photos then continued. We walked miles and eventually ended up at a graveyard where we visited the burial site of Hans Christian Anderson. Sunday afternoon we headed for Tivoli gardens, which i guess is like a small Disneyland with beautiful gardens mixed in with rollercoasters and other rides. We didn't have a lot of time as we needed to get back in time for our flights but we managed to get a ride on "Demon", a rollercoaster and "Star Flyer" which is the talled carousel in the world, opened this year and stands at a height of 80m. It's basically a chair swing that rotates up 80m while swinging you around. Gives you a great view of Copenhagen.
Flights back to Stuttgart via Amsterdam were uneventful. Bonus is that Amsterdam has a DinersClub lounge so we could go in there to kill time during transfers. Nice. Well, it's Perth for the next couple of weekends so probably the last update I'll do here for a couple of weeks.
Cya soon!
Dave
Howdy
As you can tell from the subject line, this weekend I went to Majorca, or Mallorca, or however else you wish to spell it. This was a purely a weekend for me. No hard-core travelling, simple beach, sun and relaxation. I headed to Majorca with a bit of crowd, myself, Liz, Mark and Guy from Boston, USA and Kamal and Emir from the UK. We took an HLX flight direct to Palma de Mallorca where we hired cars (Golf's) and checked into our hotel, Melia del Mar. This was after we got ourselves comprehensively lost but nevermind.
Firstly, the hotel is beautiful, right on the water and I started saturday morning out on my balcony overlooking the harbour on my sun lounge. I then met up with Liz, Mark and Emir and we headed out to a beach about 20mins outside of Palma. We then proceeded to spend the rest of the day soaking up the perfect high 20's day we had. The boys swam a bit while the girls just fried up. The water was beautiful. At this point, I must also mention that I found at least 6 different potential wives on this beach. The women are gorgeous and don't mind a bit of nudity. God bless them.
Saturday night, we headed out for a nice dinner at a place one of our colleages recommended and followed that up with a drink or two at a really funky blues bar called Bluesville. Oh, before dinner we started with a bottle of Moet and Chandon. It really is tough.
Sunday was pretty much a mirror of saturday. Perfect day, another drive to a beach away from Palma, this time it was smaller and nestled between some higher ground. It really was a beautiful place to waste the afternoon away. More swimming, more gorgeous women. For those reading this feeling sick with jealousy, let me also say that there was some bad with the good. Board shorts aren't exactly the dress of choice here and there were blokes on both beaches that should have been arrested for their speedos they were wearing. That being said, there were also some chicks that shouldn't have beeen in bikini's either. Or out of them for that matter. *shudder*
We grabbed a quick bite after the beach at a Tapas bar before heading to the airport to fly back to stuttgart. All of us with a fairly healthy pink glow. As at Monday night, i can report that I am browning up nicely.
Hope all is well and I will see you soon.
Cheerio!
Dave
Usually I don't update my journal whilst in Stuttgart cause it's just boring work day in and out but today was different. Last Wednesday, I officially overstayed my "free" welcome of 90 days without visa which meant if I went anywhere near customs, I would have been deported. Today however, I officially became a temporary resident of Germany! This means I hvae a rather large visa in my passport and i'm free to live and work here until it expires (End of September). Crazy stuff.
Buon Giourno
Last weekend I headed to Venice, Italy with three of my colleagues, Kian, Lisa and Raja from Singapore, Singapore and UK respectively. Flights via Frankfurt meant we got in quite late and the lack of street signs from Pizzale Roma meant we wandered around for a little while before actually heading in the right direction of the hotel. Eventually we hit the right street (if you can call it that) and found the hotel. First shock. The hotel had no signage barring a placque on the door. Then when you walk inside, it's the really old 15th century palace or half a palace or something that looks run down. Once you've gone up the millions stairs though, it was very nice inside and we settled in. We had a quick walk around to get first impressions but retired early to rise Saturday at a respectable time.
Saturday we ventured out through the maze of streets in the general direction of the Rialto Bridge. Whilst getting there, we crossed numerous canals, saw lots of old churches and market squares, and generally felt lost for quite some time. There are heaps of little stores selling all sorts of trinkets as well as outlets selling some very nice, brand name clothing. Lisa was having a great time window shopping. Finally found Rialto bridge which crosses the Canal Grande. We then continued to head in the general direction of Piazza San Marco where we visited the Basilica of San Marco and had lunch on the waterfront overlooking Bacino Di San Marco.
After lunch we headed off towards one of the only other bridges crossing the Grand Canal, Ponte Accademia and then proceeded towards the Church of Santa Maria della Salute. More shopping/browsing on the way back and we headed for the hotel for a bit of rest and freshen up for dinner. That night we headed to Margherita Square we we took in a nice meal and enjoyed some of the outdoor pubs/crowds.
Sunday we checked out and headed for the nearby island of Lido to go to the beach and look around. We went via boat "bus" i guess as it's a large shuttle ferry that goes between Venezia and Lido. We kicked back on the beach and soaked up the warm 21 degree day (trust me, that's hot compared to what I've seen). We bought a crap frisbee and tried to play a bit on the beach but wind was too strong. Raja and I gave in and headed for the water which was a little chilly but nice once you were in (typical beach). After we were sufficiently burnt, we headed back to Venezia and took in the back roads and shops one more time before heading to the hotel to return to Stuttgart.
Hope all is well and thank you to all those still reading these things.
Cheers!
Dave
Guten Tag
This weekend we had a long weekend due to a German public holiday so I decided to try and get a bit further away from Germany. Currently, VISA issues do no permit me to leave countries deemed to be Schengen states, ie, those with no border patrol, so I couldn't get over to see Hayley in Edinburgh as I had previously planned for this weekend. Instead, I decided to go to Stockholm in Sweden. Amazing that I can go to Sweden with no issues but can't go to the UK, Scotland or Ireland.
I flew out saturday morning again at a shockingly early 6:30am and fly KLM via Amsterdam. I arrived just before lunch where I took the train into the city and checked in. I then went about walking around, camera in hand but without a map, and tried to orientate myself to the city. I inadvertently found city hall, which is apparently one of the main tourist stops in Stockholm. Unfortunately the tower was closed but I figured I had enough time to come back later.
Unbeknown to me, a whole bunch of Skadden guys (lawyers) had also booked Stockholm for this weekend so we ended up meeting up for dinner on Saturday night before hitting a few clubs. A couple of Vodka's were had (as you do) and a few beers. Fun was had by all.
Sunday I got up and headed to the Vasa Museum. The Vasa is an old ship that sunk on her maiden voyage in stockholm harbour and there she lay until 333 years or something like that later when they raised her and put her in a museum. The water is apparently that good in Sweden that it didn't degregate the ship like it usually would and the ship itself remains in amazing condition. Truely a site to behold. After the Vasa, I headed to Skansen, which is a very famous, open air museum in Stockholm. I spent a few hours looking around there before heading back to the hotel.
Sunday night I joined in the celebrations of the Kings birthday which saw lots of bonfires lit around the city and general partying. I just floated around through some of the celebrations and soaked it all up but didn't really get into it and retired to bed after a couple of hours looking around and taking a few night photos. Monday I got up and chilled out in my room for a while before I had to check out. I then headed for the harbour to take a replica shot of one my parents had taken whilst in Sweden just for a laugh before heading to the "old city" on Gamla Stan island and wandering around through there. I then made tracks for City hall again for a climb to the top of the tower. 256 steps later, I was at the top and freezing as it was blowing a gale but the view of Stockholm was very rewarding.
I then returned to the hotel, took a train back to the airport and flew via Amsterdam again, back to Stuttgart. I've been put back in the same room that I have been in for over a month now and i'm convinced it's the David Wylde room as far as the hotel is concerned.
That's all for now!
Ciao
Dave
Howdy
This weekend I headed to Vienna, or Wien as it's written in German. I was joined by two colleagues from Shanghai, Man-Him and Lau. We couldn't get a decently priced friday afternoon flight so we instead flew out early Saturday morning at some ungodly hour. We went straight to another colleagues house, Sigfried who is also working in Stuttgart but flew home on Friday. He also thought our flight time was ungodly and wasn't exactly awake so much when we knocked on his door around 8am. We later learnt he hadn't got to bed until 5am(ish).
Our first stop was brekky just near Sigi's then off via U-Bahn to Schonbrunn (needs those funny dots over the 'o') Castle. We did a tour of the inside and then walked around the gardens. Very impressive. Next stop was to Belvedere, another castle like structure that also hosted a museum with art by Spiele. Man-Him and Lau wanted to check that out more so they went in while Sigi and I just chilled out in the garden and soaked up the glorius sunny day we were having. We both even got lightly sunburnt which may not seem that big of a deal but given we've just come out of a long cold winter, it was a stark change.
We then went into the main city centre and checked out St Stephen's church and then stopped for ice cream at what seemed to be a very famous ice cream shop judging but the large crowd. Another train saw us back at Sigi's where we grabbed our stuff, left for hotel and got ready for night. We then re-grouped and headed to a wine tavern and drank some wine and got a good feed. We then hit one of Sigi's current favourite spots, the red room and partied the night away.
Sunday was a little slower due to saturday's partying and we headed to the inner circle of Vienna and explored some of the buildings, museums, parks, city hall, opera house and theatres in the area. Given we had a Sunday afternoon flight and that it quickly went from a bright sunny day to raining, we mainly browsed past/through most of these places without really stopping into any to further explore.
Uneventful flight back. Next flight in #30 since I left Perth on February 3rd!
Catchya's
Dave
Happy Easter!
Well, for my weekend, I headed to Paris. Took a Thursday night flight out of Stuttgart direct to Charles de Gaulle airport where I took a train to Gare du Nord then taxi'd to my hotel. My hotel, Hotel Louvre Saint Honore, was, funnily enough, located on Rue de Saint Honore right near the Louvre. Great location and my room was actually pretty large which was a bonus. This weekend I was actually joined by Hayley from A&A Perth who is on secondment to Reading, just outside of London who I went and got at nearly midnight from Gare du Nord.
Friday was our first day in Paris and it was quite a nice day out so we ventured off in the general direction of the Eiffel Tower. After taking in brunch and the sights on the way, we joined a truely massive queue to WALK up the tower. The queue to use the lift was even bigger. We estimated it to be 3hrs long, ours was only 1.5hrs long. After 701 steps we were at level 2, about 1/3rd of the way up. Fortunately for us, they didn't have the stairs open to walk the whole way so we joined a queue to buy more tickets then another to take the lift to the top. 3hrs after we started, we were atop the eiffel tower and rewarded with sensational views of the city. More queues and the same 701 stairs saw us back down. We grabbed a very late lunch/early dinner, headed to the hotel, rested for was seemd like 5mins but was more like 1hr before we headed back to the eiffel tower to meet our tour.
We had pre-organised a night tour of Paris by bike, run by Fat Tire Bike Tours. We had a young bloke from Austin, Texas take us for a tour around Paris centre passing all the major sites, stopping for ice-cream and finishing with a cruise up the Seine with a glass of red. Was fantastic and I recommend it to anyone. It's not strenuous and you feel very European cycling on the old school style push bikes through the streets of Paris.
Saturday we slept in a little then headed to the Louvre. Surprisingly, we were in within 30mins of queueing. Walked around there for a few hours although could have done a whole day easily. It's huge. Saw Mona Lisa in her glass covered glory after pushing my way through the tourists to the front of the pack in front of her. We then grabbed a quick bite and headed for Notre Dame. Walking in and around that, kicked through a few shops then headed back to freshen up. We dolled ourselves up, went up Monematre by Cab and visited Sacre Coeur then had a nice dinner and headed to the highlight of the night, Moulin Rouge. We managed some kick-arse seats, got stuck into the Champagne and took in the show. Spectacular, spectacular is an understatement. Colours, sets, costumes and all the performers, especially the lovely ladies, were just brilliant. Even the fill in acts while the performers takes a 5min break from the show were excellent.
Sunday we again slept in (we didn't get home from Moulin Rouge til nearly 2am due to going to an 11pm show) and then headed out toward the Hotel des Invalidies and the Rodin Jardins. We first visited the Rodin Gardens where we saw the famous statue, "The Thinker" among a few others. We then headed to Hotel des Invalides and took in Napoleon's Tomb and the War Museum. After, we headed to Arc de Triomph and the Champs Elysee. We sat at the Arc for a while and took it all in before strolling back down the Champs Elysee for dinner. We then walked back to the hotel via the Louvre to get some night shots of the city. I should mention that from 8pm, the eiffel tower lights up on the hour for 10mins each hour with lots of glittering lights, like a christmas tree, in addition to its normal lighting. Looks very cool.
Monday, we didn't sleep in as much, packed up, checked out and headed to Musee d'Orsay but didn't go in but rather took the train to Versailles. 35mins later, we arrived a Versailles and made our way to the Chateau de Versailles where we toured the the Chateaux which is rather large. Versailles is actually the political capital of France and the Chateau, the largest palace in Europe. We grabbed lunch after touring the chateau then headed back to Paris, chilled out a bit, walked around for one last time before heading back to the hotel, grabbing our stuff and heading to Gard du Nord. Hayles left me here for the queue for the Eurostar back to London while I headed back to Charles de Gaulle airport for my flight back to Stuttgart.
All in all, a fabulous weekend. Thanks to Hayley for the company, and Paris for being a great host city!
Hope you all had a wonderful easter.
Cheers!
Dave
G'day
Well, Friday night I took off for Monaco which was a journey in itself. Flight to Zurich, layover, flight to Nice, cab to train station, wait, train to Monte-Carlo. Got in around 1:15am and passed out.
Saturday got up, saw 5 Ferrari's in the space of about 15mins and realised this was no ordinary destination. As I approached the main harbour, it became infintely clear that I was the poorest person in the principality by about $5m odd. The yachts, cars, shops, food, cabs, etc are just super expensive and everywhere. If you don't drive your Ferrari/Porsche/Aston Martin/Rolls/Bently/Maseratti down to your yacht which could double as a 500 room hotel, then you don't deserve to be in Monaco. I spent most of my time drooling and picking my jaw up off the pavement.
There isn't a whole lot to actually do in Monaco but what they recommend is going and seeing the Prince's castle, which I did, where I watched the changing of the guard, then I headed to the Aquarium which is supposed to be one of the best in Europe and it was impressive. I then just browsed around past a few museums, througha few parks, up and down the various hills of Monaco and just generally took in the place. Saturday night I headed out for a nice dinner at Lorenzo's which wasn't too bad - 50 Euro then I headed to the Casino. 10 Euro cover charge followed by a 15 Euro Jack's and Coke followed by a 20 Euro series of bets at Roulette and nearly another 50 euro was gone. I actually won the first spin and doubled my money but felt ripped off about stopping there so continued to bet and lost the lot. Oh well.
On the way back to the hotel, I again past an assortment of nice cars. One nightclub has a little car park with the following all parked next to each other: Porsche, porsche, lambo, ferrari, porsche, aston martin, aston martin. Crazy. Accross the road was another lambo, another aston, and two bentlys. Damn.
Sunday I slept in, got up, wandered down to the hotel's private beach (I wasn't exactly slumming it hotel wise) and after a few minutes of mentally building up to it, i through myself into the ocean. It was freezing and I was out within 5 mins of getting in. I then layed on the beach chairs and soaked in the lovely 18 degree sunshine. Not exactly warm but bear in mind, I've had no warmer than 8 odd degrees in the last 2 and a bit months.
Wasted the rest of Sunday walking around, some the Exotic Gardens which was cool then headed back, checked out, and got picked up and taken to my departure location - the Monaco helipad. That's right, I left Monaco the way the players leave, by Helicopter. 80 Euros saw a 6/7 min flight back to Nice airport. Very VIP and very cool.
Countless hours of layovers later and I'm back here in Stuttgart.
Hope you are all well.
Speak to you soon!
Dave
After arriving in Stuttgart on Thursday at 11am local time, I barely got settled/adjusted to the time zone and I soon found myself again in the air. Actually, it started on a train. This weekend I was joined by a senior analyst from Boston named Liz and she and I trained to Frankfurt before taking a flight to Budapest in Hungary. Train was uneventful and the countryside not as pretty as I would have expected. Flight was also uneventful.
Friday night we went and had a nice dinner at Baroka where Liz revealed one of her more unusual habits, she photographs her food. Each to their own but I found it a little weird. We were both quite tired, me particularly so we called an early night and resolved for a big day Saturday. Saturday we got up and basically went about exploring and walking around Budapest. The city is huge and divided into Buda and Pest, a division defined by the Danube river. Buda is the older section and a lot more interesting in my opinion. We hiked up and down hills to see monuments, castles, and other sites of interest. We covered a lot of ground and were both quite tired by the end of the day. Probably the highlights here were the view over the city from the Citadel, Mattias Church, Parliament House and St Stephen’s Basilica.
Saturday night we again headed out for a nice meal, this time at a restaurant called Mokka and we had another great meal but not before more photos were taken. After dinner we decided to check out some of the nightlife in Budapest, well, actually, the Pest side of Budapest and started at a bar called Negro and then migrated to Cactus Juice. Cactus juice was the better of the two bars but the music was circa 1993 which I guess had it charm and a few drinks later, didn’t stop us dancing to it but something a little more modern wouldn’t have gone astray.
Sunday we were again up early and hit the town with the intention of doing a tour of Parliament. Unfortunately the people of Budapest decided to stage some massive political rally of some description and Parliament was closed to the public and there was a massive police presence around the area. Plan B, nice slow brekky, then hit the Jewish Synagogue where I was made, like all males, to wear that silly little hat on my head. The synagogue itself was very nice though.
We then wandered around and took in a few little shops and pedestrian malls. Lunch was eaten in a little sidewalk café and after lunch, we headed to Hero’s square to have a look around that area. There was a nice castle and gardens behind Hero’s square which we also had a bit of a look around before heading back to the hotel, grabbing our stuff and heading out to the airport. Lufthansa actually managed to leave on time and soon we were back in Frankfurt, transferring to the train and heading back to Stuttgart.
As usual, pics have been updated so take a look.
Cheers!
Dave
Howdy
Well, after my time in Bangkok I snuck in a quick visit to Perth. Flew in Saturday morning and straight away started on my big list of to do's I had for Australia; new shoes, haircut, suitcase, passport photos for German Visa and catching up with friends and family. Saturday avo/evening I dropped in on my friend Catherine’s wedding reception, surprising her up in the bridal suite. Was a great surprise and it was really nice to be able to be part of it, albeit only briefly. Saturday night headed to Yunderup for Nick’s 25th also much to the surprise of many of my friends. Sunday did the family thing with a big bbq at my parents house and not much else. Monday dropped by work, caught up with more friends and shopped. Tuesday more catch ups and a little more shopping. Flew out for Stuttgart Wednesday just after lunch. Whirlwind visit but in my eyes, simply great.
Unsure when i'll next visit my fair home so in the meantime, more european adventures!!
Cheers!
Dave
Hi
This weekend is slightly different to my other European jaunts. This weekend, I’m flying to Bangkok for work. My flight wasn’t due to leave Stuttgart until 8:55pm Saturday night which gave me Saturday day to explore a bit. After spending an eternity packing my many, many kilos of clothes into about four different bags, I decided on what I could leave here in Stuttgart and what I need to bring with me.
With that task behind me, I set out for my first destination for the day, the “old” Mercedes museum. I’ve actually visiting on the last day of it being open, as the massive profits that DaimlerChrysler are making has actually left them with enough coin to build a massive new museum. Over the next month and a bit, they will transition out of the old and into the new. The museum was very interesting with lots of really old cars, the oldest dating back to 1885. Also a couple of really nice cars in their such as their Le Mans Cars, their F1 car and a few other modern day super cars.
The next stop for the day was Konigstrasse as I needed to shop for a new mobile phone. For those of you that don’t know, mine fell out of my pocket in a cab and was officially gone 30 mins later when I called. Oh well. I quickly concluded that buying a phone in Germany is just expensive and gave up on that pretty quickly.
I had set myself a task of going to a train station, Weinsteiger, which I pass everyday and think to myself that it has a great view of Stuttgart so that was my next stop. I trained out here, took a few snaps then proceeded to walk about 40mins back into Stuttgart, stopping to take photos if I felt like it. I eventually walked all the way to the Stuttgart Art Museum, Staatsgalarie, where I went in and had a look around the various pieces for another couple of hours.
This saw enough time for me to get back to the hotel, grab a bite and a few beers before heading to the airport. Flight was Stuttgart to Zurich (40mins) then Zurich to Bangkok (nearly 11hrs) where I landed at 3pm Sunday afternoon local time. Understandably I was pretty exhausted and melting in the heat so Sunday night was a voyage to my pillow. I’ve got a week here then I’m going “via” Perth on my way back to Stuttgart.
See you all soon.
Dave
Hi
Well, I've just got back from Austria where I spent the weekend skiing. Friday I left Stuttgart and flew to Vienna with one of my colleagues from Vienna that i'm working with here in Stuttgart (Siegfried or Sigi) where we picked up his car and drove a few hours to Radstadt. Here we joined about 20odd other members of the Vienna audit team who's ski trip I was tagging along on. Dinner was had and I didn't say much as they all spoke German. The occasionally changed to English and had brief conversations with me.
Saturday we got up early and headed to the ski hire shop which I picked up some ski's, poles and shoes for a total of 27 euros for two days hire. We then headed in a group to the first mountain Flachau/Reitdorf. I joined the "slow" group and we headed up the mountain. Weather wasn't too flash and visibility wasn't the greatest. Sigi stayed with the slow group while we found our feet but tells me I was better than he thought I would be. Nice to hear from someone who can probably ski backwards faster than i can forwards.
Went straight to Intermediate slopes, good powder coverage and we got a few good runs in before lunch. I fell a few times but most of those, it was quite slow and I was up again after a few seconds in the snow. Just before lunch, in order to get to the lodge where we agreed to meet the others, we were "forced" to ski a black run (expert). At this point the weather was god aweful and I seriously couldn't see much except the fact that the slope was very steep. Unbelievably, I did good and made it down. However, Sigi and I went the wrong way and had to go up and do it again and turn the right way for the 2nd time! Again I made it down and had a great time.
More skiing saturday afternoon with a few more crashes but overall, I was having an amazing time. Saturday night, we grabbed dinner then headed to a pub which has a toboggan track. We all started on few beers but more importantly, the partner of audit Vienna and Sigi quickly made sure I was sampling proper Austrian drinks. This meant I was drinking Jagermeister + Redbull, as well as a selection of Schnappes. After the whole group was politely drunk, we headed for the toboggan (Rodelbahn). Sigi and I teamed up and we quickly set the pace as the fastest pair out there. However, we also earnt the reputation as most crazy as we didn't break til it was way too late and only ever made it around 1 corner out of about 15 successfully. The other 14, we crashed, sometimes in spectacular fashion. Laughed our butts off though. We had a great time.
Sunday I woke up sore, particularly my left knee but I toughed it out and pushed through. We again met early and headed to another field Reiteralm. Again, I joined the slow group. Sigi left us to join the fast group for the day. Most of the runs on this mountain were Red, meaning intermediate but a lack of overnight snow and good piste preparation made this runs hard and fast. At one point, I was literally belting along, almost not turning at all, passing lots of other people on the mountain, then all of a sudden, Sigi and the "fast group" came booming past us, almost a blur. Put me in my place but felt ok given my 10 days experience vs their 20+ years.
Sunday afternoon, we left about 3pm, headed back to Vienna. Stayed on Sigi's couch overnight, where I was exhausted then took a flight back to Stuttgart Monday morning. Straight to the office, a little tired, a little sore but happy in the fact that I'd just done some of the best skiing in my life. Was truely excellent.
That's all the news from Stuttgart at present.
Hope you are all well.
Take it easy.
Dave
Howdy
Well, this weekend was supposed to be a roadtrip with one of the girls, Dawn, from the Chicago office to Switzerland by hiring a car and seeing the sights as we drive around. Well, Dawn arrived, the car hire was fine, we whacked in Zurich as our first destination into the Sat Nav and set off. Problem: It was snowing like a champion outside which made visibility poor and pretty much rendered any sight seeing as we headed south out of Stuttgart useless.
However, the drive was not without its charms. I will state loudly and clearly right now, that German Autobahns are the best roads ever. My car, a diesel, yes, diesel E90 BMW 330d was awesome. Came with heated leather seats, sat nav (in english!!), panaromic sunroof and I got the wagon so loads of space. Let me tell you, that car, cruises nicely at 140km/h, brilliantly at 160km/h, rock solid at 180km/h and is a blast at 200km/h. Weather conditions, traffic and the desire to live stopped me from going any faster...this time. The trip back, from the border of Germany to Stuttgart, I would slow to 140 and cruise between 160-180km/h for over 200km's. Awesome. Did I use a lot of fuel at that speed? Nope, averaged 7.5L/100km. Love it.
In case I didn't tell you, i love the autobahns. The fact we don't have any in australia is a joke. Anyway, yeah, it snowed almost the entire drive down to our first stop, Zurich. We went out and had dinner, few drinks at a few pubs then called it a night friday. Saturday we got up to, you guessed it, snow. Not letting that bother us, we set out to explore Zurich, umbrella's getting used the whole day. Still ended up soaked and cold. Zurich has some great shopping from what i could see, few historic churches/art galleries, Lake Zurich is nice and that's about it.
Next stop for saturday night - Interlaken, a little ski resort nestled on the edge of the alps, between two lakes. Drive there was horrendous. Snow everywhere, roads were slippery and snow again reduced visability of taking in the scenery. Averaged probably 30km/h for a very long time. Trip that should have taken say 2 hours, took 4. Got there and found a nice little hotel after visiting a couple that were way too expensive then went had dinner, few more drinks in a few more bars, then again turned in. It actually stopped snowing by dinner but was at it again by the time we walked back to the hotel.
Sunday I got up and headed for the Jungfrau railway (bahnen). After, get this, 2.5 hours and three trains, I arrived at the stop of the highest railway station in Europe, Jungfraujoch, at 3454m above sea level. Of course, it was snowing again all day and i got up there only to find my views were limited to about 3 feet and everything in my camera lens was white. Result, i have maybe two photos that will be crap, but another experience. I guess I'll just have to go back in the summer when it's a clear day. Another 2.5hrs down the mountain and it was time to head home to Stuttgart.
We dropped quickly via Bern on the way home and drove around for about 30mins but conscious of time, pressed on. I let Dawn drive to the border (where our passports weren't even checked) before I took over for the german autobahn leg :D --> she wasn't nominated as a driver so she really shouldn't have driven for all those reading this thinking that was incredibly chauvinistic on my behalf. I'm sure my thoughts on the drive home on the autobahns have been documented enough but just in case, the german autobahns rock.
Another fridge magnet collected (i'm getting one from everywhere i go), another country visited. Next week, i'm joining some members of the austrian office on a ski tour so i'm off to Vienna.
Stay tuned, pics have been updated.
Cheers!
Dave
Buon Giorno!
This weekend saw me head to Rome with the predictions of rain for the entire weekend. After having a delayed flight and eventually getting to Rome some time after 1am, I arrived and got to my hotel. My hotel I must say was very nice but my room was a shoebox. Seriously, it was that small, i had to turn sideways to walk between the wall and my TV to get to my bed. There wasn't enough floor space to do a sit up in.
Obviously Friday night was a write off given I was so late in. In Stuttgart airport, I actually found 3 other people from Skadden, the lawyers working on this job, also going to Rome so I teamed up with them to tour Rome. Saturday was an early start and we headed straight to the Vatican where we joined a massive queue at 8:15am when it doesn't even open til 8:45am. Once we were in, we had a guided tour for about 4-5 hours just walking through the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, St Peter's Basillica and the various courtyards and museums. At this point, I was already sick of saying "WOW" to just about everything.
After the Vatican city, we headed to the Colloseum. More expressions of WOW were said here along with like another 50 photos. It's sheer size is just amazing and we did a tour both around the outside and inside. To assiciate collosal with the colloseum is very apt. Words can't explain how big this structure is and to think how big it would have been back in the day is mind boggling. From the Colloseum, we headed for another tour, this time of all the ruins that make up an area called "The Forum". Simply amazing.
Saturday night we didn't get up to much as we were all shattered from touring. Had dinner, few drinks at a bar then went home to our respective hotels. Sunday I was up again and met up with the others to check out all the sites we missed the first day. This included: The Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, the Monument of Vittorio Emmanuel II and a few more I can't remember off the top of my head. All simply amazing and so large it's hard to imagine how they built such structures back in their times. The Pantheon was particularly special as they were holding mass while I was there which was really cool to experience.
By the time I left Rome on Sunday afternoon, I was truely worn out. My legs hurt, my feet hurt and I was tired. I almost missed my connecting flight in Frankfurt thanks to a delay leaving Rome but eventually made it back to Stuttgart where I returned home to the same room in Le Meridien hotel.
Have lots of photos so take a look when you get the chance.
Ciao and Arrivederci
Dave
G'day
This weekend I flew to Prague in the Czech Republic. Unlike last weekend when I travelled with 3 yanks, this weekend I headed out by myself. I arrived Friday night and after checking in and grabbing a quick bite, I headed out to take some photos of the city and try and orientate myself. I was told to check out Charles Bridge and the nearby nightclub. Well, I found the bridge and club but figured the club could wait til Saturday night.
Saturday I walked around a bit more, then took a city tour which pretty much covered most of the afternoon. We visited lots of Prague, which apparently used to be four different towns (each with their own town halls) before it became the Prague of today. Lots of Prague has also been rebuilt after being destroyed/upgraded by various rulers, fires and in the World Wars. What was obvious is the amazing churches, monunments and castles. There are spires littering the city skyline and the whole city is overshadowed by the castle and massive church. Can't remember the name of the castle off hand, i'll have to google it sometime.
Saturday night I went to Karlovy Lazne, which is the biggest music club in middle europe. It's five stories high and each floor has a different genre of music playing. I grabbed a couple of Corona's then went about busting up the floor with a couple of girls (sisters, in fact) from Italy. Needless to say it was a late night as I crawled into bed somewhere around 3:30am.
Sunday I obviously slept in a bit, checked out, then headed out on foot again around the city for some last minute photos and some shopping. Bought myself a picture of Prague which I plan to put on the wall of my House when I'm next living there! (It's been rented out now). Went to the airport early to meet a friend's sister for coffee who also happened to be in Prague that weekend and had coffee before heading back to Stuttgart in the evening.
Well, that's news as it happens over here.
Hope you are all well
Ciao!
Dave
Hi
For my first weekend in Germany (excluding the one I flew in on), I tagged along with three of my colleagues that I'm working on the project with and headed to Brussels in Belgium. Two big nights were had tasting every beer Belgium produces (often multiple times) and if memory serves me, and it doesn't, there were tequila shots at some point. Brussels is a town with a lot of historic architecture with lots of traditionally styled buildings and cobblestone roads. Perhaps one of the most famous pieces to visit in Brussels is Mannekin Pis. Yep, a statue of a little boy, well, answering the call to nature...continuously. I'm not going to make a joke about how I was expecting something bigger...
Of course, when one goes to Belgium, you must also sample the fine belgium chocolate and the delicious waffles. I think if I were to live in Belgium i'd get very fat indeed. Great beer, great chocolate and great waffles. What more can you really ask for? Let me answer that. Great weather. Sunday was freezing with it snowing all day and blowing a country gale too. Made it freezing and wet to walk around in.
Anyway, one country down, Prague awaits next weekend. As usual, photos uploaded so have a looksie!
Auf Weidersehen!
Dave
Hi
For those of you that don't know, I've been sent to Stuttgart, in Germany for work for a period that is undetermined at this point but is likely to be around 6 months. I'm working on an investigation for a very large manufacturer and am part of a team of around 58 people give or take that are currently engaged on the project. People have come from all over the globe including the UK, USA, Germany (obviously), Dusseldorf, Austria, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, South Africa and of course, me, Australia.
I have joined a team focussing on the South East Asia operations of the investigation and at the moment, I'm concentrating on Thailand and Indonesia. Site visits are looking to be planned to each of these locations so I may be able to pop into Perth on my way back to Germany once these have been done.
Stuttgart itself, for those that don't know, is about a 40min flight southeast of Frankfurt and around this time of year it averages -1 degrees. The day I arrived it was -4 but have recently been having a heat wave with temperatures as hot as 7 whole degrees! Needless to say I was initially freezing but I've adjusted to that. We are also 7 hours behind you guys and girls in the West and even more for anyone east of Perth reading this.
I've been put up at a very nice hotel where basically everything is included, including daily minibar which is pretty sweet. However, the icing on the cake is weekends. No kidding I hear you say, most working people look forward to the weekend. Weekends for me, essentially entitle "free" travel around Europe. In the two weeks I've been here, I've already visited Belgium and Prague (see entries above). I think Austria may be next on the menu as I want to do some skiing before it gets too warm (HA!).
I'm being my usual super tourist self and have been taking heaps of photos. I have a website that i've been dumping them onto at:http://photobucket.com/albums/e348/davewylde/ Feel free to have a look.
If you feel like e-mailling, my work address still works - dwylde@deloitte.com.au Would love to hear from you all.
Take it easy,
Dave
