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
