Homeward bound

We have enjoyed a wonderful week with Max and Janine's aunt and uncle who have killed us with kindness. Krumbach is a small town south of Munich in the typically picturesque Schwabish countryside. It is about two hours to the mountains, and Walter drove us to the beautiful Garmish where we took the cablecar up to the Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak. We were blessed with the most beautiful day possible, and the scary cablecar gave us our first taste of the view to be had, with fir trees fringeing the alpine lake, the Eibsee. The last section of the cablecar ride was almost vertical, with sheer snowy cliffs on either side of us, and the ground wa-a-ay below. From the Zugspitze we had endless views of the alps on either side, quite spectacular. We headed back down via the cog railway through a long mountain tunnel and met Walter at the station. We drove through tiny mountain villages dwarfed by the huge mountains, all very beautiful with their chalets with bright flowers in the window boxes and an old church with a thrusting steeple dominating the townscape. We visited Schloss Lindehof and Fussen, a very busy town. We also spent a terrific day with Walter and Gerti's son Philip and his wife Isabel where we had lunch at a castleoverlooking the town of Abstatt. And now we head for home from Frankfurt, bringing Walter with us for a holiday. Some memorable moments: Janine at Oktoberfest drinking one litre beers: I've only had two. Max in his lederhosen: tell me if my flaps aren't done up. Tamara when we were on our way to the train station to go to Bratislava: so where is the boat? Karl every five minutes: I've been there before. Janine when John was lost in a crowd of 200 000 people at Oktoberfest: Not happy. Tanya every five minutes: I just said that! Max in response: Did you say something? Tanya and Tamara when Karl and Max tried on their lederhosen: you look fantHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Italien tourist to Max in his lederhosen in public: Which way to Oktoberfest? Tamara: I don't do stairs. Karl: I do not have a bald spot! John: Hey look what I found (an old bottle; a piece of flint; an orange slug; a stinky mushroom; a spade; another spade; an old fishing line; a field mouse house; a worm; a hat; a trench coat). It was a fabulous time, everyone was so generous and hospitable which was much appreciated. chuss!

Germany

Lots of people said don't go to Oktoberfest, it would be full of ugly Australians. Well, we aren't that pretty, and we did come across a few Australians, but what we didn't add with our natural beauty we made up for with our enthusiasm, persistence and silly hats. We were not so well prepared on the first day which was the opening day so you can imagine how many people were there. The stats are 6 million people over the three week period that the beerfest is on for, and let me say that lots ofnthem went on day one. The festival starts at 12pm after 12 rounds of pretend canon fire and the first drink has been downed by the burgermeister (mayor). And then its on for one and all. With a couple of rules. One rule is that in order to have a beer you need a seat. The other rule is that a beer only comes in a one litre glass - eine mass. So, we naiive Australians, accompanied by John and Janine who have had a well-earned break from the fabulous Tuross Boatshed, and our German rellies, turned up at around midday. Well guess what - couldn't find a seat. Despite the beer tents taking between 2 and 8 000 people, we couldn't sit anywhere and hence we couldn't get a beer. Think about that - Australians at the biggest beerfest in the world and they didn't drink a beer. Seriously, the team was horrified at the prospect of having to admit that but things were seemingly hopeless, bodies herded shoulder to shoulder, beer belly to beer belly, along narrow thoroughfares unable to turn around, and thousands of lucky ones on seats, squashed hip to hip along hard wooden benches and being delivered masses of beer by wait staff you wouldn't mess with. Yet the goodwill of the crowd as their singing and banter and clinking of glasses was hypnotic and we knew we had to work something out. But maybe later. It was a beautiful day so once we made it ouside, we decided to go to the Englische Garten, a huge park up near the university with its own beer garten set among the beautiful grounds, and its own rather bad band playing the traditional swaying ype drinking songs. We enjoyed a drink in the sun and a bit of a wander and said goodbye to aunt and uncle who had come up for the day from Krumbach (more next post) and back to Oktoberfest we went. Well, if we thought the morning had been crowded, it was nothing on the late afternoon. People were queued up outside beer tents. Some tents were closed they were so full. The ground was littered with rubbish and the queues for the toilets were as long as a runway. People were beginning to lurch and stagger about as they lost consciousness of their limbs in time and space, and the gloss of goodwill was quickly fading, though terribly well supervised by the grim and scary security staff. With the wisdom that comes from being of the age we are, we decided to retreat to our hotel, grabbing some festival fare of bratwurst and semmel, followed by shockolade erdbeeren (a stick of heavenly chocolate strawberries), and were chased home by the threat of a thunderstorm. But fear not loyal followers, we had a plan to get that oktoberfest seat and did not let Australia down. We thought we'd strike esrly Sunday morning when people were either in church, or sleeping off Saturday night. Unfortunately the weather conditions had deteriorated significantly. Driving wind and rain, puddles, mud and cold - a real autmn day. It was grey, wet and cold outside so the inside of a beer tent was a stark contrast with its warmth and brightness. Early as we though we were, most of the seats were already taken in one of the biggest tents, but we managed to score a seat until 11.30, plenty of time to achieve our objectives - dry out, get warm and spend 9 euros on a beer. These beer tens run like factories. One secrion cooks hundreds of bbq chickens. One section pours the beer. One section washes the glasses. One wait person serves their allocated tables carrying up to 10 glasses at a time and these are heavy glasses plus the litre of contents. Others wander the aisles selling pretzel bread, sweet buns - and silly hats! See facebook for how I was able to finally become blonde. We got asked to move on just after midday, after hree rounds and a fair bit of singing, jubilant with our success. So back out into the gloomy, cold day, but with a very warm glow of satisfaction and just plain old happiness of having had a great time with friends and a few thousand other people. Prost!

Musings on Vienna

Sadly we are leaving Vienna today after a great week. Thanks to Karls cousin we have stayed in an apartment to the south of Vienna, about 20 minutes by train to the centre. Vienna is a very clever city in so many ways. First of all, its public transport is amazingly efficient and cheap. It all runs smoothly and is so easy to get around. People here cant afford to buy their own homes so there is an extensive public housing program which manages to create a real village feel despite huge apartment blocks or housing estatea as we might call them. The complex we are in probably houses at least 10 000 people, with the apartment blocks around the outside and a huge green space in the middle including space for dogs. In the long summer evenings, the sound of children playing as families enjoy a picnic dinner with thwir neighbours is a true community feel, one we dont get at home in our isolated suburban blocks. The primary school is very close, as are supermarkets, the bakery and other shops. The train station is also right here, and easy for prams, disabled people and dog friendly. In fact, vienna and most parts of Europe are dog friendly. Dogs go on the train, in the shopping malls and indeed right into the shops. They are so well socialised and so are the dogs! No messy footpaths, no barking or barging...it is so nice to see. Energy wise Vienna generates its electricity through the burning of rubbish and many buildings have solar panels. On top of all that, the food is supa scrummy, the beer good, the art and music rapturous. So bye to Vienna, its been a hoot. Now onto Munich...

Holy Wiener Schnitzel Batman

Ok so this is the land of the schnitzel, the strudel, the frankfurter and the hamburger, the goulash, the dumplings, cheese and beer. Don't forget the wine, the bread, the soups and the tradition of having three courses for at least one meal, and never have a coffee all by itself. And also it is quite ok to start drinking in the morning, and then drink some more. I have to admit, I thought Australians were up there with the best, and while there are many similarities between Australian and Bavarian culture, I think we are not quite there. What an amazing time we have had in Europe so far, all revolving around food! Well, we still have done lots of walking, as that is the only way to truly see a city and Vienna is delightful to wander through. We also did a cruise on the Danube because we could, including going throu a lock into the Donau canal, a four metre drop. We did a spot of shopping on Mariahilfenstrasse, in which Karl and max procured a pair of lederhosen, socks and a shirt in recognition of their Bavarian heritage. Needless to say they looked the part and you can see some great shots on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=701553648 We spent a great day in Baden on Sunday and are back again today. As I write, we are finishing off lunch at Karls tante Greti's with apfelstrudel und kaffee. Tomorrow we are having a day trip to Bratislava and on Friday we take the train to Munchen for the big event. We have new rules: if ordering a meal for one, order an entree, or order one meal between two. When I'm back home I am becoming a vegetarian. If my cholesterol levels haven't killed me.

Gruss Gott!

Hello everyone! After a few days in beautiful Prague we took the bus to Vienna at an astoundingly cheap rate. Prague was not on,y beautiful but the people were wonderful and the food cheap - except of course if you act like a tourist and buy stuff right in the old town centre. Which we did on account of it was a fantastic hot ham on a spit roast, and potato, sauerkraut and bacon. Nom,nom! The Czech Republic is also known for it's beers and we sampled quite a few of them, in training for our event at Oktoberfest now less than a week away. And let me say, Vienna, or more precisely Baden where we had a training camp yesterday led by Karl's cousin Fritz, showed us that we face fairly strong competition from the locals. In fact, I think we realized we might not have the goods, when we staggered home on the tram after a day which began at 11am with the last bottle ever of Tante Gretti's home made wine. That was accompanied by a generous slice of her hand made apfelstrudel. Nom nom nom! Fritz then took us to a local biergarten for lunch and a few ales. Pork, dumplings, sauerkraut, schnitzel und salate washed down with a half litre of beer. After such a huge meal, we went for a walk which turned out to be a bit of a hike up to the ruins of a castle through the woods dominated by tannenbaum - fir trees - and of course, the climb rewarding us with magnificent views across the valley over Helenental, guarded by its own castle ruin. The castle dates to Roman times and is one of three perched strategically to afford views across the plains for miles. It was a beautiful day and easy to see all od Baden and surrounds, once you climbed the six storey tower to reach the ramparts. The castle itself is overgrown with plants but the old rooms can easily be seen and also the chapel. back at Tante Greti's, we had a coffee and more home cooked delights, giant jam cookies and more of the strudel. But then the serios training began. Fritz led us to a Heurigan which is a bit different to a pub In that it is a family run wine bar which serves traditional home made food and their own wine. The Austrian tradition is to keep the glass full, and Fritz made sure of that. Red wines, white wines and then some snacks including a rather nice paprika dip with pretzels and home cooked burger. Few more wines, some very sweet traubensaft - grape juice and blackcurrant juice, and thanks to some skillful manoevring we managed to say goodbye and find our way back to the tram. Our next session is on Wednesday beginning with Tante Greti's schnitzel special. Weather is beautiful at the moment with 30 degrees yesterday and similar expected for today and tomorrow. We are off to wander the streets of Vienna this morning and then down to the river tonight to the Prater for a pork knuckle. Until next time, Chuss!

Prague

We arrived in Prague yesterday, sad to be leaving good ole England, but excited to be visiting somewhere new, and especially when you don't know one word of the language. We got off to a good start, met at the airport by Neil from England so that was easy enough. He drove us to our hotel, the Tchaikovsky, which is a UNESCO registered building with huge rooms and gorgeous decor. Also quite handy to the old part of town, though we started with a tour which took us pretty much everywhere including Karls castle. Prague is a beautiful city with the Vlatava river providing a very picturesque backdrop. There are many amazing buildings and thrusting church spires, and so much history we just have no idea about. We spent the day wandering about with a tour, and then continued on our own, sampling the local fare including pork ribs, beef goulash and dumplings. Oh, and the local beers of course, and red wine. And more beer and red wine at various local spots, all very relaxing. Tomorrow is a cruise on said river, and then, well probably some local beer and red wine, and local fare...then we head off to Vienna on Saturday which is about a four hour trip. The weather was cold and wet today but promises to heat up to the high twenties by the weekend. Looking forward to that!

Oxfordshire

Hello everyone. Well it is certainly autumn here, rain, wind, falling leaves and muddy footpaths - glad I brought a good coat! Yesterday we made it to Warwick Castle which is about an hours drive from here. We spent all day there as it is quite extensive and also we didn't get there till midday anyway. It dates back to the 1000s, like many things around here. The first thing we did was tour the dungeons and learned about the various methods of torture applied at the time, which made everyone squirm and wonder why anyone could suggest our modern times are more violent. We toured the grand hall, the state rooms, the gaol and the grounds, climbing hundreds of stairs and worse, climbing down hundreds of stairs, but the views of the surrounding countryside were well worth the effort. There was also a birds of prey show and I got some fabulous shots. Today was our last day with Michael and Adie. Janine and John arrived safely and we all went for a walk. It was a blustery day, and as we walked along the muddy track, I wish I could say the delightful scent of wildflowers filled the dells and meadows. However, the damp smell of sheep shit made it a truly rural experience. And as we walked, we picked the wild, rain washed blackberries from their spiteful vines, reminding me of Enid Blyton's Famous Five stories. Aah England, I just love you! Off to Prague tomorrow so cheers for now.