Finally Blogger appears to be working. Thanks for those who have been calling, faxing, texting and emailing to find out when the next blog will appear. Well its appeared, from a lovely internet cafe in Bremen Germany.
Since we last spoke we´ve been very busy. After dropping David at Ljublana airport we set off to Vienna for 3 nights in Austria´s capital. We were hoping the trip would be as exciting as the airport drop off as we pulled up behind a limo with 6 20 something women who looked like they were finishing off a girl´s weekend. We wished David well with his flight and set off.
Vienna is a good safe tourist city isn´t it? You have the museums, the amazing buildings and that Wien (`Veen') vibe which a cross between Old Money and the corner of Bourke and Russell Street in Melbourne. Where else can you get off a train at one station and see a palace with 1600 rooms and then get off the same train 2 stops later and witness drug deals openly being conducted in the middle of a pedestrian thoroughfare? Most major cities is probably the answer but it certainly was not expected in good old Veen.
There were a number of people walking around Veen from the far east, those are the people we discussed in the Slovenia posts. You are beautiful but why has your hair been died white and why has it been ironed flat like the 80s. Think Duran Duran in the Hungry Like the Wolf video. Not Girls on Film (if you are aware of the difference this is a great gag).
We went to the great palace of the Habsburgs. They ruled for 700 years and loved their family so much that they often married their first cousins. Well this resulted in some freakish looking children who are immortalised in paintings that adorn the walls of the palace for those who take the grand tour. The lengths of the chins of the Habsburgs is really beyond belief. The best analogy I can think of is the pure bred dog with hip problems resulting from constant inbreeding. Except in this case its not the hips, its the chins. Scarily the portraits were done to flatter the family so the real thing must have been truly extraordinary.
Speaking of dogs, we went on a walking tour and the lady giving the tour rolled up with her labrador. She claimed she could not find a dog sitter for the afternoon so she could join our walk. The problem for us was the dog needed to pee and apparently would not do so unless it found grass. The tour then had to take a 15 minute detour to Veen's closest spot of grass so the dog could relieve itself. No discount provided for this moment of madness. Cathy loved it however as she walked the dog throughout Veen´s cobbled streets.
We went to Grinsing for dinner one night which is a place that serves freshly barrelled wine in the Autumn but in the Spring it just serves normal wine. Lovely wine however and rounded off with our first Schnapps. The waiter asked whether we wanted a `Child´s or an Adult´s serve`. We went Adult and received a tumbler of Schnapps for our trouble.
We then drove the entire way across Austria without a valid motorway vignette and arrived in Munich. Hopefully the Austrians don't notice the vignette was 2 days out of date but if they do we are playing the `we didn't know sorry we don't speak Deutsch lines'. Lets see how it goes!
Munich is located in Bavaria, the only place in the world where policemen on duty can drink a beer. We didn´t see any of that going on but we saw some beerhalls full to the rafters at 6pm with blokes and women drinking 1 litre beers. So we joined them. Very good indeed.
We then went to the new Nicole Kidman film The Interpretor. I thought it was pretty good but found Nicole´s constantly changing accent to be enormously frustrating. Cathy didn´t enjoy it but she´s liked nothing Nicole´s done since BMX Bandits. Sean Penn was great but then again he´s always good. 3.5 stars from this writer.
But the real highlight from Munich was our hotel location. We booked on the generally excellent hostelworld website and then we arrived in Munich. We drove through Munich and kept driving. And driving. And driving. The hotel turned out to be 36 kilometres from Munich and was only connected to Munich by an intercity train service. Think Yarrambat in Melbourne and you get the idea. We therefore packed a number of books for our train ride as it took so very long. Thanks Hostelworld for that one.
Then off to the Romantic Road. A gorgeous drive through Bavaria´s leading villages including Fussen, Rothenburg and Wurzburg. We however stayed in a little town called Dinkelsbuhl. It was perfect. An entirely walled town, real locals living in said town drinking beer and a pension operated by a woman who spoke no English but was aware that there was a new German pope. PS Did you hear there was a new German pope? You can rest tonight assured that Germans who cannot speak English can speak enough English to tell you that the new pope is German. We could not be more pleased for these people as the world needs another conservative European pope and he looks like he fits the bill.
Dinkelsbuhl for dinner was marvellous. After dinner (wurst of course) a very pissed local began engaging me in some discussion. He advised me that his father was a soldier in Hitler´s army but he was now 82 and he was not a bad person. He was so very pissed that he fell off his chair and had to be helped back to his feet so he could hear my answer. What do you say to a man, pissed, large and on the verge of tears as he waited for my response about his father? I said the only thing you could say - it was a long time ago wasn' it. This seemed to satisfy him and we made a hasty retreat. But not before he insisted that we drink another 500 ml beer with him. After he had already fallen down once, I politely refused and got the hell out of there.
We then rolled into Dresden which was our first place from the old East. The standout highlight was the jazz group busking for the Sunday afternoon promenading traffic. They were brilliant and were making a great deal of money, including 50 cents from us. The fact each of the 3 of them was 6 years old made the moment even better. They must have had 200 euro in their tin and I hope they have a small trust fund set up investing the money for when they reach 18.
Berlin was next. This remains my favourite European city and I again took the world´s best walking tour being the one run by Terry Brewer. The tour lasts a minimum of 8 hours and can be reviewed here - brewersberlintours.com. He is a former British spy that worked in East Berlin when there still was a wall. There is nothing he doesn´t know about Berlin and there is nothing that he is not prepared to tell you. At certain times on the day, you are instructed to take a seat as his explanation of the rise of Hitler or the fall of the wall is going to take a while.
Berlin is the classic east meets west city. On one corner in the east is a brown concrete public house with pierced, shaved occupants who scowl at you as they stroll down the street for their 10am beer. On the other corner is the ultra modern Berlin shopping centre with Louis Vuitton outlets and coffee by the cupfull. The contrast between the old east and the west remains stark and it will take more than 80 billion euro to fix up the problems.
Must run, a Scandanavian summary will hit your screens as soon as possible.
Off to Amsterdam tomorrow. We might post after visiting one of their 'internet' cafes.
