Odyssey 2006

Final days in Deutschland

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February 2007

On February 10 I rose early and took the train to Karlsruhe airport to pick up Jo and Daniela, my English friends from when I was in Russia, who were visiting for the weekend. After they napped at my place we went into Freiburg and I showed them around, eating Schnitzel and seeing the sights before returning around 8pm. I had to make final preparations for my farewell party. The party was nice and a good chance to say goodbye to quite a few of the friends I'd made there.
The next day the weather was poor and we spent the whole day first in a cafe, then in a restaurant, just talking. After spending a number of hours in the city we went home and continued to talk until 5:30 am when the first bus came and Jo and Daniela had to leave.

The rest of the week I spent going to Uni in amongst packing and making arrangements to leave. On my last night my housemates wanted to farewell me and we had a few drinks together, sang songs and they game me gifts. I decided not to go to bed yet again as I had to rise very early and a few of them then decided to stay up with me and take me to the station. We said our sad goodbyes on the platform and I boarded the train. The lack of sleep helped me to sleep on the plane - something I usually have a lot of difficulty doing - during the 9 hour flight.

January 2007

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On December 30 Michelle and I travelled from Krefeld to Hamburg where we spent four nights. We checked out the city on the last day of the year before heading to the Reeperbahn, Hamburgs famous red-light district for the New Years celebrations. We ate dinner next to some elderly German ladies who took a liking to us and bought us each a beer. Then we headed to the port, firecrackers in hand. Midnight struck and I believe there was no official Hamburg fireworks show or, if there was, it wasn't evident in amongst the chaos that was the individual fireworks displays of the entire population of Germany's third largest city.

In the New Year we made a day trip to Schwerin, Wismar and Neubukow. Schwerin is a pretty city on a lake and the capital of the state Mecklenburg, Western Pomerania. We lunched there and poked around the city, checking out the castle before heading on to Wismar. Wismar is a quaint port city which was Swedish for a long time - it still shows in the Scandinavian architecture and canals. Neubukow is a tiny town with nothing more than a post office and a couple of bakeries. I wanted to visit because it's the area where some of my Mum's ancestors are from but the rain, wind, cold and darkness soon turned us around and we headed back to Schwerin for dinner before returning to Hamburg.

After Hamburg we took a marathon (12 hour) overnight bus to Heidelberg where we caught the train back to Freiburg - it was nice to have Michelle back in Freiburg for a couple of days and we relived memories there before I headed back up to Krefeld/Düsseldorf with her for her return flight to the states.

After a weekend in Freiburg for a uni-requirement weekend seminar I took off on the 20th on an excursion into Switzerland to Bern, Lausanne and Neuchâtel. After arriving early and waiting for the bus at 5:30am, I realised I had forgotten my passport and had to borrow a bike and cycle frantically to pick it up from home. Nice way to get the adrenalin pumping just when you were looking forward to a couple of hours of shut-eye on the bus!

Bern, the capital of Switzerland, is a quaint city set in the loop of a river, but I found it a little grey. It's name comes from the German Bären, which mean "bears", and this city symbol exists in the flesh with bear pits on the city edge. Lausanne, on Lake Geneva, is in the French part of Switzerland and much prettier altogether. Both the lakefront and the city centre are beautiful with spectacular views across the lake to the towering Alps. By the time we got to Neuchâtel it was dusk and after a quick tour and some dinner and drinks we boarded the bus tired and ready to return.

Just four days later and I was buckling up in a Ryanair Jet to Pisa. I'd booked cheap flights there and back to visit Maria Giulia "Margie" Rancan and Stefano Maestrelli, my Italian friends from the Summer semester, who study there. The whole weekend was loads of fun including a trip around Tuscany (San Gimignano, Monteriggioni and Siena) with Stefano, a guided tour of Pisa, including the best Italian food I've ever eaten, and a trip to the coast at Viareggio and finally Lucca.
San Gimignano and Monteriggioni are both walled cities set on hilltops in the picturesque Tuscan countryside. Siena, significantly larger, has more of an Italian city feel with scooters, bustling pedestrian traffic and extravagant architecture.
Pisa, apart from the leaning tower and adjacent cathedral, doesn't have too many attractions and although many people find it a dirty city, I was fond of the busy student atmosphere, the university buildings, the cafes and bars and fantastic food.
Viareggio is not the nicest of beaches, and the weather wasn't hot (though the whole time it was much nicer than in Germany), but I really enjoyed walking along the beach, stopping for lunch with Margie and Stefano before heading on to Lucca. Lucca was about my favourite city in Tuscany with its very colourful buildings and narrow streets. We spent a few hours of the afternoon there before heading back to Pisa.
It seemed that my time was over before it started and it was so nice to see Stefano and Margie again - especially on their own turf!

December 2006

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The first weekend in December was the KHG's Advent weekend and I went with them to Oberprechtal, about an hour from Freiburg in the Black Forest. It was a good time for reflection, wandering in the mountains and getting to know people of the KHG a little better. In fact it was the first time that I really started to feel like I fit in at the KHG and the awkwardness subsided.

A few days later and I was in Ulm on the way to Augsburg where I visited Karin, a friend of one of my housemates, and saw a little more of Deutschland. I climbed the (161.5m) tallest church tower in the world in Ulm taking in superb views of the city on the Danube. From Augsburg it was just a hop and a step to Munich and so, after a night at an Augsburg bar, Karin and I took the train in for the day. The weather was awful, the first of winter, with sleet and a bitter wind so the visit was quite unpleasant and involved short stints outside followed by long pauses in restaurants, cafes and shops. I didn't really get to see Munich properly. However I did get around Augsburg, one of Germany's oldest cities, before I went home to Freiburg.

From Stuttgart and Augsburg I took Mitfahrgelegenheit (ride-sharing) offers common among students in Germany - I paid a fraction of the train fare to travel with someone who was already heading to my destination - a fantastic resource!

In the middle of the month my floor of my residence threw its semester party which saw loads of people packing what was formerly our living room till the wee hours. Germans know how to party!

A few days later and I was on the train to Trier to take advantage to an offer of free accommodation I arranged through the Hospitality Club ( www.hospitalityclub.org) - a kind of accommodation exchange service for travellers. The result was two nights in Trier, Germany's oldest city, where I visited heaps of Roman ruins, the Porta Nigra, thermal baths, an amphitheatre, as well as other city attractions such as the Karl Marx House before making a half-day trip to Luxemburg, Luxemburg. There I did a flash self-guided tour of city, taking in yet another beautiful Roman city before return to retire a weary traveller.

The next day I travelled to Aachen, near the Dutch border, the historical home of Charlemagne. I checked out the amazing cathedral and the city hall before taking the bus to it's sister town across the border. Finding nothing worth visiting in this tiny village in the Netherlands I turned around and headed back to the train station from where I travelled to Krefeld, where I would spend Christmas.

A week at the Blankenbergs (Michelle's former host family) in Krefeld was a fantastic (and authentic German) way to spend Christmas away from home and I enjoyed the preparations of the tree and other German Christmas traditions (Germans celebrate on Dec 24.), a German Christmas Mass and trumpets played from the church steeple. The Blankenbergs were, for the second time, extremely friendly, hospitable and welcoming (and they fed me very well). The highlight, however, was my visitor from the Texas who arrived on Dec 28.

October-November 2006

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In the last week of October I started going to the KHG where I felt awkward and foreign at first. Tamara, a friend from school arrived for a week-long visit on the Friday and we went on an excursions hiking in the Black Forest, visiting the Rhine Falls - the largest waterfall (volume) in Europe - and wine-tasting at a nearby winery.

Towards the end of November I made a trip to Talhausen by Markgröningen, not too far from Stuttgart, where I spent the weekend with Hans, Connie, Denise and Andre Steinmaier, German relatives of the Knolls. They treated me to some wonderful hospitality taking me to the castle in Ludwigsburg, up the TV tower and into the centre of Stuttgart as well as showing me around Markgröning and re-tracing the steps of my Great-great-grandfather. I was also treated to home-made local food specialities and even had a night out in trendy Stuttgart bars with Denise and her friends.

Winter Semester 2006/07

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So, again it's been a long time since I've blogged - here's an update

Winter semester in Germany was much more of a taste of reality than the 5 month high that was Summer semester. Unlike first semester the vast majority of my time was spent with Germans. This had its benefits and drawbacks because although my German improved a lot and I now have a number of great contacts in Germany, it was quite difficult and lonely at times - made worse by the long-distance relationship I was having with Michelle in Texas. However, I got to know my housemates and became good friends with a number of them, I started attending the Katholische Hochschulgemeinde (KHG - Freiburg Catholic students group) and made a few friends there and I took only proper German classes (no German as a foreign language classes). I also had Thursdays and Fridays off which meant I travelled a lot more for long weekends and I went on a number of excursions with the students' association.

England: Mark II

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Wednesday September 20, 2006
I flew from Barcelona to London Luton, only, upon landing, the pilot informed us that we were not at Luton but rather Stansted! A light plane had problems with its hydraulics and put down at Luton closing the airport to other traffic and re-routing flights to as far away as Birmingham.
So what was a relatively late flight turned out to be later...
The evening became brighter, however, when Jo (ex-GAPper) met me at Mile End Underground station from where we walked back to her flat where she and her housemates, Adam and Angie hospitably hosted me on and off for the next month. It was fantastic to see Jo and catch up again after 4 years.
September 21-25
I caught up with Ella (another GAPper) the following evening when Jo and I met her and went to the pub, and things started to feel a little surreal (like meeting friends from a parallel life!). Then it was off the next day to visit Timshel and Shelley near Bridgwater in England's pretty south-west, where I spent a very relaxing weekend.
September 25-29
The following week I saw Daniela (yes, another GAPper) when she came over for dinner and again it was lovely to catch up. We reminisced while looking at her photos from Moscow...
The whole week I was writing my 15 page essay in German for my literature subject and working against the clock to meet the deadline of the weekend. I was hoping to have it done by the time I went to Birmingham on Friday evening... it didn't eventuate and I ended up finishing it on a fairly late Friday night in Birmingham.
September 29-October 1
I was in Birmingham to visit John, a friend from Freiburg, and, after the essay was complete, I enjoyed good weekend - it was nice to catch up with John again and see him in his native environment. We even played a reminiscent game of Frisbee despite the bitter English weather.
October 2-October 20
With the essay out of the way, I was able to get out and about a bit more in London, although I also enjoyed just taking a break -.relaxing, reading, watching films and normal household stuff that I hadn't really done so much of in Germany. I went out with Jo on a few occasions, going to the pub or visiting her friends and also went to Daniela's house for dinner and with her and Jo to Brit lane - home of London's India... yum yum.
October 7-8
The weekend after Birmingham I went to Oxford for a party on Saturday night. I caught up with Ed (another GAPper) and he showed me the sights before sitting down for a beer on the river... it's a very pretty city. Then I went back to Ella's for the party before heading back to London the next day.
October 12-16
The following Thursday I headed North and visited Paul and Helen Shogren again where I was again received as well as in May. Chris and Claire were still there and I had a wonderful time, and great conversations, with all of them.

Before too long, the month was over and on October 20th I flew back to Freiburg - partly anxious because all my friends there had left and partly relieved to have my own space again for the first time in over two months.

Catching Up!

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Dear Reader,
Sorry I haven't posted in ages. I will now type up a few more entries and try to get this page up-to-date.
Thanks for your patience.
P.S. Don't forget, you can also see hand-picked photos of my adventures at: http://unimelbedu.facebook.com/photos.php?id=218100724&l=47660
Viel Spaß!

You know you've been living in (Freiburg) Germany when:

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You find yourself standing at a completely deserted intersection waiting for the green man. (And you've walked 200m out of your way to get there)
You travel to the UK and almost get killed by the traffic because they're driving on the left!
You travel over a few hundred kilometres on the train with four or five (or 8!) connections and are not surprised when you arrive on schedule.
You are used to traveling "in" the bus, tram or train as opposed to "on" it (after all - who travels on the roof!).
You get to the bus stop one minute before schedule only to see the tail-lights fading into the distance.
You are equally alert to the dangers of being hit by a bike or tram as a car.
You shock people just by telling them you don't own a bike.
You are aware of the "fluidity" of bicycle ownership.
You regularly eat the local specialities: Türkish döner kebap and Italian ice-cream.
You never throw a bottle away but instead keep it in your bag/pocket/room until you take it back for "Pfand" up to six months later.
You shop for groceries at about three or four different supermarkets because of their subtle price and range differences.
You know everything about the local beers - where they're brewed, which is best, etc - and would never consider drinking a beer from another part of the country (let alone an import!!).
You find that you putting the verb at the end of each clause in English keep.
You have the desire to put multiple nouns together as one word in order to achieve a germannounconstructionsimilarity.
Talking about national pride won't make you any friends at parties but talking about the success of the national football team will.
And on that note, you know that football involves 11 men and a round ball, and that, while Germany has the best football team in the world England and Holland have the worst (Australia is pretty ok!).
You don't even notice that you are regularly inside beautiful buildings, hundreds of years old, that were destroyed in war(s) only to be rebuilt in their original style.
You are not surprised by the lack of skyscrapers in the cities.
You are surprised and somewhat shocked when customer service staff or waiters are friendly to you.
You start to think that Australia's entire area is filled with poisonous snakes and spiders.
You've seen heaps of Europe but not much of Germany.
You're used to seeing dogs everywhere - on the streets, in trains, trams and buses etc. - bare are surprised when you hear a dog bark.
You know that beer, sausages and sour kraut are not just German stereotypes.
You are used to travelling anyway within 50km of home on a fabulous public transport system for free!! (Well you paid 63€ per semester for the privilege)
You don't notice anymore that although you've never touched a cigarette, your clothes constantly reek of smoke.
You take it for granted that in bars you get table service!
You are used to the question: "you're from Australia! Why on earth would you want to come here?"
You know that Bavaria is not Germany and you can't speak Bavarian anyway.

Valencia, days two and three

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Sunday September 17

Today, after a relaxed lunch we walked around the centre of town exploring before deciding to take advantage of the beautiful weather and head to the beach. We headed back to the hostel, locked up our valuables and took the "fast tram" down to the beach where we whiled away the
afternoon, swimming and chilling out on the sand. We returned a few hours later, hungry and beached out, and went out for dinner. After that we went to bed, all a little sunburnt - I think it's comical that the only time I got burnt in Europe was in Autumn, not Summer.

Monday September 18

Today we explored a few churches including the Cathedral where we climbed the tower. From there we had a great bird's eye view of Spain's third largest city - even seeing to the coast. We then wandered around the market before heading to the train station where we caught the bus
to a collection of modernistic, Stargate style buildings; the Art Museum, the Science Museum and the IMAX and Planetarium. Unprepared to pay the exorbitant entrance fees we then mad our way back to the hostel for a siesta. After resting for a while we headed out for dinner for
Paella, to a place recommended by the hostel. Although it was nice, it didn't match my first Paella in Tarragona. We then hit the sack in anticipation of our return to Barcelona, from where I will fly on to London on Wednesday.

Tarragona to Valencia

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Saturday September 16

This morning we dumped our bags at the hotel after check-out and went to explore the town further by day. After visiting the Market (extensive for a student town) we headed back to the old Roman headquarters, further exploring the city wall. After that we just had enough time to visit the Cathedral and grounds before heading back to the hotel to pick up our bags and get the bus to the station (the longest 2km trip ever - I think we visited every part of the city).

After a two hour train journey we found our way to the hostel where we checked in for a siesta before heading out for dinner. Traveling days are always tiring, and after dinner we were all happy to head back to the hostel for some sleep.

Barca to Tarragona

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Thursday September 14

After dinner tonight we caught the Metro to the Palacio where, according to the friendly guy at the tourist information centre, there was to be a weekly night lights show, and show there was. The whole avenue and hill up to the palace was lit up with the highlight and centrepiece being a dynamic fountain which changed both colour and shape with the lights and jets every thirty seconds. They say pictures tell a thousand words, check out the photos of the palace and fountains on http://unimelbedu.facebook.com/photos.php?id=218100724&l=47660

Friday September 15

Today we packed up and metroed to the train station where we bought tickets to Tarragona. A little over two hours later we we sitting in a hotel (a HOTEL!!) for a two minute breather before checking this town out!

After a long-awaited packet pizza lunch at a local café we wandered down the main drag to the end, a panoramic lookout over the Mediterranean. We then headed walked another 50 metres for a great overhead view of the Roman Amphitheatre before entering the old Roman city wall, which doubles as a Museum, for free! (You've got to love traveling out of peak season!) After that, and taking advantage of the gorgeous weather - in contrast to Barcelona, we headed back to the hotel to change and head to the beach.

After a the walking, a bus trip and a swim in the Mediterranean (on a beatiful beach in 35 degree heat... ) we'd worked up an appetite and headed back to find some grub. Paella was the meal of choice (a typical Spanish dish - sort of Risotto with seafood) and Lonely Planet told us the Port was the place to find it, but how to find the port? Hmmm.... we set off at first in the wrong direction, finding ourselves in a one way street. There was, however a bunch of young people with cars at the end of the street and I decided I'd pluck up the courage to try my Spanish and ask for directions. Well, we got more than we bargained for. After the group of well-intentioned but not very helpful youths had taken my map and squabbled with each other for a few minutes one of the guys decided to take control of the situation. "Over here, get in the car please" came the request in Spanish and broken English. We looked at each other, a little unshore and a little uneasy until his girlfriend (with better English) repeated "get in the car, please." We got in.

Driving down to the ports we chatted with the two in the front about what they were doing and about Tarragona, being interrupted occationally by driving alongside the other car of the group and shouting things through open windows. "They are crazy", the girlfriend calmly explains with a smile. Being the good hearted people they were they suggested we eat in the town to save money. "We're after Paella," I said, and the reply cam "the Port, definitely the Port." "It's good there - although my Mum makes good Paella." Suddenly, and before we knew it, we'd stopped. "Here, you eat here. This is the best Paella." We took their word for it and ate there.

It was not only the best Paella in Tarragona, it was the best meal I'd had since travelling - and not the most expensive!

After very much satisfying our taste buds and filling our bellies we walked it off, heading back into town enjoying La Cubana, a latino band, playing as part of a Tarragona festival and the city under lights before heading back to the hotel for some rest.

Tarragona has been my favourite Spanish town. Imagine having a student town, not too busy as it's still quite small, with history dating back to before Christ which also has strong coastal influences of both a port and fantastic beaches! It's my cuppa tea!

Barcelona, days two and three

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Wednesday September 13

We started our second day looking forward - taking a trip to the train station to buy tickets for our onward journey - to Tarragona, Valencia and back.

After a long wait and a test for my Spanish (which I left happy) we began a tour of the artworks of Barca's most famous architect, Gaudi. After getting off a the Sagrada Familia metro we saw the church itself and, after considering the entrance prices decided to continue on foot rather than go inside. We then saw two more of his buildings. For those who've not heard of him before (most I assume, unless I was alone in the dark) his architectural style is a unique one with his buildings resembling imperfections in the very earth - rising up like muddy, colourful, or wavy earth-forms.

From there we walked back into the city, taking in the cathedral with more awake eyes and then walking around the foreshore and ports - this time successfully and staying dry. We then went back and cooked before going for a few drinks at a British pub with Ross, a cockney geezer we'd met at the hostel yesterday.

Thursday September 14

Rain again today... the rain in Spain seems to fall mainly in Barcelona.

We caught the metro into town in and walked around in search of the Museo Picasso. An hour later, and only after asking an old local lady for directions, we finally found it, only to find long queues. We ditched the idea and opted instead for a visit to a nearby church, Iglesia de Santa Maria del Mar. Then we wandered down to the beach and the Mediterranean, which, unlike the Adriatic at Venezia, actually has waves. After having a chuckle at Kelso who managed to lose both thongs in the waves (and through loss of life and limb retrieved them) we went for another wander around the port where we ate lunch and searched without success for films showing in English.

After that we walked back via La Rambla (the main street) where we detoured into a market and bought supplies for a dinner of fish and vegetables.

Madrid to the Mediterranian - an eventful day in retrospect

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Tuesday September 12

We rose at 3:30 am. Need I say more?

It was beginning to half-heartedly rain as we climbed into the taxi at 3.55 and we were at the airport for check in within 15 minutes after the 2nd fastest taxi ride of my life (matched only by one I recall back in 1995).

The flight, contrary to the prediction of "some turbulence due to storms" was smooth for its entire 50 minute duration and our landing on the Barcelona beach was comfortably soft. After touchdown we collected our bags and headed into the city to find our hostel. It was raining.

We found the hostel without any hassles but were too early for check-in so we dumped our bags and started to walk. It started raining... harder.
We stopped at the nearest shelter - a café with a menu all filled with words unfamiliar to me. Xocolata??? Welcome to Catalonia. After propping ourselves up on our arms or anything else we could find for around an hour in an attempt to stay awake the rain let up a little and we were able to continue our walk. Tired legs, tired eyes and tired bodies didn't carry us far and we got as far as Plaça Catalonia where we stopped for a look around before heading back just in time to check in and crash!

I woke some time later, groggy from over-afternoon sleeping and hungry from under-afternoon eating, so we headed into the city for a little more exploring and some tucker! After stumbling across the cathedral and Plaça Reial (Royal Square) we found a Tapas bar we'd seeked out and tucked into some delicious Tapas. After dinner we decided to take advantage of the lack of rain for a while and pay a visit to the foreshore. We walked through the pretty back lanes of Barcelona towards the foreshore and were encouraged by the palm-lined boulevard in front -
seemed something like the palms at St Kilda beach, Melbourne. We started to cross the boulevard when an instantaneous storm-like shower began dropping many, thick rain drops. however it stopped as soon as it started. It was weird. We had noticed the strong winds in the palms, but I'd never really seen anything like it before. We stood there for a moment looking at each other with shrugged shoulders and confused eyes.

The moment had barely passed when it happened... it really set in. The same drops, the same frequency. I'm not talking about just rain, or even a typical Melbourne (or German for that matter) rain-storm. This was the kind of rain that soaks you in seconds. The word starting with M and ending in onsoon springs to mind. It was wet. It was very wet. We sprinted for the nearest cover, but alas, the "see breeze" would ensure it was to no avail. We were soaked through in no time, and, after safely putting unwettables in a plastic bag we walked through the Barcelona streets, or more precisely, creeks, in the dark, arms outstretched to the heavens letting it soak us through. Our roles had suddenly switched from sight-seeers to the sight itself!
Now something like this is a good test of a city... I mean it's easy to love a city when the sun is shining and the air is warm, but what about when it puts on its worst weather?? Barcelona rose to meet the rain.

Chatty crowds lined the streets, seeking shelter and laughing at the rain. Plaça Catalonia was filled with a crowd of crazies. The were brass instruments playing and hundreds of young people dancing barefoot in the rain. Writing this it sounds more like I'm describing a dream than reality, and perhaps it was, but if you like you can ask Lish or Kelso for verification!

Returning to the hostel like a drowned rat I enjoyed a very long shower and a warm, dry bed very much.

WELCOME TO BARCELONA

Madrid, the heart of España

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Thursday September 7

Today, seeking an introduction to Madrid and looking into options ofwhat to do here for more than three days (the extent of Lonely Planet's coverage), we walked to Plaza Mayor (Main Square) for the information office and a grand intro to Spanish architecture and life. Armed with pamphlets and guides we took a self-guided walking tour visiting significant sights including the city hall, cathedral, palace, senate, site of the Spanish inquisition and finishing at Plaza del Sol (Square of the Sun). We stopped nearby for a traditional Spanish lunch of Tortilla de Patatas (Potato Omelet) after which we went back for a siesta followed by a couple of drinks at the corner bar while waiting for the restaurants to open. We ate at a Mexican restaurant across the road that we'd sussed out earlier and enjoyed a fantastic meal. After the meal we went back to the bar before hitting the sack.

Friday September 8

Today we went back in to visit the Palacio Real (Royal Palace), a 17th century construction and former home of Carlos V and a number of other regal personalities, which, apart from its size, is also impressive for its furnishing. The impressively exorbitant chapel, dining room complete with a very royal table and lavishly decorated and childhood-imagination inspiring throne room in the main wing were all highlights, while on the side wings the armoury and pharmacy were also interesting.

We came out of the palace just in time for the cathedral to close (2-5 pm siesta hours), so we walked instead down the hill (where we saw locals washing their socks in a fountain) to the Palace's gardens where we walked and took it easy in true Spanish afternoon style before heading up to Plaza España, with its memorial to Don Quijote, and then back to the cathedral and crypt. Both were grand structures, the cathedral, a relatively modern construction, had a particular Spanish flair to its interior design while the crypt, much older than the church it supports, was dark and meditative.

After visiting the crypt we walked home, buying supplies along the way, cooked dinner and went to bed.

Saturday September 9

On Saturday, after a short side-trip, we took a trip to the Madrid Zoo, boasting a large collection of species from across the globe, and spent six hours there. Highlights included the dolphin, seal and bird shows, the bears, tigers and the many species I'd never set eyes on before.

After the zoo we headed back to the hostel for something to eat and a change of clothes before heading out again to fulfill the purpose of our morning side-trip - we'd secured tickets to a Spanish Premier League Football game!! It was Atlético Madrid vs. Valencia - two top team rivals, guaranteed to be an entertainer, and entertainer it was.

After some good play from both teams, Valencia scored a well-deserved goal before earning a red card that looked likely to change the fate of the game. However, before Atletico Madrid could equalize, they earned a red card themselves only to bring the game to a slow end leading to tens of thousands of disappointed local fans - a stark contrast to the wild Valencia fans in one corner. The game as a whole was very exciting and the atmosphere was electric.

Sunday September 10

Today, after walking to and around the bustling and gigantic Sunday street flea-markets, we took advantage of the free Sunday entry in the Prado Museum, seeing many religious works, royal portraits and other works by Italian and Spanish greats. We then headed back to the hostel for five minutes before taking the train out to Plaza de Toros (Square of the Bulls) and buying tickets at the stadium there for some traditional, controversial and very Hispanic entertainment. Bull fighting is an interesting sport and not one which I have any desire to visit again, though I also don't regret seeing it once. It involves the very ritualised slaughter of a number of bulls in one sitting by crazy Spanish men armed with a sword and a red rag and is a far cry from the pop-culturalised idea of bullfighting we get from cartoons and television advertising. I found it simultaneously more brutal and savage and more ritualised and ordered than I had imagined.

After the fighting we went back to the hostel for some much needed sleep.

Monday September 11

Today we rose fairly late and walked to the central park. Here we saw fountains, memorials, gardens and a turtle filled pond in front of the Crystal Palace. We lay and read in the shade (the weather has been warm the whole time in Madrid - between 30-35 degrees) and whiled the afternoon away before heading back to cook and get an early night. It would be an early morning...

I really enjoyed Madrid, not so much for its beauty, which does not stand up to other European capitals, as its life and energy. It's a city that has a great atmosphere during the day which only improves into the night.

Photos

2006-09-17T08:42:00.000+10:00

If you don't read my blog often and you're wondering where all the photos are at, for your viewing pleasure they're now at http://unimelbedu.facebook.com/photos.php?id=218100724&l=47660 please pay it a visit - it's a much more convenient way to see my piccies.

Cheers

Paris-Madrid

2006-09-17T03:51:00.001+10:00

Wednesday September 6

We got up and packed fairly relaxedly, as our flight was not until around 2pm. Caught the train to the Airport where we waited for the plane and our arrival in a country I'd never visited. From the air there we fantastic views of the Pyrenees after which we descended into Madrid.

Our first night was fairly subdued here - after checking into the hostel (making use of my limited Spanish to find the place!) we walked into the city centre (noticing the extraordinary quantity of street workers) for a light meal before heading back to the hostel. I walked back to the metro at around 9.30pm to pick up Kelso, who was rejoining us after finishing his internship in Stuttgart, Germany, and we caught up on stories before hitting the sack.

Back to the heart of France

2006-09-17T03:51:00.000+10:00

Tuesday September 5

Today, having discovered that there was no left luggage service at the train station, we left our bags at the hostel and headed in to explore Blois in a little more depth. We started off at the Château de Blois, an older brother of Château Chambord and former capital of France, however it was neither as grand nor as fairy-tale inspiring as the Château from yesterday. It did however have an impressive spiral staircase - also not as impressive as Chambords double-helix - and great views over the city and the river.

After the castle, we took the stairs down the valley-side to a church then back up the hill again to the cathedral before stopping for a coffee and heading back to collect our bags.

We got back into Paris at around 6pm and had a reasonable early night before a flying day tomorrow.

odyssey2006 Photos! IMPORTANT

2006-09-15T04:39:00.000+10:00

For all of you who have been checking out my blog to view photos, things are now set to change.

For past and present odyssey2006 photos please see my Facebook Photo albums or try this address http://unimelbedu.facebook.com/photos.php?id=218100724&l=47660

I'm doing this for two reasons:

1. It's easier for me. It's so easy for me to upload photos to facebook.
2. It's easier for you. And you will no longer have to wait hours for my blog to download!!!

Enjoy

DH

16th Century Châteaus, a more ancient town and even more ancient public transport network?

2006-09-06T03:01:00.000+10:00

Sunday September 3

Today we took the train to Blois, arriving at around 2pm. I tried to find out where our hostel was and which bus to take. After about an hour of waiting in queues and attempting with limited success to bridge the language barrier we decided that this nut was too tough to crack and we opted for a taxi. A good thing we did, we would've been waiting till 6 for a bus!

We arrived at the hostel at around three and read the note on the door: "Hostel closed from 10am to 6pm every day". 10am TO 6pm EVERY DAY!!! what ridiculous hours to be closed! I ignored the sign and rang the doorbell. After a few minutes a bothered looking French lady opened the door. "Yes?" she said in a French accent. "Um... I have a booking for two beds". "Okay, but we're closed..." a pause... "but you can put your bags inside." This offer seemed rather unwillingly made and was very readily accepted.

After dumping our bags we inquired about buses into, of which there were none, and then began walking. An hour and a half, and five kilometers later we found ourselves back at the train station at the edge of the town centre. We'd walked through the countryside though and there were some classic ivy-draped French houses, a crowing rooster and views of the Loire river along the way.

We walked into and around the town, void of all but a little life on this Sunday, and sat down for a drink at one of the few cafés which were actually open before heading back to the station to catch the bus to the hostel. There we met Maribí, a Mexican girl and Celine, a French girl with very little English, who we spent the evening with.

Monday September 4

We caught the bus from the hostel at 9.30 today in to the city where we wandered around to find the tourist information centre. We wanted to check out a Château from the area and after chatting with the office and skimming some flyers we decided for Château Chambord, around 16kms to the east. The bus didn't leave until 12.15, so we took another short self-guided tour of the town before having a coffee then heading to the station to catch the bus.

The Château was magnificent (just the kind of word they love to use for this kind of thing) - the kind that rekindles the spark of the childhood imagination. You could just imagine Kings and Queens here, as well as courtiers, armies, battles, victories and defeats. The reality was somewhat more subdues; the Château actually served as a hunting lodge for the King, and was barely even used even for that.

We spent around 5 hours exploring the Château and its grounds before catching the bus back into town. We bought some supplies and then heading back to the hostel to cook up a Cous Cous dinner. Oui, oui.

From red lights to regal rites

2006-09-03T03:25:00.001+10:00

Friday September 1

After dinner last night we took a walk through the red-light district, just a couple of blocks away from the hostel, to le Moulin Rouge. This occupied all of about half an hour as shows there are around €250!
Afterwards we went back to the hostel for a beer before hitting the sack.

Saturday September 2

Today we took the train 21 kms out of Paris to the Chateâu de Versailles in, you guessed it, Versailles. Although expensive it was worth a look and a ticket saw us through the palace's opera house and chapel as well as the bedrooms of the Bourbons. The rich history of the palace was fascinating... if walls could talk there would be tales of France's royal family, revolutionaries and revolutionary treaties, Napoleon and a 20th century European peace treaty.

We were back at the hostel by 6.30 and are now making preparations to leave for Blois, in the Loire valley (a wine-growing region) tomorrow.

Venice to Paris

2006-09-03T03:25:00.000+10:00

Tuesday August 29

After waiting hours in the Venice airport we flew to Paris, arriving around 10.30 and leaving the airport with bags at about eleven. We rushed to the shuttle bus ticket queue and got on the bus as quickly as possible, around 11.15. The airport was around 80km from the city centre, so a little over an hour later we were in Paris and racing the clock to catch the last metro train to the hostel. We rushed to the nearest metro and descended the stairs only to find a long queue for tickets. An American girl approached and asked if we were headed for Pigalle. We we staying in the area so I said "yeah, around there". We tried to work out how we were going to get there by the metro map before giving up entirely and deciding a taxi was a better option. I asked the Californian girl if she and her friend were keen to catch a cab with us and there we were a few minutes later, four freshly-arrived foreigners in the middle of the night in Paris trying our best French with a taxi driver whose jaw remained ajar at the shock of the idea of four people and six bags being stacked into his car. All turned out well and we arrived at the hostel before the 2am curfew without having broken the budget. Phew.

Welcome to Paris!

Wednesday August 30

After a late night, some restless sleep and being woken early by the hair-drying and tooth-scrubbing habits of a pair (or was it a dozen) of very VERY image conscious Cantonese guys we decided to take it easy on day one and then did the opposite. We started out with a morning walk in the sunshine on Montmatre, the vicinity of the hostel, including the Sacred Heart Cathedral. Then we walked back down the hill and into the city centre, via the Opera house, ultimately ending up at Place de Concorde and the Seine. After a walk through the gardens to the Louvre, we made for the hostel, stopping for lunch along the way, where we
caught up on internet necessities. In the evening we made an even longer walk after a dinner of Chinese back to the Louvre and from there to the Arc de Triumph, taking in picturesque Paris by night along the way. We then made for le Tour Eiffel with the metro where we took plenty of
photos before heading back for some much needed sleep.

First impressions of Paris for me were positive. Montmatre and the Sacred Heart Cathedral were a great start to Paris, with tight winding lanes, good views and quaint shops. However, after the days walking I was confused about the origins of the rumour that Paris is romantic. I
found the broad boulevards and cafés give the city quite a relaxed feel, but not romantic... Paris by night is something else again - let's just say that (like Venice) when you're separated from your "significant other" (thanks facebook) by the Atlantic Ocean, Paris by night is not the ideal place to be.

And for the people... despite a seemingly grumpy taxi driver on arrival, Parisians have contrary to their reputation, been nothing but friendly and helpful since I've been here, a nice change from Italy, and even the taxi driver warmed up to us by the end, attempting jokes and small talk in what little English he could speak.

Thursday August 31

Well, two of the worlds most famous sights are not to be taken lightly and this day was spent visiting them... can you guess??

In the morning we'd planned to beat the crowds to the Eiffel Tower. In terms of beating, nothing happened on that score as we weren't there until late morning, however the crowds were negligible and we walked right up to the gate to climb the stairs. The views from the first and
second platforms were exceptional, and while the view from the top was also excellent it is so far from the ground that it was more surreal.

Tired after climbing many stairs, we lay on the grass in the sun looking up at the tower and tucking away a well deserved, but not cheap, lunch.

After a rest we gather up our energy and headed for the Louvre where we spent a few hours. Apparently there's a couple of famous artworks there, one's a painting of this lady who looks at you walk past by some Italian guy. Another is a sculpture with no arms... something about a planet or something.

Friday September 1

Well, summer is over, but Autumn is definitely here. The days are sunny but cool and the leaves are browning.

Today saw us walking the path of the Revolutionaries in 1789 from le Hotel de Invalides to the Place de la Bastille, only we had significantly fewer weapons, caused significantly less bloodshed and made a few touristy stopovers along the way. They were Notre Dame and the Pantheon. Notre Dame is amazing, and together with Montmatre would have to be one of the highlights of Paris. I went into the cathedral for a look around and a prayer, then after lunch climbed the tower taking in gargoyles, city views and bells made famous by Victor Hugo and a man
with a hump on his back.

Ciao Venezia, Bonjour Paris

2006-08-31T01:20:00.002+10:00

I'm writing from Venice Airport after our last day in Venice. We spent the day making the best of our 72 hour boat ticket, visiting the Jewish quarter and the original Ghettos and a Gnocchi lunch with a "tomato salad" that was absolutely brilliant! (See photos to come). We're flying to Paris tonight and will be arriving late. Not expecting too much sleep tonight... but then we have four days in Paris, that should suffice.
Ciao from Italy

A city out of the water

2006-08-31T01:20:00.001+10:00

Monday August 28
When I was little I helped my siblings building imaginary cities and towns with islands and boats in a series of canals that we created in the overflow of our dam. I dreamed of cities surrounded by water, where boats were the form of transport and cars we off-limits. I didn't realise that such a place existed, so near to how I had dreamed it.
Venice has had a big effect on me as a result - a city where there are no cars, where bridges, walkways and canals form the networks and passageways of the city. Yesterday and today have been spent exploring Venice further, walking the alleys and squares, riding the waterbuses, swimming at the Lido beach on the Adriatic Sea, and waiting.... we're a long way out of town and it takes us about 1.5 to 2 hours to get in!
However the accommodation is cheap so it has its advantages.
I've really enjoyed the pleasure of being in Venezia and look forward to my last day here tomorrow before we fly out to Paris late, late, late!
Until then!

Venezia Venezia Venezia

2006-08-31T01:20:00.000+10:00

Saturday August 26
After tying up a few loose ends at the hostel for the afternoon and evening I got a restless sleep before getting up early to head for Venezia.
The journey was smooth and uneventful and we arrived at the campsite at around 2pm. After checking in and getting settled we headed into town (an hour on two buses) for a look around. We bought a ticket for the transport system - buses and WATERBUSES(!!) - and took a trip along the Canal Grande to Piazza San Marco, the home of San Marco's Basilica and the bones of St Mark himself. We then wandered the pretty streets and canals of Venice slowly back to Piazzale Roma to head back to the campsite.
From my couple of hours in Venezia it has greatly impressed me and I look forward to spending more time here. The colourful buildings, common in other Italian cities, are made even more impressive by the bustling canals, impressive churches and countless small shops in narrow lanes. There are no cars in the city centre and the impressive life and beauty of the city shine through despite the crowds of tourists... a feat too great for many of the world's special places.

Firenze to Bologna

2006-08-26T02:37:00.000+10:00

Tuesday August 22 to Friday August 23

The last day in Firenze I spent in a fairly laid-back manner - sitting at a wireless internet café for a couple of hours including lunch and catching up on news from elsewhere. Then went shorts shopping to replace those which had grow to enjoy more holes that originally intended. The evening saw Alisha and I heading in to the station to meet Stefano, a local to the area and friend of mine from Freiburg. We went to a local pizzeria for dinner before heading to a pub on the town square for a beer.

It was great to see Stefano again, especially on his home turf. The situation in Freiburg will never be the same again but it was a nice reinforcement that I made real friends around the globe and that whether or not I see them again we had something special in Freiburg that will
stay with us all...

So that's my rant for this blog... back to details.

Wednesday was a long day. We packed up and took the train from Florence to Bologna (that's right - home of bolognaise sauce, lasagna and tortellini). In Bologna we spent a couple of hours finding our way to the hostel before dumping our stuff and making the 6km bus trip back into town. We wandered the main streets for the afternoon before having a drink while we waited for the restaurants to open for dinner (at 7pm!!!). I had a fantastic tortellini all' ragú (with bolognaise sauce) followed by a delicious panna cotta - "very VERY fattening" according to
our friendly waiter.

Then headed back to the hostel for a hot night's sleep.

Yesterday and today we quite relaxed again as we've had to be out of the hostel before 9.30. They've involved walking Bologna's streets, admiring the richly painted buildings, climbing one of Bologna's TWO leaning towers, sitting at café and lying in the gardens reading, studying, listening to music and watching the Italians go about their business.

We head to Venezia early tomorrow where we will spend three days before flying to Paris.

Firenze

2006-08-22T20:54:00.001+10:00

Saturday 19-Monday 21 August (Happy 80th Birthday Nanna and 22nd Michelle)

There's no doubt about it, Florence is beautiful. In contrast to Rome it is cleaner and perhaps more livable, and, to continue the comparisons, what it lacks in character it makes up in charm. Besides the sunsets here are spectacular (photos to come).

After getting off the train we caught the bus to our campsite without too much hassle, after which we made ourselves comfortable and then headed down the hill into the city (did I mention our campsite has excellent views of the city from above). Around 300,000 live in Florence, which makes it a manageable city to get around on foot and much of our time here has involved wandering the narrow paved streets past leather traders and counterfeit Gucci, Armani and Prada sellers to marble-clad churches, busy piazzas, dozens of sculptures (including a few /David /copies) and giant stone buildings.

When we get tired we stop for a caffé americano, a couple of pizze or a caffé freddo.
This is Italy and everything is done the Italian way!

Bella Roma II

2006-08-22T20:54:00.000+10:00

Tuesday August 15-Saturday August 19

Tuesday saw a bus, train, train, bus, plane, bus, train, and finally another bus. Nine hours of traveling and only an hour and a half of it in the air!!

But the result was that in the morning I was at home in Freiburg and in the evening I was in a campsite in Rome with Kelso and Alisha (Alisha had come to visit from a few days before). I loved Rome, as I said in my last Rome entry, its a city with a big reputation that manages to live
up to it. Unfortunately it's not as good the second time. When you know what to expect you can't be so easily pleasantly surprised. However, the ability to say a prayer in Saint Peter's Basilica, walk around millenia old ruins, take in amazing the architecture of churches, fountains and bridges, drink from a street fountain and wander cobbled lanes past multi-coloured, faded flaky-painted houses is one unable to be matched by other cities of the world.

Of course much of it I had seen and experienced my last time in Rome in June, however it's not a "been there, done that" city so I was happy to go back. Regardless, the highlight was the parts I had not seen before, especially the catacombs. These were underground tunnels built by the Christian on the outskirts of Rome during times of persecution under the Roman Empire. The tunnels were filled with Christian graves and places of worship and the spirituality and commitment of the early Christians is inspiring. After the Catacombs we took a wander to the longest remaining straight stretch of ancient roman road. Ninety kilometers later and we were ready to head back! Whoa, glad I'm not a Thent-yu-wian! (Welease Woger!)

The weather was beautiful, a little warm if anything, as it was last time in Rome, and it was a nice change from the recently-but-consistently-turned nasty weather in Freiburg. The campsite pool and a couple of cold beers turned out to be a nice respite from the day's heat.

Saturday the group split and while Lish and I took a train to Firenze (4 hours and €15 - not bad!), Kelso flew back to Stuttgart to complete his internship with Bosch. He will return to meet us in Madrid.

A penny for your thoughts

2006-08-10T07:22:00.000+10:00

Just an idea: If you read this, hit the comment button below and send me a few words. Just so I know who reads this!

Further farewells

2006-08-04T06:42:00.000+10:00

Monday, July 31

Today Margie (Maria Giulia from Italy) had her farewell in true Italian style. After a beer with Caitlin, Shell and Michelle, we joined the group and headed to an Italian restaurant. The meals, though not cheap, were huge and we all struggled to get through our portions. An aforementioned Italian sprung a surprise on us and paid for our drinks before we knew what was going on. A kind last act.
We then chilled out in a bar for a while before calling it a night.
(I decided not to go to the doctor today as there were signs my health was on the improve)

Tuesday, August 1

A new month and Summer is gone. The temperature dropped ten degrees today to 20Â°C for the first time in over a month!
With Margie gone, and Shell continuing in her travels - on to Switzerland, it was time for those remaining to turn our attentions to Caitlin who is leaving tomorrow. After searching for somewhere new to have dinner we came out empty handed - it seems we've already stamped out all the student-priced eating locations in Freiburg. We settled for Feierling - the house brewery with a menu exclusively of localspecialtiess. After eating inside we crossed the road to the beer garden where we settled down to a German tradition of a MaÃ each. (1 litre glass)

Wednesday, August 2

A few of us met for lunch with Caitlin today before seeing her off at the station - some even getting so adventurous as to race the German fast-train down the platform. The group now seems significantly diminished.

The biggest farewell for me comes Monday...

A pair of pre-packup parties, multiple Michelles and a fourth time in fabulous France

2006-08-04T06:13:00.000+10:00

Wednesday, July 26

Christina (fellow Melbourne Uni exchange student) had a farewell party tonight, marking the second departure of our acquaintances. She's leaving tomorrow.
The party involved sitting on the lawn in the middle of town, in front of one of the Uni buildings, have a few drinks, throwing a Frisbee and discussing multiple topics in multiple languages.

Friday, July 28

Shell, friend and former housemate, arrived in Freiburg around midday today - around 4 hours late after her train from Copenhagen was delayed due to severe thunderstorms last night which caused power-outages. She's spent the last 5 weeks in Copenhagen studying Danish in preparation for a semester's exchange there. Michelle (my American - as opposed to Shell) and I met up with Shell and Caitlin (an old friend of Shell's from her hometown), walked a little around the city, visited the cathedral and had a coffee before buying supplies to head to a farewell BBQ at one of the student residences. James, another Australian from Echuca/Canberra, was heading home and went out in true Aussie style (there was even some backyard cricket played - a first for me in Germany).

Saturday, July 29

Today John, Caitlin, Shell, Michelle and I met at the train station at 10 bound for Strasbourg, France. Although I'd already been to Strasbourg during the language course, the whole time we were in the city it was pouring rain, so I saw Strasbourg in a dash from place to place under an umbrella.
I got the impression then that Strasbourg was a beautiful city and I was not disappointed. We spent most of the time wandering the streets, lined with FachwerkhÃ¤user (German-style criss-crossed wooden houses - now a rare sight in Germany due to the bombing of the war, but still very much present in this former German part of France), avoiding a hectic flea market and walking along the river. After lunch we visited the cathedral before a bit more walking and then heading back to the train station and, eventually, Freiburg.
I may pay Strasbourg yet another visit before I'm done here. It's well worth it.
Back in Freiburg after a dinner of Chinese, I went a Uni end-of-semester-party which I was too tired and sick to enjoy. (I've now been sick with a chest cold for two weeks and very much over it. Might visit the doctor on Monday. I don't really want to deal with the hassle of travel insurance though.)

Sunday, July 30

After Mass a group of us met for the usual Sunday morning Uni-CafÃ© Stammtisch brunch, this time with the special purpose of farewelling Astrid, who headed back to Denmark with her family. After a couple of hours eating, drinking and chatting, Caitlin, Shell, John, Travis and I headed down to the Dreisam (river) for a paddle and a walk. We ended up walking a couple of k's outside of the town border. The sun was shining, and it was great to walk along observing the locals swimming in make-shift water holes and building dams, channels and piles of stones in the river.
We caught the tram back into town for a beer at the local house brewery before I headed home.

The heart of the black forest

2006-08-04T05:29:00.000+10:00

Saturday, July 22

Today Michelle and I, as well as Selja from Norway and Travis from the States, dragged ourselves out of bed early to head to Triberg in the heart of southern Schwarzwald and home to Germany's highest waterfalls. Changing trains in Offerburg we arrived in Triberg at around 1pm and walked from the station up through the centre of town to the entrance to the waterfalls' park.
We had a flash rain storm which subsided shortly after we took a break to eat our lunch. With the odd rain drop still taunting, we climbed up to the waterfalls, paddled in the mountain stream and wandered through the surrounding forest. We then headed down the backstreets back to the town centre where we found a café-conditorei where we ate the world-famous local speciality...

On the return journey we stopped over and spent an hour and a half in Offenburg, an average town with nothing particularly special about it, but worth the stopover nonetheless. We got back to Freiburg in time to meet the others for dinner after which we went to the Freiburg Downtown Street Party, a university-city style public festival in which all the cafés and bars spilled out into the crowded streets.

The first to go...

2006-08-04T05:07:00.000+10:00

Friday, July 14

Tanya, from New Zealand, was the first to go today. She went back to New Zealand to begin second semester next week... it's sad to have her go, but fortunately it will be a couple of weeks before anyone else leaves us.

As a balance of the scales, Ulli and Klaus have come down to Freiburg for the weekend. Michelle and I had coffee with them after which we were invited back to their hotel for a delicious Black Forest meal. Lecker!

Saturday, July 15

Freiburg hugs Schlossberg, a tree-covered mountain which Michelle, Ulli, Klaus and I climbed today. We then had a beer at the Schlossberg beer garden followed by coffee at Uni-Café. We went our separate ways for dinner then met up again for a drink in the evening. I was beginning to feel a bit crook, so I stayed off the hard stuff and was advised to take an aspirin before bed.
We then each went our respective ways - Ulli and Klaus are leaving early tomorrow morning.

It was good to see them again, even after such a short period of time, and they repeated their very hospitable offer, indeed expectation, of last weekend to have me as a guest again during my stay in Germany. I even got an invite to spend a "proper" German Christmas with them... we'll see how things pan out.

A city by another name, a host family, a Germany game, a missed train, another new city and a ball game for the world

2006-08-03T07:54:00.000+10:00

Thursday, July 6

After rushing off from lunch with Penny and Sarah, I went with Michelle to the train station, northward bound. We'd planned a weekend at home with Michelle's former host parents Uli and Klaus Blankenberg, who live in Krefeld, northern Germany (30kms from the Dutch border). After a 4 hour train journey on the bank of Rhine, with fantastic scenery including the mythical Lorelei, we stopped over in Cologne, which, incidentally, is the French equivalent name for the city known as Köln in German.
We spent three hours in Köln, walking on the river bank (the Rhine) where we had a coffee, staying clear of the rain, visiting the impressive (and massive) Gothic cathedral, and although we missed the tower opening hours we were able to enjoy a leisurely dinner at a favourite of Michelle's - Früh Brewery.

We then had a 30 minute train trip to Krefeld where we were met by the smiling face of Klaus, who drove us back to their house where I met Uli, their eldest son Philipp and American guest Scott. We had a glass of wine or a beer, chatted for a bit and then hit the sack. Mmmm... fresh sheets and a house to sleep in!

Friday, July 7

Today Michelle and I enjoyed the luxury of having a house to stay in, and the sunny weather. The day started with a fabulous German breakfast outside in the sunshine which started conversation that drifted into the afternoon. Being in a house and sitting around in a backyard in the sunshine were luxuries I didn't realise I had missed.
The evening saw more typical German food being put in front of us, followed by more typical German food - Italian ice cream, more conversation and then bed.

Saturday, July 8

Today Michelle, Scott and I got a lift into the centre of Krefeld with Uli and Klaus. It was good to see another German city, but it made me appreciate my hometown, Freiburg. Freiburg is arguably among the most beautiful cities of Germany. Krefeld is not. Full stop.

I bought a €5 Germany football jersey for the evening before we headed back to Uli and Klaus'. When we got back, Klaus decided it was time I get a ride in a convertible (something I'd never done in my life before!) and after heading to the hardware store and buying a barbie we did a tour of the surrounds. It was great to be in a car, great to be in a German car, great to be driving on the right, great to be in a convertible(!!!), great to see a part of Germany from another perspective (the road) and great to chat to Klaus and get to know him a bit. Altogether a highlight of the weekend.

When we got back we put the BBQ together and set-up for the evening! Germany was playing Portugal in the 3rd/4th World Cup playoff. The TV was brought outside, a keg of Früh Kölsch beer was organised and German flags and jerseys were hung and worn. After a photo shoot we sat down to the barbie and watched the game, celebrating Germany's win at the end.

Note on Germans and national pride: Since WWII, national pride has always been a sore point for Germans, and it has been taboo to say "proud to be German". Although the World Cup didn't change this entirely, for it's duration Germans could be seen waving German flags, wearing German colours and giving other participating nations something to think about... a first for Germany in a long, long time.

Sunday, July 9 - FIFA World Cup Final Day 2006

After rising, showering and packing we sat down to another excellent German breakfast before being dropped off at the station. This time we were in for the long haul. We'd bought a Schönes Wochenende Ticket a cheap ticket that only allows you to travel on slow trains. This translated to five transfers and eight hours of traveling! We changed trains in Köln, Koblenz and Mainz and were also meant to have changes in Karlsruhe and Offenburg. Unfortunately the train in Karlsruhe decided to have a tantrum and did not run. We were on a tight schedule to arrive in Freiburg as the World Cup Final was beginning. The trains tantrum was going to have us miss the final altogether. I think the conversation went something like this:
Michelle: "We could just stay in Karlsruhe and find somewhere here to watch the final"
Me: "We could do that"
Me: "... and that would mean we'd get to see Karlsruhe"
Michelle: "Yeah!"
Me: "Let's do it!"
After getting more and more excited about the prospect of getting to see Karlsruhe I bought a map in the station and we headed into the city. Karlsruhe is another one of those Germany cities that makes it a pleasure to be in Germany. I love Germany.
We explored the inner malls and spoke-like streets which led us to the old palace (now the University! Imagine studying in a palace!!!), took some photos and found a gem of a pub to watch the game in (it had €2.50 meals with a drink). After being a quasi France-supporter during the game I was satisfied that the result fulfilled my prediction of a 1-1 draw with Italy to win on penalties.

We caught the last train of the evening to Freiburg, arriving at 1.30am and took a taxi home to bed. Mmmm bed. It had been a long day

More familiar faces

2006-08-03T05:57:00.000+10:00

Thursday, July 6

Penny and Sarah, dropping their luggage off at Sarah's former host family, arrived in Freiburg yesterday and after a jet-lag induced sleep met me at the station this morning. We went to Uni-Café, a local favourite, for a coffee and a chat after which we did a flash tour of Freiburg, including a climb of the cathedral tower and a quick lunch at the Mensa (student meeting house) cut short by my need to be at the train station...

It was great to see them, especially Penny, and have a bit more of contact with life at home.

World Cup Fever!

2006-08-03T05:30:00.000+10:00

June 9-July 9

For a month between June 9th and July 9th I left Freiburg. I lived instead in a monster that would rest peacefully in the mornings only to wake restlessly and writh, scream and shudder vigorously for two hour intervals at 3pm, 6pm and 9pm, and continue to be active into the night. The World Cup was in Germany, and nobody could escape the path of this rolling snowball (or perhaps, football).

Football jerseys (Trikots), flags and coloured socks (even special thongs!) were everywhere. Cafés became public viewing areas, in fact there was not a café, restaurant or pub in town not sporting the trademark World Cup big screens. In one local park lawns were replaced with tables and chairs, food and drink stands and one HUGE (10m by 15m) screen. People would trickle into the park in the hours before each game and flood out again afterwards to have a celebratory (or consolation) refreshment in town. Productivity plummeted as the German workforce tuned into the matches, and there was barely a conversation that didn't include the topic Klinsi, unfair refereeing, "where are you watching the game?" or bloody Italian divers!

Any time I wasn't spending with Timshel and Shelley (and even much that I was), or at Uni, was spent watching Germany beat Argentina, Australia draw with Croatia, the Côte D'Ivoire go down to the Netherlands or Italy diving. The Aussie games were of course the highlight and it was fantastic to pack out O'Kelly's Irish Pub with green and gold supporters for the games. I find it interesting how much more you're drawn to "patriotic" practices - wearing the flag or green and gold, shouting "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie", even singing "We're happy little vegemites" - when you're far from home.

Another highlight were the German games. After the victories (especially against Argentina), the streets in town filled up, car horns filled the air, roads were closed for the celebrating crowds and Freiburg seemed like a city of 500,000 instead of 200,000!

It was interesting that the day after the World Cup final, in the World Cup's host nation, there was not a German newspaper with Italy as the top headline. In every case the German "success" took priority.

I had many comments as an Australian who wore his nationality printed on a shirt:

After Australia-Japan
10 Minutes after the Australia-Japan game, in the German Literature Department office (and far from the nearest TV) from the secretary: "That was a great game, I was keeping up with it on the internet - Australia have surprised me" (not me)
Caravan Park stayer:
"You're from Australia? They are a very good team!"

After Australia-Brazil
Housemate:
"Shame about Brazil - Australia played very well"

After Australia-Croatia
Friend of friend, also housemate:
"That was crazy! Just CRAZY!"

After Australia-Italy
Random German on the street:
"Time to go home now!"

Something to come home to

2006-08-03T04:29:00.000+10:00

Sunday June 9-Thursday June 29

The day after returning to Freiburg from Rome I went to the train station to pick up Timshel, Shelley and Reuben (Brother, Sister-in-law and nephew) who were coming to Freiburg to visit and to collect equipment for their planned tandem-bike tour of Europe. They planned to stay about a week, but it turned into three - fantastic for me but a little frustrating for them I believe.

I spent much time with them during their visit, both in Freiburg city-centre and at their campsite. It was great spending time with them. Highlights were talking - sharing ideas and experiences, eating, playing with Reuben, watching World Cup games at the beer garden attached to the campsite, picnicing and even helping to set up - and test :) - the tandem! The low-point (although it's a good story) was arguing with German customs-office staff with incredibly strong regional accents over import taxes (Timshel and Shelley ended up paying €57 - 14% tax and 12% customs fees - for raingear that was sent to them GRATIS as part of a sponsorship deal!).
The EU has some fantastic ideas that could be examples for the world, but their relations with foreigners - especially regarding the third world and economic matters is selfish, even mean.

It was great to have family around and also to be able to share Australia's World Cup success with them!

For more details on their visit here and Timshel and Shelley's adventurous endevours in Europe please visit Timshel and Shelley's website:
Cycling Europe with a baby

Roma

2006-08-03T03:57:00.000+10:00

The mid-Semester break, a result of Christi Himmelfahrt (literally: Christ's heaven-trip) , was approaching and we were to have a whole week without classes. After some discussion, some disagreement and some practical problems, a group of 6 of us decided to head to Rome for around half the week, driven by the incentive of €30 flights from Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport.

Tuesday, June 6

We flew into Rome Ciampini, then spent two hours on bus-train-train-bus to get to our campsite accommodation near Prima Porta station, north of the city. Travel-weary and uninspired, we spent the first night at the campsite, eating in their restaurant before hitting the sack.

Wednesday, June 7

We woke to sunshine and what would be a 25+ degree day - a welcome change after 15 degrees and below for over a month! After a bit of time spent in and by the campsite pool we headed into the city to explore. We started our tour at Piazza del Popolo (Pope's Square) then headed to
Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish Steps, ate lunch on Piazza Navona (New Square) and a strolled along the river Tiber to the Vatican, the heart of the Roman Catholic Church, where we went into St Peter's Basilica, after which we found a café for a hard-earned and quality Italian coffee.
Half of the group then decided to head back to the campsite to chill out and eat while the other three of us stayed and explored some more. After seeing the Pantheon and the Fontana di Trevi, we headed back to Piazza Navona to eat and then headed back to get some sleep.

Thursday, June 8

Unfortunately the split group became a trend, and we continued exploring in our groups of three. Our group (Michelle, Caitlin and I) set off earlier to beat the crowds at the Vatican. We started off with a visit to the crypt under St Peter's, then climbed to the top (it's a long way
up!) for fantastic views of the Vatican, St Peter's Square and Rome.
Because of the crowds and the queues we missed the others as they went into the Vatican museums and the Sistine chapel right on closing time and we chose instead to lunch nearby and wait for them to come out.
From the Vatican we headed to the Roman Forum (ruins of Roman Empire buildings) via the Monumento Vittorio Emanuele II. We headed through the Roman Forum to the Colosseum then found somewhere to eat before heading back.

Friday, June 9

Caitlin, Michelle and I headed off early again to get into the Sistine Chapel. The queues were ridiculous! Seriously a 1km long queue is crazy - THIS IS NO EXAGGERATION!! Why would you travel to a foreign city only to spend your entire time there waiting in line???
We decided to walk instead and explored the hilly park to the south east of the Vatican. After great views of the rooftops of Rome we descended into the back streets.
It was incredible to be walking along cobbled streets between old, half-maintained and colourfully painted buildings with drying clothes hanging between them. A scooter would whiz past, a suit would be hurrying along chattering Italian into his mobile and a bunch of men would be collected at a doorway, chatting, watching, gossiping. It's a lively and bubbly culture that I'd like to see more of.
We were headed for the Bocca della Verità (mouth of truth), which we found after an extended search within 50 metres of it!
After this we thought we'd try our luck with the Sistine Chapel again, this time with success (it turns out the trick is to wait till just before closing time). However after so much walking, we were exhausted and made our visit relatively short. It was fantastic however, to see Michealangelo's /Creation /and /Last Judgement /in the flesh (well, so to speak).
We then ran back to Piazza del Popolo to meet the others and catch the train back to the campsite where we caught the last half of the opening World Cup match in which Germany beat Costa Rica 4-2! A shame we weren't in Freiburg to see it.

Saturday saw three of us (Andreas, Astrid and I) return to Freiburg. It was nice to be home!

Rome was fantastic and I'm looking forward to going back...
In terms of big cities with big reputations, it was a nice change to Prague... so much life, so much character. A city to recommend!

Couldn't make Switzerland

2006-08-03T02:48:00.000+10:00

Saturday June 3rd

Michelle and I decided to take a self-led excursion to Basel in Switzerland today. We have "Semester Tickets" which allow us not only to use the public transport in Freiburg itself, but also in the region!!

We missed the train - Switzerland was out of the question. So we went to France instead.

Colmar is a city I'd already visited during the language course in March (See March blog entries), but it was FREEZING cold at the time and I wanted to see it again in Summer. We caught the train to Breisach on the Rhine, which forms the German-French border here in the south, and spent half an hour there appreciating the difference summer makes, before taking the bus to Colmar. €3 each return!

We wandered around the city, enjoyed the bustling summer atmosphere, ate, and returned to the train station to take the bus back to Freiburg.
When we got there we discovered that we'd looked at the weekday timetable and our bus wasn't coming for another hour and a half! A good thing that we didn't miss it completely. We were however late for our dinner date with our foreign Freiburger friends.

Penny and Sarah come to town

2006-07-26T01:05:00.000+10:00

Penny and Sarah in the Müster Tower

Penny and Dylan in the Münster Tower

A quick Würst on Münsterplatz on our lightning-tour of Freiburg

Freiburg: Seepark and World Cup

2006-07-26T00:52:00.000+10:00

Margie and Caitlin in Seepark (5 mins walk from my house)

Caitlin and Michelle

Me, Daniel, Caitlin, Maarten and Margie

Tanya and Michelle

John and Michelle

Tanya and Andy

Caitlin and John at the Mensa - loving being German students

Caitlin and Travis at Tacheles (one of our locals)

Me, Andy and Tanya for Germany vs Italy

Considering the possibilities of a German win

Andy says 2-0!

Tanya die Deutsche

Caitlin unhappy with the game!

This is some random photo that got in my photos - I don't know who that is!

OK, maybe you can't see it - but there's definitely a hedgehog there!

Timshel, Shelley and Reuben visit

2006-07-26T00:47:00.000+10:00

From left Reuben, Timshel and Shelley

Guitar lessons with Reuben

World Cup spirit starts early in this family!

And goes on into adulthood!

2006-07-26T00:10:00.000+10:00

Andy, Michelle and Caitlin chillin' on the Rome subway

Astrid and I on the subway

Piazza del Popolo (Left to right: Michelle, Andreas, Caitlin, Tanya, Astrid)

Just your average roman street corner

Just your average roman street

The rooftops over the Spanish Steps

A roamin' roman

Michelle our trusty tour-guide

"Hey, turn around" (Astrid, Andy, Tanya, Caitlin, Michelle)

Olive trees - I like it!

Some random roman building (actually I think it's a governmental building of some sort)

The Tiber with St Peter's Basilica

Michelle and I

The Vatican

The Tiber

The Pantheon

Roman Pidgeons enjoying prime-pooping real estate

Just your average roman cafes

The powerful pillars of the Pantheon

The Trevi Fountain

Roman explorers

Roman traffic is crazy (especially after living in Germany)

Inside St Peters Basilica

St Peter's Basilica

St Peter's Square from St Peters Basilica tower

Caitlin and Michelle with their backs to the Pope's shack

St Peter's

That place that Moussolini made all his speaches from

Ancient Rome today

In the Roman Forum

They liked their pillars

I wonder who's walked through this gate over the course of history!

A special spot for many reasons

The Coloseum

Who's up for the circus?

They even have parks in Rome!

The bits away from the tourist are the most authentic and the best!

See my point? (Caitlin)

The old bridge

Michelle and Caitlin were stoked when I proposed a photo!

But they were actually pleased when I found the mouth!
The mouth of truth

Inside the Vatican

The corridor leading to the Sistine Chapel

And another

Sunny England Pics

2006-05-28T00:43:00.000+10:00

The York Minster Along the Wall

A gate on the wall

Brothers

Along the wall

Another Brick in the Wall

A typical English street

A pleasant stroll in York

My Nephew

On the banks of the river: York

On the bridge downtown

The grand old duke of York, He had 10,000 men,
He marched them up to the top of the hill...

The Shambles

Walking through shambles

Leaving the shambles behind

A Minster out of the Shambles

York Minster

With tulips

Shelley up the Durham Cathedral tower

Durham surrounds

The University sqaure

The Two Towers

The river, Durham

A Weekend in Sunny England

2006-05-28T00:39:00.000+10:00

After chatting with Timshel (my brother) and finding out that they would soon be leaving their abode in England in mid-May, and having just discovered that I'd been offered another scholarship, I decided to him and his family there!!

What we did

I booked a flight from Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport to London Stansted (where I had more than just my privacy breached by the security guard) for Thursday May 4, then another from Stansted to Newcastle in the North where I was picked up by Timshel and Shelley (late of course! No, really it was no problem - thanks for the lift guys). From the airport to Esh Laude (near Durham) we passed the Angel of the North, an undeniably impressive sculpture.

Timshel, Shelley and Reuben were staying at the Paul and Helen Shogren's House (my Godparents). Chis and Clare (family friends) were also staying there at the time in transit between Spain and Australia. It was strange, almost surreal, arriving from Germany to familiar faces and accents and yet people I hadn't seen for ages (Paul and Helen I've only seen once briefly in the last ten year! Chris and Clare have been in Spain for the last few years). We talked for about half an hour before hitting the sack.

On Friday we drove down to York (about two hours) and spent the afternoon there. York's a charming city with half of the city wall still intact. We traversed the wall, spent some time in a cafe and wandered the narrow streets (the Shambles) up to the Minster. We spent the last
hour in the British Rail Museum before heading back to Esh Laude for Friday night fish'n'chips mmm England.

On Saturday Shelley went with Helen into Durham and Timshel and I rode in (about an hour ride). We had lunch and visited the cathedral in which the Durham Symphony Orchestra was practicing (free classical music!!) and climbed the tower. On the way home I broke the chain coming up the final hill and found myself sprawled across the road like fresh road kill. Timshel made me walk to Canada and back to get back to Esh Laude. (it's a joke better told without the explanation - if you want it, email me!). I then went to Mass with the Shogrens (including their 5 kids) and Chris, before returning for a delicious dinner.
After that we continued having a few drinks and a good conversation about important stuff. We also looked through photos and reminisced about the 1995 tour of Australia that the Shogrens, Timshel and I all were a part of.

Sunday morning I slept in before heading to the airport with T&S and flying back "home" to Germany.

People

It was wonderful to see Timshel and Shelley again, and I spent much time with them in conversation sharing experiences and plans. I always enjoy their company and am encouraged by the way they live (Visit their blog: Tales from a family in transit). I also really enjoyed spending time with Reuben, my nephew and Godson, who's now confidently walking
(17 months). Although he didn't remember at first and was quite shy, he warmed to me again quickly and it was a joy to see him again. It was an unexpected and pleasant surprise to see Chris and Clare, who I always enjoy seeing - had a particularly good conversation with Chris on
Saturday night. However I found it particularly good to see Paul and Helen again. This was the first time I'd seen them for any length of time since adulthood and although I didn't get the chance to talk to Helen for any extended period, it was great to get to know Paul at least
on a different level.

Geography

England is physically much like I had imagined it. So much so in fact that coming from Germany I felt somehow that I was coming home to England!! Riding through the rolling hills around Durham could have been somewhere around Kyneton (in winter with all the green). The weather on Friday was unexpectedly pleasant (it was actually sunny), but the weather England's famous for arrived on Saturday.
From the air I was surprised by how different the rural areas appear in England to France and Germany. In France and Germany all the farms are neatly organised into squares. In England they're all higgledy-piggledy and all over the place. George Orwell's Animal Farm came to mind as I was flying into Stansted.

A good time with strangers

On my return journey I arrived at the departure gate at Stansted to find a man beaming at me. At first I didn't recognise him. He told says in English (but a definite German accent) "we were sitting next you on the way over". Then I saw his wife... indeed they were. They'd checked in earlier so they could board earlier but they saved me a seat. We got talking (Denglish - aka Germanglish) and it turns out they live just out of Freiburg. They offer me a lift to Freiburg - I accept. I get back to their place it turns out they were just married the weekend before! The trip to England was a sort of honeymoon.

It was a great show of friendliness to a stranger and I returned home buzzing from it. I look forward to catching up with them (Moni and Tobi) again.

A typical day in Germany

2006-05-27T23:37:00.000+10:00

Since the Uni has begun I've been doing a lot of the same stuff. To give you an idea of what I'm up to I'll map out a typical day for you:

Mornings

I usually rise fairly late except on Mondays when I have class at 8.30. Maybe play a bit of guitar (I bought a cheapy here - nothing special but it does the job) before heading into town for lunch at the Mensa (it's a university eating house with a large variety of cheap food to choose from) with the other foreigners.

Afternoons

Can involve many things. If I don't have class it'll be chatting with one or two of the others, or doing some reading in a cafe if the weather's bad. Otherwise I'll be on a lawn somewhere doing the same or playing some frisbee. On Fridays we tend to play a bit of round-ball football at around 5.

Dinner

More often than not I'm out for dinner. Sometimes we have a communal dinner at someone's place, but not as often as during the language course due to lack of facilities to cook for so many. Sometimes it's take away dinner - there are tonnes of Doner Kebab shops here and although it's no Alasya, it comes pretty close sometimes. Sometimes it's eating in a restaurant with the others. We have our favourites: Saturday evening we tend to head to Brennessel (Stinging Nettle) for 1.80€ Spaghetti Bolognese. We also tend to spend a bit of time at the Italian restaurant Bella Italia, the student restaurant Schlappen and the restaurant/brewing house Feierling. Beer goes well with food and I tend to drink beer regularly here - it's kind of the norm.

Evenings

In the evening we usually either go to the Italian Eiscafe Portafino (Gelateria Portafino) for an ice-cream, or we head out to the pubs. Wednesday evenings it's the Stusie bar (Stusie is a student residence of 1500 people - many of us live there - I was one of them during the language course). Afterwards I tend to spend a bit of time with the American before heading to bed.

Mayday: A spontaneous decision

2006-05-27T23:16:00.000+10:00

On Thursday over our usual Mensa lunch a bunch of us decided to head to Bodensee (Lake Constance) for the weekend. Monday was Mayday (1st May is Labour day holiday) and Tuesday our broken-legged teacher gave us another day off. So I booked us into the Bregenz (Austria) youth hostel as all the hostels in the German towns were booked out.

On Saturday morning nine of us departed and made the four hour journey with five transfers through the Black Forest and along the lake shore thanks to the Baden-Würrtemberg Ticket (cost us 7€ [$12] each for a 5 hour journey!!). It was a beautiful trip. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great but we still got to see the rivers, mountains and woods of the Black Forest, and the towns up against the lake.

We arrived in Bregenz at around 2 to rain. We got to the youth hostel 10 minutes later to discover that my booking was a dud! I had actually just submitted an enquiry!! WHAT??? AND they were fully booked out! GREAT! The next hour saw a lot of stress and a great test of my German and we saw ourselves an hour later standing in the foyer of a Pension (cheap hotel) waiting to see the manager as all the staff were telling us they were fully booked out and that it was impossible that they could fit us in. The manager arrived and promptly informed us that he would collect the keys for us. There were 9 very confused foreign faces in that foyer in Bregenz that Saturday. The Pension was a bit more expensive than we'd hoped to pay, but it was comfortable and after a few hours in the city we came back and spent the evening reading the hilarious /Xenophobe's Guides /to various different nationalities, and watching a particularly dodgy horror film dubbed into German.

Sunday we spent the morning and afternoon, after a delicious breakfast at the Pension and then a move to the Youth Hostel for which I had made a successful booking, on the foreshore playing frisbee and football (with a round ball of course). We at lunch at about 5pm then some went to Mass while others headed back to the Hostel for some beauty sleep before we all headed out to Bregenz's club. Twas much fun and dancing to be had by all.

On Monday four of us (John, Astrid, Stefano and Magi) headed back to Freiburg while we five (Andreas, Tanya, Caitlin, Michelle and I) stayed on. We took a walk along the foreshore followed by another late lunch which seemed to run into dinner. Then we spent the evening in the hostel
playing 500 until the wee hours (the only way one can play 500!).

It was a little strange for me to be back in Bregenz again. I spent a few days there in 2002 on my stopover in Austria on my way to Russia. Then I remember being very lonely, traveling alone and feeling the effects of not knowing the language. This time both of these factors had
changed. I was with a group of great friends and I could speak German!! It was a very different experience. Not to say that I didn't enjoy Bregenz the first time but it was definitely better the second. Made for a good few days.

Tuesday we headed back to Freiburg, this time via Basel. With a short stopover in Lindau and a five minute peek at the lovely foreshore there, then a longer stop in Friedrichshafen where we sat on a lawn and lunched to fantastic views of the lake with the Swiss Alps in the background!! Incredible! We also had an unexpected guest as a young man (drunk? high? definitely drinking!) decided to follow us from the train station and sit amongst us. Although he didn't answer questions from us, he would make a comment from time to time. "How many people live in this town?" or "It's beautiful with the lake and the mountains" were favourites of his, and he used them both more than once! The scenery along the Rhine to Basel was fantastic and many places there reminded me of the Yarra Valley down under. No wonder a whole bunch of Germans headed that way!

Back in the Burg: Sigh

2006-05-27T22:31:00.000+10:00

Home Sweet Home
Touching down in Basel airport I had no feelings of regret for leaving behind a great trip (which it was), rather a feeling of relief and even excitement that I was coming back to Freiburg. This was for a couple of reasons; firstly, in Freiburg I had the sense of security that comes from having a place to stay somewhat permanently and being familiar with where things are, where you can buy various items etc., secondly, and more importantly, I'd developed some pretty strong friendships during the language course and then seen none of the people (except Astrid of course) for the whole time that I was traveling. I was looking forward to seeing these people again and had actually already missed them after such a short time of knowing them!

Back to Normality
It was very pleasant to come back to Freiburg on Thursday (April 20) and join all the others in the city gardens, play some frisbee and lie around in the sun. Friday saw things returning to typical for the language course with a communal dinner & party at Travis'. Also from that point onwards I began spending significantly more time with a particular American...

Uni
Uni began on Monday the 24th with a couple of language placement tests, which were relatively easy. Tuesday my German literature class was cancelled (and for the first three weeks!) because the lecturer broke his foot! I attended my one politics class on Wednesday, but that consisted of basically just administrative stuff. On Thursday my lecturer was sick so that lecture didn't run either! All in all by the end of the week I felt like uni hadn't actually begun yet!

On the note of uni - I've had a few questions about how it is to study in German: it's not actually too bad. Sure, I don't understand everything but I probably get about 70-80% - pretty good when you consider that in Australia I also don't get 100% because I sometimes drift off thinking about something else! I've also read a number of stories in German which is fantastic!! It gives me a confidence in my German when I can read a story in German and really enjoy it!!

Berlin

2006-05-27T03:21:00.000+10:00

The Reichstag

And again

A remaining sectoin of the Berlin Wall

A larger remaining section of the wall

Checkpoint Charlie

The inner city

The Berlin Tower

The Cathedral

And again

City-centre statue

Humbolt University - formerly the library from which books were taken under the Nazis and burned on the square in front of it

Typical Berlin - A construction site in front of the Branderburg Gate

The Brandenberg Gate

Der Schreier - calling out "Freiheit" (Freedom) in the direction of the DDR

A plaque on the site of the wall

Berlin's first trafic light

Prague

2006-05-27T01:52:00.000+10:00

Prague street art - with new addition

Prague rooftops from Mala Strana Tower

Prague city direction and Mala Strana Tower from Kurluv Most (Charles Bridge)

St Vitus Cathedral, Prague Castle

Prague's main market square

Prague's Opera House

Kurluv Most

The path up to Prague Castle

The back gate

Inside Prague Castle

Golden Lane, Prague Castle

The bottom entrance to Golden Lane

On duty at the gate

The main gate

St Nicholas' Church

Wallenstein Palace Gardens

And again

Wallanstein Palace, former sitting place of the Czech senate

The passage of secrets

Inside Wallenstein Palace

Prague from Prague tower (an Eiffel Tower replica)

Me on Prague Tower

The Hunger Wall

Fortifications on the Hunger Wall

Prague looking down the Hunger Wall

Old part of the Hunger Wall

Memorial to the victims of oppression under communism

Kurluv Most

On the riverside

Prague in the night

Dreary Dresden (Not by any measure!)

2006-05-27T01:34:00.000+10:00

Dresden on Elbe - After reconstruction

Semperoper

Inside the Zwinger

Fountains of the Zwinger

Astrid going swimming

Inside the Zwinger take 2

Kunstakademie

Accross the Elbe

Münzgasse with Frauenkirche in the background

Here's to you, you crazy kangaroo!

Frauenkirche with Luther in the foreground

Goldener Reiter

Images of Leipzig

2006-05-27T01:16:00.000+10:00

A Monestry in Leipzig from the Völkerschlachtsdenkmal commemoration the victory here of the Russian, Austrian, Prussian and Swedish armies over Napoleon

Leipzig City Hall

Johann Sebastian Bach in front of Thomaskirche

Notice his left pocket is turned inside out: He had 20 children and was renowned for complaining about lacking money

Goethe

Nikolaikirche, the place where hundreds gathered in the late 80's to protest against the DDR. Party officials were sent to break up the meetings, but heard, were convinced, and joined in.

Astrid and I on Leipzig's skyscraper

Bamberg Photos

2006-05-27T00:49:00.000+10:00

The Bamberg Town Hall, smack bang in the middle of the Regnitz River

Town Hall from the side

The beautiful Rosengarten at the Neue Residenz

The Cathedral with the Neue Residenz in the foreground

Trying out a Bamberg speciality "Rauchbier" - a smoked beer with a slight bacon flavour

Bamberg from above

The Bamberg castle

From another angle

BOOM

Berlin Day One

2006-04-18T03:39:00.001+10:00

I Like Berlin

And it's not because it's particularly beautiful, it's not. It's not because it's particularly cheap, though it is by European standards. I think it's just because it's got a good atmosphere and a fascinating (and very recent) history.
It's a real mixing-pot and has a very cosmopolitan feel. The architecture shows little evidence of being particularly pompous or over done. It is what it is. And I like that.

In terms of history, if I was here when I was six and did the same thing that I've done today I would have crossed the Iron Curtain about 5 times. INCREDIBLE!!! There are endless stories of the division of the city, the Berlin Wall (or "Anti-Fascist Protection Wall") and it's fall, and so on. Then just a few years before that all began, there was this guy in Berlin called Adolf and many bombs were aimed at him (90% of the inner city was destroyed), not long before that was an Emperor and another war... and so on and so forth...

Going to explore the city further tomorrow and Wednesday before heading back to Freiburg on Thursday (flying... a nice change).

Ostersonntag und frohe Ostern

2006-04-18T03:39:00.000+10:00

Frohe Ostern...

I went to mass in the inner city of Prague where I understood nothing! Well ok, the readings were read in Czech then English (there really ARE that many tourists in Prague), so I understood the latter. (Random Note: I spoke mostly English in Prague, including with Astrid which is strange as I know her in German - it's a little like talking to a completely different person!)
Then I returned to the hostel from where we departed for the train station - destination Berlin.

We took the train to just across the German border (Bad Schandau) from where we bought a Schönes Wochenende Ticket (Good Weekend Ticket) with which, for 30€ five people can travel as far as they like in Germany in one (weekend) day using only regional trains (not the faster inter-city or express trains). We got off to a good started taking the wrong train to Dresden which meant we arrived in Berlin an hour later. In any case outside of Mass my easter was spent on the train looking out at the German coutryside and wanting to be in Freiburg.

... but one of them

2006-04-18T03:19:00.000+10:00

Easter Saturday and things began to turn around.

The weather was beautiful. Prague was beautiful. I saw the rest of the Prague castle, the largest castle complex in the world, I went into the beautiful church of St Nicholas, saw the old building and gardens of the Prague Senate, climbed the Eiffel tower replica town for a great view of greater Prague before finally exhausting myself with a walk back into the city along the Hunger Wall.

Prague is indeed a beautiful city with a character of it's own not found in western cities. It's well worth a visit, but I maintain that it's not the most beautiful city in the world!

In the evening I went with Astrid and some of her Danish friends who had also come to Prague for the weekend to a genuine Czech pub. Whereas English and German are widely spoken elsewhere in Prague here they spoke none. I was quite pround of myself at making myself understood with Russian. We didn't stay long however and headed back to the hostel for sleep.

(Not) the most beautiful city in the world

2006-04-18T03:11:00.000+10:00

Today I saw a little of what's not the most beautiful city in the world. Since my trip to Russia four years ago I've spoken to many people about travel in Europe, fully intending to return in the not-too-distant future. From the dribs and drabs that I heard, Prague was recommended by many, some as the most beautiful city they'd seen. Admittedly I'm in Prague at a bad time (Good Friday), and it rained for most of the day, but... anything out of the inner city itself is most probably ugly, (Got interrupted here - I'm now writing from Berlin so everything is now in retrospect) the ground is dirty and it's a bit of a shock after the impeccably maintained German cities. It was not particularly pleasant though to wade through swamps of people thick as mud to see over-rated attractions in the rain. In fact, the only thing that lightened my mood and kept me interested in Prague on this Good Friday were the similarities I found there with Moscow. Prague, like Moscow, has yet to develop to the level of a western European city and this is always evident, especially outside of the city-centre. I drank in the rough-and-ready Soviet-style functionality of the city - so many things built cheap out of necessity but also practical - ugly buildings - but which house many people, out-dated buses and stations but better public transport services than you would find in most western cities, an old-style cafe with simple dishes at simple prices. Then of course there were the linguistic similarities between Czech and Russian...

In spite of these things however I returned to the hostel on Good Friday evening with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

Deutschland People (not german people) - Party #B769 bei Magi

2006-04-14T03:06:00.000+10:00

Peace...

The girls (Sorry Frederick)

The cooks: Stefano (Italia), Michelle (The US of A) and Maria Giulia (Magi - Italia)

A bite to eat?

"Yes, thanks" Magi

Hard at work to cook our dinner (I was too busy taking photos!)

Daniel (Sydney - says it all really)

Travis (USA - says it all really)

Katie (USA), Some random gate-crasher and Bettina (Chile)

Stefanissimo in all his glory

Huh? What's goin' on? I had nothing to do with it! (John and Michelle)

Astrid (Denmark)

Magi

Deep and meaningful conversations

Andreas (Norway - note trademark pose) and Astrid

Dylan (attempting to destroy said trademark pose), Andreas and Maarten (Netherlands - always wanting to be a part of the action)

Art

SMILE - (this photo was not posed) Astrid, John and Michelle

TM pose

Magi and Astrid

TM Pose, Magi and Michelle

Sing us a song you're the guitar man (Daniel)

Maarten - part of the action

Dylan and Magi

A stopover, a film-set and a new stamp

2006-04-14T03:03:00.000+10:00

Today Astrid and I traveled from Leipzig to Prague. We met early 9am for another Mitfahrgelegenheit trip to Dresden. In Dresden we took a stopover of about three hours. I have heard quite little from Dresden in the past so it was a bit of a surprise to find a really beautiful city with lots of baroque buildings, the winding Elbe river and even a bit of sunshine. We walked from the "New City" to the "Old City" - as always, both are old by Australian standards. There we had a self-guided tour. I took plenty of photos, especially of the Zwanger, the former royal entertainment centre and the highlight of Dresden. I will upload them when I return to Freiburg.

After a Bratwurst lunch (yummy) we bought a ticket and hopped on the train heading for Prague. (The actual route is Hamburg-Berlin-Dresden-Prague-Bratislava-Budapest!) Here came another pleasant surprise. From Dresden until about 10k's beyond the Czech border the train follows the Elbe river. It is a fantastic scenic trip that I rate better than the Austrian Alps and almost up there with the Ghan (Alice Springs to Adelaide). Heading south we actually traveled through a gorge on the western bank of the river. Along the length of this gorge are beautiful German houses wedged somehow been the steep cliffs and the river itself. Every time a valley came in from the side there would be houses crammed into the valley to form a small village. It really was like nothing I'd even seen and I couldn't help but feel joyous and was beaming inside.

Approaching the Czech border came German and Czech policemen through the train, a form of passport control. They both inspected my Australian passport very closely and I was the only one I saw who received a stamp. (Although it's so easy for Australians to travel in Europe it's even easier for European Union citizens.) I now have evidence in my passport of visiting six countries (although the actually tally is 8).

After continuing the train-trek as much through classic bohemian villages as ugly grey ex-soviet constructions we arrived in Prague, withdrew some Czech crowns from the ATM, and after a slightly geographically displaced round-about trip landed at our hostel from where I now write. I was also pleased to find that I can understand some things (actually very little and only when they are written) from my ex-knowledge of Russian.

Looking forward to exploring the city tomorrow and Sunday and hopefully catching a mass tomorrow morning (Good Friday).

Heidelberg, Baden, not Victoria

2006-04-13T00:04:00.000+10:00

Heidelberg Castle, under sun

The Neckar River and the west bank, Heidelberg

Heidelberg City Centre

View of the Cathedral and the Neckar from Heidelberg Castle

View of Heidelberg from Heidelberg Castle

Heidelberg Castle, ruined in war

Noch Mal, my fellow students

An amazing building all round

Cold Colmar and Border-town Breisach

2006-04-12T23:32:00.000+10:00

A classic European Street, Colmar

In the inner city, Colmar

The former slaughterhouse, Colmar

It´s much more beautiful in photographs when you don´t have to withstand the cold!!

Little Venice, Colmar

The main Breisach church through the old city gate

The view from the hill, Breisach

Take (his name) the Japanese, bull fighting with the symbol of Europa, Breisach

Mit freundlichen Grüssen aus Leipzig

2006-04-12T22:45:00.000+10:00

Hello avid readers...

I´m writing today from Leipzig, the Stadt der Helden or City of Heroes in the former German Democratic Republic GDR (East Germany). We came here on Sunday evening with a Mitfahrgelegenheit which is where people advertise on the internet that they´re going somewhere and have seats free. You can call them up a pay a small fee to go with them. It was around $25 for 300kms (and much faster than the train or cars in Australia - thanks to the world famous German Autobahn). I´m staying here, as I did in Bamberg, with friends of Astrid (my travel partner) from Denmark. It´s been very nice to have been shown such good hospitality.

Leipzig is the City of Heroes because, in the home city of the former Stasi (East Germany´s equivalent of the KGB), in 1989 the people held demonstrations under the slogan "Wir sind das Volk" (We are the people). 600 socialist party members were sent to one of these demonstrations to break it up but ended up listening then joining in! The demonstration slogan later changed to "Wir sind ein Volk" (We are one people) around the time of the fall of the Berlin wall and Germany´s (re)unification.

I have seen the old Stasi headquarters as well as a GDR Museum covering from the end of WWII to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Very interesting stuff. I´ve also been to the 1913 monument celebrating the defeat of Napoleon in Leipzig by the Prussian, Austrian, Russian and Swedish armies.

Europe is amazing for it´s rich history, and Germany especially because of it´s such rich recent history. Many of the things I´ve seen in the GDR Museum took place in my lifetime!! It´s amazing to think that some people lived such extraordinarily different lives than what I´ve ever experienced.

I´m heading to Prague tomorrow, looking forward to it.

I wish you all a very Happy Easter, in whatever you may be doing.

Post-coursum

2006-04-09T05:46:00.000+10:00

After the course things began to change of course. We have all together around four weeks break between the end of language course 29.03 and the start of semester 24.04. Many went home or traveling in the first few days after the course. I had to move out of my room into the Evangelischer Studentenwohnheim. However I had to move out on a Friday and I couldn't move in until Monday. Luckily Søren Kristian, one of my Danish friends here, went home to Denmark and had a spare key. I was able to stay in his room for the weekend.

I moved successfully on Monday, and although my new residents seems like a good community, it's very hard to get a realistic impression of it as it's pretty much empty at the moment.
On Wednesday my Laptop hard-drive decided it was a good time to die. As such I lost all my photos from Singapore bar those that are in this Blog, half of my music and all my files (ok, they're in Australia but I no longer have them here). I was, still am,disappointedd. I also had to fork out $100 for a new hard drive!

On Friday I embarked on a trip around Germany. It was originally going to be a few of ustravelingg, but in the end turned out to be me and Astrid, another Dane. I'm writing now from Bamberg, a university city almost untouched by the destructive bombing raids of WWII. The entire old city is UNESCO World Heritage and very beautiful. It's divided in two parts, the religious part and the citizens part with the border being the river. The town hall, originally desired to be built in the religious part but not permitted by the bishop, is located right in the middle of the river and forms the middle of a two arch bridge.

After Bamberg we're heading to Leipzig, the former home of the Stasi, East-German secret police, for a few days, followed by Prague for three days then Berlin for four. Then flying back to Freiburg to catch the last half of the international students orientation week.

Sprachkurs, Excursionen, Freundschaft und Deutsch

2006-04-09T05:27:00.000+10:00

It's been far too long since last time I entered something here... so much has happened that it's now difficult to know where to begin...

A bit about the language course: (Sprachkurs)

The language course lasted a little over three weeks. I met people and made friends very quickly. I now have friends from Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Ireland and Chile as well as more from England, the USA, Australia and Italy.

We settled quickly into a daily routine of language tuition from nine till twelve every day followed by lunch in the Mensa (university lunch house) then 45 minutes in Sprachlabor (language lab) then lectures or seminars in the afternoon about a variety of topics deutsch related. I took a lecture on German geography and a seminar on Germany and Europe.

In the evenings we had German films on Tuesday and Thursday and found ourselves going out to eat or for drinks almost every night. A group of us (we meaning those doing the language course - until now I'm yet to make German friends, although I have met a few) began a tradition in the first week of getting together, and cooking together. This happened at least once a week during the language course.

Excursions:
Every weekend we had at least one excursion. This kicked off on the Saturday after the first week with a trip the Black Forest. We had a tour of a monastery, saw heaps of snow (it's was really thick in the mountains of the Black Forest) and visited a few Museums. The Black Forest is full of small businesses that make very specialised technical products. Traditionally one of these was Cuckoo Clocks. One of the Museums that we visited was a Clock museum. Although not the most exciting Museum I've ever visited, it was actually much better than it sounds. After the clock museum we had the best snow fight I've ever been involved it. It lasted half an hour and involved about twenty people. Despite going back inside numerous times to warm my hands up, I couldn't feel them after the fight. We all climbed on the bus a bit wet, quite tired but satisfied. The descent from the mountains was very slow and cautious as it had begun to snow quite heavily. Back in Freiburg we visited a local winery and did a tour with wine tasting... lecker!!

Sunday:
Another day another country!! We took an excursion to Colmar just across the French border - the majority of the way on our regional train ticket. Colmar is a very beautiful city that lies in Elsass a French-German region which has changed hands many times. The people there speak French though I'm told the older people speak German, or at least a dialect. It was richtig cold in Colmar and it was actually painful to stand outside. My photos look nicer than it did at the time simply because it was too cold to enjoy the views!! We sat in cafes for half the day then visited a well-know Museum. Well worth a visit.
On the return leg we visited Breisach (Germany), the highlight of which was the church built high on top of a hill. From there the were great views across Breisach to France, and in the other direction the Black Forest behind Freiburg.

Saturday 19th:
The following weekend we took a trip to Heidelberg. Heidelberg, like Freiburg is a University town in Baden (the region of Germany). The Uni there is about the same age as Freiburg and where Freiburg Uni was a Catholic Theological University, Heidelberg was, at least after the Reformation, Baden's Protestant equivalent.
Heidelberg is also very beautiful (I'm going to stop saying that, because all the cities that I've seen here so far have been!), has a bustling student city feel and was also quite cold. It's a little bit smaller than Freiburg but is set against the Necker river and I noticed that there were more tourist oriented things there than in Freiburg (although I personally find Freiburg a more beautiful city!). The highlight of Heidelberg was the Schloss (palace) which was ruined in some war or other and has since been partially restored so the ruins are maintained. The Schloss was awesome and I always find it amazing in such old buildings to considered the things that have happened there. If walls could talk...

Saturday 26th:
This time we crossed another border and out of the European Union to Basel, Switzerland. We travelled almost all the way there on our regional tickets too. Basel, it's main features being the mighty Rhine and it's exorbitant Swiss prices lies very near the Germany border and is connected with regional ties to Freiburg, Strasbourg and other cities (it's an interesting tri-country regional relationship).
Here I heard Swiss-German for the first time. UNBELIEVABLE! I couldn't understand a word! It really is another language, although most people can also speak high-German. The two highlights for me here were the Rhine, which we crossed in a water-powered boat, and the Cathedral, the tower of which we climbed for fantastic views of the city.

Tuesday 29th:
On the second last day of the Language course, and as part of the Germany and Europe seminar, we took a trip to Strasbourg including the European Parliament. The parliament was our first port of call and, although it was very much empty, also the highlight because when we got the the City centre it rained and we ended up running to the cathedral for a quick look then heading home shortly afterwards.

Through excursions, classes and free time I've made some very good friends and because of them it's been a pleasure to be here. We speak pretty much exclusively German and my German has improved as much because of that as the classes!

German. I never imagined that when I write this, only a month after my arrival in Germany, I would feel so comfortable speaking German. It is now natural to speak German, and although, of course I make many mistakes and have much much more to learn, I can express myself in as much as is necessary. This has also been made easier by the fact that my friends here are all foreigners so we all speak a little slower and sometimes have to think about how to say something. But this has been good in that I haven't been thrown too far into the deep end and as such I now feel comfortable talking to Germans in social situations and I understand the vast majority of what is said.
Just to give you an idea too... everything from the language course was in German, the classes, seminars and lectures as well as excursions and city tours.

It is now often the case that I have to think about the sentence structure or vocabulary in English!!

Sorry this one was so long coming and so long...

Keep the emails coming... it's ALWAYS good to hear from you - no matter where in the world you may be.

Photos from Germany

2006-03-30T01:16:00.000+11:00

Day 1 in Freiburg

The Snow began to settle in (looking away from the city)

At the end of the first week we took a trip into the Black Forest on Saturday. This is the church of a monastery up in the mountains.

Next to the church - although the snow was thicker here it did get quite thick in Freiburg!

Inside the church, intricate and well lit rococo architecture.

Amazing artwork in many different areas: the gates, ceiling and pipe organ.

Inside the library of the monastery. The object of occupation of the Brothers here was language study and research and there is here a many-hundred-year-old Bible in seven or eight translations (including Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Latin and others)

Typical Black Forest scenery. Very beautiful. We had here an awesome snowfight (Schneeballschlacht) that lasted at least half an hour. I could no longer feel my hands despite going inside numerous times to warm them!

In transit

2006-03-21T02:13:00.000+11:00

The flight to Germany was long. I'm glad I didn't fly direct from
Australia. I had a middle seat and slept very little. I was sick with a
cold that began towards the end in Singapore.

We landed in Vienna on schedule, I passed through passport control with
ease and, after a wait of about an hour, boarded my connecting flight to
Frankfurt. The flying time was 1 hour 15 minutes. It took about two
hours 15 minutes! It was snowing heavily in Frankfurt (this is March
3!!) and they were having to clear the runways regularly. (I later heard
that in the afternoon nothing was coming in or leaving Frankfurt at all!)

In the end I landed safe and sound at around 10am local time and
negotiated my way to the train station (which is within the Airport).
After a two hour train journey (at speeds of up to 250km/h) through
snowy Germany I set foot in Freiburg at 1pm, registered my arrival with
the Sprachlehrinstitut (Department of Languages - through which I'm
doing my German course), received my keys for accommodation, found my
way there, unpacked and had a nap.

Day 2

2006-03-21T02:10:00.001+11:00

I woke up late and opened the blind to find not only that it was snowing
in Freiburg (it hadn't been on Friday and there was very little left on
the ground) but there was already about 5cms of snow already settled. It
was amazing and exciting and I'll stop before I make Timshel and Shelley
jealous!!

I went out exploring the city centre (the old part of town) which is
soooooooo beautiful, especially in the snow. It could be likened to a
fairy-tale film set, but it's better, more real, more authentic,
beautiful! Every street, alley or lane has bucketloads of charm and
history. It's a pleasure just to walk around. I bought a Wurst (sausage
- no let me correct myself - German sausage, which is far superior
anything we have in Oz) then some bread, eggs and vegetables a the
market which occupies Münsterplatz (Cathedral Square) from Monday to
Sunday until the early afternoon. I then bought another Wurst! Yum!

After another afternoon nap I met again at the SLI for a walk up
Schossberg (Castle Mountain) which is meant to have fantastic views of
the region - even as far as France on a clear day! The trouble was, it
was not a clear day. In fact the snow had increased and was now covering
everything (including concrete which holds off because of the heat it
stores up) up to about 20-30 cms deep! We walked anyway but stopped
halfway for a Coffee which was very pleasant. This time my
mostly-American friends were in France as they are on a different
program which runs together with my program. So the introductions began
again - still so much easier to meet people who don't know each other
than a group of established friends. This time it was far more
multinational. A Norwegian guy I'd met the night before was there, but
other than that I knew no-one. I met people from Italy, France, America,
another Norwegian, Denmark, Iran, Japan, England and Australia, all with
various degrees of German and English. Conversations switched fluidly
from German to English and back, with the two Italians and two Danes
also using their mother tongue.

After coffee we descended into Freiburg, then went to see a Volleyball
match (Germany's second league) for 99 euro cents (about AUD$1.60!!). It
was a close match in which Freiburg lost the first two sets (first to
three wins) against Sonnenburg (from the north - in translation it was
Freetown vs Sunnytown) only to take out the third and fourth and after a
killer decider they won 26-24 (the deciding set is typically first to
15!!). Certainly got my Euro's worth!!

Then it was back home for some pleasant sleep!

My room

The view from my window - day 2

First Impressions

2006-03-21T02:10:00.000+11:00

The Roller Coaster Ride

Arriving in the airport, exhausted, jet-lagged and knowing no-one my
thoughts were along the lines of "what have I got myself into?" People
would talk to me in public and I wouldn't understand (people seem to do
that more here than in Melbourne), when registering at the
Sprachlehrinstitut (SLI)I opted to be spoken to in English. A friendly
girl on the train tried talking to me in German but I had her change to
English - after which she seemed shocked to find out I'm majoring in
German major (well, almost). When I arrived at my residence there were
other people floating around but I failed to pluck up the courage to
talk to anyone - beyond "hallo" anyhow.
It was all too much, too different, too difficult.

Of course despite what the mind can convince you it was never going to
stay that way. Things started changing after a nap and a shower - that
helped a great deal to start with. I was told when registering that I
could go to the SLI office at 6 for drinks with the others doing the
language course. On arrival at the office I began introducing myself to
a group of people who were already waiting there. They turned out to be
mostly Americans.

An aside: It's interesting that people behave very differently in
different circumstances. Arriving at a place with little or no
connections, people make a great effort to make friends and get to know
other people and they will show their best side in order to do so. In
contrast, when people are in their comfort zones they tend to make
little effort with anyone - or thing - new and different, perhaps
because it's too much effort, perhaps even because they feel that new
things are a threat to their comfort zone. In this respect at least
there is something very positive about being out of your comfort zone.

Anyway, my point here is that making friends became very easy with
others who were facing the same situation. When we left for the pubs,
the people I had met split off from the main group and, as I had only
met these guys, I went with them. After the pub I took the tram back to
my residence, where the residents were partying. I joined them and spoke
60% English, 30% German and 10% Spanish with the other residents who
came from Germany, Spain and France. One of the Germans was departing
for Melbourne the next morning to visit a previous resident. He
suggested that when he returns he'd like to have a language exchange -
where I correct his English and he does the same with my German. I might
just take him up on the offer.

After about an hour spent at this party I was absolutely wrecked and hit
the sack hard.

Another day, another country...

2006-03-02T18:52:00.000+11:00

This is my last post from Singapore. I will be departing here at 12.15am Friday morning local time (3.15am Friday Melbourne time) and arriving in Frankfurt at 8.30am Friday morning local time (6.30pm Friday Melbourne time).

Today I've had a chilled out day, going for brunch with Adrian then shopping at Holland Village (just nearby). I'm about to go for a walk, then packing, dinner and heading to Changi Airport for check-in. I'm excited but a little nervous about Germany. It will be a steep learning curve and mastering a second language will be a new achievement.

I will email contact details when I arrive and become aware of what they are. My roaming mobile has the same number as in previous emails. If you miss out on the email just send me an email and I'll update you.

Please keep the emails coming... I'm enjoying the contact very much!!

Next post is from Germany....

CBD and Sentosa Island

2006-03-02T02:14:00.000+11:00

Today I went exploring in the CBD, visiting the Singapore Art Museum (worth a look) as well as the Asian Civilisations Museum (definitely worth a look). I saw the landing place of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, who fouded of Singapore as we know it as well as the hotel bearing his name.

After moseying around past parliament house and the supreme court and along the Singapore River, I made my way to Sentosa Island, Singapore's tourist entertainment centre. There I walked along the beach, watched a (fairly dismal) sunset, had a dip and went up the Sky Tower for a view of Singapore under lights.

I'm pretty tired so that'll have to do for this post. Just a few pics below:

Singapore Chamber of Commerce

National Library of Singapore

The famous Raffles Hotel

The Singapore River

Bumboat peak hour

Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles

Looking South-West across Siloso Beach, Sentosa Island

Siloso Beach after dusk

The CBD and docks from Sentosa

Freiburg

2006-03-02T01:10:00.000+11:00

It's 27 degrees in Singapore at 10.07 pm local time. That's about usual. The weather forecast tells me Friday in Freiburg will have a maximum of 3 degrees with snow showers. I arrive in Freiburg on Friday, probably around midday. Out of the frying pan into the icicle.

Not sure whether to laugh or cry.

Palau Ubin: Some Pics

2006-03-01T14:49:00.000+11:00

Adrian on his bum on the Bumboat

Me on my bum on the Bumboat

Adrian (Palau Ubin behind)

Me (on Palau Ubin) - the floating fishing hut is in Singapore, the land behind is Malaysia

Mangrove flats - the distant hills are Malaysia

Mangrove roots

A typical home on Palau Ubin (except this was about the only one that didn't sell cold drinks!!)

The mean machine

Adrian didn't realise this was for two!

The foreshore (the main island of Singapore is behind)

Waiting for the Bumboat (the end of the jetty)

A Minister, a tourist and an Island

2006-03-01T13:49:00.000+11:00

Sunday

Sunday was a relaxed day which was a welcome break. After church in the morning Adrian and I went into the CBD and lunched with Adrian Chan (another college friend for those of you who don't know) who was working nearby. My original plan was actually to stay with Adrian for a couple of nights but unfortunately he got caught up in a Coke campaign (he works in advertising) and has been working flat out.

After lunch we went shoe shopping and I bought a pair of running shoes then returned to the apartment for a swim at the pool (did I mention there is a pool here!) then out for dinner on the West Coast.

Monday

After testing out my running shoes (the best shoes ever) in 60 degree heat and 250% humidity, and seeing a monitor (huge lizard - like a Goanna) along the way, I donned the camera, water bottle and cash and headed into real tourist territory - the Jurong Bird Park, the Chinese Garden (ok not so touristy there) and then the Night Safari (it's at the zoo, it's like the zoo, but it's at night - all the nocturnal creatures come out to play). A good day, but I didn't feel like I was experiencing the real Singapore as much as I had on other days.

Tuesday

After some domestic chores (ie laundry) went with Adrian to Palau Ubin ("Palau" meaning "Island" - I think it's Malay). This is "rustic" Singapore - Lonely Planet tells me this is what Singapore was like in the 50's and 60's. It's a beautiful place with mangrove flats, forest, wild animals and huts. After taking the Bumboat (really, that's what it's called) across to the island we hired a tandem bike (much fun and fear!!) and traversed the island, even catching a rare sighting of a couple of wild boars!!

Back on the mainland we went out for dinner with Adrian's dad - as good as, if not better than, any meal I've ever had - a marinated, local spinach like vegetable, boiled vegetables, prawns in rolled in oatmeal and deep fried, all topped off with Chilli Crabs!!!

Monday's Highlights

The tallest man-made waterfall on the planet - still doesn't match the real thing!! (Jurong Bird Park)

Signs about signs - gets me every time

Pretty in pink - a flock of frolicking Flamingos - this one's for you Aiden (aka Mr Pink)

The penguin enclosure

A hawk swooping in at the Birds of Prey show, Jurong Bird Park

7 Storey Pagoda, Chinese Garden

The Twin Pagodas, Chinese Garden

Entrance and spiral staircase of one of the twin pagodas

Who says wildlife can't enjoy the Chinese Gardens? (Monitor)

Adjacent religious symbols

Bridge to the Japanese Garden (which was closed unfortunately)

Food, glorious food

2006-03-01T13:07:00.000+11:00

Let's just say that since I've been here I've put on 2kg. The food is amazing!!!

There are hawker markets everywhere (little food markets with tables shared between stalls) with fantastic Chinese, Malaysian and even uniquely Singaporean food, and it's SO cheap. S$3-4 ($2.50- 3.25 Australian) will get you more than you could ever eat in one meal!

I could happily eat in Singapore for ever!

Also, just to correct a previous post, Chicken rice, although a local dish is not Singapore's signature dish. This is in fact Chilli Crabs which I ate last night. Large crabs with a chilli gravy - mmm scrumptious!

Food Photos

Adrian enjoying some fine malaysian dining!

After Church, a quick snack on won ton noodle soup.

A hawker stall with a variety of dishes on the go (don't get the fish!)

Chilli Crabs, Singapore's signature dish - before

Chilli Crabs - Singapore's signature dish - after

They even have energising, life-giving foods here!!

Images of the day

2006-02-26T00:29:00.000+11:00

My room at Adrian's

"Shop-houses" in Little India

Sri Veeramakaliamman temple

Alleyway near Arab Street

Goodwill on Baghdad

Sultan Mosque from Baghdad Street

Sultan Mosque and the very beautiful Bussorah Street

Renault F1 car on display on Orchard Road

Orchard Road

The Three DDDs

2006-02-26T00:13:00.000+11:00

After a day further exploring Singapore on my own, including Little India (great curries, markets and temples), Arab Street and surrounds (great shops and mosques) and Orchard Road (Singapore's major shopping precinct - think Bourke Street mall times 50) I have developed further a theory I came up with yesterday - the three Ds:

Diversity

I put this first because it's such a big part of daily Singapore life and Singaporean identity. Local Singaporeans - be they Chinese, Indian, Malay, Arab or some other ethnicity - mix with expats of many nations and tourist to form a jumble of ethnicities, religions and languages in one tiny little island. Integration - even understanding - doesn't necessarily seem to occur - though tolerance is widespread.
As a foreigner - especially an Anglo-Saxon in an Asian country - this mixing pot of cultures certainly makes me feel less out-of-place.

Density

Everywhere you go, or don't go, in Singapore, there are people. There is not a quiet street, in fact I'm yet to walk down a street alone! As I sit in Adrian's flat I hear the voices of many rising up from below. There is a large population in a very small space. In fact I'm told there are 6000 people living per square kilometer in Singapore. This compares with 2 per square kilometer in Australia (of course this takes deserts into account, but you see my point!)

Dynamism

Following on from density is dynamism. Just as there are always people around (and because there are always people around) there is always something happening, always people doing something, always movement. There is not far to go to get to anywhere in Singapore and people seem to take full advantage of that. Night or day there are people wandering around, driving, catching the train, going places, doing things. The heart beat of the city is rapid and strong.

Day 1

2006-02-25T13:46:00.000+11:00

Adrian, who is on National Service for a couple of weeks at the moment, had two days off shift work on Thursday and Friday and was kind enough to use the second of them not resting but showing me the sights of Singapore.

After a cold shower (there is really no need for hot water) we headed for the Botanic Gardens and National Orchid Garden, the home to 30,000 Species of Orchid and 100,000 hybrids including a cool house showcasing plants from more reasonable climates. Singapore's national flower, the Vanda Miss Joaquim orchid, is the purple flower behind Adrian and I. After checking out the orchids we went to a nearby cafe and had a coffee and a chat about family, life, values and ideals.

Next was a drive by Orchard Road, Singapore's bustling shopping district, on the way to Chinatown. Chinatown consists of alleyway filled with market stalls selling almost everything from clothes to electronic goods to food to Chinese trinkets. After some pork rolls we took a tour of a small Chinese Museum with a group of headache-inducing Singapore school kids, met Elisha, the tour guide and ate Singapore's signature dish - Chicken Rice. We then drove to a temple which we explored followed up with some tropical fruit and a frozen dessert.

After a short recuperation at Adrian's flat we took the bus and train into the city for Japanese where we sat in the window and just as we were about to leave I noticed someone waving at me - who do I know in Singapore? I thought to myself. It turned out to be Elisha, the tour guide from earlier. He invited us to join him and his mates watching a movie at a little place with a projector - you bring your friends and choose the movie to watch from a bunch of DVDs and it's like watching it at the cinema!!!

We declined his offer instead choosing to explore the Esplanade, where there was a US Air Force band playing, the Singapore Arts centre, affectionately known as the Durian because it looks like two half upturned durian fruits, and great views of the city at night. During desert at a waterfront bakery I was struggling to keep my eyes open (it was 1am Melbourne time when we left), and as we returned to the flat Adrian kindly pointed out that my eyes we bloodshot!!! It was indeed a big day!

Singapore

2006-02-25T13:18:00.000+11:00

Customs

It never ceases to amaze me how easy it can be to gain entry to another country. The press, with such broad coverage of the Nguyen Tuong Van case, would have you believe that you basically get strip searched. The reality is a far cry from this. In fact it was easier for me to pass through passport control and then customs (through the "Nothing to Declare" doors) than it was to leave Australia - where my luggage was scanned, everything metal I was wearing removed and my deodorant confiscated for not having a lid. Mind you neither end was particularly difficult.

A Pleasant Surprise

As I went to collect my bag (one of very few on the belt - evidently most from my flight were going on to Vienna) I notices out of the corner of my eye someone moving vigorously through a glass wall. Succumbing to human nature I looked and there was Adrian Tan (my host here), who had come to pick me up despite the arrangement of taking a taxi to his house (it was midnight after all). Adrian drove me across Singapore to his flat where he and his Mum Eliza have been wonderfully hospitable since.

First Impressions

Air conditioning is deceit. Walking through the airport doors was reminiscent of my travels in North Western Australia in 1995. It's like God just took a long and very hot shower and fogged up the whole country. After a couple of minutes I was back in the air-conditioned comfort of Adrian's car. The temperature never drops below 24 (very late at night) and never rises above 34) and the humidity is suffocating.

Driving on major routes and at night it was impossible to determine what Singapore was like and only the immediate similarities and differences were noticeable - British style road markings, sky-scrapers which could as easily be Sydney as Singapore and much more high-rise accommodation than you would ever find in Australia. My tour-guide host informs me of a number of almost-superlatives along the way: "This used to be the second tallest residential building in the world... etc etc" - come to think of it, I would do the same in Melbourne.

In flight bulletin

2006-02-24T20:43:00.000+11:00

After a slightly late take-off, the journey went without a hitch and my window seat (for which I had to request a middle-aged, non-English-speaking slavic couple to vacate my seat) offered me great views as we followed the Calder Highway past Gisborne, Macedon, Woodend, and home-town Kyneton right through to Bendigo with spectacular fluffy cloud formations to complement the view.

The middle-aged, non-English-speaking slavic couple also turned out to be a middle-aged, non-German-speaking slavic couple and the could comprehend neither the English nor German spoken by the cabin crew (I myself understood embarrasingly little of the latter). As a result they failed to provide great company and after the glue that bonded my face to the window was came unstuck by less-than-interesting views of hazy cloud I entertained myself with Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette in In Her Shoes until I decided that the combination of my MP3s and the moving map provided better entertainment.

Landed in Singapore with a bump and rapid reverse thrust that felt like they were trying to pull up in record distance. It then took ten minutes at least to taxi to the terminal and at least that again to clamber over suitcases and limbs out of the plane.

End of post

Before the Gates

2006-02-24T20:23:00.000+11:00

Airports can be both ugly and beautiful. A place of anxiety, excitement and sadness. Waiting to go to the airport I was quite jittery. I wanted to be at the airport, I wanted to be on the plane, I wanted to have everything I needed and not to have forgotten anything... I'm yet to be sure.

Being at the airport after checkin was much better. Having a coffee with friends and family was a fitting farewell, but there really is only so much of it you can do with so much anticipation at the forefront of your mind.

Through the gates of no return and everything was fine. Although I was sad about leaving loved ones behind, there was the excitement of what was to come and the relief that the journey had begun.

Through customs without a stamp in my passport I briefly wandered aimlessly through monopoly-priced duty free stores before sitting down and waiting for departure. I turned my MP3 player off for boarding immediately after Neil Finn's melodic voice faded, ending the appropriate anthem Better Be Home Soon by Crowded House.

Dorian Hill?

2006-02-11T13:25:00.000+11:00

Yes, it's a pseudonym based on my real name and the lead character from the quirky TV comedy Scrubs.

Pre-departure briefing

2006-02-11T12:39:00.000+11:00

Passport: Check
Ticket: Check
Documentation: Check
Luggage: well...

Moving overseas for a year ain't exactly an easy process and it certainly won't sort itself out! After 9 months of planning, emailing, applying, advising I do have a few things to show:

An exchange place at Albert-Ludwigs Universitat Freiburg
Accommodation during semester at the Evangelischer Studentenwohnheim, a Lutheran-run student residence/community of 110 people
A place in a month-long intensive language course and accommodation throughout
A plane ticket
A scholarship plus financial aid from Melbourne University plus the Baden-Wuerrtemberg Scholarship

And yet there are still so many things to organise and it's coming up so very quickly.

It's getting exciting and I'm really looking forward to a year of new adventures, places, people even language, thought and philosophy.