Hi Everyone
Since I last wrote (when I described my advetures in Amsterdam), I have been watching the World Cup and enjoying the summer weather in London.The latter has involved sightseeing within London on the weekends, andon work days spending lunchtime in the park.It has been so hot that the Tube (underground rail system) has beenrunning at reduced speed (to avoid derailing) and blaring frequentannouncements warning people to carry water bottles on trains.
In the absence of the beach (which I miss dearly), the parks are theplace to be in London. The parks are super lively, with peoplepicnicking, sunbathing and of course playing "football".But as the mercury hit record highs, the air conditioning in our workbuilding stopped working, resulting in a massive 7-floor sauna tryingto be a law firm. It wasn't fun. But having drinks in London alley-waybars provided good relief on numerous nights.It has been great watching the World Cup unfold in one of the world'sgreatest footballing nations. St George Crosses (white and red Englishflags) are draped in every second window and flying from the top ofmany many cars.As well as watching various England and other games, I have beenfollowing the Socceroos progress carefully. Took the afternoon offwork to watch Australia destroy Japan at a pub near work; but thendecided to take it a notch higher for the Brazil game and head toMunich, Germany.
It was a tour run by the Irish company that I did my Ireland tourwith. Early on a Friday morning we (myself and 20 other Aussies and Irish) departed London and headed to Dover for the Ferry across theEnglish Channel. Amazingly enough, on the Ferry I randomly bumped into Ben, an Aussie dude I met in San Diego, and flew to Las Vegas with, when I wasbackpacking the USA. It really is a small world!!!Upon landing in Calais, we drove all day until we reached Amsterdamfor a stopover. I had been to Amsterdam only a few weeks earlier, so Iwas delighted when our city accommodation suddenly didn't have spacefor us, and we ended up staying in cabins in a picturesque caravanpark ouside of Amsterdam, that lay beside a marina in the Dutchcountryside by the coast. We caught public transport into the city andhad a night on the Red Light District (as you do) and then attemptedto catch public transport back to the campsite. We managed to get asfar as the nearest town but the [last] bus didn't go any further. Weended up walking for over an hour in the pitch dark on a desertedcountry road to eventually find our caravan park - but what afantastic experience on a beautiful warm night in the fresh seasideair with a bunch of great Aussies!!The next morning we embarked on our long drive from Amsterdam toMunich. And long is no exaggeration. Holland is of course to the Northof Germany and Munich is in Bavaria in Southern Germany, and as I found out, Germany is a very large country! But a nice one!! I reallyenjoyed the forest covered hills and valleys and fast cars speedingpast on the autobahns.We found home in a camping site a couple of hours outside of Munich. It was run by Germans who couldn't speak English with the aid of anEnglish guy providing the tents and luxuries such as air mattresses.On the first night I lost my tour group so I mingled in the outsideseating of the campsite's restaurant/bar with some English footballfollowers and local German kids. That was fun, especially with the aid of the German beer that was flowing for €2/500ml (significantly cheaper and tastefully superior beer to what I have had to get used toin London). It was interesting attempting to order pizza and beer inGerman but I think I managed to get the point accross.Early the next day we headed to Munich! We started drinking early onthe bus and got into the spirit of things, hanging Aussie flags fromthe [clearly Irish due to the leprachauns on the side] bus anddrinking breakfast beers. German beers go down surprising well at 9amon a hot day!
We arrived at the Munich Olympiastadion where the official fan zonewas located. But before heading in, we decided to wander onto themetro and take a ride into the main part of town. Some of us exploredthis old part of beautiful Munich amongst a sea of yellow and greencrowds supporting Australia and Brazil. My favourite part of the daywas sitting in a huge traditional beer hall drinking fine beer fromhuge litre stines (€6.20 ea. - great value) while chanting Australiasongs [from classics "Waltzing Matilda" to "Stand up for theSocceroos..."] at the Brazilians, completely drowning out the German folk music band.After that we boarded a crowded metro back to Olympiastadion uponwhich we further exchanged some chants and competitive banter with theBrazilians on board. Then we headed into the official fan zone wherewe drank many more beers and had fun all dressed up in our Aussiegear. I had never felt so Australian and loved every moment of it!! The Brazilian fans had a great attitude and all of the interaction wasfun in great spirits - not the slightest bit of violence or even batattitude at all.As Australia came on we sang and we cheered to the, unfortunatelydisappointing, end. But that didn't totally dampen the mood as thepartying continued until we eventually boarded our bus back to thecampsite and fell asleep exhausted. The atmosphere that day was sofantastic that I can claim it had been one of the best days of mylife!The next day we drove from Bavaria to Paris, arriving in Paris late ona hot and humid afternoon. We went on a bus ride, checking out all thesites and almost crashing in the crazy, seemingly rule-less roundabout around the Arc de Triomphe. Some of us then made our way by footto Sacre-Cour where we climbed the steps and enjoyed the magnificentParis views during a beautiful pink Paris dusk. By the time we werefinished there I was in a group of only 4 people, and although we weredesperate for dinner by about 10pm, we instead decided to just grab anice cream and make the most of our short time in Paris by making ourway to the Eiffel Tower.We found a metro station and somehow managed to buy tickets and getthe metro to take us to the right stop for the Tower. And it was worthsurpassing dinner for!! As we approached the tower, the 11pm lightshow had just illuminated, and we gazed at the amazing structure as itsparkled and lit up the Paris skyline. We then went up the tower andmarvelled at the Paris views until the midnight light show and theneventually made our way down, some of the last people to leave. Wow,spending midnight of a perfect summer night on the Eiffel Tower! Whata week!!
The next day it was time to head back to London but Kylie, an Aussie girl from Bathurst, and I didn't let that stop us. We got up earlyand insisted on doing further sightseeing before being forced to leavethe magnificent city. We managed to check out Notre Dame and thenwandered the streets for a bit before resting for coffees at a streetside cafe and heading back for the bus and the long drive back toLondon.My favourite thing about being in France was using my very limitedFrench from school to speak to people, including the usual niceties (bonjour, bon soir, merci....) and ordering things like coffees andmetro tickets; with a huge sense of satisfaction when my mutteringswere understood!As we sailed back across the English channel I enjoyed sipping on some French wine, in an attempt to grab hold of the French experience forjust a few moments longer, but indeed the trip was soon over as Ifound myself back in South London, boarding the Tube for the long rideback to my North London "home".
Since coming back life has been just as busy. Watching Australia play"football" matches in pubs (being particularly horrified at whathappened with Italy just an hour or two ago in the 94th minute), goingout, shopping, and going to the Wireless Festival in Hyde Park, which I somehow managed to score some free tickets to. Saw acts including The Strokes, Ben Lee (about 80% Aussie audience for him) and James Blunt. Not the best acts, but there's something really cool aboutwatching bands play on a sunny day in the middle of Hyde Park, one ofthe greatest parks in one of the greatest cities in the world.Next weekend I'm hoping to make it to Belgium for a huge rockfestival, and the weekend after, a trip to an English beach atBournemouth with some Hungarian friends. Eventually I'm hoping to dosome sailing around the Croatian islands. I hope it all works out sowish me luck! I also hope all of you in the Southern Hemisphere [whatthey call "antipodeans" here] are surviving the winter as I enjoy the sun. I never thought I'd be saying that about London!
Missing you and wishing you were here to share the exprience......
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