Cologne - Germany

Boxing Day morning we were up early allowing plenty of time to get to the airport. The plan was to take a train to Clapham and then take the EasyBus to the airport. In true London transport style, the morning was bit of a nightmare! The trains on the line we needed weren’t running, so we had to go to Victoria (after severe delays) and take the Gatwick Express ($$$). Finally we made it to the airport and were on a plane, so happy to be leaving England!
On arrival in Germany we took another train to the Meninger Hostel in Cologne. Apart from everything being in German, it wasn’t too difficult to find our way. The hostel had nice dorms and a kitchen and bar downstairs. Its bit of a hotel too, with a buffet breakfast in the mornings (extra cost).The couple of days the city was dead, being a public holiday and then a Sunday, none of the shops were open, so we ended up having breakfast at the hostel.
Our first night we went for a bit of a walk around the streets near the hostel and found a restaurant called Paprika. Apart from cheap cocktails and a friendly waiter, we got our first experience of German food, huge serves, tasty and cheap! Damien had a big pork schnitzel with caramelized onions and pommes fritters, while Christine ordered a chicken breast fillet which was very tender, both came with a big salad.

Our first day in Cologne was Sunday and nearly everything was closed. After our big breakfast we went for a walk through the city (everything is walking distance). Sadly most of the Christmas markets finish a few days before Christmas which we were hoping might have been open for a day or two after Christmas. Were staying between the Uni district and the Rudolfplatz which has a tower that used to be a part of the city walls. We wandered past Neumarkt which had a Christmas market being packed up, we were laughed at when we started taking photos! There is also a giant cream cone sculpture on top of one of the buildings, very cool! From here there is a series of pedestrian streets and shopping areas all the way to the Dom Cathedral and main part of town. We wandered along these window shopping (the best kind of shopping) along the way. We did see some very cute Christmas windows in one of the department stores.
This lead us to the Dom, which is a massive gothic cathedral. As all the tourist guides suggest we walked right around it before entering, to admire the architecture and get a feel for the scale of the building. We briefly looked inside it also, but due to Sunday Mass, this was quite restricted.
After church we headed to a beer hall, ‘Fruh Am Dom’, quite close to the Dom. It was a very cool place, made up of many different rooms. Most of them were underground. From street level you walk through a normal looking bar before heading down a series of stairways and hallways to different rooms with different seating arrangements. We did about 2 laps befor finding an empty seat the place was huge but packed. The local beer is Kolsch, several different local brewerys make it. It getsnits name from Koln (Cologne), so any Kolsch must be made in Koln. What we weren’t expecting was the serving size. No massive beer steins here, just tall thin 200ml glasses. The waiters serve it to the table, so you don’t have to spend the whole night lining up at the bar! Apparently its traditional in Cologne to serve small beers, so that they are always cold and fresh.
Tonight we just hung out at the hostel, cooked some pasta and had beers with some Aussies!

Monday morning we got up a bit earlier, had our breakfast and headed to the HBF (main train station). We jumped on a train to Konigswinter, about 45 minutes away. This is a nice little German town that we spent the morning walking along a small street of shops, pubs and churches. The town is on the Rhine River which we wandered along for a bit before starting a walk up into the Siebengebirge (Seven Mountains). We actually only walked up one ‘mountain’, which had a few pubs and restaurants along the way (most of them closed) and a ‘fairytale like’ castle. At the top of the hill was the ruins of the Burgs Drachenfels, which is what is left of an old castle. There is also some myth or tale about a dragon in the area, although were not sure how the story goes, all the signs were in German.
On the way down we stopped in one of the open café’s for Kaffee and Apfel Strudel. Back in Konigswinter we went into a small pub, and as soon as we walked in everyone was just staring at us! Were not sure if this was because we were English speaking or they liked Damien’s big blue jacket! There were only about 15 people, probably all locals, sitting around the bar. We sat down and had a few Kolsch, before heading back to the train station.
Before we headed back to the hostel we found another pub (bierhall) called Schreckenskammer. We had heard somewhere that this one has particularly good food. After a few more little beers we had a traditional German feed, Christine tucked into a Pork Schnitzel and Damien had the Schenkenhamchen, which was a boiled pig hock served with mash potatoes and sauerkraut. The hock looked like a whole pig leg on a plate and the sauerkraut, while still not my favourite food, was much more edible than what I have tried in the past.

Tuesday morning we slept in as long as we could before checking out of the hostel and moving to a hotel for our last few nights in Cologne. We ate breakfast at a Crepe restaurant near the hotel and then went for a walk through the Lindenthal (park) and the Uni district. Christine was particularly excited by the pond which had frozen over, although she didn’t dare walk out on it… chicken!
After check-in to the Mercure, and having a siesta, we wandered down to the Huemarkt, which is a square in town which we had heard still had a Christmas market. This was true but not much of it was left, just the ice skating rink and a few food and drink stalls. We ate a late lunch, Bratwurst at the market and had a bit of a look around. We wandered through the old town which was nice, cobbled streets and old German buildings. We took a few photos of the Dom all lit up at night and then wandered home looking for somewhere for dinner.
We ended up eating at a Vietnamese as we were both hoping for something a bit healthy after all the brilliant meat and pommes frites. The food was good, served by a woman from Vietnam, who spoke both German and English, very impressive. In particular the beef noodles with fresh herbs were delicious!

Wednesday morning we found a bakery café near the hotel for breakfast. Christine had fun trying to order in German, but I think her pointing at the food was what helped out the poor woman serving her. We then walked across the Severinbrucke (bridge) and along the east side of the Rhine. This neighbourhood is called Deutz and had a couple of churches and a main shopping street. We were looking for a nice little bratwurst shop, but didn’t have any luck. We walked back across the Hohenzollernbrucke, which is the main bridge in Cologne. The bridge is covered in padlocks, bit of a tradition here that engaged couples come and put a pad lock on the bridge and throw away the key.
We spent the afternoon in the old town again and also did some tourist shopping. Christine bought some wooden carved decorations and Damien bought a Beer Stein!
Tonight there was a fog in town which again made the Dom look different, the top of it was not visible. We ate dinner at another beer hall, Malzmuhle. We had hoped to come to this place on new years but found out that it was going to be closed. Dinner was very nice and huge serves again. Schnitzel and chips, Christine had lamb in a syrup sauce. The waiter was very friendly and brought out a cup of the syrup when she asked what it was, apparently its made from Rubenkraut.

Thursday was New Years Eve and our last night in Cologne. As we have done a few times in Cologne, we slept in. After breakfast at the same bakery as yesterday, where they had some cinnamon doughnut type things with raisins in them. We had planned to go to the Chocolate Factory in town which Christine was excited about, but sadly this was closed for New Year. Instead we wandered through the town, took a few photos of things we not photographed. We were headed to the Rudolfplatz area which has bars and restaurants. We chose a nice bar called Hooters to have a few beers at. Although we were a bit early, and had to wait an hour before they opened! This is the 4th Hooters Bar we have been to this year, ahhh, good times. We will have to try and beat that next year!
On the way back we headed to the Vietnamese restaurant again, but it was closed. We ended up having Thai up the road. The waiter was again very friendly, and keen to find out about Australia as he was headed Down Under next year. After giving him a list of things to see and do he was very happy and gave us some Thai keyrings and free Cocktails. A few more beers at the hotel while we tidied up a bit and got ready to head out for the night.
We weren’t really sure what we were doing for New Year but headed down to the old town. We ended up in a beer hall, which was great. More like we had imagined a beer hall to be, crowded, people dancing and singing to German music, although still small beers!
At about 11.45 we headed down to the Rhine River, via the bottle shop, to watch the fireworks. As we stepped out of the beer hall it started snowing, was really amazing. The fireworks were crazy! Not like in Australia, where its done professionally. There were thousands of people along both sides of the river, and everyone brings there own fireworks to set off. They set them up in the gardens or just on the footpath. The scene was insane, smoke filled the air and fireworks being launched less than a meter from people. Some of them would fly off at angles hitting the buildings or others were going straight up but falling before they had finished exploding. There was no countdown to the New Year, which really didn’t matter, as I can’t count backwards in German anyway!
The rest of the night we wandered along the Rhine, the fireworks continued for a couple of hours. Damien had another Bratwurst and we got chatting to a German couple who were setting off ‘baby’ fireworks they bought at a toy shop, as she was scared of the real ones too! They told us the big ones are illegal in Germany too, but people can get them from Russia or Poland quite easily.

It was a crazy night, different to any other NYE we have experienced, we had a great night!

New Years Day – Happy 2010

After four hours sleep we were up, amazingly sober and no hangover! We had an early flight to catch. The train on the way to the airport was interesting, most people were heading home from new years parties, rather than heading out for the day. While we were a bit delayed getting tickets on the trains it was no major drama, we were at the airport in time.
We were back in London around midday and took about an hour on the bus to get home. We were then told our room had been booked for an extra night by accident, didn’t really matter they put us in a share room for the night, but annoyingly still charged us!
We went for a walk New Years Day in Hyde Park, rested and then headed to bed pretty early.

Merry Christmas!

Hi everyone, Merry Christmas, hope you have a great Christmas!

We are having lunch at the hostel, Christine is involved in the organization, as always! The owner of the hostel has bought a heap of food, 2 huge turkeys, pork, and all sorts of entrée. Then tomorrow, boxing day we fly out to Germany, Cologne for 6 nights including new years!

Aladdin

After a big weekend, Monday was pretty quiet, Christine is on School holidays so she cooked dinner for a few of us at home. Including Marie, a French girl who was supposed to have been on a train to Paris today, but due to the train shutting down, was trapped in London.

Tuesday was our best day in London yet! After work we met at Wimbledon, had dinner in a nice restaurant and then went to the theater, to see a pantomime, Aladdin, starring Pamela Anderson! The whole pantomime thing was a bit strange so many kids, so much audience participation. The first half was a bit slow, too much not so funny English humour, but once Princess Pammy arrived, playing the Genie, everything just seemed right!

Christmas Parties and Snow!

The weeks are speeding up now, both of us working a lot and starting to do a few things after work has really helped to pass our time here in London. This week has been a bit crazy over here with snow falling on and off for most of the week, although none of it has settled in London, it all melts away. They are predicting more which would be nice for Christmas, but makes the already dodgy public transport system even more unreliable.

Wednesday night we had an informal Christmas party at the hostel. This was put on by a couple of the girls, Marie the French girl mainly. She spent a lot of time cooking for us all which was awesome to come home to after working all day. We had a few bottles of wine, the girls dressed up and the guys did the token thing of putting a shirt on! Entrée was grilled stuffed mushrooms, followed by chicken fillets with garlic filling with veggies for mains. Then dessert was an amazing cake of some sort and Baileys Irish Coffees. Was a bit late for a school night, but everyone had a great time.

Thursday night was Damien’s works Christmas party, not sure why it was on a Thursday, but what ever! This was held in a pub near work, lots of pints to go around and a bit of finger food. The night was split into teams for a trivia challenge, I was even able to contribute to 1 or 2 questions! A lot of it was stupid English trivia. It was hard to leave, looking out the window seeing the snow being blown in horizontally, but I had to make a dash to the station before the last train.
By Friday the office was really starting to wind down, with many people taking the day off and more Christmas drinks, games and raffles in the afternoon. We finished up a bit early, for once, on Friday night. Heading back home we had a few drinks at the hostel before heading out to Tuk Tuk, a cheap Thai restaurant near home, the food was spicy but nice. Damien has started enjoying the Asian Soups, bit spicy, but a nice starter after being outside in the cold!
Saturday morning we were up early, as always, for our cooked breakfast. As generally happens we had plans to do things, but by the time we were ready to leave, it was too late to do what we wanted. Christine wanted to go to some Aztec Exhibition at the museum, but unlike most exhibitions in London its not free, so we figured we would go when we had more time. Instead we headed to the Tate Modern. When we arrived we found out that they do free guided tours, 4 a day, so we joined one of these. It was good to hear about the works, some of which were awesome, including one with a fully grown palm tree, how did they get it in the building!?!
We then headed down to SOHO and met up with a Melinda, a Spanish girl we have met since we have been in London. This was good, we were in a nice little pub for a while and then had dinner in an Italian restaurant. We ended up back in the pub, and then heading off to somewhere else to meet one of her friends, but this fall apart when we got to the place, a private Christmas party, that was charging 4pound for a beer!
Sunday we headed down to Brick Lane again. This time we had some money so Christine was able to buy the clothes that she liked. We also ate at the market stalls again, good Mauritian and Sri Lankan foods. After our Christmas shopping spree, we headed to the Borough markets to meet Julia. True to form, as soon as we met her she said, ‘its too cold, lets find a pub!’. No complaints there!
When we got home on Sunday night, our early night didn’t happen as we ended up sitting around the hotel lounge chatting and drinking beers and wine!

Party Week!

This week has been a bit busier as far as a social life is concerned. Mid week we did our own thing to some extent. Monday night Damien had to work late, but the good news for the most part the work is now done, so it will settle down a little bit (contracted until end of Jan). Tuesday night Christine and a couple of the girls we live with headed out for dinner and to a play in town. Wednesday we just chilled out at home and ate a Red Curry that Damien cooked, very spicy!
Thursday night Damien headed to the winter wonderland at Hyde Park. This is the same place we went to a week ago with Malcolm and Irma. There was about 15 of us there from work, we ice skated, played a Secret Santa game and then had a few drinks to finish the night off.

Saturday morning we were up at a reasonable time for our cooked breakfast and had the best intentions of heading out to a museum or gallery. We ended up spending most of the day on the internet, looking at deals for over the Christmas period. The good news is we got to a point where we decided to book some flights and accommodation in Cologne, Germany. We then spent what was left of the day at the Portabello Market, a short walk from where we are staying. Most of the market was like a trash and treasure market but we did have a very late lunch, Churizo sandwhich and Churros… mmm!
Saturday night the hostel was jumping, with a party being thrown for two of the girls leaving this week after the best part of 2 years in London. Turned out to be quite a late night.
Sunday was a very lazy day, exhausted after a long week and big night on Saturday. A big sleep in, a walk in Hyde Park and that was about it!

Back to the Grind!

The highlight of the week was Friday night, for Christine, as she went to the Christmas drinks for one of her teaching agencies. Starting at about four she was served up free drinks for most of the night, but didn’t have time to grab dinner! She had a great night apparently!
After a busy week at work including working on Saturday again, we took it pretty easy over the weekend. Saturday night we went for a walk down one of the streets in the area and found a little Thai place for dinner.

Sunday was a bit more adventurous, heading out for a spot of shopping, including starting to look for some ski gear. Seems like its just as cheap to buy it over here rather than to hire it all. We then headed to the borough market, except found that it was closed on Sundays. We continued along the Thames River to the London Eye, where there is another Christmas Market. We wandered along, ate burgers and drank hot mulled wine.
It was then back home for a few hours before heading to Gloucester road to meet Malcolm and Irma in the pub. They had just had a few days in Paris and were in town for the night before hiring a car and exploring England and Wales. We headed back to the casino for dinner and drinks, the food is good, by London standards, and cheap using the half price coupons.

Speed Flatmating and Sightseeing

After not having a whole lot on during our first few weeks in London, our diaries have filled up of recent. We have been half hearted in our search for a new home. Where we are at the moment is in a great location and not too bad. Tuesday night after work we met up out at clapham, not really where we want to live but we thought we would have a look. There was an organised Speed Flatmating night at a local pub. Sounds a bit sleazy hey, but wasn't too bad. Everyone has a sticker with their name on it and its got a different colour based on if you are looking for a room or a housemate. A few of the places sounded ok, but we haven't followed any of them up.
Christine had Friday off work as Brendan and Sarah were coming to town to meet their father, Malcolm and Irma. The 5 of them spent the day catching up and doing a bit of sightseeing, looking at Hyde park, Buckingham palace and a bit of shopping. Damien met them in a pub after work and we all headed out for dinner at an asian restaurant near their accommodation.
After breakfast on Saturday, Brendan and Sarah had to leave, they had rugby tickets in Cardiff. The four of us walked through Hyde Park including the winter wonderland, which is an imitation German Christmas market. Bratwurst and mulled wine for lunch, but not too much exciting apart from that. The Ice rink is surprisingly small and a few other carnival type rides.
We spent the evening in a nice little sports bar attached to the Holiday Inn, watching the Australia v Wales rugby union game. All morning Sarah had been so confident, but Australia wiped the floor with them, 33-12, or something like that.
Sunday we had the best intentions, again, of being tourists. We met Malcolm and Irma at Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. Typical, soft, poms, they cancelled it due to the weather (light rain). We then spent the morning walking through St James park and along the Thames, feeding the birds and squirrels as we went.
Thinking it would be drier, we spent the afternoon in the Tower of London. Bit of a waste of time, but I guess its one of those things you have to do! Nearly $40 Aud each, we got in there and found out a few of the outdoor activities were cancelled, you guessed it, rain. We saw some jewels and had about a 30 min tour of the tower which was interesting. The four of us then headed back to their hotel and out to a nearby chinese restaurant, which was better than the one from Friday.
Monday we were supposed to be catching up with Julia again but she had a cold so we skipped that. Tuesday night we had greek for dinner in Bayswater with Malcolm and Irma and then Wednesday they took us to a local casino for dinner, drinks and a flutter. They were then heading off to Paris for a few nights but we should get to see them again on Sunday night.

One Year on!

This week has been pretty dull really. Were both working hard, getting home late, after a slow and dirty tube ride, feeling pretty tired, having a few drinks in the common room and getting ready to do the same all over again. Live for the weekend, well almost, Damo had to work Saturday. Well he was asked to work and said he would, getting paid a daily rate so every little bit helps.

Saturday Christine met up with Julia and headed to the markets under London bridge. Lots of good food apparently. We all met up at about 5pm, in the cold, wet and dark. We headed to the closest pub we could find where the girls warmed up with hot mulled wines, and Damien had a few pints of Guinness.

Sunday was our first wedding anniversary! Guess what, it rained in London and Melbourne, just like one year ago! Our plan of heading to Hyde park was cancelled, instead we went down Oxford St for a bit of shopping. After getting a few basics and nothing exciting, we were driven out by the hordes of people!

We had a lovely dinner at a modern Thai restaurant called Mango Tree. Christine looked smashing and Damien wore his work clothes! This started with cocktails at the bar and then after being seated and staring at the menu for 10 minutes we ordered the same as always, Pad Thai and Green Chicken Curry! A few wines and then a dessert which was pretty average.

Is there a better way to end a nice night than to have to walk in the freezing cold rain back to the station before jumping on a dirty over crowded train?

London working couple!

Hi Guys!
Been a big week over here, both of us have been working which is great! Christine is still getting 4-5 days a week supply teaching, and has been all over London working in different schools.
Damien started work on Tuesday. Monday morning he signed up with an admin temping agency to get a days work here and there. This was kind of painful, taking a good 2-3 hours. Then at about 2.30pm, he got a call from one of the accounting agencies seeing if he was interested in a 3-4 week contract. Everything was finalised by about 7pm, starting 9am the next morning. Its located near London Tower in central London, helping out with reconciliations of accounts including an 18 month review of the bank accounts. Not all that different to some of the work at Accru.
Other than that we spent Saturday in London, there was a parade for the Lord Mayor and free guided walks. There was supposed to be fireworks at 5pm (yes its dark a bit after 4pm here), but these were cancelled due to the weather, suprise suprise!

London – The first week and a bit!

Anybody hear any London news lately? Big story this week, a man stood on a bridge for 4 hours before finally jumping, into the river below. Sure, it’s cold, grey, wet and unfriendly here, but it’s not really that bad!

Were staying in Bayswater, in a medium term hostel. It’s a great location minutes from two tube stops and short walk to Hyde Park. Looks like we will be here a bit longer than the 2 weeks we originally thought, but it’s not a bad place, full of aussies and kiwi’s who are all pretty friendly.
Christine’s agencies have been great, finding her 2 days work in the first week and a full week in two schools this week. Damien has spent most of the week online looking for work, as well as running around London for meetings with accounting recruitment agencies. They are quite mixed in their views, some say it won’t be to long before something comes up, others a bit more skeptical. Fingers crossed, here’s hoping sooner rather than later!

Other than that we haven’t done a great deal, we spent our first weekend visiting Shepherds Bush, to see the big shopping centre and watch Australia beat England in the rugby union , in a pub. We also headed down to the markets at Brick Lane to meet Kieren and Elise (Damien’s cousin), for lunch, since they were in town for the week. They have been living and working in Denmark, so it was great to see them before they head home for Christmas.

London

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the big gap in Blogs, we have been going a hundred mile an hour, which has been fun, but we have also had a lack of internet. I will be going back and filling in the gaps in the next few weeks so stay tuned.

As for our current situation we have arrived in London, we are in a medium term hostel at the minute, its not too bad, bit crowded in the kitchen at night, but the rest of the time it is fine. Big bonous is the cooked breakfast each morning, although once we start work we will miss this, unless I can find a job that lets me start work at 10am!

Cheers

Damien

Dublin

Our third stop in Dublin was to be our last and that is so disappointing as we love it here and it means we have to leave Ireland, after having so much fun! This time we stayed at Kinlay House backpackers, as that is where we were dropped after the tour and a few of the other people were going to be staying there. The night we arrived the hostel had some Irish dance lessons in the lounge room which we joined in. This was great fun but a decent work out or us unfit travelers. After our dance lesson we met up with a few people from the tour and a couple of other people from the hostel and headed to a pub in the Temple Bar district. More Guinness, dancing and good times!

Monday was our last full day in Ireland, so we made the most of it, just walking the city and doing a few of the things in Dublin we hadn’t seen yet. We started with a bit of shopping and going to the “Temple Bar”, a famous old pub. We wandered through the gardens at the Trinity College and saw the Molly Malone statue (also known as the ‘tart with the cart’). We ate lunch in a pancake restaurant which was nice and then headed to the Kilmainham Goal for the tour which was really good, lots of history and stories of prisoners.

After a short nap, we headed away from the touristy areas of Dublin in search of a little local pub. We didn’t really find it, but we did find a pub, had a hearty stew, Guinness and a bit of a chat to some other people, most of whom were from out of town. Strangely we met an English guy, in Ireland, whose parents live near the Wheelers Hill Pub in Melbourne, small world!
Tuesday morning we were supposed to be meeting up with Alana from our Halloween tour, but at the last minute she bailed. Her uni residence was on lock down because of a swine outbreak, how rude! She is studying in Dublin and was going to take us to one of the art galleries in town. Instead we went for a walk along the River Liffey. We did end up having a look at the gallery also but the exhibition wasn’t that great. Then it was back to the hostel to collect our bags and head out to the airport. In true Irish style, we were sitting on the public bus to the airport and met a couple of really nice locals. We chatted to them for most of the way to the airport, before they got off at their stop.
That has really made this place, the people, and the Guinness! Everyone we have met has been so friendly and willing to help out. We have loved it here in Ireland and are kind of wishing we could stop here to look for work, rather than head back to London.