Octoberfest

Friday - only one way to describe the Octoberfest - WOW, makes our Royal Show look like a country fair! We journeyed by foot, about 1Km from our hotel (taxi home though!) along with 799,998 other people, with 2 million people expected over the weekend! We went on a quite day.... One good thing it wasn.t a rip off, 6.50 Eu for a litre of beer, and the food was cheap as well. It.s difficult to describe the place and the fantastic atmophere, we met loads of other visitors at the beer halls, sang *ein prosit* countless times and even Brenda had a beer, albiet a sip! We managed to visit 6 out of the 9 halls, each hall could fit a Boeing 747 with room for a couple of cessna.s! - got some great photos.



The weather so far has been incredible, mid to high 20s, but high humidity, Berlin was 30 when we got there very few places has aircon, only heating, so some nights have been uncomfortable. We had one wet day so far, the day we drove Berlin - Nuremberg.


The moment of the Eagles Victory!

Saturday morning - up at 0400 to go to the Arc bar in Munich for the live coverage of the Eagles v Swans. The place was quite small, in a basement and probably fit 100 pepole comfotably, but I rekon there was twice that, and it was like being in an oven. It the first AFL GF watched in a hotel and not been able to get to the bar for a beer! The crowd was all aussies with about 60% backing the WCE, great atmosphere, great game!

We.re off to the famous Hoffbrause for dinner and then to Austria tomorrow. We have named our GPS map Erica, she has been fantastic getting us around. When we get to Wayne.s place, we can put some more photo.s on the page.

Berlin, Nuremberg & Muchen

Internet cafe's are few & far between in the old East Germany, so here is an update at the end of day 9

We departed the Hille's early Monday afternoon on the 25th after checking out the local brewery, some shopping and headed off to Berlin, via Wittenburg where we had lunch. Toured around Leipzig. We stayed in a charming little village called Coswig and stayed in a "Pension" a German B and B. We went down to the village restaurant where nobody could speak a word of english. We could only recognize Schnitzel on the menu. Brenda mistakenly ordered a combination schnitzel and was presented with a meal that would feed a small army!!!! Needless to say most of it went back and probably to the dogs.



Tues 26 Off to Berlin



Belin Wall, sore finger.....

We had a much better run on the autobahn, but at 160 / 170 kph, the economy tends to worsen a wee bit. The upside is you dont need wipers when it rains. We found Berlin to be quite drab, a lot of reconstruction is going on, the main tourist spots, Brandenberg gate, Reichstag and Holocaust memorial where very impressive. We stayed at the noisiest hotel in the old east Berlin right opposite what is the longest part left of the Berlin wall. The receptionist at the hotel Sophia, was an american and spoke perfect english, it was so nice to be understood again. I asked to borrow a hammer to chip at the wall, but was told it was VERBOTEN, but she got me the hammer anyway. After hitting my finger which is still quite sore and swollen, but I managed to get my souvenir. Managed to gate crash a Guinness promotion and it was free Guinness all night, but we only stayed for one. Breakfast suprise, surprise was cold meat, rolls and coffee.

Wed 27 Off to Nuremberg



This where Hitler held his Nuremburg Rallys, on rally had over 1 million attendees!, I am standing where Hitler once stood....

After a lousy night sleep in Berlin we left for Nuremberg only to find that every hotel, Zimmer and B and B within the town radius was booked due to a festival and trade fair. There was one room at the Ibis for 350 euro / normally 59 euro, we declined their offer. After driving around for about an hour we called into a dvd store and asked the nice young lady for some help and she managed to find us a room in Furth about 20 k out of town, a cancellation, so we were lucky.
Went on a tour around Nuremberg and it is one of the most historic and picturesque places so far. We could have stayed their longer, but ABC / another bloody church, another bloody castle!!Went to Folks garden where Hitler made his famous speeches at the Nuremberg rally, I stood in the exact spot where Hitler stood some 70 years ago. We arrived in Munich late afternoon and we are now going to find a restaurant for dinner and then off to the Octoberfest!!! Prost!! more tomorrow.

Schirgiswalde

Here we are standing outside Bruce's Great Grandmothers home (Frau Pauline Richter), Kieferbergstrasse 11, in Schirgiswalde. Siegfried (Bruce's father) stayed here with his parents for a short while before coming to Australia in 1925. The house now is over 150 year old! We couldn't find Sieg's home where he was born, it has probably been replaced with newer housing.


We picked up Eddie (Norberts father) in Seifhennersdorf and drove into the Zittau mountains for a cup of coffee in Oybin, but Bruce had a beer - so many pubs and so little time.....

Today we journey to Berlin, then Nuremberg and to Munich for the Octoberfest and the AFL GF at the Arc Hotel.

Dresden

Dresden - what a wonderful and intriging city!

Here we are at Augustus the Strong´s palace in front of his "nymphs fountain" in the centre of the city.

Unfortunately he could not be with us today as he died in 1733 aged 62. L-R, that's Angelika, Norbert, Bruce, Dorothea, Antonia & Matthias. Brenda took the photo!!!

We met a family from Adelaide, it gave us great pleasure to break the news to them, car´n EAGLES!



On the cruise on the Elbe, we passed these two churches, Anglican on the left, Catholic on he right, the Catholic church being a result of "you call THAT a church!"

Breakfast at Hilles

Note the jar of Vegemite!

Now off for a sail down the Elbe river from Dresden and some castles......

Chemnitz

G'day all,

Arrived in Chemnitz at 8:00pm local, driving down the autobahn - 160kKph - stop & wait - 170Kmh - stop & wait - 140Kph - stop, & wait, first two hours averaged 50Kms/hr, more bloody cars than ants (7hrs to travell 450Kms)!

Now having dinner with the Hille's, more tomorrow after our tour with Norbert & family.

Francfurt

10:00pm local - arrived OK after 15 hours bums on seats - NUMBUM!. Plane half full (747-300) so plenty of room. Hotel at AP very nice and every one speaks english, so far no language barriers. We pick up the car tomorrow morning and head off to Chemnitz to visit Norbert and family. Mum's tired, shower and bed, it is actually quite warm for this time of night, around 25C.

Next blog Chemnitz.......

Changi Airport

At the airport - early I might add - unheard of I know.......Its hot

Had dinner with Simon last night, Indonesian restaurant in Clarke Quay, bloody nice. Clarke Quay is 3 times the size it was when we were here for xmas, but beer at $34.oo / jug (30 oz) is outrageous!!!!

Took a bit of getting used to all the security and police at the hotel running around with sub machine guns and pistols due to the IMF/world bank conference. The security was tighter in our hotel than at the airport, trust us to pick a hotel where all the delegates were staying, they even screened the Burger King food.

Frankfurt here we come YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Singapore

Arrived safely, but buggered! - Jez we hate red eyes flights!

Catching up with Simon tonight for dinner. Next stop Frankfurt....

Here's the new Clarke Quay - the water temp in the foutain is 16c and the ET eyes behind us blow air down the lanes to cool!

One sleep to go

Anybody seen my camera???

On the Road

Itinerary:
Sep 20 Singapore (Simon & Tina)
Sep 21 Frankfurt
Sep 23 Chemnitz (Norberts)
Sep 28 Munich (Octoberfest & AFL GF at the Arc Hotel - carn' Eagles)
Oct 06 Mount Pilatus (Zurich Switzerland)
Oct 08 Paris (Moulin Rouge)
Oct 13 Plymouth (Brian & Mo's)
Oct 22 Edinburgh
Oct 23 Dublin (Guinness Brewery)
Oct 28 Cork (Jazz Festival)
Oct 29 Plymouth
Nov 04 London
Nov 08 Singapore
Nov 09 - Home Sweet Home!