Alright folks, it's blog time again! Basically, I'm just too lazy to email everyone so here you go!
Fair warning: I dont go back and proof read anything so it's just in the order that it pops into my head.
I'm in Europe! Cold, cold Europe! Seriously, it's freezing.
Lennox (who may be referred to as Lenny, Lj or idiot from here on out) and I started our adventure on Monday from Brisbane. Our plane was delayed by over 3 hours as soon as we got to the airport so we did what anyone would have done, we headed to the bar. Why not grab an overpriced Aussie beer before going to the land of beer? Besides, 10am in Brisbane is nighttime in Germany so we were just trying to get used to the timezones.
After falling asleep in the airport and only being woken by "the final boarding call" we got on an 8 hour plane to China. We didn't sit together, so when the only communication we had was Lenny passing me his boarding pass with a drawing of stick figures labelled 'you smell' and 'people fleeing', we got funny looks from the people sitting beside us. It was even better when the Chinese customs guys asked to see my boarding pass though.
Oh Chinese immigration, we're sorry. They use thermal imaging to take everyones temperatures as you arrive in China. They had a little video on the plane about not letting sick/diseased people enter... Lennox is quite sick at this stage. Anyway, you walk through the arrivals hall toward customs and a loudspeaker announces that they are about to take your temperature. Everyone just keeps walking and nothing happens, until Lenny and I walk through. Suddenly there is a loud beeping alarm and we turn to see if any officials are going to take us aside. Guess we really are just that hot. No one was close so we just walked briskly and got lost in another crowd.
The Guangzhou airport is not the nicest I've been to. There is one coffee shop where we had a couple of ridiculously priced hot chocolates and I failed to eat noodle soup with chopsticks. People stared. I'm not normally that bad, I swear! But that is all there is to inside so we lay down and had a nap. Luckily we were only there for 3 hours, we have 16 to look forward to on the way home.
We then jumped on the plane to Amsterdam, this one had tv's and tasty food but I couldn't help sleeping through most of it. I knew I was going to freeze when we had to walk to the plane and it was 16 degrees in China. We then got out in Amsterdam and I decided that Europe in Winter was a ridiculous idea as it was 4 degrees. Lennox was still in a t-shirt at this stage. The sun didn't rise until we were well on our way to Frankfurt, at 8:30am. So it looks like I'll just be sleeping for 16 hours a day if even the sun wont come out.
We were only in Frankfurt for a day but that was definitely enough. On the train from the airport, we gave a stranger some money so we could be part of his group ticket and he asked us why we weren't leaving that day. Yep, even the locals don't see why you'd stay so long. But a day was perfect for buying a coat, some gloves and eating a few bratwursts. As soon as I'm not feeling uncomfortably full, it would be time to try the next bakery. So much deliciousness and so little time. My bag is already 5kg heavier, and I'm sure I will be too by the end of the week. Plus we spent a lot of time walking past reflective surfaces admiring how damn good we look in Winter clothes.
The next day, Lennox went to Hamburg and I headed to Nuremberg to meet Zoe. Lenny pointed me in the direction of my platform but I managed to find the right carriage and seat by myself. Here I had my first solo German interaction (as Lennox is fluent, I let him do most of the talking). I could understand 'ticket' and 'mastercard' so I handed them over to the lady without using any English and I'm sure it would have been believable had my ticket not been under the German equivalent of "Mr". So close!
I managed to get off the train in the right town and then catch one to the right suburb where I was meeting Zoe. Zoe works at the Hilton in Brisbane so she gets to stay at any around the world for cheap rates. I wore my nice jeans and t-shirt to be as clean and fancy as possible but nothing looks quite as out of place as walking into the Hilton with a backpack. But oh did we get our money's worth out of the buffet breakfast. One things the Germans and I get along very well with is breakfast. Salami and ham bread rolls, oh I could definitely get used to this.
Zoe and I walked around the cute little town, admiring the adorable bridges and old buildings and generally just trying not to freeze. We spent a few hours at the Nuremberg museum, which was also the house of 3 very well off families at different times, learning a little bit about its history and the beautiful rooms. By early evening we were both sick and the cold convinced us to go to bed at the hotel and watch girly movies.
I'm back with Lenny now in Prague. Once again, I managed to get to a new town all by myself! Zoe and I left each other at the main train station, I figured out that there are two things I can order in German so I went to the store and bought a salami baguette (and yes, in German it's just pronounced as 'salami baguette') and a butter pretzel for the 4 hour bus.
The trip was beautiful. There were open fields covered in snow, amazing pine trees and adorable traditional German villages. But mainly I passed the time by planning my wedding to the gorgeous Ashton Kutcher lookalike sitting next to me. There is a weird phenomenon in Germany that we've noticed; the women are really attractive and yet there are very few good looking men. I must have blushed when the bus attendant man asked me what sort of ticket my sleeping friend had because when I told him we weren't together he gave a childish "oh ok, your acquaintance then..." and smiled playfully at me. He will be invited to our wedding because he got me to wake my neighbour with a gentle nudge. He may not actually speak English, we sat in silence for the 4 hours...
Lennox was waiting for me at the bus stop with a block of Milka chocolate and we managed to get to the hostel where he stayed a couple of years ago by memory. And it snowed lightly as we walked! Snow makes the cold bearable, I sat on the bus with the biggest smile as soon as it started snowing, I was that kid.
We planned on going out for dinner and ridiculously cheap beer last night. We had to wait until 7pm until the pubs opened so we just sat down in bed to wait and we woke up hours later sleeping head to toe. I guess we were a little more tired and still sicker than we thought. Might have to stay here a little longer anyway, they have lots of bridges (my favourite thing) and it's cheap (also a favourite).
Talk soon,
Popsicle Pete.
