Fun in Prague

For those of you short on time/attention, here is the concise version, by Toby:

Got in earlish Friday and could not sit next to each other on the plane. Got to the hotel and a nice room with a big pole in the middle and no view due to the kitchen. Then found the super market and ate opposite the church. Went back to the hotel and snoozed. Went out that night and walked along the river, found the market square and ate in the restaurant having nice beer, food and I had boar. Saturday lots of walking we went to the amazing church, saw the strange statues, ate our yucky sandwich at the river, went to the Communist museum. Went to the pizza place opposite our hotel got smoked out in the clubs. Sunday back to the markets bought some presents, ate that big fried dough thing, saw the pigs on a spit, chess boards and had a nice walk around. Felt a bit done and went home :)

And for others who like long-winded descriptions and aimless musings, here is the extended version, by Dot:

I have wanted to go to Prague for a long time, ever since my friend Lara sent me an email during her gap year (a good 8 years ago now) saying what a wonderful city it was. So when we were planning a year in the UK, Prague was always at the top of the list of places to visit. I’m glad we finally did, even though in some respects it was a slightly disappointing trip.

We took the day off from work and were looking forward to a sleep-in before our flight, because sometime between booking the trip and checking the flight confirmation on Thursday, I had convinced myself we had a lunchtime flight. In actual fact we’d booked ourselves on a 9.30 am flight. No matter. Check-in at the airport went well although as we were a bit late, we were put on seats across the aisle from each other. Luckily it was a very smooth flight and I didn’t need to hold Toby’s hand once. However, it was a boisterous flight – Prague is firmly on the stag weekend circuit in the UK and we had lots of upbeat people on the plane (some of whom were already drinking at the airport, yuck). I was lucky enough to be seated next to a couple who seemed to be on their first dirty weekend together – first they giggled for about an hour, then they snogged for a good ten minutes before falling asleep. Toby got a chronic cougher/sniffler next to him. I think we were glad to get off the plane.

At the airport we got some money out (Toby had been told by ‘everyone’ that the Czech Republic only uses euros, just for the record, this is totally not true) and then found the desk to buy tickets for the bus. The man was very helpful and told us how to validate them. Sometimes public transport tickets can be tricky to work out, hence why we sometimes just don’t bother. I’d done a bit of research on how to get to the city from the airport so it was easy enough for us to get a bus into the city to connect to the metro for our hotel. The suburbs of Prague reminded me a lot of Berlin, I guess it’s that Communist love of grey square buildings coming through. Luckily when we got off at the metro stop for our hotel we came out (after going up an escalator I thought was unusually long – Toby thought I was being dramatic – but I read later that it’s one of the longest in Europe – more than 2 minutes from top to bottom) into a beautiful square (Namesti Miru), with a massive church in the middle and gorgeous buildings all around us. It was a lovely way to start our trip. I should mention here also that the sun was shining and although it wasn’t exactly warm (we needed our jackets) it was much more pleasant than Edinburgh's neverending wind.

The loooooong escalator. Hello vertigo.

Our hotel was less than 5 minutes walk from the metro (even though it took us a bit longer to find it of course), in a nice residential district called Vinohrady. There were lovely buildings and we could see plenty of restaurants and bars, which pleased us. We were able to check in and then because we were starving, we decided to go to the small shopping complex over the road to find food. There was a swanky looking wine bar/café in the middle of the complex but the menus looked complicated (there was a lot less English in Prague than we expected) so instead we went downstairs and luckily found a supermarket. We stocked up on bread rolls, cheese, ham, fruit and water and took it all back to the park at Namesti Miru. We had a very leisurely, relaxed lunch sitting in the sun watching the people and the pigeons and generally enjoying being outside eating good food, something we hadn’t done for ages. We tried to remember the last time we’d eaten a meal outside. I think it may have been breakfast in Amsterdam, back in September. Gotta love the Scottish weather.

After lunch we went back to the hotel for what was supposed to be a short rest/freshening up but turned into a three hour nap. I guess we were tired. Seemed a waste of a fine afternoon in such a lovely city, but the big bed was just too good to pass up. Around 7 pm we ventured out and took the tram to a stop closer to the river. I’d read that the Charles Bridge was worth a visit at night – less crowded and great views of Prague Castle. So we walked up the river quite a way, but it really wasn’t necessary to go all the way to the particular bridge – you could see the castle from the whole bank anyway. We did go about halfway over the bridge, which is one of the oldest in Europe and has been decorated with some fantastic sculptures over the years. And the castle did look amazing all lit up like that. After admiring the view we headed into the Old Town, in search of dinner. Old Town Square looked great at night as well, if a little ghost town-esque with all the Easter market stalls closed up in the middle. We wandered some of the streets, doing some window shopping and thinking about where to eat and finally found a little place in a courtyard just off the main square. It served Czech food, it had some words in English (but not a menu in eight different languages like some of the giant hotel restaurants we’d passed), it had a couple of empty tables and best of all – a no smoking sign in the window. Brilliant. When we went in, the first thing we noticed was all the dead animal heads on the walls, and the gun above the bar. ‘This is a lovely room of death,’ as Ace Ventura would say. Never mind. Food is food, and nobody in there looked like the sort to actually use a gun on tourists. (Unlike the pathological villains in Hostel 2, which we had (stupidly) watched the weekend before.)

We ordered goulash with dumplings (for me) and a boar kebab with fries (for Toby) and two ‘large’ Czech beers. By ‘large’, they meant ‘bucket’, but the (cute) waiter conveniently forgot to mention this to us. He probably thought it was hilarious that two pale, not-giant people were ordering that size. It’s all part of the fun of travelling, and luckily it was pretty good beer. They also brought us a basket with enough bread for four people, which seemed odd at first but since the food took quite a while to arrive, it went down pretty well. Toby’s boar kebab was actually only one (not two like the menu showed), but he told me it was good (not really enough to share). I loved my goulash which had a nice peppery kick even though the ‘dumplings’ appeared to be more like circular slices of warm, moist bread (I have since discovered that these are what the Czech call dumplings - so I wasn't cheated). It sounds gross, and they weren’t what I was expecting, but they soaked up the goulash well and it was all tasty. I didn’t manage to finish my beer – the waiter pointed to what I had left and told me that was a ‘small’. Oh well. I tried. After that we got the metro back to the hotel and collapsed.

Toby and his bucket of beer.

In the morning we ate breakfast in the hotel, which was a nice change from the usual stale bread and yoghurt we eat while travelling. There wasn’t a huge selection but that’s okay – I kept thinking of the massive buffet room in our hotel in Kuala Lumpur but really, who needs to be faced with that much food in the morning? They had a room set up in the courtyard of the hotel, no windows (luckily, otherwise our room window would look straight into the dining room) but the whole roof was a skylight which made it lovely. I decided I want all my breakfasts in a skylight room from now on. The funny thing that happened was when an American guy came in and obviously knew the two girls sitting behind us. At first I assumed they were friends, later on I realised they had probably just met in the hotel breakfast room previously. The girls were sitting at a table for two – no room for anyone else, clearly. The guy asked if he could sit with them, and they said yes, and then the three of them sort of just stared at the tiny table, the lack of a third chair, and finally the guy said, ‘Actually I will just sit here,’ and took a seat behind them. He continued to talk to them even though they weren’t really that interested and finally they said ‘Okay well we’re finished, bye,’ and left. Funny Americans, trying to be friends with the whole world. At least he owns a passport I suppose.

After breakfast, we picked up some pre-made sandwiches and water from the supermarket and then headed off for the day. First on the list was St Nicholas’s Cathedral, which I’d seen voted as Prague’s number 1 attraction on a random website. On our way we came across a crazy tourist street full of things tourists love (like McDonald’s, and jewellery shops) and also the Kafka museum, which we really only noticed because of the sculpture out the front of two men peeing into a pond. It really was eye-catching and if we’d had more time and/or money we probably would have gone to the museum as well.

I suspect only naked Eastern European women would have done a better job of convincing people to go into this courtyard.

St Nicholas’s certainly didn’t disappoint; you bought your ticket in a little alcove and there was a swinging door so you couldn’t see inside, no knowing what you were actually paying for. But once through the door, it really did take your breath away. The first overwhelming sense I had was of gold and pink. There was a lot of pink marble and a LOT of gold. It really was an incredible church. We spent some time sitting in the (very wooden, very uncomfortable) pews just looking up. Even Toby, who is not keen on intruding upon others’ places of worship, thought this was a brilliant way to start our time in Prague.

The alter in St Nicholas's.

After the church we decided to take advantage of the fine weather and find somewhere to eat our sandwiches. We ended up in a park by the river eating the most disgusting sandwiches ever. I have a love-hate relationship with sandwiches; when I was small I made my parents’ life difficult by complaining about what they were putting in my lunch box every day, and that is how I came to be making my own lunch when I was seven (or so). I have never been keen on sandwiches which have been made by someone else, several hours earlier, without my presence, with ingredients I can’t identify. I am getting better now – I can make reasonably edible sandwiches myself, even hours in advance, and I can eat most pre-packaged ones which is lucky as they are everywhere here. However, these Prague ones were an insult to the humble sandwich. The word ‘Waldorf’ in the title should have clued me in, but how was I to be prepared for a filling that comprised stringy chicken, sour cream, and DICED APPLE? Many of you will know my (recently relaxed but still in place) policy against meat and fruit together. This sandwich confirmed the reasoning behind the policy. It’s just not on.

Toby struggles through his Waldorf sandwich.

With stomachs churning we crossed the Charles Bridge and walked across with all the other tourists; it was very different, full of people and stalls selling caricatures, photos and jewellery. We were glad we’d seen it the night before, empty and kind of creepy, since it takes on a real tackiness during the day. We ended up in Wenceslas Square where we bought ourselves some delicious sweet things. Very hard to describe but basically they make a dough, wrap it around a pole, cook it over a fire, pull it off the pole, then roll it in a cinnamon sugar mixture. What you end up with is like a thin donut that’s crunchy on the outside. Mmm, delicious. How the Czechs aren’t gigantic balls of lard rolling around those quaint cobbled streets I will never know.

Enjoying our nutritious snack. You can actually see a picture of it on the stall behind me.

From the square we found the Communist Museum. It had also been voted as a top attraction, and being that neither of us can claim to know much about Czech or Communist history we figured it would be a decent place to spend some time. The museum was on a floor in a casino building and was rather brief, but the funny posters alone were worth the effort. The interrogation room was also rather scary. I’m not sure I learnt much more about Communism (except how much the museum curators abhor it) but it was an interesting hour or so.

One of the posters tempting you into the museum.

After the museum, we decided to be lazy and get the train back to our hotel, which apparently was within walking distance. We rested up and then got dressed and went out again to try and find a restaurant mentioned in our guide, Bumerang. We have never been to an Australian themed bar anywhere on our travels and (for some reason) Toby decided we should. Unfortunately something went amiss in the address vs map war and we couldn’t find it. By this time we were hungry and it seemed silly to try and find somewhere to have a drink when it was really time for dinner, so we went back to the street where our hotel was and got a table at a pizza restaurant over the road which had been mentioned in the guide. It didn’t have a no smoking sign but luckily no one in there was smoking anyway. We ordered drinks – smaller ones this time – and pizza for Toby and gnocchi for me, both of which were plentiful and tasty. And cheap! Less than £10 for the both of us. Bargain.

After dinner we wanted a night cap and decided to try a few places in the immediate vicinity; one turned us off by making it sound more like a brothel, so we went to a tiny little one further down the street. We got Bailey’s and I’m pretty sure we were laughed at due to our odd habit of paying for drinks at the bar, but who cares? Unfortunately it was very smoky so we just drank and left, then we tried another place but the same thing happened. So it was an earlier night than we were prepared for, but a good end to our day.

The next day we had our nice hotel breakfast again and then back to the room to pack up before checking out. We weren’t sure what time we had to leave but figured if breakfast was until 10am then check out would be later. Yes? No. At four minutes past ten the phone rang and it was the snarly receptionist girl saying ‘Yes we ask you to check out now please.’ Um, okay. When we got to the front desk and apologised for our tardiness she acted like it was fine and she didn’t know what we were talking about. Strange. We decided to go and see Prague Castle in the morning, so we got the train to the tram stop and then tried to buy a new ticket. Which didn’t work, because the ticket machines didn’t take notes (even though their currency is all gigantic and you only really used notes) and the people didn’t sell the tickets we wanted. A rather strange system, so we decided to just risk it with the old tickets we had. We got on the tram with about 100000 other people and I wanted to get off at the stop mentioned in the guide book, where you started at the Strahov Monastery and then walked down to the castle complex through a beautiful residential district. I was watching all the signs but then everyone else on the tram got off too early, and I was a sheep and followed them. We got into the castle area but I was annoyed that we’d missed the monastery and nice walk, so we decided to get back on the tram and go further up the hill. It was the first time we’d been on a tram going uphill and it wasn’t pleasant. I don’t think trams like hills. The monastery was lovely, all white walls and beautiful courtyards. And the views were spectacular.

Inside the Strahov Monastery (complete with priest!) I couldn't help thinking that maybe I would be holier if I had somewhere like this to stride through on my way to things...

...and a view like this to wake up to.

We walked down the hill towards the castle but unfortunately missed the entrance and so we had to walk up these steps instead.

Yeah, ouch. The castle complex had a lot of buildings in it but by this point we’d had enough of paying for entrance fees and decided to just appreciate everything from the outside instead.

For lunch we went across the river (yes, the Charles Bridge again) to the markets in Old Town Square, determined to get some fattening fast food. We decided to forgo sausages in a roll (had lots of that in Berlin) and went for the pizza type things we’d seen other people eat. Essentially it’s fried dough, and you can have it with cheese and/or garlic and/or ketchup. I had cheese and garlic, Toby decided to go the whole hog. It was an interesting, greasy experience. I only ate the outside of mine, the middle was kind of cold due to the cold cheese. We also got another one of those donut things, because they were that good.

Toby enjoys his fried dough.

And here is when things start feeling…done. Toby had been fighting a cold all day (he blames the sudden flaring up on the cigarette smoke ingested the night before), so energy levels were not at their best. After time at the castle and surrounding streets, Charles Bridge and Old Town Square, Prague was starting to feel…crowded. Really, really crowded. We sat down on a wall by the clock tower and were soon approached by a lady with missing teeth asking for money. We said no and continued our conversation but she took a while to leave us alone. Things started looking dirty, and poor, and generally icky. We were tired, and out of money, and wanted to be far away from all those people. So we did what you would never think was possible, before you have travelled and you are still in that naïve phase where you think it’s impossible to actually get bored when you are somewhere like Prague: we went to the airport. Way too early.

The flight home was also full of chatty, loud buck’s night groups and it was delayed (which made our early arrival seem even sillier) but we got home in the end, slightly disappointed by our final hours. So for people who want to go to Prague: go during the week, and NOT when the Easter markets/any other festival is on. And make the effort to get away from the crowds. The best times we had were when we were in places that hadn’t been overrun by other people.

Since then things have been fairly quiet on the Edinburgh front. I went out for a Mexican dinner for my friend Carole’s birthday, and on Saturday we went to a fondue party for one of Toby’s workmates. I managed to catch the cold Toby had in Prague so have spent the last week nursing a sore head and wishing they sold butter menthols here. We have discovered the farmer’s markets and enjoyed our first fresh fish in months (yay). We are starting to think more about our Europe ride and also looking forward to visits from parents, starting with mine who arrive on Easter Monday. We won’t be doing much for Easter, but there is a possible trip to the zoo planned and of course I plan to indulge my chocoholism with relish. Toby doesn’t eat chocolate anymore, so I might boil him an egg for the occasion.

An Update of Sorts

It has been a fairly quiet few weeks since our Berlin adventure, hence the complete lack of blog updates. I am still working for the NES, it looks like I could be kept on until April which would suit my timetable perfectly. The work has been a bit hit and miss, but the people are mostly pleasant to be around and it's certainly much more preferable to unemployment. Toby is still at Scottish Gas, he has made some good mates there and continues to win almost every single event of physical ability they have, from arm wrestling at morning tea to laser tag on Saturday afternoons. He is getting slightly anxious that people will stop inviting him to participate but pride dictates that he won't lessen his efforts to let anyone else win. Perhaps this is an Australian male thing, the men here are not quite what we're used to at home. For example, they all drive Barinas and aren't even ashamed of it.

We’ve had a couple of long bike rides, one out to North Berwick and the other to Perth, both about an hour away. After spending the weekdays looking at computer screens and grey buildings, it is always refreshing to get out of the city and see some open space. It's like when you have spent the weekend drinking and eating hangover food, and then by Monday your body is craving a big green salad and lots of water. I think your eyes crave greenery and big sky in the same way, it is so invigorating to get out on the bike and drink it all in.

A wild day on the Scottish coastline.

North Berwick from the headland (which was also a golf course, naturally).

Looking down the Tyne from the railway bridge in Perth.

Looking over the river to the centre of Perth. It's a very lovely town from far away. Up close it is full of Scottish versions of Kath & Kim.

Scone Palace from the carpark...it cost 4 quid just to go through the gate so we took a sneaky photo and left. Fab building though.

I went to two ceilidh (pronounced ‘kayley’) dances with my friend Carole earlier in the year. The first was at a big venue in the city on Burns Night, following a traditional Burns Night supper at a nearby pub. There were lots of people there, most around our age and most with no idea of what they were doing. It was a fun, exhausting night. Although I’d never even seen ceilidh dancing, it turned out to be a lot of the same dances we do in Australia at bush dances. Same idea. The next weekend there was a smaller event on in a school hall, raising money for an environmental group. Carole’s friend Nadia had some work colleagues involved in organising it so we ordered some tickets and after eating dinner with another friend and Nadia’s family at their home (first time I had spoken to any kind of parents in months), off we went. The music at the second dance was much better – they had a drum kit so it sounded more like the Corrs, and the beat made it easier to dance to. It was full of skinny, hairy vegan types – even the wine was organic. There was a really nice atmosphere and it was an all-round more enjoyable night. I’m quite the expert now and looking forward to more.

My Burns Night supper...haggis, neeps and tatties. Chewing unnecessary.

Toby has finally bought himself an Aibo, which he fell in love with when we were in Japan a few years ago. He has always regretted not buying one so when a guy at his work was disappointed with the one he just purchased, it was Toby’s chance. So now we have a robotic dog that sometimes acts very intelligent and dog-like, and sometimes doesn’t make any sense at all. It’s the perfect gadget for Toby, combining his love of dogs, computers, artificial intelligence and robots. It’s certainly not the same as having an actual dog (dear Tiffa we miss you) but it is providing some interesting times in the house.

Aibo playing with his bone.

We have had some dinners out for our 5 year (!) anniversary in January and Valentine’s Day last week, and have also finally gotten to the point of having friends over for dinner. It takes a while to build up to that point, but now we own a Monopoly board we are definitely the place to be. I tried warning Carole that Toby was ruthless and we were helpless against his strategic real estate know-how, but she refused to believe me. The three of us went bankrupt and I’m not sure if they will ever want to play with us again. The next exciting thing is our weekend in Prague in March which will be followed by a visit from my parents after Easter and then finishing up work in late April, after which we will head to Turkey with Toby’s mum for a couple of weeks. As for the weather (something everyone asks about), the days are getting longer which is a relief. The week before last was very mild and the sun was out a lot of the time; very Canberra winter. Moods were a lot lighter that week. This week has been rubbish, the temperature's not too bad but it's been raining on and off and grey and gloomy most the time (I know, what do we expect). Oh, and apparently this is the "windy" time of year. Funny, as Edinburgh is windy almost all the time so we have more of that to look forward to. We sit in our house at night listening to the wind whistling around the building and hoping that the motorbike is still upright in the morning. For a night or two I tried to imagine the sound of the wind was actually the beach, and we were on holiday down the coast and tomorrow we'd go for a swim. But I can't pretend it's anything other than gale-force winds anymore. We are both looking forward to some real sun and warmth on our travels.

The biggest party in Europe - Days 2 and 3

Our second day in Berlin started slowly. I was still feeling under the weather, although there was a definite improvement on the night before. We decided to go for a bit of a walk, first to see the Sony Centre (which we have to do in every city, of course), the Gallery of Contemporary Art and to have a better look at some of the things Maria had pointed out to us the day before. We got the train to save on energy and although it took us a little while to find the Sony Centre, we did eventually, much to our disappointment. It was less a Sony Centre and more a collection of buildings (owned by Sony, I assume) with a courtyard in the middle. There was a Sony shop but it wasn’t really a showroom to display all their technology (like we’d been to in Japan), it really was just a shop. The coolest thing about the Sony Centre ended up being Legoland. Not that we visited it, but there were some interesting sculptures around made entirely out of Lego. There was also an ‘Australian’ café there which had items on the menu like ‘Gold Coast Salad’. We were almost tempted to visit, but not really. The crepes and German sausages were far more irresistible.

Outside Legoland. The people standing next to it give you an idea of how big and impressive this plastic giraffe is.

We went back to the Jewish Memorial to visit the information centre, but it was shut. Then we half-tried to find the Topography of Terror, but failed. Then we really tried to find the Gallery, and completely failed. We went round and round in circles and eventually gave up. I was still not 100% so we admitted defeat and returned to our hotel room, via the supermarket again to pick up some lunch things. I remember a short, restless nap in the hotel and then Jude and Dave arrived to start off our New Year’s Eve. They seemed to think it was hilarious that we were in bed at 3.30 in the afternoon. Although we’d planned to have pink champagne and nibbles, due to illness it turned into some nibbles while Toby and I got ourselves out of bed and ready to hit the town. Jude and Dave had had a more productive day than us, including a visit to the Pergamon Museum and a trip back to the chocolate shop we’d seen the day before – they had been kind enough to buy us a box of chocolates as a thankyou for hosting them over Christmas, and I can say very confidently that the royals chose their chocolatiers very well. They were exquisite. It was extra fun trying them because the box was all in German (of course) and so you couldn’t really figure out what the flavourings were.

A random Berlin bear. These things were everywhere, all done up differently. The strangest one was one we passed on our first day. We referred to it as the Slutty Bear.

When Toby and I were finally ready, we got the train into Potsdamer Platz and headed towards the Brandenburg Gate, via the Sony Centre so we could show Jude and Dave the Lego sculptures and people flying down a ‘snow’ slope in rubber rings (it was hilarious). We had to pass a few guys who were letting off fireworks in the street just near the entrance to the Brandenburg Gate area, but there were lots of signs saying you couldn’t take fireworks into the party so we weren’t too worried. It felt a lot like your average show back home, with lots of food and drink stalls and a big stage in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

The big stage. One of the most annoying things about the night was that it was a 'live broadcast', so we had to listen to (and watch) commercials in between all the songs. Grrr.

Because we spent 6 hours there and the same sort of thing kept happening, I will use dot points to describe our New Year’s Eve.

• We saw the same bands performing over and over again.
• Those bands were not very good.
• We had never heard of any of them, although we’d seen Lemon Ice on MTV that afternoon.
• We didn’t know any of the songs. You would like for a big event like New Year’s Eve, you would want to play party anthems everybody knows. But no.
• We ate half metre bratwursts (well, Dave and I did anyway). Unfortunately they actually folded it in half to fit it into the roll, so it didn’t look as impressive as it should have.
• It was really, really cold.
• There was nowhere to sit.
• Jude and I went to get a cup of tea and they gave us chamomile. Weird.
• Toby bought a big gingerbread shaped like a heart.
• After a while, we were sick of standing around in the cold listening to the same bands and thought we could go elsewhere and return later. But by that time there was a long line to get into the area, so we stayed.
• I had my first experience with a portaloo (I have always been too scared before).
• Unfortunately there was no Kenny to be seen (and it cost me 20 cents).
• It was really, really cold.
• There was nowhere to sit.
• The crowd was very well behaved with very few obnoxious drunks or punk ass pre-pubescents.

At midnight we listened to everyone else count down in German and then got to see the most amazing fireworks I have ever seen. So all that standing around in the cold wishing I could drink alcohol was worth it in the end, even if they chose some odd songs to play with the fireworks (like Timbaland’s ‘Apologise’) which did not improve the party atmosphere.

Toby and his manly gingerbread.

Jude & Dave being all cute and keeping warm.

Once the fireworks were over we joined the hordes of people swarming out of the party down towards Potsdamer Platz, and that was where things got really interesting. It may have been well behaved at the Gate, but the streets were full of drunken yobs letting off fireworks. And not just the little baby fireworks we have at home on the Queen’s birthday, but full-on, should-never-be-let-off-by-a-drunken-amateur fireworks. The streets were full of smoke and broken glass and people trying to get home and other people trying to stop them by exploding things. It felt like a warzone, what with the sirens and smoke and what-not. We couldn’t believe it, coming from such a civilised celebration to what felt like something you would see on TV as an example of poorly considered cultural traditions. We had been planning on avoiding the trains and walking back to our hotels instead but with the streets in that condition we decided we’d be safer on the trains. We skipped the first train and the one we got on a few minutes later was very calm and not at all crowded, so that was a good decision. I think we were all a bit shaken by what we’d just walked through, as we hadn’t been at all prepared for that. The train was where we said goodbye to Jude and Dave, as the next day they were heading off to Frankfurt to fly back to Oz.

When we got off the train near our hotel there were still some groups of punks around letting off more fireworks but we got back to our room without losing any eyes or limbs and got to sleep easily. Needless to say it was a strange way to end New Year’s Eve and I think Garema Place will be looking very tame from now on.

The next morning we slept late and while we were getting ready to leave it started snowing. Properly snowing. We tried not to think about what it would mean if our flight was delayed or cancelled, and instead headed off to see the biggest shopping mall in continental Europe, famous for its 6-floor food court. The plan was to walk around, buy something German, have a nice lunch, and get the train to the airport. Unfortunately our plan was foiled because the mall was closed. We wandered up the road with the rest of the confused tourists and ended up seeing a church, which was partially destroyed in the war and had been left that way as a reminder, similar to the Peace Dome in Hiroshima. Underneath the church were some Christmas markets so we browsed through there for a while and then stopped for another bratwurst for lunch. Even though German sausage has to be one of the best things about visiting Germany, we both agreed that we wouldn’t be eating sausages for a while after this trip.

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, partially destroyed.

It was still snowing but we got the train to the airport anyway and amazingly enough our flight wasn’t even delayed. We got into Glasgow around 5pm, and that was when the real fun started.

I knew there was a bus that went from Glasgow to Edinburgh but given the lack of information at the airport about it, we decided an easier and quicker way for us to get home would be to get the bus into Glasgow’s train station, then the train home. All up it should take two hours, we reasoned. We managed to get the bus into Glasgow and were dropped off at Central Station. Which was shut, completely. So we walked the ten minutes to the other train station, on Queen St., in case the trains were only running from there as well. This one was also shut. Things were not looking up. There was a security guard there who helpfully told us there were no trains running, but ‘maybe’ there would be a bus. For some reason, instead of asking where the bus station was, we thanked him and walked away and spent the next half hour or more trying to find the bus station. Our alternatives were not tempting: a taxi ride, which would cost 100 pounds or more, if we managed to find someone to take us, or a hotel room for the night which would probably cost the same, and come morning we’d still be in the same predicament. The bus station, when we eventually found it, was almost deserted and we were not hopeful. By this time it was 7pm and we were hungry and annoyed at the Scots who take their public holidays so very seriously. Luckily there was one more bus leaving for Edinburgh that night, at 8pm, so we bought expensive tickets and then went to a bar next door. Even though we were both still fighting our flu, we couldn’t resist and got a wine and a Guinness, and shared a pizza as well. It was one of those nights.

Toby on the train to Berlin airport. Note the filthy jeans of the man passed out on the seat behind us. I have no idea what he could have done to get so dirty, but it's nice to know that treasured sights like unconscious people riding public transport on New Year's Day can be found anywhere in the world.

I got lucky on the bus and found a seat where someone had left a trashy magazine, so the 90 minute trip flew by for me. Toby was not so lucky. We got into Edinburgh around 9:30pm, and unlike Glasgow, it was hardly a ghost town at all. There was plenty going on, and even better, the local buses were running and we only had to wait a few minutes before one came along to take us home. The fun wasn’t quite over though, and when the bus stopped and no one got off, the driver obviously decided to ignore all other requests to stop and finally dropped us off 4 stops later than we needed. So, finally, about five hours after arriving at an airport 45 minutes away, we were home.

After that beginning, 2008 has proceeded fairly quietly. Toby returned to work on 3 January (the 2nd is also a public holiday here) and I had 3 interviews lined up. The first was for a job I was really keen on, and luckily I got it so I started on 7 January and didn't have to go through any more interviews. I am working in the NHS Education for Scotland, in the psychology assessment team, which is clearly up my alley. I’m an administration assistant for a project they’re working on to look at how psych trainees are assessed during their placements. The people are nice, I finally have internet and email access, and best of all it’s less than 10 minutes’ walk from home. The position is meant to last for a month but the team is hoping they will be able to continue it for a few more months, which would suit me. Our current projects include planning trips to Prague and Turkey, looking forward to visits from parents, and making arrangements for our final holiday before heading home. Until then it’s a matter of coping with the dark, cold weather through lots of movies, trips to the pub, and Wii games. (And yes it is dark - very - and cold - we even had snow last week. Proper snow.)

The biggest party in Europe - Day 1

After our week of Christmas fun it was off to Berlin for the biggest New Year's Eve party in Europe (apparently). The adventure began at 5:30 am, and we drove (well Toby drove, the rest of us slept) our little hire car in the dark to Glasgow airport, which was surprisingly busy for such an ungodly hour. It was our first time at Glasgow airport, the security there is quite tight but also very professional, I suppose after their little "incident" last year. Our flight left a bit after 9am and we got into Berlin around lunchtime. Of course, flying EasyJet meant we didn't actually arrive in Berlin but rather Schonefeld airport, a good 40 minutes away by train. Apparently there exists some "airport express" train, but we never figured out where it was and in the end nearly managed to miss the local train anyway. The first thing we noticed about Berlin on the way into the city was the graffiti; it was everywhere, to the point where sometimes it was downright impressive. "How on earth did they get all the way up there?" we'd say. I hope there were no punks around to hear us and think we were condoning their activities.

We got out at a station in the city which was roughly a 30 minute walk to our hotel; Jude and Dave's hostel was a bit further down the road so after stopping at a sandwich shop in the train station for lunch we said our goodbyes. After a week with such a full house, nocturnal guests and Toby having the flu, we were both ready for a good sleep in a decent bed. We found the hotel without too many problems; it was a Novotel on the edge of the Mitte district ("Mitte" means "middle", so you can guess where we were). To get there we walked down Under den Linten and some other major shopping strips, full of beautiful things. The hotel itself wasn't in a particulalrly inspiring area; mainly office buildings and apartments, although it was near the water and had a few shops in the building. Our room was huge, and the bed was massive although the bathroom had us a little confused. Were we in prison?

Our prison-esque shower.

We rested up in our room and then ventured all the way downstairs to the supermarket in the same building, to stock up on dinner and breakfast supplies. Then we rushed back to our room and spent the rest of the night there. Yes, we are lame. But it was so good, and exactly what we needed.

The view from our hotel window.

The next morning after breakfast we headed towards the Brandenburg Gate, where we were meeting Jude and Dave and about 100 other people for a walking tour. The tour had been recommended to us by two different people as a 'must do' in Berlin, and since we don't normally do things like that and didn't really know what we wanted to do in Berlin, and it was free, we figured it was a good idea. When we arrived at the meeting place - 'in front of the Starbucks' - it was so packed of people we started wondering if we'd made a mistake. But it turned out there were lots of tours running from that spot, organised by the same company. There were tours in other languages and also a couple that were going out to the concentration camp. If we'd had more time in Berlin I would have liked to do one of those, but maybe next time. So once all the tours had been split up, we ended up in a group of around 15, led by Maria, a Swedish-Japanese former model who'd ended up in Berlin after falling in love with a German rock star (so she said). She wasn't with the rock star anymore but she really loved Berlin and was very enthusiastic about it. We'd been warned by Ali's friend Kat over Christmas to try and not get the American guy on the tour, so we considered ourselves lucky to have Maria.

The Brandenburg Gate, with all the tourists.

The tour started in the square we were already standing in, Parisier Platz, and then moved out onto the road for a 'History of Berlin in 10 minutes' talk.

The Hotel Adlon, famous not for its $20,000/night Presidential Suite but for the fact that this is where Michael Jackon dangled his baby out the window.

We continued down the road to the new Jewish Memorial, which is basically a collection of concrete blocks in a big square. Maria pointed out that, unlike the rest of Berlin's concrete, the memorial blocks were remarkably graffiti-free: they have been treated with some anti-graffiti chemical to keep them clean. Apparently the company that makes this chemical was also involved in supplying gas to the Nazis during the Holocaust; I guess this is a way for them to make some small amends. Berlin is full of contradictions like that, it is a city that is simultaneously trying to show atonement for past sins while also moving on and creating a wonderful place to live and visit. I think it's a difficult balance to find.

The double brick line showing where the Berlin Wall stood.

Inside the Jewish Memorial

Looking across the Memorial.

After walking through the memorial we walked a little further until we were on a normal residential street surrounded by the Communist apartments. It was then Maria told us we were currently standing on what remained of Hitler's bunker. It has been all filled in and for years there was nothing to mark the spot, but apparently during the 2006 World Cup the locals got so sick of tourists asking them where the bunker was that a sign has been put up over the road. I didn't see anyone in the group taking photos of the corner; it was surprisingly easy to agree that there was no reason to pay attention to that one corner and its stories.

The apartments near Hitler's bunker. Apparently they were built by the Communists to prove to West Berlin how good the Eastern Berliners had it.

We walked past the old air force building (surprisingly left intact during the war; apparently Britain's was also left intact, curiously) and the memorial out the front which was dedicated to the hundreds of East Germans who had been shot or injured (never to be seen again) in that spot one day in the early 1950s, when they were protesting for their human rights. For some reason Berlin has now decided to put the tax office in that building; strange sense of humour, the Germans.

Memorial to the East Berlin protestors.

East Berlin's answer to VW. Sort of.

We walked past some other buildings where you could still see the bullet holes in the wall and then we got to a corner where part of the Berlin Wall was still standing. It is not as huge or menacing as you might imagine but Maria told us how it would have been covered with barbed wire, and in the 'death strip' between the walls (I'd never realised there was actually two walls) there would be booby traps and guard dogs and a watch tour every 100 metres or so. Really, really frightening stuff to think that this was happening just 20 years ago. Near the Wall was the bunker where the Gestapo had undertaken interrogations and executions; it is now a museum called the 'Topography of Terror' which is probably apt.

The Berlin Wall.


The Topography of Terror.

From there we walked down to Checkpoint Charlie, which is not named after some guy called Charlie, but rather was the 3rd checkpoint in Berlin ('charlie' is the 3rd letter of the US army's alphabet). Maria called it Disneyland, and I can see what she meant; it was so packed full of people and souvenir shops and guys dressed in mock guard uniforms that it was hard to pay attention to what was there. One of the funniest things I heard from Maria was that in this intersection, the KGB had their offices in the building on one corner, and the CIA had their offices in the building diagonally opposite. There was a cafe on the ground floor of the CIA building that was a famous place for spies to do their business; the guy who wrote James Bbond got the idea from this cafe. I don't know if the KGB or the CIA realised how funny it was to have their headquarters within tin-can-connected-by-string range, but that's war for you. I'm sure Joseph Heller would have appreciated the irony. Maria had some other great stories about people who managed to get through the checkpoints, before it became impossible to do so. Checkpoint Charlie was our lunch break; we took Maria's advice and got doner kebabs which we ate on the street, trying not to get bowled over by all the other tourists following Maria's advice.

Me & Jude on our lunch break.

Checkpoint Charlie.

Toby, Dave & Jude on the lunch break.

After lunch Maria took us down the big shopping street again, talking about Berlin's Golden 20s age when that one street had hundreds of cabarets, nightclubs and brothels, and the kind of energy that would have been in the city at the time. When the Nazis came to power they got rid of everything except the prostitutes. Go figure. We also went past the famous chocolate shop, who used to make chocolate for the royal family. They had amazing models of Berlin landmarks in the window, and one of the Titanic as well.

Mmmm...100 kilograms of chocolate.

We walked to Gendarmenmarkt, where the French and German cathedrals stand and where there was a big Christmas market set up, then to the famous square where the Nazis burned the books. There is a memorial there too, an underground room with enough bookshelves to hold 20 thousand books - that's how many were burned in that square. Both lecturers and students of Humboldt university which borders the square had helped the soldiers empty the libraries (although they didn't really have much choice about it); the university now has a second hand book sale outside the main building, with all proceeds going to charity. Another small, symbolic gesture.

The square where the book burning took place.

The underground library.

After the square we went to Museum island and visited the war memorial. It's just a single room, with a sculpture in the middle. The ashes of a Holocaust victim and a soldier rest beneath the sculpture; apparently it's quite controversial to have them both there. The sculptor was a local Berlin artist whose name I have forgotten; her son was 16 when World War I broke out and begged her to let him join the army. She eventually gave in and he died fighting for Germany. After that, she and her other son moved elsewhere (Belgium I think); he died in World War II, fighting against Germany.

The War Memorial.

After the War Memorial we walked further up the island to see the Berlin Cathedral, and Maria sat us on the steps of the Alte Museum, overlooking the big park, for the grand finale of her tour - the story of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It was a very entertaining story, and I saw other tourists stopping to catch a glimpse of Maria pretending to be an incompetent East German bureaucrat, an elated East Berliner, and the other characters in her story. After her grand finale we gave her lots of money, because she'd certainly earned it, and then tried to decide what to do next.

Dave, Jude and the Berlin Dom.

Maria had made the Pergamon Museum, an archeological museum behind the Altes, sound amazing so we decided to line up, even though it was freezing and nearly 4pm. Jude got sick of waiting after a while, since the line wasn't moving, so she and Dave went off to the Jewish Museum while Toby and I stuck it out. Unfortunately we were not rewarded for our patience; about 10 minutes later something started happening at the top of the line and people started leaving. We heard someone say it was closing for 'technical reasons'. That's strange, we thought. We kept our eye on a guy in a red hat, who'd been at the head of the line for a good 20 minutes by that point. We figured that if he wasn't moving, neither were we. But then he did move, so we decided to go to the new German History Museum around the corner instead.

By this time, the fluey feeling I'd had since lunchtime had really kicked in and I was definitely coming down with something. The museum was huge, and really interesting, but I struggled to stay motivated and after an hour or so we had to leave. We decided to go to the cafe and get a lemonade to fortify us for the walk home, but the cafe had really odd rules about what you could order at the bar, and what you had to order from your table. By the time we figured it out the staff were ignoring us, so we left. Toby went off with the map to figure out how to get home while I sat down on the footpath, leaning against the wall of the museum. Lots of people looked at me and I wondered if anyone would give me any money, but alas they didn't. Luckily I'd found 20 euros on the footpath earlier that day during our walk to the Brandenburg Gate, so I wasn't too hard done by.

Less luckily, I had the flu combined with bad stomach pains by the time we got back to the hotel. It was a shame, because we'd walked back a different way and discovered some cute streets full of Christmas lights and restaurants, but I couldn't think of anything except lying down. The stomach pains got worse, to the point where I was in tears and Toby was about to call an ambulance. Thinking back now I think the tears were mostly because I was panicking - I didn't know why I felt so sick, and I didn't know what was going to happen. It didn't feel like food poisoning, or anything remotely resembling anything I've felt before. Luckily they subsided, and I was left with only the flu. Needless to say, I didn't really feel like going out for dinner after that episode, so I ate pringles left over from the night before. Toby went out in search of some takeaway, but being unsuccessful came back and ordered room service, which ended up being a massive meal and probably the best schnitzel we've ever tasted. A slightly dramatic end to an otherwise enjoyable, informative day where we learnt more than I think we ever have in a foreign city.

Next entry: a giraffe made of Lego, half-metre bratwursts, fireworks and a warzone.

Merry Christmas

Over the festive period our little apartment played host to 7 people. Yes it was squashy but everyone behaved themselves and had a good time. I think. The fun started the Thursday before Christmas, when my sister Ali arrived accompanied by her friend Michelle from back home, and Michelle's friend Kat who has been living in London this year. On Friday the girls slept in (like, really slept in) and then I took them for a wander down to Grassmarket to see the awesome 2nd hand shop and the Royal Mile, then I left them to drink while I did some Christmas shopping. We had been planning to go to the Christmas fair in the Princes St Gardens that night, but Toby got a last-minute invite to dinner at a workmate's place, so we did that instead. And rather than being a relaxed Friday night meal with some people, it turned out that we'd been invited to Rob's house's actual Christmas dinner, because they'd had a couple of cancellations and had an entire turkey to consume. We were happy to help out and got to try a traditional Scottish Christmas meal, which I basically copied for our own, a few days later. The girls Rob lived with had been planning on putting on a naked nativity interpretive dance, but unfortunately they'd napped instead of rehearsing that afternoon, so we watched King Kong instead.

We had a quiet weekend and on Sunday afternoon we took the girls to our local bingo hall, which we'd discovered a few weeks earlier with my friend Carole. Taking the extra 3 people was a big mistake on our part, as it decreased our chances of winning - the girls actually ended up winning a lot more money than we did. Grrrr. After bingo we went down to Haymarket train station to meet the third sister, Jude, and her fella Dave, soon to be our brother-in-law. We brought them back home and that was a good chance to admire the ring, hear the engagement story, and cut the Christmas cake I'd made back in November. That night we all got the bus up to Princes St to go to the Christmas fair. We ate German sausage and crepes and had a ride on the massive ferris wheel. Poor Toby and Dave had to put up with a couple of nervous Gibson girls who wouldn't let them rock the cabin or spin it around.

Toby had to work on Christmas Eve, but the rest of us took the opportunity to do nothing much. Jude and Dave made their soup for Christmas dinner, and Ali and co slept. I started finding little Cherry Ripes all over the house - Jude had promised she would bring me some from home (they don't sell them here) but instead of just giving them to me they were hidden in cupboards, under books, on shelves, etc. I think I've found them all now. For Christmas Eve supper we had cheese and ham and other nibble things, and egg nog made by Ali, Michelle and Kat.

Michelle whipping egg whites using a fork, because we do not have very good utensils.

Kat and Ali mixing the egg nog.

Jude & Dave enjoying the egg nog.

After all that food and alcohol...

...the young ones hit the town...

...and the old people went to bed.

On Christmas morning I got up bright and early to prepare my turkey for lunch, only to find that the stupid bird was still full of ice. It did not bode well for my timetable. No time to mourn though, because after breakfast we all sat down in the lounge room and opened our pressies.

Boys & their toys.

Jude thought these 'David' bookmarks she gave me & Ali were hilarious.

Me & Jude, with our new earrings.

Both the boys were sick on Christmas Day, Toby with a fluey tonsillitis type thing and Dave with a tummy bug. This was very sad for them as they headed back to bed, having opened their loot. Us girls spent the rest of the day watching girly things like old episodes of Dawson's Creek, drinking pink champagne and eating chocolates. Since the turkey was still frozen, for lunch we had the soup that Jude and Dave had made - it was one they'd tried in Italy and it was very delicious and peasant-y. (No photos as it was not the most aesthetically pleasing of foods.)

Around 4pm we decided we wouldn't die from eating the turkey as it was, so I stuck it in the oven and spent the next 4 hours regularly basting it, plus making a bunch of sauces and getting the vegies ready.

Basting the turkey.

Finally, around 8pm we were ready to roll. Michelle had kindly done an amazing gravy using the turkey fat and with all the other bits and pieces I'd done (thanks to my Asda magazine and the good dinner at Rob's house), we had quite the feast.

For those interested in what a Scottish Christmas dinner consists of in this photo, we have a turkey, served with roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips and onion; cranberry sauce (yes I made it from scratch); bread sauce (kind of like a white sauce, don't really know the point but I wanted the proper dinner); broccoli with pancetta and pine nuts (traditionally this is meant to be Brussels sprouts, but really, who likes those); bacon-wrapped sausages and stuffing balls (and they wonder why they have an obesity problem); and the gravy. The turkey was overdone (the next day I realised it was because my oven had been 20 degrees too hot) and it was a good 7 hours late, but everyone was very nice about both those points so I still consider it a successful first attempt.

After all that food we still had dessert to go, which was put on by Ali and friends - a chocolatey Christmas pudding served with brandy. I mean brandy custard.

Christmas Dinner.

Boxing Day was spent recovering from Christmas Day, as is tradition, and eating turkey and gravy sandwiches. Mmmmm. On Thursday night we decided to take Jude out for a mini first hen's night, and Toby and Dave headed off to the local pub before coming home to play Wii games. The girls started off at the Villager for cocktails before heading up the road to Medina, where I've been before and had a good dance. Unfortunately it was shut, so we went back up to the Royal Mile and finally found somewhere open, but empty. We had some drinks anyway and then the barmaid told us a DJ would be starting at 11. After a while we headed downstairs - the club was split over 4 levels so you went pretty far underground and the dancefloor was in a cellar type space. We were almost the only girls there so sometimes we felt rather on display, especially as there were a lot of men on their own. (We all agreed there is something a bit off about a man who patronises nightclubs on his own. Ick.) Around 1am, Jude was getting sleepy and the music wasn't really improving so we decided to call it a night.

The Gibson girls, ready for their first hen's night.

On Friday, Dave, Jude, Ali and I went to visit the Real Mary King's Close which had been recommended to me as one of Edinburgh's better 'ghost' tours. It turned out to be less a 'ghost' tour and more a tour of underneath the Royal Mile. We had a great tour guide and heard some amazing stories, and this was the day we found out where the word 'quack' came for doctors, why Princes St Gardens are so green, and other bits of Edinburgh trivia. Friday night was our last night all together so we went to the brewery near the bingo hall for dinner to celebrate (and so no one would have to cook, or do the dishes).

We got an early night, because Jude, Dave, Toby and I were off to Glasgow bright and early the next morning to get our flight to Berlin for New Year's Eve. Which is a whole other blog entry altogether.