European Winter - Kellyville, Australia
Kellyville, Australia
European Winter It is now a week before we fly from Sydney to Frankfurt, not a bad time to start my travel notes. I am typing on a new Ipad which has a keyboard built into the case, it works very well. Tomorrow is Monday 22nd December and we will be buying the food for the Christmas day lunch at 9 Daintree, all the family will be here. On Tuesday we will be at Richards for diner which will give Lorraine a chance to catch up with him and his family as they cannot make the Christmas day lunch. Most things organised, I am looking at buying a couple of web cams to monitor the outside of the house, simple stuff these days and wifi enabled so you can check on things like the pool area and the front of the house, also good to check things like the watering systems are all working ok, if not easy to text a neighbour to have a look for us. Well it is still a few days before we make our way, today 22nd Dec was a good day, popped into work to do a few jobs and pack up my old Ipad ready to ship to Al. Took some time today to test a video surveillance system, couple of cameras which I will fit to the house which allow me to keep an eye on the place while away. Works better than I expected, quite pleased with it, will finish putting up the cameras tomorrow, while Lorraine is out food shopping with Kim, Em will be out with Elle for the day. Did I say I bought a new Ipad with a keyboard built into the cover, another gadget that actually works very well and now allows me to access our work server in NZ which allows me to work on holiday! how smart is that :/ Christmas Day, up at 7.30 thanks to Em who says no one sleeps in! Made the ice cream pud that I make every year, cut the ham, cleaned around the pool and in between Lorrie Em and I opened our pressies from under the tree. As silly as this season is I cannot but see the wonderful way the family join on this day. Table set for 16 all up with 7 grandkids here this year, 3 having done a runner :) I need a photo:- um did not work eh, I will figure it out. It's 27th Dec and at airport, sick as a dog this afternoon some sort of food poisoning today (: so in short not much to say right now, fly out later tonight. 14 hours Syd to Abu Dhabi would have been better on a bigger plain or they put less seats in. Etihad have some work to do to get more of my business, I worked out 150 and two allocated toilets and the least legroom I have ever seen. Older plane so will see how we go from here. Abu Dhabi airport is clean and well setup with lots of shops, smaller than Dubai but nice and relaxing. Off to Frankfurt in 30mins or so. Watched the sun come up over the dunes, was a spectacular sight. All aboard for Germany...... Monday 29th 8am Starbucks Frankfurt, just validated train travel. Breakfast was great and it's cold as. Pic to follow 3.00am 28th Berlin. Yes I know that is very early in the morning. Anyway something a bit odd with this blog, got an email to say my old entry had been saved and my new entries had been emailed to me in case I wanted to use them, so in short it stuffed up, who wants to replace the new with the old? I cut and pasted the old and will see if this blogs so to speak. This morning was a bit of a magical one, I should step back and say that snow is not something new for me, I was raised with it and when you have to go to school and work in it day after day its ..... well its a bit ho hum. This morning we needed to be up and out early, so we did not take too much notice of what was going on outside, had our first German breakfast of the trip and I always love the German breakfasts, mostly for the cut meats, cheeses, bread and strong coffee, it was just great. So we are away down to the lobby, pay up check out (we liked this hotel so booked for the 24th Jan when we are back in Frankfurt) This next bit was the magic, the hotel has a sort of a balcony outside which protects from the elements, so no snow immediately, but in a second I look at Lorrie and Em as they for the first time every see and stand under proper snow on a crisp cold morning in Frankfurt, to hear and watch their total amazement and joy at being in this wonderland was one of th ose little priceless times in life, nothing could buy this, so simple and my little unforgettable moment, We are travelling with long distance cases so it is always going to be a challenge railing it around, things don't fit or you can't go that way or store it that way etc, all part of the fun if you accept it. Anyway we just cross the road and are in the station in no time, check times and sit with a coffee, Frankfurt main is a big rail station and today is busy. Anyway I needed to go and get a sim sorted so I have Internet, can't travel like this without it, bookings changes etc all need it. The little phone shop ended up sorting a sim for my Ipad, too long to explain the fun with sims, suffice to say it works and has some sort of Turkish phone company who offer it, but hey 29 euros for the month ! I will no doubt find out why later :) The trip to Berlin was about 5 hours through a white winter wonderland, Germany looks so pretty in the snow, as we got nearer to Berlin the snow got thicker. Held up and running late into Berlin we had arranged with the owner of an apartment to call or text if running late as she would meet us to give keys/get money etc. Ended up with series of texts each telling of further delay. Turns out the apartment is within a street from Check Point Charlie (the old Berlin wall east west crossing) Anyway dropped off in the snow late afternoon so it is dark already we stand outside the block looking at it wondering if we have the right place, when a lady two floors up shouts out a welcome and push the door on the buzz and come on up. She was a nice older German lady who showed us round and made us welcome. We are in a regular suburb in a regular residential apartment block, the apartment is big clean and just perfect for us in Berlin, buses near, underground near. See what happens when you wake at 3 ;) Anyway I will post this, or as the program says publish it and see if I get any other surprises about old and new posts. We explore Berlin in the morning, time for to get some shuteye. Walked to the Brandenburg Gate this morning. TravelPod.com version saved on Dec 31, 2014 07:43:40 European Winter It is now a week before we fly from Sydney to Frankfurt, not a bad time to start my travel notes. I am typing on a new Ipad which has a keyboard built into the case, it works very well. Tomorrow is Monday 22nd December and we will be buying the food for the Christmas day lunch at 9 Daintree, all the family will be here. On Tuesday we will be at Richards for diner which will give Lorraine a chance to catch up with him and his family as they cannot make the Christmas day lunch. Most things organised, I am looking at buying a couple of web cams to monitor the outside of the house, simple stuff these days and wifi enabled so you can check on things like the pool area and the front of the house, also good to check things like the watering systems are all working ok, if not easy to text a neighbour to have a look for us. Well it is still a few days before we make our way, today 22nd Dec was a good day, popped into work to do a few jobs and pack up my old Ipad ready to ship to Al. Took some time today to test a video surveillance system, couple of cameras which I will fit to the house which allow me to keep an eye on the place while away. Works better than I expected, quite pleased with it, will finish putting up the cameras tomorrow, while Lorraine is out food shopping with Kim, Em will be out with Elle for the day. Did I say I bought a new Ipad with a keyboard built into the cover, another gadget that actually works very well and now allows me to access our work server in NZ which allows me to work on holiday! how smart is that :/ Christmas Day, up at 7.30 thanks to Em who says no one sleeps in! Made the ice cream pud that I make every year, cut the ham, cleaned around the pool and in between Lorrie Em and I opened our pressies from under the tree. As silly as this season is I cannot but see the wonderful way the family join on this day. Table set for 16 all up with 7 grandkids here this year, 3 having done a runner :) I need a photo:- um did not work eh, I will figure it out. It's 27th Dec and at airport, sick as a dog this afternoon some sort of food poisoning today (: so in short not much to say right now, fly out later tonight. 14 hours Syd to Abu Dhabi would have been better on a bigger plain or they put less seats in. Etihad have some work to do to get more of my business, I worked out 150 and two allocated toilets and the least legroom I have ever seen. Older plane so will see how we go from here. Abu Dhabi airport is clean and well setup with lots of shops, smaller than Dubai but nice and relaxing. Off to Frankfurt in 30mins or so. Watched the sun come up over the dunes, was a spectacular sight. All aboard for Germany...... Monday 29th 8am Starbucks Frankfurt, just validated train travel. Breakfast was great and it's cold as. Pic to follow 3.00am 28th Berlin. Yes I know that is very early in the morning. Anyway something a bit odd with this blog, got an email to say my old entry had been saved and my new entries had been emailed to me in case I wanted to use them, so in short it stuffed up, who wants to replace the new with the old? I cut and pasted the old and will see if this blogs so to speak. This morning was a bit of a magical one, I should step back and say that snow is not something new for me, I was raised with it and when you have to go to school and work in it day after day its ..... well its a bit ho hum. This morning we needed to be up and out early, so we did not take too much notice of what was going on outside, had our first German breakfast of the trip and I always love the German breakfasts, mostly for the cut meats, cheeses, bread and strong coffee, it was just great. So we are away down to the lobby, pay up check out (we liked this hotel so booked for the 24th Jan when we are back in Frankfurt) This next bit was the magic, the hotel has a sort of a balcony outside which protects from the elements, so no snow immediately, but in a second I look at Lorrie and Em as they for the first time every see and stand under proper snow on a crisp cold morning in Frankfurt, to hear and watch their total amazement and joy at being in this wonderland was one of th ose little priceless times in life, nothing could buy this, so simple and my little unforgettable moment, We are travelling with long distance cases so it is always going to be a challenge railing it around, things don't fit or you can't go that way or store it that way etc, all part of the fun if you accept it. Anyway we just cross the road and are in the station in no time, check times and sit with a coffee, Frankfurt main is a big rail station and today is busy. Anyway I needed to go and get a sim sorted so I have Internet, can't travel like this without it, bookings changes etc all need it. The little phone shop ended up sorting a sim for my Ipad, too long to explain the fun with sims, suffice to say it works and has some sort of Turkish phone company who offer it, but hey 29 euros for the month ! I will no doubt find out why later :) The trip to Berlin was about 5 hours through a white winter wonderland, Germany looks so pretty in the snow, as we got nearer to Berlin the snow got thicker. Held up and running late into Berlin we had arranged with the owner of an apartment to call or text if running late as she would meet us to give keys/get money etc. Ended up with series of texts each telling of further delay. Turns out the apartment is within a street from Check Point Charlie (the old Berlin wall east west crossing) Anyway dropped off in the snow late afternoon so it is dark already we stand outside the block looking at it wondering if we have the right place, when a lady two floors up shouts out a welcome and push the door on the buzz and come on up. She was a nice older German lady who showed us round and made us welcome. We are in a regular suburb in a regular residential apartment block, the apartment is big clean and just perfect for us in Berlin, buses near, underground near. See what happens when you wake at 3 ;) Anyway I will post this, or as the program says publish it and see if I get any other surprises about old and new posts. We explore Berlin in the morning, time for to get some shuteye. 29th Dec Apologies for the lack of text, today was just too exhausting to do much when we got back other than sleep! Jet lag and 10 hours of walking did not help, but a fabulous day spent in Berlin central area checked out the sights and where we want to be NYE, the stage and setup at the Brandenburg Gate is just huge and the Tier Garten looks spectacular in the snow. Tomorrow the wall, markets, check point charlie, and a couple of other sites. I can see how people fall in love with Berlin. For now I will sign off. 31st Dec Oysters and Champaign on NYE morning look to be a tradition, I will stay with an Americano double shot. I will try a pic placed here. Um well almost just have go back a bit, ah the wonders of free software. Which reminds me, remember I said I would pay a price for that cheap Turkish SIM card and Internet, well in short I did lol. Using O2 as we speak, looking to get my 25 euros off beard man running away from phone shop in Frankfurt :) Today was always reserved for 1 Christmas Markets and today is the last open day for this spectacular market, it is absolutely original and interesting German products and food. I will try for some photos to give an idea of what it is like. Tonight is NYE party, we just watch Sydney's wonderful display. 9 hours to midnight ! Now you know by now that photos can pop up here in no order that I can follow, so search around if you don't see the market pics at first 1st Jan 2015 It is now Jan 1st about 7 am, we arrived back at the apartment around 1am after 5 hours in the main walk near the Brandenburg Gate, this is a two kilometre boulevard leading to the gate. The crowds were massive, 1.5 mil is the estimate. The entire boulevard is lined with stalls of which at least fifty percent are alcohol the rest being solid German food. About a halve a k from the Gate at one end was closed and full! Each area has an entertainment stage with music and great entertainment, the music was so good and all sung in English as is the way with music in most of non English Europe. The restricted area means you are further away from the fireworks than say Sydney where everyone has a close and clear view. Having said that the display was still a massive one. With the amount of drinking and the number of drinkers it was amazing to see no trouble anywhere, I think if this much alcohol was consumed in Sydney it would be different I think. This is the only day of the year where locals are allowed to let of private fireworks, it is this practice that is a little confronting as early in the evening on the way and all the way back after fireworks are going off all over the place, the streets are littered with spent fireworks, you have to see it to believe the huge numbers. The fireworks were going well past 1 am. All the snow which was thick a day ago is now gone, walking was easier. A memorable night, but this morning I have bits of me that do not work, my back is one of them and I am not sure I can walk :) we did some serious crowd walking last night! Today Germany is closed, it is a day when nothing opens, our plans have a city coach tour which is on, a visit to the mail Berlin Wall and the Check Point Charlie visitor centre. Then some rest. Tomorrow we travel from Berlin to Warsaw, Poland on the train, plenty of time to sit with an 5 or 6 hour ride to Warsaw. I wonder if I can put a video on here? should be able to I think, anyway I have some of the bands and crowds on video in the area of where we were most of the night. Later folks, this old body needs some rest right now, more later.