General

Sep 01

Germany Trip Pt.2

We hit Berlin running to some extent as we got there so early we had to wait to get in to our studio flat. The accommodation was pretty good, we picked the baxpax downtown. The day turned into a bit of a wash out (literally). The first thing we ate was actually in a German fast food joint called Currywurst (Sarah will love that I mentioned that). It was alright and better than one of the multinational fast food chains. However we did fail to do a cycle tour of Berlin (we really had enjoyed the tour of Munich). We just wandered round seeing a few things (like the Brandenburg Gate, above). After chilling in the flat we grabbed food in Schwarzwaldstuben, the food was great, the beer just as good. Then the rain came so we were forced to hang out and drink beer till it calmed down.

Friday morning we went on the Alternative Tour of Berlin. It was class showing off the city’s other side including graffiti, squats and the cool districts around the city. We also got to eat some animal kebabs in Maroush which was a great top up half way through the tour. After this 4 hour (free with tips) tour we headed to the Pergamon Museum as our feet hadn’t had enough abuse. That was an amazing experience with 2 massive ancient monuments in the middle of the museum, the Pergamon and the Istar Gate. Once we had eventually finished torturing our feet we had dinner in Sophieneck.

Saturday was our last day due to the rain we sheltered in the Topography Of Terror (to top up the depression from Dachau). This meant we missed out on the bike tour again *shakes fist*. Once the weather had let up we wandered around Kreuzberg with lunch in Burgermeister which was class while being a little grotty . Saturday was a proper just random wander day and we ended up in IXTHYS a brilliant little Korean restaurant run by two mad Xtians. Trip abroad and to Germany would not be complete with out a rock bar and despite failing to visit one for the entire week we made it to the Rock Und Wikinger Bar (couldn’t find the Halford Bar). There was beer, mead and hard rocking loved it, I’ll be back next time I’m in Berlin.

We eventually rolled out of there as our train was early enough the next day. The trip was pretty uneventful, sent postcards from the train station, Berlin -> Cologne -> Brussels -> London. Again it took all day but back home by 7pm and had the next day off.

The holiday was brilliant, planning has already began on next year’s just need to find out where we can get to….

Photos can be seen here.

Later days,
Halo

Aug 31

Germany Trip Pt. 1

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Neuschwanstein Castle

Breaking with tradition an actual blog post (maybe even a series of posts).

Sarah and I went to Germany for our holidays this year and I am going to jot down our experiences from the trip. It was a brilliant holiday and we had a great time and mostly good weather . Most of the links will be to the trip advisor entry for the place/thing.

We went green and ditched planes (also I fecking hate airports) so used the trains, which we will be doing again, twas a great idea. Anyway on the Saturday (the 7th) we took the train all the way from London to Munich. It was a long day (~9hours), London -> Brussels -> Frankfurt -> Munich. However it was so relaxing, loads of leg room, real German beer whenever you wanted it and no fecking airports. It was also quite cheap as Deutsche Bahn do specials which go on sale 3 months (92 days) in advance from various cities into most German cities. Already looking into what we can do next year

Landed in Munich in the early evening, well rested, watered and fed (we’d brought pies) and got checked into our hotel, The Cocoon, which was a lovely little boutique-esque hotel. We did wander into Munich centre but didn’t get up to much.

So our first real day in Munich was a Sunday in August, in central Europe, so it was buzzing (!). As many would know Europe shuts down over August and also shuts down on Sundays so combining the two, ta-da. However we decided to do Mike’s Bike Tour which was brilliant, a nice easy peddle around the city and then on to the English Garden (a massive public park) and then on to the beer garden, The Chinese Tower. A litre of beer and wurst was lunch . They brought us back into town and we headed to Zum Spockmeier

Monday we headed out of the city to the countryside and Neuschwanstein Castle which is the castle used in Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang (see attached photo). The castle itself was a bit meh but the cycle around the nearby lake and wandering around the German countryside was great. It was a lovely day out and well worth it, would have loved to do the paragliding over the castle but it was €140 each so a bit rich for us. It was another long day as it is a 2 hour drive from Munich so we just flaked and ended up in the Ratskellar for dinner, twas OK.

On Tuesday we had too decided we had too much fun so far so we traipsed off to Dachau concentration camp. We just did the tour (2.5 hours) and were out-depressed after that, it’s a hard day to be fair. Afterwards we headed in to Dachau town (on foot) and stopped off in a proper old man’s pub, bunch of non-English speakers, chain smoking and the bartender in a leather apron. We grabbed some beers and some weiners a bit bizarre but proper Germany. The rest of the day we just headed back in Munich and wandered around the city and made it to Cafe Altschwabing for dinner which was amazing food .

Our last day in Munich was to be a relaxed one as we had a train to catch at 10pm that night. We rolled out of of bed and decided to grab breakfast in the Viktualienmarkt on the way to the Deutsches Museum. Viktualienmarkt was fun, but most stalls were just opening up when we got there so we just got food and went on to the most intense science museum I have ever been in. I think we saw almost everything but it has just so much stuff and were exhausted so went back to Viktualienmarkt for lunch. It was a bit bizarre in the end as I had a fish roll which I think (my German is poor) was pickled white fish (not herring) with raw onion in a roll. To be fair it was lovely but just not what I’m used to.

With the impending train journey it we decided to get some fresh air in and we hired som bikes and hit the English Garden again and just cycled around it (we got all the way to the most northerly point too ). However with 4 beer gardens in there we had to get to one and had a lovely beer in the sunshine by the lake’s edge. Dinner that night was also out of the ordinary as we went to Lemar and had the most amazing Lebanese food.

It was now time to make a move for the train. We had decided to get the night train from Munich to Berlin. Neither of us had done this before but we booked a private double cabin and looked forward to the experience. I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn;t what we got. It was lovely just a little cramped but then we were only sleeping there. In the morning after the beds were put away the cabin was actually quite spacious and would be great for a longer journey. Anyway we left Munich late Wednesday and woke up in Berlin early Thursday, but that’s another blog post …

Photos can be seen here.

Later Days,
Halo

Jul 14

The Bear

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Teddy Bear

Originally uploaded by neasanoneill

Going back through some old photos and I really like this one, so I’m blogging it. I have been playing with Photobox so have been considering doing a photo book or something.

Dec 31