Singapore F1 GP and Red's Top Tips

Fee and I are about to head home after an amazing but quick 5 day stay in Singapore for the 2017 F1 Grand prix. While it's still fresh in my mind I thought I'd write down a few tips/notes for anyone thinking of coming here.

F1 GP night race
If you're any sort of motor racing fan, consider going to this truly unique and awesome event. The only night race on the F1 calendar - it's absolutely impeccably organised and run.
We had tickets that put us in 3 different stands over the 3 days, and all of them had incredible views of the track, with the "podium stand" that we had for race day being the stand out. It's not all just cars either. One of my highlights was an intimate gig by Seal just an hour before the race start.
The City
The first thing we noticed about the city of Singapore, aside from the stifling humidity, was how clean it is. I mean ridiculously clean. Spotting even one piece of rubbish on the footpath is like finding a four leaf clover. You can use a public toilet in the dodgiest of places and it will probably put your own bathroom to shame.
The People
This place is full of some of the friendliest, most accommodating people I've ever met. Upon walking in anywhere we were always greeted with a big smile, and nothing ever seemed to be a problem at all. Want an ice cream at the 7-11 at 11pm even though the guy is almost done clearing the till? "Yes of course sir, no worries." Table for 2 at a bar in China town even though it's lunch time on race day and they're absolutely packed? "Come right this way please sir."
This isn't just limited to people you're buying stuff from either. All we did to earn a big smile and 'hello' from a lady in public the other day was get in the same train carriage as her (and look like obvious tourists). People always seem genuinely happy that you're there and go out of their way to make you feel welcome. Basically the exact opposite feeling you get from most folks in Sydney ;-)
The Precincts
You would be absolutely remiss to visit Singapore and not make it to places like Chinatown, little India and Arab...town? (Not sure what they call this one). These extremely vibrant, colourful areas are brilliant to experience. It gives you a taste of the mix of cultures in Singapore, and a literal taste when you sample the amazing (and incredibly cheap) food on offer in each area. If you want to eat and drink and aren't keen on the fancy restaurants in the CBD and their even fancier price tags, this is where you want to be.
Little India was the standout for us. It's an area of several blocks, each one different from the next. It was busy with locals everywhere doing their shopping, and was completely genuine (unlike Chinatown which felt just slightly forced and touristy). We had a great lunch at a food court with all the locals. I paid $5 for the best chicken masala of my life.

The Arab district also had its highlights. There was a great little strip of boutique stores (although with prices aimed squarely at tourists), and more importantly a brilliant restaurant called "Singapore Zam Zam" (thanks to Mitch Hughes for the tip!). For about $25 here you got more than you could eat and drink between 2, and despite being so busy it was quick and all absolutely delicious. They had the operation completely down. It was like the McDonald's of halal food.

Shopping
Singapore is synonymous with enormous shopping centres. They are many and varied.
Your average one close to the CBD is like your local Westfield, just with a few more levels. It's when you get out a bit further and head into one of the big shopping centres that things get interesting.
We were walking past a place called the "Mustafa centre" in little India. I spotted Xbox games and some tech stuff in the window, so we had to go in. Once inside, we were faced with an absolutely packed, enormous shopping experience. The aisles are tiny, the roof low, and the amount of items on offer is absolutely mind boggling.

I quickly found a couple of tech things that I had to have and was heading for the exit when fee pointed out there were two whole other basement levels of to this place, one of which had a "tech zone"! I was hooked. I have never in my life seen so many tech gadgets, adaptors, cables, routers, mice, keyboards, everythings, all in one place. It was like being inside of eBay. Fiona almost had to physically drag me out of there (after I picked up a few more things of course;)).

Getting Around
We walked and used the train (MRT). This was super easy and had us coverered for everywhere we wanted to go.
We didn't have phone data (i.e. google maps) so I was initially concerned about getting lost, but it's actually pretty easy to navigate even for someone that isn't much of an orienteerer. We managed to get ourselves to the hotel after landing with nothing but a train ticket and a dodgy "bus routes" map that was mostly in Chinese.

The weather
It's hot and humid, then it rains in the afternoon and cools everything down. Dress appropriately, wear a hat and sunscreen, bring plenty of water and get used to having a sweaty crotch. The place is well worth the minor discomfort.

Las Vegas...The city that never sleeps.

Vegas is up there with the most ridiculous places I've ever been (and I've been to Canberra, twice). It's a town that solely exists for the tourist trade. Theres no other possible reason for having a city in the middle of a windy, hot desert, full of strippers and casinos.

The good

The best things about Vegas in my opinion are:
1. The accommodation is cheap, and well appointed.
Our outrageous suite at the MGM was about $100/night and included such features as a toilet phone (that's a phone located near the toilet, not whatever you're thinking of), bathroom TV, jacuzzi, lounge, king bed and balcony with view of the strip.

2. There is something for everyone. Whatever you're into entertainment-wise you'll be able to find it. No, not that. I mean shows, rollercoasters, exhibitions, etc.

3. The 'scenery'
There are shiny things to look at everywhere you go. Casino foyers you walk into and go 'woooowww'. Neon lights of ludicrous proportion. Ladies wearing dresses that are at least 2 sizes to small, which you didn't look at because you're engaged and therefore busy keeping your eyes to yourself, but if they happen to walk right in front of your eyeballs well then it couldn't be helped.

4. Boyz II Men
Simply exquisite. If you get the chance, do see them.

The bad

1. The fake-ness.
Everything has that fake, tacky feel about it that can only come about in a place that is completely, unashamedly geared towards tourists. Worse still, American tourists.

2. Getting around
Be mindful of the distances in this city. That casino that looks like its 'just over there' from your balcony is probably a 15 minute cab ride away, which means walking there in the 47 degree heat (or 1240 degrees Fahrenheit) is out of the question.

BTW, taking a cab is another adventure in itself. Be ready for everyone from 'silent man' to 'overly aggressive New Yorker', to 'Grumpy compulsive whinger'.

3. Tipping
How the hell does tipping work? If anyone figures it out, please let me know. You're supposed to tip everyone from the guy that held the door open to the guy that smiled at you slightly when you walked out of that same door. I tipped some people that brought me food and parked my car. Job done.

4. Woo guys
You've heard of 'Woo girls' - its those chicks that are out without their partners for the first time in 8 months. Maybe it's a hens night, maybe a birthday, whatever. When in a large group, excited and with 1.5 drinks under their belts, they make this unimaginable high pitched noise like "woooooooo!".

Yeah well Vegas is full of the male equivalent. Groups of 3-6 dudes. They've got a few drinks in them, they are in Vegas for the first time, unsupervised, and feel the need to go " woooooooo!" and give sloppy, uncoordinated high 5's all round every time one of them wins a $5 blackjack hand.

5. Being hassled on the strip
The minute you dare to walk outside a casino, be ready to be hassled by people trying to hand you the business cards of strippers and put you in a limo to take you to said strippers.

Top Tip: Fiona and I soon figured out that holding hands reduced the number of offers we received by about 50%. The other half presumably thought we were into some weird stuff.

Disneyland!!!!!

It's easy to see why Disneyland describes itself as 'The happiest place on earth'. It truly is the stuff that dreams are made of. Not mine specifically, but some people's.

When Fiona and I were first planning our trip to California and thinking of places we just had to visit, we both agreed that Disneyland was a place in California and that she really wanted to go there.

Today we fulfilled Fiona's childhood dream, and I have to admit that I too ended up being drawn in by the atmosphere.

We took lots of photos throughout the day. I'd like to share some of these with you that I think best document our visit to the happiest place on earth.

Me after arriving:

Me with a marching band:

Me before Splash Mountain:

Me before Space Mountain:

Me after Space Mountain:

Me in a teacup:

Me on the teacup ride:

Me without a churro:

Me with a churro:

Me on the carousel:

Fiona after Eeyore left and she couldn't get a photo:

Fiona and I on the railroad ride:

Me on Splash Mountain:

H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D

Hollywood is a place of contradictions. Definitely not all glitz and glamour. You see everything from homeless people to Ferrari's, and dodgy strip clubs just metres from expensive restaurants.

The first dose of reality came when we started walking the wrong way down Hollywood boulevard after getting off the metro. I was keen to find Tom Cruise's star on the walk of fame, but it quickly became obvious that we were more in the Tom Jones section.

Once headed the right way we had better luck. Stumbled across "Amoebia records", by far the biggest record/CD/DVD/Cassette/VHS/etc store I've ever seen.

We took a long walk down the strip and as a bonus witnessed a sherrif breaking up a fight between two women, one of which had apparently looked at the other's dog in a funny way (yes really). Fantastic. Just like watching COPS.

It was getting dark and we were thirsty. Fortunately we had passed a strip of bars earlier on that was a couple of blocks back from the main strip and had much less of a " tourist trap" and more of a local feel.

I was initially drawn to the dodgy, noisy sports bar, but not having cider available was a deal breaker for Fee, and the beer was flat, so we moved on to a craft beer/burger joint. 

A few delicous beers and several conversations with locals later (one of whom straight up offered me weed), Fiona informed me that I was "being a pest" to people (I wasn't), and it was time to go home.

Sydney to LA with Virgin

I've watched a few episodes of "Ultimate Airport Dubai" recently, which in itself is actually a really boring proposition. It's basically a show about how an airport works. Nothing much beyond the drama of a couple of people missing a flight ever happens. However, I realised this morning at the airport that it had equipped me with an amazing talent - the ability to narrate and dramatise my whole journey through a departure.

This has significantly improved my airport experience. Suddenly being stuck in a check in line silently waiting your turn and wishing it would hurry up,  has become *voiceover* "Simon and Fiona are attempting to check-in for their Virgin Australia flight to Los Angeles. They only have another 2.5 hours to make it to the gate for departure. Will they get there on time?". And a confusing attempt at humour by the customs guy becomes *voiceover* "Border protection officer Craig jokes with Simon and Fiona about their occupations. Unfortunately, it does not go well."

Lets make this Top tip #1:
When bored at the airport, narrate yourself through mundane tasks to anyone that will listen.

We had intended to get our hands on some duty free whisky for the wedding*, and were quickly spotted by one of the shop attendants and reeled in by her tractor beam. This went well. Turns out that at airports, like any whisky place, if you show the slightest interest and knowledge in the product, and drop a few words like "peat" and "single malt", followed by an angry comment about heathens that mix coke with it, youll be tasting the best stuff in no time.

* Whisky will likely not make it to the wedding, will instead form part of private collection.

Top tip #2:
Drink single malt scotch.

8 tastings and 4 litre bottles of scotch later, we went to the gate to wait for the plane. I immediately noticed an american talking to anyone that would listen whilst wearing his neck pillow. I tried to put this out of mny mind whilst continuing with ocassional narrations, which was starting to annoy fee a bit, right up until "Michael Jordan" was repeatedly being paged to get on his flight. Finally, some airport drama!

Top tip #3:
Don't wear your neck pillow in the terminal, ever.

...and #4:
If you're going to be late for a flight, don't have the name "Michael Jordan". Everyone will laugh.

Boarding was uneventful. We settled in, then were promptly told by the captain, in the most soothing voice he could muster, that there was a "gremlin in the computer", which he was getting an engineer to sort out. Not exactly a confidednce booster for any nervous flyers on board.

Top tip #5:
If you're the captain of a jumbo jet, speak with confidence and never refer to an issue with a Boeing 777 as a "gremlin".

Two hours and several gremlin-based announcements later, we were finally on our way. There were several boisterous claps from the rear of the aircraft. And I'm sorry, but...

Top tip #6:
Don't applaud airctaft takeoffs and landings. Its not 1904, the miracle of flight has been with us a while now.

OK, so problems aside, quick flight review time:

The service
Very friendly, even in the face of snobby, pointless questions from the lady that "brought all her own food" and yet still wants to know if the chicken will be served separately from the pasta, as she's not "doing the carbs thing".

The space
The 777 doesnt feel like it has as much room as an equivalent airbus. But its not bad. Can stetch legs out quite easily.

The entertainment
Very ordinary. The system works ok once you figure out that your fingernail is basically the only thing that will make the touch screen register, but the content library is small, and not that good. Couple of OK movies, that's it. Terrible shows. Season 10 ep 5 of "modern family" anyone?

The food
Good. Only complaint is that during dinner there was quite a lot of turbulence. Cmon Virgin Australia, why would you have turbulence right when dinner is being served?

Top tip #7:
Arrange for any turbulence to be outside of meal times.

EDIT: I have since learned that turbulence is a phenomenon caused by invisible pockets of air in the sky. It is NOT caused by airlines. I apologise to Virgin Australia and other Virgin subsidiaries for any damages caused.

On to LA!

London

We have just finished a 5 night stay in foggy London town, and it's been fantastic. I could spend all day writing about all the things we've seen and done, so Instead I'll make a list, in roughly chronological order:

* Shared a pint and a roast at the pub with Samantha (Hi Sam!)
* Slept in (a couple of times)
* Visited the local starbucks
* Walking tour (Buckingham Palace, Prince Charles' house, Big Ben, house of parliament, Trafalgar square etc.)
* Jack the Ripper tour (disgusting stories, but good tour. Met some interesting east end folk in the process, and a particularly annoying American. More on this later.)
* Tour of Lords cricket ground (By a slightly senile bloke that was old enough to have seen Bradman play)
* Walked across Abey Road (with every other tourist twat in London)
* Visited Harrod's department store (Predicably, Fiona loved it, I hated it. The bloke in the toilet expected a tip for pointing out where the soap was. Sod off, I can work that one out for free mate.)
* Visited Harrod's ice cream parlour (best thing all afternoon)
* Saw "Dirty Dancing" the musical (Somewhat embarrasingly, really enjoyed this. Lets refrain from questioning my sexuality and just put this down to a quality 80s soundtrack.)
* Caught up with James and Thomas at Hyde park (Jolly good fun. Hi James! Hi Thomas!)
* Visited the Churchill war rooms museum (excellent.)
* Ate bangers and mash with a pint of English ale
* Saw "Spamalot" the musical (By the monty python crew. Hillarious. Only thing funnier than the show was Fiona's laughing.)
* Serenaded Fee with the songs from "Spamalot" for 24 hours.
* Visited the tower of London (Fantastic. Especially if like me, you enjoy a good suit of armour and a gawk at the crown jewels)
* Walked over the tower bridge
* Had a sausage roll and pie with mash at the Borough markets.
* Saw Shakespeare's globe theatre.
* Had a nap.
* Caught up with Mick and Krysty for some pints, some foozball and some tapas. (Loved every minute. Hi Mick! Hi Krysty!)
* Caught a train to Chester.

...And that brings us up to now.

So, obviously there is heaps to do in London. We have only just scratched the surface. It does come at a price though, having easily been our most expensive stop so far, but as mainland Europe was much cheaper than we expected this hasn't been a big concern. It is also very crowded, although people generally seem very curteous and patient, so this helps a lot. Even when lugging around bags and inadvertantly getting in peoples way, they seem to just take it in their stride and you rarely cop a nasty look like I'm sure you would in Sydney.

I think the pubs also deserve a special mention. Many are underground, dimly lit and serve beer at room temperature and food that while tasty is probably taking years off your life. However they are very atmospheric and full of character, and once you're in one you really do feel like staying all day/afternoon/night. That summises my feelings about London in general quite well actually. It's not ideal, or particularly pretty, but it has so much atmosphere and character that you can't help but love it.

   

Ghosts in Edinburgh!

Edinburgh was our first stop in the UK and where we first met up with my parents and sister. For those who don't know Erin has been in the UK for about 9 months now and has done some pretty serious traveling while over here. Before we met up Erin had called us in Berlin and asked if we would do a ghost tour while in Edinburgh with her, she had found one that takes you into a locked part of the old graveyard. Who could say no to an offer like that!
We only had about 36 hours in Edinburgh so a Ghost Tour sounded like a great way to see some of the city at night, and here about the city's gory past.
Now I had never realised what a complete sook my little sister is! When we met up for the tour guide the guide starts by telling of all the ghostly accounts people have had on the tour. He advises us that they have over 3000 people willing to write about their own experiences, and many more who didn't want to go on the record. He then tells us of all the people who have been knocked out cold on this tour, or come back with unexplained marks and scratches. By this stage my sister was already white as a ghost (sorry about the pun) but when the guide advised the group we were on this tour at our own risk Erin was ready to go home!
Thankfully Erin decided to risk the tour on the condition she could hold my hand (I personally was glad someone was more scared then me as normally I'm the sook).
As we walked through the city we heard about the cities dark past, witch burning, plague pits and possibly the first recorded concentration camp. We worked our way to a graveyard. This graveyard is famous for a dog greyfriars bobby that was loyal to his owner after he died and sat on his grave everyday until he died (although this story is exaggerated and has been made into a Disney movie). The graveyard is also the resting place of Tom Riddle (you should know who that is).
In the corner of this grave yard there is a locked section only accessible on this tour. It has been locked by the city council due to a poltergeist that haunts this section.
This grave yard is creepy, it is very old and there are so many bodies that after heavy rain bones frequently come out of the ground. It is built next to the old city wall and some greaves actually have cages over them from back when stealing bodies to sell was an issue.
So the entire tour are standing in a crypt in the locked and haunted part of the grave yard (Erin and I still holding hands). The guide starts going into detail of how people are attacked in this particular crypt. Next thing a man in a cape leaps through the door of the crypt and scares the shit out of us. Erin and I scream. Erin leaps back so she is not attacked dragging me with her which would have been OK if she didn't step on the old lady behind her and both of us didn't smack into Simon. Eventually Erin calms down after calling the man a few choice words and Simon and I stop laughing.
This is the end of the tour and a pint is required to calm everyone's nerves!

Prague

Prague is probably the most beautiful city in the world, and has definitely been one of my favourite stops so far. This is despite the fact that it rained almost the entire time we were there.
The historical centre of Prague is beautiful, and it is like walking back in time or onto a movie set. We also found Prague to be rather inexpensive and it has the best street food ever!
We had a few days in Prague so we got to do a little bit of exploring.
One of the first things we did was walk into the town square to where the famous astronomical clock is. Now every hour this clock does a performance, and every hour hundereds of tourists crowd around to see it. Don't get me wrong this clock is beautiful and an amazing piece of work especially when you consider how old it is and what it does, but this "performance" is  a little bit ridiculous. A few doors open,  a skeleton rings a bell and there is some sort of chicken that clucks.
Clocks aside we saw some incredible things in Prague.
The beautiful castle where we saw the changing of the guards, Saint Nicholas's church (this lead to a strange conversation about why Santa has a church and how baby Jesus delivers presents at Christmas not Santa) and we crossed three beautiful Charles Bridge. An absolute highlight was the nuclear bunker tour, we got to hear about the communist occupation of the Czech Republic after WWII and the lead up to the Czech Republic becoming a Republic. As part of this tour we got to go into a nuclear bunker that was built by the communists. Within the bunker there is a climbing wall, bar and a museum (yep 3 things you expect in a bunker). In the museum there was an amazing collection of gas masks and gas mask products including gas mask cribs for baby's complete with hand pump for Mum to pump air into the crib. We even got to try on a gas mask and hold an assault rifle (Simon advised me after I posed with it for photos that it actually was a real rifle).
Food was a definite highlight in Prague (ok it has been a highlight of the whole trip!). In the main squares there are a head of market stands, and a heap of food stalls. These stalls sold corn on the cob, ham off the bone, chips, spiraled fried potatoes, cider and hot dogs. But my favourite were these amazing donought like creations called Trdelnik, which is basically dough rolled around a rolling pin and cooked on a grill then rolled in cinnamon and sugar. Delicious!
One of the most interesting restaurants we attended was in Prague. Simon had a minor case of man flu so had spent one afternoon in bed sleeping (this was the perfect opportunity for me to buy a bohemian crystal vase when he wasn't looking!) so we set out to find something close to the hotel that was somewhat healthy, mainly not deep fried and served in a smoky tavern. Just around the corner from the hotel we found a restaurant that served pretty standard food - meat and veggies which sounded perfect. What we didn't realise was that this was a themed restaurant. So as we opened the door to get a table and a man dressed like Fred Flinstone complete with animal skin and face paint rushed to meet us. We had walked in to a cave man themed restaurant! We were taken into a large room which was made up with fake rocks complete with cave art and large (hopefully fake) bones decorating the place. To order your meal you were given a large menu and each item had a corresponding code, you had to write the codes down on a supplied notepad and then.... bang a giant rock on your table to get your waiters attention. In fact anytime you wanted anything such a drink or the bill you had to bang your table rock. The wait staff were all looking like they were from the set of the Flinstones and spoke in some sort of cave man language. It was a really fun experience (and rather noisy with all the rocks being banged) and the food was fantastic!
Prague was really one of my favourite cities, everything in the historical centre was just beautiful and it is definitely a place I will be visiting again. Although leaving Prague I was faced with the issue of traveling while keeping a bohemian crystal vase safe....

Flying in Germany

In the past, I may have, on occassion, had a bit of a whinge about Australian airlines and airports. After seeing how flights around Europe work, I just want to say I'm sorry, and I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again.

We have a few short flights to take inside Europe and the UK on this trip. The first was Munich to Berlin, via Air Berlin. This was only a very quick 1 hour hop, and although the airport was rubbish, the security measures extreme, and Fiona and I got shafted into separate rows despite booking the flight several months ago, it was fairly uneventful.

Today we are flying from Berlin to Edinborough, through a budget carrier called EasyJet, which I'm certain must have been the basis for the TV show "Come fly with me".

After the last experience, we knew it wouldn't be as simple as say flying from Sydney to Brisbane, so we arrived early. The first thing we noticed was there were several unhappy looking Germans waiting right near the baggage drop desk. Apparently you aren't allowed to drop off your bags unless your flight is departing within the next 2 hours. They time this down to the minute. So anyway, we check our bags, and proceed to security.

Security at German airports is ridiculous. Fiona and I stripped down to almost naked, and the metal detector still went off for both of us. This then means a frisking by some enormous German bloke barking orders in half German, half broken English. Oh, and you've got a camera in your bag? Get it out. Show me a picture on it. And I'll just take the lense cap off and stare into it to make sure it is indeed a camera, and not a couple of kilos of C4 explosives shaped exactly like a camera.

Ok so all fine now, get a coffee and stuff, flight will depart in an hour or so, no idea what gate though as its not on the board. Finally it appears on the board, and it immediately says "boarding". Rush to the gate, line up for a passport check to see if we are permitted to leave the country. We hand over our passports, the police officer says "There is no stamp. How did you get to Berlin?" We explain that we caught a flight from Munchen, and nobody stamped our passports. She looks worried. She then starts quizzing us, wanting our life story for the last month, wanting train tickets and boarding passes that we simply don't have, because who the hell keeps their old boarding passes? She even tries calling someone on the phone, there appears to be no answer, meanwhile the line behind us is building up, and we are getting just slightly worried that we will be incarcerated in Germany for not keeping an old boarding pass. Finally, she just shrugs, hands back our passports, and says we can go. Ok then.

Having apparently passed the thorough, somewhat confusing test put to us by the police, we walk around a corner, present our boarding passes and passports for I think the third time now, before being prodded into a tiny waiting room area with a plane load of people in it, to wait for the plane to arrive.

Eventually the plane arrives and my first thoughts are that it looks old. Certainly older than the planes used by Virgin and Jetstar (I found out later it was an airbus A319, launched in 1995). I tell Fiona that it is most likely on its last legs, having flown many tens of thousands of short hops across Europe over the last 20 years or so. She doesn't appreciate this.

Finally, by pure luck and as if it was some special test of patience devised just for me, there was an old scottish woman sitting in my seat. Being as polite and charming as possible, I informed the lady that I believed she was in my seat, and asked if she would mind moving. She responded sharply, and without hesitation, that seat "C" was nearest the window. Fortunately, before I got the chance to cause an international air rage incident, the flight attendant stepped in to confirm that I was in the right, and a very disgruntled old lady got out of the way to let us in, making no eye contact with either of us for the rest of the trip.

Fee's Oktoberfest Experience

Ok so this is Oktoberfest purely from my (Fee's) point of view, because I know Red is going to want to record his own version of events. Just to confirm no one was hurt in the making of Fee and a Red man Abroad Oktoberfest Edition.
As we had perfectly timed our trip to Munich with the opening weekend of Oktoberfest there was a few awesome things going on (and what felt like a million tourists there as well).
To open Oktoberfest they have a huge parade where all the breweries participate with their oompah bands, wagons full of beer kegs and all their staff all wearing their dirndls and lederhosen.
So Saturday morning we decided to head to the parade first - well actually I requested it as I love parades!! When we got there it was packed but one clever Redman found some barriers that were next to a building that were perfect for climbing up and gave a fantastic view of the parade. So we climbed up and watched and watched and watched... the parade was huge and we got there after it started but it fully made you appreciate how much beer must be served! And I was a little jealous that the staff on the floats already had beers in their hand.
When the parade was over we followed the masses to festival grounds. On the way there we got to see the tapping of the first keg by the Mayor of Munchen (best job ever!) through the window of beer hall. The tapping is followed by a 12 gun salute although Red asked if it was fireworks (not sure why he thought this as it was Midday!).
When we got to the festival grounds it was packed! Not only was it packed but their were random wagons with clydesdales still attached from the parade, which of course everyone wanted to stop to take a photo of. Eventually we made our way through the crowd. The day before a tour guide had told us about the "traditional" section of Oktoberfest, which most of the tourists avoid as you have to actually pay to go in. At this point Simon was reluctant to drink a beer, something to do with too much to drink at the Hofbrauhaus the night before. However I convinced him that it really was a good idea to at least find a table to sit at as it was Oktoberfest.
We found some empty seats in a table in a beer garden, where two Bavarian couples were seated.  After ordering a stein each (I had a Radler which is a German shandy and delicious!) we struck up a conversation with the Bavarians and by our second stein we had become friends. Our new friends were great fun and soon we were learning lots. We were told about the Wolpertinger a very dangerous German animal (google it, it is fantastic!). After a miscommunication about cocaine we got to try sniffing tobacco (hilarious!) and were gifted postcards that taught us the basics of anatomy in Bavarian.
Our new friends then nicely showed us the highlights of Oktoberfest (Bavarian style). This included a bar carousel where you can drink steins as the ride goes around. Simon had a go on one of the sideshow games, a shooting game where he got to show what an awesome shot he is. He hit 11 out of 12 targets, and managed to impress the Bavarians. He even won me a duck!
We then went to a white beer bar, just to try something different and yep they made Radlers with the white beer which was lucky for me!
Eventually it was time for our new friends to go home, after a quick stop to buy fish sandwiches. They swore they prevented you from getting drunk, we however couldn't stomach a fish sandwich after a few steins.
We said goodbye to our new friends and went to explore by ourselves. First thing on Simon's list was curry wurst.
After enjoying a huge plate of curry wurst and fries covered in mayo (yummy!) we then thought it was a great idea to go on a rollercoaster.
There was an Olympic themed rollercoaster with the 5 rings which were loop the loops! Awesome fun! Although I am not sure it was a great idea after lots of beer and curry wurst.
It was finally time to call it a day, but fun day was had by all. We also managed to avoid the legendary hill - where they leave you when you have had too much beer. 
Oktoberfest 5 out of 5 stars!

Munich, day 1.

It's now our last of 4 nights in Munich, and the city really has been extraordinarily good to us. I don't know if it's just because everyone is in such good spirits because of the festival, or if we have just been lucky, but we have had an absolutely awesome time without really planning a thing.

Our first full day in Munich was Friday, one day before the start of Oktoberfest. We started off by heading slightly out of town for a tour of the Dachau concentration camp. I won't go on about this too much, as I don't think my words could really do the experience justice, but it was emotional. If you can visit one of these memorials and not at least feel something, then there is something wrong with you. Whilst Dachau was far from the worst camp in terms of the number of people killed, it was the first concentration camp, and provided a model for camps such as Auschwitz. The tour guide we had was very good, and the museum on the site did an excellent job of explaining everything from how Hitler's national socialist party first came to power, all the way through to the specifics of the camp, and the eventual liberation by allied forces.

After returning to town, it was time for something a bit more cheerful.
Now before I get too far into this, here is a small glossary of terms:
Wasser: water.
Bier: Beer. More common, cheaper and easily obtainable in Munich than wasser. Consumed by every Bavarian man, woman and child from birth, in vast quantities.
Radler: A mixture of half bier, half lemonade. Usually consumed by (a). Small children that aren't quite ready for full strength, and (b). Fiona.
Biergarten: Outdoor beer garden. Something which appears
absolutely everywhere in Munich. Our Ibis hotel had one, every pub, restaturant and cafe has one, we went to a museum thinking we could get away from drinking bier for a while, it had a biergarten. I didn't check but I'm sure if you went to the local hospital, there would be a biergarten there.

We met up with a good mate from home who is in town for the festival, started by having a look around the (still empty) Oktoberfest site, and finished by going to the famous Hofbräuhaus for a bier and a meal. This place is amazing. For starters, its massive. Table after table and a huge outdoor biergarten. It just seems to go on forever. There is constantly German oompah music playing, steins being drank, just a great atmosphere. I was instantly hooked and sat down with a stein in one hand and a huge pork knuckle in the other. Fee settled into a radler and half a chook. It was at about this time that we met some Aussies that were looking for a table to share. This made things interesting. They were like younger, stupider models of us, and made sure that the steins, and at some point the jager shots, kept coming. Fortunately, we managed to escape the quickly escalating drunkeness before it got too out of hand, knowing that the main event was starting the next day. Even so, it was a great night, and really gave us a taste of the Oktoberfest experience even before it had officially started. 

Eagle's Nest Tour (i.e. went to Hitler's house, got snowed on)

For our second day in Salzburg we had organised a full day tour including "The Eagle's Nest", a salt mine tour, and the mountain town of Berchtesgaden .

First stop was "The Eagle's Nest", or "Kehlsteinhaus" as it is known in German, or "Eagle Hawk's Nest" as Fee had been constantly incorrectly calling it.

I was really excited to be visiting The Eagle's Nest. The history of the place is amazing. Here goes my wikipedia entry: It was constructed by the National socialist party as a 50th birthday pressent for Hitler, who used it for showing off to important guests. 8 people lost their lives constructing it, but I doubt that bothered old mate too much. Hitler apparently only ever visited it about 15 times, as he was scared of heights. The vast majority of buildings like it that belonged to the Nazis were destroyed by the allies at the end of the war, but the Eagle's Nest survived, with the British RAF claiming that they chose not to bomb it, and other sources saying that they simply couldn't hit it.

Right, so back to the tour: The weather wasn't good, it had been raining all morning and this made the bus ride up the mountain, around crazy corners with no real guard rails to speak of, that bit more interesting. It was of course worth it when we reached the top and laid eyes upon the incredible structure above.

So, after walking through Hitler's tunnel, and riding in Hitler's brass elevator, we had finally reached Hitler's tea house. We started by taking the path outside the bulding, leading up to the mountain summit, which provided excellent views of the building exterior. It would normally provide even better views of the landscape below, to a distance of around 200kms, but visibility was fairly limited due to the weather. However we did get some glimpses of the town below and the surrounding mountains.

It then started snowing, a lot, so we headed inside to have a look around. The most impressive part of the interior, in my opinion, is the Italian red marble fireplace, which was a gift to Hitler from Benito Musselini, and was complete with chip marks from allied soldiers looking for souveniers back in 1945.

It was soon time to head back down Hitler's elevator, through Hitler's tunnel, onto the bus, and back down the mountain. Further down the mountain towards the town of Berktesgarten, were the former residences of many high ranking members of the Nazi party, inlcuding Hermann Göring , Albert Speer, and Adolf himself. You might remember some of these names from the Quentin Tarantino documentary "Inglourious Basterds".

Vienna

After a little bit of confusion we made it to our apartment in Vienna, the person arranged to meet us their didn't show up, the man on the phone spoke terrible English and luckily a nice German girl helped translate so we could get the pin number for the key lock box. Then the person who was meant to show up the next day to collect our money didn't show - wonderful organisational skills!
As we only had a short time in Vienna soon after arriving we headed out promptly and hired some bikes. This was a lot of fun although the bike paths were a bit confusing at times. Bike riding was a great way to see the city and it was pretty successful I managed to only hit one pedestrian (oopps)! So as we rode around Vienna we found some lovely gentleman dressed as Mozart in the park selling tickets to a legitimate Viennese classical music concert - so the romantic Simon decided to take me on a date. 
Prior to our romantic night of classical music we randomly found an aussie bar for a quick drink. They served cider so I was excited. In the bar we made friends with a drunk Brissy girl, her Italian friend and were served Irish cider by a Norwegian and a German. Definitely an Aussie experience!
We then went off to find our concert, and after lining up with hundreds of bus tour groups we were informed we had lined up for the wrong concert. Luckily the Palace our concert was in was just across the road (lots of Palace's in Vienna!).
The concert was a really fun experience with ballet, opera signing and classical music. It was definitely aimed at tourists who were not classical music buffs. The fact that it was a "tourist trap" was a shock to the American's sitting behind us, and the "Mozart" they got their tickets from seemed like such a nice genuine guy!
The next morning we headed into the city center as there was a church tower Simon wanted to climb. And boy did we climb! We had to climb 382 stairs up a spiral stair case that was quite narrow. The view at the top was amazing but phew those stairs were hard.
Later that day we went to the Imperial Palace, where the Spanish Horses are shown (unfortunately didn't get a chance to see them), and the Sisi Museum. The  museum showed you the living quarters King Franz Josef and Queen Sisi (who tragically died and then became super popular).
For dinner we lashed out and went to an Austrian Aldi where we scored fish, vegetables, beer, wine and ice cream for like 10 euro, a bargain.
We finished our time in Vienna with a ride on the Riesenrad, a giant wooden ferris wheel that has been operated for 100 years. We got beautiful views of the whole city and was a lovely way to end our time in Vienna!

Salzburg

Our first experience in Austria was the incredible view of the mountains that can be seen from the train on the couple of hour trip from the border up to Salzburg. Our second was the crazy taxi driver that was about 500m into the trip to our hotel when he spotted some people giving away free milk drinks, slammed on the brakes, apologised, ran over to them (meter still running), grabbed two cartons of the milk things, threw them in the boot and continued the journey. Upon arrival to the Bloberger Hof hotel, he asked us if we drank milk, then thrust four of the drinks in our hands (presumably as compensation) and sent us on our way.

The Bloberger Hof, amusing name and all, deserves a special mention as it was a fantastic place to stay. When we arrived we were informed that we were in the honeymoon suite. The lady then inquired as to whether we were on our honeymoon, and I think the look on my face would have immediately told her that this was not the case. Nevertheless, it was a very comfotable, large room, equipped with all the necessities of an Austrian hotel: Balcony with amazing view of the Alps, ye olde minibar with bier and schnapps, four post bed with large mirror on the ceiling, everything you could want really.

On our first day out in Salzburg the weather was rainy one minute, rainier the next, but it didn't worry these two brave adventurers, equipped with weather proof jackets, and passes that gave us access to every indoor attraction in the city. So, we started by waiting for the Glockenspeil (spelling?) to sound, signifying to all that it was 11.07am (cmon Austria, a bit of German efficiency please), before heading up to the huge fortress that overlooks the city.

The castle was an amazing series of structures. It is one of the largest surviving castles in Europe, and inside was pretty much exactly like "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" on Xbox, except Nazis with Sten machine guns weren't hiding around every corner, and they probably didn't have a giant robot Hitler in the basement. Still, it was very impressive, providing excellent views of the surrounding landscape, and containing a number of museums in its many rooms.

Other highlights of the day included visiting Mozart's birthplace, ducking over the river to Mozart's house, seeing Mozart's statue, listening to some of Mozart's music, learning a bit more about Mozart's life, eating Mozart's (chocolate) balls, and having pork weinerschnitzel for dinner, which was one of Mozart's favourite dishes.

Venice

After a chaotic time at the F1 Venice has been the perfect way to unwind. Venice is amazing and beautiful. We have had a lot of fun exploring Venice, and I have had a lot of fun shopping (its OK I left Simon in the hotel where he was wearing his complimentary dressing gown). Our hotel is incredible (and rather luxurious compared to our tiny unit in Milan), it is in an old palace that has been done up and is gorgeous.
We spent our first afternoon wandering the streets full of shops with Venetian masks (these are beautiful but some are very scary!), Munaro glass and beautiful art work. We hunted down the church which featured in Indiana Jones and the last crusade and found a bar nearby for a refreshing drink. Here Simon tried to order a Birra, a Peroni, much to my delight the bartender had misheard Simon and he ended up with a pink cocktail called a Bellini which he secretly loved. 

Last night we found a lovely restaurant on a canal where we enjoyed seafood pasta and bruschetta, so much that both of us ended with smiles full of basil (all class we are).
Today we enjoyed a Gondola ride which I have always wanted to do, we got to ride down little canals and listening to the Gondolier yelling ooeee as we went around corners. We rode past both Casanova and Marco Polo's houses.
This afternoon we went over to the island of Lido by taking the waterbus. Lido is where the Venetian's  go for summer and home of the Venetian film festival. We worked away to the beach and were amazed at what it was like. The beach was completely fenced off with only access through gates which are locked at night. And on the beach there are thousands and thousands of beach huts. It was incredible and so very different to the beaches at home. We went on a quiet day but could imagine what it would be like in summer. It was a great afternoon of swimming and laying on the beach and nice to be away from the crowds of Venice.

Venice has been a lovely way to end our time in Italy. Simon's only disappointment is that he didn't see any Blind shops (you know Venetian blinds, yep even here he is cracking terrible jokes!). We celebrated our last night in Italy with some more amazing Pizza and a Birra for Simon (no pink cocktail this time). Tomorrow we are off to Austria, first stop Salzburg where I hear the hills are alive with the sound of music (yep Simon is a terrible influence).
Buonanotte.

Monza - Italia F1 GP

We've spent the last 4 nights in Milan, and the best part of the last 4 days attending the Italian Formula 1 GP.

The event was just an incredible spectacle. The Italians are so passionate about F1, and in particular their precious Ferrari team and Fernando Alonso. They turned out in droves. Also in cars, scooters, bikes and I think what one guy was driving was a street sweeper.

The racing was absolutely awesome. Seeing and hearing those cars come down the straight and into a corner at completely stupid speeds fulfilled every boyhood dream I'd had about being a part of such an event.
To summarise the race: Vettel won. He never looked like not winning. He started first and just got further and further away from the pack as the race went on. You'd see Vettel go past and then just be waiting, looking down the straight for everyone else. Alonso got off to a good start and planted himself in 2nd, much to the delight of the Italians, and Webber spent the entire race battling with Massa for 3rd, and then Allonso for 2nd. Webber stayed right with Alonso the entire time, but couldn't manage to get past. Still, it was a very proud moment to see Webber up on the podium at Monza for his last time. All of the 6 aussies at the track were extremely excited.

I think even Fee had fun when the main race was on. If not she was doing a good impression of being excited for me. We were both kitted out in our team redbull shirts, this made it interesting when we got lost trying to find our grandstand and ended up in one of the camping areas, being yelled at by drunk Italian Ferrari fans.

Fee and I have now had our dose of Italian crowds for quite some time, but everything went relatively to plan despite the seemingly complete lack of organisation by the Italians. Basically they couldn't organise d'roota ina di brothelli, if you'll excuse my Italiano. This meant you needed to know where you were going, and how to get there, as it was extemely unlikely that there would be a sign or something to point you in the right direction. If you ever want to see thousands of confused tourists, Monza on race weekend is the perfect place to go.

While we're on the topic of tourists, I feel the poms deserve a special mention. There was probably as many Brits at the F1 as there were Italians, and while most were perfecty fine, my goodness we encountered some whingey bastards. Here are some of my favourite quotes from poms over the last few days:

"These trains are ridiculous, its not like home." Really? Italian trains aren't exactly like those in London? oh I'm so sorry, I'll tell Italy that right away.

"Stop pushing me." (lady in a massive crowd of people trying to get onto a train). See, thing is love, you're in a crowd. A huge crowd. Sometimes, you might get pushed a little bit.

"I hate getting wet." (as a tiny shower starts, and he puts up his enormous golf umbrella, annoying half the crowd)

"You're in my seat." (To an Italian man, during a practice session, when there were literally thousands of other seats free)

Anyway, enough whinging about poms. We are currently hurtling towards Venice on the train. More later. Arrivederci!

First day in Milano

So we finally left Rome and headed to Milan. We arrived with no issues (although it was funny to watch Simon try and talk on the phone to the Italian manager of our unit to explain we had arrived). We are staying in a private unit in suburban Milan close to the main station. It is really lovely, off a little courtyard and everything. Plus we have a washing machine and full kitchen.
We decided we better head for Monza where the F1 track is so we could check out the pit lane walk. Catching the train to Monza was the easy part but once we got there it was pure shambles. Firstly there was no shuttle buses to the track as the racing doesn't start until today. But there was also no signs and a bunch of really confused tourists who were leading each other around like lost sheep. We befriended a British couple and decided to find a taxi. After walking past the taxi stand and being ignored by several taxis we eventually found the taxi stand and then a taxi. When we got to the Autodromo (yep that's what it is called!) it was chaos.
We followed the crowd and made it into the pit lane after walking for ages. And WOW. Now I am obviously not the F1 lover in this relationship but I got a whole appreciation for the passion people have for the F1 and it was addictive (and this was just the pit lane walk). Going down the pit lane was like walking through a massive mosh pit but add in tons of excited Italians, Germans and Poms all yelling in their respective languages. We finally pushed our way through to Webbers garage in the pit which was all the way down the end. Eventually they started moving people down so that the drivers could come out and wave etc. At this point I followed some people right down the end and managed to get on the wrong side of the barrier! Simons face when I waved to him from the wrong side was priceless. Simon then joined me on the wrong side of the barrier but by this stage security realised that hundreds off us were on the wrong side of the barrier and then pushed us out by making a police line.
Then as we moved out of the way Simon nearly got run over by a scooter, being driven by Lewis Hamilton (a British F1 driver who frequently pulls stunts like driving a scooter through the crowd on the pit lane). Simon was so shocked he didn't have time to even take a photo.
We then decided to try and work out how to get back to the train station, as there were no taxi's. We ran into our British friends from the start and thanks to google maps found a bus stop not too far from the Autodromo. However we did manage to get on the bus without buying tickets (oopps) but luckily the buses were so full no one noticed. After finally getting back to Milano (and seeing a train door broken by some people trying not to miss the train- note the train doors here actually stop if you grab them when they are closing!) we found a supermarket on our way home. This was a lot of fun and we were amazed at how cheap things were (Simon was also amazed that they sold beer in 3 packs not 6 packs). So we got ourselves a feast of salami, pesto, cheese and pasta and 2euro bottle of vino to go with it. We then headed back to our cute little unit to enjoy our feast! (and to get a good sleep so I can face the first day of time trials at the Autodromo!)

Roma!!

Tonight is our last night in beautiful Rome and I don't think either of us want to leave. We have already talked about when we come back...
We have managed to squeeze in a lot in our few days here. Starting with our trip from the airport where we drove past the Colosseum  and the Roman Forum all lit up it was magical.
On our first day we visited the Colosseum, the Palatine, Roman Forum, Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. This was incredible, all those history lessons from school were coming to life. Everywhere you looked there was a beautiful building, a story to learn (and as Simon pointed out lots of good looking Italians!). The Colosseum was my highlight, it is just an incredible structure. At Trevi fountain we both threw a coin in as is tradition. This is also where Simon learned what a sucker I can be, with a very pushy Italian trying to sell roses (well he gave them to me for "free" and then hit up Red for money, to sumarise Red was called something not so nice in Italian after he told him where to go).
Today we visited the Vatican, but missed the pope (he was busy with a Papal audience, hot tip this meant no line for the Vatican Museum!) The Vatican museum is incredible and there is so much to see. I particularly loved the Egyptian artifacts (there was a real mummy!) and this amazing hall with these beautiful maps painted on all the walls. We also visited the Spanish Steps where I got to walk into the fountain and fill up our drink bottle, best water I have drunk this trip.
Then there is the food, so far there has been pizza, pasta and gelato. We have learnt
that although they can't do cocktails in Roma (ordered one cocktail and ended up with Rum and coke!) the food is amazing. Last night was in Red's words "best dinner ever".  This was an amazing pizza followed by tiramisu and sorbet. Tonight we had pasta in a cute little courtyard garden. And at breakfast we have Mario who freshly makes our cappucino (no s) and corrects our Italian.
Rome is amazing, however the only highlight of leaving is hopefully Red will stop saying 'When in Rome".
Ciao.

Pompei / Napoli

We left the hotel right after breakfast and headed to the train station for a day trip to the small town of Pompei, which is the site of one of the world's most significant archeological digs.
The story with this place is back in the day it was a fully fledged city of about 25,000 people, with all the mod cons like plumbing, gymnasium, bathing facilities, theatres, markets, brothels and temples for worshiping your favourite cult. So pretty much exactly like the suburb of Rockdale, except without a tennis club, as that sport wouldn't be invented for a few more years. Anyway, one day, the nearby volcano errupted, and they were stuffed. Most of the people fled, but about 3,000 either didn't have time, or were convinced that their Pagan gods would save them, and they were all covered in liquid hot magma, as was the entire city.
It is absolutely amazing how well the city has been preserved by the lava. You walk down the cobblestone streets and you can almost picture what life must have been like for these people over 2000 years ago. There is house afer house after house, all pretty much still intact. (These people only lived until 30 or something, what were they doing building houses that could last thousands of years?) Then you get to the public areas, the baths for example, which are basically set up like a modern day spa: Baths for men, baths for women, a sauna, cut outs in the walls to put your clothes.
I also particularly liked the theatre, and the ampitheatre. The former was used for things like plays and iphone launches, the later for things like gladiator battles (like on channel 7 in the 90s). Both were very well preserved, and really gave me an appreciation of how unbelievably impressive the coliseum must have been when it was complete.
The artwork and attention to detail that could be seen around the city was amazing as well. The houses of dignitaries for example featured columns with very intricate detailing on them, incredible paintings, mosaic tiled floors. Many of these are things we still associate with grand houses, but of course labour costs have gone up a bit since 80BC, and its so hard to find a guy that specialises in columns.

Napoli
After a train ride back to Napoli (Naples), we had a couple of hours to wait for our connecting train back to Rome, so we decided to explore Napoli a bit, with two main goals in mind: 1. To see some water, and 2. To have some pizza.
Now, I'm not sure what you picture when you think of a seaside italian town, but I think of that stuff from the travel shows, with the beautiful coastlines with houses going up into the hills, and all that. So trying to get to the water seemed like a good goal. It wasn't. Turns out that about all Napoli has on its coastline is shipping ports. So thats a massive fail for (1).
We then set off with a our goal of working our way to this mythical pizza place that Fiona had seen a review for online. Before long we found ourselves in some back streets, (or were they main strets? I'm still not sure). It was alright at first. Some markets were going on, there were some tourists, some locals, maybe the odd scooter going by. It was a picture perfect italian street. After about 10 minutes as we got further in, I started to hate every minute of it. It was a complete dogs breakfast. (Literally. I think I almost stepped in what used to be a dogs breakfast.) It stunk, there was garbage everywhere, cars and scooters would nearly run you over, vendors were yelling at you, and a puppy licked my ankle. On top of all that madness, we failed to find the fancy pizza place, and, defeated, went back to the train station to enjoy a nice, predictable mcchicken and Peroni.

20 hours with emirates

We spent the day yesterday flying from Sydney to Rome with emirates. 12.5 hours on an Airbus A380 to Dubai, then another 6 hours on a Boeing 777 to complete the trip.
The experience was about as good as it could have been. The staff were good, everything was on time, food was good, and the inflight entertainment system had an adequate selection of Hall & Oates, spanning their entire career and covering all the greatest hits. Big thumbs up there emirates.
The A380 is without doubt the aircraft you want to be doing trips like this in if you can. It feels much more spacious, especially in terms of seat width. I was on the aisle both times, and the cart brushed past my shoulder on the 777, not so on the A380.
One potential down side for the A380 is that it has stairs in the front galley area. But this is only really a bad thing if you pass out and hit your head on them, as one lady unfortunately did, leading the captain to make an announcement asking if there was a doctor on board, at which point I was extremely disappointed that Leslie Nielson didn’t make an appearance.