Friday, January 24, 2003
Finished!My time here in Sweden officially ended at 5pm today, but I'm still here, working away and getting everything sorted (I hope). Last night was huge and I have been in a lot of pain all day today, but at least I ended my time here in the same way it began...very wobbly on white wine. At least I'm consistent. There were quite a few hangovers in the office today.
Ren is on a plane now headed for Stockholm and tomorrow we head off to the IceHotel. I don't think I'll have a chance to post anything else before I get back to Sydney next week.
Posted at 8:41 AM
Thursday, January 23, 2003
Baby Nanna, drinking, dinner and walking on ice
A few weeks ago we had a beautiful weekend, it had snowed and snowed and was around -8 degrees and so everything was frozen. But finally, Sunday was a gorgeous sunny day. I was coming into work and decided to walk and when I got to Gamla Stan I realised that the harbour had frozen completely, and as I could see footprints on the snow covered ice I decided to take a risk and walk across myself.Ooh it was scary, especially when I kicked some of the snow off and could see the black ice I was standing on. I hurried across thinking of the embarrassment if I fell through and had to be rescued. I reached the other side and could look further down the harbour and it was absolutely covered with people out on the ice - skiiing, skating, pulling kids on sleds and just taking a shortcut acoross the ice - there were even people puching prams,,,but now all teh ice is melting cause the weather has been so strange, it's only -2, rainy and misty so all the snow has gone and there isn't even any slush. 
I had dinner last week at Sandra's parents place which was sooo lovely, they made me very welcome and comfortable and Per cooked up a winner of a meal. It was great to have someone else cook dinner! It was a really nice night. Robert and I had a rather messy evening last Friday...Robert arrived two weeks ago from the Sydney office to take up a global position with our company and we decided to continue the Friday Night Drinks tradition. Tonight there are plans for more drinking at my farewell gathering at the Plank Place. I think I'll have a quiet one, but I might be wrong about that...then Renay arrives from London tomorrow and we head off to the IceHotel. We stay the first night in an ice suite, and on Australia Day Henrich our tour guide will pick us up in the morning in a dog sled and take us out into the 'nature' for the night. We'll chop wood for teh traditional Swedish sauna, heat up then jump out and roll in the snow, have dinner and fingers crossed the weather will be clear and we ill be able to see the Northern Lights. We sleep in Lappish huts and Heinrich collects us on snowmobiles the following morning and takes us back to the airport for our 1pm flight home. Can't wait!Posted at 5:06 AM
Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Thorpedo, and the Flying Doctors...Jem told me last night that the Australian Flying Doctors TV show is called here in Sweden: 'The Doctor Who Comes'. Isn't that fabulous!
Last night Robert, Jem & I went to see Thorpedo and the Aussie team at the FINA World Cup Short Course championships at Eriksdalsbadet pool here in Stockholm. We had limited support items - Robert a Wallabies cap, I had a small Aussie flag I'd nicked from Gr?ne Lund and Jeremy, well Jeremy God bless him bought a stuffed koala holding a eucalyptus leaf. He waved it around for a while, and then stuffed it in his pocket.
We stopped in at Mest for a few vinos before heading on our way, and managed to score great seats behind the Aussie team. And then out of nowhere up popped Thorpedo a few metres from us, so I went crazy with my camera. He was very relaxed, and when he swam it was obvious why...it was easy for him, he won by miles. It was appropriate that while we were yelling , 'Go Thorpedo', Jem was yelling 'Good luck, everyone else'. 
I think maybe Thorpie's been paid to attend as a crowd puller, cause he was the only name there last night, and while the Aussie team was made up of youngsters, they did pretty well and got few got seconds and thirds. It was lots of fun, as usual the Swedish crowd was very quiet, but us and the other three Australians in the crowd made up for the lack of noise and I'm sure my big fog-horn voice was heard breaking the silence by all. Robert was a tad embarrassed at by patriotism, but perked up after a while and even did an 'Aussie Aussie Aussie' cry. That's a photo of Thorpedo wining on the right...no one else in sight.
It's incredible watching him swim, he is like a big long seal, and towers above everyone else. He just glides along and looks so relaxed. And he's so popular, Princess Madeline of Sweden asked him to dinner on Monday night! We left a little early as there were no more Aussie's racing and topped off the night with a huge Lebanese meal on the way home, which we could afford since we accidentally forgot to pay for the tickets.Three days to go! More tomorrow,
Yvette
xxx
Posted at 2:26 AM
Tuesday, January 21, 2003
I'm gonna live forever...The first day we were back in London I lazed around and met Ren at Hammersmith in the afternoon, after she'd been for her Coke interview, and we had a couple of beers with Kate before heading back to Acton Town. Stopped in at the pub for a while but too tired so after a couple of games of pool headed home. Relaxing and watching tv when Jason and Kate returned from the pub and Jason started the previously documented Wedgy Wars (which for Jason's benefit I will repeat: I WON!).
Our christmas presents from mum and dad had arrived by the time we got back from Prague...so sweet, they'd sent a santa hat and bonbons - but Ren will have to save those for next year. There was a card and letter from nanny, and undies (the Christmas undies that became Wedgy Woman) from Grandma and Grandpa, some other gifts, and the best of all, matching Peter Alexander pj's!
And in case you can't see the Fame poses properly in the photos above, here's a close up!
So now I'm just about up to date...will write about Thorpedo, dinner at Sandra's and walking across Stockholm harbour tomorrow...
Yvette
xxx
Posted at 12:00 AM
Monday, January 20, 2003
Last Day in Prague...and last week in Sweden
I've now begun my last week in Sweden! Can't wait to get home, especially to see some sunshine cause the weather here is crappy again...freezing, dark, overcast and raining...James just sent me this photo to remind me how beautiful Sydney can be...it scared me a bit considering I've been living indoors only for the past few months, so I have just now returned from doing some laps at the pool. And, speaking of laps, the FINA world cup short course is in Stockholm on Tuesday and Wednesday and I've got tickets. I can't wait to see Thorpedo! Jeremy and Rob are coming too, we have rustled up a few Aussie flags and I believe Jem may even be bringing a koala...not sure about that one. But anyway it should be great fun. Might even get on the tele if we scream loud enough!Anyway, here's my second last holiday update, our last day in Prague.....
We set off on a 40 minute walk to the site of the Vysehrad Castle - me with way too many layers on and sweating like mad, Ren stinking of alcohol and feeling very ordinary, Chris the American Boy Wonder saying how wonderful everything was and telling us all about 1. how he has already, at the age of 19, developed and sold a multi-million dollar dj business, 2. Is a qualified �body piercer�, 3. Is friends with Moby and assorted pop stars, 4. Is a pro skateboarder 5. Has toured the US as a dj, and much much more that I have since blocked out; and an embarrassed Matt, the boy who had tried to swallow half of my face the night before. 
One highlight was the Vysehrad Cemetery which is 150 years old and is the burial place for some of the country�s most famous people, including Dvorak. We wandered around for a quite a while, and eventually found his grave. I'm not sure if it's wrong to take photos of tombs, but I did anyway, they were so ornate with gold lettering, carvings, massive monuments, and pictures and sculptures of the deceased. Ren took a photo of one sculpture that was the exact image of Tori Spelling post surgical alterations.
Stopped off for a quick hair of the dog at a bar conveniently located inside the castle grounds opposite the cemetery, and headed off to the second cool place, the ruins of Libuse's Baths.
She was a Princess and head of a Slavic tribe, and the first female ruler of Prague (obviously a long, long time ago). Then a tram back to the hostel via Maccas to grab our bags, for Ren to say a quick farewell to her Hot Love and to bolt for the train, and then the bus to get the plane back to London (via Amsterdam of course).
Returned to London exhausted, as you can tell from this pretty picture of Ren on the plane. It was another full day of traveling from Prague to London Stansted via Amsterdam, but at least it was cheap. We were pretty tired, but we did manage to have a few red wines at a bar at Amsterdam airport. That airport is huge, it even has street signs pointing you to the varying duty free stores. Then after a small rumble which left us both lying on the ground we made it to the plane and later that evening were back at Acton Town, in front of the TV with a cuppa and some vegemite toast.
Posted at 12:49 AM
Friday, January 17, 2003
New Years Eve in Prague Part 2
So we wandered through the grounds of Prague Castle, climbed the (read with Dr Evil voice) "Pow - der Tow - wer", visited St George's Basillica and Convent, and wandered down the Golden Lane where we bought each other a necklace as a souvenir of Prague, through the Lobkowicz Palace, and then bolted via the Italian street (more house signs) to a Vivaldi/Goborek Concert at the Leichenstein Palace which was really beautiful and a perfect addition to our New Years Eve in Prague. By the time the concert finished it had stopped snowing - perfect for the planned outdoor celebrations that night.
We'd bought some wine and champagne at the supermarket before setting off that morning and grabbed some maccas on the way home as eveything else had shut for NYE. We were planning a quiet night though, a few drinks and then a wander into town, but it all changed when we returned to the dorm to find four young British lads had replaced the Germans. Our plans to have a snooze were ruined as we were all mucking around, so we decided to play some drinking games instead. A search party was sent out and was successful in buying many more bottles of champers and the games began. Then all of a sudden it was 11.30pm and time to head into the Old Town Square to watch the fireworks.
The crowds were huge, and there are no firecracker regulations in Prague so it was a bit of an obstacle course watching out for cracker explosions. The crowd would suddenly part and crackers would be flying everywhere. I remember seeing two girls dancing together in the middle of the road while fireworks went off all around them. It was at this point I noticed Ren was holding hands with one of the British lads...hmmm. We pushed our way through the crowds and stood waiting for midnight. There wasn't a proper countdown to midnight, and all of a sudden the crackers were going off all around us and people were showering us with champagne. My hair was soaked and everyone was screaming and yelling. Ren who had been pashing her new friend for the last 20 minutes very kindly told him that I got the first kiss of the New Year and quickly pecked me on the cheek before returning to pash-land. 
Then one of the other boys asked me if he could have a NYE kiss and so I naively went to peck him and all of a sudden my face was almost entirely covered by his mouth. I escaped pretty quickly I tell you. Then it was all over bar the shouting and we wandered along through the crowds who were still pouring valuable champgne everywhere and throwing crackers all over the place. I have to lay down the rules to Ren who was very wobbly and wanted to go to a nightclub with her new friend, and after a shouting match she finally came with me and we fell into a Chinese restaurant, had some food and a huge beer each which almost put us over the edge, before heading back to the hostel at around 3am. We had a bottle of wine left so we continued drinking with some of the of the others and then fell into bed.The next day was very painful for all, so after some KFC, and joined by American Teen-Wonder Chris, we went down to the Vltava and joined a two hour boat trip It was great to see Prague from a different perspective, and I discovered my camera can take photos in sepia and black & white...
After Ren dragged us around the to just about every souvenir shop possible in the Old Town, we went on a brief pub-crawl and then returned to the Czech restaurant for a meal. I must have been on fire, or the waiter very desperate, cause I had his full attention: winks, shoulder touching, (what he thought were) seductive looks and more...Ren was in hysterics and and when I decided to order desert the one thing I wanted was called a 'Hot Love' and I just couldn't ask the flirtacious water to give me a Hot Love. It was very embarrasing so I loudly ordered a cheesecake for Chris, and quickly mumbled the Hot Love bit. It was a pretty good desert though and well worth the torture. 
Ren met up with her very own Hot Love when we got back to the hostel and against my motherly advice headed out with the boys for more drinking activities. They arrived home at 3am and woke the entire hostel. Our dorm was voluntarily evacuated by those who didn't want to hear the Hot Love sounds eminating from Ren's bed, and eventually they all quietened down around 6am. As a few of us had a little sleep before they returned home, we took great delight in getting up at 8am, turing on the lights and putting Ren and the boys through a similar toture, and even though she was extremely tired hungover, Ren knew there would be hell to pay if she piked on our planned activities for the day so she very bravely joined us...That's it for today, more later
Yvette
xxxx
Posted at 6:17 AM
Thursday, January 16, 2003
Renay the Snow Queen gets her wish...I woke up early the next morning and thought the blobs falling past the light outside the hostel window looked a little thick to be raindrops, but it wasn't til it got a little lighter that I could wake up Ren and tell her 'It's SNOWING!". It was all Ren had wanted from her trip to Prague. We quickly got dressed and bolted outside. There was a slight covering of snow but as we started walking it got heavier and heavier and soon there was snow all around.
First stop was the Jewish Quarter, to see the Jewish Cemetery which we'd heard so much about. It' s quite an amazing story, (I'm getting educational again). The cemetery dates from the early 15th century, is the second oldest Jewish burial site in Europe. Although around 12,000 tombstones are located here, an estimated 100,000 bodies are all buried on top of each other because the Jews were forbidden to expand the burial ground beyond the walled ghetto. This is why there are tombstones of differing heights, some are just poking out of the earth becuse they have been covered by later burials, and others are completely underground.br>
I read that the reason the cemetery, and so much of the Jewish Quarter was preserved during Nazi occupation was because they planned to set up a 'Museum of an Extinct Race'. We also visited the Jewish Town Hall, the Jewish Museum and the Klausen Synagogue. Unfortunately the Pinkus Synagogue was closed for restoration as it was damaged in the floods last year. And even worse, The Church of my patron saint St Agnes (yes, I chose the name Agnes for my confirmation name) was closed which was very disappointing.
We then walked alongside the river and back over Charles Bridge to our next stop, Prague Castle. On the way it started snowing soooo heavily, people were having a great time, slipping and sliding all over the place and scraping the snow off cars to use in snowball fights. Some people were getting absoutely hammered by their friends. I tried to throw one at Ren but it stuck to my glove and went way off target. Princess Ren was still prancing along with her unbrella while I had take off my beanie and wear her dodgy hat, named 'Penis Head' cause that's what you look like when you wear it. But it's very warm at least. We decided to stop back at the restaurant of the day before for another one of their delicious mushroom soups. 
The Cathedral was really beautiful, the stained glass was amazing, and I'm so glad the photos worked out cause it was so pretty... so much more to tell but it will all have to wait til tomorrow. Love Yvette
xxx
Posted at 3:20 AM
Wednesday, January 15, 2003
Prague - Day 1 & 2
Day 1:
We arrived at Prague airport on December 29 after a long, long flight. Ren hadn't realised when she booked our ticket, but our one and a half hour flight from London was actually six hours via Amsterdam. And it left at 8am. At least it was from Heathrow which wasn't as bad as the trek out to Stansted. And it was cheap. We were entertained by the bloke sitting next to us who Ren dubbed The Emu Man due to his bobbing head sticking in and out and all around throughout the flight (I think he was also trying to get a good look at the FHM I was reading). It took our minds off the flight at least. 
We arrived around 5pm and after a bus and train ride found our Golden Sickle hostel. Our dorm was full of loud excited Germans, so we went for a quick stroll down to Wenceslas Square where we took a couple of photos outside the museum, and then feasted on pork and dumplings at a local Czech restaurant.Returned to the hostel and made our plan for our first full day in Prague, we had an Eyewitness City Guide and although I've always been a big LP fan, this guide was brilliant. Went to bed early and I assumed the role of Dorm Mother and had to do a 'lights out girls and boys' to our German dorm mates at midnight as we had a big day ahead!
Day 2:
Up early and on our way at around 9am. We started out on the Royal Walk, with Ren as navigator. Wandered through the streets from the New Town to the Old Town, stopping at all the interesting sights along the way, and Prague is full of them. The streets are old and made of cobblestones, lined with crooked (and straight!) coloured buildings on either side and little alleys and pathways leading onto little adventures through the city. We happened to pass the Old Town Hall just as the Astronomical Clock was doing it's thing. There are numerous figures around the clockface which move as the hour strikes - one, a skeleton 'Death' tolls a bell, while the 12 Apostles pass the two clock windows. It was originally built around 1490, and the figures were added in the 17th century. The Nazi's fired at the Town Hall during WW2, and although the Old Town Hall burnt down, the Clock was restored to its orignal form.
Typical street, Gothic Powder Gate, where the Royal Procession would stop before entering the Old Town, Black Madonna, Astronomical Clock at the Old Town Hall & close up of clock face
We eventually emerged at the Vltava River and the beautiful Charles Bridge. The Bridge connects the Old Town and the Little Quarter or Lesser Town, and was originally a wooden bridge, but from the 1100's to the 1700's (with a small problem of it's total collapse in 1342) was built in stone and gradually added to so that now over 30 sculptures line the sides. It's full of street sellers and buskers. It was pure Prague, just as we'd imagined it. We climbed to the top of the Old Town Bridge Tower (nearly passing out from all the steps, and avioding the ticket man) and took photos of the view over the Bridge and to Prague Castle.
View from Old Town Charles Bridge Tower
After crossing Charles Bridge to the Little Quarter we just had to stop for a beer, after all it was midday and we had been walking for three hours. Of course it went straight to our heads and we wobbled down to along the River Walk, past the Grand Priory Square, where a John Lennon portrait was supposed to be, and although we joined other confused tourists no-one could find it with all the graffiti on the wall. Then we took more pretty photos...
Then it was back to the Little Quarter and St Nicholas Church where we climbed up the (batless) belfry and took more photos before heading up the main street in the Little Quarter, Nerudova Street, lined with ancient houses with 'house signs' which were used to mark houses before numbers were introduced - such as the two suns on the right. We then stopped for some soup - Prague soups are very very yummy - and Ren had some more wine before we ventured off again.
View from St Nicholas Church
It was getting late and everything was starting to close. We just missed going to Wallenstein Palace, but ticked it off anyway as we saw a little bit of the courtyard before being kicked out. Then pizza for dinner and an early night. When we got back, the Germans were heating a suspicious substance in the hostel common room, even Ren didn't know what it was. We spoied on them for a while, but got bored and were so tuckered out from all our walking we had a relatively early night in preparation for another big day and New Years Eve festivities.
Update
Well only two weeks to go and of course there's a drama - Matthew from Gail Florence Real Estate is mathematically challenged as he signed my tennants not for the agreed six months, but for SEVEN months. This means I can't move back home when I get back to Sydney and all my plans for spending two weeks fixing my apartment and lying by the pool are ruined. Not happy Jan, but will hopefully be able to stay with mum and dad, and Jax and James for the month. Very jealous of all Jacqui's social activites and can't wait to get back into it myself. This is Jax at her work Christmas party with one of "my" ships in the background. Have been working on more issues management over the last couple of days, so I'm still in the office at 9pm waiting for a final confirmation that this one is now over! But I think I'll head home pretty soon to see if my pay TV is working which is a game I play every night since I haven't paid the bill for the past two months.Love
Yvette
Posted at 4:58 AM
Monday, January 13, 2003
Mamma Mia, Ice-skating and Wedgy Wars...
A few days after Christmas we went to the theatre and saw Mamma Mia, it was brilliant, definitely abba-solutely fab. I was worried at the beginning, cause the first scene seemed very amateurish, but it all got better and better. I really loved it and can't wait to see it in Sydney with Rhonda Burchmore. We were up dancing and laughing the whole way through. Then it was off to practice our double axel toe toe saltos.
Renay had booked us tickets for evening ice-skating at Sommerset House that night, so we met up with Kate and Kristy at a pub and wandered down. Dave was supposed to join us but only got as far as putting on his skates and standing at the edge of the rink before piking.
Great fun, although after a while we had pins and needles in our feet. We skated for half an hour, with Kristy stacking twice and Renay once. People were laughing and falling over everywhere, it was great fun and sooo pretty, all lit up with christmas lights, a christmas tree, and music and carols playing.
Wedgy Woman
Wedgy Woman was born after a particularly violent wedgy attack from a drunken Jason one night at the Castle. I was watching TV, minding my own business when Jason firstly jumped on my head, and when there was no reaction he decided to start a wedgy war. He had me straight away and although I struggled and strained to get away and to get my hands on his undies (so much so that I burst a blood vessel in my eye) I was defeated. Further battles followed, and I escaped for a while. But on returning to the loungeroom, I saw him attacking Kerry...he was bent over, and in true Aussie style his undies were hanging out of the top of his jeans. I couldn't resist and grabbed a hold, but he turned and got mine too. I was winning hands down and pulling those undies with so much strength I was lifted off the ground. Kerry reckons she could see skin through the leg holes, his pants were pulled that high.
But Jason's hold on my special Christmas undies (from grandma & grandpa) was too strong and they tore. So I had to think of an alternative use for them and Wedgy Woman was born. The undie tear fitted nicely around my eyes, and hooked under my nose, and Ren wrote 'Wedgy' on the undies for me with her lipstick. My excuse is we had spent the afternoon at a pub at Richmond, hence the creativity. Never let it be said that I am vain!Jason's other favourite passtime is dressing up in a wig and pretending to be a professional tennis player. It's a beautiful thing.
We had a few more pissy nights at the Castle and surrounding pubs, one being the Redback which is apparently the oldest Aussie pub in London. I also met up with an old friend, Gaven Morris for a few drinks. Gaven and I were friends at uni, and worked at the ABC at the same time, but we lost touch about six years ago. Then when I arrived in Sweden I saw him reporting on CCN in London. So we got back in touch. It was nice to see him again, and being an even smaller world than I thought, one of his friends is the daughter of a colleague. So the last six months has certainly been a time of coincidence and for renewing old friendships.
Posted at 12:21 AM
Friday, January 10, 2003
London baby & Christmas Day
London Stansted, finally. Ren was waiting with a London Sun and a chicken wrap, and we jumped on the Stansted express. Everything was going smoothly until a fire closed down the Picadilly Line and we had to change trains about seven times to get a few kilometres, with Ren doing lots of quick thinking and charging through the masses. Ren wouldn't let us get a cab so I whinged all the way to the luxury company apartment in Knightsbridge, just opposite Hyde Park. Dave, a friend and colleague from the US had already arrived, and although Ren and I had planned to eat takeaway in front of the TV, he lured us out with the offer of dinner at an Italian restaurant called Sal E Pepes, which was delicious. Then followed the inevitable search for a karaoke bar, which instead led us to a disco where we danced the night away.
After the service we met Dee Mayne for dinner and a man tried to steal my bag. Thankfully Dee was on the ball as the rest of us were oblivious to the man who had pulled a table over next to us, was sitting half a metre away, with a huge coat draped over his leg. Dee noticed this and looked over to see his hand under the coat and on my handbag. She very calmly said, Yvette I think he's trying to steal your bag. So I moved it, he looked annoyed and then went off to try his luck elsewhere. We were all very shaken. I'd watched him when he first moved the table closer to us but just dismissed him as a weirdo. We were so lucky, it would have been horrible to have my bag stolen on Christmas Eve.
I think it may be karma though cause that morning I had bought some biscuits for a homeless man sleeping outside a gallery in Knightsbridge. Strangely I was looking through Jason's FHM later and I saw the same homeless guy featured as the London's Top Tramp of the month.
We then returned to Knightsbridge, and gossiped with Dee for a while and against our better judgement sat up til 3am drinking wine.
Christmas Day
Early Christmas morning we jumped in a taxi and headed off to Renay's home in Acton Town. It's a terrace of Australians and Kiwi's of course, that they call the Castle. We were still a bit pissy from drinking til 3am that morning, and topped up with some of the Nuremberg gluwine as soon as we arrived at the Castle. Dave joined us and we met Renay's flatmates Kate & Jason, Celene & Jon, Michelle, and Kate's friend Kristy who was also there for Christmas Day. We had a huge roast turkey and veges for lunch that Kate and Jase cooked and then it all got rather messy with wigs, tennis, darts, can shooting, wedgy wars and drinking games. It was lots of fun.
Jason's wig came out for a while...Ridgy Didge
Anyone for tennis? I believe we'd had a couple of little drinks at this stage
A few tears...and then a little vomiting. But Celene did return for another beer in fine form. Meanwhile Dave lost the darts match and had to 'shoot the can'. Yet another Aussie triumph over a pom.
Kate's mum would be proud of the brilliant roast she cooked. Ren gave me Kylie's latest book for Christmas. Ren & Kate
Ta ta for now...
love Yvette
UPDATE
Ren's handbag was stolen last night when she was at dinner, but luckily the wallet was returned today (minus the three pounds she had in there...thieves should know it never pays to pick on Aussies in London). She is mostly worrying about her massive make-up bag that was in her handbag at the time. She is lost without her makeup, especially her gorgeous blue eyeshadow!
But this afternoon she got some good news...her email is below:
'Did you ever see that Seinfeld episode about 'Even Stevens'??? Well that's me today... something bad happens, something good happens... I'm Even Steven! Lost Bag - Got Job!'
She just heard she has the five month contract in the marketing department at Coke she's been dying to get. Well done Ren!
Posted at 12:33 AM
Thursday, January 09, 2003
More Nuremberg!
So after our bunker tour we fell into a pub where I got stuck into the beers and Ren the red wine. A few hours later we returned to the Christmas markets, tried some sausage and saurkraut, and I bought a little nutcracker man like Ren's and two Christmas cakes to take to the Castle. Our last purchase was to be two bottles of gluwine, but when we got to our favourite gluwine stall we forgot all about it, and bought two more glasses of gluwine instead, and then posed for photos with the gluwine ladies.
Staggered to a 'keller' for dinner, with Ren wobbling all over the place and having difficulty drinking the massive beer we ordered. The highlight was the slapstick comedy when I attempted to pour some pepper on my pork and the lid fell off and the entire jar of pepper emptied all over my meal. The maitre'd accused me of pepper tampering and was not going to fix my meal until we gained support from the table next to us, and even then he tried to fix it by leaning over me and scraping the pepper with a knife. Finally he took it to the kitchen where he presumably scraped it, spat on it and returned it to me.Dinner finshed and in a flash of sobriety I remembered the Christmas cakes and nutcracker man...they were gone! We bolted back to the gluwine place but it was closed. A few days later the mystery was solved...there they are in the photo with the gluwine women, right where I left them during the photo shoot. Bugger.
Gluwine ladies...and the lost bags
On the way home we passed the Comdomeria. The next day we were up at 5am to catch the train back to Frankfurt. But we had to be sneaky...we'd realised the ticket we booked wouldn't get Ren to the airport in time (in a fit of paranoia I'd booked us on separate flights back to London) and it would cost us 60 euros to change the tickets. So we had to sneak onto an earlier train and hope we wouldn't be discovered until we were in the middle of nowhere and the inspector wouldn't have the heart to kick us off (we didn't consider that we might be kicked off in the middle of nowhere). But it all worked out, we made our airport bus (which only took 90 minutes this time) to the ex-army base airport, Ren boarded her plane and I sat and waited two hours for mine.Update from Ren the Snow Queen
It's snowing in London right now, Ren is so excited...she sent me this to post for her:
I got my wish - London is a winter wonderland! Yay! It's snowing like crazy, and everyone's so excited as it hasn't snowed here for many many years...but that's what happens when Renay the snow-queen arrives (as in Prague)...hell freezes over and frosty comes out to play. Just looking out my window at work now and it's still snowing heaps! I had to use my umbrella to get to work as it was pelting down with snow! Here's some pics my flat mate Kate (on the left in the pic) had taken at her work... I've run out of film from being snap happy with Yvette and now so broke that I'll have to raid the bottom of my handbag for some change to buy some film and get some snowy pics of my own. Sooooo loving winter in London.
Thanks Frosty!
Christmas and London update tomorrow...
Love Yvette
Posted at 2:25 AM
Wednesday, January 08, 2003
Nuremberg Part 2
Next stop was the Town Hall dungeon. We made it just in time for the tour, which was in German, but at least we were given a small English fact sheet to take with us. It was great - dark, damp and smelly, and complete with torture chamber and 'instruments of torture'. Although it is claimed that the torture was introduced to Germany by the Romans or some other race, the locals did brand criminals with specific symbols relating to the crimes they committed. That's all I can write about the dungeons as the tour guide took the fact sheet back. We then spent a few minutes at the toy museum because the pidgeon museum was closed. No, really.
The Old Town of Nuremberg is surrounded by walls and turretsand it's really pretty inside. Outside the walls it's a normal city - busy, neon lights, traffic etc. But behind the walls it's old and pretty. Our hotel (I think it was called the Astoria) was just outside the city walls. The people were really friendly and also gave us a Welcome Drink which won us over straight away. The Welcome Drink means a lot to us.
The first stop the following day was the Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgel?nde (Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds), a little way out from the city, and housed in an old nazi stadium. This was the educational part of the trip.To be honest, although we knew a little about the Nuremberg Trials, Renay and I didn't know just how much Nuremberg had been involved in Hitlers nazi campaigns. Hitler identified it as the nazi rallying grounds and started a huge building campaign of marching and rally stadiums, Zeppelin field and landing grounds, training facilities, a Congress Hall, barracks, roads and infrastructure and more, most of which was never completed. Below is some info from the Documentation Centre website:
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City of the Reichsparteitage (Nazi Party Rallies) 1927 and 1929 were the first years that the National Socialists held their so-called Party Rallies in the Luitpoldhain in Nuremberg. In 1933 Nuremberg was officially designated the "City of the Reichsparteitage". The Nazi Party Rallies were held every year in September, up until 1938. They lasted a week and drew as many as one million people to Nuremberg from all over Germany.
NS Building Programme
The Party Rally Grounds were part of a major NS construction programme for the entire Reich with Hitler himself, as the self-appointed "Supreme Master Builder" of Germany. Concentration camps like Flossenb�rg, Mauthausen, Gro?-Rosen, and Natzweiler-Struthof were set up near stone quarries and mercilessly exploited the labour of the prisoners."
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It was bizarre to see the footage, and to see pictures of the beautiful streets we had just walked through covered in swazticas and nazi flags, and to hear interviews with people who lived there during the war. Most of them said they had no idea of what was going on around them. I'd totally recommend a visit to the museum, and it's good to see that they're not ignoring or covering up the past. Okay, education over, it won't happen again.
After an exhausting three hours we jumped on the bus and headed back into town. Next stop was the Kaiserburg Castle where we endured another tour in German for as long as we could before bolting. I'm sure the it was great tour, it seemed to go into great detail, we just couldn't understand a word. Took some scenic pics overlooking the old town before racing off to a 3pm tour of the old nazi bunkers.
The bunker guide really seemed to know his stuff, but yet again, the tour was in German. To be fair he did though race off and try to find an english speaking guide and he really tried to help us. Nevertheless, Renay and I were approaching German language delerium (you try listening to it go on and on and on) and after hearing the words 'bugermeister' 'ironfucker' and 'piddlyhouse' we absolutely lost it. You know when you literally can't even look at the other person and even thinking of them sends you off? Our entire bodies were shaking and tears were streaming down our faces. I had to send Ren off to a bunker so we could try and compose ourselves but even then we could hear each other and kept erupting. I tried to rejoin the tour but spotted Renay emerging from the bunker and we started up again, so she had to go back in the bunker for a while. 20 minutes later we were under control again, the tour ended and we fell into a pub.
It's not all gone again is it?
This stein is now on my shelf at home after Ren and I clumsily stuffed it in my backpack and made our escape. That's all for today, less educational and more usual post material tomorrow!
Posted at 12:36 AM
Tuesday, January 07, 2003
Christmas Adventures...Well I'm back in Stockholm after a brilliant 19 day adventure with Ren. It's -12 degrees here today. Positively balmy after the -24 nights Stockholm's been enduring recently. So here's the first adventure installment...
Met Renay at Frankfurt Hahn airport (read small regional ex-army base) after a red-wine fuelled flight. Walked through the arrivals door and the first thing I saw was glam Ren lounging at a table with a beer. Perfect! For some reason the 90 minute bus trip into Frankfurt took three hours, and was somewhat twilight zone-ish thanks to the huge mental the bus driver chucked en-route. We'd stopped, and Ren woke me up to get off the bus, I was out of it and staggered off sans luggage to see the bus driver jumping up and down and screaming and spitting 'This is Meins, this is not Frankfurt! Meins, 50,000 people, Frankfurt three million.' He had stopped somewhere off the beaten track and was going mental trying to keep everyone who thought we'd arrived, on the bus. We all got back on in shock, and a few hours later ended up in a car park in Frankfurt. Luckily it was close to the main train station and our hotel, and after a five minute walk we arrived - it was 3am, a little later than we'd expected. We had to celebrate and managed to drink some champagne (called Mummy, so we just had to have it or we would have let mum down) before retiring for the evening.
The next day we walked around the city and along the river for a while, before heading to the Frankfurt Christmas markets where we had our first German gluwine. We were pretty exhausted so had to sit at a pub for a few hours to recuperate before jumping on the train to Nuremberg. Ute and Yvonne's co-ordination of our tickets was faultless and we had no trouble collecting them from the ticket machine. However, although we had reserved seats, it seemed that the whole of Frankfurt had jumped on our train and we had to stand in the corridor for a while until I chucked my own mental and politely requested people get out of our seats. We arrived Nuremberg around 8pm I think, checked in to our hotel and headed out for a meal. We decided to try traditional German and Nuremberg specialities and ended up with (I think) liver ball soup and a shoulder of pork - each. We didn't realise a shoulder was actually a whole shoulder...but we polished it all off before heading to bed.
We'd mapped out a bit of a plan the night before so headed off nice and early the next day. Wandered through a craftmans area, but there were no craftsmen so we continued on to the Church of St Lorenz - we later found out the Nazi's had dismantled some of it and the Church of Our Lady and hidden them and artworks in bunkers under Nuremberg during the war. It was pretty cool, but Ren was on a mission to get to the markets, after passing the covered up 'Marriage Roundabout' fountain (that'd be right) and strolling across a couple of bridges with really beauiful scenes downriver we made it for a well deserved gluwine. Where's Norman...(Aka Renay)
Pretty scenes, and Ren enjoying yet another gluwine
The Christmas markets were in the Nurnberger Hauptmarket (Market Square) underneath the Church of Our Lady, and next the Schoner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain). The Church of Our Lady was really cool, when the huge clock on the outside of the church chimes midday a little marching band played and the seven Electors marched out and around the clock.
There were some pretty interesting crafts and gifts at the markets, but the ones that caught my eye were the raison/prune/date people. They were literally made of these fruits so obviously not meant to last, and I resisted buying them for everyone as Christmas presents. They were everywhere!
Anyway, I've spent so much time photoshopping the 200 photos I took and trying to figure out exactly what we did that I'll say TTFN and try to remember what else we did in Nuremberg apart from drink beer and gluwine and eat pork shoulders! Will update tomorrow, right now I'm off to the System bologet before it shuts to grab myself some wine (only one bottle for the week as per New Years resolution).
Posted at 7:09 AM