If it's a weekend then it must be an opportunity to head out of London and see some more of this country that is England. This weekend that meant a trip to the North of England and visit to Manchester! Admittedly of my weekend, not a great deal was actually spend in Manchester itself - I slept there and I ate there and outside of that ... I didn't really do much there. Bruce kindly invited me up to spend the weekend and organised a virtual slew of activities to ensure that I got to see the best bits of that [View Full Entry]

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Week 3 London and despite my deciding that I wouldn't spend all my time at the pub, I seem to be trapped with alcohol a reasonable amount of the time. This week has been more social than anything else, partly because I've had to make the most of catching up with friends while they have been in town as well as take advantage of reacquainting myself with others who I haven't seen for a year (or couple!). The highlights have been dinner with Scotty and Rachelle, who the old HP crew will know well. They kindly invited me to dinner on [View Full Entry]

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Week 2 London - the flat is confirmed, the job hunt goes on, but more interviews so I shall be working one way or the other this week. Had the pleasure of my National Insurance interview so at least the UK formalities are out of the way and am counting down the days until I move. The hostel I'm staying at is OK, but let's face it, I'm a girl who needs her space. I haven't quite managed to get a handle on the art of living on top of 4/5 other people in one small room, doing the kitchen dance [View Full Entry]

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First week in London ... I admit it was a bit of a downer to leave Berlin and face the reality of my new life choice ... but happily I had the blow softened by getting to spend some time with Dave and Kristie from my India trip, who happened to be on the London leg of their year long round the world jaunt. I've sorted a place to live in Clapham and am still in the job hunt, but having interviews where the feedback is good, just waiting something definite to fall into line. This means I've had a fair [View Full Entry]

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As technically, well actually, I'm now in London, it's time to wrap up Berlin and move on to the surprisingly rainy UK. But before I leave the rain (and occasional snow) of Berlin I thought I'd throw in a few more pics as I like them. Overall my impression of Berlin is fantastic. It's a beautiful city full of history and one where I found the people friendly, helpful and generally great. Everyone talks about how grumpy the Germans are, but I just didn't find it and/or was oblivious to it. People would go out of their way to help if [View Full Entry]

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As part of my travels in Germany I couldn't not explore the dark side of Germany's past, those years between 1933 and 1945 when the National Socialists were in control. While it's important to not forget, I think it's just as important to recognise that it is the past. My exploration of that aspect of history took 4 parts - a 3rd Reich tour, a visit to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial, a visit to the Holocaust Memorial and to the Jewish Museum. The 3rd Reich Tour was run by the Original Walking Tour and it was excellent. The tour centred around [View Full Entry]

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Being in Berlin it was easy to jump a rattler and visit another german city for a couple of days. Dresden is only 2 hours by very comfy train and is famous for being almost completely decimated in allied bombing raids on 13/14 February 1945. Since then it has risen from the ashes and has been painstakingly rebuilt as a cute but kind of creepy replica. Now don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful town with lovely buildings, but it's feels almost a little too perfect in the way it's been rebuilt to replicate how it was pre-WWII. I arrived in [View Full Entry]

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The joy of being in a new place is experiencing some of their culinary traditions and for Miss Ines and myself this included the relaxed tradition of Sonntag (Sunday) Brunch. This involved a late start and a visit to Intimes Kino-Cafe on Boxhagener Straße in Friedrichshain. While a little tatty on the outside, inside it's a wonderful cosy, little cafe with counters packed with a mountain of food. Brunch in Berlin is actually a buffet and the Milsch Kaffee is a virtual bucket of coffee (we know how much I 'hate' my coffee!). We ate until there was no more room, [View Full Entry]

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Yes, despite the very deceptive blogs on South Korea, I've actually been in Berlin for almost a whole week ... and it rocks!!! I am very lucky to be staying with the wonderful Miss Ines who I first met when I traipsed around Asia in 2005. After sharing a room with me for close to 5 weeks, she didn't run screaming when I asked if I could 'freeload' for a couple of weeks, but opened her home to me. She lives in a lovely flat in Prenzlauer Berg a very hip area of Berlin with great transport links for travellers like [View Full Entry]

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My last day in Korea was spent in the company of the lovely Miss Cindy who had spent 3 months with me in Brisbane. First stop was to watch the guard changing ceremony at Deoksugung - a bright and colourful event involving multitudes of traditionally dressed guards and a really big drum. It's a visual feast with parading guards, the colours of the costumes, the awesome traditional Korean drum, musicians, commands being shouted and the odd combined shout from everyone ... there is even a nice commentary in both Korean and English. After the ceremony was the chance to be one [View Full Entry]

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