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Don’t eat the yellow snow

… and there was a lot of it. After not travelling much at the start of December, since I was studying for my CISSP certification, I’ve had a nice week in Austria, snowboarding. I guess we just got lucky, but right now Austria is probably the best country for snow. Other places are just starting to get decent falls, Austria has had snow for weeks. There was over 75cm in town, and probably 100cm on the slopes. We stayed in Kirchberg, which is very close to Kitzbuhel, and they share the same slopes, with free buses between the various lifts and cable cars.

There are over 160km of groomed slopes available, with something like 6 cable cars, and countless chairlifts. Some very long lifts up (e.g. Fleckalmbahn rises from 800m to 1800m), meaning some very, very long runs down. It tended to be suited more to skiing than snowboarding (e.g. narrow runs), with even some “blue” slopes pretty steep, and could be busy, but there was that much available that you could pretty easily find some more or less empty slopes. On the last day, we got up early, and were the first ones up Hornbahn, so we had a huge expanse in front of us with just no-one there.

The first couple of days I wasn’t too flash, but by the end of the week I was getting the hang of it, and was doing OK, hardly falling at all. Not sure that I’ll become a committed snowboarder, but it was good to give it a go for a few days. It was pretty damn cold though – as low as minus 18°C on our last day.

Austria was great – the food was perfectly suited to the cold, and they have fabulous weissbier (made with wheat). We had about 7 different varieties, all of them good. My German, while needing a lot more work, seems to be improving. I was feeling much more comfortable about asking for things, and usually understanding the response. It was a good thing too, since Kirchberg is not a large town, and English is not understood by everyone. Still, with my bits of German, and their bits of English, we could usually understand each other.

If you ever pass through Kirchberg, call in at Schaki bar, and have a weißbier. There is a nice Turkish guy there, who makes you feel right at home. Wear a Che Guavera T-shirt for bonus marks, it’ll go down a treat.

Happy New Year to everyone, hope you don’t have to go back to work as soon as I do.

PS Dragoman has cancelled the trip I was booked in for from Cairo to the UK, so it looks like my travel through the Middle East is going to be independent the whole way – probably a good thing for me anyway.

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Four Rugby Games and a Funeral

Or something like that. Thought it was about time I had a bit of a roundup of the last few weeks, more or less coinciding with the All Black’s Grand Slam tour.

For the weekend that NZ was playing Wales, I went down to Cambridge, to visit Paul and Kate. I had been meaning to go their for some time, and especially now that they are moving, it seemed opportune. Cambridge is a nice place, even if you can’t walk on the grass. Not my usual cup of tea to go and listen to the Kings’ College choir on Sunday morning, but something different, and distinctive for there. A most impressive church, amazing attention to detail. Probably the most interesting thing that happened there was seeing Mike, Corin and James – 3 guys I probably haven’t seen for 5 years. Not planned, or expected, just happened that we all ended up in the same town at the same time. Pretty cool.

Following weekend, it was off to Dublin. I was going to try and get tickets to the game, but when the north terraces had a fire, resulting in 7,500 people unable to get into the game, touts went up in price quickly. Around €250 at midday, apparently later getting up to €600. I suppose if you’d been one of the Kiwis who had ticket problems at Cardiff, then couldn’t get into Lansdowne Road, you would have been feeling a bit tetchy. I ended up watching the game at a pub in Temple Bar, with some other New Zealanders, including some who had tickets for the north terrace. Lots of fun, Dublin is a pretty good place. Beautiful weather, but very cold. I was surprised at how many Kiwis were there – at some bars later in the evening, probably half the people were wearing black. I guess I didn’t realise just how many New Zealanders are in this part of the world, and are prepared to follow the All Blacks around. The other thing I didn’t realise about Dublin, was just how popular a place it is for groups of women (of various ages) to get together, get custom T-shirts with crude slogans written on them, drink a lot of cheap bubbly, and make fools of themselves. There seemed to be many hens nights, 21sts, etc going on. The next day, as I was walking around, I saw a lot of posters stuck up, offering a reward for the finder of an engagement ring. I guess if you’re having a big hen’s night out in Dublin, it might be best to leave the expensive engagement ring at home…

I stayed in town the following weekend, as I had been planning on doing a small job at work on the Saturday morning. That got cancelled a bit too close to the weekend to make other plans, so I just kicked around town. Watched the NZ/England game at the Globe, with a huge number of Kiwis, and about 3 Englishmen. Unfortunately the Old Firm were playing just beforehand, so the place was absolutely packed. I’m not sure if I wanted to watch Celtic/Rangers that I would head out to a pub with Antipodean flags in the window though. But anyway, fabulous game, huge amount of tension, but the right result in the end. Ended up having a really nice night with a few friends, just sitting around, having a few drinks, people playing the guitar. Really nice, in that unplanned, do whatever, take it easy kind of way.

Then at last the rugby roadshow came to Scotland. I donned a kilt and a Scotland jersey, and went with Craig, also in Scotland jersey and kilt. Loads of fun. Women wanted their photo taken with the lovely wee Scotsmen. And then at half time, I pulled off the Scotland jersey to real the black jersey underneath. There were a few that didn’t understand, but plenty that did. A good day out really, complemented by watching NZ thrash Australia in the league. Only problem was that I’ve had a throat infection for a few days, and that, combined with a bit of shouting on Saturday, meant I ended up losing my voice. It’s still pretty weak today, hopefully by tomorrow it will be getting better. Frustrating, more than anything.

And finally, the funeral. While in Dublin, I received word that my grandmother had passed away. Nina Barton was a good woman, who did a lot for many other people. I’ve mentioned elsewhere how one of my fondest memories of her and my Granddad was how you could turn up at their place at any time, and they would always take you in, feed you up, chat about whatever was on your mind, and just generally make you feel right at home. I decided not to return to NZ for the funeral, which was not the easiest of decisions, but I think/hope I have made the right one.

3 more months working and then I’ll be off traveling again! The weather has been pretty cold for a few weeks (as low as minus 7), and it shows no signs of improving soon – it may not get into double digits for weeks. I’ve just got to keep March in mind I guess – back to NZ for a month, followed by 2.5 months around Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Turkey. Time to get back to reading my guidebooks.

Hope everyone is well out there.

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I’m back baby

Wooo! Properly back online at last! BT switched over my line to ADSL now, and I’ve finally got proper internet access working. www.myfreeisp.co.uk was handy in a pinch, but I’d gotten very used to my wireless setup, with half-reasonable bandwidth. Although I can’t get full rate ADSL here, only 1100kb/s, it’s still pretty good. Makes me wonder how I managed so long in the past using only GPRS.

Pretty much sorted out in my flat now – some cheap and nasty Argos furniture and my room is looking a bit better. Bit of a hassle getting the furniture – they were due to deliver it on Sat morning, didn’t turn up, when I rung later they said they “couldn’t find my address”. I guess looking at a map was a bit tough. So I went to collect it from a store in town. But then on Monday morning, they turned up with my furniture! I could have taken that as well, but I would have felt a bit bad about it, so I told them the truth. Plus I’m not sure what I’d do with another “Malibu small chest of drawers” and a “small wide bookcase”. Getting it assembled would have been straightforward enough – if I had the tools. I couldn’t find anywhere around the city centre that sold something as common as a hammer and screwdriver, so I had to make do – I used a screwdriver and – I kid you not – a pot to hammer the tacks in. Worked a treat.

Started to get sorted out job-wise too – heaps of stuff to get my head around, but I’m starting to get it in hand. Had to change the wardrobe a little – bought two new suits, and now a nice wool/cashmere overcoat. I’m still going to have buy more warm clothes before winter really bites though…but my current problem is getting wet from all the damn rain, not getting cold.

Trying to work out my next few trips before the end of the year – I’m thinking of visiting Cambridge, perhaps Manchester, somewhere in the west of Scotland, and hopefully a weekend break to a European city – I’d like to go to Berlin, I’ll need to find out what I can get cheap deals to from Edinburgh.

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Fare thee well, Bonnie Dundee

The time has come for me to move on, from a place that has made me feel most welcome for the last few months. However, I cannae face going cold turkey, so I am moving to Edinburgh – Irn Bru’s just too hard to get hold of outside Scotland.

My time here has gone quickly, but I’ve got a few good memories of this place:

  • When getting on/off the bus, most people say hello/good bye to the driver. One of my regular drivers was quite put out one day when I caught a different bus – “Where were you last night?” he demanded. “Just checking out the competition,” I told him “and I came back here didn’t I?” He came right after that. Last time he dropped me in town, we actually shook hands. Not exactly the sort of thing you do in other cities.
  • The people I worked with at SOL were fantastic at making me feel welcome, and making sure I was enjoying my time in Scotland. I was extremely touched by the leaving do last week, and the gifts. I wonder how well my bottle of Buckfast will age? Probably not as well as the Glenfiddich. Not sure how I’m going to be able to wear the Scotland rugby jersey at the game next month though – perhaps if I wore an All Black’s jersey underneath?

Random comments on Dundee in general:

  • Keep doing what you’re doing – the city is clearly in the process of re-inventing itself – I would say keep going down that path. Redevelop the waterfront area, keep supporting things like the DCA – and not just the bar part of it – and the Rep. Theatre
  • I feel the city could do with another 10-20 thousand people. Some of the infrastructure would put much larger cities to shame. I’m amazed at the number of new bus shelters I’ve seen going up, all equipped with electronic timetable boards. It all seems to be happening relatively quickly, whereas back where I come from, that sort of thing takes years.
  • Keep encouraging the universities – students are the lifeblood of a vibrant city.
  • I just don’t understand the locals’ feelings about keeping their city clean – every day, walking to and from the city, I see guys working hard, picking up rubbish from the streets. Every morning, every afternoon. And yet there’s still rubbish around. There’s a huge number of rubbish bins around, perhaps people could try using them some time? People don’t want to put their rubbish in the bin, but they do seem prepared to pay for other people to pick it up

So, off to Edinburgh shortly for me, where I’ll be straight into another contract. I’ve enjoyed by time here, but on the other hand, I’m looking forward to a new challenge, and some new experiences.

One more thing, if anyone is thinking of visiting the City of Discovery, the local tourist board has put together a fantastic website promoting the city, well worth a look. “Gadgies” is a new term to me, but I can see myself using it a bit. Don’t underestimate the number of shell suits, teenage mums, and Burberry caps that you can see in one day here – it will amaze even the seasoned ned-spotter. Possibly that’s a result of living in Hilltown, but still, it’s amazing.

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Don't tell anyone, but I've been south of the border…

…and it was pretty good. Fear not, for I did not stray far from Scotland, and I returned quickly. I hired a car for the weekend again, and headed south. Down to Edinburgh, then east along the A1, down towards Newcastle. A quick photo stop at the English/Scottish border (it’s not very exciting), then on south. The plan was to roughly follow the line of Hadrian’s Wall across the country, then curve back up around through the Borders region.

Coming up to Corbridge, I thought it would just be a “blink and you’ll miss it” type of affair, but it turned out to be a lovely little village. It’s quite cool when you walk across bridges that have stood for nearly 400 years. I was going to get something to eat in the town, but they were having a food festival on at the old Roman site in Corbridge, so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone. There were quite extensive remains of the Roman town that had stood there 1800 years ago, which were pretty cool to look at. The extent of the water and drainage systems they had in place were pretty amazing.

Then it was time for some local food and drink, and one of the more unusual settings I’ve seen for food festivals. The local Angus beef was very nice, and the chocolate orange fudge was particularly good. The Fentimans drink was pretty good too – quite unusual, something along the lines of the Phoenix range in NZ, but with more of a herbal taste.

Off to Chester’s Roman Fort next, which was the first real sighting of Hadrian’s Wall. Not only running water and drainage here, they even had central heating! What I don’t quite understand is how the Romans could have had that, but later all these works were lost, buried. When the places were abandoned by the Romans, you somehow would have thought that the locals would have taken a look at them, compared them to the thatched huts they lived in, and moved right in!

The other thing that cracked me up was some of the old tombstones – people were buried, a stone was erected, with their name on it, then 20 years later, someone else can’t be bothered getting a new stone, so they just engrave a new name over the top of the previous one!

Via Carlisle, then on to Dumfries for the night. Went in a B&B;, looking for a place to stay – they were full, but the fantastic manager rang another place, gave me a map of the town and pointed out good places to eat/drink. Great service, especially since he wasn’t directly getting anything for it – will hunt down the name and post it here. The actual place I ended up at – Morton Villa – was very nice too, really nice personal service.

Caerverlock castle (Or is it Caeverlock? Seems to be some variation) Sunday morning. I don’t think I’ve seen a castle with its moat filled with water before – it really made the place come alive, made it a real castle experience. Lots of good photos here, I’ll just add the one:

Back via the A7, stopping at the Malcolm Memorial. Quite stunning views of the surrounding area. There’s some pretty barren terrain there. The thing I didn’t get was the road signs pointed towards the McDiarmid memorial – but that only seem to consist of a small cairn 400m from the summit, compared the large obelisk that is the Malcolm memorial.

Nice country to drive back through, towards Edinburgh. Strangely enough, there was an NZ flag flying about a rural house, more or less in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps not so strange though, the Borders region seems to be pretty big on its rugby.

Went into Rosslyn Chapel (if you’ve read the Da Vinci code, you’ll know what I’m talking about) on the way home. It’s actually quite an amazing little church, with massive amounts of imagery – of which I might only be able to work out 10% – but it’s kinda taken over by the people out there who think that the Da Vinci code was just the best book ever written, and that’s it all true, every word. Never mind that it was possibly the only book those people have read in the last 5 years. It would be quite the place to wander around just by yourself, but you’d need a few religious scholars to help you interpret the meaning of it all.

Hope everyone out there is doing ok. Not sure exactly when/where the next Scotland trip is – I’m thinking the west coast/Skye for a long weekend, but I’m not sure when that’s going to work out, due to some other stuff happening.

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Kultur, Kaffee, Kuchen und Scheiße auf die Straße

…is one way of summing up my weekend in Vienna. Vienna was different to what I remember – I had thought of it as somewhat sterile, but I got a different feel for the place this time. Eindankfest was on, the weather was good, people were out and about enjoying themselves, it was a really good place to be.

I headed over on Friday, going via Edinburgh and Birmingham. Thanks to Scott for letting me stop with him on Thursday night. I can’t say that my hour at Birmingham airport was the highlight of my life, but it could have been worse. When I got to Vienna, I thought I should try and make my way from the CAT train station to the hotel without the aid of a map. Turned out to be slightly more difficult than I planned, but it was a good walk around the town, and I had a lot of fun with the Germanic tourists who were also lost, trying to work out where we were. Everyone seemed to think I spoke German – I don’t know, I’m pretty sure I didn’t look like I belonged, but maybe I did.

Later I was speaking to some Austrians, and they were just effortlessly switching between English and German – it always makes me feel so inadequate, when people do that. I will be doing some work on refreshing my German. I think I need to spend a few months there. Perhaps get a contract, but I don’t know how it would work out visas-wise.

Nic and Dave arrived early Saturday, and came and woke me at 7. I think they were just happy to be able to use my shower at that point though. We then had two great days touring the city. I didn’t bother carrying my camera much, since Dave had his with him, so I don’t have any photos to upload yet – will get some when they get back.

The crypt under St Stephens was a bit different to many other church crypts – there is an old part out under the square, where thousands of ordinary people were buried during the plague – rooms with thousands of bones, all neatly stacked. Not exactly a fun job that. The Imperial crypt was also pretty interesting to visit later that morning – you can get so close to the sarcophagi. The medieval use of skulls and cross-bones on coffins is something I find quite interesting – people had a quite different attitude to death then. I don’t think it would go down all that well in a modern graveyard if you said you wanted a skull wearing a crown mounted on top of your headstone.

Went to the Kunsthistorisches (Art History) and Naturhistorisches (Natural History) museums on the Sunday – the buildings by themselves are just stunning works, even before you start to look at the assorted treasures within. Just a huge collection. You do wonder about the historical provenance of many of the items within though – how many were basically stolen?

Also visited MUMOK (Museum of Modern Art) – can’t say that I was all that impressed with ‘Realism’, but the modern/pop art was pretty cool – particularly the paintings that were trying to outdo photography.

Throughout the weekend, more people were assuming I was Germanic – particularly since I wasn’t wearing a bag, I didn’t look so touristy. I guess it’s a good thing – it forces me to try and understand more German.

All up, a very nice weekend, great to catch up with Nic and Dave. The only thing missing was I didn’t find a place where old men were playing chess in the park. Oh well, it’ll have to wait for another trip to a classic European city.