The Batblog by Photobat | Portrait and Wedding

Strap yourselves in… biggest post ever!

Getting out of Germany.

Train from Munich to somewhere, all good.
Train from somewhere to somewhere else, all good… maybe a couple of minutes late but no worries.
Train from somewhere else to another place… CRAP, well once I got the train it was ok, but as the previous train was a little late, I missed the next train and had an hour wait till the next train. Grrrr. And my phone battery is low.
From another place to Eindhoven… WHAT??? Because the other train was late, I ve now missed another train by a minute. So another 30 minute wait, at least when I get to Eindhoven I can jump in Bec and Marc s car and get to their place quickly. Sent them a quick message letting them know my arrival time… then the phone died.
Eindhoven – waiting out the front of station for 40 minutes, Bec is normally a little late so that was expected and my phone was now completely flat and her phone number is in the phone. Another 20 minutes, I went into a shop asked politely if I could plug my phone into charge, nice girl said yes, got enough power to get Becs number, out to phone box, gave her a call. She had been waiting at the other entrance for an hour. Argh.

9 ½ hours after starting my trip it was over!

That night the catching up started, as Bec is my closest friend, and she got engaged to Marc (a Dutch doctor who wants to be a urologist), she now lives over here. I d met Mark for about an hour before they got engaged (literally, a few hours before), so was interested to check him out. It was good to really meet him properly, I arrived on Friday and he had the weekend off so it was all 3 of us for a couple of days. First night involved watching of the Footrott Flats movie, Bec and I amazingly have both got all of the Footrott Flat cartoon books and I sent her the DVD for her birthday. Not too sure what Marc thought of it, I think the language may have been a little too slang for his English. We also had a bit of cheese to eat, I bought some from Switzerland for them.

First day we went to a town, not sure which one, but it was a normal town, lots of shops not too exciting, but the main aim of my whole trip to the Netherlands was to really just catch up with Bec and Marc, and we achieved that by not doing a lot.

Marc is a bit of a gadget guy, likes his toys. He has a cool GPS that is used in the car and can plot and direct quickest ways to places as well as scenic ways to places. We took the scenic way back… not too sure if a few of those roads were really roads, but it was scenic. I did see a windmill and had my photo taken in front of it (but i forgot to download that off the camera, can you please email me it bec??? thanks!).

The Scenic Route

That night involved er… not sure, but we ate a lot of cheese.

Next day was the only day I saw hills in the Netherlands. We drive south to a little bit of Holland that is between Germany and Belgium, to where Marc s parents live. The plan for the day was to get out on the road, or bike path, on the Mopeds. I had been told a little bit about the Mopeds by Bec but didn t have a great idea of what it involved, I was thinking more along the Vespa kind of thing. The 1960 s PUCH mopeds were just little motor bikes, and lots of fun. I got the automatic and with the seat right down, I still could only touch the ground with one foot. Anyway, the 3 of us zoomed about the country side for quite a few hours, all the bike paths are usable by motorized bikes too, so I was only on real roads a couple of times. We stopped for ice cream and then tried to ride up a hill. My bike didn t have as much power as the others and couldn t get up the hill. Marc tried and failed too, so we had to set a new path with fewer hills.

Us on the bikes at the beginning.

The bikes

Marc and Bec with icecream and hot chocolate.

My bike was also a push start bike, so it had to be rolling along to get it started. It s quite hard doing that with only one foot able to touch the ground. And this also added to the sore backside.

That night Marc s parents made a great big dinner for us, lots of meats and different sauces.

Marc had to go to work the next day, so bec and I wandered into Eindhoven, heading to the modern art museum. It was raining, and all the umbrellas were with Marc in the car. We got a little wet but nothing too bad. We took our time getting to the museum, stopped in a café for tea and coffee for well over an hour, and followed by lunch in another café for probably about an hour. Finally we got to the museum, which was closed. So what do you do in Holland when the museum is closed and you are a bit damp from the rain? You head back to Bec s to make Lamingtons.

We caught the bus back, and as we got the front door Bec had the revelation that her house key was actually on the other side of the door in the house. After a little bit of worry about the few hours we would have to wait in the rain for Marc to come home, we checked the backdoor, which involved climbing a quite tall fence. Once we were in the back yard we discovered that the back door was also locked! Another few minutes passed and Bec discovered we could break in, and it was successful!

So we made the sponge for the lamingtons, Marc came home, we watched another movie, Escape from Sobibor, a 1960 s movie about an escape from a concentration camp in WW2. We also had some cheese.

Another day followed where Bec and I wandered the streets, the museum was open and full off interesting and sometimes confusing art (A stick, 40cm long, painted red white and blue propped up in a corner). I really enjoyed the Picasso, if you are in Launceston, it will be up in my office when I get back (not the original, just a postcard… or is it!). The museum was interesting in itself, it operated right through the Second World War, and had a timeline of its history built into the gallery.

The rest of the day was filled with wandering through Eindhoven, which was flattened during WW2, and not restored to its former self after. So lots of 60s and 70s buildings about.

It was now time to finish the lamingtons, and surprise surprise we get home and Bec discovers her key is exactly where it was the day before. So around to the back, over the fence and into the house. Well, not really, due to the ease at which we broke in the day before, Marc had taken a little more heavy handed approach in locking the house. Consequently, we had a 2 hour wait for Marc to get home. No lamingtons were finished that night. We did have some cheese and a few beers, 2 each, but the beers are big here.

Bec out the front of the house, waiting, waiting, waiting.

My last day arrived, Lamingtons were finished, Marc struggled with his hang over and seeing 20 patients in the morning, and Bec and I went for a little drive to find some iconic Netherlands locations that I hadn t seen yet, mainly the coffee houses and a sekhs shops (Can you figure out the translation for that?). After looking up some locations of the sekhsshops, we ventured out to find them, out of the 4 addresses we had, the first 3 were wrong, or maybe just mail order places, the 4th was the real thing, and quite lame really. It was next to a coffee shop, which we spend about 30 seconds in. But ticked them off the list.

That really sums up the whole trip to the Netherlands, next morning I was dropped at the airport and said bye to Bec and Marc, quite sad, the time I had with Bec was great. It s not often in busy lives you get to spend 5 days doing very little with close friends. Definitely a highlight of my trip to date.

Getting to Edinburgh.

Leaving Eindhoven was straight forward, no real different from usual security measures, apart from being padded down. London was a different story all together.

I checked in for my flight with heaps of time, no line either. Then to get through security. My hand luggage was too big and needed to be checked in. I always keep my laptop and camera things with me in my hand luggage and generally don t want them getting damaged. I ended up taking my laptop and camera in a canvas bag on board with all my lenses and everything else having to be checked into the fragile section. I packed the lenses in the only thing I had that was soft, a t shirt that I ve been carrying about (V!). At the other end I checked everything and it was all ok, luckily, I would have no idea what to do if anything was damaged.

Anyway, I flew into Glasgow on a cheap flight and then had to train over to Edinburgh, all good. Finished Wuthering Heights, and started into About A Boy (thanks Tori!).

First thing I see in Edinburgh is a bill board with my danny bhoy photo on it, i’ll post it when i download my cards next.

I ende up seeing 3 shows that night, Sarah Kendall, Charlie Pickering and Geraldine Quinn. All good in there own ways, I really enjoyed Charlie s show a lot, Geraldine s show was more a singalong for me as I know all her songs and love hearing her perform them. Sarah has some great material too. After having a couple of pints I ended up in bed about 1.

Next stop Pitlochry, for the wedding!

Location: Eindhoven – Netherlands
Status: Awake and happy

Quick report: on a tran for 7 hours yeaterday, but missed some connections and so all up travellig time was about 9 hours. Grr.

But i’m at Bec and Marc’s now and very happy to see my them!

But my phone dosen’t pick up the roaming here, and so no sms to V

German hospitality, Bubbles in the water and the Swiss

Been a few days, so let s have a look at what happened.

I had a trip up to Nuremburg to meet up with Annthea, took the train from Munich. As soon as I got there I went to book the special price for the train trip south to Switzerland. I was informed the special had to have 3 days advance booking and also can only be booked over the internet. So I had to get the more expensive ticket, and my credit card failed due to the car hire company not reversing my deposit for the car rental in Croatia. Argh, I managed to get some cash together (Thanks Dad) and was all booked up.

Annthea

I then too a train the wrong direction, quickly followed by taking the correct direction, towards where the Nuremburg trials court room is located. After a bit of traveling, looking at guide books and asking some questions I found it. It was closed for restoration. Argh. So I traipsed back to the station to check out the old city of Nuremburg. It s a pretty town, I was quite tired and not really in a big walk and sightseeing mood, but I did my best. I walked up the main street stopping at old churches, a café and even climbed a viewing tower in a castle. I ended up sitting in a café reading for an hour before I took another little walk to see the town walls and get back to the train station where I was meeting Annthea. I read some more, and then some more, and another few chapters, and then a bit more, I had an idea at what time Annthea was arriving, but I discovered that her phone wasn t working too well and her text messages hadn t got through to me. After 2 ½ hours of reading she appeared with some old family friends who were to host us that night.

It was a great night, looking at old photos, talking about Tasmania and eating some more German bratwurst. That night Annthea and I were sleeping in the same room and talked for hours, which was great.

The Zeppelin Grounds

Way too early the next morning, well not too early, but we didn t get a lot of sleep due to all the talking, we headed off back to Nuremburg to see a couple more relics of the second world war. The first was the Zeppelin Field, while you may have no idea what this place is, I can assure you have seen it. It s where Nazi rallies were held. Check the picture, that s where the speeches were made. An eerie feeling to stand in the same place that I know from the many history documentaries I have seen over the years.

The next stop was a museum that chronicled the rise of the Nazi s. An amazing walk through museum with an audio guide giving information about everything. Also some big video screens and lots of artifacts on display. It was quite a sad place, learning of what happened and it ended with some information about the Nuremburg Trials. I now know quite a bit more about that unbelievable period in history.

I was then whisked away for my 5 hour train trip south to St Gallen and to Tori. The train trip was filled with me learning about the early life of Heathcliffe in Wuthering Heights and trying to ignore the large group of late teens boys who had bought a couple of slabs and had a grand old time singing and harassing the other passengers.
At the station I met Tori and Raphael, her Swiss boy, and went for a drive to where he lived and where I was to be staying. He s quite a nice boy and it was great to see Tori so smitten with him, very cute!

That night we played some pool, had some more sausage (this time swiss) and just caught up on life. Next day we went for a bit of a drive back to St Gallen to have a look and also to buy a new power cord for the laptop, the power connection on the old one is kaput. All good now and cheaper than expected, plus I discovered I could use my card again! Horrah!

We drove for a bit through the country side, I had to try give Raphael enough time to stop the car when I saw a good photo, and it s not all that easy stopping on small winding roads.

We went up a mountain in a gondola and was amazed by the view, which, luckily for me, was clouded over. A bit of lunch followed and then back down and drove back via some small towns to Raphael s. A nice dinner and then I updated his MP3 collection with a heap of stuff he had never heard of. I also fell a little sick, I have a problem with bubbles, they don’t mix with my stomach. I’ll be ok, just no more mineral water.

The view from the mountain

A bit more pool (yes Benny, I lost all the games!). Watched Lola Rennt in the original German, and then off to bed.

That brings us to today, which involved seeing a waterfall which wasn t that high but had an impressive amount of water coming over it. Checking out a small town and searching for a copy of William Tell in English (no luck… Benny, you got one for me?). Also had a great bit of wind and rain while eating out lunch outside. It was a really nothing day, the only photos I took were of Tori and Raphael before I got on the train, which is where I am now.

Tori and Bat

On my previous train (2 hour trip) I was sitting opposite and next to a Swiss girl who was studying Biology and heading off to visit a friend. She asked lots of questions about Tasmania and I did a quick portrait of her. It s great when you are on a train just to have someone to talk to, makes it all go by so much quicker. No such luck on this train. I m about an hour away from Munich and an early night so I can jump on the train to the Netherlands tomorrow (only 9 hours traveling time!)

Pula Roman Arena – They were setting up for Simply Red

Swin time in the Adriatic

Opatija

Croatia

Lots of things happened in Croatia. Once I got off the ferry I met up with some Australian girls who were also on the ferry and we had no idea where we were. Ended up in a posh hotel asking for directions. I had a hotel all booked, and it happened to be next to where the girls were planning on staying. I was exhausted and crashed out.

Next morning, Opatija… it s a big tourist resort, really big, lots of people, no beach, just cement. To many large tanned Germans and Italians wearing not too much, some of the guys didn t really need their budgie smugglers, their guts did it all.

Do car rental… 1 hour wait as they lost my reservation and had to get a car. Got the car, drove on the correct side of road through this resort town, hit curb, flat tire, 1 hour trying to figure out where the tire was, hot to get it off and then how to get out of the tiny car park I was in. All good after that, no probs, only got pulled up by the police once, at the airport when I was dropping off the car for going the wrong way, in a deserted airport carpark at 6 in the morning, and this carpark was a small regional airport carpark smaller than Wynyard airport in tas.

So Opatija to Roc to Hum to Buzet, where I stayed with WakeUp s a girl I met on www.couchsurfing.com, she showed me the town m(old town on the top of a hill and new town on the bottom, only really looked about the old town) and it was interested to have a bit of a cultural exchange, including food! It was really great, I looked at maps and a book full of photos and planned a bit more of where to go.

Next morning I headed out to explore the hills and little towns to the north of Buzet. I got a little lost and had some time in Slovenia, but that happens! Got back ontrack and found a little place called Hum, not a lot there but buildings were great and took a heap of photos. Made my way to a town called Montovan, another town on top of a hill. And another great place, a few tourists about, I walked up the hill and talked to a Bosian Architect on the way and also her cat. Up the top I climbed the tower and got some amazing 360 degree views. At the bottom I bought a cd rom from a guy called Danjal which had information about all of Istria, we got talking, 40 minutes later we had finished our coffee, exchanged numbers and he set me up to stay in Porec that night with his girlfriend. I bought a little painting and some postcards and that was my time in Montovan.

So onto exploring much of the same kind of thing, small towns on top of hills. There was one town that was falling apart and was discovered by artists and is now full of little galleries selling local and no so local art. There was some amazing stuff there or which I didn t buy a thing! The town also has a summer music school, so all the streets are filled with sounds of people practicing for the nightly concerts that are put on.

Next stop was to the Adriatic Sea, to a place that Danjal had suggested and it was almost empty of people, the sunset was kicking in, it was still warm, and so I jumped in. Clear blue waters and rock beaches. Water would have been about 20 degrees plus. Very good place and time to go for a swim.

That night I ended up at danjal and Ivana s in Porec, a very busy little town and yes, this one wasn t really on a hill! I managed to get a park just outside the centre of the town and found my way to the information place where I discovered where I was in the town and where I needed to go to meet the others. I also had dinner… did I mention this place is truffle central? And I don t mean the chocolate type, I mean the grab a dog and into the forest. Anyway, I walked into a resuraunt and said I m hungry, bring me what you recommend. I had an entrée with truffles, followed by bacon and truffle creamy pasta and a great bit of steak, followed by a chocolate moose thing (no truffles). I really wanted to try the local wine, but there is a 0&tolerace to drink driving, and I still had to drive so no alcohol for all of Croatia! In total dinner was about 360kn which is a bit, but was very nice.

Met Ivana, had another bit of cultural exchange, difference in lives and things like that. Another late night talking and got up at 9, wandered a little bit and left the town at 12 ish

The whole day was rain, and lots of it, thunder, lighting, the whole works. Got a little sad, was too much to really get out and shoot, and then it happened, all good, light was grate and managed to get some good shots of a bit of a castle and the Roman arena in Pula. That night I tried to find a good place to sleep in the car along the coast, I woke up next to a large power plant. And it rained more.

I went to a resort town at 6am, watching the storm come, more thunder lightning, and this time hail! I took very few photos on my last day there, ended up meeting up and having lunch with Danjal and Ivana in Montovan and then spending 3 hours to drive about 60km! Lots of fun. Drove straight through the city of Rijeka, I was supposed to stay in a hotel there, but couldn t find a park or anything so kept on going. Found a hotel only a few km from airport and crashed out there till 5 am when I had to leave. And what a great airport it was!

Next Munich!
Did a walking tour, had a sausage, drank beer. Woo Hoo. Munich is not on my top 10 destinations, it may just be because I m tired, but I just didn t get into the city.

That brings us to today, still Munich (I m staying in Wombats hostel, seemed appropriate). Went to Dachau Concentration Camp memorial, which was the first concentration camp. Very interesting and also disturbing, all seems so peaceful and hard to imagine all the things that we were told happened there. But they did and it makes you think more about all that happened at that time all over Europe and hope that we learned out lessons, not sure if we have.

Anyway, Annthea in Nuremburg tomorrow and Tori and Switzerland the day after!

OK, time for a big update.

Venice

I flew out of London at a respectable time, into Trieste in the north of Italy. Then I had to try get into the city to catch a train to Venice… no busses for 2 hours, good on you ryanair, arriveing at a place where there is no transport from airport, so I got a taxi with a 3 others, a 60 euro cab ride. It was quite good, a local in the cab who spoke English and gave the low down on everything. Got into the city, found the train, got on, 2 hours later I m in Venice, looking for my hotel. Quite a nice place, little room.

Then it was time to explore, it s great, it was hot about 33 degrees and people everywhere. I managed to not get too lost, had some pizza, gelato, and saved the coffee for the next morning. It s an amazing place, you don t really care if you get lost. I sat in the one spot and in 15 minutes, I had an American who is living in Germany and was studying in Venice for a few weeks, he also shoots with a Fuji S3, also in that time there was a cool photo moment in the window above us and also a computer monitor floated on by.

Lots of cats and dogs everywhere too, and I kept hearing Vanessa Carlton being played everywhere by bands that were just set up on the side of the streets. I ended up finding St Marco Piazza and then caught a boat back to the hotel. Dumped all my stuff and went out for some pasta, and listened to a band play Vanessa Carlton again.

I got up very early the next morning and walked the streets back to St Marco Piazza at sunrise, with very few other people there. I went a bit mad taking a few photos, the details are great, the doors that are open during the day had some great little patterns and figures on them. Straight back to Hotel for check out and breakfast… I say straight… but I did stop for my first coffee… espresso, and it was stupidly good. Back neat the hotel I had another, it was only 9am, I d been out for 3 hours taking photos so far. It got really hot the rest of the day and I just walked and found the ferry and got on.

If you are catching a ferry to Croatia, what would you expect the movie to be played? Come on, there is a comments section below… fill it in with what you think!

Status: Little Tired but good
Location: Munich

Past: Croatia was really good, not sure how germany will stand up in comparison.

More to blog later.

It’s COLD!!!! well, 14 degrees.

Coffee in Venice (hey V!)