Dec 2007

Merry Christmas!!

A day late yes but you cant expect me to blog on christmas day, we were too busy feasting and sleeping for that! Now, other current events and important dates in order. Welcome home Monkey and Plummers!! wow must be amazing to finally be home after such a huge adventure! Swan and Greg must be over the moon! And Happy Birthday Sammy up in Scotland, ill be there soon! And seeing as this post will be much closer (without going over) than my next one Happy Birthday Linden! Hope you have an amazing beach celebration! Then of course Happy New Year!! Plan for me is reuniting with James and Sam up in Edinburgh along with Jus to rock Hogmany!

But, enough of now and future, follow me now on a journey through time and space... back to a couple of weeks ago in Berlin. Sam and I chilled out a fair bit that first day before we walked all around the city (first on our own then on a free tour) including going down Unter Den Linden, checking out the wall and going into a crazy crackden. Then it was time to celebrate, and that we did knocking back some boots and hitting a club (in tshirts, so so cold between the two) before bed. oh and i bought a new camera.... here are some photos from it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21750162@N05/

Now it was train to Hamburg time. of course we took the cheapest and slowest option getting us in late and there was only really time for dinner and bed. The next day we explored a little down the harbour and met with shirley for a couple of beers. The next day Babs, Bert and Anja took Sam and I out to an Argentinian Restaraunt for a steak which was so so good! mmm, im still full of christmas goose and that steak sounds delicious! then it was time for sam and I to train to Holland!

N!ojh met us at the train station at 2am and showed us to his house in Delft. Awesome catching up with old Roger as all we did the next day was have a short look at Delft (from the top of a church spire) before retiring to his room for drinking, eating, watching episodes and playing a little poker (i still owe N!ojh €5, but he probably wont see penny one from me). Then it was time for us to head off to Amsterdam and let N!ojh get back to studying for his exams.

Amsterdam, was pretty fun. This is where sam and i were to part ways after a pretty fun month so we made sure to enjoy ourselves while there. Cant say we saw much of the city although we did walk every street in the redlight district, although window-shopping was all we did. Other than that we went to some coffeeshops and drank a beer or two, ate some food, the usual. then it was time to part. wont be the same without sammy but we reunite for a couple of days soon.

My trains messed up leaving me waiting for 2 hours then when i did arrive in Hamburg I ran to catch the S-bahn. I ran down the stairs and jumped on the train that was leaving on my platform and as i looked back at the sigh it said that it was not in service... Why were the friggin doors open then? hahaha so i ended up in the train yard parked with all the other trains and had to walk back to the station which took like 20 mins. Luckily i got the last train home with 2 mins to spare. Whew.

Since then I have been in Hamburg living the hedonistic life of amazing food, presents, no job and sleeping. ridiuclous. We have had a couple of outings. I was taken to the Rat Haus (Town Hall) and to a Bach Concert (in the Michael) both of which were really good! The town hall is very ornate which i wasnt expecting and really cool, and the concert was huge, 2000 people and really good! Also today Bert and Anja walked me around Blankenese and showed me where my german roots come from, with a gluewhine of course. But generally Christmas has been very relaxing at the house.

There were kids and a dog and all sorts of fun with presents and the food, i keep coming back to it. Babs outdid herself over and over, culminating in a roast Goose today which was awesome! I hadnt had it before and it was delicious. oh and this is all over the place, but somewhere in there I hit the town with Robbie again. it was a saturday night and everyone was out so i thought i had better be also! so we rocked some random irish pub but it was a heap of fun! I didnt get home till 6am and Robbie fell asleep in the club so theres an indication of how boozed we were.... erg i just remembered all the jagermeister....

So, there you have the past couple of weeks and all my Christmas best wishes so I can get back to my stressfull life. Tomorrow we are off to the beach-house in St Peter.

Ok, take care and have a great new years!
lots of love
hutch

Hey hey everyone!!!

So you thought i was dead huh? well ive just been busy travelling and getting boozy with Sam of late. Im going to go through the last month as quickly as i can but theres a lot so dont feel bad about skimming or whatever but there are photos on the flickr and I also had to make another new flickr so that should break the monotony of this grueling task.

Oldest one - http://www.flickr.com/photos/8075577@N02/
Old one - http://www.flickr.com/photos/12650085@N02/
New one - http://www.flickr.com/photos/21750162@N05/

So I last wrote in Gdansk and from there kicked off to Bialoweiza NP for some bison hunting. turned out much easier to go to the reserve to see them so thats what i did along with a lot of other animals. Um, wolves, elk, los, boars and a lynx. So that was a pretty awesome adventure. Then i made it down to Warsaw for a day of absolutely nothing. I went to the national museum but the line was huge cos it was free on Sundays and i couldnt be bothered so i watched a movie and went to bed. I did go to a Russian Market which was pretty cool but i was already stocked up on all the illegal guns and weapons i needed.

Then it was time for Krakow! what a great town that is! Lots of cool bars, great food, good bunch of people in the hostel. Awesome. Took a day trip to Auschwitz which was a very intense day but im glad i went. Also visited a Salt mine which was cool aswell. Had better reception 100m underground than I get in Benalla, go figure. After all that it was time for a train overnight to meet Sam in Bratislava. A few fun days of boozing and sightseeing and we woke up hungover across the country on a bus to Strbske Pleso. Making drunk decisions to go snowboarding worked out a treat as we boarded the best snow I have even been in! The runs werent that great but the powdered snow with the pre-season lack of crowds was incredible!

After kicking there for a few days it was down to Budapest for hot baths, sight-seeing, kite flying fun. A lot of walking especially when we stormed (walked up) the hill to the citadel overlooking the city. And off to Vienna after a couple of days. In Vienna we cruised the town and got boozy while doing a gluvine and christmas market tour of the city. That was when we again decided to got snowboarding. this time in the Gastein area. Sleeping in Bad Gastein and boarding in Bad Hofgastein. So amazing! check the photos out from there. They are a little out of order but they look incredible!!!

Then a night train to Salzburg. Sadly we skipped town early without seeing the city. We skipped off to Munich. couple of days there with a day trip to Fussen to see some really cool castles and we were confronted with quite a problem. 117 euro each to train to Prague.... so 234 euro or we could just hire a car for 7 days for 339.... hell yes, especially when that 2007 astra twin turns out to be a convertible!! oh it was awesome!

After not being able to part with Black Betty (as we named her) and sleeping in her the first night we checked out the Pilsner Urquell Brewery (the second time for me) and eating a huge meal at the restaraunt there. Haha it was weird a stripper came in to this totally normal restaraunt and gave some guy a lapdance on the table then left. Random as hell... anyway so then we drove off to Prague. Driving in prague was horrible. during peak hour with one way streets and signs we didnt recognise was terrible but we got through and parked in the tighest garage in the world. our fairly skinny car had only millimeters either side even with the mirrors folded in. a couple of days there seeing cool sights and drinking cheap beer with absinth before driving off to Dresden.

A night in Dresden, before an awesome day trip in the convertible with the top down to some sandstone cliffs. photos speak for themselves but it was awesome out there. we had to catch a ferry just to get the the little village before we climbed this huge hill for a view of the area. a great daytrip. Then chilling out with some other aussies and a sheesha bar before bed. Next day we just walked the city and bailed for Berlin, which is where we are now.

Ditching Betty was hard, she had become a part of us but it had to be done, the city is no place for a car like her. she needs to be somewhere she can stretch her legs and feel the wind in her.... top down.... roof....
Anyway so then last night we drank at the hostel bar including an appearance by Das Boot before bed leaving us a little under the weather today and thus blogging instead of sightseeing.

And that brings you back up to date. Sorry for long time no speaky and also for the lack of humour in this blog. I dont really say anything funny that isnt a quite from the mighty boosh anymore since hanging out with Sam.

Anyway, i miss you all and have a Merry Christmas if i dont blog before which i am sure i will.
Lotsa love
Hutchi