Where's Wally?

Through the miracles of facebook, Anni and I were invited to a friend of a friends birthday party which involved dressing up as Wally from "Where's Wally" and traipsing our way around London following a set of somewhat redundant instructions that partially resembled the Monopoly board. That's right, we went on the famous Monopoly Pub Crawl.

Starting at Elephant and Castle tube station at 10.45am, we hit our first pub, The George, near Old Kent Road by 11.15. No, it shouldn't take 30mins to get from A to B, however, relying upon London Public Transport is like relying upon a 450 year old termite infested house to continue to stand upright.

Despite the slow start, the day went along well. We went across Tower Bridge, collecting a few stares from the brave tourists in the rain seeing a bus full of Wally's and wondering what on earth was going on. Then meandering around Tower Hill, we passed Vine Street on our way to Fenchurch Street Station. Due to a myriad of things, including the fact that there was an ever increasing amount of Wally's, the slow start continued throughout the day. By 5pm, we had only hit 8 out of the possible 26 pubs. Yes, the Duke was closed at King's Cross station; Yes, there was a large group of us so being served was somewhat difficult, however, I believe that we should have been more organised and disciplined. 30 mins at each pub is a long time.

However, the day was a success; people got drunk, looked silly, had a great time, tried out new places and overall attempted the Monopoly Pub Crawl.

And the most exciting part? Anni bought me a new jumper.

Munich

MUNCHEN! The capital of Bavaria, home of Oktoberfest and a place where Anni and I spent three glorious days eating and drinking and generally being merry. This was the first city we went to during our summer trip without Cam, which was fairly awesome (ner ner Cam!)

But before we reached Munich, we stopped over in Lauterbrunnen, a cute little camping village at the base of the Jungfrau. Awesome rosti, very cold, we saw snow!

Then from there, we went through the Black Forest to Neuschwanstein, where the tragic castle stands, the basis of the Disney castle. Amazing, unfortunately covered in tourists, but still amazing.

I got to drive the bus! Jimmy dressed me up and it was awesome fun!

So then we finally made it to Munich. Every night was a different beer hall, starting with the Augustiner Brau, then the Loweinstein restaurant, finally ending in the world famous Hofbrau house. In totally Anni drank 6 litres of bier! I had a few, as well as a pretzel, and some awesome fried pork. Yum yum yum.

So that was Munich this time. I say this time because Anni and I are venturing back in December!

London-Town

The other weekend Anni and her friend dragged me along around London in order to complete this "list of things you should do before you leave London"... This weekend it included a delightful coffee breakfast in Putney, a foodie-haven Borough Markets, a ride in the old-school Routemaster bus, and then a trek up to Abbey Road... pha-yew!

So here's some pictures of my antics. Anni is hilarious, I ended up getting some strange looks from a few of the market stall owners... But the pictures are awesome. Feel free to suggest some more places for Anni to go! November is looking pretty bleak, in fact there's no real trips before Christmas. Oh, and check out my awesome hat!

Belgium and Beer!

Last weekend Anni, her friend Amy and I went to Belgium, specifically to go to the Diksmuide Beer Festival, but of course, for the chocolate and the waffles and the fries, and more beer.... mmm.

So it all started on early Saturday morning, which was disgustingly cold and wet, and basically was the same the whole weekend. The ferry over from Dover to Calais left everyone's stomachs quite weak, and the rain in Belgium turned to hail so heavy it looked like snow when it had settled. But who ever let rain, hail or weak stomachs stop them from trying as many different types of beer?!

In Belgium there are over 800 different types of beer (according to our tour guide and wikipedia)! I am glad to say that Anni made it to six, where as I tried about ten (I kept sneaking other peoples). In the end I turned into a beer! (hahaha, the picture tells it all)

So Oostende was a lovely seaside town, but Brugge was even prettier! Chocolate shops, fries, waffles, chocolate shops, Christmas decorations, tourist shops, beer shops, chocolate shops... Anni ended up buying 1kg of chocolate for 12 Euro!

The weekend was great, the tour company was a good choice and overall, the Diksmuide Beer Festival and Belgium weekend trip was a success!

Not sure when the next trip is, possibly Bristol? But Anni still needs to catch you up on some of the summer trip, so keep posted!

Varese

Varese is a region north of Milano and south of the Swiss border, near Lago di Lugano (Lake Lugano). This is where Anni, Cam and I went off the Busabout track and spent a week with Anni's relatives. Anni's Grandfather came from Varese to Australia and that's where he met Anni's Oma, who migrated to Australia from Holland.

So during our time in Varese we went up Sacre Monte, across to Lugano, to Lago di Como, into actual Milano where we did a tour of the San Siro (for Cam's benefit), around Varese itself and up to Venegono Superiore.

We had a great time! So much FOOD! Zia Carla spoilt us rotten, and Zio Luigi was a great tour guide. Anni's Biz Nonna (Great-Grandma) is still as mucha crazy Italian grandma as always.

Every day we had fresh panne, and each meal was at least two courses. Zia Carla's cooking is simple, only a few ingredients in each dish, but incredibly indescribable.

The San Siro was amazing. I got to sit in the chair in the changing rooms of AC Milan where David Beckham sat when he was playing for them. The stadium was pretty big too. Milan itself was pretty, but not somewhere I would plan on staying for too long. We spent a day there and that was enough.

It was mine and Cam's birthdays whilst we were in Varese! Zia Carla made Cam this really yummy apricot tart, and I got to have some delicious dark chocolate gelato, which managed to go through my shirt and stain my tummy.

OH! The nasty Sydney boys I told you about from Cseky Krumlov? Well they managed to split my bum open, and so in Varese Anni got to stitch my back up. That was not cool. What was cool is that Anni stole Cam's signed football guernsey...

So from Milano we got back on the Busabout track to Lauterbrunnen. Will tell you all about it later!

Train to Milan

So I don't know if you heard about Cam, Anni's friend that she went travelling with this summer... He is this funny Aussie guy who likes to drink beer and doesn't really like me, but hey, you can't be friends with everyone, can you?

Anyways, Anni and Cam caught the overnight train from Salzburg to Milan. You would think being a chivalrous gentlemen Cam would over to sleep on the top bunk, but alas no, Anni had to risk falling out of bed everytime the train stopped.

At least I had a sweet ride in the backpack. Or so you would think... CAM TRIED TO ATTACK ME! But don't worry, later on Anni gets him back! Stay tuned for more adventures, next stop, Varese!

Salzburg

I don't know about you, but when I think of Salzburg I automatically think of the "Sound of Music". So does Anni. So of course, when in Salzburg we went on the Sound of Music tour! It was hmmm. I guess because I got really wet in the ran, or insulted by the weird tour guide who was atleast 60 and tried to flirt with Anni, or just because it was such an anticlimax, especially to the amount of money she paid. But, in saying that, it was well worth it, and you couldn't go to Salzburg without doing it.

Salzburg in itself is an amazing city. So many windy roads and amazing views and fantastic food! And the tricky water place? Well, Anni and Cam decided they weren't going to pay for the entrance, so they snuck into the gardens out the back instead. OH MY! I would recommend this place. So big, so amazing. Definitely a must. If it's nice and sunny take a bike too.