German bread knife

This is a picture of the bread knife in my kitchen. I know.

Guggenheim - Bilbao

This is a picture of teh Guggenheim Museum Bilbao that I mentioned in my virgin travel post. Impressive, I know. It is designed to resemble a ship. The random curves of the golden exterior were designed to reflect the sun, bright idea. Notice the person standing to the left of the gigantic spider in front of the building, it gives you some perspective as to the size of the building. On the other side of the building there is a gigantic puppy dog sculture majigga thing. I never actually looked at it from the front, but from the back it looked a lot like a cat. The locals assured Paul and I that it is in fact a dog.

Flag of Hamburg

This is the flag of Hamburg, the banner under which I will be drinking for the next 4 months. It is interesting that Hamburg, formally called the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, is an independent city state within Germany. A couple of days ago I went to the Hamburger Dom. In most cities of Europe 'the Dom' is a large Cathedral around which the town is built. However, not in Hamburg. In Hamburg, the Dom is a fair ground, with hotdogs, ghost trains, Ferris wheels, water slides, you get the picture. The fair is only open for three months of the year, one month at a time, so it was good to get to go before it closes next week. There used to be a Cathedral where the fair ground now stands, but it was torn down a couple of hundred years ago. Hamburg is a merchant town and it seems that Hamburgers care far more about trade and commerce than they do about religion. Apparently 40% of people in Hamburg profess to have no religion. Relion or no, it seems to work, Hamburg is one of the wealthiest cities in Europe.

Schinken and Hähnken

Okay, I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I found this a little confusing. Schinken is ham and Hähnken is chicken. Completly the opposite of what I expected. I am currently living on Schnellstraße in Altona, Hamburg. I found out last week that Schnell means fast, so I am living on Fast Street. Sehr Super, I know. It's strange though because in Deutschland 'fast' means 'almost'. So if you translate my street name into English twice, I'm living on 'Almost Street', it doesn't quite have the same ring to it. I live on Almost Street, well it's almost a street ,it's more of an alley way, well almost.

I have been learning German now for three weeks and it remains a challenge. There are three genders to choose from and God knows how many verb tenses to choose from. We learnt about the Akkusativ last week. 'Der' is the masculine definite article, so 'The coffee is good' would be 'der Kaffee ist gut'. However, when the coffee becomes the object in the sentence 'I drink the coffee', it becomes 'Ich trinke den Kaffee'. I am still getting my head around this one.

But seriously, I am really enjoying learning German, and I now realise why sie Germans are so good at engineering. The German language is like a science, very precise. English on the other hand is an art, many ways of conveying the same idea and multiple methods of getting across an identical concept . Crazy.

Bier by the Alster

I am currently taking German language classes full time until uni starts at the beginning of September. After class, we (we being Kobbey, Marie-Anne and I) buy a 1€ Bier. Good times.

But I need to enjoy the sunlight, because apparently the winter is miserable. Having a beer is a good way to celebrate the sunlight, and a good way to drown ones sorrows in the dead of winter. I joke, ... but seriously.

One of the great things about Hamburg, and I think Germany in general, is that 'the Long Lunch' is part of their culture. Outside the Colon language school at lunch time there are hundreds of people having hearty cooked meals and fine wine, using only the shiniest crystal glasses and the best crockery and cutlery. Ah, but I do love Germany. Bon appetite!!

Caipirinha

Last night was my first experience of the Reeperbahn. Let's just say that this street is like King's Cross on steroids, and is Amsterdam's not so poor cousin. I went to the Reeperbahn with a couple of the students from the Colon (Colon the language school not Cologne the city). I am studying German for 4 weeks before I start at the Bucerius Law School in September. One of the girls, Diana, is Columbian. She's only 25 years old and is engaged to be married to some 40 year old German guy in a couple of weeks, crazy! I don't know where he was last night, but Diana was at the club dancing with us. We went to one of the bar/clubs and danced and danced and I drank a few Caipirinhas.

The recipe for Caipirinhas is 50 mLs of Cachaca (a Brazilian spirit), 1/2 a lime and 2 teaspoons of sugar. Place the lime and sugar into a glass and mash the two ingredients together. Fill the glass with crushed ice and add the Cachaça. Alternatively, you can use Vodka instead of Cachaca.

Virgin travel post

Okay, this is my virgin entry. I have been travelling around the UK, Ireland and Spain for about 4 weeks now. To see some of my photos from London and the surrounding area, click the 'London photos' link below.

London photos

London was an amazing experience. It is much like Szdnez on serious dose of roids. The buildings are impressive, the people are fashionable, the women are beautiful, and the public transport arrives on time. I am tzping this in Hamburg, just arrived here to start a German language course. Unfortunatelz, the 'y' and 'z' kezs on this kezboard have been swapped. It is probablz a measure to increase German tzping efficiencz. Ah, German effiencz, just don' mention the war...

The Dali exhibition in London was outstanding. Thez had a series of Dali movies running on loop and a collection of his most famous paintings. This guy brings a whole new meaning to the word 'insane'. Basically everything reminds him of sex, including lobsters, telephones, horses, rhinoceros horns, zou get the picture.



From London we caught the overnight bus up to Edinburgh. If you meet any bonnie wee lassies when you're up Scotland way, the phrase "it's a braw bricht moonlicht nicht the nicht" (meaning 'its a brilliant bright moonlit night tonight') should come in handy. If you can say, "It's a braw bricht moonlicht nicht", then yer a'richt, ye ken. If someone's giving you the wee willies, tell them to "get tae, your pure bokin" (meaning 'go away you are horrible'). And, to bid farewell to a dear friend you say, "lang may yer lum reek" (meaning 'long may you have smoke coming out of your chimney').

From Scotland we flew into Dublin. It might be one and the world's most expensive cities, but it doesn't have incredibly much to show for it. The biggest attraction is the Guinness brewery, which is awesome by the way. I know what you're all dying to know and the answer is yes, the Guinness does taste better in Ireland. As for the coffee in Ireland, the Irish must have been listening to too much of the Beastie Boyz, because they like their whisky with coffee and cream.

From Ireland, Paul and I flew down to down to Bilbao in the north of Spain, which is home to the world famous Guggenheim. When I think of contemporary art, I think blank canvass with a blob of blue paint in one corner entitled 'contemplation'. However, much to my surprise, the Guggenheim was actually really really good.

From Bilbao we ventured to the coastal town of San Sebastian. The sand on La Concha beach is just as good as any of the beaches I have seen in Sydney or Goa. However, because the beach is in a bay there were no waves. It was like one gigantic swimming pool, there were lane markers and out towards the centre of the bay there was a platform with a slippery dip. There must have been about 2000 people on the beach the day we were there, and like good Europeans most of them clung to the shoreline, either walking along the beach or paddling in the water at waist height. Paul and I swam straight out to the platform in the middle of the bay. There was a little dingy rowing up and down the bay making sure than no one had drowned in the perfectly still water.

After meeting up with the lovely Miss Bridget in Pamplona, we headed out on a three day pilgrimage to Lourdes. I have never wanted to go on a pilgrimage before, but in retrospect I'd have to rank it as one of my most memorable experiences. There were 1000s of old and sick people there hoping to obtain a miracle from the holy Lourdes water. Unfortunately, yours truly did not get any miracles, I am still clinically insane. It was a similar experience to visiting much of India. Being literallysurrounded by people who are knocking on death's door makes you appreciate the little things. Croissant, baggett, chocolat, fromage, vin rouge, I was deeply touched.

From the holy land we ventured to Barcelona, or Barthelona as the locals say it, the land of filth and depravity. Much hailed as the happening touristy party town on the shores of the Mediterranean, Barcelona attracts people from all walks of life, many of whom appear to have crawled out from under the nearest rock. During the day I saw tricksters taking money from innocent tourists, and walking down the main drag (Las Ramblas) at 2am, was an exercise in trying to dodge the ladies of the night who would try and call out to me and grab me as I walked past. But apart from these aspects of Barcelona, it is, in its own way, a very beautiful city. Casa Mila, better known as La Pedrera, is the most famous secular building designed by the early 20th century architect Antoni Gaudi.

The Ciutat Vella and L'Eixample areas of Barcelona are approximately a million times cheaper for food than the touristy Barri Gotic area. To get there, when you're walking from the harbour up Las Ramblas, turn left instead of right. Also beware the Sangria. I was under the impression it only contained red wine and fruit juice. However, after drinking half a litre of the stuff over dinner, let's just say my initial assumption was well and truly wrong. I suppose there are worse ways to write off an entire morning.

From Barcelona we bussed it to Nice. Nice is lovely. I was there two and a half years ago in the winter the weather was as beautiful this time as it was the last. For those of you with an interest in food, I recommend going to a bakery and ordering the Niçois specialty called fougass (probably spelt wrong). You wont need to eat for the rest of the day.

Anyone who has read this far should be awarded the Victoria Cross, or some similar medal indicating your courage in the face of boredom.