befok!

We drove up to Mossel bay on Wednesday for a nice long weekend. On the way here we stopped at Rooiberg for some wine tasting. We also hit a small speedbump in Robertson called Klipdrift. I have been wanting to stop at the distillery for a while now and we had some time to kill. I was really impressed with the setup and the guy who presented the tasting was really nice. I bought a bottle of Klipdrift Gold (yum). They do regular tours of the distillery to demonstrate the production process, so we will have to pop in again sometime

Yesterday we drove out to Wilderness for lunch at Pomodoro. I had a lovely bacon and Gorgonzola pasta and a bit of a tan outside in the sun. I also managed to find some honey comb which I have been craving for about 3 years now but have been unable to find (horaay!).

Today we woke up to a windless summer day. After a bit of shopping for this evenings braai we went down to the water park on Diaz beach. We spent about an hour on all the rides and had heaps of fun. After that we went to go and chill in the Jacuzzi and took a long swim in the heated indoor pool.

Being on holiday rocks!

We are back! Flights were uneventful (thank goodness) we did however manage to get squeezed in between two screaming kiddies on our first flight. Salomé also had some problems equalizing on the decent which was rather unpleasant.

Customs let us pass straight through, horaay!

I just took a quick walk through the Virgin store. All the items that have =
been marked down in their normal stores are being sold at the full price =
(minus the tax of course). I did spot one item that was cheaper, but on the =
whole it doesn’t seem worth shopping at duty free stores.

Wednesday we spent the morning doing washing and then went to the British =
museum. They have a really excellent Egiptian exibition and we also got to =
see the Rosetta Stone. We then met up with Rob, Henriette and surprise, =
surprise Ryan. We the went to see Sir Sloan’s house. It is an eclectic mix =
of artifacts and antiques. We ended the afternoon with high tea at the =
crypt.

After a quick stop at Virgin mega store it was back home for dinner.

Thursday it was up early to do some last minuet shopping. We went to =
Harrods, which after shopping ar KaDaWe was more of the same. We then =
popped in at ?Summerfield?. They had a much better electronics section than =
Harrods. Then we went looking for La Senza, the girls managed to find =
something nice :)=20

Back to the appartment for lunch and final packing. The tube ride to =
Heathrow was mildly entertaining when there was a bit of name calling =
between some idiot, who insisted on playing his (c)rap music on the train, =
and some other idiots on one of the platforms.=20

Check in was a breeze. Once again we were overweight (must be all the =
chocoate) but they didn’t give us any grief. Security was a mission. They =
scanned my bag, jacket and my shoes. Salom=C3=A9 got frisked (by a woman). =
It took about 30-40 minutes to get through security. We took a quick walk =
through the duty free shops, but there was nothing interesting.

We are now waiting for our boarding call.

So this is the end of a stunning holiday, which is rather sad. I am however =
missing the comforts of home and my cats

Tuesday we visited the National Gallery and the Tate Modern. The Tate =
Modern was very interesting. They had huge slides ranging from the first to =
the fith floor that you can ride for free. They also had all sorts of =
interactive things for you to do. Their audio guides were also the most =
advanced I have seen. They were Pocket PCs with a map of the museum and =
when you brought up the item it would show you the picture as well. Very =
cool! The modern art made mixed impressions on me, some of it was just =
stupid; a 5m x 5m canvas painted grey. Other things like flags made from =
sand in glass containers interconnected with tubes and then filled with =
ants was very original.

We then headed to our self catering unit in Earl’s Court, which was just an =
absolute pleasure after some of the hotels we’ve stayed in.

In the evening we went to Bond Street to meet some friends for dinner at a =
realy nice Italian restaurant. The food was excellent, pity the is no such =
thing as smoking and non smoking, but aparently that will be changing in =
June.

Nico and Chantelle joined us as well which was great as the arrangements =
were very last minute. It was good to catch up on what everyone had been up =
to.

I think I’m starting to get the hang of the London tube system. Navigating =
the Metro’s and Trams in Europe has helped

We arrived at our hotel in London late in the afternoon. After dinner we =
met the Contiki group downstairs and said our final goodbyes. Then it was =
time for some DVD shopping at Virgin and HMV. I got some cool stuff for =
myself and picked up some presents as well.

Tomorrow we move a self catering appartment in Earl’s Court and then it =
will be more shopping and sight seeing.

We have just passed through Dover and are on the way to London. It is wet =
and grey.

Oh I forgot to mention. I touched a computer for the first time in almost a =
month yesterday. I helped Kirsten copy some files onto Jonnies laptop. Best =
of all it was in Hungarian!

We arrived in a rainy Amsterdam late in the afternoon on Saturday and went =
to a cheese and clog shop wher they showed us how to make cheese and (drum =
roll) clogs. The clog making process was quite interesting. All the tools =
looked very primitive but each performed its task well. We also got our =
first taste of stroopwafels. It’s almost like a compressed waffel with =
syrup in the middle (yum).

Then it was checkin and dinner. After dinner some of the group went into =
Amsterdam for the night. We opted to spend the evening at hotel as a live =
sex show was not high on the list of things to see.

Sunday we went to see the Anne Frank and van Gogh museums. Both were very =
good. The tram system in Amsterdam is very cool, but confusing. Their map =
could be better. After sightseeing we walked up the main shopping streets. =
I tried out poffertes (tiny pancakes) and frites (their version of deep =
fried chips) both were excellent. It rained in the afternoon. This was =
actually the first time we had rain while sightseeing on the entire trip. =

Later in the evening we went on a canal cruise, which was lots of fun. We =
tought some of the Aussies how to play wargames. I had a chat with the bar =
lady in Afrikaans while she spoke dutch to me. We could understand each =
other reasonably well :)=20

After the cruise it was back to the hotel. We had a few drinks in the bar. =
I introduced Springbokkies to the Aussies (it was actually on the shooter =
list!). Interestingly they have a mango flavored Malibu.

Today we are making our way back to London.

Friday we stopped off in Hamburg central at about 1pm and had 4 hours to do =
some sightseeing and shopping. We walked down to the Rathaus, passing the =
largest electronic store (Saturn) in Europe on the way there. We then set =
off for the Hamburg dungeon.

This was heaps of fun, the whole show was in german, but some of the actors =
repeated things in English and all the visual material was subtitled. I got =
tried by the Inqusition for dancing around a Nunnery naked (LOL). By the =
time we got out of the dungeon we had just about enough time to get back to =
the bus. We did however manage to buy some beers on the way to the pickup =
point. We also got a Mezzo Mix, which is Coke and Fanta mixed. It actually =
tastes pretty good.

We then checked into the hotel and headed for dinner (no hamburgers were =
served ;). After dinner it was up to the room for beer and cards (and =
chocolate). Lindsy joined us. Henri=C3=ABtte stuck a match into a block of =
cocolate as a birthday cake, After a few rounds Lindsy went to get =
something from her room and just as we were getting worried that something =
was wrong she appeared with a silver platter containing desserts and =
sparkles. I was totally blown away! So the night ended off on a good note =
and we all had lots of fun.

We had frikkadel (hamburgers) as part of the breakfast spread this morning. =
So now I can say I ate a hamburger in hamburg

We are on the road to Amsterdam.

Thursday morning kicked off a quick stop at a remainder of the Berlin wall =
known as the East Gallery. We then took a quick drive around the city and =
got stopped by the border police who wanted to check the bus and drivers’ =
papers. Their vehicle had the word Zoll printed on it. Which obviously =
means something respectable in German, but is slang for joint in Afrikaans. =
We then took a guided tour through Berlin which started at Karl & Engel =
square. The guide really knew his stuff, he gave us a rundown of the =
history of Berlin and then took us through a number of sights. We walked to =
Museum Island past the Berliner Dom and then to the Neue Wache which is a =
memorial to war and tyranny. The roof has a hole in it which allows the =
light and rain to fall on a statue of a mother holding her dead son. The =
Pergamon and Altes museums amoungst others are located here, hence the =
name. The Altes museum has a giant bowl which was carved from a single =
piece of stone standing in front of it. It was supposed to have been placed =
inside the museum, but it was only finished after the museum and could not =
fit through the entrance Across from the meseum was the site where the =
Prussian Schlo=C3=9F Palace used to stand before the Russians destroyed it. =
Part of it now houses the former East Berlin parlement built by the =
Russians which is now in process of being dismantled (what goes around =
comes around).

We then crossed the Schlo=C3=9F br=C3=BCcke past the Deutsche History =
museum which used to house weapons for Prussians and then later for =
Hitler. We then passed the Humboldt university where Einstein used to =
lecture. Next was Bebel Platz which is famous for the book burning by the =
Nazis. We the walked down Unter den Linden passing the Russian Embassy to =
get to Brandenburg gate. It is the last remaining city gate of Berlin. =
Hotel Adlon is a stones throw from the gate. When it originaly opened it =
had a collection of over 200000 wines in the cellar, which was more than =
the current emperors collection.

Passing through the gate put us in West Berlin where we walked down the =
side of the Tiergarten to the Holocast museum which is an arrangement of =
individually shaped stones set in such a way to represent an abstract =
Jewish graveyard.

We stopped at the site underwhich Hitlers’ bunker used to lie. It is now a =
parking lot surrouned by flats. On one tour a resident told the group that =
Hitler no longer lived there. We passed the largest remaining Nazi building =
which used to be the Air Ministry, the Russians renamed it to the Ministry =
of ministries and it is now the Department of Finance.=20

We ended the tour at check point Charlie which was the scene of many =
interesting escape attempts. The museum hosts a number of interesting =
contraptions used to escape East Berlin.

We then walked to the Reichstad with the hope of walking up the glass dome. =
On te way there we passed the Audi store which had the new S3 and TT! So we =
popped in for pictures and a bit of drooling. VW was next door so I got =
pictures of the “off road” Polo and new Eos. We then popped into the DG =
bank to look at the giant fish created by Frank Gehry’s. When we got to =
Reichstad the queues were too long so we gave it a miss. We the went in and =
up the Berliner Dom for some really nice views of Berlin.=20

We then caught a train to Kaiser-Wilhelm Ged=C3=A4chtniskirche for some =
pictures.=20

It was now time for shopping. We started at CD store and picked up some =
nice albums (new Apop, Suicide Commando, Diary of Dreams an E Nominee). We =
then walked down Kurf=C3=BCrstendamm which is one of the main shopping =
streets. We went into KaDeWe which is 5 floors of shopping and 2 floors of =
food. Half of the one floor was just chocolate! We had some hot chocolate =
there which was devine and of course we bought more chocolate!

The train trip back was eventful as the train we got onto never left the =
station. The announcement to say what was wrong and what the alternative =
train was in German. So we got some help from a Asian man and got back to =
the hotel. Berlin has a very intricate rail and tram network.