Rego In Europe

Well it was a bit premature of me to close this blog down before I'd even come home, so I will now give this the finale it probably does not deserve.

 

Whilst the Ios cough was slowing shutting down our immune systems, we ventured out for my final night in Berlin to the Riva Bar, where Kris' brother Eric was working. We ended up spending the whole night there, as the group downed some dirty cocktails (non-alcholic for me of course). The Horse and Jenny's brother Tony ended up worse for wear after the 2 taxis we caught seemed to be racing the streets of Berlin to get to Kris' place. A 5am finish meant major sleep-in time was required.

 

Got up around midday. Bear, Horse and I decided to have 1 last Euro meal together. We ended up at an Indian restaurant... I don't know whether it was because we were sick, hadn't had food like that for awhile, whatever, but it didn't sit too well with Bear and I and Kris' toilet copped the punishment.

 

The Germany and Sweden round of 16 match clashed with my flight time, so Danni, Bear and Horse dropped me off at the airport. After wiping the tears from Bears eyes, I played the airport lounge waiting game... 90 minutes in Heathrow, extra 1 hour delay in Singapore, but I did manage to sleep 6hrs from London to Singapore and 2hrs from Singpore to Melbourne. Would have slept more if the (female) passengers next to me weren't so cute...

 

Landed in Melbourne around 5:45am and got home around 7:00am... dropped my bags and went to work. And the first 3 things I noticed about Melbourne?

 

1. Loved getting my hands on Aussie currency... heaps better than Euros

2. Went to Degraves before work for a proper coffee after the shit stuff in Europe... and it didn't disappoint

3. Public transport in Melbourne is relatively crap and slow as well... after experiencing the efficiency of trains/trams in Europe in general

 

Thanks for reading. Have added some photos for a bit more visual flair... I didn't realise it was so easy to do. There's plenty more of those where they came from.

 

Au revoir, adios, ciao, giasou, goodbye!

My last night in Berlin before flying home, so sadly this will be my last entry... unless something eventful happens tonight.

 

One of the Irish guys in Ios talked about the "Ios Cough". And we all seem to have caught it... only exacerbated via the Bears crash-and-burn style of partying, serving only to pass on mutated versions of his illnesses. Sleeping in the same rooms and sometimes the same bed is not the healthiest way to travel. So the Ios cough has turned into the Berlin cough and saw the Kingdom laying low for a couple of days.

 

After 1 day of recuperation doing nothing, we did the Berlin tour courtesy of Jenny. We were supposed to hook up with the Dog as well, but he pub crawled the night before and we missed him. The tour consisted of train rides, Checkpoint Charlie, more train rides, East Side Gallery (Berlin Wall) and more train rides. I've always thought the only way to truly experience a different city is to jump on their public transport system... and it is efficient as you would expect it to be.

 

At this stage we had nowhere to watch the Australia vs Croatia game and the most popular venues were showing Brazil vs Japan instead (boo!). We ended up at Popkick with a Big Day Out type set-up... there were about 50 other Aussies there as well going nuts. Oi, oi, oi!

 

Hopefully you have enjoyed reading my blog... it may not have made much sense at times, but you could attribute that to my holiday frame of mind. And it was written with different audiences in mind, so some of the references were a little cryptic...

 

I'm sure I will share some of the more interesting events that have  happened with you when I get back. And plenty of photos and videos as well!

Not much else to report on in Berlin... in fact, we've done so little I've forgotten what we've been doing the last few days.

 

Needless to say, the city is a buzz with the World Cup on. The weather is quite hot and humid too... and they don't really have air-conditioning cos they don't need to - especially on public transport. Everyone pays for public transport here too, even though no-one checks. They're a trusting bunch... when you buy fruit at the supermarket, you have to weigh it yourself and put a sticker with the price. I could imagine what would happen if they tried this in Melbourne (well at least at my local supermarket).

 

Only got a chance to wander around the city yesterday after watching the Germany vs Ecuador game - we tried to go to the Fan Mile (where they used to have the Love Parade), but they were in lock-down 30 minutes before kick-off due to the number of people. Apparently some guy went psycho in a crowded area 2 weeks ago before the start of the World Cup and started stabbing people, so the police are cracking down. I've sent a couple of videos around that I took in the new Berlin train station of the fans going nuts.

 

So, we've been watching games on balconies, in Beach Bars and beer gardens with thousands of other fans... look to do our touristy things around the city, like we've done in every city so far. Oh yeah, I remember now why we felt so lethargic yesterday... we ate a triple-whopper from Burger King, 3 meat patties and you don't really feel like doing much.

 

 

Arrived safely in Berlin on Saturday 17th after a 2 and half hour flight from Athens on Easyjet... and listening to Bear bitch about how airlines should have a special designated seating area for people over 6ft 2in. Planes seats are designed for people my size... 5ft 10-11in and weighing no more than 80kgs. Anyone else has to suffer and risk DVT.

 

Kris and Danni picked us up around 11:30pm and took us back to their place in the Prenz Lauerberg, about a 10 min drive from the centre of Berlin, 25 min by train. It has a bohemian feel about it, but is quiet and close to everything. Good to put our feet up and have a host that knows the area and the food. Chilled out and caught up first night, second day went into Berlin and watched the Aus vs Brazil game at the Sony Centre on the Cinemaxx balcony overlooking about 6 huge screens so you could watch from any angle.

 

Berlin is too cool for school... looks pretty easy to get around, streets are nice and wide, mix of the old and new. We plan on BBQing local style today and checking out the Fan Mile, where 500,000 fans go to watch the games.

 

In Ios, we met these Irish guys who belong to "Firms", organised soccer hooligan gangs. They had been banned from attending Germany due to their affiliation with the Shamrock Rovers firm and N17 (Tottenham's firm) and tried to warn us about Germany. In their defence they were OK guys raised in this environment, but only get involved when one of their members is in trouble. They warned us of firms attending from every country basically out to organise brawls (the racial violence in Berlin 2 days before the World Cup was apparently a warm-up fight between the Poles and Germans for something bigger). So if we want to avoid a "smiley" (mouth slashed on either side and a kick in the balls so you scream) or a twin-blade cut (razor blades spearated by a matchstick so they can't stitch the wound and have to fold the skin over), then stay away from bars where there are only 1 group of supporters. Wisla Krakow, Red Star Belgrade and the Sao Paulo Devils firms are apparently the worst.

 

We look at chillin in Berlin until I return to Melbourne in less than a week.

Ios is a strange kind of undeveloped paradise... I guess like most of the Greek Islands (I presume) they are basically lumps of rock. There is 1 main town and 1 main beach, with still to be built roads leading to other beaches. It is a party island - a typical day in Ios for us is like this...

 

2pm - wake up

2:30pm - get a tan

5pm - watch soccer

7pm - laze by the pool

9pm - have some dinner for a few hours

12am - pre-drinks, chat with other travellers

2-3am - walk into town

5am - town bars close, go to Sweet Irish Dreams, the only other club open

7am - walk back to hotel

8am - sleep

 

We stayed at a place called Hermes (where Wolf had worked previously), famous for it's host "Nick the Greek". We opted for 2 x 2 bedrooms for €60 with balconies overlooking the pool. Aside from the daily routine above, there is not much else to tell from my side of the fence, other than meeting some cool Irish guys, some cool Canadian girls and eating well.

 

The party area of Ios has about 20 bars, all next to each other playing cheesy music and offering cheap drinks - I've nicknamed it "Shot City" as every drink you buy you get a free shot.

 

So we left Ios on Saturday 17th - caught the Highspeed 5 ferry. This costs €48, takes 3hrs to Athens and you get a comfy seat. This compares to €28 for the 8 hour ferry sitting on plastic chairs. Arrived in Piraeus at 3:30pm before our 9:30pm flight... we thought getting the train to Athens, but couldn't be farked cos it was too hot, so we chilled out drinking frapes before catching the bus to the airport.

 

Giasou to Greece, where you are not allowed to flush toilet paper in the bowl... Next stop - Berlin.