Day 2 12/6/11 - Germany

Berlin > London

Highlight

• Leisurely breakfast.
• Tried to look at Kaiser-Wilhelm Gedachtmiskirche but it was all boarded up.
• The Carnival hadn’t started when we arrived, so we could look at all the stores
• Only managed to catch the end part of the parade. It was very crowded, but the parade was pretty much like the London Mayor’s parade.
• Back to the carnival and it was now in full swing. Lots and lots of people everywhere.
• Allie complained whenever she was put in her stroller.
• Escaped to Schlossgarten Charlottenburg – very peaceful and beautiful garden.
• Flight was good – check in was crap but we all got in the lounge.
• We were delayed one hour at Heathrow thanks to the stairs again and had to catch a taxi home.

Food

• Hotel Pastena breakfast:
  • sausage, ham, bacon, egg, pretzel, liverwurst, smoked salmon, tartare
  • yoghurt with kiwi fruit
  • apple
• bratwurst with bun
• currywrust
• mojito
• handbrok – mushroom, cheese
• Lufthansa Lounge:
  • sausage, potato salad, anchovies, herring, pretzel, beer, peanuts
• BMI flight:
  • orange panna cotta
  • goats cheese and radicchio salad
  • tortellini in tomato sauce
  • basque chicken with tomato and olives
  • potato bread

Day 1 11/6/11 - Germany

London -> Berlin

Highlight

• The BMI Lounge was much better than the BA one, we all managed to go in as well.
• The hotel was pretty nice for the price.
• Topographie des Terrors – excellent museum, Allie was naughty though so we didn’t get to stay for long. I managed to read a bit and saw the pictures.
• Walked and read the info boards around Checkpoint Charlie.
• Stasi Information – Und Dokumentationszentrum, very interesting but small display.
• Stopped off for our wrust Groupon, and to wait out the rain.
• Stocked up on gummy bears and other gummies.
• Gedenkstatte Berliner Mauer – probably the best Berlin wall viewing we have been to in Berlin – you can clearly see the 2 wall system and the land in between. We didn’t get to read everything as we had to go to dinner.
• Very good food and service. Veal was extra tender, hollandaise sauce superb. The food took a long time to arrive again – is this the standard for Berlin?

Food

• BMI Lounge:
  • waffles, chocolate croissant, raisin bun
  • yoghurt with berry compote and grapefruit
• BMI flight:
  • cheese omelette, tomato sausage, potatoes
  • peach yoghurt
  • chocolate roll
• currywrust and fries
• Restaurant Neu:
  • soba and kimchee
  • rhubarb juice
  • asparagus, potatoes, hollandaise with veal
  • monkfish, melon, apple cornbread

Day 3 23/11/09 - Germany

Berlin -> London

Highlight

• A later start today. Unfortunately it started to rain.
• Somehow we managed to get lost going to the East Side Gallery, but when we finally made it the sun came out. Some of the artwork was interesting, others quite ordinary, but they were all newly touched up and fresh. I actually would have liked to have seen some of the old faded ones.
• Caught the bahn across town to go to KaDeWe and the famous wurst stand. Witty’s didn’t disappoint, it being the best chips and sausage combo we have tried so far – it being organic can only help.
• KaDeWe’s food hall was quite impressive. I like the say that it’s laid out in little stalls. We didn’t buy too many things, but managed to pick up the best Berliner we’ve had.
• Back on transport to visit a marzipan shop, which turned out to be quite small and a bit of a disappointment.
• Trekked across town again to the WeihnachtsZauber Christmas Market on Gendarmenmarkt. Everything was open, but the weather was turning bad again. It had the best food of all the markets we’ve been to so far, but actually, for a market you have to pay for, it was better than I thought.
• It meant though, that we had time to visit Fassbender & Rausch, the famous chocolate shop and drink so very yummy hot chocolate.
• Back to hotel, after wondering through the finally opened Postdamer Platz Winterwelt Christmas market and picking up more food.
• A very crowded ride to the airport, then a big delay for the plane because of rain in London, and made it home before 10pm.i>

Food

• mandarin
• Witty’s:
  • curry wrust
  • fries with satay sauce
• Berliner jam donut
• marzipan
• Christmas market:
  • tree cake
  • bratwurst with bun
  • fried dough with garlic
  • Austrian flour batter with cinnamon sugar
  • mulled wine
  • mulled apple drink
  • bratwurst #2 with bun
• Fassbender & Rausch:
  • chilli hot chocolate
  • coffee hot chocolate
• Lufthansa:
  • tomato juice
• apple

Day 2 22/11/09 - Germany

Berlin

Highlight

• Early start to go to the Reichstag
• No line, good weather, interesting audio guide and photos, but had to wait for ages for Elaine to finish.
• Waited for our tour to start. Luckily they didn’t put too many people on each group on the tour.
• Our Scottish tour guide Emma was very knowledgeable on history and was no nonsense.
• Walked through some of the major sites:Branbenburg Gate, Reichstag, Jewish memorial, Nazi architecture at the tax building, Bits of Berlin Wall at Topography of Terror, Checkpoint Charlie, Babelplatz, Museum island
• Tried to find some wurst for lunch, but we were out of luck, didn’t even see any at the Curry wrust museum!
• Was really tired and hungry after our 3.5 hrs tour, so didn’t bother going to any museums, just to the to get something to eat, before going back to hotel to rest.
• Made use of the lovely rooftop pool again, it was much less crowded so it was very nice.
• First Floor was a much nicer experience than Margaux. The restaurant is more old stuff, the food slightly more traditional and much more tasty.
• Desserts weren’t quite as creative but we got out at a very reasonable time.

Food

• apple strudel
• apricot strudel
• carrot strudel
• grapes
• Aroma café:
  • goulash soup with bread
  • pretzel
• curry wurst
• potatoes and bacon
• apple
• First Floor:
  • pike fish with beetroot sauce
  • bread sticks with beetroot, parsley and sour cream dips
  • walnut, multi-grain, pretzel, white, wholemeal bread
  • Lobster, red mullet, cod, duck with foie gras jus, coffee dessert
  • Fish menu - Variation of tuna with avocado
  • Fried scallops with romanesco and truffled cream sauce
  • Red mullet in bouillabaisse broth
  • Cod with green cabbage and mustard sauce
  • Little soup of baked apple with almonds and rum raisin ice-cream
  • mini cheesecake, lemon tart, sugar lolly, flapjack

Day 1 21/11/09 - England, Germany

Berlin

Highlight

• Plane arrived early. We got to our hotel in very good time, and actually had to wait for Elaine before going out.
• Weather was very nice, quite mild.
• Checked out briefly the Christmas market and the toboggan slope, and ate our first of many sausages
• Made our way to the excellent Winterfeldtmarkt, where there were all manners of the usual knick knacks, as well as great food stalls.
• It got dark quite quickly, so we tried to check out the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag, but the line was just too long to wait.
• We went for a brief walk around the Tiergarden, but it was getting too dark, and there wasn’t much to see besides trees with no leaves.
• Decided to go to the shopping centre near the hotel, where we checked out a few shops, before turning our attention to the supermarket to stock up on Haribo lollies
• Took advantage of the excellent roof top pool to unwind before heading out to dinner.
• Very disappointed with Margaux, especially considering the very high price they charged. The restaurant was so heated up that you just wanted to get out of here. The 7 course menu took 4.5 hours to complete, with a one 55 minutes wait between 4th and 5th course. With the exception of the inventive and beautifully tasty dessert, the rest of the meal, while imaginative, missed the mark on taste. I of course complained, and only managed to get us 2 bottles of water for free – if they didn’t heat the restaurant up so much and make us sit there for so long, we probably would not have got through all that water anyway
• This meant that we missed our bahn back to the hotel and had to walk, and was very tired by the end of it all.

Food

• plums
• Lufthansa:
  • tomato juice
  • ham sandwich
• bratwurst
• Berlinder
• pomegranate juice
• poppy seed cheesecake
• lemon cheese cake swirl
• grilled trout with dill mayo and lemon and bun
• Margaux:
  • baguette
  • Tuna & Egg a la Russe - marinated tuna with berbana and Szechuan pepper, eggs a la russe with marinated cuttlefish and crispy bacon, salad of spinach beets, grapefruit and sweet potatoes, Honey eggplant cream
  • Pollock & Gillardeuar Oysters - smoked with charcoal, parfait of oysters with chives foam, salad of sea urchin cockles, mustard and lovage
  • Bretonic Lobster, Apples & Hamachi - marinated lobster and hamachi with herbs, confit of raw and green apples, jus with fried Fairy Ring Mushroom
  • Codfish, Black Salsify & Truffles - steamed with olive oil, glazed black salsify with water cress and black truffles
  • Autumn Vegetables - steamed turnips, carrots, celery, chervil, fennel, kohlrabi, Spring onion,s lettuce, filled pointed cabbage, Texstures of fried vegetables, sauteed bread with vegetables and jus of vegetables
  • Wild Duck of Mieral sous-vide cooked and stuffed with liver, stew with roasted red cabbage, pumpkin with candied olives, sauge and black pudding, jus with vinegar of quince
  • Vacherin Mont d'Or - salad of turnips with black nuts and spinach, cream of goat cheese with ashes of cabbage
  • Le Dessert Voyage
  • Seaweed & Pumpkin - salad of seaweed, spring onions, red hibiscus, candied lemon and ginger, jus of pumpkin and lime, baked sushi of pumpkin and couscus
  • Celery & Chives - celery cooked in sea salt with celery gnocchi and celery cream, Glazed celery with chives and almond oil
  • Autumn Vegetables - steamed turnips, carrots, celery, chervil, fennel, kohlrabi, spring onions, lettuce, filled pointed cabbage, Texstures of fried vegetables, sauteed bread with vegetables and jus of vegetables
  • Crapaudine - Cooked in sea salt, Marinated with grapes and beetroot, Sabayon of grapes jus, sauce of red wine and turnips
  • Black Salsify, Truffles & Water Cress - glazed black salsify with sauce of water cress, Cream of salsify with truffles and truffles jus
  • Vacherin Mont d'Or - salad of turnips with black nuts and spinach, cream of goat cheese with ashes of cabbage
  • blackberry lolly pop
  • chocolates – olive, coffee, honey macadamia

Krönlein im Weinberg

Room

Finally, we found a hotel in Germany that's actually different to all the others. This place is situated in a suburban area. It's basically a very big house, in the style of the big attics. And that's where we got to stay. The room looked very cool, with a huge slope ceiling and a window that you open sideways. Unfortunately that meant the room was quite small, but still bigger than Japan and Centro Turistico Citte di Bologna. It also meant we had to carry our luggage up 2 flights of stairs. The bed was big, but the blankets and pillwos the same as all the other German hotels. Still, they made some effort with the room, with some better asthetically looking furniture.

Rating - 1.5

Facilities

They have unique touches, like a shoe shine machine, a sewing kit, bottled water, but no fridge. The lollies on the pillow were from the famous German brand Haribo.

The staff really reflect the philosophy of the hotel, they were the friendliest and warmest in Germany. They were able to accomodate our reqeust for an earlier breakfast because we had a flight to catch, and they made us feel very welcomed.

Rating - 4.5

Location

As mentioned, this is away from the touristy area, but there were parking and it was nice to look out to see farms and trees. The location was especially lovely when you could have breakfast out on the balcony, with a great view over all of this.

Rating - 4

Food

The breakfast was defintely worth the wait. A few types of very yummy bread and 5 different liver/sausage spread along, not to mention jams, honey, nutella, cold cuts, cheeses, as well s the German breads, muesli, a really yummy chocolate cereal, yoghurt and fresh and dried fruit. The boiled eggs were cooked just right and they made freshly brewed coffee (unfortunately Italian coffee beats it any day) and I'm happy to report, not a croissant or pastry in site!

Rating - 4.5

Value

We paid 58 Euros, not bad considering the excellent breakfast. And the hosts had charm, which is more than you can say for a lot of these places!

Rating - 4

Snooze Points - 14.5

Info

Gerbrunner Strasse / Krönlein 5, D-97236 Würzburg-Randersacker
Phone +43-1-40 40 20
Website

Achat in Augsburg

Room

I'm beginning to think that German hotels all look the same! I didn't know that Achat is actually a chain until I arrived. The building was huge but ugly, the room was again, quite big, with nice blankets, big beds, but flat pillows.

Rating - 3

Facilities

Not too bad, they had all the usuals, plus a nice bowl of lollies at the front. Finally finding somewhere where they supply the shower caps was good too. Again, no fridge or Internet.

The staff were nice and friendly. They did make a mistake with our bill, charging us for breakfast when we didn't have any. This was all fixed quickly when I told them the mistake though.

Rating - 3

Location

It's outside the city centre, but we had a car and there were plenty of parking. There's good public transport, with trams not that far away, so it's all good.

Rating - 3.5

Value

We paid 51 Euro, which was ok for that area and size. The breakfast that we were slugged was actually 12 Euros - good thing you can choose not to have it, as I think you can definitely eat A LOT with 12 Euros.

Rating - 3.5

Snooze Points - 13

Info

Servicezentrale,
Untere Hauptstrasse 11,
68766 Hockenheim
Phone +49-(0) 62 05-20 49 0
Website

Hotel Royal

Room

Like the other German Hotel, Hotel Garni Diplomat, the room was quite big and spacious, with a very long and large bed and comfy blankets. The pillows were a bit flat though, but the heating system was quite good. The room and the hotel, was, in the German way, quite plain but very functional.

Rating - 3.5

Facilities

They had a lift, albeit a small and clumsy one where you have to shut lots of doors manually before it works. Our room was quite high up so we couldn't really take the stairs up, or with our luggage. They have Internet, as well as all the usual hairdryer..etc, but yup, no kettle or fridge.

The staff were friendly and helpful, with very good English skills.

Rating - 3.5

Location

Excellent, close to trains, tram and the city centre, and also right in the heart of the red light district by the looks of things. There's an Aldi nearly as well as lots of cheap eating places.

Rating - 4

Value

When they advertised, they said that breakfast was included, at 69 Euros per night, it was quite expensive. I guess you are paying for the location?

Rating - 2

Snooze Points - 13

Info

Schillerstraße 11a
D-80336
München
Phone +49-(0)89-59 10 21
Website

Things you see everywhere in Germany

Frankfurt

• people smoking
• graffiti
• bikes
• pretzel

Munich

• beer hall
• beer garden
• beer
• bread
• pretzel

Romantic Road

• yellow and green fields
• beer
• beer garden
• castles
• houses with huge roofs
• Italian restaurants
• cafes and bread shop
• cobbled streets with horse-drawn carriage
• churches and high towers
• bikes

Hotel Garni Diplomat

Room

After Japan, this room seemed absolutely enormous! The room actually reflected the characteristics of Germany. The room was sparsely decorated, but very functional. The beds were very long and narrow, catering to the Germans. All the switches and drawers were very high up, and I couldn't use the mirror at all! The European pillows and blankets were great too. Everything was basic, but you have everything you need.

Rating - 4

Facilities

The bathroom was very funny, in that there's no shower cabinet as such, you just get the whole floor wet. I was quite surprised that we had plenty of clean towels and soap surprised. This room didn't have a fridge, and as we found out later, no hotels in Europe provide kettles because of some sort of health regulations, so there are never any kettles in the room. The owner was extra nice though, as we didn't know about the kettle, he did manage to bring us a pot of boiling water so we had our water for the day.

checking in and out was easy, and the breakfast ladies were great. They were very busy making sure the food was always filled, and worked tirelessly making everything special, we really noticed the difference once we got to Italy...

Rating - 4

Location

This place was great, very close to transportation, pretty convenient to get to the airport, and we could actually walk to the city centre! It was in a suburban St, which had some wide kids running around though, and they were making a lot of noise. However, noise doesn't bother me so I slept through it.

Rating - 4

Value

We paid 46 Euros a night, the cheapest hotel in our EU stay.

Rating -5

Food

I was surprised, but the breakfast buffet was absolutely excellent. We didn't know it at that stage, but it was to become one of the best breakfast we were going to have. Buffet style, with loads of choices, including cold cuts, loads of cheeses, heaps of different breads, and best of all, fruit! It was all tasty!!!

Rating - 5

Snooze Points - 22

Info

Ostendstr. 24-26, 60314
Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Phone 069 4304040

Day 53 15/5/06 - Germany, Canada

Wurzburg -> Frankfurt -> Vancouver

Highlight

• Getting served a really good buffet breakfast, which the owners prepared early especially for us. They also had freshly brewed coffee we felt obliged to drink.
• Getting stuck in peak hour traffic is the same everywhere. Trucks overtaking trucks can cause traffic jams for kms.
• Getting almost strip-searched at airport security, and the cold wordless way of German airport staff.
• Meeting cool and interesting people on the plane. She was a flight attendant with Air Canada in the 60s and 70s, and was going home with her son. She speaks fluent German, and was trying to score a free upgrade to 1st class. However, I have doubts about people who laugh at Rumours has it.
• The really cute not to mention extremely charming flight stewart Alex.
• Trying to waste 10 hours is very hard, especially when they show movies I've already seen and I can't see the screen.
• Vancouver is a lot like Sydney, but with much less people and a lot more Asians!
• Staying at Slokky's relatives and getting pampered with loads of food (yup, because of the time difference, we ate 5 meals today) , hearing embarrassing stories about his childhood. One gem to share for today: Slokky didn't stop drinking from a bottle until he was 7 years old!!!

Food

• Hotel buffet breakfast:
  • cold cuts
  • cheeses including quark
  • liver sausage
  • jams, 5 liver spreads, Nutella, honey
  • breads including brioche, pumpkinickel...etc
  • museli with fried fruit and yoghurt
  • coffee
  • banana
• Lufthansa airline meal 1:
  • apple juice
  • vegetable pasta
  • beef with rice and peas
  • salad
  • chocolate cream cake
  • camerbert and bread roll
• Lufthansa snack:
  • Twix bar
  • tea
• Lufthansa airline meal 2:
  • Baked feta with vegetables
  • pork with potatoes and beans
  • chocolate pudding
  • bread roll
  • beer
• Black forest cake.
• Chicken soup.
• Taiwanese dinner:
  • black sesame bubble tea
  • bean sprouts with garlic
  • pork stomach in garlic
  • pork hot pot
  • deep fried pork
  • beans with pork
  • seafood noodles

Day 52 14/5/06 - Germany

Augsburg -> Donauworth -> Nordlingen ->Dinkelsbuhl ->Feuchwangen -> Rothenburg o.d.t. -> Wurzburg

Highlight

• Driving through this section of the Romantic Road is a lot like driving through Tuscany, but with better roads and less tourists.
• Each town has medieval walls and towers, a central gothic style church, cafes and horse-drawn carriage.
• Lucky for us, the rain died down.
• My favourite town is Rothenburg o.d.t (even though it was very touristy) because of the quirky shops, including the Christmas shops and the fantastic views of the countryside. You can walk along the old city fortifications as well.
• The look on Slokky's face when we climbed up the 'Daniel' tower at Nordlingen. The view from the top was good too.
• Trying heaps and heaps of different cakes at heaps and heaps of different cafes.
• Residence at Wurzburg is an UNESO heritage listed building. The landscaped garden was absolutely stunning.
• Taking a really long walk up the hill to the fortress at Wurzburg. more wonderful views of the several churches, buildings with huge roofs.
• My G&M (Gin and Mango!) tastes really good, unfortunately I learnt too late to replace water with gin, as it was our very last night in Europe.
• Our hotel was great, we stayed in a German style attic, but it meant climbing a lot of stairs with our luggage.

Food

• Bread with sauce.
• Apple juice.
• Grean and Black dark 70% cacao (1.25).
• Apple tart (1).
• Strawberry jelly cake (1).
• rhubarb cake (1.25).
• Cream filled cake (1.75).
• Cheesecake (1.1).
• Chocolate cream layered sponge with marzipan (2.2).
• Spinach strudel (2.2).
• Rice crackers.
• Mango and gin 5.9% alcoholic drink (.63).
• Black sesame rice balls.

Day 51 13/5/06 - Germany

Munich -> Fussen -> Augsburg

Highlight

• Driving down the "Romantic Road" in our hired Mercedes. Actually we didn't feel so special driving a Merc at all since everyone else was either in a merc, a BMW or an Audi :(. Along the way, there are great views of the Alps and lakes, it was really beautiful, especially when the sun made an appearance.
• We toured two castles associated with the famous King Ludwig II. Schloss Neuschwanstein is the one everyone is familiar with, the one the Disneyland castle is based upon. It was huge and very very extravagant. What is surprising is that it is only 1/3 completed! The other is Schloss Hohenschwangau, the castle of Ludwig's parents. It's much less extravagant, but also much less crowded with tourists, making for a pleasant tour, unlike that of Neuschwanstein (hehe try pronouncing that one quickly).
• Slokky really wanted to try a currywrust so we got one at a restaurant with an outside stall. We should know better than to eat at touristy and expensive places, they have never been good experiences. Well, now we know a currywrust is just a wrust where you put your own curry powder on it. The bun was dry and they made you pay for sauce (a cardinal sin in Germany when you are buying wrust!).
• Dinner at another Bib Gourmande. The water was still expensive, but at least the portions were more generous, and I think actually tastes better than yesterday as it was much less pretentious. Our waiter was very friendly not to mention German efficient.
• It was Saturday, so time to go supermarket hunting for water. Like Italy, all the shops close on Sundays. We found Norma, but unfortunately, it is just like Aldi, but with even less stuff, and no natural mineral water, so we had to make do with juice.

Food

• Bread with sauce and oil.
• Ritter Sports Fig (.69).
• Sarotti Marzipan (.49).
• Sarotti chocolate mousse (.49).
• Currywurst with bread roll (2.7).
• White asparagus soup (3.5).
• Deer with cranberry stuffed pear and potato dumplings (14.5).
• Roast pork in beer sauce and cabbage salad (8.95).
• Beer 0.33L (2.3).

Day 50 12/5/06 - Germany

Munich

Highlight

• Schloss Nymphenburg - a very grand palace situated very close to Munich. Unfortunately, the huge crowd of very noisy tourists ruined the experience.
• It was a beautiful day to walk through the numerous gardens: the landscaped garden that is part of Schloss Nymphenburg, and Englischer Garten - with a huge beer hall right in the centre.
• Going to the "world cup final" Alliance stadium, which looks like a giant car tyre. Two teams, FC Bayen Munich (red) and 1826 (blue) play here. The outside of the stadium changes colour according to the team that is playing.
• Dinner at another Bib Gourmande. Eating in Germany is very expensive, you won't find mains for under 10 Euros, and you're looking at 20 Euros for a better restaurant. Oh, and they charge a LOT, for water. We were charged 5.5 Euros for 1.5L of water, it's actually cheaper drinking beer. I'm sad to report that even though the price is higher, the quality is not as good as Italy, and the meat doesn't have the meaty taste like Oz meat. It's asparagus season, which means you see asparagus everywhere, street stores, farms, restaurants... The Germans certainly have good English, but when I think that I spent more money eating in this restaurant than I do eating at Est or Claudes, I just can't enjoy myself.

Food

• Bread with peach jam, sauce, olive oil, liver sausage, pate spread, pork sausage.
• Ritter Sport Figs (.69).
• Birthday cake with cream and kirche (2.55).
• Apple juice.
• Ritter Sport Peanut crunch (.69)
• Bread with olive oil.
• Asparagus with hollandaise sauce (12.9).
• Venison in wine reduction (22.5).
• Black pork cutlet (23.5).

Day 49 11/5/06 - England, Germany

London -> Munich

Highlight

• We weren't that lucky this time, so no upgrades on Lufthansa. The seat is the same as business, but the food is much much worst, consisting of only a roll... at least it tasted ok.
• Munich is much less dirty than Frankfurt, and the public transport system is actually good!
• The hotel is nice but is situated in the red light district. We didn't have time to make use of any of the "facilities" though.
• There are loads of good chocolates in Germany, even a cheap supermarket brand tastes really good! Afterall, Kinder surprise and Ferrero Rocher, as well as Milka is from there, and that's just the common ones we've heard of. European chocolates are so much less sweet and much more chocolaty than Australian chocolates.
• Maybe we were visiting the tourist area, but there really are beer halls everywhere, and they all seem to be filled with people...
• The town centre is very pretty, with stylish houses and beautiful flowers, but somehow knowing that everything was new and rebuilt after WWII, so somehow the surreal feeling is lost.
• Visiting the very touristy beer hall Hofbrauhaus am Platzl. For those who don't know, this place is filled with long tables, and lots of them, and encourages people to eat and drink to excess. There are "traditional" German dances, songs and performances, and lots and lots of audience participation. The food is served buffet style, "traditional" German fare. It was ok for a buffet. The beer was huge, but the atmosphere wins hands down, especially because we had a huge group of Brazilians and Spanish. I got picked to do a special bell-ringing performance, which involved shaking a little bell vigorously when my number is called.
• Trying to drink 1L of beer is really really difficult, especially when you're trying to cram a lot of food in at a buffet filled with meet and potatoes. I could only manage to finish half, but so many people had at least 3 or 4.

Food

• Grissini, biscuits, pretzel snacks.
• Japanese pasty cakes.
• Lufthansa roll with cheese and lettuce.
• Taste test bread and meat at Viktualienmarkt.
• Green & Black hazelnut and raisin chocolate bar (1.25).
• Mens Porky.
• Saroti butter nougat bar (.49).
• Beer hall buffet:
  • pretzels, rye and white rolls
  • roast pork
  • pork terrain
  • 3 types of sausages
  • grilled fish
  • roast chicken
  • veal schinzel
  • mash potatoes
  • penne in tomato sauce
  • potato dumplings
  • sauerkraut
  • beetroot
  • cold cuts
  • salads:
    • potato
    • carrot
    • cabbage
    • mixed leaves
    • tomatoes
  • apple strudel with vanilla cream and raspberry sauce
  • apple

Day 16 8/4/06 - Germany, Italy

Frankfurt -> Venice

Highlight

• The buffet breakfast from Diplomat was excellent. I was so full I didn't even try everything!!
• We went out, along the Main river to the flea market, and saw lots of people jogging and running.
• I was absolutely amazed at the stuff they sell at the flea market. Lots of old stuff, what I would call junk - 80s Nintendos, typewriters...etc, that people here actually throw out at garbage collection day. What's even more strange, people were actually interested in buying these stuff! Needless to say, I didn't pick up anything I want, but it was certainly interesting to observe the people.
• We really got to absorb Frankfurt. The squares with their bars, cheese and deli goods shops
• The Germans must have some obsession with Oz. We found an Oz pub, the Australian Homemade shop, Oz soccer jerseys (selling at a discount of course!)
• Frankfurt is not that big. We visited all the major sites already, so spent the rest of the time before our trip to Italy looking for soccer memorabilia and Ritter Sports bars!
• On our way to the airport, we were stuck on a train with the noisiest sports attending crowd, who were shouting, blowing whistles, it was very very annoying.
• Getting upgraded to business class, although this was the shortest sector we were to fly, for only 1 hr. Still, better than nothing. As far as I can tell though, the only difference is that there is a gap between the 2 seats and the food is better. If only we were upgraded for our last 10 hr flight.
• Flying over snow-covered mountains.
• Venice - it was beautiful, except for the graffiti and the amount of tourist.
• Slokky forgetting to bring our camera to the restaurant.
• Slokky getting lost.
• Our hotel was very disappointing, see review.

Food

• Hotel Diplomat buffet breakfast:
  • lots of different cold cuts
  • bread including wheat bread and German bread
  • Brie and cheddar
  • muesli (with hazelnut and chocolate!)
  • cornflakes
  • natural and strawberry yoghurt
  • fruit salad
  • apple
  • coffee, tea, milk, orange juice
• Bretzel (.45).
• Chocolate palmier (.65).
• Ham and cheese danish (.79).
• Boiled lollies.
• Lufthansa business class meal:
  • seafood salad
  • brie
  • cream cheese and walnut on bread
  • grissini
  • fruit tart
  • apple juice
• Dinner:
  • bread basket
  • spaghetti with anchovies (7)
  • cuttlefish with squid ink and polenta (10)
  • liver and onion and polenta (9)

Day 15 7/4/06 - Japan, Germany

Ueno -> Narita -> Frankfurt

Highlight

• Sadly, we have to say goodbye to Japan. As soon as we were checking in at the airport, apart from everyone trying to speak to us in Japanese, it was a totally different atmosphere. The plane ride really reflected the German culture. Efficient, but unremarkable. Surprisingly though, the meals were quite good.
• What do you call people from Frankfurt? Frankfurters?? Anyway, they don't smile, are extremely tall, and have excellent English. They also speak very fast.
• Unfortunately, everything was more expensive than Japan.
• We caught a train into the city centre. What a shock! The trains are all very dirty and have graffiti all over, but at least they run on time.
• Frankfurt - the buildings are grey and dirty, but occasionally you get glimpses of beauty.
• I dunno if it's because we were in the touristy area, but all the cliches seem to hold true. You really can find pretzels and sausages everywhere, and the Germans themselves lap it all up.
• All the shops open until 8pm, which was a good sign, as it didn't get dark until around then.
• The department stores also have basements with food, but no taste testing or cheap discounts at the end of the day though :(
• With a few exceptions of European labels, the shops are almost the same as Oz.
• The women are especially tall. I saw so many tall women going out with shorter guys. And unlike Japan, there are actually fat people as well as thin.
• There are also lots and lots of punks around too!
• Our hotel is very basic but quite cute. See review.

Food

• Bento box- fried vegetable, chicken and fish on rice from Tokyo station kiosk (380).
• Red bean danish from kiosk (105).
• White bean bun.
• 'Anpan' - another red bean bun.
• Lufthansa snack 1:
  • beer
  • pretzel
  • biscuits
• Lufthansa snack 2:
  • salmon rice triangle
  • egg and tomato sauce sandwich
• Lufthansa lunch 1:
  • beef with mashed potatoes
  • honey chicken
  • prawn salad
  • bread roll
  • cucumber sushi
  • fruit salad
• Lufthansa breakfast 1:
  • salmon on noodles
  • cashew chicken and noodles
  • bread roll
  • chocolate cake
• Instant noodles.
• Pastry triangles.