Archive | November, 2012

One Week Down, 3 Weeks To Go

26 Nov

It feels a little warmer here today…and you know what, it is! It was 8 degrees this morning…I can’t believe that is something I get excited about now. How sad. I got to go out without my puffy jacket on for the dog walk and I was quite warm on my return. God knows how I will be in Sydney in a few weeks when it’s 28 or higher, just look like a hot mess probably but I can’t wait since it means bikini season woot woot!

Right so last week was a lonely one again but I seem to be getting better at them and filling the days with more stuff so when Thursday evening rolls around I don’t feel as though it’s taken forever.

I went out for dinner at this cool place on Tuesday night with my friend Malin. The restaurant is called Nektar and during the summer there was a “Beach Club” – yes there is no beach, I don’t get it either – that was called Nektar and it was right by my place. When I made the booking at this restaurant I thought this is where it was going to be. Well after walking up and down and around the street it was on which I had remembered I couldn’t find it and was completely losing the plot. I asked numerous people and every single one sent me in a different direction to the one before. Googlemaps on my phone wasn’t working and I was freezing cold and it was dark so I couldn’t see anything…I was losing my shit. I phoned the restaurant and they guided me there from where I was…not even close to where I was thinking, another 10 mins and in a completely different area. Anyway I arrived about 30 minutes late but once I did get there I was happy to see that it was a really cool venue. Not Bavarian like at all but a nice, modern, funky underground place.

I had bought the coupon from Groupon for it so we both got a 4 course meal which was already covered and then just got a few drinks on top of that. The food was delicious as was the presentation. We hung out there for a few hours chatting away and then it was time to go our separate ways since it was a school night and getting quite late.

Markie got taken out to dinner by one of his colleagues during the week so that mixed it up a bit for him but it was just 12 hour work days for him most days and then seeing his hotel room. Next week he is in Amsterdam from Monday to Friday so no work from home day for him. It should be good but the office space the company has rented is actually part of the airport so he likely won’t get to see a whole lot which sucks.

So as of Thursday night things were all as they should have been when Mark got back from his drive and the hot water that had been gone for 4 days was turned back on, cos that was fun! On Saturday Mark went out for a 2.5 hour bike ride with one of his friends in 4 degree weather…yuck! Neither of them had done much training of late so I think they were struggling a little. Mark told me in a section uphill where he used to ride at 22km/hr he was content sitting at 12km/hr so the poor thing was having it a little rough. But, there is only one way to improve and that’s to keep going. The bike is coming back with us to Aus so he can get some slightly warmer weather riding in so keep that in mind if you have a bike and want to go riding over xmas and new years and he will be up for it. Whilst he was gone, I baked white chocolate blondies so he could instantly replace the calories he burnt while out.

Saturday night I had booked a Greek restaurant called Cavos which I have heard so many fantastic things about. When I booked, the latest booking I could get was at 7pm so I took it. We had a group of 9 people so I thought that wasn’t too bad, we could just take our time and chat. Not the case…when we got there we were told that the 7 o’clock sitting had to be out by 8:45pm because the next lot came in at 9pm. Are you kidding?! We have an hour and 45 mins to gorge down our dinner and try and talk and drink etc etc and contrary to popular belief that Germans are on time, they are most definitely not so we didn’t have our whole group even at the table until about 7:40pm. Anyway the food was good but I kind of felt like I was on the clock, which I suppose we were, but once we were kicked out we went to a new bar not too far from the restaurant and took our time there instead. It wasn’t too late a night but a fairly good stint for starting at 7pm.

Sunday we just relaxed and watched a movie and I did all the cooking for Mark to take to work this week and he spent the day on YouTube primarily. He starts with one video and then gets into this vortex and the next thing you know half the day is lost without even realising it.

So that was us this past week. The Christmas markets are now open but we haven’t been yet…probably next Friday when he’s home in the hope of there being slightly less people than on the weekend. That’s about all the news from us.

Enjoy the last week of Spring everyone…hope Summer is a goodie.

Till next time…..xx

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Change of Scenery

19 Nov

Last week for me was mostly the same activity wise but I travelled with Markie to Zug, Switzerland where he works for the week and hung out there to mix things up a bit of to get to see a bit more of my husband than I have of late. The town is just so beautiful and quaint and despite it being overcast the entire time I was there I still got to see how adorable it all was.

All that aside this little tax haven is damn expensive. I mean we had a pretty ordinary dinner out the one night I didn’t make us a salad in the limited space in the hotel room and it was mediocre yet still cost us about 65 Swiss Francs….it was a Mongolian BBQ so it wasn’t like it was anything special. Good thing I was able to take care of breakfasts and lunches and 2 of 3 dinners otherwise it could have really hurt the wallet.

We drove down first thing Monday morning and it takes about 3.5 hours to get there. I checked in to the hotel whilst Mark rushed to work to start his week. Since I was going to be pretty much in or around the hotel for a good portion of the 4 days we were there it was imperative that the internet work. In our first room it didn’t, and after going down multiple times to the reception to try and correct this there was still no connection so I had to change rooms. We didn’t travel light…hang on I’ll change that – I didn’t travel light because I packed our home gym so when I changed rooms I had to lug everything in this 1metre wide by 1m long elevator to get things moved and it took roughly 7 trips but once I was done we ended up having a better room anyway with functioning internet. Win!

The rest of Monday, the little that there was, I had a walk around Zug and took a few photos and just chilled out in the hotel waiting for Mark to get back. Nothing too exciting happened for the rest of the week to be honest and for him it was business as usual. Me, I got to investigate a new town, learn to get accustomed to cooking/preparing food in a half a metre wide kitchen of which most of that was taken up by a sink that didn’t deliver hot water so washing the dishes was done in the bathroom. I tell you it makes cooking at home here in Munich seem luxurious now.

We headed back home on Thursday evening and got in around 11pm so stayed up a little while and unpacked and then went to bed. It’s great that Mark gets to work from home on Fridays as it gives us 3 solid days together so we feel like we’ve had a good weekend and get to have some nice long sleep ins. Friday night we had a dinner to go to but it was close to where we live so battling the cold night wasn’t really a factor thank goodness.

We did go out of the house on Saturday because despite it being 3 degrees and bloody freezing the sun was shining so we thought we better catch it while we can. We headed around the corner to the English Garden with our bikes and rode to the end of the first section, probably about 3km, to the Seehaus Beer Garden and grabbed some lunch and sat outside, yes outside, around the lake to eat. Having the sun on our backs was beautiful and we really couldn’t feel the cold too much then but as soon as we were in the shade, well, brrrrr!

Saturday night we stayed in and Sunday really didn’t amount to much either. Mark got the time at home he was desperately craving so I think he felt content with this weekend despite us not really doing a whole lot.

He is back in Zug now again until late Thursday night and I am hanging out on my lonesome in Munich although I’ve got a couple of catch ups with friends on the agenda so it should go by pretty quickly. We should be starting to see some constant minus degree temperatures coming in the next few weeks and I’m just praying it doesn’t go too low before we head out of here to Sydney for a few weeks. Sydney better turn it on for us or there will be trouble.

Getting pumped for our visit and to see most of you kids!

Well, that’s it from me. Have a good week all.

Till next time…..xx

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Home Sweet Home

12 Nov

 

—-some of these photos are from Vienna the week before last which I didn’t post and think you should see.

Ahhhhhhh, finally we were back to routine last week, for the most part, and enjoyed a weekend of not having to travel anywhere or pack anything or do really much at all which was absolute bliss. The last few weeks we have had a fair bit of travel on, for leisure mostly and I’m not complaining but it’s nice to open your wardrobe to pick your outfit instead of opening a suitcase and rummaging through, or open the fridge or pantry and select what you want to eat and slop around at home for a bit instead of having to go out constantly.

Mark was in Zug (Switzerland, 30 mins from Zurich) most of last week – from Monday to late Thursday night so his travelling continued, and will keep doing so until we head back to Sydney at least. He was busy with workshops the whole time and since he is staying in a hotel and doesn’t have anything much else to do there besides work, he spends a lot of time doing just that and working long hours. The benefit of his being away for 3 nights is the fact that then he works from home every Friday and we get 3 full days together which is really nice.

I kept myself occupied with exercise mostly, and one of the nights I went out with my girl friend Malin who is a cack-and-a-half and I just love our time together. It’s been about 5 weeks since we caught up last so it was a good 3.5 hour dinner just out at a Lebanese restaurant a few km’s from my place. Anything in Munich is really only a few km’s from anywhere or anything. If you have to travel longer than 15 minutes to get somewhere it is considered far.

On Friday Mark got his work done in the morning and then jumped on his bike and rode roughly 60km. This is maybe the 3rd time since he did his crazy ride across the French Pyrenees close to 5 months ago that he has gotten on his bike and I believe he was in a little bit of pain and slightly off the mark in terms of the shape he was in when he did ride those 720km in 4.5 days in June. Ah well….you gotta start somewhere. It’s pretty cold here at the moment too now so he was dressed in a number of layers to keep himself warm. I’m actually really impressed he went out and did it because I was not going out in that…no thanks, I will just jump on the bike trainer inside our heated apartment.

We had a friend’s 30th birthday dinner on Friday night at an Italian restaurant so we went there to celebrate with quite a large group of people. We knew about 5 of the let’s say 30 odd so we met a few nice people and had some good conversations. After the dinner wrapped up we decided to go to a bar nearby. Some bloke took the lead and we ended up walking for about 20 minutes and passed dozens of bars which all looked good enough until we arrived at “the one.” I’m so glad that it took that long and that we went to this particular bar as now I have been privy to the absolute biggest dive of a bar in Munich so I will know where to never go back to. The floors were tiled and were soaking wet. I actually asked Mark if the place was legal because it was tiny and as you walked in you were presented straight away with a bar which looked like it was in place of an old living room from a house and then the DJ was spinning behind the bar in this shoebox of a kitchen. The bathrooms were revolting and had toilet paper rolls unrolled along the wet ground. I couldn’t quite put my finger on whether they just hadn’t been cleaned or this was actually the look that they were going for to match the rest of the place. Mark and I just took off and went home instead of spending the money on overpriced drinks in that dump.

We didn’t end up getting to bed until 2:30am so we had a nice long sleep in on Saturday and then spent the day buying me a new much needed Winter wardrobe. It was fantastic and Mark was the model husband, actually the model person, as I just stayed in the change rooms and he walked around picking out clothes for me to try and changing sizes etc. I absolutely trust him with selecting items of clothing for me after Saturday even though I was a little tentative before but I actually hate shopping and get really nervous around all the people and clothes and argh I’m getting on edge just thinking about it. Anyway, we did a really good job and got home in time to freshen up and get ready to head out to dinner.

I once again booked the Austernkeller (Oyster Cellar restaurant) which we had a reservation at a few weeks ago and had cancelled because we were too lazy to leave the house. This time we went and it was unreal. The restaurant had a kind of under the sea rustic feel to it…if you can imagine that and well we were in need of some Oysters as it’s been a while. We ordered 1.5 dozen to start with, 2 different types and they were no Sydney Rock but they were pretty darn good. I even got sprinkles in one of mine of crushed shell through it so that was fun, but really, they were delicious. The rest of the meal was just as good and we had fun people watching. There was a couple next to us who spent their entire meal on their phones playing games and barely spoke to each other and then another couple of an old man and a young Russian looking girl…we spent part of the night trying to gauge what the deal was there and came to the conclusion she was an escort. Love a good assumption!.

Sunday was a lazy day and we got ready and relaxed for this week where we are both in Zug. I decided to come along for the drive and have a change of scenery and see where Mark worked and what’s going on in this town before he has to change and work in Amsterdam starting in December. I think I packed up every piece of gym equipment in the house so I can continue to keep myself occupied while I’m here… Bike, Bike Trainer, Kettlebell, Skipping Rope, Yoga Mats, the Dog…yep I’m not normal, I know this already. We also packed up most of our appliances so we can have breakfast, lunch and dinner in our hotel room since the cost of living it outrageous with a Medium Big Mac meal round these parts costing 14 Swiss Francs…which is about 1:1 with the Aussie dollar so you can imagine how much everything else costs if that’s McDonald’s.

I had a walk around today and Zug is absolutely beautiful. Cute little town with little cobblestone alleys and goregous houses. It also has a large lake and there is about 80km worth of hiking trails around it. It was raining today and really overcast so I saw the lake but didn’t get to really appreciate the beauty of it. I think it is meant to clear up from tomorrow so I will get to see it better then.

So that’s about it from us. Oh yeah, for those not on Facebook – I received my Czech Citizenship certificate in the mail on Friday! I did it…finally it came through. I have to say I am really quite proud of myself for toughing it out because there were a couple of occasions over the past year and a half of trying to sort this out that I wanted to throw in the towel. Now I just have to wait for my passport and then I’m good as gold. Phew! That’s a relief to have that over and done with.

Will love you and leave you all…

Till next time…..xx

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Long Weekend in Vienna

5 Nov

So another city to cross off our list, and the final one for 2012. It’s been a good year, a fair bit of travelling has been done and we’ve been pretty darn lucky to have seen everything we have. Vienna is a great city and I believe it’s pushed some other cities out of the top 3 and has a place in it now.

Last Thursday was All Saints Day here in Bavaria, actually a lot of Europe celebrated it, so all was closed and most places took the Friday off as well, Mark’s work included, so we got a nice long weekend to take advantage of. We decided to drive down to Vienna since it is only about a 4 hour drive depending on traffic and because we have the car we might as well use it instead of paying for train tickets. We took our time getting our stuff together on Thursday to beat the morning rush of people heading out of town and left about 1pm to get there in time for a shower and freshen up and then to head out to dinner to this restaurant our friend in Munich had recommended. Love me some Austrian food… actually love me any cuisine that prides itself on meat. I’m down with that!

After dinner we had a little wander around before heading back to the hotel for the night which was appropriately placed in the Red Light district. I have a knack for that. I did the same thing in Zurich – obviously I have some subconscious desire to surround myself with strip bars and hookers. The hotel we found out the next day used to be a brothel – lovely – I was wondering why the tiles were a little sticky. The hotel room was really basic and we got that particular one as they allowed dogs, which is a necessity for our four legged family member, and it was right near a train station and relatively close to where our friends were staying who were also down there from Munich for the weekend.

Friday morning we were up and out of bed ready for a terrible hotel breakfast before being greeted by Anita and Nik who were eager to show us around their beloved city despite Anita being sick as a dog and better off in bed but she’s a little trooper. Nik is from Vienna so knows it like the back of his hand and Anita lived there for 10 years so they are seasoned professionals. It was pretty cold and we were all rugged up going from one site to another and checking out the most beautiful architecture that any city we’ve been to has to offer. It’s hard to explain what other city it’s like, because it’s not, it’s just like Vienna. It is fairly spacious with wide roads and old gorgeous buildings and inside some of them have modern fit outs, and some still retro. It’s a great mix.

Vienna is Europe’s cafe culture city…they love their coffee and cake and there are that many lovely cafe’s around. We went to a pretty famous one, we were told, but I can’t remember the name and the furniture was old but still in good knick and from what we found out, they hadn’t changed the decor since it opened so it was all original. It was  nice and warm inside which was a nice break and they served a decent cappuccino. On we moved then to walk around some more and check out the Museum Quarter before we hunted down a place for lunch. You have to get a schnitzel when you are there so we did and the thing was bloody enormous…biggest schnitzel I’ve ever seen. Apparently it was 300g of meat but there was an additional 600g of crumbs fried all over it. It was delicious as was the potato salad that went with it. Full to the brim we did our best to pick up our feet and keep moving with a bit of role reversal going on with clothes shopping. The boys were in the shops trying on different items and giving us girls a bit of a fashion parade while we found a nice comfy couch to sit on and twiddle our thumbs.

Last stop for the day was the PalmHaus…or something like that…which was a restaurant and bar indoor this glass building that was effectively a green house. It was very cool and we sat down for some wine/coffee/cake since we were still full from our ginormous lunch.

We welcomed in Saturday the same as Friday and headed to the food markets in town. We were introduced at 11am to this type of wine called Sturm which is essentially wine as soon as it’s been squeezed and is not fermented in the slightest, okay, maybe the slightest, like 5 minutes or so. It was kind of like fizzy raspberry sherbet lemonade which is the Austrian’s supposed drink of choice at this time of year. Normally it gets cold a little later than it has this year so it’s a bit refreshing for them. Can’t say we would have it again but it was good to try a new experience. We then moved through the markets to stop at a cafe for a coffee, then another place to get Gluhwein (mulled wine) which was more suited to that particular freezing day we were experiencing, and then jumped a train and headed to Schonbrun Castle. We had a look around the grounds and the beautiful gardens and saw the inside just by peering through the glass. They had some hedge mazes there so we all turned the clock back 25 years like little kids and bought tickets to go in and get lost for a little while.

Time for some more food so it was back to the markets to this Asian restaurant with all their dishes being absolutely delicious and just what we needed to defrost and warm up again ready for some more walking and discovering. We went right into town and had a look at all the shops and the boys once again went for some retail therapy but it was a much shorter and unsuccessful session this go round. Oh look at that…coffee and cake time again so we walked in circles trying to find a good place to feed our faces just a bit more before locating a bar for some wine to wash it down with.

Saturday was quite a long day as we stayed out from about 10am until 12am with all the eating, walking, searching, and discovering etc. It was great and our tour guides were fabulous. Camelcalski… Anita this is your new name if you are reading…should go in the Guinness Book of World Records as the person who can hold their bladder the longest. This chick can drink throughout the entire day and eat and not go to the bathroom once. On Saturday we had to encourage her to go at around 6:30pm after she had been gone from 10am and had numerous teas, coffees, wines, you name it without having made a pit stop. It’s bloody insanity!

Mark and I were left to our own devices on Sunday and we went back in to the city to get some more photos and walk around a little more on our own as some times we found ourselves being deep in conversation with our lovely friends that we didn’t look around as much as we should have so it was good to go back in and appreciate everything again. We decided to hit the road about 2pm for our traffic ridden drive back to Munich. It wasn’t too bad but the trip took 5 hours instead of 4 like the way down there.

Home sweet home now for a while…well for me anyway. Mark is now travelling to Zurich every Monday early morning only to come home late Thursday nights so he just gets to unpack and repack for the rest of his life. Actually where Mark is is a town called Zug, just out of Zurich and I think I will head down there next week to check it out and see what it has to offer and be able to report to you all so you can be the most up to date with his movements. Apparently though he will only be there until the end of November and then the project is picking up and moving to Amsterdam so it will be a change of scenery but no less demanding.

6 weeks until Summer again…that’s what I’m thinking to get me through this shitty cold rainy stuff that’s happening here at the moment. Oh it’s going to be bliss and of course we can’t wait to see all you folks again.

Have a good week and enjoy Melbourne Cup Day. Good luck on your bets!!!

Till next time….xx

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