Cologne, Freiburg im Breisgau

WARNING: The following blog contains some food references. Those sensitive to the subject should proceed with caution!

I'm not sure what it is about travelling alone, but somehow things that wouldn't ordinarily be a big deal, produce a reaction in me that they wouldn't anyother time. I arrived at Cologne airport at about 6pm on Saturday the 15th September, and found the ticket machine for the train and proceeded to try and buy a ticket. Unfortunately, I didn't have the correct fare in change (about 2.60 Euros if I remember correctly) and the machine wouldn't take a 20 euro note for that small amount. So, I made my way back up to the main section of the airport and found the nearest shop which was the tourist office and tried to buy a 1 euro postcard with my 20 euro note. Unfortunately, the man at the desk told me that he didn't have enough change and did I have anything smaller, at which point I started to cry and say "I just need change for the train". The man told me to try the train office which was just a short walk away, to which I replied "Six o'clock it closes" (I'm not sure what it is about travelling in a country which speaks a different language which makes me want to speak in broken English- or really bad French!). Anyway, the problem was solved when I went next door to the little supermarket-type shop and bought a packet of chewing gum. So, the moral of the story is: when travelling in a foreign country, it is a good idea to have some small change on arrival to buy a train ticket (something which I really should have learnt after Amsterdam!).

After that though, there were no dramas in getting into Cologne and then getting to my hotel- which was surprisingly easy to find.

On the Sunday, I did a bit of sightseeing in the city. First stop was the Dom (cathedral), which is the main tourist attraction in Cologne. It is a HUGE, gothic structure, with twin towers, and was the tallest building in Cologne until the television tower was constructed.

I also did a bus tour of the city, which was actually a little disappointing after my bus tours of London and Belfast. After first having to supress tears as the driver wouldn't let me on the bus because I had the wrong ticket (the guy in the tourist office across the street sold me the wrong one), and I didn't understand what he was trying to say to me (he was trying to tell me to go back to the tourist office and get them to swap it over), I finally got on the bus and we set off on the tour. The commentary turned out to be a tape-recording, which is fair enough, as they had 4 languages to translate, however, it was also a little boring as it was mainly; "On our way we will pass the Opera house, Dom etc", and "get off at the next stop for the Hard Rock Cafe, Cologne museum etc." There was hardly any comments about the history of the town which is what I usually find most interesting in a new City.

That night, I had dinner in the Argentinian Steak House which was below the hotel I was staying at. Here, I had the best steak I have ever had (well, recently anyway)! It was cooked to perfection, tender, and tasty!! It may have had something to do with the fact that they cooked my 250 gram steak in about 500 grams of salt!! The fries and barbecued corn on the cob were also yummy (and salty)!

On the Monday, I caught the train to Bonn. I was going to catch the ferry and cruise down the Rhine to Bonn, however, I didn't research this very well, and when I got to the pier, I found that the only boat of the day left at 9:30am which was 2 hours before I got there (and it also took 3 hours to sail there!).

Shops and restaurants lining the Pier in Cologne

Bonn is a lot prettier than Cologne. The town hall is a Pink and White building with a black outside staircase with gold trimmings. The post office was a yellow and green baroque palace with a monument to Beethoven out the front. The house that Beethoven was born in and spent the first few years of his life is still standing and is now a museum which houses some artefacts from his life, including his last piano. I had a look through the Beethoven house while I was there.

The Postoffice in Bonn

The Bonn Town Hall

Beethoven's house

That night, I went to see Xavier Rudd, who was playing at a nightclub which was just around the corner from my hotel. For those of you who are not familiar with him, Xavier Rudd is an Aussie musician who plays several different instruments (digeridoo, drums, guitar etc,) and also sings- all at the same time. The show was a sellout, and I was suprised to see that they were mostly Germans in the audience (I was expecting there would be lots of Aussies there), and that they knew all the words to his songs (which I must admit, I didn't!). They were also very polite, and practically made a path for me to the front, because I was short and couldn't see!

The next day was my Birthday, and after a bit of a sleep-in, and a big buffet breakfast, I caught the train to Dusseldorf for a little look. Here, I walked down the main shopping strip called the "Ko" (Kollingsallee- which means "Kings Avenue", so named after an incident which occurred here when King Friedrich Wilhelm IV in 1848 was riding through the then "Chestnut Avenue" on his horse and someone threw horse poo at him. The name was changed in 1851 as a goodwill gesture). I had some cake at a cafe (well, you have to have at least one piece of cake on your Birthday), then took a stroll through a park to the town hall.

I was unsure what this sign in the park meant...

Until I saw the ducks.

Outside the town hall is a monument to Jan Wellem the Elector who granted the right of freedom of Religion to his subjects. It shows him on his horse, and apparently it is the most important equestrian statue north of the Alps!!

I then strolled along the Rheinuferpromenade, a footpath which runs along the Rhine. I walked as far as the media park which features some interesting looking buildings, before heading back to the train station and Cologne. I visited the Argentinian Steak House again for another delicious steak for my Birthday Dinner!

On Wednesday the 19th September, I caught the train to Freiburg im Breisgau, which is a town situated in the Black Forest. On the train, I met a German third year medicine student called Marina. She was returning to Freiburg to study after her summer break. She had spent 18 months travelling in Asia and thought that I looked like a familiar sight, lugging my backpack around! She was very helpful, and pointed out where I could find the tourist office.

I had a late lunch/early dinner that afternoon at a local pub. I had a veal and mushroom dish which was cooked in cream, and served with small potato rosties, which I think was a local dish.
For dessert that night I had Black Forest Cake!

The next day, I went hiking in the Black Forest. First, I caught the "Schauinslandbahn", a cable car, up to the summit of the "Bergwelt", which is the highest peak in the Black Forest. It takes 20 minutes to get to the top. Then I walked around some of the short hiking paths at the top, before walking back down the mountain, which took about an hour. I didn't have any breadcumbs with me in case I got lost, but I didn't see any gingerbread houses either. I was surprised to find that the Black Forest is made up, not only of trees, but also plenty of farmland.

After my trip to the Black Forest, I decided that it was time for some more Black Forest Cake, so found a nice little cafe which served it. This one had Kirsh Liquour in it, whereas the one the day before hadn't. I have decided that it is no good without the Liquour.

I was very stiff in the legs the next day after my hiking!

On the Friday, I wandered around Freiburg, and found that it is also a very pretty town. I saw the large, red Cathedral, which is also a big tourist attraction in Freiburg (there doesn't seem to be a town in Europe which doesn't have a church as a tourist drawcard!). There was a market on in the Market square surrounding the Cathedral and it was here where I had my first German Bratwurst, which I must admit was pretty good for a sausage. I even nearly tried it with the currysauce, before remembering that curried sausages is actually the one food that I don't really like. I always assumed that it was the English which gave us the curried sausage, but I'm beginning to think that maybe it was actually the Germans...
There were lots of buskers around the streets, and I saw one of the best street artists I have ever seen. He was a young guy who used spray paint and a few simple tools to come up with some really clever paintings. This was a very clever idea, as not only did he get some money for creating the paintings (in the form of donations by the people who watched him), but also he made quite a bit by selling each painting for 20 euros. He sold at least 3 while I was watching!

Walking through some of the narrow back streets, I found some really attractive buildings with frescos painted on the outside. As I said before, it was a really pretty town.
On Saturday, I caught the train back to Cologne. The train followed the Rhine, and as I had a window seat, I saw some more really attractive looking towns, and quite a few castles, perched on the edge of cliffs.

I flew back to London that afternoon.

Proof that Nanny WAS right: Hoss IS a german!

London, and A Weekend With Jess and Andrew.

After my last blog I did indeed have a walk through Kensington Gardens and walked to Kensington Palace for a look. I didn´t actually go inside the palace, but wandered around the perimeter. It had just been the ten year anniversary of Princess Diana´s death, and there were lots of tributes on the front gates, although I have heard that there is usually a small bunch of tributes there all year round. I also had my afternoon tea at Laduree which I said that I was going to have, and walked through Harrods again. This time it wasn´t so crowded as there was no sale on.

On the Friday, I went to Westminster Abbey, and this time went inside and had a look around. It is quite an interesting church to look through, as besides the religious symbols and artefacts, there is also a spot called Poets Corner, where there are memorials to some famous artists, singers, actors, and authors, and some of them are buried there. Also, there are memorials to some scientists such as Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton (I made sure that I looked at Newton´s as it had been in The Da Vinci Code!). As the church where nearly every king and queen of England has been coronated, the Coronation Chair is also there on display.
That afternoon I headed to Jess and Andrew´s place, and of course, made it there a bit later than planned due to train delays and cancellations on the underground.

Jess and Andrew´s new house is set in a lovely new area called Fairfield Hall. Actually, it´s quite an old area, and an old building, but the houses are all new. Basically, Jess and Andrew are living in a mental assylum. The old hospital is heritage listed and it has all been refitted and refurbished (the inside of it) and Jess and Andrew own one of these houses. It is about twice the size of the place that they were living in before (this time I had my own bedroom to sleep in!), and a really nice home.
On the Friday night, Helen and Dan (Jess and Andrew´s friends that I met the last time I stayed with them) came over for dinner. That night I kicked Jess and Andrew out of their bed and they had to sleep on the blow up mattress in their room!

The next day, we spent the morning at Jess and Andrew´s as they were having their new bed delivered which we had to wait for, and also, Andrew needed to do some "manly" things around the house with his power tools and spirit level. He ended up putting up a coat rack (there you go Andrew, it´s now in black and white for the whole world to see: Andrew Johnstone owns some power tools, and isn´t afraid to use them!).
That night we watched Ghost Busters, as I mentioned that I´d never seen it before and Andrew bought it from Sainsbury´s for two pounds and promised that it had the Phil Collins song in it that the gorilla in the Cadbury´s add plays the drums to. He built up the moment for me and Jess, saying that it was the best part of the film and that we would love it. It wasn´t in the film. We were very disappointed. Andrew said maybe it was in Ghost Busters 2.

On Sunday we drove to Cambridge which is about a 45 minute drive from Jess and Andrew´s house. There we decided that we would take a tour down the river on one of the punting boats. The three of us squeezed into the seat at the front, then waited there, cramped for half an hour, before the tour started! While we were waiting another guy went passed, punting with his trousers around his ankles and a can of larger in one hand! He was yelling out that he was looking for some people to take on a tour. A few minutes later, he passed with his trousers back up and four women in his boat!

The tour (once it finally started) went down the Cam River, passed many of the famous colleges of Cambridge such as Trinity and King´s College. Our guide told us several anecdotes along the way, and about some of the famous people who had been to the colleges. There were lots of punters on the river that day. It was fairly obvious the people who were trying it out for the first time. Andrew was willing them all to fall into the water, but nobody did. After our tour, we went to an Italian Restaurant for some lunch, then headed back to Jess and Andrew´s house, where I picked up my bag and then headed to the train station.

This was a Busker that we saw while we were walking down a street in Cambridge. He was really quite good!

That night I had to pick up my keys for my accommodation for the job that I was starting the next day. The job was in Richmond, my accommodation was in Raynes Park, and I had to pick up my keys from Wimbledon. That probably won´t mean anything to those of you who haven´t been to London, but basically it meant having to travel an hour between picking up the keys and getting to my accomodation (walking, train, then another walk), and an hour and a half to get to work every day (walk, train, bus, walk- although on the way home being as it was dark I would go walk, bus, train, bus, shorter walk). So even though I didn´t mind the work at the clinic, I wouldn´t work there again as I couldn´t stand commuting three hours a day! Although the nurses gave me flowers and chocolates and a card the day I left even though I´d only worked there one week!

On the Saturday after I finished work, I got up bright and early in order to wash my sheets, pack my bag, drop my keys off, and make it to Gatwick Airport with plenty of time to check in and get on the plane to Cologne, Germany.

Essex, Chesterfield, London

Here I am, back in London after having spent the last 4 weeks working in Romford, Essex, which is located just on the outskirts of London, just inside the M25 (the ring road which circles London). After arriving in London from Belfast, late on Wednesday the 1st August, I met up with Sandra and Wayne, a couple of Mum and Dad's friends who were visiting London for a few days while touring around some of Europe. I stayed in a cheap hotel, just around the corner from their luxurious one, and met up with them for dinner. We had a lovely meal at an Italian restaurant, and it was great to see some people from back home (although they weren't really familiar faces as I hadn't met them before!).

The next morning, I headed out to Romford in order to find the vet clinic that I would be starting at the next day, and pick up my car and get directions to my accommodation. Here, I met the boss, a vet who owns the 2 practices, and who works every second weekend and fills in for his vets from time-to-time, and lives in Ireland the rest of the time. In the first five minutes that I'd known him, he told me all about his marriage problems ("wife cancer" as one of the other vets put it). Talk about overdisclosure! But he was quite a nice man, and when he realised that I needed a car, he offered to lend me his BMW. He wasn't really going to lend it to me, but because I'd laughed when he offered it, he decided that actually I could have it. So then he drove me out to his house to pick it up (which was about 20 minutes away) and I heard more about his marriage problems, and how it's lucky that he's Irish (and Catholic) otherwise he'd be divorced by now, and also how he got on really well with the practice manager and how they think the same way, but he assured me that they hadn't slept together!! All very interesting, however, a bit uncomfortable as I'd only just met the guy!

So after picking up the beemer, I drove to my accommodation, which was another attached house, only five minutes drive from the clinic that I was working at. The neighbours were the landlords, and I met them on the first evening that I arrived. I found out quite quickly that they were busy-bodies and wanted to know everything that was going on. They were quite harmless, and only looking after their investment, but I think if I'd been living there for anytime past the month, I would have found them very irritating!

I started work on Friday the 3rd August and had to work that weekend. On the Monday, another locum, Stella, started at the other branch of the practice, and she moved into the house with me on Sunday. I actually went to uni with Stella, and it was great to have some company for a couple of weeks, especially as it was someone who I knew!

The following weekend I had off, so I headed to Chesterfield, in Derbyshire (The Peaks District), to visit my friend Elise. It was great to see her again (the last time I saw her was at the train station in Brussels). On the Saturday, we visited the church in Chesterfield, which is famous for it's crooked spire. There are lots of theories as to why the spire is crooked. One of them is that one day a virgin got married in the church and the spire was so surprised that it bent down to have a look. They think that if another virgin ever gets married in the church, the spire will straighten up again. Another theory for the crooked spire is that it was shoddy workmanship from inexperienced craftsmen who used green oak instead of aged timber.

In the afternoon, we visited Chatsworth, a grand old house which is Pemberley (Mr Darcy's house) in the film version of Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightley. We went to the farmstore first and bought some goodies for a picnic in the grounds. The highlight was the vine-ripened cherry tomatoes (which actually we bought from the supermarket) and homemade Victoria Sponge from the farmstore. That evening on our way back to Elise's house, we stopped at a local pub for a pint. There were lots of Pubs in Elise's area, and it seemed that Elise had been in everyone of them!

The next day we walked to Surprise View, where we had a great view over the peaks and some of the towns in the area. Elise pointed out a few spots where she sometimes goes rock climbing. In the afternoon we had lunch at a cuttlery workshop in Sheffield (apparently Sheffield, which is very close to Chesterfield, is well known for it's Steel). After lunch, Elise dropped me off at the train station so that I could make it back to Romford before it got too late.

Whilst I was in Essex and had some weekends free and a car to use, I thought that I should try and visit some of the popular sites, so I took a day trip one Saturday to Southend-on-Sea, a town on the Southeast coast of England. Here, I walked to the end of the 1.3 mile long pier, which is supposedly the longest in the world, and took the train back to the start (the train runs along the pier, obviously). There were amusement parks on either side of the pier and amusement arcades and snack stalls (with hot doughnuts, hotdogs, toffee apples, fairyfloss etc) lining either side of the street, so the town was a bit like one big carnival.

The following week I visited Colchester, which is the oldest town in England, and has a Roman castle, and parts of the wall that used to surround the town, intact in some places. I did a tour of the castle while I was there and learnt a little about the history of the town.

The next day I went to London for the day and went to the Nottinghill Carnival. The Nottinghill Carnival basically highlights the multicultural side of London, with lots of Caribbean and African stalls and a big parade. I tried Jerk Chicken for lunch and also a traditional Jamaican Pattie, and enjoyed both (they weren't as spicy as I'd been expecting, either).

So now here I am in London, doing a few tourist things and filling in time before I start work again on Monday in East London (just for a week), and then head to Cologne and the Black Forest in Germany for a week. On Monday I met Ren and Jess, some friends from uni, and we did a spot of shopping on Oxford Street and then went out to a Thai place for Dinner for Jess' Birthday. Yesterday I went and saw the Lion King (highly recommend it, I'm trying to work my way through all the shows in London!). Today I think I might take a walk around Kensington Gardens and then have some afternoon tea at Laduree at Harrods!

This weekend I'm going to visit Jess and Andrew in their new house.

Love,

Lis x.

Belfast

Ok, so I arrived in Belfast a few hours after I was scheduled to, but I did arrive eventually. As I was starting my working part of my travels, I decided that it would be ok to take a taxi to the vet clinic, rather than relying on trying to catch a bus (plus, Kieren, the vet that I was taking over for, said that he would pay for it!).

The taxi driver managed to find the clinic with no problems, and was also very sympathetic when I told him my story of missing my flight. He also tried to find someone else to share the taxi with me so that I could halve my fare, however noone else was going our way.

Once I was at the clinic, Kieren's wife Maire picked me up and drove me to my accommodation, which was actually their old house that they had moved out of 6 months ago and would be renting out as soon as I left. It was a 3 story, attached house, and compared to what I'd been used to over the past 2 months from travelling and staying in hotels, it was very spacious and luxurious! I was also supplied with Kieren's little blue VW polo to drive around in. I was quite nervous driving a car again after not having done so for a few months- plus it was a manual which I also hadn't driven for a while- but at least I could drive on the left hand side of the road!

Work was great. It was VERY different from my job in Launceston. Firstly, it is an open surgery, which means no appointments, the clients just turn up during consultation hours, and I have to work through them until they all go home. The consultation hours weren't very long though, just 9am-10:30am and 5pm-6:45pm. After finishing the morning consults, I would then work through all the surgery cases for the day (and sometimes there were none!) before going home for a well deserved rest before heading back to the surgery for evening consults. So there were days when I was actually only working for about 4 hours!

While I was in Belfast I had only a few opportunities to do some sight seeing. The 12th of July was one of those opportunities- it was my only day off as it was a public holiday for the Orange Day Parades. I had brief plans to perhaps drive out of Belfast and visit Giant's Causeway, or Dublin, however when I woke up that morning it was a rainy, horrible looking day, so I decided to stay in Belfast instead and perhaps go and watch some of the parade. I did end up watching some of the parade- on TV! I had gotten dressed and put my raincoat on to go outside, however once I opened the door, it suddenly started pouring down, and I didn't much fancy going out in that weather. Besides, the nurses at work had been telling me stories about the parade and the bonfires and talked of "show of strengths" and how scared it made them, that I decided that watching it from the comfort of my lounge room, was much more appealing!

The weather was actually fairly constantly miserable whilst I was in Ireland. I think it didn't rain on 2 of the 30 days that I was there!

On one of the least wet weekends, I decided to drive up to Giant's Causeway after I had finished work on Saturday. For those of you that don't know, Giant's Causeway is a group of rock formations on the North Coast of Northern Ireland which was formed when the Irish Giant threw rocks at his enemy the Scottish Giant and vice versa. Either that, or it was formed through a series of volcanic erruptions. There are some similar formations on the coast of Scottland.

However it was formed, it is a very beautiful part of Ireland.

I did also manage to catch one parade while I was in Belfast. I caught it completely by accident (I didn't actually know it was on, I was on my way into Belfast to buy the new Harry Potter book!), but I thought it was worth watching it for a little while.

I had so much fun on my open topped bus ride while I was in London, that I decided to take another one in Belfast. They took us around all the important parts of Belfast, including the ship yard where The Titanic was built (they pointed out that The Titanic was perfectly seaworthy when it left the yard and that it was an iceberg which sank it, not the workmanship) and past Sampson and Goliath, the two enormous cranes at the Ship building yards on the opposite side of the road. Looking up at the mountains behind the shipyards, you can make out a man's face looking up at the sky, set into the side of the mountain. Apparently, this was the inspiration for the tale Gulliver's Travels. They also talked about the troubles in Belfast and we saw the old courthouse and jail which have been closed since 1997. We also went along Shankhill and Falls Roads and saw the wall murals and peace wall and the wall that divides the city.

On my last night in Belfast I decided that I should have at least one traditional Irish Pubmeal before I left, so I visited the Bot Inn (near the Botanical gardens) and had a half pint of local beer (I was driving) and Traditional Pork and apple sausages and champ (mashed potato with spring onion mixed in it). It was so good that thinking of it now, I think that's what I'd like to have for dinner tonight!

I had a great time working in Belfast, and hopefully will do a bit more work for Kieren in the future, however, next time I visit Ireland, I hope to see a bit more of the country!

Love,

Lis x.