The Daily Grind - October Edition

For Internal Use Only – not to be distributed to the outside world


I’m starting to feel a certain pressure when it’s my turn to write the blog. Sir Konrad takes his blog writing responsibilities very seriously and well I’ll be the first to admit that he is far more creative than me. This pressure is exaggerated by the fact I’m feeling particularly uninspired of late and it’s all too easy just to log into Facebook, SuperPoke someone and log back out again (I fear we are now only able to communicate via a bunch of all too generic facebook apps). Also, it’s back to work and I feel like my creativity has been sucked out of me and I’m now able to summarise our life in the last month via a series of bullet points and action items!

* It’s getting cold and dark – ACTION: Buy coat and gloves
* I live for the weekend – ACTION: Keep myself amused by forever booking weekend events.
* If we leave home after 8:15am we can't squeeze into the sardine can that is the tube – ACTION: Get out of bed earlier (not easy).
* Avoid being diagnosed with the worst of London diseases ‘The Heathrow Injection’ - ACTION: Exercise after work in the dark and not drink 5 pints a night (but what else is there to do)

… but to spare you from that misery, I’ll move away from the bullets and into a little attempt to make a story out of our life in the last month.

Let’s start with work. Much to my shock, horror and disgust I'm back at work - hey I knew it had to happen eventually – but not to me? I was always going to stumble across some form of inherited wealth or meet a rich sponsor one day. But alas, I am now working long hours, servicing the marketing/ customer reference requirements of Microsoft (and that’s likely why I feel I've lost all my creative inspirations - customer reference is some of dryest work I've ever participated in ... then there was that stint in teleconferencing I guess). Anyway, apparently I am doing such a great job of this they have now offered me a position full time, with the promise of training courses and a prosperous future! I’m not quite sure how I manage to fool people into believing I’m doing such a great job – though this is not the first time this has happened to me :) Luckily I’ve somehow managed to ‘postpone’ having to make this decision until after xmas.

Konrad is also working long hours – staring at performance spreadsheets and numbers 9 hours a day. Not nearly as glamorous as being a ski-man or professional happy snapper (slightly better paying however :)). Unlike me, he is on an hourly rate and god bless his cotton socks, spends entirely too much time worrying whether or not he should bill for that toilet break? Too honest for the big smoke I tell you :). My response is always bill, bill, bill – go for the overtime … he on the other hand keeps arguing that is is all about being honest. Investment Management? Honest? Am I missing something here? ... he is keeping his creative spirits alive by capturing the mood of the city on his way to work the other day.



Moving onto living for the weekend, we ventured out on our first weekend away in Europe a few weeks ago. It was a Ryan Air/Stanstead express jobbie so by the time we actually arrived in Stockholm it was some 12 hours later (4 hours on buses/3 hours on trains and 2 hours in the air :) - take a good book!). And before we knew it we were back in the office with distant memories of head banging in a rock bar with a bunch of Swedes, while conveniently missing getting beaten by the Poms in the rugby. But we did have a great weekend and thought it a very beautiful city. No signs of 80s Swedish tennis stars or Abba but we did spot plenty of Volvo drivers and IKEA stores! Oh And lots of blondes. I made Konrad try the salty licorice and he almost threw up :) We much preferred the sushi and vodka that was also on offer.




There was also our weekend away in a ‘Wicked Camper’ with the John, Paul, George and Ringo - ‘I am the Walrus, Coo Coo Coochoo’ (our van which had the Beatles plastered all over it drew some attention to us whilst we pottered through the English countryside). We spent the Friday night sleeping in the centre of Oxford after a visit to a uni rock bar (I'm not sure what the obsession with rock bars is), followed by a trip up the “Romantic Way” through the Cotswolds and up to Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford Upon-Avon. Our Saturday night in a camp site near Cheltenham was rather chilly but hardened after 3 months of the European summer, we had no trouble cuddling up together in 5 degrees. It was a great weekend and we thoroughly enjoyed visiting the towns and hamlets along the route – just beautiful. Pub lunches, afternoon teas, autumn trees, rolling hills – picture perfect really :)




We had a surprise visit from our favourite Swiss friends Cony and Fabian. Thanks to them for all that Swiss chocolate! It’s confirmed – the Swiss definitely make the best chocolate in the world. What else can I say – 5 bars consumed in 2 weeks! Shame we didn't make Fifteen but Konrad is still talking about that frogs legs starter in Angel - I need to get over my childhood phobia of frogs before I verify whether this was actually edible or not. Thanks guys for a great night – it's always really enjoyable to see you both and we look forward to hopefully going skiing with you in February/March. I think a good time would be just after French school holidays finish in the first week of March? Let me know what you think.

Speaking of skiing, we are both looking forward to a New Years trip to Val d’Isere to see the crew! Can’t wait to ski and party with you all for 5 days!! I missed last NY due to terrible gastro so really looking forward to using those tickets I purchased for last year’s bash at Bar l’Alexandra! Phil please put our names on the door for this years soiree. We are also very much looking forward to spending Christmas with Antho, Amanda and Maya! Finally we get to meet the little person that we have seen so many pictures of!

We are commencing 10 weeks of lessons en Francais next week (at our appropriate levels). Konrad was most pleased to be graded as a ‘false’ beginner and seems to have learnt about 10 weeks’ worth of lessons during his time in the shop in Val last season. So watch out Frenchies, we will arriver a Nouvelle Annee et en Fevrier with a whole new vocabulaire pour parler avec vous. Ooh la la, tres bien, impeccable, absolutement parfait!!

This weekend it’s exhibition time and we are going to the ski and snowboard expo on Saturday (just to investigate those Canadian and South American resorts we want to visit in 2008) ... speaking of which if anyone wants to meet us for a ski in Chile/Argentina around August 08, then let us know ... we will be there! Sunday it's a trip to the London Wine Show (this is our world tour of ski resorts and wine regions after all), where we will be sampling many fabulous wines from around the globe – all for 8 quid! I know what happened last time we ended up trying to be cultured at the Australian Wine Show but this time I promise I’ll spit some of them out :). As for the Slavic Warrior (for those not in the know – Sir Konrad has been aptly renamed after some heroic stunts on the ski slopes), well he can’t promise as much and is likely to roll out of the event muttering ‘plums’ under his breath. I look forward to it! Wine shows are always a good place to taste as much expensive wine as you can in as short a time as possible. Monday morning back on the daily grind could be difficult.

Next weekend we are off to the MPH show, where Konrad tells me we will be seeing fabulous cars and Jeremy, Richard and James blowing things up. Have I been conned into believing this is going to be fun? For all fans of Top Gear, well it’s the same crew doing a live show at Earls Court in London and Konrad is VERY excited about this! So I’m going along for the ride (ha - pardon the pun!)

And after that we’ve got a weekend of fun in Amsterdam with Scott. I’m not sure what plans he has for us but I’m sure we’ll have a great time. I hear there are other things to do there besides consume illegal substances not available anywhere else in Europe! (or visit live sex shows). The Van Gogh Museum or Ann Frank's house perhaps? Any other suggestions welcome? This is a blog after all people and no-one is blogging anymore. You’ve all moved to Facebook! We’re in desperate need of a comment or two. Let’s bring Blogger back to life!

Finally, whilst we’re talking about collaboration (another Microsoft buzzword I seem to use all too often these days), we’ve just worked out how to use Skype and GoogleTalk (oops sorry client, not supposed to use that G word) ... have attempted to get Messenger voice chat working but without much success. So whichever one of those you are on, you now have no excuse not to call us for FREE! Send me your details and we’ll give you a buzz!




That’s it for now. Take care and we’ll write again soon.

xxxx

Like sand through an hourglass

There I was on the phone to my old boss Adrian, you know just saying G’day as I’m prone to doing, shooting the breeze, seeking some form of encouragement, trying to recapture a fleeting sense of self worth (maybe not a bad a thing in my case), when he added “I really enjoy reading your blog Konrad… it’s like watching a soap opera… you wonder what’s going to happen next and hang out for the next episode.” Quite taken aback, I’m not sure which shocked me more, that our adventures were being likened to “Days of our Lives” or that I was hearing an Englishman call a spade a spade :) In that vein however, into our 7th week here in the UK I thought it was about time that I put pen to paper and for both your and my amusement to present the comedy, the tragedy and the drama that has been the Goulaszes’ transition back to life in the real world, in London.

Maybe it was because we had become used to living life at a certain pace, maybe because Garth in his characteristic directness had made it clear that we should only inhabit his living room floor for so long or maybe it was just because we had once again had to lug all our worldly possessions to yet another place and wanted desperately to unpack as soon as was possible but we literally found ourselves hitting the ground running as soon as we arrived in London. Only an hour or so into our first morning we had already identified 5 apartments we had wanted to see that day and with notepad in one hand and London mini A to Z in the other, we darted out the door to brave that typical English summer weather – a beautiful 12 degrees and drizzling.

Popping into both banks along the High Street in Clapham Common – you know just to investigate how we would later have to overcome the task of setting up bank accounts (with no jobs nor a fixed address) – before you knew it we’d found ourselves with mobile phone numbers and we were organizing apartment viewings for that afternoon. In all truth we only saw the one apartment that afternoon; the price was an exorbitant 300 pounds (or 750 bucks) a week + rates and bills, the apartment a not too special one bedder and we really didn’t even pick up on the fact that the landlord was in fact justified in thinking that he was doing us a favor – even though at the time we really did think he was ‘having a laugh’ (to borrow a saying from the Poms). A couple of expressions of interest later, on our second day on the job, with a visiting Nora in tow, we found that even a private apartment between a mosque and a pornographic cinema required referees and jobs and so forth. Not to be too disheartened however (it’s not easy to get a Goulasz down), we had already thought about changing tack and decided to look into sub-letting a room from a dodgy Polak called Lukasz; who’d already rented it out to someone 2 weeks hence. Suffice it to say, with Nora as our witness, this was the low of our search for accommodation – I still wonder how they managed to get a double bed into a room as small as that one. Anyway, we only dealt with one other eastern European (pretty sure she was Polish too) who tried to let us a room short term in a place that had already been sold but where the parties were in the process of exchanging contracts (hey, there’s a two week dossing window there!). Fortunately we ran into 2 Jewish guys that wanted out of their house-share in Hampstead the following day. I guess we really couldn’t believe our luck; lovely area, great big place, good room mates, relatively cheap and a property management company run by two Greek blokes called Nicos and Adonis who couldn’t care less whether we had jobs or money for food or bank accounts or whatever. Bit heartless perhaps but nonetheless just the way we like it.





With a roof over our heads we next had to attend to the task of getting ourselves off the Australian Peso – you know it really doesn’t buy you very much on this side of the world. CVs were updated with the utmost urgency and even losing access to an unsecured wireless LAN from Garth’s place (sorry about that mate but honestly it was just a matter of time until you guys lost your free internet), was really only a tiny bump in the road; our resolve was absolute and no hindrance was going to stop us from getting highly paid, professional, short term work in London! That was of course until we encountered the London variety of that pariah of the business world: Enter the Recruitment Consultant!

Following a fantastic few interviews in that first week out of our Hampstead living room office, there were Directorships aplenty; the opportunities here were just mind blowing, the dynamism, the energy, the buzz in the market was electric. And coming into the Bank Holiday long weekend, having a couple of pints with Dany and Clare, you couldn’t contain our excitement and enthusiasm; Sam said “this will be an amazing opportunity”; Rachel said “you’ll be employed sooner rather than later”; Mary “the market is starved of your experience”. Now I know what you’re thinking, you guys weren’t born yesterday... c’mon… and yes I guess you’re right, we should have known that the only skill ever exhibited by the trusted recruiter is spinning a bit of a yarn and that one should not to believe a word of it. I’m not making excuses here (ok maybe I am), but look we’d been traveling for a little while, we just weren’t used to hearing nor spinning bullshit 24/7.

Now, to offer a fair account, there must be some admittance of naïve stupidity on our part; as there is. Nic’s never been too comfortable lying (even though she’s fantastic at it :)); and me, well I’m just absolutely useless at offering any less than all the information in the world on any particular subject (just get me started); and while this did result in each of us flunking one client interview in the first two weeks of job hunting, following this seemingly unstoppable momentum in the first week, the otherwise unemployable, friendly Job Spec to CV matcher was literally no where to be found. The task for us had thus become that of recruiting recruitment consultants and hounding them to be put forward for any job whatsoever. In the frustration Nic had even considered adding ‘tea making’ to her list of job skills (this is highly prized here I believe) as she presented to a secretarial recruiter who wasn’t quite sure whether her diary management skills (read ability to use Outlook) were quite on the mark for those top-level ‘sechetary’ jobs.

With Pesos running thinner by the day, when Mick and Bel, completely chilled from lazing on a yacht off the coast of Turkey, came to relieve us from our stir crazy living room existence we really had no idea what was going on. Nic’s verbal acceptance of a PA position she hadn’t even interviewed for was still under consideration and I guess my posse at the time of 7 recruitment consultants had finally felt somewhat obliged to put me forward for a few jobs but the question really was what the hell are we doing here again? I’m not sure we’re having all that much fun going nuts here in our living room! Within this environment it was obviously great to have close friends offer us encouragement, get us out of the house and make us drown our frustrations (literally) for a couple of days.





Taking matters into our hands the following week, Nic applied for a job direct, had two interviews in quick succession and got a Senior Account Manager position in a marketing agency on a 6 month contract. I ended up going direct to an employer for a pseudo permanent position (yes we had even considered staying here indefinitely) only to also interview twice over the following 2 weeks… and well, I’m still waiting to hear back from the employer, who’s recruitment manager has since gone on holiday. Since then, now two weeks ago, I’ve recruited 4 other recruiters (which makes 9 interviews with recruiters over 7 weeks… that’s got to be worthy of a record?) and off the back of one of them I found myself in front of a good investment management house for a Performance Analyst position this week which has now been officially offered to me – highly paid, professional, short term work in London! Success! Third time lucky, though I suppose it was only a matter of time until perseverance finally paid off. (Having said that we could have done without the stress – we are supposed to be on holiday after all!)

Whilst the transition back to life in the big smoke has definitely come as a rude shock to the system we have of course managed to have a few crazy adventures over the last few weeks here just the same: Apart from the whirlwind visits of Nora, Dany and Clare and Mick and Bel which I’ve already mentioned, we were stoked to be able to get together with Garth and Billy Boy (who was visiting on business) for a one night only rendition of “Val d’Isere, yeah, yeah, yeah” (ref La Meilleure Station du Monde post) in Covent Garden – you get your arse back here Billy! Nic managed to resurrect a long lost friend Sarah (from her last ski season in Meribel) through Facebook, which resulted in us finding ourselves out in Bracknell (South West of London) a few weekends ago for her 30th Birthday: We did a day trip out to Bath, Stonehenge and Windsor in a Smart Car that looked very much like a 2Lt Ford Mondeo (sixT rentals – great value!). We’ve managed to run into some interesting types at a Hampstead institution called the Duke of Hamilton; like Ricardo the mild mannered writer who’s convinced himself that he was once a gangster in Kings Cross (Sydney) and his derelict white wine spritzer drinking artist/painter mate Grant from Zim’: We’ve found ourselves unwittingly consuming someone else’s Veuve Clicquot and accompanying white chocolate raspberries with Garth at the Tabby Cat Lounge: We had the pleasure of attending Adrian’s 60th Birthday dinner in Cobham & Stoke d’Abernon – Happy Birthday again! Not to mention the obligatory sightseeing of Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, The London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street, Portobello Rd, Borough St Market, Camden Town, Brick Lane just to name a few. Suffice it to say despite the hardship and drama there have been more than a few laughs along the way.











We’re off to the Cotswolds this weekend in a ‘Wicked Camper’, there’s Manu Chao on Tuesday, we’re flying to Stockholm next weekend, an Amsterdam trip has been booked in with Scott, John we’re still waiting on our Edinburgh invitation :) and given that the money will now be flowing in the opposite direction for a while we’re bound to have a few more laughs to share with you into the future.

‘Til next time.

G & T Anyone?

It was only appropriate that we cross the Pyrenees on our way into Barcelona. Why not conquer the final Mountain range in Europe, as we in our trusty A5 mobile had done to all the other ranges on the continent? The French Alps from Chamonix all the way down the Route Napolean to Briancon in the South Alps; the Swiss and Austrian Alps; the Julian Alps in Slovenia and the Tatra Mountains bordering Slovakia and Poland. I didn't count the total number of mountain passes completed but it feels like at least 5,000 of the total 14,000 kilometres were spent on windy narrow roads, hairpins bends and often in poor visibility. But we survived them all (somewhat of a miracle with Konrad behind the wheel) and I have a new appreciation for mountain ranges and would now like to think of myself as somewhat of an Alpine scenery expert. For the record, the Chamonix Valley is definitely the most spectacular, the Austrian Alps some of the prettiest and the Swiss and French Alps the biggest and most impressive. But they were all great and I definitely have a bias towards spending my holidays in the mountains - winter or summer! :)

So after a very foggy cross over the Pyrenees we arrived in hot, dry Spain and were very happy to finally get a taste of the European summer we have been longing for since April! Also great to have the opportunity to work on our tans - being still somewhat pale after 6 weeks in the poor excuse of a summer in most of central Europe.

After our best argument yet over directions in Barcelona (I'm not sure how I am supposed to know where I am when the street we are on is not on my map of "Central Barcelona" ... where is that GPS unit when you need it?), we arrived at our apartment and were greeted by Dany & Clare with the other crew delayed in London due to bad weather!? Even more appropriately, they promptly disappeared for a few hours in search of the address of Barcelona Fitness First (definitely the first thing I look up when in a new city) and Konrad went on his usual mission to find a bottle of Gin and some tonic! Needless to say the next 3 days were spent drinking Gin & Tonics, Sangria, partying, eating and throwing in a couple of the city sights. Saturday night after a rooftop party on our apartment building with Leszek the Polak entrepeneur landlord (I knew polish was the international party language) we danced the night away in a club for Bel's 30th. And while we all slept off our hang-overs the next morning, the award goes to young Donato Gruosso who went for an early morning jog!? Good on ya mate!




On Monday we said good-bye to most of the crew and took a flight to the beautiful island paradise of Menorca with Mick, Bel and Jo. We stayed in a hacienda near the town of Ciutadella with Mick's friend Richard and his lovely girlfriend Isabel. Here we were delighted to find a local brand of Menorcan Gin, which was introduced by the British in the 17th Century and has since been improved over the centuries (as is usually the case). Needless to say over the next 5 days we created a bit of a fiesta for ourselves and lazed in the sun, swam, ate and drank lots of local gin. In between all of that, we also managed to catch an island festival involving a horse show of local landowners and their workers, and a beach fashion show. Menorca is a very beautiful island with pristine white beaches, amazing blue water and beautiful coves everywhere! I think we could each have spent a month there enjoying the sun, sand and sea! (and the gin of course).





After an early morning flight on Saturday back to the mainland we headed north to the the coastal retreat of Cadaques, before crossing back into France to Avignon, then to Cannes to visit Connie and Fabian for a couple more days of beach and sun.




After 84 days on the road, our trip ended appropriately in Val d'Isere where we spent a week with Phil and Alex in hotel La Galise. Here we were blessed with typical mountain weather - 4 days of rain, fog and yes some snow! (really in August) and 3 days of beautiful sunny weather ... life at 1850 hey? The top temperature was 33 and four days later it hit a chilly 4 degrees!! Just nuts. But we did manage a great hike up the mountain, some golf and lazing around the pool at Clochetons restaurant in the Manchet Valley. When the sun was out it was incredibly beautiful place to be! Almost as beautiful as when it's covered in snow (but not quite:)).Thanks guys for a fabulous week and we look forward to seeing you again in February 2008.



We are now in Solothurn, Switzerland and leave for London tomorrow morning. The car has been returned and we are now staring down the barrel of an office job and a 'real life' for the next 6 months. I'm somewhat looking forward to having a home again and I'm sure once the money starts flowing that we will start to enjoy ourselves.

Till next time ...

Pierogi, Kolano & Mozart's Balls!

Firstly, let me just state for the record that it was the Poles who invented goulash and not some mythical Hungarian cowboys! I mean really, the sort of sensationalist garbage that you read on the net these days... they're just vying for your attention you know?... you just can't believe a word of it! You don't just add water to some dried meat and expect it to be edible. Maybe that's what the Hungarian's do (where the hell did these guys come from again?) but trust me that's not what makes a great goulash and you won't find any of that sort of rubbish in Poland that's for sure! And just on the topic of great things, it further needs to be said that all of the best of European culture, food, art, science, architecture, and even BEER god damn it! all decends from the Slavs, who in turn descend from the Poles (look they all speak Polish I tell you!) and thus all of it is Polish!!!

Given these facts it should come as no surprise that it was with a profound sence of awe and anticipation that we crossed over from the once Polish provence of Slovakia, across the Tatry mountains into the Polish mountaineering town of Zakopane. Despite not agreeing with my father stating in Val that we should have gone skiing in Zakopane (he said this just before he was confronted with the prospect of having to come down the Face de Belevarde... which made him turn and interesting shade of white... not that I would have done that to him in anycase) we were nonetheless delighted with the energy and beauty of this place. Here we went on a hike through the picturesque valley of Koscieliska, enjoyed the 'olde Polish' traditions of the 'Gurale' or 'mountain people' and ate the best pierogi I have ever had - sorry Mum. (If at this point you haven't had pierogi I suggest you adjurn to consult your local Polish delicatessen as you really have been missing out... pierogi are these dumplings filled with either, meat, cheese, cabbage, berries, sweet cheese, etc and are some of the most delicious food you can have... we had so many varieties in so many places in Poland that it would take a whole other blog to list them all!)


Anyway, following an hour long pitstop along the way (resulting from the exhaust falling off the A5 mobile for a second time... nothing that was really any trouble for the Polish backyardy that we managed to find), we moved onto the once Polish capital of Krakow. In typical Goulasz fashion, with no booking, nor any idea of where we were going to stay, we negotiated detours, road closures, swarms of people and three hostel rejections before settling in the Jewish quarter/nightclub district of Kazimierz in the centre of town. Now, I know it had been 12 years since I had last been to Krakow but we were quite taken aback by the reception that we had received upon entering this town. We only held onto the notion that hundreds of thousands of people, one of Europe's largest every open-air discos on the Vistula River and fireworks were all in our honour but it was a nice thought while it lasted. We enjoyed many of the Wianki festivities of that Saturday night (which were in celebration of Krakow's 750 year anniversary), as well as the vibrant night life of this beautiful place.


We next visited one of the oldest and largest active salt mines in the world of Wieliczka, before making a pilgrimage to Czestochowa... where in German occupied Poland one Peter Hans Heinrich Stamm was born... not that I have any issue with that whatsoever!! Then, reaching 'ludicrous' speed at times (ref the movie Spaceballs) we made our way to my birth town of Wroclaw where my family had been expecting us in true wog-relo fashion for dinner at 4pm sharp. Having not left Czestochowa until arround 5pm (some 250km away) this was clearly proving to be a difficult situation to manage... there's just no empathy from these relos I tell you... guess they hadn't seen anyone from the outside world since our last pilgrimage back to the 'old country'. :) And making matters worse than arriving at 8:30pm was me asserting that we were staying for only 2 nights... which was responded to with "what sort of hospitality is this?... you should be staying for 2 months". We ended up extending our stay in Wroclaw for one more night - it seemed like the decent thing to do :o). We did however thoroughly enjoy visiting Wroclaw, doing shots of Zubrowka with Uncle Szymon, hanging out with Karol and Aunt Zosia and going to places like the PRL Bar (Polska Rzeczypospolita Ludowa Bar or the People's Republic of Poland Bar) where since shortly after the fall of communism the Poles have been taking the piss out of this bygone era in a happening central Wroclaw nightclub.




Passing north through the Capital Warszawa (which I'm not even going to talk about really - this place of a population of 2 million isn't really worth mentioning relative to other much cooler places in Poland) was where we (and particularly Nic... she would kind of turn an interesting shade of white too), were introduced to the thrilling sport of '3rd lane overtaking'. Degressing for a second, it was a bunch of crazed, tobacco snorting Norwegians, with the cheek to take the mickey our of that slight twang of an accent of our's in a bar in Budapest, that introduced us to the theory that "flat countries were prone to being ruled by despots". Now, in response, while this may well have been true and even applicable to the Poles (the country had in fact been stricken off the map prior to WWI and really is the most unexciting flat that you've ever seen) prior to the advent of the motorcar, but let me reassure you that no nation full of so many white-knuckled psychopaths could be ruled by anyone!! I know some of you have accused me of being a little crazed behind the wheel. Some of you may well have refused to sit in the car with me driving. Art once had the gall to say "Konrad, you're giving me chest pains". But until you've seen a car, passing a car being passed by another car (while 3 others remain in waiting), on a two lane road with foot deep ruts and oncoming traffic you "ain't seen 'nothin'!!!" This is the sport of '3rd lane overtaking' or 'wyprzedzanie na trzeciego' :) And of all the things that the Poles can most be proud of being the best at perhaps it's the fact that this sport has ensured that they are number 1 in the world in terms of road toll per capita, only number 2 to Germany in overall roadtoll and 2nd only to Cyprus with regard to those who they say enjoy driving the fastest!!

We did partake of course, though also somehow managed to avoid becoming a statistic on our way to seeing my mate Arek in Gdynia. We fell into the ordered chaos that is Arek's life (please say something here mate) and thoroughly enjoyed spending time with him and his circle of friends. Let me add too that I don't think I've ever laughed so hard as we did when Nic and I each bought a pair of 4 euro 'sports shoes' from the local Tesco en route to the mudpit that was the Gdynia Open'er Festival... shoes were something you had to be willing to sacrifice in going there... we are on a budget... and you just had to have been there. :) Bloc Party, Beastie Boys (playing their "In sound from way out" Jazz set) and Bjork all rocked! As did the whole of our time in the 'Troj Miasto' or 3 cities of Gdynia, Sopot and Gdansk.


From Poland we went to visit what we both agree to be one of the coolest cities that we've experienced thus far in Europe; Berlin. Our Melbourne born, Modern History PhD student/tourguide (it was kind of a free tour) highlighted the juxtapositions (where have you ever seen that word thrown in for good measure... quality hey?) of East and West, new and old, ordered and chaotic, straight but edgy that make the city of Berlin what it is. Perhaps the fact that the place had a wall encircling the Western sectors during the Cold War makes so many parts of it so different, interesting and with their own uniqueness and energy. Very cool! Go there! We'll be coming back that's for sure!






Fact: 900 grams of pork knuckle or kolano takes 3 days to digest when you're blessed with an iron Polish digestive system. Any mere mortal may have not survived. (Ref title photo).

This was however a highlight of our visit to Prague. I mean it has to be without a doubt one of the most stunning cities anywhere in the world but it's completely overrun with tourists which tends to detract somewhat from it's appeal. Cesky Krumlov on the other hand was one of the most beautiful medieval towns we have ever seen.




So what's anything got to do with Mozart's Balls I hear you ask? Well, departing from Eastern (I mean Middle) Europe, with a 20 minute interogation session at the Czech/Austrian border (hey, there's nothing suspicious about a Polak and a German, speaking English and pretending to be Swiss!), we passed through Salzburg where these delightful little chocolates filled with marzipan and praline are all the rage. We spent a good part of the afternoon loitering around Salzburg and seeking out the best deal for Mozart's Balls (perhaps not surprisingly the best rate was subsequently found outside of Salzburg :)), before heading off to the beautiful Austrian Alps to meet up with an old English mate from Australia, John and his new wife Emma. Despite this poor excuse of a summer, meaning incessant showers and 10 - 13 degrees, we managed a hike involving a 700m vertical ascent, took in the Polish Festival that was being held there, and spent 3 days under the haze of a hangover. Thank you guys, we had a fantastic time and look forward to picking up where we left off in the UK.


We're currently camping on a farm in beautiful Languedoc, in France (by far our favorite country in Europe) and are about to head off to Barcelona for 3 days of partying with Mick and Bel, Dany and Clare, et al.




We look forward to blogging again before we arrive in London and finally have to wake up to the realities of life... lack of money :) 'Til then.