Week 2 ~ B is for Bahn

Posted: January 21, 2015 in Transport
Tags: , , , , ,
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Berrelling along at 300 km/h Photo: metaljar

Berrelling along at 300 km/h
Photo: metaljar

So this weekend we caught a train from Cologne in Germany (Köln) to Annecy in France. After driving our hire car for about three weeks, we handed our car back in to Europcar at Cologne, looking forward to going on our first ever real train journey together

Photo: metaljar

Photo: metaljar

A train in Germany is called a Bahn. Train stations are Bahnhoffs (the main station in a city is called a Hauptbahnhoff).

We caught the Thalles Bahn from Cologne to Paris, rocketing along at about 300 km/h, then changed trains (and stations) in Paris to catch a slower regional train through the mountains south to Annecy.

Photo: metaljar

Photo: metaljar

Our arrival in Paris coincided with the French Charlie Hebdo rally, so we were very concerned that we wouldn’t make the connection. Made it with a good 5 minutes to spare.

Week 1 ~ A is for Alter Peter

Posted: January 9, 2015 in Walking
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This first weekend of 2015 we are in Munich; a few weeks into our holiday after arriving in Berlin, then travelling through Dresden, Prague, Vienna and into Salzburg where we spent New Year.

As you might know, our theme for weekends in 2015 is to do something each weekend starting with a letter of the alphabet, from A to Z and back again.

Alter Peter, Munich. Photo: metaljar

Alter Peter, Munich.
Photo: metaljar

Munich. M… no good, nor is G for Germany, (B)eer, (H)ofbrouhous, (W)alking or (S)ightseeing.

However, a significant church in Munich’s Old Town (Aldstat) is St Peter’s Church with a tower affectionately referred to as Alter Peter (Old Peter). It’s the oldest church in the district, and a church has been on this site since the 8th Century.

We payed our 2€ and climbed the couple of hundred stairs to the top of the 91 metre high tower and were rewarded with fantastic views across Munich’s skyline.

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View from Alter Peter Photo: metaljar

I just love the way so many of Europe’s skylines are so different to Australia’s in that they are pretty much devoid of sky scrapers and the way the Old Towns are preserved as areas without towers.

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View from Alter Peter Photo: metaljar

A great start to our year of the alphabet 🙂

had our last breakfast in Sydney for the year

Posted: December 8, 2014 in Cafe
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in Ryde Park at The Groundskeeper Cafe.IMG_2424

Can highly recommend this place. Delicious Middle Eastern inspired food, great location in the middle of the park, playground nearby.

Just great.

had breakfast at Balmain.

Posted: November 24, 2014 in Cafe, Walking
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1oWith just two weeks to go before we will be in Germany, we went to the Cafe Berlin in Balmain, just down from the Unity Hall Hotel.

We beat the Sunday morning heat with an early start and enjoyed breakfast and coffee on the footpath, watching the world go by.

Afterwards, we went for a wander around the block that encloses Balmain Hospital… a real mix of old and new, dilapidated and renovated, loved and let go.

If this is a typical German breakfast, I’m going to need to buy a whole new wardrobe when we get home… I didn’t take quite the healthy option I could have!

Finished!

Posted: November 17, 2014 in Cafe, Walking
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15 November, 2015… we’ve made it to Gunamatta Bay in Cronulla.

With only a few weekends left before we leave for holidays, we finished our year long walk from Sydney’s northern most beach to the southern most, and all the bays and beaches and everything in between. Has been a lot of fun. From warm and beautiful through to hot and sweaty, wet, cold and miserable, a couple of hundred swims, a couple of hundred kms, discovering suburbs and beaches and parts of Sydney we never knew existed. And to finish ogling at waterfront houses along Gunamatta Bay and a lovely breakfast at The Nuns’ Pool and great coffee in Cronulla was a great way to finish.

I didn’t think to record this trip using a blog; sadly, I just recorded each week through facebook.

Suffice to say we had a great time. Notable weekends included:

  • Seeing the two houses of our dreams…
  • the walk around Long Reef golf course down to Dee Why
  • the beautiful walk around the point south of Dee Why
  • the nicest rock pool of the year at Fairlight at the back of Manly
  • breakfast at Ripples Cafe at Chowder Bay (and that whole area around Clifton Gardens)
  • the walk around Cremorne Point – what a beautiful secret place that is!
  • Rose Bay to Vaucluse Bay – a beautiful forshore walk
  • the beatiful job they’ve done at The Gap
  • tripping over Kurnell – a suburb much of which feels like it’s trapped in the 60’s
  • discovering that 5kms from a major Sydney beach, you have to be wary of 4WDs on the beach!
    and finally
  • how beautiful is The Esplanade walk from Cronulla, past beautiful Shelly Park, around the point down to Gunnamatta Bay.

A cracker of a year!

See the Walking 2014 album from flickr here

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