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To counter-balance my first posts, I thought I'd put in an entry to show that what everyone probably knew, or at least hoped, would happen has been happening. The life abroad has gotten better, thanks to the help of some good friends.

Firstly the Schaefers have been excellent tour-guides/surrogate family (they can be seen in the Wine and Jesus post) which was the begin of the transition. The next turning point was the new house mates, Jurgen and Klaus. They've both been really great, cooking dinner together, inviting me out to parties and just being all-round good blokes. Below is a photo taken the other night with Klaus (second from left) and some of his friends down at the park by the Rhein.

Contender for "Photo most likely to become a Tommy Hilfiger commercial"

The people pictured above are part of my proposed 1st equation of the theory of ridiculousness.

5 people + 3 bicycles + alcohol + night time = ridiculous

I still can't communicate very well with these people in German but I am getting very good at waving my arms about in some pseudo-sign language/martial arts/folk dance.

A good friend, Qian, is a girl from China who has lived in Germany for 6 years who approached me to meet so she could practice her English. I'm not sure if she picked the right person but we have a lot of fun and she's a really interesting person and I occasionally learn some German from her too.

Qian, and the understanding of my sunglasses

These folks together with Kai (the future Adelaide bound exchange student) and Gudrun returning in May, makes it feel like I've got a decent friendship base here now, and with the weather warming up its hard to let things get you down.

To everyone on the other side of the internet, its always good to hear from you, so thanks.

I hope you're Hungary

Easter weekend was spent in Hungary, getting back to my roots, wallowing in hospitality and eating way too much. First stop Budapest. I was met at the airport by a friend of my mother's, Anna, who lives in Budapest. Anna was my tour guide/concierge/guardian and I really couldn't imagine someone going to so much trouble to make me feel at home.

Anna in the courtyard of her apartment building

Anna's building is around 100 years old and is typical of most of the apartment buildings in the area with rooms facing inward into a shared courtyard, but from the street all you can see is the flat surface of the building's front. Its a bit secret gardenesque the way you discover the courtyard. After I got settled we headed out to see some of the sights of Pest.

Hero Square. Dedicated to the founding fathers of Hungary


The front of the Basilica



Inside the Basilica


The Chain Bridge, Hungary's first permanent bridge, unites Buda and Pest


Hungarian Parliament building.
Not only beautifully ornate it is one of the largest buildings in the country.

There is so much to see and so much history in Budapest it would take a long time to go through the city giving all the sights the time they deserve. War, revolution and occupation have all passed through a culturally rich country of the old world currently enjoying a flood of tourists.

After seeing some sights Anna had organised for us to meet some of her friends at a Tokaji wine bar. Tokaji is the name of a famous Hungarian wine region, with a characteristic flavour, it is best known in its sweet style. Between trying the range of styles, slowly drinking away my sobriety and eating some real Hungarian snacks, my brain was busy searching for the meaning to Hungarian words I haven't heard for many years.

Anna and her friends at the Tokaji bar

Apart from the normal methods of transport found in most European cities was something I've never seen before, buses running on electricity from overhead lines like trams.

"Too much, Magic Bus"

Good Friday was spent in Pest. Pest is the bustling metropolis down on the flat, while Buda is the quieter historic and residential part in the hills.

The heart of Pest is this square marked with the statue of the author of the Hungarian National Anthem


Anna in the street best known for shopping in Budapest


Budapest's first Coffee House was earlier the meeting place for artists and free thinkers


This is a close up of the lamps in the photo above. Its nice to see some contrast to the abundance of Christian architecture in Europe


Arrival in Buda, the city Library, with statues of more heroes

All these statues of Hungarian heroes made me wonder about my own ancestry and if we are somehow related, how can they grow such fantastic moustaches and the best I can manage is some long nose hairs.

Left, great Hungarian moustache, right, no Hungarian moustache

At the top of the hill there is a great wealth of history and culture with the Library and National Gallery looking over the city along with the other landmarks of the area.

National Gallery, Library and Museum are all housed in this former Royal Palace

In the Library courtyard we stopped to have a light lunch of traditional Hungarian pastries, not only tasty but brought back a lot of memories for me and in such lovely surroundings too. We then soaked up some culture meandering through the National Gallery where I saw one of the most impressive modern sculptures I've ever seen along with other many fantastic works. At the top of the hill it is easy to see quite a lot of beautiful landmarks in a small area.

The patterned tiled roof of the Matthias Church is a colourful trait of many old buildings in Budapest

After a long day walking tour of sites of Budapest we went to have dinner with some friends of Anna's in a restaurant specializing in traditional Hungarian cuisine. It was nice to relive some sense memories from childhood, and also drink some nice Hungarian red wine.

Attila, Timi and myself at dinner

The Saturday was the drive down to my relatives in Zalaregeseg via some beautiful Hungarian countryside and stopping for lunch at one of Europe's biggest lakes, lake Balaton. The countryside was not what I expected or remembered from being in Hungary when I was younger, so it was interesting to see.

Lake Balaton, the holiday destination for many Hungarians

The second half of my trip was spending Easter with family. The significance of this Easter was greater than I had expected for a range of reasons that are difficult to explain and long in the telling. There was Hungarian, German and English words flying around all the time, but it was more fun than hard trying to communicate.

The family (Gergo, Kata, Nagymama, Tibor, Petra, Jancsi and Agi)

There was so much good food the whole weekend, I'm sure I've stretched my stomach out a few sizes tasting everything.

The" kids" with Petra's baby Marcell

One of the greatest things about the trip was getting to know my cousins again and finding out what great people they are.

My brain was often spinning from the recollection of long lost memories, relationships, emotions, traditions, environment and languages. It was an good experience to go through. One of the traditions that is alive and well in Hungary occurs on the Easter Monday. The boys of the town will water the flowers of the town (the girls) in exchange for coloured eggs, sometimes chocolate or money. Originally it was with a bucket of water but is now usually just a spray of perfume into the girl's hair and is still called watering. There are still some die-hards out there who are keeping the tradition however.

Music, shouts and laughter precede this caravan of mischief

I might not understand the exchange of gifts for saturation but maybe its an appreciation of the effort to keep a tradition alive.

My uncle and aunt seeing me off at Budapest airport

Before too long it was time for me to take my plane back to Germany with plenty of time to reflect on a long weekend.

There was a wave of comfort that rolled over me when I saw some of the Mannheim landmarks and new that from any point on I could at the very least walk and find my way home. On the bus home I saw a rabbit eating grass on a medium strip in the middle of town and started to think how that relates to Easter and our obsession with portraying rabbits at Easter time as doing any manner of human like activity. Maybe it was an Easter miracle/sign from God or perhaps its just time to eat some Easter eggs.

The Grill

German BBQ or "Grill"

Australia is a relatively young country but in certain fields we are well advance beyond other cultures. Through our extensive BBQ research we now know to only have BBQ's when it is over 8 degrees. I believe with a multi-million dollar education program we can pass this valuable knowledge onto other less-developed BBQ loving nations.

If you love to party, Mannheim is the place. Every night in the Uni semester there seems to be a party somewhere (Sunday and Wednesday nights its til 3 in the morning right outside my house), I really don't know how these students can study and or afford to keep these parties going. Its a problem but one of those good problems, maybe.

No time to Blog now, I've got a train to catch

Trains. For years in Germany they have been considered to be like the trains of the land, often seen training through the country side or stopping by the side of a river for a drink. This peaceful and cheap way to travel is used by many Germans to travel.

Friday was my first big train trip, destination Koblenz, to spend another weekend being doted upon by the Schaefers. I had to change Trains in Worms, no, not stepping into a big pile of inveterbrates but rather the lovely old German town Worms. It was a beautiful day for a aimless wander, the nice weather makes me think that Spring is not too far way. The following cold and rainy days makes me think that our God is truly a vengeful and spiteful God and we must do all to appease him, possibly. The train trip between Koblenz and Worms, to my joyful surprise takes you along the banks of the river Rhein. The scenery is beautiful, it is much like the Mosel with its constant view of vineyards, river, boats, castles, churches and old timey towns.

In Koblenz' old town

Sabine picked me up at the train station and we decided to spend the evening hanging out in Koblenz' old town. The greatest feature of note about Koblenz is that it is on the Deutches Eck (German Corner), which is where the Mosel river joins the Rhein river. The rivers in Germany have been for a long time a huge transport route, and are still so today. I spent Friday and Saturday around this area, just on different sides of the Rhein.

The Deutches Eck

Its very pointy

But not being satisfied with just having two rivers joining, a monument on the Eck was built which is a memorial of the uniting of Germany with a big statue of Kaiser Wilhelm, and the coat of arms and flags of all the German states.

The inscription on the monument is 'Wilhelm the Big', extremely apt.

There was something that really set this monument apart from other monuments, it had the most unique stone sculpture. Unlike anything I've ever seen before, very wide and angular. It was ominous, dark, imposing and very, very cool.

Can't go wrong with snakes and eagles

After strolling around town for some time, it was getting dark and time for a spot of dinner. Dinner was at a very old pub, restored and very popular. I wanted to eat something typically German, and this was the place to do it. Sabine and myself split the two most German dishes on the menu. There was half a roast pig with some sauerkraut and potatoes as one dish and then there was the 'Heaven and Earth'. 'Heaven and Earth' is one liver sausage and one blood sausage, don't think too much about it, its all good. Washed down of course with the obligatory beer, it was just what I had been searching for.

Saturday began with a tour of the Fortress the overlooks the Deutches Eck from the hill on the other side of the Rhein.

Fortress on the hill, barges on the Rhein


From the Fortress looking out

This area is so full of old churches and castles, hilltop views and vineyards, there's hardly room for anything else. Sometimes I really dig the history, sometimes I'm really not interested. I did however manage to stumble on some interesting possible family history at the fortress, there is this photo of a man who has striking resemblance to me.

Spooky huh?

This is a picture of baron Molnar von Strudelhausen with his wife Manfredina of Sayn, taken on the first day of the St. Schnitzel's festival, 1723. Apparently, the baron was the first man to invent sun-glasses, it did take a long time however before someone new how to make ones you could see through. The glasses were apparently invented so that it was possible for the baron to bed his handsome bride.

I was then taken out to lunch at the local brewery for some where traditional German food, delicious and you can carry the memories with you those types of memories with you everywhere you go. The next stop was Schloss Stolzenfels (Proud-rock Castle), an old summer palace for royalty, not that the make many palaces for stable-hands. Some magnificent views from the courtyard and some magnificent artworks inside and out.

The ins and outs of Stolzenfels

The fact that it was nice weather was half the joy of the excursions, walking around in the fresh air and soaking up some sunshine, just like I used to do when I was a young man.

The night was spent at Manfred's brother-in-law's 70th birthday party. There was a real German flavoured band playing music through the night, I have never seen so many accordions in the same place at once. Reminded me of the German club nights.

On the Sunday we took a trip to Koenigswinter, a town steeped in history with a hill that's just plain steep. There is a legend of Dragon slaying surrounding the area,and people just go nuts for Dragons here, so much so they named the hill Drachenfels (Dragon rock).

Views from the top of Drachenfels


The Castle's Letterbox


When you can see two castles from the castle your on, you might be getting close to saturation point.

The day ended quickly after starting quite slowly. I get a bit edgy catching transport, and I worry about missing connecting trains, but I'm getting better. The train ride home was painless and beautiful. I saw a lot of country side, rabbits, deer, hawks and I even saw a pair of pheasants if that means anything to you. I don't really know anything about the places I passed through but I think what I saw said a lot about the country in between the Major cities and now I can't wait to explore more country by train.

Wine and Jesus

My last weekend I spent with family friends, Eva, Manfred and Sabine Schaefer. For the first time this trip I left Mannheim and really got into a more stereotypical Germany. Mannheim could almost be any city in the world. It wasn't until I left it that I realised that this is not the place to really see Germany. It was nice to a leave an industrial hub and see some German country side, if only from the Autobahn. The Schaefers made sure of two things, one, I was hardly allowed to speak any English with them, two, I would be well looked after. They're hospitality makes me feel like one of the family, so it was nice to get back into that sort of environment.

The Schaefer's gave me so many options of things to do and see while I stayed with them, they also always put on such a great spread for every meal, which was also a good opportunity to really eat like a normal German family would eat. I stayed Thursday, Friday and Saturday night and we managed to fit in a lot in the days between. To set the scene, the first night we stopped at a supermarket and along with the groceries they bought a selection of different beers that I could try while I as staying with them.

Friday Sabine took me into Bendorf, which is the closest town to their house, and we went to the Butterfly Garden. It had lots of other cool animals such as a chameleon and an iguana and one of the guides brought out some of the animals so we got to hold one of the snakes. I was worried about the old guy and his wife trying to take a photo of the snake, because the old man was waving his fingers in front of the snake's face to get its attention. Brilliant idea, snakes love nothing more than sudden movements. The people in the area must really love the Butterfly Garden because a lot of the houses nearby have butterfly murals on their walls. Its fairly common to see murals painted on the walls of houses.

Ruins on the hill with Bendorf bellow

Across the street was the town castle which was converted into the museum for the old iron works and a wing dedicated to the royal family whose heritage is in the area. The Bendorf iron works were the best at casting iron in Germany during their time, they have the most delicate work produced by casting there, an iron fly that is exact scale size. There are also ruins of the old castle above on the same hill which gives a good view of the area and that good 'ye olde' type feeling.

At the top of the hill

In Australia the land turns brown as it dries out in Summer, while here the landscape turns brown in Winter with most of the trees having lost their leaves.

At night we all met up to go to dinner in one of the larger wine towns on the Mosel river, Winningen. There are towns like Winningen all along the Mosel where you can find Weinprobierstube, a hybrid beer hall/cellar door/restaurant where they serve food and a number of local wines usual from just from the winery that owns the Weinprobierstube.

Night time in Winningen

Apparently the place is jam packed in August with people dancing, drinking wine and eating onion cakes. Real raw boozy fun I hear. However there is still plenty of fun to be had during the off season. The wine fueled atmosphere here is a kin to a stand-up comedy act, except there is no comedian, no stage and every one is sat on long tables or in booths.

Eva and Manfred wearing a Winningen smile

Manfred, Sabine and Myself, trying the local selection

Wines are usually referred to by the number on the menu, I didn't know where to start but they have this great thing of bringing out five different Rieslings on a platter, so by the time you've tasted them all, your to pissed to care what the next drink is. Everyone is friendly here and the food is great. After dinner we went to another Weinprobierstube, as was recommended by the two people caught in the photo, who by coincidence happened to be neighbours of the Schaefers.

The owner joins in on the fun

I love this photo, you can't fake those smiles. The owner, Fred Knebel is great character, he walks around talking and having a drink with everyone. We had a big chat about wine and Australia and he gave me some of his latest vintage to try. He refused to have his photo taken without a glass of wine in his hand. I can definitely recommend this to anyone.

Saturday was our trip to Trier, the oldest city in Germany, 17 years BC it was established by the Romans out on one of their Contiki tours of Europe. The largest oldest landmark is the black gate or 'Porta Nigra'. Built several years before 200 AD when Trier was the "in" place for Roman Emperors.

Still standing after all these years

The resilience of the gate instilled in me a great deal of respect for people back in the day having the ability to construct something like this. You can just about feel all the history here, there must have been millions of souls who have passed through this city in the last two thousand years.

Sticking with the Roman parts of town, we also went to the Kaiserthermen, the Imperial Baths. It has an underground labyrinth created for the central heating system of the floors and walls of the baths. The Kaisethermen was definately the place to be if you were rich and famous.

Ruins of Imperial Baths

Down to the Labyrinth and a closer look.

I don't think style is rated highly enough in today's society, sure anyone can conquer the world and advance all aspects of human life, but if who can pull of with style, not many. We managed to get in some time at the museum to see what artifacts had been collected from diggings around the city. Again the craftsmanship and art that went into everyday items beats the form of function products we have any day.

To see everything worth seeing in Trier it would take several days, we only had a few hours to see what we could.

In the middle of Trier, one of the nicest cities I've ever been to


Pink, white and gold? Please, that's so last century

I think the more I see old artwork, the more I hate modern art. By comparison modern art always looks lazy, sloppy and created with no taste. Back in the day, people sure knew how to make things fancy looking. See above picture of Electoral Palace for definition of "fancy looking".

Sometimes you can see the most amazing art in churches because people weren't just making the art because of money or obligation but they were doing it in the hope for one-way express ticket to eternal Paradise.

At least if you get bored during the sermon, there's plenty to look at

With surroundings like these I could understand why so many people love Jesus. Apparently the church has a piece of Jesus' robe, *cough*yeah right*cough*cough*, but they only let you see it on special occasions. Churches are usually the centre point of a town, the spire of the church rising high above the other buildings. Its uncommon to find any town in Germany that doesn't have a church. It's also strange for man without religion to be amongst such devotion to one.

The Schaefers were nice enough to drive back along the banks of the Mosel, which means a spectacular view, but double the travel time. The Mosel is in a valley and on both sides of the river are hillside vineyards with towns lining the banks. This area has the steepest hillside vineyards in Europe, just to get to the top of one of the block of vines looks like a hard days work. Mostly the work can only be done by hand because it is so steep and some vine rows go right to the edge of the road and have no fence, so I'm doubting occupational safety is a major concern in these parts. If there is land here that has soil and is 75 degrees slope or less, someone has stuck a vine in it. Some have the luxury of little trains that are used for hauling things up and down the hill, but there are not very many of these.

This was the view for hours on a road we only drove half the length of

Its hard to see but the is a giant gold cross on the hill, and a lot of time you will see crosses or churches built up high in or above the vineyards to make sure you know who really owns this place.

You'd better be making some really good wine for all that trouble.

Its non-stop picture postcard views the whole way, with most of the towns containing a lot of buildings several hundred years old, and new buildings are often styled in the same way to keep the look of the town.

Its a castle on a hill

There are many old castles in Germany, and many can be found on the banks of the rivers. A castle is usually built at the top of hill so the Nobility of the time could play they're favourite game, 'Roll the peasants down the hill'. This practice was stopped however when the 'slip'n'slide' was invented.

Lights by the Mosel

Just before we left the road along the Mosel to take the Autobahn we stopped in at a town called Kochem for a bit of refreshment (I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to say German words that have 'koch', 'dich' or 'fach' in them without a little bit of apprehension.). We got home late had some dinner and sat around the dinner table telling all the jokes we knew or could remember, its an interesting way and probably the most fun way to practice a language.

It was a great weekend and we had a lot of fun but I do prefer the German word for having fun which is Spass. It has no direct translation, but it's much like the Irish Craic. Well the main thing really is that we had a whole lot of it.