Tuesday 5th– Being seventeen again

This morning was a lazy day. My body clock finally seems to have adjusted itself and I very much enjoyed sleeping in to a late 8.30am. I was reminded so much of my first day here, everyone had gone to work/school and I was home alone with the cleaner walking around the house. I remember, back in 2005, eating only a banana for breakfast because I was too scared to ask the German speaking Frau Mausberger where the breakfast things were. It was nice this morning to go straight out, say hello and hold my own in a German conversation with her :) Even if there were some moments where I smiled and nodded then offered a general vague statement about the subject I thought there was a chance she was talking about!

There was much opening of cupboards to find anything that looked remotely breakfast like – toast with butter on it was. It is funny, I don’t remember ever making my own breakfast here, it was always a family affair with everything already out on the table. I can’t say I did anything else interesting to report after that, I showered, I put on shorts and a singlet top (yay for Austrian central heating!!) and I happily unpacked my suitcase for the week. I also wandered around the house to find not much changed at all, everything is still yellow and orange and my photo is still up on the ‘kids photos’ wall :)

       

Eventually at around 11am I headed out for a stroll around the ‘neighbourhood’. After heading out into the 13 degrees day with shorts and a tshirt I was reminded that a bit of sun and exercise makes this type of weather wonderful here. I didn’t stop smiling for the whole hour and a half I walked around. Again, so many memories – this spot we found Maxi’s cat had been run over, this spot I went for a walk with Maxi’s new kitten, this spot I learnt to ride a bike, this spot I walked and chatted with Chris… all amongst the absolutely stunning scenery. I was completely overwhelmed with a feeling of awe that I managed to wrangle living here for a year. Really, who gets that lucky?

     

Then, back to the house to chill for a bit before Ulrike and Franziska came home from school at 1pm. Time for the traditionally big Austrian lunch – Salad and then Kaesespaetzle cooked especially for me (its one of my favourite Austrian meals, and why would it not be, it is essentially carbs and cheese). After lunch Franziska had to go back to school so I tagged along to spend some time in Knittelfeld town. Another trip down memory lane. There is nothing remarkable here, it is just a country town but each spot has something attached to it – there is the cafe where Julie and I sat and ate our store bought pringles for an hour, the shop where I bought Diddl stickers to send home to eight year old Bridget every month…

I also enjoyed having the chance to do those little things you can’t usually do on the whirlwind tourist trail. I checked out what music was popular in cd stores, I walked through the supermarket and resisted the urge to buy any biscuit or chocolate that I remembered having eaten. I was also quite amused by all the different varieties of wine (in the supermarket shelves of course). I had to search very hard for something that I recognised, it never really occurred to me that there would be German wine varieties. A little naive that thought perhaps!!

    

After wandering through the town I sat down and ate a Spaghetti Eis, in honour of Julie and I giggling away at them in 2005. And then I went to the place I always went when I ran out of things to do, the local library. I was happy to see that all the English books that I made my way through in 2005 were still on the shelves – guess they don’t have much of a need to update them! An hour and a bit reading my book then back home on the bus with Franziska (I have failed at resisting the urge to speak English with her, there is too much to gossip about).

And now I am back home, everyone is off doing their separate things and I am sitting in my room entertaining myself for a bit. This reminds me of living here as much as everything else does ;)

At 8.30pm Franziska and Maxi went out for a drink in town (on a Tuesday night, as you do) and I declined the offer to go with them, due to a very early start tomorrow. I berated myself a bit for this, it goes against the biggest lesson I learnt from the year (never say no to an invitation because who knows what it might bring)… but then Ulrike made some Caprese Salad for dinner, poured some Styrish wine and I had a very lovely evening sitting and chatting to my host parents :)

Apologies for the rambly nature of these latest blogs, I haven’t really done that many notable things today so you just get me gushing about memories instead. A reminder that there is a link to my photos top right, do look at them and fall in love with this country like I have :)

Monday 4th June– Going home to Austria

Today was mainly a travel day. A tube, a train, a plane, a bus and then another train!

Last night I decided to be good and set my alarm for 6.30am. I was worried about dragging myself out of bed but I needn’t have stressed. I was awake at 2am, 3am, 4am… every time I thought that it MUST be 6.30am, the time had apparently only passed 10 minutes. Therefore, up and nice and sprightly at 6am!

A shower, internet to FINALLY update my blogs and then all checked out by 7.30am. A tube to Victoria Station, then a short walk to get the Gatwick Express – everything ran nice and smoothly. I had everything timed perfectly, I was going to arrive just as the check in opened.

I really enjoyed the train trip, despite the fact that my headphones suddenly broke (no music for entire travel day = grumpy Jess). I love this country so much, even if we did go through the dodgy areas! Its all so green and all the rows of identical houses made me smile… its was all just so clichéd. I really do want to come back to England, spend some more time in London, but also spent some time travelling around the English countryside. On the to do list. Or, I could just move here, its tempting!

My morning travelling was going on schedule until my one and a half hour train trip to Gatwick Airport only took half an hour. Early is good, it just meant an hour waiting around for check in to open! Luckily I found a cafe and had coffee and a toasted focaccia for breakfast, plus time to blog a little. No getting behind this week :)

After spending a weekend talking to myself in an English accent, I attempted early in the morning to switch modes to German. The difficulty of this certainly made me rather apprehensive about my German speaking week ahead. I don’t think I can express how much it means to be going back to Austria though. The year that I spent living there in 2005 changed who I am as a person, I learnt so much and have so many great memories. Most of the other exchange students have all gone back (one even returned to get married!) but its been 7 years now since I have seen my host family. I never really thought it would take that long to get back. I was also looking forward to some warmer weather, I was done with cold drizzle ;)

Check in was nice and quick (for some reason, the online check in bag drop line was twice the size of my line). Then more time to kill in the airport – this involved the purchase of new headphones in one of the shops, yay! And quickly enough, after entertaining myself with my Kindle and iPod, it was time to board the flight to Vienna.

  

Nothing really interesting to report. There was kindling and ipodding again, and then we were there…. in cold, rainy Vienna. Must say the weather so far is starting to get to me a little. I’ve seen perhaps one hour of sun in the last four days? And I’ve worn the same clothes over and over again because I packed for the summer that is currently hiding away. So many unworn dresses and shorts :( Fingers crossed for warm weather soon!

Took an airport transfer bus to the train station, where I discovered I’d prebought a train ticket that was not due to depart for an another hour and half, arriving at a completely different time from what I told my host family. So I bought another ticket for an earlier train, waste of money, oops.

So began the two and a half hour journey to Graz, the last but longest leg of my journey. There was lots of staring out the window at the grey, miserable looking countryside. It is funny, I have very little memory of Austria like this – I remember either warm amazing Summer or cold amazing Winter covered in snow. I was feeling very nervous and out of place at this point and by the time the train pulled into Graz at 7.30pm I was an exhausted wreck.

And then I walked into the train station, and there was my old host family and suddenly I wasn’t feeling so tired anymore :) It is just surreal being here again. Franz Josef and Ulrike have not changed a bit and Graz was still the same as I remembered it (albeit wet). We went out for dinner at the very same restaurant we ate at just before my plane left back to Australia in 2005, which is symbolic in some way I’m sure. There were a lot of confused half German half English conversations – my German gets me by but couldnt certainly be a lot better!

  

Then finally back to the house, arriving at 10.30pm. I think walking into the house was when being back hit me properly – lying in my old bedroom, and…the SMELL of this place is bringing back so much to me. Funny how smells can do that. I’m so excited to be here – tomorrow morning is sounding pretty chilled and I’m looking forward to just walking around the house and the neighbourhood and pretending I live here again. So nostalgic right now!

Sunday 3rd June - London Day 2 (a.k.a crazy wet Jubilee day)

Today, I hobbled around London. Literally. I walked so much yesterday that my muscles threw in the towel… I received so many funny looks going one step and a time down into Tube Stations clutching onto the hand rail for dear life…

Anyway.

Getting up this morning was tough… and it wasn’t until a late 9am that I actually left the hostel (full of bacon and egg English muffin, nom). I headed straight to the Globe Theatre, knowing that there were lots of people headed in that general direction and hoping to be there early enough to avoid the chaos. Well, when I say ‘straight there’, what I actually mean is arriving on one side of the river and then spending an awful lot of time hobbling trying to find a bridge that would let me across!

Got there eventually, and five minutes before a guided tour started. Not too much to say here. I was a bit bummed to find out it wasn’t the original Globe (though perhaps I was silly for thinking it was). It was still a very good replica and I enjoyed sitting there and pretending I was a 14th century theatre goer. Apparently in the evening there was a performance of Hamlet scheduled… in Lithuanian?

    

Out onto the river bank again. I should mention at this point that the crowd along the river was already two people deep, despite the first boat being 5 hours away! There were a lots of flags and royal family masks, although perhaps more cold, miserable, grumpy people than excited ones (did I mention it rained all day and barely stopped once?)

On to the Tate Modern next door. This was a little self indulgent, I enjoyed casually wandering around looking at all their free art installations. It certainly is very modern and stark. And warm, did I mention warm? I always like modern art galleries, if only because I can spend time wondering what on earth the artist was thinking, and how you can paint a grey rectangle and become famous? I did get very excited to stumble upon Salvidor Dali’s Metamorphisis of Narcissus, a poster I had on my bedroom wall for years!

  

Then reluctantly out into the cold again. At 12pm, the crowd was now 6 people deep, there were blockages everywhere and it was still 3 hours before the first boat. Getting out of there was tricky, so many people and so many places I wasn’t allowed to go!

Off to Baker St next and a brief attempt to find the Sherlock Holmes museum there. I found a Sherlock Holmes hotel and a Sherlock Holmes bar, but no museum. I was an awful Sherlock Holmes fan and couldn’t remember which street number he was meant to have lived at (except that it ended in B), so I abandoned the chase and headed off the Madame Tussuads.

Entry was nice and quick (yay prebought tickets!) Madame Tussuads was interesting, because really the whole purpose seems to be taking photos of yourself with famous people, which is hard when you are on your own. I did annoy someone for a picture with Colin Firth but didn’t want to do that the whole way through! I spent a lot of time being annoyed at the crowds, VERY busy there! I mostly enjoyed the historical figures that I haven’t seen on TV etc. Oscar Wilde for example, it was interesting to see what he would have looked like when he was alive. It’s also interesting to see how short people are! Hitler, for example, is tiny!

   

Overall, it is certainly a visual spectacle, complete with a Spirit of London ride and a 4D Marvel Comics show. I got a bit sad because I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere and missed the torture chamber section, which is my main memory of being there as a kid. And I couldn’t double back either :(

After the craziness of the wax museum I allowed myself half an hour to sit down with hot chocolate and free wifi Then I started to feel guilty about missing the Jubilee action, particularly as people were watching it on TV at home and seeing more than I was! So I decided to be brave and attempt a visit to the London Eye.

The first thing I saw walking out of Waterloo station was the throngs of people leaving the banks. Initially I thought it must mean the boat parade was over, in fact what it mean was that they had all seen the Royal Family, that the rest of the boats were boring and that it was cold and wet and time to go home! I arrived at the river bank to find a crowd still there and headed over to the giant Ferris wheel.

With the amount of people in the area, coming here had seemed a bit risky. I’d prebought a priority access ticket but wasn’t sure whether than was still going to valid on a day such as today. Well, it was! 10 minute wait, success! I loooved walking past the giant line of people who had bought tickets on the day, and was lucky enough to be up on the Eye whilst the boats were still going down the river! Particularly lucky to be warm and dry as it was teeming down at this point – I did feel very sorry for all the soggy people on the boats waiving at the now very diminished crowd :(

Getting home was a drama. The nearest tube station had a line all the way down the street – just to get into the station! I walked around feeling sorry for myself before finding a station with a much less crazy line. I should mention that I had made an exceptionally bad shoe choice in the morning… shoes that apparently have lots of holes in them. As a result, I spent the whole day walking around with cold, wet feet, somewhat like wearing wet socks. At the end of the day, walking around in the pouring rain with sore muscles and wet feet was making me feel pretty miserable!

A quick stop in an Italian restaurant on the way home for spaghetti and wine, much needed comfort food! And then finally back home – I meant to get straight into packing and blogging but lay on my bed and promptly fell asleep for two hours, oops! Now I am sitting up on my bunk writing two blogs whilst the other three ladies in my room sleep!

I’m leaving London tomorrow. I really do like this city a lot, particularly its history and the small glimpses I’ve gotten of its more livelier social districts. This weekend has been somewhat defined by sore muscles, cold, rain and crazy crows but I look forward very much to coming back here and spending some time socialising and relaxing in this wonderfully interesting city!

Saturday June 2nd– First day in London!

The first exciting thing of the day at 6am London time? Going through customs as a British citizen! Thank you newly acquired British Passport, yes I will skip that line of hundreds of people and go instead to the line where I have to wait for one person. Win!

Ah, the success was short lived though as my bag was one of the last to arrive – suspenseful times! Not long afterwards I got off the Tube and headed towards my hostel in what I thought seemed like a very quiet area near Oxford St (that was a bad assumption, I forgot it was still 8.30am when I arrived).

Looking very unassuming and uninviting from the outside I am actually quite content with this place- apart from the fact that despite being a youth hostel everyone seems to be over 40? Hmmm.

After dumping my bag in a locker I headed out into cold, foggy, drizzly London. Unfortunately no shower was to be had, so I spent the day feeling incredibly feral :S Off to the tube and Westminster Station…

The first thing I saw stepping out onto the street was London Eye and then I turned around and there was Big Ben! I wasn’t expecting that at all and got a big thrill from seeing it, its very beautiful! In fact, I spent the first hour (and then some) wandering around in awe at the old architecture and history everywhere I looked… and spent a good deal of time wondering why I don’t live here??

    

I should mention at some point that there are Union Jacks draped absolutely EVERYWHERE here. Its very excessive and I’m assuming its to do with the Jubilee/Olympics and not their everyday decoration. I love it though, it makes me feel so… patriotic (is that possible?)

Anyhoo, after seeing Big Ben I headed around the corner to Westminster Abbey, which again, is beautiful and so historically significant (weddings, funerals, coronations etc. etc. the list goes on). I was on a very tight schedule so flicked very quickly through their audio guide – highlights included seeing the tombs of Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots (thank you Horrible History books for getting me interested in all this again!)

From there I walked up to Buckingham Palace with a quick look at a heavily guarded Downing St. The plan was to see the changing of the guards, but I soon found the Mall to be blocked off… for a big parade of soldiers on horses which started 5 minutes after I got there! The actual palace was blocked off for the Jubilee celebrations there on Monday so after the parade I wandered around Green Park and St James Park instead, complete with a soundtrack of Jubilee brass bands in the background!

Next Trafalgar Square, which was in a similar state to the palace – nothing to see there except trucks and scaffolding. Whilst there, I did what must have been the worlds quickest whizz around the National Art Gallery. Not knowing what to expect I got very excited to find a big George Seurat painting, Van Gogh’s sunflowers AND Monet’s famous water lily bridge painting (the garden of which I have a tour booked to see in Paris!)

     

And THEN on to St Pauls, which I’ve mentioned before was mostly exciting to me because its in Mary Poppins ;) It would have been a relatively quick visit had I decided that I couldn’t go there and not climb the 528 steps to the very chilly top of the dome. It was very big and impressive, although I have seen my fair share of big impressive churches now. Then, because I could and because I hadn’t eaten all day, I sat in the St Paul’s crypt and had macaroni and cheese and homemade lemonade.

By now it was about 2pm, my feet and legs were complaining but I ignored them and headed to the Tower of London (I was looking forward to this one a lot, ever since receiving my ticket in the post 6 months ago!). I thoroughly enjoyed it although I don’t have an awful lot to write about it – I saw the shiny crown jewels, the armour collection and went on a funny guided tour. I was mostly excited about seeing the plain area of grass where Anne Boleyn (and countless others) was executed. I was also very excited when the sun finally came out!!

   

Finally back to the hostel for a glorious hour of showering and freshening up. One of the best showers I’ve had in my lifetime. All too soon, out again, this time to the Cambridge Theatre to see Matilda! I was utterly exhausted at this point so had to work hard at staying awake – that being said I enjoyed the show a lot! I thought the story was slow at some points and it certainly takes some liberties with the original but it had the most amazing group songs with stupdily good children and some of the best choreography I have ever seen. Certainly deserved the standing ovation it got at the end.

I left the theatre to find it pouring with rain… I had to give in and grab a “taxi bike” (a group on Indian men with bike-pulled seats that all the locals seemed to be avoiding). 15 pounds was perhaps a little steep but I actually really enjoyed cycling through the West End and seeing all the big signs (Les Mis, The Mousetrap) and I also thoroughly enjoyed not getting wet!

FINALLY it was time to sleep, since being awake since 3am London Time. I could barely walk at this point, and within 30 seconds of my head touching the pillow, I was asleep!

June 1st - And so the crazy times begin.

There is nothing quite like sitting in an airport for hours on end to get you in the mood for travelling ;)

Today started at a very reasonable time of 8am – if only this was an indication of what the rest of my holiday would be like! I particularly savoured my morning shower, knowing that my schedule meant this was going to be my last one in a very long time (maybe I dont mind that I’m spending the first few days alone after all!)

The minute Andy dropped me off at the airport and I ventured in alone my heart started trying to jump out of my chest. This travelling alone thing seems like a giant character building test! Even the mundane things like going through security seemed somehow exciting.

After getting to the airport a good two hours early there was plenty of waiting around to do. I spent most of this time wondering why Kelly wasn’t there to chat to me and fretting that I had forgotten to pack EVERYTHING. Considering that the last time I travelled I forgot my bathers, pyjamas, playing cards and house keys perhaps this wasnt a completely unfounded concern. It wasn’t helped by the check in lady commenting that my bag was particularly light – I must have forgotten to pack all my heavy things!!

Airport time was spent with Regina Spektor’s new album and the beginnings of Middlesex on my kindle. Then, on to flight number 1. Nothing overly eventful to report there. 7 hour flight to Singapore, good food, free wine. After three neighbour changes, I was sat next to a lady on her way to an Intrepid trip to the Everest base camp. She was chatty and I was chatty and I really needn’t worry about this travelling alone thing in the slightest!

Movie wise, watched War Horse, which took up all my emotional energy, and the Men in Black, which took up no emotional energy at all.

Then finally Singapore, which looks nothing at all like what I remember from 2004. But it is still big, and still shiny, and there are still many many things for me to not spend my money on. A six hour wait at the airport ensued, filled with netbooking, kindling, exploring and eating.

     

Dinner was a random ‘Singapore Selection’ that I found somewhere upstaits: Cripsy Chicken and rice, Prawn Mee and Mee Siam. Plus a crazy green drink of something tasty.

Finally on to the second flight, 13 hours this one. I managed to luck out again and sat next to a Sydney guy named Russell who must have been in his late twenities, heading to Europe for a 2 month trip – plenty to chat about there. Also some 21 Jump Street and Top Gun on the side (which I hadnt seen before and that is bad apparently).

Have to mention that we were flying in a specky new double decker A380. They have luxury suites with chairs AND beds upstairs. And they had to divdide the passengers into 6 different boarding secions, and everything was big and shiny and new!

Also should mention that I got seated right in the young children area, which meant lots and lots of screaming kiddies throughout the night. Somehow sleep still happened though, in bits and pieces and I was nice and perky 3am London time!

After nothing much more eventful than that we arrived at 6am in the morning. London!!

Thursday 31st May–The Day Before

Just a quick blog tonight – after being so wholly consumed by this work week I have finally seen my last little kiddie for 7 weeks! After not really giving a thought to tomorrow, suddenly things are beginning to dawn on me. In particular, just how long this trip is! There was lots of nervous tingling going on whilst I ran around the house getting last things organised, But look, now all packed!

Things still haven’t sunk in completely though, I can imagine they will tomorrow as I walk through at the airport.

I look forward to keeping in touch with everyone at home, and I hope that my adventures prove somewhat interesting to read about! xx

Testing on my iPad

So with the possibility of my netbook not working for my upcoming trip I couldn't resist the opportunity to test out a blogging app on iPad. Would take a while to get used to this typing though I think!!