Best *A program for Lindsay's brother??

[QF WP]

Thought I'd post a mini TR from my brother:

I had lofty ideals of sending a running commentary of my travels as they happened. Anyway, I've finally got around to it, so much will be based on the reliability of my memory.

Amsterdamage.
My first impressions were of Dutch Customs. No, not Dutch customs; Dutch Customs. I had my bags searched at the airport, although only half-heartedly. I think they guy was bored. Seriously, who gets searched coming INTO Amsterdam? You'd think I had my boogie-board bag with me.

I stayed at a beautiful old hotel right in the middle of town. Naturally that meant I was also right next to the red light district - where else are you gonna put a conference for 700 Aussies? We seemed to end up there every night, although I was only window-shopping. I did manage to sample the other local delicacy (it's OK mum, I didn't inhale!) a few times too. Lekker!

I have been to Amsterdam a few times before so I didn't do much in the way of sightseeing, but I did a tour of the hipper CD shops in search of Dutch CDs. Final tally was six by The Nits and two by Alquin. That meant I walked past a lot of the sights and I may have even taken some photos of some of them.

Roadworks. Construction. The place is full of it. Apparently they are rebuilding their metro system so every road is ripped up and destroyed. A real theme of the week, as it turned out.

At the end, my final impressions were again of airports. I got hit for excess baggage by KLM getting out of the joint. Admittedly I was 6kgs over the limit and I was only charged for 3 kilos. That's not counting all the heavy stuff I had in my little backpack and the two jackets I was wearing.

Next stop, Austria (via Germany).

Of course, his shake-down at AMS Customs had nothing to do with the fact that he looked like Jason Akermanis... :roll:

 

[QF WP]

Episode #2 - Innsbruck

Don't expect them so frequently now; this one brings me up to date.

Innsbruck.

The Innsbruck leg was characterised by two distinct phases - days and nights.

Days were spent snowboarding on the beautiful Stubai Glacier and Axamer-Lizum, home of the Winter Olympics in 1964 and 1976. I don't think they've groomed some of the runs since then. The first three days were great weather - warm sun but 250cm of crisp dry snow on the ground. By the third day my old boots were giving me blisters, so I lashed out and bought a new pair. I should have done it sooner cos my feet were already aching and I still have a sore ankle now. Weather for the last two days was overcast - not least because another 30cm+ of snow fell. That meant visibilty was pretty poor and so I was pretty much boarding blind. The Screaming Tribesmen came to mind more than once ... "it's all white". On my last day I had a spectacular crash, including a complete cartwheel in midair. Luckily I was completely unharmed but the lady boarding behind me thought I'd killed myself. Pity she didn't take photos.

Nights were spent looking for something to do. The place has nothing happening after dark. I wandered around the area the ski-rental guys had told me was the happening neighbourhood for an hour and all I found was a dodgy Down Under bar - where apart from one NSW number-plate on the wall, I was the only Aussie thing in there. Austrian TV is also dodgy. I saw some truly abominable shows, including a foreign version of Agadoo, sung in something like Swedish or Norwegian, with the entire studio audience clapping along as the hostess of the show sang it. Truly bizarre. I also heard a remake of Abba's SOS, with the lyrics changed to "So if you love me, darling won't you bring me, Edelweiss". I don't think she was referring to the beer either. (Footnote. Avoid Austrian beer). What else can you say about a city that has a restaurant called (I'm pretty sure my translation is accurate) Sausage World.

The third night I relented and hit the tourist strip, and luckily found the universal currency of entertainment - the Irish Bar. I managed to get to know the two guys running the place so I finally had a decent local - and decent beer. They also managed to give us dining tips for the rest of the stay. By this stage I had met an Aussie couple and an American guy and we hung out for the last two nights. Was nice to speak english for a while too. Hiya, Carl, Eve and Trevor!

Warning: internet access was exorbitant. I paid about E15 for less than an hour online, with a german keyboard I couldn't use.

I have to mention bus drivers. It seems that in Austria, you aren't allowed to have a bus licence unless you have a mobile phone, and talk on it incessantly whilst negotiating slippery winding mountain roads. The scariest part was overtaking another bus one morning, on a completely blind corner. Thankfully he wasn't on the phone that partricular minute, and at least momentarily, I felt at home as we were on the correct side of the road.

Next stop: Germany.

 

[BlacKnox]

Keep em coming LW . FWIW in the main hotel (can't remember the name) at Innsbruck there's a shooting gallery in the basement something like "lethal weapon" and a whole lot of fun; or was that Saarbrucken...?

 

[bravoecho1]

LW,

if your brother is still there, let him know that there is an old style casino at the Hilton.

Its like something out of a James Bond movie with a jacket required. Good way to spend a couple of hours and euro's!!

 

[QF WP]

He's done Germany (Berlin), that was last week and he's now flown to UK. There for the next 3 weeks, driving around following Billy Bragg (he's a huge fan) and trying to get tickets to see his (and Billy Bragg's) football team, West Ham, try and win the FA Cup - they're in the semi finals. He's also trying to see WH in any of the last couple of Premier League matches (probably has more chance of securing a ticket, even if it's from a scalper)

 

[QF WP]

Episode #3, Berlin

Berlin - in a word, Sensational.

I guess it helped that I had two brilliant tour guides. But lets start at the beginning of the chapter.

On the train from Innsbruck I was searched for drugs. Again. Serious, open your bags, look inside your wallet, phone up to check your passport isn't hot, searched. Of course with nothing to declare the guy eventually gave up - but it freaked out the other guy in the cabin - a 20 year old American on his first OS trip, who not ten minutes earlier had commented how nobody had even asked to see out tickets. He got searched too. Welcome to Germany.

Once in Berlin, and settled with my lovely host Angie and Guide Extrordinaire Tanya, we quickly adopted a routine - go out all night to weird and wonderful bars, gigs and venues, stumble into bed, sleep until lunchtime, ride around on bikes looking at historically significant sites, eat, then go back to the first step again. On my first night, Angie surprised me with tickets to The Cardigans, in a converted disused railway station (I think), then we went out drinking (look for a theme here). We managed to go to somewhere different and exciting every night. Towards the end of the week we also saw The Concretes, who were awesome. Eight members, about twenty instruments on stage and every song different. Add to the 'must buy' list. Both those bands are Swedish ... go figure. Along the way we also saw a Greek funk band, had to hide from some dreadful German punk music, and danced to some decidedly dodgy tunes.

Another highlight was seeing a Bundesliga game between Hertha BSC and Dortmund (unfortunately a 0-0 draw) in the Olympiastadiom, home of the upcoming World Cup final as well as the 1936 Olympics. 65,662 people in the place and a champion atmosphere. Just remember when you watch the game on TV, I was there!

Add to that the chance to drive on the wrong side of the road - which the locals call right but I know they're wrong if it's not the left - at five in the morning after an extensive night out, drink German beer, meet some cool people, and I really love this city.

 

[QF WP]

Episode #4, England

hello groovers!

I've been in England for about a week, and I've been busy. No drug searches. No excess baggage charges. No sleep. Well, a little bit of sleep.

I spent two nights in West London, and went to see Brentford play football at Swindon. They aren't no West Ham United, but it was nice to see some passion and atmosphere at a game. Then picked up a hire car and started the Billy Bragg "Saddo Tour". That has entailed clocking up about 2,000kms going to Wolverhampton, Sheffield, Bradford, Liverpool, Manchester, Gateshead (near Newcastle, as Ipswich is to Brisbane), Cardiff, and now back to London. Along the way I have slept on many fine couches, and a few dodgy hostels.

There was a day off 'oop norf' so I had a lovely drive through the north of Wales - absolutely beautiful countryside. Apparently lots of overpaid footballers have estates up there - I can see why. I also finally found time for some culture ... my first museum of the trip: the Beatles Museum in Liverpool. Great spot. Earlier in the trip I watched West Ham win the FA Cup semi-final - sadly not at the game but from a pub on the other side of town in Birmingham. I also stayed in the shadow of the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff where the final will be played. Cup fever is in full swing over here; its a pity I have to come home for the game. Yesterday I went to Upton Park and spent up big at club shop. I'm staying in East London now - in the heartland. C'mon you Irons!

My fake backstage pass is remarkably close to the real one, which was largely a fluke (thanks Kitty!) but has rewarded me with a real one, so I can come and go as I please, bring friends into soundchecks, wander backstage and generally act important. The crew are all fabulous and don't seem at all concerned that I've tagged along. There's a local bloke over here who does the same thing - he and his mate are big tattooed hell's angels so they are the unofficial Bragg Security Team - although I don't have any pictures of Billy on my legs so I can't join that particular gang.

I have won a fiver from Billy betting on football results (he thought Marlon Harewood would injure himself against West Brom and miss the Cup Final - ironically, our other striker Dean Ashton injured himself and is in doubt) and the highlight of Saddoism was Billy inviting me to afternoon tea at his mum's house in Barking with the rest of the tour party. Sadly we were too late getting back to London from Cardiff, but we went around the next day anyway; his mum was asleep, but his brother David gave us a tour of Barking, pointing out all the places they went as kids. Lovely. The hometown gig in Barking has probably been the highlight of the shows, and I met a lot of other internet saddoes there too. Tonight is the big London gig at the Shepherds Bush Empire, then back on the road for Leicester and maybe the Isle Of Man (if I can hitch a ride in the merch van).

Anyway, I'm having a blast. I probably even miss some of you. Just a bit.

 

[QF WP]

Episode #5, England & Home

Over and out. I'm back home.

The last week: Probably the best Bragg gig I've seen, at the Shepherd's Bush Empire. Excellent crowd and Bill in fine form. A train ride to Leicester for another show, one of the entourage let me sleep on the sofa-bed in his hotel room, then I hitched a ride in the Bragg van for the drive to the Isle Of Man. Very boring ferry ride but an ideal opportunity to catch up on Z's. The Isle Of Man is a bit like Tasmania. The gig was sensational - not least cos Bill name-checked me after one of the songs (I believe the quote was "there's always a sad cough like Geoff here" as he pointed at me) and I think the show was bootlegged so I will be forever famous ... that's my 15 minutes up. Stayed up drinking most of the night with most of the crew including Ian McLagan who is a genuine legend. The last time he played IOM was the year I was born. Next day was a ferry ride and two trains to get back to London and an early night.

Sunday was the last round of fixtures in the Premier League. I went to Upton Park hoping to soak up some atmosphere from out on the street while the game was on. What I didn't count on was paying some scruff twenty quid to get snuck into the ground and seeing the second half from the back of the grandstand. West Ham won 2-1. C'mon you Irons! They play the FA Cup final against Liverpool on Saturday (midnight kickoff local time).

Flying home was uneventful, so was Aussie Customs. I had a normal night's sleep and now I have 1,113 emails to read. Cheers