London catch-up

Leaving the cold weather of Berlin behind, we have been blessed with a great week of sunshine, catching up with good friends and plenty of laughs in London.

It's been a whirlwind week and we've been lucky enough to have stayed and caught up with various friends and families in all four corners of London. A huge thank you to the Atkinsons, the Dessons, Jen & Forta, Katy & Nick White and Tara & Caius for putting us up and spoiling us with great food, great company and comfy beds. A massive step up from our hostels and 1 star hotels of the last 3 months!

One of the highlights was a celebrity visit from AY who came to London for the weekend all the way from Manly via a business trip in Frankfurt care of Qantas (it's business!). We had a jam packed weekend together bunking down on the Forts living room floor, wandering Portobello Rd, feasting at the Borough markets, riding the London Eye, going out for a rowdy pub dinner and enjoying some classic Aussie red!

After a great evening last night catching up with many of our London-based friends at the Dragon Bar in town, we are now trying to fit all our luggage into just two bags for our trip over to the Alps! Going to be an almighty squeeze with all that big puffy snow gear!

We are excited about starting our new job on Monday and getting ourselves mentally prepared for getting up pre-7am every day (wake-up time has been hovering around 10am for a while now!) and cooking for 18 people every night. Thanks to Aunty Di and Lindsay Atkinson we are feeling well-armed with a stack of tried and tested recipes so looking forward to trying them out!

Heres a selection of pics from the last week.

The Enfield gang enjoying a few beers at "The Cricketers" pub in Enfield

A long way from Manly but there was still a little sun around...! Outside Adrian and Jen's pad in Parsons Green



Jen and Em in their new coat purchases

Enjoying a quiet Ale at the "Barowboy and Banker" next to Borough Markets

Youngos (AY), a long way from home!

Aussie reunion, with a pub dinner and lots of laughs in a Fulham pub with the Forts, Cristoes, Michelle Nielson and AY

City skyline from the London Eye

Mike's birthday dinner at the Desson's (Em's cousins) in Bramley, Guilford

Tinks, Caius, Tara and Katy reclining at the Dragon Bar at our London connection catch-up drinks. Enfield gang and Tinks below.

Last stop... Berlin

The last stop of our Euro journey was Berlin. A fascinating city with heaps of history, made even more interesting for us by the early arrival of snow!

We thought 6 days in Berlin would be too long - particularly as Em has been there before - but it turned out to be just right. We spent the week exploring many of the classic tourist spots, eating plenty of 1 euro bratwurst rolls, and trying to uncover some of the more underground style bars and shops in the east side where we stayed. We also spent a lot of the time trying to keep warm as it barely got above zero degrees and Em regularly ventured out in about 8 layers of clothing! (taste of things to come for the ski season I suppose!).

Highlights included:

- A bike tour around Berlin where we learnt some of the quirky sides of Berlin's history and the fall of the wall.

- Walking in the famous Tiergarten just after the first snowfall.

- Discovering a cool bar with live dj and great cocktails in the backstreets of Prenzlauer Berg (apparently one of the more happening night spots in east Berlin at the moment) with no name and a dodgy alleyway entry.

- Visiting the crazy checkpoint charlie museum and reading the stories of some amazing east to west escape attempts, including tunneling under the wall, jumping out of 5 story apartment buildings, hiding in suitcases and flying a hot air balloon across the border.

- Visiting the Pergamon Museum, one of the best ancient history museums we've ever been to. The museum features the amazing and massive Gates of Babylon and throne hall built by King Nebuchadnezzar II (604 - 562 BC) as well as the anicent Greek Pergamon Altar (2nd century BC) and other ancient relics that blow your mind. Well worth going to if you're ever in Berlin!


Back in London now for a busy week of catching up with friends and family before we start of our ski season in the alps!

One of the many Christmas markets in Berlin

The famous TV Tower in East Berlin

Walking in the Tiergarten after the first snowfall of the winter

Thought this was a cute one!

The Brandenburg Gate on the bike tour

Riding out the front of the Reichstag, the German parliament building

Em walking down the East Side Gallery, the longest stretch of wall in Berlin

These guys have a pretty tough job, trying to sell bratwurst sausages for just 1.35 euro, in the bitter cold and snow with a bbq grill and gas bottle strapped to their backs! Very convenient for a tasty pit stop for us though!