Finally on the road again and a bit of the usual travel madness.
My Life in London in fewer than 50 words…
Moved into my new house in North London. Close to tube and near enough to work to only require bus travel. Still enjoying holidays with school on break – but craziest thing is happening… I’m kinda looking forward to working again. (Not to say anything about finally getting dependable income…)
London Tourist Part III
Wow – the 3rd blog about what I’ve been up to in London. Hopefully this 3rd part of the trilogy is as interesting as Return of the Jedi, and not Shrek 3. Set my sights a bit further afield – and took a day trip to Dover. They have a well-kept castle, which was actually an important site during World War 2 due to a pretty extensive tunnel system burrowed into the white cliffs. Really good tour through there – and interesting showing where the well organised retreat (if you are wearing British rose-coloured glasses) of Dunkirk was controlled from. Also had an impressively old Roman lighthouse on the site.
(Dover gun, church and castle… tourist gold)
Even went camping with some friends north of London. Was great getting out of London and seeing more of the United Kingdom. Managed to see a beach with real sand. Just had to take my shoes off and experience that feeling again. Wasn’t tempted to go swimming though.
I think I’ve nearly been to every free museum in London. Even went to the London Transport Museum that you had to pay for. Not worth it in my opinion. The free ones are better – such as the RAF Museum. Fantastic exhibits generally, but great learning more about the Battle of Britain.
(Planes, Planes and more planes – no trains or automobiles)
Trip to Continental Europe
Finally got the travel bug again (actually was more about getting organised) and left for a week around Austria and Germany. Flew into Munich with no problems – which is somewhat surprising since I flew with BA. It was getting a bit tricky with public transports and trains so hired a car. Had to pay extra for a GPS but wow – this is the first time I’ve really used one (Yes I know… Welcome to the 21st century…) and once I managed to find the English setting its been fantastic. Nearly gave up after trying every wrong option and thought I’d be learning some basic German.
Salzburg
First stop for two nights was Salzburg. Quite a few claims to fame here – Mozart was born here and The Sound of Music was filmed around here. So the usual suspects of tourist based enterprises are present – including massive numbers of the Mozart chocolate balls. They’re everywhere! Didn’t subject myself to a Sound of Music tour – but the hostel I was staying at played the movie every night. Somehow managed to miss that as well… such a shame. Favourite piece of tourist merchandise – the “Austria – no kangaroos” t-shirt.
But I did get to 3 concerts. Salzburg has a pretty famous festival of music that’s been going for 90 years. I would just rock up and see if there were any tickets available and since travelling solo was very lucky. Certainly got some variety.
1. Between Gestural Moments and Sound Symbolism
The first night I went to this amazing church for a 20-30 piece orchestra performing a collection of songs that were given the title above. If anyone understands what it’s trying to say could they message me? It sounded like the soundtrack to a Lost episode or a B grade horror movie. Not the usual classical music. A lot of expressive silence and then loud crashes with some creepy solos. The composer was there as well – getting applause at the end of the performance. Maybe I like classical music written before myself, my parents, my grandparents or even my great-grandparents were born.
2. Thank God for Mozart…
Second concert was just a piano, clarinet and soprano singer performing some Mozart and Chopin. Thank goodness… Very classy and made me want to play piano again. And learn how to play the clarinet. And learn how to sing like that – I mean how hard could it be. Maybe the last one is slightly too high to reach.
3. World Orchestra for Peace (W.O.P)
The final night I was there managed to get a ticket to a full orchestra in their main hall. Now we’re talking. Was slightly underdressed since I didn’t bring my suit. This special orchestra was only performing here and in London this year. I’m a bit ignorant about the quality of a performance but in my humble opinion it was superb. And the applause requiring the conductor to return 4 times may be a sign that it at least was acceptable. However after reading the guide the conductor was supposedly ‘skirting schizophrenia’ when he wrote this symphony. Wonder what it would have sounded like if he had been sane.
Saw more of Salzburg then music – unfortunately it was raining pretty heavily so not great photos of this beautiful city. Fantastic churches, fountains and cobbled old streets. Went to the Fortress overlooking the whole town and took tons of photos. But I like this… my audio-guide said something about cabbages in relation to this house. Can’t remember now.
(Does this guy just dislike neighbours, or do they dislike him?)
Could have spent the whole week here – missed so much but had a date with a once every 10 year event!
Back to Germany
Left Salzburg without doing anything more due to the pouring rain. Plugged the next destination into my new best friend and off we went. And joined the traffic jam. Last time in Europe on the bus at least I could sleep, read, sleep, talk to people or sleep. Not as exciting when I can only listen to German radio. Finally left the rain and returned to Germany and after cutting west ended up in the sun on an Autobahn.
Now I’m a 10% over the speed limit driver in Australia. (Most of the time… only been caught twice by police doing more and never on a freeway). Joined this autobahn and hardly any traffic. Was moving along at a speed that would have resulted in a hefty fine back in Australia when I was swiftly overtaken by some Germans. Thought I’d try and make up some time from the traffic debacle previously. Got my hire car going at a speed that would have definitely resulted in an automatic loss of my licence back home and was still being overtaken. Unfortunately the Ford Fiesta isn’t a racing machine but was still a highlight.
Linderhof Palace
My stop for the day was this palace of Mad King Ludwig (somewhat interesting fellow). A fairly small palace but beautiful. The grounds were fantastic as well. A photographer’s dream location with gardens, fountains and statues.
(Finally, the sun makes an appearance. Amazing fountain and palace)
Also had a man-made cave or grotto. Even the cave has some incredible artwork with an interesting feel to the place.
Ettal
So now we’ve reached the present. I’m in the small village of Ettal that is just near Oberammergau in southern Germany. For those who haven’t heard of Oberammergau it’s the location of a Passion Play which only occurs every 10 years. It has an amazing story that I’ll share later but I’m really looking forward to the performance of 2,500 people tomorrow, starting at 2:30pm and finishing at 11pm.
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