Item 24: Eurostar - To Brussels, My Love

Location: London St Pancras International to Brussels Midi

Farewell to low cost airline terminals at airports located miles out of London. Hello Eurostar!

High Speed 1 rail services from St Pancras International provided us with nice and comfy seats direct to Brussels Midi within two hours. People were thinking when they designed this service.

Firstly, the station is accessible on the standard tube network. No need for special tickets on some capitalist train service aka Stansted/Gatwick Express! More importantly, immigration checks are performed as you pass through the gates in London so when you reach your destination you are right in the heart of the city. No more queues! All you need to do is grab your luggage (which travels with you in the carriage) and go!

A ticket to Brussels also allows you free travel via the train service to other destinations in Belgium. Fast and efficient. A change of platforms and you're off again!

This allowed us to also visit the cosmopolitan Antwerp for a touch of shopping during the afternoon of our arrival and an extended stay in the Venice of the North - Bruges. Feasting upon seafood, frites, waffles and Belgium's famous chocolates followed by some tasty beer, a trip on the Eurostar is a nice and easy getaway that begins right in the heart of London.

Item 24: Eurostar? CHECK!

Item 23: Berlin.. a bit of Ping-Pong

Location: Berlin, Germany

With thanks to New Berlin Tours, (which I highly recommend), I now know that the Berlin wall came down in 1989 making a visit today to the growing city comparable to hanging out with an eighteen year-old kid - testing the world's boundaries and finding its own sense of self. With a social atmosphere intertwined amongst history, of which you are reminded as you walk over the markings of the fallen wall on the streets and footpaths, there is more to plenty to be discovered.

After watching the Rough Guide's travel show, the one place I had to visit was Dr Pong's. Shaking off the fatigue that was trying to set in after yet another 6:30am flight from London, a day out at the Berlin Zoo, a stroll along the East Side Gallery and dinner, the crew made way on the local U-Bahn metro to Eberswalder Strasse station. Along a main street next to some funky shops, we saw the window with a masking taped sign 'DR PO00'.... We were there!

Unlike what I had perceived on tv, this bar had nothing to hide. No secret doors or dingy alleyway to the entrance, Dr Pongs was all in black in white. A bar with a ping-pong table.

Throughout the night steady games of "Around the World" were in progress. People were running around the table taking turns to have their hit, many making friends along the way. With a DJ, mini-Foosball table, cheap grog and a re-acquaintance with passive smoke Dr Pongs characterises the new Berlin, with plenty to offer. If only we were there for longer than a weekend!

Item 23: Berlin? CHECK!

Item 22: The Netherlands.... Degustation...

Location: Keukenhof, Leiden, Delft, Amsterdam and Rotterdam

Jam packed and all action, we spent three days in the Netherlands. Thanks to the close proximity between the main cities and an efficient transportation system we had a nice taste of Holland's degustation menu.

STARTERS:

Keukenhof (Tulip Garden)

For six weeks of the year this 15 hectare tulip garden is open for all the oldies with green thumbs to flock from around the world to view the pretty flowers. The morning we visited was happiness bundled up in sunshine.

Leiden and Delft

Two quaint old towns, home of Rembrandt and Vermeer respectively. You can tell by walking around the canals the importance of early environmental influence. Had these the artists been brought up in Amsterdam, I'm sure their artworks would've been dramatically different.

Den Haag

Having colonised Indonesia for three and a half centuries, we had a taste of traditional Indonesian cuisine in the centre of Den Haag. Having never ventured to Indonesia, the closest I've been to their cuisine is the dodgy bain-marie of Nelayan in Melbourne. This Rijsttafel (Indonesian banquet) definitely lifted the grade.. (picture below).

MAIN COURSE:

Amsterdam

Synonymous with a weekend in the The Netherlands is the city of Amsterdam. Unlike what we expected, there was no smell of weed in the air as we inhaled our first breath of air at Amsterdam Central Station.

Following up the visits to Lieden and Delft we saw the works of the great artists at the Rijksmuseum. Tip, if you are a complete tourist catch the Canal Company's boats around to the sites so you miss the long queue into the museum.

The next sight was a visit to the Anne Frank house to bring a reality to the sombre happenings in Holland's past. The secret annex, complete with the blacked out curtains, is everything as described in Anne's "Diary of a Young Girl". Seeing the rooms where her family and friends hid for two years would almost be unimaginable had it not been so passionately documented. Even without reading the book, this is well worth a visit.

Then, from past to present, at night, it was a stroll around the streets to Amsterdam's famed Red Light District. Of the 400 windows, 200 were recently bought back by the government in an attempt to bring down the market. But it's still very much alive as you walk through the streets and down alleyways. Crowds wander. Some as tourists, some as customers and plenty with their mates pushing them along. It's a people watching game from every angle. Who's looking in? Who's looking out? Who's got the money? Who's got the body? Oh, who's going into that door now?

DESSERT:

Rotterdam

To finish off a busy weekend we took a pleasant cruise on a ferry to the town of Kinderdijk to visit the famous Dutch windmills. Another world heritage site to add to the list. And peaceful finish to great weekend away.

Item 22: The Netherlands? CHECK!

Item 21: Premiership League - This is FOOTBALL!

Location: Stamford Bridge, London

Chelsea Vs Arsenal - 4:00 PM - 23 March 2008 - Two Vs Three on the English Premiership League Table.

A packed out stadium, passionate members creatively chanting their hearts out, our padded leather seats kept us close to the action on the field. This game could not have compared to anything I'd seen of the A-League back home in Australia.

The 90 minutes raced by and a 2-1 win by Chelsea spoilt the season's hopes for Arsenal.





Item 21: Premiership League? CHECK!

Item 20: St Paddy's Day... The Leprechauns Made Me Do It!

Location: Dublin, Ireland

Our slice of the St Patrick's Day action in Dublin was brought to us by the Fanatic's tour company. They run short trips for Aussies to sporting and festival events around the globe, evidently in true backpacker style.

Instant friends were made as we unlocked the door to our ten-bed mixed dorm room. The craic came rolling in as we changed into our souvenir tour t-shirts which most of the group would wear religiously for the following three days, regardless of the amount of Guinness, cider and other unmentionables that had been spilt on it from the previous night.

Modelling the new fashion on the first evening we headed out to Temple Bar joining in the pre-festival party amongst the tourists and locals.

Squished like sardines, had it been any other bar, in any other country, at any other time, I would've packed up my bat and ball. This was St Paddy's weekend, in Ireland! We checked out out the drinking skills of our young Aussies. An Irish Car bomb (3/4 pint Guinness stout,1/2 shot Bailey's Irish Cream, 1/2 shot Jameson Irish Whiskey), downed in under ten seconds by one of our group was put to shame as a local opened his gullet and downed a beer in under four!

And so continued the rest of the weekend, drinking and dancing from the early evening to the wee hours of the morning. The routine was only broken with visit to the Guinness Factory (free beer included), a walking tour of the city and a hustle amongst the crowd as we waited for the St Patrick’s Day parade on the Monday, only to give up due to the lack of view and the call of the closet pub.

It was a messy weekend. With the busy crowds, it was unfortunate to find ourselves too freqeuntly in the up-wind position of the many people who were on the "Guinness-Only" diet. We’re old enough to know that it’s not “whoever smelt it, dealt it”, and it would’ve been good if some people had remembered that it’s not a competition, it’s not funny and it bloody stinks!

Item 20: St Paddy's Day? CHECK!

Item 19: Belem... In Search of the Portugese Custard Tart

Location: Pastéis de Belém, Rua de Belém, Lisbon, Portugal

Our mission, upon booking our flights to Lisbon, was to find the perfect Portuguese custard tart.

Catching the bus, (or alternatively tram 15), to the district of Belem to Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, we knew were well on the right track as we past the early morning queue outside Pastéis de Belém.

Disembarking at the spectacular monastery bathed in sunlight, we ventured through the local Sunday market and reflected upon the views of the Torre de Belem, assuring ourselves that our visit wasn’t purely motivated by gluttony.

Once we had completed the tourist circuit, it was time. We lined with the well mannered locals outside of the café. (This gave us enough time to decide how many tarts we dared to consume in one sitting). A little nudging at the counter, we almost lost our spot, had it not been for the lovely Portuguese grannies behind us who let us place our order first.

One box of six beautifully packaged Pasteis de nata, warm from the oven served with sachets of cinnamon and sugar to taste. Their light custard, shelled in filo-like pastry with melt-in-your-mouth texture could not have been more perfect, as we ate them under the Lisbon sun…. mmmmm

Item 19: Belem? CHECK!

Item 18: Sintra... In Search of Sun

Location: Parque da Pena - Estrada da Pena, Portugal

A lovely weekend of 18 degree days greeted us as we stepped out into the foreign sun of Lisbon on Saturday morning, compensating for the 4:30am easyBus ride to London's Luton Airport.

We headed straight for the town of Sintra, a 40 minute train ride from Entre Campos station, which we reached from the airport via bus, effectively saving us from making a pit stop in the capital.

Arriving in the quaint town, a bus ride up the Sintra hills bypassed views of a number of historical palaces and castles. The UNESCO World Heritage Site was validated as we entered the grounds of Palácio da Pena for €8. Tackling the incline of the palace's gardens, (grateful that the '18m' sign post was interpreted correctly as 18 metres, rather than 18 minutes), we viewed hints of fairytale fantasies as we glimpsed the pastel colours of the Neuschwanstein-like castle through the trees.

A kids playground as we explored the palace, there was a surreal romanticism surrounding the former royal retreat, bringing more highlights and amazement at each corner.

To make the most of the weather, we followed the winding footpaths further up the mountain through the historical gardens to the highest place of the Sintra Hills, Cruz Alta - High Cross. Climbing the rock face, we weren't sure if we had actually made it until we saw the crater in the stone, a timely reminder of where the cross should have been. All that effort for the missing redeemer!

Fresh air and sunlight during our visit to the park made for such a refreshing weekend away it was only timely that it would rain the whole day after, when we got back to London.

Item 18: Sintra? CHECK!