Dela's Birthday...

A few drinks down the pub after netball..on a Wednesday night..turned out to be a party back in Karen's room until 3.30am...Happy Birthday Dela...great night!

More London sites....

London Eye & Big Ben
Wembly Arena..Multiplex (Australia) project...major problems and delays..but it's getting there
Piccadilly Circus


St Pauls and the Gerkin in the background
Regent Street

Berlin, Germany! (July 22-23)

Our quick/easy trip to Berlin to see the sights and catch up with Casey (mate from Oz) didn’t start off as planned at all! Basically we missed our flight…as embarrassing as it is to admit…we were there on time though…not at all impressed with Ryanair!!! So being the stubborn pair that we are we refused to leave the airport and catch the next flight to Berlin at 7am the next morning…we decided we just wanted to get to Europe and then we’d find our way to Berlin…completely underestimating the size of Germany mind you. So we flew into Frankfurt arriving at 11:15pm Friday night – the other side of Germany!!! Turned out it was just as much to hire a car and drive to Berlin as it was going to be to catch the train, which didn’t leave until 5am Saturday. So hire a car we did. It was a very cool car. Not keys!!! Wrong side of the road and pitch black at night…sorry parents – not the brightest idea, we know! Shared the driving until 3am when we stopped to nap in a carpark God knows where! On the road again at 5am. In Berlin, checked into our accommodation and with Casey by 1pm Saturday afternoon. We were lucky enough to have our own personal tour guide in Sarah, who is Casey’s friend from her year in Canada. You can see what we saw from the photos. The sights and history was amazing. Believe it or not we both lasted until midnight Saturday on our 2hours sleep! Sunday we did a bike tour. Very cool – they all ride bikes everywhere! Very hot. Lots of beer. Lots of meat. Lots of fun! Quite the adventure.

Cruising the streets of Germany on our bike tour!



Mid day beer again..Kaz, Casey and Jane
Our bike tour in front of a museum. Army marches used to take place on the grass here...only then it was dirt (in many pictures)
A quick yummy ice cream
Our dinners..
It's all about the beer and meat in Germany..and potatoes...Sarah you must have loved it!
The French Cathedral..built to entice the french to Germany. Basically they wanted to build up their population..this is also when all those adds with the beers maids came out.
The Holocaust memorial. This was built to remember all the Jews and ironically, the chemical used to make these blocks graffiti free also supplied the gasses used in the concentration camps...to avoid bad publicity the company ended up giving away the chemicals for free!
Hmmm beer...




Our bike tour in front of the Russian memorial

One of the guard towers that once stood in no mans land (between the walls)

Our bike tour along the wall


The Berlin Wall still standing
Check point Charlie- was the only point to cross between East and West Berlin
Oldest building in Berlin

The beach bars of Berlin...there's no beach people, not matter how many palms you plant! Very strange
On the Canal..It was a lovely Canal ride in German. Steph translated for us whilst Karen made the most of the nappying opportunity
Just turned mid day...When in Rome....When in Germany...
As part of decorating the city for the world cup, a bear was given to each country basically to paint what represents themselves...this was Australia's...very disappointing...probably the worst there!
The Brandenburg Gate- the brick line in the road is where the Berlin wall once stood
Here you go Michael Jackson fans...this is the hotel where MJ hung his baby out the window.
Driving into Berlin..
Picking up our hired car...Frankfurt- midnight
Humboldt university and Bebelplatz. The book monument is here because back in May1933 the Nazi's burnt many books here in the square. This University is quite famous aswel..Albert Einstein was actually a professor here.