and here are the photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/macartnotwar/tags/europe/

:)

i'd also like to delayed-post that i almost got mugged in Paris by a big fat-middle eastern guy offering "directions", so if you are reading this, Big Fat-Middle Eastern Guy: sucked in you fat-fuck, you didn't get me. I hope you trod in more dog shit and get mugged when you're in a foreign country! And yes, i did have a camera.

thanks, i feel purged:)

and thanks for keeping up with my travels, everyone.

If you get bored during the downtime, go back and read all of Donny D's comments... priceless! I hope you find a new blog to post comments on, dad:)

stay tuned for more MacNeil Travel Tales!

One week between posts. Yep, i'm a slack bitch:)

today i write to you from Tom's computer, because mine is so virus-ravaged i had to restore it to factory-issue condition...

which also means, i'm home!

hahah.

soon when i get my comp back on the internet, i will upload photos, and fill in the gaps you've all been hourly-checking this blog to read!

soon.

It's sunday night and it's another country, another language.
At 12.30am Jess and i caught the train from Eberswalde into Berlin, so that we could catch the 5.30am train to København via Hamburg and a ferry.

So that means that i am at Jeanette's, in the eastern districts of Denmark's capital. Our train arrived at midday, and the weather continues to be mild and quite hospitable. My fun game with Europe's ATMs to work out which ones will actually give me money continues, again without any logical pattern (*exceeded daily transaction limit* x2, then it gives me money). And trying to understand the conversions of Krone to Euro's adds to the complexity...

Anyway, Jeanette met us at the train, and we walked through the main city centre to a coffee shop, watched a guy wave his dick around across the river, and caught the train out to her student housing block. We then went out for a walk and ate at the Sushi bar she works at, which was a cool place.

However, having had only 4 odd hours of broken sleep, i am so about to pike its not funny...

a quick message to anyone trying to txt me, vodafone's prepay global roaming doesnt work in Denmark, so e-mail me if you need...

i'll be back in perth on saturday, ready for a jet-lagged sleep followed by a bigtime derby!

i'm off to crash. cya

Yo, guten tag

i've been in Deutschland almost a week, and it rules.

Some notes:

• Jess' apartment block has a guy smoking a bong carved in cement (sic) above the main entrance.
• We went to the Fairtrade shop, and the guy behind the counter was cool with australia, and wore a nirvana shirt... the food is great
• We rode bikes all over town, and out to a kick arse lake in the middle of the forest, kinda Donelly River esque
• Berlin is amazing, we spent Wednesday visiting all of the "touristik" sites which i should have heard of before, but haven't. We went to the Checkpoint Charlie museum which loved Gandhi, and to the subtly named Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Which they were, but i was kind of expecting something without Murder in the title... who am i to say, tho?
• I've eaten all kinds of "real" breads, quark, pretzel things, a lot of döner, grün somethings, and other rad stuff. i like the food, and its kind of nice to be in a country not solely dedicated to pizza and pasta (the moon does that too)..
• today we trained back to Berlin, and they'd closed off a major road and opened special markets, so there was a great atmosphere..
• Oh, why the bloody hell is Fosters so popular overseas?
• I went to H&M, where Madonna shops... rad
• i'll no doubt remember more later, ask me!

tomorrow night Jess and i catch a train to Copenhagen, via Hamburg for 4 hours. In the middle of the night. I'm keen tho.

Jeanette's sister got married today, which interupted our plans somewhat, but hey. Thats cool. We get into her fair city at mid day, then stay until wednesday, when i train to Paris for a friday flight home...

I am still yet to meet Dirk Nowitzki yet, somewhat disappointed...

Yesterday afternoon Jess and I caught the Intercity Express from Bielefeld to Berlin, and i didn't even need to get a paper ticket, just wave my eurail pass around in the air...
Jess is studying in a small town about half an hour north Berlin called Eberswalde, in old east germany. awesome. here they study environmental sciences, and her dreadlocked housemate backpacked in manji in 2003, selling weed:)
small world:) too cool.

we will check out her campuses today, then tomorrow train into the city tomorrow, likely...

Shout out to Tom, Colm, Jake and Coup, hope the realo's take it easy on us.. and tom, i transferred you more rent yesterday.

tschüs!

Last night we played Deutsch Monopoly with Jess' good friend and his brother. I got to read out all the Community Chest and Chance cards in my best Deutsch pronounciations, averaging about 5 minutes per card. I managed to buy the equivalents of Parklane and Mayfair - my favourite strategy - but we ended up calling it a draw cause everyone had hotels and no money..

We also saw another friends house, who lives on the 5th (top) floor of an appartment complex and had windows into the angular roof looking in 3 directions... coolest student pad ever...

we also went to the zoo, with all local animals and plants, and i had sunday lunch with Jess' great aunt and family. the food was amazing.

just wanted to add all that in.
great fun:)

donny

you are retarded.

but thanks for the laughs.

Jess is going to Guest-Blog now...

Heyho!
Viele Grüße aus Bielefeld!
We went out to the hippest clubs - for sure-
which are called "Rinklogschuppen" and "Stereo".
@Coup: Move your ass over here to check them out, too!
Well, we checked out nearly everything the town has to offer (which isn't that much)
and will move on to berlin 2day.
@donny: Keep on blooging, even james reckons your have gone crazy, i really enjoy your comments =) And don't worry, I'll keep us away from all dangerous places of prowar german people...

James: Bielefeld is not small, it is huge!
320,000... i love it.Ja

In a very quick rundown,

on friday, i went to florence, booked a train to Milano and a ticket from Milano to Jess' hometown Bielefeld, and i actually got there (here)..
i amaze myself sometimes...

anyway, we went out with all of jess' friends clubbing last night, and that was awesome fun... today is sunday, and we are planning on when to go to Berlin.

awesome

It has just occurred to me that i have spend nearly 4 weeks in Italia and have barely blogged about it... I have a bit of free time, so i'll try to fill in some gaps for you all:

- Almost every second day is a "concert night", which roughly translates to the following: Wake up around 8.30 to find Pete and Marg already having spent an hour or so in the kitchen... Head down to the main house for some toast and juice/coffee, then up onto the computer to whip together a layout for the evenings programme (items, composer notes, musician bios)... then i e-mail that to the local printers, and head back to the kitchen to start cutting up tomatoes/garlic/herbs etc... At some point around 11am, find Fran who has put together all the crockery and cuttlery, wine, water, tableclothes and other rubbish and with the boys, load all of it into the van... Drive with the boys to the venue, empty van's contents into the venue's kitchen, and bring out all the required tressel tables and seats... drive back to the house, and help in the kitchen... lunch gets served outside on the large tables with for the crew and musicians... Pete and Marg skip lunch cause they are too busy... Do the dishes for lunch, then report back to the kitchen... keep self busy until around 7pm... drive to the venue with food, lay out food, assemble antipasto platters... guests arrive after concert, eat between running errands... try not to fall asleep, then clear away tables/chairs/dishes, load van, drive home, put leftovers in the fridge, die...

Although that sounds a bit... rushed... it is actually quite fun, as our work is very appreciated, the food at the end is perfect, and if we are lucky, we can catch some of the music...

In contrast, days off are spent at the musicians' hotel pool, reading, and getting drunk again with the musicians...

Today is the last sunday of the festival (the last concert being wednesday night), and sadly most of the musicians have left by now... although there has been a total of about 20 musicians over the course of the festival, coming and going continually, the last group has especially made us feel equal and included us in all their fun. Which is pretty flattering, considering each and every one of their overwhelming musical abilities...

Anyway, i have to get my flight home rescheduled, and then it is ciao to italia and off to see the rest of Europe (in my own, rushed kind of way)...

Bron said...
Hmm it's not just you whose confused Donny - I think it's our whole family...
Confusion #1- I thought Devon and Junior were Jamaican, not Dutch.
Confusion #2 - Why are you being invaded by the English? Is the festival split by nationality and the Dutch can't play at the same time as the English?
Confusion #3 - Who's Fran?

Addressing Confusion 1. Devon and Junior are Jamaican: the two dutch teenagers they were chasing were... Dutch!

Addressing Confusion 2. It seems that yes, the festival is almost split, as the first few weeks were almost entirely Dutch, and now three poms have joined the programme. However, they do play at the same time, and quite amazingly. Note: there is also currently 1 x Australian, 1 x American, 2 x Italian, and 1 x German performing. It just seems that they are all Dutch and English.

Addressing Confusion 3. Fran is also english, but she is on the "helping-out" side of things. She is a friend of the organiser, and is very nice. She also bought a new Sony Digital Camera, which i can use the cables to upload my own photos. When i get the chance...

Okay, that took all my time up... :)

All is well, tell us of Perth!