Dubai

Last week I spent a couple of days out in Dubai weighing and measuring a number of yachts in preparation for their new racing season (they race in the "winter" as it is far too hot to go outside in the summer).

Even though the local economic meltdown had decimated investment, with the majority of construction projects affected, the castles in the desert of Dubai are still overwhelming, but with some of their lustre lost.

After a sleepy 6 hour flight from Munich, I arrived at 0630 and went straight to the marina to run around organising and overseeing the stripping for weighing and measuring of 6 yachts. In the extreme heat and humidity I ended up in hospital with a nasty bout of heat stroke. A couple of hours on a drip and 16 hours sleep had me feeling ready for more measuring the next morning, albeit with a new-found respect for air conditioning.

For my stay, I enjoyed the delightful hospitality of Toby and Chass, who have a six week old daughter and two rambunctious labradoodles. I particularly enjoyed their chilled pool and a Saturday night barbeque with some of their neighbours.

It was an interesting couple of days, but I was still happy to come home to Lohhof.

Visitor

After a week of Outward Bound, we had a brief, but great, visit by our very good friend BD from Mosman Park.  She had been in Amsterdam and flew down for one night before going back to Australia.  It was great to catch up with her.  Having been on a tour with her parents all she wanted to do was go for a drink which suited us, so it was off to the Hirschtgarten to listen to the Oompah Band and enjoy a bit of sunshine.  We had a great night of catching up but unfortunately it went too quick.  Monday night she was back at the airport and after checking in we went and sat in the Beer garden at the airport for a last drink and gossip.

Outward Bound

Our accommodation

The view from where we stayed

Last week I got to go on an Outward Bound camp with a group of seventh graders.  Anyone who new me in Perth would know that whilst I thought they were valuable for the kids that they were not something that I wanted to be part of.  Surprisingly here I look forward to it.  So it was off to the mountains for a week of climbing and hiking.  After the first few days of little sleep and rope courses we set off for a hike up to a mountain hut.  It was a long walk which took about 5 hours with breaks.  It was a beautiful walk that was lead and run by students.  We walked past Neuschwanstein and had lunch near a waterfall.  After a night in the hut we then took on the next challenge of walking up and over the summit ( a 7 hour hike - with breaks).  Having never walked up a mountain before this was what I was concerned with most - could my knees and fitness levels last!  It was a beautiful walk up and I surprised myself by being ok.  The main problem ended up being coming down the mountain.  We took a steep path and my knees are still sore a week later! Overall it was a great week - but I could not wait to get home to my hot bath.

Potato Festival

Only in Bavaria would you find a festival dedicated to the potato.  Towns here are having festivals all the time and whilst not quite Oktoberfest, like every festival here there was a large beer tent!  This festival was in a small town nearby so we cycled over.  There were lots of different potato dishes, rosti with a variety of sauces or salmon, potato lasagne, potato soup, and many more. 

Salzburg

We got up early Saturday morning to join Deb, Craig and Sophie to go to Salzburg for the day.  It was a couple of hours by train - much cheaper than driving as five of us could share a Bayern ticket.  When we arrived in Salzburg we wandered around the very pretty old town and to the tourist information where I finally convinced Malcolm (after a year of trying) to join us in "The Sound of Music" tour.  We had prepared ourselves for this tour by watching the movie again at Deb's a few nights before (Malcolm read her Times magazines).

We walked through the town and our first stop was the Cathedral where Mozart was baptised.  We then visited the Catacombs and then lunch before heading off on our tour.

"do - a deer"

The Tour:  We visited many landmarks featured in the film before heading out to Salzkammergut and the church in Mondsee where the wedding scenes were filmed.  During the tour we got to listen and sing along to the soundtrack and after the tour finished we skipped through the Mirabellgarten, ran around the fountain and hopped up the steps singing "Do-Re-Mi"- even Malcolm got into it!

Mirabellgarten

Afternoon Strudel

We had always wondered what the bright orange aperitivs were and finally had a chance to try a glass of Aperol spritzer from a rooftop bar overlooking the river and the old town. We had a brilliant dinner in an Italian restaurant before a brisk walk across town in the rain and then caught the last train home.  A long but great day.  We will go back to Salzburg and see the Mozart sights as well as the countryside surrounding it.

More photos.

Freising Volksfest

After school on Friday we left quickly to get to Freising to see the parade for the Freising Volksfest.  This festival is a lead up to the Oktoberfest.  Freising is 15 minutes by train and we got there just in time to see the parade.  We then followed the parade to where the festival was being held.  It is like the Royal Show back home but free entry and a very large beer tent with Oompah Band.  When we got to the main beer tent we caught up with some friends from work and went in to have a beer or two with them.  Beer was only sold in Mass glasses (1 Litre) so we stayed for a while...