November December 2004

Well it has been a fairly packed couple over here in Europe. Lots of work (prior to retirement), lots of sightseeing, catching up with Family and Friends and a few emotional challenges to top it off. Not how I expected to end 2003.

Last day with BEELINE

On November 21, I had my last day with BEELINE at the Fendt Factory. To celebrate we had beer, white sausage and some gigantic pretzels to celebrate and prepare for the Journey ahead:) 

1st Stop: The Bodensee GERMANY

To start of my Journey I drove down to catch up with Laurent down at the Bodensee. We did a little bit of tour around to the Rhein falls (big arse waterfalls in Switzeland near the beginning of the River Rhein). 

2nd Stop: London Town ENGLAND

While the old man was in town, I paid a visit to London and surprised dad by meeting up with him for a beer in one of Nik's local pubs. We did a little bit of a touristy tour of the town. 

Left big Ben, center and right, photos from the London eye. Big Ferris wheel style observatory in the center of London. 

3rd Stop: Cyclones, Floods, Cheap wine and No accommodation -  FRANCE

Returned back to Germany, and Jumped in the car and took a little 1200km drive from Germany over to southern France to meet up with Deb. Bloody good roads although in France they feel quite pleased about charging 50 Euros for the experience (90 AUD). France is a wonderfully diverse and most beautiful country, and for an excitement packed adventure our timing couldn't of been better.

left. Town of Millau right, rocky desert 20 minutes drive away. 

We spent some time in the town of Sete. It is a photographers paradise with surrounded by a lake on one side and ocean on the other. It has a beautiful old town, boat harbor and an amphitheatre over looking the ocean. Unfortunately what it didn't have was any unit accommodation available in winter at all. Summer the place rocks, but in winter everyone shuts shop even though the weather is a darn sight better than northern Europe. Here are a couple of shots from around the town. 

To top of the accommodation issues, we had some of the worst storms in history, which in the end it wasn't until our 4th night that we found a unit to stay at. We had booked a place on the third night, but due to flooding it was closed when we got there:) The photo left below shows the rough seas after the storm, the one on the right, the beautiful Mediterranean beaches strewn with trees, fences, plastic and the occasional spare tire after the storm. 

We managed to get out a bit and saw some of the local sites. Below are a few shots from the lovely city of Montpellier. 

Below we have a couple of shots of the local lakes (including pink flamingos!) and of course the obligatory narrow windy street photo. Fun to drive down, and thank god I had a nice small maneuverable Renault instead of the Pathfinder!

4th Stop: Snow, The old man, Christmas markets and 5 degrees below 0  -  GERMANY

The old man came and met up with me in Germany. So we started off with the usual Christmas market which as one of my friends described it as a great place to get miserably cold and shop for the same overpriced rubbish that you can buy any other year. Altough he is right, it is great to feel the Christmas spirit at these places! One great thing they do have is "Gluhwein". A lovely warm wine which helps you defrost on those cold nights. 

We were very luck to get some snow in Munich. Unfortunately it can result in difficulty finding the car (below left). To make the most of the snow we went for a walk in the park. Unlike summer there were no naked Germans in the park, but their were some other locals making the most of it (center). In summer the Germans "surf" on the rapids behind the bridge (right). 

  As the Thermometer dropped to minus 5, we made the most of seeing Fussen in a new way! Schloss Hohenschwangau (left and centre) and Fussen (right).  

Schloss Neuschwanstein (left and centre) and Dad watch out the ice is slippery! (right)

The lakes are starting to Freeze over. Soon they will be ready for Skating (left)! Not sure what the ducks will be up to then (centre) and a nice white view from Tegelberg(right) 

There are still some crazy guys who jump off Tegelberg for a scenic trip down (left) and possibly where some of them end up (right).

Once on the top of Tegelberg, I thought it was time to build a snow man so I could make a photo for a Christmas card. I was quite proud of my resulting "snow blob" (left) but fortunately Johanna and Nikolas jumped in and showed me how it was really done (right)!

5th Stop: White Christmas  -  LATVIA

RIGA

Finally I have made it to Latvia and had the pleasure of spending it with my Father and my brother. We landed in to Riga, the capital of Latvia with around 1 million inhabitants. I was expecting something very different especially when we started the trip of on the Nations airline propeller plane from Berlin. Good thing is they had great Vodka on board to remove any flying nerves:) We landed into Riga airport which turned out to be a modern airport with Plasma tv screens all over the place and friendly English speaking customs officers! We met up with Ivo our second cousin at the airport and fortunately he knows some English as well as very good German so we could communicate with more than just hello (Labdien) and apple (arbols). We met up with the full family (right) from left to right around the table myself (missing), Geta (wife of 2nd cousin Ivo), Nik (brother), Elizabeth (Ivo and Geta's daugter), Ivo (2nd cousin), Mara (wife of Dad's cousin), Dad (dad), Ivars (Dad's cousin)

The next photos show riga, Town square (left), beautifully restored local architecture (centre), the freedom monument (right)

We did enjoy seeing the "Nutcracker" ballet at the newly restored opera building (left), the old town consists of some of best preserved buildings in Europe, and this is not one of them (centre). There are a few old Soviet buildings in town which are quickly being demolished. The town has some beautiful parks and if you look closely some of the folks where extravagant coats, including this one which Nik was sure originated from a polar bear:)

We found a great pub on top of the 26th floor of the tallest hotel in Riga. It had a great view over the city (below). Nik and I with the help of our guides Ivo and Geta showed us that Riga certainly has a great night life. We had a few nights out to 6 am to the distress of the old man who had to let in his drunken boys only hours before the day's activities:) We found the Latvians extremely friendly and fortunately most spoke very good English. Occasionally, German came up as another option but this got more and more difficult after a few too many vodkas. In Latvia we also learnt that shots are actually 50mL. You have to be very careful though, as when I jokingly ordered a triple. 150mL vodka = memory loss. I am still trying to work out how I left my brother and didn't return 1 hour later??  The photo on the right shows the local Christmas markets.

Riga on the surface looks like an energetic, clean and progressive city. Plenty of supermarkets, department stores, churches, museums etc. The city is very clean and totally different to how dad has described it, and according to Dad a huge amount of restoration has been undertaken since he was there 7 years ago. Being such a small country it appears to of rapidly progressed since the shackles of the soviet union were broken about 12 years ago. The people are very proud of the country and I am certain they will do very well when they join the EU in 2004. Latvia is a transportation hub for Eastern Europe with some major ports which will certainly help to support continued development in the future. 

CHRISTMAS EVE  

Christmas Eve is the primary celebration for Christmas in most of Continental Europe. For this special night we spent at Ivo and Geta's new house that sits on a lake near Riga. It was a great night at a beautiful setting, great food and most of all great people to share it with. 

Here are some of the photos starting with Ivo, Nik and Geta enjoying one of many wines (left), Nik full after the delicious dinner (centre), Geta and Elizabeth reciting poems after receiving a gift (right)

Below we have Dad giving out gifts from Australia (left), Nik and Ivo outside below -5 degrees in cyclonic wind:) and Ivo and Geta's new house (centre) and Aldo Ivo and Geta's 60kg beast (right)

CHRISTMAS DAY

We had a bit of a sleep in on Christmas day after a late finish and a few too many vodkas/wines/beers etc the night before. Ivars and Mara took us out for a lovely dinner in a restaurant which just happens to be the biggest log building in Europe! The restaurant was huge with room for hundreds of people. It even had an ice skating rink on the outside:)

Ivars and Dad (left), the family out the front of the restaurant (right).

Outdoor Ice skating rink (left) and the restaurant from the outside (right)

BOXING DAY

On boxing day we hit the country. First stop Jurmalla, the seaside resort town outside Riga. Being winter it wasn't quite rocking but was good fun. There was actually a layer of ice over the sand and near the shore a huge accumulation of ice I guess caused by the small waves freezing over as they flow on to the shore (below left). Last year they said that during a week of -30 degrees (very bloody cold) the sea actually froze over in parts! There are a number of abandoned delapodated beach resorts like the one in the picture on the right. These were bulit by the Soviet companies for their key employees. Now that the land is now back in the hands of the Latvians a lot of these are awaiting demolishment or legal resolution of how to manage issues of the Soviets still owning the buildings and the Latvians owning the land. 

Finally we went to the town of Talsi, where dad lived at a child. The house on the left was that of my Grandfather. The photo on the right is of my Grandfather, well at least of his grave. It is set in a beautiful little leafy cemetery that we got to know quite well after spending 40 minutes looking for  the grave. Of course it turned out to be 30m from the car:)

Goodbye

We met with the family at the airport and after a few drinks (water and juice, big night the before:) ), and said some sad goodbyes. Fortunately we will definitely see them again in the not to distant future, as well as their beautiful country.