EU Holiday, August 31 (Rome Is Sunburning)

I had to locate a bus stop to get me to the airport at about 7am in the morning, I just missed out as one drove by, so got stuck waiting in the cold for another 20 minutes. Possibly because I was still sick, my ears were in a whole lot of pain and felt really blocked up after the plane flight to Rome. Rome easily became the hottest city I've been in so far, walking around with all my luggage was the last thing I wanted to do, so lucky I only had to waste an hour before hotel checkin.

I had a few hours to go before the booking time for Colosseum was due, so went for some exploring. Soon enough I realised Rome really is quite a small city, I was able to cover so much on foot, in the heat, without any trouble. First stop was Piazza Della Republica which is just an intersection with some landmark in the city, piazza means plaza and not pizza I suppose. It seems like a bit of a waste to me to put something nice in the middle of traffic.

Piazza Della Republica and some basilica that needs a bit of work.

As I mentioned, I thought it would take a while to walk down to the Colosseum so I headed in that direction. I reached Foro Traiano which is just before the Colosseum, only to realise it took me less than 30 minutes, not 2 hours. I turned off to go see the Trevi Fountain instead. By this point I'd already discovered the streets in Rome are insane. There's almost no traffic lights, instead there are just pedestrian crossings and you have to make the first move to jump out in the street and cause the traffic to stop, otherwise they'll just keep going. They have no problem putting the crossings in dangerous places either, I was trying to cross a street and there's all these motorcycles and scooters coming down a hill and around a bend that I can't even see coming. It works bad in the opposite too, around the main bus/train station called Termini, the traffic can barely move because the pedestrian crossings are almost permanently in use.

So, I assumed that Trevi Fountain would be pretty standard stuff, because how great could a fountain be ? Actually it was pretty great. A bunch of different streets lead into this small crossing (not a fan of that layout again) and then there's this big carved wall and large fountain, very nicely done. Like the Grand Place in Brussels, maybe I was surprised as much as I was impressed. A couple of streets over is the Pantheon, Rome edition. It's a pretty recognisable building with the columns and triangular top. You can also walk in a take a look around, but it is very crowded. Another couple of streets over is another plaza, Piazza Navona. This is more like an actual plaza, with a large open area and a couple of monuments. Not bad but nothing special either.

The great Trevi Fountain.

To every god.

Inside the Pantheon.

Obelisk Of Light.

I planned to make one final stop at Campo De Fiori which was listed on my tourist map but arrived to find nothing there. So back towards the Colosseum instead for the time I had booked in for. These times don't really seem to mean a lot, I think all it really means is that you have a prebooked ticket so you don't have to stand in line, but they don't want everyone to turn up at once and thereby defeating the purpose of prebooking in the first place. So I turned up about a half hour early but it didn't seem to mean anything. At first I thought I had pointlessly booked a ticket, because both lines were empty, but then I realised there was a ticket line inside the outer wall of the Colosseum. It always feels rewarding to have spent a couple of minutes booking the ticket and being able to walk past a half hour queue for tickets.

Passing by the Roman Forum.

You get to walk around the lower and upper levels as you like, but you can't go out onto the middle, because as you'll see in the photos there isn't really a surface down there. I don't know the history of the Colosseum and how it's been maintained, but it was a bit sad that it's in such bad shape. In all, you probably don't gain a lot from being inside the Colosseum that you don't get from being outside and still seeing it in person, but you might as well check it out since you're right there.

Inside the Colosseo.

The ticket to the Colosseum also provided access to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. This is the area right next to the Colosseum which contains a bunch of lesser know structures and relics, but in a similar state of disrepair. Walking up Palatine Hill was a killer at the end of a long, hot day but you get a good view over the top of the Colosseum when you're done.

Back at the Roman Forum.

From Palatine Hill.

TV in Italy is really crap once again, I was stuck watching BBC World channel, at least they had a special on the football transfer window for an hour. They didn't even have Eggheads.

EU Holiday, August 30 (Off The Wall)

Tried to walk out to the East Side Gallery to start the day. It's never a good sign when you're walking along the street and you don't see any other tourists at all, and instead it feels like you're just walking along the side of the highway. I was actually going in the right direction, but I think that not many people go out there for some reason, and those that do are on those crappy tour buses. So it's not actually a "gallery" at all, just another section of the Berlin Wall that still remains, only longer and in better condition, and some artists have painted murals all along it. There was a few good ones along the way.

Berlin Wall artwork.

More Berlin Wall.

On the way back I was minding my own business, then all of a sudden someone brushes my arm and I hear a woman gasp, then look back as some Asian woman drops her camera on the ground. She's looking at me mad as if I've just taken the camera from her hand and thrown it, but I think the more likely scenario is she was grabbing it out of her bag and swung around without looking. I just shrugged and kept walking. It's an interesting issue though I think, even if I'd done it on purpose or it was my fault, what options does the other person have. They chase you down and then what ?

I took a train out to this Designer Outlet Berlin place to have a look around. It was freezing cold and I was still sick from the weekend, so I ended up buying a jumper I didn't really need and didn't really want to carry around for the next two weeks in warm weather cities. I didn't think of any of that at the time. Coming back I got off outside the city at the Olympiastadion - home of the 1936 Olympic Games and final of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. They offered a self guided tour so I thought I might as well take that while I was there.

They handed me some map with a bunch of numbered circles and a dotted line, which I figured was the tour. I went to the first point which was walking into the stadium and down to the front of the seating area. After that it seemed like you were supposed to walk all the way around the outside of the stadium and past some practice grounds. However there was no signs and noone else seemed to be doing anything other than hanging around at the stadium entrance so it was very confusing. I decided to go off and see where it ended up anyway, after a long walk out onto a street and past some horse training yards I made it to this bell tower. I wasn't even sure if it was part of the tour but it seems that it was and it was pretty cool. The elevator takes you most of the way up, then you have to walk up a few flights of stairs yourself while dealing with the wind. There's a pretty good view from the top, of the stadium and of Berlin to a lesser extent.

The Olympiastadion.

Inside the stadium.

The view from the bell tower.

One of the reasons it's called a bell tower.

After getting closer to Berlin I walked down Kurfurstendamm which is where most of the shops are. They also had some "buddy bear" exhibition where they have one bear for each country assembled on the footpaths. I also saw Kaufhaus Des Westens aka KaDeWe which is the German equivalent of Harrod's in London. On the train back to the hotel I saw an advertisment for a video game museum which sounded great, only it was going to close for the day in about 30 minutes, so that was a bit annoying I didn't see it sooner.

The Australien bear.

EU Holiday, August 29 (4:50am From Paddington)

Another early start, this time for a flight to Berlin. I think around 5am I got up, as I had to take a bus down to Paddington station, then a train to Heathrow airport in time for a flight around 7:30am. Not sure why I booked it quite so early. Since noone else is up at that time of day besides garbage collectors and the people operating the buses and trains, I made it to Berlin without any delays for once.

Berlin is one of the few major European airports to not have a connecting train line, but I think this is because they are about to replace it with a different airport. I took the bus to downtown Berlin and decided to have another go at carrying all of my luggage around until hotel checkin - this time without rain at least. I tried to pack slightly lighter this time, so it was a little bit easier to handle, but not much.

The bus dropped me off just outside the Fernsehturm which is a massive TV tower, not sure why they thought the middle of the city was a good place to put it. It looks ok, but I don't think it is a tourist attraction that you can ride to the top, or bungee jump off. I walked west from there down Unter Den Linden, a street that basically runs the length of Berlin. Just the usual mix of souvenir shops and other stuff, as well as a couple of museums along the way. But at the end of the street is the famous Brandenburg Gate, which is a little bit like the standard "triumphal arch" you see everywhere, but with a few more columns. Also it probably has a bit more historical background to it.

No Wow/Telephone Radio Germany.

Altes Museum perhaps.

DDR Museum maybe.

Brandenburg.

Over the other side of the Brandenburg Gate the street keeps going for miles, all the way through the park (Tiergarten). I took a detour north to checkout the German Parliament building called Reichstag. They have an interesting looking glass dome at the top which you can go into, but I found out later that you have to register in advance with passport and contact details, then they let you know after a couple of weeks if you won a spot for your requested date. Back to the park then, and I could see a large column down the other end, the Siegessaule. It didn't look far away, so I decided to try and keep walking down there. The distance was deceiving though, and it ended up being two or more kilometres in each direction. Add to that the rain started up just as I made it there, and maybe it wasn't worth it just to see another gold statue on top of a column.

For the German people.

This guy looks familiar...

Siegessaule.

I noticed signs for Checkpoint Charlie on the way to the hotel so made another quick detour. Unlike in Brussels the streets of Berlin are 1) logical 2) well signed and 3) run in straight lines, so it's almost impossible to get lost. It's a pretty crap name for a landmark, but it's basically a small box where a USA/Russia checkpoint at the Berlin Wall used to be. Near the checkpoint they had one of those self serve bread stores, kind of like a "Bread Top". In Germany the word for bread is back I suppose, so these stores have funny sounding names like "Back Factory", but they had some tasty stuff. The must have forgotten to appoint a head bee guy though, because bees had overrun the store and they were flying around all of the breads and donuts, pretty much anything with sugar or icing.

Leaving the American sector.

The hotel was Wall Street themed for some reason, maybe because it was on Wall Street (called Wallstrasse in German). Because of that the rooms had really cool dollar bill carpet. Having the bed in the way kind of ruined it. I went back out again in the evening to visit the holocaust memorial. It was very minimalistic, just many rows of blocks of different heights, not sure if they had anything written on them. Not far from Checkpoint Charlie they had something called Topography Of Terror which was this outdoor timeline display of how the war developed. There was also a part of the Berlin Wall just above it, which is now quite crumbled.

HOME OF THE BRAVE!

Some place at Gendarmenmarkt.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

A history of violence.

Berlin Wall remains.

EU Holiday, August 28 (Eight Is Enough)

Manchester United home game today. I arrived at London Euston station to hear announcements that there is limited service due to track works. I expect that for local trains but not for intercity. I didn't have a reserved seat for the first leg of the journey, which was an hour to Milton Keynes, and there was no indication if there were any carriages for unreserved seating. So I jumped on the end of one of the carriages and figured I'd just stand - it was very crowded so I wouldn't have had much choice anyway.

After about 20 minutes we came to a stop near Wembley, still within the suburbs of London. And then we waited. After a half hour we were informed there was only a single line for trains going in both directions, and we'd have to wait. Half an hour later we were told the train coming in the opposite direction was going slowly because it was going in reverse. By this time we could have made it all the way to Milton Keynes already. After being delayed for nearly 2 hours we got going again. We were told they were trying to make alternative arrangements since everyone wanting to go to Manchester would have missed their connecting train - at least they kept us informed about that.

They actually ended up holding the train at Milton Keynes and everyone just jumped on, with no regard for reserved seating. We got to Manchester less than a hour late but it meant I didn't really have an opportunity to look around the city at all, just had to jump on a tram for the stadium. The city didn't look too exciting as I passed it by, also it was very cold and windy - not a good idea to go to Manchester in shorts and a t-shirt. After we got off it was time for the walk through the streets, that is part of the experience of going to any football game in England I think. The stations are never right next to the stadium, so you have 50,000 football fans walking down the middle of the streets. There was a bunch of take away stores along the way selling hot food. Some very strange choices - they had hot chips of course, but some had these sloppy green peas on top, others with mashed potato, some with both and also with pieces of fried fish. Did not look healthy.

Manchester had a slightly different approach to the team store, they'd leave the doors open for everyone to charge in, then when it got too full they'd close the doors until it emptied out. However they still let way too many people in at a time so you can hardly move around, and just as the crowd is thinning out, more people come in! They also didn't have enough stock, as some of the best clothes I came across had already sold out of the *normal* sizes (excludes small and extra extra large). So I left empty handed and went into the stadium.

Old Trafford.

I was surprised the stadium wasn't more modern. The entrance ways and turnstiles, as well as the outer stadium areas like stairs, toilets, food stalls etc. all seemed pretty outdated, and the chairs were a pretty cheap crappy plastic. No electronic scoreboard either. It was like managing a division two team in one of those old Premier Manager PC games. What they did do well was having a monster 75,000 seat stadium and some very high banks of stands, as well as a perfect pitch.

Manchester United warmup.

Arsenal warmup.

Game time.

One of eight goals for the day.

It's a penalty!

The only downside of a fantastic 8-2 victory over Arsenal was that it was freezing cold, I actually remained sick for a few days afterwards, but it was still worth it. I think every free kick I recorded was a miss and the few I decided to skip all ended up in goals :( Otherwise a good day out, despite the cost of the ticket.

EU Holiday, August 27 (Crystal Castles)

Not really sure what I did for most of the day. I think it must have just been regular stuff like laundry, shopping, booking tickets and stuff like that. Anyway, in the afternoon it was time to head off to Croydon in South London to watch Crystal Palace vs. Blackpool in the Championship. It's one level down from the English Premier League, but it still got a good crowd and the stadium was alright.

The Palace!

Cheerleaders, a mascot and...

A real eagle!

Crystal Palace playing the 4-4-2 formation (2 mascots).

Because there is less demand for tickets we got some good seats along the sideline about five rows back. The match was fairly entertaining, a lot of shots on goal and Crystal Palace had a bunch of chances late to win it, only to waste them all. They also had an Australian player in their starting team, but he didn't do much. Final score Crystal Palace 1 Blackpool 1. Had a look through the official store after the game, which wasn't nearly as crowded as Chelsea was.

Somehow this wasn't a goal.

This is what happens when someone kicks the ball at your head.

On the way home I stopped off at the Sainsbury's supermarket for some food and had a go at the self service checkout. The machines aren't particularly difficult to use, but I often find it's a bit of a challenge to locate the slots for the money input and output. For some reason they're always in a different spot and sometimes hidden away. Anyway so I wasn't really paying attention and I went to put my notes into the first slot I found, which was where the docket paper is supposed to go :(

EU Holiday, August 26 (The Dark Night)

My birthday and time for a flight back to London City airport. The trip was quite uneventful, the train ride to the airport was short and easy and getting through both airports didn't present any problems. Had a little bad luck from there as the rain was also hanging around in London. I again had my two bags to carry around as I tried to navigate a few other landmarks of London (with my still broken umbrella).

I walked along the River Thames over to the Tower Bridge and across it, then over to that weird looking "Swiss Re" building. I found a burrito place! but it was just ok... I continued further along the north side of the river, past St Paul's Cathedral and some other buildings I don't know the name of. Picked up the key to Amir's place from his work, and headed back there before returning to the city.

Tower Bridge.

Tower Bridge again, liking the blue.

The Tower Of London, that doesn't seem like a tower.

30 St Mary Axe.

St. Paul's Cathedral.

St. Paul's Cathedral from the other side.

By this time it was the evening and the rain was pouring down, it looked like the taxis were about to be washed down the street. I didn't even bother trying to use an umbrella, we just had to make a mad dash to the bus stop and train stations to make it across the city to the o2 Arena for Batman Live! Had no idea what it was besides being Batman. It was easily the worst event I have ever attended. Even Pukkelpop would have been better. We left at the intermission and didn't come back.

BATMAN! It looked so promising...

EU Holiday, August 25 (The XXX)

Still could barely walk in the morning, but grabbed a train down to Ajax Amsterdam Arena for a stadium tour. There was noone around when I got there so I was worried I was going to be the only person on a dutch speaking tour, but a lot of people arrived afterwards so they ended up splitting the tour into a Dutch and English half. The tour and the stadium was alright, quite new, but nothing really out of the ordinary for a stadium I suppose. Quite spacious and easily accessible too, it's just a shame I was leaving a day before the next game was on.

Ajax Arena. They forgot the grass needs sunlight during the design phase.

We Are Ajax ? The chairs look just like the ones at work. A holiday nightmare.

Luis Suarez in the players rooms.

Up in the top stand.

Walked past Waterlooplein Market which is more of an arts and craft market and then back into central Amsterdam. Happened to come across the Red Light district which is kind of strange. Firstly there was only a few red street lights, and secondly all of the women are sitting in windows of the stores and trying to get your attention. Others didn't seem too interested and were eating chips or using their mobile phones. It wouldn't be so strange if it was located outside the city, but it is pretty much right in the centre.

Random photo of Amsterdam canals.

Went back to Damrak to hunt down a couple of anime stores that were pretty poor and some souvenir places. I was confused as to what the "xxx" logo was on all of the souvenirs, I later found out it represents three crosses on the "coat of arms of Amsterdam", so that's one mystery solved. I jumped on one of the canal cruises to take a trip around some of the many canals that represent Amsterdam, there wasn't many interesting sights to see along the way (or the tour was crappy) but I did learn a fun fact that on average one car a day (or maybe it was a week) drives into the canals. Whichever one it is, it doesn't sound quite right to me...

Amsterdam houses from the canal cruise.

I think this is the Church of St. Nicholas...

Because my feet were in such bad shape I missed out on a couple of other things I wanted to do in Amsterdam: Heineken Experience museum, visit a functional windmill and have another go lining up for Anne Frank House. However not too bad to get everything else done on the list in just four days.