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This Week In The Loft

Berlin in Autumn


It’s actually my last day in Europe today so I thought I’d quickly update my blogs before I make the journey south to Thailand.
The first thing you will notice when you leave Tegal Airport in Berlin this month is the beautiful trees.   The autumn colours are amazing!   The air is very cool and fresh.   Just the day before we arrived in Berlin the weather forecasted the possibility of snow.   So here I am in Tier Garden, one of the most beautiful inner city parks in the world.  We walked from Zoo Station to the Brandenburg Gate, which is pretty much the entire 7km length of it.   We spotted a lot of wild life in the park….  and not just of the animal kind!
I thought Berlin was going to be about a lot of clubbing, but on this visit we actually spent most of it touring, shopping and eating.   This is my 5th visit to Berlin and I will never get sick of coming here.    I’ve found a great little guesthouse in Schoneberg where I can stay for very little money.    I would like to come back when the snow is falling here.

Here you can rent the vehicles that were once only ever found in East Berlin.

A myth?   Under this residential courtyard is where Hitler’s bunker was built and where he later died.    The position of this children’s playground is where the body was taken and burned.   Pretty grim stuff.   My travelling buddy Chris is very sceptical.

I’ve become a Ka De We department store food court frequent flyer on this visit to Berlin.    Ka De We dedicates it’s 2 top floors to food and wine from all over the world.   I could spend a day there alone sampling the yummy food.

Here I am with Kylie in an east Berlin flea market on a brisk Sunday afternoon.    It is not far from here that we found a long stretch of the Berlin wall still standing.

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This Week In The Loft

Paris in the Fall


We had a really nice time in Paris.   Unfortunately our stay was not long enough.   We squeezed quite a lot in to the short stop.   The owner of the apartment commented on how clean it was at the end of our stay.   That’s because were hardly ever there.
Paris was pretty chilly and on and off rainy.  But we survived and managed to do most things we wanted to see and do.   I think I almost ate my weight in delicious pastries.   I still find the French a little bit on the strange side, but I think if I spent more time there I would understand their ways.
I’m finding the trip to be a little bit too quick with lots of rushing about.   Hopefully the next few days will be more relaxing.

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This Week In The Loft

Riding the London Tube


We survived the 22 hour long flight from Melbourne to Hong Kong to London.   Oh man that’s a long flight.   We treated ourselves to a first class ticket on the Heathrow Express train to London after all of that.   We arrived in London in just 15 minutes.   How cool is that!    And our hotel is located on the Strand right in the middle of the city.
So far we have done loads of walking, shopping and eating.    We have also visited some friends and got in a little bit of site seeing.   One thing I don’t particularly like about London is the crowds and the over heated tube.   It takes a long time to actually get down to a train and the platforms and train are usually quite hot compared to being outside.   But other than that, I quite like London a lot.    Yesterday I shopped up a storm on Bond Street and later headed back to check out Covent Garden (which is right by our hotel).    And everyone here seems really nice!
Later today we’ll be checking out and heading to Paris on the Eurostar.   I wish we had stayed here a little longer.

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This Week In The Loft

5 Days to the European Vacation

qflounge
It’s just 5 days to go now until we take off to London, Paris and Berlin.   I still have so much to get done this week before we leave.   Today I am taking the scooter out for one last ride, gymming, tanning and laundry.   It sounds like an episode of Jersey Shore.     I can’t wait till Friday night and Chris and I head to the airport.   It’s going to be so much fun!

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This Week In The Loft

New Friends in Melbourne

sleepingboys
I’m pretty excited to have some of my Wollongong friends moving to Melbourne.   Next month Nico and Tyson are going to move in to Loft 1.    It’s going to be so cool having friends living just around the corner.   The guys visited last week and I took them furniture shopping.    I think we all agreed that this was the best couch money could buy.

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This Week In The Loft

Sunday Breakfast

I joined Tyson, Nico and Chris for a big brekky at Pancake Parlour today.

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This Week In The Loft

AFL Grand Final

aflfinal
It was a full house today for the replay of the AFL grand final.   I was surprised to find that Nico (from NSW) knew more about the game’s rules than I did.   The footy jersies came straight from the loft wardrobe.

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This Week In The Loft

Sugar Station

Another useless shop has opened over the road from the loft. It’s alongside the new cupcake and cookie stores.

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This Week In The Loft

No More Dishwasher hands


One of the things I really miss from Loft 1 is the dishwasher.   You know I think I actually used to cook more at home when I had a dishwasher.   Now I prefer to get takeaway than mess up the kitchen.   So it was nice of Chris to get me a great discount on a dishwasher this week through his work.    Now he just needs to come home and install it.

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This Week In The Loft

Bangkok Added to Europe 2010


I’m pretty excited to have been able to squeeze a stopover in Bangkok on our way back from Berlin next month.   Bangkok would have to be one of my favourite cities in the world.   I’ve spent time in some pretty big cities around the world, but none are as friendly as Bangkok.   Yummy food, friendly people, fun nightlife and crazy shopping…   what else could I ask for?   It was so nice of Qantas to change our routing from Frankfurt to Berlin/London so we could have a stop in Bangkok.   It came at a little cost of course.    But it’s gonna be so nice to soak up the Thailand sun by a pool somewhere.