Hilarity100

Last night we stayed about 20km south of Madrid in a Formula 1 hotel. This is what happens when you forget to book ahead for a Saturday night in a major city; we forgot because for us, days have no meaning.

Anyhow, after scouting about our tiny, sparsely furnished room we did a quick stock-take and realise that between the five of us there were only four towels and two cups. So I quickly nipped back down to the Spanish-speaking-only receptionist to request the extra needed items. Having to communicate all of this via charades didn't faze me at all - my mime skills are of a-grade quality.

Unfortunately, after I'd executed my action for "towel" the receptionist ran off and came back with someone who could speak English. Someone who could could speak English and who also leapt straight into detailed instructions of how to get to the local discotheque. Turns out that when I'm drying myself with a towel I look exactly like I'm dancing, apparently.

So, who wants to go to the disco with me?

Posted by Matt at 3:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We've hit Spain and discovered churros and hot chocolate.

We may be here for a while.

Posted by Si at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Matt previously mentioned the disappointment that was the changing of the guard in Monaco, but I thought I'd chime in with some photographic evidence.

Before the changing of the guards.

Continue reading "Supporting Evidence" »

Posted by Si at 11:18 AM | Permalink

With the exception of a few Eastern European countries, crossing the border between two EU countries is a disappointing non-event.

Coming from Australia, where crossing a country border meant literally going over-seas, the lack of occasion is a little annoying. I was hoping for some kind of Disney-esque animatronic singing-dancing "It's A Small World" production, or at least some stereotype-laden sign ("Welcome to Austria!" with a smiling Arnold Schwarzeneger and some Sound of Music photos, anyone?). Very much not the case.

I remember the first border we crossed in the van at the start of the holiday—between Norway and Sweden—as being a few kilometres of excitement ("EU border in 1km" signs) and then driving through a shuttered border guard post at speed.

In hindsight even that was pretty exciting compared to continental Europe, where you normally get a 1km warning sign, then nothing until it dawns on you that the motorway exit signs are in a different language.

Ho hum.

Posted by Si at 12:17 PM | Permalink

We dropped by the Principality that is Monaco the other day. And thanks to my love-hate relationship with lady luck I managed to visit Casino Monte Carlo and physically lose the jacket off my back.

No really.

There was a jacket on my back at the beginning of the day and there wasn't by the end. Sure the losing of the jacket and the visiting of the casino were two entirely separate events, but I like to look at these things from a broader karmic view-point.

Casino Monte Carlo is everything you would expect from the self-proclaimed most famous casino in the world. What Vagas does with sheer scale, Monte Carlo does with pure class squeezed into a tiny (by comparison) building. I didn't get into any of the serious gaming rooms though as that would involve me hearing phrases such as "That will be ten euros entry please" and "Not in that shirt sir. Sir. Sir? Please sir, let's not make a scene."

I eventually found a slot machine that would take my fifty eurocent coin and - after audibly bouncing it around inside the machine for a while - spit it back out into the payout tray with a very satisfying clink sound. We're talking exact odds of one to one return. The mathematician in me liked those odds. I spent a while sending the coin on its lap of the machine; celebrating each return as if I'd hit the jackpot - which, seeing how the house wasn't winning, I knew I had.

The jacket losing was a bit more boring. We were in the crowd watching the almighty anticlimax (that rivals the clock in Prague) changing of the royal Monaco guards. We were in a huge group of tourists, all gathered in hushed reverence to watch what amounted to one guy moving so another guy could stand in his spot, when I put my jacket down for a moment. Then an old lady walked past me, complimented me on how skinny I looked and - as far as I can piece together - swiped my jacket.

There is now an old lady out there somewhere laughing it up while she stays warm and dry in my jacket. I bet she works for the casino.

Posted by Matt at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Tradition dictates that most towns herald our arrival with a downpour.

San Sebastian is no different.

Luckily we've learned from past mistakes and booked a cabin instead of a campsite.

Posted by Si at 1:31 PM | Permalink

Posted by Ness at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Posted by Ness at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

From the far away land of Australia, Kate had been reading our fun adventures online. One day she got so excited that she decided to jump on a plane and meet us in Italy. So here we are, the crew of five. Let the good times roll with a glass of italian red wine!

Posted by Ness at 6:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Hot chocolate at Pellacchia Caffé, Rome.

I freely admit that I came to Europe with a shortlist of things to hunt down and try wherever they may be. We've already started documenting the many varieties of bier, øl, and pivo that Europe's many, many breweries, brauhauses and pivovars offer and today I'm adding another.

Proper hot chocolate.

Continue reading "The Hot Chocolate has begun" »

Posted by Si at 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

After a month of riding, 1700 odd kilometres, and only three rest days, Ness and I did actually make it to Vienna on the bikes. Just in time too, because as of November 1, 90% of the campsites in Europe appear to have closed up for Winter. And as Si mentioned the weather turned quite cold - conveniently, we were safely tucked away in the comfort of my cousin Caitlin and Tom's apartment.

So now the bikes (and us) are having a well earned rest as we beetle about in the Mondeo for a while. Last time that happened was when we drove from London to Dover to catch a ferry with the bikes inside the car.

Now we have a new piece of kit.

Thanks to Tom's advice, we now have a shiny new bicycle rack for the Mondeo that cost less than a third of the price of two train tickets for us and bikes from Vienna to Rome. This makes us happy as we now have more money to spend in Italy on wine, hot chocolate and gelati.

Posted by at 5:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Despite being a member of the always-thrilling Maths Teacher occupation (I'm a real laugh at parties) I've done my best not to over nerd-it-up on the Hilarity. That was until Si and I hit the Deutsches Museum in Munich. Sorry to Alison who claimed it was boring; it was a geeky paradise.

The endless floors of exhibits were hours of technical wonder (well actually, to spend one minute at each exhibition: over 30 days). There were all manner of cut-away motors, electrical equipment, old computers, astrophysics fun and an entire corridor dedicated to mathematical equipment. Not to mention the above calculator that's actually been in space.

And I'm not sure if any of my robotics students read this, but even when you're wandering about on a space station, you'll note that cable-ties are used to keep everything neat and orderly. Like I've said: it's just that important.

</NERDINESS>

Posted by Matt at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In case you're wondering how we're finding time to post all this on the website, we've got two magical, wonderful words for you: open wireless.

We've been writing posts and emails from the comfort of the car during drives between towns, or from hostel rooms and tents at night. Then when we're done we go trawling the streets for open, unsecured wireless. And this brings us to another magical word.

Apartments.

With the exception of German-speaking countries, we've done pretty well finding open wireless net connections, usually in the vicinity of apartment blocks. We figure the German language instructions mention the security aspect more prominently than the rest of the languages.

Posted by Si at 12:16 PM | Permalink

One of the giddy joys of traveling through Europe is walking into supermarkets and basking in the glow of shelf after shelf of foods with completely foreign names.

And the occasional hilarious bit of English.

Mot doesn't seem convinced by its partiness.

In case you're wondering, think red creaming soda except a disturbing yellow colour instead of the usual red.

Each country also has its own peculiar packaging quirk and Sweden's clearly got a thing for what we dubbed Food In A Tube. They've taken the sausage-like plastic tube we know and filled it with a range of foods we don't. This ranged from (but wasn't by any means limited to) soup, stews, pre-cooked pasta and sauce, muffin mix to my personal favourite, jam.

Strawberry jam in a plastic tube is the supermarket equivalent of a lava lamp.

From memory it was also in Sweden that we saw biscuits sold in bulk. Not that unusual in itself, until you realise that they're sold in the form of a giant wheel-o-biscuits roughly the size and shape of a car tyre. Matt claims it was one giant über-biscuit, but I reserve judgement until we actually buy one and crack open the packaging.

I can't wait to offer someone a biscuit with their cup of tea, then pop open the car boot to grab the biscuit wheel from the spare tyre compartment.

Posted by Si at 2:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

A question we didn't know we had was answered at the Augustiner Keller beer garden in Munich:

Namely: Is it possible to toast too enthusiastically?

Answer: Yes, yes it is. (The glass was like this when I got it. Honest.)

Posted by Si at 6:28 PM | Permalink

Matt and I arrived in Vienna, Austria, yesterday afternoon and our first impression was that things were a little on the chilly side. Come 7.30 this morning when I woke up, I noticed little white fluffy things floating around when I stuck my head out the front door.

We're in Vienna and it's snowing.

Snow!

There's also a bit of a breeze, so it's kinda chilly outside. But it's definitely pretty with all the white flecks swirling around in the wind. They'd be even more mesmerising if my fingers weren't numb from taking a couple of photos.

Posted by Si at 9:09 AM | Permalink

And how exactly was I supposed to know that you can't dry a wool jacket in a tumble drier? That was my favourite jacket too.

Posted by Matt at 9:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)