A beer weekend

After a staff BBQ we head out to a bar and finally have the energy to toast our deadline meeting success. The Kiwi even comes along and brings a few mates and it turns out to be a bit of a sesh.

Friday night, we´re a little fragile from the night before, so we decide to take it easy and head to Bar Gollem:



As I´m locking my bike, I met two Bulgarians from the wedding who are regulars at Gollem. They have just left after a session, and have that rosey cheeked Belgian Beer Buzz going on. I keep on promising a Whisky and Scottish food night. We´ll see.

Once we are in, there is a table of about 15 Antipodeans, and it doesn´t take long for The Kiwi to know a few of them. There´s a Kiwi/Dutch couple we´ve met here before, so 5 mins in the door, and we are going with the flow and supping some fine beers. I´ve decided to stay off the Devil based beer names(Satan, Lucifer, Duvel, Kwel), and drink a recomendation of The Bulgarian´s - Anker:



It's a fruity little number, and like most Belgian style beers, goes down a treat. Before long more lads arrive and the Lucifer's, Satan's, St Bernardus, Bush and LaChouffe is flowing.

We stay drinking unitl the place closes and then head off home; refreshed.

Saturday Morning, I stagger out of my room at about the same time as the Kiwi. He has mates coming to visit today. It's a mate of his from his Japanese adventures, and they were also at the Oktoberfest last week. He and his Girlfriend are visiting Amsterdam as part of her studies in Sweden, and they are staying at our place and taking the oppurtunity to see a little bit of Amsterdam.

The Kiwi and I have a slow morning. Not because we are hungover, but because it's been a long week, and we need a few hours to veg in front of the TV for our brains to catch up. For some reason, you don't seem to get a hangover when you drink Belgian beer's. I think it's something to do with the beer being better quality.

A few phone calls, and it's clear there are plans for tonight. We are going to house party. The truth is WE are constructing a house party at a Kiwi friend's house who lives in the middle of the Red Light District. This is our third night on the razz on the trot, so things are a little slow.

I spend the afternoon in Record Shops. Trawling through trays and trays of Vinyl. It's been months since I've had the time to do this. It's a very relaxing pursuit. I go to my favourite record shop in Amsterdam - Concerto:



It's a great shop for raking through lots of genres, media(DVD, Vinyl, CD) and thoughts. Its about 4 shops all joined together, and it's open on a Sunday, so I associatte it with timeless, wasted days and relaxation. Today, it turns out I buy nothing. There seems to be very few new additions to the vinyl collection, and no new music. Still it served the job of passing tiem between drinking sessions.

After Concerto I head over to Get Records which is across the road:



Even though I've just been paid, and was all ready to spend some money, I come away empty handed. Couldn't find any new albums, nothing took my fancy. The record industry should take note; I was ready to spend money, but they had nothing on offer.

I head home, have a quick shower and get myself spruced up, then head of to meet The Kiwi and two new Ozzies at the beer shop before heading red light-wards.

It's good fun watching people who have only been in Amsterdam for half a day. They are still shocked by the Stoner's, Junkies and Freaks who pollute the centre. It's strange(And a bit of a shame), but you become blaise to it after a while, and nothing surprises you or amuses you anymore.

Anyway, via a few Tourst windows, we arrive in Red Light Kiwi flat. There's two kiwi girls live here, and they are beer monsters. Almost every weekend is spent downing pints and watching rugby. Luckily they have a reaosanble music collection as well, so their flat is a perfect place to party. Slowly people trickle in and add their beer to the already overflowing fridges. We then dive into chaos, as everyone sits around has a laugh drinks beer, watch some music DVD's, tell jokes, stories, the antipodeans compare Oktoberfest bruises and generally everyone has a good laugh. Eventually everyone has gone home or fallen asleep................

Having stayed at the house, I get home at about 11am. The boys back in my flat are planning a bike ride, so isntead of having a shower and recovering from our hangover, we have decided to head off to the Heineken Experience to do the tourist thing. They are just leaving so I change my shirt and spray soem deoderant - which the Kiwi describes as a Mauri Shower.

We head throught he vondel park and have a long meandering cycle around Amsterdam, since it's Sunday, the weather's dry and we have tourists to play with. Vondelpark is starting to look Autumnal. The summer may be over:



I've been in Amsterdam 3 years and never been to the Heineken experience. Just never got round to it:



Our touring party is me, The Kiwi, an Ozzie, and a Dutchman. The Heineken Experience isn't a patch on the Guinness Warehouse that I was at just 2 weeks previous, but it's a good way to spend a few hours. I'm less than impressed with Exhibits telling me how beer is brewed and the History of Heineken. We have our three Biertje allowance, enjoy the "Pretend you're a bottle" ride and then collect our free glass before getting back on the bikes and heading off. It's a bit of a whirlwind tour, but now I can say I've seen it. Our recent passion for slightly better quality beers means that going to a museum to taste three piddly glasses is fun, but nothing special.

Once we are outside, The Kiwi heads off to Kick Boxing and I have two tourists to show Amsterdam.(The Dutchman's from Utrecht). I've decided that to keep the theme, we should head to the Brouwerij 't ij:



Brouwerij 't ij is a tiny brewery about 2km east of Centraal Station. It is housed in a windmill, so is pretty picturesque. More importantly it brews my favourite beer in Amsterdam. Zatte:



Zatte is beautiful. It is a Belgian style beer, which is full of flavour, and drinking it in the Brewery makes it taste, very very fresh. The brewery is open from 15.00 till 20.00 Wednesday to Sunday, and the four beers they brew cost less than 2 euros for a very reasonably sized glass. The only drawback of course is that Zatte is 8% so I usually limit myself to 2 of these babies before heading home. On a nice summer's day(Which this is not), it's a wonderful to sit outside the brewery and enjoy a few of these delights while enjoying the sun and the Canal boats which leisurly pass.

After our alloted two beers(Ontop of the Heineken we had for Brunch) it's back on the bikes to head off around Amsterdam again. Every Sunday should be like this. Not a care in the world, cycling around. We take a walk through the Jordaan District of Amsterdam where you can wander around and lap up the atmosphere of a more traditional looking Amsterdam:



We head back to the flat and I finally get a shower, we have some munchies, watch a film and then after a phone call from the kick boxer's it's off to Coco's Australian theme bar for some tucker and beers before going to bed.



Bit of a wild weekend, but when I'd worked for so long, I needed to let my hair down a little. I'm quite proud of the fact that on the 25th Anniversary of John Bonham's death and the Demise of Led Zeppelin, I woke up on in a house that wasn't my own after a kicking party, Visited two Breweries and drank in 4 bars:




BONZO WOULD BE PROUD!!!

Deadline met and DVD

So finally after about 12 days of working non-stop we meet our deadline.
Instead of hitting the bars, I´m due for dinenr and a DVD in Diemen again. We´re planning to see the rest of the Commitments.

There is a Taiwanese/American coupel coming roudn too. They were at the house warming party, so I´ve met them before. Obi Wan is as usual bouncing off the ceiling. I´m a little worse for ware and looking forward to my bed, but I accepted the invite to keep me out of the pub, and it worked.

We have a Bulgarian dish which seems to be a cross between mince and Tatties and Lasagne, it´s kind of stacked mince meat and potatoes. It really fills a hole, and I feel much better afterwards.

By now Obi Wan is showered and in bed,and we settle down to watch the Commitments. We stay awake past the first half hour this time and everyone agress that it´s a pretty good film. I head off early to look foward to my first long lie in weeks.

Boysitting

The blog has been seriously neglected of late. I didn't take my computer to Bulgaruia, which meant I had that backlog, and then there was dublin. I have a huge deadline at work, so I've basically been working every hour that I'm not asleep. It's been a long while since I've done that, and at first it feels good. A real comraderia and team work, but by Saturday(Today) I'm quite glad when the Bulgarian Newly wed asks me to baby sit. It avoids me going out for a drink with some other mates, as I know that this tired, stressed and over worked, it will be a very suick trip to drunken oblivion, and a less than fresh head for work on sunday.

I take a quick trip to the public library roudn the corner from my work and pick up a few DVD's for entertainment.

One time a while ago I was baby sitting Obi Wan Kenobov when he was a little younger. Somemone phoned me and I said I was baby sitting. He was very angry when I got off the phone:

"I no baby. You tell people you boy sitting. Okay??"

Anyway. Now he's pretty chuffed when I come round as it usually means he gets to play Lord of The Rings on my powerbook:



I'm not much one for computer games. I don't think I;ve been past level 1 of Mario Bros, because the first tiem I get killed, I decide I've lost interest. Lord of the Rings however is a differrent kettle of taters.(Boil em, mash em, put em in a pot.) Not only has it always been a fantasy of mine to pretend I'm aragorn, Legolas, gandalf or one of the boys, it's on my beloved apple, so It's even more fun. I bought the game to get through a round of boring conerences ages back and I completed it not long after. Obi Wan, however, still loves playing it, so I usually take it round when I'm visiting. But we keep that till later when I go round.

I decided that I could just veg in front of some DVD's. I always like to take round good kids DVD's. I remember vividly enjoying certain films when I was a kid, so I'm pretty good at picking out DVD's that a Star wars, and Lord of the Rings loving 7 yr old will appreciatte. He loved the Goonies, and once he's a wee bit older I hope he'll appreciatte the lost boys. So today from the Library, I have the Princess Bride:



In the library I wanted to get willow, but I couldn't find it. I had phoned Nine Inch Nina as an escape from work and she had been over the moon at the prospect of watching willow and I thought it would be a good option, but it'll have to wait till next time.

I remember watching the Princess Bride when I was a kid. Me and my sister were getting Babysat, and the man babysitting us brought round this video. We'd never heard of it, and basically thoought "What's this crap??(In 7 yr old thoughts of course).

The film starts with the boy from the wonder years(Fred Savage) moaning cos he's sick and his Grandpa has decided that he's going to read a book. The koid, being a thouroughly modern boy prefers to play his nintendo entertainment system and thinks that books don't have the same excitment. He interupts all the way through the introduction about how it's a love story and he doesn't want to hear about kissing. Then of course by the ene he's compeltely won over and thinks that love is an important part of the tale provoiding you have major elements of Jim Henson style monsters and swashbuckling and fights and stuff.

It's a great movie for kids and the script has enough adult and clever humour in it to keep things alive. That and the cameo of Peter Cook as a priest with a speech impedement makes it a cracking film. Obi Wan agrrees and by the end is shouting:

"I am Inio Montoya. You killed my father prepare to die!!!"

So another success in the DVD choice.

After DVD, it's dinner. His mum has made some good Bulgarian soup and her attempt at a scottish dish called "Mince and Tatties"It tastes magnificant, but this may be cos it's my first real meal since I was in Ireland.

After dinner, it´s the inevitable 2 hours of Lord of the Rings playing, where Obi Wan´s eyes get so wide he looks like he´s on something. I have to admit, that I quite enjoy it to. Eventually it´s time for his bed, and I instantly crash out on the couch until his mum gets home.

She´s had a good night at a party and we sit down to watch the Commitments:



I´ve loved the Commitments, sonce I first saw it. I love any film that shows the rise and fall of a band. But this one has the added value that it´s funny too.

It´s about 2am and we last 30 minutes into the film til I decide it would be better left for another night. I head off and enjoy the long cycle home in the refreshing chill of the almost autumn night.

Ireland day 4: Back to the A'dam for work

It's an early start and into the car for the long trip back to Dublin. Our flights back are mid afternoon, so we are time pressed to get back to Dublin Airport. OUr only stop is a toilet stop in Athlone. Mainly because we know the area and can make it a quick stop. It's a much nice day and we get some good family photos in front of Athlone Castle:



We make pretty good time back to the airport, which leaves us with quite a bit of time to kill before our flights. I settle down to some blog updating and work catch up(It's a Monday) in a cafe, while my family have some coffee and get over the tiredness of the long drive.

We eventually head through our gates and then have a final pint of Guinness together, before I'm on my flight back to Amsterdam. It's an early night before I start another bitch of a proposal writing week.

Ireland day 3: Galway

We get up early and enjoy another fried breakfast in the homely atmosphere of the B and B. Its about a 2 hour drive onwards to Gallway. The scenary slowly improves as we near Gallway. We head straight for the centre for a wander around, as we are too early to check into our hotel. Gallway is a great little picturesque town. It has a beautiful river, and a very old shopping street with lots of little shops full of character.





I'm delighted to notice that the record shop is blaring out VS by Pearl Jam:



I head in and have a look for some music to fuel the afternoon drive which we are taking up the western coast. I settle on the Rolling Stones new album:



We head off in the Car and try to find the hotel. Our soundtrack is the opening track os Big Bang; "Rough Justice". It's definitely the stones. They have such an established sound, that you get the feeling that you've heard it before, but you know that it's good. It even has good quality Mick Jagger lines such as:

"So put your lips to my hips baby
And tell me what's on your mind
I know you still got that animal attraction for me
It's been a long, long time"

We are staying at the travellodge, and my brother and I are delighted when we find out that we can tap into a free wifi connection in the room. Jesus, we're easily amused.

Our road trip takes us up the coast, where we stop by the beach and head out onto the rocks for a picnic. The weather ahs really improved since leaving Dublin, where it was pissing it down. Now we have bright sunny weather with a little cooling breeze, which seems perfect for the smooth sands which make up our view of the Gallway coast.

We have produce left over from the market in Dublin which we have augmented with some salads and stuff from a Supermarket on the way.

After lunch, my brother stays in the car with his sketchbook while my parents and I head out on a wee walk. It's a great little town, and the pubs are already overflowing, even though it's 2 hours until the Hurling kick off. We head of on a country road which takes uss down and onto the beach, and then get a few photos:





There is a river which flows into the sea, and I am convinced that there must be a place where we can cross it and head back to the car. We head along one side of the river, and soon realise thatit was afruitless short cut. My dad however wants to continue. I think it''s something about woodland walks, he seems to think he's in the scouts again. We very quickly get lost. We are trailing my father along the path, when we follow him under a bridge which has a rusty sign instructing trespassers to beware of the dog.

We have now went under the main road and have to climb through ferns and long grass to make it up to the wall where we climb over and jump onto the road. So much for shortcuts.

Once back at the car, we head back to Gallway to hit the street and see what atmosphere is offered by the home town of the Hurling championship underdogs.

My brother and I watch about 30 minutes of the first half over a pint of Guinness, but the fact that we have no knowledge of the rules, game or scoring system, and can't actually see the screen means that we are cheering along with the crowd about half a second after they are. We head out for a wander.

Out on a a wander, we window shop for a little while, have another pint and generally doss about until we meet my parents a the car and head back to the hotel. The most memorable moment during this donner was when we saw a drunk with a radio having a conversation with an Oscar Wilde statue about how the game was going:



By now we've heard almost all the stones album. It's fairly uninteresting. Mick still seems to think that white guitar based disco isn't dead. By far my favorite track is the bizarre Keef vocal lead "track 6???", his gravely weather worn out of tune voice works great on the track. He is a living legend, a knight of the 20th century who wears history on his face. All in all he is a human miracle just on the fact that he can still stand up.

Dinner is a quiet affair in a little restaurant, then we head out to a few more pubs. They are full to the brim, but luckily due to the smoking ban, the bars now spill onto the street. We stand about outside with our pints of guinness and talk to a few locals. I think Gallway would be a great place to some with some mates for a pub crawl.

It's a pretty early night when we head off to bed, having completed the western leg of our family weekend to Galway

Ireland day 2: Back on the road

Today we are going to explore a little more Dublin, then head off in a rented car and explore a little more Ireland, so after a good old fried breakfast, it's out and onto the streets of Dublin. We head over to Grafton street to see the bustle of the shopping streets. It's like any other shopping street. What's nice about Dublin is that the various statues that you find in any other city are given colloquial names:

Molly Mallone becomes the "Tart with the cart"



James Joyce becomes the "Prick with the stick"



Oscar WIlde becomes the "Fag on the Crag"



There are various others:

Hags wi´ the bags



Floozy in the Jacuzzi



The latest is a huge needle which sticks up out of the shopping street near the post office:



No name has been settled, but there have been several suggestions, the "Stiletto in the Ghetto", "the Skewer in the sewer" or just Milligan(After the famous comedian Spike Milligan)

While we are here, we take a quick trip for stamps and post cards in the post office. This is no Ordinary post office, it is the post office that Michael Collins defended when the Irish republic launched a revolt against their British invaders. You can still see the bullet holes in the front of the building. Unfortunately it was scaffolded for repairs when we were there.

We head back to the hotel via a little open market for some picnic supplies. It's now time to head off and pick up the car before hitting the road.

Once on the road, we are reminded that the Irish Hurling League final is on in Dublin tomorrow. The reigning champions Cork are playing the underdogs Gallway. We are on the Dublin to Gallway road, so it seems like every car which passes us in the other direction is heading to the game.



Hurling is a team sport of Celtic origin, played with sticks and a ball. The game, played primarily in Ireland, is the world's fastest field team sport. It resembles the games of shinty that is played primarily in Scotland and bandy that was played formerly in England and Wales. Hurling played by women is also known as camogie. Hurling is Ireland's native sport.
The roads are unremarkable and I'm pretty glad when we get to Athlone.

Athlone (Baile Átha Luain in Irish, meaning "town of the ford of Luan") lies on the River Shannon near the southern extremity of Lough Ree, some 130 km west of Dublin. The west side of Athlone forms part of County Roscommon while the larger east side lies in County Westmeath, but administratively, almost all of the town has been included in Westmeath since 1898, and planning applications are dealt with be the respective county councils. The town's population in 2004 was 15,936, slightly more than that of Mullingar. Athlone sits close to the geographical centre of Ireland. Nearby are Moate on the road to Dublin, Ballinasloe on the road to Galway, and Tang on the road to Ballymahon, County Longford.

We are staying in Athlone to break up the journey to Gallway.

We have a small Bed and Breakfast on the outskirts of town, and once we are settled, we head off into the centre for an explore. The only thing worth seeing in Athlone is the castle. It is however a nice little town, and it is probably more genuinely Irish than Dublin has become. For want of somethign better to do, we head off to the Cinema. I would calculate that our last family trip to the cinema was at least 10 years ago, so it's quite good fun. We go and see "The longest Yard" which is a bad Adam Sandler and Chris Rock comedy. We really enjoy it. Chris Rock is always funny though:



I wouldn't however recommend it. It was just good film to go and watch with your family.

Afterwards, we head to the night life area for something to eat and another few pints of guinness. After lapping up a little bit of atmosphere in "sean's bar" we settle on Indian for the night. We fill ourselves with curry and then see if we can find a space at the bar. The bar is really long and authentic, going way back into a beer garden, the floor is uneven and dilapidated and the whole bar has a great atmosphere. Given that it's saturday night, it seems like everyone in the surrounding area is drinking here toinight, so we squeeze ourselves back out and wander round a little before heading back to the Bed and Breakfast and finding something a little closer to home.

We eventually settle on a little bar whose name I can't remember, but it has live music and Guinness on tap. We tap along to some music while enjoying our drinks, and then head off to bed ready for a drive to Gallway the next day, making sure on our way to the room, that our guinness fueled mother hasn't defaced any of the varnished jigsaw painting which adorn the walls of the B and B

Ireland:Day 1 - Dublin

We wake up, and I'm I have a little more energy. The problem with moving so fast, is that when you stop, you're body shuts down. I associatte my family with home and non-work. So i go into shut down when I spend time with them. Hopefully Ireland has enough to offer to keep me wide awake.

Today is our first day in Dublin, so we can head off and see the place. We have tickets booked for the Guinness Warehouse in the afternoon, but at the moment we are free agents.

On coming out of the hotel, it's clear that Dublin is the most similar city I've ever been in to Glasgow while being in a foreign country. It rains the same way.

We head off towards the centre. We need to find an indoors pursuit to get out of the rain. My dad suggests a trip to Dublin castle, as the guide teaches you a little about history:



The next tour starts at 11am, so on returning after a coffee, we join the tour.

Although it's more of a country house than a castle, it has a checkered past which make it a good overview for getting some history of Dublin. The Viceroy lived here when Ireland was under British rule. Soldiers were brought here during the Easter rising(An Unsuccessful rebellion which attempted to start an independent Ireland in 1916)

Generally, it's a country house similar to the insides of several other castles:





By the time we leave, the weather is far better, and we head down to Temple Bar via a couple of shopping streets for some lunch:



The temple bar is an area of Dublin which has been renovated to provide lots of drinking establishments and traditional dublin nightlife. The truth is it has become a tourist trap full of Faux Dublin Stag nights and hen nights. It's not a bad place at night, it's just a bit of a characterture of reality.

We've opted for lunch and a Guinness in the Old Dubliner:



It's standard irish fare, with some good traditional music, hearty winter food, and a creamy pint. We sit at the window and watch the world go by. The lonely planets come out and we work out the best way to get to the Guinness Warehouse. we've decided it's close enough that we can walk. The walk takes us past Christchurch cathedral where we stop for a few photos:





Eventually, we walk down the wonderful alleyways of warehouses which lead us to the Guinness warehouse:





The Guinness Storehouse tour is a huge multimedia experience that cost 12 Million to build a few years back. It's very impressive and teaches you how they make Guinness, the History of Guinness and also some fun and games. You slowly make your way through the exhibits which move up the six or so floors of the tour, and then finally at the top you get a free pint of Guinness.



In the gravity bar, you get a panoramic view over the whole of dublin:



Far more impressive though was an american tourist on a beige and biscuit tour who had more tourist patches than I've ever seen on one jacket:



After the Guinness store house it's about 5pm, so time to head back to the hotel to freshen up before going out on the town.

We are heading out to Temple Bar to find something to eat and then to track down some live music and Guinness. You can see a recurring theme here. We've probably had about 4 pints of Guinness so far today.

Finding a restaurant that meets your needs shouldn't be too tough, but given that it's Friday night and everyone in Dublin seems to be on a hen or stag night, most places are about busy and noisy. We eventually find a little indonesian Rijsttafel place called the Cameleon.



It's a pokey little restaurant, so has a great atmosphere and homelyness. They bring out various dishes and let us try lots of different Indonesian dishes. There's various satay's, sambols, and rices, but the pick of the bunch is the aniseed pork:



After dinner, we have a walk along the Liffey to let our dinner digest and then seek out a bar which has some live music and Guinness on tap(Not exactly tough). we find a bar which has a live blues band. They're pretty good, and do a good rendition of Red House. Then it;s off home to bed in preparation for going further afield tomorrow.

It´s a long road to Tipperary(Well Dublin)

After a long week of work which made Bulgaria seem like a distant memory, I'm off for a long weekend with my mum, dad and brother in Dublin.

I head off from work to the airport on Thursday evening and fly over to Dublin. I arrive first and sit around the small airport at Dublin and wait for the Scottish residents. Even though the Irish are both the neighbours and cousins of Scotland, this is my first time in Ireland. It's strange being in a European country with the Euro for currency which is so close in culture to Scotland.

I'm absolutely shattered after a week of solid work, and overdosing on Caffeine. I'm looking forward to a slow weekend, and most of all my bed. It seems to take for ages for the Ryanair flight to arrive from Prestwick, but eventually it does, and I get to see my family again, but most importantly of all my brother sorts me out with an Irn Bru which makes everything okay again:



We head off in a taxi to the hotel, and immediately it's clear that I'm not in the Netherlands anymore. The Taxi driver is jovial and talkative and asking all about our stay etc. The Irish call this the "craic". The good conversation and fun.

We settle in the hotel and immediately head off to the bar beside the hotel for our first pint of Guinness and a good hearty meal. I opt for the Fish and Chips and after the long pour the Guinness arrives:



It tastes wonderful, and soon enough the fish and chips arrive to complete the dish. Everyone wolfs down the food and we catch up with gossip, jokes, news etc.

Everyone is pretty knackered, so it's off for an early night.

Bulgaria day 8: The long trip home

All good things have come to an end, and this is no exception. I'm off home today. OUr flight is early afternoon, so we have a wee while to hang around. First thing is to drop our luggage off at a friend's house to pick up later. We get a taxi out to the flat. It's out in the stix, so I get to see the communist high rises which are outside the tourist areas of Varna.





They are so raw and decaying. They drip in modern history, and give you a little idea what these little places looked like in the 80's. All over Eastern Europe seemed to have these ugly concrete monstrosities. Not like the privileged western Europeans in Glasgow:



The groom told me a hilarious story of when he stayed at the top on one of these high rises as a student. When the lift wasn't working you had to use the lift in the other building and walk across the roof. This was particularly troublesome when you were drunk, as there were nesting seagulls who would attack you. I just have visions of students drunk on Rakia racing along these roofs, while being dive bombed by seagulls.

We have a quick last minute trip round town, and get some food at BSM. It's then time to pick up the luggage and head for the airport. After some very thorough security checks, we boarding the plane. The bride and Obi Wan are traveling with me, so I have company on the long trip back via Dusseldorf.

Obi Wan entertains himself by playing about with my camera. He has been head photographer during the holiday, and many of the photos in the blog were taken by him.





He even makes a movie with two toy dogs, so maybe we have the next Obi Wan Speilberg on our hands. I however read a book and relax:



My holiday reads this holiday were:

Chuck Palahaniuk on recommendation of my brother:





Vernon God Little:



I'm sorry(well also pleased) to say that I was so busy, that I only managed to get through fightclub and half of Vernon God Little. Fight Club was really good. Easy to read, comical and well written. I've seen the film, but the book provides a lot more. I like Chuck Palahaniuk's writing style, and his sense of hunour is very cruel. I've also read Choke, and intend to pick up Lullaby next time I'm reading.

I'm not a big reader, so it could be a while. I like the writing style in Vernon God Little, but the amount I read didn't provide me with enough storyline to keep me engrossed when you have the distractions of Bulgarian tourism. Maybe I'll get back to it at some point.

Eventually we touch down in Dusseldorf. We momentarily stop to stock up on munchies from a little supermarket, and make the mad dash to make our train connection.

We settle down in the very front carriage. It's quite cool looking out the front of the train as you are travelling. I say quite cool. I mean that in the first five minutes of being on the train it was interesting to see this new perspective, I don't find it as riveting as one of my fellow travellers, who has filmed the whole thing from Basel to Amsterdam. What do you do with such a video? Show your friends? Watch it back and remember how much fun it was to stand with a video camera for 7 hours. Personally I think he was a couple stotinki's short of a lev.

I much prefer our departure from Dusseldorf train station as captured by Obi Wan:



By the end of the trip, it's about 11pm, and the Bride and I are shattered. Obi Wan is however wide awake and excited. He's putting so much effort into holding his eyes open that he could get work as a Maradona impersonator.

Finally, I tram home, and sleep in my own bed for the first time in what seems like months..