Week 4 (Seoul to Berlin)

So I am going to apologise straight up because my normally witty self is on Sick Leave (a common cold -self diagnosis).  It had to happen after sitting in below freezing temps.  Being snowed on, wind blowing from Siberia and walking until I was exhausted!!  He who thinks he is boss just keeps going and going.

I just checked the readership of the blog and I saw we had over 100 hits within 12 hours of posting the blog last week.  Even somebody from Burkina Faso.  Yes, I had to Google it as well to see where it was.  If the person from Burkina Faso is still reading, please let me know who you are as I am extremely interested in finding out who is following us.  For most of the other countries we know at least one person in each.

On our last day in Donghae, where we were staying for the Olympics, we were surprised when we went down for breakfast.  There was nobody having breakfast, and only one dirty plate.  It looks like everyone had left on the last day.  We hoped this meant less people around on our trip back to Seoul, but sadly that was not the case once we got to the train station.  At least we had booked a train seat earlier.  When we arrived at Gangnueng station, there was people everywhere.

The rest of our time in South Korea was spent packing up and moving to Seoul. This was a leisurely trip as we had plenty of time.  I did ask Denise if she wanted to do the walk back from the Seoul station to our accommodation and she said yes, or was that a sure.  No matter, I understood that she would be delighted to do the walk.  My eye!!  It was sunny and not bitterly cold (just cold) and anyway I was carrying my backpack (with laptop) and pulling both bags which left Denise to carry her backpack.  But he still managed to travel at a million miles and hour.

Now two things I have learned are that some people are directionally challenged, and some people expect you to be a mind reader.  Above ground I am reasonably good with directions, but in underground shopping complexes I can get lost quickly so I am like a meerkat, sticking my head above ground level to work out where I am.

In Seoul the idea was to see as much as possible, so we did the hop on hop off bus.  The first bus went straight past us while the second bus (30mins apart) looked like he was going to go past as well, but Denise gave him one of those looks and he thought better to stop.  If you don’t stop pal you will hear about it!  He kicked us off onto another bus after two stops as he was going to lunch.

The War Memorial in Seoul is worth a visit.  I wasn’t aware of the number of US personnel killed in the Korean War until I saw all the names.  Over 35,000 with a further 90,000+ injured, but the surprise to me was there were 339 Australians killed and over 1,500 injured.

On the second day in Seoul, Denise wanted a rest, I think I just wanted to be left alone, makes me sound like an old Duck, so I (Peter) went off to see what I could see.  I found new clips for my backpack which had broken and as I was about to head off to climb a hill in the centre of Seoul, I felt a drop of rain.  Remembering the forecast was for afternoon rain I quickly gave that idea a miss and hurried the 2km home.  I was lucky to get back reasonably dry as it started coming down as I walked in the door.

Just a side note; our girls will be very happy to know I have only bought an Olympic scarf because I needed to make sure I was going to be warm enough.  No trinkets, no dolls, nothing.

 On the second night of three in Seoul we found a fantastic Korean BBQ place just down the road from where we were staying.  We ate there for the last two nights.  The food was great/fantastic, the service was even better, and it was packed with locals (a signal we look for when choosing restaurants abroad - thanks Kerry and Paul).

Next stop was Munich where we met up with my sister and her husband.  We will be traveling with them on and off while in Europe.  The forecast for Europe wasn’t looking great so we flew with our cold weather gear.  It made my bag much lighter.  I started with hiking boots but changed to runners for the 12hr flight.  The idea was to change again in Munich when we got our bags.

At checkin we were offered EUR1,300 each to travel cattle class as business class was overbooked.  I said we will do it for EUR2,000 each - they declined.  I later discovered that this was the right decision as I think Denise would have done me some harm if we had changed.  That is not something I will put my hand up to say.  We both had window seats so tried to change at check in without luck.  Once on the plane we swapped easily.  Only problem, I lost the window seat and of course Denise was using the window to take photos or was sleeping so I saw nothing of the outside world.  Didn’t matter to much as I was watching the NBA live.  Well that was until we took off when the transmission stopped.  After flicking channels for a while, I discovered the telecast was working again and the game had just begun the 4th quarter.  At the end of the game, I found the NHL was on and the Vancouver Canucks were playing.  How good is this.

Getting through screening at Incheon (Seoul’s main airport) was a long queue and then we had another queue to get into the lounge.  What is the world coming to?

I realised on departure that Korea doesn’t stamp your passport, so my new passport is still untouched. I did like my previous passport with all its stamps stickers and residency permits, but it was due to expire later this year so for this trip I had to get a brand-new passport.

The lounge at Incheon was crowded and not worth it so I went for a terminal walk (what a surprise) to at least get some exercise.  I discovered a Samsung VR (Virtual Reality) experience without a queue.  That is a rare thing in Korea for most things.  It was a VR skiing experience and once it began I wanted to stand up and experience it fully, but unfortunately, we were strapped in to our seats.  I suppose it gave non-skiers a view of skiing, but it was nowhere near the real thing.  If the landing after skiing off a cliff was that soft I would do it myself, but alas, I know there is a thud at the end even when you get a small jump right.

Lufthansa was comfortable, but I still think Air Asiana was better.  The food was better on Lufthansa and I got my French Red and a large Port (I thought it was another glass of red) to finish the meal.

So far, our travel awards go to the Qantas lounge in Sydney, Air Asiana for comfort and Lufthansa for in flight food.  We are withholding any awards for airports so far.  None have come up to Singapore Airport standard.

When we arrived in Munich we stayed in a hotel at the airport where we spent the night sampling the beer and finally went to bed around 21:00 local time (body clock time was around 03:00).  I woke up at 01:00 and every hour after that until I decided I was awake at 04:30. The next morning we caught a local train in to Munich, so we could catch the fast train to Berlin.

The trip to Berlin was OK, but they ran out of decent food before Shaun and I got to the food carriage.  Where the waiter offered alternatives, I opted for malt sandwiches for lunch.  We had one additional and unplanned drink after hearing some news from Australia.  Congratulations you know who.

We were going to Berlin to catch up with one of our Tanzanian “daughters” who had two nice surprises for us.

When we arrived in Berlin, we got off at the wrong stop (one stop too early and not my fault), so got on the next train to the proper station.  On arrival Margot and Shaun checked in to their accommodation and then we decided to walk the 3kms to where Denise and I were staying.  What an amazing walk.  We discovered the Berlin wall remnants and then discovered where we were staying was built on the no-mans land.  All along the footpath, even outside the place we were staying, are plaques naming each of the people killed trying to cross the border.

The next day we did the hop on hop off bus in Berlin, but both Denise and I had dry coughs which later developed into colds.  The result was we laid low for the next two days.

We walked from the Brandenberg Gate to the Victory Column and once there Up I went to the top with Margot and Shaun.  While trying to see where Denise was down below, I lost my sunnies over the edge - woops.  Luckily they weren’t overly expensive ones.  Now he will have to go back to the optometrist and get prescription sunny’s, as he was putting his reading glasses on while trying to read through the sunglasses.

Because we have had to lay low, meaning me.  Pettie Pie has keep himself busy fixing little jobs that our friend couldn’t get done.  You know there are the parents that can do things and parents that can only direct and give orders.  We are so lucky I can direct and give orders while Pete is the doer.  Nothing like a handy man.

Well sorry everyone!  I’m certainly off the boil today.

We hope you are all well and happy.  Heading back to Munich tomorrow with Margot and Shaun and then we wave them goodbye for a while as we head to London on Thursday.

Much love us