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athersgeoSo. I'm no longer at work (and pretending I'm reading a brochure for holidays in Southern Africa - don't ask), here's that vacation thing I promised (or threatened - one of the two).
My vacation started at 10:30pm on the 30th; my flight from Stansted was a 6:40am departure, which meant a 4:40am check-in and since Stansted is a minimum of two and a half hours from Bristol...yeah. I have to admit, I did enjoy the overnight drive; if only motorway travel was always that traffic free. I ended up arriving at Standsted at about 3:30am, which would have been OK but for a few things.
1) I was eyes-on-stalks tired and suffering absolutely chronic indigestion (so not a good combo)
2) Check-in didn't open until 4am (it was later than that for my flight, but not by much) so I was stuck with a large suitcase so no bath room breaks (I've tried visiting facilities while encombered with a suitcase and it just doesn't work - the cubicals are NOT big enough!)
3) Stansted has virtually NO seats. I've griped about this before and I think, by far, the worst for this is T4 at Heathrow, but why is it airports have nowhere you can sit down prior to check-in?!
I ended up huddled on the floor attempting to stay awake, will away the indigestion and make sure no-one pinched my luggage (OK, I know that's unlikely, but I was also trying to make sure my luggage wasn't considered a security risk and blown up!).
Check-in was finally done and the rest of my time at Stansted can be summed up by: Buying Revenge of the Sith, taking more antacids (not that they were doing much to help) and dozing. Finally boarded (it was raining - uhg) and we took off. The flight was short and uneventful - up until we came in to land. We'd out flown the rain and by the time we were over Germany, it was sunny and clear - so I got a great view over the Rhine and the surrounding countryside. Sadly, however, the landing left something to be desired. We didn't so much land as plummet - not far, only about a foot or two, but still, far enough to be bone jarring.
Weeze Airport, though... It's ever so diddy and little! (It also screams army base - we discovered yesterday that said army base was British, but more on that later!) I was thinking that I'd probably got time between me clearing passport control and getting my luggage to visit the little girl's room and freshen up. As it turned out? My suitcase was starting it's third trip round the carousel by the time my passport had been checked! (How could I tell? The partition between immigration and baggage reclaim was glass and I watched the luggage's progress as I waited!) So there went any plans of bathroom breaks and freshening up.
I collected my suitcase and went through into the arrivals hall and successfully met up with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
freespirit127 (who is fluent in English) and her dad (who isn't!). And here began my attempts at communicating in a language not my own. To say I was nervous was putting it mildly. I'd worked out all sorts of correct sentences during the flight and they all fled, leaving me able only to say "Hello, how are you?" *sigh*
We got to Duisburg safely, I unpacked and then, I was faced with breakfast. Now, I was ready for breakfast, but I was probably in more urgent need of 40 winks (the plan had been to sleep Sunday afternoon - it hadn't quite worked out that way). I managed (I think) not to make a complete idiot of myself, managed to successfully remember the German for orange juice, nearly failed dismally to remember the German for please (all I could think of was the French!) and DID fail dismally to recall that the German for England is, well, England. After that, 'Nessa and I went upstairs to chat and she asked if I would like to have a bit of a nap. I would!
A couple of hours of concerted dozing (I won't say I was exactly asleep, but it was very comfortable) in a horizontal position, a wash-and-brush-up and the insertion of my contact lenses later and I was ready for the rest of my first day in Germany. We took the bus into Duisburg town centre and started the first day of what rapidly turned into a walking holiday (what is it with me and those?!!) as we toured the old docks area (Bristol and Duisburg share that in common), the ruins of the market hall (where we were accosted by two small German boys who appeared to disbelieve that we were talking in English or that I knew any German [actually, on that point I was inclined to agree at that moment!] or that 'Nessa was a native of Duisburg!) and a really beautiful church which had been rebuilt after WWII. We then went shopping and I picked up a copy of Starfighters of Adumar and Martin the Warrior (both in German!), drooled over a copy of Wagner's Ring Cycle (decided against buying that since it's an easy Christmas suggestion!) and finally tracked down a copy of Die Toten Hosen's "Kauf Mich" album (which I've been wanting for absolute yonks). After that, it was back to 'Nessa's home for dinner (pasta and tomato sauce - mmmmmmmmm!) and a Dan Southworth fest.
Given how little sleep I'd had in the previous 48 hours, it was a little surprising that I woke up at 8am on day two, but there it was, I was awake and knowing the way my body works, going back to sleep would only leave me with a stinker of a headache. So, I pulled out my PDA and keyboard and made a start on my NaNo project. I knew I wouldn't be able to do MUCH while I was away, but getting a start was important - and a start I duly had when 'Nessa woke up about twenty minutes later.
Over breakfast, we continued our Dan Southworth fest by watching Ghost Rock as dubbed into German. And here, my German vocabulary and comprehension did actually begin (slowly) to return. That day's trip was a trip to Duisburg Zoo which, randomly, is world renowned for breeding Koalas. They do, however, have a wide variety of other animals there, including Racoons (who were extrememly cute), Hyennas (who were being fed just as we got there - which was a fascinating process: The zoo staffer attached a hunk of meat to a zebra cut-out attached to a powered wire loop, it then set out across the Hyenna enclosure and the two Hyenna's chased it and caught the meat), Sealions (we missed the feeding time show - but since when do sealions require an excuse to show off?...!), Penguins and many, many forms of deer (most of which looked disturbingly similar to each other!). The one exhibit we didn't get to see was the Dolphins - but there's always next time for that!
On our return, we had dinner (turkey or chicken with salad and potatos, followed by Apfelkuchen - which was all good :)) and watched...something. I *think* it was "A New Hope", which we watched with the German soundtrack - and I began to prove that I really DO know Star Wars well by repeatedly quoting lines either in synch with or just ahead of the dialogue! sad, I know. The REALLY impressive thing is I started quoting the German...
Day three also began at about 8am but I was sufficiently sleepy that I did roll over and go back to sleep and didn't wake up again until about half past nine. Lazy me! While breakfast was being prepared, I added a bit more to my NaNo project, then hit a wall that required research (the books for which were at home), so that was about as far as I could go. (So for those paying attention: My current NaNo word count is still under 1000 words, but that'll improve this week!) Over breakfast, we continued the vidding, this time with PRTF (dubbed into German - and I have to say, while the voices they used for most of the characters were OK, Ransik's wasn't a good match and Eric's voice was just wrong with nowhere near the subtle sarcasm in the English version!) and plotted the day's excusion, namely a trip to Xanten.
Xanten is a town about 45 minutes away from Duisburg, where they've found the remains of a whole Roman village. It was an amazing place to visit; the only sour points were the weather (it was grey and overcast - the previous two days had been sunny, if a little chilly the day before - but we did avoid the rain, which began about five minutes after we got back!) and the builders in the amphitheatre (which meant we couldn't really explore that - though the hammering did rather neatly demonstrate the amphitheatre's acoustics!). The rest of Xanten was a little spooky; it was so quiet! I guess most of the town's citizens work in the nearby bigger towns, but still, you don't expect streets to be completely silent at 4pm in the afternoon!
That evening, we headed to the cinema. Given my slightly lacking German and a rather limited choice of interesting looking movies, we hit on "Doom" as being easy to follow (which it was - for the most part) and enjoyable (which it was - again, for the most part, though I shan't be rushing out to watch it in English!). I was quite impressed with my ability to follow most of the dialogue, even when they lapsed into biological science about chromasomes (surprisingly enough the German for chromasome is...well, chromasome!). About the one bit I had to ask about later was when The Rock's character, apparently, randomly shot one of his own squad members who was still sane at that point (apparently, Rocky shot him because he refused to follow The Rock's orders and shoot survivors - which I really should have guessed!).
The amusing thing about "Doom" is (for all the Press Gang fans reading this) Dexter Fletcher shows up as a wheelchair bound tech-head - and though it's been more time than I'd like to admit since I saw any Press Gang, I recognised him.
Day four was a lazy day. We were going to be having a late night, so we planned to loaf around and watch many Star Wars films, but we kicked the day off with more PRTF over breakfast and here came the conversation about Mad Max. We were watching Movie Madness - and specifically the point at which it turns into a Mad Max pastiche. I said that I thought Vernon Wells had been in Mad Max (point of fact, he was in Mad Max 2, so IMDB tells me!) and pointed out he was an Australian actor. To which Vanessa pointed out that not all Australian actors had been in Mad Max (which I have to agree with!) and then she mentioned Mel Gibson... I think we giggled about that one off and on for the rest of the vacation!
Empire Strikes Back was watched, with the German soundtrack and English subtitles - which didn't prevent me from reciting certain lines anyway ("Do or do not, there is no try" "who's scruffy looking?" "Laugh it up, fuzzball" - there were one or two more!). Then we watched the special features on 'Nessa's Revenge of the Sith DVD (which had arrived on Monday, from Amazon!) and then, after dinner of pasta pizza (it sounds odd, but it tastes great!) we got ready for our trip to see Starlight Express in Bochum. As an ALW fan, I know some of the music from the show, but I'd never before seen it - though I remember it opening in London back in 1984! - and I was excited to finally get to see how you did a musical on roller skates and just what the HECK the story was. I was *most* impressed. The whole cast were great and the skating was amazing - there was one tumble taken by one of the more minor characters, but he recovered himself so well that I'm almost inclined to think it was in there as comic relief rather than an actual tumble! They also had a couple of professional inline skaters to come out and do sommersaults and assorted jumps that frankly, you should not be able to do on skates. It was a late night, but so very, very worthwhile and so very much fun.
I'm now wondering when/if they're going to do another UK tour and whether it'll come to Bristol and if I can go. That's a lot of ifs.
Day five began in laid back fashion, given the late night. The last of PRTF was watched over breakfast and we then got ready to go into Dusseldorf to visit the Terracotta Army exhibit there (which was a bit short on exhibit and a bit long on tacky suveneirs and disorganisation - the exit, zB, was out a metal fire escape, in the rain!) and then after a tour of the subway and Dusseldorf centre, we went out to the Aquazoo, which is (as the name might suggest) a zoo dedicated to water life. Mostly, in the form of fish and that kind of thing, but they also had penguins who were more than happy to perform for the onlookers! We probably spent about half an hour or so just watching their antics *grin*
We returned to Duisburg and picked up a native form of fast food: Pommes Rot Weisse. That is, Chips with tomato ketchup and mayonaise. I'm not normally a chips-and-mayonaise fan, but this was very good. And even better, they held the onions! We finished the day off with Return of the Jedi (in German - which I quoted large chunks of!)
Day six was yet another laid back start. PRTF finished, we watched RFTF and bits of Forever Red - both in English, since they'd come to 'Nessa from a TV station in Baton Rouge via me! - and then headed into Duisburg for a round of shopping and then a spot of local history in the shape of the Duisburg museum. The shopping was a moderate success - I didn't get my new keyring with the Duisburg crest on, but I did get the bottle of German brandy my father wanted and a gift for 'Nessa's dad. The museum, though, was very interesting, with displays on the history of the area (complete with progressive models showing how the town had grown and changed), a little world history and an exhibit on Koenigsburg which included some bridal neclaces made from absolute *chunks* of amber that must have weighed a positive tonne!
After a trip to the supermarket near 'Nessa's home to buy yoghurt, chicken salad and German biscuits (which my boss and I have been enjoying today!), we had a typical German dinner (leberkäse[livercheese - and it was neither, I hasten to point out!], salad and potatos - which was extremely good) and then watched Phantom Menace and the first two thirds of Attack of the Clones (both in German - though Phantom Menace was with English subtitles for Jar Jar and 'Nessa and I decided we both liked him [I know; that's practically SW herassy!])
Day seven was yet another laid back start. We watched Once More With Feeling (which was in German with the songs not dubbed but subtitled) which I quoted muchly, finished off Attack of the Clones and then watched Revenge of the Sith. This, we did watch in English - which was 'Nessa's pick (by this point in the week, my comprehension of German was pretty good - and I had managed to have a reasonably sane conversation the previous evening about exchange rates, flight prices and football, and I *think* I was understood!). We then headed to Koln and visited the Cathedral (in which we both expected to be struck down by lightning - me for being a nominal Protestant, 'Nessa for being an Agnostic Catholic - though we figured those taking photos inside the church would probably be higher on the list) and then, after a couple of wrong turns ('Nessa is not so good at reading maps - and, apparently, my sense of direction is dang good, even in a city I've never been to before!) and a pit stop at the Haagen Daz cafe, we headed into a chocolate museum. A whole museum devoted to chocolate. Mmmm. Heaven, me thinks. Very interesting exhibits and, best of all, a chocolate shop.
We also discovered chocolate porn: 'Nessa bought a chocolate cook book.
Why yes, we DID drool over it on the return journey to Duisburg!
Dinner was another German meal, this time red cabbage (which I like rather more than the regular kind!), dumplings and Rouladen (which are sort of sausage shaped rolls of meat which can be done with, or without onions - I chose without!) followed by Blueberry pie and cream, which was all good. We then went back upstairs and while I held the inevitable argument with my luggage, we watched Kate and Leopold (in English - because Hugh Jackman is too sexy to not be!)
The following morning was NOT quite so laid back: a 5am wake up call necessitated by a 6am departure for Weeze Airport. I officially HATE going home after a great vacation. Particularly when the home journey starts that early. Ugh. And it was raining, too.
That said, the journey to Weeze was OK and it was then, as we came onto the airport site, that it really hit me the whole thing had once upon a time been an army base. What I wasn't sure about was which army. Given the location, it could have been British, American or possibly even Dutch (Weeze is THAT close to the Dutch border!). Then I saw (and 'Nessa confirmed I had seen it right) a sign: Naffie Family Store. It's an ex-English base.
I had some fun on check in; my suitcase was 5kg over weight - so I incurred my first excess baggage charge of my travel career. I doubt it'll be my last, somehow! The only trouble is, either the girl dealing with me was being trained, OR, she was training the other girl. I couldn't quite work out which was what, but it took twice as long to do as was entirely necessary, I'm sure! After that, though, it was just left to me to say good bye to 'Nessa and her dad, and then head through security.
The guard on the security desk didn't believe me, until I patted my jeans pockets repeatedly, that I didn't have anything in my pockets. (Hmm, the reason for nothing in my pockets would be very straight forward: I've travelled before!) I then had a poke in duty free - setting off the security scanner on ENTRY to the shop, disturbingly (turned out "Kauf Mich" had a security tag that hadn't been properly deactivated!) - and sat down to wait out the half hour or so before my flight. Which passed surprisingly quickly.
As did the flight. And impressively enough, the same thing happened with the weather: What was wet and nasty in Germany was sunny (if chilly) in Stansted. Which meant my drive home was nicer than it could have been.
Could, of course, have been nicer still, but the M25 is the M25 - and at least I was going west on it, not east - which was solid more or less M4 to M11!
So that was my vacation. Much fun and much learning :)
And, of course, I couldn't go anywhere without picking up a couple of plot bunnies. While we were walking Xanten's Roman remains, 'Nessa innocently remarked that it might be fun to see what the PRTF rangers made of Roman times and vice versa. Before either of us knew it, I had a plot bunny that featured Wes going back to Roman times looking for Eric who'd landed himself in a bit of a mess: He was a Gladiator and one they called Spartacus...
And then there's the bunny that I got while watching Revenge of the Sith for a MAAAAAAJOR SW AU, in which Anakin doesn't fall, but someone else does and Padme dies in childbirth, leaving Anakin to bring up their child (or children - I haven't decided whether I'm going to take that bit AU or leave it as twins). It was a sufficiently big bunny that I had to write down a conversation that immediately presented itself between Anakin and Yoda there and then. Though I'm not planning on doing MUCH with this one until after NaNo - for obivous reasons!
My vacation started at 10:30pm on the 30th; my flight from Stansted was a 6:40am departure, which meant a 4:40am check-in and since Stansted is a minimum of two and a half hours from Bristol...yeah. I have to admit, I did enjoy the overnight drive; if only motorway travel was always that traffic free. I ended up arriving at Standsted at about 3:30am, which would have been OK but for a few things.
1) I was eyes-on-stalks tired and suffering absolutely chronic indigestion (so not a good combo)
2) Check-in didn't open until 4am (it was later than that for my flight, but not by much) so I was stuck with a large suitcase so no bath room breaks (I've tried visiting facilities while encombered with a suitcase and it just doesn't work - the cubicals are NOT big enough!)
3) Stansted has virtually NO seats. I've griped about this before and I think, by far, the worst for this is T4 at Heathrow, but why is it airports have nowhere you can sit down prior to check-in?!
I ended up huddled on the floor attempting to stay awake, will away the indigestion and make sure no-one pinched my luggage (OK, I know that's unlikely, but I was also trying to make sure my luggage wasn't considered a security risk and blown up!).
Check-in was finally done and the rest of my time at Stansted can be summed up by: Buying Revenge of the Sith, taking more antacids (not that they were doing much to help) and dozing. Finally boarded (it was raining - uhg) and we took off. The flight was short and uneventful - up until we came in to land. We'd out flown the rain and by the time we were over Germany, it was sunny and clear - so I got a great view over the Rhine and the surrounding countryside. Sadly, however, the landing left something to be desired. We didn't so much land as plummet - not far, only about a foot or two, but still, far enough to be bone jarring.
Weeze Airport, though... It's ever so diddy and little! (It also screams army base - we discovered yesterday that said army base was British, but more on that later!) I was thinking that I'd probably got time between me clearing passport control and getting my luggage to visit the little girl's room and freshen up. As it turned out? My suitcase was starting it's third trip round the carousel by the time my passport had been checked! (How could I tell? The partition between immigration and baggage reclaim was glass and I watched the luggage's progress as I waited!) So there went any plans of bathroom breaks and freshening up.
I collected my suitcase and went through into the arrivals hall and successfully met up with
freespirit127 (who is fluent in English) and her dad (who isn't!). And here began my attempts at communicating in a language not my own. To say I was nervous was putting it mildly. I'd worked out all sorts of correct sentences during the flight and they all fled, leaving me able only to say "Hello, how are you?" *sigh*We got to Duisburg safely, I unpacked and then, I was faced with breakfast. Now, I was ready for breakfast, but I was probably in more urgent need of 40 winks (the plan had been to sleep Sunday afternoon - it hadn't quite worked out that way). I managed (I think) not to make a complete idiot of myself, managed to successfully remember the German for orange juice, nearly failed dismally to remember the German for please (all I could think of was the French!) and DID fail dismally to recall that the German for England is, well, England. After that, 'Nessa and I went upstairs to chat and she asked if I would like to have a bit of a nap. I would!
A couple of hours of concerted dozing (I won't say I was exactly asleep, but it was very comfortable) in a horizontal position, a wash-and-brush-up and the insertion of my contact lenses later and I was ready for the rest of my first day in Germany. We took the bus into Duisburg town centre and started the first day of what rapidly turned into a walking holiday (what is it with me and those?!!) as we toured the old docks area (Bristol and Duisburg share that in common), the ruins of the market hall (where we were accosted by two small German boys who appeared to disbelieve that we were talking in English or that I knew any German [actually, on that point I was inclined to agree at that moment!] or that 'Nessa was a native of Duisburg!) and a really beautiful church which had been rebuilt after WWII. We then went shopping and I picked up a copy of Starfighters of Adumar and Martin the Warrior (both in German!), drooled over a copy of Wagner's Ring Cycle (decided against buying that since it's an easy Christmas suggestion!) and finally tracked down a copy of Die Toten Hosen's "Kauf Mich" album (which I've been wanting for absolute yonks). After that, it was back to 'Nessa's home for dinner (pasta and tomato sauce - mmmmmmmmm!) and a Dan Southworth fest.
Given how little sleep I'd had in the previous 48 hours, it was a little surprising that I woke up at 8am on day two, but there it was, I was awake and knowing the way my body works, going back to sleep would only leave me with a stinker of a headache. So, I pulled out my PDA and keyboard and made a start on my NaNo project. I knew I wouldn't be able to do MUCH while I was away, but getting a start was important - and a start I duly had when 'Nessa woke up about twenty minutes later.
Over breakfast, we continued our Dan Southworth fest by watching Ghost Rock as dubbed into German. And here, my German vocabulary and comprehension did actually begin (slowly) to return. That day's trip was a trip to Duisburg Zoo which, randomly, is world renowned for breeding Koalas. They do, however, have a wide variety of other animals there, including Racoons (who were extrememly cute), Hyennas (who were being fed just as we got there - which was a fascinating process: The zoo staffer attached a hunk of meat to a zebra cut-out attached to a powered wire loop, it then set out across the Hyenna enclosure and the two Hyenna's chased it and caught the meat), Sealions (we missed the feeding time show - but since when do sealions require an excuse to show off?...!), Penguins and many, many forms of deer (most of which looked disturbingly similar to each other!). The one exhibit we didn't get to see was the Dolphins - but there's always next time for that!
On our return, we had dinner (turkey or chicken with salad and potatos, followed by Apfelkuchen - which was all good :)) and watched...something. I *think* it was "A New Hope", which we watched with the German soundtrack - and I began to prove that I really DO know Star Wars well by repeatedly quoting lines either in synch with or just ahead of the dialogue! sad, I know. The REALLY impressive thing is I started quoting the German...
Day three also began at about 8am but I was sufficiently sleepy that I did roll over and go back to sleep and didn't wake up again until about half past nine. Lazy me! While breakfast was being prepared, I added a bit more to my NaNo project, then hit a wall that required research (the books for which were at home), so that was about as far as I could go. (So for those paying attention: My current NaNo word count is still under 1000 words, but that'll improve this week!) Over breakfast, we continued the vidding, this time with PRTF (dubbed into German - and I have to say, while the voices they used for most of the characters were OK, Ransik's wasn't a good match and Eric's voice was just wrong with nowhere near the subtle sarcasm in the English version!) and plotted the day's excusion, namely a trip to Xanten.
Xanten is a town about 45 minutes away from Duisburg, where they've found the remains of a whole Roman village. It was an amazing place to visit; the only sour points were the weather (it was grey and overcast - the previous two days had been sunny, if a little chilly the day before - but we did avoid the rain, which began about five minutes after we got back!) and the builders in the amphitheatre (which meant we couldn't really explore that - though the hammering did rather neatly demonstrate the amphitheatre's acoustics!). The rest of Xanten was a little spooky; it was so quiet! I guess most of the town's citizens work in the nearby bigger towns, but still, you don't expect streets to be completely silent at 4pm in the afternoon!
That evening, we headed to the cinema. Given my slightly lacking German and a rather limited choice of interesting looking movies, we hit on "Doom" as being easy to follow (which it was - for the most part) and enjoyable (which it was - again, for the most part, though I shan't be rushing out to watch it in English!). I was quite impressed with my ability to follow most of the dialogue, even when they lapsed into biological science about chromasomes (surprisingly enough the German for chromasome is...well, chromasome!). About the one bit I had to ask about later was when The Rock's character, apparently, randomly shot one of his own squad members who was still sane at that point (apparently, Rocky shot him because he refused to follow The Rock's orders and shoot survivors - which I really should have guessed!).
The amusing thing about "Doom" is (for all the Press Gang fans reading this) Dexter Fletcher shows up as a wheelchair bound tech-head - and though it's been more time than I'd like to admit since I saw any Press Gang, I recognised him.
Day four was a lazy day. We were going to be having a late night, so we planned to loaf around and watch many Star Wars films, but we kicked the day off with more PRTF over breakfast and here came the conversation about Mad Max. We were watching Movie Madness - and specifically the point at which it turns into a Mad Max pastiche. I said that I thought Vernon Wells had been in Mad Max (point of fact, he was in Mad Max 2, so IMDB tells me!) and pointed out he was an Australian actor. To which Vanessa pointed out that not all Australian actors had been in Mad Max (which I have to agree with!) and then she mentioned Mel Gibson... I think we giggled about that one off and on for the rest of the vacation!
Empire Strikes Back was watched, with the German soundtrack and English subtitles - which didn't prevent me from reciting certain lines anyway ("Do or do not, there is no try" "who's scruffy looking?" "Laugh it up, fuzzball" - there were one or two more!). Then we watched the special features on 'Nessa's Revenge of the Sith DVD (which had arrived on Monday, from Amazon!) and then, after dinner of pasta pizza (it sounds odd, but it tastes great!) we got ready for our trip to see Starlight Express in Bochum. As an ALW fan, I know some of the music from the show, but I'd never before seen it - though I remember it opening in London back in 1984! - and I was excited to finally get to see how you did a musical on roller skates and just what the HECK the story was. I was *most* impressed. The whole cast were great and the skating was amazing - there was one tumble taken by one of the more minor characters, but he recovered himself so well that I'm almost inclined to think it was in there as comic relief rather than an actual tumble! They also had a couple of professional inline skaters to come out and do sommersaults and assorted jumps that frankly, you should not be able to do on skates. It was a late night, but so very, very worthwhile and so very much fun.
I'm now wondering when/if they're going to do another UK tour and whether it'll come to Bristol and if I can go. That's a lot of ifs.
Day five began in laid back fashion, given the late night. The last of PRTF was watched over breakfast and we then got ready to go into Dusseldorf to visit the Terracotta Army exhibit there (which was a bit short on exhibit and a bit long on tacky suveneirs and disorganisation - the exit, zB, was out a metal fire escape, in the rain!) and then after a tour of the subway and Dusseldorf centre, we went out to the Aquazoo, which is (as the name might suggest) a zoo dedicated to water life. Mostly, in the form of fish and that kind of thing, but they also had penguins who were more than happy to perform for the onlookers! We probably spent about half an hour or so just watching their antics *grin*
We returned to Duisburg and picked up a native form of fast food: Pommes Rot Weisse. That is, Chips with tomato ketchup and mayonaise. I'm not normally a chips-and-mayonaise fan, but this was very good. And even better, they held the onions! We finished the day off with Return of the Jedi (in German - which I quoted large chunks of!)
Day six was yet another laid back start. PRTF finished, we watched RFTF and bits of Forever Red - both in English, since they'd come to 'Nessa from a TV station in Baton Rouge via me! - and then headed into Duisburg for a round of shopping and then a spot of local history in the shape of the Duisburg museum. The shopping was a moderate success - I didn't get my new keyring with the Duisburg crest on, but I did get the bottle of German brandy my father wanted and a gift for 'Nessa's dad. The museum, though, was very interesting, with displays on the history of the area (complete with progressive models showing how the town had grown and changed), a little world history and an exhibit on Koenigsburg which included some bridal neclaces made from absolute *chunks* of amber that must have weighed a positive tonne!
After a trip to the supermarket near 'Nessa's home to buy yoghurt, chicken salad and German biscuits (which my boss and I have been enjoying today!), we had a typical German dinner (leberkäse[livercheese - and it was neither, I hasten to point out!], salad and potatos - which was extremely good) and then watched Phantom Menace and the first two thirds of Attack of the Clones (both in German - though Phantom Menace was with English subtitles for Jar Jar and 'Nessa and I decided we both liked him [I know; that's practically SW herassy!])
Day seven was yet another laid back start. We watched Once More With Feeling (which was in German with the songs not dubbed but subtitled) which I quoted muchly, finished off Attack of the Clones and then watched Revenge of the Sith. This, we did watch in English - which was 'Nessa's pick (by this point in the week, my comprehension of German was pretty good - and I had managed to have a reasonably sane conversation the previous evening about exchange rates, flight prices and football, and I *think* I was understood!). We then headed to Koln and visited the Cathedral (in which we both expected to be struck down by lightning - me for being a nominal Protestant, 'Nessa for being an Agnostic Catholic - though we figured those taking photos inside the church would probably be higher on the list) and then, after a couple of wrong turns ('Nessa is not so good at reading maps - and, apparently, my sense of direction is dang good, even in a city I've never been to before!) and a pit stop at the Haagen Daz cafe, we headed into a chocolate museum. A whole museum devoted to chocolate. Mmmm. Heaven, me thinks. Very interesting exhibits and, best of all, a chocolate shop.
We also discovered chocolate porn: 'Nessa bought a chocolate cook book.
Why yes, we DID drool over it on the return journey to Duisburg!
Dinner was another German meal, this time red cabbage (which I like rather more than the regular kind!), dumplings and Rouladen (which are sort of sausage shaped rolls of meat which can be done with, or without onions - I chose without!) followed by Blueberry pie and cream, which was all good. We then went back upstairs and while I held the inevitable argument with my luggage, we watched Kate and Leopold (in English - because Hugh Jackman is too sexy to not be!)
The following morning was NOT quite so laid back: a 5am wake up call necessitated by a 6am departure for Weeze Airport. I officially HATE going home after a great vacation. Particularly when the home journey starts that early. Ugh. And it was raining, too.
That said, the journey to Weeze was OK and it was then, as we came onto the airport site, that it really hit me the whole thing had once upon a time been an army base. What I wasn't sure about was which army. Given the location, it could have been British, American or possibly even Dutch (Weeze is THAT close to the Dutch border!). Then I saw (and 'Nessa confirmed I had seen it right) a sign: Naffie Family Store. It's an ex-English base.
I had some fun on check in; my suitcase was 5kg over weight - so I incurred my first excess baggage charge of my travel career. I doubt it'll be my last, somehow! The only trouble is, either the girl dealing with me was being trained, OR, she was training the other girl. I couldn't quite work out which was what, but it took twice as long to do as was entirely necessary, I'm sure! After that, though, it was just left to me to say good bye to 'Nessa and her dad, and then head through security.
The guard on the security desk didn't believe me, until I patted my jeans pockets repeatedly, that I didn't have anything in my pockets. (Hmm, the reason for nothing in my pockets would be very straight forward: I've travelled before!) I then had a poke in duty free - setting off the security scanner on ENTRY to the shop, disturbingly (turned out "Kauf Mich" had a security tag that hadn't been properly deactivated!) - and sat down to wait out the half hour or so before my flight. Which passed surprisingly quickly.
As did the flight. And impressively enough, the same thing happened with the weather: What was wet and nasty in Germany was sunny (if chilly) in Stansted. Which meant my drive home was nicer than it could have been.
Could, of course, have been nicer still, but the M25 is the M25 - and at least I was going west on it, not east - which was solid more or less M4 to M11!
So that was my vacation. Much fun and much learning :)
And, of course, I couldn't go anywhere without picking up a couple of plot bunnies. While we were walking Xanten's Roman remains, 'Nessa innocently remarked that it might be fun to see what the PRTF rangers made of Roman times and vice versa. Before either of us knew it, I had a plot bunny that featured Wes going back to Roman times looking for Eric who'd landed himself in a bit of a mess: He was a Gladiator and one they called Spartacus...
And then there's the bunny that I got while watching Revenge of the Sith for a MAAAAAAJOR SW AU, in which Anakin doesn't fall, but someone else does and Padme dies in childbirth, leaving Anakin to bring up their child (or children - I haven't decided whether I'm going to take that bit AU or leave it as twins). It was a sufficiently big bunny that I had to write down a conversation that immediately presented itself between Anakin and Yoda there and then. Though I'm not planning on doing MUCH with this one until after NaNo - for obivous reasons!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-08 11:57 pm (UTC)Re StEx, I've seen mention of a new tour, but I don't know if that was rumour or fact. If it is fact, I can't see it missing a big theatre like the Bristol Hippodrome. Although the tour is quite different from a fixed production, for obvious reasons.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-09 08:47 am (UTC)I was surprisingly restrained in the shop - mostly cos I can't eat chocolate with a high cocoa content, which is most of what was on sale - but I did succumb and buy some very alcoholic kirsch chocolate!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-09 11:24 am (UTC)Hmph.
FYI, Dortmund is only 45 minutes away from Duisburg, and it takes only 20 minutes from the Starlight Theatre to my house.
I'm feeling quite neglected now. *pouts*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-09 10:07 pm (UTC)Sorry :( I suck. I hadn't realised Dortmund was so close. I am geographically challenged. (Got a great sense of direction, but geographically challenged!)
The next time I'm over, though, I promise we will make proper arrangements. *nods*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-09 11:13 pm (UTC)You'd better.