Festival of Fifty – Chapter 6: Europe

This is the influencer boulevard of trees at Marina Bay Sands...

And so we arrive at the final chapter of the Festival of Fifty 

This one takes us to Europe: a week in the Dolomites followed by a Croatian coastal voyage aboard Club Med 2. The travelling party is small but well tested. There's Mal, who by now requires no introduction, and joining us are Richard, one of our university friends, and his wife Ali, who I've known even longer, having first met her at age 15.

The story of how Richard and Ali ended up on this trip deserves a brief detour. Mal and Richard, in a remarkable display of life admin coordination, happened to be booked in for colonoscopies on the same day last year. In the post-anaesthetic haze that followed...that brief window of pharmaceutical goodwill where everything seems like a fine idea...Mal made a very persuasive case for an expensive European holiday. Richard agreed. After all, if not now, then when. Points flights were available. It was a sign. He then went home and, still riding the same wave of chemically-induced joy, booked himself a Wimbledon hospitality package for afterwards, because if you're going to have a big day, you may as well commit.

So here we are.

The plan is simple enough. A week based in the Dolomites exploring mountain trails, cycling paths, alpine villages and whatever local delicacies we can justify after a day of exercise. After that, Richard and Ali will head for London and Centre Court, while Mal and I swap hiking boots for deck shoes and board Club Med 2 to sail our way down the Croatian coast.

But before there are mountains or yachts, there is the small matter of getting there.

The journey begins with a flight to Singapore and a layover long enough that sitting in the airport felt like an unacceptable waste of time. The trade-off was humidity and sweat, which we accepted. Changi, in collaboration with Singapore Airlines, offers free city tours for transiting passengers — there are criteria to meet, and when we plugged in our details, exactly one option came up: the Singapore River and Marina Bay Sands. So that was that.

The tour was perfectly fine. It chewed up the hours adequately. And when we were dropped back at the terminal, we were very glad to be back in the air conditioning. Up to the lounge for a shower, some food, and the grim task of staying awake for another four hours until our flight to Munich finally boarded — sometime well past midnight.

We made it through immigration this time with no instructions from the immigration officer like "your eyes open big ok" at the automatic passport booths

The group size was  33

The bus was air-conditioned

Clarke Quay, our first stop

If I was paying attention I would know why I took this photo

Sir Stamford Raffles, the English guy who basically founded modern Singapore. And our guide TC, who was enthusiastic and friendly, but overly shared personal stories

Boat Quay

Original landing spot of Raffles

Oldest building in Singapore, ex parliament house, currently a theatre

The old Supreme Court

"pit" test

LV anyone?

Travel party

STAY AWAKE!

Making Our Way Home

 

Our last activity overseas

It was sadly time to go home. Fortunately, the train strike that was announced today wouldn't commence until Jan 10! Yay for us! This meant we didn't have to execute plan B, taking on the farmer and their tractors on the road. It also meant we had time for one last adventure, combat karts. We drove for about 45 minutes out of the city for this experience of real lie MarioKart. All three children were clearly more fearless than I was, or played more Mariokart. I was lapped several times...thank goodness there were no other drivers other than our family on the track. The rest of the family enjoyed it immensely. I walked out with sore shoulders and a tense neck!

The combat kart track

You pick up "power ups" on the track to use against your opponents. 

In case we forgot who we were

After returning our car back at the Hilton, we collected our luggage and commenced our very long and convoluted way back to Australia. We trained the short distance to Munich Hbf, and wolfed down some Asian. I promise it was because there were no seats at all the other cafes and restaurants! 

We bought our intercity train tickets as soon as they were released online. This is generally the cheapest if you're organised. We got first class tickets it was only marginally more expensive than second class tickets. There's free wifi onboard, as well as power points (no USB outlets). The seats are reasonably comfortable with footrests. The overhead luggage compartment is large enough to hold large suitcases.

As I sit here on the high speed train hurtling our way towards Frankfurt airport, I'm hoping that the rest of our travels will go smoothly. Our first flight will be to Singapore where we will have a very long layover unfortunately. Beggars couldn't be choosers as these were the only points flights that were available for all of us. We do get to experience the Aerotel, although Lara was disappointed that it was not truly a capsule hotel. From there, it will be another 8 hours before we land in Sydney. See you soon folks! Or maybe not so soon...

Asian that was actually ok

The place was "pan-Asian" but as soon as I heard the Vietnamese I chose the pho. It was a wise move!

The station was packed!

The train taking us to Frankfurt Airport

Displays with helpful information

For those interested in the speed

Next stop

Spacious

In case you were wondering what the vehicle of torture looked like

Let It Snow

 

Lake Königssee

What do Australians with no snow and ice driving do when it snows? They drive for 2 hours on the wrong side of the road just to visit a lake. We briefly discussed alternative plans should the rail strike go ahead, but there wasn't much we could do until they announced the strike, and we were assured that 48 hours notice would be given by the rail workers union, so why not go on a road trip! We had a family vote the night before on the destination. Charming Bavarian villages was voted out almost immediately. It was a close one between Lake Königssee and Neuschwanstein Castle and the former won.

The change of pace was actually nice. The change in mode of transport was also nice. We were able to play our own music on a spotify family jam on the drive. The drive to Lake Königssee was scenic. German roads were in excellent condition and it was well signed. I won't bore you with the details of our Lake visit as it was mostly just enjoying nature and playing with snow. However, the restaurant where we took refuge from the cold served up the best German meal as voted by the children!

Fingers crossed for tomorrow that we can actually make it to Frankfurt for our flight home!

Checking out our hire car and jostling for seating position

Driving out of the city

Turning off into more rural areas

Those buildings are boat houses!

You can't see it but the water was very clear

The humble looking restaurant

Warm and cozy

with a pretty view

I may have become a beer drinker, especially as it was cheaper than coke here!

The servings were huge. Turkey, hash brown, and mushrooms

A better version of the roast pork that we had at Hofbräuhaus

Schloss & SS

 

Schloss Nymphenburg

Today we questioned the wisdom of leaving behind sunny Spain for miserable Munich. It was frigidly cold, and it was rainy. To make matters worse, our seemingly "safe" choice of being closer to our departing airport of Frankfurt may not be so "safe" after all. Rumours were rife of impending rail strikes from Jan 8 and that the farmers were also going to strike on the same day, taking to the roads on their tractors. Double whammy! Take me back to 18 degrees and blue skies! Out came our layers as we continued to tackle the sights of Munich. 

Utilising Munich's well connected public transport, we made our way to Nymphenburg Palace. It was a crash course for us on the House of Wittelsbach, the ruling family of Bavaria, of which we knew nothing about. King Ludwig II was born here, the king who was responsible for Neuschwanstein Castle (important because this was what inspired the Disney castle!), also known as Mad King Ludwig. The palace was built as a summer residence and we could see how all this would be more pleasant with sun...

This particular Hilton had a sitting area set aside for diamond members

Different country, different royal family to school up on!

Consensus was that the above portrait would be what a female Malcolm would look like

This was where Ludwig II was born. Also known as Mad King Ludwig

Do we look miserable?!

The next stop was a more sobering one, the second of Jonah's museum request, the NS-Dokumentationszentrum. It is a museum which focuses on the history and consequences of the National Socialist regime and the role of Munich in the Hitler Regime. The museum was housed in a building built on the site of the original "Brown House", the home of the Nazi Party centre of operations. The museum did a great job highlighting how the historical, social and economical factors made the rise of Hitler possible. We spent hours here and by the time we finished, the brain was definitely drained. We were also starving.

On our way back, we had to change modes of transport and we headed into the first warm, recognisable place that we knew would provide food quickly. Big Rosti was calling me. A burger with hash brown and cranberry sauce?! I'm sold. Apparently McShrimp was also a thing, although I probably wouldn't recommend it!

Spell that!

I could not resist this

Regular McNuggets on the left, McShrimp on the right!