Mann' Made

Met a nice young lass form Warnamble who joined me at a carvery for a rather nice roast, with massive fresh Yorkies 'n gravy, YUMMO!

I must admit I did not realise that there were so many Ghosts in york!

There is also lots of lovely ales available here, one of my favourites is this one

how you remember a place!

Well here I am in Krakow, a nice medievil city, not too crowded, and pretty chilled out, I have my own little apasrtment here for 4 days, mainly to chill out and reclaim some of my "personal space" after the Hostel scene.

Cooked my first meal for myself the other night, bought a heap of greens and a massive steak!

Have just been chilling out, going for the odd wander, but I must say the Krakow night is an awesome thing!!!! ;-)
It actually snowed tonight for a while, however I did not have my camera on me as I was on piss in a few clubs.

Sooooooooo glad I bought this thick jacket in Cardiff last month, is pretty damm cold!!!!!


Have had a good time tonight at a backpackers bar with the ever present guitar and drinking games!, the most abused song of my trip, would have to be without a doubt "Wonder wall", there has not been a city in Europe that it has not been a regular feature!


(Here is another: I was in an Irish pub in the south of Poland and all the locals were singing "Alice, Alice who the Fuck is Alice!" Was absolutely Hilarious!).

I am heading off to Auswitch tomorrow, I was pretty cut up after visiting Anne Franks House, so tomorrow should be another thing, however I have met some guys and gals that are going on the same tour, so some friendly faces will be good,. Is bloody cold again tonight, is supposed to snow again, but we will see. We were so glad for the central heating when we got up this morning!.
Till Glasgow and the whiskey trails!!!

I have been lucky with most of my hostel's so far, have picked another beauty!!
This one "The Bulldog", is located slap bang in the middle of the city, has good facilities and a huge bar, with cheap beer.

Was pretty whacked when I arrived so went down for a little nap. Overslept (2hrs) ad it was night already.

I went for a little wander and Ohhhh my goodness........................................................

I certainly did not intend to indulge myself whilst I was here, but when I looked up when I passed that window I was transfixed........So, So good, my senses were on fire, ready to explode, and cheap too, I had not prepared myself for this.

I had made my decision, I had been without for a while now and could not restrain myself.
I sat down and we discussed the "Menu", the variety was quite extensive, (Some of it a little too exotic for my tastes)

I picked my selection, and off I went. The "Karma Sutra" certainly satisfied me, I do not know if it was because I had been without for so long and my standards have dropped, but I swear that that was the best Lamb Rogan Josh I have had in ages.

I went for a walk around town, and decided that unless you were there to screw or smoke, Am-Dam might be a little boring. (if not eye opening!)

I stopped by a little pub for a nightcap and ran into a couple of lovely young lasses from Coventry. My "early" night lasted till about 4am.

The next day was true tourist time, I started off with The Anne Frank House, The Heineken experience, and the Van Gough Museum.
All were great, with the Anne Frank House taking trumps, It was quite a moving and saddening visit, I think the visit to Auswich will be mind blowing!

I met up with the girls from last night, and we decided to just stay in one pub for a few quiet ones, we all had stuff all sleep and a big day,
I did however get myself a "Puppy" fix (You can take dogs anywhere in Europe!).

Another quiet wander in the morning, and was time for the long haul to Krakow (Via Berlin).

Should be able to update more often now, so do not forget,
Same Mann time, Same Mann channel.

A super fast Belgian stopover, Brussels is a beautiful old city, in the centre, the shops compromise of the following primary fixtures:

• Chocolatiers
• Pubs
• Restaurants
• Vinyl Stores

Did a lot of walking as usual, it did not help that my hostel was 15min out of town.

Found an "Ever present" Irish pub to watch the second semi-final,
accompanied by mussels and fries- Yes they were good, but it is pretty hard to stuff them up.
On the way back from the Rugby, I saw one for you JAG

I Hope everything in the world of Babyland is doing well!!

Met up with a couple of people from the hostel for dinner tonight, A Japanese Brazilian and a French Canadian,
We found this lovely cheap little Vietnamese soup kitchen, which was not too bad, but made me crave again for some Kowloon action, How I miss the Excellent greens.......
I am having continual Vege' cravings over here, Sure you always get potato as standard, but real veggies in decent supply is hard to come by.
An early one tonight, on the train again tomorrow

It was only a quick stop over in Rome, but I had a semi-final to see!

I had been offered 500 pound for my ticket, by a Pom I met in the Pantheon but I was here in Europe and had to go to the game.


Come game night I attempted to arrive at the stadium around 6pm (Gates opened at 7, kick off at 9pm) I had to let 6 metro's pass by, bursting at the seams before I (and the thousand or so other people on the platform) could even start boarding the metro.

After being stuck for a sardine for 20 odd minutes, we finally his the stadium. The atmosphere was absolutely electric, the thing was I still did not know who I was going for, the Defeat of the wallabies was still fresh in my mind, but I would have severe trouble supporting "the Blues " on two occasions in one cup.


I had not made a conscious decision about it until A kiwi (french flag and all) asked me who I was supporting, Without hesitation I chose "The Motherland"

Twas a great game, I was only 5 rows form the sideline, directly behind the posts.




Well you all know the result. the french around me were crying, whilst the by the thousands were singing as one.

A few post match Beers saw me back to the hostel. To Beer land tomorrow!!

(Bascillicalicious)

I was there with A guy I met in Barcelona, and his room mate from his hostel ( & Catholic to boot)

he struck up a conversation with a fellow Yankee (a Priest) and we were all invited to attend a Mass.

Sean & I however passed up on the offer, It would have been great to see, but time was short and lines were growing;

We only waited for 1 1/2 hrs to get into "The Vat" and did the whole tour thing. there really was some pretty impressive stuff;

Hallways Ahoy!!!

Was pretty screw toward the end, the lack of sleep and excessive walking was catching up to me, so I saw a chance to duck out via the Bascillica, and you wouldnt believe who I bumped into!!!

Was time for a little Siesta before heading out for the afternoon. Did the spanish steps (Yay)

and the pantheon, now that was pretty speccy!

Had a quiet night in last night, ordered pizza in to the hostel (By the way, my hostel "The Yellow" is by far the best hostel in which I have stayed, so put it on your "to visit" list Inclusive with another new cocktail, "The Chuck Norris Roundhouse Kick to the Face"

1/3 Vodka

1/3 Absinthe

1/3 Jager

top with a good dash of Tabasco and shoot away, I LIKE IT!

Am now back in Paris, waiting to get into my hostel, ready to see the Frogs get revenge on the Poms!

To be Continued...............................................

Had to run from that last internet cafe, It was driving me crazy!,
Slow as & must have doubled as a child care centre, kids screaming everywhere.

I met up with some Aussies at a Tapas bar in the back streets (Hi Micala, Cam & Sean) was great to catch up with some people and have a conversation greater than é words at a time!

Is the trouble with the "whirlwind tour" often don't stay in one place long enough to hook up with other travellers;

Barcelona is huge, what an awesome place, (did I say that already?)
There are people everywhere, including the biggest concentration of "Statue Buskers" I have ever seen.

Did not eat before 11pm on any of my nights, often finishing dinner around 1am.

Had some wicked (if not weird) Tapas, and an awesome Paella; Was actually happy that my hostel had no Self catering kitchen, so I HAD to eat out!

The next stop was going to be Marsellies, For the Aus v Eng qtr final, but all accommodation was booked solid, so the next best place was Montpellier. A lovely city, roughly the same size as Adelaide.





Full of Universities and students = Lots of bars





Was recommended a bar to watch the match, (Was where the Aussie team drank during the pool matches) We all know how that ended up!





That night (was supposed to be early) was when the Frogs upset the Kiwis.


I was drowning my sorrows with a few other Aussies, at the start of the game.


If only because there were a couple of All Grey (sorry ¨All Black¨) supporters at the next table, our table was supporting the French. (Hey it´s not the first time Australia has supported the French: WW1, WW2 etc)


Anyhow the french won, and we did not pay for another drink that night!

(This is Arnot my friendly French Bartender. He was pouring me beers and yet another home made cocktail (this time, Apple juice, vodka, cinnamon, ginger +++) was just like drinking Apple pie! (Arnot had photos of half the Aus team drinking in his bar, plastered everywhere)

My ¨Early Night¨ ended at 2.30 am, as my next train left first thin in the morning.

That was an UGLY morning!!!

Though it was even better at night

Had an awesome meal (On mother) which included my first taste of fois gras. (Maggie Beer´s pheasant pate does not hold a bar!)

I met some nice pom´s (Yes they exist) at an Irish bar in the back streets. They were a good bunch and all worked in Lyon. The bar tender taught me a cocktail to bring home, The ¨James Joyce Special¨ (Coming to your shores soon)

Paris is lovely.............................................

also overcrowded, expensive, Fattening & crazy!



Have had mixed feelings about Paris, with certain issues arising (or further developing) and being unwell (my "Cold" has upgraded to "infected sinus & eardrum", with complimentary "sign language" Doctor visits etc)



But the Verve are wrong, The drugs DO work! and you'll all see my face again!


The Louvre- night



It is time to leave paris, not even sure where i am going. Will just head to the train station and head west to Normandy or south to Lyon;

Twas a big night, but I did reach my goal of 10 Steins without being too messy.

The next day was a non-event as we were just looking for plane flights & then we were on the train to Paris!!

Although I must admit, the view from the front was not so bad..............

Would definitely like to head back here, to do a little walking and fishing (Rainbow Trout Heaven).

It is my second (and last) night in Dublin,
My cold is still giving me the shits, but is slowly receding, with enough drugs (thank God they still sell you Psuedoephedrine in Ireland) and Irish whiskey.

Had a general wander about on the first day, then hit Temple bar in the evening, which was jam packed to bursting. the majority of all the pubs were overflowing out onto the streets, yet still managed a couple of pints of the black gold.

Dublin is a lot more run down than I expected, lots of derelict buildings about and general disrepair. There always seems to be a siren blaring in the background Ambulance and police always rushing somewhere.

The following day I did the Jameson's factory and then the Guinness Storehouse
The Tour at the storehouse is pretty huge, with an awesome bar at the top of the building, with glass walls, giving 360' views over Dublin.

Am about to head out for a last couple of pints of Guinness before bed.
Picked the car up today and its off to Belfast in the morning.
Later!!

Hiya All, and Greetings from Dublin,

Since my last post, we Left Ben and Afsha & caught the train to Cardiff, where we met up with my cousin Dylan (& his Fiancee Gemma).
Dylan was able to score us some tickets to the Wales v Japan match. On the night we were swept along the roads in a sea of red, till we hit the stadium. The game was great, (which wales won of course). We were almost deafened every time Wales scored a try, as the crowd cheered in unison.

After the game was finished and won, we hit the bars, (a little too hard in fact) It seemed as soon as I finished one beer another was being thrust into my hand. after a mini hangover in the morning, we flew off to Dublin............................