ZQN to MEL to FRA to Berlin
We spent the last two nights in NZ at Hippo Lodge again, mainly eating and eating and eating. I wholeheartedly recommend Cafe Vudu, especially the baked goods. Yummy. For icecream, Patagonia Chocolates, and for pizza, Hell, as usual. Actually, they do a lot better pizza than most of the fancy and expensive restaurants in town. They also get, in conjunction with Air New Zealand, the award for best marketing campaigns ever.
Nuff said. We flew to Melbourne in the morning, I had scored a really really good hotel deal on hotwire, we had a huge top floor apartment with balcony and everything at the Seasons Botanic Gardens, which is located right next to these extremely beautiful Gardens. Couldn't have been better - top hotel for the price of a hostel. Thank you, Internet. Again, I would love to post some pics, but it's still broken. FUCK YOU GOOGLE, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?
I do love the Botanic Gardens in Melbourne. I think I fell in love when I first visited in December 2000, such a great place to chill out, enjoy the plants, birds, right in the middle of the city. Melbourne itself is one of my favourite cities anyway, I love the diversity, the fact that it's walkable, has excellent public transport, the great cafes and restaurants, the parks, ... . However, I do recommend NOT to drive on your own - lots of one way streets and the especially quirky hook turn rule make it a nightmare, even for locals. It's hard to list all the great cafes I've visited there, so I'll limit myself to the absolute highlights. We had a killer "last meal" at Maha and if you like mezze and all that, this is the place to go. It's not cheap, but it was worth every penny! They do very good and creative vegetarian dishes as well and the desserts are heavenly - how about smoked white chocolate mousse?
Coffee is a big thing in Melbourne, and I had one of the best coffees ever at Padre, in the South Melbourne Market on Saturday morning. Cappucino from Heaven. As for breakfast, there are a gazillion great place to have the first meal of the day, I actually found Cafe Sweethearts very much to my liking (that is, absolutely fucking great)! Sure, it's not as hip as, say Hardware Sociéte, which is very good as well, but it is, in my eyes, Sweethearts is more honest. If you lay it on as thick as the Hardware guys, you should be serving homemade jam, not the "Bonne Maman" brand I can buy at every supermarket and which is not particularly good anyway (not bad either, but not special). It's the tiny things that make a difference. But I guess there's enough hipsters with enough money, so it don't matter.
We flew out Saturday afternoon and I've already voiced my disappointment about the poor Cathay lounge in an earlier post. Really, Fuck You Cathay Pacific. Btw, read the food poisoning account and please spread the word that Cathay Pacific sucks and is the worst fucking airline in the universe! http://www.airlinecomplaints.org/showthread.php?p=28562#post28562
Frankfurt was cold, unsurprisingly, but that's what GOD invented merino wool for, thank you Icebreaker outlet. And again, the Deutsche Bahn train ride was very pleasant, so maybe there is some hope after all in this dark dark world of transport companies and their service "pledges". Cheers!
Nuff said. We flew to Melbourne in the morning, I had scored a really really good hotel deal on hotwire, we had a huge top floor apartment with balcony and everything at the Seasons Botanic Gardens, which is located right next to these extremely beautiful Gardens. Couldn't have been better - top hotel for the price of a hostel. Thank you, Internet. Again, I would love to post some pics, but it's still broken. FUCK YOU GOOGLE, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?
I do love the Botanic Gardens in Melbourne. I think I fell in love when I first visited in December 2000, such a great place to chill out, enjoy the plants, birds, right in the middle of the city. Melbourne itself is one of my favourite cities anyway, I love the diversity, the fact that it's walkable, has excellent public transport, the great cafes and restaurants, the parks, ... . However, I do recommend NOT to drive on your own - lots of one way streets and the especially quirky hook turn rule make it a nightmare, even for locals. It's hard to list all the great cafes I've visited there, so I'll limit myself to the absolute highlights. We had a killer "last meal" at Maha and if you like mezze and all that, this is the place to go. It's not cheap, but it was worth every penny! They do very good and creative vegetarian dishes as well and the desserts are heavenly - how about smoked white chocolate mousse?
Coffee is a big thing in Melbourne, and I had one of the best coffees ever at Padre, in the South Melbourne Market on Saturday morning. Cappucino from Heaven. As for breakfast, there are a gazillion great place to have the first meal of the day, I actually found Cafe Sweethearts very much to my liking (that is, absolutely fucking great)! Sure, it's not as hip as, say Hardware Sociéte, which is very good as well, but it is, in my eyes, Sweethearts is more honest. If you lay it on as thick as the Hardware guys, you should be serving homemade jam, not the "Bonne Maman" brand I can buy at every supermarket and which is not particularly good anyway (not bad either, but not special). It's the tiny things that make a difference. But I guess there's enough hipsters with enough money, so it don't matter.
We flew out Saturday afternoon and I've already voiced my disappointment about the poor Cathay lounge in an earlier post. Really, Fuck You Cathay Pacific. Btw, read the food poisoning account and please spread the word that Cathay Pacific sucks and is the worst fucking airline in the universe! http://www.airlinecomplaints.org/showthread.php?p=28562#post28562
Frankfurt was cold, unsurprisingly, but that's what GOD invented merino wool for, thank you Icebreaker outlet. And again, the Deutsche Bahn train ride was very pleasant, so maybe there is some hope after all in this dark dark world of transport companies and their service "pledges". Cheers!
Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific! Fuck you Cathay Pacific!
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