Amsterdam (NETHERLANDS) - the monkey is coming out of the sleeve

Amsterdam (Netherlands)
10 March - 15 March 2016

The Dutch, their cup simply runneth over. You've got to ask questions about the lucky Dutch. Are they in fact plain lucky or is it something else, is the thing we see as luck something that they've allowed themselves to earn?

Inga and I arrived in the land of the giants. A population of tall, svelte, nubile people. All moving within their picture perfect capital city, effortlessly gliding without acrimony on their two wheeled transport vessels, their birthright. Walking from the Amsterdam Centraal we bypass a squall of earnest pedlars, mostly well dressed, flowing naturally through their unashamedly beautiful city. Damn you Dutch people, I've been here 5 mins and already I envy everything about you.

Dragging our luggage down Singel street, directly adjacent to a canal, I was already in admiration of the set-up. Beautifully manicured ordered streets, possessed by meticulously groomed individuals going about their day, treading along intricately paved paths in front of equally gorgeous canal houses, which are in fact, as tall, svelte and attractive as the people around here. You quickly ask yourself, 'were these buildings made in the image of themselves' or was it the other way around, somehow? Standing tall, slender and proud, each building in its place, as correct and beautiful as the next. Once again, 'damn you Amsterdam'.

Overlooking Singel canal - Amsterdam - Netherlands

Amsterdam - Netherlands

Amsterdam - Netherlands

Our home for the next few days was the top floor of one of these buildings overlooking the canal. We both thanked our genetic make up upon entry as we discovered that what also goes with these tall, thin houses are equally as impressive staircases that you literally need to climb like a ladder. Some are so tight and have such a pitch that you wonder how the an man of average height (which here is 1.83mtrs) would be able to manouevere in such a space.

Now when people think of Amsterdam within two logical steps they get to the  concept of the famous 'coffee shops', 'sex shows' and so to the inevitable commentary on how liberal the Dutch are seems to bubble to the surface. First, its true, the coffee shops are hidden in plain site and much the same as sex workers, obvious but hidden. The way in the Netherlands, it appears, is that things operate with reason. The Dutch are pragmatic for the most part and also appear to have level of tolerance to most thing, driven by their pragmatism. To me it make sense, and to rational people this philosophy makes sense. Overt interference by the state can come unnecessarily. With a lot of things that other countries attempt to regulate and suppress, when the state is overprotective and attempts to interfere unduly with personal choice then those choices simply get made in other ways, with less openness. Unreasonable interference only means loss of control and loss of the ability to inform, the alternative therefore, is tolerance with openness, information and the ability to actually regulate. To me it looks like the perfect combination. What you need to be available is there, you don't have to be subversive in your desire to access these things and thus there exists a society where all is cool Hunny Bunny.....once again, damn you Amsterdam.

 Amsterdam - Netherlands

Amsterdam - Netherlands

                                                               Amsterdam - Netherlands

Amsterdam - Netherlands

The canals of the city are amazing. They form a labyrinth of intriguing water ways that gives this city a totally different dimension. Aside from the 'chilled' sense of the streets, as traffic in the city centre is more occupied by a fleet of cyclists than cars, the canals provide an additional layer of calm and serenity whilst allowing the town to be framed in a way that's very different from other place. With over 100kms of canals in the city Amsterdam is known as the Venice of the North, but to say that it somehow relegates the city to a position of inferiority. This place is just more 'epic' and makes much more of an impression than Venice. That's a simple fact.

                                                                 Amsterdam - Netherlands

Amsterdam - Netherlands

Amsterdam - Netherlands

Amsterdam - Netherlands

Amsterdam - Netherlands

Inga loves Amsterdam and it didn't take me long to completely understand why that is. It a gorgeous place. Of course, we both contemplated our love, several times, a few of the many cool coffee shops that punctuate the city. I have to say...not problems from my side, puffing up a level of tranquility in a city like this just seems to be as fitting as having a glass of Malbec from your favourite asador in Buenos Aires. I recall on one particular evening as we made our way back to our canal house on Singel that I became acutely aware of my own personal frame of time in the greater context of time, as perceived by individuals around me, or should I say, as I perceived that individuals around me would perceive my acts within their own framework of time. To put it in plain English, the MJ had messed with my motor skills and I felt kind of wasted, although I had a huge hankering from some fries! And man, fries are on every opposite corner here, and right next door, more often than not, a place that makes waffles!

Amsterdam - Netherlands

Amsterdam - Netherlands

On one of the days we actually left the small village feel of Amsterdam and spent a day in the surrounds of another small village, Leiden. Inga has a sister that lives there and we spent the day cycling around the area within what I believe was the national park (Nationaal Park Zuid Kennermeland) near Haarlem, finishing off our day in the town of Leiden for a tour, some red hot bowling and even better apple pancakes. So for that I have to give a big thank you to both Veronika and Wouter for being our guides for the day.

Haarlem - Netherlands

Haarlem - Netherlands

Leiden - Netherlands

                                                                  Leiden - Netherlands

Again, Leiden, like its big sister Amsterdam, is another gorgeous town. Once again, my pangs of jealousy abounded when I started to realise that all of the Netherlands could quite possibly look this way, and there I was, sitting back with only Belgrade to support me, realising that it indeed is much more than luck that can bring you to this position. In Serbia everything is a problem, its either difficult, not worth doing, not as good as somewhere else or there some type of rort happening. Serbians defraud themselves. Luck only really follow those that work for it, those that earn it. The Dutch, it appears, have earned it, and to that you can only give them credit and say, your luck is my respect.

Vienna (AUSTRIA) - Budapest (HUNGARY) - Real life version 2.0

Vienna (Austria) - Budapest (Hungary)
25 January 2016 - 29 January 2016

Thinking back to the moment when it dawned on Inga that she may need to move to Belgrade, and that period of time would be in the vicinity of 2 years now,  it sometimes for me brings on feelings of extreme sympathy. Not only was I asking her to leave Riga but I had no chance of talking up the qualities of Belgrade, for sure it couldn't be dressed up as being an upgrade. For anyone making short visit to the Serbian capital will find that its very Balkan, in a post Communist, overtly nationalistic, historically challenged kind of way. It doesn't give you any sort of tingling sensation, in the loins or otherwise, and my goodness, TWO YEARS sounded like a death sentence when it came out of my mouth. It was however my best and final offer.

Vienna and Budapest were like the teaspoon of sugar, the dangling carrot that needed to be engineered as the entree to our real live, version 2.0. I call it a 'real life' as we had lived together for three months whilst travelling, we had lived together for three months in Australia, but none of it was really domestic bliss now was it? This was 'living together' in a real world kind of way and it was going to be taking place in a city that I only had a small idea of and Inga has no idea about. Let the canned laughter ensue.

Vienna - Austria

Vienna - Austria

Vienna - Austria

Vienna - Austria

Vienna - Austria

We were getting good at meeting in airports, Buenos Aires, Stockholm, Belgrade, Riga, Sydney, Vienna - it became unexpectedly familiar. For a while we became one of those couples that you'd see reacquainting themselves after an extended time apart. It was nice, in an odd way, but this time it was 'hello, I missed you' with the caveat that we'd be staying together, and that in itself was something to celebrate.

A day earlier Vladimir and I had busted out of Belgrade bound for my rendevous point with Inga at Vienna International. After having spent a few years with my cousin, living virtually next door, there's a couple of things I've gotten to know about him. He drives recklessly, so much so that it makes me feel uneasy. Do I think he's a good driver? Yes, but do I like the chances that he takes unnecessarily? No ....and do I think he jeopardises the welfare of his passengers? Yes, and I hate that and whatever bravado or machismo goes with that aggressive/reckless form of driving. I'm called him out on it a few times and called him out on it on this occasion too. Another thing about my cousin, he's particular. He doesn't like crowds but by that I mean he won't like venue if it is vibrant and has plenty of people, that just isn't his thing. That has challenges in itself and in some way negates a large part of freedom and enjoyment on my part. Thankfully in Vienna on this occasion it posed no challenges.

Inga arrived in Austria on Australia Day, in a city with no kangaroos but plenty of bratwurst and schnitzels for the offering. That's not really a comparison other than to simply pass commentary on the situation that Australia Day in Austria is bemusing.

Australian pub - on Australia Day - Vienna - Austria

Schonbrunn Palace - Vienna - Austria

Vienna or rather Wien, wow!  Just a wonderfully sophisticated, engaging, elegant city. Every time I visit I fall a little deeper and harder for it, and of course, walk a little taller as this was my grandfather's hometown. Heinrich Elisher, my namesake was from here and I like to imagine that by walking through the city I'm stepping on the paths, on the stones, in some of the gardens the he did. I like to imagine looking at this city through his eyes and think somehow, in some way that he can see me strolling through his backyard. Sometimes those ancestral echoes ring louder when you're closer to home.

Apart from being known as the City of Music, it's also known as the City of Dreams because it was also the home of the worlds first psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud, and again, when I look at the timeline of when my grandfather was alive and living in Vienna its very likely the two would have crossed paths on the odd occasion.

We spent a few days in Vienna, just walking around the city and also seeing Schonbrunn Palace, a place that at one time was the Summer residence of the Hasburn rulers. Considering it was the end of January we were relatively lucky with the weather also, navigating our way through without so much as a bout of rain, snow or sleet.

After a few days in Vienna we headed down to Budapest via a brief stop in the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava. 

Now the great thing about Europe, which is totally different to countries such as Australia or the US, is that you can travel a mere 60-70kms and be in another country and capital city, which was the case here. Only a 70km, 1hr drive from Vienna and there we were, still on the Danube but having lunch in the old Czechoslovakia, experience something totally different in terms of geography, language, culture and food.

Budapest - Hungary

Budapest - Hungary

Budapest - Hungary

Later that day we arrived in Budapest. A city which in some odd way, being so close to Belgrade, I felt as though I should know more about, but in actual fact knew nothing about. Additionally, and somewhat embarrassingly, there had always been that ingrained Serbian prejudice in me that somehow Budapest was inferior, to what exactly I'm not sure. Inferior to everything. It's a very Serbian view, everyone else is inferior but they know nothing in their country is of quality either - so essentially, in their mind, everything is crap!

Budapest - Hungary

Budapest - Hungary

 Budapest - Hungary

Budapest - Hungary

Budapest IS NOT crap, in fact its wonderful and one of the great highlights of Europe. The unfortunate thing was that it took so long for me to discover our next door neighbour and that also, on this trip, we would only be staying the night. Never the less, Inga & I gave ourselves the opportunity to wonder around. 

Budapest - Hungary

On the Serbian border - three passports - all awaiting entry

Starting at the Liberty Bridge we walked down one side of the Danube in front of Gellert hill to the Rudas Healthy Spa, essentially making a small circuit. Unfortunately we didn't have time on our side but from what I saw and experience of Budapest I knew that it had to be placed high on the list for a return.  Considering Budapest was now going to be a neighbour there was no reason that we shouldn't start up a friendship.

Perth - Margaret River - Esperance (AUSTRALIA) - Take a big bite of that cheese wheel

Perth - Margaret River - Esperance (Australia) 
04 January - 12 January 2016

If only for some stronger emotional attachments and a little more resilience I could have been touting the proficiency of stroopwafel makers in Sandringham, marveling to at the audacity of erwtensoep vendors in Cottesloe to drop in hints of cumin and lemon myrtle in their offerings or even lauding the wonderful cafe culture of Fremantle, which we all know would suit the place to a tea. But hey, the Dutch just weren't that into us. New Holland didn't have that tulip growing potential of Rotterdam and their clogs just wouldn't cut the mustard of the arid Western shores. It's a shame, we could have had a hell of a team to support come World Cup time, even if we have been classified as the eternal chokers. 

Although Willem Janszoon hit the top end in 1606, it was Dirk Hartog that fired his vessel across the Southern Ocean in 1616 and left his little pewter inscription for all Aborigines to 'marvel' at who would have copped a mouthful of Dutch, had they have had a written language. The Dutch discovery unfortunately discounts out of hand the 40,000 years of Aboriginal history with Australia but still brings us to the question of what if? Could you imagine contemplating the wonderful canals of the Swan river as you mitigated aggressive cyclists whilst on your way to a dyke building convention...sigh, if only.

A five hour flight from Sydney and three hours behind the rest of us, its sometimes to forget those guys over there. I mean their reluctance to join the Federation way back when reminds me of those indecisive girls at school that just had way too many options but realised, almost too late, that the best think since Hageslag was about to escape their grasp. Still, for all their isolation, we tolerate them sand gropers because the eternal absoluteness of geography is that they will forever remain over there.

Perth has some great beaches, that is a fact, and Fremantle is engaging, actually Fremantle is a little more than that, its like dropping into your mates places, who also happens to be a muso and has a hippie style apartment in a great location. You know that you're going to have a great time and probably end up drinking a little too much. 

Rottnest Island - Western Australia 

Rottnest Island - Western Australia

About an hour off the coast of Fremantle however is the real highlight. I'd heard about the wonders of Rottnest island (Rotto) but the Dutch didn't do it any justice by naming it Rats Nest island after the quokka population that inhabits it. A little surprising in itself as these little creatures are substantially bigger than your average rodent, nowhere near as disgusting and behave significantly differently. Sometimes I think a load of fermented juniper berries had these clog clapping cheese munchers as high as a kite when terminology was being discussed...maybe...maybe they were just high, we can only speculate. In any case Rotto is significantly larger than I anticipated, 18kms2,has a much larger population than I thought and more interestingly, has some mighty fine beaches and, to add even more butter to the pan, has the most southern tropical outcrop of coral. Why wouldn't you want to make a visit here? Well, other than the fact that I truly believe that the $70 cost for a round-trip is a little bit of a touch up.

Not only can Australia be a harsh, dry, arid place to have to endure, but also, contending with natural phenomena are part and parcel of who we are. On the day Inga and I pointed our vehicle south to Margaret River, a bush fire swept through an area immediately south of Perth. Having a perimeter in excess of 390 kilometres this thing was brutal. Aside from cutting the most direct access route for us and turning what should have been a 3hr journey into something like 8hrs, it was the scene that surround this rampage that was mind blowing. The smoke from the fire itself was so dense and extensive that it created its own weather system - almost a self perpetuating fire generator if you consider a lightning strike a possible match.

On the road to Margaret River - in the midst of some raging fires

Leeuwin Estate winery - Margaret River - Western Australia

Leeuwin Estate winery - Margaret River - Western Australia

Leeuwin Estate winery - Margaret River - Western Australia

Margaret River itself was quite the draw card. I say that with my real reference point being the winery at Leeuwin estate. Absolutely stunning. Wineries in themselves are small plots of adult escapism, extensively well manicured, immaculate in presentation and purveyors of the most precious of liquids. Adult Disney Worlds, but this place was something else, and I know for a fact we visit several other wineries but don't recall either their names or the way they looked with any real clarity, so was the impression that Leeuwin Estate made. 

I should have dedicated more time to this area. I should know better as I always say that about any wine region I've passed through and can only really say that the only place we've ever done justice to was Stellenbosch, just outside of Cape Town. Like so many before and inevitably so many more to come, this will need to be left to another day.

Raging fires outside of Esperance - Western Australia

On the way to Esperance - Western Australia

Outside of Esperance - Western Australia

The next few days we spent carving a path across the South Western coastline, passing through Denmark, staying overnight in Albany and then eventually settling in the town of Esperance for a few nights.  Our goal here was to spend some time analysing what apparently is some of the whitest sand beaches in Australia, if not the world. The oddly named Hellfire Bay, and the somewhat appropriately named Lucky Bay in (Fedde) Le Grand National Park - 'Put your hands up for Detroit' why don't you - makes the fantastic claim of being bleach white. I mean, they have a process by which every granule of sand is hand bleached over a period of several days and returned to its original location, a process which is completed twice a year (???).............OK, so if you believed that line then I'd suggest you go and finish of that bottle of wine now. Never the less, the sand is in fact impressively white and its contrast against the deep blue of the Southern Ocean epitomises what it is to be on the south-western shores of this continent. Of course the ever so tame kangaroos also sign-post this locations as being unequivocally Australia.

Hellfire Bay - near Esperance - Western Australia

Hellfire Bay - Esperance - Western Australia

Hellfire Bay - Esperance - Western Australia

Hellfire Bay - Esperance - Western Australia

Lucky Bay - near Esperance - Western Australia

Can you get any more Australian than this photo?

The crystal clear waters over Southern Ocean over the whitest sand in Australia - Lucky Bay - Western Australia

Making our way back to Perth on our final full day also allowed us to stop in at the relatively well known tourist trap of Wave Rock, just outside the town of Hyden. I call it a tourist trap because really its unimpressive and actually verges on crap. Moderately captivating for 3 seconds and then disheartening immediately after, I admonish myself for years of muted anticipation, and then, the time spent to logistically put ourselves in the path of the site, and even more so, to actually visit it. It simply looks like a wave in rock form. OK. So freakin' what. The allure and fascination of that lasts for longer than it will take you to read the remainder of this line. Now that you have you can read about all things touristy that will suck notes from your wallet here -  Wave rock sucks balls - just be aware, Wave rock really does suck balls, so don't be afraid to let the people know.

 Wave Rock - Hyden - Western Australia

Surfing wave rock - about the only fun you can have in Hyden

Making our way back to Perth was effectively doting the I and crossing the T on our Australian tour of discovery. What an impressive few months it was too. Unexpected in many ways for me, I'd always down graded both my want and desire to see Australia for all things foreign. A mistake in some ways, both from a patriotic and financial perspective, I recognise now that we do have the goods to warrant a mention in people's bucket list.

So let me say this to all of you wanting to come - 'Where the bloody hell are 'ya'