Month: November 2012
Munich
Munich is right into the Christmas spirit, except that the big event here is Advent – the period leading up to Christmas. As in most other European countries, the big event for families is Christmas Eve – that’s when St Nicholas arrives and all the celebrations of the season take place. Yesterday, we spent most […]
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The Train to Munich
There’s nothing much better (apart from being upgraded on a plane flight) than travelling across Europe by train. These guys really know how to do it properly. What a way to travel! We caught an Austrian Railways train from Vienna yesterday. It had originated in Budapest and we reached its termination point in Munich 4 […]
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Memorials in Vienna
Vienna has many monuments in the shape of grand buildings and probably all of them are worthy of some form of description. We came across a significant one just a few hundred metres from our hotel – The Russian Memorial! Near the end of World War II, Soviet forces captured Vienna and freed it from Hitler’s […]
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Schonbrunn Palace
Today, we decided to head out to see Schonbrunn Palace, the summer palace of the Habsburgs. It was a quick fifteen minute train ride along the U4 line from our station across the road from our hotel. There was another Christmas market operating at the Palace, making the grounds very busy. It seemed to have […]
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Christmas Markets in Vienna
Vienna is famous for its many Christmas Markets which are scattered around the many parks and open spaces of the city. They are an age-old tradition. The forerunners of the present-day events date back to the Middle Ages when in 1298 Albrecht I granted Vienna’s citizens the privilege of holding a December Market or “Krippenmarkt”. […]
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Vienna
It’s easy to see why so many people fall in love with Vienna and declare it to be their most favourite city in the world. It is simply a beautiful, charming city. The first impression that one gets of this city are of the grand palaces and impressive buildings along the ring road which […]
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Travelling to Vienna
We were due to leave Melbourne at 4:40 pm for Vienna yesterday, but didn’t eventually leave until just after 8:00 pm. The emergency door lighting function on the plane had failed and they had to fly a new part down from Sydney and then install it. This was my third flight on The Qantas A380. […]
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Remembrance Day – Canberra
When I came to Canberra for the weekend, I wanted to do three things – see the original Long Tan Cross, catch up with John Snare, my Platoon Commander in Vietnam and attend the Remembrance Day service at the Australian War Memorial. This morning, we attended the Rembrancd Day Service. One of the highlights was […]
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The Battle of Long Tan was the most significant battle during Australia’s war in Vietnam. It took place late in the day on August 18, 1966 between just over 100 Australian Soldiers of D Company of the 6th Batallion RAR and perhaps 2000 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Regular Army Soldiers. Seventeen Australians died in […]
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Walhalla
If I could turn back time and be a fly on the wall at any period in Australia’s history it would be around the turn of the 20th Century. In the time around 1900, Australia was approaching federation, the country rode on the sheep’s back and had just come through a major shearer’s strike. The […]
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