Berlin in 1996

It's time for another retrospective post. This time we're off to Berlin. It's 20 October 1996.  I've just spent two days exploring Prague with my parents for the first time. Shortly after lunch, we boarded a train bound for Berlin. This was meant to be a simple four-hour train journey, or so we thought. 

We arrived in East Berlin shortly after 4:00pm. It had been an uneventful journey, unlike our earlier experience in Czechoslovakia. However, it was Sunday afternoon and, unbeknownst to us, the train connecting East and West was running on a limited timetable due to major trackwork. In hindsight, it was clear that the decaying communist-era infrastructure was under renovation everywhere in Eastern Europe.

Once again, I was forced to decipher what was happening at the station without the aid of English signs and announcements. I eventually learned that just one train an hour was running toward West Berlin. We eventually made it into the western sector after dark. By this time, the station’s tourism office had closed for the day. I told Mum and Dad to stay put on a bench in the station concourse while I went searching for accommodation.

I eventually stumbled upon Hotel Palace Berlin, a boutique five-star hotel located at the end of Kurfuerstendamm, the city’s ritzy shopping street. It was also a block away from one of West Berlin's iconic sights: the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. I suspect it was the most expensive hotel my parents ever booked in Europe. Needless to say, I would never rock up to a new city without my first night’s accommodation guaranteed.

After such a dramatic introduction to Berlin, we decided to keep things simple and made dinner reservations at the hotel restaurant. Much to our surprise, the venue offered an authentic silver service experience; so much for keeping it simple. As our meal unfolded, white-gloved waiters presented each course under cloche-enclosed silver trays. Each silver dome was then dramatically lifted to reveal our meals. I also recall a cavalcade of cutlery fanning out from either side of our place setting. It was probably the fanciest meal my parents have ever eaten in Europe. It’s also the only time I’ve ever enjoyed a true silver-service dining experience.

The following day we explored iconic sights around the German capital. I took Mum and Dad to experience many of the places I’d explored six years earlier. We walked along Unter den Linden towards the Brandenburger Tor, or Brandenburg Gate. Here we came upon a small section of the Berlin Wall standing in isolation as an impromptu memorial. This section was scarred and ragged, its once smooth edges hacked to pieces by souvenir hunters years earlier. I’d been one of those people.

I also took them to see the East Side Gallery. This is the only original section of the wall still standing. Its once ominous concrete panels stand vigil for about 1.3km along the eastern bank of the Spree River. 118 artists have graffitied them with murals and slogans denouncing the wall and all it stood for. It’s a compelling open-air memorial.

We visited Checkpoint Charlie. The original warning signs were still standing. These days they’ve been replaced by shiny new replicas. At the time, sections of the checkpoint were fenced off as part of a major revitalisation project. A guard post where armed East German soldiers once surveyed the checkpoint had been capped with a golden Statue of Liberty replica. We were lucky to have seen it. The statue was a temporary exhibit by an American artist, John Powers, who lived in Berlin. It disappeared a few months later as the area’s reconstruction progressed.

I took my parents to Alexanderplatz, the symbolic centre of former East Berlin. Here I showed them the Supermarket where I’d once queued for groceries, before we ventured up the Berliner Fernsehturm TV tower to enjoy its spectacular views more than 200 metres above the plaza.

We also spent a morning walking Kurfürstendamm, the boulevard that symbolised the heart of West Berlin, and visited the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. This badly bombed building was left standing as a permanent memorial after the war. Despite its heavily damaged façade, a section of the building was rebuilt while several damaged sections were partially restored and made weatherproof. You can venture inside to experience the serenity of a stunning chapel whose translucent walls are made of a concrete honeycomb containing 21,292 stained glass inlays.

Early on the morning of 22 October, I farewelled my parents and caught a high-speed train to Frankfurt. Mum and Dad stayed in Berlin for a few more days. I recall getting disorienting head spins whenever I looked out of the train window. This was the side-effect of Lariam, a drug I was taking to ward off malaria while on safari in Africa. Before leaving the hotel in Berlin, I’d take my next weekly dose.

From Berlin I flew across the North Atlantic and Greenland to Los Angeles. This would be my first return visit after spending a week at UCLA as an exchange student in July 1983. You can read more about my brief stopover in LA here before I carried on to Hawaii to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

Prague with my parents

I took my parents to Prague and Berlin in 1996. The five-day trip was scheduled a few days after my brother Hamish's marriage in Kitzbuhel. My parents had been in Austria for several weeks and were now heading home while I was halfway through a round-the-world ticket that had taken me to Africa for a week on safari. My next continental destination was Los Angeles. This is the first of two retrospective posts about our time in Eastern Europe.

Before setting off for Prague, my brothers and I spent the day with Mum and Dad exploring Salzburg, about an hour or so north of Kitzbuhel. We took the FestungsBahn cable car up to Festung Hohensalzburg, an imposing stone fortress that looms over the city from Monchberg Hill, an elevated rocky outcrop. The views from this medieval fortress are truly spectacular, offering an uninterrupted view over the old town and along the Salzach River valley.

We also explored the old town, including Kapitelplatz, its picturesque central square. Here, for a small fortune, you could ride a horse and carriage through the cobblestone streets. Salzburg is a magical city. It’s the home of Mozart. Everywhere you wander, you encounter memorials and attractions commemorating its famous citizen. The old town really is the perfect postcard rendition of a classic medieval European city.

Beyond Austria, Salzburg is also known for The Sound of Music, an Oscar-winning film starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. Much of the movie was shot in and around the city. Perhaps the most iconic of locations is the Mirabell Palace Gardens. Julie Andrews, playing Maria, and the children under her care sing 'Do-Re-Mi' while dancing around the Pegasus fountain in the gardens and using its surrounding steps as a musical scale. That’s the fountain above, with Festung Hohensalzburg in the distance.

Shortly after lunch, Hamish and Matt bid us farewell at the train station. Mum broke down in tears and sadly accused Hamish and me of abandoning her. It was a surprise to learn that she viewed our decision to live overseas, Hamish in Europe and me in Australia, as one driven by a desire to escape her clutches. I’m not sure that was ever the primary motivation.

I was excited to see Prague. Six years earlier, a group I was travelling with in Eastern Europe had tried unsuccessfully to enter Czechoslovakia. As a result, it was still on my bucket list. Furthermore, in the intervening years, Czechoslovakia had ceased to exist as a nation. It had split peacefully into the two sovereign states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 31 December 1992.

The journey to Prague was stressful. It was scheduled to take five hours by train. However, it ultimately took almost seven hours thanks to major works along the line. On two separate occasions, the train ground to a halt without warning (or at least without a warning in English). We were bundled off the train, loaded onto buses and transferred further up the line, where we rejoined a second train.

The first detour was unbelievably stressful. We stopped in a tiny town with a station barely larger than a shed. I had to work out what was happening by asking passenger after passenger until I found someone who could speak broken English, then herd my bewildered parents onto a replacement bus. Even worse, my brother had given my parents a truly enormous suitcase which I had to manhandle off the train and onto the bus, along with my own luggage (and repeat the exercise when we rejoined the train). 

We then drove through the countryside with my father constantly asking where we were going. Were we travelling all the way to Prague on a bus? I had no idea. The second unscheduled detour was equally disorienting, although this time, we at least could guess what would happen next. However, the enormous suitcase never got any lighter!

We eventually reached Prague late that afternoon. My father was quietly starting to panic, as I’d not booked any accommodation. I’d reassured my parents weeks before that we’d be just fine. All that was required was a quick stop at the local tourism centre where they’d help us secure suitable accommodation. In hindsight, it was a rather bold move. Perhaps one best suited for backpackers who are happy to crash anywhere for the night, rather than two recently retired pensioners. Much to my father's relief, the tourist office found a tidy little three-star hotel on the edge of the old city.

We spent the next two days exploring everything Prague has to offer. However, one afternoon was spent trying to locate the local American Express office, as I’d agreed to pre-book accommodation for Berlin, our next stop. At the time, I knew American Express offered last-minute travel assistance. I decided it was our best option. However, we never found the office, or perhaps it was closed on a Saturday. I cannot recall which scenario played out. As a result, we carried on to Berlin without pre-booked accommodation. A decision I’d later come to regret.

Prague was another truly memorable medieval city. On our first day in town, we wandered through Wenceslas Square (that's me in the image that opens this post), then on to Staroměstské náměstí, a historic plaza in the heart of the old city. This historic square is home to several of the city’s most iconic sights, including the Church of Our Lady before Týn, a 14th-century Gothic-style church with pointed 80-metre-high twin steeples. Nearby is the Old Town Hall, which features Prague Orloj, a mechanical Astronomical Clock.

The clock is an engineering masterpiece. It houses three main components – an astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; a timepiece and statues of various Catholic saints stand on either side of the clock; "The Walk of the Apostles", an hourly show of moving Apostle figures and other sculptures, notably a figure of a skeleton that represents Death, striking the time; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months.

 

We also crossed the Vltava River via the Karlův Most, more commonly known as the Charles Bridge, to visit Malá Strana, an old town on the opposite bank, and on to the bold white buildings of Hradčany, also known as Prague Castle. While in Malá Strana, we took the opportunity to climb the belfry of St Nicolas Church, a spectacular three-hundred-year-old Baroque church. That's the church above in all its white marble splendour.

Charles Bridge is a destination in itself. This medieval stone arch bridge is 516 metres long and nearly 10 metres wide. Three bridge towers guard access: two on the Lesser Quarter side (including the Malá Strana Bridge Tower) and one on the Old Town side, the Old Town Bridge Tower. We climbed 138 steps in the Old Town Bridge Tower for a panoramic view of the bridge and surrounding river districts.

Along its length, the bridge is decorated by a continuous alley of 30 Baroque-style statues. They were originally erected around 1700, although they've been replaced over time by replicas. Along its length, local artists display and sell their work, displayed on giant sandwich boards. It makes for a grand entrance, leading toward Prague Castle, which dominates the hillside above Malá Strana. Mum and Dad loved it, as did I.  

It would be another decade before I'd return to this wonderful city. After two busy days on our feet, it was time to head north for the iconic Cold War city of Berlin. Follow this link to learn more about our time in the German capital. Once again, our train journey didn't go quite as planned.

Closing the door on another chapter

We've reached another milestone in selling our business. On Friday, we finally reassigned the lease for the showroom office space we rent in the building next door to our apartment. We’ve been advertising the space since April without any luck. We still had two years left on our lease and were on the hook for almost $75,000 in contracted costs if we couldn’t find a new tenant.

On Monday, our fortunes changed. The real estate agent managing the property contacted me to ask if he could bring a prospective tenant in for an inspection. They inspected the office on Tuesday and immediately made an offer to take over the lease. On Friday, they signed the paperwork and paid a deposit. Even better, they’ve agreed to take all our office furniture and fittings for a nominal price. As a result, we don’t have to remove these items and try to sell or dump them. It’s a wonderfully quick and clean transaction.

For the last three days. Garry and I have been furiously removing everything from the office, sorting through residual assets and giving the place a final deep clean. After a day on our feet, we finally closed the door on a clean, empty office shortly after 5:00pm. Tomorrow we hand over the keys, and the new tenant takes over the lease. It’s almost six years - to the day - since we moved into this space. Another milestone achieved.

We also received the second of three payments from Artiwood’s new owner last Monday. This leaves one final payment to come in 30 days. We now have one more task to complete before we can finally close off this chapter in our lives. We still have two enclosed pallet boxes filled with toy samples to dispose of. These were used for trade shows in Sydney. I think I’ve found a charity in Melbourne that’s willing to take them.

As I look towards the future, I’ve started thinking about what comes next. One mantra keeps rising to the surface. Looking back on the last 20 years, chronologised diligently by this blog, I am certain of one thing. I want the next 20 years to be filled with as much adventure, discovery and exciting tales as the last 20 were. What that ultimately looks like, I have no idea. Then again, as 2005 began, I had no idea I’d be asked to relocate to Europe, rise to the top of a global company and eventually run my own business.

UPDATE: 22 September

We handed over the keys and conducted a walk-around orientation with the new tenant yesterday. Today, the landlord's agent formally confirmed the transfer. She also confirmed that the landlord had countersigned the new tenant's lease. We're officially off the hook. Hooray!

Bridging the gap

Infrastructure geeks like me got excited last week. After decades of planning, the Raymond Terrace Bypass finally opened west of Newcastle. I’ve previously blogged about progress on this motorway extension. This missing section of highway across the Hunter River and its broad floodplain has been in the works for decades.

Way back in 1998, the M1 motorway was extended from Minmi to Beresfield. This extension left just 15km of dual carriageway missing between Sydney and Coffs Harbour. For decades, proposals to bridge the gap collected dust. Eventually, in 2021, construction approval was granted for the missing link. The final design includes a 2.6 kilometre viaduct across the river and its surrounding floodplain.

Garry and I drove past the roadworks last month while travelling to Zoe’s wedding near Forster. At the time it was clear that the road was rapidly nearing completion. Last Friday, in the early hours of the morning, it was quietly opened without any fanfare. We can now drive all the way to Coffs Harbour without hitting a single traffic light.

Very soon you’ll be able to drive from Melbourne to Brisbane uninterrupted when the Coffs Harbour Bypass opens. This second project is currently running well ahead of schedule. It wasn’t due to open for another 12 months or more. However, recent announcements have confirmed that it'll open before Christmas. The Raymond Terrace Bypass also opened well ahead of schedule. I can't recall the last time a major infrastructure project finished on budget and ahead of schedule.

Naturally, I can’t wait to drive these two new sections of highway. Garry and I are talking about taking a road trip north to visit his friends Danny and Anges, or returning to Ballina for more time out on the farm with Liz and Adam. Watch this space.

Lunch sponsored by Jetstar

Retirement rules can be challenging. Garry and I are still getting used to booking activities without scheduling them around weekends, public holidays and commercial obligations. In other words, we can book an activity any day of the week, at any time that suits us, or that secures the best deal. Yesterday I did just that.

A few weeks ago, while visiting my brothers in New Zealand, I decided to join my brother Matt for a birthday lunch while he and Shelley were holidaying on the Gold Coast. I booked flights there and back for $112.00 via Jetstar. You read that correctly: $56.00 each way. I subsidised this price a little by cashing in the frequent flyer points I’d clocked up flying to New Zealand. I was also travelling with nothing more than carry-on luggage.

My flight landed on the Gold Coast shortly after 9:00am. By 10:00am I was pulling up outside the entrance to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. Matt, Shelley and I then spent the morning checking out some of Australia’s iconic native animals. Avid followers of this blog may recall that I visited this attraction in November 2024 as part of a business networking event.

At the time, I got to hold a koala. The park has since stopped this practice. These days, visitors can only book a photo standing next to a koala on a tree branch. Yesterday we decided to forgo the photo opportunity. However, we weren’t disappointed. The koalas were out in full force, especially in the nursery section. The baby koalas delighted us with their antics.

We did enjoy one close encounter. In the Kangaroo zone, we were invited to stroke a few of the friendly marsupials. Matt was delighted. We also spotted a very young joey nervously popping its head out of its mother’s pouch. Super cute!

Once we’d had our fill of marsupials, snakes and birdlife, it was a short five-minute walk to the coast. The Swell festival was in full swing. This is the Gold Coast’s equivalent of Sydney’s Sculpture by the Sea event. We spent an hour exploring the artwork installed along the coastal boardwalk. We then retired to the Currumbin Beach Vikings Surf Life Saving Club for a leisurely lunch overlooking the beach, with the iconic Surfers Paradise skyline in the distance.

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying Happy Hour at the Burleigh Pavilion. Queue more white sand beaches and pounding surf as we sat by the window drinking cocktails. We finished my day trip with wine and nibbles at Matt and Shelley's holiday accommodation, just across the road from the Pavilion. I then took an Uber back to the airport and was back home shortly after 10:30pm.

It was awesome fun hanging out with my little bro and his wife. I'm glad I took the opportunity to celebrate his Double Five birthday. That’s $112 well spent if you ask me. I could get used to retirement.

An Austrian wedding

Next month my brother Hamish and sister-in-law Karin celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. I cannot believe it’s been three decades. How the time has flown by. To get to the wedding, I booked myself a three-week round-the-world ticket. This was the first RTW ticket I ever bought. I recall sitting in the travel agent’s office, astounded by the concept as he suggested it as a great way to maximise the experience.

I ultimately booked an itinerary that had me fly to South Africa, where I spent a week exploring Joburg, Pretoria and Victoria Falls, before going on safari in Zimbabwe. I then flew to Frankfurt on 15 October and caught a train to Austria for the wedding, held the following day. Two days later I took Mum and Dad on a four-day tour through Prague and Berlin, before returning to Frankfurt by train. My parents stayed on in Berlin for a couple more days.

From Germany it was onward to Los Angeles for a 48-hour stopover, before making my way to Hawaii. Here I was joined by a good friend, Richard Knight, who was something of a party animal. It would be fair to say we spent the next three nights bar-hopping and partying with newfound friends collected along the way. If I’m honest, I saw very little of this popular island state beyond the beach and hotel. I finally completed my round-the-world circuit with an overnight flight home to Sydney.

A few days before flying out of Sydney, my hairdresser had convinced me to go for a bottled blonde look. As a result, I turned up in Germany with a tightly cropped flat-top haircut that was bleached pure blonde. I was going for the cool Billy Idol look. However, a week in the relentless African sun did a number on my stylish hairdo.  I ultimately rocked up with hair that had morphed into a subtle orange hue.  Let's just say it was the talk of the town when I arrived.   

As an aside, I never bleached my hair again until a hairdresser convinced me years later that they could bleach it without it discolouring.  I took him at his word and gave it another go in 2000. This was the hairstyle I rocked up with on my first visit to Hong Kong (and Macau), where I also happened to meet up with Text 100's Global CEO, who was in town at the time. I later heard that my uber-boss was a little flummoxed by his Australian Managing Director's appearance. However, true to my hairdresser's word, my hair colour remained resolutely blonde until it grew out.

Hamish’s wedding was a cross-cultural affair, blending both traditional Church of England and European Catholic traditions. The guest list also included friends and family from around the world. My Uncle Rex flew in from New Zealand, along with my cousin Tim and his partner Robyn, plus my parents, my brother Matt and his partner Shelley. Karin’s relatives from the UK also flew in to join the festivities.

The wedding celebrations began the night before the ceremony with a large gathering at the Londoner pub in central Kitzbuhel. The evening became a kind of proxy bucks and hens’ night for the soon-to-be-wed couple. This venue also held special significance. It was here, on Christmas Eve in 1990, that Hamish and Karin first met.

Let’s just say it was a rather raucous evening. Furthermore, I would never confirm or deny that my Uncle Rex made an impromptu visit to worship the porcelain god shortly after returning to our accommodation.  Needless to say, a few of us were a little rusty at breakfast the following morning.

Many of the guests, including the New Zealand family members and me, were accommodated in the neighbour’s house next door to Karin’s parents’ home. The neighbours were on vacation and had kindly made their home available to Hermann and Helen’s international guests. The venue was inevitably dubbed “New Zealand House”.

The wedding ceremony took place at the local Rathaus. That’s not a vermin-infested venue. Rather, the name is German for Town Hall. The happy couple looked splendid. Matt was Hamish’s best man, while Karin’s brother and I acted as witnesses on the marriage certificate. When asking me to witness the certificate, Hamish aptly described the request as, “I’d like you to witness our marriage, assuming you’re comfortable signing documents written in German that you cannot read. It’s something I do all the time”.

The reception afterwards was held at a restaurant in Reith bei Kitzbühel, a ten-minute drive from the Rathaus, before guests returned to Hermann and Helen’s iconic traditionally gabled mountainside home. Guests mingled on the lawn of their expansive backyard. Plenty of photos were taken as the gathering was somewhat of a family reunion on both sides. At one stage, a group of locals turned up and delivered a wonderful Bavarian Oompah band experience, complete with lederhosen costumes and traditional instruments.

It was a magical day. The weather played its part; although it was Autumn in the Austrian Alps, conditions were mainly cool and overcast. The crowd was filled with joy for the happy couple. Everyone was left with many wonderful memories. It’s hard to believe this all happened three decades ago. Congratulations, Hamish and Karin.

The day after the wedding, Hamish took the family on a tour of the town. Kitzbuhel is definitely one of those "chocolate box" picture-perfect locations, nestled in the Austrian Alps. It's a popular winter playground for the wealthier citizens of Bavaria and Austria. As a result, it's well maintained and full of boutique stores and venues. The Autumn colours were also in full bloom, making for a wonderfully scenic wander.

As is my habit, I went to great lengths to secure the ultimate Instagram-worthy image. Apparently, this included lying on a grave in the local cemetery. As you can see, my mother simply had to capture the moment.

One final confession. I never packed a suit for the wedding. I thought about it at the time but decided this was a mountain wedding and my brother was never big on formalities. I naively assumed the dress code was smart casual. Although, if truth be told, I also wondered whether I could safely transport a suit across the globe, especially while on safari at a bush camp in Southern Africa. In hindsight, I wish I'd packed it anyway - just in case.