My sister Sabine’s job involves frequent trips to Brussels, so we always have at least lunch, or, if she can make it, add a weekend to one of her business trips. It was time she got to see my new place…Read More
I have no idea to how many restaurants, bars, cafes and clubs I have been in those 18 months… After a few months I started checking in on Foursquare & Swarm, to record it all, but I lack the first three months in South America. Still, Swarm hast recorded nearly 1450 check-ins, and most of those […]Read More
…and just when I was hitting a bit of a low point, and thought I’d spend another evening locked in, despite the sunshine, I got a message… Georgios from Chicago, whom I had met a few times in Hong Kong over beers, texted me that he was in town. He was heading to Paris, to […]Read More
I met up with my friend Federico for beers…. but at one point, you just need some solid food. It’s nearly 11 pm, and in Germany or Belgium, a lot of places would be close to closing time… Of course, not so here in Argentina. We walked over a few blocks into the city and […]Read More
Market time! I took a stroll through Santiago’s famous fish market, the Mercado Central, with its fish stands and fish restaurants. The restaurants are a bit touristy, and you can’t walk through without a camarero trying to get you to sit down, but it’s a fun place to visit. After the stint at the Estación Mapocho, I […]Read More
Returning to Santiago was a great idea. I really would not have any energy for a new country or city. Here, everything is smooth, even if I stumble. I reactivated my bip!-card for the metro – as If I had known I would come back, I had indadvertedly carried it along for the whole trip. […]Read More
After meeting Cate yesterday in Canberra, it was time for another round of revivals. First, I met Angus again, whom I met in Melbourne last year and then on in Sydney. He was so generous to offer me a place to crash for the night, and we went out afterwards… … to meet Glenn, a […]Read More
After the endless rain, the sky was showing a small but growing hole with blue skies, so I drove over the 30 minutes to Metung, a tiny fishing village on the Gippsland lakes. I wanted to stay there initially but it was pretty much booked out – in my price class. I walked along the lake […]Read More
In the end, this trip has less been about the places that I have been to, than about the people I have met there and along the journey. I am amazed how many great people I have met along the way… There are Radio DJs, musicians, cooks, bloggers, casting agents, chefs, managers, Japanese teachers, nurses, […]Read More
And just like last year, on Australia Day, I met Kate again. She was my host in Fitzroy on my first visit to Melbourne. A year ago, we took a car down to the Yarra Valley, the vineries and milk producers, and in the end had a swim in the Yarra. This year, we met […]Read More
Once settled, I hopped right onto a tram and went to the CBD, to find the ShanDong Mama Mini, the new place my friend Colin runs now, a mini version of Melbourne’s fabulous and famous ShanDong Mama’s dumpling restaurant. They really did a fine job! It’s in a small alley in the CBD, crammed with other […]Read More
Not too much to report here. We slept till late, had coffee, and headed for Sandy Bay beach again. Slept a while, met some friends there, and I got into the cold water again. It gets easier every time you do it. In the evening, dinner with Branden at Beefcake, a local hot spot Burger […]Read More