Hanging Out in Honkers

The last stop of my recent overseas trip was a stopover in Hong Kong on the way back.

You see I had friends there to visit. This alone made it the perfect city I had not seen before to stopover in Asia at. And then it just got better. My former flatmate in China decided she could make a side trip for a stopover to say hello too! Awesome I thought.

I had just 48 hours in Hong Kong. Enough time to see some places without getting into much trouble. Heck my biggest trouble was booking the wrong hotel dates before I even left the country. I gave my friends a free stay-cation (travel term for going nowhere).

Anyway the replacement hotel happened to just be the same hotel my university course had discussed in a lecture, The Eaton Hotel. It was right smack bang in the middle of Nathan Road. Unfortunately for me why it came up into the search was that it was actually undergoing renovations at the exact time I had arrived. I mean I didn't get any noise on the 18th floor, and the glass lift was awesome. But the reception had been gutted on the ground floor and a temporary reception installed meaning there weren't the facilities I had read about. No pool even if I was dreaming about having time to use it.

Days were used walking the street and getting Starbucks from the store at the floor of my building. Yes made use of my stay but for not having time to go shopping either. Hong Kong though has my tick of approval for another stay. The food was good. Visited a very famous and very busy Yum Cha for breakfast with my friend as a guide. This was great. I would never had tried this without him. And heck who knew Yum Cha is a breakfast/brunch location.

In Hong Kong I even managed to eat the one item I had researched and looked forward to. The Egg Waffle. Waffle good. And fairly healthy too if you consider there was nothing like extra cream, ice cream, chocolate etc I'm used to seeing when we say waffle. I did though refuse all requests of my friend to convince me we should go find some snake soup.

At night we'd go exploring and then after dinner both nights we ended up at a really awesome rooftop bar for a Mojito nightcap. Nothing like a tasty mint, sugar and white rum nightcap to chill down and salute the end of a good trip.

Is Antwerp a major european destination in development

Antwerp was a hard decision for me when it came to deciding upon my last few days of my European trip this time around. I had initially thought I'd visit Amsterdam again as this was my departure city out of Europe by plane. However I didn't pull the trigger on a decision straight away. And as time went by things kept working against Amsterdam. Hotel prices in the start of July were ridiculous. Even the hostel rooms were going for over $50AUD a night, for a shared room.

By the time a decision was required I had reflected upon having been to Amsterdam before, and was believing the hype of avoiding cities which are obviously hitting the maximum capacity for tourism. The start of Northern Hemisphere holidays meant it was getting flooded by those who know only the big name cities. Perhaps it was too many young tourist thinking it was the only city you can get high. Or the only place with trendy bars and frites. My internal decision process kicked in. No Chad you've been to Bruges twice, not again. Or well not yet. Ghent next door would have just been Bruges all over again. I needed to think further afield. So Antwerp it was. 

I had selected Antwerp as it was a direct train to the airport. My previous trip to Rotterdam had enlightened me of this option when departing Schipnol Airport. Antwerp also fit all the other criteria. Never visited before, historical, and contained Belgian beer, waffles, and frites. Sold.

The major idea found on line in planning for Antwerp was the De Koninck brewery. Importantly the location also included a Cheese Factory, and Chocolatier. Now I will say from having been there now the cheese and chocolate were somewhat oversold. They weren't as integrated into the tour as I had thought. They're merely concession stores around the whole venue. However the brewery tour itself is probably one of the best I've seen. For sheer entertainment all the multimedia displays with alternative delivery formats made this a self directed tour worth doing. There was indeed something for everyone. The marketing department and Antwerp tourism do deserve praise for this. I highly recommend if you are into brewery tours. And of course you get a sample tester tray of 3 beers at the end. I didn't care it was still before midday. I was here to drink beer. My first and last time trying a peppermint beer. I doubt the brewer will try that experiment again.

Going around Antwerp I couldn't help but think it was a greater tourism city in the making. I wasn't excessively busy with tour bus groups. It wasn't filled with annoying touts, or gypsies. And even the tourist attractions I had included weren't busy. There are though major construction projects around the city including for some underground conversion of trams which left some of the city centre deserted. To get around I made use of the city bicycle program. It was after all Belgium, the flat bicycle loving country it is.  

The historical buildings of Antwerp were surprisingly impressive. Being a capital city I knew it should be good. But websites seemed to understate how grand the buildings look. I only hope my view from behind the lens translates here. If anything I would have liked to have explored more of the social scene here. Perhaps a bar or two. But this was then end of my European adventure, my legs were tired, and I didn't want to see too many museums.

Having completed the trip I am slightly disappointed with myself. I didn't have a waffle in Belgium. After planning it all along I ran out of time, and found myself thinking about eating healthier. Yeah whilst travelling, go figure that out. I should learn to let it go, I know. Eat the frickin' waffle next time Chad.

Alas my mind had been direct conflicted. It had been too content with temporarily dropping a few kilos while away, instead of mugging my wallet for chocolate on a waffle to get the sugar high it craved. At least my departure of Europe via Amsterdam was not a first. Schipnol Airport experience provided me the wisdom to load up on Danish cheese as I left Europe. Not all opportunities were lost.

Verviers. Day 3 of Le Tour. My final Tour de France 2017 experience.

Visiting Verviers for the start of day 3 of the Tour offered a different experience to that of Dusseldorf. This time I was outside of the big city environment. This was the first true day of Le Tour starting in a small city along the way. Away from all the big crowds of the days before. This presented a unique opportunity to walk around the starting point with it's stage for the riders announcing their arrival and signing in. Walk around the promotional stands of the sponsors, and them also do my own Le Tour souvenir shopping while waiting for the day to start.

I unfortunately didn't quite get all my timing right on the day. I had mistakenly thought the riders were departing at 10:15am. No this was merely the carnival. The riders didn't depart until 12:15pm. 2 hours later. It didn't cause a big issue. Just meant that whereas I had thought I had time to explore Verviers after the tour had departed mean I had to rush to a train I had booked at 12:40pm (alas it ended up 20 minutes late anyway). This meant I didn't get to stay for photos of the team buses as they departed the starting line after the riders had left. I just got to see the multitude of team cars only. This was enough when you consider there are like 21 teams, and each is allowed 2 cars on the road to join following their 9 riders each. Admittedly I had seen the cars before.

The waiting period for the riders was filled with time watching the big screen as each of the riders were introduced. Being at the start just 30 metres from the banner I could see a big screen which was keeping me entertained whilst waiting the the next sponsor to pass on by with the free promotional material. It was quite the laugh just getting into to cheering along with the crowd as we tried to attract the attention of various marketing people revving up the crowd for a big day. There was only pride in being successful in getting some promotional material we didn't even want making friends with all the nationalities around us.

Again being at the start meant I didn't see them actually at full speed. So again I got to see them cruising by in the neutral zone. That means I could recognise the main riders passing by. Or well some of them.
 

Chasing the Tour de France... Into Belgium by staying in Germany

In my planning for visiting the Le Tour I realised I should just add in an extra day following the tour. Not because I needed to, but because when the heck was I going to be in Europe again at the same time. This was after all a bucket list item I'd be completing. So after much back and forth on how to end my European leg of my holiday I settled on a plan of taking a train ride down to Aachen on the German border for the night, and then catching a train to Verviers for the start of day 3.

In researching this option I had read that staying in villages or towns where the tours starts or stops for a night was often expensive, and accommodation hard to find. Aachen I found was the perfect solution. It was only an hour from Dusseldorf. And the next day the Dbahn / Belgian Rail trip cost all of 7 euro each way, a half hour of my time, and it had multiple budget hotels located close to the railway station for my ease of transit. So it fit my brief all round. I could leave my bags at the hotel for the day, catch a train to and from Verviers, pick the bag up, and then continue onto a destination away from the circus of the tour. So the plan just seemed to work.

My arrival into Aachen was quite uneventful but very successful. Being summer I have to remember the sunset time isn't like Australia. In Europe you'll often have sunlight until 9pm nearly. So even with a 6pm departure from Dusseldorf I was there, checked in, and wandering the streets in daylight.

Interestingly Aachen had been lucky enough to host Le tour during that day. You see when the Tour path is set they really only provide details of the exact path about 2 months before. So when I had booked my holiday and stay in Aachen it had been on the basis that Day 2 the tour would leave Dusseldorf and by some miracle ride into Liege about another half hour away by train with no list of towns in between. So in reality I had booked early enough to not get Le Tour prices after it became confirmed on the path of the race. I'm not sure how much of Aachen got to see Le Tour, or where it exactly went, but the statue outside of the main church definitely confirmed their visit.

Being a town along the path it was busy, but not crazy busy. So by 8pm people were back to normal. Obviously many of the dedicated would have continued onto the next intermediate stop having seen the tour speed by in 5 minutes. I suspect many actually stayed the night before as opposed to my staying after. Or just perhaps there weren't as many actually actively following the race as I had seen in Dusseldorf. It was also Sunday too. So back to work Monday would have been a factor.

Aachen itself is quite the important destination for history. Being the preferred home of Charlemagne. I was also told by friends it's also quite the venue for Christmas markets. Thankfully though it wasn't winter, this was Le Tour season.

Day 2 of Le Tour de France in Düsseldorf Germany

Day 2 of Le Tour was a new adventure. This was where I got to see all the riders as one big bunch. Originally I was not expecting to see it having been indicated we'd do a day trip. But traffic was to be impossible for a day trip. So a trip into the Tour start was as the best idea. 

We managed to line up a position near the start within the ceremonial introductory riding area before the riders when to a presentation, and then were onto their bikes for a bit more before completing the neutral zone and game on! It also meant we could just waltz around the corner to get them a second time. Sweet.


After that it was farewell to Oscar and Greg leaving Lina and I for a day walking around the city and all of the festival events of the tour before I departed on a train.

Thanks Lina, Gregoire, and Oscar for spending the time with me in Düsseldorf.

  

at Le Tour.

Joining the Pentalon in Düsseldorf to tick off a bucket list event

Before I even go into my experience of the Tour de France I just want to give you all an insight to how I got there. And why this was a bucket list item of inevitability.

I've for quite some time enjoyed watching the Tour de France each year as it traverses through the French countryside. Watching the television screen as the camera would take us up close as the pentalon of riders zoom through a small French village filled with tourist, to then cut to an aerial view of some 14th century chateau that's been held in the same family since the 1600s. It always captured my interest late at night as the coverage would not start until after 10pm at night when all of the day in Australia was done and there was nothing much to do but to curl up on a couch in the middle of winter thinking of my next trip. Not thinking of work. Mindless late night television for a night owl. I watch the tour like it's a television series. I love the food segments. I am seriously starting to understand the role of the "domestique". Heck I bought a really good bike and enjoy the social event cycling is.

BMC Rider Warm up

Of course it didn't help that I knew my workloads were often high in July after a rush of adviser work in June, and the deadlines of the previous financial years had past leaving only the few who had left reporting to the last minute. I could never think of taking leave in July. Heaven forbid I ever think that possible. But times had changed. My deadlines of years past had changed. Work was more upto date, tax laws had changed to make the deadlines less pronounced. There is now no scramble of pension reporting. No financial planner screaming for answers just before July. So it was with this new perspective I looked the the calendar last November and saw the quirk of the starting point of the Tour de France being Düsseldorf. I had only been just previously advised that Lina my former flatmate was moving to there. Thoughts of going went through my mind but were dismissed.

Orica Scott rider

And then I let the idea simmer. The simmer became a boil, and I just had to ask... what's the chances I could visit next year in July when the Tour was on. Lina was puzzled. Why would anyone care about the tour. In France no one watches the tour. But I do?


And then from there I let it sit for a bit. An idea, a murmur, in the back of my head. I needed to plan leave, and I had a friend at the starting line. What do I do?

And then the stars seemed to align. The idea got in the way of my ability to focus on my exam. So I looked at the semester schedule for solace to see that it would be in the way of the next university year. Having taken leave before during a semester experiencing a created panic I had decided study would dictate my leave for now. So I looked. No it was not in the way. In fact the trimester break would finish right after. But it's July at work still rang through my head. But the stars align. The surely this is a sign argument was starting to prevail in my mind. The booking had been inevitable. Resistance had been futile. I was going to Le Tour.

So booked a flight and tour around it. I would fly in and around to avoid the crowds that would consume it. I wanted time to see it but also time with my friends without making myself a burden. But importantly I was there.

The lead up to the arrival day had been interesting for I had been excited well before my arrival. However to Lina the reality struck just days before. An email of shock came in. They were expecting half a million people to come see it. So her places of driving adventures were dashed and reality set it. Yep it's a big thing for Düsseldorf. There must of been a lot of Australians coming to the Tour that noone watches.

Arrival the day before was a little easier than expected. But for the fact the planned side trip to Kaiserwerth lacked a boat until 3pm when I arrived at the riverfront at 1pm laden with backpack. But trains still ran up that way and were easy so all worked okay.

The next day was the big one. Day 1 of Le Tour. The time trial. This was the day of seeing hours of cycling. Otherwise seeing the tour can be a bit like seeing a bunch of cars pass by once. This was to be police motorcycles, followed by camera motorcycle, bicycle, and team car... multiplied it by 198. With a minute between each of them. Lina came along as escort for the day leaving Greg and Oscar at home as it was too be too busy for a pram and too long for a baby. Made sense. We eventually planted against a fence about 3kms from the start and end seeing bicycles passing both ways. Prime position outside of the start and finish areas. The day was wet. But the cycling lived upto my expectations. I was a kid in a candy store for a day ticking off the event. I had seen the carnival pass by, all the riders, and their team cars. Lina I think was grateful that I had suggested she return home early out of the rain. It was still a long day of this was not your thing.

As you can see by this long post and number of videos and photos the day meant a lot to me.