Travel 2006 – Vienna, Day 4

Monday, 4th December 2006 – Vienna, Day 4 This was really only a fragment of a day as we spent most of it coming back home. I packed before breakfast, then wandered down to Julius Meinl Am Graben, with intent to lay hands on several bottles of wine, some vanilla sugar, and some Pfanni dumpling…

Travel 2006 – Vienna, Day 3

Sunday, 3rd December 2006 – Vienna, Day 3 Sunday was slightly less frenetic than Saturday had been. Again we started with a superb breakfast in the hotel, then took a slow wander along to the Hofburg. It was a chilly day, but we wandered round the outside for a while, and along the Ringstrasse before…

Travel 2006 – Vienna, Day 2

Saturday, 2nd December 2006 – Vienna, Day 2 Saturday got off to a good start (though everyone was a bit sleepy). Breakfast proved to be excellent, with some superb bread and rolls in all shapes, sizes and textures, and hams, cheeses, spreads, jams and things to go with them. There was plenty of fresh fruit,…

Travel 2006 – Vienna, Day 1

Friday, 1st December 2006 – Vienna, Day 1 Friday we were up at some absurd time to haul ourselves to the airport. We picked Steffie up at 6 am and had an easy drive to Heathrow, parking in the Short Stay Car Park which is right next to Terminal 4 (this was a damn good…

Travel 2006 – Macau, Days 10 – 11

Monday, 20th/Tuesday, 21st November 2006 – Macau I woke early, worked on the report and photos, and caught up with Stephen Jelley in the foyer as arranged. Sadly, Stephen didn’t seem to have caught up with Stephen, and he couldn’t remember much (possibly including who he was and which way was up). He wasn’t helped…

Travel 2006 – Macau, Days 6 – 9

Thursday, 16th/Sunday, 19th 2006 – Macau Thursday saw the inevitable early start, though not as early as in some years. As we both had photographers’ access bibs, we decided that we would drop our stuff off at the press office then get the press shuttle bus to Melco, the Hairpin that is about three-quarters of…

Travel 2006 – Macau, Day 5

Wednesday, 15th November 2006 – Macau Needless to say, there wasn’t enough sleep. My alarm went off at 7.15, and I lurched off to the gym for a session on the exercise bike to try and combat the food excesses this place provides! After that it was breakfast followed by a shopping trip. Having discovered…

Travel 2006 – Macau, Day 4

Tuesday, 14th November 2006 – Macau Tuesday was a dismal sort of day weather-wise. However, we didn’t let that stop us. Breakfast was marginally better organised than it had been the day before, though the actual food was still poorly labelled, and there’s no decent bread to be had, only white that looks and feels…

Travel 2006 – Macau, Day 3

Monday, 13th November 2006 – Macau Monday I got up just before 8 and went off to investigate the hotel gym. It proved to be precisely 5 pieces of equipment, none of them a treadmill, on the 23rd floor, with the French windows open to the elements and more importantly the humid Macanese air. I…

Travel 2006 – London, Hong Kong, Macau, Days 1 – 2

Saturday, 11th/Sunday, 12th November 2006 – London, Hong Kong, Macau Saturday went pretty much as you’d expect. We left for Heathrow at 12.30, and even taking the long way round we were there in plenty of time to hand over the car to the Purple Parking attendant (who, disappointingly, wasn’t at all purple) who takes…