When the Cheshire emerges...

How GOOD was last night's game?!

Courtesy brisbanetimes.com.au





Courtesy The Age


It was a great display by the boys, and honestly the biggest relief. Just to know we're that much closer to gaining World Cup qualification.

I've planned for some time to attempt a trip to Brazil during the 2014 World Cup. Though the last week has raised questions as to whether I would go regardless of the result. It would be heartbreaking to not have my home country there, but the spectacle of Brazil can not be underestimated/ignored.

Either way, Tuesday night in Sydney is going to be the big one.

And I'll be there.

I've said I'll be the loudest at Stadium Australia should we qualify with a result like last night's, and I intend to keep my word. After all, I have five hours in the car and a day in the city to psych myself up for chants and training my vocals to deal with a bit of strain.

***


3.30am(ish) Macca's fix in Berlin. Super.


In other news, I've decided to launch a spin-off blog of my mega McDonald's post.

For those who don't know, I began a quest to try the McDonald's of different cultures on overseas travels in 2010, which will continue indefinitely.

You will be able to revisit past experiences and be invited to new ones as I continue this lifelong quest to try as many different McDonald's menu items as possible.

Have a look at McDonald's: an odyssey as I'm rolling out old posts - reminisce, have your say, share and subscribe!

***
How do you get world peace? You get world peace through inner peace. If you've got a world full of people who have inner peace, then you have a peaceful world.

I haven't had McDonalds since my New Zealand experience back in March (yay, go me being nearly fast food-free), but when I discovered they were doing Flavours of the Games again I had to get down there.

Not having seen the ads early enough, I missed out on the Atlanta Pork McRib and I somehow failed to see that the London Fish and Fries had just ended too. Stupid girl at the counter when I asked on that weekend had no idea what I was on about, dumbarse.

I thought I'd do a double whammy because I was so ready for a big late lunch. I got the Sydney Stack (with small fries and a bottle of water), and then the Paris Choc Delight for dessert.

The two specialty dishes racked up a total of 4830 kilojoules. So without the fries I'd consumed half of my daily intake. I'd never thought about that before when eating McDonalds - or fast food in general really, but it was right there on the tray in front of me the whole time. And on the wall. Wow.


And didn't I feel fat after eating it? The Sydney Stack was a mess at best (at 2540 kJ), but I resisted taking the beetroot out and it tasted fine. Just a regular burger really with more in it. Tasty.


But this was pretty amazing. What you can't really see here were three small, round crunchy brownie bits. Slightly warmed up. *dribble dribble* The marshmallows were really cute and although I don't usually eat sundaes this was alright, not too much topping. Yum. Although at almost the kilojoule level of the Stack at 2290kJ.


A few days later I was naughty and picked the Barcelona Omelette up for breakfast after going to the gym. Yeah I know, that was pretty bad.

Like the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Australia and New Zealand have similar menus. I hadn't visited an Aussie Maccas in some time before heading over the ditch so I remain unaware if the Chicken Scorcher was also a limited edition burger at home. This came after a four-hour bus trip and I was grateful for it.

Totally forgot I'd taken these photos in the craziness of trying to find a place! A McDonald's update for Australia's 40th birthday celebrations not so long ago - who else had the Shaker fries? Were you a fan?

A McDonald's Odyssey: one girl's quest

I get these emails from the US about how you can sell your photos/articles to magazines etc. This was the most relevant thing I've read from them. Ever. See A McDonald's Odyssey: one girl's quest entry for context...

Dear Katina,

In some cases, selling your photos to magazines is a lot like looking
at a menu at McDonalds. For the most part, McDonalds menus are the
same across the country – Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets,
Filet-O-Fish, etc.

But in some areas, the menu changes.

I grew up in Bethany Beach DE, for example, and we had a Maryland crab
cake on our menu. And if you go overseas, you’ll find a fried shrimp
burger in Hong Kong, fresh corn cups as an alternative to fries,
McRice burgers, McSpaghetti, and more.

What goes on a McDonalds menu somewhat stays the same in each
location. But sometimes, little things change. And that’s what
learning to sell your photos to magazines is like – different editors
like different kinds of stories, and photos you sell to one
publication might not work well in another.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Backstory: in 2010 my bff Penny came up with the idea of eating McDonald's in every country across Europe (because she had a fleeting thought the food o/s wouldn't be up to standard) - but we got there and she changed her mind. No-one else in our group was game so I carried it through. For most of these samplings I was on a Topdeck tour.

I first felt like Morgan Spurlock in Super Size Me because I was eating it so regularly - at least every second day while on the tour - and hoped it wouldn't affect my health too much. Actually... that was a slight lie. I wasn't too concerned.

I should add, I went on this odyssey only to discover the specialties - the 'limited time only' specials, or something unique to the country. No Big Macs for me. So now to the photos.

After being in Athens for five days I manage to come around full circle and try something which I thought was completely crazy at their airport. The picture above shows a burger. This particular burger contained a prawn pattie. Yes, a prawn pattie. It didn't have an overpowering fishy taste but with the regular fillings and sauces eating it still had a strange feel. Was neither here or there. 5/10.

***

I ended up having Maccas brekky back in Melbourne Airport on the final stopover with one of their wraps (new for the time, seems the local menu shook things up too). Lament the missed op of trying a pork, a breakfast and a UK option. And I should probably go a Big Mac too on my next run. But the quest in 2010 was a lot of fun. I can only imagine the possibilities of what I'd do next.

2011




Walking down Orchard Road for the first time, even at night the humidity was getting to me. There's a LOT of McDonalds stops along the shopping mecca, and I was rather intrigued by one of their dessert cafes just off the main strip. I've still never seen anything like it! First treat of the trip (and definitely not the last) was a Supreme Milo McFlurry. An explosion of chocolate goodness, Milo and ice-cream have always gone together. Perfect mix, and the last time I would see Milo for a fair while. 9/10.



In one of the busiest shopping malls I've ever seen (the Carrefour was mental... think Boxing Day times a million and you're not even close), I grabbed a chicken McArabia on the basis that it looked similar to the beef McTurco. There was more thickness with the bread but similar in idea. The chicken was a grilled fillet, tender and a little bit juicy. Best thing about this was the meal still stands as the cheapest overall. No more than $AUD4 for (what I think was) a large meal. Chips still exactly the same in taste. 9/10.

Don't mind me writing this when I'm back in cold Adelaide but I wanted to get it out because otherwise it's unfinished business!

Uh, with the Viennese theme park, as if I didn't say I had the biggest fairy floss you've ever seen in your life! It was seriously the length of my torso. Buried my face in it. The rest of Vienna was good even though Sunday meant things weren't open. Average cake/coffee at a cafe, the Film Museum wasn't open during the summer, and I had an interesting encounter with a man and his laptop. Bratislava was gorgeous for what we could see in about 90 minutes - although half of that was in a cafe drinking hot coffees (I had some banana-infused latte in a martini glass, quite amazing) because it was pissing down with rain. The poor market stalls in the main square... My camera decided to not turn on when it felt like it so a few photo ops missed on top of their castle. Got my Slovakian Maccas (bit of a Greek flavour with beef and tzaztiki in a herbed bun) and we moved on - after half the group returned 20 mins late with boxes of pizza in their hands. Ha, I thought we would run late when we took a wrong turn.

Budapest proved (to my Yiayia's truth) to be beautiful and really interesting (except for Topdeck's new choice of hotel, it was horrible). Visited the Terror Museum which gave a whole book's worth of info pages about the Hungarian Jews in WWII and the Communist era that followed, definitely worth seeing. Walking around was beautiful; their markets a little disappointing for lack of clothes though (although every second shop was traditional clothing but that wasn't what I was after. I discovered later Angela trying on a vest made for an awesome photo). Fell asleep after getting a drink with the girls in the afternoon. Outside. In broad daylight. Apparently they were scared because I wouldn't wake up. Must love the Hungarian sun. Oops. The food: A-MA-ZING. First night's dinner (under 3000 florints which is less than AUD$20) was the most massive souvlaki on a stick I've ever eaten in my life (it was like... oh, I can't describe it, just too good), second night grabbed a traditional Goulash soup which was incredible. Still sick so thought that might be good for the immune system. But so so good. And so cheap, unbelievable. Oh, and tried a cinnamon ice-cream (gelati-style). YUM.

Nightlife was really interesting. But the ride to Rio on night one was more so... maxi-cab driver refused to give us the right change because he rorted us way more than what our tour guide had agreed, pushing us all out as we try to argue, Amy (guide) rocks up and hops in the back seat to push the point, he drives off with doors still open, Amy hanging on for dear life to the back of the front passenger seat and Angela sitting in the front. 20 mins later, discover he drove them down the street, couldn't get the door open to push Amy out, continued yelling abuse in Hungarian but gave in. So I got my 100 florints back. Above and beyond the call of duty for Amy, who in her tipsy state said that should never happen again. Hilarious all the same. And trying to sleep when one of the guys comes into our room going 'sound check, sound check' to see if we could hear them shouting next door. We could.

Krakow was next, a smaller city than Poland's capital Warsaw - but stunning again. The main sq is huge, and the markets in the middle sell all kinds of lovely trinkets. Regret not buying a jewellry box, but bought an amber cross for my charm bracelet - amber's a huge export for them apparently, 80% of the stalls were selling it! Had a corridor party on the first night which was almost as cool as Party 211 in Rome and then made our way into town (I was one of the last to get in a taxi - and then the other girls' taxi who left before mine had taken them the wrong way and they had to be rescued by one of the boys). First pub was okay (I'd decided not to drink for fear of wrecking my throat too much before the big three - Prague, Berlin and Amsterdam) but a lot of us just wanted to dance. The second pub wasn’t that much better, very local though which was cool. But it stank of cigarettes way too much for me to handle so I preferred to get my Polish Maccas fix at approx 1:30am before heading home.

The day was good - licked the wall of a mine (all made of salt so had a nice taste to it), then nearly died in the lift up - the most rickety thing with 9 of us in there. Had a pretzel as Kat and I had discussed, then Some of the better pasta I had in Europe – in a shopping centre food court. Then ice-cream, then found the most awesome jewellry/souvenir shop hidden in a little alley. Bought stuff (it's all hand-painted, amazing)... but I was thinking of a pendant, Kat saw stuff on the way out. Two minutes later we were buying it all.

Had an early night to be prepared for the next morning – our visit to Auschwitz. Every person on the bus chose to take the tour which was fantastic. I was getting emotional before we went in as I read the information posted outside and I knew I wasn’t going to contain myself for the whole tour.

It was the most sobering experience of my life and I pretty much can’t think about it without getting tears in my eyes. As we were walked through the rooms and everything was put into context by the guide I was just stunned. Images that will forever stick in my head come from those rooms where photographs weren’t allowed. And for good reason. Shit… Ummm, I had to walk out of one of those prematurely and felt so holed up I couldn’t even bring myself to look at anything besides my tissue. And when we went through one of the few remaining gas chambers even the guide didn’t talk out of respect, merely gestured to the vents as we took the 15-second walk through. And then I see some idiot tourist taking a photo. No fucking respect at all. I felt like punching the bastard. Also saw the Birkenau part, and then as I thanked the tour guide personally afterwards started blubbering in front of her. She was so strong. Oh man, you’d have to have real guts to walk through that place every day and retain integrity and level emotion.

Night tour in Prague proved fun – beautiful city, good nightlife. Double Trouble music bar, then the 5-storey club everyone was so excited about. But for me where it had a little less expectation than for others it turned out more fun – a few were disappointed but I enjoyed it enough. Stayed fair late (so it must’ve been good); for the ride home hopped out of taxi #1 after he was going to charge way too much, and taxi #2 had to do. We may be tourists but we know a rip-off when we hear it! At least the alcohol’s cheap. Real cheeeeeap.

Prague was next, and again, a beautiful place. Their main clock is incredible and the bugle played every hour is worth a watch. Got lost in the backstreets trying to find Mozart's house (sure I walked past it), found the coolest vintage shop - but she didn't take EFTPOS and that ruined any chance for me that day. So badly wanted to do the Pub Crawl but so buggered from the day that we gave it a miss.

Next day was my Yiayia’s 70th birthday so made a call and got some interest from bus-mates with my broken sore-throated Greek. Stop in Dresden was on a Sunday so no chance to do much. Has such interesting history with its buildings though – half restored (literally, you can see the burnt black stones mixed in with the new ones) after WWII after its’ bombing was one of the war’s biggest controversies. Had a picnic with my pre-made lunch and found an Ayers Rock Café.

Then drove straight into Berlin for a drive tour and first up was the Berlin Wall. The East Side Gallery part, where artists have painted murals, including a famous one of two presidents kissing. I was in such awe just walking past it, feeling the suppression of these people as their city was split in two. Then I remembered I had a pen – light blue but all the same I did my best to write on there. Then everyone saw I had it and it wasn’t seen again until late that night. I could’ve spent half the day there, 10 minutes wasn’t nearly enough. It was even weirder walking past it across the road in darkness as we headed to a club further down. A club which only five of us got into out of at least 12-15 (others booted for being too ‘young’, not dressed up enough, not dressed right). I was surprised when I got in after being asked how old I was and showing him my passport, but once I got in I understood perfectly why (wearing my floral dress and small-heeled black peep-toes). The. Most. Indie-ish. Crowd. EVER. It was like The Garden of Unearthly Delights on steroids. Two dancefloors, a swing on a fairy light-lit tree, overlooking a river… absolutely nuts. Three of us and new friend Pete were spotted staring at a couple about to totally go for it on a ledge high up by some seats overlooking everything. They said we should have fun too. Uh, not right there thankyou! Definitely an experience to last a while in there – and then the satisfaction of the Maccas we passed being open at 3:30am when it looked closed was incredible.

Berlin day: guide took us around major Berlin sites, I stood on East and West Berlin at the same time, made the long trek to the Ampelmann store (amazing, I could’ve bought half the shop - and the one next to it actually). If you have no idea about Amplemann, Google him. Best traffic light man EV-ER. Also hunted for something pink for our upcoming ‘P & pink’ pub crawl – found rose-patterned leggings on sale at H&M. Not that I couldn’t have found something there, with no less than three stores on the one side of the strip. AAARGH! Awesome apple strudel in the café right by Checkpoint Charlie before getting ready. That was a highlight – Allie getting wrapped by Brodie in glad-wrap because she was going as Plastic. Once she was done the inevitable question came up: ‘how do I pee?’ Hilarious. I went as Pretty in Pink as one of my London buys has a Molly Ringwald style to it. Leggings made it look rather garish. And Lauren went as Penny. Got just about everything right, esp. the poses for photos. Excellent. Good night, all the pubs/clubs had something different about them, and I downed my first full bottle of beer ever, a Beck’s Gold. Aaaaand, we were encouraged to leave our bottles on the sidewalk because they pick them up to recycle. That felt so wrong. Best thing about locations were that last club was literally across the street from our (pretty awesome) hostel. That helped when it started to spit…

Berlin-Amsterdam was a long drive, but that didn’t mean I wanted to get out of the bus. Freeeezing as we went into the cheese and clogs factory, where the creepiest guy showed us how to carve the hole in a clog – he was seriously on some happy pills. And then his face is on the brochure and I almost tear up in laughter. No-one else managed to see this in there! Bought some smoked cheese on the basis I’d eat it before going home.

Wow, there’s so much I could say about Amsterdam, what an awesome place. After the first night that is. Went through the Red Light District and down Skinny Alley where all the expensive sex workers are – seeing them just stand behind their windows in suggestive lingerie one after the other was nuts. And then we went to a sex show. Thinking to myself ‘it’s just one of those things you have to do – when in Amsterdam…’ I walked out with two minds. The strippers were fine in their slight vulgarity, but live sex on stage (which I’d been warned about) was really discomforting. That's all I'll say about it.

The next day was more ‘normal’; did a bike tour around the city, which is built on canals – and to put the rumours straight I’m officially stating for the record I DID NOT CRASH INTO A CAR. After went to Anne Frank’s house where I gladly waited almost two hours to get in. Wow. After the emotion of Auschwitz a few days before, I didn’t expect as much here. Had tried reading it again but only got a ¼ through from the last week (bus time didn’t equal down time) so details were hazy for not having read it properly in so long. But as soon as I saw the pictures of film stars on the wallpaper it dawned on me I was standing where she’d slept, and written so much. Again, I tear up thinking about this. I was in tears for 99% of the rest of it. Seeing it and picturing it in my head was so unreal, but I forced myself just as I did with Auschwitz that it was real and that people were here. The window in the attic, the stove where the mothers would cook… unbelievable. Can’t believe some people don’t even know who she is. For goodness sake, brush up on your general knowledge – that makes me angry. Almost walked away with half the store but contained myself. It was so lovely to see the diary there in so many languages.

Found an orange feather boa for our last night out (being their national colour), discovered my first Episode store, and went in the Vincent Van Gogh museum which is pretty impressive. Canal cruise at dusk went mental (unlimited wine for an hour, you can imagine the line-up on the tiny boat), then first club went off. Second was a dud before heading home.

Last ride: slept for large part of it, which annoyed me because wanted to make the most of it. But the Backseat Bandits did encourage Amy to set a challenge, so before our stop in Bruges we’d named all the capital cities of our visited countries and figured out about half the flags for them. The stop was beautiful – I set off solo immediately to find Maccas as part of my Odyssey (seriously, I AM going to write a blog on that v.v.soon), but found a closed Tintin Shop – DEVO, another small goal shot, a great and cheap chocolatier and a castle that I reckon ¾ of the crew didn’t see. Busy place too, would’ve loved to spend more time there. In Bruges had played on the bus but didn’t watch it. Should have really, will make an effort. Dropped Jo off at the station after - sad because she was the first to go – it can’t be over! Then Paddy left us at the port and we really were going back to London. Everyone was pretty knackered on the ferry and so glad to get off we were the first bus packed and ready to go. Slept for a lot of that too.

Sad farewelling everyone; it was an absolutely amazing 24 days we had together and I miss every one of you still! But there’s still more of my trip to come… phew!

Dear Diary,

Oh how behind am I? Watching highlights of Ghana vs USA, the score of which I didn't know until about twenty minutes ago. I need to watch the news more intently. GOOOOOOOAAALLLLL! That goal from the Ghanian in extra time was awesome... Ok so the past two nights have been relatively - hang on, who's that guy? Andre Ayew apparently... - whoops, back on track. Relatively quiet, not a lot watched.

Managed to see most of the replay of Slovakia vs Italy. What a final fifteen minutes. I so wish I'd seen that live. That was incredible football. Looked like Italy were actually trying... my game of the night was Brazil vs Portugal. That was meant to be a showdown - and it was really boring. The commentator said it was a 3rd-string Brazilian team, and it showed. Not as many fancy skills or as high-tempo a game. I vaguely remember the second half starting and then went to bed what seemed like five minutes later. Hours of sleep: 5.5.

Last night was unfortunate - although a quiet Saturday night out was had, there was no way I could've stayed up to watch Ghana vs USA... although we did have a World Cup McDonalds experience - stayed in the Cross Rd restaurant past midnight when they normally shut it. Woo! But I was falling asleep (yes, in a public place. Think I've mentioned I have a tendency to do that) and so hit the hay as soon as I got home. Hours of sleep: 6.5? I don't remember what time I went to bed...

Plenty of hype surrounding England vs Germany... Ed Kavalee put it so well on Cup Fever (the SBS show) when he said that the World Cup's really started now. The business end of the tournament should bring some cracker contests! Would've loved to have gone out tonight; the Barmy Army supporters (they do call them that for football too right?) would be a fun bunch regardless of where you are. Time for Shrek to step up!