About a boy

When I went to the gents

There was a skewered heart

And a legend of love. Let me

Sleep on your breast to the airport. (Heaney)

I love the way these lines from a poem by Seamus Heaney move from the everyday to the realm of the intimate. These lines follow the persona's ironic glance over a 'skewered heart' - a trite scrawling of possessive love on the toilet door. Instead the persona moves towards a moment of peace and privacy, as the lines allude to the possibility of a honeymoon after a surreal matrimonial experience. With today's poetry lecture ended, I too will wander into the private sphere as I share some exciting news.

As you all know, I'm a little expeditionist running around the world. Writing now from Frankfurt, Germany I'm crazy excited to be heading to Athens tomorrow. Greece will be wild.

Even wilder, the lovely Dave is joining me all the way from Perth! Yayness. Will be meeting him tomorrow at the hostel, as he hits Greece in the morning. Wooohoo! So apologies if I blog less frequently, but I'm likely having a blast on the islands and a short break in travel companionship with my mum. Go grease lightning - partying and summer fun!

Pausing in Passau (7-8 July)

Now I was being gentle, easing you into this post with the carefully placed 'pausing' in Passau. But substitute it for 'pissing around in Passau' and you have mum's summary of our time in Passau. We didn't get much accomplished, bar from eating and sleeping.

When you venture out of Lonely Planet territory, you know things will be more difficult. Rocking up in Passau, Germany we find ourselves totally stuck for accommodation.

We couldn't get through to anyone prior to book rooms. Following signs to Jugendherbege (youth hostel) we learn from locals that it is hours away. Where are my German speaking friends (Alice, Larissa!) when I need them? Dialling several pensions and hotels I learn they only speak German. English - nein!

Grabbing my phrasebook, I call again. Butchering German in process, I fire of a barrage of questions from the Deutsche: Accommodation section. Do you have double rooms,? How much? Can I come see?. Now I didn't understand all the answers, but I was pretty sure a room was free. With trepidation we set out to find the place, and it was only a few streets down. So for the next two nights we stayed at Hotel Wienar Wald.

It was fine, except for the first night. We were underneath the Go! nightclub which had revellers in and out until early morning. Also, a restaurant on the street below featured excrutiatingly painful live entertainment. An amateur songmaker sang English and German songs, receiving measly claps after a bout of buffoonery. Muffling the English he sang away and mum laments that he has killed her favourite songs.

Before we secured accommodation, as I mentioned, we had tracked the JudgendHerbegere (Youth Hostel) signs only to learn it was far away. Spotting Rhodos restaurant I suggested we stop for a drink.

Mum starts barraging the waiter in English and he looked bewildered. So I ask him in German if he speaks English. He shakes his head. Ellenika? His face lit up. So in Greek, I order tea and coffee and he tells me that he has sisters in Melbourne etc etc. I butchered the language but he understood me perfectly. We went back there the next day for pastitsio and mousakka. Now, the patsitsio was good but in now way surpasses Io's mums.

So there you go, practicing my Greek in Germany and some very basic German! Apart from that, not much else got done!

Is Germany too cool for me?

Fashion, beer and sex are the focus of this frivolous post. First up - the fashion. Eccentricity is tested and explored on the streets by German youths. Some highlights were the couple who sported matching his and hers pink punk hairstyles. Shaved, spiked designs were streaked with flossy pink. They walked the shopping complex with their black doggy, heads held defiantly high. The punks in Germany put the wanna-be emo and goth lurkers in Forrest Chase to shame. They have shops devoted to 'emily the strange' aswell as shops full of the freakiest gothic fashions around.

Leaving my jumper behind in Auckland was silly because summer has yet to settle in Germany. In Leipzig today, mum and I headed out to covet coats. We fruitlessly searched the train shopping complex with tacky shops like 'Forever 18' for suitable winter wear. Everywhere we went the Germans were decked out in nice warm attire. But on the racks, the dearth of classy clothes was evident. After visiting a museum, we found more shops in the city centre. In one shop I found a gorgeous fitted black jacket with buttons and a small hood. I lost mum however. Approaching a store lady with 'Sprechen Die English?' I was assisted by her colleague who was able to speak English. I explained that I wanted her to hold the coat while I found my mum. They dragged me to the cash desk, pulled out a microphone and told me to call mum over the PA in English. Super embarrassed, I assured them that it was unecessary and set off to find mum on foot. I collected her and we both bought our jackets there. Here's a pic of me at the hostel in my hot new jacket.

Now, let's talk about sex baby. You all know I love a good bookstore, but today that love was sorely challenged. I wandered into a bookstore only to be dismayed by the great books which were only available in German. Moving on to the next room, I discovered it was really a porn shop masquerading as a bookhhandlung. Boooo! German condoms are really funny. They have stupid names like 'Billy Boy' and line the impulse buys shelves in supermarkets. Speaking of markets, we passed a peepshow shop today aptly named 'erotic markt.' Talk about sexual commodification.

As many of you know, I've never been a beer drinker. The wine/spirit core in me was destablised recently when I visited the Belgian Beer cafe in Perth with some sexy peeps. This introduction prepared me, hopefully, for bucketfuls of Bier in Germany. Yesterday, keen to try beer I entered a strange bottleshop in search of a beer. It was occupied by a salesman and about five of his sloshed mates who had fun practising their English with their Australian visitors. The only cold stuff they had was called a Mixery -a combination of bier and cola. I drank it - totally weird but cool. Not as great as beer on its own though.

After a hard day of sight-seeing and shopping, mum and I went to a Bier Bar (Gleis 8) at the station. I pre-mastered enough German to ask the bar lady what she recommends. So we both enjoyed a fantastic Radeberger Pilsner. Want to go back for another! Anyway, I have oodles to share - stories about a cool actress I met, some silly language blunders and more. We are off to Warsaw tomorrow - Berlin was all booked out but hopefully I'll share my Frankfurt and Leipzig experiences soon. Yay for the International Arts Festival in Warsaw!