Friday, 6 July, 2018 16:41. Lemala Camp, Ngorongoro Crater Rim

This morning we asked the question about what the staff do if a dangerous animal appears. M. thought they might wave a torch at it, because the animals would be afraid of the light. But when we asked, they said that you shouldn’t shine light at them because it provokes them. The thing to do is just back away slowly. We had visions of Lex in Jurassic Park waving a light at the T. rex and Alan Grant willing her not to. They also said that there were lions around the camp during the night and described the sound they made, a sort of extended grunting, which was the sound we’d heard but had assumed was zebras or something.

Our alarm got us up at 06:00. After dressing we emerged into the pre-dawn light, still a bit dark a few minutes earlier than we’d been the last two mornings. A staff member came to meet us with a torch and escorted us to the dining tent, answering the questions about animals in the night.

Sunrise at Nimali Camp

For breakfast I had the same as yesterday, the muesli and eggs benedict, while M. just had muesli and toast, although we both tried some of the pastry of the day, which was carrot bread today, with a delicious nutty top on the loaf.

After breakfast we packed our bags, double checked the room, and checked out by handing in the key and writing a message in the guest book. Timba was waiting by the car as we walked out, just a couple of minutes late. The morning wasn’t as cold as yesterday, and we drove with the safari roof down, as we were making time to our next destination, on the Ngorongoro crater rim.

Read more: sighting more animals on the drive out of Serengeti, stopping at Olduvai Gorge to see the cradle of humanity, our new camp on the Ngorongoro crater rim, and visiting a Maasai village and meeting the people

Thursday, 5 July, 2018. 18:02

We have just returned from our second all-day game drive. We saw less wildlife and drove a lot further today, but the main highlights were truly worth it.

We both woke up early this morning, and we could hear the sound of some sort of animal in the distance, but didn’t know what it was, possibly hyenas? When the alarm went off we got up, dressed, and walked over to the dining tent in the soft dawn light before sunrise. The dawn was cold, very noticeably colder than yesterday, and stayed a bit cooler throughout the day.

African grey flycatcher, dawn light at the camp

Breakfast was the same choices as yesterday, but the “selection of pastries” was changed from banana bread. We said we’d have whatever the new choice was, plus muesli and yoghurt, and then today I chose the “Nimali Benedict” and M. had fried eggs with toast. The “pastries” turned out to be freshly made pikelets, which they gave us two each of. M. had honey on hers (stealing a jar from the next table) while I had butter. The benedict was a little rough, served on toasted slices of the odd bread they have here, smallish with a slightly sweet and grainy texture, almost like gluten-free bread. Perhaps it is; every time we order food they are careful to ask us if we have any allergies.

Read more: a huge day for wildlife spotting and driving across the Serengeti, ending with a relaxing dinner and magnificent sunset

Tuesday, 2 October, 2018

We woke up a bit before 04:00 this morning, and I thought it was time to get up until I looked at the time. I tried to go back to sleep but it was difficult. Eventually we got up about 06:40 and prepared for the day, eating the bread rolls M. had bought last night. They were small square rolls with large pumpkin seeds on them, and tasted great. I did some stretches and got dressed, and left soon after 07:00, walking along the river again to the Hauptbahnhof.

This time I got the S-bahn from platform 11, after stopping to buy an almond croissant from a bakery in the station. I ate it on the platform while waiting for the train. Quite a few commuters were catching the train and I stood up rather than take a seat, until we stopped at a technology park a few stops out and most of the passengers got off, at which point I sat down for the second half of the ride. I arrived at Horrem quite early again, but went straight to the Image Engineering building so I could log in and check my overnight email to see if there was any news from Canberra about the hosting of the meeting next year.

But when I arrived, the front door of the building was locked, despite me being able to see that some of the meeting attendees had arrived and were in the meeting room upstairs. So to kill time while someone came to open the door I walked around the building, noticing that several people were already working inside as I passed the ground floor windows. After a lap of the building I tried the door again and this time it opened.

The meeting today proceeded quickly, with several ad hoc technical sessions either cancelled or cut short with just a brief report due to relatively little progress since last meeting. We rearranged the agenda and tried to fit everything into today, but the first ad hoc scheduled for tomorrow might have had interested people phoning in, so we couldn’t move it without checking for sure. I emailed Bob at the War Memorial to confirm if he intended dialling in, but it was after knock off time in Australia so I didn’t think I’d get an answer in time. So we proceeded thinking that we’d have to return for at least a short time tomorrow morning. But after lunch, and after 10pm in Sydney, he replied and said he couldn’t make it, so we were free to reschedule and wrap up the meeting a day early!

For lunch today there was chicken pieces in a spicy Mexican style rice, plus chilli sin carne, made with a meat substitute for vegetarians. Both were very nice, and I enjoyed the meal better than yesterday’s lunch. Dietmar had said there would be no catering on Wednesday because of it being a public holiday in Germany, but as it turned out we ended the meeting early so didn’t need it.

Mexican lunch at Image Engineering

After wrapping up and saying goodbye to the various people and that we’d see each other in Yokohama next year, I left with Margaret to walk to the station. We found Scott and Ken on the platform waiting for the next express back to Cologne, but no ticket validation machine on the platform, so we all had to walk back down the tunnel beneath the platforms to the machine at the tunnel entrance. Fortunately we had a few minutes, so made it back to catch the train. We got off at Cologne Hauptbahnhof and said goodbyes until next time we meet, whenever that will be.

Read more: a lightning cathedral tour, checking out the LEGO shop, and a very traditional German dinner

Monday, 1 October, 2018

I was awake before the alarm and got up a bit before 07:00. After quickly getting dressed and ready, I left to walk to the Hauptbahnhof to catch a train to Horrem. I needed to work out how to get a ticket for the journey, and where to catch the train from, so I wanted to be there nice and early. The sun was only just beginning to brighten the sky before rising as I walked north in the cold morning air. I decided to walk along the river bank, and it was a very pleasant walk, watching the pre-dawn light on the river and the various boats.

Cologne Cathedral in dawn light

At the station I went first to the information desk as it was right there as I entered. I said to the man that I wanted to catch a train to Horrem, but I was obviously pronouncing it wrong as he didn’t understand the name until I’d repeated it with slightly different inflections several times. He told me to go to the ticket office and they would help me.

Walking into the ticket office, I saw signs for long distance and local trains. I figured Horrem was close enough to be local, so went there. Again I had pronunciation problems, because when I told the lady I wanted a ticket to Horrem, she said, “Rome?! You want the long distance counter!” I only managed to make her understand after a few more attempts, at which point she said, “Oh! Horrem!” – saying it in what I thought was exactly the same way I’d been saying it all along.

It turns out there’s no such thing as a return ticket here. You buy single fares, or an all-day ticket which is about three times as much, so no good for a single return trip. But there is a ticket which is four single fares, and you can use each fare whenever you want by stamping the ticket in the validation machines four times on separate occasions. So I got one of those, plus two single fare tickets, to cover travel for three days. It cost just over 30€ in total.

The next train to leave for Horrem was a regional express at 07:47. I went up to the platform and the train was waiting there. I got on and took a seat on the upper deck. It pulled out and whisked me thought the suburbs of Cologne, stopping at Erhenfeld, then into the countryside and on to the town of Horrem.

Read more: A lesson in German cheese pronunciation, technical meetings and photo labs, and a traditional home-style dinner

Sunday, 30 September, 2018 17:00

We are resting at our hotel for a little bit before heading out for a drink somewhere before our dinner appointment this evening with the two guys from Canon in Japan.

We slept reasonably well. We woke up around 03:00 and M. had one of the pretzels as a snack. I feared we’d be awake from then on, but we both fell back to sleep, and when I woke again it was just before 07:00, giving me almost ten hours sleep.

We prepared slowly to leave the hotel, being in no rush as we knew nothing much would be open before 10:00, and in fact most shops would be closed for Sunday. We showered and got dressed, and I did some stretches earlier before M. woke up. Then we had the remaining pretzel and I had an apple. By the time we left the hotel, it was about 09:30. We stopped at the reception to ask about what would be open, both today and on the public holiday on Wednesday. The guy there basically said shops would be closed both days, but museums and restaurants would be open.

We walked across to Hohestrasse and passed an open bakery that looked decent, but M. wanted to find the Espresso Perfetto place we’d passed yesterday. We went down a side street and did a bit of a loop to find it, but it was closed Sundays. So we walked back the three blocks to the first bakery, as another one we ran across didn’t look as good.

M. got a slice of Apfeltorte and a cappuccino, while I got a Mandelhörnchen and a hot chocolate. The hörnchen was full of almond paste and had slivered almonds all over it, and the ends were dipped in chocolate. The hot chocolate was pretty good too. M. said the apple cake was nice.

Apfeltorte for second breakfast

After this, we walked north to the cathedral and went inside briefly, but there was a Sunday service in progress so we couldn’t walk around very far. Then we went across the square to the tourist information place, and got info about museums that would be open on Wednesday for M. We also looked at the souvenirs for sale and bought a calico bag to carry snacks and other things in while we walk around.

Read more: We stumble across a Sunday market, with vegetarian food! And a flea market, and see tons of love locks, and have a fancy dinner