Berlin Blog 14-21 September 2015

We departed Sydney on Sunday evening on Etihad.  In what must be one of the more pleasurable experiences in life we were upgraded to first for the first leg (15 hours) to Abu Dhabi.  The adverts with Nicole Kidman are not a lie.  You do get a seat and separate bed!  The food is terrific.  Etihad is a dime = New York vernacular for a 10 out of 10.

We reached our hotel (the Arte Luise Kundtshotel)  in the afternoon to discover we were right next to the train lines, no sound proofing, and the trains ran every 4 minutes.  The room had complimentary earplugs and half the room had a lowered ceiling plus the carpets were wet from a recent cleaning.  Needless to say the Welsh dragon arose and two room switches later we made it to room 522 which was a great room.  No noise, high ceilings, dry carpets. 

The hotel was located in Mitte about a 10 minute walk from the Brandenburg gate.  We went to see it and then strolled down the Main Street Unter der Linden till we found some where to eat.  We lucked out and found the Café Einstein a classic old style German restaurant which is actually in Tripadvisor’s list of top 20 attractions.  Probably the best German food we had all week.  My schnitzel was superb if enormous.

The next day we our first tour of Berlin.  All the sights are in the old east Berlin and that is where you want to stay.  The tour was done by a New Zealander Mike who works for Insider tours and he was terrific.  We finished at around 4 which gave us time for a short rest before going to the Philomonic to hear our first concert.  We had tapas at Volver which was a Spanish restaurant across the street from the hotel and again highly recommended.  Great pimentos de Padron.  The concert was interesting and part of the Berlin Music Festival.  The orchestra was the Swedish Radio orchestra.  They played two pieces:  Dances of the Earth by Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Songs of the Earth by Gustav Mahler.  When the orchestra appeared for the first piece with 8 percussionists I realised this was going to be a night of different music.  Still no regrets, very interesting crowd and great acoustics.

The next day we did a day trip to Dresden.  In a recent poll by Germany’s leading newspaper Dresden was voted by its readers the most beautiful city in Germany.  The palaces are spectacular and it located on the Elbe river.  The guide took us through the Dresden bombing in 1945 where the allies first sent down flares to pinpoint the targets, then high explosives to blow off the roofs, followed by incendiary bombs to create a firestorm.  Some 25,000 people died and of course this regarded as war crime by the allies.  I pointed out to the guide that this technique was first used by the Nazis in 1941 in the bombing of Coventry and was so successful that from then on the allies discarded trying pinpoint bombing and adopted the Nazi technique instead.  They perfected it by the time of the Dresden bombing. After the 2.5 hour coach trip, followed by a 2.5 hour tour we decided it was time for lunch and had a terrific Italian meal on the town square.  They served gluten free penne so SWMBO was content.  On the way there we heard heard the saga of the newBerlin Airport which has been an unmitigated disaster some 8 years late and 300% overrun on costs.  The first attempt had only half the necessary gates for traffic load and only six toilets.  Puts the proposed Sydney Airport into perspective and gives you a new perspective on German efficiency.

On the train ride back we learned how the train system works.  You buy the tickets and before you get on the train you validate them at a stamping machine on the platform.  Unfortunately we on our return journey to the hotel several inspectors got on the train and we ended up being fined 60 euro each.  This is one of the problems of using TripAdvisor rather than Lonely Planet.

Thursday was our first guide free day.  We wanted to do the Reichstag dome tour.  When we arrived at we discovered you had book a time and the queue to make that tour was 2 hours long.  So we gave that a miss and visited the Topography of Terror museum which is about the rise and actions of the Nazis.  Credit to the Germans, nothing was held back and there are multiple school tours underway.  The line is that the people fell under the spell of a brilliant psychopath and they must ensure that they do not allow such an event to happen again.  This was backed up with a visit to the Jewish museum whose architecture is quite stunning.  That night we had a meal at Brechts named after the playwright who was a frequent visitor. Not cheap but great food and ambiance, on the river, in house piano player, etc. 

Up bright and early Friday morning to secure a place in the dome tour.  We managed to get a slot at twilight that night and only queued for 15 minutes.  We decided that we would go to Museum Island. You can buy a day ticket to visit all the museums on the island you want and we did 3.  The first was the Art Gallery where the show was ImEx which was an exhibition contrasting the French Impressionists of Paris with the German Expressionists of Berlin.  We were there early and there was already a 45 minute queue but we were told that this was the show of the year by a person who had queued 3 times previously and failed to get in.  By the time went in the queue was estimated to be 4 hours long!  It was a great exhibition for the impressionists alone.  There must have been at least 100 of their paintings.

Then we went to the Neus museum where we saw the golden hat and the bust of Nefertiti.  This was followed by Pegameon museum where we saw the gate of Ishtar.  Great museums and of course the Germans were outstanding archeologists.  As you looked at the exhibits you realised that if they were in Middle East museum now they would probably be blown up.  We had a reasonable lunch and then staggered back to room for some rest before taking on the Dome.

This is again a must do.  The dome is transparent to signify what government should be and the German Parliament look up at the dome and see the people walking around the dome.  This is done to ensure that the politicians realise that people are on top and not the politicians.  Again this is a must see if you come to Berlin.  You can book the tour on the Internet but the process time is 5 working days.

On Saturday we decided to return to the Gendarmerie market which is the most impressive square in Berlin.  The concert hall is flanked by German and French Churches.  While we were there a wedding was underway.  The party came out and every was given blue and white heart shaped balloons to release.  The bride and groom were then given a white doe e each to release. Then 10,000 demonstrators marched by protesting for gay rights and pro-choice.  Just what you want for a wedding.

We then went and has another great meal at Gandymede which is a French bistro next to Brechts.  Great charteaubriand.

That night we were again at the Philarmonie where we had the pleasure of seeing Sir Simon Rattle conducting the Berlin Philarmonic.  Simply brilliant.  The hall was packed but luckily after a 5 minute walk I managed to get a taxi.

On Sunday we did our final tour to Potsdam.  Another famous place where they held the Potsdam Conference at the end of WWII and Frederick the Great built Sans Souci palace.  Famous Frederick quote “I speak Latin to God, French to my court, and German to my horses.”  On his grave are dozens of potatoes.  He is famous for introducing the potato to Germany.  He start growing them in a plot guarded by soldiers.  He instructed the guards to let the people, thinking they must valuable, steal the potatoes.  The other sight we saw in Potsdam was the Glienicke Bridge.  According to our guide this is going to be the most visited site in Germany in the next 12 months as it is the scene for Speilberg’s new film “Bridge of Spies.”

The next morning we were off to Tegal Airport.  The bus stop to the airport is just out side the hotel so we thought we would take it.  It turns out there was a massive jam in the centre so the buses being rerouted so we ended up catching a taxi.

In summary Berlin Is a great city.  It just over took Rome as Europe’s third most popular destination.  Keep off the German food by eating other cuisines.  Validate your ticket before you get on  a train.  If you decide to try the Arte Luise ask for rooms 521 or 522.

Chris Golis Australia's expert on practical emotional intelligence website: www.emotionalintelligencecourse.com Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/chrisgolis Email: cgolis@emotionalintelligencecourse.com mobile: +61-418-222219

My World Cup 2015

Twelve months ago the Australian Rugby Team known as the Wallabies was in disarray.  The coach, Ewen McKenzie, had persuaded the ARU to hire Di Patson as a business manager.  He then made the cardinal sin of any manager, mixing his meat with his bread and butter.  He resigned but the team had split into NSW, ACT and Queensland camps.  The subsequent tour of Europe under the new  coach, Michael Cheika, was a disaster with Australia losing to Ireland, England and France.  So thinking that Australia would not graduate from the Pool of Death I only booked 3 of the 4 pool matches.

First match Australia vs Fiji 23 September 2015 at Millennium Stadium Cardiff. 

Australia beat a Fiji team that had played England 5 days earlier at Twickenham in a bruising encounter.  It was not really fair to Fiji but it was a good hit out for Australia even thought they did not get a bonus point.  The ground was packed (75,000) and when 65,000 started chanting "Fiji Fiji" and singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot (SLSC) we realised we were outnumbered.

There is no doubt that Millennium stadium is probably the best ground to go to an international match in the UK.  The ground is in the centre of the city.   The pubs are buzzing before the match and there are hundreds of restaurants to choose for a meal after the game.  Thankfully it was a 4.45 kickoff.

Second match Australia v England 3 October 2015 kick off 8pm at Twickenham. 

Following England’s unbelievable ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory the previous Saturday when after being on top for first 60 minutes they took off their best players and let injury depleted Wales stage the comeback of the year, the whole country knew it was do or die. 

The ground was packed 80,000 fans of which around 5,000 Australians were packed into 4 groups radiating out from the 4 corner posts.  When the crowd sang SLSC with unbelievable passion in the opening minutes all the Australian fans looked at each other with the same expression “We are rooted.”

The result of course the complete opposite with Australia playing its best game in years and extracting wonderful revenge for the 2007 loss to the English in the QF in Marseille.  The scrum instead of buckling pushed England around.  The inter-passing of Australian backs, particularly the second try was unbelievable.  I remember jumping out of my seat screaming to the crowd “This is rugby, this is rugby!!”

About 15 minutes from the end the English fans started streaming out to the accompaniment of the Australian fans waving and shouting “Bye Bye”.  Then at the end the Australian team did a lap of honour to an empty Stadium.  All the English fans had left.  Then there was the absolutely crazy moment where the reserve English lock was given man of the match.  Foley kicked 7 out of 7, scored 2 tries, threw the beautiful wide pass to set up the Giteau try and kicked for position beautifully. Afterwards drinking with the English fans they were besides themselves with embarrassment. The papers are still going on about the result.  I confess that it appears as if the English coach does not appear to have a long shelf life. 

Still you have to give to the English.  As Bill Bryson says the English are at their most content when they have a legitimate reason to bitch deeply and bitterly.  “A Briton standing in a minefield with a leg blown off who can say ‘I told you this would happen’ is actually a happy man.”   Ditto the English rugby fan.  They are the only RWC host country ever to be knocked out in the pool stage after spending over £5 million on a 12 week training camp.

Third match Australia vs Wales at Twickenham 10 October 2015 kickoff 4.45

The match was preceded by a very pleasant lunch at the Mayer residence in Twickenham.  Suitably lubricated my Welsh wife broke down crying when the Welsh national anthem was sung.  By now we were becoming used to being totally outnumbered and out sung.  Half of Wales must have travelled to Twickenham for the day.  We then watched what has been described as the greatest tryless match in the history of the RWC.  It was a great defensive effort by Australia but really when you are two men up you run for the corner posts.  You do not keep cutting back inside.  Australia did not actually win the match but the Welsh lost it.  And when the Welsh scrum half was made Man of the match you knew the selection had become a joke.  (The selection of man of the match was being done via twitter.  After these two results the experiment of using Twitter was abandoned.)

Interesting Rugby fact

The first time a national anthem was sung at an international rugby match was 16 December 1905.   It was during the tour of the original All Blacks who had swept all before them.  Meanwhile the Welsh had won the 4 nations and were the strongest team in Europe. The match was billed as the game of the century.  Over 50,000 fans were at the match.

To counter the Hakka the Welsh team decided to follow it by singing their National Anthem “Land of our Fathers.”  Suddenly the whole crowd joined in.  The NZ captain subsequently said it was the most amazing experience in his life.

It worked the Welsh won 3-0 in a particularly contentious match inflicting the only defeat on the All Blacks in their first tour.

In summary you have to hand  to Michael Cheika who has done an outstanding job.


Chris Golis Australia's expert on practical emotional intelligence website: www.emotionalintelligencecourse.com Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/chrisgolis Email: cgolis@emotionalintelligencecourse.com mobile: +61-418-222219

Turkey 2014

We started the trip on Wednesday 27 August flying to Istanbul on Etihad business class.  Vivienne started the trip by suggesting our first day be an Alcohol Free Day.  As if I am paying for business class tickets and not drinking the wine.  That quickly got rejected.  We arrived on Thursday afternoon staying at the Ibrahim Pasha hotel opposite the Blue Mosque.  We then caught up with Anne &; Anthony Mayer and Ali &; Barry King on their hotel terrace.  That night we ate at the Cafe Rumali which had a 10% view of the Mosque from the 5th floor terrace.  The cafe is recommended in all the guide books but frankly it was not inspiring.

The next day we did the Bosphoros cruise and then had drinks on our hotel terrace.  100% view of Blue Mosque and then had a great meal at Amerdos which is recommended.

On Saturday we all flew down to Gocek and as the plane was late we had a late lunch at the Can restuarant on the harbour.  Not bad but then we went to our villa.  It was stunning with 6 bedrooms for the 8 of us.  There were 3 staff and we quickly settled into a routine of breakfast around 9, lunch out and dinner on the balcony willa.   Jan & Peter Arnold joined us on Saturday night and we had our full team on board.  The next day double tragedy our driver had to leave as his wife had appendicitis and the speed boat attached to the villa was broken.  So for lunch our new driver who was unfamiliar with Gocek area drove us over the hills to Boynuzbuku beach for lunch at the Yat Mola restaurant.  The setting was stunning.  Guess what the next day the boat was fixed and we returned for lunch.

Wednesday was visit Fethiye day.  We started with a 1.5 hour drive to Oludeniz which is a seaside hot spot on the Tourquoise Riviera followed by a visit to the empty former Greek village of Kayakoy. There was a restaurant serving the golzelme packages which we had for lunch cooked in a basic oven/hot plate.  We finally made it to Fethiye by 4 gave it 30 minutes on the harbour and retreated back to the villa for dinner and bridge.  Thursday we had a picnic on the water and Friday we used the speedboat again to visit a beachside restaurant.  By now I was getting desperate for a cappuccino and finally found a restaurant with the machine.  I pointed to it and was told "No problem".  It was an eats, roots and leaves moment because when I went to order she said "No.  (There is a) problem."

It was great week and we flew back to Istanbul rested if somewhat overdosed on Alcohol.  The plane was not late but the luggage took over an hour to appear.  On the way in we hit the notorious Istanbul traffic and finally made it to our hotel at 4:30 having left our villa at 10am.  Our tour was starting on Wednesday so that gave us 3 days to see the sights that we were going to miss.  We started our tour with a visit to the Blue Mosque.  We were approached by an entrepreneur/tout who after failing to sell us guidebooks to Istanbul said he jump the queue which was an hour long.  With what I think was only chutzpah he took us to the front of the queue.  The Blue Mosque is quite stunning and the major operating Islamic mosque in Istanbul. He then took us to his "uncle" who owned a carpet store in the Arasta Bazaar.  Of course we disregarded all the advice and ended up buying two kilims.  We then visited the Ayasofya or Little Hagia Sofia Mosque.  In the afternoon we went to the Rahmi Koc museum situated about halfway up the Golden Horn.
Vivienne had worked for Rahmi Koc in Istanbul back in the early 1960s for 4 months teaching his 3 sons English.  I had contacted the museum for her to meet him but he was in Europe on holidays.  However he did arrange for a guide to show us around and Zeynap Turkay did a brilliant job showing us around.  She graduated as an archeologist and now worked as curator at the museum.  The museum is worth a visit as I see it as Rahmi 's attempt to keep Turkey on the path laid down by Ataturk.

The next day we went to Pera or the European centre of Istanbul, we caught the tram across the  Galata bridge and then the Tunel funicular.  I bought some shoes and we tried to see the Museum of Innocence which was of course closed.  We ended up walking down to Karakoy having a simple mezze lunch and then going to the Spice Market.  On Tuesday we decided to visit the Chora Museum.  Chora means beyond the walls or boondocks and it lives up to its name.  It does contain the finest Byzantine mosaics in Istanbul but of course 1/3 of the church was closed for restoration.  On the other hand what was very impressive were the city walls built by Theodosis around 500AD.
We then caught a taxi to the Pera Palace hotel to see the Ataturk room but that was only open at 3 and it was lunchtime.  So we went to the Museum of Innocence built by Oman Pamuk who is the Turkish Nobel prize winner for literature.  I was reading his memoir of Istanbul and wanted to see it.  Even though it won the 2013 prize as the best museum in Europe Vivienne was very unimpressed.  I was able to get in for free as I had downloaded the Museum of Innocence on to my Kindle.  I must confess some doubts as the first exhibit was 4,213 cigarette butts.  The only really interesting part was on the top floor where you saw the hand written drafts of the book with an unbelievable number of corrections.  Computers and word processing have completely changed writing.
That afternoon we moved to our new hotel, the Darrussade on the other side of the Blue Mosque in the Akbiyik Caddesi where we also had a dinner at the Albura Kathisma.

On Wednesday our Byroads tour started with our guide Tarik and met our group.  There were eight us:  (Letterbox) Pat, (Stop and shop) Sharon, (Just one more photo) Jacki and John, and (Just one more red wine) Julie and Tony.  We started at the Mosaic Museum in the Arasta bazaar which has a good collection of Roman mosaics and then moved on to the Tokapi Museum along with 4 cruise ships of passengers.  We went around the Harem, saw the Golden Road where concubines went to visit the Sultan.  Sleeping with Sultan once graduated you out of the dormitory into a Favourite's apartment and if you got pregnant and gave birth to a male prince  you were made a wife with pension entitlements, etc.  The treasury is worth seeing with the 86 caret diamond, the basket of emeralds, and the Tokapi dagger with three huge emeralds.  In the afternoon we went to the Haga Sophia, one of the great buildings of the world. The dome is truly spectacular.  It  was formerly a Greek Othodox Church plundered by the Crusaders in 1204, converted to a Mosque in 1453 and is now a museum.  

Thursday saw us start at the Basilica Cistern which was used in From Russia With Love.  There are two Minerva heads, one upside down the other on her side used as props for the columns.  Then we went to the Archeological Museum where we saw the Head of Sappho and the Chain of the Golden Horn used to stop ships entering the harbour and preventing invasions.  We then went to the Spice Market, had lunch in Karakoy and then went up to the Pera Museum.  The exhibition of street art, ie graffiti was a waste of time but I went to the Ataturk room where I saw the prayer carpet which was a gift to Ataturk by an Indian Maharajah.  The clock on the carpet shows 9:07, there is a chandelier printed on the carpet with 10 lanterns in the centre and the border is chrysanthemum which were not only Ataturk's favourite flower but are the flower for November.  Ataturk died at 9:07 on November 10 and each year Turkey stops for a minute to commemorate his death at that time. Spooky or what?
The next morning we started the “Undiscovered” part of the Turkey tour.  We had an early flight to Izmir and then hopped on a mini-bus to go to Sirince, which is a pretty hillside village and which was also part of the Greek-Turkey population exchange which happened in the 1920s following the 1919-23 Greco-Turkish War.  Some 2 million people exchanged countries as they were forcibly made refugees.  On our arrival we went to a wine tasting which does seem strange in 99.9% Moslem country but we were beginning to develop a taste for Turkish wine.  The book Middlesex begins with this event. 
The next morning we were bound for Ephesus but first we had a fashion show at a glitzy shop name Rossini.  I needed a couple of belts and a new wallet.  Vivienne after telling me she never wore green bought a pale green leather jacket which I have to say was very stylish and light enough to wear in Sydney.  After lunch we then went Ephesus famous for both the church of the Virgin Mary and St John the Divine (he wrote the 4th gospel and Revelations) and the Greek/ Roman ruins which are truly spectacular.  The library is stunning as is the Amphitheater that seats over 30,000 yet you can hear a coin drop on the stage in the top tier.  We tested it and it's true.  Certainly the ruins are on a par with the Roman Forum even though many columns have been taken for such buildings as the Haga Sophia and the Basilica Cistern.

We then drove to Izmir and the wrong railway station before catching the train to Ankara.  It took some 15 hours and we did manage to get some sleep but frankly I have got too old for such hardships.  Nevertheless it was interesting to see the Izmir harbour and countryside and then the Antolian plain as we arrived in Ankara.  We were immediately taken to the Turkish National Museum which is really very impressive.  It contains items from all the various kingdoms that have ruled Turkey.  I liked the Hittite and Assyrian collections the best but it is both impressively laid out and easy to view.

After lunch we went to Safranbolu which as the name implies was built on the Saffron spice.  Tea, Turkish delight, rice you name it the saffron is every where.  It also was on the Spice route so became very wealthy.  It is regarded as the best place in Turkey to see Ottaman houses and we saw several both in Safranbolu and a village outside where we had golzelme pancakes and cherry juice for lunch.
The second evening we had a classic Turkish meal, walnuts on noodles, mini-dolmades, and an egg and tomato soft omelette.
The next day we had a 6 hour drive to Amasya which is a riverside city which has ancient rock tombs carved into the mountains above the city that are lit up at night along with the buildings along the river front.  It is a truly stunning sight and we had two great night time walks and dinners.  Why was the Ottoman Empire so successful?  Our guide Tarik gave us 3 reasons:
1.  Each sultan would send his sons out to govern the various provinces to gain executive experience. When the sultan died the sons would then fight it out to decide who would be the next sultan which was an effective Darwinian method.
2.  Better weapons.  They developed a short bow which could be used by Calvary  when mounting a charge and they were first army to develop cannons.
3.  They were just rulers who let their conquered countries keep their customs and did not impose onerous rules or taxes.
Amasya was one of the selected government areas for the potential sultans and along the riverbanks are statues of the various governors who became sultans plus a roll call of those who were sons but did not make the final cut.  It is a stunning town with one of the 3 mosques in Turkey with a spiral minaret.  I liked Amasya but I must confess that we arrived we climbed up to the tombs in the early evening but my vertigo prevented me climbing the final 5%.

On Thursday morning we set out on a long drive to Cappadocia.  On the way we stopped to see Hattusa, the former capital of the Hittite empire which existed 1700 - 1300 BC. The city was surrounded by a 3.3 km wall.  Many of the best relics are in the Ankara museum including the first known recorded peace treaty dated between the Hittites and Egyptians dated 1258 BC.  However it was pouring with rain so we cut our time here short and moved onto Cappadocia.

We stayed in Goreme in a cave hotel.  There are 70 ballon companies and 220 registered balloons and the early morning ballon rise is obligatory but well worth it.  The sight of over 100 balloons gently floating down the Cappadocian valleys among the amazing rock formations is quite amazing as is the experience of landing on the trolley.  There are various must sees such as The Dark Church at the Goreme open air museum, the Zelda Valley, the Kaymakli underground city, etc. We had some great meals particularly at the Dibek restaurant which according to our guide is the only one that serves true clay pot meals that are cooked for 3-4 hours in the pot.  Most are made as a stew in a big stainless steel pot and only poured in the clay pot in the last 10 minutes.  Two big clues as to whether the clay pot is real (and it tastes very different if it is not) is whether you have to make a reservation the previous day and whether the restaurant offers lamb clay pot.  If it does you know it is a con, lamb in clay pot goes off.  I also had a Turkish bath and a massage; another interesting experience.

We flew back to Istanbul on the Sunday.  One of our party's suitcase did not arrive.  Our guide, Tarik, nearly lost it when holding 8 luggage tickets discovered the women had ripped the luggage identifiers  off the suitcases so he not identify which of the 8 tickets was the missing suitcase.  Back in Istanbul Vivienne was able to finish he shopping and I got a haircut which was interesting in itself.  The ear hairs were burnt off with a lighter!
We did another Bosporus cruise and went to the Sadberk Hanim Museum, built in memory of Rahmi Koc’s grandmother and curated by his sister.  Quite an outstanding collecting.  We finished with a riverside lunch, then into the Central Bazaar which was nowhere near as bad as I had heard and then finished with a terrace meal with spectacular views of the Blue Mosque and Haga Sophia.
Turkey is a great country but I do fear for its future.  Recep Tayyip Erdogan who became president of Turkey the day we arrived is a charismatic figure who is moving Turkey from its secular status to a more Islamic country.  While repeatedly told this will not happen I am not so sure.  Hitler got 30% of vote in 1932 yet was running Germany two years later.  Erdogan has now won three elections and the last time was elected with 50% of the vote.  My recommendation is to go before it follows the other disasters in the Middle East.

Chris Golis Australia's expert on practical emotional intelligence website: www.emotionalintelligencecourse.com Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/chrisgolis Email: cgolis@emotionalintelligencecourse.com mobile: +61-418-222219

Three Cities and a Wedding

This blog details our trip to Dashiel and Stephanie's wedding in California, followed by trips to Washington DC, New York and Ireland (not quite a city I know but close enough).

We arrived in Los Angeles on Monday 26 May, drove down to San Diego where we spent two nights with my sister, Wendy, and her husband, Randy.  On Wednesday we drove to Solvang, California; famous for the location of where the film Sideways  was made and the home of Pinot Noir production in the Santa Barbara wine area.  Solvang was founded by the Danish emigrants in 1911.  They were looking for a warmer place than Minnesota.  The curator at the museum had never heard of The Killing or the Bridge but we let that pass when her assistant had heard of Borgen.

We stayed at the Wine Valley Inn in a cottage which was very spacious.  During the day we did some sightseeing (Ostrich farm + mini-horses).  The two highlights were coffee at the Corner House Cafe in Los Olivos and tapas at the Terravant wine Bar at the end of Industrial Way in Buellton.  The address sound terrible but it is a great place and the Pinot Noir rose by Lucas  & Lewellen is probably the best I have ever tasted.  Thursday night we had dinner with the prospective in-laws at Cecco Osteria which is a good Italian restaurant  Friday night we had the pre-wedding dinner for 150 guests at the Alisal Golf club.  Described by the prospective groom at a short 10 minute walk we luckily picked up by two friers of Wendy and made it to the golf club after a 15 minute drive.  Saturday was the wedding at the Foley Wine Estates.  It was very well done, 7 bridesmaids and the same number of groomsmen who did the couples dance into the dinner.  Highlight of the night was Randy's speech who told Stephanie to first put her hand out and then told Dashiell to put his hand on top of hers.  He then told Dashiell to remember this moment as it would be the only time during his marriage that he would have the upper hand.   The audience erupted into laughter.

The next day we drove to Los Angeles to recover.  Vivienne and I stayed at the Jonathon Club in the CBD.  On Monday we walked around the Walt Disney Concert Hall designed by Frank Gehry followed by a lunch at Kendall's Brasserie which is an excellent pseudo-French restaurant.  In the evening we went to Chinese Tea ceremony + banquet hosted by Stephanie's parents.  We had tea served by the bride and group and handed over the red envelopes.  The one dish I never had before was creamy shrimp with walnuts.  The shrimp were poached and not fried with honey as is typical in the US.  Interesting night to see the Chinese extended family (80+ including guests from Thailand in action).

Early next morning we got up to fly to Washington.  One tip -  there are no garages open before 6am near LAX.  So we had to leave our rental car with some  gas missing.  Of course we get on our plane only to be told by the pilot that there was crack in one of the engines and even though the plane was passed as suitable to fly he was refusing to do so.  Finally 3 hours later we took off for Washington DC. where we were staying at the University Club, just three blocks from the White House.  We were too bushed to go out and instead had a fantastic seafood buffet at the Club.  The oysters were superb.

Washington is a great city for the tourist.  We started with an Old Trolley Tour which is highly recommended.  Very big windows and you are protected from the sun.  It was hot and sunny and you felt for the people in the top deck of the double decker buses.  The tour was great and the guides were very funny and filled with lots of stories about Washington characters.  In the afternoon we had first had lunch at the National Art Gallery and then spent the afternoon wandering around.  You need at least 3 hours and the collection is unbelievable.  That night we had dinner at Founding Farmers which I had received as a recommendation from a LinkedIn connection and we entertained Uday who had helped run my first EQ webinar for Six Seconds earlier this year.  Buzzy restaurant and Vivienne and I did our usual trick of doubling the average age when we walked in.

The next day we went to the Capitol Building where we queued for five minutes for the tour and then using our Australian nationality went to a sitting of the Senate. This was followed by visits to the Library of Congress and the Air & Space Museum of the Smithsonian.  Absolutely rooted by the end of the day.  For dinner we were planning to go to the Old Ebbit Grill but were so tired we only made it to the Woodward Table where we had an excellent meal.

On Friday we took the second Old Trolley Tour where which goes north to the Catheral, Georgetown and Embassy Row.  We had a great meal at the Tackle Bar and that evening went to the the JFK Centre to see the Pennsylvania Ballet perform A Midsummers Night's Dream.  Great location.  Go on the metro and catch the shuttle.  It is really efficient.  Thank you Uday great tip.  See a performance in the JFK Centre if you can.  It is very impressive.

Saturday the club was not serving breakfast so we ended up at a cheap little spot for brunch known as the Willard Hotel.  Great brunch and service but at the price (US$130 for 2) it should have been.  To recover we then went to the Museum of American History.  Another excellent museum and some of the exhibitions such as the one on the American Presidents were excellent.  That evening we caught up with an old School friend John Muir, his wife Kerri-Anne, along with two other couples where we had an excellent if somewhat drunken BBQ.  Post the BBQ Maggie Muir kindly took us on a tour of the Einstein, Vietnam War and Lincoln Memorials at midnight.  Unbelievable to see at night and a memory to live forever.

The next day we took the train to NYC.  Hopped in the taxi at Penn Station, gave the driver the address only to be told he did not know if he could get there.  It turns out the biggest parade of the year, Puerto Rico day was marching down 5th Avenue.  The Club where we were staying, The Lotus Club, was on E66 Street next to 5th Avenue.  We got there eventually and then had dinner at Tony's Di Napoli which served the biggest portions I have ever seen.  Luckily the waiter warned us and we had appetiser portions which were still big by Sydney standards.  However great Italian food.

The next day (Monday 9 June) my sister joined us for 4 days.  We planned to start day with a good breakfast, then a museum, light lunch, nap, good dinner and then a show.  Today we started at Guggenheim which was showing an exhibition on the Italian Futurists.   I did not know anything about them but they were a group artists in the period 1909-1944.  The secret to the Guggenheim is to catch the lift to the top and slowly walk down the spiral;  that was how the architect designed the building.  Unfortunately the curator started at the exhibition at the bottom and worked up so we engaged in time travel backwards.  This was the first group that tried to get motion into painting  see for example
http://www.pinterest.com/durstonhillyer/futurist-movement/
where you see the first photographs of people in motion which inspired the movement.  However I would argue that these photographs could be the inspiration for the Cubist movement particularly the moving heads.

Instead of a light lunch Deirdre and Alan Ross organised for us to go to a great restaurant Amaranth for lunch.  The epitome of all the best that is New York, great food and great viewing.

That evening we went to see "Heathers" which is a musical based on the cult 1980s film starring Winona Ryder and Christian Sutherland.  Wendy had got the tickets via the new lead, Dave Thomas, who often stayed at Wendy's house and who she considered to be her third son.  Pretty dark subject matter for a musical but quite amusing.  We met Dave afterwards, who was quite exhausted as it was his opening night and he had been rehearsing all day.

Tuesday we started with the Museum of Natural History.  This is a must see if you go to New York if only because it has the finest collection of dinosaurs in the world.  However there are lots of other things to see.  I liked the Cosmic Pathway which is another spiral pathway which depicts the 13 billion year history of the universe.  Human existence is depicted by a human hair at the end of the walk.  I kept wanting to go to people and ask if they were creationists?  Supposedly 46% of Americans are creationists.  To complete the theme for the day after going to the E&E grill for dinner (not bad) we went and saw The Book of Mormon.  Very funny but as the writers are Matt Parker and Trey Stone the creators of South Park it is what you would expect.  The theatre was packed again it appeared with God fearing people but it was an interesting experience particularly for someone who is both an atheist and unfamiliar with the Mormon faith.  Read the Wikipedia synopsis - it is a bizarre musical.

Wednesday saw us to The Highline walk.  Again this is a must do in New York.  It takes about 90 minutes to walk the Highline, which is a park built on a former elevated railway line.  Start at West 30 street and walk to West 10.  That way you are going down hill.  When you reach the end you are in West Village which is very interesting.  We spent the morning looking for Joes Coffee House which we finally found as it supposedly makes the best coffee in the USA - my sister pronounced it good if lukewarm.  We then wandered around Greenwich Village including Bleeker street.   Unfortunately both the Peculiar Pub which serves beer from every country in the world and the Vingt on Vingt wine bar were both closed.  That night we went to the Lincoln Centre to see the American Ballet Theatre performing Cinderella.  Absolutely brilliant.  Before we ate at Boulud Sud which was also fantastic.  If you have only one night in New York try that combination.  Boulud Sud as a fixed price $60 3 course menu (choice of 3 items for each course) which was sensational value.

Thursday was Wendy's final day.  We started at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Again an unbelievable museum.  We decided to split up at meet at 1:30 at the cafe (great value and people watching)  I started with a 1 hour tour and got talking to a resident New Yorker who visits the Met monthly.  She told me every guide has their own special items and she always starts with the general tour.  It was fascinating.  They have what must be the finest collection of whole Greek vases that I have ever seen.  When I mentioned this to the guide she said that was nothing compared to the Egyptian collection which was built during 1880-1920 when New York was the richest city in the world and the museum was sending across several expeditions every year to Egypt and they just plundered the place buying everything they could.  The Impressionist Art collection is huge.  That night we went and  saw Matilda.  Wendy had again got the tickets - she knows the mother of the actor who plays Mr Wormwood - Matt Harrington. He kindly invited us backstage.  Guys I have made it to Broadway.  Matt was brilliant (he has performed for the RSC in London and Stratford) and he has great career ahead of him.  Matilda was easily the best musical we saw.  The first song Miracle is one of the funniest numbers I have ever heard.  The lyrics by Tim Michen are brilliant. For dinner I had booked us into Sardi's but the concierge at the Lotus Club said there was a much better place for dinner Angus McIndoe and he was right.  Half the price and very good american grill food.

Friday we went shopping.  I topped up my supply of Tommy Bahama T shirts and we then went for lunch at Balthazar in Greenwich Village at the recommendation of my daughter Laura.  Another very buzzy New York/French Bistro and highly recommended.  I left my wife to keep shopping while I went back for a nap.  Vivienne then got caught in a very heavy thunderstorm and we decided to have a quiet night in.

The next morning we went to the Frick which was just two blocks away from the club.  Another great museum.  I liked how Frick collected in the paintings in couples.  The Thomas Moore and Thomas Cromwell by Hans Holbein (Wolf Hall in pictures!!), the first and last portraits done by Rembrant  You can do the Frick in 2 hours and the free audio guide is very good.  Finally on Saturday evening we were off to JFK to fly to Dublin arriving Sunday morning.

We were staying at the Hibernian Club on St Stephens Green and after a nap decided to do a literary tour.  We only managed half of it as Virginia and Pierre (Vivienne's sister & brother-in-law) arrived on time.  We had eaten before at a put but then went to an Indian with them.  The next morning we met up with Sea, pronounced shay and short for Seamus, who took us on a tour of the main sites namely Kilmanen gaol, the Jameson Distillery (Irish whisky is triple distilled) and the Glasnevin Cemetery.  Irish history may be summed up as follows.  They were living quite peacefully until the Danes arrived in 800 AD and introduced red hair.  Finally at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 they managed to defeat the Danes but lose their best leader Brian Boru.  The English in the form of Henry II arrive in 1171 and for the next 750 years every Irish revolt is met with defeat by the English.  Finally after another failed revolt in 1916, there is another revolt started in 1919 led by Michael Collins which in 1921 leads to a treaty negotiated by Collins with the British and the creation of the Irish Free State.  This is the green part of the Irish flag.  However the six counties of Ulster (the orange part of the flag) being Protestant wish to stay with Britain.  Collins agrees but De Valera does not and this starts the Irish Civil War which rages 1922-23 with Collins shot, the IRA finally giving in and De Valera becoming President of Ireland twice and every year at Christmas a violent argument between family members who are either pro Collins or pro De Valera.  At the cemetery the grave of Collins was loaded with fresh flowers but there were none on the grave of De Valera.  The white central bit of the Irish flag is meant to symbolise peace between Eire and Northern Ireland.  It was a fascinating day and puts into perspective the current fighting in the Middle East.  When religion is involved you just have to let the two parties slug it out.
We ended up going back to the same Indian Restaurant in Anne St South which was not as good the second time.

The next day we set out for Kinsale on the South coast, known as the gourmet capital of Ireland.  It was a long drive because we went down the east coast through the mountains of Wicklow, Waterford, Cork and finally Kinsale.  We stayed at Actons Hotel.  The first night we were in hell, staying at the hottest room in the hotel above the kitchen.  The next day we were in heaven, put in the Bridal Suite.  Kinsale is a good place to visit.  Our first meal was at Fishy Fishy which was good and an icon in Kinsale and second was at The Black Pig which was a tapas bar and excellent.  We went to the Charles Fort which was build on the Vaubin model and the site of another English victory over the Irish (Elisabeth I).  The Charles Fort was the largest building project in the 17 Century in Ireland but unfortunately was build below hills which meant in could not be defended if artillery was placed by the enemy in the hills above it.

On Thursday we drove along part of the Ring Of Kerry stopping at Moll's Gap, coffee in Killarney and finally making to Limerick driving up the river Shannon.  The Pier Hotel was basic and cheap but did have parking in the garage below it.  That night we went to the best restaurant in Limerick, Freddy's Bistro which was terrific.

Friday we drove to Currarevagh House on Loch Corrib via the Cliffs of Moher which are spectacular and very well set out for tourists.  We also drove through the Burran and stopped at Gus O'Connor's pub in Doolin.  We arrived around 6 pm at Currarevagh House which is an old county house that serves unbelievable  4 course dinners and great country breakfasts.  Saturday we did a very scenic drive   around the Sky Road around Cliveden and down the Lough Inagh Valley finally stopping at The Quiet Man Bridge.
Sunday we drove to Dublin Airport returning the car on empty fuel but the airport was chaos.  We finally got on our Air Lingus Flight and made it to London at 9pm.  The high spot of the trip - even though I had packed gloves, a scarf, a beanie and a cold weather jacket we had no rain and glorious weather the whole week.  Stuff the no snakes - that was truly an Irish miracle.

The next 3 nights we stayed in Chiswick.  Monday I went to a cocktail party at the top of the Gherkin followed by another Indian with the Mayers and Sorensons.  Tuesday I went to the Global Leadership Summit organised by London Business School followed by yet another musical Forbidden Broadway.  Having seen three musicals in New York I got some of the jokes.  Finally on Wednesday we had a farewell dinner at Annies off Strand-on-the Green with Jane Taylor and  John Hamer.  A "full" month and certainly one for the memory banks.


Chris Golis Australia's expert on practical emotional intelligence website: www.thehummhandbook.com Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/chrisgolis blog: blogs.bnetau.com.au/aussierules/category/improving-your-eq/ mobile: +61-418-222219