Stuttgart - Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!

And Australia is through to the Group of 16!!!

As some of you know (but to rub it in once more!), I won a ballot for the Australia v Croatia game...and luckily for Yang, Sean and Henry, I had put their names on my ballot application. So on Thursday we headed to Stuttgart to support the Socceroos! Unfortunately, when we arrived in Stuttgart, Yang was detained at immigration for 1/2 hour as his passport looked a bit dodgy...I guess with all the security for the world cup they had to be more stringent (although some may say Yang just looks dodgy!).

After meeting Sean at the Hauptbahnhof and dropping our bags off at the hotel we headed into Konigstrasse and FanFest (where they had 3 big screens with stalls for everyone to watch the game). There were Aussies and Croatians in their country's jerseys everywhere and the Croatians were already chanting.


Getting ready; Aussies on Schlossplatz

Croatians on Konigstrasse; Aussies on Schlossplatz

We left FanFest during half time of the Italy v Czech Republic game and headed to Gottlieb Daimler Stadium. The atmosphere was fantastic and there was friendly banter between the Croatians and Aussies. We also bumped into Chen and Jessie who were in Germany as part of their honeymoon (I'm sure you can guess who was left in charge of organising the honeymoon!). Pre-game we saw the Socceroos warm up and the SBS commentators


Socceroos checking out the pitch; Gottlieb Daimler Stadium

My brother & I; Les Murray & Craig Foster from SBS

Socceroos warming up

Then the game started and we chanted and chanted (hopefully you would have heard us if you watched the game)...although it was hard to be heard above the Croatians! But 2 minutes into the game...absolute shock when Croatia scored...followed by beer being spilled over us when the Croatians yelled "Battle! Battle! Battle for your country" whilst making faux-nazi salutes.

We kept cheering though and finally when Moore scored the penalty we were jumping, hugging and high 5'ing to the other Aussies around us! It was great...but it meant that for at least the next 5 minutes no one was really paying attention to the game (except for the socceroos that is!). After Croatia scored their second goal...the Aussies were a bit subdued but we hadn't given up on the Socceroos and our support finally paid off with Kewell's goal 10 minutes before the game ended. The next 10 minutes was very stressful...we didn't want Croatia to score. But the Socceroos defended fabulously and it was too bad about Cahill's last goal not counting as we were celebrating like crazy. After the game, classic Aussie songs like ACDC's TNT and You Shook Me All Night Long, and Men at Work's Land Down Under were played in the stadium. The Socceroos did a victory lap and everyone was singing and jumping, the atmosphere was fantastic, and it was so surreal that we were there experiencing it all!


Advance Australia Fair; Kick-Off

The Green and Gold Army

Game Over (and we are through!); Socceroos Victory Lap

The festivities continued outside the stadium as well...



Back in the Stuttgart city centre, Aussies who had come from the game and Aussies who had watched it at FanFest were drinking and partying on the street. We also bumped into Thanh and his friends as they headed back to Munich. As you can imagine, it ended up being a late night...a pretty good effort on our part given we were up at 4:30am that morning to make our flight.



For more photos, see Sean's website.

Spent the rest of our time in Stuttgart shopping, visiting the Mercedes and Porsche Museum, eating bavarian and swabian cuisine and drinking. What a change from Krakow where we couldn't drink at all!




Stand up for the Socceroos! Fingers crossed they beat Italy tomorrow!

London - World Cup Fever - C'mon Socceroos!

What a fantastic start to the week with Australia's nail-biting win against Japan in the group stages of the FIFA World Cup! Woo hoo for the Socceroos!!! I skived off to have a late lunch and met Corrinne and her work mates at the Walkabout Temple to watch the first half of the game...great atmosphere, even with people asking Corrinne and I if we were Japanese and someone spilling beer on my prada shoes! I should have stayed to watch the second half but thought I should get back to work, which proved futile anyway as I ended up listening to it on internet radio...I don't think the South Africans I am working shared my excitement when Australia first scored...and then scored again...and then scored again!!!

Sean and Lara came over for dinner on Tuesday. Yang went for a boys night on Wednesday but the boys mustn't have been up for a big night as he was back home by 9:30pm. I did indoor rock-climbing on Wednesday and suffered from very very sore arms the whole night and next day. On Friday we had dinner with Loreen, Felix, Allison and Aaron at Ubon (part of the Nobu chain of restaurants) in Westferry Circus followed by drinks back at our place. Spent Saturday shopping and then went to Mat and Henry's as Mat was testing his cooking on us. World Cup Fever continued on Sunday when we met up with Mariani, Errimy and some of their friends at the Walkabout West Hampstead to watch Australia v Brazil. Australia played well but I think the umpire was a bit biased...the second goal was definitely offside...it will definitely make the next group F match very very interesting.

So next week, stay tuned, Yang, Henry, Sean and I are off to Stuttgart for the Australia v Croatia game. C'mon Aussie C'mon!!!

London - Celebrity Stalking

On Wednesday, I went with a Shell colleague to the book signing of Burnt Toast, written by Teri Hatcher. It was very exciting as I had a 10 second conversation with her whilst she was signing my book...she said "Hi Sonia", I said "Hi Teri, I really like your dress", she said "Thank you" then smiled and it was all over! Then I acted like paper's and took a few photos.

Met up with Corrinne, Yocy and Claudine for drinks on Friday night at Vinoteca and then dinner at Pho (both in Clerkenwell).

Sun was out on Saturday...yay! so headed to Camden Markets to meet up with Jane and Ed. There was lots of funky accessories and clothes but didn't buy anything (very well behaved!) and then had lunch at the Cuban whilst watching the first England game of the world cup (England v Paraguay). We left just a bit before the game ended to meet Corrinne and Yocy at the Manolo Blahnik boutique. After that did some shopping on Kings Road and then had a drink at Oriel Sloane Square as the tables and chairs looked exactly like Oriel Subiaco. One other thing that was distinctly similar was the service standards...i.e. slow service. Yang and I walked around South Bank in the afternoon as the Carnival de Cuba was on and then headed back to Canary Wharf and had dinner at Zizzi's on West Ferry Circus.

In typical chinese style, we had dim sum at Lotus on Sunday with L&F, Linh, Corrinne, Yocy, Claudine, Phillip, Henry, Inchee and Mat. It was so hot so didn't want to risk traveling in a very overheated tube into town so spent the rest of the afternoon at home reading magazines.

London - Bel and Raefe's visit

Just a four day work week thanks to the bank holiday! It was also pay week (finally after 8 weeks without income!) and so decided to buy a pair of sandals that I had been eyeing for some time now. Justified this purchase for two reasons: 1) the forthcoming weekend was forecasted to be sunny so it would be good sandal weather and 2) surprisingly with the amount of shoes I do have, I don't actually have a pair of sandals.

This week marked the arrival of Bel and Raefe from Perth. They actually arrived on Saturday but as we were in Krakow, they stayed with their Aunt Jo in Fulham. We met up with them on Thursday after work and had dinner at an indian tapas restaurant in Fulham before bringing them back with us to Canary Wharf.

After work on Friday, I tried a new hairdresser, Brooks and Brooks and was happily impressed after my last hair cut in London turned out to be a bit of a mullet. Then met Jane and Ed for a quick drink at Auberge in St Christopher's Place before meeting Bel, Raefe and Yang at Galvin Bistrot De Luxe, a french restaurant, for dinner. Food was fantastic...we had three choices of entrees comprising foie gras (Niko would be so jealous!) and the souffle was actually a proper souffle (so nice and airy).

It was amazing weather on Saturday so got the shorts out and headed to the pubs on Upper Street in Angel. Several hours and a few drinks later, we made it to Sean and Joe's housewarming. A pretty good party given these bachelors are known for not being the most organised of people!

A bit hungover on Sunday, we still managed to make it for lunch at Fifteen, the restaurant started by Jamie Oliver to help 15 unemployed people to create a career for themselves in the restaurant business. The food was good, but a bit over-priced. I think we might just visit the trattoria upstairs next time.