Re-union in Hamburg

19 years ago, 10 young(ish) people started in marketing in P&G Newcastle. 2 of us met up again in Hamburg. Silke Voss as she was then, Silke Grell as she is now, was a rather crazy East German who prior to joining P&G had been studying in, of all places, Stoke-on-Trent. She drove her ancient blue Citroen around Newcastle with gay abandon and with a rather laissez-faire attitude to road signs, pedestrians and other drivers. Fortunately she has not changed and it was great to catch up with her, Al, and their children Franka and Lukas. The children all got on well, especially Gilleasbuig and Lukas, even though it did take Lukas a little bit of time to get used to the "physicality" of the Peterson boys.

Hamburg is a very impressive city. The children immediately noticed how clean it was, especially after places like Cairo. The economic prosperity is evident. Geography helps, as Hamburg is one of the biggest ports in Europe and has great access to the rest of Europe through road, rail, and river connections. Many international companies have their offices in Hamburg, including my old friends at Unilever. They have one of the most high profile offices in the city. I hope it costs them a fortune!

Much of the Chinese trade Europe come in containers and Hamburg has capitalised on its port to make the most of this unique opportunity.

Hamburg also has a history and tradition of trade and it is a city where there is a true "merchant" class. There is a German term for it which I will not try to repeat, but it implies more than just trading to make money. There is a responsibility which comes with trade, to give back and invest in the long term future of the community. This sense of sense of civic pride and duty is seen in the remarkable new concert hall which has been financed primarily through local private investment.

Above all you get the clear sense that there is a plan and that the plan will happen as it is based on sound foundations. Hamburg is well placed to continue to prosper. It is investing in infrastructure and private investment is following with new apartments springing up around the port. Unlike London, the river-view apartments look onto a working port! Even Roman Abramovich is having his yacht refitted here.

For most of our stay it rained, giving the children a taste of what life may be like in Scotland. They were initially happy as it was preferable to the 40 degree + weather in the Balkans. However this quickly wore off and they were soon moaning like true Brits.

We had 4 wonderful days in Hamburg, watching Germany lose to Serbia, eating ice cream, playing football in the garden, and enjoying the company (and great food and wine) of our friends. It was a super reminder that with good friends, even if you haven't seen each other for 10 years, you just pick up from where you left off all those years ago as if nothing had happened in the interim. A huge thank you to Silke, Al, Franka and Lukas. As Iona would say: "Danke Franka!".

Goodbye to Eastern Europe (and my phone and money), hello Austria.

The air-conditioning on the Belgrade-Vienna train was only marginally better than in our previous sauna. However not only did we each lose a few pounds, but also some dollars and Euros too, as someone managed to open the door of our sleeping compartment, despite it being locked from the inside, and removed my iPhone and the contents of my wallet. The police in Vienna were very understanding. As they explained, this is a frequent occurrence. I did not help by leaving my trousers, with the phone and wallet inside, too close to the door. We live and learn.

Vienna was cold and wet. It poured all day so we spent the afternoon in the Natural History Museum, and then went for coffee and cakes in an old traditional Viennese coffee house. Elspeth likes Vienna, having spent time there on school trips. I find it rather cold and unwelcoming, populated by frosty matriarchs with an average age of 63, . We choose to differ.

Braaing in Belgrade

We took the overnight train from Bucharest to Belgrade, or as the children would tell you, we took an overnight sauna. The windows on sleeping cars do not open in order that that the air conditioning works. That's fine, if the air-conditioning works. If it doesn't and it is 35 degrees outside, the temperature inside gets to over 40 degrees.

We were met at the station by the svelt Mr Simon Cottrell, my former partner in rugby crime from Moscow. Simon whisked us back to his beautifully air-conditioned house where we unloaded several days of washing into his washing machine and then enjoyed his pancakes. Cathy may be the brains of the Cottrell family, but Simon does make a mean pancake.

Belgrade is pleasant enough. It has the the somewhat faded grandeur of the old Central Europe while the apartment blocks of the outskirts are recognisable to anyone who has travelled in Eastern Europe.

There is less buzz than in Bucharest, and the fact that Serbia is now an island in the middle of the EU rankles, especially when Bulgaria is in the club! The citadel in the centre of town affords excellent views of the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers which presumably, way back when, was the original raison d'etre for Belgrade.

The Serbs have left a couple of buildings which were bombed in 1999 by NATO as a reminder to visitors of the bombing. After watching Serbia lose to Ghana in the World Cup, Simon and I took a taxi back home. As we passed the former Ministry of Defence, Simon mentioned that the Spanish had bombed that particular building. The taxi driver saw it differently. "it was England and Tony Blair". Simon tried to put the guy right, but he told us again that it was Blair and England, and that his brother had been killed by English bombing. End of argument. The man's analysis that Blair is a lying war criminal does give one hope for this country.

That evening we discovered that not only is Simon a pancake of chef of note, but also has South African ancestry, otherwise how could we explain his braai skills?

We were also treated to an impromptu concert from Alex and her Scottish friends. As ever dressing up was a big part of the programme. Thank you Alex for providing the costumes and creativity!

We arrive in Europe and spend a sobering afternoon at Gallipoli

After our morning in Troy, we took a ferry to Europe.

We went to the Gallipoli peninsula. Gallipoli is most famous for the campaign in World War 1 to secure the Dardanelles which cost the lives of so many people. It is also a beautiful place in its own right.

Revealingly, while the campaign is in the west primarily known for the ANZAC casualties, of the 136,000 who lost their lives in the campaign, 80,000 were Turkish. Gallipoli is a very special battle for Turks as it marked the heroic defence of their homeland. It also marked the emergence of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as a leader of note, a man who would transform Turkey into the secular republic it is today.

The cemeteries are extremely well kept. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission does an amazing job in this respect, as does their Turkish counterpart.

There is no triumphalism here, rather sober reflection on wasted life.

There is a small museum which is simple but poignant. The children preferred the more macabre exhibits, including the skull with the bullet lodged in it. However a photograph of three brothers from New South Wales who were all killed in the war was a most powerful reminder of the waste of young life.

Rugby in Bucharest

We spent a great two days in Bucharest with our brother-in-law Dr Jonathan Hanson, who is the doctor of the Scotland A rugby team who were playing a tournament in Romania.

We were virtually the only Scots there outside the touring party and we stayed in the same hotel as the team. The boys got to mix with the team and to go into the team room with the players. We also spent time with the referees, including Marius Jonker who is South African and one of the top referees in the world. The photo below is of the boys with Ally Hogg the Scotland A captain.

Scotland managed to lose their first game against Georgia who celebrated like they had won the cup. Good luck to them. They played, as you would expect from Georgians, with great heart.

We made sure that Scotland were well supported with both flags and vuvuzelas (a nice South African touch there). The children also enjoyed meeting the Romanian mascot.

As part of the medical care for the team, they go to a swimming pool after tough training or a match, in order to have gentle recovery. Usually this is a 20-30 minute session and then back to the hotel.

However the pool in Bucharest is a huge outdoor public pool where many of the local beauties go topless. It was either that or the 40 degree heat, but for whatever the reason, the players were quite happy to stay in the pool for several hours.

We also managed to catch up with a friend of mine, Sotos Marianidis who is the General Manager of P&G in the Balkans and who lives in Bucharest. It was wonderful to see him and his wife Angela and to get the local insights on the best places to eat in Bucharest which we were able to pass on to various members of the rugby touring party. Thanks Sotos!

Into Bulgaria (turn your watch back 20 years)

Unfortunately all trains from Istanbul to Europe have been cancelled for 3 months for some vague reason. This deprived us of the pleasure of leaving this beautiful city by train. Instead we did so by bus.

The night before leaving we got a text from our brother-in-law who is the Scotland A rugby team doctor. He is in Romania with the team for a tournament, so we changed plans slightly and instead of going straight to Belgrade, we headed for Bucharest.

Our journey was not direct, as the bus times were not good for the children, arriving in the middle of the night. Hence we first took a bus to Sofia in Bulgaria, which took us almost 12 hours. The roads to the frontier of the EU were like most of the roads to which we had become accustomed in Turkey - wide dual carriageways in good condition. The Turkish customs and duty free were modern and smooth.

By contrast, Bulgaria was like Uzbekistan 15 years ago - poor roads, single carriageways, poor infrastructure, decrepit bus stations. The bus driver and stewardess, who were both Bulgarian, were surly and unhelpful. Sofia had the old Soviet feel - old trams on the street, old hotels with new casinos tacked onto the side; large heavy set men in tracksuits loitering on street corners, and a general feeling of faded dreams.

The train to Bucharest took us through stunning mountain scenery for the first two hours. The mountains are lush and green and the farms are smallholdings with the horse and cart a frequent sight. The train itself was basic, and though a 10 hour journey, there was no restaurant car and the children were distinctly unimpressed with the toilets.

The station in Bucharest was a contrast. There was a real buzz of commerce, and given the late arrival, we treated the children to McDonalds. Daddy was popular that night!

Old friends in Istanbul

We took the fast ferry to Istanbul. It is so fast that it only took two hours to cross the Sea of Marmara. It then took us two hours and two taxis to get from the ferry terminal to our friends' house. As we crossed the Golden Horn for the second time, it was obvious that there would be an interesting discussion on the final fare. This chancer's taxi then broke down which made our negotiation easier. However the taxi could not find the house and we had an extensive tour of the European side of the Bosphorous.

We stayed with friends from Johannesburg, Stuart and Anne Martin and their two children Alexander and Catherine.

Our children loved being in a house again and playing with people their own age.

We used Istanbul as a chance to replace clothes, buy shoes, and catch up with old friends. This was just as well as it poured with rain all the time we were there.

We had wonderful seafood with my old boss Saffet Karpat, and a very trendy breakfast with Murat and Rana Akyildiz whom I first met in Azerbaijan many years ago.

We also managed to do some sightseeing, showing the children the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, and the cisterns where the clever Romans stored their fresh water which they brought to Constantinople by aqauduct.

We also met up with some old friends from Egypt - obelisks! We never realised previously how few obelisks there are remaining. They were incredible feats of carving as we remember from visiting the quarry in Aswan. Many were carved from single pieces of granite which thousands of years ago was a major feat of stonework. We are looking forward to seeing the twin of the obelisk from Luxor which today stands in La Place de la Concorde in Paris.