Izola 2019

Monday

Getting up at 4.55 was OK. The train into Cardiff was the single carrage Coryton service, surprising number of passengers. Megabus driver seemed quite brusque - he was going to load the luguage, and unload it. The good news is that I think he was early and instead of a wait in Bristol I got oto the Exeter bus and was at the airport well before 9am. Check in didn't open for a coupleof hours.

Flight to Cologne was good. Flew over city on way in and saw the

Cathedral. Train into city was 3E. Little bit of difficulty finding hotel. It waqs clean and had plenty of powerpoints. 

Wandered around - Cathedral and Rhine are both very impressive. A nice compact City, I liked it but resisted the temptation to indulge in a beer and returned to a packet of Cashew Nuts. Having eaten the Asda Wraps on arrival.

Tuesday

Nice breakfast - rolls were still warm. Wandered across the river to the second station and got the train to Munich. The first one was older and had better views, as we followed the Rhine valley Second train was an ICE and had a much more restricted view. Started worrying about hotel as I approached Munich Nothing on Expedia - must have booked it with a different service.

Wandered around Munich. Wasn't as nice as Cologne I thought. More modern. The town hall clock

gave a nice performance. Market would have been nice if I had wanted to spend. Returned to hotel and worried about my return journey which had no documentation. Got into Halifax account and found payments but no way to contact BD. Spent £100 on a new ticket. Didn't finish processing  photos and Keith phoned thinking the meeting was tonight - he thought it was the day before his Birthday. He insists on getting the messages but then doesn't read them.

Wednesday

Woke up at 6am and ordered a couple of watches on e-bay. Wouldn't have got back to sleep with the need to get up at 7am. Wandered over to the station and got on the Salzburg train.

How come I only have trouble with German trains? The Munich-Salzburg train was 20mins late getting into Salzburgh. However, I have made the Railjet, and the views are spectacular as we follow a narrow valley through the mountains.

Connection was to an corridor train - old seats are much more comfortable. The views were not as good as I remember them. I must remember not to tempt fate - someone jumped under the train, apparently. This delayed us around an hour and meant I was worried about making the connection to the Kober train. However, they held it for us and even told us the platform number. It was a modern commuter train and the views were excellent - panoramas over miles and miles - the sort of things we rarely get in the UK. Don't understand why the last bit was by coach as there was clearly a train line into Kober.

Picked up OK, shown the venue and hotel. Didn't feel hungry at all despite not eating all day. Need to investigate fasting.

Thursday

Breakfasted and up. Wandered around the town. Got some contact adhesive and hope I have managed to fix my shoe. Had a drink. Came back to hotel and fell asleep and listened to BBC Sounds. Wandered back to club about 8pm and asked. Got taken to the other club and met Michael. Others had eaten so I continued with my fasting experement.

Friday
Turns out that Michael retired as a judge last year, so we were not properly constituted. Sailing was good, bit of a wait for the wind but when it came it was OK. I ended up chairing the hearing, except for when I was disqualifying someone for hitting the finish mark.

Saturday
Once again a wait for the wind. They started without us. Wind swung to the left, O flag for 420's. Once again ended up disqualifying someone for hitting the finish mark. They went back but didn't gybe and having told him we would I felt I had to protest.

Sunday
Even longer wait for the wind and a couple of General Recalls. 420's got two races in but then the wind began to swing and the race officer gave up. We had a couple of protests. Dinner was fish bbq Swordfish, prawns, salmon and octipus - the first time I have had octipus that wasn't rubber.

Monday
Spent the morning doing photos etc. Wandered around the town for a couple of hours had a siesta, listened to BBC.sounds.went and had a beer. Prepared to leave.

Tuesday
Rain during the night. Think I had an early night. Got out, no Taxi at 5am. Phoned them - they had forgotten! At least I didn't have to pay - hope they sort it out. Stood waiting for a bus, then noticed people going to the station and a train waiting so, surprise, surprise it was a train to Lubjiana with a corridor and not crowded. The hills were extremely pretty with the mist clinging to the trees and the valleys. Train to Stuttgard/Frankfurt was 20 mins late, connection might be interesting. We will be in Germany by then. Weather appears to have cleared up. We didn't stop at Munich. Saw the Danube and Ulm Cathedral looked interesting.
   It made up the time and despite the walk across the bridge I was in the hotel by 9pm. Top floor had been updated and it looked out over the station. A bit noisy but nice.

Wednesday
Lovely breakfast, croissants included - I will have to get some more honey and butter. Checked out and on the tra code on the german ticket did not work. Security wanted me to leave my multitool behind it just took a lot of queuing. Then there was no internet (well extremely slow and flakey)in the waiting hall. Got on board and mis-read the sign sowas in the wrong carriage. Decided to watch a film but it was over 10 mins longer than the journey. At least it re-started where it had left off when the connection broke. Then coming out we all had to be funnelled through customs - next time I must get a plane!
Tube to Paddington. Couldn't resist a McDonalds, only problem was the Coffee cost as I unloaded UK Vouchers for the trip. Supposed to meet Phil in Cardiff, train currently 4mins late as we approach Reading.