The One in the Gorilla Suit

Last year some of you may recall my disappointment at returning home for my brother's wedding - not the fact he was throwing away his bachelorhood but the fact I missed the great gorilla race. What is that? Some of you may ask. Well I will ask the following of you. Given the chance to dress up as a gorilla and then run around central London crossing the Thames a few times with 1000 odd fellow dressed in a similar matter would you dare to take on the challenge? Now I suppose the majority of you are saying "That sounds right up your alley" and indeed you would be right - but I managed to drag in a couple of lads from work as well.

My training consisted of jogging - building up to 10km for about the 2 months before. The circuit was only 7.5km but I figured the extra kms would account for the gorilla suit. This was a little bit of a miscalculation on my part. The costume we had chosen was a pirate theme. Not really sure why we went for this one but it seemed a safe bet we would be the only ones. The course essentially followed a zig zag across the bridges of the Thames (Tower, London, Southwark and Blackfriars) which seemed like a rather scenic route. Unfortunately each of the bridges required a climb of stairs which is not particularly easy to accomplish in a gorilla mask. To illustrate how tricky, my sis-in-law was running for about 20m beside me trying to take my photo and I didn't see or hear her (and you might know she is not particularly quiet - sorry sis).

The run itself was quite good and we did seem to get quite a good cheer from the unsuspecting tourists who probably assumed they wouldn't be taking photos of gorillas that day. I was probably doing quite well until the last km or so when the crowd thinned out and there wasn less urge to push on. I finished in a time of around 50 mins which was about 5 past what I expected although I was still rather proud of my effort.

I think I had probably sweated roughly what a pelican can hold in his beak, which was evident when I took off the ape gloves and a pool of water washed out. Satisfied with our effort we headed straight to the bar for some rehydrating. A couple of beers later and I was being carried to the next bar by all. I did wear the gorilla mask on the tube and scared quite a few of the passengers on our journey.

If we are all around next year we have all vowed to do it again (I have the suit, it would be rude not too) - so any suggestions on a theme would be grateful.

The One from the Fest

Warning: The Womble Blog does not endorse any excessive drinking from shoes.

"Shoe, Shoe, Shoe, Shoe!" Was our catchphrase of this years Oktoberfest. The goal of Oktoberfest is to drink as many steins, eat as much pork knuckle and slam back as many shoes as possible. Contrary to any warnings appearing on this sight it is tradition to drink excessively from any shoe available. Unfortunately it was my turn to provide the shoe this year and the green ferrari's certainly held up to the watertight test. Luckily enough most nationalities joined in to drink from the cherished shoe. The poor few that declined were heckled and booed until our voices were hoarse. Questions pondered for millennia have now been answered:

1. How many people can fit into a bag locker at the train station? (two)
2. Is it possible to drink yourself sober? (not sure - too drunk to remember)
3. What is the best hat to wear at the fest? (Horse hat)

4. What is the worst hat? (The little boy hat)

5. Where is the most comfortable place to nap on your drunken stumble home? (Train tracks)

6. Does wine belong at the fest? (Only when drunk out of a mini Stein)

The One in the Croatian Bars

The girl and I headed ourselves to Croatia for a week to enjoy sunshine, good food and wine. This turned out to be an amazing trip for us, taking us both by surprise by the surroundings and culture you become immersed in. We visited Split, Dubrovnik, Korcula and Hvar. Each location differed immensely but gave us the same enjoyable feeling. I thought it would have been very hard for one to go there and not feel the same.

The highlights of our trip were vast however it is a few of the many bars we visited that I need to tell you about. We spent several nights in Dubrovnik and each afternoon we ended up at a bar called - Buza. Apart from the bar being appropriately named it was the location that drew us back. The bar is situated on the rocks outside the cities main walls right on the ocean. The sunset is amazing as you watch the boats sail past, as well as the steps leading down to the ocean it self so that you can cool the afternoon heat off with a swim.

We considered staying at Dubrovnik for longer but alas I am glad we moved on to Korcula, if only for a night, as we found the coolest cocktail bar I am ever likely to see. The name of the bar is Massimo but it is the location that will fascinate you - it is situated at the top of a turret. Overlooking the water you climb up to the top via a ladder. The drinks are taken to the top via a pulley up the side of the turret. The girl being the sensible one limited her cocktails in thought of the climb back down. Not one to shy away from an a difficult situation (especially alcohol induced) I decided to continue drinking a few more Mojito's to raise the bar. By the time we left it was apparent the girl did the sensible thing as I certainly struggled my way down the ladder. Surprisingly enough the staff were acting as if this was the norm and went about their business.

From Korcula we headed to Hvar - one of the more popular tourist spots for the fashionably young tourists. The bar we found on this island, called Hula Hula bar was right on the rocks although not quite the cliff face of Buza. Here we met up with the lil sis who was at the end of her 3 month holiday. She had found a friend on her travels and they were suitably catching up on their tans before heading back to the Australian summer. The bar was a rather pumping place with plenty of drinks and some very nice tunes pumping out for all to enjoy. If the beer wasn't enough to cool you down the water a few steps away certainly did the job. We spent a couple of afternoons at this bar sunning ourselves and drinking (no guesses for which one the girls were doing and which one I was doing).

Overall the trip was fantastic and contrary to this entry we did venture outside the bars. The beauty of this country however is no matter what you are up for it caters for everything. The hardcore tourist to the relaxed sloth - there is something for everyone.