Das Ischt Good Times!

We were sobered up by the next morning, that's for sure - so sad to say our goodbyes! We'd only known the guys for a few days but already felt like good mates, and who knows when we'll next see Ehren, Nadine, Brendan, and Sharon! :( It was a wonderful few days and we weren't ready for it to be over. But over it was - and we were on to more lovely times and fun adventures in Munich!

We drove to our hotel in Munich and completely crashed out for a nap (which was merely an extension of the nap that lasted the entire car ride) and only woke up about half an hour before our dinner reservation at Haxnbauer. We had pigs knuckles, potato pancakes, mushrooms in cream sauce, aaaand the best crackling EVER! Yum! Then it was back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.

The next morning Q had to head back to the US (such a bummer!) so it was just us gals left to explore the city! We had a massive sleep in, but made up for lost time with a great arvo walking all over the city. We started at the Glockenspiel - the first ever clock with the figurine thingos that spin around - and had crepes while we waited for the hour to tick over.

We made sure to get a pic doing the blockenspiel in front of the Glockenspiel as requested by Russ (who coined the term "blockenspiel" to be awarded to particularly epic blocks of any kind).

The hour turned over aaaand... Fizzah! Nothing happened! We learned later that it only goes at 11, 12, and 5, so we ended up seeing it in action on our last day, very cool!

We spent time in the main square, Marienplatz, had lunch in the slightly creepy but also amazing restaurant below the Glockenspiel, found a few places to go back to that weren't open on Sunday, walked around a magnificent church, and went up in the bell tower for a spectacular view of the city!

We had dinner in the oldest beer house in the city - Han tried the beer despite still feeling slightly queasy after Austria, so worth it! Delish! - and then headed back for an early night's sleep. 

We'd all come down with the flu, as had many of the other wedding guests, so we were trying to go easy on ourselves! 

The next day we went on a tour of two absolutely stunning castles about an hour outside of Munich, Linderhof and Neuschwanstein, with a stop in between at a lovely little town called Oberammergau.

(The original swan lake!)

(Mum and Luce in Oberammergau)

Both castles were incredible but WOW! Neuschwanstein was truly spectacular! The king who built them, Ludwig II, was a totally extravagant recluse who desperately wished he was living in medieval times and had a strange obsession with Louis XIV. The castle had a very Harry Potter feel and was gorgeous inside, both were, but we weren't allowed to take photos! Pics of the outside - and us looking exhausted - will have to suffice!

We slept the whole way home (we really were wrecked from the jam packed days in Austria) and fell into bed after a quick dinner at the hotel. 

The next day was a rainy day, so we had a later start then rugged up and headed back to Marienplatz for some shopping! Luce found overalls and a pair of jeans she's been wanting for ages and Han got her dream khaki jacket (worn the next day, see pics below) that she's been pining after for 2 years, success!

The real triumph, though, was trying on dirndls and lederhosen!!!

(Hehe "No Fotos".. As if!)

No pics of the lederhosen (which we squeezed into about two sizes too small) seemed quite fit to be shared on the blog.. We, uhh, described ourselves as looking like "hookers that no one would pay much for" hahaha SO not a good look! But funny nonetheless - and we are definitely coming back for Oktoberfest one year and buying those dirndls!!

We saw the clock go, carboloaded on yummy pastas and Wiener schnitzel, revisited the outdoor markets, the Viktualienmarkt, that had been closed on Sunday, and grabbed some strawberries and sweets to take back to the hotel with us! What a lovely day!

On our last day we did another tour, this one of Harburg Castle and the Romantic Road! We (lucky for us!) had the same tour guide as last time!! She was so lovely, describing everything as "a dream" or "a paradise" - she totally made the tour! The castle had a very different feel from the others as it's purpose was to be a fortress as well as a palace. We (dorky though it is) were extremely excited because it was exactly what we'd imagined the setting in one of our favourite books to look like! It was like we'd stepped right into that world and we absolutely loved it!

The Romantic Road was beautiful too, a historic road that lead us to the beautiful medieval-style city of Rothenburg.

We had a few hours to explore (and eat) our way around the town, and we did just that!

It was unlike anywhere we'd ever been and we had heaps of fun walking the streets, taking in the view, and eating the pastries!

We hopped back on the bus for the trip back to Munich, drove past the Allianz Arena which was pretty cool, grabbed a quick dinner of fish and chips, then went back to the hotel for our last night in Germany.

We were up early the next morning and at the airport by 9:00 (thanks to a very keen cab driver who took us through all these back streets to make it there in record time) and we made it through security without a hitch - although Luce seemed to be public enemy #1 and got pulled aside frisked at all the checkpoints because of the buttons on her overalls haha. We did one last glorious shot of jäger before hopping on the plane.

(Lucy's new overalls!)                                      

Goodbye Europe!! Thanks for having us! We had a fantastic time and we hope we'll be back soon!!! 

A Magical Couple Days!

We've had the most lovely visit with Ali! Though nothing could top the Harry Styles encounter, the last three days were completely wonderful! 

On Saturday we had a bit of a sleep in (still recovering from the night before) and made smoothies for brekky. It was absolutely pouring with rain all morning but that didn't stop us from going out and having fun! We went out for a walk down Magnolia Blvd in North Hollywood which is one of the cutest streets ever with heaps of boutique stores and cafés. We looked at some thrift/antique stores, an old school makeup place with extremely glamorous merch, an INCREDIBLE candy shop that stocked our Aussie faves, and a beautiful vintage pinup dress store. 

We sheltered from the rain in one of NoHo's yummiest (and busiest!) cafés: Porto's. After sipping cappucinos and devouring a strawberry and cream cheese croissant, we went out to brave the rain for a couple more shops.

One of the last places we went was a true treasure trove of an antique store. Wow! It was a blast from the past in there! We found SO many cute things we liked for our apartment - tablecloths, cookie tins, etc - but ended up settling on a beautiful pair of hand painted wooden candlesticks with candles to match, so pretty! 

We went home after that, though, and curled up on the couch with cups of tea to watch What Maisie Knew. We gushed over Alexander Skarsgard, had a yummy salmon dinner and cupcakes for dessert, then settled in for another flick!

Our last movie was a Marilyn Monroe classic: How to Marry a Millionaire. It was so good! We've watched the most well-rounded and completely satisfying collection of movies with Ali - Argo, Pride and Prejudice, What Maisie Knew, and How to Marry a Millionaire!

Sunday was our long-awaited Disney day!!! YAY! We got up super early, had a HUGE cooked breakfast and packed snacks to take with, then hit the road! We made it to Disney by 8:30 and, probably because there'd been so much rain the last couple days, it was so quiet! But not too quiet, the perfect amount. We went on absolutely EVERYTHING we wanted to; Ali definitely got the whole Disney experience - and in only one day! Crazy! 

(on right: us crammed into what was really meant to be a two-seater hahah)

We felt so honored/lucky to be able to show her around for her very first trip. There were a few definite standout moments, though:

1) Mr. Toad's Wild Ride ended with us getting hit by a train then going to HELL! Umm what?! Absolutely terrifying.

2) Speaking of terrifying, Ali has quite a strong fear of characters dressed up with the full heads on (aka most of the characters in Disney) so when we got front seats for the parade there were some definite mixed emotions..

The genie was particularly terrifying. Also, we got ambushed at one point and Ali instinctively RAN from Mickey, Donald, and the gang hahaha.

3) The Jedi training academy was the cutest thing EVER. One little boy really fought off Darth Vadar like his life depended on it.

4) In the middle of the day it started bucketing down rain!! We all threw Lucy's scarf over our heads and, in tandem, ran for cover! We found refuge in the Tiki Room and the irony of this moment when we were waiting for the show to let in was too much to handle hahaha

5) We met the princesses! We asked them to do silly/ugly faces with us hahaha hysterical! Ali made up this stellar story about how it's a tradition because the first time she met a princess she accidentally made a funny face. Meet our friend Ping!

Ariel went for a cute fishy face:

Aaaand Cinderella flat out refused! But really, who looks like the idiot in this photo now? 

6) The most magical moment was when, after a delish fried chicken dinner, we bumped into a guy we'd seen earlier at the restaurant and he gave us each a beautiful red rose! So sweet!! 

The best part was, though, that after that we each gave our roses away to little girls dressed up as princesses. Each time the dialogue went exactly the same way:

- "Excuse me, are you a princess?"

- "Yeah..!"

- "Would you like a rose?"

*eyes light up, huge smile, huge nod* 

- "Yes please!!!"

So freakin cute!! AND in a true stroke of magic, the mum of little girl Hannah gave her rose to mentioned afterwards that it was her birthday! So, so special.

We ended the night with Indiana Jones and Fantasmic and headed to Mum and Q's to watch the Oscars! We'd avoided all social media all afternoon and, miraculously, hadn't had anything spoiled when we started watching! We sat down with ice cream and got drinks for Ellen's delightfully funny hosting, lovely acceptance speeches, gorgeous gowns, the world's best selfie, and a couple great messages from winners promoting equality. We were getting down to the wire, with only the Best Actor/Actress, Director, and Picture to go when... NOOOO! Damn you Time Warner Cable!!! The recording ended, so sad! Hahaha kinda funny too.. We looked them up online, though, and although Matthew McConaughey gave the least likable speech in the history of the Osacrs aaaand we were really rooting for Leo, we were thrilled for all the winners!

Yesterday we had a very chill morning in Corona until... Gregory called letting us know we had an audition!! Yay! Our first professional audition! Buuut it was in just a couple hours! Gaahh!! We rallied and ended up driving straight to the casting studio in Beverly Hills. The audition went really well!! Yeeee! It was very low key, we didn't have to read sides, just answer some questions about ourselves and tell an embarrassing story. We both felt great about it and, whether we get the roles or not, it was a pretty huge milestone! Once the audition was finished, we went to an amazing and super cheap sushi place for a celebratory dinner with Ali! After cramming in as much tempura shrimp, teriyaki chicken, and California roll as we could handle and a phenomenal dessert of tempura ice cream and ginger creme brûlée, it was time to drop Ali back to her friend Jen's house. It was so sad to say goodbye, but we know we'll pick up right where we left off next time we see each other. These last few days really have shown us that Ali's one of those friends who's really more like family; we love her to pieces and we have SO many wonderful memories of our time together!

Exploring LA!

This week has been much more relaxed - which was strange after the busy, turbulent few weeks preceding it! It's been nice, though, and we're finding time for some things like reading for pleasure and going on walks that we haven't really done much of in the last, well, few years! 

Monday through Wednesday we walked to the local library and checked it out, walked to Macy's nearby because Luce was out of makeup, went to the Samuel French Bookstore and read plays for hours, had plans to go to a workshop with Central Casting but had to bail when we turned up almost an hour early to find a line around the block! We also, of course, made some very yummy brekkys and dinners, had boba, and went out to brunch at a great cafe called Crave with JT!

We've got a couple little projects we're working on - the main one being the show with Chambers! We've written bios, done publicity, and brushed up on our lines; we're looking forward to rehearsals starting back up this week!

We're also trying to get a group together to work on a couple plays to push ourselves and keep on our toes.

The real highlight of the week though, far and away, has been seeing our wonderful friend Ali!! Ahh! We're SO lucky she's visiting us and couldn't be happier showing her around our city!

We met up yesterday in Santa Monica and after a hilariously long run into a huge group hug on the street, we strolled around, looking into shops and taking in the cool, beachy vibes. We walked down to the pier too and it was just so surreal to be seeing each other on the opposite side of the country!

We came back to our apartment, proudly gave Ali the tour (which didn't take too long haha but she gushed exactly as we'd hoped), watched Argo for the first time, had a delish dinner of orzo pasta salad, grilled chicken, and feta cheese, and stayed up chatting till 1 in the morning! Absolutely perfect! 

Today we slept in a bit because it was absolutely POURING with rain! And in LA, that's a big deal. When we got up we made our sweet breakfast quesadillas (whole-wheat tortillas with peanut butter, cocoa almond butter, strawberries, and bananas) and got ready for a day of exploration - rain or shine! 

We spent the day in Downtown LA, which the two of us really haven't explored much, and we found some absolute gems! First we went to the LA Central Library and it was incredible! So beautiful and the absolutely perfect place to be on a rainy day. Han got a library card and checked out a book and we spent almost an hour browsing and looking at the lovely artwork they have on display, very cool!

For lunch we took Ali to Bronzed Aussie to try our favourite foods from home! After gorging ourselves on the finest meat pies, caramel slice, custard tarts, and lamingtons LA has to offer, we headed off to our last activity for the day: a thrift shop crawl! We started on Melrose Ave, one of the coolest streets in LA, and ended up spending hours in the very first shop we found! It was SO COOL! Great clothes and great prices! Luce made out like a bandit and got so many nice things - including  her dress for Ehren and Nadine's winter wedding in Austria - and Han found two really pretty dresses too that she just couldn't resist! 

We went it to two more stores after that and headed home - via Ralph's to pick up ingredients for cupcakes! 

Luce and Ali are baking up a storm and when the cupcakes are in the oven we're going to watch Pride and Prejudice - which Ali has never seen! We've also got tickets to the Groundlings improv show tonight at 10:00 which is another awesome new experience we can't wait for! It's been the most PERFECT day and we're so, so happy to have Ali here with us.