Hamburg

Interesting flight to Germany, funny enough i'm the Duty Free area at Tullamarine airport (to be honest drooling at the cheap prices of Bundy rum but also thinking i have enough to carry - checked in baggage was 20.6 KG's and i have a full carry on bag, me and travelling light don't go well together after last years lost luggage saga i actually have two pairs of racing shoes and one set of running gear in my carry on !), and the first person i see is a fellow i worked with for years, mmm it is a small world.
7:20 PM and we are off, little disappointed in the entertainment after the smorgasboard that was Air NZ in June only 4 movies, so sit back and watch Mr Beans Holiday (some bit's of it as he struggled through France seemed so much like my experience there last year !), and it was good to see some of those landmarks again (i've never seen the Grand Arch at La Defense in a movie before). What we lack in entertainment we make up for in food, lovely meal and good bottle of white, surprised to find we go to Dubai via Singapore (i'd sworn i never wanted to go near Changi airport again after last years sage there), but no choice, arrive there 8 hours later and it's and hour till we leave, instead of getting off take the chance to lie down on a row of 4 empty seats and sleep. Then a few more hours to Dubai, arrive at 5AM local time and it's already 30 degrees, quite thankful for the massive air conditioned airport. Most of my flight are going to France and surrounds for the Rugby Union World Cup and i appear to be the only one headed to Hamburg. Worth noting Emirates uses metal cutlery after Singapore, thought that was a big no no a plane full of metal knives ??.
4 Hour wait at Dubai, where i pretty much just walk the massive airport, typically my one break is in the 'Quiet Lounge' and there my phone won't stop ringing (kept on getting dirty looks when i then had conversations on it !!), 50 terminal airport so was spending a lot of time trying to find where my flight left from as there was nothing listed for Hamburg, just little close in the end as it's actually the New York flight (which stops at Hamburg) and only just make it !.
It's quite amazing flying out of Dubai, we reckon Australia is full of wilderness, nothing compared to here, massive highways going through sand and then just sand and more and more of it.
Thankfully this different plane has much better entertainment, one channel has The Very Best of the Rolling Stones all 57 Songs, as well as the whole Let it Bleed Album and something like 50 movies. First up is Heat, anything with Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro can't be too bad, to be honest it didn't make it a masterpiece but reasonable. Breakfast for the second time (we had it after Singapore as well), and then thought i'd watch another classic (none of the new releases really grabbed me), Bonny & Clyde , for the most part an immoral movie and with an inevitable end but still worth watching. By the time it hand finished had finally got some views out the window, so just listened to the music (guess what), and another meal (strangely Budweiser was the beer available - no complaints here but seemed strange), and finally the sight of villages and Germany.
Not a great start 15 degrees and wet (similar to Melbourne ??), but by the time i'd gone through customs and , joy of joys picked up my suitcase !, it was sunny.
No idea where i was heading so lashed out on a taxi, now for a shower and a look around (don't think food is a huge priority all i seem to have done is eat !).