....my memory lane....

Whee.. 1000 hits!

- Viv, 19August09

YES! I solved it! *beam*
It was an HTML error.

- Viv, 03August09

There's some problem with blogger.. or is it just my blog??
I cant seem to be able to post anything else without affecting the page layout. =(
Hopefully it's a blogger problem and they will solve it soon.

- Viv, 02August09

Hiyee.. Welcome!
It's a new look again... I hope you will like it. =)

- Viv, 12July09

hits since 12July2009.

..Rambling..

Sunday, August 26, 2007

160606-260606 Germany Trip

This trip was fated to be a tiring one. The few days b4 the trip were dedicated to packing our stuff and storing them, hence for 2 or 3 nights, I didn’t have as much sleep as I would like and should have. The night b4 the trip was reserved for packing for the trip, so that’s even less sleep for me…. Was aiming to sleep for a few hrs, but the first 'screwed up' happened when the ryanair tix confirmation email cant be found. The second one happened when we realized tat we booked the stansted express instead of the national express coach, and we would not be able to catch our flight in time if we took the first stansted express train. So instead of leaving our house at 4am, we had to bring forward the departure time to about 230am (if I rmb correctly) to catch the national express. No matter wat, I knew I only slept for 1+ hr. =(

Hahaha…. but still, that’s wat trips are all about isn’t it? Lots of cock-ups and attempts to solved them or just trying our luck. =P and so our journey begins..

Day 1
We reached Berlin feeling hot and weary. Lots of ugly beige Mercedes taxis greeted us once we stepped out of the airport, but we took the train anyway. Everything was in German, luckily there were volunteers stationed at the ticket machines to help us buy our day ticket. 5 people turned out to be a very good number to tour in a group, becos most of the German cities had group tickets at a fixed price for up to 5 pple.

The first day was spent lazily checking into our hostel called Generator, located right next to the Landsberger Allee station. Then we went for lunch where I had a first taste of the famous Currywurst which the Germans were very fond and proud of. well… I’m not a fan of ketchup, and this currywurst is just a normal hotdog flooded with ketchup and a small pinch of curry powder on it. not exactly what I would deemed very delicious.

We walked ard for a bit, and decided to take a rest at this café by the river. I spotted some photo-taking on the other side of the river. and surprisingly, when we were about to leave, cw realized that the café is right next to the scene where Eurotrip was filmed!

finally in the evening, we went to look for the place to collect our rented car. It was a loooong walk to reach there, but when we did, it was quite comforting becos there’s mineral water where we can kop from. Haha… but…….. erm, we unknowingly drank from used cups that was stack in the column next to the machine. Only found that out after everybody had satisfied their thrist. =P

After a long wait for the admin matters to be settled, weilun and Melvin, who were the drivers for the trip, went to test out the car. I was half-sleeping in the office that was right next to the road, and the next ting I knew was chongwai’s disbelief at what he saw. This was what had happened.

From what the drivers told us, the car was stopped when it was still in gear 1 or smtg lidat. So they just switched on the engine and b4 they knew it, *BANG*. And apparently now we can see why some cars are more expensive than others. The other car only suffered some scratches whereas ours had a relatively huge dent. Then the police came… we had to settle more admin matters… found out the damage costs us ~400euros… and everybody became sianz. But I tink we all took it quite well. Instead of getting all upset abt the damage, we learnt to be more alert and responsible on the road. Instead of falling asleep right after getting on the car (which the passengers had intended to do initially), we all tried our best to stay alert and look out for cars and road signs and helped navigate. Left-hand driving turned out to be quite an experience, haha.. we almost turned into a road with all the cars driving towards us, and at another time we drove into a tram track. Lol…. Luckily it wasn’t so deep so we still could reverse and drive to the correct road next to it. Otherwise we would end up like Gaudi!! >_<>

We also found out that road navigation was not easy. Especially when we don’t have detailed street directory like Spore’s and any wrong turn could lead us to miles away with no options to U-turn. The road names are all the same too! xx-strasse, xxx-strasse, and cw and I even mistook einbahnstrasse to be a road name. it simply means one way road. -_-|| haha… so the journey from the rental office back to our hostel took us 1+ hr (or more?) instead of just the supposed 10 to 20 min. and you know wat, in the hot summer day, we had to desperately make out the name on the road signs because it was raining cats and dogs… AND it HAILED!!!! My gosh. June leh!!! Summer leh!!! It hailed!!! And the hails are easily of 1.5 cm diameter loh. No joking matter lah… it was hailing so loudly onto our car I was so afraid that the roof will get dented. heh.. =P this is not the only time in the trip that it hailed loh… the climate must be going crazy.

It was 9pm by the time we found our way back to the hostel. After some hesitation, we made our way to this pub, which was actually quite near to where the car rental office was, to have our dinner. We hesitated becos it’s quite a long journey by metro as we had to change line and we were all damn tired, but it was well worth it lah. Edwin and CW left an impression on the ladyboss by ordering hot chocolate and soup, but she also left an impression on us by being very friendly and adorable. The portions were damn big and tasted pretty good. The pub was small and cosy. And hence, we ended up returning to this place again the next dinner. =P

Day 2

Proper touring starts. We joined this English-speaking tour which brought us to all the places of interests. It was much informative than walking around reading Lonely Planet, which would not be interesting enough to get into my head anyway. And it’s also easier to follow than to read map lah. Haha… but having said that, we spent most of the time running after the tour group. becos we always spent too much time taking photos and had to run to catch up with the group, where our tour guide Joe who is a Londoner studying in Germany, would wait for us b4 starting his story. Very nice guy. Well, most of the time we knew where the group is, so catching up was easy. But there was this break where we got to shop in this chocolate shop and meet somewhere else 15min later. I was too excited over the chocolates to really listen to where to meet, and it turned out that the other 4 guys also didn’t hear exactly where it would be. So when it was time to meet, we walked around Berlin aimlessly, trying to figure out where the nearest place of interest would be and see if we could join them halfway. Miraculously, out of a little deduction and mostly out of sheer luck, we found them at the meeting place which is no where near any prominent place of interest. haha… well done leh us. Hahaha….

In the evening, the tour led us to the Brandenburger Tor. The guys found the BBC station where the world cup analysis was recorded from!! It’s at the top of this building to the left of the tor. To the left of this building is the Hotel Adlon, which became famous cos there’s where Michael Jackson… k I forgot wat he did, did he hang the baby from the balcony? or what?

We also got to see the world cup trophy inside tat bigger soccer in front of the tor!!

The tour ended at the parliament house. We went inside and went up the newly built glass dome on top of it. in the dome there’s this pillar of mirror that reminded me of the rolling chunk of kebab meat. Haha… I tried to be ‘creative’ and managed to get one with both the photographer and photographee inside!!! Heehee…

Day 3
The third morning and afternoon was not a very enjoyable one for me. We signed up for the tour for the concentration camp, but we were late. So we wasted around 2 hrs trying to meet up with the group and in the meanwhile, met this old man who was looking for tourists to get him as their guide. His English was not very good so there was a bit of problem communicating. He seemed old enough to have gone through the war and somehow although I was a bit uncomfortable with him attempting to guide us, I find him quite pitiful. It’s quite a sad feeling.

Eventually, we managed to join the tour group halfway after some unhappy experience trying to contact our tour guide. Anyway, the concentration camp itself is a freaking sad place. No, I find it scarier than just sad. The cruelty was unimaginable. I simply could not imagine how anyone could survive there without going mad. It’s living hell. It’s an evil place. My heart felt so heavy throughout that tour. Even as I think of it now, my heart also weighs tonnes. It’s a place I would never want to go back again. It tortures me mentally.

After that mentally draining tour, we made our way to the Berlin wall and caught half of the Korea-France match (did I rmb correctly?) at the soccer mile behind the Brandenburger Tor. You thought streakers can only be found at the stadium itself?? We saw 1 running about in front of the big screen too. And he seemed to be very proud of it. eeks.

The public toilets in Germany were not free, and were very expensive!! The most expensive one I went to was at one of the bigger metro station. Its 80 euro cents!!! Someone named it ‘The Golden Pee’. Anyway, that’s not the main point. The toilet was an open concept one, meaning you could actually see the cubicles and the sinks of both the male and female toilets from the entrance. they are all in one big area divided by a wall in the middle. not knowing what the German words are for male and female, I relied on diagrams. Above the female pic on the wall was this big arrow sign pointing to the opposite side, so I went to the opposite side and slot in the 80 cents into the machine to gain entry into the toilet. After I came out of the cubicle, I saw a man coming in!!! I looked at him, he looked at me, and then he started laughing at me and welcomed me to the guys toilet when I apologized for my mistake. Ya… that’s when I realized I went to the wrong toilet.. -_-|| it’s the first time in my life that I made such a mistake!!! Urrrrgh…

Day 4

Munich!

At the brewery..

Melvin's birthday celebration~ A Hard Rock shirt for him as birthday gift! =)

Day 5

Watching another match at another brewery. Look at the crowd there!

Day 6

The neuschwanstein castle! It was a tough walk up...

Day 7

The Rhine Valley. Our 'hostel' was cheap... but that's bcos it's supposed to be for KIDS! primary school kind of kids... haha... we even had a curfew of 9pm. =P

One of the castle in the valley..

River Rhine

Day 8

Visiting a castle's souvenir shop b4 leaving for cologne

Day 9

Cologne cathedral

Everybody was watching world cup and the road was deserted. Celebrations on the road after Germany won one of the matches!

Big screen right in front of the cathedral..

Day 10

Hamburg

Feeling shagged after the long trip, we stoned in starbucks instead of touring hamburg.

The art piece drawn by Artist Chongwai while we were there.

End of travel log.

hehe... this was actually written last July when I was surviving without any internet access in my Redhill, Surrey accommodation. Sorted out the photos but only managed to write till the 3rd day of the trip. Left it hanging till now.. so decided to just post whatever I have. brought back quite a number of memories... it was another fun trip!! =)

signing off @ 4:38 am with 0 Comments

..What about me..

I am happily married. :)
Just a typical girl seeking her own fairy tale.. and she is glad to have found her prince. =)
And the prince decided to ask the typical girl… to be his princess and live happily ever after!!

~*20 November 2010*~
The day my prince went on his knees and presented me with THE ring!

~*27 November 2010*~
The day we booked Changi Village Hotel to hold our solemnisation ceremony!

~*11 December 2010*~
The day we found and bought our fairytale castle!

~*14 December 2010*~
The day we finally decided and bought our wedding bands - to be worn on our fingers forever!

~*21 December 2010*~
The day my prince and I filed for a notice of marriage with ROM!

~*25 January 2011*~
The day we collected our marriage certificate from the ROM!

~*30 January 2011*~
The day my prince and I tied the knots to live happily ever after!