Prost!

STUTTGART

2007-06-16T11:08:00.000+01:00

Just in case u think that we miss germany so much so that we flew back for another round of travels, NO. Haha i'm finishing off the 2 cities we visited but were too lazy to blog yet. Stuttgart is a high-class city. Our main purpose for going there was actually to go to the nearby outlet city Metzingen for shopping :) Metzingen was really big, and a must-go if u are a Hugo Boss fan. We went to the main shopping street Koenigstrasse in Stuttgart after Metzingen, and what a mighty long shopping street it was!

Schlossplatz

View of the Neue Schloss from the pavilion. We took this pic according to the photo on the tourism brochure!

Mercedes-Benz Museum: Stuttgart is the headquarter of Mercedes and Porsche, and the Mercs Museum has been one of the place we've wanted to go since Jan. No disappointment there. It was sleek, stylish and high-tech. That hand-held audio guide has to be the poshest gadget (works on infra-red) as compared to allll the other museums!

Jem's favourite car.Mercs bus from Argentina!

The Gull-wingsMercs of the future!And then we arrive in the showroom. Ooooh this car, we love.Haha sorry if you're not interested in cars. Cos if you are, there's not much point in going to Stuttgart.

Next up, our nature-appreciating trip to Berchtesgaden National Park: Koenigssee.

a finality.

2007-06-15T15:43:00.000+01:00

SO, we've been back in sunny Singapore for a grand total of 5 days.

Everything is 'cool', like real.

As we took the first steps out of the airport, warm moist air swept across our faces, leaving us feeling... sticky. And for the next few days, I could be wearing singlet and shorts, sitting motionless using my laptop in my room, and yet sweating profusely. That, my dear foreign friends (ello thomas marjo elodie, ca va bien?), is Singapore, averaging 32 degrees every day of the year and having sunny, cloudy, rainy, thunderstorm even all in one day.

Anyhoo, we (so garang) have begun internship just 2 days after we landed in Singapore. Barely adjusted from the jetlag, I have been having a hard time keeping awake at work (i cross my fingers that my boss will never read this) and feeling damn shack everyday. Jem is sick today and couldn't even go to work. It's ok, we'll probably get used to work next week. There's at least lunch time to look forward to, now that we've found pals working in the raffles place area (mad wave at fleaaaa).

Just want to tell our exchange pals how much we love them :) We miss u all!

2 more days in Germany.

2007-06-07T17:00:00.000+01:00

We've packed almost everything into the luggages. Probably overweight again.
Tomorrow we're going shopping in Frankfurt. Looking forward to adding more weight to the luggages ha :)

Splatter of raindrops on the window ledge as we cruise down the lovely Koenigssee.

Other than the Frankfurt trip, we're pretty much dreading the next few days.
The thought of leaving the country that I've come to love tremendously, is sad.

To Dee, yes we so totally need a Euro-withdrawal group-mourning session. According to your FAQ, u should be in Catania now. I sure hope u're there, and not stuck in mafia-land Napoli.

MUNICH

2007-06-03T14:54:00.000+01:00

What comes into your mind when you think 'Munich'?

B . E . E . R!!!
PROST! [For the uninformed, the blog title 'Prost!' is 'Cheers!' in german.]
The smallest size you can buy is half a litre, like mine. But everyone seems to be holding 1 litre mugs.
We were chilling with our beer in the huge Biergarten called Viktualienmarkt. Beer is such an integral part of life in Munich that I doubt Starbucks can make money here.Butcheries at the Viktualienmarkt: The initial concept of a biergarten is that you are free to bring your own food/ buy other food to eat with your beer. Of course thats not very possible now with 'no outside food allowed' kinda policy everywhere, but not Viktualienmarkt! We brought our cheapo ta-baos to eat there :)The Maypole at Viktualienmarkt. Our guide told us there is an annual competition to steal the maypole. Whoever who can steal it will win one year's supply of beer. Burp.Inside the Hofbrauhaus. Hof = royal. So this is the royal brewery, one of the biggest tourist attraction in Munich, though not too suitable for budget travellers.Theatinerkirche: A loud Italian Rococo exterior, a contrast to the white Baroque interior. Long-gang SURFING at the Englischer gaten!

The famous Paulaner brand, one of the few german brews available in Singapore. Our costly dinner there make us conclude that it is but a big tourist trap.
Instead, we recommend Augustiner Brauhaus. All main courses are below 10euro!

Probably the german food that I love most: Roast pig trotters

Friendly beer lady : Not the curvacious blondie with fishnet stockings you fantasized? Sorry, but Hofbrauhus took all the pretty ones. Plus those at HB wear cutesy costumes, even the men! Allianz Arena: The home of Bayern Munich and most people dunno, also the home of 1860 Munich.The white ballonish stadium exterior is uber cool. It changes colour according to the teams that play there.NEUSCHWANSTEIN!
Getting mentally prepared: It's a super long hike up man.The path up was so steep, but we charged on anticipating the beautiful view.The weather wasn't exactly perfect on the day we went, so let's admire Nicole's pics instead haha. (Lucky u!) The view of the Bravarian Alps, a lake and the Hohenschwangau at the bottom left.

PALERMO

2007-05-30T15:37:00.000+01:00

We thought Palermo, the capital of Sicily, is a vibrant city with an unbeatable sandy shoreline, glistening water and half-naked people strutting around the streets. We were quite wrong yo. Palermo city has no beach to boast of and its shore is dominated by a huge not-so-pretty port. Nevertheless, we had a fantastic time at Mondello, thanks to the great beach and...the bestest seafood pasta I've even had!Speghetti Presidente from Ristorante Poldo 2 on Mondello Beach

Teatro Politeama: A stunning entrance with the quadriga on the stone arch. Teatro Massimo
The Duomo: By far the most amazing architecture in Palermo. The entire cathedral is in this natural honey colour, yet it is so subtly beautiful. It was built in Catalan-gothic style, and the interior in neoclassical.San Giovanni: Just one of the many Arab-Norman architectures in Palermo. They all have the unique red domes on top.Beer has become part of our lives. Trying out the Birra Moretti from Italy.Mondello!

Mondello beach is just a half-hour bus ride from Palermo central. It's more popular with locals than most tourists who like to venture further to Cefalu (amazingly beautiful fishing village cum beach). Squeezed into a rowdy-teenagers-packed bus and caught the beautiful view of Monte Pelligrino (ya the mineral water brand!)along the way.If only Sentosa has such clear blue water, where you can see right across the horizon, the seamless separation of sky and water, and not Indonesia in the distance.

23rd May was a very special day. As you can see the pics below, we actually opened a bottle of Sicilian chardonnay. It was...

... the Champions League final between Liverpool and AC Milan!

YA! like sooo important right? Jem swears a Liverpool fan cannot miss the match if Pool is in the Champions League final. SO, we sniffed out which pub shows the match, arrived there 1hour 45min early and waited. and waited.

It's our first time doing such atas stuff like opening a bottle of wine haha. When the waiter came with the fancy cooler and apperitives, we were so excited. Then felt so suaku for taking pictures :)

Admiring the sunrise as we rush off to the Palermo airport...

CIAO for now!

NAPLES

2007-05-29T15:20:00.000+01:00

Naples, what an experience! We've never been so scared for our lives on any of our travels. The capital of Campania is rumoured to the most dangerous city of Italy! (which is already quite dangerous) As my trusted Wiki says, "The character and culture of Napoli is immense; the dirt and grime has more flavour than any other city. This is the Italian recipe for reality and fun!"
Check out Giovanni's map: Our hostel owner kindly warned us to stay away from the purple-shaded areas. Dude, that's like 1/3 of Naples!

Pompeii: The next day we headed to Pompeii, the famous city buried by Mt Versuvius' vulcanic ash. Entering the ruins... The rocks that remain unscathedJust 1 of the many pictures on the wall of the best brothel in Pompeii! The purpose? For people to 'seek insipiration'.Pizzaria Sorbillo: THE best pizzaria in town (ok there's another famous one called Da Michele). See the 'Where Pizza was born' sign?? Drool at my hugomongous calzone :)

Gino Sorbillo's grandfather invented the calzone!Galleria Umberto: Exactly the same as the one in Milan? It's by the same designer!Castel NuovoWhy are there so few picture of Naples? It's not safe to take out the camera! You have to see all the dodgy alleys and dubious-looking people to believe it. We'd rather not risk it :)

Ferry to Palermo: The overnight ferry to Palermo was, on hindsight, a bargain. 60euros each got us a nice cabin and smoothly to our destination.

Great view from the ferry too!

Leaving Naples behind us...

Sunrise at Palermo!

CAPRI

2007-05-28T16:46:00.000+01:00

Yoohoo! We are back from our longest trip yet: Naples, Palermo, Munich and Stuttgart!

I am too excited to blog about Capri, so Naples shall wait...

Capri is a breathtakingly beautiful island paradise, a 45min ferry ride from Naples. Rumoured to be populated with holidaying celebrities (and paparazzi), this postcard-perfect place is a must-go! Just because everything in Capri are of wallet-slimming prices doesn't mean that budget travellers like us can't have fun there. We only spent 28euros that day: ferry to/from Naples(8x2), chair lift(7), rowboat(5). Pack a sandwich or starve!

At the Marina GrandeLa Grotta Azzura: The blue grotto is a seacave with a tiny entrance that only small rowboats can enter. It used to be a private swimming pool for the kings!What a beautiful day :)People fishing from above the grotto...The flurocent blue water inside!
View from San MicheleThe piece of land on the top left is Sorrento!Chair lift up Monte Solaro
Chair lift was fun!The view from Monte Solaro!
The stacks Faraglioni Convertible cab: In such a glitzy island you gotta have a more glam taxi yo. Sawing off the roof of a comfy SUV may just be the answer!

Byebye Capri :)

BERLIN

2007-05-07T17:02:00.000+01:00

A very late entry on Berlin, where we went a week before Amsterdam. Berlin was a place we enjoyed not for the fun and famous nightlife, but more for the fantastic history lesson that we had. Berlin is a place where a shoestring traveller cant just walk around with a guidebook to fully appreciate its history. We couldn't have learnt so much if not for the 10 thumbs-up Sandeman's Free Berlin Tour. So if anyone is heading for Berlin anytime soon, be sure to catch it! It's FREE :) But i guarantee that by the end of the tour you are sooo impressed by the fantastic guides that you will fork out 6 euro tip each like we did. (eh alot ok?)We started our tour at the Brandenburg Gate. The statue you see up there is Victoria, the Goddess of Victory (holding the victory stick with a bird) riding the 4-horse chariot into the city gates. A long time ago, the statue was actually Irina, the goddess of peace. Instead of the victory stick, Irina holds a golden leave. When Napolean came to Berlin, he demanded that Irina be brought back to France. So they dragged Irina down and it stood on the Arc right in front of the Lourve in Paris. When Germany attacked France a decade or so later, it defeated France and pulled down Irina again to return to Berlin. This time round, they replaced Irina with Victoria and named the square Pariser Platz, i.e. victory over the french. An even more interesting fact it that Victoria is looking down towards the left, exactly on the present-day French embassy!This story was so intriguing that I digged up my Paris photos and there we have the REPLICA Irina at the arc! Hitler's bunker: He committed suicide at the bunker below this innocent-looking patch of grass.Berlin Wall: This is the place where an uncountable number of East Germans were shot dead, while failing to escape to what could be a much brighter future in West Germany. Checkpoint Charlie The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe: This is located a 5min walk from Brandenburg gate, a prime location with a high amount of human traffice. This space was specially picked for this reason, to constantly remind people of the atrocity that was commited and to remember the innocent lives perished.As we walk through the paths surrounded by these stone blocks, it gets colder and darker as we approach the center, where the blocks are the highest. It makes you experience the immense fear that the Jews felt, not knowing what will jump out in front or behind you, and feeling the Nazis standing so high above you like the stone blocks, terrorizing you.The Book-burning square: This square is surrounded by beautiful buildings, one being the Law School of Humboldt University. HU is famous for the many Nobel Prize winners who graduated from here, and also cos Albert Einstein taught here before!Bebelplatz Memorial: It was to remember book-burning event when books with "un-German" ideas were burnt. Through this glass, you can see a huge room surrounded by empty bookshelves, shelves that could have contained all 25000+ books burnt that day. You can also see the reflection of yourself, which serves as a reminder of how we should reflect and learn from this event. Beside it lies a plaque with a quote by German-Jewist author Heinrich Heinethat, whose book written years ago, was also burnt that night. "That was merely a prelude. Wherever they burn books, eventually they will burn people too" He was so right.

Berliner Dom: What a magnificent architecture!Schloss Charlottenburg, a summer palaceA nice pic snapped by Nicole while we were strolling in the palace.The Reichstag: It is famous for its glass dome, which signifies its openess and its willingness to be transparent to its people. The glass dome is open to visitors everyday and from up there, you can see right to the plastic blue seats of the parliament! Kaiser Wilhelm Church Berlin Ring Olympic StadiumSachsenhausen concentration camp: You can't see a single drop of blood or a hint of the atrocities that were committed here just 70 years ago, yet the compound sent chills down our spines as we listen to the stories our guide told the group solemnly.
Below, Chris explains the 'Death March'. As the Russians approach towards the end of the war, the Nazis moved the inmates from Sachsenhausen to death camps, their purpose: if they don't die from exhaustion along the way, they just die in the death camps."Work Makes You Free": A common misconception is that concentration camps were places where the 'Enemies of the state' get killed systematically, with horrible things like gas chambers. NO, inmates are brought here to WORK, sooo hard that over 100,000 died from exhaustion, disease, malnutrition or pneumonia. There were of course those who died as the result of brutal 'medical' experimentation. Concentration camps are at the outskirts of the city, because the Nazis obviously didn't want any of their own people to see the uglier side of their ruling. Death camps, where the primary function was genocide, are located outside Germany, most in Poland.
A pillar with inverted red triangles, a symbol of communists, erected after the Russian took over the camp.
Just 1 of the many torture method used: Prisoner's hands are tied behind his back, lifted up to hang with their backs against the pole. So imagine, the guard lets go of him and his weight to pull him down, thereby ripping his arms out of his shoulder sockets. It's sad.

?Did you know? It is illegal to do the 'Hail Hitler' salute in Germany. Not only will whoever you insult as 'Nazi' get extremely offended, if he decide to report you to the police, you will be arrested. Our guide had the experience of reporting 2 drunk girls, aged 18 and 19, to the local police because they were doing the Nazi march, singing the Nazi song and above all, scolding his tour group "F you foreigner, get out of Germany" (smtg like that), which ended up in a tussle with one of the tour member. The older girl, tried as an adult, ended up with a jailterm of 10 years. Just so you know.

I think the biggest lesson we can take away from this tour of Berlin is how the Germans face up to their mistakes. They admit to and regret the atrocities their ancestors had committed, educate their future generations what they should learn from it. No lies, nothing to hide. And I can tell you honestly that the Germans are ashamed of their past. Take that Japan, the world awaits the day when you truly feel remorseful about your past.

Tulip Special Edition

2007-05-06T18:46:00.000+01:00

For Pam, who loves purple tulips :)
Good luck for your internship babe! Have a superrrb time in Shanghai, shop alot, eat xiaolongbaos and come back speaking perfect Mandarin!One of the many florists at Blummenmarkt, the floating flower market. 50 stocks of tulips for 6 euros, thats S$12! How i wish i could ship some back for u friends. Fear not, we bought some tulip seeds that resembles mini-garlics. Come next Spring, they will blume beautifully. I hope.

AMSTERDAM

2007-05-06T16:18:00.000+01:00

The city of sins.

Sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll baby! If i previously mentioned that any city was eye-opening, Amsterdam was of 'eye ball shoot out of socket bounce on the floor roll into long-gang" standard.

Let's start wit the architecture. Maybe the architects had too much to drink or were high on something. All the buidlings are tilting left right front back.

Amsterdam is full of canals. 2 major floods in the past have killed over 1 million people so these canals are build to contain the problem. In fact, most parts of Amsterdam is under sea-level! It is so easy to get lost amongst these canals cos all the buildings around them look alike.

One of the most famous 'Coffee shops', the Dampkring. For the less-informed, 'Coffee shops' are by no means Kopitiams. They sell soft-drugs yo. A small part of Ocean's Twelve was filmed here! Brad Pitt and George Clooney has a hush-hush meeting here.XXX Red-light district

This place is sooo interesting we went there on both nights. Some basic facts we found out: the going rate (in case anyone is interested) is 50 euro for 15 min. What goes on in this 15min is up to your imagination hur hur. The 'girls' come in all shapes, sizes, colours and age (oldest being 74). We had so much fun gossiping about their looks and bodies (wah some totally cannot make it!), and when we see a guy going into one of those glass doors, we time 15min and catch them walking out, looking relieved.

A scupture on the groud in the red light district that appeared one morning. Doesn't look as bad as it sounds right? It's really safe! You see policemen patrolling everywhere.Neh, no pictures of the girls. We know not to take their pics after seeing how the indian man in front of us got scolded with bleep-bleeps after secretly attempting to take the pic of a girl.A plesant surprise - authentic chinese food!! You can't imagine how happy we went to sink our teeth into the juicy char-siew, crispy siu-yok and oily roast duck. slurp.

Heineken Experience: 10euro entrance fee includes 3 beers and a free gift!And keeping the free beers in mind, we browsed the history. I really like the 'smiling e' story though. Jem says everyone do this pose there. Why ah?A pretty professional shot at the glass of Heineken, considering Jem has already downed 3 glasses.

Alkmaar cheese market: For fellow Amazing Race buffs, they've done a Detour here! The contestants had to carry many cheese blocks in the fancy-colour sleighs from the market to the weighing scale.

Cheese doctors at work. These white-haired old men in white robes stand in the middle of the cheese market, cutting open the big blocks of cheese, eating and writing notes on their clipboards. That guy with the white hat, he kept eating and didn't participate in the discussion. What an uncooperative team member tsktsk.

Zaanse Schaan: The windmill villageUs and our animal friends :) Joey, don't be jealous. I'm coming home soon. We also went to a wooden clogs factory, like most tourists do. Keukenhof: The tulip heaven Swaying tulips by the stream...

In the colour of the Netherlands' flag You can't get enough of the tulips too? Good! The 2 cute ducks that love performing their 'kiss my ass' stunt. They just kept doing it to the amusement of the many visitors.

FRENCH RIVERIA

2007-04-23T16:14:00.000+01:00

The French Riveria or the Cote d'Azur refers to the south-eastern coast of France, dotted with beaches to die for, crystal-clear light turquois water and populated with the rich and famous. During our 3days there, we were based in Nice and made day trips to Cannes, Antibes and Monaco. Cheapos alert: Ok face it, attracting budget travellers wasn't on the agenda of the tourism board in the French Riveria. Hostels (what hostel?) are a rare find in Nice and they are >20euro a night. And there are no hostels in Monaco.You'll understand why when you scroll down.

We flew into Genova in Italy, thanks to a 0.01euro Ryanair flight. Genova is supposed to be real pretty (as seen in Dee's blog) but we were too shacked to explore it after spending a night sleeping on the floor of Frankfurt Hahn airport.

Took a train from Genova to Nice on a EuroCity train, and from Jem's snooze shot you can gauge how comfy it was. BUT the scenary along the way was tooooo beautiful to waste our time dosing off! Check this out, pardon my embarrassing "Wah I want to swim now" murmur.

NICE

A very out-of-place Russian cathedral in the middle of Nice. Strolling along the very very famous Nice beach. If you scrutinize the pic, you would notice that this is not a sandy beach! It's full of rocks, stones and pebbles.The focus is not us. Check out the naked lady behind hur hur. An uncountable number of chicks sunbath naked on the beach. So guys, another incentive to go Nice.Cafes and souvenir shops grace the sidewalks of Cours SaleyaSplendid view of the Nice PortNice beach at night... A unison of water and sky.The famous Negresco hotel, an icon of Nice
CANNES

The annual Cannes Film Festival has brought this sandy-beach paradise into the limelight. A 25min train ride away from Nice, Cannes has more tourists than inhabitants, for sure. About 3/5 of the strip of beautiful sandy beach are private, lined with blue umbrellas and comfy-looking sun beds. Fear not, small parts of the beach are free for the public to laze around and sunbath.

We headed straight for the old town; narrow winding streets filled with restaurants and souvenir shops. Climbed up a small hill to the the castle ruins and enjoyed the splendid view of Cannes from there.

This is the convention centre where the annual Cannes Film Festival is held! Doesn't look that glam now without the red carpet and paparazzis. The top is a helipad!

MONACO
Oh how we love this place! It has a beautiful coastline, interesting history, a damn-famous casino and a real-life (tiny bit screwed up) monachy that you can gossip on a whole afternoon. Psst! For more, please consult Dee the hands-down royal family gossip expert.
?Did you know? The head of this country will always be a "Prince" and not a "King"! That's because a long time ago Monaco signed a treaty with France which states that France will only recognise this place as the "Principality of Monaco" and its leader shall always be a Prince.

The Palace at night...
The St. Nicholas Cathedral, where the royal family has been buried through the years, and also where the wedding of Prince Ranier and Grace Kelly took place. They are buried beside each other inside now. Institut Oceanographique, started by Prince Albert I, partly because he himself was a great seaman.
I was initially quite against the idea of going to another Underwater World kinda place, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise! Aside from the pretty fishes, we saw much on the history of ocean studies and extinct sea animals.
The Coastline behind the Institut Oceanographique

We're in Monte Carlo! How can we possily skip going to the casino!! The most famous casino is 'Le Casino' hur hur. We didn't make it with our sneakers and burms outfit, so we went to Fairmont instead. Had fun and with some luck (phew!) with the Roulette, we walked off with our 35euro winnings :)Night view of Monaco Ville... You can see the Monaco Grand Prix viewing stands in blue.A piece of advice: If you becomes a millionaire in the future and decide to live in Monaco (the tax heaven), please don't buy a black Bentley coupe. On our short bus ride from the palace to Monte Carlo, we saw Porsches, Lambos, Mercs, etc but a stunning 20% of all cars we see are black Bentleys. So, if you don't want your car to look as common as a taxi in Monaco, you know what not to get.

VIENNA

2007-04-22T17:02:00.000+01:00

2.5 days in Vienna left us the impression that it is a really cultural city. Classical music, theatre and opera houses galore, this is a place to be if you are at least a tiny bit into music.

First stop, the grand Hofburg PalaceThe Hofburg family ruled Austria for a looong time. A visit to the Sisi Museum was truly eye-opening. Princess Sisi was probably the most famous royalty of all, for her queerness, her suicidal tendencies, her brilliant dark poetry and of course, her tragic assassination.
Night viewWe got up ultra early just so we can squeeze in to the chapel inside Hofburg to watch the famous Vienna Boy Choir for free. Cheepos alert: The boys perform on every Sunday at 9:15am, but be there queueing outside the chapel by 8:15am or you can only watch from a tiny TV outside the chapel! These men you see in front of the alter are by no means the Vienna Boy Choir. Phew. We got a shock when we first saw them sing, so old + not very melodious leh. In fact, they are alter 'men' so they only sing hymms. We got to enjoy the crystal clear, ultra high-pitch singing of the real Vienna Boy Choir midway through the service. They stand right above us so we didn't get a glimpse of them, a price we 'pay' for the free standing slots.

From the inside looking out.Peterskirche. Every St. Peter's that we've been to has really nice interior. The famous street (which we unfortunately forgot the name), lined with stylish cafesThe statue commemorating the PlagueThe great Stephansdom: Note the unique patterned tile roof
We caught a ballet performance at the State Opera House. The interior was pretty impressive and people in the audience were dressed to the t. I can almost picture myself with my taitai gang strutting in our fancy garb to the opera in the future gasp. Cheapo alert: Start queueing for the 2euro standing tickets 2 hours before the performance! After you get the ticket, you will be brought to the standing gallery/balcony to CHOP your place!! No kidding. Bring a paper/broucher/jacket/foldable chair to stamp your presence before going out to catch a quick dinner!

The Opera House at night
After the Opera, we took the Tram around the Ringstrasse. Cheapest way to take in the sights located along the route!
The RathausThe Parliament House Schonbrunn Palace: The instantly-recognisable sunshine yellow palace grace the coveres of Vienna guide books and postcards.Poor trees were victims of conformity. How the hell were they shaved so straight?
The Gloriette perched on top of the hill, which we were too cheapskate to pay to see it upclose. Same same la.Manicured gardensA pity we didn't take a picture of the hugomongous Schnitzel we had for lunch. Wiener Schnitzel (equivalent of Western Food stall pork cutlet) is a famous Austrian cuisine, though we eat it quite often in Germany too. Make sure you (+1 friend) visit Schnitzelwirt Schmidt along Neubergasse, and SHARE a 5.60 euro schnitzel. Value for money, plus the restaurant is fully equipped with Tabao facilities ie. grease-proof paper and plastic bags. How considerate!
A sweet parting shot

PRAGUE

2007-04-22T13:22:00.000+01:00

We're back!!

Prague, Vienna and Nice are indescribably beautiful! It was a fantastic trip! Breath-taking sights aside, we (thank god) didn't have any mishaps, no amazing-race-run-for-your-lives experiences. Phew :)

And now, be amazed by Prague!

Staré město / the old town: This little square is surrounded by quaint pretty buildings.

Easter spirit in the air...

Tyn Church by night...

The astronomical clock, a must-see in Prague! Every hour when the the minute hand strucks 12, the 12 apostles appear at the little windows and everyone gets amused by the bell-ringing skeleton. So much so that we watched it thrice heh.There are plenty of lovely open-air restaurants in the old town square. We had an awesome dinner at the Staromeska Restaurant, cheap and yummy!

Check out the goatlet stew and popeye's melt-in-your-mouth spinach. slurp.

?Did you know? Czech Rep is one of the biggest beer producers in the world! And according to the Ryanair inflight magazine, it also has the highest beer consumption in Europe!

Jem loves Pilsner Urquell. 0.5l for 1euro. Walao where to find.

The Art-Noveau styled Obenci Dom

The National Museum2 ramdomly nice cathedrals facing the Charles BridgeChilling along the Vltava River, gazing at the famous Charles BridgeNight view on Charles bridge. Be wow-ed! A glimpse at the magnificent castle we'll be heading to the next morningCharles Bridge is not lit up at night, unlike the beeeautiful Chain Bridge in Budapest. You've got to enjoy the walk along this bridge in the day, with the lively presence of uncountable baskers, artists and craft stalls.
Prague Castle

Changing of guards, the old-fashioned way

The unmistakable twin peaks of St. Vitus CathedralAdmiring St. Vitus from another angle View from the topThe bright red St. Stephen's
Recommended by almost every guidebook to visit for the best view of Prague: we climbed the hill behind the castle in the Lesser Town. What a view!

Nicole, me, Stephanie and Kit enjoying the sunshine..

A stroll along the Vltava River...

A postcard-worthy shot by Jem.A shot especially for dearest Lulu!

PARIS

2007-04-09T14:03:00.000+01:00

The amazing view along the Seine River...

This Paris trip was truly a mad rush for us. With just 2 days to explore this historical, romantic, cultural yet modern city, we truly made our legs pay for it and our day-passes more than worth its price. To get there, we took a night bus from Frankfurt, departing at 10pm and arriving at 6am. Being such a deepsleeper, I think I slept through 70% of the journey. Our poor friend Nicole had motion-sickness and puked her guts out (while i was in dreamland) poorthang.

The weather sucked the day we arrived. Rainy and windy, totally not optimal for sight-seeing but we had to make every minute in Paris worthwhile. So, off we went to Versailles Palace...

History students, you remember Versailles Treaty signed at the end of WW2? Ya, this is the place it took its name from.

Lonely Planet says this is one of the most magnificent palace in Europe. Well, even if we factor in the bad weather, this palace still don't come close to being a 'gasp-eyeball-drop-out' kind of place.

King Louis XIV's private chapel

As for the interior, everything was very gold..

Hercules arriving on a chariot...

Versailes has a huuuge garden behind the palace. A stroll in the lush greenery would have been real lovely in the summer, but it was too rainy, windy, cold for us to venture out.

Basilique du Sacre Coeur, at Montmatre Hill Moulin Rouge, located at the foot of Montmatre The Opera House
The weather was brilliant on the second day! We wasted no time and rushed to the Lourve...
It opens at 9am, but common-kiasu-sense tells us we have to queue at 8am, since its a free-entry day. Spot on, we joined the 50m queue at 8.20am, feeling damn smug as we see the line stretch more than 200m by the time we were let in.

Cheapos alert: On the 1st Sunday of the month, many museums are free, including the Louvre!

Hotel de Ville: not very famous, but oh so beatiful!

Ya, I like this place :)

Notre Dame

The Patheon
Taking a breather and chomping on our standard budget lunch: home-made ham-cheese sandwich.Eiffel Tower
You can't help but be mesmorized by this magnificient architechture. It’s hard to imagine that such an enduring symbol of Paris was originally built to last only for the duration of the Paris World Fair of 1889.We started doing the SMU jumps......and our friends thought it's damn fun. Sooo, we stayed there and jumped for half an hour :)Jem's very proud of this postcard-like picture
* France must-try: Eat crepes, especially the Nutella ones. Yummmy!

FLORNECE & PISA

2007-04-08T13:08:00.000+01:00

Florence // Firenze

Florence gives us the impression that it is a really cultural place. In fact, I read from some guide that people from Florence consider themselves cleverer than the other Italians. haha snobs.

<-- The coat of arms of Florence (reminds you of scout emblem?)

The most famous sight is definitely the Florence Duomo. Its unique white-green exterior is only seen in Florence! Palazzo Vechio: The intimidating-looking fortress overlooks the Piazza della Signoria, which is famous for its replica copy of Michaelangelo's David and many other statues. Here is Fake David.We caught a parade in the vicinity, with people all dressed up in costumes and drumming lively beats.Along the Arno River...
View from Ponte Vechio
Boys fooling around at the water fountain.

Santa Croce: This church looks similar to the Duomo, the same white-green exterior.

It houses the tombs of Galileo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Dante and other famous people. We were cheapskate and didn't want to pay to go in, sooo here's a peek.

View from Piazza Michaelangelo. Oh how we love this place. Pisa

Pisa has nothing much worth seeing aside from the leaning tower of Pisa. So if you're planning to go there, just save half a day for it, and pack you pinic basket along!

Perfect weather for snapping pictures!

Campo dei Miracoli // Field of Miracles

The Tower from far...A close-up...And then, start posing/ jumping/ kissing/ leaning...

ROME

2007-04-03T15:03:00.000+01:00

Hallo, meine Freunde!
missing in action for quite some time, sorry bout that. been busy mugging (gasp!), doing case studies and cleaning the house. err ya, my new hobby is cleaning the house. we use the vacuum cleaner like twice a day. beat the auntiness, mirmir.
anyway, updates on the holy city of Rome. the weather was so-so, aside from the glorious sunshine we had on the day we visited the Vatican. thanks to the fantastic company of our 9 Bocconi amicis, our trip was zuuuper! (with heavy german accent)

Coloseum

The Roman Ruins

This block of pillars used to be the Roman treasurey. And behind this, there is a small clearing, where my Lonely Planet guide book says that Marc Anthony made his famous 'Friends, Romans, countrymen' speech!The Vatican City
The Mecca of Catholicism. Was really really thrilled to be in the Vatican, especially since i dig Dan Brown novels AND i'm neither catholic or christian. The night before, i researched online the various 'Angels and Demons' tours and 'Da Vinci Code' tours, hoping to prep myself for the day trip to the Vatican.
*Don't forget to bring your passport.
- St. Peter Basilica
Inside St. Peter's Kudos to the 4 of us who climbed 500+ steps to the top of the cathedral! Magnificient view from the top...- Vatican Museum
It is sooo huge, we took about 3+ hours to make it to the exit. By that time, our feet were aching (for obvious reasons) and our necks were stiff from gazing at the freascos and paintings on the ceilings. And we still sigh in amzement what an eye-opening this museum was. The highlights would certainly be Raphael's Rooms and the Sistine Chapel (ya u read that in Da Vinci Code!)

My favourite painting: The School of Athens by Rapheal
It depicts ancient Greek philosophers, many of whom we know like Pythagoras (a2 +b2 = c2!), Aristotle, Plato, Socrates...

The Disputation of the Blessed Sacrament by RaphaelThe Sistine Chapel was just amazing. The frescos, paintings onthe ceiling and of course, The Last Judgement by Michaelangelo. Everything was just perfect, except for the fact that the guards were really hostile; kept scolding people for taking pictures and SHHH-ing everyone. And ya, no pictures.

Trevi Fountain
The most spectacular of all Roman fountains. The story goes that if you throw a coin into the fountain over your left shoulder you will return to Rome again soon. And as for the second coin you throw, make a wish and it will come true!
Posing at the Spanish Steps

Santa Maria Maggiore
Sunset at Gianiccolo Hill

Some extrasss...

Guofeng's statue Jem's irresistable Baci ice-cream. Damn unglam.Kiasu Singaporeans caught in action. "Nice ah? OK take picture first. Later tell me the story."

Having Chinese dinner in Italy.

off to PARIS

2007-03-29T13:35:00.000+01:00

just got back from our Rome-Florence-Pisa trip last night and we're off to Paris tonight!
updates soon!
meanwhile, check our the photo album www.eleczor.multiply.com

Tschüs!

PORTO

2007-03-29T11:34:00.000+01:00

Haven't even finished updating on Porto and we were off to central Italy. so now that we're back, let's wrap up on Portugal!

Arrived in Porto's lovely Sao Bento station at 9+pm. It doesn't just serve its purpose as Porto's city station, but houses some of the most beautiful traditional white-tiles-with-blue-paintings walls.

La buena vista de noche!

City hall in the day and the night

The Se Cathedral
View from the cathedral The Riberia riverfront was gorgeous. View atop the iron bridge...There's actually a story to the bridge. The designer of the bridge was also the one who designed the Eiffel Tower in Paris! He won the competition to design a bridge across the Duoro River. Do you spot the similarity?

Having learnt our lesson from the previous mishaps, this time around we decided to be damn early for the morning flight, just in case. Took the first train to the airport and chilled there.
Sunrise at the Porto Airport...

Portugal is a reeeally lovely country, in case our rushed blog entries have under-justified its true beauty. Go visit it!

Travel advice for our exchange pals:

Fly into Porto -> Train to Lisbon -> Train/Bus to the Algarves (beach area in the south! must-go: Lagos!) -> fly out from Faro. That way you can save a lot by not flying through Lisbon, and savour the entire Portugal from North to South!

LISBON

2007-03-18T16:23:00.000+01:00

Adios España, Bom dia Portugal!

With only 1 day in Lisbon (cos of the bus incident), we woke up at 5.30am, determined to utilize every single minute to soak up the sights of beautiful Lisbon.

Lisbon town center: Praça do Comercio
Belém (That egg tart place!)

You've got to remember this place! Pasteis de Belém, the most famous eggtart cafe in Portugal supposedly.

Monument of the DiscoveriesMosteiro dos Jeronimos: A World Heritage site

Torre do Belém: Another World Heritage site

Sintra

Highly recommended by my Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring guide, this was the place where the author proposed to his wife. Ahh, so romantic.

Sintra National Palace

Pena Palace

The not-so-romantic part: hiking up the hill for 30min to see the Pena Palace. The view from the top was stunning though.

This city is really sooooo enjoyable, if we have the chance, we would have spend 3 days here instead.

SEVILLA

2007-03-17T17:01:00.000+01:00

Arrived in Sevilla pretty late and we were lucky(ya like finally) to have met a local who was real helpful. Found out from him that Sevilla FC are the current leaders of La Liga (impressed!) and we should catch the Real Betis game the next day. First thing we did after putting down our backpacks in the hostel was to rush to a pub to catch the HUGE Barca-Real Madrid game. Cheap beer (1euro!) and the fantastic football (3-3 scoreline) lifted our spirits up a little :)

Sightseeing wise, Sevilla scores 150/100. Really.

The Alcazares:

A magnificent fortress palace with a mix of Islam and Christian influences. You'll be surprised at how this 2 religions has synergised to produce such an amazing architecture.

?Did you know? A large part of Southern Spain, especially the state of Andalucia, is Muslim.

The Cathedral & Giralda:

4 out of 5 postcards we bought featured these. The 31-storey climb up the Giralda was well worth the aerial view of the city. Whether in day or the night, the cathedral looks just as beautiful.

Plaza de España:

It is a HUGE semicircle brick-red structure, with a beautiful fountain in front. There are uniquely-designed bridges running over the little canal/moat in front of the building, which adds to the romatic-ness of it all.

We like it so much we came back again at night! Lovely night view...Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza/Bullfighting ring:

Bullfighting is a famous tradition, and this venue can be considered as the most prominent stage in the country. The bullfighting season is from April to July yearly and this 'sport' still has a large legion of fans. Our tour inside was fascinating, even though it felt strange to be stepping into a place where lives were lost so regularly. Football fever:

We went to catch the Real Betis-Real Zaragoza match at the Betis stadium, just 10min bus from the city center. On the way there, another backpacker warned us it's dangerous to watch football at the stadiums, with bottle-throwing, spitting and all. So to protect ourselves, we bought the Real Betis scarve! Haha the 10euro scarve was more like an investment for our safety, and we wrapped it around us like it was a holy armour.A pretty packed stadium saw the home team drew 1-1 with Zaragoza. And Jem pretends to be a Balompie fan.Parc Maria Lucia:

This beautiful park is the home of the Plaza de España and also some of the nicest buildings around!

Torre de Oro: A symbol of Sevilla along the Guadalquivir River. And then, it was time to embark on a 7-hour overnight bus ride to Lisbon. We were early, patiently waiting for some instruction/announcement/anything. And the freaking bus just left quietly 1 storey below in the near-empthy bus station with 1 staff who was too busy making out with her whoever. The rest are best forgotten, except that left us 70euro poorer and arriving in Lisbon 1 entire day later than schedule.

Sunset on the bus to Lisbon...

BARCELONA

2007-03-16T19:18:00.000+01:00

Hola! Como estas?
Our9-day trip to Barcelona, Sevilla, Lisbon and Porto was fantasticcc!
But it wasn't all fun and no booboos. So much shit happened to us we can talk forever. In summary, we 1) missed a flight, 2) missed a bus, 3) ran after a plane/a train twice the 'Amazing Race' style, 4) had a rollercoaster-ish experience on our flight back. Phew. Despite all these, these 2 countries left us such an amazing experience, we want to go back now :)

BARCELONA - the highlights:

1. Nou Camp
Definitely an eye-opening experience for us soccer fans. Biggest football stadium in Europe, pride of the Catalans. The sheer size could intimidate the away team, not to mention the crazzzzy Barca fans. A pity we couldn't catch the Barca-Real showdown there (cos we were in Sevilla by then). We both had the persistent impulse to buy the Barca jerseys, to be part of the proud Barca fanatics. Sadly, we had to remind outselves to live up to a true budget traveller. Budget budget la. 2. La Rambla & the waterfront
The most famous street of Barcelona truly lived up to its hype. It's the street of action (also a tourist trap)! Artists + baskers + human statues galore, sandwiched by more than 20 Indian-owned souvenir shops (?). Thanks to the brilliant weather, our stroll along the waterfront was awesome. The sight of the uncountable number of yachts parked at Port Vell and thr seamingly endless sea was truly breathtaking.

La Rambla

The shopping street: Passeig de GraciaPort Vell The view from atop the Tower of Colombus 3. Parc Guell & Parc Montjuic
Parc Guell is located at the north of the city, perched on a hill that overlooks the entrie city right up to the sea. The famous lizard statue made with little colourful tiles is there too. Parc Montjuic is at the south, so the view from there was quite different. We took a funivular up and continue up the hill by foot. By the time we were so freaking tired and every bit of leg muscle was aching, we were rewarded with the magnificent Palau Nacional. The view from the top of Parc Guell, with the sea and the sky merged as one. Reaching the Palau Nacional at sunset... 4. The works of Gaudi and the arty-fartiness of this city

Gaudi was a religious architect, probably the most famous name in Barcelona (ya like about the same level as Ronaldinho heh). His works can be found all over the city, from cathedrals to towers to lamp posts. I particularly like the Batllo House, which resembles an underwater palace. Pretty eccentric, both.

This is the mostest most famous sight: La Sangrada Familia, designed by GaudiOther sights!
Arc de Triomf San Paul Hospital: it's a real hospital (saw some patients and doctors walking around)!

The beach of Barcelona (somewhat like Sentosa actually..)

The university (beside the shopping street!)Every of the 3 days we spent in Barcelona, there is a demonstration. This is one held outside the parliament.
With highlights, there are of course the lowlights. Now, we come to our first crisis.

As the brilliant 2 days in Barcelona came to an end, lucky us, we had Sevilla to look forward to. We've got the tickets all paid online, got the info to take the train to the airport, got our luggages all packed. And then, we had to miss the flight cos we took the wrong train. By the time the conductor informed us, the next stop was some 45min away. Got help from some realllly nice passengers and the conductors to throw us off the train from the emergency exit. Then, we had the big problem of getting a cab cos too ulu. The race to get a taxi to catch the plane gets your adrenaline pumping when you watch Amazing Race? Try doing the real thing. Backpacks bobbing up and down, sweat seeping through our longsleeved tops, we were running as fast as our already damn tired legs could take us. Ahhh no taxi. 20min later we werecatching our breaths on a taxi heading to the airport, getting the driver to go as rapido as possible. But but but, we still missed the flight by 15min. So, we bought 2 new tickets for 45euros each(rescue price, the airline calls it) and arrived in Sevilla 2 hours later. Coming up, SEVILLA, the cradle of bullfighting...

We can't sit still.

2007-03-02T16:53:00.000+01:00

We're off to travel again!

8-16 Mar: Barcelona, Sevilla, Lisbon, Porto

21-28 Mar: Rome, Florence, Pisa

Woohoo! These few days we're so busy checking air/bus/train tickets, hostels, places to visit and blar, we almost forgot we have an exam on Tuesday! Darn. Just got a look at the mock paper and it was so insane.
Please expain : “The average Trading Costs are higher on Monday than on other days of the week.”
Huh, how I know? Please drop a msg if u know the answer.

Anw, the plans for the Spain and Portugal trip are almost finalised. Gotta brush up my Español soon! We're already dreaming of the irresistable Portugese Egg Tarts (stolen from Pearline's album). Go ahead and salivate.

We're going to Rome, Florence, Pisa with the Italia amicis, 9 of them! (Dee, u will be missed) So before we plunge into holidaying mood again, we better mug for asset management. urh.

awww so cute.

2007-02-28T20:24:00.000+01:00

As promised, the Little Zorro video!
Enjoy:)

Venezia!

2007-02-24T13:48:00.000+01:00

Everyone knows that Venice is a must-go. For us, the trip to the magical Venice was beyond expectations. It was more than just beautiful canals and mysterious alleys. The trip to Venice was wonderful because...
1) We had great company!
Thanks Mir and Steph for the countless unglam moments! We never stop laughing with u 2 around! 2) We met with with the crazy Milan exchange students! Fantastic seafood accompanied by 7litres of wine was ooh la la, damn high.
My Milano amicis: Mir, Steph, Dee, Val, Kiat and Jieying! 3) Venice was just sooo beautiful! Every twist and turn brings a plesant surprise :)

Doge's Palace

We sat on a gondolaaa! More pics next time!4) We went just in time for the annual Venezia Carnivale! During this period of time, people dress up in medieval costumes and wear masks!

How can not be part of the action?!

As for children, they dress up in costumes as well, but cuter ones! We checked out this mini-Carnivale in the nearby island of Burano. Altogether now, awww so cute. Special mention of little Zorro whom we adore. Wait till you see the video!5) We visited the nearby islands of Murano, Burano and Torcelli! As Ilian insightfully advised, the less touristy The place, the more beautiful it is!

Burano, an untainted and serene islandTorcelli, a colourful fishing village. No 2 houses next to each other are of the same colour!6) The yummilicious food!
?Did you know? You don't get seafood in Germany?! Cos Germany is surrounded by land, sooo u never see fresh fish. And in comparison, Venice is by the sea! Can you imagine how crazy we got when we stumbled into the fish market by chance? The fishmonger must be thinking oh you suaku China people never see fish before.And how can we forget to mention the Gelato? It was so gao, light yet rich, hard yet not lumpy, simply incredibly good. We're going back for more soon!

For more pictures, please visit Jem's online photo album: http://eleczor.multiply.com

Next up: Cologne Karneval!

Next.

2007-02-23T15:38:00.000+01:00

Been busy the last 2 days with our asset management project, which was more CAT than finance really.

And now for more recaps...

Our Budapest trip was pretty awesome cos of the company! we heart our exchange pals:)

On the 4th morning when everyone flew back to Frankfurt, the 2 of us took a train to Bratislava. So... Have you heard of the place Bratislava? Hahaha. I didn't know until recently heh, so suaku. Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia, land of a whole load of wartime history.
Jem: the new Lonely Planet poster boy We arrived! First step on Slovakian soil. At the train station, we headed straight for the tourist information which had a guide on a half-day tour of Bratislava. Ah, just right for us. As compared to Budapest (which is old and beautiful), Bratislava is kinda old and not beautiful. A more prosperous-looking place with a few Shenton-way-like buildings, but sadly with damn ugly graffiti at the bottom. A glimpse of the Bratislava town center...

The highlight of Bratislava for me, haha, was the MacDonalds! They have a whole range of weird burgers we've never seen before. Not even in other parts of Europe. Everyone, please check out the SwissKing burger: succulent beef patty, melted cheese, steaming hash brown and a bun with toasted cheese on top! I'm salivating again. Hash brown shouldn't just be eaten at breakfast yo.

Bratislava has some beautiful architechures here and there, but most part of the town is too urban for my liking..

And so, we spent half a day touring Bratislava, spending only 8euros (S$16) which got us a sumptuous Macs lunch, 1 bottle of water and 2 bus tickets to the airport. Cheap hor.

From Bratislava airport, we took Ryanair to Milan (another one of those 0.01euro tickets)! Landed at the ulu budget airport in Milan and off we go to seek shelter at Mirs and Stirs' :) Their Milano pad is 10 thousand times more posh than my village in Hattenheim yo. All's cool, cept for the 5x4 flights of stairs.

The next morning we headed to the magical land of Venezia! To be continued...

Budapest!

2007-02-20T16:28:00.000+01:00

We're back from our vehhh-ry long trip finally!!

9 days of nonstop travelling left us more ecstatic than exhausted. The overwhelmingly breath-taking sights can cause indigestion:)

First up, Budapest...

Budapest is the capital city of Hungary, just 1+ hour flight from Frankfurt.

?Did you know? Budapest is divided into 2 parts: Buda and Pest. Just totally make sense right. Buda is the historical part and Pest is the more modern part (only just a bit more). They are separated by the famous Danube river.

The lovely Castle Hill (Buda) at night...

Szechenyi Bridge

The second morning we were off to climb Buda's Castle Hill. The view from the top was ooh la la, beauuuutiful. Well worth the long and steep climb.

The view from the Royal Palace across the Danube River. The gothic building is the famous Parliament House of Hungary. The City Hall at Padang is macham no standard.

The Buda Castle, also the location of the Hungarian National Museum now. The 7 girls on the Budapest trip: Sophie, Joyce, Alice, Nicole, Kit, Stephanie and Elodie.The view of Matthias Church from the Fishermen's Bastion.

Matthias Church was once the church where the royalty was crowned and today, its excellent acoustics make it ideal for organ concerts.A stone throw away is the Marzipan Museum. Marzipan is simply figurines that made of sugar. I first thought I was going in to see some cute figurines on wedding cakes... I was so wrong! Some of these marzipans are almost my height yo.
Day 3 was free-and-easy day. We split from our friends and everyone went to wherever they wanted to go.

On the way to the Heroes' Square, we stopped by the beautiful and serene City Park. Aww, so romantic.

Heroes' Square: What a spectacular sight! At the center stands the statue of the Archangel Gabriel holding the Hungarian Holy Corwn and apostolic double cross. This square is sandwiched by the magnificent buildings of the Art Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts (where you see the Van Gogh flags below).

The magnificent Szent. Istvan Basilica left us starring in awe. After seeing St. Paul's in London, we thought we've probably seen the best. This cathedral's interior was mostly in gold and red, exuding a very warm and welcoming feeling. Btw, Jemmy took the pics! It's not a postcard!Then, it was time for the highlight of the day --- Thermal Bath! Budapest is a city of thermal baths, a culture left behind by the Romans and the Turkish occupation. Can you imagine wearing bikinis and swimming outside at 3deg? When we first emerged from the heated indoors out to the freezing cold, I swear there were goosebumps even inside my intestines. Everyone just jumped into the oh-so-warm pool water without hesitation. That feeling I tell you, ahhhh.

This is the Szechenyi Spa Bath!Because we went there on a weekday, the entire bath was filled with elderlies. It's really amusing to watch a bunch of balding ah peks totally engrossed playing their floating chess set.

Venice post coming up! Stay tuned!

Auf wiedersehen for awhile!

2007-02-09T18:06:00.000+01:00

Between now and the last time I blogged, we've had 2 parties, 1 dinner gathering, 1 trip to Mainz and 1 morning of heavy snow! And that's just 4 days! Pretty happening lives we have now.

Our school has a club. Isn't that awesome? Like a Phuture at SOB basement, that would be just great. It's called the CAFTA and its really the size of Phuture, with its own deejay. There is a CCA which manages the club. (Reminds me of Nabsy and her Frujch! I heart heart Nabsy.) On Monday there was a party to welcome back the 6th Sem (Year3) students. It was super crowded and the music was ooh lala.

And there was another party last night at the CAFTA, a costume party cos of we're nearing the Karneval. The theme was 'Movie Stars' but us exchangees (low on funds and low on resources) were totally underdressed. Everyone was SOOO comically dressed up! There were a gang of sexy bimbos dressed as Moulin Rouge, Mario and Luigi, a penguin, a cow, 7 dwarves, cowboys, police and thief, darth vaders ... too many to rememeber. I don't have all the pics, so here is a preview...

We're off to Budapest tomorrow! Updates in a week :)

So much to look forward to...

2007-02-03T14:27:00.000+01:00

Haven't had the time to blog for sooooo long! Why, you ask.
Well, we've been real busy planning for a big trip! Our major daily routine, aside from going to hellish asset management classes, is to check budget airlines religiously, check hostels, check trains, etc.

So, we are going to...
10 to 12 Feb --- Budapest
13 Feb --- Bratislava, Milan
14 Feb --- Milan, Venice
15 to 16 Feb --- Venice
17 Feb --- Milan, fly back to Frankfurt
18 to 19 Feb --- Cologne Karneval!
We are so super looking forward to next next week:)

Going to Budapest with our whole gang of friends from exchange, 11 of us! Then flying to Milan to meet our beloved Mirandaaa and Steph to go for Venice Carnival. After which, we're heading straight to Cologne for the Karneval! It's kinda equivalent to Oktoberfest, but in Cologne instead. Just drinking, more drinking and drunk.

How's life? Goood :)
Another peek of the lovely Rhine river...
(Stare closely and you will see a tiny house on the right with a blue roof. That's my house!)
This is the Schloss in my school...

SNOW!

2007-01-28T13:50:00.000+01:00

Our latest weekend trip brings us to Frankfurt-am-main, the capital of Germany. Initially we resented the idea of going to Frankfurt, a really busy financial center (think Raffles Place x100). Anyhoo, since my Lonely Planet travel guide advised that the trip to Frankfurt 'will be beyond your expectations', we went ahead to explore Frankfurt with our Hattenheim gang.
Frankfurt is divided into 2: a historic half and a modern city half. We (duh) focused on the older part of the city and it was really lovely:)

That's the Kaiserdom behind me...

The marketplace that holds flea market every Saturday...
?Did you know? In german architecture, the more wood you have on your house, the richer you are. You notice the wooden xxxxx on the buidlings? These belong to really rich people!

The highlight of the day was of course, SNOW! It started having flurries of snow when we were walking to to Frankfurt Stock Exchange. It got heavier after we had our dinner. We were so excited we took our beers outside to 'bask' in the snow:)

sipping hot cocoa in freezing winter :)

2007-01-25T17:02:00.000+01:00

The temperature is falling by the day and the weather forecast says there'll be flurries of snow tonight and tomorrow. Exciting! So before I cycle home in the -5deg coldness, I shall update you friends on our lives...

We cook dinner on most days. One day Chinese, one day Western. Our culinary skills have drastically improved, I must say. Jemmy can fry a perfectly-shaped and perfect-tasting ham omelette. Yey! Exchange mates in Europe are welcomed to visit us in our little village of Hattenheim and we'll serve our 拿手好菜: sweet-sour pork, mushroom chicken in teriyaki sauce, oyster sauce cabbage... and ham omelette!

Every Thurs, we have our 3 lovely French pals Elodie, Marjoline and Sophie over to for Asian-French dinner, sort-of. So far, we've had Chinese food (I contributed curry chicken!), French food (quiche, pies and smelly cheese), and tonight it's Boys-cooking night! Jem wants to rush home to prepare soon, and so I hurry.

I've heard from my auntie that Germany is devoid of Asian stuff. Heh luckily it's not true. We frequent the Hong Kong Express at Wiesbaden station, thought I embarrassed myself by talking excitedly in Canto the first time I was there, only to have the Asian-looking woman replying me in German. (Hello HK express don't speak Canto?!) In Mainz we went to Thai Express! It tasted really Thai (yey!) but the serving was so Angmoh.

And the most exciting news: We found an Asian supermarket! Woohoo! We went crazy la, bought teriyaki sauce, oyster sauce, soysauce, egg noodles, 1kg jasmine rice... They even have CaiXin and XiaoBaiCai!

weather forecast: Brrr COLD.

2007-01-24T13:14:00.000+01:00

The Germans are unhappy that it has been the hottest winter in decades. For the past week or so, the temperature has lingered at 10 to 15 deg, a drastic contrast to this time last year: below -10deg and a few inches of snow. For us Hot people from Singapore, the weather was just fine (though i secretly wished for snow).
Anyway, the real winter is back. The temp for the last 2 days has been near zero, and last night it officially went below zero. Today's forecast is -1 in the afternoon, -4 at night. It should drop to -6 on Friday. Woohoo, so much for hot winter.

More pics from Heidelberg!

Heidelberg -- a fusion of historic beauty and modernity

2007-01-23T17:20:00.000+01:00

Heyyy we're back from a lovely weekend in Heidelberg :)

Heidelberg is at the south of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. It was a 4-hour train ride to get there, and we changed trains 5 times. Got lost in an ulu-land cos we took the wrong train midway thru too. Anyhoo, we met up with our 4 friends from HK and set off to explore the Hauptstrasse. Striding along the bumpy brick road, there were quiant souvenier shops, bars and restaurants.

?Did you know? Every town in Germany has a Hauptstrasse. It means main street. Don't you think it's a bit funny to have over 100 Hauptstrasse in one country? Beats me.

Cute toys in a souvenier shop...We turned into a narrow street to visit a famous attraction: the Student Prison of Heidelberg University. HU is the oldest university in Germany, and they used to punish MALE students who drank, smoke, took drugs or womanise by putting them into this Studenten Karzer. Haha. Supposedly it was quite fun in there. They drew on the wall, played cards, gambled. It seems more like a free dormitory for the naughty boys.

The biggest attraction of Heidleberg is its Castle. It's situated on a hill and overlooks the entire Heidleberg city. Can you spot the castle up the hill?

And the night view...

Met up with our friend Stephanie and her bf Valentin for dinner. Valentin is also French and on exchange in Mannheim (a neighbouring town) and has a real talent in learning Canto vulgarities :)

We stayed in this really dodgy hostel for 16euros a night, probably a record low for hostel price. Ah well the room was worth less than that for sure. When we opened the door (which couldnt be locked), we were greeted with 3 double-decker beds and a tiny heater. There were no pillow, no blankets. And sooo, 1) we didn't bathe cos there was only a translucent white cloth separating the shower and the dim street outside; 2) we barely slept that night, cos the room was too freaking cold.

Ah nonetheless, we woke up enthusiastically for another day of sight-seeing. The weather was good and we took the cable-car up to the castle. We were freeezing from the gusts of wind but the sight of the Heidleberg city below was worth freezing my fingers to take pictures.

And we took a slow stroll along the river...

People say that Heidleberg is where they get all those postcard shots from. Yes, we totally agree.

Embracing Civilization

2007-01-17T15:56:00.000+01:00

Term has started proper in the EBS. In the Schloss campus, we see the german students strutting around in their branded trenchcoat and LV bags, air-kissing and welcoming each other back to school.
The reality of school hasn't really kicked in for us though. We don't have classes till Thurs, and the next lesson a week later! It's weird, isn't it? We are so used to having a certain class say every Monday 12 to 3.15, then another every Wed 8.30 to 11.45, and so forth. Here at the EBS, a module can be finished after one week! Our Intro to Asset Mgmt class starts in mid-Feb, from Monday to Friday, morning till evening, and it's done! Profs can set classes anytime within the term, and there can be no regularity. One week it can be Mon morning, another week it can be Thurs evening. It looks to me as if the Prof just took out his organizer and slotted in classes when he could took leave from his day job. Heh.

And so, since we have no classes and couldn't bear to idle in our little village of Hattenheim, we jio-ed our 3 Asian pals: Kit, Nicole and Alice to go Wiesbaden for a day of shopping, more shopping and Asian food. We set off at noon, taking the Bahn and arrived 20min later. Hey, that's faster than the trip from Woodlands to Orchard okay. Basically, we shopped fullstop. Only stopped to grab a cheapo Pizza Bread for 'lunch'. Jemmy and my combined expediture for the day was about 100Euros (S$200), including our very filling Asian buffet as dinner. The buffet was incredible. We girls devoured almost a full platter of sushi. It wasn't that fantastic tastewise, but it just seemed ages the last time we had sushi. Jemmy gobbled down 5 Goreng Pisangs. And yes, they have Goreng Pisangs! How the hell did they get that? There was also fried beehoon, fried mee, curry veg, stir-fried beef etc. :)
We were sooooo pleased carrying our new jacket, tops, earrings, snowhats and groceries, plus a full stomach home.

.party animal.animal party.

2007-01-15T16:07:00.000+01:00

Exchange Parties have officially been made into a weekly affair. Every Sat night without fail.
Well the main rationale is that Sunday is a day when all shops are closed and u have nothing better to do than to sleep in and watch DVDs. Or as Elodie puts it, "We must get drunk to forget what a miserably boring village we live in."
?Did you know? There is a law here that states that all shops must be closed on Sunday. Restaurants which wishes to open on Sunday must pay$ to apply for special license. Supposedly it is for the welfare of all German citizens. And just as i exclaim how ridiculous it is, Stefanie informs me that there is such a law in France as well, and most European countries. All I can say is, serve you right for the rapidly declining economy.

Last Sat we had a fantastic party hosted by Tom&Thomas of Flat5. There was a huge turn-out: exchange peeps, past and present, their pals, even some random dudes the angmoh chicks picked up at a bar. In a brief summary, we drank beer, chatted, drank medicamenta, ate chips, drank wine, chatted more, drank vodka, got a little tipsy, then more tipsy. Jemmy got sehhh, i brough him down, he puked everything, he slept. I went back for more action: everyone danced, chatted, drank more, and finally called it a night at 2+am. It was awesoooome :)

Wir wohnen in Hatteheim!

2007-01-12T16:28:00.000+01:00

Only updates for UK trip so far, before we forget anything! But of course, how can we forget to update you all on our current situation:)

We arrived in Frankfurt Main Airport on 2Jan, officially embarking on our German exchange program. Our preeetty Burbury-clad friend Maria came to fetch us to our new home. Our address is:

Flat 4
EBS Wohnhaus
Rheinstraße 14
65436 Hattenheim

Germany

So when we run out of Lee Kum Kee sauce and Ho Yao etc, you know where to send your love.

Hattenheim is a village. We are far from civilization, especially during this winter period. Nothing much is opened even in the day, cept our fav. hangout -- Aldi Supermarkt. We live by the Rhine river. The view from our window is sooo beautiful. You have to see it to believe it. Btw, we took this picture inside our flat, with the windows opened.

Our daily program for the past week has been oh-so-intensive German class from 8.45am to about 4pm. From where we live, we walk 40min to the Berg, where we have classes now. So you can imagine how early we set off. We have slowly got accustomed to walking for an hour to and from sch everyday, but sometimes when you wake up in the morning (esp after a late night party) and you think about walking alllll the way to sch and having boring German lessons the whole day, you just feel like falling asleep again. On the topic of German classes, sigh it is so hard. German is not good for Asian tongue. It sounds like coughing up phelgm. Chkrrrrrrrr- without the pui thats all. I can whine on for an hour...

We've made plenty of friends here! They are real lovely people. Particularly close friends are the Koreans, HK girls, 2 Frenchies and a Lituanian. We had a preconceived mentality that Frenchies are clique-ish, don't-speak-english people. To our plesant surprise, they are reallllly nice! Despite the fact that we don't completely understand their lousy English, they are friendly and love to chat with us. Then again, of course there are stuck-up angmohs who disregards us Asians who look like little kids. My HK friends and I love to bitch about them. Ha!

Living in Germany, how can we forget the beer and partiesss! So far, we've had a wine&wurst gathering, a huge exchange party and many smaller exchangees gatherings. We practically drink everyday and are loving every bit of it:) Picturesss time!

Me and Alice my Korean pal. Jemmy is pretty good at these drinking games. I too hamchee to play. Surely lose and get drunk.
More parties over the weekend! Woohoo!

UK Road Trip [Part2]

2007-01-11T17:07:00.000+01:00

Inverness - Land of the Loch Ness Monster, -2 degC: Our first day in Scotland and also Jemmy's first time at the wheels! Clocked 150kmh, he says the feeling damn shiok:) 5 long long hours went by, with breathtaking-ly beautiful scenery along the way. The temp dropped to -5 degC midway thru! Brr. Mountains, rivers, lakes, valleys went by slowly. There were sooo many lambs/ sheeps, my dad insisted we have an all-lamb feast when we arrive. Stopped at a service station to grab sandwiches and chips for our little picnic by the famous Loch Ness. The surrounding was just beauuutiful, but damn windy. Enjoy the pics below, which i risked freezing off my fingers to capture the beauty of LN.

On the way back from Inverness, our car kena cow/sheepdung. Freaky smelly! When we drove to York and parked in a shopping street, people stared at the car. It was that bad. So we went for a cheapo automated carwash. The smell unfortunately lingered on for the rest of the trip.

Edinburgh & York, 1 degC: Edingburgh is a really historic, quaint old town. I consider it a must-go in Scotland. Every building blows you away with its 'oldness' and grandeur. Love the tartan patterns of diff colour combinations! Beats the boring Burbury one for sure. I shall let the pics do the talking:)

That's the famous Edinburgh Castle up there!

Top of Edinburgh!

York is a mini-Ediburgh. Similarly old and historic. Yellowy-brown buildings made of stone, which in a SG context, would have been obsolete, disgusting. Somehow these lichen-infested buildings look so artsy in York, a city with much history. I love gothic design of the Yorminster very much:)

Hallo! Wie geht's?

2007-01-09T16:11:00.000+01:00

FRIENDS!

Blame it on my internet-less home, I haven’t been able to stay in touch in quite awhile. And now, the long-awaited first entry…

UK Road trip [part1]

Arrived in London Heathrow Airport on 21 Dec ’06, 4am and (gasp) at -1 degC. We later found out that we were miraculously lucky to land in London! There has been severe fog in UK for the past days and all UK domestic flights have been cancelled. Inter-European states flights as well, leaving millions of travelers stranded at Heathrow. The flight was surprisingly good! 12 hours and I slept through most of it. BA has touch-screen monitors, win SQ wor! Parents fetched us and we went on to collect our rented car for the road trip: a 7-seater Volkswagon Sharren.

Portsmouth, 0 degC: Sadly didn’t get to see much of the scenic coastal city. Most of the time we were just freezing our butts off trying to navigate through the terrible fog. Had lunch at a Chinese restaurant, probably the best one throughout our trip! Owner spoke canto ad gave us real useful directions for exploring Portsmouth. We for shopping at this fab place called Gunwhaft Quays: a massive mall of (gasp) factory outlets!!! Gap Levi’s Nike Polo Adidas. Blah.

Stonehenge & Bath, 2 degC: The first, a bunch of ugly stones. The second, a quaint little town of nicely-yellow buildings and the magnificent cathedral. Every turn, every corner brings with it a photo-taking opportunity. Then, we face our biggest problem as yet: Homelessness. Drove into a Travelodge (UK’s biggest hostel chain) along M6 (major expressway) hoping to call it a night. Lo and behold, full and full for the next few TL along the way. Damn. We left for Manchester and found Campanile Hotel. Phew. ₤50 is actually cheap for UK standard, but convert it to S$150 and you probably can stay a night in a 5star hotel in SG.

Manchester & Liverpool: The highlight of the day was of course, the Manchester United FC Tour! Even more awesome if we had caught a game there. It’s the red devils’ fan pilgrimage tour. Definitely value-for-money for us (with student discount) and lasted for 1.5 hours. I even sat on Wayne Rooney’s seat in the changing room lah. The feeling of running through the players’ tunnel with the (taped) cheering fans was OMG the greatest feeling! A short drive away was our Premier League rival Liverpool. On the way, we were clueless exactly where Anfield was in Liverpool. Fear not! We saw streams of cars and buses carrying the Red fans, decorated in Pool’s scarves, flags... They led the way. We were outside the stadium taking photos and touts kept walking by, whispering ‘Tickets! Tickets!’ Ah, so clandestine.

More coming soon!