Little town, it's a quiet village
Every day like the one before
Little town full of little people
Waking up to say...
Bonjour x4
There goes the baker with his tray, like always
The same old bread and rolls to sell
Every morning just the same
Since the morning that we came
To this poor provincial town....
Ok, so I was strolling down the streets of Rennes on a Saturday morning, and for some reasons the opening song from Beauty and the Beast started playing in my head. Then, I realised that the town fits the song perfectly (except I'm not sure about the town being poor)!
Rennes is the capital of Brittany and is known for its beautiful traditional timber frame houses. Every Saturday, they host one of the biggest outdoor markets in France! What great timing as I had just arrived in Rennes from the 9am train ride from St. Malo! :) The towns people, with baguette on one hand and a bunch of flowers on the other, strolled along the market stocking up on their weekly veges and fruits. Being so fruit deficient for the past few days (I'm on a crepes and cheese diet) I picked up some figs and clemetines on the way. I also picked an apple and when I gave it to the stall owner to weigh, he said "UNE pomme?????..." and gave it back to me while continuing on in French. Since I did not understand a word, I was confused and thought he didn't want to sell only one apple. But then he was smiling at me so I assumed its for free. French people in small towns are so much nicer than the Parisiennes!
A girl from the hostels informed me that this month, the photographer Steve McCurry has an exhibition at the town square and that I should check it out. I guess he is better known for his photo for National Geographic of the Afghanistan girl with green eyes! So I headed to the square to look at the 40 photos on display, then went to grab galettes and crepes from a creperie as recommended by a local. Next stop was Parc Thabor because according to WikiTravel, it is a really nice park that is worth seeing! With shopping and museums visits, I am totally fine being by myself. But when it comes to walking in parks, it felt really strange being there alone and so I just quickly made my way through the rose bushes and the canary and left the park.
Well, now I am back in Paris and since this is my last afternoon here, I tried to take in the culture one last time by sitting in a cafe and watch people go by. It wasn't that great though because people were smokes all around me and smokers aren't exactly my favourite people in the world.
Alright, will talk to you when I am in pasta-land!
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
things that made me smile
After I returned from Mont Saint Michel at 6pm today, I decided to walk to the Old Town again to grab dinner (what else but crepes?) and enjoy the walk on the beach on the way. It was the most amazing walk and I almost wished that it would never end because every few minutes you find yourself with a completely different view of the sea and sky.
During that 40 minutes walk, I saw many different scenes. And what made me smile:
-The old ladies sitting at the bench gossiping (well it seems!) with their friends. They wore really cute head warmers!
-Young and old couples holding hands strolling along so casually
-Families with young kids running around with their colourful kites
-This dog-loving French holding up his dog and kissing it like a baby
-A toddler learning how to walk to her mother on the beach
-Fishermen with fishing poles waiting so patiently
-The ever changing pattern and colour of the clouds
-The sun setting and reminding me that "this is the day that the Lord has made...let us rejoice and be glad in it".
Rennes is coming up tomorrow! Gotta go to bed as early train to catch tomorrow.
During that 40 minutes walk, I saw many different scenes. And what made me smile:
-The old ladies sitting at the bench gossiping (well it seems!) with their friends. They wore really cute head warmers!
-Young and old couples holding hands strolling along so casually
-Families with young kids running around with their colourful kites
-This dog-loving French holding up his dog and kissing it like a baby
-A toddler learning how to walk to her mother on the beach
-Fishermen with fishing poles waiting so patiently
-The ever changing pattern and colour of the clouds
-The sun setting and reminding me that "this is the day that the Lord has made...let us rejoice and be glad in it".
Rennes is coming up tomorrow! Gotta go to bed as early train to catch tomorrow.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
a little town of st. malo...
Salut!
This morning I took the TGV train to arrive at this small town west of Paris in the Normandy region! This town is surrounded by the ocean thus it is also well known for its sandy beaches! I was actually looking forward to a relaxing day lying on the beach especially after spending the most hectic week in Paris running round the museums and climbing up sky high cathedrals. However, it turned out to be one of the coldest days and I was almost blown away by the strong wind at the seaside! The views were still amazing tho despite the thick clouds and I noticed that there are not a lot of foreign tourists here but most of the visitors are from other parts of France.
From my hostel to the main town (Old Town Square) it takes 40 minutes walk along the beach! It really was depressing walking by myself in the cold with no one to talk to. But I got over it when I arrived at the quaintest town that is filled with creperies (Brittany is well known for their crepes), souvenir shops and restaurants. There aren't a lot to do here except walking around and enjoying the atmosphere!
The hostel I am staying at is Auberge de Jeunesse It is dirt cheap here. At 16 euros a night, you get free breakfast as well! :)
Ok, really need to get going. Will finish the rest of the post tomorrow if I get back from Mont St. Michel early!
Au revoir!
This morning I took the TGV train to arrive at this small town west of Paris in the Normandy region! This town is surrounded by the ocean thus it is also well known for its sandy beaches! I was actually looking forward to a relaxing day lying on the beach especially after spending the most hectic week in Paris running round the museums and climbing up sky high cathedrals. However, it turned out to be one of the coldest days and I was almost blown away by the strong wind at the seaside! The views were still amazing tho despite the thick clouds and I noticed that there are not a lot of foreign tourists here but most of the visitors are from other parts of France.
From my hostel to the main town (Old Town Square) it takes 40 minutes walk along the beach! It really was depressing walking by myself in the cold with no one to talk to. But I got over it when I arrived at the quaintest town that is filled with creperies (Brittany is well known for their crepes), souvenir shops and restaurants. There aren't a lot to do here except walking around and enjoying the atmosphere!
The hostel I am staying at is Auberge de Jeunesse It is dirt cheap here. At 16 euros a night, you get free breakfast as well! :)
Ok, really need to get going. Will finish the rest of the post tomorrow if I get back from Mont St. Michel early!
Au revoir!
Monday, September 24, 2007
RATATOUILLE
Watching Ratatouille in Paris is tres cool...
Christelle and I went on Sunday night to the movies for 4 euros each! So cheap! We both enjoyed it so much and I'm looking forward to get the DVD when it comes out! I am also looking for a restaurant (hopefully rat-free) in Paris that sells ratatouille just like the one in the movie :)
So much to update on about the past few days yet so little time...there are emails to reply (so behind!) and gotta do some research for Thursday as I am leaving Paris for St. Malo -> Mont Saint Michel -> Rennes -> Paris.
Today has been a long one for me, as I went to Versailles in the morning to see the chateaux and Marie Antoinette's estate! Si jolie! It was fully packed there by 10am and I could hardly see anything or take any good photos in the King and Queen's chambers because there were tourists by the bus loads everywhere! However, I loved the gardens and wished I had spent more time there relaxing instead of running around trying to see everything!
As I have been drinking a lot of tap water in Paris, I decided to stop by the Les egouts de Paris (Paris sewer museum) after Versailles to figure out exactly how they filter and purify the water!
I only spent 15 minutes there as it really smells in the underground sewage areas!
Then onto Arc de triomphe for the 3rd time. This is the first time that I climbed up the monument tho! It was awesome seeing all the arrondisments in Paris and identifying the places that I had been to in the past few days from above!
It started raining by the time I got to Notre Dame at 5pm. I still managed to climb up the cathedral to get some great shots of the city under thick clouds! By then, I was so exhausted that my legs were numb and the only things on my mind were croissants and bed.
Yesterday was a rather interesting day....(actually everyday in Paris has been exciting in different ways). I had my portrait drawn at Montmatre (this lady kept following me and said she wanted to draw me so I gave in). She originally said 60 euros and somehow we agreed in 8 euros afterwards. I still don't know whether that's overly expensive or cheap....
When I saw the result, I exclaimed "Ce n'est pas moi!" (it's not me!)....it does not resemble me at all as I know I look very different to that the last time I checked myself in the mirror. The lady kept explaining to me that I have to understand that "Ce n'est pas un photo...it's a cartoon..."
So here it is!
I sent this pic to someone yesterday, and today I got this in reply:
hahahahahahaha X 100....
that sooooooooooooo doesn't look like you... that person must need glasses...
Oh wells....
Tomorrow is last day in Paris...I'm going to this cooking demonstration at Le Cordon Bleu!! :D
Christelle and I went on Sunday night to the movies for 4 euros each! So cheap! We both enjoyed it so much and I'm looking forward to get the DVD when it comes out! I am also looking for a restaurant (hopefully rat-free) in Paris that sells ratatouille just like the one in the movie :)
So much to update on about the past few days yet so little time...there are emails to reply (so behind!) and gotta do some research for Thursday as I am leaving Paris for St. Malo -> Mont Saint Michel -> Rennes -> Paris.
Today has been a long one for me, as I went to Versailles in the morning to see the chateaux and Marie Antoinette's estate! Si jolie! It was fully packed there by 10am and I could hardly see anything or take any good photos in the King and Queen's chambers because there were tourists by the bus loads everywhere! However, I loved the gardens and wished I had spent more time there relaxing instead of running around trying to see everything!
As I have been drinking a lot of tap water in Paris, I decided to stop by the Les egouts de Paris (Paris sewer museum) after Versailles to figure out exactly how they filter and purify the water!
I only spent 15 minutes there as it really smells in the underground sewage areas!
Then onto Arc de triomphe for the 3rd time. This is the first time that I climbed up the monument tho! It was awesome seeing all the arrondisments in Paris and identifying the places that I had been to in the past few days from above!
It started raining by the time I got to Notre Dame at 5pm. I still managed to climb up the cathedral to get some great shots of the city under thick clouds! By then, I was so exhausted that my legs were numb and the only things on my mind were croissants and bed.
Yesterday was a rather interesting day....(actually everyday in Paris has been exciting in different ways). I had my portrait drawn at Montmatre (this lady kept following me and said she wanted to draw me so I gave in). She originally said 60 euros and somehow we agreed in 8 euros afterwards. I still don't know whether that's overly expensive or cheap....
When I saw the result, I exclaimed "Ce n'est pas moi!" (it's not me!)....it does not resemble me at all as I know I look very different to that the last time I checked myself in the mirror. The lady kept explaining to me that I have to understand that "Ce n'est pas un photo...it's a cartoon..."
So here it is!
I sent this pic to someone yesterday, and today I got this in reply:
hahahahahahaha X 100....
that sooooooooooooo doesn't look like you... that person must need glasses...
Oh wells....
Tomorrow is last day in Paris...I'm going to this cooking demonstration at Le Cordon Bleu!! :D
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Ou la la
-Day One-
Before I came to Paris, I didn't want to arrive with any expectations because there are people I know came with such high hopes for this city and return disappointed or with terrible experiences to share. I have to say that Paris is the only city that I've visited so far that looked and feel exactly as I have imagined in my mind for so long. To me, it seems like everywhere I go, the grandiose architectures make me feel like I am in a movie set!
Not all my encounters are perfect but I love the cobblestoned alleys hidden between landmarks all over the city and how getting lost in this city is such a pleasure because you discover exciting places hidden everywhere (for me, these are usually places related to food)!
I ate 3 croissants today and they melted in my mouth. I went to the patisserie as recommended by Christelle this morning and when I walked in, I felt like I was in the bakery of my dream. There wasn't one thing in there that I wasn't crazy about trying so I just ended up standing there and convincing myself that since this is my first day, I am allowed to indulge in as much of those little delights as possible....YUMMMMMMM!
I found out today why French women are so slim. At breakfast today, Christelle asked me if I wanted to have bread and I said yes. I went into the kitchen to see one tiny piece of toast that is 1/4 of the size of the typical slice back home! It's like a miniature sized toast that I could put into my mouth easily!
Ok, I'm terribly tired right now as it is after midnight and I need to get enough rest for a big day ahead of me tmr, so I will just jot down whatever it is that I can r emember from today.
-The 3.5 hours tour this morning was great...gave me an overview of the city and what I'd like to visit for the rest of the week.
-Met Alicia (Toronto) during the tour and for the rest of the day we bummed around at Gare de Nord and had cakes (today's her 26th birthday!)
-Montmatre is the quaintest area I've ever been to...it is the place where lots of scenes from Amelie was filmed! (i.e. the fruit shop, the cafe where she worked etc)
I wish I could post photos but the internet is slow (stolen wireless connection..heh) so I'll leave that for another day.
Oh, today I was finally speaking French to the French! However, there was this encounter when I was ordering something in French and the lady replied in English!!! GRRRR!!! I must've spoken with terrible accent....
I am going to have a picnic tmr in front of the Eiffel tower...hopefully it won't rain. It's been terribly cold and so I've been wearing the same jacket everyday as that is the only warm top I have...need to do some shopping at H&M!
Before I came to Paris, I didn't want to arrive with any expectations because there are people I know came with such high hopes for this city and return disappointed or with terrible experiences to share. I have to say that Paris is the only city that I've visited so far that looked and feel exactly as I have imagined in my mind for so long. To me, it seems like everywhere I go, the grandiose architectures make me feel like I am in a movie set!
Not all my encounters are perfect but I love the cobblestoned alleys hidden between landmarks all over the city and how getting lost in this city is such a pleasure because you discover exciting places hidden everywhere (for me, these are usually places related to food)!
I ate 3 croissants today and they melted in my mouth. I went to the patisserie as recommended by Christelle this morning and when I walked in, I felt like I was in the bakery of my dream. There wasn't one thing in there that I wasn't crazy about trying so I just ended up standing there and convincing myself that since this is my first day, I am allowed to indulge in as much of those little delights as possible....YUMMMMMMM!
I found out today why French women are so slim. At breakfast today, Christelle asked me if I wanted to have bread and I said yes. I went into the kitchen to see one tiny piece of toast that is 1/4 of the size of the typical slice back home! It's like a miniature sized toast that I could put into my mouth easily!
Ok, I'm terribly tired right now as it is after midnight and I need to get enough rest for a big day ahead of me tmr, so I will just jot down whatever it is that I can r emember from today.
-The 3.5 hours tour this morning was great...gave me an overview of the city and what I'd like to visit for the rest of the week.
-Met Alicia (Toronto) during the tour and for the rest of the day we bummed around at Gare de Nord and had cakes (today's her 26th birthday!)
-Montmatre is the quaintest area I've ever been to...it is the place where lots of scenes from Amelie was filmed! (i.e. the fruit shop, the cafe where she worked etc)
I wish I could post photos but the internet is slow (stolen wireless connection..heh) so I'll leave that for another day.
Oh, today I was finally speaking French to the French! However, there was this encounter when I was ordering something in French and the lady replied in English!!! GRRRR!!! I must've spoken with terrible accent....
I am going to have a picnic tmr in front of the Eiffel tower...hopefully it won't rain. It's been terribly cold and so I've been wearing the same jacket everyday as that is the only warm top I have...need to do some shopping at H&M!
Monday, September 17, 2007
paris je t'aime
Bonjour!!
I feel weird writing from Paris! This is afterall the place that I've been dreaming about since those year 9 French classes from the high school days! I actually almost laughed out loud when I arrived in Paris tonight at the train station...because it feels all too surreal! However I am not too fond of my first experience in Paris...when I got stuck between the turnstile and this electric flap at the metro and someone had to help me call the guards to release me and my luggage. It was rather embarassing.
So the past few days have been rather exhausting! Diana and I rent another car in Munich (a Volkswagen Golf!) and drove to Neuschwanstein and all the way up to Frankfurt along the famous Romantic Road! It was a 8+ hours drive and we were completely worn out after the road drive and last night we just collapsed in our hotel! You may be wondering why I would be tired even though I did none of the driving. I have to say navigating is harder than driving itself. Having no maps and no basic German reading skills basically means that I had to pretty much had to guess which ways to turn and which highways to go on. Me with my "excellent" sense of direction got us lost a couple of times :p The most beautiful drive during the trip was in Austria for sure.
Anyways, I am now in the 13th arrondisment (district) in Paris, which is also known as the Chinatown! However, it doesn't have the same feel of it as the Chinatown in Sydney or SF...I need to check it out more in the daytime in the next few days...as I am so craving for any Chinese food! Haven't had any rice for at least 2 months and have been having bread or sandwiches for 3 meals a day! Carb overload!
Christelle is the French girl whom I'm staying with while in Paris. She lives in an one bedroom apartment by herself in Paris so I am basically crashing at her living room right now. She's the sweetest girl and I met her when I was on exchange in the US (however, I don't recall ever talking to her when I was there!)
Anyways, off to bed and looking forward to a day full of francaise tmr!
I feel weird writing from Paris! This is afterall the place that I've been dreaming about since those year 9 French classes from the high school days! I actually almost laughed out loud when I arrived in Paris tonight at the train station...because it feels all too surreal! However I am not too fond of my first experience in Paris...when I got stuck between the turnstile and this electric flap at the metro and someone had to help me call the guards to release me and my luggage. It was rather embarassing.
So the past few days have been rather exhausting! Diana and I rent another car in Munich (a Volkswagen Golf!) and drove to Neuschwanstein and all the way up to Frankfurt along the famous Romantic Road! It was a 8+ hours drive and we were completely worn out after the road drive and last night we just collapsed in our hotel! You may be wondering why I would be tired even though I did none of the driving. I have to say navigating is harder than driving itself. Having no maps and no basic German reading skills basically means that I had to pretty much had to guess which ways to turn and which highways to go on. Me with my "excellent" sense of direction got us lost a couple of times :p The most beautiful drive during the trip was in Austria for sure.
Anyways, I am now in the 13th arrondisment (district) in Paris, which is also known as the Chinatown! However, it doesn't have the same feel of it as the Chinatown in Sydney or SF...I need to check it out more in the daytime in the next few days...as I am so craving for any Chinese food! Haven't had any rice for at least 2 months and have been having bread or sandwiches for 3 meals a day! Carb overload!
Christelle is the French girl whom I'm staying with while in Paris. She lives in an one bedroom apartment by herself in Paris so I am basically crashing at her living room right now. She's the sweetest girl and I met her when I was on exchange in the US (however, I don't recall ever talking to her when I was there!)
Anyways, off to bed and looking forward to a day full of francaise tmr!
Friday, September 14, 2007
road trip baby!
y = z
z = y
ok, so i will explain whz i am sitting in front of the computer at 1am. first of all, because there are still 30 minutes of credit on this computer that ive paid for. second of all, i cant seem to sleep after one of the longest and most tiring daz of mz entire trip.
reallz earlz this morning, me and diana (a melbourne girl) took 2 barcelona girls we met in the hostel in salyburg to Puch (apparentlz a college town here salyburg) in our Panda Fiat....zes, we rent a car the night before so we could go driving around in Austria. what was supposed to be a 30 mins drive took us close to 2 hours, as we got terriblz lost on the highwazs.
then after we dropped them off, we began our daz trip to Zell am See, which is supposed to be one of the nicest little town (non-touristz too!) in Austria. we got there just after lunch (i think we got lost several times too) and walked around the most scenic and beautiful town for about an hour...the water and the mountains are unlike anz ive seen in mz life!! zes its that good!
then we began our 2nd part of the daz trip to innsbruck! that was supposed to take an hour, but we got there 3 hours later... the problem was, we had to return the car bz 5:30pm, but it was alreadz 4 something when we left innsbruck and being stuck in traffic on highwaz on the waz back doesnt help! it was reallz frustrating in a waz!
bz the time we returned to salyburg it was after 8pm, and so we book on a night train to munich...bz then, i was exhausted bezond anzthing...we got to munich main station at almost 11pm. the storz doesnt end here. when we got to the hostel, we foudn out it was fullz booked for the night (zes, need to learn to plan ahead more and be less spontaneous). however thez todl us there are still spare beds but we gotta wait till 12am just to make sure the ppl who reserved those beds dont show up. in that mean time, i walked down the streets of munich going from one hotel-hostel to the next, asking for rooms and rates. thez were all either too expensive or booked out. boz, was it scarz to be out at night....worse was having to check out seedz hotels (this guz showed me this room up in the attic and i reallz thought he was gonna lock me in there)
sometimes i wonder what i am doing here....haha
anzwazs, so on sundaz, we going driving up the 'romantic road', all the waz from munich to frankfurt....its supposed to be a lovelz drive...i shoudl be excited, but for now, i feel like the room is spinning and i am reallz in need of sleep. however, there are still 20 mins of credit left. i think i am just gonna leave it at that eh?
z = y
ok, so i will explain whz i am sitting in front of the computer at 1am. first of all, because there are still 30 minutes of credit on this computer that ive paid for. second of all, i cant seem to sleep after one of the longest and most tiring daz of mz entire trip.
reallz earlz this morning, me and diana (a melbourne girl) took 2 barcelona girls we met in the hostel in salyburg to Puch (apparentlz a college town here salyburg) in our Panda Fiat....zes, we rent a car the night before so we could go driving around in Austria. what was supposed to be a 30 mins drive took us close to 2 hours, as we got terriblz lost on the highwazs.
then after we dropped them off, we began our daz trip to Zell am See, which is supposed to be one of the nicest little town (non-touristz too!) in Austria. we got there just after lunch (i think we got lost several times too) and walked around the most scenic and beautiful town for about an hour...the water and the mountains are unlike anz ive seen in mz life!! zes its that good!
then we began our 2nd part of the daz trip to innsbruck! that was supposed to take an hour, but we got there 3 hours later... the problem was, we had to return the car bz 5:30pm, but it was alreadz 4 something when we left innsbruck and being stuck in traffic on highwaz on the waz back doesnt help! it was reallz frustrating in a waz!
bz the time we returned to salyburg it was after 8pm, and so we book on a night train to munich...bz then, i was exhausted bezond anzthing...we got to munich main station at almost 11pm. the storz doesnt end here. when we got to the hostel, we foudn out it was fullz booked for the night (zes, need to learn to plan ahead more and be less spontaneous). however thez todl us there are still spare beds but we gotta wait till 12am just to make sure the ppl who reserved those beds dont show up. in that mean time, i walked down the streets of munich going from one hotel-hostel to the next, asking for rooms and rates. thez were all either too expensive or booked out. boz, was it scarz to be out at night....worse was having to check out seedz hotels (this guz showed me this room up in the attic and i reallz thought he was gonna lock me in there)
sometimes i wonder what i am doing here....haha
anzwazs, so on sundaz, we going driving up the 'romantic road', all the waz from munich to frankfurt....its supposed to be a lovelz drive...i shoudl be excited, but for now, i feel like the room is spinning and i am reallz in need of sleep. however, there are still 20 mins of credit left. i think i am just gonna leave it at that eh?
Monday, September 10, 2007
one month too early for oktoberfest!
Wow, what do you do in a city which offers 1500 different types of beer?
I just ordered a glass of white wine instead! (it was a free voucher for beer or wine :) )
I cannot even begin to imagine what this city 'of monk' will be like next month, when the city will be visited by over 6 millions visitors from all over the world! I'll be definitely out of here by then!
It occured to me that i've been pretty bad at keeping this journal updated. I still havent posted about my trip in Taiwan and that was almost 2 months ago?
So it was a loooong 7-8 hours on the train yesterday to Munich. I wish I had been more organised with my trip as that would safe me a lot more money. As I only booked 15 mins before the train departure, it costed me 105 euros to get here!! :(
Anyways, I was really freaking out last night because by the time I got to the central station here, it was around 8:30pm so it was dark by then. I really struggled to find the hostel while carrying with me 20kg+ of luggage (probably 3 kgs of it are chocolates.) What has supposed to take 5 minutes took me well over 10 minutes before I decided that I was lost. I attempted to find a reliable looking passerby for directions, and saw this Chinese looking man (I thought if he didnt speak English, I could speak to him in Chinese). And sure enough, when I spoke to him in English, he asked me if I could speak Mandarin! He kept asking me where abouts I'm from, if I'm traveling alone and all that chit-chat kinda thing when I was obviously freaking out as I desperately wanted to find the hostel... Well eventually he did get me there. Thank God! He said that I was very brave to be out there like that myself. I just know for sure that I am never going to arrive at a new city at night again...
Well, today basically I went on a tour around Munich with a bunch of ppl from the hostel. By the way, this hostel is pretty loud and full of young people. There is a bar in the hostel which blasts music all night long and even as I am typing this. Walking around the city today made me realise how much I REALLY miss it in Berlin. So far, that is the only city that I can imagine myself living in in Europe (let's hope PwC will transfer me there one day). There are too many things I love about Berlin and I will perhaps write about it again next time. Munich is a nice little place with the city centre all clustered together in the middle so there is no need to take the train as often like in Berlin. It is very much a Catholic city (as opposed to the Protestant Berlin) and everywhere you go you see something Bavarian! It is also a city that shaped Hitler before he came to power in Berlin...
After the tour, me and Whitney (a girl from Atlanta) had a blackforest cake (it came from here i think) from this posh cafe and wandered around the city taking photos. We climbed up 360 steps of this cathedral to take some pictures of the city from above! Anyways, just had Italian for dinner (btw, I am really worried that I am going to get diabetes from major sugar overload in the past couple of days...) and now back in hostel doing my laundry...(as I type the last line, I realised I had left my clothes in the machine for well over 2 hours so ran all the way to pick up my clothes...yay still there! :p)
So, I've been doing A LOT of planning today and here are my itinerary for the next couple of days.
11th Sept - Neuschwanstein (Disney Castle!) day trip
12th Sept - Deutsche Museum/arvo train to Salzburg
13th Sept - Salzburg (The hills are alive....I'm so excited)
14th Sept - Salzburg/arvo train return to Munich
15th Sept - Munich (might visit Potatoe Museum or Olympic Stadium)
16th Sept - Day trip to Rothenburg
17th Sept - Either Switzerland (Zurich?) or Paris...need to check up on that.
Well, I better get to bed soon. There are 2 people in my dorm that are asleep by 8pm every night. I always have to try to tiptoe around the room and be extra quiet when I'm in the room. Tonight, it seems like all the beds in the room are occupied so I'll be up extra early tmr for the bathroom! :D
I just ordered a glass of white wine instead! (it was a free voucher for beer or wine :) )
I cannot even begin to imagine what this city 'of monk' will be like next month, when the city will be visited by over 6 millions visitors from all over the world! I'll be definitely out of here by then!
It occured to me that i've been pretty bad at keeping this journal updated. I still havent posted about my trip in Taiwan and that was almost 2 months ago?
So it was a loooong 7-8 hours on the train yesterday to Munich. I wish I had been more organised with my trip as that would safe me a lot more money. As I only booked 15 mins before the train departure, it costed me 105 euros to get here!! :(
Anyways, I was really freaking out last night because by the time I got to the central station here, it was around 8:30pm so it was dark by then. I really struggled to find the hostel while carrying with me 20kg+ of luggage (probably 3 kgs of it are chocolates.) What has supposed to take 5 minutes took me well over 10 minutes before I decided that I was lost. I attempted to find a reliable looking passerby for directions, and saw this Chinese looking man (I thought if he didnt speak English, I could speak to him in Chinese). And sure enough, when I spoke to him in English, he asked me if I could speak Mandarin! He kept asking me where abouts I'm from, if I'm traveling alone and all that chit-chat kinda thing when I was obviously freaking out as I desperately wanted to find the hostel... Well eventually he did get me there. Thank God! He said that I was very brave to be out there like that myself. I just know for sure that I am never going to arrive at a new city at night again...
Well, today basically I went on a tour around Munich with a bunch of ppl from the hostel. By the way, this hostel is pretty loud and full of young people. There is a bar in the hostel which blasts music all night long and even as I am typing this. Walking around the city today made me realise how much I REALLY miss it in Berlin. So far, that is the only city that I can imagine myself living in in Europe (let's hope PwC will transfer me there one day). There are too many things I love about Berlin and I will perhaps write about it again next time. Munich is a nice little place with the city centre all clustered together in the middle so there is no need to take the train as often like in Berlin. It is very much a Catholic city (as opposed to the Protestant Berlin) and everywhere you go you see something Bavarian! It is also a city that shaped Hitler before he came to power in Berlin...
After the tour, me and Whitney (a girl from Atlanta) had a blackforest cake (it came from here i think) from this posh cafe and wandered around the city taking photos. We climbed up 360 steps of this cathedral to take some pictures of the city from above! Anyways, just had Italian for dinner (btw, I am really worried that I am going to get diabetes from major sugar overload in the past couple of days...) and now back in hostel doing my laundry...(as I type the last line, I realised I had left my clothes in the machine for well over 2 hours so ran all the way to pick up my clothes...yay still there! :p)
So, I've been doing A LOT of planning today and here are my itinerary for the next couple of days.
11th Sept - Neuschwanstein (Disney Castle!) day trip
12th Sept - Deutsche Museum/arvo train to Salzburg
13th Sept - Salzburg (The hills are alive....I'm so excited)
14th Sept - Salzburg/arvo train return to Munich
15th Sept - Munich (might visit Potatoe Museum or Olympic Stadium)
16th Sept - Day trip to Rothenburg
17th Sept - Either Switzerland (Zurich?) or Paris...need to check up on that.
Well, I better get to bed soon. There are 2 people in my dorm that are asleep by 8pm every night. I always have to try to tiptoe around the room and be extra quiet when I'm in the room. Tonight, it seems like all the beds in the room are occupied so I'll be up extra early tmr for the bathroom! :D
Friday, September 7, 2007
sobbing again
so the time has come for the tour to conclude. i hate goodbyes and im terrible at it... almost everyone has left this morning for home or further traveling, and i am still in berlin for the next 2 days. feels horrible to be alone in this big city again without my friends and people to hang around with and it seems like nothing is familiar anymore.
anyways, onto something more positive. this trip has been amazing...i met so many great people and saw some great sights...and best of all, He is still continuing to teach me throughout the trip through my circumstances...i have been challenged to think and act differently.
i'm so glad that i had chosen contiki instead of trafalgar for the eastern europe tour. no i didnt turn into a party animal...it was just great being about to tour around some of the most mesmerizing countries with a bunch of people. 'eastern road' is the name of this tour, and i am truly fascinated with the history of the six countries that i had visited.
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ok, that was the post from yesterday. i am now back in the hostel trying to do some research for Munich tmr. the train ride would take around 6 hours!!
i spent most of my time today at 2 places. the first place is KaDeWe, Berlin's best department store. however, i did not shop around for clothes, instead i went to the gourmet food/supermarket level and tried to figure out what is in the nice packagings covered with german words. the chocolate section there would make a chocoholics dream come true. they have all the brands you can imagine and more. i bought some mozart chocolates for jen and got some kinder hippo chocolate for myself. the second place i visited was Saturn, which is a bit like Harvey Norman with all the electronic products. i bought an adaptor as i had lost them whilst on contiki, and then spent hours at the CD/DVD section. i was craving for some music. not chopin or beethoven type music, but music with lyrics that i can sing to. i listened to lifehouse on repeat (it sucks that they only let u listen to sections of a song) and contemplated about whether to buy the album or not.
ok...i should try and find something to do. i didnt come all the way to europe to be sitting in front of the computer at 3:20pm. :)
anyways, onto something more positive. this trip has been amazing...i met so many great people and saw some great sights...and best of all, He is still continuing to teach me throughout the trip through my circumstances...i have been challenged to think and act differently.
i'm so glad that i had chosen contiki instead of trafalgar for the eastern europe tour. no i didnt turn into a party animal...it was just great being about to tour around some of the most mesmerizing countries with a bunch of people. 'eastern road' is the name of this tour, and i am truly fascinated with the history of the six countries that i had visited.
----
ok, that was the post from yesterday. i am now back in the hostel trying to do some research for Munich tmr. the train ride would take around 6 hours!!
i spent most of my time today at 2 places. the first place is KaDeWe, Berlin's best department store. however, i did not shop around for clothes, instead i went to the gourmet food/supermarket level and tried to figure out what is in the nice packagings covered with german words. the chocolate section there would make a chocoholics dream come true. they have all the brands you can imagine and more. i bought some mozart chocolates for jen and got some kinder hippo chocolate for myself. the second place i visited was Saturn, which is a bit like Harvey Norman with all the electronic products. i bought an adaptor as i had lost them whilst on contiki, and then spent hours at the CD/DVD section. i was craving for some music. not chopin or beethoven type music, but music with lyrics that i can sing to. i listened to lifehouse on repeat (it sucks that they only let u listen to sections of a song) and contemplated about whether to buy the album or not.
ok...i should try and find something to do. i didnt come all the way to europe to be sitting in front of the computer at 3:20pm. :)
Monday, September 3, 2007
Warsaw
I don't think I will ever forget my visit to the Aushwitz concentration camp today in Poland. It is a extermination site for mainly Jews and some other minority races back in the 40's and it lead to the death of more than 1 million human beings. There was this HUGE room full of the shoes of the perished, as well as a room full of their glasses piled up together and 3 rooms filled with the clothes of young children. Also kids were being used as "lab rats" where cruel scientific experiments were being performed on them. Being inside the gas chamber as well as the crematoria really sent shivers up my spine. This visit really gave a whole new meaning to the Holocaust and I am unable to comprehend fully how this event in history (quite recent as well!) could have happened even though I was standing at the very site...
Anyways, so there are 2 more days of Contiki left! I am now in Warsaw and staying at this really nice hotel with free wireless :D As usual, my roomie is out partying so I basically get the whole room to myself all the time! Hehe. Well, I am overwhelmed with the things that I need to update about as so much has happened in the past couple of weeks and because I don't make it a habit to write on my journal daily, it's hard to recall the little (but interesting!) incidents on my trip! I've met a lot of people in hostels (when traveling alone) and also with the tour. Oh, I also got to attend a Sunday Service in Berlin where I met someone from UNSW who is now living in Berlin! What a small world!
Ok, I will randomly choose some photos to post now.
Seriously after visiting so many places, I've forgotten where this was taken. Probably Prague? :p
Chopin!! Event tho he's Polish, this star of fame was found in Vienna!
This is the Danube River in Budapest!!! Is it GREEN or BLUE? If you see blue, you're in LOVE!
Anyways, need to catch up on my sleep now! A full day ahead of me in Warsaw...
Btw, I do not even want to eat Polish food again.
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