Frankfurt on a Sunday.

Sadly, we arrived in Frankfurt on a sunday, not knowing that sunday is everyone's rest day.. The street was empty and deserted. While walking towards the Rhine river, we took a few photos. (Ermm.. actually quite alot! haha.) We were really hungry by then and the worst thing wsa that we couldnt find any cafes or shops that were open! Not a single one! And guess what?? MacDonald's caught our eyes! A meal in Mac costs us double the price of a meal in Singapore and we have to pay for the sauces. Only tomato sauce or mayonaise is provided. And we can only choose one! So giam, right? In the end, the 3 yao guis had to make do with MacDonald's...

We continued with our journey towards the Romerburg and not long later, we could see crowds - both tourists and the germans alike. What caught my eyes was the bread store. Have been very attacted to all the sandwich bars and bakeries ever since I step into Germany. And this is one of them..

At Romerburg, we could see the timble-frame houses, said to be rebuilt to create the prewar look of Frankfurt. These houses created a lovely atmosphere if one were to hang out with the love ones or friends at the beer gardens just within the houses. Can also choose to sit outside to people-watch while seeping beer! How nice??! But we didnt la.. Not within our means.. financially.. (although we didnt really check out the prices) Haha! We also went into the St Nicholas Church (Nikolaikirche) which was situated beside the houses. Apparently, there was a music sharing session going on, and out of curiosity. we sat in. Although we wanted to hear afew songs, it was arranged to be played only towards the end (like 3 hours later?) and we decided not to stay. It is quite a lovely church, actually.

Along the Rhine River in Frankfurt, there were a total of 6 (if i'm not wrong) churches. And all of them have their own unique facade. I eapecially like this one best because it looks like a castle and it's really magnificent! Reminds me of where the witches stay and make disgusting potions in horror cartoons. Then there would be bats flying around the tip of the castle at midnight. Rubbish ling! :p

This picture is really funny! Jason wanted to take a picture of us with the 6th church & the Rhine River as background. This guy was so freindly, he actually wanted to be included in the picture too! haha..

Hmm actually , he was being nice to pause while we were taking a picture. Jason thought he has got the best position and didnt want to shift the camera. As the guy was obstructing the shot, Jason signaled for him to walk but he refused to. So in the end Jason had no choice but to carry on with the photo.

This is the bridge that crosses the Rhive River. We walked over it several times due to directional mistakes!

The best part of Frankfurt would be the 2 following views:

Standing on the opposite side of the river, you can see an interesting contrast of Frankfurt Main. The left side potrays modern and typical office towers ( the business district), while the right side, a more traditional and old-fashion houses and churches.

We marked the end of our day with a stroll back to our hotel. We were really tired after a whole day out, walking most of the time. This is my favourite picture of the day! A snapshot of Frankfurt's busiest business district in a sunday, with a spectrum of rays! heh.

A day has passed, a day closer to King..

Cosy Freiburg

This was taken on the ICE train to Freiburg. There was a change of plan, actually. We were supposed to meet Dorothy (Dot) at Frankfurt. But Dot says her Auntie's husband, Robert, is expecting guests from America & would be bringing them around in Freiburg, afterwhich attending a birthday party of their neighbour. So it would be fine if we tag along. It was my first time on the ICE train. Quite comfortable (as you can see from the photo).. Just that Europeans generally have longer body. So my head was ended up in the burging position of the attached cushion. Has a difficult time sleeping... zzZZZ.. I woke up realising that there was a European lady trying to sit beside me. But my huge bag was taking up the extra seat. What was nice of her was that she volunteered to help me carry the heavy bag up to the overhead compartment. Very nice lady, indeed. Coincidentally, I realised that I was occupying her seat, which she had reserved. When I was making my way back from the toilet, I realised she had moved over to my original seat instead. As there was a change in the seat arrangement, I walked all the way to the other cabin, only to realise that I forgot where I sat. Luckily, i recognised my big red bag placed above the transparent compartment! Thanks goodness! Jason & I arrived at the Freiburg train station. The whole train ride was around 7hours (I hope I get this right!) Didnt really get to rest well, so I was rather tired. However, I was greeted with warmth when I stepped into the train station of the cosy & bustling town! Everyone in the station seemed to be there on a holiday. Happy~

Met Dot & her Auntie, Bavani and we made our way to the beer garden to meet Robert, their daughter and his guests. On our way, I had a good chat with Bavani. She is a very friendly lady, far out of my expectation. I took some pictures of the buildings I saw. I especially like this:

Look at the bricks that make up the corners of the building! Nice architecture.. I wonder if houses can be made this way too!

I had read about the popular beer gardens in Germany and I finally get the chance to sit in and enjoy the food as the day pass by. I tried the sausage salad, which tasted abit sour as well as some boiled sauages with mustard. Dot and Jason tried the lemon beer (Ratler) and normal beer respectively. I wasnt in the mood to try beer yet but I regreted not trying because Dot said that Ratler is really nice!

After spending some time in the beer garden, Robert suggested bringing all of us to a hill top where we can have a bird-eye's view of Freiburg and the Black Forest. It was wonderful, although Jason & I had to carry our heavy backpack as we ascend the hill. King could have been around to help me with the heavy backpack! haha.. But it was quite a good workout for Ling, la! Haha.. Really hope King has been around to share the precious moments with me!

That's Bavani, Robert and their adorable daughter Lena! She's really CUTE with those big eyes and chubby cheeks! (too bad King miss out on such a beauty!) We then make out way to Bavani's house to settle down. Actually, what I was looking out for was the birthday party. The 3 of us were so hungry that we ate first without waiting for the rest! And what's worthy is that Thai food was served. Bavani's neighbour is a German and Thai couple. I had 2 big plates of rice, 2 big spring rolls, curry and lots of chilli sauce too! (I really miss chilli sauce that it makes me high after consumption!)

Okay, tell you abit of bavani's cosy home! I quite like the interior designs. One very strange thing is that their backyard (or you can call it the garden) is shared among 4 families! Open-concept. So we ended up talking to 4 families during the party. This was what I had taken in the morning when I wake up. Dot and I shared a cosy queen size bed while Jason slept on the couch! The 2 of them were snoring so loud (esp Jason) that Robert woke up in the middle of the night to close the door. He can actually hear the snore on the 2nd floor. (We were on the 3rd!) ops!

Left Bavani's house to the train station to catch a train to Frankfurt for our planned tour straight after breakfast. It was 17 June that day. Sunny morning. I was very impressed by Bavani's & robert's kindest reception. Bavani actually cycled out early in the morning to get us breakfast! So nice of her, right?

Really like Freiburg alot. Looking forward to the trip to Black Forest after the Norway programme. Freiburg, wait for me!

P/s: Missing King..

First day in Germany

Alright! I spent my first day in Berlin. We decided to start our day with a visit to Schloss Charlottenburg, a palace once severly damaged by bombing of WW II, now restored to its formal glory. On our way to the palace, there was a long walkway where we could stroll on a sunny afternoon. Saw a few posh cars driving pass & mini-coopers too! (the sudden urge to knock someone on the head but that someone wasnt around!) We paid for a day pass where we could visit all the palace within a day. Spent a long day in Charlottenburg, listening to the history of the palace. Some of the rooms were really well-decorated with rococo. But I got a little bored after exploring the long palace. I though the garden was very nice. If I never hear wrongly over the recorded guide, the garden is built differently from the other palaces.

We finally ended exploring Charlottenburg at 330pm. Was so hungry by then, we walked really fast down the walkway in search for food. Found a bakery shop which sell sandwiches! You could have seen how relieved I was! But to our disappointment, the sandwich was cold & hard. Not appetising at all. That was my first meal in Germany. So sad, right? Along the way, I saw an ice-cream palor and bought a melon cone for EUR 70cent! The ice-cream wasnt at all satisfising - sweet & artificial!

Our next station was to the shopping area ("Orchard Road" of Berlin). Went to the biggest shopping mall "KADEWE" to shop. There were many nice shops along the way, & I couldnt help stepping into those stores. Poor Jason had to accompany me. But it wasnt that bad for him after all since (according to him), he got to look at the other girls while I do my shopping. So less guilt for me! hahaha.. On the way to KADEWE, we saw this nice church stucked in the middle of the shopping street. Kinda strange, but "unique" would be a more appropriate word. Nice, isnt it? Heh. Now I must H.L. my collection for the day! Bought a Mango berms at EUR19.95 & a pair of H&M ear-rings which were like EUR2.90?!! The berms were not really cheap but I was quite contented with it. :p The next stop was to the Berlin Wall. Had a hard time looking for it.. THis was what we did while we were searching for the long stretch of wall.. Haha..

The Berlin Wall, from what I understand, was used to separate the East Berlin from the West during the Cold War. (King must be damn proud of Ling, right?) Today, the remains of the Berlin Wall have been decorated with Graffiti! Some of them were really nice, they must have held a competition over it! Walking on the route along the wall, I felt chilly all over. The Berliners must have gone through thick & thin..

We went Friedrich Strasse after a stroll near Berlin Wall. By then it as rather late already. I remember it was passed dinner time. Most of the shops were closed and we had to walk rather long to look for food. In the end, we settled with pizza! The funghi pizza which we ordered were yummy! I gobbled down the food while Jason had his share slowly. It was rather embarassing but who cares? I was really HUNGRY!!! ;P

In the end we had to give up visiting Brandenburg gate and the Charlie checkpoint because we were too tired and it was getting late. We missed out quite alot as Ah Neo says that part is the nicest to visit.. I will go again! ;)

Task assigned!

I was assigned with a major task more than 1 week ago, and this is only my first entry! Shall keep in short & sweet! Heh.. SO here goes my first entry! *applause* It's exactly 3 days in Norway and 2 1/2 more weeks to go. Trying to reminisce what I did before I leave for Germany. Well, I baked an apple pie for King and cooked pineapple rice. That was the least I can do before I leave for a total of 5 weeks. The apple pie was edible (according to *ahem*) and the pineapple rice was nice. That night before I leave, King came over to stay for a night. Could only see him occupying my cosy bed while I do my last minute packing for the trip. There goes my last night on my cosy bed! I'll miss it (him), I was sure! I left my house with King at around 0430. Darling had work on that day and I really appreciate his initiative to send me to the airport. I only realised that my 0705 flight was delayed till 1620 upon arrival at the airport. I thought I was going to rot in the airport. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise when our flight was replaced with an SQ flight to Frankfurt! Haha.. I guess that was a bonus for my trip! The flight was long and I finally reached the Frankfurt airport after 9pm. Frankfurt (flug FE) airport was really messy. We had to walk a distance & climb stairs before we finally reach the custom. The custom was rather strict, I thought! There was some disorder (someone trying to cut queue) and the guard shouted for order several times. Quite scary, actually. At the custom, I was told to bring my lappie to a private room for extra screening. The official mumbled something that sounds like I did something to my laptop & it needs extra checking. The officials were rather friendly, though. THey thought I was a Japanese! I told them I'm a Singaporean and they started singing "pretty women"! haha.. (Seriously, that brightens my day, esp after the long flight! haha..) Ah Neo picked us up at the Berlin Tegel Airport at 10+. His hostel was nice & cosy, especially with the ORANGE curtains! Yay, finally some good rest that night!