Germany 27 Sept - 03 Oct

When we were stranded on the island of Stockholm (Grinda) , Wayne made an impactful statement: We never fail to have obstacles in our way whenever we travel. In Amsterdam, it was too freaking cold. On Grinda, we had nothing to eat. And in Germany, i would say, time was not on our side.

We spent 1 day in Munich (too little time), 3 days in Berlin (bad time management), and 2 days in Wiesbaden (west of Frankfurt) and Frankfurt (too much time).

So here begins the journey to Germany. I knew it wasnt gonna be all smooth when i kena pigeon shit on the way to Chee Wee's place.

We celebrated the start of our holiday by having a mini feast. I decided to bake beer chicken (well Oktfest rite?) while Chee Wee had carbonara and some soggy veggie, Yinghao with his oyster veg and beef, Juliana with her unqiue desert (imagine falafel with rasins, honey, peanut butter and choc rice inside). Steph and Weicheng bang seh us and went to Copenhagen in the morning!! The meal was pretty good! Think i shall buy better beer and more cheese with my beer chicken though.

***
We took a night train to Munich, the trip was rather pleasant, except the next door cabin had a party going on till 2/3am. Yeah party in a train cabin, the walls are not exactly thick. We arrived 8 am in the morning all fresh and happy! A good start huh!

1st stop: Theresienwiese. Oktoberfest held there. We had sausages with sourkraut, half a chicken (its damn good) and some beer. The beer there isnt cheap (7.5 euros for 1 litre) and its a stronger brew than normal. Its the morning and not so happening yet. So we moved on.

2nd stop: Olympiazentrum. The home of the Olympic stadium built for the Summer Olympics in 1972. Its kinda grand and nice.. but im no archi farty.. We walked by the BMW musuem (prob some archi marvel).

3rd stop: Marienplatz City Centre. Walked ard, saw some lousy cuckoo clock dance around.

4th stop: Frottmaning. Home of Allianz Arena. You know that mashmallow stadium used for the World Cup 06? yeaps thats the one. Pretty cool. Went for the tour, saw the changing rooms etc. Managed to catch the stadium light up and change to red.

5th stop: back to Oktfest. Really hungry! Got a brastwurth and a big big pretzel. People were drunk and some idiot was blowing some whistle throughout the spinning ride. Its like a big amusement park with beer glasses and puke all over the floor.

***
We took another night train to Berlin, but in a smoking cabin. ITS LIKE HELL. In the middle of the night i woke up, and i saw fumes in front of me.. its like a chimney inside... We reached in the morning and booked into Sunflower hostel. Its pretty nice and cozy, i would recommend this place if u wanna go Berlin!

1st stop: Soviet War Memorial

2nd stop: Reichstag Parliament Building

3rd stop: Brandenburg Gate

4th stop: Jewish Holocaust Memorial

5th stop: Topography of Terror Foundation

6th stop: Check Point Charlie

7th stop: Sony Centre (changing lights. though i din see any)

On the second day, we went to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. Terribly depressing and sombre site. Ended the day around 4pm, went to the Museum island and moved to the City to do some shopping! Bought Birks! (28 euros!!) ate Vietnamese food and went back to the hostel to chill. Beer is cheap! 2 euros for 500ml.

It says: Work sets you free. Yeah rite.

Berliner Dom:

On the third day, we went to Kaiser Church (kena bombed like mad), Sieges-saule (Freedom Women) and parted ways. I decided i had enough of Jews (the others went to the Jewish Musuem) while i walked the Musuem island to visit the History Musuem and bought some souvenirs along the way. By den it was time to say good bye to Berlin.

***
Took a train to Frankfurt. Took another train to Wiesbaden. Damn German trains are always late! and because of that i missed that Wiesbaden train. Luckily im intelligent enough to take a local S-bahn. Reached Wiesbaden around 9pm and met Dikun! Took another train to Hattenhiem and tadah! We are at the vineyards!

Think for the two days i was there, Dikun really took GREAT care of me mans. Early in the morning, breakfast was meepok with sausage and ham, if not, toast with hard-boiled eggs and ham. Dinner was pasta with baked fish (fantastic!) and minced meat (ha! i cooked it!) . Tried some Apfelwien too. Abit weird le.

1st day: Walked around Frankfurt and Wiesbaden. Nothing much really. Just that i saw Wal-mart (oh how i miss it)

Frankfurt


Wiesbaden

2nd day: Looked around the vineyards and saw his landlord's cellars and wines. Just that it rained the whole day! Didnt get to do any harvesting...

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The ride home was TERRIBLE.
1021 : Hattenhiem - Wiesbaden
1100 : Wiesbaden - Frankfurt Main
1255 : Frankfurt Main - Hamburg
1730 : Hamburg - Copenhagen
2223: Copenhagen - Malmo
2321: Malmon - Lund
2340: LUND!!!!
0015: Sparta...
Bloody hell missed the last bus and i had to walk home. The END/
m