Berlin
no words could ever fit to describe how much I like Berlin and how much this trip meant to me.
A few european friends told me that I must go to Berlin and that I would like Berlin, indeed I like it there, in fact I like it more than what I expected.
It wasn't an easy decision to make this trip because it was the first time I ever travelled alone, I could still remember how I felt when I blogged about it last time.
Upon reaching Berlin, the rich and distinct culture that the place has somehow made me felt better...
From
Berlin, Germany
Graffiti gotta be a trademark for Berlin, I really love to stop and appreciate them. So well done!
Especially those found along the 1.3km East Side Gallery which contains about 106 paintings by artists all over the world. It is my first touristic stop in Berlin, let me walk with you again~
the start :
one of the most famous painting is this kissing:
i like this!
2 things made my walk a little disappointing. 1) Some of the graffiti had more and more random graffiti on it, such that I could no longer see the original painting 2) It started pouring and what's worst? the wind was so strong that the rain drops hit me at 45deg, my jeans was soaked wet up to thigh level, no joke! somemore stucked with little leaves, that was my only pair of jeans I had for that trip can!
soon night falls, it was time for dinner!
never a wrong time for a Haeagen-Dazs :D i could still remember the taste ~
and freak! i had an scoop of haagen-dazs in cone in sg the other day, it costed me $6.70, the scoop alone is already 5.50. OMG, is there GOLD inside or something? To buy a pint is definitely more worth it, but too bad, my sweet tooth was cracking up back then :P
Breakfast next morning, I decided to have the same as what I had last night, Berliner Currywurst! Its like a speciality of Berlin and I walked like 2 metro station which should add up to be at least 2+km for the most original Berliner Currywurst located under a metro station! I would do anything for food!
That "drink" in the cup is actually broth, seriously, europeans really have dysfunctional salty tastebud, its too salty for me =(
One of the most unexpected event that occured during that trip has got to be being picked up by guys. One too old, one too young. After some shopping (hey, berlin boutiques are really so unique!), I lugged my gains and found this jewish synagogue. There was an entrance fee but somehow I escaped from it and walked through the place like a breeze and in the lift, I met this italian group. This uncle, very well-groomed, began to chat with me, I thought he was friendly and all...then he invited me for lunch, thats why I sensed something wrong. I gave some excuse saying that I am going back to hostel and he said we could meet for a drink tonight instead. I gave away my real phone number and ended up receiving calls from him even till the next day.
In the evening of the same day, as I was walking to the Reichstag, i sensed that someone is like following me? I didn't care much until he started to come nearer and walked at the same pace as me. He asked in weird english, what is the time, so lousy pick up line and asked me to join him for a drink. I said no, I am rushing but he persisted in following for awhile until he finally read the sign. I really thought it was weird, I wasn't even dressed up and the guys are caucasians.
London (Photo-heavy!)
It was our first time flying with easyjet budget air in europe. Since then, I fell in love with easyjet. I flew in total 5 times with easyjet =)
Ben & Jerry vending machine! They should import this into Singapore, NUS specifically.
We stayed with my auntie who is working there. Hostel is abit more pricey in london, especially when pound was like 2.7 sing to 1 pound then!
The neighbour's house. We stayed in apartment instead.
Where were we?
Somewhere gated...
With Queen Victoria statue...
Gotta be the Buckingham palace! The palace that Queen Elizabeth II & the royal family is living at currently! Of course, they weren't there when we went there, every year they go for summer holiday, and the palace is then open to public, not the whole palace of course. God, the guard changing event was supposed to take place at 11am (i think), but many tourists alr went there early to get as closer to the gate as possible. And we thought we are early enough....
Finally... after a long wait, the guards started to march out!
yes yes! Great Britain!
Below shows a very precious photo of mine. It was taken with life-threatening risk...
Nothing spectacular? Well, you see, thats the main entrance which the guards would use to march out, so nobody was allowed to stand stationary there, we gotta keep moving.. so in order to take a shot, i had to really snap before i got chased. Most stupid of all, after crossing, I crossed back :D
Buckingham palace is one of the few, or maybe the only one? that still has royal family residing within and is open to public. at least the only one that is still well-maintained and has signs of life that i have been to!
Lovely london has so much to offer! We barely have time to sit down and rest our feet, gotta keep moving! See, lunch-on-the-go literally! Thats what happened most of the time actually, sometimes I really feel like I walk a thousand miles a day when I travel in europe!
Destination: Big Ben & Parliament house! The parliament house also has a rich history and it is still functional today!
The front, with River Thames.
See a ring next to big ben?
yup! London eye!
Our proof of having rode on it!
Dinner time! Most people who think of fish & chips when talking about Britain. Reporter Winnie rates it for u! In fact, we really walked around a fair bit to check out and decide which looks like most promising in offering some decent fish & chips.
Conclusion: You can find better fish & chips in Sg.
Nevertheless, fish & chips stores are really everywhere! And everywhere offers the "BEST/FAMOUS/AUTHENTIC" fish & chips.
Below is a cafe in Cambridge, notice that the advert on the bicycle outside the shop promotes fish & chips as well o_O
We also went to a nearby town - Greenwich, where the center of the world is.. because thats the prime meridian, i.e. 0 deg East, 0 deg west longitude-wise. Along the way, thats the beautiful persian cat which I used to spot in singapore as stray cats as well...
Finally, after walking quite a fair bit with the help of the signboards, we reached...
We also had to climb a small hill, across a english garden to reach the royal observatory. The ferris wheel that you might spot below is NOT the london eye.
Just being a tourist :P
like the above sentence. Only time will tell who would stay by your side all these while, only time will tell whats your fate, only time will tell by the experiences that you have gained.
1 foot east, 1 foot west. 1 foot in local time, 1 foot in +/-1 hour time (not the real case actually). I am in a time machine!
The tower of London. Founded in 1066. Used to be a royal palace and a prison, but I have no time to visit.
Because I am more intrigued to cross the tower bridge (london bridge). London bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down... Well, not exactly the case now.
If you have noticed, one thing about london, is that the sky is always gloomy! Its always raining, pouring, raining, pouring. According to some, thats why suicidal rate is high and people are moving out of london. Weather plays a big role in deciding our mood eh.
River thames. Well, I think River Sienne in Paris is more magical and romantic <3>
Foodie time! Nothing spectacular, in fact, i think english don't really have a food culture. Fish & chips and english breakfast are like gimmicks to attract tourist :P
I was more fascinated by the variety of sauces!
Fresh market: Fresh chocolates for you? Looks yummy but expensive at that point of time. I should really have gone there later so that I could have bought more more more! September 08 (1 pound = 2.7 sing), Jan 09 (1 pound = 2.1 sing!)
Apples are my favourite fruits!
I would love to try some purple cauliflower.
perhaps stir-fry with some seafood that central europe is so deprived of!
Perhaps coming to london for musicals and plays would be more appropriate than coming for food. But being poor students, we got dirt cheap standing tickets for Shakespear's play instead. Standing for like 2-3 hours among the crowd really wasn't that comfortable. But it happened to be the nearest-to-stage tickets in house!
Other plays that were showing ...(well, most of them seem to be shown all year round for years already)
But I heard that the best gotta be 'Les Miserables', yep the musical with the song "I dreamed a dream" performed recently in the british idol hype. I thought she is quite good until... she explained that "I've nv been kissed before" was a joke. Seems like reality tv show could nv be real anymore and it brought about some detrimental effects as well. People just twist n turn their own life story to gain the fame. Bah!
The ability to find some oriental places on foreign land nv fail to make me excited to get some decent food and feel like home! Yes we are at LONDON's CHINATOWN!
oh wait, save the best for the last, i shall show more places first before food comes into picture!
No... the above photo is not taken in london.. Its in... cambridge! Punting in cambridge, but it is too expensive for budget travellers like us.
I used to think that cambridge is one single university but actually it is somewhat like harry potter's that magic school, because cambridge has many colleges in cambridge town! Every college has their own chapel.. which you must pay to enter, campus is totally out-of-bound for tourists! argh! I wanna get to see some smarties studying in action and get some positive influence!
That was the closest I ever get to any of the cambridge college. Look so surreal right?
Being in cambridge somehow brought out the more studious and educated side of us. We spent a whole afternoon checking out the books in the bookstores! I seriously regretted not buying any novels back, look at the pic! They are extremely cheap to buy as compared to Sg's kinokuniya =(
But with ebooks... I actually can read for free and at my own pace. Erm okay, maybe too slow... I have been reading "Angels & Demons" for like 6 months already :P reading is too much of a joy, thus I must savour it slowly eh.
Back to London... we found...
You must be familiar with this right! Actually this "platform" is just a wall in King Cross Station which is built solely for tourists. But actually when we were there, we were the only tourists having fun taking photos with it. Haa..
The next morning... We had english breakfast! Oh yea~
There is toast, egg, mushroom, tomato, baked beans, bacon, sausage and english tea of course! Practically all cafes have english breakfast on their menu, serving all day long.
Few steps away, we reached the famous "The British Museum", one of the largest and most comprehensive museum in the world. Especially in its egyptian mummies collection. I really think this museum does a great job in its presentation because it is one of my favourite museum and one of those which I remember something out of it.
Remains of ancient greece temple
and below is one of the highlights of the museum.
Bronze figure of seated Cat.
I lost my friends along the way and I actually was a bit afraid to come to the exhibition hall below...
I actually felt slightly relieved by the presence of other museum goers.
Below shows Cleopatra coffin and the body within. No, not the famous Cleopatra that we know. This is some important official's daughter who is named Cleopatra. She died at the age of 17, so young, too young...
I was surprised to see quite a vast collection of asian cultures in british museum. There are artefacts from India, China, Thailand etc.
Man holding a THICK book of Sins, while woman holds a THIN book of deeds. Well, there are really things that I regretted doing, wondering if they would add on to the thickness of my book of Sins. Hmm...
A clear elaboration on the 3 major religion in china. I like that.
Finally stepping out of the museum, intoxicated by the knowledge built up, we got some fresh air and looked up to find advertisement flying across london.
Heh... a landmark of London. RED TELEPHONE BOOTH! I bought some miniature souvenirs for my friends. But I hardly see people using the real one, and I guess thats because its really quite stinky and dirty inside :S
Another landmark of London has got to be... London cab! I found a pink ones among the black classic ones <3>
Another famous landmark... RED london buses, I really love the miniature keychains for london buses, so cute!
We came to Harrods! Actually I was never fascinated and still not fascinated by Harrods. Too high class for a girl like me. Everything comes in hefty price tag that just turns me off. And the famous Harrods plastic bag, my... ugly and expensive.
Memorial of Princess Diana and her bf (?) Dodi found inside Harrods. Dodi's dad owns Harrods you see...
Taking a london bus, we reached oxford street, similar to Orchard road in sg! Except that it is HUNDRED times better! No tall shopping malls where the shops are hiden within and you gotta take xyz times of escalator to reach them. I love walking along oxford street whereby I can really window shop! Brands found there are also of greater variety, and... RIVER ISLAND is cheaper over there! But most of all, i totally miss Primark, unfound in singapore =(
Primark sells everything that we ladies need at affordable prices. We shopped till its closing time and came back the next day to shop more :P
Its my #1 london attraction!
My gains of the day. There were 2 pairs of shoes, some leggings, 2 pyjamas, lingeries, a dress, a bag, a cardigan, a vest, 2 belts.... I never burn so much cash buying so many things in a single shop before, totally SHIOK!
We finally beared to leave the shop and head elsewhere for dinner. Took london's tube! Finally a european city where we could clearly understand what the locals are saying and the british accent is so soothing to the ear. haa...
Our gains, they held 2 big bags each lah!
I was totally excited to see chinese restaurants everywhere in chinatown. Even more when I see my food arrives. I totally missed chinese food which i deem as PROPER food.
Chinese buffet @ 5 pounds per pax, thats like 14 sgd at the time when we were there. So cheap in european standard, although the food choices and quality is somewhat compromised.
Soon, our trip came to an end. NOT ENOUGH! We shouted not enough even though we spent like 6 days in England and we only managed to see london and cambridge! I wanna return there for more Primark as well as seeing other parts of England, Scotland and Ireland!
We took easyjet budget air there and returned to zurich by british airways. I always had good impression of british airways because they gave me some kid gift set when I flew with them to Sydney. But I think because it is a short haul flight, there was no food provided.
