Exam hiatus

Aufgrund der anstehende Prüfungen muss ich fleißig lernen, und deshalb habe ich keine Zeit, dieses Blog zu aktualisieren.

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"Because of the upcoming exams must I diligently study, and therefore have I no time, this blog to update." Pardon the lousy german =P

Anyway, after most of my exams are over, d.h. (das heißt, that means) after the killer week next week, I would like to start blogging about Munich. Of course this would mean touching upon Germany, German (or Bavarian) culture etc. I know not a lot of people read my blog, but I thought it would be nice if those of you who do read could suggest any particular area that you might want me to research and then blog about. As of now, I already have some topics in mind, which include the following:

Recycling culture
Transportation system
Lectures in the university

I would then try to write a blog entry based on my research and my own experiences.

Looking forward to responses!

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23 years old now. Great.

There was an exam on Monday so I didn't really celebrate my birthday. Treated some friends to a dinner at Tribühne, which is a restaurant located in StuSta (Studentenstadt). However, I did manage to get some people to join me for lunch last Saturday. Went to this place that Seungwon recommended near Marienplatz.

The restaurant, Opatija im Tal, is located on Hochbrückenstraße which is an offshoot from Tal (name of a road), which is along the way from Marienplatz to Isartor. Anyway I decided on this one after a few other choices because the price (for some lunch meals) was moderate and it was a Croatian/International restaurant. So something unique for a change.

Can't remember the name of the dish I ordered, but it was quite large and I was satisfied. =) There were 3 different types of meat, some kinda rice + fries. And I also got a glass of Helles beer. Anyway I recommend this place as the food was satisfactory, the ambience was nice, and the service was friendly.


After the satisfying meal I went to Hugendubel (a major book retail store) to see what type of books I might get before I go back to Singapore (German books of course). Then we thought about having ice cream but decided on Starbucks instead. Kinda surprised myself that I could ordered my usual Mocha Frappucino in German, but I paused like 0,5 seconds every time before I answered; hope the person at the counter didn't realise that. Need to go out more after exams because I'm just not speaking enough German!

Europe Winter Trip (Part 6 - Rome and the Vatican) (end)

Day 12

Coat of Arms of Vatican City I suppose

The Vatican Museum was first on our list, coz it was the last Sunday of the month, so the entrance was free! Guess we arrived quite late (around 9.30am)... there was already a long long queue. Took us freakin' 2 hours 15 minutes to get in.

Then it was a few hours inside... there were many interesting stuff/sculptures etc. to see but we didn't have a lot of time actually, coz it was going to close at 1:45pm. The whole museum is filled with artefacts: statues, paitings, maps, Egyptian, Greek, Roman... totally amazing. Particularly liked the ancient maps, coz I'm into maps. Wanted to buy some of the copies on sale, but they were too expensive...

Gallery of Maps

The whole decor of the museum was lavish. More like a palace I guess. There was kinda like a fixed route (esp. if you wanted to go to Sistine Chapel). Along the way we saw lots of amazing paintings on the walls on ceilings by the likes of Raphael and Michelangelo (which started me thinking about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Great.)

The designs on the pillar is reproduced in the painting as well. Found it interesting.

The right portion of Raphael's "The School of Athens", (possibly) depicting Euclid or Archimedes, Zoroaster amongst others, and Raphael himself (the one with black hair near to the edge of the drawing... sorry for the poor quality)

The highlight for many tourists is of course, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, with the famous "The Creation of Adam" (the one where a guy is stretching out his arm to God and God almost touches his finger). It reminded me of the Flying Spaghetti Monster... nevermind that. I personally liked "The Downfall of Adam and Eve and their Expulsion from the Garden of Eden". No photos here, you can google/wiki them. Visitors aren't supposed to take photos but many people took photos anyway. As we came out we saw the Vatican Post Office and decided to send a postcard (to ourselves). We were just in time; they closed shortly after.

"Poste Vaticane". It's been 2 weeks and I still haven't received my postcard =(

After that we walked around Saint Peter's Square. It is surrounded by the largest amount of pillars I have ever seen. Then tried to find a (cheap) place to eat. I ended up eating Kebab (which is like, one of the most popular fast food in Europe nowadays). We then walked to Castel Sant'Angelo and crossed the Tiber river (Fiume Tevere) on Ponte Sant'Angelo.

Wikipedia says there are 248 columns and 88 pilasters circling St. Peter's Basilica.

View of Castel Sant'Angelo from the bridge. The bridge reminds me of Prague's Karluv Most, with statues on both sides.

Barely 2pm and it was getting dark. We hurried and made our way to the Pantheon, passing by Piazza Navona (which was like a huge carnival ground at the time with carousels and cotton candy). There was an obelisk topped with a cross (Christianity prevails over Paganism?) in front of the Pantheon. The sarcophagus of Raphael the artist lies here.

We then went to the Coffee shop recommended by Seungwon, La Casa del Caffe Tazza D'oro. Seungwon let us try some of the chocolate wrapped coffee beans (Chicchi) she bought from her visit there and we all really liked it. We also had a cup of coffee each there.

Logo of the shop/company.

Then it was on to Fonatana di Trevi. Passed by Tempio Adriano but it was under maintenance repair. Along the way we also saw this fantastic street musician who was playing songs (mostly Christmas songs) by wiping his fingers around the rim of glasses of different sizes and shapes filled to different levels of water. Fontana di Trevi looks really grand at night with the lights and stuff. According to legend I heard, you're supposed to throw a coin over your shoulder to ensure you return to Rome and another to make a wish. Checked on wikipedia... apparently there are different versions, and approximately €3,000 (S$6,377.38; RM14,514.18) are thrown in every day! Crazy. Anyway, we helped to take a photo of a Singaporean guy and his girlfriend there and we chatted a bit afterwards.

The famous Fontana di Trevi. The centre statue is Neptune, riding on his chariot.

After going to the Hard Rock Cafe shop we then went to walk down Via dei Fori Imperiali from the Colosseum (Colosseo). There are lots of open archaeological sites around this region. We didn't spend much time as we had to go to Roma Termini to pick up Enrique. We bought take-away for dinner and we went back to Camping Fabulous. Enrique told us about his amazing time in Finland and we told him what happened the last few days. Slept.

Colosseo by night

Day 13

We moved out from Camping Fabulous and went to another hostel that was nearer to Termini. It was an awesome sunny day. Enrique left to visit the Vatican, and the rest of us went to San Giovanni Laterano, which is (according to Wikipedia) the cathedral church of Rome and official ecclesiastical seat of the Bishop of Rome, who is the Pope. Couldn't tell it was a church from the outside though. There were many confession boxes along one corridor (well I'm sure there are special terms for the parts in the church but I certainly have no idea), and differing from most other churches that I've been to, these were all operational at the time (i.e. there were priests inside). Some of the priests speak English, and it is indicated on the outside of the box.

San Giovanni Laterano. It's days like this that I feel Europe would be much nicer to visit during summer.

The "papal cathedra", located in the apse

We then went to Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, but there wasn't much to see there. We met up with Enrique again and passed by some of the places we went to yesterday. Had some ice-cream at this place called San Crispino. I had some kind of chocolate ice cream but the rest tried the Honey sorbet (which is highly recommended). Theirs were better... haha...

Ice cream in winter is nice coz it doesn't melt as quickly.

Italians don't have water bottles on their bikes, they've got freakin' wine bottles!

Anyway by the time we reached Colosseo it was already closed. So all we did is walk one round around it and attempt to take some photos.

The Colosseo seems to have 2 different colour tones... I wonder why.

Fatigue really settled in. The whole trip has been so rushed... We went back to the hostel to sleep. Sure there were many other places in Rome to visit; maybe next time. Anyway after some time we took the metro to Cavour, which was one stop before Colosseo, because there were sure to be many many people there. And there were. Squeezed our way through until we were rather near the stage at the end of Via dei Fori Imperiali. There were some open areas along the road where people were lighting up their own fireworks and the most annoying of all, firecrackers.

Seems more like a scene of a riot that a new year's party

Of course we had no idea who the people on the stage were, nor what they were singing. But we tried to join in the fun nonetheless. As 2008 approached we were waiting for a countdown but apparently they don't do it there. No "...three, two, one!", not even "...tres, dos, uno!" That was a bit disappointing. There were the usual fireworks in the sky, but there was also champagne squirting. Tried to hide from it but couldn't. Someone nearby held up an umbrella (well prepared!) so we were saved from becoming totally drenched.

Back to hostel and sleep. Zzzz...

Day 14 (01.01.2008)

We made our way to the train station and took our 10-hour ride home (to Munich)

When we stopped at Verona, a woman and her daughter came in and sat in the same compartment as us. She could speak English fairly well; she said that she was now teaching English, and she taught German previously. She was going to Munich to visit a friend she got to know under some programmes organised between Munich and Verona (which are "twin cities"). We chatted a lot on the train... She said she was from a traditional type of school where you had to learn Latin and Greek (!).

She told us about an old lady she met when she was in the UK, whose family had to travel frequently around the world as her father was posted to the different British colonies, so she was rather "worldly" in that sense. This old lady, probably 80 at the time, was learning Chinese. This Verona lady was curious so she asked her:"Why are you still learning languages at this old age?" to which her response was "If you don't know 10 languages by the time your my age you must be an idiot!".

Bologna - just a station we passed by. Would have loved to stop for Bolognese sauce though!

She was also interested in sociology: she asked us what were our parents' and grandparents' occupation. She then commented that it was interesting to see the change in social status/class, and mentioned that her father was also a farmer before (my grandfather was a farmer). And then told us to count our blessings (well, my dad says that all the time. Lol).

Anyway we also talked about many other things... She didn't know where was Malaysia and Singapore, but she had a world map in her sociology-related book, so we could point them out. Asked us about our countries, its people, language, culture, religion...

Passed by the Alps... they are simply breathtaking. (Reminder to self: climb Kilimanjaro before the ice is gone!)

Back in Munich I went straight back to my room, my bed and a long pleasant sleep. The End.

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Other points:

Well after this very very rushed trip (4 countries, 9 places in 14 weeks? you gotta be kidding me) I told myself next time I will take it slow and easy instead.

Well sadly I'll probably not travel in Europe anymore before I go back to Singapore. It depends on the exams and when I'll get the results. Therefore I can't book any tickets or make reservations because I won't know if I'll be able to go. Still, I'm setting my eyes on Poland, within Germany of someplace really nearby (Salzburg or something).

Bernard had a good suggestion of the next trip (which will definitely be after the exams, i.e. 1 month from now), which is a cycling trip around Munich. That'll be great coz I haven't even talked much about Munich yet even though I've been here for 4+ months!

Europe Winter Trip (Part 5 - Naples, Pompeii)

Day 11

We took one of the earliest buses from our "camping" ground to Roma Termini, bought some McDonald's breakfast and took the train to Napoli (or Naples in English, Neapel in German). After reaching Naples we had to take a local Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii.

The entrance to Pompeii is very near the train staion Pompeii Scavi (Scavi means excavation site). There we no audio guides left... someone returned some audioguides but we would have to wait 10 minutes for it to recharge. After getting the booklet guide I figured we don't get the audio guide because we'd have to pay for it and we didn't really have much time.

Mount Vesuvius from afar. It's still an active volcano.

Pompeii was a wealthy Roman city until the flames and lava of Mount Vesuvius engulfed it and many of its people. However, many of the buildings, statues and even drawings on the wall have thus been preserved, so we have a clearer detail of how life was like in those times.

I think I'll just put up some photos with brief descriptions:

Temple of Apollo, with a statue of Apollo in the foreground.

Entrance to the Building of Eumachia, possibly a wool market in the past.

As with the SI system we use nowadays, the romans had their own set of standard measures, as can be seen in this photo.

If I'm not mistaken, this was one of the rooms in a bathhouse.

There were many "stalls" around looking like the above, where snacks and other food was made and sold.

This mosaic of a dog is located on the floor at the entrance of the House of the Tragic Poet. The words at the bottom are "CAVE CANEM", meaning "beware of the dog".

House of the Vettii (wealthy freedmen). This painting at the entrance depicts Priapus, god of fertility, resting his enormous d*** on the plate of a scale, which is counterweighted by a bag of money.

Painting at the Lupanare, the brothel.

The Amphitheater, able to hold over 20,000 spectators (!)

After 4 hours or so (it was a large place!) we still haven't seen everything but we had to catch our train back to Naples. In Naples we merely wanted to look for one of the recommended places for Pizza (Naples is the birthplace of Pizza). We ended up at Di Matteo. The pizzas are really big, but mine was rather burnt. It was really fantastic. I felt that the pizza I had in Pisa was better. Maybe I should've gone to Sorbillo's like what Kelda suggested. Oh well, next time then.

The pizzas were larger than the plates they were served on.

We then caught a train back to Rome.

Other Stuff:

I forgot to mention, the Roma Termini is one of the very few stations that looks modern and clean. Many other stations we've been to are worse. Oh well, I'm talking from a Singaporean cleanliness standard viewpoint of course.

I've also forgot to mention, that quite a lot of people smoke in Italy. As I still had a sore throat when I arrived in Milan, it was quite bad.

Saw quite a number of palm trees as we travelled. Didn't know that the weather was suitable. But the weather was rather nice and warm... at least better than in Munich.

Naples was really like Malaysia (Bernard thought he was in JB). When I first walked its streets it felt as if I were in a developing country instead of a developed one. So I guess Malaysia can be a developed country in 2020 after all [cynicism]. It was rather dirty, there was litter everywhere, and the traffic was horrible. No one bothers about traffic rules... Thank goodness I had prior training in Malaysia!

Europe Winter Trip (Part 4 - Milan, Florence, Pisa)

Day 9

So early in the morning we took the RER (B line) train to Charles de Gaulle airport and from there we took Easyjet to Milan. On our way there we could see the Alps... really nice. Sadly can see that the snow/ice is kinda like retreating.

Anyway, from Milan Malpensa airport we had to take a bus to the central station. I didn't plan much for Milan coz people say there's nothing much to do (shopping costs a bomb too), and it was mostly a city to visit "along-the-way". So we made our way to the Duomo, where there were lots of people trying to tie colorful rings to your wrist (then, unable to remove them, asks you to pay for it), lots of people selling birdseed, and therefore also lots of birds (kinda like in Barcelona).

The Duomo in Milan

Pigeons!

Our major stop here was Luini's, where they sell Panzerotti, which is like a small folded pizza that is fried. I really liked it! We couldn't find a reasonably priced restaurant to eat lunch so we went back afterwards to grab 2 more each. We then just walked around Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and headed back to Milano Centrale to take a train to Firenze (Florence).

The glass ceiling of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele... beats Bugis Junction's one by far.

Our hostel was rather near the station. It was actually situated in an apartment block. After resting awhile, using the computer (finally some free internet) etc., we went out. First we bought our tickets for Pisa - Rome and also Florence - Pisa.

Passed by the Duomo on our way to Piazza del Mercato Centrale, where the restaurant suggested by the lady at the hostel is located. Turns out to be a tourist place so we followed instead on Arvin's printouts that suggested places near Piazza Santa Croce instead. Eventually had dinner at Ristorante La Maremma. It was apparently a restaurant with good reviews. The food was good, but sad to say the service was appalling: our waiter wasn't friendly, didn't sound helpful and had a serious face. Why so? I have no idea. Because we're Asian? Because we don't look rich? Anyway it kinda spoiled my appetite (which was already a little spoiled by the price).

The starter dish we got Pecorini cheese (a type of matured sheep cheese, a specialty in the Tuscany region) with honey and olive oil.

For the main course I had pasta with game meat.

For dessert we had Tiramisu.

Then we went back to sleep.

Day 10

We woke up, bathed, checked out but left our luggage at the hostel first. Then we went around town. Florence doesn't seem particularly big (at least the old part/tourist part isn't), and it feels like a small town. We went by Galleria dell Accademia (David the marble sculpture is inside, we didn't go in though), the Duomo again, and then on to Piazza della Signoria and Galleria degli Uffizi (one of the world's most famous fine arts museum, we didn't go in...couldn't even if we wanted to, because the queue was so long).

Typical tourist at the Duomo

Next we were already by the river Arno. There's a famous bridge here called Ponte Vecchio and we crossed it. Basically what's so interesting is that there are shops along the bridge, and it wasn't destroyed in WWII. We then reached Piazza del Pitti, where a palace (Pallazzo Pitti) with a plain facade was located. The garden inside (have to pay to get in) is reputed to be beautiful but I suppose I'll come in summer next time (in 10 - 20 years??) to see it. Then we returned to the hostel and made our way to the station.

View of the bridge

View from the bridge

We got some food along the way back at a shop right near Piazza del Pitti near the bridge. I had Foccacia Caprese (contains tomatoes, Mozarella cheese and olives. Simple but delicious!).

Arrived at Pisa in time; was worried that the sun was going to set soon. Left our stuff at the station and bought a map. Didn't really need the map as there were signs everywhere showing the direction to the plaza where the leaning tower was located. Anyway, we crossed the bridge and then this lady approached us and said: are you Chinese? no? Singaporean? or something like that and asked us to "write our name" to support an anti-drug campaign. What we didn't know was we were supposed to donate some money @.@ Haiz. Well I was kinda pissed after that... sorry Bernard!

The good thing was we saw a Deutsche Bank here and we managed to get money using our Germany cards. Phew! No need to worry about having not enough money for Italy... Anyway we then moved on to Piazza del Duomo where the leaning tower is located. We arrived at a nice time I suppose, the place was basked in a almost-dusk light. So I did the conventional pose (keeping the tower upright):

As well as an unconventional one (toppling the tower):

At dusk. Thought it would looked nice with a nearby statue. Too bad I don't have good photography skills or a good camera though =P

We then headed back, looking for a dinner place along the way. There was this restaurant that serves really cheap pasta and a favorite amongst University of Pisa students, but it was closed til early 2008 =( So nevermind, we sidetracked a bit and found this small restaurant at Via Benedetto Croce. I asked the waiter to recommend a pizza and he pointed the one which had the same name as the restaurant. I really liked it! After that along Viale Gramsci we went to a Gelato store. The ice cream was much cheaper than I saw elsewhere, and was not bad too.

So we then took the long train from Pisa to Rome. Upon reaching Rome we then had to rush to our hostel which was located at the outskirts. It was called Camping Fabulous. It was rather nice (Bernard kept emphasizing this point. Must've said it at least 10 times). It's a place that the HHH (Hash House Harriers) back in Batu Pahat, and also my dad, would choose for their family day outings/runs. Was too tired so we just slept.

Cabins equipped with a bathroom + toilet, refrigerator and air-conditioner.

The interior of the cabin

Other points:

In Florence we saw something similar to the Pasar Malams (night market) we have back in Malaysia, except that it lasts from morning til evening. In Naples the "Pasar Malams" were almost exactly the same as in Malaysia!

I also saw interesting lampposts in Florence: