Last weekend was spent in Italy! The v.touisty place but by the Singaporean Mentality, u can nv go wrong with the longest queue of all char kway teow stalls.

 

12 May 2006

 

We set off to Bologna, the ulu place where nobody knows. But everyone knows Spaghetti Bolognese yah? Unfortunately i couldnt find that there either. Being kiasu we sat at the front of the waiting lounge jus before the gate and were one of the 1st few people to board the plane. The reward: Nice legroom just in front of the emergency exit. Teeny setback: Every single bottle and bag, including the small bag of sandwich i hid behind my back was discovered and had to be put in the cabin or someplace where it wont fly off easily.

 

Bologna airport is way different from a budget airport. It has international connections, many restaurants and it is just like stuttgart airport. We caught a train to Florence and had a pleasant surprise that our trains are jus as nice as the ICE trains. I dunno what class is that but it was fast and stable.

 

My favourite attraction is the Piazza del Duomo. The cathedral is so magnificent and huge that i wondered how people in the past built it. The construction lasted for more than 150 years and is one of the largest churches in the world! It was really a pity that we couldnt get to see the interior even though we tried to rush back the next day.

 

13 May 2006

 

Today i still cant believe that i m going to visit the ever so popular leaning tower of pisa which Italien scientists dropped balls of equal mass from?? I didnt get to find out if Galileo really conducted experiments there but the tower was really leaning and it felt weird climbing up a leaning tower. But the popularity of the tower really overshadowed all the other buildings surrounding it that i really thought that the tower was jus a tower in the middle of nowhere. But in actual fact, the bell tower is part of a group of buildings that symbolises the life of important Italiens in the past. From young the Christian is being baptised in the Batistry, then as he grows up, he prays in the cathedral. After his death, he is buried in the cemetary just beside the Baptistry. And the bell tower is to call the people for a mass.

 

But today, the place is a successful tourist attraction where English can be heard more often than Italien and there are lines of souvenoir shops along the streets. Something pretty interesting is that everyone is like taking photos of themselves superimposingly pushing the tower or some funny actions. If Pisa the tower is human, he probably will be laughing his toes off at all the silly things people do with his slanted body.

 

14 May 2006

 

Morning was spent strolling along the streets of Bologna where some marathon happened to be held there. There was pretty nothing much to do so we went to the airport early to have a really italien meal of Riscotti and Tortellini. The place was really fourt court style(v.rare to find) and we got a nice seat which a view of all the planes along the runway. The price was cheap too. What more can we ask for? Well, a rest for our tired feet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today was a great day and mood was super super happie despite being tired at the end of the day.

 

I woke up late and had ample sleep. When i stepped into the kitchen, i could smell herbal chicken soup! ah ha...muz be yvonne! she has woke up early to cook the wat she calls  "Vit C" soup which is v.yummlicious. it is smhthg i get to enjoy once a mth! Thx yvon for the long long preparation in the kitchen the whole morning cos i didnt help much. And Chun Wei came to join us for lunch and we went to Fruehlingsfest tog after that.

 

Fruehlingsfest in the daytime was really different. Going there with different pple is a different experience. The last few time we went there most of the time was spent in a bier tent and this time was a more peaceful and fresh change. 

 

I felt like a kid again playing little games in pasar malam stalls. And there is nv a game one is too old for. We sat on the ferris wheel and it had a hidden surprise cos our cabin can spin! So exciting...and poor yvonne was scared to bits but still brave enough to take many photos! The scenery was great seeing Bad Cannstatt being surrounded by hills and greenery. We sat on water slides too and was wet but fun, esp with yvonne around! hee...there were many other rides too, but just looking at them makes mi uncomfortable.

 

Another thing i like abt the fest is that we can eat food that we normally cant find in the streets, like a whole fish! it has been such a long time we ate fish with bones. The side bones were so chewy that i chewed them off. And Chun Wei cleared the whole head too. Apparently he is also another chewy person who chews the bone cartilage and marrow! But till now i have yet to find my fellow speices who eat chicken neck whole.

 

Today is Esslingen Music Night too where many bars in Esslingen have live music and there is shuttle bus to shuttle people from bar to bar the whole night. But we were pretty tired and didnt really have the stamina to last the whole night so we decided to call it a day.

 

But tmr is going to be a cool day cos we are going shopping in Metzingen. It is like the 1st time shops are actually opened on sundays. Wat a miracle and how can we miss it! It's great that finally we have smthg to do on sundays instead of staying at home the whole day.

 

 

Last weekend i was in holland and i really enjoyed every bit of it.

 

Friday, 28 Apr 2006

It didnt started off went cos on Friday night i was locked in my room. No matter how hard i turn the key in the lock it jus wouldnt bulge. Initially i thought it was someone was playing a silly prank but after awhile it seemed unlikely. So i seeked Yvonne's help thro msn.Luckily she wasnt asleep else i think i would hv cried. Then i had to throw the key out through my window to the 1st storey so that others can try opening from outside. Silly thoughts ran through my head like why must this happen just the night before i wanna go holland?It is like about 6 hours before departure. what if i m trapped the whole night? Then i cant go? muz i wait till tuesday before a locksmith is available? wat if i wanna pee? or shit? forunately, Matthias managed to turned the key after what seems like really long to mi cos i was so kan cheong. And he was saying the key was on the verge of breaking. Sheesh, i cant imagine if that happens. All is over and i went to lalaland.

 

Saturday, 29 Apr 2006 - Kinderdijk - Rotterdam

We left for holland slightly before 6 but it was already quite bright. It was the beginning of a 6 hr journey to Holland with an old but tough audi. Yvonne's classmate, Zhao Wei has invited us for this short trip with another of her friend, Jianping and her partner, Markus, a german. Along the journey we listened to chinese songs and i felt pretty much at home.

 

We reached holland around 11 plus and it is really interesting because there is really no physical borders or customs. It is jus as we travel along the expressway and suddenly, oh we are in holland. Our first stop was Kinderdijk, a windmill village with 19 mills dating all the way back from 1740s. One of them is opened to visitors and we could see how the people in those days lived and how the rotating shafts of the mills pump the water to reservoirs to control flooding because the whole place is below sealevel.

 

After that we travelled to Rottedam and checked into NH hotel. I was pretty excited cos we are like staying in a hotel! It has been so long since i last stayed in a Hotel. I am like wow-ing and taking in the surroundings like a mountain turtle. Haha.Though the experience was good, i would have preferred to stay in Youth Hostels cos they are much cheaper and somehow more casual and more fun.

 

Maybe because there were some celebration (it was the Queen's Birthday), the streets was especially messy and full of litter. There is Chinatown in the city centre, but not much Chinese around. That is really ironic. There are more Chinese Restaurants and shops in Rotterdam than Esslingen and yet there are more Chinese faces in Esslingen. So where did all the Chinese go? At home? in cars?

 

Sunday, 30 Apr 2006 - Keukenhof - Amsterdam

The hotel breakfast was great. The variety is not as splendid as many others but enough. Tried their different types of cheese and all was fantastic! Had a really full breakfast and is really to set off to Keukenhof Gardens where there are so many kinds of tulips all in full bloom. It is so postcard perfekt that we took so many photos! unfortunately there wasnt enough time else i could have picnic there the whole day amongst all the colorful tulips!

 

Afternoon we went to Amsterdam which was a real shopping paradise! It has been so long since i last see shops opened on Sundays. The whole place was bustling with activities. We went to red light district too and it was really an eye-opener. It is really nothing like Geylang because everything is so open here. The girls would advertise themselves behind a full length window and passerbys would then examine the girls as if they are some kind of product like a dress or something in the window display.

 

After that, it was a long long journey back to Esslingen which took like about 7 hours. I was pretty tired but i thought about Markus driving and keeping awake and i guess that's 100 times worse, driving from 6 pm to 2am. Another interesting thing on Expressways is that there is no upper speed limit unless otherwise stated. So there are many vehicles going at 200Km/h, something really unimaginable in Singapore.