Day 6: Venice

The trip from Rome to Venedig took us about 4hours, and it seemed that everyone on the train were tourists. It turned out that actually the ratio of tourists to inhabitants in Venice is 2:1, which would imply that everything is going to be skyrocket expensive. However we managed to grab some good deals:
-icecream for 1€
-boat ride for 16€ each cos we were quoted 80€ per boat, which were too ex for us and so we waited and 2 guys from Holland came along, and we took the boat ride together.
-the hotel that I booked was great. 30€ per head per nite. Took me a real long time to search for this offer online. We had our private room, shower and towels. And a very quiet corner too. Only complaint was that the weather was damn hot and in Europe instead of seeing aircons we see heaters in the room.
-postcards for 0.20€ only, and they’re really beautiful. We’re gonna get some tml.

Although Venice is not a big place, the roads, or canal-roads, looked like a labyrinth of maze to such an extent that the map which we got from the hotel was practically useless. But I never got tired happily snapping away at my camera at the bridges and rivers and canal. According to the boatman, the main river is 6m deep and the canals which branches out from the main river is 2m deep. Also there are more than 400 bridges in Venice. To me Venice is a beautiful and peaceful, quiet place. It seems that most of the houses have been abandoned, to quote ying: it looks like a ghost town.

And most importantly, Germany won Turkey today to advance into the finals, which we will be in München. Looks like its going to be an exciting day for us too, for me, as a supporter of the deutschen Mannschaft. Auf geht’s Detuschland schießt ein Tor! Wir werden EM!

-bino

I love Venice. I love the very nice hotel and the courtyard right in front of it. Most importantly it’s surrounded by water! And the sun is great for a tan! There’s nothing much to see but we had a delicious lunch and scrumptious dinner. Watched soccer in a small restaurant in the nice courtyard over beer and dinner and that again is just life. we are on a tight budget but I enjoy little splurges like that. The atmosphere is what you can’t get anything else. I’ve concluded that the places worth visiting again are places like these. Though I would love to speak more French I wouldn’t wanna return to paris. Been there done that. But Venice and hiedelberg… they are gorgeous to go back just for a picnic. Nice weather and beautiful scenery to just enjoy and waste the day away. Atas I know. But very worth it. Though I couldn’t sleep at night cos of the heat and the mosquitoes! I hate the bloody mosquitoes! I covered my legs and hands they bit my face! Of all places my face! Then the tampons keep leaking and so I switched back to pads again. Wasted my money! Hmph! but the good scenery and experience just offset all the unhappiness. And I am a happy girl.

Yingzaghi

Venice was as hot as Rome but slightly more humid. There were not much places to visit but the Piazza San Marco and the Maruno glass-blowing factory more than made up for the lack of monuments. The Orthodox Church there must be one the nicest and its style is very different from the Catholic churches we have visited so far. As for the glass blowing demonstrations, it was captivating. One can never imagine the ease these masters seem to be in when they are making those shaped glasses. Within minutes, they were able to make a horse!!

The one day Venice stay was rounded up by a nice dinner, beer and soccer!! After going back to the hotel, we had our showers and went down to catch the Euro semi between Germany and Turkry (3-2). It was a match with end to end excitement but it was the victory of Germany that was important. It meant that we are going to Munich earlier than planned to catch the match live on a big screen!! Woohoo!!

But it is Berlin (and the Euro semi between Spain and Russia) next.

PS: The hotel got a marked down because there are mosquitoes at night!! Terrible.

~Piero~

Tips for the traveller (part 1)

Muji sells very good toiletries sets! Me and peiyong got a whole set from there and it fits perfectly and it is customs approved (so far).

Paris attractions have many unlicensed vendors selling souvenirs. You probably can get a cheap deal outta them but beware of people who come up to you and ask if you understand or speak English. They aren’t tourists! They are people begging for money! Bs apparently gave them some money outta pity and they will press you for more! There are also some African at montmarte who talk to you an say they wanna make friends with you. They next thing you know they are tying a friendship band around your hand and you have to pay for it!

When entering sacred sites in rome, visitors are expected to dress in clothes that are appropriately decent. No shorts singlets for guys and no short skirts or shorts or sleeveless for girls. Skirts have to cover knees and berms for guys are acceptable. For me cos the weather is a killer I wore shorts and used a shawl to wrap around like a skirt. When I’m out of the religious sites I remove the shawl and I’m cool again.

Rome has water fountains everywhere. The fountains have huge taps that have water running from taps all the time. The water is apparently potable and py and bs as guinea pigs has proved that you won’t get a diarrhea or die from drinking the very cool (sometimes cold) water. Me? I got constipated from tap water in germany so I decided I will just stick to mineral water. I did try the fountain water though. Not too bad at all. Better than what you get at water coolers in schools.

Like paris, rome has many people who sell well… flowers. They usually push them into hands of unsuspecting tourists and kids and then force them to buy later on. 2 stalks are like 1 euro. Though they say you can pay as much as you like they’d press you for more than what you have given.

-ying

Day 4 and 5: Rome

Rome was much better than Paris although just as touristic. Our hostel was much better too, and we were fortunate to meet this queer guy called Mario (who we think owns the hostel) and gave us some great tips (although sometimes we doubted his kang tao).

The streets of Rome are very walkable and most importantly, there are public taps and fountains all over the city which supplied cooool, portable water which is a luxury under the scorching sun of 37 degrees!

What I liked about Rome:
-relatively cheaper cost of expenses
-easy to navigate, you will never find yourself “holland-ed” (lost), which is why there is a saying “All Roads lead to Rome”
-the cheerful guy who sells cheap Kebabs and pizzas at Roma Termini. I am not sure if he is Turkish or not because he looks like he had Italian blood in him too. We liked him so much that we visited him 3 times in 2 days and he was very happy to have us back and gave us extra pizzas during our 2nd visit until we had to stuff ourselves.

-the passionate tour guides who I think are Uni students that live in Rome and work independently. For them Rome is their life and they are happy just being there and telling the story of Rome all over again to different people. It is not easy to be an independent tour guide because you’re competing with the agents and there’re lots of them in Rome.

What I did not like about Rome:
-actually nothing much to complain here, except that I developed blisters on my foot from too much walking already. Moreover I bought only a pair of shoes (which I won’t wear actually but had to cos of the Moulin Rouge dress code).

-bino

Rome… hmmm… nothing much to say about the place. You gotta see and feel it for yourself. The history part can be a bit mind boggling. And the heat. Sorching! Got a sunburn but very nice tan. I like. I love basking in the sun. And the walks were relatively easier than paris! Most memorable has gotta be the very nice kebab man. We were speaking simple English but somehow I felt a connection with the owner. I’m sure bs and py felt the same! I have a feeling the owner liked us a lot cos we returned there 2 days in a row for lunch and dinner. Appreciated that we love the food.

Then there are the weird spots on my hand… don’t know what caused it but hope it goes away soon. Then stupid py was talking about my time of the month. Something about whether I got enough pad or something then my period came. Idiot. Cursed. Gonna try the tampons for the first time. With the hot weather I’ll die using pads. Cross fingers.

Yingzaghi

Rome was equally tiring as Paris but I love the place very much. Fascinating Roman structures and delicious kebabs, spaghetti and gelato definitely give Rome a high score on the overall rating. The only downside was the hot weather which is a killer for me. Luckily, the place was not as humid as Singapore and drinkable water fountains filled the streets of Rome. BS extremely loved them!

It is perfectly true of the saying; “Rome is not built in one day.” The grandeur and magnificence of the Roman monuments cannot be explained through words but to be felt and to be seen. It is astounding and had me gasping in awe time after time. The Colosseo and the Roman Forum will definitely leave many people stunned. The Vatican is a place not to be missed. Get to the top of the St. Peter’s Basilica to get a panoramic view of the city and Rome – I think it’s better than that of the Eiffel Tower. (PS: Oh yah, don’t miss the entrance like we did. We had to queue to go in again because we missed the turn towards the tower. The section is called the Cuppola). It is a pity that my knowledge of the history of the Roman Empire and Catholicism are rather limited. Or else, this visit to Rome and the Vatican would be a much more fruitful one, especially intellectually.

Another two quick-passing days. Venice, here we come!

~Piero~

Day 2 and 3: Paris

Although it was my second time visiting Paris, I was glad that the places that I saw, the photos that I took were different from the first time. Of course there are some sights which I went again, like Eiffel and Notre Dame. However, I did different things this time with different people. Most notably interesting was the boat ride along the river Seine as well as the 90€ Moulin Rouge musical. I remember telling YT that if I don’t do something different in Paris this time it would be a wasted trip.

On the whole Paris had not changed at all since the time in 2006. But the prices have been inflated like mad. The Kebab there now costs about 5€ plus when it used to cost like 4€. The touts that sell keychains apparently also study economics. Last time they used to sell 5 keychains for 1€ but now its being reduced to 3.

What I liked about Paris:
-Moulin Rouge: not because throughout the musical all the female performers were half-naked, but also because the music and the singing were great. It was also the first time that I saw a ventriloquist perform during the intermittent.

What I did not like about Paris:
-the touts were too blatant and aggressive. Glad they did not really bother us that much though, probably cos we're not couples or we do not have kids or we simply don’t have the rich look
-the very inaccurate map in terms of scales. Made us walk like crazy until we decided to fork out some €€ to buy the T-10 tickets the 2nd day… and I din dare leave my laptop at the hostel cos chances that I won’t see it again is high
-the hostel which we lived in was quite crappy, and more expensive than the one which we stayed in Rome. Thankfully we stayed there for one night only, although there was a time I did consider extending another night cos we had no accommodation for the 2nd night…..

…. And yes we slept on the streets on the 2nd night. Well not really that pathetic cos we were not alone. The reason why we did so was cos our flight was really early in the morning and the bus to the airport leaves at 6am, and there’s no hostel (but many stars hotels) near the bus park. So we spent the night there with some other likeminded people like us.

-bernard

We woke up early the next morning as we are supposed to catch 6.40am ICE train ride to Paris. Paris, in short, was a hectic and tiring leg of the Euro-trip. We walked and walked under the scorching sun with a map that did not truly reflect the distance between each monument. Things were not helped by staying in a stuffy and badly ventilated hostel room. It’s only slightly better than the construction workers’ dorms in Singapore.

Notre Dame

Visited lots of monuments but the highlights would be Moulin Rouge and the lighting up of Eiffel Tower at night. Overall, I would say that Paris is not my kind of place. Probably because I don’t study a lot of its history and maybe also the place lack a certain kind of awe for me.

Two days passed by rather quickly. And the climax of the trip was the night we spent on the streets of Paris. As we had to catch an early bus ride to the airport, the plan was to stay out on the streets till the time of the boarding. However, the wind for the night was particularly strong and the temperature easily hit a low of 10 degrees Celsius. We almost froze to death but it was certainly a once in a lifetime experience – though I hoped this was the one and only time.

Next up, ROME!!

~Pierre~

Paris! Now was I excited! I was hoping I could use some French there. Got on the nice ICE train to paris and I took out my phrase book to revise some simple conversational phrases. Oh man… I forgot so many things! L

We arrived in paris and took a very long walk to the hostel. The free map was so deceiving! The journey was so long. And with our heavy backpacks by the time we reached the hostel we were (or rather I was) almost dying! But no time for rest! We have to really make use of the time we had fully! We’re not only on a budget. We were on a time constraint! To cover as many things as we can in these two days I tell you… our legs suffered a great deal! But every drop of sweat was worth it! We had a nice dinner by the river seine and though it was expensive I enjoyed the food and the sights. It was a small cafe that sells Turkish food and we were like parisiens (or maybe tourists) enjoying our food by the roadside. Agenda 1 fulfilled!

After covering half of the river we went back to the hostel on foot again to get ready for Moulin rouge! We paid a good deal of money to get in and I was anticipating a great show. For the experience I think it was not too bad. But for the performance I was a little disappointed. The dancers looked tired and most of them looked really jaded and unenthusiastic. The lead performers did fine. But on the whole I would say for the experience it was worth it. The theatre was cramped but the design of the place was kept as it is cabaret style. Really nice. The champagne wasn’t to bad though. Sadly py fell asleep from the exhaustion of walking. I admit I too was trying not to doze off. The performance wasn’t all that bad. Just that I don’t understand why the girls have to keep flashing their boobs and the guys are properly covered! Hmph! after we got back to the hostel, although it was a but warm and cramped I fell into a deep sleep. Tired from walking.

The second day we decided to take the train instead and so it was a but less tiring. I loved just sitting on the cruise and looking at the sights. Not cos I was lazy! But most of the attractions are along the river! And the sights look much nicer from the river itself. Plus the cruise gave brief commentaries so it was enriching as well. I was glad we chose the right cruise company though. One with an open top. Though we baked in the sun but the sights looked much better without a shelter blocking us. And after a relaxing ride we had to go climb the Eiffel tower! Bs gave us the challenge of using the stairs instead of paying more to take the lift and we took it. Me and py almost died! And the very fit bs with 5 months worth if training just blazed through. Tsk. But it was all worth it.

Dawn turned to dusk and we had to start on our next adventure. Sleeping in the paris bus terminal! In order to catch a very early bus to the airport we had to forgo good sleeping conditions and sleep on the floor of the bus terminal! We wanted to seek help from “joyce” but she closes her shop at 2am! So we decided to just set up our camping site at the terminal and just try to sleep. Fortunately we weren’t alone! The insane timing of the first bus meant a lot of people had forgone their nice bed to spend the night at the terminal. Unfortunately though it was a freakingly cold night! Totally unexpected of paris in summer! Argh! I was freezing I couldn’t sleep! I couldn’t wait to get on the bus and then on the plane so that I could catch some shut eye! It was a long night but we made it through safe and sound. Cool.

~Yves~

Day 1: Mannheim and Heidelberg

Woke up at 3.30am to take the first train to Frankfurt Flughafen to pick up Py and Ying back to my place in Mannheim. After breakfast we went to Heidelberg, a 20min ride with the S-Bahn from Mannheim. Due to its vicinity from Mannheim, Heidelberg is no foreign place to me. But whenever I am there, I never fail to be attracted to its scenery along the Neckar River and wallpaper like picture of the Altstadt from the Philosopohenweg. Heidelberg retains its peace while trying to cope with the increasing numbers of tourists, especially from Asia.

Mannheim was well, hopeless in terms of sightseeing. As I type this entry, I will have to leave Mannheim 1 month later. Felt quite sad about it and the two of my friends could already understand why I feel so sian to leave my fort.

As for dinner, we had BBQ by the river behind my hostel. It was quite a great change for them and I think they enjoyed it a lot. Nothing much to write about Mannheim and Heidelberg on my side cos its MY FORT.
-bs

After BS came to pick us up, we headed straight for Mannheim where his hostel is. The weather was cooling, much to my delight. Took about an hour before reaching BS’s hostel. Then it was some BS-cooked omelette before off to Heidelberg. The scenery by the Neckar River is excellent and I enjoyed myself there, snapping pictures away. We had a picnic on the hill facing the river, drinking beer and eating chips. Life should just be this way.

We then made our way back to Mannheim where BS took us round the city. I quite like Mannheim, probably because it is less “touristic” and just like a bustling neighbourhood. Dinner was BBQ by the river as we indulged in mushrooms, german sausages, etc. Sipping wine and drinking coke certainly adds to the flavour. Oh yah, cheap things are not always good as our experience with the BBQ pit had shown.

PS: Turkey scored an extraordinary equalizer as they dumped croatia out of Euro on penalties. What resilience! Or is it just luck?

~PY~

Was quite pleased to see boon song not long after we arrived in Frankfurt. After months of liaising online we finally met to begin the long awaited trip! Yeah! And as usual boon song was reliably on-time to pick us up. He led up effortlessly through the airport to the train station. I wish one day I could lead my friends around in such a manner in a foreign country. It was very reassuring and I predicted a very good trip to come.

Bs’s hostel was great. Simple yet feels like home. I miss my sheares room (and the room only). Bs’s learnt how to cook quite well in the last 5 months and whipped up a pretty good omelette which I selfishly finished by myself. Heh. Then while I was bathing py and bs made spaghetti and more omelettes! Yum yum. It was a great breakfast followed by a relaxing panoramic tram ride and walk to hiedelburg. Py was taking all the photos for the trip so me and bs just walked and enjoyed the cool air and beautiful sights along the way. Bs spoke great german and was able to wow some local visitors along the way. i wished I could speak French like that! One day!

The walk in the old town was my favourite! The sights were amazing! Let the pictures do the talking! And the walk up the castle plus the picnic! Wow! I was really enjoying life. I totally understand why bs doesn’t want to go home. Life is good there. Taking in all the nice sights and just drinking wine and beer coupled with chips and chocolates… ahhh…

Next we were off to bbq by the… err… river. We grabbed some food at the nearby supermarket and did some shopping at H&M before we went for bbq-ing. The food tasted really good with the maggi soy sauce (which bs got in the local supermarket!). I loved the mushrooms with the sauce and butter! My favourite dish of the day. Thought there were some hiccups setting up the fire on the whole the bbq was a success! We finished all the food and left satisfied. Simple yet enjoyable. Think that’s how I would sum up Mannheim or bs’s fort. Yes. If I were him, I wouldn’t wanna leave! Especially as a student! I can’t wait to go back to school! Boo hoo…

The only spoiler of the day was tai gou turkey won again la. Tsk. I hate them! Why must they always pull a fast one on the last min?!! and stupid py just have to go on about “resilience”. Oh man. They are just plain lucky! Hmph!

And since I reached there I think I have drank more wine and beer than I had water! Ha! That’s all for day 1!

~Y~

Day Take-off: Changi (Singapore) – Pudong (Shanghai) – Frankfurt (Germany)

Met peiyong at t3 (thanks to the ride from joyce and gaston!) and we were off to explore t3 almost 2 hours before our flight. Disappointingly there were not many things to explore in the new terminal. Thought t1 and 2 had more exciting shopping (though we had no money to buy). We ended up sitting down at one of the cafes and had a drink instead. Then it was time to finally board our china eastern flight. The experience was better than expected! Yes the seat was more cramped but the food was surprisingly edible. And our air stewardess zhu jie was an eye-candy for me. Heh. So the flight was actually quite pleasant though not all that comfortable.

Took us about 5 hours to reach pudong airport in shanghai. The experience was traumatizing. As soon as we got down the plane we realized we were the only ones that were transiting. With no one to follow, we had to try to find out how we are supposed to get to the departure hall. We followed the signs that said “transfer” but apparently we entered some vip room for consulates and the guards were running after us as though we had broken some law. It was horrifying. Then we were told we have to get an entry stamp to get into shanghai before getting another exit stamp 10 min later after we get into the departure hall. This is the first time when I had to transit I actually have to enter the country first and go through the customs procedure 2 times before boarding the plane. Luckily we could speak Chinese but that was not good enough! We were entering shanghai and they couldn’t find the departure stamp from Singapore and for about 10 min they seized my passport but refused to tell me what’s the problem with the passport. Thank god for peiyong’s customs officer who was more knowledgeable to know that for some more high-tech countries citizens don’t actually have to get their passports stamped. That was really inconvenient but an experience in itself. They could really deal with the transition. Sheesh. We had supper before we boarded the plane to Frankfurt. $10 approx. for a bowl of noodles! But it was actually quite nice so no complains. It was also comfort food after the traumatizing experience and for the long 12 hour flight ahead.

To counter jet lag we were trying to keep awake and sleep only when it’s night time in Europe. But we were actually woken up at 3 am to eat breakfast! Gosh! I thought I could sleep all the way to germany. After breakfast we actually had a morning exercise with all the crew and passengers in the plane. It was highly hilarious! Everyone raising their arms and rotating their heads together. Heh. Very nice experience indeed. On the whole the china eastern experience was not too bad at all. We arrived in one piece in Frankfurt and didn’t have to wait too long for bs to come.

-ying

Woke up as usual since it was a noon flight from Singapore. It was a nice change considering the last few trips when flights were in the wee hours or in the early morning. After a quick lunch, took bus 858 from Woodlands to meet ying at T3. We checked in my luggage and went to explore the rest of T3. However, there wasn’t much to explore at the duty free area and there are not much shops too. Both of us then took a rest at a cafe as we waited for the flight.
Against all expectations, the China Easter experience is a pleasant one. Better than average meals and good service from the stewardess. It certainly helped when the stewardess are nice-looking – Ying was so obsessed with one Zhu Jie. In order to prepare for jet lag, I was resting as much as possible throughout the 5-hour flight to Pudong.

Arrived safely at Pudong didn't prepare for an “exciting” and frenzy experience at the Shanghai airport. With little instructions from the air stewardess – we were the only passengers transiting to Frankfurt, we tried to follow the signs to find the transiting area. Despite understanding the Chinese and English signs, we were able to understand their mode of operation and thinking. Not all Chinese are the same!!! Same same but VERY DIFFERENT. So though we followed the signs religiously, we somehow strayed into a no entry area that says “Tansit Hall”. It seemed to be a waiting area for VIPs like diplomats and the likes. This prompted a few of the officers at the airport into action as they asked what we were trying to do. After telling them we are transiting, we were told that we have to exit like other passengers coming to Shanghai and then proceed to the departure hall as if we are leaving Shanghai. Fascinating!! Ying was slightly traumatized by the whole experience for at one point it seemed that she was not going to be allowed entry. It seemed that some of the officers didn't know that not all passports are going to have the exit stamp especially from countries like Singapore who uses biometric passports. Luckily, the custom officer attending to me somehow knew that and cleared me. The other officer serving Ying thus follow suit. We then proceeded straight for the departure hall. So technically, Ying and I were in Shanghai for about 10 - 15 minutes. After this “unique” experience, it was a quick dinner for us since the whole “transit” took about 45 minutes. The beef noodles went some way to relax my mind from the whole incident moments earlier. Soon, it was boarding for the flight to Frankfurt.

On the plane to Frankfurt, we waited for the supper before going to slumber. Woke up at 3am for breakfast. I must say I love the bread, especially with butter. Soon after, it was exercise time!! Apparently, it was to help relieve the stiff joints and prevent DVT. It was rather hilarious to see people clapping and stretching their hands in unison on the plane. After that, it was touch down at Frankfurt as we met Boon Song at the airport.

-PY