跨年之旅 08/09 续 Europe trip part 2

Day 3
We had a good night sleep. :)
We took our own sweet time to wake up and even cooked spaghetti breakfast for Carsten, our host.
Today, he will bring us for a one day trip around Frankfurt city!
On the way out, I saw this squirrel inside the yard of someone's house in the neighbourhood :) I was kinda surprised to see it in a residential area.

First stop, we visited the century old city hall tower and the old town square. I did not expect much from Frankfurt of its historical architecture, as it is more famous as a metropolitan modern city, yet the sights here did not disappoint me. :)


Next stop, we visited a local market! We sort of brought it up that we want to get some baby tomatoes as snacks, and Carsten remembered that, and brought us here! :) It was not an ordinary spot where tourist will go, and I was glad Carsten brought us there. (although we didn't buy our tomatoes in the end as it turned out to be more expensive than in the supermarket.)

Market here is clean and neat, it is very pleasant to stroll around inside, they have everything here! From flowers, freshly coloured vegetables, to spices and meat and chocolates, and even sausages and ham and cheese for sampling!!! just like what u get in a supermarket! :D



We then continued our way to the Zeil tower (a shopping complex actually) where we get to climb to the roof and have a panorama of the city. On the way there, I saw this guy with such a big bunch of air balloons!!! Wonder won't he get lifted up by all these balloons? He must be like moon-walking with defying gravity :P


We also stumbled upon some abstractive 'human' statues, where we didn't waste anytime in cam-whoring :)
I like this picture very much! 螳螂捕蝉，黄雀在后 :)

Some pictures we took on the roof top.



We got hungry!!! What's next? FOOD of course!
We went into this cozy little restaurant with a very hospitable owner :)
We had a big plate of variety of sausages (which include the frankfurter sausage inside) and a pork knuckle to share among us, Carsten had a salad (which is quite a big one!!! I was very interested in it but too shy to share some :P )

We also ordered one big jug of dark beer which I supposed can only be found in frankfurt? (because I cant get it anywhere else during the rest of my trip :( ). I love this beer!!! It tasted just like root beer to me...haha~
Now I really miss this beer...

After satisfying our taste buds, we continued our journey to the older side of frankfurt where Carsten showed us several old type of residential buildings (which looked quite new now since after renovated, Germans are really good in their up keeping! ) and also an old church.


Next, Carsten eagerly brought us to this bunker-like building ( which was really used as a bunker during the WW II ) where his studio is located. Inside this building are many small rooms behind 2 very heavy and thick doors, where many underground bands have their own music time. The doors and walls are so thick that they are bullet and even radiation proof!

When we came out of the building, it was already dark. Carsten brought us to have a taste of the Applewine (afphel wine? Forgot the spelling,sorry) famous in frankfurt :)

The bar we went was interesting with very cool interior designs! They have light post, electric wires, road signs as decoration. Of course, the apple wine was awesome too! It is a bit sweet-sour and gassy.
We were told that a famous lady invented the wine, her name is Speierling?
This is her statue stood just outside the bar not far away. :)

After this, me and jackie decided to explore more pubs and bars here where Carsten brought the other 2 girls home.

Interesting incident happened when we tried to get back to Carsten place after some drinks in a lounge. We lost our way and couldn't recall how to walk back from the subway station to Carsten's place. It was already 1am >.<
Honestly, we were quite scared :P since there was no one in sight on the street!!! Luckily, eventually we saw a shop was still lighted up, it was a Kebab shop!!! The Turkish owner was going to close his shop and he didn't hesitate to help us the 2 poor souls; we gave him Carsten's number and he called him up to ask for his house direction. He even offered to drive us back to the house, right to the door step!!! How sweet!!! According to Martin (my Vienna's host), we call such people, Travel Angel :D !!!
Thanks a million Kebab uncle!!! (sorry, didn't get to ask for his name.)

跨年之旅 08/09 Europe trip

First of all, let me introduce my travel buddies, from the L: me, Jackie, AY & WY :) . We travelled to Frankfurt, Munich, Salzburg and Vienna. Here we go, hope i can persevere and post up as much as i can!!! enjoy :)

Day 1
Me, WY & AY flew into the frankfurt via Budapest from Kiev on the 27th Dec while Jackie flew from simferopol via istanbul and we met up at the Frankfurt airport on that saturday night.
We then took off to our host house! ( we found Carsten, our host on couchsurfers.com )
He stays 3 stations away from the main train station, we reached his place very late and called it off for a day and went to bed to get enough rest for next day's black forest trip!
Everyone loves Carsten! :) (FYI,he is a vegetarian, a Buddhist and a band guitar player! He is even kind enough to give us his albums as souvenirs!!! thanks yea!)
A look at the house we stayed in (it's not Carsten's, but a similar one)

Day 2
As early as 6am we struggled (not enough sleep, cold winter) our way to the main train station and started our 5 hours journey to Freiburg! (in between we had to transit 4 times since we bought a budget group ticket which is much cheaper!)

Tasty snacks we saw in the main train station!!! too expensive to have one myself :(
We had some power nap along the way, and finally we reached our destination- Freiburg! After consulting the tourist information counter, we didn't waste much time in Freiburg & continued our way up to the hill, to Titisee (cute name!) which is a skiing resort I suppose :)

A horse-cart makes it more fairy tale :)
A proof to show we are in black forest >.<
A lot of wooden handy-craft can be seen here, which are made of the black forest wood?!?
The sceneries in Titisee was breath-taking!!! It is like a fairy tale little town, surrounded by the black forest... for the reason that it is covered with snow makes it more beautiful :)
There is even a lake up on this hill, with the black forest in the background, don't you feel like exclaiming: wahhhhhh~~~ >.< (we all were stunned by the magnificent view)






Alright, I was told that being in Black Forest, 2 food which u cant miss are the Frankfurter ham and the black forest cake!!! and hell ya how would we miss it? Hehehe...
The ham tasted fantastic ( personal opinion :) ) and it is sold cheaper here than other places in germany! It would be the best snack to go with a beer or wine :) ...awww~ I miss the ham.
And next comes the Black forest cake!!!
4 of us each ordered a different cake, there were of course the black forest cake on the top right corner, followed by the choc cake, the blackberry cake and the vanilla+rum cake...all of them were soooo yummy!!! I personally fell for the vanilla+rum cake :)

After a satisfying sweet meal and some sight seeing, we made our way down hill back to the little town, Freiberg. It was quite late and getting very cold by the time we reached there, most shops were already closed. We just strolled around the town and admired the architectures. :)


At around 6pm plus, we hopped onto the train again n there we went, another 5 hours journey back to frankfurt! We collapsed straight after we went back to Carsten's place...zzz

stay tuned for Frankfurt Day 3 :)
(gosh, took me almost 3 hrs for this post, Fufu, how much time u spent for one post???sweat...hahaha)

End of europe trip soon

Dear friends,
I am heading back to ukraine next morning by plane...and it will mark a temporary end to my short europe trip!
All in all, the whole experience was awesome!!! i got to meet alot of new friends, and made some great buddies on the way :)
and oh ya, the beers and wines in germany and austria are really good!!!

I will try to post entries on my journey this time!!! :) (fingers crossed)

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009

Greetings from Munich,Germany!!!!
would like to leave a quick and short post here to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!!
may you have a blastfull and exciting year ahead, filled with happiness, laughters and good health!!! :D

Ciao!!!

It was a merry christmas

Thanks everyone for a wonderful 2008 christmas aka the last christmas which I am spending in Ukraine :) !!!
We had a wonderful cocktail party on the eve, thanks to Fariq!!! :D those cocktails were GOOD!!!
On the Christmas day itself (we still have class =.= yesss, Ukraine celebrates her christmas on the 7th of January), after class in the morning, I went for a sweet little christmas dinner with singyee and jackie at this italian restaurant which I had long heard about its good food! Well, it didn't disappoint me!
I had a beef pasta and a squid salad, Jackie had a mixture of chicken and pork with BANANA >.< while singyee had chicken fillet topped with apple flavored sauce (I personally like this very much!). Well, of course the dinner won't be perfect without some liquor, right? :) we had 2 bottles of champagne too!
(In the end, we ordered another seafood pizza after being tempted by the table next to us!hahaha~)
Guess what? We thought there won't be a white christmas this year, but it snowed on the christmas night itself!!! wonderful~ it started snowing when we were on the way to the restaurant and when we walked out of it, the scenery changed into snowy white :) NICE! Christmas won't be perfect without snow, isn't it? :)
At last, of course, you can't miss out the christmas GIFTS!!!


Thank you everyone for all the lovely gifts :) and I just LOVE this skinny tie >.<
Alright, 2008 is coming to an end, would like to wish everyone here a HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!!
P/S: I am leaving to Germany tonight! :D safe journey to me!!! Have fun guys!!! xoxo

Time to be joyful and grateful

Christmas in 3 more days, and New year in a week time, and here comes 2009!!!
Time really flies, and soon i will be graduating next June, alot more to look forward to after that.
Personally i quite like this festive season or months, from end of December to March: Xmas, then New Year, and followed by Chinese New year, then Valentine, my birthday, mom's birthday etc.
Christmas trees are up!

How are you guys celebrating all these coming festivals? I am fortunate enough to spend my New year in Germany this year, first time in life counting down in a foreign city except Ipoh,Malaysia, Singapore and Simferopol,Ukraine :) excited!!!

Well, as 2008 is coming to an end, it is time for me to list out my 2009 resolutions, to set some goals for me to work towards them, well, but not now :)let me refer back to my 2008's and have some planning in my head first:)

Alright, enjoy and treasure the last few days of 2008, take some time to reflect back on the past 357days, and be thankful to everything we have around us, especially the loved ones.
My family, My friends, My loved ones...THANK YOU for a wonderful 2008! :)

Sweet...very sweet

After my gym on wednesday, I went to do some marketing at the marketplace next to my gym. Meanwhile, i wanted to get some biscuits for my breakfast too as the stock is running dry. (yes, i dont have wantan mee or dimsum as breakfast here :( )
After searching high and low, i cannot find any shops selling biscuits or cookies, only breads. ( I dont want to get bread coz they cant last long, have to consume within 2 days max )
Luckily at last i came upon this little stall at the roadside! :)
Aha~ yes, i should've recalled this stall, it had been here always, just that i have never bought anything from here.
Oooo...there was a LONG queue, nevermind, i am desperate, i need breakfast, just join the line! while Q-ing and waiting, i started to daydream and suddenly there was a lady called out to me:
Young man! are you buying anything too? you are not in the Q, the Q should be here.
(pointing the line behind her)
WTF! I had been standing at the wrong spot immediately next to the stall for 10 mins at least! now i have to Q up again =.=
As the time passed, I realised I am actually the 'young'(depends how u classified young, here the definition is <30 (>.<) )customer in the line! and all are ladies too! hmmm...haha~whatever, a young fit guy like me can buy cookies also! :P
Anyway, I have always been amazed by the women here how sweet they like to eat! Just look at all the biscuits and cookies and snacks selling here! All are heavily sugars coated! and all this women were buying tonnes and varities of them! I wonder they will get it home for their family and kids OR they will hide in the corner and have a feast all by themselves >.< Have a look, if not all, MOST are obesed!
Hmmm...anyway, perhaps it is just the culture here :) there are hardly thin women above 30 here...
OK, after a long wait, i bought myself 'love letter' with milk fillings (tasty!my favourite!) and this cookies with caramel (first time trying, and trust me, it will really give u a sweet tooth!!!)

Things you see in Ukraine

Yup, there are a few common sights or things you can see all over Ukraine, no matter which city you travel to.
Here are some of the examples:)
Trolleybus!!!
How could you miss a trolleybus ride in ukraine? hehe...but to tell you the truth, so far i had only taken trolleybus less than 5 times! it is toooooo slow and not so hygenic :P
FYI, here in the crimean peninsula, we have the longest trolleybus route (from simferopol to yalta) in the world!
Marshrutka!!!
Yes, another very very very very common (even more common than trolleybus nowadays i suppose) kind of transportation - the infamous Marshrutka!
Basically it is just a small van or small bus (getting bigger over the years, and equipped with auto-doors). It can always amaze you by the number of passengers it can carry at one time, never underestimate it! :P more than 30 people can be squeezed inside even though the capacity maybe 20? You can say it is not bad if it is during winter, mass cuddling keep warm :) BUT if it is during summer?!?!?! OMG, u go and imagine yourself (FYI, some smaller type marshrutka comes with very limited windows, perhaps 1 ontop, 2 on the sides?)