More pictures!

I'm back in Tilburg already and I'm gonna be here for exams in 10 days time. So I really should be studying hard now. A little bit worried and panicky, cause the volume seems quite scary.

Anyway, I was at Zurich and Berlin, my first overnight train in Europe. Not the most comfortable but it's alright. I got to Zurich early in the morning and I kept my luggage in the train station's lockers. Then I started walking at 8.30 in the morning when everything was still closed. So my first stop was at this restaurant in a supermarket called Manor and I got some supposedly cheap breakfast. And I got to use clean toilet plus refill my water bottle... Zurich is quite clean, like Singapore. Things are expensive in Zurich though. I withdrew 60 swiss francs (around 40 euros) and told myself I better be careful on my expenditure. After breakfast, I went on to explore their main street bahnhofstrasse. It's not that long, but it's lined with expensive places... nice watch shops and clothing shops. I reached the end where there's a flea market going on and it was where the zurich sea is. Then I took a boat ride around the zurich see to take a look at the regions around the sea.




The Zurich central station

My breakfast, which in the end I "da pao" the crossiants for snacks on the way.

The flea market near Zurich Sea

That's the boat I didn't board. It was another boat I boarded. Haha..


I got off before it made a complete loop and I walked back so that I could explore other areas apart from the city centre. The morning weather was beautiful. As I was nearing the city centre again, I popped into a supermarket to get lunch. There's this part of the supermarket which serves express hot food and they had a "buffet" thing. They charge for the weight you have on the plate, but the selection was pretty good. There's melted cheese asparagus, pork chop, broccoli with cheese (the swiss love cheese they put chesse in everything). I ended up paying 10CHF for my lunch.. and I didn't think I took a lot...



Some metal sculpture in a nice garden

I continued exploring the city centre, this time on the east side of the river that runs through the city centre. I went into a nice looking church, walked through the happening streets and ended back at the train station. Then it started raining so I stayed in the station and there was a beach volleyball match going on! So I happily sat there to watch the match. It was quite exciting la.

After a while when the rain stopped, I went out again to the spots which I missed earlier. Took more photos and had dinner.

There were many fountains like this in Zurich. According to the guidebook, you can drink from it! Nice...
Beach volleyball in the station!

A narrow stretch of bridge along the river that runs through the city.
Largest clockface in Europe! Or so the guidebook says.

The beautiful night view of the river. But my camera not good enough to capture. Haha.

The train to Berlin was nice. I sat in a compartment which was initially empty, then a man came in, then a family came in, then another woman came in. The compartment was now full and not that comfortable anymore.. Urgh.

When I got to Berlin, it looks huge. I bought a day ticket which allowed me to take bus/train/metro all day till 3am. I got to my hostel and checked in, had to pay an extra 2.5 euros for bed linens and it's compulsory. And found out Wi-Fi costs money. Was so disappointed! Apart from that, the hostel is clean so I won't complain.

Berlin!
This must be one of the coolest advertisement ever. The red arrow is not added digitally, it's actually a real balloon in the air!
East side galley with all the graffiti on the berlin wall.
After that I went out exploring Berlin, and bumped into a few Spanish friends near East Side Gallery. We were suppose to meet later in the evening together with the Finnish girls so we split up and met up again later in the evening. The Spanish have friends in Berlin who brought us to a nice restaurant for dinner. It was cheap and served traditional German food. I had a pork knuckle but it was not fried! It looks kinda gross but it tasted really nice. Then I had an apple struddel which was suppose to be good but it turned out so-so..

The next day I met up with the Finnish girls for breakfast, because the Spanish weren't interested in breakfast that early (10.30am). We went to a cafe recommended by the guide book and it was a huge breakfast. It kept us full through lunch. That day, we went to Charlottenburg Schloss which is a palace, had a nice walk and had our lunch digested. Then we went to the Zoologische Garten area for sightseeing. We went to a church which was bombed during WWII and kept in its state of rubbles to remind people of the atrocity of the world. Next to it was a stretch of shops and a huge departmental store called KaDeWe for short. It's Berlin's "harrods". When the Berlin wall fell, many "east berliners" went there to buy things they couldn't get before the wall came down.

The super huge breakfast that is served with a big basket of bread.

Such a dramatic photo of the Charlottenburg palace

Satu in the foreground. Yes, her name is Satu and she's Finnish.

The church that was bombed during WWII. Quite an interesting building.

The inside of the new Church next to the bombed church.

We went for coffee in the afternoon, had a pastry each before we set off for more sightseeing. We walked through another shopping street and passed by Deutsche Bank. The difference is, this branch has a shop in it! There's a shop selling nicely designed household items in a bank! I thought it's a really cool idea. Customers can browse through the items while waiting to be served!

Following that we went to a few landmarks in Berlin like the Humboldt univeristy where Einstein taught, the Berliner Dom, Babel Platz, Russian Embassy, Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag (parliament house). We saw a long queue outside Reichstag and it was drizzling, so we decided to eat dinner before coming back again. We went to a place recommended by Clarisse for Currywurst and kebap. It was SO GOOD. And cheap too. Haha. less than 5 euros for a very full dinner, but no place to sit la. When we got to the Reichstag, the Spanish were there queueing, so we just joined in the queue to get inside. It's a really beautifully designed parliament house. As I was there, I thought about my history lesson during Sec 3. I actually learned about the Reichstag and there it was right in front of my eyes. The feeling is incredible, getting to see what I learnt.
It was a very fulfilling day indeed.
The berliner dom. Or Berlin Cathedral.
Pinja, Satu and me in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

According to Clarisse: The best kebap in the world.

The super famous Curry wurst. It's really really good. 1.40Eur for a curry wurst.
Big lips on the east side gallery!

Night view of the brandenburg gate.

On top of the Reichstag.

Close up of the dome of the Reichstag. Beautiful architecture.

The next day I went on a walking tour, but the weather wasn't fantastic so I couldn't enjoy as much because it was really cold and it was drizzling/raining. I saw a few more sights of Berlin and felt really happy to see so much in Berlin despite only being there for 2.5 days. People in Berlin were really friendly, they would come up to help us when we were looking for directions. It happened more than 3 times! And they spoke fluent English.

The statue on top of Brandenburg Gate.

The monument for the persecuted jews.

Propaganda left behind from East Berlin days.

Street art in Berlin. Posing next to the queen of england is the tour guide.. Summer..


Sony centre in the middle of commercial centre Potsdam Platz.

I took an overnight train back to Netherlands and went for class right after school. After class I was cycling home with a huge haversack on my back. Then suddenly my bike wobbled and I braked immediately to see what's wrong. I realised my bike broke. The frame broke!! I couldn't cycle on it and it can't be repaired! I walked back home pushing my stupid bike and my heavy bag, only to found out that my residence permit is missing! I was feeling really shitty, so I called the hostel and asked if they found it but they said no. Now I have to replace my residence permit, and I think it's going to be troublesome. The worst thing is, i don't have a scanned copy. What shitty luck. Well, that's the update for now. Gotta study!!

I miss my family back in Singapore!! Will be home in 2 months! Yay.