The End, almost

Saying goodbye, our way ;-)

The rooms looks a mess, and it truly is. Tomorrow we leave for Frankfurt where we will have less than a day before we all part ways and fly home. The trip is so close to the end and yet we feel like we have not had enough. But do we ever?

Berlin has been short but eventful. Other than doing moooore random shopping, we spent almost the whole morning and afternoon at the Zoo. Here are the few specimens we saw.

We saw some lions just hanging out, chilling...

We saw Knut... or maybe not...

A very hungry fox-dog animal thing...

The cutest little thing you do not want as a pet...

A pair of wild monkeys...

Very cute lemur-like animals

& a macho zookeeper feeding lemur-like animals

We also saw Checkpoint Charlie, remnants of the Berlin Wall and the TV Tower in Alexanderplatz covered in heavy mist, etc etc. I got a new rucksack because by now you can imagine all our suitcases are 2 times the weight they arrived in.

Well, one more day to go!!! And we still have tons of stories to share ;-)

Prague is loving us loving it!!

Tyn Cathedral in Old Town Square

Prague has been really good to us. There has been no snow or rain, no food poisoning on my end, no cold air filling up our bedrooms!! What more could one ask for when away from home???

In the last 2 days we have seen, done and bought a lot, so tomorrow will be dedicated to looking for bags for all the extra luggage we have accumulated, but not after checking out the Prague Castle and the Toy Museum. We also hope to catch the Ghost Trail tomorrow night to end our trip here in Prague.

On top of everything, I must say that the apartment we rented is the highlight of our visit. It is spacious, clean, warm and very affordable. (A full review will come soon, courtesy of Lydd I am sure!). Just see how happy we are in the photos below!

Lydd and myself at the entrance of our apartment being very serious

Nice spacious kitchen for us to pose in, and... maybe... hmmm cook? Maybe...

And this is only ONE of the beds in this apartment

Paris in not so small a nutshell

(I am actually in my room in Vienna now but this was a post I wrote a day ago on the night train from Paris, re-edited)

I'm on the TGV from Paris to Frankfurt now and as I have nothing else better to do, I thought I'd write a summary of the last 6 days in Paris.

Even the road signs intrigue!!

DAY 1 : Arrival & the Louvre
This being my second time in such a short time span to the Louvre, I wanted to make the best out of the experience. The last visit was rushed and aimed only at visiting the main attractions like the Venus, Mona Lisa and Ramses II. This time I wanted to see the rest and less notable artifacts the Louvre houses.

My best finds were,

i. Unknown statue of a guy with a wound on his left thigh. The audio guide I rented had no information on him and the plaque next to him only read French. (I have yet time to do a search on him online) Who is he??? I am curious not because he is naked (sheesh!!) but if you look to the right of err, yeah to the right, you see his open wound. See!! And he seemed to have dropped his sword and not realized it yet.

ii. Napolean's travel kit
I'm pretty sure it was his beauty kit for daily use but it was pretty neat to imagine that he would carry his toothbrush platter on board the ships he sailed ;)

N is for Napolean...

...and N is for Nora!!

iii. The letter 'N'
Marking Napolean's reign over the country, it was fun looking for the majestic 'N' insignia he had carved into the ceiling and also sewn into his royal robes. (By evening, I realized that I had developed an odd but very real crush on the dead emperor simply from perusing his apartments and looking at the many paintings of his beautiful self! He did if once, brainwashing his citizens, blinding them to his faults, and he is still doing it today, unto me!! *_*)

There was so much more to the Louvre that was amazing like the painting of Josephine's coronation that was painted over the original painting of Napolean (yes, that dashing dude again) crowning his own self. You can still see the original artwork beneath the new layer. The artist even included a cameo of Julius Caesar in the updated version!

Say NO to the guide! Unless he is tall, blonde, and handsome, of course.

((TIP)) I won't get the audio guide if I were you. It only acts as extra dead weight hanging off your neck as it covers only the main artifacts and paintings, which are very very few compared to ALL that was there. My system also hanged a few times and you could only get them exchanged at selected desks in the museum and this museum is HUUUUGE!

DAY 2 : Sacre Couer, Pere Lachaise Cemetery & Eiffel Tower
We had to change rooms at noon due to a rat problem (explained in Hanie's and Lydd's entries) and decided to explore the art district of Montmartre, so began our hike up the Sacre Couer. It was unfortunately cloudy that day so the view atop the hill of martyrdom was not extremely spectacular.

A different view of the Sacre Couer, due to lack of a better shot XD

Hanie making the hike up easier with crepe in hand!

Sacre Couer actually sits on the summit of Montmatre, believed to be the place where Saint Denis was beheaded, after which we picked up his head and walked 6 miles preaching before actually falling dead at where Saint Denis Basilica stands today.

After the room exchange (we were downgraded to a smaller room >_<) we quickly made our way to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery but for some odd reason all their gates were closed. We followed the other visitors around the the cemetery walls to see if there was another entrance but it was sealed shut. Hanie blamed zombie infestation to the closure. Imagine Jim Morrison Zombie and Oscar Wilde Zombie in a fist fight!! That would have been a spectacle to witness for any amount of money. No graves for us to marvel at today but there is always chow to find!!

Met up with Lydd's pal visiting from Brisbane at the Eiffel Tower and due to extreme wind, opted for warm food (again!) instead of making the hike up the tower. It was already dark and it would have made zero sense to go up as the night was not only black, it was very cloudy. To me, the Eiffel Tower is best visited from afar. Hitler agrees. Remember this?

"Savvy, non?"

DAY 3 : Grande Mosque Paris, Pantheon, Notre Dame, L'As Du Falafel, Asemblee Nationale, Champs Elysee, Arc de Triomphie & Laduree

((TIP)) Just because winter is called low-season doesn't mean you're the only one out traveling the world. Everyone else is trying to beat the crowd and end up taking a holiday in winter, so be prepared to wait in line for major sights and time your daily travels appropriately. A low side of winter traveling is that many sites are closed for maintenance so access to crypts and monuments may be limited to the main halls.

DAY 4 : Disneyland Paris
You can probably imagine what took place here. ;-)

DAY 5 : Sick in bed with food poisoning
I had to take a rain check on one of the places I was anticipating the most on this trip, Versailles. Lydd and Hanie will have to fill you in on their adventures in Marie Antoinette's wonderland.

DAY 6 : Basilique St Denis & departure to Vienna

Goodbye Montmartre

We are attempting to pack up our suitcases to leave for Vienna. It has been a great 6 days in Paris minus Hanie's broken luggage handle, fiasco with the lock combination on Lydd's bag and my unfortunate episode with food poisoning. We have more than 6 hours to kill before our train departs from Paris Est so we decided to visit. The tombs of the kings and queens of France at the Basilique St Denis before doing some last minute souvenir shopping. Let's hope we have better internet facilities in our accommodation in Vienna for us to do something about this blog.
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Tea party with the Mad Hatter

We have not been very good with our blog since Paris happened. We find ourselves too tired to do anything but fall into our beds every night after our explorations of interesting monuments and places and not fulfilling our duties here ;)

Until we get our internal-batteries recharged we will continue to etch memories into our head/iPhone to retell them at our earliest convenience.

We're stuck on the RER on the way back from Disneyland which was really great, despite the cold wind. On the way back to our hotel in the heart of Paris or so they tell us, for a real good hot meal. We spent the day replenishing our blood sugar with nothing but hot chocolate and popcorn. So it's safe to say that we are very very hungry right now.

We had some bad luck the last 2 days with a few of the places we wanted to visit but everything else we managed to do has made up for it all. Tomorrow is going to be excellent as we will be going to Versailles and checking out this restaurant close to the chateau where Hanie will finally get her duck!
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Von Frankfurt!

I best leave the detailed talking to someone who experienced Frankfurt for the first time as things are always better when it’s new and fresh. I will, have to talk about my dinner last night. We walked to the Kaiserdom from our lodging and found a nice, cozy, and seriously empty restaurant called Binding. It was partially my fault that we went in to this instead of the more busy restaurant next door, because I saw Kaiserschmarrn on the menu (-___-;; Sorry guys).
I ordered Spinach dumplings because it was the only vegetarian meal that did not have goops of cheese in it.

It wasn’t extremely bad but it wasn’t what I initially kept my stomach empty for either. In the end, it was very typical German knudel (bread dumpling) in tomato sauce.

A little too much food for me

We concluded that in the future when we choose to dine lavishly that we would order food to share because we don’t have the capacity to eat as much as the locals do here. That way we have more room for dessert too, which I like a lot.

The night went by with us getting packed and reorganized for our first day embarking on touristy events in Paris. Woke up early in the morning, with enough sleep on my end, we headed out to the train station. Goodbye Frankfurt, we will see you again in 2 weeks!!

The top of Hanie and Lydd's head

Le fast train to Paris

Reunited!

Lydd and Hanie made it in after almost 2 days hovering in the air!! It's now almost 10 pm and we need to go to bed, and shall recount today in writing as we ride the train to Paris in the morning.

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SnOooooOOoow

This is the current state of Europe right now. Ok at least in the northern and eastern regions. This was taken at a rest stop somewhere in Sweden on my way back to Germany.

So it looks like Hanie and Lydia will get to see snow after all! I imagine they are in transit in Doha right now with 7 hours to kill before their connecting flight to Frankfurt. It's 9pm in Dortmund, where I am, and I just got back after a 20 hour bus ride from Stockholm. currently doing my last load of laundry and will start reorganizing my suitcase, a transition from work-mode to fun-mode ;)

I'll have to catch the 10am ICE train to the airport in the morning to meet my travel mates when our journey will truly start!!! More stories to come... ...
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2 days+ to go!!

I have two more shows to do in Sweden and Norway and then I'll be heading back to Germany, where I will meet up with Hanie and Lydd!!

Finally.

It is almost surreal that this is finally happening. It feels like it was only yesterday when we were talking about making this EU trip a reality and here we are just 3 days shy from rendezvousing at Frankfurt Airport!!! Two months ago we were at one point so sure that this trip in February will not happen because, among many things, flights were too expensive, and it was all just too short notice to collect sufficient funds for our 'close-to-a-dream' travel.

Lo and behold we managed to conquer the minor and major details and are now pretty much prepared and all over ecstatic about this trip! All goes to say that if you think you can, you ultimately... CAN!! ;-)

Have a safe flight over and I'll see you girls so very sooooon!!!!!

Glorious food, or in this case sweeeties!!!

One thing you always look forward to when traveling abroad is the amount of new food and desserts that await your coming. We already have a list of must-try food items on our list and armed with our Google maps we shall make our way to places pretty close to heaven in Europe. Perhaps that is saying too much, but that is never saying a lot when it comes to indulging yourself in gold equivalent food!! Right?

Main dishes aside, I'm going to focus on the 'sweet things' we will be ravishing this time, presented here in full color.

Sachertorte

Where? Cafe Sacher, Vienna
Why? 2 layers of not too sweet chocolate cake with a layer of jam in between, served with whipped cream!!!
Anticipation Level (!) (!) (!) (!) (!)

Macarons

Where? Laduree, Champs Elysee in Paris
Why? Personally, I have never had one of these little sinful things before because their colors throw me off. They look too sweet to me ^^;;, but being in Paris is a definite excuse to dine as princesses do, so I'll give this first grade Whoopie Pie a try!!
Anticipation Level (!) (!) (!) (!)

Gelato

Where? Old Town, Prague
Why? When I was last there, our guide showed me a store that supposedly has the best gelato in all of Czech Republic, so I am gamed. The fact that it is winter is dampening my enthusiam for ice-cold yummies but it'll be a challenge.
Anticipation Level (!) (!) (!)

Kaiserschmarrn

Where? Edelweiss Restaurant, Frankfurt
Why? I had this once before in Munich, though this is an Austrian and Bavarian delicacy, after much googling, I found a restaurant in Frankfurt that serves it for lunch. I take a lot of pleasure in feeding people this mashed up pancake dish, a real good warm dessert to kill the chill in winter time. Bah, it's just good to put into your mouth anytime all year round!
Anticipation Level (!) (!) (!) (!) (!)

Well, that's that and I am sure there are more that we will want to try as we hit cheese shops and bakeries. Is that a shiver I feel running up and down my spine? Is that loud thump reverberating in me, my heart beating? Feels like it. A few more days to go before we stuff ourselves with wholesome goodness.

BONUS:
Here is something I am going to have to have when we are Paris. I've had Paninis all over the world now but nothing beats having one of these in Paris. I have no idea if it is the air that adds oomphh to it, or if the stares you get devouring it as you make your way around town that heightens the experience and the way your taste receptors react to every bite but this is a must have when in Paris!! Oooh yeah.

I really don't like snow. Sorry guys.

This is why I hate snow. Snow ups the chances of train delays which consequently ups the chances of you missing your connection and/or freezing your a$$ off on the platform. You say it doesn't make sense that you could miss your train if the connecting train is later than scheduled?

Logically that may be so but in reality a delayed train means disruption to the whole system they have going at the station which in this case means a possibility of a change of platform for where you embark. In most stations in Europe, minus all the major ones, announcements are still only made in the native language which could be a problem. To find out more information on this delay or change of platform, you would have to walk all the way back to the main entrance or wherever the information board is.

Now, what if while you're strolling to find out what's going on, your train arrives somewhere not where you are? Exactly. You miss it!

I just had to wait for over 30 minutes on pictured platform above because my train was supposedly 15 minutes delayed. Of course it was a lie because I ended up on that platform way longer. They also decided to change platforms at the last minute but I was lucky enough that it was just to the next one.

Anyhow, before making your trip on a snowy day, make sure to always check with the station/airport of departure on arrival and departure status but also be prepared to find out that the situation may not be as predictable as you wish it to be.

Now, I'm going to pray that they don't take forever to de-ice the wings on my connecting flight to Budapest.

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Things you should never forget to take along Part 3 (optional)

I should change the title of this post but I thought it should still fall under the same topic. This time it's not about what you MUST bring along, but some things you may want to consider doing or taking along with you.

1) Travel Insurance
While most of us are insured medically and also for life, some policies may or may not cover for damages while abroad and especially for things that are directly related to your travel like lost or damaged luggage, flight delays and cancellations, missed connections and the unlikely fortune of sitting in on a hijack ^_^;;

The easiest way to get travel insurance is usually through your travel agent or through the website you purchased your flight ticket. Not all airlines offer this and you usually want to stick to a policy that is from your home country.

As my ticket was purchased abroad this time, I have opted for Travel Safe from HSBC. This insurance is especially easy to obtain as you can apply for it online. All you have to do is to log in to your HSBC online banking website and send in a request for a quote. If you are happy, you pay! And voila, you are covered for the whole duration of your stay overseas. I am very sure other banks in Malaysia also offer similar insurances online, so make sure to check.

As a last resort, you could also get your travel insurance at the airport, no worries!

2) Laundry matters
Laundry is probably the last thing on your mind when preparing for a trip abroad for FUN! Who cares about washing right? Yes, that may be true, until you start to stink ;-P

There are 2 ways to deal with this,
i. Bring enough clothes and underwear to last your whole trip so you don't have to worry about laundry, or
ii. Not bring too much clothes as to not burden yourself with a heavy suitcase and be prepared for laundry!

If you are going to go economy, make sure to bring along some hand wash detergent, like above. I prefer to not carry too much liquids in my suitcase so I would go for something like "Handy Detergent" which is a concentrated cream detergent. It won't spill, and that is important.

If you are going to opt for using coin laundries, then I suggest you bring along a net for your delicates, it won't take up space in your suitcase and can in fact act as a laundry bag!

3) Bathroom & Indoor slippers
If you cherish your feet and is icky about going bare feet in a tub or shower that has been used by many others before you, this is not optional, bring your own bathroom slippers!!
When indoors if you like to let your feet breathe after a long day of walking, slippers will help. As you know, in the west most are accustomed to wearing shoes indoors and carpeted rooms are places where you especially do not want to go shoeless.

Until I think of more, it is adios for now!

Things you should never forget to take along Part 2

Plenty of moisturizer and anti-dehydration creams or lotion! This is especially important for those of us who come from the tropics and not used to wintery climates. This is probably that only time you wish the oil glands in your skin will NOT stop secreting. I know, I know, it sounds gross and disgusting but that is the truth.

When back home you may be keeping your T-zone oil-free, you probably wouldn't want that to be the case when traveling away from the hot sticky climate we know. The air in Europe is very much drier and less humid than what we are used to, so be prepared with lots of lubricants for the face, hands and legs! I often find myself experiencing extreme dryness in the face for the first week before the body adapts to your new surrounding.

As we are embarking on this journey in winter, (due to work schedule conflicts) take heed my friends!
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Counting days...

Wow, I never thought planning for a trip could be this FUN!!!!

I spend my days at work with my heart beating so fast because I am sneaking around on my computer reading up on historical places and figures when I'm supposed to be doing accounts! A little research here and there will definitely help you appreciate the places you will eventually step foot on.

A few of my favourite places to look up on famous or just interesting dead people has been the Wiki. No trivia there, I know, but the amount of things I have learned just preparing for this trip has been pretty MUCH! Even as I type this all out I feel my heart pumping a little too fast for my own comfort, but it's thrilling. YeeeeeHaaaaw!!

Most of the time when you are visiting a new place, you have no clue what else would be cool to explore other than the major tourist sights. Take Paris for example, everyone knows to go visit the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, or to climb up the Eifel Tower or walk by the Moulin Rouge, but did you know about these other places??

The grave of one Victor Noir

This poor journalist was shot at point blank by the great-nephew of Napolean Bonaparte. His grave marking as seen in the picture above is now a fertility symbol, thanks to a certain bulge, as you can see is discolored through time due to heavy errm touching by superstitious women. His grave is among other famous graves in the Père Lachaise Cemetery, among some are the graves of Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Peter Abelard and his lover Heloise and more.

The best view of Paris is NOT from the Eifel Towel

I have to say I am not a fan of the Eifel Tower. I hate the way it goes bling bling at night, and in multi color too. It's just all too cheap looking for me. What I do love about the Eifel Tower though are the little keychains and the lovely coasters they sell at their souvenir shop ;-)

Anyhow, did you know that the best view of Paris is actually atop the Sacre Couer?

Well now you do! Look, and you can see the Eifel Tower from here better than from under it up-close! Heh.

A really good site to help you look for places to visit that is not as hyped about by the majority of tourists would be http://www.virtualtourist.com/ as it is made up of comments from other travelers like you and I . Check it out, and always check out the links towards the end of the list just for a new look into places you thought you already knew! But nothing works wonders as the Wiki does!

Things you should never forget to take along Part 1

First of all HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!! To many it's probably just another day but it's just another day of the beginning of something new. 2010 is going to be a blast, I promise!

Since Lydia started her little section on essentials for traveling, I decided to also share some tips, simply based on experience. Hopefully this will help my partners in crime and others alike!

When traveling, there are the basics you would need, like your passport, sufficient funds in the correct currency (or your plastic) and your own toothbrush. But then there are little things that people tend to forget or not consider. I will try to put this into installments as things pop to mind, but here is my number one favorite, something I would not be able to live without.

PLUG ADAPTERS

The first thing you would probably notice upon entering a hotel and wanting to charge your camera or phone, is that the power points are..., yes, very different. In Europe, they use a 2-round pin socket so you would need to get an adapter like in the picture above. Your best bet is to purchase one of those that comes with all the different pins for use all over the world and bring whatever you need depending on where you are traveling to. Most hotels (not hostels) provide plug adapters but it is always best to carry one if not more of your own. (As you can see in the picture above, I actually travel with 3!) Without the adapter, you would be battery dead and I can guarantee that will not be fun.

Now wait, that is not all .Europe runs on 220V which is good for us traveling from Malaysia as our power supply is at 240V to begin with, so there is no need to worry about step-down transformers and the lot. If you are however coming from Japan or America (100-110V) then you should make sure that your chargers and gadgets are universally adapt, or you would need a step-down transformer which are actually quite a pain to travel with. Most gadgets today are made to take power input from 100-240 so it is usually your power chord or charger that should match the power input of your destination, so just check on that and buy the appropriate chargers before you leave. They usually are pretty cheap.

And with this you are set to get your phone, camera, computer, hair dryer, ipod working throughout your stay away from home!

Blogging from your mobile

I'm trying to see what is the best way for me to send pictured posts to Blogger via my BB and its killing my patience and I am losing sleep!! Let's see now...

[edit] And it works!! So for those interested in doing this, it is simple. Just email your blog entry with a photo attachment to your preassigned "Email Posting Address" which you can set up by following the easy steps at Dashboard>Settings>Email & Mobile>Posting Options. It seems that people are having some problems just selecting a picture from their mobile and clicking on the "Email to" option, so this may be your solution! I am happy now.

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To be fair...

I am only leaving for Europe in 2 days, or less XD Regardless, though I spend approx. 1/3 of my year in Europe, it is strictly work related, and I have never had the chance to really explore the continent. At times when I actually get to wander away from my duties, rarely am I in the company of people I know well enough to call friends, most of the time with people I don't really want to hang out with. That is why I am so excited just thinking about walking the streets of Paris with the other 2 eating our toasted paninis, or having fresh scones with homemade jam in a chic cafe by the River Thames, basking in a lifestyle so very alien compared to ours (though I honestly believe that if we were to compare us to the Europeans, I think we are probably closer to practicing alien culture here at home)!!

Just as the title says, we are going to try to chronicle our every step in fulfilling this dream. Every, painful, step!

Let the records of our journey begin.