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Zonk Twist

We had a few days in South of Germany aka Schwarzwald ~ to which I was very excited to visit the famous Titisee. What I can remember is when I was still in Bandung around 15 years ago, my friend Merissa went there. Thought “Wow, if only someday I can go there too”. First try was in 2018 when I visited Benjamin & Beatrice at Reutlingen, however they said Schwarzwald is a bit far, they couldn’t combine it with Hohenzollern Castle in one day. Dankeschoen March

Next try was in 2024, I am very vividly sure about being in Schwarzwald with Tour Group from Indonesia, they brought us SOLELY to Kuckucksuhr Store then ate Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. Sadly, any association with Titisee were zero because we only spent time in that store.

Until we arrived, I started seeing some similarities, picked up my memories here and there… still have a doubt, to me… every European places have some resemblances. We managed to get the last 30 Minutes boat tour. Walked on the shore, took picture of some area where next to it written Biergarten, the store… a sudden DejaVu hits me… wait a minute? … Since it was already off from office hour, it was closed. I asked Stephan if Schwarzwald only for Titisee? if there is only one place to buy Kuckucksuhr? He said no, it’s just a region in Germany where the Black Forrest are. Ah well, maybe I went to other part of Schwarzwald.

Next region of Schwarzwald is Freiburg, asked Weilando if he had ever been there. He recommended many things yet only two things strikes me: Schauinsland Bahn + Martinstor. How do I know specifically this Tor? Clue: it has McDonald’s.

First things first, Schauinsland. Aimed to have cable car only for us, unfortunately the luck wasn’t in our hand. The capacity of the cable car is 7, we were 3 then received unwanted additional 4 people, pfff! It took perhaps 10 Minutes, arrive on the top, went to their look out, their Bergwerk Museum, went back down. Will the luck on our side? Still no! the guy instructed them to come in to our cable car. Then we were 5 people pffffff

We can’t skip Weilandos Tor, me for the photo + Dom for his summer drink collection from McDonald’s 🙂 Last stop at Münsterplatz then off dinner at Offenburg.

Still can’t let go of my thoughts, looked at my WA with Mom to see old documents, well hell damn yes we were in Titisee!!! AAAArrgghhh, had I knew it maybe we would opt somewhere else #Zonk. Still glad we managed to go to Freiburg + Offenburg though, in the end I kind of get my Zonk twisted 😉

First Titisee Experience: Not the New Kid on the Block

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How About… No?

My third trip to Phantasialand with my übliches Gang, first in Summer! Me & Sophie travelled together whereas Chantal went from Bielefeld, we met her on the train.

There was already obstacles on the way: delays + stops cancellation.

Instead of less than two hours, our journey took 3,5 hours. What a way to start the morning!

We arrived at 11:20, immediately told the girls: “Mädels I really want to ride the FLY, the queue was always 90 Minutes, definitely won’t get any shorter later”. After just one ride it was already lunch time, at the Chinese restaurant Sophie had a “brilliant” idea to go here again in December. Now that I have my boyfriend, I most probably can’t do it. I can imagine we’ll spend Christmas with my adopted family ~ Claudia & Gang and next days perhaps with his too. We haven’t talk about it yet, but rather than making a false hope, I directly rejected her idea.

We use the waiting time as Verdauungszeit, unfortunately we chose the wrong one: Colorado Adventure. I misscalculated it, somehow I remembered it as a gentle ride #It wasn’t. Not listening to my body, we headed straight to Black Mamba. That was the end for me, Game Over! I couldn’t do any rides anymore as all I have was a feeling to throw up. We decided to watch a show, I was asleep for first 10 minutes then gain some energy to wake up. They went to do Wasserbahn while I’m sitting on the floor hahaha Dominik asked aren’t there any Bank?

Eventually I felt well enough to explore by myself, decided to get into the temple out of curiosity. It’s a room with stories then you enter another room, sit down… Suddenly, the safety bar locked… the damn room moved upside down! it’s a visual trick! which makes me even want to throw up, I had to close my eyes. When I got out, they also finished. Chantal wanted to go back earlier, so we all left.

All things went wrong that day, the Ubahn didn’t arrived, how long does the journey back took? 5,5 hours! Sorry Mädels, I’m very positive there is no more Phantasialand with Öffis. I’m too old for this shit. I’m open for new activities but this. Thank God we went on Summer where the Sun stays until 22:00. Imagine this happening in Winter, I would’ve dropped dead! Perhaps our Gangs name says it all: all good things come in threes, anything beyong that is unnecessary 😉

Redo

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Too Good To (Not) Go

Claudia asked if I wanted to go to Gevelsberg Kirmes, ah ja! I could actually, on the last weekend of June we were still free. I can also bring Dominik, he’s a fans. Although I have been there two times ~ Lebensversicherung, I’ve never saw their Kirmeszug. That way, I chose to come on a Sunday midday, want to see whats the hype is about 🙂 During that week, Germany was hit with a heat wave so sooooo bad even I went sweating for just breathing. Do we really want to go? Should we solely stay inside preserving energy?

Toughen up! #Eingecremt #Fan. Arrived when the Zug started, finally find Claudia & Gang. Mario directly asked what do I want to drink, my brain wasn’t working, don’t know Mario, get me something. He then followed: can you help beim tragen? Oh yeah! I got a job haha let me come with you. Went few meters away to find our Sascha! #Nordwestler they came with waterpistole + spray #Very prepared

I need to squeeze myself during the Parade or else I don’t see a thing, Alina hold me up then decided to do some squat while me on her shoulder, she is seteronnggggg! Some Zug thow snacks, I caught it. Dom went MIA for a while as this part of Kirmes ~ watching & dancing on the street are not really his thing, his is rather food hunting #Nomnom

I didn’t have our usually mandatory photo infront of the Kirmes Gate with Alina, nevertheless I have her Ersatz 😉

Thank you Alina for the Verpflegung!

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Double-double – Part 5

Dom had a list on what he will do during this hot summer, taking in all Wochenende. On a spontan Sonntag, both of us haven’t done keramas #Greasy, I know, we know 😉 hmm what to do? he said let’s go to Plettenberg there is Aqua Magis. Aha! Let’s use their water! the whole activity was inspired by my old Apartment’s experience where I haven’t got hot water for around two weeks resulted I went to Schwimmbad everytime I want to wash my hair.

There was a 4 hours ticket to which cost 2€ cheaper than day ticket, we liked Therme Erding so much therefore we decided to buy entrance for whole day. Not all Wasserrutschen were on Betrieb, however I don’t think that’s an issue at all. Learning from Therme Erding, I don’t want to go to the one that has a deep dive, don’t want to bang my head against it. What could be a potential of killer joy, let’s do it the last 🙂 #Doms Strategie.

As a warm up, we tried the newest version of Wasserrutschen ever, Surfer Bahn which means we have to stand up. I saw how other people done it including kids! they could really go fast as if they were surfing. When I tried it the first time, I couldn’t bring myself to rutsch, therefore walked the whole Bahn! My second was on the outdoor Surfer Bahn it didn’t make any difference, tried my third: nothing changed, still couldn’t managed to nail it! Dom didn’t even try for his third time.

Then we went on the “normal” Wasserrutschen until the last one! we sat while carrying a backpack haha no I’m not Dora the Explorer. It’s a big round Platte as your Rucksack because the water pressure will push you, on the curve I hit my head then back flipped! It took some of my energy to get me into the correct position again. Kind of lost balance afterwards, killer joy done! Spent my time on Sauna or swimming pool.

I was ready to go but it was only 3,5 hours. Hmm.. felt our money hasn’t reach break even let’s stay a bit longer 😉 Reach our 4 hours quota, yeay! wir haben + gemacht haha. Now we can leave the premise, off to mandi!

Overall, I believe 4 hours here is definitely enough. It’s not a bad, it’s just smaller than Therme Erding. On the way back home though it’s bad, there are many Bauarbeiten meaning road blocks, you have to drive around Lüdenscheid. The journey took us 1 hour there and 2 hours return.

I think it’s safe to say Dom remove all Sauerland Activities from his list 😉

There Erding snaps: When Life Gives You Lemon – Part 2

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Double-double – Part 4

Who was my first guest to host in my new set up apartment? my fav biatch Irina! Welcome to Dortmund 🙂

When she arrived on a Friday, Dortmund had a small Music Festival where we had places to move around #it ain’t that full haha, we saw one singer, to me & Iri she’s good, to Dom is the opposite. Once she asked the Publikum to sing along, the result is obvious: noone sang. As an entertainer… the Germans are very spaß bremsen.

On Saturday we went to Köln, she found a very nice Korean chicken wing restaurant + had a must drink Kölsch #Alcohol time. Last day, we had lunch at Phoenix See, then we sent her back to Flixbus station.

Thank you for visiting me… and Dom too! I’m starting questioning the reality… was she come to get to know my boyfriend or to meet me? haha anyway girl, we had fun having you here.

Thanks for letting me chill and above all for fixing my head shower, you are welcome to chanelling your ADHD here 😉

‘Till we meet again!

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Localized the Local

One of my friend from Shanghai posted a photo in Hamburg, WHATTTTTTT? she is in Germany? Girl we gotta meet, immediately texted her. If our conversation leak to a German, they would durchdrehen as the time and location keep changing between Essen or Bochum. What is our final decision? We met in Bochum to die Currywurst Edition quote from Freundin + Julius. We were there with KK, now I’m bringing my Wurst Hunter. We met at Bochum Station, I wanted to look up at my phone but I didn’t have too. Tammy has been and stayed with her friends in Bochum therefore she guided us there. She knew everything by heart, Comebuy is over there and the Sausages is here. We got localized by a tourist 😉

Dom also localized with Asian behavior a.k.a taking a photo before food, Tammy saw his case then out of nowhere her Anime side ~ the one I never knew exist, came out! They were super engage on their own world 🙂

Girl, I’m proud of you on keep learing Cybersecurity, it’s a good slap for me. I gotta step up on my learning! Keep in touch and we’ll see each other soon, hopefully this “soon” is not three years in between 😉


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Double-double – Part 3

Another round of double happiness ~ baby number 2 for Andreas Hainka & Lena’s. Same setting: Lena’s 31st birthday + baby gender reveal party… the participants are a bit different, no Swantje + Alex to pick me up… however it won’t be a problem anymore, it’s not necessary for me to bombared other people asking for transportation, I have my forever +1 😀

Let us guess the baby: stayed to my feeling like last year „Team Boy“ while Dom on the „girl“ side. Wir reinfeiern, meaning first party is baby gender reveal then we stayed until midnight for Lena’s birthday. They said themselves they prepared a much smaller dance, to me.. it’s still long, especially if you were outdoor on winter time. Thorsten said „bald Erkälten wir“ haha

So what it is? waited…. the smoke was…. just smoke. Lena screamed on the other side „hä? Ist das das richtige?“ Well.. second child’s hey, we weren’t as important as the first 😉 Double-double – Part 2 Second try, they got it right, a color come out: Blue!

Thorsten, Lars and we were very happy when it happened meaning we can be warm inside haha #Priority. Continued our eating activity, we won’t move our ass from their best spot ever: dining table next to the kitchen so we can beobachten how the food situation is #Smart!

Jana and I hope there will be a cake… perhaps on midnight? 00:00 arrived, happy birthday Lena! we didn’t get our cake therefore more place for chips!

A bit of karaoke from their Musikbox closed the evening, we said goodnight and goodbye to the member of best seat. Had photo session with our hosts. Thank you for inviting us 🙂

Wishing you Lena a very happyyyy birthday, wishing you two smooth pregnancy and delivering a healthy baby boy <3 on or around Indonesia’s independence day, so far geplant on 17.08 🙂

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Wurst Hunter

Last leg of our trip ~ Hauptstadt Berlin!

Both of us has been here twice previously therefore we won’t do touristic Check Point Charlie, visiting Museum, doing walking tour etc. Yet, some thing cannot bored us and that is being at Brandenburger Tor!

Day & Night 🙂 it’s very magnificent!

We just walked straight until we see Berliner Dom, had Marshmallow at Ampelmann Shop ~ also belongs to second thing cannot bored us 😉 then met Maria at Dapoer ~ Indonesian Restaurant recommended by QQ. We catched up about living & job situation, she said it took her at least a year to find a new job she’s happy with, well congratulations!! It’s very not easy to be on the job market these days hey.

We had an Agenda for something we haven’t done before, which is watching a show at Friedrichstadts-Palast. Freundin and Julius are a big fans of it, they even see what shows will be play then go to Berlin. We bought Kategorie 4 cost at 69,90€ per ticket, if I will go again, I’d bought the cheapest ticket at Kategorie 5, you can see the show from wherever you sit.

It will be for 2,5 hours show including 25 Minutes Pause, in order not to get hangry we had lunch with Sunny before 🙂 She is a very hardworking… well she’s Korean, all Asians are the same except one haha but that’s another trauma. I believe she will finish her project wayyy before April.

Another new activity is visiting Potsdam, we didn’t know anything other than Sans Cousi Palace. They have Brandenburger Tor in Potsdam wassss??? ök ök. Then there is a stairs called “Angel Stairs” with many gold cupids. I got angeblich waaaayyy to close to one of them, a sound from a giant microphone screamed: You are tresspassing, we have camera! No I’m not, horrible surveillance! Mind you, I didn’t touch anything nor the angel nor the gate. Went few meters away then all good 🙂

Circle back to our main goal: Sans Cousi Palace ~ of course it’s closed on Monday haha! All the stairs we’ve been taken… Nope we weren’t the only one, many people around to do what they know best: spazieren gehen 😀

Headed back to Berlin, spending both time + money at Uniqlo before we had dinner with Viki at Nusantara ~ another QQ’s recommendation, yes sir! it’s Indonesian 🙂 Pricing in Berlin is wayyy more affordable in comparison to Munich’s.

Sooo soooo proud of Viki! We talked about jobs and she said “I can’t find a job so I’ll be my own boss” since she’s a very passionate dog’s person, she opened her self-service dog shower. Thank you for the Stofftasche, I’ll wear it proudly. Wish IG: wash_booboo a success!!

Readers from Berlin, bring your dogs to Wash BooBoo.

Located: Berlin Mitte (Rosenthaler Platz)

During our time in Berlin, I noticed something about my partner… Dom has eaten 4 curry wurst in day one, in total of 6 within 3 days. He has eaten more than he’s ever been in Dortmund or NRW or what Julius called home of Wurst. What worse is, he needs to go to Berlin to become a Wurst Hunter.

Will he continue his Wurst Hunter back home? hmmm… let’s have him under beobachten 😉

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Overrated

From the whole trip, I was very much looking forward to Neuschwanstein a.k.a the Disney castle in Füssen ~ two hours by car from München. While we were still on the way, we could see it located on top + surrounded by the mountains, it was magical, making you can’t wait to be there. Parked, slowly walking up, we still have one mission: sell my parents ticket. Anja told I can try sell it on the ticket office, for sure there will be line, ha! didn’t think of it before, good idea.

Once we reached I found a three South Asian, they said my time is too late ~ 1,5 hours later, they want to go now. Well… don’t you do your research? It was recommended to arrive two hours before the ticket time as you still need to walk up there. Good Luck, didn’t see them on my time or anywhere close to the castle. Understand they want to buy three together instead of one from the counter and two from me but there is no need to hush me out as if I’m a disgusted person. Then we saw another 3 people, the guy looks like a German ~ Dom’s turn, only two of them will go to the castle, passt! my tickets were sold! We went up to the hill, took us about 35-40 minutes.

Arrived on the Foto Platform ~ the must have photo of Neuschwanstein! There was a line obviously yet it’s still manageable.

Satisfied, we countinued our way up. We need to be at the gate 15 minutes before the time at our ticket, were allowed to walk on the Hof, taking pictures with mountain background.

The clock strike at 12:55, we got inside, take audio tour. Photos are not allowed, such a dissappointment because you can’t be there as long as you want. The lady guide you “please continue” or “please listen” etc. On top of it, it was only 30 Minutes Audio Tour! Ok there was the bedroom, Arbeitszimmer, Hall, kitchen something or just waiting room another hall then the audio said “this is the final section” I mouthed WTF? 23,50€ entrance for only 30 minutes. Boah! so angry! Before exiting, there was a “movie area” explaining Neuschwanstein’s construction ~ about 15 Minutes. Right next to it we can go out see the view from balcony. That was it people! felt robbed!

QQ was there too, he said many people including him came to do Picknick as the area is huge, peaceful, good view etc. We could also took photo from Marienbrücke to get a view of Neuschwanstein side’s ~ hätte hätte Fahradkette, it’s closed! Perhaps only opened for summer. If we will go there again just for photo? I don’t think so.

The castle is really just more beautiful from outside.

There are many other castles in Germany which has better interior als Neuschwanstein.

Cherry on top, parking for 6 hours cost 12 Euro; one more Euro for each our until max 16 Euro, I do not want to pay any €. Let’s head to Austria, Axel recommended me a place called Highline179 it’s a Brücke too. What I didn’t realize is, he went on summer while we are now still in Winter. The sun goes down at 18:30, when we just arrived it was starting to get darker but still OK until when we reached the bridge, I can’t see nothing!

All of the sudden, my legs went weak!! On one hand I held Dom’s, on the other I’m holding that piece of metal with my whole life. Dom wanted to walk far away, I was the opposite, I’m quiet happy where I was. In the end we made few steps more from the middle. He wanted me to take picture of him with mountain background while my whole body as stiff as a board, couldn’t make any movement, he need to literally turn my body. The whole time we were walking I chanted “Axel du stirbst”

Boah! I’m so relief the moment we reach down to the parking lot, mind you there is no fence, no other people, nothing! if you fall down… auf niewiedersehen 🙁

What a day hey, let’s go home. We need to drive for another 2 hours and some minutes to Parking Station to return back our car. Thank you to the facility guy who reminded us no matter what our car dealer said, we must return the key to the safe box ~ not leave it inside the car. Thank you also to our AirBnB landlord Martin to not only pick us up at Hbf ~ there was Strike but also to let us buy food at McD.

All in all, Neuschwanstein is totally Overrated! Highline179 I think it’s a cool place, please just arrive during daylight 🙂

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When Life Gives You Lemon – Part 2

Although the solely purpose of this trip is to introduce Dom to my parents, we gotta keep going with the secondary purpose: us squeeze it into lemonade 😉

Itinerary changed, see you next time Königsee, we are heading to Therme Erding ~ reason: it’s still cold in March we were gonna dropped dead if we are going to an open nature area, warmer place we chose. Arrived, put our stuff in the locker, before we entered to the Thermal, we have to walked passed shower area. Dom said we need to take a quick duschi duschi first ~ I remembered that was the procedure in Iceland. So I did, went to the outside hall, didn’t see him. Walked back to the locker area, no clue of where’s he’s about. Mind you, I didn’t have my towel, was already shaking. Re-showered just to get some splash of hot water, re-visit the outside hall, nope. I screamed his name at least 8 times until we finally met. I said “we need to go directly inside the water because I’m freaking shivering right now” Once we dip ourselves, boah! Heaven!

The Thermal has some pressure bubble things to which it reminded me of my Thalasso Experience with my sister in Rimba Bali. However, this one isn’t traumatizing, very relaxing type, not the one that made you feel you just got beaten from 10 security guards.

After we felt warm enough, we went to Wasserrutschen area only to be back again where we came from as it’s only opens on 13:00. So we swam in Wellenbad with noodles until lunch time 🙂 It was still not 13:00 yet, luckily we found one “Coconut” thingy which doesn’t have a “Reserve” card. Yes! Jackpot!

Off to go for Galaxy Rutschenwelt! it was fun carrying the sliding tyre, we slided on VR, magic eye, black mamba, speed racer. I enjoyed everything until one slide called High Fly: do not, I repeat DO NOT slide on it! The instructions confused us “do not move your head” , “put your head forward” anyway it went super quick as the ride itself short yet steep, my head hit the slides, felt like I almost fainted or had a slight concussion. Our fun stopped immediately right there and then. I said to Dom it’s enough for me, I just want to lie down tried to sleep because I can’t continue doing anything, wanted to throw up. Luckily our Coconut is still free!

At 20:00 they provided a trial of a mask, we’ve done that too. I took two handfull of salt where the guy said “go to Sauna wait until you sweat then scrub your body with it, 10 minutes is enough”. Well… I didn’t sweat, don’t know how long should I wait. Scrubbed myself nevertheless then went out catching Dom ate his second Oreo Muffins. AHA, gimme one bite. We swam one more time inside, had dinner, real duschi duschi, finally call it the night.

We deserved some relaxing strolling in Munich city center especially after that wild slide in Therme Erding. Who did I call? the one and only QQ Dite! He introduced us to 80 Cents too big Gurke at Virtualienmarkt. On the way there, Dom found his Sipmate: The Alley! QQ showed us the menu from his Ramen’s restaurant, I directly comment “Yo, 25€ a portion? you gotta give us something, it’s very damn expensive, here I want Takoyaki” He replied “Safe” Got his confirmation, booked a table for two. Am I the worse customer? ehemmmm….

I said to Dom he need to have a picture at the Eisbach #Tourist, his happiness level vs to when he was at the Naruto Cafe QQ had recommended 😀

Thanks QQ for the recommendation, I believe Indonesian knows places the best! Including for Berlin, trust me, we know stuff #We are everywhere!

When Life Gives You Lemon