Remember how I was woken up by the cold wind? Turns out it’s not so bad, as we had to start breakfast at 04:30 AM #Shocked! When I booked the tour, it definitely didn’t mention anything about waking up before 4:00 AM. By 05:10, we were already on the bus. At 05:20 AM sharp we left to catch sunrise.
Walk started, our lack of preparation caught up with us ~ we didn’t bring flashlights! Therefore had to constantly pace ourselves with the people in front of us, like Thiago and two Chinese ladies who hadn’t spoken to anyone yet. Maxim asked, “Is there a possibility that you saw my son up front?” I told him yes, he was leading the pack. He added “Ahh, so annoying”. Thiago was damn fast, well… he is a 15 yo anyway.
As the light started to change (read: sunrise), Wombat urged me on: “Come on, it will be over in ten minutes, we better hurry!” Many people had already overtaken us. Fast forward a bit, managed to catch the sunrise just in time! #Sehr knapp!
Good morning, Ayers Rock! #You Rocks!
Afterward, we walked around to see its different sides ~ it’s definitely not all smooth rock. The walk went faster than I expected, taking only about 2 hours.
We then met up with Ryan for a snack before starting a guided walk just to an area next to it. He did the explanation without waiting if all of us already gathered, obviously I was the last one, didn’t hear much of it #Sad pfff
Then we headed off to our second campsite. Ryan mentioned this site was more remote, yet somehow we had Wi-Fi there… hmmm what a 矛盾 😉 I had a huge relief Dom had upgraded to a „Business Class“ aka cabin otherwise he would be awake all night. Ryan arranged he shared the cabin with Matthew.
There were signs everywhere warning us to beware of dingoes and King Brown snakes. I wasn’t really afraid of the dingoes… I mean, what are they going to do, eat all 11 of us? #No way. A King Brown Snake however is a different story! Checked the ground, my swag and my sleeping bag multiple times. Placed my Swag so closed between Thiago and Phoebe, no space spared for King Brown snake!
During the trip, I got to know a Shanghainese lady named Lucy. She had upgraded her mother (who was 70+ years old) to a cabin with two beds. Lucy slept in there 偷偷的 while her husband and son slept outside in swags. Lucy whispered to me, “Behind you is an empty cabin, just go in there. No one needs to know!” I asked Phoebe if she wanted to sneak in with me, however she was too lazy to move.
At first, I tried to sleep in my swag wearing my thick sweater and long leggings to prepare myself for that freezing 3:00 AM wind ~ Alice Spring is not my last stop, I couldn’t risk of getting sick! Resulting I felt too warm inside my swag. I couldn’t sleep, finally decided to sneak into the empty cabin.
I couldn’t sleep there either! Every time I heard footsteps outside, I was wide awake. To make things even creepier, I could hear a pack of dingoes howling like in the distance, which kept me tossing and turning all night. Perhaps I was just terrified someone would find out, even though Lucy had assured me, “How would they know? We all sleep and have to wake up at 4:00 anyway. Just wake up a bit earlier and slip back out, 就好了 don’t be so strict!”
Continuation from my Crazy (Rich) Asians post, the answer to “it is turn for relaxing trip, isn’t it?” -> Well… it isn’t! Went to Singapore Airlines check-in counter because I couldn’t do Online check-in. Thought it was because I need to show them my Australian Visa. At first, he also couldn’t find the caused, I showed him the screenshot mentioned: ETA… Then it clicked him, the next minutes was a slap into reality for Dom.
Him: Have you applied for ETA?
Me: What is that? Do I need to do that? I have a visa
Him: No, it’s actually for him (pointed to Dom)
Me: But he’s a German citizen, he doesn’t need any Visa
Him: It’s not a Visa, more like Singapore Arrival Card only for Australia, UK, Canada – some other countries he mentioned but my mind was elsewhere + you have to pay: 20 AUD
Me: No, he didn’t and we don’t know how to do it.
Him: Let me help you, without being Granted, you can’t fly to Australia, it can take 2-3 days but sometimes it takes also 10 minutes.
The guy was soooo helpful, he showed us one by one how to do it without asking us to step away. Dom got confirmation that his application is received, its written he will get a reply within 72 hours, damn! I think he went pale. Fortunately, he came from a First World Country, he got Granted only few minutes after that Email.
No no no, it’s not done. Dom’s phone scanned his bottom passport number where it has more letter than his top right corner. The guy was confused, made a phone call, convinced the people on the other line that even though Dom repeat the process, it would still be the same result. Finally, he accepted it so we could get our boarding passes #Fiuh!
Australia is famous for the Wilderness, well…. it definitely started before we even enter the country 😉
We boarded our flight to leave Singapore, I spotted a familiar face…. “Hi, were you also in the flight from Frankfurt to Singapore?” she recognized me instantly too! The same stewardress! Even though she was assigned to a different cabin section this time, she asked where we were sitting and came over to find us.
We almost got upgraded – thank you for your intention 🙂 She spoiled us with snacks and amenities straight out of Business Class! To top off the coincidence, we discovered her birthday is just one day after mine ~ though quite a few years apart #Alt. We officially closed the Singapore chapter of our holiday with getting new friend: Coral, hope to see you next time ~ definitely text us whenever you have a layover longer than 24 hours in Frankfurt!
What’s even funnier is that before this trip even began, we also made two new Indonesian friends: Nensy and Max, at Dortmund Hbf! #Full circle.
13 Hours later….
Landed at Sydney Airport, timing was perfect! Seamlessly hopped onto Murrays coach heading to Canberra. Two hours into the drive…. Announcement: “Folks, I need to pull over, seems we have engine problem.” Followed by: “Folks, we have oil leaking to the ground, there is nothing I can do other than park here and wait for another coach to pick us up.” We ended up waiting in the Gas Station for about one hour… hunger was seriously starting to kick in!
Wilderness… please let us come home! By the time we finally rolled into Canberra, I was in need for Food asap! Luckily, my sister completely understood the assignment ~ she had foodsssss ready #Plural, such as: Pempek, Kangkung, Ayam Kalasan, Semur, Nasi Goreng, Potato Wedges, Kangaroo Burger, Chips, the list goes on. At her place, we ate relentlessly. We literally had dinner twice: first with the kids at 17:00, then a second dinner for the adults at 20:00 once they were fast asleep #Family Life.
What kind of family activities we’ve done in Canberra?
Had a short hike up a hill where my niece ride her balance bike to see some kangaroos. This was a vital mission because we desperately needed to fix Dom’s first impression of kangaroos ~ the very first one he ever saw was a poor thing resting in peace on the side of the road! Haha. Good news: We were able to mend it! Saw 5 kangaroos!
Checked out Mount Ainslie, Questacon, Old Parliament House where he found Wombat #Hello Relatives! Last but not least: Floriade ~ flower festival from mid of September – mid of October. Way smaller than Keukenhof Amsterdam however it doesn’t mean unattractive, it still are! They have Riesenrad, Carousel, Shows, it’s enough lah. Dom said “I need to have picture where it’s written Floriade, otherwise people would expect it to be on Westfallenpark” 😀
Did we only saw Kangaroos so far? nooo…. at Floriade we also saw Bats! Some Wilderness for my Wombat to mentally preparing him before Alice Spring / Uluru 😉
Thank you Sissy & Schwager for all the foods, I’m convinced I gained at least 5 kg just from staying at your place. See you again in about a week in Adelaide, in the meantime we will continue our visit to Stadt + Wilderness #We will survive! Hey yay!
Relax wasn’t at my card that evening, saw Stadt Dortmund has another campaign to write a sentence: DO, wo…. Given myself some thought of what Dortmund meant for me then I followed the instructions. Few seconds later, my IG was suspended. What?! Was I scammed? Immediately asked Dominik if he could see my page ~ he couldn’t. Damn! shit shit shit, what did and shall I do now?
I was 100% sure it was because I send the confirmation stating I participate on Dortmund Motto to my IG that somehow considered as “collecting sensible information”. Regardless, I don’t need to know the “Why” all I want to know was the “How” to unblock it. Read the instructions, need to submit Selfie with white background etc I had to search for my old photos then only the agony left… waiting…
Within one day I got it back, yes! What a relief, had I not… I’m gonna do Instagramfree life. One week later, I got another Email informing my sentence was one of the first 30 chosen! Whoaaaa, at least all the shocked are not in vain 😀
Since it’s still a running campaign, mine would only be projected for three days, next batch are coming. Unfortunately I couldn’t witness it because I wasn’t in Dortmund but at least one of my reason could 🙂
One not fine afternoon ~ full of work, yet Arbeitslos is not an option haha #Realistic, got a phone call from Hainka informing me about Bomb-Evakuierung… he said the radius exactly ended on my street, hmmm OK at the same time not OK because I was clueless… should I wait until the Police come to my apartment and ask for me to move somewhere for couple of hours? or better I remove myself? Never had this experience before… well… there’s first time for everything 😉
Who am I surrounded with? Sophie is wayyyyy to close…. Monicita is a safer option! Called her immediately. After disscussing the logistics, I decided to get out from the house: pronto. She said to pack my important stuff + clothes as if you want to stay overnight. Got it! What I consider as vital? My education certificates ~ crucial for applying new job elsewhere, DE paperwork ~ prove I’m legal, Passport ~ if everything goes South, still can go back home, hard disk ~ my well of memories. What did I forget? Money + Bank card haha #Facepalm. .
Once I got out from my apartment around 15:30 ish, saw a father carried a backpack with his son in tricycle… ah yes, seems everyone got this info. Arrived at Monicita right before she need to leave her place to bring her daughter for Capoiera class, if not mistaken.
I continued my work with majestic Coco in front of me while she aufräumt.
At 16:00 they started the evacuation progress, I guess around 18:30 they started to defuse the bomb, within two hours they managed it! Yeayyyy my area is safe again #Greatful!
We did a lot within few hours! went gassi accompanied by gossiping; reach wayyyyy advanced connection with Coco by hugging him #Tabitha would be so proud of me; played a game called… had no idea, I thought it’s the stupidest game ever haha something with adding numbers until at least 30 to start the game pffff lost it all the time; dinner #Pimientos! thank you so much guys for letting me eat your supplies 😀 finally being sent back home with Kuki in the car. Not gonna say suddenly become an animal lover but at least I wasn’t sooo paranoid as before #Improvement.
Thank you Monicita and fam for your hospitality during emergency situation, Hainka and Maiwald for the news!
It’s a Tulip Season hey? Still? Wrong! already the last stroke, look at that? barely alive, waiting for last people to pick it up then it’s gone, we are just toooooo late to check the Tulip, its toooo lattteeeeee. Lesson for next year, better go to Düsseldorf beginning of April!
Okay, we still have Botanischer garten, meh wasn’t my favourite either. They have the Kugel like a Las Vegas thingy, however nothing compare with Singapore Botanischer Garten. Germany, you’d better keep up. Confusing is I kept seeing Real plants with the name “Real” what are the other than? do we have fake plants in Germany? Also, Echte Feige (real figs) the explanation said a story from the old Testament about Adam & Eve… yo I’m pretty sure the fruit is apple! so how “real” all of these can be? #I’m thinking.
Then to the failed Japanese park which is very sad because it’s only one small pond and some trees, we did saw a corner of Tulip there, what a glimpse of hope.
Oh well… Bright side is all of those places are for free, do I want to visit for a second time? Not really haha
My colleagues are very curious bezüglich my first Oktoberfest experience, everyone said be careful, the beer there has more % of alcohol, there are only betrunkene Leute.
I took train to Thomas & Janine then we three drove together to Munich. Stopping by at Thailanese Restaurant Khanittha on Werksviertel for lunch. Thomas’ colleague said this place is pretty authentic one, yeah, including the service, they slightly ignoring us although it wasn’t really full, you need maintain strong eye contact if you want to request something.
We ordered 3 dishes, I mean every Asian should know that it was meant for sharing. I know we were also 3 people, could be the German way of eating 1 dish each…. imo still no, the logic ain’t logicing. Since they didn’t give us some plates, we decided to just hau rein while waiting if we could grab their attentione.
There was some Werbung on the table to scan our bill for winning a trip to Thailand. Had never expected Thomas has never been to Thailand considering he’s the diver King. Hope one of us will win it!
Continue driving to our main purpose of the day: Claudia & Giovanni’s apartment which is directly in front of Theresienwiese. We parked 2 stations away, walked with our luggage + bags only for the security guy to stopped us. Thomas said “wir wollen darüber gehen” he doesn’t care, detour we must.
Made it, there are several homeworks to do in their place: Thomas manually pumped my Luftmatratze ~ secure my sleeping place for tonight or else I’ll have to sleep in the Badewanne 😉 , Freya arrived, Giovanni distributed our entrance + voucher. Claudia still have to work a bit, that’s why we headed first!
My first feeling entering die Wiesn was WOW! Marina said it’s a Kirmes, like any other Volksfest except much much much bigger! Had to say Jein: Ja ~ can see the Kirmes style Achterbahn, snacks und co. Nein ~ not only all of them are on Jumbo size, the atmosphere were just different on every level, everyone wears Dirndl & Lederhose, it’s like Alice entering Wonderland. Good I went to Canstatter Wasen with Andreas before hence I know the tent wasn’t made of circus tent haha this is not #This is the greatest show oo oo oo oo, it involves woods, bricks and his friends.
Our tent Pschorr Bräurosl located in the middle. My colleague Sabrinchen also there, she and her partner – Manuel came to visit me for one Mas! We work together in Dortmund yet had to go to Munich to meet outside the office hours 😀
The waiter came, Manuel ordered 6 Mas. I was confused at first because in Wasen there are more type of beer options, in here, in our tent there is only one: Bräurosl Beer! The mas! the 1 Liter Beer, it’s heavy! Can’t hold still, reached my Maximale Belastung! hahaha Giovanni asked if I already trained “Mas Heben” #facepalm.
After some time, Claudia finished her work, yeay! We are still waiting for the other 4. I had to say Claudia & Giovanni are the profi, they brought Müllsacke to put our jacket protecting it from the dirt, foldable Waserflasche, tag for their beer. I might follow all of their tips for next year.
Thomas and Giovanni, they both really excited to see me drunk, not happening bro. Thomas said “If you drunk no problem, we can carry you home, if you feel sick, there is the Badewanne.” Gio kept prost-ing my Mas, prost prost prost…. stop, waitttt!
Some hour later I really mean some, at least 1,5 hour… my Mas is finished! I have to ask Claudia for bullet proof documentation. Stephan came late yet he finished his Mas before me. He asked “what do you usually drink?” “I don’t! That’s the whole point. The reason why they always “Marlyn, come on 加油加油” Leute, it is not about the 油 that’s need to be 加 😉
It helps to know some songs in German….or in English…. or in Italian haha Music in general. There are some songs which was played more often than the other called Ein Prosit. The crowd hype out of nowhere on “Hey Baby, I wanna know, if you’d be my girl” Followed by Hulapalu, Cordula Grün, Atemlos durch die Nacht, Skandal im Sperrbezirk, 99 Luftballons. Overjoyed they include Bella Ciao on the list too! Bella Ciao Ciao Ciao. What’s else? Gimme Gimme Gimme the man after midnight, then I can sleep in Badewanne. Claudia cut “in his Badewanne, not ours” 😉 On the Mamamia song, Thomas said “Marlyn, stand here, pointing at the bar / separator between the tables” Aye Aye! Going there! You can see from the video how by then I lost my balance. The final song in every tent #Gio’s word is forever and always Angels von Robbie William.
Kai + Coco + Elena + Stephan need to leave earlier, the last man standing was….. the Food Nerds people! hahaha as always 😉 plus Freya!
During his 2,5 Mas Thomas realized he lost his wallet! Oh no! Even though I was tipsy, my brain still can work. Asked the waiter if he saw a wallet maybe on the floor. Me, Janine, Claudia, Freya looked on the floor with our flashlight. Damn! Whats inside? at this point, money is the less concern, it is more like bank card, ID, things you need to go to office, make some report pfff too many Aufwand. Of course we didn’t find it, they told us to go to the office downstairs.
Me and Claudia went to the Büro while Thomas and Janine search elsewhere. Guess what? His wallet was safe and sound on the Schublade! Phew!
Once we out from the office, Thomas was walking on our way to the Büro, we stopped him.
He couldn’t believe it!
I am on cloud nine for my first Oktoberfest with all of these people. Of course I don’t talk much with all the 4 who went earlier, however I got the impressions they are all nice. Elena was so creative she was the snow white from Innsbruck 🙂 #What a memory, Innsbruck, love it. Stephan who I thought at first has some family connections with Andrea due to his ring is kind of similar with Andrea’s #They’re not distant family. The cool Freya, we hold umbrella side by side actually she was holding it, because of that she got free umbrella on the street haha.
Undoubtedly my food nerds! Grateful we have been friend for a looonnngg time, almost a decade! With Thomas since 2016 who introduced me later to Claudia & Giovanni, had I not met him I wouldn’t know them! Giovanni who always relaxed and welcoming “Ah your friend Sabrina can also join us, we still have place on the table, let’s meet in the Tent” Claudia the queen of Dirndl ~ perfect from top to bottom, who calm Thomas & Gio when they unstoppable hyping me up with my Mas! Thomas & Janine who I finally have a picture of you as a couple ~ only you two, just in case someone will ask again! 😉
What a happy ending, it’s all work out in the end, I don’t sleep in Badewanne + Thomas got his complete wallet back!
Would be very excited to be with the same people on the table again hopefully next year I could get more chance to speak with the fantastic-four 😉
OK some background stories out of it. Remember Lisa? The German Lady from my walking tour in Estocolmo? We had lunch together before visiting Vasa Museum, she said that everything in Germany is not much cheaper than in Stockholm, they are kind of on the same level, Germany is getting “more expensive” (with the inflation). Look at this, I bought a 72 hours public transport ticket, it cost me 30 Euro. Yes it is still more expensive than Germany but not much anymore.
After hearing the price of the public transport, I feel quiet weird because every time I tap my Master Card it’s written 0,09 SEK = 0,10 Euro… Automatically I felt I have the Vorteile of not buying it as it only cost me 10 Cents each time. I am not the type who put fuel on the fire, so just let it be when Lisa said it, I won’t say “btw I only paid 10 Cents” reason: a. it’s not helping; b. this is so not true at all! hahaha
Fast forward to end of the month, Erin need to renew her monthly card, to which I asked “why don’t you just tap like me?” see it’s always 10 Cents. I actually don’t understand why because if I eat in the restaurants, the real value is there directly, for example dinner 1390 kr = 119,94 Euro or 980 kr = 84,43 Euro. All are correct other than public transport one.
Moment of truth ladies and gentleman!!!! I was completely wrong the whole damn time! I have 0 idea why, SL (the public transportation) need 2-3 days until the real value came up to my Master Card. It all depends on the exchange rate sometimes one way fee was 3,33 Euro or 3,44 Euro or 3,67 Euro. Verdammt! She was right! Rrrr should’ve trust the Germans for sure she did her research before! Aaargghh! had I knew it, I would have bought that damn 30 Euro card! I used all public transport like no one ever just to know it hasn’t been charged completely!!!
Fuck fuck fuck! what can I do? Now it’s not lohnt sich anymore to buy the 72 hours as my trips approaching the end. On top of it, I already visited all the necessary sightseeing with always tap tap tap tap #Running out of money! What can this Scandinavian country offer me? Erin sent a link “free museum in Stockholm” aha! that’s what’s I’m gonna do for the rest of my trip with the rest of the money I have. How about public transportation? Nope, I’m gonna walk the whole damn day!
We will reveal it one by one:
First: The Medieval Museum
I chose the locker number that represents my age 😉 then I read a sign there will be an English tour whoaaaa There is a part where I remembered clearly is about a punishment for adultery, the woman need to carry a 30-40kg of weight on her shoulder while the man’s private part will be tied on a string and they have to walked all the city. However! most man will get away by paying the money while girl doesn’t have much money to begin with. What?! I hope I understand that part wrong except I wasn’t…. Oh see the brick wall? that was the real wall from ancient time, they found it when they dug die Erde to make this Medieval Museum.
Second: Moderna Museet with Erin
The free entrance was 2 hours before it’s closing. We did went through all exhibitions, sometimes our reaction were only ‘hmmmm’ didn’t think I understand it 😉 I do however understand one paint with thinking “are we in Asia?” once I got close yep! inspired from Thailand 🙂
Moving on to one part where they provided us a book of a conversation between Rashid Johnson an Kevin Quashie called ” Thinking-In-Action” in Swedish and English at a corner called “please have a book”. We happily taking the book thinking “oh we got ourselves a souvenir!” Only to find out they didn’t put the Q and A on the right page, or maybe this is still a part of the art? where I need to guess on which page the answer will continue?
Third: The Jewish Museum
I came exactly at the hour when it’s free for public. Followed by many people after me, hello not paying customers 😉 #I’m not the only one
What really strucks me was this videos:
The first lady’s family were hosting Jewish girl from Berlin when she was 9-15 years old. She didn’t like her at all, according to her the Jewish girl came out of a sudden to her family and everyone need to feel sorry for her. She gave her a real hard time. Then they met again at age 40ish. She asked her about her experience on living with her family? To her surprise the Jewish girl replied “that’s the best year of my life”. Then she said “you know I was hard on you”. The Jewish girl didn’t felt and never thought of it. She is not religious person but she prayed to God for forgiveness for hating her.
The middle lady remembers a Hitler songs in German: “if a Jews’ blood drip from the knife then life is twice as good” I could still see the fear on the video when she recite it.
The third man said when he got older he understood the reason why every time he visit his classmates’ home there will be coins on the floor and it’s to see if he will take it. That’s when he felt what is the meaning of being offended.
Fourth: The Swedish Holocaust Museum
This Museums tells the story about 7 Jewish survivors who came to Sweden. They have the part where we can ask questions with AI’s help unfortunately by the time I came we can only ask in Swedish.
I bought a book from them, it’s very…. I can’t read it in one go, not because its too think, rather the content is just so wow in a negative way.
Fifth: The Living History Forum
There’s one corner about the story of Per Anger, a diplomat of Swedish Embassy in Budapest who issued a fake Passport for Jewish people. He saved so many Hungarian Jewish, there was a time he went to the train full of Jews asking “who has Swedish Emergency Passport?” only two people has it, then he spoke to the Hungarian if they have any receipt whatsoever anything that looks like legal? The German officer won’t understand it anyway. They did have that and Per Anger talked with the German officer “their Swedish Emergency Passport just got delivered, here is the receipt”
Thank you very much for standing up Sir! That’s why your name and your best friend’s Raoul Wallenberg are still be remembered to this day.
That was it, all the museums I could visit as my last resort against the cold and against the money in Estocolmo 😉
I’m so happy that Stockholm offers this options. Germany! do it please! Take a good example from your neighbor European countries!
P.S: Here is the link https://www.visitstockholm.com/see-do/attractions/museums-with-free-entry/
Susi will be my niece’s nickname for a long time, it suits her well #Stay with Susi.
Their final destination is Frankfurt Airport, distance from Colmar to Frankfurt is a bit too far, too much car seat time for Susi. Therefore Sissy and Schwager spontaneously decided to stop at Baden-Baden – stay one night in Heidelberg – next morning Frankfurt Airport.
Susi woke up just in time for Schwager to make an exit from the Highway to Baden-Baden. Priority: Susi!
DM has a baby changing corner, complete with wipes and diapers sizes. From all the sizes on the below shelf available, of course Susi’s size was empty!
Credits needs to be given though, it’s my first time seeing a changing station in DM #Thumbs up.
After Susi has changed, we were more relax for sightseeing and lunch.
We walked passed one museum, making fun of the Peaky FUCKING Blinders! #Arthur’s voice. The fans would know it, the Faberge Egg’s scene.
We were very happy at Baden-Baden, not sure why? maybe just because the name is Baden-Baden 😉 we stayed there longer than we planned. Jumping on the stones, visit the church, had ice cream- I ordered Casis, don’t do it, when in doubt, chose Hazelnut #Sissy wejangan.
Suits ourselves, continue drive to Heidelberg. It was a Saturday afternoon, Heidelberg was packed, I meant packed packed PACKED PACKED!!! I still didn’t do the justice of how packed it was. People everywhere, all parking place were full so full to the point we were waiting on the line to get into the Parkhaus. One car out from the Parkhaus = one car move in from our line and so on.
What do we do while waiting? called our Hotel to ask if they have a Parking Place. The receptionist asked under which name the rsvp was made. Only for us to hear “I can’t find your name, please just come here and we will sort it out”
In the meantime Schwager check his mails, we booked the wrong date! Let’s just carry Susi with Björn, go to Hotel maybe they have free room for tonight.
All three we went, no free room. We asked her if there is something today, to this she answered, “nothings happening, it’s just normal Heidelberg on a weekend”
Me and Schwager went to few hotels & restaurants nearby asking if they have a room: zero squared. Only then we realized our attempt to stays at Heidelberg crashed in front of our eyes. It was a sea of Menschen, impossible to find a hotel here.
Let’s make a cut, quit Heidelberg, snap some pictures here as our hotel was exactly on the city center, this is the only chance we got haha so we could say we already went to Heidelberg 😉 The focus at this moment is to find a new hotel for tonight somewhere else. Get out from the Hype-Heidelberg.
Schwager kept driving on the highway direction of Frankfurt. We will passed few cities beforehand. When we read some name like Weinheim, Heppenheim, Bensheim, search on Google- Hotel.
I felt like a Detective in the movie, with 3 phones + 1 GPS looking which directions should we go, should Schwager took an Exit to any Heims-City or keep going. I said the hotel name, Schwager put it on the GPS, responded “no it’s another direction” next, next, next we were like that for def under an hour, although at that time it feels like forever. We do have Stau so Schwager can type something on the GPS.
The call was always “Hallo, wir sind 3 Erwachsene und 1 Baby. Haben Sie zufällig heute ein Zimmer frei?” always got replied “Nein, tut mir leid” fuck fuck fuck! No, don’t take exit on Weinheim as there is no hotel anyway, keep on the lane to next city, Heppenheim. Sissy entertaining Susi or keep feeding her banana. The stakes are high, we all knew the moment Susi cries it’s game over.
We kept driving directionless or we gonna end up at Ashley and Ongky’s couch haha I swear if it’s only 3 of us, without a doubt we would slept on the car, doesn’t really matter, go to a restaurant, use the facilities, we already got spot in the Parkhaus anyway, next morning go to Frankfurt Airport earlier to use their shower room. Since it’s not possible, keep focus!
Just to add some tension, the Benzin could only fit for 60km left. AHA! icing on the cake #face palm. It’s getting dark too hahaha strike after strike after strike, give it full gas to our last day. Relax? what’s that? #Hold my beer.
First priority sofar is unfruitful hotel searching, now our second priority is catching up with our first’s, which is to find the Tankstation. Took an exit, fuel some Benzin, next to it there is a McD, Sissy said “let’s sit down, we need to eat something”
We were not really a big fans of McD but at this point we were already desperado haha
We were still calling many hotels near by to no avail. We know we needed to be in big cities. It’s logic, no way in hell all hotels in big cities are full. The situation now is Susi still happy, we all are full, we are secured. The -Heims are small cities maybe the kind of hotel was family own which only have 4 rooms, that could be one of the reason.
Schwager called one last hotel in Darmstadt, hole in one! We got direction on where to go, finally! Now I look back realizing of how calm we were actually. We were just in disbelief or denial phase but not panic since we all aware there will always be a hotel for us, it’s just how far should we drive. What the hell is happening on this Saturday, is it Oktoberfest? yes it’s the very first day of Oktoberfest but we are not in Münich, why would be the reason of this full-ness?
Btw if you wonder how Susi was doing when we were unter der Druck setzen? She was soooo calm the whole damn time! didn’t scream, she even slept! that makes a loooottt easier. I was very very very proud of Susi for being so considerate as if she understood the situation.
Susi was so happy in the new, bigger hotel 🙂 Plaza Western PLUS you saved 4 asses that night! We will never forget you.
We slept so damn well, happy to have a refreshing shower in a big bathroom. Overall, this hotel is better anyway than the small hotel in Heidelberg.
Checked out is at 12, distance from Darmstadt to Frankfurt Airport was only 20 minutes. My luggage is already done, Sissy hasn’t finished hers. She can’t find her legginggggg yet it’s already time to check out. In order to not get a late check out fee, we just checked out first the re-open Sissy’s Koffer in the lobby haha! Schwager started moving Susi’s travel cot or some other Kram to the car on by one. I played with Susi, meaning: Susi is eating my handy case while in return I got Susi’s headphone. At some point I ask “why Susi only wear diapers?” “Where is her pants?” the hectic has taken all of us, here wear the yellow one! Now we all are decent.
Off to Frankfurt Airport. We were all in one toilet in Baby Room in Airport until we got a knock haha All in! It takes a village 🙂 It was amazing that I met them 3X within one month, always come and go, one weekend, next week and one full week. It was so hard to be parted with this kleine Mote since she’s very menggemazkan hhmmmm.
I witnesses the moment she articulate Papa, Dada, played “hide and seek”, peekabo, screaming, number 2, mingkem, cengegesan. So many once in my lifetime memories created and stored innerhalb der kurzen Zeit I have with small Susi. Next time I see you, you’ll be already able to walk, will be very seru!
Big big big thank you for Sissy and Schwager to include me on their trip. I’ve seen + been on tons places because of you. We had so so so much indescribable fun, I’m very happy 😀
Feli feel tired, therefore she chose to stay put, doing some Cafeing whereas I was heading towards Adolphe Bridge, only to meet with another walking tour participants (at this point I didn’t know their names) the same girls we met at the entrance of Bock Casemates. They wanted to see the Rose Garden, I already forget this option exists! I asked if I can join, they don’t mind, so here I am, one party changes to three party. Maria said: Netherlands is famous for the Tulip, Luxembourg is famous for the Rose. She also mentioned perhaps there won’t be any at this time as this is not the season. However, it didn’t reduce our spirit to check. The result was: there were no rose hahaha but one of the girl found something else 🙂
What’s next then? I’m not sure if I’m allow to follow them again as I kind of crashing their party of two hihihi I asked and they don’t mind so here we are in The Gudde Wedder. Spoiler alert, this is where the night getting excited! we grow to an even bigger + exponentially funny party. At this time I already know their names, Franzi and Sabine. Franzi is a German live in Luxembourg, Sabine is a Mauritians on the way to USA. Franzi asked “where is your friend? she can come here too other than waiting alone” OK, send picture + location + write Feli. Done from my side.
This place is always full, there is no waiter who will search a seat for you. You just have to run once a table is free, pretty Barbaric I’d say. The plan was we sat anywhere first, if we see one of the table at the side is free then moved. Our seat was the middle, next to us were 4 guys. I thought all of them are together until I realized they too separated into 2 and 2. Franzi whispered to me “they are Germans”
Mistakes happened by one of the guy’s order that caused a conversation which lead to the best unexpected night of my life. 2 Moscow Mule for free! My brain and heart already locked to Pisco Sour therefore Sabine and Franzi took it but I also had few sips #slurp 🙂
They talked, I zoned out from time to time until I saw the perfect corner table is empty! I don’t care what were their conversation is all about, it was worth to break it. Guys! Empty table on the corner, run! get it! the guys talked “should we move?” “yes yes moved!” both girls said thanks for the drink to the other guys, I didn’t even see them. Focus focus, tadammm!!! party of 3 becomes party of 5!
We have one more empty seat that could be a hot seat between Feli or Franzi’s housemate. Knowing the party will be bigger, one of the guy (at that time I didn’t know their names yet) said we wont be asking chairs from another table anymore rather asking for a table. Funnily, both of them arrived at the same time, I asked Feli to “run, run” but she ignored me, she was the last one to get the seat 🙂 How many are we now? party of 5 become party of 7! After we complete, now I know all the names, they are Lukas, Tobias, Sabine, Feli, Ivy, Franzi and moi!
Best seat – Best crew
We will treat this corner as generational, ain’t gonna move our asses. If someone needs to go to the toilet, we will guard the sits with all our hearts. Don’t be a beginner like the French guys sitting next to us pfffff. Okay, French guy asked in French if we have a paper for smoking, none of us understand so he spoke in English, we all “no, sorry we don’t smoke, we don’t have it”. The three of them try to asked the restaurant I think, they didn’t realized….they have left their table!!! In three seconds, two ladies already grabbed their spot. Me and Franzi was looking at the girl giving thumbs up or trying to say “I don’t think the guys meant to left the table” the moment the guys realized, it’s too late. Lukas said “it’s because he didn’t put the towel in the chair as a mark, the German towel really is sacred”
Lukas, Tobias and me still have a bit of drinks, meanwhile Sabine, Ivy and Franzi are ready to move on for Open Air Cinema. Lukas gave Ivy his “Towel” (read: jacket) to spot the chairs for Open Air Cinema. Once we are done, we walked to Place Guillaume II, “you guys continue, I forgot my bag” ahhh Tobias… we didn’t realized he walked without his bag #face palm Lukas said “I need to take care of my bag because many people (myself including) said I have a nice bag”
I was the one who made itinerary for the trip so I know we are passing the Corniche aka the “most beautiful balcony of Europe” When I told the guys their response was “OK, checked” me on the other hand getting a selfie “Have you see yourselves on the camera?” Lukas answered “I am right there!” We arrived at the Open Air Cinema, the movie is Singing in The Rain with French and German Subtitle. The German Towel doesn’t serve the purpose of 7 seats, we have to scatter around. I was sitting with Lukas, Feli with Tobias, Sabine with Franzi, Ivy prefer to stand.
Once the movie is finished, Franzi and Ivy already gone but we got additional member which is Tobias’ housemate, Pedro. We kept strolling around until we reached one pub only to use the toilet haha noooo we stay just a bit due to our AirBnB is quiet far, we need to catch the last bus. On the dance floor we received a good news that Lukas was accepted into a University in Mannheim, whoaaaa! Congratulations!!!!
The level of Dopamine from that whole day was very indescribable, one of the night you don’t want to end, not in my wildest dream I would expect any of it. It is like finding a hidden gems or Swarovski in the most unexpected place like a non-existing rose garden.
Hey! I’m serious, Franzi found it and she gave it to me 🙂
Made in Germany, found by a German!
I will remember all of you, Ivy who study her PhD, Franzi who work in EU Parliament, Sabine who always manage to get into private swimming pool at any Hotel in Mauritius, Tobias who studies Data Science if only I can turn back time, I’ll tell myself to study that too, Lukas whose backpack was stolen 🙁
Sorry to deliver a sad news… I know the next day that Lukas’ great backpack has been stolen. I was very shocked when I heard it, damn! how about bank card + Personalausweis + keys etc. When we met the guys, I even more shocked because he can turn the negative into something humorous, that is the skill not everyone have. Lukas himself turn it into a joke that leads to running gag for the whole day, such as “they dropped my AirPods and I have the box back home, so now it’s complete; well, now I can’t pay anything; I need to chill, good thing is I can’t get lower than this, they took everything from me; I wear the same clothes because they took all my belongings”. Ah yes forget to mentioned Lukas literally just arrived Luxembourg when I met him so his backpack is all his stuff for the weekend. Anyway, my personal opinion, with this kind of mentality, he will be able to go very far in life.
Moral of Lukas’ incident, follow the quote from How I Met Your Mother, “when it’s 2 A.M., just go to sleep. Because nothing good happens after 2 A.M” I told him I believe in Karma, something stolen from you, it will be stolen from the thief in another way too, for example something bad happen to their family that would cause damage more than your iPad etc. He said my words are too dark he didn’t intend any bad things to the Täter, oh yes bitch I am Indonesian, we have Voodoo Master hahaha don’t mess up with my things or else……#devil’s laugh
Back to the good side of me, you guys have made my weekend unforgettable. I owe you a big thank you, I wish you all success in life. See you when I see you #you’ll never know 😉
We started with Twentytour / walking tour guided by Maria from Russia, my initial thought was that she is a local Luxembourgish as…she speaks the language hahaha such a standard to define if someone a local or not. She mentioned, it is very normal for people to be Polyglot, your language ability will not be treated as skills but rather as a part of life.
We gathered at the Jan Pallach Square in front of Monument Dicks and Lentz who supposed to have a red lion as symbol of Lux’s flag. FYI, you saw the correct lion, it is not red. Moving on to Place Guillaume II where they have market until 17:00 in front of a building called Hotel de Ville, it’s not a hotel nor a Villa, it’s a Town Hall. We walked passed Place de Clairefontaine and Grand Duchess Charlotte Memorial.
She explains how Luxembourg become very rich due to steel and agriculture. When we arrived at Grand ducal Palace + Chamber of Deputies, she informed that the Prime Minister- Mr. Xavier Bettel is a complete regular guy, you can find him on the street, the bar etc too bad, he is on holiday. How do I know? because there is no flag hanged in front of the palace.
There is some interesting pole in front of it, on top of there is a face, everywhere you move the face is following into your direction. It has a symbolic meaning as the people who works on the palace is being watched by the Luxembourgish people.
Next is we visited Saint Michael’s Church who is the oldest shrine in the city. Right outside, adjacent to it we arrived to the most picturesque of Luxembourg, Bock Promontory = the cradle of the city of Luxembourg.
There we met our new friend from Brazil who lives in Ireland, Brunna. I like her mentality, she asked if I can take picture of her as a proof that she was there. Girl, we are the same! Picture or else it didn’t happen 😉
We walked in circular movement for about 5 Minutes tadammmm we reached The Grund.
We closed our tour by visiting Cathedral Notre-Dame de Luxembourg + Place de la Constitution, saw from distance Spuerkeess and….Adolphe Bridge, p.s not gonna lie I was shocked to hear the name of the bridge.
I felt myself not really myself, I need to eat before I turn into Hulk. What is the best options in this situation? Italian! its very hard to make it wrong. Brunna agrees too, ha! same mentality proof! #high five.
Right after I feel satisfied, we three went to the Pfaffenthal elevator, re-do what we did with Maria only with more time haha we also visited Fondation Pescatore. Brunna wants to crossed the bridge. Which bridge? the only bridge that matters, the red one. It has a name no? Yes it is, it’s Pont Grande Duchesse-Charlotte. Feli said we might only come until the middle as we have Bock Casemates at 16:45. However as what Maria said, it looks far but it ain’t. We finished crossing the bridge plus come back to the city using Bus.
Brunna didn’t join for the Casemates tour so we separated there. On the entrance we met with two other girls from the walking tour, she bought the ticket for tomorrow visit while we already have it.
Here it is the one that I have been waiting for, Bock Casemates! What is that exactly? Its a Unesco world heritage fortifications and old town Gibraltar of the North – that’s how its written on the flyer hahaha in a normal language, it used to be a fortress for underground military defense system. The view always faced the same, nevertheless it didn’t reduce the beauty. We saw the same thing on a different level.
Here is the video of the views from different angles:
We walked back to the city center, enjoying the last chance of shopping until…. who do we met randomly? Brunna!!! She somehow had a feeling she will meet us again 🙂 We have to separated for the second time as she went to a supermarket then fetch her stuff to catch her flight back to Ireland.
We seal our good thoughts deals of meeting each other again in the future which are more likely to happen, thanks to so many reasons: we live in EU, she has a German boyfriend, she knows if she’s in Köln she has to text us or we do it the other way…. we visit you in Ireland. Whatever or however it will be, we will see you again Brunna 🙂
