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Rainbow After Rain

Hainka was surprised with my answer to his question on how long will we stay at Venice, what are you gonna do for all 7 days there? This is how we do it : 😉

Vicenza

Weather forecast: Raining! It is a small town only about 30 Minutes away via Train. When I planned it, I really wanted to visit La Rotonda und Villa Valmarana, only from the outside since I think it wouldn’t be as beautiful as Venetian one #No offense. From the descriptions on how to get there, looks like far away, it wasn’t, still on a walking distance.

We had our Pause on the Garden of Villa Valmarana, only few visitors was there, couldn’t see where the yellow flower garden I saw from another blog, Dom peeked to which he commented “the Garden looks sad, just leaves & trees”. Moving on to La Rotonda that was zu, literally got what I want, couldn’t be more outside than this haha

Padova

Weather forecast: Raining! It is still a small town, about 17 Minutes away via Train, slightly offered more things to do than Vicenza . I booked a ticket to Scrovegni Chapel e Musei Civici degli Eremitani. It reminded me of the Frescoes from “Leonardo da Vinci” in Milan where you can only be inside for 30 minutes before the bell rang ~ only with a much more reasonable price 😉

Also went to the Basilica of Saint Anthony, it’s another type of beautiful from St. Mark in Venice, the marbles are stunning. The Tomb of St. Anthony is really there, it was guarded and prayed upon.

Treviso

Weather forecast: Raining! It is the biggest town among those two, only 40 Minutes away from Venice by train. Dom was on a Pancake Hunting and Treviso was the winner! See the comparison, you know which one belongs to which cities 🙂

Besides the foods, there are definitely more things to do, such as: Fontana dei Tre Visi (Fountain of the Three Faces) nope don’t mixed up with the one in Rome Trevi Fountain 😉 , Cattedrale del Duomo, Porta di Santi Quaranta.

Update weather forecast: we got Rainbow! My Diannaaaa! We were waiting for her, suddenly I catch a glimpse of a familiar face lurking at the window, Matteo!!!! What a pleasant surprise, I’m so glad he could joined! Few minutes later my gorgeous sister Dianna walked into the room, with her fashionable style, prettier than ever. I was and still am smiling from ear to ear, very happy to be able to hug her again, at last!

We crammed stories during 9 years span of life into one an half hour of lunch at Tavernetta Butterly. Shared family updates, our experience on moving to Asia for her vs moving to Europe for me. We met the first time during the horrible trip at Abandon Island ~ none of us know the real name and we close it with an “open” trip possibilities, you two are more than welcome to join us in Bali! Would love to show a bit of my countries to you.

Thank you very much Matteo and Anna for inviting us for lunch, it was the best restaurants in comparison to all our trip in Venice, very authentic. Next time you’re in Germany or Indonesia, it’s on us! #Deal!

Us, 9 years apart! 2016 vs 2025 #Aging like fine wine 🙂 We don’t have to wait another 9 years to meet each other again.

A presto Amoreeeee miooooo 😉

Leonardo da Vinci in Milan: Marching On

Trevi Fountain in Rome: Frequency

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Heads Held High

We booked a ticket to Venice must visit Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace) and La Basillica di San Marco (Markusdom).

What I know about a Palace is they always consist of thousands functional rooms, luxurious halls, wall of paintings etc what I wasn’t aware was… at Doge’s ALL chambers has a very nice frescoes, you must hold your head high to see it, too pretty to miss but too pain for your neck hahaha #Can’t have it all!

What I have been waiting from this Palace is actually their prison… #Ironic hey. The so called Bridge of Sighs, there are two “windows” that “allows” them to see Venice one last time before being locked away. Was sad as their last view was only through small stoned barred windows #Sighs.

The Doge’s tickets also included entrance to Museum Correr. We are not a big fans of museum visitors, rather a beliver of #Wir haben es schon bezahlt. Went in anyway and have fun nevertheless. Did we learn anything from this Museum? is to resist yourself not to touch the object!

Then our timeslot for St. Markus is there, the ceilings is again… high, hold your head up! hahaha we went sowohl to the church als auch to their Museum ~ Museo e Loggia dei Cavalli because we wanted to go to the terrace, it’s ended up there 🙂

Although their terrace is not sooo high, in my opinion, it’s enough, the view is pretty too. We have more places to move around, instead on a Bell Tower. This church is kind of reminded me of Aachener Dom, I found it very beautiful. Sugarbomb

Would be great if you could buy the tickets from the official website, we got it from third party as it was most likely sold out month in advanced, therefore plan plan plan.

Two must visit places in Venice: checked! still one more BIG MUST do activities 🙂 #You know what I’m talking about!

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The Amazing Race – Part 2

Time in Venezia is on another dimensional. What says only 30 Minutes could be 50 Minutes due to crossing the river by “Water Ubahn”, couldn’t predict how long the queue gonna be. We barely had buffer before the meeting point for “Island” Hopping, ran like hell all the way through since got out from our AirBnB + had to detour because the GPS Signal kept jumping which dragged us to a wrong Gasse where the end was water instead of road, luckily we stopped on time. During this whole race, told Dom I’m not sure if they will wait for us, nevertheless we gotta give our best shots, keep running! Saw a bunch of people gathered + a tour guide who already started briefing, yeap that’s our tour = we made it, in a nick of time.

Arrived at Murano for glass demonstrations where the craftsman were making a horse under one minute. His translator said “Our work is not according to safety standards as this is more like a family business, how many times he burnt his hand? every time”. It is very impressive, especially when the horse is finished, he put a slice of paper and it burnt, cool! Photos are not allowed inside the store, the American lady from the tour asked if I visited second floor, I have no idea they have second floor. She explained it was breathtaking, like for a much bigger item such as chandelier with pattern + color out of glass. Do I think the glass decorations are pretty? At first I’d say “why not?” the moment I saw the price my answer changed to “it’s definitely not” 😉

Dom asked if there is some I like to take as a memory from here, si! a small colorful heart shape pendant <3

We stayed perhaps 45 – 50 minutes top at Murano only for Vetreria Ducale Glass Factory. Then off to Burano where we got more time. Since I forgot our banananaaa, hungry kicked in so I stayed at the chicken nugget counter while Dom followed the tour. In the end he separated himself as they just walked around and talked, they didn’t, they had a lace demonstration, we didn’t go, were busy on taking pictures and + snacks on our own.

How busy were we? Very! To the point that none of us paid attention to the wherabout of our meeting point for next island: Torcello. I was sure it was exactly on the same place where they dropped us, just some steps back, I even saw our boat. Dom noted some additional info that leads into confusion as we have another church building on the other side which also has water. Did we made it? Nope! The word “upset” wasn’t enough to describe my dissappointment. Never have I ever missed such important information, couldn’t comprehend it. There is a first time for everything but this surely must be the last. We came up with a better strategy for next trip because this stupid mistake musn’t be repeated.

As if things can’t get worse? oh yes it can, on the way back to Venezia a lady who sit next to me has a leak water bottle. I only realized it when my side part of my clothes were wet, luckily I’m wearing light brown therefore it wasn’t too visible. What else? we got scammed by some sellers, now we have 2 angeblich Hakuna Matatas bracelet #He can say anything, the way he wanted us to have it was by throwing it, out of reflects I catched it, then no turning it back. He gave us an elephant statue and again angeblich bracelet from Kenya, what are we gonna do about it? left it at our AirBnB 😀

Tainted afternoon need some reparation. Dom lead the trip as I don’t want to think anymore, I’ve done that job long enough already. We visited a very interesting book shop with a hot rabbi calendar, oh yeah, mood booster, things got better there 🙂 You can only walk one direction, there is a corner about a story about Hermes, Balanciaga or Dom’s fav Lamborghini. It’s interesting until you see the price, nope! Let’s just have a digittalllllll version of the book hahaha.

Then we walked to Ponte dell’Accademia, wow! the Grand Canal view was breathtaking, more breathtaking than the second floor of the Murano Factory Glass for sure 😉 haha. The Cupola from Santa Maria della Salute, we stopped for a while to enjoy it. Life is good again <3

Since we haven’t properly eat all days, we had an evening of what Dom called “Food Experience” at II Paradiso Perduto. Guys, it’s really good! I’d say from all restaurant we ate, this is the best one. Unfortunatley we couldn’t finish all of the fish, if I’m in Indonesia, I would have take all the fishes and gave it for street cats, Dom was totally against it. He was thinking about Müllentsorgung usw und so forth. Sorry stray cats 🙁 I’ll do better next time!

But how? maybe eat it all haha

The Amazing Race

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Journey

Round of Oktoberfest is coming, meaning journey of visiting friends located in the South of Germany has arrived 🙂 Very happy to see you all!

My highschool friend QQ, thank you for letting me stay at your place, cook Indonesian noodle, took me to Taylor Swift concert stadium, followed by free BMW Museum. Last but not least the 1972 Olympic village, some people really give Mühe on painting their Apartment!

My childhood friend Krisma, he came with his Tracht, ready for action!

My Brother Thorben, was very happy to meet you again after more than two years! I’ll ask where you two will ended up staying, I mean…. being #On Budget Traveler, need some free accommodation yo 😉 For example: Celina please stay in Switzerland! haha

My Shanghai friend Nora, we have been friends for 9 years yet this is the first time I know you studied engineering #Face palm. When one has been friends for so long, we passed the basic knowledge way tooo far to the point we forgotten it haha.

My Lästerschwester friend Shelly who now became my friend too! Good idea of choosing a Tibetian restaurant, what a great Momo we had #Yummy!

Janine & Thomas, it was fun taking all the Quitten to the Juice shop! hard work in the afternoon rewarded by a very satisfying hotpot dinner. It took us 2,5 hours to eat yet still many left übrig. Janine said “it’s good, otherwise it would be embarassing for Asian to let guess left hungry. Thomas commented “also for Italian, they will take everything out from the Keller, if you’re still not full, they would ask the neighbour” 😉

My Dortmund Home: Feli + Katrina + Selina thank you for your home made food; cookies or bought made chocolate 😉 when stomach is full = heart is full <3

I cherished the openness in our conversations, every shared moment of time. Good luck, my friends ~ may each of us find the journey we deserve in the end.

Till that moment arrives… keep fighting!

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Improvement

Background song: it’s the most wonderful time of the year…. not Christmas (yet!), more precisely Food Nerds annual gathering, in a style we know best ~ Tracht & Dirndl to our favourite season Oktoberfest 😀

After having a very authentic Chinese Lunch at Xiang, done set up at Claudia’s: I got the Sofa, she got the air matress, Thomas brought the pump. One last straw, getting ready for Schützenfestzelt where Drake was there during the opening day. Claudia explained that our tent is second Promi Zelt after Käfer.

Thomas went off earlier to meet Dan as he proclaimed he just wanted to say ‘Hi’ then stay for one Maß ~ spoiler: he didn’t, went through thick and thin of the night.

Familiar faces from last year started to appears one by one. Once we completed, hau reinnn, were welcomed by some finger foods, me likey! We all directly ordered our first Maß, the Nerdies told I gotta improved, don’t worry it’s on my agenda 😉 I’ll try to make it to the second Maß.

Started pretty good, almost ‘neck to neck’ with Thomas’. Right after, I lost count, he went through his fifth while I was still on my second mwahaha. I can’t get my Dessert due to lost track of time and space, more explanation: (A) Kitchen is closed. (B) Honestly… had it not, couldn’t get anything anymore! My Dirndl felt soooo tight!

Decided to walked around the tent with Elena + Janine. I had one mission: tried to find some Promi. Failed miserably, forget it, look at the crowd, it’s impossible.

Hours of laughter, dances, songs and drinks later…. 不知不觉 our evening of wonder has passed! Thank you thank you thank you soooooo much to:

  • The one and only powerful couple Claudia & Gio, not only for getting us a table in a correct side so we could stood up on the bench but also to gather the coolest crowd;
  • Janine & Thomas for opening your brand new house to me. I was there when your home was still full with Baustelle. Thomas didn’t accept money at Xiang, he said to me “Marlyn, you can pay me back with your labor in my Garden” hahaha hope I did my job well 😉
  • Kai & Coco who somehow amazed by how small I am? Well…. I’m consistent, was already this size since last year 😉
  • Stephan & Elena, I’m glad we got to talk more! can’t wait to see your next year’s Dirndl, what could it be? hmmmm;
  • To Dan for not only staying for one Maß like you proclaimed before, hope I can also meet Nino next year!

I’m so grateful Claudia asked me to join, getting a table on Oktoberfest is very challenging. Without you, I wouldn’t even able to experience any of it. Pictures & Videos don’t do the justice on how fun our night was 😉

Food Nerds main crew: Prost to our second & still counting Oktoberfest! #Mandatory picture on the Bavariaring’s elevator 🙂

Quiz time: do you see the subtle difference from 2024 to 2025? #Only Oktoberfest participants will know. What an improvement a year could bring 😉

Can’t wait for next year! <3

Oktoberfest 2024: In der Badewanne

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Nachhaltig – Part 2

We have a new decoration in our office for the Birthday Gelande! whhhaaattttttt, who bought this? I suspect no one, most probably we borrowed it from Milena’s Abteilung #Wir sind nachhaltig 😉

Obviously it was only last for a day because Monicita’s turn is around the corner, keep recycling!

Nachhaltig

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View – Part 3

Some times ago, my instagram was flooded with a new rising star called Damiano David. He was / is the singer from Maneskin who took a solo career. One look, damn he’s hot! Not long after his single out, he announced his world tour, knowing solely one song from him + only standing ticket available = bought it nevertheless.

Missed his first 2,5 songs not because I was late, rather I couldn’t placed myself, tried to find some gap. Went to the far back, second floor, all people wouldn’t budge, got frustrated, went back down again. Made my way to the corner, there I saw him! Where exactly? in the pillar’s hole, tried to go to the front of that corner, in the hope to get a “broader” view #Forget it. Other people phone kind of saved me though, they all have zoom capacity like maybe 30 times haha.

Up until his concert, I only knew three of his songs: Born With A Broken Heart, Next Summer, The First Time. But all other songs are easy to follow and good too. His voice is deutlich besser than his recorded version. After being on my feet for a whole hour, decided to step back from the crowd.

Then something better happened! Some of the viewers opened the side door, I could see him clearer. The lady infront of me was exactly my size, her husband is bigger, he was my hero! he opened another door! I was able to see him for his 4 last songs! Was very very front, behind the Baricade. A glimpse of happiness has come.

His show lasted for about 1,5 hours, the lighting effect at his last song was great, the crowd kept saying Zugabe. He re-appeared, was kind enough to sing two songs.

Disregard the difficulties of me seeing him at the beginning, I’m happy with his live performance. If in the future, he’s gone very big, I already say him once 😉 #Nailed it! Oh perhaps I should answer if he’s hot in real life? I wasn’t close enough to justify this, based on the distance I had, I think he’s just like any normal Italian guy haha

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Timeline

Phone buzzed, WA message from my one and only Amigo, a link of his & Cindy’s birthday party information. Whoaaaa! I have missed some timeline of his celebrations, can’t afford to let it happen this time, directly booked the day in my calendar, adjusting my Marnniversarlyn, confirming my attendance.

Me being me aka someone who doesn’t own a car, asked who I know will come, not because Im nosy, rather I need to arrange my logistic. The options are either I go with someone or I stayed at their place haha. Going out with me must include the whole package, Lieferung + Übernachten 😀 Es hat sich schnell geregelt, I’ll go with my colleague Aileen and her husband, Vielen Dank! We were super on time ~ except one, you’ll find out who; arrived at 18:00, Aileen’s husband put away their presents while we drove to the Parkhaus that took us forever by car, via foot it was actually so close.

There he was, standing at the corner helloooooow Amigooooo was very happy to see him, he always hold me high #Love it! It didn’t take long until The Buffet is open, great! if not I’d taken down all the chips! There are one particular that tasteeeee really good! #Nomnomnom

While we were eating, Amigo always on the phone, Cindy said “Daniel, talk with our guess!” I sat down with his friends and one asked “is Daniel’s colleague here?” to which I replied: “His ex is here, his current one dunno”. We wanted to wait until everyone who chipped in for the gift to be present to present their gift. Later Daniel’s current colleague arrived, he introduced her to me, “you guys came from the country that starts with I ~ Indonesia; Iran” that very second, it was clicked on my head “oh! Warte Mal!”

She is the Warte Mal kollegin!!!

His “warte mal” was and still so contagious.

Finally the last person aka Denis aka Daniel’s friend since Grundschule arrived, his longest friend yet we were waiting for him the longest #Tried to be rhymed 🙂 Can we do the Übergabe? Nope! Because right now Daniel & Mananda were away to park her car in the right-ish location. Patience is virtue, they said ~ not me haha

They were happy about our gift! Yeayyyy! Someone shouted “invitation for Grillen is coming right?” Daniel’ shocked facial expressions “oh no, please don’t, too stressful to plan it”

Continue the night with Beer Pong, Team Ausländer vs Deutsch! We almost won! Groarrr had Amigo didn’t play, we could be the winner, so close! Followed by Impromptu Karaoke of 99 Luftballons, me + Cindy + Tanja need to see the lyrics whereas Denis knew it all. They continued for second round Beer Pong, I had back home with Aileen & Kevin.

Cindy, I thanked you to be invited to both of your celebrations, glad you like the grill, just text me the when & where, I’ll be there mwahaha. Amigo it’s my pleasure to know you in person since 2020 & still counting, I miss our Chip & Dale Team at the office or maybe I don’t need to miss it…. because…. warte mal 😉 Hope our timeline will match in the forseeable future! #Finger crossed.

W.T.F ~ Who Turns Forty?! Mi Amigo!

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Fill in The Gaps – Part 3

Touch down Hamburg again… this round, I wasn’t alone 🙂

Curiosity got the best out of me, wanna visit Reeperbahn in the evening so badly hihihi. I couldn’t have guess, they have a very popular Bar with Boxing ring in their basement called Zur Ritze ~ entrance cost 3 euro per person. Dominik knew about it, he said famous people had a fight there such as Logan Paul or would be such an insult if I didn’t mention The legend: Muhammad Ali himself, WOW! I was in the same place where he was!

Thank you to the one solely guy who was training, offered to took couple photos during his 1 minute break, even let us enter the ring while other people not ~ there was another couple who went directly after us only to be told by him literraly “you can’t get in, it’s not for everyone” you making us feel special! Real thanks, keep going, you rocks!

I filled the gap now, saw Reeperbahn on a daytime four years ago compare to nightime. Do I like it better than the other? Nah, honestly speaking, it’s quite scary, not to mentioned the amount of dirt boahhh #Hygiene is no existe.

What other shows did we went to besides our main Harry Potter’s event? It’s the Titanic Immersive Show! ~ one ticket cost 26 Euro with a strict timeslot for boarding, booking in advanced or at least online is very necessary.

Do I think it’s expensive? Of course! but for the sake of “Jake, I’m flying” I had to do it 🙂 #Just pay

They did it really good, presentation of each objects + screens projector + video effects. First class passenger’s accommodation is outrageous, functional rooms after rooms, dining hall, as if sun & promenade deck are not enough, they must have deck A – E too. What’s feels out of space for me though, is the Gurkengabel, how on earth you have a Gabel specialized for Gurken? can’t you use any Gabel? Fork is a Fork hey. Wild, how could people be so damn rich?!

The clock where Rose & Jake met was mesmerizing, spoiler alerts: the statue and only three steps are real objects haha rest was screen. Then come the scene when she hit the icebergs, where the thrid class passengers tried to find their way up or where Mr. Guggenheim & co prepared to go down like gentlemen.

When we enter the ship, were given a boarding pass, consist of real Titanic’s passengers name. There are two monitors where we can see if they got rescued or not. I was Edith Louise Rosenbaum from first class ~ meaning the chance of me survived is high. Dominik said “ich bin Bruce” okay… Until I read his pass, he is the J. Bruce Ismay from the movie with his famous line “But this ship can’t sink!” He doesn’t really need to type his name, we all both knew he was saved 😉

Can’t leave before doing Stadt Besichtigung like Promenade with Europa Passage, Speicherstadt, Hafen City, Elbphilharmonie, Elbtunnel.

Speaking of Elb, Dom tried to correct me, he commented: “shouldn’t it be Elfphilharmonie?” Nope, I’m sure I saw the ‘b’. He jokingly said Elftunnel, ne ne ne also Elbtunnel. Do we have another Elb? Should we? Shall we?

Perhaps Elbtaly 😉

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Wheels Keeps Turning – Part 4

I picked up Dom at Dortmund Hbf after he went on his 3 days Gamescom at Köln, went to his favourite Parking Place on the city center only to find…. another me! what a pleasant surprise 🙂

We had our little photo session there.

Not gonna lie, seeing myself on a banner in my city, it’s pretty good hey! Don’t you dare put a graffiti on me, I have a strong “jampe-jampe” skill haha

Next mission: Where’s Marlyn?

Gimme gimme more 😉