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I’m a Water Bottle – Part 3

Lucy immediately checked on me: 你昨天进去了吗, 怎么样睡得着吗? I replied the very unfortunate night that I couldn’t even closed my eyes for longer than one hour. She commented: 你太紧张了，没关系的. Na ja, this is what you’ve got when you illegaly stayed #Constantly self-conscious.

Okay, so what did we do on Day 3? Welcome to our 3L Water Bottle Day! We tackled the 5-hour Kings Canyon Rim Walk.

How many liters did I actually finish? Barely 1.5L, haha! I think the 3L requirement is meant for the groups that start their walk around 10:00 AM or later, when the heat gets dangerous. We, on the other hand, started our hike at the exact same time as the day before 05:20 AM and finished by 10:00 AM-ish.

The absolute hardest part of this hike is the infamous “Heart Attack Hill” stairs. The steps are made entirely out of natural stones, so they are definitely not DIN-normed! 😉

Once you get past that, the pathway was pretty flat #Very walkable. Passing rock formation after rock formation, hit lookout after lookout, simply amazing!

Reaching the Garden of Eden means your hike is 75% complete! We got 20 minutes to take it all in before we had to keep moving toward the exit.

Most people ended their tour here, I would have done the exact same thing had our flight schedule cooperated. We had to stay one more day because flights to Adelaide don’t operate every day.

After the hike, there wasn’t much to do besides packing up, heading back to our very first campsite. “Ate” our last sunset in Northen Territory of Australia.

Matthew hast left earlier, which meant Dom got a cabin all to himself. I was definitely going to slip inside! still wanted to wait until Ryan was completely out of sight, until Lucy cut in: „He is dead tired, just go now“ I ended up falling asleep inside my swag for about 30 minutes before finally making my move to Dom’s cabin.

Day 4

No more waking up at 4:30 AM, for our last day, it was 7:30 AM! Heaven! After breakfast, we were dropped off at the cultural center, where we hung out, had lunch with Lucy and Phoebe until it was time to catch the shuttle bus to the Ayers Rock Airport. I also said goodbye to the Polish couple Monika and…. husband 😉

Thank you so much, Alice Springs + Uluru! What an absolute once-in-a-lifetime experience. Having never camped before, I’m thrilled my first time was in the heart of the Australian wilderness. I’m also so proud that my Wombat powered through it all!

I am so grateful:

  • to be guided by Ryan ~ good luck at your new Job
  • to have met Lucy & her family ~ I completely agree with you that “sometimes the most unforgettable trip is the worst one.” I certainly won’t forget this one! Don’t get me wrong, not that this trip was the “worst” it was just very different from what I’m used to. I was also so entertained by your “almost divorced Philippine trip” or “almost lost your daughter in Budapest trip”, though I’m hoping none of that will happen to me! “Knock on wood
  • to have met my small sister Phoebe ~ thank you for your 月饼
  • to have met Monika with her Bali’s vision ~ perhaps we see us there next year

This adventure was so much more fun, felt so much lighter and will forever be embroidered in my memory because of you all. Whenever you travel to Europe, please contact us! Hope to see you again, perhaps when we visit Australia next time. All the best, take care <3

Phoebe’s next flight to Sydney ended up being delayed until the following day, so she had to stay at the airport hotel. For us, our connection was still technically „possible“. I was told to check with the ground crew in Melbourne the moment we landed. We almost didn’t make our flight from Melbourne to Adelaide, but all that sprinting through the airport wasn’t in vain.

Good evening Adelaide!


Link for our Tour:
Uluru Tour with Kata Tjuta & Kings Canyon (Swag) | Adventure Tours Australia

I’m a Water Bottle – Part 2

Quote from Lucy: If you want to go camping in Uluru, this is perhaps the only option. Look at that, we have two doctors family, even they were on the same ‘crappy’ tour as us haha! #This woman is gold!

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I’m a Water Bottle – Part 2

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!”

Sleep-deprived, nevertheless ready for Day 3 🙂

Link for our Tour:
Uluru Tour with Kata Tjuta & Kings Canyon (Swag) | Adventure Tours Australia

I’m a Water Bottle – Part 1

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I’m a Water Bottle – Part 1

Wombat came out from his bath singing his brand new rap song: Im a water bottle, Im a water bottle, you can shake me because Im not cola fanta sprite, Im a water bottle hahaha inspired by water bottle #Clever ball.

Because the start time of our Alice Springs / Uluru tour didn’t really line up conveniently with the flights, we decided to fly into Alice Springs a day early. I have to say, the airport really has character, very unique! Just a quick tip for anyone traveling here: if it’s only two of you, better take shuttle bus, which costs 23 AUD per person. We assumed a taxi would be cheaper since it will be to a destination, they don’t care how many passengers are inside #Not true! It cost us 56 AUD, not to mention we actually had to call them. Since both of us only had eSIMs, we had to ask our Good Samarita: Joe.

Made it to Greet Hotel Alice Springs (formerly known as the Diplomat Hotel), headed straight to Coles to buy four 1.5L bottles of water after being convinced by our receptionist, Rishma. She said we needed to drink 3L a day. The air is so dry, you don’t actually feel thirsty, which is why she often sees tourists fainting on the side of the road. We don’t want to be that tourist, do we? After that, we popped into Kmart to buy a backpack for Dom, then I had a massive lunch at an Indonesian restaurant #We are everywhere!

Later that evening, while walking toward the main road, we suddenly heard someone shout, “Dominik!” There was no one else around us, they must meant my Wombat. We turned toward the voice, it was Joe & his gang! What a nice gesture he still remembered us 🙂

  • You made it to the hotel! said him
  • Ah yeah, the guy from the airport! followed his friends ~ whom I later learned were named Reese and Oliver
  • I replied: Thanks to you Joe, for being right there when we needed you! 🙂

We chatted for a bit. They were visiting from Brisbane for a work trip. When I told him what our evening plans were, he immediately advised against it: “No, kids, don’t walk around here. It’s better if you just eat and sleep.” #Message received.

Day 1 – Ryan from Adventure Tours picked us up at 06:20AM

The day kicked off with solely one pickups after the other, followed by a 6.5-hour drive toward Ayers Rock Airport. We made a few stops, but nothing major since we’ll see them again on the last day. Curtin Springs was a hit for anyone wanting alcohol, though I was way more excited to see “Fuluru” (#Fake Uluru) before we headed to the campsite for lunch.

With some free time before reaching final pick up at the airport, we strolled over to Ewing Lookout ~ are we back to Dom’s old apartment? haha

While we were there, a Polish couple approached us and asked, “Guys, is it possible that you were having lunch yesterday at Indonesian restaurant because I heard you guys speaking German to each other but then you spoke Indonesian to the waiter?” Turns out, they were there too, sitting at the very next table! What are the odds? #Big, as the options for eating in Alice Spring wasn’t that much 😀

Our first stop after picking everyone up from the Ayers Rock Airport was heading to a lookout at Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). Mind you, there were many flies flying straight to our face.

For our last stop of the day, we enjoyed some snacks while watching the sunset many meters away “in front of” Ayers Rock.

Afterward, we drove back to the campsite for dinner and set up our sleeping arrangements. I chose a swag because it was the cheaper option and when I googled it beforehand, it didn’t look that bad since it had a built-in net. In reality, it really wasn’t like the pictures!!! It was basically just a rolled-up mattress on the ground. We all had sleeping bags, but the swag got so dusty due to we were literally sleeping directly on the 地上

We found a clear spot on the ground and all slept next to each other. In total, we had 12 people sleeping out whereas 12 people in.

I actually managed to sleep soundly until 3:00 AM, when I was suddenly woken up by the freezing cold! Dom, on the other hand, had had enough, he decided to upgrade himself to “Business Class”

The one of lifetime Erfahrung continues…..

Link for our Tour: Uluru Tour with Kata Tjuta & Kings Canyon (Swag) | Adventure Tours Australia

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Leg Day

Continuing from Whats to Wear? – Part 1 we managed to arrived Circular Quay with 1,5 hours time buffer. Since Wombat loves Tiramisu so much, I wanted him to get a second opinion at Bar Totti ~ a spot Queencha introduced me to. To see how it compared to the one Carlos showed us at Grill Americano. The verdict? He wasn’t convinced, still prefers the first one.#Ah well, I tried 🙂

Headed to Sydney Bridge Climb meeting point, registered ourselves, of course we met another Wombat Plushie. While registering, the employee told us the climb will take about 3 hours, what?! I’ve done Brisbane’s Bridge Climb Vitamin B – Part 2 ~ granted, it’s a smaller bridge, I think it was only half the time of Sydney’s although the Bridge wasn’t half the size of Harbour Bridge.

Here, the indoor briefing and safety introduction alone took about 45-50 Minutes.

We booked our climb at 16:45 I think either 16:30 or 16:45 in late September was perfect: we caught the last bit of daylight, watched the sunset then got to see all the city lights.

The only hard part was the first and last 10 minutes because of the steep stairs. It was tiny bit „scary“ when the sun was still out, you look straight down at the water below. Once the sun set, you couldn’t really see the steps clearly anymore ~ ofc headlights were provided.

The walkaway after the stairs was pretty flat. Your eyes stay fixed on the surrounding views anyway, you can’t really look down unless you just want to stare at concrete and steel hehe

Photos were an extra 60 AUD on top of the ticket entrance that were already cost 450 AUD, originally we didn’t want to pay for it… in the end we couldn’t resist because they turns out very beautiful, especially this Gold one <3 Regardless the cost, we both were very delighted for this experience.

Afterward, we headed back to Chatswood to meet up with Mamacita. The commute took so long, by the time we arrived, almost all the restaurants were already closing. In the end, McDonald’s was our only option! We met up right as they finished watching Resident Evil movie.

What a massive leg day, hey!

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Gaming With The Gamers

About one week later after our Schwarzwald short trip, Stephan visited us 🙂 #Well, not really haha he bought a concert ticket in Köln to which Dom also followed him. What should we do with a gamers? Let’s visit Minecraft Experience in Oberhausen hey. They played it, I didn’t. I only knew about Minecraft computer game, also I had an ice cream 😉

It was an interactive playground where you each got cube as our tools to cut trees, open boxes, kill spiders etc, the ground also plays a role, we can step on fruits, or any other items to collect it as medicines or whatnot.

Selbstverständlich we managed to save the villagers 🙂

However, we still need to save a villager from starting a war = hungry Marlyn! Because this Minecraft is in the middle of der Pampa, we still need to drive to Oberhausen City, search for park place, go to the mall, search for the restaurants. I had my eye fixed on Spare Ribs! Three Sixty! it was delicious! Pass auf if they asked you for sauce, it’s not for free!

This village also saved 🙂

Happy Marlyn, Happy Life!

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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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The Feeling Is Mutual

On a fine weekend, we went to Rewe for groceries, passed by an apartment who looks like they’re cleaning up due to moving out. Right on the pavement there was a bicycle with a Zettel “zu Verschenken” , the bike itself looks small enough, would be fit for me. Then a young women came out, I asked “Umziehen, ne?” “Ja, genau” I know that feeling because that’s what we have been doing for the past two months: putting stuff inside a box on the street for free for anyone who need or just FOMO.

After we finished our groceries, went same way back, it’s still there however there was some competition! Another couple crossing that road too! I guess the guy wanted to ask his girlfriend about the bike ~ or not…. regardless I felt threatened! She was few steps in front of him and didn’t see it, by the time he called her name, we were already standing infront of the bike! Aha! 1-0 😀

New paper on the other side of the wheel: “Wenn du magst, gerne kleine Spende an XY” the other couple was taking some shelf or so then left ~ perhaps he wasn’t looking at the bike at all, I was just panic.

Back to our situation, still looking…

  • Him: “Try”
  • Me: “What’s to do?”
  • Him: “Fährt einfach”

One thing I know, that bike didn’t look back, ride ride ride to it’s new home around the corner haha it’s written “wenn du magst” anyway… well, I don’t ‘magst’ . I do know our feeling is mutual 🙂 when moving out, we’d rather have someone that will take it for free other than pay Sperrmüll to pick it up.

It’s an easy settlement then, he will bring his bike too so we could be that “sporty active cardio couple” 😉

Yeay! can’t wait for our first ride together!

Just clarifying, will I now go to Nordwest with a bike? Absolutely not! #That’s not what its use for 😉

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Sugarbomb – Part 2

We wanted to be at Christmas Market in Aachen, because during our first visit ~ Sugarbomb I got the impression that somehow it will be good. Was I correct though?

On the way there, Dom already half happy, he just need the Soda. Good I was already Germanized, made a booking at Warteg, otherwise all 3 hours on the way is umsonst! #They were packed! Very happy to see the restaurant thrived 🙂

Feli followed their IG Account to know they have Adventskalender, for the day we were there, it will be Es Campur für every zwei Hauptgerichte, aaahhh schaffen wir es locker! #Nomnomnom

Now we both has aged hihi our average number is 32 🙂 revisit Aachener Dom ~ still the best one, touch the door #Again. Unfortunately my guess was incorret, the Christmas Market was rather a disappointment. No mühe whatsoever given, I understand everybody wants to cut corners, but really… to the point they didn’t even have plate for Crepes? Dom just got a paper? It’s too much saving money hey.

They don’t have Christmas Tree ~ only Printen as Aachener Printen is famous #Yep, not getting it… Brigitta (Warteg’s employee) said actually there was a Photobox with background Printen, according to her it was very good ~ I however didn’t see it.

We need to cure our Zonk experience, back to the place we know how ~ Warteg for dinner 😀 I need to have something warm, opted for Bakso. Two Hauptgerichte wieder, meaning another Es Campur! How many happy soda Dom had? Three! He was gesodad.

I’m pretty sure we will come back here during Christmas, not only for the Printen Photobox, rather for Warteg’s Adventskalender and their Stempelkarte #Priorität #So many reason to look forward to 😉

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It’s Not in Vain

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 🙂

#Proud Dortmunderin!

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Revenge

We registered to a free public viewing EM qualification Luxembourg vs Germany by Check24. There were many freebies: 1*Trikot + 2*Beers + 1*Bratwurst + Fansartikel (like a scarf or hat). It’s written Geschenke auswählen, perhaps only one of those?

The Stadion opened since 18:15, we arrived one hour later. Went through the security checked where I was dammned because I had pepper spray on my pocket, rrrghhh I think they will take it away. They did, she asked me to emptied my pocket, hold it, asked what’s that? Protection against big dog, oh! it’s verboten. Then she asked me to open my bag, there I had my 150ml mini bottle, same question, answered water. I had to throw it ~ not the water, the bottle. Oh noo! This Baby Flasche has been with me since 2023 🙁 I think she was already in a bad mood because of my pepper spray.

What was an originally Kostenlose event resulted of me needed to buy new pepper spray + Baby Flasche. Once we officially inside the stadion, I realized turns out we could get all those perks. Hell yeah, won’t stopped after the Bratwurst. I’m not a fans on collecting some Werbung stuff but that has fade, for the stuff they took away ~ I need to make it breakeven. Don’t care how long the queue to get those stuff, I’m getting all of it!

The game started at 20:45, until that time we got our Bratwurst + Trikot + Rubbellos to get the Fansartikel (mine scarf and hat while Dom got only scarf) + 2*Free drinks. Check24 had two screens, in the middle there was a stage with entertainment like DJ, Singer, Dancers etc, there were round about 15.000 people on the spot, not bad hey!

When we took a selfie, the guy sitting next to us were funny, he was posing as if Dom took picture of him, he proceed to take Dom’s phone and then make a selfie of himself ~ after that he made a picture of us, for me that was the highlight of the evening 😀

First half of the game was rather boring, passiert ja nix. Told Dom we could just go…? during break time we let other people to leave first whilst the singer came back to stage, sang völlig losgeslöst von der erde, followed by Kiss Cam. Well, once it’s done, the second half started, let’s continue watching. We saw two goals were made, OK safe, 10 Minutes before the game ends, we collected the last 2*Free drinks from my coupoun then proceed to walk home.

At the end they were throwing away the Fansartikel, I picked up the hat from the floor, can give it to Finny 🙂 I couldn’t get him the size L Trikot but at least I got him something haha.

Very big advertisement by Check24 for sure, well there are always pros and cons to a free event. Stadion rule: only bring your G-E-L-D.

Now that I downloaded the App, I will come to their next event to get my revenge 😉 #use it to the max! Sometimes when it’s free, it wasn’t really free, you paid it in another way. Thank you Baby Flasche, I hope I gave you an experience of your 2,5 years old lifetime #Breaking heart.

On the way back, because of our costumes, people were wondering what was happening? was there a play? More or less, it was a qualification. We have watched the beginning of it, let’s see how far Deutschland can go 🙂