Localized the Local

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

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

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


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

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!

Tres B!tchketters

Amid my stress level, I knew I had to visit my biatch Irina, und zwar inmediatamente. When would it be? being #OnBudget you gotta calculate everything hey, before Easter that’ll be it, didn’t take long to got her confirmation, Fixbus here I come. One ripple sets off another to my other biatch Tereza, so great she’s also available to meet me! My serotonin levels got boosted by planning to meet my friends again, a great amount of endorphins release when I actually hug them.

When I arrived, she was surprised as I carried a proper carry-on luggage, yes this is what happend when you also do WFH therefore I couldn’t only come with my signature handbag haha.

Some requirements I briefed her, won’t leave Amsterdam until I ate in Takumi + Indonesian Restaurant, practically I still have to leave hey haha. She warned me that the Takumi is not that great, how come? she just came back from Japan #That’s why, everything is way better there! Even though they really do try their best to copy the taste, ain’t the same, Japan is whole another level. Their Menu is really different from what they have here in Dortmund or Düsseldorf, she encouraged me to choose a completely new flavor, was I disappointed? Nope! Plus point is they have Calpis! Bring back to my time with Eri in Shanghai or in Japan itself, I tried Calpis Cassis, both are good #Yum!

Prior to joining Tereza & her friends, Irina brought me to a veryyyy nice Australian Cafe called Five Ways, she mentioned all Cafe made by Australians are good, their cookies are to die for! #Figuratively. Irina still can’t take the Japan out of her, look at her Hello Kitty Leather jacket, so Japan! It fits her perfectly!

We gathered with our Terezaaaa ~ lady in pinkkk in Burger King, not so many restaurants options in the center that didn’t ripped your wallet hey 🙂 Then I wanted to go to Uniqlo so much as I don’t have it in Dortmund, do we have time? Yes because Tereza friends were only sitting haha I bought 2 pairs of clothing on Discount! yeayyy! #MoneyWins! Then we gathered with her friends, where to bring a tourist when you’re new in Amsterdam, obviously flower market.

We separated on the corner, we will meet again on Irina’s stand up comedy show 🙂 in Spanish #My first Stand up Comedy ever. Tereza got the jokes, while me…. no entiendo nada however I understand body language + facial expressions.

Who would have known that that evening could be my last time meeting Tereza as she will embarks on a new journey to New Zealand 🙂

Tereza, I know you are very looking forward for this move, strangely my heart feels a little heavy, I can only guarantee Irina’s felt 10 thousand times heavier. Rest assured we too are happy for you, it’s a double edge sword. Funny enough, you are geographically closer to my hometown! It makes me believe; somehow, somewhere, our paths will cross again.

I felt really recharged after spending time with my favorite bitches during the turbulent moments in my life. Irina kept reminding me that this is exactly the moment where my patience isn’t just an idea but something I actually have to live through. Even though it’s tough sometimes, I’m so grateful to have friends who help me laugh, breathe and keep going a little bit stronger.

To both of you: no matter where life takes us, to new jobs, new homes, or even new hemispheres, our bond will always stay. Here’s to friendship that distance can’t erase, bitches!

Love you loads <3

It’s Me, Hi!

I’ve got my first visitor ever from the Hungover Games, yeay! finally can show the city I called home for the past… ehem…. 4 years 5 months 21 days #Still counting ~ till the day Dennis arrived. I really needed this day-off more than anything therefore I was genuinely happy he visited me 🙂

On his first day, I showed him what Dortmund has to offer, which are: our version of 南京西路, instead of having 外滩 at the end, we went to Ubahn Station to visit our second destination, Dortmunder U. Dennis, the U is from the Dortmunder, not from the U-Bahn 的 U.

They offer free Museum entrance, it has two floors with quiet interactive videos or “sounds” instalation if we press the very well hidden button. At first we were confused on where does the sounds come from until the security told us then we proceed with moving our asses from one button to the next haha

There is a room where they explained about one specific painting, how they transported it around Europe. While we looked around Dennis realized “oh this is the real box”.

Dennis wanted to have a magnet of Dortmund, I brought him to BVB Fanwelt. When we’re done we went back to the Ubahn Station where I almost brought him to the wrong direction. He said “Darling, we just went straight, did you already forget when I said ‘such a nice path’?” haha

Off again to our version of 南京西路 to have coffee at Maximilian. Once recharged, continued our daytrip to Phoenix See, it is always good to show the manmade lake alongs with the big houses from rich Dortmunder. Closed the day by having dinner at Mukii. We weren’t convinced if we want to have All You Can Eat, our response was: are we gonna able to eat more than 36 Euros? Dennis answered, “well, we will make sure we reach it!” It was like a fun and strategic eating, in order to reduce food waste, we can only order 8 dishes within 10 minutes.

We formulated so many strategy such as “okay maybe not all rice, let’s do some skewers” Followed by “let’s have snacks like Edammame” Done it. No matter how perfectly our plan in the brain, the executing was a bit difference. After 3 full rounds, the Ipad will be unlocked within 10 seconds, Dennis said “Darling, we need to order again” Boahhh…. were really full. In the end we can only eat full of 4,5 rounds, they did forget one menu which we were so greatful #Thanks God!

On his second day, I do HO whereas he went to Düsseldorf, only to come back ontime to see our Proud Dortmund: Signal Iduna Stadion. Hainka picked us up at my place, we went to the Schwimmbad not for schwimmen, only to gangged up with his friend before the game started. Okay, this is the moment, moving on to inside the Stadion. We were there one hour before kick off, they have the Camera shot to audiences, I realized they shot our area but I didn’t see myself. Dissappointed…. no more! the camera rolled once again. Hiiiii, it’s me! me me me me, here! 😀

We did felt the Euphoria for 3 seconds before BVB Goal was considered as Offside 🙁 Nevertheless, it was a good experience, at least I was on the screen! although it’s not for people outside the Stadion, yet it’s good enough for my existence 😉

Tausend Dank für Hainka and Kowal um Ticket zu besorgen, 谢谢 Dennis for being my guest #Till we meet again 🙂

Frequency

Sightseeing in Florence day 4: meeting Kate in Rome, skip Tuscany sky for a bit, moving on to Eternal City. Was on the way to train station when the sun rises at 07:35 AM, finally I see the daylight!

What a coincidence that her flight from Russia landed Rome during my stay in Florence, the train distance is only 1,5 hours, our half day in Rome planned 🙂

Kate really understand the ultimate point, this is what I’m talking! People who knows how to take pictures and how to do a boot camp whilst travelling! We are in the same frequency! Rome wasn’t built in a day, but with her plan, we’ll try to see it all hahaha

If you haven’t been to Rome, it’s a must as in M.U.S.T! It’s where every street feels like a storybook. I am fortunate I was with her, she never gets annoyed at my comment “oh, what’s that?” her responses were always “let’s go closer, make picture there”, it could be very south if I go with other people. That’s my girllll!!!! you got me and you got me good 🙂

Trace back our more than 20K steps:

What else other than….. Trevi fountain! oh hello Baustelle Julius informed me about the upcoming events, jubilees ~ the holy year in 2025, caused Rome under numerous construction and restoration projects. This is the Trevi Fountain without any water guys, nevertheless you can’t take away the beauty of it. I asked her to take picture of only building, she was… you could also do it, then she got my point “you asked me because i’m taller?” yessss! if I do the picture I will get the fence only haha

Next on our list is Pantheon Rome, while walking I found an interesting Pillars, undoubtedly she is ready with her camera + squat position. I like my first photos, she replied let’s do it one more time until I like it. #That’s the spirit!

I went in to one of ancient Roman buildings, renowned for its massive domed ceiling. With the oculus – about 9 meters diameter, it allows natural light to illuminate the interior. It has symbolic meaning which represents the connection between the temple and the heavens. Wooooo amazing hey!

The outside view of Pantheon equally astounding. You can feel this building does have history! beckoning you to come inside, you will bow to.

We walked passed two historic landmarks ~ under constructions too haha church Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza: a church symbolizing wisdom and learning with famous spiral-shaped lantern; Piazza Navona: an ancient stadium turned into a square with three Baroque fountains ~ Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, Fontana del Moro and Fontana del Nettuno.

I did zero research about Rome, I just went there because of meeting Kate. We stopped seeing the view at on of the Ponte until I questioned something…..

  • Kate…. that building… is it where Angel & Demons movie takes place?
  • I don’t watch the movie but it’s Vatican
  • Are we going there?
  • Yes we can go to the border, you can see from outside. Vatican is in Rome.

I AM GOING TO VATICAN CITY!!!! #Beyond believe.

Still on the journey to Vatican 😉 another landmarks show up: Castel Sant’Angelo / Castle of the Holy Angel which has serve a lot of function since it was built 2000 years ago from mausoleum, military fortress, papal residence, prison and now it’s a museum.

In front of the Vatican ~ still under Rome jurisdiction, there is Piazza Pio XII, a public space before entering the sacred boundaries of Vatican City. Kate took sooooo many picture until I got the IT picture.

In the end asked Sissy to removed all of people in the background mwahaha, my fav is the Air Jordan style 🙂 What do you think?

Stepping on at Piazza San Pietro / St. Peter’s Square which is one of the most famous squares in the world, located in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City! Let me repeat: I am LITERALLY ON THE GROUND OF VATICAN CITY!!! The place where Papa Francesco holds Mass! Felt a rush of emotions words barely capture, realizing how lucky I was to be here. The place I’d only seen in “Angels & Demons” was now right before me, it was no longer just part of a movie, rather a vivid reality, a tangible experience, one I could see, feel and remember forever. In some way, I was in a sense of disbelief realizing I was truly here. #Lost of words.

I remember when I was 16 years old in Bandung, my housemate, she is a Catholic, she was very very proud ~ borderline arrogant way saying “I’m going to Vatican” I was just listened. 17 years later, here I am, witnessing this majestic building. Never have I ever thought I would be able to be present at this awe-inspiring square.

I managed to put one feet on Vatican + one in Rome hahaha I promised myself I will come back to both Rome and Vatican, do the research so I can be inside! #Me want! One more thing to look forward too.

This dazzling experience leads me to hungrrryyyyyy we just eat somewhere, pasta in Italy = never wrong. We enjoyed the view of what we have accomplished so far from Janiculum Hill, we have walked quite a bit heyyyy! At Trastevere we could see Zara’s national war hero haha.

It’s not finised yet people, we still have got some hours before our trains departs 🙂 Kate took a silhouette picture of me inside the Church of Our Lady of Consolation near the Forum Romanum / Roman Forum a.k.a Ruins. Although the Forum now is archaeological site, back then it served as the political, social, economic and religious center of ancient Rome; lived beyond the Imperial Era of Augustus, Vespasian and Trajan.

It is forbidden to miss the most iconic symbols of ancient Rome and a masterpiece of engineering and architecture: The Colosseum we are saving the best for the last 🙂 we were talking the fact that it was a gladiator contest places, however at that time it wasn’t consider inhumane. There is no time to go inside, we just saw it from the hill.

Let me correct it, the Gelato is the best for the last! We were separated after this on Rome train station 🙂

Kate, it’s been five years, at the same time it felt like no time had passed at all, we were picking up exactly where we left off. Thank you not only for our tour in Rome, for the real conversations we had, and for being the friend I can reconnect with, no matter the years in between. I wish you all the best as you settle into this amazing chapter of life in Italy! Buona Fortuna!

‘Till we meet again 🙂

Tips: buy the ticket of Pantheon online to save some time waiting in line for ticket office. I bought the entrance on 13:00 and get in at 11:00. We asked them, she said OK, they didn’t really control the time. It cost 5 Euro but online fee 0,95 Euro so 5,95 Euro.

How I Met Thomas’ Wife

On the 5th of July, one of our pioneer member of Food Nerds had his Civil Marriage in Bozen. They are legally married <3.

Alas couldn’t be there on their Standesamtliche Trauung, sure I’ll be on their Hochzeitsfeier at full length 🙂

They planned it so well for us all, shuttle bus pick us up from Castel Latemar, we had some time to get our first drink until Manuel and Rickard aka Thomas’ bestmen ~ not a typo, meant exactly for bestmen, as in men, not man, got it 😉 ~ guided us to sit on the benches.

Music starts, Thomas came out walking side by side with his mother, damn! it built up some feelings in me ~ not yet cry. Seeing Thomas stand at the sogennante ‘podium’ waiting for Janine who later walked with her father. Jackpot, this is the moment where I shed some tears, I’m sure Cecile and Sara too #The scene was just too beautiful.

The dual language bestmen explains who was involved in making stars aligned for them. Vows exchanged, put on wedding rings, opened up the champagne with knife! ain’t it cool? The both nailed it!

It was a very memorable moment when both of them looked at us from their ‘podium’. Come here, we are ready to give you hugs! We really did our job by blowing the bubble soap. Claudia, Sara and I was very total on it, we blew it as if our lives depends on it.

Before they went to have their own photo session, we gotta have ours, the Shanghai group. While they’re gone, we got many many Appetizers, lecckerrr!! At some point, me, Claudia and Nino decided to stay inside, it was warm + we could sit + quiet until…..

…..the Xelom guy arrived in style. I was like häää? what’s the sudden noise? what’s happening? oh we need to get out? we saw this giant machine ~ I think it’s called Tractor / Schlepper / Bulldog have no idea what’s the official name is. As a matter of fact, I don’t know how did it got there? We drove passed it with shuttle bus yet didn’t see those machine parked.

Engineers life, one wrong button caused whole gas coming up! just like what the Xelom guy said “this is how it feels like to work with Thomas every day” I said to Nino who is currently heavily pregnant “wear your mask”

Thomas’ colleagues prepare some games. First is Janine need to drive the machine, seems doable eh? no no no there are some tricks, they changed the program, I think left to right and front to back. She managed it! took the present out: its a Bobby car. Second game is Thomas’ turn to drive it, they played a Folk South Tyrolean song from the mountain haha #that’s what Philip said. Janine gave instructions how Thomas should drive, in the middle he need to sing a song whose lyrics was only “Auto fahren Auto fahren Auto fahren” for the whole 3 minute-ish, continued with parked the Bobby car.

Since I’ve never been to any of it, I use the chance to get in into this machine. At the same time, Sara and Fiona was on the back of the truck jumping, dancing, screaming whatever things they’ve done in Shanghai, they did it there. Of course its provokes other people too such as Cecile, Chris, Armin. Out of nowhere Rickard brought me there. Fiona said “the Xelom guy seems not very happy about it” Dude, we are doing a drop / endurance / jumping test on this machine, they better be grateful 🙂 Then one of the Xelom’s daughter also join us yeayyy!!! #We are TNT, Dynamite.

Getting in for Abendessen, there was no seat arrangement, me, Diego and Claudia need to count many times if the seats are enough for us or not haha. Appetizer, main course was very good! On the other side from my table is a group of football fans, I felt FOMO need to come over to see Switzerland vs England.

Followed by dessert and pinata. The Pinata was kind of a revelation how scary when two sporty people comes together. They didn’t hit it, in another word they missed… nevertheless, their swing was so strong! Everyone need to abstand halten, if they hit you with the bat you are having Feierabend.

Their first dance was so perfect! Have no idea how long they trained for. Janine was “be careful, we need this space” They really do need that space, spin around, backflip, what the hell just happening yo? Suddenly jingle “All the single ladies, all the single ladies” we lined up but none of Food Nerds get it. Claudia said to Sara “You didn’t even try to catch it” It’s OK Sara didn’t get the flower because Diego got the Garter #Same same but different 🙂

Remember I’ve told you about some people on the other side of the table was a football fans? She’s still going on, on the dance floor we knew Netherlands went to the next round! Janine moms change our Limbo game into tug of war #Impromptu games. The “Hey DJ, we want Avicii song” banner being showed, I’m sure this is 100% Rickard as a Swedish himself. What’s more? dancing after dancing after dancing!

At some point during the party, the hat occasion which worthy of story by itself. But for now, we can introduce it to the crowd 🙂

Obviously the Food Nerds took the last shuttle at 01:30 #Right on schedule. As I said we’ve been there at full length.

Thank you for letting me to be a part of your wedding. It was really herrlich you gathered up the Food Nerds Gang again! I miss you all so much! We should do this more often XOXO

I am very proud of my friends; Christian is a loving father to her daughter Juli who won’t put pressure on her. Ooops, wait let me correct my sentence directly, he put 北大 shirt on Juli when we met at the Bus Station from Bozen to Karersee, he did said “no pressure” hmmm…. right, that is exactly how no pressure looks like 😉

Sara & Diego is buying a house on the beach! They said the water from the beach is literally there, I gotta visit them yo, next vacation destination confirmed! #Take my money!

Fiona with business of homemade butter, chenpi lemon balm and jujube ginger balm. You gotta make more products for some people aka me who don’t eat bread hahaha I’m very excited to try two of your products!

Claudia & Giovanni, the power couple who constantly become the heart of every party. Always involving people, knows how to have fun, never missed a chance to party such as inviting us to come to their home for Oktoberfest where perhaps we will all sleeping together on the floor #I’m on! Claudia in any circumstances is very beautiful like a Princess but be careful she is very crazy at the party, we know her…. for a long time 😉

Last but not least, to the man of the night, Thomas my friend. I am very grateful we met back in 2016, watched F1 either live or in Cages Sports Bar, our eating rituals at Bar Centrale, explaining pros & con of studying MBA, introducing me to Food Nerds gangs with whom I’m still friends until now, you are a part of my Shanghai life that made it more colorful than it would be, I have you to thank for. I am very happy you met your other half, big congrats once again on your wedding, wishing you a lifetime love and happiness 白头到老!

It was a legend….. wait for it….. dary, legendary!

And that, kids, is how I met Thomas’ wife 😀

http://marlynpraseli.com/2024/07/13/kann-ja-nicht-alles-unter-einen-hut-bekomme/

Photos + videos was taken from all of us on the group, I can’t really remember other than Armin and Claudia’s. Visibly the high quality professional pictures are from Gabriel Eisath www.gabriel-eisath.com / @gabriel.eisath / info@gabriel-eisath.com

Heart icons created by Kiranshastry – Flaticon

Double Personality

This is the moment! tonight is the night! the reason why I insist of having Innsbruck Card after all is due to the Innsbrucker Nordkettenbahnen / Top of Innsbruck. The cable car’s ride itself will cost us 47 Euro ~ or 40 Euro according to Ankita #Whatever. It is already included in our 72 hours = 79 Euro Innsbruck Card. Comprender?

Gave Joe some warning on this particular Thursday, we will do ‘overtime’ than yesterday since there are 2 Cable Cars we want to do. The Top of Innsbruck and the Evening Ride from Patscherkofelbahn.

Our AirBnB lady said there’s not needed to go to Patscherkofelbahn as Nordkettenbahn is already the best. Hell no to the o o o, we will go just because we can, on top of that we already paid for it, we are not going to your concert which located on the next city, read: are not included in the Innsbruck card #The math ain’t mathing.

We took the Ubahn at Hofburg, crossed the river, it will stop at Löwenhaus, #Stay on your seat. Almost drop Joe there to check before he got saved by the bell sounds of door closing. Passed through Alpine Zoo, final Cable Car Station: Hungerburgbahn. This is where you all got off.

Joe had his brief moment of enjoying the view while I got busy with my body lotion that spread around my bags to my power bank, his phone charger etc. I need help! he instruct to wipe it with tissues. On the contrary, I responded “noooo, we can still use it, moisture my skin!” He thought the body lotion was somehow ruin, it wasn’t, I didn’t close it properly. #Oh, there goes my sympathy! After the tissue solved the issue, we could walk around to see what Hungerburgbahn offer us. We enter the church, Joe pointed “why do we have Alien? her face is green?” feel a bit creeped out, let’s go to the next station.

I read the word “JETZT” with red, bold, capitalized. Enough to get my attention, it is time, now! whereas he read the info “STOP. Please take the next one”. Two “Germans” ~ not necessarily from Germany, might be from German speaking countries were also confused, he asked Joe about why the gate wasn’t open. Yeah, in the end, the non-German-speakers was the only one who could explain what’s going on 😉 We just need to wait, the sign will always be “JETZT” unless it wasn’t true.

Next station is Seegrubenbahn, we can see…. the same view with higher altitude haha. There are some playground, place to sit around, suspicious white parts ~ had to check if it is snow? be careful on the way there are many shits #Watch your steps. There is restaurants here, looks nice, we both agree no matter how good the view is, we will eat inside, if not the soup or whatever food we ordered will already be cold before entering our mouth!

Joe was distracted by a bunch of birds flew around us, he suspected it was because of me eating chocolate bar. Hey, the other Asian people next to us also eat something, except the birds ain’t coming to them! #I’m innocent

Running away from the flock of birds, we went to our last cable car to station Hafelekarbahn aka Top of Innsbruck! The sign say it themselves! While Joe soaking all the sun, I, on the other hand preserve my youth by reapplying my sunscreen. We saw the signs to go to Karspitze, Geo Trail, Klettersteig, Innsbruckblick or Karwendelblick. Let’s do 3 out of 5, then we satisfied. Walked to Karwandelblick + Innsbruckblick then Karspitze.

On the way to Karspitze we sat for a while, when down there was a fight against the birds, here on the top we have fight against the ‘smoke’ haha I meant clouds. There is no need to go up when the clouds are coming, we can see the skies passed us. Slowly but sure we went up. On the top, we saw a family eating chocolate, that’s a good idea! told Joe to look at the chocolate maybe they can feel our pressure #They didn’t. Joe ran away when he noticed this family would ask him for a picture, instead she asked me. Did it nicely, still getting no chocolate pffff now is their turn to take picture of us! Beautiful up here hey!

Some time ago, on site, Joe was “there is a balcony down there, do you want to go?” “Noooo”. Fast forward to when we were waiting for cable car to wrap this up, I watched the TV, tapped him “Joe, there is balcony on the TV, where is it? we didn’t see any or?” “Yes we did, I asked you, only for you to answer with ‘nooo’ ” ahhh ok! that question I remembered 😉

Now we are back on the ground! What do we doooo? Museum Tour! First is the Goldenes Dachl Museum. We were exactly on the roof, we can see people on the bottom or on the City Tower. Attempted to say hello, no one return his hello 🙁 let’s do some coloring shall we? haha

Second is Stadtmuseum & Stadtarchiv. We didn’t understand why the lady said ‘just go’ the archive section, not knowing is not part of the museum, the guy was working there. I was like “Hmm, is this part of the Museum?” “No, it’s the Archive, feel free to look around” We backed out, we are not a detective who wants to see city archive haha

Honestly speaking, none of us are a Museum Person, is it worthy to continue? or let’s sit somewhere? We do the later, sat down on Starbucks near the Goldenes Dachl, having ice chocolate + ice latte while judging 2 then 3 then 4 street performers before moving to our next Agenda.

What’s next? obviously the Evening Ride we were waiting for since Tuesday, Patscherkofelbahn! We were so happy when we saw a family from the other side of cable car saying hi to us, the father was “gluing” himself to the glass, his daughter on his left, didn’t see the son but Joe said he was on his right. The girl waving her hand, we both return her hi. We knew exactly how it felt when no one return our hi from the Dach! So happy that our thought got passed down to the next generation.

The suspected “German” guy said there was an easy path walk called Ziberweg, not so long #According to him. I’m smart enough to ask “how long will it takes?” 2,5 hours. Noooo, noooo, nooo, noo we can’t. I think he was surprise with our answer. Dude, our “not so long” is 30 minutes back and forth! Don’t you see how much white our shoes are, these ain’t made for hiking….. We will just look around here, you have fun!

Once we arrived, I read the info in German “Joe, look, it’s written we can enjoy the sunset”. “When? At 23:00? We are in the mountain” 😀

We were only sitting from one place to another, calculated how much money we saved by using the card. Then he casually asked “have we been there?” pointed on the fucking cover of the Innsbruck brochure I have been holding for the past 72 hours. Hmmm, I think so…. flipped it to the page where that picture located, fuck! no! we haven’t! shit! we missed it! let’s go now!

I’m telling you, this is where our second personality come out, I remembered we were quiet tired, nevertheless, the moment we knew, adrenaline rush kick in #You think you know someone, you don’t. Joe was a bit ragu ragu “no…. we need to come back once again to Innsbruck” being a very calculated Asian, “no! we still have time, use your 120 GB capacity! look for direction, we need to leave this mountain”

We were brought from our lowest low to our highest high within one second, were hyped up! move directly to our new mission like no others, even Justin Timberlake Intime is not comparable to us. Saw our bus leaving from our cable car cabin! aaaa, okay we take the next one. Got off on the correct station, find out we were in the middle of nowhere. Joe wonder what do people do, what is the purpose of this station? there is literally nothing here, we use his gigantic internet capacity to zoom in, do the 3D view, there is simply no road, it’s can’t be 6 minutes walking? there is a forest, river, stones, everything….. how can we cross it?

Decided it’s a no go, make a conclusion if you want to see this platform, do it from Bergisel, you just need to hike for 30-40 minutes. We took the next bus to Joe’s road: Maria-Theresien-Straße, I’m afraid at some point he will tattoo this road hahaha.

We had Thai food at Thai Li restaurant, it’s his first time trying Mango Sticky Rice, he assured me it won’t be his last. We had a very typical Innsbruck delicacies, Asian food! Wherever you are, top of mountain or on the ground.

Thank you so much Joe for accompanying me in Innsbruck, I always enjoy the time, everything seems funnier with you, whenever you’re around it’s just a different level of energy. Very grateful we knew each other back in 2016 and still somehow manage to be in contact from time to time. Wish you all luck as well as happiness! ‘Till we meet again, take care!

*we conquer Innsbruck within 72 hours* #Mic drop

The 8 “Working” Hours – Part 3

The second day of our 24 hours Innsbruck card, we did very durchgetaktet! Zack Zack Los! Clocked in our Journey at 09:00 AM. All the rides for today sponsored by a Hop on Hop off aka Sightseer bus! before you get too excited of sitting on a double decker bus, it’s not, just a normal one level bus. Pay attention to the Bus Station, you need to see the red symbol S on it.

First stop was the Imperial Palace / Hofburg. They have a Maximilian 1 Exhibition, please be aware of this name, you’ll hear or read about him many times. Do we know who he is? Not the slightest hahaha our memory is limited to how incapable the guard were.

  • So, Maximilian Exhibition is there, here is written “the office” do you know where is it? did we passed it?
  • Oh I don’t know why it’s written there, do not pay attention to it.
  • Do you know what is the stage outside the Hofburg for?
  • Oh no I don’t know.

There is no photo as we weren’t allowed to take any of it in the Imperial Palace. I almost got busted, could be the reason why the lady kept following us. She seems smart, we decided to ask what is the relation between Maximillian and the imperial palace people to which she answered “I’m not a tour guide” well…. mother!$k3r hahaha

At some point, she told us that we can only walk on the carpet because the floor is lava! haha there installed an alarm where it could ring really loud. Tempted to drop my brochure to test it, yet backed it out #Calm down Marlyn.

Moving on to the other side of Innsbruck, Schloss Ambrass. It was the same Sightseer driver who drove us before. This Schloss Ambrass is very confusing, we didn’t find the entrance easily. Everytime we asked someone, they pointed somewhere else, one of them said “there is a Karte (map)” I know damn it! I just didn’t want to read it! #Lazy ass.

Arrived to the allegedly upper castle which according to Joe wasn’t really upper haha only to being told the entrance was from the down side. The arrow on each is very confusing hey!

We finally made it! welcomed by an armor room, painting room which reminded me of Mr. Beans movie ~The Whistler’s Mother, you know which one~ Joe wanted to go to woods area for a while, he got his wishes granted, even tried to make conversation with a peacock. We followed the map, the Castle is divided into many exhibitions on different places, don’t lose your entrance ticket, you will need to scanned it every time. There were also Chapel, temporary exhibitions ~ while we were there it was about human with special characteristics, like the one from This is The Greatest Show! ~ where we can’t take pics.

Being inspired from the Hofburg where they provided a mirror for a good selfie according to me but since we can’t take a photo we didn’t do it. We saw more or less the same mirror, attempted to take pictures of our zodiac. See us with Virgo and Libra, no right? because we weren’t successful haha.

Next destination is Bergisel Stadion & Sprungschanze for the ski jump. The station called Das Tirol Panorama, the name speaks for itself. Asked Joe to take me some pictures, right after he took some, he confess “I’m not a very good picture taken” well, you gotta learn yo! haha just kidding, it was good 🙂

Oh there was a Café! let’s have a snack break here, I had cake and radler, what a combination #Brain doesn’t work anymore. Checked on his phone, 4 mins walk to Bergisel. Right when we about to leave, it started to rain. Oh no! Let me think, there are two options, went into the Museum while wait until the rain slow down…. or…. just go while it’s still drizzling. We choose the later.

Didn’t regret it, when we arrived the rain getting smaller, at some point it stopped. The “funicular” or should I say “elevator” rides every 15 minutes. What we can see from here? Panorama again! 😉 only from a higher point.

On the brochure, I can see there is a seeing platform nearby called Drachenfelsen. Don’t be so optimistic about the weather, like our AirBnB Lady said “Austrian is always prepared” the drizzle comes back, enough to annoyed us hahaha we decided not to go there now, rather try to go tomorrow when the weather supposed to be good. Unbeknownst to us, there is no way to get it other than to “hike” for about 30-40 minutes from Bergisel #Oh well.

We past the Memorial Andreas where it’s written for God, King and Fatherland #So touching. Both of us directly placed our hand on our heart, began the choir of aaaaaaaaaaaa

Last, we were entering a Tirol Panorama mit Kaiserjägermuseum. Where Joe was confused about the so called “Panorama” it’s just a screen 😀

Then we catch the last Sightseer bus, went back to Joe’s favorite / haunted street, Maria-Theresien-Straße. It was still the same bus driver from morning, he recognizes us therefore commented “wow, very busy!” yes Sir! we were working the same shift as you! When you have an Asian planner, everything need to cross the box!

We wanted to try if we go to watch our AirBnB Lady’s show #We couldn’t. It was far away like 40 minutes, by the time we have to come back it will takes us 1 hour or so. On top of that, remember we just “work” for 8 hours. Having no more energy, we decided to just eat at Chinese Restaurant nearby 来来来.

*continue to our last 24 hours*

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

Can’t wait to spill the beans of a kind of roller-coaster adventure this week has brought me in, spoiler alert: it’s a fun one 😀

Thomas invited me to his wedding on 6th of July in South Tyrol, without a doubt I would like to be there. Planned started as in looking at the map, what is the city before South Tyrol? Hmm…. Innsbruck, Austria. Read good blog about it, decided it will be my Zwischenstopp. Next is gathering my crowd, texted Hanna whether she’s interested in my idea, think who could be the other person that we both knew? Joe!! I have meet him 2 years ago in Desenzano while Hannah hasn’t for like 7 years or so, let’s ganged up in Innsbruck #Shanghai connection! Sadly, one of the other reason Hanna was not able to join our small trip. Joe hasn’t really confirmed yet, however in the end he did! #Happy!

Do ground research, there are this things called Innsbruck Card for 72 hours cost 79 Euro, bought it in the train station. There were 2 counters with one old “German / Austrian” idk guy, spoke German to him, he said I need to go to the next (empty) counter, he was having 0 customer but it’s not his goddamn business, I wait…. wait… wait until Italian lady come out. Oh hello, Signora, where were you the whole damn time?!

Got yourself these two flyers, it will save your planning!

One by one, let’s peel what did we do in those 72 hours, we maximize it to our use. That I can guarantee #Devil smile.

I arrived earlier than Joe, had Thai food as lunch near Hbf, checked in, strolled around the memorial to those who died for the freedom of Austria, Annasäule, Triumphforte etc. Wow! You always have a mountain view on the background, love it! Innsbruck gefällt mir 🙂

Joe arrived around 15:00, we went to our AirBnB before exploring the city. Every article I read written we need to take a “selfie” with the Goldenes Dachl, being an uncreative tourist, we didn’t even try to take photo of each other, if it’s written a selfie then a selfie it is! We did so many times from different angle, Joe tried to delete some people from background, yet the edited version was too obvious, better try another one, another one, another one and gave up haha

Almost all attraction closed at 17:00. So we gotta go to next one, Hofkirche where they have a Bronze Statue human sizes, before entering the church there was a multimedia show for 15 minutes. What is this multimedia? Voice and a bit of “laser” show. To me it was like kind of escape room where one door opened after explanation or more out of a sudden a couple come out from the closed door, wtf yo?! were you lost or something? Done with it, we enter the real church, I like it, it reminds me of Logo of Hogwarts what? hahaha When we were out of the church ~ still in the courtyard, saw a map with some legends & numbers…. orange squares, number 3…. the altar… hä? what it is? you mean that room is the altar? took us some few seconds to realize it was the map of the inside! the one we just stepped in! #Facepalm.

Right after, we go to the Stadtturm / City Tower. There we can also see the Goldenes Dachl, remember the instruction from all blog I read ~ selfie with the roof ~ not the building so here we got, nothing other than the roof view! Nailed it!

Then my Asian calculation don’t let me miss any opportunity, we wanted to go to the Patscherkofelbahn, since it’s written Evening Ride from 17-23:00. We took a wrong bus direction on the way there, getting off, redirect ourselves, spending 50 minutes up to Patscherkofelbahn Station only to be confused as to…. why it’s so quiet…. I was in the toilet when I found out the Evening Ride was only on Thursday while we were on Tuesday #Shouldn’t have ignored the sign.

Come out, directly run to Joe, we need to go now otherwise we have to wait for the bus for another 20 minutes! Hop on to the J Bus, another 50 minutes to reach City Center. Joe was having a bit seasick / cabin fever due to the way was a bit winding #Sorry!

After almost 2 hours on the bus haha feel so good to breath a fresh air. We see the “Dancing House” inspired from Amsterdam, at least that’s how I called it. There we met Ankita, she heard us speaking English, approached to asked for a photo. Little did we knew, she also lives in Germany! you never know who you will meet along the way, could be someone living close by, for sure we will meet again in Germany 🙂

We talked about our Innsbruck trip, where to go etc, continue to eat in an Imbiss while watching the Europe cup behind us to know who is playing against who. There she had the ‘nerves’ to ask if Innsbruck card worthy haha I am not a person who pour oil to fire. Girl! you will cry once I told you what we are going to go with this card, don’t ask any question you are not ready for the answer 😉

We closed the day by me searching on where to take the bus while Joe said proudly “for sure it will be from Maria-Theresien-Straße” not only he has a correct pronunciation for a German street name, he was also correct regarding the Bus Stop, boah! after 3 hours he is already a local!

*24 hours checked, continue to our next 48 hours!*