Landed Brisbane! the air felt different from Cairns, more crowdy but not in the annoying way, city vibes definitely tune in. Took a taxi to our Manor Apartment located in City Center of Brisbane, this! people! I got a feeling particularly I’m really abroad haha #feelings that Cairns can’t offer 😉
Haven’t finish talking about my accommodation, Manor Apartment Hotel, 289 Queen Street, really recommended! Bellissima!
How do we explore our Vitamin B?
By visiting Crikey! Australia Zoo in Beerwah.
Ever since I stumbled into a YouTube Video of Robert Irwin, Kevin Hart and Jimmy Fallon… man, I gotta know where is this Australia Zoo, now I know where is it, next step is I have to go there someday and that someday is now 🙂
The pick up arrangement was in Mariott Hotel, it was a 10 mins walk from Manor Apartment Hotel, one day prior we received an Email with the information that pick up could have some delay between 15-30 minutes due to construction area in Brisbane. It wasn’t, it was delayed for one hour! #oh my God
Finally the bus pick us up, it doesn’t even have Australia Zoo sticker and what not, it’s the bus from our tour provider, luckily one girl who also waited in Mariott with us realized the name of the tour. When I get into the bus, it’s still somehow free, perhaps 10 people were inside oh poor people, they really stuck in traffic hey. The bus went to 2 more pick up locations, yet it wasn’t on a hotel rather on an intersection or bus stop, another pack of poor people! at least I waited in a comfy Mariott haha
Innerhalb 1.5 hours we reached Australia Zoo!
Grab the map, exploreeee (read: walking) starts! I was hoping to meet Terri, Bindi, Robert or even Chandler Powell haha unfortunately I didn’t 🙁
First stop, reptiles #my oh my #why oh why
They have Koalas everywhere, hiding on top of the tree or only on the tree so you can pat it. Passed through bird sanctuary. Another national animal of Australia: Kangaroo just sitting around with their crowd.
Saw the gallery of Steve together with Terri or Bindi, Robert has his own photo gallery, animals walks freely. Steve must be very proud of his family who choose to continue his dream.
Clock hits 13:00, this is the moment I’ve been waiting for, the Crocoseum! I watched Terri, Bindi, Robert and Chandler doing the crocodile show, I was hoping (again) this show will be hold by them, it wasn’t 🙁 Nevertheless, the AU Zoo crews are amazing!
Despite of how smart the birds are, I am waiting for the famous one and only Blueeeeyyyyy! The old Crocodile from Steve Irwin’s time.
After seeing the main attraction we just strolling around, visiting Koala Island, Dingo, Wombat, the second famous animals after Bluey a.k.a the very very old, without a doubt aged more than 150 years tortoise #WOW! I met two actress in the animal worlds 😀
it’s a home of Crocodile Hunter ofc there are crocodiles! (other than Bluey I meant)
Do I recommend to visit AU Zoo? absolutely! apart from the admission ticket is expensive, I can really see they put it into a good cause. On the contrary to their enormous size, there wasn’t many animals. I think it’s good as they make sure the “cage” for each animals are big enough so they don’t feel like trapped in a cage.
Tips: bring bottle of water, wear hat, if you ever had a slight thinking the vending machine will give you a cold drink you are absolutely wrong, go to visit the gift shop #lesson learned. A cold drink like Fanta, Coke etc cost 5 AUD.
Before I went back, there are also some Koala show who actually no show because it’s their sleeping time haha so it’s rather a Koala information 🙂 #still satisfied. Here all in the video.
Thank you Irwin’s family for dedicating your life to save wildlife.
Third itinerary is chill day 🙂 we’ve got two goods day with amazing weather, third day is the day where something goes a bit south, however it’s no biggie #chill ma
We did the Skyrail Rainforest and Kuranda Village, the weather was a bit rainy when we started, got better during the day, back to rain again when we were on the way back to Cairns.
There were two stops before reaching Kuranda Village: Rainforest and Barron Waterfall. Mode of transportation we took was the Skyrail.
It was too foggy to see something so I rate this Rainforest was just OK. The path were really good though, I was walking with flip flop without feeling slippery #good job
Next is the Kuranda Village, this is when it has stopped raining. For me it is more interesting as there are some markets where we can eat, shop or see some animals with separate admission ticket (AUD 20).
According to me, the main highlight from this tour was on the way back, where we took ancient train to Cairns. It’s kind of Sri Lanka train vibes thingy.
They’ve made stop in Barron Waterfalls for 10 minutes with the purpose to enjoy the view….. unfortunately I can’t see it again due to it’s raining and foggy. It took us about one and half hour to reach Cairns Railway Station, as we approach our destination, the weather got bearable.
I think it’s just OK, another options to do in Cairns is going to their beaches which to me is not very appealing as Indonesia also have beautiful beaches that’s why I opted for the Kuranda, besides it’s raining anywhere anyway 😉
Second day itinerary is the main reason we all visit Cairns, it is The Great Barrier Reef‘s day!
I booked the day tour from “Get Your Guide” app, the boat / team name was Diversden, really recommended, it’s an 8 hour one day trip, gathered up at Finger B 8 AM sharp!
When we were inside the boat, one of the guide named Biscuits asked if I want to dive there, didn’t plan for it, I only knew that if I did dive, I cannot get in to a plane within 24 hours or sth like that. In my case it wouldn’t be a problem because our next flight will be the day after tomorrow. I was already thinking of it until!!! I overheard the other girls told him they will do Skyrail the next day whereas Biscuit said then diving is not an option since from a low point to a high point within 18 hours is something that can caused fatal aka death. Thanks God I overhead it! You spare me my life.
Stay with the original plan, snorkeling it is 🙂 we went 2 times, each time was at least one an a half hour to max 2 hours. I was so proud that my mom also did it completely. I’m already afraid she will just stay on the boat, if so then both of us won’t enjoy it. She’s a bit groggy at first however our guide Jannine from New York (sorry if I spell your name wrong) was literally the best! She didn’t leave my mom’s side not even for one second, Jannine told her to hold on to an orange life boat thingy at all times and she will pull her. She’s done that for the whole 2 hours! Damn, what a dedication! I stayed with them too but I didn’t hold on to the orange thingy.
The corals were everywhere, I saw Nemo, Dori, pile of fishes crossing the “road”, jellyfish ewwwwww swam over it, any kind of fish I have never known my whole life and so on and so forth. First snorkeling we did exactly until the time is up, I mean, we kind of have one of the guide from the boat, neither they can miss us nor we can delay them.
We didn’t give up until we find Carlos #next Pixar movie, Finding Carlos, he is the photographer for the diving group. I said to Jannine, this is the proud moments for my mom, we need to have a picture for it, yes people we three looked for Carlos. Once our photo was taken we went back to the boat to have lunch #mission accomplished 🙂
About 2 hours later we arrived at the second snorkeling / diving place. Jannine was busy with other customers oh noooo 🙁 we got Sarah, she is also nice. Mother was already more confident than before so she didn’t hold on to the orange thingy as strong as when she was with Jannine. She only did maybe 30-45 minutes for second round while I did one and half hour. I also met Jannine when we’re almost done, she took me again under her wings 🙂 I saw a starfish this time but no more Carlos, therefore no photo 🙂 but basically it’s the same.
Both me and Mom are very very satisfied! Thank you Jannine you’re our Marine Angel! If you didn’t go to work that day, our trip will definitely be sucks!
Back to the ground, we were happily exhausted 🙂 only walked around lagoon area, night market then hotel.
It took 7 hours fly! FLY, FLYYYY from Canberra to Cairns, with stop in Melbourne but still…. it’s a long flight for a domestic destination….
Arrived at the airport, I don’t think there is a public transportation so we took a taxi to our hotel, lucky for my Mother the receptionist were Indonesian #sudden bond! Since it was a bit late we decided to had first dinner in the hotel’s restaurant, it’s a buffet with no much left pfffff are we that late or the management want to cut cost #devil’s laugh
However, the Australian waitress was so nice, she put some of the food into several plastics for me. Wait, let me correct my sentence, “some” food meaning a lot of freaking food! in the end we gave most of it to our new bestie aka receptionists alas Agnes and Sunny. I feel bad I didn’t catch the name of the Australian waitress #really sorry 🙁
First itinerary is going on a Hot-Air-Balloon trip 🙂
I am very looking forward for it! I have never been on a balloon before. My first question when I saw the advertisement was will it be like in Cappadocia where there are many balloons all flying together? Even if it’s not, still want to try it. The email mentioned the whole tour will takes about 5 hours plus we will be standing at all time. I will be picked up at 4 AM hmmm 4 AM + 5 hours = 9 AM meaning we will be watching sunrise on a balloon, not bad hey!
My sister said “you need to wake up, you’ll be pick up at 4 AM, it’s the most expensive activity in your whole trip that cost 900 AUD” Me, still on jetlag thought maybe it’s better to just not sleep? #Im thinking….how about no…
Mother and I woke up at around 3:30 ish, slightly delay in picking us up which made me panic, I mean 900 AUD is a big money hey…. eventually a small shuttle bus with “Hot Air Balloon” written on it comes to the hotel. It’s not that hard to recognize because at 4AM who else will comes other than a drunk guy haha. We drove 1 hour 10 minutes away from the center to the flying location, it was still dark. Then the tour guide arrange our standing place.
Wait no more, off we fly! The “pilot” turn on the gas from time to time. Although I heard it quiet some times already, it never fails to shocked me, how loud the sound was. We flew quiet high with a nice surprise that not so windy up there #not complaining. Catch the sunrise then back again to the ground.
Here is a bit of video I took when the gas is off and on, the sounds is loud hey 🙂
How do we land? the basket doesn’t have a wheel ehhh. First and foremost we have to embrace in our landing position. I saw our balloon going lower and lower approaching some green wide area as our landing spot. The way the balloon / basket lands back is so funny, we bumped two to three times until it really stops, the “pilot” said could be that the basket turn upside down, it tilted quiet high though 🙂 we (read: he) made it!
Then we helped them tidy up the 500 kg weight of balloon, fold it, walk on it with your whole body like you catch a crocodile then do a snake circle to put it inside a big tarpaulin thingy. I can assure you I really did try to help and hold it as if I’m holding for my dear life but that $h!7 just freaking heavy!
Woagh! we got rewarded by either champage, mimosa or orange juice, after all of the hard works we deserved it hey. Not to mention that we got a “certificate” hahaha for whatever reason it is #wink wink
We finished everything, were back at the hotel at 9AM, never had I ever feel so sleepy, didn’t even had breakfast, snooze off directly.
Woke up again for the second times in a day, went to the Promenade 🙂 had a seafood on the boat restaurant. Indonesian seafood is still the best haha but yes since I’m in Cairns, need to try theirs #not impressed. Just an honest opinions though #wink
Weighing the plus and minus, it’s a good day for us still! 🙂
Why are we speaking Spanish here????? because its Irina’s mother tongue 😉 yes biatch! I went to Amsterdam for a week to visit her, on top of that, celebrate New Years Eve together woop woop! #Happy
Arrived on 27th December, directly headed to Irina’s cozy apartment, greeted by her two Kater to whom I surprised since one is very skinny and one is the other opposite, no wonder Irina called him “Fatty” so beleidigung ehhhh haha at first I thought Fatty is not overweight, he’s just fat but still within the range of good fat, nope nope nope he’s obviously overweight, even the Vet had difficulties to find his organs haha Fatty you are so adorable!
Amsterdam is really cool taking into account how many Indonesian restaurants are there! Heimweh Heimweh! Excuse my French but Dutch food are fucking horrible! what the hell was that?!?! bread? dip? fried? Indonesian food to the rescue!
First dinner, Indonesian Imbiss, Warung Barokah. We texted Tereza if she interested to join. Aaaaa panic attack, I want to eat this, that aaaaa in the end I had “Nasi Campur”. During dinner, I had a revelation. From that day on, I’ll be having “Table for One” every time I visit Indonesian restaurant hahaha Irina couldn’t handle the spiciness 😀 Next, we opt for Western Desert at Neni Netherlands.
It’s my holiday I have no timetable whatsoever, I sleep in while Irina WFH. However, her ears so get used to hear even the smallest movement was happening, due to she always stopped Fatty to eat Salem’s food. Therefore while I was moving my body from left to right, Irina said “Ah Marlyn is turning around, finally she’s waking up” haha stop commenting, I’m on holiday!
It was raining, what a surprise, perfect day to visit Museum. Irina recommended the Resistance Museum. Boy oh boy, such a good one, very interactive, I can’t believe myself I easily spent 3 hours there! in short, I agree with her, really recommended this Museum.
Next morning, we went to Irina’s cat sitting job then city center to have a sugar bomb drink haha it’s full of sweet! visited a very typical Amsterdam shop 😉 In the evening, I joined the dark side walking tour. When the tour finished, it was around the same time Irina finished her shopping. We texted where will we eat, yet decided to go apart. I went to the “Indonesian / Suriname’s” restaurant while she had Thais. I wanted to have “Soto Ayam” in a place where Sekar recommended, although Irina told me this restaurant is not Indonesian moreover, had a bad rating. I went there anyway, once I stepped in, I realized it was a mistake. Why you’d ask? I was served by a white waiter, yep this place is not authentic at all. Lesson learned!
Failed to get a ticket to Anna Frank Museum, well what to do?….. I joined Walking Tour of the Jewish Quarter, WW2 and Anna Frank Story. Apropos Leute, suddenly just remembered something, for every walking tour you got to pay “Entertainment Tax” it is not expensive like 1,50 Euro per person aber trotzdem! the hell was that?!?! I thought Germany is already bad enough with all being taxed.
Okay back to topic, after the tour I decided to go to another Indonesian Imbiss mwahaha called Warung Made, ha! from the name I knew the owner must be a Balinese plus it must be 100% authentic, yes I was right! This place is wonderful! soooo good! The owner…. Made luckily was there he also ate at the same time so I got few pieces of Rendang and Kerupuk hihihi I even took “Empek Empek” to eat at home the next day aka tomorrow aka mañana 😉
Hmmm… I need to have some Dutch food ehhh, I opt for Stroopwaffle! yais this one is impossible to make it wrong!
Once Irina heard that I am dying to have a Pisco Sour, she promised to take me to a Peruvian Restaurant. Oh Pisco Sour, my favourite alcohol drink in the whole world! I am soooo content I can drink it again. The last time was when Brendan’s birthday in one of the bar / club in Shanghai that is not even exist anymore haha in fact I already forget what the place called, somewhere in The Bund #not helping either.
I was still full after Warung Made so we took half of the food home. During dinner we discussed about what will we do tomorrow, we could go shopping in the morning for our Raclette NYE, go to cat sitting, we still have time we could take train to another city called Leon and go back home. I told her I have the Empek Empek to fried at her place. When are you gonna eat that? ask her. “Tomorrow” “When? before or between after Leon before Raclette?” “Well, if tomorrow doesn’t work then the next day haha keep postponing it to another tomorrow” hahaha just like the Spanish, relax we do it mañana if not then mañana mañana 😀
I was having a doubt what will we do next, it was still 18:30 but as usual raining, cold, windy as well as already dark. Anyhow, I wanted to go to the Red Light District. Irina warned me that it wasn’t open yet, I insist I want to see the XXX workers. She said the tariff was 50 Euro for 15 minutes whaaaatttttttt?!?!? should I consider to change my job? hahaha well, she said “Marlyn, there wont be always a hot guy” okay okay, Im keeping my job 😉 We saw some…only to my opinion they weren’t cute, we…well I need to find the cute one. Irina said “I don’t know Marlyn, I am not working here, I don’t know where the cute one” we find her eventually therefore we can move on…. to the next activity! haha
We visited Peep Show, Im so “proud” of myself, this is the thing, I have a goal, need to achieve it, although I have no coins because…… I gave it to the walking tour for Entertainment Tax. For a Peep Show we need to gave coins, I aint have cash neither does she… okay, lets ask people for 2 Euro hahaha. Hello, excuse me, do you have coins? I asked a couple on the outside of one of the Peep Show, I can give you per PayPal, the lady said “dont worry, here is for you, enjoy” haha Irina might be ashamed right there and then but heyyyy, think of the bright side we got to see it…for freeee 😉 No fotos on that area as you cant do it, privacy yo!
On the last day of year 2022, Zeus made us cancelled the plan to Leon due to disruptive wind along with many train not operates like normal, being stuck in another city on NYE is not an option at all, besides I still slept in haha by the time I officially wake up, rise and shine and ready, it was too late to go to another city so we just chill at home while Irina prepare the food. How about me? what did I do?… avoiding Fatty to step on my thigh again hihi
Rene arrived first, he brought board games. We played Pandemic while waiting for Barbara. She brought Hogwarts Pajamas, me and Irina were the “Party Animals” yes with quote while all people are getting sexy in NYE, this is our sexy! Bunny and Cats! Btw all these times the Dutch already light up fireworks, it was every damn where every damn time, even when it was still like 4 hours before midnight. Salem was scared because of it, he had so hide under the blanket, poor cat! We started our Raclette, watch TV for official countdown, watching NYE fireworks from window, forgot to eat grapes while doing countdown. Irina said “fuck!!! the grapesss!!! we need to eat 12 of it”
At around 2 AM we decided to play the wrong game at the wrong time. Rene tried to explained it and lured us into “its not that hard” yes it wasn’t a hard game but considering the time, it was! although in reality you only need to do a slight thinking yet my brain refused to work at that hour. At the end of the game probably only Barbara and Rene who played it haha I am for sure already out, Irina was half out. We called it a quit after that, Adios Muchachos!!!!
Before I headed back to Amsterdam Central bound to Dortmund, we walked around Irina’s place to see some “farm” with sheep, goat and playground. We went to Supermarket on Sunday, amen! being an adult, you realized, it’s always the little things that makes a difference like Supermarket open on Sunday! heaven! We had Sushi at home and….. Adios Amiga!
Irina said besides my sleep-in, I am a really good guest and I welcomed at her place any time. Damn yeah I’m gonna come again 🙂
Happy 2023 folks, may we achieve what we want, if not, move your ass to work it out 😀 such a motivational word to welcome the new year haha
We reach the bottom of the story! The root of why I went to Brussels is caused by a simple question from Louise triggers another question to Anu triggers another question to Irina then to Helene, it’s a domino’s effect. “Do you want to go to Harry Potter things?”
The hell I want it, my inner child is calling, so does Irinas. Great! who’s living in Brussels? maybe Helene and Alex wants to join too. Helene said yes, Alex said no as she’s not a hardcore fans. No worries! we three will make it.
Damn right we did! Irina came just for the day, I met her after I finished with Gent. We went first while Helene join after she finish working. We took the non direct bus which means, 20 minutes walk to the forest is needed. We felt like we were in Hagrid’s home 🙂 outside of Hogwarts. By the time we were about 300m from the forest we could hear some music. Run! we don’t want to be late! Professor Mcgonagall is gonna kill us!
We only arrived no more than 15 minutes before Helene, safe to say we all made it on time.
About the same time when we were there, there was a mother and her son who were so nice, she kept helping us taking our pictures. Apropos, we helped her too, just in case someone questioning our behavior 😉
Harry Potter snacks welcomed us, not for free though 😉 Without a doubt, their price were ridiculous, take an example when you’re a child you’re ripping off your parents for asking them to buy you stuff, now the circle is closing, only you rip off yourself. It is all connected #confession, I binge watch Manifest lately. Just like in the series, you had to follow the Calling, you’re inner child is having the joy of their life now 🙂 Quote from Irina “take my money!” That bitch wasn’t even a Harry Potter fans she binge watched the whole movies before going to the forest.
Here comes the introduction of the forest that I have not the slightest understanding whatsoever because it was in French…. thought they will repeat it in English, hell no they didn’t! #meh -_-
Irina wanted to borrow someone’s wand for a picture, she asked a couple “where did you get the wand” from all languages that we speak (be in mind Indonesian, Mandarin, German, English, Spanish, French, Dutch), we need to ask a Russian couple hahaha suddenly we remember the mother’s kid has a wand with him! Find them!
We were so happy when we found a Butterbeer stand! This is on our agenda, we need to drink it! They both are amateur cannot get the moustache thingy pffff
On that Butterbeer stand we made our DIY wand, actually we didn’t do nothing apart from asking “can we get this straw?” the guy on the opposite side was “yes, you can have it more too” “no we need to save sea turtles, we will take turns on our Expecto Patronum spell”. Thanks God we don’t need to use it, they provided the wand for us.
Continue walking through the forest, we met Centaur, Niffler, Buckbeak. Another interactive session that I have no clue about. Hagrid’s half brother Grawp, Aragog..Hagrid, is that you? We heard the music of Durmstrang when Viktor Krum entering The Great Hall #ugh! 很 man! I remembered I went crazy about this specific scene.
Still walking until there was a battle light between Harry and “you know who” and that bitch Irina Avada Kedavra-ing me while I’m not even ready! I shouted shut up bitch shut up bitch, she ain’t give a damn! Avada Kedavra, Avada Kedavra, dieeeee! The final scene in Harry Potter is the final scene in the forest experience. Our Harry Potter experience has comes to an end 🙁
Here is a clip videos that I can make from all videos that Irina and I took. Of course it didn’t do the justice of the whole experience in the forest but it has our memories 🙂
Because we just experienced Harry Potter, we need to Manifest it to our names….. what could be our names in Harry Potter? hmmmmm… HA! found it!
Good bye for now from: Heleres Umbridge, Draco Marfoy and Rinald Weasley 😉
Four years ago, my family and I tried to go to Gent, sister booked a private city tour there, unfortunately when the time comes no-one replied us back. Plus the weather was predicted to be gloomy, rainy, windy and all of their friends joined together. In the end we decided to stay in Brussels, which leads me to another mission four years later to fill in that trip gaps!
Helene told me about some protest from the trains that is happening in Belgium. Intercity trains will stop operating for 3 days. Here comes the cherry on top, which dates it will be? on the date where I planned for Gent haha instead of one full day staying there, I had to cut it short to only half day trip.
Had there was no protest, for sure I’ll do Gent City Walking Tour in day time and Gent Horror Walking Tour in night time with some spooky story! sounds interesting ehhhh…. well, maybe this gaps will remains open until I fill it in again in the future 😉 #challenge accepted!
I arrived around one hour before the Walking Tour started. What should I visit? had no agenda at all, googled “attractions in Gent”, screenshot the pages one by one, made my own list, let’s move!
I want to see the oil painting called “Adoration of the Mystic Lamb” it’s located at the St. Baafskathedraal. Good! two attractions in one. Went in to the Baafskathedraal, walked around, walked once again….hmmm… where is it? saw a corner to another side of the Kathedraal, there was locker seems you can’t bring anything inside, put my stuff there, went to the entrance door heyyy! you need to pay haha 12 Euro! hell yeah, ain’t gonna pay that! skip skip skip, failed to kill two birds with one stone.
For some reason I wanted to visit “Huis van Alijn” this house was formerly a children hospice, its says there are some photos and videos that are really emotional. Found that place, however I was too early, they haven’t open yet.
I went back to the starting point for our walking tour with some stops for pictures time 🙂 #snap snap click click
Then our walking tour time is up 🙂
Our tour guide has the softest voice that could ever exist in this world. I didn’t meant it to be bad just simply unbelievable. We started the tour by seeing 3 towers Gent could offer from St. Baafskathedraal, Belfort Tower and St Niklaas. Then we went to under the bridge…from the appearance it seems so old, in reality not even 100 years old haha #appearance can be deceiving to the fullest. Around this bridge we can enjoy the view of “Big Ben” which btw it does looks similar, good job Gent people!
She said something about the oldest building in Gent now is Manhattan Burger #definitely a nice way to remember history 😉 In the middle is the Tax office, it is small because they don’t want to pay big tax for big building, make sense! Everything needs to be count down to the pennys.
Next we walked in front of the fortress that never became a real fortress apart for one time and one time only where students able to manage to get in into the Fortress, threw everything they had at home like rotten vegetables, eggs etc to the police because the governments wants to increase beer tax for students haha it’s not happening bro #priority!
So what was that Fortress then? it was once a cotton mill, once also treated as a prison. However not every prisoners serve a long time there because there is a square literally in front of it and in that square is the life of prisoners ended either to be hanged or however way to die at that time of centuries. But now that same exact square who took out life became a square where they celebrate life. When the baby at the main hospital was born, the lamp post will blink.
Continued walking until we found a fountain that I really like! the bottom is for cats and dogs, then is for horse, next is for people on the top is for birds aaawww very lovely ehhh Gent make sure all get drinks, all included! From this fountain you can see there is also a building who looks like a skull, that used to be aaarrghhh I forget…. hospital? butcher? haha anyway something spooky happened too hiyyyy
We finished our tour in City Hall, it is one same building but finished in two different style 🙂 I noticed there is also an Indonesian participant on the group, talked to him when the tour ended, we went to Vrijdagmarkt to have a beer… wait! its not just a normal beer but a beer that has bicycle design, not my luck! the place is not open yet pfffff maybe save it for filling the gaps in the future too 😉
Our tour guide recommended to go up to Belfort Tower, it has elevator, you can see the view of Gent and it costs 10 Euros. Will do! I got a closer look to the dragon, don’t think it will looks like one in Game of Thrones or one in Goblet of Fire, to my eyes looks like a Dumbo but I’ll leave it to your imagination 😉
……glaaaaaadddd that I did! the view from the top is top!
After visiting Belfort Tower I didnt have much time left so we just strolling around the same route from the walking tour. Thank you Edwin for the company!
Still remember the Manhattan Burger + Tax office building? Well there is more to it! its located at the Canal per se, on the other side of the canal or with other words on the opposite side of the Tax office is now a Mariott Hotel. There are two swans statue on the wall but they are not facing each other…. do you know why? haha! Please imagine it, in the past when all the sailors comes to Gent, first things they do is pay taxes, what a horrible way to start. Moving on, what could be the second things to do after they leave the Tax office? Look at the sign please, swan to the left is for beer, swan to the right is for XXX rated, yes people Mariott hotel used to be a brothel haha Sorry to all people that stays there.
I dont think they should ever remove the “not facing each other” swan statue 😉 Cute ehhhh!
On my third time in Brussels I have this weird obsession: I need to see all 3 Pis, it cannot be postponed to my 4th Brussels trip, has to be done now or never #determination. While I’m writing this, I realized all goes along the way, first time I only saw Manneken Pis, second time with the girl Jeanneke Pis spoiler alert she looks absolutely horrifying, third time aka this time I gotta see the dog hey! Zinneke Pis. Makes matter worse they are not even related haha there was only Urban Legend for Manneken. Jeanneke was created by Delirium Bar as an attraction so people would come to the bar. Zinneke was a piece of street art statue. Another spoiler alert which is not exactly a spoiler as I do believe you already knew it… all of them were a disappointment haha. Nevertheless, I still treat them as a mission to fulfill 🙂
I spent 5 days on the end of November in Brussels for various reasons, we will get to the bottom of it 😉 First arrival was on Saturday evening-ish, I went to Frederic Blondeel Chocolate Shop because Claudia Kohl said it’s the best in Brussels. Followed by Christmas Market with Helene and her GGI Brussels. They are using a very unattractive cup for Glühwein, on the bright side the city of Brussels doing recycle which means the cup was from year 2016 haha. Not happy with only snacking, I took matters in my own hand, decided to have the most Christmasy dinner ever, Ramen!
On Sunday Alex joined us for brunch at Leopold. Brussels is not like Dortmund where nothing open on Sunday other than restaurants, although its also not everything open like in Asia but still some stores are open, we three were hunting for a black Friday discounts 🙂
Helen and I wanted to go to a Sports Bar or just any Bar to watch Worldcup, not the Belgium vs Morocco, the later one which played at 17:00 Germany vs Spain, it was no avail, nope nope we cancelled it, strikes hits Brussels city center where we were therefore it is a wise decision to run to the other directions then took bus back home. In the end we watched it on Laptop haha. Most important ist: Wir überleben die Hooligans.
What else to do when you got free time in town? Join their free walking tour. We gathered in the City Hall, he told me there is a statue of someone on the wall that I need to touch the gold part to have good luck in life, checked! done that. Next we walked passed the Manneken Pis where I almost gone with the crowd, was so happy when I found the tour people again. Had a pit stop for 15 minutes, using this chance to eat…. waffle…duh! and to visit Jeanneke Pis.
He also mentioned that the Manneken Pis had a museum full of his clothing #very important hey. One day I saw the classic Manneken, the next day he was wearing an Architect costume.
Need to state the fact, that Manneken is a copy mwahaha so don’t be too hype about it, the real one was inside a Museum and you need to pay 10 Euro for it, but you got 2 ticket, first to the Museum of something haha, second the Museum of Manneken’s clothes 😉
After we finished the tour, I still have some time before Claudia arrived. She’s the other Claudia, not from office who really crazy about Frederic Blondeel. She’s Claudia Chan, while she’s still working, I strolled around until I found a small place with many people outside standing. Hmmm….. I got closer, read the descriptions, OK it’s a sandwich place. I’m not a big fans of sandwich let alone waiting in line for it….. anyway, let’s give this shop a try.
Leute, it was really the best sandwich! Take my opinion with a grain of salt ofc as I don’t eat Subway sandwich or any other type of sandwich so I don’t have any comparison however what I do know is that sandwich is really good. The guy was so nice, “tell me what you like Miss, please try first, if you don’t like you can give it back to me, I’ll eat it anyway” I literally told him I like honey and Chorizo…. he replied “ok it’s very easy, you need this cheese, pear and honey” oh boy! it was awesome! I think for a sandwich person this place is really worth to check, be in mind that he takes each person’s order like 15 minutes so not a good option if you are in a hurry. The shop called Tonton Garby, very small and humble shop yet lecker guaranteed!
While waiting for Claudia, I get inside a church to warm myself up, I brought my hot chocolate to the church, yes people sorry! it’s very unpolite, the least I can do is not drink it. She arrived with bubble tea, we chatted a bit inside the church on the last row until she asked “can we drink in here” “no ofc this is not a cinema let’s go out” I got my last Pis with her! Zinneke! Wohooo After successfully achieved my mission, we went to Christmas Market, saw the light shows and had Mussels as dinner.
3 Pis on my 3rd time in Brussels! … #so not G.O.A.T # I knew 😉
With my 3 on 3, I am happily closed my Brussels trip!
Thank you Helene, Alex and Claudia for spare your time to meet me, until next time, love you Girls!!! XOXO
Small Iceland bitches reunion! Why small? because the big reunion happened back in April for a Tulip festival where unfortunately I was Corona positive one day before the trip, thus I missed it. Where? In a theme park in Germany called Europa Park! One important truth in life, bitch always comes unexpectedly, one of our friend broke her legs about one week before the trip causing her not to be able to drive 🙁
Feel threatened that even this plan will fail…. I stayed silence during the whole discussion if the girls will still keep it, who will drive and so on. I am the only one that lives in Germany, obviously I still want to go, I can take the train therefore they don’t need to count me in on their car’s space. Odds are in my favor, my bold bitch Irina make sure the plan still on! yaiss girl! you rocks!
They started around 3PM from Amsterdam, picked me up in Köln Hbf around 18:30, arrived in Rust at 00:15, all done by Irina. While Me and Lina slept on the car, Tereza and her keep awake all the time, that is respect yo!
Mind you, I just came back from Milan, whole day on the way, arrived at the hotel at 00:15, they put our keys in the Briefkasten. My brain literally was no where near functioning, grabbed two envelopes, didn’t even bother to ask why there are two, opened one of them, took out the card key, saw the number, okay let’s go to room number 10.
Beep! door opened, saw two shoes, “oh girls I think they haven’t clean the room” to my surprise there is a girl at the bed! She was for sure shock as well however she still managed to politely say “Hi! I think you are in the wrong room”….. hmmm, my spirit starting to come back one by one….I couldn’t even remember what I replied her, should be somewhere along the line…. “how do you know?” “it’s not your name” heeee? she continued “it’s my name on the envelope” first I was amazed she can read her name written on the envelope from that 2 meter-ish distance, second my whole spirit were already back at my body, “oh I’m really sorry, I didn’t check the name” “can you please put the key back?” “yes, I will, good night! bye” We were laughing like wtf, how come the Germans put all the keys in one Briefkasten! Imagine if I’m a bad person! Irina was also puzzled when she said “it’s not your name?” well, how do you know my name? haha Little did I knew, Lina or who else I don’t know had the correct envelope with our name written on it, we were totally at the wrong floor at the wrong room at the wrong time haha the circle of mistakes couldn’t be more round than this #facepalm
We found where we should belong, into our family room (4 beds in one), arranged ourselves to rest, had a really long day #snooze out zzz zzz
Breakfast done, drove to Europa Park, the weather was bad at the beginning, but it gets better during our day there.
We literally just enter the park only to found out that I already dead! #dead inside
We tried the attractions that doesn’t have a long queue first, I thought we just need to sit down but nope we need to pedal the bicycles so it moves faster! we didn’t believe Irina at first when she said we need to pedal after few minutes of confirmation she said “let’s go bitch, don’t tell me you didn’t move faster when you pedal” woah what an exercise in the morning.
We did Moulin Rounge together then we got separated because Lina and Irina doesn’t want to ride Silver Star whereas on the opposite side, me and Tereza were waiting in line for first row! the feeling was amaaazzzinnggg!!!
We had lunch at a restaurant called Food Loop simply because they will deliver us our order via a roller coaster thingy, see this pictures and videos so cute eh!
From the website it’s written they closed at 18:00 near the closing time, we took the deceiving no waiting line roller coaster, yes no waiting line because we come out wet like wet! Credit to German efficiency, directly after we came out there is a dryer machine 🙂
Seeing people still walking around, we took one more attraction, not roller coaster, just the one where our job was to sit and enjoy the view. We could finally relax because at this point I already have a back pain haha #getting old, the struggle is real.
This Europa Park imo is very much interesting than Disneyland or Universal Studios because the place itself is not so big anyhow they really maximized all the usage, all attractions are close to each other, there are toilets everywhere. It’s not like Disney where you need to wait in line for each attraction followed by wait in line for the toilets. The attractions itself are more for adults, there are of course kids and family suitable roller coaster. We know the character of Disney and Universal studios more but Europa Park just like the name, we are in Spanish part, Italian part, Greece part, or the animal “character” that they used is like dinosaurs etc.
So, if you want to be in the whole Europe, go to Europa Park haha
Check out day, I was the last one who use the bathroom, ready to had breakfast… until…. where is my glasses? where my damn glasses! Texted the ladies if by chance they saw it even though my second thought was “how could they?”
Sure as hell I couldn’t find it that time, anyway, went to had breakfast while all the 3 ladies moved around my bed, their bed, checked their bags, went to the car, talk to the receptionist etc (they had breakfast before me, I’m not acting like a diva here hihi)
OK. I was made to believe that I lost it in the park pfffffff I still have my sunglasses though, it has prescriptions too. We were doing some sightseeing in a French city near the border of Germany, called Alsace-Riquewihr. As you can see from the pictures, we didn’t see the sun (aka ‘was raining), nevertheless, I’m wearing it haha!
When in France, have a pancakes….. don’t forget ciders! We versehen Cider at the drink menu, we all ordered Apfelschorle or sth like that, luckily Tereza saw it combined with Irina speaks French, so we all get our beloved ciders 🙂
After that Irina drove me back again to Köln, not a surprise DB got delayed so my arrival at home is the same as their arrival in Amsterdam haha! so severe ehhhhh. In the middle of no energy left, loaded my clothes to the washing machine when out of the sudden a booster energy erupted, there’s my glasses!!!
The trip that ended happily 🙂 just like driving back to Köln after Riquewihr, all through the rainbow.
I am really glad to see you again, yes you bitch with the addition of my new two bitchessss 😀 you’re the best!
What type of sightseeing I did in Milan?! One thing I know for sure, I was marching like a soldier during this trip, over 20K steps each day, if only my hips can speak, I’m sure she will try to leave my body haha
As much as I want to believe age is just a number…. its effing true!
The Last Supper painting by Leonardo da Vinci. I am glad I got the ticket eventhough not from their official website, why you’d ask? because it’s already sold out for another 2 months! I paid 49 Euro for the tour. The tour is 45 minutes but we only get 15 minutes inside the Last Supper painting, it’s the same from the official website we can only do 15 minutes too. It’s expensive heyyy although I’m not big fans of any art still I muss visit it. At the end of the day comes the question, is it worthy? honestly speaking, not for 49 Euro. The silver lining however, I saw one of the world most magnificent painting!
Following day, walking tour from guru walk started at 10 AM. The duration was almost 3 hours. Starts at a Duomo’s ticket office building, looking at the Alfa Romeo symbol haha it is not Alfa Romeo symbol, it is a Milanese symbol that Alfa Romeo integrate as their car’s logo 🙂 ends up in Piazza degli Affari where they put a statue of middle finger in front of a stock exchange building.
Andrea and I had a pasta lunch, duh! what else can we eat in Italy other than a good pasta #nom nom, in Miscusi. We can build up our own pasta or trust their creation, I chose the second 🙂
We were intrigued by our walking tour guide called V about the explanation of one building next to St. Stefano church, by reason of this is the place where they put real skulls #spooky we definitely check that place, before we arrived, we stopped by a very interesting jewelry store called Cosiii @cosiii_milano or @cosiii_official the owner is so nice, they had a very cute packaging which put me in shame since I only bought 5 Euro earrings, I think the packaging itself cost more as 5 Euro, to my luck, Andrea bought something worth more, conclusion was we didn’t left that store in shame haha had a tea snack then reach our St. Stefano church destination.
Next we visited Castello Sforzesco, Andrea chose to sit while I marched to the other end to see Arco della Pace.
Had dinner at Risoelatte, had Milanese style of Risotto, the owner gave me 1 Euro discount, he doesn’t have the 4 Euro change so he just gave me 5 Euro bill, yeay! Both restaurants we ate that day was good!
On last day with Andrea, I woke up soooooo late, we don’t have any agenda other than shopping at Zara! Their Zara is different from Germanys bzw. Dortmunds haha Before we separated, we had lunch at Pasta D’Autore.
After Andrea gone to the airport, it is still noon time….I took a tram to visit Brera, this place has a beautiful architecture, color, definitely a to go place for art lovers.
Then closing the evening with Navigli. People, please buy the magnets or any souvenirs you want from Navigli, it is the cheapest one! 3 magnets for 5 Euro instead of the stands at Piazza Mercanti.
The food, the weather, the Limoncello, the statue, the building, the city <3
