Ich Liebe Es

Arghhh I had to retype everything again cos the stupid blogspot crashed!!!! But anyway here it goes!
Ich Liebe Es! I love it! Pulled right off the Mac's advert but its the way I feel about my last travel destination, Germany! Germany is not just Deutschland, the land of Germans but also CURRYWURST (and every other kind of wurst), bavarian dumplings, Schloss Neuschwanstein, grilled pork knuckles (the size of two of my fists!), always punctual public service (after putting up with the London Tube, this is heaven), VERY friendly and approachable people. Having visited 3 cities (and 2 towns) here are some first impressions: Hamburg, familial, warm sorta place, more like a town despite the population size; Berlin, the metroplis, yet people here are still so friendly and warm; Munich, most beautiful of all the cities, yet a little too touristy; Fussen - heh the best will get into it later! Picking up where I left off at Harburg Rathaus (the U-Bahn stop at Zhu Zhu's town), we had a 45 min river cruise, huge dinner at Friziskaner restaurant (and franziskaner beer too!) - German traditional meal - all pork, grilled pork knuckle, braised pork knuckled pork cutlet, pork steak, pork soup - any meat u want - but only pork. Yet the highlight of Hamburg was I think, not the city itself but two wonderful movies we watched - 'Shall We Dance' (another 1930s Fred Rogers show) and 'Life is Beautiful'. (Not gonna go into the details there its an Italian tale of a Jewish family in a concentration camp - a MUST-SEE!) We left for Berlin somewhat in a daze and arrived at Hotel Adler (thankfully our six man bunk had NO ONE but us - and for 3 whole days). Its a cosy place (exact words I would use to describe Passfield) but really friendly (the staff were so willing to help even if their English wasn't very good!). Jewish Museum, Charlie Checkpint, Topography of Terro (where we met Ong and her fren Liling - imagine the chances of such an occurence!), Sachsnshausen Concentration Camp, remains of the Berlin Wall, Jewish Holocaust Memorial. What appealed to me most about this city was its heritage, at one rich but torn and painful as well. Such a dischotomous relationship is only the reflection of the great East/ West divide that persist till today. Heh but it was in Berlin we discovered the phrase 'currywurst mit pommes frites' - currywurst with fries - cos we must have consumed like 8-10 wurst in those three days! Heh I'm not kidding when I say that the sausages there are out of this world.Munich now is an ocean of green as Berlin is a concrete jungle. Talented baskers and performers, sparkling boulevards, rich architecture, traditional Bavarian steaks, fresh beers and of cos the comfy Easy Palace Hostel (really really wonderful after the COSY Hostel Adler) all come to mind. We strolled through the Munich Residenz, searched long and high for cheap food (to no avail) and were so desperate we went for 5.95 fish anc chip buffet (we as usual were conned again!). Heh but the second day in Munich was the most exciting day of the trip (really depends on how one defines exciting hehe!). We hopped on a train down early in the morning to Fussen. Waking up however we discovered groggily that we were in Memmingen! My dear travelling partner even managed to sleepily insists that "we are not there yet lah! relax!" even as the train emptied out at this last stop. Yet we managed to make the best of things on the train and joked and bumped around merrily. One other hair-raising incident just topped off this adrenaline filled day. At Munchen Pasing we jumped off the train thinking it was Munchen. When we realized out error, we (or rather moi) hopped back on even as the train was moving off! We were greeted by a furious, finger wagging, head nodding, moustache shaking (ok I'm exagerrating a little here but not by much!) conductor who rightfully reprimanded us in broken English, "very dangerous! dangerous! no no!" Depsite the near death I had just encountered, his demeanour was simply priceless and I burst out laughing! *Feel a little bad now* We went back into the train feeling very sheepish and too embarassed to glance at anyone. The next day we went down for real this time to Fussen to glimpse the fairy castle, Schloss Neuschwanstein, creation of the slightly mad, naive and ALL GAY Ludwig II, Bavarian Monarch (we found out about this as we eavesdropped on the tour guide yammering away to his tour group next to us in the train). It was everything you'd expect a fairy castle would be with its adorning murals, mythical scences depicted, graceful spires and off contraptions and secret passageways. After enduring long bus and train rides, horse-drawn carriage (and special just for moi horse fart!), a perfect stroll to the castle, the view not matter how short was worth it! All in all a triumphant and climatic ending to out German escapade!Now trips no matter the place, scenery, or architecture is NOTHING without the company. Its at least as important and perhaps even more so than any other factor in determing the enjoyment. So here's my testimony and tribute to my dear travelling mate whom we all know by different names but whom we shall here refer to as Jakob. Now Jakob at first glance isn't the perfect travelling companion. Jakob has ... DIFFICULTY waking up in the mornings (one minute more, last-last-last minute), takes delight in abusing her innocent travelling mate (aka moi), always asks for WASSER (when moi has just packed his bag!), stares murderously when moi tries furiously to search for the way around the cities and is against taking beatiful fotos of Germany! Heh but thats not the all! In fact its the least. We had loads of fun, being looney ... singing (actually for me humming and for her oinking? hehe) merry tunes ... wandering lost in Munich as we searched for the elusive Hard Rock, strolling in the beautiful Munchen parks, taking VERY crazy self portraits ... joking, teasing ...
So here I thank Liangzhu, Germany and of cos our dear Jakob for one of the best trips ever of our life.
Ich liebe es.