germany!!

(warning! long entry ahead!)

have no internet connection in this hotel of mine, so i have no way to contact the rest of the world for tonight since every minute on my cell fone costs me US$3. decided to write smthing to post later on the blog so here I am! =)

i am so much happier after this trip to germany.. mabbe "during" is a better word cos i’m still in germany and have no idea how it will be like when i return.. it was during this trip that i remembered why i was so excited when i first started with realization, and i tink i slightly understand why my bosses, despite the heavy workload and travel are still so motivated in doing what they do (of course they are highly paid too lah, unlike me!)

other than work, this trip is about beer and food!

i think i drank more beer this trip than the past 23 years.. and i definitely drank more beer than water on this trip. i had one and a half rice beer, a pils, and two apfelweins (ok this is actually a wine) in 3 days! They are definitely better than the beers i have tasted in us, but i dun think i’ll be falling in love with beer soon, tho yes i’ve been sleeping better these days which i attribute to beer drinking and hard work and jetlag! i was tipsy at 2pm this afternoon after i stupidly gulped down my apfelwein (400ml) cos i was rushing for the train.. i conked out right after i got on the train and din wake up until i was one stop before my destination! Luckily i did not miss my station!

For food, i’ve tasted...

schnitzels! pork chop lah! but good pork chop!!

schweinshaxe (pork knuckle - damn fatty! but good!!)... i forgot to take a picture of mine! haha scary looking right!!

and sausages which are typical german food, and had a lady’s steak one of the nights! Also i tasted this frankfurt region food called green sauce.. it tasted like mayo and looked pretty weird! it's basically a sauce made of many different herbs and sour cream and yoghurt + 2 hard boiled eggs + baked potatoes..

here's how 4 portions look like! (without the potatoes! but you noe what potatoes look like!)

2 of my trainees said that they will order that for lunch if i ordered it first! And so i did, and three of us were eating green sauce for the first time that afternoon! Haha =) they are really fun people! btw, it's not as bad as it looks, but definitely smthing i would not choose to eat in future!

i feel so much more comfortable about my job now.. thanks for forcing me into this situation so that i can learn that i’m actually ok, and in turn gained some confidence! they gave me pretty good feedback that my boss and big boss thanked me!! =) i'm happy! =)

oh and i got to go sightseeing too! =) heh.. and here are some pictures! Enjoy!!

this is heidelberg, a little city about 30mins away from frankfurt =)

we had to climb up this STEEP walkway make to get up to the castle (on the left side of the pic above).. it looks gentle here.. but u noe that looks can be deceiving the moment you start the climb!

this is part of the castle.. i dunno the history of the castle cos i never really went in.. was just lingering around the palace grounds where it was free admission! haha =)
the rains and winds caused this!

there's this tree at the castle grounds, my hosts informed me that locals like to take their wedding pictures here! i can imagine why so! it's quite romantic man!

there's a ship with i think coal in the picture ready to enter the locks!! =) i din get to see the locks itself, but i saw one before with pokpok! the soo locks in sault st marie, michigan

here's one more view of the city! =) i love europe! i never imagined germany to look like this! okay i'm ignorant! but whenever i think of germany i think of WW2, and that is definitely not a nice picture! haha =) i'm glad i came to germany and realized how pretty it actually is!

on the way to the city center, i saw some merce cabs on the way! in the picture it still looks ok, but really, merces should not come in hatchbacks! looks super unglam! and they should not be cream coloured, and should not have advertisements on their sides! i prefer our merce cabs in singapore!

and here's the city center of heidelberg! as i was walking down the street, i was thinking it would be nice if singapore had a street with such a concept.. then i thought of a place with similar concept! bugis junction!! aiyah singapore is too hot and singaporeans are too pampered to endure such sun and humidity exposure!

we retreated to another smaller city called heppenheim, where my hosts lived, after about 3 hours in heidelberg..

here's one of the buildings in the marketplace/historic area =)

there were lamps like these all over the marketplace/historic area!

there were signs like these at the bottom of the lamps which told little stories

and they had people who worked as guides bringing people around the area while telling the stories written on the lamps! but i oso dunno what the stories are lah! haha =)

this model i found outside a shop which looks like it sold things to do with the fire brigade! there were also some different looking fire hydrants standing outside the shop. in the background on the right side of this picture, u can see the firemen trying to fish a yellow car out of the pond! there's another group of firemen saving a burning building (not in the picture) and haha they had real trains that moved! so exciting and cute! i wished i had a model like this!! =)

we had dinner (where i had my schnitzel) and then i came back to my room! i'm exhausted!! i'm glad i came to germany, both the work part and the sightseeing/eating/drinking part! and my conclusion is that germans are much friendlier than french! (snobbish french!!) at least they had signs in english at the train stations (so that i noe where to exit in case of fire/emergency) and people will listen/help you when you ask questions in english! oh! and talking about train stations! there was this night where we were taking a train to wiesbaden, and they had to make us get off one stop ahead because they found a bomb from WW2!! haha! and that was the only part about germany that matched my imaginations before i visited! =) how exciting!