~*where i left off

CAUTION : SUPER LONG ENTRY


i've been in a state of laziness and hence not updating
and now that i have decided to update,
you guys have to suffer my long boring entry
:P

i realized i've not posted a single picture from my trip
and here's a few
with long ass captions (if it's even considered as captions)



here's me at Dresden Neustadt Bahnhof
the train station
i didn't get a good night's sleep at my frined's place at Heeresbackerei the night before because i was sleeping in the same room as her fridge which makes so many different funny noises throughout the night!
and i was alone in her apartment
*a lil scary*
either ways, i got to the train station by foot
and there i was at the station in Dresden
the original idea was to get from
Dresden - Erfurt - Weimar - Berlin
*supposedly*
and to get to Erfurt, i had to stop at Leipzig because i bought a cheapo ticket and with a cheapo ticket, you have to stop at numerous stations to get to your destination.
yea, so there i was at Leipzig Hauptbanhof waiting for my next train to get me to Erfurt...

but

the platform i was at was seperated into 2 sections, A and B...
and me being a foreigner, and logically speaking, i stood under the signage that says 8A INSIDE the staion...
how the hell am i supposed to know that Platform 8A was situated OUTSIDE the station! Under the snow and all!
and the train left...*tut*

so i decided to scrape Erfurt out of the list and went staright for Weimar instead...

A city in the Thuringia state...but small in comparison with other areas.

Weimar's known best for Goethe and Schiller, German Shakespeares...for their writings, poems, plays etc... and the lovely things about Weimar is that the entire place is extremly close knit! You never seem to get lost for the simplest reason that the place is small...and they've got tiny lanes throughout the place it's extremely exciting going through them.



here's a picture of the place i stayed in Weimar...it might not looks scary, but i can assure you that it is...afterall, seeing is believing!...

it's whacky in it's own style...
i would have probably liked it if the owner did not look so spooky

you know, i probably should put some picture up of Weimar...
but...well...maybe another time ok...

so after i made my way around Weimar for a good whole day
visiting the museum, walking down to the Weihnachtmarkt (or what was left of it) cus it was Christmas Eve's eve by then...i finally retired to bed with my tummy filled with Turkish Pizza and Kung Fu soup!
Kung Fu soup is a lame attempt by the Thais at making a typical Chinese Mushroom-Chicken soup...

And...the next morning,
got up early and packed my backpack and off i went again to the train station
this is when i realised my navigation skills are TOPS! *teehee*
(i know it sounds dead conceited, but spare me la ok ;p)
cus i walked all the way to the train station from where i stayed
and well, most places in Germany here are filled with narrow lanes
and you can easily get lost among the maze of lanes they have here
so getting there without missing a beat was pretty cool

yea, then i was on my way to Berlin
and once again, same thing...i had to change trains twice at Halle (Salle) and Magdeburg before i get to Berlin Ostbahnhof...
on the way to Halle was easy, and chnaging platform was a breeze
but it was at Magdeburg when i got mixed up with the announcement and what i thought was the right platform!
and i had only 7 minutes in between to run from one platform to another


plus i ran back to the main counter to check my Platform, Time, Destination and Train Number
but i managed *phew*


the next day in Berlin, my friend and i decided to meet up and she left a message for me at my hostel that we were to meet at Alexanderplatz
well...so i did
and it was there i got my first taste of WEIRD Berliners
one who wanted money and another who sniffed my lip gloss *yuck*
and i did mention i was staying at the ghetto area which smells of a car workshop
you know, the tyre and grease smell...
so back to Alexanderplatz...
there i was, waiting for her at axactly the time whe mentioned!
my U-Bahn would arrive at 10:45 and hers will be there at 10:47
10:47 came and past, the train as well...and still no her!
i called her and she's already at Alexanderplatz!
after 20 minutes, we finally met
and it was then i realized there was 1 U-Bahn and 1 TRAIN STATION at Alexanderplatz!
and mine's a subway where i had to get out of the underground station and walk past 2 huge buildings to get to the Train Station.
the lines for their U-Bahn, S-Bahn and Trains are really complicated!


either ways, she whisked me back to her home in Britz, a one hour train ride from Berlin
and we had Christmas lunch...with their traditional GOOSE (not turkey) i was pretty surprised. And when she told me we're having goose, i had a mental setback...i was thinking

"Holy shit! I don't even eat duck and now i have to attempt a goose?"

and GOOSE are the nice, white pretty little things! (if they don't chase after you, that is)
GOOSE...as in the MOTHER GOOSE stories i read when i was a kid!
GOOSE...are pretty...

but i will all of that away, i've had the mantra of
"If i don't try, i'm so missing out big time"
throughout my journey...and this is just a goose!
so i went for it..and i liked it a lot! Lucky it was prepared in way i could not taste how a goose would normally taste like.
I'm sure you know ducks have got their distinct taste as do turkeys,
but the goose i ate was nothing like DUCKS.
(yes i have made my point i don't eat ducks because of its taste)

i spent a night at my friend's place
with her family the first day and friends the next day.
all extremely exhilirating, and her friend, Frank, made everything so comforatble which is mighty important when all they speak was German!
Thank God for Mariah Carey and being gay which made Frank so exciting to be with.

the third day was spent sightseeing with my friend in Berlin before she leaves for Kassel where she studies the next day...
and on my last day...finally, ALONE!
funny how initially i dreaded travelling alone
and then i realised just how much freedom I have travelling along which makes travelling alone so much more fun!
Imagine the places I want to go, the museums I wanted to visit, the places I want to eat, the endless walks I want to take, I, I, I, I...
so on the last day, i signed up for a walking tour, guided by a local archeologist
i must have been out of my mind taking a 4 hour walking tour under the crazy winter chills!
but it was my last day and if i didn't take it, i would have regretted it immensely!
the walking tour was great and i would recommend it to anyone who's in Berlin for the first time
he's knowledgeable in all areas of history connected to Berlin
and it's mindblowing when he took us to the Humbolt University
i was standing in the University, where Albert Einstein once taught and where Karl Marx once studied!
then to the Brandenburg Tor, where Napolean Bonaparte once walked the grounds i had my two humble feet on!
then to the Nazi headquarters, and where i stood was where Hitler was dragged out of his undergound bunker when he died.
AMAZING!
i've got a soft spot for history and to be standing and seeing and being flooded by everything historical was a very overwhelming sensation! It's surreal!
That day was possibly one of the best days i had!
and it was also that day i felt drained out by the ammount of history that Berlin has kept within itself which carries so much destruction, despair and sadness.
seeing the Berlin Wall goes as far as just seeing it, but reading about the Wall brings the Wall into an entirely different dimension...not a very nice one...



here's some pictures i took at the hostel...
i shared the room with 4 other girls, the ones up there are sisters from Mexico whom i've warmed up to almost immediately!
Because they checked in on my 3rd night (i was there only for 4 nights),
and because the lady from London is pretty stuck up and sleeps off at 7 pm!
that left us with little chance to speak to each other till the 4th night (also the last night for us)
when the Londoner left and we had the room all to ourselves!
they're bubbly and they had tons of HOSTEL stories to share with me
which were all very amusing!

i left for Dresden the next day
and i was stranded at the train station in Dresden because i arrived at 11pm
(by 10pm, almost everywhere is deserted, so you can just imagine just how qiuet it was then)
and i had problems getting my friend's punya friend's phone
cus he had the keys to my other friend's apartment
it's complicated....let me try to explain again...my friend left his keys with his friend while he gallivants off to Belgium and left his apartment to me...
and i had to collect it when i arrived at Dresden cus i have no where alse to stay!!!

at 11pm, i called his friend
no answer! and there i stood at the phone booth calling and calling and calling
by then it was 11.30
still no answer
i wanted to cry! out of frustration! Cus i was already so tired and i was carrying quite a number of items...plus, the train station is isolated and is going through some major construction hence the isolation...
i contemplated a few options

1-to sit at Europa Cafe till the next morning
2-to check into a hostel (a VERY VERY expensive one that is - it's the only one i knew of)
3-CRY! Hahahaha...

3 was off the list...it's not going to help if i broke into tears anyway *LOL*
i continued calling and i went through my list of friends, however little...
and finally someone picked up!
*thank goodness*
i asked for her to open the main wooden door for me
and then i'll charge into the feller who has the keys and bash him up for not answering the phone!
by the time i marched to his apartment, it was 12am
and he innocently opened the door and said
"I have been waiting all night for you"

*ooops*
apparently his phone did not ring at all!
WEIRD

in the end, i got into the apartment
whipped up something to eat
and as i was about to get into bed, i fluffed the pillow and found a
cockroach!!!

kidding...i found a gift
i thought i was mean enough that i woke him up at 8am previously and dragged my luggage into his place and left it there for a week
and i thought i was a nuisance enough to be occupying his apartment
and he was actually thoughful enough to leave me a Christmas gift under the pillow!

this is it....the last bit of story i left out during the last leg of my journey ...