The Journey

Barcelona

We were there for 4 days 3 nights. The first moment i stepped on Spain, my first thought of color is: yellow. It's summer so the whole city is super hot; plus Spain is kind of old compared to Germany, so everything looks 'yellowish'. The whole city is very nice, full of tourist attractions, surrounded by artistic structures and buildings, crowded by people fr all over the world. We went to many many tourist spots like La Pedrera, Sagrada Familia, FC Barcelona Stadium, Guell Park, Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya with its music fountain, Barceloneta Beach etc. Almost whole of Barcelona is 'made by' one architect named Gaudi. His inspiration of shapes from the nature made him put all his ideas into buildings, making almost the whole Barcelona looks amazing. Everything is beautiful, the buildings are really special, and of course, those hot spanish chicks are pretty too. Imagine it's summer, everyone wears very less, showing off their golden colored skin (especially at the stretch of beautiful beaches, u can see 'almost everything', hehe..) We walked around a lot, took many pics, did many crazy stuffs together, and had some Spanish food(Paella, seafoods etc) n Spanish drink (Sangria, Horchata). Here are some pics in Barcelona:

Nou Camp

La Pedrera

Guell Park

Sagrada Familia

Spanish Paella & seafoods

Musical fountain

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

Barceloneta Beach

Madrid

We were there for 2 nights. But compared to Barca, Madrid is less attractive, has less tourist and spots for visiting. The whole city is more 'royalish', as the royal family lives there, and more working class-look. We went to Santiago Bernabeu (Real Madrid Stadium), but never went in. It looks less attractive compared to Barca's. The official things sold there are more expensive too. Then we went to the Palace of Madrid; the Mayor Buildings, plus some other minor spots. At night, we went out searching for night live, but ended up teased by prostitutes, haha. We also visited the Toros Plaza, but never get to watch a bull fight as it is only held once a week. We were able to take a guided tour to visit around the toros arena and take some photos. One thing i missed was the Flamengo Ballet. We had not enough time for it and the entrance fee is just super high. That's all for our 5 days trip in Spain. Adios Espana!

Santiago Bernabeu

Mayor Building Madrid

Plaza de Toros

Munich

Our next stop is Munchen. We visited Allianz Arena, the stadium of Bayern Munich. What's the common interest all Bavarian have? Beer of course. So, at night, we went to Hofbrauhaus, the biggest beer house in Munich. We ate many pig meals (pig leg, pig steak, pig wurst), bretzer and each of us ordered 1 mafl of Hofbrau (Hof=royal, 1mafl=1L). But after only half mafl, i'm already quite drunk n super red. The next day we took 5 hrs train went to Fussen, to visit the famous Neuschwanstein Castle, which is nominated for 7 New World Wonders of the World. The castle is very fairy-tale-like, accompanied by a very mysterious yet interesting royal story of King Ludwig II. That night when we went back, we drank again at our Wombats Hostel's bar, 6 of us ordered 6 mugs of Paulaner (1.5L each mug). Sky got drunk, me n Jong vomited. The next morning we took a guided tour to the whole city of Munich, visited some churches, Marienplatz, Chinese Garden with its beer garden and nude park, Chinese Towers etc, and at the same time being told bout the story of Hitler in Munich. Munich is the starting point of everything of Hitler, n Hofbrauhaus is where Hitler made his very first public speech. After World War II, Munich was 80% destroyed, and all that we saw were less than 60 years old.

Allianz Arena

Hofbrauhaus

Neuschwanstein Castle

Government Building of Munich

Nude beach at English Garten

Stuttgart

We went there 1 day after we went back to Albstadt. We just went there for a movie- Die Hard 4.0, and walked around the city center for half a day, that's all.

Albstadt

This is our 'base', where all my friends stay. We started our trip here, and ended here as well. Albstadt is a village, very peaceful and clean and cold compared to other places in Germany. This is the place where i slept the most, ate all the free meals as my friends cooked for me everyday, and played football almost everyday. On 24th July, there came the end of my journey to the west and i need to go back. Chus Deutschland!!

City center of Albstadt

Mein Kampf

I'd never walked so much in my life. During this 1 week plus trip in Spain and Germany, 1/3 of our time are spent on Metro and walking on foot. Every night when i went back to hostels, i can't feel my leg. All my friends kept complaining bout my speed of walking as they have to kept on waiting for me. (come on, there's one thing called auto rickshaw in india, aiks, i'd never walked this much). As days went by, my legs felt weaker n slower. So when we were back in Albstadt, my performance in football is so bad and my leg movement just became too slow.
Besides, my another struggle is money. My expenditure is totally over my budget. I bought too many shirts, and all the metro fare cost a lot. Thankfully Zhang Zhi lent me 50 euro, and then only i'll have 10 euro in my wallet on my way back to India. However, money is not so important, cz i really enjoyed this Europe trip, and am looking forward for another one in the future.

"Flight ticket to Germany: €500"
"Expenditure in Germany & Spain: €1000"
"First hand experience of traveling in Europe: Priceless"

Back to my 'kingdom'

During my almost 3 days trip back to India from Frankfurt through Dubai, i was like going back to the past. Everything is so much different between a 1st world country and this 3rd world India. When i reached Bangalore, everything seems to annoy me once again. The traffic, the noise, the dust, the crowd, the food, the weather, the water, etc (can't name all).
Now i have to start to 'like' India once again, and since i'm back to the gloomy reality, i just realized that i'm so dead in my studies and my class attendance. Scheisse!!

Credits

Zhang Zhi - room provider, money lender
Kah Guan - transport minister, handphone buyer
Chuan Teng - meals cooker
Sky - drunkard, entertainer
Roy - meals cooker
Brian - travel planner
Jong - map reader
Dad - main money provider
Mum - emotional supporter
Liew & Ki Yang - Airtel credit recharger
Chong - iPod nano lender
Caryn - a heart far away whom i share all my ups and downs
God - blessings of journey mercy n smoothness

p/s: For all my pictures during the trip, click on iWebAlbum link at the side bar

Journey to the West

Bangalore

I departed from Mangalore at 5pm, reached Bangalore at 6 something. Then i took a hotel nearby and rested there till 2am. A taxi picked me up to the airport and off i go to Dubai at 4am. Au revoir India!

Dubai

The flight was 3 and half hours, before reaching the gulf. When i stepped down on the airport, i'm already at a very very big and nice duty free shopping center. There're so many varieties of perfumes, watches, electronic stuffs etc, all are cheap (drool..) iPod 30GB is only RM900+, wah.. However, i can't get caught up in shopping too long this time as i have a transit flight to catch.
The way to gate 39 is just too too far away, and the airport is longitudinal in shape, so i walked n walked very fast for the 15 mins before reaching the Gate. Then, off i left the beautiful gulf at 8am local time. But, i'll be back to have a good look at those cheap stuffs during my return flight as i'll have 5 hours before my transit.

Frankfurt

The flight got delayed for 1.5 hours, and i was so worried that i can't catch my train which is at 2.54pm. So frustrated. I prayed and prayed. However, the experience of the flight is so good that it overtook my frustration. Every seats have a personal LCD mini computer, and inside it has 100+ movies, 100+ CDs, and 40+ games. There's a controller for everyone to control their movies like a remote control and also play their games like on a game pad. I'd watched 2 movies on the plane - 'Goal II', 'Singing in the Rain', and listen to some musics while sleeping. One miraculous thing that happened is that when i reached Frankfurt Flughafen, it was only 2pm, at which i expected to be 3pm plus, thank God, i can still catch the train!!

After the custom and all, i was rushing like mad to the Bahn Station. (Bahn=Train). The station is very far away, so i had to run really fast and on the way kept asking people to make sure i do not get lost. When i reached the machines to retrieve ticket, i was like, OMG, all in Deutsch, and the train is 10 mins time. Ka Guan already bought me the ticket and i just have to is key in the number, but i duno how. So i asked the information counter and kind enough he straight away came and pressed everything for me within 1 min. After getting the tickets, i ran to the terminal, and at last, reached 5 mins earlier, phew, thank God.

The train is very nice and smooth and quite and fast. The sceneries outside is very green and clean, with all the typical 3 storeys cottage styles houses. The place is filled with green pastures and trees, and the whole package is very clean and clear, unlike the brownish color of India. I had to change the train after i reach Stuttgart, and after 3 hours of train, i finally reached Albstadt-Ebingen, and i saw my friends already waiting there for me.

Albstadt

Ahh, at last i reached my destination. The weather is cold and windy, and all my friends are in jeans and shoes and sweater, except me in a normal t-shirt. At first i liked the weather very much, so i wanted to wear like normal in India (slipers and t- shirt), but then the wind defeated me. SShhiivveerriinngg.. Roy and Brian and Ka Guan cooked dinner for me- pork, vege, chicken and eggs, all in chinese style, mmm, not bad. After dinner, when i looked at the clock, it says 8pm, but when i looked out at the windows, it is still blue bright (???? summer time, daz light last till 10pm, toink!). India time is already 12am( here is 3 and half hour slower, which means i'd gained equal amount of life, hehe). I'm tired already, very sleepy instead, so i straight went back to Zhang Zhi's house. There's no fan and AC, as the normal weather is already cooler than Genting.
So i got onto the fordable bed, covered myself with blanket, and dozed off....zzzz....

Till i woke up at 9am the next day, writing this blog, wearing long pants and a wind cloth.


p/s: Sorry i cant make put on any pictures cz i do not have a cam, and my new k810i is coming only on the next 2 days, hopefully before our Spain trip on Friday. All i can do is put up a hand drew picture.