Heidelberg mit Gulustan und Bren.

View from Philosophieweg. Can see Heidelberg castle, Church of the Holy Spirit, Old Gate Bridge and river Neckar. Niceeeee.
While walking Gulustan was teling us that being a free thinker, she believes that Nature reigns, and that we human beings are always provoking animals(sth along that line..) I do think Nature is beautiful, but it totally coexists with the truth of God, it's not exclusive and in fact, reflects the glory of God. I was trying to tell her that some animals like lions are ferocious inherently and they are not exactly peace loving creatures eh, but she maintained that it was humans who first provoked them by hunting them down. I found that pretty true after some time cuz if we trace back to the days of Noah, lions did follow him obediently to the ark? Perhaps later when humans multiplied and started hunting lions did they evolve to be defensive and hence fierce. perhaps, perhaps.



Us on Old Bridge:)


At Old Bridge Gate.


Closer view of Heidelberg castle when we were nearer.


The cogwheel looking transport that brought us up to Heidelberg castle... nono, brought us up to some wulu place where we had a horrendous time climbing down slipperly narrow steps to Heidelberg Castle. It was a nightmare trying not to slip and roll down the flight of rocks and when we finally reached Heidelberg Castle, my legs were jelly and i couldn walked properly. :x I must profess to be a spoilt city dweller mans. At the end of the mth in Europe the front part of the soles of my Asics were worn out due to such situations. hahas, good reason to get myself a pair of new Asics sometime soon :)


Super close up by Bren. -_-


hc.


More ruins of the castle. This somehow reminds me of my childhood stories like Runpezel, this princess with super long hair... and some piggy and kermit frog cartoon. haaa.


Facade of a unique mini hotel in Heidelberg.


Saw this old Harley Davidson on the way home at Darmstadt and biker gamely posed for us!! But his bike is so antique that he required some time to get the engine going and it produced deafening noises when he rode off. lol.


Fields in the neighbourhood.

We had Spargel for dinner that day too! yay, i love spargel! But Gulustan's version was special, it was wrapped with ham and cheesseeee.. yum. As usual, we had it with potatoes too.

Mainheim.

Went to Mainz on Friday actually but there's nothing fantastic that we did or saw..only remember drinking half a cup of red wine before i ate anything and felt abit dizzy. Felt regretful at the point of time for not controlling my alcohol consumption mans. But luckily after downing much water and eating, i felt much better. phew.

On Saturday, it was a day trip to Mainheim with Winnie Zollin Bumin Malcolm and Kelvin. Malcolm is a friend whom Bumin got to know during the Ruegen trip and Kelvin is a fellow Singaporean student stuying in Mainheim..and he is only 17!! lol, wn and i were quite surprised to find someone yougner than us... but sadly he looks more mature than us -_-.


PRetty Mainheim garden.


Ate at a Japanese restaurant opened by a Taiwanese. Hahs, the salmon was lousy & the rice was ok, but i guess after not eating decent rice for some time.. even the average rice tasted quite gd. Somehow this makes me miss the Jap food at Coronation Plaza..


At Some wine fest. With malcolm's friend and his girlfriend.


Tried some ice cream called Mozart too cuz of the unique name..hehehe..but it tasted totally weird. Hahs, doesn pay to be adventurous in trying food.. u end up eating sth u dont enjoy.

wed-- Wir konnen kochen!

We had cooking lessons on wednesday at... a hospital in Darmstadt. But in actual fact we helped in merely 30% of the preparation process, 0% of cooking but 100% of the eating. :P


The female chef.


Peeling the Spargel/ White asparagus, with Guangyi and Munirah


Yihan. hahas!!


Haoming. hahas another funny pose.


Spargel (White asparagus) + Chicken + potatoes with hollandisch sauce. Enjoyed these with white wine:)


Dessert. STRAWBERRIES!!!


Group pic :)

Besuch zu Merck!

tue-- Visit to Merck, a large pharmeceutical company.



The reception counter has this drinks dispensing machine, which we gladly helped ourselves to the free flow of hot chocolate, latte, coffee, etc. Actually i was more interested in the heat of the hot drink i took to keep myself warm..hahas

The tour was on the whole interesting, esp when they introduced anti cancer drugs... which i hope can become affordable to the mass one day.

Merck, being Merck, generously provided cakes + coffee for refreshments, and their cakes seem pretty exp too. woahs. They also provided free vit C sweets and i enjoyed popping a few sweets continuously since they melt so easily in the mouth. nice :)

dritte Tag in Luzern

The third day in Luzern was basically shopping for souvenirs and chocs :) It was kinda disappointing as that day was a public hol in Europe so many shops were closed, except the touristy ones which sold typical souvenirs targeted at tourists:(

Bought alot alot of chocs and i guess the best ones were the delicate truffles which the 3 of us painstakingly brought back to Germany, then to London and back to Spore. Gosh, Winnie's truffles were the best preserved cuz she took great care of them. Mine were ok cuz i gave up trying to protect the truffles and focused on taking care of my LOndon posters instead. Zollin's truffles were the worst. LOL. Totally smashed and fitted nicely into the plastic container holes. damn cute. hahaha.

Bren reached Darmstadt a little earlier than me so Gulustan picked both of us up! When i left for Luzern she woke up early (4am plus) to warm milk and prepared breakfast for me too! :) Really appreciate her lots man :)

Zweite Tag in Luzern-- Mt Pilatus+Verkehrshaus der Schweiz!

On the second day of our stay in Luzern, we visited one of the mountains called Mt Pilatus. It was a very cloudy day and it was very misty up on the mountain, nevertheless the scenery throughout the tour up and down Mt pilatus was beautiful and truly reflected the glory of God. A pity i couldnt capture the beauty of Nature with my camera but the feeling of being awed by lovely sceneries is deeply imprinted on my heart. :)



Going up Mt Pilatus in the cablecar


View of cable car + cows on the way up!


Close up of my favourite black&white cows :) reminds me of ben and jerry's :)


As we travel higher up the mountain...


At a rope suspension park on Mt Pilatus.


i love this pic! Captured the mountain, lake, houses, COWS!!, swiss flag, pple, etc. :)


Awesome shade of blue.


Super misty!!


Windy and chilly too!! Took very few pictures on mt Pilatus actually cuz it was toooo cold and i had loads of inertia to remove my hands from my warm pockets and get the camera from my bag.


Spring water?


Which they mix with beer and sell to pple for 3euros. -_-.


Cafe on Mt Pilatus.


Took the cogwheel down Mt Pilatus.


And saw pple climbing up the mountain on our way down! gosh... There are really quite a handful of Nature loving and fit pple in Germany and Switz mans.


A shot taken on the way down..


Brown cows with bells grazing on the grass


Alighted the cogwheel... and set off for the cruise :)


Took a photo while waiting for the ship. It was so windy that i needed my hood to keep my hair in place!


As we embark on our 45mins cruise ride...note the nice clouds and sky!!


Snapped a cute pic of winnie while she was enjoying her yoghurt..lol


Houses by the lake.


With Yachts.. gosh, i dont mind staying by the lake and enjoy a slow paced life in which i can sail out occasionally in my yacht to fish and soak in the beauty of the lake. muahaha.

Alighted at some stop which i forgot the name and we visited the Transport Museum in Luzern, which we entered by the cafe and erms...didnt pay for the entrance fee accidentally. lol. It was close to closing time tho and we didnt get to tour the whole museum. sigh.


Winnie and i in the Plane simulator. Acc to onkel zollin our screams could be heard from outside... erms. hehe. i must confess to screaming much louder and frequently than winnie.. lol.


Ancient Switz train.. seems like those Harry Potter trains..


3 of us by Lake Luzern.


Clear Waters...whee.

We were blessed with great weather and it rained only when we returned to our hotel after dinner. gosh. Wir hatten viel gluck! :D Went to the bar near our hotel that day too and onkel Zl ordered Tequila sunset, which wn and i got to try.. heh.